Fitness starts in your mind. Ask any athlete or fit person what the number one secret is to his success at fitness, and they will tell you it is commitment.

Commitment means that you are in it for the long haul. Commitment rises above bad days, hectic schedules and volatile emotions. Commitment hangs in there when you don’t want to do it, when you don’t feel like doing it and when you don’t have time to do it.

True commitment doesn’t depend on how you feel. It depends on your integrity and on living for the purpose you have set for yourself.

Are you committed to get fit?

No Weekend Warriors

Committing to be fit eliminates the weekend warrior syndrome. You may know a weekend warrior.  It’s the person who does little physical exercise during the week, but when the weekend arrives, they blast out of the gate like a mad person. In a desperate attempt to make up for sedentary behavior all week, they go to the gym or run, pushing themself to the limit.

The result, however, is not what is expected.

More than likely this person will end up with an injury, because the muscles, tendons and joints are not conditioned for the intensity exercise.

They are also not getting in shape, because they are not committed. Physical fitness depends on consistency. And consistency requires commitment. It takes consistent, near-daily exercise to cause your body to make the changes that bring about fitness. For example, your joints and tendons will strengthen, your aerobic base will improve as your body becomes more efficient at utilizing oxygen and ridding itself of carbon dioxide, and your endurance will increase.

In fact, that you do something consistently is as important, or maybe even more important, than what you actually do. Even if you are just doing low intensity walking, doing it every day is infinitely better than doing something more strenuous only occasionally.

But the real rewards come when you not only commit to intense workouts, but you also commit to being consistent with those workouts.

Commit

In order to get fit, you do not need expensive clothes, fancy home-gym equipment or a complicated workout plan.

What you need is commitment. If you are committed, the rest of the pieces will fall into place.

Ahhh..Spring camps!  I always see a new crop of clients coming back or restarting after a long time away.  It always gives me more energy when I see everyone’s newfound enthusiasm!

Spring IS a time of new beginnings. As we start to move into the warmer weather (hopefully), our minds feel energized, refreshed and ready (seriously..give it a few weeks LOL). The question is “Does your body feel the same way”?

If you haven’t been working consistently on your fitness and health this winter, your body may be struggling to keep up with your mind. It’s hard to make a new start when you feel like crap, you’re out of shape and you’ve been eating everything that isn’t nailed down.

Well…I’m here to help!  If you have tried and failed, then maybe you’re feeling a bit hesistant right now.  Motivating people to get healthy is what I do best. But you have to let me help you…

A quick look back

We are going to focus mainly on what is ahead for you; the past is the past and it is best to leave it there. However, in order to make the best start, we need to take a look at what may have sabotaged your previous efforts to get in shape

  • Impatience. Because we live in a society that is used to instant gratification, it can come as quite a shock to find that fitness doesn’t happen fast. I don’t care how many infomercials you watch that promise you a 6 pack in 6 weeks, it is not going to happen. There is no short cut to fitness. If you grew frustrated in the past because results didn’t happen as fast as you would like, prepare yourself now for a different attitude: we will applaud small results and be patient as the transformation happens.
  • Lack of planning. The biggest sabotage in any fitness plan is lack of planning. If you tried and failed, I’m pretty that you came up short in the area of planning. Without forethought and intention, you cannot eat a healthy diet, get enough sleep each night and stick with an exercise routine. So please have a plan before we start.
  • If you have attempted to get fit with little support, you are not alone. Many people try to change their lifestyle on their own. The trouble with this approach is that those around you will probably not value what you are doing. They will unintentionally or intentionally sabotage your efforts (husbands, wives and those pesky kids can be a nuisance to your diet).  They may resent the time you take to workout, or they may ridicule you for the radical changes you make to your diet. However, you will have support this time, and the difference will shock you.

Forward from here

Today you start fresh and leave the past behind. Yes, you may have quit during your previous attempts to be healthy. That doesn’t matter now. What matters is what you do today, tomorrow and next week.

What is your goal? Do you want to lose 20 pounds? Do you want to run a mile? Do you want to eat a diet that energizes you? Maybe you want to exercise for 6 days a week.

Do not let the distance you have to cover cause you to give up before you even begin. Recognize that this will take some time. Every single fit person you know started somewhere short of where they are now. How did they get to their current condition? By taking it one day at a time, celebrating every victory and getting up when they fall down. You can do the same.

“Failing to plan is planning to fail.” -Alan Lakein  – I actually hate this quote because it is SO TRUE.  And everytime I fail to plan – I FAIL.

Without a plan, your own health will always take a backseat to what seems the most important at the moment—and that could be as simple as a television show that you want to watch! Having a plan will keep less important things from creeping in and sabotaging your health.  Count on it: if you do not plan, will not happen. This time, make a plan.

           Before you even start, decide:

  • When and how you will get your exercise (bootcamp (of course)? running in the mornings? going to the gym at night?)
  • What foods you will eat and how you will ensure that you have access to those foods (do you have a small cooler that you can take along with you? What will your breakfasts consist of? Did you go grocery shopping??)
  • How you will arrange your schedule so that you get at least 7 hours of sleep each night (do you need to get the kids in bed sooner or prepare your lunches on the weekends to save time in the morning?

Without a strategy, you set yourself up for failure.

It is no secret that the biggest predictor of whether a person succeeds in their fitness and weight loss efforts is whether or not he has accountability. I’ve said it before,  getting fit is not easy. If it were, we would not have our current epidemic of obesity. If it were easy, more people would be doing it! In order to make sure you succeed this time, get some support. That support could come from a few friends who are making a new beginning with you, ME, or a family member.

The people in your support system will be genuinely interested in how you are doing. They will encourage you when you lose your motivation. They will clap when you get up early to exercise (maybe?). They will talk you out of eating those brownies. They will expect you to tell them how you are doing. And they will not let you fade out of the program: they will come after you if you start slacking.

So what are you waiting for??

First off, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you really do need to know what you are getting yourself into when you reach for that candy or ice cream?  Brace yourself, this is going to hurt…

Sugar is really bad for you.

When you consume candy, ice cream any sugar products, you are getting a large dose of sugar.  Whether it is in the form of High Fructose Corn Syrup or cane sugar, it slams into your system like a bowling ball, and the effects are disastrous. Within the first 20 minutes or so, your blood sugar level spikes as the sugar enters your bloodstream. It arrives there in the form of glucose, which is your body’s main source of energy. This sudden rise in blood glucose stimulates your pancreas to start pumping out large amounts of insulin, which is the hormone that helps your cells take in the available glucose. Some of this glucose is used immediately for energy.  But the rest stored as fat by insulin, to be used later. 

The more sugar you eat, the more insulin your body produces as it works hard to remove the glucose from your blood.  But these high levels of insulin are not healthy.  For one thing, the extra insulin in your blood stream signals to your body that you need more glucose, which causes you to crave even more sugar.  But even worse, after repeated exposure to high insulin levels, your cells begin turning numb to the effects of insulin, and this leads to a condition called insulin resistance, a precursor to diabetes.

When your cells no longer respond properly to the storage effects of insulin, the sugar in your blood has nowhere to go, and so it continues circulating in your blood.  This is what is known as a ‘high blood sugar level.’  The result is that you feel fatigue, because you have no way of accessing the energy that is in your bloodstream.  You will likely feel weak, tired and have trouble concentrating, because your brain uses glucose to function.

If your blood sugar levels stay elevated, damage begins happening to various parts of your body.  For example, the capillaries become damaged (which leads to blindness), your kidneys become diseased (which can eventually require dialysis) and nerve damage occurs throughout your body (which can lead to amputations). The heart muscle also suffers, which leads to heart disease, and your organs begin aging at a faster rate.  You also become more susceptible to

Infections.

The ravages of sugar cannot be overstated:  that handful of jelly beans is not worth it.

Do you really have to be so  uptight about it all the time?

Yes, you do.  

Because there will always be an excuse to eat poorly.  This month was Easter, last month it was Valentine’s Day.  The month before that saw New Year’s Eve.  Before that was Christmas.  Before that was Thanksgiving.  

And the holidays in each of these months weren’t the only excuses for eating unhealthy food—no doubt your schedule included countless other “can’t-miss” opportunities to throw all caution to the wind!  You likely had business dinners, birthday parties, evenings out with friends, fundraising banquets, breakfast meetings….

Every one of these occasions screams, “But this is special!!  It’s okay just this once!”  

At some point, you have to stop the insanity, make a decision and choose health, so that the indulgence truly becomes the exception; not the rule.

Clutter

An interesting word, no? Each of us has clutter – mental clutter and physical clutter…. It is an energy-drainer, and it may be messing with your fitness goals.

Physical clutter is the kind found in your car, your office, your kitchen, your bathroom, your closet, your garage. It can be unorganized, unkempt, or it can be organized and arranged: but it is stuff and there’s probably too much of it.

If you have to move it, step over it, dust it, then you have clutter. It takes up space that could be used for other things or space that could simply be emptied and left open. I’ve always been a big proponent of getting rid of junk in the house, garage and car – it helps me focus on more important things . Shoot me, I’m anal retentive.

A clear, focused mind needs a clear, focused environment. When you are living surrounded by clutter, it nags on you and stifles progression and creativity. It always demands to be dealt with, and that can drain the hell out of you.

Mental clutter is clutter in your patterns of thinking, reacting to yourself, others and everyday circumstances. This kind of clutter flies under the radar, which can make it worse than physical clutter.

Mental clutter can be self-defeating ways of thinking about yourself, patterns of behavior with certain people, habitual ways of reacting to certain situations or just a general approach to life that blindly runs on auto-pilot. (I’ve got A LOT of this kind of clutter)

So how do you clear out clutter that you can’t see? Whether it is physical clutter on your bookcase or the mental clutter of responding the same way to that person who always manages to raise your blood pressure, you can get to work on it immediately.

Physical clutter:

Assess one room or your car and ask yourself – What is this? Why do I have it? What is its function? Does it enrich my life Is it trash? After I’ve gone, will someone else have to come in and get rid of it? Try to eliminate as much as you can.

And think really hard before acquiring more stuff. And try to remove something from your environment each time you bring something additional in. Out with the old and in with the new. And ladies that goes for clothing 🙂

Mental clutter:

Slow down. In order to identify your mental clutter, you must slow down and really pay attention.

Ask yourself this question several times a day: “Do I have other options?” Whether it is when that ‘someone’ is beginning to push your buttons or whether you are rushing to get to work again, just stop for a moment and try to come up with one or two other scenarios.

Set a reminder several times a day to remind yourself to stop and take note of what you are doing when the reminder sounds. Are you eating? Checking Facebook for the 12th time? Having the same dead-end conversation with someone?

Take a look at your routines: bedtime, morning, lunch, late afternoon, etc. What are your habits? Are they productive? Destructive? Time wasters?

What are you procrastinating? Leaving a dreaded task undone is a sure road to low energy and low productivity. Make a list of those tasks which you have been putting off and just do them. You’ll be amazed at your energy level afterwards!