Getting Fit for the New Year

Everyone goes into the new year with great intentions to get healthy.  However, most fall short by the beginning of February.  We have to change that pattern.  Here are a few tips to help get and stay fit.

Don't set a start date.  Start Now!

Once a date is set to start getting fit and changing your diet, the goal is put on a pedestal.  This is not necessarily a bad thing since goals are meant to be tough and put up high, but set an end date and start today.  You hear it all the time.  I am going to start working out on Monday.  I will go to the gym tomorrow.  I will finish all of the food I have left and go grocery shopping for healthy food on Sunday.

Don't do it!

Start right now!

Once you get the ball rolling and not make it an event, it will easily become a part of your daily schedule.  Slowly, but surely, it will become a habit.  Working out and dieting correctly becomes second nature, making it more enjoyable and pleasurable. 

Set a goal with an end date.

Whether you plan to compete in a race or trying to lose 10 pounds, set a date to reach your goal.  When you set a date, plan your attack.  Start mapping out weekly meals and workouts.   The calender becomes your best friend because it prepares you for other events or occurrences life throws out you.  And the best part about it, you will be prepared.  We all like to stick to our original plans but things change, so when items are mapped out, you are giving yourself a chance to adapt and change sensibly.  The best way to relieve stress in fitness is preparation.  The more you document, the more you will be excited about your progress.  You look forward to your next workout and seeing how much stronger you're getting.

Don't forget, strength is mental, physical and spiritual.  Dwell in these moments of good fortune.  Fortune you have created.  It's an addicting and unbelievable power.

No Excuses.

The excuse I can't stand the most is "I don't have time to workout".  That statement is overflowing with negativity and weakness.  One, if this holds true, then being healthy is not that important to you because if it was, anyone would make time for it.  Don't sell yourself short. 

Now, I am not saying that time isn't limited for families with children, full time jobs, and extracurricular activities but there are so many mediums to workout with it's unfathomable we are in the midst of an obesity epidemic. 

Let's go over the options:

Workout Facilities:  We are in a gym boom.  They are every where with more coming.  All of them are competing to get you into the door.  Some gyms cost $10 a month with no initiation fee.  Remember when $500 a month and a $200 sign up fee was a common gym membership program?  No more!  They now offer trainers in sign up packages.  Plus, the trainers work around your schedule.  So get out there without the worry it costing you an arm and a leg.

On Demand:  We all use our DVR to record "The Voice" & "Duck Dynasty" or go to On Demand to rent "Zero Dark Thirty" but have you checked out the sports and fitness section recently.  It's incredible.  From 10 minute workout videos to instructional yoga, there are tons of exercise films at your disposal with no charge.  This is all included with a basic cable bundle.  I have personally used this and it's legit.  A lot of hard workouts in a small period of time.

Internet:  www.active.com is littered with great workout ideas you can do in your room, basement, or work office (I may or may not have done workouts in any or all of these places).

Amino Vital is wonderful with youtube.  They have one of the best exercise channels on the web.  Check out one of their Strength and Endurance Workout Videos:

Here are a few other forums at your disposal: running, biking, Insanity, T-25, P-90X, Home exercise equipment, and personal gyms. 

The options are abundant.  Take advatnage of your resources!

There are plenty of other reasons for you to stay in shape but it all comes down to one thing.  Do you really want this?  And if the answer is yes, stick with it.  Everyone goes through ups and downs.  Gaining weight is going to happen from time to time when you are trying to losing weight.  Feeling weak and fatigued is apart of getting in shape.  Don't get discouraged.  Get plenty of rest.  Eat well. Drink lots of water and most importantly stay positive.  Stay motivated.  Brag to your friends.  Inspire others.  The fountain of youth is plentiful and rich (When I say the fountain of youth, I am referring to Amino Vital's Endurance Orange Electrolyte drink).  Take a gulp and enjoy yourself.

Now get out there and change your life for the better!

Stay Tuned

New Year's Resolutions

You hear them every year:

"I am going to get in shape!"

"I want to lose 30 pounds!"

"I am going to stop smoking!"

These type of new year resolutions regurgitate out of every one's mouth this time of season, yet we know that it will be a distant memory by February.  However, it continues to occur.  Every individual goes with the best of intentions to start the new year right.  To make a change.  To alter one's sedentary lives but ends in failure 98% of the time (an accurate assumption). 

How does that occur?

What can everyone change to keep their promises to themselves?

It's simpler than you think.

Let's start with the most common New Year's Resolution out there:  I want to be a healthier me!

Before we begin, let's analyze that last statement.  The first question that comes to mind is what does healthy mean to that respective person because it is such a loose and vague term these days, it's lost its' bearing on society.  I have gotten in multiple conversations where Chinese food and pizza are considered healthy options. As hard is that to hear, I can understand where one can get that conclusion.

The FDA has recently classified pizza as a vegetable due to the contents of tomato sauce (1).  Tomato sauce!  Plus, the FDA requires two vegetables sides for every lunch meal served.  So let's due some simple addition: the FDA has already classified french fries as a vegetable, add pizza and chicken nuggets on this diversified and ethnically cultured menu (2) to get:

 




Chicken Nuggets + French Fries + Pizza=






Look how whiny that kid looks... it's starting to piss me off and I am the one who uploaded the darn photo...moving on

(1)Ingredients for Tomato Sauce: 2 tablespoons of olive oil, 7 cloves of minced garlic, tomato paste (water, citric acid, tomatoes form concentrate, 2 cans of tomato puree, 1 teaspoon of white sugar, 2 teaspoons of dried basil leaves, 1/2 teaspoon of ground pepper & 1/2 teaspoon of salt.  Now, this is from a home cooked recipe.  Did you see any tomatoes in there?  Can you imagine what Sodexho sends every school?  Yikes! No wonder we suck at health.

(2) I love writing sarcastically

So right from the start, we are running up hill.  Even when I started eating healthier, I considered pizza, Chinese food, and baked potato chips to be legitimate healthy options.  It's understandable.  Our education on nutrient and mineral based food is embarrassing.  It took me three years to fully grasp what the definition of health means. 

Now, millions of people want to eat healthy and get in shape but have no idea how to start.  Let's delve into this.

It is so easy to find a good workout in today's technological age.  The excuse "I don't have time to workout" is effin ridiculous and inexcusable anymore.  You can put in a solid workout in 15 minutes.  There is even T-25, which is a tough 25 minute a day workout plan designed by the creator of "Insanity".  There are hundreds of on demand workout videos included with a simple cable package, youtube videos, and workout based websites (www.active.com).  Do you also notice how conveinent gyms are these days?  You can't go 5 miles without accidently finding one in central Jersey.  We are in a boom of workout facilities.  Ever since obesity has been labeled a disease (another genius move), more and more pop up with competing membership dues.  Even getting a trainer is inexpensive.  I remember when I was growing up, only the wealthy could afford a trainer.  Now, they offer them in starter packages...for free!  So don't blame your lack of physical condition on anything but yourself.

The crazy thing is that isn't the root of the problem.  Every one who makes New Year's Resolutions are doomed to fail because of one reason.  It's to vague.  The terms of the goal are open for interpretation which most people do because they feel it gives them the opportunity to adapt to what everyday life throws at them, but don't you already see the problem with that. 

One foot is out of the door before anything begins. 

If you want to get in shape, sign up for a race.  Any race!  If you don't want to compete or find it pointless but want to lose weight, set a goal with a deadline.  Then, when you hit a deadline, set a new one with new goals, change up your plan because the last thing you want to do is become redundant.  But once you set a goal, whether it be for a race or weight loss, write a plan out, document your progress, blog your daily trials and tribulations.  Build on the experience.  The moment you don't define a set of rules to follow, chaos will slowly take over and leave you right where you started.  Acutally, it will leave you in a worse state since defeat and dejection will settle underneath your skin.  Then, you will make excuses and blame things that are totally within your control to make yourself feel better. 

Don't do it!

It isn't worth it!

This brings me to my final point.  If you really want to reach a goal.  Start now!  If you are reading this, stop, go downstairs, hit the floor and do some push ups and marine sit ups (don't do tradition sit ups, they are terrible for your back and neck.  Plus, they don't do a damn thing for you).  Don't start your diet on a Monday. Don't wait until New Year's Resolutions to begin a path down to a healthier life.  Start right now!  Once you decide the resolution for this year, you are already putting the goal on a pedestal, which isn't always a bad thing, but in this case, you are setting yourself up to fail.  Don't do it.  Get started right now!  The resources for a better lifestyle are abundant.   It's easier than you think and have fun with it.

It will pay dividends down the line.

Hope to see you at the starting line...

Stay Tuned