The Past No Longer Exists

          Welcome to afitnewyou!  New Year's Eve can be looked at as a celebration of the old year ending, the new year starting, or a combination of the two.  But no matter how you look at it, January 1st is technically the start of a new year.  This is the reason that so many people start the year off by making resolutions...due to the fact that they have a fresh start.  When resolutions are made, the goals that are set typically revolve around things that one hopes to improve upon, especially regarding ones that involve bettering one's state of fitness.  As I have been saying for the last few weeks, these goals are usually set with the best intentions.  But, for so many people, within a short time, even by now for many, the resolutions are no longer maintained.  And if people feel a sense of failure with this, there is usually little hope that they will start back up again even though each day is a brand new day to start anew.  In quite an unfortunate way, a large number of people who have "fallen off" of their fitness resolutions will not attempt them again until the next new year!  I'm here today to remind everyone that there is still plenty of the new year left.  And, as I just mentioned, each new day, regardless of the date on the calendar, is an opportunity to start fresh, just as January 1st was. 

          According to Buddhist teaching, Buddha had said “The past is already gone, the future is not yet here. There's only one moment for you to live, and that is the present moment”  The point of this saying is to remind us that we shouldn't dwell on the past, nor worry about the future but instead live for today.  This does not mean that we should indulge in a piece of cheesecake simply to enjoy the day, rather it means that we shouldn't let the something in the past, such as a failure, keep us from doing something better today.  Furthermore, in terms of the future, it simply means to not stress about it, but it IS still to be considered.  How this teaching applies to your health and fitness is in the fact that there may have been things that have come up in the past that have kept you from reaching your fitness goals, but they should not keep your from pursuing them today.  It could have been something simple like having too much to eat and/or drink over the weekend, or a little more involved such as enrolling in a gym membership but then never going more than once, twice or a few times.  Just because you have had a set back in the past does not mean you cannot have success in the future.

           The future is not yet here...  This is meant to be encouraging!  Rather than worrying about the future, in terms of stressing over reaching your fitness goals such as how many pounds of fat you would like to lose, you should realize that you have time to get there...you don't have to be at that healthier state today.  Furthermore, you don't need to be down on yourself for not being as healthy today as you are setting out to be.  The concept of Karma in the Buddhist tradition is that even though the future isn't here yet, we can do things today to make for an easier, better and happier tomorrow.  The relevance to fitness is that the time you spend in the gym today on the treadmill or pushing the weights, or making healthy food choices at each and every meal is good Karma for your body.  By making the healthy choices today, you will set yourself on the path to have that healthier, fitter new you.  This was emphasized in a class I took a few years ago led by renowned fitness instructor Lawrence Biscontini; in his class he used the mantra "Buddha says, if it's going to be, it's up to me, I control my destiny."  And you are in control, so do something today that your future self will thank you for!

          With the past already being gone, and the future not yet here, you can only work with the present moment.  While it certainly helps to anticipate the future in order to reach your fitness goals, for example by packing your gym bag in the morning so you can hit the gym directly after work and / or shopping for only healthy food items at the start of the week to give you good choices for meals throughout the week, you can still take away some of the stress of reaching your goals by focusing on what you can do today.  Throughout the day, take a step back, pause, breathe and then ask yourself what you can do in the moment to be healthier.  If you focus on the present moment, you can make the smallest changes that will benefit your health.  Maybe you can correct your posture while sitting at your desk.  Or maybe you actually get up from your chair and you do a set of body weight squats.  As you sit for a meal, look at your plate so before you start eating you can see if there are any changes you can make right there that will be more rewarding and less regretful.  If you are at the gym would it be too much to do one more set while you are already there?  Heck, even just pausing in the present to simply breathe can be invigorating in itself!

          It is a new year, and we can anticipate the days, weeks and months ahead of us.  But remember, each and every one of those new days is just that...a new day to start fresh and new.  Do not let past failures hold you back from becoming the healthier person you want to be.  You can do something today that will push you past those set backs.  And don't let the days ahead and your goal as a whole to intimidate you by letting it feel overwhelming...you have today and each and every day to work towards reaching your goal.  If you do something today, in the present moment, to better your life and improve your health you are creating positive fitness Karma for yourself.  String enough positive present moments together and you will eventually reach the future that you are shooting for.  Being healthy in the present moment is the mindful way to reach a fit new you!

Accountability

          Welcome to afitnewyou!  If you are an avid gym goer, you probably have noticed that there are busier and slower times of the year, when the gym becomes more or less crowded.  I like to call these the seasons of the gym.  For example, some of the busier times are the beginning of January when everyone is ready to start with their resolutions and overcome their holiday eating, and the late spring when people are gearing up for donning summer clothes.  Similarly, there are the slower seasons, such as the end of January when people have already fallen off of their resolutions, and middle of summer when people are more interested in enjoying the weather than maintaining the body that they had worked so hard for.  Another set of seasons I notice different gym seasons revolve around the beginning and endings of college breaks.  Gyms tend to get crazy crowded in the middle of December and May when colleges let out.  And where I know there are many gym clients who do not like this sudden influx of additional people on machines, I have a bit more compassion for these students who had just finished finals and have handed in term papers.  I was in college long enough to know how much those breaks were needed, and I also remember how much I wasn't a fan of doing term papers.  In fact, I don't think many people are fans of doing term papers.  But why then do we do them?  We do them because we have and/or had to.  The semester's grade was dependent upon it.  That fact is what held you accountable for doing it.  Even when I teach my Jr. high science students, I know that they are much more likely to study when they are preparing for a test, as opposed to just because it would be beneficial to them.  Think about any assignment you had to do for school...there were probably some you enjoyed more than others, but I would bet that a great deal of them were done only because you had to.  And if you didn't, your grade would suffer; that is because you were held accountable for it.  In the same way, you would be much more likely to exercise and/or keep up with a healthy meal plan if you had some form of accountability for doing so.  I'd like to make a few suggestions here on how to do that, because the more accountable you are for something, the more compliant you will be.  Whether you do something because you want to, or because you have to, doing it is what will get you achieving your goals.

          I pride myself on the experience and education that I have to offer my clients who personal train with me.  Heck, I even think my winning personality has a bit to do with my client retention.  But I would be lying if I said I believed that some of the appointments that my clients keep weren't simply because they "had" to.  In fact, sometimes I even express that one of the best aspects of having a personal trainer is simply so that you have an appointment that you need to keep; in other words, an appointment that you will be held accountable for.  Again, I know that I provide my clients with much more than just an appointment time, however having that appointment time certainly creates at least one more need for that person to get to the gym.  Most personal trainers also have some form of cancellation policy, as do many other professionals who work on appointment times.  But with a personal trainer, that policy isn't just a good business practice, it is also creates a requirement on the client, a sense of accountability, to get to the gym.  So one way to construct instant accountability for maintaining an exercise routine is by scheduling sessions with a personal trainer.  Not only do you get all of the proper training techniques offered from that trainer, but you also now have a need to get to the gym.

        Once in the gym, a technique that a personal trainer may use to keep you accountable is through the use of a training journal, or some other means of record keeping.  By keeping track of what you need to do, have done, or plan to do, it puts down in writing what you are capable of.  I have one particular client who uses the phrase "The book don't lie!"  He and I use this phrase when I tell him what weight he needs to use, and the number of repetitions that he needs to complete.  This sets up a "black and white" outline for what he needs to do while in the gym.  In the same way, nutritionists do this as well when they have their clients use food logs/journals.  A food journal can provide a list of the healthy foods and proper portion sizes that you need in order to meet your nutritional goals.  Furthermore, you can use those recommendations to make a shopping list with before you go to the store.  The goal would be to only purchase what you NEED and not what you want.  That in itself is a form of accountability.  But the food journal also does much more.  If you are recording what you are eating, and being honest about it, it is like you are submitting your homework to an instructor when you meet with your nutritionist.  If there is something in that "assignment" that would get you a "poor grade" you certainly would make some changes.  Keeping a journal, whether for exercise or nutritional goals, will help you both set up what you need to do, and then give you a measure to assess what you have done against.

        Another way to establish accountability for your fitness goals is by making your goals public.  This might seem intimidating and may not be for everyone, but by letting others know what you are looking to accomplish, you will establish those who can check in on you.  Obviously the more public you make your goals, the more people there are to give you feedback.  But you can just as effectively create accountability by sharing your goals with only one or a few trusted friends, family members and/or partners.  Politicians are often judged by whether or not they have fulfilled their campaign promises.  They are held accountable by their constituents.  In a much more private way, individuals in recovery programs communicate their actions with a sponsor.  In both cases, accountability is set up where one person sets forth their goals to at least one other person, and then those other people are always there to help make sure that the individual stays on track to meet their goals.  Your health and fitness should be taken just as seriously, and meeting your goals becomes much easier if you have others holding you accountable for staying on track.  To do this, you can either post your goals on a social media site that you use so others can ask/see how you are progressing.  Or, you can have a friend be a fitness sponsor...someone you share your goals with that you can check in with to make sure you are doing all you can to meet them.

         There are lot of different things that are the motivation for people to get something done.  Valuing your health and wanting to stay fit should be enough motivation to stay active and eat healthy.  But, we know that isn't always true all of the time for most of us.  So, we need to come up with another way to stay motivated, or at least have some reason to eat right and exercise.  Finding a way to be accountable for your actions could be that factor.  For most of us, there is a much greater chance that we will do something, even things that we aren't too fond of like doing homework assignments, if we know we will be held accountable for doing so.  We might not have the incentive of getting a particular grade on a report card, but by being accountable to something or someone will give you the incentive to keep up with your goals.  Being accountable for what you do, is a motivating way to be a fit new you!

Do What is Doable

          Welcome to afitnewyou!  We are halfway through the first month of the year...again I ask you, how are your new year's resolutions going?  Only two weeks into the new year, I am sure there are many of you who have struggled already with keeping up with your resolutions.  That is why for the last two weeks I have been telling you to essentially pace yourself, and keep your goals focused on the long term...there is still plenty of time left in this new calendar year.  Your ultimate goal should be to have met AND maintained your fitness goals come the end of the year.  One of the ways that can assist you along the way is in addition to keeping your eye on the long term prize, you should also keep your focus on what you actually can do.  I have explained in the past that the best goals are those that are not only something that will bring you to a higher level, but those that are actually attainable.  You are setting yourself up to fail and face discouragement if you are trying to accomplish something that just isn't possible.  On the other hand, if your goals have an aspect that includes something that you can already do, then you will be able to work on achieving it, which will lead you to success.  You cannot get across the stream by trying to pass over stepping stones; however you will get to the other side if you use each of the stones along the way.  So yes, we all want to get to that next level in our fitness, but you need to build off of what you are able to do at this point.  The next step on your path to a healthier and fitter you is to do what is doable.

          A larger percentage of my clients have come to me with the goal of improving their balance.  These clients are at a point in their life where they are not so concerned with how they look on the beach, but are more focused with, literally, staying on their feet and preventing falls and consequential injuries.  To help them achieve their goals, I incorporate equipment such as Airex pads and Bosu balls to create an unstable environment into their training routines.  The idea is that training under my watchful eye in an unstable environment will develop their stability and make living easier and safer when most surfaces are stable.  And as their bodies develop an increase in their stability, I make the exercise more and more unstable.  What often happens is one of my newer clients will see me training someone that I have been training for a long time, and they will comment on how they will never be able to do what the other person is doing.  One client who used to think standing on the flat side of a Bosu ball was "impossible" can now do deadlifts on that side of the ball while standing on only one leg!  Another client who has improved her stability quite dramatically with me over the last month wants her husband to start training with me.  During a recent training session while she was talking to me about her husband she told me that an exercise that she was in the middle of performing her husband wouldn't be able to do it.  I had to remind her that I wouldn't start him with that particular move, as I hadn't with her.  I would have to start with what he could do.  And this is my point, when you plan out your goals, and the things that you need to do to get there, make sure that they are in fact doable.  As is the case with both of these clients, you need to start with what you can do, in order to take that next step.  Before you know it, you might be doing things that at one point you thought were impossible.

        Another way that this notion of doing what is doable plays out is when you are trying to determine if you should exercise if you have some form of injury.  With this I often refer to the age old joke "Someone walks into their doctor's office and says 'Doctor, it hurts when I do this.' to which the doctor replies "Well, don't do that.'"  Again, this is a silly joke, but there is some truth to it.  I have said it many times, having an injury does not mean that you cannot do anything at the gym.  If you have an upper body injury, do some legs.  If you have a lower body strain, do upper body.  Even if you have a significant injury to a muscle, you can still do some cardio.  Find something that you can do that does not hurt, and let that be the reason you keep going to the gym.  Do not allow yourself a reason to stop getting to the gym.  You are much better off saying to yourself that you can go to the gym to do an alternative exercise as opposed to saying that you cannot go to the gym for some reason.  An object in motion will remain in motion, and object at rest will stay at rest as will a person who goes to the gym will keep going to the gym, and a person who is sitting at home resting will find it easier to remain at home resting.  Don't stay away from the gym, think about what else you can train there and do it.

         One last take on this is something that I tell all of my clients...there are a thousand and one ways to perform any particular exercise.  As a personal trainer who has a very diverse client base, and an elementary school Phys. Ed. teacher, I am constantly tasked at finding ways to make movements doable for people with their own individual needs.  Furthermore, I remind my clients that it is "personal" training and I will find a way to allow each of them to accomplish an exercise and then progress beyond it.  Part of that is evaluating their starting point, and evaluating how far they can go.  Once they are able to do a movement, then I need a way to make it more challenging so that they can get to the next level.  And of course each individual's health history and current level of fitness will play into what is chosen.  I tell my clients, especially the newer ones, that they should be working during their work outs, but not hurting.  If they ever experience pain during a movement, we find another movement that does not cause pain.  It is amazing how many failsafes our bodies are designed with, such as the innervation of multiple muscles to complete one particular move.  99.999% of the time, if a client feels an unhealthy strain during a movement, we can find another one that they can do.

         Think about your fitness goals once again, and ask yourself if you are doing what it takes to accomplish them.  If you aren't, what is the reason?  Is it because your goals are way too lofty to start with?  Is it because an injury is holding you back?  There are plenty of excuses that people come up with to stall them on their paths to reaching their goals.  Don't be one of those people, and do NOT allow not doing anything to keep you from attaining them.  There are plenty of ways to keep at your goals and living a healthier lifestyle.  The key most often is just doing something to get there.  Start small, and end big.  Doing what you can do now, and improving on it as you go is the doable way to achieve a fit new you!

Make Every Day Great

          Welcome to afitnewyou!  So we are one week into the new year...are you still carrying out your resolutions?  If you are, that is great!  If you have already faced some adversity with them, don't fret; remember last week I said to take the long road approach, so you still have time to have at them.  With there being 365 days in a year, and only one week down, there is still plenty of time to reach your goals.  And the number of days in a year brings me to what I want to address this week.  Depending on where you are in life, your frame of time, and how fast it comes and goes may differ.  As we age, the consensus seems to be that time goes by faster and faster.  But wherever you are in life, a day is still just 24 hours, and a year is a little more than 365 of them.  These are facts and two other facts that are often stated in many cliches is that the number of days that we have are finite, and we do not know how many of them that we get.  If we knew exactly how many we had, most of us would most likely live a little differently.  (Find the story 1000 Marbles on your search engine of choice for added perspective on this) For most of us, there would probably be a shift in priorities.  With that said, there is no better day to make your own health a priority than today, because doing so MAY increase the number of the days you do have, and it will CERTAINLY increase the quality of them.  It is never too late to start, but ask anyone who has ever started working on their health and most will tell you that they wished they had done so sooner!

          At the school where I work, teachers are encouraged to educate through the environment that we set up and this is very evident in all of our classrooms in what is put up on the walls and displayed.  To help facilitate this, many teachers will hang posters with motivational sayings.  One of the posters that I had recently read had a statement that reflects the sentiment I want to convey here today.  It reads "Today only comes once.  Do something wonderful."  How simple yet profound!  When I read it, I immediately thought of all of the things that I felt I could of, would of and should of been doing that would have been absolutely wonderful.  Who would argue that pulling my kids out of school and taking them on a vacation wouldn't be wonderful?  Unfortunately with the realities and responsibilities of life, I had to reign it in just a bit.  You see, it is the responsibilities and needs of our lives that we prioritize, and on which we act rather than do just whatever it is we would want to do.  However, we also have to keep in mind the long road approach I spoke of last week...I know it is in my children's best interest of their long roads that I bust their wonderful bubble when I tell them we cannot have Twizzlers for dinner.  Doing something wonderful doesn't mean that it has to be tons and tons of fun, but it does mean that it should be something good for us and/or those around us.  And although we have to meet the responsibilities of everyday life so that one day we can enjoy that vacation, the responsibilities shouldn't become the excuses we make to not keep our health at the top of the priority list.

          Any first responder could tell you that in an extreme case when triage is employed that you need to take care of yourself before you can help others.  And you cannot have great days and spend quality time with your family if you are in poor health.  So it is imperative to put taking care of yourself and improving upon your health at the top of your priority list.  One way that you can show you value your health is by doing something every single day to promote your own health.  It doesn't have to be something dramatic or drastic everyday, it could be something simple like doing a set of push ups or squats that you wouldn't normally do,or getting yourself to the gym regardless of what is going on in your life.  You can sit back at the end of the day and say it was great if you did in fact do something to benefit your health and fitness.  If your goal is to improve your body composition think about how you would feel about having a piece of a decadent cheesecake after the immediate gratification had worn off...you would probably be disappointed in yourself.  On the other hand, think about how great you would feel if you went out for a run in the morning or took a walk around the block after dinner.  You presumably would feel great!  So do something today and everyday, no matter how small, to enhance your health!

          A client of mine recently had me taken aback when she scheduled a training session on the night of her birthday.  When I told her that I was surprised that she wasn't going out to dinner to celebrate, she told me that she hasn't celebrated her birthday in many years and rather just forget about it.  I told her she was being silly, with 365 days on the calendar it was important to find a reason to celebrate each one...especially ones that are meant for us.  It is even more important to take each day and cherish it, as we do not know how many we are going to get.  Beyond that, we need to not focus necessarily on the quantity of days, but on the quality of them.  To do this, we need to do something everyday that is beneficial to our own health.  Your health needs to be your priority and doing something to improve it each day is the key to making all of your days as good as they can be.  Putting your health at the top of your priority list every day is a great way to reach a fit new you!

Take the Long Road Approach

          Welcome to afitnewyou!  This year I have a goal to reach more readers than I ever had, and to increase the number of subscribers to this free fitness blog each individual month.  And these goals of mine have their basis in what I want to talk to you about today...taking the long road approach.  This isn't me saying anything different from what I have professed before, but it reinforces what I say all of the time, especially at this time of year when so many people welcome the New Year by making a long list of resolutions.  You see, the only goals that are ever reached and the only resolutions that are ever well kept are the ones that are not only motivational, in that they move you to a higher level that you want to strive for, but they are also actually attainable.  Furthermore, these two aspects are not contradictory.  For example, you may start out by saying that you want to lose 15 pounds of fat mass, and that is great, and is certainly bringing you to a higher level of fitness.  But hearing that you also need to make the goal attainable does not mean you should lower your sights to a lesser amount of fat loss.  I am not asking you to short change your self in the better version of yourself that you want to attain.  Rather, what I want you to understand is that you will be better off making your goals, or your New Year's resolutions, set up so that they are attained over the long term.

          Most people start off the New Year with the absolute best intentions when making their New Year's resolutions.  But a good number of them sad to say, but realistically more so the majority of them, quickly drop most if not all of their resolutions within a few weeks to a few months.  And the reason that they drop their resolutions is not because they have attained that higher level so soon into the year, nor is it because they changed their ultimate goal.  The reason I find most people fail at reaching their goals and/or to keep up with their resolutions is because the end goal was not realistically achievable in a short amount of time.  This is usually coupled with the fact that the work needed to reach that goal was probably overwhelming and hard to keep up with.  And anytime anyone is met with failure, it takes even more effort to get back at it.  So rather than setting yourself up for failure, I want you to start the year off by striving for your goals while taking the long road approach.

         I've used the analogy before that a building cannot be constructed with just a vision.  Furthermore, it needs more than just the iron, bricks, mortar and other materials.  It also needs a blueprint...it needs a plan.  Similarly, you cannot just have the goal of getting faster, leaner and/or stronger...you need to have a plan to get there.  And anyone who has ever used a contractor before for some sort of construction project knows that it is extremely prudent to not only have the plan, but to also have a time frame to completion.  Common sense would suggest that the bigger the job, the more time needed.  The best contractors and the biggest jobs will have deadlines not just for the finish, but for milestones along the way.  The greatest way to know if a project will be completed successfully is to evaluate the progress at the individual benchmarks.  Same goes for repairing and/or building your body.

         Don't expect or try to meet your long term goals in the first few weeks of the year.  Rather, set up a realistic time frame with benchmarks set up along the way to see if you are progressing the way you should.  If you aren't, then you could make changes as you continue on your path.  For example, if your goal is to lose 15 pounds of fat before the summertime, you might want to break it down into working to lose 5 pounds every two months.  Not only does this approach allow you to alter what you are doing along the way as part of the process, but it also creates goals that are mentally easier to adhere to.  Which sounds easier?  Trying to lose 15 pounds for the summertime, or losing 2 and half pounds this month?  They are essentially the same exact goal, but one creates a situation that calls for a plan that will be easier to adhere to.  Achieving successes along the way, even small ones, is just as motivating as failing is debilitating.

         Just as a contractor will set up a framework for how they ultimately want a job to progress in order for it to be completed on time, so to do you need to understand that your goals of getting to the next level of health aren't going to come quickly.  The most important changes in life, the one's that both directly affect ourselves and are controlled by ourselves are ones that require a long road approach to be successful and lasting.  The spiritual improvement specialists Matthew Kelly, in his address The Long View, and Steve Farrar in his book Finishing Strong make this clear in both their titles and  respective works.  In their own ways, they point out that the best life changes are the ones that aren't the ones seen and done so much today, but are the ones that affect the long term.  So whether you have already made them, or you are still debating them, I ask you to evaluate the realistic needs to get you to your fitness goals.  Don't try to reach them in the first few weeks or months.  Rather, set them up in a way that they will not be overwhelming, and can be stepping stones for further improvements.  The long road approach is the most time effective approach to reaching a fit new you!