Too Busy for Fitness is Not an Option

If we don't make time to workout and let the day get away from us, it's easier to say forget it. Other things become a priority and we tend to use being busy as an excuse to skip it. If we're high energy in the morning and missed that window to exercise, we can dread doing it in the afternoon.

I just so happen to prefer working out in the morning and understand the feeling of pushing through later. It sucks but doesn't mean to skip the workout. Discipline means doing what you need to do even when you don't feel like doing it. So, it's important to not let ourselves down and make it happen. We can only blame ourselves and will suffer the consequences of not taking care of our fitness business.

There will be times missing a workout can't be helped and that's acceptable. Honestly, this is a rare occasion. When busy things seem to take over our entire day leaving us without a sweat session is the norm. Fitness takes good planning, making time and not skipping a workout no matter what. Without a plan, it's just a wish, right? Without making the time, it's not going to happen, right?

We go through life making so many excuses on how we don't have time. Really?  I love that quote "someone busier than you is working out right now" and it's the truth.

We must start owning our excuses and admit when fitness is something we don't want to do. Now that's the beginning of a revelation.

We should ask ourselves why we procrastinate or refuse to take care of our health?  What's so burdensome about moving your body for a few minutes each day and eating healthy?

It's not about time at all, but your feelings toward working out and eating right. Honesty is always the best way to create change.

The truth of the matter is if something is important to you, it gets done. Everyone has time to hit up social functions, watch hours of TV and surf the web. When it comes to one hour of exercise, the busy button somehow gets turned on. Give the offer of meeting for a drink, and suddenly a burst of energy occurs.

Unfortunately an unhealthy epidemic is happening because too many people are refusing to take the time for health and fitness. Those who exercise and eat right on a consistent basis are in the minority. This really needs to change. Agreed?

If we continue to not make time for exercise, we will eventually be making time for illness. The same applies to eating right because we are what we eat. What we eat in private, we wear in public and our body certainly shows how we're living. This has become a horrible fact. Straight talk, but we need to start making the time!

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Discipline is Doing the Workout Anyway

Early morning or evening, it's important not to skip your workout. Discipline is doing it anyway even when you don't feel like it. Let's face it, we all have these days. 

We don't always feel like getting out of bed to that set alarm. After work we're tired and just want to get home to a hot meal and sofa time.  

Sometimes it takes forcing ourselves up in the morning and splashing cold water on our face. Having our gym clothes ready to go in the car after work can motivate us to hit the gym. 

Discipline is what takes us to that place called success. It's the inner force within us stronger than our negative mental game trying to sabotage our commitment to fitness. 

We need to feel stronger mentally and physically and push through the hard. If we only worked out on the days we felt good, it would become a rare occasion. We can always come up with a reason not to hit they gym. It's those days we feel tired, weak, sore and mentally defeated that make for the best workouts. We come out the other side feeling like a champion. 

Nothing feels better than a finished workout!

My workout of the day included:

1-mile ARC trainer warm up or 20 minutes
Leg extensions 40lbs @ 25 reps
Lying hamstring curls 25lbs @ 25 reps
BOSU ab crunches @ 30 reps
Interval: wide lateral lunge knee tuck fast paced @ 15 reps per side
repeated 4x and total 25 minutes, total workout time 45 minutes

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Be well and Stay Healthy

 

Our Daily Choices Define Our Fitness

Being fit is not a temporary condition but fills our entire day and life. The motivation to get in shape may have initiated with bikini season or an event. The fitness results, however, should be life long.

Unfortunately many settle back into old unhealthy habits, but that's not the way fitness is supposed to work. We are living not realizing life is the event we are getting fit for.

I approach my fit lifestyle with a plan. My energy is highest in the morning, so I schedule my workouts accordingly. Starting my day with exercise enables me to feel great for the remainder of my 24/7 fitness shift.

The workout is not the only part of staying lean and muscular. Planning my nutrition plays a major role in maintaining my body. I have lots of healthy food ready to go and follow a 90/10 nutrition plan. I may relax some on the weekend shifting down to 80/20 allowing for a few treats. I also drink plenty of water and consider it an essential nutrient.

Fitness doesn't end at the workout but includes the 23-hours after sweating your butt off. Working out daily and turning around eating crappy on the regular isn't the definition of being fit. What we choose to eat, hours of sleep and even our stress levels determine our fitness.

When fitness becomes a habit, the healthy behavior is done without thought and going through the motions come naturally. Being fit is not a pretend or fake lifestyle. Your body always knows the truth of your actions. In fact, those who are closest to you will know exactly how you're living and if it represents health and fitness.

The choices we make throughout the day determine our fitness. When we adopt a fit lifestyle, it just feels normal. We don't think, we just do and it feels right. We are living our best life and feeling great about it. Our body represents the life we choose to live and what we do today affects today but also all our tomorrows.

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Maintenance is the Fitness Goal

Reaching fitness goals is a great accomplishment to be praised. Are you maintaining them is the question?

Fitness is not meant to be a temporary fix but a lifestyle of health and wellness. Sure, you may rock that suit and look good in those pictures but is that all fitness means?


True fitness success is when you live it daily. Eating healthy foods consistently and exercise is part of your normal routine. In fact, getting off track for too long doesn't feel right when living a healthy lifestyle. Fitness becomes a priority and excuses no longer get in the way. You refuse to return to being overweight, sick and nearly dead. You get the point.

I've seen too many people succeed at reaching goal weights, reduced body fat, and improved health and throw it all away. The belief system we can get away with returning to a few old habits snowballs. The purpose of dumping old ways is to learn and keep new and healthier methods. This is lacking and maintaining our health is suffering.

We need to focus not only on reaching our fitness goals but keeping them for life. Life is the event we are getting in shape for not bikini season. Forget the clothes and stand naked in front of your mirror. This will let you know if you're doing a great job of maintaining your fitness. I'm not talking about body and skin changes naturally occurring with aging. We all know the difference and also if we're not living a healthy life.




We show outwardly how we live inwardly. Your body keeps the most accurate record of what you're eating and drinking regardless of what you write down. Reaching fitness goals is possible because you have done it and maybe more than once. Instead of having to repeat getting back and shape, why not just stay in shape. Real talk all in fitness love.

Be well and Stay Healthy

Sorta Kinda Fitness Doesn't Work

We want to be fit, feel good and look great. You may be trolling the net right now for the newest fad diet or quick fix to fitness. We struggle with giving 100 percent to getting in shape the right way. We are stuck in sorta kinda fitness.

Sound familiar? We want results but just can't commit to a fit lifestyle. We blame others and ourselves for eating off track and make excuses for missing workouts. When we give a small percentage to doing it right expect small rewards in return.

We are wasting too much time and missing too many opportunities to get healthy. Why is that? What is going on in our lives where we stop making ourselves a priority? Instead of looking into the issue, we accept it as our normal. This is an unfortunate truth.

We have great intentions and even put in some effort to eat right and exercise. This is awesome and to be applauded. Something happens to halt the process. Our mind plays negative games, we may hear a hurtful comment, or not seeing results causes frustration.

Sorta kinda fitness also involves partying too much with friends or at home. Eating crappy food half the time and managing only one or two workouts per week. We can even be in denial about these behaviors. We believe living this way is fitness.

Resentment can be a problem with sorta-kinda fitness. We don't understand why we're not losing fat or not seeing muscle. More self-doubt and what's the use mentality creeps into our thoughts. It's time to take off the rose-colored fitness glasses.

Living a half-way fitness life is not giving your all to the program. Being in denial and pissed off about it doesn't help or change things.When we start taking responsibility for our health is when fitness happens. Fitness is a lifestyle and sorta kinda just doesn't work. Straight talk all in fitness love. Stay Healthy!

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Fake Health Foods Lead to Fake Fitness

Health food and marketing is big business. Depending on the health food subject, this can stimulate a soapbox moment for me. We have been hit hard with no-fat, low-fat, no sugar, no calories, gluten free and now unhealthy organics are making headway.

Whatever current health food trend is happening, food companies are figuring out ways to dupe the consumer. Do you really believe organic Ruffles, Doritos and Cheese Puffs are healthy?  Really!?

Sadly, consumers believe them to be healthy and are loading grocery carts full of unhealthy organic food items. Chips are chips, organic or not and probably one of the worst things to put in your body. Other food items try to squeak by stating they are minimally processed, but processed is processed.

Store shelves are lined with convenient organic items and granted some may be fabulous, but most are not. The ingredients tell the real story for anything in a box, bag or wrapper. If you can't understand or pronounce what's on the ingredient label, you better believe it's a chemical sh*t storm.

Many fitness enthusiasts rely on protein and energy bars. Have you looked at those labels? Most are the same as eating a candy bar. Health bars are also available in organic versions but does it make them any better? Removing pesticides are great but what about all those additives, sugar, and salt?

When it comes to buying any food, rely on the ingredient label and look for understandable quality ingredients. Fewer ingredients are more when it comes to packaged products.

We need to become wise consumers and discontinue believing fake health food marketing schemes. Eating a bag of organic chips post workout isn't muscle recovery food. Reaching for that energy bar may not be the best choice, and forget the organic white pasta.

Real organic food is just that, real in its raw state. Sometimes organics can even look ugly with blemishes and it ripens quickly. We need to get back to and understand real and whole organic food is what will keep us healthy.

We obtain optimal fitness, improved athletic performance, fat loss and muscle gain when we feed our body the good stuff.  Just because the label says organic, fat-free, gluten-free or any "free" doesn't mean healthy.  Be a wise shopper and eat what you understand. Keep it real and Stay Healthy!

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Why Do We Complicate Fitness?

The only hard thing about fitness is negative thoughts about the process. We convince ourselves a boring diet is needed and endless hours of exercise are required. We go as far as considering it a burden and a cramp in our lifestyle. Instead of turning our nose up at the very thought of getting healthy, maybe rethinking the process is all that's needed.

Do you think people decades ago farming for a living to survive working from sunrise to sunset worried about a diet? They may have spent hours doing physical labor, but it was a lifestyle and eating healthy was part of it. Nothing complicated, just some sweat, and eating home cooking straight from the garden. Their bodies represented how they lived. Unfortunately, this has been replaced by couch potato channel surfing, stuffing our faces with processed food and diets that don't work.

Getting fit doesn't take a miracle diet and certainly isn't a secret to accomplishing the goal. The problem is within our thoughts and unrealistic expectations. You want to lose 20 pounds in a week and look like a fitness model. Not going to happen. We also want the process to be an easy quick fix requiring no workouts and drinking magic shakes while remaining on our sofas. Wake up America!

Being fit and healthy is really simple. Eat greens, grains, lean meats, healthy fats, drink lots of water and exercise at least 3 times per week. Nothing hard about it and it's not a diet. Why is this process considered boring, tasteless, and the end of fun in life? Society and marketing have done a great job brainwashing people to believe a load of crap.

Eating a fresh organic crisp apple or perfectly grilled chicken breast are not what I call horrible. Are you kidding me?  Remember eating celery stuffed with peanut butter? Now that's a healthy treat full of flavor and fun. Being fit will take tossing the food myths and getting real with your thoughts about health. It will also require you to move your butt off the couch and into the gym. Exercise is what you enjoy. Love basketball? Start playing. Enjoy dancing?  Look into a Zumba class. I like to use the jungle gyms at parks and play around on those doing pull-ups, step-ups, and triceps dips for example. No more excuses or belief that fitness is complicated. It's time we all embrace the simplicity of the process and have fun on the journey.

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Be well and Stay Healthy!

             

Why I Celebrate New Year But Not Resolutions

Happy New Year everyone and I hope you enjoyed an amazing time with family and friends. I was thinking about resolutions and have to honestly say - not impressed. Mostly because resolutions are often just a temporary condition.

Do you know the word resolution in terms of New Years means a commitment to yourself? This is awesome, and I celebrate everyone who is keeping their promise. I hope to help motivate you along the way this year to continue living a healthy lifestyle.

I do have my opinions about things, not to offend, but I do like to make points about important subjects regarding health and fitness. If you're a blog follower, you know I am very candid and no BS person and trainer. I hold nothing back when it comes to motivating you with my life.

Moving onto the subject of resolutions and my thoughts. I don't feel a special day is required to make a commitment to improving your health. Each day should be a commitment to do your best with making healthy choices. Are we on the same page?

I celebrate and enjoy each New Year and what that represents. Did I do my best this past year and what can I do even better moving forward? This is what I ponder about New Year. I may cheer this reflection with a glass of wine and quality time with friends and family.

The fitness industry is a multi-billion dollar business ready for you on what is considered their biggest money-making holiday each year. Companies marketing fitness products are saying everything you want to hear from quick weight loss, increased muscle size, and improved athletic performance. As consumers, many of you are believing the claims and overspending on pseudo fitness.

Another thing about New Year is many feel validated in eating, drinking, and smoking as much as possible until resolution day. Talk about unhealthy thinking and sorry people, this is not how New Year should be celebrated. It's not a free ticket to party on because somehow overnight you are going to change.

I so disagree with this attitude and mostly because so-called resolutions that everyone makes are seldom kept. In fact, studies indicate they fizzle out within a 4-week period. So, all that overeating, weight gain, hangovers, and stress overload is for nothing. It's an excuse to be negligent with your body and health. Sounds harsh but it's the truth.

Instead of feeling entitled to disregard your health heading into New Year, it would be better to adopt an appreciation for being a fit person and celebrating that accomplishment.

As far as resolutions are concerned, I believe in daily resolutions. These would be choices and changes to improve your life each day, not just for a month. This may include improved ways to exercise, getting more rest, or spending quality time with your spouse. You get the point.

New Year is a meaningful way to celebrate your healthy achievements during a 365-day period. It's a fabulous celebration and reflection of the past year and the New Year to come. If you are making a resolution to become healthier and New Year just so happens to be the day of that choice, my advice is to take it seriously and really make it a priority.

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Be well and Stay Healthy