Posts Tagged ‘Personal trainer’

Excuses & Meme’s…The Great American Way! Part II

Please read part I posted last week to shed light on what I am about to suggest in this post.  Last week I told you that all of us have meme’s and that they act to impede our fitness and nutrition goals.  Today I would like to give you some simple steps that you can apply to change your current mindset so that you can obtain the lifestyle that you truly deserve.

Step #1:  Acknowledge that you make excuses:

No, you’re not in AA but this first step CANNOT be overlooked. If you do, you will pay the price of failing.  You make excuses…yes you do.  There is absolutely nobody that is exempt from excuse making and you are no exception.  That is ok.  The good news is that you can change your mind once you identify your excuses and memes. 

Step #2: Write down all of your excuses and memes:

This is more of a process.  For the next 30 days I want you to write down all of the excuses and memes that you make to yourself.  See last weeks post for examples.

Step #3: State the opposite:

Once you have written down all of your most annoying excuses and memes you need to write down the exact opposite.  For example if you say, “I am too tired to exercise after work”, write down “Because I am proactive and take responsibility for my life, I will exercise before work to increase my energy level”. 

Step #4: Change your Sub-Conscience Mind: 

Your sub-conscience mind is the part of the brain that stores all of your habits.  It steers the proverbial ship.  This is where the vast majority of all your behaviors are stored and processed.  To change your sub-conscience mind you have to do the following things.

            a. Convince it that it is wrong:  You do this by stating the exact opposite of your memes.  The very moment that a negative or damming thought enters your head you must replace it with the opposite thought…even if you have to say it out loud.

            b. Construct a list of positive affirmations:  On this list could be something like “I am in control of my eating at all times”, or “Exercising daily is just part of who I am”. 

            c. Repeat your list of affirmations daily, morning and night: Do this when you first awake and before you go to sleep.  The goal is to be in a relaxed state where not much will bother you and where your mind can be at ease. 

            d. Be in a state of believing:  When you are repeating your affirmations, do so in a state of positivity and optimism

Step #5: Disarm your alarm system!

When you begin doing these simple steps your brain will tell you that you are crazy and that you are acting weird or like a moron.  This is normal because your brain is still convinced of the validity of your previous mindset of excuses and memes.  Persistence is the key here.  If you persist and repeat your affirmations day after day you will begin to believe the things that you are telling yourself and BECAUSE YOU BELIEVE YOURSELF YOU WILL ACT ON IT!  Yes your behavior will start to change in a way that you never imagined possible.

Step #6:  Realize that you never “Arrive”.

We live in a world of complacency, feeling entitled and laziness.  If you are not constantly reinforcing your sub-conscience mind, rest assured you will slip back into old ways.  Stay focused and realize that you have to be proactive to win the battle.  Things will not magically work out for the best if you are not constantly bathing your mind with the things that you want to accomplish.

Step #7 Action:

This is where it is time to get off your butt and get into action.  You can have the most wonderful meditation sessions of visualizations and imagery known to mankind, but if you don’t move you will never change your behavior.  It is much easier to shed your old excuses when you see yourself doing the opposite of them.  Soon you will be excuse free!

Step #8 Making it Long-Term:

Realize from the get-go that this is about lifestyle change for the long-term!  Never allow any short-sightedness to enter the picture here.  When you are planning your visualizations and affirmations make them long term.  You want to adopt a mindset of permanency.

 Well there you have it my friends!  Properly applied these principles can and will change your lifestyle for the better.  Start applying them today…there is absolutely no room for procrastination here.  Remember…life is good!

Remember that there is a difference between a snack and a meal.  A meal is fully BALANCED meaning that it contains all three macro-nutrient ratio’s (Carbs, protein, fat) in the correct ratio.  For example putting together a snack would mean nothing more than slamming a few crackers and calling it good, whereas if you want to make it a meal you would have to put some protein in there as well such as a protein shake, yogurt, cottage cheese…you get the point.  You may be asking yourself, “well what about the fat?”  Remember a simple little saying, “the fat will follow”.  What this means is that if you are actively trying to get a low glycemic carbohydrate and a quality low-fat protein, then you DON’T have to worry about adding the fat in…it will naturally occur in about a 20% ratio if you are choosing healthy choices.

 Below are some simple suggestions to spark your mind.  Following the food list, you will find suggestions for quick, balanced, on the run suggestions.

Quick-On-The-Go-Meals

The only thing that you may need with these meals is a mini cooler with ice or a micro-wave oven.  These meals are designed to be quick and easy and worker friendly.

          1- Sandwiches:  Just remember to limit the condiments, dressing and cheese.  These items add fat calories galore!  Egg salad sandwiches work great as well!  Just remember to limit the egg yolks in the mixture and you should be great! 

2-Whole Grain pasta’s:  You may be saying “what, pasta?  That is not quick!”  Hear me out…This can actually be one of the quickest ways to have a pre-made meal.  All you do if make a big serving of whole grain pasta that will last for 2-4 servings and pre-dress it with a healthy sauce (low sugar/fat) and then you have a quick meal ready to be eating at any time.  The only drawback to this is that you may need  microwave to warm it up.

3-Protein Bars balanced with fiber:  It is not enough to just have a protein bar and call it good.  You need to balance that bar with adequate fiber.  So be sure to take along a baggie of pre-cut veggies and fruit to go along with your bar and you will be set for the next three hours. 

4-RTD’s (Ready-To-Drink Meals):  These have become popular in the last decade due to their extreme convenience.  To give you an example of what I am talking about just think of EAS’s Myo-Plex Shakes.  They are pre-packaged shakes that need to be refrigerated and that is just about it.  Just as the protein bars you need to balance this meal with a serving of veggies and/or a serving of fruit.

5-Left-Overs:  This is something that can make your life a whole lot more enjoyable!  If you have more of a formal dinner with healthy recipes (such as in this book) you can intentionally make more servings and package up the rest for later…all you need is a microwave!

6-Pre-made protein shakes:  This is an economical choice because all you have to do is buy a big 5lb jug of Whey Protein and then make 5-6 pre-made shakes and keep them in your fridge.

7-Whole Grain Crackers and a Protein source:  Triscuits, wheat thins, or any other low-sugar/fat cracker combined with a protein source such as tuna fish, yogurt, cottage cheese, lean deli-meat, or any other protein source such as a pre-made shake.

8-Salads:  If you can grab an extra ten minutes the night before and prepare a salad, they make great convienance meals.  You may need a fridge or you can keep it in your cooler if you are on the road.  Just be sure to spice up your salad with adequate protein such as shredded chicken or turkey to keep the protein high.

9-Whole Grain Cereals:  Yes you can have breakfast for your meals if you need to!  Just be sure that it is whole grain and low-sugar/fat…sound familiar?

 Well there you have it my friends!  Some of the fastest meals available for all of you busy people out there!  Remember life is good and I will see you next week!

In my nearly 10 years of service in the health and fitness industry I have seen a common thread among those who fail at changing their lifestyle.  That thread I am referring to is that of excuse making!  We all have them and we all know deep down that they hinder our efforts to succeed in every way. 

Dr. Wayne W. Dyer in his book, Excuses Begone! states that excuses if used enough become a reality within our own minds even if they are not true.  He call’s these states of mind, “memes”, named after a branch of Psychology called Memetics.  Memes are nothing more than a certain perception, understanding, view, or paradigm that we hold in our mind that we treasure as truth.

Memes can be good or bad.  For example, in my own life I choose to entertain the meme that I am a “work-horse” and my actions follow through on a daily basis.  If kept in proper balance this meme serves me in a positive way.  On the other hand I have seen many people suffering with negative memes.  I will list a few of them below as they pertain to achieving and maintaining a healthy and fit lifestyle.

• “I just don’t have time to workout”
• “I am way too busy to get to the gym or go running today”
• “I am too stressed to eat right”
• “Eating clean is too time consuming”
• “Eating healthy is expensive and time consuming”
• “I don’t have the self-control to reach my fitness goals”
• “I have failed in the past so why try now”
• “That’s just the way I am”
• “I can’t lose weight because of my genetics”
• “My family does not support my efforts so I cannot succeed in my goals”
• “It’s just my luck”

I could go on for four more pages of excuses and memes but I think you get the point.  I can hear many of you thinking right now…”well those aren’t necessarily excuses; those are merely realities to be dealt with.  Ok, I will not disagree entirely with that contention, BUT what I want to point out in the following recovery program is that ALL of the aforementioned excuses are memes…that is they do not have control over us, and they are not foregone conclusions.  I really boils down to what our priorities are and what we need to do to change them.  In this weeks blog I will share the first 5 and next week I will conclude.

 Step: #1  Recognize that an excuse in just that…an excuse! 

This sounds simple enough but it is the hardest step of them all.  It is hard to get past our ego’s that constantly stand on guard and try to defend our self made realities (excuses) as though we are merely helpless victims that have no say in what happens to us or our ability to change our lives for the better. 

Step #2:  Recognize that your excuses are barriers to changing your lifestyle.

Once we know that we are making excuses (step #1), we are then able to be proactive and realize that our excuses are actual barriers standing in the way of our health and fitness success.  This is a step of realization and reality check.  Please use this step as an opportunity to change your perceptions of your “false realities”.  Take each excuse in isolation and put it under an magnifying glass…ask yourself how this particular excuse has helped you succeed in the past and then be honest enough with yourself to recognize that it hasn’t.  This may sound cheesy, but I encourage you to give it an honest effort…you will find this to be extremely helpful in weeding out the excuses in your life.

Step #3:  Be the opposite!

Here is where I want you to be proactive.  I want you to literally write down every excuse that you can think of.  Write it on a piece of paper with a line down the middle.  In the first column write down your excuse, and then in the second column write down the exact opposite.  For example, if you use the common excuse of “I don’t have any time”, you would then write down the opposite of, “I am creative and capable enough to find time to workout”.  The real key here is to act on the opposite statements that you are writing down.  Your subconscious mind will only start to believe the opposite statements if and when you start to live that way.   Please do not skimp on this step…it is vital to your progress.

Step #4 Create a success road map.

Now that you have all your excuses written down and you are actively trying to do their direct opposite, you will now benefit by putting together a plan of attack.  A synonym for this might be goal setting. I suggest the following steps for your road map.

            -Step #1:  Begin from the end.  What do you ultimately want to accomplish?  Take a picture of somebody you would like to look like.  Keep in mind if you are over 50 and you pull out a picture of a 25 year-old bodybuilder you are setting yourself up for failure.  Please remember to stay realistic.

            -Step #2: Have a plan A and B and Possibly C.  This is where preparation is paramount.  Say for example fast food is a weakness of yours because you like the convenience.  To overcome this you would plan your healthy meals the night before OR you can plan to eat somewhere healthier instead of a fast food joint.  Prepare daily!  There truly is no substitute for this!  I promise you that you need to have back up plans for the tough times.

            -Step #3:  Plan around your weaknesses!  It makes no sense to plan for your strengths…that is why they are your strengths!  It is your weaknesses that impede you every time!  So when making your goals plan, your attack plan directly targeted at your weakness!   For example, let’s say that you are a mid-night snacker, and it is contributing to weight gain.  A sensible plan would be to make sure that you are prepared in the day time and that you are eating more healthy frequent meals so that you don’t feel famished by the night time.

Step 5: Switch Paradigms! 

Remember that your current mindset is filled with excuses that have kept you where you are at right now…in a stagnant state filled with no victories!  What I want you to do, is to start thinking differently.  Steps 1-3 will help you with this immensely!  Be positive rather than negative.  Be optimistic rather than pessimistic.  Be happy rather than depressed!  Sometimes we like to think of ourselves as helpless little victims that have no choice in the matter when in fact we have all the say in the world.  Even your mood is a decision you make.

I promise you that you have the ability to change your mind so that all of those tired, worn-out excuses do not make it into your mind!  It will take time, discipline and hard mental work but you must do it or you will fall victim to your current mindset that has gotten you nowhere so far.

Well there you have it my friends!  Next week I will delve into the next 5 steps that can effect positive changes in your life.  Until then stay positive and APPLY what you have learned today.  Remember that life truly is good.

In good health,

Griff

 Darryl and Pamela Silberman.  Ben Flint trains them at our Layton Branch and is constantly raving about them.  After I looked at the following stat’s I can understand why.

- Darryl:
Waist came down 3.5″
Abdomen came down 4″
Chest came up .25″
Biceps came up .75″
Forearm came up .45″
Original resting heart rate was 82bpm, current resting heart rate <68bpm.
YMCA Step Test original recovery heart rate was 132bpm, after retest it was 84bpm.
1RM Bench Press retest was 117% of original test.
1RM Leg Press retest was 208% of original test.
Total Cholesterol at beginning of program was 268, current blood lipid profile seven weeks later at time of retest revealed it to be 116 currently.

Body Fat came down from 21.1% to 15.6% in seven weeks.  Darryl is on an advanced PHA program now, is gaining desired muscle still and his body fat is still dropping!!

Pamela:
Waist came down 2.75″
Abdomen came down 3″
YMCA Step Test original recovery heart rate was 142bpm, after retest it was 102bpm.
1RM Bench Press retest was 155% of original test.
1RM Leg Press retest was 139% of original test.

Body Fat came down from 26.0% to 16.5% in seven weeks and is still dropping as well as she is doing extremely well on a hypertrophy program now, gaining desired muscle, losing fat, and her lifts are climbing just as quickly!!

 Both of these clients have made permanent lifestyle change, have become extremely well educated in nutrition and are living the Lifelong Fitness philosophy of healthy lifestyle management.

Late last month I posted the first addition to this posting.  I used a hypothetical scenario between a trainer and a beginning client.  You may have noticed that this particular client named “John” was super motivated to begin a new fitness program initially…and then the excuses started to pour in.  This is what I want to touch on today.

Have you ever been in John’s shoes?  Have you ever been super charged and motivated to change your lifestyle only to have your motivation supplanted by your busy schedule? Maybe you are in a high pressure situation at work?  Or maybe you have screaming children demanding your attention or the overwhelming temptation to rest and veg in front of the TV after a long days work?  Whatever your life may look like it is easy to edge exercise out in the name of being busy.  I contend that every time we use an excuse such as “I am too busy” to exercise we might as well say to everybody in the room that “exercise is not a PRIORITY to me yet”. 

Listed below is a checklist that you must be able to answer affirmatively to BEFORE you start your lifestyle change program: 

1-   Have I made my new fitness/nutrition program and absolute PRIORITY in my life?

This is where you need to sit in solitude and really search you soul…sounding cheesy?  This is an absolute necessity!  This is a time for you to dig deep within yourself and discover your readiness to make a lifelong change.  If you find that you are hesitant, doubtful, fearful, or indifferent to making this change then you need to stop and re-evaluate your priorities.  If you find that you are indeed able to make time to exercise on a daily basis then go for it and never look back.  The bottom line here is that you absolutely cannot start a new lifestyle while sitting on the fence.  If work/life is too busy and too important for this change then back off for a while and wait until you are in the doctor’s office dealing with Diabetes…you will then understand that this truly is a priority not just a luxury to be enjoyed at your convenience.

2- Take an inventory of your EXCUSES and then throw them out the window

This is a great exercise that is imperative to do before starting your program.  While still in the same solitude of soul searching I want you to physically write down ALL of the excuses that you have that stand in the way of you accomplishing your goals!  Each and every last one of them!  I don’t care if you think they are “valid” or not, write them all down.  I am not saying that you are not busy…please do not misunderstand.  What I am saying is that all of these excuses are just mis managed priorities.  Nobody is telling you to quit your job or abandon your family…quite the contrary, read on.

3.  Re-Prioritize!

Now I want you to write down your Daily schedule.  I understand that it may fluctuate…that is not the point.  I want you to FIND the time that will work best for you to exercise and make that your permanent time if possible.  If your schedule fluctuates you are going to have to make some omissions to make time for exercise.  Not possible you say?  NONSENSE!  I want you to be a grown up here and MAKE EXERCISE A PRIORITY!  Stop fooling yourself with every excuse that you find yourself making. Do you see what I am saying here?  All of those excuses may be important but if they are more important than exercise then what you are telling me exercise is not important and I cannot buy that one.  It is time to make a paradigm shift and make exercise a priority.  One last thought…do not skimp on writing this one down!  Physically writing it down into your planner will give you the psychological benefit of knowing that you are indeed making it a priority!  Write out your dailey and weekly schedule with exercise included. Now I want you to RESPECT it!  I don’t care how busy you are, when it comes time for your exercise time it is time to put those important things aside temporarily and fulfill your obligation period…no excuses…just do it.   

4. Commit and Burn your Bridge

A fabled general was once said to take his army across the sea to fight a battle of enormous importance.  As he reached the shore, he gathered his troops rallied them and lit the ship on fire.  He continued, “As you can see we have no way of retreat now, we either conquer or perish”.  They won.  Why did they win?  Because they knew they had no other choice.

So how can you burn your proverbial bridge with your new lifestyle?  Here are a few suggestions.

-Inform your family, peers, and friends.  Be specific and tell them when you are starting and what you are doing.  Enlist them as allies and help them help you stay on track.  Make no secrets and make every intention known.  Essentially what you are doing is setting up a convenient accountability system that will make it very hard to fail.

-Set SMART Goals:  The S stands for Specific.  The M stands for Measurable.  The A stands for Accountability.  The R stands for Realistic, and finally the T stands for a Time Table.  This is a great way to make and keep goals that will help you change for the rest of your life.

-Never let the words “I will start tomorrow” leave your lips:  You have committed and you do not have the luxury of turning back now!  If you slip a day, pick yourself up…you are not off the hook, but rather recommitting to the goals that you have written down.

5. Adopt a mindset of Permananency! 

Even though I just advocated SMART goals that call for a time table, your overall goal and focus needs to be set on changing your lifestyle permanently!  If you are getting ready for a cruise great…that is great motivation but what I am asking you to do is adopt a mindset that transcends time limits.  This is the way you are going to be living for the rest of your life!  Five, ten, twenty five years from now you will still be living this healthy lifestyle. 

Well there you have it my friends!  I enjoy a quote from Dr. Wayne W. Dyer stating, “Excuses are nothing more than an option out of the life that you would like to live”.  Please do not short change yourself with tired, worn out excuses that will do nothing more than hamper your efforts to succeed long term.  You deserve better.  God speed and good luck!