Happy Monday Team, hopefully those of you that are like me and got pummeled with snow have come out the other side or you know, dug yourselves out of it. Now then, right into today's subject, how many of you started a 30-day, 6-week, or whatever odd time frame, challenge at the turn of the new year? Have you found success with it? I’m mostly talking about, have you learned anything in that time frame? Hopefully at the very least, you learned that challenges that make you be super strict  and rigid, for a length of time like that, are not sustainable.
 
I know I said at the beginning of the month I was OK with things that get you moving, anything, but I do have to add a caveat to that and it’s things like these super restrictive challenges and fear mongering folks into eating half the calories they probably actually need to function as a human,I’m not super into them. If it gets you moving and started on your fitness, great, but there’s a few key points that you should keep in mind for your lifelong training plan.

It should be sustainable, it’s a marathon, not a sprint. Even if you reach the goal you were seeking, there’s always new goals to look towards. Just ask yourself, is this something you could do for the rest of your life, if you had to, and have a vastly positive outcome over a negative one? If the answer is no, adjust to something you’ll be able to do for a much longer period. You can always make alterations but be sure the base is a solid one you can do forever.
 
You must have consistency, hit your targets as often as possible. Whether it’s with your eating, enough protein, enough water, vegetables, etc.., or your workouts, 3 days a week, 4 days a week, whatever, hit them consistently. A miss now and again will not end it all but doing things in bursts RARELY works (see sustainable). The answer to the question in your head is, yes 30 days is a short burst in comparison 20-30+ years. Being consistent, as often as you can, will build little victory on little victory. All those will add up with a little patience, so just keep at it.
 
It needs to be a regiment for you. There is no single regiment that is perfect for everyone. There’s a reason that most coaches will put a plan together that’s meant for you when it comes to programming, it can evolve over time as your goals change, but still, it’s yours. Can they look similar? Absolutely, but they will be different in many nuanced ways. When it’s right for you, it’s not a chore and almost feels like a no brainer. That takes a lot more time than 30 days to ingrain into your life.

That is the bit I have for you all today folks. If you are participating in one of those challenges, and it got you moving. That's great, once it's over, I really hope you can find a routine that's sustainable for the entirety of your life. Have a great week folks and thanks for tuning in!

Good Monday morning to you all, last full week on January, how's everyone feeling about it? It's been a doozie of a year so far for some, I'm sure. OK, today's subject, when it comes to fitness, and really life in general, there are so many numbered measurements to put to use and tell us how we are doing, relatively. They do come in handy and are a good tools to help you form an idea of which direction you are trending, but sometimes we obsess just a tiny bit too much about numbers. Even in the business world, if all you obsess about is the numbers (profit, income, etc…) you miss the forest for the trees and risk losing your way.
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In fitness there’s a ton of figures that you can draw on to measure your progress, weight, body fat, clothing sizes, BMI, calories, weight on the bar or in your hand, time it takes to do a mile and…you get the point.

General Salutation on this Tuesday everyone, hope everyone out there has managed the first few weeks of 2022 quite well. As we all know, the new year tends to get people thinking of ways to improve themselves and don’t worry I’m not here to bash that idea, I promise.
 
I think something we can start to look at when it comes to our new year improvement ideas, is habit based as opposed to motivation based, and that’s not really a new thing either. What I hope we can shift towards (or away from) is that any new habit in the morning that you establish with this calendar turning chaos, is a good one. We all know most people from the fitness industry (or worse “influencers”) are going to be about doing stretching, 10 pushups, going for a 10 minute run, or meditating. None of those are bad mind you, I’m of the idea that any new habit you establish to improve yourself is a good one.

The reason I believe this is because, let’s face it, so many out there are not operating with a ton of good habits to begin with. They have habits, but they are likely less conducive to longevity, health or a rewarding existence. Too, when someone has established a single beneficial habit; reading, making themselves breakfast, writing down things for the day, throwing away all their goop products, so on, you can then stack another beneficial habit on top of that one (thank you BJ Fogg). For myself as a trainer and coach, I’m figuring at some point one of those stacked habits is going to be something fitness or physical health related, double thumps up for that when it happens. When that happens, we'll work on refining it, but I'm good with anything that benefits the individual these days.
 
So, if you’ve got a new habit that you’ve started to add to your morning routine, I’m here to say, if it’s not fitness related, but beneficial to your life, good on you and keep that shit going! Hopefully that'll help keep some that are feeling like they're on a good track, on said good track. With that, this is where I leave you and wish everyone a great week, thanks for your time!