|
We're always trying to improve on things. We spend countless hours watching videos, reading articles, following others advice, etc., and now during this coronavirus epidemic we have even more idle time to fill with do those kinds of self improvement activities. The one thing, often the last thing we do if we even do it at all, is to spend the time and energy to look inwards and make sure we're in the right place to do any of those new or additional external things in the first place. I'm not saying that you shouldn't try to improve on what you do until you've mastered yourself, more so I believe that you should spend more time looking inward and trying to improve on yourself from the inside than you do on looking for improvements from the outside in. Let me give you an example. You can read all the articles in the world, watch as many how-to videos as you want, and see a multitude of others examples of diets for fat loss, but if you don't have the self-mastery to follow through, you simply wont succeed to the point of mastering your diet or anything else that you're pursuing. Sure you'll have improvements and small successes and for most people that often ends up being good enough. A constant back and forth that can easily consume a lifetime, or at least part of it, until you move on to something else to consume your time. But if good enough isn't enough for you and you want to master something, to reach your potential, you'll have to invest the time and energy to look inward for necessary improvements. Here's a simple self diagnostic and self improvement activity that you can try at home during covid-19: ELIMINATION 1 1. Pick 2 fixed times per day, for the next 2 weeks, that you can look and use you phone for a maximum of 30 minutes consecutively (no splitting). This should allow 99% of people enough time to do what they actually NEED to do on their cell phone, as opposed to doing that what needs to be done by some other means. SELF-CHECK 2. If you fail at this no cost experiment, you should probably spend some time on mastering yourself and save the money you were about to spend on diet supplements, your new diet grocery list, and your 3 times per week-I'm gonna lose 30lbs for July-training sessions. ELIMINATION 2 3. Repeat step 1 until you get it done. Then try it again but by eliminating all sugar containing products (anything with more than 10% sugar content or more than 10g of sugar per meal) for 4 weeks. SELF-MASTERY LEVEL 1 ACHIEVED 4. Once you've succeeded at these 2 elimination tests, you can try your hand at a 6-12 week diet plan and then you can thank me later for all the $ savings and the ultimate improvement in self-mastery and results. UNTIL NEXT BLOG 5. BE FIT. BE STRONG. BE BETTER. P.S. bonus tip: it's always nicer to have a guide when starting a new journey, even if that journey is one that you're taking within....to that end, don't be shy to seek the guidance of a wholistic professional. This is different from just a professional. For example, if you suffer from migraines you could go to your family or walk-in doctor, who is a medical doctor and a professional, to ask for help and they will give you a medicine to address your migraine problem from the outside in OR you could go to a wholistic professional like "the migraine professional" who will look to address you as a whole and all the underlying causes of your migraines from the inside out. Migraine sufferers CLICK HERE. 
0 Comments
Granted there are many ways and many things that you can do to minimize injuries and improve performance, but today I'm going to talk about 1 simple way that you can do both at the same time. Let's skip the long preamble and get right into it.....if you want to avoid injuries and improve your performance you should spend less time training what you're strongest in and more time training what you're weakest in. Yes, that's it! Short and sweet......simple right?.....while it sure seems like common sense, often common sense isn't common practice. We humans tend to gravitate towards activities that give us positive feedback, those activities that make us feel good most often, so we typically tend to spend more time training the things that we give us that gratification. Whether your doing more bicep curls (because your biceps grow better than your calves and you get the most compliments year round for your arms and not for those things below your knee caps) or you're doing more swinging in the batting cage instead of catching in the outfield (because everyone talks more about the the home runs you hit than the steady catch plays you make), you're probably spending more time perfecting what you're already stronger at and what gives you the most gratification right now. That's all fine and dandy until you take a few more steps down that road. Whether it's imbalances or weaknesses due to this type of over-under training, as times goes on your chances of failure and injury start to increase exponentially. This is why so many great single talent athletes can't sustain their success, and why so many others can't keep injuries away. Working on a well rounded physique or skills set not only forces you to give your too often practiced activities a break, it also reinforces the "whole" of your body and your game. You'll have a lot harder time making it to the end of the road if you've only checked one or two boxes. The road is long whether you're 8 or 48, it's just a different road, so start working on your weakest links now. If you're looking for a performance supplement recommendation, I can give you 2 depending on your desired outcome: 1. if you want to boost power and explosiveness try this supplement CLICK HERE. Take 0.15 grams per lb of body weight for 5 days followed by a 2-5 grams per day maintenance dose depending on your level of activity and weight . 2. if you want to boost high-intensity performance and lactic acid threshold, try this supplement CLICK HERE. Take 4-6 grams per day for 4 weeks, followed by 1.5-3 grams for 4 weeks. Bonus Tip, these 2 supplements are synergistic so they can be taken together. Until Next Time, Be Fit. Be Strong. Be Better. TEAM FITNESS ETC  I remember growing up in the 80's and the music on the radio being softer. Looking back at the same time, I remember how the people were a lot harder. Everyone seemed to have had a thicker skin, less complaining, less woe is me, and more willingness to grind through anything and everything. Now you might be asking yourself, 'what the hell does this have to do with fitness?'......well allow me to explain.... Today as I look around at the fitness industry, which is very much a small reflection of our society at large, I feel as though things have changed on a human level, and not necessarily for the better. I hear the music being played and so much of the lyrics and the beats and the attitudes give off a "hardness" that people hear and transpose onto themselves. Then I actually look around and reflect on what is actually going on and I see how much "softer", thin skinned, whinny, and "path of least effort" seeking we've become. I'm not saying everything is bad by any means. We've had a lot improvements on many levels, however, when it comes to our general composition, we've become softer. I see just about everyone, myself included, often looking for the machine, the pill, the program, the anything-everything-just something that will allow for less effort, less burden, less soul, less heart, less sweat. Progress has made most if not all of our jobs and daily efforts easier to some degree or another, but at the same time as a society we've moved in the opposite direction and become more whinny about the less that's left to be done. Nowadays when I see people having to wait an extra 10 seconds for anything, they react as if such a large burden has been placed on them. When you ask someone to do anything a little more laborious, they will react as if you're an alien with unrealistic expectations. When you give someone the truth of the matter, they will take the same offense as if you had just insulted them. And when you look for someone to step up and actually grind their way to acknowledgment and success, you're left wanting. So here's a little breakdown for you, when it comes to fitness: 1. Yes, you have to cut out the crappy food if you ever want to change your external appearance or your internal health. 2. No, the music, the shows, the social media, and the other entertainment, that you consume and regurgitate, does not make you something that you're not "actually living" day-in and day-out. 3. Yes, you will have to show up, sweat, strain, and travel the long road if you want to succeed. 4. No, there is no pill, machine, or other accessory that can make up for a lack of work. 5. Yes, all of the above is actual fact and No, reading or hearing otherwise won't make it true. Cheers to a little sip of hard reality! Until next time, Be Fit. Be Strong. Be Better. P.S. If you're looking for a little help with breaking some of your bad habits, here's a pretty good book that could help CLICK HERE.  One of the main goals for anyone that spends time in the gym is to gain muscle. I find that a lot of people believe that to gain more they have to workout more. While there can be some truth to this belief, it does come with a big caveat: more training will lead to more gains ONLY when your body has the capacity to do so. What this means is, that in order for you to benefit from more training, a lot of stars have to align...do you sleep enough, do you eat right, are you functioning mentally, physically, and emotionally well, do your genetics support more training/muscle, are you on ergogenic aids that support more growth, etc. With the belief that you have to train more to gain more, it is very common for trainees to over train. Over training is one of the leading causes of both plateaus and injuries. Just because you feel really sore it doesn't mean that you've done an awesome workout and you're going to reap way more benefits as a results. In fact, it often means the opposite...you've exceeded your capacity and are now more likely to reap less benefits. Now sure, over training can be a tool for progress, but in the real world, this is really only true in the hands of advanced trainees and/or trainers. In almost all other cases, it's akin to a scalpel in the hands of a bear. If you really want to gain more muscle you have to learn exactly how much, and what type of training is perfect for you and when. If you're well rested and everything else is on point maybe you will benefit from a strong 55 minute workout. Whereas, if you're just getting into the gym for the first time, or back into the gym after a long time, you will probably benefit more from starting with a 25 minute workout, working your way back up to more volume over the next 2 weeks and benefiting from each session and increase, than pumping out a killer 75 minute session your first day in and handicapping the rest of your training and physical adaptations for the whole week. So the next time you're getting ready to hit the gym, just try to keep one thing in mind...your level of soreness does not equate to your level of progress. TRY THIS: on your first training session back into the gym, try to see if you can make yourself sore the following day by doing just a short but intense 25 minute workout. If you can, a job well done, this is something you should be able to do if you train hard enough despite your workout only being 25 minutes long. From there you can gradually increase your training time to accommodate more volume or higher intensity sessions (require longer breaks) as needed. After about 4 to 8 weeks of the same focus, you can switch it up and start back with a new focus and a 25 minute starting session. Bonus Tip: using 10 grams of bcaa's (CLICK HERE) + 2 grams of taurine (CLICK HERE) before and after your workouts can help minimize DOMS, delayed onset muscle soreness, and improve your overall results. Until Next Blog, BE FIT. BE STRONG. BE BETTER.  |
FITNESS ETC
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
FITNESS ETC INC. GYMS. CLUBS. TENNIS COURTS. SQUASH COURTS. CLASSES. LEAGUES. PERSONAL TRAINING. THERAPY. SPORTS.
AND MUCH MORE.
PROUDLY CANADIAN. INDEPENDENTLY OWNED. ESTABLISHED IN 2010.
Fitness Etc Inc is committed to protecting the privacy of personal information. Personal information obtained in the course of conducting our business will not be collected, used, or disclosed, except in compliance with governing legislation, including Canada`s Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act and Ontario`s Personal Information Protection Act . For further information on our Privacy Policy, contact our Privacy Officer at info@fitnessetc.ca. We may revise our Privacy Policy from time to time. You are responsible for checking this Policy. If you do not agree with our Policy, you should cease use of the site immediately.
AND MUCH MORE.
PROUDLY CANADIAN. INDEPENDENTLY OWNED. ESTABLISHED IN 2010.
Fitness Etc Inc is committed to protecting the privacy of personal information. Personal information obtained in the course of conducting our business will not be collected, used, or disclosed, except in compliance with governing legislation, including Canada`s Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act and Ontario`s Personal Information Protection Act . For further information on our Privacy Policy, contact our Privacy Officer at info@fitnessetc.ca. We may revise our Privacy Policy from time to time. You are responsible for checking this Policy. If you do not agree with our Policy, you should cease use of the site immediately.
© 2017 FitnessETC
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.