The Weekender, Fitness Blog: A Health, Fitness, and Sports Blog

A keto diet...

1/6/2019

There's many diets to choose from, that is for sure. You have the Dubrow Diet, Paelo Diet, Keto Diet, and the list goes on.

So what do all of these diets have in common...

Each of these diets benefits from adding in exercise/activity.
Each of these diets cuts out crap carbs.
Each of these diets benefits from fasting.
And each diet only works if you actually stick to it.

So what do you do from here...

Pick any of these diets, or none of them, it doesn't matter, as long as you stick to the change, stop eating/snacking 24/7, cut out the crap, and throw in a little activity.

It really is that simple.

See you at the gym,
Team Fitness Etc

Your success will depend on...

1/5/2019

Whatever your goals may be, achieving success may feel complicated.

But it doesn't have to feel that way!

Even though the road to achieving success for any particular goal may be long and winding, the underlying, and only single real factor that determines your ability to follow that long and winding path all the way to the end and to success is: MOTIVATION.

What is your motivation?

Motivation feeds initiative, drive, resourcefulness, endurance, toughness, and the list goes on. It underpins every other quality that is necessary to succeed. So is your motivation, a new year's resolution gym membership, or maybe that $300 you spent on a fitness tracker, or maybe all those articles you've read that tell you that exercise is part of a long and healthy lifestyle?

No.

Those might be extrinsic motivating factors, but they aren't true deep seeded intrinsic motivation, the kind that will continue to fuel you, day-in and day-out, month-in and month-out. True intrinsic motivation is something that burns inside of you, something that you always carry with you. You can't just decide you're going to skip your workout to watch a tv show airing tonight, intrinsic motivation won't let you sabotage success like that. You can't forget your intrinsic motivation on the bedside table in the morning and then use that as an excuse not to work towards your goals that day, intrinsic motivation is right there with you all the time. You can't forget about your intrinsic motivation when there isn't an article that prompts you to think about it on your news feed that day, it's always burning in your mind and in your soul.

Before you set another goal, look deep and be honest with yourself (always harder than it sounds), find your intrinsic motivations and focus on the one that is most compatible with your goal and therefore able to drive your daily actions towards success. Some forms of intrinsic motivation are fundamentally positive at their core, like a life long passion or interest. Maybe you love to read daily and consume books and articles at a feverish pace, and maybe your goal is to lose weight. You would do well to combine the two by actively and consistently looking for books, articles, subjects, videos, etc, that you can read on the many areas relating to weight loss. In turn, this new approach on a life long passion would would motivate and affect your daily decisions on food, exercise, and life choices that support weight-loss. While other forms of intrinsic motivation are fundamentally more negative, such as disease, emotional distress, physical disability, etc. Regardless of the form of intrinsic motivation, the approach remains the same and your success will depend on your motivation.

Look deep, make the connection, work towards success.

See you at the gym,
Team Fitness Etc

Reach your fitness goals in...

12/25/2018

Most people that join a gym, do so with some specific fitness goals in mind. Whether those goals can be reached in the timeline that most people envision, is a totally different story.
Typically at the outset of a fitness journey, many people establish a time frame of 3-6 months to reach their goals. A time frame of 3-6 months in turn means that most people will expect to reach their half way point in as little as 6 weeks. In reality, this is also the point in the fitness journey where most people become deflated, unmotivated, and tend to drop off, unfortunately. Why? That's the question we really need to ask in order to start addressing the problem.

In the interest of keeping our blog post short and sweet, we will summarize the "why" into 3 simple reasons:

1) for anyone that's been recently inactive, the fastest and largest change will happen in the first 4 weeks, after which results will start leveling off, and this can be slightly unmotivating for the uninitiated.
2) after an initial 4-6 week period, is when most people will come to the realization that their journey will most likely take 6-12 months or more, and this can be deflating for anyone that is expecting constant positive feedback and daily improvement.
3) At 6 weeks your results may be slowing, you realize that your journey will be longer than expected, and the initial exuberance and excitement of joining the gym has worn off. This leaves many people with less of that initial fire, in turn, slowly attending less often, and ultimately for some, dropping off entirely.
The moral of the story here is that while you can reach your fitness goals in as little as 3 months, in all likelihood you should start with the expectation that it will take no less than 6-12 months and therefore it will do you much better to focus on keeping the strongest pace rather than focusing on the strongest start.

Make your fitness journey a lifestyle and enjoy the learning and growing process, and stop chasing instant gratification and constant change...slow and steady wins the race, in the gym just as it does in life.

See you at the gym,
Team Fitness Etc

Do you remember the "thigh master"...

12/17/2018

Back in the 90's we were watching Body by Jake and Jane Fonda, taking Tae Bo classes and using the Thigh Master and Ab Rocker.....today, we're watching ShaunT and Rip60, taking HIIT classes, and using Bands and Rollers. But both then and now, it was fitness clubs that brought everyone together and consistently provided the most complete environment for everyone's goals.

While it's tempting to get caught up in the latest fad, just remember that it's not necessary to chase that magic unicorn. Everything you need already exists, and everything you chase will always lead you back to that one convenient place that fulfills 3 things: 1) most of your strength needs, 2) most of your fitness needs, and 3) most of your needs for human interaction...and that's always been your friendly neighborhood gym.

Team FitnessEtc

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