How To Set Yourself Up For Inevitable Success On Your Health/Fitness Journey

Most of us have been on some sort of fitness, health, or weight loss journey. Unfortunately, the majority of us feel like we’ve been on this never ending road of dieting and working out without ever really reaching our destination. Chances are, if you’re reading this, you feel this way too. Have you ever asked yourself, “what is my destination?”

If you’re setting off on a health/fitness journey, whether it is to lose weight, tone up, gain more confidence, or just feel healthier in general, you need to have a specific, measurable, and achievable goal.

The following steps will help you DEFINE and ACHIEVE the specific outcomes you’re looking for out of a new health/fitness program or any change you’re making in your lifestyle.

Step 1: Think about what you want and why you want it.

First, what do you want? What is the outcome you’re looking for from this new program or lifestyle changes? In other words, if you could wave a magic wand and get anything you wanted, what would that look like? Be as detailed and specific as possible with your goal/s, while also making sure it’s realistic. If your goal is to lose 20 pounds in a month, you’re not being realistic, or healthy, for that matter.

Secondly, ask yourself “what will having or achieving this goal do for me? How will it improve my life?” You may have to ask yourself this question a few times before you land on something really important to you. Often times, the initial goal (i.e., losing 50 pounds in 10 months) is not about the weight itself at all but about something much more meaningful, such as being confident enough to do something you’ve always feared doing (i.e., starting your own business or going on a trip to your dream destination.) If you’re a parent, you may want to set an example for your children by leading a healthier lifestyle. Knowing the WHY behind your goal is just as important as the goal itself. It is your motivation.

Step 2: Write it down.

Once you have your specific goal and the why behind it, write it down on paper. It has been proven that writing things down works. In a study done by Dr. Gail Matthews, a psychology professor at the Dominican University in California, on the science of goal setting found that you become 42% more likely to achieve your goals and dreams, simply by writing them down on a regular basis.

Step 3: Anchor your motivating factors.

An anchor is something physical in your environment that will remind you WHY you’re doing all of this and putting in all of this effort. It should be something that uses one or more of your five senses. For example, a favorite song you like to hear, a piece of jewelry you can touch, a note or picture you can look at, or a specific candle or essential oil you love the scent of.

Your anchors will act as little daily reminders and they come in quite handy when you’re lacking in motivation. Anchors can act as pattern interrupters, something that stops you when you’re tempted to make a choice that may not be in alignment with your goals. Having an anchor will also give you an influx of positive energy from time to time by making you proud and excited to make good choices, no matter how small these choices may be. They all add up to help you eventually reach your desired outcome.

Step 4: Find someone to keep you accountable.

Having someone by your side to help guide and motivate you, as well as hold you accountable, throughout this journey will not only make it more enjoyable and fun, it will make you 10x more likely to achieve your goal. Sure, this can be a workout buddy, friend, or family member, but having a good coach by your side would be your best bet. Depending on your goals, find a health coach, personal trainer, nutrition coach, or someone who does it all. Why? Because a knowledgeable and caring coach will not let you quit on yourself. We will make sure you stay motivated, consistent, that you feel comfortable and confident with every changes you’re making or the exercises you’re doing, that you’re always progressing towards your desired outcomes, and that through all of this, you’re having FUN!

We know this field can be very confusing and saturated with conflicting information about what to eat, what not to eat, what workouts to do, when to do them, what diets work, etc. Skip the google search and the failed attempts at cookie cutter diet plans. All of this will only deter you from your goals and make you feel defeated until you finally throw in the towel. Having a coach will remove the guesswork so that you can focus on doing what you have to do to reach your goals.

Before you set off on your next health/fitness journey, follow these steps and you WILL be successful. It’s easy to be excited about starting something new and maintaining it at first, but then as the weeks pass by and you begin to lose motivation and patience, it is inevitable that you will fall off track. And as we all know, getting back on track is no piece of cake. This is just human nature. However, if you set yourself up for success by clearly identifying what it is you want, why you want it, writing these down, setting up little reminders (anchors), and having an accountability partner/coach to support, there is no room for failure!

Get Out Of Your Own Way!

All too often potential clients will sit in front of me during their free consolation and tell me about how they feel on a daily basis both physically and mentally. How they feel tired all the time and can even acknowledge that they just don’t care enough to be active on a weekly basis (never mind a daily basis). I’m here to tell you to get out of your own way before your pity party becomes a hospital visit or another trip to the pharmacy to pick up your insulin or worst of all a funeral. Fitness professionals are in the business of health care prevention. You know somewhere in the back of your mind you “need to do this” because I hear it all the time. Yet, you still can’t commit. You still can’t get yourself to love yourself enough to take care of yourself.

Basically one of the only things I retained from my 3rd grade teacher was this simple quote; “It’s easy to be bad, it’s hard to be good.” Such a light bulb moment for me even at such a young age. I realized this quote extends itself to every single area of life. Will you choose consequences or rewards? It’s easy to be lazy and eat whatever you want, their will be consequences to this life style and no rewards. It’s hard to dedicate your efforts to bettering yourself through nutrition and exercise. But the rewards, I promise you, will blow your mind.

You will struggle, get over it! This society tells us everything can be done with a quick fix; a magic pill, a simple juice diet, a 30 day workout plan and it’s all good. Well, I call B.S. you need to change your lifestyle and 30 days will only be the beginning. Believe me when I say it’s okay to struggle because everyone does. It’s totally normal, I still struggle to this day. Why? Because it’s easy to be bad and it’s hard to be good. You show me someone who says they don’t enjoy pizza and cupcakes and I’ll show you a liar. Here is where the amazing part happens. When you dedicate yourself to becoming the best version of yourself you will either no longer crave foods that you know negatively affect your body or if you decide you still do want to indulge in pizza and cupcakes, you can! Because there is no point in driving yourself crazy feeling like you can’t enjoy any of the foods you are used to eating. The trick is being smart about when you allow yourself to indulge.

So, to wrap this up. No, nothing about this will be easy, accept it. “Nothing worth having comes easy.” Just repeat that to yourself until it sticks. If you feel totally lost and don’t know where to begin, find yourself a fitness professional and let them lead you. I didn’t do it on my own and you don’t have to do it alone either. One day at a time. Since it may takes months or years (yes, years) for you still find a steady stride don’t beat yourself up and think you’ve ruined all of your progress because you had a bad meal, day or even week. Life is hard and a lot of us turn to food for instant satisfaction. It’s okay in the beginning, just keep your eyes on the prize and get back on the horse ASAP!

Sending much love and peace your way,

~ The Fitness Academy

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E-mail – FitnessAcademyNJ@Gmail.com

Or call/text Matt at 201.983.3510

Overcoming Depression and Anxiety

Hello again and welcome back,

So, it’s 2018 and words like depression and anxiety get used so often we have become numb to the true meaning of these words and the impact they have on our lives. Fun fact I want you to think about as you continue to read along; The only time an animal (monkey, lion, elephant, even your house cat/dog, etc) feels stress or anxiety is when it becomes prey. An animal does not sit there and stress over the present day, the future or the past. It just lives its life as each day passes by. So, why do we allow our brains to completely take over and cause us unnecessary stress, anxiety and depression? Do we truly know what these words actually represent? Or are we just victims of the media and a society that constantly tells us every time we turn on the TV that we have depression and anxiety and with this pill all your worries and troubles magically disappear!

Depression – “Feelings of severe despondency and dejection.”

Anxiety – “A feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease, typically about an imminent event or something with an uncertain outcome.”

Stress – “State of mental or emotional strain or tension resulting from adverse or very demanding circumstances.”

Let me be clear by stating, I am not saying you should never feel these emotions. I’m simply saying you have more control over them than you think. Look at it this way, when you were younger you spent hours with teachers or coaches to master a craft, whether it be writing and spelling or dribbling a basketball. The more you practiced, the better you got. Arguably, the muscle of the mind is stronger than any muscle in the body and we’ve all heard of muscle memory. So, when you constantly live in a state of depression or anxiety you are actually “practicing” how to be depressed and anxious!

So, first things first. Acknowledge and accept that your subconscious is incredibly powerful and this is where the thinking begins. This is where, on your Sunday afternoon you start to feel uneasy and nervous that Monday is coming and it’s back to work for the week at a job you’re not in love with. Before you know it it’s 2:00 in the morning and your counting how many hours you have left before you have to be up and ready to start your day. I believe life and the mind is like a very delicate day of fishing. It’s all about balance, knowing when to fight and take action, and when to relax and not try to control everything. Sound complicated? Well, that’s because it is. I love old cliche sayings because they have been around forever and they almost always hold true, so in this case I will say, “Nothing worth having comes easy.”

Alright, you have now accepted, acknowledged and shown respect to your subconscious. That’s step one, treat your subconscious as if it’s another entity living within your being. Sounds crazy, I know. What’s next? Practice, practice, practice! Here is a method I have used with some clients in the past; write down a list of all the things in your life that cause you any feelings of negativity. Then, write down another list on a separate piece of paper of all the things in your life that bring happiness to your life. The first list you acknowledge and accept that these are areas of your life that you are working on. It will take time but you will overcome all of these things that you feel are weighing you down. Now take that first list and shove it in a drawer somewhere, we’ll get back to it. The second list of happiness you carry around with you everywhere you go. Anytime you feel any negative energy or sadness coming over you, take that list out and give it a look over. Spending time on each one to feel the joy it brings you when you’re doing it. Show gratitude for each and every one. This is just one technique to rewiring your brain for positivity. Now, as for that second list. As you continue to work to improve your life for the better, once you feel you have overcome any one of those hurdles you can now cross it off of your “negative” list. This will give you a sense of accomplishment which is huge for your subconscious to acknowledge and accept. Do you see how we have flipped the dynamics. We are no longer allowing the subconscious to dictate towards us, giving us things that we need to register and deal with. Now we are creating things for the subconscious to acknowledge. This will in-turn cause the subconscious to expect positive things to happen in our every day lives.

Crawl before you walk. This is just one method I give my clients. If you would like to know more or go into further detail feel free to reach out to me at FitnessAcademyNJ@gmail.com

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To get the full effect, you can always schedule your complimentary session with me at The Fitness Academy.

Just call or text 201.983.3510 or email at FitnessAcademyNJ@gmail.com

Peace & Love,

~Matt G.