Category Archives for "Mindset"

"The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty." - Winston Churchill

I love that quote, and I need to be reminded of it often. I am NOT an optimist by nature. I wouldn't call myself a pessimist either, though. Probably I would describe myself as an analyst. Take a look at what's going on around me, size up the situation, and if there is a problem to be solved, try to figure out a way to solve it. I think you lean optimist when you think that way.

And I think analyst is different than being a realist. To me there is a hint of resignation to the situation in that description. Nancy would probably agree I a bit too stubborn to just accept things the way they are. Why do I have to just accept it? I can at least try to do something about it, right? 

You learn pretty fast in life that you can't control every situation. But you are far more in control than you think you are. One of my favorite movies is "A Knight's Tale", starring the late Heath Ledger. I know it's fictional, but there is a big lesson in there. Ledger's character William is from a poor family, and his father, knowing he cannot take good care of him, sends him to squire for Sir Ector. At a tournament Sir Ector dies, and William disguises himself as Ector and wins the tournament. And so begins an elaborate ruse as the poor William fakes being nobility so he can enter tournaments, and starts winning them. Of course there are bad guys and beautiful girls along the way, like any good adventure story.

One tournament finds him close to home, and he finds his father, now blind and even more destitute. In a touching scene William asks his father "Can it be done father? Can a man change the stars?" His father gently and resolutely replies, "Yes William. If he believe enough, a man can do anything."

And that's exactly how William Thatcher becomes Sir William.

Just a story? Maybe. 

But I've had the privilege of seeing many people change their stars. Lose massive amounts of weight. Be able to flush their once necessary meds down the drain. Make weak muscles strong and achy bones healthy. 

They do it because they believe they can. Because they are problem solvers. Because when life knock them down they get up just one more time.

Change The Stars. Change YOUR Stars.

I believe in you.

Coach Dean

I didn't feel like getting out of bed this morning. I didn't sleep well, had a lot on my mind in the middle of the night, and was kind of cranky.

I didn't feel like training this morning. The thought of getting under the bar for some heavy squats just wasn't doing it for me. 

I didn't feel like writing this article. Sometimes the words and thoughts just don't come, and I didn't want to wrestle with it.

And I did all of it anyway.

Why?

Well it really does not change the situation to stay on bed and mope. So I got up, did some reading and office work. When I saw Nancy I matter-of-factly told her I was in kind of a bad mood. "Noticing and Naming". Doesn't do any good to ignore it and bite someone's head off because of it. She responded kindly, gave me a little room, and everything is cool. 

Next was taking Andrew to work and then hitting my workout with my Monday training partners, who I always enjoy seeing. Did our thing, warmed up, and then got under the bar with a weight I had missed the last time I attempted. Couldn't get one single rep. Today I successfully completed every set and every rep on the training plan. Feels good.

And this article? It gets a lot easier to put a few thoughts down when I open the computer and start typing, rather than milling around the house ignoring the fact that Monday mornings is my writing time. And while these few words may not exactly be on par with Socrates, I hope the lesson I learned (or re-learned) this morning is that while we are emotional people, being driven solely by emotions is usually not a good idea, and if I didn't do something every time I didn't "feel like it" not much would get done.

In a few short hours, just by taking some action in spite of my feelings, some real productive things happened, not the least of which is I feel better.

My mood is better. 

I demonstrated to myself I am getting stronger.

And you get to share in my boundless wisdom. Ok, 2 out of 3 ain't bad. 🙂

The next time you "don't feel like it"?

Do it anyway.

Because that's where magic can happen.

Let's get moving!

Coach Dean

Josh Hillis is the kind of guy who makes you smarter just by reading him. The following quote is in an article he wrote about Brie Larson, who plays the superhero Captain Marvel in the movies. (You can and should read the whole article here.

"The irony is that people tend to get better results when they’re focused on process based goals (like doing the work) instead of outcome goals (like looking a certain way).  Paradoxically, people who over-value the end result often get disheartened and quit, when they don’t hit their goals fast enough, or maybe miss a milestone on the way to their goals.  They get thrown by each and every (normal) bump in the road.

On the flip-side, people get awesome results when they simply focus on doing the work.  When people just focus on doing the work:

1. The do more work
2. They do higher quality work
3. They do more consistent work

If you just focus on doing the work in the gym every day, you’ll get stronger.

Also, you might find it to be more empowering, more fun, and have a drastically more positive impact on your relationship to your body.  Instead of being entirely focused on some idealized body standard, your gym work can simply be an expression of being the kind of person you want to be."

When we take hold of this concept it changes everything. When we can stop trying to live up to some 'ideal" (usually perceived not real) and simply focus on "doing the work", training becomes more enjoyable. When we accept that results aren't instant and we are in it for the long haul, training really is more fun. When we look at exercise as a practice, rather than something we are instantly going to be good at, training is a lot more enjoyable. 

Think about it this way. You don't earn a black belt in martial arts until you have practiced for years. And nobody walks into the dojo thinking they will earn theirs in 3 months. We need to have the same mindset in the gym. Lifting takes skill, which requires practice. Training your body to get into the right position, create proper tension, produce stability and mobility in the right places. Practice. Practice. Practice.

And it's so worth it. There is genuine joy when due to your repeated efforts everything comes together and it feels easy. When the chin goes over the bar, when the Turkish Get-Up flows smoothly, when the bar loaded with more than your bodyweight breaks off the floor in one smooth motion. It's poetry. 

Results will come. But as Josh says, to be successful we need to do more work (practice), which in turn creates higher quality work, and we need to do it consistently enough to maintain our skill and flow.

Bumps in the road do happen. But don't let them throw you into the ditch. Slow down, correct the wheel, and get back on course.

Let's make it happen together!

Coach Dean

Sizzlin Summer Slimdown 2019 is over. Once again S3, our six week get ready for summer challenge has created a noticeable loss of weight in over 200 people. We started in the beginning of May with 211 people signed up for six weeks of diving deep and focusing on their nutrition. Their goal was to lose weight. In losing weight our goal is always to become a healthier version of ourselves. We knocked it out of the park this year.

Check out these numbers. We started with 50 teams between the 211 people who signed up for the challenge. 190 of those 211 did the final weigh in. 90% of the people who started this challenge, finished it That is phenomenal numbers. From those 190 people we loss 1, 354.5 pounds over the course of the challenge. (1300 pounds is as much as a male polar bear or a quarter horse)

Out of those 50 teams, each person on 39 teams completed their final weigh in. Which by the way was the average number of teams who completed our weekly challenges as well. Each week, every team who completed the challenge had their name thrown in a drawing for real prizes. The prizes ranged from meals cooked and delivered to the team or food items they'd need during the challenge to kitchen tools to use while prepping. 

After the final numbers were in, 12 teams had over 4.99% of weight loss during the challenge. These teams were in it to win it. They took the challenge as a team and helped each other for six weeks. Working as a group, they achieved more than they could on their own.

High fives go out to these teams:

• Trans4mers
• The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly
• The Naturals
• 8:30 Friends

• KECH us if you can
• Dan's Girls- Keeping up with the Jones
• Just do It
• Changing our Weighs
• KlLL
• Chafing the Dream
• Girl Power
• The Three Burritos and Refried Beans

Our team winners walked away with over $800 each. The secret to their team success? Daily check- ins amongst themselves. "Chafing the Dream" was made up of Katie Bean, Andria Collins, and Katrina Lebrecque. They trained each day together at 5am. They didn't miss one training time. They wrote each other in a group chat every day. I know they were snapping pictures of each meal and sending it to the group to keep themselves accountable. These ladies were tight knit in goals and how they were going to achieve them. They managed to lose 13.68% of their beginning weight during the challenge. Congratulations ladies.

Are you making overeating normal? Eating is a behavior we have learned over time. Since all behaviors are learned we can learn better or different behaviors.  Here are 4 behaviors we can learn so that we can eat healthier and maintain it. Creating eating behaviors and then making those behaviors normal for you will make your healthy eating easier to do.

Small plates – There is No magic tricks here, set up an environment to automatically eat less by using a smaller plate. Less food at each meal equals less calories.  I don’t have to fill up my plate but I usually do. Using a smaller plate and filing it up with food will still be less food than filling up a larger plate. Well no duh, It makes. Check out this picture on how plate size has directly effected the obesity rate in America.

Veggies First – Veggies are the most nutritious part of every meal. Vegetables are packed with vitamins, minerals,  and fiber. Nutritionally vegetables should fill in more volume on our plate and also will fill in more volume internally once you eat them. With all this volume the cool thing is at they hold lower caloric values than other food items. Filing your smaller plate 2/3 to 3/4 with veggies, and then using the rest of your plate for your lean protein and healthy fats, will fill your insides with good food. To help you in more detail of planning your meals check out what Coach Dean wrote on the subject.  

Remove temptations - If sweets are not in the house, it’s harder for you to eat sweets. Think of Superman, his downfall is kryptonite. In order for Superman to stay strong, he locks up his kryptonite. Use that same principle with the food item/s that are your downfall. If ice cream is your downfall each evening, leave it in the store. What ever your temptation is, remove it from your sight, take it out of the house, lock it up, and make it challenging for you to easily get it to eat. Everyone has so much will power and ability to say no, help yourself out and remove any tempting food out of your reach.

Be consistent – With any behavior it becomes a normal behavior by doing it day after day. I recently had a client put it this way, she was going to walk the walk.  She has put some practices into place and was on the way to making these new practices her new normal. She wanted her healthy eating knowledge and started to walk the walk with it. Consistency is not the same as perfection.

Eating healthy so you can be healthy and live a vibrant life is easier than you think. Setting these boundaries into place will help you change your current behavior. Boundaries can be thought of as a your new standard. My standard is to use a smaller plate instead of the biggest plate I own. I have a standard of filling that plate with mostly vegetables. I make temptations harder for me to acquire. I’m human, but even Superman had to lock up his kryptonite. What I am known for is how my consistency is measured.

Take these standards and make them your own.

To Your Best Health,

Coach Nancy

It’s your choice

Every day you get to choose…

Not what happens to you…

But how you respond…

Attitude makes all the difference…

You aren’t always going to succeed to the level of your expectations…

So what?

That’s Life.

Get off the mat and keep working at it…

There is no such thing as “failure” when you learn from your mistakes…

Now I am not a “pie in the sky dreamer”…

I don’t believe “thinking happy thoughts” is going to solve all your problems, real or perceived…

But I also know that wallowing around in self-pity is counterproductive…

You have a lot more control than you may think…

Don’t accept being less than your best…

And strive to be better every day…

Don’t wait for “it” to come to you…

Get out there and…

Make It Happen!

Doing one thing to win the first hour each day in order to Win the Day!

Coach Nancy

Recovery Week is April 21 to April 27. Enjoy!

Ever since we opened the doors of our training gyms, recovery weeks have been built into the training schedule. This is not an accident. Neither is it just "vacation time" for Dean and Nancy, although those are the only weeks we can schedule time off.

To me recovery is instinctual. Training hard is taxing on the body and the mind. There is a point where your CNS (Central Nervous System" says NO MORE, and training starts to make you worse, not better. Our goal is that you never reach anywhere close to that point. We were doing "recovery" before recovery was cool, and we ain't a gonna stop now! 🙂

In fact proper recovery between workouts is factored in as we design your training program as well. It's one of the reasons we do not have regular training on Wednesdays. Two days on, one day off, two days on, two days off is by design. More is not better, better is better.

As I have gotten older, I have become even more sensitive to recovery. I recently read a book by science writer Christie Aschwanden called "Good to Go". The subtitle is "What the athlete in all of us can learn from the strange science of recovery".

"Strange Science"?

The science of recovery is pretty new, and there are some pretty weird, wild and yet-to-be-proven things that people do to recover. From recovery pajamas to float tanks, the book examines it all.

When it comes down to it, what we are trying to do is recover from the systemic stress that is placed on our body and mind on a daily basis. This is hardly just training stress. Work, kids, traffic, politics, illness - you name it, there are a lot of stressors in life. We want to manage the overall stress load in order that we can achieve physical and athletic improvement. 

The biggest take home I got from the book is no secret - the #1 thing you can do to de-stress, and enhance recovery is sleep. Not always easy, I know. You are talking to a guy whose alarm goes off before 4:00am. I get it. But I do what I can to get as much as I can whenever I can.

I have used a lot of different tools to measure my recovery over the years. Right now I am testing a piece of software called RestWise, which monitors overall training load based on objective measures such as Resting Heart Rate (RHR), HRV, SpO2, and Weight fluctuations, as well as subjective measures such as energy and mood. It's pretty interesting, and they boast clients from pro sports teams and olympic athletes. 

If you don't want to get that fancy, one of the simplest ways to monitor your recovery is to measure and log your Resting Heart Rate every morning when you get up. I use one of these $15 devices to take my pulse and SpO2 every morning - takes about 30 seconds. If your RHR is trending up, it's a good sign your recovery is compromised.

The bottom line. Enjoy your recovery week. It is a purposeful part of your training plan, and just like your don't want to miss workout days, you don't want to miss recovery days. You WILL NOT de-train in 7-10 days, so chill out - you are NOT a unicorn.

If you want more on the science of recovery, keep reading. 

Train Hard. Recover Harder.

Coach Dean

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Our recovery weeks are what I would call Macro-Recovery. In other words we take a planned week off every training phase in order to let the body rest up from hard training and get ready for the next phase.

The Recovery Curve

I saw the recovery curve for the first time during my time with Australian physical preparation coach Ian King. His principles laid the foundation for the way we program, train and especially recover here at Get Fit NH. The principles that work with professional athletes apply to us too!

The following illustrates a “good” recovery curve:

The green line represents what we are all looking for – continual, never ending progress over time. We are getting stronger, faster, thinner, better looking (ok at least that’s what I wish for).

Reality Check – ain’t gonna happen. The process of changing your body is not linear, in fact what we are looking at in an optimal training environment is more of a “One step back brings me Two steps forward”.

A closer look at the chart will help explain what I mean.

The red line represents Equilibrium. This is where your body wants to stay, no matter if your goal is losing fat, gaining lean, or both. As you have no doubt found out, forcing your body to change is hard work – really hard work. When you walk into Get Fit NH, our training is designed to elicit that change. But it’s not as simple as “working out” day after day after day. In fact as I am about to illustrate, training without proper recovery is actually hurting you, not making you better.

The blue line represents the “recovery curve”. Starting at the left hand of the chart all the lines intersect. For this illustration that point is where your first training occurred – you “worked out”.

But what’s going on?

Instead of performance going up, that line is actually heading down – this is what is called Depletion. If you think about it makes sense – you have worked hard, you are fatigued, your body is depleted of nutrients – you are spent!

Don’t worry, your body will get over it, if you treat it right! This is what we call Adaptation. Your body wants to be able to handle the increased demand that was placed on it, and starts the process of getting better.

You are in charge of if and how fast that happens. A few of the factors that influence this adaptation include recovery nutrition, stress levels, sleep habits, supportive nutrition, age, and training history.

The recovery curve continues with Supercompensation. Here is how Coach King describes this process:

“It is only when recovery is allowed that we see the super-compensation effect, the unique phenomenon where the bodies physical capacity is elevated in response to training, in anticipation of another exposure to the same stimulus.” – King, I, 1999/2000, Foundations of Physical Preparation

In other words your body has gotten better in response to your training, a new Equilibrium is established and this state is when we will ideally train again. Our programming at Get Fit NH is carefully designed to give this the best chance of occurring, but as I hope you are discovering, you have a lot to do with this with how you treat your recovery!

As you can see, when things are clicking, this process when repeated over and over means you are getting better and better, the blue line is headed up – pretty cool!

The flip side to all this is what happens when the recovery process isn’t working so well.

This chart represents recovery gone “bad”:

When we continue to train in a state of “Depletion”, regardless of the reason, the adaptation to super-compensation effect doesn’t occur, and instead of getting better, we find ourselves in a downward cycle. This can happen when we train the same muscle groups too soon, when we haven’t taken the steps described above to recover optimally (sleep and nutrition for instance) regardless of time between training, when we train too hard coming off an illness, etc. The last thing we want to happen is new equilibrium to be established in a downward pattern – not good.

The long and short of it is your body absolutely needs to recover from hard training. Consistently training in a fatigued state results in injury and illness. Your body is an amazing machine designed to put up with a lot, but it was also designed to need rest. Recovery weeks provide that rest.

If you want to know more about the recovery tools I use and why you should consider them, hit me up and let's talk.

- DC

"Eat Your Vegetables!"

Do you hear that tone, like it was coming from mom?

Unfortunately way too many of us have memories of soggy green beans. Or the same veggie served over and over until we were seeing them in our dreams. Many of us are still hanging on to those memories as an excuse to not eat vegetables to this day. Cut it out!

Now I am not blaming mom, because when I was young the grocery stores weren’t packed with all the choices we can get now. There wasn’t the plethora of fresh options, while most people had a garden they only produced so much. Farmers markets and CSA’s were nowhere in sight.

We have no such excuses.

In fact even when fresh isn’t available frozen vegetables are extremely high quality, inexpensive and can taste really, really good. Last night for dinner I made a favorite, and it is super easy. Roasted Vegetables from a bag of frozen mixed veggies (broccoli, cauliflower and carrots), a little salt, pepper and olive oil. Mix it all together and roast in a 350 oven for 45 minutes to an hour. The vegetables natural sugars start to caramelize – delicious!

Vegetables and Your Health

“Eating higher levels of veggies and fruits are associated with a lower incidence of:

Cardiovascular disease

Colon, prostate, cervical, lung, ovarian, pancreatic, thyroid, and breast cancer

High blood cholesterol

High blood pressure

Type 2 diabetes

Obesity

Stroke

Osteoporosis

and a lot more that aren’t on this list…” – Dr. John Berardi

There is no magic pill, potion, or lotion that is going to do all that. Now if that list doesn’t speak to you, do vitamins, minerals and fiber? PLUS you get to try an amazing variety of incredible tastes from all over the world – right from your very own kitchen!

Did You Know? Vegetables (and fruits) provide an alkaline load to the blood. Both proteins and grains present acid loads. Too much acid can cause loss of bone strength and muscle mass – not cool. Osteoporosis is not just about calcium. Stay balanced by getting enough veggies.

The Good News? Vegetables are good to eat and good for you!

Eating vegetables will enhance our nutritional quality and they come in such a variety of ways to eat and enjoy. Its recommended to eat at least 2 servings of vegetables every time we eat. 1 counts, but at least 2 is way gooder!

What’s a serving?

1/2 cup raw chopped veggies

1 cup raw leafy vegetables

Here’s are some other (non-measuring cup) examples:

5 broccoli florets

10 baby carrots

1 tomato

4 slices of onion

1 cup of leafy greens (spring mix)

15 cherry tomatoes

0.5 bell pepper

1 cup of spinach

“But” you whine “I don’t like any of those!”

Lucky for you there are hundreds of vegetables in this great big wide world. Check out this list.

Help everyone out and post your favorite way to eat your veggies. 

To your best health,

Coach Nancy

One of my favorite scenes from one of my favorite movies includes this exchange between Captain America and the Hulk...

Steve Rogers:
Dr. Banner! Now might be a good time to get angry.

Bruce Banner:
That's my secret, Captain. I'm always angry. (morphs into the Hulk and punches the leviathan)

HULK. SMASH!

I was reminded of that scene when I was talking to a client about their motivation, or in this case lack thereof. The gist of the conversation is that he found it hard to be motivated to train regularly, and to nourish his body with good food choices, and to lay off the alcohol.

But the kicker was when he said something along these lines; "Well it's easy for you, you're a trainer, you're always motivated!" 

Yeah. Right.

Because I am a trainer I have some unique genetic makeup that causes me to be full of energy all the time, never get tired, always feel like working out, and be predisposed to eating broccoli and sprouts, while vomiting at the site of chocolate cake.

Tell that to my 280 pounds self from 15 years ago. The one that couldn't walk up the stairs without getting winded, got home from work and crashed on the coach for four hours every night, was pre-diabetic and just plain unhealthy.

I am no superhero, but I do have a secret. Just like Bruce Banner.

Here it is. 

I am not motivated all the time. But I take action anyways.

You see we have motivation all wrong. Motivation is about emotions, and we tend to be ruled by our emotions, rather than control them. If I only trained when I felt like it, if I only ate right when I felt like it, if I only went to bed early when I felt like it - I'd be the mess I was 15 and 20 years ago.

Just like in the dictionary, Motivation follows Action. Feelings follow Activity. 

When you don't feel like it, do it anyway. 

It's not easy. If it were easy everybody would do it But think about it this way. 

Have you ever regretted getting that workout in, once it was over? Have you ever regretted biting your tongue and responding kindly rather than reacting in anger? Have you ever regretted an act of service when you rather would have stayed home?

Didn't think so.

You absolutely will need some of level of discipline, and success breeds success. The more you exercise a little discipline, the easier it gets to continue to do so. The opposite is also true.

Don't tell yourself you are not motivated. You already know.

Take action. Put your feet on the floor, and get your butt out the door.

You won't regret it.

Let's Get Smashing!

Coach Dean

I know what you are thinking, no not we are not going to talk about Skittles.

What does it mean to "Eat the Rainbow?"

Simply aim to eat as many “colorful foods” as you can throughout the day; real food - think fruits and vegetables, not Skittles. Eat green, purple, red, yellow, blue and orange.

Kind of sounds like advice for a child right? That's good, it should be that simple!

Why Color is Important

Whenever you are about to eat a meal, look down at your plate and ask yourself “where is the color here?” You want to be able to easily spot 2-3 different colors every time you eat. This is an indication that you’re eating foods that contain many different nutrients, vitamins and antioxidants.

Nature has a very simple way of letting us know which foods are really healthy and full of nutrients - color.

Close your eyes for a second and try to visualize this: the strong blue/purple color of fresh blueberries, the deep red hue of tomatoes, the bright orange of carrots.

These colors indicate nutrient content and and also the presence of antioxidants, phytochemicals, and other free radical fighting ninjas which are important in slowing the aging process and helping our body deal with inflammation.

Think Lots of Color

The different colors in fruits and vegetables indicate the different types of antioxidants. There are many types of helpful antioxidants, so you want to make sure you are exposing yourself to a variety by including different colors on your plate. You don’t want to consume only orange and red fruits and veggies while ignoring the greens and yellows. You want a wide variety.

Branch out, eat the rainbow.

Avoiding White-and-Beige-Only Meals

A standard unhealthy diet is going to be made up of many white, brown, and beige foods. As you can tell, this means colors (antioxidants) are lacking. If you notice that a lot of the foods on your plate are white (potatoes, rice, cereal, bread, pasta), brown (beef, pork, sausages, heavy sauces) and beige (cheese, processed carbs, low quality chicken and turkey), then it’s time to add some color to your plate in the form of fruits and vegetables.

Remember, every single meal you consume should have noticeable colors in it. Aim to get 2-3 different colors into every meal and you will be on the right track. Once you get the hang of that, think about your day/week as a whole and figure out which colors you might be ignoring (greens? Reds? Orange? purples?), then start adding more of those kinds in too.

Need some help to get you started? Try this recipe for Rainbow Chicken.

Rainbow Chicken

This chicken is a fiesta of rainbow colors, and is quick and easy to prep and bake – give it a try tonight!

• 4-6 skinless boneless chicken breast (thin cut)
• 2 cups no salt added chicken broth
• 1 small purple onion
• 1 small green pepper
• 1 small red pepper
• 1 small orange pepper
• 1 small yellow pepper
• 1 medium tomato
• Goya Adobo seasoning

Preheat oven to 425

Pour chicken broth into 9×13 pan and lay in chicken seasoned with 2 Tbsp of Goya Adobo.

Slice onion, peppers and tomato and arrange on top of chicken, and sprinkle an additional 2 Tbsp of seasoning.

Cover tightly with foil and bake for about 20 minutes or until chicken cooked through.

To Your Best Health,

Coach Nancy