Finding Fabulousity!
I was back in my hometown recently, where I health coached and taught for over 20 years. I missed my clients so I decided to take some of them out for tea and dessert. I thought for a minute the dessert…
Healthy Aging: A Paradigm Shift to Prevention
In a previous article about A Paradigm Shift to Personal Responsibility, I set up the premise that the healthcare system is technologically driven and derives its results through partnerships with the insurance industry, government, pharmaceutical industry, medical profession and the hospitals that deliver services to patients.
Given the complexity of the system, patients have have to learn to navigate it to get the proper guidance, access and information from the right people at the right time for the right results. Moreover, the system is laden with traps in the form of its many “hidden” extra costs which means that going down the wrong route can turn into an expensive mistakes. Therefore, I believe that people need to become educated on the value of prevention by living a life that represents the core values of “wellness” and all that this word has come to mean over the past two decades.
A Definition of Wellness
In 1993, I prepared a presentation for the Association of Human Resource Professionals entitled “Improving Health in The Workplace”. I designed it as a proposal to encourage corporate managers to see the value and importance of prevention through the eyes of the employee in partnership with the company. My intention was to develop a “win-win” model whereby the company enhanced employees’ lives by investing in programs that would help create a “workplace health consciousness”. This would assist people in making healthier choices thereby improving productivity and performance. The company would benefit in the form of fewer days of work missed and the cost of healthcare would decline as well.
Needless to say, the presentation did not net me any new corporate clients but it did yield a couple of wonderful personal training clients. My thought process was focused on personal health and fitness services delivered on site, but being a single fitness provider the idea was probably too impractical to pursue. My presentation focused on the individual and its takeaway messages was:
We are what we eat, we are what we think, we are what we do, we are what we feel, and finally we are what we believe.
My idea was that if we become healthy in our thinking and expression first, then our bodies will follow suit: our new thought patterns will foster the adoption of new attitudes and behaviors. This model is just as true today as it was back in 1993 because wellness is not fitness – it is a consciousness of health that is ingrained in what we value most about our life and what that means to us.
The Values of Wellness and Prevention
I think it only fair to share with you my vision statement because it goes to the heart of why I am a proponent of healthy aging and believe prevention comes from “within” us as we focus on our choices while living in the present.
Healthy aging is a consciousness issue. It is not merely the death of our cells but is a complex and dynamic process that is grounded in CHANGE as life unfolds for each of us. The challenge, as I see it, is in discovering the potential that lies within us to become all we were meant to be – mentally, physically, and spiritually. This potential can carry us to living a life of fulfillment, peace, and prosperity if we remain PRESENT during each moment of our life – living consciously. Learning about who we are from the “inside-out” while acting upon our choices in the present, enables and empowers us to live a life of great accomplishment. This is my vision of a world that is possible.
I see now that what I envisioned for healthy aging will disappear in the world of the iPhone and other technologies if we do not become active players in the awareness of our own body and other sources that can control our thoughts and other processes. The goal of prevention is to “catch” the stressors BEFORE they create “dis-ease” in the body causing chronic conditions such as cancer. The problem is that the tests and the other “preventative” measures being used today only catch problems AFTER they have started to take hold in our bodies.
The Power of Five
1. The Power of Thought: Thinking is life. What we think we become. Everything in life evolves from thought. From this power comes our imagination, affirmations and ability to visualize outcomes. Dreams come from our thoughts. Disneyland was once a thought in Walt Disney’s mind. If we are staring at our phones over 200 times a day (which has been tested), we are missing out on our life and the changes that are occurring right before our eyes.
2. The Power of Change: “Change is the only constant in the natural order” as one of my favorite teachers taught me back in 1982. How we deal with change and address the challenges that change brings, plays a key role in whether we can go with the flow – or remain stuck where we are. Comfort zones keep us trapped in the place where change becomes almost impossible to embrace, but if we learn to let go of the past and embrace who we are in the present, life becomes so much more rewarding. “Go with the flow” is the best advice I can give when dealing with ALL change – it makes life so much easier and rewarding.
3. The Power of Choice: Choice is the real point of power in life. We “choose” every day of our life: whether we to go to work, go to the store, play with our kids or plan our futures. The point of making choices in the present is to create what you want from your life – and in your life. If you choose your health you will become active without excuses. You will eat well. You will entertain uplifting and loving thoughts. You will express yourself gently to those you love. You will not demand but forgive. You will value your every experience and be grateful for your gifts. This is to choose life in all its wonder and potential happiness.
4. The Power of Belief: Believing in yourself is always the place to begin. Believing in your potential to accomplish great things and to make a difference in the world takes work but it is possible with proper reflection and thought. “If you can conceive and believe, you can achieve”. This is true in all areas of life. Take responsibility for your beliefs and if they need to be altered or replaced – do so. Don’t wait until you are sick and tired and finally unable to believe at all in something more than your own life. Affirmations, meditation and reflection in quiet moments are ways to check in on your current beliefs. If you believe in yourself, anything is possible.
5. The Power of Consciousness: “The mind of man is unlimited in its potential and responds to specific demands made upon it”. This is another statement of belief I hold. I believe in opening my mind to new ideas and thoughts. I can create new and exciting ideas and some of these become realities in the world. This very piece of writing was an idea that is now materialised in the world to inspire others. My consciousness is one of hope and faith that I am being guided to create programs that will help people of all ages grow in consciousness so that they too can benefit from the ideas that others shared with me over the past 40 years.
Living in the present is challenging given the world we live in and all the demands that are placed upon us. We are on call 24/7 if we choose to let ourselves be taken in that direction. I refuse to let myself get taken into the world as Steve Jobs envisioned it. His world is not my world. I believe in the freedom to create my life by making the choices that are appropriate for me at any given time. Make your choices consciously and respond to your life and the changes it brings you by not resisting them. Be open and receptive to them. Thinking is the key. Think “through” your life. Do NOT react to outside pressures. Only then you will be able to enjoy the journey. This is true prevention.
Originally printed on HealthyNewAge.com. Reprinted with permission from Nicholas Prukop.
Nicholas Prukop is an ACE Certified Personal Trainer & a Health Coach, a fitness professional with over 25 years of experience whose passion for health and fitness comes from his boyhood in Hawaii where he grew up a swimmer on Maui. He found his calling in writing his first book “Healthy Aging & You: Your Journey to Becoming Happy, Healthy & Fit” and since then he has dedicated himself to empowering, inspiring and enabling people of all ages to reach for the best that is within them and become who they are meant to be – happy, healthy and fit – and be a part of a world where each person can contribute their own unique gifts to life.
If you need help in designing a fitness plan, you can contact Nicholas Prukop via email at runningnick@sbcglobal.net or read his inspiring book Healthy Aging & YOU
Sleep: An Essential Component to Maintaining Health
I have the answer to making you feel calmer, more energized, with no side effects, help with depression, lose weight, improve your for focus and productivity at work, regulate your hormones and boost your immune system. Sleep does all of this and more.
Sufficient sleep is an essential to maintain health.
Getting enough sleep improves:
- motivation
- supports brain health
- recovery of muscle strength
- speed
- muscle glycogen (stored energy in the muscles)
- cortisol (stress) regulation
- memory
Two thirds of adults in developed nations do not get enough sleep!
Less than six hours of sleep compromises the immune system and doubles cancer risk.
A tired brain isn’t able to communicate its needs properly, which can lead to imbalance and unhealthy habits.
Those who are sleep deprived also have a slower reaction time than to those who are rested. You can take all the vitamins and drink all the caffeine you want, sleep deprivation is sleep deprivation. Sleep enables the body to heal itself. Sleep actually is not passive, but studies show during some sleep phases, parts of the brain are more active then they are when you are awake.
The shorter your sleep, the shorter your life span. For athletes, insufficient sleep can be the reason for decreased performance and increased injury risk.
Adults should sleep 7 or more hours per night on a regular basis to promote optimal health. Less than five or six hours of sleep can negatively impact human performance, metabolic health, mental health, cardiovascular health, immune function, mortality, pain, general health. More than 8 hours a night can improve all of the above.
As you age, you sleep less and you spend less time in slow wave sleep. Amyloid beta is cleared from the brain during sleep and more slowly from the aging brain. Worsening amyloid deposition is seen in people with shorter sleep durations, or worsening sleep quality. Don’t count on recovery methods to contract little sleep and a poor diet. Sleep and nutrition are not recovery. Modifiable risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease is not enough sleep!
As you rest, your body and brain are preparing and rebuilding themselves. Growth hormones, which promotes cell reproduction and regeneration, is released into the bloodstream and the production of certain types of immune cells peaks. Sleep also helps to regulate hormones associated with weight gain. A study on sleep deprived men found that when they got less sleep, levels of gherkin (the hormone that increases appetite) rose. Lack of sleep can result in weight gain. Woman who sleep five hours a night were 15 percent more likely to be obese than those who slept seven hours. Being sleep deprived contributes to weight gain and makes weight loss difficult.
Good nutrition is amazing. Meditation is amazing. But nothing makes up for lack of sleep, nothing.
Sleep slows your heart rate and breathing and causes your blood pressure to drop. It also changes the frequency of your brainwaves. Delta waves (the slowest frequency brainwaves), which are linked to deep healing, only occur during the deep part of your sleep cycle. These are the same brainwaves experienced in a meditative state. Production of delta waves is associated with a drop in the production of the stress hormone cortisol. Lack of sleep have an aging impact on the brain and skin.
Some tips to create a sleep friendly bedroom:
- Black out curtains, the darker the room the better.
- Keep your bedroom decor simple and calm, clutter free, work papers out of sight.
- Blue walls perhaps or blue in your room. Gentle blue tones are widely believed to have a calming effect.
- Keep a notepad by your bed so you don’t have to worry about staying awake because you don’t want to forget something, just write it down and go back to sleep.
- Pre sleep meditation and calming music.
Some tips for quality sleep:
- Institute a tech curfew. The light radiating from TV, phones, computers, iPads can disrupt the circadian rhythm. A study at Harvard University Medical School found particular frequencies of light disrupted the sleep inducing hormone melatonin. Turn off all devices at least an hour before bedtime. If you must read on your laptop or iPad before bed, download the blue light filter app. The more amount of screen time used, the less sleep. The circadian clock regulates our sleep; using technology near bed time interrupts the natural circadian rhythm clock and negatively impacts sleep. The top 25% of social media users were 2-3 times more likely to have disturbed sleep than those in the bottom 25%.
- Alcohol. You fall asleep more quickly, but the quality of sleep is poor, and REM sleep is decreased.
- Exercise regularly. Just not right before bed — that can have the opposite affect.
- 65 degrees is the optimum temperature for a good night sleep. If you are too hot, you are more likely to feel restless.
- Try herbal tea with chamomile and or valerian root.
- Imagine a tranquil natural scene, this visualization could make you relax. Studies at Oxford University showed that those who used this technique would fall asleep twenty minutes sooner than those who did not picture the tranquil scene. Avoid counting sheep — the study showed it took people longer to fall asleep!
Restful sleep is key ingredient to living a miraculous life. Real sleep!
“Lack of sleep is another way we block our power, creativity, and intuition.”
–Huffington Post President and Editor-in-Chief Arianna Huffington.
We often measure how productive we are based on how hard we work and how little sleep we get. This mentality is negatively affecting our health and overall well-being!
Charleene O’Connor is a a biomechanics specialist, TPI Level 3 Golf Fitness Trainer, Egoscue Postural alignment therapist, Meditation teacher and SUP instructor. Visit her website, charleenesfitness.com
Getting Fit Expands Your Mind
Getting fit expands your mind.
When you start a program to develop better habits, get out of pain, or whatever the case may be, one thing you probably don’t expect is how your mind transforms.
Health and fitness are elusive, multi-failure and hard to reach topics for the majority of people. You may have even thought at one point that it’s just not possible for YOU to achieve your goals right?
My first piece of advice is just take the first step. Then the next step and then the next. If you keep taking a step forward, you eventually arrive at your destination. It’s simple when you look at it like that, isn’t it?
It comes down to making the right choices at each meal, to exercise daily, to go to sleep on time, to drink water is how getting fit expands your mind.
When you start to build your confidence and see results around something you may have previously believed to be impossible, it’s incredible what areas of your life open up.
People grow courageous and start businesses because of their fitness results. From the confidence they build through fitness, women choose to do certain fitness adventures or events. Even previously un-athletic seniors pursue fitness careers because of their results and desires to pass that on to others.
So, whether you’re deep into your fitness journey or just thinking about getting started, know that if you keep your mind open, success in fitness shows you that anything is possible.
Fitness is empowerment to the core. you’ll see the possibilities by believing getting fit expands your mind.
Originally printed on Move Well Fitness blog. Reprinted with permission.
Maurice D. Williams is a personal trainer and owner of Move Well Fitness in Bethesda, MD. With almost two decades in the industry, he’s worked with a wide range of clients, including those with health challenges like diabetes, osteoporosis, multiple sclerosis, hypertension, coronary artery disease, lower back pain, pulmonary issues, and pregnancy. Maurice is also a fitness educator with Move Well Fit Academy and NASM.
The Fitness Lie Every Woman Believes
There are three things I want you to take away from this article… “Cardio” is good for your heart; not-so-good for permanent weight loss…..
5 Steps to Mindfulness
1. LET GO OF PAST AND FUTURE THOUGHTS. If you let your mind wander into the past, you may waste your energy on regrets. If you think too much about the future, worries can drain your energy…
Resistance Training: Programming and Execution
In my previous article I made a case for a comprehensive resistance training program as a way to “cut the odds” in our favor as we “grow older and not old”. I also strongly believe in developing a strong cardiovascular system since it is responsible for keeping the life giving oxygen and nutrients moving into the body’s tissues and organs in order to sustain our lives. These two beliefs are driven by my desire to keep my body as strong and adaptable (and flexible) as I can in order to “prevent” challenges of all kinds from entering my experience in the future.
I would like to examine programming and execution in this article in order to enable and empower you to “take up the challenge” of becoming more than you ever thought possible through a well planned resistance training program that enhances your life through an acquired discipline, focus and commitment to your own health and well being. This process – (and it is a process) – continues throughout our lifetimes and rests on the foundation of a desire to consistently learn new things about ourselves. It is a process of expanding not only our own consciousness, skill and knowledge of our potential health and fitness futures – but also includes our developing ability to maintain such a process over time.
TRACKING
I find the key to my success over the past 55 years has been my desire and commitment to retain my program of running and resistance training by tracking all of my workouts – both running and weightlifting – allowing me to know “where I am” at any point in time. These records keep me up to date on the factors influencing my growth and reflect my effort to attain my goals of improving strength. power, endurance, speed, quickness, flexibility and balance.
The reality is that today “tracking devices” are available through technological advances and now can serve us in ways that I never dreamed possible before. I still record my results in logs and journals and appreciate the way in which this form of tracking has enabled and inspired me to keep going and improve my results. The gym where I train is filled with people “wandering” through their time there and never really getting focused while staring at their electronic devices or “smart” phones. NO ONE ever is tracking their work and consequently they will never know when – or how – to improve.
RESISTANCE TRAINING
Resistance training is the progressive stimulation of muscle fibers in order to create a more adaptable and powerful muscle. The “loads” we place on particular muscle “groups” are in alignment with the capability, experience and knowledge of the individual executing the program. There are type I and type II fibers. Each type responds differently to the multiple “stimuli” applied.
Type I fibers handle loads “over time” and respond well to longer periods of stress thereby classifying them more as “endurance” fibers. Type II fibers do not become engaged until the load reaches a high enough level where they get “recruited” to assist in handling the applied load. They are power fibers and help with explosive movements such as sprinting from danger. They normally are not required in the day to day activities most people engage in and only when we need them will they enter the equation. If they never get trained to respond however, the odds of being able to engage them when needed becomes remote.
THE PYRAMID
BASE SET (8-12 reps): This set warms the muscle and allows it to perform under a minimal load preparing it for more work in subsequent sets. A set is a prescribed number of repetitions that puts the muscle through a complete range of motion and allows the muscle to “respond” to the load. This stimulus enhances the neuromuscular system to become more capable and ready to help our bodies move effectively throughout the day or when doing other activities requiring a response such as cycling, swimming or hiking.
STRENGTH SET (4-8 reps): This set increases the load and allows for a greater stimulus and response to the activity of moving a “heavier load” through a full range of motion. This set is a “building set” since its intention is to take the muscle to “fatigue” allowing for growth during recovery and down time. One can induce additional growth in this phase by adding sets and continuing the process – depending on your experience and readiness to train in this more advanced manner.
BASE SET (8-12 reps): The final part of the pyramid is to return to a lighter load – not necessarily the original load – and allow the muscle to “work through” the waste that accumulates in the fibers as a result of the prior stimulation.
SETS: Sets are the “pieces” – the individual components – to the puzzle of resistance training. “Putting it all together” in a cohesive program is very important in determining your success. Generally, it is advisable to seek professional guidance when assembling a resistance training program since determining proper training technique, loads and the types of exercises can become quite daunting if you are inexperienced and lack the proper knowledge to do it yourself.
I think of this issue in the following manner: If I am attempting an activity such as snow skiing that I have limited or no experience or skill in doing, I will hire an instructor to teach me the basics and allow me to LEARN how be safe while I learn and begin to enjoy this new activity SAFELY.
PROGRAMMING EXAMPLES
(Include free weights, machine assisted and body weight exercises in planning)
Chest: Push ups (regular and modified), bench press (free weights), or machine press.
Shoulders: Overhead press (dumbbells), lateral raise (machine), rubber tubing with handles.
Back: Lat pull (cable), seated row – tubing, machine, wall press (body).
Arms: Curl (free weights), tubing, machine curl.
Abdominals: Basic crunch (knees bent, upper body life), resistance balls (destabilized crunch), wall crunches with back flat on wall.
Legs: Squats (wall) and lunges (static or moving), leg press (machine) calf extension (stairs and machine).
IN SUMMARY
Resistance training is the “pay check” and cardio is the “bonus”. My former fitness manager said these words to me over twenty years ago and I cannot disagree with him today. You will not get an argument from me on the benefits and power of a well planned resistance training program – especially after the age of 40! The idea that we can maintain our muscular strength and endurance over time WITHOUT training is ludicrous.
Every day that passes without proper stimulation of our major muscle groups is a day that we will never recover. The outcome could become catastrophic if we break a hip or suffer some other major injury that could eventually end our lives. I schedule my own resistance training sessions on Monday and Thursday so as to maximize my training and recovery times. Each program is varied by the number of sets I do, the resistance I engage and the time I take to execute the program. Each session is designed with this thought in mind: MAINTAIN my current lean muscle mass and strength for the years to come.
Your programming efforts are waiting for your decision to begin this new phase of your life and it is MOST definitely a “life affirming” decision. Take the time today to evaluate your needs and make the decision to begin TODAY! If you need help to get started – as I would with my skiing example – then get it! Don’t be afraid to learn new skills that could possibly save your life “down the road” because you – and your body – will be grateful you took a positive step that will NEVER let you down. I embrace this message myself everyday – and KNOW you will too! Travel well.
Reprinted with permission from Nicholas Prukop.
Nicholas Prukop is an ACE Certified Personal Trainer & a Health Coach, a fitness professional with over 25 years of experience whose passion for health and fitness comes from his boyhood in Hawaii where he grew up a swimmer on Maui. He found his calling in writing his first book “Healthy Aging & You: Your Journey to Becoming Happy, Healthy & Fit” and since then he has dedicated himself to empowering, inspiring and enabling people of all ages to reach for the best that is within them and become who they are meant to be – happy, healthy and fit – and be a part of a world where each person can contribute their own unique gifts to life.
If you need help in designing a fitness plan, you can contact Nicholas Prukop via email at runningnick@sbcglobal.net or read his inspiring book Healthy Aging & YOU.
A Doctor, a Lawyer, and a Quitter Walk into a Bar…
No, it’s not the beginning of a joke. It’s just what happens every time I go into a bar. I have a medical degree and a law degree…and if there were a professional certification for quitting, I’d not only have it, but I’d display it in my office as proudly as I do the other two.
I consider myself an expert-level quitter, and it’s a distinction to which I firmly believe more people should aspire.
Why? Because quitting is the most underrated tool for achieving success not only in business, but in relationships, personal happiness and well-being. In fact, it’s one of the most underrated self-care tools out there.
The walls of Amazon’s virtual bookstore are overflowing with self-help books telling us to live our best lives. But rarely do they address one of the main reasons that people get stuck in something less than their best life: no one tells them how to get through the necessary quits to leave whatever isn’t working. They just tell you to transform your life and strive to make progress…until one day you’ve suddenly arrived at said ideal life.
And quitting ain’t easy.
It’s a process fraught with unwarranted stigma -partially thanks to unhelpful sayings like “quitters never win and winners never quit.” And if you can get past the stigma, you’re then smacked in the face with many of the fears associated with quitting, like wondering if another opportunity will arise to replace whatever you’re leaving, or wondering what people will think about your quitting, or fear that the new scenario you find post-quit won’t truly be more fulfilling than the original one.
It’s enough to make someone just stay put. Stuck in the less-than-ideal.
But it doesn’t have to be. Quitting can be your best friend. But not just regular old quitting. Strategic quitting.
Now I could tell you theoretically about why strategic quitting is the greatest thing since avocado toast, but I think it will be slightly more effective if I show you what it looks like in the real world. Because at this point you may be (understandably) wondering how someone with both medical and law degrees has ever quit anything.
I quit all the time.
Because what does it take to get through that much school and training? Time, money, and energy. How was I able to make sure I had enough of all three to get through? By quitting things that were draining my time/money/energy and focusing only on the things that served me.
So what does it look like in action? Before medical school, I was a multimedia designer, but the sinking feeling I got while sitting in coding classes learning new programming languages told me this was not the field for me — so I quit. I started completely fresh and decided to try to get into medical school.
And after I finished medical school and residency in family medicine, I finally got to my sports medicine fellowship, as I had decided I wanted to be a sports doc. However, I got that same feeling when I was doing sports medicine — like something just wasn’t right. Mostly I didn’t like that the hours were somehow both 9 to 5 and nights and weekends, leaving little time for myself.
So I quit. Again.
At this point you may be thinking, “whoa…but what about all of that time and money you wasted on medical school?” Well that’s where strategic quitting comes in. With regular quitting, I would have walked away from medicine altogether and tried some other career that may have had all the same attributes I disliked about medicine.
But with strategic quitting, you take stock of exactly what parts of a job or relationship, etc. aren’t working for you, and quit only those…and you stay vigilant not to get in new situations that have features that didn’t work for you previously. And as long as you learned something from a past situation, it wasn’t a waste.
So I quit the long hours of sports medicine, and took a job where I make my own schedule. And in the future, you can bet that I won’t be taking any new jobs that have night or weekend hours, because I learned from my previous experience. And as for the money and time I spent? Well having spent a lot of time or money on something that isn’t working for you is a terrible reason to spend more time or money on it. Sticking it out doesn’t get you back your investment, it just gets you further from where you want to be.
Now you may be plenty happy in your job or relationship, but what about some smaller things that may be stressing you out?
Here’s another real-life example. I finished yoga teacher training last year, and during my training I had an unlimited membership to the yoga studio. However, shortly after receiving my instructor certification, I started volunteering with a political campaign and didn’t have time to go often enough to make the membership worth the money, which started to stress me out. Yes, you heard that right, yoga was stressing me out.
So what did I do? Did I quit yoga? Obviously not! I just quit the unlimited membership and switched to a class card, thereby taking away all the guilt and stress I felt over not being able to make it to class as much as I needed to.
Now look at your own life…is there something that brings you stress or causes a sinking feeling in your stomach? Is your body subtly trying to tell you to make a change by giving you heartburn or keeping you awake at night? As a doctor, I can tell you the effects of staying in something that is wrong for you are not minimal. Stress is a leading health risk these days, and a major cause of stress is doing something that’s not in line with your own personal good.
So if your job doesn’t light you up, or your relationship brings you anxiety, or your city just isn’t working for you anymore, I urge you to make close friends with strategic quitting before your body stops whispering to you and starts yelling in the form of chronic pain, depression, anxiety, insomnia, and more.
Strategic quitting is the self-care tool you never knew you needed, but that you’ll never give up once you’ve got it down.
Dr. Lynn Marie Morski is a Quitting Evangelist. She helps people to and through their quits through her book “Quitting by Design” and her podcast Quit Happens, along with speaking and coaching. She is also a board-certified physician in family medicine and sports medicine, currently working at the Veterans Administration. In addition, she is an attorney and former adjunct law professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law. Visit her website, lynnmariemorski.com
Keep the Goal
I think you’d agree that we are in an age of information overload. Between internet search engines and social media, ALL the advice and opinions are available to you. It is really easy to get caught up in the shiny object syndrome. It is hard to Keep the Goal.
The noise of everything can become too loud! And it’s hard to tune out that noise.
But I’m here to remind you today to stay focused on your goal(s). If you’re doing something that’s working, don’t change it up because of a shared article you read on Facebook about a new wonder food or supplement! Yep, don’t go down that rabbit hole…
Is your goal weight loss? Then, take daily actions that are focused toward that – clean whole foods, weight and cardio training, hydration, stress management and good sleep. If the goal is performance for an endurance race, follow your training plan. If the goal is pain management, do the required exercises. Even your goal is just basic movement and get in the gym 3x/week, stick to that, ok?
It’s a simple concept, but it’s not easy to execute when everything is so loud and in your face. Quiet the noise and keep things out of your face by staying laser focused on you.
So, stay focused on the goal and take the daily necessary steps to get there. If you aren’t sure what those are, hire a coach (like me) who can help you get there.
In conclusion, Keep the Goal!
Originally printed on Move Well Fitness blog. Reprinted with permission.
Maurice D. Williams is a personal trainer and owner of Move Well Fitness in Bethesda, MD. With almost two decades in the industry, he’s worked with a wide range of clients, including those with health challenges like diabetes, osteoporosis, multiple sclerosis, hypertension, coronary artery disease, lower back pain, pulmonary issues, and pregnancy. Maurice is also a fitness educator with Move Well Fit Academy and NASM.