My Daily Wellness Tip

How To Make Things Happen

I'm always asking myself the question "why do some people make things happen and others don't?" There's even a few variations to this saying that goes something like this;

"There's people that make things happen, There's people that watch things happen and there's people that wonder what the hell happened."

So many people have the idea of getting in shape but don't do anything about it? Is it because they're lazy people? Not likely because some are very hard working people. Is it because they don't desire it enough? It definitely has something to do with it but it's not the whole story.   

Great ideas are everywhere, I hear them all the time from all sorts of different people. Whether it's about wanting to get in shape, starting a different type of business or coming up with some new creative invention. But what I found is ideas die quickly when their not supported with a structure. Everyone at one point has come up with an idea for a new business concept and never acted on it. What I believe people are missing is a structure or a system of organizing their ideas. 

Creativity x Organization = Impact

By this I mean you can have the greatest idea in the world but if you can't organize that idea to come to reality you have nothing (your're the mad scientist or the dreamer). And on the other end of the spectrum you could be the most organize person in the world but you lack the creativity to come up with a solution for your problem. So a good balance of creativity and organization is essential if you want to have a great impact and make it happen. 

Here's an en example of someone that has a good idea but lacks a system to organize it;

Day 1: "I really want to lose weight, yes I think today will be the day. The phone rings you need to get back to work" 

Day 2: Busy day forgot about losing weight

The idea was great, think of the impact it would have had. But they failed.

Now compare it to this next scenario where there's a structure to support the idea;

Day 1: "I really need to get in shape, what do I need to do first, I know I will do some research (action step 1) I better write this down. (make it concrete in writing) I'll get the number now and call tonight on my way home (action step 2)(creating a deadline to your action)" She looks at her co-worker and says I'm getting a personal trainer tonight (specific action). Can you make sure to ask me tomorrow how it went, I need you to hold me accountable. I need to do this. (Make someone hold you accountable).

So there you have it, my system to getting things done.

Step 1: Focus on action steps
Step 2: Put it in writing
Step 3: Make someone hold you accountable of your actions

It's really simple yet very powerful 

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"I Don't Have Time"

How many people do you hear saying they don't have time to exercise? Probably a lot right? I have to tell you, It's hard for me to accept a valid excuse why someone can't find time to exercise. At our club we witness many of our clients who are executives and business owners with not only businesses to run but with families and children giving them little to no time for exercise - Yet they are able to pull it off. How?

After talking to these busy clients you come to the quick conclusion that they realize that not only does exercise give them the energy to make every other aspect of their life more productive (like energy to play with their kids at night, energy at work, energy for their wife or husband) they realize the impact 30-45 minutes out their day will make to their overall health and well being. 

Do people really not have time?

I went searching for what the average person spends their time on in a day and found these results from Ogilvy on advertising. Here they are.

People in a day will spend;

7.9hrs with technology
Phone
Email
Online
Music players
Games
Movies

8.7hrs with media   
3.6hrs internet
2.5hrs watching TV
1.3hrs Radio
0.7hrs newspaper
0.6hrs magazines

1.2 hours commuting

6.4 hours working

2.9 hours chores, errands, cooking, cleaning

My thoughts are that it's less of an actual "time" factor and more of a "priority" factor. Take a good look at the list above and make some changes right away, see if you are able to cut back or overlap any of these categories and build a strategy to insure that you get a workout in today even if it means 10 minutes of sit ups and push ups.

Here are a few examples of ways to overlap or eliminate; Read your news on the treadmill while warming up in the morning (great excuse to buy an I-pad). Outsource your chores to services like this Ottawa based company called Balance In Style. Can you modify your commute by working from home on some days? Can you spare a little less TV time, email check ups or Facebook time? Can you incorporate your friends into your workout by working out with them or at the same time as them?

Get creative and find a way to make your health a priority - You're worth it. 

PS: If you know anyone that's given you this excuse before send this post to them or better yet share it on your Facebook page to possibly help a bunch of people.

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Skinny VS Curvy ...and 3 mistakes women make

Skinny is out, curvy is in. But how do you build the curvy body that celebrities like Byonce have and not the skinny girls you see on the runway? It starts by avoiding these 3 mistakes women make:

1. Weights Before Dates

When I talk about shaping I'm really talking about building muscle in areas like the glutes, thights, delts and arms. The most common mistake I see women make in the gym is that they head straight for the cardio section. Cardio though great for the heart and good for burning fat to some degree does nothing for your shape. In fact too much cardio will have the opposite effect by burning precious muscle making you look blocky. If your goal is not only to lose body fat but build a nice shape, the best thing you can do is fall in love with resistance training and there's no better proven method then working with free weights. Don't be intimidated by free weights, embrace them by doing circuit training, barbell complexes and don't be afraid to incorporate them into your cardio sessions too.

2. Diet Alone To Get Skinny Fat

Diet books are so popular the're often the first step someone takes in wanting to lose weight. The problem is that diet alone (especially a low calorie diet) is horrible for your shaping goal if it's not combined with resistance training. Understand that as personal trainers my team and I measure body fat percentage of clients every day and it's evident to us the people that use resistance training at the same time as changing their nutrition. They see a much bigger loss in body fat. We often see people that simply purchase a nutrition plan lose weight on the scale yet don't lose much body fat meaning they are losing a lot of muscle (shape) too. This weight watcher VS fitness club study shows the same result.   

3.  Shake Things Up 

Can you Imagine building a house without any building material? Seems pretty crazy right? Well protein is your building material and without it, it's impossible to build the shape you desire. Don't be scared of protein shakes, center your meals around protein foods like chicken, turkey, fish, beef, or eggs. Try getting 1g-1.25g of protein per pound of lean body weight. If you want to shape up it's not good enough to work hard you need to give your body the right building materials so it can grow.

Now that you know what to avoid, go for it! I know you can do it! 

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Periodization for the Beach Body

Popularized by Hans Selye in the 1950's, periodization is an organized approach to training that involves progressive cycling of various aspects of a training program during a specific period of time. It is a way of alternating training to its peak during season. Periodic training systems typically divide time up into three types of cycles: microcycle, mesocycle, and macrocycle. The microcycle is generally up to 7 days. The mesocycle may be anywhere from 2 weeks to a few months. A macrocycle refers to the overall training period, usually representing a year or two.

Now you may be thinking this is a little complex for someone that simply wants the beach body but trust me, it's so much more effective then simply wandering around without a plan.  All the personal trainers at Free Form use training phases with their clients with great results. To make it simple, I broke down guidelines based on different seasons of the year. Even If you could use some of these planning guidelines taken from periodization you would benefit a lot.

Here is a simple plan that will get you looking your best for next summer:

Fall: Muscle building phase - Moderate intensity (10-15 repetitions). 7-9 sets per muscle group. 5 days of workouts, 2 days off. Big compound movements followed by isolation work on your weaknesses. 1 week off before winter.

Winter: Strength/Muscle building phase- High intensity (6-10 repetitions). 7-9 sets per muscle group. 4 days of workouts, 3 days off. Big compound movements followed by isolation work on your weaknesses. 1 week off before spring.

Spring: Muscle building phase - Moderate intensity (10-15 repetitions). Start adding advanced techniques like supersets to your workouts. 7-9 sets per muscle group. 5 days of workouts, 2 days off. Big compound movements followed by isolation work on your weaknesses. Start cardiovascular training every day. 1 week off before summer.

Summer: Strength endurance/seperation phase- Low/moderate intensity (15-25 repetitions) keeping the weight as high as possible. 10-12 sets per muscle group. 5 days of workouts, 2 days off. Exercises done in circuit training style with very little rest followed by isolation work on your weaknesses. 1 week off before fall.

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Week 4 - Milan's Progress

Week 4 - Milan, CEO of The TK Group, discusses some Challenges and Progress on his weight loss and wellness journey.

Milan's weight hasn't changed however from the start of his journey, he's dropped 6% bodyfat !  We're going to focus on improving Milan's digestion system.  There seems to be a problem with elimination, which many people have when starting a weight loss and wellness journey.  Check out the video.
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Pushing through the burn!

Hey everyone!

No matter what fitness level we are at in our lives, we technically all have the same physical goals. We all want to be healthier, lose body fat and gain muscle.

In the battle for lean muscle nutrition plays a very big role but what is equally as important is working out at high intensity and pushing until failure. That means pushing until your muscle cannot physically execute the motion.

When we begin our workout we generally tend to have a positive attitude and high amounts of energy. As reps and sets start to add up the pain start to kick in more and more and it's a natural reaction to want to stop. Just like if you touch a hot stove you will pull your hand away ASAP. Well it's time to re-wire our brain and feel the pain. Working out could very well be the only time where pain equals gain.

To help you push until complete exhaustion and maximize every set you need to do a few things.

• try to have a pre-workout meal about 1 hour before you get started.
• Get yourself mentally prepared, get pumped. Say to yourself or friends that this is going to be a awesome workout and that you are going to give it your all.
• know your strengthth and set very aggressive goals, and have the mentality that "quiting is not an option"
• breathing deeply on every rep will give your muscles the oxygen they need and it will help you stay relaxed.

As you start push through the burn more often your pain threshold will increase. This will help you endure more intense workouts in the future helping to prevent your body to plato.

During sets, I personally motivate myself by thinking about some very difficult situations or times that i have faces in the military. I say to myself "this isn't so bad!" "It doesn't hurt that bad".

The last reps and sets give you the most results so make sure you are ready for the battle when it's time to get the most bang for your buck.

Push it to the limits like beast that you are!

Jean-Michel Sauve.
Thx!

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