Small Steps To Success

“This is how education works: you don’t sit down with a five year old and show them piles of books, assignments, and papers they are going to have to devour, Finish, and deliver by the time They’re done.  The five year old just ‘shows up’ and day by day the work gets done.”   -Dan John

I read this quote and it is a great way of categorizing the “trying to do it all at once” idea which often doesn’t have real results.  When we looks at the quote above its just another way to realize how much work may have to eventually be done, but that it doesn’t have to be done all at once.  Lets fast forward this a few years, lets say for the sake of argument that you are not five, lets say its your first year in college. So you are a freshman you walk into your advisers office and they look at you and say “Good morning, welcome to the university (it is your first day after all so pleasantries are being exchanged)” after which she drops a booklet down on the counter.  On the front the booklet says “A four year degree in two semesters” with a picture of a group of smiling college students on the cover playing Frisbee out on the quad. You look at the front thinking “wow they look excited, and I can get my degree in 2 semesters? Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeet”. Now you open to the first page, as you read you realize this isn’t some expedited curriculum, its four years of material that you are expected to finish in under a year.  The first page is all the books you would need to buy over your college career but you need to pay for them all tomorrow since this is only one year, there’s a few thousand dollars right there. On the next page is a list of every assignment you will ever be assigned (let's revise that, on the next 6 pages). Followed by 4 pages of all the papers you will be assigned, then by another 3 pages of finals you have to take and senior research projects and papers you have to write.  Rounding out with 4 pages about what you have to do for graduation and oh by the way, the day after you graduate you begin a career in your field for the rest of your life. All while finding a way to squeeze out 100+ hours of internship. How many people are succeeding on that system? Now let's say that somehow you do finish in a year. Let's say after burning four different candles at three ends for a year, you graduate. Do you think that the brain can really take in that much information in that short of a time period and be able to sort it and apply it rationally?  Heck no.

Now apply that to your health.  If you have bad joints, or you need to lose excess body fat, or you want to run a marathon, there is not “cheat code”.  It is achieved by gradually learning how to change parts of your lifestyle that are not conducive to your goal, and amplifying the ones that are. If you came in tomorrow and Coach Dean gave you every piece of information available to him or gave you 500 steps to be healthy the rest of your life.  How successful do you think you would be? I know I wouldn’t be successful, that’s way too much information to apply at once. Health and habits are something that must be learned and applied over time. If you are 80 lbs overweight and you try to implement 25 habits or steps the first day, you probably aren't going to be successful, it's about building a habit, then once its ingrained, building another.  Continually learning more and applying more over time. So don’t expect everything to click at once, don’t expect to be able to apply 15 life changes tomorrow. Just come in, exercise, work hard, and make those small incremental changes. That’s the blueprint for real long lasting success and health, not trying to lose 60lbs in a week.

Make it Happen! 

-Coach Adam

3 Steps To Pushing Through The All Or Nothing Mindset

The all or nothing mindset can be toxic and detrimental to your results. If this mindset describes you (or even if it doesn’t) then I have some homework for your to push through..

  1. Never stop when the timer says 3 (as in 3..2..1) Don’t do it. Always push for AT LEAST one more rep. Practice giving it your all. The whole time. Every time.

  2. Add training to your google calendar. Book it the same way you book a dentist appointment. You wouldn’t stand up your dentist so don’t stand up your body. It’s the only one you’ve got and I can promise you that getting new teeth is easier than getting a new body 😉 (Just so you know...we know life happens sometimes, but for the all or nothing mindset sometimes by missing Monday it means the rest of the week is blow, because one day didn’t work out.)

  3. Schedule 1-2 “Free Meals” each week to give yourself something to look forward to. This will help you to keep you on track with the rest of your meals

Make it happen

Coach Meagan

Get Fit NH Accountability Crew is Coming

We are excited to share that we have found a way to work extra accountability into a group atmosphere. There is so much more that goes into health and results besides training. Food, sleep, water, stress...those are just a handful of examples that play a major role in your well-being. With 300 of you it has been a struggle to figure out how to consistently keep you accountable during "the other 165." That is the 165 hours per week you are NOT in the gym training. We think we found a solution so here it is...

Starting Wednesday, January 30, 2019 we will host an information night for all of you interested in extra accountability. This group will meet for an hour weekly on Wednesday nights at 5pm right here at the gym. Each Wednesday we will have an education piece. The education pieces we have planned are things like how sleep and stress affect your results, under-eating and overeating and how they hurt your results and health, why diets don't work. We will provide a basic list of great foods as well as a list of foods to to limit or reduce in your everyday intake. If you are a weight loss client then this group will also include a weekly weigh in at the meeting.  If you are not a weight loss client and you just want to feel better and look better or fit comfortably into your clothes then this is an opportunity to have support along the way.

The purpose of this group is to create support and accountability  where we all share the same mission....health and happiness. This is a safe place to share your struggles and find solutions as a team. This is not nutrition coaching, but we will talk about nutrition with a registered dietician/nutritionist because it does affect your health! This group is FREE with zero intention of moving to a paid option. If you need a nutrition program where meal plans and grocery lists done for you then we will continue to refer you to Dean and Nancy Carlson from The Grateful Plate.  

On Wednesday January 30, 2019 at our information night we will talk about how we will "gameify" this group. 

We look forward to seeing you there!  Let us know if you have questions

Get Fit NH Team 

It’s a Terrible Thing…

“It’s a terrible thing, I think, in life to wait until you’re ready. I have this feeling now that actually no one is ever ready to do anything. There is almost no such thing as ready. There is only now, and you may as well do it now. Generally speaking, now is as good a time as any.” –Hugh Laurie

This quote is one some of you may recognize. I saw it in a few different places on Facebook, and it definitely caught my eye. I have talked about this before, but it is something I truly believe is important to keep in mind as well as something I have struggled with:

There is no perfect time. 

Life will always throw you a curveball when you least expect it. The question is whether you are going to hit it out of the park, or strike out swinging.

There is no perfect time to start eating healthy. There is no perfect time to chase a dream. There is no perfect time to step up. There can be no “Well, I’ll start eating healthy at the end of the weekend” or “Well, I’ll get a membership to that gym next week”. Anything worth doing in life is often hard. It means that it will always come with its own set of challenges that will present themselves no matter how perfect the timing is.

If you are looking to get in shape, to lose the weight, to be successful, the time to begin working on that is not next week. Its now, today, 5 minutes ago, as soon as you finish reading this blog. If you were thinking donuts and pancakes for breakfast, change that right now. Don’t have it because you were thinking about it and say Well, I’ll cook a healthy breakfast tomorrow”. Cook that healthy breakfast NOW!!!

When it all comes down to it, don’t wait. There will never be a perfect time. Think about it - where do most of those dreams end up? Those ideas, those when I get to a point where I’m making more money I’m going to __________”. Those things people wanted to try but never did. The changes they wanted to make but never did because they were waiting for the perfect time. All those people, all those ideas, all those dreams, and where did a majority of them end up? Most likely they ended up with them…..6 feet under.

So don’t delay. Don’t wait. You have a dream, you have an idea, you have a lifestyle you want to live, then live it. Don’t wait until tomorrow or you may get to a point where you waited too long and tomorrow never comes. All of you deserve to be as happy and as fulfilled as humanly possible. It may sound morbid, it may sound tough, but I care about you all and I don’t want any of you to have any regrets. 

Make it Happen!
-Coach Adam

What I Realized About My Daily Coffee.

My brain never stops, I feel like you all realize that by now after reading some of these posts.  Randomly stuck in traffic on my way to get coffee the other day I was annoyed at the traffic and the other drivers.  On my way to get coffee that I wasn’t really all that stoked about.  This is what started my thought process, why am I going to get coffee?

I know from experience that when I kick the coffee completely I actually end up with WAYYYYYY more energy on a consistent basis and I don’t miss the taste one bit.  I have always had a pretty high tolerance to caffeine so I don’t see the big uptick in energy that most do anyways.  However after not having it for a couple weeks I have a couple nights where I coach mornings, or a quick turn around (coach the night before then again the next morning), or just rack up a couple nights where I don’t sleep well and all the sudden I have 1 coffee and I’m right back on the train.  Why though? I just said I don’t miss the taste, I know I have more energy without it, so why?

I realized that its not the actual coffee, just like when you drink its not because you love the taste of vodka shots.  It’s about what that time represents, the social aspect even.  Maybe your coffee is what gets you out of your chair and out of the building at work for 20 minutes.  Maybe it’s somethi​​​​ng that you and some friends do every day, maybe you just like delaying your ride to work another 5 minutes each day.  Maybe you just always have had a coffee while you sit and read the paper in the morning and it just feels weird and less cathartic without it.  This doesn’t just apply to coffee, maybe its ice cream in the summer, maybe its cigarettes for any of you that smoke or have smoked before.  

You all know, for the most part, what types of things you struggle with daily that are not supporting your goals.  I encourage you to not look at the food, action, whatever it is itself, look at your behavior when you have it.  What are you doing, how do you feel at the time, who are you with, what sensation is that time creating for you?  When in doubt take a step back and look at the entire picture, the first step to breaking a pattern is finding it in the first place.


-Coach Adam

Consistency Over Motivation

Consistency Over Motivation.

You ever get that awesome feeling of motivation that just lights a fire under you and has you feeling like you can take over the world? Maybe you listened to one of Dean’s speeches, watched a motivational video, saw a friend accomplish something great, and that rush of adrenaline and motivation rushes over you and makes you ready to set out on your new goal.

It’s great right?

Let me ask you this though, how long does that feeling usually last? I know for me my motivation usually ends after the first workout or day of clean eating and I am back in the real world…… now what?

This is where consistency comes in! Motivation may help you start the journey but consistency will get you to the end. Making what you want to happen apart of everyday life. Going to the gym every day is just routine, you don’t even think twice about meal prepping, you practice the skills you need to make it happen day in and day out even if you don’t want to. That consistency is what makes big things happen.

So my advice is don’t be afraid to ride the wave of motivation but be ready for the crash by being so consistent in what you do you keep on going.

-Coach Brian

I Take Personal Responsibility

This is plastered on the gym in both gyms. This is a pretty important quote. Here is my challenge to you…

You came to Get Fit NH with a problem that you wanted to be solved. That might mean that you were unhappy with your body composition or the way you feel. It could be because you were feeling less mobile or weak. It could be because you wanted to run your first marathon or maybe compete in a triathlon. Whatever the “problem” is I want to congratulate you for taking personal responsibility and seeking a solution!

This is a two sided coin though…

Fast forward 30 days down the road. Have you seen movement toward the solution? If the answer is no then ask yourself what you have done to be a problem solver?

  • Have you made it to each training opportunity?

  • Did you set a goal and initial the goals board at the beginning of the month and follow that goal?

  • Have you been to any nutrition seminars or participated in any nutrition challenges?

  • Are you working through each set and never stopping at “3”

  • Are you telling yourself you “eat healthy” but still wondering why you are overweight?

  • Have you asked for help?

Your coaches are here to help you take you from where you ARE to where you are trying to go. We are here to keep you accountable and coach you along the way. No one is in this alone. YOU need to take personal responsibility and follow through with what you say you are going to do and ask for help when you need it!

Make it Happen

Coach Meagan

Pay Now Or Pay Later.

I was thinking about this recently in terms of food and medical costs.  However it really applies to most things we encounter on a consistent basis for most of our life.  

What got me onto the subject was talking about how “expensive” it is to eat healthy.  While I can argue you that you can actually eat healthy much less expensively than you can eating unsupportively, lets pretend for a second that you cant.  Lets pretend that no matter how I present that argument you still don’t believe me.  So lets say you believe it costs extra and that’s all there is to it and you wont do that.  So you don’t want to pay the extra now, guess what, you may not want to now, but I promise you that if you go about it that way forever, you will be paying every penny you saved and then some down the road.  “Where” you say? Well in medical costs, you eat unsupportively for your entire life your risk of piling up medical debt goes up exponentially.   You either pay a little extra now to eat supportively or you pony up everything you spent your life saving later in medical costs.  

Think about it in terms of a car, what happens if you keep putting off all the little fixes.  “Oh that’s not important I don’t need to fix that right now…or that…or that…” you end up bringing your car in for inspection one year and because you neglected it in a bunch of small ways it now needs 3-4 thousand dollars worth of work to pass inspection.  Or worse the car breaks down and becomes un-drivable or the engine blows and now its not just a matter of getting it fixed, it’s a matter of having to shell out for a new car.  Don’t make the mistake of thinking that not putting in the work now isn’t going to catch up to you somewhere else down the road.  The difference is there is no “New Car” option for your body, you get one, take care of it.

-Coach Adam

How are your S3 “Soft Skills”?

In general, the world values people with what are termed "Hard Skills".

A "hard skill" is a tangible expertise at a particular task or occupation. Writing, math, computer programming; doctors, physicists, engineers. Hard Skills are identified based on an objective evaluation.

A "soft skill" on the other hand, is more subjective, and they are harder to quantify.

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    Communication
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    Leadership
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    Motivation
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    Persuasion
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    Problem Solving
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    Teamwork
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    Time Management
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    Work Ethic

Many forward looking companies recognize that while hard skills are important, it's the soft skills that will make more of an impact in the long run, and hire to those skills. We do that here at Get Fit NH. You can fairly easily teach someone to teach someone to squat, but it's not as easy to teach things crucial to our success, like teamwork and time management. 

I was reminded recently of the importance of "soft skills" when I received a note from a client challenging me on my communication skills. In my zeal to keep her from being hurt on an exercise, I was very rude in my speech and mannerisms toward her. There was nothing "soft" about the way I treated her, and I deserved to be called out. I apologized, and was very grateful that she demonstrated her superior soft skills of communication and leadership in the situation. 

In the context of my profession, the difference between hard skills and soft skills is the difference between being a "trainer" and a "coach".

The first is skilled at program design, movement training, and teaching skills.

The second is an expert at inspiring and motivating others to be the best version of themselves they can be.

One is MUCH harder than the other, and clearly I still have work to do. 

Soft Skills and S3

So what does that have to do with S3?

Only everything.

It occurred to me that often when we sign up for a challenge like "Sizzlin' Summer Slimdown" we are focused primarily, if not solely, on the "hard skill" aspect.

The nutrition plan, the calorie counts, how much protein we should eat, MyFitnessPal, MyCoach, the weigh-in and Fit3D, planning, shopping and prepping. 

All the tangible things we can measure and count.

All valuable skills, and all worth doing.

And while those are important, I would submit in the long run they are not the most important.

Why Not?

Because even the best laid plans get blown up. Life gets in the way. We forget our lunch at home, one of the kids needs an extra ride, we have (another) hard day at work. You get it. Heck, you live it.

All of a sudden we find ourselves getting frustrated with the process, or tired of the fight, and then we find ourselves with the glass of wine in our hand or chomping down a burger and fries on the way home. You know what? Those things are not tragedies. They are part of life. The tragedy is what happens afterwards, when the guilt comes and we spend the next few hours, days or even longer, beating ourselves up about it.

The "hard skills" don't matter one little bit in that situation.

What we need now is:

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    Self-Compassion
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    Self-Awareness
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    Self-Empathy
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    Self-Forgiveness

Once we get past telling ourselves "I am a failure and this will never work for me", we need to employ our recognition, adaptability and problem-solving "soft skills" to help us learn, grow, and get better.

My challenge to you now and in the future is to start to recognize that no matter how excellent the nutrition plan is or isn't, no matter how many pounds you lose or don't lose, and no matter how many days you check "Yes" in MyCoach; your long term success is going to be determined by the ability to recognize that failure is not permanent, but only a step in the journey.

DO the hard skills. Get great at chopping, mincing, dicing, and slicing. Be the best planner, shopper, and preparer you can be. Use all the tools at your disposal and get better at all those things.

And ALSO work on your "soft skills". For THOSE are the ones that will help you make the real difference in living healthy lives: 

Mind, soul, and body.

Thanks for letting me be party of the journey.

- DC




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