The spotlight is on…

The spotlight is shining bright on 5 AM superstar, Marky Mark. If you have ever been to a 5 AM class then you know Mark- he is the one with the “Fox Fancy Pants” and adds a rock n’ roll jump to every squat jump. Mark has the ability to make a whole room full of people laugh and brighten your door all before 6 AM. Aside from an awesome personality, Mark also works his butt off. You can also count on him working through every second of every set. I am thrilled to put the spotlight on Mark. Here is what he has to say!

“I started at Get Fit NH January 2011, just earned my 4 year strong shirt. My wife was enrolled about 1 month before me and said this is something I would like. I was running in the early hours and I needed something instead of the run in the winter. I’m an active person, I play baseball in an over 40 league, I play softball, I play indoor soccer. All activities are afternoon or at night. So I wanted an early morning class to get me motivated, build some muscle and lose some unneeded belly. Well the 5am class is just what I needed, every day is different (just like my own job). You get to train and work with different tools. Some items work small areas on your body and some items work big areas. Each day is as important as the
next. I found that, yes I was sore some days, but always push myself to get into the training and get myself better.

I love the fact that this is available and I go in with an open mind and know that the trainers
will provide an hour of work with fun mixed in to make me a stronger, fit and a better
person. The group who have been with me for the past 4 years I consider all close
friends including the trainers past and present, they all encourage and laugh and
give feedback in a non stressful environment.

I personally have seen many changes- from having my food log just tossed in the trash
and getting the right food to eat, to going from a 34 waist to a 32 waist, and
shirts down from a XL to a Large. When I went through kidney cancer, that was the
longest month of my life. I couldn’t train and I can’t sit still, I need to be active! I
lost all my strength and my weight was wicked low at 165. I pushed myself to get back
into the training and all has been fantastic since. I have noticed that since I’ve
been in this training I have not been as sick as I have in years past.

My weight has been up and down started at 185 and has been as low as 165 but with
added body mass, running around 175. I know I have work to do and I know my BAD
HABITS, that’s what keeps me going. I enjoy the challenge and will work hard, and
I know the training and trainers at Get Fit NH will provide the way to get me there.
Thanks again for ALL YOUR work.” -Mark “Marky Mark” Dartnell

Mark is 4 years strong and I couldn’t imagine not getting to see him everyday. He is such a special part of this family. Thank you for choosing to train with us, Mark and thank you for sharing your story.

-Coach Meagan

M.T.E.

If you train at Get Fit NH, then you know we don’t accept mediocracy. We don’t accept it for ourselves and we don’t accept it from our students. We like to think that is part of what separates us from the rest.

As the great coach Martin Rooney says, “There is a big difference between compliance and self-accountability. Most people just comply with what they have to do and as a result, they accept mediocrity. Some people, however, take things upon themselves and do their best in all situations. They go the “little extra”.  These are the daring souls that eventually rise above the rest and enjoy high levels of success in their lives.”

Coach Rooney has a theory about mediocracy that resonates so much with me and I think it will sit well with you too. He uses the acronym “M.T.E.” In mediocre people, M.T.E stands for “Meets the Expectation”. If we relate this to training, that might mean you show up to training 2, 3, 4 times per week as prescribed and you exercise or you complete the 21 day detox and then go right back to old habits.

In successful, results-oriented people, M.T.E stands for “More Than Expected”. Meaning you get in here, you train hard, you load heavy, eat well, accept coaching, and continue to get 1% better every single day. There is a HUGE difference in those acronyms. Imagine what you could get done if you gave more than expected in every aspect of your life. For today, make it a point to do a little more than expected. Before I let you go, here are some examples:

1.    Say “Thank You” as many times a day as possible…and mean it!
2.    Find people doing positive things and compliment them for it.
3.    Write a hand written letter to someone that has helped you with something.
4.    Stay organized and take on projects that you are both interested in and can do well.
5.    Prepare your meals
6.    Pick up a weight that intimidates you!

Make it happen,
Coach Meagan

Fit3D National Inches Lost Contest: Spread The Word

Hey guys, a quick heads up that Get Fit NH is a host for Fit3D’s “National Inch Lost Contest”, which starts February 1, 2016.

We have printed up some full color flyers that you can bring in to hang at work, or school or wherever else your friends, neighbors, family or co-workers hang out. There is a $40 registration fee, and we are waiving the normal scan fees for anyone who scans at Get Fit NH.

This is a great way to introduce people to the gym and help them be healthier for 2016! You are  double hero!

#DitchTheScale

Are You in Pain? Make an Appointment

“It’s not witchcraft, it’s not made up, it takes no super special equipment or radical amount of time or money. So if you are in pain, don’t make excuses, make an appointment.” –Coach Adam

As you may have guessed, I just thought that quote up as a lead in to this blog. How many times have I talked about being hurt? How many times have you been hurt? Whether it is from something you did outside the gym, something that you have always had, or something that has just sort of creeped up on you. Guess what, we have someone in this facility who can help.

That person is CJ, and if he can’t help, he can point you to someone who can. What do you really have to lose? I can promise you it is not going to make matters any worse, it can only make things better. I have been hearing a lot of people self-diagnosing recently and not getting the issue looked at to pinpoint what is actually going on. When I bring up CJ, they look at me like I just told them to rub snake oil on it and do a rain dance. The things that CJ does to help isn’t hokum, it wasn’t spelled out on an Ouija board (although some of you that do it often might think it’s demonic). Its actively working on the muscle groups to figure out what is causing the pain you are experiencing.

It’s $10 for 10 minutes of your time. Do some research and see how much you can get out of 10 minutes of your PCP’s time. I’m sure it’s also a heck of a lot more expensive than $10. Most of the time from your PCP, you get sent somewhere else for imaging which they schedule a month from now. A majority of the time you get through your MRI just to discover it showed nothing. So what’s next after that? You pay more money for PT, which you have to wait another week to get in to.

Here is your other option: you pay $10 to see CJ and he has a look. If it’s not something he himself or someone at Performance Health can help with, they will refer you to someone else for the next steps. This isn’t some marketing, snake oil salesman scheme by bringing CJ in. If we didn’t think having him in here could help out our students, he wouldn’t be here. So stop overthinking it and thinking it’s some sort of gimmick and make an appointment to see him.

Make it Happen
-Coach Adam

Getting Back On Track

A few weeks ago, I was having a conversation with a student who had said she was frustrated with some pain she was experiencing and because of that she threw herself a little “pity party” and indulged in ways she normally would not. When she told me this, I gave her a little flick to the arm and told her to get over it and get back on track in my loving coach voice. The reason I am sharing this is because the student who shared this with me admitted to falling off track, but by confessing, she committed to getting back on track.

We are all going to fall off track at some point. We are human and temptation surrounds us. The part to pay close attention to is how far we let ourselves fall off track. More often than not, we get into our own head and dwell on that piece of cheesecake and continue down a path of destruction. If you had an unplanned piece of pie, then congratulations, you are a human. Now move on from it. Don’t make a commitment to tomorrow or Monday. Make a commitment to your next meal. Your next meal is going to be great and the one after that is going to be on track. An unplanned splurge doesn’t wreck the day. Dwelling is dangerous.

Now in my most loving coach voice, I am telling you to make the next thing that goes into your mouth support your goal!

Coach Meagan

The Spotlight is on Sara and She is Shining Bright

In each training session, there are those who take charge of their crew and lead with a loud voice, others lead using charisma and charm, still others lead with their actions. Sara is a leader who shows you her determination and strength through what she does. It is a true joy to have Sara train with us at Get Fit NH. Because of her schedule she makes her training a priority but that also allows so many of us in Epsom to know her. She has hit every training time. Enough from me, Sara has kindly written down her story.

“I’ve always considered myself to be an athlete, and feel best when I’m moving. I played all kinds of sports growing up, was a rower in college, and love being outside and hiking in the mountains. Up until my first son was born, being active and strong was a routine part of my life. I have two little boys who are 5 and 3, and about two years ago, once my youngest turned 2, it was harder and harder to honestly look in the mirror and see myself as the active, strong person I knew I wanted to be. I started to look around at gyms in the area, I knew that I wanted to go someplace where I’d be held accountable, and could rely on somebody besides myself to get back in shape. As a wife and mom and professor, looking back, I think what I was really looking for was an hour of time where I didn’t have to think or be in charge or make decisions—I could just show up and do what I was told. I looked at my time as a break from the rest of my life—a little bit of time when I could take care of only me. And from the beginning, I loved it. And was reminded of what had been missing from my life for the past few years. And the longer I’ve been with Get Fit, the more tools I’ve been given to keep feeling better and better.

I first started working out at the Concord gym, and for the first six weeks went 4 times a week. I mentioned that I loved the training from the beginning, which is true…but I spent much of the first month with lots of sore muscles! Within a short amount of time, though, I could feel myself getting stronger, and especially once I started to listen to the nutritional part of the training at Get Fit, I could see big changes in what my body looked and felt like. It’s hard to say what’s most important to me about being a part of Get Fit. I am constantly inspired by the coaches, and have trained next to many amazing people. While I see the training as a fun challenge, and look forward to walking in, looking at the board to see what I’ll get to do that day, I think the part that has had a bigger influence on my life is the way in which we’re encouraged to think about nutrition. In the last year, because of detoxes and the summer challenges, I’ve made significant changes to how I eat, and more importantly, how I think about food. Get Fit has reminded me that food is fuel. Do I still love ice cream? Definitely. Do I always drink enough water? No. But do I know what I can do to in order to feel like my body is working optimally? Yep, and most importantly, I have learned to be more in tune to what I need nutritionally, and the steps I can take to get it to that point. I think this combination of being pushed in training to go a little bit harder, longer, heavier, smarter…plus the nutritional knowledge that is constantly shared with us, has made me feel better than I have in years. Over the past year, I’ve run my first half-marathon, finished hiking all of the 4000-footers with my husband, and had to go out and buy a smaller sized wardrobe!

For the past 18 months, I’ve trained twice a week at Epsom, and though there are weeks when I struggle to make it to training as much as I’d like, I can’t imagine life without Get Fit. There are times I fight to balance work and family and training…some months I’m more successful than others at juggling my responsibilities at work and at home. Some weeks I don’t always make it to training as much as I would like—or at all. And there are times when I know I’ll be getting an email from Nancy wondering

where I’ve been! I still struggle to balance all of the pulls on my time and to recognize that it’s okay to take that few hours a week for myself. But thanks to Get Fit, I’m sold on the idea that when I give myself this time, I am a better wife, mother, teacher, and person.”

On top of all this Sara and I share the same birthday. How cool is that? 🙂

Are you ready to start YOUR adventure? Check this out

Coach Nancy

It’s All About Hard Work

“There’s no talent here, this is hard work. This is an obsession. Talent does not exist; we are all equals as human beings. You could be anyone if you put in the time. You will reach the top, and that’s that. I’m not talented, I am obsessed.” –Conor McGregor

I have to admit, I did not like Conor McGregor when I first started hearing bits and pieces of audio from him. For any of you who do not know, Conor McGregor is a professional UFC fighter. While I may not know a ton about UFC, I have never been able to take the loud mouth cocky shtick that comes along with him. However, after reading this quote, I may be coming around.

I’m a sucker for this stuff. I have said on multiple occasions that I will take the person who works the hardest over the person with the most raw talent any day of the week. Of course, this quote just speaks to talent in general…if you’re 5’11” no matter how hard you work you will never be 6’ 6”. Talent, though, is created from hard work, coaching, and overall mental ability.

Do you think that some of the best players, fighters, and the like got that way by just waking up one morning and saying “whelp, I think I’m going to play professional baseball today”? No, of course not. They worked their butts off, found the right coaches, maybe had a lucky break here or there, but for the most part, worked harder than the guys who didn’t make it.

This is no different for any of you. You could be anyone if you put in the time and the hard work. You all may come from different backgrounds and be at different points in your lives. However, there is no reason you can’t build up to the point where you can do 2 minutes straight of burpees without stopping or finish the 12 pains of Christmas two times through. Depending on where you are, it may take a little more time or a little more effort, but it certainly doesn’t have to do with any predetermined factor.

You want it? You want to be healthy? You want to lose weight? You want to be super fit? You want to fit into a certain piece of clothing? Well guess what, that takes hard work almost to the point of obsession. So don’t think this person is just lucky or that person is not, it’s all about how hard you work and how bad you want it.

Make it happen!
– Coach Adam

30 Challenges in 30 Days – The Home Stretch

It is so cool to hear and see how well so many of you are doing, and even if you haven’t been perfect (nobody is), stay the course – It Is Worth It!

Here are the remaining challenges in plenty of time to get ready.

Let’s Finish Strong!

January 22: Eat Veggies at your first meal

January 23: Share your dinner plans on our Facebook Page or email them to your coach

January 24: Eat only raw vegetables today

January 25: No Caffeine today. – (big culprits: coffee and chocolate)

January 26: Eat 2 cups of vegetables at any one meal (salad doesn’t count)

January 27: Replace your bread/pasta/rice with a vegetable at dinner

January 28: Make a salad a main course for lunch or dinner today.

January 29: Eat lean protein and a veggie every time you eat today

January 30: Don’t eat any “sugar added” foods – check EVERY label

Imagine a World Where You Had All the Answers…

To these “How to” questions:

•    How to be successful
•    How to raise successful and happy children
•    How to live comfortably
•    How to have a happy marriage

I wish I had those direct answers for you, but I don’t! Here is what I do have though – the answers to health! The answers to helping YOU create the best version of YOU. When you’re healthier, you’re happier. When you feel better, you act better. A leaner you is a more confident you. A stronger you is a more independent you. When you challenge yourself physically, mentally, and emotionally, you are fearless and unstoppable.

What is one thing you keep telling yourself you’ll focus on next week? Next week never comes, tomorrow never comes, Monday never comes – focus on it NOW. You know what needs to change and, if not, here is a list of some things that could be holding you back from that next mark:

•    Nutrition – whether that means what you are eating, when you are eating, or how many times you are eating. Need some answers? Have you been to a Grateful Plate seminar? Have you tried the 21-day detox? The how to is right in front of you on this subject. It is just a matter of learning and taking action!
•    Training – are you training consistently? Once a week ain’t gonna cut it. Sporadically showing up ain’t gonna cut it. If you are going to do it – DO IT! Challenge yourself. If you are getting in here, then heck, step 2 is making every second from warm up to cool down count!
•    Recovery – Unless you are an elite athlete or someone who makes a living off of training, then quit training six or seven times a week. Guess what you are doing – nothing. Your body does its best work when you are recovering and if you never allow that to happen, then you are spinning your wheels and getting really frustrated when you don’t see a change.
•    Speaking of recovery – sleep! Are you sleeping? Are you shutting off the TV or closing the computer and trying to get at least 7 hours in? If the answer is no, then yeah – you’d be surprised how negatively this can affect where you are trying to go. Guess what happens to patience and discipline and mindset when you are tired? It goes down the drain!
•    Alcohol – so you are eating well, but drinking every night. “Just one glass a wine” does not do the body well. It does not help recovery. It does not help fat burning. Stop fooling yourself. I am not saying the occasional drink is detrimental to results, but I am saying that the nightly cocktail IS.
•    Stress Management – got a stressful job? A lot of us do. Being in control of the things above helps tremendously. If those things are out of control, then you are just adding to the pile.

If you are not going to focus on you, then no one else will. It is up to you to make the changes and focus on getting better. We’ve got a handle on the “How to” for health. The question is: are you just reading or are you taking action?

Make it Happen!
Coach Meagan

Are you taking enough time for yourself?

Today, I want to tell you how grateful I am that each of you chooses to train at Get Fit NH. As many of you know, my world was recently turned upside down with the birth of my son, Elijah. His arrival was a giant, unexpected surprise and my time away from the gym has allowed me the opportunity to reflect.

Prior to motherhood, I was a fast-paced and somewhat impatient individual. Some may consider me a bit of a control freak. I like to think of myself more as organized and well-prepared. For those of you who are parents, you are probably laughing at me right now as you understand the change I have been slapped with. I am now on someone else’s time which has caused me to slow way down. I am now responsible for someone else’s life which has caused me to put myself second.

It was 3pm the other day when I realized I hadn’t eaten. I hadn’t showered. I hadn’t brushed my teeth. I stopped and I thought about all of you. All of the moms and dads of Get Fit NH. All of you who make it happen every single day often with multiple children, their practices, their games, school, and more. I thought about how a few weeks ago it was so easy for me to say, “take time for yourself”, and here I am not taking care of myself and not even realizing it.

Here is my confession along with my commitment to take care of me – my beautiful baby boy deserves a healthy mom and I can and will take care of me so that together we can be healthy, happy and strong! Don’t let yourself go now because it is going to be harder to catch up later. Life will always be busy and things will continue to pop up. Are you ready to tackle the obstacles? You deserve better and you best believe your kids deserve better.

I am so grateful for all of you for keeping me honest,
Coach Meagan