Memorial Day Family Day Training

Hey all, just wanted to remind you that next Monday we are having an all group training at Get Fit NH Concord starting at 8:00am sharp. This will be our one and only training for that day, so don’t miss it. We always have an incredible time when we get the whole Get Fit NH family together in one place!

Ever wonder about the history of Memorial Day? I can only be amazed at the courage and love that is and was displayed by those who continually put themselves in harms way and often pay the ultimate price so that we can live. As a veteran I would urge you (and your kids) to read some of the history of what was first called “Decoration Day” and how it has become what we now know as Memorial Day.

http://www.usmemorialday.org/

Memorial Day Training
Date: Monday May 26, 2014
Time: 8:00am to 9:30am
Place: Get Fit NH Concord

The Circle of Life

We recently had a motivation tip of the day that read,

“When good nutrition, exercise, and sleep are your friends, you can defeat your worst enemies.”

Let that sink for a moment. Think about some of your personal physical and mental enemies.

For example:

• No energy
• Headaches/Migraines
• Poor sleeping patterns
• Overweight/Obese
• Low self esteem
• Depression
• Anxiety
• Stress

Those are only a handful of challenges many of us face and I have great news for you…

It doesn’t have to be that way!

Leading a healthy and fit lifestyle are life’s natural healing (both physical and mental!) I’m so proud of you all for getting in here 2-4 times per week and busting your tail. You have that piece down, but you can’t stop there.

Your nutrition has to support your training. I have said it before and will say it again, you cannot and will not out train poor nutrition. It is not possible. If you want to feel good, lose fat, and gain muscle you need to have discipline.

Here are some great ways to make a plan and stick with it:

• Create a weekly meal plan
• Grocery shop right after training. It will help you stay encouraged to stick to the list!

(After all who wants to buy Cheetos after they just got their butt kicked?)

• Keep a food journal. Make sure it matches the plan!
• Shop the perimeter of the grocery store. Avoiding the junk aisles will help you stay on track. Out of sight out of mind. (Personally, I hear Coach Dean’s voice in my head while I grocery shop saying, “If you don’t buy it, you won’t eat it.” A little weird- but it works!)

Sleep. You have to fight for your 8 hours. A great night of sleep and a poor night of sleep both have a tremendous impact on how your day is going to turn out. If you sleep great you can train hard and when you train hard you sleep great!

Here’s the catch…

If your nutrition isn’t supportive, you can’t train as hard. If you aren’t training as hard you probably aren’t sleeping great. If you aren’t sleeping great you’re probably pretty crabby.

Do you see how this is like the circle of life?

Make it Happen,

Coach Meagan

You All Rocked the Rock N’ Race

As I look at the Get Fit team picture that was taken last night at the Rock n’ Race, I can’t help but smile and appreciate everyone’s own story about what made them want to race, what it took to get to that race, and what it took to finish that race. We represented quite well and we did what we do best: Made it Happen!

To those who participated – whether you got your own personal record, participated in your first 5K, joined a family member or two for their first race, or casually walked the course, I am so proud of you. That race may have been a little more emotional for some, and I want to acknowledge that. To participate in a 5K (no matter your level!) can be scary, daunting, and can definitely strengthen you both physically and mentally…not to mention, make you think you were crazy to sign up for such a thing as the heart is pounding out of the chest, the legs are burning, snot is flying (yours and everyone else’s!), and the drips of sweat are burning your eyes! I assure you, it was a good decision, but of course I have a biased opinion. 😉

To stand (sweaty) shoulder to shoulder, with the smell of seafood chowder and pulled pork stinging the nostrils, you all proved that you can indeed battle the negative thoughts in your head and make the choice to be better. Even if you didn’t do as well as you hoped, you still made yourself better. The thousands of steps that you took during that race has resulted in, I hope, a big step forward in your journey towards a healthy lifestyle.

Choosing to move, choosing to be better, choosing to add life to your years…a 5K race, a completion of a full week of Get Fit training, a successful nutrition week, a goal reached. This is what better feels like.

It was an honor to race beside all of you last night! 🙂
Coach Sarah

Giving is Truly a Gift to Yourself

Many opportunities arise where near people are willing to give of themselves in order to help others. Get Fit NH each month hosts a fundraiser to support our collective family as they have needs. But so many more people are out there who have great causes to support and loved ones who are hurting. I want to make you aware of another activity with have a great cause behind them.

While I do not know this family, I understand their pain. Our son Derek died at eleven months old so when I hear of another family whose child died in infancy my heart aches. I will do all I can to relieve another family’s pain in this situation. If you have the availability and the time, will you help them too?

To Celebrate CJ’s life the The Boston Burrito 5k will be held in Manchester, NH on Friday June 6. It would have been CJ’s 1st birthday.

Cj passed away at just 8 months old, after 50 long days in the ICU. He eventually succumbed to the mysterious illness and doctors say his case is the first of its kind. CJ is the young son of local Manchester chiropractors Dr April and John Kosinski, and the sister to a 4 year old little girl Kayla. We are trying to help their family with their loss as well as the medical bills associated with this journey and tragedy.

You can see all about his event here and  you can register for the Boston Burrito here.

The Boston Burrito 5k for CJ is meant to honor CJ by keeping his loving memories alive and to celebrate how precious life is. For now, the money raised is for the Cameron John Kosinski Donation Fund and will help the Kosinski family with their astronomical medical bills associated with their beloved son’s hospitalization and end of life care. In the future, the Kosinski family hopes to help other families in need, in similar situations with losing a child.

Thank you for your support.

Menu Planning and Prep

There’s no doubt that prepping and planning your meals is not only crucial to achieving your best body, but also extremely challenging! Today’s hectic lifestyles make “grab and go” a lot more likely than “sit and relax”.

Who’s got the time to prepare?

In this seminar Coach Nancy (who is a mom of six, homeschools her kids and is a full-time fitness professional) will guide you every step of the way.

Nancy says “Achieving your best body AND eating great food can coexist. The key lies in your ability to PRE-PLAN and PREPARE. You must reorganize the way you eat. At “Menu Planning and Prep” you’ll learn how to easily pull mealtime together for your family. You’ll walk away with a week’s worth of dinner meal plans plus the ability to expand that to a whole month. Your ‘Six Week Sprint to Summer’ will be kicked into high gear after this workshop.

Where can you find this workshop? Who can attend? Get Fit NH Epsom will host this event on May 21 from 6-7:30pm. Please ask those people who support you during your Six Week Sprint to Summer to come along too.

Menu Planning & Prep
Date: Wednesday May 21, 2014
Time: 6:00pm to 7:30pm
Place: Get Fit NH Epsom

Plan on attending these other “Six Week Sprint to Summer” nutritional workshops

“Cheat Your Way Through Meal Preparation” Wednesday, May 28 at Get Fit NH Concord from 5:30-7

“Summer Salads and Sides” Wednesday, June 4th from 6-7:30 at Get Fit NH Epsom

Coach Meagan’s S3 Tips

Hi all, Coach Meagan here.

As I sit here planning my meals for the Six Week Sprint into Summer (S3) I thought I would share some of my strategies for the upcoming challenge. Many of you know how I am not a huge fan of cooking, but as you can imagine I have big goals that I am working toward- so I’m going to suck it up!

Here are the steps I take to make my nutrition go as planned:

1) Plan my meals for the following week Wednesday morning. From that create my grocery list.

2) Grocery shopping on Sunday- stick to the perimeter of the store to avoid temptation (with the exception of frozen veggies!) and stick to the list!

3) Sunday is my prep day. Remember how I said I don’t like cooking? Half the battle (for me) is prepping. If you don’t have it prepped and planned ahead of time there is a pretty good chance you will forget something or just skip it (like adding those extra veggies, because you didn’t want to cut them up!) “Prep day” entails primarily:

– Cutting up veggies and bagging them for each meal they’re going with.

– Prep meat- whether that means cutting it up or just taking it out of the package, adding the veggies, and sticking it in a freezer bag labeled “Monday Dinner”

You can add these tips to fit your schedule too. By taking the time do this you’re saving precious time during the week and there is no extra thinking involved.

Make sure you take into account days where you might be working late or getting home late. When you plan head you can mark those days down for dinner in the crockpot. That way when you get home your house smells amazing and you are eating your nutritious, planned, and compliant meal.

Here is a quick lunch idea…

On your prep day as you are cutting all of those veggies throw a handful of each into a pot. Cook a couple of pieces of chicken and scramble up some eggs and throw that in the pot with the veggies. Add water and a small amount of chicken broth (check the ingredients on those chicken broths!) and you just made yourself soup for the week for lunch. 🙂

I hope these tips were helpful to you- let’s Make It Happen!
-Coach Meagan

2014 Summer Athlete Academy Starts June 30th

Last Year’s Summer Academy Champions!

It’s not too early to get on board for the 2014 Athletic Revolution Summer Athlete Academy!

The goal of this training program, like all we do at AR, is to give each athlete who walks through our doors the tools to do one thing – Get Better.

Sounds like a no brainer?

Maybe not.

Almost anyone can train a teenage athlete to get stronger, but that is only a small part of the picture.

• How does that new found strength translate to the court, the field, the water, or the track?
• Is the athlete remaining flexible and injury free?
• What about agility, coordination, reflexes and reaction?
• Leadership, focus and teamwork?

There is no magic here. No tricks to jumping higher and running faster. As an athlete you must walk in the doors with focus, determination and the willingness to work hard and then some.

AR Athlete Academy is a 3 day a week program, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, from 10:00 to 11:15am. This is a 6-week Academy with 2 bonus/make-up days on August 11th and 13th.

Enrollment is limited, so please don’t delay getting your registration to us right away. Upon submitting your registration you will be sent a health history and champion profile to be completed and returned, and we will also give you a call so we can schedule an initial athlete assessment and answer any questions.

We look forward to seeing you this summer!

Athletic Revolution Athlete Academy (13+)

Assessment: To be completed by June 20th
Dates: Full Training runs from Monday June 30th through Friday August 8th (Bonus days August 11 & 13!)
Days: Monday, Wednesday, Friday
Time: 10:00am – 11:15am
Place: Athletic Revolution Concord
Academy Investment: $269

Please fill out the registration form below to hold your spot, and we will contact you shortly to complete the registration process – Thanks! If you would like more information, please contact us here.

(Please note that clinics and academies are not eligible for the 2 week trial, however your champion can still experience our core offerings for 2 weeks free after attending a clinic/academy)

Six Week Sprint to Summer – Build Your Habits

We all have habits.

There are things we do, every time we do them.  We drive to work, put the toothpaste on the brush, and put the pillow under our head – the same way – every time.

When it comes to the way we eat we have built habits as well. We like certain foods in certain ways. We like to eat at certain times. We plan and prepare our food or we don’t. We have a set point at which we are full. We salt our food without tasting it first (guilty!) We may grab a glass of wine after dinner. We may eat dessert. These things are all habits.

Food has so much power over our lives. We have to eat to survive. But eating is also enjoyable. There are so many wonderful tastes, textures, colors and smells. The problem is when we let food overpower us and control us to the point our health suffers.

The good news is that habits can be built, and habits can be broken. Our Six Week Sprint to Summer is all about building habits that support good health. It is not deprivation. There are no calorie counts or restrictions.

There are replacements however.

We replace poor habits with better ones. We control our food, we don’t let it control us. We take one day at a time, doing specific things that will help us replace our poor nutrition habits with ones that will support our goals of losing fat, getting lean, and looking and feeling great.

Over the years we have been consistent with these habits. There is nothing magical here. We are making a conscious decision every meal to do what it takes to build good health habits. For those of you who have been with us awhile these will be familiar. Kinda goes along with the “Habits” theme, wouldn’t you say? 🙂

Take some time to click the links and read the articles that go along with each habit. These are from past challenges and will be a big help. Don’t just blindly follow. Knowing why you are doing something is an important part of building the habit.

Let’s get started!

Six Week Sprint To Summer Habits

Habit 1: Did I plan and/or prepare every meal I ate today?

• Create Your Plan
• Quick and Easy Meal Planning

Habit 2: Did I eat vegetables every time I ate today?

• Eat Your Veggies 1
• Eat Your Veggies 2

Habit 3: Did I eat lean, complete protein every time I ate today?

• Eat Your Protein 1
• Eat Your Protein 2

Habit 4: Did I eat healthy fats every time I ate today?

• Eat Healthy Fat 1

Habit 5: Did I drink only zero sugar beverages today? (Exception: post-training)

• Don’t Drink Your Calories

Habit 6: Did I avoid all added sugars when I ate today?

• Sugar. Sweet to the Lips, Killer on the Hips

Habit 7: Did I eat/drink complete lean protein within 1 hour after resistance training today? (n/a = not training day)

• Start Recovering – Right Now!

Six Week Sprint to Summer Resource Page

Dates to Remember:

May 10, 2014: Kickoff Meeting

May 19, 2104 : S3 2014 Starts

June 29, 2014:  S3 2014 Ends

Seminar Dates and Locations

Meal Planning and Prep
May 21, 2014
Get Fit NH Epsom
6:00pm to 7:30pm

Cheat Your Way Through Meal Prep
May 28, 2014
Get Fit NH Concord
5:30pm to 7:00pm

Summer Salad and Sides
June 4, 2014
Get Fit NH Epsom
6:00pm to 7:30pm

Success Checklist Due Dates

Checklist 1: June 3, 2014

Checklist 2: June 17, 2014

Checklist 3: July 1, 2014

Resources:

Please click a link to open or download…

Success Checklist – PDF Format

Success Checklist – Excel Version

Shopping List Part 1 – PDF Format

Shopping List Part 2 – PDF Format

Quick and Easy Meal Planning – PDF Format

S3 2014 Facebook Group

Running Mechanics Workshop Part 2: Prepare Yourself

Respecting All Parts of a Run

If you’re like me, the sun beckons you outside.  Whether it’s to go for a walk with a friend, play in the dirt with your children, or read a book, there’s always a simple pleasure in getting outside.  For many, the sunny and long days now mean, “it’s time to run!”  So we tie on the shoes and off we go!

However, the “off we go” mentality is sometimes what gets us an appointment at the doctor’s office.  We jump in because we think the sun will make our bodies all warm and mobile, but unfortunately that’s not the case.  If you’re a runner, you must respect all parts of a run – before, during, and after.  But what are those parts?

With the great response from our last seminar, we want to give you the opportunity to learn more about what we discussed and how to apply it to you and your training.  We talked about many factors including recovery, mechanics, and training methods.  With this seminar, we’ll go more in depth with the different parts of a run, including

• Specific warm-ups
• A personal mobility assessment
• Running mechanics & coaching
• Soft tissue work specifically related to runners.

We’ll be doing a longer session with running, so please be prepared to run, and best of all for those who want to join, we’ll finish off the workshop by running downtown to have lunch together! (Just a heads up though, it won’t be McDonalds.)

Hope to see you there…with bells!
Coach Sarah

Running Mechanics and Injury Prevention: Part 2
Place: Get Fit NH Concord
Date: Saturday, May 31
Time: 9:00 – 11:30am
Investment: $47
Please Bring: Paper and pen, proper running attire, and lunch money (optional)