Register Here for the Heart Healthy Training and Polar GX 2.0 Demo

Last week we told you about how you can help Get Fit NH support the American Heart Association and get a FREE Heart Healthy Cardio program, and we appreciate your help!

We also mentioned that we were going to have two free metabolic trainings during the month of February, but you also remember there is a small catch.

You get to bring a friend with you!

Actually to get in on these session you have to bring a friend with you, but there are two great reasons why.

#1 – We will donate an additional $10 to the AHA for each friend you bring.

#2 – You both get to see the new Polar GX 2.0 team heart rate monitoring system in action.

Way cool!

Because we need to have the training set up ahead of time to demo the system, we need to know who is coming to each one of the sessions. The first 20 who sign up will have the opportunity to use the system and see what it is all about.

Here’s what you need to do.

Simple fill out the form below, tell us when you coming and the names of the friend(s) you are bringing. We are giving both gyms the opportunity to demo the system at their own “home base”, so for these trainings please stick with the gym you normally train at.

Spaces are limited, so get those friend invited and get those registrations in.

See you there!

Get Fit NH Closing Friday Afternoon 02/08/2013 – But All Is Not Lost!

It is never an easy decision to close the training facilities, and depending on where you are sitting reading this there might not be a whole lot of action outside your window right now.

However there are a number of considerations that factored into this decision. The forecast is calling for increasing snowfall as the afternoon progresses, and again depending on where you are roads are getting pretty ugly right now. So while you may be able to get to the gym during daylight hours on your way home from work, it is getting home after training, in the dark, that concerns me.

It is not only our clients that I am concerned for, but also our coaching team making their way home in the dark on snow and ice covered roads. Their safety is not a risk I am willing to make. I trust you understand, and please direct your questions if any toward me.

But all is not lost this afternoon! We wouldn’t leave you hanging, so if you really want to get a great training session in this afternoon, have I got a deal for you! 🙂

As we shared yesterday February is American Heart Health Month, and we have put together the “21 Day Heart Health Cardio Program” that you can download for free and put into use this very afternoon.

Not only that, but for every copy that is downloaded through the month of February, we will donate $1 to the American Heart Association – how cool is that!?

Please download your copy of the program by clicking here, and help us support a great cause.

Thanks for your understanding, and we will see you Monday!

Coach Dean

P.S. – Want to find out how to get us to donate an additional $10 to the AHA? Click Here!

February is Heart Healthy Month – Great News For You!

I am sure that you are aware that February is American Heart Month.

To help celebrate American Heart Month, Get Fit NH has come up with a plan to bring you a free gift AND give you the chance to help us donate to the America Heart Association!

The best part about it….

You don’t have to spend a dime!

That’s right, Get Fit NH is going to be donating all the money to the American Heart Association, but we are going to need your help.

Part of our mission at Get Fit NH is to help as many people as possible change their lives and become fitter and healthier. To be able to reach as many people as possible, we will need you to help spread the word.

In conjunction with our partners at Fitness Revolution we have created the “21 Day Heart Healthy Cardio Program”

This is a calorie-crushing, metabolism-enhancing program that will not only improve your cardio but have you burning fat as well.

For each person that downloads the program, we will be donating $1 to the American Heart Association.

Yeah, you read that right…

For every person that downloads the program we are going to donate $1. Our goal is to donate at least $1000, but we will need your help to reach that many people!

I know that heart disease has affected my family and me, and if I were to guess, I would say that you know someone that is or has been affected by it as well. We want to raise awareness and promote fitness to help combat this ugly disease.

But that’s not all!

We are going to be hosting two FREE cardio crushing training sessions during the month of February. There is only one catch – if you come, you must bring a new friend with you!

And it doesn’t stop there!

During these two sessions, we will be holding a live demo of our new Polar GX 2.0 team heart rate monitors. As you know we have been making some changes at the gyms to get setup for this awesome new tool. You and your friend will have the opportunity to be among the first to see the new system, and you may even be one of the lucky ones to use it that day!

One more thing!

For every new friend you bring that day, we will donate an additional $10 to the American Heart Association. This is your chance to help us raise some money and also have a great time with your friends.

Start inviting  today, and we will get a sign up link up soon so we know how many to expect.

Heart Healthy Training and Polar GX 2.0 Demo #1
Saturday February 23, 2013
8:00am
Get Fit NH Epsom

Heart Healthy Training and Polar GX 2.0 Demo #2
Wednesday February 27, 2013
6:30pm
Get Fit NH Concord

Make It Happen!

Dean & Nancy

P.S. Send your friends to this link to download their copy, and pick one up for yourself too!

Why Do We Go The Extra Mile with the FMS and SGT?

Great question, I am glad you asked! We are excited about the outcomes we have seen since we applied the Functional Movement Screen and SGT into our group personal training systems.

Take a few minutes to find out why Get Fit NH continues to lead the way.

Cutting Edge Training Philosophies

Movement training is groundbreaking, and something that most trainers are unfamiliar with, but when it comes down to it should be the foundation of your training program.  You don’t pop out of the womb ready to run a 5K, and in the same way if you are just getting back into exercise it’s important to crawl before you walk before you run. Taking the time to build a solid foundation allows your body to perform at it’s best. You don’t put a Ferrari body on a go-kart chassis.

Increase Efficiency to Increase Results

Your body is much less efficient with dysfunctional movement patterns and asymmetries in comparison to moving well. By discovering how you move we can find the weakest link and improve it, and this in turn can help accelerate your results and break through plateaus. Have you ever had a door that creaked and squeaked on its hinges? It didn’t close as smoothly as it could, did it? The sqeaking hinge needed attention. Now your joints may not creak and squeak, but if there is a hitch in your giddyup, we want to find it and address it. Ther results? You move more smoothly and get better quicker.

Decrease Risk of Injury

This is the best part of the whole process. By screening for injury potential now have a great chance of avoiding that injury that may be just waiting to happen. It’s as close to telling the future as we can get!

Know That Your Program is Working For You

Scoring criteria allows you and your trainers to see if your movement patterns are improving, and if the training program is having a positive or negative effect on your baseline movement.  This way you know what is happening with your training based on fact.  This a great tool to add to body composition measurements. We can objectively measure results and make decisions based on outcomes.

So Why Now?

It is a logical question to ask “Why now, why not sooner?” and the fact is we have been working for a long time integrating assessing and screening on a client by client basis, particularly when the health history intake indicated an orthopedic challenge or injury history. We wanted to kick that level of service up a notch by formally screening all of our clients, for the reasons discussed earlier. Our primary focus is helping you get better, and this is another tool in the kit to achieve that goal. We have a great history of injury prevention, but my goal is always going to be 100%.

Another factor is this. In talking to and working with health professionals such as Physical Therapists, Spine and Orthopedic Doctors, Chiropractors and ART Specialists we understand there is a “gap” in how patients are treated once they are back to what is considered “clinically normal” and they are discharged. All these pros want their clients to continue to make progress, but both practitioner and patient can be hesitant to recommend or start a training program.

How do they know that the program is suitable?

Using the Functional Movement Screen allows us to see how the client is moving when they come in, helps us train them correctly, and also allows us to communicate with their physician or practitioner, in language we both understand, in order to insure we are on the same page. We have seen the benefit of this over and over again. The SGT system allows all of our coaches to help you better, and that’s what it’s all about!

To experience the Get Fit NH difference, click here to register today!

Make It Happen,
Coach Dean

Best of Awards are Back!

Time certainly cranks by fast doesn’t it? Voting has opened for the annual Hippo Press “Best of” Awards, and we would be honored to receive your vote as we go for “Best Gym” for the fourth straight year!

Last year we were fortunate to earn your vote and be winners in the following categories:

• Get Fit NH Bootcamp: Best Gym in Concord (3rd year in a row)
• Dean Carlson: Best Fitness Instructor in Concord (2 out of 3 years)
• Nancy Carlson: Best of the Best Fitness Instructor (2nd year in a row)

We understand that none of this is possible without you, so thank-you for choosing to train with and support Get Fit NH.

Competition is always tough, so spread the word and please vote in the following categories:

#9 Best Gym: Get Fit NH Concord

#110 Best Fitness Instructor: I am kinda partial to Coach Nancy 🙂 Get Fit NH Concord

Please Vote Here!

Thank-you so much for Making It Happen!

What’s The Cost of Being Screened?

Actually I’d rather you think of it this way.

What’s the cost of not being screened?

In pain, restriction, dysfunction, lack of mobility, or all of the above?

Now that may be dramatic, but I’d rather take 15 minutes and do the screen with an all clear than sit on an injury waiting to happen.

But let’s get down to brass tacks.

If you were to go out beyond the walls of Get Fit NH and be screened with the FMS, what would it cost you in cold hard cash?

To be honest I hadn’t thought about it because we are committed to helping our clients get better, and we strive to give 10x the value of what it costs to train here.

But then I was looking to attend a conference in southern NH being held at a training facility much like ours. I was perusing their website seeing what services they offered, what they charge, etc.

And during that perusal I found they (wisely) offer the FMS to their clients as well.

In fact they offer the FMS as a stand alone service.

$75 if you are not a client.

$50 if you are an active client.

And at $50 it is worth every penny.

What are we asking for the same service for our active clients?

15-30 minutes of your time.

Pretty sweet deal, wouldn’t you say?

Let’s keep Making It Happen!

Coach Dean

The Top 10 Things You Should Know About Your Get Fit NH Training Program

Who doesn’t like a good “Top Ten” list?

Our friends over at SGT inspired me to put together a Get Fit NH Top 10, so here goes.

Did you know?

1. You can control the intensity of each training session with your own effort.  Don’t overlook this.
2. Pain increases cortisol and cortisol increases body fat.  There is no benefit to working out in pain. Avoid the painful patterns (and get the proper medical attention if necessary) and train the non-painful patterns.
3. Soreness is ok, but it’s not marker of a good training session.  Just because you aren’t’ sore the next day, don’t think that you didn’t train smart (or hard).
4. Stacking fitness on top of dysfunction will only lead to injury or plateau.  SGT and the FMS screen find your movement pattern dysfunctions, and then we can work on cleaning up your weakest links.
5. Overtraining (under-recovering) is a major contributor to lack of results and people giving up.  Nutrition and sleep are crucial to continued progress, as is taking a break. Taking a scheduled recovery week IS training.
6. Lifting weights does not make women bulky! Resistance training will make you strong and lean.  Not lifting weights will make you frail and skinny-fat.
7. You get much better results from doing a less challenging exercise in good form than you will from a more challenging progression in bad form.  Intensity must follow proper form, and is dependent on it.
8. If your goal is fat loss, it’s important to know that you typically can’t out-train poor nutrition.  Treat your treats like treats. You can’t live well if all you eat is cheats and treats.
9. Recovery is just as important as your training.  A good post training meal, 7-8 hours of sleep, stress reduction, and tissue quality work are essential to a balanced program.  You must live The Other 165.
10. We are not going to do any sit-ups and crunches.  Your lumbar spine is made to stabilize, not flex and extend repeatedly under load.  We do stabilization exercises for the core, and if your form is right you are working your core on EVERY exercise that we select.  Core training at its best is working to maintain good posture under the load or force that is trying to alter that posture.

So there you go, our Current Top 10

Didja learn anything?

Now get in here and Make It Happen!
Coach Dean

Nuggets to Digest

I read every day. I find that in that reading there is sometimes more power packed into a few paragraphs than one hundred pages written on a subject.

Here’s some nuggets that apply to your training AND your nutrition.

1. Train to get better, not to get done.

Get Fit NH states this in regards to training but the same thing applies to nutrition.

Are you eating each meal as if the quality/quantity of the foods you eat will dictate your success? Are you treating each snack with that same respect as well?

2. Be a Champion. Championships aren’t won Overnight.

They take months of practice, a willingness to work and a genuine passion for what you’re doing. Everyone is a champion at something. Would you like to be known for someone who is a champion of their body?

3. Celebrate small victories.

Winning one game doesn’t mean you win a championship – but it’s a way to measure your progress and validate your efforts. Measure your efforts on a short term scale. Always work towards that championship.

4. Compete.

I think this is a biggie. Winners of competition don’t go through the motions. Athletes train. Everyone else works out. (sound familiar to anyone?)

The difference…competition. Part of training is the fuel you feed your body. Are you going through the motions in your nutrition?

5. Handle adversity.

In baseball, hitters that don’t let one bad at bat turn into a bad game are the most successful. In eating habits it’s the same. A missed PPW meal doesn’t mean you can’t succeed. A bad choice in the evening doesn’t mean you’re destined for failure. Learn from it and move on.

In other words – You learn by doing. You’ll find what works by taking action, making changes, and sticking to your goal.

Get Better, Every Day.

Coach Nancy

Referral Rewards Contest with a Sweet Twist

Valentine’s Day is right around the corner.

Get Fit NH has their own version of a Valentine Sonnet. It is full of love and contains gifts for everyone.

Roses are Red
Get Fit NH is for you.
Join me in health
And have some fun too!

This Valentine will be perfect for your spouse, a sister, your brother, father, mother and even your friends, because we are holding an especially sweet Referral Rewards contest from RIGHT NOW until February 14th.

Here is how the gift giving works.

(Warning: We have very limited training slots open, so you gotta be fast!) We have between 1 and 2 slots open in each of the Get Fit NH Epsom training times, and in Concord we are targeting the 7:25am training and a couple spots at the 8:30am Ladies. If you have friends and family that have been on the fence now is the time to get them here, before it is too late and someone else gets that coveted training spot. And yes, Concord clients can refer to Epsom and vice versa.

No group of clients has been more supportive of us over the years, and rather than spend a bunch of money in the paper advertising, we want to give it to you, plus a very special bonus.

Because when your referral signs on to train with us, on top of your normal Referral Rewards, and in recognition of the season of love, we are going to treat you and someone special to dinner and a movie.

How cool is that?

Time away, time together, a dinner gift certificate, and two movie tickets. All for doing something that shows you really care.

But don’t delay – This special offer expires February 14th.

So get on the horn and point the way here: http://www.getfitnhbootcamp.com/featured/fitness-bootcamp-sign-up/

Make It Happen,

Coach Nancy

Red Light, Green Light. What Do You Mean I Can’t Do That?

Did I just use the word “can’t”?

Actually I did because “currently unable” was too big for the title of this post. 🙂

But it did get your attention didn’t it? Because that is not a word that we use at Get Fit NH.

“Currently Unable” is not just semantics, it is a fact. Just because you are unable or it is inappropriate for you to perform a particular movement or exercise now doesn’t mean you never will be able to do it.

And that concept fits right in with what we talked about last week when we introduced SGT and reinforced the concept that training quality counts.

As we roll out SGT (smarter group training) you have no doubt seen some changes in the gyms. Funny colored acronyms on the board, corrective posters, etc. Corresponding with these is what are called red light exercises.

What exactly is a red light exercise or movement pattern?

Red Light = Currently Unable

The reason we red light an exercise is to minimize risk of injury while maximizing your results. It means the screen has shown us something that needs to be addressed. There has been a weakness, imbalance or dysfunction detected, and the next step is to implement a strategy in your training to address it.

After the corrective strategies are used and the pattern clears, then it is time to train that pattern. No holding back, just getting after it. By getting you moving better, you can now train harder, and you will get better results.

Win Win!

So what’s that look like in the real world?

It may mean that after your screen you may not be doing an exercise you have done in the past, at least for a little while.

This is a good thing!

You see that’s why we screen. Because as good as your coaches are, they may not be able to detect an underlying problem that is going to bite you at some point in the future, short term or long term. We have been researching and studying the best way to mitigate that fact, and we are really excited about putting a formalized system in place that reinforces excellence.

The Red Light is not to hold you back, but to help you get better – faster.

And rest assured that your coaches have been screened and are using the system in our training as well. An old guy like me needs all the help he can get, and if I have to take a step backward to take a giant leap forward, I am all for it.

If you have any questions, that is what your coaches are for. We are New Englanders, we don’t like change, I get it. We don’t necessarily like people to think we have “limitations”.

But “Currently Unable” is not a scarlet letter, it is merely a recognition that we are getting better, little by little, every day.

Make It Happen!

Coach Dean