"I would rather see someone consistently train 4 times a week at 60-70 percent intensity for the long term over 4 times a week at 100 percent intensity and burn out in the first week"

This is something I tell people all the time because I think it is so important to understand. In society there is the BIG all or nothing mentality that makes achieving goals very challenging. We decided that we want to get healthier, start working out, eating better, all at once. Now don't get me wrong this is an awesome thing to do for your health, but trying to change all of this at the same time is an overwhelming thing to do for most people. What we see far too often is people trying to make a large change all at once and either burnout or don't see the changes they want instantly and stop all together. The truth people don't want to hear in health and fitness is most goals you want take time, and most of the time longer than you think. Due to that fact of things needing time we get frustrated and burnt out from making some drastic changes. 

My advice to these people is to start small and be consistent with the small changes you make! If your first step is starting in the gym than make sure you can consistently go. Building strength, losing fat, and gaining cardiovascular endurance takes time! If you go into the gym working out at your max effort every single day your body won't be able to handle the workload you are putting it through. It's great if you make it through a week or two working at max effort but what happens if by doing so you burn your body out or get an overuse injury and now have to take three weeks off of the gym? The better way I would look at it is to train by how your body feels. Most days you will probably train at 70% effort, some days being a little less and some being more when you feel good. But if training this way allows you to consistently train 4 day a week for 6 months your body will respond better by the consistent work than the overly intense work. 

So remember if you have a day where your body doesn't feel its best or the energy is down that is ok! Train how you body is feeling that day and remember any workout is better for your body than no workout! Some days may not be your best training session but for each of those days I bet you have days that are your best day! It's a give and take!

Keep Making It Happen!

-Coach Brian 

If you have been in training recently you have probably noticed we have been doing the Turkish Get Up a lot. I have also seen a couple people asking why we have been doing it so much so I thought I would take the time to write a blog about it! 

If you know me than you know I am a huge fan of the kettlebell and all training around it. Even more so the Turkish Get Up is one of my favorite movements with a kettlebell because it is so universal to use. I have used variations of the Turkish Get Up as a warm up, as my main training, and for a cool down, making it a very useful movement in my bag of exercises. 

So now that I have talked over my personal love for the movement lets break down why it is such a good movement! If you were to break down the movement piece by piece I would say there are 9 fantastic benefits and health factors it offers being:

• Primitive rolling pattern
• Unilateral development
• A lunge pattern
• An overhead hold
• Two hip hinges
• Glute activation
• Core recruitment
• Improved leg drive
• Rotator cuff stabilization

If you look at that list you will see that the Turkish Get Up is challenge your entire body in a way most other exercises simply cannot by themselves. This movement is also great because it gives you direct feedback with imbalances in the body. You can see right away which side is stronger and during what parts of the movement are harder for you. You can take that information and use it to help strengthen and address the imbalances which will help overall health!

When the Turkish Get-Up is loaded, to what you consider heavy, you will develop ridiculous strength. Heavy get-ups improve your strength in many ways, but one of the most important ways is by teaching the important skill of “linkage” while eliminating strength “leakage.”

According to physical therapist Gray Cook, “Stabilizers are what give you the mechanical advantage to be stronger.” Heavy Turkish get-ups improve your stabilizers, which will improve your linkage, and simply put, more linkage equals more strength.

Hopefully this helped talk about why we do the Turkish Get Ups and all the cool benefits we get doing them!

Keep Making It Happen!

-Coach Brian

Starting  Saturday, June 15, 2019 for 6 weeks Get Fit NH will be hosting an hour session all about golf and slow pitch softball to get players ready to hit the course and field this summer! 

What is the class all about?

This class will help in several key aspects regarding these two sports.  Firstly mobility and flexibility specific to these sports to help decrease risk of injury while playing.  Secondly working on rotational control and power, a.k.a hit the ball farther and have more control for both.  

What types of exercise will be we doing?

Mobility work along with power work using things like medicine balls, bands, and occasionally weights in order to compliment what you already do in training.  This will allow for a more focused time to work teaching power and safety during rotational exercises (i.e. swinging a club or a bat).

Will this put me over the top if I’m already training 4 days a week?

No, with this being a less intense and a more focused hour of training. It should not put you in a position to increase risk of injury.  

Is this only open to Get Fit NH clients?

No, however due to the nature of the class it is going to be capped at 20 participants so hurry and reserve your spot!

When? Where? And How much?

• 7am-8am every Saturday morning for 6 weeks beginning 6/15/2019
  • Due to recovery week this will exclude 7/6/2019
• At Get Fit NH
  • 287 South Main Street, Concord, NH
• $99 for the entire 6 weeks

If I have any questions who should I contact?

Coach Adam Gray

Adam@getfitnh.com

Where do I sign up to reserve my spot?

Right Here

1. Mentality:  Probably the most important part of why training is important is the mentality or the mental strength that is required to do so. Also on the flip side what you are reinforcing to yourself if you skip it. I'm not talking about skipping one Friday if something comes up and you just can't make it, I am talking about Fridays upon Fridays of skipping. It teaches, even if it's just subconsciously, that its ok to not
   finish what you start. That after three days it “ok close enough”, that is a dangerous sentiment to have, it’s the same as taking the opportunity to do 21 days of clean eating and on day 20 saying “well I made it 20 how big of a difference is 1 day going to make”. Nutritionally and training wise maybe not much, at first, however it’s a slippery slope at first its one week. Then the next week you think “I skipped Friday and felt fine, don’t really feel like going this week either” then the trend continues.
   Missing one class might not have a huge impact on training but if that trend
   continues that’s 4 classes a month and 48 classes a year. Don’t give yourself an
   excuse to not finish what you started, it starts with one thing, but we are all humans,
   if we give ourselves and inch we will take a mile. It may start with training, but
   before you know it it’s bleeding over into nutrition and general life responsibilities.
2. Training: The programming at Get Fit NH is designed to affect your system in
   different ways to elicit and overall training response. Many of you already know
   this but training is written as 2 days of Metabolic work (most closely resembling
   cardiovascular training) and 2 days of strength work. That means that the training
   is written to work as a whole balanced program over a weeks span, so missing a
   Friday leads to an unbalanced week of training. For the best training effect we have
   to take advantage of all of it. Can you really tell me that missing 48 trainings in a
   year won't affect you?
3. A general sense of accomplishment: it's no secret that Fridays trainings are
   challenging, and on Friday you are tired, stressed, and ready to end your week as
   soon as possible. The sense of accomplishment you will feel after making sure you
   gave it your absolute all and saw the week through to the end will be great.
   Fridays are important too, don’t give yourself and excuse, it probably will not stop
   there!
   -Coach Adam

We had such a fun time giving away a prizes from our April and May referral challenge, we decided we HAD to keep the challenge going to June and July. So get talking! All those BBQs you are going to and fun summer outings are great opportunities to talk about your story and encourage others to start theirs too!

If you refer someone to us in June or July and they sign up we will give you a $200 gift card to S&W, Bass Pro Shop or EMS so you can deck yourself out with whatever mountain biking, fishing or camping gear you desire! 

On top of that, we will put your friend's name in a separate drawing to win a $50 gift card to Under Armor so they can deck themselves out in new training gear. 

A great way to get people into training is to take advantage of Friends and Family Fun Fridays. This is less of a commitment for them than saying they will do two weeks for free. Let them see who we are and we will show them what we can do for them. Together we can make a big difference. 

We are happy to encourage Friends and Family Fun Fridays at all training times through the summer! 

Can't wait to see who the lucky winner is August 1st!

Coach Meagan

Some of you may have seen my Why Wednesday a couple weeks ago about this topic, but I wanted to go back into it because I do think it's so important.  In reading a book to help myself out recently I realized how much I was allowing myself to become a victim of my circumstances. Or more accurately allowing myself the excuse because of things that were happening to me.  I think one of the biggest examples of this is my relationship with food. That is the main reason I am writing this blog and using this example. When something bad happened or I had a rough day the first thing I would do is use food.  So what I was saying is “I’m a victim of my day so I can have this”.

Another example that many of you might be able to understand as well is the “If it's in the house I’m going to eat it”. I remember getting legitimately angry at people for bringing things home that I could have because I would eat them.  Again what am I saying? “You are victimizing me by bringing that stuff here” which gives me the excuse to mow down on it. Coming to that realization has helped me immensely because if there is one thing I never want to be considered it is a “victim”.

Don’t misunderstand me, you do not have control over everything that happens in your life.  You’re going to have to deal with crabby people, difficult work associates or customers. No one has complete control over the things that happen in their life.  What you DO have 100% control over is how you respond to those scenarios, are you going to allow yourself to be a victim of your circumstance? Or are you going to decide to still fight, be positive, stay strong.  To realize that you can choose whether or not you allow yourself to be a victim, or not allow yourself to be puts you in control.

-Coach Adam

This has been a hot topic in our accountability group recently. I have been harping on the importance of keeping a journal and how it could seriously change your attitude and help you embrace self-love. Diaries and journals might be outdated or seem immature, but I am here to tell you why they are NOT and how answering 3 simple questions to yourself each day could truly make a difference in your quality of life!

First, let me outline WHY you should journal:

1. It’s an inner therapy session. Releasing your feelings and your doubts, guilts, etc can help you let go. Rather than keeping negative energy built up inside, you can release it by “confessing” to yourself and giving yourself the opportunity to move on.

2. You can set yourself “mini” goals each day that make you feel successful. These mini goals add up into big results and a person who feels PROUD of themselves.

3. You can reveal trends about yourself If you are journaling daily that you got 3 hours of sleep then you can use that information to set yourself a “mini” goal like, “Screens off and In bed by 9PM” Small changes like that build up to big results and a well rounded, happier and healthier human

Here are three things you should ask yourself everyday as well as some examples of what those answers look like

1. What did I do GREAT today?

1. I made it to the gym!

2. I drank 80 ounces of water today and even though I was in the bathroom more than normal, I feel hydrated and energized

3. I ate ALL of the meals on my plan today and stayed away from the donuts in the breakroom

4. I shut my screens off by 10pm and did not check my email until after I worked out this morning

5. I made a meal plan!

6. I scooted past the cookies at the grocery store!

2. What did I struggle with today?

1. Emotional eating- rough day at work (Explain what happened or what DIDN’T happen) for example, I was so stressed at work today because we were short handed I came home and ate an entire bag of tortillas and salsa OR I came home and ate an entire bag of chips and salsa, because I didn’t have a PLAN

2. Traded gym time for extra sleep or because I got stuck at work

3. Didn’t follow through on my meal plan- got take out instead

4. Went to the grocery store starving and loaded up on the good stuff, but also ice cream and chips that will taunt me until they’re gone

5. Threw away half my groceries from last week because I had take out every night

6. Drank nothing but soda today and ended  up with a massive headache

3. What am I going to do better tomorrow?

1. I’m going to make it to the gym at 5AM

2. I’m going to get 32 ounces in by 10AM

3. No take out. Eat my meal plan!

4. Screens off by 10pm

You will notice that the goals for the following day are SPECIFIC and MEASURABLE so that next day when you go into your journal you can check off that you did do it or you did NOT do it.

Answer to yourself. Figure out what is holding you back and overcome it by setting mini goals each day. Show yourself forgiveness by admitting to yourself where you are struggling and celebrate yourself by patting yourself on the back where you are crushing it. We are all a work in progress!

Coach Meagan