I’ve been waiting to do this spotlight for months. The mix of two moms, who run and own their own businesses, it can get tricky. Amy and I have that in common. I am fortunate to have Amy in my life. She provides a calming presence for me at Get Fit NH but also with her love for helping the human body work as it should. Amy owns Chichester Massage. I was able to turn to Amy for help many times but the most significant was when my daughter had Lyme. A 10 year old should not ache from head to toe. Amy was able to help Karalynn when she (and I) needed it most.

Amy tells her own story here. Two sides of the same coin. She tells how Get Fit NH helped her when she needed it most.

"I started training at Get Fit NH after meeting Dean and Nancy in a business referral group that I had joined to promote my business Chichester Massage. As a massage therapist, their integral training program made sense to me combining cardio, core, strength/resistance exercises to maximize the potential of your muscles. The best way to refer someone to a business is to try it yourself so I decided to give it a go. I did not struggle with maintaining my weight but I became winded very easily and felt pretty weak so my goals were to improve in those areas. I remember being very sore in the beginning but also excited as I noticed my energy increase, endurance and strength develop so everyday activities were easier.

At age 38 I felt like I was in the best shape of my life thanks to Get Fit NH and then I became pregnant. I was worried that I would lose all I had gained but I soon realized it was the best thing to set myself up for success. Despite my age my doctor didn’t consider me “high risk” because of the shape I was in and the training actually prepared my body and the baby for the birth process. I trained until the day before I had my daughter, with modifications of course, but I believe that had a huge impact on the ease of my pregnancy and getting back in shape post baby.

These days I struggle with balancing the responsibilities of being a mom, wife and business owner but my main goal is keeping up with my 5 year old (who is starting kindergarten, yikes!) and being a good role model for her with healthy eating and exercise. Since there never seems to be enough time in the day I have found meal planning to be essential these days. Nancy’s crockpot workshop and all the sharing of recipes for meals, smoothies etc have been invaluable and have taken me out of my comfort zone to try new foods. I love the support and encouragement from Nancy and the 9am ladies. Even when training is challenging there is lots of laughter. Get Fit NH has been a wonderful asset to me both personally and professionally. I have been a massage therapist for 20 years and keeping my body strong and healthy has contributed to the longevity of my career.

1. It enhances your post-workout recovery
You spend your time tightening and toning your muscles as part of your workout but muscles need to recover and be lengthened out again to restore flexibility and perform at their best. A therapeutic massage helps loosen up your muscles allowing you to recover from the impact better and faster than you normally would.

2. It soothes the pain of sore muscles
Your muscles can really ache after an intense workout but massaging and stretching them can help work out the knots, flush out the toxins that contribute to the "ouch" factor and get the blood flowing again so they don't hurt so much.

3. It makes your muscles work better
Regular exercise not only puts a strain on your muscles, ligaments and tendons, but also connective fibers under the skin known as your fascia - which help the muscles work smoothly and efficiently when they're in good shape. The fascia can get really gunked up with repeated exercise and that makes it harder for muscles to slide past each other easily. Massage helps by loosening up those fibers and releasing restrictions so the muscles are doing what they're supposed to with much less effort.

4. It helps you feel better, mentally
You have been working hard and a massage is a healthy way to reward yourself. Not only does it feel good but studies show massage lowers blood pressure, heart rate and cortisol levels proving it to be an excellent stress reliever.

Fitness is all about meeting new challenges as you work to improve your physical and mental well-being. As part of a balanced program massage can help you get to where you want to be."

Don’t forget as a member of Get Fit NH you receive 10% off at Chichester Massage!

It might not be recovery week but don’t wait to take advantage of what massage can do for you.

Thank you Amy for all you continue to do,
Coach Nancy

The first of the three parts of the base to athletic success is flexibility. It has become a little bit of a joke in Athlete Academy because literally every male participant I have had join the program has tight hamstrings. The hips, in general, are tight. This makes sense for a number of reasons - during this age is when growth spurts begin to happen, which will make flexibility more challenging. The other reason is that kids sit in school all day and are not getting out and playing as much anymore. This plays a vital role in athletics for a few different reasons, but the two I am going to focus on are explosiveness and injury prevention.

In terms of explosive ability, it can be thought of as the properties of a rubber band - the more a rubber band can stretch the faster it snaps back. The same is true of muscle. Explosive movements in sports are essentially a series of loading (stretching the rubber band) and exploding (the recoil of the rubber band after being stretched). The more you are able to load, the more force you can create when you recoil. There is more to it but that is the best place to start.

The second major role is injury prevention. Let’s take the same example from above, the rubber band - what happens when you stretch a rubber band beyond how far its supposed to stretch? It breaks! Just like a rubber band, muscle has a certain amount of stretch before it’s just to much and injury occurs. This is why it is important to stay flexible. The more flexible you are, the greater distance you can stretch before causing injury.

The moral of the story is stay flexible, or get flexible, and it will greatly improve your performance. Stay tuned for my next post in the Building a Base series talking about mobility!

-Coach Adam

Please join me in welcoming Coach Brian Fox to the Get Fit NH team. At this point most of you have met Brian. We are excited to add him to our team as he is an experienced and passionate coach.  To learn more about Coach Brian keep reading as he shares his story with us!

I recently had the opportunity to train in Epsom and then had an opportunity to coach in Epsom. I had to put the leader of the pack in the spotlight after observing this community. Epsom has something special about them. They are a smaller, more close-knit community. They are hard workers and pushed by the one and only Coach Nancy. While I was training in Epsom she pushed me (a fellow coach) harder than I would have pushed myself. Everyone needs a coach and she is a very special one.

While I was coaching in Epsom I asked the 3 morning classes to finish the sentence and here is what we got...

9AM Epsom: Coach Nancy helped me to achieve...

• Self confidence
• Walk without a fear of breaking my ankle
• Balance
• A healthier outlook on life
• Strength and balance
• Happiness
• Pushing for more
• Change my eating habits

6:15AM Epsom: Coach Nancy taught me how to....

• Believe in myself
• Behave
• Think about the food I am eating
• Drive by the Donut Shop
• Recognize my achievements
• At least try it and listen to my body
• Forgive myself and start over
• It is always doable
• Eat healthy and delicious foods to stay energized

5 AM Epsom: My favorite part of training with Coach Nancy is....

• Positive attitude
• She is always there for you
• Chirpees
• Encouragement
• Her smile
• Her energy
• Always getting bigger weights placed in front of me (I call that the kettlebell fairy!)
• Making me feel welcome and supported
• ​Her kind spirit
• Everyday is the best day ever
• Wonderfully positive support and encouragement 
• She always has a positive disposition and smile on her face and I always feel more positive when I leave
• She has special telepathic capabilities or maybe it is just the mom factor and she just knows when something is wrong or you feel like giving up then BAM she has your back
• She is a problem solver
• She is always willing to share her nutritional knowledge and advice
• She makes me laugh at silly things
• She plays angry music and doesn't even know it

I can tell you that as a coach myself these are exactly the answers we strive for. This is our mission and our purpose. I am proud of Coach Nancy for making 100 students feel this way each and every day. Thank you for giving me something to strive for, Coach!

Keep making it happen,
Coach Meagan

Out of sight out of mind, right? But now you are strolling through the grocery store and there is temptation EVERYWHERE! Here are 4 helpful tips to keep you from caving to the craving!

#1. After you create your meal plan, make your grocery list. Not just any grocery list - write it out in order of your grocery store. That way you don’t have to go back for anything and you don’t get off your path.

#2. Have a time crunch (or if you’re me, shop with a toddler because that is always scary!). If you are in a time crunch, then you don’t have time to browse and reason with yourself about food NOT on the list! You have time to get in and get out.

#3. Do your best to shop the perimeter of the store. Avoid aisles as you are able so that temptation does not slap you in the face!

#4. Tell your coach you are headed to store and send a picture of the conveyer belt or receipt with total list compliance!

How many grocery store pictures can I get this weekend??

-Coach Meagan

I am shining the spotlight on my mom this month (shhhh, she doesn’t know about it). I will admit that this is not an easy spotlight for me to write. Other than the typical joking and getting frustrated from time to time, I play a lot close to the vest. That tends to make it difficult to write things like this when you aren’t used to saying a lot of super sentimental things. However, I felt I really needed to write this at this time.

The first thing I want to say is just how extremely proud I am of my mom (for anyone who doesn’t know, its Denise at 6:45, but again shhh!). She may not say it to other coaches, but I know that we differ greatly in our feelings about exercise. I have always loved it and ended up making a career out of it, or at least am on my way to doing so. But she has not always been so fond of exercise. She originally started Get Fit NH as a way to build up strength and lose weight to be able to handle going to the Grand Canyon. Since starting though, she has accomplished a ton - in the weight she has lost, her attitude towards eating better and exercising more, and just overall doing things I know are outside of her comfort zone.

The fact that I see how much she has accomplished is the other reason that I needed to write this, because I know on some level she doesn’t give herself the props she deserves for doing it. I make the joke a lot to Coach Meagan about this when I say “can you tell we are related?”. I too have trouble seeing progress in my own life. Its one of those weird paradoxes where I can see it in others but never in myself. I know that she is the same way, not willing to give herself the credit for what she has accomplished. I know its out of being humble and not realizing how far she has come. I know I don’t see something in myself until someone else tells me they noticed a change, that’s the only way I really realize it.

So I just want to say again how proud I am of my mom and all she has accomplished here. I'm proud that she took the step in the first place to join. Also a thank you to the great class at 6:45 where everyone always treats her so well, and the coaches that also do and continue to tell both of us, no matter how stubborn we are, that we have accomplished a lot.

-Coach Adam

Have you wondered what exactly the philosophy is that builds what we do at Athlete Academy?

If you have, then wonder no longer! The purpose of our Athlete Academy program is to build a base for continued athletic success. That base is made up primarily of 3 things, much like with our adult programs. Those three are:

1. Flexibility
2. Mobility
3. Strength

These three physical traits must be present in the athlete for several reasons. If these three things are not present, then we cannot build the attributes that we most often associate with sports performance. Things like power, speed, agility, and quickness. All of these have to have a solid base of the 3 traits mentioned above in order to really be developed. The biggest risk of building things like power, speed, agility, and quickness before the other three is that often the risk of injury goes up substantially. Over the next few weeks, I will break down exactly how each one of these fits into the overall athletic puzzle. Stay tuned!

-Coach Adam

What if I told you that there can be too much of a good thing, even in youth athletics?

What if I told you that doing too much can be just as harmful as doing too little?

Find out how to apply these principles correctly and not overwork, overtax, and burn out your youth athlete before they even have a chance to reach their goals.

Location: Get Fit NH Concord, 287 S. Main St, Concord, NH 03301
Date: Wednesday, September 20th
Time: Training session 6-7:15PM, Parent Education Seminar 7:30-8:30PM

For any questions please contact Coach Adam either by email at adam@getfitnh.com or by phone at 603-340-7281.

-Coach Adam

Sugar Free Me Is Here!

I can't even begin to tell you how pumped up I am to be teaming up with Dan DeFigio, the bestselling author of "Beating Sugar Addiction For Dummies", to help you get off sugar and help you take back control of your eating.

The goal of Sugar Free Me is ambitious. To give you the education, resources and support you need to overcome your addiction to sugar and carbs, and regain control of your life!

Now some of you may think I am going overboard with the word "addiction". After all while we know eating too much sugar isn't great for us, does it really reach that level? Evidence suggests it can, as sugar has been shown to stimulate the same pleasure centers of the brain as some drugs.

I don't think it's any big secret that sugar and sweets are a big "go-to" when we are stressed, or tired, or lonely. The kick of dopamine that sugar gives us can lead to a very destructive cycle, actually altering our neural pathways , and it's also no secret the cycle of sugar addiction can be hard to beat.

What Is Sugar Free Me?

Sugar Free Me is a 28-day step-by-step education, accountability, and strategy course that helps you understand the root causes of sugar addiction, how to address them to create your plan of action, and help you kick the cycle of eating excess sugar.

What we are going to learn:

We are also going to fill up your "Sugar Free Me Toolbox" with six new tools that are going to help you Avoid Temptation, Find and Avoid Your Food Triggers, and explore What You REALLY Want when you reach for the sweets. (Hint: It's not sugar)

The most valuable thing you are going to get over the course of this course (see what I did there) 🙂 is daily accountability and incredible support from both those taking this journey with you and our incredible team of coaches.

You will have your own account created in a really cool program called "Coach Catalyst". Every day you will get an email or message to your phone that delivers your daily "Sugar Free Me" lesson and asks the question: "Did you avoid eating all added sugars yesterday?" 

Don't underestimate the power of answering that daily question honestly. This simple action does a couple of very important things. It creates a record for you to look back on and evaluate under what conditions and in what circumstances you tend to reach for the sweets. But it also helps your coach know when you need a little extra help to get moving in the right direction.

You also get access to our Private Facebook page, where you can hang out with folks on the same journey and where your coaches can offer more support. We have found these groups are a powerful way to stay connected and see that you are not the only one struggling. Take advantage of this page!

I really appreciate Dan making his resources and expertise in this area available to us. His full online course is priced at $95, but we are able to offer the 28-Day Sugar Free Me course for only $27. This is an incredible deal for everything you get!

The "Sugar Free Me" Challenge Officially Starts Monday, October 2, 2017, but don't be "that guy", and sign up today!  As a bonus, you will get immediate early access into the Facebook Support group. 

A Personal Note from Coach Dean

​For someone who loves sweets (like I do), you may be wondering what you might be getting yourself into.

As with anything we do that is "new", it's going to take a little time to adjust to your "new normal". Here's a thought to consider.

Did you know that one of the keys to success and happiness in life is to practice self-compassion?

We are SO hard on ourselves when we don't live up to our expectations for ourselves, and that usually leads to a downward spiral of guilt and feelings of failure. I have lived it, and it usually meant reaching for more food. That's how I got to 280 pounds.

But I learned really fast that to take it off I needed more than education (I knew eating junk food wasn't good for me), or more willpower (when I am tired or feeling blue I have none). I needed a strategy for dealing with the inevitable stuff that comes up to derail me perfect plans - I think it's called life! 🙂

And that is what Sugar Free Me is all about. Sure there is an education component involved, but more importantly we are going to give you real world strategies to set yourself up to succeed, including what to do if (when) you aren't perfect and fall off the wagon.

No program is magic. Change takes effort and self-reflection. It takes a willingness to step out of your comfort zone and embrace something new. 

Salespeople everywhere are going to shudder, but DON'T invest in this program if you can't or won't take the 10 or 15 minutes a day it will take to read the lessons and get involved with the group. The last thing I want is for you to have another reason to beat yourself up. 

If you want to talk to me or another coach to see if this 28-Day focus is right for you, you can drop us a line here.

To your success,

Coach Dean