Tara was a part of the Get Fit NH family before I started here and I am glad she decided to come back! She is an extremely consistent example at the 6:15 class who always works extremely hard and I can count on to give it her all and want to always improve. I would ramble on, but Tara has a lot of experiences to tell you about that I don't want to take away from. 

"Why did you choose Get Fit NH?

I was always very active as a young girl and teenager - I played every sport I could, all throughout grade school and high school. And then came adulthood and I found myself doing zero, zilch, nothing to keep my body active and fit. I have a “sit-down-in-front-of-the-computer” job and started noticing small aches here and there and stiffness in my hips when would get up from my work station and it really made me feel, well, old. I signed up at the local gym on 4 different occasions and, no lie, went about 3 times. It just was not the scene for me. I had no instruction, no oversight and no motivation, therefore, I didn’t go!

I was lucky enough to have a friend talk me into giving Get Fit NH a try in 2010. A two-week trial period is genius because it was the perfect amount of time to get me hooked! I struggled with finding a program that 1) kept my interest, 2) fit with my busy schedule/offered classes early enough that I could go before work and 3) had instructors that would motivate me and most importantly, push me to be accountable. Get Fit NH offers all of these things and, little did I know at the time, much more!

What changes did you notice in the first few weeks after joining?

What outside of Get Fit NH has become easier since starting?

I have completely changed my eating habits since joining Get Fit NH. I am amazed that most of my diet is whole foods now and how easy it is. I love all of the recipes, videos and helpful hints that are shared by both the coaches and Get Fit Family.

What are your goals?

I really, really, really want to be able to do a pull up some day :o) Other than that, my goals are to stay committed and be accountable, keep increasing my weights and to try to stick with the 90/10 eating habits.

What is your favorite part of Get Fit NH?​

It is not possible to pick just one favorite…

1) I love the MyZone program. It is a fabulous way to track your workouts and how hard (or not hard) you are working. It keeps me very motivated when the coaches yell out, “I should be seeing everyone in the yellow zone!”. Another great feature of the MyZone is to become connected with other people on the MyZone App. I have a couple of connections and we all can see each other’s workout information. We like to see who gets the most MEP’s per month.

3) Get Fit NH Family. I love that I see the same faces every morning at 6:15-it proves that everyone who attends, loves this program and is dedicated. I think it speaks volumes to see the same people, every morning at 6:15 (or whatever time your class is), 4 days per week, year after year. I’m also thankful to everyone who is kind enough to let me know when I’ve ventured off from my group and am at the wrong station :o)

4) The Coaches-I truly admire and respect all of the coaches. You are all so dedicated and good at what you do and it is obvious you are completely invested. You all have such a hectic and strange work schedule - I don’t know how you do it…but you do and I am grateful. Thank you for always correcting me when I am not doing something quite right. Thank you for pushing me to pick up a heavier weight or put the red band back and get the black band, and to ‘get that last rep in’. I may make not-so-nice faces at you when you are telling me to do it but I truly am thankful that you do.

Thank you Get Fit NH for making me a stronger, healthier, happier me!”

-Coach Adam

As my knowledge base has grown when it comes to human physical development over the years, I always realized how important physical activity was. However, only in the last little while, especially while preparing for our Athlete Academy for ages 9-12 this summer, have I realized just how important it is to kids. As I coach more and more kids and visit schools, I see things I honestly cannot remember from when I was younger. Kids don’t seem to know how to “play” and, consequently, they don’t seem to move well.

All those things we did as kids, without even thinking about it, are the things that helped teach us how to move well and be active. How many of you reading this remember there being as many kids as there are that don’t like being active? Kids that hate gym, that take no joy in it whatsoever? I understand that some of us liked it more than others, that some were better at certain sports or games than others. Maybe instead you enjoyed hiking, climbing trees, or riding bikes. Either way, you were active. How many kids do we see today that enjoy none of those things? I would wager a pretty healthy amount.

I believe this problem comes from a lack of confidence or enjoyment from doing active activities. A kid that hasn’t played and hasn’t developed some semblance of coordination or physical ability will have more trouble in physical settings and be prone to being embarrassed and not want to do it at all.

The flip side comes from the development side. I want you to think about something before you continue - which was more challenging, your 1st squat thrust or burpee? Or your 100th? (Not in a row, but over time). It is the 1st, right? Your body wants to work as easily and efficiently as possible, but it has to learn how first. This is why the first time you do an exercise it may feel impossible, but in repetition it begins to be less challenging. If children don’t move, play and experience different movements, even hiking or bike riding will be pushed away because they require so much more effort than they would for you or I who have experienced it over and over again.

If you live in a town or area that your kids can’t really get out and play, help them out - do fun things outside in the summer. Go hiking, run along the beach, go out back and play catch with different balls. Just help your child get moving in different ways. Whether they realize it or not, you will be helping them out for years to come.

-Coach Adam

I hail from the Great Plains of Nebraska. I was born with crooked legs and had to wear braces to straighten them out for years when I was an infant and toddler. Growing up, I was also the kid that was always too skinny. Some people would say this is a good thing but it was an issue when it came to playing football in high school. That was an era where strength conditioning was becoming common place in the high schools. My experience with weight training started in the high school program in the mid ‘80s and I loved it immediately. I didn’t get much bigger, but I did get much stronger.

After high school, I continued to train with weights and run. I also began my life in coaching as I assisted with the high school wrestling program for grade schoolers. Coaching is very fulfilling, fun, sometimes frustrating, but so satisfying.

When I was 21 I joined the US Navy and was stationed in Adak, Alaska and Yokosuka, Japan. I am also a veteran of Desert Storm as a crew member of the USS Bunker Hill (CG-52). While in Alaska, on a remote island out in the middle of the Aleutian Islands, I was a volunteer assistant wrestling coach for the base high school. This is where I realized I had a knack for coaching as every member of our team qualified for the Alaska State Wrestling Tournament my first year assisting with the program.

After I honorably discharged from the NAVY (just to be clear), I enrolled in two art schools in St. Paul and Minneapolis, Minnesota. Art is also a talent of mine and I continue to create every opportunity I can. But, like a lot of people, while in college this is where my physical activity dropped off considerably and I was not very consistent as I was becoming unfit for the first time in my life. I was also blessed with the birth of my first child, while still going to college, I did not make time for my physical training.

When my family and I decided to move from Minnesota to Kansas, once settled in our new home I knew I had to get back in shape. I immediately got back into a regular training routine after settling in. While in Kansas, I also got back into coaching in grade school soccer. I loved being around the kids and meeting their families, teaching them about the fundamentals, teamwork, sportsmanship and what it means to take that into their personal lives as well.

As the years moved on and I was approaching 40, I was craving to be more competitive. Simply training with weights and running was not fulfilling me as it once I had. I decided to start playing rugby for the Topeka Wizards RFC. It was exactly what I needed. One thing about my personality is that I love practice. It would kill me to miss any time on the pitch. Once my first season was complete, I was elected “Rookie of The Year” at 40 years old! I was elevated to team co-captain and media director for the club the following seasons.

One of the many lessons rugby taught me is that, if you want to do it, do it! You are never too old.

Again, my family and I decided it was time to pack up and try something new, so we made our way from the Midwest and moved to New Hampshire in 2013. We love it here! I am now the soccer coach of Strafford School and a volunteer art instructor at the Hill Library in Strafford. My family has really thrived here.

In 2014 I decided I wanted to take my passion for fitness and helping others develop theirs, I began my personal training certification process. Before I came to GET FIT NH, I started out with one on one personal training, which I enjoyed a great deal. Now that I am on Dean and Nancy’s team, my personal and professional growth has been tremendous. I have learned so much about coaching and the leadership at GET FIT NH has really worked hard to give me the tools and information I need to become the best coach I can be. Meagan and Adam have been nothing but the best in helping me settle in and to develop my coaching skills. The students at the gym have been so awesome and welcoming. It is the students that make it all worth it. It is only going to get better.

GET FIT NH is a fantastic training facility and it is exciting to be part of a system that MAKES IT HAPPEN!

This week we are highlighting Brittany Collins as our 6:15 superstar! I asked Brittany to share her results with us, because they are pretty amazing and she is quite humble about the progress she has made. I, on the other hand, am going to brag on Brittany for a minute before I share what she had to say. 

When S3 came around, she was on the fence about participating. Brittany is in the Army Active Reserves so she was scheduled to go to Canada for a good part of the challenge. She asked if she could participate, but not have a partner since she would not be around for weigh ins. She did S3 with no partner and blew it out of the water. She lost 2.2 inches off of her waist and 2 inches off of her hips in the short amount of time she has been training with us (just since April 2017!). These results are excellent. She will share more about her progress below. 

I want you all to know and Brittany to know that I am SO proud of her and how far she has come. Her body composition is important to her for her job and also her confidence and she looks fantastic and is performing at a higher level than she was in April. She has already screened out of her red band, which is another huge accomplishment worth mentioning. I don't get to see Brittany as much as I would like to since she trains in the morning, but my goodness, there is such a visible difference when I look at her. I am so excited to see how Brittany performs at this time next year! Keep at it! Here is what she has to say...

​What was your absolute biggest challenge prior to starting at Get Fit NH?  
Nutrition. I would just work out like crazy and eat whatever I wanted thinking I "earned" it. I also struggled with weights, never really knowing what to do I would really only stick to running which from doing it so much would cause pain in my hips.

What changed after starting at Get Fit NH?
After I started I realized how nutrition is the biggest part in fitness. I now weigh my food, meal prep, log how many calories and carbs I've had. I also learned how important strength training is and aimlessly running can only get you so far.​

What specific results can you share?
So far I've lost around 16 pounds, I'm the lightest I can ever remember being and feel awesome.​

What would you say to somebody on the fence about starting?
If you're struggling with fitness and are ready to be given the tools to make real life changes, join.​

What has kept you coming back?
I like the group setting and also how knowledgeable coaches are there to help.  I like how nutrition is included.​

There you have it. Real people. Real results.  Keep making it happen!

Coach Meagan​

Anyone else wake up after a day of picking weeds and planting flowers and feel like they just got hit by a truck?

Yard work can be a KILLER on your back. We see it every spring and summer when the weather starts to get nice we start to hear about how planting those pretty flowers did a number on your back.

I think we can all agree that when we are working in the garden, we are in a terrible position. Bending at the waist, sitting in awkward positions to try and find relief…we push through it, because we want to look at pretty flowers.

Good news! You can still look at pretty flowers and save your back from the unnecessary pressure. Here are three things you can do while gardening to protect your back.

1) A super deep squat. Hanging out at the bottom of your squat while picking weeds is a great way to keep your back safe. Remember all of the Get Fit NH coaching cues! Chest and shoulders up, knees out, weight on the heels! This is how I picked weeds for a while yesterday and my back feels just fine today.

2) Tall kneeling or half kneeling position. You guys practice this all the time in training. When you are planting flowers in the ground, try it from one those positions to protect your back from painful positions.

3) Sumo stance. We do sumo deadlifts in training who said we can’t do sumo gardening? For those of you with knee issues try going wide with your stance and hinging at the hips or even sitting in a chair with a wide stance and hinging.

The constant bending at the waist is going to put a lot of unnecessary stress on your back. If you are sick of being in pain for days after working in the garden, then let’s pay attention to how we are doing it!

Flowers are pretty, but with a pained back you won’t be able to go outside and look at them and smell them!

-Coach Meagan

We like summer. We like food. We like frisbee. Most of all we REALLY like YOU! We thought since we like all of those things we might as well put it all together and have a party! 

Not just any party though. This is an appreciation party.

A "We Appreciate YOU" Party!

Without you we would be able to fulfill our passion every single day. We wouldn't be the family that we are. We wouldn't be the best gym (x8!) if it weren't for you. YOU have made our dreams come true and YOU push us to be better every single day so THAT is why we are going to celebrate.

This year we are going "off campus." We rented Webster Park in Epsom so we can get out the footballs, the frisbees, the corn hole, and of course the grill and make some fantastic memories.

Huge fields, a basketball court, a covered pavilion for grilling and eating, a playground for the kids - you won't want to miss coming down and visiting. Stay as little or as long as you want. We have the park for the whole day!  🙂

Mark your calendars today for Saturday August 19th at 11:00am at Webster Park in Epsom, and RSVP right here

The whole family is invited; heck bring grandma and grandpa! We want to spend some relaxed time just enjoying each other's company and enjoying the summer.

Please click the link below to RSVP! Let us know how many are in your party so we can get our shopping list ready! And as always, we are going to do our annual semi-optional side dish competition (c'mon, sharing is fun), so let us know what tasty treat you are bringing! Everyone will vote on which side dish they enjoyed the most and the winner will get a special prize and of course bragging rights for an entire year.

We would love to show you how much we appreciate you and we hope you will join us! ​

Get Fit NH Super Summer Celebration

Saturday August 19th

11:00am until the party is over

Webster Park, Epsom, NH

Lori Smith and Evelyn Gaynor were absolutely SHOCKED when they learned they won this year's Sizzling Summer Slimdown transformation contest. We can't quite figure out why they were so shocked because they  walked away with over 13 inches gone from their waist and hips and almost 30 pounds GONE and over $1300 (each) richer!! That is some pretty significant progress in only 6 short weeks! To say I am proud of these ladies would be a total understatement. These two bring positivity, smiles and laughs wherever they go. Here is what they had to say about the big win! 

What was the greatest take away from S3?

I realized that I enjoy eating certain veggies and that they are very filling along with my protein, which was often chicken! I learned that I can survive without eating a piece of chocolate daily. I realized how much added sugar I was consuming after the first week when my body went into major detox mode! ~ Lori

I was truly Blown Away in the difference in My overall measurements from beginning to end. It's really not about how much weight you lose.​ ~ Evelyn

When you first started the challenge, what were you expecting?

I was hoping to lose a few pounds and inches by the time the 6 weeks ended. At my midway scan, I was down 10 pounds and several inches and I thought, this actually works! At the reveal party, I was hoping to at least place within the top 10. Never thought we'd win! I'm still in shock. It was very humbling. ~ Lori

I was expecting to have to eat like a bird or a rabbit. Even though I knew the challenge was about inches lost off waist and hips in my mind I still felt like it was a weight loss challenge because that's what people are always trying to think of losing weight not losing inches.~Evelyn

When issues hit, where did you turn?

I turned to Coach Meagan when I was struggling with what I could eat on the fast plan. She re-explained it to me so it made sense. I turned to my partner for constant moral support and encouragement. ~ Lori

My partner was always there!! But there were times that we both turned coach Meagan! Whenever she or I had something that was confusing or we didn't understand we would bring it to class and talk it out with Meagan. It was definitely super helpful to have somebody to actually talk in person too. the myCoach app was good to ask questions or emails to ask questions or even the Facebook page but sometimes you need a face to face person just to talk something out with. ~Evelyn

What one tool helped you the most?

The My Coach app helped with the daily lesson and accountability. Also, food prepping is key!! I tried to prep everything on a Sunday night. Helped so much every morning!

I printed out the handout book and I referred to it for the recipes. I used those recipes to go and base my shopping list off of which made weekly food planning easier. I also kept track what everybody was saying on the Facebook page that helped a lot just hearing how everybody was doing and getting new ideas. ~Evelyn

Moving forward what will be easy to keep in your nutrition?

Ironically, I am continuing to eat frittata or hard boiled eggs with veggies for breakfast and black coffee with a scoop of Ump. For lunch, I'm still eating lettuce wraps with turkey and cheese or a salad. Dinner varies but it's basically what I've been eating during S3. I have cheat meals but I am very aware of my portion sizes. ~ Lori

Overall I think just eating better foods will be easy to continue. We no longer use milk in our house this is not just helped me but it's also helped my husband and his diabetes. Adding more vegetables is something I've continued to do after S3. It's easy to add more broccoli! 🙂 ~ Evelyn

What would you say to those who are considering doing S3 next year?

I would recommend that people go into S3 with an open mind. Try to make small changes to your nutrition 1-2 weeks prior to the official start of S3. That helped me realize what I needed to do and eat everyday. Once S3 started, it wasn't such a shock to my body when I completely cut out the added sugar and carbs that I was used to eating.Be willing to try new foods, especially veggies. Drink a lot of water. Reach out to your coaches, they are here to help us succeed. Work with your partner, they might be struggling just like you. Take it one day at a time. Realize that we are human and if you fall off track, pick yourself up at the next meal and keep going. Finish strong!! ~ Lori

First if you're in it for the competition like I initially was because I love a good competition don't think you can't win because you're a smaller person my sister-in-law actually goes to the gym as well and she was in the same competition and she truly didn't think that a smaller person could win because in her head,she was thinking "weight loss challenge " like I was. it really touched me when she told me how happy she was to find out that a "smaller" size person could win because it's not all about the weight loss! I really didn't think. I would come in first but I'm not going to lie I was hoping for top 10 at least!!

The nutrition part to me sounded scary at first but when you really stop to think about it and look at all the different recipes that are out there that you can make and try new things it really didn't get boring and I wasn't just eating salads. I challenged myself to try new vegetables that I would not have normally just gone out and tried on my own and surprisingly I actually like some!All in all, it was worth every penny, as I'm worth it!.... so I'd tell them You're worth it! 🙂 ~Evelyn

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For those of you who have or are athletes in the 13-18 year old range, this event is for you! The combine will be comprised of 5 events that kids all over the country are also doing in order to test their power, quickness, and speed.

The best part is this event is completely FREE!!! I want to get as many kids as possible in here to pack the building and test their skills. 

If you have any questions about the event or any other part of the Athlete Academy program, please contact me (Coach Adam) or just come down on July 22nd and participate. See you all then!

-Coach Adam
adam@getfitnh.com

Athlete Academy Summer Combine for Ages 13-18

Date: Saturday, July 22nd

Time: 12:00pm

Location: Get Fit NH Concord

When I first began running Athlete Academy a little over a year ago now, I wanted to highlight a student who had been in the Academy and liked it. However, now that Sam is a year removed from his start, I have seen how much he has grown and how hard he has worked. I wanted to get an update from Sam after seeing him accomplish more and more.

What changes have you noticed since starting Athlete Academy?

Ever since starting athlete academy last summer, it would seem fitting that I have become more overall athletic. I have noticed clear improvements in multiple physics traits such as speed, strength and agility. I've begun focusing more on how to do physical activities correctly and with proper form to increase efficiently.

​What outside of Athlete Academy has become easier since joining?

Since starting academy, my strength and speed have both improved significantly which is just generally useful for most physical sports and activities and just being active.

What have you accomplished since joining?

Since joining academy I have passed landmarks and records that I never would've thought possible. I've been lifting amounts of weight that over a year ago I would've thought would be way out of my realm of possibility and have seen improvements in speed. I was able to make it on my track 4x100 team that got 4th at states.

What is your favorite part of Athlete Academy?

What makes athlete academy so great for me and what motivates me to get out of my bed on Saturday mornings is just how it makes lifting weights and working out fun. Working out with a group of people can be great for motivation and pushing you. When you are close with those people and they're your friends and you just enjoy being with them, it makes working out seem less like a struggle and pain, and more of just an activity that we can all share and do together and allows us to push each other and strive for much greater heights than if we were alone.

How has Athlete Academy affected your performance?​

Since joining academy, I have noticed I have become both stronger and faster, but one of the biggest things is that I haven't gotten injured. In academy, we work on getting stronger, but also keeping our bodies healthy. Last track season, before I was in academy, I had a hip injury that resulted in me missing a good portion of the track season and missing out on being on a relay team. Well, this season I didn't get injured at all and was able to perform to my peak ability.

Great job, Sam, keep working hard!
-Coach Adam