Next Scheduled Recovery Week: March 27 - April 2, 2017

If you are new to the concept of recovery weeks, please read on.

If you have been training with us for awhile and you have ignored recovery weeks, read on.

Especially you.​

Recovery weeks serve a critical function within the training cycle (more on that below for those of you who want to see the science).

You may have noticed that as we get closer to recovery week the daily and weekly training intensity has increased.

That is purposeful.

Because we are working toward a week of MacroRecovery, we are intentionally working at a higher level.

Then we will take a scheduled, purposeful rest.​

Because whether you think so or not, you cannot and should not train really hard, all the time.

In fact one of our training program design principles is what is referred to as MED.

Minimum Effective Dose.

In other words, what is the MINIMUM stimulus we need to get better - stronger, leaner, better conditioned, etc.?

What? The minimum you say? That is NOT my style. Go hard or go home!

That WILL work, at least for a short time. Until your training overwhelms your ability to recover, and you start breaking down.

How can you tell that is happening? That you're not recovering fast enough from your training? Here's a few warning signs:

Altered Heart Rate and Blood Pressure

You are having a hard time getting your heart rate up, or it's beating like a racehorse when you feel like you aren't really doing much.​

Poor Sleep Patterns

​An increasing pattern of the inability to sleep restfully.

Decreased Performance

Your training loads have stagnated or even decreased.​

Mood Swings

One of my big ones (no secret I know - sorry).​

Eating Habits Disrupted or Compromised

It's not just a matter of will power. Overreaching and overtraining can cause physical cravings if our bodies are missing crucial nutrients because of too much physiological or psychological stress.​

Decreased Immunity

If you are getting sick frequently (eg. more than one cold a year) your immune system is probably compromised.​

Increase In Injury

This could be not recovering from the normal microtrauma caused by training, for example you are sore for 2 or 3 days after training, or you are getting strains, sprains, aches and pains that you normally do not.​

Lack of Progress (Plateau)

This could be either in body composition (not losing bodyfat/gaining muscle) or not making gains in the gym.​

Enter Recovery Weeks

Recovery weeks are designed to give you rest; physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually.

You see stress is not just a "mental" thing. Do you realize when you train you are stressing yourself out, on purpose? That gets added on top of all the other stress in your life, whether it be work, home, or the jerk who cut you off in traffic. Your central nervous system doesn't care, it just knows when you have too much of it, and it doesn't like it!

​And while you can't stop the knucklehead from driving like an idiot, there are things you can do to avoid excess systemic stress, and taking recovery weeks is one of them.

Here's My Top 5 Things To Do On Recovery Week

1. Catch up on my reading
2. Get some extra sleep
3. Spend more time with my family
4. Eat at a more leisurely pace
5. Visit somewhere I haven't before (this week is normally our "Spring Break")

​What about you?

You see you don't have to "not move" for a week. There is nothing wrong with getting outdoors, taking a walk, hitting the rock climbing gym, spending some time on the foam roller and stretching, getting a massage, and/or taking some long showers or baths.

Those things will aid your recovery and help you relax; running 2 or 3 or 5 miles every day (or every other day), or going to spin class, will not. 

I train hard, but more importantly I train and recover appropriately. 

I am in it for the long game. When I am sick, or excessively tired, or injured I cannot train.

THAT is what sets me back.

Recovery is what drives me forward. On a daily, weekly, and quarterly basis.

​You ready to get better with me?

MAKE IT HAPPEN!

Coach Dean

PS. Below is the "Science Stuff" I promised - Enjoy!

All About Recovery Weeks

Our recovery weeks are what I would call Macro-Recovery. In other words we take a planned week off every training phase in order to let the body rest up from hard training and get ready for the next phase.

But did you know you can do even better than that? We have a number of athletes in the Get Fit NH family who participate in our Bioforce HRV monitoring program, which measures your systemic stress load on a daily basis, which allows us to fine-tune the recovery process on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. You can catch up on that by clicking here

Read on why properly planned and adequate recovery is important for you!

The Recovery Curve

I saw the recovery curve for the first time during my time with Australian physical preparation coach Ian King. His principles laid the foundation for the way we program, train and especially recover here at Get Fit NH. The principles that work with professional athletes apply to us too!

The following illustrates a “good” recovery curve:

The green line represents what we are all looking for – continual, never ending progress over time. We are getting stronger, faster, thinner, better looking (ok at least that’s what I wish for).

Reality Check – ain’t gonna happen. The process of changing your body is not linear, in fact what we are looking at in an optimal training environment is more of a “One step back brings me Two steps forward”.

A closer look at the chart will help explain what I mean.

The red line represents Equilibrium. This is where your body wants to stay, no matter if your goal is losing fat, gaining lean, or both. As you have no doubt found out, forcing your body to change is hard work – really hard work. When you walk into Get Fit NH, our training is designed to elicit that change. But it’s not as simple as “working out” day after day after day. In fact as I am about to illustrate, training without proper recovery is actually hurting you, not making you better.

The blue line represents the “recovery curve”. Starting at the left hand of the chart all the lines intersect. For this illustration that point is where your first training occurred – you “worked out”.

But what’s going on?

Instead of performance going up, that line is actually heading down – this is what is called Depletion. If you think about it makes sense – you have worked hard, you are fatigued, your body is depleted of nutrients – you are spent!

Don’t worry, your body will get over it, if you treat it right! This is what we call Adaptation. Your body wants to be able to handle the increased demand that was placed on it, and starts the process of getting better.

You are in charge of if and how fast that happens. A few of the factors that influence this adaptation include recovery nutrition, stress levels, sleep habits, supportive nutrition, age, and training history.

The recovery curve continues with Supercompensation. Here is how Coach King describes this process:

“It is only when recovery is allowed that we see the super-compensation effect, the unique phenomenon where the bodies physical capacity is elevated in response to training, in anticipation of another exposure to the same stimulus.” – King, I, 1999/2000, Foundations of Physical Preparation

In other words your body has gotten better in response to your training, a new Equilibrium is established and this state is when we will ideally train again. Our programming at Get Fit NH is carefully designed to give this the best chance of occurring, but as I hope you are discovering, you have a lot to do with this with how you treat your recovery!

As you can see, when things are clicking, this process when repeated over and over means you are getting better and better, the blue line is headed up – pretty cool!

The flip side to all this is what happens when the recovery process isn’t working so well.

This chart represents recovery gone “bad”:

When we continue to train in a state of “Depletion”, regardless of the reason, the adaptation to super-compensation effect doesn’t occur, and instead of getting better, we find ourselves in a downward cycle. This can happen when we train the same muscle groups too soon, when we haven’t taken the steps described above to recover optimally (sleep and nutrition for instance) regardless of time between training, when we train too hard coming off an illness, etc. The last thing we want to happen is new equilibrium to be established in a downward pattern – not good.

The long and short of it is your body absolutely needs to recover from hard training. Consistently training in a fatigued state results in injury and illness. Your body is an amazing machine designed to put up with a lot, but it was also designed to need rest.

Which leads us to:

Recovery Weeks!

Face it – you can get beat up anywhere. Our responsibility at Get Fit NH is to help you get better!

That includes recovery weeks. We have found that somewhere between 8 and 12 weeks of training is just about right to take a full week off and let your body recover.

That doesn’t mean that you spend your training time on the couch eating bon-bons, but if you insist on going down to PF and hitting the weights or running 10 miles every morning, your body will suffer in the long run, and perhaps even in the short term.

If you find yourself fighting this concept, ask yourself this – Is your unwillingness to take a week off a well reasoned decision based on what you know to be true, or is it that your attachment to training is so strong emotionally that makes it so hard? You will not lose all you have gained by taking the week off, I assure you! Again to quote Coach King, “…if you don’t (take time off)…most of you are going to lose it anyway!”

So now that we have established you are ready, willing and able to embrace recovery week, what do you do?

Glad you asked!

Three Steps for Successful Recovery

1.) Physical Rest and Regeneration

– Our bodies must rest and recover to prevent over-training (or under-recovering) issues so that we can come back 100% healthy and energized for the next phase of the program

– Focus on maintaining and/or increasing flexibility and tissue health by stretching and foam rolling daily. 15-30 minutes is fantastic!

– Daily restorative walks are beneficial during this week. 30-60 minutes briskly walking (not jogging/running) will keep your body refreshed and active, without negating the purpose of this week. Don’t overdo it!

2.) Physiological and Psychological Rest and Regeneration

– We must normalize key anabolic hormones, refill muscle glycogen, increase caloric intake, and prevent any diet induced catabolism (losses of lean body mass) so that we can enjoy greater fat loss for the next phase of the program

– We have taken the road less traveled by being flexible eaters with a long-term approach to success and thus we will take a break from our aggressive fat loss nutrition plans. This is not a free for all, so stay away from your “trigger foods” (junk foods and sweets) that open the door to excessive calorie intake.

– Instead plan (key word) and enjoy 2 or 3 controlled free meals to reward yourself for all of your hard work, but do not overdo it!

– Caveat: If your nutrition habits have been less than optimal, more than likely none of this applies to you. Instead now is the time to plan and prepare to make the changes necessary to see the results you want. Spend some time with a coach and your Jumpstart Nutrition Guide if you need help.

3.) Celebrate the Fruits of Your Labor

– Take some time to reflect on how far you have come since you joined Get Fit NH in terms of improving your overall health, body composition, and performance

– Enjoy your results!

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

We would just like to take the time to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all of your hard work and dedication to improving your health and fitness… keep Making It Happen!

You have heard us preach time and time again about how having a plan can change your life. I want to take a small bite out of life and just tell you a few things about how planning and preparing can change your mood and the whole tempo of your day.

Here are a few things I do for my specific situation that make sure each morning is enjoyable, stress free and ready to go:

1. Prepare the coffee pot. I put fresh coffee grounds in and make sure the water tank is full…all I have to do when I wake up is push start. I even put the mug next to the coffee maker with a spoon inside so that all I have to do is pour. If you are a tea drinker, you can have your tea bag out and water ready to go. It may sound silly, but sometimes we’re a little foggy in the morning and spend a lot of time trying to remember what we were just about to do.

2. Box up your lunch. Whether it is left overs or a fresh salad, put it in Tupperware the night before so that all you have to do is grab and go.

3. No dishes in the sink. This is a house rule. I NEVER go to bed with dishes in the sink. In fact, I never leave my kitchen with dishes in the sink. You don’t need to be waking up to dishes either. Who wants to start their day by cleaning up a mess? A clean home really is a happy home. Less stressful when you're organized 🙂 .

4. Prepare your kids’ breakfast. I prepare my son’s oatmeal the night before and place it in the fridge. I even take the spoon out of the drawer and put it next to the microwave along with a banana. When I get his breakfast ready, all I have to do it pop his oatmeal in the microwave. I also fill his water cup and his milk cup so that those are readily available. I know a lot of you have young kids who need to get up and get ready for school…how can you help you and them have a better morning and not feel rushed? You would be surprised what a minute here and a minute there can do to change the mood of the entire day. If you don’t have kids, then all you have to worry about is YOU and getting yourself ready for the next morning, and you can use the same practices for your own breakfast. If you usually have veggies with your eggs, make sure your veggies are chopped and ready to go for the morning.

5. Make a daily list. What do you WANT your morning routine to look like and what CAN happen the night before to help that run smooth. I live and operate off of lists. I know we have to veer off that path because things come up every now and then, but routines are a good thing and we can’t get into a routine without a plan.

What are you going to do to make sure you have the day you want to have? You are in control, but not without a plan!

Coach Meagan

Real food is always THE BEST choice when it comes to fueling your body, but some days are just a blur. When we are running around or we have a busy morning it is so easy to fly off track and make bad choices. Recently my mornings have been INSANELY busy. Tending to a newborn, chasing a toddler, sleep deprived and HUNGRY is a recipe for poor choices so these have been 3 shakes/smoothies have helped me make it until nap time when I can feed my mouth with real food!

Pina Colada

• 1 scoop SFH Fuel Coconut
• 5 chunks pineapple 
• 1/2 tablespoon unsweetened coconut flakes
• Water/ice

Blend and serve with an umbrella in a goblet glass and pretend you're laying on a beach in Mexico.

Iced Coffee Delight

• 1 scoop UMP Cookies n Cream
• 16 oz "left over" coffee
• Ice

Shake it up!

*Choosing this over your daily DD run will save you about $40/month, temptation and calories! A container of UMP lasts about a month and costs $38. A medium iced coffee at DD is about $2.35 (I totally don’t know from experience!). That adds up!

Gettin' the Greens

• 1 scoop UMP Vanilla
• 2 generous handfuls spinach
• 1/4 avocado
• 1/4 cup frozen berries
• 1/2 banana
• Water/ice

Blend and serve. I realize this SOUNDS kinda yucky, but it is SO delicious!

Warm weather is coming - which one do you want to try?
-Coach Meagan

Another Athlete Academy spotlight going out, this time to Crista. Crista joined our Athlete Academy program a couple months ago and I have already seen big improvements. She has come in with a great attitude, a willingness to be coached and overall just to get better. She has a goal to be doing chin-ups in the immediate future and with every week I see serious improvement so I have no doubt she will get there. Enough from me, here is some of Crista’s experience in her own words...

"Why did you choose Athlete Academy?

I chose Athlete Academy because I was really interested in becoming a stronger version of myself and strengthening parts of my body that I've never felt the need to invest time into before.

What changes did you notice in the first few weeks?

Within the first few weeks I began to feel stronger, especially in my upper body. I've never done specific upper body workouts and so I definitely noticed an improvement.

What outside of Athlete Academy has become easier since starting?

Outside of Get Fit NH I've noticed improvements in strength in soccer games and I've also noticed it when I go for runs. Personally, with working out comes the motivation to eat healthier and stay motivated in other aspects of my life and so that's also been great.

What are your goals?

A major goal that I have for these sessions is to improve my muscle strength, especially in the legs and arms and, so far, I've been able to do that! I've felt much stronger in both of those areas. I also would love to excel in the upcoming track season and I can't wait to see how I've improved from last season!

What is your favorite part of Athlete Academy?

How had Athlete Academy affected your performance?

The academy has affected my performance positively both physically and mentally. I felt stronger over the past weeks in soccer games as well as when I run to prepare for the outdoor track season. During the trainings I've also pushed myself mentally to work harder than I think I can and that's shown outside the gym.

Overall I've absolutely loved joining, I've felt the improvements in outside sports and I know I will only get stronger! :)”

Great job, Crista! I am impressed at the progress you have made in such a short period of time and the mentality you approach your training with!

-Coach Adam

With this recent Friday where we gave out some free samples of our new “Churro” flavor of SFH, I talked to a few different people about using UMP or SFH in their coffee. This helps in a couple of different ways:

1. helps you increase your daily protein amount
2. helps cut down on the cream and tons of sugar you add to your coffee, either as sugar itself or as flavor shots or swirls

When I mix UMP with my coffee its very simple - I get black iced coffee from Dunkins, pour it into a blender bottle, add a scoop of ump and shake. Its that easy. It even works if you dump the coffee in, ice and all. Below are some comparisons. For the sake of comparison, all coffees will be sized “medium” with flavor swirls from Dunkins.

As you can see, not only can using UMP instead of sweeteners and flavor swirls make a huge difference in your sugar intake on a daily basis, it also can heavily affect your protein intake and how many calories you are getting with your coffee. That stuff adds up, especially if you are someone who drinks more than one coffee a week. UMP and coffee even tastes pretty good too. My favorite is the Cookies and Cream UMP with coffee - tastes wicked good. Give it a try!

Coach Adam

I love cookbooks. I love to make people happy with cooking. I love to eat food. Food makes me happy. 

I also get agitated because cooking takes a long time. I forget to plan and prepare so I end up stressed and rushed. ​I often serve the same thing over and over. Am I truly making anyone happy for a lifetime with my food skills? Do I know what foods should be on my plate? How much do I need to eat? Can my kids eat the same thing I do? What foods will make me healthiest? What foods can harm my body? 

Jumpstart Nutrition Coaching is your one stop for the answers to these questions. While we can't solve every issue in an hour. We can get a good Jumpstart on them.

Begin your Jumpstart

Date: Saturday, March 18th

Time: 8am sharp to 9am

Place: Get Fit NH Concord

See you there, 
Coach Nancy

If you have been with us for longer than a month, than you probably know we talk a lot about nutrition and we offer nutrition coaching as well. If it wasn’t important and 100% necessary for results, then we would not waste our breath. Keep that in mind if you are a student struggling with results, but haven’t jumped on the nutrition ship yet.

It isn’t an easy leap, but I can assure you Coach Nancy has poured her time and heart into simplifying for you. In case you are new to our blogs, allow me to remind you, you cannot out train poor eating habits. Below are 3 ways you can get in control and start making steps in the right direction. These are habits and won’t feel natural right away. Start with one and work your way up until one, two, or all three become part of your routine.

1. Meal plan. Your family should be involved in this. It can be done while watching TV. It takes almost no effort to figure out meals that everyone likes. There are plenty of recipes that can be tweaked to make smart choices. Ever tried almond flour chicken fingers? It is a favorite in this house!

2. Make your grocery list from your meal plan. When I make my grocery list based off the plan it reassures me that I won’t forget anything, because I checked to see what was in the house. To take it a step further, I always make my list based on the layout of the grocery store. This way I am not tempted to go down any additional aisle. When I go to the grocery store with a scattered list, I ALWAYS forget something which can quickly lead to a bad choice if you don’t have what you planned for.

3. Meal prep. My husband teases me, because when I get home from the store I take everything out of the bags and line it near the fridge or cabinet where it goes. I put everything that can go away in it’s spot and prep everything else that I can to make my week easier. Chop veggies, boil cauliflower, cut meat, etc. Because of my schedule I usually prep on Sundays for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. On Wednesday I have more flexibility so I prep for the rest of the week at that time. You know your schedule. Do what works best for you.

You don’t have to do all of that, but start somewhere! Jumping aboard the nutrition ship can seem like a ginormous leap, but with small steps you will find that you are ready to step up. We are here for you!

Coach Meagan

I enjoy writing, but some posts are a lot harder to write than others. 

That is certainly the case this year as we start forming our team for the 2017 ​Rock N' Race, which is always one of the biggest community events in Concord as well as one of our biggest fundraising efforts.

For those of you not familiar, the Rock 'N Race is a 5k run/walk that raises funds for the Concord Hospital Payson Center for Cancer Care. This is the 15th year this event has been held, and Get Fit NH has been sponsoring a team and raising funds for the last 7 or 8 years - just about as long as we have been around.

It is no secret that cancer touches all our lives in one way or another. We all have friends, family, and co-workers whose lives have been changed forever by this disease, and the Get Fit NH family is no exception. Right now Coach Nancy's sister Sharon is fighting cancer for the second time. Others have loved ones they have lost or are in midst of the battle. Our thoughts and prayers are with them, and you who support them.

This year however, is especially tough for one of our own, Jim Knee, as he mourns the loss of his dear wife Catherine Dowd. Catherine lost her battle with cancer on December 30 of last year. This is not the first time I have seen one of our Get Fit men lose his wife to this disease, and while I cannot imagine what they have and are going through, I don't have to sit by and do nothing either. I hope you will join me by taking action and getting involved in the Rock N' Race this year, as a sponsor, runner, or walker.

Doesn't have to be on our team. It's not about us, or who has the biggest team, or the awards we can win. It's about men like Jim Knee, and Tom Barker, and Dan Gauthier, who need to know that those they have lost are not forgotten, and that somebody cares enough to do something about it, no matter how small. It is an added bonus that the Rock N' Race just happens to be a ton of fun - Music, Food and Contests. It's a family event and you don't have to be a great runner (or a runner at all) to come down and have a good time.

Are you in?

Let's Make It Happen!

15th Annual Merrimack County Savings Bank Rock N' Race

​May 18, 2017

6:00pm

Downtown Concord

As a postscript I want to thank Jim for his graciousness. He is a quiet guy, and his hurt is still deep. How could it not be? It would be easier to just stay quiet and not bring up the pain. But he set that aside so others could be helped. Cancer is not "just" a disease. Cancer has a name, a face, and a story. Here is just a small part of Catherine's.

Catherine C. Dowd, 64, died Friday, Dec. 30, 2016, in Concord VNA Hospice, Concord, after a long illness.

She is survived by her husband of 16 years, James E. Knee; two sons, Conor P. McNally of Essex, Vt., and Hugh F. McNally of Bethlehem; her mother, Vivian (Tambolleo) Dowd, of Sterling, Mass.; three brothers, Thomas F. Dowd Jr., of Holden, Mass., Peter M. Dowd of Sterling, Mass. and James J. Dowd of Grifton, N.C.; a sister, Therese Vattes, of Bolton, Mass.; two step-sons, Michael Knee and Matthew Knee, both of Concord; aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, and cousins; and her beloved animals, dog, Obo, and horses, Pumpkin and King.

Catherine was born in Worcester, Mass., and raised in Clinton, Mass., daughter of the late Thomas F. Dowd. She was a graduate of Sacred Heart High School, Worcester, Mass. and Atlantic Union College, South Lancaster, Mass., where she earned her degree in Nursing.

As a Registered Nurse, Catherine started her career at St. Vincent Hospital, Worcester, Mass., prior to relocating to New Hampshire, where she began a 29 year career at Littleton Hospital, before working at Concord Hospital for more than 12 years before her retirement.

She was a former member of St. John the Guardian of Our Lady Parish, Clinton, Mass. An avid skier and mountain hiker, Catherine was a talented equestrian, who, along with Jim, kept horses on their former farm in Franconia. It was there that she cared for her most-loved mare, Heiress.

​Thank-you Jim. Our thoughts and prayers continue to be with you.

March Madness was such a success last year, we just knew we had to roll it out again this year for everyone at Get Fit NH. Whether you’re a veteran of our challenges or brand new, you’ll want to get involved, because who doesn’t like a little madness?

The Concord and Epsom gyms do things differently, which we will highlight below.

Get Fit NH Epsom

We know how much you love to push that sled so we’ll be breaking up into training time teams and go after it on the green. It’s a great feeling to push a 135 pound sled for the first time or for the fifty first times. Last year we about wore out the turf, and Coach Nancy loves to see those laps rack up. The prize for all this hard work? Your very own dinner party from the Carlson’s kitchen

Get Fit NH Concord

We are going to break into teams of 4, so look for the sign up sheet on the desk. The deadline to form a team will be March 8th, so you only have about 10 days to get it together We will go head to head bracket style, most MEPS wins the round and moves on.

We’ve put a few new rules in place for this year’s challenge. Since we never want to put anyone in harm’s way and overtraining can lead to injuries and other complications, we’ve added a MEPS cap of 1200 per person for each week. If there is a tie for MEPS at the end of the week we will use tiebreakers (most Meps in the yellow zone, then red as a second tiebreaker if needed) in order to decide who will advance to the next round. Also new this year, only MEPS earned between Monday and Friday will count towards the challenge. Last year the carry-over of not getting the results from the week before until Wednesday or Thursday because of weekend MEPS detracted from the competition. So in order to get your MEPS in you will have to make sure you are in at some point by Friday night before we close.

Want to participate but don’t have a belt?

We got you covered!

For this challenge we are selling the new MZ3 MyZone belts for LESS than what we pay! That’s right- $60! If you have one of the older belts, those are great and work fabulous, however the upgraded belts (MZ3) record activity in real time. So let’s say you are out skiing – if you have you belt on then your MEPS will update immediately rather than recording on your bean until the next time you return to the gym. Also you will be able to see your effort stream (meaning your tile) in real time rather than going back to see how you did.

And the Prize. A sweet custom Get Fit NH tee designed by the winning team!​

This contest will run the 13^th of March through the 14^th of April (last two weeks of March and first two weeks of April) with recovery week smack dab in the middle. MEPS earned during recovery week will not count for the challenge, as the purpose of recovery week is to, well, recover.

​

Let’s get ready to have some fun and kill it for March Madness Round 2!

-Coach Adam

March Madness Challenge

​

Start Date: Monday March 13, 2017
End Date: Friday April 14, 2017
Cost: Just a little Blood, Sweat and Tears
Registration deadline: Wednesday March 8, 2017

​

I would imagine many of you watched or at least heard about the recent Super Bowl. What an epic performance. As many of you know, I am no athlete. If you throw a ball to me, I will most certainly duck. Despite the fact that I am not an athlete, this year’s Super Bowl performance taught a powerful lesson that I believe is worth talking about.

First and foremost, how about the “why” this Patriots team shared. Not only was this the biggest and most meaningful game to them, but it was a chance for Tom Brady to make history. History was made for many reasons that night. Because of this “why”, the team fought with every ounce of strength for every second of that game. What is your why? Is it big enough that you are willing to fight for it every second of every day- even when it seems nearly impossible?

Pushing through even when odds are against you. When I fell asleep on Super Bowl Sunday, the score was 28-9 in the third quarter. There was no way the Patriots were coming back from this. Never, in the history of super bowls, had any team come back from such a score. I was honestly wondering if the Patriots were throwing in the towel, because there was no way they could recover from this (because let’s get real, for a little while they didn’t show up to that game!).

I woke up to my husband jumping up and down and Tom Brady on his knees, because he had just won his 5th super bowl. Despite the odds, despite the naysayers, despite the challenge they pushed through, because they wanted to win that bad. Do you want to reach your goals that bad? Where absolutely nothing will stand in your way? So bad that when someone tells you there is no way, you find a way?

Every second counts. Man, did the Patriots prove that or what? Even with 3 seconds left on the clock Bill was calling a timeout to get one more play in in hopes that he could get some points on the board. And did you see the fourth quarter? Even with less than 3 minutes left they were still down. Those guys played with every bit they had left, left it all on the field and walked away champions.

Are you paying attention to the other 165 hours per week that you are not in the gym? That is crucial time and if you’re not paying attention then you’re not going to get very far.

Learn from the Patriots. They are a successful team because they are coached by the best and they give it their all every time!

Coach Meagan