Barry doesn’t know that he can’t get on the couch.

This is Barry.  72 knee-high LB’s of wrecking ball fun.  He’s that guy who’s everybody’s best friend; he breaks up fights at the dog park (does it all the time).  If he was a person, he’d be that one guy who’d witness a total stranger get beat up at a kegger, help him up, and offer him a ride home with a pit stop at Taco Bell.  

Unless.  

Unless you try to take his ball. Or you’re that min-pin that lives at the end of the block (hates that guy).  Then he’s an unstoppable force of nature.  Nothing but slobber and power.  He also doesn’t think that he can get up on the couch.  Not as in he’s not allowed to, he is allowed to with permission, he actually doesn’t think he can.  Never mind that he’s actually done it repeatedly, effortlessly, when we’re in the middle of playing ball and the ball lands on the couch; then he’s Trinity in the Matrix.  

Still when he’s actually thinking about it, he can’t.  Because he doesn’t think he can.  He’ll prop his front feet up and stare at you with those giant black saucer eyes (His other talent is making you feel guilty. Oh, and snoring.) and you have to help him up or it’s the end of the world.  

I have this whole job where what I do, other than wear stretchy pants, all day is to convince people that they can do what they don’t think they can.  You can do more than you think, I promise it’s in there.  Get up on that couch!  Wait, maybe that came out wrong….   ​

(no, these people are not sleeping.....)

Exercise is boring.  The way I’ve seen most people do it.  You’re killing me...

So, here’s the thing.  You’ve got to be active in your exercise.  Obviously physically active; although I’ve seen plenty that aren’t (that’s a whole different hilarious post).  What I’m talking about is being mentally active.  You’ve got to involve yourself mentally in the exercise. 

How do you do that? Well, you must pay attention. Take a minute and get into your zone.  I bet there are some workouts that fly by and seem effortless and others where you feel every step.  I’m willing to bet that the ones that fly by are the ones where you’re not thinking about other stuff.

Let it go, Elsa. You’re not helping yourself by thinking of all the “other stuff.”  Clear your mind and engage in what you’re doing.

Know what else helps? Stop dreading it. Exercise is good for you, enjoy it. Take advantage of the fact that this is the ONLY thing you should be doing for the next few minutes.  Commit to this singular act and let it take over. I give you permission to like it.

​And I give you permission to take pride in your taking care of yourself.  Just don’t post about it non-stop.  You’re not Yeezy.

I take yoga from time to time (I like to stretch while wearing expensive clothing).  With pretty much every instructor I’ve had, they’ve always focused on being present in the practice.  In what you’re doing at that moment.  Where your hips are.  Is your spine straight.  What your breath is doing.  Where your center is, etc.  When I did track and field, my assorted coaches always talked about being active in the moment.  Mostly by telling me to get my head out of my ass (always speak to your audience).  I did hurdles, so it was especially critical.  As it turns out, hurdles sometimes move.   

How is that any different from your exercise routine?  Droning on for an hour on autopilot IS boring.  Get involved with what you’re doing.  Think about how you feel that day; better or worse than the last workout?  Are you sleepy?  How is your posture?  How is your body moving?  Are you stressed from work?  What is your body telling you?  

You’re working on your body and your health, right?  Get involved with it!  I promise you a couple of things:  1.  You’ll enjoy it more.  
2.  Most importantly, you’ll get much better results.  

Need help helping yourself?  I know a guy (and a lot of great yogis!) ...

​One of my most favorite things about my job is that I get to meet people from every walk of life.
I love to observe the differences as well as the similarities of human behavior.

​I’ve certainly learned a lot about life from these people that I am in service of. The thing that I’ve consistently observed is that sometimes people that have attained incredible success in other aspects of their lives: career, relational, financial, spiritual, etc., have struggled when it comes to their fitness goals. Why?

I’m going to get personal here for a minute. I’ve had some challenges in my own life. In my case financial (I’m a prodigy at everything else). I found myself feeling like I couldn’t get myself out of the hole I ended up in. At the height of my frustration, it occurred to me that I needed an outside point of view, accountability, and just some education.

I went online and found myself a financial coach. Not gonna get into details, but what struck me most was the parallels in the concepts. In my industry, we use what we call the FITT principles to define a fitness strategy. Frequency, Intensity, Time (duration), and Type. As my coach went over the concepts that would help me stabilize my financial ship, I realized the parallels in concepts to get to where I want to be. Different words, same meaning. She used words like Discipline, Consistency, Planning, Anticipation etc.; all the same concepts.

I don’t know about you (I DO know about you) but I have that instinct in the back of my head, whenever things get hard, to just say “F it” and ignore it. Tell yourself it’s not worth it. But you must ignore that voice and do the work. Easier said than done, right? I know.

​So, if you find yourself having this instinct, or thinking you don’t know where to begin, you must swallow your pride and GET SOME HELP! If you have trouble with you career? Get some help! If you’re having trouble getting in shape, staying in shape or don’t know where to start; if you need Fitness Please! Turns out I know a guy.

Excuse me?
​
In my 16 years of practice I’ve become a bit of a connoisseur in the art and science that is Excuse Making. The average adult pulls from years of experience and knowledge to come up with PhD level excuses; SARS, ISIS, OCD, ADD, IBS (OK, you might have something there), BMI, Ebola, Carpal Tunnel, or Kickball accident (I really got that one). If you’ve been off your fitness game there could be guilt, shame, sloth and a bunch of other yucky feelings surrounding that.

I’m here to tell you that there are very, very few reasons why you can’t work out and about a bajillion why you should be getting your Fitness Please! on the regular. I’ll run you through a few of my favorites excuses here. And then, for fun I want you to tell me the worst excuse you’ve ever given. I love them! I like to judge by content and creativity. Let’s hear ‘em!

I just don’t have the time...I’m so busy. These days we all claim to be overscheduled and overcommitted. You must make an active decision to include exercise as part of your day. Think of it this way, do you even think about whether you’re going to shower as part of your day? You don’t, you account for it as part of your day, right? I’m not talking about Sunday, or those of you who work home (I see you and we should talk about personal maintenance. Another time.) Do make time to hit the snooze button in the am? For happy hour? For The Bachelor (it’s 2017, hulu.com, c’mon man)?

You have to make time to exercise. And the first step is making it a higher priority, like your shower. You don’t even think about showering each day, it just gets done. It’s a higher priority. Need me to call you at 6 every morning and get you up? We can discuss that too. The perception is that you need to clear hours of time to make sure that you get some exercise in. The reality is that even if you’re crazy busy, you can fit in an effective workout in 20 mins. There are much more efficient (and enjoyable!) ways to reach your fitness goals than hamster-wheeling it at the elliptical with an US magazine. Have questions on how to do that? You’re in luck, I know a guy...

I can’t workout right now, I’ve got this bad back, knee, wrist, elbow, ingrown toenail, whatever. A few years ago, I went to a beer fest at a ski mountain. Got some great pow. ON MEMORIAL DAY. In shorts and a T-shirt. That day, I saw road biker, and a fly fisherman, and a golfer, and a jogger, and some girls in bikinis (that’s neither here nor there, but I saw them). I almost got choked up, I love my state! Point is this: Colorado is awesome. Almost everyone I know here does some sort of recreational activity; that also means almost everybody gets hurt doing said activity. Of course, then there’s the weekend warriors. I’ve bashed my head pruning tree trunks, sprained my shoulder laying pavestones, and had my knee rammed into by a 70 lb bulldog travelling at a high rate of speed (bulldog speed, but still).

We’ve all been hurt. I got you. I work in unison with some amazing chiropractors and physical therapists that can help get you back to fighting shape. Activity with care is what’s gonna fix those broken wings and teach you to fly again (love also helps, I hear). I’ve worked with plenty of folks who came to me less than 100% and they all came out better for it. Don’t put off what 99% of your body needs because 1% is in bad shape.

I want to get into better shape before I call a trainer. Ok, seriously. Can we be real for a second? This is crap and you know it. It’s like when you floss your teeth only before you see the dentist, or when you clean the house before the cleaning person comes. Why do we do that? Because we’re a bit embarrassed. Because you don’t want this person to see where things really are. Of course, you know they see right through this. So do I. That’s ok though. I truly understand where this is coming from.

There should never be shame or embarrassment with seeking help. I’m not here to judge you (unless you think sriracha is “hot” sauce). I’m here to help you, guide you, educate you. You go to the dentist because they can help you with your goal: A not-disgusting grill. You get help with cleaning your house because you got some brunching to do. A trainer is there to get you where you want to be: Putting on a gun show in front of your ex, putting on those jeans that didn’t quite fit but you keep anyway. That’s hope right there. Hope I can work with. Call me. Text me. Mostly text me, I’m busy. But call (text) me.

​Your turn: Tell me a story. Tell me your best get-out-of-working-out story. I love this stuff.

​“How much?” I’ve heard that question throughout my career. “How much is it gonna cost me?” It’s a perfectly rational question.  It's a good one; here's another one: 


Would you buy a car sight unseen based on the price?  

Of course not, you'd (hopefully) want to know the number of doors and seats, the tire size, is the radio bumpin? Hundreds of questions to answer while figuring out if it's the right car for you.  You want to know that it's the right match for you, based on your needs and goals.  What is the value?

So, let's talk about value:  There are many ways to reach your goals and many ways you may already be on your way.  What are you needs, what are your goals?  In my experience, I find that a lot of the time, people aren't sure what their goal may be. Most people settle for an arbitrary on-the-fly answer:  "I want to be toned," "I want to lose 20 lbs,” etc.  That's OK!  That's why you're talking to me! 

Here's the value you can expect from training with me:  

1. Guidance/Goal Setting:  Let's figure out your real goal.  You want to lose 20?  Why? How did you come to pick that number?  What is a realistic goal for you? 
2. Support/Motivation:  You're not going to be doing this alone, I got your back every step of the way.  WE are going to get there together.  
3. Customization:  Back to the first point; what's right for you?  What kind of time do you have?  What physical limitations might you have?  What is your exercise experience?  We'll put together a plan based on your set of variables.  
4. Accountability:  I'll always have your back.  Sometimes that means that I'll be on your back.  Being accountable to someone else will help you walk the straightest path to success.
5. Empowerment:  The way I look at my job (my calling, really) is that it's my goal to work my way out of a job.  My job is to empower you to the point that you can guide your own fitness practice.  I say practice because fitness is a lifetime practice!
6. Safety:  Self-evident.  I'm going to keep you from killing yourself.  It's bad for business. 

 
See what I mean?  It's a little more complicated than sessions and prices. 

​I will promise you this: if you are honest with me, I’ll be honest with you. Invest in your fitness and I’ll invest in helping you reach your goals. 
 
But Steeeeeeve…. you still didn’t tell me how much….
 
You’re right.  Training costs will vary based on your personal needs.  It's called personal training. It’s that simple. Let’s start the conversation. And just for fun, let’s do some comparisons:

Everyone wants to look good, right?  You might think nothing of dropping $30-$50 bucks to get your nails and toes done.  What's a cut and color run these days?  At the end of the month, what have you spent on grooming?  $150/month?  $250?

Maybe you like a good happy hour. Even the savviest of Happy Hour shoppers could spend at least $20 at a post-work mini binge (Please tell me where that is!). Throw in a nosh and a nice tip (because you’re a nice person) you could rack up around $100 each month.  No problem.    

How about your coffee habit?  Gotta have the pour over or the nitro brew every day?  That will cost you.  And coffee ain’t cheap.  Even picking up one a day and you could be in for well over $120 a month.

Now my question for you is…. What's it worth, your health? How many 2 for 1 wells, wines, and drafts are you willing to invest in your health? 

​Reach out, let's have a sit down and talk about it over a nitro brew maybe. 

" Working out is like walking down the street naked; you're exposed to the world."  - JB

One of my specialties (and favorite things to do) is to train people with disabilities or chronic conditions.  It reminds me that all of our training, all fitness protocols deal in generalities.  Everyone is different.  Maybe not vastly different, but different, until we start cloning (next week's talk).  Anyhow, one of the things about him is that he has a physical disability that affects his ability to stand among other things.  So what do we work on?  Standing, that's what.  It can literally be life or death for him (Side Note:  Shovel your walk jerks!); so standing up is what we do.  Not squats.  Not lunges.  We work on standing up and sitting down, and standing up again (and biceps curls, because biceps, son).  Everyday that we work on it is an entirely different experience.  There are days that go well, and then there are the other days.  You know what I'm talking about:  The Other Days. The last time we worked on it was one of those.  It can be very difficult to watch somebody struggle to do something that most of us take for granted.  A thing we don't even think about, this man breaks into a cold sweat thinking about.  As he struggled through his repetitions, he felt the need to apologize.  "Sorry Steve, I can't get it today.  This is probably getting really old, huh?"  I said no, not at all.  I said:  "This is why we practice here.  The gym is safe; it's a lab setting.  You have a brace on the wall, you have a soft landing, you have traction, you have me, we're supposed to look like an idiot here, so we get it right in the real world (I speak in run on sentences or not at all).    

Note:  At the bottom I've attached a like to a Ted Talk about knowing your own body's data.  How you are different can be profound.  

Glute up (that's a verb now)

A comment I hear a lot when I'm training is:  "I look stupid doing this", or "I feel like people are watching me".  Couple of things:  1.  The point of the gym isn't to look cool (that's my job), it's to better yourself, right?  The very definition of irony is that the best way to look idiotic in the gym is by trying to look cool.  Look silly getting that exercise face on in the gym so that you don't look silly on the beach or when you're finishing up that half marathon.  That is what the gym is for.  Not gonna lie, walking around the gym side stepping or lunging does indeed look silly (and I know better ways to glute up, ask me).  Zumba...even the word is silly, and you wear special pants that make you look like you went to Brazil this one time.  Silly, but it gets people in the gym working harder than they would reading an Us magazine on the elliptical.  2.  Most typically the ones that are watching most are the ones that are trying to figure out what to do, and does that glute me up?  Do the best you can looking like an idiot and get those Glutes Up (I'm trademarking that).

Take care of yourselves (and each other), talk to you soon.

​Trainer Steve
​