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Transformation Fitness & Wellness

Wolves…

I wanted to share another story from, Think Like a Monk, then a couple of personal stories…

A senior monk once told me an old Cherokee story about these dilemmas which all of us agonize over:

“An elder tells his grandson, ‘Every choice in life is a battle between two wolves inside us. One represents anger, envy, greed, fear, lies, insecurity, and ego. The other represents peace, love, compassion, kindness, humility, and positivity. They are competing for supremacy.’

“‘Which wolf wins?’ the grandson asks. ‘The one you feed,’ the elder replies.”

“But how do we feed them?” I asked my teacher.

The monk said, “By what we read and hear. By who we spend time with. By what we do with our time. By where we focus our energy and attention.”

Which wolf are you feeding?

Controlling our mental dialogue is one of the greatest battles we can win. We can become our own worst enemy if we allow it.

Just like we track what we put in our body from a nutrition standpoint. Take note of what is going into your mind.

Is it all negative from media sources or negative people around you? Try to reduce your exposure.

Find positive people to surround yourself with, people who are doing what you want to do, or achieving things you have only dreamed of.

One of the best tools I was taught years ago was talk to yourself vs listen to yourself.

When I was running my second marathon, I kept listening to myself and did not perform the way I would have preferred. “You are in pain.” “You missed your mile time to qualify for Boston, give up.” And so on…it was defeating. I struggled to even finish that race.

When I was getting ready to speak on a national stage in front of thousands, I talked to myself behind the stage. “You have prepared for this moment.” “You have a powerful message.” “You are a strong and confident woman.” I nailed that presentation and inspired so many people.

Two times in my life. One where I fed my mind negative self-talk, listening to all the negative thoughts, and another time where I intentionally put positive uplifting talk into my mind. I am sure I looked silly behind the stage, but it was affirmations I had been telling myself over and over in preparation.

Feed the positive wolf.

Read the information that will encourage you. Put yourself around positive people who are achieving things you desire. Focus on the good in our world today…it does exist.

Peace,

Arin

Motivation, Accountability, and Energy

These three words are the words I hear the most when people are considering our program.

They need help with motivation, someone to hold them accountable and they desire more energy.

Motivation is tough, especially right now. Believe me, it is easy to keep doing what we are doing, get caught up in everything around us.

I get asked often how do you stay so positive.

I will be the first to admit, I have absolutely struggled to stay positive, but I make a choice every morning and that is to have hope.

I learned a long time ago that I get to control my emotions and reactions. Now it has taken me a minute to fully grasp this and I also realized I get to fill my head with what I want.

Reading books, listening to inspiring podcasts, or anything business related in my jam.

I have minimized my media exposure…now I don’t keep my head in the sand…but we could all benefit from a reduction.

It goes back to pruning…when the vine is dying, we prune it and new life forms. What do you need to prune in your life that will give you the ability to do more and be more?

Accountability is absolutely no surprise to me.

We all need accountability in our life. A coach, who has your back, wants to see you be successful. If left to our own vices…well…we know what happens.

I have had several coaches over the years, more from a business side and we still continue to have coaches who help guide us.

It is important to know you don’t have to walk the journey alone.

Then energy, we all want to feel better, perform more and simply feel good.

We took an already sedentary world and with working from home we have reduced our movement even more. (The exception is having a 2 and 4 year old…if you need to get your steps in or some cardio…come on over!)

The simple act of taking a walk, doing a 20 min workout can release good endorphins and can instantly boost your mood and level of energy.

Always sounds counterproductive, but we are meant to move, we need to move and we thrive off of movement.

I share these three items because this is what I hear day after day and I want you to know you are not alone.

Motivation right now is hard and that’s why having a structured program, an appointment with your self and a little money motivation (meaning you paid for that workout) can help you get going consistently.

Then I highly recommend a coach. A coach is going to help keep you safe, but guide you. Now all coaches are not created equal…it is important to interview and make sure you have a good fit, check out their testimonials.

Lastly, the best by product of getting active is Energy! You don’t need to guzzle energy drinks. You need to drink water, get 7+ hours of sleep and move.

Its easy to do and it is easy not to do!

Choose to do,

Arin

Do I really need to address my nutrition?

The short answer is yes.

Now this depends on your goals, but for most people they are looking to lose body fat. Yes you will burn calories working out, but until someone wears a heart rate monitor they have no clue how hard it is to burn a 400-500.

Or we grossly underestimate how many calories we consume until we food journal the correct portion.

If the goal is to lose body fat we do have to create a caloric deficit and to lose 1 pound of fat you must have a deficit of 3500 calories in a weeks time frame.

Nutrition is hands down the hardest part to dial in.

Most of us have no problem doing that killer workout.

We mostly struggle consistently fueling our body to see the desired result.

Or one-two days we are on point, but we completely go overboard the next day. Myself included, we completely miss how many calories we actually consume during a meal.

So what can you do?

Use your hands:

Women

Protein = size of your palm

Carb = size of your cupped palm

Veggie = size of your fist

Fat = Thumb

Most men you get to double all these portions.

Or another strategy that works well is logging all your food in My Fitness Pal or something similar.

But the other side of that is we need to better understand your metabolic process. How many calories are you burning based on your daily activity.

As you can see nutrition does matter, but its complicated. 😉

This is where we come in and we can help you navigate what you personally need to do. This is not a one size fits all plan. What works for one person does not work for the other.

Listen, there is so much garbage from “experts” in our field. If it sounds too good to be true it is.

So, if you need help, we are an email/call away.

Arin

It’s not selfish

I have another good quote for you this morning from my guy, Brendon Burchard.

“It is not selfish to want to be happier and to have a better lifestyle. Those who judge you now for striving will thank you later for succeeding.”

I see this all too many times when someone is changing habits, they get sucked back in to their old ways by friends, family members, etc.

I also see people get sucked back in by themselves.

They start making changes, they show up to a couple workouts, change food for a few days, then they go right back to old habits, old ways.

It happens and we have to dig deep to truly make change.

It is called embracing the suck.

I know, not all that sexy.

But truly embracing the suck, means doing what you know you need to do to be successful.

Hanging around people who lift you up vs pull you down.

I think one of the best parts of our gym is when clients start getting to know each other and lift each other up.

The “good jobs”, high-fives, “you got this”, “didn’t you do more weight last time?”

These are the people you want to surround yourself with, people who get it and are fighting their own battle. Just when you think someone has it all figured out, they don’t and guess what, it’s all good.

Embrace the suck and keep working on you.

It is a battle worth waking up for each and every day!

Results and true change are just around the corner. Right when you want to give up is when true growth/results happen.

You got this,

Arin

Nothing Better than this…

Nothing better than hearing the buzz of our gym as I sit in my office.

I hear the huffing and puffing of hard work.

The you can do it from the coach and members to each other.

The not so subtle, “AHHHH”, weight slam down!

Music going strong.

It’s all music to my ears. It’s the sound of we are in this together. I am going to push harder than I would by myself. Its motivation, determination, grit and teamwork.

That’s what you feel when you workout at TFW and in a Team or group environment.

You simply need to get your body to the gym; we take care of the rest.

The time is no better than now to take care of you. Going to the gym can be overwhelming, what to do, how to do it or I saw this thing on Insta, but should I do it too?

The options are endless on what you can do.

What should you do is different…

We make sure the workouts are appropriate for all levels with progression and regression to all movements. Even if you are a beginner you won’t feel out of place.

As we approach this new decade. Do something different.

Something for you. I promise when you start taking care of you, everything else seems to get better. It is taking that first step that is always the hardest.

Come be apart of the buzz at TFW.

We are different. You come in because you have an appointment, you have reserved your slot in the workout. We will coach you through the movements and make sure you are safe.

Happy Holidays,

Arin