Wednesday, December 31, 2014

SET GOALS



Hello Eternians near and far.. I’m back again.  Sitting here thinking about this new year of 2015 coming up, only one day away.  Plenty of you out there are gearing up for tonight to get in one last hu-rah for the year before you start your plan of attack for 2015.  This got me thinking a bit.  I want to talk today about not setting “New Year Resolutions” but goals instead, as well as a plan of attack to get you to them. 

The problem I see with setting resolutions instead of goals is that with resolutions we are usually focusing on things we are getting ourselves to NOT do rather than DO.   I myself am a doer!  Not doing puts a negative tone in your mind.  This isn’t about being negative, it’s about being positive.  It’s much easier to get yourself to do something than to try NOT to do something.  A lot of times by DOING something, you won’t even care about or want to do the things you would have made a resolution not do to. 

Research done in sports psychology leads us to believe that the world’s greatest athletes all set very clear goals for themselves.  They have daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, and multi yearly goals they set. Some small some large.  They know that there daily goals, when met, spill into their weekly goals, and so on.  By setting clear and distinctive goals, you set yourself up for success. 

You should sit down and think of some goals as well as a plan of attack to get to those goals.  Just setting a goal is not enough.  You need to put into place a plan  or a system that you are going to use to help get you to your goal.   I’m not going to get into the usual lose weight, firm up, get healthier usual New Year crap.  Let’s take for instance you have been doing your best to work out, “eat good, but you really want to make 2015 the year and you are willing to finally do what it takes to make it happen.  You need to set some distinct, measurable goals.  Let’s say for instance you currently squat 200 but you feel you should be able to squat 250.  Is that a measurable goal?  Yes.  Now let’s look at why you aren’t there and what we need to put into your system to make it happen.  Are you eating enough?  Are you eating enough of the right foods?  Are you sleeping enough?  Are you recovering enough?  Here is a big one, are you really putting your all into your workouts, or are you going through the motions?  All of these can effect what’s going on with your main goal of that squat.  Now, yes that doesn’t include some of your performance imbalances but that is another article all together which we will get to.  So, we have this goal of adding the 50 lbs to your squat this year. 
System
Daily - 7-8 hours sleep, enough good calories to aid in our recovery, putting your all into your training sessions
Weekly - Making all of your training sessions for the week solid.  We all have bad days here and there, it’s making the most of every session we can muster up.
Year Goal-50 lbs added to back squat
Monthly Goal- Add 4 lbs to back squat

Now let's look at a few more strong points to help us get to our GOAL in 2015.  For us to keep solid track of our progress we need to be logging our day to day activity.  Get yourself a notebook of some sort. If you are tracking what you are doing it will help you keep yourself accountable and give you something to reference.  Keep track of food, how your day was, how you slept, how your training went.  You get the picture, it all goes in there.  Last piece of this puzzle is letting others in on your goals.  Friends, coaches, training partners you name it.  We are here to help, keep you on track and answer questions for you.  

Guess what the by-product of all those awesome stuff you will be DOING is?  Not only are you going to be killing your GOALS in 2015, I’ll bet you look leaner, stronger and all around more bad ass.  You’re welcome.

Looking at what’s holding you back from your end GOAL and being a doer, I promise you will take care of all those resolutions you want to keep yourself from doing.  When you have your eye on the prize, the small dumb things tend not to matter so much anymore.


Stay positive, keep kicking ass and set yourself some solid GOALS for 2015.  GET ETERNIA STRONG! 

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Stop The Hate


Hello hello everyone! Well, here we are getting ready to kick off a new year.  2015 it’s going to be.  Can’t believe this year has blown by so fast.  With this new year time we know there are going to be some New Years fitness resolutions.  I’m all for it people.  Find something you love and get yourself moving.  I wanted to just write a little about a lot of shit talking that tends to go on in the fitness industry, from small tiny towns to the world it’s no different. 

For some reason or another, people tend to have a very solid opinion about their style of training that they love.  I get it 100%, and I’m stoked that you are so passionate about it.  My problem that I have is there tends to be a lot of bashing on other peoples choices of training.  This tends to come with zero first-hand knowledge of what other groups or individuals may be doing.  Shouldn’t you be happy that they are doing something, rather than nothing?  Just because they don’t find what you do appealing to them, should that be cause for such negativity?  Could there be a better way?  Sure, that’s possible in ones opinion.  Don’t worry I’ll talk about my opinions in a minute, but those are opinions.  I will not bash somebody’s choice of exercise. 

Whatever form of exercise you choose, somebody will tell you that is stupid.  Whether you are a bodybuilder, runner, biker, yoga-er, zumba, crossfit, powerlifter, strongman, performance train… the list goes on and on.  People from all other forms will love to bash one of the others or all.  It’s about doing what you love.  Some people love running.  Do I think running is the best use of your time for exercise? Nope, but if you enjoy that have at it.  Some people wouldn’t choose to run but would choose to ride a bike.  Something wrong with that? Not at all.  Some might choose to be a bodybuilder, others may choose to crossfit.  Should one get so upset at the other?  No, be happy that they are doing something.  I understand that everybody wants to nitpick each other group out besides their own, but I have a news flash for you.  There are dipshits in every single one of those categories. 

Now, along these same lines comes diet.  Each of these different groups of people tend to latch on to certain types of eating.  This tends to be more fuel for the fire for each group.  Each one believes there way is the only way.  I’m going to tell you this right now.  There are a shit load of ways to eat/diet.  All of these ways are 100% better than the way that the general population in the USA eat.  There is a reason why the US has the highest obesity statistics in the world.  Two thirds of Americans over 20 are overweight.  One third of Americans over 20 are obese.  That’s 1 in 3 Americans, people.  Oh, it gets worse.  Nearly 20% of children 6-19 are obese.  This percentage has over doubled in the last 30 years.   Quit your hating and shit talking and be happy that these people are doing something for themselves.  Do you have to agree with it, no not at all.  Keep your opinions to yourself and be happy for them.  I’m not talking about these people trying to lose weight with 500 or 1000 calorie diets, or trying to take some magic pills.  I’m talking about somebody choosing a style of eating, whether it be counting there calories or macros, paleo, caveman, backloading, no carbing, carb cycling, eating clean, or even lord help me vegan.  Sure I have my opinions about some of those but hey if they like what they are doing have at it.  All of that is more healthy than what is going on in the 75% of Americans daily diet.  If your friend lost 100 lbs from THEIR choice of diet and busting THEIR ass with THEIR choice of exercise, you best be happy as shit for them and give them some fucking support or plan on being taken out of that friend list. 


Ill close with this.  I have friends from all sorts of exercise back grounds.  Do I choose to do what they do?  Some of them yes some of them no.  Am I going to bash them for wanting to get in awesome shape an step on stage to show it off?  Nope not at all.  Is that for me? No, it’s not what keeps me training but it is what keeps them in there.  Support people, be positive, and don’t believe you know everything about what goes on in other peoples training/diet.  Bring this new year in with a positive vibe! Keep crushing those weights, pounding that pavement or whatever it is you choose to do.  Get out there and get active.