Those who ultimately reach their health and fitness goals and who go on to set and achieve more goals throughout their lifetime, understand and accept that life will never be predictable, no matter how good their plan looks on paper. 

By accepting that disruptions are a part of life, and an inevitable part of the goal achieving process, you can more readily roll with the punches, and continue moving forward with minimal delay. Most disruptions are avoidable by putting forth the effort to get clear about what you want and why you want it, and then designing a plan that will lead to the outcomes you want. 

Surrounding yourself with supportive, like-minded people will help you stay on track. Friends, family, and co-workers are powerful influences in our lives. Their habits, beliefs and language can easily become ours if we’re not clear about our personal values and goals. Be willing to establish boundaries with those closest to you. 

Small distractions compounded over time threaten to sabotage progress. Getting caught up in obsessing about world events, doom scrolling for hours on social media, and allowing yourself to get pulled into politics and other drama you have very little control over will drain you. It will consume the energy you could otherwise give to your goals and life priorities. 

Our energy is finite. Those of us who lead busy, purpose-driven lives can’t spare too many fucks for things beyond our control if we’re going to be effective in this world. 

Guard your time. Protect your energy. Focus on what really matters to you. 

This is how you get results. 

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I approach my own training with an acknowledgment and emphasis on the following: 

Mobility > Stability > Strength

Most people don’t realize strength training is loaded mobility work. Assuming you take every repetition to full range of motion, you’re stretching the muscle in the eccentric portion of the rep. If performed under control, you improve your mobility (the ability to move quickly and easily). 

Additionally, you develop better stability (the absence of variation or motion). The two combined grant you access to better quality movement.

No matter what’s thrown at you, you have control over your body at all times. 

If I attempt to add a load to a weak foundation that lacks both mobility and stability, my risk of injury increases. Not only that, I miss the opportunity to build muscle and get stronger. My foundation is too weak to support the stress required to get the results I want. Imagine firing a canon from a canoe. 

There’s a mental component, too. 

Check your ego at the door. If your goal is to impress someone, make that someone be YOU. 

Concentrate on what you’re doing so you stay connected to your body, and you own every repetition of every set of every exercise. 

If you mentally check out, eyes glazed over just going through the motions, you miss the chance to improve. 

Don’t miss out, stay focused. Invest your time and energy wisely. 

Follow a plan that makes you better, not just tired.

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1) Getting in our daily steps (with the goal of averaging 10,000 per day). The more you move, the better you feel and the easier it is to lose body fat. 

2) Keeping our sidewalks and trails safe and litter-free so everyone can enjoy them. A clean city creates a positive atmosphere that has many physical and emotional health benefits for a community. Spending just 10 minutes outdoors picking up litter can make a significant impact on the way your neighborhood looks and feels. 

We are fortunate to live in a beautiful city with a convenient trail system that allows us to walk, run, bike and ski to our hearts’ content. I appreciate having access to these unique spaces that encourage more time outdoors. 

We’ve spent the past month making an effort to get out a few times a week to pick up trash around town. It’s been a fun way to discover new areas, get some exercise and improve the trail user experience for everyone.

The next time you’re out on a walk, consider bringing a bag along to collect litter for a few minutes. It doesn’t take much to make a big impact in your community, and your efforts will undoubtedly benefit us all. 

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It doesn’t include quick fix cleanses, diet fads, or magic pills. There are no special exercises you must do or celebrity workouts to imitate. 

In fact, it’s so simple, it can be summed up in five words: Fall in love with boredom.

Everything you need to do to get lean enough to see your abs and more muscle definition is what most people refer to as the “boring stuff.”

– Cooking at home and eating plenty of protein and veggies. 

– Reducing, and in most cases completely eliminating alcohol. 

– Getting at least 7 hours of sleep a night.

– Lifting weights 3-5 days a week.

– Walking 8-10k + steps a day. 

Ask yourself this: Why should it be exciting? 

Why must you always be entertained? 

You can either accept not getting results or put up with mild and intermittent feelings of discomfort for a few weeks until this basic shit becomes a part of your daily routine. 

Change your attitude and expectations. 

Do the work. 

It’s the ones who can’t sustain feelings of “boredom” who will always struggle to change the way their body looks and then complain that nothing works for them while chasing yet another shiny object workout or diet program. 

Anyone can derp around and go through the motions of a workout. Very few can get dialed in long enough to push through the menial tasks required to get to the good stuff. 

Stop complaining about not getting any results when you’re unwilling to do the real work.

The post Improve Your Fitness Results by Falling in Love with Boredom appeared first on Figarelle's Fitness.

Instead, ask them about … 

Their daily routine, including their sleep cycle. 

What you do outside of the gym, is where the majority of change happens. The gym makes up maybe 60 minutes of your day, 3-5x a week. 

In the short term, you can lose body fat and build muscle in a sleep deficit, but it will be unsustainable and you will feel like shit almost all the time. When you don’t feel great, you often don’t perform well in any area of life. Your mood takes a hit, and everything feels like an uphill battle. It doesn’t need to be this way if you take the time to develop helpful morning and evening routines. 

It’s in your best interest to make good quality sleep a priority. Aim for 7-9 hours a night. This will not only make fat loss and building muscle easier, it’s also important to get enough good quality sleep every night to keep your immune system strong, and manage your blood sugar and your blood pressure.

What their mindset is around change and discomfort. 

Like it or not, you’re going to need to change your habits if you’re going to change your body. This will not be easy and it certainly won’t be comfortable. People who make the most impressive body composition changes embrace the challenges of restructuring their schedules, setting boundaries, getting to the gym and the grocery store every week, prioritizing self-care, and maintaining consistency in everything. 

Most of us don’t really think about what we’re doing, we just move through life. We don’t take time to thoughtfully plan and reflect to understand if what we’re doing is even working. This is a mistake that will cost you months and possibly years of wasted effort. Become more insightful in how you design your life, and realize that you will have to do hard things to get where you want to go. 

What lessons they learned in the process. 

In order to change our body, we need to learn new things. What are macronutrients? What muscle group am I training in the gym, and why I am performing THIS particular exercise? What impact does alcohol have on sleep quality? How much protein should I consume? How is chronic stress sabotaging results? Get curious about what it takes to make a real change. People who go through any kind of transformation have learned valuable lessons along the way. Ask good questions, and then listen with intent. 

How they manage their stress.

What helps you relax and unwind is going to be different than what helps someone else, but it’s still important to hear about the strategies and coping mechanisms other people use to effectively manage their stress. 

What helps me: Daily journaling, 10 min. Of mindfulness meditation/visualization, lifting weights, walking outside in nature, specifically hiking in the mountains where I can get a break from traffic noise and other people’s bullshit. Relaxing on the couch. Reading a book. Spending time with my wife, just laughing and enjoying one another’s company. 

What their support system looks like. 

You absolutely can be successful without a support system, just like you can lose body fat and build muscle in a sleep deficit. It’s just going to be unnecessarily difficult. Whether you invest in a fitness coach, ask your spouse to help with the kids so you can go to the gym, or get a workout buddy for added accountability and fun, it’s in your best interest to surround yourself with people who are willing to help you and lift you up. 

How they handle setbacks and tough days. 

Tough days are a normal part of life. We all have them. Learning from someone who has made it through the other side of difficulty is invaluable. It gives us insight into our own lives and methods of working through inevitable life stressors. 

Figuring out how someone else went about handling the days where they felt tired, unmotivated, and the brink of quitting (yet, choosing to persevere) can be really helpful. 

How many steps they take per day, on average.

Daily steps make up a significant portion of calorie expenditure. Moving more often throughout the day is going to make fat loss easier, and bodyweight maintenance more sustainable. Having an active lifestyle outside of the gym is important for overall health and wellbeing. Track your daily steps on your phone or smart watch. 

How their healthy habits have impacted their family life, their relationships and their career. 

When someone decides to switch up their routine to make healthy eating more of a priority, and to make more time for the gym, the people in their life take notice. Your spouse, your kids, your friends and your co-workers will often be so inspired by your healthy lifestyle, they will want to join you. This has a reciprocal benefit, where it inspires you to keep going when you see others are positively affected by your behavior. It’s a win-win. When you know other people are emulating your habits, you realize how influential you can be to the people closest to you. This is powerful.

When you feel better, you perform better in all areas of life. Most people don’t realize that when they prioritize their health, they will improve their productivity at work. This has a positive impact on finances and self-esteem. Additionally, relationships often get a boost. 

Don’t get it twisted, nutrition and exercise are important, but when you are ready to change your body, you will first need to change your thoughts, your beliefs, and your behavior. 

The post Ask Your Fit Friend These Questions for Better Results appeared first on Figarelle's Fitness.

Building muscle isn’t exclusively a vanity pursuit. It certainly can be, and that’s great. Having visible abs and muscular arms are viable goals for some people.

But it goes much deeper than that.

▪️Lift weights to be strong, free, and prepared.

▪️Lift weights to elevate your self-confidence in all areas of life.

▪️Lift weights to reduce your risk of pain and injury.

▪️Lift weights to build muscle and improve your metabolic efficiency (how well your body uses fat and carbs as energy sources).

▪️Lift weights to become more gritty and resilient in the face of inevitable life stressors.

▪️Lift weights to be the baddest senior citizen NOT in the nursing home.

🏋🏻‍♀️ Walking, running, hiking, biking and swimming are fantastic forms of movement, but nothing can replicate the unique benefits of strength training.

Learn how to safely lift weights by taking a class or working with a personal trainer, and make it a non-negotiable part of your regular routine for the rest of your life. Strength training is the most underrated investment you can make in yourself, and your longterm health.

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You’re chronically stressed out. 

Whether it’s work obligations, family stuff, or travel, if you’re constantly worried or feeling like you’re spiraling out of control, it will be difficult to manage your health and fitness at the level you need to in order to get the results you want.

Chronic stress leads to sleep disturbances, elevated cortisol and chronic inflammation, difficulty in recovering from workouts, and issues with appetite control. All of this can wreak havoc on your health and derail progress toward your goals.

Find ways to help manage your stress and create routines that foster stability so you can focus on your fitness goals. This might require asking for help, and saying “no” to shit that doesn’t help you get where you want to go. 

You don’t have clear goals.

A goal is a destination. If you were taking a road trip across the country, you would want to know where you were leaving from and where you are going to end up. This information would help you plan out your route, probably establish tentative food and bathroom breaks along the way, and you would have a timeframe for reaching your destination as quickly as possible. 

You could drive aimlessly with no plan at all, not really sure where you will end up (that actually sounds really fun), but you’d be wasting precious time, energy and fuel and that sucks. Getting clear about where you want to go is the key to a more streamlined process. Goals also help keep us motivated on days we’re not too thrilled to go to the gym. Find something you’re excited about, write it down, and remind yourself every single day WHY you’re doing what you’re doing. 

You don’t have a support system.

Who is in your corner? Do you have friends, family, and co-workers who are going to cheer you on and lift you up on your hardest days? Support can be any number of things; words of encouragement, compliments, and help with tasks and chores that allow you to free up time you can allocate to workouts, more sleep and food prep. 

It can also be simply NOT sabotaging you by keeping junk food out of the house or office, or having someone watch your kids so you can get to the gym or have time to yourself. Flying solo is definitely possible, but it’s a lonely road, and it can make everything feel so much harder than it needs to be. Get yourself a trusty group of supporters who want to see you succeed. Don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it, and to set boundaries that protect your time and your sanity.

Whether you want to lose body fat, build muscle, have more energy or remain physically capable as the years goes by, it’s important to manage your stress, set clear goals, and have a strong support system around you. 

The post 3 Reasons You’re Not Getting Results appeared first on Figarelle's Fitness.

When you’ve been trying for months or years to get a specific result and haven’t been able to reach your goal(s) on your own.

• Investing in a personal trainer can mean the difference between continuing to waste time spinning your wheels in frustration, and finally getting the results you want. An experienced trainer analyzes and adjusts your training intensity according to your goals. We assess any physical limitations and design programs that exploit weaknesses and enhance your strengths so you can get the best results possible. 

When you find yourself too tired or too busy to design a training program for yourself. 

• Decision fatigue is when you become so overwhelmed with having to make countless decisions throughout the day that you no longer have the bandwidth for much else as the day progresses. If you exercise after work, this can be a real problem. When you’re exhausted, your workouts are often the first thing to suffer. Working with an experienced personal trainer can remove the burden of designing an effective training program and it can take the guesswork out of getting the results you want. We help guide and troubleshoot issues when they arise so you can keep moving forward. 

When you can’t make it to the gym often enough to get results. 

• Hiring a personal trainer means you will need to schedule an appointment, which is a guaranteed workout. You don’t have to think, or do much in the way of planning. Simply show up for your scheduled session and put in the work. 

When you don’t feel “motivated” to do it on your own. 

• One benefit of working with a trainer is that they hold you accountable. Our clients pre-pay for their sessions and if they don’t show up or they cancel within 12 hours of a scheduled workout, they get charged for that missed session. Emergencies are an exception to this rule, but they are few and far between. Having “skin in the game” is a helpful way to stay committed to your program and your desired outcome. By raising your standards and keeping promises to yourself, you’re going to achieve things you never thought were possible. 

When you can’t decide what you want and why you want it.

• Establishing clear and meaningful goals is an important first step when starting a fitness program. If you’re struggling to figure out what you want, get in touch with a reputable trainer and work together to design an effective and realistic training plan. Take the time to think about this and connect deeply to the WHY behind your goals. If you don’t know what you want and why you want it, it’s going to be difficult to see much in the way of progress. 

When you’re ready and willing to learn. 

• We want our clients to embrace the learning process when they work with us. Sure, I want you to show up to your workouts ready and eager to train. But I also want you to take an interest in learning how this whole thing works so you can take your health into your own hands for the rest of your life. Empowering our clients is just an important as helping them reach their goals. 

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• What do you want? If you don’t know, then it will be impossible to make progress. Get clear about what goals are most important to you. Write these goals down and put them somewhere you can read them everyday. I remind my clients that establishing goals is a lot like deciding on a destination for a roadtrip. If you just want to get in the car and drive aimlessly, go for it. You might have some fun along the way, but you’ll also waste precious time, energy and fuel. Know your destination. 

Connect to your WHY.

• Why are these goals so important to you? Dig deep to find the reason(s) your goals matter to you. Get emotional and keep it real. The more emotion you attach to your why, the more connected you will be to your goals, and the more likely you are to succeed in reaching them. 

Put your important tasks on the calendar.

• Schedule your workouts for the week, and protect that time. Do not cancel a workout unless it’s an emergency. This is a promise you must keep to yourself. If you miss a workout for whatever reason, reschedule it right away. Decide what day you will go grocery shopping, meal plan and prep food and put it on your calendar and commit to going. 

Get an accountability buddy or hire a fitness coach. 

• Lack of accountability is why most people fail. It’s easy to let yourself off the hook, but much more difficult to let someone else down. A fitness coach can help you get clear about your goals, establish a realistic training program, schedule workouts to hold you accountable, troubleshoot your issues and keep you moving in the right direction. 

Reframe the way you think about your health and fitness goals.

• If you find you’re dreading your workouts, remind yourself that exercise is a privilege denied to many. One day you won’t be able to do things you take for granted today, and that alone should be enough to light a fire under your ass. Exercise is a celebration of your health and your physical capabilities, not a punishment for something you’ve eaten. Follow a program that is tailored to your goals, track your progress and you’ll love every minute of your workouts. 

Do not quit. 

• “Fall down 7 times, get up 8.” This is one of my favorite quotes about resiliency. No matter how many times you get knocked down, you get up again. Results will take time. Your progress will not be linear. You will experience setbacks you can’t even imagine. Accept that this process will be challenging, and decide right now that you will not quit, no matter what. 

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