Triton MMA Academy and Woodstock Mixed Martial Arts will be offering a FREE 2 hour seminar to all children from McHenry County ages 5-12 on Saturday, October 15 at 10:00AM.

Seminar will include:

Remember, what we are doing is creating a habit. An exercise habit. For now, stay away from the scale and tape measure! If you must measure something, put an x on the calendar each day that you’ve done your 10 minutes.

Results WILL come… but they will NOT come in two weeks or even [...]]]> THE EXERCISE HABIT

Remember, what we are doing is creating a habit. An exercise habit. For now, stay away from the scale and tape measure! If you must measure something, put an x on the calendar each day that you’ve done your 10 minutes.

Results WILL come… but they will NOT come in two weeks or even 30 days. Did you put on the weight in two weeks? Did you develop your current physique in 30 days? If you’re like me, it took years of careful neglect to get to where you are today – and it’s going to take some new habits to bring about long term changes.

Creating a new habit is one of the better ways of replacing an old one. Since we want an exercise habit we need to find ways to make that as easy as possible. Along the way, it might not hurt to get rid of a few old habits – say that “reward with food” habit where we’re convinced that exercising for 10 minutes earns us an extra donut! (It doesn’t!)

Breaking old habits is difficult.* Brain researchers have discovered that a habit’s neural pathways remain even when behavior has changed. Those paths lurk in the background waiting to emerge again!

The same scientists have found that the habit’s beginning is when our brain is the most active. Once we start, we’re on autopilot, not thinking about what we’re doing.

Let’s look at the beginning of our habit. We’ve targeted mornings as the most efficient time for our exercise. And we love efficiency because we’re all lazier than we want to be and the idea of more results for less effort really appeals to us!

Some people have THE exercise room or clothing that screams “EXERCISE”. But a room that’s only for exercise is rare (and often in a dark basement, full of cobwebs!) and too many of those exercise outfits serve just fine for watching TV and eating snacks! Having to head down to the basement or to dig your outfit out of the wash can create excuses for skipping your exercise.

Our exercises can be done any where in any outfit.

Rather than a room or special clothes, creating a time in our morning routine for exercise is critical. Creating a scheduled habit, particularly with the groggy half-awake morning brain, is a tremendously effective way to remember to do things. Do you brush your teeth or put on your deodorant first? The answer isn’t important… but the fact that you have an answer at all is! We schedule our mornings precisely so that we don’t forget that deodorant, so we remember to brush our teeth. Find a time slot for your exercise – and stick with it.

Sometimes, getting started is the hardest part. And not just shopping for that perfect workout tee or redesigning the entire basement. There’s resistance to getting started every day. We always have some excuse at hand, some reason to delay ourselves.

Dr. Stephanie A. Burns in a wonderful article on “Installing a New Habit” suggests that you:

“Delay the decision to not act – tell yourself to just start and then decide if you want to continue.”

(Check out the full article at http://www.stephanieburns.com/articles/article06_habit.asp )

Many a time, I have actually “woken up” for the day while already in mid-pushup! There was no decision to exercise, I just started exercising before my conscious mind could think up any excuses! Don’t make the decision to start. Rather, just start… and once you’re going, then decide if you want to continue. You will!

A resource that I’ve found useful: http://www.habitforge.com A free way to get daily reminders emailed to you on whatever habit you’re trying to form!

Remember: Create a daily morning habit.

*There are other pitfalls along the way (you knew this wasn’t going to be easy!) Check out the Extinction Burst at YouAreNotSoSmart.com

Joining a Class Can Help Your Habit

Sound familiar? As a kid, you played all the games that kids used to play: throwing things, rolling around in the grass, jumping and running around the neighborhood. With a little help, you will find that exercise can still be part of your [...]]]> Ugh! Exercise. Do I have to?

Joining a Class Can Help Your Habit

Sound familiar? As a kid, you played all the games that kids used to play: throwing things, rolling around in the grass, jumping and running around the neighborhood. With a little help, you will find that exercise can still be part of your life… and still be a lot of fun!

We’re going to develop an exercise strategy for your life. We’re all a little different, we’re all starting from different places – how can we create an exercise program that works for you? The trick is to start slowly …and create habits.

It’s not about simply losing that extra fat in 6 weeks… and then going back to the lifestyle that created that flab. It really is about creating a lifestyle that lets you eat well, look and feel great and keep moving.So let’s get you moving in the right direction!

Many exercise programs expect too much too fast. Leaping tall buildings in a single bound is an admirable goal… eventually! We’re going to set a more reasonable target of firming, toning …and learning how to make simple exercises work for you.

For once, it IS all about you. Nobody can exercise for you, no matter how much you’re willing to pay …or how much you beg!

Two Basic Rules

Here are some basic rules to help us on our way. Our goal is to develop a habit that we can stick with for the rest of our lives. That’s a hefty demand. One way we can get there is to keep it short, sweet – and efficient.

1. To lose weight, Calories Out must be greater than Calories In.Our bodies are like cars, they need gas to go. But here’s a big difference: Nobody will put extra gas in the car, overflowing the tank, in the hopes of creating a better driving experience. Extra donuts anyone?To lose weight, you must burn more calories than you eat.
2. There is no such thing as spot reduction. Rule 2 is broken by almost every weight loss advertisement or exercise gimmick.

Our bodies are genetically programmed to store fat in specific places. Chances are, if your mom was a “pear”, you’ll be a pear, too. Dad had a large “bay window”? You will probably store most of your fat in your belly region, too. Doing 1000 sit-ups will NOT cause that belly to shrink faster than the rest of your body. Fat is lost evenly over the entire body. Sit-ups, unfortunately, don’t actually use a lot of calories. To lose weight, you must burn more calories than you eat.  (See Rule #1!)

Getting Started

The latest data shows that those who exercise in the morning tend to stick with it more than those who exercise later in the day. And, morning exercise is a little more efficient! If you exercise at night and then go to bed, you basically shut down the plant for the evening. Rev up the metabolism in the morning and the muscle factory is running in high gear all day long – using up calories!

Ten minutes in the morning. Everyday. We need to create a habit. We’ve got to make exercise the same as brushing our teeth in the morning. Can’t start the day with grungy teeth – or without our 10 Minutes.

For most of us, research has shown that 3 weeks is the minimum time needed to establish a daily habit. You’ve got to try your new behavior for 21 days in order to have a chance of it “sticking”.

Here’s a fun, FREE tool that can help with creating any habit:  http://habitforge.com/

Remember: Create a daily morning habit.

It’s now March… it’s a little late to be calling on any [...]]]> Did you take advantage of all the New Year discounts at fitness places all over the place? How about February, did you commit to some sort of regular activity, some sort of health and exercise program that was fun enough to actual stay with?

It’s now March… it’s a little late to be calling on any sort of January 1 Resolutions. However, the good news about getting in shape, getting healthier, is that you can always start now.

Even if it’s been YEARS since you last worked out, you still have today – and a string of tomorrows – to get started. Don’t fret over what you look like. Don’t compare yourself to others. Don’t make the excuse that you’re too out of shape (duh- that’s why you need to get going ASAP!).

You don’t need to get into shape to start getting into shape.

We’re a small program – classes usually have less than a dozen people. And they are NOT fitness babes, all perky in their pink work outfits and matching pedicures. We’ve got real people in our classes, people like you, people like me, who need to workout regularly. People that are getting started, learning new exercises, new ways to move.

We’re way more sweatpants than leotards!

Do it!  Get started today. First classes are free, no obligation at all. No excuses. You need this – why not do it and have fun at the same time!

815-334-9662 Call now.  Do it.

A lot of people think the difference between a home gym and a boot camp [...]]]> Sometimes,  people tell me that they don’t need my exercise programs because they can do everything we do at home. Really, that’s okay. The main goal truly is YOUR health.  As long as you’re getting in shape, getting healthier, everything’s good.

A lot of people think the difference between a home gym and a boot camp or kick boxing program is the equipment. That’s not true. If you head over to Craigslist you can outfit a complete home gym for a couple of hundred dollars with no problem.

But why IS all that stuff available for so cheap?

Now we come down to the main difference between a structured program and doing it on your own: consistency. The people selling the equipment didn’t get the results they wanted by having dumb bells gathering dust in the basement.

Here’s a big hint: if you could get into awesome shape in 4 weeks, we’d all be in awesome shape.

It’s not about 4 weeks. Or 6. It’s not even about six months or a year, because once you get into better shape wishing, hoping and praying are not going to keep you there!

This is a life long process, people!

I know, I know – that’s so discouraging, we all want to be done with this fitness nonsense. Get it done and move on.

Trust me, if it worked that way, I’d have moved on a long time ago. Instead, I’ve made some mental changes. I realize that I’m not on a “diet” – something where I eat lots of celery between bouts of starvation for a month or more. Instead, I’m learning to eat larger amounts of healthy foods – and smaller amounts of those “treats” that I used to consider staples: pasta, pizza, ice cream…

I’m not a vegetarian, but I’m certainly eating a LOT of vegetables these days.

And when it comes to exercise, it’s not about “hurrying up to take it off”. I’ve joined gyms in the past where I’d start out going every day, progress to 3 times a week, drop to once and week… and suddenly realize that it’s been 2 or 3 weeks since I even bothered.

Exercise can NOT be something that is added at the end of the day. It’s not something that you do occasionally.

You’ve got to make exercise like brushing your teeth. Staying active has to be a daily habit. Every day. And you don’t ever have to go nuts with it anymore than you’d “make up” for skipping your tooth brushing by grabbing a wire brush and extra elbow grease as you settled in for a one hour brushing session!

Consistency is key. Exercise is not something you do. It’s part of your life. Not brushing your teeth ruins your social appearance and ultimately painfully destroys your health.

Not exercising does exactly the same thing.

We can help you be consistent.

815-334-9662

You can find these questions on the Internet. What’s even more interesting is that you can not only find any question you want, you can find any answer you want, too! Both sides (and [...]]]> There are thousands of diet plans, thousands of exercise programs. Is Low Fat better than Low Carb? Strength Training better than Cardio?

You can find these questions on the Internet. What’s even more interesting is that you can not only find any question you want, you can find any answer you want, too! Both sides (and more!) have adherents somewhere out there in  cyberspace.

Unfortunately, it’s too easy to use this as an excuse to do nothing.

Take a look at yourself. Is your current diet and exercise program really working better than ANY of these?

It’s time to change it up. And Today IS the day.

And it always will be. Always.

Really. Always.

This day, right now, is the time to improve your health. It’s time to eat smarter, eat better – and, for most of us, eat less. It’s time to exercise more, it’s time to choose activities that keep us moving.

And, if what you’re doing isn’t giving you the results you want, it’s time to change things.

Our bodies NEED change. We’re designed as incredibly efficient machines. Give us a new food and we’ll figure out how to use every possible calorie contained within. Give us a new exercise and we’ll find a way to do it with the least possible expenditure of energy.

You need to change it up, change foods, change exercises, change quantities, change your pace.

And you need to start now. Today IS the day.

Here’s a nice article which updates some of the old myths about kids and weight lifting.

As with just about everything, moderation and common sense are the rules!

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http://exercise.about.com/b/2010/12/17/fit-fact-lifting-weights-is-good-for-kids.htm

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