Your Health Should Be Your #1 Priority!

This past weekend I ran what was definitely the most memorable race of my entire life.  Not only because of what I was up against but because of the few days leading up to the race.

The odds of actually running this race were insurmountable.  Typically ultramarathoners take 4 to 6 months to train for a race as long as 100K.  For mountain races that can be even longer because of the physical demand and stress placed on the body.  With a packed weekly schedule not only did I not have time most days to run the mileage I typically would for this type of training but sometimes I couldn't run at all.

But I knew I could accomplish this goal with the right methods:

• I had to watch my nutrition over those 6 months (making sure I was eating the right amount and the right foods) very closely.

• I had to be running consistently (running 5 days a week) and challenging myself on at least 2 of the runs each week (with either hard efforts or long mileage).

• I had to manage my stress level and make sure that my body wasn't producing extra cortisol and that I was able to recover from the heat and stress of training.

In short, I had to monitor EVERYTHING over the last few months to make sure I could conquer this race.  That meant being consistent in everything I did and making my fitness a daily #1 priority.

I had to do what many of us are often not willing to do:  I had to tell people "NO!"

I made my health a priority over fun party weekends, a priority over family stresses, a priority over work stresses and a priority over any other personal goals I had for myself.

THIS is what it takes!  I know that some of you are wanting true, permanent change in your physical and/or mental health.  BUT, despite the shortcuts you hear about, the "secrets" people tell you about or the "best" way to eat or exercise or do anything else, YOU have to WANT it this bad too.

You have to be willing to say "No" to people because your health is your #1 priority.  You have to be willing to say, "I can't make that meeting, I have a workout at that time".  You have to be willing to say, "I'm not going to eat that because it doesn't get me anywhere toward my goal".  You have to be willing to think, "I'm getting up tomorrow morning to train and that's my priority, not this distraction".

Is that selfish?  OF COURSE NOT!  Why is it selfish to want to be at your best?  When you are at your best you can help others, you can inspire those around you, you can think more clearly, solve problems more efficiently and deal with stress more keenly.

You OWE it to yourself and OTHERS to always be in your best health!


For those that don't know the full story of my experience last week, I actually ended up with a MASSIVE ear infection 3 days before the race.  But I wasn't going to let it keep me from starting this race because thru the months leading up until 07/22/2017, I had cemented my resolve to not let anything get in my way!  So with an enormous headache, an infection that the ER doctor told me was the worst he'd ever seen and a swollen-closed ear canal that affected my balance I did exactly that.  I didn't let it stop me.

Don't let ANYONE or ANYTHING stop YOU from achieving what you truly want.  Make your health your #1 PRIORITY over anything else and you WILL see results.  Not only in your fitness, but your relationships, your career and your personal endeavors.

Stay Motiv8ed!

Coach Joe

Time to Smash Your Limiting Beliefs!

Happy Hump Day Motiv8ers,

Coach Ty here and are you ready to get inspired? =)  So hope this post gets you off your feet and gets you fired up to take control of your fitness journey.  Lets get started.

So as a fitness coach one of the biggest things I do is help folks conquer and realize their limiting beliefs about themselves.

Limiting beliefs are thoughts that you believe to be true that are holding you back from taking action on the actions you need to take in order to reach your goals.

Remember this, whatever you say to yourself, say to others, and truly believe will be your reality.  So be careful of what you say because it might be holding you back from reaching your full potential.

For example, for many years I used to tell myself and others that I am not a fast runner because I don't have a background in track and field from high school and college.  I would say that is why I focus on ultra distances instead of 10ks, 5ks, and marathons because you don't have to be fast to be successful in an ultra you just have to be consistent and strong.

But where did that conclusion come from?  No one told me that I couldn't be successful in 10ks and 5ks without a track background.  I just came up with that conclusion on my own but it wasn't based off of any real hard data.

And, just saying the phrase "I am not a fast runner" prevented me from even trying.

Then one day during the summer of last year I asked myself.

"Why cant I be fast?  Why am I holding myself back from something I want to accomplish?  Why haven't I ever tried?"

Then in that moment I said, "I will be fast and nothing is going to hold me back!"  I shifted my mindset and what happened next was awesome.  I started to do speed workouts that I had never done before.  I started tracking my times and started trying my hardest to beat those times each week.  Then after about 2 months of hard work I ran my first sub-18 minute 5k. It was such a magical experience.  I surprised myself so much and I was so amazed that I could run times that quick. My mind was blown. Then I won a 30k trail race, ran the 3M half marathon at a 6:30 avg. pace and probably my biggest accomplishment in running fast was coming in second at the F1 track 10k. I finished in just a little over 39 minutes. It was an awesome experience and all it took was accepting the fact that I wasn't going to hold myself back anymore and I can accomplish whatever I set my mind to.  I just have to believe and tell others about it as well.

So I have a challenge for you.  Right now think about all of the huge goals you want to accomplish.  They can be unrealistic too.  Just go crazy with your imagination.  Then in that moment pay attention to the thoughts that come up that tell you why you can't do the action you just wished you could.  They will come up.  Try it.

Those thoughts are your limiting beliefs.  You need to let them go, smash them, and throw them away.  Those thoughts aren't helping anyone.  In order for you to become the person you always dreamed of you can't have negative thoughts getting in your way because.....

Remember this: whatever you say to yourself, say to others, and truly believe will be your reality.  So be careful of what you say because it might be holding you back from reaching your full potential.

Lastly Crew there is one last part to this equation to becoming the person you want to be.

That is.....you have to accept being UNCOMFORTABLE!

Once you decide what it is you want to accomplish or do and you smash your limiting beliefs towards that task you have one last thing to conquer and that is being uncomfortable.


It is UNCOMFORTABLE to do speed workouts when you haven't ever done them before, it is uncomfortable to change your diet when you are used to eating a certain way, it is uncomfortable to change your routine and add a new workout regiment, and it is uncomfortable when you are trying to become a new person that thinks more positively.  When making new changes in your life these changes can cause stress, frustration, and even pain.  They will make you feel very uncomfortable. But without that discomfort you will never grow and become stronger.

So here is what I like to say....

"Embrace the suck, put your head down, and keep moving forward because success waits for those who get uncomfortable and never lets anything get in the way of their dreams!!!"

Motiv8ers I hope this post helps you fight your inner demons and remember you are not in this alone.  You have one awesome community of Motiv8ers supporting you.  Embrace your community and I'll see you at your Motiv8 SET.

Stay EPIC and Don't Forget to Be AWESOME!

P.S. Recipes coming soon for the 28 day Motiv8 Clean Eating Challenge and if you are adopting the challenge post below and let's start helping each other!

P.S.S. If you need help with a plan to conquer your goals now that your limiting beliefs are gone reach out to your Motiv8 Coach.  We are here to help!

Coach Ty Out!

How To Be More Disciplined in Your Nutrition.

Happy Epic Wednesday Motiv8ers,

Let's start this blog post off with a quote from me: 

"You choose how you experience your environment and daily life!!!"

So, choose to be EPIC and AWESOME!!! =)

Alright Motiv8ers, time for our main topic of the day: How To Be More Disciplined in Your Nutrition and with your GOALS!

First let me ask you a question,

why haven't you started eating healthier yet?   

What is stopping you?

In our American world, we hear good advice all the time on how to manage our day.  We also hear the truth about how bad processed food, fast food, dairy, candy, fried food, and box meals are for us. 

Most of us know the truth.  We know which foods are bad for us. We know why we are still overweight.  We know why we are not as fit as we want to be, and we know what we have to do in order to make our dreams and goals happen.

So, what is stopping us from being the healthiest person we can be?

Why can't we get started eating right?

Why can't we take this information, start applying it to our lives, and start living the life we want to live?

Sit down and ask yourself these questions.  Be real with yourself.  What are the factors or reasons why you haven't started yet?

Motiv8ers in my opinion, you haven't started yet because you haven't disciplined your new habits.  You haven't laid out the actions that you need to do everyday to make yourself successful.  Check out this quick 8-minute video about how to be more disciplined.

To sum this video up, here are the 4 things you need to do:

• Visualize your dream and really connect to why you want to make a change;
• do your work first before you answer everyone's else's needs;
• schedule a block of time where you only do the action you need to do, don't mindlessly go through your day, and use a calendar;
• and set up some social rewards.

If you want the details of each of these topics, check out the video. Seriously, it is awesome.

Also, let me add two more things to this topic.

First, the big Motiv8er here is the calendar.  You have to program exercise and eating right into your daily routine and schedule.   I say this all the time.  You have to turn these two things into a daily habit.  If choosing the right foods, shopping for the right foods, spending time prepping the right foods, and exercising isn't part of your daily routine, and are something you only do when you have time for it, you are never going to see results.

So make sure you take out your calendar and schedule in when you are going to exercise, when you are going to the grocery store, when you are going to cook your meals, and when you are going to prep your meals for the next day.  If you don't plan, you will never make your new disciplines habit and you will not see the results you want.  So start planning.  Also take Coach Kaolin's Advice.  She posted this the other day.

Make the Commitment and stay Consistent.  Consistency is key!

Second: Your Environment. This one is HUGE!!

Many of us want to eat better but the temptations from the world, the environment we live in, and the peer pressure from our friends and family are just too heavy.  It takes a very strong willed person to say no to bad food when there is a large table of everything you can think of: pizza, ice cream, chips, fried chicken.  We see this stuff all the time at work, on our drive home, in commercials, at parties, and possibly from our family when we get home.  It is hard, I know.  These cravings are crazy hard to fight ,and real food just doesn't sound as good in the moment.

So this is what you do to help fight this problem.

Take out a pen and a notebook.  This will only work if you write it down. Trust me.  I've been listening to some neurologist stuff.  =)

I want you to write down every moment in your day when you where tempted to eat bad and you did.  Be truthful with yourself.  Ask yourself how did it make you feel?  If it was a moment that made you feel bad then write it down.  Then, write down what you could have done differently, or what you wish you would have done differently in that moment to make a better choice.  

Once you are done, re-read it.  Now, when you confront those moments again the next day you will remember the action that you wish you had taken and give you a little bit more will power not to choose the wrong choice. 

This works trust me.  I have done it myself!

Or, try to change your environment.  Find a way to take the temptation out of the equation.

Crew, I hope this post has you thinking a little bit more on how to make the change you are looking for.  If you have questions post below our bug your coach.

Crew, Keep Being EPIC and Don't Forget to Be AWESOME!!!

Coach Ty Out!

How to Stay Focused & Motiv8ed!

Hi Motiv8ers,

Coach Ty here again with another Motiv8 Motiv8ional Blog post.  For today's blog I want to give you two quick tools to help you stay Motiv8ed when your Motiv8ion is low.  

First ask yourself these questions.  

Do you find yourself sometimes through out your day just feeling unmotiv8ed?  Or do you feel overwhelmed by the amount of work you have to do and you just want to just give up?

If you answered yes to the questions above then these two tools below will help you stay focused and keep you in Awesome Town! =)

Our first tool starts with a phrase.  "Do 3 small things every day to push your dreams forward."  

Motiv8ers this first tool is simple.  Every day we have a ton of stuff to do.  I know I do.  I was in the middle of my Army annual two week training.  I also have Motiv8 and all of you to help, inspire, and Motiv8.  And, I am in the middle of training for a very difficult race coming up in two weeks.

When I think about the amount of work I have to do each day to continue preparing for what is important to me I get pretty overwhelmed and my motiv8ion to really do anything just drops.  But in that moment of feeling unmotiv8ed I remind myself of the phrase above.  Then I will sit, calm my mind, and really ask myself what 3 small things can I do today for each of my major tasks.  I know that as long as I can do a little bit every day I will accomplish my goals and dreams.

I also say this phrase a lot.  "If you do a little bit each day, that will produce a huge result in the long run."

So crew don't focus on getting all of your work done at once.  Just ask yourself what 3 small things can I do today to help me accomplish my dreams and goals. Do a little bit every day consistently and you will produce one awesome huge result. =)

The Second tool is also simple but is the most powerful tool you have.......

What is Your WHY?  

When your down and don't want to come to your SET, everyone has these moments, you should focus on your "Why."  

Why you are in Motiv8... Why you are changing your eating habits...Why you are trying to make a lifestyle change. 

Do you know your why? Do you think about it daily? Do you have it posted somewhere you can see it everyday?  

If you don't, you should. Your "why" is the one thing that will help you push through when you feel like giving up. And if you have a moment of weakness(which you will), it will give you the strength to overcome it.  

  

Maybe you want to run and play with your kids without feeling out of breath....Or sprint up a flight of stairs instead of struggling to walk them. Or maybe you want to decrease your cholesterol or your risk for heart disease. Find your why and focus on it daily. Use it as motiv8ion. 

And That WHY should come from a place of...... LOVE.....

-Love for yourself so you can become the most vibrant and happy version of yourself 
-Love for your family so you can be strong for them and be able to enjoy life with them
-Love for your physical passions so you can be strong enough to do the activities you Love
-Love for your fellow Motiv8ers to make them proud by improving yourself each day.  =)

Motiv8ers this might sound cheesy but if you really take this message to heart there is so much raw positive energy that will come out of just focusing on the things you Love.  Try it! 

Crew my main passion as a coach to you is to help you be strong enough to do the things you love and to help you be so gosh darn healthy that you just friggin Love Life!  I want to help you be able to do anything you put your mind to without questioning your abilities.

Motiv8ers remind yourself of your "WHY", Make it out to your SET today or tomorrow, and lets have a blast while getting in shape!  =) Then come out the next week a try to do a little better.  That is all you have to do.  But stay consistent. 

So don't focus on everything you have to do too much.  Just focus on starting on the little things consistently every day!  Oh and start now.  =)

Take small steps each Day Crew and Become Great! 

If you want to learn more about staying focused and Motiv8ed watch this video from one of my idols.  It is about 10 minutes and I promise this is a video you need to watch.

 

Motiv8ers that is all for today.

Stay EPIC and Don't Forget to Be AWESOME!!

Coach Ty Out!

Block Your Bad Habits With Obstacles!

We have all been the victim of our own bad habits!  

Sometimes those bad habits seem so far entrenched in our every day lives that we are helpless against them.  No matter how hard we know we shouldn't be doing them, having a lack of mindfulness can lead you to not even realize you are sabotaging yourself until it's too late!

Bringing mindfulness into your life can be so powerful with a small amount of planning and some ingenuity, even breaking some bad habits you thought you had ZERO power to overcome.

When I was in the corporate world, my life was riddled with unhealthy coping mechanisms to deal with the stress and depression I experienced on a daily basis.  Of these coping mechanisms perhaps one of the most damaging to my physical health was a nasty habit of having a martini almost every night I came home.

I knew I needed to stop this habit but in the short-term it became a release...a way to wind down from the stresses of the day and medicate myself to a calmer place.

But how could I get past this habit that was so engrained in me that I had already prepared a drink and put it to my lips by the time I was cognizant of my actions?

I needed an obstacle, something to get in my way so I could become mindful of my actions!

Here's what I did:

• I put the cocktail shaker on the bar in the dining room, far away from the kitchen where I would have to walk across the house to get to it.

• I placed my favorite gin high up on the top shelf of my cabinet in a corner so I would have to climb on the counter to get to it.

• I stored the olive brine deep in the refrigerator, behind the condiments so I had to move them in order to find it.

At first having these obstacles in my way only served to annoy me more than my stressful day already had.  I would swear to myself as I had to perform each ritual to make my drink.  Or swear that I would stop rearranging everything.

But soon, I found that just the simple act of having to jump all these hurdles started to make me think...

"Is it really worth it to go through all this for a drink?"

"Am I just going to regret making this drink once I'm done like last time?"

By forcing these questions upon myself I found that the answers entered my mind and brought me to a place where I became mindful of my current actions.  It was REALLY effective!

Give this strategy a shot and you may find that your bad habits don't have so much control over you afterall!

Some quick tips if you want to try blocking your own bad habits with obstacles:

1. Make the obstacles easy to install, don't come up with a crazy ritual to disrupt a highly habitual one.
2. Put the obstacles in key areas that interrupt your "automated behavior" before you get there.
3. Find hiding places or put things in places where they make no sense. Habits are tied to logic, disrupt them!
4. Get creative!  The best obstacles make you laugh, confuse you or even surprise you!

Have fun coming up with your obstacles.  Don't let your absent mind have control over you, challenge it and discover the power you have over your bad habits!

Stay Motiv8ed!

Coach Joe

Mindfulness: USE negative space, DON'T fill it!

Are you filling your negative space?  STOP!

Negative space is the concept of using a lack of "content" to create a feeling, an action or to communicate the importance of the most important element in a creative design.

Some of the best advertisements use negative space and we tend to be attracted to the simplistic idea of using only a logo or a simple statement surrounded by nothing else.  We tend to think of these advertisements as "clean", "upscale", "classy" or "intelligent".

  

In fact the proper use of negative space in advertising can be very elegant. BUT, we don't tend to place the same importance on negative space in our every day lives!  In fact, we often look at holes in our day as some type of emptiness or poor planning on our part.  Maybe we even think we are being lazy by not filling that void?

When you encounter negative space in your day, USE it as an opportunity to practice mindfulness!

Take inventory of what is important to you.  Think of ways to use this time as a way to learn something about yourself instead of as a way to "get things done".

Instead of mindlessly looking for a way to fill that space, seek to recognize yourself in that moment.  This is where taking stock of your experience can be a HUGE wakeup call.  Notice your breath in this moment, notice your heartbeat, observe the world around you.  How does this moment feel different than when you are rushing around "getting things done"?  Do YOU act different?  Are your behaviors, habits or routines different?  However different they are, realize that your "default" is here and now.  Notice how this default varies from your reactionary state in a moment of stress or anxiety.  That lack of centeredness can lead us to make poor judgement calls or distract us from doing our best work.  Take a mental picture of this moment.  

What if DO have things to get done even though I have negative space?

Finding negative space in life can be a GREAT way to identify habits or routines that have been holding you back from your best!  As tempting as it may seem, I urge you NOT to attempt filling the new found void with a new activity, new goal or new project.  

Instead practice the art of SLOWING DOWN!

Take your highest priority item on your to-do list and give yourself extra time to work on it.  When you do, try to break up your work into segments that you can focus on closely.  Then take each segment and analyze the importance of it's inclusion in accomplishing your to-do item.  Are you focused on the wrong part of the job?  Is the time spent on each segment enough?  Too much?  Are the separate pieces of the greater whole even necessary?  Can you take steps out to remove frustration, gain time and create a faster or better result?  

If your "to-do" is a part of a routine, maybe it's time to rethink your routine?  Are you usually rushing through this activity so quickly that you don't think about what you're doing at all?  NOW is the time, you have negative space to concentrate on this activity and seek out where you may be inefficient or redundant in your action.

We have become so conditioned to fill our time with activity that sometimes we fail to respect our "time earned".  If we can't appreciate the moments in life that give us space to reflect internally, we cheat ourselves of the opportunity to become our best.

Stay Motiv8ed!

Coach Joe

Mindfulness: Prioritizing Stress

Hey Motiv8ers!

This month we want to challenge you all to a Mindfulness Challenge!

Mindfulness is all about taking every moment in it’s current state and not attributing emotion to anything you experience.  Our feelings are experienced from a source of either love (positive) or fear (negative).  Feelings come and go.  Emotions however are feelings with stories attached to them!  When we are not mindful of our emotions, sometimes they can get the best of us and start to control our actions or create a false reality.  

Much of our stress in life comes from our reality being mismatched with the expectations we create through our emotions!

By far the worst emotion we can experience is Powerlessness!  The range of fear-based feelings we can have whether negativity, sadness, rejection or anger cannot compare to the sense that we have NO CONTROL over our future nor the ability to impact our world around us. 

So here’s your first Mindfulness Lesson!

Do this quick stress exercise to help you create focus on the things you can control and stop fretting about the things you can’t.  

This is a REALLY helpful exercise if you take the time to do it!

Start with a blank piece of paper.  Draw a line down the middle and across the middle…so a big plus sign!  Make a title in each of the four boxes:

Important / Can’t Control	Important / Can Control
Not Important / Can’t Control	Not Important / Can Control

1. Write down anything causing you anxiety. All your struggles, challenges, responsibilities and anything else stressing you out. 

2. Ask yourself the two simple questions to each of these. Is it important? Can I control it?  Then you’ll know what box to put them in!

3. When you’re done here is what your priorities for each quadrant should look like:

More Attention, Make a plan to address these challenges, educate yourself to gain control, seek out help from those with ability, influence, decision making	Most Attention, Decide on and take action NOW to overcome! Place most of your effort in life toward these things!
NO Attention, Ignore these things! These things DO NOT serve you to worry about or pay attention to!	Least Attention, Build a habit to make action automatic, Schedule monotonous activities into your free time, Set reminders so you don’t forget!

The moral of our lesson here?

It is completely normal to emote Powerlessness BUT, you always have control over how you react to an emotion.  If, in fact, you are feeling powerless over a situation ask yourself if it's even important?

Will your anxiety about a situation matter in:

5 hours?

5 days?

5 weeks?

5 months?

5 years?

If your answer is "no" to any of those it's time to change your perspective about how important this stressor really is!  Maybe it's time to stop obsessing over it?

Focus your concerns on what you have control over (either individually or with the help of a friend) and forget the concerns that you can't control.  Putting yourself in a place of distress or agitation will only compound the effect of something negative happening to you.  

Here's a final thought: What if the negative thing we've created this emotion over never even happens?  We've just created stress where it didn't deserve to exist.  Aren't there enough REAL things to worry about?

This is one of the foundational elements to creating Mindfulness in your daily life.  We will explore other areas in future blog posts but, acknowledging and prioritizing the importance of your daily stressors is one of the biggest impacts you can make to your mental health starting today!  Try it, I promise it will help!

Stay Motiv8ed!

Coach Joe