Elite Fitness Solutions

“When we long for life without difficulties, remind us that oaks grow strong in contrary winds and diamonds are made under pressure.”

– Peter Marshal

I have to admit that last week was a rough one for me mentally. Don’t know what it was. It seemed like everything about my life was tough. Laundry, being mom to a 4 year old, making dinners, cleaning the house, grocery shopping, etc. I know it’s not completely unusual to have snags like that in life. It doesn’t make them fun though.

I found myself more than once longing for a life of leisure. Longing to be laying on the beach in Hawai’i or better yet sitting in the lineup of one of my favorite surf spots, without a crowd!

How great would that be to wish it and be transported to a “better” place! Yet, I find myself this week grateful for last week. Knowing that my life is just as it should be, loving my home, my work, and surroundings! No matter what the circumstance, we grow under pressure just as the quote states!

So, here’s to pressure and the growth that happens in spite of ourselves

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I have a great feeling about this year! Every new year is exciting, but I know this year holds great things!

We celebrated last night with some great friends and family, and actually didn’t make it till midnight. We celebrated with New York, and headed to bed.

It was nice however, to wake up this morning clear headed

And now, here we are on the first day of this New Year!

If you haven’t already, now is the time to sit down and map out how you will succeed. What are your resolutions, and not only that, but how will you achieve them? Have you set your goals out? Monthly…Weekly…Daily?

The more precise you can get with it, the more likely you are to succeed!

Especially if you break it down to the daily tasks, you are less likely to sabotage yourself with unpreparedness.

You also need to be firm with yourself about NOT making excuses for yourself! They can be the biggest roadblock to your success!

The number one excuse I know of when it comes particularly to fitness is “I don’t have time”…Yes, we all lead crazy, hectic, where did the day go busy lives, but listen to this! In a recent issue of Men’s Health, it stated that president elect Barack Obama dedicates 45 minutes a day to exercise…did you get that…a day? Now, call me crazy, but I figure the day of a man in that position might be a little full. Yet he manages to make his health and fitness a priority. You need to make time for it too! DO NOT use this as an excuse! Nope, I said don’t!

Another thing to avoid is rationalization. I’ve been a victim of this one time and time again! The “well, I deserve it”, or “just a little won’t hurt” internal dialogue. The bottom line is if you have to talk yourself into something…or out of it for that matter, are you really doing yourself a favor?

I look forward to the success of everyone this year! May you reach and surpass your goals!

Have a wonderful year!

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I subscribe to so many newsletters, I literally have 178 Unread e-mails as we speak. It’s a little embarassing to see that in reality…

Anyways, one of the subscriptions is to something called “Your Achievement Ezine“. It is a compilation once a week of quotes, and inspiring articles and motivation by life coaches, and great motivators.

Here’s an excerpt from an October Ezine by Brian Tracy, and I thought it’d be great for those of us looking to achieve great things in 2009!

Here are seven Self-Motivator reminders for you to review on a regular basis.

#1 – Get Serious. Make a decision to go all the way to the top. Up to now you’ve thought about it. Up to now, it’s passed your mind. Many of you made the decision, and you’ve made up your mind to go all the way to the top, and your lives have taken off. It’s the most extraordinary thing. Your life is one, like in the shadow going up the dark side of the hill until the moment you decide that “By gum, I’m gong to be the best at what I do. I’m going to be in the top 10 percent.” And suddenly you rose into the sunshine, and your life is forever after different – wonderful. Get serious. Don’t fool around anymore.

#2 – Identify Your Limiting Step to Success. What’s your limiting step? What’s the one skill area that’s holding you back? What’s the skill? What’s the quality? What’s the action? Ask other people. Find out what you need to become good at. Sometimes it may be only one skill. Find out what’s holding you back. What is the critical limiting step that’s determining your success today?

#3 – Get Around the Right People. Who are the right people? The right people are the people in this room. Get around winners. Get around positive people. Get around people with goals and plans, people who are going somewhere with their lives and have high aspirations. Get around eagles. As Zig says, “You can’t scratch with the turkeys if you want to fly with the eagles.” And get away from negative people. Get away from toxic people that complain and whine and moan all the time. Who needs them? Life is too short.

#4 – Take Excellent Care of Your Health. Take excellent care of your physical health. That means good diet, good exercise. Everybody knows they should eat better foods, get regular exercise and especially lots of rest. That’s very important. If you’re going to work hard 5 days a week, go to bed early 5 days a week. Get a good night’s sleep. Be fully rested, and tonight get really rested. You don’t have to watch the Letterman Show…

#5 – Positive Visualization. See yourself as the very best in your field. Remember, all improvement in your life begins with an improvement in your mental pictures. Visualize yourself, see yourself as the best continually. You are the best. Isn’t that right? So therefore, see yourself as the best.

#6 – Positive Self-Talk. Talk to yourself positively all the time. Control your inner dialogue. And what do you say to yourself? Say, “I’m the best.” Say it. Say I’m the best. I like myself. I can do it. I love my work. Yes, that’s how you talk to yourself. And the more you say it to yourself…someone may say, “Well, what if you say those things to yourself and you don’t believe them. Isn’t that lying to yourself?” No, that’s not lying to yourself. It’s telling the truth in advance. Because it doesn’t matter where you’re coming from – all that matters is where you’re going. Talk to yourself the way you want to be, not the way you just happen to be at this moment. Remember, you may have gotten where you are today largely by accident. But where you’re going in the future is purely by design.

#7 – Positive Action. Get going. Move fast. Develop a sense of urgency. A sense of urgency is the one thing that you can develop that will separate you from everyone else. Develop a bias for action. When you get a good idea, do it now. Only 2% of people in our society have a bias for action. And if you’re already in the top 10%, you can move yourself in the top 2% by resolving that whenever you have an idea or something, do it now. And the faster you move, the better you get. And the better you get, the more you like yourself. And the more you like yourself, the higher your self-esteem is. And the higher your self-esteem is, the greater your self-discipline. And the more you persist, then you ultimately become unstoppable.

Remember, You’re the Best!

Brian Tracy

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That’s right! The big gift giving, family gathering day of Christmas is exactly two weeks out! I can not believe it!

I know it may be a little cruel and unusual to do this right after having wrapped your mind around that…but this means that New Year’s day is just 3 weeks away!

I am speechless too! Do you have your goals in mind? Are you ready to “turn over a new leaf”?

I know in the hustle and bustle of the season, this can be on the backburner. However, I encourage you to take a little “me” time and come up with your goals now.

Even start telling others about them as you gather during the holidays. You are much more likely to reach your goals if you’ve made yourself accountable to others by telling them about your plans.

Here, I’ll start…One of my goals for the New Year is to read a new book every other month. I don’t know what it is with me and reading, but I do better to read articles, and tend to fall asleep reading books. But, I know and want to read more. So, there you have it. Not entirely fitness related, but it’s a goal nonetheless.

Feel free to post your goals here. I’d love to see you reach each and every one of them!

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When it comes to changing your physique, not a whole lot is going to change if you don’t belive it can be done.

You can be your greatest ally, or worst enemy, and that’s something that only you can decide.

Here are 3 tips to keep your thoughts in the right place so to speak so that you become an unstoppable force when it comes to reaching your goals!

1. Don’t allow toxic internal dialogue.

The moment you say to yourself “I look terrible”, or “I am so fat”, or “I hate ____”, you are setting yourself up to focus on the negative. We often say things to ourselves that we wouldn’t dare say to someone else. What if you told a child every day the aforementioned statements? They probably wouldn’t amount to much, and would definitely need some serious counseling in the future. Why are you any different?

2. Stop the rationalizing!

The moment this starts, it can snowball into greater circumstances until you find yourself so far in the middle of a snowball of rationalization that you have no idea where your goal is! Here’s a great example…”I worked out hard this morning, this _______ (insert vice of choice example: piece of chocolate) won’t hurt”, and two hours later “I had a great workout this morning, it won’t hurt if I have pizza for dinner”… well, before you know it, that great workout has been completely overturned by rationalizations. You may have been better off to just stay in bed!

If you keep a clear vision of your goal, the moment a rationalization rears its ugly head, you can think of the goal and remind yourself that you don’t want to be set back.

3. Stay focused.

The moment you allow yourself to lose sight of the big picture is the moment you set yourself up to fail. When you start to focus in on the here and now, any obstacle can seem monumental. I keep a photo of my ideal body type in my training log (I call her my “girl”…and that’s a whole ‘nother post), so when I feel unmotivated to work out (and yes, it does happen!), I look at her, and know that I am not going to reach my goal if I opt to take a nap on the couch, or watch Oprah…

It’s the big picture that matters most!

Our mind is an incredibly powerful thing, one of the biggest factors in achieving any goal. With these three tips, you’re sure to keep yours in check!

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“Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.”

~Thomas Edison

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