I looked all over the web trying to find a simple inspiring story for this week that would hopefully make you look at any fitness difficulties you may be experiencing a little differently.  What I found shouldn’t disappoint.

This is Claire Lomas…

She was a professional horse rider paralyzed from the chest down by a freak riding accident in 2007.  I really couldn’t put the following better than how I read it – so here’s an excerpt from one article about the story:

She spent all her time in a wheelchair, at least until January. That’s when she started walking again, thanks to a $75,000 bionic suit.

“It’s amazing after five years of sitting down to be back on my feet,” she said earlier this year, “and it’s fully weight-bearing and I can walk in it as well.”

Each time she steps forward, her suit hisses a sound not dissimilar to Robocop. The ReWalk and two canes support her, and the suit senses when she wants to walk and shifts her weight for her. But it’s not easy. Each day, when she started, she could take only 30 steps. Every moment was a chore, and because she couldn’t feel where she standing, she always feared falling over.

But that didn’t stop her, either. Loman set out to walk 55,000 steps – or 26.2 miles. She set out to run the London Marathon.

She started, alongside 35,000 runners, 16 days ago. Today, in the shadow of Buckingham Palace, she finished — to the screams of thousands of fans who came out to support her.

Source: Yahoo!: Paralyzed Woman Finishes London Marathon

 
Here’s a video as well in case you don’t really feel like reading much today

 
My purpose in showing you this story today is a simple one. I just want for you to think:

“If this woman can fulfill her dreams of an active life, even in overcoming a debilitating accident, what’s stopping you?”

Seriously reflect on that as you take on the rest of your day.

If you feel like stepping things up, but need a little help in reaching your goals – don’t hesitate to contact us using the form in the upper-right portion of this screen.  Someone from FDF will follow-up with you ASAP.

Have a nice day!

I have a question for you (I promise there’s a point to this)…

If your goal in life was to be recognized as a World Famous Dancer, but you never practiced dancing on your own – mastering specific techniques – do you really think you would succeed?

Making that relate a little bit more to some of the subject matter on this blog…

If your goal is to see meaningful progress in your body towards your ideal weight (say losing 10 pounds or so), but you never practiced exercises on your own – making the exercise your own – what do you think the chances are that you’ll achieve your goal?

If you haven’t picked it up just yet, today I’d like to focus on the value of consistently performing an exercise and how it relates to your results.

The amount of time people spend with a personal trainer, whether it be in a gym (in a more traditional/inconvenient sense) or from the comfort of their own home like FDF offers, isn’t what determines their success towards their goal.  That’s true whether you’re talking about losing weight, getting stronger, toning up, etc…

What determines success is what those people do on their own time.

• How often are they going back over the things their trainer tells them?
• How often are they going for a jog on their own?
• How often are they practicing the proper technique of the workout in order to get the best results possible?

The key to having those personal breakthroughs doesn’t lay in the amount of time that is spent having a great workout with a trainer (hopefully that’s a given when you’re working with a great trainer).  The solution is only found in the personal time spent practicing the achievement of your goal.

Don’t just wish you can run a 5K — that won’t make it happen.  Practice running a 5K until eventually, you do.  Don’t just wish that you were fit — practice being fit, and eventually you will be!

I’m sure you get my point by now, but I just felt like I needed to throw that one out there to help keep someone motivated and remind them why they’re putting their body through the physical rigors they’ve decided to take on.  You’re doing it all in the name of a better version of yourself, but you have to keep practicing “being better” in order to actually get better.

If you need any good ideas on what routines you could practice in order to get to your better-self, don’t hesitate to contact us using the form in the upper-right portion of this screen.  Someone from FDF will follow-up with you ASAP.  (Like us on Facebook too while you’re at it!)

Have a good day, and don’t forget to stay motivated.

Hey everyone – it turns out that people who start amazing businesses and fitness enthusiasts have something in common.

I forget where I was reading this yesterday (sorry), but an article on “what makes a successful entrepreneur different that everyone else” claimed that the simple determinant in many cases is a simple/non-sexy personality trait… Discipline.

Based on personal experience, I’d say that’s a simple trait that is shared with people who pursue any health-related goal.  However there’s a small twist – you have to be disciplined at managing (and measuring) your expectations when it comes to working out or getting better at any physical activity.

Think about it for a second, whether you’re trying to lose weight or bulk-up – it’s realistically going to take time.  How much time it takes will all depend on how much energy you personally dedicate to the task, but in the end it’s on you to not be discouraged along the way and maintain a consistent DISCIPLINE to get what you ultimately want when everything is said and done.

I offer up these 3 tips to help you maintain your fitness discipline:

1. Set realistic goals that you can work through in phases.  If your ultimate goal is to lose 50 lbs. – don’t set your bar that high initially.  Go for something like 10 lbs when you begin.  You’ll eventually get to your ultimate victory if you stay disciplined, but until then – go for the small victories to keep you motivated.
2. Realize that there will be bumps in the road.  You may have to miss a few sessions, but that’s not the end of the world nor is it a good enough reason to just stop entirely.  Stay flexible and just keep progressing vs. stopping entirely.
3. Have an “accountabili-buddy”.  Haha – I have no idea if I spelled that correctly (it’s not a word anyway – so does it matter?), but the concept takes us all the way back to grade school.  Tell someone close to your about your goals so that they can help keep you on track.  A friend of mine is a writer and asked me to keep them on task so that they could get a draft in for a writing contest — I called and text him everyday reminding him to write.  It only took a moment of my time, but made all the difference for him.  I was his “accountabili-buddy”.

If you need anymore help with your discipline, our trainers have it in spades!  Feel free to contact us using the form in the upper-right portion of this web page, and we’ll be your “accountabili-buddies” all the way through.

Have a nice day!