Hello,

As you should know by now, today is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Regardless of your age, race, religion, sex or background, MLK Jr.provides inspiration for all of us. His “I Have a Dream” speech is legendary. I encourage you to find time to listen to it again today. Here’s a link to the youtube video, I Have a Dream

it’s easy to forget how important dreams are. It’s also easy to forget how amazing it was for MLK, Jr. to make such a speech. In 2012, we forget that there was a time when not everyone had a chance to vote. Not everyone had the opportunities that we have today. Not everyone could even eat at the same restaurants. There is still room for improvement in race relations but it’s come a long way.

Let’s not forget that MLK wasn’t making that speech after everything was “ok”. As far as he knew, there may never be a time of equality. But yet he had the audacity to dream, to hope in a better day and a brighter tomorrow.

Regardless of your current circumstances: dream. No matter what “the experts” say: hope. Have the audacity to dream of a community without homelessness and hunger: a family without strife and conflict: a life without sickness and pain.

Some may argue this is impossible. Maybe…maybe not. But if we don’t have a dream and we don’t act on those dreams, we’ll never know.

fit4service GAMES

Today is day 8. Remember to bring in your scoresheets today. Please write your name and team name at the top of the sheet so we record the scores properly.

We will post the scores as soon as possible. If you can’t make it to workout today, just email me your score and bring the sheet next time.

It’s Week 2. Keep up the great work!

Have a great day!

Kirk

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 This detox program holds a special place with me though.  You see, it was a program just like this that help me through a tough time in my life and really started to form a lot of the concepts that fit4service is based on (PIES, progressive success etc)  During that tough time, I was dealing with low energy, high anxiety, extreme mood swings and fatigue just to name a few.  It was then that I stumbled upon the Daniel Fast.  The Daniel Fast is basically a detox program with a more spiritual focus. 

  For the 3 weeks of the Fast, I ate properly, rested well, worked out consistently and increased my prayer and quiet time.  Surprisingly (not anymore since I now know that this is what happens when you live the way we were intended) my anxiety decreased, my energy levels went through the roof, I thought more clearly and experienced some of the most productive days of my life.  My spiritual life seemed came alive and my PIES were as fit as they’ve ever been.

   It’s because of this time that I wanted to figure out a way to share a similar program with you.  The Detox Challenge is it. By no means do you need to perform a full Daniel fast (however, if you want to, there is a section in the manual about it)  You can keep it a purely physical endeavor. (But as we know with PIES – nothing is ”just” a physical endeavor.  You’ll still see changes in your I,E and S)  That’s fine.  Regardless of how you perform the detox, I want you to succeed and enjoy the benefits of living correctly.

We still have a few days left to sign up.  If you know of anyone who you think would benefit from the program.  Feel free to share it with them.  Here’s the link describing the benefits. 

http://www.transformation-training.net/?page_id=594

Last Tuesday evening, 12 clients of Transformation Training and Fitness met with Lynelle Riccio, R.D. for a tour of our local Giant Food Store.  It was 2 hours full of tips and hints on how to make better nutritional choices, save money and in turn become healthier (and more fit4service).  I know several of you wanted to make the event but had a schedule conflict. I’ve put together some highlights from the tour that you can use right away.  Let me know what you think. 

1.  Plan – Just like anything important, we need to plan our meals for the week.  Planning our meals helps us know what foods to buy at the store instead of just guessing what we need.    A few minutes of meal planning can save you time and money in the grocery store.

2.  Spend your money in the fruits/vegetables department – There are lots of departments in the grocery store but none more important than the fruits and vegetables.  This section includes foods high in fiber, vitamins, minerals and taste at the same time low in calories and processed sugar.  Look for fruits/vegetables that are in season in order to save a few dollars.

3.  Buy Organic (for some items) – Buying organic produce is important but not necessary.  Try to buy organic when purchasing fruits/vegetables with thin skins like peaches, blueberries, strawberries, pears, tomatoes, etc.  When purchasing thicker skinned items like bananas, pineapples and melons, don’t waste your money.

4.  Organic doesn’t mean healthier – As much as we want to believe it, the term “organic” doesn’t necessarily mean that something is healthier for us.  With the exception of the list above, it is important to read and compare labels on food items marked organic as compared to their “regular” competitors.  Careful label comparison can save you a lot of money.

5.  Check the service size – When purchasing an item with a label, pay special attention to the serving size.  A serving of milk may only have 80 calories but it is also only 8oz.  Drinking or eating more than the serving size can drastically increase your calorie intake.  Remember all labels are based off of a 2000 calorie diet when making recommended daily allowances recommendations.

6.  Limit your sodium – It is suggested that we only take in 2400mg of sodium per day.  This is equal to 1 teaspoon of sodium.  Carefully read your labels to make sure your serving isn’t sky high in sodium.  Frozen dinners and soups are traditionally higher in sodium.

7.  Limit your processed sugar – The grocery store is full of options.  Try to make food selections that are low in processed sugar.  Not surprisingly, this will lead you back to the fruits and vegetables department.  Also watch out for hidden sugar on the ingredients list.  High fructose corn syrup is just one form of the many processed sugars in today’s foods.

8.  Check the ingredients – When reading a label, keep in mind that the items listed first under the “ingredients” are the most prominent in the item.  For example, if you are buying whole wheat bread and the first item is sugar, you shouldn’t purchase that loaf.  Look for foods that have in them what is advertised.

9.  Don’t believe the hype – Marketing and advertising of food has been known to stretch the truth about the health of an item.  Don’t get caught up reading the advertisements on the box.  Stick to reading the label and your food choices will greatly increase.

10.  Shop the perimeter of the store – Items on the perimeter of the store, are usually the healthiest choices.  You’ll find your fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, lean meats and low sugar foods around the outside aisles of most stores.  Usually cookies, cakes, sodas, and other highly processed items are in the middle.  Stick to the edges and make better choices. 

There you have it.  10 keys to making better choices in the grocery store.  If you have other ideas, we’d love to hear them.

This week on the TTF Fit Tip of the Week, I answered the question about how to perform more pull ups or push ups.  Below you will find a very simple, yet effective plan at improving these scores.  It takes some effort and consistency but in the end it will produce big results. 

The idea is that you take your maximum reps and divided in 2.  From this point you will now perform more sets of fewer reps with a set amount of time between sets.  Each week we will reduce the amount of time between sets until eventually you will be performing all of these smaller reps sets as one big set. 

For example, let’s say that I can perform 10 pull ups but I’d like to be able to perform 20.  I’ll divide my current max by 2.  10/2 = 5. From this point I’ll perform more sets at fewer reps.

Week 1.  5 sets of 5 pull ups with 60 seconds rest between sets

Week 2 – 5 sets of 5 pull ups with 50 seconds rest between sets.

Week 3 – 5 sets of 5 pull ups with 40 seconds rest between sets

Week 4 – 5 sets of 5 pull ups with 30 seconds rest between sets

Week 5 – 5 sets of 5 pull ups with 20 seconds rest between sets

Week 6 – 5 sets of 5 pull ups with 10 seconds between sets

RETEST at the end of the 6 weeks.

There you have it.  A simple plan to big results.  Now that is Progressive Success!

Here’s a quick video that accompanies this week’s fit tip.  Are you having trouble with your posture?  Watch this video and spend a couple minutes a day working on these exercises/stretches and you’ll see an improvement.  Let me know if you have any questions!

We use this style of training with our athletes, our “seasoned” citizens, our kids and our general population.  There is no better way to combine strength, cardio, core, endurance and explosiveness training all in to one 30 minute workout. 

That being said, there is a proper way to put circuits together to get the best benefit from circuit training. 

Check out the video below as I describe a great dumbbell circuit that you can do at home or at the gym.

The video you just watched is part of a new monthly program we are offering called TTF on-the-go. Now you can take our workouts with you! Read more about the program by clicking here!

Perform each exercise in this circuit for 15 seconds.  Rest 5 seconds and move to the next exercise.  Each circuit will take 1 minute and 40 seconds.  Peform 3-6 rounds depending on your level of fitness and time constraints.

Exercise 1 – Plank variation,  Exercise 2 – Superman variation, Exercise 3 – Cross Mountain Climber, Exercise 4 – Left side plank variation, Exerise 5 – Right side plank variation.

Enjoy!

This week on TTF-TV, we were asked what would be the best thing to eat about an hour before a workout.  If you haven’t seen this week’s episode, you can watch it here.

As promised here are some of our favorite pre-workout snacks.  Remember, the key is to find something that provides you with enough energy to give you a good workout but not too much food that it will make you feel sluggish.

Keep in mind that foods high in simple sugars like candy bars and sodas are not a good idea.  These types of foods spell trouble about half-way through your workout.

One more thing, before to drink plenty of “high quality H20″ (Read in your best Adam Sandler  “Waterboy” voice).  20 oz. of water an hour before working out will help you maximize your efforts.

Our Favorites

1.  Oatmeal with Fruit – If you workout in the morning a great meal is to combine some cooked oatmeal with fruit.  I like raisins on my oatmeal, however bananas, blueberries and other types of berries will do the trick.

2.  Trail Mix – An assortment of nuts with raisins or dried fruit is a nice mix of protein, carbs and fats.  Watch your serving size but it’s a great combination.

3.  Energy bars – There are some good protein bars out there but watch the ingredients.  Many of these bars are filled with junk ingredients that aren’t good for you.  Megan enjoys the Clif bars because they try to stay more organic and natural.  You can check out the clif bars by clicking here.

4.  An apple and a handful of almonds – Any type of nut will work but almonds are our favorites.

5.  Prograde Workout - There are lots of pre/post workout drinks on the market.  Although we aren’t huge into the supplement world and prefer people eat real food and not manufactured products, sometimes it’s easier to grab a quick shake than make oatmeal.  We’ve found that Prograde offers a nice mixture of organic ingredients and  are easily made.  You can check out the Prograde line of products here.