Advocare Archives - Fort Worth Personal Trainer Programs and Bootcamp

Fort Worth Personal Training: The Power Isn’t The Plan, It’s the Planning

You always hear about the power of writing out your goals.

But far less common do you hear about writing out your plan..

Sure you have meal plans, and diet plans, and exercise plans but as you know most pre made plans have an extremely high failure rate.

Diet books that never get opened.

Exercise plans that are abandoned the first day you stay late for work.

Meal plans dialed into the smallest micro-nutrient just for you and they’re stuffed under the car seat never to be seen again.

The reason meal plans don’t work may surprise you.

There was an interesting study done.

In 1992 a British psychologist walked into two of Scotland’s busiest orthopedic hospitals and recruited five-dozen patients for an experiment she hoped would explain how to boost the willpower of exceptionally resistant people.

The patients were on average 68 years old, earned less than 10,000 a year and didn’t have more than a high school degree.

All of them had undergone hip or knee replacement surgeries.

Recovering from a hip or knee replacement surgery is an incredible arduous process.

While recovering even the smallest movement-shifting in bed or flexing a joint-can be excruciating.

However it’s essential that patients begin exercising as soon as they wake from surgery to insure proper joint mobility and muscle strength is maintained.

The Scottish studies participants were the most likely to fail at rehabilitation.

The researchers wanted to see if it was possible for them to harness their willpower.

She gave each patient a booklet after their surgeries detailing their rehab schedule, and in the back an additional 13 pages (one for each week) with blank spaces and instructions…

“My Goals For This Week are__________”

Write down exactly what you’re going to do; For example if you’re going to go for a walk this week, write down exactly when and where you’re going to go for a walk.

To make specific plans

She then compared the recoveries between the patients that filled out the plan and those that had not.

The patients who had written plans in their booklet had started walking almost twice as fast as the ones who had not.

They had started getting in and out of their chairs unassisted almost 3 times as best.

They were putting on their shoes, getting dressed, making meals quicker than those who hadn’t planned ahead of time.

The psychologist wanted to know WHY.

As she scrutinized the booklets of the successful patients they all had one thing in common: They focused on how patients would handle specific moments of anticipated pain.

The man who exercised on the way to the bathroom knew the first step was always the most painful, so he planned ahead to not hesitate when he stood and to take the first step right away.

He had detailed the every obstacle he might confront and came up with a solution ahead of time.

The patients were telling themselves how they were going to make it over the hump.

There’s no reason why the other patients- the ones who didn’t write out recovery plans-couldn’t have behaved the same way.

All the patients had been exposed to the same warnings to keep moving from the hospital.

They all knew exercise was essential for their recovery.

BUT, the patients who didn’t write out any plans were at a significant disadvantage, because they never thought ahead about how to deal with the painful inflection points.

They never deliberately designed willpower habits.

Even if they intended to walk around the block, their resolve abandoned them when they were confronted with the discomfort of the first few steps.

This is why we do meal plans WITH our clients.

The power is NOT in the PLAN.

The power is IN the PLANNING.

You can do this yourself by using my 100 Best Foods list.

Checking all the foods that DO work
for you.

Taking a piece of paper.

Writing down.

Breakfast

Lunch

Dinner

And plugging the foods you CAN eat into those meals.

This forethought lets you see the possible obstacles to you eating in a supportive manner throughout your day.

Example:
You don’t/can’t brown bag your lunch?

Where can you get a fast healthy lunch consistently nearby?

Subway? Great that will work.

Lunch is solved.

Is Subway the best thing you could ever eat, no.

But it beats not having a plan each day and eating nothing, wings, a hot dog, or some other garbage. Every day.

See the power isn’t always where you think it is in the beginning.

In the beginning the power of exercise isn’t in the exercise.

It’s in the SHOWING UP part of exercise.

You’re building the SHOWING UP habit.

And when it comes to developing the meal
plan.

The power is not in the MEAL PLAN.

The REAL POWER is in the PLANNING.

That’s the secret.

Dave
P.s. If you’ve been struggling to stay with your exercise program long enough to get results. And your diet could be generously called “inconsistent”. We can help. Get the coaching, accountability, support, workouts, and nutrition to get the results you want and deserve.

Click Here=>Fast-Start Consult

Why It’s the WHO that Matters Most

Fort Worth personal trainer Christmas Eve Boot Camp

Happy Monday!

Over the weekend I got to meet up with 12 other fitness coaches in Dallas.

Some coach weight loss and fitness to busy working professionals like we do. Or they coach sports performance to adults, kids athletic specialties, and women only also. Every variety is represented.

We meet up every 6 months, lock ourselves in a hotel meeting room for 12 hours for 2 days straight.

And we talk about what’s working with clients and what’s not working.

I always walk out of there a little better than I was before I went in.

And I have a plan to execute over the next 6 months to help improve The Body Firm sometimes just a little bit sometimes a lot.

I’m always glad I went.

This is why the 4th Pillar of the Body Firm Program is group support, coaching, and accountability.

To move forward with certainty you’ve got to get around some like minded people.

People that may be a different size or shape than you, but with the same goals.

Like to eat in a healthy manner, to workout regularly, to drop body fat, to get stronger, to make these habits permanent.

And it’s more important than you realize to get and stay around these like minded people.

They GET IT and they GET YOU.

I can guarantee when you get up at 4:30am to workout at 5am and you’re back at the house before anyone is awake and you eat a healthy breakfast, then get the rest of your family safely out the door.

When you get to work 4 hours later no one is clapping for you and telling you what a great job you’re doing.

Even though you probably deserve it!

Because most people DON’T GET IT.

Most people are trying to do as little as possible to get though the day.

But that’s NOT you.

So to stay on track you’ve got to regularly join others that have your same goals, desires, and habits.

These are the people that get you. These are the people that make it worth showing up for,

And when you’re here they make it a little easier to push a little harder and celebrate your victories.

It’s not about the what.

It’s not about the where.

It’s about the WHO you choose to be around.

The WHO is what holds it all together.

It’s the WHO that matters most.

Choose wisely.

Talk soon

Dave
P.s. Want to beat the New Years Rush (Yes, it’s a very real thing) Get the coaching, nutrition,workouts and support. To get you the results you want and deserve.
Click here=>Free Consult

How to Use Temptation to Stick with Your Diet (Weird Science)

I thought you might find this interesting…

Temptation, when it comes to sticking with your diet, may not be a bad thing.

In fact, it can even help you!

Weird. I know.

Before I share the details of the study I found with you, let me just say that I’ve always believed that success at staying lean and healthy (or success at anything in life, for that matter) requires the correct mindset or mental attitude.

As motivational speaker Zig Ziglar says, “Your attitude determines your altitude.”

Without the right mindset, it becomes too easy to fall apart the first obstacle.

On to the study…

A research paper published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, studied two groups of people – those who were successful at achieving their long-term goals and those who weren’t.

It turns out there is a small shift in perception that the group who actually ACHIEVES their goals does in their minds, that the other group doesn’t.

What is it?

When faced with temptation, the group that stuck with their goals saw it as a Big Reminder for them to stay the course. It reminded them of their goal and helped them stay on track.

The people who were unsuccessful at achieving their long-term goals saw the temptation as a huge obstacle to overcome. [1]

Pretty wild right?

That such a small shift in perception of the exact same temptation can cause a radically different outcome.

In some cases, it can even mean the difference between failure and success.

But this doesn’t quite tell us HOW those successful people make that connection.

Another research paper, published in the October 2011 issue of Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin set out to test the idea of an “implementation intention.”

Simply put, it involves making a specific plan to help satisfy a goal.

For this study, the researchers recruited women to participate in a “healthy eating habits investigation.

They surveyed the women asking them
1. whether or not they were interested in dieting,

2.whether or not they were successful at dieting

3.and to name an unhealthy snack food that they found very tempting.

The researchers then took half of the women and asked them to form an “implementation intention.”

In this case, it was to stick to their diet, even if they encountered their tempting food.

The other half of the women who participated were not asked to form an implementation intention.

Seven days after that, the researchers asked the women how well they did in resisting their temptation.

Of course, the group that reported they were not successful at dieting, AND did NOT form an implementation intention, did not do well at following their diet and gave in to the foods they found alluring.

And as expected, the group that did report being successful at dieting, had more success at staying
the course.

But here’s where it gets interesting:

The women who reported they were normally unsuccessful at dieting, but DID do the implementation intention, improved their ability to resist temptation and succeed with their diet. [2]

Bottom line: You CAN use temptation to help you stay on track.

You just need to decide(plan) beforehand that’s what you’re going to do.

So everytime you see that temptation, it will be a glaring reminder(not an obstacle) of the fitness goals you’ve set for yourself.

Also, as part of your implementation intention, decide on a specific action you’ll take when you are faced with temptation.

For example, if you’re going out to eat at your favorite restaurant, go online and choose what you’re going to order before you get there. See, that’s your plan.

Or if you are going to be in a social situation where there will be cake, know in advance that you will drink a glass of wine instead. That’s your plan.

And this planning is powerful.

Having this all thought-out (planned) beforehand will exponentially increase your chances of success!

Talk soon.
Dave

P.s.If you want to lose 7-12 pounds of fat every 30 days without impossible diets or long boring workouts in the gym take advantage of your FREE Fitness Consultation? (an $87 value)

During this consult, you’ll receive detailed information on how to get fit and trim that’s
tailored to YOUR body.

There’s no obligation and it’s totally and completely free.

Click Here=>FREE Fitness Consultation

1 Simple Trick to Faster Fat Loss

Everyone wants to get leaner, get toned, get more definition, look better, and feel better.

And theres one simple little nutrition trick that can help you accomplish all that.

Increase your protein intake.

Not one client has ever sat down in front of me and was taking in enough protein.

For a person training intensely 2-3 days per week it’s MORE than you think.

You can use this Protein Calculator to get a accurate estimate of your needs.

Click Here=>Protein Calaculator

And I’m betting your needs are way more than the number of grams you’re getting in today.

And don’t let the fact the calculator is on Bodybuilding.com. This has nothing to do with “Getting HUGE BRO!”…this has to do with you hitting your weight loss and fitness goals faster and easier.

You can use any source of high quality protein: Chicken, Fish, Lean Meats, to meet your numbers.

But I’ve found it’s nearly impossible to hit those numbers without some type of supplement.

I’ve been recommending CATALYST from Advocare.

We call it “Lipo in a bottle” and there’s good reason.

It’s basically protein. And the more protein you can get in the better.

You can check it out here.

If you’re NOT seeing the results you want. Check your protein intake against the calculator and adjust accordingly.

There’s no downside to this.

It CAN be done and YOU can do it!

Talk soon.

Dave
P.s. If you’d like to order Catalyst you can have it delivered to your doorstep by Clicking Here=>Catalyst