What does it take to get in shape?

We are approaching the end of January. Everyone is still working out and sticking to their diet. A few have fallen off the wagon, but not many. Some are just starting their New Years resolution fitness and nutrition program, and that’s OK. All that said, what does it take to get in shape, I mean really fit? I am going to give you seven keys to become fit. But before I do, let me share a few things with you.

I was sitting in church yesterday and the man preaching was talking about spiritual fitness. If I offend anyone talking about God, Jesus or Christianity, too bad! OK, he was talking about spiritual fitness and how we have to work at becoming spiritually fit. The same is true regarding physical fitness. We have to work. He talked about being discipline, praying, reading the bible. This takes discipline with our busy life styles. Training and becoming fit takes discipline as well. OK, I’m going to skate on some thin ice, right on the edge and if offend someone, I’m sorry, but too bad. It is not my intention to do so, but if by offending someone, I get them to start working towards becoming fit, great! I see tons of preachers, and I mean TONS, professing the word of God. These are good men, but they are so fat, they can hardly move around. According to God’s word, our body is a temple. God didn’t intend for His temple to have globs of fat hanging off of it, causing high blood pressure, high cholesterol, high triglycerides and a heart that is about to explode, plus numerous other health problems. Sorry for the ranting, but someone has to say it! So what at the seven keys to become fit?

1. First and foremost you have to want too. You have to want it bad! You have to be sick and tired of feeling and looking like you do.
2. How strong is your why? If you want it bad enough, why?
3. What will you give up to become fit? You will have to figure out what you will give up to get what you want. Time, money, TV something
4. You will have to work hard. Anything worthwhile is worth working hard for. You health is very worth while, so get into the mind set of hard work.
5. You MUST be discipline! Whether training or following your nutrition plan, you must be discipline.
6. You MUST be consistent. Again, your training has to be consistent as well as your nutrition plan.
7. Set short and long term goals. This is very important. Rome wasn’t built in a day. You have to take baby steps before you can run. Reward yourself for accomplishing your short term goals. By reaching many short term goals, you WILL reach your long term goal.

If you need help with your training and nutrition plan, please contact me at scott@pro-performance.net Please visit our web site at www.pro-performance.net to see how Pro Performance can help you.

Again, it is not my intention to offend anyone. If I do, I’m sorry. If I do and you begin a lifestyle change geared towards health and fitness, good. You may not like me, but you will thank me later. Remember, NO EXCUSES! JUST RESULTS! Train hard and smart and God Bless!

Scott Hines Sr. EdM, C.S.C.S. RKC
Pro Performance Inc.
314 East 1st Ave. Rome, GA 30161
www.pro-performance.net
www.bodybyproperformance.com
www.bodybyproperformance.blogspot.com
www.superfitmom.blogspot.com

How Much is Your Time Worth

The title may seem odd. What does time and health have to do with each other? Well, actually, they have a lot to do with each other. The biggest excuse I hear from people is, “I don’t have time to workout”. So in other words, my time is worth more that my health. Most people wouldn’t just come out and say this, but when they say, “I don’t have time”, that’s what there saying. So how do you solve this dilemma? In my opinion, and I do have one on most issues, your health is more important than your time. I know, easy for me to say, I own a training facility and am here all day. That’s right, all 15 hours a day. When do I find time to workout while I am running a business, training clients, taking care of my family and working around my house? I take time, no, MAKE TIME! It is important to me to stay in shape and to be healthy. So here is the question, is your health important to you? I know it is. You have to make time for you, your fitness, and your health.

How do I do that in this fast pace society and how can you do it. First and foremost you have to want to do it. You may not enjoy working out, but think about your long term health. Second, make it a priority! You health is very important! When you increase your fitness level, everyday activities become easier. Lastly, utilize a program that incorporates strength training and anaerobic conditioning. Don’t waste your time going to the gym and getting on the tread mill or elliptical. This isn’t a good steward of your time.

OK, here it is. To get the most bang for your buck, you have to train total body, use multi-joint and combination lifts, body weight exercises and work at a fast pace. If you want the whole scoop, you’ll have to drop by Pro Performance and train with us. If you don’t live in Northwest Georgia, and I know a lot of you don’t, you’ll just have to check out this video. This is a 32 minute workout that is designed to build lean muscle and burn body fat. I hope you enjoy! Remember, NO EXCUSES! JUST RESULTS! Train hard and smart and God Bless!

You may have to copy and paste this link in your browser

Fab 4 Workout: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ts2sDDjpgsw

Fun Friday Workout: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APH-XYCqh5E


Scott Hines Sr. EdM, C.S.C.S. RKC
Pro Performance Inc.
314 East 1st Ave. Rome, GA 30161
www.pro-performance.net
www.bodybyproperformance.com
www.bodybyproperformance.blogspot.com
www.superfitmom.com

30-30 Workout

I have written a little about energy system training and its effects on the body. When you combine a prescribed period of work time followed by a prescribed period of rest time, you’ll get a specific training effect. You can manipulate your training effect by changing work vs. rest periods. The Pro Performance Team designed the 30-30 workout. This workout is 32 minutes long. We work for 30 seconds and rest for 30 seconds. We combined multi-joint and combination exercises with body exercises. The key to getting the most effective training effect is to give 100% effort during the work sets. This will require some mental toughness. It is easy to pace yourself if you’re not careful. Here are the exercises and a short video of our workout. Have fun!

PUSH PRESS SQUATS
BOSU PUSH-UPS
BAG PUSH SPRINTS
JUMP ROPE
PULL-UPS
TIRE FLIP
POWER PULL FROM THE FLOOR
KETTLEBELL SWINGS

CHECK IT OUT!

You may have to copy and paste in your browser

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVB4mS31MsY

Scott Hines Sr. EdM, C.S.C.S. RKC
Pro Performance Inc.
www.pro-performance.net
www.bodybyproperformance.com
www.superfitmom.com

Tenacity!

I like to write articles about mental toughness. I think most stresses we face in our day to day life can be handled more effetely if we are mentally tough. So what is the difference in mental toughness and tenacity? Tenacity is never giving up! No matter what. If you have a bad workout or a bad eating day, don’t quit. If you get injured, work around the injury. If you don’t feel like working out, workout any way. I know, it’s easier said than done. So how do you develop tenacity? It’s like anything else; you have to work on it. You have to put yourself in situations where you have to be tenacious. The old cliché, when the going get tough, the tough get going, it’s true. Tenacity is a mind set. You don’t have to be an athlete or workout to be tenacious. When you have a deadline due at 7:00 AM and its 10:00 PM the night before, it take tenacity to finish.

I watched Green Bay and the Giants play last night. It took a great deal of mental toughness and tenacity to play in those conditions. It’s not enjoyable playing football in sub zero temperatures. Those guys had a job to do and they did it, period.

So why am I writing about tenacity? We live in a tough society. Although as US citizens, we have a more comfortable life style than 90% of the world. If you are in the business or any other career, and you want to succeed, you have to be tenacious.

The bottom line is this, throw off all excuses, let nothing get in the way of your goals, and never ever quit. You are destine for something great. You will have to be tenacious to get there! Remember, NO EXCUSES! JUST RESULTS! Train hard and smart and God Bless!

Scott Hines Sr. EdM, C.S.C.S. RKC
Pro Performance Inc.
www.pro-performance.net
www.bodybyproperformance.com
www.superfitmom.blogspot.com

Energy System Training

I attended a strength coach’s clinic last weekend with two local football coaches and friends. I attend these clinics for two reasons. One, to learn, and two, to get ceu’s for my certifications. Before I attend a clinic or conference, I look to see who is speaking and do a little back ground on them if I don’t know them. My main goal for attending is to learn. Even if I don’t agree with their philosophy or I think their coaching technique is wrong, I can still learn something from them. I listened to four speakers at this clinic, two were good and two were not so good. One speaker was set in his ways, kept talking about how to incorporate all types of training, but continued to slam everyone’s training philosophy except his. Another speaker was just a blow hard. He talked about himself, told jokes and was just full of crap. Another speaker was very organized, spoke and communicated well and did a good job. I learned something positive from him. There was one thing I disagreed with and I am going to email him about that. The speaker that intrigued me to write this article was young, motivated, passionate about training and a very dynamic speaker. What he was saying was right on target. My concern was that he didn’t know why his training was working; he just knew that is was. I am going to email him as well and discuss this matter. Now, what does all this jabber have to do with energy system training? A few months back I wrote an article discussing what athletes are super fit and look the best. They are track sprinters. Why? Energy system training. If you read any fitness publications these days, you are hearing interval training, interval training, interval training. This is for a good reason; it works for increasing your fitness level, plus decreases body fat. So why are so many so called fitness professionals prescribing workouts that don’t incorporate interval training? Good questions; I’ll reframe from answering that question until a time I want to rant. It’s an article in itself. OK; If you want to build the most muscle and burn the most fat in the least amount of time, interval training is the answer. What is interval training? In short, you train for a prescribed amount of time and rest for a prescribed amount of time. The amount of work time versus rest time determines which energy system you are tapping into, thus determines how your body responds. Enough scientific stuff. Here is an interval workout my group and I performed last Friday.

Our workout was 32 minutes. We worked for 30 seconds and rested for 30 seconds. I set up a timer that buzzed every 30 seconds. We cranked up the tunes and off we went. This is what we did.

1. Double kettlebell cleans
2. Bosu push-ups
3. Seated bag push (we sit on kick boxing bags and push them on a turf floor)
4. Pull-ups
5. Tire flips
6. Walking lunge pass thru
7. Mountain climbers
8. Get up sit-ups

We had 8 people in our group, thus 8 exercises. To make this workout effective, you must push yourself during your work time. Work hard, rest hard! Your rep range will vary per exercise and they will also decrease as the workout progresses. Concentrate on good form. This is a very effective fat burning and muscle building workout. The ladies in this group used 25 lb. kettlebells on the cleans and on the walking lunge pass thru’s. It was a little light. Some used assistance on the later rounds for pull-ups. Their tire weighted 80 lbs. The men used kettlebells ranging from 50-70 lbs. Their tire weighted 200 lbs. So there you have it. It was a fun and effective workout. NO EXCUSES! JUST RESULTS! Train hard and smart and God Bless!

Scott Hines Sr. EdM, .C.S.C.S. RKC
Pro Performance Inc.
314 East 1st Ave. Rome, GA 30161
www.pro-performance.net
www.bodybyproperformance.com
www.bodybyproperformance.blogspot.com
www.superfitmom.blogspot.com

Life is What You Make It

I have had a lot of response from the last article I posted about excuses. I have actually had some people enlist in out Boot Camp after reading the article. Every one of them told me the same thing, “I was just looking for and making excuses about why I couldn’t workout and get in shape.” This article is kind of a follow up to the excuses article. Today I want to talk about habits.

Research says that it take 21 days to develop a habit and even longer to break a bad habit and retrain your mind to make a good habit. Yes, I said mind. To develop good habits, it takes a strong mind. I have been conducting boot camp for 2 years. We offer 5:30 AM classes and 5:30 PM classes. We transition the boot campers to group training after they finish our boot camp program. Our transition rate is about 80% in the morning class and 20% in the evening class. I attribute the high rate in the morning to the fact that early birds have formed good habits. They were mentally tough enough to get up early and train at 5:30. We have also found that as a whole, the early morning group had better results. Again, this group had the discipline to stick to their nutrition program. So how do you develop good habits?

1. Eliminate Excuses: The world is full of excuses, of talkers and not doers. You have the choice to be a talker or a doer. There really is no excuse!

2. Train your thoughts: This is a little tougher and takes a bit longer. What is your thought process? Is you cup half empty or half full? We may not be in control of many things in this life, but one thing we are in total control of is our attitude. That’s right! We can choose how we respond to positive or negative situations. We have to train our minds to respond correctly. So how can working out help you train your thoughts? The folks who train at Pro Performance know the answer to this before I even write it. Before you walk into Pro Performance, you know you are going to get the best workout of your life. Your mind had better be ready. Our bodies can under go much more stress than we think. It’s our minds that give way to failure. If you think you are a winner, and do the things that winners do, you will become a winner, in the weight room as well as in life. Train your thoughts, be mentally tough.

3. Focus on the Future: You have to focus on the now, but you must also focus on the future. What is the out come of your labors? What will it look like when I accomplish my goals? When I reach my weight loss goal, my strength goal, my 5k time goal, what will that look and feel like. How will I look and feel? What will it feel like to have tons of energy? How will being in shape affect my work place and my family? Focus on the positive as well as the future.

It really doesn’t really matter what hand you have been dealt in the game of life. To be successful in any endeavor, you must first eliminate excuses, train you thoughts and become mentally tough and focus on what is to come, the future. Life is what you make it, make it a good day! Remember, NO EXCUSES! JUST RESULTS! Train hard and smart and God Bless!

Scott Hines Sr. C.S.C.S. RKC
Pro Performance Inc.
www.pro-performance.net
www.bodybyproperformance.com
www.bodybyproperformance.blogspot.com
www.superfitmom.blogspot.com

Excuses

These are some of our wonderful clients who have NO EXCUSES! JUST RESULTS!

Our motto at Pro Performance is NO EXCUSES! JUST RESULTS! We all hear excuses why people can’t do this or that. We all make excuses sometimes. I used to teach and coach high school football and I would hear excuses everyday, from students as well as teachers. So why am I writing an article on excuses? I want to plow through, go over, go around or by what ever means necessary to find the answer to this statement, “I don’t have time to workout”.

I have heard it all, trust me. There are too many excuses to start naming them. I’m going to address two subjects here. One, people who say they don’t have time to workout and two, people who miss workouts.

I don’t have time. If someone wants to do something bad enough, they find a way to do it. So here is the question, and I’ll use a quote from my good friend and nutritional counselor, Travis Martin. “How big is your why”? Why do you want to workout, get in shape, get fit, and lose weight? WHY? That’s what you have to figure out for yourself. No one can answer that for you. When your why becomes big enough, you will find a way to get what you want. Some people fear being made fun of in the gym, or feel that they aren’t fit enough to go workout. Even though these emotions, feelings and fears are real, they are still excuses. Is your WHY big enough?

Secondly, I want to address the person who misses workouts. Allow me explain a little bit of our philosophy at Pro Performance. We are not your typical gym. We don’t line um up and sign um up. Our trainers want the clients to train. You can’t get results if you don’t work.

Here is my take on workout skippers. Commitment! All talk and no action. Sure, there will be times where you will have to miss an occasional workout session, but make it up! Our clients are great at Pro Performance! Have you ever heard of a training facility where clients call if they are going to miss and also ask when they can make the workout up? That’s what our clients do! It’s great! That’s commitment.

The bottom line is this, how big is your WHY, and are you committed to the end. Set goals, make a plan, take action on that plan, and never ever quit! Remember, NO EXCUSES! JUST RESULTS! Train hard and smart and God Bless!



Scott Hines Sr. EdM, C.S.C.S. RKC
Pro Performance Inc.
www.pro-performance.net
www.bodybyproperformance.com
www.bodybyproperformance.blogspot.com
www.superfitmom.blogspot.com

A Must Read

Opinions while interesting, do not necessarily reflect the views of Pro Performance and it's staff. So why would I send this email and ask you to read it? We have an epidemic in our country and it it obesity! Just look around. I'm not here to judge, I want to help! This article was written by Niel Snyder,Ph.D., Ralph A. Beeton Professor Emeritus at the University of Virginia.


The other day I read a news report on child obesity that astonished me. Before I tell you about it, let me point out that about 1/3 of our fellow citizens are obese, about 1/3 of them are overweight, and about 1/3 of them are "normal weight" using weight tables we KNOW FOR A FACT are wrong. What we call "normal weight" isn't normal at all. It's too high, and we know that because people who weigh less than "normal weight" are healthier than people who are "normal weight."

Now back to the news report: Parents of obese children were interviewed to find out if they thought their children were obese. Most of them didn't. As far as they were concerned, their children were the correct weight. That's not the stunning part, though. The shocker was the percentage of parents of obese children who thought their children weighed too little. That's right. About 15% of parents with obese children fall into that category. Talk about denial! I guess it goes with the territory—probably a natural defense mechanism.

Do you think this is an insignificant problem? If you do, then you need to watch someone die from complications due to obesity. I did, and it's not pretty.

What about costs? The medical costs for the last few months of my father's life were almost $500,000, and who do you think paid the bill? All of it except for less than $100 was paid by insurance companies and Medicare. Insurance companies raise premiums to cover their costs and the feds raise taxes or borrow. This is the bottom line. In the end, all of us pay for the obesity problem if we pay taxes or have health insurance, and those costs are rising rapidly. Did you know that rising health care costs will bankrupt this nation if we don't do something to control them? And did you know that the health care costs associated with obesity make the health care costs associated with tobacco consumption look like nothing by comparison? Most people don't.

And what about problems associated with obesity that get very little attention—things like days of work missed, injuries to our joints that were not made to handle excess weight, and back problems. Do you realize there are massage therapists and chiropractors who make their livings "treating" people whose only real problem is that they are overweight or obese?

You've all heard about the fair tax trumpeted these days by Neal Boortz and Mike Huckabee. What about a fair tax for people who impose costs on ME—excessive health care costs and unnecessary taxes—because they don't control their appetites? Why should I pay to support their bad eating habits? We tax alcohol and gas. If you drink or drive, you pay for the privilege. Why not charge people for eating too much? Maybe we can come up with a plan that raises the tax paid by each individual as their weight increases. People who are normal weight won't have to pay the extra tax. As your weight increases, so will your taxes. We can implement periodic weigh-ins so people can lower their tax burden as they reduce their weight burden.

Am I being "insensitive?" Maybe, but as we say in the south, facts are facts. You may want to contest the data, but if you do you'll lose. It's a personal issue for me because I get angry when people I don't know try to pick my pocket and take my money. I don't even like it when people I know try it. Anyway, it's just food for thought. Enjoy!

Neil

Neil Snyder has a Ph.D. degree in strategic management from the University of Georgia. He taught leadership and strategy at the University of Virginia for 25 years, and he retired in 2004. Currently, he is the Ralph A. Beeton Professor Emeritus at the University of Virginia.

Please send comments to Scott@pro-performance.net