When I first hired a fitness trainer in 2006, he presented me with a single sheet of paper with a list of foods and told me to start writing my daily food intake down. He told me 80% of what I wanted to see would happen with food.
When I brought him my week or eating at our next session, he was shocked. Almost no other clients had done this. I was shocked. How could you pay someone for professional fitness & nutrition advice and not follow what they were telling you worked?
For me, his single-sheet plan worked – very well. I lost fat, gained muscle and got the look I wanted while also improving my mental health. It seemed insane that all of these other people in the gym were continuing to show up but not do the single thing that would create FOUR TIMES more change.
It wasn’t the lifting, it wasn’t the cardio (well, it was some of that); it was the dang food.
I started my gyms and food was the entry point. Do the food, then do the exercise. Also, do the hydration, the sleep and the recovery. Without the food, you can work your butt off (or on) and stay the same. Your health markers will likely change, and that’s great, but lets be transparent – we all want some form of mirror gains – AND THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT; it drives progress.
Over the past couple of years, I’ve had some life changes (many great, some just ok, some not great). One of those not-so-great changes is I’ve let my nutrition slip. My body composition is not where I want it to be and it carries over into other areas; as a father looking to live as long as possible, as a fitness & nutrition coach (imposter syndrome really creeps in when you’re 16% body fat vs. 10% bodyfat), as a husband showing up and pulling my weight.
Fortunately, I have the tools and I’ve made the changes, and the changes are starting to show. I’m down 2% body fat in a month, my fitness is improving and the feeling and visual is becoming pretty dang clear. One of the things I had in the past that that really helped that I don’t have currently is a group of people that push and encourage these positive food habits. Previously, I had a very active online group that helped drive my check ins and we really helped each other.
Somewhere, I decided to drop this group as I moved away from social media. I’m realizing now that social media isn’t the problem, it’s how I use it. If I use it for good, it’s good. If I doom scroll and watch 4 second videos, it’s very bad. Lets face it, social media was meant to be SOCIAL; to help. We’ve turned it into the worst of us instead of the best of us. That doesn’t mean we can’t choose to reverse that and make it what we want it to be – a tool that can help us relate to each other and drive positive change.
All that said, I’m kick starting my online group TODAY and it’s 100% free. Yes, it’s on facebook – I’ve tried Discord and slack and other things, but the truth is there just aren’t enough people on those platforms to make it work, or at least work for me.
So, I’m doing what one the best business partners I’ve ever had told me to do…
When I first moved from Milwaukee to Miami I rarely looked at myself in the mirror, at least for anything other than a functional check, to make sure I didn’t have a chunk of food between my teeth or something. I left Milwaukee with a ponytail, wearing socks and Teva sandals.
Flip flops were an unknown and I was used to layering my clothes. Fast forward 20 years and I refuse to wear anything other than Birddog shorts (that’s not a paid plug, I just love the product) and a tank top. If it drops below 60 I’ll put a t-shirt on.
In between those outfits there were a lot of changes, a lot of music scene shirts and eventually tight fighting bro-shirts and some very small tank tops.
I retired the cargo shorts and ponytail, bought a lot of different shorts and t-shirts. I also lost a bunch of fat and gained a bunch of muscle. I started looking in the mirror more often, picking myself apart. I also started weighing myself everyday, sometimes many times a day.
I got lean, then very lean. I had abs. I looked at them a lot for a while.
“Wow, abs!” I thought.
Then I wondered when the overwhelming happiness would sweep over me. It never did, at least not associated with those abs I had worked so hard to get.
I had abs when I was a teen, I see the photographic proof when I go back to my parent’s home, I just don’t recall having abs, or even thinking about it.
Jumping forward to yesterday, I was speaking to a Dan Planner who was having trouble. The holidays had kicked his ass, he was fluffy and unhappy and a little unmotivated.
“Everytime I get to this point, it’s almost like I self sabotage myself, you know what I mean?”
Boy do I ever – I am the king of self-sabotage, or at least I was.
Here’s where the years of experience came into play – yes, I had been there, and I had self-sabotaged…and one great way to slow your results and not see the change you want is to focus on that change too much, obsess over it.
I’m talking about habits like daily weigh ins, constantly looking at social media accounts with ‘perfect’ bodies with unrealistic filtered and cropped images – and critiquing yourself in the mirror based on those images. When you see those perfect IG pics, those are posed and professionally photographed, and many times the person in that pic is starving and unhappy – even if the spray tan and photoshop-white-teeth say different. Now, allow me to blow your mind…
When you weigh yourself daily, you’re not getting valid data points.
It’s too much information, and (as you probably know) if you allow emotion into your weigh ins, it can become an emotional disaster.
So – what to do? Forget about the abs, focus on the day in front of you. The results will come if you focus on the tasks you have to do instead of the end goal.
Be kind to yourself and practice self-forgiveness.
Focus on how you feel, what your headspace is like, how your clothes fit. Focus on what’s immediately in front of you. Yes, you need a long game, yes you need a goal – BUT – spending too much time and energy focusing on what you don’t have YET will cause stress and in turn keep you from your goal.
#TruthBomb or whatever they say. Have a great day, reach out when you’re ready. I am here and I ain’t going away.
PLEASE!
Sign in for classes – if there is no space in class, please sign in for another class. We are doing our best to meet your needs and keep everyone safe so we can all continue to enjoy training. Thank you!
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305
M-F – 6am, 7am, 8am, 11am | 5 & 6pm
A1A
M-F – 6am, 7:00am, 8:30, 10:30am | 6 & 7pm
Weekends – 9 & 10am @ both
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😁
Zoom
M-F – 6am, 8am, 9:30am, 6pm EST
Sat – 9am
https://zoom.us/j/679368832
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Dec 24th – morning classes, no evening
Dec 25th – CLOSED
Dec 26th – Normal Schedule resumes
Dec 31st – morning classes, no evening
Jan 1st – CLOSED
Jan 2nd – Normal Schedule resumes
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Kids classes every Monday at 4pm with Coach Keenan!
Please fill out this waiver for each child:
bit.ly/305waiver
Cost is $89 per child for 4 classes
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Schedule for Thanksgiving week Mon Nov 23-Sun Nov 29th
Mon-Wed REGULAR SCHEDULE
Thursday-Sunday 9&10 AM BOTH LOCATIONS
Zoom 9:30 Thursday & Friday
No Zoom Saturday & Sunday
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305
M-F – 6am, 7am, 8am, 11am | 5 & 6pm
A1A
M-F – 6am, 7:00am, 8:30, 10:30am | 6 & 7pm
Weekends – 9 & 10am @ both
—
😁
Zoom
M-F – 6am, 8am, 9:30am, 6pm EST
Sat & Sun – 9am
https://zoom.us/j/679368832
—
Please be mindful of the following guidelines that must be followed:
-Please wear a mask
-Please bring a towel or two (one for the floor, one for drying off)
-Please wait until the Coach welcomes you in
-Please wash your hands upon entry & before leaving
-Please take all of your belongings to your station & clean EVERYTHING after
—
Weekends – 9 & 10am @ both
—
😁
Zoom
M-F – 6am, 8am, 9:30am, 6pm EST
Sat & Sun – 9am
https://zoom.us/j/679368832
—
Please be mindful of the following guidelines that must be followed:
-Please wear a mask
-Please bring a towel or two (one for the floor, one for drying off)
-Please wait until the Coach welcomes you in
-Please wash your hands upon entry & before leaving
-Please take all of your belongings to your station & clean EVERYTHING after
—
Weekends – 9 & 10am @ both
—
😁
Zoom
M-F – 6am, 8am, 9:30am, 6pm EST
Sat & Sun – 9am
https://zoom.us/j/679368832
—
Please be mindful of the following guidelines that must be followed:
-Please wear a mask
-Please bring a towel or two (one for the floor, one for drying off)
-Please wait until the Coach welcomes you in
-Please wash your hands upon entry & before leaving
-Please take all of your belongings to your station & clean EVERYTHING after
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