Redefining Strength Fitness Hacks

I was thinking about what most often leads to a client being successful…and honestly it never boils down to the fact that they really have more willpower. Or better macros or better workouts.It boils down to the fact that they truly take OWNERSHIP of the process. They focus on finding a way through the ideal, and not so ideal times.And they recognize the power of their mindset.Because so often we try to search for a perfect diet, a perfect workout. A perfect supplement or move. When really, it comes down to the fact that…“What our mind believes, our body achieves.”That’s why I wanted to share 4 things successful people DON’T DO with some tips to help you avoid these pitfalls.The video version of this episode is live on youtube!

Guess what? You’re human. You’re never going to be perfect.I know it’s hard to believe but it’s true.And honestly, if you ever look back at a project you’ve done and there is nothing you would change?You’re either…A. Not being honest with yourself…Or…B. You’ve stopped learning and started standing still.Because as we learn and grow, we will always find flaws in earlier plans.And it’s key we realize this because so often we hold ourselves back from ever getting started because we want something to be “perfect.”We have to recognize that perfection can actually hinder progress!The video version of this episode is live on youtube!

Ok so we all do this…when talking with someone, looking back on the path we had to take for results, we’ll say, “It wasn’t that bad.”Because in the end it was worth it AND we’ve adjusted to the new habits so they feel easier.But I guarantee many of us to start did some whining about how sucky or hard or confusing the process was.Because, guess what?Change IS hard.Reaching a goal we’ve never reached is OVERWHELMING AND TOUGH.The learning process sucks.It’s not fun to not be good at something.But even the master was once a beginner.It’s funny though how we start to dislike the discomfort of learning, of feeling out of our element more and more as we get older.We believe there are things we are slightly entitled to….that shouldn’t be tough.But if we haven’t learned the way to do something previously, it isn’t going to be easy and we are going to mess up.Think back to being a kid…I don’t know about you but there were plenty of times I whined about things being hard.And 99% of the time I was told, yes? Things are

The simple truth is, you can work really hard and not achieve the results you want.And I see this becoming more and more the case as people want to post about how hard they’re working. About how they’re spending hours in the gym.Doing some crazy restrictive diet where they cut out a ton of stuff.But then they’re frustrated by their lack of results at the end of it.The thing is…they’ve almost put more of an emphasis on the work than on the plan to get the result!They’ve confused effort with results.The sucky truth is working hard doesn’t mean you’re making progress forward. You can have a destination and get in your car and start driving, but that doesn’t mean you get to your ultimate location if you don’t have a plan and know the direction.Actually, it’s a surefire way to get lost.You did the “hard work” of driving, but you had no clear path forward. No direction.And honestly you’d have had to have worked less hard, had you just mapped out directions and actually followed them.Instead you get lost, have to as

Feelings aren't data. How we "feel" about what we are doing often isn't the same as the actual data showing what we are doing.And data doesn't lie. It's why it's so key we track our macros and our workouts so we have that impartial data to use to help us tweak and adjust.Because often when we don't have that data? It's easy to lie to ourselves about how things are going.I can't tell you how many times I've had clients say to me, "This ratio doesn't work." when they haven't actually hit the ratio for more than a day in that week.Are they trying to lie to themselves? NOPE!I know because I've done it myself.I've seen it happen personally around the holidays where I even get LAZY with tracking because, subconsciously, I want to excuse or ignore the "deviations."I want to lie to myself even though it isn't consciously what I'm doing.But if we want results?We have to stop going by how we're feeling. We have

Don’t Quit Before Results Add Up!It can be hard to keep putting in the work when we don’t feel like results are adding up.But the sucky part is…often those times where we feel like nothing is happening, we’re moving forward and potentially only inches or even days away from our goal.Those are often the times we just need to KEEP GOING.A great way to think about this process is this one image I’ve seen of two miners digging for diamonds.Both are in a tunnel of dirt. The tunnel looks exactly the same through the entire process. Dirt after more dirt haha…So it can get easy to get discouraged and turn back like one miner does. He turns back when he’s probably ONE more hack away from the diamonds.But he doesn’t know that…all he’s seen is a tunnel of dirt. It looks like to him that he’s made absolutely no progress.While the other miner continues to just charge through, trusting the process to reach the diamonds at the end.It can be so easy to give up when we aren’t seeing changes add up. But we have to trust the pr

I often get asked, "How long did it take you to get to (insert the result I've achieved that they want here)?"My answer is, "My entire life."This isn't meant to be flippant.But it's the honest answer.Sure maybe I "cut" for 6 weeks to get leaner. Or maybe I did a workout progression that built my pull ups over the last 4 weeks....But these things are still based off a foundation that, in a way, I've been creating my entire life.Even if you are the same weight or have the same "strength" as someone else, you can't compare your journey to theirs.There is just so much more to it than just that starting "number" or spot.Because it's even our experiences that make the difference.Someone who's "cut" before knows what it entails, even if they have the same weight to lose as you who has never done it.And maybe they just recently gained the weight while you've had it on for years, putting them in a very different positio

It’s easy to start a new program and get overwhelmed by all of the changes you feel you have to make.And so..well…we freak out and never end up moving forward.But before you let your brain go into freak out mode…start by focusing on small tweaks!Or as I’ve liked saying “Tweak before you freak!”Because small changes add up. And they help us create something actually sustainable.Too often we feel like we have to overhaul everything, when really those small changes are what add up and allow us to be consistent.They allow us to create new habits we can maintain after that initial motivation fades.So focus on small habit adjustments based on your current routine.What are just 3 small things you can focus on this week?Is it drinking more water? Doing a 5 minute workout when you’re short on time? Simply tracking your food?List out 3 habit changes to start implementing and mark them off each day.Even make them so ridiculously easy you feel silly listing them.This helps you build that momentum and see lasting changes!

I think often in our workouts in an attempt to do more or that harder variation and last the entire interval of work, we CHEAT ourselves out of the full benefit of moves.We don’t try to work muscles as hard as we can. We actually just try to survive the time we are “supposed” to work in the follow along.And this leads to us CHEATING on moves.Letting our hands shift out in front of us as we do mountain climbers. Letting our butt go up in the air as we hold a plank.Not sinking as low or jumping as high in that squat jump.We are focused on doing more over maximizing the movement.And that can even lead to us thinking we’ve earned harder variations than we have because we can seemingly “do” them, but it can also lead to us thinking things are easier than they are.But we are never above the basics. And often if you think something is too easy?You really need to assess how well you’re doing it!Here are some things I think it is really key we do at times to assess if we are really maximizing our results from each tra

I refused to demo the moves and made friends or co-workers do it.I was comfortable sharing my knowledge behind the scenes.But I also really really really (did I say REALLY!?) wanted to share my passion and knowledge and help others.So Ryan kind of gave me an ultimatum...Ryan basically told me at one point, "If you really want to do this thing, you need to suck it up and get over it and be in the photos."(I would say he said it nicer than that as I can't remember his exact phrasing since it feels like it was almost a decade ago, BUT he probably didn't as Ryan has never been afraid to be 100% blunt with me when I needed it. It's why I love to hate him at times and need him around all the more. Love you butthead! Anyway...)I'm telling you all of this because I think we believe there are parts of ourselves we can't change.I know I NEVER ever thought I'd be a person in front of the camera.But really it isn't that we CAN'T change them...it's that we don't

You know that urge to do MORE? To make more changes?Search for a new macro ratio? Workout longer? Train harder?I think this focus on doing MORE stems from the fact that A. Yes we want results faster but B. We also feel more in CONTROL when we do more.The feeling that we are “acting” or taking action gives us a sense of control. Even though we may not actually be moving ourselves forward and even wasting a ton of energy as we set ourselves back.It may be wasted work and energy.And a lot of adjustments that aren’t allowing time to work it’s magic.Because the simple fact is, you can’t out work, out diet, out train time.And to some extent, results are out of our control in that we can’t control TIME.We need to find a way to be consistent with our training, to stay focused, so that results have time to add up.So ask yourself, “Why am I trying to do more? Why am I trying to make a change?”Is it needed? Or are you just trying to feel more in control?The video version of this episode is live on youtube!

Tracking our macros isn’t just about restricting what we’re eating to lose weight. It’s about truly learning how to FUEL.Because no matter what result you want to get, from losing weight to body recomposition to gaining muscle to fueling your endurance sport to even simply feeling more energized throughout the day, the macronutrient ratio you are consuming MATTERS.And by understanding macros, you can better adjust how you fuel over time as your needs and goals change! So here are 4 “hacks” to help you get started dialing in those macros because I know the process can seem overwhelming to start!#1: DON’T START BY CUTTING OUT THE FOODS YOU LOVE#2: “PRACTICE” – BUILD A SOLID THE FOUNDATION#3: STOP GIVING YOURSELF THE EXCUSE THAT TRACKING IS “ANNOYING” OR “RESTRICTIVE.”#4: ACCEPT THERE WILL BE TIMES YOU’RE LESS DEDICATEDThe video version of this episode is live on youtube!

Legend-wait-for-it-daryI love hearing Barney say this in How I Met Your Mother.And almost every time I try to repeat the line, I somehow butcher it hahaAnyway, the simple fact is…Not every day can be legendary or no days end up being legendary.You can’t know the good without the bad!BUT even on those not so ideal days we can take something out of them that moves us forward.Here are 4 questions to consider to GROW from those not so fun days to make your lows less low!Do I know what triggered it?What can I learn?What would I do next time?What good still happened?Remember we can’t know the good without the bad BUT we can always learn from it to make our highs higher and lows less low!The video version of this episode is live on youtube!

So on my Unicorn coaching call this last week, I was trying to figure out another way to describe what I see as the issues we often blame on “age.”Because while, yes our body does change as we get older, so often so many of our issues are from well…a leaky ceiling we didn’t address.If you had a leak and over the years the water kept dripping in that same spot, you wouldn’t be surprised when, finally one day, the leak made the ceiling board collapse. You’d know that even though it was only a little water, that over time, those water droplets built up. Same thing can be said about so much of what we just attribute to age.We’ve so often implemented improper mobility practices and horrible dieting habits for DECADES and then we say it’s cause we are “old” things no longer work as we feel they should.We can’t lose the weight as easily. We now have aches and pains.But really these things aren’t just popping up.The’ve been caused by a leak we haven’t addressed over the years.So now if you’ve realized the leak?DO SOM

One of my amazing Unicorns  Ellen commented this in the group last week..."Maybe things are not going a 100% as I want them to go, maybe I am not doing as much as I would like to do....but I have a lot of lemons at the moment and not enough glasses to make lemonade in so I just make lemonade out of the lemons where I have the glasses for."So often we have a ton of things going on and simply not enough time to do as much as we'd like for each of those things.But we also have to remember that all we can do is give 100% of what we've got at that time.We are CONSTANTLY in the act of balance.And often our desire to do more isn't really that we aren't doing enough...it's just that we want results faster.The thing is, and I know I say this a lot, we simply can't out work TIME.And while you may want to make more lemonade, you may want to do more, there is really only a finite amount of time in a day...a finite number of glasses we have to hold the lemonade.So at some point, you

Progressions are earned…Often we feel like because we “can” do something? We should do it or we deserve to do it.But the question is…are you really doing it WELL?Are you actually optimizing the movement or doing it just for the sake of doing the “harder” variation?Are you putting a “bandaid” on the true problem? Applying a quick fix just to get through the workout?I don't like doing something to progress a movement we haven't EARNED.Like putting your hands behind your lower back during ab movements, specifically leg lower movementsSure it allows you to do that harder movement right then, but it's also probably why you consistently tend to feel your lower back in other moves you shouldn't.You're allowing yourself to "cheat" to pass the test...but you're not actually learning the information you need to pass the next test...or the next one...or succeed long term because you've actually BUILT your knowledge on the subject.You just sought out a quick fix.And I'm s

Motivation that will burn out…especially often the more intense and restrictive we are to start.As cliche as it is…it really is true you’ve got to find a way to enjoy the journey.And that means creating new habits that do fit your lifestyle to some extent. Habits that you enjoy enough to keep repeating until they require no self control to do.Now…You won’t enjoy every habit to start that you have to implement - change does require change and for us to be uncomfortable. BUT the more you can create new habits with things you DO enjoy, finding maybe new activities to do, new healthy restaurants to eat at, the more you’ll accept some of the things that aren’t as easy to implement to start.All about that balance!Here are 3 tips to help you create those new habits to carry you through!#1: Tweak your current lifestyle.We need to create new routines and habits if we want to make the changes sustainable. The easiest way to do that is to start with small tweaks to what we are currently doing. Small adjustments to thing

One of my amazing Unicorns asked, “I was wondering if there were general “success” habits that you’ve noticed yourself and/or all clients who’ve met / exceeded their goals practice consistently on the daily?”One of the things I told her that I think is actually at the heart of whether or not we succeed is…We have to remember that we will NEVER be perfect with anything. It's about learning to recognize the detour  more quickly to get back on track!She summarized this thought so nicely as…Shift as soon as I notice drift.The video version of this episode is live on youtube!

When we start a new program we of course have “expectations” about what we’ll get out of it.But what if the reason we’ve never fully seen the results we want is because of our “expectations” of what the outcome will be?What if we are expecting too much? What if our binary definition of success is holding us back?What if the benefit of each thing we do isn’t as simple as “did we or did we not get (insert outcome here)”?Now I’m not saying not to expect yourself to work or not have high expectations when it comes to what you want out of things.But I think too often we set our expectations only on reaching a specific goal and not on the LEARNING PROCESS involved in achieving that outcome.It’s also why we can get really down and feel like nothing has ever worked for us.We are only seeing victory as did we or didn’t we reach our goal.If we instead saw each thing we’ve done as a chance to LEARN so we can build upon that next time?Well we’d end up getting a lot further faster. And we’d probably feel like we’re “start

With our nutrition, it can be hard to make changes. For some reasons, any time we seek to make a change, we see any sort of tracking or logging as restrictive.But no matter our goals - from performance to aesthetics to health - understanding our diet better is key. And having data to make tweaks? Only makes it easier.We are the ones judging ourselves, not the tracking.And we have to remember, everything in our lifestyle is constantly evolving. What is easy at one point, may not feel sustainable at another. That’s why it is key we take time to really LEARN about our personal needs. So we can constantly be evolving our nutrition to match our ever changing needs and goals! The video version of this episode is live on youtube!