Help! I've Fallen Off the Wagon!

Hey yall! We are a little over a month into the new year and I hope everyone is sticking with your new year’s resolutions! However, sometimes that's just really hard. If you’re anything like me, you are starting to fall off the wagon! But rest assured, I am here to help!

The number one new year’s resolution is weight loss. Everyone does really well for the first few weeks but then the passion to achieve your goal starts to wear off, you become busy and you revert back to what is easy and comfortable. You fall off the wagon. Instead of leaving you behind, I’m going to stop the wagon and help you get back up, because it is possible!!

I want to give you some tips on how to stand up, dust yourself off and hop back on that wagon.

 Don’t Get Down on Yourself! 

               These falls happen! Life is full of ups and downs. I will tell you right now, it is not going to get easier. That is hard to hear, but you can do it! The first rule of weight loss is to stay positive. Find the little successes and use those as fuel moving forward! Pat yourself on the back when you reach your daily steps goal or when you make a healthy decision. YOU CAN DO THIS!!

2.       Find Your Excuses!

                My dad always said, “Excuses are like belly buttons. Everyone has them but they’re not good for anything.” “I’m too tired”, “I’m hungry”, “Just one bad meal won’t hurt”. We’ve all heard these or even used them. Find the excuses that you use and catch yourself using them. When you identify your excuses it is a lot easier to avoid them!

3.       Set Short-Term Goals!

                              It is a lot easier to wrap your mind around losing one pound this week than it is losing 50 pounds this year. Manageable, short term goals are key to having success. If you can take your long term goals and break them down into monthly, weekly, even daily goals, you will find it is A LOT easier to reach your goals.

4.       Review and Regroup!

               This is the “dust yourself off” stage. When you’re ready to hop back on the wagon, take a look back on your previous weight loss journey and identify what worked and what didn’t. After you identify the good and bad, regroup! Get everything together and go for it again!

The most important thing to remember in your weight loss journey is that YOU CAN DO IT! One of my favorite quotes is “doubt your doubts, before you doubt your faith.” You can change that to “doubt your doubts before you doubt yourself”. Whatever your doubt or fear is, forget it! YOU CAN DO IT!! You've got this! Now get get it!

TRX Training: What the heck does that mean?

Let me start out today’s blog post with a little background on me. I love lifting weights. There is just something about picking up a really heavy object and moving it. It’s fun! In fact, you can find me at  Planet Fitness in College Station lifting every morning at 6 am. But I was introduced to a new form of training last year and I’ve been in love with it ever since.

The TRX suspension trainer is a simple piece of equipment that has endless possibilities. Essentially, it is two adjustable straps anchored together at one point. The trainer was developed by a Navy SEAL during a deployment and has transformed into one of the fastest growing workout tools in the world.  What can you do with it you ask? Everything. I don’t mean to be sarcastic; but, you can LITERALLY do everything with it. Let me explain:

The TRX suspension trainer is designed to, “develop strength, balance, flexibility and core stability, simultaneously.” See what I mean? It literally does everything. When I first heard about the TRX I was a bit skeptical. As a guy that loves lifting weights, I have always scoffed at body weight exercise--thinking they don’t get me as strong. When we started developing the MVP Annex, my boss wanted to get two TRX trainers to be our primary equipment. I decided that if I was going to train people using the TRX I needed to train myself on it first. So I did just that. I sat down, researched some exercises and went to work. After the first workout I hated it. Not because it was a bad piece of equipment, but because it killed me! I was 10 times more tired after one 45 minute workout on the TRX than I ever have been lifting in the gym!  I was instantly sore after the workout and I was able to fatigue my muscles in no time.

The TRX suspension trainer, “leverages gravity and the user’s body weight.” What does that mean? It means that in every exercise you are working against two types of resistances: gravity and yourself. When you have your limbs in the straps performing an exercise, gravity is pushing down against you. So not only are you having to lift your body weight but you are having to lift your body weight AGAINST gravity. TOUGH!

All exercises are based off of one position: The plank. From this position, there are two different movements: the pull and the hinge. These movement patterns take you to 4 movements that have endless exercises possibilities: rotate, push, squat and lunge. You can see the outline of these movements below.

The TRX suspension trainer is a must have for all gyms. I love training clients on it and my clients love it, as well. Send me an email, shoot me a text, or stop by to find out more! See you at the Annex!!