Hey folks,

Got a couple quick bits today.  First, well done Mike.  He is the POD with his picture of himself on top of the 14,255′ mountain known as Longs Peak, AND he’s rockin’ his Fit Soldiers gear!  Way to go Mike!

So this weekend I did a century ride with a boot camper, Diane.  I was thankful to ride along with her and her little entourage of cyclists.  We went up Wyoming for the second time.  Last year was a gorgeous day sunny, and no wind (rare for Wyoming).  We could only hope for the same.  Weather Bug said 5-10mile/hour winds out of the west, OK we can handle that.  LIARS, try 20mph steady head winds.  Well we rocked through it in well under 5 hours, Averaging about 17.5mph.

If we were all riding solo we would have barely made it.  We all worked together to cut through the wind.  As we on a slight down hill with a cross wind cruising at 32mph.  I began to think about our boot campers.  I see in various groups daily.  When the group is working together, motivating, encouraging they are killing it.  Sweat pouring, muscles burning, heart and lungs racing.  The group is very synergistic.  Now take those boot campers and separate them that energy dissipates and less work is done.  OR you can even look at it by adding a bad apple into the group.  Yes, that bad attitude can and will drag any well oiled team down.

Next time you are here or go for a workout, who is your support group?  Who is motivating you to get to your goals and who is not.  Get rid of the anchor and start making some progress.

This is the way we are modeling our boot camps.  We do not want these bad apples.  Our new membership structure includes a free Try-out, because if we don’t feel you are right for the workouts and it is going to effect our current boot campers then we don’t want you.  Check the attitude at the door, give a little to the group and you will get back better results.  See you soon!

Tags: 2010, boot camps, calories, cardio, Cardio Strength Training, Colorado, community, david mura, denver, exercise, Fit Soldiers, fitness, fitness boot camp, fitness community, fitsoldiers, free, health, New Years resolution, northglenn, nutrition, personal trainers, personal training, Pic Of the Day, strength, Thornton, weight loss, westminster, workout

You Fit Soldiers never cease to amaze me!  I would never recommend anything before knowing what it is all about first.  I have to say sometimes I need a reminder about how hard your working.  I was able to jump into the 7:00 am boot camp this morning and loved it…once it was over!

With that said just wanted to thank you for all your hard work, trash talking, calorie killing, sweaty high fives, grunting, and groaning you do durring your workouts.  You guys ROCK.  Thanks!

Tags: 2010, boot camps, calories, cardio, Cardio Strength Training, Colorado, community, david mura, denver, exercise, Fit Soldiers, fitness, fitness boot camp, fitness community, fitsoldiers, free, health, northglenn, personal trainers, personal training, strength, Thornton, weight loss, westminster

Hey since there are tabatas on tap for today’s workout, just inc ase i didn’t get a chance to share this with you.  Here it is.

We all know that tabatas are suposed to be intense.  20 seconds of all out effort, 10 seconds of rest for eight rounds.  But what is really all out?  Here is a little story for you to think about going into your next round of tabatas.

Imagine, put yourself in dream world for a minute.  You are walking along a bridge, a rail road bridge to be exact.  You are half way across when you hear a train, look back you see the train.  You start sprinting as hard as you can.  Twenty seconds later you are forced to jump off the bridge.  You land you get 10 seconds to huff and puff before you notice your standing on another bridge and hear another train.  Sprint it out all out intensity for another 2o seconds.   Jump…

This cycle repeats for 8 rounds total.  This is your tabata.  Are you working as though your life depended on it?  Some people should be.

See you tonight!

Tags: 2010, boot camps, calories, cardio, Cardio Strength Training, Colorado, community, david mura, denver, exercise, Fit Soldiers, fitness, fitness boot camp, fitness community, fitsoldiers, free, health, New Years resolution, northglenn, nutrition, personal trainers, personal training, proper form, safe exercise, strength, tabata, Thornton, weight loss, workout, workout of the day

The third part in your fitness success equation is your workout.  Remember these were in order of importance.  Your workout is not the most important.  You can see results with your great motivation and nutrition, your workouts now can make or break the speed of your results.  “So why are my workouts poor?”

Many people get discouraged, don’t have the time, and get frustrated with the pace of their results.  You don’t have to spend hours on cardio, 6 days a week, trying to spot reduce your dreaded areas.  They are a waste of time.  The intensity needs to be cranked up and think about big calorie burns and not trying to stay in your “fat burn zone”, or targeting your troubled areas.  You can be more effective with 3 intense workouts per week than you would if you were on a 6 day schedule with a mediocre workout.

As a recap you have to be in it to win it.  Drive, motivation and determination need to be spot on.  Find positive social support, reward/punishment, determination.  Second, take a look at your nutrition, cabinets, refrigerator, freezer.  Start planning you meals by living and not surviving through your day.  Last find a fun intense workout that you will love, keep it fresh.  Hope you enjoyed!

Tags: 2010, boot camps, calories, cardio, Cardio Strength Training, Colorado, community, david mura, denver, exercise, Fit Soldiers, fitness, fitness boot camp, fitness community, fitsoldiers, free, health, New Years resolution, northglenn, nutrition, personal trainers, personal training, proper form, safe exercise, strength, Thornton, weight loss, westminster, workout

Why are we in business?  Why are we named Fit Soldiers?  Why are the workouts so hard? Why are we do we have 30second rest and yesterday it was a 10 second rest?  Why did we do pushups and then squats?  Why do you want to lose weight? Why do you need to get stronger?  Why, Why Why.

When was the last time you asked yourself WHY?  When was the last time you gave yourself a REAL answer?  Why do you need to lose weight?  Because I’m over weight.  Not acceptable.  Dig deeper.  Why are you over weight, why did you eat too much, why do you eat when your stressed?

Before we can tap into any real motivation you need to examine the real reason you are exercising.  In a sense the real motive behind the hard earned sweat and money you are investing into your health and seeing mediocre results.

What is your Mindset? Now we all want to reach our goals as fast as possible but what is realistic for you, your budget, lifestyle, job, family etc.  Once you set your goals do not, DO NOT say “OK, I’ll give boot camp a try.”  No that is a terrible mindset, you have to believe in what your doing.  You have to go in with the attitude of “I will succeed.”  Do not sell yourself short.

The second part of this is to have a Reward and Punishment System.  If you hit a midway point, or short term goal what is your incentive aside from the actual weight loss?  On the flip side, what is your punishment?  If I don’t hit this short term goal then…….fill in the plank.

Third.  Social Support.  You have plenty of support during boot camp, however you are only here for 3 hours a week.  So what are you surrounded with on your own?  Treats at the office, non-supportive friends/family, etc.  AND how are they holding you accountable?  Are they a part of your reward/punishment system?  ex. Spouse washes your car when you hit your goals.  OR You have to vacuum the house if you don’t hit your goal this week.

Last. Persistence.  Never Give Up, If you have been in our gym you have seen the poster.  Inconsistency does not get results, keep pushing through the tough times will pay off.

Let me know what your strong and weak points are.  Here is our POD coming from this weekends adventure. Mt. Bierstadt Awesome work job!

Tags: 2010, boot camps, calories, cardio, Cardio Strength Training, Colorado, community, david mura, denver, exercise, Fit Soldiers, fitness, fitness boot camp, fitness community, fitsoldiers, free, health, New Years resolution, northglenn, nutrition, personal trainers, personal training, Pic Of the Day, strength, Thornton, weight loss, westminster

Ahh that’s a nice feeling.  We all have free will, it is God given and can be a relief at times.  It can also be disastrous when poor decisions are made, there are endless examples of this.  Lets take a look at free will in regards to fitness, nutrition, and health.  You have free will to eat what you want, exercise when you want if at all, and be as fit and as healthy as you want.  No one is telling you how to live your life.

Now nobody is perfect, from the people labeling your food, the people telling you what to eat, or how to exercise, and how fit you are.  You ultimately have to take responsibility for yourself, free will.  I think this country has taken advantage of this free will.  Looking at the rise in diabetes, obesity, and decline in health, and who’s to blame?  Certainly not themselves, no schools, fast foods, manufacturers, friends, commercials, the list can go on.  It is easy to point the finger and pass on the blame but when it’s broken down it is easy to see who is at fault.  Pack your kids school lunch, prepare your own lunches to avoid fast foods, educate and read labels, stop making excuses for eating junk.

Look nobody wants to be obese, over weight, made fun of, or uncomfortable and self conscious.  We all want to be fitter, faster, skinnier, stronger and healthier.  So where does it start.  Take ownership, stop making excuses and stop abusing free will because a poor decision leads to a poor outcome.  Have some discipline, create some boundaries, put restrictions on you eating.

Faith and fitness have a lot in common.  My pastor explained this to me and here is how it relates to you and your fitness.  Think of a body of water, no boundaries kind of like a flood, it just washes out everywhere and creates a big mess.  Now think of that water with boundaries, it has a destination, the river has barriers and soon turns into a powerful raging river.  A big difference, one is free to roam and creates a big mess, the other has some boundaries creating power, aggression and making things move.  Which one are you?

Tags: 2010, boot camps, calories, cardio, Cardio Strength Training, Colorado, community, david mura, denver, exercise, Fit Soldiers, fitness, fitness boot camp, fitness community, fitsoldiers, free, health, New Years resolution, northglenn, nutrition, personal trainers, personal training, strength, Thornton, weight loss, westminster

Over the last month we have been compiling some quick clips of our boot campers.  It is by no means a Hollywood production but it displays the hard work, reward, and fun all in one sweet little package!

ENJOY!

Tags: 2010, boot camps, calories, cardio, Cardio Strength Training, Colorado, community, david mura, denver, exercise, Fit Soldiers, fitness, fitness boot camp, fitness community, fitsoldiers, free, health, New Years resolution, northglenn, nutrition, personal trainers, personal training, proper form, safe exercise, strength, Thornton, weight loss, westminster, workout

Looking back at some of the questions from yesterdays blog I want to revisit one point.  Imagine your workouts, and imagine your at your physical end.  Your asking yourself, I cant do one more.  It burns.  I need oxygen. The list goes on.  I asked what your response is to that question?  The ones that get on that wall are the ones that dug deep, pulled up the extra energy and didn’t quit.  If they did quit, they owned up and made up the lost time.

This is what’s referred to as the point of confrontation.  You debate in your head and say, “I am working pretty hard and could be satisfied with how I did today.”  “I could push a little harder but I did pretty good.”  Or do you say the is only 10 seconds left.  This is the last round.  After this I’m done.  I can’t stop now.

The point of confrontation is the difference between mediocrity and excelling.  I was reading a devotional just yesterday and want to ask you what you do when you come upon storms in life?  Do you skirt around it and say “phew, just missed that one.”  Or do you head strait in, get messed up, and come out a better person physically, mentally, emotionally?  I want to challenge you to enter the storm.  Enter head on, pedal to the metal, full steam ahead and see what happens.

Tags: 2010, boot camps, calories, cardio, Cardio Strength Training, Colorado, community, david mura, denver, exercise, Fit Soldiers, fitness, fitness boot camp, fitness community, fitsoldiers, free, health, New Years resolution, northglenn, nutrition, personal trainers, personal training, proper form, safe exercise, strength, Thornton, weight loss, westminster, workout

Hey there, I know all the Fit Soldiers coming in for Boot Camp have been noticing a little more art work on our walls.  Who are they?  How did they get there?  Holy crap they look good!

I’m talking about our testimonies.  We have recently added a couple to our hall of fame if you will.  I just wanted to give you a little briefing on what its all about.  We have a program that we guarantee to get you results. Yes we guarantee it, but how come not everyone gets the results they want.  Well the people on the wall are the ones that were sick and tire of who they were, tired of being overweight, out of shape, sluggish, and self conscious and demanded to do something about it.

You see we are not with you 24/7.  Only 3 hours a week actually so there the people going up on the wall are the ones that took things serious enough to hammer their nutrition, kill everything we threw at them in boot camp, and go above and beyond what we gave them.  They came to free boot camps, asked their nutrition questions, attended a grocery store tour, made difficult changes to their lifestyle, eating, and physical habits that were hindering their progress in order to get the results they wanted.

So whats on your mind during your workouts?  Are you going along with the flow?  Chatting texting?  Anxious for your favorite show tonight?  Dreaming about dinner?  Stressed about the pile of work on your desk?

Or does your mind look like this.  It burns, I can’t do one more, I need to breathe, my heart is racing,  how many more?  Then what is your response?  Do you want to be on the wall or are you happy where your at?  Don’t assume results because they don’t just come.  Demand them, go get them, then expect them.

Tags: 2010, boot camps, calories, cardio, Cardio Strength Training, Colorado, community, david mura, denver, exercise, Fit Soldiers, fitness, fitness boot camp, fitness community, fitsoldiers, free, health, New Years resolution, northglenn, nutrition, personal trainers, personal training, proper form, safe exercise, strength, Thornton, weight loss, westminster, workout

Happy Fourth of July!!

Sorry for the delayed workout.  Especially for you early birds.  Rock it out and tell me how it went!

50:10

Air Squats

Bear Crawl Forward and Backward

Sea Turtles

Plank Push Up

Side Plank (1/2 each side)

Tags: 2010, boot camps, calories, cardio, Cardio Strength Training, Colorado, community, david mura, denver, exercise, Fit Soldiers, fitness, fitness boot camp, fitness community, fitsoldiers, free, health, northglenn, personal trainers, personal training, strength, Thornton, weight loss, westminster, workout, workout of the day