When You Finally Get There

So many times I get on Spark People I read about people’s amazing journey’s through fitness. I read about the triumphs and struggles of every day people accomplishing amazing results. During this journey everyone has individual goals. Most people want to look a certain way, lose a certain amount of weight or inches. They focus on what they want to become and fight like crazy to accomplish it. It is so inspiring to read these stories because it gives everyone hope. When you combine hope and desire you create an inspiring mixture so powerful it resonates throughout all those that are lucky enough to be around it.

The reason I am writing this is because we never hear from the people that have reached the point they were once aiming for. I am by no means perfect and will never be or intend to be. The one thing I have done is reached the body I have always wanted. I know for me that I would always look in those fitness magazines and dream of what it would be like to look like those guys. You dream for the 6-pack, nice legs, etc… The funny part is I noticed my body changing but I never realized that I looked good until one of friends started asking me for advise. Then the compliments came.

I want it to be known I have been fairly shy and had very little self-confidence my whole life. That has really changed over my total transformation period. Without being cocky you can still be confident in what you have worked so hard for. I titled this “When You Finally Get There” because I wanted to share the feelings of exactly that.

First and foremost the best part about being in shape is all the compliments. You start to notice them when you start to change but they have been coming on a daily basis ever since. Most people don’t realize how something simple as, wow you look great, can feel. The best part is when your getting these types of reactions it only makes you want to work harder. Motivation now shifts to losing weight to maintaining or looking even better!

The compliments are great but the best part about getting there is being fit. That may sound confusing but being fit allows you to still enjoy the little things. Most people don’t realize that fit people indulge every now and then too. When your fit you can have a cheat meal once in a while and your body just gobbles it up. Your favorite pizza gets destroyed by your metabolism and never sees your waistline. The really crazy part is once you stop bad habits you never want to go back. You don’t miss all that junk because it isn’t a part of your anymore. The longer you go the longer you realize you don’t need or want it.

When I finally got there I realized that I was blessed. Blessed with the knowledge, desire, and strength to achieve anything I set my mind on. Having the body I have always wanted floods me with so many emotions I can’t but help share.

I know someday you will be writing this and sharing what happens when you finally get there.
God Bless,

Nick

300 Challenge Day 1

So the workout for the first day was 30/15 of the one on one series. I am more like 20/8 and for those of you that don't know it is a push/pull-up workout. You do 24 sets 12 push-up and 12 pull-up exercises. I was able to keep the 20/8 for most of the workout until about the last few. Working on a video but not sure if I will get it up anytime soon.

Heading out to knock out Day 2, Plyo and Ab Ripper. Stay tuned.

300 Challenge Day Before

300 Challenge Journey
Day Before
August 2, 2009

Ok, so I have been doing something about what I wanted to start off as a note/blog for my 300 Challenge Journey. I think I have it.

I wanted to write about how I got to this point. Sitting here my goals for the next 90 days are drastically different then back in November when I started P90X. Had you asked me then, I would have told you I wanted to look like the guys in the infomercials. I wanted to change my body and transform it into something I could be proud of. I didn’t care what it took and I really didn’t care what people said when I posted the pictures day 1 and on. My goals and mind were set on something very specific. Over that time I had to adjust, face adversity, and learn while up against the ropes. I never gave up despite the rocky road. I continually pressed play and took the concept of “do your best forget the rest” whole heartily. Because of my persistent attitude I accomplish what I wasn’t able to in just 7 months.

I start on this next journey with the same mindset but even more determine. See the funny thing about accomplishing goals is you want to set more. You want do more and see where you can take yourself. I was asked to place goals for this challenge and I did so. Measurements, numbers, and visual results are all fine but the greatest goal you can’t put a number to is, your drive. Each time I do a workout I won’t be thinking about those numbers. Each time I do a workout it will be my pure drive to be better in that moment that will be my goal. This goal of making myself better will translate much more in life. Yes having low body fat and high numbers are all fine but building confidence and my internal drive are far more valuable to me.

I was a sucker for numbers and appearance and failed to see the bigger picture, the journey. This is life, the journey. Not the numbers, or tangible things within life. So for the 300 Challenge my #1 goal is going to be enjoying the journey not the numbers.

Nick

Shakeology: The Breakthrough

A Coaching Opportunity of a Lifetime

Coaching Opportunity

CHANGE YOUR BODY, CHANGE YOUR MIND, CHANGE YOUR LIFE! BECOME PART OF A FITNESS REVOLUTION!

TODAYS THE DAY

What Do I Do?

What do I do?

A lot of people have been asking me lately what I really do. Nick what is this coaching you do? You know its all crap right? Focus your attention on something else. For all those who are wondering what I am doing and why, here it is:You know when your growing up and someone older says “Johnny what do you want to be when you grow up?” Johnny usually has some really cool answer like astronaut, sports athlete, fireman/women, or president. When asked why, the reply is usually, because its cool. Johnny is going to be one of those things no matter what and it has nothing to do with the amount of money he is going to make. He wants this because it is simply cool. If only every adult listened to Johnny and took his advise.

Most (not all) of us get lost some where along the way. We forget what is cool or what we truly love. We find that this symbol “$” is the ultimate happiness. People measure success based on a simple little symbol “$”. It’s tangible you can touch it, count it, play in it. When we were young we didn’t care about how much an astronaut got paid or how difficult it was to become a pro athlete. All we knew was that we wanted it and could see ourselves already in that position. Our parents and everyone around us nurtured that dream. We were encouraged to do big things. Money was a funny word that old people used and the older you became the less people nurtured that dream. Money slowly starts to creep in your head. Do I have enough? This person says no, this product says no, this service says no. Money slowly takes hold of your mind and you no longer dream about flying to the moon. Instead you become trapped in the web of that symbol “$”.

This is why I do what I do. Missed the point? Didn’t explain enough? That is because you weren’t listening.Let me help.If you were told that tomorrow you wouldn’t be paid anymore for your job would you still stay at that job? Less dramatic you would get less then half your making now. How long would it take before you turned in your termination? What if you knew even though you were not getting paid you could help someone else? You could share your knowledge free of charge. You could show this other person how to be a better version of them. Would you still leave? What if you could have such a profound effect on someone that years after you are gone people still remember you? The greatest names in history, rich or not, are remembered for one thing, contribution. We remember people for how they contributed to the world. The best givers are the most remembered. The best givers are the most remembered. How much do you give during the course of your job? How many lives do you affect?

What do I do?

I help people. I show them how to get what they want. I am a life coach, I am a friend, I am a shoulder to lean on. I am support, I am motivation, I am tough love, and I am there. I show you what you can become. I am a guide. I care where you’re going and how you want to get there. I want to surround you with people that feel the same as I do. This is what I do. This is why I am a coach. At the end of the day if I didn’t get paid I would still do what I am doing.

Understand now?

Nick

Gym Membership Costing You To Much??

I hear it everywhere I go people complaining about how much it is to become a member at a gym. You can spend anywhere from 20-100 dollars a month on a membership. This adds up over the course of a year. You can be looking at over $240-1000+ a year on a membership and in today's economy nobody wants or can afford to spend that type of money.

Most people have memberships but hardly use them. Plus it also costs you time and money to drive to gym. Many people who have memberships don't use them because sometimes they just don't feel like driving. I'll go tomorrow they say because they don't want to leave their home.

Another problem I run into is that gyms can be intimidating for some people. I know a lot of times people that finally build up enough courage to go to the gym and back out because they don't know what they are doing. They just imitate everyone else and hope they see results.

With people cutting budgets and keeping a strong watch over what they spend, gym memberships come as a luxury and are usually the first to go. This can be very unfortunate since obesity in America is at an all time high right now. People are cutting back on what should be considered a necessity, fitness and health.

Most of you know by now my transformation. If you have seen my pictures you have seen that I haven’t been exactly slacking. I pay no membership, I use no gas, and I never have to wait for machines. Programs like P90X have completely changed the way people think about fitness. (Don’t know what P90X is just ask!). These program are designed by the top trainers in the world and they are considerably cheaper then any gym membership. Once you have the program it is yours. Imagine this situation:

Guy #1
Gym Membership per month = $35 yearly = 420

Guy #2
P90X = $119.99

You could buy 3 P90X’s for the price of one membership. The bonus you don’t have to wait in line, use gas, or feel bad because you have no clue what to do.

In our economy people are looking for that way to save money. Why jeopardize your health? Shouldn’t that always be a necessity instead of a luxury? Saving money and getting into shape! GET COMBO!!!!

Why P90X isn't about the workouts.

After posting my round 2 pictures on facebook a few weeks back I have had an overwhelmingly positive response to the success I have achieved. I have had both friends and family asking me for advice on whether P90X truly works, how it works, and if they would be a good fit. Every time I am asked about it I get excited because it's an opportunity for me to share my story and hopefully help create ones for others.

First off I always start by telling them that I am not a professional in fitness by any stretch of the imagination. Most if not all the knowledge I have from health and fitness has been acquired through my own searching, questioning, and digging. I am a firm believer in being all natural. Good hard American work, proper nutrition, and a powerful attitude are what drive me, not short cuts. When people ask me man how did you get so cut? I tell them straight up through P90X, my diet and attitude. They get that I worked out and see that as the main reason for my success but what they don't understand is that it's not about the workouts.(mostly)

If I had enough time to explain to people what I am about to explain it would change their minds of the TOTAL transformation I have achieved.

P90X or any extreme workout program is not for those looking for that quick fix. (90 days is by no means quick) For the sake of time I will assume (although I never like to) that people know that doing a workout like P90X is intense to the max. The workout itself is hard no doubt but it is everything else that surrounds the workout that is the true challenge (hence the title).

I wanna use a quick example to illustration what I'm trying to get at. Most people tend to work 8 hours or more in a given day. Despite what line of work your in you know that 8 hours makes for a long day. This is only the hours you have at your job and not including everything else in your life. If you have been pressing the "play" button on life you can be very exhausted. Now throw in a 50 min intense workout at the end of that day. This is where the real challenge lies. It's not always about the workout but actually being able to get to the workout that's challenging in itself. Say you work 12 hours in a given day let alone on a Friday. It would be so easy to say no thank you workout I'll go drink a beer. But after going through P90X instead of saying no thank you workout I can say no thank you beer. This is what makes P90X more then just the workout. Being able to have a whole different mindset on life.

Many people pick what is gonna satisfy them in the present. By going through P90X I can now look at a situation and make a decision based on how it will affect me down the road. Bad habits are very difficult to break but once you do the walls of those habits crumble and you replace them with positive ones.

P90X allowed me to change the way I made a lot of decisions. Most nights when I had the choice of pizza or lean chicken I would go with the chicken. In times of past depending on how long it had been since I had pizza I would justify eating empty calories because I hadn't had them in a while. Now I am able to approach this and say how will eating that pizza effect my body, energy levels, mind, performance 5 minutes down the road, 1 hour down the road, days down the road?? To me when you look at everything in a cause/effect situation it allows you weigh options in both the now and down the road.

P90X has opened the question master within me. Instead of simply saying don't eat that or don't do that. I ask why? What is the reason behind all the little details in this healthy life style. Yes I know it is for better health but why? Yes I know eating that pizza is bad but why? What's the real reason why it's bad? Dig deeper as to the WHY. I'm not just satisfied with "well because it will make you fat". What is the science behind it? What is it that makes each ingredient act the way it does in your system not allowing you to have a healthy experience?? WHY WHY WHY??? Instead of saying that I am to tired to do the workout, I now ask why shouldn't I do the workout. Why should I?? I have more to gain from doing a workout then I have from not doing one.

This whole journey has opened doors that I never felt possible. Before P90X I was in good shape. I "attempted" to eat right, workout and stay healthy. I never knew there was a much better way to it and as I write this today I know that months from now I'll be saying "and there was an even better way then before". I KNOW MORE!!

P90X isn't about the workouts it about what motivates the workouts, what drives the people to continue, what gets people excited for the day saying what the heck am I going to learn today? It's about possibilities and being open. It's about sharing and learning. It's about total health, mind, and body. It's about bringing it and pressing play on LIFE.

Tony Horton’s 11 Laws of Fitness

Tony Horton’s 11 Laws of Fitness

The title really says it all with this one. Tony Horton, the creator of P90X and several other top selling Beachbody workouts has been changing lives all over the world with his incredible training and insight into fitness and nutrition. He came up with these 11 laws to help guide people toward being better, happier and healthier. I do my best to follow these “laws” every single day, and their impact in my own life has been nothing short of profound. Read them, absorb them, and live them - you’ll be glad that you did!

Variety - Variety is the spice of life and fitness. A lifetime of health and fitness is achievable when you can think outside the box. You have to mix it up all the time. Stay curious, creative, and stick with the kinds of workouts that you enjoy. A variety of exercises, workouts, and sports will allow you to avoid injuries, plateaus, and boredom.

Consistency - Improvement and change occur when you do things often. Stopping and starting all the time will kill any momentum you need to succeed. You must find ways to stay in the game. Moderate forms of exercise, done consistently, provide far better results than the occasional full-body pummeling. A lifestyle that includes multiple forms of exercise five to six days a week guarantees results.

Intensity - YOU’RE TOUGHER THAN YOU THINK. The fear of pain or injury from working out is a mindset steeped in failure. You must learn to “Find the Line.” Do the extra rep or two, increase your range of motion, and increase resistance as you get stronger. Intensity goes hand in hand with Variety and Consistency. The combination of the three work together as a triad that creates a platform for success. The programs provide variety. Your plan will keep you consistent.

Purpose - Your purpose is to have a better life. Exercise and eating right help you feel better. When you feel better, you do more. When you do more, you meet other people. A healthy lifestyle gives us the energy to be better than before. We want to participate, share, communicate, and build a community—have purpose in our lives. If you had never found Beachbody, you might be right back where you were—isolated, with nothing to share, no purpose, because you weren’t doing anything with anyone.

Reality - Why do we want life to be different than it is? Why do we think about who we were and who we’re going to be more than who we are? We certainly talk a good game about who we are now. Why do we try to predict the future with the hope that wishful thinking is enough to change it? Life is NOT the way it was. It’s the way it is. Life is not our fantasy predictions of the future or our glory days of the past. Life is that thing that is happening to you as you read this. We fall into the trap of living in the past and future because right here is not good enough. Back then and up there are keeping you from right now.

Sports - Take the onus off of weight, inches, and body fat percentages and put the focus on

MOVING—from dancing, rock climbing, and mountain biking to table tennis. I love that ping-pong! Think in terms of “can do” instead of “look like.” Sports are fun and help develop balance and coordination—which in turn accelerates your results. Jump, kick, run, spin, throw, skate, shoot, hit, score, compete . . . PLAY!

The Plan - SCHEDULE ALL WORKOUTS IN ADVANCE. This creates accountability. Plan an entire month ahead of time. Try to schedule as many workouts as possible with friends who have similar goals. WOWY was developed so that we could find an easy and effective way to stay accountable and work out together. Now we’ve got people in all over the world working out at the same time. That is cool!

Sleep (and stress) - Stressed out, sleep-deprived people don’t eat right and exercise regularly. Stress depletes energy, strength, and desire, while poor sleep habits affect your moods and immune function along with cognitive and motor performance. Burning the candle at both ends makes it impossible to be fit and healthy.

Loving It - Exercise and workouts involve commitment, determination, planning, consistency, and intensity. If you don’t like what you’re doing, there’s no way on earth you’ll succeed. Enthusiasm is a very big piece of the puzzle. Get creative and stay curious. If you enjoy doing Power 90 exclusively and it works for you, then keep doing it until it doesn’t. If you get part way through P90X and it’s not your cup of tea, then stop, and do something else. Something’s got to bring you back day after day, week after week. Love it (tolerate it) or leave it.

Flexibility - Flexibility is the fountain of youth. Flexible people are much less prone to injury. Yoga and stretching allow you to bring more intensity to your workouts. Flexibility is the key component to becoming less vulnerable and more durable. Aging has a funny way of making everything we do harder. Staying limber and flexible is the way to prevent that from happening.

Food and Supplements - You are what you eat! Food and supplements are your fuel. The right fuel supplies proper energy and recovery through balanced brain chemistry. The right supplements simply fill in gaps in your diet.

Failing

This story/blog sort of sums up the last 5 years of my life. I titled it failing because I felt that this best suits my mindset over this time period. You will soon read that failing doesn't have to be a negative word but can be embraced. I once read in a book (yes a book) about a guy that had an idea and thought his idea was better then anyone else's. This guy went from house to house, company to company, person to person selling his idea. He was turned down his first time, second, third, forth, and eventually 20+ times before someone finally said lets here it. You may have heard of this guy Dr. Seuss? It took Dr. Seuss failing over 20 times before he finally got someone to notice. In baseball if a batter fails 7/10 times that's considered pretty good. Failing is not always bad.

While a freshman in college I had a advisor (yes advisor), tell me the that my idea to work in sports was ludicrous, dumb, and a waste of time. I was told to look at more practical areas of study. She said that only athletes get these types of jobs. She was looking for me to fail. That being said I used that sole motivation to prove her wrong. Transferring schools and setting out to work within sports I knew what I had to do. While attending school I was able to achieve many notable awards, major of the year, scholarships, and many internships. The one that stood out the most was with the Cincinnati Reds in Sarasota Florida. Couldn't work within sports huh? I basically gave my old advisor the proverbial finger and managed to mingel with some big name people. I fought the temptation to send her an e-mail everyday I was down there. I had proved her wrong and had not failed.

Fastforward to today, and here I sit. A year removed from my experience within the Reds orgainization. Jobless and basically moneyless. To most accounts I have a very impressive resume and am considered (depending on who you ask) to be someone intelligent. You may be saying well you are failing right now man. But I would beg to differ. I am currently Dr. Seuss and knocking on my 20+ doors right now and while I go through this journey I think it's funny that since I have basically already knocked down the door that my advisor setup the day she said you can't, I do not feel like my orginal goal is good enough. I have already proven her wrong and was just waiting for someone to say you can't.

This has been at the root of everything I have done for the past 5 years. People saying you are going to fail only fuels the fire. I see it all around me in the everyday things. When someone starts a workout plan, you get the "oh your not gonna last a week" or "you can't do that". When someone wants to better their lifes I hear "thats stupid why even try". So many are afraid of failing that they don't want to see others succeed around them. I use to think that my worst fear was failing in life. I wouldn't try new things and was somewhat reserved. If you knew me today you would know that I LOVE TO FAIL!!! It allows you to grow and learn and provides a challenge that can spark your own internal drive. I have that internal drive that is so powerfull I will always know that if I do fail its only for the moment and I take that and run with it until the failing becomes success. And today I am a success because I have failed so many times.

My First Blogg

Well folks I have finally tap this great universe known as blogging. I just wanted to get something on here to kick start this momentous event and I know my fans are greatly anticipating my upcoming posts. I look forward to providing all of you with a great deal of insite from my enormous library of knowledge known fondly has my melon. Sit back relax and enjoy the show. Oh and if by some crazy event I actually get one person to read this stuff LOL. I will be pumped.

P.S. (Do people P.S. in bloggs?) I would like to thank Lance Moser for this inspiration. RIP Moser where ever you are.

P.P.S. Love you mom!