Are You Unknowingly Setting Yourself Up For Goal Failure?
Time Is Your Key to Success!

By John Kent, North Pinellas & Westchase Adventure Boot Camp for Women

As familiar as “Ho, Ho, Ho” is to kids at Christmas time, “Goals, Goals, Goals” are what most American adults think about come New Years. They are called resolutions, but they are goals nonetheless.  Sadly, most will fail.  Why?  Time.  Time is the quiet cause of both goal success…and goal failure.

Out of all the goals there are to choose from, by far “lose weight” is the #1 goal in America, and for good reason.  Being overweight causes a lot of pain. Not only is it the #2 preventable cause of death in America (smoking being #1) but there is so much emotional pain that comes with it.  I have been in the fitness industry for 14 years. I train only women and I see it firsthand.  Many suffer from deep feelings of isolation, defeat, embarrassment and a life of quiet desperation where they continuously beat themselves up with circular thinking.  Many times years are wasted.  Sometimes a whole life.

I am a very positive person but before one prescribes solutions and sets goals, one must accurately diagnose time issues surrounding the goals. This is very real and very serious. We must start with accurate thinking here.

So, before the New Year even gets here and you decide what to put on your already over filled plate of things to do, the first thing you should do is ask what can I actually eliminate from my schedule?  Most people start with setting goals when the effective achiever knows that accomplishment really begins with time. It is your most valuable non-renewable resource.  So first don’t ask, “Am I worthy of this goal?” That is the wrong question. What you should be asking is, “Is this goal worthy of me and worthy of my most valuable resource, my time?”  The effective achiever starts by finding out where their time goes. Then she makes a strong, valiant effort to cut back on the existing unproductive requirements of her time and then consolidates the largest chunks of uninterrupted time she can.

As Peter Drucker says in The Effective Executive.  “The three step process for creating a foundation for effectiveness at anything is:

• Record your time
• Manage your time, and
• Consolidate your time.

Make the time to achieve the goal first.  Your chances at success will multiply greatly!

About North Pinellas & Westchase Adventure Boot Camp for Women:
North Pinellas & Westchase Adventure Boot Camp for Women is an outdoor fitness program that offers fitness instruction, nutritional support and motivational training – packed with fun and energizing activities designed to help you reach your fitness goals. Whether you want to lose weight to fit into that special dress, shed the extra pounds from a pregnancy or just get fit before that special occasion, this is the program for you!

A former personal trainer, Kent launched the North Pinellas Adventure Boot Camp for Women in Oct. 2007 and added the Westchase Camp in January 2009. Schedules and client testimonials are available at www.BootCampRocks.com. Kent, a certified fitness boot camp instructor with 13 years of experience in the fitness industry, can be reached at John@BootCampRocks.com or 727- 420 – 8139.

How to Safely Incorporate Minimal into Your Runs!

Simpler really can be better sometimes.  Certainly you’ve seen or read about the rise of the seemingly very simple minimalist shoes like Vibrams, Suacony Mirages, Newtons, Nike Free and others.  They’re the fastest growing category of shoes in all three of our FITniche stores and show no signs of letting up.  So many of you are adopting the shoes (or at least talking about them), and so much information is swirling around out there (some of it downright dangerous), that I thought it important to share with you my thoughts on the key benefits, drawbacks and best practices for using minimalist footwear.

DEFINITION
Minimalist shoes, by definition, eliminate much of the weight and most of the structure, as well as the downhill slope from heel to forefoot in shoes. Traditional shoes usually have a 10-14% downhill pitch from the heel to the toe.  Minimalist shoes usually have a 0-4% pitch from the heel.

MINIMALIST SHOE BENEFITS

• Makes it likely you’ll land closer to midfoot, or at least less heavily on your heels.
• The more impact force the midfoot absorbs, the more lightly your overall footstrike—usually!
• Minimalist shoes also lighter, so you’ll usually run faster. (Shaving ounces in a shoe is the equivalent to losing pounds from the rest of you because of centrifugal force and the acceleration and deceleration of each footstep!)
• You’ll also use more of the foot’s smaller muscle structures, theoretically making you stronger and less injury prone.

MINIMALIST SHOE DRAWBACKS

• You’ll need more elasticity in your calf and achilles to handle the nearly level heels, so it’s important to gradually work them in to your training.
• Many of the shoes have very little to no cushioning.  Most have very little structure.
• Because of the lack of cushioning and structure, you’ll need to stay more focused on your form and technique.
• Running on engineered surfaces (uniformly hard, flat surfaces like sidewalks and paved roads) should be done with more engineered (traditional) shoes. The bare foot works best on natural surfaces where every footstep is a little different from the one before it and the ground is softer.  Running on uniformly hard, flat surfaces where every footstep is just like the one before it requires more structure and cushion in a shoe to protect you from injury. Fat pads in the foot break down faster, stress fractures are more likely, and weak infrastructure links can occur more readily over time when running in extreme minimalist product on roads and sidewalks.
• No matter what anyone else tells you, the bare or close-to-bare human foot was neither designed nor created to operate on concrete or pavement.  It was designed for natural surfaces.

BEST PRACTICES!

1. Gradually get your body used to running in minimalist product.  Start with just 5-10 minutes and add just a couple of minutes more each time out–until you get to a total of 30 minutes.
2. Wear extreme minimalist shoes on natural surfaces only!  If you don’t have access to a trail, run in the grass beside the sidewalk or road. It’s more fun there anyway!
3. When you want to plug the earphones in and tune out from everything else (including your forma and technique), wear traditional shoes. Traditional shoes stabilize the foot extremely effectively when fitted correctly.
4. When you want to be fully engaged with your environment and focused on your form and technique, wear minimalist shoes, which will strengthen your infrastructure and help make better form more likely.
5. Keep both types of shoes in your arsenal.
6. Use minimalistic shoes to enjoy running lighter, faster, and with better form!
7. Let trained professionals (like the ones at FITniche!) help you select the right minimalist product for your training needs, body type and biomechanics!

Rich Wills is the owner of FITniche, a group of three specialty running stores located in Lakeland, North Tampa and Clearwater. Rich is a lifelong runner and triathlete and his stores have been selected by Competitor magazine as one of the Top 50 Running Stores in the country for 4 years in a row.  Learn more at www.FITniche.com.

The importance of friends and fitness

The truth is, some of us are loners and some of us are social butterflies, but all of us possess a need to belong to a greater community—to be engaged with friendships.  As kids, most of us didn’t just play in the woods by ourselves or run through the sprinklers alone. Whenever we could, we found friends to do these things with because humans have a universal need to be involved with other humans.  This need applies to our workouts too.  So, whatever your chosen fitness pursuit (running, walking, swimming, Zumba, etc.), be sure to find friends  or make friends to do it with.

Here are a few specific ways you can make community and friendships a part of your fitness pursuits:

1. Join a group by taking a yoga, spin, or Zumba class, or try out a masters swim team, or join your local running club—whatever—and either make some new friends or take some old ones along with you.  In any case, focus on the fun you have with those friends as much as you do on the activity itself.
2. If you exercise at home on your own, purchase a second piece of equipment (If you own a treadmill, for example, get an elliptical too.) and get your spouse or a buddy to go at it with you.  This will allow you to add both a little variety and some camaraderie to your fitness pursuits.  Again, the key is to focus on the relationship and the interactions with other people as much as you do the exercise.
3. Try using a personal trainer or coach.  Many people say that, in addition to benefiting from the knowledge and instruction of a personal trainer or coach, they are also motivated by their relationships with their trainers.  It’s a little like being a kid and promising to meet your buddy down the road for a game of tag—except the trainer or coach is always it, and you typically just get chased from one machine or workout to the next.
4. Remember that you don’t have to do everything with others.  The need for community as related to fitness pursuits is, I believe, universal, but we each differ in the degree to which we need it.  I still enjoy running alone some mornings and just having that time to myself, but I wouldn’t trade my pub runs with my firends from FITniche for anything.  I simply have too much fun with my friends there to pass it up if I can help it.

In closing, keep in mind that the people with whom we surround ourselves in our lives bend us in directions we’re often not even aware of.  Seeking out and surrounding yourself with other people who value their fitness and wellbeing ensures that at least a portion of your environment is filled with people trying to bend you in the same direction you want to go.

Yours in Fitness and in Health!
Rich

You gotta be able to smile…and mean it!

Want to get the most out of your runs?  And have fun at the same time?  Then follow this rule:  You gotta be able to smile…and mean it…at least 80% of the time!

Most runners run way to hard, and that’s a shame.  Take a look at your the faces of runners at your local park or popular running spot.  Most of those faces are etched in a show of agony, pain and general unhappiness.  All that suffering….and for what? Running isn’t like lifting weights, where you have to feel the burn and experience some degree of discomfort to get results.  Running produces its best results (cardiovascular health and burning of fat for fuel) at extremely low exertion levels…50-70% of max heart rate if you own a heart rate monitor.  Don’t own one?  Well, that’s also the exertion level at which you can carry on an abbreviated conversation with someone next to you.  It’s also the level at which you can smile…and still mean it!  So slow down; enjoy your time afoot!  And smile!

PS Most walkers exert too little effort to maximize their results.  Walkers, you should be able to smile and mean it too, but you should also be moving briskly enough to be able to hear your own breathing.

Yours in fitness and in health!