August Exercise Motivation Quotes

"You've lost weight before. Now just do it again and again until it becomes a lifestyle instead of a random whim."
- Charles Moffat

"Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength."
- Arnold Schwarzenegger

"Winning isn't everything, but the will to win is everything."
- Vince Lombardi

"Sure I am this day we are masters of our fate, that the task which has been set before us is not above our strength; that its pangs and toils are not beyond our endurance. As long as we have faith in our own cause and an unconquerable will to win, victory will not be denied us."
- Winston Churchill

"Courage is as often the outcome of despair as of hope; in the one case we have nothing to lose, in the other, everything to gain."
- Diane de Pointiers

"A winner is someone who recognizes his God-given talents, works his tail off to develop them into skills, and uses these skills to accomplish his goals."
- Larry Bird

"Win as if you were used to it, lose as if you enjoyed it for a change."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

July Exercise Motivation Quotes

"If you don't control your life then life will control you. Grab life by the horns and never let go."
-Charles Moffat

"I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times."
-Bruce Lee

"Mistakes are always forgivable, if one has the courage to admit them."
-Bruce Lee

"If you love life, don't waste time, for time is what life is made up of."
-Bruce Lee

"If you always put limit on everything you do, physical or anything else. It will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them."
-Bruce Lee

"A goal is not always meant to be reached, it often serves simply as something to aim at."
-Bruce Lee

"If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you'll never get it done."
-Bruce Lee

"Take things as they are. Punch when you have to punch. Kick when you have to kick."
-Bruce Lee

"It's not the daily increase but daily decrease. Hack away at the unessential."
-Bruce Lee

"The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra."
-Jimmy Johnson
 
"Don't look where you fall, but where you slipped."
-African Proverb
 
"Practical life teaches us that people may differ and that both may be wrong: it also teaches us that people may differ and both be right. Anchor yourself fast in the latter faith, or the former will sweep your heart away."
-Augustus William Hare and Julius Charles Hare, Guesses at Truth, by Two Brothers, 1827
 
"Look at everything as though you were seeing it either for the first or last time."
-Betty Smith, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn 

"Time you enjoy wasting, was not wasted."
-John Lennon
 
"Have a heart that never hardens, a temper that never tires, a touch that never hurts."
-Charles Dickens
 
"Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant."
-Robert Louis Stevenson
 
"It's better to fight for something than against something."
-Author Unknown
 

"Promise only what you can deliver. Then deliver more than you promise."
-Author Unknown 

"Life is like riding a bicycle - in order to keep your balance, you must keep moving."
-Albert Einstein
 
"Sandwich every bit of criticism between two thick layers of praise."
-Mary Kay Ash 

Exercise Wisdom from Bruce Lee

"Mistakes are always forgivable, if one has the courage to admit them."
-Bruce Lee

"If you love life, don't waste time, for time is what life is made up of."
-Bruce Lee

"If you always put limit on everything you do, physical or anything else. It will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them."
-Bruce Lee

"A goal is not always meant to be reached, it often serves simply as something to aim at."
-Bruce Lee

"If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you'll never get it done."
-Bruce Lee

"Take things as they are. Punch when you have to punch. Kick when you have to kick."
-Bruce Lee

"It's not the daily increase but daily decrease. Hack away at the unessential."
-Bruce Lee

Attacking the Excuses: Fitness Tips

Are you one of those people who looks for excuses not to exercise and then later complains that they don't feel motivated enough to exercise and stick with a fitness routine?

It happens to a lot of us. We all make excuses due to lack of motivation.

Even us personal trainers sometimes catch ourselves making excuses (my personal Achilles heel is the weather conditions).

Excuse #1: I’m too tired!

When does any of us feel properly rested? Almost never. But what you might not know is that exercise will energize you and make you feel invigorated by boosting your metabolism! Follow the Nike slogan and "Just do it." Ahem. Do or do not, there is no try. Schedule all your workouts. If you don't give yourself an option, you’ll always exercise at the time you should be.

#2: I’m sore!

If your body is sore it means you need to be exercising more, not less. Focus on lighter exercises, stretching and jogging to help loosen up. Once you feel warmed up you won't notice the soreness. Exercise also removes toxins in the blood that cause soreness in the muscles and joints. Light exercise does the body good when you are feeling sore!

#3: I ache from exercising!

Achy joints are a sign that your body needs help repairing, and that your body lacks specific nutrients. Start by taking multivitamins on a daily basis to help your body heal faster. If you ache from starting a new workout program, you back off the intensity a bit, but don't stop the exercise entirely. Your boosted metabolism from regular exercise will heal the aches faster.

#4: I hate working out!

Then pick exercises you actually enjoy doing. eg. Swimming, boxing, cycling - whatever suits your fancy. If you’re doing lots of cardio and eating properly you will see results within two weeks and by the third week you’ll even start to enjoy the workouts and the fact you are seeing results, feeling better about yourself, becoming stronger, faster, and building endurance. If you can't find an exercise you enjoy then any exercise is better than no exercise. Take the dog for a walk, go for evening strolls, take up a sport.

#5: I get too bulky / gain weight!

If you are gaining weight when you want to be losing it then you’re not training right! Most likely you are lifting weights, eating the wrong foods and bulking up when you should be doing cardio and eating a low carb diet. If you combine cardio exercises with lifting weights, you’ll tighten and tone but not bulk up.

#6: I don’t need to exercise; I’m active all day!

You may feel active from whatever you do for work or chores, but that is not the same as exercising. Everybody needs to work out and challenge themselves regularly. Physical challenges keeps our bones and muscles strong and our circulatory systems healthy. Low levels of activity provide no challenge, resulting in the body slowly becoming weaker and slower.

People who sit too much and severely lack physical activity in their lives, and thus need more movement during exercising in order to reach a balance when it comes to keeping their bodies healthy. They might be walking for an hour or two every day, but that is comparatively nil. Having an exercise workout every day is to balance your lack of exercise.

Five Steps Toward A Beach Perfect Body

If your goal is to lose weight and attain a "Beach Perfect Body" then you need to get your fitness program off to an effective start, or make modifications to your existing exercise regimen and diet, to achieve the body you want with these five steps:

#1. Know Your Goals

The first question you really should ask yourself is, "Do I want to lose weight, or build muscle?"

Because if you don't know the answer to that you won't be able to go after that goal properly. It's best to focus on just one goal at a time because if you try to do both at once you will feel demotivated when you don't see immediate results in terms of weight loss (plus muscle weighs more than fat, so you will actually gain weight as you put on muscle). Muscle gain takes time, but in the beginning you can actually gain muscle faster than the speed you lose fat. So in an one month period you could actually gain 10 lbs - from gaining say 15 lbs of muscle and losing 5 lbs of fat. This speed of muscle gain is mostly due to muscle memory and the fact you are just starting. It will slow down dramatically within the first year. To avoid all the confusing aspects of trying to gain muscle and lose weight simultaneously you are better off focusing on your weight loss goal FIRST, and then adding the muscle later when your body has become a more effective machine. Your ultimate goal will depend on factors such as food consumption, time spent doing cardio exercises, time spent in the gym weightlifting, and your workout intensity will effect how quickly you reach your primary goal. Then once your primary goal is reached then you can focus on secondary goals. It is simply more efficient to focus on one goal at a time.

#2. Don't Focus on Losing a Specific Weight

This goes double for trying to gain "10 lbs of muscle". Stop thinking about measuring things that way. Instead just focus on doing your exercises and the feeling you get during and after the exercise when you know you've had a good workout. Don't worry about lifting a specific weight either or trying to beat your record time for jogging around the block. Muscle fibers are most effectively stimulated for growth at fatigue around 8-10 reps. That means that sprinting for 10 seconds or lifting a single weight 10 times will cause muscle growth. Additional sets of reps is to ensure that you rip extra muscles so you can bulk up a bit faster and jogging further than a 10 second sprint is so you can burn additional calories. Focus on your goals and the positive feelings you get from exercising / having fun, and stop worrying about how quickly you can bulk up or how quickly you can lose weight.

#3. Exercise according to your Schedule

Don't go on a program that requires five days in the gym, if you know you're only good for two days per week. It's great to be ambitious but without being realistic your dreams are just a fantasy. If you're short on time plan for an intense 30 or 45 minute workout - even if it is at home. If you only have a pair of dumbbells, plan to use exercises that only focus on what you have available to you and explore different ways to use those dumbbells to get better results and use different muscles.

#4. Remember that Good Nutrition is over 70% of Results

The attitude that "I can eat whatever I want because I work out!" isn't helping you. Sure, it will help you maintain your current weight - but if your goal is weight loss you are really shooting yourself in the foot by binging on junk food after you workout. Eat healthy, eat smart and you will see much faster results. You won't just see physical changes like more toned muscles and shiny hair but you will also notice mental results such as more energy, feeling more clear headed, and being happier.

#5. Hire a Personal Trainer in Toronto

What do athletes do when they train for a competition? They hire a coach. If you know you are making mistakes with your exercise routine and need to correct your bad habits, your form, etc then you really need a coach who can tell you what to do, how to do it properly, and stay motivated so you keep doing it.

With safe and efficiently organized workouts, accountability and privacy, a personal trainer is the way to go for fast, long lasting results. If you live in Toronto hire me as your personal trainer. I offer custom exercise programs for every client based on their individual needs.

Are personal trainers worth the expense?

Do I need a personal trainer? Are personal trainers worth the expense?

These are two commonly asked questions by people contemplating whether they should get a personal trainer - and whether it is worth the cost.

Well, ask yourself the following questions...

#1. Am I making definite progress at a speed I find satisfactory?

#2. Am I struggling to find the motivation to stick with my exercise and dietary goals?

#3. Do I need an external push to make more of an effort?

When in doubt talk to some people who have previously hired a personal trainer to help them make accelerated progress and ask about their impressions, whether they felt it was worth it, etc.

Why is first hand references better? Well, first of all they cannot be faked, whereas client testimonials on a website could be faked and misleading. You are asking someone you already know to give their honest opinion - and they will either say it was a waste of time and/or money, or they will talk about how awesome it was having a personal trainer.

And to be fair, some people don't need a personal trainer. So there is always going to be some people who say personal training is a waste of time and money - because for them, it is.

But for the people who difficulty finding the right rhythm with their exercise routine, are not challenging themselves enough, don't feel motivated, and need an extra push then hiring a personal trainer is totally worth the expense.

Thus even if you don't hire me as your personal trainer in Toronto, I still fully endorse hiring someone else if you are the type of person who needs to be challenged and motivated to try harder.

Keep trying as hard as you can. Every little bit helps!

June Exercise Motivation Quotes

"Exercising is more than just a workout. Its a way of life. Changing your lifestyle, and making it a permanent change by choosing exercises you enjoy doing, is the key to grabbing control of your health and making the most out of your life."
-Charles Moffat

"The only way of finding the limits of the possible is by going beyond them into the impossible."
-Arthur C. Clarke

"You cannot plough a field by turning it over in your mind."
-Author Unknown

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit."
-Aristotle

"Fortune favors the brave."
-Publius Terence

"Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds."
-Albert Einstein

"To know your limits is a state of self-delusion."
-Bill Purdin

"He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else."
-Benjamin Franklin

"When you are looking in the mirror, you are looking at the problem. But, remember, you are also looking at the solution."
-Anonymous

"There is no satisfaction that can compare with looking back across the years and finding you've grown in self-control, judgment, generosity, and unselfishness."
-Ella Wheeler Wilcox

"Our central nervous system contains from 10 to 100 million cells, each one of which has a storage capacity equal to that of a large computer."
-Dr. Alexander Rich MIT Biophysicist

"The ultimate creative capacity of your brain may be, for all practical purposes, infinite."
-DRW Ross Adley - Brain Research Institute UCLA

"As long as you think you're green, you'll grow. As soon as you think you're ripe, you'll rot."
-Scott Horton

"The way life treats you is a merciless mirror image of your attitude toward life."
-Anonymous

Age is NOT a barrier to what you can accomplish

Age is NOT a barrier to what you can accomplish

May Exercise Motivation Quotes

"Do or do not. There is no try." 
- Yoda


"Training gives us an outlet for suppressed energies created by stress and thus tones the spirit just as exercise conditions the body." 
-Arnold Schwarzenegger
 
"It's all to do with the training: you can do a lot if you're properly trained."
 -Elizabeth II 

"In general, any form of exercise, if pursued continuously, will help train us in perseverance. Long-distance running is particularly good training in perseverance."
 -Mao Tse-Tung 

"On the mountains of truth you can never climb in vain: either you will reach a point higher up today, or you will be training your powers so that you will be able to climb higher tomorrow."
 -Friedrich Nietzsche"

You are your greatest asset. Put your time, effort and money into training, grooming, and encouraging your greatest asset."
-Tom Hopkins

"The purpose of training is to tighten up the slack, toughen the body, and polish the spirit." 
-Morihei Ueshiba 

 "If you want to make your dreams come true, the first thing you have to do is wake up."

-J.M. Power

"One half of knowing what you want is knowing what you must give up before you get it."

-Sidney Howard

"Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal."

-Henry Ford

"The important thing is to strive towards a goal which is not immediately visible. That goal is not the concern of the mind, but of the spirit."

-Antoine de Saint

"It is easier to go down a hill than up, but the view is best from the top."

-Arnold Bennett 

"You will never find time for anything. If you want time, you must make it."
-Charles Buxton
 
"Act as though and it shall be.
The seed you sow today will not produce crop till tomorrow. For this reason, your identity does not lie in your current results. This is not who you are. Your current results are who you were."
-James A. Ray
 
"Physical fitness can neither be achieved by wishful thinking nor outright purchase."
-Joseph Pilates
 
"A vigorous five-mile walk will do more good for an unhappy but otherwise healthy adult than all the medicine and psychology in the world."
-Paul Dudley White 

Excuses to Not Go Jogging - and why many of them are just excuses.

Being not motivated is really the biggest reason people say they want to go jogging - and then forget to do so.

According to my informal survey of friends, the following excuses are why many people decide to not go jogging.

#1. "Don't have time."

Really? You don't have time? Jogging for only 15 minutes per day is just 1% of your day. But that 15 minutes per day can make a huge difference in terms of shedding fat.

#2. "Don't have any jogging clothes or shoes."

Go buy some or double check your closet to see what you do have. They don't have to be amazingly fashionable, just work with what you have available.

#3. "Too embarrassed to jog in public."

Multiple solutions. Walk to someplace that is less public. Go jogging in the wee hours of the morning when many other people are sleeping. Jog around your house or apartment building 20 times. Jog up and down staircases.

#4. "Its too cold or raining."

Jog indoors. Check out local gyms, recreation centres, indoor parking lots.

#5. "I don't have a jogging partner."

Find a jogging partner who lives in your neighbourhood. Go jogging and look for other joggers. Or better yet, get a dog. If you already have a dog, take the dog jogging with you.

#6."My joints ache."

Your joints might be aching due to lack of exercise. Start by going for walks, then hiking, and as your joint pain is lessened start jogging gradually.

#7. "My breasts bounce around too much and it hurts."

Buy a really good quality sports bra that fits you properly and significantly reduces the bounciness.

#8. "I don't have a stopwatch."

Do you really need a stopwatch? If so, download a stopwatch app to your smartphone.

#9. "I am afraid of being robbed."

Oh really? Who is going to rob a jogger carrying keys and a cellphone and no wallet or purse?

#10. "I don't like jogging."

Okay. Why? There has to be a reason why.

"Umm, its too much like exercise and I get tired so easily."

You get tired so easily because you don't exercise. Start by walking more regularly, then hiking and gradually build up to jogging. You will discover you love it once you build up your endurance.

BONUS - "I need knee surgery and my doctor said I need to avoid exercises that might hurt my knee."

Okay, that is a legitimate reason. You may want to consider other exercises such as light swimming so you can stay active without putting undue stress on your knee.

But for everyone else who doesn't have a good reason and have lots of excuses, please tell me what your excuse is? Post in the comments below and have a nice day!

April Exercise Motivational Quotes

"Live life to the fullest and you will never find an excuse not to exercise."
- Charles Moffat

"Good for the body is the work of the body, and good for the soul is the work of the soul, and good for either is the work of the other."

- Henry David Thoreau
 
"Give thanks for what you are now, and keep fighting for what you want to be tomorrow."

- Fernanda Miramontes-Landeros
 
"Seek freedom and become captive of your desires. Seek discipline and find your liberty."

- Frank Herbert
 
"The first and greatest victory is to conquer yourself; to be conquered by yourself is of all things most shameful and vile."

- Plato
 
"Excess on occasion is exhilirating. It prevents moderation from acquiring the deadening effect of a habit."

- W. Somerset Maugham

"The vow that binds too strictly snaps itself."

- Alfred Lord Tennyson

"I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do."
- Leonardo da Vinci

"Successful people aren't born that way. They become successful by establishing the habit of doing things unsuccessful people don't like to do. The successful people don't always like these things themselves; they just get on and do them."
- Unknown

"Doing the best at this moment puts you in the best place for the next moment."
- Oprah Winfrey

"The higher your energy level, the more efficient your body The more efficient your body, the better you feel and the more you will use your talent to produce outstanding results."
- Anthony Robbins

"Little by little one walks far"
- Peruvian Proverb 

"Sometimes the most urgent thing you can possibly do is take a complete rest."
- Ashleigh Brilliant
 
"Rest when you're weary. Refresh and renew yourself, your body, your mind, your spirit. Then get back to work."
- Ralph Marston
 
"Rest: the sweet sauce of labor."
- Plutarch
 
"It is not good for all our wishes to be filled; through sickness we recognize the value of health; through evil, the value of good; through hunger, the value of food; through exertion, the value of rest."
- Dorothy Canfield Fisher 

"I still need more healthy rest in order to work at my best. My health is the main capital I have and I want to administer it intelligently."
- Ernest Hemingway

How to Make Lifestyle Changes More Flexible

It happens to lots of people.

All of a sudden a moment of motivation, determination and genuine desire to change your lifestyle will hit you and you become motivated to eat healthier food, exercise more, go jogging more often, hang out with other people who are into exercising...

And then you fall off the wagon and go back to your old routine because it becomes so difficult you lose your will power to keep doing it.

For most people this feeling has to come and go many times before actually succeeding with the goal. It happens again and again because somewhere along the way, from all-consuming ambition, to actual results, the plan falls off track because you were too ambitious, too inconsistent and you weren't seeing the results you wanted to see.

1. Too Ambitious

If you have never exercised much and have been eating poorly, and then all of a sudden you vow to work out six times a week and eat nothing but chicken breast and vegetables, you will have a hard time sticking to such a difficult plan. You will feel very tired, sore and the sudden caloric decrease will make you cranky.

Instead of jumping into your ideal fitness lifestyle, try taking your time to get there. It's more beneficial to ease the body into exercise by giving the muscles a chance to "wake up" first and screen yourself for injuries or limitations. Start by changing your diet first and then ease into exercising. Walking, jogging, running, sprinting... You have to learn to walk first.

2. No Consistency

Just saying that you'll exercise six times a week but not dedicate a time and days to do that workout, it won't take long before a week goes by and then, oh yeah right, I forgot to exercise! SCHEDULE A TIME TO EXERCISE!

Scheduling and Consistency develops habits. As human beings, we live around habits, rituals and routine. Developing a positive routine is challenging at first, but once you get into it, you'll wonder how you ever lived without an exercise schedule. Pick specific days, times and duration to guarantee a regular schedule.

3. No Results

Nothing is more demotivating than working your butt off and receiving no results. Sometimes you will even see weight gain first because you put on extra muscle during your exercising instead of shedding fat.

Don't give up immediately. The extra muscle just means it will be easier for you to perform exercises longer and harder.

Anyone exercising will achieve quick benefits such as improved well being, lower stress and better sleep. Those are the benefits many people overlook.

If you are working towards a specific goal (losing 20 pounds in 1 month) then you might be being unrealistic and even endangering your health by trying to lose too much quickly.

There are also many factors that could be stunting your results: Not working out hard enough, long enough, and eating too much or not the right foods. It could also be a simple matter of body composition of muscle and fat changing and you are not seeing results on the scale because muscle weighs more than fat. So even though change is indeed happening within the body, sometimes you just can't see it.

A fitness program also has an element of trial and error. It's important to try different things to figure out what works best for your body - and also for you mentally. Take measurements instead of judging progress on weight alone. If you still don't see the results you are looking for, hire a personal trainer and/or nutritionist to guide and advise along the way to your fitness success.

CONCLUSIONS

So how do you change your lifestyle?

#1. Be patient and take baby steps. Start with your diet and then introduce new exercises slowly.

#2. Make a schedule and plan ahead. Knowing when you are exercising increases your chances of actually doing so.

#3. Don't quit if you don't see immediate results. Keep going!

Three Inspirational Videos for Weightlifters

Sometimes weightlifting is more about mental endurance than it is about physical strength. If you stop after only lifting something 3 times, how are you ever going to gain muscle?

Learning how to motivate yourself - and push yourself mentally - becomes an integral part of weight training. Check out the three inspirational videos below focused on weight lifting.

March Exercise Motivation Quotes

"The only person stopping you from achieving your personal best is you."
 -Charles Moffat

"We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are; One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield."
- Lord Alfred Tennyson

 "Action and reaction, ebb and flow, trial and error, change - this is the rhythm of living. Out of our over-confidence, fear; out of our fear, clearer vision, fresh hope. And out of hope, progress."

-Bruce Barton

"Always remember that the future comes one day at a time."
- Dean Acheson

"All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another."
- Anatole France

"Change before you have to."
- Jack Welch

"If there is no struggle, there is no progress."
- Frederick Douglass

"Money is the most envied, but the least enjoyed. Health is the most enjoyed, but the least envied."

- Charles Caleb Colton

"Our food should be our medicine and our medicine should be our food."
- Hippocrates

"Physical fitness is not only one of the most important keys to a healthy body, it is the basis of dynamic and creative intellectual activity."
- John Fitzgerald Kennedy

"Breathing correctly is the key to better fitness, muscle strength, stamina and athletic endurance."
- Dr. Michael Yessis

"Learn to relax. Your body is precious, as it houses your mind and spirit. Inner peace begins with a relaxed body."
- Norman Vincent Peale

"To eat is a necessity, but to eat intelligently is an art."
- La Rochefoucauld

"A person who aims at nothing is sure to hit it."
- Unknown Author
 
"Aim at the sun and you may not reach it; but your arrow will fly far higher than if you had aimed at an object on a level with yourself."
- F. Hawes
 
"Concentration is the secret of strength."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson 

"One reason so few of us achieve what we truly want is that we never direct our focus; we never concentrate our power. Most people dabble their way through life, never deciding to master anything in particular."
- Tony Robbins
 
"We can always choose to perceive things differently. You can focus on what's wrong in your life, or you can focus on what's right."
- Marianne Williamson 

Three Inspirational Videos

Inspirational videos are proof that people can do amazing things when they put their minds into it. What are you waiting for?

The Bar Brothers



Arthur's Transformation



Danny MacAskill on a Bicycle

Need more inspiration or motivation? Hire me as your personal trainer in Toronto.

How to Reward Yourself and Stay Motivated

You've reached your weight loss goals! Congratulations!

Now how do you stay motivated, reward yourself and keep your lifestyle changes intact without falling back into your old routine?

At this point being overweight may feel like an alternate reality - you probably haven't felt this fit since you were a teenager! But feeling great about yourself doesn't mean you can go back to your old ways. If anything you need to remind yourself so you avoid falling into a rut, and keeping yourself motivated to exercise is a handy part of that.

#1. Make a list of things you wanted to do when you were overweight but were physically unable to do / embarrassed to attempt. eg. Run a marathon, go snorkeling, dancing, etc. Go and do those things and have a fun time!

#2. For holidays and birthdays, ask for sports / exercise equipment or personal training gift cards.

I know what I would ask for - archery equipment. It gets pretty expensive. But you might also ask for a bicycle or things for your bicycle, tennis gear, jogging pants, new running shoes... plenty of things you could use.

Personal training gift cards are another handy thing. If you live in Toronto and want to buy personal training sessions for yourself or a loved one, send me an email and I can help you out.

#3. Charity and Fundraisers.

Volunteering to raise funding for a worthwhile cause can be a great way to stay in shape and have fun. Such events require you to go outside regularly and some of them involve "walks for charity" whereby sponsors donate and you and 500 other people promise to walk, jog or run X miles to raise awareness. eg. The Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation Run for the Cure.

#4. Involve your Friends and Family.

Success is contagious. If your friends and family haven't seen your results, show them what you did and encourage them to start a fitness and nutrition program on their own - and then you can help them with advice and even workout together.

Once people you know are also exercising and eating healthy, having another person to talk to about it, share recipes, and attend events you will have even more fun enjoying your new body.

#5. Sex!

No seriously. You and your lover can enjoy yourselves more often. Nothing wrong with that side benefit!

Healthy Habits of Fit People

Some people just have really healthy habits when it comes to exercising and eating... and to those people who are struggling with their weight such healthy-habit-people make it look so easy, don't they?

It is as if they're never too tired to exercise and they never crave junk food. (Actually they do get those cravings, but they control them better.) If you know how hard it is to stick to your diet and exercise plan then it certainly will be a moment for envy when you see other people who have already succeeded in their fitness goals and made it look easy.

But you can develop those healthy habits too. You have the same basic genetic makeup as they do, you probably even have the same amount of time available too. Reaching your health and fitness goals can happen if you put in the effort to develop the same healthy habits that fit people use and take for granted.

They all have a number of things in common. Lets look at them!

#1. They all have healthy activities that they enjoy, eg. Dancing.

Being able to work out almost every day is a lot easier if you enjoy the activity. Becoming resentful of going to the gym, or running every morning if you do not even like it, will only pave the way for failure and disappointment. Most people who have reached fitness goals look forward to their workout because they love the way it makes them feel first, before the way it makes them look. It is one of the reasons why

Speaking for myself I enjoy archery, boxing, swimming, ice skating, weightlifting, rock climbing and cycling. I never get bored of those actitivities and indeed encourage others to do them too.

#2. They know how to say NO

Saying yes to every dinner invitation, every chocolate offered to you and every event that would cut into your scheduled workouts, you would have a lot of difficulty achieving your fitness goals. YOU are responsible for your outcome and only you have the power to say NO. Don't feel bad for not trying every one of your mother or grandmothers's sixteen different kinds of cookies. She will forgive you eventually.

Your body will thank you over the long term every time you say no to unnecessary temptation.

#3. They make it happen no matter what

Some people are dreamers and some people are doers. Dream it and then DO IT.

Whether it's by waking up early to go jogging, preparing a week's worth of healthy lunches to take to work or packing the gym bag the day before so you can go to the gym after work, succeeding means not giving yourself room for excuses or procrastination. If you set out to accomplish a goal then you have to DO IT NOW.

Learn to avoid obstacles and excuses and make your workouts happen. If you give up on your workout just because your bicycle has a flat tire then you aren't thinking right. Make fixing your bicycle a workout instead. Clean your home while you are at it. (Cleaning counts as exercise.) Don't give up just because one little thing gets in your way. Either circumvent that problem, fix the problem, or do something else in place of your normal workout.

Yoga can do Amazing and Inspiring Things

The following is an inspirational video which brought tears to my eyes.


If an over-weight and disabled war veteran can do that using yoga, just imagine what you can do when you exercise?

Arthur had given up. He didn't think he could do it. You might not think you can do it either.

But along came "DDP", Diamond Dallas Page, who is an American retired actor/wrestler for the WWE, personal trainer, fitness instructor and yoga instructor. I admit, not your normal yoga practitioner, but he is certainly an athlete.

DDP gave him the instructions and encouragement to do it. And I must say they both did an awesome job of getting Arthur back on his feet and walking again.

And that is proof of how a personal trainer can help change your life. Regardless of whether you live in Toronto or California.

Exercise Quotes for February

"Just because somebody else has already done it doesn't mean you shouldn't do it too. When it comes to exercising just doing it is all that matters."
- Charles Moffat

"For every single thing that stirs up your passion, there is a positive way forward. Choose to find that way, to follow it, and to transform the energy of your passion into great and lasting value."

- Ralph Marston

"The greatest oak was once a little nut who held its ground."
- Author Unknown

"If I had to select one quality, one personal characteristic that I regard as being most highly correlated with success, whatever the field, I would pick the trait of persistence. Determination. The will to endure to the end, to get knocked down seventy times and get up off the floor saying. “Here comes number seventy-one!"
- Richard M. Devos

"The road to success is dotted with many tempting parking places."
- Author Unknown

"When you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on."
- Franklin D. Roosevelt

"When the world says, 'Give up,' Hope whispers, 'Try it one more time.'”
- Author Unknown

"Decide carefully, exactly what you want in life, then work like mad to make sure you get it!"
- Hector Crawford

"I feel younger now than when I was in my 30s and 40s and had all those problems."

- Ida Keeling, 95-year-old woman from the Bronx who set world record after running 60m in 29.86 seconds; she is the oldest woman to do so

"Life is a ticket to the greatest show on earth."
- Martin H. Fischer

"The miracle is not to fly in the air, or to walk on the water, but to walk on the earth."
- Chinese Proverb

"When you're chewing on life's gristle
Don't grumble, give a whistle
And this'll help things turn out for the best...
And...always look on the bright side of life...
Always look on the light side of life."
- Monty Python's Life of Brian

Have you given up on your New Years Resolutions yet?

February is probably the worst month of the year for people quitting diets and giving up on their exercise goals.

It has been thirty-one days since the New Year of 2013. And it is pretty easy to guess that a lot of people out there have probably already given up on their New Years Resolutions to exercise more and eat healthier.

Regular gym goers across Toronto are already beginning to complain less about equipment wait times and overcrowding in their local gym. January is a great time of year for Personal Trainers... but by February they may have discovered they counted their chickens before they had hatched.

Forgetting about resolutions is just normal - but honestly, it doesn't have to be "New Years" to make fitness resolutions. You could also make:


Spring Resolutions
Summer Resolutions
Autumn Resolutions
Winter Resolutions
Birthday Resolutions

And if you are Catholic or Christian you could also "give things up for Lent", a religious practice whereby you give up certain vices (such as fatty foods, junk food, cigarettes, etc) in order to demonstrate your level of faith/commitment.

Thus if you are finding that your original motivation is about to kick the bucket, just make a NEW Resolution for whatever works for you. "Valentines", "St Patricks" or even goal oriented resolutions like "Fit Into a Bikini".

TIPS / SAMPLE RESOLUTIONS

#1. You could make a new resolution every week.

#2. Try rotating weekly goals between nutrition and fitness.

#3. Focus on only eating food with one ingredient. eg. eggs, nuts, fruits, veggies, lean meat, brown rice, quinoa, cheese etc.

#4. Use your gym membership/personal training sessions/ yoga classes at least three times.

#5. Try not to eat anything processed, frozen or dine out.

#6. Try an activity you have always been meaning to try but never did. eg. Boxing, archery, ice skating, swimming, martial arts.

Don't give up just because you fell off the proverbial wagon or horse. Just get right back on it and keep trying!