Motivational Exercise Quotes

"Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate
the mind on the present moment." - Buddha

"Your own motivation in life is what keeps you going and excites you to live. Having a dream and a true passion to do what you love is what living is all about. Remember this, and forever be happy." - Unknown

"The most expensive piece of real estate is the six inches between your right and left ear. It’s what you create in that area that determines your wealth. We are only really limited by our mind." - Dolf de Roos

"The secret to productive goal setting is in establishing clearly defined goals, writing them down and then focusing on them several times a day with words, pictures and emotions as if we've already achieved them." - Denis Waitley

"Accept responsibility for your life. Know that it is you who will get you where you want to go, no one else." - Les Brown

"The ability to convert ideas to things is the secret to outward success." - Henry Ward Beecher

"Be not afraid of growing slowly; be afraid only of standing still." - Chinese Proverb

"Every day do something that will inch you closer to a better tomorrow." - Doug Firebaugh

"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined." - Henry David Thoreau

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

"When I realized I could do it I also realized the only thing holding me back was excuses." - Charles Moffat

How to Exercise Indoors in the Winter

If you hate going outside in the winter there is a long list of activities you can do for exercise in the winter - and lots of ways to get yourself motivated to exercise in the winter too!

#1. Make your Cardio More Spicy!

Give yourself a challenge and change the tempo of your workout. Try doing things faster, or try adding weights to your cardio, change the speed of repetitions every 5 minutes, and do it while listening to the most awesome motivating music you can think of.

#2. Take Up Weightlifting for Fun!

If you don't have weights at home just pick up random things that are heavy and lift them 20 times so you can get some repetitions going. Try different weights, different ways of lifting them, standing, sitting, laying down on your back.

#3. Clean the house while listening to LOUD music!

Really loud music gets you in the mood to move. Cleaning your house is cardio exercise and you will get a lot done in a hurry as the music will encourage you to move quickly.

#4. Clear a space just for Exercising!

If you have a cluttered home then doing step #3 first will mean you have space to exercise. Set aside that space for doing jumping jacks, yoga, jogging in place, practicing your high kicks or shadow boxing.

#5. Make a Cardio Medley!

I don't mean just music, pick 3 or 4 exercises you love doing and keep doing them one after the other for an hour 5-6 times per week. Having music to listen to will help you stay motivated.

#6. Try something New!

Be creative and look around for new things to try. If you've never done skip rope, now is your chance to try. You don't even need a "skipping rope" when any piece of rope will do.

#7. Download Exercise Videos on YouTube or FrostWire

They're free!

#8. Exercise Games

Thanks to Wii Fit and similar games now on the market there are lots of options out there to get moving if you want something fun to do.

#9. Take up a musical instrument!

Some musical instruments are also exercises because they require a lot of effort to play them. A drum set for example using a lot of upper body motion or the bagpipes uses breathing exercises and abdominal muscles.

#10. Dancing!

Make a playlist and just dance in your own funky way privately. Nobody can know but you, and everyone will be wondering what your fitness secret is!

#11. Take the Stairs!

If you live in a condo or apartment building find excuses to take the stairs. Doubles as weightlifting if you're carrying packages with you.

#12. Sex!

Believe it or not this is arguably the most enjoyable exercise you can do in the winter. Sadly it will never be a sport at the Winter Olympics.

:)

6 Eating Tips for Weight Loss Success

Eating healthy so you can have more weight loss success is more than just consuming less calories than you burn each day. Every nutrient should count towards the health benefits that are received, and should fuel every workout.

1. Track your intake of Vitamins

You want to make sure you are getting enough Vitamin D (which cuts back on fat storage) and other healthy vitamins that your body needs. Vitamins makes your body work more efficiently, store less fat and boosts your metabolism (which means you have more energy to exercise and even feel motivated to exercise).

2. Plan your Meals Accordingly

It's amazing how easy it is to eat healthier if you have a plan - and know what you need more of. Once you've figured out which vitamins you need choosing what to eat is a very simple thing organize. Just think about what you will eat the day before and purchase ingredients in advance (or buy fresh if you live right beside a supermarket). Think about the times that you will eat your meals, and make sure that they are spaced out well enough so that hunger doesn't strike too early. When you're sticking to a plan, you are less likely to deviate from the diet.

If you don't plan ahead you will find it very challenging to stick within your dietary guidelines. You will end up eating too much sodium and/or having to resort to frozen food, and paying too much money for a salad that you could have made yourself! Planning really works!

3. Don't be Afraid of Snacks

Healthy snacks are good for you. They regulate your energy levels so you don't end up feeling starved later and over-eating things you shouldn't be eating in the first place. Avoiding snacks and binge eating isn't going to make you any thinner or healthier. Healthy snacks such as fruits or granola taste great, give a good energy boost, and when supper arrives you won't be as hungry. If you're exercising a lot aim for a protein bar. Avoid anything with lots of sugar or chocolate (chocolate bars are mostly sugar and very little cocoa).

4. Alternate High and Low Carbs

Some people like to alternate high and low carbohydrate meals. eg. Carbs for breakfast and supper, but not for lunch or snacks. The idea is to reduce your carb intake, but still maintain your energy levels and still being able to eat the foods your enjoy. You will want to eat carbs when you're going to be more active on a particular day and lower your carb intake if it's a lazy day where you know you won't be exercising much (like attending a funeral). Or if you know that you will be dining out, or going to the movies (and eating junk food) later on then you should still eat, but avoid anything high in carbs. Carbohydrate reduction (not elimination!) is necessary for weight loss success. Less bread doesn't mean you cut out bread entirely.

Why the big fuss over carbs? Carbohydrates are always underestimated, but they're a major factor in putting on weight - especially if you eat bread a LOT. Carbs are in almost everything, including bread, cake, doughnuts, milk, beans, fruit, vegetables etc. If a dieter is only counting carbs in the bread and whole grains that are consumed, the meal plan will have more than originally estimated. Pay attention to other sources of carbs than just bread and cereal.

5. Cut Back on Sugary Beverages

If you can't cut them out entirely at least cut back on your soda pop (or aim for the Diet Cola instead, although that isn't as good as you think as you will see below).

Any drinks with lots of sugar in it is going to contribute to the overall caloric intake. People who drink coffee with lots of sugar are likewise going to face problems.

Even diet drinks that have been artificially sweetened will cause a dieter to overeat. This is due to the sweetener telling the brain that it is going to have something sugary when it is not. Eventually the brain says, "Hey, where's that sugar you promised me?" and that's when a sugar craving kicks in... and then you eat something else with sugar in it and are more likely to binge on it because your brain is saying "Yes! Sugar! Finally!"

It's incredible how less often you will crave junk and sugary food when you haven't been eating it. Fried, fatty and sugary foods react in the body like an addiction. The more you have the more you want. The less you eat and less you desire it, eventually you just break the habit.

6. Think Smaller Portions

If the meal is bigger than your hand then its too much all at once. Its better to have 4 or 5 small portion meals per day than 3 BIG meals per day. With time the portions will get smaller because your energy levels are more regulated and even, thus you don't feel as hungry. Thus you don't binge. Thus you don't pack on the pounds and get addicted to sugar and fat... and thus becomes the awful cycle. Smaller portions helps you to break the cycle of addiction, like weaning kittens off their mother's milk.

Use the above 6 tips to achieve weight loss success through nutrition.

Archery Testimonial from Two Students

Two of my archery students sent in the photos below and the following testimonial:

“Charles provided a great introduction to archery and within a couple hours I felt far more comfortable and saw improved accuracy from start to finish.” - Shaun.

Motivational Quotes to Exercise

"Exercise should be fun, otherwise, you won't be consistent." - Laura Ramirez

"There is a powerful driving force inside every human being that once unleashed can make any vision, dream or desire a reality." - Anthony Robbins

"You've got to say, I think that if I keep working at this and want it badly enough I can have it. It's called perseverance." - Lee Iacocca

"To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

"When you nourish your body with pure energy, you transform
from the inside out." - Bill Phillips

Going the Distance: Building Heart and Lung Muscles

Do you get tired easily?

Does taking the stairs at a friend's apartment building sound like a chore to you?

If your car broke down and you only had to walk for 30 minutes to get there, could you do it with a smile on your face?

The thing you probably don't know is that endurance is very difficult to measure because it really comes down to two things:

#1. The strength of your heat muscles

The human heart is composed of a series of intricate muscles which contract and squeeze the heart, thus pumping fresh blood (and energy) throughout our cardiovascular system. Some of the energy being transported is sugar, fat and even proteins, but another source of energy the blood transports is oxygen from your lungs...

#2. The strength of your lung muscles

Air is drawn into the lungs by the pharyngeal muscles. Breathing out is automatic and requires no effort, but breathing in requires a contraction of the pharyngeal muscles. Rapid breathing is the result of a rapid use of these muscles, resulting in more oxygen being sent from the lungs to the heart, which makes re-oxygenizes blood to make fresh blood. That oxygen is then transported all over the body to specific muscle groups which need it most.

So how do you make your heart and lung muscles stronger? The answer is quite simple: Cardiovascular Exercises (or Cardio for short). Running, swimming, cycling, jumping jacks, boxing and similar activities get your heart racing and your lungs working quickly. Such exercises don't just build up your muscles in your heart, lungs, legs, arms, etc, but they also burn a lot of calories (fat, sugar, etc). They also reduce your risk of heart failure as you get older because you have a good strong heart.

Additional benefits include: A boosted immune system, a higher metabolism, a more enjoyable sex life, a slimmer figure, reduced chances of cancer and many other health benefits.

When you hear about people who go jogging or running for 60 to 120 minutes on a regular basis you may wonder how they managed to get that way. Truth is they didn't start out they way. They built up their heart and lung muscles over time, years of jogging and running on a weekly basis. Compared to some people who can only run for a minute or two, it may seem mind boggling that some people are able to run that far over long distances.

But what if I was to tell you that was actually the norm during "cave men times"? No TV, no internet... everyone hunting and gathering for food. Exercise was part of daily survival and recreational sports. The human body hasn't really advanced much physically since then. We still have the same genetic codes for accomplishing such feats of strength and endurance. So you do have the genetic material inside you to become a caveman (or cavewoman) running machine. You just need to unleash it.

Learning How to Improve Your Endurance

1. Practice Often (Once a Week is Not Enough)

A huge factor in improving cardio endurance is not letting progress slip away by taking a week off. You need to be doing intense cardio at LEAST twice a week to see progress. Even though it is built back quickly, stamina is lost rather quickly if you stop practicing because your heart and lung muscles wither back to normal if you aren't giving them a regular challenge. When starting out, aim to train at least 2-3 times a week.

The BEST routine is to go jogging every second day. 15 days per month. Why? You need the day off in-between to rebuild muscles. If you try to do it everyday then your muscles will be damaged repetitively without enough time for them to repair themselves.

2. Always Reach Limits and Aim Higher

It will be difficult when you first start jogging and running. One way to improve your stamina in a quicker way is to turn your jogging routine into Interval Training Exercise. You alternate jogging for several minutes with walking for several minutes, increasing times for the jogging on a weekly basis until eventually you are jogging the entire time. See the image on the right as an example of how to do this.

3. Push Through your Mental Barriers

Psychologically it's not going to be easy to keep jogging. Nobody likes to lose their breath or have sore legs but you know what, it will get better really soon as you build up your strength and endurance! Keep at it and within a couple of months the less enjoyable parts of building endurance will be a distant memory.

And you will be so happy you did it and succeeded when you do reach that point where you've realized you have the endurance to do it and keep doing it.

The world is beautiful and amazing

The world is beautiful and amazing. Now go outside and exercise!



Note: I am not intentionally advertising the camera used in the video. I just think it is a great motivational video to go outside and exercise.

Now Certified by ELITE Trainers

I am now Certified as a Level One Personal Trainer by ELITE Trainers. The ELITE test is really freaking hard. It took me 4 days just to finish the test.

I am not kidding. It has 100 essay questions and you're expected to write a lot on each question. Its like running a marathon, except they're testing your knowledge of various exercises, body types, cardio, weightlifting, stretching, vitamins, supplements, how to make small talk, how to motivate clients, everything... it is a freaking grueling test.

But at least now I am "certified". That is the really stupid thing about the whole certification nonsense. There is no legal requirement to be a certified personal trainer. Its purely a social protocol. Anyone can become a personal trainer, but being certified really helps when it comes to advertising and getting new clients.

I am also thinking of getting my certification to become a Nutritional Consultant - which again, there is no requirement to do that, it is just handy to have because it looks good when trying to attract new clients. Which means I would have to write another test... another 100 essay questions on nutrition. And then the waiting to see if I failed.

That is the really tricky part with ELITE Trainers. You have to score 86 to 100% to pass the test. If you score 85% then you failed. They set their standards really high. I scored 88% on the Personal Trainer test, so I managed to pass, but I am not sure if I want to repeat that process because it was so incredibly difficult.

ELITE uses a ranking system whereby you can become a Level Two, Level Three, etc in various fields including Nutritional Consultant, Personal Trainer, Sports Instructor, Weightlifting / Bodybuilding Instructor, Yoga Teacher. The ranking system goes all the way up to Level Ten and you can only take the next level if you wait 6 months. So in six months I may go back and take the Level Two Test... but for now I shall just wait and see.

I might also get the Sports Instructor certification, seeing as I currently teach archery, boxing, ice skating and swimming, but its kind of unnecessary. I shall think about it. I am not certain I need another certification just for attracting clients.

Hard Work Motivational Quotes

"Nothing worth doing is ever easy and working hard to succeed and finally achieving it is its own reward because then you can finally say 'I did it!' and knowing that if you hadn't done it you would have been forever disappointed."
- Charles Moffat


"Hard work has made it easy. That is my secret. That is why I win."
- Nadia Comaneci

"I do not know anyone who has gotten to the top without hard work. That is the recipe. It will not always get you to the top, but it will get you pretty near."
- Margaret Thatcher

"When you live for a strong purpose, then hard work isn’t an option. It’s a necessity."
-Steve Pavlina

"The daily grind of hard work gets a person polished."
- Unknown

"Striving for success without hard work is like trying to harvest where you haven't planted."
- David Bly

Archery Testimonial X 2

"Charles is a great archery instructor. We highly recommend him for anyone who is looking to take up the sport and wants to improve their aim dramatically in a hurry. The zombie archery target at the end of the lesson was a fun added bonus. Thanks again!"

- George and Linda R.