Happy Easter to everybody!!

I'm not going to go on and on about how you should avoid chocolate eggs and bunnies, somehow that's a "speech" for Halloween and Christmas time. Not one Newsletter or mailing this week has dealt with Easter chocolates. Weird. Or maybe not.

It's so much easier to "be good" when the days are getting longer and the sun is shining and spring is here … spring? Depending on where you live, that's a debatable part of the above equation!

Here for example, in Montreal, there is no sign of spring what so ever!  Way below freezing temperatures at night, still snow flurries during the day, although we also have had some rain; if there is sunshine, the temperatures remain below or at freezing; and the mounds of snow outside are not about to go away any day soon. Birds are beginning to sound more chirpy, but still need to be fed because there is nothing out there for them.

But the calendar says SPRING and EASTER and the DST has made the day last longer in the late afternoon, so officially, it is spring.

I am really glad I got back to the morning cardio, like I said last week. It's fun to see how fast the fitness condition comes back. I use the stair-stepper machine in the mornings. When I started back on it, I was at level 5 once I was through with the warm-up and found that 9 floors/minute was fast enough and all I could manage really. This morning, I was at level 8 for the second day running, with 13.5 floors/minute, and the level 5 … well, it seemed slow!! Wow. In two short weeks?

If you are not used to doing cardio, or any other exercise for that matter, just start at the level you are right now! Don't try to copy the neighbourhood joggers who stream past your house in the latest latex/spandex outfit clinging to their lean frames. They didn't start yesterday! Just put on whatever you have that is comfortable, even a pair of jeans with an elastic waist, who cares? It's not a fashion contest! Comfortable shoes are next, be they running shoes or not; again, it doesn't matter. The important thing, is to get moving, start somewhere. And that somewhere is at the level you are today, not the level you hope to reach in a month or three. So you only make it around the block and it takes you half an hour. In a week, that same distance will take 20 minutes. Two weeks from now you'll have added a second block and walking for 35 minutes. And finally, you are looking for the streets with hills, up and down, and you're out there for 45 minutes walking at a brisker pace. Maybe you even bought a new track suit and good running shoes too!

Starting, is the key. Just making the best of the here and now, of your present capacity. You can only get better, and it's so rewarding to see that from one week to the next. Keep a log. Write down when you left, where you went, when you got back. Measure the distance with the car afterwards if you like. Write down how you felt, before and after the walk; note the weather and how it affected your mood. Anything you find significant, even a detail like seeing the first spring flower or hearing a particular bird, smelling the odours from the local bakery as you walked by …. Anything at all.

Spring. In the air, and in your step.
Happy Easter

Train with a smile on your face, it makes it easier!
Sarah, CPT
www.trainwithsarah.com

Persist With Passion - Focus on Fitness Excellence
By Nancy Georges

The flavor of the month is PERSISTENCE!!!! I have come in contact with this much needed resource quite frequently in my own life in my training as well as personal life. You know what I mean. You start a new program a few weeks later you look in the mirror and things seem to look the same, and so you say to yourself, what's the use, what's the point, I may as well just quit, nothing is happening. Then you keep at it for just another week or two and miraculously major shifts happen and you forget you were even belly aching about it in the first place. Yes, I know the feeling and I know the thoughts running through your head, they are the same thoughts we all have, why bother if nothing is happening? Believe me, something is happening, and the first thing that shifts is a change in your mentality where this healthy lifestyle is the exception and not the rule in the first place.

What if instead we had a major overhaul in our perceptions, practiced daily affirmations to acknowledge our goals and visions and kept repeating them over and over. Of course, we all know the outcome; eventually we will rediscover electricity right? Yes, exactly!!!! So my message to you this week is this:

If you are feeling a little down, or a little discouraged about your program, just give it one more week, stick to it, and remain free from emotions and checking the scale. Write down two affirmations that you want to be true for yourself and repeat those in your head over and over. I don't mean stuff like "I now weigh 100 pounds" I mean stuff that you can actually believe. "everyday, I am getting closer and closer to my goal" or "every good meal is one step closer to my goal" or how about "I love the way exercise makes me feel when I am done" (haha don't we all?) try on a few affirmations, play around with them, have fun with them and see how your life will do a complete turn around.

OK, sounds easy enough right? But how do we go about doing this specifically, how do we persist with passion, when things just seem to be going all wrong, or nothing is happening at all?  In addition to the above mentioned techniques, begin to focus on mini goals.  You have a big goal in mind no doubt. That is the main challenge in the first place, looking at this huge goal and wondering how in the world you are going to obtain it.  First off, start by chunking your goal down into little mini goals.  Make part of those mini goals daily successes.  When we focus on the process and let go of the outcome, things just seem to move along effortlessly and all of the sudden you look in the mirror and to your surprise you have surpassed your goals.  The trick is to get out of your head, and into your heart. Stop analyzing and beating yourself up for little tiny slip ups or missed workouts.  Focus on the successes. Give yourself pats on the back after each successful workout and each successful weight training session.  Think of it like an artist who is painting a beautiful painting. They enjoy no doubt looking at their gorgeous finished painting, but they also enjoy the process of selecting the paint colors, deciding on what to paint, sketching it out on paper, and getting involved in the process so intently.  When we get involved in the process, the outcome seems to just magically happen.  Let go of the main objective, and enjoy the process.  For one thing, workouts are so much better when you have actually enjoyed them. 

You no doubt have heard of the saying “fake it until you make it” right? How many times in your life have you dreaded brushing your teeth? Personally I have had a few of those experiences but not too many, for the most part; I just wake up, brush my teeth and go about my business. It is a habit, so ingrained that I just don’t think about how I feel about it at all.  So, we can use this trick when it comes to getting to our outcomes with our fitness goals. People often ask me, how do I continue to exercise on a consistent basis, and usually what they tell me is that they don’t feel like doing it.  In turn I say, well, I don’t think about how I feel about it, I just put on my tennis shoes and go.  This is obviously a process, but through our positive affirmations, and practicing taking action, regardless of feeling and separating ourselves from how we feel. Once we actually get into the gym and are in the “zone” then we can clearly see our vision, and start to really create that vision of what we want for ourselves.  Seeing the positive, focusing on the positive and using those affirmations to solidify that we will not take no for an answer and we refuse to quit until our outcome is achieved!  We refuse to give up, or give in to a bad day or a bad situation.  We stay the course, as wobbly as it may seem, at first, until we can just put on the cruise control and put on the auto pilot.

So let’s recap:

1. Create positive affirmations for yourself:  Personally I have many affirmations set up on an audio mp3 and I listen to that first thing in the morning.  You can have them written on paper and read them out loud or in your head.
2. Separate feelings from action:  Set up a game plan for nutrition and exercise, and follow it, no matter how you feel, in fact, just separate your feelings all together, just think of it like you are brushing your teeth.
3. Chunk size: If you start to get too emotional, create smaller chunk size goals, little mini goals to create successes for you along the way
4. Visualize you goals: Once you have done all of the above, then you can really focus on the big picture your big goals.  I like to do this when I am doing cardio, it really gets me fired up.  Put on some awesome music and just have a blast in my head.

Remember you are the only one who thinks in your mind, and you have the freedom and choice to think whatever thoughts you want.  Sometimes it actually seems difficult at first to think positive thoughts, but starting off with your affirmations, and following the steps, you will be on your way to achieving fitness excellence, and achieving all your goals and desires.

Wishing you health and happiness,
Nancy

ABOUT NANCY

Nancy’s main objective in the fitness community is to bring back the FUN in fitness. Health and fitness to mainstream America has been a struggle for decades and it is getting increasingly more of a challenge. Mention the word exercise and most people cringe. Nancy’s ideas are to make this an easy part of daily living so that we can all have healthy bodies as well as healthy minds to move forward and achieve our outcomes with 100% dedication and energy. Nancy’s newest addition to achieve this fitness objective is her two hypnosis audio programs, The Fitness Excellence™ Hypnosis Series as well as The Competitive Advantage™ Hypnosis Series. Nancy uses a combination of elegant light hearted metaphors combined with direct suggestion to easily and effortlessly facilitate change at the unconscious level. Nancy is also the author of Crossing The Line Discovering Your True Fitness Potential. Her original audio program.

Nancy is the creator of The Fitness Excellence™ Hypnosis Series uses an elegant combination of metaphors and direct suggestions to allow change and personal growth to take place at the deepest level. The unconscious mind thinks very differently from our conscious mind. This series has been designed to enjoy each program over and over again to create deep levels of relaxation at the conscious level and profound change at the unconscious level. Excel in life easily and effortlessly with The Fitness Excellence™ Hypnosis Series.  Check it out Here ---- >

How Stretching Can Explode Your Muscle Growth

By Nick Nilsson

Not only is stretching important for flexibility,
it is CRITICAL for massive, rapid muscle growth.

When you think about gaining muscle, stretching is probably not the first thing that pops into your head. But did you know that stretching plays a critical role in building muscle?

Every muscle in your body is enclosed in a bag of tough connective tissue known as fascia. Fascia is important for holding your muscles in their proper place in your body.

But your fascia may also be holding back your muscle growth. Think for a moment about your muscles. You train them and feed them properly. They want to grow and will grow but something is holding them back. They have no room to grow!

Because fascia is so tough, it doesn't allow the muscle room to expand. It is like stuffing a large pillow into a small pillowcase. The size of the muscle won't change regardless of how hard you train or how well you eat because the connective tissue around your muscles is constricting the muscles within.

The best example of this is the calf muscle. The lower leg is riddled with fascia because of its tremendous weight-bearing duties in the body. It is because of this fascia that many trainers have great difficulty developing their calves.

The solution: stretching.

Using the pillowcase example from above, imagine you can expand the size of the pillowcase by stretching it. Suddenly, the pillow within has more room and will expand to fill that new space.

By stretching your muscles under specific conditions, you can actually stretch your fascia and give your muscles more room to grow.

The key to effective fascial stretching is the pump. The best time to stretch to expand the bags that are holding in your muscles is when your muscles are pumped up full of blood.

When your muscles are fully pumped up, they are pressing against the fascia. By stretching hard at that time, you increase that pressure on the fascia greatly, which can lead to expansion of the fascia.

One of the major reasons Arnold Schwarzenegger had such incredible chest development was that he finished his chest workouts with dumbell flyes, an exercise that emphasizes the stretched position of the pectoral muscles. He would pump his chest up full of blood during the workout then do flyes, holding the stretch at the bottom of the flye. This gave his chest room to grow to amazing proportions.

Fascial stretching is more rigorous than regular stretching but the results can be amazing. When you stretch hard enough to cause the fascia to expand, you will really feel it! When you are stretching the fascia, you should feel a powerful pulling sensation and pressure as the muscle works against the fascia to expand it.

Be sure you do not stretch so hard that you cause the muscle to tear or cause injury to yourself. You will rapidly learn to distinguish the difference between a good stretch and a bad stretch. You should not feel any sharp pain, just a steady pull.

Hold each stretch for at least 20 to 30 seconds as you must give your fascia time to be affected by the stretch. Stretch hard like this only when you have a fully pumped muscle as you must give your fascia a reason to expand. If your muscles aren't pumped, just stretch normally.

You can find instructions for stretching at:

http://tinyurl.com/2k45c4

One set of hard stretching after each set you do for a muscle group, besides the obvious benefits of increased flexibility, can have an incredible effect on the size of your muscles and their further ability to grow.
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Nick Nilsson is Vice-President of the online personal training company BetterU, Inc. He has a degree in Physical Education and Psychology and has been inventing new training techniques for more than 16 years. Nick is the author of a number of bodybuilding eBooks including "Metabolic Surge - Rapid Fat Loss," “Muscle Explosion,”"The Best Exercises You've Never Heard Of," "Gluteus to the Maximus - Build a Bigger Butt NOW!" and "The Best Abdominal Exercises You've Never Heard Of" all available by here 

He can be contacted at betteru@fitstep.com.