Have you been training consistently, but still feel you have a ways to go to reach your fat loss goal? Or perhaps you have a performance goal that requires both strength and a lean body composition, such as doing your first pull-up or muscle-up? In this article I’m going to share three counterintuitive suggestions to help you with these goals, and more. To further assist you, we are launching a new program “Healthy Habits”, which will empower you to make integral changes in your nutrition and lifestyle habits to support your body composition goals.
It’s not always easy to eat healthy when you live in Downtown Chicago – we all have demanding jobs or school schedules, and numerous social or family commitments to attend. Plus we’re a city that’s known for it’s deep dish Pizza, not the healthiest of cuisines. With that said, we all have the opportunity to experience amazing health and vitality. If you’ve taken the step of becoming a a Foundry member, congratulations! You are following a fitness program that is optimized for health and performance. Others of you may have a different fitness routine or may be thinking about starting one. Regardless of your exercise choices, there are still 24 hours in a day, and the choices we make during those hours have a dramatic impact on our quality of training, recovery speed, body composition and more. Would you like to not only reach your goals, but smash them and accomplish things you thought were impossible? We can help.
Habits of Champions: An Introduction
Habit #1: Take Responsibility
It’s 5:00pm, you’re planning to go to the 5:30 WoD. Your co-worker stops by; they want to chat about the client project you’re working on together. You’re itching to leave but you don’t want to seem impolite, or worse, have them think you are blowing off the client project. You stay and answer his/her questions. You finish – now it’s 5:45 – you missed the WoD. Should you still come? Now you’re tired and you forgot to get groceries. Starving, you eat a slice of leftover cake from your officemate’s birthday party.
Does this situation sound familiar? The first step in achieving your body composition and fitness goals is to realize that you have the power to achieve them. If you feel there is some distance between you and your goals, this is not meant to make you feel bad about it, quite the contrary. Achieving goals is nothing more than a series of good habits, executed consistently. Put another way, greatness is achieved when we do the common uncommonly well. So take the power back and realize that you alone hold the key to unlocking your ideal vision for yourself.
Habit #2: Prioritize You
Most of us like to help those around us. It feels good to give to others – and when those people signify appreciation, it’s great for our self-esteem. It’s easy to postpone what we need today in the name of some vague future benefit. But sometimes you deserve to be priority #1. Consider this scenario: You are run down, lacking sleep, making poor eating choices and constantly stressed. You constantly put others needs in front of your own, even when it impacts your health. Are you in a position to really help the people you care about? Are you really able to give your all, selflessly and with high impact?
When we put our health and fitness first, we are not saying “no” to the people in our lives. Rather, we are standing for a version of ourselves that is more capable, more effective, happier, and better able to give to those around us. When we reach our goals we are setting ourselves up to be an “all-star” on the teams in which we participate rather than a “role-player”. Nourishing ourselves today sets us up to be better in all aspects of our life.
Habit #3: Build a Tribe
Four out of five people with a conventional gym membership never go. Why is this? It’s because conventional gyms encourage you to work out by yourself, devoid of human contact and genuine encouragement. There is no tribe, which means no support or accountability. Is it easy to keep a New Year’s resolution that only you know about? Of course not.
Humans are social animals, naturally drawn to groups. We crave the kinship that comes with closeness to others, along with shared interests, goals, and values. A tribe helps support you when you need a boost, provides accountability to keep you on track, and rewards you when you accomplish something. For example, at The Foundry we’re relentlessly focused on the quality of our Tribe, and over 92% of our membership attends the gym every week. When surveyed, members tell us it’s not just because the workouts are effective, it’s because they look forward to seeing their friends, their “tribe”!
So What Do We Do?
We have talked about the imporance of taking responsibility for your health and your goals, the value of prioritizing yourself, and the benefit that comes from being part of a Tribe. At The Foundry, we’ve thought about this extensively and our new Healthy Habits Nutrition and Lifestyle Program is designed to help you take the next step in your personal fitness journey.
Would you like to learn more about how to lose fat, gain lean muscle mass, or achieve a performance goal? If so, attend one of our FREE kickoff meetings for the Healthy Habits Program, available May 28th 5:30pm (125. S Jefferson) or May 30th 10:00am (730 S. Clark). The program starts 6/1.
Click Here to Learn More About The Healthy Habits Program