Sorry for the Blackout

Recently, I have switched my focus to finding clients and my training. I apologize for not posting in a while. Between my current job, my training, and trying to find clients in a new area it has been quite difficult to find the time to get online to blog. Also, unfortunate for my blog, right before I stopped posting, I reevaluated my priorities and realized that the blog was not as high as it was before. It is still quite important to me but I will not be post as frequently for the time being. Right now I need to focus on some of the more important things going on in my life.

With that said, I have been keeping up with my marathon training and just ran 7 miles the other day! I am a long way off from being ready for the marathon but I am very excited to see the day that I complete it. I have also been maintaining the resistance training program and have been seeing a little strength gain already. My diet hasn't been the best and I still struggle to stay on track with that part of the program but I am making small strides to seeing improvement.

Personally, I find it quite difficult to maintain a healthy diet when getting more exercise. When I exercise more, my body craves more food which wouldn't be a problem but with added time constraints (due to more time per week being spent on my training regimen) it is much easier to grab something quick and unhealthy than to seek out something healthy. There are some ways to battle this one of which is to create one or two big meals on Sunday or Monday and eat the leftovers for however long they last. It makes it convenient to grab something to eat and keeps it healthy. Also, plan your meals the night before so you can get them ready for easy eating when the time comes. Finally, when planning your meals, be realistic. Some people may want to be ambitious and plan a very low calorie diet for tomorrow when they know they are going to be hungry half the time which increases their chances of grabbing something unhealthy and unplanned along the way. Try to find that area in which you are keeping yourself full but still restricting calories enough to lose some weight.

Along the lines of keeping yourself full, it is also smart to eat several (about 5) small meals a day. This helps tweak your metabolism in your favor, allows your stomach to shrink a bit over time so less food can fill you up, and helps keep you from getting too hungry.

Thanks for reading!

This Week's Goals

Last week, I'm happy to say, I kept up with all my goals. I did not have any high calorie sodas, I only had sweets once (a mini dessert while dining out), I stayed away from fast food places, and I got in my three bouts of exercise that incorporated the resistance training for all my muscles.

I have to say, it was nice following my own advice in dealing with exercise. I really changed it up this week. I walked Buddy, I played some basketball, and I got in some time on the treadmill. Luckily, I recently got a gym membership so the facilities offered up a lot. The only thing that I did wrong was push myself a little too hard during the resistance training. It had been a long time since I had worked out my legs thoroughly and with that in mind, I should have started out pretty light. Instead I simply went in line with the intensities that all the other muscle groups received and have been paying the price the last couple days.

Though soreness is almost inevitable (especially when starting out a resistance routine), if you push yourself too hard too soon, the level of pain can get pretty high. In starting out a routine, you want to receive as many positive feelings from the experience as possible in order to increase the likelihood of future adherence. Being extremely sore for a couple of days after a workout is just another potential excuse for not continuing with an exercise regimen. Granted, you probably shouldn't do any resistance training on those muscles for that couple of days but it's no real excuse to avoid exercise altogether. You can continue with your cardio and continue resistance training on other muscles.

What I'm trying to say is that do not be afraid to take it easy in the beginning. I would actually suggest focusing more on setting up habits rather than worrying about seeing improvements. Once it has been a solid month or two of simply doing it, then you can think about bumping up intensities. This advice is for those of you that are simply trying to live a healthier lifestyle. Those that are training for an event or need/want to lose a certain amount of wait by a specific date, may not be able to afford such a gradual increase in intensity and I completely understand this. However, in these cases, there should still be some sort of progression and hopefully the goal at hand will be the extra motivation to keep them going.

Anyway, on to this week's goals. The goal that I want to add on to the dietary side of things would be to only eat out once a week. On the exercise side. I will be starting marathon training on Monday along with following the same guidelines for resistance training.

Wish me luck!

Day 13: Help Preventing Injuries

One of the most devastating things that can happen to someone that is in the midst of turning their life around is a exercise related injury. Not only can it significantly hinder or even halt your exercise regimen but it can alter the way a person relates to exercise in a very negative manner. Therefore, doing what you can to prevent injuries should be a top priority.

In my mind, proper technique is the most important thing in preventing injuries. Here is where a personal trainer is worth their weight in gold. They can watch your technique and make subtle improvements that can help to prevent catastrophic injuries. Unfortunately, each exercise has its proper technique so I can not create an exhaustive list on this blog about how to perform each exercise. However, here are some tips on how to help with this issue:

• When starting out, use light weights to assure your technique is spot on before moving to heavier weights. 
• Do not be ashamed to check yourself out in the mirror or ask someone to watch you to make sure your technique is correct.
• Practicing technique regularly will help you to perform the correct technique even when you aren't thinking about it. After a while muscle memory tends to take over. Just make sure your muscles remember the proper technique. 

Next, you should always include a warm-up and cool-down in your exercise. Warm-up helps to warm up all your tissues, redistribute blood to where it needs to be, and essentially gives your body a heads up to let it know what's coming. That way it can prepare for the stresses you are about to put on it. A cool-down can help with soreness as well as preventing blood pooling which can cause you to faint. Not only that but if you have heart issues it can even help to protect your heart.

Preventing injuries is definitely an area that you should research more on your own and if you are working with a professional, an area in which you should ask a lot of questions. Thanks for reading!

Day 12: Getting Out to Exercise

Sorry for the late post, I could not get my internet to work last night so here's the post I was going to do.

Gyms are very useful in the fact that they have a variety of equipment and facilities available to their members. However, I am also a big advocate for getting outside to exercise whenever possible. It's just nice to get out and breathe the fresh air but it's also beneficial since the terrain offers training benefits. When running or biking, it is practically impossible to avoid any sort of incline or decline, which is obviously beneficial in recruiting a wider array of muscle. Sometimes parks have workout stations set up which can help to expose you to exercises that you wouldn't otherwise think of. In exploring ways to get exercise outdoors, you tend to come across exercise that you can't find in a gym or wouldn't think to do.

Yesterday, I was researching exercise regimens to prepare for a marathon. What I got were charts that displayed how many miles I should run on each day leading up to the marathon. Well, that's pretty straight forward, however, I thought it would benefit me most if I could run as much as I could outdoors. Not only does it help to battle the boredom of being on a treadmill all the time but it helps me prepare for the outdoor terrain that I will be having to deal with during the actual marathon.

My old way of figuring out the mileage of a run was to get in my car and drive the route. However, when I have to find routes that range from 3 miles to 22 miles this could get a little ridiculous. Well, in an effort to find an easier way, I ended up on the maps feature on Google.com. It started off simply by putting in directions in order to track mileage along various routes but the tools the map has are so user-friendly that it got even easier. I was finding routes for various mileages quickly and easily. Therefore, if you are planning to do a lot of running or biking outdoors, I would suggest toying around with this tool so that you can easily track your mileage.

There are many technologies out there that help to make achieving and maintaining a healthy lifestyle easier, more enjoyable, and more convenient. If you come across a few that really don't do that for you, do not get discouraged. You can definitely find something out there that works for you. Hope this helps. Thanks for reading!

Day 11: Do Toning Shoes Work?

ACE Fitness recently did a study that researched the effects of wearing those now famous "toning shoes" that are on the market. Below is a link to their findings:

Will Toning Shoes Really Give You A Better Body?

You should definitely read it before buying. Hope you find it helpful.

Day 10: Making Cardio Fun

When people think of cardio they often think very unpleasant things. This is usually the thought of dragging themselves to the gym to get on a treadmill and have a boring run which eats up (with the drive included) an hour or more of their time for very little immediate reward. Yes, some people find a treadmill run fun and well worth the effort but I would think that most people are not like that. So what does a person who does not like a treadmill do to get their cardiovascular workout in?

My  answer... Experiment, experiment, experiment. Try something new regularly. Gyms often offer a lot of ways to get your cardio in, such as: treadmills, stationary bikes, basketball courts, a swimming pool, row machines, stair climbers, racquetball and tennis courts, and a variety of classes. Also, do not be afraid to look for things going on in your community that involve some sort of exercise.

One thing that I would suggest, is to give each mode of exercise you experiment with a fair chance before writing it off. The reason I say this is because if you start any exercise that is foreign to your body, it may not be the most pleasant thing the first week or so. When you go from someone that has been pretty exclusive with the treadmill to trying to play basketball two times a week, your muscles are probably going to be sore and you will probably find it difficult to perform the sport in general. Therefore, once you get pretty good at it and are not hurting as much after a game, you may have found that it is what you have always been looking for.

A great way to get your cardio in and make sure you are motivated to stick with it, is joining some sort of league and/or team. Not only does it make it fun by including some camaraderie and competition but it includes a sense of accountability (discussed in my previous post). When a team is counting on you, it provides that added push to show up and participate.

Yes, some of the time you spend working your cardiovascular system is not going to be all that fun. However, making your regular cardio workout as fun as possible will make it much easier to stick with. Therefore, you need to get creative, try a variety of things out, and give it some time before giving up on anything.

Thanks for reading!

Day Nine: Accountability

Sometimes a great motivator for meeting a goal is if you are being held accountable in some way. Following are some ways to keep yourself accountable:

1. Involve your family and friends. Make sure they know what you are trying to do and ask for help. If you can receive their support it can do wonders. Also, one of the biggest ways for them to support you is by joining you in your journey. That way, you can learn from each other by sharing triumphs and missteps. If nothing else, ask them to talk to you each day about what's going on so you know that when the end of the day comes you will have to fess up to any missteps you may have taken. 
2. Provide yourself with incentives for staying on track. A lot of people like to use food incentives but I would lean more toward things that you want that are not food related. Striving to meet your goals for the week so you can treat yourself to an expensive show rather than treat yourself to your favorite double cheeseburger, is obviously better suited for a healthful set of goals. 
3. Personally, this blog is really helping to keep me on track with my goals. I remember right before posting the entry that talked about my long term goal of running that marathon, I looked over at my girlfriend and gave her a nervous but excited look. Because I knew that once I posted it, I would have to follow through with it. Now I'm not saying that everybody should start a blog but finding some way to put what you say you're going to do down "on record" so it can be provided as proof and as a reminder of what you sought to accomplish. This is one of many reasons that it may be worth it to get out and find a personal trainer. They should be setting goals up with you and holding you accountable for them. 

How can you hold yourself accountable? I would love to hear your answers. Thanks for reading!

Day Eight: Tips on Dining Out

One thing that can be difficult to do when trying to be healthier and lose weight is dine out. Portions are usually way out of control and it can be hard or even impossible to find out how it is prepared. However, here are a few ways you can dine out responsibly.

1. If you are choosing the restaurant, then pick a place that is known for being a more healthy and wholesome place. 
2. If you are not choosing the restaurant, try to find a menu and nutrition facts online. 
3. Prepare before you go by picking out what you are going to order and deciding (if appropriate) how much of it you are actually going to consume while you are there. This tip is good for those that are creatures of habit and find it difficult to stray from what you would normally get. Simply visualizing and going in with a game plan can help fend off those other temptations.
4. If you can't find a menu or nutritional information online, then use your common sense when ordering. Avoid things that are typically bad for you like fried food, most red meats, cheese, white bread, etc. 
5. Don't be afraid to ask how their items are prepared and ask to have things specially made. 
6. Even if you try your best to order wisely, sometimes the portion size is the hard thing to get away from. One thing you can do is ask for a box with your dinner and automatically put half of it away to take home. Out of sight out of mind, right? 
7. If all else fails, and you're not afraid to be the odd person out, then you can eat before and just enjoy the night out with your friends and family. 

Hope you find this useful in your next night out. Just because you're living a healthier life doesn't mean you need to sacrifice going out. Thanks for reading!

Day Seven: Assessment

As I mentioned last Thursday, I will be assessing how I have done over the previous week in regards to my set goals and come up with new ones for the following week. Well, in looking at my goals, I only made one slip up. Again, my goals for the previous seven days were as follows:

• Avoid "unhealthy" fast food places. 
• Avoid high calorie sodas. 
• Get at least 30 minutes of activity in on three different days. (two long walks with the dog and one bout of exercise during a TV program)

The only goal I slipped up on was the soda one. Unfortunately, I got one with lunch the other day and did not even realize until after the fact. I guess it just goes to show how hard it is to break habits sometimes. It really bothers me because of all my goals, I thought that one would be the easiest for me to accomplish. My silver lining, is that I did not consciously sabotage my success. It was just habit that took over. Also, I have learned my lesson and will be much more cautious in those situations in the future.

Just before we move on to new goals, I would like to mention that the goals in regards to diet are compounding which means I am going to maintain previous goals along with the new ones. In regards to activity, however, I will be adjusting to a new plan each week.

With that said, my goals for this next week will be the following:

• No sweets but I will allow myself one free pass on this one. Therefore, at most I can have one dessert type item per week. 
• Activity:
• Cardio - Three 30min bouts.
• Resistance - Hit every major muscle group at least once. 

Basically, what I am adding to my plate for this week is resistance program and no sweets. Although it may not be showing it much now, my goals are going to eventually lead me to finishing that marathon in May and increasing my strength. However, since it is only the second week of my program, I am still choosing to make pretty minor additions. Simply getting a cardio and resistance training program going and sticking with it is the first battle. Focusing on that right now is most important.

Thanks for stopping by!

Day Six: Muscle Basics

Muscle has three main purposes which are movement, stability, and protection. It helps to protect organs and bones from injury. It helps stabilize parts of the body during activity, i.e. stabilizing the spine when walking. Finally, muscle tissue allows the body to move.

The human body is an amazing thing. It can adapt in so many different ways. When it is hot out, the body has ways of cooling itself down such as sweating. When the body is attacked by disease, the body can defend itself and often win the battle. Muscle is no exception. It adapts to what you put it through. When you start working out it will be hard but as you maintain your regimen it will get easier. If you do a bunch of intense cardio, your muscles will become more resistant to lactic acid (one of the biggest contributors to muscle fatigue). Lifting heavy weights will help you to increase how much you can lift.

This concept is why I am such a big advocate for cross training. Using your muscles in as many challenging but safe ways helps to keep them confused which will help to keep from hitting any sort of plateau. Also, it can help to keep the workout regimen interesting. Finally, it can help with weight loss.

Many people think of weight loss and resistance training as two separate things. However, a resistance program can really be a great supplement to an exercise regimen. Cardio is great because it is an excellent way to burn a bunch of calories in a short amount of time. Once you stop exercising though, the extra calories stop burning. Building up a little extra muscle helps you burn extra calories even when you are sitting on the couch. One pound of muscle burns an extra 50 calories per day.

Now, imagine you put on an extra ten pounds of muscle. That means you would burn an extra 500 calories a day and an extra 3,500 calories a week. If you don't know, 3,500 is the magic number in the world of calories. One pound of fat is about 3,500 calories. Therefore, if you put on that ten pounds of muscle, you would automatically be burning an extra pound of fat off per week without doing any extra work. Putting on a little muscle with each major muscle group can really help in your weight loss goals.

There are many more benefits to a resistance training program and I urge you to give it a shot if you have never been interested before. Thanks for reading! Hope you keep coming.

Day Five: Goals

So I have set my goals and they are the following:

• Increase strength by at least 50% by May 1st. 
• Compete in the Pump n' Run in Cincinnati in May. It is comprised of bench pressing and curling a certain percentage of your weight followed by a full marathon (I may switch to a marathon in Dayton, but either way I plan on doing a marathon).

Those are my long term goals and my short term goals will be set from week to week. For instance, this week I have the goals of avoiding fast food places and getting 30 minutes of activity in three times this week. Now that I have my long term goals in place, I can tailor these weekly goals to help me achieve the long term goals. Pretty soon here I will also create some monthly goals.

That's going to be all for this post. I wish I had more for you but due to some personal things going on right now, I did not have much time to plan out and write this post. So instead of rushing it and posting something sloppy, I will come back tomorrow and post some good stuff. Thanks for reading!

Day Four: Setting Goals

A great way to keep yourself on track is by setting goals. Having goals is a great way to motivate yourself by keeping yourself aware of what you are working toward. Also, it is a great way to know what you have to do in the short term in order to achieve those goals. However, there is a science to creating goals in order to make it more likely that a person will achieve them.

Be Specific - When establishing a goal, it should be measurable and there should be a deadline.
            
                       Bad example - I want to lose some weight.
      
                       Good example - I want to lose ten pounds of fat in sixty days.

Establishing the specifics not only makes it much easier to set up a program that you can follow but it holds you accountable for the results. You will know with no uncertainty whether or not you achieved your goal. 

Be Realistic - Do not be afraid to challenge yourself but do not make your goals so challenging that there is very little or zero chance at success. Take a look at how much time you have to devote to a goal, where you would be starting from (if you want to run a marathon, are you starting from square one or do you jog pretty regularly?), and what it will take to achieve that goal. One thing that I like to do is create a goal that is moderate in difficulty but include a "reach" goal that is quite challenging. That way, there is not as much disappointment if I do not perform at my best during that time, as long as I put forth enough effort to meet the moderate goal.

Short vs. Long Term - Often times people have goals that are not quick and easy to come by. Goals such as wanting to run a marathon, wanting to lose a significant amount of weight, wanting to see significant strength gains are all goals that are going to take the average person a while to achieve. We all know how daunting it can be approaching a goal that is going to take a month or longer. Personally, I have trouble seeing a couple weeks out.

Short term goals are a great way to guide you to your ultimate goal. Just be sure that your short term goals lead up to your long term goal in an appropriate fashion. Do not start off too fast and be sure you are always working up to the goal rather than regressing or staying stagnant.


Well, there are some basics on setting goals. I would love to address any questions or comments that you may have and I will be coming to you with my goals in tomorrow's post. Thanks for reading!
                    

Day Three: Weight Loss Basics

In order to lose weight a person needs to burn more calories than they consume. If a person burns more calories than they consume in a day, the difference is called a calorie deficit. There is a calorie surplus if more calories are consumed than burned. A person must reach a calorie deficit of approximately 3,500 calories in order to lose a pound of fat. Being such a high number this is usually done over a few days or even a week. Therefore, weight loss should be approached as a marathon instead of a sprint.

There are no quick fixes when trying to lose weight. If you really want to lose weight, then it should be done slowly and carefully. Too few calories in a day can trigger your body's starvation mode which can cause your body to start getting some of its energy from breaking down muscle tissue which can be very dangerous. Too many calories will obviously lead to weight gain. My last word of advice would be to not get obsessed with what shows up on the scale. Yes, if you are overweight, then it is very important to get down to a healthy weight. However, due to water weight and other factors, your weight can fluctuate quite a bit throughout the day. If you know you are doing things right and you are eating healthy, exercising, and feeling good, then do not let a couple of bad numbers deter you. Definitely assess things but do not by any means give up.

Well those are the basics and I'm looking forward to bringing you more in the future. I would love to answer any questions though.

Day Two: Motivation Through Numbers

Since the previous post, I have remained on track with my current goals. I avoided unhealthy fast food places and high calorie sodas. Due to the fact that I have an entire week to incorporate three 30 minute bouts of exercise I elected to take the day off from that and focus on something that could be a big source of motivation. That something would be numbers.

When starting your journey to a life of health and fitness, it is a good idea to take down some numbers in order to track how well you are doing. Weight is something people are familiar with but there are so many more bits of information you can gather about your current level of fitness. So many in fact, that I will only be mentioning a few at this point. In my opinion, the key is to choose the statistics that are relevant to your goals. For example, if you want to eventually run a half marathon, choosing modes of evaluation that gauge the efficiency of your cardiorespiratory system would probably be the way to go.

Examples of some of the things you can keep track of are:

• Weight - This is the easiest and most convenient statistic to keep track of if you are trying to slim down. Just know this is not always the most important statistic. 
• Body Fat Percentage - In acquiring weight loss, this is a better gauge of how you are doing but it is a more difficult number to calculate. If you know how to use skin fold calipers correctly, it can be the most accurate method. Bioelectrical impedance is the most convenient way to calculate this number but it is less accurate. Bioelectrical impedance is the technology used in some scales to calculate body fat percentage.  It can also be found in some hand-held instruments. There are other ways but they are not practical. 
• Blood Pressure - This is one way to assess the health of your cardiovascular system but be aware it is only part of the picture. It is not a means for diagnosing the overall health of your cardiovascular system.
  
• Resting Heart Rate (RHR) - Ideally you would take your heart rate as soon as you wake up, however, you can get a fairly accurate reading if you simply take it after sitting and relaxing for at least five minutes. Caffeine, alcohol, and exercise, among other things, can affect the accuracy of the reading. You can get this reading from a heart rate monitor, on some blood pressure machines, or by doing it yourself. 
• Heart Rate Under A Specific Load - With this, you would do a specific exercise for a specified period of time and take your heart rate at the conclusion. For example, you can jump on a treadmill for 5 minutes at 4mph and check your heart rate at the end. As your cardio improves, your measured heart rate should decrease. As long as you keep your program constant each time you do it, it can provide great insight. What I did was use a chair that I stepped up and down from for three minutes at a rate of 20 times (up and back down) per minute and took my heart rate when I was finished. There are standardized tests out there which give you the opportunity to compare your results to a sample population. If you fear that comparing yourself to others will be discouraging, then you may want to avoid these standardized tests. Just be careful in coming up with your own program. It should be at a moderate difficulty level and you will probably want to include a designated warm-up.  

As I said, there are a number of additional things that you can measure for the purposes of gauging progress. In future posts I will be covering some of these and feel free to comment on some of your own. Once again, these numbers can be really helpful and allow you to see tangible results which can help to keep you motivated. I hope this has been helpful. 

Day One: Integrating Goals

Yesterday went almost entirely to plan. I stayed away from fast food places and high calorie sodas. However, I did not have the time to take Buddy for a walk. Unfortunately, my afternoon errands ran a little longer than expected and I had to work late. Nevertheless, I had the time this morning and took care of it first thing. Buddy and I went on a nice 45 minute walk where we checked out a nice wooded path nearby.

This brings me to the main topic of this post which is a tip for those of us that tend to keep ourselves quite busy. One of the things that I have found very helpful in getting motivated to get some exercise is combining more than one thing that I need to get done. This morning I needed to get some exercise and so did Buddy. Therefore, I took him on a long walk. In the past I have done things like bike to the store to get a few things, get outside to do some yard work, or exercised while watching the latest episode of a favorite TV show. Let's face it, a lot of us find it very difficult to give up 30 minutes to an hour of our time a day to exercise but when there are other goals being met at the same time it makes it that much easier.

Get creative! There are much more ingenious ways to do this than the examples I have given. If you come up with anything I would love to hear about it.

Starting Slow

Over the years I have come to realize how jumping straight into a healthy lifestyle may not be the best way to go. Yes, there are plenty of people out there that have made huge lifestyle changes suddenly and have stuck with it for the long term. However, that approach probably will not work for the average person and I would venture a guess that a majority of those people that did make the sudden change reached some sort of "rock bottom" before doing so. For those that have made that sort of change, I have the utmost respect. Time and time again I have personally failed at such change.

So what do those of us that have trouble with such change do to begin on the path to a healthful lifestyle? Well, all the literature instructs people to make small lifestyle changes and be sure to stick with them. As simple as that sounds, it is a much more complicated thing to actually implement. What I hope to do with this blog is not only provide tips along the way to educate people on health and fitness but to provide an inside look at just what these lifestyle changes are supposed to look like. Express the successes and failures that the average person sees along the way and how to balance healthy living with life (one area that I feel is not portrayed often enough). With that said there is one thing I would like to stress, which is that I am a fairly average person. I am not a health and fitness nut. I love fast food, soda, and ice cream. I have trouble finding the motivation to exercise. I struggle with a lot of the same things that everybody struggles with. Therefore, if I can do this, there is no excuse for anybody else. Anyone can make small changes in their lifestyle to improve their health.

My small changes to start out on my path will be the following:

• No "unhealthy" fast food - Ideally I should not eat out at all. However, as busy as I am, it would be a big step to do so and remember we're trying to make smaller steps right now. Therefore, I am simply going to avoid fast food places that serve primarily fried food and/or burgers. 

• No high calorie sodas - Again, it would probably be best if I avoided all sodas but to make it a smaller step I will still allow myself diet sodas. 

• Get at least 30 minutes of activity in at least 3 times this week - Today I am going to make sure to take my dog, Buddy, on a nice long walk. 

This is actually really hard for me to leave it at that because I want to set up goals for the future, a cheat day, a more strenuous workout regimen, various menus for the week, and so much more. If you often feel the same way when making healthy lifestyle changes try forcing yourself to only focus on a few things at a time. Wait until you see success with those few things before adding more to your plate.

Personally, I am going to wait a week before adding more changes. Each Thursday, I will revisit my goals, assess how I did during the previous week, and make any adjustments as necessary.

Please feel free to comment. I would love to hear what adjustments you are making.

I am really looking forward to this journey and hearing about yours.

Starting off...

It all began when I was a freshman in high school. My brother and a friend really started getting into body building and my knowledge of fitness started to take form. Over the years I have learned a lot about overall fitness. This knowledge includes insight into the areas of cardiorespiratory, musculoskeletal, and nutrition. However, it was not until recently that I decided this was the path I wanted to continue down in pursuing a career.

In the past I have always had my eye on being a businessman. However, I have always had trouble zoning in on a specific industry in which to do business. That was the case until I started noticing a trend. Whenever I was assigned to do a business plan or any project that allowed for some creativity in what the topic would be, I found that more often than not it was related to the fitness world. It was an area that I had knowledge in and had a strong passion for. Therefore, as soon as I finished business school, I became a certified personal trainer.

Since being certified, I have come to the realization that being a one-on-one personal trainer is not the way to reach larger quantities of people. That is why I am starting this blog. I can only train so many people in a week but the number of people that can read this and potentially be inspired to get healthy are almost limitless. With that, I look forward to bringing my knowledge and other valuable resources to this blog to help people cut through all the nonsense the industry tends to spew and get straight down to the information that has proved tried and true in starting and maintaining a healthful life.

Seeking fitness? You have come to the right place.