The power of positive thinking

The mind is a powerful tool. One that will make or break you. Everyone has two sides to which they think. The one side is the negative, "life is sucky", "it only happens to me", side and then there is the "I will succeed, I am great at what I do". The negative thinkers are generally people who start alot of "new" things but fail soon thereafter. Whether its a diet, workout plan etc. They have it ingrained in their head that they will probably fail before they even start. They give it a shot and bam....they fail. Why? Thats all they thought of the entire time, failing. So many people in life get tied up with feeling sorry for themselves when all they have to do is simply stop thinking negatively all the time. We are BORN to be successful. We dont come out of the womb as losers, our atmosphere, our upbringing, our social sphere of influence are generally the ones who determine the kind of thinker you are. If you surround yourself with negative, lower order thinkers, surprise, you wont be too far behind them yourself.

4 years ago I had a phone discussion with my coach James Fitzgerald and within the first few minutes he stopped me and said you are such a negative person. Everything you have said is negative. Guess what? That stopped me right in my tracks and holy shit, he was right. You CAN NOT be successful in anything in life if you are negative. From that day forward I have put all my energies towards positive events and positive people. I leave those energy suckers out of my life. If you think this days going to suck or your situation is because of this or that. Guess what? Today's a new day. You will suffer everyday living in the past and with your prior mistakes. Its a new day to set a goal and a plan towards becoming happy and successful. Whats the definition of success? Living a life that supports all your dreams. Not necessarily having alot of money, not living in a mansion, its about building a life for yourself that makes YOU HAPPY.

Start each day thinking about something positive, work throughout the day to silence the negative voices, learn to smile more and go to bed with a clear head and a few positive thoughts, you will be surprised where this takes you....

Where Ive been...

Its been awhile since Ive last posted. We have been very busy with new client consults (currently booked 2 weeks out), assessments, over 25+ hours a week of in person client sessions, cranking out killer programming and nutrition programs, training myself for crossfit sectionals, and trying to make time for some flyfishing and quiet time.
We are in the process of adding 2 trainers to Garage Gym. The announcement will be made once everything is finalized. We are also working on plans with expanding Garage Gym to over 2000 sq feet (6+ months out) which will allow us to accomodate larger group classes and space for our trainers to work comfortably with our private client base.

On a side note, I want to give props to some outstanding client achievements within the last few weeks that havent gone unnoticed.

Stewart losing 22lbs in 4 weeks
Laurel losing 28.5 lbs in 9 weeks
Chris L for hitting a 15lb weighted pullup for 2 reps and crushing an 8:29 2k row
Sarah C for hitting 3 chinups
Alex F for preparing for CF sectionals ( no easy task)

We want to welcome Shannon, and Nick to GG. Your journey is just starting...hang on.

6 Steps to accomplish any goal

One of my favorite lunches
Fresh grilled hamburg
Winter Squash with coconut oil
Left over gluten free pizza with hot sauce.

1) Define a specific goal
2) Determine exactly why you want to accomplish this goal
3) Establish a date you want to accomplish goal by
4) Create a structured plan on achieving your goal, and start today
5) Write on paper your goal, why you want to accomplish this and the date you want to accomplish this by.
6) Read this statement to yourself twice a day. Before getting out of bed and before you go to bed. And tell as many people as possible about your goal.

Now get to work.

THE TOP 3 ISSUES THAT I SEE DURING AN ASSESSMENT

I sit down with numerous clients per week during consultations and assessments and there are 3 areas that are overwhelmingly popular that pop up. I am going to briefly discuss these three areas over the next few weeks.

This may come as a surprise to most of you. An overall lack of the amount of food that is eaten. That's right, LACK of food that is eaten. It's not uncommon to see people eating 1000-1500 calories a day, with most of those foods carrying zero nutrients, aka cardboard. You may be thinking, "that's because they are trying to lose weight." In the majority of people this isn't the case, its just their "normal" day of eating. A day consisting of a bowl of cereal, muffin, sandwich, chips, pasta, and cookies, is not only lacking any kind of useful nutrients, but most importantly a balanced level of macro nutrients (protein, fat, carbohydrates). Our clients are shocked at the amount of food they end up eating on a daily basis while still shedding body fat, staying satisfied all day, sleeping amazing in better moods. Calories-in versus calories-out is a myth that has been debunked over 20 years ago. Eating less calories, does not create weight loss and I'd argue that in most cases creates weight-gain over a long period of time (discussion for another time). I am not going to dig into how this works from a scientific perspective or "what" you should be eating as that is a huge discussion and different for everyone. What I want you to take away is, your body is asking to be fed the correct amount of food (generally more), balanced macro nutrients, high quality, high in vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, amino acids, and probiotics. Forget counting calories and taking your 36 daily vitamins while scarfing down your bowl of oat bran, eat REAL, whole food. I define a whole food as one that does not come in a cardboard box or a can, if it can't grow mold when left out of the refrigerator and can be GROWN and eaten without being altered from its original form. You should question your energy fluctuations, mood swings, grogginess in the morning and sugar cravings and if you see these symptoms disappear after eating a proper amount of quality food. I am confident you will like what you see and feel.

Go out and enjoy the world's great whole foods.

Summit of Giant Mountain

View from the top

Climbed and conquored by Client Jenny C.

This is why it is important to me to do the work with you at Garage Gym.

Giant Mt.
#12 of the Adirondack High Peaks (there are 46)
Elevation 4627 ft
Ascent 3050 ft
Mileage (Round Trip) 6
Time: Ascent 3 hrs 15 minutes Descent 2 hrs 30 minutes
Near Death Experiences 4 or 5

I climbed Mt Marcy on this weekend last year, and I felt, and was in fact, so much stronger this time around. I felt the difference mainly in my core and upper body, everything felt stable and connected. I think it is important to have tests/adventures like this to stay excited to work in the gym. Everything we did today in our workout from split squats to the 400 meter runs I thought of in the context of being better on the next mountain.

The next mountain: #2 Algonquin Peak Elevation 5114 ft Ascent 2936 ft Milage (round trip) 9 Date planned 2/11/12



Ask yourself today:
Why do you want to be healthier and stronger?

Flow sessions and their importance

Three inspiring individuals in my life

A flow session is a training day that includes 40-60 min of low volume, low intensity cardio, and skill based movements. I find flow sessions extremely useful in my training program because they bridge the gap between regular training days. Ive monitored my training days after coming off of a day or two or rest (no activity) and compared training days coming off of a flow session day. Ive found that my training sessions following a flow session are much much better. Nervous system is prepped, soreness is less, and I dont feel "heavy". With that being said I am a FIRM believer of true rest days, doing nothing but eating a ton of food, sleeping alot and chilling. But as my season moves from "moderate training"(6 months out) into heavy intensity and lactate sessions (last 3 months prior to a comp), flow sessions are critial.

An example of my flow session this A.M.

A. Clean Grip DL @ 11X1, 2 reps @ 60% RM x 10 sets, 45 sec - speed off the floor to the hips is the purpose of this...so move the bar quickly - follow tempo
B. Snatch Balance @ 95lb, 5 per min for 5 mins
C. Power Snatch @ 115lb, 1 perfect rep per 30 sec for 5 mins
D. Power Clean and Push Jerk, 1 fast rep @ 135lb per 30 sec for 5 mins - quick transition from clean to jerk
+
20 minutes of skill/flow work
Row 2 min at 1:53 split
1 Ring Handstand pushup hold- 15 sec
2 Turkish getups 55lb
3 Kettlebell snatch per arm 55lb
4 pistols
1 40 yard farmers walk with 2 70lb kettlebells

A session like above does not tax my nervous system or make me sore at all. Everyones layout for this is different. Its critical to make sure you are not pushing your aerobic or CP system too hard during these sessions as the true meaning is RECOVERY.

GG Warriors

Could I beat 2:16?

At first the time to beat on this workout was 3:02, then 2:54 and now it sits at 2:16.

I tackled this workout with 110%, everything I had. No regrets.
A 30 min warmup to get the blood flowing and body ready for this one.

A solid 15 min recovery was needed after this effort. 15 min of EZ airdyne, and i felt remarkably better. Lactate energy system is coming along. As a buffalo (slow twitch athlete)this workout is not my cup of tea but Ive been training the numerous different ANG pathways for 2 months now and I feel more comfortable with this domain. I also feel my body is able to remove lactate much more effciently than when I first started this energy system.


15-12-9
power clean 115#
burpees

2:32

Monster Grip Strength

Jason N, 17 year old, gripping and ripping two 25lb plates like its nothing. He also nailed the thicker 25's and came close to the 35's, unreal strength.

On a side note, he's pulling a 1:21 on the rower when testing low end- high power output and has packed on 3 lbs of muscle in 1 week...

watch out...the new generation of fitness is here...