Today is a bit surreal for Wil and I, it is the one year anniversary of Force Fitness!   It doesn’t seem like much more than a month ago that we sat down and had a long, serious conversation about starting this business and trying figure out how to make it work.   We had talked for years about dong something with our passion for fitness, fat loss, and sports performance but the timing was never right.  I am not sure the timing is ever right to make a decision like the one that we made.

We planned two or three times in the years before this to start up a training studio.  The first two times it was not reasonable and did not happen.  Finally, we decided to take the plunge and started planning, meeting and contacting people that might be able to help us with our goal.   It was May 2008 that we decided to make the jump and turn our dreams into a reality!

After months and months of work and planning we finally opened on November 17th.  We sat at the front desk with an unfinished building, no real locker rooms or bathrooms, and not knowing what the heck the future held for us.  It was a scary and exciting time.

We had a lot of supporters, but we also had our fair share of cynics and non-believers.  Without both of these people we wouldn’t be where we are today!

To the people that supported us- THANK YOU!!! We owe everything to you and your friendship.   We surrounded ourselves with people that wanted us to succeed and had faith that we would pull through.

To those that wanted us to fail or didn’t believe we could make it work- THANK YOU!  Wil and I knew that we would prove you wrong and you gave us the motivation to take our dreams further than even we could imagine.

The past year has been a whirlwind!  We started a business in probably the worst time in history since the Great Depression,  we battled a down economy and many unknowns.  We didn’t have a lot of business experience and had to take our lumps along the way.   Many things have changed, improved and some have fallen by the way side, but I can assure you that everyday we work our butts off to make Force Fitness the best training facility in the world.   Our clients all hold a special place in our hearts and we can’t thank you enough for all of your support and belief in our training programs.  More importantly, your faith in Wil and I with your health, fitness, and performance.

All in all things have been better than I could have imagined and we are very appreciative of all of our blessings.

This isn’t just about our anniversary… there is an underlying lesson here for everyone trying to reach a goal.

There are a few things that you can do to ensure your success.

1) Work your butt off!  Nothing worth having comes easy.  If you want to lose 20lbs you are going to have to make some sacrifices and work hard.  6 minute abs are a myth and no infomercial product or diet pill will get you there.   If you want to be an all state performer in your sport you are going to have work everyday to make that a reality.  There will be some rough times and days where you think you are headed in the wrong direction but you put your head down and keep moving forward.

2) Surround yourself with great people and an awesome support system! Without our close friends, family members, and amazing clients we would be nothing.   Achieving your fitness or performance goals require the same support system.   No one can do this alone, and you are no exception.   Surround yourself with people that help you move closer to your goals.

3) Just do it!  Are you willing to do whatever it takes to have success?  Wil and I were and are… we have worked days upon days straight, put in 80+ hour weeks, trained sick and worn out, and put everything on the line to get what we wanted so that we could help you and those that want to achieve the best!   Are you willing to not have that beer at a tailgate, not eat the junk food they have the office meetings, come in to train on a Saturday when your teammates and competitors are sleeping in after staying out all night on Friday?  I know most of our clients are!   Those are the things it takes to achieve greatness and get the things that you have always wanted and most people never get.

4) Find the best and learn from them.  Wil and I have the best business coaches in the business, Pat Rigsby and Nick Berry.  We travel to conferences and seminars monthly, if not more to improve our skills.  We network with other successful fitness professionals and coaches across the country and world.  We find people that have done what we want to do and learn from them.  We hope that we are the best at what we do and can give you guidance, coaching and support that you need to achieve your goals.  Those that train at Force Fitness get the best training in the world!

Gosh, writing this has made me think of Wil and I sitting at his dining room table writing the business plan, banging our head on the table (and walls, and doors, and numerous other hard objects), disagreeing, agreeing, and finding the greatest joy in the world… realizing that you are doing what you love to do!

This coming year we will keep improving to bring you the best and give you our best.   Already, we know we are speaking at a big time conference teaching other fitness pros and coaches what we do here at Force, have been nominated for 2010 Personal Trainer of the Year, creating an Olympic Lifting Certification, training professional athletes, taking positions as consultants for the world’s best youth training franchise, Athletic Revolution, and many other things.

Lucky, lucky us!  But all that luck didn’t come with out our great support system, hard work, dedication, and taking a few risks.

Special thanks to all of our clients, Tom and Marty Fleming and the rest of the Fleming family, my parents  and step parents Tom and Tanya Ketchum and Renee and Terry Goering, Dr. Greg Fox, Pat Rigsby, and Nick Berry.   Without you we would not be where we are today.

I am sorry if I forgot someone really important!  My mind is racing all over the place as I am writing this and it is hard to remember everyone that helped us take a big step towards our dream.
And thank you for reading this and supporting our efforts!

If you really love what we are doing shoot me an email and let me know… If you really hate what we are doing you can keep your thoughts to yourself until tomorrow. Let us enjoy our day!

BE FORCE FIT!

If you have ever tried losing weight you have been there.   You have been following your training and nutrition plan diligently for a few weeks and started losing some weight and then all of a sudden it stops!  You hit a mark that you just can’t seem to break.

Why does it happen and what can you do about it?

The first thing to look at is the progress you have made so far.   Be proud of the fact that you have put in the work and are losing fat!   It may not be where you want to be, but it is progress none the less and instead of beating yourself up about it be happy that you have seen some success.

The body is smart!  It doesn’t want to be out of its comfort zone and it likes to hold on to that extra fat that it is so used to carrying around everyday.   It also adapts quickly to the things that you are doing to lose that stubborn fat.   At some point you will hit a plateau and not be able to drop any more weight or get to that next pant size without making a few changes.

A lot of times what happens is people start letting little things that are keeping them from making progress back into their routine.  A little extra cheating here and there didn’t hurt for a while, but it will catch up with you.  Bigger portions to reward yourself.   Those extra calories add up fast and can halt your progress.  Take a good hard look at what you are doing and if you are doing what you are supposed to be doing consistently enough to make progress.

IF you are doing everything right and you still aren’t making progress then it is time to make a change.   You might need to tweak your nutrition plan a bit to reflect your new body.  You don’t need as many calories as you needed at a heavier weight.  Start cleaning up your diet or increasing your veggies and taking out the one or two things that are holding you back the most.

The next step is to look at your training program.  Are you comfortable with your current program?  If so you probably need to make it a bit tougher.  We try to change our client programs every 4-6 weeks, but we see a lot people that are hesitant to push themselves to work harder within their programs and increase weight or reduce rest times throughout those 4 weeks.  There is no reason that you should be lifting the same amount of weight in the split squat in week 4 as you were in week 1.   I always shoot for one more rep, a little more weight, or less rest time each time I perform a workout.  It is called progressive overload and it is the basis for changing our bodies.

Will progress be constant?  Absolutely not!   You will hit plateaus and you will hit points at which you feel like you can’t make any more improvements.  This is perfectly acceptable as long as you are doing the things above.  Sometimes the body needs some time to adjust.  Weight loss in particular doesn’t always occur in a linear pattern.  You might have one week that you lose 4 lbs, the next 2 lbs, 3 the next and then you don’t lose any the following week.   It will happen if you follow a simple formula:

Eat quality foods (read lean protein and veggies) + Eat less than you are burning + Perform awesome workouts like we have our clients do at Force Fitness = Fat Loss

If you have stalled out on your fat loss take a look at the things mentioned above and see where you can change something up to get the results you are looking for!