“Drop a Dress Size In The Next 21 Days or Get Double Your Money Back!“

If you are tired of all the health clubs and fitness centers that tell you exactly what you want to hear to get you to join, but once you’re a member they forget about you and don’t teach you anything about how to get results?  Are you frustrated by all the gimmicks, pills, powders, shakes and gadgets sold on late night TV that are nothing more than empty promises and slick marketing?

If so, then this amazing offer is perfect for you…

Here’s what you get:

• A complete health and fitness evaluation ($75 value) to ensure that the 21 Day Drop A Dress Size Program is customized to specifically to meet your lifestyle and goals.
• Three weeks worth of fat burning workouts with a Certified Personal Trainer ($199 value) to make sure that you don’t spend one minute exercising that doesn’t produce results.
• 21 Days of Fat Burning Meal Plans ($120 value) designed by a Registered Dietician to ensure that you reach your goals as quickly as possible.

…You get all this – a $394 Value for $97!

All Current Members of Force Fitness Boot Camps will be able to participate in the program for just $47!

There are only 21 spots available for this Guaranteed Results program, so contact Ryan Ketchum at Force Fitness at 812-822-0636 or ryan@beforcefit.com now to register or for more information.

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!

They are baaaackkkkk!!!

The holiday season is arriving, heck it might already be here!?! I saw Christmas decorations going up a week ago for display at a local store.  It seems like this time of year comes way to quickly and goes on forever.   No one ever seems ready for it to get here, but at the same time we can’t get enough of it.

This time of year is probably the most dangerous for those of us that have fitness related goals.  There are so many obstacles that stand in the way of maintaining or reaching your goals during the holidays.   There is the lack of time, family gatherings, parties, travel and numerous other challenges that will keep your waist growing instead of shrinking!

There are a few things that I seem to write about each year with regards to staying in shape and I will probably repeat most of them today.    It is good to be reminded of the simple things you can do so that you don’t have to ask for a new pair of pants in a size or two larger for Christmas.

The first thing that you have to do is plan and prepare.  You have to understand what things are going to present you with the biggest challenges and then plan to overcome them.  Having your nutritional strategies in place for parties and your workouts planned for the busy weeks ahead is imperative to your success.   Like my good friend the GI Joe states, “Knowing is half the battle!”  (Sorry for the terrible cartoon reference.)

When planning to eat right and keep some sort of normal eating patterns during this time of year you need to plan all of your meals or at least 90% of them at the beginning of the week.  If you know you will have a party or family gathering where you will be tempted to have lots of junk food plan to eat a small, healthy meal right before hand and then eat just a small amount of the “good” stuff when you arrive.  This will help to keep you from gorging yourself of junk.

Another thing to think about is alcohol during these parties!   I am not one to say you can’t have a little fun and cut loose with a  few drinks, but you have to stay smart about it.     If you are planning on drinking alternate each drink with a large glass of water or another non-calorie containing drink (a Diet Coke with lime will give you the appearance of having an adult beverage without the extra calories, as will club soda or diet ginger ale.)    Try to avoid drinks with sugary additives to them and stick to non-calorie containing mixers.  If you are a beer fan drink light if you have the option and keep it to a minimum.   One or two drinks a couple (that means one or two) nights per week shouldn’t kill your progress or cause you to have to go buy a larger belt, but it isn’t going to make things any easier.

For myself, if I plan on going out and having a few adult beverages, I make it a priority to eat strictly to my plan for the rest of the week and that day.

If you are having trouble finding time to workout there are lots of options during this time of year.  It can become increasingly difficult to make it to the gym for your regular 45 minute workouts with travel and busy schedules but that doesn’t mean that you have to stop working out and making progress.  I have experienced some great results with clients and myself using quick 15-30 minute high intensity interval workouts throughout the week.

If you are pressed for time and space there are a lot of body weight exercise options that can be done in a small area and give you a great workout.

Here is a video of one that I did the other day when pressed for time and it was brutal.  I only needed my body weight and 7′X7′ area to move around in.  I would guess that you can find both of those things in any hotel or family members house.

Click here to see the video: http://www.workoutmuse.com/30-minute-workout

Performing these type of workouts is the perfect answer to a time crunched schedule and limited space/equipment problems.

I generally shoot to complete 2-3 of these workouts mixed with 2-3 strength based workouts using mini circuits each week.  A lot of weeks when I pressed for time I will complete all of workouts in this fashion and try to get in 4-5 each week.

Remember to let yourself have a little fun and don’t stress too much if you slip up and eat poorly at a few parties or miss a few workouts during the busiest times of the year.  You have to maintain a balance in life and having a bit of fun and not beating yourself up over the little things is all apart of that balance.

Remember the email about “The Present”?   Don’t worry about the past, we can’t change it. Simply plan to do the best you can during that exact moment in time and do what you need to have a successful future!

I will bring you more tips on how to stay lean and fit during the holidays in the coming weeks.  Let me know your biggest issues and I will tackle each of them!

P.S.   Very soon we will be releasing our very own Workout Muse Soundtracks that we were lucky enough to be able to Co-Brand with my good friends over at Workout Muse.   If you want to see the cover click on this link: http://www.workoutmuse.com/30-minute-workout.    This will be perfect to take with you where ever you go to get in some awesome workouts and not miss a beat with your training program.

Alright, we are finishing up the month of August and winding down our referral contest. It still is not too late to get your name in the drawing for our prize package worth well over $500! The entire line of Prograde Supplements will be included, an MP3 player pre loaded with several Workout Muse soundtracks, gift cards to your favorite restaurants and much more will be included in the package.

Now we have a great incentive for you to tell your friends and family members about to entice a bit more!

We are holding a transformation contest starting on September 1st. This contest will have the same prize package as the referral contest and will give you the push you need to really change your body for the upcoming holiday season.

The contest will run for 8 weeks (Sept 1st-Oct 31st). We will be taking before and after pictures and measurements for all contestants. You can compete in this contest with any goal, even a performance based goal. Whether you want to drop 20 lbs and get back in those skinny jeans, see your abs for the first time, or finally be able to perform one real pull up you can compete and win! We will be videoing some of the progress and for the performance based goals we will do before and after videos of your workouts to show the gains you have made in your fitness.

There are no special diet programs or workouts that have to be completed. We will plan your nutrition and workouts to fit your current schedule or training program. We just wanted to give you some incentive to make a big push toward finally accomplishing your goals.

To enter please send me an email at ryan[at]beforcefit.com with your goal, why you want to compete in this contest and why you are finally committed to making the changes necessary to take the next step in your fitness. Place Transformation Contest in the subject line.

This should be one of the biggest and best contests that we have ever done! I fully expect anyone that is trying or has been trying to reach a goal to participate. The social support alone will help you succeed.

This is not only for veteran clients or members either. We are accepting new clients and members into the contest, all they have to do is get started working with us and start seeing great progress!

Tell everyone you know that it is time to stop dragging their feet and take some action to get in better shape. You have nothing to lose and a huge prize package to gain!

Email me with any questions or to get yourself entered! ryan[at]beforcefit.com

There is a very popular saying that it takes a village to raise a child.   We all know how important it is to have a great supporting staff around when you need it.  The same applies for fat loss or any other fitness related goal.

Very few people, most likely no one, can truly succeed by themselves.  You have to have a support system in place to be successful.  This can be your family, friends, co-workers or any other group of people that will help you, encourage you and keep you on track to your goals.

Moms in particular have the roughest time with this.  Often times they are the ones that sacrifice their time and energy for everyone else in the family and let their own health and fitness deteriorate.  If you have kids to care for, dinner to cook, a husband to please and numerous other jobs and tasks that have to be done it can be awful tough to make time for yourself.

I think it is time for those of you that need it to start being a little selfish.  You have to take some time for yourself and make sure you are getting what you need from your life to be happy and make the others in your life happy as well.

Do you think that dropping that extra 10 or 20 lbs you have been carrying around for years will help you keep up with your kids and give you more energy to get things done throughout the day?  You bet it will!

If you are starting or in the middle of taking on the task of burning fat you will need to make sure that your family and friends are supportive.  If they aren’t supportive you have to look them in the eye and ask them why they don’t think you deserve to be happy!

Changing a few meals around so that they fit in your nutrition plan, sacrificing a few hours a week so that you can have some time away to work out, and giving you the encouragement that you need will go a long ways.

Make sure you are surrounding yourself with people that will help you get back in those skinny jeans or drop a notch or two off your belt.  If they aren’t helping you they are hurting you.

Who are the most encouraging and supportive people in your life?  Who are the ones that are holding you back?

Take a minute to answer these questions honestly and then fix the problem.

If you have ever been in or trained at Force Fitness you know that we are huge advocates of foam rolling.  Foam rollers are one the most important training tools in our arsenal!  I honestly believe that everyone should have one at home and probably thier office to help alleviate a lot of shoulder, back and knee pain that everyone seems to have now.

If you are only foam rolling when you are training, or (gasping in disbelief) not at all you aren’t doing yourself any favors.  Foam rolling is a simple and effective means to break up scar tissue and knots in the muscle that cause a lot of pain and imbalances.   There is  reason it is called the poor man’s massage tool!  It is cheap and can be done anywhere at anytime.  Well, you might get some funny looks carrying around a foam roller and lying down on the sidewalk or at the store to get in some foam rolling, but I have seen a lot more insane things in Bloomington!   Keeping one in the living room and getting on the roller in the morning and evening should suffice.

Here is an excerpt  from a recent article I wrote for athletes warm ups.  It can be applied to any one so use the info and get started with your rolling!

Unfortunately the pictures were too big to place in this post so hopefully you get the jist of each position from the description.

The beginning of the warm up always begins with the athletes using a foam roller.  Foam rolling is a self-myofacsial release used to improve the quality of the muscle tissue.  The foam roller will increase blood flow to the muscles and help to work out “knots” in the muscle tissue. It has been called the poor man’s massage therapy.   Using the foam roller will give you many of the benefits of static stretching plus the benefit of breaking down scar tissue and adhesions within the muscle and its fascia.   The roller works by manipulating the Golgi Tendon Organ and causing a relaxation within the muscle itself.  The roller will be focused on the upper back, pectorals, latisimus dorsi, posterior hips, hamstrings, adductors, abductors, hip flexors and quads.  The time spent on each area is athlete dependent.  We recommend between 10 and 15 rolls per area at a minimum.  If you have trouble areas or “hot spots” you will give more attention to these areas.   Up to ten or twelve minutes can be allocated prior to beginning the actual warm up for athletes to foam roll.

Areas to foam roll:

Upper Back/Thoracic Spine

Lie on the foam roller placing it horizontally across your back right underneath your scapula.  Pull your arms in front of you placing your elbows together and lift your hips off of the ground.  Using your feet to move your upper body roll back and forth over the roller feeling for any tender areas or “hot spots”.  You may adjust your weight as needed to isolate certain areas.

Pectorals

Lie on the roller face down with the roller at a 45 degree angle to your body.  The roller will be placed at the top of your pectoral muscle and right below your deltoid.  You will apply as much weight as needed and move across the roller rolling up and down your pectoral muscles.

Latisimus Dorsi

Lie on one side of your body and place the roller under one of your arms right under your arm pit.  Reaching your arm straight above your head you will roll up and down your latisimus dorsi and into the rear deltoid region.

Gluts/Piriformis

Sitting  on the roller with it perpendicular to your body you will roll your glut muscles and those surrounding your hip. With a straight leg tilt to one side and roll the entire area surrounding the posterior hip.  You will then cross over the leg of the hip you are rolling and roll the hip area again.

Hamstrings

Placing the roller at the top of the femurs on your hamstrings you will roll across the roller.  If you wish you may change the position of your feet to isolate the different hamstring muscles.  You may also roll one leg at a time to increase the pressure on the foam roller.  To do this simply slide to the edge of the roller.

Hip Flexors

Lie face down and place the foam roller under your hip flexors.  To find the correct placement flex one hip as if you were running and find the place where your hip creases. You will roll in this small area and to the side of this area.  It is easiest, especially for male athletes to lean slightly to one side and roll each hip flexor area independently.  You may also roll one side a time.

Quadriceps

In the same position when rolling the hip flexors you will simply slide the roller down to the top of the thigh and roll each quad from the t of the thigh to the top of the knee.

Hip Adductors

Lie face down and place the roller parallel to your body on one side.  You will then bring your leg up to the side and place it over the roller with a bent knee.  Place your leg with the inside of the thigh touching the roller. You will then apply pressure by picking your hips off the ground and rolling from the inside top of the knee to the top of the inner thigh.

Illiotibial Band

Lie on your side and place the foam roller under your hip on the outside of your thigh.  You will then place the top leg over the bottom leg and position it on the floor as seen in the picture.  Roll from the top of the outer thigh to the top of the knee.   This is a painful position for many athletes and they can alleviate some of the pressure by pushing off the floor with the top foot.  As you progress with rolling you may need to stack your legs to apply enough pressure to the illiotibial band.

Gastrocnemeus/Soleus

You sit facing up and with your legs straight.  Place the roller under the bottom of your knees.  You will then roll over your gastrocnemeus and soleus muscles.

You can progress to rolling with a massage stick or a tennis ball if the foam roller becomes ineffective. Rolling your gastrocnemeus, pectorals, gluts and piriformis with the tennis ball is extremely effective.

If you would like to get a foam roller Perform Better is the best place!  Follow the equipment link at the top of this page, or CLICK HERE to get your roller!

Yesterday I had the honor and pleasure of heading down to Louisville, Ky for a closed door invite only Kettlebell Athletics Certification. My good friend and colleague Pam MacElree was kind enough to give me a thorough beating with a few kettlebell workouts and also got me all caught up on the latest in kettlebell training. Pam runs Kettlebell Athletics with Jason C Brown.

Pam definitely humbled me with the workouts and kettlebell movements that we learned yesterday. She taught me a lot of easy and effective teaching tools so that we are able to use more of this awesome tool in our training programs.

I wanted to share a little bit of what I learned yesterday with you and give you few ways that kettlebells can be used in fat loss workouts.

There are numerous benefits of using a kettlebell including time, space requirements, and effectiveness. One of the best things about kettlebells is that they can be used to increase your cardiovascular fitness, strength, power and stabilization. When using kettlebells you are using a lot of large muscles so that you create a huge demand on the body. This will cause a huge spike in your metabolism and allow you to burn more fat.

Kettlebell training also allows you to easily perform circuits using a kettlebell, body weight, and other tools that allow for easy transitions. A great fat burning circuit might be KB Swing, Push Up, Pull Up, KB Two Hand High Pull and Burpees. If you perform each of these movements or exercises for 45 seconds in a continuous circuit and rest for 90 seconds at the end of each round you will be well on your way to a smaller pant size. The circuit should be performed 3-5 times for best results.

I will post a quick video later in the week showing you how I am using kettlebells and my new knowledge in my own workouts to keep me in tip top summer shape. I am all about short and intense workouts during this busy time of year!

Keep an eye out, we might just be starting a new kettlebell conditioning class for everyone to try!

If you want to experience the awesomeness of kettlebell training leave me a comment and let me know!