REAL SOLUTIONS FOR 2016 (Seriously)

How To Conquer 2016

You know what is interesting?  There is a always a common theme to a New Year's Resolution!  That theme is that you are finally going to do something for you this year and hit that milestone, conquer that goal, make that exception.  Reality though is that humans are beings that in large part have a need to be part of community.  We have a want to give, to love, to be gracious.  Maybe the key to your resolution is to do it for someone else:

• . EAT HEALTHIER (lose weight) - If it has failed you the last 5 years, everyone says "You can do it this year" and "you deserve it."  You are so busy being a mom or dad though that you get lost in the shuffle.  Do it for your kids!  How much do you love them?  How bad do you want to see them get married?  See their kids get married?  That body has to endure to make it to the grandchild's wedding.  Let your love for them fuel you!  You are also a healthier example when you are at your ideal weight.

• GET A BETTER CAREER: Everyone is someone else's inspiration.  If you fear a switch in your job, that personal insecurity will get in the way of that more successful you.  What can't stop you?  Turn to that person that you inspire and allow that to propel you.  Maybe it is a child again, because single people without kids usually move jobs with fervor.  People usually use their kids as an excuse not to make moves, but what example of courage and vertical movement are you making by being scared.  You are great!  Show the world!

• GET REGULAR EXERCISE: Start a club for other people in your shoes.  Go to gyms or classes together.  Maybe create your own fitness charity group that hosts different trainers in your city and raises money for something you hold dear at every event you do.  Now, you getting YOUR exercise becomes something that others depend on.  If you don't get exercise, your favorite charity loses some funding.

• BE MORE POSITIVE: Look everyday for inspirational quotes and post them on social media.  Start a blog where you highlight great things in the world.  People will start to take notice.  You will start to help other people who depend on your positivity to light their morning.  NOW, out of habit, excitement, giving, and community, you remain the voice of optimism who needs to set that example when people turn to you!

• TAKE THAT VACATION:  Ok, so you can't find the time to give yourself the escape you deserve... THEN make it about being a better friend or sibling.  Your brother in Arizona misses you.  He would love it if you came down.  Go bring him happiness.  Sedona, the Grand Canyon, and everything else will just be icing on the cake. 

The truth is that most of us feel too consumed with life and the needs of others around us, and we forego the focus on our own lives.  Make it about those around you then!  Afterall, it is in giving that we receive.  

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Do You Keep Striking Out With Fitness? Try This!

Do You Keep Striking Out With Fitness?

Check out these simple tips towards big change!

Conquering fitness and wellness physically is contingent upon mental commitments and seeing yourself through your journey. Just like a business or a career, you don't become the CEO overnight, so why is it that people view health this way?

It is a journey of education. It involves ups and downs, victories, sacrifice, and almost always a reason. 

The largest hurdle in the health journey is that you believe wrongly that you no longer can enjoy the foods that you love, and that starts you with an already discouraged approached.  Often times you will consult a fitness professional or a dietician for advice in this department and they are so passionately against certain avenues of caloric intake that they forget how simple it is to show you similar and healthier alternatives to what you feel you need in food to be happy.

Take for example that you express your weekly love for McDonald's burgers and fries to a true clean eating fitness coach or enthusiast.  They might laugh and tell you to give that crap up.  

The true balance though is to buy lean organic ground beef, make your own patties without bleached flours or low quality bread crumbs (try wheat germ).  Thin cut an organic potato, spray with coconut oil, season with spices, and bake them on high.  You'll probably like this better!

The point is that most of us are only a few planning tweaks away from a healthier us.  Its not that difficult.  Planning though is highly mental and requires making that effort and changing your idea of what is achievable and what you have time for. 

Here are a few ways to start you on a path to using your organization and your mind to cater to your goals:

1. Come to terms with the fact that if you are unhappy with your place physically or professionally in the world, it is your decisions that put you there and that you can decide to change (with the very small percentage of people with genetic medical ailments being the exception).  It is really not other people causing your problems or a matter of having time.  You have the choice to not let others affect you, cook for you, employ you, live around you.  You have the choice to prioritize your time.  The busiest CEOs get exercise.

2. Start with a plan. Find the things you love to do and enjoy eating and research one thing per week that can upgrade the quality of that meal. Example: lean home cooked burger on Ezekiel roll rather than the alternative. Example 2: buying the ketchup without high fructose corn syrup (there is no taste difference).  In 52 weeks (1 year), you will have found nearly every healthier alternative to what you love without sacrificing most tastes or flavors.  The extra money on better quality will also save you more than that cost in normal medical bills guaranteed (because your food is what is making you feel sick all of the time.)

3. Commit to stop feeling sorry for yourself. It is hard at first, but you are truly just the victim of the limitations you put on yourself by allowing others to control aspects of your life. How to practice this: never again complain on social media or to friends. You don't have the right to vent, even though you think you do. Misery loves company so venting is actually attracting more negativity and you are actually hurting yourself and inviting more problems. Send out positivity.  (if you Find this difficult, find a page on Facebook following the journey of pediatric cancer patients or something and look at those beautiful smiling little kids and allow yourself to see that your problems are not that big of a deal).

4. Commit in a public way to your goals and share your milestones, goals, and research with others.  If you make your journey public and you become the inspiration to others, you will be accountable to and value your mission and not quit.

5. Realize that anything worth doing takes work.  Although many others paint pictures of ease in fitness, entrepreneurialism, love, and being magnetic, their journey to the top has not been easy.  There will be hurdles and there will be failures.  View these obstacles as an educational experience to get better, rather than a sign that it is not worth it. 

Your mind is power!

YOUR BODY IS POWER®

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5 Steps To Transform Your Environment & Then, Your Reality

Steps to Transform Your Environment & Then, Your Reality

PLYOGA Fitness declared months back that contrary to popular belief, fitness and wellness are 90% mental, 8% nutrition, and 2% exercise.  What we did though was leave that mental process and all of it's variables to chance.  Today we are going to give you 5 steps to make this mental journey and control your life in every way including your physical and professional vision.

1. Share Your Journey With Others

When you have made a decision to lose weight, eat healthy, start a business, or find friends who bring happiness to your life, you need to let others know you are doing this and invite others to be part of what you are doing.  If you are only accountable to you, chances are you are going to cut yourself some slack.  If you get a workout buddy, or someone to cut dairy and fried foods with, or someone to share your professional vision, you have actually just made your life easier. 

2. Ask The Right Questions, Rather Than Seeking Answers

Is that the same thing?  Put simply, no.  Answers to your questions that you are asking yourself and those around you might be less relevant than the answers to the questions you should be asking instead.  How do you make that transition to arming yourself with the right knowledge?  It's like practicing smiling at people every day, and then it becomes a habit.  Ask the right people about themselves.  When you learn what makes winners tick, you apply their knowledge and understand their motivations, and then these motivations and pieces of knowledge empower you to do the same.  

3. Understand That Most People Won't Support Your Path

You go to a party and people endlessly joke that you are too good to eat their chips or that you need to just let yourself eat cake at this party and ice cream tomorrow at the boardwalk.  They give you a hard time because you don't want sweet tea, but would prefer water.  Switching gears to professional things, they believe health products don't work or that your idea to open a business in town will not work because there was one here once and they failed.  90% of business people or people on a health journey fail because people do not support them.  You have to realize from the jump the magnitude of how much you are worth it.  95% of people will tell you that you can't or think you are crazy for giving up soda.  Live on the 5% who believe you can.  3% of America is rich.  There is a reason for that.  A very small percentage of people can be discouraged endlessly and keep pushing forward.  

4. Fake It Until You Make It

This might seem like crazy advice to achieving your fitness or business goals, often teased about and highlighted as simply stupid.  Let me tell you why it works.  Most people fail at things because they do not believe they can do it.  Similar to making a point to hold doors for other or smile at people when you walk by, acting like a star and radiating positive energy will make others want to be around you and take part in your journey.  It's contagious.  Acting positive and giving up complaining becomes a habit.  When you feel like an influencer, you act like an influencer.  Often, being a success is something that you have to convince yourself of before you can convince others.  On a nutrition journey, if you tell yourself you love clean food, your tastebuds will adapt with your mind.  Think about it. When you were a kid, broccoli was gross and now you order it as a side.  It started with you reasoning with yourself about the benefits.  The one thing I will tell you is that if you apply this principle business, you better be able to walk the talk when you arrive.  

5. Interact with Winners

If you are lucky like me, you have reached the point where you have successfully unfollowed all of the losers in your life that bring you down on social media.  My social media accounts are now full of people who rock or want to rock.  Here is the catch though.  SOCIAL MEDIA is not everything.  In fact, so many people think they are going to kill it in business by being a social media maven.  You can make considerable strides and some people do change their lives through the internet, but the human touch is invigorating and so much more powerful.  Be around others.  Interact with others.  Take interest in others and share with them.  If you want to do something, go find others who have done it.  If you don't know where to start but know your way around every street on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, utilize your comfort zone in a new way.  Join Linkedin.  Join a group of forward thinking people on a similar journey.  Read a book.  The most important thing about spending time with and studying winners is that although their journey to the top of health or business or relationship seemed effortless, you quickly learn about the mountain they endured to be great! 

Thomas Ascough

Operations Manager

PLYOGA Fitness

Thomas@PLYOGAFitness.com

HOW I KEEP MY BODY FITNESS READY!

How I Keep My Body Ready For Tomorrow

The struggle is real.  There are a lot of different scenarios of people out there in fitness who are always looking for the best way to keep their bodies in symmetry and flowing into the next day on demand.  Maybe you are on a new fitness journey, maybe you are an intense athlete who doesn't like to slow down, or maybe you are a fitness professional whereas leading by example leaves you tired and in need.  Truthfully this is why we created PLYOGA.  It enables the participant to get the intensity and interval training that they crave with the balance, endurance, and flexibility training that they need in active recovery.  You need to try it and check out www.PLYOGAFitness.com.  Here are the other secret weapons I use on the regular in addition to our fitness perfection! 

1.INVERSION 

Teeter makes this little piece of gorgeousness.  Think about it like this.  Your legs and your spine are constantly being pushed down by gravity.  You have gotten so used to the constant flow of strong energy through the lower half of your body that you often don't even feel the swelling and need for attention that you have.  The moment you go upside down for even 10 seconds, you will immediately realize why you need to do this all of the time!  It rocks.  It will change your life!

2. FOAM ROLLING

Foam Rollers are like a masseuse at your side after all of your workouts making you cry!  Deep tissue massages at their finest (and free once you buy one of these guys).  Find that nagging muscle and knot and center on it.  It sucks, but it's lovely!

3. ACUBALLS

Like the Foam Roller, these crazy gizmo's are a form of myofascial release that targets your muscle issues for you.  The thing that I love about these is that they can intensely target smaller areas of the body like the side of the neck or the bottom of your feet, or that hard to reach valley in your back.  This gets it.  The pain can run but it cannot hide.  There are doctors who literally travel the world (I got mine from Dr. Michael Cohen at a CanFitPro show in Canada) teaching people proper use for these tools, so tap into knowledge before you hurt yourself worse.  It's not rocket science, but do a little learning.

4. ACTIVE RELEASE THERAPY

In addition to taking matters into my own hands, there are those spots that require a professional from time to time.  I love active release therapy.  It is usually teamed up with knowledgeable and forward thinking Chiropractors.  Active Release tends to feature the same principles of myofascial release but it leaves the chore in the hands of person who will get to the root of the issue when you don't have the will sometimes. 

5.YOGA 

Let me see you do that YOGA! PLYOGA rocks and will make your body feel better than ever during athletic training, but slowing down for a full Yoga class at least 1 day per week is something that I do religiously... because it's a cult.. (NO ITS NOT! I'M JOKING!)  Yoga is the essential way to get your body flowing at its best.  Think about it.  It is indigenous in humans.  

You are a muscle car.  The muscle car is killing it on the roads and standing out and turning heads and winning like crazy.  If you don't get that car into slow motion and in the garage for it's proper conditioning, it won't last long.  You are a machine!  Treat yourself like it.  DO YOGA!

#YOURBODYISPOWER @PLYOGAFitness

**These are my educated opinions that work.  I am not a doctor and you better make sure that you can be using these tactics and pieces of equipment.

Let What You Love Make You Healthier!

The hot weather is moving in and many people are now beginning to dread the idea of a bathing suit.  It begs to ask the question why the majority of people only feel they need to take care of themselves for part of the year.  I won’t ask it though because it is not something people are cognitive of in their lives.

Reality is that a fitness journey or a healthy lifestyle is intimidating to people.  They think of the complications and the time and the commitment it takes and whether or not they can prevail with their new goals.  In a previous blog, we defied the status quo suggestion that being fit is 80% diet and 20% exercise.  We demanded the “breakthrough” that the healthy life you want is 90% Decision, 8% Nutrition, and 2% Exercise.  We went on to prove why this is the case but left the roadmap to that “Decision” to chance.

 

Through the help of PLYOGA team member Amanda Farina, we came up with one magnificent way to own the “Decision.”  This is what Amanda wrote the other day on social media about her relationship with Track & Field that indirectly lit a flame for us to share regarding the solution:

Do I love track because I'm good at it, or am I good at it because I love it? A question I've had to ask myself a few times this past year. Today was my last college meet and the answer stands that its true love for the sport that will get you through no matter what injuries or time off you've endured. I am so lucky to have been through struggles in my life because it all led me to track. The things track has done for me can never be understood by anyone, it helped me find myself when I was lost and always gave me something to strive for and love unconditionally. It always challenged me and gave me something to nurture constantly. No matter what was happening in my life I knew the track would always be there for me to come back to. So many hours of sweating during the summer long runs, so many speed workouts against the wind in 20 degree weather, even some tears, never once was it not worth it all. I'll never forget the pure feeling of happiness and accomplishment after being done with hard workouts with my teammates, from high school and college. All the injuries, frustration, and disappointing performances I've had over the years, they were all worth it, every second of them. All those times I thought of quitting and giving up, I knew in my heart I never would. I could never give up something I truly love so much and has made me who I am today. All the struggling was worth this feeling of unconditional love for something so simple. Never give up on something you love so much that you can't imagine your life without it.

What we learned is that a journey for someone who is trying to conquer their health can be challenging and discouraging.  That person feels like they are in an uphill battle and that they cannot accomplish what they want to accomplish.  Their crutch becomes the food (or the drugs, or the enabling, or the self-image) that made them vulnerable in the first place. 

Amanda’s post expressed emotion and showed a vulnerable side that required rescue at times.  What did she fall back on during times of need or uncertainty?  Track & Field.

THAT’S THE KEY!

 

 

Find something healthy you love and let that be your security blanket.  Maybe it’s PLYOGA, maybe it’s dancing, maybe it’s a nutrition bar that just rocks, or taking walks on the beach, or hikes in the woods, or swimming.  The number 1 step in creating and beginning your journey is to find something you love that is GOOD FOR YOU to fall back on when times get tough! 

10 Things I Became Certain of on Vacation

10 Things I Became Certain of on Vacation

1. The World Goes on Without Me (and You). 

This is actually something that should reassure you.  You are not that important, but you are powerful and can change the world.  You live in a town, inside a state or province, inside a country, which is a small part of earth, which is a smaller planet in a solar system, in the universe.  Your neighborhood feels big?… the ocean is 75% of the world.  Don’t be afraid of the goals you want to conquer.  They are not that intimidating either if you see them the same way you should see yourself.

2    

2. Do What You Love

You always hear people say, “if you do what you love, success will follow.”  It sounds like the creed for rich people, sort of like “Money is not everything.”  Poor people never say things like this.  People with money are the only ones who say it?  Keep in mind that most millionaires in America were not given their money by ancestors (it’s a fact).  They had a journey to riches and success.  Do what you love!

3. Time Flies

When I was standing in my kitchen before the trip, I said “we will be standing here again before we know it.”  That week was a flash in the pan.  This year will be like that too.  You just said, “I can’t believe it is 2015.”  We are now ¼ through 2015.  Don’t put off your dreams.  You will be too old to conquer them before you know it.

4. Excuses Are About as Valid as an Expired Coupon

Unless you are at Bed Bath & Beyond, Excuses are not going to get you anywhere.  If you have a vision, do it. 

5. The Way You Power Your Body Will Affect Your Life

We went to an all-inclusive and decided to take advantage of that.  Drinking regularly, eating sugary foods, or excessive amounts of carbohydrates will sap your ability to be great.  I spent the day the following Tuesday actually “coming down” from my physical imbalance like a drug addict.  If you eat this way regularly, and stop cold turkey, you will have symptoms like this.  Wean yourself off.      

6. Exercise will Change Your Life

I recognized, but did not think about how, if I failed to work out in the morning, it affected my mood and my ability to think like a champion.  I got exercise only during half of my vacation.  You will never be as good as your best self without exercise.  That’s also a proven fact amongst Fortune 100 CEO’s. 

7. Resolve Is Not Taught, It Is Learned.

You can only persevere by overcoming obstacles and knowing you can do it.  There are a lot of people harboring a whole lot of “quit” out there.  Don’t be afraid of the word “no.”  Your “YES” is somewhere.  You’ll never truly understand until you are pushed to that limit and have to decide to get stronger or go home. 

8. Failure Is Insanity

Popular Professional Culture defines insanity as doing the same thing over and over again and getting different results.  If you are doing something wrongly, and you are not willing to evolve, you are insane and you will fail.  Technology has never made it easier to find the answers from those who are doing it better.  Learn every day.

9. Ultimate Success Is a Secret

Most incredibly successful people will only give you one secret to success only after they found their next one.  How do you stay on that level without it being handed to you?  Don’t believe the Facebook life.  Successful people post pictures of them and their family on mountain tops and beaches, but they don’t post pictures of themselves burning the midnight oil to nurture their needs.  Work harder for your dream like they do.

10. Development Is Patient

Whatever it is you consider successful; making money, being well known, being happy, being bilingual, being fit, being healthy.  It is a patient and committed process.  There are no quick fixes.  Instantaneous success is likely as rare as winning the lottery.  Take your time to greatness.   

Does Ego Keep You Away From Your Goals

Life happens to be a marathon although many of us see utter urgency in everything we do.  We see a weight loss goal in January that needs to be seen through by May.  We open a business or work with a company we believe in and contemplate that we should be millionaires overnight.  We draw off ideas of others and ponder that we can absolutely do it better immediately.  We become protective or defensive of our vision because we think our effort has been paramount and must deserve results. 

Let me ask you a question.  I am going to set up an automobile race and the winner is “amazing”.  There will be two cars involved.  The first car is a 1967 Chevy Camaro in perfect condition.  The second car is a 2014 Toyota Camry.  Visually circle your choice below:

1967 Chevy Camaro                           2014 Toyota Camry

   

90% of people will circle the first car.  The 1967 Chevy Camaro.  That would be great except for that I did not tell you how the long the race will be.  The race is from NJ to California.  The Camaro gets 12 Miles per gallon.  The Camry gets 42 on the highway.  Pretty much no speed that can be counted on for long periods of time could beat a car that has to stop 1 time for every 3 times you have to stop in your muscle car.

There are 2 lessons learned here.  The first is to always evaluate how realistic your goals are and how to attain them, before starting a journey.  The second lesson is not to make emotional decisions and select ego and bright lights impulsively over something that is newer, evolving, and more consistent in its approach.

Whether it is a fitness goal, a nutrition goal, a financial decision, a business angle, or a personal decision, educate yourself.  When you think you made the right call, find people around you who you believe have expertise in these areas.  Find ways to help them and allow them to help you.  The moment you believe you are perfect is exactly when you or your decision will start to unravel.  Be careful of who you consult as well, because “degrees” cannot buy experience.

Empires crumble because those who lead them believe their leadership is wiser and better than the people they serve on any level.  The more you overvalue what your worth is, the cheaper you become.  The more generous you are to the world, the more gracious the world will be to you.  Be wise, be patient, be careful, be courageous!  Win the race!       

The Major Breakthrough in Fitness and Weight Loss - DISCOVERED BY PLYOGA

YOU THINK YOU NEED A WIZARD WITH SOME MAGIC, 

BUT YOU HAVE HAD THE SOLUTION ALL ALONG

For years, trainers, nutritionists, and people with health goals have been debating the ratio of what the fitness commitment must be in perspective to the dietary commitments in order to achieve your outcome.  You will often hear some swear by the 80/20 rule, where as it is 80% diet and 20% exercise.  Some will argue more or less in either direction.  The latest discovery here by an account of trial and error within PLYOGA Fitness has opened up the complete truth about a 3^rd factor that nearly no one addresses in this algorithm.

 

What was this X-Factor?

YOUR MENTAL GAME. HAVE YOU DECIDED YOU ARE WORTH IT?

Based on this new discovery, PLYOGA will be the first to make a ground-breaking announcement in the world of fitness. Achieving what you have set out for physically, either at random or for a New Year’s Resolution, requires a new equation that is:

90% mental commitment, 8% dietary, and 2% exercise

You think this is wrong, let me tell you why you are from another planet. 

• By the middle of January, (out of 100% of people) the majority of people (over 50%) with a New Year’s Resolution have given up.
• By the end of the year, 90% of people (9 out of every 10) have let their New Year’s Resolution extinguish. 1 out of 10 succeed.

WHY DID THEY QUIT?  THEY DID NOT MENTALLY RENDER THEMSELVES WORTH IT.

 

There are all kinds of explanations, excuses, and absolute perfect reasons why each of these people quit “in their minds”.  Let me explain our new equation.

Since the question is only asked when someone needs answer, then since the fail rate is 9 out of 10, it is only fair that 90% would be rendered mental in order to succeed. (It’s fair to say the journey is 100% mental, but that would mean nothing else needs to change).   It’s like an alcoholic or a drug addict who will not recover until they want to.  They have to want it.  You spend 2 hours per day both thinking about what you are going to eat and then eating it.  You may multi-task during these times, but the ratio is accurate.  Guess what 8% of a day is…. Just about 2 hours.  If you don’t take advantage of that 8% wisely, you will not achieve that 100% mark that you rendered important to you.  I work out about ½ hour per day, or 2% of a day, and I can physically keep up with nearly everyone reading this in pull ups, push-ups, interval training, or extracurricular athletic activities.

So you have the new eating lifestyle and you have the new fitness regimen that you need to secure that last 10%.  How can you remain committed to holding them as a priority mentally?

Make your inspirations and your original reasons unable to be ignored.  Put the picture of your sister who died of heart disease in your car.  Keep that memory of your brother-in-law running and playing with your kids vivid in your mind as you set out to be able to do the same thing in the future.  Sit down and have that conversation with yourself about how exercise is now going to replace that crutch that food has become after quitting smoking.  As you push your elderly mom who is in a wheelchair because her knees are not strong enough after carrying around those extra 150 pounds her whole life, understand that you deserve better for yourself.  Once you can establish that inevitable motivator, the real journey begins 1 step at a time. 

Stop this 1 food for now, try this 1 new exercise, and then build incrementally and fluently along your personal and lifelong journey toward a better you.  Even the most fit, healthy, rich, and grounded people try to get better every day.  Just because you are not at your goal, does not make you a subordinate person either, so don’t let your journey discourage you.  Picture it like you are waiting on line to buy something.  The person who is at the register is not any better than you, they have just been there longer.