We have 12 days left until Team Trinity tackles the Tough Mudder adventure race.

11 Miles

26 Obstacles

and lots and lots of mud!

Our team has bee training for the last 12 weeks in proeperation for the event. With less than 2 weeks left, we’re putting the finishing touches on training. For example making sure everyone can climb up the 20 foot rope climb, belly crawl under barbed wire and run the 11 mile course.

Checkout one of the team videos here.

The hard work and determination of the group has been awesome. Many of the members couldn’t imagine 12 weeks ago, doing some of the workouts we’ve been completing, but they have!

Several team members have lost over 20 pounds in the last 12 weeks!

Anything is possible if you put your mind to it and stick to it until the end!

TEAM Trinity - Tough Mudder

Find something you want to accomplish and go for it. What’s stopping you? Nothing… just YOU!

Get started today and make 2012 your BEST YEAR EVER!

For more info on our team checkout our team site… Team Trinity

Start Strong, Finish Stronger!
Nathan

This is week fifty-one of fifty-two.

Use your excitement to fuel you when your energy is low. But, remember to give yourself a break from your pursuit on a regular basis.

This will prevent burnout and boredom.

Here’s a great goal strategy for you…

2012

What will 2012 bring for you?

What do you want to get out of 2012?

December (and even January) is the perfect month to reflect on the past year and set goals for the upcoming year. Focus on making short-term and long-term goals.

How do you plan to meet these goals? What steps will you take?

The best way to accomplish goals is to write them down!

Don’t simply move into 2012 without articulating what new wonderful things you envision for yourself.

First, find a quite place where you can be alone.

Second, right down everything you’d like to accomplish over the next year.

"If they're not written down, they're not goals... they're wishes!" Nathan Nowak

Finally run through the year in your mind as if you’ve already achieved everything you wanted for the year.

Use all of your senses while creating the pictures in your mind. The more you can bring these images into your mind, using all your senses, the faster you will attract them into your reality.

See YOU at the TOP!

and don’t forget to have fun with this!

Start Strong, Finish Stronger!
Nathan

Challenges are a part of life. Especially in sports and working out.

We can create them ourselves, by setting weight loss goals or a target time for the next 10k.

Some challenges are outside of us and outside our control.

These could be injuries in training or well-meaning people telling you to give up or that you can’t do it.

Whether internal or external, challenges are good and should not be looked at as negative (even if they are), use them to fire yourself up and get to your goal faster.

Never give up!

Growing up, I had several people in our Tae Kwon Do school, even my coach, tell me that I’d never make it to the Olympic level of competition. My coach once told me, “Just to settle for having fun and except that I was an average TKD athlete.”

Well, in 2004 I made it to the Olympic trials!

VICTORY!

If I would have let the negative comments dictate my future, I would have never known how good I really am.

If you have people telling you, you can’t or are trying to discourage you from trying something new, you either need to reevaluate who you hang out with or use their negativity to help fuel your desire to accomplish your goal and prove them wrong.

Believe in Yourself!

Success... is sweet at any age!

If you thought of the idea, then you have what it takes to follow it to completion.

Don’t stop until you’re satisfied. It’s okay to lose; it’s NEVER okay to quit!

Start Strong, Finish Stronger!
Nathan

I’ve been a coach and mentor for almost 20 years now. I’ve pretty much seen and heard it all when it comes to excuses as to why people can’t get what they want from their fitness and nutrition goals.

One of the most common is, “It’s not the right time.” or any variation of this statement. 

When is it ever the “right time” for anything?

We have to work with what we’ve got. PERIOD!

There will always be set backs.

There will always be outside forces we can’t control.

There will always be other people to deal with.

There will always be economic crisis.

There will always be too much of this

and too little of that.

There will always be… there will always be… there will always be….

It’s real easy to sit in the downward spiral of negativity and flush yourself away in self-pity, but when does that ever help?

The Time is NOW!

Instead of focusing on all the reasons why you can’t do something, look at the things you can do and do them.

There will always be positive people in your life.

There will always be opportunities for you to get what you want.

There will always be a way to fit workouts in.

There will always be healthy options for you.

There will always be time for what you make time for.

It’s time to suit up, step up and get your ass in gear!

You have to want it. Not just say it, but live it!

Just Do It!

There are too many talkers… it’s the doers that get it done! And the talkers just envy the doers.

Start now, let’s go and work toward the results you want.

Don’t let timing be the excuse of why you didn’t get to your goal. Because you’ll never get it if you keep on thinking the “perfect time” will come.

Remember, "YOU can DO It!"

Start Strong, Finish Stronger!
Nathan

Unless you’re a professional/amateur athlete with a coach breathing down your neck during every practice, you’ll have to motivate yourself to keep going with your workout programs.

It's up to you!

Even if you have a personal trainer, they’re not with you during every training session.

Your success or failure in a fitness program or even a road race, triathlon or any other sport will be left up to you.

It’s a lot of pressure, but you have it in you.

First figure out your motivation and your “why” for what you’re trying to accomplish and use that when you’re feeling tired or having a bad day.

What's your motivation?

When it’s cold outside, you’re a little tired in the morning, or just don’t feel like doing it today, remember it’s you who decides your success or failure.

Once you set your mind to what you want to do, it’s your motivation, dedication and desire that will lead you to where you want to be.

If you are an athlete without a coach, remember that your opponents are training whether you do or not.

That’s what would get me up at 0530 to go running in the middle of winter, when everyone is sleeping warm and soundly in bed.

I’d get to the gym early and stay late, because I wanted to win more than anything.

All the motivation, dedication and desire… and my “why” were big enough to keep me going, even when I didn’t want to.

The great thing about having pursuits that force you to focus so strongly is that it crosses over to other aspects of your life as well. You know what it takes to get to your goal and whether it continues to be sports or you transfer the effort to business or any other avenue you want to pursue.

You're a SUCCESS!

Remember, Your Success or Failure is up to YOU!

Start Strong, Finish Stronger!
Nathan

If we don’t keep pushing our limits, we’ll never know our true hidden potential. Many times we achieve great strides and hang out as if that’s as good as it gets. Sometimes it’s because we don’t believe it will get better or we get complacent thinking, “it was pretty tough getting this far, I can’t push myself any harder.”

Don’t be content with where you are. You may need some patience and understanding, knowing some big goals take time, but if you want more, then believe you can have it.

Go after it!

Olympic athletes, for example, Olympic power lifters or track and field athletes are constantly pushing for an extra kilogram or an extra inch.

USA Team Trials

Even though it may not seem like much, when lifting extremely heavy or running, jumping or throwing, success is sometimes measured in small differences.

Sometimes it takes a little more effort

These small measurements may take weeks, months and in some cases years to gain.

Since the goal is an Olympic medal, these athletes, rarely quite or stay at a certain level for very long. Those who do, never make it to the elite level.

Think of this in terms of your workouts. Maybe you have a weight loss goal. It was pretty easy going in the beginning. You were losing weight and all the sudden you it a level where you were training pretty hard, but the extra inches/weight loss started getting slower.

If you really want to accomplish your goal, stick with it.

It will happen and you will break through, but if you choose to stay at the level you’ve accomplished, you may never see the real result you wanted.

Keep going, keep moving forward and you will see success in a different light. If you think you’ve achieved success now, add a little more effort and imagine where it can take you.

Celebrate ALL your victories and keep moving forward!

Start Strong, Finish Stronger!

Nathan

Goal setting is really important if you want to accomplish anything. Having a plan to accomplish that goal is equally important. You can start off in pursuit of your goal without knowing exactly how to get there, but once you get started, if your goal is sound and you really want to achieve it, the plan will start to fall into place.

Take the initial step!

The ultimate question is, how bad do you really want it?

There are times when we have to make decisions that will lead us closer to or further away from the goal we set.

If you’re burning desire to have the results of accomplishing the goal are strong enough you should be able to make decisions that will lead you closer to your desired outcome. 

As we move closer to a specific goal, we might find that it isn’t what we really want and we need to make corrections for a new goal, but that’s okay. Even though you’ve changed direction, you still have a goal. One problem people struggle with is being too afraid of making the initial commitment because they’re not certain of the path or the exact outcome.

However, indecision will withhold you from ever progressing. Understand that your path and goals can evolve as your progress through the journey. And often times you stumble upon opportunities you never anticipated and wouldn’t have discovered had you never started upon the journey. 

It’s in not having a strong goal that we find ourselves lost, without direction and making wrong choices.

Once you decide, for example, you want to lose 30 pounds, everything you do day in and day out should lead you closer to that goal.

No, you may not make the right decision every time, but more times than not you will find yourself making the ones that support your goal.

If you find that you are making decisions that pull you farther away from reaching your goal, you may need to reevaluate whether or not the goal is in line with your current beliefs.

We all have “we’d like to haves,” but we all don’t do what it takes to get them.

Once you make your decision to go after something, stick to it until you get what you want. You may have to give up a few things in the beginning in order to move up to a higher level. As much as we’d like to, we can’t keep doing what we’ve always done and expect a different result than we are currently getting. 

Oh, and remember, have fun.

Start Strong, Finish Stronger!
Nathan

This wasn’t the blog post I had intended to send out this morning, but with the untimely death of Steve Jobs yesterday, I thought it was appropriate to change it last minute.

Steve Jobs

After reading all the posts on facebook last night about the remarkable life of Steve Jobs, I noticed an overall theme.

Most posts made reference to a reflection of  life and living it to the fullest.

Steve Jobs brought forth new ideas and innovations that have revolutionized the world. He made something of his life. He left a mark on the world or in his own words, “a ding in the universe.” 

Creating a New World

What are you doing with your life?

It’s a good question to ask, not just because we lost someone who society agrees has made a difference in the world, but we all have a chance to make the world a better place and leave our “ding in the universe.”

I have a series of questions, thoughts and ideas I think about and use in visualization exercises on a daily bases.

One question I ask myself is, “did I do everything I could today?” It’s open ended, but pertains to anything I’m currently working on or training for in that moment.

I was raised on the idea that you always keep doing more and never settle for just good enough.

Steve Jobs lived everyday striving to change the lives of Apple followers and create new and dynamic products for the world.

A Creator and Innovator

Whether you have ideas of changing the world or changing your community, you have to start somewhere. The main thing is to get started, NOW!

What great ideas do you have that could help the world?

The world has lost a great innovator and a great man and a great human being.

As we stop to reflect on a wonderfully successful life, also remember yours. You’re still here and still have time to create the passions within your heart.

“Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose.”
Steve Jobs 

Apple

One of my favorite books is “The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs: How to Be Insanely Great in Front of Any Audience“, by Carmine Gallo

Here’s one final quote to leave you with today.

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

Steve Jobs[Stanford commencement speech, June 2005]

Start Strong, Finish Stronger!

Nathan

It seems easy enough to answer. But, really, where are you headed?

Where ya headed?

I don’t watch much television, but when I was lying in bed over the summer with nothing to do, but recover from knee surgery, the t.v. may have been on.

One of the shows I enjoy watching is Criminal Minds. If you’ve never seen it, it’s about a special unit of the F.B.I. that tracks kidnappers, serial killers, rapist, etc. that local law enforcement can’t seem to catch.

One of the characters, Gideon, is one of the most talented and experienced agents in the unit. One day, he’s seen too much and leaves without saying good bye. He just never comes back.

During the final scene of the episode, he’s at a truck stop. The waitress asks, “where are you headed?” Now, remember I told you he’s very intelligent and always seems to have an answer for some of the most difficult cases the unit encounters.

However, his response to her seemingly simple question was, “I’m not really sure. Nowhere in particular.” She then asks, “Well if you don’t know where you’re going, then how will you know when you get there?”

His reply, “That is a very good question.” The end of the scene his him walking out of the truck stop, getting in his jeep and driving off.

So, I ask the question again, “Where are ya headed?”

What I really mean is, where are you going with your goals? Do you have a set road map to get there? And when you arrive, will you know when that is and what it looks like?

Which way do we go, which way do we go?!?!

We like to imagine our situations as being better, but when we’re asked what we’re doing to get there, we have no clue.

Or, even worse, we use the same answer Gideon gave to the waitress, “nowhere in particular.” And then complain when we don’t get what we want or our circumstances worsen.

We’re not in control or in the driver seat of our own lives.

So, again… “Where are ya headed?”

If you know what you want, set time aside and map out how you’re going to get there. No, you don’t have to know every detail of the trip, just like driving in the dark, as long as you can see the next 100 to 200 feet in front of you, you can drive from Atlanta to Los Angeles and arrive successfully.

Start with the end in mind. What the completed picture or goal will look and feel like, and then set out to get it.

Just as you would a road trip. There may be road blocks, detours or traffic, but if you want to get to your destination bad enough, you’ll make it through to the end.

Obstacles will come

The same idea holds true for our goals, yet we tend to give up when things get hard or everything doesn’t go our way the first time.

If you want it bad enough, you’ll break through those obstacles and arrive at your goal.

So, when you’re asked, “Where are ya headed?” You will be able to say with confidence, “I’m heading (in the direction of my goal!)”

Have fun with this!

YOU have arrived!

Save travels and see you when you return!

Start Strong, Finish Stronger!
Nathan

Are you bored with your workout routine?

It’s easy to get into the same ol’ routine day in and day out at work and in daily life, but when it comes to workouts, it seems people get bored easily then quit.

Really Bored!

I think it’s because most people go into a workout routine already dreading it because of the misunderstanding that it will not be fun. Yes, I agree, with part of that. If you find yourself at a gym that pushes memberships and doesn’t follow up with good classes and a fun environment, then it would be easy to say the classes are boring; the gym atmosphere is dull and would find yourself wanting to quit.

Some of the responsibility does lie on us as fitness enthusiasts to figure out what we find fun and use it to get great workouts in.

For example, if you hate riding a bike, spin class or riding outside for exercise isn’t going to be for you, but if you love to dance, then Zumba would be a great way to get a full body workout while doing something you love.

Trinity Instructor Betsy Sexton teaching Zumba!

Working out and exercise doesn’t always have to be in the gym. Parks provide a great back drop for lots of natural obstacles and challenges for doing everything from incline push ups to jumps up and down on a wall. We utilize some of this while in our outdoor boot camp.

Trinity Boot Camp with Instructor Stacy Wyman

Another reason to change it up and add different workouts to your routine is so your body doesn’t get use to the same exercises and movements.

I use the example of “taking the stairs” all the time. Remember when you decided to start taking the stairs at work rather than riding the elevator?

Running Stairs

The first week or so you may have been out of breathe, a little sore or both, but after a few weeks, the tiredness lessened or went away completely, and there was no more soreness.

This is because your body adapted to the changes and it’s now become routine. Just as your mind gets bored, your body does too. If you really want to see fast results, continue to change up your workout routines. From changing up exercise during weight training to adding in a couple different classes a week, like kickboxing, pilates and body sculpting, you’ll be guaranteed great workouts with a variety of different moves.

Trinity Kickboxing Class

Adding variety while keep it interesting for you and your body. So, start adding some variety today!