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2010 Client of the Year BIG REVEAL

BodyBlast 2010 Client of the Year 

This award is to honor the Personal Training Client with the Best Results.  Voted by you... Peers, Friends, and Family of BodyBlast Personal Training.  

Client of the Year is someone who is consistent, follows their customized nutrition and cardio program, and goes the extra mile all in the name of "Results."

The 2010 Client of the Year is....

Deniesha Williams

Deniesha lost 72 lbs in 2010 along with achieving a number of BIG mile stones.  With the help of BodyBlast Personal Training, Deniesha was able to rehabilitate her chronic shoulder pain.  When she first started jogging was a daunting task... today she can easily run a mile.  Deniesha was also suffering from chronic knee pain, today the knees are fully rehabilitated.  

Daniesha started with BodyBlast cleanse nutrition program and moved on to an intermediate glycogen flux program.  She lost 40 lbs in her first 4 months!  

Denisha's cardiovascular plan averages out to 5 x per week.  She has had weeks when she has dramatically gone over and beyond her prescribed cardio program.   

I want to Congratulate Deniesha on an Outstanding Year!  She was chosen by our Team of Personal Trainers and all of you!  She has inspired many who get to see her working hard at the studio... and those who have come in because of her pictures or video.  They saw it is possible to see Great Results from well thought out fitness training and nutrition.  

www.bodyblast.net

How to Make Your Fitness Vision Board

What is a Vision Board?

A vision board is typically a poster board on which you paste or collage images that you’ve torn out from magazines or written statements that explain a vision. It’s simple.

The idea behind this is that when you surround yourself with images/ visions of who you want to become, what you want to have, where you want to be, or where you want to go, your life will match those images and those desires.,

For example, before I ever started my own fitness company and I had no idea how to build a gym, lead a team of trainers, or work with a large group of clients, I drew a picture of myself teaching people how workout (Of course, I was very buff in the picture and pointed to the dry erase board with a "where's the beach" posed bicep.)  And though it wasn't the only factor in making it happen, I had two facilities and was surrounded by great people by the 5th year marker and 4 Vision Boards later! 

My drawing was a kind of a vision board. Vision boards do the same thing as my drawing did. They add clarity to your desires, and feeling to your visions. For instance, at the time I did my drawing, I knew I wanted to own Personal Training Studios. Taking the time to draw it out, even poorly, made it indelible in my mind.

There are several methods you can use for creating your vision board. I’ve written about each one below. You can choose which one works best for you, depending on where you find yourself on this path of creating your life.  Just make sure you include your vision for your health and fitness.

Supplies you’ll need for creating a Vision Board:

- Poster board. (Office Depot sells a nice matte finish board. I always use their boards.)

- A big stack of different magazines. (You can get them at libraries, hair salons, dentist offices, etc) Make sure you find lots of different types. If you limit your options, you’ll lose interest after a while. When I facilitate my own vision board, I always make sure we have plenty of Men's Exercise, Entrepreneur, Natural Home, Yoga Journal, Money, and an assortment of nature magazines.

- Glue. Not Elmers. (It makes the pages ripple.) I like using Rubber cement or Yes! Glue. Glue sticks are ok but they don't last.

Before you begin your vision board:

Regardless of your method, take some quiet time before starting your vision board. Sit quietly and set the intent. With lots of openness, ask yourself what it is you want for yourself and your fitness goals.  Images and words will come to your head.  Take your time to let that creative mind warm up. This process makes it a deeper experience. It gives a chance for your ego to step aside just a little, so that you can more clearly create your vision.

Soft music is great to conger this experience. I like Norah Jones or some soft/smooth Jazz.

Five Steps to Creating Your Vision Board:

Step 1: Go through your magazines and tear the images that represent your vision. Don't glue yet! Just pull out images and words that strike your imagination. 

Step 2: Go through the images and begin to lay your favorites on the board. Eliminate any images that no longer feel right. This step is where your intuition comes in. As you lay the pictures on the board, you’ll get a sense how the board should be laid out. For instance, you might assign a theme to each corner of the board. Health/ Fitness, Job, Spirituality, Relationships, for instance. This is how I typically put my board together.

Step 3: Glue everything onto the board. Add writing if you want. You can write words with markers… what ever gets your vision across.

Step 4: (optional, but powerful) Leave space in the very center of the vision board for a Great photo of yourself where you look radiant and happy. Paste yourself or you and your loved one in the center of your board.

Step 5: Hang your vision board in a place where you will see it… Often!

Three Types of Vision Boards:

1 - The “I Know Exactly What I Want” Vision Board

Do this vision board if:

- You’re very clear about your intent.
- You want to change your surroundings.
- There is a specific thing you want to manifest in your life. (i.e. build a new body.)

How to create this vision board:

With your clear desire in mind, set out looking for the exact pictures which portray your vision.  Following the five steps above, create your vision board out of these images.

Melissa and I did this version...

2 – The “Open to Change” Vision Board

Do this vision board if:

- You’re not sure what exactly you want
- You’ve been in a period of depression or grief
- You have a vision of what you want, but are uncertain about it in some way.
- You know you want change but don’t know how it’s possible.

How to create this vision board:

Go through each magazine. Tear out images that excite you. Don’t ask why. Just keep going through the magazines. Then, as you go through Step 2 above, hold that same openness, but ask yourself what this picture might mean. What is it telling you about you? Does it mean you need to go on daily walks? Most likely you’ll know the answer. If you don’t, but you still like the image, then put it on your vision board anyway. It will have an answer for you soon enough. Some people have no idea what it means until change in their life comes do they understand. The Open to Change Vision Board can be a powerful guide for you. Sometimes our egos think they know what we desire, and lots of times those wants aren’t in alignment with who we really are. This goes deeper than just getting what you want. It can speak to you and teach you a little bit about yourself and your passion.

3 – The Strictly Health and Fitness “Theme” Vision Board

Do this vision board if:

- It’s your birthday or New Years Eve or some significant event that starts a new cycle like starting a new BodyBlast Program.
- If you are working with one particular area of your life like your Health and Fitness.


So... I sucked up my pride and posted this for you.  To say "I know what it's like to be STRESSED to the Max and Let Yourself take the Back Seat."

This is me when I first started BodyBlast... and now I am on the road back to a slightly smaller version of that guy.  I have this pic on my Strictly Fitness Board!  

How to create this vision board:

The only difference between this vision board and the others is that this one has clear parameters and intent. Before you begin the vision board, take a moment to hold the intent and the theme in mind. When you choose pictures, they will be in alignment with the theme health and fitness. You can do the Theme Vision Board on smaller pages, like a page in a journal or widget on your MacBook computer.

Some things to remember about vision boards:

- You can use a combination of all three types of vision boards as you create. Sometimes you might start out doing one kind, and then your intuition takes over and shifts into a whole different mode. Creativity and personalization is GOOD!

- Your vision board might change as you are making it. You might find that you have realizations or even epiphanies from making a vision board.

Make a Vision Journal

Begin journaling your experiences on a weekly basis with each topic on your board.  Make sure you ask your self- are my decisions lining up with my vision.  This is especially effective if you’re going through many transitions in your life and not just a change in your health and fitness.

To Your Success,

Stephen

P.S. I am going to let you guys hold me accountable for my actions... I will be posting update pics of my conditioning as I dive back into my program... Back into putting Me First so I can be Better for all the Awesome people around me.  Ever try pushing someone out of the water while your are in it too?  Much easier when your pulling from the boat. 

"The Big Reveal"

The first "Reveal" I want to talk to you about is the one we find in media.  The second is the "Big Reveal" 2011 BodyBlast Client of the Year.  I will get into the Client of the Year in a moment.  But first, some food for thought...

Media consistently "serves up" the message "The New Fitness Secret"...  on the cover of a magazine, in a newspaper, on the nightly news, in commercials, on a billboard.  It begs the question... is getting fit a secret?  If so- is OK! going to "reveal" that secret to us?

I know most of you are sophisticated fitness enthusiast that have no interest in Brittany Spears tabloid diet... but a ton of this stuff is crafty in delivery broadcasted via your TV, Phone, and Radio.  It can effect the way we think of our own fitness program and even our results.  

Here are a few "TRUTHS" about Getting Results to remember when your faced with conflicting media messages.

1. Losing Weight: 2 lbs per week is optimal for weight loss.
2. Gaining Muscle: 1/2 - 1 lb of muscle per month is excellent.
3. Muscular Adaptation Principle: Your body will adapt to exercise (stress) when that stress is greater than it's typical environment... If you want to change your body- you must change your workout!
4. Specificity Training: To improve a specific muscle or exercise you must perform that specific exercise or work that specific muscle
5. Consistency in Exercise: Exercise and Good Nutrition have a cumulative effect.  To see Results you must keep it consistent!
6. Cardiovascular Exercise: Low Impact cardio primarily targets fat stores.  High impact cardio in-directly causes fat loss (your heart rate will stay elevated longer after high impact cardio impacting fat consumption) and is good for blood flow and improving cardiovascular conditioning.
7. Caloric Intake: should ALWAYS be gauged by your Lean Mass... Not Body Weight (1200 Calorie Diets only make sense for a certain Lean Mass)
8. There are only 3 Ways to Loose fat (not including surgery and hormone therapy) That's right!  Every nutrition program you have ever heard of uses one of these three rules or some combination of the three.

• Fat Loss Ratio: 40% Protein 40% Carbohydrates 20% Fat
• Caloric Deprivation: Dropping your calories 10% + below your caloric needs
• Carbohydrate Deprivation: Dropping your Carbohydrates below 15% of your Total Intake

BodyBlast Personal Training Programs are built upon foundational TRUTHS.  That is why so many of you have scene great results from your workout program.  

The "BIG Reveal" is coming next Week.  We are tallying up all the Client of the Year votes and announcing the Winner of $1,300 Client of the Year Personal Training Package.  Last peek- we had a very close race between 3 nominees.

VOTE NOW: 2010 BodyBlast Client of the Year

VOTING CLOSES SATURDAY MARCH 12 at 11:59PM

All votes count and can make a BIG impact... so Vote Now.  Please forward this to your family and friends to Vote as well.  If they do, you could win some Great Prizes and they will get a Gift as well!

I challenge you to make a stride this week in your fitness program.  Add a run... clean up your nutrition...  get an extra workout in! Ask your BodyBlast Personal Trainer what you can do to make your program yield better results!

To Your Success,

Stephen

"Pick Your Winner"

The process of getting fit is enjoyable... I love training.  I even love eating "clean."  But, I have to say "It is all About the Result."  It is the Result that truly gets me excited about the process.

Because- I love training. But, I love watching a good movie too.  You don't get off the coach on a Saturday for the workout...  You do it for the Result.

You expect the Result.  It is the "weight" of your efforts.  You see... you won't remember each session or meal, for that matter.  What you will remember is the accumulation of your efforts.  What Result did you get from your Training and Nutrition Program? 

I challenged you recently to put together a Vision Board.  Without direction, we have no aim to "zero-in."

No reason to get up at 5:30am for your cardiovascular program.  

No reason to choose broccoli over the mac'n'cheese.  

Without a Vision for a specific Result, how can you expect to make the right choices.

2010 was an Amazing Year for many of our Philadelphia personal training and Sicklerville personal training clients.  We had some AWESOME entries for our 2010 Client of the Year Contest.  But, we could only take our top 4 nominees.

I want to Congratulate all of our Personal Training clients for an incredible year.  You set out a Vision... Took Aim, and Got Results!  Serious Results!

I also want to congratulate each BodyBlast Personal Trainer who helped "zero-in" the results of our clients.

Let's just say the ladies really cleaned up this year!  The guys are going to have some catching up to do.

With no further ado... here are your top 4 BodyBlast Client of the Year Nominees!

Asha Joshi: Working with our Philadelphia Personal Trainer Department

CLICK TO VOTE

Deniesha Williams: Working with our Sicklerville Personal Trainer Department

CLICK TO VOTE

Maureen Zisa: Working with our Sicklerville Personal Trainer Department

CLICK TO VOTE

Jaime Taylor: Working with our Philadelphia Personal Trainer Department

 

Vote for your favorite 2010 BodyBlast Client of the Year and get a Special Gift $180 Value! 

CLICK TO VOTE

The Fiber Choice

Your grandparents probably turned to eating prunes and bran flake breakfast cereals to keep their bowl movements regular. Or worse still, they might have only turned to what they considered their limited choices in fiber when they found themselves irregular. Thankfully, gone are the days when the notion of eating fiber was considered a grueling ( and often just temporary) necessity to combat the awful effects of constipation. Of course we now know that fiber needs to be an important part of everyone’s daily diet. After all who wants to get constipated, ever? More importantly, we now know about the great health benefits of a high fiber diet. For starters, eating fiber keeps blood sugar levels in check and helps prevent chronic illnesses such as cardiovascular disease and even certain cancers. A high fiber diet is also a great way to help lose fat.

Despite our current knowledge about the importance of a daily, high fiber diet, more than a few studies have concluded that the average American consumes only about 14-16 grams a day. The recommended amount is 25 to 35 grams. Well this situation can be easily rectified with just a little bit of education; specifically on the many tasty foods so readily available that are chock full of wonderful fiber. They include a variety of fruits, vegetables, legumes and whole unprocessed grains found in a multitude of cereals, pastas and certain breads.

BodyBast Personal Trainers and Health Professionals most often recommend the following choices for taste and variety:

Apples with their skin on offer twice the amount of fiber as other popular fruits like grapes, peaches and grapefruits. One apple with skin provides 3.5 grams of fiber; without the skin the fiber level drops to 1.7 grams. Apples are also a terrific way of way of keeping your cholesterol level in check, according to The American Dietetic Association. Another easy choice is the artichoke, each with 10 grams of fiber along with more potassium than a banana.

Next comes the avocado, truly a super fiber food, offering between 11 and 17 grams with each full serving. And never mind the overly publicized fat argument - “most of the fat in avocados is monounsaturated fat, the same heart healthy fat found in olive oil and macadamia nut oil,” according to Jonny Bowden, author of The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth. A half cup of cooked barley contains four grams of fiber and only 195 calories, plus it helps to keep blood sugar levels down while it fills you up for several hours.

Another fine, extremely healthy vegetable is broccoli. While carrying only a little more than 2 grams of fiber in a one cup serving, it also contains 2 grams of protein, a great deal of potassium and calcium all while offering some super disease fighting elements that help reduce the risks of breast and cervical cancers.

Oatmeal and other high fiber breakfast cereals boast anywhere from 5 to 8 grams of solulable dietary fiber per bowl. Experts caution to be sure that the first ingredient on the label reads “whole”, meaning all three layers of the grain are intact. Whole grains offer more fiber than enriched flour, which is often used in instant oatmeal for example.

Of course all berries make a great topping for cereal for their sweet taste alone, but in fact, most berries, especially raspberries help fight diseases like cancer and arthritis while providing a good amount of fiber - about 8 grams in a cup of raspberries.

Then there is the papaya with 2.5 grams of fiber per cup along with fine doses of potassium, calcium and vitamins C and A.

Finally, pumpkins aren’t just for Halloween decorating and Thanksgiving pies. It is in fact a healthy vegetable side dish with 2.5 grams of fiber in a serving.
So there you have it - a simple guide to healthy eating and regularity. Bon-appetit!

Carbs... The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Most people think of carbohydrates with a good deal of fondness, but often times it is a mixed emotion of guilt and pleasure. Pasta, cupcakes, baked potatoes, bagels, pancakes, apple pie, that sort of thing. Some of it seems like a perfectly normal and essential part of everyday eating and of course much of it does not. The truth is carbohydrates are a main dietary component consisting of sugar, starches and fiber. The problem is that too many people in the United States today consume way too much of the sugar and starch variety and not enough of the fiber carbs. It all comes down to balance - there are good carbs and there are bad carbs. But beneath the surface what is a carbohydrate anyway and why should we care so much about them? Simply put, carbohydrates equal energy - or better still, carbohydrates break down inside our bodies into glucose (blood sugar) that provide our body with energy, mainly the brain and nervous system. The liver breaks down glucose into the energy our body needs.

Good carbohydrates are unprocessed foods - fruits, vegetables, whole grains, that sort of thing. Good carbs are usually natural, unaltered in any way. They are nutritious foods high in fiber and rich in vitamins, minerals and other important nutrients that help contribute to one’s energy level over long periods of time. In addition, these high fiber foods also help lower cholesterol and of course help us rid our bodies of waste and toxins that could later lead to a variety of health problems from cardiovascular to various cancers.

Examples of good carbs can be found in a wide variety of fruits and vegetables, especially tomatoes, apples, berries, avocados and spinach. Other food examples of good carbs include beans, nuts, seeds, legumes (lentils, dried peas) whole grains (found in certain cereals, pastas and breads) and some dairy products such as organic yogurt and cottage cheese. With a little imagination you can easily mix and match most of these choices together into recipes that will make for a perfectly satisfying diet.

Now for the bad carbs. No surprise, these include the foods that have been refined and processed. Think about all of those fast food restaurants, frozen pizzas, salty bags of crunchy things, candy, soda and most other super popular American diet staples. Of course the problem with these “foods” is that they offer little in the way of nutrition and can lead, over time, to serious illnesses like diabetes and cancer and heart disease - and because of the high calorie content, dangerous obesity. In other words, nothing natural here. Such foods are low in nutrition and contain a multitude of additives like artificial flavorings, colorings, preservatives and excess fat. Bad carbs often cause a spike in one’s blood glucose level, resulting in a short lived rise in energy levels followed by a sharp decline or crash. This is most defiantly not the diet for anyone involved in a fitness program, whether seeking to build muscle mass or tone down.

Now certainly everyone slips into the temptation of a bad carb now and then - a slice of birthday cake, a bag of fast food fries late at night, Sunday morning pancakes - so don’t let guilt get the best of you. The main thing is to be well aware that better choices exist for the next time and the time after that and so on. Keep in mind that that all carbohydrates end up contributing to our energy level in one way or another. But obviously it is the good carbs listed here that will sustain you in the long haul, providing better and longer stamina, essential fiber and other key nutrients that will help keep you energized and healthy and happy throughout your lifetime. For more carbo-charged information join BodyBlast's member list at http://bodyblastrequestform.zreply.com/