Sooner Better Than Later April Promotion

The sooner you make the decision to take your training seriously, the better you'll be in the long run.

The sooner you decide to make diet a priority, the better you'll look.

This is exactly what the "Sooner is Better Than Later'" April promotion is all about.

It's about providing you an offer where there is simply no choice but to take the offer up as it's simply to good to refuse.

Here's how it works.

The sooner you get in on this, the better it is for you- hence the title!

For the Month of April, so starting Monday April 3, you can get small group personal training for a fraction of the cost, that will increase each week you let this promo slide.

For week 1 you can purchase a 5 pack for $23, far away from our regular price of $43/session. Each week you wait to start means your starting price is higher and higher

If you wait until week 2, then the starting price goes up to and again week 3 etc - so really, the sooner you start the better value you get.

Week 1 is $23/session, week 2 is $28/session, week 3 is $33/session, week 4 is $38/session and then week 6 your move to our regular price of $43/session.

Each 5 pack is valid for 2 weeks so will need to be completed in that time.

Over the 5 weeks you can do up to $860 worth of training for only $610!

I've purposefully waited to release this until now as this should be a no-brainer of an offer!

Call Troy on 0411 091 978, fill in this opt-in form or email him directly at troyfullcirclefitness@gmail.com to book your spot.

Availability for mornings and evenings.

1 Secret to Leading a Fulfilled Life

A 75, yes 75 year study by Harvard has found the 1 secret to leading a fulfilled life.

What they did was look at 2 studies looking at the well-being of 2 opposite populations - 456 poor men growing up in Boston from 1939 to 2014 against 268  males who graduated Harvard between the years 1939 and 1944.

The 1 clear message they got from both study groups is that  good relationships keep us happier and healthier. Period.

This means that possessions and status don't really mean as much over the long term because long after those things occur, all your left with is relationships.

It also demonstrates that having someone to rely on helps your nervous system relax, helps your brain stay healthier for longer, and reduces both emotional and physical pain.

We've all seen an elderly relative that went through a pretty quick process of deterioration once a partner died - this data shows that those who feel lonely are more likely to see their physical health decline earlier and die younger.

Going a bit deeper, it's also not the amount of relationships you have, or how committed to a single relationship, it's the quality of your close relationships that matter.

How much vulnerability and depth that exists in your relationships, how safe you feel sharing with one another and the extent at which you can relax, is what can make these relationships a sense of fulfillment.

One of the psychiatrists suggests that there are 2 foundational elements to this with one being love and the other being to find a way to coping with life that does not push love away.

This can happen such as money troubles and losing a child breaking up a marriage - you can't deal with the trauma and you both end up coping in a way that pushes the love (resentment, anger etc).

The article suggest that you need to prioritise not only your connection, but your own capacity to process emotions and stress - take personal growth seriously so that you are available for connection.

And if you're too busy being busy, then re-think your strategy in regards to family and friends.

So it really goes to show that money and status won't make you happy forever!

The Disease of Being Busy (Article)

We all suffer from this horrendous disease at some time or another - but a lot of us cannot turn it off.

Your work like a dog all week, pulling your regular 8 hour day plus a little bit of free work on the side (who does that and why?) cos your a good soul.

You get to Friday and you for some reason you stay in busy mode.

You have a few drinks Friday night then your up early Saturday to have some breakfast with friends before running off for a lunch with ore friends.

Saturday night is a dinner at someone else's house that you;re also running off to make on time before getting in a bit late Sunday am.

Sunday you get up early again to make that Yoga session then you're at it again, bouncing from engagement to engagement before settling in Sunday night wondering why you're still tired and if the weekend can go on for another 2 days to get some rest.

You're addicted to being busy!

When you're so busy, busy, busy, you literally forget to smell the roses and you are not aware that you are actually not aware of what is going on around you.

You simply cannot stay in a single moment because before the moment has even come, you're thinking of the next 5 moments.

This article by columnist Omid Safi is a self reflection piece more than anything but with points and implications that should make you sit back and reevaluate how you are living your work and private life.


Being busy means a build up of stress and when stress cannot be released entirely, it starts to make the body tired. Tiredness can cause pain equaling more stress which can then turn into illness.

I'm sure you know some of this, if not all of it, to be true yet we continue to make the same mistakes time and time again.

I see with my clients all the time.

The re-occurring back pain, knee pain, migraine headaches and constant tiredness - all signs of a level of stress build up that the body cannot function with at at some point has to "break' to make you stop and rest.

We're also pushing this onto our kids with scheduled play dates where back in my day you finished school and rolled around to a mates place unannounced.

Oh, the good old days.

You know what the first part is?

When we're not busy we get anxious because we feel we're not "doing enough". 

Enough of what?

This anxiousness again feeds the stress loop and we've gotten to the point now where resting and doing absolutely nothing is a bad thing.

Except one of the body's biological functions is to rest and regenerate - you simply can't overturn millions of years of evolution and go a different way.

It's the reason why we're sick all the time as well.
We have less time for things we grew up with like friends, family and community and we wonder why people on the streets are out of control?

They feel the stress and tiredness that you do but have less coping mechanisms in place to handle them.

Their bad decisions are crime but yours is not learning from the same mistakes.

All the techo stuff meant to make our lives easier has backfired, actually making us more accessible, and busier then ever before.

I am not immune to this either but what do I have is an impeccable ability to relax and do nothing.

This past Saturday, I had 1 hour of clients, played footy then literally watched 4 games of footy on the couch.

I mean I can do nothing with the best of them.

When we ask ask you are, the response often isn't personal it's more a run down of what you've just done and what you have coming up.

Essentially we're asking "Hey Joan, what have you done?", not "how are you feeling."

This bottle up effect of feelings also feeds the anxious/stress loop again.

Our means of relaxation is to be busy and that's the problem.

Sure there are timed when deadlines need to be met, no doubt, but extra stress requires extra rest.

I encourage you to read the comments section from the article too for some personal stories from readers.

So how are you really feeling today?

14 OBJECTIVES, 28 DAYS A NEW YOU ROUND UP

I'll admit it, things got away from me the last week or 2 but there was very time sensitive stuff that needed to be taken care of and I'm back on board.

Today we do a very simple round up of the entire 14 Objectives (changed to 17!), 28 days (this specific program might have ran for 40 odd days but who's counting...) and a new you so if you fell off the wagon at some point you can simply reference very objective and mission in this one little post.

Mission #1 - Take a Selfie

Mission #2 - Measure

Mission #3 - Have Breakfast

Mission #4 - Increase Your Protein Intake

Mission #5 - Veg Out

Mission #6 - Water, Water Everywhere so Let's All Have a Drink

Mission #7 - Earn Your Cheat Meal

Mission #8 - Cut the Grog

Mission #9 - Learn How to Read Food Labels

Mission #10 - Track Fiber Intake

Mission #11 - Exercise

Mission #12 - Incidental Exercise

Mission #13 - Rethink Your Last Meal

Mission #14 - Time Your Carbs

Mission #15 - Cycle Your Carbs

Mission #16 - Cook Something

Mission #17 - Set a Deadline

From next week onwards I will try my very best to get back to my FCF Social Media schedule (I do have one by the way!) and I actually have compiled 60 articles of which to blog about along with 15 other old school re-posts so the content idea's are there, I just need to make the time to do them.

In the meantime if you have anything you want covered please let me know and look out out for our "Sooner Better Than Later" April promotion that will be announced next week as well.

14 Objectives, 28 Days a New You - Mission #17 (Last One)

Missions #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9,#10, #11, #12, #13, #14, #15.and #16.

MISSION #17 - SET A DEADLINE!

Bodybuilding and Figure competitors change their behaviours dramatically come contest time as they know they're going to be standing on stage wearing nothing but a sparkly, overpriced bikini or a teeny, tiny g string thingo.

If you knew you were going to be seen half-naked by hundreds of people, while standing in a spotlight on a stage on a certain date, would you cheat on your diet? 

Would you skimp on your cardio? 

Would you half-ass your way through a workout?

I know you wouldn't.

You don't have to be a competitive bodybuilder or Figure competitor to adopt this kind of discipline, but it does help to have a deadline of some type. 

Maybe it's a trip to the beach. 

A Holiday. 

A public event. 

Or maybe you just post on your Facebook page that you’re program starts today and expect a new and improved photo in 2 months time.

That accountability will surely light a fire under your ass!

Further Reading:

5 Sure Fire Steps to Goal Setting –

http://www.t-nation.com/readArticle.do?id=4884698

Going From Point A to Point B –

http://www.t-nation.com/readArticle.do?id=5135738

Work Book Exercise: Choose 3 health and fitness goals and set deadlines for each of them to be completed this year. Then set up your plan of attack then go and get them!! 

14 Objectives, 28 Days a New You - Mission #16

Missions #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9,#10, #11, #12, #13, #14 and #15.

MISSION #16 - COOK SOMETHING!

Over the years I went from someone who ate things only out of a package to someone who prides himself on being a fine cook (debatable!).

Coincidentally, the more I organised myself to prepare and cook most of my own meals the leaner I became and the easier I found it to stay that way.

Today I want you to start your own culinary transformation. 

Pick a recipe from one of the articles below and make it:

Lean and Mean Cookin'

When Gourmet Meets Nutrition

Recipe of the Week: The Paillard Method

Recipe of the Week: Half-Calorie Granola

If you choose to buy a book of "healthy" recipes, keep these thoughts in mind:

- If the cookbook is for low-fat or "light" cooking, beware of recipes with tons of sugar, sugar-like ingredients, and flour. Sugar and flour are indeed "fat free" but will of course will have some negative implications on how you look and how you feel.

- If the cookbook is "low carb" beware of calorie dense recipes that has lots of butter and other sources of dietary fat. Again, these are low-carb but not necessarily low calorie. Also, some of these books take it too far and can be "veggie-free" which isn't necessary on a low-carb plan. Still, if you have to choose, choose a low-carb cook book over a low-fat one.

Your ultimate goal is to make one new, healthy meal per day. Start tonight.

Years ago we watched a chef on TV called Rocco Dispirito who has a book of recipes based on simply replacing “replaceable” ingredients in universally bad foods to make them a healthier option called “Now Eat This! Diet” which puts the sin back into eating!!

Further Reading:

Cal Cuts - http://www.thenateshow.com/photos/print/calorie-cuts-with-rocco-dispirito/?layout=print

Healthy Meal Makeovers - http://www.thenateshow.com/photos/kitchen-shortcuts-with-rocco-dispirito

Superfood recipes –

http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance_nutrition/superfood_super_recipes

Work Book Exercise: hold your own dinner night for friends and/or family to introduce them to your healthy and new and improved cooking skills

14 Objectives, 28 Days a New You - Mission #15

Missions #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9,#10, #11, #12, #13 and #14.

MISSION #15 - CYCLE YOUR CARBS

Now that we have carbs somewhat under control, we can take this step a bit further to aid us in our efforts to burn bodyfat.

Carbs can be thought of as petrol for the body. 

When you’re doing a day trip to the country and back, you’ll need a full tank of fuel to get you through. 

When you’re simply driving down the road to the market and back, you can test the empty signal on the petrol gauge and hopefully make it back!

When you stay in the house on one of those quality Melbourne July days, then it doesn’t matter what the gauge says, it’s too bloody cold anyway!!

Back in the world of exercise, the country trips would be our intense exercise days. 

On these days you need your carbs as they will fuel the more intensive workouts. 

On these days you can have 50 total grams of carbs before, during or after training.

You can split this up however you want to but try and limit 50g of any carb that isn't a fruit or a veg.

The market days would be our non-intensive training days which might be a light jog, some yoga, Pilates or a long power walk. 

On these days you can have 20 total grams of carbs that isn't a fruit or veg.

The rainy days are our off days and you’re best served avoiding anything that isn’t meat or vegetable - trying to go totally carb free if you can!

Further Reading:

A Beginners Guide to Carb Cycling –

http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance_nutrition/a_beginners_guide_to_carb_cycling

Work Book Exercise: Again looking at your schedule with your training days already locked in, determine what days require more carbs and what days require lower carbs. Also actually determine what 50 and 20 grams of carbs actually looks like through measuring and reading food labels so you can decide what will give you the biggest bang for your buck from a volume of food standpoint (50 grams of ice cream vs 50g of broccoli).

14 Objectives, 28 Days a New You - Mission #14

Missions #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9,#10, #11, #12 and #13.

MISSION #14 - TIME YOUR CARBS

Back in caveman days, there was no bread, no rice, no pasta, no cereal. 

We used to hunt all day just to get a big hunk of meat, and pick some fresh foods from the trees or the ground. 

We got by fine and even developed into the pinnacle of mankind that we are today (well some of us!!).

The body does need carbs as brain function is dependent on glucose to some degree, but we definitely don't need them in huge amounts. 

A good way to keep your carbs all in check is to keep all carbs that aren’t fruit and vegetable, to the 60mins post training (the type of training we discussed in point 9) window.

This will ensure that whatever “bad” carbs we ingest, goes towards recovery from the workout and thus results in minimal fat storage.

Further Reading:

The Science of Nutrient Timing –

http://www.johnberardi.com/articles/nutrition/nutr_timing_1.htm

Work Book Exercise: As you have now scheduled in your training times in your weekly diary, now organise your carb intake around it which means you may have to rethink breakfast, lunch or dinner on these days. Yes you can have eggs at any time of the day, they are not exclusive to breakfast and the same with steak even!

14 Objectives, 28 Days a New You - Mission #13

Missions #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9,#10, #11 and #12.

MISSION #13 - RETHINK YOUR LAST MEAL

We're all grown ups here so I'm not going tell you what you can and can't eat but I will provide some recommendations that you would be wise to follow to make sure that last meal of he day isn't doing you any harm - especially if it's supper instead of dinner!

Here are the 4 golden rules to go by:

1) Keep it below 350 calories so you're not trying to go to sleep with a gut full of food.

2) Keep it below 15 grams of carbs as you don't want any rapid changes in blood sugar levels ever, really.

3) Aim to get at least 20 grams of protein because your body repairs and regenerates while you sleep and protein is the building block of the human body.

4) Consume no later then 90 minutes before bed so you can ease right into sleep without any "issues".

Simple!

Next week we wrap this all up!

Further Reading:

Eating Late at Night Adds Weight –

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8234386.stm

Work Book Exercise: Looking at your food diary, how many of your supper meals run in accordance with the 4 golden rules above?