Congratulations to FP Client Quentin Davie-Big Interception and Forced Fumble Versus the Iowa Hawkeyes

Quentin (Northwestern junior linebacker) and the Wildcats upset the unbeaten Hawkeyes in a 17-10 victory on Saturday 11/7/09. Quentin made a valuable contribution to the 'Cats defense with an interception of Iowa backup quarterback James Vandenberg and a Brad Phillips' forced fumble. Quentin and the Wildcats move to 6-4 for the season.

NEED AN EXTENDED WARRANTY?

by Shawn Fitzmaurice, NSCA-CPT, *D

We constantly take time out to take care of our vehicles with recommended 10, 25, 50,000 mile check ups, maintenance schedules, and higher grade fuels to prevent gunk build up. Why? Because it’s an investment which you need to take care of!! What about the most amazing machine on earth, the human body? How about YOUR check ups, maintenance schedules, tune ups and better fuels? So let’s start today by getting regular “checkups”, eating better and exercising more, it will DEFINITELY keep you on the road much longer!!

Congratulations to FP client Mike McNeill-Named to Mackey Award Watch List

*Watch Mike and the Cornhuskers take on the Mizzou Tigers tonight Oct 8th-8pm on ESPN
Mike, a Nebraska junior tight end is one of 30 tight ends who have been named to the watch list for the 2009 John Mackey Award. The Mackey Award is named after NFL Hall of Famer John Mackey and is given annually to the nation’s best collegiate tight end.
Mike had a breakout sophomore season in 2008 and finished the year with 32 receptions for 442 yards and six touchdowns. His 32 catches were a Nebraska tight end record and his six touchdowns placed him close to the school position record. He caught at least one pass in each of the final 11 games and had eight games with at least three receptions.
The winner of the 2009 John Mackey Award will be announced on Dec. 10, 2009.

Fitness Success Principles -Achieve Your Goals Faster Than Ever

No matter your goals, your ability to harness the power of your mind is crucial to your success. Equipping yourself with the right mental tools will supercharge your pursuit of achieving your health, fitness and performance goals. Use the following fitness success principles to help guide you on your path to success!

Believe in Yourself
We are all capable of achieving much more than we believe we can. We all place limitations on what we are capable of achieving because of past failures, lack of belief, lack of understanding or “good excuses”. Regardless of your age, race, genetics or prior experience-until the day you die, you can make positive changes to your health, fitness and performance…continue to strive towards your physical potential every day.

Take a Personal Inventory

Where are you now? The first step in the quest to reaching your ultimate physical potential and reaching your health, fitness and performance goals is to understand where you are presently. Without this knowledge in hand, you will not have a clear vision and understanding of the direction you need to take. By taking a critical look at yourself and your habits, you will be able to determine the areas of your lifestyle that require an improvement. Carefully evaluate each area which impacts your physical potential, i.e: nutrition, exercise, and lifestyle-determine where change is needed to reach your ultimate goal.

Create a Plan
You can convert your burning desire you possess into its physical equivalent by using the Six Ways To Turn Desire Into Physical Achievement with six definite practical steps to determine you physical goals (credit to Napolean Hill-“Think and Grow Rich”):
1. From your personal inventory, determine in your mind what areas you want to improve. Perhaps you want to reduce your body fat or blood pressure or increase your strength and flexibility…or get in the best shape of your life! Be as detailed as possible about the specific areas you would like to improve upon.
2. Determine exactly what you intend to give in return for the physical achievement and attainment of the goal in regards to efforts and positive changes in your exercise, nutrition and lifestyle.
3. Establish a definite date when you intend to obtain the physical achievement goals, no matter if it is in 4, 8, 12 weeks or 1 year.
4. Create a definite plan for carrying out your desire, and begin at once, whether you are ready or not, to put this plan in to action.
5. From the previous steps, now write down your specific goals, the goal date and what you intend to give to achieve these goals, and include the plan you will use.
6. Read your written statement aloud, twice daily, once in the morning and once before going to bed. As you read the statements- visualize yourself like you have already achieved your physical goals…leaner, stronger, more flexible, full of energy.
Once you have completed these six steps you will have established a clear path towards your goal. Next, from where you are presently, to the point of your goal, work backwards and set incremental goals between these points and establish a time line to achieve each goal. For example, if your goal is to reduce your body fat 12% in 12 weeks, when working backwards your increment goals would look like this:
Week 12 Goal: Decrease Body fat 12% Total
Week 8 Goal: Decrease Body fat 8% Total
Week 4 Goal: Decrease Body fat 4% Total
Week 1- Starting Point
Setting incremental or smaller goals will ensure that you are on the right track towards success. By achieving all of your individual incremental goals you will easily be able to reach the end goal, in this situation is decreasing your body fat 12% in 12 weeks. Once you have clearly defined your goals and are in pursuit of them, do not let yourself get off of the “optimal path” by persistently staying focused on your goal and putting forth the required effort in your exercise, nutrition and lifestyle to achieve your goals. With a solid game plan and the burning desire, there is literally nothing that can get in your way of achieving your goals. Take clear and decisive action everyday! Once you get rolling, momentum will build and will propel you forward towards your goals.

Daily Affirmations
Daily affirmations can be helpful to keep your mind free from negativity, and focused on positive, goal-oriented thoughts. Affirmations are statements of a desirable intention of your mind and are deliberately meditated on and/or repeated. By utilizing this technique, you will create a mental program for your mind to be directed towards your goals of achieving your physical potential. Affirmations are always phrased in the first person and usually in a present tense, "I am", rather than a the future tense ,"I will", in order to increase the realization of the statement. For example, you could repeat your affirmations while exercising. Such as “I am getting stronger”, or “I am getting leaner”, or “I am getting healthier”. These affirmations will help to keep you motivated. Soon they will be part of your thought process and will help fuel you forward to achieving your goals.

Visualization
A simple, yet powerful technique. Close your eyes and in the “theatre of your mind” (credit to Dr. Maltz-“Psycho Cybernetics) as vividly as possible picture yourself achieving your goal. Visualization can help you develop a clear mental picture of where you want to be or what you want to achieve. This technique can be used with affirmations to make a powerful combination, fueling your physical achievement. This can be directly applied to anything that you may believe to be physically challenging or difficult. By practicing visualization techniques you can instantly improve your bodies abilities! Use this on a regular basis to overcome self-doubt or fear when striving to reach any physical goal.

Eliminate Negative Thoughts
Fear, self-doubt and negativity are the enemy of progress and physical achievement. A great way to reduce all of these is to constantly be focused on your goals and be thinking about taking action. By staying focused on action, you will have less time to ponder and think negatively. If a negative thought enters your mind, quickly replace it with a positive thought…tell yourself, “I can, I can, I can!”

Associate with Like Minded People
The individuals you associate with will have a dramatic influence on you. As the old saying goes, choose your friends wisely. By choosing to associate and spend time with others that have similar interests and goals as you, will help you reach higher levels of personal physical achievement. You have the right to be selective to whom you associate with. You should discontinue relationships that present negativity, and may hinder you from achieving your goals. Stay clear of people that are negative and pessimistic, they can quickly derail you off the path to your physical potential. Surround yourself with positive, optimistic individuals that choose to live a healthy and balanced life style.

Failure is Not an Option
After you have set your health and fitness goals, and you determine what must be done to achieve the goals, never consider failure! From the beginning you should tell yourself that failure is not even an option, and you are bound to succeed. By eliminating failure as an option, you will quickly reduce self doubt and fear which will fuel you forward to achieving your goals.

Use a Spam Filter for Your Mind
Always be very cautious of what you allow into your mind. Limit your exposure to negative stimulus such as negative people, negative news coverage, or any other source of negativity that will inherently bring you down. By limiting your exposure to negativity, you will prevent your mind from being filled with useless clutter allowing you to focus more on the positive aspects of your physical achievement.

The human body is our greatest asset. Realize your true physical potential. Continuously set health, fitness and performance goals and work hard to achieve them! Put these principles into action and you will be sure to achieve your goals faster than ever!

12 Minute Bodyweight Cardio Workout "The Burner Circuit"

MY WIFE AND I TOOK OUR 2 YR OLD TO A “WET T-SHIRT CONTEST”

This past Saturday was one of the hottest days on record here in St. Louis, with a high of 98 degrees and a heat index of 105. On days like this, there are only 2 good places to be, in the air conditioning, or in the water. So my wife and I decided to take our 2 yr. old daughter to the local community water park for some refreshing fun in the sun. The line was long to get in and everyone was dripping sweat while waiting in the hot sun, especially the Dad’s. Our t-shirts that were bone dry only minutes before, in our climate controlled cars, were quickly becoming sweat soaked. After only 5 minutes of waiting, our t- shirts were like cling wrap sticking to our bodies. Our t-shirts were screaming “Please take me off of you!” and I was more than ready to oblige.

As we all paid our penance for admission and scurried in different directions reserving our seats with laid out towels, something very peculiar was about to happen. As I became shirtless and all of the Moms and kids were shedding their layers, including my wife and daughter, something very strange was happening all around me. The majority of the Dads were keeping their sweat clinged t-shirts on…but why? As they ventured into kiddie pools, water slides and lazy rivers, they were keeping there shirts on. I couldn’t believe the number of Dad’s my age frolicking around with a big honkin’ stretched out, water soaked, suction cupped, 80 lb t-shirt on their backs. Unbelievable! Did I miss the memo that the National Association of Dad’s has suddenly formed some sort of alliance with The Farmer’s Tan Association of America or does the 90 sunscreen that their wife brought not completely penetrate the back hair to fully protect their man hide? No, I don’t think so! The reason why is because they think that it’s acting as a shield for our eyes so we don’t see their “man boobs” or belly rolls. Unfortunately, the truth reveals itself as soon as they submerge themselves in the pool and it becomes fully transparent. THEY ARE FAT!!

Yes, these Dads have helped make St. Louis the 32nd fittest metropolitan area out of 45 in the U.S. according to the American Council of Sports Medicine Fitness Index. By the way, 45th is the worst. The rankings took into account resident’s physical activity, smoking, obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and health insurance costs, to name a few. These Dads all came to the water park with great intentions, right? Spend some good quality time with their kids and catch up on lost time with them from their hectic work week, but what about being around for their kid’s in 10, 20 years? Do they not realize the health risk they are putting themselves in? According to a study published in the Journal of The American College of Cardiology, abdominal fat or “big bellies” appear to trigger a chain of inflammatory activities that translate into harmful metabolic changes, plaque build up in the arteries, heart disease and eventually a potentially fatal heart attack.

Study co- author, Dr. James De Lemos also states “the good news is that even little improvements in your body shape will prove beneficial to your health, with the goal being the smallest waist relative to your hips that you can have.” He also states “It’s not rocket science. It’s the kind of thing you work on by incorporating regular, routine exercise into everyday living. Just some exercise and developing good eating habits will prove very beneficial.” Dads out there, it shouldn’t take a doctor to tell you that you need to lose weight. If your waistline is growing, your lifespan is shrinking! It’s time to make your health priority #1. Start exercising more, eat more fruits and vegetables, and grill healthy foods for you and your family this summer! Take a step every day towards improving your health, even the smallest step, gets you closer to your goals.

One last thing before I go, please make it a top priority for the swimsuit season of 2010 to show off all of your hard work by leaving your t-shirt where it belongs, on your chair next to your towel and flip flops!


Yours in Health,
Shawn Fitzmaurice, NSCA-CPT *D

Aliens in the Airport

This past weekend when I was traveling home from a conference, in the airport I discovered some modern day “aliens”!

As I was walking through the crowded airport I approached my terminal waiting area and observed something very peculiar for this day and age. There was a very fit gentleman probably in his 60’s kneeling down digging into a large zip lock bag full of fresh snap peas, celery sticks and sliced red peppers. He proceeded to fill a few smaller bags with the vegetables, then he passed them to his wife sitting near him.

His wife (grandma) then took some of the snap peas and handed them to her grandsons which appeared to be about 4 and 5 years old. The children took the snap peas and devoured them and quickly asked for more!

I continued to watch this family for about 5 minutes and noticed at the same time, we were surrounded by a sea of countless other people consuming the airport fast food of choice…McDonalds, Pizza Hut, Starbucks Super Large Mocha Shakes…you name it, they were eating it!

I couldn’t resist the urge to approach the family to figure out “their story”. So I proceeded to walk up to the grandparents and ask them the reason behind their healthy eating. The grandma replied “Well, we prefer to eat this way!”…she went on to tell me that they used to eat a lot of processed foods and she had reoccurring gastrointestinal (stomach) and headache issues. She said that once she cleaned up her diet and began to eat less processed foods and more fresh produce and foods all of her stomach and headache issues were resolved. The grandfather explained that he too started to eat healthy when grandma changed her ways of eating and has never felt better. They both stated, eating healthy foods and exercising for them was a way of life and they wouldn’t ever consider changing! I told them how greatly impressed I was to see a family eating so healthy and commended them for adhering to such a healthy way of living.
The “Aliens in the Airport” inspired me to give a very quick lesson:

Point 1: The “Aliens” Got It! It is important to understand that the human body functions at its highest level when it is given the proper nutrients on a consistent basis. Your diet should consist of a large amount of plant based foods (packed with phytonutrients, fiber, active enzymes, vitamins and minerals)…in addition to lean protein sources and good sources of fats. Understand if your diet consists mainly of processed foods you will most likely suffer side effects and or deficiencies-weight gain, poor immunity, poor energy, poor vision, low bone density, poor mental performance and etc.

Point 2: The “Aliens” Were Not Afraid to be Different: The reality is most people in the United States do not eat healthy. Do not feel uncomfortable to risk being different and eat completely different than the majority of people around you. People may look at you funny or ask if you are on a diet…do not be afraid to tell them that it is just the way you eat and that is what is best for you!

Point 3: The “Aliens” Understood the Importance of Preparation and Organization: Two very important keys behind healthy eating is preparation and organization. Like the “aliens”, take the time to plan out what you will eat for the day/week and make sure you have the foods prepared. If you are not organized or prepared you will most likely resort to eating unhealthy foods that are highly processed lacking proper nutrition.

Point 4: The “Aliens” Understood the Value of Teaching their Family and Children to Eat Healthy: Most people view healthy eating as optional and do not understand the consequences they will pay from eating unhealthy foods, i.e. blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes, low energy, poor immunity, decreased life expectancy and on and on! Grandparents and parents should understand the importance of eating healthy and should teach children at a young age the importance of eating healthy foods. If everyone took personal responsibility for their family’s dietary habits we would be able to reduce the obesity rate and morbidity/mortality rate (rates of disease/death)

Point 5: The “Aliens” Understood that Healthy Eating Can Resolve Many Health Issues: Common health issues that are treated with drugs can be resolved or dramatically improved with a combination of healthy eating and exercise. The most powerful and effective “drugs” available today are healthy foods and exercise!

From the Lessons of “The Aliens in the Airport” I hope that this helps to bring awareness and clarity to the importance of eating and living a healthy lifestyle. Strive to eat clean and exercise everyday to live up to your potential and live your best life!

*Please feel free to leave your comments, we would appreciate your thoughts!

Be Strong!

To Your Success,
Brian Fitzmaurice