Live Rugged!!!
Generate Momentum To Be Successful
by Rugged Coaches on 03/08/16
Contributed By Coach Brian
In order to become what you want to be, you have to embrace the process of change. In his book "Intentional Living", author and motivational speaker John Maxwell discusses that when
starting your journey of change you should "Dream
big, but start small". This is a very important concept in the world of health and fitness because all too often people jump into programs that are a dramatic change from their normal life. This can create a lot of stress and friction resulting in the type of failures that cause them to lose faith in their ability to change. Rather than falling into that trap, a better approach is to make small manageable changes that creates positive momentum and allows you to then tackle bigger more challenging obstacles down the road.
I discuss this in my latest podcast discussion:
Creating Momentum For Success
Rugged Fit Standards
by Rugged Coaches on 03/01/16
Here at Rugged Fitness we are always striving to empower our members to reach outside of their comfort zones to achieve new levels of health and fitness. To that end, we are excited to be rolling out a new program of physical assessments at our facility that we are calling our Rugged Fit Standards This program will give our members a series of targeted performance goals to improve the Movement Pillar of our 4 Pillars of Health. It will also be the focus of our group workouts which will be designed around training participants to build the strength, endurance & movement proficiency to achieve these goals. Here's an introduction to the program and a summary of the Rugged Fit Standard movements: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfOJbAbX-Qs
In the first quarter of 2016 our programming will be focusing on the Turkish Get Up, the 2 Mile Bike Test and our Pull Up Test. While these exercises will be the main focus, our workouts will always be full body routines and the auxiliary exercises in this first quarter will be laying the ground work for the next tests later in the year. 
4 Pillars of Health
by Rugged Coaches on 02/25/16
Here at Rugged Fitness we are dedicated to going beyond the workout to empower our members to make positive change in their lives. We believe that, as important as exercise is, it is only one component of a healthy lifestyle. Our approach is to address all areas which we call the 4 Pillars of Health. Movement: How your body functions is a key pillar of health. This is why we begin all new members with a Functional Movement Screen to ensure that they begin their exercise program at the proper level for their body in order to maximize their results and reduce the risk of injury.
Nutrition: In this Pillar we go beyond just the concept of dieting by encouraging members to change their relationship with the food they eat. Making changes to your nutritional behaviors will help you reach your long term health goals more effectively than simply jumping from diet to diet.
Mindset: As one of the main Pillars of Health, your emotional health and stress level is going to greatly influence your progress in all other areas. When this pillar is not properly addressed individuals will be: prone to all types of eating issues, experience fatigue and lack of desire to exercise & will have trouble recovering due to elevated stress hormones.
Recovery: One of the least addressed pillars for many people, recovery includes areas such as proper sleep, hydration flexibility and baseline muscle tension. We teach our members a variety of guidelines and techniques for maximizing the time between workouts to improve their results.
Here is a short video of Coach Brian discussing these 4 Pillars of Health and how they fit into our overall coaching strategy here at Rugged Fitness: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ng1IpoX1zJE
Tough Love
by Rugged Coaches on 07/09/15
Contributed by Coach Brian
Those of you who have read what I have written in the past know that it is mostly done in a positive, nurturing tone. However, over the years, I have found that sometimes people need tough love to spark the motivation that they need to accomplish great things. My intent here is not to offend but rather to grab a hold of anyone wallowing in self pity and shake them out of it. So let’s get into it.
First of all, if you want to be successful, stop comparing yourself to others. The only measuring stick you should be concerned with is your own progress. Sorry to have to tell you this but there is always going to be someone who can do things better, faster or easier than you. So unless you plan on being the best in the world at something, then who cares what other people are doing. This goes double for losing weight. Everyone knows a person who can eat and drink whatever they want and not gain a pound while you are “suffering” through exercise and calorie measuring just to get to where they are. If you want their body, then you should have had their parents. It’s a simple fact of life that some people are blessed with gifts that make things easy for them while others have to work 10x as hard to achieve the same results. If you’re taking the time to read this, chances are that you fall into the category of needing to struggle to see results. Welcome to the club that 90% of us are in. You can use this fact as an excuse why you can’t make progress, or you can suck it up and work that 15x harder to reach your goals. In the end you will come out the bigger winner than someone who had it easy. You will gain the strength, experience and sense of accomplishment that only comes from hard work and determination.
Since we are on the topic of working hard, most people overestimate the effort they put in to achieving their goals while underestimating the effort it will actually take to see a change. This combination of faulty expectations is what usually leads people to become frustrated and give up. If you’ve ever said out loud or thought to yourself, “I’m doing all this work and I’m just not getting results that I want”, you’re probably not working hard enough. If you think you’ve been eating good, then you probably need to eat better. If you tell yourself that you can’t do it, then you won’t. But, if you challenge yourself to do just a little bit better each week, then there’s nothing that can stop you. Remember, losing weight is not a goal; it’s the result of setting good goals and working hard to achieve them. If you’re not prepared to do the work, then losing weight is just a wish.
Finally, stop spending all your time focusing on what you don’t do well and don’t like about yourself. All that negative self-talk is exhausting and takes away energy that you could be putting towards making positive change. It also just makes you more self-conscious and less likely to take on challenges that can help you improve because you are afraid you might fail or that someone might see you fail. The only way to make progress is to find out where your failure point is and then work from there. Every time you fail, that experience should make you stronger and better able to succeed next time. That is why it’s said that you only truly fail if you give up. Plus, if you have the time to waste worrying about whether or not other people are judging your performance, then you’re not working hard enough. If there actually are other people wasting their time judging your performance, then they’re not working hard enough and who cares what they think.
To sum up, stop whining and complaining about what you can’t do. Harden up. Start with what you can do and build from there. Set solid goals and then work your ass off to achieve them. Learn from every failure and come back stronger for the next time you face a similar obstacle. Focus on the things that you can improve and make those changes stick rather than spending all of your time wishing for the results to come quicker. Do all these things and even if you don’t end up where you want to be, I guarantee you’ll end up in a better place than you are now. That’s how life works; you never know what you’re truly capable of until you get off your ass and give it a shot.
If this has you all fired up and ready to make a change, come on in and meet for a Strategy Session with one of our coaches and let them help you get started!
Success Doesn't Come In A Bottle
by Rugged Coaches on 06/26/15
Contributed by Coach Brian
You can’t turn on the TV or thumb through a magazine now a days without coming across an advertisement for the next great weight loss gimmick. The formula for these ads is pretty standard. There will either be incredible before and after pictures or photos of fitness models standing with, and/or using the product being advertised. These images will always be accompanied by enthusiastic testimonials from people claiming to have gotten in their current shape solely by using this wonder product. Some companies will go as far as to get “doctors” that endorse the effectiveness of this amazing new pill or powder.
The reality is that the people in the before and after pictures were paid good money for their transformations. While they may have been using the product throughout their weight loss, I guarantee that they were also receiving expert advice in the areas of exercise and nutrition. The product itself may have contributed very little to their overall success. Another effective technique that many ad agencies utilize is fitness models. If the ad does not contain a before picture then the people that you see in it are just in-shape people paid to hold up the product. More than likely they had never seen the product prior to the day of their photo shoot. These people simply did a good job picking their parents.
Not only are the majority of these products ineffective on their own, many of them come with a laundry list of harmful side effects. The most important thing to come to terms with is the fact that you simply can not bottle success. While some products can aid in the weight loss process when used properly, real weight loss success comes from adopting a healthy lifestyle by taking the time to make lasting behavioral changes in the areas of nutrition and exercise. It may seem like hard work at first, but you are building positive habits that will ensure long term success instead of buyers’ remorse.
