Bryan Parady's Blog, page 13

Making Fitness Work For You

So if you’ve made some resolutions and are working on achieving them, you may be fighting through some pain right now.  Maybe you’ve been exercising some muscles that haven’t been hit in a while.  Maybe you’re so used to working out that the physical pain doesn’t hurt but the mental fatigue does.  You are tired of pushing yourself.  Tired of not quite hitting your goals or getting the results you want.

I know what this feels like.  Every year I strive to push myself hard, and last year I fell short.  By Dec 31st, I had fallen 10 pounds short of my goal.  Bulking is hard, so is losing weight.  I have to laugh sometimes because I know people tell me often how they wish their goal was to gain weight, but trying to gain lean muscle without fat is hard.  You have to eat a lot of clean food, to the point where eating is no longer enjoyable.

Fitness Builds You Up

Both losing and gaining are very hard, but there is always improvement to be done.  So whether you are just starting, or are making some new harder goals, keep going.  You may fall short of your goals sometimes, but you are not failing, you are learning.  Keep going and kick butt.

Remember 2016 is your year.  Let’s get as excited about new goals for the new year as this girl Get Excited

Down But Not Out

As this new year charges along you are going to be faced with days of defeat.  It happens.  You may binge on something, you may sustain some kind of pain that holds you back from hitting your goals.  There may be some personal things that happen, that make you feel ill prepared mentally to take on the physical challenge.

This is part of life.  This is part of moving forward.  Part of growing as a person.

There will be storms that approach, unexpected mishaps that you hadn’t planned for, that broadside you out of nowhere.  You will be knocked down.

But you don’t have to stay down.   You don’t have to stay down with your face buried in the dirt.  That feeling of defeat that starts to overwhelm you?  Push back.  Push against it and tell yourself that you have what it takes.

When you feel like you are down for the count, count to 3 and get back up.  Rise to your feet, and rise stronger, and taller than you were before.  Because you don’t have defeat under your belt.  You have experience, you have insight because you’ve been there.  Use it as motivation.  You are better that the trials and defeats that come your way.  You are stronger.

If you need some extra motivation today.  Watch this, it’s one of my favorite movie scenes ever Rocky Balboa

The Little Things

Success and change doesn’t happen overnight.  Stick with your goals till the end of 2016.  Push yourself, and take all the steps needed.  You’ve got this. This is your year.

Day 2

So we hit day 2 of 2016.  How is everyone feeling?  Still motivated?  Still pumped?  Good!  Use that motivation to continue to set your goals.  Use it to write down how you will achieve your goals.

Use this time of motivation to look up things that inspire you.  Maybe it’s quotes, maybe it’s a picture. Write out the quotes, print them off, hang them on your mirror, put them in your car.  Set motivational wallpapers on your desktop.  Buy a book that inspires you.

These first days of new resolutions are the easy ones and you have to make plans now and prepare yourself for the hard ones.  That’s why it’s so vital to start now to prepare, so that when the crappy days hit and you feel super un-motivated, you have something to fall back on.

It’s okay to realize that you will have days in the very near future that you are discouraged on.  Maybe you aren’t seeing the progress you really want, or maybe you just are tired of the fight.  But hang in there.  Every day isn’t like that.  Keep moving forward, and grab yourself by the back of your neck, use your pre-planned motivation fail safe things to motivate you.

You’ve got this.

If you have question on fitness or nutrition hit me up @ directorb.blog@gmail.com  I’d love to talk one on one with you.

And So….It Begins

And just like that 2015 is gone and 2016 is here.  You may have mixed emotions about the new year.  Maybe 2015 was a great year for you and you don’t know if you can top it, or maybe it was a really bad year for you and you’re not sure how to climb out of that and make 2016 good.

Regardless of 2015 and whether you loved it or hated it, 2016 can be the best year yet.  Why am I so confident in that?  Because I truly believe your year is what you make of it.  Now I’m not saying things won’t happen out of your control that sometimes suck, that is part of life.

But think about it for a minute.  You have so much opportunity.  If you are able to read this on a laptop, tablet, or phone, you are in the top percentage of wealthy people in the world.  Think about that for a  minute.

We often take for granted the opportunity we really have.  We get desensitized to the possibility of someone becoming something great from the ground up. But we can do it.

You want to get in shape?  The internet is filled with great info on that, you have the opportunity to eat how you want, to join a gym, to go to the park and run.

You want to start a business?  You can get an online presence and sell a product or service, you can get a degree.

The opportunity you have is endless, it’s limited only by what you can dream.  So let’s resolve to make the entire year of 2016 the best year yet.  That’s not to say we won’t make mistakes and wrong decisions in 2016, of course we will, especially if you start taking larger risks.  But bounce back from them.  Shake them off, learn from them, and make it build an even stronger resolution to push forward.

Let’s kick butt in 2016.

If fitness is your goal for 2016, and you would like to talk one on one, hit me up at my email: directorb.blog@gmail.com  I would love to answer any questions, help with any diet/fitness plans you are working on.

Here It Comes

So here it comes!  2016 is around the corner.  If you have been beating around the bush in regards to getting in better shape and getting fit, then this is the time to do it.  Now I’m not talking about just jotting down some last minute ideas, and notes.  I mean really sitting down and thinking about where you want to be when 2016 comes to an end.

I mean not just writing down goals, but steps to reach those goals.  Practical day to day things you can do to achieve them.

For instance, do some research on what you want to get better at.  Nothing good doesn’t come without some effort. But it’s good effort.  It’s effort that is worth something!

If you have questions on how to start message me.  You can find me on twitter @director_b

Your goals are attainable.  Whether you want to get in better shape for looks, to feel better, to be a better parent.  Whatever the reason it is within your reach.  Let’s make 2016 the best year yet.

Bringing In the New Year

2016 is almost upon us and maybe you have or maybe you haven’t started some new  years resolutions.

I do believe in resolving to do something, but I don’t believe in resolutions. Let me explain….when we think of resolutions what comes to mind?  Being drunk at 1am on New Years and spouting off some things you want to change?

Resolutions often fall short of getting us to our goals. The reason is that we have to have more than a resolution.  We have to have resolve.

What I mean by this is resolve to be a different person when next new years rolls around.  Decide what you want, why you want it, and make a plan of how to do it.  When it comes to fitness I get a lot of questions on what to do in the gym and what to eat.

If you have questions on that great, bring them on I’d love to talk one on one and help in any way I can.

One thing I don’t get questions on is how to stick with it.

January will roll around and you will be pumped to do your new workout, diet, etc.  But then February will get here and you may find the old habits beating down your door again.

Go into the new year expecting this.  It will be hard.  Change won’t come in a week, or a month, change takes time.  But stick with it and by next new years, you will have new goals, and new challenges to accomplish, and this year’s will be accomplished.  Prepare yourself mentally now.  There will be a lot of days you don’t want to eat right, you won’t want to work out, do it anyway.  Resolve that even when in doubt, even when you don’t want to, you will anyway.

Don’t just write down your goals.  Write down your why. Write down why you want to be healthier, faster, younger looking, etc.  Put it on your mirror and don’t take it down.  These are your motivation on the days you “don’t feel like it”.  You can do this, 2016 is your year.

Why Not Whey?

If you are into weight lifting or fitness at all I’m sure at some point you’ve taken or at least looked at some whey protein. So you might be surprised that I’m not an advocate for straight whey protein.

Wait what?

That’s right.  Whey protein is a fast digested protein that our bodies absorb quickly.  The truth is our body can’t digest the amount of protein in whey, and so we lose a good chunk of it.

So should we not do protein powders?  Absolutely not.  I suggest using Jym.  It’s a formula of whey, casein, and egg protein, all of which are digested differently and at different rates, allowing your body to absorb over time more protein, resulting in better results.  It’s a great product.  I use it personally and it’s more bang for your buck because your body is getting the benefit of all of your scoops rather than just a portion of it.

Check it out here:Jym Protein

Nutrition and Christmas

How do you stay on track with nutrition around the holidays?  The fudge, the ham, the dressing, the cookies, it can get to be a little much.

The truth is you can’t go your whole life without cheat days.  They are going to happen.  There are two important things you need to remember though.

The first is that don’t say “well from thanksgiving until December I’m just not gonna work about it.”  No.  That’s a dangerous game to get into.  You eat on Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day and maybe have some drinks on New Years eve.  On the in between days work your butt off and get in the gym.

Second thing you need to remember, going to the gym every day does not give you a free pass to eat whatever you want.  The gym is often the easy part.  You go to the gym for an hour or so, get out and you are done.

Nutrition is all day every day.  But if you really are trying to either lose weight or gain bulk, diet is everything.

But you can do it, you absolutely can.  Get out there and kick some butt.

Nutrition for Fitness

So you may have tried to eat clean.  Maybe you’ve only heard about eating clean.  The truth is, eating clean is hard.  Hitting the gym takes an hour, give or take, a day but nutrition is a 24/7 process.  You have to be conscientious of it every day.

So how do you eat clean when you are super busy?  I’m glad you asked.

I’m not going to lie and say it’s easy but it is very doable.  Routine is key.  Yes that’s right routine.  I do smoothies, and pack all my food when I head out to work, but I prep it all the day before.  That way if I wake up late, or something comes up the next morning, it’s all there in the fridge and I just have to grab it before running out the door.

Weekly prepping is very easy too.  Go to the grocery store on the weekend and get everything you need for the week, plan out your meals, your in-between meals.  Only buy the things you need for that week and that you need to hit your calorie goals.  This way you won’t be tempted to grab different things than what you need.

You can even make casseroles and soups on the weekend, and then all you have to do is warm them up during the week.  If picking up fast food on the way home tends to be a habit, then this is the way to go. I love to make pots of creamy potato soup with veggies, or heart healthy chili.  This stuff goes a long way and my wife and I just have to put the pot on the stove and we’re done.  Great for those nights when we both get home late.

Smoothies last, don’t be afraid to make them a day or two in advance.

Do you have some of your own ideas of how to prep, or keep yourself eating clean?  I would love to hear them!  Add them below in the comments.  And happy healthy eating!

If you are looking for some specific plans to help you determine what you should be eating check out Nutrition for Fitness