We've all heard the horror stories about someone getting rhabdo from exercising too much, passing out because they are doing a water and cayenne pepper detox vitamin packet cleanse, and our endless search for the ONE quick fix supplement to cure our insatiable need to make immediate progress.

Humans will do whatever it takes to skip over the fundamentals in order to (hopefully) get where they want to go. But, too many of us learn the hard way.

Some of us will repeatedly have our self confidence crushed, we will feel enormous self guilt, and a reluctance to start over, again. This merry go round process is the psychologically equivalent to getting run over by a garbage truck. It hurts and it smells bad, so we have a hard time getting back to it.

This is the problem with extremism approaches. It’s all or nothing. Win or lose. Most times we quit before we even have the chance to see which one.

I can, in many cases at the very least, applaud the effort because let’s face it: hopefully we’ve learned something.

Here are some things that I have learned that I know “work”:

Hard Work and Effort - Nothing is given in this day in age. Period. It must be earned by you and you alone.

Discipline and Deliberate Practice - When you get better at something (ex. fitness, weights, nutritional choices, running) it builds confidence, meaning, self esteem, and pride. In this case, you are getting better at managing your own health.

Positivity and optimism - And before you say it, I’m not talking about being blindly positive and never taking ownership of your own mistakes. I’m talking about finding the good and focusing your energy on that. If we focus on negativity we will become it.

Mastery and task oriented goals - This of course, is in contrast to outcome related goals. People respond better to focusing on the one thing in front of them vs. the daunting task of losing all that weight. Just do what you need to do, today, in the next hour, or right in this moment.

Eating real food - Just remember that whole food choices are better processed and more absorbed than supplemental and synthetic ones. So, when you are weighing up which MLM cleanse to do that exclusively uses supplements as the food source, maybe take a peek at something else. Again, supplements are by definition “something that completes or enhances when added to it.” Thank you Yahoo search engine for clearing that up.

Simplicity - We are busy these days. Make things simple. If boring works for you, then do it. Make those decisions easy and they will be easy to make consistently. Over time the results will follow.

Those, are what I’ve got, but here’s another one.

On Target Fitness is running two great programs this Fall. They are Fit in 42 and the Fall Back to Fitness. We do what works.

Fit in 42 is a 6 week complete immersion into fitness and nutrition. It is highly educational and designed to immediately impact the way you think, feel, and treat yo’self.

Fall Back to Fitness is another 6 week program that is designed to give you an idea to see what it’s like in our gym. To see if in fact, this fitness community is right for you and whether those health and fitness goals (that keep coming up over dinner) can be achieved here.

With either program, we think they can. We KNOW they can. Give us a shout by filling out the application for below. Please only fill out the link IF you are ready to overhaul your approach to fitness.

CLICK RIGHT HERE

Cheers.

PS: Thanks for reading. It's been a while since I've put something together, but please let me know if I can help you achieve your own fitness goals.

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In the past 2 months, the gym has exploded. We have had a lot of things going on inside the gym, as well as outside the gym. With the spring and summer brings new fitness goals as well as busy personal calendars; weddings, vacations, bachelor and bachelorette parties, and somewhere in there, a fitness business that is blowing up like the fourth of July.

We aren’t arrogant, we simply believe in what we do. We are confident that you will find success at On Target Fitness, whoever you are.

So, with that said, we have been participating in the nationwide Lean Down Challenge. It is put on in exclusive locations throughout the US, and we were lucky enough to have been one of those gyms. The aim of the challenge is to help people lose 20 pounds of weight or reduce body composition by 5 percent. In 6 weeks.

Is that even possible?

Yes. It absolutely is.

The results have been surprising for many people, in more positive ways than you might think. Check our Facebook page to see some of them.

Here are some common trends that we as a staff have been seeing with the people that are most successful with this challenge, and any other big health change you might want to make.

Full Commitment

With many of the folks participating in the LDC, people that are most successful come in ready to commit, take on the challenge, and never look back once they start. The same rings true to anyone starting a new routine. You have to see it through, or you are wasting your time. As coaches who understand psychology and physiology, we recognize the immediate barriers that stand in your way. Fear. Ambivalence. Money. Self doubt. Those challenges are real, and we cannot act like they don't exist.

With that said, if you let those things define you and shape your being, you aren’t being your true self. You are fighting a losing battle. Change starts to happen the moment you truly believe it can.

You can.

Ownership and Zero Excuses Attitude

We don’t need to dwell on the past, but we need to at least understand where your personal battles lie. What has limited you before needs to be out of the equation. That’s why the meal plan is strict. That’s why alcohol is not recommended. For this period of time, your full attention is required. Additionally, many successful people do not make excuses for their setbacks.

They acknowledge them, and move on. Chasing perfection is a sure way to be miserable. Mistakes happen. We can get caught in the undertow when your actions become justified through unrelated things. This is the adult version of “my dog ate my homework.” Stop.

Own it, learn, and get better. You control you.

Hard Work, in and out of the gym.

Photo Credit: Calum McAuley, Stocksnap.io

Nutrition! Do you think the gainz happen without the stuff to build them? No way.

Someone smart said that most fat loss happens inside the kitchen. It’s true. There is no substitute for hard work inside and outside of the gym. We’ve seen great adherence and with it, great results for people who simply pay attention to what they eat. They make sure they get enough calories to crush training sessions, but stay within the limits of the LDC meal plan.

Are they perfect? No, we’ve even had people tell us they’ve had a couple drinks on the weekend and still have significant weight loss at the end of the week to show for it. It’s all about balance!

Happiness

Man, this might be the most important. You simply cannot make yourself miserable and expect to get the results you want. Seems easy in theory, but the fitness and nutrition industry is full of quick “fixes” and magic pill marketing. If you have to starve yourself and think you can get your dream body in only one month, I’m sorry, but it doesn’t work like that.

Having health and having fitness is a journey. There’s no reason you can’t be happy, and make positive changes for yourself. It takes consistent work and constant understanding of yourself, to be able to adapt to challenges and give yourself fulfillment. The people in the LDC that have been the most successful at our gym have understood from day one, that this is not just a six week challenge. They have made fitness part of their life, and continue to use it to better themselves.

After all, you only get one.

Thanks for continuing to inspire us, and keep trying to surprise yourself.