Have you seen the movie Goodfellas? It’s one of my favorite gangsta flicks of all time.

In the movie there’s a classic scene that goes something like this: Henry Hill (played by Ray Liotta) is talking about his mafia buddy Pauly (Joe Pesci). He’s describing how business owners that owe Pauly weekly money have to pay up no matter what…. absolutely no excuses:

1. “Business is bad… f*ck you pay me!”
2. “Oh, you had a fire? F*ck you pay me!”
   
3. “The place got hit by lightning huh? F*ck you pay me!”

So what in the world does this have to do with health and fitness? Here it is:

1. “You just didn’t feel like working out huh? F*ck you pay me!”
   
2. “You promise you’ll start eating healthy next week? F*ck you pay me!”
   
3. “Oh, you’ve got more important things to do than take care of yourself? F*ck you pay me!”

But unlike Goodfellas, if you make these or any other excuses, you won’t be hearing the classic “F*ck you pay me” from Pauly.

Instead, you’ll be hearing it from high cholesterol, obesity, heart disease, low energy, etc. You see, poor health doesn’t give a damn what excuses you make. You have to pay up no matter what to keep it off your ass.

And how do you pay up? How else?… Through proper nutrition and exercise. Otherwise, just like the mafia, you don’t pay and you got serious problems. Don’t be foolish enough to think that you can beat the system… pay your dues.

Until next time, train hard and train smart.

In the last blog post, I talked about how poor mindsets can destroy your health. I ended by saying that if you don’t kill your poor mindset it will kill you. Well, that was an incorrect statement. What I should have said is, “If you have any of these mindsets you are already dead, you just don’t know it!” That’s how serious your state of mind is. By the way if you didn’t read that post do so now, as this all links together.

If you think I’m full of it, answer me this: Lets say we have two guys (John and Mike) to compare. John has a lazy, unfocused, ”I’m good for nothing” mindset. Mike’s mindest, on the other hand, is just the opposite. His is determned and hard-working, laser – focused, and he believes he is worthy of goodness in his life.  Who do you think is way more likely to live a healthy life? Who do you think is more likely to live an unhealthy life? Of course we know poor health leads to all kinds of sickness and disease, as well as a shorter life span. There’s my case.

BEFORE YOU READ THE REST OF THIS POST YOU NEED TO DIGEST THIS CONCEPT:

Your mind is nothing more than a living computer. In other words, you input the data that you want proccessed. That data then determines what your mind does. It really is that simple.

So if you have a bad mindset how do you fix it? You fix it by feeding your mind positivity. After all, how do you think you got a bad mindset to begin with; somewhere in your life you were fed enough negativity for it to stick. Now you have to use that same process to get you head in the right place. Using verbal positive affirmations is a great technique. Why do you think professional athletes always talk so positive about their upcoming games? Because they know it helps get their head in the game, so they can be in it to win it. And that’s where you need to be – in it to win it.

In your own words and style, create a positive affirmation about yourself regarding your worth, your focus, your work ethic, and your ability to improve. Set a goal to say it out loud to yourself throughout the day, at least 20 times. Do this every single day without fail. Feed it to your mind enough and it will begin to believe it and act on those beliefs. 

Reading uplifting, motivational books is also a very effective weapon. It’s simply another way for your mind to absorb, process, and eventually utilize positive input. Jump on Amazon.com and run a search for self-improvement. You will find a huge selection. Obviously the ones with lots of good reviews are worth checking out.

Also be sure to surround yourself with positive people. It’s a fact that we are influenced by our inner circle. Keeping company with motivated, positive people will absolutely rub off on you over time. If you apply these techniques and begin to take action to live a healthier life, you will be amazed at your improvement. Keep in mind that this is not an overnight process. It took a long time for you to develop your current mentality, it’s going to take a long time to get rid of it. If you are in need of a mind shift, I seriously hope you use this information. It will make all the difference in the world for you.  Until next time…

LOOKOUT!!!! CRABGRASS CAN KILL YOU!!!! Ok, before you think that I’ve lost my mind, let me explain. Earlier this spring, I had to give my back lawn a serious overhaul. Basically what happened is I let the crabgrass get way out of control. Instead of taking care of the problem when signs first began to show, I let it take root and overtake my yard.

What in the world does this have to do with health and fitness? Well, it occured to me that my yard could be a metaphor for how we take care of our physical well-being. You see, my yard represented health, and the crabgrass represented the result of bad habits and practices (especially negligence). Are you starting to see it yet? Let me explain a little further.

The results of poor health habits will be small at first. Just like crabgrass, it starts as a small issue. Maybe, you start getting winded when you walk up the stairs, or maybe you start having low back problems. Perhaps, you notice some extra fat that has snuck it’s way like a ninja into your waistline. Whatever it is, you have two choices: ignore it or address it. If you choose to keep ignoring it, the result will be the same as what happened to my backyard. Over time that small issue will spread all over the place and it will take a whole lot of work to get it fixed.

Now I would be doing you an injustice if I just mentioned the bad habits but didn’t mention where the bad habits are born. Bad habits are born out of bad mindsets. The following mindsets are the ones that I see destroy people’s health every single day.

LAZINESS - I define laziness as choosing what feels good over what creates good. In other words, the thing that is going to improve you doesn’t usually feel good in the beginning. For example, when a client first starts training with me, they don’t enjoy their workouts. Why? Because they hurt! What keeps them going is the vision they have in their mind of what they want to be. Of course, as they develop and get stronger and fitter, they learn to love and embrace the challenge of every training session. Remember, sitting around with your feet up eating comfort food and drinking sugary beverages may feel good. But is certainly isn’t creating good.

HOLDING YOURSELF IN LOW REGARD – I believe in God and I love this saying: “GOD DON’T MAKE JUNK!” If you don’t think much of yourself, you won’t take very good care of yourself. I’m not saying you should be arrogant and conceited. What I am saying is you are valuable. You have worth and something to contribute. The sooner you become fully aware of that, the sooner you will become fully aware of how you are treating your body. Remember, we only take care of the things we value. Don’t believe me? When was the last time you cleaned and polished your trash?   

WRONG FOCUS - Let’s say you’re driving your car and in order to get to your desired destination, you need to take a right turn onto Smith street. But instead of focusing on the turn, you won’t take your eyes off of your radio. How successful are you going to be at making that turn? What I’m saying is, the only thing you should be focused on are the things that are going to get you where you want to be. So keep your eyes on the prize.  

If you have any of these mindsets, you have to kill it or it will kill you (slowly over time). Check out the next blog post where I talk about the solution.