What is beef?
You may be thinking to yourself, Vandie, I know what beef is. But we're not talking about that kind of beef. Not that beef that is part of your juicy steak, or your scrumptious ribs. Whether or not it's good for you is a topic for another day. The kind of beef we're talking about is the one where you have a problem with someone. The kind where if you see this person on the streets, you may look them up and down and give them the stink eye. The kind of beef where you secretly hope that person doesn't pay attention to where they're walking and bust their face so you laugh at them. That kind of beef. When you have an agreement or disagreement with someone and you can't stand the sight of their face. Man! When it's put that way, then beef is bad for you. Make no mistake about it, this kind of beef is not good for your health. We discuss spiritual, emotional, mental, and our physical fitness (SEMP Fitness), and this kind of beef is detrimental to every single one of those aspects. This kind of beef drains your energy. It tugs on your spirit. It weighs down your mind. It wastes your time. Time that could be spent focusing on more productive things. Especially because most of the time, this beef is petty. Something that could easily be resolved between you and the other person if you just talk it out. Don't believe me? Just try it. Try to talk it out and communicate whatever argument or disagreement you may have. Chances are it could have all been a misunderstanding that could have been avoided through a simple conversation. Maybe some of that stress that you are experiencing each day is due to a grudge that you are harboring. You think about it constantly throughout the day. And when you think about it you get angry all over again. It's not worth your health and well-being. It may be time to let it go. While you have the opportunity to make amends, you should take advantage of it. Let go of the beef. ..... FEEL GREATER LOOK GREATER BE GREATER!
0 Comments
By now we've all heard of the tragic passing of NBA legend Kobe Bryant. Most of us knew him as a tremendous basketball talent, one of the best players to ever step foot on the hardwood. More than that though he was a husband, a father, a son, a brother, and a philanthropist. He wowed and dazzled us with many highlights and there will be many things that will define his legacy.
One of those being the Mamba Mentality. The black mamba is one of the most venomous, one of the most dangerous snakes known to the world. Kobe adopted this philosophy, even has a book about it, for his approach on the court. For how he practiced, for how he played, for how he attacked his opponents. This mentality, was a drive to be the absolute best version of himself. To approach any task with a relentless passion and level of commitment. That's what the Mamba Mentality is. And that is an approach will have to take in our spiritual, emotional, mental, and physical fitness journey. That we take every single day and maximize it. That every single breath we are given, we strive to be the best version of ourselves. That when we lay our head down to sleep, we can look back on the day, and say that we were the best version of ourself today. That is a mentality I think we can all get behind. Let's be the best version of ourself today. Tomorrow. And the day after. Be Greater! Do I love me some food! I'm sure you do also. And let me tell you, there is nothing wrong with loving food.
But...we have to be careful with how we approach food. I want to talk about how food affects our pockets. You may be asking yourself (or maybe not), what does food have to do with my money? A lot actually, when it comes to dining out. Matter of fact, I'll show you. To do so we'll use everyone's favorite school subject: math. Let's look at this: Imagine you buy a cup of coffee on your way to work for maybe $6. Then you buy lunch for, I don't know, $12, 5 days a week. You don't have to do the math, I'll do it for you. That comes out to: $18/day $90/week (Monday-Friday) $360/month $4,320/year Crazy right! And that's using modest numbers. If we're not careful, we can end up wasting a lot of money dining out, and also affect our health if we're eating nothing but junk. We have to be aware of what we're eating, and how much we spend on it. Chances are we're spending way much more than we should be. So how do we change that? Start by tracking your expenses and how much you spend dining out a week. If you find that you do spend too much, start by cutting out one meal a day that you dine out and instead bring your lunch. Go a step further and set a budget for the amount you'll spend dining out each month. Make sure to update and review it every week to stay within that number. Over the course of a couple of months, your body, and your wallet, will thank you. 2020!
It's a new year, it's a new decade, and that means new goals and new resolutions. New workout goals, new nutrition goals. We're going to eat better, we're going to workout more, on and on and on. We look for the latest workout trend, the latest food trend. We want to follow what everyone else is doing. Speaking of trends, let's take a trip down memory lane. There was Paleo, Atkins, low-carb, low-fat, Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers. Now the Keto Diet and the Winnie the Pooh Honey Diet. There aren't anything necessarily wrong with these different diets in and of itself. The problem is most of the time we're on these diets for a few days, maybe a few weeks, then we stop. We may have achieved some weight loss only to gain the weight back, if not more. But I want to talk about the one diet that really works. The one diet that guarantees results. It's the diet that you're going to stick with. It's the diet that works for you. Just as with exercise, there is no one size fits all. Sometimes you have to try different things to see what works for you. And that's okay. As long as you're trying, as long as you're putting in the effort, that's what counts. That effort won't go in vain. Keep after it. There aren't any shortcuts. It doesn't work that way. Just continue to put in effort, be consist. And I'm with you every step of the way. The world of fitness and wellness. Full of gyms, boutique studios, spas, boot camps, and so much more. When we think about fitness, we may conjure up thoughts of strength, weight loss, self-esteem, and the list goes on.
We see the latest craze on Facebook or Instagram. Our friend tells us of the newest and greatest diet that they’re on. You want to try it yourself. You’re ready to get fit. You’re ready to be that person in the advertisement. Then you see the price…. And you say to yourself that it’s out of your budget and getting fit isn’t for you. Is that what it’s come to? That fitness is only a luxury? That being well is only for those who are financially rich? Being in the health and fitness industry for over 7 years now, I’ve seen many people who have come to a gym wanting genuine help but aren’t able to afford it. The majority of boutique studios are expensive and personal training prices are insane. I was told by “managers” that the reason people didn’t purchase personal training or a membership to overpriced studios was that I didn’t build enough value in the product. And that’s a problem, we’re not listening to those that we are supposed to be serving. And that is a huge gripe that I have with some big box gyms and boutique fitness chains. Sometimes, somebody just can’t afford a monthly membership to a boutique studio or to pay a personal trainer almost $700 for 8 sessions. So those that can’t afford it don’t deserve to get well? Now to clarify, there are gyms and studios out there that do great work. I’ve seen it. I’ve been a part of some. The value you get for what you pay is tremendous. They exceed expectations. And everybody’s got to eat, so those providing the service have to get paid. I get that. However, there should be options to guide our fellow fitness enthusiasts that want to better their lives, that want to get fit. Don’t you agree? I think so. That’s one of the reasons I do what I do. Everyone should be afforded fitness opportunities. I think it’s only fair. When it comes to success, we’ve probably heard countless different theories of what must be done in order to be successful. We hear it from family and friends, from mentors and teachers, coworkers and society.
Phrases such as hustle, grind, adapt, read, learn, fail, and on, and on, and on, are just a few of the words we may have heard when a conversation of success comes up. Talk about an overload of information! And while most or all of those words listed may have something to do with success, I think there are two words that stand to be the most important. Accountability and consistency. We’ve talked about it before but I think it's best to talk about this topic…well…consistently. Let’s relate it to working out. In order to achieve the exercise goals you have, it’s a matter of getting your regular exercise in each week. Whether that’s three days a week or four days a week, those that see their goals come to fruition will be those that exercise consistently. However, it’s difficult doing it on our own. Some days we end up in a slump. We don’t feel like working out, and those days turn into weeks. Then months. We need someone to hold us accountable and ensure we are staying on track. That’s where a coach or trainer comes in, to ensure we keep after it and that what we’re doing is effective. Let’s look at an athlete, let’s take Kobe Bryant for example. Kobe didn’t become one of the greatest basketball players of all time by doing nothing. He consistently put in the time on a regular basis honing his craft. He would stay late in the gym getting shot, after shot, after shot, after shot up. For me personally, when it came to Vanbar Fitness, there were plenty days I ended up in a slump myself. I would work on building the brand a day or two, then not do anything for weeks at a time. Vanbar wasn't just built overnight. If it wasn’t for the support of my family urging me to keep going and making sure I put in the work, Vanbar wouldn’t have happened. If it wasn’t for them pushing me to work day after day, Vanbar wouldn’t exist. We need accountability partners. Those that have faith in us and believe in us. We need those to stay consistent. That is how we accomplish that goal that’s inside of us. Accountability and consistency. Those are the keys to success in anything that we do. FEEL GREATER LOOK GREATER BE GREATER! When I first started out as a fitness coach working in big box gyms, I came across many different members that I consulted with. They wanted to look better, feel better, lose weight, gain muscle, or fit into that outfit hanging in the closet from ten years ago. The list goes on and on.
If you’ve signed up for a membership to a gym before, you probably were asked if you wanted a free consultation (free workout) with a trainer at that gym, or maybe you even did the consultation. The trainer took you through the workout and then came the best part. The end of the session. And that’s where you were presented pricing. The trainer tells you how you can benefit from working with them and how they can help you reach the fitness goal you laid out. You’re excited, ready to begin! Then you see the prices on the screen (or paper). “Yikes! I didn’t know that’s how much I’d have to pay”. Personal training is considered in some ways a “luxury”. Something that we don’t need but if we can afford it, maybe might spend money on. We all have things that need to be paid, and it isn’t wise to go into debt for things we can’t afford (even though we do at times, but that's another topic for another day). What we cannot put a price on is our health. If our health is not up to par and it limits us from performing our day to day tasks or how we go about our days, then it needs to be corrected. And if we don’t know the proper steps to take care of our health, then we need to consider getting the help to do so. After all, having a fitness coach guide us to be healthier and feel better, be more energized, is a lot more cost effective than eventually having to pay for doctor visits, hospital bills, and medication. So is personal training too expensive? Sure, maybe. If your health isn’t that important to you. The real question we must ask ourselves is: how is our health? FEEL GREATER LOOK GREATER BE GREATER! Doubt. It’s a hindrance. If we all had a pill that we could take that would make doubt disappear forever, we’d had already taken it before I could even finish this sentence. Unfortunately there is no special pill that will get rid of our doubt.
Doubt is a hindrance to our physical and spiritual gains. Doubt causes us to think that reaching our fitness goal isn’t possible. Doubt tells us that we tried before and we failed, so why try again only to be disappointed? Doubt tells us that we aren’t able to receive what God has promised us. We messed up before, what makes you think this time will be different? As a matter of fact. Doubt will never go away. No matter who we are, doubt will always manage to creep its way into our minds. The difference though is in how we handle doubt when it starts to slither into our minds. Do we allow it to take camp in our mind and start to plant those seeds again? Allow it to tell us that we aren’t good enough? Doubt can only get to us if we allow it to make our mind its home. So don’t let it. The good thing is we don’t have to defeat doubt alone. God helps us to keep a clear mind. To have a mind of peace and not of doubt. All we need to do is ask Him. So whenever doubt tries to creep in, call on God to clear your mind of any doubt that will hinder you from your fitness goals and your spiritual growth. You’re going through a workout, and by the time you get to the end of it you wonder if you’ve even...well worked out at all. Then you remember that you’ve been doing that same workout all month, for the past two months. Your body isn’t seeing any changes, and you feel like you’re in a rut. You're unmotivated, and uninterested. You become frustrated. Now you don’t even feel like working out anymore.
There are many reasons why we experience these feelings right from the start but today I want us to focus on just 3 reasons why you aren’t seeing results. 1) Your Workout Program Isn’t For You The first reason why you aren’t seeing results is because you are doing a program that’s not for you. Think about when you go to the doctor if you’re feeling sick. They prescribe you something specific for you to take that will help you feel better. In the same way, your workout program should be prescribed for you. You can’t mimic exactly what someone else in the gym is doing or your best friend’s workout and be upset when they see results and you don’t. If you have a completely different goal than they do, then you need your own customized program to help you achieve that goal. 2) You Eat Anything And Everything We have to be honest with ourselves. A big portion of seeing those results is the food and drinks that we put into our body. Our nutrition is as important as what we do in the gym. I’ll be the first to admit, I love me some pizza. Not going to give that up. However I don’t eat it everyday. I have it in moderation, once, maybe twice a month. We can still eat the things we enjoy, but we have to be smart about it. We don’t need to eat them all the time, and when we have it, we can’t overdo it. We have to make sure we treat our bodies well by what we put in it. 3) You Aren’t Consistent The third big factor as to why we aren’t seeing the results are just because we simply don’t stick with it. One of the simplest ways, if not the simplest way to see results, to reach our goals, is to just stay consistent. Now you may say, well Vandie, this is easier said than done. This is where our mental fitness comes into effect. It’s important to push away those thoughts that will pop in our head of being too tired or not feeling like working out. We just have to get it done. So if we aren’t seeing results, let’s make sure to evaluate where we are right now. Is our workout program customized for us? How is our nutrition? Are we consistent? Let’s be honest with ourselves and focus on these three areas first. That’ll make a big difference in seeing our goals come to fruition. Have a specific workout goal and don't have a plan? Here's why you should. Click the audio video below and find out. |
Be Greater!Your fitness guide, your motivation, your inspiration! Archives
March 2022
Categories |