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Reaching new goals and PR’s at the box takes hard work and dedication to the program. This is common sense. Show up 3-5 times per week and you will get leaner, stonger, faster, and healthier; I guarantee it. What you might not know, or choose to ignore, is that your environment and actions outside the gym play just as big of a role, if not bigger, than the work you put in within our walls. Feeling shitty or just mentally not there? You probably won’t PR on back squat day or get that Fran time you’ve been striving for. Get your mind and your body right before you come in and you will see better results. I promise.

Here are ways to help you get started:

1. Eat organic meats and produce as much as possible. Try to consume more and more grassfed meats. A good diet is expensive but health problems from bad dieting later in life are more expensive. Avoid anything with a shelf-life. If it comes processed from a factory, just don’t eat it. Avoid most of the stuff in supplement stores. All you need is a clean protein and maybe some fish oil pills and you are good to go.

2. Cut out sugar. Just don’t eat it. Don’t be deceived by its various forms either. High fructose corn syrup, evaporated cane juice, maltose, dextrose, ethyl maltol, etc. Think it is too hard to cut all of it out? Too bad. You are not some freshman girl in college with unlimited access to the soft serve ice cream machine in the dinning hall. Show some self control.

3. Sleep. Sleep a lot. Try to get to bed before 11 at night. Make that 10. Turn the lights down, don’t mess with your computer or phone. Read and/or meditate instead to calm your body before getting under the sheets. Turn down the air before bedtime and buy some nice sheets. This is where you spend a third of you life so make it comfortable.

4. Drink a gallon of water per day. This is very important, especially with summer around the corner. Drinking water helps in a variety of ways. It helps with blood flow to muscles post-workout, optimal hormone excretion and endocrine health, brain function, healthy skin, gastro intestinal flow…. the list goes on and on, so drink! Is there water in your hand right now? No? Well get off your butt and go get one.

5. Practice minimalism. Don’t waste your money on bogus bullshit. Limit your material possessions. All that these things do is promote clutter and drag your attention away from what really matters. Focus your attention on a handful of things that really matter instead of spreading yourself thin over a multitude of subjects. The world doesn’t need more multitasking, confused, getting-nowhere-fast members of society.

6. Challenge your mind. Learn a new skill or sport. Take up art. Read a book every once in a while. In fact, read at least two per month. Read about different subjects, too. Do crossword puzzles. Do Sudoku puzzles. Just do regular puzzles… I don’t care, just do something. Start a project. Make a rock garden. Learn to play a new instrument, start a blog… You get the idea.

7. Delete the negatives and accentuate the positives. Start by taking negative people out of your life. Have a friend that is just a mess and drags your life down. Ditch them. Oh you think this might be a little over the top? Well I will keep hanging around my positive influences and you keep hanging around your negative ones and we will see who fares better. Hang out with your family more. Keep up with friends better. While we are on the subject, send a nice text to someone right now. Doesn’t matter who it is or what it is about, just do it!

8. Don’t sit as much. Make a stand-up desk at work. Get out of your cubicle and walk around. Do some squats while your at it. The human body was not meant to sit 9+ hours a day. Cavemen didn’t sit around a fire all day long so why should you sit hunched over your computer (if you are then straighten up) all day. Tight hips lead to injuries when these powerful muscles that attach to the pelvis can’t move like they should. One of the biggest contributors to back pain is tight hips.

9. Smile more. Smile at people when your walking your dog, strolling through the grocery store, and passing by them in the office. Don’t avoid eye contact, embrace it. A smile goes a long way. Not only does it release good hormones within yourself but chances are you will make the receiver smile back, causing a chain reaction. Throwing a tiny stone in the water causes a ripple effect across the entire pond.

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