Return of the funny friday

Have a great weekend everybody. :)

Find your inner alpha

You may have seen signs about Alpha.
You may have seen others doing Alpha.
You may not know what the heck in talking about when I say Alpha.

Either way, you don't know alpha until you experience alpha.

I'd like to offer you a chance to experience alpha. 1 free workout. No strings attached.
I have some openings tomorrow (Friday) and some openings on Monday. Email me, comment on here, facebook me, text me, get a hold of me SOMEHOW if you, your mom, your dog, or a random stranger on the street wants to try it.

Act fast. Limited spots available.

Slim out this summer!

Working out is hard. It becomes even harder in the summer. We always think we'll be more active in the summer...and sure we might be outside more, possibly play a few more games of frisbee, but between all the beach parties and bbqs we usually don't end up getting much more "fit" in the summer. Not to mention getting to the gym on a beautiful summer day doesn't usually sound appealing. I know I'm not alone in this.

I present to you, Fight Shape.

When: 4pm - Tuesdays and Fridays (giving you plenty of time to enjoy the sun in the afternoon and plenty of time to enjoy the warm summer evenings)
Start date: June 3rd!

Now I know what you're thinking....everyone hears "fight shape" and thinks "well I don't know how to fight...or that sounds intimidating, or I'm not in very good shape" & a million other things. I've heard them all!
I am NOT training you to put you in the ring. I am training you to lose weight, build muscle, improve speed, balance, agility, core strength, endurance, burn of some steam, and have a heck of a time doing it.
Let's face it, treadmills get boring. And when it's summer time, do you really want to come run on one when you could be outside?
That's the other good new about fight shape. It is one of the very select groups that gets to use the brand new outdoor obstacle course/field.
So not only do you get to do a fun, exciting, different workout then you've ever done before - you get to do a lot of them outside!

If you or anyone you know is at all interested in this - let me know. Comment on here, text me, email me, facebook me, chase me down in the club, whatever. If the 4pm time doesn't work at all for you let me know as we will have other options available too!

Free training session

Have a lot of clients out of town tomorrow for various trips/events/sicknesses.

I've never done this before...but I'm feeling nice with this lovely spring weather....
So....First 2 people to comment back/text me/email me gets a complimentary training session tomorrow evening. I have a 5 or 6pm available.

Laughter.

Didn't get a "Funny Friday" post the past two Fridays....so instead of waiting for THIS Friday to share something funny, I thought we could all use a laugh on Monday night.

For all of us protein shake drinkers, I think this is something we've all experienced...am I right? Tell me I'm not alone in this!

Tonight's post is a quick one to hopefully make you smile.
Being fit and healthy is more then just losing weight and toning up.
Being healthy is from the inside out - and that really starts with our minds. Too often being fit becomes just another stresser in our already stressed lives and we forget to enjoy the process and notice the little changes we make each day.
Take some time tonight to acknowledge how far you've already come. And ALWAYS take the time to laugh to each day.

"Laughter opens the lungs, and opening the lungs ventilates the spirit" - unknown

Ele-Food week 3

Life never slows down, does it? Finally had some spare time this afternoon and grocery shop and cook something new. Hold onto your horses, ladies and gentlemen, this one is a tasty one!

                            Whole wheat spaghetti with shrimp, bacon and watercress

Now if you're anything like me, you're thinking "what in the name of hannah montana is watercress?"
(I had to actually Google it. Embarrassing. In case you're wondering, it is a fast-growing, aquatic or semi-aquatic perennial plant native to Europe and Asia, and one of the oldest known leaf vegetables consumed by humans.)
I looked for watercress for about a total of two minutes and thirty-two seconds before remembering, "I'm in Target." The produce section is about the size of my bicep a month after breaking my arm (I'll give you a hint, teeeeeeny). So instead I grabbed some fresh spinach. A leaf is a leaf right?

Anyway, this meal was delicious. I would definitely make it again and it probably took under 20 minutes to make. Score.
(As you can see from the picture, I threw in some carrots as a side, as well.)

Ingredients:8 oz whole-wheat spaghetti
1 slice of thick cut bacon (I may have used 2........Don't judge me)
1 TBSP olive oil
1 small onion finely chopped
1 lb large shrimp
1 bunch of watercress (chopped) (or whatever the heck kind of leaf you wanna use!)
3/4 tsp black pepper
Optional crushed red pepper (delicious)

Directions:1) Cook the pasta according to the label until al dente. Reserve 3 TBSP of cooking liquid; drain the rest.
2) Cook bacon in large skillet over medium heat until crisp. Cool on paper towel, crumble and reserve. Add oil and onion to skillet. Cook until soft (5-7 minutes)
3) Add shrimp. Raise heat to medium-high; cook until opaque (5-6 minutes). Toss in watercress, pasta with water, bacon, pepper and red pepper. (to make this more fun, do it with your hands. Just sayin')

Makes about 4 servings.
Approx.nutritional info
330 calories per serving.
6.7g of fat
36g protein
45g carbohydrate

Funny Friday!

Friday is here ya'll.

I think we've all seen this guy in our gyms before....Don't let this be you! Have a plan when you walk into the gym. Be there for a purpose. If you don't know what that plan or purpose is, come talk to me!

90 day secret to success.

At Lifetime Fitness we are on the verge of starting out new "90 day challenge." 90 days to go balls to walls towards your goal. 90 days to keep your focus clear, your head in the game, and the sweat dripping endlessly off your face.

I wanted to share a simple piece of advice for those of you that are hoping to make some big changes in the next 90 days - or maybe those of you that are feeling stuck post-new years resolution.

This year has been different for me when it comes to achieving my own health goals - Different in that I've actually consistently stuck with them. I know it's only been a month but I've been mastering my workouts, my nutrition, my sleeping, my organization, my stretching, etc. and haven't felt like a chicken with its head cut off. Not trying to sound like I have it all together - but I've definitely discovered a "secret" to success when it comes to fitness. (or really any goal, actually)

"Success is the sum of small efforts repeated day in and day out."
Even more then that, success is decisions and habits made one at a time.
Success is waiting to master the first habit before you take on another.

So much of the reason of why I've failed in the past and had to start over multiple times is because I've tried to take on too many things all at one time. (example: I'm going to work out 5x a week, eat healthier, do yoga, and read a new book a month)
Every single one of these things is a brand new habit and combining all of them together at one time is a recipe for failure. Sure, I might be able to do it for a few weeks maybe...but is it sustainable? Am I actually developing habits? Or am I just letting my will power put on a show until one day it becomes too much and I cave?

How about instead I start with one goal. Perhaps, committing to working out 3x a week. When this becomes a "habit", when this starts to feel "normal" and I feel comfortable with it and I'm ready for the next challenge THEN I'll add something new. Perhaps cooking one healthy meal a week (& then I can bring leftovers to work with me), when this becomes comfortable and I'm ready I can maybe add a yoga session 1x per week. Do you see what I'm doing here?
Side note: when I say "wait until it feels comfortable"...keep in mind developing new habits is never "comfortable." I simply mean only taking on one "new" thing at a time.

This is why I've been able to be so successful with my goals this year - because I've finally learned to take them one at a time.
I've waited until I've mastered one before I move onto another.
And what a difference it has made.

If you want to join the 90 day challenge starting this weekend, email me at cpaulson@lifetimefitness.com

Ele-Food Week 2

Clearly my goal of making a new food once a week hasn't quite gone according to plan. It is the start of February and I just now am making food #2. However, January has been a crazy month with lots of changes in it - so honestly I'm just proud I was able to stick with the consistent healthy eating (even if it was the same things over and over again), consistent working out, consistent stretching AND winning my first boxing spar. Now that February is here I am getting used to my new schedule and feeling more determined then ever to keep up with this weekly cooking.

Today I made.....Black Bean Nacho Burgers!

Not nearly as "pretty" as what I made last time - but took about 1/10th the amount of time to make. Not to mention it was absolutely delicious.

Ingredients:
1 15-ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup finely crushed tortilla chips (preferably blue corn)
1/3 cup salsa, plus additional for serving
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 scallion, white and green part finely chopped
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
4 hamburger buns (I substituted whole wheat "sandwich thins" to reduce the carb amount a bit)
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
4 butter lettuce leaves

Directions:
1)  Use a food processor or a potato masher to smash beans until chunky, leaving some partly whole. Stir in crushed chips, salsa, cheddar, egg, scallion, and black pepper. Set mixture aside for 10 mins, then shape into 4 patties. 
2)   Place patties on a plate, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or overnight.
3)   Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place buns on a baking sheet and heat in oven until warm to touch. 4-6 minutes 
4)   Meanwhile, heat 1 teaspoon of oil in large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add patties to pan and cook until golden brown on one side. 4 to 5 minutes. Add remaining oil (1 teaspoon), flip patties and cook until underside is golden, 4 to 5 minutes. Remove from heat and serve topped with salsa and lettuce on buns.

Enjoy! Happy Superbowl Sunday!

Funny Friday

Maybe I should just title these posts "weekend funny" because again I'm posting this late.

This one goes out to everyone who read my "New Beginnings" post and liked my idea of taking time to really stretch 10 mins before bed every night. If that's been becoming challenging for you to keep up with, I think I found a good solution.

What do you think?

Fight-Fat February

Today is the last day to take advantage of some crazy deals.

4 for $199 in personal training and/or nutrition coaching. (Normally $99 a session)
3 for $99 pilates! (Normally $99 a session)

Sessions must be used in February. However, even if you are currently training with me you can still take advantage of this deal and use it alongside what you are already doing with me (example: if you're training with me 2x a week already, you can get this deal and train with me 3x a week in February.) (you know you want to see me even more then you already do!) haha

Shoot me a text, email or even comment on is page if you're interested.

Ps. Funny Friday post coming in a few hours!

Funny Friday (er...Tuesday)

So this week was an extra busy one with work and personal life...so funny Friday is coming a bit late. Hopefully your Friday wasn't too miserable without it. ;)

I'm pretty sure this is how we all believe our trainers think. Am I right?

Funny Friday

Happy (Funny) Friday everyone!

Ele-food week 1

Scallops A La Provencal

This evening I started my resolution of making something from my "healthy-ish" recipe book once a week. I am not much of a cook, I never have been. Sure, I used to help my mom make all kinds stuff when I was about 10 years old, (keep in mind, "help" usually meant stir something, get in the way, and taste test) but the most extravagant thing I've made in the last 10 years was probably a chocolate chip cookie/browning/Oreo hybrid that I got off Pinterest and totally not Personal Trainer approved.
So needless to say, this was bound to be an adventure. Things I learned:

1) Don't attempt to grocery shop when you have to pee. (you will undoubtedly take longer then normal simply because you are trying so hard to hurry, you will miss half the things you would have spotted easily under normal conditions.)

2). Chopping fresh thyme, basil and parsley takes forever.

3) Garlic sucks.

                           The finished product! Recipe is listed below for any brave souls.

Ingredients:

5 cups of cherry tomatoes

2 1/2 tbsp chopped garlic

5 tsp chopped fresh thyme

5 tsp olive oil

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

2 cups of fresh corn

1 lb sea scallops

2 tsp balsamic vineger

3 tbsp of chopped fresh herbs such as parsley, basil, chives, or a combination

2 cups arugula

Directions:
Heat oven to 375.
In a bowl, combine tomatoes with 2 tbsp garlic, 3 tsp thyme, 3 tsp oil, 1/4 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp of pepper.
Coat a rimmed sheet pan with cooking spray, spread tomato mixture on a pan in a single layer.
Bake, stirring once or twice until tomatoes are soft and slightly charred. 20-25 mins.
Stir corn into into tomato mixture. In same bowl toss scallops with remaining 2 tsp thyme, 2 tsp oil, 1/2 tbsp garlic, 1/4 tsp salt, and 1/4 tsp of pepper.
Place scallops on top of tomato mixture; bake until scallops are just cooked through. 12-15 mins.
Transfer scallops to plate; cut in half.
Stir vinegar and 2 tbsp herbs into tomato mixture.
Divide arugula, tomato mixture and scallops among 4 bowls; sprinkle with remaining 1 tbsp herbs.
aprox. 506 calories per serving
31g. fat (5 g unsaturated)
42g carbs
5g fiber
19g protein

Funny friday

Gonna start posting a "funny Friday" every week to kick off the weekend and to poke some fun at Fitness. You can't take life too seriously - need to make time to laugh and to enjoy the little things. Today's funny...

If you are this guy, let me help you. Please.

New beginnings

Made this for my bedroom wall today. First thing I see when I wake up.

Well the new year has come and gone. And so has a month and a half of me not posting aaaaanything. But since it's now the new year I can claim it's a "new beginning" and not feel too badly for my previous failure. :)

New Years is great right? It brings with it so many thoughts of good intentions, feelings of new hope, and dreams with vicious determination. Even those of us that aren't "resolution people" find ourselves thinking that this may in fact be the year we "give up soda" or "work out 4x a week".

I am no different. Even as a trainer, I find myself skipping workouts, cheating on snacks, staying up too late, etc. All for the sake of being way too busy, way too stressed, and letting that effect the choices I make - especially the choices that effect myself. (It's much easier to make time for work and other people then it is to make time for yourself and your own health).

 Today I finally had some time to slow down, reevaluate myself, and come up with a game plan for the year ahead. So with 2014 in mind, here are my 3 goals.

1. Spend 10 mins before bed stretching every day. - stretching. The part of the workout I always skip and always regret, yet have failed to do anything about it except Pilates once a week (which has been amazing by the way). I am devoting 10 mins before bed every day, to help settle me down, relax my body and my brain, and (hopefully) sleep even better.

2. Create a workout plan (in writing) for myself so I am less prone to skip days. - I've always had a workout plan for myself in my head, but have never taken the time to put it in writing. Putting anything in writing makes you much more likely to do it. When I see on paper that I skipped a day, I will be much less likely to skip again. Plus you cant wimp out on a tough workout when its on paper.

3. Make a new food every week from my recipe book. - This is a project I worked on today. I made an entire folder of healthy recipes that Ive gotten from books, magazines, friends, etc. Every week I will begin to go through the book and make one thing per week. (Even if it looks hard, weird, gross) - I will make it anyway. I want to branch out, eat healthier, and learn to cook better. :)

Leave a comment and let me know what some of your goals are! Be creative and a little bit more specific then "work out more"

Fight Shape

If you haven't had a chance to read it yet, check out this article that the Star Tribune wrote about the Fight Shape classes that Lifetime Fitness offers. I teach Fight shape on Tuesdays and Fridays at 4pm.

The photo above is the one photo of me that made it into the online article. The star tribune had planned to attend my class and to film it for this story - but unfortunately, the camera man got lost and missed my class and they didn't have time to reschedule it before the deadline of this article. So bummer that my class didn't get to be filmed, but still a great article.

If you want to see what the class is like for yourself, come try it! Bring a friend.

Click here to read the article

The Shadow Proves the Sunshine

Does anyone know what the title of this post means?

"The shadow proves the sunshine"
Pretty deep title for a fitness blog, right? Not too surprising coming from me, you'll see that over time. I'm a bit of an artist at heart.

So let me get to the point. The Shadow Proves the Sunshine is the song title from one of the bands I grew up listening to and when I was contemplating what to write about today - this song came to mind.

When it comes to our goals, its easy to become discouraged. Things can often seem bad, dark, hopeless, etc. - because that's often the way we measure things. We focus on these dark moments and measure our progress by them. We look at how often we've tried to accomplish something and we see ourselves as failures. We hit a setback, and we feel like everything leading up that moment was a waste.

A very important lesson that I've learned is exactly what the title of this song says, "the shadow proves the sunshine." Because without light there could be no shadow. We only know our bad, dark, and discouraging times because we've experienced better times. And we will experience better times again if we hang in there and keep fighting. The bad times are what make the good times that much better, because we know what it took to get there. We can appreciate the sunshine because we remember the shadows.

Our fitness goals are no different.
We've all done it: we stick to the plan perfectly for a couple weeks. Flawless execution. We're excited, we're motivated, we make awesome progress and then suddenly somehow find ourselves slipping up and ending up exactly where we started. Only to start over again and again and again.
When this happens to me, the following quote often comes to mind:



I'm 50/50 about this. Some days reading this is all I need and I'm up and at it again. Fresh attitude, fresh perspective and determined never to fall behind again.
Other times, reading something like this is more discouraging then helpful. It becomes a reminder that yet again, here you are, back to were you started.

My challenge for you is that next time this happens to you - look at things differently. Change your perspective and start measuring yourself by the good moments and not the bad.
Instead of seeing yourself as a failure just because you have to "start over" again - see yourself as someone who is strong because you have persisted when you could have easily stopped trying. That even though you haven't made it yet, you haven't given up because you know you are capable of it.
And instead of seeing this all as a waste of time, see yourself for the determined, hardworking, beast-mode of a person that you are because you know you're not going to give up until you reach it. And you know this - that's why you're reading this. So get out there today. I hear it's supposed to be sunny. :)

The journey

Two very important things before when we get started.

1) Who am I? 

A normal 23 year old personal trainer setting out to push myself to the limit. I've decided to document my fitness journey - my successes, my failures, and everything I learn along the way. I hope to inspire, motivate, and challenge people to not only reach their own goals, but to push even beyond them to the next one. Because if there's one thing I know, there is never an end. The journey is, in fact, the destination. 

2)What is the purpose of this blog? 

To remind you that you can achieve any goal you have. That one day at a time, you can start taking steps to get to where you want to be. All it takes is some hard work and someone to push you along. That's why I'm here. So lace up your shoes, throw out your excuses, and let's start this journey yesterday.