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Is Your Support Group Holding You Back From Your Key Goals?

July 24, 2015 by Jessica Leave a Comment

By Matthew Ferreira Kruse

For years I found myself in the same old hamster wheel spinning and spinning and wondering why I wasn’t reaching my goals and feeling like I was never going to get there. I would give it my all for a few weeks fall off the wagon again and feel burned out, and forgetting why I wanted those goals in the first place. From wanting to get over drug addiction to becoming fit and healthy I just couldn’t seem to figure out why I couldn’t stay determined.

What was keeping me from reaching my goals? Why couldn’t I stay on track and change my quality of life? And I realized it was the support system that I had that was holding me back.

There are two kinds of support groups in my opinion:

One group is going to support your bad habits and continue to hold you back.

The other group is the one who supports you mentally physically and emotionally to reach your goals and providing a positive environment.

Look at your Support Group

Environment

My environment was what was holding me back; my support that I chose to be around was leading me in the wrong direction to Drugs, Alcohol Abuse and a general lack of care for myself. I was going nowhere fast and I needed to change quickly.

It’s simple and cliché but the truth is you can’t be flying with the eagles if your hanging out with the turkeys. So what do you do?

Change your environment, change your support group and find those who are going to push you in the right direction. For me it was finding those friends that wanted to positively change their life for the good. I was lucky enough for those friends to be Coach Mason Murphy and Madison Murphy.

The truth is if you think pro fighters who win fights and drug addicts who become sober for 20 years did it on their own, well think again because these people had a positive environment of coaching and a support to help them reach their goals.

Coaching

Now I’ve changed my environment where do I go from here, I needed direction and coaching to keep me on track.

Coaching isn’t just for the gym and sports but in every day life and just like at Innovative Results when you fall down and you tell yourself you can’t do it any more there’s your coach to help pick you up with positive affirmations and tell you “Come On Keep pushing, Don’t Quit!”

That’s exactly what you need inside and outside the gym, A coach who will be there when your face down in the dirt ready to give up but they won’t let you. And where is a better place to find that than Innovative Results!

But remember it goes both ways, you may not know all the workouts or warm ups or the new progressions but I know each and every person knows how to cheer someone on and being there to pick someone up when they’re tired or down or just having a bad day. So go out there and be a Coach for somebody not only will it make you feel better you will be improving someone’s quality of life!

Friends And Family

Now like I said getting all this new support and coaching is great but the most important part about it is, you get what you give!

Your life isn’t going to change in one night but you have to give that positive support back to others that are in need just like you are. So be conscious of your Friends and Family maybe there in need of some support just like you were. Maybe there looking for someone to open their ears to their problems and give them a hand.

The coaches, friends and family I have at Innovative Results have changed my life in ways I couldn’t of imagined years ago. And what I always take away from IR is that you don’t ever quit because something is hard and you make sure the people around you are getting that positive support they need. Ever since I have been surrounded by the support I was always looking for I’ve been crushing goals left and right and I couldn’t have done it without the IR FAMILY!

The Innovative Results team prides itself as a strong support system to help you reach your goals. Come join the IR Family!

9 Common Habits That Are Making You Fat, Tired and Unhealthy

October 15, 2012 by ptpt 12 Comments

We are all creatures of habit and as we look to improve our health, lose weight, perform better, we are forced to assess our daily habits and see what we can improve upon. Below are 9 common, daily habits that people, including me, do that hurt our progress in the gym and out. By addressing these and replacing them with healthier alternatives, we can improve our health, increase our energy and look better in the mirror.

1. Hitting snooze. Set your alarm and wake up the first time. One way to make this easier is to understand that we typically sleep on 90 min cycles and come into the lighter stages of sleep every 90 minutes or so. If we wake up on these cycles, we tend to be more alert and wake…versus hitting snooze and waking up in a deeper sleep cycle and being out of it, groggy and upset that we have to wake up.

2. Adding sugars, sweeteners and other flavors to our morning coffee. Adds unnecessary chemicals and calories. Ideally, you would have a tall glass of water first thing in the morning. I typically do this as the coffee maker is brewing. Then, avoid adding a bunch of nonsense in your coffee. Chemical flavors, soy milk, sugars, sweeteners and other additives are horrible for our bodies.

3. Eating cereal, bagels and other starches and sugars for breakfast. Starts the sugar roller coaster that repeats all day to keep energy. Convenient quick breakfast foods are typically loaded with sugar and are the worst way to start our day. Ideally you would have a breakfast higher in protein and healthy fats, like eggs, avocado, good meats, veggies or similar.

4. Lunch on the Go. Fast foods and quick lunches can add tons of calories and no quality. Ideally you would plan your meals and have yourself surrounded by good, quality foods during the day. Eating at restaurants provides lower quality foods, higher calories and creates too much temptation to eat bad foods.

5. Afternoon coffee, soda or energy drinks. The sugar high and lows, combined with loads of caffeine is an exhausting roller coaster. It not only provide

6. Quick trip to the vending machines, quickie mart or coffee shop pastry, candies and snacks in the afternoon. This craving usually occurs because of habit and low blood sugar levels after a heavy carb laden lunch. Keep raw nuts at your desk and in your car. If you need a quick snack, stick to a small handful of nuts and it will help control your blood sugar levels, as well as providing healthy fats, which are good for your brain, heart and many other systems in your body.

7. Dinner at a restaurant. Dining at restaurants is hard on the waistline, period. Sure, you can make wiser choices, and that’s fine once in a while. Its always better to cook at home with high quality foods. If you are not a cook, don’t worry. Shopping and preparing good foods is something that you will learn over time. We have shopping lists, sample days and many healthy recipes available on our site.

Healthy Shopping List and more

Eddie’s Healthy Tuna Recipe

8. Beer, wine or cocktails at night. The average American drinks 400 beers per year. Considering that 1/3 of Americans don’t drink, that means the people that do, drink at least a couple every night. If you are interested in a healthier lifestyle, losing weight or performing at your best, I would avoid drinking alcohol every night. If you have a couple drinks once a week, no problem, but the daily intake adds up a lot of calories that will pack on the pounds.

9. Mindless snacking in front of the tube. The average American watches 4-5 hours of television everyday. Many of us, mindlessly eat in front of the tube, meaning we tend to eat way more than if we were actually paying attention to what we were eating. Plus, most snacks are worthless calories anyway. Avoid snacking between meals and best to get the sugars and starchy snacks out of the house period.

How many of those 9 habits do you do frequently during the week?

While, we understand that people are not perfect, it is our job to help people live healthier lives and reprogramming bad habits is essential. Start by assessing your daily habits, then make improvements over time. Just like any habit, changing it takes focus, consistency and patience over time to make it stick.

So, take a minute and review your day. How many of these are habits for you? What do you think is a better alternative?

If you have any questions, leave us a comment or email us directly – info@innovative-results.com.

We are always happy to help!

Innovative Results is committed to helping make Costa Mesa and the surrounding communities healthier, more energetic and active.

Do you believe that improving your fitness, can positively affect all other areas of your life? We do, we’ve seen it happen and experience it ourselves every week.

Give it a try this week…on us! Try a week for FREE – fill out the form below!

Out of Shape? Start Here! If you are out of shape, this is the perfect place to get started.

November 3, 2011 by ptpt 55 Comments

These days over 50% of Americans are overweight and out of shape. Most people spend their days in front of a desk, in a car or in front of the TV. These sedentary habits combined with a diet of refined sugars and processed foods is a recipe for weight gain and disease.

This probably doesn’t come as a shock to many of us, but the challenge is how to overcome these bad habits.

Where do we start?

We are all creatures of habit. Don’t believe it? Try going to bed an hour early, change your pillow, wake up an hour early, try another toothpaste, don’t drink coffee, drive a different route to work, don’t look at your cell phone for an hour, don’t go on Facebook for a day, don’t eat at a restaurant for a week, etc, etc…you get the idea.

Habits are powerful. The goal should be to replace bad habits with better ones. Now this is easier said than done, which is why I want to start with your mindset.

Our mindset (how we think, our attitudes, and our input) plays a huge role in our success. TV infomercials may sell you a dvd set or piece of equipment, we all have gym memberships and a few vitamins, but has this really helped you transform your body? Probably not.

Successfully creating the body you want starts with your mindset. At Innovative Results we break mindset down into three categories (Attitude, Motivation and Support). Lets walk through these categories briefly.

1. Attitude

Attitude will make or break your success in the gym. When you think about working out, what is the first thought you have? Is it positive or negative? When the alarm goes off early, how do you react? When you choose to eat healthier food, is it a positive experience or a hassle? When you don’t feel like being at the gym, how is your workout?

“Watch your thoughts, for they become words.
Watch your words, for they become actions.
Watch your actions, for they become habits.
Watch your habits, for they become character.
Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.”

2. Motivation

Motivation is another vital aspect of a healthy mindset. This can be summarized by “what you want”, “why you want it” and “recognizing hurdles in the way”. The key here is to brainstorm on what you truly want to have happen. Your goal should be important to you and make you a little emotional.

Write your goals down now.

After you have set a goal, the next step is to clarify why you want this to happen. Lots of people wanna lose weight, but understanding why is critical. Why you want to change has to be bigger and more important than the obstacles that will surface on your journey. We have found that the more emotional the goal, the more motivated the person is to walk through the necessary steps to accomplishing their goal. For example, if a woman is going to stand in a white dress, in front of 600 friends and family members, she is usually more motivated than if they simply wanna lose 5lbs before a trip to Vegas.

Write down why these goals are important to you.

3.Support

Now that you have your goals and your reasons written down, the next step is to think about your current lifestyle. Mentally walk though your day/week and think about your current habits.

Who do you surround yourself with? What do you read/watch/listen to?

Change is never easy, so it is important to surround yourself with a support system of like minded people. Friends will unintentionally drag you back into the bar, into ordering deserts or back into bad habits. So plan ahead and protect yourself from these potential distractions.

Your level of success depends upon the people you surround yourself with and the books you read

Which habits are keeping your from achieving your goals? This could start with sleep schedule, eating habits, time in the car, time at work, time in front of the tv and more. Write these habits down on a piece of paper.

The next step is to brainstorm ways to improve your current habits and align them with your goals. How can you improve your habits or schedule? You can probably figure most of this out on your own, but if you need advise or outside opinions, feel free to comment on this article and ask questions. We can always help point you in the right direction.

Write down your current habits and replace them with healthier alternatives.

**Be sure and share these thoughts with people close to you. When people understand your motivation and your goals, they will be more likely to support you and hold you accountable along the way. Who knows, you may even motivate them to join you in your journey!

So, if you are struggling to get started in a workout program, then review this article again, get your thoughts on paper and lets get this party started today!

Our next article will talk about movement and how to get started with a new workout program, no matter what your ability level may be.

So stay tuned!

Goal Setting – How To Write Goals And Then Accomplish Them by Innovative Results Founder and Owner Aaron Guyett

July 15, 2009 by ptpt 29 Comments

Goal Setting – How To Write Goals And Then Accomplish Them

Ouch!

What was that?

I was five and my friend, Doug, was four.

We were playing a fun game of Army at a construction site right across the street from my house.

I got hit again, and so did Doug.

We didn’t have any real weapons—what was that?

I looked down and saw the clump of exploded dirt that created the pain.

…dirt clods.

I wonder if the wise person that said, “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail,” demonstrated and taught a strategy to plan, or did he just say, “write your goals down.”

I have been in the goal-setting and success-achieving business since I first had a dirt clod war with the neighborhood hooligans.

I was only five.

But I understood that if I didn’t plan correctly, and follow through, my friend Doug and I would have been clobbered by the bullies.

Now, so many years later, I still have that dirt clod victory and many more victories (and failures), helping me prepare for the win.

How to write goals – Here is my educated, experienced, and simplified process to boost you toward improved quality of life:

1. Write out SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, as if you have Achieved them, Realistic, Time-based)

2. Use highly motivational and emotional reasons to succeed

3. Kill your old, bad habits completely and forever

4. Create new, good habits as action items and do them consistently until they become old, good habits

5. Do it now!

Writing SMART Goals really allows you to create a perfect environment mentally for your success.

Being Specific will create a definitive approach to what you need.

Without measuring, how do you know if you succeeded or failed?

As if you already achieved the goal is a method to create the proper neurological flow for success—it is essentially the opposite of saying, “I can’t.”

Realistic keeps you from failing every single time.

Lastly, time-based ensures you stay focused until you complete the goal.

If you can tap into your emotions, your goal-attaining career will sky rocket.

It is said that emotions are the number one selling point for any product or service.

Get emotional, and get it done.

This coupled with other motivational drives will create passion to complete your tasks or action items used for your goals.

Your old habits are exactly why you are the way you are, so if you keep them, you will stay the same.

This also means if you go back to them you go back to the person you are.

If you are reading this, you do not want to be where you are (on some level).

If it is your eating habits, kill the old ones, and create new good habits.

These new habits have to be inline and create success for you in your goals.

Just doing the new habit is okay, but doing it with consistency and discipline for a long enough period of time is the key to your success.

I once made a video on the secret to success, and it proclaimed action as the secret.

This is true, these new, good habits are your action steps.

Consistency in this action is what will not only bring you to your success, but will create that success for the long term.

In the Marine Corps, I was put into situation after situation during combat, and the one thing that kept us victorious, was our insane adherence to repetitive training.

Now do it.

Do something for your success before you read any further.

Once you have these 5 steps down, there are many other ways to contribute and speed up your goal conquering. Read these entries on Innovative Results for additional support, but only if you have the above 5 steps down!

Below is an example for you to use, if you’re still unclear as to how to perform this method.

Goal written with SMART method:

I have been victorious in this dirt clod war between the neighborhood bullies with Doug in the next 10 minutes.

Reason (emotional and motivational):

I do not like losing.

I don’t want to be hurt or killed.

I love winning.

I will save the neighborhood from their torment.

Old Bad Habit:

Standing there while I get pelted with dirt clods.

New Good Habit (action item):

Having Doug collect as many dirt clods as possible.

Me throwing the dirt clods at the bullies as fast as I can.

When I get tired we will switch positions.

Old Bad Habit:

Letting the bullies pick on me and win.

New Good Habit(s):

Not letting the bullies pick on me.

Being victorious.

Not giving up or failing.

9 Common Habits That Are Making You Fat, Tired and Unhealthy

Out of Shape? Start Here! If you are out of shape, this is the perfect place to get started.

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