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*The title of this post was taken from The Beatles song of the same name*

It’s a few days early but as of the release of this post, Mother’s Day is just days away.

I’ll start tributes like this:

To my mother, you have weathered nearly every storm in my life. Losing Dad proved to be our biggest challenge to date but you have been one of my most fervent fans and supporters for all of my 41 years. You inspire me, you guide me and you teach me. I know that we have tried to take the best of my Dad’s attributes and apply them to our lives, our work and our relationships. Thank you for all you have done to help me live a better life. In this lifetime, I will never be able to repay you, financially or emotionally, but I will always strive to.

To my mother-in-law, who knew that 8 years ago when we first met, that you not only would be my first client but eventually would be there to see me marry your only child? That certainly wasn’t part of the plan but I can’t imagine it going another way. Thank you for taking a chance on me and my business, once upon a time, and thank you for raising the woman I now call my wife. The last 8 years have proven to be a ride that no amusement park could house (and I mean that affectionately.) I am in your debt.

To the mother of my firstborn son, you have raised a perfect child. Jackson is happiness by any definition. I know what you have sacrificed to give him all he could need in life and there is nothing I can do to compare with that except love him in only a way that a father can. My hat goes off to any parent raising a child with special needs but specifically to you because I know how much he adores you and everything you do to make his life a success.

To every mother who currently is at the Rev working their asses off to show their families “how it’s done.” This includes Debbie L., Candy H., Deb A., Lisa M., Christina S., Jo W., Sarah B., Randy W., Stacey R., Laura D., Cherie E., Cherie S., Stephannie R., Jeanne V., Bronwyn C., Alyssa F., Diane B., Tatsyana H., Marta W., Mary J., Julie B., Megan W.,, Cheryl R., Lisa M., Pat C., and Mary J. (Damn, I hope I didn’t forget any Moms in this list!!) You are the role models for your families. You set the stage, you shine the light, and you make greatness happen. We are all in this together and believe me when I say, I learn so much about true love when I see what you all do for your children and your families. W-O-W.

Last, but certainly not least, my wife. In roughly three months, our first child together (a baby boy) will make his debut in this world. To see over the last 6 months how you have changed your life to accommodate our little guy has been an incredible experience. And, the journey is hardly beginning. I know how much of yourself and your passion for life will pour into our child. I know that you will move heaven and earth to make sure he has everything he needs to live a life fulfilled. I am grateful that I get to be the man in your life who can be a part of all of that love. Our little boy will have two parents who love him dearly, plus an amazing big brother and a rotten boxer to lick him and pester him. Sounds like a great life. 🙂

Happy Mother’s Day to all of you incredible moms…

Mike Howard, founder of Lean Minded and author of Talking Back To Diet Gurus, is my guest this week. We talk about many of the unfortunate side effects the general population faces when they’re influenced by diet misinformation. Mike explains why he wrote his excellent book and how many of those philosophies continue to shape his practice with personal training. You can order the Kindle version of his book on Amazon, it is highly recommended! To learn more about Mike, visit http://www.leanminded.com To find out more about your host, check out http://www.jasonleenaarts.com and head over to our new Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/revolutionaryou Download, subscribe, share with your friends and please take a moment to leave us an iTunes review.

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* The title of this post was taken from the Rose Hill Drive song of the same name*

May 1 marks eight years since we first opened our doors. It has been one exhilarating ride since 2009. I’ve tried to think of everything that has managed to go right and wrong during that time. Since I have always enjoyed a good list, I thought I would try to pull together some thoughts you might appreciate and possibly apply to your own journey.

1) Ready, Fire, Aim

I recently heard my buddy, Jordan Syatt, talk about this as it pertains to fitness trainers trying to branch out their revenue streams. It wasn’t the first time I had heard the phrase but it’s extremely important to remember. As a business owner, my worst enemy has been indecision. There is an assumed risk when you own a business and every day that risk is apparent. Not being able to make decisions on the fly was one of the most catastrophic characteristics I had early on. I wanted everything to be perfect with every choice I made.

However, little in life is perfect. No perfect timing. No perfect choices. No perfect outcomes. Everything works on a continuum and (nearly) everything can be reacted to. For those individuals trying to get their health/physique in a good place, there is no perfect diet or exercise template. Just get started, keep modifying and find the changes that you can stick with. After you’ve fired off some dummy rounds, you can aim later to refine the focus.

2) To Program Or Not To Program?

Speaking of perfect exercise templates, I have definitely run the gamut with how to train clients. When I started, everything was random, no two workouts were the same. I trained clients for anywhere between 40-60 minutes with no rhyme or reason, just randomness. As business picked up, I wanted something I could streamline so I created templates that I felt nearly every client could work within. In many ways, the templates worked great. But what I found was that a fair percentage of clients didn’t like knowing what they were going to be doing when they came in. If a given client knew they would be doing lunges and push-ups on Wednesday, they would start to dread Wednesday. That wasn’t a desired outcome either. Nowadays, I do a little bit of everything. Some clients get random workouts and some get programs. A lot of this depends on their goals but a lot depends on personalities. We’ve also compacted a lot of our training time to closer to 30 minutes. Retention and results have been better than ever so I would like to think that flexibility in approach and time commitment have something to do with that.

If you’re someone who dreads the thought of following a training cycle, maybe you need more randomness in your training to spice things up. You may not make the progress with the weights in ways that you might want, but in all honesty, not every person is looking to set a personal record in the gym. They just want to move and feel better. Taking a less dogmatic approach to training did a lot of good for us.

3) Community Is Everything

I wish I could take credit for the culture of RevFit, but I can’t. Of course, I want it to be a fun and pleasant atmosphere where no one gets judged and everyone feels on the same level playing field to see progress. I believe we have succeeded at that. I’ve also been fortunate to have two great trainers with me who keep the morale upbeat in the studio.

In addition, I started not one but two closed communities on Facebook inspired by some of my continuing education with the folks at Habitry. One group is available for any one with an interest in health/fitness to be a part of. The other is specifically for current clients where we can talk about dietary best practices, recipes, etc.

I believe that the power of pulling everyone together to cheer each other on in the studio and online has been an incredible resource.

If you don’t have a support system to help you achieve your goals, I can’t overstate the importance of it. Then again, I’m very biased to the group that we have so if you want that little bit of “extra”, you know how to reach me.

4) Learn From Others

I read a ridiculous amount of books. I really can’t imagine being in a position where I felt like I couldn’t learn something new. Between books, webinars and both podcasts I’ve had the honor of hosting/co-hosting, I absolutely love learning. Any new trick or tip I can pick up along the way that I might be able to utilize in efforts to help my clients is invaluable. Sometimes I have to sift through a lot of information to get one little helpful nugget but it’s worth it if I can help a client turn a corner.

As you are on your own journey, one great quote I heard from one of my fitness inspirations, Dan John, is: Success leaves clues.

So, if you’re not as voracious of a reader as I am, that’s okay. You also don’t have to soak in podcasts like I do (although I do think you’ll enjoy the ones I’ve been releasing.) You just have to look at trusted sources who have succeeded where you want to be successful and learn from them. You won’t regret it.

5) Consistency Conquers

I mentioned up above that I have a couple of closed communities on Facebook. While they have both been really helpful in continuing to put me in front of current/former/potential clients, I have also made a significant effort to do daily postings. The first closed community was started almost two years ago. Since I started it, rarely a day goes by where members aren’t receiving some type of content, whether it be an article like this one, some fitness inspiration, a podcast or a video. However, that consistency isn’t always easy to hit.

It took a long time for me to find my groove with what I felt worked best. I also wanted there to be more in-depth and valuable content for the current clientele. So, when the second community was started, I began pushing even more good content into that group.

And how could I leave out all of our pictures?

Starting last August, I began posting frequent pictures of clients around the studio. They could be celebrating weight loss, hitting a personal record or just going through their routines.

As business has grown, so has the number of pictures. Last month alone, I posted over 150 pictures of our clients doing great things. I have no doubt being able to share those things has brought a new level of attention to our studio.

But consistency, above all, is what made the difference. I tried lots of things and lots of things didn’t go over well or get much attention. I just kept trying.

That would be my advice for many of you as well. Stay consistent. Keep trying. Keep progressing. Your victories may be slow to come but they will come.

6) Never Stop Teaching

In addition to all of the material I try to consume to better educate myself, one of the most rewarding avenues in the last couple of years has been my Revolutionary You podcast. I wanted to bring as many people on my show who genuinely inspired me and open them to an audience where they could continue to inspire others. In that, I know I have succeeded.

Sometimes, I might give some advice to a client but if I bring a guest on the show, they can offer the same advice with a slight spin or tweak to it. That little change can be all it takes for the advice to flip a light switch.

While there is a certain amount of satisfaction one can gain from teaching a “man to fish”, I’ve always loved just sharing a good book (or podcast episode) with someone so they can travel a journey in their own way.

7) It’s A Family

When I was younger, my mom would introduce me to close family friends and would say things like “Say Hi to Uncle Ernie and Aunt Claire” (even though they weren’t really relatives.)

I always took to it and my parents always had close friends who seemed as good as family to me. Since then, I’ve passed it on to my son Jackson. Except, I introduce clients to him as Uncle Don or Aunt Laura. To be frank, the relationships I’ve been fortunate to build here over the years have cemented some of these people into my life who seem more like family than just friends or clients.

Not only that but many of our clients were present when I married Marissa and they will no doubt be a part of our baby’s life (due in August.)

Maybe that’s just another reason the community here seems so unique.

8) There’s Never Time To Be Complacent

I joke with some folks that I have undiagnosed ADD and while it can be a little bit frustrating when I’m trying to focus on things, I think it’s helped with my business. I get tired of things being too much of the same. I’m constantly looking for ways to improve the business, the experience, the relationships, everything. I just know there are ways that things can get better.

So, I am in a constant state of “How can the experience be more effective or more efficient?”

And true to this pattern, things are brewing at the Rev. Why be complacent when there is so much more to do and so many ways to evolve?

I’ll end this post on something of a cliffhanger. I’ll wait until I can give you more details.

But most importantly, thank you to all of you who have in big or small part made the last eight years possible. I am rewarded every day just being able to interact with each of you and be a part of your journey.

Here’s to the next eight and beyond. 

 

I am joined in the studio with Dr. Jacob Barkley, Assistant Professor of Exercise Science at Kent State University, to discuss his work with cell phone behaviors. Dr. Barkley has done an incredible amount of research and published studies looking at the correlation between sedentary behaviors and cell phone use. You can see more of his work through Google Scholar and http://www.researchgate.net This is a fascinating topic since we definitely won’t be seeing the cell phone going away any time soon. To learn more about your host, check out http://www.jasonleenaarts.com and our new Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/revolutionaryou Download, subscribe, share with your friends and please take a moment to leave us an iTunes review.

iTunes OR Stitcher OR iHeartRadio

*The title of this post is from The Distillers song of the same name*

There’s a problem with dieting.

Hunger.

It’s uncomfortable. It’s frustrating. It lingers. And sometimes right when you think you have it cracked, it comes around again.

Now, there are things you can do to make dieting (and hunger) less uncomfortable.

You can eat more protein.

This typically has the effect of being a more satiating macronutrient plus having this really nifty thing called a high thermic effect. In other words, your body has to work harder to metabolize it. In numbers, if you consumed 800 calories per day from protein on your diet, you could burn 160-280 calories just trying to digest it. That’s pretty awesome. By comparison, you won’t burn anywhere near that much via carbohydrates or fat.

You can eat more fiber.

This will also help you feel more full. The downside is that you may have to experiment with different sources of fiber (grains, fruits, veggies) because they all may affect you (and your digestive system) in different ways.

You can drink more water.

It’s not glamorous or sexy. It won’t sell magazines off the rack if you talk about it’s allure in a diet. However, it can help with some oral fixations if you’re just used to consuming something and it can help fill you up. Add a bit of lemon or lime if you get bored of plain old water.

You can distract yourself.

I hate to break it to many of you but the pattern that many fall into of heading home and plopping on the couch to catch up on TV is not the best route for weight loss. Not only are you at the mercy of every food-themed commercial (which will likely cue you to get up and eat some more), you may find yourself in the unenviable trap of eating out of boredom, anxiety or frustration with your day.

Find an outlet. Anything that will break you of the patterns that lead you back to the fridge or pantry. It doesn’t have to be fancy. You can walk your dog, read a book, clean a room, etc. All you’re trying to do is break the cycle that leads to thoughts of food.

You can exercise but…

For all of its great attributes, certain people will get hungrier with exercise. Adhering to your calorie plan (which is hopefully set for weight loss) will keep your eyes set on the goal. You may also have to drop the intensity with which you’re training if you find that your hunger skyrockets and you can’t temper it.

Or, you can get comfortable being uncomfortable. 

The sad truth of dieting is that there will be hunger pangs despite your best dietary efforts. The sooner you can prepare yourself for that feeling the easier the process will be. This may be harder to deal with when you’re getting started until your body and mind acclimate to the change. Even after you’ve adjusted, there will still be certain days that affect you more than others. If you fall off the wagon, always remember to minimize dietary damage where you can, forgive yourself (you’re not broken/worthless or a failure), and get your eyes back on the prize.

And this would be Matt, Sarah and Marta from last week. Undoubtedly, a little worn out from their workout…and they were probably a little bit hungry afterwards. 🙂

Meghan Callaway joins me this week to talk about her efforts in empowering women to be and achieve more with their fitness plans. We discuss some of the pervasive notions that women can only achieve great bodies through low resistance and unrealistic time constraints that seem to be perpetuated by the media and fitness celebrities. You can follow Meghan’s incredible exercise demonstrations and read more about her philosophies at http://www.meghancallawayfitness.com or follow her on Facebook. To learn more about your host, please visit http://www.jasonleenaarts.com Also, check out our new Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/revolutionaryou Download, subscribe, share with your friends and please take a moment to leave us an iTunes review.

iTunes OR Stitcher OR iHeartRadio

*The title of this post was taken from the Self song of the same name*

After 18 years floating around this industry as both consumer/client and trainer, I should know better.

Hell, I’ve spent tens of thousands of dollars on books, certifications and other avenues of continuing education to teach me better.

Yet even as the years have gone on and I’ve learned more about what does and doesn’t work in the supplement industry, every so often I manage to get duped into buying something I know won’t be as effective as I’d like.

A few months ago, I was looking through the nutrition/supplement section of a local grocery store and I saw a sale on a new line of pre-workout powder. For those of you who don’t know much about them, pre-workouts typically have some combination of creatine, amino acids, and/or stimulants in them to assist in giving you the boost you need for a better workout.

Depending on the brand, any of these ingredients could be cleverly marketed as organic, non-gmo, stimulant-free, or with faster absorption to appeal to whatever your hot buttons are. In the industry, many experts shy away from them saying that what you’re purchasing is really expensive ways to color your urine.

Truth be told, stimulants can positively affect your workout.

Want to know a great one?

Coffee.

And if you don’t like the taste of coffee, you can opt for a bottle of caffeine pills which will cost you a fraction of what your funny looking/smelling/tasting powder does.

Is it sexy? God no. But it’s effective.

Creatine is effective too but that’s a topic for another day.

But here I was, spending money I knew I shouldn’t have been buying a powder I was not likely to get my money’s worth from.

The thing is, there was nothing particularly wrong with the powder. There were just better ways to accomplish the same goal. Had I not buckled to the call of my impulsivity, I would have been perfectly fine with some black coffee before training.

Then I realized, that if some clever marketing can sucker me into a purchase, how does it affect the average person who doesn’t know as much about this industry and still wants to improve their physique?

As of 2015, revenue generated by the US dietary supplement industry was expected to hit an amazing $37 billion.

One of our clients confessed that he averaged $200/mo in supplements that provided little to no benefit to him before he started training with us.

And while I can attempt to do my very best at helping to educate my clients on what could work effectively to help them on their journey, everyone is susceptible and everyone is a target for the companies vying for their slice of that $37 billion dollar pie.

So, this article is simply a cautionary tale. Some of the most effective supplements you can buy are, oddly enough, some of the least expensive. And, as you might imagine, many of the ones that claim to accomplish so much generally cannot (but the placebo effect is an amazing thing.)

When I think back to my pre-workout purchase a few months ago, I knew I would be disappointed. I don’t know if I was more intrigued by the fact that it was new, on sale, or just that I hadn’t purchased anything like that in a while.

Damn, that shiny penny syndrome.

Rather than be a sucker (like I was), remember that the basics (appropriate food/water intake, good sleep habits, consistent/progressive exercise, minimal alcohol consumption) will get you to your goal.

Almost anything else will just make your wallet a little bit lighter and your pee (or poo) a little bit more colorful.

We’ll help you navigate the basics.

Oh and this is Abe. He’s down 13lbs in less than 2 months. Working the “basics.” 🙂

 

 

 

 

Stephan Guyenet has delivered one of 2017’s finest books when it comes to the neuroscience of our eating behaviors in “The Hungry Brain: Outsmarting The Instincts That Make Us Overeat” He joins me this week to discuss some of the topics that he outlines in greater detail in that book. You can order your copy at HERE To learn more about all of Stephan’s incredible and insightful work, check out http://www.stephanguyenet.com To find out more about your host, please visit http://www.jasonleenaarts.com and check out our new Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/revolutionaryou Download, subscribe, share with your friends and please take a moment to leave us an iTunes review.

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*The title of this post was taken from the Jane’s Addiction song of the same name*

Note: I have intentionally changed the name of my client to Jane for privacy purposes.

Late last year, Jane came in to to talk about joining up at RevFit. She had some mutual friends who were already clients and they were happy with their results. It’s my understanding that Jane had some apprehension because she was somewhat self conscious about form and exercising in front of others.

When we sat down to discuss health history and goals, Jane said, somewhat in jest, that she would be a handful. She had a history of medications and behaviors that at least alluded to why her weight had steadily escalated. Fortunately, Jane’s husband was excited that she made the step to come see me.

Medications can be a strange obstacle. I tend to see a little bit of everything too. Medications for high blood pressure, high cholesterol, depression, anti-anxiety, poor sleep, attention deficit disorder, birth control, thyroid dysfunction and more. Sometimes, the medication itself may not be the issue but the combination of one medication with another can make weight loss difficult. Not only that, but some medications have been known to affect hunger signals.

Imagine for a moment being overweight and depressed with high blood pressure (with a potential link between the three.) Your blood pressure medicine seems to be doing the trick but your anti-depressant medication leaves you in a state of never feeling hungry so you continue to raid the fridge. Next thing you know, your weight continues to go up which fuels the depression and the high blood pressure. Now, your doctor is tempted to raise your dosages on both of your medications to help control the emotions and keep your blood pressure down. Notice a cycle?

There was a similar thing happening with Jane. Because I am nowhere near a doctor or a pharmacologist, I will normally suggest to a client that perhaps their weight gain (or struggle to lose weight) is affected by their medication(s). Typically a follow-up with the doctor can unveil things that may not have been immediately apparent.

So, the medications were one obstacle. The other was Jane’s social life. You see, Jane has a bit of a stressful job and she and her husband have a large circle of friends they often hang out with. When she gets done with work, and definitely on the weekends, she and her husband will generally cut loose and go nuts. So Jane and I talked about what other things she could change in her diet so that she didn’t have to restrict too much on the weekends.

Over the next couple of months, Jane would tell me about all of the baby steps she was taking to get her diet in order. Each time we would step on the scale, the weight kept creeping up. We would chat about what more could be done but I could tell that mentally, she just wasn’t there yet.

One evening during one of her sessions, I asked Jane if she would mind that I reach out to her husband. I really wanted to see what more could be done to keep her on track and get her focused on her goals. Since her husband had expressed his excitement when she started, I was hoping he would be able to help me help her.

Jane was okay with it so I connected with her husband to express some of my concerns. Fortunately, he was on board but he also knew that the weekends were when things appeared to get out of hand the most.

When Jane came back in, she mentioned that she had a doctor’s appointment coming up and asked if there was anything that she should talk to her doctor about regarding medication. I told her some of my concerns and we agreed that maybe solving some of the dosage questions could bridge the gap with weight loss.

The next morning, I drafted a letter for Jane to give to her doctor. She never asked me to do it, I just wanted to write something simply from my perspective in efforts to get the doctor on the same page and to hopefully open up some doors of communication so that Jane could start seeing the results she was paying for.

I sent the letter to Jane and said “You don’t have to take this to your doctor if you don’t want. I wrote it because I genuinely care that you get to where you want to be. If this letter helps, I’m happy to have written it.”

Jane did take the letter to her doctor and he did mention some places where medication could have been taking her down the wrong road. He referenced a diet that he thought Jane might want to consider and gave her the option of either following his food plan or following the one she and I had discussed.

Jane and I discussed both options and while she wasn’t sure she could restrict to the level of her doctor’s food plan she still wasn’t quite ready to change her lifestyle either.

Until last week.

Jane came in for one of her sessions and she said “I’m going to try a week.”

“A week of what?” I asked.

“A week of not drinking. I would try for a month but I think that would be too hard for me. So, I’m going to try and not drink for a week.”

“Ok!” I said, “Give it a try and let’s see what happens. Worst case, if you happen to drink before the week is up, try and minimize the damage. If one night gets crazy, get back on track the next day and try again. Just don’t beat yourself up and let one night turn into two or three on the same path.”

The good news? Jane made it almost one full week without drinking.

The better news? When she did drink, she kept it to a minimum and called it a night.

The best news? For the first time since she started, Jane’s effort over that one week showed on the scale. She finally lost weight.

The great thing about Jane’s story is not that there was some secret solution. The medication was a piece of the puzzle but not a silver bullet. Jane made a conscious decision of her own accord to change what she felt was the most damaging aspect of her diet.

In my mind, perhaps one week of sobriety was too challenging. In 12-step programs, the motto is “one day at a time.” However, I applaud Jane’s attempt to right the ship. I know what she is capable of when she puts her mind to it. I believe that when (not if) she fully commits to her progress, she’ll be able to find the perfect balance between the crazy weekends and the not-so-crazy weeks. Does she have to adhere to total sobriety to see the progress she wants? Not necessarily. But the fact that she was rewarded on the scale when she dedicated herself to the change for a handful of days is promising.

For you, maybe drinking isn’t the issue. Maybe it’s a food that you crave or over-consume. All that matters is that you can diagnose the issue and come up with a plan to solve it.

I know in Jane’s case, it was really awesome to see the glimmer when she saw the weight come down.

Now it’s a matter of stringing together a sustainable plan to keep seeing those numbers come down.

And if Jane says she can do it, I’ll believe her.

And just in case, you’re wondering, Jane’s not pictured below. These are just some of our awesome RevLadies after their workout. 🙂

 

Amy Vandeputte of “Fast Forward Amy” fame hops on this week’s episode with me. If you’ve not heard of her yet, you can say you got your initiation through this show! Amy is steadily booming in the fitness industry by tapping into not only her native Belgium but also branching out to America and beyond as well. In this episode, we discuss how Amy began her business and what is making her stand out from the crowd. To connect with Amy and see what she’s doing, check out http://www.fastforwardamy.com To learn more about your host, please visit http://www.jasonleenaarts.com and check out our new Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/revolutionaryou Download, subscribe, share with your friends and please take a moment to leave us an iTunes review.

iTunes OR Stitcher OR iHeartRadio