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Avoiding the Holiday Snowball Effect…

WARNING: CHALLENGES AHEAD

You know it’s coming in the next 30-40 days…

You’ve built up good momentum, are already consistent and are feeling pretty good. 

You’re eating quality foods 80% + most of your days and you’re hitting your fitness consistently 3 to 5 times per week without deviation.

Your next greatest opponent to challenge all the behaviors and momentum you’ve built is right around the corner.

The holiday season.

The holiday season challenges all of that in its own unique ways. 

I know that if in the past you’ve gotten

  • Very stressed around the holidays,
  • Fallen off your nutrition routine
  • Lost consistency with fitness

That these patterns are likely to emerge and challenge you again and again.  

AVOIDING THE SNOWBALL EFFECT… 

While the holiday season in an exciting time:

family gatherings,

delicious foods,

shared memories

and quality time with people we love,

it’s very natural and normal for our nutrition and fitness to take a small step back. 

How big of a step back is in your hands and your control. 

The snowball effect happens when that small step back turns into a walking backwards or in reverse.

HOW IT HAPPENS

At Thanksgiving, we are around people we love and we feast. We are in company we love and enjoy and we let our guards down temporarily.

We eat foods we wouldn’t or don’t normally eat on a regular day to day basis.

These tasty treats and variance throws our taste buds into extreme sensation and pleasure seeking mode.

This snowballs when one day with one meal turns into days or even weeks of over indulging or eating too much of those joy foods and not enough quality food. 

We are officially off our routine.

Then with Christmas around the corner our levels of stress are higher.

This leads to that need for a quick impulse or feel good to be even at a higher level, so we continue down this path.

As exciting as Christmas is for most of us, we can be in a constant state of stress about schedules, gifts, shopping, expectations or worries that we skip the gym more than get our daily dose of health, wellness and endorphins. 

Missing a day here or there is normal and isn’t going to derail your progress. 

It’s when we fall off our normal 3, 4 or 5 day a week fitness regime that we put ourselves in this hole that the further we get into it’s harder to get out of it. 

And when we do eventually make our return we are unfortunately met with difficulty, a feeling of everything is difficult and I’m winded so quick and easily.  Making the very thing you loved and enjoyed so regularly seem so difficult.

All challenging your will.

And then, New Years.

A classic time where people stay up later than normal, over eat snacks and drink alcohol to celebrate the closing of a year and beginning of another. 

The staying up late, food and alcohol combination throws off our entire daily rhythm and leaves us with more anguish than excitement. 

These factors in combination are the downhill snowball effect in full speed.

They challenge all the good behaviors, mindset/mentality and healthy consistent actions you’ve built up consistently over a long period of time. 

WHAT DO I DO? 

Aware – Acknowledge – Action 

Awareness, that’s the first step. 

Second, we must acknowledge. 

We can acknowledge that our nutrition will not be perfect over Thanksgiving and Christmas and that we will fully enjoy those meals and moments with loved ones, guilt free.

We acknowledge in advance that we will likely be around others (people we love) who don’t share the same will, drive, discipline or goals as we do.

Sadly, even the same desire for high levels of health and wellness.

(Friendly tip: If your family knows you as the “CrossFitter” or the “healthy person” or “workout nut” a couple of things may happen during this time of year…..

One  they may challenge your discipline or healthy ways or two – they may talk or communicate in a way that almost shames you for being so healthy or them for not.

I encourage you to not be reactive but to lead by example and allow your best self to show up in these instances. Meet them with unwavering love and understanding. What is really being said without actually being said is “I wish I had the level of discipline and commitment to my health as you do.”)

We acknowledge that although we may travel or need to do holiday shopping or be out of town, we will remain MORE consistent within the gym than not. 

Third step, the most critical is we take action

We take action in not letting ourselves spiral out of control due to 1-2 holiday indulgences. 

We take action in committing to a minimum amount of days within the gym per week because we know it will lower our stress, help keep moving us closer to our goals, bettering us daily and that if we don’t we dig a hole that the deeper it gets the harder to climb out. 

We take action in planning ahead.

We plan our schedules around our workouts. 

We plan what days we will be traveling. 

We plan what healthy and nutrient foods we will be eating a majority of our days. 

We plan to get back on track the meal or day after we eat “out of the norm.”

We plan ahead and we vow to not let 1 or 2 days where we eat out of routine (Thanksgiving and Christmas) make the other 30+ days a wash and set ourselves further away from our ultimate goal and actually hinder our progress, body composition and ultimately how we feel day to day. 

We know this time of year our healthy habits will be challenged the most.

We get ahead of that challenge by being aware it’s coming, acknowledging what we need to do and not do and taking and committing to action. 

Because the alternative? 


That snowball effect turns into an avalanche that some can never recover from. 

Here’s to stopping the SNOWBALL!

Thanksgiving Week Hours: Wednesday-Normal Schedule Thanksgiving-OPEN…9am Class Only Friday-Open Gym 6:30am-7:30am and 9am Class Saturday-Open Gym 7:45am and 9am Class

Work Hard, Eat Clean, Be Blessed 🙂

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Sunday FUNday!

Many people use their Sundays as a rest day to rev up for the upcoming week…how do you spend your Sundays?

  • Nothing
  • Church
  • Spending time with family
  • Exercising
  • Meal Prepping
  • Watching Netflix 😉
  • Cleaning the house
  • Working

There are many things that one can tackle and it’s great to do nothing at all or mix a few things up here and there. I myself do almost all of the things listed (except for cleaning-least favorite thing to do unless it’s a barbell 😉 ).

The important thing is to take time for YOU! Do what makes you happy and JOYful! Fill up your cup so you have more to give in the upcoming week!

Here’s to a great week and many blessings on your Sunday FUNday whatever you choose to do! 🙂

Work Hard, Eat Clean, Be Blessed!

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Heart Day <3

What’s your favorite exercise to get your heart rate up or exercise?

*Running *Walking *Jump Roping *Lifting Weights *Rowing *Skiing *Skating *Snowboarding *Volleyball *Basketball *Football *Wrestling *Soccer *Baseball *Softball *Tennis *Pickleball *Hockey *Golf *Swimming *Gymnastics *Rock Climbing *Cycling *Skateboarding *Boxing

Soooooo many options and I’m sure I left some out for sure! It is recommended that your heart rate be between 120-150bpm for at least 30-60 minutes per day! Are you achieving that? Are you doing what’s necessary in order to keep your heart healthy?

When I taught PE, I had the kids play a tag game called “Heart Attack Tag”. There were 4 taggers, each representing four risk factors of heart attacks – Smoking, Sodium/Salt Intake, Junk Food, and Couch Potato. If you got tagged once you would place your arm over your chest indicating that you were 25% likely to have a heart attack but you were still in the game; tagged a second time, two arm crossed on chest (50% likely to have a heart attack). If you got tagged a third time – 75% chance of a heart attack – you had to lie on the floor and wait for the “Dr” to come and save you.

I believe this made quite and impression on the kiddos when they played it as the “Dr” would prescribe exercise in order to get back into the game…My mission is to help as many people as possible so if you are reading this and your nutrition and fitness are not up to par and run a risk of hurting your heart from one of the risk factors, get up and MOVE! Just 5 minutes is better than nothing! Think about what you are putting in your body to fuel it…is it good nutrition or is it junk? Eat mindfully not mindlessly – You’ve only got one body to live in and it’s up to you to love it enough to take care of it!

If you’d like extra guidance on how to take care of your fitness and nutrition, book a Free Intro!

Have a Great Heart Day and Be Safe out there!

Work Hard, Eat Clean, Be Blessed!

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Fall Forward…

Don’t Look Back

(Inspired by a motivational video I watched/listened to this morning…Think of how you start your day; get yourself in the right mindset in order to set yourself up for SUCCESS!)

-You can’t keep falling down and staying down-how will you EVER get to where you want to be??

-You are responsible for your actions – it’s not someone else’s fault; stop blaming others for your failures…

-Nothing is impossible, you just need to believe in what you are trying to accomplish – the word impossible should actually be I’m-Possible!!

-Set yourself up to win the day – find small wins you can celebrate – these small wins will allow you to keep moving forward to your goals!

-Roadblocks will happen, but you must remain stronger than those excuses that will come up! No Excuses!

-Remember where you want to be for you! Don’t try to make others happy before making yourself happy – Love yourself enough to do what’s best for YOU!

-Own your future and keep falling forward towards your goals – one step after the other!

-You are WORTH it!

Have a great Friday Eve!

Work Hard, Eat Clean, Be Blessed!

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Never Miss a Monday!

You may see this saying quite often especially on social media platforms with the #nevermissamonday (heck we use it!) But why shouldn’t you miss a Monday when it comes to working out?? You’ve had a nice relaxed weekend and working out is probably the last thing you want to do…Here’s some reasons that you should!

  1. You’re more likely to work out the rest of the week. Getting in the gym on a Monday is like having a clean slate and you’ll more likely workout the rest of the week!
  2. You’ll smile more. 🙂 Who doesn’t want to smile more?? Exercise naturally increase your endorphins which makes you happier…so MOVE and 🙂
  3. You’ll subside anxious thoughts. Do you have anxiety issues? I do and exercise is the best medicine for treatment for me. It helps relieve the panicky feelings I have sometimes and helps me make it through the rest of the day.
  4. You’ll kickstart good self-control. Working out on a Monday will help with other things in your life, like your nutrition or drinking enough water. Who wants to waste a good workout with a quarter pounder with chees and a side of fries? (Don’t answer that 😉 ) But seriously, if I’m putting in the work in the gym, I don’t want to ruin it in the “kitchen”!
  5. You’ll catch better zzz’s. It’s true! I used to get maybe5-6 hours of sleep, but with some extra cardio along with the workouts, I’ve been getting a solid 8! Muscles are repaired at night and they need that recovery time to help you succeed. So go workout so you can rest easy tonight!
  6. You’ll boost brainpower. Boom! Go for a walk to help with that brainpower! The nerve cells react and helps people take on their tasks much better than just sitting around. Set an alarm on your phone if you’re behind a desk all day to just get up and move around for 5 minutes. Do this several times a day and see how much your thinking improves.
  7. You might make more money. Say what?? Studies show that regular exercisers make 9% more than their couch potato friends!

So who’s going to go exercise today?? We’ve already had 22 at our gym this morning and I’m getting set to hit the mats at 8:30…when will you workout today? Never miss a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday…. You get my point! Have a great day! 🙂

Work Hard, Eat Clean, Be Blessed!

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The Feel of Fall…

Have you been outside yet? We are in that “season” of a 30-35 degree fluctuation of the temperature between morning and afternoon! My son left for school this morning with no jacket, opened the door and was in for a rude awakening 🙂 He toughed it out knowing he could do without a jacket since he knew it would warm up.

This is one of my favorite times of the year, cooler temps and lower humidity! It makes for a more pleasant temperature at the gym as well since we’ve been battling high temps and humidity for the past few months. It’s also a time where I see more people out and about exercising either on the track, on the road and the parks.

Today I start my second week of our Healthy Habits Challenge and my habit this week is to do an extra 30 minute walk sometime during the day. I will definitely look forward to this later on today to de-stress a bit after a long morning…How do you de-stress? And if outside is your go-to, what do you do during bad weather? Do you have a routine at home?

If you’re looking for some accountability “after” the fall turns to winter OR want some now, book a Free Intro where we can discuss some online coaching and training…we want to help you stay active through ALL of the months! 🙂 Have a great Monday!

Work Hard, Eat Clean, Be Blessed!

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Pushing Out the Negative

Staying on the “taking care of mental health” train of thought, let’s learn how to keep the negative at bay…

Let’s face it, life is usually filled with obstacles that are outside our control. Events that are unforeseen, emergencies we are unprepared for, the list goes on. But there are things we have control over and among them are our thoughts. 

Negative thoughts and feelings do a lot of damage, so it’s important to keep them to a minimum. Easier said than done, but here are 3 ways to help stop negative self-talk:

Breathe: If you start thinking negative thoughts, and you are feeling overwhelmed and upset, pause and breathe. It will help by slowing your heart rate by calming you down and giving you some clarity.

Acknowledge it: When you start to have negative thoughts, acknowledge them. You’re not going to stop them by ignoring them. You have to acknowledge them before you can confront them. 

Consider the cause: What’s at the root of these thoughts? Are you afraid? Are you experiencing self-doubt? Why are these thoughts creeping in and why are they stopping you? Take some time to consider where these thoughts come from and confront them. 

Focus on the positive aspects of your day…what do you look forward to most? Put that at the forefront of your mind and keep pushing the negative back. You’ve got this! Happy Humpday! 🙂

Work Hard, Eat Clean, Be Blessed!

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Defeating the “Monday Blues”

And other things that get us down…

How many of you dread Mondays?? To be honest, when I was a teacher, I dreaded it! I always counted down the days til Friday because that’s when I could get some downtime. Back in the day, while I loved my job of teaching, I didn’t have the coping mechanisms in place to battle the stresses of raising a family, teaching and coaching.

Everything piled up together led to a poor attitude, lack of motivation and depression. I was stuck and didn’t know how to get out. Enough was enough in 2009, when I finally took back control of my life. I was tired of being sick and tired 🙁 The pic represents about what I looked like…I may be smiling on the outside, but on the inside I had the blues…

I was a PE teacher so I should know what to do right? I tried…I set off to the gym at 4:30 every other morning to do “weights”; I stayed by the “baby weights” because I really didn’t know what I was doing (we only had the Nautilus machines in college) so I stayed in my little corner. I did some “cardio” on the days I wasn’t in the gym…my version of cardio is definitely not the same as today’s version (just ask the members!!)

Today marks my 10th anniversary of doing CrossFit…I’m in a better place physically and mentally. Everyone goes through a journey and everyone has to start somewhere…my first somewhere was getting sick of doing nothing about it…my second somewhere was wanting to do more for myself so I took the leap and called CrossFit United in Columbia and set up an intro course. BEST decision ever because the rest is history…

I definitely wouldn’t be writing this little piece on this website had it not been for that decision. I fought off a lot of “Monday Blues” back in the day, but today with nutrition and exercise I look forward to EVERY DAY! We are only given this day once and we are only given one body so do something remarkable with it!

Yes, today is Monday, but let’s make it BRIGHT – not Blue 🙂

Work Hard, Eat Clean, Be Blessed!

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Motivation Monday

So I realized at about 8:30 this evening that I should have posted this earlier this morning to maybe to help some of you with motivation…heck, to help me! 🙂

I find that my brain isn’t as foggy in the morning and the ol thoughts are clearer which gets to one of my points of today. I posted on our IG and FB the first day of our Stress Manangement/Wellness Challenge (of sorts). The first thing you should do is take a “mindful minute” or two…I lasted for 2 whole minutes this morning. Turn on the timer for the minute to start with and just focus on your breaths and try not to let your mind wander. (I’m a total squirrel with my thoughts-you don’t even want to know! 😉 ) The reason to do this at the beginning of the day is to start our day off with some stillness and a chance to just focus on you. During the day when you find yourself overwhelmed, you can also make this a practice of just sitting still and focusing on your breaths to help in the stress release.

Go and follow CrossFit Unstoppable on Facebook or Instagram; I’ll be posting one per day during the week (no wkds) for 21 days. Hopefully some of the things will resonate with you and some good will come out of it!

So back to motivation…I will definitely be motivated to get something pertinent written out before 9pm tomorrow! Hopefully sooner because it was a longggggg Monday-anyone else? What kept you going today? Yesterday I posted about things that could make your day better…did you get up earlier…meditate in some way…have a plan to win the day…move your body…journal about gratitude or your fitness/nutrition…do something new…help someone…Did you smile a little more? This morning at the 8:30 class I was in the mobility area stretching and Becky noticed that there was a smiley face sticker on the back of my shirt; came off of my water bottle. I did mention that part of my day was to smile more and I just wanted everyone else to share smiles as well…did you 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

I was motivated today by the athletes in that 8:30 class along with Coach Christine 🙂 Oh, and motivated by some numbers on the board. Today we had a ME (max effort) workout and it’s always hard to be the first group to do the workout so I was just chasing a couple people this morning and I happened to find a little bit more fuel to light a fire under my rear to reach that magic number. The members of the gym motivate me every day; to be the best possible person, coach and friend. I hope I do the same for them.

My family first and foremost motivate me because I want to be healthy and strong for them as I get up in the years. I’ve always said that I want to strong and fit enough to where I can take care of myself and won’t have to rely on others for assistance.

You motivate me…I may not know who is reading this stuff, but hopefully I’m putting out little bits and pieces of helpful information to help you even a little bit! I want to do what’s best for my family and the community as a whole. We need to be healthy and fit and if we work together and apply what we learn, we will be much better off!

So, take this and let it motivate you to be better than yesterday all week long! I’m rooting for you! Have a great week (and get some sleep! zzz)

Work Hard, Eat Clean, Be Blessed!

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8 Ways to Make Your Day

Wake up earlier-Even 15 minutes earlier can help you not feel so rushed! It will also help you prepare your mind, body and soul.


Meditate-Spend a little time being still. Learn how it’s best to calm yourself during times of stress.


Have a plan for the day-Focus on 3 main items to accomplish instead of 50; get them or do your best to finish those tasks before 9am! 


Get moving-Do a workout or go for a walk; if you’re waking up early then this would be a great way to knock this out! 


Journal-Write down things that you are grateful for or even keep a health and wellness journal logging your food and exercise! Writing things down can help you look back to all you’ve accomplished!


Break your patterns-Try something new! Try a new coffee shop or take a different route to work to enjoy new scenery. Changing it up keeps your mind stimulated and keeps you from getting into a rut!


Help Someone-Pay it forward…There’s always someone out there to help; doesn’t have to be monetary, make a difference and shine your light!


Smile a little more-Spread the Joy from within…wake up, dress up, and show up every day this week and make it a fantastic week! 


Try these out and see how much better you’ll feel at the end of the week! Have a great one! 


Work Hard, Eat Clean, Be Blessed!