Have you ever thought to yourself, “If I can just find the right gym, I’d be able to get in shape, lose weight and start having more energy.”

Or something like, “If I could just find the right diet, I’d lose weight and get back into shape.”

Sound familiar?

You’re most definitely not wrong if you’ve ever thought either or both of those things.

There’s one thing that you’re overlooking though.

There’s one thing that almost everyone overlooks.

The irony is that the thing that almost everyone overlooks is the thing that most people need the most!

What is that ‘thing’ I speak of?

Support and accountability.

In the 10 years that I’ve owned a gym, working with well over 1,000 people, support and accountability are THE things that most people are missing.

You can get a diet and workouts off of the internet in the next 60 seconds.

They aren’t hard to find.

Legitimate support and accountability from someone (or group of people) who genuinely care and want the best for you are a bit harder to find.  Not impossible to find, but most definitely harder to find than a diet or workout plan.

The fact that so many people are missing this piece is the reason we exist.

We are here to hold our clients accountable, cheer then on, be honest with them and ultimately ensure that they hit the goals they’ve set out for themselves!

Do you have someone or a group of people in your life that’ll hold your feet to the fire when you need it most?

Do you have someone who will be your cheerleader when you need it most?

Do you have someone who will hold you the a high standard?

If so, you’re 90% of the way there!

If not, find that person or group of people.

Not people who will look the other way when you need a boot up the backside!  People who will hold you to a high standard even when it doesn’t feel good from your end.

Can you succeed without a crew of people that genuinely care about your success?  Sure!  But the chances are much lower.

Ever stronger!

Coach Levi

A couple of days ago I shared the worst type of exercise for weight loss: long, slow cardio.  You know the type.  Running, cycling, rowing, elliptical, etc…

Is it better than nothing?  Absolutely.

Is it optimal for weight loss?  Absolutely not.

So what’s the best type of exercise for weight loss?  Strength training…and there’s not really a close second.  

First, ‘strength training’ can sound intimidating to some people, especially if they’ve never done strength training.  

For some, it sounds hard metal music and meat heads dropping 600# deadlifts.  That’s one form of strength training but not the type we do at ITS.

Strength training is any type of training that uses resistance to improve muscular strength.   That’s it.  

That resistance could be your body weight, resistance bands, dumbbells, kettlebells, plates, barbells, etc…

The training itself doesn’t have to be heavy to develop strength.  It could be a bodyweight squat or a body weight lunge.  You don’t even have to touch weights necessarily to partake in strength training.

So why is strength training so good for weight loss?  

1. Strength training burns calories.  Genius right?!   But weight loss ultimately comes down to calories in/calories out.
2. Strength training can build muscle.  THE biggest determinant of your rest metabolic rate, or metabolism as we call it, is how much muscle you have.  The more muscle you have, the higher your metabolism, the more fat you burn at rest (a.k.a. not working out)
3. If your strength training is set up correctly, it improves joint health.  If your joints feel like death, you’re much less likely to exercise consistently.  When they feel good, you’ll naturally workout more consistently AND be more active in your day to day life.  
4. It improves insulin sensitivity.  Fat synthesis and fat burning are very sensitive to changes in the amount of insulin released in response to eating carbohydrate foods.  Since strength training improves insulin sensitivity, less insulin needs to be released to respond to ingestion of carbohydrates. 
5. Strength training, if set up properly, improves balance.  The better your balance, the more likely you are to be active.
6. Strength training improves confidence.  This might be the most underrated benefit of strength training.  I see it daily at ITS.  As a person’s strength increases, you can see their confidence increase with it. 
7. Strength training improves flexibility/mobility.   This goes hand in hand with joint health.  The better your flexibility/mobility, the better your joint health will be.  Not only that but when you have poor flexibility/mobility, many physical tasks are more difficult, causing you to be less active.  

I could probably think of a few more but you get the idea.  

If you want to lose weight, strength training is your jam.  

Remember, that doesn’t necessarily mean lifting super heavy weights or lifting weights until you can’t walk the next day.  If you do intelligent strength training you’ll improve so many different physical qualities.

Ever stronger!

Coach Levi

For you to have long term success in your health/weight loss journey, food CANNOT be the adversary.

It absolutely cannot be you vs. food.

There is no “good” or “bad” food.  There’s just food.

Sure, some food has more micro-nutrients (vitamins and minerals) than others.

Some food has more calories than others.

If you eat too many calories, you’ll gain weight regardless of what foods you choose.

The relationship that you have with all types of food will largely determine your long term success in losing weight and improving your overall health.

Having an all or nothing mentally in regard to food type almost always leads to bingeing and yo-yo dieting.

Your diet will not be perfect, nor should it be.

You should enjoy lots of protein/fiber/nutrient dense foods.

You should also enjoy a few not so protein/fiber/nutrient dense foods.

Moderate and play the long game.

It’s the only way to sustain success long term.

Ever stronger!

Coach Levi

p.s.  One of the major goals of our upcoming Sprint to Summer Challenge is to teach our clients how to enjoy both types of food, while losing weight with no guilt whatsoever.

In my last blog I mentioned that the #1 indicator of success or failure in weight loss was the number of times a person has tried and failed to lose weight.
Statically, the more times they’ve tried and failed, the more likely they are fail again.
You can read more about that HERE.
So why do people fail?  Why do they succeed?
I’ve been in the fitness game for a while now and I can boil it down to two things.

Choosing a Sustainable Approach
Way too many people go all out in the beginning.  They cut out every food and drink that they love.  They workout 7 days a week.  They drop their calorie intake way too low.
You’ve probably done it.  Heck I’ve even done it.
But it’s not sustainable.  You can’t live like that forever.  Biology is not in your favor in the above scenario.
Instead, take a more moderate, long term approach.  We tell our clients daily to play the long game.
Cut your alcohol intake in half.  Say no to the second helping.  Cut your deserts in half.  Start a reasonable, progressive exercise plan 3-4 times per week.
THAT’S sustainable.  You can live like that for the rest of your life.
Sure you’ll have your ups and downs, but they’ll looking like rolling hills instead of Mount Everest followed by Death Valley.

Build/Find an Army
Humans are heard animals.  We do best when we are surrounded by others.
Covid-19 has brought this to light.  Even introverted people need the love, support and company of others.
For fitness/weight loss specifically, people do best when they are surrounded by people who are on the same or a similar journey.
Look, weight loss isn’t going to be easy no matter how you slice it.
It’s going to be MUCH easier though when you have others around you, cheering you on, holding you accountable and fighting the same battles you’re fighting.
Find a group of friends to walking with every morning.
Find a group that will commit to going to the gym with you three days per week.
Come join ITS   (see what I did there)
You could do it alone, but is much more difficult.
If you don’t nothing else, do these two things.
Pick a sustainable approach and build or find a community of people who will love on you while also holding you to a high standard.

Ever stronger!

Coach Levi

Statistically the number one indicator of success of your current attempt to lose weight (or your next attempt to lose weight if you aren’t currently trying) is how many times you tried and failed in the past.

The more times you’ve attempted and failed to lose weight in the past, the more likely you are to fail this time.

And if you fail this time, guess what?   You’re more likely to fail next time.

The more you quit on yourself, the more you quit on yourself

Stripping all emotions away, that’s what the statistics say.

That all sounds negative on surface but it also serves as a very valuable nugget of information to you, to me and to everyone else trying to lose weight.

DO. NOT. QUIT.

Will you have bad days?  Yes.

Will you have bad weeks or even months?  Of course!

Will you have 1,000 miniature failures on your way to your goal weight?  Absolutely!

But the only way that you can ‘fail’ is if you throw your hands up and fully quit.   Literally that’s the only way that you can screw this up.

Take the highs and lows in stride and keeping moving forward.

You’re never out of the fight!!

Never, ever, EVER quit.

You got this!

Coach Levi

1. Achieving sustainable weight/fat loss takes time.
   You COULD lose it really fast, but it won’t be nearly as sustainable as if you lose it 1-2 pounds per week.  Some weeks you won’t lose any.  Some weeks you may actually go up!  Be patient and enjoy the journey.  The habits that you develop while losing slowly will serve you well in KEEPING the weight off.
2. You have time.
   Sure, you may want to lose 20 pounds by April for a wedding that you will be attending…or something similar.  There’s nothing wrong with a short sprint to lose weight a little more quickly for a short time.  Ultimately though, you need to play the long game.  You have time.  And those events for which you want to look really good will keep coming.  If you play the long game and be consistent, you’ll be looking awesome by the time the next one comes around.  YOU HAVE TIME.
3. Drink lots of water.
   So…not super closely related to the two above, but we see so many people who are dehydrated.  Dehydration is the number one cause daytime fatigue.  When most people get tired/fatigued, they typically don’t eat foods that align with their goals.  Salting your food along with adequate hydration will help with energy levels throughout the day as well as workouts.  If you’re blood pressure is sensitive to salt (this is around 10% of the population), you’ll obviously need to be a little more careful with the amount of salt you take in.

Pull-ups are HARD.

So hard, in fact, that the vast majority of American adults can’t do a strict body weight pull-up.

It’s not surprise then that the majority of our clients can’t do a body weight pull-up either.  Many of them are well on their way though.

In this video we show 4 different pull-up variations that we use here at ITS.  Two of them are for ANY fitness level while the other two are somewhere in between beginner and advanced.

Give these a try!

Most of our clients are surprised when I tell them 1 pound of weight loss per week is the PERFECT pace.

Of course, most of us want weight loss to be way faster than 1 pound per week.

But think about it.  If you AVERAGE 1 pound per week for the next year, you’ve had a REALLY good year…assuming you have 50+ pounds to lose.

Will you have weeks where you lose more?  Of course!

You’ll also have weeks where you don’t lose any.  Heck, you’ll have weeks where you do EVERYTHING correctly and you gain weight.  That’s just the weight loss game.  It’s up and down.  It’s not linear.

So why is 1 pound per week the perfect pace?  Why not more?

First, weight regain statistics are staggering.  95% of people who lose weight will put it ALL back on in 3 years.

This is largely do to HOW people lose it.  If you lose weight super fast, the habits that caused you to lose that weight super fast are not sustainable.  Crash dieting, starving yourself, 1,200 calorie workouts, etc…  So the habits that you develop during fast weight loss do you no good (and honestly do harm) long term.  If you lose weight more slowly, the habits that allow that slow weight loss will also help you keep it off.  Moderation, sensible dieting, sensible workout plan, etc…

Second, losing weight super fast creates a drastic metabolic slow down.  This means you burn way fewer calories day to day.  Guess what happens when you burn way fewer calories day to day AND go off the rails with nutrition?  You guessed it.  More rapid weight regain.  If you lose weight more slowly, the metabolic slow down is minimized, allowing you to fudge here that there and not regain nearly as much weight.

Third, it’s DOABLE.  Two, three, four pounds per week isn’t always doable no matter how much you starve yourself (which we DON’T want to do by the way).  It doesn’t sound like much but like I said, averaging one pound a week for six months or a year adds up quickly!!

Ever stronger!

Coach Levi

Of all of the flexibility/mobility work we do at ITS, this may be the most important.  As a matter of fact, it’s among the most important things we do at ITS, period.  We see so many people with tight quads and hip flexors causing low back tightness, hip pain, knee pain and the list goes on.

Do yourself a favor and do this stretch every single day!

https://www.intensitytrainingsystems.com/2017/06/07/1946/

Statistically, the most dangerous thing you do each day is get in and out of the shower.  Why?  Because so many people fall getting in and out of the shower.  Add to that the fact that after the age of 55 you’re more likely to outlive cancer than you are to outlive falling and breaking a bone or a joint (in a five year window) and we officially have a bad combination.

Falling is clearly a bad thing which would lead us to believe (or know for fact;) that getting up is a really, really good thing.

Before I go on, if there are any fitness purists reading this…chill out.  This is NOT a Turkish Get-up.  This is survival.

Anyway, we use get-ups on a weekly basis with our clients not only because it will likely increase their time on this earth but also because it can be a sneaky hard workout if done correctly.

Try 5-10 minutes straight or 100-200 get-ups for time.

Enjoy!

Get-ups from Levi Memmer on Vimeo.