2.  The personal trainers are looking at themselves in the mirror, instead of looking at their clients!

3.  The person at the front desk usually could be beat in an IQ test out by one of those kids on that 5^th grade TV show.

4. The locker room is in the back, so you have to walk down the elise on the way there.

5.  There is that one guy that comes in and grunts and yells before lifting a large amount on bench-press, and then he leaves!

6. There is one young lady that does obsessive amounts of cardio; we are talking like hours a day!

7. There is an old body builder that all of the guys want to look like when they are old, but they don’t look half that good and they are in there 20’s.

8. There is that guy(s) that is at the gym for like ¾ hours and you don’t even see them workout, but somehow they are huge???

9. There are women doing excessive legs exercises to “tone up”, only to build up those muscle and make their legs thicker!

10. Monday is International Bench Press Day!

At SGT Peterson’s, I can promise you will never see any of these.

1. Plan your meals in advance

Instead of fattening Sunday Funday, try ‘Sunday Food Day’ by spending the day in the kitchen prepping healthy meals for the rest of the week. How about a delicious batch of spicy turkey chili? Or better yet, how about a chili cook off with your family!

2. Plan your workouts for the week

Not just mentally, but actually write out a list and check it off as you go through the week and complete the workouts. Plan things that are realistic and that excite you. If you’re not a marathon runner, don’t plan to go on a 15 mile run. If you’re a people person, plan most of your workouts around group exercise such as BOOT CAMP!

3. Get out of your routine

Go join a friend for their workout one day. Change the time of day you workout. Just get out of auto-pilot! Besides, when you do the same workouts over and over your body actually adapts to the process and this can cause a plateau in your results. All the more reason to keep it fresh!

Thanks for joining in. As always, we’re here to help you progress and strive for continuous movement. Now get up out of that chair and do something!

-Francis and Lenea

Try this: Sit down with a pen and paper and number your paper 1 to 10. Then, think up 10 different activities that you ENJOY that require significant movement (so no, pressing the buttons on your TV remote does not count as significant movement here!). I’ll give you a few basic ideas to get your brain jogging, but then I want you to think of some specific ones tailored to your life. How about dancing, walking your dog, playing Wii with your friends or kids, getting your room organized, or walking on a treadmill to your favorite TV show?

As long as you enjoy what you’re doing while you’re active, you can trick your body into focusing on the activity at hand instead of fretting over the workout.

I hope you were at ease coming up with 10 fun things to keep you active, but just in case I’ll leave you with a list of more fun things to try. I know some of these may be slightly out of season, but spring is right around the corner (thank god!). Talk to your personal trainer about switching up your workout for something out of the ordinary that will get your heart racing.

• Go play pool (where are the best pool halls in Minneapolis?)
• Better yet, get in the pool! Try water polo, have a conversation with a friend while treading water, or make up your own games. Remind yourself what it’s like to be a kid again!
• Go bowling. Cosmic bowling is always a good time, too.
• Yoga/Pilates
• Canoeing, rowing or kayaking
• Plan a deep cleaning day (tips on how to turn spring cleaning into spring training here)
• Garden
• DANCE! Whether you’re at a concert, taking lessons, or in your living room.
• Rock climbing- remember, you can go indoors or outdoors (perhaps at Taylor’s Falls)
• Use a hula-hoop or pogo stick
• Golf (ditch the golf cart and walk it out) or mini golf
• Hike (carry a back pack to increase calorie burn)
• Horseback riding
• Winter sports: Ice skating, hockey, snow shoeing, skiing, snowboarding, snow tubing, sledding
• Try a different exercise DVD. If you usually do hardcore P90X workouts, try a dancing DVD. If you usually do yoga DVDs, try a Pilates DVD
• Join a kickball league (there are tons of these around the twin cities)
• Go shoot hoops. Maybe make a game of “lightning” (how do you play that?) or “horse” with your buddies
• Skip the snow blowing- grab some headphones and you Ipod and see how fast you can shovel the driveway
• Try a new sport- Perhaps badminton, lacrosse or racquetball
• Take advantage of one of Minnesota’s 10K lakes by rollerblading or biking around them (which one is the longest around?)
• Plain and simple-play catch
• Play outdoor games (night games from when you were a kid, like “Ghost in the Graveyard”)
• Ping pong (beer pong works, too, although you’ll probably drink back any calorie deficit you create)
• Have a blast while blasting calories at your local indoor trampoline park-you can even join a dodge-ball league!

Hopefully one of those fun activities sparks your interest and gets you moving on your slow days. Thanks for joining us. Come back next time for how to trick yourself into performing better while you’re working out.

You’ve all heard the tip of listening to good upbeat music while you work out to pump you up, but what about before your workout? I don’t know about you, but it seems like always I get a serious case of the yawns right before I work out (as if my body is trying to talk me out of the workout- ya right, nice try!). So I’ve created a special playlist to bump BEFORE my workouts to get my blood flowing before I even warm up! I recommend you do the same- try it and let me know how it works for you.

Remember the last time you went out and got some rockin’ new kicks to sport at the gym? Think about how excited you were to go try them out and show off those spiffy clean new shoes…nothing like new shoes, right? Or maybe if shoes aren’t really your thing, I’m sure there’s something out there that you could add to your workout wardrobe to get you amped to show it off at the gym. You can find some really excellent deals this time of year right after the holidays, so now is a great time to go hit up those clearance racks and get stoked about some new swag. Because when you look good, you feel good!

If all else fails- get literal. And by literal, I mean literally surround yourself with tools that will help you succeed. Keep some workout equipment on stock in your living room at all times. Never let yourself lounge on the couch before doing some dumbbell workouts or crunches on a stability or bosu ball. Just because you can’t meet with your personal trainer some days, doesn’t mean you can’t still make progress. Something that has worked for me is putting my treadmill in front of my TV, so that I jog or incline walk to my favorite TV series (what a great excuse to catch up on your favorite shows!). Heck, get ambitious by going the distance and catch a whole movie on the treadmill! If you’re really feeling like you need a slap in the face kind of motivation, then maybe you should just keep your treadmill/elliptical in your bedroom so you have to face it every day when you get out of bed-no excuses!

Now don’t wait for anyone to give you the thumbs up or a green light. Remember that you’re living on your time and this is your life. No one can make the changes for yourself except for you, so you might as well get going now. Even if it’s a slight change such as trying a morning workout instead of a night workout, it’s refreshing to keep not only your body on your toes but also your mind. Thanks for joining us…now go buy that new workout outfit or do some crunches in front of the TV!

What better way to start than with your friends? Do some homework by asking around to see who would be willing to get on board with you by signing up for something active. If you can’t find a friend who wants to sign up for personal training or boot camp with you, then maybe you could get in to kickboxing with Cardio Combatives here at SGT Peterson’s. Otherwise, try someone else’s hobby. What if you have a friend that likes to go indoor rock climbing or take swing dancing classes? Get out of your comfort zone- I bet it won’t kill ya!

At the end of the day, you still need to take care of yourself and you can only rely on a workout buddy so much. Help hold yourself accountable for your workouts with constant physical reminders. How about a checklist where you lay out your workout schedule at the beginning of the week and then you have to physically check off each box as your complete the workouts? If checklists don’t do it for you, try getting one of those giant desk calendars (you know, the ones you can’t escape from) to track your workouts. If you’re tech-savvy, you could program reminders in to your phone or tablet to help manage your workouts. Whatever your tool is- stay consistent and make it a habit!

Another trend that might just tickle your fancy is a vision board. If you aren’t already familiar with these, they’re basically a homemade collage of motivators you select (see: his & hers) on some sort of board that you see daily (try putting it on your mirror so you see it every morning and evening while brushing your teeth). You can put pictures of the 6-pack you’ve always dreamed of or that smokin’ bikini bod. I know TV’s toughest trainer Jillian Michaels would definitely make an appearance on my board! Think about what the first thing you would put on yours would be?

That’s all for now, but please come back next time for more on how to create an environment to keep you rocking steady towards a more fit and lean self. Thanks for joining us and have a great day!

5. You survived a year’s worth of Sgt. Peterson’s boot camps

No matter how many times you actually came, don’t downplay the hard work you put in to your workouts. Just look back at all the sweat you dripped and the toughness it took to push yourself to that point. Your trainer is proud of you, so why shouldn’t you be proud of yourself?

4. You did something that you were scared of that paid off in a good way

Look back…I’m sure you can think of something risky. Did you take that leap of love? Did you go on your first rollercoaster? What if you were a sushi-hater and you mustered up the guts to tried sushi and now you LOVE it? Maybe you’ve been procrastinating getting a physical and you finally went in and to see the doc and detected removable tumor that saved your life. Whether your test of faith was as simple as sushi or serious as a tumor, hopefully you were inspired to take more risks.

3. You learned XYZ…

We’re never too old to learn. Regardless of how wise you think you are (and you really are, right?), there were things in 2012 that you came to realize for the first time in your life. Just like we once thought the earth was the center of the universe, you may have once-earlier this year- “thought” that you could never run a 10K. Learning about yourself is one of the best things you can do to enrich the quality of life. If you don’t know yourself, how do you intend to please yourself?

2. You accomplished goals

So what if you didn’t get everything checked off your to-do list? Quit bullying yourself and take pride in what you did get done! Too many of us nit-pick at ourselves and get caught up on what we didn’t get done while leaving out the joy of celebrating what we did get done. Maybe you didn’t lose all 30 lbs that you wanted to (yet), but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t celebrate the 10 that you did lose!

1. You made it!

You’re alive! Hey, that in itself it’s worth celebrating. I’ll cheers to that!

Thanks for joining us and I hope you’re all enjoying the holiday break. Come back next time for the top 5 things you can improve on in 2013!

Allowing inspiration

There have been PLENTY of famous people in every sort of profession that have mastered the concept of using failure for fuel. If you need proof, just read about the following examples:

Who failed 6^th grade and was defeated in every public office role he ran for? Winston Churchill

Whose delicious & not-so-nutritious chicken was rejected by more than 1,000 restaurants? “Colonel” Harland Sanders of KFC

Who was rejected from their dream school three times? Steven Spielberg

Whose first contract with Columbia Pictures expired because the actress wasn’t pretty or talented enough? Marilyn Monroe

Who was perceived by family members and teachers as retarded and didn’t read until age seven? Albert Einstein

Who was booed off stage their first time on? Jerry Seinfeld

Which billionaire was fired from a television reporting job because she apparently wasn’t fit to be on screen? Oprah Winfrey

Who wishes they were alive today to reap the fruits of their labor? Vincent Van Gogh- he only sold one painting throughout his life and he sometimes starved in order to create his paintings.

Whose first book was rejected by 27 different publishers? Oh the places you will go, Mr. Seuss

Whose first auto company went out of business? Henry Ford

What first time author-to-become-a-billionaire was unemployed, divorced, and raising a child on social security while writing her first novel? J.K. Rowling, Author of Harry Potter

Which computer geeks dropped out of college never to obtain their degrees? Bill Gates and Steve Jobs

The list goes on, but I’m going to leave you to ponder these examples. The common trait that these successful people share is being able to take lemons and turn them in to lemonade. Aside from clichés, though- I’m sure these famous people all encountered their fair share of criticism and used it to better their quality of work instead of putting on their boo-hoo shoes and quitting. I suggest you do the same. Impress your personal trainer by coming back from an injury even stronger (Exhibit A: Adrian Peterson).

Criticism…as a compliment?

In the end, you might even end up thanking the person who provided you with criticism. Even if your critic doesn’t deliver feedback in the nicest way possible, they’re still doing you a favor by giving you a reality check that will help you tune yourself up.

One last analogy: Would you want to run your car around town if one of your tires was leaking air? Just as your tires need fine tuning to keep your car running at peak performance, so do you. You might not always realize on your own that your tire is leaking air. That’s why you need to allow the people in your life to point out any flat tires so you can figure out how to get your best personal mileage.

Happy holidays and thanks for joining us!

Hey there ladies & gents! I think it’s time I reminded you guys about getting up once you’ve been knocked down. We’ve all been smacked in the face (hopefully only metaphorically), but part of succeeding is inhaling criticism and exhaling improved behaviors. I’ve mentioned before that setbacks are no reason to quit, but this time we’re going to go more in depth about how to handle life’s lows and come back at the top of your game.

You’re not alone!

Although this doesn’t make everything better, keep in mind that EVERYONE around you has rotten potatoes on their plate to deal with, too. You may argue that you have it worse- and that may be true. But realistically, how is being a martyr going to help you get closer to your goals?

Picking up slack

When you get laid off or you lose someone that’s close to you, don’t be hard on yourself for slacking on your previously perfect boot camp attendance. Realize that the sooner you understand that you can’t always live up to your sky-high expectations, the sooner you will be able to forgive yourself for lost progress. Merely acknowledging that you have experienced a setback can act like gasoline on your fire… because when you take that simmering bed of coals that you’ve reduced yourself to during the hard times and douse it with gasoline as you get back on your feet, that fire can roar even more than it did before!

Accountability: It’s up to you

Although criticism may be cruel at times, it forces us to evaluate ourselves when we may have otherwise been a little bit too comfortable in our ways and thus unaware of our shortcomings. So even though criticism may come at you with sharp whiplash, try to be step back and analyze the big picture: the WHY.  There’s always a reason that someone would say these hurtful things to you. Every once in a while we come across unreasonable jacka$$es that are out to get us, but most of the time there is a solid reason for the criticism that you can better yourself with by realizing your imperfections and tackling them by being proactive, NOT defensive.

Be proactive: Starting NOW!

Start right now by thinking about the last time you got some negative feedback. Step aside from the situation by imagining the scenario as viewed by a third party, free of anger and emotional engagement. Then brainstorm all of the possible reasons your critic sent you feedback. For any of the possible reasons that provide an opportunity improvement on your part, strive for that change and come out of the situation on top. As Steven Covey, author of 7 Habits of Highly Effective People said, “Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply.”

Thanks for joining us and please come back next time to see which famous people have failed and how they came out winners. Happy holidays!

Sled like Santa

When was the last time you dug those old sleds out of the garage and hiked up the local hill? Take yourself sledding this holiday season and bust a move uphill- I’m sure the kiddies won’t mind the company. See how fast you really are by racing those hyper little kids by running UP the hill instead of sledding down. Last one up the hill has to carry the winner to the top of the hill in their sled!

Dasher through your shopping

Tis the season…to shape up at the mall? That’s right! While scouting the mall for gifts, walk some extra laps around the mall and make sure you take the stairs instead of the escalator! By carrying the extra weight around, your calorie burn will be increased. Just make sure not to undo the calorie deficit you created at the food court.

Donner about a game

Put a twist on the old tradition of playing board games with the family by coming up with your own. Create something inspired by your favorite games like ‘Simon Says,’ by making up a game that has commands that make people get up & move. If your family lives on the wild side and likes to gamble, wager up push-ups and burpees instead of poker chips.

Rave like Rudolph

Okay, so maybe Rudolph wasn’t exactly known for raving (didn’t it have something to do with a red nose??). But, that doesn’t mean that you can’t take traditional holiday carols a notch up by adding to the tradition with dance moves! You may not have the coordinated advantage of having 4 legs like a reindeer, but I bet you can get red nosed enough just from hopping around to Mariah’s “All I Want For Christmas is You”

Whatever you do, just keep moving (because if you don’t move, you get fat)! Just because you’re away from home visiting your beloved in-laws (or not so beloved) this holiday season, doesn’t mean you can’t improvise & break a sweat. Remember, gym shoes are portable and there’s no excuse not to keep moving. You never know who you might inspire to join you in your continuous movement.