All About Nutrition

Hi Everyone,

It’s been awhile since I posted anything and part of that was because we were designing a new website. Feel free to explore, but just know a lot of it is still under construction. Also, be sure to like us on FACEBOOK (you will see the link on the homepage).

I want to share something with ya’ll that has been weighing heavily on my heart and mind for a few weeks now. Since I have gotten back into more classes and working with more private clients I keep hearing this recurring theme from many people of frustration over their results. I am either hearing really good things or total frustration and it all comes down to one thing: NUTRITION!!!

There are well over 100 active A Cut Above Fitness clients and the ones who are seeing results (as far as weight loss or body-fat) are the ones who pay attention and prioritize their nutrition weekly and daily. Time and time again those who make their nutrition a priority see results EVERYTIME! It never fails…

Sometimes the results are delayed a week or two based on seeing changes on the scale or on the body-fat machine, but they always happen for those who food journal consistently. Doing a food journal is not required to see results, but I can tell you that if you have a weight loss goal or a body-fat reduction goal, your chances for success go up a great deal! Even if you don’t turn it in to your coach, just the fact of really truly knowing what is going in each day will be an eye opener.

I have so many people say, “I eat good, I don’t need to journal“… and then we then they do this for a week or two they are always amazed at what they see. Sometimes it’s not the calories, but rather a deficiency in protein each day  or they will see the majority of their calories late in the day (when it should be earlier in the day). Or, even though they are good fats, far too many fat grams daily.

If I have had this conversation with you recently, please don’t think I calling you out, but I have heard it many times recently and almost every-time my response is let’s do a food journal. BUT, the reality is it takes time, it takes dedication which means it must be a priority!

All of this boils down to this, What is your Motivation? Are your goals important enough to you to do this? I know life is busy, I know we all have crazy schedule and I know that many times you can’t eat perfect or food journal… BUT… if you do it 90% of the time and have it be at or near the top of your priorities  then 90% is all you need.

If you are still reading this, I want you to challenge yourself as I am challenging you right now as your COACH… Stop making excuses because if it is important enough to you, you will find a way… if it’s not, you will find an excuse.

I don’t want to hear anymore excuses, if you are not happy with your results then take my challenge and prove me wrong… Almost every one of you do great with your workouts, you show up, you work hard and you invest your time, energy and finances with us at ACAF… Don’t waste all that by becoming lazy when you leave us.

I say this will all the compassion and understanding and I know many of you don’t even have a weight loss goal, but, for many of you I sincerely hope this is a wake-up call to kick you in the pants and get you going.

Warmer weather is just around the corner and wouldn’t you like to be able to show off your new body at the pool or beach the next time you go? No more cover-ups and no more guys wearing sleeveless shirts with their shorts because arms look good but mid-section is lagging behind due to nutrition.Let’s kick some butt and take some names ya’ll!

Each and every one of you are important and greatly valued here and within our company, so do your best, become your best and please know I (and your coaches) are here for you with whatever help you need.

If you have thoughts, please share them here for some open discussion.

Your Coach

Jeremy

Track Workout

If you have known me very long you know I always talk about this concept I call “Fun to Fail”. How you should take joy in the idea of failing every time you workout. It means that every time you exercise you should push yourself to do something that causes you to fall just a bit short. For example: trying to do 12 reps with a weight that you normally can only get 10 reps. Or doing every push-up on your toes in class when you normally only do one or two from your toes then go to your knees.

I’ve written a blog about this before, so I won’t go any further than that. You can read that previous blog here Failure is Fun Blog  if you want more info on “how to fail”…  And have fun with it of course.

So I have been wanting to come up with a new workout that included the track and a Kettlebell, my introduction to the blog above is my warm-up for the picture you see below… I sure did have a lot of fun this past Friday – FAILING!

 

Humbled at the Track
Me + Kettlebell + Track = "Humble Pie"

Yep… That’s me last Friday over at the track behind Peachtree City Elementary. A guy was over there flying some model airplane and asked me, “Why are you doing this?” and I said… It’s fun man! He thought that was hilarious so he took a picture of the end result of the “fun” workout.

I’m sharing this with you today so that you: #1 know that I practice what I preach (I fail a lot)… but more importantly #2 is that I TRY. I fail or come up short a lot, but I never stop taking my shots.

I want to encourage you, wherever you are right now… Take your shot at fitness! If you have tried and failed with a weight loss program, don’t let that stop you. Try again, and again and again until you get it! This thing is a journey friend and it’s the failures that get us closer to success.

Brush off that failure, take your next shot at fitness and health/weight loss. You know what… I have a pretty good place you can have some fun. It’s called A Cut Above Fitness 🙂

If you are reading this and you’re not a current client, I want to offer you a one hour private session with me (I promise we won’t go to the track and do that workout) this is an $80 value to discuss some of the new exciting programs being offered withing our company. Here is a short list (but I can’t reveal everything just yet):

  1. Newly designed Boot Camp that includes Kettlebell training, traditional training and competition style workouts.
  2. New Kettlebell classes being offered (including some at our Studio inside Better Bodies Fitness) and a couple of classes that just opened up slots after some sell out months.
  3. A brand new, never done before in all of Fayette County model of training that is gonna be really really special (can’t give any more info until later, or when we meet)

Obviously we have been making some serious changes within our company and I would love to have you discuss those with me, it’s free and there isn’t any obligation.

Take your next shot, have some fun at failing and email me to reserve one of the few available spots I have left. I promise you won’t regret it. jeremy@grittonstraining.com

 

Your Coach

Jeremy Gritton

P.S.

Did you know we are offering several free classes coming up this month? Some for Boot Camp and some for Kettlebell, each one is a $25 value so you need to email me before those spots are gone as well.

 

Turkey Buster Success

100+ People at 2011 Turkey Buster

It always amazes me how generous everyone is in our Fayette and Coweta community. Each time I ask for people to support a worthy cause I am so humbled to see the huge response. The true character of our counties come through with flying colors. I have the privilege to love in one and work in the other county and I can honestly say, there is no better place on earth to live (except for perhaps Kentucky). If you don’t know, I bleed Kentucky blue 🙂

This is our third charity event and I  must admit the best one to date, thanks to everyone who supported the cause. I can hardly wait to deliver all those canned goods to Fayette Samaritan.

I know I speak for everyone from A Cut Above Fitness when I tell you, we had an absolute blast. I’m already thinking about next year and looking forward to needing a new spot since we just about filled up the World Gym parking lot.

As I was reflecting on the event I have to admit I was so moved by the generosity seen and the overall enthusiasm it reminded me of how lucky and how thankful I am to have such amazing clients (and hopefully soon to be clients).  I love our A Cut Above family and the positive energy of every single member.

Thank you again to everyone who came and either worked out or made a donation. We helped so many people less fortunate and for that I am so appreciative.

If you were visiting and want to find out more about A Cut Above Fitness, don’t forget to call Shelly in our office (678) 364-6800 to book your FREE private consultation (that is a $80 value). The deadline for that offer is Friday December 2nd. As I shared yesterday morning, we offer a little bit of everything to help people reach and then exceed their goals. I am personally giving you an hour of my time to discuss if and what program would be best for you. If you think you can’t afford high quality personal training, I encourage you to explore the options because you don’t know what you don’t know. PLUS, the consultation has no obligation. I’ll be honest if we are not a good fit for your goals. Just please hurry and call Shelly before it’s too late (678) 364-6800.

Thank you again to everyone involved and I hope each of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day (and took my advice on the food control).

All the Best

Your Coach

Jeremy Gritton

 

P.S.

Even if you weren’t there and you want to find out about A Cut Above Personal Training then feel free to call Shelly in our home office (678) 364-6800.

enemyatthegate

You have enemies all over the place when it comes to health and fitness goals. From the marketing multi-million dollar businesses who tell you to buy this food because it has the “flavor of the month” nutrient in it. From friends and family who just can’t seem to except us saying no to a huge piece of dessert or that extra helping of potatoes. Everywhere you turn there is an enemy lurking to derail your attempts at achieving your ideal health and fitness lifestyle.

But the worst enemy, the one that is slamming into your gates with one of those battering rams is actually YOU. Nothing is more deadly than your own mind saying its okay not to reach your goals, its okay to start over again when the timing is right. The mind is a powerful thing ya’ll, it can either be your strongest asset or your strongest ENEMY.

Over the past few years I have heard every reason in the world for someone not to pour themselves into healthy choices, heck I have made them myself saying things such as “Vacation is too hard to eat Healthy“, or “Since I’m blowing my diet, I might as well REALLY BLOW IT“… There is always Monday to start over. Either of those sound familiar?

I firmly believe that often times it is simply fear, fear of what life would be like if you didn’t have TOO MANY drinks with friends or you don’t turn to food every time something emotional comes up. FEAR of what life might be like as a different person, maybe you don’t even know what you want to achieve and there is fear of this unknown YOU.

Here’s the thing though, that enemy is human nature and that enemy of fear and self-doubt is going to bang on your door forever. You can not let fear of what might be, fear of crashing off your new healthy lifestyle stop you from beginning every day with the right attitude, you’ve got to get back in there and fight for the healthier life you deserve. Self-doubt, the enemy ramming into your goals, is just waiting for someone to tell you “You can’t live like this can you?” You gotta eat right? You can not and you will not win against the daily battle of fear and temptations unless you decide to dig in, invest yourself in the right support group and every time the enemy makes a dent in your fortress of results and happiness you got to slap that fool back down and begin again. Go on the aggressive and never ever stop trying to strengthen your mind against thoughts of failure and demise or your hopes and dreams.

Here is the million dollar secret… Share your goals! If you have a weight loss goal, tell your friends and tell them you need their support (as opposed to them ramming you with that tree trunk) tell your colleagues and your coaches. Support groups, and more precisely “Accountability Partners” are more powerful than any fad diet, any dvd workouts, and any membership to the greatest online nutritional coaching program ever designed. It’s gotta be someone who actually cares if you reach your goal… Even the greatest people in our nation’s history had support groups to hold their feet to the fire, our most acclaimed athletes had a coach or trainer to push them when the enemy came knocking.

There is a reason trainers and coaches help transform peoples lives, its because we all need someone to look us in the eyes and know if we are full of it or not. Look yourself in the mirror and tell yourself you can and will do it. Even if you don’t believe it right now, do it anyways. If you tell yourself something enough times it will become truth and then become a reality. Start talking friend, and don’t ever let yourself give in to the enemy banging on your gate. It’s just you 🙂

The enemy is coming knocking so make sure you have the right bullets to fire back… Lets call those bullets… Kettlebells, Boot Camp and Fitness Camp. Not sure where to begin? Call our office and we can set you up with a FREE consultation to help determine which bullet is needed to defeat the enemy at the gate. (678) 364-6800

If you are currently a client how about putting yourself out on the line.. Post a goal you might have to the entire A Cut Above Fitness family. Nothing motivates more than exposing yourself to a large group. See my goal below.

 

Your Coach

Jeremy Gritton

P.S.

How about this to “lead by example”… Here is my goal that I have been afraid of… Telling people of one of my goals. I am going to run a marathon this November and I want to set a PR (personal record for anyone not familiar with this slang) of 3:30 or less. Now its out there and I have all of you to hold my feet to the fire 🙂

Failure is Fun

Have you ever thought about failing as a fun activity? I want to share with you an idea I have that is BIG, really big actually. This is some powerful stuff that you might need to bookmark and come back to when your mind is right and you have more time to read it all.

Here is the BIG idea: You have to make Failure FUN! If you are a Type A personality, like myself, that concept is hard to swallow. I will tell you I struggled with that idea for years, but once I got it I began to see how powerful and life changing it can be.

If you don’t know my story or background, I was a high school and college basketball player and had some pretty good success for the level of competition I competed in. I was fortunate enough to win 2 State Championships in High School and  a National Championship in College along with a few personal accomplishments that I won’t bore you with.

Throughout my 4 high school and 4 college years I was the starting point guard for all 8 of those fun filled years and had the great fortune to play on some really good teams where we had some big moments in some big environments and often times games were decided by 1 or 2 points. That meant the opportunity to take the final shot presented itself to me on numerous occasions, while I can not pretend to say that I made all of those shots I did make a few that I will never forget. But… none of those made shots would have been possible if I was afraid to fail, or if the failure was not somehow FUN.  I never ever thought that a missed shot or losing a game for my team was the end, I always thought about the long term and how it could be translated into a better performance the next time.

The same concept is what must happen with your exercise plan. Fail at every strength workout, fail at every cardio workout and love every second of it. If you have a workout plan and you use the same weights and the same reps and the same machines then you might feel pretty good about yourself because you can complete all three sets of 10 with the same weight each time you workout. Sound familiar? It should because I know I hear it all the time from clients before they begin in Kettlebell or Fit/Boot Camps.

I want to challenge you to, not enjoy using the same weights and reps. Don’t do the same cardio workout every time, your goal should be to hit what is called MMF (Momentary Muscular Fatigue) on every workout. Momentary fatigue basically means you hit a point where there is no way you could do another possible rep with good form. You have FAILED!! Sounds like fun doesn’t it?

You have taken your body to the limit and failed… Now that might make you feel like a disappointment, but I am here to tell you it shouldn’t. You should be on cloud nine, because if you apply that principle consistently over time you will start to see changes in your body with more lean muscle, more confidence more strength and changes to your body you ever thought possible! But only if you see the fun in the failure. If you feel disappointed or defeated at first, that is okay it just means you have really pushed yourself to the limit.

The next time you hit the gym for your workout keep in mind this mentality and don’t drop to a lighter weight or push out those few extra reps that make the difference.

Your next cardio workout, do something different… Pick a new machine or exercise or try higher speeds and or new levels. This forces your body to adapt and improve before your next workout. It takes some mental strength, but once you start to see the progress and changes it becomes addicting.

Be a FAILURE and have a blast doing so, its the only way to do it in my book.

What I’m talking about here is a total mental challenge, your mind is an amazing thing and when you let it control your workouts you will never reach your full potential. The mind wants to find an easier way to do something and the body is crying out…this is to hard! Don’t listen (except in the case of safety of course) push through that little noise in your head saying its too hard. Tell yourself you are going to keep going and you are going to force yourself not to ring that bell… Simply meaning, don’t do like those people in Navy Seal training trying to complete the Hell Week program who when they quit must ring a bell in the public square to signify I quit and want to leave. Don’t ring that bell, keep pushing yourself on to bigger and better things (or thinner and leaner I should say).Those final few reps after your mind has said, Go Ring the Bell, those are the ones that make all the difference. Challenge yourself and find out what you are truly capable of.

If you have been off for awhile or you have been working out but your going trough the motions, it is my sincere hope that you find that extra push, that mental strength to get back in there and keep moving forward. Failure is simply an opportunity to do something better the next time, put your head down and get back to work! Life is to short to have regrets of wondering if you could have done or been more.

Your Coach

Jeremy

P.S.

If you follow this plan, if you truly push to MMF you have got to be fueling your body with the right nutrients to recover your body for the next Fun Failure. Visit my website and check out Catalyst… This amino acid, calorie free protein supplement is exactly what your body needs to recover, regroup and help you hit it even harder your next time. Advocare Website Once your on the site you can search for Catalyst in the top left corner. If you have questions about it, see the product page for a full report of who should be taking it and why.

Discipline is the BRIDGE

Several of you have already gotten this info, but just in case I wanted to share with you our “rally” cry or theme for this month.

I wish I could take credit for the powerful concept I am about to share, but it is from the late and great Jim Rohn. Here is something I read in one of his recent newsletters:

“Discipline is the Bridge Between Goals and Accomplishment”

We must all suffer from one of two pains: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. The difference is discipline weighs ounces while regret weighs tons.

This concept reminds me of a time in my life where I set a goal, but didn’t have the necessary discipline to make it an accomplishment:

Let me take you back: I was a junior at Atlanta Christian College and we had just won the National Championship for our level of college basketball. It was the highest of highs and it was the accomplishment of a goal I had set along with the other team captains from the end of the previous year. We set this goal and then each of us had the discipline to get to the gym every single day and shoot a minimum of 500 shots per day and at least 20 minutes of fundamental drill work each day. We had the discipline and it paid off.

The following year we had almost the entire team back and were now a year older. We set the same exact goal of winning and now repeating as national champions. But there was one major difference… the discipline wasn’t the same for me. I had the same goal, but I didn’t have the same discipline and it showed. We ended up losing in the finals of our regional tournament and our dream, our goal was over. The difference was discipline and now (to this very day) I have so much regret… Just like Jim Rohn states… It weighs a ton. I let myself down, my teammates, my coaches and my university. I still wish to this day I could go back and change it.

Now, why the heck am I telling you this story? I am telling you this to make a point about how setting a goal is great and it is the first step in reaching that specific goal otherwise you don’t even know what you’re working towards. BUT, a great goal without discipline is worthless!

Our theme for the rest of March is… “No Regrets“. When April starts I want each of you to look back and say, you had discipline in all areas of your health and fitness.

Complete all your group workouts in boot camp or kettlebell, complete all your cardio assignments and perhaps even more importantly… Make good food choices! Don’t be naive and think that just because you are doing the first two you have earned the right to eat poorly. One let down affects all the other areas my friend.

Put your head down and at the end of the month lets look up and see what you have accomplished. NO regrets!

Your Coach

Jeremy

P.S.

Boot Campers

Remember, next week is the Bring a Friend week. The following Monday we begin the $500 Beach Body Challenge. If you have someone join the program then you automatically get upgraded in boot camp (a $150 value).