Even for those who go to the West Chester Health Club, bad habits are hard to break and good habits are generally ignored. Fortunately, there is a way to use a good habit—exercise—to replace several old ones. Trading one life improving good habit for many of your old sounds good, now, doesn’t it?

Balancing Life With Exercise

Experts agree that the most effective way we as humans can change bad habits is to replace or override them with a good habit. In fact, without replacing a bad habit with a good one, a void is left where bad habits tend to creep back in.

Exercise at the West Chester Health Club is the ideal replacement for many bad habits because it not only acts as its own reward system but it also takes the emphasis away from more harmful habits. The time you spend exercising takes time and attention away from bad habits and by default decreases them without consciously trying; let’s take a look at a few examples:

• By scheduling time for exercise at your West Chester Health Club, you are making a priority of you. This gives you time to reflect and de-stress as you improve overall health and ultimately self-image.
• Exercise naturally helps control blood chemicals and hormones, which results in better mood and appetite control, along with lending numerous health benefits.
• The time spent exercising is time that is not spent overindulging in food, sitting and being inactive, or taking part in a harmful bad habit like smoking. (Incidentally, studies have shown that just five minutes of exercise can decrease cravings and nicotine withdrawal symptoms).
• Regular exercise requires self-discipline; self-discipline in anything generalizes and translates into increased self-discipline in another.
• Exercise works as a refocusing agent; rather than dwell on your yearning to fall back into that bad habit, you become distracted by your exercise efforts.
• Exercise is both its own reward and an effort worth rewarding. Humans thrive on rewards and positive reinforcement, so the rewards of exercise and the subsequent allowable rewards further promote the demise of bad habits.
• Exercise at your West Chester Health Club makes you feel better all around. Very simply, when you feel better you are more prepared to face difficult tasks (like breaking bad habits).

Enlisting Help

As mentioned, bad habits do not break easily; enlisting the support of friends and professionals, and pairing that with regular sessions at a gym can be of great help. The West Chester Health Club environment is social (if you want it to be) and active. The atmosphere of like-minded success, particularly when paired with the attention and support of a personal trainer and/or exercise buddy, increases your chances of keeping the exercise habit and using it as a healthy, effective alternative to the bad habits you’ve longed to replace. And when it comes to a task as paramount as staying motivated to break bad habits, you can always use all the help you can get.

Premier Personal Training with Dennis Carroll is located in West Chester, PA and serves clients in West Chester, Downingtown and Exton. Every client at Premier receives the individual training needed to successfully reach their goals. All programs come with a 100% money back guarantee, so why not get started today? Don’t hesitate! Sign up for a Free Consult now!

We all do it.  In one way or another, we sabotage ourselves.  Some of us in relationships (that was a big one for me). Some of us sabotage ourselves financially, while others sabotage their physical health.

The cause of this strange phenomena has been studied and debated exhaustively. Sabotaging your own success has very little to do with your intelligence level. What it does have to do with is your belief system. You are where you are in life, right now, because that is where you BELIEVE you deserve to be.

You may think that last statement is bull. You may be very unhappy with your current situation. But  may I ask, how is it that you are where you are? Who got you here? The answer lies in your belief system. If you have tried something in the past and failed at it repeatedly, it is because subconsciously, you believed you would fail before you even started. If you keep getting the same result, you only reinforce the ‘fail before you try’ attitude.

So here is the good news. You, can succeed. “How?”, you may be asking. The first step is to recognize that you are sabotaging. Recognize, you are responsible for your failures as well as your successes. And begin to shift your mindset. Begin to focus more and more on your successes (everyone is good at something!).  Start building your confidence by realizing that if you can succeed in one area of your life, then you can succeed in all others as well. If you believe that God created you, then you must also believe that He gave you everything you need to be successful in life.

Set specific goals and start taking baby steps towards them. Focus on the steps to the goal, not the goal itself. It is the steps to the goal that will ultimately lead you to succeed.

When you have overcome the things in life that have stopped you repeatedly in the past, your whole world will change for the better. The rewards are so great that I can’t possibly surmise them here.  Believe that God created you to succeed and you will.

Recommended reading; Psycho-Cybernetics, Maxweel Maltz,M.D. (1960) Get the original version

When I was young (along time ago), Arnold Swarzenegger’s pictures where plastered all over my bedroom walls. I was amazed and inspired by his physique. I read his books. I went to all his films. I followed his successes. No one else had eight Mr. Olympia titles.  No one else had the sick mountainous ball on top of his biceps. To me, he was the man.

As we grow our priorities change. Sometimes our childhood heroes have to take a back seat.

I spent some time in New York State over the past few years. My experience there was one of my most humbling. I had the great privilege to see some of the country’s finest young men and women. I got to know many of them personally. I have not met another group of people (of any age) who left me feeling more proud or more humble. I am talking about the cadets at The United Sates Military Academy.

These young men and women typically graduate at the top of their class in high school. Valedictorians, class presidents, class officers, athletes, tutors and volunteers, these kids are well rounded. Many are offered scholarships to Ivy League schools, but turn them down.  All have chosen to enter our country’s military service during a time of war. All go in knowing that some of them will not survive the five-year commitment after graduation.

I saw how incredibly hard these kids worked while at West Point. As officers in training, their workload is intentionally overwhelming. Chronically sleep deprived, they are continually challenged physically, mentally and emotionally. And I watched them thrive. I watched them grow. I saw children turned into men and women. I saw students turned into leaders.

At graduation, they are commissioned as lieutenants in the U.S. Army. These young officers are sent to the four corners of the globe. Sent to do the things that are necessary, things most people don’t like to think about.

Many will go on to become political leaders, entrepreneurs and business leaders. Some will become career Army officers. But the most sobering thought of all is this; some will die in service to this great nation, in service to you and me.

They are my heroes now. May God bless them and keep them safe.

SEO in Delaware

I ride dirt bikes. Yeah, so do a lot of other people, so what. Well I guess it is not that big of a deal, but my story illustrates my point and the corresponding concepts around training.

So I started riding when I turned forty, eight, almost nine years ago. And I’ve grown to love it. The rush I got the first time I cleared a double (a type of jump) was intense (that was the first time I tried, I wasn’t so lucky the next time). Now we all know dirt biking is a young man’s sport, but I have no intention of giving it up. Nor do I intend to back off the intense (to me) level at which I ride. In fact, I plan to ride harder and longer than ever as I continue to gain the technical skills needed.

So let’s look at the learning curve. Learning, in many cases, comes with trial and error. Riding dirt is no different. When I make a mistake riding, often (and I mean often) I end up with a little “get off” (slang for crashing). Most of the time when I ride, I’ll experience one, if not two (or more) get offs (If I had a little more brains, I might find another hobby).

So, I’m almost fifty. I ride my dirt bike as hard as I can, and I crash regularly. What is my point? (And you thought I’d never get to it, about time!) For those of you still awake, my point is this. I train to ride. In the gym, I design my exercise regimen to support my ability to ride, and to ride hard (adrenaline…mmm.).

One of my clients, who is in his forties, is getting dropped from a helicopter to go skiing (my adrenal glands are salivating). Now I’ve never done that type of skiing, so I had him simulate the different types of moves he will be making down the mountain. We broke those down into components and together we created a program to enhance his ability to ski hard and to have the endurance he will need not to make mistakes from being tired. Out there a mistake could be bad, very bad. (Why does that make me want to do it?). Then we drill away incorporating fast twitch and slow twitch movements and flexibility movements. In addition, because his cardio-respiratory system will need to acclimate to a higher altitude, with less available oxygen, I have him perform some of the exercises breathing only through a straw (this needs to be done ONLY under supervision AND with medical clearance). By the time he gets to the slope, his only worry will be an avalanche. (Mmm….avalanche, I’m getting giddy).

Another client, Bill is 67. He regularly goes to the racetrack for track days. Bill’s top speed at the track is about 160 mph. Even more impressive is his speed in the turns. Estimated at 120mph, Bill regularly drags his knee through the turns (yum).

The number of professional athletes still competing into their forties (and fifties) continues to grow. I saw a report on Martina Navratilova a few years back. I was amazed at the intensity of her workouts. Being the macho weight lifter type I thought, “It’s only tennis after all.” Martina continued to compete professionally until just a few weeks before her fiftieth birthday. I personally adopted her training style (after a little humble pie).

The great NFL wide receiver, Jerry Rice is 45. Olympic swimmer and silver medalist Dara Torres is 41. NHL legend Gordie Howe played all eighty games of his final season at the tender age of 52. In 1997, at the age of 70, he played one game (on contract) with the Detroit Vipers. The list continues to grow. How long does Brett Favre (how do you pronounce that) have left? Arguably playing his best at the age of 39, you think he doesn’t train? And don’t forget Phillies own Jamie Moyer. Moyer, age 45, pitched (and won) the third game of the World Series against Tampa bay

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My point is this, at a time in life when many people believe it is time to back off, I say, “No way!” And you should too. Whether hiking and climbing, white water rafting, tennis and golf, helicopter skiing or whatever, train to play better, harder and more often. Be in shape to do what you want to do, when you want to do it, at a level that makes you happy. That is what quality if life is all about.