Fit For Life: Who’s Winning?

Sunday, February 05, 2017

Matt Espeut, GoLocalWorcester Health +Lifestyle Contributor

Success with any task, means reaching your full potential, the pinnacle of your goal, by giving all your effort to achieve this goal. Sometimes there is no win or definitive mark to determine success, so it has to come from within and be a place that makes you happy. Some people’s idea of success differs from others, so the benchmark determines each person’s individual goals.

Let's take the Super Bowl for example. Only one team will reach ultimate success and win. So would you say the second best team in the NFL is not successful? Are they a bunch of losers? They gave an all-out effort and fell short. Yes, losing sucks, but I wouldn't consider the second best team in the league unsuccessful.

The same goes for your health and fitness program. Success is reaching your goal, but ultimately it boils down to finding the place that makes you happy. Say your goal is to lose 30 lbs in 4 months. Certainly an attainable goal. You eat perfectly and attend Bootcamp 5 x a week without missing a single session. When you weigh in at the end, you lost 25 lbs. look fantastic, feel great, your clothes fit differently, have more self-esteem, and you have more energy than you have had in years. Are you successful? You fell short of your goal, but you are a different person, so I would say - yes.

Common Denominators of Success.

Success in any form carries a lot of common denominators. Whether it's business, health, sports, or life in general, there are things that need to happen and success won't become a reality without these requirements in place.

Purpose: You need a reason, and without one, achieving anything is improbable. Just going through the motions will result in a lackluster performance on any level, and usually poor performance = poor results. Someone that goes to work needing to put food on the table for a family, will have more purpose and strive for promotions harder than a college kid working a summer job because his parents are making him.

Action: Regardless of how many sticky notes or ideas you have, zero goals will be reached without action. Thinking about making more money, or losing weight and getting in shape isn't going to do it. You need to jump in with both feet. Even if you take imperfect action, it will still carry you further than your thoughts. I have been a trainer for 25 years, and thought about my own place for 20 of them. Guess what, it never happened. Until two years ago, it was all thought and talk - but no action. Even when I did, I still had no idea what the hell I was doing. But thanks to this dude named Bedros, I took action, and I'm going in the direction of my goal to be a successful gym owner and live my purpose of getting thousands of people on the path to better health.

Consistency: I heard a great acronym this weekend. SBC - Simple Boring Consistency. How exciting is it to wake up at 4:30 am to get to the gym, or sit in traffic after work? Or how enthusiastic are we going to work day in and day out? How exciting is it to shower, brush your teeth, make meals, phone calls, drive the kids to school, and on and on? But we need to do it consistently to achieve success in any area of our lives.

We make the workouts fun and different daily at Providence Fit Body Boot Camp so you won't be bored once you get here. My work is different every day, so it's not boring once I'm there, but to be consistent and show up is something not everyone is willing to do. So there you go folks. That is a mini outline that needs to be followed in order to achieve your goals. Whatever your goals, big or small, it's up to you to define what you consider being successful.

Matt Espeut, GoLocal's Health & Lifestyle Contributor has been a personal trainer and health & fitnesss consultant for over 25 years. He is the owner of Fitness Profiles, a one on one, and small group personal training company, as well as Providence Fit Body Boot Camp, located at 1284 North Main St., on the Providence/Pawtucket line. You can reach Matt at (401) 453-3200; on Facebook at "Matt Espeut", and on Twitter at @MattEspeut. "We’re all in this life together – let’s make it a healthy one!

Related Slideshow: The 7 Best Health and Fitness Apps

Here is a list of some of the most obsession worthy health apps.

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MapMyRun

MapMyRun is the number one selling running app for a reason: it is easy to use, offers community support if you want it, and tracks and stores your exact routes for you. If you are training for a race or a serious runner, users say that the extra perks in the upgraded paid version are well worth it.

Made for iPhone, Android and Blackberry

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MyFitnessPal

MyFitnessPal seems to be the clear favorite amongst everyone polled. It is helpful not only for the fitness tracking aspect, but everyone polled mentioned how much they loved the food/diet aspect as well. From carb counting for diabetics to recipe ideas to complement your fitness goals, users love this app.

Made for iPhone and Android

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JeFit

JeFit is another fitness app that has rave reviews. It not only tracks progress for you, but offers a huge database of workouts. While many apps offer community support, JeFit allows you to sync workouts with friends who use the app, offering a (real) virtual buddy system.

Made for iPhone and Android

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Strava

Strava gets the highest mark of all the cycling apps. While it is also great for runners, the cyclers seem particularly inclined towards the fierce competition that can be ignited by this app. You can track all of your rides via GPS, then you can compare your efforts to those logged by others in the community on the same stretch of road. You can also join ongoing challenges that can net you great prizes (in addition to bragging rights).

Made for iPhone and Android

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YogaStudio

YogaStudio gets the top vote for Yoga apps. It has a lengthy collection of full class-length videos available at your fingertips. Unlike many other apps, this one also allows you to customize your own video yoga class. All of the poses are done by qualified yoga instructors, and you can find classes suitable for all levels of yogis.

Made for iPhone only

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SimplyBeing

SimplyBeing meditation app offers the best of both worlds. You can choose to run this app as a background for your meditation with soothing music or natural sounds that run for a set amount of time. Conversely, for those of you who have trouble focusing during meditation, you can choose a soothing voice-guided meditation.

Made for iPhone and Android

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Fooducate

Fooducate is an app all about educating people so that they make healthier food choices. Although not perfect, this app is easy to use (you can even take pictures of bar codes to instantly find foods in their database). It gives food a letter grade, tells you the pluses and minuses, and gives you better ranked alternatives. You can also use it as a weight loss tool by tracking your daily calories.

Made for iPhone and Android