Either You Got It Or You Ain't, Grit

From the desk of Brian Friedman, Owner/Director of Winter Garden Yoga.

Unlike other yoga studios, Winter Garden Yoga has core values that we live by. This list is not open to discussion. All of our instructors -including me- are held accountable to them. You could say that our studio is fueled by this potent list.

One of these powerful core values is expertise. We are all encouraged to keep up to date with the latest trends in yoga and health and wellness. More importantly, we're encouraged to sift out the untested or inferior tendencies and to focus on the stuff that works. As an added benefit to maintaining a high level of expertise, I get to check out inspirational speakers. One of which was Joe De Sena, author of  the in-your-face book Spartan Up and the creator of the Spartan Race.

When Joe was on stage, he spoke about grit and how the overall lack of grit in our culture inspired him to create the Spartan Race and gave rise to the Spartan culture.

Grit has been defined as courage, resolve, and strength of character.

Author and creator of The Spartan Race, Joe De Sena knows about grit.

It was an inspirational talk that got me fired up. I was fortunate enough to catch him in the hallway to have a brief discussion about grit. Are you born with it? Can it be developed? Do some people just not have it?

His answer surprised me. Joe said by and large everyone's got grit, it's just a matter of finding what will bring it to the surface. De Sena also said that there are little things we can do everyday to develop grit. He mentions several of these strategies in his 5-Star book, and I definitely encourage you to read it for yourself. But, if you're like me, you'd probably like a little sneak peek right now.

Without further ado, I'd like to offer 3 of my own specially selected tips to develop grit...

1. Wake up. Don't hit the snooze button. Get up and get out of bed as soon as the alarm clock goes off in the morning. It's easy to lie in bed for another 9 minutes, but grit is not about easy. Show some resolve and get your day started without delay.
2. Don't eat. Well, at least don't eat until you've earned it. And how you earn it is up to you. Personally, I don't eat until I've either taken a 10, 000 step walk, done my yoga, or lifted my weights.  Sometimes that may be 6 to 8 hours after I've started my day. You may want to run this one by your doctor. But all things being equal, most of us are overfed and under worked and we take our meals (and pretty much everything else for granted). When you earn your meal, you appreciate it that much more. Have the courage to apply this to as many situations as you can in life.
3. Be quiet. When was the last time you sat in complete silence? Even for just 5 minutes? Turn off your phone. Turn off the TV. Step away from your tablet and just be quiet for 5 minutes. Sitting in silence is a very subtle way of building your grit. By building the strength to ignore the senseless urges to check your email, you gradually learn to distinguish what is truly important and what is not. You learn to rise above and come out as the victor. Ultimately, you get control back into your life by overcoming arbitrary desires. 

Bonus Tip:

Stick to your commitments. I am inspired, every day, by the amazing VIPs of Winter Garden Yoga. These astounding people have grit. It's easy to say, "yeah, I'll come to yoga twice a week and stick to a healthy diet," talking doesn't exhibit strength... but doing does!

I think of Karen who makes it to the studio at least twice a week. Did I mention she only has one leg?

Karen has grit. She doesn't let anything stop her from her commitments.

I think of Kim who had basically given up hope, but stuck to her commitment, is down 30 pounds, and is on her fourth set of yoga clothes!

Kim has grit. She could have easily given up because of a stressful job, but she didn't.

I think of Cher who finally gained back her confidence and has kept it for over a year!

Cher has grit. She stayed faithful to herself and her goals and it paid off... and it still is!

I think of each and every one of our incredible VIPs because they have grit!

I am calling you to the carpet (in a kind and loving, yogic way): practice these 4 powerful steps to developing courage, resolve, and strength of character, also known as grit. Let me know how your life has changed -for the better- after practicing these simple steps.

Winter Garden Yoga is a world renowned yoga studio recognized for providing a unique form of functional yoga instruction (TM) that gives you a toned, pain-free body that leaves you feeling great whether you’re currently flexible or not.

Unlike ordinary yoga studios with packed classes that over stretch and leave you feeling lost in the crowd, our services focus on strength, mobility, and nutrition all wrapped up into a caring, supportive, family-like environment you’ll call home.

Contact us or give us a call at 407-579-9889 for a free, no obligation consultation ($87 value) to find a package plan that is perfect for you.

Secrets Revealed: Fat Loss, Part 2

Congratulations!

I know you've been keeping your food journal because you've told me about it. You are amazed at the things you eat and now you see the significance and the power of a food journal. You are off to a great start.

That was part one of the fat burning equation. Let's move to the second part: exercise...

...inefficient exercise to be exact.

Choose Wisely

An efficient exercise can be described as something that you get good at. Think about walking. Maybe the first time you walked a mile it was very difficult to breathe, you may have had to stop for breaks, and it basically kicked your butt. Now fast forward to when walking a mile became easy. Super easy. That means you became efficient at walking.

When this happens, fat burning stops.

An inefficient exercise can be described as something that will always be a challenge. Think about Functional Yoga Instruction TM. There are folks (including me) who have been practicing this method for years and are still challenged by it. That means it will always be a fat burner. Always.

Functional Yoga Instruction TM is Revolutionary

It's no secret, I'm a fan of FYI. No other yoga program comes close to what FYI gives you.

• Fat burning
• Mobility
• Lean mass
• Strength
• Mind-Body connection

And all of this great stuff comes from a your own body weight, some gravity, and a yoga mat. No equipment is required.

Simplify

90% of my personal yoga practice revolves around 16 moves: The most essential moves (asana) that you'll find in any system of yoga. The same can be said for all of our classes at Winter Garden Yoga.

Simple and brutally effective. Warrior 2 is fantastic for strengthening and toning the legs, abs, and arms.

Need more?

Unlikely. It's a hard pill to swallow, but you don't need a ton of stuff to get into shape and stay there. You see, sometimes more is just more. I've written about the diminishing returns on exercise, so I won't beat the proverbial dead horse here. Instead, I want to encourage you...

1. To get started
2. To keep it simple
3. To stay on track

Simple enough?

We'll see... Don't miss the dramatic conclusion when we put all of the pieces together.

Winter Garden Yoga is a world renowned yoga studio recognized for providing a unique form of functional yoga instruction (TM) that gives you a toned, pain-free body that leaves you feeling great whether you’re currently flexible or not.

Unlike ordinary yoga studios with packed classes that over stretch and leave you feeling lost in the crowd, our services focus on strength, mobility, and nutrition all wrapped up into a caring, supportive, family-like environment you’ll call home.

Contact us or give us a call at 407-579-9889 for a free, no obligation consultation ($87 value) to find a package plan that is perfect for you.

Cardio: The Weakest Link [Contentious Content], Cardio

As Winter Garden's most recognized health and nutrition expert, I have the honor and the pleasure of interacting with and helping a wide array of people achieve their health and wellness goals. And one of the most common questions I get is: "What about cardio?" I'll do my best to address this question, but first...

...I want to be clear...

Cardio is fine if you enjoy cardio; there is nothing wrong with cardio. In fact, I believe that cardio is an important piece to an intelligent and balanced approach to physical fitness and overall wellness. Just ask our VIPs about their personalized action plans.

...Here's the rub...

Cardio is the weakest link in the health and wellness chain. In other words, you get the least bang for your buck. Allow me to explain...

Here's what a balanced approach to wellness and general physical fitness looks like [in this order]

Number one: Strength
Number two: Mobility
Number three: Cardio

Let's run through a few hypothetical questions.

Can preparing for a 5K help you with your upper body strength? No.
Can strength training help you with your upper body strength? Yes... and mobility, too.
Which of these two training methods will help you push yourself off the floor if you happen to fall down?

Can preparing for a 5K help you with your mobility and injury prevention? No.
Can yoga help you with your mobility and injury prevention? Yes... and strength, too.
Which of these two training methods will help you pick up your groceries or grand children?

Let's take another perspective...

Strength burns more calories [for up to 36 hours after training], tones the muscles, and taxes the heart and lungs [in a good way... aka cardio]

Mobility [yoga] burns more calories [because of the muscle contractions... aka, static and isotonic strength], tones the muscles, increases body awareness, increases mobility, and can tax the heart and lungs [in a good way... aka cardio]

Cardio burns fewer calories [and the calorie burn stops when you stop], taxes the heart and lungs [in a good way]

The take away...

Instead of doubling up on your cardio because you missed a yoga class, grab a kettlebell, or pop in your favorite yoga DVD and get started.

Yoga is a great way to cover a lot of bases. At Winter Garden Yoga, we emphasize strength over flexibility, and alignment over depth. This way, you get toned muscles, and a mobile body that is resistant to injury.

Kettlebell training is an awesome way to develop strength, mobility, and cardio in an all-in-one method.

And once you've gotten your yoga and kettlebells done, take the next day to go for a nice walk, get some fresh air, and enjoy the cardio.

Winter Garden Yoga is a world renowned yoga studio recognized for providing a unique form of “functional yoga instruction” that gives you a toned, pain-free body that leaves you feeling great whether you’re currently flexible or not.

Unlike ordinary yoga studios with crowded classes that over stretch and leave you feeling lost in the crowd, our services focus on strength, mobility, and nutrition all wrapped up into a caring, supportive, family-like environment you’ll call home.

Contact us or give us a call at 407-579-9889 for a free, no obligation consultation ($87 value) to find a package plan that is perfect for you.

What’s the most effective way to get results?

The answer may surprise you

As Winter Garden’s most sought after fat loss specialist, I have the honor of helping 100s maybe 1000s of people achieve their goals each year.  Because of so much interaction with so many different types of people (and personalities), I can honestly say that I know what works and most importantly, what doesn’t work.

The fundamentals of success

At Winter Garden Yoga, we offer customized packages for each of our VIPs. We know that a cookie cutter approach will always fail. Yes, we all know that we need to exercise. Yes, we all know that we need to eat right. Yes, those are the fundamentals. But how much of which will get the greatest results for you?

That’s where the expertise comes in.

Your personalized plan

The first step is to sit down and have a consultation with a soon-to-be-VIP. Our experts can make intelligent decisions and offer advice based on what we've learned from our client and their goals. The next step is to formulate an action plan for exercise and nutrition. The final step is to implement the plan.

Easy, right?

Yes, it is absolutely positively that easy. That is until the VIP gets to thinking…”hmmm… if Brian said to walk for 20 minutes, I should probably run for 30 minutes. Better yet… I’ll put on a backpack that weighs 35 pounds! Even better… I’ll cut my calories in half and double my yoga classes so that I can get better results even quicker!”

And down the rabbit hole we go…

More is just more

I’ve experienced this a thousand times and without exception, this type of thinking ends badly. The client will get burned out, won’t see the quick results they were working so hard to achieve, may or may not get injured, and will ultimately drop everything because “It doesn’t work.” This is the sad case of ‘more’.

The thought process is that “If I do more_________________, I’ll get quicker _____________________.” 

Nothing could be further from the truth. And it all has to do with the law of diminishing returns.

  

It’s the law

Here’s how my mother explained the law of diminishing return to me: “Imagine eating a hamburger. That first one will be absolutely delicious and you’ll enjoy it a lot. Now, you immediately have a second hamburger and it is a little less delicious and less enjoyable. So by the time you get to the fourth or fifth hamburger, you don’t want any more hamburgers.”

It’s the same thing with fitness. Just because you do more does not mean that you will get more in return.

The secret

The most effective way to get results and keep them comes in two parts.

Number one: Follow the instructions.

Number two: Slow and steady wins the race… always!

Following the instructions is one of WGY’s VIP Success Principles for a reason: you don’t need to reinvent the wheel. You’ve come to experts for advice. You’ve invested in that advice. Now follow it. It’s that simple.

Slow and steady always wins because we cannot keep up a rabbit’s pace forever. Every single intelligent, elite athlete in the world cycles their workouts. That means throughout the year they will keep the intensity relatively low, gradually increase the intensity, and peak for a competition [Peaking for a competition most often happens maybe once or twice a year].  Immediately after the competition, the athlete will go right back to square one and begin again.

This applies to you, too. Take your time.

It’s up to you

When you take your time and commit to six or 12 months to achieve your health and fitness goals:

•  You will be in the ranks of world class athletes
•  You will have results that last
•  You will create a new lifestyle
•   You will be less likely to get injured
•    You will become unstoppable

So there you have it, the most effective way to get results and more significantly, how to keep them.

Why wait another day?

If you have the desire to make positive changes in your life and you believe that Winter Garden Yoga can help you. I invite you to contact us or call us for a free, no obligation consultation. 

You have nothing to lose because your results are guaranteed. Be among the 100s who have lost weight, gained strength, gotten toned, and reclaimed their lives. Call or contact ustoday!

Slow and Steady Wins The Race

Client of the Month: Lisa McIntyre

Each month Winter Garden Yoga will feature a client who has achieved amazing results with the methods we teach at our studio. We call this Winter Garden Yoga's Client of the Month.

Nominees share their stories (in their own words) and their photographs to inspire others to break the mold of complacency and to rise higher.

This month we are proud to share Lisa's story. How does a yoga practitioner improve her body tone, lose weight, and correct her posture... even though she slumps over a computer all day?

Read on...

"When my husband George and I were ready to resume practicing yoga back in February 2012, the timing of your [special offer] and convenient location got us into your studio. We were immediately impressed by the welcoming, caring, & professional manner of your instruction as well as the operation of your business.

"The noticeable results have been a gradual improvement in my body tone with some weight loss. I think the improvements are due mostly to the power yoga class combined with minor diet changes and staying committed. I also find that my posture is improving and that I am beginning to incorporate good yoga posture at my workplace which is most needed as I am usually at my computer most of the day.



                          Before                                    After



"As stated above, the welcoming, caring and professional manner of instruction and business operation; Consistency and reliability of high quality, structured, and detailed instruction; the variety and schedule of classes to choose from. The helpful hints like "squishing the grape" and "plugging in the neck socket" make it easier to learn the yoga poses. Also, it has been a pleasure to meet and get to know many of my classmates.

"I would say to that person that it is worth the effort and time to attend a few classes to test out the waters and the variety of classes that are available makes it easy to find the right fit."

Have you been nominated yet? We want to hear your story. Please contact us immediately and we will be honored to feature you and your story.

Are you ready for your own life changing transformation? Call us for a free consultation at 407-579-9889.

All the best,

Brian