The outside world can be a negative, scary and pessimistic place; we can’t afford to be negative in our own thoughts as well.  Unfortunately, negative self-talk is a common theme.  It is something that I see and hear daily inside the walls of our gym, and it bums me out.  It doesn’t matter the age, gender, or ability level. We talk down to ourselves, tell ourselves we can’t do something.  But if we can’t be our own biggest fan, who will?! 

In our gym, negative self-talk ranges from elementary schoolers who are hesitant about trying an obstacle course or playing a tag game because, “I’m not fast”, or “I’m too slow”.  To middle school boys who are so lost in their own identity that they aren’t sure what they are capable of, they just know they’re not good at it, (whatever “it” is).  To those high school girls who are one bad hair day away from a complete breakdown.  To the Mom who is trying to regain her health and body back after popping out a couple kids who repeatedly says “I’ll never be able to do a pull up!” And we can’t forget the middle aged man who “Will never be able to touch his toes”. 

A simple tactic to try and help gain some quick momentum and start having positive thoughts is adding 3 little letters to any statement: “YET”.  Too often we hear “I’m not strong enough to do that” or, “I can’t do a pull up.” Now by simply adding, yet, everything changes.  It identifies where we currently are, what we need to work on and it gives us something to reach for.  

Owning the fact that we are a work-in-progress and not a final version is vital for a positive self image.  How sad would it be if we lived in this world, but we never changed or progressed.  Constantly trying to learn and develop as a person is a huge part of life, and something that Todd Bumgardner and the Strength Faction does so well.  Let’s get better, just to get better!

On a more serious note, there may be some deep seeded psychological reasons why we doubt ourselves, question our abilities and we’re our own Debbie Downer.  These may need to be addressed through long-term work with a qualified professional and I strongly urge you to reach out to someone if you are in need.

But what we all can do is to give yourself a little pep-talk, speak positive affirmations, start gratitude journalling, and giving back through community service.  Constantly try new things, don’t be afraid to fail; the only true failure is not learning from your mistakes.  Keep moving forward, keep getting better.

I have been lucky enough to work with an awesome kid for just about a year now, and it’s changed how I coach every single one of my athletes and adult clients.  Keep on reading to figure out how!

Initially we worked together through a youth group with about 15 other boys and girls in a play based and agility style conditioning class.   This past summer we worked together individually with more of a strength training focus and that is really when I started learning.  He has since rejoined a smaller group with school back in session and is absolutely crushing it.  He is energetic, unbelievably intelligent, super into sports.. and just so happens to have Autism.  He doesn’t allow it to define who he is, or his capabilities; but that is a different topic completely.

Now let’s get one thing straight from the start.. this article isn’t about Autism.  I’m not an Autism specialist, I’m not an Occupational Therapist, I am a strength coach.  This article is simply about how this great young man has helped me become a better coach and what he has shown me about being a good person.

So back to how working with his has helped me coach all my other athletes and clients.  It is pretty simple… CUEING!

Zero of my cues were hitting home.  I pride myself on that being one of my strengths as a coach.  I feel that I am able to word things in a different context depending on the athlete’s history, interests, etc.  Having a hard time getting what I wanted to get across really made me think (which isn’t a bad thing), what could I do to fix this?  Why weren’t my cues making sense?  What is it that needs to change?

After many nights thinking about what I could add in, or what I could do differently, or what else I needed to do… it hit me…. DO LESS.

I was overwhelming him with cues.  Do this, think of this, chest up, knees bent, and so on.  I am getting anxious just thinking about how much I must have said to the kid just for one exercise.  There had to be a better way for me to get the result of what the cue was intended for.

I needed to be more precise. It needed to be in a positive manner. Reinforcement had to be immediate.

Precise in the way that it needed to be very literal, very short, and zero fluff.  He didn’t want a story about why, he didn’t need filler words, and he would do exactly what he thought I meant, so I needed to choose my wording wisely.

Not positive as in “RA RA, you can do it!”, but more: DO this, rather than, DON’T do that.  By only giving the cue for what you want, rather than what you don’t want, you don’t allow the negative thoughts or negative actions to be a thought.  Very similarly to a positive swing thought in golf.  If you think “Don’t hook it” right before you swing, chances are you are going to hook it.  So in this example instead of me cueing: “Don’t round your back”  I made sure to say: “Stay tall, chest up”.  Each cue evokes a different thought and action.

If you have ever owned a puppy, you know that immediate reinforcement is crucial if you want something to be learned.  I feel it is the same when trying to teach somebody something they have never done before.  In the gym you need to positively reinforce good posture, good positioning, and correct form.  You also need to stop things in their track if it is incorrect.  Stopping  your client before a deadlift  starts because their form isn’t correct isn’t just immediate reinforcement, its just good common sense practice if you actually want to keep clients.  But what it does, is it teaches them how to be in the right position from the get-go.

Now with that being said, I’m not saying that there needs to be reinforcement for each individual rep.  That hits back on being precise.  There isn’t always need for filler commentary.  “Good”, or “nice” after each rep gets old fast.

I have found that once I have been working with a client for a while, important “reminders” can be used really well to reaffirm the things I’ve already taught.  “Get tight”, “Big chest”,  “Steady pull”,  are all reminders that I will give before a deadlift to a client that I know knows how to deadlift.

By tightening up my cueing, we have made huge strides in posture, body control, and overall strength.  What we say as coaches have huge impacts on what our athletes or clients perceive.  It is always important to evaluate our coaching, see what is working, see what isn’t working, and figure out how to get better.  The better we are as coaches, the better off our athletes or clients will be.

These three things are grossly overly simplified.  They are barely even scratching the surface of what cueing can not only do for an athlete’s performance, but for your own coaching ability   If you are looking for some real serious info on the importance of cueing Nick Winkelman and Brett Bartholomew are two that I would immediately start following.

Being in the fitness industry at the start of the new year is always a fun time.  Waves of new people are flocking to the gym.  These people are a mix of motivated, excited, nervous, and overwhelmed.  So hopefully, if you fall into the category above this post can help you stick to your resolution for more than a couple weeks.

We all have this beautiful picture in our brains that the next year is going to be so much different, we are going to take control of our lives, drop those 20 pounds, eat super “clean” (whatever that means) and all of a sudden look like the person on the cover of (insert your favorite fitness or trashy magazine here).  Well, hate to break it to you, but life is still going to happen in 2016.  The kids will get sick, you’ll have to bring 3 kids to 5 different places, there will be deadlines for work, you will have to travel for work, pizza will still taste good, and that beer at the end of the day is still going to be refreshing.  But not to worry!  You can still hit all of your goals even with all the curve balls that life throws at you.

Below I will try to get you to think about making your resolutions a little bit differently this year, and with some hard work, mental toughness, and some sweat, we can get where we want to be!

1. Behavior over Outcome– This might be the hardest thing for most people, especially because we live in a world where everything is outcome orientated.  The end result is more important than the process.  Well I’m here to tell you that it is the opposite.  If we can get you to focus on the process of things, rather than the final outcome, we will have a better success rate.

Typical Resolution: I’m going to lose 20 pounds, 15 inches, and eat nothing but kale smoothies.

Realistic Resolution: I’m going to go to the gym at least 3 times per week with a full body resistance work out, prep my food for the week, and start keeping a food journal.

The first resolution is what most people will tell themselves at the start of the new year, and don’t get me wrong, I love the confidence and motivation, but I guess you could call me a realist, or a Debbie Downer, but I see the person who makes that first resolution fizzling out after 2 weeks.  The second resolution is more realistic, and it is behavior orientated, not outcome orientated.

If we can change the behaviors that are stopping you from getting you to your goals, we get you to your goals.

Say this:  I’m going to get at least 3 hours of exercise per week.

Not that:  I’m going lose 30 pounds.

2.  Change one thing per month-   One of my favorite lessons I learned going through the Precision Nutrition Level 1 program (if you haven’t heard about PN, do so.) was the lesson about success rates when trying to change/introduce a new behavior into the mix.  Now I am paraphrasing, but you will get the gist,  if we try and change one thing in a month, we have about an 80% success rate, but if we try and change more than one thing per month our success rate drops to about 20%.  That’s wild to me.  So many times people are so ready that they totally flip their lives upside down because “that’s what they’re supposed to do”.  Well I call bullshit.  Fix one thing before trying to fix another thing.  If you don’t drink enough water, that’s what you should work on first.  Start drinking more water.  Then next month, lets work on something else.  So with that being said, lets dive deeper into goal setting.

3. Goals- There are different types of goals: long term, immediate, life style, work, financial goals, and the list could go on.  But they all need to have the same characteristics.  they need to be tangible, specific, measurable, time sensitive, written down, and talked about with the ones who are around you.  Now all of your goals are different, and they have different motivation behind them… But they should be written down so you can hold yourself accountable, spoken about with your friends and family, time sensitive so that you can again hold yourself accountable, measurable so you can see if your plan is working, and tangible so that you can actually tell if you’re making progress.

Each goal can be broken down into smaller, more achievable goals. The smaller goals will get accomplished faster, which will give you more confidence to make more goals and crush them too.

A lot of small goals achieved = A massive goal achieved.

This goes back to the realistic and non-realistic resolutions… same mindset, lets make these goals process orientated.

Think of it this way… if I have 60 pounds that I should lose because my doctor says I am on the path of Type II Diabetes and my blood pressure is through the roof and I’m getting pressure from my significant other and I get tired playing with the kids after 10 minutes, it can be a pretty overwhelming situation.  60 is a big number and with all of that extra added stress, its even bigger.  But you know what isn’t a big number… 3.  The hours you want to spend exercising per week.  Start crushing that goal consistently, and lets see what happens with the weight.  Next goal, lets start meal prepping on Sundays (insert whatever day works for you), and lets crush that goal for a couple weeks, then lets keep adding onto those goals. 

As you can see, those goals are measurable, time sensitive, and more importantly, process orientated.

4.  Little progress is still progress- We live in a world that is looking for the fastest way to do anything.  We have become lazy, entitled, and soft.  But that’s left for another rant.  But its another mentality shift that may be hard for a lot of people, especially those who are struggling with weight or health.  There are shows that are on TV where people lose 150lbs in 9 months, and yes, it is amazing, but at what cost?  If you were to look back at all the contestants, I’m sure there are more than a handful who are still overweight, and maybe even heavier.

A little bit of progress is still progress.  It may take longer than more people are expecting, but hey, you didn’t get overweight overnight did you?  So why do you expect to be a stick figure overnight?    The longer it takes, the longer it stays.  If we can consistently (insert your goal: lose weight, gain muscle, drop body fat) we will keep our achievements for a longer time.  That is the trouble with big fad diets, cleanses, juice diets, etc, we drop a ton of weight, but the lifestyle isn’t consistent, so we roller-coaster right back up after we stop.  These changes need to be a sustainable lifestyle change.  But don’t get it twisted, a good nutritional program, or training program will have results.  If you aren’t getting results, we either don’t have the right plan, or we aren’t adhering to the plan as well as we need to be.  Adherence is the hardest part, but it is the most important thing.  Consistency is king.

5.  Support Network- Lets look at the extreme end of this:  if one of your family members was an addict, and only hung out with other addicts, for them to overcome their addiction, they must change their surroundings. I think we all agree about that.  So lets use this analogy, and put it into the nutritional and fitness world… if your friends and family drink soda, eat McDonald’s 3 times a day, and their idea of fitness is Wii Boxing, we have a problem.  You will never get to your goals if you are surrounded by people who don’t have the same mindset as you.   Now am I saying to ditch all your friends and family who don’t go to the gym? No.  But what I am saying is that lets reevaluate how important your goals are, and how much time you are spending with people who aren’t supporting you in your goals.  And who knows, maybe you can be the one that helps them change their lives as well.

Having a gym buddy is a great way to stay accountable.  Letting yourself down is easy, we can always make an excuse for ourselves not to do something, but when you make plans to go to the gym with somebody, you aren’t letting just yourself down anymore, you are letting someone else down. And that is harder to do.  Another great way to stay more accountable is to sign up for classes, or sessions with a trainer.  Group fitness is shown to get better results.  Everybody has that competitive nature, and the community aspect is great.  And guess what, there is your new support network with like-minded people.

Anyway you slice it, the New Year brings a bunch of motivation, which is awesome.  But lets use our brains a little bit more, and have a rock solid game plan for the year so that you aren’t in the population that starts going to the gym in January and stops by March.

If you would like help on creating your plan, or finding somebody in your area to do so, please feel free to email strebelp@gmail.com.