David Beares

There’s no question that a lot of our members are feeling a level of worry, doom or despair right now with the state of the world.  Being in Howard county, Maryland, a huge portion of our members are either government or government contractors with tons of volatility right now.

But honestly, this advice pertains to any time in your life when you are struggling, losing your way and letting that fear/worry get in the way of your health.

I’ve noticed that my natural response to fear is contraction.  My first instinct is to get full of dread, think the worst thoughts and want to bail on the stuff that feels “hard.”  The rub is that most of the things that feed us, make us stronger and give us the energy to climb out the other side are those same habits.

The stuff that takes work- eating healthy, working out, going to bed early, etc.- are the same behaviors that give us back our power.  And on the flip side, things that take from our energy– drinking alcohol, binge watching shows, scrolling on our cell phones, etc.- tend to be insidious and detracting from our energy and happiness when they’re dominating our time at the cost of healthy habits.

What we often see, like now and during Covid, is people wanting to run from their healthy habits.  They feel overwhelmed with fear and worry.  They don’t feel like they have enough energy to give to their fitness.

Let’s be honest.  What happens when we stop investing in ourselves, give up on working out and/or eating well, and reach for the “cheap thrills” that give us instant gratification.

For a moment, we feel at ease.  All of those things come with a nice endorphin kick.  Then, we feel worse.  Our sleep suffers, our mood, connection with those around us, energy, and so on!

If you are in a time of struggle right now, please fight the urge to give up!  Get outside and enjoy the sunshine.  Go to your gym, connect with your friends and sling some kettlebells around.  Eat the healthy food (and yes, have the beer or cake if you want some).  Get enough sleep to thrive.

These things may feel like work in the immediate….but they will give you the strength, grounding and perspective to keep going.

Going one step forward, how can you turn these negative emotions around and make them more empowering?  

The opposite of Doom can become Creativity!  Doom, dread and worry are all contracting.  They all assume that you know how things are going to turn out.

I remember in the early months of Covid, I was so scared that we would lose our business.  Over night, we lost a good portion of our members, the economy was struggling and people were looking at home workouts and other options that didn’t require them to be in public.

But creativity allowed me to see that I still had a service people would crave.  Some folks would switch to working out at home and thrive…and that’s great.  But most of the folks who make up our community want more.  They want coaching, community and a feeling of belonging.  

No matter what happened in the world, I knew people would be back.

Now I realize you may not want to hear that this moment if you’ve lost your job or fear you will any day soon.  But whether that happens or not, I challenge you to get creative.  To open up your mind, look for new possibilities and think about the work, community and health practices that might be calling to you now.

This doesn’t have to mean reinventing the wheel.  It might look like putting your energy back into the workout you’ve been doing if you’ve lost that loving feeling (yes, that was a Top Gun reference).  Can you find new excitement for your workouts?  Can you get psyched and finally commit to buring 20 lbs, or getting really strong, or getting in badass cardio shape?

There are tons of things you could do now to get creative, expand your possibilities and feel strong emotionally again.  But I promise, contraction and doom won’t feed that.

Good luck in this process!  If it wakes some movement up in you, I’d love to hear about it.

Do Less (sort of)

One of my favorite movie scenes is in Forgetting Sarah Marshall when Paul Rudd plays a stoned out surfing instructor. He’s teaching Jason Segel how to surf for the first time, and he doesn’t exactly know how to coach.

So he just keeps on shouting “do less”. And then “no, you didn’t do anything. You have to do something”. And he’s being totally unclear as to how to actually surf.

Anyway, it’s not funny in a blog (go see the movie! It’s worth it).

But the message is one I resonate with.

If you’re not someone who currently works out, but you wish you did, I’ll BET you think it’s some massive undertaking.

You’ve got to workout 5 days a week for like an hour and a half. You have to go on some boring diet and gut it out as long as possible. You’ve got to stretch, add running or other cardio.

Basically find tons of free time for something when you really can’t squeeze your schedule any more than you currently do.

When in fact, you can make a drastic change to your health with a fairly minimal effort if you know the right strings to pull.

I’m talking change that will lower what doctors call “all-cause mortality.” The stuff that kills most Americans- cancer, heart disease and strokes being the major ones.

You do NOT need to become a fitness nut, a strong-man, a crossfit competitor, a lover of whacky diets, or any other crazy changes to make a huge change to your health outcomes.

What you need is a few small, consistent changes. Notice the word I dropped there, though. The important one–> consistent.

Here are a few I would start with:

1- Strength train 2x/week (3 if you can)– we use kettlebells at 39 Minute Workout, and in another blog, I’m glad to make a case why I love these, and why they really make a lot of sense for adults. But suffice to say, lots of things can be good quality strength work as long as you lift heavy enough, and make the weights progressively heavier over time.

2- Walk or do another form of steady-state cardio– Walking 30-60 minutes a day, 3-5 days a week has a really low barrier to entry! Meaning it’s pretty easy to squeeze in. Take your dog (if they don’t stop at every tree). Take a walking lunch break. Take one the moment you’re home from work. Take one on weekends.

Other than weather, walking is the easiest form of cardio to add, and it’s got tons of health benefits. But if weather or other factors exist, you can also get an indoor bike, treadmill, elliptical, etc. Personally, my go-to is hiking or riding my Assault Bike inside.

3- Nutrition- up your protein and add 5 fruits or veggies per day. We can take nutrition many directions. If you’re trying to burn fat, I would make this plan a lot more specific. But if you at least just work on protein (.75-1 gram per lb bodyweight) and eat lots of fruits/veggies for good carbs and fiber, you will improve some very clear health markers.

The point being, these changes are not hard, and they don’t take much time. You can do all your strength work in 2-3×39 minute workouts per week (under 2 total hours per week). You can walk just 3×30 minutes any day of the week. And you can shop for and eat those protein and veggies without massively altering your entire life.

Do this for 90 days, and you will likely see changes to your physique, belt line and energy. Keep it up for months on end, and you will dramatically improve your quality of life and life expectancy.

People get cynical because healthy people sometimes die of heart attacks or cancer while some have terrible habits and life to 90.

You can buy into that and HOPE that you’re one of the lucky ones who smokes a pack a day and loves a few daily drinks…or you can do yourself a favor and follow the numbers.

These changes will change your all-cause mortality and improve your quality of life!

If you need help making this a reality, click on the trial offer on our Training page or Click to Schedule an appointment on our Acupuncture page!

Last week I was in South Carolina for a baseball tournament with my son. It’s hard trying to keep healthy habits when you’re traveling and in a hotel for an extended time.

Or at least it is for me!

Max and I brought some good snacks down with us, and we also stopped in the grocery store.

But it’s always a question. Will I actually take time to workout? I always say I’m going to, but after long hot days at the field, or really early games, I often lose my energy or excitement.

So early on, maybe the first full day there, we got back around midday and I made myself go to the gym.

I was kind of bummed when another guy was in there, because I’m not kidding you when I say this place was TINY. A treadmill, elliptical and very small space behind to use weights. But literally nowhere to move around.

I said hi, hoping he wouldn’t want to talk, and got to work.

Some turkish get-ups, Some thrusters with the heaviest dumbells they had. Then deadlifts with the same bells, pushups and abs.

It was a nice little circuit if I do say so myself;)

And then it happened. He got off the treadmill and he wanted to talk. Ugh! I am an extrovert, but i don’t love small-talk. But I let him talk and I tried to seem interested.

The guy proceeded to tell me that he’d been on a 2 year journey to fitness. He was beaming with pride. He really didn’t tell me what he’d accomplished or why. I couldn’t tell if he’d lost a ton of weight or something. But he was really excited about it.

I don’t even remember what he said he did. Something about lots of walking and weighs. The details really didn’t matter, and honestly, I’m not sure if I listened to the details.

But I did find his excitement infectious. And I do love when people love fitness, so he grew on me. He also complimented me and said I looked strong, so I guess he buttered me up too. Haha!

So what started with an awkward conversation in this tiny little gym turned into an inspiring moment.

This guy went on some personal journey to fitness 2 years ago! Here he is, taking action in a hotel just like me.

Who cares what workout he’s doing. How strong he is. How much weight he’s lost or not.

He’s out there taking action, feeling proud and enjoying himself.

And that’s really the best thing YOU can do if you aren’t currently taking care of your fitness.

Personally, I don’t think there’s anything you can do that’s better for your mental and physical health. I think it should be a non-negotiable for every single person.

And yes, we should all attack it so hard that we’re excited to tell people how much joy we get from moving our body. Normalizing fitness is something our culture needs badly. Doing it in a way that’s fun and not attached to success or failure is even better.

Again, I don’t even know what this guy accomplished. But here he is, still doing it two years later.

I hope you are moving your body and loving it just the same! If you can learn one thing from this dude in the crappy, small hotel gym, it’s to make fitness a top priority and enjoy yourself.

I’ll leave you with a question as always. What’s one thing you’re most excited by or proud of when it comes to your fitness???

Have you found yourself thinking you constantly need to burn fat?

You get the New Year’s bug, or join a new gym, or go on the new diet.  

Then months later…if I asked you your goal,  you’d still say you’re trying to burn fat!

There’s something wrong with perpetually trying to lose weight.  It’s exhausting.  

Frankly, I don’t even think it’s possible for you to constantly burn fat without taking time away from that goal. 

Even if you have a lot to lose!

Weight loss is something that takes a lot of focus.  There really isn’t a half-assed way to burn fat without taking a drug.  It’s an all-out effort.

Food tracking.  Workouts.  Controlling cravings.  Staying consistent with workouts.

Then you need to do that until the scale moves, and you don’t stop until the scale starts to stall.

But I find women often get into this mode of wanting to burn fat without realizing they need to back off too!

Fat loss is equal parts fitness + Calorie deficit + Emotional health

If you put all your effort into the first two and neglect the latter, you will burn out.

Believing you have to constantly burn fat will absolutely lead to mental exhaustion, self-loathing, feelings of inadequacy and more.

So if you’re reading this, let me be your coach.

I’m giving you permission to make other goals and focus on them!  If you have fat to burn, by all means, do it.

Get on a plan and focus for 2-3 months.  Then go back to a maintenance mode of calories and keep focusing on the other stuff.

Put more effort into increasing strength (adding calories and getting out of a cut will help you gain more lean muscle).

Put more attention into your cardiovascular health!  Having more calories will mean more ability to push your cardio and build a strong heart and lungs.  

Allow yourself to focus on the other side of fitness- looking and feeling strong, building strong bones, looking toned and fit.

When done correctly, this is an ever changing process that can be fun!

You can change your focus throughout the year and actually be EXCITED for the next chapter.

If all you ever do is focus on burning fat, you will feel like a failure, you’ll be exhausted, and you likely won’t even be burning fat effectively.  

And think of how much emotional energy you’ll get back when you stop “fighting” for fat loss at every step.

I’ll leave you with a question: what fitness/health/scale goal most excites you now in early summer?  And what are you doing to accomplish this?  

Dedicated to your health,
David Beares

A word on quitting: Finding your strength and purpose so the thousand distractions in your life don’t derail you.

The art of getting people results with all things fitness is what I’ve dedicated the past 20 years of my life to.

Frankly, that’s the easy part….if you’ll do the work.

The hard part is the all-too-real urge to give up, succumb to stress and distraction, and the very real things that get in the way of showing up to the gym on a regular basis.

I may sound like I’m making fitness and nutrition sound easy.

But it’s far from it, and I acknowledge that.

Just this year, we’ve had a client pass from cancer. Others experiencing loss in the family. Our newest kettlebell baby (born in the last month). Job changes. Moves out of state.

And so much more.

That’s not even including the normal “stuff” like work stress, deadlines, changes in your kids hobbies and sports, etc.

No matter what your personal story to health and fitness is, it will involve many reasons you could quit.

I thought I’d share a story about persevering from my own life! It’s one that was very different than your normal challenges (you’ll see why!). But it’s also very REAL.

So here you go…

In 2001, I hiked the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine. 2,100 miles of rocky terrain covered over 6 months.

The single toughest adventure in my life took more willpower to complete than anything I’ve done since.

I also think that by making it. By not becoming a statistic as one of the 70+% of folks who quit.

I learned a lot about doing things that sometimes suck and are sometimes amazing…and not quitting.

Personally, going through this challenge is where I got my strength from to survive something like running a gym during Covid and not going belly-up. A very real possibility for a few months there.

Of course, it’s obvious that people quit the AT along the way. It’s grueling.

On a daily basis, you have the serenity of waking up in nature. Seeing amazing views. Receiving “trail magic” from locals who leave snacks or drinks at road crossings to bring us joy. Seeing the best in people and the planet.

But I also remember the entire month I dealt with crippling plantar fasciitis. The pain meant every single step felt like a knife into the bottom of the foot.

I remember the ridiculous green flies in Massachussets that wouldn’t stop biting my neck. The incredible heat at night in the summer months where you’d give anything for a breeze.

Now most people who quit do so in the first month. They just get slapped in the face and realize it’s not for them.

But the hardest times for me were actually many months later.

Like when I stopped for what was supposed to be 3 days at home in Maryland….that extended to over a week.

I vividly remember passing along some houses (I think in NJ) and hearing the sounds of people enjoying a cookout. Probably drinking cold drinks and hanging out with friends.

How easy it would have been to just step off the next road crossing and go home.

Who would stop me or blame me.

Then, in one of the last states, a fellow hiker left a note at a road crossing and did just that. “I’m out. I can’t keep going.”

It was like a gut punch. I don’t even remember who it was. Just a fellow hiker who’d made it SOOO far, and couldn’t go another step.

I am thankful to this day that I didn’t give up. There were so many times I could have done it.

But you know what?

I wouldn’t know what it would feel like to round the corner in Maine and see my sister who’d helped me the whole way! That running together and tears of having shared the journey.

I wouldn’t know what the top of Katahdin looks like, and what it means to be one of the few who made it there in a calendar year.

So much would have been taken from my life if I’d stepped off forever.

Now maybe your stakes don’t seem as serious as my story.

But I would contest that they’re even bigger.

You, the busy mom (or dad) who’s working and taking care of a family and trying to invest some resources into your own health.

You’re doing something even more challenging and possibly important than hiking a trail.

You’re making sure your body and mind are healthy and strong so you have quality of life for decades to come.

Your challenges are even greater than what I had to endure, because the quest to stay fit has constantly changing roadblocks.

The thing is…if you quit, you’ll never know the magic that comes from investing in yourself.

The trips you’ll take in your later years, because you took care of making your body strong and capable.

The grandbabies you’ll get to experience.

All the gifts your life has ahead. Made richer because you invested in being a healthier person!

This is such an important mindset if you want to be one of the FEW who crafts out time for your health on a weekly basis.

It is never easy. But you will get so much back if you stick it out.

If this story touched you, REPLY and let me know an event from your life that taught you about personal strength and not giving up!!!

Last week we flew out to see our Freshman at Colorado State for the first time in 2 months!

It’s wild raising kids. Seeing them almost every day of their lives. Having them in the house and the dynamic of your family being built around the pod.

Then one day, they leave and become an adult.

I have to say, Colorado was an amazing place to visit, and we were so pleased to see how well Liv is thriving on her own.

You raise your kids to leave one day. But you never really know if you did a good job until it happens.

As amazing as this trip was- with two awesome hikes to the Rockies and then outside Boulder (see the pic below from our hike in the Rockies)- what was more amazing was how much Liv has figured her lifestyle out.

Covid hit my girls hard. Liv was a high school freshman just launching. She was just starting to connect with new friends and try new things.

Then BAM!!! Basically a year and a half of pj’s, zoom and no social life.

It really messed her up, and honestly, she didn’t seem to thrive until late in senior year.

She had no routines. She wasn’t making new friends. And she was really struggling in school.

So when we got to CSU, seeing her fully in her element was so gratifying.

Here she is, this 18 year old young woman who loved to sleep in, now getting up to workout in the gym at 630am, going to all her classes, making friends, making good choices with her diet.

Maybe add in a twisted tea or other drink here and there (gasp!)

But you get the point.

If I pound a few lessons into our member’s heads, the lesson of frequency and building habits is top of that list.

Most of our members are busy women with jobs and/or kids…and ALL that those obligations bring them.

And life is not stagnant.

You might figure out when to workout in the Fall, built around work, practice schedules and more.

Then winter comes, and you’re thrown for a loop.

I see this even more with the change to summer and then back to the school year.

Now you can do what most people in the world do: Commit to a routine, succeed for a while, face adversity, then quit.

Or you can do what our successful members do: Commit to a routine, hit a snag, pivot, keep going.

It’s not to say that you won’t have a week or two here and there where it’s tough. The transition from August to September seems to be especially tough for folks.

But if you really want to experience the best life has to give….taking care of your physical health is a must, not an add-on.

If my 18 year old college student can switch from being a late sleeper who flies by the seat of her pants, to an early am workout girl who gets all her work done, so can you!

Here are some tips that might help:

• Always start with the assumption that your workouts are a must. Assume there is time, and get creative about when you can fit it in. This MAY not mean a time you love…and that’s ok.
• Discuss details with your family and partner. Get buy-in from those in your life. Tell your family this is imperative for you (like your kids activities, only more important) and have them take part in the logistics.
• Find a workout you’re actually excited about. If you pick a workout you don’t like (let’s say running) then it’ll be hard to stick with. Abby was just speaking with a new member who said this is the first time she’s found a workout she’s excited to go to! That makes a huge difference.

I always think these blogs are the most useful when you get active with them.

Yesterday, Abby and I were taping a podcast (you should check it out!) and we were talking about how to spark your enthusiasm for fitness.

This took us to a discussion about how we are very good at missing our body’s warning signs.

How often do we wait to take action UNTIL thing get so bad that we can no longer ignore them???

Here’s the dirty little secret. Once you show up with high blood pressure, a jacked up back and 30 lbs of bodyfat…things have been going wrong for many years!

We often can’t see the subtle signs. The little keys that something is awry.

Do you think you’d even know when your bones are losing density at 40? Or is it silent until you get a bone scan decades later?

What about your chronic back or shoulder?

As you’re losing muscle (like core strength) your body is going into positions that are causing damage for many years before you’re truly injured.

Again, the body has subtle signs, but you have to know how to observe them.

Here are a few signs you’re building future problems:

• sudden unexplained weight gain, or slow gradual weight gain over many years

• difficulty in doing basic things like climbing steps and picking heavy things up

• lack of energy and quality sleep

• inability to lose weight even when you do the things that worked before

• being out of breath doing the most basic things

Again, they’re all warning signs.

They are subtle today! At some point, they won’t be so subtle.

This all sounds so ominous. I promise that my goal isn’t to scare you. It’s to create a little wake up call.

If you aren’t getting some form of exercise and you aren’t consciously choosing a healthy nutrition plan, it’s time!

I don’t care how far you feel things have gotten. It’s is NEVER too late.

Sure it would be great if we do it from the start. Or get rolling our 30’s.

But even in your 70’s, it’s never too late.

So take a moment and do an inventory. What signs has your body given you that it needs help? If you’re feeling bold, post it below 👇