Hi. Welcome to the Fit For Life Solutions website, and to the home of Fit For Life Bootcamp. We are the Foster City, San Mateo and Mountain View fat-loss and fitness lifestyle experts you've been looking for!
A short while ago I took out my iPhone camera and interviewed Bhumi, one of our coolest, all-star bootcampers, and asked her about her experience with our bootcamp training and if she had some advice to new bootcampers or undecided folks who are thinking about starting a program with us.
This is what she said:
What Bhumi didn’t know is that after this interview, I had a total cry-baby emo-breakdown in the office after she left. I had just been going through some crazy life-changes and was also spending every waking moment doing measurements and “Before and After” interviews with our clients from the last 6-Week Body Transformation Contest and I was pushing myself to the max.
For those that know me, I put all of myself into my clients and their journeys, struggles and victories become a part of me. Sometimes it’s a lot and I have to remind myself to take a step back and take a deep breath every so often.
…But here, Bhumi comes along and shares these amazing words from the true core of her being about why she does bootcamp, and what it does for her and her husband, Raj, and after she’s done I just lost it. I’m not a baby, but it was major emotional stuff that just hit me at that right moment, ya know?
Well, the thing is, after this happened it really helped me to strengthen my resolve to want to do more and help more people and really give people this type of mind/body/life change. Since the interview I’ve been on a mission, and the great news is now we have a really solid team of people helping us with this.
Roy, Dan, Beau Byron, Bo Kelley, Ryan, Kim, Ken (helping with the website), Bridgette (videos), Kirsten (our new admin!), Jackie and Claudia, Jonie…and so many more people helping from the sidelines like Veronica, Julie N., Sara, Donna, Cheryl, Vince, Master Daniel Johnson and Deb Moy, our parents, Arleene, Terry, Mohan, Pam…
My heart is just full of gratitude and I thank everyone for being involved in this energy we call Fit For Life Solutions. Thank-you and I wish you good health and happiness always!
Did you hear our next 6-Week Body Transformation Contest is starting February 13th!! That’s only a few weeks away! Check out this video to see what happened during our last contest.
Here’s the link to join up! Also, this time around we’re adding a couple more prizes!!
Men:One free pair of designer jean with personal jean styling.
Women: One home or boutique “Jean Party” : At the party, the host (winner) recieves a free pair of jeans and guests recieve free personal jean stylings and 15% off all jeans.
Third place: One month supply of protein powder and multi-vitamin’s + 1/2 off your next month of bootcamp!!
So now we’re heading into the middle of January, and you’ve started (or are about to start) on you fitness goals for 2012. Congrats on making it happen!
Continue reading this post to understand the mindset involved in achieving these type of accelerated results!
Now more than ever it is crucial to get your subconscious mind aligned with your goals, because if you don’t, they’ll fizzle out like a New Years resolution gone bad.
Did you know your subconscious mind accounts for 96-98% of your habits and behaviors and your conscious mind is only 2-4%?
That’s why it’s crucial to apply things like visualization, affirmations, and most importantly joining a supportive and positive training environment that will get you and keep you moving forward towards your goals.
At Fit For Life Solutions we use fundamental concepts on fitness in the form of fitness mindset tools that will help you get, and stay, on track! Here are the core fitness mindset tools.
Fitness Mindset Tools
#1) Desire – Cultivate your desire by getting in touch with your “WHY”. Why are you getting in shape? Why are you joining a training program?
If your answer is to get healthy or to lose weight, try to dig a little deeper than that. I’ve never once seen someone make major changes and lose 10, 20, 30 or more pounds with the simple goal of “I want to lose weight”.
There has to be something behind it to drive it forward such as “I want to lose weight because if I don’t, I might not be able to live long enough to see my kids graduate high school” or “I want to lose weight because I want to feel like my old self again when I used to have more confidence and my relationship with my husband/wife was better”.
Do you see the difference? To cultivate your Desire, come up with a strong reason why, write it down, and keep it in your wallet or purse. Take it out and read it to yourself daily for 30 days and see for yourself how powerful your desire becomes.
#2) Commitment – Ahhhh! Commitment! This was always the hardest part for me…and it might be for you, too. This is what I found during my own training process. When I’m uncommitted I tend to go back and forth. I’m inconsistent. When I feel like it, I do. When I don’t feel like it, I don’t. There’s no commitment there, so there’s nothing to keep me accountable.
However, when I make a commitment, I continue pushing forward no matter what. My mind is clearer. There is far less resistance. After all, I’ve made a commitment and it’s created “single mind focus” so that I can let obstacles that fall in my way become something to work on, not something to use as an excuse to give up.
If you think about it, has there ever been anything of great value in your life that you’ve achieved that hasn’t taken your commitment by you on some level? I’d like to hear it if you have.
#3) Perseverance - This is the piece of the puzzle that truly separates us, isn’t it. This is why some of us succeed, and some of us fail. This is why some of us continue to move forward, and some of us quit. Unless you’re a smoker, I strongly advise that you take the words “I quit” completely out of your vocabulary right now.
Perseverance is what separates the Green Belt from the Black Belt, and the Associates degree from the PhD. Perseverance is what separates “Joe Schmoe” from becoming Rick Om. It’s also what separates the 3 lb weight loss from the 30 lb weight loss.
To persevere is a discipline, but when you have access to the right coaching, the right training environment, and the right mental toolset, anyone can do it!
In training you have many opportunities to quit. How long will YOU last? Only time will tell.
For training advice, or to get past an obstacle in your training, please feel free to contact me directly at Forrest@fitforlifesolutions.com.
For life coaching and to learn more on the mindset to becoming successful in whatever it is you do, please visit www.SelfMastery.com.
I’ve put together a list of things for you to dominate your fitness lifestyle in 2012! I’ve combined some tried-and-true fitness fundamentals, combined with some NEW mindset strategies and fat-loss tactics to really give you the edge this year’s list. Enjoy!
1) Start with mindset. From my 12 years as an in-the-trenches trainer, I’ve always found that the superior mindset wins out over any strategy or scientific approach – although you need those things, mindset is job one. It’s true what they say, “where there’s a will, there’s a way.”
First, find out a strong “Why”. Some examples are, “I’m doing this for my kids” or “because when I look better I feel better” or even “If I don’t stay strong, I’m just not myself”.
2) Create goals with a sense of urgency tied to them. For example, sign up for a 5K run and set a goal of losing 10 lbs before the race. Or join a weight loss contest at work, or join our 6-Week Body Transformation Contest coming up in February 2012!
3) Make sure you’re in some type of exercise or training program that keeps you accountable. The thing that saved me years ago was martial arts. If I didn’t have a group of people expecting me to be there, I would never have been able to keep it up. Having a group that expects you there working out, suffering through the tough days and celebrating and laughing during the fun times…that’s important to me, and I’m sure you feel the same.
Remember, there are a lot of options out there. Here’s some ideas:
Join a cycling team at work
Join a dance class
Join our boot camp in Foster City or Mountain View
Get a personal trainer
Find a group of workout buddies on Facebook
Join IGT, our small-group personal training program
Try dragonboat racing!
4) Get your nutrition in check! If your goal is fat loss, you need to know that nutrition accounts for 80% of your fat loss progress. Don’t rely on exercise alone. The thing about nutrition is that you don’t need to fixate on the word “diet” because lot’s of people equate the word diet with the word failure. Instead, think of your nutrition program as a “corrective” nutrition program, where you are making temporary changes to get you back on track and to see fast results, where you can then make a transition into eating properly as a lifestyle.
One method we’ve found that works really well is to do food logging. Like our last winner of our 6-Week Body Transformation, Peggy, stated, “You don’t even have to log, you just click!”. She’s right. We recommend people us the free website www.myfitnesspal.com to log their foods. Myfitnesspal makes it super easy to log foods, and you take immediate control over your nutrition from the simple, basic action step.
5) Try a to-your-door food delivery service. If food logging is just not your thing…maybe you’ve tried it a bunch of times in the past and for whatever reason it just doesn’t work for you, I’ve got a solution you’ll love. It’s a food delivery service that’s unlike any other.
Great food. It’s flash frozen fresh, no TV dinner crap here! They send a full month of food to your doorstep, and all you do is heat it up and eat it. It’s already perfectly portioned controlled, so you don’t even have to think about it. If food logging isn’t your thing try this. It’s my prediction that for people that really want results in 2012, they’ll combine this food to-your-door solution with a group training program and completely dominate when it comes to fat loss and body transformation!
6) Stop reading and start doing. Well, of course I don’t mean to stop reading. I myself am a read-a-holic, and read everything fitness I can get my hand on to keep my pulse on the best training methods, nutrition plans and fat loss methods. However, I’ve found that some people simply over-analyze, over-read and under-do! At some point, you’ve got to put down the book and step into action. They say thoughts are things, and I believe that to be true, but without action…sorry, you need actually do things to get results in this world!
7) Join a 6-Week Body Transformation Contest. In 2011, this was the thing that catapulted most of our bootcamp clients to really excel in reaching their fat loss goals. As a group, we lost 440 lbs with our last body transformation contest…and in just 6 weeks! Did you remember at the beginning of the year we set a goal to lose 1,000 lbs total amongst our entire bootcamp? Well, we haven’t done our final calculations yet, but I’m bettin’ we’re a bit closer to 2,000 lbs for the year. I’ll let you know once we’re done, but I’m excited about this accomplishment in helping our community get fit!
Our next contest is ready to join, and if you join NOW, you can get an early bird discount! Last time our bootcamp members were free, but that was a beta version of our contest. Now we’re charging $50 for members, and $250 for non-members…but it’s well worth it (the first 10 to sign-up can get an early-bird discount). We’re still giving out two iPad 2’s to the female and male winners, only this time we’re including weekly weigh-in’s, plus some cool prizes for second and third place winners!
Here’s the link for the 6-Week Body Transformation Contest starting February 13th!
…And speaking of awesome lists to help you dominate in 2012, check out this great list of more specific things that will help your fitness goals put together by Jackie and Claudia from SkinnyScoop. Jackie and Claudia are also two of our all-star bootcampers (they also help a lot with our admin stuff in the office…thanks ladies!), so they know what’s up when it comes to being prepared in their workouts!
Well, it seems that time of year has come around again…
You know, it’s the time that keeps coming around faster and faster each year, and we always seem less and less prepared for it!
Yes, it’s Holiday time, Christmas time, Hanukkah time, Kwanzaa time…it’s basically Celebration time!!
…oh, and if you’re still shopping for gifts, why not give the gift of health. You can buy our gift certificates here at this link, but you don’t have much time, we’ll be taking this link down soon!:
However you celebrate this time of year, the big thing is to remember that GRATITUDE and GIVING are the most important thing. Love your neighbor, love your selves, love your differences. You may not agree with someone else’s way of celebration…or life. But that’s ok! We don’t have to agree to understand and to respect each other. It’s an interesting world with so many differences, and if we were all the same…well, I think we’d be like a bunch of clones or something.
Ok, so I’m off my soap box now. On with the festivities!!!
Every year on our blog Roy and I like to give away a bunch of FREE stuff in the spirit of giving! So, to show our gratitude and appreciation to YOU, our loyal Fit For Life Newsletter readers, we want you to have these 3 E-Books as a gift!
WE AT FIT FOR LIFE SOLUTIONS WISH YOU A HAPPY HOLIDAYS, AND WE’LL SEE YOU IN THE NEW YEAR!!!
By the way, have you met Beau yet? He’s our NEW “Service Ambassador” and he’s taken over a lot of the day-to-day on-site operations that I used to do. Beau is a great asset to our Fit For Life Solutions team. Here’s a video so you can get to know him a little better. If you need anything, he’s there to help YOU!
We here at Fit For Life Solutions want you to know that we’ve got you covered when it comes to meaningful gifts for you this holiday season. When you give the gift of health, you give someone the opportunity to make a real change in their life, to have more control, self-esteem, and to gain tremendous amounts of energy.
Do you have a brother, sister, parent, friend, or work-buddy you’d like to give a gift to this season? How about your girlfriend, boyfriend, wife, or husband? Wouldn’t you like to give them a gift this year that really means something?
Well, we’ve got you covered! Here are 4 choices of gifts you can download and print RIGHT NOW to give away as a gift to your friend or loved one!
You can gift this to ANYONE who has NOT taken our Fit For Life Bootcamp in Foster City or Fit Body Boot Camp in Mountain View before!
WE WILL NOW HAVE REGULAR BAND TESTING AND PROMOTION CEREMONY EVERY 2 MONTHS. THE DATES FOR THE NEXT 3 PROMOTIONS ARE HERE!!!!:
JANUARY 4TH, 2012
FEBRUARY 29TH, 2012
MAY 2ND, 2012
IMPORTANT NOTICE:All White bands that have been training for 1.5 months or more will be eligible for promotion to Yellow band. All Yellow and Orange bands will be tested/promoted with instructor recommendation only. Show up on the day of the promotion to find out if you are eligible.
All Green Bands and Purple bands, if you have held your band for at minimum 3 months, see your instructor on day of the Testing/Promotion to find out if you qualify. All Purple bands must bring in a short essay about their training experience to qualify (3 paragraphs is sufficient.)
——————————————————————-
The Fit For Life Solutions Band-Ranking System is a unique ranking system designed to show progress of individuals training in our Bootcamp, IGT, NLT or Corporate Fitness training programs.
The purpose for the band-ranking system is so that we can show improvements not just in weight loss, but in the “intangibles” of training such as a person’s attitude, energy, exercise form and technique, confidence, leadership, body-mind control, coordination, helping others, giving back to the bootcamp and fitness community, and how that person improves from a holistic perspective – mind/body/emotion/spirit.
The band-ranks aren’t about measuring up to others, but about improvements in oneself.
It’s our goal that by the time a person reaches Black Band, he or she has developed into a strong, positive, confident person all around. The attainment of Black Band will be different for each individual. However, one thing will remain consistent. The Black Band will only be earned through a process of training that has allowed for the person to undergo a major transformation body/mind transformation, and to evolve not just in fitness, but in life.
Fit For Life Solutions instructors are also ranked with the band-ranking system, only they progress to different standards. A Purple band instructor is not the same as a Purple band in our bootcamp. For example, not only does one of our instructors need to have excellent knowledge, athleticism, and training ability, but to progress they need to demonstrate leadership, niched expertise, coaching ability, and the ability to make big things happen in the fitness industry. Also, instructors start at either Green or Purple rank, depending on their skill level and ability as a trainer.
If you’re wondering what it takes to get to the higher Purple or Blue bands as a Fit For Life Solutions member, I’ll give you two examples here:
Tod Steinfeld - Blue band. (The highest ranking Fit For Life’er!)
- Training with Fit For Life Solutions for close to 2 years.
- Helps others in bootcamp with form and technique when they need assistance
- Works out consistently (lost 40 lbs)
- Complete attainment of fitness lifestyle
- Coaches Junior Giants baseball (gives back to community) and was named “Coach of the Year”
- Great attitude, helps out instructors before, during and after class when asked, and even when not asked.
Julie Nestor – Purple Band.
- Has greatly improved her attitude, confidence and energy in training and life!
- Has helped Fit For Life Solutions with many volunteer projects
- Lost 60 lbs through proper diet and exercise!
- Has hit barriers, yet still pushes beyond when obstacles arise
- Has cultivated her desire, commitment and perseverance in training
- Reaches out to help others, get’s others outside of bootcamp involved
- Teaches Physical Education to middle school kids and uses what she learns to inspire them!
There are many other high-ranking bootcampers, but only a few have reached the higher
Here are some of the ranked-Fit For Life’ers that have reached Orange band or above!:
IN THE PAST, FORREST TRACKED THIS IN HIS HEAD! HE CAN NO LONGER KEEP IT THERE, HIS HEAD IS ABOUT TO EXPLODE! PLEASE VIEW THIS LIST AND HELP US UPDATE IT! LET US KNOW IF YOU’RE NOT ON THE LIST, AND IF THE NAME IS WRONG OR IS MISSING SOMETHING. SEND UPDATES TO FORREST@FITFORLIFESOLUTIONS.COM PLEASE! THANK-YOU!!
I’m down here in Carlsbad, CA, writing this blog at this cool little spot, Vinaka Cafe, about two blocks from the beach. I’m missing seeing everybody on a daily basis, so Roy, Dan and Beau have been getting more calls and texts from me than Tiger Woods gets from his ladies. But that’s ok. It’s only a matter of time before I break down and start calling every one of you guys to see how your training is going…so don’t be surprised if I do! ; )
But on another note, I can’t believe this time of year is upon us already! So…as usual, I’m sending out my yearly warning!
FACT: 7 out of 10 people gain between 6-10 lbs from Thanksgiving until New Years.
WARNING: Don’t be one of those people! ; )
To help you stay strong and focused this holiday season, we’ve created this NEW Holiday Challenge for YOU!
Here’s our Holiday Challenge! Just download it, print it out, and win!
This Holiday Challenge is going to stretch your boundaries a little, and have you do some things you may not be used to doing. AND that’s a good thing!! Staying fresh and avoiding stagnation is KEY to a successful fitness lifestyle.
NOW GO OUT AND DO IT!
By the way, if you see this guy walking around, please go up to him and give him a hug or a handshake and tell him job well done!!
Beau Byron, our new “Service Ambassador” has been working around the clock to help you with everything from training to nutrition to fitness motivation…you name it! If you need anything, including info on memberships, IGT, personal training or the like, please don’t hesitate to ask him. You can call or text him at 650-238-7504.
Beau has pretty much taken over a lot of the things I used to do, and he’s doing a great job. Please give him a pat on the back, handshake or a hug for me. It really means a lot how he’s stepped up and jumped right in.
Several days ago we finished the measurements for everyone in the 6-Week Body Transformation Contest!! (For those that weren’t here for whatever reason, please see a trainer to get your final measurements…).
The results that poured in were…AMAZING! I was literally floored with everyone’s results, and a there were also a number of “Super-Acheivers” that blew my mind.
I’ve got to tell ya’…ALL of the Fit For Life Staff are thrilled to be a part of what has occurred here with this fat loss contest. Actually, thrilled isn’t the word…maybe crazy-super-thrilled, beaming-with-pride, freakin’-amazed, and monumentally blown away is more like it!
Look, we’ve done some amazing things over the years, BUT, the effects of this 6-Week Body Transformation Contest are going to ripple out in ways we can’t even imagine right now. THIS IS A PRIME EXAMPLE OF THE KIND OF IMPACT WE’VE BEEN WANTING TO CREATE IN OUR COMMUNITY – AND WE ALL DID THIS TOGETHER!! THANK-YOU TO EVERYONE WHO WAS INVOLVED!!!!!
The grand prize winners with the most points earned in the 6-Week Body Transformation Contest are…drum roll please…
Bryan Bottani and Peggy Heaney!!!
These two have won the iPad 2, and have gained the most points in the contest! Their final scores are here:
Bryan B. – Lost 24 lbs and 3.8% bodyfat for a total of 27.8 points!!
Peggy H. – Lost 21 lbs and 5.7% bodyfat for a total of 26.7 points!!
These are amazing results, and you can watch their videos to learn how they did it below!!
We had many successes who scored between 4 and 10 points!!
Mountain View
Tina A.
Anshul B.
Cynthia F.
Emma W.
Jessica W.
Kelly R.
Mary T.
Meridith H.
Nicole B.
Foster City
Aiisha B.
Asmita K.
Bhumi J.
Camille H.
Lou W.
Megan K.
Jackie F.
Jig K.
Marianne C.
Sujatha K.
Tammy P.
Danika C.
Elliot Y.
Frank M.
Jon B.
Shantal S.
Vivien M.
Rie W.
If you didn’t make the list, don’t be hard on yourself. Your fitness journey is a process. It may just not have been your time to shine…but your time will come! Keep pushing forward. The times when things are the most difficult are the times when you’re learning the most about yourself, and when you go through that, you become stronger and you learn to find YOUR KEY (everyone has their key), that will accelerate you forward.
Our High Achievers with 10-14 points!!
Foster City – High Achievers
Lisa L. lost 13 lbs and 1.8% bodyfat!
Lizzette S. lost 11 lbs and 3% bodyfat!
Tod S. lost 10 lbs and 1.9% bodyfat!
Toshiko I. lost 7 lbs and 3.6% bodyfat!
Weiling L. lost 9 lbs and 1.5% bodyfat!
Mountain View – High Achievers
Maureen O. lost 9.8 lbs and 2.5% bodyfat!
Shellece H. lost 11.6 lbs and .7% bodyfat!
Our Super Achievers that had over 15 points!
Foster City – Super Achievers
Colette O. lost 17 lbs and 2.4% bodyfat!!
Rick O. lost 14 lbs and 5.9% bodyfat!! Men’s Third Place!!
Bryan B. lost 24 lbs and 3.8% bodyfat!! Men’s First Place Winner!!!!
Peggy H. lost 21 lbs and 5.7% bodyfat!! Women’s First Place Winner!!!
Mountain View – Super Achievers
Becky C. lost 14.9 lbs and 2.1% bodyfat!!
Kim A. lost 15.7 lbs and 3.6% bodyfat!!
Sharon W. lost 14.8 lbs and 1% bodyfat!!
Amit B. lost 21.1 lbs and 4.2% bodyfat!! Men’s Second Place!!
Melissa O. lost 21.3 lbs and 2.8%bodyfat!! Women’s Second Place!!
Stacey A. lost 19.2 lbs and 3.7% bodyfat!! Women’s Third Place!!
Tanya B. lost 22.1 lbs and .2% bodyfat!!
…AND the team winner will be announced in a future post in a couple days! Stay tuned!!
Please don’t forget to congratulate these winners in the comments section below!!
Nice job everyone!! We look forward to announcing the next contest soon!!
When it comes to fat loss, our bootcamps and personal training programs are THE BEST in the Bay Area, and I say that without the slightest hesitation. Why am I so confident with that statement?
Is it because we’re the most creative with our training methods? No…but we are pretty darn creative.
Is it because we have the most fun with our clients? No, but laughter and smiles are a major part of our training.
Is it because we have the best equipment and facility available to us? No, not that either…we use minimal equipment in our training.
Well, maybe it’s because we always shaking things up? Well, it’s true that we always have something going on here, from 6-week body transformation contests to bootcamp marathons to NEW training programs such as IGT and NLT.
The real reason I’m so confident to say we’re the best, is that we have the best people. That means our trainers AND our clients. We have amazing, wonderful people in our programs and our trainers are pure heart. Our trainers are trainers to the bone, and they bring the energy, the knowledge, the passion and the results.
Here’s a video of one of our all-star trainers, Bo Kelley, showing us NLT at it’s finest. NLT is our premier one-on-one personal training program. See for yourself!
Spaces for IGT are also available. Bo has 2 spots left in his 5pm IGT class (small-group personal training), Dan has 5 spots in his IGT 3:45pm class, and Ryan has 2 spots left in his 6am class. Get on it! First to text “IGT” to 650-771-5149 gets a free trial week test drive!
