Self-Responsibility...

Look in the damn mirror and please wake up people. Blame the trainer, the job, income, genetics, injuries, etc.... For the fact that you look and feel just like a stack of buttered pancakes with your shirt off.... Or you can pick up a Webster dictionary, find the word "responsibility", come to a magical epiphany, and truly understand that no one but you chose to make that large chicken parm pizza the cornerstone of your nightly ritual. Put on your big boy or girl pants, peel the cheese soaked wool from over your eyes stop pointing the finger and try to take "responsibility" and more importantly take "control" of your damn life... Responsiblity...The first and most important step in getting to any fitness goal.

Dear FaceBook Exercise Enthusiast...

      Dear 90% of my News-feed exercise enthusiast who post videos of their "bad @$$" work outs, shirtless selfies, claim that your "Beast Mode" or hash tag "#doyouevenliftbro",
I offer you a reality check as an early Christmas present from me to you, in the form of helpful holiday advice.... 

1. The video of you performing those one legged KB burpees on a stability ball?.... IS the furthest thing from Bad @$$, and just plain STUPID. And your video of you "max dead-lifting".... though I bet your super proud...you should be embarrassed. Form sucks and you are weak.
2. New rule. Unless you are a Professional Bodybuilder, Professional Fitness Competitor, Model, or a Pro Athlete, chances are really high that you should keep your shirt on....for eternity. You are NO WHERE near as in as of good of shape as you think.
3. Beast mode huh? Just because your stronger than your dweeby, weak @$$ friends and your shmedium short sleeve shirt is starting to feel a little more snug these days, does NO WAY mean you are even close to Beast Mode. Unless you are joking please refrain from using that phrase.
4. #doyouevenliftbro? By the picture of you working out, I was gonna ask you the same damn thing. Going to planet fitness, and deadlifting their one and only barbell and performing some feeble smith machine shrugs a few times a week... In the fitness world Does NOT mean you "lift" and far as I'm concerned gives you ZERO right to hold yourself to a higher standard than the lifeless zombies sweating on the elipticles and recumbent bikes. Just like "Beast Mode" you better be joking when you use this hash tag. 

Do You Commit to Your Member?

         Members need consistency, routine, and accountability. Why would we offer them a 10 pack of training sessions?.... Or allow them to go month to month? NOTHING less than a one year contract for our members. It's NOT for us (the club), Its for the member. It's our responsibility to our members. We require them to sign a Contract/Commitment. Have you ever thought about providing that member with their own contract, signing it ourselves, and being held accountable to that member?
Here is an example of what everyone of our members should receive from their respective gym... club.

"_____________,Thank you for joining our club and welcome to our family. This contract will serve as our commitment to you. Over the next 12 months we promise to hold you accountable to your fitness goals, as well as to continually motivate and inspire you. Over the next year, your motivation will go through ups and downs. You will be under the weather.You will be extremely busy with work and family. You will be tired. You will not feel like exercising. This is normal. These and a combination of a slew of other reasons have and will always be there. These have and always will distract you from your fitness goals. As your coache(s), our promise and responsibility is to you, and is to NOT quit on you, to NOT give up on you, and ultimately NOT let you quit on yourself."

_____________ Club Representative 


We understand life does happen, if any of the following 3 happen will will gladly terminate your membership providing documentation for:

1. Loss of employment

2. Moving more than 40 miles away

3. A medical reason preventing further activity   

If and when a member shows signs of dropping off, please show them this contract and remind them of your oath to them.

Your Trainer is Like a Unicorn

        Just like Unicorns....Fitness Trainers are "Magical" Creatures. Imagine the daily task convincing someone to hire you as their fitness champion.... after this following conversation...

1. This is not going to be easy.
2. You are going to be tired.
3. You are going to be physically uncomfortable (sore).
4. You have already stated you have no time, but you are going to have to make time for THIS into your already super-busy life.
5. You're NOT going be able to eat the foods you love. You might be hungry
6. You are going need to change how you socialize.
7. You are going to have to go to bed earlier.
8. I know you hate "Fitness" and "Dieting", but I'm gonna do my best to make this fun.
9. You will have to pay for me to hold you accountable to this plan of tasks that I know that you HATE.
10. This will NOT be cheap.
11. You are NOT going to get to your fitness goal(s) tomorrow.
12. You are going have to do this the rest of your life.
13. Your so called "friends" and family will be resentful of your change in lifestyle.

"Great....Now let's get you signed up"

Just like Unicorns.... Fitness Trainers are "Magical" Creatures.

Break The Rules

    Break the rules.... And be creative. Its alright to think outside the box and do what YOU love. Only a few of us are fortunate enough to find a career that allows us to create....this is NO excuse to not use and develop this part of our soul. Sadly, since birth our instinctual need to be creative has been completely squandered. "Color within the lines, tuck in your shirt, get a job with great benefits."
    Just because it is your hobby, you enjoy it, you invest time and energy into and it doesn't translate into revenue... does not mean there is no value in it. The value to expand your mind and have autonomy is absolutely, without doubt, priceless. Paint, sing, dance, write, whatever....I give you permission to take a break from your "normal", "mundane" life, find that one thing that allows you to create, you truly love, and immerse yourself in it. This is success and happiness in my book. You owe it to yourself, your friends and family to be happy.... Break the rules and be creative.

Lessons Learned from Flywheel Miami

       I am a super-fitness snob and I do not love indoor cycling.  In fact, I truly believe it's one of the last activities we should be doing after sitting on our arses all day. Most of us already have super-tight hips, weak-disengaged core, terribly-rounded shoulders, blah blah blah, etc, etc and now you we are suppose to get into that same horrible position which contributed to these disorders?... and peddle for 45 minutes? Just saying.

       Three Months ago while in Miami on business, I met a Fitness Rock Star (Aleah Stander) who invited me to take her "spinning" class at FLYWHEEL MIAMI.  I heard of Flywheel here in Boston, but for whatever reason have never ventured in. I didn't know what to expect, but "Macho" Frank accepted the invite.

       The first thing that caught my attention was the "crazy" ENERGY karate choppin' me in the face as soon as I walked through the front door...it set the tone for what was soon to come. The staff were equally as fun and energetic as the DUBStep screaming over the speakers.
I've taken indoor cycling before.... But the level of COACHING here was Next Level. From the Leadership, cuing, tone of voice, to the personal connection to the audience.... It was awe inspiring. The instructor actually got off her bike to penetrate the stadium style sea of roughly 60 bikes just to add to the experience. I was quite impressed. Great Coaching.
        The choice of MUSIC only added to the value and swag of this class.... This particular class had a compilation of the likes of Jay-Z, Notorious B.I.G., and Mumford and Sons. It flowed seemelessly. I almost started rapping along with Biggy, but I was way too short of breath. The music was frickin' dope.
        After class while I was changing my footwear, I noticed that the lobby was filled with instructors and "FLYWHEELERS" mingling well after the "toture" had ended. These FLYWHEELERS spilled into the nearby coffee shops. This was an amazing display of the close knit-fun Family/CULTURE/community FLYWHEEL Miami has built. Really... Isn't this why we do what we do? Culture is King,
        Overall, it was an amazing experience. Since that morning in Miami, I have been to at least a dozen FLYWHEEL classes all over the country. So, I guess FLYWHEEL has erased my deep-hatred for indoor cycling. Though the fitness snob, strength and conditioning coach in me still believes there are way better things for our sedentary population to do in terms of exercise, Flywheel Miami over delivers in the following areas.... yet I still will go despite my beliefs.
1. Energy
2. Coaching
3. Music
4. Community/culture
       As far as i am concerned these four create the perfect storm for Fitness Success and I believe anyone in the fitness industry could learn a few things from the fluidity and the prasumed ease in which FLYWHEEL Miami delivers it's fitness mojo.
I Don't care how smart you think you are and how great you thnk your program design is...nothing trumps Culture, Energy and Coaching. Ultimately the Experience and the ability to make members happy and coming back rule.
Bottom Line FLYWHEEL Miami knows exactly what it is... Kick ass indoor cycling, kick ass music, kick ass energy, kick ass people... Nuff Said.
Try FLYWHEEL Miami (Indoor Cycling Stadium Gods and Goddess's)

https://www.facebook.com/aleahstandercoach
AleahStander.com

Focus and Fitness?

   

 

       It is pitch black as the alarm goes off. We barely enough time to shower, eat, and get the kids ready for school. We hurry into to work just to have every single second of that 10 hour day consumed with work related stress. Then....Over an hour of bumper to bumper traffic on the way home. We walk in the door with only to have a huge laundry list of chores waiting for us before dinner. Eating Dinner is perhaps the only time all day that we actually got to sit down in silence (maybe), relax and eat... After all of this....After this long @$$ day... and now that your finally comfortable....  You must change your clothes, leave the warm comfort of home just to go and get beat-up by some meathead trainer, who is only going to make us more uncomfortable. This is the reality we deal with.
      Weight Loss is SIMPLE. Everything else in your life is HARD, There's only so much energy and FOCUS one human can muster. 
      Usually when it comes to our Priorities, Weight loss, Health and Fitness fall to the bottom of the list. Its not that we feel it is not important. It is just that when it comes time to EXECUTE, there's a little or no energy/focus left. 
      Sadly, This is where we FAIL. 
     Try this.... Make a list of the top 10 things that cause you stress.... or lose your focus. Slowly start eliminating these negatives from your life. As your focus on your health and fitness increases, so will your happiness.

Normal Made Us Fat

          Cereal for breakfast, Steak and Cheese sandwich for lunch, lasagna for dinner. Sadly, this is what is considered eating "NORMALLY" today from a members point of view. And with 66% of our population "overweight".... I guess being "overweight" is normal too. 

One of the most asked questions by members dieting, is "when do I go back to eating "NORMALLY"? It is our responsibility from day 1 to educate our members and teach them the difference between eating "socially" normal (what we "normally" eat today) and "human" normal (how humans are meant to eat). One will get you fat and unhealthy, the other will develop a leaner, healthier person. Just because all your friends and family members are overweight does NOT mean it's "normal" and does NOT mean you have to be too....

Bottom line....If eating "Normal" got you fat.... It will get you fat again.

The Biggest Lie You've Been Told About Fitness

          "It's Easy" might the single biggest lie as it relates to describing fitness success...I absolutely cringe when I hear this garbage. This is a HUGE reason why we fail in our culture when it comes to fitness and especially weight loss.
Almost every TV infomercial, magazine article, or "Fitness Guru" blog continuously brainwashes  us with that fraudulent phrase "it's Easy". I completely understand why we get so frustrated and confused with fitness, then eventually quit or fail. We can NOT confuse SIMPLE with EASY. Though we all know that combining the ability to banish your diet of low value nutrients and adding exersise more consistently absolutely works and is a SIMPLE process.... By NO means, is this easy. The HONEST truth is.... Anything worth wild takes HARD WORK, SACRIFICE, and is NOT easy. Reaching our fitness goals and losing weight might be the single most difficult thing we ever do, due to some of the following lifestyle changes.
Here's what will have to change.... What we eat, what we do for exercise, how much we do, how we sleep, who we socialize with, how we socialize, how we deal with our emotions and stress, how we deal with being sore/uncomfortable, how we manage time, how do we sustain this, etc. This is a monumental undertaking and will be overwhelming. Hear are some tips.
1. Be prepared for this to be difficult.
2. Be prepared that all the sacrifices we make will be worth every drop of sweat and every slice of pizza skipped.
3. We cannot be afraid of hiring a coach for support. We are gonna need it.
4. Do NOT get frustrated and understand longevity. Fitness is not a day to day task or a month to month endeavor. It's a lifelong journey we all aim to improve upon year after year.
5. The next time someone try's to sell us on "easy fitness" we have to promise ourselves to turn and RUN!!!!! 

3 Gems for Soon-To-Be Club Owners

      

       You happen to be a Mega-Rockstar Trainer, Kick Ass Strength Coach, Super-Star Zumba Instructor, or an Indoor Cycling Goddess....Its time to go out on your own, right? All you need is Space, Turf, Kettle-Bells, Spin Bikes....and to be armed with your uber charming persona. With only these you shall enslave the community in which surrounds you, and make them conform to the ONLY way to do fitness, the right way...YOUR WAY???
     
      Here are Frank Nash's Big 3 (yes I sometimes nerd out and refer to myself in the 3rd person) that I often see soon to be Training Club, Cycling studio, Gym owners fail to acknowledge, up until its too late. These areas I promise you will only hasten your quest towards fitness world domination.


1. Hire a Coach 
      Drop the ego pronto pal, you may be an expert Pilate's instructor, but an expert in business, you are most likely not. Being in the fitness industry, you most likely spend all day coaching others in an areas of their life (fitness/ nutrition) either they don't understand, aren't good at, hate, don't have time to figure out, etc.....and you hold them accountable. 
     Here's a crazy thought....Learn from your members and do what they've done, hire a damn proven expert that you trust and believe in (in your case, a business of fitness expert), and request they hold you accountable. No matter what it costs...its worth it. 

2. Marketing
      You are probably use to the club you currently or most recently worked for providing all your leads (though secretly you think its all your rockstar charm). Or Perhaps you belive the current client/member base you have, who you say, "they will never leave" (they will...shit happens) dry up or leave to go train with the new 19 year old swimsuit model, running boot camps for 1/3 the price as you, right  down the street from you. It going to happen. 
I don't care how great you think you are...you always need a steady stream of new warm bodies entering your euphoric fitness cocoon. This stream must be consistent one and this stream does cost money to keep consistent .. If you tell me that you don't need marketing because all your business is done all  through referrals, I might slap you in the face with a hot, wet, steamy, diaper, then oh so politely tell you to wake the hell up.
I always recommend that you spend a minimum of 10% monthly gross towards Marketing, and don't change the budget, just change the strategies. Spend every sent. Here is another area I would seek advice.

3. Budget Time to Work "ON" improving Your Business, Rather than Always Working IN Your Business.
       As much as you don't want to do this, its now time to take the trainer hat off and put the Club Owner hat on. Yep, We all have to grow up sometime (well kinda). This means less training members and more training staff and focusing on steering the direction of your club and brand. "But my members need me to train them" False. Your members need you to focus on creating systems to keep their club, the place that has changed their life... flourishing. "But If I don't train I will lose members" Yes, yes, You will lose a few. With your new focus now on driving leads, you'll replace those older members who had a bond with YOU, with many more new members who will have a bond with the club and its culture. This will be the hardest thing you'll probably have to do, but i promise you this is the most important thing you can do for you, your club, your staff, and more importantly....your members. (this was just the short answer, I could write a book on this topic)

Don't make this hard on yourself. Try this and let me know how ultra successful you become...and then pleass send me an edible arrangement. I like the ones with chocolate covered strawberries. 

A Matter of Importance, Not Cost

          OK, maybe you smoke, eat-out roughly 3-5x a week, have the newest I-Phone, drive a a super fancy car....

Great, Seriously...Good for you. You work hard for your money and you should spend your money as you see fit. Heck, I do.

Throughout my career as a coach, I have heard the following countless times from some of the most unhealthy individuals.

"I'd love to, but I just can't afford your Gym"

Seriously!!!! ... Please...Please STOP......and just be HONEST...and just say the following... (for its really the only response I won't call "Bullshit" on).

"I thoroughly understand that by trading habits, This amazing gym, its super knowledgeable staff .. for perhaps....  smoking, eating out often, 3x cups of Starbucks each day... etc, it really is a financial wash and I'm probably saving money when all is said and done. But also, I UNDERSTAND that I WILL lose an amazing amount of weight, I WILL get STRONGER, my CONFIDENCE WILL increase, I will be setting a amazing/ healthy lifelong example FOR MY CHILDREN and I WILL improve my overall health and the health of my FAMILY. I do understand that your gym WILL create a fun, inspiring environment that WILL hold me accountable and not let me quit, which I have done in the past... Its NOT A MONEY ISSUE, though I say I want to...the reality is I am just not ready to make these changes" 

No Vacation from Your Health

         I found that Mid July through mid August is a mega-vacation time for most people (especially our FNTS members). I love traveling and experiencing new adventures/ places away from my home, but  being on "Vacation" does NOT mean "Completely abandon your Health and Fitness Routine"
If you have a vacation coming up and your goal is to stay fit and not erase your fitness momentum, here are just a few simple tips that youd be glad you followed.

Going on Vacation is a terrible excuse to fall off the "Fitness Wagon", we work way too hard to erase all the work we've done to look and feel great on.... Vacation. We all hate the feeling of "getting back" or "starting over". Next time your heading on that magical trip.... check out these 7 tips and prepare. I promise you'll be happy you did.

1. Pack bars and shakes, supplements, and portable shaker
2. Drink lots of water
3. Plan a workout/ movement/ activity/ anything that elevates heart rate for just 15-20 minutes first thing in morning.
4. Bring your wearable exersise moniter
5. "Eat out" no more once a day
6. Travel with people who have similar goals and fitness habbits
7. Remind yourself that you can have a good time without consuming large amounts of alcohol and terrible foods.

Enjoy these easy tips...have fun on vacation...have a plan to maintain your health and gains...youll be happy you did

Stupid "Selfies"

            I always catch heat from this, but don't really care....Being a trainer and club owner for quite some time now, I still don't understand why so many trainers/coaches feel the need to post how "fit" and "lean" they are (shirt off selfies?) .... Champion themselves, and never their members???
If your in the business to help people as most trainers claim to be...PLEASE understand, your ability to motivate, inspire, and drive members to a healthier lifestyle is the true indicator of how effective you are as a coach, not your ability to show off your six pack in a shirtless bathroom selfie. Potential/current members DO NOT GIVE A CRAP about YOUR six pack...they care weather or not you can create an environment for them to flourish.

        You might be boosting your ego...but you're truly hurting your business. Trust me.
So, try this for a change, put your damn shirt on and be a damn professional. You might help more people.