By “epiphany” I mean a realization so powerful that it felt like you were thrust from the darkness of night into the clear light of day.

It was a moment in which everything you’d been missing became really obvious — all of a sudden.

That’s what I experienced in 2007.

I was working for Extreme Fitness near Yonge and Sheppard.

On this day, the gym was a zoo.  It took me two hours to do a forty five minute workout.   Don’t you just hate that?  I spent most of the workout looking for weights, because even though there’s plenty of rack space, 80% of the weights were lying on the floor.  Yargh!

Anyway, as I looked around, it was like I was seeing the whole scene for the first time…

“Is this a gym, or a singles bar?”

Many of the women were in full makeup, trying very hard NOT to break a sweat, actually.  Their ultra-tight workout gear leaves little to the imagination, and serves as a beacon — beep, beep, beep — to the balding business men who approach them, “can I help you with that miss?”

There’s a ridiculously tan guy in a wife beater flirting with one of the girls on treadmill.  In fact, it’s after work so you can’t get a treadmill to save your life!

Everybody’s lined up to the “cardio confessional”. Most of them never lose any weight, but they’ll feel a bit less guilty about the couple of beers they had at lunch!

The gym floor looks like a meat market.  There are people everywhere, except in a small radius around the guy who smells like he hasn’t bathed since Mulroney was Prime Minister.

The only mat I’ve found to stretch on has a huge sweat circle from the back of someone’s head.  Gross.

To my left, one of the fitness consultants is asking a forty-five year old woman who looks like she’s never worked out to do exercises on a stability ball. 

“Your stabilizers are weak,” he says.

Give – me – a – break!

That’s how they do it, you see. They book all new members an appointment for a fitness consultation.  They claim it’s for “insurance purposes”.  The consultation itself is not based on matching you with the right program for your goals, it’s designed to make you feel embarrassed, so you’ll commit to a long term personal training contract.

It was at that moment that I knew I couldn’t be a part of this dog and pony show any more.

By February of 2008 I had resigned from Extreme and founded Evolution Fitness.  I had a vision of creating a space where the average person would feel comfortable and have every chance to succeed with their fitness program.

I made a conscious decision to do things differently, to focus on what was best for my customer as opposed to whatever would make the cash register ring most often.

I recently had lunch with an old client of mine from Extreme.  During our conversation, a lot of facts about the industry came up.  Here are a few I’d like to share with you:

1. Most gyms pay their trainers a fraction of what you pay for the session.  When I started at Extreme, I had several years experience, yet they paid me $15 an hour.  While I did eventually and very slowly (ugh!) move up to a higher pay scale, the low wages are one reason big gyms have a hard time retaining talent.  If the trainer is good, and can sustain his/her own schedule, they’ll leave.

There are some great trainers in commercial health clubs, but many of them are either rookies or they’re not serious about doing personal training as a profession.  It’s a part-time gig while they study law or chiropractic, or whatever.  At Extreme they’d often approach members to become trainers!  “You look good, wanna be a trainer?” 

Hiring a personal trainer in a gym is a bit of a crapshoot.  The good ones are usually full.

2. There are tons of personal trainers, some are good.  I’ve interviewed many trainers over the years, whether it was working in management for gyms, or in looking for new team members at Evolution Fitness.  One thing I’ve learned is that while experience helps, it doesn’t guarantee quality.  I’ve met trainers with 10 years experience that I didn’t think were any good.

Education doesn’t count for much either.  A lot of Kinesiology grads are lousy.  They know a lot of facts about the body, but not how to work with it.  Also, it’s not that difficult to become certified as a trainer.  The course is usually pretty basic, and the testing is not that rigorous.  Phil Kaplan is famous for getting his cat certified as a personal trainer through a correspondance course!

3. Most trainers fail to get their clients results.  It’s nothing against them, I believe they’re well intentioned.  It’s just that no one’s taught them how to get results for their clients.  They’re taught all about the body, and how not to injure someone basically.

So much more goes into helping someone change their lives than simply understanding the science.  A person is so much more than just a body, they are a dynamic bundle of beliefs, habits, dreams, and fears.

It’s the ability to build a successful coaching relationship (and to know how to push the right buttons) that makes all the difference.

Please do not get me wrong.  I’m not down on this industry.  I’m passionate about it.  My vision is to elevate personal training to new levels of respect.  Why do you think my business is called Evolution?  The old ways will soon be extinct.

We have so much power as personal trainers to make an impact.  It’s a power I believe we’re beginning to acknowledge.  You heard it here first: we will soon be the go-to guys and gals of modern preventive medecine, an esteemed position which we’ll earn through demonstrating our capacity to heal.  I am working on some projects this year that will change the fitness industry forever.

In the meantime, if you need help, where should you turn?  Call us first.  If, for whatever reason that doesn’t work for you, here are a couple of things you should consider before hiring a trainer.

First, don’t be afraid to ask for credentials.  Is the person into professional development (reading, going to conferences)?  Usually a good sign.

Second, don’t be afraid to ask for references.  Can you talk to some of their clients to find out what kind of results they’ve had?

Finally, what’s the vibe?  Do you like this person, or are they annoying?  Can you listen to them?  Are they confident?  Are they enthusiatic?  And another great one to consider, do they look the part?

Start there, and trust your instincts.  If something doesn’t smell right, get the heck out of dodge!

To Your Success,

Conor Kelly

P.S.  I’d love to hear about any past experiences you may have had with a personal trainer, especially if it’s funny!  Please leave a comment below.  If I get some interest, I might tell you some funny stories.

We used to invade UWO’s student community centre to train.

Not only was I fat back then, but I had long hair which I always tied back in a pony tail.  Not a good look, believe me.

Anyway, before our workout we used to draw a large, circular chalk outline on the floor around where our planned workout would be.  We’d call it our “circle of rage”, and if anyone had the misfortune of stepping inside the chalk outline we’d say, “careful, circle of rage here…we’ve got a rager of a workout going, you might want to watch out.”

After re-reading the above, it’s suddenly become painfully obvious to me why I didn’t have a girlfriend back then.  : )

It was all in good fun of course.  The point is, this type of play helped us to quickly adopt the aggressive mindset we needed to complete our heavy training sessions.

One of the confidence building tips I often share in my seminars is based on the concept of “act as if” or “fake it ’til you make it.”

Always act and speak in the direction of the things you want to achieve.

Your power to accomplish anything is equal to the quality of your language.  If you want a different outcome, try a different conversation.

No matter what you say, there’s always somebody listening, namely, you.  If your speech patterns and behavior patterns run counter to your intention of what you want, you’ve got a problem. 

When I was fat I’d say things like “why can’t I lose weight?”  Bad question.  Why?  Because your mind will work to come up with an answer!

The irony is that a lot of people ask me that question now.

I’ll often get my trainees to practice “singing a different tune” whenever they feel challenged by something.  If they say, “I’ll try”, I get them to say, “not only am I going to do it, but it’s going to be easy, and I’m going to enjoy the process,” or more simply, “losing weight is easy.”

To say “I’ll try” means you’re not really going to do it, and you’re giving me your excuse up front.

A word of warning: changing your language is going to feel very uncomfortable at first, mostly because you may not believe your own words.  Stick with it.  Say it often.  Remember, you are always listening.

I started saying things like, “losing fat is easy”.  I’d even look for opportunities to say it in casual conversation.  I’d act like I really believed it, even if I didn’t.

One of the fastest ways to change an emotion is to change your physical state.  Have you ever tried forcing yourself to smile, smile, smile?  You eventually start feeling happy!

When you want to implant a new habit of speech and thus a new belief, put your whole physiology behind the words.  Hold your head high, project your voice, and smile.

A belief is nothing more than a thought which has been repeated often.

You’ll find that if you speak the words “losing weight is easy” enough times with conviction (even if it’s fake conviction), you’ll eventually start to believe that it’s true.

Skeptical?  Try it.

If nothing else, you’ll entertain yourself, and you won’t have lost anything.  But if you are successful in implanting the new belief, you’re that much closer to what you want.  I guarantee you it’s easier to take positive action on your weight loss goal when you believe it’s easy to succeed.  Thinking it’s hard, on the other hand, can be a great excuse to procrastinate.

From now on, use a little bravado.  Get into the spirit of a prize fighter before a big fight.  “I’m going to win.”  Act as if achieving your goals and desires is a foregone conclusion.  It’s automatic…guaranteed, in fact.

Fake confidence long enough and you will become confident.

To Your Success,

Conor Kelly

It’s one of the most viewed videos, ever.

When Raya and I were planning our wedding we decided we wanted to do something unique and fun.  So we hired her client (who was a dance instructor) to choreograph a routine for us based on the “evolution of dance”, which would become our ”first dance” at the wedding.

You can watch it here:

The end result was that people were very surprised!  In fact, they loved it.

It was always our belief that a wedding should be a celebration.  Our first dance really set the done for the evening.  The party was legendary.  To this day my relatives rave about how great it was.  “Best wedding I’ve ever been to”, and “most fun I’ve ever had” are examples of what they say.

 The original “evolution of dance” that inspired ours.

You too can create more of the outcomes you want by acting intentionally.

You can practice entering into situations with a deliberate intention.  Have a big meeting coming up?  How do you want it to turn out?  Hold that picture in your mind before it starts.

You can apply this several times throughout the day, leading into every segment of your day.  Why not clearly intend that you’re going to find a way to enjoy your workout today, or you’re not going to have that beer at lunch?

Will things always unfold exactly as you intend?  Probably not.  But you will find that more often than not, they do.  You are in charge of your own experience.  You set the tone for your day.

It’s time to get the party started!

Practice intending powerfully in everything you do, and you might discover you have much more power than you thought.

Have a great Friday,

Conor Kelly

According to national stats, as many as 15% of young children are overweight, and 6.3% are obese.

Does that register? Under five years old and already overweight, or obese!!

Not too long ago that was completely unheard of, along with early onset of “adult” diseases like type II diabetes.

The real problem, of course, is that children that display this type of behaviour early are that much more likely to continue the same behaviours later on in life. Can anyone else what a huge threat this is to our way of life?

Where do kids learn habits like these?

While these stats are hardly shocking, they are upsetting. I’ve seen it, there’s just a lot more really FAT kids around, and it makes me flippin’ mad! It’s just wrong.

We can theorize about social change and new, more sedentary societal lifestyle habits all we want, but ultimately, doesn’t responsibility rest with the families?

It’s “monkey see, monkey do”, kids will do what as their parents do. If the parents sit around on the computer or watching tv for hours a day, and make all the wrong food choices, what kind of example are they setting?

According to the CEO of ParticipAction, Kelly Murumets, “In families where there are regular healthy habits, those kids end up being more likely to have those healthy habits throughout childhood and adulthood”.

Really? No kidding…

In my experience in supporting The Toronto Foundation for Student Success , I learned just how much socio-economic factors play in to this as well.

What I mean is, as much as I’d like to stay mad at the parents of these kids, sometimes they just don’t know any better, or simply are not in a position to do anything about it.

That’s why I believe the key is EDUCATION.

EDUCATION IS THE ENEMY OF MISINFORMATION.

The more you educate people about their options for a healthy lifestyle, and healthy nutrition habits, the more you empower them to be able take action to change their current situation.

That’s where responsibility falls on us – on the people who know better – to reach out to those that don’t.

I’m urging you, #1, to commit to continually educating yourself on what’s best for your family and the health of your kids. Be a role model. Adopt a healthy lifestyle, kids don’t need to know “why” it’s important, they just need to see someone doing it!

#2, support great initiatives like Active Healthy Kids Canada , and The Toronto Foundation for Student Success , because, unless I miss my guess, this is potentially one of the most serious crises we will ever face as a society.

If we don’t concern ourselves with the health of our kids, we are mortgaging our future…and that is a debt we might not be able to repay.

I want to hear your opinions! Please leave your comments below and let’s discuss this.

Live Strong and Healthy,

Conor Kelly
EVOLUTION FITNESS
(416) 220-7883

Ever since I announced my new Personal Trainers Toronto seminar, “Secrets of Supportive Eating” on Tuesday, I’ve been getting phone calls from people asking, “is this a good thing to bring my spouse/significant other to?”

You know what my answer is?

Heck, yeah!

So much of the recent research on the problem of weight loss has shown that having a good support system (sometimes referred to as “social support”) is a big key to success with your personal trainers Toronto fitness program and nutrition plan.

It can definitely be a challenge to make the lifestyle changes that have to happen if you’re going to see lasting fitness and fat loss results.

That’s why you need to be accountable to someone other than yourself.

“Going it alone” dramatically increases the odds of failing.

It’s just far too easy to rationalize and get away with not doing something (or doing something you shouldn’t) when you’re accountable only to yourself.

In fact, one recent study very capably demonstrated that weekly accountability can improve your chances
of success by up to 4200%!

That’s why I’ve decided to reach out to you and make you an offer you can’t refuse…

…bring a spouse, friend or significant other to our personal trainers Toronto “Secrets of Supportive Eating” and you can both attend the course for just $34!

Get the details and register by going here:

http://hstrial-ckelly4.homestead.com/SSESeminar.html

One day you might look back at this evening as the turning point.  I will be sharing the only personal trainers Toronto system for transforming your body and reclaiming your health, using strategies based in the physical AND mental aspects of weight loss success, discovered through years of helping people just like you achieve
their fitness goals.

There are many ways to get great support.  You can Join a group, use a buddy system, or hire a coach to
keep you accountable.

But having the support of the people closest to you is pretty darn important too.

Join us for “Secrets of Supportive Eating”, and be sure to bring a buddy!  Register here:

http://hstrial-ckelly4.homestead.com/SSESeminar.html

Live Strong and Healthy,

Conor Kelly
EVOLUTION FITNESS – PERSONAL TRAINERS TORONTO
(416) 220-7883

For the past week here in Toronto there have been tremendous lineups at flu clinics for people wanting the shot. Heck, one of my Toronto personal trainer colleagues went to a clinic with his son at 5am and there were already hundreds of people there!

I’ve been debating with myself the last while whether to share my thoughts on the issue, but the topic is pretty hot, and I just decided I wanted to say something.

Frankly, it bothers me.

As a Toronto personal trainer who has dedicated his life to helping people reclaim their health, it bothers me that the medical community is so quick to stick us with something, that so few are questioning it, and no one’s talking about what you can do – that doesn’t require a needle – to protect yourself against H1N1, and other seasonal flus and viruses.

I would never presume to tell you what to do. I would just ask that you to educate yourself about these vaccines and what it is they’re putting in your body.

Make an informed decision.

Let’s put aside for the moment that H1N1 is just a new strain of flu, and not particularly deadly (check the facts).

Let’s also put aside that many studies suggest that flu vaccinations don’t work, and that since the onset of immunization programs more deaths have been attributed to the flu, not less.

Let’s even put aside that little is known about the long-term effects of these types of vaccinations.

Some vaccines contain what’s know as “adjuvants”, like squalene and mercury in the form of thimerosal, which supposedly help the vaccine work better by further weakening your body’s immune system (does that sound healthy?) and can cause life-threatening allergies, fatigue, infertility, brain damage and severe neurological side-effects.

Again, look it up…the information, the research is there, and nobody bothers to look into it.

But the biggest thing that bothers me about this mass immunization is that if we were just to focus on lifestyle factors and what it is we need to do to be an otherwise healthy person, we would be well-equipped to fight back against viruses like these, because we’d have a properly functioning immune system!

Ask yourself what happens next year when the latest strain of flu appears and our immune systems have already been compromised by vaccinations.

Here’s my personal recommendation:

1. Eat well. Give your body what it needs. Try to stick to organic whole foods as much as possible and avoid sugar and processed foods as they compromise immune function.

2. Exercise. Get some good blood-flow going throughout the body so you spread some of that “anti-body” love which is contained in the blood. Be realistic with yourself though, and check your stress levels. If you’re already burned-out, stressed-out, or sleep-deprived, intense exercise will actually weaken your immune system. If that’s the case, do exercise, but keep it moderate – especially in a germ infested gym.

3. Get plenty of sleep. You should be doing this anyway, but not getting enough sleep is really leaving the door open to viruses and getting sick.

4. Take your vitamins. A multi-vitamin should keep your bases covered, I personally use Shaklee’s Vitalizer(TM), and have not been sick since I started using it a year ago. Also, it’s important to get plenty of C and D, especially D because many of us here in Toronto are deficient, and that makes a big difference when it comes to your ability to fight off the flu.

5. Eat garlic. While this may not make you popular, garlic is a very potent anti-viral, and can help your body fight off infection (I prefer oregano oil, but it more or less does the same thing).

6. Wash your hands often and don’t touch your face. You get germs that way. : )

7. My personal recommendation for the supplement component of your holistic approach to a strong immune system is Vitalizer, Nutriferon with Defend and Resist Complex in your medicine cabinet for when you first sense that you are “catching” something. Call me (416) 220-7883 for any questions about this.

Look, I may not be a doctor, but I do read research, and perhaps most importantly, I can read between the lines. I strongly urge you to do the same.

Education is the enemy of misinformation.

Live Strong and Healthy,

Conor Kelly – Toronto Personal Trainer
EVOLUTION FITNESS
(416) 220-7883

P.S. For help with #’s 1, 2, and 4 especially, make sure you get a spot at my seminar at The Whole Foods Market, next Wednesday at 7pm. I’ll be laying it all on the line to bring you the latest, greatest information on how to reclaim your body and your health once and for all!

You can register for by calling (416) 944-0500 or going here:

Whole Foods Market Class Schedule

P.P.S. Agree or disagree? Leave your comments below!

The line above is taken from my “victory speech” after successfully pulling a 28,000 lb. school bus approximately 50 ft. on a uphill grade in Yonge-Dundas Square this past Saturday.

“Nutrition is the foundation of all health and fitness. Nutrition is the foundation for success.” I continued.

My school bus pull was intended to raise money and awareness for The Toronto Foundation For Student Success, an organization which helps provide healthy breakfasts to over 90,000 Toronto students each school day.

In Toronto, 1 in 3 kids live in poverty, which means that almost half go to school on an empty stomach. In some areas, that number is more than half, and fully another third do not eat lunch either! In Toronto! This is not a third world country. The problem of student hunger is widespread in our city and threatens our communities.

Check out video of Conor’s bus pull on The SUN website!

“You can overcome. You can be and do more than what people expect. You don’t have to fall into anyone else’s plan for your life. Whatever you can conceive in your mind, and believe in your heart, you can achieve. I just proved it! Don’t let anyone tell you different!”

It’s amazing how well people listen to you when you’ve just finished pulling a bus!

What the Toronto Foundation For Student Success does is just help us to help less fortunate young members of our community to have the same basic opportunity to learn, grow, and excel, which many of us take for granted.

Thanks very much to all of you for your generous support! We don’t have all the numbers confirmed as of yet, but early reports suggest we exceeded our $15,000 goal!

Thanks to our sponsors: Evolution Fitness, Red Juice Media, Telehop, Quiznos, Flip Video, Zip Car, the [clinic], Top Form Fitness, Florida Jack’s, The Whole Foods Market, and more!

Thanks to all the great entertainment acts, Magician Dan Trommater, and musical acts The Times, Najuah, and Shalli. Also, can’t forget our guests, our provincial strongman competitors and the lovely Talia Russo.

And a special thank you to our amazing co-hosts CP24′s Amber Payie and ET Canada’s Rick Campanelli!

Check out our photo album here.

Get a full event wrap up at www.pullingforthehungry.com and you can still pledge online if haven’t had a chance to yet! It’s not too late!

Thanks very much everyone for your support. I’m so happy with the way everything turned out!

Conor Kelly
EVOLUTION FITNESS – PERSONAL TRAINERS TORONTO
(416) 220-7883

On October 10, in Yonge-Dundas Square, I’ll have an opportunity to do something pretty special, which is pull a school bus in front of thousands of spectators and a throng of media, to raise money for a very worthy cause – hungry children in Toronto schools.

Almost half of Toronto kids go to school hungry, a fact which I find completely unacceptable!

In a recent TV interview I talked about the double whammy of how, before this all got started, I was nowhere near the kind of shape I would need to be in to be able to do this, and I would really only have about 15 weeks altogether to get ready for pulling a bus.

I’ve always thought that 190 lbs. of bodyweight vs. 28,000 lbs. of school bus is a really cool metaphor for the fight we face with eliminating child hunger in our city. But what’s even more cool is how the process of getting ready to pull the bus has helped me further underline the importance of this issue.

My point is this: the foundation of my being able to transform my body once again and prepare for this event is proper nutrition, and that’s exactly what these kids need – if they’re gonna have a shot.

Without proper nutrition, not only would I not have the energy I need to train, but I would not have been able to gain the muscular bodyweight and strength that I have over the past twelve weeks.

It’s putting nutrition first that enables our Personal Trainers Toronto students to consistently and dramatically transform their bodies, lose weight, and transform themselves, their ability to do, to act, and their outlook on life.

Nutrition is numero uno, number one, the big cahuna when it comes to changing your body, reclaiming your health, boosting your energy – and yes, maximizing academic performance!

We must address nutrition first, before all else, as this is where your body gains the basic fuel it needs to function. How far would you get if you drove your car without gas? How much would you remember if forced to learn while starving?

The same energy and ability to focus that we require as adults to perform better at our jobs and enjoy a better quality of life is exactly what kids need to get the most out of their education.

Without this there is no foundation for success.

Without the right nutrition there is no foundation for success. This is equally true for your weight loss program, your overall health, and a child’s ability to grow and develop.

Put first where it belongs, make nutrition a priority – in your life, in your child’s life, in our community. Please give generously to those who need it, because when you do, you’re giving hope to kids who face hunger, poverty, and violence at school everyday.

Pledge online:

www.PullingForTheHungry.com

Yours In Great Health,

Conor Kelly
EVOLUTION FITNESS – PERSONAL TRAINERS TORONTO
(416) 220-7883

There was a story on CNN yesterday about how Oprah’s has “publicly admitted” her recent weight gain. She did an interview for O magazine, saying “how did I let this happen again?”

My first thought was, is it really news when Oprah gains weight? After that I had a chuckle at the title of the piece, “Oprah’s War on Weight.” So we’ve gone from the ‘War On Terror’, to ‘War in the Middle East’ to a war on fat? I think CNN’s editorial people might be running out of ideas…their next piece will be something like ‘War on Unemployment’, or ‘War on the Economy’, just watch.

On a more serious note, that got me thinking, I mean, how incredibly brave she is. We’re talking about one of the most visible women in the world, and all she wants to do is disappear. Think you’ve got problems?

This whole process of losing weight and getting healthy is often characterized as a fight (e.g. “battle of the bulge”). I just think it’s time for a new paradigm, as MOST people are not exactly running toward a fight.

I’m sure many can relate to Oprah’s struggles with her weight, and there are good reasons for that. Misinformation is one of the biggest ones, in my opinion. But it’s also about having the right mindset. Instead of always fighting yourself, let’s talk about working with yourself, or living in your higher self, which simply means you care about yourself and help yourself by creating the conditions for you to feel, look, and perform at your best.

That’s what eating right and exercising are all about.

But it is not something that you do once, and then forget about it. It’s a lifetime commitment. And few things are more rewarding than living healthy and fit, I promise you that.

It’s a new year, and a great time to forgive yourself and start fresh on your fitness goals. To avoid what I call the “bursting resolution bubble”, here are five tips for making your new year’s resolutions stick.

1. Define (or re-define) your fitness goals and why they are important to you. As philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche says, “He who has a strong enough why can bear almost any how.” Is your goal motivated by a fear of disease, a desire for more confidence and self-esteem, to be a good role model for your children or grandchildren, to be more attractive and desirable to your spouse? Isolate the core emotional reasons why, list them out, tape to your bathroom mirror and refrigerator and read them each day.
2. Find your starting point. Take ‘baseline’ measurements of your weight, blood pressure, body fat percentage, body mass index, resting heart rate and circumference of your waist, hips, arms and thighs. Anything that is measured and watched consistently improves. In order to gauge progress, measurements should be documented once a month. Keep in mind that as you begin to exercise, body weight rarely changes at the rate we hope, but other measurements will. Use them as motivation.
3. Design a comprehensive program. This is where a certified fitness professional is irreplaceable. Books, magazine articles, and other generic guidance will not suffice. A personalized program addressing the specific needs of the individual is highly recommended as everyone is different. Most certified personal trainers offer program design independent of their training services. This can serve as an inexpensive starting point for most people.
4. Get Support. How many people this year will join a gym, just to stop going after a few weeks? How many will buy expensive exercise equipment that sits in the basement and substitutes as a coat rack, or something you hang the laundry on to dry? The point is this, it is far too easy to rationalize and get away with NOT doing something when you are accountable only to yourself. You need a good support system to make the lifestyle changes necessary to reach your goals and maintain them. A good coach is great for that, or joining a support network of people with similar goals can make all the difference as well.
5. Regularly re-assess and reward. Measure your progress on a bi-weekly or monthly basis, depending on your goal. If you’re consistently putting effort toward your goal you will notice incremental changes and you can, and should reward yourself once per week by enjoying a favorite treat (like pizza or chocolate – you know how it goes, just don’t overdo it). Knowing that you have one reward day per week gives you something to look forward to, eliminates feelings of ‘mourning’ over perceived loss, and keeps the resolution bubble from bursting.

Don’t just “let it happen again” as Oprah says, make it your best body ever in 2009.

Live Strong And Healthy,

Conor Kelly
EVOLUTION FITNESS – PERSONAL TRAINERS TORONTO
(416) 220-7883
www.personaltrainerstoronto.com

P.S. Desire is not enough to keep lost pounds from coming back! You need a definite plan, and that plan is synergy. Discover how the synergistic approach to fat loss can work for you by calling (416) 220-7883 or by clicking the image to the left to request your complimentary New Year’s Health and Fitness consultation. You’ve got a goal, now get the plan!

Back in the days when I was training to compete in strongman competitions, that was actually what I thought about most of the time. It’s amazing when I think back now, actually, just how obsessed I was. But that constant focus, that conscious thought brought me from a 120-pound weakling to an elite level strength athlete.

For a while, I consistently ranked in the top ten in Ontario. This is in a sport where there are no weight classes and I was always at least 5 inches shorter, and 40 pounds smaller than the next
smallest competitor.

I was never really satisfied with my achievements in the sport, but nowadays as I look back at where I started, they are remarkable.

I used to write notes to myself with goals for how much I wanted to be lifting in each discipline, by some specific date. Then, I would take those notes and post them somewhere where I could look
at them each day.

This was a strategy I had learned from my personal trainer, Mr. Leo Costa, who taught me that my goals needed to be specific, they needed to have a timeline associated with them, and above all, I
should write them down. Little did I know at the time, how much that one lesson would carry over to other areas of my life later on. I just knew I wanted to be a good student, and I did as I was told.

Recently while having a conversation with a good friend, the subject of goal-setting came up. We were remarking on how powerful this strategy can be, when applied correctly. That’s when he said,
“well of course you know about the Harvard study…” to which I replied “what study?”

Well, apparently everybody’s already heard of this, but I hadn’t, and I thought there was a chance you may not have either, so I wanted to share it with you.

In 1979, there was a study conducted on students in the Harvard MBA program. In that year, the students were asked, “Have you set clear, written goals for your future and made plans to accomplish
them?” Only three percent of the graduates had written goals and plans; 13 percent had goals, but they were not in writing; and 84 percent had no specific goals at all.

Ten years later, the members of the class were interviewed again, and the findings were illuminating. The 13 percent of the class who had goals were earning, on average, twice as much as the 84 percent
who had no goals at all. And the three percent who had clear, written goals were earning, on average, TEN TIMES as much as the other 97 percent put together.

Do you think I was surprised? I have seen how goal-setting has impacted my life!

In spite of such proof of success, most people still don’t have clear, measurable, time-bounded goals that they work toward. There simply is no reason imaginable that a sane person, faced with this
evidence, would not sit down, like NOW, and write out his or her goals and a clear, systematic plan for achieving them.

Look, 2009 is right around the corner. What would YOU like to manifest in your life this year?

Live Strong and Healthy,

Conor Kelly
EVOLUTION FITNESS – Personal Trainers Toronto
(416) 220-7883

P.S. Having clear and precise goals with a plan for achieving them is essential to your fitness success. Why not take the guesswork out of it? Goal-setting is one of the cornerstones of our success here at Personal Trainers Toronto! Let us show you how. Request your complimentary Personal Trainers Toronto New Year’s Fitness Consultation right away by calling (416) 220-7883
or by going here:

www.personaltrainerstoronto.com