THE COMPOUND EFFECT

Consistency is the key to achieving and maintaining momentum

One degree doesn’t seem like a big deal. Put in perspective though it can make a huge impact. Take a plane flight, just one degree on a short flight from Seattle to SFO would put your landing strip either in Oakland, if you’re lucky, or 13 miles into the Pacific Ocean. You compound that effect over a longer flight and you would end up in a completely different country.

Life is made up of little one degree decisions all day and just like one decision isn’t going to make or break you, consistently making positive choices over a long period of time really add up into significant changes into your life.

Most of us have heard of the story of a Childs choice to inherit either a penny that doubles everyday or 5 million dollars on that day . After 10 days the total of the penny inheritance would be$10.24 but after 20 it would be just above 10k but after just one month it would be close to 10 million.

The key ingredient here is a compounding effect. The idea if I can make one positive change at a time over a long period of time the cumulative difference in my life will be enormous.

Fitness and health are similar in small changes like moving for 20 minutes everyday can have big impact when starting out. As you ramp up low hanging fruit like consistently staying hydrated and getting enough sleep (8 hours) will do more than adding double days or extra hours of cardio on top of a 5-6 day workout week.

As you start adding in elements to your health/career/relationship journeys make sure not to overwhelm yourself. Start with one element, make sure you have it dialed in and once you are good, then add another.

*Drink 1 oz of water for every 2 lbs of weight

*Move a minimum of 20 minutes of focused exercise (don’t know what to do or where to start we have a DB program for you at our website)

*Focusing on strength - add 1 accessory movement 2 times a week to work on that strength.

*Feeling drained - make sure you are getting enough sleep the majority (85%) of the time

Good luck on your journeys and remember Rome wasn’t built in day and nobody just woke up one day completely off course from their plan. It’s going to take time and consistent work to stay on course. And just like flying, outside forces will push you off course so don’t get upset when you check in and find yourself off again. Just course correct and keep moving forward!

If you are google’ing GYMS NEAR ME and in the Bay Area give us a try on us!

THE LONG RACE

There is no perfect path, consistency is what gets you to your goal.

Everything is going smooth in the day and something comes up at work and you can’t get to the gym. Or training is going well then you get sick or catch a nagging injury that just won’t go away.

The set backs of life throw us for a loop, and leave us frustrated and disenchanted as we peer at our personal goals off in the distance and feel like they don’t get closer.

If there is one thing I’ve learned running this business and training is that the path is not perfect, there will be set backs. There are days I don’t feel ‘on’ at the gym and can’t hit my numbers and also days I don’t feel creative when needing to put together content. But when I look over the body of work in my rear view mirror I can see that even this ‘dip’ in performance is still better than I was doing five or three or even one year ago.

It’s not about what I am capable of today but rather that I do something today because the accumulation of everything builds up a mountain of experience I can lean on and pull from. The 10 pages I read or 10 squats I do in the gym are not what’s going to magically make me an expert or strong overnight, but it’s the consistent practice over a long time.

So if you are new or old, lean into this. Lean into the knowledge that making the effort consistently is the special sauce! If you are just starting out or thinking about starting, you can start at home doing bodyweight movements or with inexpensive dumbbell weights you pick up from a garage sale. (My 30 day quick start e-book coming out soon)

If you have been training and caught an injury, lean into your rehab take the time to work on something else. Robin tore a ligament in his knee and took the time to work on upper body that paid dividends. Have a shoulder issue? Work on your legs, have to scale back on weights? Work on cardio!

If you have hit a plateau, keep putting in the work and work on other similar attributes that can help towards your goal. If losing weight was the objective. change up what you do out of the gym a bit. If squatting heavier was the objective, try focusing on lunges as well for accessory. I guarantee this time next year your pile of experience will have grown, and you will be able to stand on your personal mountain and see your goal in the distance a little better a little clearer and a little closer.

Good luck all and keep up the good fight.

If you are looking for a program to follow we have our full program available online and have a dumbbell version as well.

He vs She vs Me

Comparison culture and the damage occurring in your own Journey.

In today’s time it can be easy to get caught up (especially with IG) in all the cool stuff everyone else is doing. An insidious thought starts to creep in though comparing yourself to everyone else’s ‘cool’ adventures and activities. This thought can lead to wanting more or the next best thing right now. Obviously we all know it’s only a snap shot in time and not everyday is like that, but that thought stays there.

The same thing can happen with your fitness journey as well. At first we are happy to get moving but then as the time passes our goal looks so far away. Meanwhile the girl next to me is doing a heavier weight and the guy that doesn’t look very fast is smoking me on the runs. I start to let that comparison creep in again. Obviously it isn’t all bad as it can drive you to improve but losing sight of your journey and goals can be detrimental to your overall journey and create despair where you should be seeing how far you have already come.

We try to foster a balance at SchuBox Athletics, that the competitive nature will help you push yourself, but also camaraderie that we understand and except where everyone starts and is at.

This is sometimes hard for both new and old members to grasp. Sometimes old members hit a plateau and need to take a step back to rework some technique. Or they are out running an obstacle course race and roll and ankle, or doing yard work and try to yank out a stump and hurt their back. There are a myriad of reasons but a set back can feel mentally defeating at times, especially when you see the person you were lifting the same as PR.

All I can say is honor your journey, your path is your path and not someone else’s. This journey of fitness is hopefully for the rest of your life. You have the rest of your life to get and stay strong. Your goals will come if you stay consistent and keep pushing yourself. I know this as I start to approach 40 I am still hitting personal bests and surpassing what I thought I was capable of on a given day.

As for that girl lifting heavier weights and that guy smoking you on the runs. This is a snap shot of their journey. They may have been working on running or lifting with small steady increments for years. They have put in their work to get where they are. We all come into the gym with our own pasts, baselines, and experiences so don’t pit yours against theirs. Instead use them as a rabbit, slowly and steadily gaining ground on them and improving to be the best version of yourself.

Looking for a GYM NEAR ME and live in the Tri-Valley? Come try a trial at SchuBox Athletics

What is BMR and how is it relevant to Muscle Mass

BMwhat? Your BMR or basal metabolic rate is essentially how much energy you need to consume to stay as you are currently. Why is this an important number to know? It is your starting point to figure out how much food you should be eating if you have goals like putting on muscle mass, losing weight, changing body composition, or just trying to maintain your current weight.

I want to talk quickly though about the relation of muscle mass that plays on your metabolic rate and why we do some of what we do at SchuBox Athletics.

Muscle at rest (meaning when you are binging on the new Netflix show)burns almost 3x as many calories as fat does and thats not including what it burns when repairing itself (like after a WOD) or energy expenditure (during activities)! Meaning if you can put on some more muscle mass the amount of food you can be indulging in can go up or stay the same and still change your body composition.

WHOA whoa whoa - PUT ON MASS?!? For those looking to lose weight stay with me a minute. I’m talking about muscle mass so if a 140# person can change their body composition to drop from say 24%to 18% of bodyfat, but stay at the same weight then at rest they would be burning an extra 50 calories a day just sitting on the couch (which I don’t condone but...) and I guarantee they would look a lot different.

So what do we at SchuBox Athletics to help you out? Well I know everyone likes to redline and go hard but when we slow it down and do our longer Volume EMOM’s (every minute on the minute) workouts we are trying to keep our heart rate a little lower and push volume to a certain muscle group to promote blood flow, produce time under tension, and muscle break down so our bodies are forced to make an adaption and repair/build muscle in recovery. Its also why we try and limit similar muscle groups being used back to back. Although it happens time to time. The recovery is where your body repairs your muscle and sends signals for them to grow a bit bigger this time around and with enough protein and energy add some lean muscle mass. Hope this helps you look at building muscle (hypertrophy) and these EMOMs with the rest periods in a bit of different light and helps you enjoy them even more.

Happy Gainz hunting and if you googling gyms near me (you) and in the Tri-Valley go ahead and check out the free trial!

NO MAGIC PILL

A lot of people are looking for a quick fix to health and the simple truth is there is none and those telling you otherwise are definitely trying to sell you something! 

Being healthy is a lifestyle that requires you being aware of what you are taking in (eating, thinking) doing (activities you partake in) and the decisions you make during the day.

And when talking about general health longevity and living your life well should be close to the top of your list of priorities because without your health life can get pretty hard pretty quick! So here’s a few quick and simple general outlines on what we are talking about:

Nutrition: take care of what is going in your body regularly, eat real foods mostly meat (protein) and veggies and some fruit. Earn your carbs and try to save them for after your workout!

Workout! The right exercise is obviously the one you will actually do so not going to hate on anything however intensity and efficiency is going to be the key for most people who work and don’t have a lot of extra time to devote to the gym so here at Shubox Athletics we try to give you the most out of the hour as we can, and if you want to try out a free class you can use the form (here)! 

Recovery: Your body needs to recover to function properly so sleep well, stretch daily, eat good foods and give your body the nutrients it needs to function and stay hydrated!

And lastly find some balance! We can get wrapped up in a ‘healthy’ lifestyle and can forget there is a big wide world out there! #Getoutside, learn a new sport, travel well and don’t beat yourself up if you didn’t work out everyday on vacay, and enjoy the process!

[Fitness Community Lifestyle]