Rebirth Body Transformation Series Announcement

Butterfly-Transformation

Spring is here! The weather is warming up, the sun is shining and nature is being reborn.  This is a great time to commit yourself to rebirth as well!   Start your transformation this spring with my 9 part Rebirth Body Transformation series. It is now almost 4 months past New Year’s Day.  Most health and fitness related New Year’s Resolutions have lost their steam or effectiveness.  Some of that can be attributed to a loss of desire and consistency, but the most common problem with resolutions is poor strategy.  I consider your goals, plan of action, knowledge-base, accountability benchmarks, and support network to be the components of your strategy.  No one ever intentionally puts together a bad strategy, but it happens every day.  When you put a poor strategy in place you either don’t see results, which demoralizes even the most committed people, or you create something so complicated that your effort level and aggravation level far exceeds the results you get which in turn is demoralizing.

The problem is that everything works for a little while.  Maybe you got a gym membership, joined a bootcamp or started cleaning up your diet. You lose a few pounds right from the beginning.  That lasts about 3 to 6 weeks and then you hit a plateau.  You try to break through, but you end up stuck and frustrated.  If you find yourself in this place right now or have ever felt this way, I’m here to tell you that you have three choices.  Option one, keep doing what you’re doing (if this is your choice lookup “insanity” in the dictionary).  Option two, give up and feel sorry for yourself (weak).  Or, option three, make changes and move forward with your body transformation.

If you choose option three I am here to help guide you through the life transformation that will precede your body transformation.  Transformation sounds like a dramatic experience, and it is.  Why would you bother making changes and putting in a lot of effort for an ordinary experience?  Don’t be overwhelmed though, a transformation can be as sudden or as gradual as you want as long as it is consistent.

When my business partners and I opened the LEAF Wellness Studio, we had the goal of helping people in Santa Monica and the LA area make dramatic transformations.  We have been blessed with amazing clients that have had a lot of success. With the launch of my fitness and lifestyle blog on my website, www.tannermartty.com, my new goal is to help transform people that can’t make it into our gym!

Transformation has a lot of meanings.  It can be as simple as starting a morning routine that puts your mind at peace for the rest of the day allowing you to stay in the present or as drastic as losing 15% body fat.  Only you can decide what kind of transformative experience you want to have.

To officially launch the new website and blog I have created a nine-part series I’m calling The Rebirth Body Transformation.  Over the course of the next couple weeks I’ll be helping you put together a solid strategy to put you on the right path to your personal transformation.  Together, we will define Point A (where you are at), Point B (where you want to be), and then map out the shortest, straightest line between the two.

If we don’t know each other that well yet, check out My Philosophy to get to know me better and to get an idea of how I think change happens.  I definitely want to get to know you better.  Like my Facebook Fan Page and tell me what’s on your mind.

Thank you all for the inspiration.  Please share this with friends and family!

Consistency is Key

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A few weeks ago I had the honor of presenting for the Gentleman's Project, a group of young men in the LA area that meet regularly to network and be educated on topics that interest, well, Gentlemen. It is the group's mission to provide a setting and membership that contributes to the sharpening of each members perverbial sword. The GP leadership asked me to come to present on nutrition. I had roughly an hour to talk and answer questions so I needed to strip my talk down to the most useful and practical information possible. If anyone needs to talk for more than an hour to explain their basic nutrition philosophy they are probably making things way too complicated anyway. I take the approach that less is more. I believe strongly that one of the tenants of a healthy lifestyle is that all aspects of the lifestyle: work, play, pray (quiet time alone with your own thoughts), nutrition and rest must be sustainable. The more complex a strategy becomes the less likely it is to be sustainable.

The main points that I wanted to drive home with my talk is that consistency is the key to achievement and that keeping things simple makes it easier to be consistent. This is true for anything. A simple, straightforward workout program is easier to follow.  As a result people that adopt simple plans tend to be more consistent with them.

Last month I had the pleasure of being teammates with Tracy Reifkind, Queen of the Kettlebell Swing, at the inaugural Strongfirst SFG1 kettlebell certification in Houston, Texas. In addition to being a total badass Tracy is famous for totally transforming her life and her body in her 40's, losing over 100 lbs, by doing only kettlebell swings every day. She literally did not do any other form of exercise! There isn't a magic workout she was doing.  The magic was her consistency.  Tracy is an example of both consistency and how effective keeping it simple can be. Check out Tracy's blog for more info on her transformation and the kettlebell swing.

The Keys to Success

There are two common denominators among all of my clients that have had massive success making a body transformation. First, their body transformation is preceded by a lifestyle transformation. They don't simply start working out more, or eat a healthier diet. They slowly transform their entire lifestyle. They embrace the holistic approach, making changes to the way they move (exercise), eat (nutrition), think and manage their day (the umbrella we will call "lifestyle"). My second tenant of healthy lifestyles is that they are holistic. Any effort to make a healthy transformation must address mind, body, and spirit.

The second common denominator is consistency.Consistency is the most crucial part of change. Pick a plan and stick to it!  I have given you a basic plan in The Island Story that Answers 97% of Your Nutrition Questions.  Your goal is simple.  For the next month consistently only eat food that you could eat on the island.  If you can adhere to this diet plan 90% of the time over the next 28 days you will see amazing results.

Consistency means sticking with it 7 days a week. That is another huge mistake I see people, especially young people, making. They stay on their diet Monday through Friday and then eat like crap and booze hard all day Saturday and Sunday. When they don't see results they say, "to hell with this diet," and go back to eating the way they normally eat.

These people don't lack a good plan. They lack consistency.

Making Everyday Your Masterpiece

The key to consistency is focusing on one day at a time. It can be overwhelming to make a change with your constant focus being on staying consistent over the course of a year or more. Under those circumstances the task can seem insurmountable. There is a saying that the best way to eat and elephant is one bite at a time. That mindset seems obvious once someone presents it to you, but people rarely think in those terms.

John Wooden, the legendary coach of the UCLA men's basketball team that won 11 national championships in 13 years is famous for saying, "Make everyday your masterpiece." I love that quote. I actually have a wall decal of that quote above my desk. It reminds me to stay in the present and to focus all of my energy and attention on the task at hand. How can one truly reach their potential if they are diluting their energy and focus on regretting the past or worrying about the future?

Imagine if you could focus all of your energy on making a masterpiece out of today without worrying about mistakes from the past or things you can't control in the future? One thing is for certain, the process you undertook each day would be much more enjoyable if you focused on the art of making an ideal day.

I've seen a quote that says, "What would you do if you knew you couldn't fail?" I like the essence of that quote. I take it to mean how courageous would you be with your actions if you couldn't fail. Indeed that is a beautiful headspace in which to be.

As much as I do like that quote, I like the following idea even more…

What would you do if you didn't care if you failed?

I'm not advocating total apathy. I am however, advocating that when you are motivated to make a change that you should put 100% of your focus on executing your plan each day and detach yourself from thoughts of the future success or failure of the strategy. Those worrisome thoughts about the success or more commonly the failure of the project only serve to distract you and plant seeds of doubt before your plan ever gets a chance to get off the ground.

If didn't care about failing, how much more would you enjoy the process of doing?

When I am able to put myself into this kind of headspace I find myself enjoying my day much more than when I am too attached to the success or failure of a project. I also find that I am completely present in my interactions with others which enriches all of my relationships.

When I finally do take time to evaluate my progress I am always amazed at how much I have accomplished and how much I have enjoyed the process. I have gotten the same feedback from my clients as well. They tell me that they never felt overwhelmed or panicked by the changes because we made slow changes and they only focused on adhering to their plan one day at a time.

My challenge to you is to make a plan and stick to it without worrying about success or failure. Enjoy the journey instead of focusing on the destination. After some time has passed take stock of where you are at. Be brutally honest with yourself. If you aren't making the progress you would like you need to make some adjustments and once again lose yourself in the process.

My suggestion is to put together a consistent daily regimen that you can build on over time. The next installment of The Rebirth Body Transformation series will talk about making a daily masterpiece and help you put together a solid Morning Routine which is one of the most crucial things to having a successful day. Your morning is the foundation of your day and everyone knows that a house must be built on a solid foundation.

Lessons from the Yard: Effective Goal Setting

kid mowing grass

When I was a kid it was always my responsibility to mow the grass every Saturday.  Mowing the yard in the middle of the summer in south Louisiana can be brutal, especially after two hours of basketball practice in a gym without air conditioning.  Sometimes I think the reason I drink so much water now is because my body is still trying to get hydrated from those Saturdays.

On those Saturdays I learned that there is a right and wrong way to do anything.  To be more precise I learned that there is an effective and ineffective way to do anything, especially cutting my dad's yard.  You see my dad has been in the golf business for over 40 years and to my dismay he wanted his front yard to look like the fairways at Pebble Beach.  That meant I had to "stripe" the front yard at a very precise angle and cut each swath of grass twice.  This method of cutting is what makes the outfields at baseball stadiums and golf course fairways looking like they have stripes.  It takes some practice and a lot of attention to detail.  If I ever tried to hurry up and cut corners he would wait until I was completely done and then make me do it all over again.  That is when I learned that saying you finished cutting the grass doesn't tell the whole story.  You have to qualify that with I "effectively cut the grass to your exact specifications."

The key here...There is an effective and ineffective way to do anything, even goal setting.

Steps to Effective Goal Setting:

1.  Start with your Vision.  Vision is what most people call goals or Resolutions.  It is the "big idea" without much specificity.  Examples of visions are statements like, "I want to be fit, i want to get leaner and I want to learn a new language."

2.  Turn you Vision into a S.M.A.R.T. goal.  Specific is terrific...

• Specific - Example: I want to lose 10 lbs, I want to do 50 push-ups in a row, I want to be able to have a 10 minute conversation in Spanish.
• Measurable - You have to have a quantifiable way to measure what success means.  There is no way to measure "getting more fit."
• Attainable & Realistic -  Don't set yourself up for failure by making unrealistic goals.  I'm always pushing myself to greater height of achievement, but you have to be realistic.  Losing 50 lbs. in 30 days is possible, but not probable.  Wouldn't you rather set the goal at 20 lbs and be stoked when you lose more than that?
• Timebound - This one is huge.  What is the time period that you want this happen by?  Next week, next month or a year from now.  Set a specific date.  Remember, specific is terrific.

3.  Behavioral Goals vs. Result Goals...Most Important Step...A result goal is a goal that focuses on the end result that you want to achieve (Duh).  An example of a S.M.A.R.T result goal is that you want to be able to do 50 push-ups in a row with perfect form touching your chest to the floor and locking out your elbows at the top of every rep by April 1.  While it is important to have some results goals in mind in truth it is only the beginning of effective goal setting because you still need to plan an effective process for achievement.  My S.M.A.R.T. push-up goal example has no call to action or progression of achievement.  That is why behavior goals are so important.  Behavior goals set your path to achievement.

Let's say that I can do 25 perfect push-ups in a row right now and my goal is to do 50 by April 1.  Those numbers are my starting and end points.  Behavior goals are each step between those two points.  My behavior goals are my daily and weekly goals that will lead me to my desired end result.  For this example my behavior goals might look like the following:

Week 1: 20 push-ups x 2 sets on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday

Week 2: 23 push-ups x 2 sets on MWFS

Week 3: 26 push-ups x 2 sets on MWFS

Week 4: 30 push-ups x 2 sets of MWFS

Week 5: Do one set of as many push-ups as possible on MWF to test progress.  Let's say that I did 35 Monday, 38 Wednesday and 35 again on Friday.  The average is 36.

Week 6: Average from Week 5 minus 3 push-ups x 2 sets on MWFS

And so on and so forth...

4.  Execute your behavior goals with diligence.  This isn't really apart of the goal setting process, but it is worth mentioning.  Don't be a list maker.  Be a doer.

Practical Nutrition Advice, Pt. 1

1) Never grocery shop or go out to eat hungry. I got this one from Dan John and it makes perfect sense. I have been guilty of going to the market hungry and buying a bunch of food I planned on crushing the minute I got home.

2) You must have a shopping list.

Prepare your shopping list with some forethought on what you want to cook. Consult recipes you like or want to try. Go through it carefully so you don't leave anything out. Missing ingredients can derail the best intentions. Once you have your list, you must execute your list...on a full stomach.

3) Buy a lot of the stuff you're planning on eating a lot so you don't run out before you've gotten momentum going.

If you want to make it a habit to start eating breakfast, but you don't buy enough eggs to get you through the week you're probably not going to keep your habit going.

4) Snacking on certain types of fruit and vegetables is a good idea. It's hard to overeat apples and pickles.

5) Strive to make good food choices.

Allow yourself to eat whatever you want, but only after you have eaten a full day's worth of healthy food. Then see if you have room for junk!

6) When you want to cheat tell yourself, "Tomorrow I'll break the diet and quit. Just not tonight."

I got this one from Dan John too.

7) Eat more fat.

It will show you what it is like to feel satiated. And for the love of god don't be scared of animal fat as long as it comes from quality meat. Animal fat from organic, grass-fed meat is high in CLA and Omega 3's. It should be the backbone of your diet and your main energy source. Read Eat Fat, Lose Fat by Sally Fallon.

8) Focus on eating good foods and the rest will take care of itself.

When in doubt remember my blog about being stranded on the tropical island.

9) Create your menu first, then build your shopping list around that.

In case you didn't get #1.

10) Drink a lot of water. More then you think you need to.

11) Add some fermented foods to your diet.

Fermented foods help heal your gut, improve digestion and boost your immune system. They are also another kind of food that is great to snack on because you can't overeat it. I try to add these foods as a side to at least one meal a day. Common examples of fermented foods are Kim Chi and Sauerkraut.

12) Don't drink your calories.

Put the juice down. Quit rationalizing that _______ juice is good for you because it has __________ micronutrient that is good for your health. Trust me there is a better way to get what that micronutrient is from food or a whole food derived multi-vitamin.

Finding Your Passion

Rich or poor, we all suffer in some way. Suffering is part of life. However, suffering can give life meaning and be the seed from which much happiness and personal fulfillment can grow.

Passion by definition means to suffer for love. Greatness comes to those who can generate passion, those that are willing to suffer for love. I believe that idea is the essence of how the universe works.

The karmic nature of the universe shows us that there is balance to all things. Good can't exist without evil, pleasure without pain. There cannot be happiness without sadness. Passion, suffering for love, is the essence of the balance of pleasure and pain, therefore, living life passionately is the path to living a harmonious life.

Armed with this knowledge we should all become seekers for our passion. Determine what you love so much that you are willing to suffer for it in every nuance of the word: physically, emotionally, financially and so on. Generating passion and deeper levels of meaning for your suffering is a never ending job that is a requirement to staying on course.

Your passion will change you as a person. You will evolve. As you evolve so will your passion and it's meaning to you. It is a continuous cycle. It is work. Don't forget that.

So how do you generate passion? I'm going to take an excerpt from Dan John's book Never Let Go and put my own spin on it regarding generating passion.

Travel for your passion. Experience your passion in other places than your own comfortable surroundings. See what other people in other places that share your passion are doing. I am so thankful to have the opportunity to travel around the US teaching training seminars and training with other people outside of my comfort zone. I learn something new and am inspired to push myself harder every time I go train or teach somewhere new.

Hang out with people that share your passion as much as possible.

Read, listen and watch everything you can to become an expert in your field. I am so thankful I love to read because it has enriched my life beyond what words can express. I believe you have to be a seeker of knowledge to experience your passion to the fullest.

Travel some more, hang out some more and learn some more.

Spend money on your passion! In my experience the return on investment is always much more than the financial buy-in.

See number four again.

There were several people that inspired this blog entry. Two that stand out are Dan John and Bronny, the Serbian massage therapist that worked on me earlier this month. I want to give them both credit for helping me get these words down in a way that makes sense to me. Hopefully, this resonates with you too.

A couple closing thoughts...

Live life passionately!

If it is important, do it every day, if it isn't important, don't do it at all. This can be applied to life, exercise, love and learning.

Nutritional "Must-Haves"

Getting started with a new nutrition regimen can seem like an overwhelming task if you fixate on all the changes you think you need to make.  Start by taking a deep breath.  The best approach is to make small changes that are minimally invasive to your current lifestyle until you get some momentum going.  Once you have made some positive progress take on a bigger challenge.

Rome wasn't built in a day.  It also wasn't built with crappy tools and materials.  One of the critical factors that is often overlooked is having the right tools for the job.  You can chart an easier course for yourself if you invest a little money (or even borrow) a few "Must-Haves".  These items will not only help you prepare the kinds of foods you need to be eating, but they will also make you a more efficient Prime.  Time is our most valuable resource.  These items can save you time which means your new Primal lifestyle will give you more time to do the things you enjoy while also making you healthier.

1) Have a good drink you enjoy to replace alcohol, juices, and soda. I prefer coffee and sparkling mineral water. It's good to have something with a little more to it than just water.

2) A good set of knives.  Make sure you have a knife sharpener too.

3) Good cookware that is easy to clean. Remember, we're trying to clear an easy path for rider and elephant. Stainless steel cookware is great for your health, but a pain in the ass to clean. That can be the difference in loving the experience of cooking and deciding on take-out. Orgreenic makes a great non-stick, healthy cookware option.

4) A magic bullet. This is a must have. I even travel with mine when I teach seminars or go on vacation. A larger blender is nice to have if you have the room, but a magic bullet can take care of 99% of what you need to do. Before you go spend additional money on a big blender consider a food processor. Beware: I consider a Vitamix to be a huge waste of money. How many times do you really need to blend soup so fast that it boils? How often do you make homemade ice cream from scratch? Have you ever tried to clean one of those things? Remember, the time the beef liver pate got stuck in it and rotted? Nasty!

5) Lots of seasonings and spices.  A lack of variety is one of the things that derails a new nutrition regimen.  With a small investment in seasonings and spices you can make a steak taste 10 different ways.  It also adds a lot of variety veggies.  Seasonings can be expensive if you don't do a little recon.  Find a market that has a bulk seasonings section.  For those of you in the LA area the Santa Monica Co-Op has an incredible bulk seasoning section.  You can get anything you can think of for cheap.

Some of my favorite seasonings:  Tumeric, Cumin, Curry Powder, Celtic Sea Salt, Black pepper, Dill, Cayenne, Cinnamon, Rosemary, Sage, Mint, Garlic Powder, and Thyme.

6) A couple good cutting boards.

7) A big bowl and a couple strainers of different sizes.

8) A vegetable peeler.

9) Sautee pan…So clutch when you have a bunch of leftover veggies, meat, and grocery "stuff" that you don't know what to do with, but you want to use before it goes bad. Just throw everything in the sautee pan, season it and Boom!

10)  A Multi-Vitamin.  You don't need to get crazy here.  I prefer a multi that is made from whole food sources.  Innate is a company I like for this.

11)  A good quality Fish Oil supplement.  Make sure you get Omega 3 (EPA-DHA).  Don't get anything with Omega 6 in it.  We get enough of that in our diet and the point of supplementing with Fish Oil is to balance out the ratio of Omega 3 to 6 to calm down systemic inflammation.  Quality matters here.  Don't cheap out.  You can almost always get a better deal online than you can in a store, especially if you are thinking Whole Foods.  More like Whole Paycheck.  Ascenta makes a great Fish Oil that is high quality for a good price.  I get the concentrated liquid that is high in DHA (extra good for Prime brain function) that costs around $26 for over a month supply.  Best supplement money you will spend.

12)  Greens Powder.  If you live in warm climates with plenty of access to in-season greens and organic produce this isn't quite as important for you, but if you are in a cold climate then you need to keep getting your greens without resorting to frozen produce.  Once again I like to get a greens supplement that comes from whole food sources without synthetic vitamins.  My favorite for the price is made by Innate.  Jarrow also makes a good one that is a little more expensive.

13)  A metal or glass water bottle.  Hydration is one of the most important parts of a healthy diet.  It is critical for fat loss, muscle building, cognitive function, skin health, immune function and the list goes on.  You should be drinking at least one ounce of water for every 2 lbs. you weigh every day.  To be safe I don't count the water I drink while I'm working out because I consider that a wash.