Fit For Life: Resist the Negative!

Sunday, March 05, 2017

Matt Espeut, GoLocalPDX Health +Lifestyle Contributor

Join the resistance is a term or mantra used by one of my favorite motivators, Martin Rooney, founder of the Training for Warriors program. He is a guy that formed a system of training for MMA fighters and athletes. He now uses his knowledge and enthusiasm to teach personal trainers to be better at what they do. I have attended many of his seminars, as well as completed his certification program, and although his technical knowledge about training and nutrition isn't any more advanced than mine, he has still made me a better trainer, by transferring energy, passion, and motivation to my skill set. We both believe in the work hard/smart, eat and rest well theory, and use the same common sense.

What does he mean by "join the resistance”? Is he preparing us for a live version of the terminator? Is he preaching to his students to overthrow the government? No - and no. The resistance is us (trainers and educators), trying to bring out the best in people, and inspire people to be the best one can be. To motivate people to get up and exercise, eat quality food, get plenty of rest, and take responsibility for our actions, and make changes for the best, both physically and mentally. To do this you must resist laziness, temptation, and negative thought processes, and many other outside distractions.

I have joined his resistance long ago, and now I am here to tell you how to join the resistance. I have been a personal trainer for over twenty years and I encounter negative, usually overweight, and out of shape people, that consider me neurotic, over board, too strict, and take health and fitness too far. Just because I take care of myself. This is the resistance we need to fight, the negatives.

When I am out socially, or with family, and someone says: eat this dessert (usually some chemically filled man-made packaged food from a commissary or industrial sized food manufacturer) - "You need to live a little", this drives me crazy. I go out of my way to avoid this stuff and try to look and feel better, so how is this living it up? Eat something that is going to make me tired, feel lousy, maybe feed disease and sabotage the time I spent working out, is not living it up in my book, but getting a nice medium rare grass fed steak, or a good night’s sleep is. Join the resistance. Don’t cave in for sub-quality food.

Last year I was with my nephew at a Cub Scout campfire, and he wanted to eat a burnt marshmallow on a graham cracker with chocolate. I couldn't let him eat a carcinogenic piece of high fructose corn syrup on a stick, just because all the other parents were. So, I strategically dropped it in the fire and let him eat the cracker and chocolate. Although not great, it was the lesser evil. Just because everyone does it, doesn't make it ok. Join the resistance. Don’t overlook the bad effects of food just because someone else is.

When you are out with friends, and you stay out later than you wanted to be, or you drank too much, maybe due to peer pressure, or you get the" c'mon let’s have one more, or I don't like to drink alone, or a shot for old times", remember: you are the one that will suffer the next day. You will be dehydrated, tired, have a headache, or feel nausea, you will be useless and miserable all day because you didn't show enough discipline. It's your choice. Join the resistance or follow the heard.

For some populations joining the resistance means taking a stand and fighting FOR what you think is right, and trying to instill methods of accountability, discipline, and self-worth into people, and to shed a light on healthy living as a good thing that you can attain, enjoy, and feel good about. For others joining the resistance should mean avoiding something bad because everyone else is doing it. Not giving in to peer, or society pressure, and making the right choices. It's all about you doing it for yourself, because no one else is going to go it for you.

Big food manufacturers don't want you to eat healthy food; no profit for them. Doctors and hospitals do not want you to be healthy, they will not make any money unless you are sick, and use their drugs (which can cause other problems) but that's another politically incorrect issue we won't discuss. Orthopedic surgeons will go broke if everyone trains, and moves properly.

If everyone eats healthy, exercises properly, and gets plenty of rest, many of these things people figure to be normal, will be needed much less. It's time to join the resistance. It's your war, and you need to fight it. If you are following me or my blogs, you are probably one of the 14% of people that work out. That's right, only 14% of this country’s population works out, so we (people that care about their health) are the minority, the freaks, and the outcasts.

If you are already a client of mine, you understand what I am talking about. You are living the healthy lifestyle. You know right from wrong. You know how hard it is to stay focused and on the road to health and fitness, because you are doing it.

Those of you that aren’t clients of mine yet, I encourage you to take your life back. Start eating healthy, start working out at Providence Fit Body Boot Camp. Start looking and feeling better, and attacking your day with more discipline and self-esteem. Start improving you…both mentally and physically.

Join the resistance!

Matt Espeut, GoLocal's Health & Lifestyle Contributor has been a personal trainer and health & fitnesss consultant for over 25 years.

Related Slideshow: The 7 Best Health and Fitness Apps

Here is a list of some of the most obsession worthy health apps.

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MapMyRun

MapMyRun is the number one selling running app for a reason: it is easy to use, offers community support if you want it, and tracks and stores your exact routes for you. If you are training for a race or a serious runner, users say that the extra perks in the upgraded paid version are well worth it.

Made for iPhone, Android and Blackberry

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MyFitnessPal

MyFitnessPal seems to be the clear favorite amongst everyone polled. It is helpful not only for the fitness tracking aspect, but everyone polled mentioned how much they loved the food/diet aspect as well. From carb counting for diabetics to recipe ideas to complement your fitness goals, users love this app.

Made for iPhone and Android

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JeFit

JeFit is another fitness app that has rave reviews. It not only tracks progress for you, but offers a huge database of workouts. While many apps offer community support, JeFit allows you to sync workouts with friends who use the app, offering a (real) virtual buddy system.

Made for iPhone and Android

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Strava

Strava gets the highest mark of all the cycling apps. While it is also great for runners, the cyclers seem particularly inclined towards the fierce competition that can be ignited by this app. You can track all of your rides via GPS, then you can compare your efforts to those logged by others in the community on the same stretch of road. You can also join ongoing challenges that can net you great prizes (in addition to bragging rights).

Made for iPhone and Android

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YogaStudio

YogaStudio gets the top vote for Yoga apps. It has a lengthy collection of full class-length videos available at your fingertips. Unlike many other apps, this one also allows you to customize your own video yoga class. All of the poses are done by qualified yoga instructors, and you can find classes suitable for all levels of yogis.

Made for iPhone only

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SimplyBeing

SimplyBeing meditation app offers the best of both worlds. You can choose to run this app as a background for your meditation with soothing music or natural sounds that run for a set amount of time. Conversely, for those of you who have trouble focusing during meditation, you can choose a soothing voice-guided meditation.

Made for iPhone and Android

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Fooducate

Fooducate is an app all about educating people so that they make healthier food choices. Although not perfect, this app is easy to use (you can even take pictures of bar codes to instantly find foods in their database). It gives food a letter grade, tells you the pluses and minuses, and gives you better ranked alternatives. You can also use it as a weight loss tool by tracking your daily calories.

Made for iPhone and Android