Once Upon The Time...

Don't you just love stories? Everyone loves stories. I remember when I was a child always wanting my mom and dad to tell me stories. As I was growing up I'd listen to my grandfather tell stories from when he was in World War II. History stories have always fascinated me and I guess that's why I enjoy learning about world history.

In fact the History Channel is my favorite tv channel. If you don't like history don't worry cause I'm not gonna bore you with a history lesson today. I'm gonna just share something from a good book I read a while ago and was reflecting about today as I cleaned the clutter from my desktop.

I'd like to share an excerpt from the book: Sandbox Wisdom...Growing Your Business with the Genius of Childhood. It’s written as a story with “life’s lessons”. It can be applied to many areas of our lives no matter what we do or want to do. It’s a great and easy read. I hope you will enjoy it.

Here's the scenario: The company that Bill West owns is in trouble, and he turns to his long-time friend for help. His friend said, "I know the answer to your problems, but you've got to trust me on this one." Enjoy the story...

An Excerpt from: Sandbox Wisdom

By: Tom Asacker

They arrived at Falcon's and Annie's favorite hamburger restaurant named The King's. Elvis Presley glossy photos and memorabilia hung on every available inch of wall space. Elvis dolls and swivel-hipped singing knickknacks adorned shelves. And of course, Elvis crooned out over the restaurant's sound system.

After following Falcon's recommendation and ordering two burgers with "the works," and a cheeseburger and chocolate shake for Annie, Bill leaned back against his side of the booth.
"You know Annie, your Grandpa's a pretty terrific guy, to watch your two soccer buddies on Thursdays - and to coach your team. I'm going to have to come to a game, now, you know." Annie smiled.
"That would be GREAT, Mr. West."
"Blue Suede Shoes" came on over the sound system as the waitress brought their drinks and a children's activity paper with crayons for Annie.
"Thank you Ma'am," Annie smiled.
"Your welcome, young lady," the waitress smiled back.
"What have you got there, Annie?" Bill asked as Annie took her green crayon and began working on the puzzles and games on the paper.
"This puzzle." She showed Bill the classic nine-dot puzzle. "I have to use only four straight lines, and I can't lift up my crayon. And I have to connect all these dots."
"That's a tough one."
Annie nodded and bent her head in concentration.
"You know Bill, I've seen a consultant use this puzzle in a workshop. He talked about mental boxes and needing to think outside the box."
"Yeah. I've heard that before with a different prop."
"But you know, I don't think it's really about mental boxes."

"It isn't?" Bill looked puzzled.
"It's about physical boxes - our homes and our businesses. We go back and forth, back and forth, like rats in mazes. And sure, maybe we brainstorm here and there and try to think outside the box. Maybe we hire the best creative staff money can buy."
"Sounds familiar," Bill said, ruefully.
"Sure. You can come up limitless ideas, but if you don't break out of your routine, if you don't connect to the bigger reality outside your physical box, all the creative ideas in the world won't help you. And what do you think is the most important puzzle to master?"
"Breaking routine?"
"To do what?" Falcon leaned forward. "Take it another level higher."

Bill shrugged. "Enlighten me, Falcon."
"The most important puzzle to master is understanding and communicating with your audience. Figuring out what people want and giving it to them. Helping them get the positive feelings they want, and eliminating the negative ones which they don't want."
"Falcon, again, it seems so obvious. I don't know..."
"But it isn't so obvious. What people think about you or your company is unimportant, Bill. What matters is how you make them feel about themselves and their decisions in your presence." Have you heard the story about Benjamin Disraeli?"
"Nineteenth-century British Prime Minister?"
Falcon nodded. "Yes. The story I'm thinking of is about a young woman who dined one night with William Gladstone - another eminent statesman at the time. The next night, Disraeli accompanied her to dinner. And the woman later said, "When I left the dining room after sitting next to Mr. Gladstone, I thought he was the most clever man in all of England. But after sitting next to Mr. Disraeli, I was sure that I was the most clever woman in England."
"Apparently she had a memorable encounter with Mr. Disraeli."
"Sure. The feelings he stirred in her about herself lingered long after the dinner was over. And that's your job, Bill, and the job of everyone in your organization. You have to enhance your customers' experiences with you each and every time they see you. And by you, I mean your people, your ads, your packaging, everything. That's the secret of capturing loyalty."
Annie looked up from her puzzle. "I did it!"
Both men looked at the paper and her green crayon marks.
"Good job, Annie," Falcon said. "You used your thinking cap. That's not an easy puzzle."
"Thank you, Grandpa." Annie beamed.
­­­­­­­­­­­­­___________________________________________________________

The part I love most is when he said: “You have to enhance your customers' experiences with you each and every time they see you”. We really, really do. That’s the best part about our lives. We can do that with everyone that we meet, no matter who they are, and make them feel as though they are the “most clever” man or woman in the world! You have the power to do that.

You can make someone have the best part of their day when they are around you even if it is ever so briefly. It's all according to our attitudes and our desire to prioritize others over ourselves. Yes, yes, yes there are more important people than us, but we must still focus on us at the right times. That's why I love group fitness practice, such as my Synergy Kettlebell Kamp, so much. It allows the individual to focus on their own body WHILE having a great time around other people of like minds and there for the exact same purpose. We're a family really... a family who blasts fat together.

I’ll leave you with an Anthony Robbins quote that I’ve absolutely loved over the years.

“What would you try now if you knew you would not fail? What would you do?”

Have a great day!

Hot Off The Synergy Kettlebell Kamp Press Release

I just press released our new days and times for Synergy Kettlebell Kamp so that everyone knows about it. Take a look at what I put together and help me get the word out about Arizona's Ultimate Fat Loss Boot Camp.

Here's the link: Press Release: Synergy Kettlebell Kamp - Arizona's Ultimate Fat Loss Boot Camp

Thanks for your help and support in my journey to help people get fit, stay fit, and live longer and healthier lives. I truly believe in what I'm doing at Kamp and absolutely love my group of clients. We're like family and it's such a joy to see their progress. In case you haven't seen the testimonial video I put up on my main site and Facebook the other day here it is to preview now.


Synergy Kettlebell Kamp Video Testimonials from Bob Garon on Vimeo.


Synergy Kettlebell Kamp - Arizona's Ultimate Fat Loss Boot Camp Will Finally Give You What You’ve Been Looking For By Doing Some Of The Craziest & Most Fun Workouts That Will Give Your Body No Choice But To Blast That Stubborn Fat Right Off!!

Liberate Yourself From The 4 Walls Part 2

Yesterday I introduced my Liberate Yourself From The 4 Walls campaign by breaking down ever so gently that we don't need these big box gyms. As mentioned, it is my goal is to liberate myself- and as many people as I can to come with me- from the four walled, stink, sweaty, meat market, closed in, machine based confines of the modern gyms. Be encouraged- do the same! Just because it's modern doesn't make it better. It simply means they are getting better and better at putting things inside the four walls that attract the public to toss more money at them. What did people do before these gyms? Actually they did a lot.

Today I demonstrate for you a couple things you can do with nature and in nature to acheive strength and conditioning. I left the running element out for obvious reasons. I doubt you'd want to watch a video of me running through woods dodging the tree stumps and weird noises from every other bush. So I spared you those moments and demo my stone and log lifts. Notice that I am not perfect, have butter fingers at times, and do drop the stone in a couple clips. This is ok as long as it doesn't drop on your big toe. The pinky toe you can do without, but watch out for the big boy. That one we still need.

In my next post, Liberate Yourself From The 4 Walls Part 3, I will be introducing some other things you can do in nature. My son Brayden guest stars in that video and helps me bring some good info for you by having a great time fitness frolicking in the woods. Stay tuned for that.

In case you missed the first part here you go:


Part 1

Liberate Yourself From The Four Walls

One of the biggest hurdles I have to overcome as a trainer is making people believe that the things that we do are not only good for them, but also possible for them to take the necessary steps to get them where they want to be. It is said that a good coach is someone who makes people do what they do not want to do so that they might become who they've always wanted to be. People seem to tightly cling to their habits like a security blankie. The thought wedge that must be driven between them, and rip that blanky right out of their tightly clenched sweaty hands, is that "force of habit isn't a good reason to do anything unless it's directly benefiting you."

I have been fortunate enough, over the years, to have had several clients who have been capable of going to the extra mile and achieve the next level. These were never easy roads and much of what they were doing before (Smith Machine, leg press, bench, curls, pec dec, 45-60 min of this or that) had to have been weened off like a kid and his blankie, but in the end what turned out was a much, much more functional, leaner, and stronger person.

I know, I know... it's hard to let go of the beloved pec deck, and the preacher curls, I know. I mean, come on, it sounds pretty cool doesn't it?! Preacher curl! Yeah! Heck yeah!! Who is this preacher and where is his church? I want to attend services immediately. Pec deck! Rock On! Get me on that thing, I want big pecs too! Ummmm.... OKAAAAY...

Then, after a few weeks the light bulb turns on and the equation becomes impossible to ignore. In a short time on the Kettlebells you have become much stronger, leaner, and better conditioned. You just feel like everything is working so much better. Going back to the unforgotten pec dec- when you think I'm not looking- becomes a hum drum experience, but you can't help it, it's force of habit. I mean, everyone else is doing it right?!  Hmmm...

Sometimes there is fresh air and I get someone begins training with me who has been doing jerks, hindu push ups, cleans, presses, sprints, and burpees. In that case I can leave the can of WD40 and not pry any blankies (aka bad habits). More often than not though, the canvas must be cleansed so that we can start fresh.

In either case of a newbie or a somewhat seasoned client there are always certain things to overcome. Exercise, strength training, cardio conditioning, kettlebell training, GPP training, etc. should never be about ego. Throw that out the door when you come in because we are all here for the same thing- to better ourselves despite what the next guy can bench or squat. That doesn't matter whatsoever.  So leave the ego and hopefully one day you'll recognize when you're all healthy, lean, and strong that yeah, this little dude with the bald head seems know what he's talking about. It's never about ego.

It's not just about the kettlebells either. They are a means to an end. I use them because, based off of everything I have ever worked with regarding fitness and training tools, they are the best tool I have found to get the job done.  Keep in mind that it is JUST tool. There are other tools such as barbells, dumbbells, sandbags, kitchen sinks, kegs, big tractor tires, Indian Clubs, Sloshpipes, ropes, chains, bands, stones, etc.  You simply must choose the right tool for the job when fitness training and I'll use them all if that'll help get my clients and you more fit.

If you wanted to drive nails into a board you wouldn't go at it with pliers.  If you did it would probably move a little bit, but would move much better with a hammer.  The same is true for other fitness movements.  You can use many tools to perform the task, movement, exercise, etc., but only one tool is the best.  I prefer the Kettlebell.  

My goal is to liberate myself- and as many people as I can to come with me- from the four walled, stink, sweaty, meat market, closed in, machine based confines of the modern gyms. Be encouraged- do the same! Just because it's modern doesn't make it better. It simply means they are getting better and better at putting things inside the four walls that attract the public to toss more money at them. What did people do before these gyms? Actually they did a lot.

I'm going to be writing more and more about how you can liberate yourself from the four walls. In the mean time watch my intro video below and look forward to my upcoming articles.

The Russian Kettlebell Fireside Chat

Most of you probably won't necessarily remember Franklin D. Roosevelt having his "Fireside Chats" during his presidency. (If you are old enough bless you because you can probably run circles around most of today's youth.) FDR did this to soften the government with which he ran and bring it on a level where it was like he was in your living room for a warm, no-pressure, comfortable chat. It was to be like if he was family or a really close friend stopping by for dinner. I want to have one of these today very briefly.

Let's have a Russian Kettlebell Style Fireside Chat. Step into my living room and let's have a little chat. I know some of you have questions and I want to provide the answers. These questions are basic, but my goal is to answer them with encouragement for you to increase your daily activity. The only way to get good at something is to practice is as much as possible. So with that said, the only way to get better at blasting fat and spiking conditioning is to practice activities that will facilitate those goals. 

So pull up a chair, have a seat, and make yourself at home- get comfortable. Have a green drink and perk your ears cause here we go...


Why Do I Use Kettlebells?

Full Answer: I use them because, based off of everything I have ever worked with regarding fitness and training tools, they are the best tool I have found to get the job done. Keep in mind that it is JUST tool. There are other tools such as barbells, dumbbells, sandbags, kitchen sinks, kegs, big tractor tires, Indian Clubs, Sloshpipes, ropes, chains, bands, stones, etc. You simply must choose the right tool for the job when fitness training.

If you wanted to drive nails into a board you wouldn't go at it with pliers. If you did it would probably move a little bit, but would move much better with a hammer. The same is true for other fitness movements. You can use many tools to perform the task, movement, exercise, etc., but only one tool is the best. I prefer the kettlebell.

A common concern for ladies is that they don't want to bulk up and think by lifting any sort of weight that they will do this.

So if you are female will lifting weight, with a focus on strength endurance, make you bulk up?

Quick answer: No.

Longer answer: It is a myth that you will bulk up. 3 things need to be in place for you to "bulk". First is to have a lot of testosterone, second is eat a lot of calories, and third is time which is dependent on the first two. Since you don't have a lot of testosterone and hopefully won't be consuming too many calories the last is not even a factor.

Do you need a gym to get in good shape?

Quick Answer: No.


Longer answer: You don't NEED a gym to get healthy and in shape. Honestly I haven't used one in a very long time for my own workouts even when I worked at one. I recommend resistance and interval training. The great thing about the Earth is that it's right out our front door. Open it, step outside, take a deep breath, soak up the sun, and begin your workout. Make it a routine. It is much, much better to exercise and be active outside among nature then within a stinky and busy four walked gym that has equipment that supplements real work. Grab a kettlebell and drive to a park with hills. That's all you need. Swing the bell, run the hills, then stretch or practice yoga. Inside of 30-60 min. your complete workout is done and you are on your way back home.

It is a great journey to get healthy and fit. Keep it interesting and fun. If you are unsure what to do then ask. Fitness Coaches like myself are always available as a resource for you. We won't bite. Ok well some of us definitely will. I'll let you know who they are later. That's a whole different type of post.

Let's leave today's chat by watching a really cool video of one of my fellow Gireviks (kettlebell practicioner) Stepf Dogman who shows how to have a great, great time Russian Kettlebell style by performing an hour set of one arm jerks with the 16kg (35lb) pro-grade bell. Notice how he is not bulky or a mass monster; however he gets a 35lb kettlebell overhead, using his entire body, over and over and over again for an entire hour which fully taxes and conditions his body. True strength does not come in big packages.

There are many elements here besides pure endurance. Much of it is mental endurance. People with A.D.D. no need for excuses. You find a way to get through it. If you don't think you can then the bell you are using isn't heavy enough and/or you aren't going fast enough.

This focuses on all aspects of the body and mind connection. That's the beauty of long timed sets. Reps matter not, but what does is the nervous system, mental toughness, and strength endurance to name a few elements where you'll grow.

Sure beats the elliptical for a boring hour. :)

When Gym Walls Crash Down- Go Freestyle

Isn't that a cool title for a blog post? Well I think so anyway. Essentially it means to get away from the conventional gym style training and workouts. Explore outdoors. Find how fun and superior it is to overall fitness training. No one, but the gym owners will care that you've gone. You don't need gym machines to get in great shape. That's all a myth and marketing propaganda to get you inside their facility. Anything and everything you need to get in amazing shape is outside and waiting for you to get creative and have at it.

The past couple workouts have been pretty cool and a lot of fun. I had one in particular where I just went freestyle.

I call this workout: "Free Form Style Moving".

I went to 2 local Gilbert, Arizona parks. The first was Discovery Park and just began running. Whenever I felt like it I took a tuck and roll and then kept on moving whether it be back to running, bear crawling, sabertooth crawling, skipping, hopping, side shuffling, stair jumps, bench jumps, hand stand pushups, bench rows, rock hops, bench dips, and more.
It was all free and all fun. I did this for about 25 minutes until the heat got to me. It was in the mid-90's when I was doing this so that added to the physical stress of it.

After that I took a 15 min. driving break to go to another Gilbert park called Freestone Park. This park has a lot more hills and trees- both are key.
As soon as I got there I performed a quick 4 min set of swings with my 24kg bell.
Minutes:
2 Hands
Right
Left
Hand 2 Hand

Then I went to the steepest hill. There's a great tree right at the top of it where I preformed 10 strick close hand pullups on one of the branches. Then I ran down the hill. At the bottom is a soccer field with the goal right at the bottom of where I ran down. There are 2 bars that stick out the back of it. One is at my chest height and one is at about 8 feet up. So I had a spur of the moment thought and decided to peform 10 muscle ups (pullup and immediate dip) right there before sprinting back up the hill.
I repeated this exciting circuit 4 times.

This entire workout goes to show you that you don't need to waste your time with gym style workouts at all. I got an amazing workout at both parks inside of about an hour while enjoying the beautiful nature. I had one peice of equipment, my kettlebell, and the rest was available to me just by going outside, looking, and imagining what I can use and do. It was very fun to both come up with this sort of workout as well as perform it too. Even if you cannnot perform strick pullups, muscle ups, etc. there still is a lot that anyone can do.


The first part of this workout is very easy to perform and spike the intensity based upon your own levels of conditioning. Everything is scalable and modifiable. A couple workouts like this a week and you'll see the fat blast off and your fitness skyrocket. Have fun with it. If you don't know how to do these sort of movments, don't have the creativity to program design like this, or just want to have someone else coach you on exactly what to do then come on and Fat Blast with us at Synergy Kettlebell Kamp.

If you're not in Arizona then go enjoy the weather outside and practice Free Form Style Moving at least 3 times a week, every week. It's fun and super effective. Just keep in mind that there are no shortcuts to being healthy and being fit. You must work hard at both, but will reap a lifetime of amazing benefits. It's never, ever too late to start a new journey. Let's do it together!

Is Fear Holding You Back?

Are you happy with your life?

No, I mean REALLY happy.

Are you living the lifestyle you want to live?

Are you doing the things you want to do?

Do you have someone to love and who loves you back equally?

Do you feel that your life is taking you to the places where you want to go?

Are you inspired, motivated and looking forward to life?

Sadly, if you’re like most people, the answer to these questions will be ‘No’, with a very rare few of you able to answer ‘yes’ across the board.

One question.

What are you doing about it?

For most people the honest truth is that day-in, day-out they actually do very little to improve the quality of their lives in any real way.

Sure, they may whine, moan and complain about how unfair it all is but when it all boils down you’ll find that very little ever gets done to change things for the better.

Why not?

Why is it that the very things that could make us happy beyond our wildest dreams are rarely, if ever, attempted?

What holds us back?

In a word; FEAR.

Most of us never realise, or wouldn’t admit it if we did, that the ultimate barrier to the realisation of our goals is fear.

Now, I’m not talking about abject terror here, we’re rarely that scared of our barriers, but simple, low-level, background negativity that reduces our confidence, lowers our self esteem and persuades us that we’re not up to the task, that we’re not good enough. In other words, fear can be described as:

Forever Expecting Awful Results

The result of having fear ever present in our lives is that we simply stop trying.

We give in and settle for less than we’re capable of so that we can avoid the pain of confronting our fears, yet in the long run, living below our potential causes us pain anyhow.

We become increasingly frustrated at our lack of progress in the important areas of our lives and fall into a vicious cycle of wanting more and yet being too afraid to try.

This situation reflects the lives of countless millions of people around the world who go through lives of quiet desperation thinking ‘is this all there is?’ and yet the answers to all of their dreams and desires are in front of them all the time.

They only have to look in the right way.

One way to determine how to make your life the work of art you desire is to model people who are already successful in their own lives.

These people normally exhibit very similar qualities and attributes that if emulated create a blueprint that those of us willing to put forth a little effort can use to create similar results for ourselves.

Extensive study of success literature written in the last century has revealed that every person who has made a success of one or more areas of their lives has done so by following certain laws or rules that those who are less successful have not.

These are:

Rule 1: No-one can do it but you.

Reality check.

There are no knights in shining armour, no winning lottery tickets, no inheritance money and no ‘unknown benefactors’ who are going to suddenly appear and make your life perfect.

As much as we all like to believe in fantasies and miracle cures, the real truth is that these occurrences are so few and far between that they will affect less than 1 % of us during our lifetimes. Yet how many people do you know who are living for the day ‘when I win the lottery’?

The reality is that you could die waiting for the ‘happy ever after’ if you rely on chance or blind luck. The sooner you realise that it is you and only you who can make your life better the sooner you’ll start to see success.


Rule 2: Stop making excuses.

We all have our own personal lists of ‘if onlys’ and ‘buts’ don’t we? You know the sort of things I’m talking about ‘If only I had more money I’d have a better life but I don’t so I’ll have to make do’ or ‘I’d love to be/do/have but...’

For most of us that are living beneath our potential it becomes crucially important that we recognise these words for what they are … Excuses.

Excuses are the ultimate in self-sabotaging behaviour and as long as you use them you’ll be sure to fail in absolutely any endeavour that you are attempting.

In fact, excuses are so powerful in holding you back that I suggest removing the words ‘if only’ and ‘but’ from your vocabulary permanently. Seriously, try it for 21 days. Don’t allow yourself the luxury of justification, rationalisation or any other form of passing on your own responsibility to others. Whenever you catch yourself doing so, reset the clock and start over. Your goal is to achieve 21 days of excuse free living.

You’ll be amazed at how much you’ll get done in this time!


Rule 3: Your beliefs become your reality.

The old saying ‘if you can conceive it you can achieve’ it is only partly correct.

Only with belief can something become a reality.

If you believe you can achieve something then you’re right.

If you believe that you can’t then you’re also right.
It’s that simple.

You see, beliefs are kind of like a software programme that’s continuously running in the background in the subconscious part of our minds where it receives its commands from our conscious mind.

Whether we believe that we’re beautiful or ugly, successful or unsuccessful happy or unhappy our subconscious minds will actively seek out evidence to support these beliefs by filtering in or out the relevant information to make them true…to us. This is why we must be ever vigilant about what we choose to believe about ourselves and the potential our lives hold for us.

Rule 4: Select your inner circle

There is a saying that in the next five years of your life the only things that will change will be the people you mix with and the books you read.

This is a way of saying that our lives are heavily influenced by those that we allow to penetrate our barriers or inner circle.

Indeed, our self image and hence our self esteem and beliefs have been formed as a direct result of every relationship that we’ve had since birth.

Every word of support, comfort and love serve to build a positive image of who we are and our value or self-worth whilst every criticism, put-down, snipe or negative comment will lower the value we place on ourselves.

For this reason it’s vitally important that we carefully select those that we allow into our inner circle.

If your friends, family or work colleagues are persistently negative about you specifically or life in general then do your best to limit your contact with them and associate instead with those who make you feel more positive about yourself and your abilities.

Who do you allow into your circle?


Rule 5: Get out of your comfort zone.

Successful people are those that are ever looking forward toward a better, brighter future. They choose goals that challenge and test them and stretch them to new limits in order that they can grow and prosper.

Compare this way of thinking to most people and you’ll see that the opposite is usually true. Instead of rising to meet a challenge most people take the path of least resistance by staying with what they’re comfortable with.

Unfortunately, success is rarely if ever found in your comfort zone. Simply put, if you always do what you’ve always done then you’ll always get what you’ve always gotten.

If you’re happy and successful then great but if you’re not then your comfort zone becomes your prison, yet it’s one of your own making and you can leave at any time.

What have you always wanted to do but never gotten around to doing?


Rule 6: Take action

Though the first 5 rules are clearly important they are impotent and powerless unless the last ingredient is added…Action!

You see, it takes more than just inspiration and motivation to be happy and successful. It also takes perspiration and hard work. This may not be what you want to hear yet nonetheless it’s true just the same.

Those who have made successes of their lives have been willing to pay the price whether that be monetary cost, time, study or physical sacrifice. They have taken consistent actions over time that have led the results that they desired. Nothing more, nothing less.

What specific actions could you take on a regular basis that could contribute to YOUR success?

As simple as it may sound that’s really all there is to achieving the successes you desire. I know you’re thinking that this is too simplistic to be true yet look at those who you consider successful. Without exception they will be following these rules to greater and lesser degrees.

If they can achieve their dreams with this formula, why not you?

The dreams you keep within your heart can each one day come true,
The keys and locks that bind them are held only by you.
(Dax Moy The MAGIC Hundred)
www.themagichundred.com