A few words Bill Stephanos on creating change in your life…
“From a young age, Bill Stephanos, was an advanced athlete, achieving all star status as a baseball, ice hockey and football player up through the high school ranks. From there, Bill went on to Boston College, where he played D1 Football and was eventually drafted by the Minnesota Vikings of the NFL. Bill was noted as the fastest lineman on the team, both at Boston College and with the Minnesota Vikings (running a 4.8 forty) and also was often recognized as the strongest player on the team. Since then, Bill has dedicated his career to health, wellness and fitness, with over 30 plus years of experience and training in the medical and corporate healthcare industry.”
We asked Bill, “What does it take to get results?” This is what he had to say:
“In a nutshell, Make an Action Plan. Execute. Show up. Consistently. With Passion. Never stop!”
Bill’s 7 recommendations to help you achieve your fitness goals.
1 – Set goals
Setting goals is the first thing that must be done in order to be successful in anything. Your goals should not just be in your head, but written down and reviewed regularly. Make sure you have long-term goals — 3 to 5 years in the future — as well as daily and weekly goals. It is a proven fact that writing down your goals and reviewing them leads to a significantly higher success rate than people who do not write them down.
Bottom line – According to inc.com, you are 42% more likely to reach your goals if you write them down
2 – Join the right gym
There are so many different gyms you can join these days. There are group exercise gyms (CrossFit, Orange Theory, Spinning, etc.), then there are traditional health clubs, weightlifting gyms and many chains that are geared towards less serious individuals. Don’t just join the facility that is closest to your home or work, but do research on these places. It’s easy: visit several gyms, and almost all of them will give you a free trial membership. Take advantage of these offers and before joining, use the facility and see how you adapt. While you’re there, speak to some of the people in your class and ask them how things are going for them. This should give you a clear understanding of whether the gym is a good fit and if the people going to these facilities are going to help motivate you.
Bottom line – The right environment is critical to achieving success, the right gym can help get you attain your training sweet spot.
3 – Know what you’re eating
This one is common sense. Unfortunately, not many people take the time to do it. Depending on our body structure we all need a certain amount of calories in our diets. Take a moment to read the nutritional value of the foods you put in your mouth. You will be astonished at some of the amounts of fat, sugar and carbohydrates you’re ingesting on a daily basis. Figure out how much protein, carbohydrates, fats and calories you should be taking in daily, then look at what you are actually eating and compare the two. I can’t stress the simplicity of this and the lack of people who actually do it.
Bottom line – remember that you can never out-train a bad diet!
4 – Prepare
Again, this is logic and common sense. Failing to plan is planning to fail. It’s very simple, but something many people fall victim to. When we get hungry and haven’t prepared anything for lunch, we look for instant gratification. That usually means fast food, which we all know is extremely unhealthy. Preparation isn’t just for food though, as it is also vital for fitness success. When you wake up in the morning, you should be thinking about what time you’re going to work out, packing the appropriate clothes and knowing ahead of time what your workout is going to be. You don’t want to walk into a gym and say, “well nobody’s using that machine over there, I guess I’ll start on that one”. Preparation is done on a daily basis with your meals, so you should know everything you’re going to eat and have it prepared to cook when you come home.
Bottom line – We are creatures of habit…your goal is to develop the right habits. Plan. Prepare. Repeat.
5 – Reinvest in your body
Think of your body like it’s an automobile. If you own an automobile long enough you’re going to have to replace parts and do repairs. Our body is a fine-tuned machine, and if you do not invest in it, you’re going to run into problems, some of them lifelong. Do stretching, massages and physiotherapy sessions. These are all things that will help you stay healthy and enable you to continue to grow with your workout goals. I have close to five decades’ worth of fitness knowledge and one thing I can tell you is that I’m still learning every day. Take time to read about fitness, go to YouTube and watch videos and seek out fitness seminars that you can attend. If you are not moving forward and learning new things then you’re not going to grow with your fitness goals and knowledge.
Bottom line – Become a perfect example of someone who applies the principles of Kaizen – Constant Never Ending Improvement.
6 – Have discipline and passion
You don’t need to do these things on occasion, you need to do them every day in order to be successful. This is very achievable if you plan ahead and follow through. When you have passion — yes, passion — you will do things better. As such it’s very important to join the right facility for your fitness goals. When you have the right mindset, all of these things I’m discussing become easy. Don’t look at this as difficult — embrace your fitness goals and watch them come to reality.
Bottom line – “There is no passion to be found playing small, in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.” Nelson Mandela
7 – See your progress
This is something that is extremely important. I firmly believe that when you can visually see your results and progress, it will motivate you to continue your exercise routine. I also believe that if you do not see these results, it’ll just a matter of time before you’re going to fail. Let me further elaborate. When you walk into the gym and go on the treadmill, there are five ways to visually track your results: speed, calories, distance, incline and time. If you write all five of these down and do the treadmill the next time you exercise, you should look at what you’ve done and decide to improve on one of these five things. More often than not what will happen is you will do better in several of these categories and you will accomplish progress. When you beat your calories by one, do one more minute or increase your speed by a tenth of a mile per hour, that is progress and when you have the ability to go back into your notes and review what you have done, you can visually see your success and this will keep you motivated to continue your exercise routine.
Simply put, in order to visually see your progress, you should be writing everything down that you are doing. You should take notes of how you feel, see whether or not your clothes fit differently, take time to review and appreciate your accomplishments! This in my opinion is integral to the success of your long-term fitness goals.
Remember, you get out of it what you put into it. There’s no free lunch. However, if you set attainable goals, have a plan and follow through, you’ll succeed and you will inspire many throughout your journey.
Bottom line – When you visualize your success, results are more likely to follow. You are creating a mental blueprint.
We are here for you! Now, let’s go!
www.renewfx.com
Bill Stephanos
Executive Director
RenewFX Health
www.renewfx.com
