Wagons Are For the Oregon Trail

Ok, maybe that is unfair to say. Oregon Trail is one of the greatest computer games ever created. Joking aside I want to talk to you about something today that I hear all of the time! "Kris, I need to get back on the wagon." I scratch my head, take a look over my left shoulder. Nothing there. So I quickly look to my right, and hmm, there is nothing there. I give them a look of confusion and ask, "What are you talking about?" Meaning, THERE IS NO WAGON!

I want everyone to realize there is no wagon that comes and goes and hopes you hop on. If such a wagon existed, one would think its main goal would be to throw people off. Leaving me to wonder why anyone would want a ticket to ride?

This wagon we all speak of is known as an excuse. It's something we talk about when we have given up, messed up, or failed. We forget that one of the biggest SECRETS TO SUCCESS is failure. So we hang our heads, throw our goals out the window, and just wait for the wagon to come around again. But guess what! The wagon never left, and you never got off the wagon. I know, it's trippy. It's like some sort of Hugh Jackman Illusionist trick (He is both jacked and a great actor by the way.)

You are always on your journey, always learning, always fine tuning your crafts. What we need to remember is that our health is something we master throughout life. It takes practice, ups and downs, trial and error. But it never once stops progressing. You should be continually learning what does and does not work. You will learn from mistakes and refine your process which in turn make that skill easier to complete later on.

If you actively put effort into fine tuning your health and never taking the "off the wagon" attitude, you will see that your progress never stops. Where you are now, compared to a year ago, and that compared to where you will be a year from now, eventually you will see the leaps and bounds you have made. Your job from there is to reach out and serve. There are a lot of us out here. We are all at different parts of our journey, riding in our "wagons". Don't hesitate when you see another in need of rewiring to teach them they don't need a hamster wheel, or jug of powder to be healthy. What they need is support, love, accountability, ownership, education, and motivation. None of which are sold on the shelves of your local body builder powder and pill depot.

Do what you love and love what you do, right? Cliche? Of course it is. Rather, just do EVERYTHING with LOVE and PASSION. Then, watch how it comes back to your life.

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Life Is Driven By Attitude

This article is going to focus less on nutrition, and more on another aspect of personal health. It is important when following your path to health, that you take time to reflect on your choices, emotions, and attitude.  A positive attitude will bring optimism into your life and will fight negative thoughts that can derail your progress and rob your of your successes.

Life is full of moments; simply, we face positive and negative moments. Positive moments lift us up and we feel as if we could take on anything head first. Then there are negative moments, ones that blind-side us, that really challenge our character and drive. It’s these moments that you will find yourself at a fork in the road. In one direction you can accept defeat. You will slump down and take refuge in the fetal position.  In the other direction, if you choose, you will fight your way forward to success.

Creating a positive atmosphere that is surrounded by optimism, you can take the stops forward to happiness with yourself and your life. Try these simple steps to make progress towards a healthier you and a happier life!

o   Believe you have the choices to be happy.

o   Eliminate negativity.

o   Find the positives and appreciate their presence in your life.

o   Surround yourself by loved ones.

o   Breath, Smile, Forgive, Repeat.

Remember to share your happiness with others. Positive thinking and living can spread to others, leaving an impact on everyone you encounter. Think back to a time when you came across a person who was so pleasant, and you left them feeling empowered by their positivity. Choose to be that person, choose to be happy, because you are worth it!

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4 Keys to Proper "Weight Loss"

It's that time of year. We are thinking about what we did over the holidays to ruin our lovely beach bodies. So we all lace up for runs, boil our broccoli and chicken, and restrict calories. All so we can look good in our bathing suits. First, I want everyone to know there are bigger, deeper issues at hand for your lack of self confidence. Someone who made you feel the way you do about being in a bathing suit and has told you that "Weight Loss" is the issue deserves to be punched in the throat. 

I digress... 

If we are going to focus on aesthetics and create a goal to look and feel a certain way, then we must all agree it has nothing to do with the scale. So, before I get rambling on about teaching you how to retrain your brain to understand inner beauty and strength not vanity and starvation (which will be covered in our upcoming REWIRED book!) here are some keys to looking and feeling better in your swimming suit: 

1. It all starts with Nutrition. So before you hire that trainer or buy a new pair of running shoes, start your food journal first. Start understanding your eating trends and swapping out bad for good. An example is swapping the morning breakfast burrito for a couple eggs, bacon, a wedge of avocado, and cup of black coffee. Running low on time, prepare ahead of time by hard boiling eggs and pre-cooking bacon. 

2. Cardio is not the immediate answer. Yes, conditioning is important but the steady state long boring drawn out 2-hour runs are not going to trim you down. Look at the body of a sprinter and the body of a marathon runner. I'll take the sprinters body any day! So try this: interval between high intensity low intensity on your choice of exercise. Sprints, rowing, or my favorite, Kettlebell swings. Set a time and do 30 seconds of swings with 30 seconds of rest for 10-20 rounds. 20 minutes later you are toast. No need to run for 2 hours. 

Bulletproof Conditioning
Men 24kg/ Women 16kg - 30s work:30s rest for 10-20 rounds

3. Strength is the engine. Do you want to really burn more calories or just be more efficient with your energy use? Our muscles and strength are our engine blocks. Our food, fat, etc is the fuel. The stronger the engine the more demand for fuel. Focus on strength but realize working on strength is not the same as bulk. Try this: 2x per week strength train and 2x per week condition (not cardio) 

4. Fat is your friend. It is more efficient and more usable by your body. If you want your body to burn fat it needs to recognize fat as a fuel source more often. Try some fasted workouts, meaning no meal before. Or make your plate look like this: 50% Vegetables, 40% Meat, 10% Fat + Big Glass of Water

Try these out, give yourself a couple weeks and adjust your program according to your body's response. We are not all the same and do not respond the same. Listen to your body and start to eat and train for your goals... No more dieting and exercising. 

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I Can't Believe I Ate the Whole Thing!

Hey Guys,

Something from a conversation this morning with one of my most favorite clients got me thinking and really motivated me to write this and reach out to you. We were talking about a person we know that is struggling with weight loss. This person understands nutrition (so they say, right?), knows how important exercise and physical health is, yet struggles with a current weight issue. This person wants to drop extra pounds that were put on. You will find in our REWIRED book that we help you to take your mind away from the weight and look deeper to find the source. Regardless of knowledge or experience. Who you work with. We want to dig deeper and create change. This person is the significant other to a trainer, so they have amazing help right there with them at all times. What I want you all to realize is, this is not easy, we are not all wired in a way that makes health the same. It doesn't matter how put together you appear to the audience, because we all have our struggles and battles.

So, I opened up and gave out a few of my weaknesses and areas that really challenge me. Those areas are:

-Motivation. I can get myself there, I can do the work. But without an accountability partner we all know how easy it is to skip that last set or alter our program to make it easier. Following that path of least resistance.

-Nutrition. Not how to eat per say, but I have that list of favorites that really make my mouth water and hand quiver! We all have them. For me: Jameson whiskey, a FLAMING hot donut, ice cream, and sadly even an ice cold Pepsi.

Now, its not hard for me to open up about these because I have worked to understand the effects they have on my system. The better I understand it, the easier it is to moderate them. I know to have a set written out plan for my workouts or have a workout buddy there. Usually it is my kick ass wife :) Thanks babe. As for the food, I have take the time to do these few mental checks first:

1. Think BEFORE You Eat: Too many times we inhale the grub THEN say "OMG I can't believe I ate the entire thing". Instead, STOP, consider your actions and possible alternatives. How do you feel, why do you feel it, how will you feel after.

2. Think WHILE You Eat: Savor the moment, whether you gave in to temptation or not. Are you happy with your decision? Is it as enjoyable as you thought? Could you have made a different decision?

3. Think AFTER You Eat: As with any good plan of action, reassess. After you finish what are you thoughts? Are you thinking, "Oh no..." or "Buhhhhhhh" or  are you really happy about the choice you made?

You see, what we need to do is untangle the system. Currently our brains are trying to decide how to satisfy that moment of time. Your brains path of least resistance is to go for what it knows. Whatever you have trained it to do in that moment previously. We need to retrain those knee jerk reactions and cravings. To give you back the control you deserve to have over your actions.

Autopilot is nice, but not when it creates sabotage in our lives. Take the wheel and control your life.

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It's Time to REWIRE!

Hey Guys!

The fresh start to a new Moulton Kettlebell Blog. I will occasionally be creating, writing, and sharing my thoughts with you here. I often get many questions from our work and feel the answers could benefit many others out there. Let this be another source for you to dive in and build your knowledge. 

Currently, for those who do not know, I am working on a book to help many of you out there to get a better handle on your decision making skills, habits, and choices in terms of health and nutrition. I am working with another on this book and we are JACKED to see the outcome. I wanted to share with you a tid bit today just to wet your whistles on. This book is all about the building blocks and foundations to our nutrition that are unfortunately overlooked. We debate about this supplement or that supplement. This powder and pill will make you skinny and this one bulks you up. This you take to be "Slim" (Screw slim) and this one you take to be "XTreme!" (What?!). 

We need to take a deeper look at our foundations. What are proteins, fats, and carbohydrates used for. What is my body type. Am I a carb or fat based eater, and which one should I be. Regardless of the "diet" you are on, the material and knowledge is to help you forget the awful calorie counting youve been doing and just understand that REAL FOOD is always better. 

"Let’s face it. You can walk up to any magazine rack in the country today and find a dozen or more books dedicated to challenging you to change your habits. You can get online and find high carb, low carb, high fat, low fat, this diet, that diet, this workout plan, that gym, all geared to help you transform your body. Go ahead and hop online and do a simple weight loss search and see how many links and articles you come up with. Begin talking with a friend and feel your brain rapidly turn to mush as they talk about what Dr. O told them or what they heard on the Yesterday Show and how you can now buy a miracle weight loss pill. It is no wonder we sit down for dinner at night and are so stressed out and confused that we have no idea how to eat! So, we reach for what is satisfying and what we know. Don’t worry, we are not here to cram yet another diet plan down your throat or restrict your calories to a point of starvation leaving you gaining more weight than you lost when all is said and done. No, that is not our goal, and surely is not the original intended goal of the creators of those mentioned above. It just happens. We are curious and  ready to make a change desiring to see cosmetic results. Sure I want to be healthy but I also want to look better, feel better, and live better. So before we go any further, I want to tell you a story to help put our current culture into better perspective."

To read more you will have to wait until we release REWIRED! 

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