Are YOU Fit & Free?

Live...like someone left the gate open.

If you aren't, then now is the time to change that my friends.  It is YOUR life, after all.  How do you want to live it?  Stuck under the weight of inertia in an unhealthy body or living life to the fullest by being fit & free?  Look at this little guy in the photo above...feel the sheer joy ripping through him as he leaps into life!  I hope you can feel it and that you want to live a life as vital as that too.

Over the coming weeks, I would like to share some excerpts from my book, 'Fit & Free: Seven Steps to Achieving Fitness For Life',  that I hope will inspire you to make the changes you so desire in 2013. I wrote this book as a way to share the MOTIVATIONAL tools that I have learned over the years with as many people who need them as possible.  These tools come both from working with thousands of clients at ELM and from overcoming my own obstacles in life and sport along the way.

The following is taken from the Preface: Choosing to be Fit & Free:

Once you choose to live a healthy and active life you will find it easy to move through the steps in this book. To do this, you must first believe that health is a choice; you are responsible for your health now and in the future.

You can choose to become a vibrant, healthy and active individual with the ability to live the life of your dreams. Or, you can choose to live an unhealthy life that contributes to illness, disease, physical limitations and the many negative emotions that accompany poor lifestyle choices. You must realize that your future is in your very own hands and that the potential within you is limitless. I promise that once you choose to be Fit & Free™ you will become free to live a life full of energy, vitality and longevity.

When I meet with new personal training clients for the first time, they are generally experiencing a range of emotions associated with starting a new fitness and lifestyle journey. Clients often report feeling both excited and anxious about getting started with a fitness trainer. I attribute these mixed messages to the little angel and little devil that often sit atop our shoulders throughout life. On the one hand, it is extremely exciting to anticipate the positive changes and envision the new healthier you: ‘The possibilities are endless and the sky is the limit!’ On the other hand, they may shudder at the thought of a failed attempt:

‘What if I can’t do it?’ ‘What if I fail?’ Many, many people feel so overwhelmed at the possibility of failure that they never actually begin in the first place.

This fear of failure is often the result of unfinished business in the past. Failing to plan adequately and not taking the right steps to ensure your success can often result in a failure to reach your goals which can crush your self-confidence. Some people just seem to naturally have more confidence than others. In reality, self-confidence is the product of many small successes or perceived failures over the duration of our lives. Getting cut from the basketball team in grade 4 or not being picked first by the captain in gym class may not seem like life changing events, but these perceived ‘failures’ can shape our identities and do significant damage to our self efficacy, confidence and self worth in the future. Addressing long term feelings of low self worth is very important if you have found this to be a recurring obstacle on your journey towards a healthier lifestyle. However, serious psychological issues are beyond the scope of this book and I strongly encourage you to speak with a professional who can help you work past these very challenging and very real issues.

The Purpose of this Book
The seven Fit & Free™ steps are based primarily on my experiences working with thousands of individuals as a personal trainer and group fitness instructor through my business, Equilibrium Lifestyle Management. Over time I have developed effective strategies for assisting my clients in reaching their fitness and lifestyle goals. I have witnessed many amazing journeys of success along with failed ventures; each one had valuable lessons to be learned from. The steps in this book have been proven time after time to assist individuals of all backgrounds in reaching their fitness goals.

Although each and every one of us is a unique individual with very specific needs, preferences and personalities, I believe there are key steps that we all must take to ensure success on our personal lifestyle journey. The goal of this book is to share these key steps with you so that you can implement them into your own life and, in fact, become your own personal trainer in the process.

Following these steps will help you break the patterns of short-lived success and repeat failures that you may have experienced in the past. These steps will change the way you think about fitness and inspire you to be active everyday.

This book is designed to encourage success and, in turn, increase your confidence by taking small but significant steps towards reaching your lifestyle goals. By adopting small changes over a period of time you are more likely to reach your goals and create meaningful lifestyle habits.

This seven-step program offers a combination of education, motivation and practical tools within each chapter. Each chapter will discuss a key step of the Fit & Free™ program and you will learn how to incorporate these simple steps into your own life. This book includes valuable tools that compliment each of the Fit & Free™ steps and personalize your experience.

Thank you for choosing to join me on this exciting fitness and lifestyle journey. I have seen thousands of individuals successfully adopt the principles of this program and I am confident that you, too, will reach your personal fitness goals by following the steps in this book. Let’s begin.
Sarah.

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If you would like to purchase your own copy of Fit & Free, you can do so by visiting the ELM Online Store anytime.  Stay tuned as I share motivating tips and tricks from my book in the coming weeks.

Cheers!