Puppies and America

Puppies and America

Last Days to Save Up to 30% on DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training Gear HERE!

Jessica and I have slowly been developing our own Christmas tradition with going to the movies with friends on Christmas Day. We may be guilty of doing the “Four Christmas” bit. Where Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon go on vacation rather than endure family “challenges.”

This year, we went to see Will Ferrell’s, Anchorman 2. Something about the unapologetic humor of Will Ferrell just makes him really likable to me. I know, not everyone likes it or gets it, that’s okay. To be honest, I had mixed feelings about Anchorman 2 even though I was looking forward to it.

It had its laughs for sure, but I found it a bit long and even a bit incoherent for my liking. I am sure  you aren’t really that interested in my movie reviews though. The reason I wanted to mention the movie is because I was really struck by something. The theme of the movie was largely based around this very profound, but rather simple idea.

While Ron Burgundy is trying to win what appears to be an impossible bet. He discovers the only way he could gather the ratings for his news show that he needs is to “tell people what they want to hear.”

For those that are unfamiliar with the movie, Will Ferrell plays Ron Burgundy, a blundering news anchor based in the late 70’s and early 80’s. This idea by Ferrell is SHOCKING to the current news landscape that believes you reported what was important and what people needed to know. “What they wanted to hear” was completely revolutionary and Ferrell ends up winning the bet.

The funniest part for me is the commentary that was not just trying to be made about our current media, but fitness and social media as well. There was a very important lesson I thought we could really take away from Ron Burgundy.

Puppies and America

When Ferrell is unleashing his crazy idea of news reporting he states that all you need to do is talk about puppies and America. Of course I chuckled a bit at myself. I love talking about my dogs just as most would probably talk about their kids, yea, I am that guy. However, I am also floored by how much more my post on pups taking a nap will get than a highly referenced fitness article!

It has taught me something very important. Yes, information is one reason we go to the internet, but we also go to become happy. More than ever people are stressed and under more demands. In fact, even though we have never been more connected we are actually more lonely. This video does a wonderful job of explaining the why’s.

Understanding this has made me more aware that we need a combination of inspiration and information. We need just not to know the nuts and bolts, the exercises and reps, but how is this going to make our lives better. The real stuff, how we are going to have even one better day by taking a positive action in our lives.

Now that DOESN’T mean I am going to just tell you want to hear. I am going to share with you what I think works the absolute best! You see, there is a bit of a cop out going on in the fitness industry. There is a lot of just telling people want to hear.

Building our social media “life” isn’t as important to us as helping you improve yours!

Why? It is a heck of a lot easier to get “likes”, “shares”, and people cheering you if you say what you think people want to hear. My worry is, does that really help people?

Trust me, my life would be WAY easier if I sat back and told you that there is one magical DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training exercise and just do it a bunch of times. Man, that would make life easier, however, would it make YOU better?

Some days we do need pictures of puppies and patriotic sentiment, a lot of times we need to be pushed. Change is just not easy, accomplishing big things is just not easy, being different is just not easy. However, normal is rarely where people want to be.

In 20 years of being a fitness professional I’ve NEVER had anyone come to me so that they could be “average”. This includes many people that were medically obese. Why would they? Why would we work so hard just to be average? Maybe it is out there, but I’ve never seen anyone get pumped up by mediocrity.

We want to be the BEST versions of ourselves and sorry, that can’t be all puppies and America. Sometimes that means hearing things we don’t want to, like there is no magical exercise, you really aren’t doing a mystical Japanese interval training program (cough, tabata, cough), you probably don’t need a super periodized six month program, but you can’t just do “whatever” each day and expect to be more than average.

I make a promise to you, we will work to continue to do better in 2014. We will continue to try to give better resources, great moments of real inspiration by real people, we will do our part, but I have to ask you one question…are you willing to do yours?

This journey together should be fun, it should be something we all look forward to, it should bring out the best in us. However, you have to be willing to do your part, can you be patient, can you be focused, can you overcome those days where negative thoughts want to grab a hold of you and bring you down? I know the answer can be yes, but is it?

One of the most common discussions I had with clients was when they would say THE THING to me. “Josh, I am up for you getting me to my goal.” I quickly had to change their entire thought process. “I can only direct, lead, and motivate you, YOU have to do the real work.” Don’t worry about New Year’s resolutions, make a promise to yourself. A promise that 2014 will be your best yet!

Puppies and America is a post from: Ultimate Sandbag Training System

The post Puppies and America appeared first on Ultimate Sandbag Training System.