How to Manage your Yearly workout calendar.

I know that most people rarely think of their workout in terms of the year, in fact most only think of the upcoming week

The calendar is the single greatest training tool you have for success. The training diary and the food journal are also absolutely necessary, but these two tools both tell you your history:

What you ate and what you worked (input and output)

The calendar is proactive. The calendar gives you ideas about where you want to go and a bit of a roadmap to this destination.

I first heard Dan John teach about the idea of traffic light training back at perform better in 2012. The traffic light idea, is diving your yearly calendar into Green light workouts, Yelllow light workouts and red light workout.

Green you can focus on challenges and programs that demand focus, drive, and intensity It’s not a lifetime commitment! It normally is 6 days of workout 60-90 minutes long, and perfect clean eating for three or six weeks, you can pound through the pain

Green light training you can be a little crazy, with long hard workouts, followed by lots of sleep and recovery, and modalities to keep you healthy. This phase is very hard to sustain past 6 weeks.

Yellow means caution, slow down and get ready to just punch the clock (your typical average joe workout) Its an opportunity to understand that  perhaps for long stretches, where you need to get your workouts finished, eat fairly clean, and take care of basic recovery. This is normally 3-4 workouts a week and good eating.

Red, of course, means stop… well sort of… you never really stop ;o) There are certain situations that come up in life that don’t allow for time at the gym. But movement and activity (like brushing your teeth and good hygene) need to be a constant. So these peropds have short sporadic workouts.  Ideally it is 2 45 min  workouts a week and one activity

Every person has a natural red,yellow and green period in their life.

School teachers for example. Green months are end of June- middle of August, September is almost a red month. October and November are yellow. 2 weeks in December are red, while christmas break is a green. Jan-March is yellow. Apr-beginning of June is red. And so it goes. so there is never really falling off the wagon. But prioritizing everything.

Now what if you currently only workout 2-3 days per week? You my friend are in a red/yellow holding pattern… if you really want to make big changes you better step it up to Green for 6 weeks. Now that holding pattern is also just fine, and you deserve a big congratulations! You have figured out how to make a sustainable lifestyle change! But just know where you are and where you are heading, and be realistic with your goals.

Download a calendar here to get you started. Traffic Light Training

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Winner winner chicken dinner! 
$100 gift card to Trader Joes goes to Soon Tia 

$100 gift card to Target goes to Cheryl Shiek

Congratulations!! 

Winner have until Monday morning at 9 am to email Fitnessreviewsoc@gmail.com 

With correct spelling of their first and last name and their address 

If prizes aren’t claimed a new winner wi be drawn 

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Hi Friends,
As we pick up speed on our blog and continue to  fulfill our mission to highlight the variety of fitness and health options available in Orange County we will be bringing our Fitness on Tour to the OC in October. This is a completely free workout tour for participants. BUT as a prep for this we are having a giveaway!! There is nothing to purchase and this is open to all ages 18 and older. There will be 2 winners the first in the drawing will win $100 gift card to Trader Joes and the name pulled in the drawing will win a $100 gift card to Target. There is no exchanges or substitutions. You can read all of our terms and conditions below.

You simply click on the rafflecopter entry form below and visit and like the various facebook pages and friend Natalie Purefitnessoc so you can get ALL the updates for Fitness on Tour. The contest runs from 12am on Thursday September 10, 2015 to 12 am on Friday September 18, 2015. The winner will be drawn via Random.org and announced on Friday September 18, 2015 at 8:30 in the morning.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

*****Trainers! Interested in being included in our next giveaway? Or are you interested in being a Vendor for the Fitness on Tour? You can learn more here… https://youtu.be/CFYzdzezsSY

or email us fitnessreviewsoc@gmail.com

In many of my moms groups I have seen someone post up “I am having a hard time getting rid of the baby weight, any suggestions?” and then 100 people comment with tips, suggestions, challenge groups, etc. Most of them try to sway the person to come join their group, or gym, or boot camp, whatever their preferred method of fitness is, and this isn’t a bad thing! The majority of fitness industry professionals are operating their solopreneur, small businesses and I can’t tell you how many times people say “Oh! I didn’t know this was here!” or “I didn’t  even think to look up xyz fitness.”

The reason is that most people do not seek fitness out. In fact, statistics shows less than 10% of the population are actively fit,  meaning that day in and day out, fitness is part of their regiment. That 10% seek out what they are looking for, the rest of the population doesn’t seek out anything until they are ready (fed up with weight gain, their back hurts, become motivated to get fit, etc.) and so the advertisements you might see or flyers that come in the mail are passed over by people because it simply isn’t on their radar… things that are on their radar? Pizza, dry cleaning, nail salon offers etc.

Here is what I know for sure, your fitness  MUST fit you and your personality, your lifestyle, and meet you where you are at in your life. It can, and should, change throughout your journey. You may start something at the beginning of your fitness journey then you might change in the middle to try something new or to get better gains from the workout.

My suggestion is to consider the following 4 points:

1) Location: if you are just getting into fitness (especially if you are not particularly motivated) you want the fitness studio or boot camp you pick to be very closely located to your home or office. The more you eliminate opportunities to make excuses, the more successful you will be. No matter how “cool” it is, or how outstanding the instruction, when you are tired and unmotivated and it’s even 15 minutes out of your way, all of the sudden that 15 minutes gets turned into an hour, and then you think about how long it will be until you can go home and put your feet up, and it is so easy to just head home. If, however, your fitness studio or boot camp is literally on your way home, you have eliminated that as an excuse. In Orange County there are SOO many fitness options around that it won’t be hard to find one near you.

2) Personality: It doesn’t matter if your friend loves it, it doesn’t matter if your neighbor lost 20lbs doing it, your workout must fit you – your style and your personality. Do you love loud music? Do you love jumping and high impact workouts? Do you love things that are more dance oriented? Do you prefer yoga over sprinting? Answering all of these and finding something that resounds with you is another check mark in the staying motivated category.

3) Qualifications: There are literally dozens of challenge groups, free workout groups, and boot camps led by unqualified individuals who are selling a product… and there really is nothing wrong with this, until you get an injury or unless you have an injury. Go into these groups eyes wide open. Understand that nothing is free in life, and they most likely hold the group in order to also get you to purchase their product. If you are someone who already is interested in the group to begin with, then the free workout or challenge group is an awesome bonus! Just understand what it is you are getting, and gaining.

4) Change and challenge:  It isn’t the be all, end all. Yes, workout xyz changed your life, yes Trainer “Joe” is the best and completely changed your life, but you need to try different things in order to continue to grow and change on your journey with fitness. You can love, honor, respect, and still participate in the workout  or the training that you initially lost 40 lbs in (or whatever great change you made) while still continuing to participate in new things that might be your next challenge. For example, you might have started with studio xyz 5 times a week for the last two years, but maybe now you train there 3 times a week and somewhere else 2 times a week to keep that spark alive.