Time to Get "Back" in Shape!

The key word in that phrase is "Back". Everybody can look back at a point in their lives when they were, relatively speaking, "in shape". Everybody.. Even if it was as far back as when they were 8 or 9 years old playing town soccer or tee-ball. There's a point in everybody's life they can look back on and say, with conviction, "i was in shape then".. Of course with the rising epidemic in childhood obesity, especially in children under 5, that is changing. In the USA we are now raising children who, if asked in the year 2040, "when were you in shape?", their answer will honestly be "never". But we're not in 2040, and I'm asking you now. When were you really in shape? Are you in the best shape of your life right now? If not, then why not?

When I was in my 30's I worked out at a number of different gyms. I picked my gym based on the monthly fee and how long I had to commit to. I lifted weights. I ran on conveyor belts listening to my iPod, watching ESPN sportscenter. It took me 2 hours to get in a workout that got me little in the way of results. I could lift heavier weights and run faster on the belt after a couple months, but then the stale routines would stop yielding results, I would get bored with it. I couldn't stand going to those gyms. I had some muscle definition but I wasn't strong. Nothing that I did in those gyms translated to results in the real world. It translated to results in the mirror. On a scale of "time wasted", second to the hours I wasted in bars when I was in my 20's is the hours I wasted in those gyms in my 30's. At about 35 years old I realized I was not in shape, and if I wanted to get "back" in shape it would have to be the shape I was in when I was about 10 years old, playing "kill the man with the ball", or riding my bike with my friends 10 miles into Groton center to the penny candy store to buy a handful of Swedish fish for a dime, or running through the woods with fake rifles playing "army", or raiding the Hatfield's crabapple tree and going out in the sandpit with my friends using a garbage can lid for a shield and having apple fights. Did I ever lift weights back then? Did I run on treadmills? Did I do "flys" on the pec deck? How ridiculous is it to even think it? So why, now that I'm older, does it make any more sense to do any of that stuff if what I really want to be able to do is...... anything i want on any given day? I want to race my bike, climb mountains, go kayaking, play soccer with the kids I coach, show my own kids what fun an active lifestyle is. Is bench press or biceps curls going to help me do any of that? Ummm... no, I don't think so.

I turned 43 yesterday. The only person getting any younger than me right now is Benjamin Button. I continue to get in better shape and turn back the clocks. I ride my bike, I hike mountains, I do bodyweight exercise, I do kettlebell work, I throw around medicine balls. I work full body movements, with and without resistance that translate to the real world gains so that I can do everything I want to do. I've adopted a healthy lifestyle and diet that complements my natural training so that I stay healthy, have incredible amounts of positive energy, and can achieve absolutely anything I put my mind to. If somebody asks me "when were you in the best shape of your life?" my answer is honestly, right now. I have figured it out.

This is why people come to Dynamic Strength and Conditioning. Initially they come because they want to get "back" in shape. They stay because they want to be in the best shape of their lives. I figured out what it took to get me there, and I know how to get you there. Michele and I develop programs that are guaranteed to get you where you want to be if you are willing to do the work. I hear comments about the cost because they compare what Dynamic costs to the $20 a month chrome and fern palaces. It's not a fair comparison. I'm giving you a structured 12 week training program, designed to increase your strength, muscular endurance, power, energy levels, metabolism, lean body mass, mobility and flexibility, instructed by professionals who live it, love it, are passionate about it, and are certified to teach it. We give you nutritional guidance and help you adopt a healthy lifestyle that complements your activities and goals. Is that what you're getting for $20 a month at Planet Fatness. Is that what you're getting from the "trainer" at Globo with the flashy smile, the bulging, bodybuilder muscles, the khaki pants, and the clipboard as he sets the pin in the pec deck for the 3rd set of 10 as he chats up the hot chick in spandex working out next to you? Oh yeah, and that "trainer" doesn't come with the price of admission either.... At Dynamic, in the past year I can't count how many times I have heard "I'm in the best shape I've ever been in", or, "Hey, I'm going to do _________, I never would have thought I could do that before!". I watch as people shed inches upon inches of bodyfat, increase their functional strength, muscular endurance, and mobility by orders of magnitude. Don't know about you, but to me that beats the hell out of listening to some meathead at the water cooler talking about how he just benched 325. 

At the end of the day you have to look at the big picture. You go around one time and it's up to you how you're going to spend it and how you're going to feel. It's all up to you. It was not pre-determined that you would be in the best shape of your life at 10 years old or that you would spend the last 20 years of your life with a counter full of medications and a calendar full of doctor appointments. Only you have the power to determine how you will spend the rest of your life. A lot of it also depends on your goals and motivations. If your goal is a healthy lifestyle, having a lean, athletic build and being able to do absolutely anything you want to do as long as you're around, then Dynamic is definitely the place for you. 

We have a free week going on right now, with sessions on MWF at 5a,6a,9a,12,6p. Tu/Thu at 7p. And the week wraps up with a field workout at Nashua South High School at the track at 8am. There is no cost and there is no commitment. You owe it to yourself to check it out. It's time to get "back" in shape!