Your Fitness Journey. Creating a Map for Success!

One month into working on your New Year's fitness resolutions , it's time to make an assessment of your progress. Don't be hard on yourself but use this time to take an honest look at where you've come from and where you're headed. Oh, you say you really didn't set any goals except that you know you wanted to shed a few pounds. Oh, you say you didn't really have a plan to get to the gym. Eating plan? What eating plan?

I worked at Costco and we had a saying: Plan the work and work the plan. But a plan is just a car running on empty unless you put a goal in the tank, a motivator. Your goal needs to be specific. The more specific a goal the greater chances of success. Don't just say you want to lose a few pounds, put the number in writing.

Is your goal measurable? That is, how do you plan to measure your activity? A scale? Tape measure? Amount of weight lifted? Many of my clients would never consent to body measurements, let alone get on a scale while I was standing there. They preferred something more subjective and for them, less intimidating. The most common was how they looked or felt in their clothes. Fair enough!

Can you attain this goal? Maybe it's not a case of wanting but needing. If you've just come from your doctor and been informed that your cholesterol and blood pressure are elevated and that you need to lose weight, that changes the dynamic. In fact, it becomes more urgent and hopefully more motivating than simply wanting to lose weight.

How relevant or connected is your goal to you? Your desire to try powerlifting may not fit with an overall goal to lose weight. In fact, the reverse may happen and you'll find yourself buying larger clothes.

And finally, when is this all going to happen? Adding the element of time to goal-setting is a powerful motivator. It can be any arbitrary date in the future: Perhaps a calendar holiday or vacation getaway (yes, fitting into a square-cut swim suit is a good motivator).

Goals: Specific. Measurable. Attain-able. Relevant. Time-bound - SMART. Set yourself up for success and enjoy the journey!

Fitness Paradise: San Diego!

A year ago I arrived in Palm Springs and now it's time to leave. So soon, you ask? Palm Springs has been a little strange for me. Okay, it's been weird. I realize everyplace has it's "weirdness", especially having lived in a city like San Francisco, but Palm Springs has been weird times 10.

I've decided that Palm Springs is not part of California. Its glitzy-esque, nostalgic glamor lends it as more of an outlier of Las Vegas. It's a patchwork of vacant lots, shuddered businesses and nude resorts. Walking-types beware (there aren't many here): You'll find that sidewalks, if any, suddenly narrow, end, disappear altogether, or are squarely blocked by a palm tree.

Having escaped the fitness craze is another reason for my decision that Palm Springs is not part of California. For all the great weather and sunshine, you won't find too many people enjoying it. As I observed, there aren't many people that walk or bicycle. It's a place where cars rule and folks like to drive...fast! Except for a small area downtown, it is not pedestrian friendly. And as for a good cup of coffee or a decent loaf of bread? Forget it.

For all of Palm Springs shortcomings and weirdness, the one saving grace is its natural beauty. This is the desert, and regardless of the colorful, exotic, over-watered landscaping, those majestic, weathered hills loom as a reminder that this city is contrived and is nothing without precious water. You'll find a lot of great people here and even more characters, too. Palm Springs has a "let it all hang out" attitude and some like to let it hang to the ground.

San Diego, my quintessential California. Growing up in the parched desert of Eastern Utah, it's no wonder it was the dream spot of my youth. My Aunt Aggie, a goddess of a woman living in Chula Vista not far from the beaches, would collect and mail sea shells that smelled and tasted of brine. Whether or not they really came from those beaches was irrelevant to three young boys living in a coal mining town. The dreams they inspired, and continue to inspire, were richer than the gift itself: The ocean, year-round sunshine, young-minded people, forward thinkers, new ideas, people with purpose, and lots of good vibrations.

San Diego is definitely part of California with it's gentle temperatures and moist breezes from the ocean. It's a hotbed for fitness buffs and you'll find all varieties in the water, on the streets, up in the mountains, and all in between. It's a personal trainer's paradise with an abundance of health-conscious folks seeking guidance and motivation. If there's an empty patch of grass, you can bet a boot camp will pop-up there sooner than later. Fitness is relatively new in our national, social consciousness and cities like San Diego are setting the pace. Come and visit!

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