Birthday Reflections & Gratitude

December 6, 2022 by Maria Sogard Leave a Comment

Thank you all for joining me on Super Saturday for my birthday. To be able to share willPower on my birthday was TRULY special.

The great thing about getting older, is getting wiser and more in tune with the important things in life.

Click here to access the full replay of class.

I chose the opportunity of my birthday willPower class to weave in life lessons learned this past year into class, broken into five different themes and songs that have touched my heart. Birthdays are a powerful time to reflect on a year of personal growth and take into account all the experiences of the previous 12 months. Below, I recap the top 5 lessons and songs I shared of this past year for me and hope that by sharing it helps you see lessons in your own life and opportunities to grow and reflect.

Sweaty selfie shot during Super Saturday’s birthday class

1. Honor and see the strengths in yourself and others.

We all are born with special gifts and strengths. Look for that within yourself and see that specialness in others. It is a good thing that we are all unique.

Song: “This is Me” by Keala Settle, The Greatest Showman Ensemble, Dave Aude

2. Be proud to be a work in progress.

Deep self work, having coaches/mentors, prayer, meditation, listening to the whispers – it is all such important work. Being a work in progress can get uncomfortable and tough at times, but it is some of the most important work we can do. Apologize if you aren’t working on your progress!

Song: “Priceless” by KING & COUNTRY

3. Protect and celebrate your energy and spirit.

It is vitally important who you are around and what energy you let into your life. Guard yourself to the negative influences out there, but don’t stay so guarded that you dim your own light. from shining to others.

Song: “Joy” by KING & COUNTRY

4. Faith over fear!

I have never felt so connected to God and it feels SO good. Pray hard and listen even harder. This year I prayed, journaled, and read a devotional every single day. And that stuff is life changing. Handing over any fear, anxiety, and control and surrendering to a higher power is magical.

Song: “Reason” by Unspoken

5. Live ON Purpose!!

This mantra hit me like a ton of bricks in October and will serve as our Mantra for 2023. Wake up each day and live your life ON purpose. What are your core values, your non-negotiables, your to-be list that you want to show up and serve this world as!!

Song – “This Could Change Everything” by Francesca Battistelli

Thank you again for helping me celebrate another trip around the sun, and for our VFit community which has helped me live out my passion for self care through our platform. It’s truly an honor and one I hold dearly each and every day. I’m so thankful to get to do this and grow with you and as you’ve seen, share this with my family through the years as well.

Screen shot shared from the live willPower birthday workout class that has my whole family there!

Love Your Heart

October 13, 2022 by Maria Sogard Leave a Comment

Cardio is Hardio But Here’s Why it’s Important to Not Skip

This morning I delivered a VFitFest #7 special event class, 6AM PST, called Love Your Heart Cardio Blast.

The idea with Love Your Heart was to serve double duty during our live session, by delivering an epic 30 minute cardio workout, and also educate everyone on the importance of cardio and the different training zones.

(YOU can do the full workout replay here)

The Four Cardio Training Zones Broken Down

Training Zone	Metabolic Marker	RPE Rate of Perceived Effort (1-10)	Description	Myzone Range
1	Below VT1	3-4	Light to moderate movement Can easily carry on a conversation	Light Grey/Medium Grey
2	VT1 to Midpoint	5-6	Challenging to hard movement Difficult to carry on conversation	Blue/Low Greens
3	Midpoint to VT2	7-8	Vigorous to really hard movement Can only get out short phrases	High Greens/Yellow
4	Above VT2	9-10	Super hard to maximal effort Basically just grunts or single words	Red

An overview of heart rate training zones and corresponding RPE (rate of perceived effort) and Myzone training zones

Your Ventilatory Threshold

This biomarker, VT for short, is your ventilatory threshold. This helps measure is your intensity in terms of your breathing during a workout, and denotes when lactate starts building up in your bloodstream.

VT1 is when your body is burning equal parts fats and carbs as fuel. This is also when your aerobic system is working for you.

VT2 is that point in your workout when glucose becomes the main source of energy for your body. This also is the phase where you enter anaerobic training.

Workout like your life depends on it, because it does.
Maria Sogard

By using wearables, Myzone on left and WHOOP on right, heart rate data displayed shows the impact of the Love Your Heart Edition of Cardio Blast held in VFit Studio on October 13th in honor of our 7th birthday week led by me earlier today.

Benefits of Getting Your Cardio On

While prepping for the Love Your Heart edition of my Cardio Blast class, I went through several studies, course documents from my NASM personal training course, and blogs on the myriad benefits of cardiovascular training.

Some of the TOP benefits of Cardio:

❤️ Increase blood flow and lowers blood pressure by helping increase good cholesterol and lowering bad cholesterol
❤️ Helps regular blood sugar and reduce risk of diabetes
❤️ Improve circadium rhythm, sleep patterns, lung capacity, energy levels
❤️ Boost brain health by slowing tissue loss, improving memory, and increasing executive function which helps us organize, interpret, and take action
❤️ Aid in lowering RHR (resting heart rate) which in turn improves efficiency of the heart in pumping blood through the body
❤️ Decrease the following: risk of stroke and heart disease, depression symptoms, and stress

While this list is not exhaustive, it likely may shed some light on some areas you may be surprised to see.

What I hope is that this post and workout helps you rethink wanting to skip on your cardio each week.

First Friday’s Wellness Cafe: You are strong than you think & an overview of the macro fat

September 26, 2022 by Maria Sogard Leave a Comment

This month for the First Friday’s Wellness cafe Maria covered the topic of strength training and exploring your current home inventory of dumbells and Lauren covered the macronutrient fat.

Maria’s talk was geared towards helping our community members understand that different exercises can benefit from having different sets of weights such as: light, medium, and heavy. Modifcation options were also talked about during this discussion.

Next up, Lauren continued from last month’s session on the macronutrient of protein and covered fat. She provided resources and ideas of how to better understand fat and how it is used by your body.

Next month for the Wellness Cafe we’ll have the live session open to all that are joining us for VFit’s 7th birthday celebration week. Lauren will close out her macro talk and cover carbohydrates and Maria is set go over heart rate training zones and cardio tips and tricks as part of the FUNctional Fitness Plan and a well balanced routine.

Full slides available here.

If you have any questions on either topic, you can learn more about Maria and Lauren’s Signature Series coaching options here.

First Friday’s Wellness Cafe: Posture Clinic & Protein Overview

August 31, 2022 by Maria Sogard Leave a Comment

For our August First Friday’s Wellness Cafe with Lauren and Maria there was a posture clinic to start then an informative overview of one of the three macros: protein.

Maria begin the Wellness Cafe demonstration 3 ways to use an everyday object, in this case a broom, to help improve posture and mobility in three activities: holding a standard plank, during a hip hinge movement, and using the broom handle to help open up and increas mobility in the shoulders.

Next, Lauren led an overview on protein and provided the group with an explanation of what this important macro does for your body, what foods you can find it in, and recommendations for how much protein you should incorporate into your diet.

Here are slides of Lauren’s presentation, for our September 9th Wellness Cafe session, Lauren will build off this with another macro. Maria will lead another demonstration, this time helping educate on strength training from home with tips on what kinds of weights to use, grips, and recovery time.

The VFit Mountain Goats Take on the June Lake Tri – and the lessons it instilled in us all.

July 13, 2022 by Maria Sogard Leave a Comment

Kathy, Rachele, Meghan and Becky before the race began

The past six weeks I’ve spent extra time training for the June Lake Triathlon, with three fellow VFitters as part of a relay team. The journey took me from the sidelines of the pool as my kids “swim team mom” to in the pool/lake, training hard for the 1 mile open water swim.

And I have to say, this whole journey has been life changing.

Thanks to social media and live interaction with the VFit team, we have been able to share the training journey with my community and am here to close out this chapter, summing up the weekly recaps and story.

I also came up with 5 TOP takeaways to share, in the hopes that there’s pieces in our journey that help inspire you to expand outside your comfort zone, take bigger chances, and enjoy your own personal journey more.

“On July 9th, 2022 the VFit Mountain Goats did it! As a relay team with Rachele on the 1 mile swim, Meghan on the 25 mile bike ride, Kathy on an epic 6.2 mile trail run, and Becky cheering them all on – they completed the race together.

It was a tough course, with variable weather, at an elevation of 8,000 feet, lots of grit and hard work but the team pushed through and came out all smiles and shine on the finish line.”

2 weeks before the race, our running teammate Becky found herself with a major knee injury and had to bow out of the race, leaving us heartbroken to lose her, and scrambling to figure out what to do.

But in true VFit fashion, where there is a will, there is a way – and local teammate Kathy stepped up to the plate to hop in.

A triathlon relay consists of 3 teammates, but in this case, we became 4! Becky came to cheer us on, hold our bags, and give us all the support in the world. The dream is in the team!

My Top 5 Takeaways from the journey, followed by a weekly recap of training:

🌟 Don’t take yourself so serious in life that you stop trying new things and letting yourself get uncomfortable. The biggest growth and reward is when we journey and push through our comfort zone.

🌟 On the flip side, please DO take yourself serious enough to put in the work and effort to chase your goals. Chasing and reaching goals takes training and hard work, I’m most proud of myself for sticking to what I committed to and not letting excuses derail me. I made it work, even on the busiest of weeks, to get my training swims in and it paid off.

🌟Being uncomfortable is ok – in fact, you grow the most from those moments. If you are scared to do something, it’s because you care about the outcome and it’s something you should reach for. There’s plenty of times I felt like the literal fish out of water, but I knew those athletes around me in the pool and lake, were all there chasing the same goal and we all wanted to the best for one another.

🌟 Having a team to do life with makes everything more fun. Your team will help support you, check in on you, and help hold you accountable. The dream really is in the team and you become the sum of who you choose to surround yourself by.

🌟 Most importantly, enjoy the journey!! May we all embrace being “works in progress” in this life! While the race was the end goal, it was that six week journey and all the steps that it took to get there that really made up my journey and what I’m most thankful for. Make sure to enjoy every success, embrace and learn from each stumble or failure, and remember that we all only get one life to live and work to celebrate your wins each day.

Join Rachele from Mom Hill as she gives a recap on her 6 weeks of training and her 5 top takeaways on training and completing the June Lake Triathlon

6 Weeks of Training Recap:

Week 1

I said yes.

I committed to be on a relay team for the June Lake Tri and I’m the swimming leg – Olympic distance. Funniest part is, 2 local VFitters asked me to be on their team and I thought “say yes more!”

And I did just that.

Between running VFit, teaching classes, taking the dog out and living a pretty active lifestyle, I haven’t trained for anything specific for a long time. But I felt the desire to push myself out of my comfort zone, focus on something with a tangible goal and to use the years of FUNctionsl fitness I’ve gained through VFit to train for this upcoming event.

I hired the best coach around. My 9 year old daughter who is passionate about swimming.

Off we go at 6:45am on day 1 of training! 💦 Bonus – 1:1 time with her, which is hard to come by these days ❤️ Let’s go Mountain Goats!”

Me and “Coach Emmy” my daughter in the pool for our first training swim together in Week 1.

Week 2

I know we talk about it in classes all the time.

The importance of accountability and making connections with accountability partners or buddies.

We’ve found at VFit that linking up with a partner for accountability has been proven time and time again to improve our members’ check in totals and overall morale with getting in their workouts.

Accountability goes much farther than just for classes I learned this week!

The biggest thing with finding an accountability partner is that it makes a huge difference on those days when you just don’t feel like it. We all have those days, even us Trainers.

You may not *feel like it*, but if you skip out, you know you are letting someone else down who is supporting you and expecting you to show up, to honor your commitment.

Here’s a huge shoutout to my accountability partner Kathy.

This week was INTENSE in so many ways at home, with it being the first week of summer and all 3 kids home full time. There was also work to get done and the never ended catching up with loose ends, all of which could have taken over my mornings this week, but since I knew you were there to train with me, I showed up.

I showed up for you. I showed up for me. For our triathlon training team, for my family, and our entire VFit community.

Me and my accountability buddy Kathy in the pool togethe on Week 2.

Week 3

I’ve found my VFit community is there with me, even when I’m swimming alone in the pool.

First, with all the cross training we do together in our classes together.

Each time my legs burn I think about all the work we do together in classes like Barre and willPower to build muscle endurance.

Or when I start going for speed and my heart starts racing, I think of our Never Miss a Monday Met Mash and Tabata training – together and smiling through it.

Second, all the messages on these posts and also private DMs of support as I push myself to do something I’ve never done before!

The outpouring has been so heartfelt and many have shared that they’ve been inspired to go after a goal they’ve had in the back of their mind’s as well, because these weekly posts have them inspired.

That as you know, means the world to me and is a lot of why I’m sharing my journey with you all.

And third, my VFitter community is literally there with me with each heartbeat as I use my My Zone heart rate monitor and check myself into active class times when other VFitters are taking clasees or working out on their own too.

The second pic shows all of our My Zone tiles as I was swimming, trainer Maria was landscaping, and the other VFitters were all in a live class together.

This added level of connection is just awesome and I felt like we were all together in the pool.
I’m feeling strong and already can see progress with my swim times and stamina in the pool here on week 3.

I look forward to continuing to sharing my weekly accountability posts up until race day!

Thankful to get to be ‘live’ with team and connected with our My Zones for training swims. It really feels like they are there with me when I do this and helps push me to keep going. I feel their energy in the pool and cheers!

Week 4

“Swim training week 4 and it’s not getting easier.”

“But I can for sure tell I’m getting stronger!

My My Zone perfectly sums up how I felt this morning, slow to start!

I wanted to quit! Wasn’t feeling it! But I kept going and somewhere in there, my energy and drive kicked in.

Some days you just need to start! Abd like dory says ”just keep swimming.”

I always say in classes, “often times your best workouts come when you really don’t want to show up!”

Challenge yourself fo get through 5 minutes and see where it leads.

Today I ended with my longest swim yet, 50 laps.

A little progress each week adds up to a lot over time.

Week 5

So grateful for my VFit community. I told them about my tri swim training weeks ago and have been openly sharing the journey.

They are truly the best cheer team around!

This may seem like no big deal to many, but it is for me.

Im not a swimmer, I don’t love being cold and I don’t have a ton of extra time to train for a mile open water swim.

But I’m making it happen thanks to a TEAM!

From my 2 vfitters Meghan and Becky who asked me to be on their team. We text each other daily, we cheer each other on, we tease each other – we are team Sierra Mountain Goats.

Becky was even so kind to let me know I wore the wetsuit inside out yesterday 🙌

And here at retreat, each morning I’ve had a group of the most supportive, authentic and genuine cheerleaders along my side.

Today they even encouraged me to do double what we did yesterday, racking in .92 miles total!!

The event is in 2 less than weeks and this whole experience has nothing to do with the results, it’s all in this fun, uncomfortable and out of my comfort zone journey.

My wet suit may have been inside out, but either way, I got that first lake swim training done during retreat with the support of the my team paddling by my side.

Week 6

This swim mom has turned into a passionate swimmer this summer and I couldn’t be more proud of myself.

I’ve never considered myself a swimmer or signed up for a big race like this, but when the opportunity to join in a team being formed by 2 VFitters in my local community for the June Lake Triathlon – with them swim being in my fav lake on earth – I knew the universe was telling me this was my time to rise up and accept the challenge.

Being successful means you need to adapt and embrace change.

When your schedule changes, you have to change your schedule and stick to getting in the activities you’ve chosen to make a priority in your life.

You’ll never have a bunch of extra time to pour into your health, you have to create those windows and make it work because you understand how important it is.

Three ways to do this are: 1) set weekly goals 2) have accountability buddies and 3) show up even when you don’t feel like it.

The kids are home from school for the summer and fitting in triathlon training has gotten admittedly more challenging.

I’ve had to readjust the time of day I do my training, even if my body wants to do it in the morning, it’s not realistic, so I’ve had to will myself to commit to train at different times based on the days’ commitments. This means I’ve even had to do my training swims at night or bring the kids, but I’ve committed to stick to my plan and that means I have to adapt.

I started training 6 weeks ago with 30 laps in the pool which sounded like a ton of swimming, way more than I was used to. Each week, I’ve added 5-10 more and lo and behold, I made it to my end goal!!!

Sometimes progress feels slow, but small increments forward on a consistent basis really add up huge. Our mind and will is oh so powerful, use it wisely in your favor and you too can conquer your own big goals you’ve set for yourself this summer.

Race day is this weekend, look for a few more posts as I close out my training and sharing my accountability posts. Thank you so much for your support throughout this journey.

Swim Mom turned SWIMMER! Thank you all for your support and being a part of the journey with me and my team.

The Benefits of a Mastermind

June 21, 2022 by Maria Sogard Leave a Comment

VFit Community

MASTERMIND.

Here at VFit Studio we believe in health for the whole self: mind, body, and spirit. We deliver functional workouts over 70 times a week and these connect us with in real time with our team.

For an enhanced membership experience, to bring connection even further, we also have opportunities for our community members to join Mastermind groups. These groups are formed based on different program or membership experiences and help our members engage, learn, and lean on one another in a variety of program formats and options.

The Mastermind group opportunities we have for our members include:

VFit Connect – year round enhanced membership experience with includes 2 weekly community corner sessions a week, a monthly wellness workshop, and monthly manifest Monday meditation session
Ascent – a 100 day challenge that runs in the late winter/early spring that connects teams of 10-15 together with a wellness coach to work together to hold one another accountable in working towards personal goals
6 Month Challenge + Holiday Hustle – accountabilty challenges based on either 6 months or from Halloween to New Years, that brings together small groups of VFitters along with wellness coaches to work on check in goals and team building. Spoiler alert … In 2022, we will host our first Holiday Hustle!

We continue to work to find new ways to bring together smaller groups of our community to foster more connections and bring together shared experiences.

Below, we have all the letters that spell out mastermind explained and use our CONNECT membership enchancement as a basis to give more concrete examples of how each part of a mastermind benefits the members that are a part of it.

M

MENTORSHIP – Having mentors around you is going to keep pulling you upwards.

Each of us is a master at something.

During our CONNECT sessions, we we are able to share our expertise with one another and learn from others .

You can find a mentor in so many areas of life through CONNECT, and you can be a mentor to others.

Chance are if you are facing something big or small, someone on the CONNECT team has already navigated those waters and can help you learn from their lessons and experience.

A

ACTION – if you are not a part of a group aligned with similar values, chance are at some point you won’t take action and will get stale or stuck.

You need the right support team to be by your side to keep you in ACTION.

This is part of this year’s mantra. Action. Are you putting in the work for your goals?

Your CONNECT team is here year round to keep you accountable, taking action towards you goals and dreams.

S

SUPPORT – CONNECT offers a big added level of support and structure, that is consistently there year round to hold you up.

A mastermind is your safe place to bring your challenges and let others in to help you find solutions.

The support in CONNECT is through the VFit trainer team AND other members of this mastermind and something you can count on in this add-on membership experience.

T

TEAM – Take it to the next level with a smaller group that is your TEAM. Your go-to group that you can rely on and know you can connect with twice a week, plus two live specialty monthly sessions.

What you get out of the team experience is what you put in! This goes two ways.

There’s a huge benefit to leaning into teams and growing together. A rising tide brings up all ships, and this team is your tide to help you up-level your health and well being all year round.

E

EXCELLENCE – We aren’t talking about aiming for perfection here, but honoring progress.

Continuing to work on yourself and honoring that work in progress you are.

Without being a part of a group who are sharing goals with each other, there’s a tendency for excuses to start piling up and many of us can slide back into old, familiar habits, losing ground on personal goals and development.

R

RESULTS – A lot of the results and reward in working towards a goal are all those incremental steps you took to get there.

Think of hitting a large goal like running a marathon. Don’t imagine and celebrate the end result of yourself just during actual race, but picture yourself pushing through each moment, each practice run, to keep going. Even showing up on the days when you just don’t want to.

That push, those mini-wins along the way, all add up to your end result and those pivotal moments are all something to be celebrated as benchmarks you’ve set out for yourself.

M

MANIFESTATION – Whether you believe in manifesting and bringing your vision to life or not, hear us out. There is real power in this – it’s called the power of attraction.

Our brains are powerful beyond belief and help you connect the dots once you start putting your dreams out there. When we are in tune and alignment with our dreams, it’s 10,000X more times more likely to happen.

Having a group to support you, to share your dreams with, to push through with, to help you believe in YOU – is so important.

I

INSPIRATION – We all need extra inspiration at times. Whether you have hit a slump or bump in your road, having people around you that can help you when you are needing the extra inspo is huge asset.

Looking for a new book? New job? Taking on a new project at the kids school? Getting through a funk?

Masterminds can help you grow your inspo tank as well, by bringing fresh ideas, support, and to lend a hand. Share it and let your inspiration grow and take shape.

N

NETWORKING – Not in the traditional, salesy sense, but in working in a deeper level with people who have been through similar trials and tribulations you have been through.

Connecting through shared experiences to hep cope with grief, tackle the transition from working life to retirement, to the everyday demands of life.

Those with shared expertise or going through similar life events are a big component of the mastermind. Connecting virtually or in person with one another is made possible through the group.

Networking together helps you know more people and possibly explore new places to build deeper relationships. Whether it is new career paths, new friendships, or learning how to build stronger family ties.

This is a special network for you to be a part of and grow, to lean on if you need one, and to help you expand your comfort zone.

D

DEVELOPMENT – You are never so good at something, that there’s no room to grow and improve.

Working on personal development gives you something to look forward to and new goals to stride for.

Personal and professional development opportunities are part of the mastermind experience.

Monthly workshops are crafted to help you grow each month and weekly sessions provide opportunity for spontaneous sharing of resources and connections.

Sharing our expertise, giving you resources and material to help you grow and develop is at the heart of a mastermind.

First Friday’s Wellness Cafe: Setting Intentions for the New Year

January 24, 2022 by Maria Sogard Leave a Comment

We kicked off 2022 in the First Friday’s Wellness Cafe with Lauren and Maria focused on intentions for the New Year. With a focus on a short and long view for goals, our conversation flowed and worked on brainstorming personal goals and intentions, with a shift in mindset from a classic New Year’s resolution.

We have included the full slides that were used by Lauren and Maria during the session which include many prompts and brainstorming ideas for the upcoming year:

We also have below the full replay of the session below. During this 30 minute session, Lauren and Maria share ideas on the topic and there’s member engagement and sharing about ideas to set intentions for the year:

During the live session, a few other resources and comments were shared by members. We have them included below:

Sarah Z shared the following:

A good video to help you understand how to dig deeper and figure out why you want to do something….called 7 layers deep. It’s so good. I will share it here as it can help you with what Lauren is sharing:

https://youtu.be/Sv882g7UVQE

Kristin A shared a great New York Times article about our human desire to do an annual instinct to improve eating.

https://messaging-custom-newsletters.nytimes.com/template/oakv2?campaign_id=9&emc=edit_nn_20220107&instance_id=49661&nl=the-morning&productCode=NN&regi_id=84225412&segment_id=78932&te=1&uri=nyt%3A%2F%2Fnewsletter%2F24640e1a-d7a1-5738-b879-173bfe80fa46&user_id=dad5236cf145bc250375e6bb767b776a

Linda A shared a journal that has been working well for her called The 5 Minute Journal which has worked well for her to get into the daily habit of journaling.

For planning out the year with weekly and daily goal setting, many members have picked up the VFit Annual Compass Planner. For those still looking for a comprehensive planner these are still available for sale as a PDF download.

Desire is What Gets You Started, But Habit is What Keeps You Going

March 2, 2020 by Maria Sogard 2 Comments

VFit’s Weekly Inspo

We are kicking off March, and it may be no surprise … many who had set the goal to ‘get fit’ in 2020 have fallen off course – and some never even began to course.

Up to 70% have already given up on the New Year’s resolution and are back to their unhealthy habits that they were determined to change, when the clock struck midnight Jan. 1st, 2020.

Whether you’ve been full on since January 1st with a new habit, or today is your day 1, we have put together some quick tips to help you form HABITS that can stick.

But first, let’s take a look and dive into why so many fall off so quickly with their resolution to stay fit…

It’s not a matter of desire, we’d be hard pressed to find anyone on the planet who didn’t wish for being healthy and living a happy life.

But many fail in this quest because they do not set themselves up for success in the following areas:

// accountability

// support

// goal planning with action steps

// habit formation

#1) ACCOUNTABILITY

First, with accountability. You can secretly set that desire out there into the universe about wanting to get fit, but unless you share that goal with someone, write it down, and hold yourself to it, there’s nothing stopping you from letting it slip by. No one calling you out, not even yourself.

If you set a goal for yourself, SHARE it. Just the simple act of writing it down makes you seven times more likely to achieve it.

#2) SUPPORT

Next, let’s look at support. If your goal was to get fit, but you are surrounded by people who do not share the same desires to lead a healthy lifestyle, how can you expect yourself to break the mold and go at it alone?

If you are looking to get healthier, find a tribe that shares that common goal and soak in all the positivity and support you can get from them. Don’t go it alone. You are much more likely to achieve success if you align yourself with a support system.

Find tribes to surround yourself with, where the person you know you deserve to be, is the norm behaviour of the group.

#3) GOAL PLANNING & ACTION STEPS

Goal planning and action steps can be the true breakthrough you need to achieve success. Have you set a realistic goal for yourself? Does it also stretch you a bit out of your comfort zone? What kind of action steps are you going to hold yourself accountable to each and every day, week, and month to ensure that you are on track to hit your year end goal.

A goal with no action steps is a wish that will slowly fade away.

#4) HABITS

Rounding out the list and most critical is your HABITS. Unless you are truly changing your habits and crowding out the negative ones that got you to where you are today, then you will not be able to get yourself out of your current situation.

Take a look at how you choose to spend every minute of your day. Each decision you make is a vote for the kind of life you desire to live.

If you want to take better care of yourself and yet claim not to have time, but also somehow manage to be totally up to date with the Bachelor and every Instagram post that’s ever been posted, then perhaps you need to reconsider how you are spending your time.

Building in a daily habit of self care may be a slow process, but it’s something you need to START one day at a time. It may be as slow as setting your alarm, waking up, chugging a glass of water first thing and doing some light stretching for a week or two.

Make SHOWING up your first habit to begin with. It doesn’t matter the duration or intensity of the workout – JUST SHOW UP until that habit sticks.

Showing up for 5 minutes a day, for 3 weeks in a row, FAR beats showing up for an hour per day in week one, burning out and then never returning.

After you are in the habit of showing up to exercise, then slowly start building up to adding in more and more. But you’ll never reach your goals, if you are not in the habit of “starting” each day. You have to start.

Building healthy habits into your daily routine make them second nature, so then down the road it’s a true no-brainer that you should be taking care of yourself. Working out is just what you do and what’s part of daily life, and not something you have to sit there and contemplate. Even when you “don’t feel like it”, you get over it and show up, because it’s a HABIT you simply can’t live without.

If you are reading this today and have not done something just for you, at least once a day in the form of self care or exercise, it’s time to reexamine your accountability, support, goal planning action steps, and your habits.

You can train your body and mind into creating the healthier life you deserve if you work hard to build in the habit of self care.

Your mission???

Sit down and write down 1 goal you’d like to hit by the end of March. Below the goal, write down three action steps you have to take each week to get you to the goal.

Really want to hit that goal?

SHARE your goal and action steps with one person today. Not sure who to share it with? Share it with US. We are here for you and want to help you hit your goals.

In health,

Rachele & Maria

Don’t Wish For It, Work For It

January 13, 2020 by Maria Sogard 3 Comments

VFit’s Weekly Inspo

At the VFit Studio, we like to set a studio-wide intention for the year. With so many of our members working towards becoming a better version of themselves each time they log in and focus on self care, we chose this mantra for 2020:

DON’T WISH FOR IT, WORK FOR IT

Now that’s powerful!

It’s a little bit of tough love, and a bit of a dare.

Today we are releasing the latest tool to help YOU work for reaching your fitness goals.

Are you willing to WORK for your goals?

Goals, goals, goals … everyone has them, right?

There are no shortage of goals to be set and there are no shortage of tools and resources out there to help you achieve those goals.

But how many actually hit their goals consistently? Sadly, over 50% of people give up on their goals because they forget to set the most important part – the foundation.

What is the secret to those that continue to achieve success?

We believe that people spend too much time in the “wishing” stage of setting goals, and they are forgetting the part that matters most – ACTION!

We are here today to share a very simple, yet life changing approach to making your goals a reality. A tool that will take your goals from wishes to reality.

There is study after study about how much more likely you are to achieve your goals if you WRITE them down – like 7 times more likely!

I don’t know about you, but if the simple act of writing my goal down will make me 7 times more likely to achieve it, I am going to arm myself with those odds no doubt.

Then, if you SHARE your written goals with others and build in accountability, your success rate jumps up to 95%!

It really is that simple! Of course next comes the actual work that you will need to put in to reach that goal, but setting a strong foundation for which this goal actually has a shot of becoming successful is a KEY STEP!

Want to work out more this year? Let’s start with this goal. Just thinking and saying you want to exercise more is not a goal, it is a wish.

We are now going to turn it into a goal.

How many times do you want to workout this year? 150? Perfect, that is a substantial and powerful amount of exercise.

So write that out. “I WILL workout 150 times this year”.

Then under that line, write 5 action steps you WILL take over the year that will get you to this goal.

We like to reverse engineer our goals, but you can work through in whatever direction feels comfortable to you.

150 workouts a year sounds like a lot, especially if you are starting from 50 or less, but watch just how DOABLE it is.

150 workouts a year means just 2-3 workouts a week, 12-13 workouts per month. EVERYONE has that it them and deserves to hit that goal.

Then you stick that written statement and action you wrote down and put it somewhere you will see EVERY DARN DAY and you commit to reading what you WROTE! Every. Single. Day.

But since we are human and we tend to be our own worst enemy, you need to take this a step further. YOU NEED to tell others about this goal you set.

We tend to be ok letting ourselves down, but I promise you, you aren’t the type of person who will want to let others down.

By telling your goals to your family, your fit tribe, your co-workers, kids, boss and anyone else, you are now making them part of your team.

And THEY ALL want you to succeed, and if they don’t, that is a whole nother blog on who you are surrounding yourself with.

I know that if I tell my family it is important to me that I get in 2-3 workouts a week, and to please help keep me accountable to that, they will! Same goes to my fellow VFit members, they want the best for me, now I owe it to all of us to make it happen.

Goal setting is a skill, it is something that takes time and focus and practice.

The number one reason I see many short change themselves in life, is that they aren’t setting any tangible goals and they have no action plan on how to achieve the goal.

If you know anything about VFit values, you know the number that we track and that matters most is how many times you SHOWED UP! No heart rate, calorie, or pant size number matter more than that stat.

Because we love you and we want to give you every opportunity to put what we are sharing into action, we have created a WORKPAGE Goal Sheet just for YOU!

Simply download this one page worksheet and state your Annual Workout Goal on the top. Then think through 5 action steps you can take each day/week/month to get you to this goal.

Below the action steps, we have a grid for you to fill in monthly with the number of workouts you showed up for.

Put this simple piece of paper in a place you will look at DAILY, and watch the magic start to add up.

But don’t forget, to make your chance of success shoot up to 95%, you can’t keep this to yourself.

Share with your friends, fam and the VFit team. We would love nothing more than to see what stats you are aiming for and then we vow to do our share of the job to help keep you accountable and on-track.

We believe if everyone embraces the motto of Don’t Wish for It, Work for it, then you are unstoppable. You will work to build in more healthy habits and create less space for the ones that are deterring you from reaching their goals.

We hope you enjoy this free download and really put it to use. Whether it becomes your inspiration to join us for a free week of classes, or helps towards reaching another fitness/life goal, we hope this concept is one that you work to embrace in your own lives.

Goal + Action = Success

In health,

Rachele & Maria

From Passion to Business – 10 Lessons I’ve Learned from my Journey

October 3, 2019 by Maria Sogard 1 Comment

VFit’s Weekly Inspo

Taking my passion for wellness and building a business has been an incredible journey over the past four years. One that has transpired into something so much more than I ever expected.

I recently accepted the opportunity to speak to a local group of Lady Bosses about my experience building VFit and the lessons I’ve learned along the way. While this kind of speaking engagement is a bit out of my comfort zone, I know that when we push ourselves beyond our comfort level, that’s where all the growth happens, so I had to say YES!

You can watch the full talk (link here) and of course we will outline the key highlights below. If you do watch the video, you can print and use this PDF to print notes.

This top 10 lessons list can translate to each of you for any task or dream you are working towards. In building a business from my true passion in life, I have learned to adapt and grow, learn from my mistakes, and continue to challenge myself each and every day.

Lesson 1: When opportunity knocks, be prepared to open the door.

Action is the foundational key to all success.

We each have a deep desire to do more of what we love, so when the universe brings new opportunities to you, you have to go for it.

Listen for those knocks in life. Sometimes they are so quiet, other times they are pounding you over the head. And sometimes those knocks come when it is time to close one door and open another.

While you may not always feel you are ready, the more you can say yes to what you know you truly want to do, you’ll bring more of that into your life and get closer to living the life of your dreams.

Lesson 2: NOT KNOWING what you are getting into is sometimes better than over analyzing every detail.

The key to success is to start before you are ready.

You’ll never know all the answers! None of us do. Think about it, having a child, getting married. Prep all you want and can, each and every experience will be unique and challenge you to grow from.

I joke often that I thank my lucky stars I had NO idea what I was getting into. But there is so much truth in that. I had a 2 ½ year old and 6 month baby when I started VFit. And a few years later another baby blessing was delivered to us!

If I knew all this journey would have entailed, I probably would have gotten overwhelmed and not have taken that first step.

You will always be learning and evolving, don’t be afraid to just take ACTION. Get out of your own mind of being perfect. Perfection will hold you back from greatness.

Fear of the unknown can paralyze you and you have to just take that leap of faith and learn as you go.

Lesson 3: There is no greater power than that of a well-connected TEAM.

The dream is in the team.

If you take one tip, take this one! Do not go it alone.

Your actual professional team, your family team, your friend team, your customer team! Have as many teams in your life as you can.

Heck, I consider my housekeeper my teammate because she saves my sanity every 2 weeks by helping unload some of my house work.

There’s so much more you can do and create with a team alongside you. Finding a group that shares your mission and vision is the key to success. Each person brings their own unique skills and expertise.

You learn from each other, support each other through the tough times and as the next lesson states………..

Lesson 4: You can’t do EVERYTHING. Know where you bring the most and least value – outsource as needed.

The steps you take don’t have to be big, they just have to move you in the right direction.

Find your lane and what you know you have locked down and work to find help in areas that are weighing you down.

While you should know how to do everything in your business to some extent, you can’t do everything for the long term.

I know we can’t afford to outsource or bring on help for all tasks, but if one is seriously draining your time/energy, work hard to shift that task off your plate.

While it may be a challenge initially to lean on others and take those steps, once you leave yourself free to do what you are good at and save the rest for others who can help, you’ll have more focus and energy to move your project along in the right direction.

Lesson 5: Have open lines of COMMUNICATION with your clients/team, be willing to ask questions and make changes.

Choose change before change chooses you.

COMMUNICATE and do it often. Most misunderstandings are simply a lack of communication both in personal and professional life.

It is important to focus on communication, to listen, be proactive, and when necessary, reactive when things do not work out as planned.

Your clients and team like to be heard. Their input is valuable and you should treat it like gold.

You need to be observant, analyze the results, and be quick to adapt when needed.

Lesson 6: Have SYSTEMS in place!!

This one isn’t as fun, but it is necessary. Have systems, automate some tasks, have funnels, get some structure in your life.

By definition, a system is: ‘a set of things working together as parts of a mechanism or an interconnecting network’ and ‘a set of principles or procedures according to which something is done; an organized scheme or method.

Systems are meant to make getting things done possible in an efficient, and repeatable way.

DECISION FATIGUE is a real syndrome. Having to make thousands of decisions in a day, no matter how big or small, can be overwhelming. And that often time leads to burn out and falling back on less than desirable choices or habits.

Lesson 7: Know your CORE values – live, sleep, and breathe them in everything you offer.

Fit is not a destination, it’s a way of life.

To enjoy the journey and to attract the type of people you want to be around, you can not waiver on this one! And it’s tough in the big ol world of business and opinions.

Hold true to what you believe in in everything you do with your project.

Live, breathe, and dream with your core values and you will feel good laying your head to bed each night.

Sometimes that takes making the tougher decision or taking the road less travelled.

Keep in mind that what grows from your passion will be reflected in how you do each and every step along the way. What is important to you? Walk the walk, be a living example of what you wish to achieve, and it will fall in line with your core values.

Lesson 8: You can’t be EVERYONE’S cup of tea and you don’t want to be.

Always being comfortable won’t get you to where you want to be, real change happens when you let yourself be uncomfortable.

Learn to be okay with negative feedback. You cannot please everyone, that is not your goal.

Hold true to your true focus and mission, find your target, and keep steadfast faith that if you do your best, you’ll reach those you are looking to serve with a high quality solution that you 100% stand behind.

Lesson 9: Fill YOUR tank as often as needed. Invest in yourself.

Make yourself a priority. At the end of the day, you are your longest commitment.

You cannot pour from an empty cup. Be mindful that you need to continue your own self care and remain strong as a leader in whatever you do.

Continue to take time to learn from mentors, be inspired, continue education, take breaks and vacations. Know when you are neglecting yourself and dial back in to what’s important to you.

It is not the quantity of time, but the quality of that time you put in.

Lesson 10: Be willing to work hard and not afraid to SUCCEED. There is no such thing as failure.

Don’t be upset by the result you didn’t get with the work you didn’t do.

There will be challenges along the way, fall forward and lean into mistakes as you take them as opportunities to learn and grow.

Even the greatest of basketball players Michael Jordan missed half the shots he took! But you have to take the shots. The only failure in this life is not doing what you are meant to do, not taking the risk, and not serving your purpose.

You cannot succeed if you do not start!

In health,

Rachele, Maria, and the VFit Team