exercise Archives

The Grass is Always Greener Where You Water It

March 18, 2019 by Maria Sogard Leave a Comment

Happy #nevermissamonday VFit team,

We are here with a wonderful weekly inspo post to get you mind geared up and ready for the upcoming week. It is our life mission to get you inspired to SHOW UP for your health and happiness – because you are always worth it.

So this week, we are here to share an amazing secret with you:

“The grass is always greener where you water it.”

Simple. As. That! On the most basic level, grass will only turn green when it has been watered by a source.

We could leave the blog right here, because this quote in and of itself is SO powerful and stopped us in our tracks when we read it in the “Happiness Hack” book, but we love putting out our weekly blog and want to expand more on this topic in hopes it may change the way you view your own health as a priority.

You may be thinking to yourself, wait a minute, that’s not how that saying goes, it’s supposed to go “the grass is greener on the other side.”

The simple approach in life is to keep thinking that the grass is greener on the other side, or for someone else.

That it’s just not in the cards for you right now because of XYZ, and that your neighbor’s grass (a friend, co-worker, someone you follow on FB) is greener because they are “lucky” and had all the right cards handed to them!

WRONG! I can tell you with 100% certainty that no one achieved success at ANYTHING by luck or circumstance.

And by success, we aren’t measuring that by the amount of 0’s behind your bank account balance. We measure success based on how you are currently thriving at your life. How you feel in your own skin, the energy you have to tackle your days, the excitement you have for knowing adventures are possible for you to still experience.

You achieve greatness by watering YOUR OWN grass first.

Greatness comes from taking care of your lawn, aka, your mental and physical well being, so that you have a solid foundation from which to give to everything else that matters in your world.

And much like real grass, watering your own grass will probably come with some help from the outside world.

// Help from aligning yourself up with a solid support system of like minded people. Don’t buy this one?

Try hanging out with a bunch of negative nellie’s for a few hours. Then go spend a few hours with some motivated and positive friends. Which group do you leave feeling happier and more optimistic from? You are who you are surrounded by, pick wisely who you allow to control your energy.

// Help from setting yourself up with tools and accountability measures to keep you on track with your goals.

Do you have goals, but no plan? We call that wishing, not goal planning. Every goal needs a solid plan, a backup plan, and accountability measures set in place. Because the real work always starts when the mood you set the goals in leaves and reality sets in.

// Help from having the right people around you that will help pick you up and cheer you on when you lack motivation or fall behind.

We all have off days, week, months and sometimes years! Surrounding yourself with a tribe that truly cares about your well being is crucial. Those are the best connections you can make. Being able to be vulnerable and ask for extra help (water for your grass), when you don’t have enough energy to muster it yourself.

But it all starts with the premise that self care is not selfish, that in fact self care is critical care. Without care and nurturing, your own lawn will turn brown and die off.

With an under-watered lawn, you’ll lack motivation to do things you once loved, you’ll negatively talk to yourself all day, you’ll let the enemy of comparison rob you of joy, and you’ll slowly and steadily find yourself losing more and more joy in life. You get this one life to live, so set yourself up to truly LIVE it! To enjoy it! To be present! To chase dreams and push limits!

Some great ways to water your own grass on a daily basis are: by drinking enough water each day to optimally function, fueling yourself with nourishing food, sleeping, getting fresh air, being grateful, taking time to pamper yourself, and of course getting in workouts that push, challenge, and center you.

The time you take for you each day for your self care pays you back in so many ways!

It’s ALWAYS worth it to take time out of your day – for you. You’ll never regret a workout. Even if you aren’t feeling it, just telling yourself you’ll give it 5 minutes is a start. 99% of the time even keep going after that! And that 1% when you don’t? Heck, 5 minutes is always greater than zero minutes. We’ve checked our math on that and it’s right!!

So if you catch yourself wishing the grass was greener with your health, take a moment and think about what areas you can improve on today and just START. It can be as simple as drinking an extra cup of water today, or taking that 5 minute movement challenge and working out for 5 minutes today. The important thing is to start, and to not hold back or push it off to another day.

Do yourself the favor and start right now. Wishing only gets you so far. Real change only happens when you take action and that’s where the VFit team excels the most.

Sometimes it’s a matter of not overthinking things and just putting one foot in front of the other and doing SOMETHING! Doing something is water for your grass! And soon that grass will beg for more and more water because it feels so good! And how can you deny yourself the greenest grass on the block!?

The VFit trainer team is here 364 days a year to help support and cheer you on, as you work towards your best self in 2019, inside and out! We can’t get your dressed and logged in, but we will keep doing everything else in our power to keep you motivated, enjoying your fitness and honoring this amazing body you have that deserves to move and be challenged!

In Health 365 days a year,

Rachele, VFit Owner and Maria, VFit Second in Command

PS. If you are looking to be surrounded by a positive and inspirational group of teammates and trainers that will change the way you approach life, the VFit team has a spot for you! Don’t go at your health and fitness alone.

Fitness is a superpower that transfers into every other area of life.

Our passionate team is here to cheer you on, make you proud and show you that fitness is not a punishment. In fact, let us be the best part of your day!

Join the team for less than $2/day at https://thevfitstudio.com/join-vfit-team/

And if you are looking for nutrition help, we have set up a nutritional supplement program, VFit Squad, with membership options, including nutrition coaching, that will help you dial in this important area of you health.

#goals

March 4, 2019 by Maria Sogard Leave a Comment

Happy #nevermissamonday VFit team,

We are here with a wonderful weekly inspo post to get your ready for the upcoming week and inspired to SHOW UP – because you are always worth it.

Let this theme guide you in some motivation and action this week and we hope it fires you up as much as it does for us.

This week, we are bringing you a quote about being proactive with your health:

“A clear vision, backed by definite plans, gives you a tremendous feeling of confidence and personal power.”

Vague notions of why you should workout simply do not work out for many of us!

Simply saying to yourself, I should work out to be healthy is nice and all, but there’s no real goal there, no real motivation.

At VFit, we firmly stand by the belief that one of THE best side effects of working out is self-respect and confidence!

Sticking to a workout plan, showing up on the days your don’t feel like it for no good reason, working through moves that are tough, mentally challenging yourself with new formats – all of those are proven to give you a better sense of self worth and self love!

And if you don’t truly love yourself and want to honor your body, than who else can?

Knowing and doing do not go hand in hand, so today we are here with a real life challenge that you can set into action TODAY!

Studies show that when you tie in your actions to a set goal, then you are more likely to stick to your routine to get there.

Many times, you’ll have # goals for yourself, but not back them up by any plan. You want to weigh x amount, you want to fit in a size x pair of pants – and on and on.

Goals without a plan are dead in the water.

Just wishing your way to health will get you nowhere. You need to first, set a concrete goal, then work backwards and create action steps with a timeline of just how you’ll get there.

We love this quote by Brian Tracy because it brings up an important topic of self confidence. Many of us, at some point in our life, can lose our way a bit and our confidence takes a real toll. As women and caregivers, we can start putting others first, and slowly our needs (and our health) starts being pushed back, and back, and back, until our confidence is so low our self worth deteriorates.

To bring back your confidence – and your health! – we are here to help you identify a goal today for yourself that’ll take three months. Because we all have the choice to lead a healthier life.

And in true VFit fashion, please DO NOT tie your goal to a number on a scale. That is not a true motivator, will lead you to a bad relationship with yourself, where you feel defined by a number, and just is no way to set your goals. We get that some people truly need to lose weight, but that will be a byproduct of changing your health habits to a more proactive approach and one fueled by self respect.

Here’s the drill:

// Take 5 minutes right now and envision something for your own health you’d like to be able to physically accomplish in 3 months, we’ll call June 1st our goal date

// Keep it realistic, but also something you know you’ll have to work on consistently for three months to reach your goal

// Some possible goals could be:

>> if you’ve been working on your push-ups but are still against a wall or a chair, working up to getting 10 knee push-ups in by June 1st, or if you are already on your knees for push-ups, setting a goal to work to toes … or if you are already on those toes, working on a higher number of reps!

>> much like the couch to 5k phenomenon, if you have done NO physical activity in months, your three month goal can be to work on your cardio and strength training and be able to take our 30 minute Tabata Time class and push yourself for each round, or even sign up and run that 5k you’ve always wanted to do

// balance a challenge? Challenge YOURSELF by scheduling yourself in for yoga classes weekly and build up your core stabilizers to be able to reach that peak yoga pose you’ve always wished you could hit (modifications always welcome!)

// tired chasing the grandkids? Consistently take a mix of our classes the next three months and we can ASSURE you come June 1st you’ll be running around the playground with them and not miss a beat

Maybe none of the above were an exact fit, but we hope they gave you some ideas of a good 3 month goal you can set for yourself.

We are asking you to make a physical goal, because that will be one that you can measure.

NOW write out the plan to get to your goal and place it somewhere you will see every single day.

What is one action step you can do each and every day to get you to your goal? Face that each day, where it will fire you up to keep pushing and keep showing up or getting back at it when needed.

We love the idea of a written contract with yourself too. You would be hard pressed to cancel a contract, set that same mentality with yourself.

And if you don’t hit that goal, we still have good news! We guarantee you will have made huge strides simply by setting a goal, making a plan of action and will have more confidence going into June 1st.

Sometimes it’s a matter of looking within and digging deep into our inner dialogue to create lasting change.

In Health 365 days a year,

In health 365 days a year,

Rachele, VFit Owner and Maria, VFit Second in Command

If you are ready to commit to three times a week, we invite you to join us today! Our team has built in accountability, live trainers that are there to guide you safely, and we’d love to help you reach your year end goal!

There is another way, the VFit way.

In Health 365 days a year,

Your Body Can Withstand Almost Anything, It’s Your Mind You Have to Convince

February 25, 2019 by Maria Sogard 1 Comment

We love having a “theme” or quote to focus on each and every week and hope you do as well.

This week, we are bringing you a quote about being proactive with your health “your body can withstand almost anything, it’s your mind you have convince.”

We get it, starting a workout habit can be really hard. Sticking with a workout routine can be hard. Getting back at it after a week, month or year off can be hard.

While in your head, you know, you just KNOW all the benefits of working out, it is also in your head where you tell yourself it’s okay to skip a workout today. Or that skipping tomorrow’s won’t hurt either. And the next day. That you’ll just pick it all back up again on Monday.

But then Monday comes, and you ‘get busy’ and you put it off again.

While you are physically capable and able to workout right now, there’s this crazy dialogue in your head that holds you back and keeps telling you it’s okay to keep pushing it off. That ‘later’ you will get back into it once things settle down.

Settle down?

There is no settling down in this life. There will ALWAYS be stuff going on around you. There are no ideal conditions.

Broken ankle? You can still get in upper body work like bicep curls! In fact, we just put together a 3 part CHAIR WORKOUT SERIES that you can literally do from a chair. Check it out here.

You can still take our Yin series of yoga, work on meditation and bringing more calm to your life.

Getting a new habit can be hard. Many say it takes about 21 days for the habit to start, and 90 for it to truly become a lifestyle change.

That means for 90 days you need to keep showing up in some capacity or another for YOU! That doesn’t mean a physically grueling workout every day, but it means, making your body and self care a priority in some manner EVERY SINGLE DAY. Whether it be 5 minutes or an hour. EVERY MINUTE MATTERS

All the numbers in the world we cite though do not mean a thing if you keep putting off your day 1.

If it’s been a while since your last workout, that’s okay! Modifications exist for a reason. Modifications are building blocks to success. To staying the course. To not getting hurt and not feeling defeated.

Modifications still allow you to lap every person who didn’t even get up and try. Modifications are wonderful and we ALL need them at different times in our fitness journey, whether it be rehabbing and injury, starting over, being sick, or just feeling a tad off.

It can be hard to re-write that pattern in our head about skipping workouts. For 98% of us out there, we have a body that can get up and move for 30 minutes. That isn’t the issue. It’s getting your brain to commit as well and just show up.

Maybe that negative voice has always been there, telling you it’s okay to skip, that there’s always next week… but think for a moment, how has that mindset and listening to the voice treated you so far? Are you where you wish you were physically?

As much as we love and value the physical aspects of workouts, they are just a sliver of the magic of exercise.

More so than the physical improvements and strides you make, are the mental gains and strengths that you EARN by showing up and working hard through exercise. Life can be HARD! And having a brain full of willpower, a brain that believes you CAN do hard, a brain wired to not give up the second the going gets though – that is pure magic you are gifting yourself and will improve the quality of your life.

If your brain and heart aren’t in the game, and all you care about are the physical side effects of exercise, most likely you have never stuck to a workout routine long term.

Our brains are incredible and the best part is that at any time you can work to rewire your thinking and sync your thoughts with your actions.

Our bodies can put up with A LOT! That’s not usually the barrier, as we say in the quote above. It’s our brains that we need to push to get stronger and to feed with willpower.

If you want RESULTS, you have to move that body as part of our healthcare. Simple as that. You need to honor your body and keep it moving to get fresh oxygen running through it and boost those endorphins.

So next time you hear that voice in your head say it’s okay to skip a workout today, why don’t you prompt a NEW VOICE in your head that says, sure, you can skip out, BUT first you have to show up and do 5 minutes. Then you can call it quits if you still feel like it?!

Maybe after that 5 minutes you still decide to not workout a minute longer, or maybe that 5 minutes turns into 30 and the best workout you’ve had in months! We experience that magic all the time.

Sometimes it’s a matter of looking within and digging deep into our inner dialogue to create lasting change.

The VFit trainer team is here 364 days a year to help support and cheer you on, as you work towards your best self in 2019, inside and out! We can’t get your dressed and logged in, but we will keep doing everything else in our power to keep you motivated, enjoying your fitness and honoring this amazing body you have that deserves to move and be challenged!

In Health 365 days a year,

In health 365 days a year,

Rachele, VFit Owner and Maria, VFit Second in Command

There is another way, the VFit way.

In Health 365 days a year,

Choose Change Before Change Chooses You

February 19, 2019 by Maria Sogard Leave a Comment

We are here for your #transformationtuesday with a wonderful weekly inspo post to get your ready for the upcoming week and inspired to SHOW UP – because you are always worth it.

We love having a “theme” or quote to focus on each and every week and hope you do as well.

This week, we are bringing you a quote about being proactive with your health “choose change before change chooses you.”

In today’s day and age, you’d have to be truly living under a rock, to AVOID information about how to treat your body right.

Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock, you “know” that moving your body, eating well, being hydrated, sleeping and getting in regular exercise is how to ensure a better quality of life. No one would argue against these things.

Yet, with all this information we are placed in front of, let’s admit it, we can be reluctant to make changes.

Knowing is simply NOT enough to be healthy.

You have to have the drive and willpower to show up and work for your health! Because being healthy is work. But so is not being healthy and if you ask us 99 times, we would pick putting in the work to be healthy over the work not to be EVERY SINGLE TIME!

Yes we “know” we need to workout regularly, but we let our to do list take over, our “busy” lives and soon enough, those workouts be the first thing to go by the wayside.

Those regular workout habits slowly start to lose more and more priority in your life, and then our energy to just show up leaves as well. Our confidence goes. Our cup runs empty. Our stress levels increase. Our sleep deteriorates. We stop meal planning, we stop planning all together, hoping one day it will just all come back into our lives effortlessly when the time is right.

The downward spiral may continue, until there’s some forcing function that makes us FINALLY hop back into our workout/health routine.

You are forced to make a change. Possibly because your pants stop fitting. Because you can’t remember the last time you felt good in your own skin. Or, the last time you were proud of yourself for accomplishing something.

Or maybe, your life truly starts to depend on getting healthy! Chronic pain, health issues, heart issues, diabetes – these are all huge wake up calls for many.

Change is hard though and it is not nearly as fun when you are forced to make a change!

But change is part of life and something we need to be more proactive toward and not reactive with!

DO NOT, we repeat, DO NOT wait until life kicks you in the butt and forces you to make a change in your health habits.

The longer you hold off and fight the changes you know you need to make, the harder those changes will be to make.

We aren’t trying to be Debbie Down this Monday. If fact, the majority of our members do not need to make a change when it comes to exercise, you’ve got that DIALED IN and our classes are near record breaking levels week, after week.

But maybe there is another area of your life you are resisting making a change you know you need to make, and this can still be a lesson you apply to better your life in another area.

“Choose Change Before It Chooses you.”

How do you do that?

You get proactive, you dust yourself off today and make the changes you already know you need to make.

You make ONE small change and commit to it for the next month.

Maybe that is showing up to 10 minutes of exercise per day.

Or eating one extra serving of vegetables a day.

Maybe that change is putting your phone down an hour earlier every night, to help you get the rest your body NEEDS.

Or setting a glass of water by your bedside, to wake up and nourish your body with hydration each morning.

Change doesn’t have to be a negative experience. Change is beautiful. It means you are alive and have the ability to change what is no longer working.

You make the choice to change, before it’s forced upon you.

The greatest gift in life we have is this one body we are given to live in. And each day, we are given the choice of how we are going to treat it.

With something so sacred and rare – there is only one you – how can choose anything but the best for yourself?

At VFit, you are part of a sacred team around here. Where we truly want to guide and empower you to get the most out of your life and health.

Share with us if you would like, what is one change you want to focus on right now in your life?

In health 365 days a year,

Rachele, VFit Owner and Maria, VFit Second in Command

There is another way, the VFit way.

In Health 365 days a year,

Strive for Progress, Not Perfection

February 13, 2019 by Maria Sogard Leave a Comment

We are here to fill your inspo buckets right now with a mindful quote about moderation “strive for progress, not perfection.”

This quote comes at the perfect time of year as we start to lose some of the New Year energy that propelled all of us through January.

Let us remind you……….

There are 52 weeks in a year! Perfection is not realistic, nor will it be possible for 95% of those weeks, no matter how much you may wish for it.

It’s time right here, right now to wipe away that black and white mentality that keeps SO many from reaching a better state of fitness and overall health. To clear away a mindset that may be the single reason keeping you from greatness.

So many times, we have the mindset that you need to be ALL IN with exercise. You are so amped up to reach your goal, you go hardcore with workouts for a week straight, maybe a month – then bam, you totally wipe your body and mind out…….. so you don’t workout at all for a couple of weeks, only to have to start over again…..and again…..and again!

Or maybe instead of 2 weeks, your break in between your spurts of workouts is more like 2 or 6 months. Leaving you to start over 3-6 times a YEAR!

That is downright exhausting and discouraging. We are here to help you change your attitude and approach to this cycle.

An approach where consistency truly pays off.

Consider for a moment – right now – committing to just THREE workouts a week.

But that inner ‘all or nothing mindset’ in you is saying, well no! That’s not nearly enough! Why bother!

Yet, if you do the math, and truly remain consistent with it, you’ll come to the realization that staying consistent all year long will mean that come December 31st, you would have logged in roughly 150 workouts through the year!

150 times you committed to you. 150 times you held steady. 150 times you did NOT have to start over.

If you do 30 workouts in one month, skip 2 months, do 15 another, then burn out, then take a month off, back to 30 to catch up……Maybe if you are lucky, you’ll hit 75 workouts in your year. A majority of them not really building any momentum in your progress because you are always having to retrain what you let go in muscle endurance and memory.

Starting over is so so incredibly hard.

Maybe this inspo post won’t strike a cord with you and in that case – FIST PUMP!! That means you probably have exercise dialed in as a non-negotiable and that is something to be incredibly PROUD of.

But, if for any reason up til right now, you find yourself starting over again and again and again, please let us be your personal cheerleaders and support system to pick you back up and get you to START just one more time – with a new mentality.

Each time you start over again, it’s a chance that it will be the last time you ever “START” again. What if this time is different and it clicks? And that is well worth picking yourself up, dusting yourself off, and committing to those THREE workouts this week.

If you haven’t been on a solid workout routine in a while, we truly don’t want you to do more than 3 workouts this upcoming week! Once you can keep that mojo going for a month or 2, add on a 4th, then get that new habit going for a few months, before you add that 5th workout.

Slow and steady beats quick to wipe out. Every time.

Not only is starting over tough on your body physically, it’s also a huge mental roadblock. There’s a lot of guilt in having to start over. It’s a big mountain to climb, and the longer you’ve waited to get back to it, the harder it can be.

Even just a 5-10 minutes minutes of exercise – three times a day, adds up and will give you the benefits your body so deserves. From delivering more oxygen through your body, refreshing your body supply, to boosting confidence and gaining energy.

There is another way, the VFit way.

In Health 365 days a year,

Say YES More

February 4, 2019 by Maria Sogard Leave a Comment

Happy #nevermissamonday to all of our VFit friends!

We are here to help make your Monday a little brighter with our weekly INSPO blog.

As we all know, last night was the Superbowl! Whether you watch football or not, it’s THE biggest stage for a team to make it to and has turned into a national holiday to celebrate.

Regardless of what team you may have been rooting for, it’s hard not to get inspired by the athleticism and commitment each team had to get to this final game!

Years of training. Long hours of practice. Sacrifice. Practicing when they are tired, sick, fatigued, injured. You name it, those players have worked through some adversity to make it to the big stage.

In watching the game, a theme came to us about the kind of inner strength that is needed to achieve greatness, to beat the odds, to reach far beyond you (or the worlds’) wildest dreams.

It’s all about stretching out of your comfort zone and saying YES more.

Saying YES to yourself when you doubt yourself.

Your body hears everything your mind is telling it! The good news is that at any given point, YOU can flip the script.

And this is going to take practice, this is going to take being aware of your thoughts and little by little starting to flip your script.

At VFit we firmly believe there is only one way to fail at something and that is to not even try!

Even if you fall short of your goals, trying and putting forth your best effort and energy will get you a heck of a lot further in life, than not trying at all.

Ever told yourself you weren’t worthy of something, weren’t ready, or that it wasn’t “meant” for you?

You probably never followed through toward taking on that challenge, because you already gave up before you even tried.

Next time you catch yourself in a negative mindset, flip the script. When you hear that voice in your head that you can’t do something, you come right back to it and say ‘YES I CAN DO IT.’

//You are off for a run and see a big hill you’ve never been able to get up. You tell yourself it’s too big, you should stop now and start walking up. You come right back to that negative voice in your head and say  ‘YES I CAN DO IT.’

//You have a million things on your to do list and know the only way you’ll get your workout in is if you set your alarm and wake up early. You think to yourself, oh, I’ll be too tired, I can’t do that. You come right back and say ‘YES I CAN DO IT.’

//Your friend invites you to try out a new fitness class with an online platform called, you guessed it, VFit Studio, and then you hear this nagging voice in your head say you aren’t ready. Ready for what? You talk right back at that voice and say ‘YES I CAN DO IT.’

You have ultimate control over that voice inside your head. Your comfort zone. Your own limits. You can choose to stay within the range of what your current ‘normal’ is, whether it makes you happy (or not), or you can shift your mindset and work each day to challenge yourself and grow.

Get out of your own head, get out of your comfort zone, and BOOM – just like that, you are doing MORE with your life!

Soon you are taking more adventures with your family. You have more energy throughout your day. You catch yourself feeling proud and strong because you are capable and able to do that which you desire.

Say YES more and you’ll start feeling the benefits. When you hear negative start to creep in, you stop it straight away. As many times as you need to. Little by little your mindset can shift permanently to one of infinite possibilities.

Practice this throughout the day and see how you start looking around you a bit differently. Viewing yourself differently, and even start looking for bigger challenges and changes to make.

We welcome you with open (strong) arms. There is another way, the VFit way.

There is another way, the VFit way.

In Health 365 days a year,

#NEVERMISSAMONDAY

January 28, 2019 by Maria Sogard Leave a Comment

Sometimes, even for us, it takes a moment for these inspo blogs to come together. While it’s the highlight of our week to put these out, to be honest, sometimes it’s hard to find exactly what message feels right to share each week.

These inspo posts truly come from the heart. And we feel honored that we are able to share them with you each week. But, we also need to keep it 100% genuine and are committed to only sharing a message if it’s what we are truly feeling in the moment.

We are not a big corporation with some agenda trying to push certain messages across, that are predetermined by a board of directors. We are wellness professionals who are passionate about what we do and the team we are blessed to do it with each week.

So when it came to write this morning’s inspo, it took some thinking. We’ve talked about not giving up, modifying, being your own motivation. So many key topics.

But sometimes, when you dig too deep or get too close to something, you can miss the big picture.

And so there it was STARING us in the face, well technically 24 faces were staring right up at ME and told me what this week’s inspo had to be: #NEVERMISSAMONDAY

WHAT EXACTLY IS #NEVERMISSAMONDAY?

Technically, no one misses a Monday. That’s how days and weeks work. You hope not to miss a Monday in life, because that wouldn’t be a great alternative. Good, bad, or ugly – you get 52 Monday’s a year to face.

For some reason, Monday is the day many look LEAST forward to. I guess it makes sense. Most have just enjoyed a weekend with less structure, more friends/family, hopefully a little extra shut eye and a little less routine.

So when we hear the word “Monday”, we think going back to a life of structure, of “have to’s” and we tend to get down and the dumps.

But you guessed it…….

Not around here in the world of VFit!

We take our Monday’s seriously and see this day as the BEST opportunity to set a positive tone for the week. To set goals and shift our mindset to one of growth – where change is possible, where you can truly accomplish more than ever expected with some accountability, planning, and support.

When you accomplish something mentally and physically challenging, like a good workout at the start of your week, you start the positive snowball effect of being productive and happy the REST of your week!

So your commitment on Monday not only gets rid of the Monday blues, it also sets you up to be more successful at everything else the rest of the week!

We like getting a good return on our investments and showing up to workout for 30 minutes on a Monday is one good bang for your buck!

Showing up to a workout is like hooking yourself up to an IV of happy juice! Monday is the day you may need that the most.

We are so passionate about this saying, we have a shirt made with this hashtag and so many of our teammates take our their #NEVERMISSAMONDAY shirt’s on Sunday night, and get ready to live up to these great words.

Our #NEVERMISSAMONDAY schedule is jam packed each week with 12 live group fitness classes each and every week. That’s 12 times our teammates are able to log in and join their favorite VFit instructor and teammates work through incredible challenges together.

Our classes are designed to fit exactly into 30 minutes (15 if you count our work week EXPRESS series), from start to finish. Our world class trainers design each class to focus on form, function, planes of motion, mobility, balance, cardio, and strength. Our trainers push and challenge you, physically and mentally. And we expect you! You sign up for your class in advance and you are greeted by name with a big ol’ smile from your live instructor.

Our teammates are spread across the country and wake up on Mondays pumped to log in to their live #NEVERMISSAMONDAY VFit class. They finish class feeling energized, motivated, and excited to kick off the rest of their day.

Or if it’s our final class of the night, Yin and Unwind Yoga, they are taking 30 minutes of inward reflection and meditation along with deep stretches to cap off their day.

If you wake up each Monday with dread, you can stop that thinking dead in its tracks and choose to embrace a #NEVERMISSAMONDAY attitude too. It’s as easy as that, make that choice, find a team that supports you, and go for it.

If any of YOU are ready to set a new tone for your day, week, month, and year, let us work with you and embrace the #NEVERMISSAMONDAY mindset together.

There is another way, the VFit way.

In Health 365 days a year,

Rachele and Maria

Take 10 – Dandelion Meditation

January 23, 2019 by Maria Sogard Leave a Comment

Give yourself the gift of 10 minutes and let go of all that is not serving you.

This ‘dandelion meditation’ is one you can easily channel in times of duress once you’ve gone through it using this guided meditation video a few times.

Feel your heartbeat racing as you get flustered and frustrated over something that happens? Envision the dandelion and melt that stress away.

About Shari

Shari is VFit’s resident miracle worker from Texas! She leads an “Unwind” class, unlike anything you’ve ever experienced. But don’t let her zen like ways fool you. She can deliver just as Yang of a high intensity class and leave your muscles “good” sore for days to come.

“Born and raised in Texas, I was a competitive gymnast in grade school and went on to be a competitive twirler in High School.

I attended college at The University of Texas in Austin, majoring in English and Kinesiology.

Having always had a love for physical fitness, I taught group fitness throughout college, and upon graduating was hired to teach public school.With the demands of a new job and a new husband, exercise became my time to unwind.

With my 3 children now in school, I returned to my first career as a group exercise instructor.

Yoga is one of my favorite styles to teach because it has something for everyone. It is healing and strengthening all in one. It truly is the complete package.

When not in the gym teaching, I enjoying spending time outdoors hiking and exploring with my husband and 3 children.

We are avid travelers who enjoy each new adventure that we encounter. All three of my children are very active in competitive sports.”

Favorite Fitness Quote: “Fitness is a journey not a destination”

Credentials:

RYT 500 Yoga Therapist
ACSM CPT
Senior Fit Specialist

Mobility Specialist

Yin Yoga Specialist

When The Going Gets Tough, Modify – Don’t Quit! And Here is Why!

January 22, 2019 by Maria Sogard Leave a Comment

This is the time that New Year’s resolutions start to fade as real life roadblocks start to happen. Do not underestimate the power that reading motivational material can have in your life. Your brain is a muscle, and like any other muscle in the body, should be trained in a positive manner.

As we said last week in our inspo email: You are never stuck at the bottom unless you choose for that to be the case. There’s always another option to get up, and our team is like none other, in that we will help you do so again and again and again if needed.

Thank you to those who reached out on this heartfelt message and took us stick, because as humans we are not programmed to go at things alone.

This week’s theme falls (pun intended) in line with last week’s, as it’s such an important topic: Modify – Don’t Quit

In life, you have to be realistic and understand that things are never going to be 100% as you planned or envisioned. That the magic really comes in sticking to your goal, long after the mood you set it in fades.

It’s easy to set goals and have all the dreams in the world.

It’s showing up, especially on the toughest days, that builds your character and will get you to your goals.

It’s moving past road blocks, mental and sometimes physical.

You only have so much control with what happens, and sometimes you fall down – sometimes there’s a challenge greater than you, that you are not able to meet, and it’s at these moments that you need to dig deep and DO NOT QUIT.

// You hurt your ankle tripping over a toy that was left on the stairs. What do you do next with your exercise routine? Do you let it fall by the wayside for the next 3 weeks as it heals, or do you keep going with modifications?

There’s SO much you could still do! You can still work on upper body strength with weights. You can still work on core strength with several floor exercises in a class like Pilates or Core & Caboose. You can still from a knee position continue to build total body strength with plank holds and several versions of push ups. All without standing on your hurt ankle. All still moving. All still having support and being safe. All without quitting.

// A long series of events in life has you sedentary and it’s been more than 3 years since you last intentionally broke a sweat. You finally decide it’s time to focus on self care and hop into a class. <<< YAY!

But then, once you log in you see a spitfire instructor jumping around with the first move of the class with jumping jacks. You can’t jump yet, your body is not ready for that – and that’s okay. What do you do next, though? Do you log off and say ‘I can’t’ or do you follow along with the 5 other modifications given by the instructor and work the low impact jumping jack and get that body moving?

Working moves with low impact, meaning one leg is on the ground at all times, no jumping, is a great way to build strength and get your heart rate up. Our instructor team shares low and higher impact options for each cardio moves so at all levels of our teammates can continue with movement in each class.

In EVERY SINGLE VFit class, you are given modifications and progressions for EVERY level. If your workout routine/trainer is not doing this, I would question who you are putting your health on the line with.

Even extreme athletes go through set backs and need to scale their movements and intensities back. Any good trainer out there should be skilled in making a class safe and comfortable for a beginner, yet challenging enough for an athlete. At VFit we hang our hat’s high on our ability to do just that!

// You’ve been sick as a dog the last 2 weeks with that cold that won’t go away and you are finally back to working out. You log in to your favorite class and are so out of breath during the warm up, that you want to give up, log out, and be bummed out with yourself for giving up.

Don’t give up! Modify.

Give yourself some grace when coming back into it after not feeling well, your body is still recovering. If you were able to push 100% the last class you took, but today it’s 10%, let that be the case. Stop and take those water breaks you need. Move those planks from the floor to the wall. Scrap the burpees and go with the modification option given by the instructor to stay standing and do lunge, squat, lunge. Work with the body you have today, and just know that any minute of exercise you get in greater than 0 is a win.

These scenarios above may hit a chord, or remind you of how it feels to be stuck and frustrated that you cannot do something. We’ve all been there. But success is all about how you handle these kinds of moments in your life.

If you’ve been totally throwing in the towel each tine a roadblock comes, we encourage you to work to find new ways to work THROUGH these challenges.

Modifications are alternative paths that will lead you to your goals.

Quitting will lead you to starting over for the rest of your life! You deserve better than that!

It may take slightly longer to get there, but the momentum is FORWARD, and that’s what you want!

If any of this feel familiar and you are ready to make a change and get back up, our team is ready to welcome you with open (strong) arms. There is another way, the VFit way.

In Health 365 days a year,

Rachele, VFit Owner and Maria, VFit Second in Command

P.S –
This monthly only we are running our best monthly membership deal to date: $59/month to lock in UNLIMITED CLASSES and get a $25 Amazon gift card! https://thevfitstudio.com/join-vfit-team

If you are looking to be surrounded by a positive and inspirational group of teammates and trainers that will change the way you approach life, the VFit team has a spot for you! Don’t go at your health and fitness alone.

Fitness is a superpower that transfers into every other area of life.

Our passionate team is here to cheer you on, make you proud and show you that fitness is not a punishment. In fact, let us be the best part of your day!

Join the team for less than $2/day at https://thevfitstudio.com/join-vfit-team/

And if you are looking for nutrition help, we have set up a nutritional supplement program, VFit Squad, with membership options, including nutrition coaching, that will help you dial in this important area of you health in the New Year.

In Health 365 days a year,

Rachele, VFit Owner and Maria, VFit Second in Command

Fall Down 9 Times, Get Up 10

January 14, 2019 by Maria Sogard Leave a Comment

We are coming at you today, off an incredible record breaking week at the studio with just shy of 1000 member check in’s last week. A ‘check in’ is each time a VFitter logged in and took a live class with our trainer team.

To think that just over 3 years ago, VFit was a wild and crazy dream of our owner Rachele’s and now it’s become a major vehicle of daily life for many teammates across this country. This new milestone is breathtaking and a huge cause for celebration.

** 3 years ago, this very same week and our first January in business, we had 123 check in’s. So nearly hitting 1000 is pretty dang special to our team! **

As we sit down this morning and reflect on this milestone, many things come to mind. Mostly, the beginning….

When the studio first launched and we had just a handful of members and only three trainers leading classes.

And you bet we made mistakes. PLENTY OF THEM!

We over scheduled some classes. Had the wrong formats at times. Tech issues GALORE as we learned the best ways to stream our classes. Camera issues. Website crashes. You name it – we faced it!

But what we didn’t do? We NEVER GAVE UP.

We believed so passionately about our core mission of spreading fitness and making it accessible for all, that we kept at it.

EVERY SINGLE DAY we kept showing up and working through every barrier, road block, stumble and down right knock down.

Each time we fell down, we dusted ourselves up and got up. We changed. We adapted. We kept moving forward.

In life it’s not about IF you fall down. Everyone falls down – most of us on a regular basis That is life.

It’s all in HOW you get up.

Success comes from how you adjust your mindset. How you turn a knock down into a learning lesson.

How you can take the momentum that knocked you down, and use it to get up even stronger and more determined.

How you can learn that every knockdown isn’t a personal attack against you or reason to quit.

This theme is a huge one that we draw upon in our platform and in coaching to our teammates.

Exercise is a direct analogy of what happens in real life and how you handle it.

SHOWING UP and working hard in your fitness classes, through those tough moves, maybe even an impossible move – we call those “character building” lessons.

We watch this happen day in and day out with our teammates and literally jump up cheering for joy when we see someone work past a major mental or physical barrier. Burpees, mountain climbers, push-ups, and for some of us, showing up to slow down in a stretching/yoga class!

You better believe that when you put the hard work and dedication into your health/fitness, that you are 100 times better equipped to handle the knock downs in your own life.

If we had thrown in the towel in the first few months, we’d never be where we are today. Today we have members logging in from around the world,changing their lives. And we know this is only the start for us.

That there are SO many people out there in need of a fitness solution that can work in their crazy busy life.

We believe that being healthy and fit isn’t about fitting into size 2 skinny jeans. We so wholeheartedly believe that exercise transcends into EVERY other area of life, and that being busy just isn’t a good enough excuse to let your own health go.

So we created a solution and by golly it’s working! Our members are stronger physically and mentally now more than at any other time in their lives. They are taking that strength and going on to do amazing things in their lives.

Not only that, they are spreading their strength and confidence through their network of friends and family and making lasting, positive changes in their communities.

Our members take the lessons they’ve learned through our philosophy on training and they bring that determination, will and discipline into their own lives. They chase new dreams, crush new goals, become a positive influence on those around them and SO MUCH MORE!

When you fall down, what do you do? Do you just give up and say, oh well, this isn’t for me, or do you initiate those necessary movements to get yourself up?

It’s not always easy to do. But we can 99.9% guarantee when you are surrounded by like-minded others who share the same core values, who are willing to put in the work and who are there to help you get back up when you need a little extra help- that if you fall down 99 times, you get up 100! And that is the number that counts.

In our private YANGO group, which is a 21 day fitness challenge, we are half way through right now and a member shared Sir Captain Lawerence’s famous quote: “Don’t give up the ship!”. At Day 13, she was behind 5 squares, and knew in her heart of hearts that she wasn’t alone.

She knew there were two choices to make: give up and stop the challenge, or shift her mindset and recommit to the challenge, pick up the moves she missed and encourage others to do the same. She knew that completing 15 of 21 days was still darn good and although she didn’t master in math, that 15 beats 0!

You are never stuck at the bottom unless you choose for that to be the case. There’s always another option to get up, and our team is like none other, in that we will help you do so again and again and again if needed.

If any of this feel familiar and you are ready to make a change and get back up, our team is ready to welcome you with open (strong) arms. There is another way, the VFit way.

In Health 365 days a year,

In Health 365 days a year,

Rachele, VFit Owner and Maria, VFit Second in Command