Monday, August 31, 2009

5 Secrets my Dad taught me that everyone can achieve this Summer

Dad was not in great shape.

He gave me every excuse that I have heard from anyone who I have trained as reasons why they should not look after themselves.

- I am too old
- I am too busy
- I am always on the road
- My knees hurt
- I've got a sore shoulder
- It is all too hard
- Ill never be able to do that…

Mom and Dad look like a young Elvis and Cher in the family portraits from when my sisters and I were young

For my Dad over the years the weight piled on, every now and then he would lose some weight but old habits and the old excuses crept back in, bit by bit.

Terrible food and inactivity took the same toll on my Dads body as is does to anyone.

The months and the years went by…..until a particular week about a month and a half ago
- Dad slipped and fell at work injuring his shoulder and was unable to return to work until he had recovered
- Dads legs became so swollen that he could not walk at all without discomfort
- Dad was then diagnosed with a life threatening blood condition that caused him to need an injection every day just to keep him alive

Then something strange happened- Dad asked me to help to him get back into shape, but this time is wasn’t like the other times I have tried to help him.

There were no excuses this time.

There was no “cant” or “wont”.
There was no resistance.

There was only “Dolly how can I make this happen?” (Dad likes to call me Dolly)

So why was Dad able to make this change? Dad has discovered his reason why.

He told me he wants to see his grandson grow old.

He wants to teach his grandson his grandmothers traditional Serbian recipes.

He wants to walk my sister down the aisle.

He wants to buy new clothes and take my mother out to places.

He wants to go on the around Australia trip he has been planning but never got around to.

When the family heard this we were all in tears.

One day my Dad woke up and his whole world had changed.

But all that had really changed was his attitude, his thinking, his standards and his beliefs.
The changes that he needed to make were there to make the whole time.

When our thoughts change, everything starts to change- the unlikely becomes likely, the impossible becomes very possible and the hard becomes incredibly easy.

Nothing in the world is hard or easy- its only how we give meaning to them that makes them hard or easy for us.

We create “hard”- then we re-enforce in our minds what is hard and then we inhabit our “hard “world and let that "hard" world control us.

All it takes is a simple decision to start escaping this hard world.

My Dad has lost 6kg in his first month of training.

He has more energy and mum says he is a different person to be around.

Already he no longer needs his daily injection.

So what are the 5 secrets that my taught me that anyone can achieve by this summer?

You don’t need to wait 20 years, or have a life threatening medical condition, all you need to do is change your thinking.

Today is the first day of spring.


1. By this summer everyone who decides to can have lost up to 8kgs of fat
2. By this summer everyone who decides to can have toned arms
3. By this summer everyone who decides to can more toned legs
4. By this summer everyone who decides to can have more energy
5. By this summer everyone who decides to can feel stronger

…and none of this has to be hard.

So what are you waiting for- lets all take my Dads as inspiration and make some change!

More on my personal changes next week.

Victoria

Monday, July 27, 2009

The Three Best Exercises For Sexy Arms

The beautiful days we have been having recently are proof that warm weather is just around the corner.

These three simple exercises will give you sexy arms in time to show them off!

1. Bicep Curl


Hint: be sure to keep you elbows glued to your sides at all times

2. Tricep dip

Hint: keep you back close to the bench

3. Shoulder press



For all exercises do the oxygen count- o-x as you go up y at the top and g- e-n as you lower the weight.

Now you have seen the three best exercises for sexy arms I am going to share with you the formula for making your sexy arms happen.


1. Cardio- you must do cardio to melt away the body fat that is hiding your toning (the jiggly bits)

2. Resistance- resistance is a must if you want to look toned.

3. Nutrition- you can’t out train poor nutrition and for great toning "pretty good" is not good enough! Get this right and you will be getting your results FAST.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Join a big Gym and gain 2 dress sizes- guaranteed

Join a big Gym and gain 2 dress sizes- guaranteed

I started a client up in the studio this week who I hadn’t seen for a while.

Last I heard from her she had joined a gym so she could train whenever she wanted.

As soon as I saw her I new she had gained 10kgs since I saw her last.

Although she already knew in her heart it was time to see me she was shocked when we confirmed this on the scales and with the body fat callipers.

I am happy to have her back.

I know she will lose the weight again and start feeling as great as she did when she was fitting into her skinny jeans.

Not many clients who have received great results while training at the studio have stopped training with us.

For all the clients who have the results have been very similar.

And it’s a real shame.

I know how hard each and every one of them worked to lose their 8-10kgs.

So this go me thinking- what is missing at the gym?

They have all the equipment that the studio has and more.

They are open even more hours than the studio is.

When we away before last Christmas Keith trained at even the most simple of gyms and lost as much body fat as he would have training at the studio.

So what is missing for people training at the gym?

And what is the secret to reversing this trend and getting a result?

The common denominator for all these clients as been:


1. The secret to making a simple Commitment to your exercise program.

The vast expanses of exercise equipment and the group exercise timetable in every single gym are missing one element.

You need to make a simple commitment to your exercise program.

Eat 4 to 5 small healthy meals per day and perform a combination of aerobic and resistance training exercise for 40 to 60 minutes 3 times a week.

Take out your calendar right now and mark off three days each week for the next 12 weeks when you will commit to exercising. Then do it. Your consistent commitment will bring you the results you want.

2. The secret of having a Coach. Almost every self-help book ever written talks about the critical importance of having a coach/mentor.

A coach is an experienced and trusted counsellor or teacher.

It’s inevitable that you will come up against hard times on your path to losing weight and getting fit.

A coach will guide, motivate, educate and support you – so you can easily and rapidly overcome these hurdles.

A coach is critical to systemising your exercise program for maximum results and assisting you in heightening your motivation and strengthening your commitment.

And a coach becomes your “objective feedback system,” helping you see, understand and correct the problems that are interfering with your progress.

Exercise and nutrition are bona fide sciences and learning everything you need to know on your own can take years of struggle – but not if you have a coach.

3. The secret of Progression. Have you ever met someone who says they exercise week after week, month after month, even year after year and aren't getting any new results?

Believe it or not, doing the same workout over and over without expert guidance to direct your progress will actually decrease your fitness.

If you are a gym regular how many people do you see day in day out at the gym who are not getting result.

When I started as a trainer I used to work at big chain of gyms and 98% of people I saw leaving a session had not even broken into a sweat.

They would have achieved the same result if they were watching their favourite show on TV at home.

You must learn how to progressively improve and fine-tune your efforts for maximum weight loss and fitness results.

The BIGGEST secret: Accountability.

In a recent study at Virginia Polytechnic University, researchers divided people starting a training program into two groups.

Every week, each individual in one group got a phone call asking how their exercise program was coming along, the other group got no calls.

At the end of 24 weeks, 45% of the individuals who got the phone calls were still training compared to just 2% who did not receive calls.

The results show that weekly accountability increases the likelihood of sticking to your exercise program by 2200%!


The truth is most people can’t get a grip on the three essential factors that separate those who achieve real and lasting physique transformations from those who don’t.

Most people have difficulty with the commitment; don’t grasp the importance of progression; and lack the personal accountability to achieve their weight loss and fitness goals.

Why? Three reasons:

1. Bad information
2. It’s easy to cheat yourself
3. No guidance.

So What Is The Ultimate Secret To Successfully and Rapidly
Achieving Your Weight Loss And Fitness Goals?


I have discovered that the ultimate secret to getting the results you want is finding a coach who understands you and provides you with an effective weight loss and exercise program and guidance, motivation, support… but most of all, a coach who makes you ACCOUNTABLE!

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Here's A Quick Way To Stay Motivated In Winter

People often ask me "what is the best tip for staying motivated through winter?"

The simplest tip is to book your next summer holiday!

What is your dream location for a vacation?

Thailand?
Bali?
Fiji?
Hamilton Island?
Whitsunday’s?
North Queensland?
Hawaii?

Let me ask you something else.

What would you do there?

Lie on the beach?
Hang out by the pool?
Rejuvenate at the day spa?
Go Jet skiing?
Snorkeling?
All of the above?

Booking your holiday will give you an instant lift.

You will also have a powerful reason why you are training and a clear picture of what your training will get you.

Think of how good you will feel relaxing by that pool or on the beach!

You don’t even have to wait for summer for your holiday.

Simone is about to go to Miami for fashion week.

Dawn is off to Fiji in a few short weeks.

Karen is going to Mexico next week.

Marie and Greg are in Italy.

My next holiday to North Queensland.

Keith is planning to join the world’s best paddlers for a race series in Mauritius -it’s all from a 5 star resort so of course I will be there for support!

So today your mission is to take at least one step toward making your ideal vacation real.

Send for a brochure. Pay a deposit.

Think about this ok?... Then DO something!

Send me your next holiday destination and commit today!

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

How to Achieve Effortless Results:Your Powerful Reason Why

This week I am going to chat about your PRW – Powerful Reason Why

That is the ‘Powerful Reason Why’ you have the goal you have, why you want to achieve it, Why is it important to you?, Why you have set that goal and How it will make you feel.
I bet if I said I knew the BIGGEST obstacle getting in the way of virtually EVERYONE'ssuccess... you'd want to know more, wouldn't you?
And if I told you I know EXACTLY how to eliminate it from your life forever, you'd be straining at the leash to find out, right?


You see once you unearth your REAL EMOTIONAL PRW the rest comes easy, as you are no longer fighting with yourself.

No training or nutrition program will ever be the sole reason for your success or failure. The one thing that separates clients from achieving an incredible transformation and clients who get no results or give up is all down to their PRW.

No one forces you to overeat, drink too much alcohol or survive on sugar and fatty foods.

You are the one who makes that decision and that decision is what is going to either make or break your goal. The stronger and more emotional your PRW the more you will resist the things that are holding you back.

A PRW that generates gut-level emotion in your innermost core will create unstoppable momentum and a self-fuelling prophecy of your transformation.

So what is a PRW? Is it like a goal? – Well YES and NO

Here’s an example

The Goal is: to lose weight

The PRW is:

  • To fit into my wedding dress and have everyone honestly tell how beautiful I look.
  • I know that if I look and feel beautiful I will really enjoy my wedding day and look happy, radiant and confident in my wedding photos.
  • I want to send all my relatives and friends who cant make my wedding a photo of me looking absolutely amazing and I want their jaws to drop.
  • I want to have a picture from my wedding day of my husband and I enlarged, framed and put on a wall in our house to remind us everyday of how happy we are together.
  • By seeing myself look amazing everyday it will be my constant reminder to never put the weight back on as I want to look this good for my husband and myself for life.


    Step 1) Identify Your “PRW’s”
    The objective of this exercise is write down your goal and then write down all the reasons why its important to you, how it will change you or make you feel happier, more confident or what bad memories it may erase. Write down what pain or feelings you are experiencing by not achieving your goal.

    My advice is to really “feel” the pain and bring it to the forefront of your conscious mind. Now is not the time to hold back, now is the time to get raw, strip yourself of your natural defenses and connect with your pain.

    This is a necessary part of the PRW process, don’t short-change yourself by making a half-hearted effort. The more pain you feel the greater the sense of urgency to take massive and immediate action.

    Warning: This is a very personal exercise and may involve re-living painful aspects of your past or forward projecting a painful experience in your future.

    I strongly advise that you do this exercise in privacy where you will not be disturbed for at least 30 minutes.

    You may have to enter those dark repressed corners of your mind to uncover your PRW. You may have to come face-to-face with some inner demons you have. You may have to bring to the surface some sensitive issues that have held you back for a long period of time.

    I don’t know what it is for you, only you can discover your PRW’s” and the resultant force that will drive you in your quest banish this pain from your existence via a full blooded Total body transformation.

    It’s a proven fact that the more people who know about your goals and PRWs the more chance you have of succeeding as you unconsciously become more accountable to those you have told and this propels your drive to succeed.

  • "The measure of success is not whether you have a tough problem to deal with, but whether it's the same problem you had last year." John Foster Dulles


    Now if you have read this far I know that you are serious about achieving your goal this year and I would love you to share your PRW with me and others, so once you have had a good go at it please email me your Goal and your PRW.

    Studio clients will all be asked this week to write their PRW on the goals wall so be prepared to be asked what your PRW is next time you are in the studio…

    Saturday, May 9, 2009

    MOTIVATION.

    This week I would love to share an article written by Tom Venuto from http://www.burnthefat.com/ Tom is the worlds number 1 Fat Loss coach, my mentor and inspiration.

    Tom’s philosophy, science and techniques on how to build the leanest and sexiest body the natural way without starving yourself are seconded to none and have been proven by millions of people worldwide include many dedicated Oxygen clients.

    The Oxygen Transformation program is as good as having Tom as your trainer as it has all the accountability you need and that’s why I love the article below –

    Enjoy – Victoria

    __________________________________________________________________________"It's not knowing what to do, it's doing what you know." Anthony Robbins

    see the post at:
    http://www.burnthefatblog.com/archives/2009/04/the_motivational_force_a_syste.php

    Monday, April 20, 2009

    Change

    I firstly would like to express a big thanx of gratitude to all my readers of FITspiration.

    I have had so many emails of support and appreciation to my regular motivation blog and many of you have told me how it has helped you make positive changes to your health and fitness.

    “I look forward to getting my FITspiration”, “Its helped me realise that losing weight is not just about exercise but so much more” Anna B – mum – Coogee

    This means so much to me and excites and encourages me to make it bigger and better every week until it becomes the only necessary hit of FITspiration you require each week to help you achieve all of your health and fitness goals.

    I especially love how many of you have also implemented some of the tips to create positive change to other aspects of your life and this for me is the wholly grail. I will soon be adding inspiring video and audio interviews with people who have achieved what we all want and how they did it – so watch out – you have set me on fire… Enjoy this week FITspiration Victoria

    ____________________________

    Today’s FITspiration is on Change.

    Everyone wants something to change in their life (e.g. to lose weight or to get fit enough to run, play, flirt) but why are some not prepared to make any changes in their life to achieve that change? - WHAT – it sounds crazy but we are all guilty of rationalising our excuses to the extent that we absolutely believe them. Its our belief in these excuses that is what is really stopping us from making the necessary changes in our lives.

    It’s actually been proven that if you believe something so strongly then it MUST be true.

    Take Jonestown for example, the followers believed in their leader so much that they voluntarily drank toxic Kool-Aid to commit suicide. They did this because they believed that "revolutionary suicide" was a way of going down in history to show their commitment to their leader and their faith.

    It sounds insane to us but that was their belief.

    So again “If we believe something to be true it is”.

    If you are not prepared to make the changes in your life you need to you will start resenting the thought of change and start living according to a list of excuses that just grows and grows.

    But why would we resent changes that would give us unlimited happiness? Because we fear failure and we fear that we will not succeed.

    So what can we do about it?

    ANSWER: Reprogram our beliefs by changing our Attitude, Habits and Mindset

    We can re-programme our belief system on any topic to the extent that we refuse to believe otherwise.

    Instead of having the excuse “I don’t have time to eat properly”

    Replace this excuse with the following beliefs
    I believe my body is my temple,
    I believe food is fuel and nothing more

    These beliefs will cause you to fill your body with nutrition so you feel like a Ferrari instead of a Datsun 180B

    You can choose what to believe in but if you choose to focus on beliefs that take you away from your goal that’s just going to dig you deeper and deeper into a rut.

    If you focus on a belief that matches your goal you are more then half way there.

    Victoria – Oxygen Studio
    ____________________________


    "The most self-destructive thought that any person can have is thinking that he or she is not in total control of his or her life. That's when, 'Why me?' becomes a theme song." Roger Dawson
    ____________________________


    Believe and Succeed: You can create a new mindset that will create the lifestyle changes you must make to be healthy. by Bob Proctor: A world-renowned speaker, motivator and mind coach specialising in changing mindset for weight loss.By changing your attitude you will change the way you feel physically and mentally. You will feel better in your clothes. You will walk into a room with confidence. The way you live your life will reflect your new found vitality! You have the power to take responsibility for your actions.

    CHANGE YOUR ATTITUDE
    CHANGE YOUR HABITS
    CHANGE YOUR MIND!

    You will agree, I am sure, that all thinking people have a sincere desire to succeed.

    You want to win; I want to win. No one sets out to deliberately destroy themselves - although I must admit, at times it certainly appears as if some people do.

    If everyone wants to win - why don't they? There are probably many answers to that question. I have come to the conclusion that the answer to success is locked up in a seven-letter word - "Believe."

    Losers do not believe they can win. Why don't they believe? I think there is an answer to that question and I'll get to it in a moment. If you are having difficulty making something big happen in your life, read closely.

    All the great religious leaders, philosophers and self-help gurus have told us to believe and succeed. "All things are possible for those who believe."

    William James said, "Believe and your belief will create the fact."

    I have found that our belief system is based on our evaluation of something. Frequently when we re-evaluate a situation our belief about that situation will change.

    Half of my life was wasted. I never even tried to accomplish anything of any importance because I did not believe in myself. The truth was I knew very little about me. Many years ago I was encouraged to begin studying myself, re-evaluate myself. I began to gain an understanding of my marvelous mind. Everyday I learned a little more and I suddenly began to believe in myself.

    Re-evaluate yourself. There is a sleeping giant in you. Release it. - Bob Proctor

    ____________________________


    Recommended book of the month: Psycho Cybernetcis by Dr. Maxwell Maltz > Happiness and success are habits. So are failure and misery. But negative habits can be changed--and Psycho-Cybernetics shows you how!This is your personal guide to the amazing power of Psycho-Cybernetics- one of the world s classic self-help books, a multimillion-copy bestseller proven effective by readers worldwide. Presenting positive attitude as a means for change, Maltz s teaching has the ring of common sense.
    Psycho-Cybernetics-is the original text that defined the mind/body connection the concept that paved the way for most of today s personal empowerment programs. Turn crises into creative opportunities, dehypnotize yourself from false beliefs, and celebrate new freedom from fear and guilt.Testimonials and stories are interspersed with advice from Maltz, as well as techniques for relaxation and visualization. Dr. Maxwell Maltz teaches you his techniques of emotional surgery --the path to a dynamic new self-image and self-esteem and to achieving the success and happiness you deserve!

    ____________________________

    P.S: I developed 'Oxygen Studio' with a vision to change lives thru fitness and nutrition. I believe that true success is defined by achieving all facets of life: career, health, fitness, family, confidence, and self-image. Success in fitness and nutrition acts as a catalyst in developing life success. Knowledge is the key to Success - the more you learn , the more you know and the more you know the stronger your determination, focus, self belief and drive becomes and this is what makes people achieve great things.

    If you know anyone who would benefit from some weekly knowledge please feel free to forward this email to them and they can subscribe to receive some interesting and motivating FITspiration every week so they too can become a true success- they just need to go to
    www.oxygenstudio.com.au/fitspiration.htm



    Victoria Milicevic
    Director Oxygen Studio Personal Training
    http://www.oxygenstudio.com.au/