United Studios of Self Defense, Girls on the Run Marin, and 860 Fitness are organizations that make a difference. The reason is simple; each organization has a primary goal of teaching people self-empowerment. Self –empowerment is the belief that you have the power to control and direct your life. And to some extent affect the world around you in a way that keeps you safe and relatively healthy.
It is easy to forget how much personal power we possess when so many circumstances seem beyond our control. A great teacher once said, “Think globally and act locally.” One of my mentors taught me to act globally by acting locally. This way of thinking views the world from a Human Systems perspective and suggests that all individuals on the planet are connected. It also means that if a person wants to enact change in any part of his or her world-be it self, relationship, family, group, organization, community, or society, he or she must first act locally by empowering himself or herself to make changes at the individual level. A person may need to change unhealthy habits to healthy ones, or adopt a new way of thinking for example.
The lesson of self-empowerment is an essential one for people to learn if they want to have a healthy, happy, and successful life. In a world that constantly attempts to affect how we think, feel, and behave through media messages, the challenge of holding on to our power is daunting. Teaching these skills takes time, effort, and patience. United Studios of Self Defense, Girls on the Run Marin, and 860 Fitness exist to teach people to sift through the false to get to the true.
Communities need organizations like these.

In my experience as a fitness professional there is one thing I’ve noticed over the past several years that I can count on like clock work: when there is a change in the weather there is a noticeable rise in absentees in my classes. It doesn’t matter if the temperature goes up or down—it could even be as subtle as a change in the wind or fog. What this tells me is that most of us will look for any excuse to skip a workout. Sadly, some will even make up excuses not to work out (remember P.E class). Sometimes we will make it to our workout but purposely not exercise at the level needed to achieve our goal (I call this ‘sandbagging’). This amounts to a serious waste of time, set backs in goal achievement, and even a slide toward mental mushiness that keeps us spinning our wheels on the road to fitness.

It’s the mental mushiness that holds us back. When I was in college I wanted to succeed at baseball more than anything else. This desire would propel me to endure mean and angry coaches, lazy and selfish teammates, and serious pain and injury associated with my sport. But here’s the kicker, in hind site my effort level was never high enough for me to succeed at the level desired. And I still worked harder than 95% of my teammates. I coasted at about 75-80% effort, achieved some success, but never pushed the pedal all the way to the floor. I still work out hard, practice martial arts, play baseball, and recently did my first tri-athlon...and guess what-I still coast. I battle mental mushiness every day.

Now, to put this into perspective, look at your life. If you’re honest with yourself it’s a good bet that you’ll see some laziness and half-hearted effort. Experts say we have limitless mental potential and all action begins as thought. If you haven’t achieved the fitness you want chances are that your thoughts are clouded, aimless, scattered, or worse—you’re not thinking at all.

I run into people all the time who fool themselves into thinking that their extra weight is not affecting their health. I have worked with people with type II diabetes who aren’t doing anything to lose weight. I’ve consulted with clients with high blood pressure who still smoke every day, work 12 hours a day and don’t exercise. I’ve had people report shoulder pain that has lasted over a year and have not seen a doctor or physical therapist. I know people who take better care of their cars than their bodies! For some reason most of us fall into these behaviors even though we know better. Walk into any doctor’s office in America and you'll hear similar stories.

Here’s my message to you….Don’t be that person who sacrifices your health because___________ (insert your reason here).

“Your health affects everyone you know and everything you do,” there is no getting around it. The choice is yours and so is the responsibility. It’s not up to your doctor, your trainer, your teacher; it’s up to you. Even if you’re already exercising regularly, I urge you to take a sincere look at the results you’re getting. It’s always true that your results will reflect your attitude and your effort.

Here are a few facts to consider regarding body composition:

Recommended body fat % for women:
Ages 20-39 should be between 21 and 33%.
Ages 40-59 should be between 23 and 34%.
Ages 60-79 should be between 24 and 36%.

Recommended body fat % for men:
Ages 20-39 should be between 8-20%.
Ages 40-59 should be between 11-21 %.
Ages 60-79 should be between 13-25%.


Have your body composition tested, this is a very simple way to take the guess work out of your fitness routine. Then take the information, set a goal, and make a plan.

457-FIT1 (3481)
scott@860fitness.com