FIT or FLOP

Sorry to throw in a totally self-indulgent and non-informational blog on the page, especially after such a long break from providing my high-quality and super-informative blog posts.



However, the same way that I find my success in your fitness, it now presents itself for all of you to find your success in my total domination of this contest!!!!

Fit or Flop began as an idea from my friend May Madarang @makeshiftmay (who I used to live next door to in middle school AND THANKS MAY!!!). She sends me a message like "Jasmine why aren't you a part of this contest", during the first season, and I'm like "May I don't know why, I'll sign up right now!!" So I sent in my application, and forgot about it. Months and months later I get an email for a closed audition for season 2. They tell me I will go in front of a panel of judges and be expected to demonstrate my workout and talk about my brand and method. There are a few ways that a person might decide to prepare for a moment like this. The obvious choice was to go back and watch last season and dissect the things that made some win and some lose, as well as form an idea of what the contest was all about. However, I am not your average bird. I decided I would not even look at the website, not watch a single episode, and not create any expectations in my mind for what the judges might want. I already know I'm a superstar trainer, so it should be totally organic for me when I walk in front of the judges and do my thing.

Here's my featured episode :)

I don't regret my choice in audition preparation, but I am allowed to laugh at my style (I'm actually laughing while typing right now). I walked into that room, with my hot pink leg warmers and my super positive attitude like nothing was going to stop me, and the competition might possibly be over the minute they met me.

Picture this: it's a huge well lit room. Inside are a gillion cameras, lights, microphones, strangers, and a big open space for you to stand in front of a huge towering judges table, with 3 very good looking and confident people looking down at you ready to tear you apart, or love you and make you famous (this is the audition through my eyes). I'm like, "I should have had flashy music or a impressive speech or a grand entrance" in my head. But!!! Well, I blacked out after the entrance, so you have to watch the first episode to see what happened...

So the outcome?? No shame and tears. Success!!!! Three out of three votes for FIT. I'm in the competition, voting is on, everyone can vote everyday, and every vote counts. Literally, I am against someone with thousands of followers on facebook. I have almost 200. Vote please.



IF YOU NEED TO KNOW THE DETAILS READ ON. OTHERWISE GET TO THE WEBSITE NOW!!!

Here's the way it works...

**Each person votes once per day (note: a day counts as 24 full hours from when first submitted vote)

**To vote, simply create a username/password located on the register tab of the page: FIT or FLOP register page

**The voting campaign schedule:
March 13th- voting begins!! The contestant page is populated by ranking so you can see who is first, second, etc.. the competition is on!!
March 20th- TOP 25 - all but the top 25 will be eliminated (make sure everyone is voting every day!)
March 27th- TOP 10- all but the top 10 will be eliminated (competition is heating up!!)
April 17th- FINAL 3 - all but the top 3 will be eliminated
April 30th- voting ends - Good luck!
May 1st- award show

Here's the real deal, from me. I know I'm a superstar trainer. For me, being a superstar means having the qualities of a leader, the ability to encourage people to strive for more, and to show them they can achieve more than they ever thought possible. Every morning when I get up to train, I am motivated, not by the money but by my clients and their bodies and the opportunity they've gifted me to change their lives. Secretly, the selfish plus for me, is that every success with them, is a success for me!!

I am competing against megastars of the social media world that can win this contest just from the numbers of followers they have on facebook. They might have quantity, but I have QUALITY. I am counting on you all to believe in me enough to vote EACH AND EVERY DAY!!!!

**Couple social media notes:
During the audition, I wore hot pink leg warmers which is my hashtag when you are all blasting my links on cyberspace so tag me!!!! #hotpinklegwarmers and #fitorflop
Also my twitter @jazfit or @fitorflop

Check out the website at FitorFlop.com

See you at the awards show!!!

S.M.A.R.T. goals for the New Year

Our mantra here at Urban Escape Fitness is "Living the Lifestyle". To me that means, finding ways to add fitness into your life every day. This is not limited to exercise, but includes the full spectrum of ways to improve your body and mind: from eating fruits and vegetables, to getting ample sleep at night and even finding ways to eliminate stress from your body. Now in the spirit of the new year, I wanted to talk about strategies for goal setting, beyond "To get healthy" or "To workout more!"

When making a commitment to yourself to make a change, you need to assess where you are now, and where you would like to b. This becomes your goal. So, if we break the process of improvement down into achievable steps, we set ourselves up for success. If you have an intelligent plan, it becomes fail proof to follow it. So lets's say that our new years resolution is to improve our level of health and fitness. How do we establish goals and achieve them?

Welcome to S.M.A.R.T. goal setting:

It's one of the funny little things I remember from my very first personal training textbook a decade ago. The acronym is easy to remember and actually great when put into practice. So let's break it down....

S: Specific.

A goal must be specific, as opposed to a more general one. It should be clear and unambiguous. The 5 W's will help you to chose a goal that is specific.

What: What do I want to accomplish?
Why: Specific reasons, purpose or benefits of accomplishing the goal.
Who: Who is involved?
Where: Identify a location.
Which: Identify requirements and constraints.

M: Measurable.

If a goal isn't measurable, then it becomes unclear if you are attaining it. Allowing yourself to measure progress will also encourage you to keep trying!!

A: Attainable.

The trick with goals is often times trying to maintain momentum. When you decide to set a goal, make sure you're going down a path with the ending in sight. One the easiest ways to lose momentum is to set out for a goal and fail. Some people deal well with failure and rejection, however for most of us these are somewhat debilitating. When possible, try to set yourself up for success.

R. Relevant.

Imagine a biologist setting a goal to change 20 tires by lunchtime. That goal is Specific, Measurable, Attainable (imagine he works on cars as a hobby) and Time-Limited. BUT! Is in no way relevant, and without all 5 of the SMART criterion, the goal becomes weak. You want to set goals that MATTER, and that are related to other goals.

T: Time limited

The final, and easiest part of goal setting to monitor is making it time-limited. This simply means that you aim to get from A to B by C. You will also find along the path to your end goal (which might be for example "To lose 5 lbs by June 1st") you have mini goals that you accomplish along the way. For example "Week 1: make it to the gym 4 days", 'Week 2: no red meat, "Week 3: make it to a yoga class on Sunday". Back to idea of maintaining momentum, we need those mini celebrations along the way. Like when you successfully stayed away from refined sugar for 15 days, and realized you really don't crave it anymore. OR when you have a week straight of hitting your gym goals, and you realize your back stops hurting. All the positive feedback is what becomes our mini little "highs" that provide positive reinforcement to our brain and other systems to make us want to do more!!!!

So here is my gift to you all: the tools to set S.M.A.R.T. goals this year, and become a more successful, stronger, better and happier you!!!