HOW TO MOTIVATE IN TEAMS

What?

The greatest truly successful teams have emotional and social well-being.  In the book The Emotionally Intelligent Team there is model that shows skills that need to be attained to have sustained productivity.  One of those things on the outer most circles is motivation.  I believe motivation plays a huge role within a team.  It requires each team member to know each other and meet their individual desires.  Also it allows the team to set difficult goals, reinforcing success, and being persistent.  In order to motivate, the team has to consider the energy levels of individuals and responsibility’s within the team.  Motivating someone can be a difficult process.  Successful team leaders igniteand inspire they do not pressure.  Pressuring teammates to do work only works temporally.  Instead, connecting with your team, building relationships is a better way to motivate your team.

So What?

Knowing team members well enough to find out what motivates them takes time but the effort will be much rewarded in the end.  All the time spent getting to know each other is helping the team develop another important skill, communication.  Connecting with team members also increases team unity which drives motivation.  Another way to encourage participation in a team is to empower members.  Giving power shows control, control increases engagement.  All of these skills build off of each other and drives the team to become better.  When new challenges arise, which they will, the team should be able to determine what there motivating factor is allowing it to inspire them. 

Now What?

Motivation is great to get your team moving, but it takes more than that to continue on the road to success.  Once a team has found their inspiration it’s time to work on the other areas of the diagram.  Positive mood, team identity, conflict resolution, stress tolerance, emotional awareness, and last not least communication.  After mastering all of these skills the team will have better trust, empathy, loyalty, and decision making.  This is a long process not every team will reach this level of performance.  Also not every team needs to perform all of these perfectly to be successful.  If a team does achieve all of these traits it will have emotional and social well-being allowing all of its efforts to be focused on the task at hand.  So communicate with members of your team and find out what makes then tick, use that and create a better more motivated team. 

Kris Dim Pro Bodybuilder

Kris Dim is a pro bodybuilder with an amazing story.  He grow up in a poor home with nothing to his name and made a great career out of bodybuilding.  He has placed in some of the best bodybuilding shows in the world.  He has an incredible story to tell and I wanted to help him share it.  This is true inspiration for anybody who has every wanted to do something but thinks its impossible.  So click on the link below and watch!
YouTube

Pre workout Review: Swole by Anabolic Outlaws

Hi everyone this week were doing something a little different, we are introducing our first supplement review of a high quality pre workout!

This pre workout is called Swole by Anabolic Outlaws

Lets start from the beginning:
I am not going to lie, I am not a big fan of pre workouts. I am a die hard coffee addict so sometimes when I take pre workouts I don't always feel their effects, or if I do I experience an instant jolt of energy but nothing that lasts. I decided to try a pre workout in order to help power through my intense workouts. Now that I am dieting for a physique show, my workouts will last anywhere from 2 hours to 3 so I need a pre workout that will give me sustained and clean energy.

I tried Swole for 2 weeks with my different workout splits, so I would be able to feel its effects from workouts on leg day versus my back workout days. I even tested it on my rigorous cardio routines.

Initial reaction:
I added 1 tsp of Swole to 8-10 fl ounces of water, I shook it vigorous and there were no nasty clumps at the surface (this is a plus in my book).
I also noted that Swole made the water turn a pale white color, which I LOVED! Lets face it no one wants to walk around the gym sporting a green or blue tongue. Thats just not attractive, not to mention I hate feeling self conscious feeling my breath smells like a juicy watermelon!

Taste: The taste is a general mild sweet taste
I also loved this! The taste was not overpowering or too concentrated! One day I added a small amount of green apple aminos by BSN and it tasted incredible. So the advantage of the mild taste allows you to add another drink such as a small amount of gator aid if you enjoy a great flavor.

Energy: Clean long sustaining energy
The energy was not an instant jolt that some pre workouts will give you (this is the specific reason why I stay away from most pre workouts). I could not tell the initial moment that swole kicked in (which I enjoyed), however I certainly felt lasted energy and focus throughout my 2 hour workouts.
I also found that the energy lasted throughout my lifting session and my cardio session (which I grouped back to back). This was the true test that swole passed with flying colors!! Most days, I will come back to the gym for a second time because I just will nott have enough energy to last through a lifting session AND 30 min of HIIT cardio. However, I honestly felt that swole helped me power through both completely. I did not crash at all!

Other advantages of swole:
It is one of the only testosterone boosting pre workouts out there! Don't be intimidated by this though because both men and women can use swole to help increase lean body mass and decrease fat. I felt that after taking swole I didn't feel like I have a swollen or bloated belly feeling that I had from other pre workouts in the past.

I would recommend this product to everyone who is looking for a high quality preworkout. This is a great product for beginners to the advanced lifters. It is the best prew orkout I have ever tried (you can take my word for it).

If your interested in purchasing Swole or the other awesome products from Anabolic Outlaws visit:

http://anabolicoutlaws.com/store.html

They also have some other amazing products that we have purchased such as their Overnight Grow 600 and Whey Protein (more reviews on the way!)

Last thing I love their designs! I just can't get enough of this design and their t-shirts!!

This is a picture of me sporting an anabolic outlaws shirt after my best HIIT cardio session yet. Don't forget if you look cute after your workout your not doing something right! So don't be afraid to sweat (I'm only happy when their is a puddle underneath me! yuck!!)

Hope you all liked my review of Anabolic Oulaws: Swole! Check out the product and let me know if you have any specific questions!

-Kate and Nate

The ideal workout: The secret behind reps and sets

Today were going to talk about a topic that seems to cause a lot of confusion: What is the right amount of reps should I be doing? How many sets should I perform? This post is also geared towards the females out there! But it can be applied to everyone!

These questions are pretty simple to answer. Im actually surprised were making a post about it! But here it is.

Lower Rep Range:
        1-5 reps
Moderate Rep Range:
       6-15
High Rep Range:
      15- or more

Heres my best advice to females:
     If you are just starting with weight training, its best to keep weights within the 10-12 range. Don't worry I promise you won't get "bulky".
10-12 reps is the ideal amount because it will challenge you to increase your weights and allow you to stay engaged and challenged (for example: doing 10 reps of dumbbell bicep curls with 15lb instead of 20 reps of dumbbell bicep curls with 5 lbs)

There are tons of full workouts written online, so print out a complete 3,4,5, or 6 day split and stay within this rep range. Keep track of your weight throughout the first initial 3-4 weeks. At first the program may seem challening, but you will soon find that it will get easier! Thats when you can either change the program or increase the weights and decrease the reps to 8-10 reps. Both are great options.

Here are some of my favorite written programs
http://www.muscleandstrength.com/articles/womens-body-bible.html
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/womans_lean_sexy_bible.htm

Both sites are great options geared towards females who are getting started and need a nice introduction into weight lifting.

In regards to sets:
3-4 sets is perfect!
Sometimes when I perform my first exercise I like to perform 4-5 sets allowing at least 1 set as a warmup.

Don't forget to own it! I want you all to really maximize your gym time! Push yourself and see how far you can go. Because ultimately, "It's just you against you."

-Nate and Kate

How Happiness Affects People

What?

How many people can say they are happy?  I say I am happy most of the time but on the inside it is not always true.  I have always thought that a person’s happiness is dependent upon their own choices and actions in life.  But what I am coming to understand is that a person’s happiness can be greatly affected by others.  There is an article in The Washington Post that talks about happiness and how it can be spread from person to person. A study was conducted followed 4, 700 people for 20 years found that people who are happy or become happy boost the chances that someone they know will be happy (Rob Stein).  This is a very important when it comes to team work; if a team members is happy there is a greater chance that other member will be happy.  When individuals on the team are happier they tend to be more satisfied more creative and more productive (Hughes p13).

So What?

            A person’s attitude is so powerful that they might be affecting people they do not even know.  According to Nicholas A. Christakis, a medical sociologist at Harvard University a person’s happiness can also depends on the choices and actions and experiences of other people, including people to whom you are not directly connected (Stein p2).  In the business world working on projects, there might be some interaction with non-members of the team that collaboration be it positive could boosts the team’s emotional intelligence.  On the other hand, if that communication is negative it could have devastating consequences for that team’s emotional and social intelligence (Hughes p14).

Now What?

            Short entry today but the message is powerful.  People’s mood and attitudes be it internal or external greatly affects others.  This interaction can be silent but can have a lasting impact.  In order to have a more productive team happiness needs to be involved.  Also happiness has been linked with healthiness contributing to an overall longer life. Being healthy translates into being more productive less people absence from being sick.  Humanity as a whole benefit when people work together (Hughes p15).  So always be nice to others and wear a smile you never know who you might be helping.