Hey Saskatoon, have you already lost your New Years ambition to get to the gym?  It's really easy to get excited about starting that training program when you're just starting a new gym membership, or rejuvenating the one you have been ignoring since the summer.  Here are a few tips that can help you keep on track, permanently:

1.   Have a plan!  If you can plan ahead, your ability to stay the course will be that much better and you'll be able to avoid external stresses and time constraints.

2.   Be disciplined! Make sure you do everything from eating, planning, training and resting with consistency. Once you find your groove, anything that deviates from the routine will be your motivation to get back on track.

3.   Stay positive!  All the negative influences over a few days seem to accumulate and cause your drive to workout to completely crumble.  Leave it all behind you. Dwelling on the negative things in life, even on the way to the gym, will make you feel like turning around and going straight home. After that, you'll wind up feeling guilty that you missed your workout, and the negativity continues.

4.   Define your goal!  To simply go to the gym is not a goal. Too often you might find yourself going through the motions and not facing the challenge each day.  Choose where you want to be and what you want to achieve. Otherwise you'll never realize that you've succeeded

Do you ever notice how some years just fly by? So quickly in fact that you would swear that, despite the cold weather, it was still only August or September.  Well that was 2017 in a Nutshell for us; honestly where did it go?  We want to take a moment to share a few highlight of what we got up to over the past year.

Back to the beginning, we'll set the scene for you. January 2017 started with rising and falling temperatures, which as we know in Saskatoon, causes water mains to rupture. As you likely know, Fitness Focus is located in an older neighborhood, and along with that comes an old infrastructure.  Our busiest time of the year, and we get stuck with no running water. After almost five days fighting well below zero temperatures, the city was able to repair the main and we were back in business.    

In March we added some new equipment to the weight room. Some much needed functional training equipment really brought things together.  A dead lift platform was brought in in the power lifting area; the hard, elevated surface has been put to good use, so much that we've considered adding a second platform.  In addition to the platform we added some new bumper plates which allow for easier loading and smoother lifts.

Another goody in the strength department was a Sissy Squat Bench.  Don't let the name fool you; the Sissy Squat movement is as challenging as exercises get. If you have yet to try it or want a demonstration, you can ask any of the Personal Trainers; they're always happy to share their knowledge.

We pride ourselves on our Personal Training department, as a leading gym in Saskatoon with Personal Training it's important that the Training Team is always expanding, growing and doing new things.  We welcomed Denise Kominetsky and Curtis Korchinski to the Personal Training Team.  They are both nationally certified, extremely knowledgeable, respectful and positive additions to the team.

Also happening in the Personal Training department was a pilot project aptly called the One Year Life Changing Transformation. Over a dozen nominees were narrowed down to five, after which the five remaining were interviewed by Two Trainers, Fitness Focus Managers, Herc's Nutrition Owner, and Owner of The District Kitchen & Bar to determine who was most deserving of this life changing opportunity.

The goal of this project was to offer one person the opportunity to lose a substantial amount of weight and learn how to change their lifestyle and management their health and body weight on their own thereafter.  Our Candidate has so far made great progress, we hope she can reach her goals,learn more about herself and fitness, and inspire people around her to do the same.

What do we have planned for 2018?  Just as we treat our health and fitness, we're planning for nothing but progress in the coming year.  We have some new plans Group Fitness and the Childcare Room, and we're looking forward to running a new member survey to find out from you, exactly how we've been doing and what you want to see moving into the future.

Thank you all for your support over the past year.