Jason Alan Griffin :: The Blog

High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) is a great method for reshaping your body.  It taps into your metabolism and burns fat for hours afterward. I spent many years doing “cardio” with very scant results. I learned and believed that if I kept my heart rate in the ‘fat burning zone’ for 45 minutes that that would be the best use of my time and energy. But I couldn’t drop those last few pounds around my middle. Then I discovered and practiced HIIT and I could literally see results on my body within weeks.  I’m going to explain the basic premise of the technique that I’ve been using to keep myself lean. This article is not for people who still need to be convinced that HIIT is the way to go.  For that, I will refer you to this article : What I’m doing here, is explaining how you can start to reap the benefits of this powerful technique. It will require a timer and an activity; that’s all. Running, swimming, jumping rope, burpees, climbing a tree.... anything that you c...

My exercising has been sporadic lately. About three weeks ago I stopped my programed workouts because of a series of small injuries. My thumb was sprained, my back was seizing up and the issue that I had been working on to fix and realign my foot/ankle seemed to have transferred up into my knee, causing it to feel unstable, but thankfully, without pain. The ankle pain had finally stopped, but whatever misalignment that was causing it has obviously repositioned itself and has destabilized my knee.  So, I hobbled around for two weeks and spent another week fairly pain free, but still not prepared to get back into it. The knee, as I said, doesn't hurt, but the weird clicking and feeling of instability are off-putting.  I did go back to the studio and try out some of my movements to see how I’d feel the next day, but it wasn’t encouraging; I still had residual pain in my wrist and back and the weird misalignment in my knee. Now, three weeks since the last time I worked out, ...

OK.  So, I got off track. This whole past week I was... well I... I sort of blew it.  I guess I was off in another world or something, but I didn’t do my exercises or my shopping trips, my morning routine or my nine cups a day of vegetables. In a word, I failed. But, the important thing is to be resilient and not let this become all about me failing. I can sit here and blame the snow, the power outage, the injury I had in my hand or anything, but the reality is, in the end, I didn’t do what I set out to do.  Excuses don’t change that, they only maybe help us feel better about it. So instead of excuses, I’m going to reboot and do it right this time. “You can’t fail if you haven’t given up yet.” So I'm not going to give up, I’m going to take this opportunity to go over what was and wasn’t working with my program and move forward. First and foremost, it’s crucial to re-assess my goals. Since I’m always working towards them, my goals will be changing and my ...

Weekends can be a challenge.  Because I work with habits and rituals, my systems get tripped up with all the changes that occur on Saturday and Sunday. But weekends are a part of life, so I had to come up with a way to avoid the common mistake of letting the weekend unravel all of the work I’ve done. I have been working on putting together a good balanced system of habits surrounding my eating, exercising and meditation. Since I don’t get up early, I slept through that time slot I’d been using for my morning ritual.  And there is a full house here on the weekend, as opposed to during the week when it’s just me and my dog.  So the added distraction of bodies could be enough to warrant my throwing my hands up and giving into falling back into my old ways. So I came up with a workable solution. First of all, I do allow myself a ‘cheat day’ or a “day off” from any of my programs, no matter what it is. The purpose for the Cheat Day is to allow life to work its way into...

I am just now making my coffee, which I get to do as a reward for doing my new morning ritual. Today I woke up very sore from yesterday’s workout.  Or at least, I think it was from yesterday’s workout. It could still be residual from two days ago.  Because usually it takes about 24 hours for delayed onset muscle soreness to show up after exercise, which won’t be until around three o'clock this afternoon.  I might be in for some serious soreness then; we’ll see. I was a bit demotivated this morning because I was so achy and sleepy, but I still went into the room at my scheduled time for my morning breathing, moving and meditating ritual.  Afterwards... Now...  I’m so glad I did it! I feel SO much better.  It actually felt better today than it has felt all week.  So this is an interesting paradox: “The less you feel like doing it, the better it will make you feel when you do.” Also, it feels good to keep the habit going. I know that habits take a w...

How Do I Get Started?  How Do I Keep Going? This time of year, more exercise, diet and fitness programs are started than at any other time of year.  In fact, I often use the momentum of this auspicious occasion to re-invigorate my programs.  Over the course of the year, I tend to slack off bit by bit so that by the time December rolls around, I’m eating cookies daily and exercising with little frequency.  So this seems like a good time to write about how to get and stay motivated. Some people seem to have no problem convincing themselves that they have the time, the energy and the inclination to exercise and eat healthful food, while others seem to think it would be just as easy to walk straight up the side of a building--in other words, pretty darn impossible. So what is the difference? In this article I’m going to explain how I work my mind so that I am motivated to exercise every day and to make healthful choices at each meal.  And if you want to, you...

This year, I’ve decided to blog about my adventures in getting my life back on the health and fitness track.  I have to admit, I’ve been coasting for the last few months of 2011. So, another New Year and another opportunity to assess how much my life has gotten away from me.  I often use this time of year to make new promises to myself.  And I’m almost always seeking self-improvement through these changes. I’ve written down some basic Resolutions for the New Year. Notice that the way I word these things are as if they’re already happening.  This is the most powerful way to phrase these affirmations.  Also, I can never affirm to NOT do something.  For example, it won’t work to say “I’m going to stop smoking” as well as it will work to say, “I love to breathe only fresh clean air and I love having healthy lungs.”  To me, the energy of the two statements are significantly different. I also like to give myself a built in reward whenever possible. So...

Hi. I recently had a crazy idea how to share my personal training with people at a super low cost. The more I thought about it, the less crazy it sounded until finally, I thought I'd share it with you now. This makes me super excited; I’m so glad I thought of it. So here goes.... Typically, my rates are $80/half hour for single session, or for a small package of sessions. I also work on a retainer basis; being available for as many sessions, phone calls and emails as the client needs for success in the program I’m prescribing. The monthly rate for that is $399, quarterly is $999 and to have my unlimited services for a whole year is $3600. But now I am announcing my latest product, which is JAG Virtual Training. For the low price of $95, I will offer my unlimited support for a month. This can include phone calls and emails and possible even my creating personalized videos for you. It’s basically everything that I include in my standard personal training monthly support except fo...

“Most people decide they want to get in shape, so they either hire a trainer or join a gym to work on their own. But they do way too much work and not enough balanced lifestyle adjustments, so they burn out from all the hard work and get discouraged because they’re not seeing the changes they want. They just want to be ‘toned and fit’ but they’re doing the workout of an elite athlete. And they’re not supporting it with a fitness lifestyle. Even if they do get results, they often decide that it’s not worth all of the hard work, and eventually drop the gym, the trainer and/or the lifestyle. If instead, they took small, comfortable steps toward fitness they’d not only get fit easily but they’d enjoy doing it and maintain it forever. As your trainer it is my role to teach you how to become your own trainer. I specialize in helping people take control of their bodies.” -Jason Alan Griffin JAG Fitness You don’t need to live at the gym or even have a membership! You don’t have to have a...

As a personal trainer, I spend a lot of time and energy with my clients on the importance of accepting yourself as imperfect. I’m adamant about always applying yourself 100% to what you’re doing and always trying your best. But these things must go hand in hand with the ability to love yourself just the way you are, first. Having the ‘imperfect’ mindset is like having wings or like having your shackles removed. You will find yourself fearless and courageous and able to undertake any task bravely as soon as you can own the fact that you’ve got flaws and that’s OK. It is stated beautifully in a song called “Anthem” by Leonard Cohen: “Ring the bells that still can ring. Forget your perfect offering. There is a crack, a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.” If you can’t do a particular exercise or if you find a movement challenging, just do what you can do and eventually you’ll improve and soon you may even master that movement. Or if you fall off of your diet or ...

One of my first lessons in fitness school was the story of Milo and the Bull. Milo was given a calf by his father. He went out every day and picked up the calf and carried it to his father to show him how much he’d grown. As the bull grew heavier each day, so did Milo’s strength. Eventually, Milo was known in town for being the only man who could easily lift a full-grown bull. This fable is an illustration of the lesson that you must start small and add weights gradually. This is the safest, quickest and most effective way to increase your strength. The thing is, I know this. But I forgot that basic lesson for one fateful day. My story begins in late January of 2009. Just in case you don’t know this about me, I’ve always kept myself in good shape and placed a very high priority on my health and wellness. For the past few years, I had been focused on developing an intense fitness system that uses little to no equipment. It was not a body-building program, but it made me lean, ...