Salvere Blog: Field Day and Presidential Physical Fitness

by Salvere Health and Fitness

Okay, how many of you sparked a real feeling of something between “ugh” and full on dread?? How many reflected on more fun memories? These two “events” from childhood help formulate the perspective and feeling many of us carry throughout life regarding physical activity. Now, before I go any further, this blog does not mean to suggest these events should be done away with at school.

So, what’s the point then? Take a survey of those in your closest circle by simply mentioning one or both. I find over half of respondents (really, it’s way more!) literally give a very real emotional reaction to how much it did not feel good for them to participate.

So, why then do we (still) do them (or some version of them) and require everyone participate? As with so many other things, lets dig a little.

Like, whats the purpose, where did they originate and why. Field day looks different everywhere but in general, it holds onto one of several events that culminate the end of the school year, designed around fun games. Presidential physical fitness events started in the 1960s as a way to measure the fitness level of the youth in America. Now you can go on and find out more about the whys and whats as some of the history is quite “interesting”.

Here’s the thing, for many, many individuals the memories feel embarrassing, traumatizing or simply not positive. If we spend more time peeling away these layers, it really starts the foundation for how someone feels about fitness, exercise and moving their body. While some people enjoy these types of events and the competitions surrounding it, many people don’t.

How do we provide different opportunities for different people? How do we look deeper to realize that something that seems one way on the surface may not actually elicit the intended feeling?

by Lisa Martin, owner and personal trainer at Salvere Health and Fitness.

To contact, email lisa@SalvereHealthandFitness.com or call 410.707.0055.

We welcome your thoughts and ideas! Thank you for reading and staying the path to

continuous growth opportunities and taking time for curiosity.

Salvere Blog: Lessons of 23 years in business

by Lisa Martin

Lesson #1 — look back through old blogs and copy, paste, reshare! So this is from 15 years in business taught me ………

Starting a business at 25 years old sure does start learning some of lifes lessons quickly.  December marks our 15 (23) year anniversary!  (Yes, if you do that math and don’t read all of our emails, that makes me 40!)  Shew — what a journey it’s been. Going from majoring in partying in college — because who would major in anything else — to being responsible for a business and finding ways to pay bills became quite an introduction to the “real world”.

In reflecting, I would say the 10 impactful lessons learned from owning and running a business are:

1. When things are busy, take advantage of it all because it will balance itself out with slow times! Work your butt off and be reliable.

2. If it seems like you finally got it, get ready, because something is about to change.  Keep looking one step ahead and be prepared.

3. Take time to sit and observe things and events going on around you, without making an assessment or judgement.

4. Surround yourself with amazing people. Encourage and provide an honest relationship, be real and take suggestions. You’ll need the support and feedback. Performance evaluations are still important even when you don’t have a boss.

5. Never underestimate your ability to make an impact — both positively and negatively! People watch what you do and we show/teach people how to treat us through our actions more then our words.

6. Getting up early is not all that bad — and can be quite peaceful and productive.

7. Take time to give time. To kids, to elderly, to animals — Find your thing!

8. Think out of the box with regard to advertising and marketing. Be and do differently.

9. Often you’re both the teacher and the student. Look for opportunities to learn and grow from other experiences. Be interested, share stories.

10. Stay true to your heart and values — personally and professionally — even when it seems to go against the grain.

Thank you to all of you for allowing me and Salvere Health and Fitness to help you on your journey and sharing your stories with us.

Salvere Blog: What to Say When…

by Salvere Health and Fitness

Do you ever find yourself in the middle of a space where topics or conversations start and it feels internally uncomfortable? It could be about someones body, dieting, exercise or something regarding mental health. Maybe someone makes a comment about their own body or a recent diet they tried. What do you say or do you simply stay quiet.

With our culture so hyperfocused on weight, weight loss and body size it becomes hard to avoid running into these topics. Knowing what to say, how to say it and when becomes challenging. While we can give you a start to some ideas, talk to others around you to see if they can provide some suggestions too.

First, if you find yourself in a big group and it’s the topic, maybe try to find a way to shift the conversation on to something else after a few minutes. In a small group, maybe you feel comfortable saying something to indicate its uncomfortable or that it gets discussed enough that you want to connect with them about other things. If its just you and someone else, you could expand the dialogue and share with them why you find the conversation challenging or uncomfortable.

For any of these situations, shifting the conversation to bring up a recent vacation or upcoming travel. Learn more about where they met their spouse or where they grew up. Ask questions about how they started in their career or something they would do if they could do anything. Maybe a day or two after the get together, share privately with one or two of the others. You might find they feel similar and it’s an opportunity to expand on why these topics don’t feel good, safe and helpful.



Let us know any strategies you use and share any experiences where you created vulnerable space that went better then you thought.

by Lisa Martin, owner and personal trainer at Salvere Health and Fitness. To contact, email lisa@SalvereHealthandFitness.com or call 410.707.0055.

We welcome your thoughts and ideas! Thank you for reading and staying the path to continuous growth opportunities and taking time for curiosity.

Salvere Blog: Ageless Activity

by Salvere Health and Fitness

Raise your hand if you heard at some point about certain types of exercises “should” be done at certain ages. Very regularly I hear something about geriatric exercise on the news or hear clients say something along the lines of that’s for the “young people”.

I will use two examples to get to the real story behind these types of statements. First, the oldest client we work with just turned 89. If we followed the “geriatric” exercise recommendations, we would be doing almost all exercises from a chair and anything else focused on balance. We do cable machine rows, standing one sided band exercises and step ups on the side of the treadmill. Conversely, with “younger people” it’s often assumed that they “should” participate in higher intensity type movement.



Maybe instead of presenting exercise in the form of certain ages do certain things, what if we looked at it from the standpoint of each individuals capabilities including their experience, injuries and health. What if we didn’t wait until we struggled with things like balance or mobility to work on them? What if we appropriately challenged our abilities while also working all components of movement?

by Lisa Martin, owner and personal trainer at Salvere Health and Fitness. To contact, email lisa@SalvereHealthandFitness.com or call 410.707.0055.

We welcome your thoughts and ideas! Thank you for reading and staying the path to continuous growth opportunities and taking time for curiosity.

Salvere Blog: I Wanna Exercise But …

by Salvere Health and Fitness

Something gets in the way. Do you feel like this? You want to workout, create a plan and even set out your clothes but yet seem to struggle with getting it done. First, you are not alone!

What happens to the disconnect between the “want” and actually “doing”? Lets take a closer look at the various reasons we come up with for wanting to exercise. Often we take action because something does not feel good or we want to change our outside body. We might add something else to the list but when the main “motivator” comes from something we don’t like, it becomes difficult to keep going.

Now, lets look at what messaging we send through the fitness industry, marketing and social media. First, the fitness industry presents movement and exercise in a way that suggests significant progress can be made in weeks. For example, how many programs last 4, 6 or 12 weeks. As an industry professional for over two decades, I can say from experience, it takes me 4 weeks of training a client to build a solid foundation and determine appropriate exercises based on experience, injuries, illnesses and abilities.

Second, marketing. When you see these programs advertised and discussed, they present if you “succeed” it was their program but if you “fail” its your fault. (Just so you know, I don’t agree with their ideas of “success”.) They also lead you to believe that you only need to do exercise for a finite amount of time. This deserves a little more attention as advertisers target us with so many subconscious messages we need to dig deeper into this by itself!

Third, social media. Okay, this needs to be a separate post too so look for that next time! If getting and staying in a routine is something you struggle with, send us a message with any strategies that you used or any questions with how we might be able to help.

by Lisa Martin, owner and personal trainer at Salvere Health and Fitness. To contact, email lisa@SalvereHealthandFitness.com or call 410.707.0055.

Salvere Blog: Navigating the Unexpected

by Salvere Health and Fitness

What unexpected events, people and/or things entered your world this year? How did you navigate them? Did you find yourself feeling excited, stressed, nervous, upset or some combination of emotions? Unexpected things and change happen all the time (probably daily if we took a few moments to process) yet when a big “thing” comes along, we often respond as if its unusual.

Since it’s what we do, how does this then apply to fitness specifically? The biggest struggles to maintain a consistent exercise routine come in the form of unexpected events such as injuries, illness and life changes such as a new job, marriage, divorce, etc. These events come along and suddenly change the schedule of life. Once your normal routine gets turned upside down, it takes time and intention to navigate something new and/or different.

In simply processing through the last 2-3 years, so many unexpected events, suggestions, twists and turns got thrown our way. What strategies did you use to develop new routines? How did you challenge yourself to try something different? Could we begin to look at unexpected things with a new lens of expecting unexpected? Let us know your thoughts!!!

by Lisa Martin, owner and personal trainer at Salvere Health and Fitness. To contact, email lisa@SalvereHealthandFitness.com or call 410.707.0055.

We welcome your thoughts and ideas! Thank you for reading and staying the path to continuous growth opportunities and taking time for curiosity.

Salvere Blog: Obstacles

by Salvere Health and Fitness

“Life is full of challenges, obstacles, and problems. But learn to face them courageously with joy. Live every moment with happiness and positivity, for we never know.” – Sai Kaustuv.

Obstacles, what’s your mindset when one enters your path? Do you see it as an opportunity? Do you head towards it with excitement or slight apprehension? Do you try to avoid it all together?

Obstacles challenge our fears, courage, and curiosity. They come in different forms and look different to each of us — They can feel scary, exciting or a little bit of both. What’s an obstacle you navigated your way through over the last year? How did you feel during each stage, going through it and coming out on the other side.

When it comes to fitness, obstacles look like injuries, vacations, feelings of not accomplishing certain goals, uncomfortable experiences, new relationship and/or job and moving to a new location.

Share with us any of these you experienced and what strategies you used to move around the obstacle.

by Lisa Martin, owner and personal trainer at Salvere Health and Fitness. To contact, email lisa@SalvereHealthandFitness.com or call 410.707.0055.

We welcome your thoughts and ideas! Thank you for reading and staying the path to continuous growth opportunities and taking time for curiosity.

Salvere Blog: Half Way Through

by Salvere Health and Fitness

Okay, it’s July and we stand here half way through the year. Take a minute to reflect. What unexpected things happened? What events happened that you felt excited about? Where do you find yourself struggling? How are you connecting with your tribe?

These last two plus years certainly provided an opportunity for us to reflect on various parts of life and the activities/people/experiences we choose to include in our days. What positive changes did you make to your life?

How did you navigate change over the last 6 months?

What do you have planned for the next 6 months?

by Lisa Martin, owner and personal trainer at Salvere Health and Fitness. To contact, email lisa@SalvereHealthandFitness.com or call 410.707.0055.

We welcome your thoughts and ideas! Thank you for reading and staying the path to continuous growth opportunities and taking time for curiosity.

Salvere Blog: Success in Holding Steady

by Salvere Health and Fitness

How many times do we look at holding stead as success? This could be at your job, in your friendships, in fitness or even with your finances.

Look at corporate America — how many times does a company come forward and say they set the goal for their growth and finances to stay right where they are for the next 5 years? Who would invest in that company? Yet that would help to create stability and longevity, build an environment where employees feel less stress and allow different opportunities to better envision how to plan for the next 10, 20 and 50 years.

How would it feel to apply this to your fitness routine? Simply holding steady with your current program — not looking for every workout to improve on the last or every run to be faster than the week before. Not looking to add more days or more time to your workouts, simply holding steady. The victory in maintaining something for a period of time with consistency often gets overlooked.

What can you do to navigate yourself to appreciate the staying steady? Pick one thing new and start tomorrow then don’t change a thing about it for at least a month.

by Lisa Martin, owner and personal trainer at Salvere Health and Fitness. To contact, email lisa@SalvereHealthandFitness.com or call 410.707.0055.

We welcome your thoughts and ideas! Thank you for reading and staying the path to continuous growth opportunities and taking time for curiosity.

Salvere Blog: Mastery Takes Time

by Salvere Health and Fitness

When starting to learn a new skill or attempting something you never tried, how do you approach your process? It could be learning a new language, something arts and craft, a sport, gardening, cooking or reading books.

Do you approach it with curiosity and excitement? Or a tad scared to not know what to do? Do you map out a plan or take it as it comes?

With anything, mastery takes time. Maybe initially you feel overwhelmed. Maybe you experience rapid growth at the start of the process. Maybe even a little insecure to be in a space where you don’t know what you’re doing. Maybe a mix of all of these. Whatever it feels like to you, know it’s okay.

Mastery takes time. How can you give yourself the patience, grace and appreciation for the journey?

by Lisa Martin, owner and personal trainer at Salvere Health and Fitness. To contact, email lisa@SalvereHealthandFitness.com or call 410.707.0055.

We welcome your thoughts and ideas! Thank you for reading and staying the path to continuous growth opportunities and taking time for curiosity.