Stay Motivated During the Longer Days

With what feels like a never-ending summer day, now is the perfect time to find a motto that helps you fight on and forge your successes. This month, we focus on chilling out, treating yourself and taking part in your great accomplishments.Chocohlism Isn’t a DiseaseWe had one of the best holidays this month: National Milk Chocolate Day. It’s fun to treat yourself with this velvety, sweet, delicious drool-inducing confection, but believe it or not, chocolate can have some health benefits other than melting the stress away. (No, really!)

Chocolate Benefits:

• High In Calcium—Helps boost bone and teeth health.
• Good For Your Heart—Possibly lower development of heart disease by 1/3.
• A Boost To Brain Health—Hot chocolate helps improve blood flow to areas of the brain.
• High In Antioxidants—70% cacao and dark varieties have higher antioxidants.
• Helps Reduce Stroke—100 g each day may help lower risk.
• Boosts Oxygen Availability During Workouts—Epicatechins (big word!) in dark chocolate help enhance the release of nitric oxide for better oxygen delivery to muscles.

We would never leave you craving chocolate without some sort of healthy recipe to make.

‍Skinny Chocolate dotFIT^® Recovery Shake

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‍INGREDIENTS

• 1small banana
• 1scoop dotFIT^® Whey Smooth Protein Chocolate Crème
• 1 tablespoon dark chocolate cocoa powder
• 1 cupice
• 1 cupunsweetened almond/oat milk
• 1 tablespoonpure maple syrup
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DIRECTIONS
‍Add all ingredients to a blender and mix until smooth. Put straw in container and drink. Or pour into a glass if someone is watching.

‍What I Learned In Class Is…
‍We like to brag about our classes a lot. Not only are they free to members, but they are led by expert instructors who know how to amp it up and have fun. Group classes are an amazing way for you to get healthy while being surrounded by a support system of inspiration. This month we asked your reason for attending a group class, and we wanted to share ours.

• Channel that competitive edge into results—The spirit of competition is a great motivator to help you go that extra mile or take that extra step.

• It's anything but the average workout—Group classes are FUN! The laughter, smiles and fist bumps from succeeding brings a new energy you don’t get from solo sessions.

• Rock out to the beat of a community—The cheers and excitement from like-minded members helps drive you faster towards your fitness goals.

• Make new friends—People in the same classes not only help keep you accountable, but they recognize your results! Birds of a feather and all that…

• Discover new routines—It’s not always easy to know what to do when you get inside the gym. Group classes give you guidance and let you pick up new tricks you didn’t know about before!

Think of any other reasons? Feel free to share them with us on our social media! We love to hear about what motivates you.Member Feature“Health = Wealth” is the main motto for @the_real_e_new, and when you look at his workouts, you can see that he is exceptionally wealthy. Pet and regular parent, he is passionate about creating an environment of positivity wherever he goes. In fact, it’s how he starts every day, by making “it a positive.” For Ed, sometimes it isn’t about how much, but how long his exercises can last. We’re so proud and motivated to have him as part of our #FitFam to keep inspiring us to always be positive, healthy and prepared.

Go follow @the_real_e_new on Instagram for more daily aspirations and killer workouts.Member circuitInspiration, thy name is @christianjestrada! This #FitMom doesn’t only lift weights, but she lifts up others with her words of motivation. She is always looking at the big picture and when life comes at her and she feels like avoiding the grind (like many of us), she remembers her goals, dreams and passions and gets back into it! Nothing keeps her down or stays in her way for long. She encourages all her followers with circuit videos that push the limits. We want to let her know how proud we are of her work and her constant drive for perfection.Check out @christianjestrada on insta for constant inspiration, motivation and sweat-inducing circuits.
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‍Compliment your mirror day
‍July 3^rd was National Compliment Your Mirror Day. We don’t mean talk about how its gilded frame looks, no it’s all about sending positive words to what you see in the mirror—you. Sometimes called Mirror Work, complimenting yourself while looking at yourself is an amazing way to build yourself up and eliminate negative thoughts that happen to sneak in from time to time.

The world always talks about being kind to others, but we often forget to be kind to ourselves. We invite you to take National Compliment Your Mirror Day past the one day and incorporate it into your life EVERY day. Here are a few things you can say to the mirror if you get stuck:

• I am good enough.
• I am OK.
• I can do it!
• Look at how amazing I am.
• I have value.
• I am special.
• I matter.

What are some of the things you’d say to yourself in the mirror?EmojisAlthough cultures have been using images to depict stories since the dawn of time, the emojis we use on our phones were invented in 1997 with their popularity exploding in the mid 2000s. We use these fun pics every day and wanted to celebrate the impact they have on all of us on National Emoji Day.

If you remembered on social media, we played a fun game where we took emojis and created fun gym sayings! Which ones were your favorites? Which ones did we miss? Let us know and we might give you a shout out. 😉

‍CLOSING
With summer sweltering on, feel free to take the heat from outside and use it as inspiration to workout inside and fight for your own dreams and goals. Our team is here to help and support you every step of the way when you need to turn it up. Remember, the little battles you fight along the way to crushing your goals feed your success. You got this!