Tag: Motivation

What Forever Be ready means

It’s November 21st When I first got the idea about forever be ready I was honestly in a state of depression. My mind wasn’t completely there because basketball was not going for me the way I wanted it to be. It was my junior year and I had sat the first 6 games of the season and then went to only playing 10 minutes in a game and that’s when I thought I was done with basketball. Physically I had trained all year to kill my opponents and now I wasn’t getting the opportunity too showcase my talent. But it wasn’t long until the phrase forever be ready became a lifestyle for me.

I was angry at the world so my whole mindset was fuck everybody. My coaches could tell something was wrong with me by the way I practiced. I’d literally be searching the whole practice in my teammates eyes and see who feared me every time I touched the ball and I would attack them specifically. I would make them guard me and I’d constantly bust their ass for however long the drill was. It was a moment of releasing all of my inner frustrations and they were getting hell all practice. But constantly in the back of my mind I knew I had to be ready the next time an opportunity presented itself in game. So everyday I would wake up at 5am and shoot with my roommate for 2 hours before class. A lot of people don’t know this till this day but their would be times that I’d go from the gym straight to class and go back to the gym, go to scheduled practice and go to the gym again and shoot at night.

On the 28th of November I end up having a bad shooting night go 3-9 and only have 9 points. Frustrated with myself I knew I could have played better. I remember going to my apartment and talking with my teammate and telling him maybe I just lost it. My head was fucked up, all I wanted to do was show everybody that doubted me that I could do everything they said I couldn’t do. But right then I was proving them right. Never forget asking God why this had to happen to me after all the work I had put in. I cried and prayed the night out of frustration because I needed an answer. I couldn’t just keep putting this work in and not having anything change. But God knew patience is something that I always have struggled with. And when you stop worrying and just trust in his plan you’ll drastically see things change.

On the week of December 5th the day that changed my life I never seen it coming. My senior point guard got suspended for this game so it was my time to relish the opprotunity and step up. No longer was I playing out of frustration or anger but I was playing with pure love for the game. God had something in store for me but little did I know it would be on this day. Me and my teammate are in the gym shooting 3 hours before the game. We actually get to the arena an hour before the girls warm up so I decide to start my pre game routine in my street clothes which was shooting 3’s from deep spots on the floor. It was like I couldn’t miss. But I’ve hard warm ups like this before so I don’t think too much of it. I have Lloyd banks-Transition on repeat in my headphones. I proceed to the locker room and change and now I’m in a zone where my mind is simply laser focused. After my first shot I knew it was going to be a long game for whoever was in front of me. I took that same mentality of killing during practice and now it manifested to the game. Ended up having 35 points marking a career high for myself.

From having to at one point wanting to quit and then turning around having 35 points 2 weeks later is why I stand behind the phrase Forever be ready so heavily. No matter what you are going through in life you have to be ready for that opportunity and be ready to capitalize when your number is called. I could have folded and said you know what forget it it’s not worth it, but you have to see the vision to the end.

I hope this piece has inspired you all and you know realize the meaning behind why I made these T-shirts. If you would like to purchase one I will leave the link below.

https://snaptee.co/t/tz0ie

Overcoming common Obstacles to exercise

There are many excuses people make for not being able to go to the gym. Often times its just due to laziness and other times it is due to lack of motivation. But the purpose of this post is to give you a list of strategies for overcoming the common obstacles to exercise.

Obstacle: Lack of time

One way to get over this is too monitor your daily activities for one week. Then identify three 30-minute time slots you could use for physical activity.

Add physical activity to your daily routine can be another way to get around this excuse. When I first wake up in the morning I do my morning routine then I go and do 200 pushups and 200 sit ups before I even start my day. That way if I do not have time to get to the gym that day at least I put in the work early in the day.

Obstacle: Lack of social support

You want to surround yourself with people that can motivate you to be the best version of you. If you mention to your friends that you want to start going to the gym and eating healthy and they constantly are eating junk food around you and are just being fat and lazy you may have to distance yourself from around them for a while and find friends or people that have the same goals and aspirations as you.

Obstacle: Lack of energy

When it comes to changing and working out, if you listen to your body you will never have the energy to get up and get it done. I know some of you that are reading this will set your alarm for 8 Am and you hit snooze about 4 times and that turns into 9Am and now you have to get up and do other obligations. So the time you set aside for the gym is now wasted and gone because you decided to listen to your body and sleep. When your driven and motivated to get the results you want, of course you may lack energy and be tired but you have to make up in your mind that you are going to get this thing done regardless of how tired you feel.

Obstacle: Scared of what people think of you

One of the biggest things that I tell some of my clients is don’t worry about what other people think about you at the gym. They are there for the same reasons you are there. A lot of times people get too caught up and embarrassed if they are doing something wrong or what they might think about them if they are not doing enough weight. Whether you are 400 lb or 60 lb if your in the gym forget what others think. You have goals and aspirations that you need to accomplish. You will never get these things done think about what another person thinks about you.

Obstacle: Family Obligations

If you literally have no time to go to the gym then go to five below or a store like that and buy a yoga mat a medicine ball and some dumbells and resitant bands. You can workout right at home. There is no reason why you shouldn’t be able to put your health first and get things done. Everytime I hear somebody say that there is no time on their hands I know that they are not serious about their health because there are always solutions to these problems.

If you have any questions or need training feel free to contact me on my

There are many excuses people make for not being able to go to the gym. Often times its just due to laziness and other times it is due to lack of motivation. But the purpose of this post is to give you a list of strategies for overcoming the common obstacles to exercise.

Obstacle: Lack of time

One way to get over this is too monitor your daily activities for one week. Then identify three 30-minute time slots you could use for physical activity.

Add physical activity to your daily routine can be another way to get around this excuse. When I first wake up in the morning I do my morning routine then I go and do 200 pushups and 200 sit ups before I even start my day. That way if I do not have time to get to the gym that day at least I put in the work early in the day.

Obstacle: Lack of social support

You want to surround yourself with people that can motivate you to be the best version of you. If you mention to your friends that you want to start going to the gym and eating healthy and they constantly are eating junk food around you and are just being fat and lazy you may have to distance yourself from around them for a while and find friends or people that have the same goals and aspirations as you.

Obstacle: Lack of energy

When it comes to changing and working out, if you listen to your body you will never have the energy to get up and get it done. I know some of you that are reading this will set your alarm for 8 Am and you hit snooze about 4 times and that turns into 9Am and now you have to get up and do other obligations. So the time you set aside for the gym is now wasted and gone because you decided to listen to your body and sleep. When your driven and motivated to get the results you want, of course you may lack energy and be tired but you have to make up in your mind that you are going to get this thing done regardless of how tired you feel.

Obstacle: Scared of what people think of you

One of the biggest things that I tell some of my clients is don’t worry about what other people think about you at the gym. They are there for the same reasons you are there. A lot of times people get too caught up and embarrassed if they are doing something wrong or what they might think about them if they are not doing enough weight. Whether you are 400 lb or 60 lb if your in the gym forget what others think. You have goals and aspirations that you need to accomplish. You will never get these things done think about what another person thinks about you.

Obstacle: Family Obligations

If you literally have no time to go to the gym then go to five below or a store like that and buy a yoga mat a medicine ball and some dumbells and resitant bands. You can workout right at home. There is no reason why you shouldn’t be able to put your health first and get things done. Everytime I hear somebody say that there is no time on their hands I know that they are not serious about their health because there are always solutions to these problems.

If you have any questions or concerns feel free to contact me on my website https://qemfitness.bandzoogle.com/home

What does it take to exercise safely?

Exercise related injuries have risen over the years. I believe one of the reasons this is the case is because more people are becoming more curious about working out and having better overall health. But this issue is that some people jump right into working out without actually learning the proper way to workout. There is a lot more too it than just going to the gym and lifting a few weights or copying what other people are doing. That is how you end up injuring yourself. But to reduce your risk of exercise injuries I want to give you the necessary steps to take when you first start out going to the gym.

  1. Warm up properly before your workout

A proper warm up consists of two phases, a general warm up and a specific warm up. In a general warm up your goal is to warm up the body 5-10 minutes of light physical activity you will be performing during your workout. During this period of time you are preparing your body to withstand the more vigorous workout to come. Your body will get warmer and your blood flow will increase which will improve your muscle elasticity.

During a specific warm up your goal is to focus on the particular muscle groups that you will be using during the activity set. This part of the workout should consist of three to five minutes of range of motion movements.

2. Cool down properly after your workout

I know for myself it is often times difficult for me to remember this step. Playing college basketball I often times after practice or after my workouts in the weight room I just wanted to rush to the shower and not even think about cooling down after my workout. The purpose of a cool down is to bring your heart rate, breathing rate, and temperature closer to resting levels. An example of a cool down can be in you just jogged for 20 minutes you can do 10 minutes of walking.

3. Take the time to porperly learn the skills for your chosen activity

This is where a lot of people get injured the most. They YouTube “how to get stronger legs” and 9 times out of 10 a demonstration video of someone squatting will appear. But what the person watching the video doesn’t really realize is that before you squat you have to make sure you have the proper form. So if someone who has never squatted before watches a video and then attempts to go to this workout, there is a high possibility that someone can hurt their back. So this is why I suggest learning the proper way to do a workout before you perform it is a major key in being injury free in the weight room.

4. Consume enough energy and water for exercise

Deciding how much you need to eat and drink before working out can be difficult. You need enough energy to workout but you should not exercise on a full stomach. Eating a small meal 2 hours before you workout is a good way to make sure you have enough energy. It is also important to make sure you hydrate before you workout. You do not want to go into your workout feeling thirsty and the more you sweat during your workout make sure you are replenishing yourself with water.

Hopefully all of these tips will make your transition into working out easier and you will be more comfortable in taking the precautionary steps to having a safe workout. If you have any questions feel free to visit my website and contact me on my website at https://qemfitness.bandzoogle.com/contact

Coach Q

Having trouble losing weight?

When you lose weight your body tends to fight back. You may be able to lose quite a lot of weight at first without much effort but eventually you will find yourself slowing down or stopping altogether. This is why you will see a lot of people lose a good amount of weight then a month or two later they are back to their old ways. And you think what happened just the other month you were looking good and it seems like they just got tired and gave up on themselves. Well if you find yourself in this situation or wanting to know how you can keep the weight off, below I will give you 3 tips you can implement in your life TODAY!

#1 You may be losing weight without realizing it

When it comes to losing weight a lot of people are often caught up in looking at the scale than paying attention to their actual body. Being a trainer that is one of the first thing that I tell my clients when they tell me they want to lose weight. DON’T PAY ATTENTION TO THE SCALE! You will drive yourself crazy stepping on the scale everyday wanting to see results and then you realize nothing has come off and you get discouraged. A lot of times your weight may stay the same but your waist gets smaller or you start to see an ab start to peek. Pay attention to your body rather than the numbers on the scale.

#2 You are eating the wrong things

People often follow these ridiculous diets and meal plans when they are just putting their body through more stress and being more complicated than it actually has to be. I give my clients structural guidelines on when to eat and what to stay away from. One of the things that I emphasize to them is to stay away from foods that have high glucose. A lot of people do not know eating foods with high Glucose is the #1 way to gain weight. Such foods that have glucose are pasta, potatoes, wheat, things of that nature. Also you should be eating whole foods. McDonald’s chicken nuggets is not going to have the same effect on your body as a chicken breast that you get from whole foods that you make yourself.

#3 Your drinking too much alcohol

I know we all like to go out and have fun and drink from time to time. There is nothing wrong with that. But when you are serious about losing weight and want to seriously make a change in your life then you have to cut certain things out and alcohol. It’s called making sacrifices. And if you absolutely NEED to have a drink then I suggest to stick to spirits like Vodka mixed with a zero calorie beverage. Beer, wine and sugary alcoholic beverages are very high in calories.

The last thing I would suggest is to try keeping a food diary and keeping track of what you eat so you can keep yourself accountable. Losing weight and changing your lifestyle requires dedication, a lot of self discipline and perseverance.

If you would like to have a free consultation with me so we can discuss your fitness goals, please contact me via social media on instagram @quinnmitchellii or email me@ Quinnmitchell1@att.net.

Coach Q

Why consistency is greater than hardwork

A lot of people look at the most powerful people in the world and they think wow they must work hard everyday to get to where they are at. Which yes this is the case but what a lot of people over look is the consistency aspect of the hardwork that they are putting in. When you look at some of the great athletes in the world, Lebron James, Kobe Bryant, Stephen Curry these guys are masterminds at their craft but what a lot of people don’t realize is that they do NOT TAKE A DAY OFF. Every day they are in the gym getting shots up working on their craft. When I look at my college basketball career is was not a coincidence that I magically had a career year my junior year. I was literally up everyday before practice shooting at 5 AM. And the days that I had to miss because of the snow, I did form shooting in my room. There was not a day that went by that I did not touch a basketball.

There is power when you are consistent with what you want to do in life. Whether it is lose weight, gain muscle, become a millionaire, become successful at your craft, you have to indulge yourself in this process and make a promise to yourself that you won’t take a day off. Because one thing my pops always told me growing up when I was training is that the minute you take a day off there’s a kid on the other side of the world waiting for you to take a break so he can catch up to your greatness and take your spot in the world. So everyday you have to make sure you live by this thing called consistency. Yes when you first start off there will be a lot of discouragement and a lot of excuses will arise that will want you to take a break. But if you can make yourself become diligent and have will power to resist the temptation of breaking consistency I promise you that your reward will be great on the other side.

Nothing worth having comes easy and it damn sure doesn’t come in a short period of time. But whatever your goals are in life, if you can promise yourself that you can start today and work towards your goal everyday I promise by the end of the month if you are consistent you will see great progress and will feel good about yourself. Stay positive and stay motivated!

Coach Q

How to stay motivated for the gym

A lot of people often ask me how do they stay motivated for the gym and I often start to ask them numerous questions such as, what is their reason for going to the gym or how many days do they go to the gym. Often times when you break down these questions you will soon start to realize the reason why people are lacking motivation for the gym. Below I will give you some key tips that will help you stay motivated throughout your journey.

One of the things that you will soon realize that is a major key to staying motivated for the gym is that you have to have a reason on why you want to get into the gym. Whether it is wanting to lose weight or simply doing it for yourself to gain more confidence you have to have that reason engraved in your mind. Because trust me, there will be days when you just want to forget about the gym, Your body will be aching and you will be you will need that extra boost of motivation which will come from having the reason why you want to go in the first place. Playing basketball all my life I had to learn this lesson early. One of the things my dad always told me when I didn’t want to get in the gym is you can either be like everyone else and do what is required and leave or you can want to be the best and do what others won’t do. And that is what drove me to stay consistent and wake up at 5am every morning and not miss a workout.

Another thing that will help you stay consistent is by doing workouts that you enjoy doing. If you hate the treadmill do another form of cardio and if you hate lifting weights then do body weight training, there is always an alternative that you can do to get around something that you hate doing. But the key is to not get emotionally drained because you will eventually tap out mentally and dread the gym and once you get to this point it is a hard place to turn back from.

Lastly I think a key to staying motivated for the gym is having someone that will hold you accountable. Whether it is your friends or a trainer like myself I think when people have someone that will hold them up to a certain standard then it will be hard to let that person down. So you will make sure that you get the workouts in and stay consistent and be true to yourself.

Importance of patience

A lot of people including myself made decisions off of emotions instead of logic. A lot of times we set plans and tell ourselves that we have a set goal but then when things don’t go our way we take our eyes off of our plans and tend to do things for temporary satisfaction. All of my life this has been my weakness. God knew that when he put me on this earth that this would be my weakness. I hate when things don’t go my way and especially when things are out of my control.

When I look back at my life if I were to practice patience I feel like a lot of things would have been different. Simply looking at my basketball career after my junior year of college I told my parents that I wanted to transfer to the school that I played against that year but the reasoning that I wanted to leave was the wrong one. I had just the best year of my career my family and everyone close to me was telling me to stay there because now I had everything I ever wanted. But because of my greed and wanting to have more of a social life I transferred and ended up being injured my whole senior year. Now was this a sign from the man above telling me to listen to him instead of moving on my emotions? Maybe it was but the point of me telling you this is that I made a decision based off of my emotions instead of thinking logically and now my path of becoming a pro basketball player has become harder because of my injuries.

Now I know at times when we set goals for ourselves we often get put in tough situations where something happens suddenly and we have to make decisions right then and there but I’m talking about when there is no rush to make a decision and you’re making decisions because your impatient. And yes I know sometimes it hurts to wait but trust me if you can endure the pain that comes with this the blessing on the other side will be worth the wait.

Being around my mentor we talk about things like this everyday and he simply tells me it doesn’t matter what they think right now, it’s all about the end goal and as long as you work towards that everyday and put your head down and chip away one day you will look up and your goal will be attainable.

Writing things like this is tough for me because it is something I am constantly dealing with on a day to day basis and the only way for you to know how to truly get through something like this is personal experience. But if I can help you avoid missing out on your blessing and show you that in order to achieve some of the great things in life you sometimes have to wait it out. People will lie on you, talk about you, laugh at you, tell you it is not possible but if you believe in yourself and make yourself your biggest critic I promise you will get everything you want in life.

If you are reading this right now, you are alive and breathing which means you’re on this earth for a purpose. Go out and fulfill it everyday

I love y’all

Coach Q

How I dealt with depression as an athlete

Being an athlete I know for myself over my college career was tough at times. What a lot of people may find out if they don’t already know when they read this is what we go through mentally and the road blocks that we stumble across every day. Playing college basketball for me was a blessing in it’s self because not a lot of people where I’m from even had the opportunity to do that. But what some people may not know or realize is the amount of work we put in during the off season. And it’s not one of those ordinary gym sessions at the gym that people go through, WE DO THAT AND MORE.

Some people that are reading this may not be able to relate to what I’m about to say because during their careers or in life they were always content with being average. But the people I am writing this for know that when you want to be the best at your craft the amount you put into is endless. You literally work until your body is incapable of pushing any farther and your mind is telling you enough is enough but even then you still find some way to get one more rep in. No offense to any of the coaches that I ever played for but besides some of the assistant coaches that put in the work to get to where I wanted to be they could never relate to the amount of work I put in nor could they understand why I was the way I was.

With this being said there comes a point in time in your life as an athlete where you buckle down and just know you are about to have a breakout year. To me every year was like this because the amount of time and effort I put in the court and the weight room was ridiculous. I was never partying and if I was talking to some chick she had to understand my grind and she was more than likely in the gym rebounding for me. So when you put in time like this and train like this once the season comes mentally and physically you have a mindset of ” Nobody can fuck with me” and it shows by the way you walk and talk. And it is not being cocky or arrogant but it is having supreme confidence in yourself and your in another zone mentally. This is why people would often try to tear you down or say subliminal messages to try and get you on their level but often times it never works because your in another world of your own.

But then it comes to a point where politics get involved and you have to listen to someone tell you what you can and cannot do. This was my biggest issue because coaches can see when your on another level and putting in more work than anyone else and yeah they will commend you for it but if your not being a “Teachers pet” or talking with them everyday and sucking up to them then they will keep lowering and lowering your ego until you feel worthless. This is what happened to me and it got to a point of me saying “Was it worth me coming here” or “Do I even want to play anymore”. And once you start to question yourself and lose confidence in you, your like a dead fish in a shark tank. You are a target and people will see you differently.

Then things will happen like you’ll sit a whole game for no apparent reason or you will have somebody that you destroy in practice start over you in games and you start to think what is really happening. Then you fall into a pit and I was in a dark place where after games I would turn my phone off and ignore everyone and just sit in my room alone and not eat and have tears coming down my face because I didn’t understand. When you love a sport so much and you know your the best at what you do but you are unable to show that talent and ability when it matters it hurts. But not all coaches but some coaches don’t care and you will go through your entire season miserable.

Some ways that I got through times like this is for one you have to mentally detox from everything and everyone and remember all the work you put in. When you do this you will gradually gain confidence back because of the sweat and tears you put into your craft. Next thing I would say is too stay true to who you are. I never forget I had a conversation with my roommate my junior season and I only played 12 minuted in rival game and I felt as though I was not getting my fair shot and I honestly debated quitting the team and going home. Long story short I stayed in the gym and shot everyday and the next week something happened at practice and my senior point guard got suspended. So that weekend I started I had 15 points and the game after that I exploded for 35 points and I was never looked at the same. Moral of the story is that I could have lived on my emotions and quit and said forget this but I stayed deep in prayer and continued to trust the process and eventually I got the respect that I deserved.

I wanted to share this piece with you all so you have a better understanding of what us as athletes go through. And if your an athlete or someone who deals with depression whether it comes to work or something else feel free to contact my Instagram page @Quinnmitchellii so we can talk. I know this is something that we go through alone because I for one went through it and this is the first time anyone will ever know about it but I don’t want that to be the same for you.

Stay blessed

Coach Q

Benefits of Semen retention

When it comes to nofap and semen retention this is something that a lot of men struggle with. Some people think that they are just fine masturbating everyday but it isn’t until they run into this issue when they are with a female and they can’t get an erection is when they realize that they have a real issue. What you may not realize is that when you masturbate and release semen you are wasting minerals and vitamins that your body uses to make you a man. In the time that it takes to recover from this is about 3-4 days. So when you do this 3-4 times a day you are literally wasting semen and putting your body into a shock.

When practicing semen retention you will start to notice a lot of things start to happen to you. Below I will list a number of benefits from it.

#1. More sexual power and desire

When you detach yourself from porn and you begin this practice you will actually begin to feel more like a man. When you get around women it will not take much for you to get aroused. You will never experience the feeling of not being able to perform when you’re with your lady.

#2. Sharper Mind

Being an athlete I always stayed in the weight room and worked out on a regular basis. But it was not until I started the practice of semen retention that I realized that my mind would start to be more focused and it would stay sharper for a longer period of time. Steve Jobs also practiced this as we all know the man was a genius.

#3. No more depression and Anxiety

I cannot say that I never feel depression or anxiety anymore but now it is so much rare. I cannot remember the last time that I felt one of these emotions and I realized that this is the best benefit of them all.

#4. Simply more self respect and increased self confidence

When you stop watching porn and practice semen retention you will start to walk with more of a chip on your shoulder. No longer do you feel like a slave to pornography. You will become more confident and start to realize the real power of the mind and how it benefits you.

If you have any questions or concerns or want a consultation feel free to contact me

Coach Q

What happens to your body when you have a hangover

A lot of people don’t realize what is happening to their body when they are having a hangover. They often times just suffer through the symptoms and hope for the best without actually realizing what is wrong with their body. Well today I want to break down each body part that is affected by a hangover and help you understand it more.

When you have a hangover one of the first things that are affected is your head. One of the major issues that occurs is dehydration. The large amount of alcohol upsets the production of vasopressin which is a hormone that controls the fluid balance. This often leads to your head aching the next day.

The next thing that is affected as you may know is your liver. The liver can only detox one drink per hour. Often times people make the mistake of when they feel the headache they look for something to relive the pain such as a Tylenol. Which in most cases Tylenol is a very good pain reliever but when it is from a hangover , when you mix Tylenol and alcohol your liver is forced to work overtime straining to metabolize both substances.

Lastly your stomach is one of the most prominent things that you might notice when you have a hangover. Spiked drinks of any kind irritate the stomach which is why if you drank too much the thought of food or eating food night make you feel sick. Some of the foods I’d suggest eating to help you ease a hangover are bananas, eggs, watermelon, pickles. crackers or nuts.

Now I know nobody’s goal is to ever get a hangover but in the end it may happen to the best of us. So if this happens to you the best solution I can give you is to let time take it’s course and to stay hydrated. I would suggest drinking plenty of water and to get as much rest as possible.