Archive for September, 2012

28
Sep
12

Encouragement for Newbs

By garagegym107 8 Comments
Categories: Nutritional Cleanse Experiment
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

About a month ago I started helping a girl from another floor with some workouts.  We go up on the top of our parking deck at work and we workout.  We laugh, we play and we work.

I live by the philosophy of “each one reach one” because in my own little naïve way I believe that it can be done. 

We started with just the two of us.  As of this week, there are now 6 of us.  All shapes, sizes, ages and fitness levels. 

I want to talk to the newbies out there.  All of you new to fitness and getting healthy. 

Taking that first step and sometimes that second step is really hard!  You might be last when you finish, you might be embarrassed because you don’t yet have a range of motion that you need and you might just have very little belief in your own ability to prevail.

Well let me tell you this, if you really want to make changes in your life, you really gotta work at it.  You can’t just say “oh that was hard, I’m going to lunch with my friends instead”.  You can’t just say “well, I was last so why bother?”.  You can’t just say “I’ll start next Monday”.

You get to go through all of the growing pains of the process for a multitude of reasons. 

First off you must prove to yourself that you are willing to change.  So get up day in and day out and get busy. There is no quick fix fat fixer.

Secondly, you must get over yourself and any need you have to feel sorry for yourself.  You are now making changes and some of them might hurt.  Suck it up Buttercup!

Third and probably the most important of all, no negative self-talk EVER.  You may not be perfect, you may have caught a bad deal in this life, but beating yourself down day in and day out fixes absolutely nothing. 

Everyday find something in yourself to be positive about.  If you look past all of the hurt, anger and loneliness, you’ll find the beautiful worthiness.  It is in each of us.

 

27
Sep
12

Think Happy Thoughts

By garagegym107 1 Comment
Categories: Morphing of a Fit Woman

By the time I reach the close of my work and workout week, I’m literally tired.  Both mentally and physically.  It’s during these moments when weakness likes to creep in and attempt to take up residence.  Weakness wants you to stray from your plan.

In my opinion, being consistent and disciplined is probably harder than doing the actual work.  Once the habit is developed and a plan put in place, it is kind of like kicking ignorance to the curb.   You simply can’t go back to the old ways, unless of course you just give up on yourself.  This morning for example, I really wanted to sleep in.  I didn’t. 

I’m glad I didn’t because as I drove to work at 7:31am this morning the thought crossed my mind that my workout is done and I have showered and I am on my way to work, most people are just getting up.   That my friends is a happy thought.

Those happy thoughts make this journey possible.   This past weekend, this little guy slammed himself into our large window and knocked himself silly.   I walked outside and there he lay on the deck all dazed and confused.  Like the good nurturer that I am, I gently picked him up and rubbed him just a tad as he shivered.  I picked up a chair cushion and put the little hummer on the cushion and then put both on the table.  Not once did I think he wouldn’t snap out of his confusion.  Sure enough an hour later he flew off and on to business.  When life knocks you silly, press on!

 

 

24
Sep
12

Scales and What Not

By garagegym107 8 Comments
Categories: Morphing of a Fit Woman
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

No, not fish scales.  Weight scales.

I work with so many women regarding weight-loss and fitness.  I’ve talked about scale weight before and how it fits in the big scheme of things.

If I could somehow be Glenda the Good Witch for just one day, I swear I’d love to banish all scales from the land! 

Have I ever told you guys the story of going to our company “health-fair”?  I consider myself pretty fit in the big scheme of averages so the health fair didn’t deter me.  They checked both my good and bad cholesterol and both were impeccable.  My blood pressure was also in the very good category. 

So off I go the new super-duper body mass index machine.  To use the machine you must be in your sock feet.  I took off my shoes and when it was my turn, I jumped up on that bad boy only to receive this little ticker tape print out showing that I was by American standards “obese”.  I literally laughed out loud. 

One of the guys I workout with was right behind me.  He 26 years old, six feet tall and has six-pack abs.  Yes, I saw them during a workout class.   You know what?  His BMI put him in the obese category as well.  I was already skeptical about our BMI standards anyway, but that pushed it over the top.  The number one reason is that the technician never bothered to ask either of us if we work out on a regular basis.  There is a different selection for athletes.  Either way bad data.

Anyway, back to where I was going with all of this.  Data is just data.  It’s not a sign of success or failure, it’s a number.  It is what we do with that number that matters. 

If you struggle with getting on the scale to gather data then it’s time to ask yourself  “why does this number matter so much to me?”.

What should really matter to you is if you are doing better today than you did yesterday.  If you strive every single day to be a better person, whether it’s in your workouts, your finances, your savings, keeping your kids clothes clean and helping someone else out in some small way.  You are moving forward.

Progress isn’t about what’s happening on the outside.  It’s about what’s happening on the inside.  When you figure out why you wrap success or failure around a number, changes begin to happen.  You stop paying so much attention to the scale and to your appearance and start focusing on your workouts, how consistent you are, and if you are doing them correctly from a technical standpoint.  Suddenly your body image starts to improve as does your ability.

One of the most refreshing things I’ve read lately was Lifting My Spirits about page and reading that she went on stage to compete in her first bodybuilding show without even caring what her BF% was.  She just new by looking in the mirror and by doing the right things with her workouts and food that results were there.  And that’s how this should be.

Do the right things and results will come.

20
Sep
12

I Don’t Have Time

By garagegym107 6 Comments
Categories: Living Fit Daily
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I hear this comment often.  “I don’t have time to train and eat right.  I can’t imagine packing my meals and being at the gym at 5:30am. ”  “I can’t imagine doing that with 3 kids”.  In reality we all have the same number of hours in our day.

Some days I’d like to be a real hard nose about it, but the old fat chick in my head says “remember when that was you?” so I refrain.  

What I would really like to say is this.  You have a lot more time than you think you do so stop saying you don’t have time. 

Swap half of your social media time for working out.  Swap all of your TV time for food prep and you just might find a little extra wiggle room in there.  I the beginning it seems like an undoable, impossible idea.  It does for most people so you are not alone.

Give it two weeks.  Set a timer and limit yourself to 10 minutes of social media at a time.  For the next 10 minutes, try doing some air squats or some push-ups (even if your push-ups are on your knees or your leaning against a wall) or some good old-fashioned sit-ups,  just do it for 10 minutes. 

You will soon realize that you don’t have to move a bus to feel better, just move yourself.  Care about yourself enough to do it.

I’ve learned that my commitment to consistency has been the greatest link to my success.  Day after day, week after week, month after month and year after year.

Things got so much easier when I quit chasing “the end” of each phase.  When the end comes, it’s over but you are not finished.   I never imagined when I was 38 and just getting started that I would be creeping up on 50 in the best shape of my life and still working out consistently 5-6 times per week.

Ironically, I’m not finished.  Now I see 80 as a new challenge.  Just how good of shape can I keep myself in over the next 30-ish years.  And even better?  What do I want to accomplish?

Getting and staying fit is the greatest gift I could have ever given to myself.  Learning to live this lifestyle has taught me that anything is possible.  Now go get your greatness!

19
Sep
12

By garagegym107 Leave a Comment
Categories: Nutritional Cleanse Experiment

Couldn’t help but share this video! Pure bliss from the eyes of Mudd. Enjoy!

CultFit's avatarCultFit

We have enough youth, how about a fountain of Smarts-

There really is no need to set up this video for you this morning … Its brilliant:

Where were we?!?  Diversions!

More times than not it seems that we have forgotten all about the simple diversions in our lives that help us to decompress from our daily concerns.  For many of our Dear Readers this moment of forgetfulness can be found in at the local gym, a yoga mom class or a trail run in a nearby park.  This sacred refuge can also be found in our gardens where tilling soil can clear away the stress of a rough day.  For many others chopping up some veggies in the  kitchen sweeps away the frustrations of our nagging boss at work.  We may also find relief  chatting amongst friends one night down at the pub or out in the bright sunshine during…

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19
Sep
12

Ignorance is Bliss

By garagegym107 1 Comment
Categories: Morphing of a Fit Woman
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Most people really truly don’t want to acknowledge the truth about fitness and weight loss.  If they hide behind the veil of ignorance then they don’t have to hold themselves accountable.  I did that, for a couple of years, in fact.  I managed to pack on an additional 168# in two years.  Yes, that’s correct, in only two years I went from a relatively healthy size 10 woman to a grossly unhealthy size 22.  That’s an average weight gain of 1.61 pounds PER WEEK.

Talk about a sad sack.  But ignorance was bliss.  No one really ever said anything about the weight as it progressively increased.

I could have stopped it, I could have changed the course of my life.  But instead I used every excuse I could dig up, meds were making me fat, job related stress was making me fat, my obnoxiously nasty divorce was making me fat.  But you know what? 

I was making me fat.  I was the one stopping by the fast food joints picking up a bag full of whatever daily special was going on at whichever place was super-sizing everything.

The beautiful thing in my story is that I truly believe that people can change and those changes can stick, like glue. 

I know personally many people who have successfully changed.   Taking themselves from being slightly overweight, or emotional eaters, to those like me, who were obese. 

They’ve taken responsibility for educating themselves.  They’ve put their own ego’s and pride aside to make these changes.  They’ve humbled themselves to the point of learning and humbled themselves to the point of DOING. 

The most important thing that we’ve all learned is that in this life is:  it’s not always about me. 

Reach out and do something nice for another person.  No need to tell anyone what you did, just do it.

Each one, reach one.

18
Sep
12

Nutritional Knowledge

By garagegym107 2 Comments
Categories: Precision Nutrition Certification
Tags: , , , , , , , ,

For over a decade I’ve spent a lot of time trying to learn how to eat properly.  I’ve gotten lost in the noise of this program or that.  I’ve tried them all with the exception of those you must get from your doctor.  None of them have really explained the how and why of food and how it impacts my body.

I am a trainer.  I hunger to know more so that I can help my clients on a deeper level.  More than  making a recommendation of a diet they can follow.  I want to teach them.  I want to help them.  I want them to learn about why some foods are better than others.

First I must help myself.  I’ve registered for the Precision Nutrition Certification course.  It could take me months, but I’m willing to invest the time.

As with everything, it starts with me.

I will begin practicing what I preach, documenting my journey along the way.

To my friends who have gone ahead of me, thanks for dragging me along.  I ♥ you.

17
Sep
12

Do You Inspire?

By garagegym107 Leave a Comment
Categories: Living Fit Daily
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

This morning after I finished my workout, I stopped by the grocery store on my way home.  All stinky and sweaty I walked in store and a gentlemen unexpectedly came around the corner “excuse me” I say in my normal post workout cheerful voice. 

I continued on down the main store front aisle.  I noticed him about ten feet to my right and he says “are you a bodybuilder?” and I don’t know exactly what came over me when I blurted out “Well, yes I am!”, technically speaking I’m building on this body every single day.   He proceeded to ask how long I’ve been working on it etc, I said a good 3-4 years.  He simply said “well nice work”. 

I could have gone in to the story of CrossFit and the story of being a personal trainer but in all honesty the answer I gave flew out of my mouth and so be it.

I’m not in great shape, I’m in good shape.  To the outside average observer, I guess they see something different.  It made my day.  Reaffirmed my desire to keep moving forward, obstacle after obstacle.   Goal after goal. 

I have always loved the following quote:

“Just remember, there is someone out there who wishes they were where you are today.”

Today I’d like to share a new friends blog.  It’s very inspirational.  And a big thank you to Lifting My Spirits for taking time out of her busy schedule to talk with me.

13
Sep
12

The Past

By garagegym107 Leave a Comment
Categories: Morphing of a Fit Woman
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Every now and again I’m delightfully gifted with the opportunity to share my story and a few things I’ve learned to a live audience. 

I derive so much joy from having these opportunities.  Talking to others reminds me of various places I’ve been along my journey.  It also reminds me that I’m still on my own journey.

This past weekend I was reminded of one aspect of my journey.  The mind has a very powerful ability to replay old conversations years after the occurence.

That being said, I believe that we are in control of rewinding and re-recording over those powerful negative messages with positive new ones.

For example, I started running (well, what would be barely considered jogging to a runner) when I weighed just shy of 250#.  I remember the negative thoughts going through my mind step after step, “you’re too fat to do this, you are too slow to be running, you can quit this now”.  Over and over I would allow my negative thoughts to rule.  It took me years to clear the cobwebs enough to realize that I was, simply put, defeating my own purpose.

Once I began to understand that nothing has the power to impact me, unless I give it the power did I realize  great positive change from the inside.

I began changing my mantra to “you are strong and you are capable”, “you are strong and you are capable”.  Over and over, year after year, I’ve repeated those words many, many times. 

We truly are what we think we are so it is extremely important to make sure that we use “no negative self-talk, EVER”. 

I have that saying written in chalk in the middle of the chalk board in Garagegym 107.  My clients see it.  It’s a constant reminder of the way I live.  I see it every time I start my day.  I believe it.

Empower yourself to make changes to negative experiences from your past. 

Our past contributes to who we are, but our past doesn’t dictate who we become.

The chalk board project.  The humble beginnings of GG107.

12
Sep
12

Unbelievable!

By garagegym107 3 Comments
Categories: Random Thoughts
Tags: , , , , , , ,

I read this yesterday and was taken so far aback I needed to wait a day to write about it.

Junior Tennis Player Benched

As you read this remember that this is a young woman in our society today.  Unbelievable pressure to fit in a mold that wasn’t made for her body type.  I get it.  I get it because I’m a big girl.  At 5’8″ tall and 165# I am not the size of the average female.  What’s average height?  5’4″ or 162.5cm. 

So yes, I’m above average by 4 full inches.  And outside of that I’m also more muscular than average because I choose to workout with weights.

The social pressure for young women is unbearable.  Watching my beautiful step-daughter struggle because she has the most beautiful red hair was hard enough. 

The young lady in the article is a very talented tennis player and that physical ability is being clouded by judgemental people WHO AREN’T THE ONES PLAYING.  Give me a break.

When will the madness stop and people begin to truly grasp that this world isn’t one size fits all, neither are human beings. 

Perfect example of this very thing, my friend at 5’0″ and I both doing the same exact thing, same weight ball.  It just doesn’t matter.  I don’t like her because she’s 5’0″ and tiny, I like her because she is a great person.

Hat tip to CrossFit Impulse for the picture.

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