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22
Oct
12

Just Keep Going

By garagegym107 Leave a Comment
Categories: Morphing of a Fit Woman
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I have such a hard time when confronted with a client or friend that gets emotionally upset by her performance. 

You see, the sweet and kind me wants to coddle them and say “it’s ok, really it is”.  And that isn’t a lie.  It is ok because if you get emotional it just means what you are doing is very important to you.

But then the hard-nosed woman who came from that same place starts wanting me to blurt out things that could scare the bee-jeezus out of her instead.  Yes, I always choose to inhibit my inner Jillian.

You see, I can be that person.  I wish someone had been that person to me 12 years ago when I was shoving chili-cheese smothered tator-tots in my face just a little too often.  But then, if they had, maybe just maybe I wouldn’t be here writing to you.

You see each person is different, each journey is for the person travelling it.  It’s not for any outsider to change but instead to impact that journey in a positive or negative way.  Each person has to change themselves.  The lucky ones have others to poke and prod them. 

That being said when I step back and think about my own journey, my most dramatic changes always followed some type of negative interaction with another person.  Like a catalyst.  And not in a good way.

It’s healthy to receive constructive criticism, not so on destructive criticism.

I’m my clients biggest fan and choose to remain that way. 

 

 

 

15
Oct
12

Fear

By garagegym107 1 Comment
Categories: Morphing of a Fit Woman
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I had a conversation with someone yesterday and unbeknownst to her I could detect a strong vibe of fear radiating from her. Self-doubt.  As soon as the conversation started the list of health issues came tumbling out.  As if in some way that list lessened the importance of her overall goals.  She said “I just want to be healthy”.

Being healthy is a great goal.  In the beginning using the term “I just want to be healthy” is ok. 

Fear of thinking too far ahead is very natural in the beginning, especially if you have significant weight to lose.  I understand that fear.  I’m absolutely certain I emanated that fear myself 12 years ago when I started my journey.

But I learned the hard way that you shouldn’t allow yourself to stay in that zone for very long.  If so, you become reliant on your excuses.  I remember the big one… “my knees hurt”…yes, when you carry 168# of excess weight everything tends to hurt. 

At some point that vague statement of “I just want to be healthy”  must transition to a plan.  The plan must transition to action.  The actions them must provide measurable results.  If you can’t measure your success, you are subject to relapse into old behaviors, often.

See yourself as you want to be, not who are today, but as the fit and healthy person you want to be. 

 

11
Oct
12

Issues, We All Have Them

By garagegym107 6 Comments
Categories: Morphing of a Fit Woman
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I was chatting with a friend who is struggling this morning.  As we chatted, I was thrown back in time to that exact point in my journey.

I don’t know where these things come from, they just seem to come from deep inside somewhere teaching me again, that I have learned some lessons over this journey of mine.

“We all have issues.  My issues are not smaller than yours.  I’ve learned not to use them as an excuse to crap on my goals” ~Garagegym107

There is so much meat in that statement, I immediately had to type it out and claim it.

For years I allowed my issues to be my excuse for chronically sabotaging my fitness efforts with poor quality food.  It took me quite some time to figure out that when I ate poorly, I in turn felt even more poorly and my issues seemed ginormous (yes, I know that’s not really a word).

It happens in the lives of most women who struggle with dealing with emotional eating.  You are not alone. 

Sooner or later, you must confront your fears in order to move past these issues.  It’s not about willpower so much as it is about willingness to change and will to let go.

Our issues can stay buried deep inside and something silly can pull one of them back to the limelight.

In example, I’ve written about the online trainer that literally told me I needed to rethink my goals regarding physique training.  In that moment that little liar in my head came screaming forward saying “see I told you so”. 

I could have let both the negative self-talking voice and the online trainer derail me completely.  The old me would have allowed just that.

The stronger, wiser and much more at peace, and confident me simply said “watch this”.  My goals are set, my countdown app on my phone is set and I’ve been busy doing.

Sure, I have issues, we all do.  Step back and think things through.  If you are reaching for food, you are still allowing those issues to rule your roost.

10
Oct
12

Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS)

By garagegym107 7 Comments
Categories: Morphing of a Fit Woman
Tags: , , , , , ,

I’ve been working out for a long time.  Seriously.  Today I have one of the worst cases of delayed onset muscle soreness in as long as I can remember.

Yes the funny holding on to the stall walls, etc.  I asked myself a couple of times over the last 24 hours a few questions.

1) Did my minor shenanigans post Warrior Dash wreak that much havoc on my body?

2) Did I do one killer lower body combo on Monday?

I prefer to go with the latter as the main culprit with a kick in the pants from the first option.

You see for me, I’ve learned that when I’m eating really clean, as in, goal seeking week after week goal seeking, clean eating, just the smallest infractions wreak havoc on my digestive system.

I learned a valuable lesson, even on a relaxed day, I need to remember that my body prefers a pretty high standard of fuel.

Courtesy of Wikipedia:

Delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), also called muscle fever, is the pain and stiffness felt in muscles several hours to days after unaccustomed or strenuous exercise. The soreness is felt most strongly 24 to 72 hours after the exercise.[1] It is caused by eccentric exercise.[2] After such exercise, the muscle adapts rapidly to prevent muscle damage, and thereby soreness, if the exercise is repeated.[3]

What I really need…

 

08
Oct
12

Warrior Dash My Version

By garagegym107 2 Comments
Categories: Morphing of a Fit Woman
Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Saturday I ran my first ever Warrior Dash.  The weather couldn’t have been more perfect and Warrior Dash like.  It was 66 degrees and started raining while we were in the starting chute waiting.   Muddy slopes to slide down and hills to slip up.  I had a blast.

But my Dash comes with another story.  I ran with two friends, or better yet, they ran with me.  You see I’m not as fast as they are and I am much more cautious, mainly out of fear of an injury.  

My story is for all of the youngguns out there.  You want to do something big in your life??  Wait for a friend.

The sacrifice my Warrior friends made by waiting for me didn’t go unnoticed by me.  They are competitive, they like to do well at what they do.  Who can blame them, they are both swift on their feet and great runners.

Saturday, they waited.  They waited as I cautiously went over things that scared me.  Laughed at mud running down my face when I slid down into a muddy pool.  But they waited.

Do you know how much patience it takes to cool your jets long enough to think of someone else?  They set aside personal goals and personal bests to wait for a friend.

This life will pass you by in the blink of an eye.  Before you know it, life takes over and your internal Warrior gets set aside for kids and life.   But it’s never too late to bring your Warrior back.  Out of over 6,000 people, there were only 27 or so 49-year-old female participants.  I was one of them and I had a BLAST!

I was one of them, and these two ladies are the ones who waited.  They are the rock stars!

Before the Dash.

And after the dash!

05
Oct
12

Peer Groups

By garagegym107 4 Comments
Categories: Morphing of a Fit Woman

As I prepare to take on the Warrior Dash this weekend I decided I wanted to stick my hair up in a Mohawk.  Mainly because that’s what kind of race it is and that’s what kind of girl I am. 

I’m just old enough to break all the rules established by whomever it was that said women my age shouldn’t do things like that.  They also say woman my age shouldn’t lift heavy weights either.  Phhhffttt!

I suppose one of the benefits to aging is that eventually it just doesn’t matter what other people think.  The way I see it is that this is my life mine all mine.  I choose to be light-hearted and make the best of my days. 

Today was a beautiful day when we got to do our workout.  Not too hot, and sunny with a light breeze.  A great day to be outside.

It’s certainly a day to enjoy this life we’ve been given.  I’m a people watcher, it’s fun.  People are all unique, each their own.  I’m not a believer of shoving everyone in the same box. 

When was the last time you didn’t follow someone elses rule?

“Any fool can make a rule, and any fool will mind it” – Henry David Thoreau

I’m digging that rule.  Of course I’d probably still be all uptight about breaking rules if my kids were still at home.

 

 

 

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
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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.

19
Sep
12

Ignorance is Bliss

By garagegym107 1 Comment
Categories: Morphing of a Fit Woman
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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.

13
Sep
12

The Past

By garagegym107 Leave a Comment
Categories: Morphing of a Fit Woman
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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.

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