garagegym107

Archive Page 6

May

Steel Your Resolve

Categories: Living Fit Daily
Tags: Body-for-Life, BodyBuilding, Bright Spots, change, Clean Eating, Community, exercise, fat loss, fitness, food, gaining self confidence, Garagegym107, Goal Setting, goals, Gym, health, healthy-living, Inspiration, Long term weight loss, Motivation

My last post was all about making things work when the going gets tough and things get complicated.

This is a short post, a list of things that are working for me, keeping me on task and on plan.

Meal prep. Spend 2-3 hours preparing, weighing and packaging individual meals for Monday through Friday. Keeping it very simple, I tend to eat either the same thing, or very close to the same thing each day. My proteins are priority one. Take half to work, leave half at home. This leaves no room for “hmmm….I don’t have anything, so I’ll pick something up”. Saves money, time, and totally keeps me focused.
Cut out my early am net-surfing 30 minutes and started getting right on the rower. The same could be accomplished with a run, fast walk, met-con, whatever blows your skirt up. Just do it. No one interrupts me that early, they are sleeping. Prime ME time.
Don’t hit snooze. Just don’t. Get up and get moving, in the 9-10 minutes you snooze, you can floss, brush, and flush and be out the door.
Stay focused. Find motivation. Share motivation

Get busy doing.

Apr

Things Are a Little Dusty

By garagegym107 2 Comments

Yes indeed things got a little dusty here in the land of blogging. High stress day jobs and long hours tend to want to wreak havoc on my whole life, but I won’t let it.

Needless to say, when things blow up all around me, all I can do is focus on what I can do in the moment. Staying in the moment these past several weeks has literally saved my MOJO and my sanity.

What I mean by staying in the moment is literally to stop worrying about what will be happening 2-3 hours or even 6-8 hours from now, much less, weeks and months. I cannot change a single thing in the future as I have no crystal ball or time machine.

My day job hours have significantly increased upwards to 11-12 hour days. When you add the coaching I do at our CrossFit Box, that leaves a shortness in my own training time. Which leads to grouchy butt syndrome on my part.

I caught myself whining a little about it. Then I reminded myself that I needed to put my big girl panties on and deal with things just as they are. What if I get to continue to come in to work at 7:15 indefinitely…? Well get up a little earlier. So be it.

That one thought triggered several more reminders of what I can do to help myself remain consistent in all things I love when things get harried.

Meal prep and planning. I spent three hours on Sunday taking away all excuses for not eating enough and well enough this week. Everything is nicely packed in throw away Ziploc Freezer Bags so no dishes to whine about washing.

Workouts are shifted from AM five days a week to 2 AM workouts and 3 lunch time workouts one rest day and a new weekend workout. No excuses.

Did these decisions come about easily? Well no, of course not. I spent three weeks trying to squeeze things in until I wanted to explode from being in a rushed frenzy before realizing that it was time to settle down and see things for what they are.

Changing.

Yes, the one constant will always be change. Why on earth I fight it so much is beyond me. My family would say stubbornness and I would agree.

Change is inevitable, but how we deal with it makes or breaks us. When my poor spousal unit started getting tewky with me, I realized I have been riding around on my pretty little broom just a bit too often.

When you find change coming in a very fast and unexpected fashion, find a quiet place to reflect, even if it’s only for 15 minutes. Write down what is really important to you and figure out how you will make change work instead of using change as an excuse to fail.

Apr

In Pursuit of Dreams

By garagegym107 41 Comments

Categories: Nutritional Cleanse Experiment
Tags: Community, CrossFit, exercise, fitness, gaining self confidence, Garagegym107, Goal Setting, goals, Gym, health, healthy-living, heavy weights, Insecurity, Inspiration, Motivation, Training, Well-Being, Working out, Workout

As I mentioned in my previous blog I am in the middle of the CrossFit Open Sectionals competition. It’s a very exciting time for me and the athletes of our CrossFit box. I’ve watched people evolve over the course of this past month, achieving things one month ago, they had no idea they could really accomplish. Both strong and beautiful inside out, I am honored to have their permission to present them to you.

These three women have inspired me beyond measure, right along with their own friends and family members.

Thanks to CrossFit Madison for the photos.

Anna Lombard: Anna decided her first go around at the WOD wasn’t her best. She came back in on Saturday and showed everyone, including herself exactly what she is capable of.

Artesha Bishop: Artesha also decide her first go around at the WOD wasn’t her best. She came back in on Saturday and found she was capable of more. Not settling for less than her absolute best, she gave is one final go and exceeded her own expectations.

Sydney Blackmon: I have watched this young lady absolutely blossom through her CrossFit experiences. On Saturday she successfully cleaned & jerked the prescribed load of 95# multiple times. Big deal right? Well that 95# is 5# less than her own body weight. The most exciting part is that she is 17 years old.

Mar

More Evolving

By garagegym107 2 Comments

The month of March has been absolutely crazy in terms of how many balls can be juggled. New boss for the day job, medical age related test (clean results), full on family vacation, and the CrossFit Open sectional with two weeks remaining. All of these things combined haven’t left much time for writing.

Finally today I have a bit of a breather.

The title of this blog is most fitting for my thoughts this week.

When I stop long enough to think back to the early months of my journey I recognize the pattern of losses as more linear. Here lately and over the past couple of years progress looks more like the lines on an EKG. Progress for me isn’t in terms of weight losses as much as it is about gains, strength gains, confidence gains, and awareness gains.

There are months that I see no gains at all in strength, but a conversation with someone else will result in confidence gains, that person may have seen something I accomplished that I took for granted and the reminder is priceless. Gains come in every form and fashion. Often times I will fail on a strength lift. What I forget to acknowledge was that I overcame a certain level of fear to attempt the action in the first place.

Awareness gains usually come when I’ve been in a social setting of some kind or when I’ve made some poor nutritional choices that impact an outcome. Awareness gains are not necessarily good or bad, they just are what they are. That always means I’m more in tune with an action or reaction.

Sounds like a bunch of babble when I go back and read it but the bottom line message is that progress comes through consistent action. Both positive and negative. Keep and open mind, keep moving your body, keep nourishing your body with good clean food, and allow your soul some time to reflect on what you’ve accomplished and what you fear.

Feb

Have I Been A Slacker?

By garagegym107 6 Comments

I realized when I sat down to write this blog I’ve begun to allow too much time to pass between blogs. I’ve got way too much to talk about to not sit down and make it happen.

Anyway, one might wonder if I’ve been slacking. Fat chance on that. I work a full-time professional day job and then I step out with my favorite evening job, personal training.

I long to find a way to support myself with my first love. Eventually I’ll get there, just not while I have a kid in college.

So, enough of my ramblings. Have I mentioned lately how much I adore working out? I really do. Most people cringe at getting up at 4:30am to be at the gym around 5. Not me. I started my days off like that long before I ever allowed the fat chick to rule my world.

Back in those days I wasn’t over weight, really not even pleasantly plump. After the birth of my 3rd son, I decided that working out at 5:00am allowed me to work out guilt free. Everyone was still sleeping and I didn’t feel like I was taking away from the older boys baseball, etc.

Fast forward through the trauma of divorce and massive unhealthy weight gain, through the amazing and a times heartbreaking journey of weight loss and the release of emotional baggage I find myself now older, wiser and still loving the 5:00am workouts.

The key in all of that chatter is find what works for you and your family. It may not be the ideal time, but if this is really important to you, you’ll do it whenever you can make it happen.

I’ve discovered lately that having a fit mind is just as important, perhaps even more important than a fit body.

Someone in your life causing drama? That doesn’t make it your drama. Someone having a bad day? That doesn’t make it your bad day. Your friend decided to make an excuse not to go to the gym this morning? That’s not your excuse.

My message and one of my own personal favorite lessons has always been “Just because someone else is having an issue, that doesn’t make it my issue”. I’ve learned over the last 20 years that if you take it, someone will keep giving it to you to carry for them.

Put on mental rubber suit and let the excuses of others roll off like rain on a freshly waxed car. Take care of yourself and six months from now your drama filled, excuse making friend will be asking YOU how you did it!

You’ve got enough to handle keeping yourself fit and fabulous.

Feb

By garagegym107 5 Comments

Categories: Nutritional Cleanse Experiment

For all of my friends who lift! This is such a great blog.

Elisabeth Akinwale

There’s this insidious thing that won’t seem to go away, and it is the incessant chatter about athletic women’s bodies- is it ok for women to have muscles? Is strong really better than skinny? I don’t know if men are the main perpetrators or if it’s mostly us doing this to each other (let’s blame the men, that’s more fun). Either way, it’s apparent that certain forces are less than enthusiastic about the fairer sex being yoked. Don’t be scared, everything is going to be ok, even if us gals get barbells in our hands. I usually chalk the negativity up to mostly internet trolls- a subsect of the population I find it best to ignore. Frankly, I just don’t like giving life to the subject by discussing it further. I don’t feel the need to defend my choices for my body, or encourage others to choose the same path…

View original post 880 more words

Feb

Be Beautiful

By garagegym107 1 Comment

For ALL of the beautiful ladies in my life, I write this blog. You know who you are, you are near and far. The ones who, at the drop of a hat send a kind word or do a kind deed. You are the ones that simply place a heart on my FB page. You are the ones who send a card for no other reason than you want to make someone smile.

With all of the noise surrounding the perfection of women, be it in the fitness industry, the beauty industry, the clothing industry, remember that we are each in our own way simply beautiful.

Imagine a world with no commercials or billboards bombarding you with thoughts of what you should be, how you should look, or telling you what material thing you should have before you consider yourself beautiful.

Get up tomorrow and let it all fade to black. Find the beauty you were born with, IT IS IN YOU, I know, I’ve seen it with my own eyes and felt it with my own heart. Be the beautiful women that you are!

Please take 3 minutes and 20 seconds and watch this video. A huge shout out to Karen Walrond for posting this on You Tube. And a huge thanks to my Precision Nutrition coach Jennifer Koslo for sharing this.

Please, please, share this with every beautiful woman that you know!

Jan

Self Doubt

By garagegym107 1 Comment

I’ve had a couple of the most inspiring days here lately, who couldn’t use a little feel good?

Saturday I was helping teach a CrossFit Fundamentals class and we had a woman in the class that is completely new to the concepts of CrossFit.

I believe people pass through our lives for a purpose. The question is do we as individuals stop long enough to realize the purpose may not have a single thing to do with “us” as in self.

I meet a lot of people while teaching these classes. I love it. I have the chance to share what I love with more people. Win.

Anyway, back to my story. As we progressed through the class, it came time to do some pull-up work. I noticed the woman mentioned above had gone to the ladies room. After what was plenty of time, she didn’t come back. I sent one of the other ladies to check on her. She came back and whispered “she’s a little upset”. Off I went to the bathroom.

As I walked in the door she was collecting herself. The first thought that crossed my mind was “man I wish I was that beautiful when I cried”. Trust me, I am NOT pretty when I cry.

Anyway, after talking to this woman, I realized that she didn’t really even realize why she was upset. The irony is that I knew EXACTLY what she was feeling. Change is HARD. Change is SCARY. Change takes COURAGE.

In those few moments she was sizing up her own ability to be able to do what she was there to do. I have been there. More than once. Coming in to a new place, to a new program, to new expectations is very intimidating.

I looked her straight in the eyes and said with complete conviction “you CAN do this”! I told her a bit of my story and allowed her to gather her composure. We headed back out on to the floor to continue her training. She stayed, she finished the class.

I wanted her to come back. I wanted her to believe in herself enough to keep moving forward. But I knew that I couldn’t make that decision for her.

The next day she sent me a FB message and said “you are the second reason I’m coming back, the first is because I can do this”.

That is why I do what I do. BE THE CHANGE.

Jan

Taking Those First Steps

By garagegym107 4 Comments

Categories: Morphing of a Fit Woman
Tags: BodyBuilding, Bright Spots, Clean Eating, Community, CrossFit, fat loss, fitness, food, gaining self confidence, Garagegym107, Goal Setting, goals, healthy-living, Inspiration, Weight Lifting, Well-Being, Workout

In fitness no matter where you are, taking those first steps always seem to be the most difficult. Most people know that I am not new to fitness and they know that I will change things when I’m not seeing progress.

Taking those first few steps, whether just beginning the journey to get fit, or taking stats years down the road and not liking the results of them. Either way, taking those steps can be difficult.

This morning was my first measurements and progress picture posting day for the Precision Nutrition Lean Eating program I’m following. Even after all this time and all of these pictures, those steps are still very difficult for me.

Reasons:

1) I’m older and will never again have the body of a 20-year-old (I don’t care how much money I were to throw at it, my 20-year-old body is gone) so I must find peace with what I’m working with.

2) In my mind, I always see myself in a better place than I am in reality.

3) Changes always, always create insecurity for me. What if I’m not good at it? What if it isn’t the answer? Blah, Blah, Blah…

Negative self talk happens to the best of us, those are the moments when we are terrified but we know we must take the risk to improve.

I’ve stayed pretty close to the same weight and definitely stayed the same over-all size for several years now and it’s time for me to move along done my path to my next goal. No more excuses, just actions that speak louder than words. Another journey has begun by taking the first step.

Jan

Coaching…Who Needs It?

By garagegym107 Leave a Comment

As I work to better myself along my path as a trainer, I often ask myself “who needs coaching?”. I firmly believe that everyone could use coaching.

Where am I going with this? Further down my own path to become a great coach. After struggling to reach a personal goal that I set for myself two years ago, I’ve decided to get some coaching. The better my coaching, the better coach I will become.

I began studying for the Precision Nutrition Certification course 5 chapters ago. As I’ve gone through the information I’ve had that nagging notion that I could use some coaching.

This past Monday I decided to embark upon a path of personal discovery by following Precision Nutrition’s Lean Eating Program. Dr. Berardi is well-known in the field of nutrition. I trust that with personal growth I can reach the goal I initially set.

The story starts here. When Monday morning came, I had this awful discomfort. That urge to duck and cover. That told me clearly that I’ve chosen to do exactly what I need to do for ME.

There will be folks out there who know me who will think I’ve lost my ever-loving mind. Well, perhaps maybe just maybe I will find the remainder of what has kept me from that long desired goal. But even better, once I conquer this challenge I will be even more equipped to help others reach their goals.

This process is quite humbling. Stats and measurements have been taken. Before photo’s are never flattering because as they are being taken I am acknowledging that they are before another big personal change. With change comes insecurity, with insecurity comes courage and growth. I’ve got this.

Whatever lingering doubt I have will now be banished. I am not finished yet. I will update you guys periodically about my progress as I firmly believe that accountability and consistency above all else are key to successful change.

The journey of getting comfortable with uncomfortable has begun again.

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