Bright Spots | garagegym107

Posts Tagged ‘Bright Spots

Jul

Baby Steps and Monster Leaps

A couple of weeks ago I posted an update on passing my Precision Nutrition Level 1 Coach’s certification. It took a bunch of baby steps to get on with it after procrastinating for a good while. I learned a lot of lessons along the way.

Just a few of them are:

1) You’re never too old to reach for amazing.

2) Procrastination is still my crutch, even after all these years.

3) You can never learn enough concerning a topic you are passionate about.

Fast forward a couple of weeks later. I’ve committed to the Level 2 Coaching program with Precision Nutrition. It’s a year of intense training toward becoming an even more effective coach. I’m humbled and honored to have this opportunity.

Baby steps and monster leaps to better coaching. I consider this Level 2 a monster leap for me.

Jan

The Big Picture

By garagegym107 8 Comments

Categories: Living Fit Daily
Tags: #bodyforlife, #fitatfifty, Body-for-Life, BodyBuilding, Bright Spots, Clean Eating, Community, exercise, fat loss, fitness, gaining self confidence, Garagegym107, Inspiration, Long term weight loss, Working out, Workout

Just a few days ago I was talking with a friend. She is in training to become a Life Coach and you can read about her Here. She is an amazing person and friend. Anyway, I was doing this little test to help her out with something she was working on. little did I know at the time I volunteered how big an impact it would have.

As we were going through the exercise I got dialed in to my usual fitness related mindset. I answered the questions and wrote down things that came to mind. As we continued on talking through the results I had an epiphany. My epiphany was that I often have tunnel vision. I’m not really good about taking a few steps back from this fitness goal or that fitness goal to see what I really want long term in life. It’s been a week since my friend and I had the conversation. The exercise we did has come to my mind at least once everyday since, but in most cases its been two or three times per day.

It’s very clear in my mind that my health and my fitness is important as I go through the next season or chapter or whatever the buzz word for it is. But up to that phone call, I hadn’t really stopped to think “what do you really want?”. After pondering what I want, I realized there are some things I must get in order to be prepared for the next big phase. I told my friend what I really wanted to do and one of those things requires reading a specific book I bought. She challenged me not with reading the book, but with simply “get the book out and txt me when you do”. It was perfect prompting.

Then she had me set a deadline for reading chapter one. Before I realized it I was through with chapter five. I’ve taken some baby steps to get started and before long, I will be knocking out what I need to knock out.

Not only did doing those little things help me with that very personal project goal, they fired me up to start logging my food again, which I haven’t done in a while. Food logging is a healthy thing for me. When I’m not logging, I’m eye-balling and I have some big ole eye-balls. Sometimes you have to know what you want before you know what to do.

I feel at peace right now more than I have in quite sometime. Peace with the big picture, not just my fitness and nutrition goals. I’m sure that before too long, the personal project goal will just right smack dab into my fitness/nutrition goals and try a hostile takeover, but I’m going to be ready for it.

The lesson brings home the old adage “you can’t see the forest through the trees”.

Hat Tip Photo Courtesy Ann Joiner

Jan

Moving Past That Place

By garagegym107 272 Comments

Twice this week I’ve had conversations with women who find themselves at a crossroads. It’s the crossroads to long-term change. It’s a frightening place to be.

To the left is everything you know, comfort, habit, status quo, the norm, the place you’ve known for what could be your whole life, failures, the past.

To the right is belief, discomfort, truth, health, happiness, knowledge, pressure, fear of the unknown, trials, failures (yes you have failures on both roads), wisdom, desire, change, gratitude.

I know this crossroads all too well. In the spring and summer of 2010 I stood at the very same crossroads. I had just won the Body-for-Life challenge which had been a goal for 9 years. Everyone thought I had it all figured out. What people around me didn’t know, was what was happening on the inside. Even my best friends had no idea.

I was terrified. Afraid I’d back slide back to the 328# person I used to be. I was terrified I would fail again. I was terrified that I was a fake. I was afraid I didn’t believe in myself as much as others believed in me. I was afraid of the future.

Looking back on that crossroads now it seems silly. But at that time the fear was very real, very much a part of my daily life.

In order to overcome that fear, I had to put some daily habits in place. Below are the most important ones listed in the order of importance for me.

No Negative Self-Talk. EVER
Write down 3 things I’m grateful for daily
Write down 3 positive affirmations about my body daily
Get the fear out of your head

These things may look trivial to some, but to a person who doesn’t believe in themselves, I believe these things are a game changer. Let me elaborate.

No Negative Self-Talk. EVER

Negative self-talk is the single most detrimental habit a person can develop. Negative self-talk comes up when you look in the mirror, when you are handling your personal finances, when you go to work, when you parent your children, in your marriage. It’s everywhere. SHUT. IT. DOWN. You are worthy of greatness, no-one, not even yourself should tell you otherwise.

Write down 3 things you’re grateful for

Gratitude helps you realize in the big scheme of things you’ve got it really good. Be grateful you’re healthy and not fighting for your life. Be grateful you have a roof over your head. If you are reading this, be grateful for the very device allowing you to see this, even if it’s a loaner. Be grateful for the simplest things in your life. Once you remove your “woe is me” tunnel vision, you get to fully see what you have to be grateful for.

Write down 3 positive affirmations about my body daily

I don’t mean the same things every day. Each day find 3 things you love about your body. They may or may not have a thing to do with your physical appearance. I love my eyes because they allow me to see things. I love my strong and powerful legs that allow me to move heavy things. I love my ears because they allow me to hear beautiful music.

Get the fear out of your head

If you are afraid of something talk about it with a trusted friend, a person who’s walked this path before you, or if nothing else, write your fear down in a journal. What I found over time was the fear was much, much greater in my head than it ever was out in the open. I’ve written letters to people and then burned them (very healing). I have sobbed on my friend’s shoulder when faced with the realization I wasn’t going to reach a goal I set. Getting your fear of failure out of you mind clears the space so that it can be filled to the brim with positive and grateful thinking.

All of the above may seem trivial, but if you are at the crossroads of significant weight loss, throw these habits in to play and see if you don’t find some peace from the constant fear of back-sliding.

Jan

Whew Those Glutes

By garagegym107 5 Comments

Categories: 2014 Year of Legs
Tags: #bodyforlife, #fitatfifty, #garagegym, Body-for-Life, BodyBuilding, Bright Spots, Clean Eating, Community, Garagegym107, Goal Setting, Inspiration, Motivation, Training, Weight Lifting, weight loss, Weightloss, Working out, Workout

My focus this year is legs and glutes. Much more focus than last year. Not just heavy lifting but attention to detail with hamstrings and hip flexors as well. I like reading a lot. Anything to do with muscle activation and building I’ll read it. One thing I used to assume was that if I squat enough I didn’t need to work glutes separately. After two years of little change in my butt and the back of my legs it’s past time to step-up my backside. I began doing 3 sets of 25 body weight Glute Bridges every day since Friday. Wow. Talk about muscle awareness. I find it interesting how muscle can somehow become inactive, perhaps disengaged because other muscles start overcompensating.

My glutes are tender today, that’s a good thing. That tells me the work I’m doing is needed and it is working.

As most of my readers know I’ve started doing random videos of my workouts. I’ve learned a lot about my form and things I need to correct. In example I did 65# front rack position barbell walking lunges. Watching the video below I realized I turn my toes in terribly during these sets, I don’t normally turn my toes in doing walking lunges. Correcting it should be as simple as reducing the weight and doing higher reps.

Today’s Workout:

3 Sets x 25 reps Glute Raises Body Weight

3 Sets x 20 reps 65# Hip Thrust

3 Sets x 8 reps 65# Walking Lunges

5 Sets x 10 35# Back Extensions

5 Sets x 10 reps Reverse Hypers

Lunges, Back Ext, Reverse Hypers

Jan

Torn Between Two Loves

By garagegym107 232 Comments

Here lately I’ve been struggling. No not with food, that’s dialed in quite nicely actually. I’m torn. Torn between my love of bodybuilding and my love of barbell building. When I do one with serious focus, I feel like I’m cheating on the other. It sounds so silly but really it’s not.

Every morning I get up at 4am. Spend about 15 minutes getting ready to head out to the gym. If I do not have an iron clad plan of what I’m going to do in a given workout, I will falter. Monday and Friday are hard-core bodybuilding lifting days because I have much more time. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, I teach at 5:30am class so that only gives me about 30 solid working minutes after I’ve warmed up. Saturday or Sunday when I’m afforded the time, I’ll sneak in another good workout and it rotates between barbell and body building. Here lately, I’ve decided to use those 3 shorter training times for barbell work. Man I love it.

I’m reminded every time I pick up the bar that I’m strong, but the bar can be stronger. I’m also reminded that my training over these past few years has really changed my functional fitness and ability level. At almost 51 years old I can do things I wouldn’t have dreamed of doing in my 30’s.

I read an article the other day that really struck home for me. It talked about the fact there are no studies showing eating healthy and exercising will prolong your years. Then it went on to talk about the quality of your life with strength training versus quality of life with out it. I already knew this, but it was quite gratifying to read it in black and white. I don’t care how long I have left, I just want that time to be spent as fit as I can possibly be.

So more motivation to lift! And more motivation to stop trying to choose between the two disciplines. I fully believe they compliment each other. The video below in particular reminds me of my functional ability. My form isn’t perfect, but my technique is improving with practice. If you have any doubts about whether weight training is for you, at minimum look into it. It will make you sore some days, those days will simply remind you that you are growing in your fitness. I look forward to being the little old lady in the corner lifting. Absolutely.

Jan

Workout #2 YOTL 2014

By garagegym107 5 Comments

After being out of town and dealing with a spousal unit with food poisoning I managed to make it to the gym on my lunch hour. It was a quick, lighter weight workout. Not bad for a quickie during lunch. No complaints here, only accountability. I also want to make clear the only workouts being posted under this title are leg workouts. I suppose I should start a separate thread for all other workouts. 🙂

Walking Lunges Wide Step

3 sets x 15 reps

Back Squat

45# x 10 reps

65# x 5 reps

85# x 5 reps

45# x 10 reps

Seated Leg Press

110# x 10 reps x 4 sets

Seated Leg Ext.

60# x 15 reps x 5 sets

Walking Lunges Wide Step

2 sets x 15 reps

Dec

A New Year 2014

By garagegym107 1 Comment

NO! This is not a blog about New Year’s Resolutions.

As I write this post another year is coming to a close. Being the eternal optimist, I tend to see only the best when I look back. When I think back on it, I realize how much I’ve accomplished. I’ve become a successful business owner. I’ve managed to work two jobs and keep my wits and humor about me. I kept up with all of my workouts, even when I didn’t have time to sit down and post a blog about what I was doing.

The one thing that wasn’t stellar the entire year was my writing. I missed it, I didn’t realize how much until I started really posting again. It seems kind of silly actually. Me, in my little world, writing things for others to read. I hardly feel qualified to write. I do it anyway. I’m sure there are some folks out there who read my blogs and cringe at my less perfect grammar. I try hard not to get so caught up in proper sentence structure and grammar but instead focus on content.

I want to continue to write in a way that keeps things real. I’m a real human being with real challenges just like everyone else. I want to share experiences and the vision of a almost 51 year old fitness junkie/body builder/CrossFit coach.

You see, I realized about a year and a half ago there are a lot of folks out there who are hungry for some success in this life. Whether it be there own or someone else’s. It took me a while to announce myself as a “Successful Transformation” because I know better than most, in order to have a successful transformation, you gotta have a few years of maintenance under your belt. This year marked the 3rd year in a row I could wear the same sized corduroy pants. For a reformed yo-yo dieter and former obese person, this in of itself is a huge victory. My focus this year has been mostly on building muscle and not gaining fat. As I move in to 2014, it’s the year of legs. My training will be full body, with extra focus on the legs. I’ve created a category for posting all things related to this topic in one place. I have before pictures and will keep them safe and sound until I’m ready to do side by side comparison photos.

A special thanks going out today to all of my readers, both new and far. I’m overjoyed to see readers in the UK, Norway, Sweden, Germany, and Canada showing up on my stats page. Thank you all so very much for taking time out of your busy worlds to visit mine!

Stay safe and Happy New Year!

Dec

Surviving the Crash and Burn

By garagegym107 9 Comments

Today is the day after Christmas. Today is the day after a lot of folks crash and burn. Crash and burn=totally fall off track with fitness and nutrition and spend weeks trying to recover.

Here is a quick list of what to do to help you get back on track.

Throw out the crap, guilt free, ALL of it
Drink water like it’s your job, it will help you rehydrate and cleanse your system
Forgive yourself
Stop talking about how bad you feel and how bad you suck, so you crashed and burned, move on
Stop putting off today, the reckoning day, until Monday, or January 1st or whichever day you feel you need to prepare for, start today, right now
Get a clean meal in to your system
Get what you need to prepare more clean meals
Start a list of goals for 2014
Get thee to the gym and move something heavy quickly
Rinse and repeat

Remember there isn’t a final countdown of food consumption before starting some new fad diet on January 1st. Get your head right, get your house, apartment, desk, etc., cleaned out and replace any crap with clean staples and get a move on. Consistent clean meals will help boost your MOJO as much as a good solid workout will.

And remember this….

Didn’t turn into this….

Because I don’t know what the hell I’m talking about. Now get on with it.

Dec

Support Networking

By garagegym107 Leave a Comment

I started this blog a few days ago and set it aside. After having conversations with a few people, I realized this was a topic really worth writing about. Over the course of my journey, there has been one thing that stands out on the higher level of importance scale and that’s support networking.

What is support networking? Anything/anyone that helps you stay the course long term. Anything/anyone that helps you jump the next hurdle in your journey. Anything/anyone that forces you to acknowledge when you are allowing fear to impede your progress.

Along the journey of long term weightloss, there are unexpected hurdles that most people don’t even realize they are tripping over. It could be an internal fear of failure. It could be an episode or two of yo-yo dieting, just when you think you’ve figured things out you slide backwards. It could be the unrealized truth of giving power to food. Food has no power, unless you give it power.

Build a support network. Find someone who has gone before you, someone that could be a year or so ahead of you along the journey. Anyone worth their salt will be happy to help you. I know I would. Because if it were not for the people who politely but firmly pointed me in a direction, a direction that allowed me to get out of my own way, who knows where I might be?

Build yourself a network by starting with the person in the mirror. Trusted friends, who want you to be successful may tell you something you don’t want to hear. That usually means it’s exactly what you need to hear. This person/people will listen to you and not criticize you, they will believe in you when you don’t believe in yourself. Surround yourself with people who have similar goals. People who want to take it to the next level. Offer your own support to them. You never know who wants to be where you are today. Start paying it forward and you’ll realize and respect how far you’ve already come and you’ll likely realize it’s not as hard as you are making it.

Me teaching a new found friend how to KB Swing several years back. We are still close and support one another. Everyone has set backs, everyone could use a hand. A simple message of encouragement goes a very long way.

Dec

Meal Planning 101

By garagegym107 4 Comments

I have people ask me often how I handle meal planning. I’ve learned over the course of my journey that I tend to gravitate towards the same foods for days at a time. I know it sounds boring but really it’s not. It actually makes things quite easy for me.

I can’t tell you what foods are right for you, but you can pretty quickly figure that out for yourself. I go out of my way to eat fresh whole foods when I can. But two of my packaged staples are brown rice and a variety of dried beans, usually pinto or black beans. I bring the beans to a boil with a teaspoon of baking soda and them allow them to soak for an hour or two, then drain, rinse and cook with fresh water seasoned with onion, salt, and black pepper. For those who don’t know this little tip, the baking soda soak prevents the beans from making you gassy. Talk about a cheap date? I can eat for days based on my serving size.

Anyway, I chose to eat a small portion of both rice and beans in order to create a complete protein and this also allows me to have hot food meals. I eat plenty of refrigerated foods so having the hot filling meal are wonderful. In most cases I’ll also include a portion of chicken with my beans and rice. But not always since it’s a complete protein. Love the fiber that comes from both as well. Some folks can’t tolerate beans or rice, so perhaps sweet potato and a veggie would suffice with your protein. I’ll eat those on occasion as well.

I have a rice cooker that doubles as a slow cooker. Sunday is spent with a pot of beans on the stove, chicken in the slow cooker and the rice being steamed after the chicken has cooked.

Then out come my containers, my scale and my measuring cup. I do not measure my food all the time. You learn over time to eyeball it, but my eyeballing grows so I like to measure to be a bit more accurate.

Most people don’t WANT to take the time to meal prep. But then again, most people don’t want to be fit and healthy. I chose to be both.

Step One:

Make a grocery list of the following weeks meal plan requirements.

Step Two:

Cook it all.

Step Three:

Measure into containers and put in the fridge.

Step Four:

Be confident in your ability to get the proper amount of fuel in your body.

It’s so easy to allow the rush of the holiday season to get you off track. Bad weather convinces you to sleep in. Before you know it the New Year comes and you’ve gained 10 pounds over the holiday season. Don’t let it happen to you. Meal planning is even MORE important during the holiday season because of all of the tempting treats sitting around.

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