Posts Tagged ‘Inspiration

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07
Nov
12

Getting Lost To Find Yourself

By garagegym107 4 Comments
Categories: Morphing of a Fit Woman
Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Funny how folks allow an event to alter their daily lives even when it is totally out of their own control.  I’ve seen more morose faces today than I care to.  But this is life and I’m going to live it.

There are several highlights already happening in my day.

I watched a beautiful sunrise this morning after successfully hang squat cleaning 100# for 5 sets of 5 reps. 

I worked out with a group of ladies at lunch that are all showing improvement.  They are happy about it.

I closed my office door and buried myself in my work while listening to music.  Thankfully I have a boss that understands on occasion I need to tune out interruption and focus.  Getting lost in music today was a blessing.

This song reminds me of when I was a young mother of three rambunctious little boys.  In fact this reminded me of the day the youngest got a Nerd candy stuck up his nose.

There are greater things in our lives happening everyday.  Choose to see the greatness.

02
Nov
12

You Just Never Know

By garagegym107 4 Comments
Categories: Living Fit Daily
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I have a very small personal training business with only out-of-pocket money for equipment and so on.  That being said, I recently put together an order for some cool Garagegym107 sweat shirts (special order only).   I must say I have been very humbled by the ladies who have gotten shirts.  Just the sheer fact that they are wearing my blog name on their back is humbling.

This morning in the gym, I was asked to order more shirts.  When I stop and think of the fact that my friends and family are willing to wear them I get all teary-eyed.  It is a very special thing for me.  You just never know who’s reading or who might be hearing a much needed message.

My little brother would probably laugh at me for being sappy.  But deep down he remembers how unhappy I was before I started my weight-loss journey. 

I want people to look at those shirts and google this blog from those fancy smart phones everyone has now-a-days and I want them to see the about tab.

I want people to know that this is me keeping it real and spreading the message that if you want to get fit YOU can.

If you want to beat the odds, YOU can.

If you want to take a step to a healthier life, YOU can. 

But the real kicker here  is YOU.

There are days that this journey isn’t easy, but it is always doable.  The statement “how bad do you want it?” is often used. 

For me it’s “How good do you want to feel today?”. 

For me that feeling good comes from doing the right things for me.  Whether that’s clean food, a hard workout, a free meal or a rest day.  Getting to the point of even understanding what your body needs takes time and patience.  But it’s so worth every single second and every tear you may shed.  Anything worth having is worth working for.

Everyday we go through this life just trying to live through it.  I ask you, what are you doing to really LIVE?

For now just keep moving forward.

 

 

 

29
Oct
12

Mmmmm…Eating Humble Pie

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

I love my life and I love my friends and family even more.

Friday I wrote about my little adventure with the magazine in my chair.   Pay close attention because here is where the humble pie comes in. 

Bright and early this morning one of my most favorite people from work came in to my office and closed the door behind himself.  And don’t miss that…He is one of my favorite people! 

He said “I left the magazine in your chair so you would READ THE ARTICLES in it”.   Talk about taking a huge bite of humble pie!!   HE READS MY BLOG!!  🙂

You see the insecurity of “what if they think I have too much muscle” came floating across my brain at the moment I picked up that magazine.  Not once did I think that there was an ounce of good intention associated with the magazine being left in my chair.

Shame on me.  Jumping to negative conclusions is an old habit that I’m obviously still trying to break free from.  I have to say that 99% of the time I believe in the positive.  In that 1% of negative I always find a lesson.

I thought about the “too much muscle” topic over the weekend.  Working through my own mindset to see if some how my goals would change.  My goals haven’t changed and now that this contemplation has worked through the process I’m even more convinced that I’m on the right path for me.

This is a perfect example of morphing.  Ever changing, ever-growing.

Thanks to my friend for not opening the door and walking out.  He is really great at helping me to see the forest beyond the trees.

25
Oct
12

State Of Mind

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

I have no idea who said that.  At this point, I like it so much it doesn’t really matter.  I believe I’ll be painting that on the wall of Garagegym107.

I’ve noticed a pattern among my peers.  At least among the ones willing to give working out a try.  It takes a good month or two for a middle-aged female to get off the cardio equipment and past the strong mental desire to lift no more than  5# dumbbells.  I understand, I used to be intimated by strength training too. 

The average woman spends hundreds if not thousands of dollars chasing youth through creams, clothing, and accessories.  Try investing in strength training for your body instead.  It will respond and not only will you look younger and more firm, you will feel younger too. 

Is it off the shelf quick like a pair of spanx?  Well no.  In time your jeans will be way more comfy without the spanx.

Perhaps we will be one of the last couple of generations of women that have been lead to believe that women shouldn’t lift weights and be strong.

I choose to set the example for my boys.  It’s quite acceptable to be strong even fiercely strong.  Not for a mom (a girl, an old lady), but strong in general.

Age is mind over matter.  If you don’t mind; it just doesn’t matter.

 

 

 

24
Oct
12

Let’s Do Some Sprints

By garagegym107 2 Comments
Categories: Nutritional Cleanse Experiment
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Want to see a group of people visibly get better before your eyes?  Have them run sprints together.  Not just a couple of rounds of sprints but instead 6-10 rounds of 100 meter sprints.  It’s suckage to say the least.  It forces each person to work hard through the pain.  It creates personal growth.  Ages range from 28-54 and yes, they all ran together.

After you’ve finished the timing for them, have them  do the timing for you.  Little makes people feel better than to see the trainer suffer the same fate they have just endured. 

Nothing makes them feel better than to realize what they’ve accomplished when they finish.

Struggling together creates an unspoken bond.  You know as a trainer, deep down inside they are pushing each other to run just a tad faster than if they were running alone.

Lucky for me today, two additional people came up and ran with me.  Humbling and motivating that I didn’t have to run by myself, instead I GOT TO run with them.

Healthy competition is great as long as you are grounded in improving yourself more than anything.   I don’t believe that every workout has to be a competition. Some would say  that makes me soft, I disagree.  I believe that its me vs. me.  Not me vs. you. 

If I focus all of my efforts on beating someone else, the person I’m not watching is going to pass me. 

You vs. you, always.

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
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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.

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!

02
Oct
12

Never Going To Steal My Joy

By garagegym107 22 Comments
Categories: Random Thoughts
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Over the past month I have seen numerous postings of one of my best friends before and after photos.  Ironically, these photos are being taken by people attempting to claim her success as being a part of whatever fitness and training quick fix they are pushing.

What’s been interesting about the whole thing to both of us is reading all of the comments associated with her transformation.  Especially the nay-sayers.  One woman claimed to be “a trainer with 30 years experience” she didn’t believe the photos were real.

In my humble opinion, I’d run from that trainer.  If she doesn’t believe this type of transformation is possible then you sure don’t want to pay her to convince you that it is not possible.

That’s why I love my friend and I love my life.  We live our transformations every single day of our lives.  We don’t have to go around using other people’s pictures to build ourselves up.  Instead we use our own photos to build others up. 

You see, no-one can ever steal our joy, we built it, we earned it, it’s ours to share.

We can walk the walk not just talk the talk.  Let me just say this, it hasn’t been a cake walk.  It’s much easier now than it has ever been before for both of us.  But were it not for the road we’ve traveled, I would not be writing this blog.

People want change but people want change for nothing. 

For all the ladies in the house…grab a tissue because this is a good one! 

Let me introduce you to my friend Michelle T. .  She is real, she is authentic and she is my mentor. 

She has listened to me sob over realizing that a goal I set wasn’t going to happen.  She never said I wouldn’t, just said maybe now isn’t the right time.

She has stood by me and patiently watched me impatiently struggle with being too strict with food and over training myself in to the ground all the while knowing that in my own time, I would come out on the other side.

You see, here is the thing about all of that weight-loss.  Everyone is different.  With personal patience, self-awareness and a personal belief that never waivers, long-term successful weight-loss can happen.

Each one reach one…Thank you Michelle for paying it forward!

YES this picture is real! Yes I have seen her in a two piece! YES IT CAN BE DONE!

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