THE CRYING BABY EFFECT

It's been a little while since I've posted anything, but I got an email from someone who  had read some of my blogs and found them interesting to read. It's kind of scary that someone finds my babbling interesting. Haha! Since they were so ready to read some more I decided to write something for them and anyone else who cares to read it. If you've been around me for a while you have heard me talk about this before. If you haven't then here goes.

About a week and a half ago I had to opportunity to spend some time with this beautiful little baby girl. She is so cute! She's probably the happiest baby I've ever seen. Kids at that age are so sweet, but they are so helpless. When she gets hungry someone has to feed her because she can't feed herself, nor can she move fast enough to cover long distances in a short period of time. Someone has to come and physically pick her up to move her. Even though she is helpless she still lives her life care free. If you don't keep a close eye on her she may pick something up that could be dangerous to her and start playing with it or put it in her mouth. She may crawl under something that may fall and crush her, but it's not her fault because she knows nothing of the dangers that this world has to offer. She's just happy to be moving around. Then the inevitable happens, the baby poops on itself. Infants hate that feeling! They hate it so much that they start crying and pitching a fit until what? Mommy or daddy rushes in to change the diaper and drys the baby's tears and then that care free life that baby once enjoyed is restored. Not so bad being a baby huh?

Even though we are adults we like to act as though we are baby's sometimes. What do I mean? We try to live our lives care free just as we did when we didn't know any better. We go places we know we shouldn't go even if it is dangerous. We put things into our mouths that shouldn't be there. We act like we are unable to do certain things(for example workout) when all we have to do is just do it. Then the inevitable happens, we end up in some shit. Just like the baby, some of us adults like to sit there and cry about it like we didn't know what was going to happen when we knew full well what was going to happen. You know if you go places you are not supposed to, something bad will happen eventually. You know if you put bad things into your mouth and not doing enough physical activity you're going to gain weight or get sick. An adult looks at the situation and says "I'm in this situation, I need to do something!" The adult that is having the "crying baby effect" will just sit there and whine and cry about how life isn't fair and want to blame everybody else except themselves. The sad part is they will sit there like a baby and hope for someone to rush in and save the day. It just isn't going to happen. You are the adult, you have to take responsibility for your own actions. I'm not saying not feel sorry for yourself and shed a tear once you get into some shit. God knows that I can throw some real good pity parties myself. Hahaha! The difference is I don't throw them for very long. I set forth a plan of action to clean the mess up. The whole point is to take responsibility for the decisions you made that had you end up where you are. When that helpless baby is sitting in its own poop it's so pitiful to see. When an adults sits in its own mess and has the ability to clean himself/herself up and just sits there like they cant, its not pitiful. It's disgusting! If you sit in for too long...... Just like the baby would, you'll end up with a rash... CLEAN UP YOUR MESS! Until next time....

Experiment over!

I'm going to get right on into it since I'm writing this on 1 hour of sleep and I'm irritable right now. In celebration of the new year that's coming I decided to conduct a little experiment on myself. I had this brilliant idea to see what it's like to eat a little junk food and have minimal exercise for a week. I wanted to see how it felt. I was trying to recreate what it's like for a person that half way does what they are supposed to when it comes to their health and physical fitness. The first couple of days were ok. No major change. I even got out and ran on the 3rd day just for the hell of it. I ran just 3 miles to get the blood pumping a little bit. I decided I was going to take it all the way to the 1st of    2015. Well, I did not make it! Last night was the worst night ever. First, I had a stomach ache, then I caught the mother of all cramps in my foot, then I couldn't sleep, every negative thought or feeling I could think of was in my  head. It was so bad I had to get up and pray and hope I could go to sleep. It didn't work. I got up at 4a.m. and put on my clothes and went for a jog in the pouring rain to try to wear myself out. I only made it 3 miles and the time was so slow I'm embarrassed to say how long it took me. I just had to get out and do some form of exercise to try to make myself feel normal again.

Our bodies in my opinion are similar to a car. If you drive it, put proper fuel in it, and keep it serviced it'll last a long time. Now imagine taking that car and sitting it in the back yard and letting it  stay there for years at a time. Then when you finally do decide you want to crank it and get it moving you put some fuel in it that has trash or water in it. Do you think that car is going to crank if the battery isn't already dead? If you answered yes then you are fooling yourself. I put bad fuel in my body and let if sit for a week and I feel like garbage. I can just imagine how a sedentary non health eater feels. Look at some of the people that you know around you. Do you know anyone that is constantly in a bad mood or depressed and always in pain and aching? I can almost guarantee that they are mostly sedentary and eat horribly. If they aren't then they just like to complain. In this situation do like I would and tell them to grow up because I'm sure their life really isnt that bad.

The whole point of all this is that bad food and no activity equals a bad attitude and poor health. Good food and activity means better attitude and better health. Plain and simple! Im going to go because I'm starting to feel sick again. Experiment over!!

The Recipe

Another year and another Thanksgiving has passed. Did you eat too much? I'm sure some of us did, but to the ones that didn't. Well done! Well done on practicing self control and eating in moderation. I want to touch on something that I see happen a lot with people who are trying to lose weight. First off, you'll hear some people say that you shouldn't focus on losing weight, but focus on being healthy. Sounds good right? Well it is  if you don't have that much weight to lose, but if you have been struggling with being obese for a long period of time you are going to want to see the pounds on the scale drop. In the initial stages of weight loss for a thinner person the scale really isn't going to move that much but you'll see the changes in your body. If you're obese and  you change your eating habits the scale is going to drop swiftly. Most of this is just water weight that your body has been holding on to. After all that water weight is gone it slows down a lot. Now here is where the issue comes in for most. You're  dropping all this weight in the beginning and now hardly anything. You may do a little exercise here and there but you're still not seeing the results you were getting at the beginning. Also, you may go into a little denial about what you're actually consuming and how much exercise you're doing. The problem is your recipe isn't working anymore...

I've been doing a lot of cooking lately and I realized I'm actually pretty good at it. I've made some things from a recipe book and it was great! I tried to do it again and it just didn't taste the same. Has this ever happened to anyone besides me? I followed the same instructions and it came out totally different than the last time. What I realized is that the slightest little error can throw a recipe off. Unless you are 100% perfect every time the taste could be different. The point of me telling you this is to give an example of how your weight loss recipe can be different from the slightest little changes and result in a not so great weight loss. For example, an unexpected meal out, you ran out of food and had to get something from a snack machine, you drink an extra cup of coffee, you ate a few pieces of candy off your co workers desk, you go out for drinks with your friends etc. Those are just a few thing that will cause a shift in your progress. So, what I want to do now is to give you my recipe for weight loss that will ensure you a great week if you're watching the scale.

1: Keep a food journal
Journaling will keep you honest. Most of the time if you have to write down what you eat it'll keep you from sneaking things you're not supposed to have. If you can't keep a journal then you are not ready to face the fact of what you did to slow your own progress. Whatever plan you decide to follow when it comes to a diet will work as long as you stick to it!

2. Drink water
When I say drink water, I mean drink water! Not coffee, milk, iced tea, fruit punch etc... I mean good old water. You need about 64 ounces at the least. If you're not getting at least that, you can't expect to have continued success. You'll just end up retaining water weight instead of losing it.

3. Exercise
This one is very important! I'm about to give you a little truth here and I know some people won't like it but you need to hear it. What do I  mean when I say exercise? I don't mean going for a walk out in your neighborhood. To me that is just one step above the couch. I'm talking about getting out there and busting your butt. Lifting weights, doing crunches, interval jogging etc.. Something that is going to make you sweat and tighten those muscles up 4-5 times a week for an hour at least. The only times in my opinion that is ok to just walk for exercise is if you have been injured and you are rehabbing or you are very limited with movement. Otherwise, stop being lazy  and do something.

Follow these simple 3 steps and watch your body change and the pounds come off!

It's a journey

I had a conversation with a person I met in the gym about what it takes to accomplish your goals when it comes to being more physically fit. I explained to this person that for me it was a journey. You not only have  to be physically fit but also mentally fit to get to where you want to be. You have to have a strong will or someone behind you who is willing to accept the fact that you are changing and is not threatened by the change that is occurring. Just like any other long journey you would take on foot you will find yourself coming across a lot of obstacles. You just have to keep in mind that at the end of the journey it will all be well worth it.

A lot of mistakes are made when people are on this journey to better their health and fitness. I'm just going to touch on a few of the many that exist. The first one I'm going to talk about is..... "Trying to bring others along for the journey." Only you will know when it's time to make that change to better your physical fitness and health. Until you have made up your mind that it's time to do something it will not happen. You're going to feel so much better about yourself and you're going to want to share that with everyone you know. You may get a compliment or two and people will ask what you are doing. Once you tell peoople what you have been up to you're going to become like an evangelist for what you are doing. You'll invite people along with you to workout and give them advice on eating better but it's not their time yet. It's your journey and not theirs. If you do convince them to follow your lead it won't last long. You'll find yourself on the journey the same way you started.. Alone.

Something else that I see a lot of is.. "Being cheated out of your success by the negativity of others." You want to know if you are progressing on your journey? If you get outside influences trying to stop you from what you're doing. See you may not be able to notice but people around you will. Either your body is starting to change or you're able to move a lot faster or be able to do things physically that some of the people around you can't. All of these things are changes for the better, which ultimately makes you better. Most individuals don't like change and when you start to, for some reason it shakes their worlds up. You may get comments like, "You're obsessed!", "You're crazy!",  "You're losing too much weight!", "You need a real hobby!",  "When do you have time for fun!", "Why can't you eat this!", "You're starving yourself!", "You workout too much!" and one of my favorites of all time. "Your trainer doesn't know what he's doing!" Yeah ok.. Lol! It's times like this where you need to reflect back on what you were doing prior to making all these changes in your life. If you are doing a lot better than what you were then you need to  blow the negativity off you just like blowing a piece of lint off your clothes. If you choose to listen to the negativity and stop you run the risk of having to start all the way back over again with your journey. It's then when you'll realize how far you had come before having to start over again. Trust me, you don't want this for yourself.

Lastly,  "Being able to accept what you have accomplished." Once the journey is done and you're a better person, just being able to accept yourself is very important. I've seen some that are more critical of themselves now than before they started. This type of behavior is just pure insanity almost. Instead of seeing yourself as better you try to point out every flaw you have. Not only do you point it out to yourself but to everyone around you. This is where you need to call a time out for yourself. You've spent all this time being beat up by others on your journey and then when you finish and you beat yourself up. How does that make sense at all? I suggest finding an old picture or an old article of clothes. Look at the picture, try on those clothes, and if you see a difference then you have accomplished something.  If you can't accept that  then all of what you have done was for nothing. Make a vow to yourself that all of your hard work was not in vein and you going to do your best to love yourself and take care of yourself. At the end of the day if you can't love yourself, how can you expect for anyone else to.

There are many other examples I could give but it would take forever to go through them all. One of the reason why I love what I do is because I act as a guide for my clients to keep them on this journey. I've been down this road so I can show you the right way to go. I cant force them to do stay on it, but if you listen you'll get there. It's going to take a while but when you look back you'll be able to tell it was one hell of an awesome journey.

Fitness has a deeper meaning??

I'm going to express my opinion on this subject. I'm going to make sure my mom reads this one. My mom is a minister so I'm sure she is going to have a field day with this and I'm sure she is going to want to discuss this with me. I'll be busy though :-)

I got asked a question from someone who was struggling with getting back on track. They had went away on vacation and had a lot of fun but what they saw on vacation really got them thinking. They saw people who were super fit in the gym most of the time working on their bodies, and afraid to eat anything bad. They saw overweight people afraid to join in. The people who she saw having the best time were average looking people. They were the ones out drinking and eating and having the most fun. She said " This must be what it's like when a Christian doubts the gospel." Well, it's funny she brought that up. I've always said that fitness is a part of religion that hardly anyone ever talks about. You're probably wondering what I'm talking about. Well, just take for a minute and look at 1 Corinthians 6:19. It says 19Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? Being in the fitness industry that passage really sticks out to me. If you ever listen to any person who is passionate about fitness (trainer, bodybuilder, fitness competitor) you would think these people are a monk, priest, or philosopher. These individuals understand what it means to be one with your body and take care of this beautiful gift from God. We are the holy men/women and our temple is the gym. But just like the church, you have to beware of false prophets in your gym. You got the gym goer that thinks they know everything, and don't know nothing. The trainer who just wants to lock you into a package just to make his monthly quota or the trainer that has no clue what they are talking about. You can't even tell if this person if even certified or not. Some church goers may say you can't feel what we feel by going to church. Well, I beg to differ. I've been in the gym working out so hard that it had blood running clearly through my veins, muscles all pumped up, and chill bumps all over. Was I sick? No, but it felt good and it was like someone there was with me. It's the most awesome feeling ever imaginable. If you've never felt that in the gym then you are doing something wrong. When I left I felt great. The same way most people say they feel after a good church service.

The point of all that was to explain that these "health nuts" are just compelled to take care of their bodies. Taking care of your body in my opinion is one way these people end up getting closer to God. Even if they happen to stumble on to it by accident it doesn't really matter. There is power in taking good care of yourself. It extends life and keeps you out of the hospital if done correctly. People often pray for better health. Well, you've already been given the ability to have it you just need to take advantage of it. Better diet and exercise goes a long way. As for the average looking people enjoying all the food and drinks, it's only a matter of time before the join the ranks of the over weight if they don't change.... Until next time...

Fitness/Life/Awakening

I started to reflect a little on this past week and my thoughts went to some of my new clients. I always find myself saying the same thing to the new ones who have never worked out or haven't worked out in a while. I tell them that they may feel a little soreness the next day, but that second day is going to be much worse. Depending on what you've worked out you may not be able to lift a brush to brush your hair, or you may even have to go to the bathroom and be scared to sit down because you don't know how you're going to get back up. Haha! I can't tell you the number of times that I've been toilet dialed (when a client calls you from the toilet) by a client saying that I better get over there right now to get them up. Some people have walked away after one session because the pain of just moving a little more was too much for them to handle. I then began to ponder about life and how I've heard people on TV say how great life is. To be honest with you it started to make me sick. I think about my recent struggles with life and I don't see it. I have people around me all the time that have struggles with life just like I do. If life is so great how in the hell can it cause you so much pain. In my opinion life is pain. I mean think about it. In order for you to even walk around on this planet you caused someone (your mother during birth) a great amount of pain at some point. Life is so painful at times it makes you just want to check out and just give up! You just get so tired of it all, nothing ever goes right, and every time something good comes along to make you smile, it get destroyed, therefore causing more pain. Sound familiar to anyone?

Fitness to me is one of the best things ever. I love it! Anytime someone asks me about it I can go on and on talking about how great it is. I know I make some people sick sometimes talking about how great it is. I realized that I was worse than some of those people on TV I saw talking about life. Then I had an epiphany. Fitness and Life are so similar. Fitness can cause so much pain that I can understand why some people give up in the beginning stages. I mean seriously, it can be so painful that you would end up having to take a painkiller or get a massage to try to heal yourself. Why would anyone want to cause themselves pain if they can help it? My answer is because of the reward you receive at the end. The more pain that gets inflicted on you now, the better your body will look in the end. You have to put your time in to see the results you want. Then it dawned on me that the people I was seeing on TV had put their time in with life. I'm sure they have been in broken relationships, suffered a death of a pet or family member, loss of a job, have come down with some sort of illness, etc... But instead of giving up on life they just kept doing what they could to get by. I am sure the pain they felt throughout their life was intense but look at them now. If you probably asked them if the pain was worth it they would probably say absolutely! Just like if you asked someone who just won a fitness show if all the pain of working out was worth it they would definitely say yes!

My point is this; in order to receive something great in life and in fitness some pain has to be endured. Just know within yourself that the reason you are feeling such pain, whether in life or in fitness, is because there is something great that is waiting for you on the other side of it all. At the end of it all maybe someone will ask you if the pain was worth it and I can almost guarantee you will respond YES! "The pain is only temporary." Until next time people!

BEAST MODE

I had a rough night last night. I hardly got any sleep because I had so much going on in my head. I'm sure we have all had nights like that. I still managed to get up early and run 3 miles with my first client this morning. It felt great! I relieved a little bit of the tension I was feeling and it relaxed me a little. All was fine and well until I decided to take a little rest. Once I did the tension started to come back in slowly. I then rememebered one of my personal quotes I made last year. "Use your emotions as a catalyst for change in your life.. regardless of if they are good or bad let them fuel your success in whatever it is you want to accomplish." I then proceeded to let all the emotions I was feeling take over. I decided that the best way to deal with all the emotions is to turn them into something positive by working out. I got in the gym, put my headphones in and started to go hard in there. I didn't look at anyone hardly I was just going from exercise to exercise with moderate weight. I wasn't stopping and talking to everyone in the gym. I was focused and I made every rep count. I was leaving all those emotions right there in the gym. I tell people all the time that steel has healing power. It will pull all of the negativity right out of you. As I was leaving this older gentleman stopped me and asked if I was ok. He said I looked like an animal stalking prey today in here. I told him that I was just in beast mode. He said he had never heard of that before and I explained to him my interpretation of what beast mode is.

First, we have the Cheetah. That's when you see people working out hard non stop. You may see someone on the treadmill running or going from exercise to exercise non-stop. Most of my clients who are trying to lose weight can attest to this type of workout. I call it my F.I.S.T. training method. It stands for Focused Intervral Strength Training. But you can tell when someone has been doing it because when the workout is over they are exhausted and their clothes look like they took a shower with their clothes on.


Second, we have the Lion (which is what I was today). The lion is easy to spot. They are usually walking around with their headphones in not looking and smiling at people and holding long conversations over a machine. They train hard and very precise and they stalk the room looking for their next exercise/lifting station just waitng to attack it when the time is right.



Last but not least is the Silver Back Gorilla. These people find the heaviest of heavy weight and muscle it up. You may hear them yell, grunt, or scream but you'll know they are putting forth a maximum amount of power. Don't be surprised if you hear some heavy weights hit the floor. They are not doing it for show, they are just in beast mode. One good example of someone training in this particular mode is one of the most decorated Mr. Olympias there is. I'm talking about THE Ronnie Coleman. What this man does in a gym when it comes to strength and power is just unbelievable.


Regardless of how you train, train hard and make sure you make your time in there count! I don't care which beast it is, always try to train in BEAST MODE. You'll get the most out of your workout.


Here's a youtube video to Ronnie "THE KING" Coleman
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSMaI63H9hc