Coppell, TX Boot Camp and Personal Trainer – Dallas Area Boot Camp Testimonial
Coppell, TX Boot Camp and Personal Trainer – Dallas Area Boot Camp Testimonial
Hi this is Leslie Brown from Coppell, Texas. I have been in Get You In Shape boot camp for three months now, and I have lost 30 pounds. I have gone off of my High cholesterol medicine, and my energy is now through the roof.
Get You In Shape.com Top personal trainer Brad Linder is the owner of Get You In Shape, in the Dallas and Coppell, TX area. Get You In Shape has Fitness Boot Camps, Private Personal Training, Testimonials, Fitness Tips, Nutrition Programs, Online Training, Fitness Products, Weight Loss Plans, a Blog, and more. If you are in Dallas, Coppell, Lewisville, Irving, Carrollton, Valley Ranch, Las Colinas, Flower Mound, Plano and surrounding Dallas, TX cities, Get You In Shape is near you. Get You In Shape has helped many people get their lives back on track and change their lifestyle into a healthy lifestyle. Personal training programs include sports specific training, weight loss programs, boot camps, wellness plan, nutritional plans, core fitness training, strength training, toning and more. Clients include athletes (basketball, golf, football, tennis, baseball, volleyball, softball, and track) corporate executives, professionals, weekend warriors, cheerleaders, dancers, models, stay at home moms, and anyone looking to get fitness results. For more information, visit www.GetYouInShape.com
Coronary heart disease is the result of the growth of plagues inside the walls of the arteries that bring the heart with oxygen and nutrients. The number one trigger of death in the America is coronary heart disease. The worst thing about this sickness is that the sufferer can live decades without any sign or symptoms of the sickness and out of the blue have a massive heart attack and drop dead.
The sickness develops step by step and over time harshly restricts the amount of oxygen that is received by the heart. In some cases there will be clear symptoms. Yet, in some cases there will be no symptoms until the sickness is too late. Since the high incidience of coronary heart disease it is almost better to assume that each one is a risk candidate and take measures to restrict the damage of the sickness as soon as possible.
How to Stay away from Coronary Heart Disease?
There are a few steps you can take to restrict the perils of coronary heart disease. Moderating your cholesterol levels is the preliminary tip to take. To do so, you initially need to see a doctor and be examined. After you identify what your present cholesterol level is then you can take tips to reduce it.
Smoking is the second best thing to check the coronary heart disease. You are at a much higher risk for coronary heart disease than a non smoker if you are a smoker. Stopping smoking is the single most excellent thing you can do to aid avoiding this sickness.
Weight control and limiting a sedentary lifestyle are the two next things you should put in your list. If you are at present overweight, than finding techniques to control this will extremely much lessen your risk of a serious heart attack. Controlling your weight does not mean dieting. You can do diet to lose your weight. Yet, if you do not modify your eating habits you will return to your old weight sooner or later.
Exercise frequently is the other step to control your weight. By exercising you are doing a few things that will help coronary heart disease. The first thing is that you will be assisting to control your weight. The second is that you will be progressing the strength of your heart muscle. The third is that by increase the blood flow to your heart you will be pushing your body harder so that it is in better shape to stay at rest.
Hopefully the abovementioned article has shown you what coronary heart disease. Moreover, by reading and taking a look closer to the article you can be familiar the most excellent way for you in avoiding the sickness.
Does that answer your question? For further explanation about coronary heart disease you can find the complete guide here!
Things have been busy lately, but I’ve decided to write a bit on all the fascinating things I have been reading for school. The text* for my history of psychology class covers Socrates, Aristotle, Cynicism, Renaissance Humanism, Ptolemy, Francis Bacon, Descartes, Empiricism, Positivism, Spinoza, Kant, Rousseau, Nietzsche… and on and on and on. Impressed? I am. It feels like the philosophy degree I was supposed to get as an undergrad. Now if I can just remember any of it for the midterm.
One figure who does stand out for me is William James. Wikipedia can tell you more about his life than I can, so I’ll get to some points that I liked.
James went through a period of deep depression in his life when he became convinced by some of the prevailing scientific thought of his day (hurrah for dogmatic science, bleh) that everything is predetermined, i.e. there is no free will. He was able to finally break out of this by taking a Kierkegaardian “leap of faith” in free will, and decided he would act from that point forward as if it did exist. This subjective experience cured his depression, and fueled his career as a psychologist and philosopher.
Pragmatism
James’s pragmatism basically states that if something works, it is valid or true. Everything should be judged by its usefulness. James believed this philosophical approach, as well as science, should be used in study. It is also important to note that to James, ALL knowledge was tentative, and NO question was completely and finally settled. These ideas resonated with me because I have a similar view when dealing with “knowledge” in that I value subjective experience and usefulness, and I almost never feel something is absolute or settled. We always have more to learn, and sometimes that new knowledge shapes or even changes what we have learned in the past.
Habits
While James believed that humans are like animals in that they are governed by their instincts, he believed that humans have the capability to modify those instincts into new habits. Habits are formed as we repeat any activity. Energy in our brains passes more easily through pathways that have been formed by years of habitual action.
Habits are important for a number of reasons. They simplify our lives, make us more accurate in our behavior, make us less tired in carrying out everyday tasks, and diminish the need to consciously focus on certain actions. For example, can you imagine having to strongly focus every time you went to brush your teeth? It would be tiring. However, once something is repeated enough and becomes a habit, it is not as taxing.
Through forming habits, our brains will become our ally rather than our enemy.
“…we must make automatic and habitual…as many useful actions as we can, and guard against the growing into ways that are likely to be disadvantageous to us, as we should guard against the plague.”
James gives 5 tips to develop GOOD habits and eliminate negative ones:
Put yourself in circumstances that encourage good habits and discourage bad ones. Surround yourself with those who support you. Make the new habit easier to keep and don’t fight unnecessary battles. If you’re trying to lose weight, don’t keep bad foods in your home.
Do NOT allow yourself to act in any way contrary to the habit you are trying to develop. If you have had a habit for years or even a lifetime and are trying to change it, it will take a significant amount of time. If you have a goal to exercise, and don’t follow through when you don’t feel like it, you are only strengthening your habit to NOT exercise.
Engage in positive habits completely to begin with. I can see the importance of this one, but relapse can lead to guilt or shame. In this case, I think we should all work towards perfection in our new habit, but also know the difference between a lapse (minor slip into old habit which is stopped immediately), relapse (a fall back into an old habit), and a collapse (completely starting over).
Intention to engage in good habits doesn’t matter at all. It is the actual doing so. Duh. At the same time, I am often guilty of this. I talk a lot about doing this or that, but actually carrying things out seems to be a different story.
Force yourself to act in ways that are beneficial to you, even if doing so is excruciating or requires a lot of effort. Is the new habit hard to keep up? Of COURSE it is!! You are trying to rewire your brain, and it will take time. But force yourself to act in a way that is aligned with your core values or goals, and eventually it WILL get easier.
* Hergenhahn, B.R. (2009). An introduction to the history of psychology. 6th ed.
Before accepting a mastiff into your life, you should first read up on some mastiff info that may be useful in the long run.
How does knowing help exactly, you ask?
First, it helps you determine if the puppy you’re about to get will grow up healthy, good-looking, and good-tempered, after you have examined its parents’ traits. This information should give you an idea on how to properly raise your dog. Generally speaking, you won’t go wrong in how you raise your pet if you follow the standard set for its breed. The following are some qualities you should probably scrutinize.
1 Size and Symmetry
Mastiff bodies are supposed to be massive and give off an imposing image. Given this, a male mastiff should be at least 30 inches tall and a female should be at least 27 ½ inches tall, when measured at the shoulder.
This is because if they areany shorter, they will lose their appearance of being intimidating. As for the rest of its body, it should be lean and muscular, and most of all balanced. The mastiff should not only be tall, it should also have enough weight on it. And this weight should be evenly distributed around its body. Knowing this, you should learn to properly feed your pet, and take it for walks regularly so it receives enough exercise to shape its body.
2 Appearance
Mastiffs are expected to have moderately short coats with dense, short, and close-lying undercoats. Acceptable colors are fawn, apricot, and brindle with as little white as possible. Ideally there should be no white spots, but the only condition acceptable is a small patch of white on the chest.
In taking care of its appearance, you should remember to groom it regularly. Keep its coat properly brushed, and remember to trim its nails before they grow too long because long nails may lead to injury.
3 Temperament
If you got your mastiff from a reputable breeder, then your pet should have a good temperament. You’ll notice that it is gentle around you and your family, but it also gets very protective and may show some aggression towards strangers.
To ensure that it does not become too aggressive against strangers, it is necessary for you to train and socialize your puppy as early as you can.
We’re taking a short little vacation up in beautiful Whistler (site of the 2010 Winter Olympics) in British Columbia, Canada. The mountains here are truly spectacular. Yesterday we took a gorgeous hike; today we walked around a stunning jade-green lake and then I went to the fitness center for a little workout.
It used to be that the word “vacation” was synonymous with: eat as much as possible because you might not ever have this opportunity again; exercise as little as possible because this is supposed to be a “rest.”
But this vacation has showed me how much my mindset has changed. When we first arrived in Vancouver the other night, I discovered that there was a Nia (!) class taking place about a mile from our hotel. I was so excited. International Nia! I put on my running shoes after dinner and took off in the direction of the class. I realized I only had about 15 minutes so I knew I’d have to run. It was fun, running through the crowded city streets in search of Nia. When I finally arrived at the building, the receptionist told me the class had JUST ENDED. Whoops. I am pretty bad when it comes to military time! So hubby and I walked back to our hotel (he had come with me to keep me company, not that he had any intention of doing Nia, LOL) and on the way we stopped in at a Lululemon store (nifty workout clothes). We both tried a bunch of things on and I bought a very Nia-esque top. And I thought, wow, THIS is different. Finding a workout in a different location (a different country, even!). RUNNING to get there. Shopping at a store that features exercise gear. All of these things would be fairly unheard of a year ago.
I feel like I haven’t fallen into “vacation bottomless pit mode” just because I’m on vacation. That is a relief and it feels good. Happily, we have a little condo type unit with a kitchen, so we haven’t had to go out for (and pay for) breakfasts and lunches. I was bummed to see that the supermarket here had NO WHOLE WHEAT English Muffins, let alone the double-fiber ones that I like. Likewise, no Fage nonfat yogurt! Needless to say, no super fiber waffles. I’ve been eating eggs for breakfast.
It has shown me that vacation can be fun and celebratory and relaxing and it doesn’t have to mean falling off any wagons. What a revelation!
Unter der Überschrift “Ich werde mich schlank und fit denken” veröffentlicht die WIENERIN in der September-Ausgabe einen Artikel über die neuesten Erkenntnisse kanadischer Forscher zum Thema “Kraft des Geistes”.
Diese Forscher haben zwei Gruppen gebildet, von denen die eine fünf Mal die Woche fünfzehn Minuten reales Workout machte, während die andere es sich fünf mal die Woche fünfzehn Minuten lang VORSTELLTE, ein Workout zu machen. Faszinierendes Ergebnis: Nach drei Monaten hatte beide Gruppen annähernd gleich viel Muskeln aufgebaut.
Ist das nicht sensationell? Das entspricht genau dem, was die geistige Welt mir bereits vor Jahren mitteilte, nämlich dass der Körper ohne jegliches zu-TUN vom Geist alleine geformt werden könne.
Nachdem die Engel mir diese Erkenntnisse zu Teil werden ließen, war ich zwar nicht in der Lage, mir vorzustellen, mein Körpergewicht zu reduzieren (ich brauchte es noch um ein Ungleichgewicht in meinem System auszubalancieren), aber ich war in der Lage mir vorzustellen, dass ich trotz Übergewicht einen total gesunden und fitten Sportlerkörper haben könne.
Landläufig gilt ja die Meinung, dass Übergewicht ungesund ist – ist es aber nicht, wenn man den Geist anders programmiert hat! Als dies im Sport- und Therapiezentrum Harbach (NÖ) mit allen erdenklichen Methoden überprüft wurde, saß ich einer fassungslosen Ärztin gegenüber, die mich fragte, wie es möglich sein könne, dass jemand mit Übergewicht so gesunde Sportlerwerte haben könne und so fit sein könne?
Es ist so aufregend! Wir werden bald nicht nur keine Telefone und Handys mehr brauchen, wenn wir telepathisch kommunizieren können, wir werden auch keine Fitneßstudios, Cross-Trainer, Ergometer und sonstige Gerätschaften mehr brauchen, weil wir uns einfach den Körper erdenken, den wir brauchen. Ist platz- und kostensparend und – wenn man diese Einstellung auch auf andere Bereiche des Lebens ausdehnt – AUCH eine ernsthafte Antwort auf die weltweite Finanzkrise. Die Antworten auf alle Fragen, die das Leben uns stellt, liegen – wie immer - in uns.
I went for a 30minute jog today (for me that was intense) and my body feels like its been awakened from the grave. My word, the difference exercise makes to the body and mind is addictive!!! The one lesson I have learnt from my last few weeks of jogging is just how powerful the mind is. My body is capable of doing so much work, when pushed by my mind. I’ve been feeling unfit, but it turns out that it’s my mind that is unfit. It makes me wonder what other areas of my life I am limiting with my mind. Really makes me wonder…Meanwhile, summer is on the horizon, time to work on them abs!
So I finally got back to the gym yesterday, in part motivated by the fact that I’d paid the monthly fee for August and had so far only gone once. That was just after I got back from my week in Málaga and that same day I ended up putting my back out at the hospital. Grrr. And shortly after that I went to Zahara for ten days. If I’d known about the Zahara trip at the beginning of the month I probably would have asked the gym if I could skip a payment as I wasn’t going to be here. But after yesterday I’m glad I kept up the payments even if I only end up going a few times this month…
My gym routine for August was supposed to have been doing a bit of yoga on my own, and then some work with light dumbbells for upper body toning, some ab stuff, then doing about 15 kms on The Bike. Which was what I did that first day after Málaga and had also been my plan for yesterday. Instead I was surprised to find a pilates class going on – surprised, because I’d been told that there weren’t going to be any classes at all during August. I started backing out of the room but the instructor saw me and motioned me to join in (although it was already 15 minutes into the class) so I grabbed a big gym ball, draped myself over it and commenced doing some balancing exercises. And it was fun. I saw some of the usual yoga buddies there and after the class found out that the gym had got so many complaints about cancelling all classes in August that they put on a few pilates and aerobics classes using substitute instructors. And so I got to participate in the last pilates class for August. Afterwards I went up and rode The Bike and went home feeling quite good.
Today I’ll be going to do The Routine and will continue with that until regular classes begin again next Tuesday. Then I will go back to what I’d started doing last January: yoga on Mon-Wed-Fri and pilates Tues-Thurs. But this time I’ll go up to the weight room after those classes to continue my workout. I’m going to ask Jose Carlos to show me a half-hour routine I can do on the weight machines for general toning and I’ll also do half an hour on The Bike (or maybe Bike on Mon-Wed-Fri and Elliptical on Tues-Thurs). So I’ll be spending at least a couple of hours a morning at the gym, which I am really looking forward to.
This means I’ll have to organise my day accordingly, and I quite like the schedule I have planned for myself. I’ll get back from the gym around 11.30 and spend the rest of the morning working on my various website projects. Lunch & siesta between 2.30-4.30 (I have finally learned the value of a half-hour daily siesta) and then I’ll teach from 5.00 to 9.00. Weekends I will take long walks and ride The Bike at home. Sounds good, doesn’t it?
Right, time to get off my butt and get to the gym. Catch you later.
Edited From Dr. Steven G. Aldana, The Top 5 Strategies to Enhance the ROI of Worksite Wellness Programs
For worksite wellness programs to actually reduce health care costs employees have to adopt healthy behaviors, keep their health risks low, not fall victim to chronic diseases AND not get laid off, fired, or leave the company. This is one reason flu shots and cancer screenings are cost effective, as they can result in health care savings in a short amount of time and no one has to change behaviors.
Are worksite wellness programs cost effective?
Worksite wellness programs might be able to save money. Employees cost money in healthcare costs, absenteeism, presenteeism, worker’s comp, disability, employee turnover and recruitment.
Some have estimated that 30% of all health care costs are administrative. Which ones can realistically be reduced if your employees have healthy behaviors and few health risks? Wellness programs can reduce preventable chronic diseases and healthier employees will require fewer medications. Only a portion of your health care costs can potentially be impacted by good wellness programs. It is unrealistic to expect wellness programs are going to dramatically lower health care costs.
And, the ROI for wellness is always going to be greater for worksites that are self-insured as they get to keep all the health care money their wellness programs save.
That said, absenteeism is an employee cost caused by stress, personal illness, family needs, entitlement mentality, and personal needs. Clearly wellness programs can reduce stress, they can prevent some types of personal illness and they may be able to change an entitlement attitude because morale may improve. Morale is one of the most valuable and overlooked aspects of worksite wellness programs. Morale affects both absenteeism and productivity of employees.
Enhance the ROI of Worksite Wellness Programs by:
Tapping into your Insurance Plan. Most insurance plans have preventive health benefits that are regularly available to your employees. Educate employees to take advantage of their preventive benefits, flu vaccinations and other health screenings.
Create a Wellness Benefit. Increase your employee benefit contribution to add wellness initiatives, and then reward those who participate in wellness programs. Non-participants in essence fund wellness programs for those who do participate.
Use the Right Wellness Message: Employees are NOT interested in how their participation affects the company’s bottom line, they are interested in how it can transform their own lives by improving their health. Employees care about what’s in it for them. Use communication that is important to your employees, not the employer. Tell employees how their lives will be better.
Make Use of Free Community Resources: Use the resources in your community and partner with like-minded organizations, eg. American Cancer Society, Susan G. Komen, county health departments, health care providers. Wellness grants at times are also available from non-profit organizations and health departments. Many organizations and health care providers are looking for ways to market their services via health fairs, preventive clinics, etc.
The above are all fairly low cost to implement as well as cost effective for the long haul. More high touch, one-on-one health coaching or on-site fitness training may produce improvements in health risks, but are not always justified in an ROI analysis.
“You get what you pay for” is NOT an accurate assessment of worksite wellness programs. Overkill of unnecessary or underutilized wellness program services does nothing to help employees change, and is a waste of precious wellness funding.
For more information on wellness programs or self-insuring, go to www.smartwomeninvest.com
Slightly battered and totally worked, but I did it! Finally!
I just finished my post-race meal: baby carrots, cinnamon raisin bagel with cream cheese, a bowl of Joe’s O’s (wish I had gotten the honey ones), and chocolate milk. I wanted a veggie burrito but I was too tired to stop or make one at home, so I went for every easy carb/protein combo I had til I felt full. I’m also still coughing up dust and blowing dirt clods out my nose. Gross, I know, but these are the facts, albeit slightly exaggerated.
Entering a mountain bike race is something I’ve wanted to do for years and up until now have been way too chicken to try. Several months ago, I was lucky enough to find myself dining with a sports psychologist who suggested I think of it as just another regular mountain bike ride since in a race I’m doing all the same things I do when I ride any other day, minus the 300 other riders that showed up! This makes an enormous difference as you inhale dust and narrowly escape crashes for the first two miles. Still, his words definitely helped me move past the block I had to racing, so I am grateful.
And now I present my highlight reel:
I only heard once, “Man, you’re killing me!” (Dude, it’s “woman”, and if I wasn’t in FRONT of you, I wouldn’t have fallen in FRONT of you. I passed his ass on the hill right after noticing that he was in the well-over-50 category which isn’t saying much for me, but I’m taking everything I can get. I’m pretty sure he beat me in the end anyway.
I just about perfected the art of “fall-and-get-out-of-the-way” inspired by the “you’re killing me” old guy (sorry all you old guys over 50, I’m still bitter and need to vent; if you’re out there racing, you’re awesome and definitely not old, just significantly older than me and since that crowd is getting smaller and smaller I’m reveling in that whole situation).
And in one of those early falls, my shifting got screwed up, so I raced about two-thirds of the race stuck in my middle ring with access to only the hard half of the back ring gears (I just ride the bike, I don’t pretend to know what I’m talking about). Anyway, if I was going to suck tonight, at least I was gonna get a great workout without having access to the granny gears!
Near the end of the first lap, I realized (because I was feeling the beginnings of a bonking) that I forgot to eat my pre-race meal an hour and a half before the race. I was so focused on hydrating for the 97° weather and locating the race site (which of course included getting lost), I completely forgot to eat, and it had been 5 hours since lunch. For a long time, I’ve said that mountain biking is my church because it’s where I do the most praying. Now I added “please don’t let me run out of gas” to my usual litany of “please keep me on the bike,” “I’m one with the bike,” and “please stay on, please stay on,” in addition to using the what felt like very few open, flat runs to recover.
I've always thought triathletes look so cool with the Sharpie marks on their bodies. Now, I too am just like them, and it IS cool.
I raced in the Women Sport category which entailed three laps of the 3.75-mile loop. That’s three opportunities to get it right, and I fell on the same steep, super soft, downhill drop every time. This sucks because, well, it just does, and the last time I did it I watched the girl in front of me (who had this long, gorgeous sandy-blonde pony tail – how it looked totally perfect and styled after two and a half laps is beyond me) do it with one foot in the pedal and one foot in the dirt with stellar finesse. So I attempted the same, and at the bottom, I still fell. The good news is in the past, such a bruise to my ego (along with my legs) would have dampened my spirits, but I decided to chase her to the finish instead. (Them there’s life progress points for me.)
So I kept pretty blonde pony finesse girl in close sight, and then I tried something bold… that flopped. On one of the short climbs I caught up to her close enough to attempt a pass. Since climbing is my strength and she was rocking on the technical stuff (where I was praying), I thought this was where I had to make a go at it. So I gave the ol’ “passing on your left!” shout to which she responded while I pushed down hard on my left pedal for the surge only to have my cleat slid out of the clip making me immobile… on an uphill right after announcing my big pass, thank you very much. So, that was joyful and another source of ego bruising, but I still chased her down to the finish… with no luck. She gave me a “good job” though, which was cool for me since she was looking all pro in her matching riding ensemble and she did in fact ride dang good (well).
One of the best things was hearing my uncle, my cousin’s wife, and my baby cousin (who I refer to as my neicin) yell, “Go Auntie Hilary!” on each lap. That still makes me smile. They drove all the way out there to watch my cousin and me, and I can’t thank them enough. It provided a fresh dose of what it’s really all about while I wrestled with my ego in the dirt.
My cousin Brandon and me by the port-a-potties, not that there was a beautiful sunset over the lake going on right then! Geez! Thanks for racing with me, B!
But I loved it – every fall, scrape, blunder, and bruise! And I learned a ton! What a cool sport (this is not news to me)! And I think I’m hungry again, but I’m too tired to do anything about it! Thankfully, I can sleep in tomorrow and I have a pedicure planned… AFTER I take my bike to the shop for post-race repairs.
Thanks to the Over the Hump Series (www.overthehumpseries.com) organizers for a great event and for bringing mountain bike racing to the OC (since I don’t go north of Crown Valley very often)!
I have a magic mirror in my bedroom. When I was heavy, it was always kind to me. I’d get ready for work in the morning or to go out somewhere and it never made me feel fat, well not too fat anyway. There was no getting around the fat thing really. I was never that delusional.
But I always felt ok in my clothes until I’d see myself unexpectedly…in a store window say, or in pictures. Is that what I really looked like to other people? Because it wasn’t how I saw myself. As a fat woman, I generally dressed in clothing that was on the loose side. Even though all of the magazines said dress in fitted clothes to shed ten pounds instantly, I was never comfortable with that. Wear a belt? God forbid. In reality, I probably made myself look even larger than I was (now looking back at pictures), but my thinking was that if I hid the rolls, no one would notice? Silly, I know. How, after all, do you hide three chins?
Ok, so now when I look into my mirror, I recognize that I’m smaller but I still see myself much the way I saw myself back in the “fat” days. Remember, in this magic mirror I didn’t see a really, really fat girl. I have sucked it up and changed some of my wardrobe habits. I wear fitted clothes now and belts, sometimes. But I’m still not so comfortable there. Give me a nice roomy empire waist top….a long flowy skirt with elastic waist, a pair of jeans two sizes too big now, and I’m a happy camper. I feel smaller when I’m wearing clothes that are larger. I also like layers. I’m trying to wear clothes that are more fitted though. And I bare my arms and even my legs from time to time.
I ran into Macy’s the other day with my daughter right after work and I passed a mirrored pole and caught my reflection.
When I passed, I had to back up and look again. There was a small person there. That couldn’t have possibly been me, could it? I was even smaller in that mirrored pole than I ever thought at home.
And when I see pictures of myself now, I’m kind of shocked. Only one chin? A collarbone? Biceps? I see these things in the mirror at home but I don’t know if I believe them. I keep waiting for fat me to return; I know she’s still lurking inside my head just waiting to make her grand entrance.
I don’t know that I’ve accepted myself in this new fit body just yet. And I should have by now. I’ve been working on it for quite some time. Maybe it’s that I am still working on it that keeps me from really appreciating how far I’ve come. Maybe its simply that I spent so much time in the other body, I’m reluctant to let it go?
How could that be you say? Being fat is like a security blanket. You get used to having it around as a protective shield. And change is scary. Even change for the better. I mean what if after all this hard work, the benefits I thought I’d gain from my fitness quest elude me. I’m still me. I still have the same insecurities and fears. I’m still unorganized. I still procrastinate with the best of them.
I know getting fit doesn’t change everything, even though I suppose I hoped it would have in some ways. Get fit and win the lottery! Doesn’t work that way, right?
But it has changed one very key component of my life and for that I am grateful: my health. And with my health, I hope to live long enough to work on all those other pesky changes.
P.S. I lunched with a friend today who I’ve seen a number of times as I’ve been losing weight. I was late and she was waiting and she admitted that twice, she saw women she thought might be me and then realized, no, those women looked like the old me, not the new me. It seems people who know me are still adjusting to the changes too.
And then she told me I look really good. She’s a good friend.
The battle with the Beast began on Sunday night – hours before the actual meeting. It was intimidation time. The Beast was trying to psyche my out – messing with my thinking, trying to scare me off with thoughts. I remembered this workout from last year vividly. I remember the ache, the effort I had dig out from deep inside, the snot and sweat running off my face, the feeling of how seemingly impossible this battle was.
I kept waking up all night with these thoughts running through my head. I just talked right back in my biggest, bravest voice, determined to handle the Beast even better than I had last year.
In the morning, I met up with my four workout buddies, but I’d be battling my own personal Beast while they fought theirs.
Shauna and Dolores are dealing with some shoulder injuries so their job was to run the stadium stairs then do a lap around the track over and over and over until they had run every aisle up those steps.
Laura and I did the Countdown from 100s workout, nicknamed The Beast! That means 100 yards of Bear Crawling or Power Wheel Crawling then jump rope 100 times. Then we just repeated these two activities knocking 10yards off the crawls and 10 reps off the jumping rope each round. 100, 90, 80, 70 . . . 10, all the way to 0.
It’s 40-45 minutes of absolute torture – especially when you do the Power Wheel instead of Bear Crawling. I got down on the ground for my first crawl of 100 yards and went as far as I could without stopping. I was pretty impressed and thought I had probably gone about 70 yards. Yeah, try 55 yards. When I looked up to see how much further I had to go, I felt like the Beast walloped me in the gut. I don’t quit though. I put my head down and went again.
I took breathing breaks when I just couldn’t take another step, but never for more than just a few seconds. The idea of quitting never entered my mind even when this workout felt eternal. I was determined to go the whole thing on my Power Wheel – something I wasn’t able to do the year before.
I stared that nasty Beast in its green and red eyes and told it out loud, I was going to win – no matter what. Melina was cheering me on. Dolores was yelling out and giving me strength and I was getting tougher as I went. When I finally got to the last 3 rounds (crawling for 30, 20, and 10 yards) I made sure I didn’t take any breaks. I was so fatigued. My arms, legs and core were quivering, but I was going to finish strong and show that Beast just who was boss.
I have learned to embrace that feeling of fatigue, of exhaustion, of pushing myself beyond my perceived limits. It’s exhilarating actually. I know that is in those moments, strength is born. Strength in mind, muscle, and character. To not quit when everything in your head is screaming at you to stop, to take an easier route, to roll over and play dead – this is where the good stuff is found. When you ignore that, get stubborn and push even more.
I finished my last few steps, dropped to my knees and literally yelled out loud, “Take that, Beast! You didn’t beat me!!!!”
Don’t avoid the hard stuff. Don’t hide from the Beast in your workouts. Seek it out. Conquer it and show yourself just how strong you really are!
I have some “scars” from yesterday’s battle with the Beast. I have sore shoulders, arms, and back. My abs hurt like never before, but they aren’t injuries, just post-battle aches. They are my trophies from my victory over the Beast.
I finally sent a text to my trainer asking for a little training freedom tonight. Just one session a week to do my own thing would be nice. I don’t think he’s very impressed…
I have taken his advice about diet though and am slowly bringing in change.
Up until July my weekdaydiet looked a little like this:
No sugar museli and low fat soya milk, tea and fruit juice at around 6:45am
Apple 10:30 ish water
Salad wrap with either cheese or quorn, diet yoghurt, fruit 12:00 ish water
A handful of nuts/a biscuit or some fruit 4:ish water
Main meal- usually vegetarian protein source e.g. nuts, beans, quorn, cheese, egg + carbohydrate (rice, pasta, quiona,coucous) and a vegetable
fruit and juice
The problem with this diet is that it contained too much fruit sugar and carbohydrate and I was suffering badly with energy crashes.
So I’ve made some changes:
Country Walking magazine suggested fruit with the museli would help breakfast last longer (I can’t face eggs at this time)
Mid- morning – homemade protein bar:peanut butter,oatmeal, whey protein and water. This sustains me really well.
Either replace wrap with a salad or have wrap now and no carbohydrate for evening meal. Am surprised by how filling a salad can be.
Mid afternoon- small snack of falafel or quorn pieces- this really stops sugar crash and helps me through evening workout.
Evening meal: Protein and veg- small carbohydrate if none at lunch
Fruit snack and diet hot choc if get evening cravings.
My energy levels are better and I’ve lost a little weight despite less intense workouts. Weekends are slightly different because I share bread based breakfast with my partner much later in the morning. But am stll cutting do
Elena Dementieva just won the Rogers Cup in Toronto. So for the last week I’ve been watching more TV than usual and it’s making me want to play a game soon. Here’s an article where Dementieva helps author Jasmine Gardner get a beginner’s grip in tennis. Skip to the bottom if you’re not a tennis fan – Dementieva has a sense of humour!
Step one: The grip
The edge of the handle should be in line with the V between my thumb and index finger and instead of holding the racquet horizontally, I should tilt it upwards and open the face up to the court, slightly angled back.
Terrified of getting it wrong, I’m rigid with tension which apparently makes for terrible tennis. “You’re main problem is that you need to relax,” says Elena — although it’s certainly not my only problem.
Step two: Forehand drive and forehand topspin
Every time I hit the ball it seems to fly past the baseline and into the fence. Elena tells me this is because I’m not following through when I hit the ball. I’m right-handed, so the key is to bring the racquet right around my body to my left side with every stroke.
To get extra control over the ball (and to make things harder for my opponent), Elena tells me to tilt the racquet forward slightly as it makes contact with the ball, so that it sweeps over the ball and gives it some topspin.
Step three: Two-handed backhand
My natural instinct is to hit backhand shots with just one hand, but as a beginner, to improve accuracy and get enough power, Elena says I need to use both hands.
So I bring my left hand onto the racquet above my right, turn my right shoulder towards the net and hit the ball as though I am taking a forehand shot with the wrong hand.
Step four: Volley
Having noticed how ferociously I thwack the ball, Elena thinks the volley will be my favourite shot. She’s right.
There’s no swing, just a short punch of the ball, and my shots are even landing in-court.
She explains that instead of just a flick of the wrist I need to use my whole arm to control the shot. “You obviously have a natural ability,” Elena tells me, to my delight. “You just need to practise every day.” Oh.
Before we leave the court, Elena shows me how to master the most important aspect of every match — the final handshake.
We approach the net and I hold out my hand. She looks me up and down, and with a sneer she gives my hand a non-committal brush, pivots around with a flick of her ponytail and walks off court. If I do lose, Elena jokes, this is how to do it like a pro.
