Adina 
"I want to motivate YOU!!!"
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Archive for the 'Training' Category
Saturday, September 19th, 2009
Football games on Thursday and Friday.
UFC 103 tonight - hoping for lots of blood and knockouts.
Olympia next weekend.
I think I’m officially a guy!!!
I paint objects as I think them, not as I see them.
Pablo Picasso
I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.
Michelangelo
If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn’t thinking.
George S. Patton
It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.
Henry David Thoreau
Live out of your imagination, not your history.
Stephen Covey
Posted in Training
Saturday, September 19th, 2009
Football games on Thursday and Friday.
UFC 103 tonight - hoping for lots of blood and knockouts.
Olympia next weekend.
I think I’m officially a guy!!!
I paint objects as I think them, not as I see them.
Pablo Picasso
I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.
Michelangelo
If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn’t thinking.
George S. Patton
It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.
Henry David Thoreau
Live out of your imagination, not your history.
Stephen Covey
Posted in Training
Monday, September 14th, 2009
I’m not one to put much stock in horoscopes, but I do like to read them for my jollies from time to time. Especially on my birthday!
Yesterday, mine said:
Sometimes when our friends see us making serious progress towards our goals, they get a little upset because they think they might be losing us. This may be what is beginning today Virgo, in terms of their irritation. There could be one of two things happening with them: either they have lower standards and don’t want to change, or they are trying to make changes themselves but suffer from a fear of losing the old reliable comfort zone. There are two things you can do: either let them go or pull them up with you. At least you have a choice that does not compromise your own goals. They might tell you that it’s lonely at the top, but the truth is that it’s not: it’s just more crowded at the bottom.
I thought about those words for a while.
That last part got me.
They might tell you that it’s lonely at the top, but the truth is that it’s not: it’s just more crowded at the bottom.
I thought about the struggles I went through to make it to this point in my life.
And I thought about the friendships I have lost along the way.
Yes. I have lost some.
I lost some when I ceased to be fun to eat out with, because I only ordered healthy food.
Others when I decided to turn some of my friend time into gym time.
And believe it or not, I even lost a few over this Blog!
Keeping this Blog keeps me grounded.
Accountable.
So, I keep it.
There have been times I arrived late or left early to make sure I did got it written.
And two friends in particular did not like this new habit.
Not at all.
They see it as pointless.
Pointless, because it doesn’t mean anything to them.
Although it should, because it means I am happy!
And one of those two wants…to write.
But has yet to put the pen to the paper or the fingers to the keyboard.
But what did that horoscope say?
There are two things you can do: either let them go or pull them up with you.
I tried for a long time to pull some people with me.
But when I have to pull, that means I’m turned around backwards.
Dug in.
At a standstill.
Trying so hard to pull, that I am no longer pushing forward.
And while it hurts to let go, it would hurt more to let go of myself.
Some choices are not easy to make, but at least there are choices to be had.
Posted in Training
Monday, September 7th, 2009
I ran across a study the other day that said, “Diets don’t work.”I thought about that for a while.
I have been known to say, “All diets work.” Because I believe they do.
From the craziest crash diet, to the most sophisticated calorie counting, they all work when followed correctly.
I should know, right?
But I did go on to read the study anyway.
The bottom line was that diets don’t work over time.
Over the long run.
And…well…hmmm???
I’ve been at goal for roughly three years now.
And didn’t I get here by…dieting?
I thought about that for a long time.
Then I remembered a conversation from long ago.
I’ve told you about it before.
From back in the day when my friend Kevin told me, “Woman! You can’t eat like that.”
Six months after reaching goal, I was still eating a dieter’s diet.
And that’s what wouldn’t work.
Because…
I was doing what I could not do forever.
Had I kept going, I would have crashed and burned.
And who wants to do that?
So, I guess the answer really is, “No. Diets don’t work.”
But…maintenance does.
It works all day long.
Reaching goal is only half the story. Because after that, you have to create a life you can maintain.
I wanted to dive head-first back into my cheeseburgers and fries.
I wanted to go back to KFC where they knew my order by heart.
But I also wanted to maintain what I lost more than I wanted any of that!
And just like learning to diet, you have to learn to maintain.
You have to find a way of eating and exercising that you can maintain for life.
For me personally, I had to let go of the idea that if I behaved long enough, I could go back to the way I used to eat.
That was the weakest link in my chain. The idea that I was fixing myself just long enough to go back.
And there is where bodybuilding entered the picture again.
I had read enough to know that bodybuilders don’t lift so that one day they may stop lifting.
They lift until they look the way they want to look, and then they too have to figure out how to maintain.
But, I have to disagree with that study.
Diets do work.
They work for losers.
And maintenance works for winners!
That makes me a winner and a loser any which way you look at it!
Posted in Training, Nutrition, Other
Sunday, September 6th, 2009
This is one of my favorite stories that circulates around the Internet…
Her name was Mrs. Thompson.
As she stood in front of her 5th grade class on the very first day of school, she told the children a lie. Like most teachers, she looked at her students and said that she loved them all the same. But that was impossible, because there in the front row, slumped in his seat, was a little boy named Teddy Stoddard.
Mrs. Thompson had watched Teddy the year before and noticed that he didn’t play well with the other children, that his clothes were messy and that he constantly needed a bath. And Teddy could be unpleasant. It got to the point where Mrs. Thompson would actually take delight in marking his papers with a broad red pen, making bold X’s and then putting a big “F” at the top of his papers.
At the school where Mrs. Thompson taught, she was required to review each child’s past records and she put Teddy’s off until last. However, when she reviewed his file, she was in for a surprise. Teddy’s first grade teacher wrote, “Teddy is a bright child with a ready laugh. He does his work neatly and has good manners…he is a joy to be around.” His second grade teacher wrote, “Teddy is an excellent student, well liked by his classmates, but he is troubled because his mother has a terminal illness and life at home must be a struggle.” His third grade teacher wrote, “His mother’s death had been hard on him. He tries to do his best, but his father doesn’t show much interest and his home life will soon affect him if some steps aren’t taken.” Teddy’s fourth grade teacher wrote, “Teddy is withdrawn and doesn’t show much interest in school. He doesn’t have many friends and he sometimes sleeps in class”.
By now, Mrs. Thompson realized the problem and she was ashamed of herself. She felt even worse when her students brought her Christmas presents, wrapped in beautiful ribbons and bright paper, except for Teddy’s. His present was clumsily wrapped in the heavy, brown paper that he got from a grocery bag. Mrs. Thompson took pains to open it in the middle of the other presents. Some of the children started to laugh when she found a rhinestone bracelet with some of the stones missing, and a bottle that was one quarter full of perfume. But she stifled the children’s laughter when she exclaimed how pretty the bracelet was, putting it on, and dabbing some of the perfume on her wrist. Teddy Stoddard stayed after school that day just long enough to say, “Mrs. Thompson, today you smelled just like my Mom used to.” After the children left she cried for at least an hour. On that very day, she quit teaching reading, and writing, and arithmetic. Instead, she began to teach children.
Mrs. Thompson paid particular attention to Teddy. As she worked with him, his mind seemed to come alive. The more she encouraged him, the faster he responded. By the end of the year, Teddy had become one of the smartest children in the class and, despite her lie that she would love all the children the same, Teddy became one of her “teacher’s pets”. A year later, she found a note under her door, from Teddy, telling her that she was still the best teacher he ever had in his whole life.
Six years went by before she got another note from Teddy. He then wrote that he had finished high school, third in his class, and she was still the best teacher he ever had in his whole life.
Four years after that, she got another letter, saying that while things had been tough at times, he’d stayed in school, had stuck with it, and would soon graduate from college with the highest of honors. He assured Mrs. Thompson that she was still the best and favorite teacher he ever had in his whole life.
Then four more years passed and yet another letter came. This time he explained that after he got his bachelor’s degree, he decided to go a little further. The letter explained that she was still the best and favorite teacher he ever had. But now his name was a little longer - the letter was signed, Theodore F. Stoddard, MD.
The story doesn’t end there. You see, there was yet another letter that spring. Teddy said he’d met this girl and was going to be married. He explained that his father had died a couple of years ago and he was wondering if Mrs. Thompson might agree to sit in the place at the wedding that was usually reserved for the mother of the groom. Of course, Mrs. Thompson did. And guess what? She wore that bracelet, the one with several rhinestones missing. And she made sure she was wearing the perfume that Teddy remembered his mother wearing on their last Christmas together. They hugged each other, and Dr. Stoddard whispered in Mrs.Thompson’s ear, “Thank you Mrs. Thompson for believing in me. Thank you so much for making me feel important and showing me that I could make a difference.” Mrs. Thompson, with tears in her eyes, whispered back. She said, “Teddy, you have it all wrong. You were the one who taught me that I could make a difference. I didn’t know how to teach until I met you.”
Posted in Training
Saturday, September 5th, 2009
I’m thankful for my online friends today!
~A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out.
~Friends are like pillars on your porch. Sometimes they hold you up and sometimes they lean on you.
~A friend is someone who is there for you when he’d rather be anywhere else.
~A friend is one who believes in you when you have ceased to believe in yourself.
~A friend in kindergarten is the one who sat next to you and let you have the pretty red crayon, when only the ugly black one was left.
Posted in Training
Friday, September 4th, 2009
I remember when Wal-Mart came to our town.
We’re a small, country town. Population 6,664.
We don’t have much by way of shopping or eating.
For years it’s been rumored we were going to get a Burger King.
And every time ground is broken for a new building, you hear someone say, “I bet it’s a Burger King.”
Sadly, it never is. It’s usually a car wash or an oil change place. We even have one place that has both!
But our first moment of greatness was….getting….a….
WAL-MART!
We waited and hovered and circled for days waiting for that puppy to open!!!!
The anticipation was palpable.
And sadly, there was no mistake here. I didn’t mean to say Super Wal-Mart. I just mean plain ol’ Wal-Mart. Home of the dropped prices.
The place where we could get things and stuff we needed or just thought we had to have!
That first day, my whole town hit it. I do mean my entire town!!
I was in ninth grade, and I remember it like it was yesterday. And yeah, I know. That was a long damn time ago!
You can all just shut your pie holes about that!
But it was so crowded on that first day that we would have to go back numerous times to find a spot in the parking lot.
When we did find one, it was at the back!
And believe it or not, I can still remember the walk from our car to that door!
The only thing that even came close to this was when we finally got a McDonald’s a few months later.
Same scenario, smaller parking lot.
But we really were THAT excited.
And of course, through the years that excitement waned.
I grew up.
Out town got more stores.
Wal-Mart became a place for running errands and not a place for joy.
But last night….
I was craving, of all things, Caramel Rice Cakes.
And where did I go?
Yep.
Wal-Mart.
I can’t say that I was excited to go, but I can say I was glad they had what I needed.
Kind of like?
The gym.
Your initial excitement may die down, yet what you need still lies beyond that door.
And if you go in, you’ll come out have gotten what you needed.
Excited or not.
(But I do still get excited when they start getting out the Christmas stuff every year at Wal-Mart! That excitement will never die.)
Posted in Training
Thursday, September 3rd, 2009
Here is a copy and paste of my submission into MD’s monthly writing contest:
The Weights Will Never Be Conquered
We all have defining moments. Things that stick with us.
I still remember something one of my best friends told me over a year ago.
After spending over a decade addicted to crack, he managed to break free. And now it’s been another decade, and he has remained clean.
A feat few people once addicted can say.
Truly, he is one of my own personal heroes.
And aren’t those the best kind? The ones you actually know, and not just read about?
We were comparing stories one day.
It’s funny. He views what I did as harder than what he did. Yet, I am totally in awe of what my friend has accomplished.
So I said to him, “So few people do what you have done. You act like it is nothing, when really it is everything.”
And it is. I really believe that.
The success rate for recovered addicts is almost non-existent.
He went on to tell me how he knows what he did is a big thing. About how many people come to meetings and don’t stick around very long. Some only make one. There are very few people left at the five year mark, and even fewer at the ten.
That’s the moment.
I had to stop and let it soak in.
It’s been over ten years, and he still goes to meetings. That is amazing dedication.
And from talking to him, I can tell you, it’s numerous times a week.
That’s how he stays clean.
That’s how he maintains.
As hard as it is for some to lose weight and some to build muscle, there are things in this world that are harder. There are things outside of the gym you have to work on just as hard.
And yes, he is a lifter. He won his class at the state show this year. So, in the midst of it all, he still makes it to the gym.
While I work to maintain my loss, he works to maintain his life.
But the biggest lesson I learned from my friend?
He told me, “I have to stay humble, or I go right back to hell. The minute I think I’ve conquered it, I’ve lost it.”
So, let’s see. The minute I think I’ve conquered my battle with the bulge, and go back to eating the way I used to eat, I’ve lost it.
I will never conquer my weight loss or my desire to build muscle. The idea that either is conquered brings with it complacency.
And complacency lets old habits seep in.
He goes to meetings to maintain, while I go to the gym and eat healthy for my maintenance.
And while we both focus on the ongoing battle, secretly we both know the other has won. We just don’t tell each other that.
We leave the other to fight the good fight.
And maybe that’s what went through his mind when he won that state show this year…
The weights will never be conquered.
Posted in Training
Thursday, September 3rd, 2009
I was watching for an opportunity to pass along a smile yesterday.
That was the thing I said I would do.
Well, the day went on, and there really weren’t any big opportunities.
I mean, I did have to go take Micah some lunch money during my lunch hour. I chose not to fuss at his forgetfulness. But that wasn’t a big deal.
And Jonah messed up the after school plans. But I just laughed and called him a dork!
But I was looking for a bigger opportunity than not losing my cool.
After all, those were just oopsies from two good kids. (My kids are good, y’all!)
But it was while Micah and I were having dinner together that I found my thing.
My pass-along-smile thing.
Every week the booster club sells football programs at the Friday night games. They are chock full of ads, schedules, and pictures of the kids.
And Micah’s picture was inadvertently left off.
Ends up there were four left off the program, and four put in that aren’t on the varsity team.
So, Micah was telling me his dad had E-mailed the coach.
So I asked him what he said.
“He said the same thing the other guy said. The books are pretty well set.”
I told Micah, “Well. Mistakes happen. It’s not that big of a deal.”
Except it is to some. We all know that. I feel quite sure that man got fussed at by many.
But we won state last year.
That coach did a lot for us and our town.
While I was shopping and out having fun on evenings and weekends, he was at the school. Planning and expecting to win.
And to think he wouldn’t make a mistake would be crazy.
So, I sat down to write a message to him.
And while I am sure he will expect it to be another E-mail from someone upset, it was not.
I told him:
I’m Micah’s mom.
I just wanted to tell you that you and your staff are in my prayers each and every day.
I heard about the program mishap, and you know…things happen.
Around my house, that’s what we call an oopsie.
Micah was not upset and neither was I.
Thank you for what you’ve done for out team and our town!
Adina
And I will remember in the future when I feel left out, it was probably just an oopsie somewhere down the line.
Posted in Training
Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009
You know how some people hold off on saying what they really feel?
Well, I’m not one of those people.
(Pausing for shock.)
I had a good friend tell me the other day that he had received a friend request on facebook from one of our classmates.
He went on to say, “I’ll make him wait a few days. Then I’ll add him.”
And we were looking at the computer screen right then!
Here’s the Adina version of that same situation.
My Blackberry makes the cutest little twinkly sound, alerting me that I have a message.
I see it’s my classmate.
I set my phone down.
I do the happy clap.
Then I click confirm.
No waiting.
And sometimes I’ll even send a message right away.
Same thing with my Blog. If I see I have a comment, I get excited about it.
And I don’t see any need in waiting to reply.
But I think sometimes we get caught up in the rules of the game.
We’re worried we’ll look too anxious.
Or we don’t want to be the first to reply.
Or maybe we fear rejection if we say something nice and nothing is said in return.
But I figure it all goes to the bank.
You make enough deposits, and somewhere you’ll get to make a withdrawal.
I got a withdrawal last night.
One of Micah’s teachers sent me an E-mail.
The dreaded E-mail coming from a teacher…on week two of school no less.
But I opened it to find the sweetest message praising my son and his abilities.
And it made me cry.
Because aren’t comments made for someone you love even better than ones meant for you?
So there’s no lesson or moral of this story today.
I’m issuing a challenge!
Pick somebody.
Say something nice to them without worrying what you will get in return or what they will think.
It’s like telling someone you love them.
It’s scary, but you’ll never hear I love you back if you don’t take the risk.
As for me…
I accept my own challenge.
I will remember the smile on Micah’s face when I told him what the E-mail said, and I will share that smile with someone else today!
Posted in Training
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