Making Statements, Not Excuses

This morning at the quickie mart I saw a man who said that he had lost 130 lbs. I said congratulations sir, what was your workout program? He replied, "what workout program?…I got a divorce!" As funny as that is, it is kind of sad that some people don’t try hard enough to make love work in their lives or maybe some people just get married for the sake of not being lonely and end up like my buddy from this morning. There are people who take their relationship with training like that. They go all into thinking that they are gonna love getting in shape and then realizing that its not always fun fun fun and then they get tired of it because the results are not happening fast enough or they feel like it becomes like drudgery to get up and go to the gym. Then this great thing that they onced loved, they now hate with a passion. If you are feeling like divorcing yourself from training, try to remember what it felt like when you first started..when the pain was a good pain, and you felt refreshed and full of life. Go and try new things, do things spontaneously, and get back to realizing why you loved this in the first place. That is what works for marraiges that last..constant evolution. So live your life joyfully, love your body unconditionally and train your body religously and have a re-energize your passion for training.

Yesterday i heard a lady say she wasn’t going to work out because she didn’t want to mess up her hair. I said WOW!! I mean maybe its me and with no disrespect to anyone’s ethnic heritage but I have heard black women say that they don’t like to swim because it will mess their hair up. But working out? What could possibly happen? Don’t you sleep on that same hair when you go to bed? How is training gonna hurt it? Is it gonna fall out because of the intensity of the cardio? Or is it gonna go flat from you doing too many squats? Or how about this one….you will get split ends from it getting caught in the cables while doing cable crunches? I need answers to this. I’m gonna sit back now and enjoy celebrating something that I haven’t celebrated too much this year, a Florida State victory and decide whether I order the UFC 104 PPV this weekend while i enjoy these replies…

I can’t take credit for this but you should read it, it is a great article for those obsessed with the scale.

 http://exercise.about.com/od/weightloss/a/ditchthescale.htm

My next question is this: What do you think about when you step on a scale? Some common thoughts:

Whatever you think about when you weigh yourself, one question you may not consider is this: Is weighing yourself helping you lose weight or standing in the way of success?

To Weigh or Not to Weigh?

For some of you, the idea of not knowing your weight on a regular basis may seem as foreign as not knowing you hate lima beans. This is true despite the fact that a scale, unlike lima beans, has all kinds of emotions, thoughts and beliefs attached to it. The moment you step on it, you decide things about yourself: Whether you’re fat or thin, whether you’ve succeeded or failed, perhaps even how you feel about yourself as a person.

For some people, the scale is an important and useful tool for maintaining weight loss but, for others, it can stand in the way of success. Which group do you fall into? If you’re not sure, learn more about the reasons you might want to ditch the scale.

The scale is a great tool for people who are maintaining weight loss. Seeing their weight each day is one way to make sure they’re staying on track with their diet and exercise program. However, if you’re just starting a weight loss program, the number on the scale can be deceptive, making you feel that you’re not making progress even when you are.

Unfortunately, the hard work of diet and exercise isn’t always reflected on the scale for new exercisers, especially during the first few weeks. A few things that may happen when you start a weight loss program:

• Delayed results - Most of us need several weeks of diet and exercise before seeing significant changes on the scale.
• Unrealistic expectations – When you work hard at your workouts and diet, you may expect more than your body can deliver, which leads to disappointment.
• Tunnel vision – We get so focused on the scale that it blocks out other things we’re getting out of our workouts. The long-term rewards of exercise aren’t always obvious when you’re a beginner and you forget there are other reasons to exercise and eat healthfully.

Keep it or Ditch it?

Are you discouraged by what you’re seeing on the scale? If so, consider weighing yourself once a month rather than daily or weekly to give your body time to adapt to what you’re doing.

Another option is to shift your focus from the minutiae of weight loss and concentrate on what you actually need to do get there, such as:

• Showing up for your workouts - Set goals based on how many workouts you’ll do each week rather than how much weight you’ll lose.
• Getting to know your body - You can’t lose weight until you exercise consistently and you can’t do that until you build endurance and strength. Take the first few weeks to experiment, condition your body and figure out what you’re capable of.
• Learning how to exercise - If you’re a beginner, there’s a learning curve that may take you awhile to overcome. Give yourself space to learn good form, solid technique and effective methods of training before you put too much pressure on yourself to lose weight.

Discouraged? You May Want to Ditch the Scale

A friend of mine treats her scale the same way one might treat a poisonous snake. She hides it in her closet and lurches away whenever she accidentally catches sight of it. Many of us have the same visceral response to any scale – a shiver when we pass by the scale at the gym or instant dry mouth when instructed to stand on the scale at the doctor’s office.

Changing your lifestyle and habits is difficult enough without adding the pressure of losing a certain number of pounds each week. Your body won’t always cooperate and you’ll rarely get everything perfect from day to day. Starting off on the right foot means having:

• A supportive environment of family and friends who encourage you to reach your goals
• Realistic goals that motivate you day after day
• A balanced exercise plan that fits your schedule and what you enjoy doing
• A way to handle obstacles to exercise before they happen.

If the scale doesn’t fit into that encouraging environment, it may be time for a change.

Keep it or Ditch it?

Do you dread getting on the scale every morning? If the answer is yes, consider:

• Setting aside weight loss goals - Focusing on being healthy, fit and active can take the pressure off, allowing you to enjoy your active lifestyle. The 30-Day Fitness Challenge is a great place to start.
• Find meaningful goals – Meaningful goals are the ones we stick with when times get tough. Consider joining a charity run or working out with a friend who needs support. You’ll remember the deeper reasons that exercise is an important part of your life.
• Talk to friends or family members who exercise and ask them how they manage it. You may be inspired to learn how real people fit exercise into their lives.
• Instead of watching the scale, focus on creating a healthy lifestyle. Living well almost always leads to weight loss. For an in-depth program, try 6 Weeks to a Healthier Lifestyle.

Is the Scale Lying to You?

While the scale can tell you how much you weigh, there’s something more important you need to know: Your body composition. While many of us focus on how many pounds we’re losing, what’s more important is how much fat we’re losing, something the scale can’t discern. Losing weight may make you happy but, what if you found out you were losing muscle, not fat? Losing muscle lowers metabolism and, eventually, contributes to a loss of mobility and power.

This is one instance where the scale can lie, especially for new exercisers beginning a strength training program. It’s possible to lose inches without losing weight, which means you’re getting results even if they aren’t showing up the way you’re used to seeing them.

I often hear this question from readers who mention losing inches while the scale doesn’t move. They wonder, “Why haven’t I seen any results?” If you’re experiencing this, one question to ask yourself is: Why do you believe the scale over your own experience? If you’re buying smaller clothes, you’re losing fat no matter what the scale says.

Too often, we believe what the scale is telling us rather than what’s in front of our own eyes, leaving us discouraged and frustrated rather than celebrating success.

Keep it or Ditch it?

Are you losing inches, fitting into smaller sizes and slimming down? If the answer is yes, that’s a good sign that you’re gaining muscle and losing fat, which is exactly what you want. Instead of the scale, try other ways to track your progress:

• Get your body fat tested
• Take your measurements at different areas of the body to see where you’re slimming down
• Go by how your clothes fit
• Keep a fitness journal to keep track of your weights, exercises and strength gains

Don’t watch reality tv at all but since "The Biggest Loser" identifies with all of us, I watch it. Last night’s episode, the blue team won the challenge and won a week back home but after looking at the options they gave the week home to the black team. Long story short, the black team had to deal with the temptations of home, unhealthy foods eaten by family members while they had to stick to their program in the midst of it all. Of course this is something that we all deal with everyday. The one difference is that their families stood behind them although some of them were eating things that the contestants. Why do our families think it’s so strange that we are choosing to live this way? Are they ignorant to the fact that this is not some stupid obsession, but a way to live and be healthy and happy for the benefit of them? My family really doesn’t know the reason i eat certain foods I eat but they really know that they don’t have a say over how i choose to live so it’s neither here or there with them. I just hope they learn that they will have to adjust their diet and activity habits if they want to avoid trips to the doctor every other month. In the meantime I will continue to work hard and inspire others to do the same.

You do it like I did today. Well you guys know that this week i’m in the high rep week of my alternating training shedule. Well as I was doing my workouts I just decided instead of doing my normal set amount of reps I just decided to do all of my sets to failure. Man i am tight and sore becuase i worked it to the max. I may not do this all the time but i tell you this is not for the faint of heart. Especially on a day like today. LEG DAY!! Tommorow wil be a day off to remember. I’m already afraid that i may have to sit in the tub tonight as opposed to trying to stand in the shower. I’ll let you know after i crawl to my computer tommorow morning.

I saw an interesting thing this morning at the gym. I saw this lady and her husband come in and both seemed like they were just dragging along and barely made it into the gym. They both seemed to have had an attitude of let’s just get it over with. Why come to the gym and just act like you are doing something you have to do? What are you so angry about? You do this because you WANT to do it. When i wake up, my energy level is so high because i’m about to go work out. I train with an enormous amount of intensity and why?…beacuse I LOVE it. Don’t put yourself through this if you act like it kills you. Here’s a few things to help make this fun.

1. Eat….don’t feel like you have to just eat at certain times and only eat bland foods. Research what you need to eat and make them fun to eat. You can eat good fats and good carbs if you learn how to do it.

2. Only do what you feel you can handle right now and let your body work it’s way up to the endurance and strength as you go along. Many people are unhappy because they can’t get the results they want right away so they wake up hating life because they try to do too much to want to see results too fast. This is a marathon, not a sprint, a lifestyle and not a hobby.

3. One important thing that will keep your energy up….Laugh, watch funny movies, watch funny TV shows, do fun things etc. It is proven that people who engage in fun activities, feel better overall more than people who don’t take the time to laugh and have fun.

 4. Don’t compare yourself to other people who are stronger and have more endurance. Most of these people have been doing this much longer than you have but they started in a similar spot as you.

5. DO WORK and get better. Attitude is everything  and a good one makes a huge difference in how you approach training.

A couple weeks ago, i took a week away to just spend time with myself and God to decide once and for all what His plan for my life was. By the way if you are not a believer, just stop reading right now because this isn’t for you. I asked Him to reveal to me exactly what it is I need to do to be happy and to live a prosperous life. I now know what it is. God’s main goal for me was to just put Him first in everything and He will give me the desires that I hold close to my heart. After just seeing myself get better and better each week and learning more about fitness as a lifestyle and not a hobby, I have decided that my new career path will be in the fitness industry. I have decided that I am going to become a Certified Personal Trainer. My main emphasis will be in sports performance, but i will also train people for competition and for general fat loss purposes. The two organizations I decided to get certified with, is NASM and NCSA. So hopefully this time next year I will finally go to a job that I love going to every day, whether it be a fitness center, a sports performance agency or a college or university as a strength and conditioning coach. I realize God’s plan for me is to help make people better, physically, mentally and spiritually. Whether I will actually compete is still something i’m debating but expect to see me at a lot of shows to promote some of my trainees one day.

Yes yesterday at lunch I went to eat with some fellas at carraba’s and ate a huge plate of lasagna and chased it with some sweet tea. I know I know, i should be scorned for it but I AM FROM THE SOUTH…Sweet tea is KING! Anyway. This morning i went an extra 20 minutes on the treadmill at a steep incline. It almost killed me but its like missing a day of football practice. The extra running for missing that day is not punishment but it’s to help you catch up. So today i feel much better and less guilty. BTW did i mention the lunch was free, so who can turn that down in these economic times right? LOL. OH Well time for football.

Timing could not have been better. Last night I had to go to the hospital because my nephew, a student at Florida A & M, went to the emergency room. He said he was playing intramural football and landed on the ball and was in tremendous pain. He checked in at about 3:15…we didn’t leabe the Hospital until after 11:45 meaning I didn’t get home myself until after midnight which means i really didn’t fall asleep until after 1:00. AND I STILL GOT UP AT 5:30 TO TRAIN!! That means I made NO EXCUSE for not getting it done. I could have slept in and done it later, but i’m so addicted that the gym calls me now and I caome running. So for all those people talking about how tired they are after a normal cycle of work and sleep, knock it off. NO EXCUSES, JUST RESULTS!! DO WORK!!

Have to vent this morning about people who feel like talking about their neighbor and God knows who is more important than training and making themselves better. I pay good money to come to the gym and use the equipment i need to make myself better. I just wish some of the other people in the gym had the same mindset. I don’t have a problem with general conversation, but when you hog the elliptical trainer or treadmill and go at a slow pace while spending an hour talking about who is doing who or your daughter’s halloween costume, that is not training, its just damn annoying. In any case I got a good workout because I was hotter than Beirut in 1983. Today l will attempt to get in some suicide sprints before it rains. Hopefully no one will be yapping out there.