Category Archives: Uhm?
Act as if
So one of the things that really stuck with me from the Training for Warriors course was the statement “act as if.”
Martin mentioned that “you will become what you act.”
I live by this statement.
I truly believe that if you “act” confident/strong/happy you will BE confident/strong/happy.
It doesn’t happen overnight.
It takes time…It takes action.
I’ve said it before….you’ve got to fake it till you make it.
If you want to actually be confident, you’ve got to act the part.
It means telling yourself everyday about the great things that you do. It means presenting a confident appearance to those around you. It means FAKING the confidence.
And before you know it, you won’t be faking it. Somewhere along the way, you will fall for your own story. You will actually start BEING confident.
It sounds strange, but what you are actually doing is fooling yourself into believing something, which in turn ends up making it true.
You aren’t lying to yourself. You aren’t just telling yourself, “Oh I’m so confident.”
You are actually acting the part. You are standing tall. Walking with confidence. Speaking with confidence.
You are fooling yourself into believing in yourself because you are ACTING the part.
You are faking the confidence, putting on the act, until you finally realize that it is no longer an act – You’ve gotten to be the person you’ve wanted and worked to be!
So whatever your resolution for this new year is, don’t give up yet. Take a new approach.
Want to be a person who lives a healthy lifestyle? Tell yourself you are and start doing things that a person who lives a healthy style would do.
Soon you won’t be acting the part. Soon you will be committed to being that healthy person!
Fake it till you make it!
All talk?
Do you love talking about health and fitness?
Yes?
Do you love to find the latest trend and read about it and go all gung-ho for like three days and give up?
WELL STOP!
I feel like over the past few years I’ve met a ton of people who seem to like TALKING about healthy eating and working out, but that DON’T actually do it.
And those are the same people who wonder why they aren’t getting results.
Sorry but talking about being healthy doesn’t make you health.
You’ve got to actually WORK AT IT.
You’ve got to PRACTICE what you preach.
I don’t sit on the couch eating chips and bread as I tell you to eat only meat and veggies.
I don’t ask anyone to do something that I haven’t done before or am not willing to do myself.
I don’t try a new diet or workout program AND RAVE ABOUT IT only to give up on it a few days later.
Every guideline, every recipe, every workout or tip I’ve written about I’ve tried…And believed in.
As with everything, I’ve evolved. I haven’t given up…I’ve just found better ways of doing things.
So what I’m saying is…
For one, you’ve got to actually give something a try. You can’t just get all pumped about a new diet and talk about it to everyone. And rave about how great it is going for the first week only to give up because of some dumb excuse the next week.
For two, once you give something a try…like really give it a chance to find out if it works, you CAN’T stick with it after it has PROVEN not to work for you.
Basically I’m telling you that you can’t just talk about being healthy or rave about something that isn’t getting you results.
And if you want results, you’ve got to give your diet and exercise experiments a chance to prove if they work. At least a month is needed of strict adherence to know if that program works for you.
On the flip side, if you want results, you also can’t stick with something that you’ve tried and hasn’t work. You can’t just stick with something because it worked for someone else. Don’t just keep following something like a drone. Think about it!
Anyway, the point is that you won’t get results by just talking about being healthy. You’ve actually got to go after it. You’ve got to try things…and I mean really try them. You’ve got to find things that work and things that don’t work and you’ve got to keep growing and evolving.
So stop talking about getting fit and start DOING IT!
Get in shape for your wedding
So yesterday we went to a Bridal Expo to promote our gym and our Bridal Transformation Workbook, which is a year-long guide (workouts, diet tips, recipes and meal plans) to help brides look sexy on their big day.
I’m taking a picture like this in my dress.
We were at our little booth and were trying to get people to sign up for the free workbook when one of the trainers asks a group of girls, “Want to get in shape for your wedding?”
The bride of the group awkwardly laughed and made some comment about liking the way she looked.
Her response was definitely one of “well I’m thin so I’m fine!” It also maybe also had a hint of being offended that someone hinted that she would need to “get in shape.” (Even though he wasn’t hinting that at all.)
Another woman we approached responded “Well…round is a shape.” She too was saying, “I’m fine as I am and how dare you hint otherwise.”
The trainer meant no offense. He wasn’t saying the women were “out of shape.” But that is how they took it.
Which got me to thinking….Do many people not even start working toward being “in shape” or “healthier” because by working toward something like that they are hinting they aren’t already “perfect?” Are we scared to admit to ourselves that we have flaws?
Or are we scared to admit to ourselves that others may not think of us as perfect?
No one wants someone else to think that they need improvement even if we, ourselves, think we need improvement.
So someone telling saying to you, “Do you want to get in shape for your wedding” isn’t something we want to hear EVEN if we were planning on starting a program to look even better for our wedding!
Anyway, so then toward the end of the expo, I had a woman walk up to the table to look at the workbook.
She said, “Oh this is awesome!”
I said thank you.
And then she uttered something that made my jaw LITERALLY drop open…
She said,”This is for all those fat brides that want to fit into a smaller dress…huh?”
As I said…My jaw dropped open.
I laughed super awkwardly and said,”Well anyone can use it….I live by the tips in there.”
She gave me a slightly surprised look and gave me the once over.
And then I got mad.
That attitude is EXACTLY why many women were afraid to admit they were interested in the workbook.
I then said to the woman, “So don’t you want to look PERFECT on your wedding day? Don’t you want to look your best!?”
And she said, “Yes of course.”
So I said, “Then you want this workbook because it will give you a few tips to make you look your best! If you are spending time on the perfect dress, makeup and hair, why wouldn’t you make sure you do everything you can to look the best with all of the stuff you picked out!?! (I said this all very nicely even though I was slightly pissed off)
She then signed for the workbook.
I mean really…I just don’t get it. We will comment/criticize our arms or legs or butt or whatever, but then when we are faced with an opportunity to face it and change it, we shy away.
We spend time picking out the perfect dress, the perfect hairstyle, the perfect makeup because we want to LOOK PERFECT on our big day, but run as far away as we can from one of the BEST ways to make us look spectacular AND FEEL CONFIDENT in how we look!
I don’t get it. Do we not like admitting our flaws? Is it that working out is just too “HARD” compared to the other fixes?
I mean really! Working out and eating well isn’t something you do just if you are “overweight!” It is something you do to FEEL GREAT, LOOK GREAT and BE HEALTHY!
Anyway, has anyone been offended by someone selling something by saying “get in shape?” Or have you offended someone by saying this?
Barf
The easiest thing ever is to kill someone with a workout and make them have to barf.
Yep it’s easy.
Make them do hard exercises as fast as they can. BINGO!
AHHHHHH!
But seriously what does that accomplish!?! So you FEEL like you got a great workout…But what does it really improve!?!
Is it really making you lose weight? Or are you just getting worn out?
Is it really making you perform better? Or do you just feel rundown?
I mean stringing a buttload of tough exercises together and making someone do them super quick may be difficult but the workout is totally bogus and TOTALLY LACKS DIRECTION!
But trainers continue to do it and clients continue to want it. I’ve even had friends who will go do cardio after a weight training workout just because they felt like they hadn’t sweated enough and weren’t totally exhausted.
While I understand WHY people like killer workouts that doesn’t mean they are always right.
Or good for you.
Honestly, I prefer to work below the barf line. Heck I even like not necessarily being sore the next day.
Honestly. I just want a well thought out workout which doesn’t necessarily mean a killer workout each and every time!
A killer workout each and every time leads to overtraining, which leads to injury which means forced time off.
I don’t have time for that!
I don’t feel like being sidelined with an injury!
So I plan and progress my workouts. I do stabilization days, which include lots of isometric holds. I do strength days, which can mean slow, heavy lifts that don’t even make me break a sweat.
And yes…occasionally this progression does mean workouts that absolutely destroy me.
BUT THEY ARE WELL THOUGHT OUT…Not just freaking hard exercises done as quickly as possible without rest.
Actually most of the “killer workouts” I do aren’t at all like most people do to create killer workouts.
But I was very very very close to barfing. Only of course because I worked as hard as I could.
So what are the killer workouts that I accept?
300 ft in one minute on the VersaClimber.
Or like today…
VersaClimber 30 seconds on 1 min 30 seconds off for 5 rounds
REST
Tsunamis 25 on about 2 minutes off for 5 rounds
REST
5 rounds with over 2 minutes rest in between each round:
Sled pushes 100 ft
20 Sidewinders
5 Squat Thrusts
Doesn’t seem like much right? It isn’t the hardest exercises EVER with no rest. But guess what!?! It made me feel more destroyed than almost any other workout I’ve done.
And I didn’t have to do it super quickly to feel destroyed.
It was a well thought out program with movements to help me progress toward competing well at the Kettlebell Competition.
And I probably won’t be doing another workout like it for a little while.
Because…For one, I don’t need to. There is no point. It wouldn’t get me closer to my goals. And two, it would only make me risk injury!
And when I say that workouts like this put you at risk for injury, I mean that workouts like this put a ton of strain on the body and usually only serve to perpetuate bad movement patterns.
If you want the most out of your workouts, even the killer ones, you need to do some non-killer workouts to improve your movements so you actually get the most out of everything that you do.
Stop wasting your time on killer workouts and really start working toward your goal.
So mix things up and try this stabilization workout!
Workout:
5 rounds of 1 minute holds on each exercise. Try not to rest between exercises, but take a short rest between rounds.
Toes (literally just balance up on your toes as high as you can. Don’t rock to the outside toes either, really use the big toe!)
Squat hold (squat at lowest to 90 degrees or to right above where compensation occurs. Keep the chest up!)
Bat Wings (AKA scapular hold. Pinch your shoulder blades back and lean against a wall only your elbows touching.)
Push up Hold (So set up at the top of a push up and try to hold from your hands and toes. Keep everything in one straight line without sagging!)
Glute Bridge Hold (Lay on your back and push up, driving through your heels and upper back. Once a minute becomes easy, do a single leg bridge)
Pull up hold (Do a chin up and hold at the top with legs straight for as long as possible. If you need to, straighten your arms and hang at the bottom until the minute is up)
Not a long workout. A great stability/recovery day so you can get everything working properly! TRY IT!
P.S. Going back to my whole New Year’s Resolution theme of the last couple of days….Not doing killer workouts, especially at the beginning is super important. For one, your body isn’t ready to handle workouts like that and you risk injury. And two, you risk making yourself so sore that you can’t workout for days, which won’t help you get into the habit of working out consistently, which in turn will only make it harder for you to get on track to reach your goal!
One potato, two potatoes, three potatoes…ICK! No more!
The potato diet has been sweeping the Primal and Paleo community ever since Chris Voigt did his 20 potatoes a day for 60 days diet and lost weight and improved his cholesterol and blood pressure.
So I decided to try it.
Baked fries were great the first meal….
I mean how can you turn down trying a diet that has health benefits, promotes weight loss and supposedly keeps you full and energized throughout the entire day!?!
Anyway, I started the diet and for the first day, liked it. It was fun eating potatoes and getting to eat a large quantity of food at each meal. (This diet is literally potatoes and about a tsp. of fat per potato).
But the morning after my first day on the diet, I woke up starving, which is something I’m not used to. Usually, even when I’m not doing a lot of fasting, I don’t get hungry to at least 12 p.m.
But I was starving. My stomach was literally growling.
However, I did lose 2lbs after my very first day on the diet.
Eating potatoes that next day again wasn’t bad except that an hour after eating, I was again starving.
My energy was low all day and I felt sluggish during my workout
Ryan felt the same way. He was grouchy and aggravated all day.
But we stuck with it.
I slept well the following night even though I again woke up feeling ravenous. (I lost a pound.)
Ryan on the other hand slept terribly and woke up hungry and in one of the worst moods ever. He, however, gained weight.
We again stuck with the diet. We tried making mashed potatoes. We baked some “fries.”
And it tasted fine although we both started craving meat.
I felt like I was suffering from the low carb flu. I felt awful.
But another day complete.
On the third day, I woke up angry, but I’d lost another 1/2 pound. Ryan also gained weight and he was ready to give up.
Again we struggled through another day of feeling crappy…And my workout suffered.
On the fourth day, we both gained weight. We both decided that if we gained again, we just couldn’t put up with the fact that we felt completely and utterly horrible. (And trust me, we don’t give up on diets easily…Actually Ryan has never even acted like a diet was tough!)
On the fifth day, Ryan gave up. He gained weight again. I only chose to continue since I lost another pound, putting my total at 3 1/2 for four days.
It was hard struggling through without him on that fifth day. All of his food looked so good!
All I could think was, “I HATE POTATOES!” How the heck did all of these people like this diet!?! I feel hungry basically all the time. I’m low energy AND my workouts are suffering. I feel like I have the low carb flu, but unlike the low carb flu…IT WON’T GO AWAY!
That night I woke up starving in the middle of the night and felt like I was going to crawl out of my skin. I sat awake reading for hours until my body normalized.
When I woke up, I’d lost 2 more pounds, but I couldn’t handle any more. I was eating till I was full each meal, but I ended up feeling like I hadn’t eaten only 30 minutes later!
I’d lost 5.5lbs in 5 days, but the weight loss wasn’t worth the way I felt. While the potato diet wasn’t ever meant to be something long term, it wasn’t even maintainable for me for one week.
On that sixth day, I caved. I needed a re-feed. The second meat touched my lips, I felt re-energized.
But on Monday, I went right back on the diet. I’m trying to really give it a chance, but I’m not sure I’m going to make it another 5 straight days.
I’m sure there are people out there that this diet would work to kick-start their weight loss, but it isn’t for me….And definitely isn’t for Ryan.
His body definitely operates better on few to no carbs. I definitely need more carbs than he does, but all potatoes…Uhm…NO.
This diet doesn’t work for me. Is it worth trying?
Of course! (I did find it interesting that I didn’t really crave anything specific while eating ONLY potatoes. I did want real food, but nothing specific…It makes me wonder if you crave more specific things when you can occasionally have them…)
I would be interested to hear anyone else’s experience with the potato diet! And I’ll keep you posted during this second week of trying!
P.S. This does also highlight my point that just because someone says something works for them, doesn’t mean it will work for you!
P.P.S. Coming soon…An Under Armour giveaway! Get excited! 🙂
Be your own role model
I feel like increasingly we search for motivation and inspiration outside of ourselves. We look to magazines and search Pinterest for Thinspo or Fitspo pictures to be good influences on us and get us to eat well and workout.
Stop looking for motivation and JUST DO IT!
I’ve found that the best way to stay motivated and inspired is to inspire myself.
I work to do my best day in and day out. I work to accomplish goals that push me to become a better me.
I strive to impress myself.
I want to prove to myself that I can be stronger, fitter or faster.
Each day that I work hard and each day that I accomplish something new, I become more committed and more motivated.
I BELIEVE more in myself.
That belief in myself is something that no picture or magazine or story of any other athlete can give me.
So while I do understand that pictures of our “role models” can keep us motivated when we want to walk to our fridge and eat something bad, they won’t keep you committed in the long run.
They won’t make you believe more in yourself.
When was the last time you looked at yourself and thought, “I’m a pretty freaking great role model for myself!”
Ice Ice Baby
Ok maybe I’m the only one that laughed at the title, but it was worth it!
Anyway, recently while going in and out of overtraining to quickly achieve my goals, I’ve found that ICE is my best friend.
Ice packs, ice baths, contrast showers….all of them are just PHENOMENAL!
They help my muscles recover and they help me prevent any old injuries from flaring up and cause issues.
Ice reduces inflammation and can help reduce swelling. This can help keep injuries from flaring up and cause you to have altered movement patterns. I know that recently with all of the activities I’m doing, my ankle scar tissue has been irritated. So I’ve been taking extra time to do rehab exercises and ICE every single night. Most of the time more than once a day.
And guess what!?! My ankle is actually bothering me less than it has in a while even though I’m doing a ton more things to irritate it!
Icing can also help reduced muscle soreness so that you can take less time off between intense workouts! Icing helps injuries heal…exercising intensely basically causes minor muscle trauma, which when the muscles heal they become stronger – ice speeds this process. YAY!
Icing also helps flush out waste products such as lactic acid from the muscles, which again HELPS YOU RECOVER FASTER!
So if you want to recover faster, you may want to experiment with contrast showers (alternating hot and COLD water) and icing.
I mean who wouldn’t want to recover faster!?!
Anyone else using icing or contrast showers as part of their recovery routine?
The Heroine or the Rescued?
One of my favorite fairy tale books.
When I was little my mom always read me fairy tales in which the leading lady rescued herself (and sometimes even the prince).
The women in these story were never the rescued, they were the heroines.
Whether or not its having a strong mother or the women in these stories (or both!), I’ve always been my own heroine. I’ve had no delusions that someone else will come along and solve all of my problems for me.
But in a society where women usually are the rescued, where do women like me fit in?
And even though we logically know we can and ARE our own heroines, why is it that we still sometimes want to be rescued?
I know this seems random and not directly and obviously related to the usual content of my posts, but it really got me to thinking….
Is this whole “being rescued” thing part of the reason why women are so afraid of lifting weights and being bulky?
Is this why even the women who do lift weights sometimes question their own femininity?
Honestly, I’m asking a ton of questions because I don’t have the answers.
I see all of this duality in my own life.
I LOVE lifting heavy weights. I preach their importance to just about every woman I meet.
I tell them they won’t get bulky, and I believe it.
Yet sometimes, in those moments of self-doubt, I question my own femininity.
Are my arms too big? Shoot aren’t my shoulders just so broad….
I see this confusion between being my own heroine or “the rescued” even in my confusion over my future.
I’m driven. I want a successful career. I love working, in great part because I love what I do.
I feel like I would be selling myself short if I ever gave up my career ambitions.
BUT I’m also a firm believer that at least one parent should stay home with children if the couple decides to have kids.
And I’ve always wanted to be the parent that gets to stay home with my kids, but I also feel like this is partly me wanting to be “rescued.”
So now my question is, does it have to be one or the other? Don’t we all want to be heroes or heroines? Don’t we all at points want to stop fighting and have someone else save us?
Anyway, excuse the slight digression and ramblings. But hopefully it gets you to thinking about your own life and even why you or so many women you know are against lifting heavy because they fear getting bulky!
Physical Fitness – Double Standards!?!
Today Ryan and I were watching a show about 9/11 Fireman.
It got me to thinking about the physical fitness test that firemen have to pass in order to be firemen.
It led to a discussion of the standards for firemen and policemen and whether or not the standards were easier for policemen, which led to a discussion of standards to enter the military. (I’m really really paraphrasing here because I don’t want people to get hung up on this part of our random conversation).
Anyway, we got on to military physical fitness standards and I started thinking about the fact that women and men are held to different standards.
And it actually bothered me that they are.
If we set a standard on what we believe a person needs to be able to do in order to protect our people and country, how can we then set a different standard that allows someone in who is weaker?
If we want the people who protect our country to be able to do 10 pull ups, how can we then say that it is “ok” for certain people, because of their sex, to only be able to do 1 chin up!?!
Don’t get me wrong, I firmly believe that regardless of sex people should be able to apply and perform any job for which they are qualified.
BUT if we believe that a certain standard of fitness is required for certain jobs, how can we truly set a double standard to supposedly accommodate more women?
I mean I’m slightly offend that we aren’t held to the same fitness standards! If I was going to join the military, I would freaking train my butt off to make sure I could attain all of the standards required of a male undergoing the test.
Sure if I’m applying to a desk job, maybe I should be held to a different standard (and maybe that is why women have lower fitness standards to join the miliary…) but seriously if someone is having to do a physical job that requires a certain amount of strength and endurance, HOW CAN THERE BE DIFFERENT STANDARDS!?!
P.S. I haven’t done a ton of research on this, but anyone know of any “firewomen?”
Don’t put the blinders on
I’m opinionated.
I’ll admit it. (Of course I’m always right though….just kidding!)
But I can accept that there are people out there with opinions that differ from my own. And I have no problem respecting their opinions as long as they also respect mine.
What I can’t handle is people who spout off about things when they aren’t willing to have someone believe something different.
What I can’t accept is when people don’t do the research to understand their stance.
When I state I don’t believe in eating gluten, I don’t expect everyone to just agree with me. And I actually hope that when people read that statement they either cruise around my site or the internet in general to really understand WHY.
I don’t want them to put blinders on and not realize all of the different opinions out there.
I don’t want them to BLINDLY ACCEPT what I’m saying!!!!
I don’t want people to have blinders on when reading new information.
Like the other day a friend posted a study on Facebook, which in my opinion was an awful study because it wasn’t really truly testing what it proposed to be testing. (Someone actually even beat me to pointing this out.)
Anyway, the point is my friend posted this study because it supposedly supported something he believed in. He didn’t even think to really look at and analyze the way the study was done.
He had his blinders on.
Please don’t just blindly argue a point or believe something just because someone you trust even said it. DO THE RESEARCH! ANALYZE THE DATA!
Man Bicep 