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Learn, Do, Decide, Spin

So I love the fitness community that I’ve fallen into out here in Cali.

There are so many people to learn from.

There are so many people out here experimenting and trying new things.

And some of those new experiments are amazing…while others…well…not so much.

But the point isn’t whether or not their experiments are always right.

The point is that they are experimenting!

And many of these experiments aren’t ground-breaking. Many are with simple tools that have cycled in and out of the industry over the years.

Many of these experiments are simply a new SPIN on things.

Because let’s face it…there really aren’t that many NEW ideas – ideas that NO ONE ELSE out there have ever had before.

BUT there are a lot of different new takes on the same old ideas – there are a lot of people out there putting a new SPIN on things.

Because that new SPIN is what makes all the difference.

That SPIN is what creates the perfect diet/exercise/healthy lifestyle FOR YOU!

But it isn’t simply a question of arriving at your own spin.

There are clear steps you need to take to turn something someone else does into something perfect for you.

The first step is to LEARN.

Learn about a diet and exercise program that you think may be good for you. Research that program that made your friend super fit. Find out how they did it. Find out all the details. Read about other people’s experiences. LEARN ABOUT IT.

Then you must DO the diet/exercise/lifestyle program.

And when I say DO I mean do it EXACTLY the way it was laid out. If you want to know if something will work, you have to actually give it a chance to prove if it can work. And the only way a program can prove it works is if you actually do it the way it was laid out.

You can’t do a Primal diet and then eat pasta every day and then three weeks in claim it doesn’t work.

I’m all for making your own adaptations to things, BUT only after you’ve done an experiment following the rules exactly as they were laid out by the people who created, and achieved success!, by following the program.

If you DO a program the exact way it was laid out, you will find out if it is something that will bring you success. You will find out if it is something you enjoy. If it is something you could commit to on a long-term basis.

After you’ve done the program, you’ve got to decide.

Will you accept or reject the program? What parts did you like? What parts didn’t you like?

Did you see results?

After any experiment, after trying any program, you’ve got to ask yourself these questions.

You’ve got to DECIDE for yourself whether or not the program was a success.

You can’t listen to your friend tell you how great the program was. You can’t be swayed by all of the positive reviews. You can’t let Dr. Oz or Jillian Michaels or any of those famous people tell you what program is right for you.

After you’ve, RESEARCHED and TRIED something, you’ve got to make an educated decision based on your experience.

Are you going to stick with the program? And if you are going to keep doing it, then how are you going to make it perfect for you?

So now that you’ve learned, done and decided, what’s YOUR SPIN?

No one else can tell you exactly what will work for you. Others can guide you and make recommendations, but sorry…you should know yourself best.

And the more you experiment and do things other people’s ways, the more you actually WILL learn about yourself.

You will figure out what types of workouts you enjoy the most. You will figure out what time of day is easiest for you to workout at and stay committed to.

You will figure out if low carb/high carb/vegetarian/WHATEVER is right for you.

You will figure out if you stay more committed to a program if you can easily prep all meals for the week ahead of time or if it is easiest for you to cook single portions the day of.

Through doing things other people’s ways, you will figure out what works best for you.

Just remember though, it is up to you to put your spin on a program to make it completely personalized for you…No one else can do it for you!

So if you want the perfect healthy lifestyle for you – Learn, Do, Decide, and SPIN!

The good, the bad and the simply stupid

So I’m not trying to brag, but I feel better after 16 hours of spin than I do after one of my own tough 30 minute lifts.

My taking-on-16-hours-of-spin face!

Honestly, no muscles are sore or even really tight. The ONLY pain I have besides a slightly bruised crouch is one knee that doesn’t like going up and down stairs too much.

Be it the ice bath, my diet with no gluten or my workouts (or all three combined), I feel perfectly normal today…just like I do after any other week of working out.

Anyway, all I can say is you definitely don’t need to carb load with crap gels and gluten to survive endurance cardio!

The Good

  • Ice baths are amazing! They really do aid in muscle recovery. AND Tim Ferriss has done the research, and found the science to prove that ice baths may also help you lose fat!
  • Get a healthy dose of Vitamin D! This just shows how important going out in the sun is! We all fear skin cancer, but some sun is good! And of course if you can’t get sun, you can always take a supplement! BUT anyone else seem to feel WAY BETTER when they’ve gotten some sun? I definitely do!
  • Cool?!? Good news for me I guess! What do you think?
  • I’m glad the FDA didn’t let them call high fructose corn syrup “corn sugar!”
  • Thank you Therese for taking up the challenge of trying something new! Great job with the monkey bars!
  • These are not easy and Therese is killing it!

  • Our Jump Rope Slide is done!

The Bad

  • Caffeine is not an alternative to sleep people! I’ve seen too many people over the last couple of days guzzle down espresso shots and Red Bull rather than sleeping enough. I know it is hard to get enough sleep sometimes, but seriously nothing is more important! Your body recovers and rebuilds when you sleep!!! So stop drinking your Starbucks bazillion shot coffees and Red Bulls and instead go to bed!

The Simply Stupid

  • Is this really an article on WebMD?
  • There is this girl on Fiverr.com saying she can give you flat abs in 3 days. How are people this stupid!?!
  • This honestly sounds like something a client has said to me at some point…

And lastly, Happy Father’s Day people! All you Dad’s out there who are reading this…you better be supporting your women and making sure they lift heavy!!!

7 Down

Between getting up early and riding for 7 hours I’m a bit tired tonight and don’t have the attention span to write a post.

I must say though, I felt really good energy-wise eating Primally while doing all of that cardio! I didn’t even add in potatoes or anything. Just a bit of dark chocolate after dinner and some fruit during the day.

Here is a wonderful photo of  me and Candy from before the 7 hours. Later I’ll post some sweaty photos taken during the event!

My bicep says “Bigger” because I always tease Dave that my bicep is bigger than his! Also, that is definitely my game face!

Death by Cardio

Tomorrow, Friday and Saturday I will suffer death by cardio – 16 hours of spin. At least my suffering is for a good cause!

A few of the riders from last year!

I have three comments to make about this death by cardio though.

One….

BLEHHHHHHHHH! Have I mentioned before I hate cardio?!?

Two…

I’m prepared for my body to hurt after all of the hours. Not my muscles necessarily, but my butt and my knees. Because I knew I would be in enough pain, I didn’t want to be sitting on the bike super sore from heavy lifts this week.

I did lift heavy Monday (my butt and hamstrings are still sore) and I did lift yesterday (my shoulders, triceps and chest were brutalized), but today I chose to do a short and killer cardio bodyweight workout. It is bad enough being sore when I teach two classes let alone ride for 16 hours!!!

So if you are looking for a great cardio, bodyweight workout, try this workout of the week!

10 rounds:

10 Ab roller
20 Box Jumps
30 Double Unders

Shoot for under 20 minutes!

Three….

Mark Sisson had an interesting post the other day about trying your own little self experiment.

I’m going to be trying my own little experiment the next couple of days. I’m going to prove that you don’t need to eat all those crap gels and simple carbohydrates to survive such an intense workout session.

While everyone else will be drinking Gatorade and chowing down on crap carbs, I will be eating my delicious Primal meals and snacks. Nuts, fruits, all sorts of protein and some veggies. I may even throw in some potatoes on Friday after 7 hours of spinning tomorrow. BUT we will see!

I’m betting I will feel better than everyone else…What do you think?

Also, thank you to all of those who donated! A special thanks goes out to our mystery donor who made our day today!!!

Thank you all! Wish the Man Bicep Team good luck! I hope my butt survives!!!

Spin To Cure

From June 14-16, Candy, Brian and I will be participating in a 16 hour Spin-a-thon to raise money for the PMC (the Pan-Mass Challenge).

We will all be riding all 16 hours.

Will we survive?

I’m not sure.

I’ve participated in the Spin-a-thon every year. The first year I did only 2 hours. Last year, I did all 12. And this year, I will attempt all 16!

And I’m prepared for my butt to be extremely sore for days afterwards!

I’m not a huge fan of cardio, but because it’s a challenge and because it will raise money for a GREAT CAUSE, Candy, Brian and I will do all 16 hours.

I would love for any of you in Boston to join me and the Man Bicep Team and ride in the Spin-a-thon! And if you can’t ride, you can always donate to support the Man Bicepers by clicking here! In the notes section, write that you are sponsoring the Man Bicep team!

If you have any questions, email me at manbiceps@gmail.com!!!

Workout Songs

There are some Thursday morning when I just don’t want to get out of bed, and I DEFINITELY don’t want to go teach spin class.

But I always do.

And my music always gets me through. There have even been studies and articles written (like this one by the NY Times) about the fact that music can motivate and help us push through fatigue during workouts.

Why did this come up when I typed in "working out to music" in Google images?

Some of the songs that I love when I spin or workout are songs that I would be embarrassed to admit that I love to listen to…Like Sexy and I know it.

Super stupid song, but between the beat and the phrase “Sexy and I know it,” I just get super pumped up and always find myself pushing harder and forgetting about the fact that the sun isn’t even up yet and my muscles are sore from the leg workout the day before.

There is just something about certain songs that makes you push harder – that motivates you to push yourself beyond the initial fatigue. There are just some songs that can get you through a workout even when you would rather be snuggled under your comforter in bed!

For me these songs usually have a strong beat and motivational lyrics…I prefer hip hop, pop, rap and some country…anything mainstream…yes I’m lame and definitely don’t have good musical taste.

Some of the songs that I’ve found motivating during my workouts recently are: Sweat by Snoop Dog, Sexy and I know it by LMFAO, Stronger by Kanye West, Remember the Name by Fort Minor, Country Girl by Luke Bryan, Click Click Boom by Saliva and Good Feeling by Flo Rida.

There are many more, but those are the most recent (and admitting I like some of them is slightly embarrassing) motivational songs that I’ve include on my spin playlists. I’ve also included songs like Who let the dog’s out and Bad Touch…but those were purely for amusement purposes. Making people laugh is also a great way to help them get through the hour and a half of spin.

Do you find that music motivates you to push through a workout even when you don’t really want to be there? What songs do you listen to? Anything embarrassing!?!

BLEH

Today I woke up and I really didn’t want to go teach spin. I’m just exhausted. SEE! Even I don’t want to workout everyday! So don’t try to use the excuse that you don’t like working out because sometimes I don’t either BUT I still do it! This last week of working out was intense:

Monday
2k rowing
Chest, back and arms lift

Tuesday
30 minute tabata plyometric and weights circuit
20 minutes incline walking

Wednesday
Kettlebell circuit
Burpee-push up pyramid (1-5-1, 2-10-2)
Elliptical 15 minutes

Thursday
Morning Spin/Core class
Lunch Spin class
Leg lift

Friday
Deadly push up/pull up pyramid (1-10-1, 2-20-2) – Perform 1 pull up with 2 push ups going up to 10 and 20 and then back down
500m row

Saturday
NOTHING

Sunday
Spin/Core class

Ok so Wednesday was kind of a goof off day but Thursday and Friday really did me in. And I just am exhausted! There seriously is nothing harder than rowing or doing push ups and pull ups as fast as you can. And two hours of spin on Thursday plus lifting…maybe not the smartest idea. I thought my body was used to teaching two hours of spin but my butt was seriously sore on Friday (and it wasn’t from the saddle either!)!

Try the push up/pull up pyramid and see how long it takes you to finish. I manage to do all the pull ups and push ups (from my toes!) without assistance but it takes me about 25-20 minutes. I’m hoping to get to a point where I don’t have to rest during any of the sets of pull ups!

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