Author: MPiccolo

Improving The Fitness Industry / Dinner Dilemma Avoided (Yes that’s how you spell Dilemma)

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Improving The Fitness Industry – Born Fitness

Once in awhile I would like to share a great website/blog/person to follow for those who are interested.  Tonight I share a blog from Adam Bornstein.  Adam is what I would call THE leader in fitness as far as knowledge, research, advice, training, etc.  He just revamped his new website and it’s fantastic!  He even does online coaching if you’re in need.  I haven’t used him myself personally but you can rest assured he’s one of the experts in the field.

The blog I refer to above is somewhat similar to the rant I made yesterday on Being Healthy is a Revolutionary Act (which, by the way, got Re-tweeted by Pilar Gerasimo herself as well as Experience Life Magazine, my first KUDOS).

Adam speaks about the Fitness Industry itself in this post and ways in which to make it a more positive experience.  Here’s one of my favorite lines: “If it were up to me, we’d all spend less time trying to fix the fitness industry, and more time trying to fix ourselves as individuals.”

Love it.

Sidenote:  I managed to avoid going through the drive-thru tonight as tempting as it was.  I want to make it clear I don’t feel like I’m depriving myself of anything here…I’m PREVENTING myself from eating a terrible meal of a burger and fries. (Sweet potato fries…they are still fries no matter how much I want to convince myself that they are “not THAT bad.”)

It was tempting only because of the CHEAPNESS and QUICKNESS factor (Payday is tomorrow thank you Jesus!)

I quickly resorted to my iPhone.  Why? Because on it I have a picture of my idol Nicole Wilkins as my screensaver.  It’s a nice constant reminder my long-term goal.  And this is one of the many times it has helped me avoid a sticky situation such as this.  And it worked again this time…I thought “I don’t think she got that bod by eating garbage fast food.”

I drove right to the grocery store (conveniently located right NEXT to BK)  and stocked up on veggies and chicken and dark chocolate. And yes I am happy about that.  If I would have eaten something that really isn’t good for me, I’d confess it on here and move on.  The world would not end.  But I feel 10x better for eating something GOOD tonight and not thinking “Oh I’ll just burn it off tomorrow by working EXTRA hard.”

Screw that!  I’m making it easy on myself. 🙂

G’night!

Being Healthy Is a Revolutionary Act…

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Today I’m sharing a website that I believe everyone should bookmark, read, instapaper, tweet, like, share…whatever you prefer.  But instead of just skimming over it, really read it.  Read it and don’t even tell me you don’t get pumped up a little bit and WANT to actually live a healthier lifestyle just by reading it.

Being Healthy Is a Revolutionary Act: Renegade Perspectives for Thriving in a Mixed-Up World.

I came across Pilar Gerasimo’s article in Experience Life Magazine in February of 2011.  As an employee (Personal Trainer) at Life Time Fitness, I was able to receive this great wealth of information in my mailbox for free.  (Members received it too, for just a dollar or two extra a month).  I encouraged all of my clients and any member I came across to read it and take the information it provided as bible.  The authors that contributed to the articles were top-notch.  Plus I pretty much adhered and agreed with everything they preached – the workouts, the recipes, the training advice, the “real-world” pieces.  All great stuff.  Plus there’s something to be said for the written word on paper (or magazine form) that seems to be lost these days.  Sometimes don’t you just want to pick up a book or a magazine instead of a Kindle, or an iPhone or another electronic device??

Fast forward to the February 2011 edition.  The cover photo alone was enough to get me to begin reading Pilar’s article immediately.  It pretty much beckons to it’s readers “Come on, BE HEALTHY!”  But it was actually the title that intrigued me:  “Being Healthy is a Revolutionary Act.” 

Wow.

I mean, it speaks volumes doesn’t it?  It’s so true!

As I continued to read this article, I felt like I was getting pumped up to fight a battle or something, ha!  I mean, she really engages the reader to look at the world in a different way.  By the end of it, you really do want to put some armor on and suit up and fight the war on Health!  At least… for me.

As someone in the health and fitness field, it becomes almost like an order…like a frustrating and redundant order, telling people “This is what I want you to do to improve your health.  This is what you MUST do to improve your health.”  The resistance I am met with is almost like a war in a itself.

It’s almost as if many people don’t want to be healthy.  Maybe they don’t come out and say it, but so many times  I hear people say “No thanks” when offered something for FREE.  If it’s FREE and it’s for their HEALTH, they don’t want it.

The most recent example was just a month ago at our Free (YES FREE) Health Fair.  Our free services consisted of getting your glucose and cholesterol checked, blood pressure, body fat, weight, chiropractor screening, balance test, massage therapist and a sleep apnea questionnaire.  Everything you need to know right? All in one place.  All free, no strings attached.  We even gave all participants a free week of fitness classes.  Again, no catch.

We got a good turnout but what was so discouraging and  disheartening were the amount of people who passed by and said self-degrading or just plain negative things like

“I already know I’m fat.”

“Oh I’m a diabetic, my doc has me on meds.”

“No thanks I don’t want to know my numbers.”

“Why would I want to know how unhealthy I am?”

It was extremely discouraging.  My friend and I who were standing at the front trying to entice people to come in discussed this somewhat surprising reaction:

Does no one really care about their health? Is it really that unpopular to take try and prolong your life?

Of course this is a general statement and I know there are people out there who DO care.  Unfortunately a lot of people care too late.  They wait until they are on meds or until something unfortunate happens and then all of a sudden, they care.

As a trainer for 4 years I should be used to this type of mentality.  But it still irks me.

This is why I’m so glad the Revolutionary Act was created.  Being healthy shouldn’t HAVE to be a revolutionary act, but it is.  And it’s time people started caring.

For those that don’t, I try not to let it bother me.  I can only worry about myself.

I can only be the healthiest ME regardless of how unpopular it is.

The best day of the week: Sore-Day

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Forgive me for just a minute while I go local for my Cleveland followers, especially my fellow Browns football fans.  (As if I have “fans” in different countries, geeez the ego on this gal!).

See, we are used to waking up on a Monday mornings feeling dejected, depressed, grief stricken, sometimes just plain hungover and angry.  We are usually in mourning.  We are usually getting ready for some Therapy Monday as we listen to the local sports talk radio shows do their thing and get us through another day of analyzing what went wrong, what could have gone better, who needs to be benched and who needs to fired (*cough cough Pat Shurmur cough cough*).  But an amazing thing happened yesterday:  We won!  We won our first game in…a year?  Sad really.  But instead of the usual crying and whining, I think quite a few of us Browns fans woke up feeling just a tinge of hope and happiness.  For just a moment.  Like maybe just today.  The feeling is probably gone by now in most fans actually.  But man, what a great 24 hours right?

So just what in the hell does this have to do with fitness?  Not a whole lot.  It was just a teaser to get you to click on the link and keep reading.  I’m sneaky like that.  But actually, it does have something in common with what I’m posting today:  My Sunday workout! And as the title suggests, instead of waking up feeling cranky and pissy because I didn’t workout, I woke up feeling sore in my muscles and in most of my body because I KILLED it yesterday.  Had one of my better workouts in a long long time.  So see? It wasn’t just the Browns that had a great Sunday.  (See how I brought it all back to me?  That’s the perk of having a blog, it’s all about YOU).

As of late, I’ve been making a habit of hitting the weights on Sunday afternoons while the Browns play.  This has been proven to be quite useful this season and I recommend it to all my fellow football fans.  It helps to take your aggression out on weights and work up a sweat while cursing the TV screen showing (insert your favorite NFL Team here) doing what they do best….Winning. Or, if they are the Browns, punting.

On to the workout….This was a full body workout and as I mentioned, I’m sore all over.  An awesome feeling!  For those that always say they hate the sore feeling after a workout, well I feel sorry for you because I love it.  It’s kind of like your body saying “Congrats on kicking your own ass!”

This particular workout lasted a long time.  Normally I do strength for 45 minutes; this lasted well over an hour and 10 minutes.  Some might say overdoing it?  But I felt great and wanted to continue. So in my eyes, as long as I leave enough time to rest in between my lifting days to allow my body to recover, I don’t see the harm in doing a full body workout like this once in a while.  You will see after I post my other full body workouts how much they differ from this one.  I’ve included links to all the exercises which has been really time consuming and annoying.  Not that I’m complaining…well, actually… I am complaining.

Enjoy and happy Sore-Day!

Dynamic Warm up:

5 minutes cross trainer

BOSU – Squat and Curl – 20 reps with 7.5lb Dumbbells (meant to be light and easy)

BOSU – Mountain climbers 30 seconds

Bench Push ups – 15 reps

Walking Lunges – 20 reps

Workout:

1 Arm Row – Kettlebell(KB)  30pounds – 12 reps http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3zfFc1UfHo

Chest Press on Bench  with Dumbbells (DB) – 22.5lbs each – 12 reps  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmB1G1K7v94

Curtsy Squats – 12lb KB’s in each hand – 12 reps each side http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNyR3SI1H3I

V-sit up on Bench – 20 reps http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buQlotGGAxk

Repeat two more times

Bench Chest Press – 25lbs – 15 reps/2nd set 35lbs/3rd set 40lbs http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rT7DgCr-3pg

Upright Row – 45lb Barbell (BB) -8- 10 reps http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIJGvsdNtFE

Single leg Squats – 30lb KB – 12 reps each side http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kEn_eJibKQ

Leg Lifts on Bench (abdominals) 20 reps http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGtXrZTynA4

Repeat 2 more times

Standing 2 arm Cable Row – 45lbs – 12 reps http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_oYhD393Gg

Standing Chest Fly on Cables – 35lbs – 12 reps http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kNpoo25ywk

Hamstring Curl on Stability Ball(SB) – 20 reps http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Co79nkOrqRo

Cable Woodchop – 27.5lbs – 12 reps each side http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ldmLzOXhSQ

Repeat 2 more times

Herculean curls – 20lbs total – 15 reps http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdlIhXdXE1Q

Standing Tricep Pushdown with Rope – 25lbs – 12-15 reps http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiKu6qHg43c

Assisted Pull Ups – Weight set at 55lbs – Close grip (working more biceps than back) 10 -12 reps

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CI0AJMrnq0

Assisted Dips – weight set at 55lbs – 12-15 reps  (use same video above)

No repeat on these

Final circuit:

Stiff legged Deadlift with 50lb BB – 15reps http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqoJ9jNjM8E

Bent leg crunches on bench (knees to chest) 15 reps http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5bLTctDAx4 (I didn’t use bands like they do in the video but not a bad idea!)

Seated Shoulder Press with 30lb BB – 15 reps http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECWxumBMLVQ

Repeated two more times

FINISHED!  But wait…there’s more..

Ended this session with walking lunges on a treadmill set at 6-9%incline and 1.2mph for 25 minutes.

And earlier in the morning I walked on the treadmill at home for 45 minutes.  Just an easy fat burning workout.  (Heart rate didn’t get above 145 and never felt like I was out of breath).

Total calories burned with all three workouts combined: 1200

By far the best workout day I’ve had in quite a while.  I liked breaking up the cardio into two different times of the day.  Had energy for the morning to run errands and still felt like continuing well after my workout.

Thanks for reading!  Until next time…

-M

Fit Girl gets a Blog

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For those of you interested in my new “adventure” here’s where I’ll be posting the latest and greatest information on my attempt to get in shape for a figure competition.  My hope is that  other females interested in pursuing this same goal might find the posts on here useful as well and perhaps inspire them to do great things in the fitness world.   I know most of you just wanted to hear about my meal plan, my workouts and my overall experience for these next 12 months.  I hope I can entertain, inform, amuse, and maybe even educate you on how this all goes down.  I’ll be posting progress pics in a few weeks and throughout so we can see how my body changes.   I’m also hoping my family and close friends can read up on this as well because I’m going to need a ton of support along the way.  No one close to me or in my inner circle of friends has ever done one of these competitions before so this is going to be a learning experience for all of us.

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to tell your friends, other fitness enthusiasts, colleagues, blogger buddies and anyone else you think might be interested in reading up on my Fit to Figure journey.