Workout of the Day: Warrior Made 12/14/2011

Congratulations to all that participated in my class this afternoon at Equinox Fitness Newport Beach, amply named "Warrior Made."  Today's Crossfit inspired workout really turned some heads and left some good sweat on the floor.  All workouts partnered up and were completed as a "team".  Times posted refect workout #2 and the team that performed it.  All items were completed Rx and were performed in succession with a 4 minute break in between.     Our winners today who took this workout by storm and set the standard... Followed by none other than Derek "D-LOW" Lowe and Dewey Nguyen at 9:17 Rx.

Brandon "B" Nakagawa and Alex "A-Dair" Adair

with a time of 7:11 Rx

"We must embrace the pain, and burn it as fuel in our journey." ~Kenji Miyazawa

Workout #1 (preloading) -->

3 RDS each person

*bicep curl to shoulder press performed continuously until rower completes 250m

250M Indo-Row and  Bicep Curl to Shoulder Press*

RX - Men 25lbs, Women 15lbs

Workout #2 for TIME:

All events completed as a two person team, AQAP, if one person needs a break, the other picks up the exercise and continues - continuous motion.

50 Thrusters

100 Air Squats (hip open at top)

75 Double unders or 150 singles

RX - Men 25 lbs, Women 15lbs

Think you can do better and want to challenge the winners? 

Rematch at Equinox NB, Wednesday, December 21st at 11:15am for 30 minutes.  Bring some competition and the mind to fight like a warrior to take the title!

I CAN and I WILL!

Joey and Tofu motivated and ready to get some vitamin D! 

Are you?

 

When the days get grey and it's cold and dark your workout can be the last thing you want to accomplish on the to-do list.   But with the holidays right around the corner and stress in the workplace growing it becomes more of a MUST do then a SHOULD do.  How do you stay motivated to stick with your routine?

How do I stay motivated?

• Develop a mantra - you may be tired and not wanting to attack those intervals, but find something that you can repeat to yourself to keep you going "This workout is going to be great", "Keep the arms pumping" or even sometimes it's a simple as "Come on Aubrey, push girl, push."
• Incentivize - stay away from the food incentives, but give yourself a treat for doing a job well done.  Whether that's one week of hard work in the gym or hitting cardio 6-7x/week, you deserve that pat on the back or an enjoyable long bubble bath
• Create a challenge - sometime it helps to have someone to push against or a deadline to meet.  Get with a trainer, create a challenge for yourself (I good circuit workout or timed row) to get yourselft to push a little harder.  For most competitive people, this will drive them to do the action whether they'd like to or not and work harder to complete.
• Demand Improvement - tell your body how it is.  The only way to improve is to stay consistent and push beyond the boundaries of the "uncomfortable" action.  Don't let you mind tell you it's tired, stay focused and don't let yourself off easy just because you lack the motivation.  There is someone else out there that is trying to outwork you...make them work for it, don't just give it to them.

What are some of your good motivational/inspirational moments? 



Getting Prepared for the Holidays

As I was going for my coffee fix at my favorite Peet's Coffee & Tea, I just happened to coincide with there "tasting series" where I was invited to taste all of their holiday blends - tea, coffee, holiday muffins, and more. With all of the business of my career change, trying to get back in the training groove and all around just enjoying life - I completely had forgotten that the holidays were more than just around the corner, we're in full force! 

The holidays are a time to enjoy family, enjoy good laughs and memories, but for most people a time to eat freely, leave their scheduled lives behind and all around just "enjoy".  The end of the year for most climates also brings colder weather, generally making people less likely to go outside and make it hard to get out of bed in the mornings chilly air.  But does that mean that the only way we can truely "enjoy the holidays" is to forget all the hard work we've done the rest of the year, and give in to all temptations and neglect our routine that we've worked so hard to achieve?

Of course not.  Yes, it will take some extra willpower to get through all of those long and carb fueled comfort meals - but why reverse all of your hard work throughout rest of the years for the last month and a half of the year?  All it takes is a little planning! 

Plan for these holiday get togethers to be centered around food and drinks.  It's okay to enjoy some of the festivities, but everything comes with moderation and the ability to make smarter choices.  Be the one to add something new to the holiday menu!  Why not bring a new dish, something you and everyone else can enjoy. 

Do a slight twist to your holiday favorites and create no sugar added fruit tarts instead of a large pie - one tart satisfies just fine.  Instead of the traditional green bean casserole dish that Aunt Sue always likes to bring, offer to bring a new twist on the holiday favorite: Green beans, brussel sprouts, shreaded carrots, and sweet sauted yellow onions tossed in light EVOO and topped with some panko breadcrumbs for a little familiar crunch!

Not a big cook in the kitchen?  Many health food stores and restaurants are now offering pre-cooked meals that you can bring with you to the party - check your local Whole Foods Market or Native Foods Restaurant which have already started to display there takeaway items that meet your nutritional needs and the star of the party!

Clean eats other than Sweet Potatoes

Looking for something to eat for the holidays but don't know what?  PUMPKINS!  Such a good source of Vitamin A, antioxidants and depending on what part of the pumpkin you use, fiber.  If that's not enough it's also a rich source of your B vitamins - yes the ones that increase your mood and use of fat stores and it's lo-cal.  Yay, I'm sold!

Thank you, Gracious Pantry for the great recipe for both sweet and savory - PUMPKIN FRIES

http://www.thegraciouspantry.com/clean-eating-pumpkin-fries/

So don't forget to use pumpkins to make a healthy snack while they are on sale pretty much everywhere! Sweet potatoes have some competition now.

Mantra for the Day: "Prepare Yourself to See"

"People only see what they are prepared to see"

Quoted from: http://comesdownfromthecloads.tumblr.com/page/2

Prepare yourself for greatness.  Strive to do something different today and execute that goal.  Mix it up, stay engaged and most importantly stay focused.  It is what you prepare yourself for that you will see. 

Accomplish greatness by surrounding yourself with the positive people that remind you daily that you can and will attain. 

My body today reminded me how good it feels to push a limit.  No matter what my mind was telling me, I urged my body and mind to keep going.  

Mind and muscle connection - rebuild the faith that it's okay to be uncomfortable, it's okay to look beyond that limit and say come on get it together. 

Resistance training can and should be tough sometimes, it's okay, it's normal.  Don't let yourself give in or lose focus - understand your goal, appreciate your work and preparation.  Each step takes you one step closer to where you want to be.

It's Never to Late to Take Control of your Life

So I've decided to make a career change and go in to personal training full time.  My passion for fitness and desire to teach others what I have learned made me realize that there is more to life then just being content.  While my office job was safe and I liked my team, I knew that my calling was elsewhere and that I had this love for fitness. 

After my national competition in July, I was so inspired by all that I had accomplished.  The hardwork, the change, the desire to push and learn more about my body then ever before.  It became a lifestyle and  more than just a hobby, something I did on the side.  I thought about it everytime I was at work or talked to a neighbor.  It came up in every conversation and I found people always coming to me and asking for diet and workout advice. 

So it seemed simple.  Over the last week or so since I started I've been working about 10+ hours a day, getting paid for half of them and picking up after all of our members, putting away equipment and generally just getting to know our members.  But everyday comes a new challenge, a new person to meet and another day to take pride in my work - make members happy and keep them coming back.  It may seem a bit odd that all that work that bring me back to the basics still energizes me but it's people like the ones I met today that bring it all together. 

Today I spoke with a member that made me realize that life is so much more than just going through the motions.  He was diagnosed with Lukemia 5 years ago, survived the battle and took control of his destiny and is now taking back his body and health.  To hear him speak about all that he has accomplished on his own with only a free downloaded calorie counter application on his phone and some good old-fashioned exercise he's determined to get down 30 pounds by December and has already accomplished about 15 lbs.

This is what I want to hear daily.  We can all make a difference.  One thing that he left me with that I will never forget.  He said, one thing the doctor said to me is that I can only help your health up to a point, the rest you will have to do. He says to me after that statement, "so I owe it to my doctor and to do my part...my goal is to lose 30 lbs by the New Year and in the new year another 20, after that I will make a new goal and I'm going to get back to what I looked like 10 years ago."  With tears in his eyes, he pulls out a picture of himself 10 years ago on his phone and he said my daughter sent this to me and although I don't remember it, I'm going to get there. 

An amazing man. An amazing life.  An amazing career ahead.  I want to be the catalyst of this change.

Mind over Matter

Some days you don't feel like you want to keep going, you can feel frustrated and like you could give in to all temptations.  Not everyday feels like you give 110%, heck not everyday is 100%.  Today is that day for me. 

It's days like today when it's mind over matter. 

I know that everything I do, I do for a purpose.  It's just the way that I am.  It's the way I'll always be.  Once I commit, I commit with everything I have - which frankly is always to keep myself with the pack or ahead of the pack.  Frustration sets in for me a lot as I go through the process of training for the USA's with some of the toughest competition I've seen yet and the possibility of becoming something I've always aimed and dreamed of... "The Pros."  This show if I were to perform better than all the rest in my class earns me the right to get my pro card and the opportunity to be among the elite. 

It's days like this that I have to keep my ultimate goal in mind and trust my body that we can and will do this. It's no longer easy.  I have been dieting now for about 7 months straight (not cutting the entire time) - eating "clean" I'd like to say.  Of course my body is craving.  I'm only human. 

Although I may splurge sometimes, my husband likes to say that I never quite go crazy. Really it's just that I have too much food guilt. Sure, I just have a meal that I may not have had on my nutrition plan or enjoy some frozen yogurt.  It's all relative and it's all to keep me sane - feel like a normal, regular, everyday type of person.  But for me food is a fuel.  I know what's in it and I eat for a purpose (see I told you everything I do is like this.)

For the first two shows I felt pretty good.  I knew I had to perform, and was excited and noticing differences daily.  I started to get into it and competing is something many people would never even attempt to do.  My body still felt pretty good and for me, I started at a higher body fat, so losing another few percent was not overkill.  -- Then the second show; competition gets tougher and I've been on the "eating plan"/structure for some time.

It's more of a mind game at this point.

I found myself saying, you can do this, afterall you have been at this for 4-5 months.  It all gets you closer to the pros.  But then the final show comes.  At 7 months in and it no longer is "fun."  I feel like I look good, but not great.  I need to look great.  If I don't look great, I can't perform the way I want to, and the what I expect of myself is to push harder than the average person, keeping standards that border on farily illogical. Part of it I think is that I'm scared. 

Scared that I haven't put myself in a winning position, that I won't make it.  The other part is the frustration that you STILL can't do what the normal people do because frankly you're just not.  My body now doesn't recognize what some of my coworkers would like is an okay lunch - peanut butter and jelly sandwich, no.  Eating out at Olive Garden or to be truthful even eating something most people that eat "healthy" have as an option like Chick-Fil-A, no. 

 I look at food as fuel.  Mind over matter, it's important to keep things in perspective and try not to be overwhelmed that really you can't eat like ANYONE eats. 

The body is craving, that's okay.  I don't have to do this forever.  It is a choice, it's a lifestyle.

It's become a lifestyle.  But even as a lifestyle the final goal is always hard.  As my husband keeps telling me, it's like the last 2 miles of a marathon - you know what you've accomplished.  You can't give in now until you finish - you're committed.  You want this.  You deserve this.  Sometimes you just have to push through and know you will succeed, this is what you trained for.  Yes, it's going to hurt.  Yes, it's not easy.  That's okay.  That's normal. 

Expect a lot from yourself, dream big - because no matter what it takes, no matter how many times you break down; I will keep going.  These are the times that you push, push, push.  Mantra: I'm not going to stop, I'm not going to waiver.  I will get this - I want this too bad.  I deserve this, so make it happen and train hard.  Show that you deserve to be on the podium!