The Lost Art of Doing What You Love to Do

The theme of my week has been in understanding motivation, goal-setting, and being happy content as you go about it.  I've had a few situations with members at 24Hr in the past week, as well as in personal life, that have made me think about why it is we try to achieve these things in our society that will potentially make us happy.  Sometimes we make our goals and sometimes our goals are too hard to reach.  But in either case, achieving them or not does not make us feel the way we thought when we set our goals in the first place.

This is a great theme to discuss for fitness and weight loss.  I feel like anyone can relate to this topic, whether you are 140lbs trying to lose a stubborn few (or gaining muscle!) or 400lbs and trying to figure out where to even start because the task seems too great.  I've seen many a gym member in my day (love you all!) to see this theme come to life.  So many people are fit, healthy, and motivated.  But I would bet that they are in the gym mostly because they fear what could happen if they stopped working out.  Let the battle of the bulge begin!  Many people work out because they are in the process of losing weight (after how many days of beating yourself down, I wonder?).

My point is, it is NOT about working out to achieve a physical status that you are HAPPY with.  That will keep you at a stagnant feeling of hatred towards fitness and your body.  You hate your body because it makes you have to spend hours at the gym, when you could be doing so many other things.  Too many people I've seen have reached their weight loss and body image goals and then they feel lost because they don't know how to stop or because they feel pressure to keep their new weight.

This is where goal re-shaping needs to come into play.

I just read (this morning!) an article from my favorite fitness blog by Charlotte Hilton-Anderson called, The Great Fitness Experiment, that is all about HAPPINESS.  And then it struck me just how important happiness is for everyone to achieve, but unfortunately it is simply a wisp of wind we cannot catch.  Her article talks about intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation.  Are you trying to achieve your goal because of wealth/status/perception or because it is simply 'inherently satisfying'?

A great example is running.  Do you run to lose weight or do you run because you love the feel of the wind on your face and the exhilarating challenge?  I ran the Platte River Half Marathon last April, and swear that I had an 'inner smile' the WHOLE way.  It was the hardest I've run, but I inherently LOVED every second of it.

What are you fitness goals?  Really?  Deep down, why do you do what you do?  Is it because you love doing it?  It makes you feel good?  Do you feel more energetic and maybe more put together throughout your day?  Or is it because you fear the pressure of looking good?  Maybe you think that you have never achieved that 'look' you see in your head?  Maybe you have given up?

My hope and challenge to everyone reading this, is that they find what intrinsically makes them happy AND helps them achieve their goals.

I love hiking and trail running.  It makes me happy.  It helps me feel strong, sexy, and alive in this world.  I don't have pressure of NOT attaining that perfect body or being the fittest person in the gym (which I will tell you is the biggest struggle as any trainer would tell you), because I can reach this point of contentment and pure thrill and happiness when I run in the beautiful foothills of Colorado.  I am content.

Ask yourself the hard questions of why you are motivated and how you can be motivated toward the right things, things that bring you peace and contentment, not false happiness.  Don't fake it.  Find purpose in what you do!

Here was the first image I saw when I googled "contentment":

Aminos and Fat-burning Exercise!

Tuesday turned out to take a toll on my body!  I was feeling great IN class, but after 3 classes, Wednesday was tough.  I decided to try out Anabolic Amino Rush, which is an Apex product sold at 24 Hour Fitness (click here for $4 shipping or I can get it to you with a discount and free shipping!).  Here's what it does and why I decided to try it: 

In your body, amino acids that are either produced in your body (non-essential) or are needed in your diet (essential) to be used as the 'building blocks' or proteins and for metabolism.  Basically, they control every cellular process that goes on in your body.  What an important role!  Specifically in regard to exercise, your body needs those amino acids to help repair what you have 'broken down' in your workouts.  

This is where Amino Rush comes in to play.  This powder has a great ratio and just the right amount of aminos to help your body repair.  Leucine, Iso-leucine, and Valine, are all vital in that process (Leucine being the MOST important).  Leucine is essential and we can get it through our diet*, but it would take a lot of dietary leucine to do its job effectively.  As you work out, your body breaks down glucose in your muscle tissue and creates the byproducts pyruvic acid and NADH (electrons).  Leucine binds with pyruvic acid to reform properties in your muscle tissue.  So, instead of your body having to clear away that byproduct, leucine helps reuse it to repair the muscle damage faster.  What is even cooler, leucine is able to do this process in adipose and muscle tissue!  

Since I have been doing a lot of exercise through classes, I wanted to see if it would help reduce muscle fatigue and increase my strength over a prolonged period of time.  Basically, I don't want to feel like I got whiplash every Tuesday!  I'll keep you updated :)

*some dietary sources include:  fish, peanuts, wheat germ, soy beans, and beef 

On to another study related to exercise!  Have you seen this music video? 

 I love that they used treadmills :)  

Freemotion Fitness, a company that produces and sells great exercise equipment, has a research link that I have found interesting.  They are 'famous' for their incline trainer, which makes the average treadmill look lame.  Their trainer can take you on inclines as high as 30, where a normal treadmill goes to 15...

Here is a synopsis on their research: 

As a trainer, I take different energy systems into the equation when helping someone to their goals.  The most common goal is weight loss, so I often turn to High Intensity training to help them burn the most calories and gain muscle under a short period, but also tell them to use this tool to stress a different energy system.  Let me back up...

Here are your three energy systems, or rather, how our body uses energy in any activity:  ATP-CP, glycolysis, and oxidative.   Although all are used at any given time, one of them will be stressed and used more than another.  The oxidative process is what I want to look at here for fat burn.  

Oxidation takes a slow and steady rate of exercise and produces enough energy to keep you going through oxygen (hence the name!).  Walking is a great example.  

However, it takes a VERY long time to burn lots of calories.  And how do we burn calories?  We use as much muscle as possible.  This is where the incline trainer research is great!  They took the need for a slow oxidative exercise while increasing muscle being used and found that walking at a very steep incline reaches that need!  Their studies found that walking at an incline anywhere from 18-24% and at a speed of 2-3mph activated more muscle and utilized more fat as energy.  

If you want to use this in your fitness regime, walk more than 30 minutes at an incline of at least 18% at 2.4 mph and you will use 6 cals/min of fat versus a meek 2 cals/min of fat at a flat 6mph jog.  Have fun inclining!  

Fun with Photos!

I am playing with Picmonkey today and wanted to bring a little inspiration to our fab Friday!  Enjoy!

Don't forget to come check out Boot Camp! 

C-6 and C-10: A History (and more Pancakes!)

The poll above is for a topic for me to talk about.  The 'diet fad' with the most interest will be discussed!

Real quick, here is a recipe I've used the past two days:

Protein Pancakes

1/2 banana, mashed
1 egg
1 scoop vanilla protein powder (I use Apex's Supreme)
2 T. corn meal or another flour of choice
1/2 tsp. baking powder
 *add milk (almond milk!) to reach desired consistency-I used about 1/4 cup

Combine wet ingredients first and add dry to form into a batter.  As any pancake, pour on med heat skillet until it bubbles, flip, and repeat.  Serve with PB or almond butter if you dare!
**this is for one extremely filling breakfast, or two cakes for a normal stomach ;)

 I felt like adding some chia seeds in the mix, no flavor, possibly some benefit!

This breakfast was consumed after an early morning spin class (on top of the other tough classes this week) and I just couldn't get full!  Still hungry...

C-6 and C-10: A History

There is a great book out there that everyone should read, especially those of us who are gradually getting older (last time I checked, that's all of us!).  It's called, "Younger Next Year" by Crowley and Lodge.  This book explains something that is crucial to our human makeup, and something that is slowly causing us to age and get sick faster than ever before.

Let me take a step back and explain the biology behind it all.  Your body produces cytokines that regulate everything in your body.  Cytokine 6 (C6) controls decay, or inflammation, and C10 regulates growth.  This is very simplistic, obviously there is much more going on, but I want to encourage you with this...There is a steady trickle of C6, decay, that happens every second.  It takes a massive surge in C6 to trigger a response of C10 to clean up after C6's damage.  The only way to trigger that much of a response is through exercise.  You must sweat to rebuild and grow what is decaying in your body.

Many things can cause C6 to continue to release inflammation, on top of what it already releases in the body.  And unfortunately, it only increases with age.  Daily stress, apathy, and worry are huge examples of added inflammation that is caused mostly by our busy lives and jobs.  And, also unfortunately, when we are so busy and stressed out, we don't have time to fit in fitness.

Think back to our hunter/gatherer days...we would chill in the fields, waiting for prey to hunt, playing with the kids...when, all of a sudden, food is in sight.  Adrenaline (stress) rushes into our body as we attack, cook, and eat.  This is good stress--just like working out.  We need to excite that system, help it boost inflammation to produce growth, and start that process all over again, every day.  If you want to stay fit, healthy, and alive for the next few decades, you must exercise!!!

Alright, if this is interesting or exciting to you, read the book and go work out.  Get that inflammation going so that your body can clean up, rebuild, and make you stronger!

Here's lunch: A salad with tomatoes, avocado, deli turkey, red cabbage, feta, EVOO, and balsamic vinegar.  This looks small, but it was actually REALLY big.  Hopefully this will fill me up! Bye for now!

Why I Stay Fit--My Story

I was talking with a club member today about why I am a trainer and why I work out.  It was motivating me to stay fit just by sharing my passion with her.  So I am going to share it with you too!

In high school, I was not the most athletic kid, but I did play basketball every year.  I knew I wasn't the best on the team and the feedback I constantly received was, "You are a great team motivator and encourager!".  I took a class called Aerobics and Wellness, taught by a young and fun mid-twenties girl, full of joy (thank you Ripley!).  She was someone I looked up to and made me think about encouraging people in fitness, wherever they are in life.

Then I reached college.  When it came to decision time on finding my major, even though there were so many options that sounded amazing, Health and Fitness was calling my name.  I love anatomy and the science behind movement;  it was something I wanted to dedicate myself to (keep in mind, I had no idea where that degree would lead me...).  Even at the beginning of college, I knew that in order NOT to gain any more weight (I probably gained at least ten pounds), I had to keep up my workouts.  They were 'wee' workouts as I look back to them now, but I had the mentality in mind that my body would not stay thin like other bodies who ate just like me.  The dedication and knowledge grew and I began running more, which led to running my first half marathon junior year!  I've done 5 more, and have loved each one.  I still struggle with my body and knowing how much food I need to eat to maintain and lose weight (but that mission is lifelong!).

It's funny how things work.  In my capstone class, we learned about different avenues for fitness.  A beautiful trainer from a high-end resort club in Seattle talked to us about personal training, and I scoffed at the idea of propelling the notion that vanity is a thing to encourage.  When I started working at the front desk at 24 Hour Fitness, I began to get a glimpse of training as something that CAN be holistic and helpful for many people-it just depended on the trainer's viewpoint.

Now as a trainer going on 1.5 years, I can't believe I have found something that I am passionate about EVERY day!  I have my hard days, but that is mostly because I'm not working enough!  I LOVE meeting people where they are and finding a way to help them enjoy and incorporate fitness and health in everyday life and not settle where they are.

I stay fit because I can do amazing things and feel confident, strong, and vibrant every day!  I love hiking 14ers, trail running, cycling, and throwing weights around.  Those things may seem hard, but anyone can get there with time.  There are no limitations to how you can feel great too.  That is the beauty of fitness.  Some people truly have bodily limitations, but for many, the road blocks are in our mind.  Thinking about what it feels like to climb and be on top of the mountain range, I get excited to share that feeling...we are always climbing mountains and it may take more hard work and dedication, but we can all summit!  The body is resilient, strong, and able.  Be blessed that you are able and get MOVING.  Don't settle with where you are at--keep climbing those mountains because they are endless!  And we can climb mountains in community and share the pain and reward of hard work.

Happy trails!

My brother, dad, and I climbing Pikes Peak-a bucket list mountain!

DONT FORGET:  NEW boot camp class in the park starting SOON! Lets start that journey up the mountain together :)