How seriously do you take YOUR self?

I know that sometimes we all have the tendency to take ourselves a little too seriously.  We get cocky because we're havin a good hair day or our clothes are looking particularly fresh, whatEVER it is we are ALL guilty at SOME point of thinkin' our shit don't stink... well, guess what, if you're human, it DOES. If you put your pants on one leg at a time... it does.  EVEN if you put them on backwards like one of my clients did the other day.  Point is... we need to keep ourselves in check just a little bit, because if we DON'T... the universe is ALWAYS there to come SMACK US DOWN and put us back in place.... 
CASE IN POINT...

Your Leader!

Can Ya Spot Me?

Cardio Is NOT The Answer!!!

I ran across this article the other day and thought it was very important to share with you. Excessive cardio is something I see ALL the time. I try and advise against it, but it is hard to convince a "junkie" that they need to give up their habit.
I think it would probably actually be easier for me to try and get Amy Winehouse off smack!
Below is a little bit of the article to get you started and then a link to take you to the rest of it... READ IT, LEARN IT, LIVE IT!

here are also downsides to being a “cardio” junkie…..remember more is not better in most cases….here’s a couple good points from Steve Maxwell on some of his top 10 reasons he doesn’t do aerobics:
Oxidative Stress - Which causes a breakdown of tissues. It also predisposes one to cancer and heart attack.

Elevated cortisol production - Which causes a breakdown of muscle tissue and increases fat storage or depot fat. People do aerobics to alleviate stress yet end up creating more stress.

Lowered testosterone and HGH levels For men, aerobics are a form of chemical castration. Low T-levels are associated with lowered libido, depression, anxiety, increased body fat and decreased muscle tissue. This contributes to muscle-wasting and lowers the basal metabolic rate.

Increased appetite and a tendency toward binge eating patterns Aerobic exercise makes people hungry!

Burns a relatively small amount of calories vs. the time spent One large meal completely offsets the pitiful amount of calories burned in an hour aerobics session. This is exacerbated by over-engineered running shoes which cushion the feet in such a way to create a neural amnesia.

Adrenal burnout A consequence of the “feel good” neurotransmitters which also stimulate the release of adrenaline. Adrenaline is the fight or flight hormone. Excessive adrenaline creates an addictive response and people going routinely for the so called “high” of running end up with adrenal burnout, e.g., chronic fatigue and depression.

Dr. Kenneth Cooper, the father of aerobic exercise (and the person who coined the term) completely recanted his assertions regarding aerobic exercise. After observing a disproportionate number of his aerobic-enthusiast friends die of cancer and heart disease, he reversed his ideas on the benefits of excessive aerobic exercise. He now claims anything in excess of 20 minutes has greatly diminishing returns. In fact, he’s now an advocate of scientific weight training.

Read On Cardio Junkies!!!

78 days in...

Today is the 78th day of the new year. How are those resolutions coming along? which ones have you kept and which ones have you thrown out and plan on starting NEXT year?
You need to remember WHY you made your resolutions...remember the MOTIVATION behind your decision.
Did you want to lose weight so you could look good at your reunion? Did you want to lose weight so that walking to your car to the store didn't leave you winded? Did you want to quit smoking so you could watch your kids grow up, graduate, get married etc? what is the REASON behind your resolutions? If you can remember that and repeat it every time you are faced with a choice that will either make or break your resolution... it WILL help!
Keep up the good work...

what's YOUR excuse?

I'm apparently on a soapbox this week about healthy eating... i guess after about a week of NOT eating healthy, it has jumped to the front of the line and I am fixated on the importance of it. The good news, at least I think, is that I'm not the only one!
Our First Lady, Michelle Obama and me are petting the same dog... she too is a a big advocate of a healthy diet and active lifestyle. And I think just by looking at her...that's pretty obvious.

here's an excerpt from the article the NY Times ran the other day.

"White House officials say the focus on healthy living will be a significant item on Mrs. Obama’s agenda, which already includes supporting working families and military spouses. As the nation battles an obesity epidemic and a hard-to-break taste for oversweetened and oversalted dishes, her message is clear: Fresh, nutritious foods are not delicacies to be savored by the wealthy, but critical components of the diets of ordinary and struggling families." CLICK HERE to continue reading the rest of the story.

High Octane.

So, just a little while back I wrote about how I started a new training program and how I felt like a total "newbie" to the world of working out again. How everyday was a learning curve, how hard I can be pushed, learning new limits to my endurance and learning again what it's like to be SORE...EVERYday! And just like I mentioned the other day... I think it has been VERY beneficial to me to have a new, fresh perspective on what it's like to be NEW to working out again.
Well, THIS weekend I discovered another NEW. I have been in a small town in the great state of New York for the past 4 or 5 days and found myself forced out of my normal patterns and habits. there WAS no Whole Foods market to go get my daily lunch salad from, there was no refrigerator in my hotel room in which to keep my usual stash of healthy foods. There wasn't even a coffee maker in the room to get my day started right, but that's not the point of this particular post... i'm just throwing that in there to try and garner a little sympathy from some of you.
No, the point of this entry is to let you know that I fell off the wagon...BIG time! I started out with the best of intentions, but it very quickly spiraled into an uncontrollable and apparently unstoppable quest to see HOW much I could eat in four days! So, not only was I eating food that I was not used to eating, I found myself eating large portions of it and very often! Here is what I learned from this experience. I DIDN'T FEEL GOOD! The WHOLE time I felt miserable. I felt heavy and sluggish and slow. I kept thinking about how some people eat like this...ALL the time. That THIS was NORMAL to some people. We really ARE what we eat. I KNOW there are folks out there that that are more concerned with what grade of gasoline they put in their car than they are about what they eat. Does that make ANY sense!?!?! The food you put in your body is the FUEL for your body. We are AMAZING machines and for us to try to operate them by fueling them with whatever kind of junk and crap we can find and get our hands on is doing us an enORmous injustice.
I think this has been an important lesson for me to stumble upon just a few days after writing about cleaning up your diet. I encourage you to not only clean up your diet and pay attention to what you are eating... I want you to ALSO start paying attention to how you FEEL when you eat certain things. How does your body react to eating a cleaner, less processed diet of lean proteins and fresh fruits and vegetables? How does it FEEL without greasy, fried food? I GUARANTEE you there is a HUGE difference. I just experienced a poor diet again and I can't tell you just HOW grateful I was to be having my salad for dinner last night...not to mention how much better I feel today as a result of it.
S.