I Saw A Young Man In The Gym Today And Wanted To Cry!

It was a regular gym day for me. I was running through my routine, the same motions I do every time I go. I set up my little station in the corner and got the equipment that I needed. In between my sets I chatted with the regulars, all of us complaining about the new gym "set up" and questioning why they didn't ask our opinion before they moved everything around ;) 

Then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw them.  Three young adult men. I have a 19 year old so I'm guessing they couldn't have been much older than that. Two of the young men looked like they had been in the gym before.  They knew their way around the weights and talked in reps and plates.

 The third young man looked like a fish out of water.

It was pretty clear that it was his first time, or close to it. He wore cargo pants and skate shoes. He was overweight and I could tell he was feeling extremely self-conscious about being there. His buddies were in shorts and tank tops; perfect muscle flexing attire. The "pros" were leading the charge so to speak and it was obvious that our little fish was just going to follow their lead. 

The two men joked and flexed in the mirror, but the third young man self-consciously pulled at his shirt to try and cover his stomach, while looking around nervously to see if anyone was looking at him.  I wanted to cry. I could feel his insecurity and as a mom I just wanted to go up and hug him and tell him that he was amazingly brave for even being there. As a trainer I wanted to roll out my arsenal of sure fire ways to "lose weight and get jacked". I wanted to tell him to meet me there everyday and that I would train him until he was twice as big as the other two. 

After 5 minutes of flexing, it was go time.  The two young men picked up their dumbbells and started shoulder presses. The third one grabbed a set of 40's and right away I knew that it was too heavy for him. I wanted to go say something, but as my own 19 year old son has taught me, its less embarrassing for a guy to drop a weight than it is to have a 45 year old woman come up and tell him "that's a bit too heavy for you sweetie".  

I refrained.

It continued with some lateral raises where he predominately used his neck muscles to lift the weight and some front raises where he completed 2 out of the 12 reps. 

One of the reasons it broke my heart to see him was because it reminded me of my son, Stratton. He was never overweight rather just the opposite.  He was small.  We moved to Kelowna the year he entered grade 8. He went to OKM that first day, not knowing a soul and looking like he was going into grade 6. I felt so bad for him, and cried after dropping him off. But he was brave. He even joined the OKM Football Team. He was literally the smallest player on the team. He lasted two years, until it became painfully obvious that his growth spurt that we were promising wasn't coming anytime soon. He was very discouraged. He felt little, invisible, embarrassed.

We always told our kids that they needed to do something active and so if it wasn't football, he had to find something else. OKM had a Weight Training Class and so he signed up. I asked him the other day when it was that he started to feel "brave" in the gym. He told me that that class was when things started to turn around. He started to grow a little and by just committing to training on a regular basis, he began to see some small changes. Summer came and he joined a public gym. He said he felt intimidated the first few times, but just stuck with it anyway because his body was changing. 

Looking back to when he was in grade 8, he had no idea that it was possible to change his body as much as he has. Back then I couldn't have convinced him that one day he would be totally jacked and shredded. However, he made a decision to change and worked at it with a deep commitment that his dad and I are very proud of. The funny thing is, both my husband and now my son get told that they are lucky to have such good genetics! No, genetically, they are slight, smaller men. My husband weighed 140 pounds when we got married. They have both changed their shape dramatically because they have worked REALLY hard at it. Below is a picture of Stratton yesterday.

All that to say, I hope that young fish in the gym believes that change is possible. I hope he fights every insecurity that rises up inside of him. I hope he starts but doesn't stop. I hope he loves himself enough to treat himself with compassion even when he doesn't change as quickly as he wants. I hope Stratton can run in to this young man at the gym one day and be an inspiration. And, I hope I see him again so I can cheer him on, even if its just from inside my own head :)

Stratton today -Dec 10, 2015

Vacation Workout Guide!

As a trainer I hear this statement A LOT , "Ugh, I wish I hadn't taken two weeks off from exercising! It's so hard to get back at it! How can I exercise for months, and then I take two weeks off and I feel like I've lost everything??" 

Sound familiar? 

I'm not going to give you a whole list of reasons why you should be Moving Daily on vacation. You already know why. You already know that it increases serotonin, decreases cortisol, burns calories from over eating "vacation food", starts the day off right, feels amazing, sustains muscle tissue, increases circulation and overall make you healthier and happier!!

Like I said, I'm not going to give you a list ;)

What I do want to give you is some workouts that you can take with you on your vacation, wherever you may go this summer, so that you don't have to be one of the people in the gym in September who is saying....

"I wish I would have worked out".

Hotel Room Workouts:

Deck of Cards Workout!

Take an ordinary deck of cards, minus the jokers, and shuffle.  Turn over 3 cards at a time, add up the numbers, and that’s the amount of reps you are doing for the first exercise!  Ace = 11, face cards =10.

You want to choose higher intensity exercises for this in order to keep the heart rate elevated! Here is a list of exercises you can choose from:

Squats – Prisoner (legs together) or Sumo (legs apart)

Jumping Jacks

High Knees

Butt Kicks

Pushups

Ab Bicycles

Burpees

Jumping Lunges (scissor jumps)

Tuck Jumps

Racer Jax (like a jumping jack, just lower, bent over like a ski racer)

Mountain Climbers

Side to side one legged hops, two legged hops

Fast punches

Ab crunches

Squat Jacks (jumping jack with a squat)

Circulate the list if you still have cards left over.  Rest, and repeat!

***
Most hotels have stairs. What a great place to get an intense workout in. Just head down the corridor to the stairwell and "hiit" this next workout! 

Stair Workout!

2 flights of single stairs (every stair) – warm up

At the Bottom: 50 squats (10 jump squats, 10 regular, 10 jump, 10 regular, 10 jump)

2 flights of doubles (every other stair)

40 Mountain Climbers (hands) on bottom stair

2 flights of crossovers (face one direction, crossover foot to the higher step.)

2 flights of crossovers (face other direction)

30 Butt Blasters each leg (place one foot on 2^nd step, then keeping that leg stationary, step up and touch, repeat 30x each leg)

Run up 2 flights, down 1 flight, up 2 flights, down 1 flight. Continue to top (this works well with 5 or more flights).

On the way down, come down 2 flights, up 1. Down 2, up 1.

20 Jumping Lunges

Race up to the very top as fast as you can, 2X!

10 Burpees

Lastly, two-foot hop up every step to the top!

***

Now, if you want to take things outside, there are so many options! Trail running, hiking, water sports, kayaking, canoeing. When we were down in Santa Monica, here is the beach workout I did:

Beach Body Workout:

Have a go at a few of these workouts and let me know how you did in the comments below! While on vacation if nothing else.....
move daily.

Remember, before participating in any exercise program, please consult a doctor.

"You can do it!!" ~ "Oh yeah I can!"

What a Friday! What am I saying....its more like "What a year!"

Being in the fitness industry definitely has its perks in terms of fitting the daily workout in. A few exercises in bootcamp , a warm up and abs with a client, a weekly Knox climb with another client, a few reps here and there all throughout the day and I've worked out today, right?! Or not.

I have normally been able to schedule my workouts in to my day (just like I've told my clients to do countless times), but lately, whether it be from a packed schedule, lack of motivation, no more workout partner or emotional stress (probably a combination of all four) I have been giving myself permission to just "skip it" today. To be honest, I'm not lovin' the results of that.

Today could have been one of those days. I was busy! I worked from 6am-2pm. Then errands and paper work needed to be done. I thought of stopping at the gym on my way home but I felt guilty that my daughter was home alone all morning. I feel very strongly about my motto, "MOVE DAILY". Not only for us as adults, but also to make your kids move too. Stratton was heading to the gym, Dezi was going skateboarding, but Piper was watching Looney Tunes! I said, get dressed, we're going golfing! Lol, just the golfing range...but better than sitting on the couch. Then, just by sheer virtue of being out of the house, I found some motivation. I told her that I would take her to the driving range, but that we were going to stop at the Viewcrest stairs on the way home. She was game!

I knew that I was planning drinks out with the girls that evening, and if I had missed this workout, I knew I would feel like crap the next day.

I committed to 10 flights of stairs.

I didn't WANT to do it. I wanted to just go home. However, part of the benefit of exercise, is that it increases that feel good hormone, serotonin, and the feeling we have after it is done, is AMAZING! Of course it was so much easier with my little counter and cheerleader there to encourage me. She was so cute yelling at me, "You can do it mom, one more flight to go!" 

She was right. I CAN do it.

Yeah, she also had a Slurpee ;)  Don't judge me...everything in moderation I say ;)

Here's the main point: 

You can do what you tell yourself you are capable of doing!

I LOVE it when my client Daniella whispers before a chin up or a heavy squat, "Ok, I can do this!" I tell her...yeah you can! Of course you can! Who told you that you couldn't?! 

Bottom line? Tell yourself you can, schedule in your workouts, and be kind to yourself if you mess up.

Now go MOVE DAILY.

Our Femsport Weekend Experience!

What a weekend! 6 months of training for Femsport and our team of 7 ladies were finally able to demonstrate our months of hard work. If you've never heard of Femsport before, I tell people its a little like Tough Mudder meets Strong Man...but for women only :) There are 6 events that you compete in: Box Jumps, Kettle Bell Carry, Obstacle Course, Tire Flip, Tire Drag and Inverted Rows. 

Femsport Team

The day was amazing! Not a cloud in the sky. Minus a few oversights (there was no shade and we didn't bring anything to sit on -whoops!) we really did have a remarkable experience! The BEST part for me was competing in an event that I have never done before. It was thrilling. All day we sat on pins and needles not knowing what was coming next, how difficult it would be, wondering if we could even do it. 

The icing on the cake was that we ALL did it! 

Denise and Jen completed all 50 box jumps, under pressure, when they had only ever done the whole 50 a handful of times during training! Denise was the bravest one of us all, having been chosen by the event committee to be first in EVERY event! She led the way with determination and gusto! And you'll never meet anyone more celebratory over her fitness improvement than Jen. Fist pumps, cheers and high 5's all around as she beats her personal best, time and again. A definite reason to celebrate :)

Kellie came into the morning a little more apprehensive. Her schedule hadn't allowed her to train with us as often and she was nervous about flipping that 275 pound tire 6x. Taking a "bye" on that event was a thought that crossed her mind, but she hadn't come here to quit...and she let us all know that. She came here to flip that damn tire. And she flipped it well, landing her in second place in her division! 

And there was Jenny. Who, in spite of packing her household to move to Alberta in a few weeks, beat us all at every event and proved that you can do anything you set your mind to! Her highlight was beating me in box jumps by 1/2 a second!!

 Danica owned her box jumps in 1 minute and somehow found a burst of energy 1/2 way through the tire pull to cross the finish line in 26 seconds!

And Sharon surprising us all by competing in a bikini competition and Femsport in back to back weekends! Proving to other 40 year old's that life isn't ending...its just starting!!

And me? Well....let's just say it was an experience! Never, that I can remember, have I had so much adrenaline and cortisol coursing through my veins in one day! Every event drove us to anaerobic threshold. The nerves, the heat, the anticipation....it was thrilling!  I wouldn't have changed it. The only thing left to do now...is to determine what's next :)

www.insofit.com

3 Reasons I Recommend You Exercise With Friends

In my years as a trainer I have noticed a few things. Shocker eh? One thing that stands out time and again, is that people who work out with their friends have a good time. And I don't just mean a "pleasant" time, but a gut-laughing, knee slapping, sometimes pee your pants (not mentioning any names...) GOOD TIME! When I train friends or groups I am constantly amused at how fast the hour goes by, and how much fun the friends are having. Don't get me wrong..when its time to drop the hammer and train...we train. But, in the meantime...friendships are strengthened, women are encouraged, stories are told, and best friends are challenged to be more, do more than they thought possible!

 Here are 3 Reasons why I think you should train with your friends:

1. Accountability - When my kids were little, we lived in Reno, NV for a season. When my work visa didn't get approved at the border on our move down, I became a stay-at-home mom. In order to fit exercise into my day with the little ones, my only option was to wake up at 5am, hit the gym and be home by 7am. "Put a gun to my head!", said the woman who loves her sleep. At any rate, I started carpooling with my friend Shelly. There were so many mornings I couldn't have wanted to do anything less than to get up at that hour and go exercise. But, when my friend was counting on me to pick her up, or when I knew she was sitting in my driveway waiting for me to join her, I didn't want to let her down! I love seeing that accountability among my friends and clients here in Kelowna! When one doesn't feel like it, inevitably the other one is pumped and can spread her energy and enthusiasm.

A Transformation Indeed!

This is what 3 months of consistency can achieve!! Linda committed herself to cleaning up her diet. We introduced "clean eating" and since she really liked entertaining, she needed a concept that was going to allow her to still do that. So we talked about the 80/20 principle....eating clean 80% of the time, and having a few treats 20% of the time. She did resistance training 2-3x/week, and cardio 3-4x/week. She still has some goals that she wants to reach, but she is well on her way!  Congratulations Linda on all your hard work!