Season Three Wind Down

This was our workout Tuesday. Tuesday was week six, day one. Last week of season three and my second season doing Tribe Training. 

We saw this board and groaned. I may have overheard a whimper, but I'm not naming any names. Ok, it was me. Whatever. Moving on...

Clearly I survived. And truth be told, it wasn't the toughest workout. It was challenging but it wasn't legendary. That status goes to the week of the backward crawl and bear crawl combination. Legen... Wait for it.... Dary folks. 

My goal for season three was to complete thirty push ups without stopping. I did it Tuesday night!! There is video, but this terrible app I'm posting from won't let me post it. I will upload it. 

Tonight is our last night. We will be repeating our fitness challenge from the first night to measure progress. I'm a little worried. I knew there would be huge strides in the first season. 

I can't help but wonder if fitness gains slow the more you progress? I think they do. I am also unsure if I'm a beginner still? I feel like a beginner. I like that feeling. It makes everything possible and that of I stick to it long enough I'll get there. Maybe that's a good thing? To just always feel new at it, to always want more and so more and be better? Maybe when you think of yourself as done, you quit? And you have to know by now, Punishers  never quit. 

3... 2... 1... GO!!

Oh What a Slacker!

Here we are in the Third Season, about halfway through and I haven't posted one single thing.  For shame.

While its technically Third Season, its the second one here at Healthtrax.  With Tribe, everyone who participates across the globe does the same workout and the same season.  Its sort of global torture brought right into your local health club! Isn't that thoughtful of them?

Its interesting how these seasons stack up upon each other.  The progression of ridiculously tough workouts to even more ridiculously tough seems faster this time around.  It might be me, but I'm not entirely sure. There is a method to this madness.  The workouts are so carefully planned that you progress significantly faster than you would otherwise.  Each week builds upon the previous week forcing us to be stronger and faster and tougher not just in the quads and shoulders but our minds too.

Let me run you through a typical night of Tribe Fit:

Most of us arrive at least fifteen minutes early.  Some even earlier for a hot tub soak but we won't mention names.

We see the Workout of the Day (WOD) on the whiteboard.  Well, more like stare at it with squinted eyes for a solid ten minutes before class starts.  We aren't memorizing it, we're measuring it against all the others that came before. This is bargaining.  It goes like this, "Well, two weeks ago we did walk-outs and burpees so surely animal pushups and crawls can't be that much harder."

 We're also thinking about which kettlebell or dumbbell we should choose.  Squats? Go heavy.  Overhead presses?  Can't go light enough!  Prone rows?  Sort of heavy.

In the background noise of our brains, self-preservation instincts are hopping up and down on one foot screaming, "ME! ME! PICK ME! GO LIE DOWN! STOP IT! WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE! IS THAT FIRE?  YOU SHOULD REST!" The key here, as I've said before,  is to shut that lying son of a bitch down.  We might be wondering how we'll finish this craziness and then deciding that yes, of course we will finish.  We can't not finish.  Its why we're here.  We're here to win something.  To prove something.  To not feel eighty years old until our hundredth birthdays, to keep up with our kids, to be able to run and jump longer than anyone else we know.

Its the beginning of the night and already we know that in one hour we will feel a sense of accomplishment that will carry us through the night. A sense of progress and pride that is too often reserved for our kids.  Its a rare thing to be middle-aged and kicking this much ass!  Seriously, if you don't think that's a big part of it, you're fooling yourself.  Sure, most people sign up at a gym thinking "skinny, small, diet, cardio" but if you don't progress beyond that, you will quit within six months (25% of the people who make a New Year's Resolution don't last a week).  Those ideas need to evolve towards, "strong, healthy, eat, muscle."  When that happens the gym is no longer an item on a to do list.  It becomes one of your favorite things to do, the thing that tops the list and all other things must fit around.

At the moment our warm up begins (usually lasting about 10-15 minutes), the world outside the gym disappears.  There are no meetings, no grocery lists, no homework to struggle though, no laundry to wash.  There is only the matter at hand.  And it usually involves lunges.

After everyone finishes warm-up, we gather around the board.  Justin goes over the WOD, teaches us anything new we haven't done yet.  After all this time, there are still new things to learn.  For example, the Reverse Bear Crawl:

This might look simple, but I will pay you $500 if you can do 100 meters of these fricking things without swearing.  Of course, you also need to do them forwards first.

There are usually two different workouts, but sometimes not.  Usually we do things for time or start on the minute or every two.  Sometimes you work in pairs.  There is almost always a lot of jump roping (rowing is an alternate for those with knee/joint issues).  And sometimes there isn't. As the workout progresses, your fellow Tribe members push you to work harder, go faster or just get through it.  Your Tribe doesn't let you fail and when you need that kick in the ass... you get it.  This is teamwork of the highest order.

And then somehow, its done.  You finished what had once been impossible for you.  Maybe it was six months ago or a year ago, but you know that previous to this moment in your life this thing that you did was impossible. These things might include burpees.  I mean, it might.  Burpees are awful.  You should do them every single day.  That's how awful they are.

My goal is to do thirty pushups in a row, without stopping.  I'm currently at 23.

I'll post a video of me doing thirty in a few weeks.

See you on the other side...

A Different Kind of Before and After

My original thought when I started this blog was to post photos of me when I started vs when I finished my first season of Tribe.  I was, to be honest, pretty freaked out about doing that.  I'm not a "selfie" person and while I see great value in those before and afters, I wasn't so sure about plastering pictures of myself in a sports bra and shorts on the internet.  I have them and there are changes in my appearance, but to be honest with you, the changes you can't see are what really matters.

It doesn't matter what I look like.

It doesn't matter that indeed, I see more muscle in my arms and legs.  That my ab muscles are pretty firm and there's the faintest bit of definition there for the first time in my whole life.  I'm proud of this, I worked really hard.  These are side effects of what really matters and why I'm doing this.

Here's what MATTERS...

What matters is that I didn't quit.

That it was hard and there were moments where I thought, "What the hell am I doing?"  But they were moments and my mind was usually so focused on the task at the hand I just didn't have time to doubt or second guess.

What matters is that I made huge progress.

In SIX weeks.  Not six months.  Six weeks ago, I could do maybe ten decent push-ups in a row.  I just did thirty this morning.  The last few were very, very hard but as for a measure of progress, that's pretty good for me.  I'm stronger.  My arms and back and core and legs are all stronger and those muscles will matter more and more as I age.  They will help keep diabetes away and heart disease and help support my joints and keeps things moving the way they're designed to.

What matters is that I met some terrific people.

 Our ages span from early twenties to fifties and we are all from totally different backgrounds.  Yet, this one thing that we have in common is enough.  And that one thing is supporting each other to get to the next level.  That is a rare thing, especially when the years of high school sports and dance classes have long past.

What matters is I shut down The Voice.  Not the annoying  reality show.  I mean that inner voice that tells me I can't, that I shouldn't, that I never have and I never will.

The idea behind Tribe has a lot to do with our minds and The Voice.  Our brains like to tell us to quit.  Its a self preservation mechanism that has helped keep humankind around for so long.  When you are trying to push through a workout or a long run, (or make a career change or get out of a shit relationship), its that voice telling you to quit that often wins when your body is actually capable of much more. When people say someone is "mentally strong" what they're saying is that they shut The Voice down or put it in its place.

This is where your circle of Tribe members come in to play.  They're doing it too, surely you can finish.  They are sweating and grunting and fighting on, so what the hell is my problem?  Its as much psychological as it is physical and when you have nine people and a trainer cheering you on simply by finishing, telling you can do it, you do more than you thought you could.

You see, I know The Voice.

 It kept me in my bed and on my recliner for a decade while I whined about pain and headaches and scarlet red knees and "chronic fatigue."  Its bullshit.  I'm embarrassed for myself.  I wasted ten years of my life.  I would do anything to get those years back, to go hop on a time machine and shake myself and scream, "GET UP!!!  YOU'RE FINE! ITS NOT GOING TO KILL YOU! YOU'RE DOING THIS TO YOURSELF!"

The Voice is the same one that told me I was too fat when I was barely 110 pounds.  Its the same Voice that told me I wasn't deserving of happiness.  Whatever it is, we all have The Voice.  Learning to shut that bitch down will change your life.  You shut it down by proving it wrong, by winning one small battle every day, by making one different choice right now.  There are no big changes, just lots of little ones piled up to something spectacular.

What  matters is I outdid myself.  

Six weeks ago I completed a Fitness Test.  On Thursday I did the same test again.  If you pile up all the other things that I described above it shouldn't come as a surprise, but I was a bit shocked at how much I had improved.  I didn't save anything, I didn't pace myself.  I just freaking went for it.  I cut my time down almost in half in some areas, at least two minutes in others.  I lifted heavier weights, I did all the push ups without any modifications and I was jump roping like Ali.  Okay, maybe not Ali, but it sort of all clicked and I flew through those 700 jump ropes almost like Rudy (Rudy can jump rope like Ali, I cannot. Yet.).

I did one hell of a workout Thursday and I put all I had in it.  Whether I finished first or last doesn't matter, what matters is that I did my personal best on that day.  It gave me the confidence to know that at the end of next season, I'll be even stronger inside and out.

And so, there you have my before and after for my first season of Tribe Fit.  Its not as splashy as some photos of strategic selfies in perfect lighting.  I'm not about to get thousands of shares and drop any jaws. I am still a 42 year old mother of four with a full life and a career. I'm not selling anything.  I'm not into this for those reasons.  My before and after photos are for me.  The story of this journey I'm happy to share in hopes that it helps someone write their own.

Get out there.  Find your Tribe and quit wishing for things you need to work for. I promise you, its worth it.

Eat to Perform

I got to a point recently where my weight loss stalled.  No matter what I did, the scale stopped moving.  I don't have a lot of weight to lose anymore, its really more about leaning out and dropping some body fat percentages and gaining lean muscle mass.  This is body re-composition and its flipping difficult and frustrating and one of the most rewarding things I've done.

I reached the point where all my regular tricks stopped working.  It happens.  For the most part, weight loss is as simple as eating less calories than you burn.  Voila!  Scale loses numbers, pants get bigger.  When you add in the desire to build muscle, things get weird.  Muscle needs calories.  A lot of calories.  When you're still trying to lose that bit of fat, this means that you need to be really strategic about burning the fat but building muscle.  I was at a loss to be honest.

Here's the things I tried but didn't work for me (these things might work for you though, its all trial and error):

1. More cardio!  I was doing cardio of some sort 3-4 days per week for thirty minutes.  Cardio sucks.     Honestly, I know its good for me but it took away from the time I could be spending building      
    muscle which is really the cornerstone of good health.

2. Less calories!  I dropped back to 1200 calories daily and promptly became super hungry,
    headachey, grumpy and very tired.  Very. Tired. I was barely making it through my workouts
    which was not a good thing.  I last six days.  It was ugly.

3. Less carbs!  I went super low carb.  Almost ketogenic.  The scale did bump a bit, but I was so
    flipping tired and dizzy all the time I couldn't stick to it.  I lasted three weeks of pure hungry hell         and  lost exactly 1 pound.

4.  Less scales!  Finally, I decided to just forget it and accept that it would just take me ten years to lose 3% body fat or maybe never.  I was really fed up.

So, I needed to get sciencey on this.  I needed something that others in my spot tried and succeeded at. I had been very, very good at losing fat for a long time. And keeping it off.  I kept it simple, I ate when I was hungry, I ate whole foods 90% of the time and I didn't beat myself up over a slice of birthday cake.  I was balanced, I wasn't crazy pants and I was keeping it healthy.  So, what was I doing wrong??

It turns out that when your body gets to a certain body fat percentage (under 25% for women, I'm at approx 23%), it really loves to hoard fat and calories.  Every calorie you eat becomes a prized possession that your fat cells just don't want to let go of. You need to trick it into giving up the goods.

 I discovered Eat to Perform and the Wave Method.  What I liked the most was that you eat A LOT.  You just don't eat a lot everyday.  Rather, you strategically time your calories, what sorts of food you eat according to your workout schedule.

I joined ETP and immediately it made sense to me.  I was able to work directly with one of the administrators who took a lot of my personal information and turned it into a solid eating plan.  I was also told not to workout more than 3-4 days per week at the most.  You see, I'm only on a caloric deficit on days I don't work out, so these are the fat loss days.  Days I do work out, I eat more to fuel the workouts, recovery and muscle building but I'm losing fat on these days.  These are building days.
For the first time in my life I'm tracking macros.  I need to hit a certain amount of protein, fat, carbs every day.  Those macros are different on rest days where I reduce my carb intake and therefore reduce my calories.  Rest days I'm eating 1600 calories.  I

Workout days I'm eating 2,025 calories. I have to eat slow carbs an hour or hour and a half before a workout along with some protein.  This can mean some oatmeal and a hard boiled egg or some peanut butter.  Post workout I need to eat fast carbs. Ripe banana, a pop tart, cookie, something that is going to give my body a big boost for recovery.  Dinner is a lot of protein and with another carb snack before bed.  Adding this many carbs back into my diet was scary.  Adding a scheduled flipping rice krispie treat?!  Its crazy, but it works.

 For someone who forced herself to go to 1200 calories, this is like a gift from the heavens.  I struggle hitting that number and trying to get over 100 grams of protein a day was tough at first.  I'm doing pretty well and its only been two weeks.  I'm sure as heck not hungry.  And I get to snack right before bed!

All of this sounds totally backwards. I know.  After reading the ebooks you get when you sign up and reading the science behind it, it makes a lot of sense.  Not to mention the boatloads of real athletes out there who use this to great success.  From body builders, gymnasts, power lifters, crossfit champions, this is the way they eat.

If I've learned anything this last year its that my body isn't special.  It responds exactly the same way as anyone else's to good food and exercise. We're all made of the same stuff and with time and consistency, my body will eventually look the way I want and do the things I want it to do.  That's not magic, that's hard work and a lot of fun.

A Hard Lesson and Burpees

It seems there is one really big lesson that I refused to learn until about a week and a half ago.  I was sick during my last Tribe class and I decided to power through.  This was a poor decision. I ended up knocking myself down a few pegs and missed an entire week of work and Tribe. A whole week!

The lesson here is that when the sick is in the chest... you stay home.  Head colds?  No big deal. Bronchitis?  Bigger deal.  Almost pneumonia?  Don't be an asshole.

So, there you have it.  The same goes for sore muscles versus an actual injury.  Sore muscles usually feel better after a stretch, injuries go the opposite way.

Listen to your body, give it time to heal or recover or face the obvious consequences of making things worse.

I'm really not that smart am I?  Ugh.

I returned to Tribe on Saturday when I did a makeup class.  I was operating at about 90% so I didn't push it and I honestly didn't think I would finish the workout, but I did! I took my time, drank my water, breathed deeply and just kept checking in on myself.  It was a great workout (they all are) and I even had two other Punishers with me! K.C. and Nick (aka West Side) were there as well and it was pretty awesome to have some familiar faces.

Which brings me to....

Ever since Tribe started, I haven't been to the gym and not run into someone I know.  This sounds silly and maybe not a big deal, but it really is.  There is something very, very cool about walking into a space and someone knowing your name.  It makes the space feel like your space. When I first joined the gym, and I think this is pretty common, you tend to stick to areas you are familiar with. I would assume I was being judged (I wasn't) or gawked at (I wasn't) or just totally out of my element (I wasn't).  If you're a regular at a bar or a restaurant or a coffee shop, you know what it feels like to have someone know your name.  To know a little about you, to appreciate you being there and having a shared goal or a common interest.  It makes going that much easier.  It makes me less likely to want to procrastinate or make some lame excuse why I can't go to the gym.  Knowing people there makes me want to go there.

I can't explain it more simply than... I like those people and I like how I feel when I do the things at the place.  Eloquent stuff right there.

I got to see the White Board with tomorrow's workout on it.  Folks, burpees are on there. One hundred of them.  Fifty to start, fifty to finish.  And double unders (jump rope twice around per one jump) which after trying for way too long today I still cannot do.

Did I mention tomorrow's workout has a hundred burpees?  If you pray, I'll take them.

Halfway Point

Tonight we finished week 3.  This marks our halfway point and what a crazy way to commemorate the moment.  I'm a little sick, I've had an upper respiratory infection for almost a week and it was really kicking my butt today and tonight.  I think its on its way out, but my lungs were burning tonight.  Had a moment where I wasn't sure about the relationship of gravity and floor vs ceiling and weightlessness.  Needless to say, I did my best and it wasn't that great.  Better than staying home thoug

Here's the weird thing about this.  I think I would have had to be on my death bed before entertaining the thought of not going tonight.  Its really that fun.  It hurts, its hard, it makes me question my own sanity, but I've yet to find more satisfaction in anything else I've done in a very, very long time.  When that workout is over and we're all just breathing and sweating... we're all smiling too.  

My initial goal for Tribe was to be able to complete 20 push-ups consecutively.  I'm halfway done and I can do this.  Is forty within reach?  Maybe thirty. Yeah, thirty.  I can do many more in the workout (I've done 90!) but all in a row is tough.  And then of course there are the super fun kind that has you jumping your arms in and out.  I'm still emotionally scarred.  I'll be okay.  I mean its not like we had to do Traveling Burpees or anything.  

Here, let me explain this for you.  Google a burpee if you aren't sure what I'm talking about and then say a prayer of thanks to whatever god you feel appropriate.  Okay, so you do that.  Then you take one giant leap forward and then  you do another one.  Just do that until the dark clothed man carrying a scythe starts tapping you on your shoulder.  Those were Traveling Burpees.  

This was a hard workout.  It was incredible that I could do half.  A year ago I couldn't have finished our warm-up.  As our sadistic leader says, "You need to do a season of Tribe to be fit enough to do Tribe."

Amen.  

To my fellow Punishers... you all kick ass.  Seriously, I count myself lucky to be a part of this and I wouldn't want anyone else with me on this.

A Tribe is Born

Tuesday was our official start.  And in true Jenn fashion, I totally over-thought everything and under-estimated myself.  I'm not sure what happens or why, but I can't seem to wrap my head around the fact that I've been working on this stuff for a year and I can do more than I think I can.

I totally wimped out Tuesday.  It was a fitness test and I was supposed to go all out and kick ass and I freaking didn't.  I played it safe.  I ended up feeling like I had sold myself short and I didn't do my best at all.  I did do 700 jump ropes in around 7.5 minutes, but the rest of the workout? Crap.

I beat myself up over it all the rest of the night.  Wednesday came and I wasn't even sore other than some calf tenderness from the jump roping.  I want to be sore.  I want Wednesdays and Fridays to be rest days for a reason and I want to feel every muscle telling me it hates me.  I want it to count.

Thursday workout, I was ready.  Well, I wanted to be ready.  I've been having some tough days at work and the stress is pretty crazy.  I spent Thursday nursing a headache and generally feeling awful.  I actually thought about not even going, taking the night at home and seeing Aaron.  I hadn't seen him awake since Sunday and I was missing him (we work opposite shifts.)  I got home and he told me to get my ass out the door.  I did.

Right before we started I had a brief conversation with Carlos, one of the awesome trainers at the gym, and Rudy who is in my Tribe.  Rudy can jump rope like a boxer and is generally just a bad ass.  We briefly discussed that this whole thing is a mental game.  Its not always about being strong or being able to do a whole bunch of burpees, its about believing you can.  It was exactly what had been on my mind all day.  So, at that moment I just gave in to it.  I just let go of all the negative stuff in my head and decided that that night, I was going to give it my everything from the moment we started.  No reserving energy, no holding back, nothing.

And then Justin explained the workout.  In fact, he had to explain it several times because it just didn't seem like it was possible.  Here's what we were to do:

250 jump ropes

Set 1:
15 Push ups
15 Side lunges
15 Prone rows
15 Squat jumps

Repeat this three times

20 burpees

Repeat Set 1 three times again

20 burpees

250 jump ropes

You get all that?  We were incredulous.  All ten of us. Added up, that's 90 push ups, 90 side lunges, 90 prone rows, 90 jump squats, 40 burpees and 500 jump ropes. I did have to use my knees on the last 30 push ups, but I did them.  I did them all dammit and it was glorious!

On my last set of prone rows, I was hurting.  At that point another Tribe member, Jeff, was ready to start his last prone rows as well.  We were side by side and we just went for it.  I don't know if it was as much of a help for him as it was for me... but his support and effort totally carried me through that last bit.  If you ever wondered how heavy a ten pound dumbbell can be, do the exercises as described.  I swear those things felt like a hundred pounds!

So, guess what happened?  I finished.  With about a minute left, I dropped my jump rope and looked around.  Smiles.   A lot of sweaty, happy, satisfied, exhausted smiles everywhere.  This is the best part of this type of workout.  In a large group, you get to know a couple of people but mostly its a bunch of strangers.  Here, you know everyone's names and why they're there and who they are.  You cheer each other on and you do more than you imagined possible simply because you have a group of people expecting you to finish, believing that you can.  In only this tiny bit of time, I can see where this is headed.  In this day and age of Facebook and email and texting, its a rare thing to have a group of real people your age experiencing this sort of thing.  Of being a part of something.  (I realize this sounds super corny, but its the truth.  I'm a sap.  I know.  Its okay.)

Last night, we named our Tribe after reflecting on our self-punishment.  Laughing about how we actually signed up for this crazy thing and how hard it was, but still wanting to do our best, to challenge ourselves in new ways every week.

I am so proud to count myself among The Punishers.  Ten bad asses trying to be better.  I haven't had this much fun since I was a kid.

P.S. I earned this rest night of writing.  My arms are sore, my hip flexors are on fire.  I'm loving every minute.  Those bastards will be stronger tomorrow.

Trial Week - Day 2

I'm late in m y update.  Thursday was the second day of trial week.  It was more challenging than day one.  Our night had a lot of jump roping, which I like and am average at, but it also had a lot of renegade rows and push ups.  What is a renegade row you ask?

Basically, you hold yourself in a push-up, pull one arm with a dumbbell up, do a push-up, pull the other arm up, do a push-up, repeat.  Its prone rows with push-ups in between each row.  I can do prone rows okay, but the push-ups are killers for me.  I struggled with this a lot. Its totally fine, that struggle means I was trying and as with anything else, in time and with work I will get better and stronger.  This is where that consistency will pay off.  A year ago, I couldn't put weight on my shoulder at all so progress is being made.

I know I said this before, but honestly the best part of working with a group of people like this is the support.  Especially a small group where the chance to really form a friendship and support system exists.  It reminds me of my old dance classes where my two friends and I were in classes together all week for years on end.  We knew each other so well and when we danced, we danced as if we were one person.  When Rachel mastered her triple pirouettes, I felt like I had done it.  One person's breakthrough moment is everyone's.  I have no doubt that this is where Tribe Training will lead.  Anyone who has been part of a team will understand this, those who haven't are in for a very terrific surprise.

Next Tuesday is the official start of Season One.  Each season lasts six weeks.  My goals include being able to do twenty push-ups in a row.  I can do ten, maybe twelve without stopping now.  This is definitely doable.  My other goal is to be able to do box jumps higher than the measly six inches or so.  I can do these higher now, but I have a crazy fear that is stopping me.  So one physical goal and one mental goal.  I'm not sure where this fear comes from, anytime I've tried to jump up higher I feel totally panic.  I'm talking stomach flipping, palm sweating, panic attack fear.  Its really odd.  I feel this exact same way when I get on an airplane.

Friday was Zumba with my sister.  I know there are fitness people out there who scoff at Zumba.  I've gone twice and its super fun.  Like, really fun.  You get out what you put in and it can be a good cardio workout if you really push it.  I think Zumba is a great first step towards healthy choices, a gateway to fitness.  For me, it was super fun because my sister was there and anything with Kathy is particularly awesome.  Now to try to get my other sister to join us!  Muahahahahah!

Trial Week Begins!

Tonight I went to the trial night for Tribe Fit. There were a bunch of us and it was so, so fun. People from every age group, various levels of fitness all doing the same workout at their own pace. It was such a positive, encouraging group of people that no matter how hard it was everyone was there to cheer you on, give a high five and just be awesome.

Tribe increases in intensity with each workout. Tonight we did jump rope (or rowing machine), push ups, and a few others that focused on core, upper and lower body along with box jumps to get your heart pumping. I felt great. I struggle with upper body and push-ups but I finished the five sets of ten! I did modify the last 20, but that's a huge improvement. A year ago I couldn't even imagine doing one!

It was a great start. Looking forward to Thursday! The free trial ends Saturday and is open to anyone, no membership required. Yahoo!

A Q & A With Justin Bates (aka the guy who makes me do burpees)

I sat down earlier today with Justin Bates at Healthtrax in West Springfield armed with questions from friends and family.  Justin and I started working together a year ago almost to the day. With almost a decade of experience and multiple certifications, including NASM (National Association of Sports Medicine) and PES3 (Performance Enhancement Specialist), Justin has worked with clients from every background, age and fitness level.

Justin Bates, NASM & PES3 Certified Personal Trainer

      We started out today with using the InBody body composition machine. If you really want to know you're made of, this thing is incredible.  It lets you know how much muscle mass, fat, water not just in your body, but each arm, leg and trunk.  Its terrific information and it allows you to get very specific in your goals.  If you hit a plateau, this machine lets you know for sure where your focus needs to be.  Or it will tell you that you haven't hit a plateau at all.  I thought my weight loss had stalled, but in fact I've lost quite a bit of fat and made some serious muscle gains.  

      I had done this in November and wanted to update before the beginning of my first Tribe Training season. I was actuallypretty shocked by the results, it took a while for it to sink in.  Apparently, I went from 30% body fat in November to 23% body fat today.  I am pretty happy with that!
     Our conversation today began with a question that is pretty dear to my own heart.  I’m often asked why I pay for a trainer when there is so much out there for free.  I usually reply with, “If I was going to do it or able to do it alone, I would have long before now.”  The simple fact is, we don't do it.  Most of us don't take the time to care for ourselves, just look at the obesity rates here in the states and its pretty damn clear. 

     Working with a trainer keeps me accountable. It motivates me to go back again and again and gives me the confidence and knowledge on how to continuously set new goals and try new things. In fact, the questions that were posted or sent to me included this very question.  

Here is our conversation and your questions. (In moments where I chime in, I’m in italics.)

Why work with a trainer? 

Everyone needs a trainer! Accountability. (Justin handed me a sheet of paper listing all the benefits of working with a personal coach/trainer, here are the reasons)

• ·         Accountability
• ·         Optimize your workout time
• ·         Ensure proper form
• ·         Accurate assessment
• ·         Exercise safety through proper form and adequate rest
• ·         Everyone benefits from a personal trainer/coach. The top athletes in the world all use trainers so “knowing enough” to work out on your own is not an excuse.
• ·         A trainer will push you beyond your comfort zone while staying within your limits.  People tend not to push themselves beyond their comfort zone.
• ·         Personalization
• ·         Motivation
• ·         Niche specialties –

o   Functional and mobility training

o   Body fat loss

o   Strength and muscle gain

o   Older adults

o   Youth fitness

o   Athletes

o   Sport specific

o   Speed and agility

o   Pre/Post-Natal

o   Post-menopausal (staving off osteoporosis)

• ·         Improved flexibility with assisted stretching
• ·         Easy access to a community and support system

Some of the trainers at Healthtrax after just finishing up their first Tribe Training season!

What makes a person successful at making these changes stick for the long term? 

Consistency.

Can you think of someone who really surprised you in their willingness to change and improve their health? 

Well, yeah. A lot of people.  I’ll give you an example.  I worked with this one woman. She never worked out in her life, she was sixty-three years old, she came to me like fifty pounds overweight. She lost fifty pounds and she just stuck with it. Her form was great, she just listened and did everything we told her to do. She lost all the weight. She came in every single day, changed her whole lifestyle and built it around her life.  She would tell people, ‘Nope, can’t do this anymore.  I’m going to the gym first.’ She made going to the gym her priority. She made working out a lifestyle at sixty-three. She was a grandmother, she had four boys.  She looked like she was in her early 50’s.  That was a great one!

 What are the most common missteps you see from someone just getting started?  

Thinking they can’t. Thinking that it’s something that’s too much for them.  Or even over doing it, trying to do too much at once. If you’re going to start with exercise, sometimes, for most people, its too hard  to do diet and exercise. Start moving then work on little things.  Then add little changes.  Baby steps can go a long way.

How about motivation?  A FB question came in about getting up at 8am in the cold and dark days of winter. 

Wake up, don’t hit snooze, get your feet on the ground. Get up! Just get your ass up!

What would you say to the person who wants to make a change, but can’t quite get there?

That’s another reason you need a trainer.  Accountability. If you have something to be accountable for, like a doctor’s appointment, you don’t blow that off.  Making that appointment with somebody is important, even if it’s just to get your foot in the door.

Should I stick to a low carb diet, calorie counting, paleo, Whole30?  I need to lose a lot of weight, like over 80 pounds, and I’m so confused I don’t know where to start.

That’s tough.  That’s a good one.  It kind of depends on her… paleo can be extreme and hard. Calorie counting can be difficult too.  Well, what worked for you?

Calorie counting worked for me for two reasons, one I had to eat. I tend to go into bad old habits of extreme dieting. 900 calories a day. Two, calorie counting meant I could anything I wanted, as long as I stayed in my limit. After a while, I changed it up to make sure the calories I was eating were quality. You get to a point where you’re fuelling a workout.

Calorie counting is one way. The easiest way I found was the AdvoCare way. They have a simple plan, all laid out for you, you get the whole 24 day challenge plan to steer people in the right direction.  It’s the best diet plan I’ve found that’s worked for so many people. 

Paleo, I do know a guy here who lost 100 pounds on it, but he’s totally focused and the kind of guy who can stick to it. Paleo is boring and tough to stick to, unless you are the type of person who can do that.  Low carb does work; but I would say calorie counting.  There are so many apps for that, everyone has a smartphone now. I think that way is pretty good.  Finding out what your Basal Metabolic Rate is, like the InBody shows, and going off that can really help you with that. Even the apps give you a ballpark figure of what you should be taking in. 

The calories are always more than you think too, its never good to eat 1200 calories a day.

Well, that’s the old Weight Watchers thing.  

Yeah, I mean if you’re overweight and all of a sudden you’re trying to eat 1200 calories a day, you’re not going to be successful.   

No, you’re not.

I’ve lost the weight. Switching to a maintenance diet is terrifying for me. I’m scared to go back to my old habits. Any advice for those of us who hit their goal?

Make a new goal. Create a new goal. Whether its gaining some muscle or gaining some strength, but new goals. This way you won’t get complacent and move backwards.

I’m 65. I’ve been a couch potato since my 30’s. I have bad knees, high blood pressure and everything else that goes along with a lifetime of bad choices. Where would someone like me start?

Go to a gym, meet with one of us and we can get you started.  At least get your foot in the door. Starting with some cardio, you just gotta get moving first. That’s the best thing I can think of. If you’re already stuck at home, you’re not going to do it at home.

I love lifting weights.  I lift four days per week and I’m really happy with where I’m at, but I feel like I should add in cardio.  I can barely run for more than five minutes without feeling winded. I don’t also want to lose muscle.  Any ideas?  

Umm, yes. Start circuit training. Strength circuits.  Doing say, three exercises and go back to back to back without resting or resting as little as possible. You’ll get a cardio effect and you’ll keep building strength.

 Kind of like Tribe Training?

Exactly. You don’t have to worry about running or all the boring stuff. (Laughs)  Running isn’t for everybody. Well, you can do it outside with a goal or a destination. A treadmill doesn’t work for me.

I know it’s an excuse you hear all the time… but time really is precious for me. I’m a single mom, I work full time and I’m raising three kids on my own. Do I really need to workout every day for it to make a difference? 

Every day is better if you can make time for it, yes.  Well, what’s your answer for it? You’re a mother of four!

I don’t work out every day!

You don’t work out every day, you don’t have to.

 I do 3 or 4 days a week. Some weeks I do two.  I don’t beat myself up over it.

Right, exactly. You don’t have to beat yourself up over it. If you can do four days a week, great. If it’s something you mentally have to do every day, make a little time for it, even if its fifteen minutes its better than nothing.

 I’ve had days and nights that were so crazy, I would just do 10 push-ups before bed.

It’s something, something to keep it part of your lifestyle.  There’s 168 hours in a week, there’s time.

I do counter pushups while I cook dinner or throw the radio on and dance like fools in the kitchen with the kids.

 It all adds up!

 I missed a day at the gym this week, i do different machines Tuesday thru Thursday should i double up on my work out the next day? Does that make sense...

It depends kind of what her routine is. But, yeah she can, why not?  Just do it and then modify the week.  I would double up, it can’t hurt.

Tell me about Tribe Training.  I’ve been seeing you post about it but I’ve never heard of it.  There isn’t a lot of information on it.

It originated in New Zealand, came to North America, up in Canada and now here. It is new, she’s right. We are the only gym in Massachusetts to offer it and we’re super excited about it.

~~~

We ended our conversation here.  What I loved about today is that while we were talking, we mentioned that I was going to be blogging my Tribe Training experience to the other trainers nearby.  Every single one of them was super excited and so supportive.  Honestly, this is probably the part of a place like Healthrax.  You will be supported and encouraged and motivated by everyone there.  the atmosphere at a health club is very different than that at a 24 hour cardio-focused center. 

 If I could offer some totally unprofessional advice, it would be to find a gym that has qualified staff and is filled with people from every stage and level of fitness.  It is an amazing thing to workout next to a sixty year old woman recovering from knee surgery or a man who has 200 pounds to lose and on the other side of you is a runner training for an ultramarathon or a body building breaking a new personal record.  If everyone in your gym is unhealthy... you need to ask why that is.  A good gym or club will have fit people in them.  There is a reason for this and a large part of that is access to professional advice and coaching.

For more information on Tribe Training, Tribe Life or Tribe Fit click on the links. 

Time

I hear this A LOT.  You have either rolled your eyes at this statement as I have or you're saying it to yourself right now.

Imma call bullshit.

What you really mean is, "I don't want to make the time."

Let's be really honest about this.  I used this excuse for years.  I could list all the things I have to do every day, I could go on and on about responsibilities, working full time, kids, pets, house, family, yada yada yada.

Its bullshit.  

I was scared that it wouldn't be worth my time.  You probably are too.  Its daunting to find out exactly how far you have let yourself go.  And let's face it, not all of us love to feel the burn or not be able to walk down the stairs for a few days after doing a few dozen lunges.

It hurts!!  It really does.  Burning fat hurts.  Building muscle hurts.  You get all sweaty and your face gets all red and you itch.  When you first start out, that itch can be intense.

That itch is from your body panicking and releasing histamines.  Histamines get your immune system revved up and ready to deal with whatever disease/virus/foreign body is attacking it.  Congratulations!  You've been inert long enough that your body has decided to react by believing its under attack.  Don't worry, I promise it goes away.

So... you have the time.  Everyone has the time.  If its twice a week in your living for 20 minutes... then do it.  It its every other day for an hour at a gym... then do it.  Do something.

Check out this article from Men's Fitness. This is dedicated to at-home workouts that will help you burn fat and build muscle.  A jump rope costs $5, push ups are free.  There is really no excuse, there's just you stopping you.

Get off your phone or computer.  Really.  Time is precious.

It Begins ... Again

Here it is almost one year to the day since I started taking control of my health.  I'm sitting here, forty-two years old, mom of four, working full time, trying to make all the ends meet and keep the lights on and I am healthier in this moment than I have ever been in my whole adult life.

1989 - dance class at Galipeau's School of Dance Granby, MA

I was a dancer until I was around 24.  Nearly two decades of leg warmers, ballet lessons, and pointe shoes had me pretty damn strong and flexible.  But I wasn't healthy inside.  I had a warped sense of what my body looked like and what I wanted it to be.  I wanted to be bony and skinny and delicate.  I never was after I hit sixteen.

I was crazy fit at the age of sixteen, but I didn't know that then.  My legs were strong, my core was strong and I was very flexible. I had a lot of muscle, so when I was seventeen and stepped on the scale and saw that I weighed a solid thirty pounds than what I considered healthy, I began doing things that were terrible.

My issues with my body began in 1987.  Constantly finding faults where there were none, critiquing and criticizing and judging how I looked and what the scale said and how little I could eat in a day.  I remember being twenty years old in 1992 and not buying a dress because my hip bones were sticking out and I thought it made me look fat.  I thought my bones jutting out made me look fat.  If that's not fucked up, I don't know what is.

Jump forward twenty years and I was on the other side of this.  I was heavy.  Moreover, I was very, very unhealthy. I was in pain all the time, I was depressed, I was filled with anxiety and I had had enough.  You can read up on this on the Fibromyalgia page.

I need you to know right now that I have not ever been obese.  I have no idea what that is like.  I don't know what its like to be judged, gawked at or made fun of for being fat.  My journey isn't about losing a hundred pounds.  I was always on this side of the "socially acceptable" size.  I can't even imagine what that is like or how difficult that journey would be.  My story is more about dealing with pain and body dismorphia and disordered eating.

This page isn't about getting skinny.  

One year ago I decided to bring that shit into the present tense.  I was done. I had had enough of not being able to hike, of feeling like I was one broken hip away from a lifetime of misery.  I was convinced I would die of a heart attack.  I got scared.  

I don't like being scared.  

So, I changed.  It was hard.  It was worth it.

This blog is dedicated to living a healthy life.  Inside to outside.  There is no size I want to be.  There is no number waiting for me on the scale.  There are numberless ways my life has improved because of the changes I made over the last year and I'd really like to share this journey with you.  

I don't think change is hard.  I think starting was hard, but change has always been my friend.  Starting? That was scary.  I hope this little spot helps someone make that start.  

I'm not a nutritionist.  I'm not a fitness expert.  I'm not a doctor.  I'm just an asshole who decided she was done with the constant pain and backaches from living  sedentary life.

In one week I will begin another new journey with an entirely new way of working out and challenging myself.  I decided it would be interesting to blog my way through.  That work out is Tribe Fit and I truly believe that it will lead me to a new level of health and fitness I had never imagined for myself. 

Part of this will mean having to post some photos I'll one day surely regret.  Its okay.  I think its important to track this, to see the results so I can believe them.  I think anyone who has made a healthier change in their lives can understand that.  I still see the old me in the mirror.  I still expect to take up more space than I do.  I still can't just grab my real size off a rack and believe its going to fit.  The inside hasn't caught up with the outside.  I think this might help.  I think this year the inside is going to have to get to it because I can't keep seeing the faults only. 

So, here goes.  I'm a little scared...  But that's never stopped me before.