Staying Motivated

As many of you know, this past weekend was the Genesis Fights Cancer Fundraiser. I personally was stressed about it because teaching new releases for classes can be time consuming as one has to learn the music as well as the choreography. But I do it because I love it! I love teaching classes. I love training clients. I love being at the gym! And for someone who was once nearly 230 pounds and wouldn't set foot into a gym for fear of being made fun of, that says a lot!

I didn't start off loving the gym though! I started off by setting a goal for myself of getting healthy and having a plan of action. I set my mother as my accountability partner where she'd always ask if I had worked out for the day. If I had any doubt in my voice about working out, she would respond with, "Just go, once you get there and going, you'll be fine!" And that was true. I'd grumble all the way to the gym swearing I wouldn't do more that 20 minutes of cardio. But 15 minutes in, endorphins where pumping through my body, I would tell myself I was already there... I can stay a little bit longer.

Then there came the routine. I always went to the gym at the same time. And there were other people there at the same usual time. After a while, you talk to them and then if you miss a day, they ask where you were the day before. And "too tired to come" didn't seem like a good excuse after a while. Whether or not the other people at the gym liked seeing me or not, I felt accountable to them because they were always there to say, "Hey! How are you doing?!"

Once I became a trainer at a gym though, my motivation changed. My motivation became my clients. My clients who were working 60-70 hours a week. My clients who worked two jobs and had a family. My clients who had lost a significant other. My clients who lost a family member. My clients who were fighting or had fought a disease. My clients that continue to fight... THAT'S WHY I STAY MOTIVATED!

Yes, I've made the changes to get healthy. But the outside change isn't as great as my inward change. Being nearly diabetic because of my pour health choices and getting myself healthy had more to do with my mindset. Getting healthy is more about realizing where I was, and where I don't want to be again. Taking my health for granted is not something that I want to do again. Getting healthy is about the individuals I work with and seeing them fight day to day with far greater struggles than I have. Some days my clients come to train with me and with a deep sigh, I hear something like, "I couldn't wait to get here today, my day was horrible!" It's humbling to hear that an hour with me working out and allowing them to blow off some steam is all they need.

So how do I stay motivated? My clients. Their daily grind IS my motivation. I had created the healthy habit to reach my PERSONAL goals, but sticking with it was do able because of the positive people I surround myself with. My favorite word is 'Relentlessness' and hearing that reminds me when you least feel motivated, think of someone who is fighting for something greater. It's very humbling.

Please take the opportunity to look into Oscar Health Insurance. https://www.hioscar.com/
They provide health insurance to those living in New York and New Jersey and they understand and know the importance of being proactive about your health. Oscar encourages healthy behaviors through things like gym reimbursement programs. A few of my clients actually have benefitted greatly from this type of insurance and make amazing progress. Take the time to be proactive verses reactive when the time comes.

#BeBlessed

Burpees, Real Life

We all have our weeks and days, the time passes us by and before we know it-another year goes by. However, we've all had those days where you look at the calendar just to see if it's Friday yet. To be honest, this week has been just that. I was ready for the weekend on Wednesday. And if you know me, you'd know that I love life. I look at each day as another blessing, and another day to be better and do better.

I'll be the first to admit, I'm not a super overly emotional person. I've gone through and seen a lot so me crying, well it takes a lot (maybe I'm a non typical woman? lol I don't know!?) But after this week of hearing sad news in various peoples lives, I was overwhelmed with sadness. I kept thinking to myself, Why God? So before I returned to the gym Wednesday night, I sat down with my devotional and bible and did some reading. The title just so happened to be called was called "PROTECT" and the scripture was the following;

Psalm 91:1-13The Message (MSG)

91 ^1-13 You who sit down in the High God’s presence,
    spend the night in Shaddai’s shadow,
Say this: “God, you’re my refuge.
    I trust in you and I’m safe!”
That’s right—he rescues you from hidden traps,
    shields you from deadly hazards.
His huge outstretched arms protect you—
    under them you’re perfectly safe;
    his arms fend off all harm.
Fear nothing—not wild wolves in the night,
    not flying arrows in the day,
Not disease that prowls through the darkness,
    not disaster that erupts at high noon.
Even though others succumb all around,
    drop like flies right and left,
    no harm will even graze you.
You’ll stand untouched, watch it all from a distance,
    watch the wicked turn into corpses.
Yes, because God’s your refuge,
    the High God your very own home,
Evil can’t get close to you,
    harm can’t get through the door.
He ordered his angels
    to guard you wherever you go.
If you stumble, they’ll catch you;
    their job is to keep you from falling.
You’ll walk unharmed among lions and snakes,
    and kick young lions and serpents from the path.

 

The blurb at the bottom said, "God is bigger than our problems, bigger than our sicknesses and struggles. He outmatches our money issues and outmuscles our strongest foes. There is nowhere safer and no one stronger than our God. While difficulties may still come, nothing and no one will overcome us. While the battles may ebb and flow, the was is already won."

('Live Second' by Doub Bender)

 

I prayed protection over my clients and peace over my heart. I told God, I can't protect the people I work with, but I can cover them in prayer.

 

So waking up Thursday morning, I felt beat up, but knew with God's protection the day was going to be a good day. Client one, client two, then I got to workout. Took an extra scoop of preworkout and had some aggression to put forth to my workout. Just as I was starting, one of the military guys in the gym was just finishing his workout. He's a straight beast! As I walked by him, I hear him say, "Come do burpees with me!" (Eye rolling) I said, "Excuse me?" (REALLY the last thing I was in the mood for)

Him: C'mon, it'll just be a minute!

Me: A MINUTE?

Him: Yea, a minute. It'll be FUN!

Me: Burpees are never fun...

Him: Just come on!

Me: (Head drooping down) ok, fine...

 

Headphones in, he signals to go. We start and about, ohh... 20-30 seconds in he turns his burpees into push up burpees. SHOW OFF! lol

 

We finish and he has the hugest smile on his face and said, good job! My response, thanks, I told you I could hang! And then he said, yea... yea you can... don't be surprised in the future if I have you come do more burpees though, I know you can do them...

 

I have no idea why burpees changed my attitude completely around... could have been the endorphins? But first and foremost, I walked into the gym with a slight chip on my shoulder. I walked in thinking about all the sadness and bad things going on even though I had prayed and left it up to God. Then, I realized, once I give those burdens up to God, they aren't my burdens anymore. Those are Gods and I prayed that His will be done. I'm not sure if it was the That burpees or not that changed my attitude, I came to the conclusion that life is life. One shot, one chance. Have fun, don't be so serious. Love God and Love His people... And lastly, when life knocks you down, do a burpee and get back up!

 

BeBlessed

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Typical Amercia?

I saw this photo the other days as I was scrolling through my news feed. For a second I smirked inside because I thought that is true for many Americans. However, I continued scrolling and then I decided I wanted to take a closer look at the picture. I really don't care who posted it or shared the picture, but after looking at the picture it really irritated me. As I thought about it, I thought how much time has changed.

One morning while training one of my clients, we started discussing her diet and how several months back she had purchased the whole NutraSystem meals and how she felt it has personally helped her. She didn't have a ton of weight to lose by any means, but after losing about 20 pounds she is now maintaining a healthy weight for her. She is off NutraSystem now, but maintains her weight by continuing to practice the same things that the program taught her. She learned and practiced eating more protein, consuming more veggies, getting active EACH day for AT LEASY 30 minutes, and lastly it taught her to eat several small meals a day WITH portion control.

Years ago typical Americans lived or worked on farms and had to work for their food. Typically, the mother stayed home and made 3 main meals. I find stories of how things were 50-60 years ago quite interesting and I have to process what has been the game changer for so many people now days. So much research going on and proving that people are more unhealthy now than they ever have been. Number one reasoning being that it's true, we move less. We aren't farming, we're walking less, riding our bikes less, and sit in front of screens several hours a day. Our TYPICAL 3 meals have turned into 3 buffet meals from a restaurant from down the street and you're told to eat as much as possible to make sure your getting your moneys worth. Upon thinking about all the factors, I asked my client if retirement played a roll in it all as well. She explained that when you retire, sure you think you are or will work as hard as you were previously, but you don't. One gets lazy sleeping in, reading paper, coffee dates, vacations, baking, cooking, and or whatever and you let your health slip up.

It is my understanding, that you can make a VARIETY of reasons (AKA excuses) of why you don't have to get active or eat right. No matter what age your at. Everyone wants to put in off! I've heard it numerous times, "When my kids leave the house, I'll start working out again", "I just don't have time", "I deserve this cake because I had a bad day" Or "I'm just going to sit here and veg out all night because you don't know what my day was like!"

My response, no I don't, but your day shouldn't be the basis of whether or not your going to have a good attitude, eat right, exercise, or treat people kindly. WE are in charge of our day to day grind. We are in charge of our habits, and we can change the poor ones. Bottom line, WE ARE IN CHARGE. And I hate to think that America equals being "Over the Hill" and unhealthy. I think the change needs to be in our thinking, that being Barbie isn't ideal either. However, what I PERSONALLY feel IS IDEAL, is that you make the goal to be a better person when it comes to your mental, spiritual, emotional, bodily wellbeing. Constantly begin each day asking how can I be a better person and end your day answering that question.



I wish you all an awesome week, stay focused on your goals.

BeBlessed
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"Your weight loss doesn't make you a personal trainer or coach."

 

Just recently I had a friend post a status on facebook that said, "Your weight loss doesn't make you a personal trainer or coach." I liked the status, but as he is also a fitness guru himself, I wondered how others would respond to his post. 16 comments later, I saw a good majority of his facebook family agreeing with his statement. However, the one comment that caught my eye was the one that said, "True, not everyone can teach and coach, it's a calling from God".

I thought about that statement a lot as this week. My schedule changes a lot from season to season depending on what my clients have going on. As a trainer, I do my absolute very best to be the most flexible and understanding with rescheduling and scheduling clients so everyone is getting their workouts in. Now that school has begun, another change and more craziness of figuring out when everyone can train. (It's like a level 5 puzzle)

However, this last week beat me up as a trainer/coach/friend. I spend hours and hours on end with clients not only exercising, but texting to check up on them, emailing, helping to send out family friendly recipe ideas, family meal planning tips... and have gotten to know client's husbands, wives, children, and coworkers. In an hour of working out, clients will cover a multitude of things that's on their heart. Clients face family issues, work issues, money issues, personal self issues, death, stress, anxiety, guilt, or numerous other things. And besides the fact that I'm there to tell them the exercises that they are to do and how many, for how long, make sure they're safe, and mainly listen to them. I hear what's on their heart. I listen to what's going on in their lives, and sometimes I'm the voice or reason, or alternative perspective.

However my clients may view me, I'm not sure. Yes, I have my degree and my certifications. But I also have established RELATIONSHIPS. For example, the other day I had a woman come up to me just to thank me for always being encouraging, always smiling, and always challenging her. She informed me that the hour with me is the best time of her week. WHEW! I was HUMBLED. There are days when I FEEL like not smiling, and I FEEL like telling people to stop making excuses, and I DON'T FEEL like getting up at 4 am, and I don't FEEL like teaching another class, and I don't FEEL like talking, I'm reminded that God has allowed me to go through what I have not for my personal glory, but to glorify Him. That my struggles and triumphs are to help others so they may love and appreciate themselves. And I'm humbled because I KNOW that I couldn't do the crazy day to day hours with out his strength. So to everyone who asks me how do I do the early mornings, evenings, split days, my own personal workouts, and teach class... I DON'T DO it, God does.

BeBlessed
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Who Me?

Couple weeks ago when the gym I work for released their new quarterly music for Group Kick (mixture of kickboxing), I fell in love. The music, moves, intensity, and energy is fun and motivating. Anyone at any fitness level can walk into the class, participate, and leave feeling like they might need to wring out their shirt.

But last week, I actually had the opportunity to sleep in. I slept in till the very last second and then had to hurry up and pack my gym bag, get dressed, and make a quick protein shake. I wanted to do kickboxing because I knew I would work a lot harder and I was just feeling like I needed a 'GOOD' intense cardio workout before lifting a little later.

The class had just started and was packed so I slipped in the back. I knew the warm up pretty well and as we kicked and punched our way through song two, I noticed two new ladies beside me. I figured they were new to the class, but not knew to fitness. Both of them (in my eyes) were quite fit. Sure they didn't know the routine super well, but they picked up fast. I moved in front of them for song three since we do a lot of moving and traveling on the floor. As we finished the forth song, one of the ladies pointed her finger from my bottom half to my upper half and said, "CLEARLY, you have this fitness thing figured out. Can you leave, your making the rest of us look bad!" I laughed and explained to her that I had taken the class several times and was getting the choreography down. She said, "NOOO, YOUR BODY THOUGH!!!" (Need I remind you this is a woman that 4 years ago I would have killed to have her body. Bikini PERFECT!) I laughed and awkwardly grabbed my shoulders and said, "ohhh, you mean muscle?!"
Her response, "yes, whatever your doing, your doing it well because your body looks amazing!"
I thanked her with doubt in my mind because I wondered if we were looking at the same person.

Her comments made me think though. I later went back into my pictures on my phone where I had initially lost my weight. I wasn't lifting nearly the weight I was then, mainly doing cardio. I was a tiny 134 lbs and looking back now, think I had reached a moment of a sickly "too small" trying to reach a specific number on the scale. Sure I'm bigger now after squatting, pressing, and pulling more weight, but we see ourselves bigger or smaller than what we really our. When I was 134 pounds I thought I needed to lose another 10 pounds. But now I know I needed to gain some muscle! It's a hard concept and balance to understand. This lady saw me as perfect, when I saw everything BUT perfect.

And that's where I encourage each of you. Set goals, share them with others, and encourage each other. . Surround yourself with like minded people who are working on being a better them with mind, body, and soul. Surround yourself with people who see you for you. Surround yourself with people who want to see you be better. This woman didn't know my journey, but her words definely encouraged me. I was encouraged by the fact that she saw muscles as a positive. I was encouraged by her words. Not because I'm conceded, but because she saw being beauty in fitness. Don't keep looking at the mirror and hoping for a change. Get after your change and challenge yourself. One of my friends always says, "If it doesn't CHALLENGE you, it doesn't CHANGE you".  Start challenging yourself to lift more, do more, eat healthier. Each day is a journey!

What are you waiting for? Today is your tomorrow, start now and start bettering yourself one activity and meal at a time.

Be Blessed
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Men Vs. Women

Being in a gym setting the majority of my week, I see both men and women coming and going from the gym. I would like to say I'm not a creep, so I'll call myself a "People Watcher". And I'm viewing from the majority here...

I watch men walk into the gym with what I would consider their "game face" on. They have a one set mind as if they have been at work thinking of this workout all day long. They get right to work, and unless they are Mr. Social, they get their workout in, done, and they're out.

Then there are the women.  WOMEN are just COMPLEX! (Sigh) :)

However, the biggest difference I've concluded between men and women is how hard women are on themselves verses men. I've had a couple conversations with men where I've really had to take a step back and try to see things through their lenses (as scary as that sounds). Women, in general are their own worst enemy. We'll stand in the mirror for HOURS and criticize ourselves for ANY or EVERY imperfection. We judge ourselves before anyone else does. And most of the time we put ourselves down before anyone else does.

BUT MEN, on the other hand, they are their own personal cheerleader for the most part. Couple weeks back, I was talking to this guy about past sports and his exercise history. He told me he used to play football and so forth. He then asked me how old I thought he was. I said probably 30ish. He said 37 and I told him he was in really good shape. Definitely didn't look 37 at all. He smiled and said, good. But then after hearing about how active he was in his past and how his dad taught him the importance of being fit, it made me curious what his current fitness goals were. I guess that's just the trainer in me! His response though was one that I've heard several men tell me when I ask what their fitness goal is. He said, "to be the fittest 50 year old I can be!"

As I thought about that, I've come to the conclusion not that I want to BE a man. But that I would like to develop some of the same like-minded thinking. That I need to focus on being the best me, no matter my age. That I'm not here to impress anyone by how I look, and that I do what I do because I want to help others. It's so easy to get caught up in things that don't matter and that's the perspective I was able to see from this gentlemen's story. We're all on this journey and it should be for no one but for our own betterment.

I'm challenging myself to think less about why I'm doing something or how I look doing it and just DO IT. Don't overthink and just enjoy the process of becoming the best Alison that I can be.

I challenge and encourage you to do the same.

BeBlessed
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Runners Supporting Movers

This last weekend was the Smokey Hills River Festival in Salina, Kansas. Since I've moved to Salina a few years ago, all I hear about is the festival around this time. It's as if the city shuts down for the event. Until this year, I truly never understood it t all. The festival is really geared towards fine arts and I can truly say the displays were neat to see. The vendors make some really interesting and amazing things as well. But the one thing that is cool about the festival is the 2 mile walk/run or the 5 mile run. It's every Saturday morning of the festival before the rest of the park opens up.

This year particularly, I decided I WASN'T going to run. I knew of a couple people who were runners or individuals who have walked in the past that decided they were going to do it long before Saturday rolled around. But as the weekend approached, I had more clients and gym-goers ask me why I wasn't running the race. I really had no reason to give them besides the fact that I just didn't want to. Thursday approached and a couple clients of mine who I never would have expected to sign up for a walk/run informed me they were, I began feeling bad. My 1st thought was, "I better get up and go cheer them on". But Thursday night before the race I laid in my bed debating about running the 5 miles. Then I remembered a vow I said to myself when I was training for the Oklahoma City 1/2 marathon. I vowed that as long as I have breath, and as long as I'm able to move, I will keep moving no matter how fast or how slow I am. (Besides, I'm an example to my clients! NO EXCUSES!) And so it was decided. I was going to run the race. I debated about just doing the 2 mile, but then after thinking about it some more, I realized I'm FULLY capable of the 5 mile run.

I showed up Saturday morning, registered, and saw each and everyone of my clients and/or gym-going friends. Everyone huddled together at the starting line. People were smiling, jumping around, stretching, and just full of excitement. As the gun went off, everyone took off down the road. I looked to my right and then my left, watched people of all shapes, sizes, and ages... all of which were moving. And I thought to myself,
"Look at him go!" and,
"that lady is killin it!" and,
"look at that dad pushing his daughter in that stroller, geezzz, I never want to push a stroller running!"
But I was just filled with excitement to see so many people moving. And I was reminded WHY I started running a few years ago.

I remember back to the days when I would get up to run anywhere from 5-10 miles before school. I remember running with a running team in my hometown. I remember always talking with other runners and how many miles they did that day. I remember the blistered and bloody toes. But most of all, I REMEMBER THE FINISH LINE! This year as I ran into the finish line, several of my clients shouted, clapped, and cheered me on. They could see how red my face was and as I passed by them, I took one earphone out and pointed at them saying, "I did this because of you"! They all laughed and it was a great time, but as I looked back at that morning, I was filled with joy. I was filled with joy to see a community of people supporting people who were moving.

So many times people don't do  5K walks or runs because they think they are for the "ATHLETE"... but guess what, if your moving, YOU'RE AN ATHLETE! That is why I love the running community, and that is why I love this community. True runners aren't prideful. True runners have all had a bad run. True runners have felt like they were going to die. True runners are humble. And lastly, TRUE runners acknowledge and support NEW (runners, movers, walkers, joggers, sloggers, plodder... or whatever else you consider yourself!)

Thank you to my clients and gymrat friends for the encouragement. I actually PR-ed at the race, shaving 2 minutes off my last years time. But ultimately, THANK YOU for holding me ACCOUNTABLE as well as being so supportive.

Surround yourself with positive and encouraging people.
BeBlessed
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