Running and Powerwalking!

Running and Powerwalking!
Get fit with me!

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Wear nice shoes and count your blessings!


I saw this post on Facebook and wanted to share. This type of post help remind me of what is truly important in life. I hope one of these statements will inspire, motivate or make you think about what is truly important to you in your life right now. At this very moment. 

1. Your shoes are the first thing people subconsciously notice about you. Wear nice shoes.
2. If you sit for more than 11 hours a day, there's a 50% chance you'll die within the next 3 years
3. There are at least 6 people in the world who look exactly like you. There's a 9% chance that you'll meet one of them in your lifetime.
4. Sleeping without a pillow reduces back pain and keeps your spine stronger.
5. A person’s height is determined by their father, and their weight is determined by their mother.
6. If a part of your body "falls asleep",
you can almost always "wake it up" by shaking your head.
7. There are three things the human brain cannot resist noticing -food, attractive people and danger
8. Right-handed people tend to chew food on their right side
9. Putting dry tea bags in gym bags or smelly shoes will absorb the unpleasant odor.
10. According to Albert Einstein, if honey bees were to disappear from earth, humans would be dead within 4 years.
11. There are so many kinds of apples, that if you ate a new one everyday, it would take over 20 years to try them all.
12. You can survive without eating for weeks, but you will only live 11 days without sleeping.
13. People who laugh a lot are healthier than those who don’t.
14. Laziness and inactivity kills just as many people as smoking.
15. A human brain has a capacity to store 5 times as much information as Wikipedia
16. Our brain uses the same amount of power as a 10-watt light bulb!!
17. Our body gives enough heat in 30 mins to boil 1.5 liters of water!!
18. The Ovum egg is the largest cell and the sperm is the smallest cell !!
19. Stomach acid (conc. HCl) is strong enough to dissolve razor blades!!
20. Take a 10-30 minute walk every day & while you walk, SMILE. It is the ultimate antidepressant.
21. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day.
22. When you wake up in the morning, pray to ask God's guidance for your purpose, today.
23. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is manufactured in plants.
24. Drink green tea and plenty of water. Eat blueberries, broccoli, and almonds.
25. Try to make at least three people smile each day.
26. Don't waste your precious energy on gossip, energy vampires, issues of the past, negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.
27. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a college kid with a maxed out charge card.
28. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.
29. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. Forgive them for everything!
30. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
31. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
32. Make peace with your past so it won't spoil the present.
33. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
34. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
35. Frame every so-called disaster with these words: 'In five years, will this matter?'
36. Help the needy, Be generous! Be a 'Giver' not a 'Taker'
37. What other people think of you is none of your business.
38. Time heals everything.
39. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
40. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.
41. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
42. Each night before you go to bed, pray to God and be thankful for what you'll accomplish, today !
43. Remember that you are too blessed to be stressed.

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Are you competitive?


Athletes are often viewed as competitive. They want to be the best in their sport and win! But guess what? Athletes are not the only ones that can be or are competitive. Anyone can be competitive and not just in sports.

There are two kinds of competitiveness. Healthy and unhealthy.

Healthy competition can help push ourselves to get out of our comfort zone and motivate us to be the best that we can be. It can also encourage us to cheer for other competitors, friends, family or colleagues to reach their goals because we enjoy and want to see others succeed as well.

Unhealthy competition can be toxic and hurtful. Not just toward the other person but to ourselves.   For example, an unhealthy competitive person may feel defeated and discouraged when they see other people achieving their goals. So they just give up. But rather than give  up, try and learn from that person. What did they do differently? What were some of their own personal experiences that helped them accomplish their goal?

Another example, and unfortunately the most popular form of unhealthy competition is comparing yourself to others. This often happens through social media, i.e. Facebook.  You scroll through the news feed and you see everyone's '"amazing, happy, and fun," status updates and suddenly you feel your life is boring and unexciting.  But what we fail to remember is that everyone has bad days and very rarely will someone post if something bad is going on in their life! So stop comparing your life to those who share on FB. Be yourself, love who you are and just enjoy reading the posts as if you are reading an entertaining book.

Being resentful of others success is also very toxic. Just because we are not reaching our own goals does not mean that others have to be in the same boat. It can be challenging to accept other people's success when we are struggling.  But remember, everyone has their good and bad days and they may have faced the same or even harder challenges than you. So next time someone you know has an accomplishment, sincerely congratulate them! You may be surprised how much better you feel and it may even give you encouragement to stay focused on your own goals.

Last but not least, are you someone who secretly wishes for others to fail? This might sound strange to some people, but it's more normal than we think. Sometimes we feel so bad about ourselves that we want others to fail so that we don't feel or look like failures.  But this train of thinking has no benefits whatsoever. I can only recommend that you take a deep look at yourself and find out what your unique qualities are and embrace them.  We can not be good at everything and sometimes not reaching our goals pushes us to focus on another goal that is even better. So don't waste time or energy on wishing others to fail, instead, congratulate them on their successes and use their success as motivation.

So, what type of competitive person are you? I am and chose to be a healthy competitive person. I am always pushing myself out of my comfort zone by trying new sports or participating in a variety of events.  I also continuously strive to be better and not just in sports, but in my professional career and personal life as well. However, I'm not perfect and sometimes I find my competitive edge slowly becoming toxic. When this happens, I stop and remind myself that I have my own skills and talents and that the only person I should be comparing or competing against, is myself.


Wednesday, May 14, 2014

How to get out of the "Hater" zone


I came across this article on one of my favorite health and fitness websites, www.mindbodygreen.com. It could not have come at a better time! I find that myself, my friends, family and clients often fall into the trap of letting what other people think about us prevent us from being our true self. We also often take negative comments personally and end up not doing what we truly want to do or express ourselves authentically.  This article provides 10 suggestions in the form of mantras to help us " find our happy" and be ourselves. 

Power Mantras: by Shannon Kaiser: 

Maybe you can relate: you’re cruising along in life doing the best you can, working on making things happen. And BAM, you’re stung by a negative comment, a judgmental friend or a rude stranger. Welcome to the hater zone!
Haters seem to spring up when we try to do a great job. A critic of your parenting skills, your relationship status (or lack thereof), how you dress, where you live or your weight. At the end of all the haters’ catcalls is an invitation to low self-esteem and self-loathing-ville.
Haters can affect us in two ways. They may creep out and attack us for things we're doing or sharing. Or the idea of them can prevent us from moving forward and expressing our true selves. Both are detrimental to our spirit.
Many of my life coaching clients express their fear of moving forward because of what haters might say or do. If they publish the book, or leave the job in corporate, what will those around them think?
Ask yourself if you're actually allowing what people could say to stop you from following your own heart. Recognize that haters can’t get to us when we feel confident and self-assured. The best way to avoid feeling victimized by the string of negativity is to improve your relationship with yourself.
Here are powerful reminders from my book, Find your happy, that can help you gain confidence and feel secure.
10 Mantras To Build Self-Confidence
1. Confidence comes through action.
2. The only approval you need is your own.
3. The fastest way to improve self-confidence is to do the exact thing you fear.
4. Accept everything you are — and aren’t. That is true happiness.
5. At the end of the day, what matters most is how you see yourself.
6. What others say is a reflection of them, not you.
7. You are good enough.
8. It isn't who you are that holds you back; it's who you think you aren't.
9. No one can make you feel unworthy without your permission.
10. There is only one you for all time. Fearlessly be your true self. You matter.

Wednesday, May 7, 2014

30 day guns, buns, and ab challenge!



My last two blogs have been mostly about nutrition. Today I am writing about fitness!

Below is a 30 day challenge that I did with a client of mine in the month of January. Our motivation to exercise was low and we wanted a short program to help motivate us. We also wanted a program that we could do at home in case we could not make it to the gym due to the weather.  I came across this challenge on a fitness blog and were both certainly challenged and felt great at the end. Why? Because we completed the challenge and kept each other accountable by texting the word "done!" after we finished the required exercises for that day.  By texting each other, we were more motivated and it helped keep us on track. The result? Our overall body strength improved and our abs looked great!

I challenge you to give it a try and if you really want a challenge, do the all the exercises each day in one go. Don't split them up.

Stay active and anything is possible!