This book will complement any of my programs, giving you more workouts to add to your repertoire. Click Now to pick up your copy – “The New Rules of Lifting for Life”

I’m Not a Geezer. I’m You.

Almost every day I get an e-mail that starts like this:

“I’m ____ years old, ___ feet, ___ inches tall, and I weigh ____ pounds. I’ve been working out ___ years, with a combination of ___ and ___, but recently, I haven’t been able to do ___ because of ____. Here’s why I’m writing . . .”

Unless Microsoft has a new template for letters to fitness-book authors, virtually everyone who writes to me for the first time feels compelled to begin with these details. The order changes, but the uniformity is uncanny. The simplest questions about how to interpret workout charts, or whether it’s okay to do one exercise instead of another, begin by telling me how old my correspondent is, along with his or her height, weight, and workout history.

I used to skim past the age/size/circumstances boilerplate so I could get right to the questions the reader wanted me to answer. Eventually, though, I realized I was misunderstanding my correspondents. Sure, they wanted answers to their specific questions, but there was a reason for the windup before the pitch. All of them, in one way or another, were asking me a different question entirely:

“I don’t look like everyone else in the gym. I’m older/heavier/gimpier. But I still want to work out. What should I do?”

In my early years as a workout-book author, when I was more invested in the binary thinking of the troglodyte wing of the fitness industry, I took offense at questions like this. What does age have to do with anything? After all, I was in my forties, and I did all the workouts in my books with great success. If you were overweight, it was your own damned fault for eating too much and not exercising enough. And individual circumstances? Come on! You either want it, or you don’t.

Then I turned fifty, and . . . well, I used the introduction to the previous book to describe in bloody detail the calamities that befell my suddenly middle-aged body. It’s the reason I wanted to write The New Rules of Lifting for Abs: I needed to do something different, so I experimented with a new workout template and experienced remarkable improvements. Then I discovered that my coauthor, Alwyn Cosgrove, was using a similar template with his clients. They were coming to him in worse physical condition than demographically indistinguishable clients had just a few years before, so he changed his system to spend more time on mobility, core training, and metabolic conditioning, with less time in the weight room.

We wrote a book for a new type of exerciser: a man or woman whose body is starting to break down, or who has developed one type of fitness (strength, for example) at the expense of everything else.

That said, we also wrote NROL for Abs with the idea that we were producing a book for a broad swath of fitness-conscious readers. If you’re serious about exercise in general and strength training in particular–and if you’re especially interested in developing a lean, strong, athletic physique, highlighted by a flat and muscular midsection–that’s the book for you.

Age? Size? Circumstances? Hey, none of us is getting younger, and we’re all actors in a unique movie of life. Rough economy, complicated relationships, weird times all around.

And yet, as I wrote the manuscript in late 2009 and early 2010, the e-mails kept coming in. The details were always different, but a common theme emerged: “After doing X for years, I finally realized I’m too old/too fat/too different for X. I need to do X-minus something, or X-plus something. But what?” Sometimes the circumstances described by the reader came on suddenly, like an injury or illness. But most often, it was a gradual and grudging acceptance of the reality of age or weight or singularity. As someone in his fifties, I realized I had more in common with these special-circumstances readers than I did with the undamaged ones I’ve traditionally addressed in my books.

I asked myself some tough questions. Where’s the book for someone who’s middle-aged? Where’s the book for someone who has a lot of weight to lose? Where’s the book for someone who’s not like all the other readers? Where’s the book for someone like me–or, perhaps more important, for someone like my coauthor?

The Fight of His Life

Las Vegas, summer 2005. I met up with Alwyn at a strength and conditioning conference, where he was a presenter. We had mostly finished work on The New Rules of Lifting, our first book together; it would come out in six months. A lot had happened to both of us since we started the book two years earlier. For one thing, Alwyn had been diagnosed with Stage 4 lymphoma, undergone chemotherapy, and come out with a clean bill of health. For another . . . well, next to cancer, the rest doesn’t really matter, does it?

Alwyn and I were having lunch with our friend Chris Shugart, an editor at T-nation.com, a popular bodybuilding site. It was the first time I’d seen Alwyn since his diagnosis, treatment, and recovery. He looked great, and felt so good that he told us he was thinking of fighting competitively again.

In his youth, Alwyn, a native of Scotland, had won seven national titles in tae kwon do, and was a two-time bronze medalist at the European championships, where he represented the UK. Despite the fact that he was a few years and one major illness removed from his peak as a martial artist, he was restless. He wanted a new challenge. “You have to remember,” he told Chris and me, “I was still winning when I retired.” At that moment, in his early thirties, Alwyn was 90 percent athlete and maybe 10 percent cancer survivor.

He never got a chance to resume his fighting career. Stage 4 cancer returned with a vengeance, and as Alwyn points out, there is no Stage 5. He checked into UCLA Medical Center on June 6, 2006 for a stem-cell transplant, an operation that completely dismantled his immune system and built a new one from scratch.

When he came out of the hospital, he was 100 percent cancer survivor. It took years to recover his strength and athleticism. He’s never fully regained his ability to perform long, difficult workouts, and now it takes more time to recover from one workout to the next. Combat-sport athletes are notorious for their ability to manipulate their own body weight, but cancer had taken that away. He could maintain a stable weight, but his body fiercely resisted any attempt to lower it. Every aspect of his athleticism, even his flexibility, was suddenly, dramatically different.

The athlete who was thinking about a return to competitive tae kwon do at thirty-three was a middle-aged man at thirty-four.

Sizable Concerns

So that’s where we start The New Rules of Lifting for Life: two longtime lifters who know what it’s like to be forced by age or circumstances to change their approach to training. I had the luxury of reaching midlife the old-fashioned way–by pretending my age didn’t matter until well past the point when it clearly did–while Alwyn got there overnight, courtesy of a deadly illness and a miracle of modern medicine. But we’re both there now, and our first goal with this book was to provide a training system for people like us.

But what about item #2? What do we have to offer those who want to lose weight? I’ll admit this right up front: I started NROL for Life with the idea that it would provide a useful guide to weight loss, in conjunction with the training program. After all, lots of readers of the first three NROL books told me they shed pounds while doing Alwyn’s workouts and following the nutrition and lifestyle advice. Alwyn and I, it seems, had found a solid middle ground: We could help people lose weight without making it the sole focus of our books. I wondered what would happen if we made it a bigger part of the package.

Alas, almost from the first day of research, I realized we couldn’t say anything with the prescriptive certainty you’re supposed to have when you write about weight loss. The math and physiology only appear simple if you refuse to acknowledge complexity. There are too many individual metabolic variations, and they’re too poorly understood. Then, when you look at weight loss from the behavioral side, you see an equally complex set of variables. Finally, good luck to anyone who tries to separate where physiology ends and behavior begins.

This would be really depressing except for one fact: People do manage to lose weight and keep it off. I know some of them, and I’ve probably corresponded with hundreds. Their secret? They figured out how they gained the weight, and did the opposite until they lost it. They can describe the process in simple terms, but it doesn’t take much digging to get below the surface and see an infinitely complex set of personal, familial, and circumstantial variables that they learned to master over time. Exercise is always part of it, of course–too little before, the right amount now. But the desire to work out, the knowledge to do it productively, and the self-discipline to do it consistently were part of a long, often frustrating struggle to change physiology and behavior.

I don’t think a diet or training program produces weight loss, any more than a hammer produces a house. It’s the person. The best workout or nutrition plan in the world won’t work unless it’s used by someone who’s ready to reorganize his or her life around the goal of losing weight. Even then, it’s almost never simple or straightforward.

Intelligent Design

So if NROL for Life isn’t a weight-loss book, what is it? More than anything, what you have in your hands is a workout book for people who like to work out, who enjoy challenging themselves with new exercises, new routines, new ways to get results. It’s also a training program for men and women who want something they don’t yet have–less fat, bigger muscles, more strength, more energy, more confidence–and are willing to work hard to achieve it. Finally, it’s an exercise system for those who want to work out, but for various reasons don’t. Maybe you’re recovering from an injury or illness, and don’t know how to modify a workout to fit your circumstances. Maybe you haven’t found the right program, or don’t feel confident that you understand the mechanics of training. Alwyn and I can’t give you the motivation to show up and work hard, but we’ve done everything we can to pack NROL for Li fe with as much useful information and instruction as we could include without turning this into a multivolume encyclopedia.

About that information:

If you’re looking for something so easy to understand that the entire thing can fit on a single page, this isn’t the program for you. Not only does it require hard work once you get to the gym, it demands some effort on the front end. We ask you to choose your own exercises, based on detailed instructions, and fit them into the template Alwyn provides. Nothing here is beyond the comprehension of an adult who wants to train and whose mind is open to new information. But there is a bit of a learning curve.

You may wonder why we bother. Why not just tell you what to do? That’s what we did in the first three NROL books. What’s so special about this one?

The book may or may not be special; we’ll have to wait for the reviews. But you are. From our earliest conversations about NROL for Life, Alwyn and I set out to create a product for readers who’re challenged, in some way, by their age, weight, or circumstances. We had two choices: Either we could imagine a composite of a challenged person, and have Alwyn design a program for that fictional reader, or we could assume that only individual readers truly understand what they can and can’t do.

Obviously, we chose the latter. Our choice requires you to read carefully and follow the steps to assemble your own workouts, based on Alwyn’s template. In return, you get a program that’s fully customized to your individual strengths, limitations, needs, and goals.

But what if you don’t have any limitations that require customized workouts? What if you simply need workouts that work? Even better. You now have the tools to create a program that moves as fast as you do. Get all you can out of an exercise, then move on to one that’s more challenging. You don’t have to wait for the next stage of the program.

This is how Alwyn designs programs for his clients at Results Fitness, the gym he owns with his wife, Rachel, in Santa Clarita, California. It’s the first time he’s opened up the playbook to show readers his methodology. You get more than a bunch of workouts. You learn how to customize any workout, or create your own from scratch. You learn, in short, how to be the trainer you’ve never had.

The Standard Disclaimers

Every workout book has some version of this boilerplate on a page demarcated with a Roman numeral:

“Not intended as a substitute for a physician’s advice”

“See a doctor before starting a program of strenuous exercise”

“If you experience rapid weight loss or extreme muscle hypertrophy, be sure to give the authors credit”

This time around, the standard disclaimers are more than legal indemnification. Alwyn and I beg you to exercise genuine caution before launching into this program. If you haven’t worked out in a while, please get a checkup. If you’re seriously overweight, please talk to your doctor about the program before you begin. If you’re recovering from an injury or illness, please make sure you’re cleared for training.

We ask you this because we have no intention of treating you like a weakling or invalid. No matter your age, your weight, or your circumstances, we want you to train hard, and to enjoy the benefits of hard training. We want you to do everything you can without fear or limitation. You’ll customize the program to match your current abilities. But that’s just the starting point. We want you to put your current abilities so far in the rear-view mirror that you’ll forget you were ever in the shape you’re in now. We want you to be stronger, leaner, faster, and more athletic than you thought possible at this stage of your life. We just want to make sure you get there safely, with as few setbacks as possible.

With that out of the way, let’s talk about how we’re going to help you do this.

In Part One, I lay out the challenges as we currently understand them. Chapter 1 explains the goals of training while debunking some of the misconceptions common to men and women of a certain age.

Chapters 2, 3, and 4 look at what our bodies can and can’t do as we get older, how and where we’re most likely to get injured, and why it’s so ridiculously hard to manage our weight in middle age and beyond.

Part Two is the reason you bought this book. It has more exercise choices, information, and advice than any of the previous books in the NROL series. It explains every part of the program in full detail.

Part Three tackles the challenges of weight loss, explaining how we got here, the mathematical and physiological impossibility of traditional weight-loss advice, and the importance and challenges of weight maintenance following a successful downsizing. We’ll wrap up with an easy-to-remember meal-planning system that can help you reduce calories without sacrificing nutritional necessities, along with some sample meals to put it into practice.

That’s what we offer in The New Rules of Lifting for Life. What we don’t offer, in this or any other NROL book, is a guarantee of specific results. We don’t know where you’re starting or how far you can go. All we know for certain is that we’ve given you the tools to get there, at your own speed, on your own terms.

It’s your movie of life. Are you ready to create a masterpiece?

—

You can pick up your copy of the New Rules of Lifting for Life HERE

And a room full of equipment to sit on…

But around the corner I found some dumbbells and this “functional training area!”

So what did I do? Well, here was my exact workout….

Active warm up/ movement prep/ stretch and even foam rolling (yes there was a foam roller in that functional corner)

1A Box Jumps on the Reebok Steps near the free weights for my power exercise 2 sets x 8 reps

2A Medicine Ball Wood Chops as my core exercise  2 sets X 8 reps each

3A Dumbbell Deadlift with the 50 lb dumbbells 3 x 12 reps (Those are my 50 lb dumbbells on the floor)

3B T Push Up 3 x 12 reps

3C Rear Foot Elevated Split Squat with 30 lb dumbbells 3 x 12 reps

4A Single Arm Dumbbell Push Press with 30 lb DB 3 x 12 reps each

4B Single leg Romanian Deadlift with single arm row 3 x 12 each

Finisher: Medicine Ball Body Weight Jump Squats  2 X 8 reps

Jot it down and use it next time your in a hotel gym to get your workout done!

There I was, in dance class after years of not taking class and we were about to head across the floor doing the usual walk, walk, Pas De Bourree, Pas De Bourree land in fourth and Pirouette turn! I could feel butterflies in my stomach unsure of if my body remembered how to turn. I was next, all eyes on me and my energy was a little nervous, excited and in anticipation of wanting to be able to still turn. All that energy  to turn, threw me off balance and I went forward instead of up and didn’t complete the turn.

After a few classes I realized what I was doing wrong and corrections from the instructor telling me “Your energy is going forward, think up!” The fact was, I was trying too hard. The extra effort I was using to make the turn happen was why I was getting thrown off balance. When I realized this and that I actually needed to relax and let myself balance thinking “Up and relax” my turns came back.

That’s right…I still got it…soon enough I was back to double Pirhouette turns no problem.

To balance a dancer stacks everything right on top of each other – their hips centered right over their foot, stacked right under their shoulders with their head inline. If one body part is leaning too much in any direction balancing won’t happen. For example if their hips are sticking out behind them they’ll fall backwards, if their shoulders are leaning forward, forward they’ll go. If they are in the correct position they’ll actually use less effort.

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to assist Gray Cook, MSPT, OCS, CSCS, RKC (he’s really smart) of FunctionalMovement.com during his Hands On Session at The Perform Better One Day Event in Los Angeles. I was honored that he asked me to help him and excited to help the other trainers who were attending.

One of the positions Gray had us working on was the Tall Half Kneeling Position. I had become familiar with this position because we use it at Results Fitness frequently but also because we had Brett Jones at our gym teaching an FMS level 2 work shop the week before and half kneeling was a huge part of his curriculum as well.

Starting off with just your body weight, holding the position feeling your stabilizers kicking in when they needed to, but cueing to remember to breathe and almost relax in that stacked position. If you are in the right position, with your hips right underneath your shoulders, over your supporting knee you won’t have to tense up to hold the position. It is exactly like a dancer balancing for a turn. Your stabilizers will kick in to keep you balanced but you don’t need to SQUEEZE your glutes or PULL your stomach in tight trying to muscle the position and “try too hard” like I was in my turns above.

The tall half kneeling position is a great place to work on your balance, putting your stabilizers to work while breathing and relaxing into a balanced position. You’ll know you are in the right position when you don’t have to “work too hard” to stay there.

To get into the proper Tall Half Kneeling position:

Start with your right knee on the ground with a towel under it for padding and your left leg lunged in front of you with your foot flat on the ground as if you are in a “Will You Marry Me” pose. Bring your left foot in line with your right knee so you could be balancing on a balance beam with a fairly narrow stance. Your right knee should be directly under your right hip, under your shoulders and inline with your ear in a “stacked” position. Get tall and balance in that position. You will feel all of your stabilizer muscles firing to keep you balanced. Below Amy Wunsch, our physical therapist at Results Fitness demonstrates the Tall Half Kneeling Position.

Once you can balance in that position you are ready to “turn”…ok I won’t make you “turn” but you are ready to hold a load in that position that will demand that you fire your glutes and core to stay stable only using what you need.  You can add load by either adding a chop or an offset over head press. When you add load you will have to engage your bigger muscles to handle the load.

No guarantee’s that this will give you a dancer’s body but it will give you the same feeling of being centered and balanced like a dancer. Add load when you’re ready. Use this new stance with a number of the current exercises you may already be doing including chopping and over head pressing.

I have always said that having 1-2 cups of coffee with protein is not a problem so why am I giving it up? In fact there are a number of health benefits to caffeine. Research has shown everything from decreasing your risk of cancer, type 2 diabetes, dementia including Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, strokes, blood pressure, less risk of heart attack and even help with weight loss, improving focus and in sports peformance.  I am a BIG FAN of coffee not only because it may have all of these health benefits but simply because I LOVE my morning time with my Cup of Joe! I am such a coffee fan, I have an espresso maker at home and an espresso maker in my office. I love the smell and the experience of drinking a cup of coffee when I need a pick me up, a break, time to myself or time with my friends. Plus I love Starbucks- everything about it, the business model, how they run their company and the experience they create.

So why give it up? Because I’m addicted! Realizing that I couldn’t go a day without it, I thought that it probably would be good to take a break. Coffee does raise epinephrine(also called adrenaline) which puts your adrenal glands(the little gland that goes into over drive when you are stressed or using stimulants) into overtime. The last time I gave up caffeine was in October 2007 after I did my Ironman.

After doing a lot of volume with my training, like training for and doing an Ironman(which can also stress out your adrenals owing them a “vacation”) and having been increasing my coffee consumption it’s good to take a break to let my adrenals reboot. Plus after discussing this with various people in the industry including my Husband (Alwyn) I have come to the conclusion that for most people eliminating caffeine for a period of time to give your adrenals  a “vacation” can be beneficial and is something my clients and myself should probably do every once in awhile especially if you are addicted (like me but shhh don’t tell my husband). Plus Alwyn challenged me saying that he thinks I’m addicted and there’s no way I could give it up…so of course I had to show him…

The reason this came up was because last week when Alwyn was helping me make weight (read more about my making weight story here) he told me to give up coffee for three days so that it would work extra strong when I added it back in as a diuretic. I couldn’t even make it one day without it and told him – no way, not happening. After finishing the powerlifting competition and having also just trained for a Half Marathon recently I once again had a pretty high training volume(not as high as Ironman training days) but I had been pushing my body for a period of time.  Since I have a month before I start ramping up my training volume again for a Half Ironman I decided that I should give my adrenals a much needed vacation before I start my Half Ironman training (since they haven’t had one since 2007).

The fact that I couldn’t go a day without it was a small wake up call that maybe I am somewhat dependent and should eliminate caffeine. This strategy of taking an adrenal vacation periodically I believe helps to allow me to push myself the way I do and be able to recover and not get over fatigued or over trained.

Day One- I woke up and didn’t know what to do with myself since I usually sit and sip my coffee having my “morning time”. I made a cup of tea but it just was not the same. As the day went on I felt foggy headed and then the headache hit midafternoon and got worse and worse as the day went on.

Day Two- I woke up with the headache I went to bed with last night and it didn’t seem to ease up. I ended up napping curled up on the couch when I got home from work at about 6pm- I was having major withdrawals! It was bad. Didn’t know I was so addicted but I suppose that means I should definitley come off of it for a period of time.

Day Three- Today! I am thinking clear enough to put together this blog post. Headache is better but still there slightly. I’m hoping by tomorrow I’ll feel pretty clear headed and somewhat back to normal.

But back in 2007 when I did this I don’t remember ever having a wonderful feeling of clarity sans caffeine and wanting to stay off of caffeine long term because I felt so good.

I have to say I feel pretty dang good on caffeine and I miss it.

Reasons people give up caffeine-

• Not sleeping well – Not me, I’m the type that when my head hits the pillow I’m out even when I’m drinking lots of coffee.
• Anxiety- I’m not a real high stress person as much as I have going on. I like having lots going on and am comfortable with that but don’t experience anxiety.
• High Blood Pressure- My blood pressure is as low as it can be.

So I don’t plan to cut caffeine out long term- heck no! Instead just giving my adrenals a vacation for the next few weeks. Starting to think they may not need until Christmas though…maybe 21 days will be plenty.

Hope my adrenals are enjoying their vacation!!

These past few months I have had the opportunity to be a part of a number of events that all sprung to mind this morning as I thought about what I am thankful for.  Between the endurance team completing their events, raising money for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and challenging themselves to go beyond what they ever thought they could do.

And the Powerlifting team who I had the honor of competing alongside as they won medals and set records.

And the Jeans & Gut to Cut Challenge Photo Shoot where everyone looked so fabulous, showing what is possible in 8 weeks if you set your mind to it.

At all of these events the best part was that we had the Results Fitness team coaching and supporting everyone, along with other clients cheering each other on and even some of our mastermind coaching members were involved in the endurance event and the power lifting event as part of the team. Being at all of these events reminded me how fantastic the people, including the clients of Results Fitness, our mastermind coaching members & the amazing team we have at Results Fitness, are and how thankful I am to be around such positive, supportive people.

Thank you to all of you for making Results Fitness such a special place to be a part of.  There is nothing like being a part of a team like Results Fitness. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Me, in disbelief – “My weight was the topic of conversation over dinner at your house last night?!?!?!??!”

“Well, yeah…because I think you’re probably in the 130’s…are you?”

“Ha, Ha. Me? 130 pounds?!?!?!”

As much as I try to de-emphasize the scale and what you weigh people are still determined to put emphasis on it focused on what # do I need to weigh to look the way I want to look. I always debate whether I should share what I weigh knowing that they are comparing themselves to me but usually when I do share what my weight is (which I don’t always know because it isn’t something I focus on) they are surprised that I weigh as much as I do. In fact, my grandma who doesn’t understand the concept of muscle weighing more every single time I see her says- “I can’t believe that tiny body weighs so much!” “Um, thanks Grandma…I’ll take that as a compliment…”

This past week I was extremely focused on my weight because I had to “make weight” for the powerlifting competition I was competing in. Why did I have to make weight? The weight classes were Under 165 pounds or Under 148 pounds. My weight is usually around 155 pounds (Not 135 pounds like people seem to think!) so I am right between these two classes. If I stayed put I’d be in the 165’s and I knew there was a girl in that class who already held all of the records and could lift a lot more than I could. Being the competitive person I am I knew if I dropped my weight by 7 pounds I wouldn’t be against her and would have a shot at making a few records and winning the GOLD.

Here’s the crazy thing – My husband (who has had a lot of experience helping fighters “make weight”) knew he could manipulate my weight by loading and depleting my water to drop the 7 pounds no problem. Little did I know what exactly he meant by that and what all was involved but it should have been a hint when he said- “You have to do everything I tell you to and you can’t be mad at me or cry…and I’ll help you make the weight.” Sounds extreme but I can handle it! The few weeks before the competition I was confident in my husband’s knowledge to help me do what I needed to do to make weight so, although I should have, I didn’t try to drop a few pounds first but instead had a weekend in Vegas and then the week before we enjoyed our usually Saturday night splurge of Pizza and on Sundays in the winter time we go to the local pub for roast dinner with potatoes and gravy and of course a Guinness…so come Monday before my competition my weight had creeped up to 157. Usually I would not even know this because the last time you should weigh yourself is right after a splurge. All I know is that I can get away with a few splurges a week and maintain my jean size which is all that usually matters to me. I knew the couple pounds was bloat from my recent splurges but I had to be 148 or under by Saturday. Can you drop almost 10 pounds in a week? My husband said he can do it but again I can’t be mad at him and can’t cry…this is not going to be fun…(disclaimer: do not try this at home)

I ate clean and drank my water and got back to 155 by Wednesday dropping the splurge bloat. Then we started to load my water and then deplete by Friday I was at 152 pounds but that meant I still had to lose 4 pounds by the next morning! No way!

How I spent my Friday night…submerged completely under a hot bath (only my face showing), then sitting up in the bath sweating like crazy, then sauna style wrapped in two robes and a towel on my head sweating even more. This sequence took about 20 minutes the first round (again disclaimer: do not try this at home). I’ve done a lot of physically challenging things including completing an Ironman and this was one of the TOUGHEST things I have ever done! I had conversations in my head of – “I can’t do this. I have to get out of here.” Then I’d talk myself back down- “Breathe. You can do this…”

What did that do? I dropped 2 pounds of water! I did one more round taking about 15 minutes and finished Friday night where I needed to be at 148 pounds. Saturday morning on an empty stomach I was 147 pounds- I had lost 10 pounds in one week. My body was EXACTLY the same (did you catch that? EXACTLY THE SAME) and remember it was temporary! Just because the scale said a certain # didn’t mean anything had changed.

Immediately after I stepped off the scale I started a regimented refueling schedule of Gatorade, protein, and high sodium foods getting my body back to my normal weight before competing.

One of our clients (who is super fit and looks amazing) at the competition heard me talking about what I had done and she said – “I want to do that.” “Why?” “So I can drop that much weight.” “Why?” “To be down on the scale.”

Really?!?!?! Why would you put yourself through THAT just to see a number on the scale for one moment. It amazes me that no matter what, people still put so much emphasis on the # on the scale. They can look fit and be in phenomenal shape and still want to see a certain # on the scale.

I hope this blog post illustrates how you can manipulate the scale to get it to say what you want (it’s not easy but it can be done) but it doesn’t mean your body has changed at all. I didn’t lose any fat this week or add any muscle. My body is the same and could lift the same amount of weight and wear the same jeans it could wear a week ago when I was 10 pounds heavier. Plus within a few hours of stepping on the scale I was back to weighing what I weighed a week ago.

Stop putting so much emphasis on the scale and enjoy your fit, healthy body!

Oh and it was all worth it…I got the GOLD!

One of my favorite exercises to use with my clients to show them the power of their mind is Box Jumps. The first time you put a small box in front of a client and tell them to jump on top of it, knowing that they have been training with you long enough to have developed the power and strength to easily and safely jump on to that box, they’ll look at you like your nuts – “Jump on top of that box?!?!?! I can’t do that?!?!?!” As they stand before the box trying to get up the courage but just can’t picture themselves jumping on to it.

It reminds me of watching my nephew about to jump off the side of our swimming pool from the highest step this past summer. He stood there looking down at the water and you could see him trying to run through the scenario in his head, 1,2,3, jump….not yet….1,2,3….over and over again until he would get mad at himself and finally get up the courage to jump into the water and after was “so proud” of himself!

As soon as you “think you can,” you can! But if you think you can’t, you can’t! I was working out and I had a set of 10 box jumps at the end of my workout.I did the first set of these no problem, flew up and landed softly on the box. Then the second set I did one and my office manager came around the corner and said, “Show off! I couldn’t jump to that box. I have a mental block.”

I said to her- “It is completely in your head. You must be thinking that you can’t do it so ofcourse you can’t do it.” Then I… with the thought of, “you must have been thinking that you can’t do it…” in my head go to jump on the box and completely miss by not jumping high enough and practically tripping myself. My office manager thought is was hilarious but I thought it was such an amazing lesson that you have to have your mindest right when you head into a workout.

On a box jump you can clearly see the connection of thinking you can and accomplishing the exercise but this also goes for your entire workout. If you have negative thoughts floating around in your head while you are working out, every rep you do, you will not do as well as you can. It is obvious on a jump like this but it may not be so obvious on a lunge or a row but if your mind is not giving that movement 100% and doing everything to focus and lift as much with perfect form as you can you will be cheating yourself out of better results.

Henry Ford said, “If you think you can or you think you can’t you are probably right…” So true!

So I want to challenge each of you to enter in to your next workout with a focus and attitude of challenging yourself to see what CAN you do. Keep focused, positive thoughts in your head and get the most out of every rep leading to a more effective workout, more calories burned and faster results!

Remember the little engine that could and throughout your workout keep repeating – “I think I can, I think I can…”

I am always amazed by the different people I see out there also doing the stairs. People of all fitness levels – some this is their first workout in years as they trudge up the stairs once or twice and call it a day, others are athletes home for a holiday break flying up three stairs at a time, or firefighters at the local station or mom’s making it a family outing with their kids who are joining in doing the stairs too.

Recently the city planted trees blocking the entryway to get to the stairs. There are no signs that say – “No Trespassing”, but I can only assume they are trying to keep people from using the stairs as a form of exercise. (It seems the stairs were built to reach the landscaping on the hillside, not for the purpose of giving us a place to workout).

As you walk up toward the stairs, it now appears, with no obvious path to get to them, that these trees block them. This would be an easy obstacle, if you were looking for an excuse to not do the stairs. And we have all been in the situation where you are looking for an excuse to not do something especially when it comes to exercise or anything out of your comfort zone.

Where there is a will there is a way…there is a small opening where you can squeeze by the trees maneuvering around them to get to the stairs.

A few weeks ago as I was doing my intervals and catching my breathe at the top of the stairs I noticed a couple walking up to join me. They were trying to figure out how to get up there and were not going to give up. As she stood looking determined with her hands on her hips strategizing the best way, looking for an opening, he actually started to climb through the bushes, practically climbing trees to get up there I’m sure scratching himself up. They were not going to use this as an excuse to not do the stairs today. As I came down and saw him tangled in the bushes going the wrong direction, I yelled out to them that they could get through at the small opening and they were on their way joining me on the stairs. No surprise they were great training partners as we chased each other up and down pushing each other to do “one more round.”

A few minutes later I was at the top of the stairs catching my breathe and noticed another couple walking up toward the stairs but before I could get down to tell them where the opening was they had given up and turned around. It was as if they were hoping an obstacle would get in the way – “Oh darn, there are trees blocking the stairs. I guess we can’t do them…” turning around faster than I could run down the stairs they had given up on doing what they had set out to do that morning…

How easy do you let obstacles get in your way? Do you back down as soon as you have an excuse?

Then the moment hits when you have used up all of your splurges that week and you start to have the conversation in your head of “I shouldn’t suffer or deprive myself…” “Life is too short…” “How much damage will one little extra splurge do?…” “Just this one time…” “Wine is actually good for you and you should have one glass daily…” “I’ll just eat some right now and then it will be over with and I’ll get back on my plan…”

You know that moment when the chocolate starts to call your name or the bread basket is taunting you and you are having the discussion in your head of should I…?

For most of my clients this is usually in the afternoon between lunch and dinner when they end up snacking on something unplanned. Or for many of us it is the habit of something sweet after dinner. Or if you are dining out that moment when they bring the breadbasket. One of my main culprit’s is a glass of wine or two at the end of the day with dinner especially if I am out at a restaurant. There also seems to be a high correlation to these cravings happening more often, especially for chocolate or bread, at a certain time of the month.

Or after a particularly stressful day when you start to have the conversation of “ I deserve…”A quote from the movie, How Do You Know – “Never drink to feel better, only drink to feel even better.” Save your splurges for when you are already feeling good and want to feel even better not when you are wallowing in your sorrows of stress and “poor me”, instead pick something off the list below which will perk you up!

What should you do when these voices start to creep into your head…

Here are some ideas I brainstormed of things to distract yourself. And yes I’m writing this in an effort to distract myself…

Usually that’s all it takes is a little distraction, you’ll get through the uncomfortable feeling of really wanting whatever it is you really want and you’ll feel like you conquered the world when you don’t give in!

1. If you are at a restaurant as soon as possible order a green salad with vinaigrette dressing to keep you occupied when the breadbasket comes.

2. Instead of dessert tonight, foam Roll your entire body and stretch from head to toe!

3. Go try on all of the clothes in your closet. See what fits, what doesn’t and clean out anything you haven’t worn in a year. Or at least try everything on that you feel sexy in to give you a boost.

4. Hit the shops and buy yourself a new outfit! Nothing feels better!

5. Wearing something you feel sexy and confident in when you head out to dinner will remind you – Nothing Tastes as Good as Lean and Sexy Feels!

6. Make a cup of tea or decaf espresso.

7. Pamper Yourself! Give yourself a facial – steam in the sink, face mask, cucumbers on the eyes…

8. Paint your nails.

9. Go on Itunes and buy some new workout songs for your Ipod.

10. Call a friend or family member and catch up with someone you haven’t talked to in awhile.

11. Online shopping to “splurge” in a different way and buy your new body some new clothes! My favorite sites – www.zappos.com, www.piperlime.com, www.nike.com, www.guess.com but be careful this can get dangerous…

12. Have a go-to feel good movie or DVD set. My favorite is Sex in the City.

13. Take a trip down memory lane! Get out the photo albums and look through old photos.

14. Go for a walk.

15. Log on to facebook, which can be an easy way to use up some time. Check out what some of the people who inspire you have been doing, read their blogs or articles. If you get bored on facebook head over to twitter.

16. Make yourself a tall glass or in a wine glass of sparkling water with sliced oranges, lemons, limes and/or cucumbers or mint leaves. Is that a Mojito? You’ll feel fancy. Sometimes having a glass of wine can be pretend…

17. Have a comfy place that’s cozy and relaxing where you can go and just zone out with fluffy pillows, a comfy chair, windows or outside and chill. I like to have our waterfall on sitting in my backyard. You can read or just relax and breathe. BUT if you find you can’t stop thinking about what you are craving switch gears and get a workout done. Nothing like breaking a sweat to get you refocused.

18. Re-do your vision board or if you don’t have one it is time to make one. Rip out pictures from magazines of things you want more of in your life and create a vision board for yourself.

19. Re-read The Female Body Breakthrough – it will get you re-focused and motivated every time! J

20. Who’s birthday or event is coming up that you can buy a gift for? Go online or shopping for someone else and mark something off of your to do list.

21. Lie on your back with your legs resting on a chair bent at 90 degrees(best position for your body to rest in) and focus on breathing, taking big belly breathes. Inhale and exhale.

22. Read a new magazine for inspiration -  I suggest Women’s Health.

23. Take a bath with candles, bubble bath, essential oils and chill.

24. Floss and Brush Your Teeth.

25. Journal or write a blog…ahem…what do you think I’m doing now J

Hope this list helps you as much as it helped me to distract yourself next time you have one of those uncomfortable moments. Start to get used to and be comfortable being uncomfortable and remember nothing tastes as good as lean and sexy feels! Print this list out and have it handy next time the moment strikes! Life is too short to not look and feel your best every day!