Sometimes all it takes to start...

"If you're not moving, you're not growing. If you're not growing, you aren't living." - Tony Robbins

“Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow.” -Emerson

Sometimes all it takes to start your fitness is knowing someone who has achieved their goals. The most highly acclaimed motivational speakers continually say that in order to achieve results, read a biography of someone who has been in your shoes.  Then model your behavior after theirs because success leaves clues. Authentic?  It's still authentic if you allow yourself to shine through and still have those tools in your toolbox, and even more authentic when you push past the goals, achieve them, and set new ones. Everyone needs a little help: why reinvent the wheel?

In that vein, I would like to give a few examples. I watch the show The Biggest Loser on NBC every week, and when they have a lot of good workout advice, I'll watch it more than once, as I have it on DVR. To see these beautiful (yet large) people accomplishing anywhere from 2-20 lbs a week weight loss... every single week with minor fluctuations either way, I am inspired. I see that success is eminent, as they have some of the best trainers in the world looking after them and kicking their butts on a daily basis.

I want to cry when one of the contestants 'only' loses 3-5 lbs.. that would be a dream come true for me!

I have purchased the bodybugg to measure my caloric expenditures throughout the day, and I have opted to get the year long subscription so I can log my food. This has enabled me to eat whatever I want (within reason) just as long as I stick to the basic math, which is to run at a daily deficit of 500 calories per day or more for a lb. a week of weight loss. Math is 500 calories a day for 7 days a week = 3500 calorie deficit, and therefore a pound of weightloss. For some of you, you know that 3500 calories equals a pound, for others, the light bulb is just turning on. I applaud you for getting this far!  This is all common sense, therefore simple.

Now something that Jillian Michaels mentions is Cardio Interval Training. She uses cardio bursts and a combination of muscle circuits while you are recovering from the short bursts of cardio. In my opinion, this is the best (and most efficient) form of caloric burn. Muscle confusion (and variety) is used to benefit the Mommy, and it's kicked into overdrive with the cardio.. (in the form of jumping jacks or modified jumping jacks, plank pose, mountain climbers etc.)

Jumping back out of the science and technique, and back into the motivating factors...because for me, that's where the juicy stuff is.

Your Friends--Face it.  It really pays to know someone who has successfully gone through a program and achieved results. It's not enough for a complete stranger to tell you they went through a program and it worked: again, success leaves clues, and the best form of flattery is to be copied. SO don't be shy. Interview your friends.. and if you have no friends who have tried any type of fitness or sport goals and achieved results, find more friends!

Surround yourself with those who are active. Make plans to exercise; make plans to meet someone at a trailhead and go on a hike! It doesn't have to be earth shattering...it's supposed to be fun, otherwise, why on earth would you want to do it again? Some of the best times I can remember were having a good talk with a good friend while keeping the heart pumping during a good walk.

Sign Up.  If you are having a tough time meeting friends who are active, sign yourself up for a local hike, walk, run, biking event, etc. Raise the money it takes to enter! Get a sponsor--and Commit to something! Just the commitment of signing up for something and telling everyone about it *keeps you accountable* to yourself, and ensures your progress.

If you're not moving, you're not growing. If you're not growing as a person, you aren't living.

If you are tired of being the way you are, get moving, and commit. Meet people in the training program you have signed up for, and go on rides, walks, runs with people. It PAYS to be in a group or a tribe. Who knows? It may become as addicting as food once was. You may use exercise as a form of comfort as opposed to food or escaping with TV or computer. I only say this to you because this is me. This content and information is because I am living it *right now*. You are experiencing my journey first hand. I am running away from the comfortable.

This is personal.  So far, I have signed up to ride a 100 mile bike ride in September. I figure that goal is far enough in the distance that I can give myself a fighting chance. I have to raise $300, and I signed up with my credit card. I have posted the link on my facebook for all to see. I have put a ticker on my profile to show people my training miles that I have logged. '100 miles seems like too lofty a goal!' you might say. Well, it is possible, but I've committed, and plan on riding 2000 miles before September so I am good and ready.

I am going to do a 3K run by May 8th. I will be either walking or cycling every day to give myself variety, and my body a chance to recover from the previous day's hilarity. 3K only equals to 1.6 miles. If you can run 1.6 miles, you can run 3 miles... and so on. Where is your first rung?

I *also* am going to do Jillian Michael's last chance workout for the next 6 weeks to give myself some cross training when I'm not walking, cycling or rebounding. I want to build up my calves (and my bum knee) and my core. I already feel the difference.

The reason I'm telling you all this, Ladies, is because I am desperate to get back to the shape I once was, and even more desperate to be better than I once was. All laziness is overrided by the fact that I *JUST* Can't Take it ANYMORE.

This One Thing:  this one decision aligns my heart, my head, my body, and my desire.

I am one little acorn who will grow into a beautiful oak one day, stable and balanced. All I have to do is everything I've planned and put out there into the universe.

I hope this has helped at least one of you.


 

The Ins and Outs of Dirty

So you've made up your mind you're going to start mountain biking, but you haven't gotten a clue as to proper bike fit, how to brake or change gears. You think you don't have any business getting out there because you'll make a fool of yourself.

This is where your friendly moderator shakes you and tells you to wake up: How are you going to get fit unless you take some calculated risks, get informed, and get out there?

There is such a fun element to cycling, and mountain biking in particular. When I get out I am catapulted back into my carefree kid days and I feel an element of exploration that can't be rivaled by cleaning house and running errands.

It is truly a balance to have the ability to hop on two wheels and let the bike do all the work, going up gentle slopes and soaking up the oxygen the trees provide, looking through polarized lenses at the greenery and blue sky ahead, and feeling the air moving in and out of your lungs, especially on an exhilerating downhill.

There is something so meditative and singular and truimphant about muscling along a trail, feeling your legs and hearing your breath and the machine you are one with purring along underneath.

If there are aggressions felt, anger felt, hopelessness and helplessness felt at the beginning of the ride, it's all left out on the trail between those two boulders, embibed in those green tree branches. You won't have any aggressions when you leave the ride; that's for sure.


That is, if you just follow these simple steps.

1) Make sure your bike fits. Feel that your hands don't have a lot of pressure, your back or your knees. If your knees are too high, you won't be able to breathe in all the way, and you won't get the right stride. At the same point, don't put your seat too high unless you have to dismount quickly. Another advantage of having your seat lower is a lower, more stable center of gravity.

2) Make sure you've aired your tires and maintained your bike. Also, go to a free bike maintenance clinic held at your local bike shop or REI. Put your pride aside: a minute of knowing is better than an hour of frustration: I speak from experience!!!

When you do actually get on the road:

3) Mindset: Know there's a learning curve! Don't feel ashamed if you have to take the fireroads first! When you learn how to ski, do you hit the black diamond first? No! You start with the bunny slopes. Practice technique: practice, practice, practice.

4) Learn how to brake. This takes some practice... Personally, I only use my front brake lightly, and compound it with my rear on technical trails.

5) Practice changing gears on flat ground first, then on hills. The key to biking and mountainbiking is knowing how to change gears. If you can get through that first hour of frustration, you will wind up finding a lifelong sport you can go back to time and time again.

6) Mindset: Know at some point, you're going to fall. Why jump on a mountain bike with this mindset? Let's just say within the mountainbiking subculture, if you fall and scrape a knee, it's a badge of courage. It's the knowing as a result of doing. It's the building of the wisdom of riding, and the experience and triumph of having gone somewhere not everyone has been. Kind of like travelling to Europe, comparing scars is the same thing: you never know unless you go.

So, in closing, if you are thinking about getting into mountain biking, or just regular biking for that matter... Please know you just may have something more valuable to give to others when you get home; always much more than when you started.

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