Fitness 19 Hours

Today Thomas is earning his black stripe for learning his technique,” announced Master Williams. And as the onlooking parents including myself clapped their hands, a black stripe was taped onto his belt. He looked at me with such a proud face and smiled just for a split second. But I saw it, and I knew what he must be feeling. And while he was proud of his black stripe, he wasted no time asking, “What can I do to earn my blue stripe?” Nice! We All Start at the Beginning My son is only a white belt in his class which means he is brand-spanking new to Karate. He has a beginner belt in a beginner class. And anybody that knows anything about Karate knows that the ultimate goal is to earn that coveted black belt . But it’s a process; it takes time. It takes years of learning disciplines, patterns, and postures. Not only do you have to learn them, but you have to make them routine so that you can defend yourself. But here’s where Karate got it right. Bite-Sized Victories You don’t jum...

Yesterday when I was helping my son, Thomas, flip from school gear to Karate gear in the gym bathroom, he laid it on me. “You know, dad, if a bathroom is yucky and not very clean, you need to use Kaboom to get it sparkly and shiny.” Yes….my 5-year old son had been told exactly what he needed for a nice clean bathroom during an episode of Power Rangers Samurai. HIYA!!! Cute and innocent? Sure. A Different Message But what if the message isn’t about a clean bathroom? What if the message is about YOU? What if the message is about your health, fitness, self-esteem, and body image? The cuteness starts to fade, doesn’t it? It’s not cute when you are led to believe that fitness what you see on the cover of a fitness or fashion magazine when those images have been cropped, cut, and airbrushed beyond belief. It’s not cute when they show you the digital graphic of the belly fat just shrinking away from that one tiny pill that cures all your weight loss needs. It’s not cute when they tell yo...

It’s impossible to bring up The Dark Knight Rises without mentioning the tragedy that struck those innocent movie goers in Aurora in the same breath. And while this post is not about this terrible incident, I feel compelled to say that my heart and my thoughts are with those victims and their families. I wish them peace in their hearts and minds. Shifting gears. My wife and I did indeed go see the movie. And while we have a difference of opinion on how it ended (I was right ; ), we both agreed that is was very well done. From the acting to the action, nice job! A very good film indeed. And you know what? There was one message that really stuck with me. Tiny spoiler alert! Bruce Wayne finds himself beaten, battered, and imprisoned in an underground prison. The only way out is through a well that leads to ground level, but many men have died trying to escape. Only one person has ever made it to the top. And that person was a child. Failed attempts. Having heard the story of the c...

So often in the busy-ness of our fast-paced world we forget how important it can be to create and maintain a balance in life. “Balance is a feeling derived from being whole and complete; it’s a sense of harmony. It is essential to maintaining quality in life and work.” says Natalie Gahrmann, Mom MD. author, workshop/seminar leader, writer, success coach and expert in work/life mastery. Cove Paddle FitOur friend and partner Tyler Lennon, founder of Cove Paddle Fitness , believes that balance stems from our core, both physically, and in life. “There’s much discussion among fitness trainers about the importance of maintaining a strong core; that area involving the abdominals, and the muscles in the hips and back.” Tyler explains, “Just as a healthy core provides the body with balance, stability and power, a weak core can result in poor posture, and leave one prone to injury. The same concept is true for other core issues in life.” After watching famed surfer Laird Hamilton glide across th...

My P90X review for this week is……..I’ve been a lazy dog until today. My wife had the day off and she was just the push I needed to pop in the P90X Kenpo X disk and work out with her for an hour. Yesterday and Monday were just bad days for me…..no motivation…soreness in my right shoulder…..racquetball injury from last week and just a bad attitude in general. I woke up this morning feeling much the same way as I did the previous 2 days and if Kim wasn’t there to prod me along, it would have been 3 lousy days in a row. I actually feel great right now. The workout went really well. Kim hasn’t been able to do any P90X for a couple of weeks now so Kenpo X was just the right workout for her to start up on again. She did really well in spite of her sore back. Her lower back has been pretty tight lately, but this workout is easier than most of the P900X series….at least in my opinion. I know there’s a point in the workout when Tony has his heart rate up in the 165 region and I can’t eve...

I’ve been using P90x workouts for about 2 months now. I’ve lost a total of 5 pounds, and dropped 8 % body fat. I started out at 275 pounds. For those of you who are mathematically challenged, That means that I now weigh 270 pounds and I’ve gone from carrying around 110 pounds of body fat to only lugging 81 pounds. That is significant! That also means that my my lean body mass has gone from 165 lbs. of lean muscle to 189 lbs. of lean muscle. Holy Crap! All in just 2 months. It gets better. I have almost no cartilage in my left knee from a skiing mishap when I was 18. As I’ve gotten heavier and heavier over the years the pain and swelling in that knee got more and more difficult to put up with. When I first started with the P90X DVD‘s I’m ashamed to admit that I couldn’t even do a simple jumping jack because of the sharp pain in that joint. Here I am 2 months later and I can do those jumping jacks without any pain whatsoever. To me, that’s a big deal. I have more energy, more strength...

Another Saturday has come and gone and another P90X Shoulders & Arms workout is in the books for me and my wife Kim. I love working out with her….it makes all the difference in the world. She helps motivate me like no one else can. I’m still having trouble with my left kneecap and my right shoulder so I have to take it easy on a couple of the exercises at the end of the Shoulders & Arms DVD, but I can do all the rest just fine. The lying down triceps extension and the side tri rise exercises really put a lot of strain on my shoulder area so I’m only using half the weight and doing half the reps I used to do. I’ve dogged it for almost 2 weeks now, hoping that my knee will get better and my shoulder will heal. The good news is….my knee is finally turning the corner and in the middle of the healing process. There were some days last week that I had difficulty even walking. It felt like there was a little rock in between the joint….no fun at all. Both injuries came from play...

Well……I’m back. After a self imposed hiatus I have determined it is time for me to get back on this P90X horse and share my fitness goals for 2023 with my readers. First and foremost – a big thank you to all of you who have spurred me on over the last year and a half. It has been an interesting journey to say the least. My family has experienced quite a few curve balls since I started this blog 1 1/2 years ago. There have been a lot of successes sprinkled with setbacks as well as some failures. Now, before you “positive minded,” “positive attitude” people start foaming at the mouth, let me say this……I believe in a positive outlook as well, but I believe it is always healthy to review the past to learn what went right as well as what went wrong so that I can repeat what went right and correct what went wrong. I want to take and am taking personal responsibility for my failure so that I can learn from them and get better and ultimately overcome those weaknesses that more often than not r...

The world’s largest auto company, General Motors (GM), has released their own diet plan. The General Motors diet plan or GM diet plan is the result of an effort by GM to give its employees a tool to lose Wa weight and be healthier. Since its release, the GM diet plan has become something of a worldwide sensation with thousands of people subscribing to its tenets. The GM diet is basically a low protein, high fruit and vegetable type of diet, low in fat and heavy on fiber. The diet runs in a seven day cycle and is organized upon a strict regimen of combinations of foods and liquids for each day of the cycle. The cycle starts with days one through four that consist mainly of fruits and some vegetables. Meat is not introduced until day five and only allowed in small quantities on days five and six. Day seven switches back to fruits veggies and brown rice before starting over again on day one. It is important on this diet to get plenty of rest, many participants complain of lethargy and ti...

Did you know that most people who are overweight are so because they are dehydrated? Water helps keep your metabolism rate high and a lack of it can contribute to weight gain. Today you can learn about the water diet and how it has helped many people win their battle with weight loss. The water diet has been proven to help people lose weight and increase their metabolism at the same time. Drinking water increases your body’s ability to get rid of toxins and helps promote a healthier body for you as well. Now let’s learn about the diet itself. The diet consists of only 5 days of truly dieting. On day one you must drink 8 glasses of water and can eat nothing but apples. What the apples do is help prepare your liver so that it can get ready to detoxify your body. Keep the water you drink ice cold so that your body will have to warm it up which in turn will increase your metabolism. Stay strong on day one and you should not feel hungry since you can eat apples. On day 2 add two glasses of ...

The prescription drug coumadin is one of the most widely prescribed anti-coagulant medications used in the world today. Appropriate for patients suffering from many vascular diseases including heart attack, stroke and deep vein thrombosis, coumadin treatment is a therapeutic intervention that has helped to save millions of lives from the threat of deadly blood clots .  However, as with many drugs, it is important to know that certain foods can interact with coumadin to reduce its overall effectiveness. Avoiding these interactions and enhancing a patient’s overall health is the ultimate goal of guidelines for the coumadin diet. Of primary concern when looking at a coumadin patient’s diet is keeping the intake of foods that contain Vitamin K very consistent from day to day. Because Vitamin K is known to reduce the overall effectiveness of coumadin, significant changes in the amount of the vitamin in the body will change the amount of coumadin needed to avoid clots. Keeping a steady ...