Podcast Episode 002 - Q&A: How Do I Stay Motived

what motivates you to be healthy or to workout? is it something external to you that's fleeting, like trying to lose weight for a school reunion, wedding or beach season? this episodes talks about finding a lasting and profoundly personal motivation within you that endures to drive you to be healthier.

this is the video that ties to a blog post I did called "Q: How do I stick with it? How do I do what I know I should, but just don't do? (Part I)".

If you enjoyed this video, subscribe on YouTube or get the podcast on iTunes and spread the word. It's one more tool I'm giving you to help you enlighten.your.body.

R&R - Rewards & Rejuvenation

I was recently reading an issue of Bicycling magazine (the last free issue I got for buying my Trek, alas), and it had a great piece on 7 people (5 individuals and one couple) who lost weight on their bikes that used rewards as an incentive to stay in it and get even more of a rise from reaching their goals. This is something I've believed in, and seen work for several people around me. I want to take the idea one step beyond this and misuse the abbreviation R&R to get there. Instead of R&R standing for 'rest & relaxation', I want to take a more active interpretation, and call is 'rewards & rejuvenation'.

Be sure to see my YouTube videos on r&r (part 1 and part 2).

rewards
Rewards is what the magazine was talking about. The individuals in the story did something really nice for themselves when they reached their goals (most bought new bikes, but some went on a big 'ridecation' to a destination they always wanted to go, which is a great idea). In addition to giving yourself a big reward for hitting your ultimate goal, you should tie this into the idea I discuss in my 10 principles around setting goals, both near and far.  You can have your ultimate goal - say losing 50 pounds - but you should have a series of intermediate goals to keep you going along the way. You could have five 10 pound goals, for example. Or, if you're running, the example I always give is not thinking about the total goal distance, but pick a spot a bit out in the distance, like a street sign or building, run to it, and then pick another.  Ultimately, you get to the big goal, but you do it in manageable pieces rather than staring at this big, daunting goal that seems too far off and out of reach, which can discourage many people to the point of giving up.

So as you hit those mile post goals - whatever they may be - give yourself something to celebrate. One person in the article had road races as her intermediate goals, and she bought herself an official jersey at each one as her reward for finishing (for those who don't know, these can range from $75-200, so it's no small thing).  I love that idea.  She bought a new bike when she had completed the races and hit her goal weight.

A concern you may have is that this can cost a lot of money. True, but what are you doing today that costs you that also keeps you from your goals?  Is there a food or bad habit you need to give up to get there? Does that come with a price? As part of the clean14 challenge, I'm giving up coffee and soda. I can easily see what those two things cost me a week - at least $20 a week, or $1,000+ per year.  Wow.  One of the people in the article quit smoking, and set aside the money from cigarettes to buy a really nice bike when he made it to the end while buying some gear and equipment along the way as his interim rewards.  Brilliant.  As he put it, he was spending the same amount of money, but it was to save his life rather than end it this time.  Even more brilliant.

The one thing to be mindful of is not to use food as a reward. That reinforces the wrong habits. Pick something tied to what you're trying to achieve. A good friend bought himself a custom pair of NikeID shoes when he had run a milestone distance (he hated them, incidentally). So if you're trying to lose weight, don't reward yourself with a cheesecake, ok?

rejuvenation
This part is easy to confuse with rewards, but that just depends on what you choose.  Along the path to reaching our goals and changing our lives, we can get tired. We can get injured. We can get discouraged. Be mindful of this, and find little ways to reset yourself when you need it. A fresh hair cut, a spa day, a weekend away, a ball game or any other way to stop, reset, have fun and release a bit. I'm particularly fond of hair changes as they can make you feel new and different, which can really help you reset when you need it most. I tend to shave my head every now and then. My wife makes fun of me for saying it's cathartic, but it is in a way. It's a sort of symbolic cleaning and restarting.  A massage can be, as well, as can a good session in a sauna or steam room.

Whatever it is, don't forget to give yourself a clean start from time to time.

So you reward yourself as you win your way to your ultimate goal, and keep yourself fresh and rejuvenated by being mindful of your need for this along the way as you enlighten.your.body.

Eat Your Kids Scraps - Just Make Them The Right Scraps

You hear a lot from parents of toddlers about how they put on a bunch of weight eating their kids leftovers. Parents, you know the drill, you give your kids chicken nuggets, mac and cheese, peanut butter and jelly, etc, they eat some of it (hopefully enough to fuel their little bodies), and then have scraps to throw out. Invariably, you eat the scraps rather than tossing them.

I was guilty of this.  It adds pounds to parents, for sure.

So I cut that out. It helped.

But I realized that I've been eating my son's scraps again. And it's not resulting in weight gain. Why? The issue wasn't the scraps. It's what the scraps were made of. You have to get to the root cause of the issue. If you are feeding your kids processed foods, eating those scraps will be other than good for you, to put it nicely. But why not realize that these foods aren't good for them, either?

Last night, I had peas, carrots and chicken from my son's plate. They were all tasty and totally good for me. More importantly, they were good for him.

So, yeah, cutting out scraps of not-great-for-you food is a good idea, but cutting the not-great-for-your-kids food in the first place is the best idea. Set the right example and provide the right things for their growing, little bodies. To start, enlighten.your.body,

2013 By The Numbers

As 2013 closes up, I took a look at my tracker spreadsheet (get yours here) that I use as part of the first of my 10 principles, which is "track it" (see the video on our YouTube channel).  What I saw was pretty interesting in the last column, which sums up each row of the table - be it an exercise or some body stat.  I thought I'd share a few of the stats - keep in mind, I didn't do all of these things every day (for instance, I only started cycling in July, and stopped in November), and not everything I did got tracked:

• 4,878 pull ups
• 19,360 push ups
• 12,859 squats
• 9,649 minutes of elliptical, covering 802.9 miles and burning 142,536 calories
• 4,991 minutes of running, covering 451.3 miles and burning 63,530 calories
• 7,201 minutes of biking, covering 2,031.7 miles and burning 98,289 calories

In total, I recorded 22,293 minutes of cardio, covering 3,413 miles and burning 308,994 calories.

On the body side, my average weight was 177.5 pounds, with an average body fat of 10%.  I got as low as 5.2%, but after my half marathon and the time I've had to take off from hard training due to my tendon issue in my foot, it's crept up over 10% as I ended the year.  I'm at 12.2% and 186.2 pounds at the moment, and plan to have both of those numbers back to where I want them before January is over - 180 and 10%, respectively.

Since I had a few injuries in 2013, and started the year recovering from knee surgery, I'm excited to see how 2014 shapes up.

How was your 2013? If you were tracking it, follow principle 2 and go public by sharing how you did with others. How are you going to do for 2014? How will you enlighten.your.body?

newbodies on YouTube

Last night, I launched our new YouTube channel.  The goal of the channel is to share ideas, motivation, guidance, product reviews and more in a different format to this blog. While I've gotten a couple of videos up and have some more thoughts, I really want to be sure I'm posting what people want to see.  So, if you have a request, send me a message on Twitter (follow @newbodi) to let me know what you'd like me to cover.

I'm learning as I go, and am trying to be casual with this, so expect lots of mistakes and "ums", but also expect changes and improvement.  Like anything in life, we get better as we have more practice.

I hope you enjoy the series.  Subscribe and spread the word. It's one more tool I'm giving you to help you enlighten.your.body.

2013 - A good, fast year

I thought the timing was right to do a little reminiscing on 2013. This was a big year for me after 2012, which started great, but quickly was defined by two injuries and two related surgeries.

2013 was a year of several firsts

• First race (5K)
• First 10K
• First half marathon
• First time on a road bike
• First road cycling event (100K that turned into a 110 miler)
• First professional designation in the health and fitness space (I got certified as a personal trainer by the National Association of Sports Medicine)

It was also a year of PRs

• Fasted 5K
• Longest run
• Longest ride
• Most miles run in a week and month
• Most consistent runs

As in most years past, I also had several unfortunate side-linings just when I was starting to really hit my stride (literally and figuratively). I'm currently off from running due to a tendon issue in my left foot that started in September as I ramped up my mileage for my half marathon, but I also dealt with Achilles pain, quad strains, knee pain, etc, etc, etc.  The thing about this year is that I generally haven't let that stop me.  Why? 2013 is also the year that I really feel my repertoire (or arsenal, depending how aggressively you want to look at it) was really well-developed and in a place where I could deal with injuries and keep going. I learned a lot in getting my certification (and the Corrective Exercise Specialist credentials I'm working on now), but I also learned a lot about and with my own body first hand, and just understand things better - like it all sort of clicked.  I've been a regular at my physical therapist's office and have learned a lot there, but I view that as completely beneficial rather than something I have to do because of an injury.

A big reason why the physical has all fell into place despite injuries along the way is that 2013 was a big year for the mental side of my development. I've always stressed how you must bring your mind along with your body for health to truly take hold and stick in your life. I've read some fantastic books (probably the most impactful being "Choose to be Happy" by Wayne Froggat). I also made a point of reading some enjoyable books (Scott Jurek's "Eat & Run" was a favorite), and some that crossed both (Jay Dicchary's "Anatomy for Runners" is an absolute must read).

I've had lots of personal wins and personal losses, professional wins and losses, and physical wins and losses. As do we all. The balance is in the right place, and I found myself having an active hand in creating that balance by investing in myself. That's what I mean by enlighten.your.body. It's an active thing you do for yourself. It doesn't happen to you (or I'd have said, "get.your.body.enlightened" or something passive like that).

Look back on your 2013. How'd you do? What will you shift in 2014 to bring the right balance to your world?  How will you take an active stance on your health, happiness and life overall to enlighten.your.body?

Q: How do I stick with it (Part II)

Q: How do I stick with doing what I know I should? I am pretty good about exercise, but I eat things I know I shouldn't. I just have to make myself do it, right?

A: I talked about motivation in the first part of my response to this question. You should read that post, but the essence is about finding a driver within you so that you aren't making yourself do anything, but wanting to do something for your health (eating right, exercising, etc).

In this part, I want to address the 'something'. Let's look at exercise first. Some people have this idea that you have to go to a gym, feel awkward, get super sweating, wear cheap flip flops in the shower, and rush off to work late and sweating all over again. You have to sit (literally or figuratively) on a machine, staring at a wall, mirror, magazine or small TV screen.  You have to do it for at least 60 minutes or you won't lose any weight.

Does this sound enticing to you?  No, I'm sure it sounds more demoralizing to you than enticing.  As a work out addict, that doesn't appeal to me at all.  If it doesn't appeal, you will dread it.  If you dread it, you will have to make yourself do it, and that's exactly what we're trying to avoid.

So how do you do it? You need to find what you enjoy doing, and do that.

I had to stop during a CUYOP run to get
this photo of the great scenery I get to run in

OK, that's too simple, right?  Well, not really.  For me, I learned that I prefer outdoor exercise, so I took up cycling and running. I use machines in doors when weather really keeps me off the roads, but I combined those two things with my commute to balance my time (check out my post on CUYOP, and the Twitter hashtag #cuyop), get some varied scenery (I have a few routes I can take, including a nice riverfront section), and found that when I have an actual goal, I enjoy it more (i.e. getting to my office vs. just running a loop around my home).  So I found exercises I generally enjoy more than others, and found modalities for doing those exercises that I prefer.

I also have gym exercises I prefer, so I try to do those more than those I don't prefer or care for (I'll run on a treadmill, but find it really mind-numbing, same for upright bikes though oddly not for recumbent bikes).  Then the question is how do you do them and for how long. I recently had a long discussion with a client who couldn't get past the idea that she needed to do at least 60 minutes of cardio to make it worth anything. That's just not so. The key is not to do things at a constant pace.  Use intervals on a machine where every so often, it makes you go faster or deal with more resistance.  Pick an undulating hill course (on a machine or in real life).  Use intervals out on the road by going faster for a minute, and then slower for a minute in a pattern throughout your run/walk/ride/rollerskate/XC skiing/etc.  The run/walk approach is a great way to get into running and build your cardio-respiratory ability while not over-taxing your system. You can use a stop watch set to signal each minute, or better yet, download any of the great, free interval apps for your smart phone (I use Seconds for iOS).

Scientifically, intervals work better than constant work as the up and down in effort sparks a fat burning response that can last for hours after your workout.  As a result, you don't need to do it as long for the same result as if you did a constant effort workout.  The key is to not just choose an interval workout, but actually do it.  By that I mean when the interval hits, move faster. It's pretty easy to get lost in your reading or a show and ignore the machine telling you to pump it (or miss the point where you were supposed to start running again if you're out on the road).

Unscientifically, the variation keeps it interesting, and keeps you engaged (since you have to pay attention to when the interval hits, and you'll want to pay attention to when its done so you can slow down).  I started using a second interval program on my elliptical to spice things up, so I split my workout between the base interval program and a Speed Work program I found that really kicks my butt and is super fun.

I was recently participating in a month-long competition that included doing 100 burpees a day. Burpees are a mix of a squat thrust and a jump (unless you do the cross fit version, which substitutes the squat thrust with laying down on the floor).  They're great, and terrible, too.  I found that I really dreaded them, and would procrastinate starting, which just ate into the rest of my workout time. Due to an injury, I had to stop doing them before the competition ended, but I also realized I should have dropped them from my routine because of how I felt about doing them and the cost that feeling was having on my workout overall.

The same exact story applies to healthy eating. Kale is the greatest food in the world and the only thing you should eat according to some fanatics. What if you absolutely hate it? Well, then, forcing yourself to just eat kale will be a recipe for not sticking with healthy eating. Find healthy things you love (and I'm not talking about packaged foods that advertise low fat or low sodium, but actual food that was alive at some point (whether veggie or animal or both is up to you). If you hate chicken but want to avoid red meat, experiment with turkey, seafood or veggie-based meat alternatives to keep your protein up. If you don't like leafy greens, try baby broccoli, which is a hybrid of kale and broccoli.  Try some foreign veggies like baby bok choi (aka youcsai) or daikon. Open up those spices you haven't been using to give your dishes a kick. Check out some of my recipes for inspiration, or look at Twitter for healthy cooking ideas - it's LOADED with them.

So, find your true motivation, and then find the things you enjoy doing. Just find how to transform your life into one you choose to really live healthily and fully. That's how you enlighten.your.body.