Chest & Back

So for Day 1 of this program, you do chest, back and abs/core.

And let me tell you, the Chest & Back section of the DVD was tough. I was able to nail down some of the stuff instructed on there, but not as much as I wanted to. Of course, that wasn’t going to stop me. And yes, I did “feel the burn,” as corny as that may sound.

Ab Ripper X

And then we have the worst part of Day 1. I thought the first part was hell, but once I got into the Ab Ripper, it was terribad. I was already about to collapse after doing Chest & Back, but I knew I had to keep on going. Even so, I pretty much failed on the Ab Ripper for today. Haha.

After doing the workout for the day, I felt great. It felt very “rewarding.” Honestly, I have a really positive feeling about P90X.

Let’s see what tomorrow has in store for us. (:

This was an OK run. I thought it was going to be bad but things turned out all right.

On the walk down I had pain in my left foot, my left shin and a cramp in the back of my right leg. After I started running the foot pain and the cramp went away. The shin started acting up every now and then but it was nothing too worrisome.

One thing that I really concentrated on was not looking at my watch. This really helped to make the time seem to fly by. I didn't look first until the 20 minute mark. Probably the first time ever. I peeked a few times afterwards but overall a lot less then normal. I know which landmarks correspond with which times so I had a pretty good idea the whole way. Not looking at my watch just made it seem quicker.

I went out again with no water and I didn't need any. I wasn't that thirsty after I finished. I guess that's because I went out so late and ended up finishing in the dark again.

I know I keep saying this but I think that temperature is the most crucial factor in any run. It pretty much decides how the run is gonna go. I remember thinking that the marathon is going to start in the morning and I'll be finishing around 1pm. I also remember worrying about that a little bit. I wouldn't even think of running during that time right now. The race will be in October, though, so I imagine that heat won't be a factor. It will probably be really cold. That is a good thing.

Summer can't end soon enough. It's really putting a cramp on my running plans.

I wanted to add a little something different to my workout routine, and I thought this would be good...

I can say now, after class it was awesome and I will go back.

But during?

There was a puddle of sweat beneath my bike.

I watched the sweat fall in a constant drip from my bangs.

I thought I was going to puke all over.

Then the instructor said that the warm up was done and it was time to begin....

He made me stand up on the peddles and go up imaginary hills...

Then he made me sit down.

Then he made me do little jumps where I went up and down like I was humping my seat...

I don't think I will ever walk the same again.

I am so sore, but so happy that I made it through.

Next Wednesday, another spin class and another 500 calories will be burned!

Jillian is at it again.  I was inspired by Alli the first female Biggest Loser and that motivated me to look into Jillians training style.  This is a DVD workout I have used for a little over two months.  I would say it is one of the best workout DVDs I have ever used. The program has levels 1, 2, & 3 which you advance to as you are ready.  I do level 3 most of the time, but sometimes I do levels 1 or 2 or both combined for something different.  My overall stamina and tone has improved greatly with this workout and I recommend it to anyone who is short on time and ready to sweat.  One of the drawbacks is Jillians attitude, which I guess some people are crazy about.  But, the good news is that you can turn her voice off if you want to.  Have any of you used it?  What did you think?

Retails for $10.99 at Target

One exciting aspect of Zyked is its mobile capabilities, allowing a jogger, for example, to enter and receive data through her cell phone while out and about. Advancements in RL physical activities merit advancements in Zyked, resulting in the merging of incentives commonly found in MMOs with activities in meatspace. This is a hot idea, as seen with Weight Watchers Online and the Wii Fit.

by SAM PAGE

As a personal trainer working in Hollywood, I see my share of fads and trends. Southern California saw the beginnings of such fitness mainstays as Jack Lalanne, Richard Simmons, and Jane Fonda. Then came Soloflex, Tae Bo, and "striptease" cardio. The green movement also began here, birthing people and causes such as Healthy Child, Ralph Nader, and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, whose legacy may in large part have to do with his stand to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the world's sixth largest economy.

The Governator might just be the perfect illustration of my desire to combine these two arenas: fitness and sustainability. If you're a gym-goer, it's an intriguing idea. Consider that besides your home, car, and office, your time in the gym (and the related travel time to get there) probably accounts for one or two hours each day. So here are some thoughts on how you can make your exercise regimen less impactful on the environment.

Buy a Nalgene water bottle. There have been scary stories about a chemical called BTA that "regular" water bottles release if you've inadvertently left them in a hot car. While the jury's still out on whether BPA causes cancer, laboratory studies on rats have shown that "it affects estrogen, decreases sperm production, has been associated to prostate and breast cancer, and it is especially hard on developing bodies." By using a Nalgene water bottle, you save the production of plastic which (even when recycled) still leaves a footprint. If that's not reason enough, then look at what a good corporate citizen Nalgene is.

Use self powered gym equipment. Have you ever noticed that no matter how crowded the gym, there's always a stationary bike available? There are a couple reasons for this. First, the cost of the equipment: of all the cardio equipment out there, stationary bikes are by far the cheapest. And many stationary bikes are self-powered by the rider and require zero electrical power. Fewer machines to fuel means lower electricity costs for the facility. Actor/environmentalist Ed Begley Jr. goes one step further and uses his exercise bike to power other stuff.

When shopping for sports supplements, think green. I got this idea from Begley, who (no big shocker) has already been doing a lot of thinking about fitness and sustainability. "Fitness enthusiasts often take supplements, powders and the like," he says. "When making purchases of this sort, think 'green.'" Ed offers a practical way to determine whether a container for your favorite protein powder is harmful to the environment. "The easiest plastic containers to recycle are the ones that have a 1 or a 2 in the center of the recycling triangle logo (usually on the bottom of the container)," he explains. "The 3,4,5 and 6 containers are the more problematic."

Use biofriendly disinfectants and cleaners. Rebecca Foster, an avid green advocate in Los Angeles, tells me that natural substances such as tea tree oil is as effective as many commercial disinfectants—plus they smell "way" better (my word, not hers). Think about the connection between the air in the room around you and your own respiratory system. Do you really want to breathe bleach, ammonia, and other harsh chemicals in the air? Blech. There are dozens of non-toxic and biodegradable cleaning products on the market: Simple Green, Seventh Generation, and Method Home are three that I like.

Last, but what should probably be first: choose your gym wisely. Recently I joined a neighborhood gym which I selected for one criterion alone: where was the gym in relation to my work and home? Since I drive between my three business locations on a daily basis, I wanted the gym where I take up residence to cross my traffic patterns, that way I can't ever make an excuse NOT to work out. The same rule also helps the environment. By giving my membership to a gym that's "on the way," not "out of the way" of my daily traffic patterns, I reduce my consumption of gasoline and energy: every time I work out.

Got ideas for how to make your workout greener? Email me.

© 2008 SAM PAGE | about | contact

When I began working with my trainer, I could just barely last 3 minutes on the stationary bike.

Now I ride 30 min every single weekday, and first thing next week I'll be bumping up the resistance one level. I also walk 30 minutes minimum every day (an hour on the weekends), and strength train twice a week. Stretching is a minimum of 3 times a week, though I try for daily after my bike ride. Generally speaking I get close to 90 minutes a day of exercise. I used to get zero.

Today I took a rest day, unplanned, as my spine is very sore due to my disease and the dramatic weather we're having. Barometer constantly going up and down means painful joints for me. Today it was just a bit too much and I had to chill out and take ibuprofen liqui-gels 800mg at a time every 4 hours.

But overall I'm significantly stronger and moving better. I feel better, have more energy, and crave movement. My trainer brought 3 other trainers over while I was in the gym yesterday to show them how much butt I'm kicking. They all oooh'ed and aaah'ed as trainers rarely do.

When I have a day where I'm feeling discouraged about lack of scale movement and the pain in my spine, I try to keep it all in perspective. This is me reminding myself from whence I came only 4 weeks ago!

Why did I put "failure" in quotation marks?

You may not have lost the 50 pounds that you wanted to, or achieved a 32 inch waist, but I bet you achieved something through your endeavors.

With every negative, there is a positive associated with it.

Too many people have what I call the "Yeah, but..." syndrome. This happens when progress is being made or a small goal has been reached and someone congratulates you or calls you out on it. Then, instead of acknowledging your progress, accepting the steps you took towards your goal, and continuing to work towards your bigger goals, you counter the positive statement with "Yeah, but..." and proceed to count all the things you didn't achieve just yet.

Here's an example:

"Hey, you've lost 3 pounds this week and 0.5% body fat! Great job!" I say. The client proceeds to say, "Yeah, but I still have so much more to go, I don't think I'll lose that last 20 pounds, I don't look any better in the mirror, blah blah blah!"

When you think like this, you shift positive energy into negativity. I've written about the law of attraction on here before, and based on that law, if you focus on the negative, all you will attract is negativity. You will be just about guaranteed to not reach your fitness goals, leading to discouragement and finally to completely quitting.

Shift your frame of mind, and get rid of the "Yeah, but..." syndrome. Once this shift occurs, you will realize that your little achievements add up, and that with every "failure" comes something positive.

6 mile solo walk, completed.

Then, I walked the neighbor’s dog for an additional 3.45 miles.

Total: 9.45 miles. OMG. I’m exhausted. I think I over did it but I was concentrating on burning of the two servings of mac n cheese from earlier.

(Damn you RealAge.)

I’m not sure if I can squeeze in Curves if I continue to walk the dog as an addition to my workout. I want to work out every day but not every minute of the day.

We’ll see.

The theme here is that every athlete, and I mean every athlete, can get into a training rut if not enough attention to paid to switching up workouts.  Be it crosstraining, which can be highly beneficial in the prevention of injury, or just a change of pace, say running a trail rather than a track or doing open water swims rather than laps in the pool, adding variety to your training can help keep things interesting and keep your body from getting too comfortable with a particular workout.

One caveat to variety is the potential for decreased attendance towards your specific goals.  Swimmers need to swim to get better.  The key here is to break down your training methodology and identify the core components behind it.  Core components in a schedule of running for a sprinter could be identified as anaerobic conditioning and strength.  Just as swimmers need to swim, runners need to run, but a workout (such as the one listed below) that addressed the specific needs of anaerobic conditioning and strength development would allow for variety while still moving the athlete towards his or her stated goals.

3 rounds of 21-15-12 for time:

95lb thrusters + pullups

When my daughter moved last month, she gave us her treadmill, and this afternoon I tried it for the first time. I walked five minutes, and the speed was three lines BELOW the SLOWEST speed on the control panel. I have a LOT of work to do to get fit!

We did some jumping jacks, abs and leg work - easy peasy! Boom and I even managed to squeeze in a 20 minute power nap after our shower and before going to work.

Why was I so tired, you ask? Well, the night before, I had gone to a transfer event with the Junior League of Houston, and didn't get home until around 1030pm (gasp - on a school night, I know!)! We took a docent-led tour of the Houston Natural Museum of Science's Gem Vault - very interesting and I learned quite a bit about gems and minerals! Afterwards, we went to Hotel ZaZa and had some drinks and socialized. Had an amazing small world incident - one of the gals that I met is BFs with one of Cubby's good friends from UVa! Great night - all in all - I think a few of us are going to start a wine club / bunko group, which I am excited for - but very tiring after waking up at 4am.

On an unrelated note, I just made dinner reservations at The Grove for when Al and Park are in town on Saturday! Should be a great time!

Now as a teenager he is surrounded by media and visual images that tell him how his body should be. It used to be that mostly girls were bombarded with this however, we have now passed this on to boys. Boys now have the unfortunate experience that girls have had for centuries.  They too are now bombarded with "perfect images" that they cannot live up to.

If you are looking for a women's fitness program in Orange County, please consider the Orange County Adventure Fitness Boot Camp for Women.

Our Women's only fitness camps are taught by the most experienced and highly qualified fitness trainers in Orange County (and the U.S.)

We have been asked why we only offer a womens' fitness boot camp. The answer is simple. Women don't need men in their camp. They want a sense of community and a program designed specifically for women.

The Orange County Women's Fitness Boot camp odes this like no other.

Contact the Orange County Adventure Fitness Boot Camp for Women now!

Let me know if you have anyone you'd like to nominate as a Fabulous and Fit Mommy!!

To become a gym trainer, you must first become certified. A personal fitness trainer certification will allow you to train in all gyms.

Gym trainers make between $30 - $100 per hour. Trainers often work a few hours in the morning and a few in the evening. In some cases, the gym trainers may only work a morning shift.

training clients at a gym is a fun and rewarding career which enriches the lives of all involved.

Gym trainers are both men and women. Age of trainers ranges from 18 - 80.

Once you become certified as a trainer, your career path doesn't have to stay in the gym. Although you can become a gym manager, gym owner or stay a gym trainer; the real opportunities exist when you step outside of the gym. Trainers who work with clients in small groups, outdoors, at resorts and online generally have more opportunity to become more overall successful.

To begin your career as a gym trainer, contact NESTA now.

Francois Nguyen's Arlington MMA 955 N Cooper St Arlington Tx 76011 817-300-8524 arlingtonmma.com

Professional training camp for amature and UFC fighters

specializing in:  mma, martial arts, kickboxing, boxing, brazilian jiu jitsu, muay thai, mixed martial arts, grappling, wrestling, judo, nhb, vale tudo, free style fighting,tae kwon do, karate, kung fu, children’s martial arts, women’s self defense, personal training, weight loss, ufc, wec, tamma, ifl, wcl

locations: Arlington, Mansfield, Grand Prairie, Tx and DFW areas

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Vj23iAiyWc

Tags:

Tags: mma, martial arts, kickboxing, boxing, brazilian jiu jitsu, muay thai, mixed martial arts, grappling, wrestling, judo, nhb, vale tudo, free style fighting, tae kwon do, karate, kung fu, children's martial arts, women's self defense, personal training, weight loss, arlington, tx, mansfield, grand prairie, fort worth, dfw

Francois Nguyen's Arlington MMA 955 N Cooper St Arlington Tx 76011 817-300-8524 arlingtonmma.com

Professional training camp for amature and UFC fighters

specializing in:  mma, martial arts, kickboxing, boxing, brazilian jiu jitsu, muay thai, mixed martial arts, grappling, wrestling, judo, nhb, vale tudo, free style fighting,tae kwon do, karate, kung fu, children’s martial arts, women’s self defense, personal training, weight loss, ufc, wec, tamma, ifl, wcl

locations: Arlington, Mansfield, Grand Prairie, Tx and DFW areas

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Vj23iAiyWc

Tags:

Tags: mma, martial arts, kickboxing, boxing, brazilian jiu jitsu, muay thai, mixed martial arts, grappling, wrestling, judo, nhb, vale tudo, free style fighting, tae kwon do, karate, kung fu, children's martial arts, women's self defense, personal training, weight loss, arlington, tx, mansfield, grand prairie, fort worth, dfw

Francois Nguyen's Arlington MMA 955 N Cooper St Arlington Tx 76011 817-300-8524 arlingtonmma.com

Professional training camp for amature and UFC fighters

specializing in:  mma, martial arts, kickboxing, boxing, brazilian jiu jitsu, muay thai, mixed martial arts, grappling, wrestling, judo, nhb, vale tudo, free style fighting,tae kwon do, karate, kung fu, children’s martial arts, women’s self defense, personal training, weight loss, ufc, wec, tamma, ifl, wcl

locations: Arlington, Mansfield, Grand Prairie, Tx and DFW areas

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Vj23iAiyWc

Tags:

Tags: mma, martial arts, kickboxing, boxing, brazilian jiu jitsu, muay thai, mixed martial arts, grappling, wrestling, judo, nhb, vale tudo, free style fighting, tae kwon do, karate, kung fu, children's martial arts, women's self defense, personal training, weight loss, arlington, tx, mansfield, grand prairie, fort worth, dfw

Francois Nguyen's Arlington MMA 955 N Cooper St Arlington Tx 76011 817-300-8524 arlingtonmma.com

Professional training camp for amature and UFC fighters

specializing in:  mma, martial arts, kickboxing, boxing, brazilian jiu jitsu, muay thai, mixed martial arts, grappling, wrestling, judo, nhb, vale tudo, free style fighting,tae kwon do, karate, kung fu, children’s martial arts, women’s self defense, personal training, weight loss, ufc, wec, tamma, ifl, wcl

locations: Arlington, Mansfield, Grand Prairie, Tx and DFW areas

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Vj23iAiyWc

Tags:

Tags: mma, martial arts, kickboxing, boxing, brazilian jiu jitsu, muay thai, mixed martial arts, grappling, wrestling, judo, nhb, vale tudo, free style fighting, tae kwon do, karate, kung fu, children's martial arts, women's self defense, personal training, weight loss, arlington, tx, mansfield, grand prairie, fort worth, dfw