Reinvigorate your 2011!

Make 2011 the year you reinvigorate your body and mind. Every year billions of people make getting in shape and losing weight a “New Year’s Resolution". I hope the following information will help you stick to those goals this year and every year after! First, let me remove any ambitious ideas about the latest fad diets. Losing weight and getting in shape requires three main components, without which success is not possible.

The first component is modifying your behavior. This is simply (not to be confused with simple!) changing some behavior that is adding unnecessary calories to your daily diet, or walking the mile to the club house instead of driving, not using milk in your coffee, cutting out sugary foods or desserts not forever, but most of the time.

The second component is nutrition. Use the hunger scale of 1 - 10. 1) is a level so hungry you could eat your golf shoe. 10) is so full you might be sick! (we’ve all been there!) You want to spend your life in the 3 - 6 range. At 3 you EAT, when you have finished half your meal you pause. That does mean being mindful while you are eating. If you are not quite at 6 take another bite and check in with yourself again. The key here is to SLOW DOWN while you are eating.

The third component is exercise. A balanced routine includes both resistance training and aerobic conditioning, hopefully combining with those activities you already enjoy. Perhaps you will discover a new activity you enjoy by trying other exercise options too? Within this third piece of getting in shape and losing weight there are a few things to keep in mind. The first is to dispel the notion of “The Fat Burning Zone”. Yes, you will get most of the calories burned during exercise at this low level from the fat cells, but you won't burn that many calories at that low a level. The bottom line is that you want to burn as many calories as you are in shape and emotionally ready to burn, and eat fewer calories. This means the harder you workout the more calories you burn. Sadly, we (me included!) aren’t all in shape to max out sweaty, heart pumping workouts, day in and day out without risking injury . Also, even if you were physically capable of pushing yourself daily, mentally it would take its toll and eventually start to resist the workouts and quit the program.

The way to avoid this is to vary the program. Include 1 - 2 days of a harder aerobic session for 10 - 50 minutes; 2 -3 days of resistance training; and the other enjoyable activities you do throughout the week. Include one day of complete rest so that you recover mentally and physically to keep up your motivation. For more help in designing a total healthy lifestyle work with a trainer to help you organize and commit to your chosen activities.

Making the change in yourself, helps motive others

While texting with one of my past clients recently, we touched on a common theme. He has a teenage daughter with so much potential, yet is influenced by a coach, and yes self admittedly the father (my old client) with negative eating patterns. The coach of her team has a 200 pound 13 yr old son, (a form of child abuse if you ask me!) gives the kids chips, chocolates, chex mix.....BEFORE their games. His daughter is quite talented but gets injured frequently and "runs out of gas" in the middle of a weekend long match. Of course my suggestion was conditioning, general conditioning and diet changes.

He mentions how his daughter is "unmotivated for fitness" and "hates healthy food, and I hate the complaining. She scrounges around after healthy meals too". Then he concludes with "Apple doesn't fall far from the tree."

To which I replied, "As for apples and trees...sometimes when you do something for someone else....a cause bigger than just your sorry asses... The food or action loses its hold on you. I found this with my own tennis...helping to keep me motivated to stay in shape and eat healthy. Plus I like to be a good example for my clients...a realistic example. I eat my share of ice cream and candy..I have my trigger foods like everyone else. I just find other things I value MORE. Early in my rowing career, I ran to it to get me out of the college party - every- night- syndrom. I valued doing well in my practices and my races more than getting drunk and feeling gross the next day. CAN YOU IMAGINE?! I FELT I COULDN'T QUIT THE ROWING UNTIL I WAS SURE I COULD NOT REVERT BACK TO MY OLD PARTY WAYS.

Well, it took ten years of dedication to that sport, to be able to leave it and carry on attempting to inspire others. I have even extended this to living happier, and more productively for the sake of OTHERS. I still require to sports aspect to keep me on track, but that is ok. I found a way to stay true to what I believe in, and help others in the process. My friend and client comes from a background that utilizes similar principles. He got the message, and I am sending out my hopes to him that he runs with the message and hellps himslef and his daughter in the process.

Much luck to you both if you get a chance to read this!

Coming Home

You know last year I was struggling greatly with my purpose, and my place in life, even with where I wanted to live. I was listening to "Running On Empty" by Jackson Brown at full blast day and night in my car to wherever I had to go each day. It spoke to me...especially the two stanzas

" ...Everyone I know, everywhere I go
people need some reason to believe.
I don't know about anyone but me
If it takes all night, that'll be all right,
if I can get you to smile before I leave.

Looking out at the road rushing under my wheels
I don't know how to tell you all
Just how crazy this life feels
I look around for the friends that I used to turn to
to pull me through
Looking into their eyes I see them running too."

It was some time this spring when I finally felt the peace about living out here. When I finally appreciated being in this beautiful place. Recognizing some of the amazing and interesting people I have befriended (present company included) here and realizing that I will be OK if I live here the rest of my life or not. I no longer have that pining away sadness. Or at least I do not dwell on it to the point of disturbing my happiness out here.

I guess I am meant to be here now. I feel I am helping a lot of people feel better about themselves, or just feel better physically; my friends and my clients. I am finding people and circumstances that fulfill me too. Sometimes they are one and the same.

My wish for the people I come in contact with is that they too find this peace. It is a lot easier to live a happy existence.

Summer's End

Here it is, end of summer. I've enclosed some tennis photos from our 4.5 team's play off's in Long Beach. Our team did not make it through, but we all have assignments for the coming year. Here is some of what I wrote as a close for my team....

RESILIENCY: The ability to recover quickly from misfortune, illness or change.

Well Ladies,
That was a pretty bumpy ride this weekend...and kind of ironic as I was thinking about it; that our singles lines were so prepared yet barely faced a challenge, with 3 defaults and a walk over. Kierston got a good match Fri and a real challenge Saturday which will help her focus her attention to the areas of her game that would benefit most with improvement.

I believe, however, that the message was clear. The doubles lines would ensure a championship team with significant improvements in basic strength, and increased speed of play, across the board. This is what we are looking for in our 4.5 team next year. Take a break. Play tennis socially or not at all for the summer, but get to the gym by mid August and start conditioning.

I would be happy to direct you even via the phone on how to get started. But the people who start earlier and stick to it would see the best results. Even if you think you know what you are doing, please talk with me. We want specific, measurable, attainable, reasonable goals set to a time table, and I will help you do it.For myself I am working on setting up a trade with a local pro, to train her 2 x a week and hit with her 2hrs a week. My commitment to those of you who wish to do better next year is to find tough doubles people to play against and perhaps on the team. You may get your ego bruised along the way, but if you are resilient enough you will come back stronger than you can imagine.

Let go of the old habits and the "good enough" attitude if you dare. Look for an email regarding a 4.5 team mid- October. That gives everyone 3 months to develop a significant change in their power. Use it wisely. A Bientot!
Leslie Shuffleton, CPT/Owner

Another happy email training customer!

thanks leslie- I am in SF and doing program today and thursday. I did outdoor sprint intervals the other day before I left and was close to throwing up by the time I was done.... :)

Resolution Ideas?

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January 04, 2010
Habitual
Your New Online Life Coach
VITALS
Habitforgeofficial website


Resolved to spend more time on the important things in life? Skip the iron or the trip to the dry-cleaner and invest in a Non-Iron Shirt from Brooks Brothers. You’ll look perfect all day long. At least you’ll be keeping one of those resolutions. Now if you could only find your way to the gym…
So here we are.Day four of the new year, and already your resolutions are in trouble. On January 1, your bubbly brunch somehow turned into bubbly dinner and dessert. On Saturday, you cashed out your 401(k) and put it all on the Bengals. And last night, well…let's just say you didn't go running this morning.What we're saying is, if this is going to be the year you truly, finally, change for the better—by which we mean, "become an occasional jogger"—you're going to need a little help.Here to do just that: Habitforge, a new website that sends you one daily reminder to keep trucking on whatever you've resolved to do, online now.In short, it's like getting a daily email from your personal online life coach, only you'll never have to utter the term "personal life coach." When you sign up, you'll say what you want to accomplish ("run every day" or "consume alcohol only six nights a week"). If you're worried about slipping up (it's possible), you can add a reminder of why you're doing it. ("So Scarlett will return my calls.")And then, it's simple. For the next three weeks, you'll get a short, daily email, asking if you worked toward your goal. Click "Yes," and you'll get a note of congrats from the site, spelled out in a big letters. (You'll also get a progress update on how you're doing.) Click "No," and you'll get a stern warning, and your goal clock will reset to zero.Then again, it's not like you resolved to start telling the truth.

Palm Springs Half Marathon part II

OK I ran 50 minutes....the 1st 35 were almost euphoric! At 40 minutes the tightening began, by 45 minutes I thought I may have to stop there, then I thought "one more minute...by then I felt the pain was not increasing so I added another 5 minutes for the full 50....It hurt. It has been so long since I have run....Good news??? Well I was able to play tennis the next morning! Yippee!