The Fitness Warden

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Anxieties, we all have them but what do you do when it affects your health and fitness?  Gym anxiety affects us all but certainly on different levels. We’re anxious about our weight whether underweight or overweight, our level of muscularity, or simply because we don’t know what to do.  Some are able to get past it and go to the gym, while others either workout at a home gym or not at all.  In simple terms this is merely a form of Social Anxiety!

You may find these tips useful in overcoming your anxiety about going to the gym:

Seek Assistance: If you aren’t sure where to start, there is always a trainer or a fellow gym member willing to help you. We are all in the gym for different reasons. Weight loss, bodybuilding, endurance, etc….

Seek Knowledge: Identify what causes your anxiety and address it directly rather than ignoring it. Seek professional consultation if necessary.

Take a Friend: This is my favorite! It is always good to find a friend that has similar interests and goals.

Understanding: It is important to understand that most people in the gym are paying attention to one thing; Exercise!  They don’t care what you look like or what you are wearing (unless it is an outfit designed to draw attention)!

In a country of abundance and instant gratification, it is becoming ever increasingly difficult to stay fit.  When I started out on my quest to improve my health, I had no idea what I was doing. However, I did know I didn’t want to be overweight like over 60% of Americans!

But as I began to take charge of my fitness, I found that the key to success is simply effort. It became less about was I doing the “Right Thing” and more about doing “Something”.

I am a creature of habit and I was pretty set in my ways at the ripe old age of 37. I ate biscuits and gravy everyday for breakfast. I followed that up with a buffet lunch, pizza or Chinese being the buffet of choice! The first step was acknowledging the issue and making a conscious decision to change. I stopped the buffet lunches and began taking my lunch everyday. In addition to taking lunches, I began running everyday, but I wasn’t quite ready to give up my biscuits and gravy!

Step Two: Set and stick to an exercise goal whether it’s going to the gym, walking, running, or riding a bike. I set a goal of being prepared to run my first half marathon within one year. I didn’t have to do it in any amount of time, I just had to finish. With this goal in mind each and every day it became quite easy to take time each and every day to get out and run. As this continued I found that it was becoming somewhat of a good habit and I liked it. What this showed me is that small changes can have a rather profound impact in life.

Step Three: Maintain your new healthier habits and they will begin to impact other habits you may have. I gave up my biscuits and gravy and began to eat more healthy breakfast like oatmeal and fruits. Bottom line is, as with anything in life, becoming fit in an overweight world is all about making choices. The choice is yours, you can choose healthy or choose to be unhealthy.

This year I had the opportunity to try out samples of products offered by Protica Nutritional Research. Protica is a research based Nutraceutical company who’s primary focus is providing solutions for the bariatric weightloss community.

I found all the products I tried to be easy to carry with you on the run. You can literally take these products anywhere with you.  However, I preferred the gelatin products refrigerated.

I tried the following high quality, great tasting products for post workout:

Profect® liquid protein beverage

Profect is the original and most widely recognized ready-to-drink liquid protein shot. Learn More.

Proasis® liquid protein shot

Proasis is the original all natural ready-to-drink liquid
protein shot. Learn More

Both Profect and Proasis are a great way to get protein following a strenuous workout.

The Isometric and Frutasia products I found to be great for between meals when you just need a little boost. They are great tasting too!

IsoMetric® meal replacement shot

IsoMetric is the first and only ready-to-drink meal
replacement shot. Learn More

Fruitasia® fruit and vegetable shot

If you’re like me, you struggle to get your daily intake of veggies. Fruitasia is the first and only ready-to-drink shot to deliver a full day’s recommended daily intake of fruits and vegetables.
Learn More

The Protein Gem products I though were a great sweet treat with the added benefit of 25 grams of protein.

Other Protein Treats

Protein Gem is the original protein-fortified gelatin snack with 25 grams of protein. Learn More

Being an energy drink connoisseur of sorts I really didn’t care for the Sunkist Energy drinks. The taste was certainly not what I expected and I got very little boost from them. I also felt a significant crash after using this product. This is the only product that I cannot recommend.

Sunkist® Energy Shot

Sunkist Energy gives you the lift you’re looking for with the great taste you’d expect from Sunkist. Learn More

Written by   Regina Brett, 90 years old, of the Plain  Dealer, Cleveland   , Ohio .
“To celebrate  growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life  taught me. It is the most requested column I’ve  ever written
My odometer rolled over to  90 in August, so here is the column once  more:
1. Life isn’t fair, but it’s still  good.
2. When in doubt, just take the  next small step.
3.. Life is too short to  waste time hating anyone.
4. Your job  won’t take care of you when you are sick. Your  friends and parents will. Stay in  touch.
5. Pay off your credit cards every  month. ( Tthe Fitness Warden says: don’t ever get them and skip this step)
6. You don’t have to win every  argument. Agree  to disagree.
7. Cry with someone..  It’s more healing than crying alone.
8.  It’s OK to get angry with God. He can take  it.
9. Save for retirement starting with  your first paycheck.
10. When it comes to  chocolate, resistance is futile.  (The Fitness Warden says: fight the battle anyway!)
11. Make  peace with your past so it won’t screw up the  present.
12. It’s OK to let your children  see you cry.
13. Don’t compare your life  to others. You have no idea what their journey  is all about.
14. If a relationship has  to be a secret, you shouldn’t be in  it.
15. Everything can change in the  blink of an eye. But don’t worry; God never  blinks.
16. Take a deep breath. It calms  the mind.
17. Get rid of anything that  isn’t useful, beautiful or joyful.
18.  Whatever doesn’t kill you really does make you  stronger.
19. It’s never too late to have  a happy childhood. But the second one is up to  you and no one else.
20. When it comes to  going after what you love in life, don’t take no  for an answer.
21. Burn the candles, use  the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don’t  save it for a special occasion. Today is  special.
22. Over prepare, then go with  the flow.
23. Be eccentric now. Don’t  wait for old age to wear purple.
24. The  most important sex organ is the  brain.
25. No one is in charge of your  happiness but you.
26. Frame every  so-called disaster with these words ‘In five  years, will this matter?’
27. Always  choose life.
28. Forgive everyone  everything.
29. What other people think  of you is none of your business.
30. Time  heals almost everything. Give time  time..
31. However good or bad a  situation is, it will change.
32. Don’t  take yourself so seriously. No one else  does.
33. Believe in miracles.
34.  God loves you because of who God is, not because  of anything you did or didn’t do.
35.  Don’t audit life. Show up and make the most of  it now.
36. Growing old beats the  alternative — dying young.
37. Your  children get only one childhood.
38. All  that truly matters in the end is that you  loved.
39. Get outside every day.  Miracles are waiting everywhere.
40. If  we all threw our problems in a pile and saw  everyone else’s, we’d grab ours back.
41.  Envy is a waste of time. You already have all  you need.
42. The best is yet to  come…
43. No matter how you feel, get  up, dress up and show up.
44.  Yield.
45. Life isn’t tied with a bow,  but it’s still a gift.”

These days with the internet, TV, and so much technology in our lives we have all become sedentary whether we care to acknowledge it or not.  We have also, in large part, even become sedentary at our places of employment!  There are so many excuses not to be physically active that we have simply ceased to do any moderate activities and instead sit behind the computer or in front of the TV and eat snacks for fun!

To break this cycle is a difficult task as it has become so entrenched in the American culture!  However, it is not an impossible dream to regain our physical abilities before they are lost for good to these things.   With the invention of devices like the Segway Puma, are we headed for a future like we saw in the movie WALL-E?  I say just Run, walk, ride a bike, or go to the gym! It doesn’t matter what you do, just do something!

I wanted to take a moment today to take a look at what it means to have Fitness, Health and Wellness.  We hear it so frequently today in the media, at work, and even in our churches now, but what does it all really mean?  Dictionary.com defines the words as follows:

fit·ness

[fit-nis]  Show IPA

–noun

1. health.

2. capability of the body of distributing inhaled oxygen to muscle tissue during increased physical effort.

3. Also called Darwinian fitness. Biology.

a. the genetic contribution of an individual to the next generation’s gene pool relative to the average for the population, usually measured by the number of offspring or close kin that survive to reproductive age.

b. the ability of a population to maintain or increase its numbers in succeeding generations.

health

[helth]  Show IPA

–noun

1. the general condition of the body or mind with reference to soundness and vigor: good health; poor health.

2. soundness of body or mind; freedom from disease or ailment:to have one’s health; to lose one’s health.

3. a polite or complimentary wish for a person’s health, happiness, etc., esp. as a toast: We drank a health to our guest of honor.

4. vigor; vitality: economic health.

well·ness

[wel-nis]  Show IPA

–noun

1. the quality or state of being healthy in body and mind, esp. as the result of deliberate effort.

2. an approach to healthcare that emphasizes preventing illness and prolonging life, as opposed to emphasizing treating diseases.

Origin:
well¹ (def. 13) + -ness

The words health and fitness are often wrongly used interchangeably when we refer to someone who exercises or at least looks as if they do.  I often hear comments like “he/she goes to the gym and is really into fitness” or “he/she is really healthy because he/she works out all the time”.  OK, beside the fact that I see many people who go to the gym all the time simply to “socialize” more than they work out, I see people go to the gym who workout but never really benefit due to poor technique or simple lack of exertion!  Furthermore, it is by definition possible to be fit and not healthy, just as it is possible to be healthy, yet, not fit.  Being fit simply means your body is capable of functioning as designed and to be healthy means that there are no physical conditions that limit your fit body’s ability to do work.  This is why it is so important to understand what it means to be fit and healthy as well as developing a focus on Wellness today.

Wellness is the trilogy, if you will, of mind body and spirit!  Balance is the key to maintaining a high level of wellness because each of the three impacts the other.

When you think of #exercise is it positive or negative?  Meaning do you dread working out or do you look forward to it?  Use these three tips to make it something you look forward to.

1)  Work out with a good friend.  Working out with a friend adds accountability and maybe even a little friendly competition!  keep it friendly though or you will be looking for a new workout partner and maybe a new friend! 

2)  Train with a purpose.  Find a local event for a cause and get involved by participating for your own personal accomplishment as well as helping to raise money for various non-profit organizations.

3)  Workout with a trainer.  Having a trainer takes the guess work out of exercise if you have never gone to a gym before.  A good trainer will help you set achievable goals and stick to them!

Remember when you were a ten and could go out and play all day long and never get tired, never get  sore (unless you broke something), and get up the next day and do it all over again?  I certainly do and find those to be such fond memories that I now share with my children.  As we age most of us begin to realize that there are limits to what we can do on a regular basis.  There is no more going out and running ten miles every day, no more lifting heavy every day or playing any sport without consequences.  Don’t get me wrong there is much to gain from being active but there is an ugly side as well.  The ugly side of being active is what we call overuse injuries.

Overuse injuries occur when we continue to do the things we’ve always done because we have always done them.  The fact is that our bodies, regardless of how active we are will start to deteriorate with age and we become prone to injury more easily.  As we age we have to begin to retrain our minds to adapt to the physiological changes we experience.  For example, if you have been used to exercising six or seven days a week through your thirties, in your forties that might mean that you have to cut back on the intensity or cut back on the number of days you workout.

Train smarter not harder!

Your Trainer

Jim

Inspiratory Muscle Training is a technique used to correct or increase respiratory function by improving the performance of the muscles involved in inhalation.  Take a look at this article at Science Daily.

Inspiratory muscle training and endurance sport performance.

Let’s face, we all want to be fit and set unrealistic goals for ourselves.  It is on the TV we watch, on the websites we visit, and in the magazines we read.  Perfect bodies are advertised as a result of taking a pill or following a specific diet.  This type of advertising has poisoned our thinking to the point that we think there is a magic solution for everything.  Diet pills and diets do not work for one simple reason; they don’t change our attitudes about our diet and exercise.  Realize this; those images are a product of not only an extensive diet and exercise regimen, but also Photoshop, liposuction, and a lot of good makeup!  It is an unrealistic expectation to think we can look the same way.

Just as with our finances, becoming physically fit is about 20% head knowledge and 80% behavior.  The diets and pills are a temporary solution if we fail to change the way we live our daily lives.  I tell my clients that to consider the old saying that if your “income is less than your outgo, your upkeep will be your downfall”. Think in terms of calories though and modify the statement to say “if your intake is greater than your outgo, your upkeep will be your downfall”.  There are no shortcuts to actually becoming and staying physically fit.  It takes a lot of hard work, a lot of sweat, and attentiveness to the foods we put in our mouths.

As individuals we must also identify what it is that makes us eat the things we eat and what keeps us from doing the exercise that we need to do!