Category: Body Work

I love books. And I love reading ideas that are relevant to so many areas of life. Here is a particularly powerful thought I read this week.

“There are two pains in life – the pain of discipline, or the pain of regret. You choose.” –Wayne Cordeiro in “Sifted“

This is such a true statement about all of life, but can particularly be true when it comes to being healthy.

How often do we default to not eating well or not getting out to exercise only to feel guilty and regretful?

Yes, disciplining ourselves to get healthy is hard and painful, but which pain would you rather endure?

I don’t know if it is the heat or something else, but I have struggled the last couple of weeks to get my workouts started, much less completed. Which then means that it is easier for me to make excuses and not eat the way that I need to be eating. Which then makes it hard for me to get up and workout. And thus begins the ugly vicious cycle. Again.

Last week I wrote something to my Biggest Loser team that I keep coming back to this week as I am struggling.

Now is the time to re-assess your goals and your reasons for wanting to get healthy. You have to want it more than you want (cake, sleep, bread, ice cream, etc.) and you have to be determined to find success. You also have to depend on Christ for strength to say no to your inner 4-year-old that says you deserve (cake, sleep, bread, ice cream, etc.). Food is our sustenance, not a reward, not something we deserve. Make the choice today (and every day) to be healthy.

So that is where I am today. Re-assessing. Reminding myself that I don’t have to give in to my inner 4-year-old. And looking to see if there are adjustments that need to be made to my plan.

How are you coming on your goals today?

(I read an article this week about 101 ways to stay motivated to run and I decided to adjust a few of them to encourage my Biggest Loser team, and so I thought I would also share them with you. You can read the original article at the link found below.)

1. CREATE A BLOG (or use something like dailymile.com or myfitnesspal.com) where you post your daily mileage (workout, food choices), then give out the address to your friends and family (accountability partner). Do you really want Aunt Ellen to ask why you skipped your four-miler on Wednesday?

2. RUNNING COMMENTARY “Running is a big question mark that’s there each and every day. It asks you, ‘Are you going to be a wimp, or are you going to be strong today?'” –Peter Maher, two-time Olympic marathoner from Canada (Not just applicable to running – are you going to be a wimp and eat fast food or are you going to be strong and make a healthy dinner?)

3. EVERY MILE YOU RUN (or walk) burns roughly 100 calories. Think of that next six-miler as two slices of pizza.

4. RUNNING COMMENTARY “No one can say, ‘You must not run faster than this or jump higher than that.’ The human spirit is indomitable.” –Sir Roger Bannister, the first man to run a sub-four-minute mile (No one can tell you that you can’t do this!)

5. RUNNING COMMENTARY “The more I run, the more I want to run, and the more I live a life conditioned and influenced and fashioned by my running. And the more I run, the more certain I am that I am heading for my real goal: to become the person I am.” –George Sheehan, M.D., beloved former RW columnist and author of Running & Being (The more you [eat well, exercise] the more you will want to [eat well, exercise].)

6. WEAR A PEDOMETER on your run (walk, throughout the day). Distance sounds more impressive in steps. Some tricked-out sports watches also record steps.

7. BUDDY UP. Not many people can keep up with nine-time University of Colorado all-American Sara Slattery. Luckily, two-time Olympian Shayne Culpepper happens to live down the street. Find your own version of the Olympian next door to run (exercise, eat well) with regularly.

8. HAVE A DAILY GOAL. Scott Jurek, seven-time champion of The Western States 100-Mile Endurance Run, sets goals not just for big races but also for workouts. “Maybe it is a technique goal, maybe a pace goal, maybe a goal of running faster at the end,” he says. (Maybe it’s a goal to move more today than yesterday or eat better today than yesterday.)

9. IT’S NEVER TOO LATE to salvage your New Year’s resolutions. (Or your Biggest Loser goals.)

10. GO EARLY. Two-time Olympian Shayne Culpepper says that rather than putting off a run, she’ll head out even earlier than usual when she’s not in the mood to work out. “If I have that extra cup of coffee or I wait an extra half hour, it becomes too torturous,” she says. (When you don’t feel like it – do it anyway – whether that means getting out and exercising or getting off the couch and making a healthy meal.)

11. PAY YOURSELF. Set a price for attaining a certain weekly mileage (exercise, weight loss) goal. When you hit it, pay up. Keep your mileage money in a jar, and once it accumulates, buy yourself that new running jacket (or whatever it is) you’ve been ogling.

12. TURN THINGS AROUND. “A poor performance is a strong motivator for me,” says elite marathoner Clint Verran. “I can’t wait to prove to myself that I’m a better runner than my last showing.” Verran also says negative comments from his coaches fire him up. “For me, proving somebody wrong is key.” (Prove to that voice in your head that says you can’t do this or it’s too hard that they are wrong!)

13. RUNNING COMMENTARY “Workouts are like brushing my teeth; I don’t think about it, I just do it. The decision has already been made.” –Patti Sue Plumer, U.S. Olympian (You already made the decision to get healthy – now you just do it.)

14. KEEP A LOG. Greg Meyer, former Boston Marathon and Chicago Marathon champ, says his logbook keeps him motivated. “I just can’t stand to look at my log and see a goose egg for the day,” he says. (Writing down or typing in what we do and what we eat is a great motivator!)

15. DON’T EXPECT EVERY DAY TO BE BETTER than the last. Some days will be slower than others, and some days might even hurt a bit. But as long as you’re on the road, it’s a good day. (Keep going – even when it is hard.)

16. YOU’RE NEVER TOO OLD FOR A GOLD STAR, says Sacramento-area running coach Shauna Schultz. Plan your workouts a week in advance, then place a star sticker on the calendar for each day you meet your goal. “Visualizing your progress in this manner is very encouraging,” Schultz says. (Rewarding yourself is always a good thing. Even if it is “just” a gold star.)

17. THINK YOU DON’T HAVE TIME TO RUN (exercise)? You can probably make a list longer than this one of things you’re wasting time on today. Cut one of them out and get the run (exercise) in.

18. BE CREATIVE If the idea of going on your regular four-miler just sinks you further into your recliner, remember that there are other ways to put in some miles–like a pickup game of soccer, flag football, or ultimate Frisbee. A soccer midfielder runs up to six miles in a regulation 90-minute game. (Take a walk or bike ride with your kids, jump on your trampoline, shoot some hoops, get creative!!)

19. TALK ABOUT IT If you have a goal and keep it to yourself, you are less likely to achieve it because no one is cheering you on.

20. CELEBRATE every success, big or small.

(Borrowed and adapted from Runner’s World, 101 Kicks in the Butt; Italics mine)

How many times have you set a goal, and even put a time-frame on it, but failed to meet your goal?

When you look back on it, how did your track your progress? Or did you track it at all?

It seems to me that there is a key to meeting goals and that is keeping track of your progress.

When I am working on staying on track with my food and even trying to shed a few pounds, I do much better when  I actually log in to My Fitness Pal after every meal and put in my food. And that means that I am measuring and weighing out portions so I can log accurately, too. It is also good for me to get on the scale almost every day to keep track of where I am. I know that can be discouraging for some people, but it works for me.

When I am working on a specific training goal, I do best when I log in to Daily Mile every day and log my workouts.

It isn’t always easy to put in food that I am not proud of having eaten. It is hard to put in those workouts where I was slower than I wanted to be. But it is important for me to keep track of where I am, in relation to where I am going. Then, when I have a bad food day or a bad workout, I can look back over where I have come from and have motivation to keep moving forward.

I encourage you to find a way to keep track of your progress for the goals that you set for yourself. It will help you bring your goal to completion!

 

Somewhere in our school background we learned about Newton’s laws of motion.

Here’s is what I found on Wikipedia:

Newton’s laws of motion are three physical laws that together laid the foundation for classical mechanics. They describe the relationship between a body and the forces acting upon it, and its motion in response to said forces. They have been expressed in several different ways over nearly three centuries, and can be summarized as follows:

1. First law: An object at rest remains at rest unless acted upon by a force. An object in motion remains in motion, and at a constant velocity, unless acted upon by a force.
2. Second law: The acceleration of a body is directly proportional to, and in the same direction as, the net force acting on the body, and inversely proportional to its mass. Thus, F = ma, where F is the net force acting on the object, m is the mass of the object and a is the acceleration of the object.
3. Third law: When one body exerts a force on a second body, the second body simultaneously exerts a force equal in magnitude and opposite in direction to that of the first body.

The three laws of motion were first compiled by Isaac Newton in his Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica (Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy), first published in 1687. Newton used them to explain and investigate the motion of many physical objects and systems.

One of my Biggest Loser team members told me this week that the little bit that she has been able to do in the way of exercise has made her want to do more and be more active. Which really is Newton’s first law when you relate it to fitness. When you sit on the couch, you are going to stay on the couch unless a force (motivation, a friend, getting fed up with the status quo) acts and gets you off the couch and moving. Once you start moving, it’s hard to stop because movement encourages more movement. Now, movement will stop if something comes along to derail you, but you don’t have to let it derail you forever. You can be the acting force that gets yourself moving again.

Now, as far as law #2, once you get moving, there will need to be continued forces acting to get you moving more and faster. This is where friends and workout buddies come in. When you have a friend (or more) that is moving with you, they will push you to new places and will accelerate your movement. Take for instance my friends:

1. Lisa and Anne – These ladies are my running partners. I get out of bed because of them. They push me on my pace, my distance, and my belief of what is possible. I don’t know where I would be without the two of them. Definitely not where I am now. And I for sure wouldn’t have finished Goofy’s 39.3 mile challenge.
2. Crystal – This one is always looking for something new to do to keep us motivated. I suggested a mile-a-day challenge from Memorial Day to July 4, and she said yes. Then promptly suggested a 90-day Bikini Body Mommy workout which is kicking our butts daily.
3. Stephanie – My sister keeps me going because she keeps going. She is constantly doing some kind of workout and we compare notes on what our workout schedules are looking like and what we like and dislike about them.

These are a few of the people who are the forces that accelerate my mass.

Law three basically says that when force is exerted on one thing, that thing also exerts force back.

For all the help that these ladies are to me, I hope that I am in turn encouraging and pushing them in new ways, a symbiotic relationship of sorts.

Any of us can decide to put Newton’s first law of motion into motion by getting up and moving, and we can even sustain that for a while on our own. Eventually, laws two and three have to be put into place to keep us moving, because we will get discouraged, have bad days, want to quit, and we need those external forces pushing us just a little bit harder. And they need us pushing back.

If you don’t have people to push you, find some. It’s worth it!