Oh, Paleo!

In its relatively short history, CrossFit has gained immense popularity. "The Sport of Fitness" has taken metabolic training and gymnastics to guys who would have only done traditional weightlifting before. People who would have originally skipped all cardio are now doing AMRAPs (circuit training where you do As Many Reps As Possible), running, double- unders (jump rope where the rope makes two revolutions per jump), and swimming. The row machine (especially the Concept 2) is nop longer outdated. CrossFit has also increased the popularity of something that has been around quite a bit longer, Paleo.

Paleo, or the Paleolithic Diet, is an escape from the overproduced and overprocessed world we live in. A little more than 60 years ago (not long at all) Paleo was considered everyday eating! The basis of the diet is simple! Return to eating the foods (not the scientific experiments we like to call food these days.) Simply put, eat as our ancestors ate before death and disease was so common. With the largest pesticide company (and also the originators of Agent Orange) the largest food manufacturer, you can see the benefits of this. In a society where questions about dinner are no longer "what should we make?" but rather are "where should we go?" going Paleo will definetely help.

It is not as harsh as say, veganism or the other current fad diets. It doesn't cancel out basic macronutrients like fat or highlight others like protein. Though Paleo does restrict how to go about getting those. It does not say "carbs are the enemy" or "carbs are bad," but stresses that all threee macronutrients (carbohydrates, fat, and protein) are important. It does stress that thier sources are what is important. Do not get them from refined, bleached, and chemical foods like bread and pasta. Paleo is among the other diet trends in the Eat Clean movement. Perhaps that is why milk and dairy are excludeed. That last statement is also why I personally could not go Paleo, though I understand and commend its ideals.

The Paleo Movement is is not calling for a return to the wild. Though it is also referred to as the Neanderthal Diet. It does not even say that we should trade in all of our advanced tools for a mallet and chisel. It is, however, a call to eat better. Make substitutions. Eat better quality foods. Use spaghetti squash instead of boxed noodles that taste like the package they came into. Top your steak with natural juice and vegetables rather than sauce with ingredients you can't even pronounce. Eat a baked or sweet potato instead of chips or fries. Indulge your love of bacon! Quit the aerosol cooking sprays and use olive oil. Avoid words like extra, encriched, low-fat, or added! It is no coincidence that as non-Paleo foods entered the market, our health and the health of our planet tanked dramatically. Thats what we get for thinking scientists and flavorists could do better than God or the Universe in providing for our nouishment. If you want to eat better, Paleo definetely has its benefits. Though I find it difficult to recommend any "diet" that cancels out any food groups as Paleo does with breads, beans, dairy, and pastas. However, for some, it is definetely an alternative to the drive-thru, processed, over-time, and over budget lifestyle we live in!

 

Skinny No More!

Not too long after writing her non-diet book Unlimited, Fitness Trainer and all around Badass Jillian Michaels said that she did not know if she would write another diet or exercise book. "The information in my first two books is still current. I don't have anything else to say." She had also mentioned that publishing the exact same information in a new book with Skinny in the title would sell over a million copies easily. So she did. Her new book Slim For Life is a list of tips and tricks to lose weight and get skinny. It reads like a greatest hits of the advice she has already given through her books, podcasts, and television appearances. Even her Biggest Loser cohort, Bob Harper seems to have embraced the "Skinny" movement. His two new books out, The Skinny Rules and Jumpstart to Skinny, embrace the movement. Though I absolutely love the awareness and the back story to The Skinny Rules (the Skinny Rules are based on observations a Biggest Loser contestant's husband made while she was away at the ranch), this obsession with Skinny is unhealthy.

I get it though. The word "skinny"triggers something in our minds. It is similar to the subliminal advertising used in theaters when they flash a picture of popcorn. All of a sudden I want popcorn. Girls want their strapless dresses. I myself would never take my shirt off at the pool because of the beer belly. Skinny evokes images in our brains. That being said, I have friends who are naturally skinny yet unhealthy. For years I held all my weight in my gut this was me. I wasn't wide. The doctor once told me I was carrying around a 50 lb bowling ball under my shirt. I was on the verge of a heart condition. It would knock me down. There are also heavy athletes. I don't like the term "skinny" because it does not necessarily mean fit. You can be skinny and not tone. Skinny but lazy. Skinny but diseased and still eating yourself to an early grave!

Instead, let us reach the goal of being fit. Let us eat with intention. Let us not be unable to carry out simple daily tasks like squatting down to pick up our kids, take out the trash, or put up Christmas lights. Simply because we chose to live a sedentary lifestyle. We should not let work shifts behind desks and caged in cubicles confine us from going out and enjoying life. Perhaps women (and men) would not struggle with so many eating and mental disorders (like a poor body image and dismorphia) if we concentrated our efforts on promoting being fit, rather than bringing down anyone not skinny.

Skinny is often attributed to pure diet. Therein lies the problem. Fit refers to diet and exercise, referring to a well rounded lifestyle. If you are fit then it reflects in all areas of life with success. Being skinny refers to deprevation, doing without. Being fit refers to a life of nourishment. You are not worn out of skinny- like a picture of someone with ribs and bones showing. Fit shows muscles showing. Fit shows you have created the body you want. Fit means you do not settle for mediocre. You do not expect things to come to you, you go out and take them!

Humility and Accountability

"I find it funny that the guy who was once too ashamed to work out or do anything about being out of shape now shames everyone else for not doing anything." That jab was a post on my personal Facebook. Not uncommon. Especially form this guy. We used to be pretty close in high school but afterwards went our separate ways. Since then I had lost weight, become a lot fitter, and he appears to have gained some. Though he does participate on a Triathalon team. He was referencing a few comical "do you even lift" memes. I will let those who read my writings and see my progress judge for themselves. I hope that while promoting this page of Total Body Fitness: Mind, Body, Spirit, that I do not lose myself in the message. That I maintain some level of humility.

Concerned that this might be the case, I challenged myself (and challenge you) to employ accountability partners. I happen to have quite a few. These include people in all aspects of my life to keep me grounded. They make sure I hold up to all of my responsibilities. I have those who check me on my working out and my diet, including the "Cardio Queen" reminding me to remain an example and a well- rounded athlete. Not a fringe athlete. Fringe athletes are those who who only do what feels comfortable. Like those top heavy, muscular bodybuilders with chicken legs because all they do is lift and skip Leg Day. Or those tiny runners who have spaghetti noodles for arms because they've never entered a weight room or done a single push-up.  Yesterday I spent an hour on the phone with a friend who is a speaker (he encourages pastors with a similar message to mine), he helps keep me on track in my daily life. A friend from church who owns her own business that I ask questions about developing my brand, but recently she encourages me to stay grounded in my faith because she knows that it affects everything I say or do. Then there is my fantastic Training & Fitness family, reminding me of the incredible potential there is in me. Including Bunny Azzopardi who reminded me just this week that, "Your accomplishments are all great, but we should support each other. Not hate. It's all just a wave buddy. A personal accomplishment may bring a lot of attention but in the end it didn't replace what's important in life."

Not all of us are lucky enough to have great people like this at our disposal. If you don't have an encourager and a realist in your life, you must seek them out! After searching, you will see which they are, and if they will fade away or guide you through your journey. The more people you talk to, the more you will realize what you need. Do not discount anyone. One of my most real encouragers is actually an ex- girlfriend. A woman who knows my strengths and understands my weaknesses like no other. Create a memory jogger list of those you know, talk to, or speak with on a regular basis. Though you alone are responsible for your actions- its always nice to have a little help along the way!

My Hypocrisy

This is the story of my hypocrisy. It is about how I converting from slamming other people to being the great salesman myself. A couple of months ago, I changed gyms. I went from the higher income, fancy chain gym with a pool, track, and multiple locations (Genesis Health Clubs) to the cheap one I used to make fun of pretty regularly (Planet Fitness.) Bum, Bum, Bum bum bum bum bum! My friend Lisa got the worst part of the abuse, especially when her daughter started selling Girl Scout Cookies just inside the Planet Fitness entrance. I used their own jargon against them, "we aren't a gym, we're Planet Fitness." I had been going to Genesis for a while. The staff had changed but I still knew them all. Barely on a first name basis. The trainers usually gave me the head nod hello. I had gone to the multiple locations because one of the nine were 24 hours. They all had something to offer... pool, track, ab studio, kettlebells. All I had seen and heard about Planet Fitness was that it was like a big open warehouse with a bunch of treadmills in it.

Then, like so many other mistakes in my life, I allowed my realtionship status to influence my decisions. Planet Fitness had an offer fpr $20 to bring a friend with you whenever you go work out. It also included massage tables and tanning beds, a service I consider whenever I see my farmer's tan in pictures. Since the girlfriend wanted to stop working out at home with whatever the latest DVD craze was (Insanity, Zumba, Biggest Loser) and join me at the gym, that $20 started to look pretty good!  The member has lasted, the relationship did not. Then, to my surprise, Planet Fitness has really worked out. I did not think that it would, but it really has. It really is about 80% cardio equipment so crowded machines are never an issue. I don't enjoy treadmills at all (i run too close and end up halting it too often), so that has forced me to work outside of my comfort zone. There are machines for working specific muscle groups, which at this stage of my training is something that I am getting more into! In the southeast corner, almost as an afterthought, tucked away near the two cable machines are the two racks of dumbbells and one rack of curl bars. I will never be able to complain about people curling in the squat rack because there isn't one. All squatting and benching must be done on the five Smith (cheating!) machines. The place is actually 24 hours! Not like Genesis that who had one of their 9 locations listed as 24 hours... but even that one closed at 9pm on Friday and Saturday nights. I guess they like to party!  

Let me make sure I drive home this point: Planet Fitness is not without fault! No place is! I still have to laugh at the big bowl of Tootsie Rolls as you check in. They have their Pizza Mondays and Bagel Tuesdays, I don't partake but just turn my music up louder and carry on. The biggest lesson here is to not discount anything. Just bashing "the purple and yellow Walmart of gyms" (yes, that was what I called it) was wrong. It taught me a valuable lesson- I should always be changing. Always adapting. Never stagnant. Always be bringing new challenges.