10,000 and 8963

8963

Most of you have probably heard the number 10,000 related to a lot of things. Malcolm Gladwell postulated in his book Outliers that you needed to practice something for 10,000 hours to become a master in that field. This number has been widely disputed, but I think many would agree that at any task you attempt, practice helps make you better. 

Another place you might have heard the number is in regards to walking. Many know that the American Heart Association recommends 10,000 steps per day to remain in good cardiovascular health. What many people probably don't realize is just how much walking this actually is! As reported by the American College of Sports Medicine, the average step length is about 2.6 feet.

That means that you need to walk just under 5 miles per day to hit the 10,000 step goal.

In order to start tracking this simply I started using an iPhone app called "Moves". You can find it here: https://www.moves-app.com/


Now I consider myself a healthy person. I am not overweight, and I exercise 5-7 days per week for at least 30 minutes. I also take many other steps to improve my health. As I have blogged about recently I decided to start using a standing desk at work. I am regularly chasing a 3 year old around and playing with him. I also make it a point at work to walk around as much as possible. Recently I started making an effort to take a lap around our building once every other hour or so when possible. Our "building" is not small as you can see here. See those tiny cars? Yeah I walk around the whole thing a couple times a day.

Now let's get back to that huge number at the top of the post. 8963. After using the Moves app for almost a month that was my BEST day. Yes my best. The caveat being of course that it is not tracking my steps when I am doing Beachbody workouts. But still, as active as I m I did not once hit the 10,000 step goal. It was a real wake up call for me. My average day is closer to the 4000-5000 range and many health professionals recognize <5000 as a danger point. Again the caveat is that I also add at least 30 minutes of strenuous exercise to my total each day.

The bottom line is that many of use don't even realize how healthy or unhealthy our daily activities may be. It sure was a wake up call to me to see these numbers so far. Now it's time to up my game!

One simple step to a healthier life

A lot of the people I hear from in my coaching gig talk about how they want to get healthier and change their lifestyle to fit. Most people that do this though think this is going to be a very difficult journey, but in reality there are many simple lifestyle changes you can make to help.

Most of you already know some of them. Park far from the building, take the stairs, etc, etc. Some require more energy like working out, getting physical activity every day, getting good sleep, or eating healthy 80% of the time. This post is to give you one simple change you can make that will make a huge difference in your march to be more healthy. Look at this:

What is that you ask? That is my new standing desk. For many in the US our jobs contribute greatly to our sedentary lifestyle. The evolution of work in the US has meant almost exclusively more people sitting for 8+ hours a day. This sedentary lifestyle is horrendous for our health. The lack of motion is one of the worst things for the human body beyond the necessary sleep each night.

I originally had my monitor on an adjustable standing desk piece like the keyboard is, but decided to add the shelf instead to get my second monitor back in play.

Most large companies have ergonomic assessments and there are many versions of these types of stands. I got mine at Uncaged Ergonomics and they are pretty cheap (the version I got was $140 but they have even cheaper ones) so most companies will pay for them.

Make simple changes in your life to get healthier.

The "core" of being a coach

People have a lot of ideas about what a Team Beachbody coach is and a lot of them are wrong. People think I am a personal trainer, a nutrition expert, or a perfect physical fitness nut sometimes. This is wrong though. I am just a regular person, with regular problems, regular hectic schedules, and lots of love for progress. The core concept of being a coach is that you do your best, you get better every day, and you help others do the same.

I am crazy about fitness. I actually do love working out, but that does not mean I find it easy or simple. I find it difficult and even excruciatingly painful at times. For more than 8 years I have suffered from back problems. Mostly just muscle spasms but they can often be difficult. For about 4 years now I have suffered from neck issues. Over the years I have torn my hamstring, ruptured my quadriceps tendon, and strained my achilles tendon. I have a short right leg which often means I am completely out of alignment with my spine. I regularly visit a chiropractor to correct this and do my best to keep my core strong as best I can.

In the meantime I push play just about every day. Sometimes I go hard, as hard as I can because I am feeling good. Sometimes I modify slightly or skip certain exercises because I am worried they will hurt one of my injuries. Sometimes I go light and back way off because my body is just telling me to. The point is that I show up, and that's half the battle.

I have had several people say to me when discussing a program they want to do: "Well I want something less extreme than that P90X3 stuff you and some of your buddies do." Well guess what? Yes it's extreme, but here's a secret, sometimes I struggle through it too! (sshhhhh don't tell anyone). Just to prove it here is a video of me struggling my way through X3 Ab Ripper yesterday. Watch the pain in my face! I knew I needed to get back to core though because my back was acting up.

That's it folks, no secrets, no superhuman strength. Just a guy trying to get in better shape and fight the old age and beating his body has taken in the last 38 years. One of my favorite quotes says:

"Whether you think you can or you can't, you are right"

I challenge you to join one of my groups or my team and find out if you are right!

I challenge you to be balanced - the leg edition

When it comes to bulking up with muscle you often see guys (and girls) at the gym bench pressing, preacher curling, doing dips, and military pressing. Certainly these exercises help define the upper body but many people neglect one of the most powerful ways to build muscle, burn fat, and rev up your metabolism, working the lower body!

Being someone with a thin build and working on the mass cycle of P90X3 I decided to focus on strengthening my legs a lot this round.

Here I am doing some dumbbell squats in the Eccentric Lower workout. Even though I used a fairly heavy weight for me, 90 total lbs, I focused heavily on my form. I try to get as low as I can in the squat while keeping my back as straight as possible. This is a key part of doing a squat because it lengthens the muscles to the max which is a key to strengthen them. I also keep my feet parallel and I engage my core the entire time.

Next up is cross reach. I love this move because it has it all. You are using arms, legs, and core all in one move.

This is such a key move for athletes. I do struggle a bit with this one because I don't have strong legs, so I am doing my best to improve here. Just that little 7.5 pound weight is enough to make this one excruciating for me! This one take a little more focus than the squat. Again engaging the core is important, and also focusing your vision and breathing helps the balance.

If you want to build muscle you have to work all the large muscle groups in the body. The bigger the muscle the more important it is to work it! Now get in there are start building!

Living outside your comfort zone

Back in 2011 my wife and I started our first Beachbody program, P90X. Ever since then I have enjoyed challenging myself in many ways. Over the years I have taken on more responsibility at my job, always pushing myself and challenging myself to show I can do more.

In the meantime I have continued to enjoy Beachbody workouts. I did Insanity, which certainly lives up to it's name. I remember the first workout, where I was practically collapsed on the floor....after the warm up! Needless to say the program lives up to it's name!

Just last year I decided it was time to really challenge myself and I became a Team Beachbody Independent Coach! It was a fascinating time as I met new people and learned a lot about how the business works. 

Then I started making more changes in my life. I started eating healthier, like really healthy (ok, my vice is still coffee with Vanilla Creamer). Whole foods, lots of water, 5-6 meals per day. I kept at the workouts with Tony Horton's new smash P90X3, which has definitely been my favorite to date. 

I am leading challenge groups now, lots of them. My biggest one to date has been P90X3, where my dedicated customers are losing weight and feeling great. Some example results:

From Dale:

 I ended up losing 10 but without a doubt my jeans and shorts loosened up quite a bit. One of my dress pants are now too loose to wear. So I really don't know how much muscle 
"weight" I have gained but I did see results. Physically I feel 10X better than before I started. I feel like I have so much more energy during the day and I am less fatigued after work.

From David:

prove to myself that I could do it, and maybe look better in the end. I lost about 10 lbs. i feel like I look better...that's the most obvious change

From Jacqui:

My original goal was to lose 10lbs. I lost somewhere between 12-15! I can totally fit into some prebaby clothes! YAY! I think I look better, I've gotten loads of compliments from friends and family. I'm much stronger in my arms too, I could barely do 3 push-ups in my first fit test, now I can easily do 15!  I am definitely going to be wearing a bikini at the beach this summer!!! So happy about that!

These folks decided, committed, and succeeded. They did so by living outside their comfort zone. All three of them plan to continue with their changed lifestyle, and plan to keep working hard. I know they will see great results!

This leads me to my last point. Not only did I decide to start living more outside my comfort zone when it comes to health and fitness, but I also decided it was time to do that in my career. I don't just mean by becoming a Team Beachbody Coach either. At my day job I applied for a new role, branching out from the bench science I have been doing for 14 years and into a secondment role in a group that supports clinical development. It's a completely different way of thinking about science and sometimes it terrifies me. The thing I know though is that if I can overcome my fitness obstacles with hard work and focus, I can do the same with any professional obstacles. The first time I did PilatesX I thought it was crazy, but I focused on it and am getting better. That's how you live when you start testing your limits and challenging yourself. Live outside your comfort zone. Test your limits. It will change your life.

Change everyone around you

This was probably my favorite post from my P90X3 challenge group that just wrapped up our first 90 days. My customer went in hoping to make changes in himself and he ended up having an affect on his kids too!

Commit to changing your life and it can change everyone around you. Contact me to change your life today!

P90X3 has done it again - Join the fitness revolution with me!

Tony Horton has been hands down the best trainer at Team Beachbody in my opinion and he absolutely killed it with his latest P90X3 program. I have gained nine pounds of muscle in the first 90 days and it's only 30 minutes 6-7 days a week!

Thats nine pounds of muscle in less than 2% of my week!

The workouts are diverse and fun. Ranging from simple resistance workouts like The Challenge (all push ups and pull ups), to Yoga, to pilates, to CVX (cardio with weight!), to martial arts, this program has something for everyone to like.

Here is a preview of some plyo line push ups from AgilityX to show you how awesome it is!

The exciting part is that I am doing another 90 days and will be keeping my challenge group open that time and active! So if you want results like this:

Hit this link and then get in my challenge group!

http://fitnesstreecoaching.automaticceo.com/marketing/go5

A new take on some old fitness concepts: PiYo

My wife and I began our Beachbody journey about three years ago after the birth of our son Brayden. She was looking to lose her baby weight and I had heard a lot about this P90X thing so we decided to try it.

Through P90X she lost her baby weight and looked great. Since then she has tried P90X2, T25, and is now on P90X3. She is in great shape, looks great, and has really enjoyed the programs. Her one issue with some of the programs though is the jumping, due to joint issues she has because she has Lupus. The jumping can be very hard for her. That's why she is very excited and interested in Chalene Johnson's upcoming new program called PiYo.

PiY is a revolutionary new program by Chalene Johnson and Beachbody which incorporates Pilates and Yoga together.

For people with joint problems or who are not big fans of lots of running and jumping it's a fantastic idea. Just because you aren't running around and jumping though don't think you won't get a hard workout! Chalene will put you through the ringer and help you tone and strengthen at the same time.I think this program is going to be a HUGE success. It could help you start your transformation or just be the next chapter in one you already started!

Write your story starting today

Everyone I talk to asks me the same question: What do you do as a Team Beachbody Coach?

All of us do a little something different, but also the same. We all have stories to tell and we all want to help you tell your story!

I want to help you write your story!

Keep Pushing Every Day - Chin Pulls

When I started my P90X3 cycle in January I had a lot of trouble just doing 2 or 3 of the Chin Pull Move from Decelerator. I am two weeks from completion of the first cycle, a cycle in which I am shooting for bulking up and adding muscle and this was my effort yesterday.

With an added 9lbs of muscle I did 8 Chin Pulls!

These are the kind of results you can expect if you dedicate yourself to the process and work hard every time you push play. The results will come when you commit yourself to getting better each time out.

If YOU want to get stronger, run faster, jump higher, tone up, slim down, or just improve your overall health and fitness join me in one of my challenge groups today!

"Fitting" health and fitness into your life - The Simple Comprehensive Plan

Someone I know (who will remain anonymous, but you may know who you are! ;-)) gave me one of the most often repeated excuses for exercising today, 'how do you fit 30 minutes a day into your schedule', so I decided that rather than put up my simple tips piece by piece I would create a post about the comprehensive plan that I follow. There are two main parts of the plan, exercise and nutrition, and there are ways to simplify both.

Disclaimer: Yes everyone's life and goals are different and we all have different responsibilities so I am not saying this is the only way, just a simple plan you might be able to start with. 

Part I - Nutrition 

Let's start with the nutrition. As the old saying goes, you can't out-exercise a bad diet, so you have to start by putting the right nutrients in your body. Now there are lots of different specific plans out there tailored to different specific goals, and you will get lots of debate about many different parts of the plans like gluten, fats, and carbs, but I want to keep this simple. Obviously if you have allergies avoid any items you have reactions to.


Start with the simple plan known as ERF, Eat Real Food. This means avoid processed and packaged food as much as possible. If you can't hunt it or pick it then don't eat it. This means basically just eating plants and animals! Stick to vegetables, fruits, seeds, nuts, and lean protein. There is plenty of variety to choose from here. You can have leafy greens, sprouts, tubers, roots, tomatoes, onions, broccoli, cauliflower, beets, carrots, squash and much more. In the animal department limit your red meat and stick to lean protein like chicken, turkey and pork along with fish regularly. Dairy is ok but as adults you can use low or non-fat products from the dairy aisle. Now I know that bread and some other carbs are prepared but if you stick to "100% whole grain" products (that is how the label should read) then you are doing ok. Whole grain still contains the carbs but it also contains fiber which slows the digestion and keeps your blood glucose from spiking. If you can afford it you should try to buy organic whenever possible. If not you can find the list for the "Dirty Dozen" items that are really bad when grown conventionally and not organic and just buy those organic.

Once you are set on which real foods you want to eat the next step is to plan your meals. This is one of the most crucial aspects of the plan. People without a plan are more likely to eat poorly so schedule your meals. There are many ways to do this, plenty of planning websites and apps out there,and a lot of great healthy eating cookbooks too. Or you can use the old fashioned way my wife and I do, use a whiteboard calendar in the kitchen. We pick our meals on Sunday, shop for all the foods, and then her and I split the weeknights up and write in our chosen meals that we are cooking. In this way we know what foods to defrost the night before and who has to do what after we pick up our son each day.

The next step in the nutrition plan is to prep as much of your meals ahead of time as possible. For our lunches we eat salads and fruit all week so we prep all of it in Tupperware and store it in our basement fridge all week so each night we can just grab our next day's items and put them in the kitchen fridge to take the next day. We also do this for our son's lunches for daycare. I prep as much of my breakfast as I can the night before, which in my case involves putting some egg whites with one yolk in a container and getting my Shakeology bottle ready with whatever liquids I need so I can throw in the powder and blend it when I get up. Generally it takes us about an hour to an hour and a half each Sunday to prep, but then we don't have to worry all week!

Finally what to do when you eat out? Stick to the same rules. Avoid heavy creamy sauces, beware of restaurant salads with lots of toppings, avoid fried foods, etc. Look for the lean, natural items on the menu and ask for sauces on the side or other modifications. Most restaurants will oblige.

If you stick to this plan and use the 85/15 rule you will do great. Shoot for the whole foods 85% of the time and if you aren't perfect you will do just fine.

Part II - Exercise

There's lots of exercise slogans out there but in the end I think Nike said it best, Just Do It. Don't think about it, worry about it, or stress. Just Do It. By the time you worry about it you could have been done! Action before motivation. 

Doctor's recommend 30 minutes of exercise at least 5 days a week. Guess what? 30 minutes is 2.08333% of your day. Doesn't sound that bad when I put it like that right? I mean you could get 2% of almost any test right even if you never studied! 

So why do people freak out about spending 2% of their day to make sure they keep getting to have days? We have hectic schedules with work, kids, bills, and all the other things that add up. So how do you get all that other stuff in? You plan to do it. It's on your calendar (ok maybe not all of it but you get the point) everyday to go to work, to pick up the kids at school, to take them to the soccer game, to go to the dentist. You write all those things down. So here's how you do it with exercise; don't "find" time, make time!

That's right, make the time. Put it in your calendar. Write it down. Put that calendar somewhere where you will see it every day. Put alarms in your iPhone. It may not always be the ideal time, but do it anyway. Get up 30 minutes earlier or go to bed 30 minutes later (though I def recommend earlier as opposed to later). Is it gonna kill you if you don't see Fallon tonight? We all know his new musical gold will be on Facebook tomorrow anyway! Talk it over with your spouse, significant other, or family. Communicate when changes need to be made. Work together to make sure you can do it. 

Many programs come with calendars to follow but if you are doing your own stuff that's fine. Just make a calendar like this and write down your plans.

When it comes to your workouts you also have to have a plan. Just winging it won't work either and you need to constantly challenge and change your routines so you don't plateau. Every 4-6 weeks your routines or exercises should change. This will keep you from falling into a lull. The beauty of the Team Beachbody programs is that they take the guesswork out of this part for you!

Summary

So there it is everyone, a simple and easy to follow plan to get you started on the road to health and fitness. The final part is up to you. There is another saying I want to leave you with. It goes something like this; whether you believe you can or can't do something you are right. 

Of course my desire is to help you in your journey. I believe I can help you, and I believe you CAN do it. So join me here. Join one of my challenge groups. I promise you will love what you become!

Hook Uppercut/Hook Uppercut/Sprawl from MMX

I realized afterwards that the sprawl didn't involve a pushup! Oh Well, it gave a little extra burn and upper body work.

Starting Anew

"Your MRI showed an abnormality."

That was a Tuesday in early August of 2010 that changed my entire life. I had been having some neck pain and then some tingling in my extremities over the summer and so my spine specialist had ordered a brain MRI and sent me off to a neurologist. Up to this point in my life I never had any major issues. Just the usual colds, sports injuries, etc. That was the day that would make me start all over though. The doctor showed me the lesion on my brain and discussed possibilities like Lyme's disease, blows to the head, and the most dreaded two letters I have ever heard, MS. Multiple Sclerosis.

Like most people thinking about MS my first thought was that I was a healthy, vibrant, 34 year old who was active and definitely NOT sick. MS was something sick people got. I admit I had no clue the causes or outcomes of such a chronic disease.

At the time my wife, who was about 4 months pregnant, had been out of town at a conference. I called her and told her the outcome of my visit and the plans to investigate more about what might be the cause. That first day I was OK. However as my wife tells the story, each night that she spoke with me she could tell I was growing ever more concerned. You see the beauty of all that information the web puts at our finger tips is that when it's possible bad news it can really set your mind racing. By the time she returned home at the end of the week I was beginning to spiral into anxiety and panic. Over the course of the next few weeks the panic and anxiety grew and grew. The funny thing about wondering about a neurological disorder like MS is that it's symptoms almost exactly can mimic anxiety. I was convinced I had the worst form of MS, progressive MS, which often leads to paralysis and possibly death within a few years. I remember vividly though the first time I read an MS society slogan: Keep Moving. You see the big fear with MS is paralysis as your disease progresses.  More on that to come.

Test after test and visits to multiple doctors kept ruling out all of the other "good" possibilities and left only a waiting game revolving around MS. I visited a general counselor to help with the anxiety to no avail. I wasn't sleeping, I wasn't eating right, and I could not focus at work. I took a few days off to try and get my mind right. I was constantly clawing at my extremities to make sure I could still feel them. Then one morning my wife awoke to find me curled up on the floor in our office shaking and crying. It was then that we decided it was time to visit a psychologist.

Side Note: My wife was my foundation through all of this. Even though she was pregnant and probably terrified about what was happening, she held me up the entire way. She was always supportive and helped me stay as positive as possible. Despite fearing what her pregnancy would be like she ignored all that (or hid it inside) and made sure I cam out of this in one piece. That is what makes her the best wife. Ever. 

My psychologist, who specialized in cognitive behavior therapy, taught me two main things in our sessions over the next few months. The first was that today I am still walking, talking, and living a normal life. That was all that was under my control and that was how I should view my life until it changed. The second was a phrase she used. Action before motivation. Do it before you want to do it.

As the weeks turned into months, the doctors were not able to confirm or rule out MS. I had some dizzy spells, but no new clinical findings. I had some urinary issues, but again no new clinical findings. Months turned into years, along with the biannual visits to the MRI machine for my 2 hour scans, with no new findings. I went to multiple neurologists who disagreed with each other (and one time with their previous diagnosis) on the severity, or seriousness, or involvement of my symptoms. However over the last three and a half years we have not found another lesion anywhere in my central nervous system. As of today I am still officially in limbo. Due to the nature of MS, I will not be diagnosed (if I even have it) until a second clinical finding is made. However to some I am marked for life because of that one lesion. Forever in limbo where I don't have it, but many feel I will eventually. I have been denied life insurance on that grounds. I will have regular visits to the neurologist and MRI machine for the foreseeable future.

In the meantime I take anxiety medications and I have done a lot to change my lifestyle. I had always been an athlete but it was time to get serious. Nutrition, exercise, stress reduction, etc. That's where I come back to the slogans of the MS society and my psychologist. Keep moving. Action before motivation. That's when I found BeachBody and P90X. After my wife had our wonderful son she wanted to get in shape and lose her baby weight like most women do. I had seen a lot of ads for P90X and said let's give it a shot. That's when my journey began anew. That's how I ended up here.

I began with P90X and I loved it. I moved from that to P90X2, started running again, and eating healthier. Not perfect, but better. Something about the programs, and yes Tony Horton, hit home with me and I was hooked. I shared my stories everywhere. On Facebook, with my family and friends, at work. I was a living, walking, breathing billboard for P90X and BeachBody. A friend who also loved BeachBody started coaching and he told me I should do it. He said I was already doing the most important parts, which was sharing my success and being energetic. So in the fall of 2013, I purchased Insanity, which lives up to it's title, and I made the leap joining TeamBeachBody as a coach.

It has been a slow start, success doesn't come automatically, but I have started finally building my business by sharing my success story and helping others write theirs. I always keep those two phrases in mind. Keep moving. I keep moving every day. Both physically and in my business. Right now it's P90X3 that keeps me moving and energized. Push play every day. Keep moving ahead. Keep helping others write their stories. Action before motivation. Do it now. Don't wait. If you do it now it will be done. Whether it's your workout, a report at work, cleaning the house, or whatever. There is a pride that comes with pushing play when you don't want to. When you are finished you feel awesome, even if it was hard. You accomplished something you thought you couldn't. You aren't procrastinating and worrying all day. It's done. Besides if you wait until tomorrow, you might never get that chance.

That's where I am today. As of this post I have not been diagnosed with MS. Currently they call it non-specific neurological symptoms. Three plus years of clean MRIs. If I make it to 5 years clean they reduce the frequency of testing and I don't have to sit in that MRI tube every year anymore. If I am diagnosed someday then so be it. That day is not today, so today I keep moving. Right now there is no known cure for MS but what I know is this about life. Eating healthy and exercising has never been bad for anyone. That is the stuff I can keep under my control. I keep moving, I commit to action before motivation, and I push play every day, I eat whole, nutritious food 95% of the time. I will keep doing that until the day I can't anymore. I use my story as motivation to help others rewrite their stories.

Here's a video on performing several P90X3 plank or push up type moves using push up bars.