OH CANADA

What a hockey game - nail biting. It could have gone either way. I wondered what all the hype was about Crosby. Kept waiting for him to do something - he did not disappoint!

I know the U.S. is disappointed but they have nothing to be ashamed of. The prediction was that they would not be in the semifinals and they almost won the gold. So very close.

Congrats to Canada USA and Finland!

ALL ABOUT GLUTES

coming soon.....

EVERYTHING I KNOW ABOUT CHEATING I LEARNED FROM MY GRANDMAS

I was realizing the other day that many of the habits of body builders and fitness trainers which I now practice, I learned as a child.


I grew up in England in the care of my maternal grandmother for parts of my childhood. I remember that we had frequent smaller meals throughout the day. We had our bigger meal (carbohydrates) at noon.


We had planned 'cheat days'. But to us it was simply called Sunday. That is, each week on a Sunday, my grandma would bake a cake (usually coconut) and that is the only day we had that type of food. It was not made into a big deal - it was just part of our routine. On Sundays, we always visited her mother, my great grandmother.


Great grandma was in her 90s, blind and frail but..she knew my footsteps the second I arrived. Grandma would go visit with her sister in the kitchen. I would sit in the rocking chair by the fire with great grandma (there was no central heat). She would bring out our weekly treat. A Cadbury's chocolate bar. She would break off a square for herself and one for me and put the rest away for the next week. We would let it slowly melt in our mouths enjoying each other's company and the warm fire.


Eating the whole thing never occurred to us. One piece of sweet was plenty. Still..to this day, I buy a chocolate bar and have one square once in awhile. It is enough.


But I did lose my way during the days of my obesity.


It seems we have become nations of super sizing, pig fests and all you can eat bonazas destroying our bodies and our health.


It is a good habit to develop.....having treat foods as something rare and precious to savour and eat slowly, enjoy in small amounts and put away until the next time. And to treat food in general as a valuable fuel to be taken in as required and not as desired.

Olympic Joy

Ok now I have experienced joy. I screamed so loud I scared all my pets.

Our Canadian ice dancers just won the gold.

They are the youngest to ever win ice dance - 20, 22
They are the first North Americans to win ice dance gold.
They are from my birth Province - Ontario - near London.

Apparently Russia has not lost the gold since around 1966

Ice Dancing and Pairs used to be so full of politics and sleezy back room deals. All the skating so far has shown great judging. What a refreshing change!

I'd like to add - the Americans were awesome too!!!! And it just so happens they train with the Canadian champions - their coaches must be so proud. Athletes - so young - so disciplined - we can learn from them.

Plushenko (Russia) lost the men's figure skating gold to the USA. He felt he should have won simply because of the quad. He awarded himself platinum. Good grief. The rest of his skate in my opinion was clumsy no sign of artistry just continuous planning for the next technical move - he did not have the finesse of the USA athlete.

The medal was well deserved by the USA. As the interviewer said to Plushenko - it is called 'figure skating' not 'jumping' :) Plushenko replied they always won under the old system - he does not like the new system - really? You mean a fair and honest one where biased judges can't affect or influence others. I often wonder how many athletes were screwed out of medals before the judging underwent reform. It is a pair of our athletes that championed the reform - it took guts for them to do it - you might remember the year the gold was shared.

I had to laugh this morning listening to the morning mash up. One of the announcers hates olympics and said it is supposed to be amateurs - what are those professionals doing in the Olympics - and in the same breath said he bets Canada is embarassed about last night's hockey game.

Excuse me oh young one - aren't the hockey players NHL? Well we aren't embarrased. Probably most of them are or were Canadian :)

By the way the IOC changed the charter in 1986 to allow all athletes to compete including 'professionals. '

I wonder if that made it more fair. In the 'old days' communist countries dominated the medals. I am not sure why but I often wondered if their countries gave them a lot more financial support to train - ours sure didn't back then. Nice to see that all can be sponsored equally so they can concentrate on being the best. Why should our athletes give up years of earnings to represent their countries for the glory of us all? Sure the ones who medal might get endorsments but it is not a given.

I can't wait for the curling and hockey - tic toc. I'll bet it will be exciting although this is the only time that curling excites me - sorry. Yawn. Pushing a broom usually just doesn't do it for me. Too much like housework.

UPPER BODY EXERCISE PLATEAU IS OFTEN CAUSED BY WEAK HANDS, WRISTS AND FOREARMS

My upper body exercises were stalling. Some weeks I could not advance the weight at all. I had difficulty doing upper bodyweight exercises too. Even though I was recovering from a significant injury, my shoulder was solid and pain free. I knew it was not the cause.

I noticed that since my upper body injury I had been having trouble opening jars and even with turning door nobs. My rehab had been aimed at progressing the range of motion of my shoulder. I soon realized I had lost a lot of strength in my hands wrists and forearms. So my biceps, triceps, chest and shoulders were capable of much more weight - but I was restricted by the lack of strength in my lower arms.

I started targeting the hands, wrists and forearms and got incredible results in progressing my program. I am back to where I was and advancing with each workout.

Even if you don't lift weights, it is almost certain, unless you are a labourer that you have weakness in the hands, wrists and forearms - particularly if you are a woman. Yes , we use our hands constantly but we have developed so many labour aids, machines and tools to make everything easier that we no longer require the strength we used to.

Here are a few simple tools that are really inexpensive (and there are plenty of free exercise demos on the Internet for these body parts).

For beautiful younger hands click here for further TIPS:

MORE JOY

The Canadian Gold Medal winner for Skeleton. He has an infectious personality and is one of the most joyous people I have ever seen - even before he won!

Congrats Jon Montgomery

JOY

It was so invigorating to watch Shaun White (U.S. snowboarder) win his gold.

He is the picture of joy. Of someone who has chosen a path he loves; something which brings him happiness and joy not to forget a good living.

So many of us follow paths we don't enjoy and never take the risk of finding what makes us happy. I am one of them.

Sometimes I think obesity is just another feature of our joyless paths. We need to either stop complaining and find joy in what we are doing now or find what moves us, what motivates us and makes us happy and take steps to follow a different path.

My life is not bad - pretty good actually, but I would not say it is joyous. I am working on it.

IMAGINE

How do Olympians do what they do day after day, week after week, year after year? They imagine. They believe.

How do they pick themselves up after a fall, recover, and surpass their personal best? They imagine. They believe.

Not much different than losing weight.

Imagine. Pick your self up. Believe.

OLYMPICS - MOTIVATING OR WHAT!

I love watching the olympics but especially right now when it is in my home Province.

My cardinal rule to not watch TV while working out - is broken. But nothing is more motivating for me than to watch these athletes who may win or lose by a little as .1 of a point, by a centimetre or a few one hundreds of a second.

They work for years - get up at incredible hours and work incredible hours and most of us whine about not feeling motivated to work out a few times per week.

I cheer for all of them - I don't care if they are Canadian or not. While the Olympics are on - I'll bet I don't miss one workout or screw up on my nutrition plan even a bit. If they can do what they do with such passion, I can keep up my training - small challenge that it is - compared to theirs.

Cheer for your country! But workout while you are doing it! This type of motivation does not come along that often.

MY TRAINERS AND GUIDES

I have had significant weight loss, body toning, health improvements but I did not do it alone. All of the people listed on the side of this blog have trained me, given me knowledge and motivated me along the way.

I recovered from a very serious shoulder fracture and disclocation which happened April 2009. It was a long wait before I could start heavy lifting again and get my full range of motion but I did it. But, I got just so far and my numbers just weren't increasing. Except my legs of course which have always responded fairly quickly both in growth and higher weights.

I was a bit out of practice with trouble shooting in my training. So, I re-read everything I had from these trainers. I was able to trouble shoot again! I fixed quite a few things using their techniques anabolic windows, carb cycling, working on the muscles that were causing the 'weak link." For example my upper limb weight increases were limited by my forearm, wrist and hand grip strength - not my biceps, or triceps. I initially kept my shoulder exercises at 90 o or less and worked on ROM with bands and stretching with a rotator cuff routine before trying heavy weights above shoulder height. At first because of my loss of range I had a hard time putting the barbell on my shoulders because I could not get my arms far enough back so I had to resort to the leg press until I could use the barbell for decent squats - but now I can!!! I remembered how to better target my glutes as well. I can hardly believe it but the past few weeks I am getting the 5 ot 10 % increase in 'progressive overload' consistently. Such a satisfying feeling.

I really doubt I will compete. In fact the current training program I am doing has a fat loss/gain muscle transformation contest as well - but - although I am doing the program and it is working so well I am not participating in the transformation contest. I don't want prizes. I don't need the motivation. I don't want my before and after pictures posted on a trainer's site. I am doing it because I want to. I have no interest in competing against others. I am competing against me and it is working.

I change programs fairly often. They all work - the ones on this site. Right now I am working at a special program with Vince for the body building training and I am using Joel's Cheat Your Way Thin plan with Tosca's books and Oxygen Magazines tips to top it off.

I really love training. I love eating clean. It is a really good life. I feel strong and 'uncluttered' Now I just need to do the same with my life and my home :)

And I keep hoping the one I love will find the God of fitness soon too. He is so perfect in every other way.

PINK

Pink. Again. She was on Oprah the other day and was asked how she keeps fit. She uses the Tony Horton P90X when she is on the road. I have that program and although I have another training plan right now and have not done the whole 90 day program I frequently use pieces of it - the ab routine, the yoga, the stretch - there are many components and I enjoy them but work portions into my current training. He always shows various levels of doing a routine so that you can work at your current level. It is nice to see the improvement week to week.

Also fun for a cardio change (also from Beachbodies) is the Core Rhythm CDs.

KALEA CROSS AUTHOR - PERSONAL MESSAGE

Here is a personal message from Kalea with a teaser about her latest release. (ps I have 10 signed copies on their way to me!)

Hi everyone! It seems like forever since Out of Her League came out, but the sequel is finally here. Cover of Darkness features Bryn McAllister (I hope you remember her from the first book) in a romantic suspense that I hope will leave you breathless. If you liked the last one, then fasten your seatbelts and hold on when you read this book!


Targeted by a terrorist cell, Bryn McAllister survives a bombing at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut only to be left to die in a desert cellar. When she is rescued by Navy SEAL Lieutenant Declan McCabe and his team, Bryn must rely on the handsome officer to get her to safety. But just when she thinks the nightmare is over, family friend and legendary CIA operative Luke Hutchinson recruits her and McCabe to help track down the terrorist mastermind responsible for the attack.

With Bryn determined to see the terrorist brought to justice, Dec joins up to protect her, prepared to do whatever it takes to keep her safe during their dangerous mission. Battling the explosive attraction between them, Dec fights to keep his distance from her so he can do his job and keep her alive. But when plans falls apart and Bryn is captured, he must make the agonizing choice between his duty as a SEAL and the life of the woman he loves.

I hope this read will keep you on the edge of your seat, and make you stay up late turning those pages. Here's the link for the paperback edition: http://kayleacross.blogspot.com/2010/02/cover-of-darkness-is-here-at-last.html

The next two books in the series will be out in May and July, and the final one should be out by the end of the year (we're just starting edits in the next few weeks). For those of you in the lower mainland, I'd be happy to order your copies and hold them here for you if you'd prefer that to ordering them online yourself. Plus then I'll get to see you! If you live too far away, I'm sending a great big hug with each book so you don't feel left out. I truly appreciate everyone's support; it means a lot to me.

Happy reading, and I look forward to hearing what you thought of the story!

Kaylea Cross

THE F WORD

FOOD just in case you thought I meant something else. When I thought about food I thought back to one of the theories we learned in nursing school.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

It is a lot more complicated and detailed than I am presenting here. In nursing they simply wanted to point out to us that the very basics of life such as air water and food (clear lungs, fluids and nutrition to put it more nursey) had to be met before a higher level of health or being could be achieved.

Well I read a great deal of fitness experts' material and the one thing I noticed about them and about extreme athletes is that food is fuel to their fine machine - their bodies. I suppose what it was meant to be. Sure they have cheat days when they indulge but for the most part food is a fuel and nutrition for their goals of health and fitness.

Basically this pyramid illustrates that food and water are needed for basic survival (before we can adequately satisfy the other levels of need). But we use food for almost anything but.....

If you read the last post about memes, then you will know that your food intake, cravings, etc are related to memes not the need to take in food as fuel. Otherwise how and why do we:

Incorporate food and drink feasts for just about any reason - birth, death, marriage, divorce, promotion, birthdays, anniversaries etc etc. (In past history perhaps celebrants had to travel many miles on foot to get to the celebration earning the 'feast.')

Eat when we are sad
Eat when we are glad
Eat when we are bored
Eat because it is there
Eat for comfort
Eat because it is free
Eat for almost any reason to celebrate or to mourn - food is always there

We rarely eat because we are hungry or because we need fuel.

Yet we would not take our expensive car and put just anything we felt like in the gas tank. We put in fuel - the right kind - the one that is recommended to keep the longevity of the car, keep it running smoothly and lower our maintenance costs. Similarly we would not continue to pump the gas into the car when the tank is full but we do that to our bodies all the time.

I wonder why we put so much less value on ourselves?

Sometimes learning about foods, caloric, protein and fat values might be boring but learning all you can about what you eat - what is in it - what it can do to help or harm your body - in other words how you are fueling all the fantastic complicated processes going on in your body awake or asleep can astound you.

Take the first step and try to think before you eat. Are you nourishing your body or your soul. Changing the way you think about food and recognizing why you are eating are the first steps to eating clean and getting healthy.

MEMES NOT GENES ARE KEEPING YOU FAT

A ‘meme ‘ (rhymes with cream from the Greek word mimema meaning “something initiated”), is an element of cultural ideas, symbols or practices transmitted from one mind to another usually with absolutely no foundation in truth. We learn these memes from our grandparents, parents and others. We all have them.

What is the harm? We allow them to influence our behavior and they restrict us from doing things and often they stop us from realizing our full potential. We often use them as excuses and begin a sentence “I can’t……………………….because it is in my genes.”

In writing this post I had an epiphany about a meme that I had been wrestling with some time ago. On April 30th 2009 I had an accident resulting in a significant injury. I had been berating myself and beating myself up trying to figure out just what bad thing I have done to deserve this "bad karma." Who had I crossed? Was I not generous enough or kind enough? You know the old adage "what goes around comes around."

An accident is a fortuituous event. Sometimes SH-T happens to put it bluntly. Whether I am Mother Teresa, a small innocent child, or a nasty serial killer - it does not matter. An accident is just something that happens in a nano second, maybe from a momentary lapse in judgment by self or others or a freak of nature. We do all we can to prevent the inevitable - we wear seat belts and helmets, we have rules and regulations to protect us - we have a weather watch - all signs that we need protection. There are lots of hazards. I know people who behave a lot worse than I and they have not had an accident so my meme is very flawed. My analysis of my meme is that accidents happen to all types of people. It is not punishment for somethimg I have done.

Suddenly that makes it a lot better. Trying to correct some flaw, particularly when I am not sure which one it is, is mind boggling and not conducive to recovery. Frankly worrying about getting hit by a bus if I yell at someone would make me neurotic. Point is, I learned this karma stuff from people I chummed with in my earlier years. So I adopted it and it became my meme.

Why is acknowledging and dealing with our memes important to achieving health and fitness? Because these beliefs, those without any foundation, (memes) we use as excuses to fail or worse still, to not even try.

Some common examples:

• My parents and grandparents died of heart disease before age 65. Early death is in my genes.
• Everyone in my family is big. We are big boned. Slim people are the unhealthy ones.
• People are meant to look old after 50.
• My mother and her mother smoked all their life and they did not get cancer.
• Drinking , smoking and eating whatever I want is how I grew up. I can’t change it now.
• There is nothing you can do to change how you are. You are born that way.
• I have always been difficult and I can’t change.
• People like us don't go to medical school. It is only for the rich.
• Cellulite is genetic.
• Being forgetful is a natural part of aging.
• Eat everything that is put in front of you ---there are people starving in the world
  (so my eating everything helps them how?................)

You get the idea.

How to deal with memes?

Acknowledge them, analyze them, overcome them.

What are the memes keeping you from getting fit?

My memes or beliefs for fitness were that I was too far gone and I was too old - there was no way I could get fit and healthy at my age. This worked against me making any progress with my health until I hired the right person to turn my beliefs upside down.

So keep the ones that do no harm or help you. You may have “inherited “ some fun ones or harmless ones such as how to dress, for example not wearing white after labour day and other cultural norms:)

For the more harmful ones that keep you from achieving your potential, acknowledge them, recognize they have no foundation in truth and that you have simply adopted them to use as excuses to stay the same.

This applies to getting fit as well.

So your MEMES are the barriers to getting fit NOT YOUR GENES.

Create a new cultural belief for your decendants - you are given a precious instrument to carry you through life. Take good care of it!
Now let's get fit and healthy!


Note: see the prior post 'weight of the world' to see some societal solutions to changing memes.

WEIGHT OF THE WORLD

I truly believe that the obesity epidemic is a sociological issue of grand proportions. It interests me more than what the latest exercise fad is for the fit and famous.

Some time ago I watched the program "Weight of the World" with Dr. David Suzuki as narrator. A Canadian production - yeah Canada. It was fascinating.

The problem is worse than I thought. But it put the blame in the right place - on society not the obese individual.

There are 300 million obese individuals including 100 million in developing nations. Mostly because we have passed on our technology and our fast food outlets.

That should keep personal trainers busy for quite a while.

I was heartened to see that there is recognition to start at the roots - by designing and building healthier communities, including experimental school programs and eliminating fast food. The plan is for counselling and educating in early school years to help drive social change.

The only way the epidemic can be stopped is to prevent it in the first place. We all know how hard it is to change habits that are rooted in us.

PINK

IF SHORT CUTS AND GIMMICKS WORKED, THE WHOLE WORLD COULD LOOK LIKE PINK

I really enjoyed the Grammys and Pink blew me away - not only with her great body but her acrobatic performance which took strength and stamina.

Recently I had an interesting email conversation with Dan Munday Aussie Fat Blast and DPM Performance

We both are often amazed that in spite of the information out there about what it takes to be fit, health and happy - there will be those who try bizarre passive machines, gimmick food plans and ridiculous supplements.

Well guess what - world obesity particularly in North America is getting worse not better. So there are thousands of products taking people's hard earned cash with false promises.

Dan points out that if it were that easy the health care system would not be under such a strain.

I was quite upset last night when I watched a plastic surgery 'disaster' show. I comment frequently on my other blog about some of the charlatans out there in the dog eat dog plastic surgery world (not to say there aren't a lot of great surgeons doing great work). But last night featured some pretty bad outcomes. I could hardly believe that one diabetic women who wanted liposuction and a tummy tuck, was told it would be perfectly safe and in fact - removal of abdominal fat would improve her diabetes.

Fact: removing subcutaneous abdominal fat through liposuction does not reduce cholesterol, diabetes or anything else internally - the fat is still around all your organs - e.g your liver, your arteries (plaque). It also does nothing to change the dietary habits or sedentary lifestyles which lead to the diseases.

Even those who exercise like mad and eat crap can remain unhealthy - one fitness trainer put it perfectly - "you can't out run a burger"

Back to the poor woman above - her bowel was perforated during the production line procedure - she ended up with a colostomy - then the infection spread and she got gangrene in both legs and both legs were amputated. A big price to pay for a flat tummy short cut.

There are plenty of good trainers out there who can guide you to a healthy outcome. The ones I know about and respect are featured on this site. They provide various methods of training including E-programs which are affordable. Their blogs give you support and access to all kinds of free information. Many have periodic fat loss competitions where you can benefit from free coaching as well as group support.