Tough Mudder - Can I do it?

When was the last time you did something you weren't sure you could do?  For me, it has been a long time!  I mean something that you said, I really don't know if I will be able to physically and mentally complete this challenge.  I have a friend who wanted to complete a Tough Mudder competition before she turned 50, but she didn't want to do it alone.  When she asked me to train and do it with her, my first thought after watching footage of these crazy people was, does she really consider me a friend?  What friend would ask you to run 12 miles through 27 VERY challenging obstacles - including running through a tunnel of electrodes?

I realized I would need a significant reason to train and complete this course, because I was not the one turning 50 anyway! And one day it dawned on me, you are actually afraid of this challenge.  I had to give pause and realize, it has been a long time since you were afraid you couldn't do something.  Isn't this what you encourage clients to do everyday?  Well, there is my motivation.  I am going to train for and complete this Tough Mudder, simply because I am not sure I can.  I will prove to myself that I can go to the next level.

  When was the last time you attempted something you didn't think you could do?

 Go to the next level.  Take a risk and see how strong you really are.

  Event training puts a deadline on your goal.

Kentucky - October 20th - Tough Mudder, stay tuned.

A body in motion, stays in motion



Have you ever watched a volleyball player when she is about to receive a serve, a short stop when a ball is about to be hit?  Did you ever notice the goal tender when the soccer ball is on the other end of the field?  None of these people are standing still.  Their bodies are in motion, they are already moving even though they have no active part in the game at that moment. 

A body in motion, stays in motion unless acted upon by an outside force – Sir Isaac Newton’s law of inertia.  One who is on the move will be ready when it is time to act. 

If you were to time yourself standing still in one spot and on a command taking off to run 20 yards versus jogging in that same spot and taking the command to run the same 20 yards, you would see that a body in motion stays in motion and responds better when the time comes.

Are you sitting and waiting for that job promotion, for the right someone or for someone to make you feel better and pick you up?   A body in motion, stays in motion.  Get up, get moving, get ready.  In sales, we call it “stirring the pot”, you have to be making calls to make sales.  If you are sitting and waiting for the sales to come to you, they might, but it will happen more quickly and more regularly if you are moving, talking, calling, interacting.  Move toward your goal.  Get in motion.

Lead off!

You can smell the dirt, hear the crunch of it under your cleat.  You slide to your right, inching, creeping along the path.  Waiting, watching, eyes darting back and forth.  And then in one smooth motion you find yourself diving head first, arm outstretched, grasping for the bag.  “Safe!”  yells the umpire.  Standing up, you dust yourself off.  Atop first base you breathe a sigh of relief.  His back is turned again, you step out, hopping, bouncing a bit this time, teasing him just to step off that mound.  But no, he winds up and you are off!  Digging in for all you’ve got you can see the second baseman’s eyes get wide as he is following the ball from home plate to his glove.  You drop your left knee and jump forward all at the same time, slide in under his tag and again, “Safe!”  yells the umpire. 

In order to meet our goals, sometimes we have to “take a lead”.  Taking a lead means stepping off what is safe and predictable and inching close to what we desire.  Always watching, always ready to retreat as needed and take off like the wind when it is time.  But, if you aren’t taking your lead you aren’t ready.   Be ready, have a plan, know your options and watch the outside influences so that you will know when it is not just time to take a lead, but to take a leap! 

Running the bases of life

This summer my boys played on each of their respective all star baseball teams, Cameron on Mustang and Bristol on Pinto.  Maybe some moms would drop their kids at practice and go get a manicure, but not this mom.  Nope, I wanted to be at every practice, I wanted to know how my child was doing and ultimately I wanted to soak up everything that was going on with the team, the coaches and the other players.  I grew up playing sports and I watch ESPN with the best of them and for the most part I can talk the talk.

However, one thing I didn’t know much about what running the bases.  In Cameron’s league the kids were able to lead off and steal.  Even Bristol played up at this level on many occasions.  At the beginning of every practice, the team would warm up by “running the bases”.  Now, I don’t mean like a bunch of toddlers - running whole hog around all four bases and dog piling at home.  Apparently, that is reserved for after you win a major game.  I mean there is quite a strategy to running the bases when you have hit the ball.  I am going to focus for a moment on just the base running of the player when they hit the ball.  Because of course other kids are leading off, stealing and being coached otherwise to run the bases after the batter hits the ball.

 

There were three phrases that the kids would hear from the first base coach. “Run through, run through” – which means you’ve got to hustle this one out to beat a fielder’s throw.  Run through literally means run past the base, do not slow down, tag the bag and keep going, slow down after you pass the bag. 

If the coach wants you to draw the throw or he is waiting to see the play on the ball he yells, “take a look, take a look”.  (Yes, everything is repeated at least twice – it stands to reason: they are boys and they are kids.  Two reasons to always repeat oneself)  “Take a look” means that the runner will not dart past first base, but he will round first and watch for a play on the ball. 

The last option, that I was able to ascertain, was “go two, go two”.  This means the ball has more than likely made it to the outfield, over someone’s head and the runner will progress to at least second base.

Each practice began with the kids lining up at home plate and taking off like they just hit the ball.  The first base coach would randomly tell them what to do; run through, turn and look or go two. When rounding first and headed for second the players would pick up the third base coach who would tell them to slide, stay on second or head for third. 

During games, base running was very exciting.  I will never forget Cameron’s last game of the regular season, which would decide the ranking of our team first or second in the league.  Last inning, tied game, two outs. Cameron was on third base and the pitcher was returning to the mound after a passed ball ( a ball that got past the catcher and might have given Cameron a chance to steal home, the pitcher had covered home keeping Cameron at third base). The pitcher made a regrettable mistake, he turned his back on Cameron, who was one of the most proficient, aggressive base runners on his team, not to mention he is lightning fast. (Note the very bias opinion of his mother)  Dan, who to my chagrin, often coaches from the bleachers, is telling Cameron, “watch him kid, watch him.”  As the pitcher turns his back Dan yells “GO”.  Cameron took off for home and by the time the pitcher turned around and threw to his catcher, Cameron was sliding into home.  He won that game for his team.  Dan was the first one out on the field.  He was lifting Cameron up in one of those hugs that says I am so proud of you.  Cameron’s team was going nuts – they won the game and finished first in the regular season.  Running the bases won his team the game. Period.

We wake up each morning and we are destined to run the bases.  Today are you going to “run through” and beat out the obstacles against you? Are you going to “turn and look” and be ready for the next calling if it is there for the taking or are you going to go ahead and “take two” and run with no abandon. Your ultimate goal is to slide into home to win in the game of life.  Every base running command is important and each decision was a factor of what the field had in store for that runner.  What does this day have in store for you and are you ready to step up to the plate and run the bases of life?

The secret to weight loss is no secret

It is exhausting isn't it?  Trying to figure out how to lose weight, which diet, for how long, then it is boring, so you quit... what is the secret to weigh loss?  Well, it is no secret.  You have to expend more calories than you consume, period.  Really, it is that simple.  But, that isn't simple, because from hour to hour who knows how many calories you have burned and how many you have consumed, right?  It would be like walking up to someone and saying, "hey what is your heart rate right now?"  Who knows? 

I tell clients all the time, you have to own your numbers.  You have to track (for at least 2-4 weeks, if not longer - we'll come back to this) how many calories you are eating/drinking and how many calories you are burning with daily activity and exercise.  There are website and smart phone apps that have been revolutionary in helping clients track calories in and calories out so that weight loss is successful.  A website I love is 411fit.com.  This site is simple to use and gives you daily scores.  You can store meals that you eat often so that you don't have to enter them each time.  There is a library of foods and recipes, you can create accountability groups and the site allows your trainer to log in, with your permission, and view how you are doing. 

A smart phone app that is similar yet more simple is Lose It.  The phone app is nice because most of us have our phones wherever we are and we can log instantly or even look before we bite.  Lose It also allows you to enter your food, drink and exercise for the day and has a nice visual graph line of how many calories you have left for the day.

Logging your calories in and calories out will be a learning experience.  Some people have made significant changes within 2-4 weeks and no longer have to log their food on a daily basis.  Others find that logging daily keeps them accountable.  Do what works best for you.  Try to log your food, drink and exercise in advance, because what use is it to know at the end of the day that you blew it!  Log and plan in advance, again, not for the rest of your life, but for a few weeks so that you learn how many calories you burn when you walk or jog on the treadmill for 30 minutes, how many calories in a tablespoon of peanut butter?  When you can answer these types of questions - you have succeeded! 

Eating Clean

People ask me all the time, "What should I eat?, Can you give me a plan?, Just spell it out for me".  And while I do have meal plans to get people started on, I need for them to understand my nutrition and eating philosophy so that they can be successful in the long term.  Eating clean, no processed foods is not just a recommended way to eat.  It goes beyond that.  Eating clean is not a new diet fad, in fact it is the original diet fad.  I subscribe to clean eating because it means eating food the way God designed it. 

I believe that God designed my human body.  ("I knew you before I formed you in your mother's womb"; Jeremiah 1:5)  So, it stands to reason that he meant for me to eat foods also the way He designed them.  Much as Rudolf Diesel designed the diesel engine to only consume or use diesel fuel.  

Realistically, I understand it would be challenging to eat only non-processed foods.  However, if you consider a clean foods continuum with 100% clean foods on one end and 100% processed foods on the other; imagine carrot versus cheese puff!  Your goal is to eat on the clean half of the continuum.  Follow me on Pinterest for more clean eating and meal planning ideas!  http://pinterest.com/annacarterpins/

 

Life is not a treadmill

A question I hear from clients is “Do you recommend the treadmill or walking on the pavement?”  Look, I have nothing against treadmills.  In most fitness centers the treadmills are set up where you can watch TV and surf the web in the comfort of a controlled environment.  Can’t beat that!  However, for someone who is looking to improve stamina, lose weight, train for a 5K event or tone their legs, consider this.  When you are walking on a treadmill, the “ground” is coming to you.  All you really have to do is pick up your feet.  As long as you do so at the pace the treadmill belt is moving, no harm done.  You can even run a long distance on a treadmill, hey as long as there is something good on TV, we could stay all day! 

To transition from treadmill running to pavement running, the greatest discrepancy is propulsion.  On a treadmill you do not have to propel yourself across the surface.  The surface comes to you.  Even with hills you are still not propelling the weight and force of your body forward.  This is a rude awakening for the runner who trains 8 weeks on a treadmill to run a 5K and then on race day can’t make the first mile.  The training surface and the race surface were not the same.

Are you training on the treadmill of life.  Letting things comes to you at their own speed and pace.  Your life really doesn’t take a lot of effort, ever.  Well, life is not a treadmill.  You have to move yourself and propel yourself to do and be and live.  Hit the road!  Climb some hills, take some turns, but be moving.

Bystander effect

As a freshman in college, at the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill, I took a Psychology 101 class with over 300 other freshman.  There was a lot of material covered in the class.  Only two things stuck with me from that course; one, participating in experiments for graduate students doing psychology research is dangerous and two, the bystander phenomenon.

The bystander phenomenon purports that when multiple people are bystanders to an emergency, they are less likely to respond than if they were the only bystander witnessing the same emergency.  For instance, if you are at a community pool and someone begins to drown in the pool you are slower to respond because there are so many other people around.  You would find yourself thinking, “Maybe there is a lifeguard around, Perhaps someone would do this better than me, What if I look stupid trying to save this person or What if I drown too?”  Whereas, if you were the only person on the side of the pool and this same person began to drown, you would respond quickly because there is no one else to rely on or compare yourself to.



God doesn’t subscribe to the bystander phenomenon.  When he says jump, he means jump and jump now.  Don’t ask questions about how high and why.  When I first began attending First Christian Church, I can remember sitting in the main worship center during service, looking up at the indoor fitness track that surrounded the worship center and hearing God say, “They need you here.  There is work for you to do here.”   My husband and I had sold our house and moved back to NC, I had every intention of being a stay at home mom who would work part time.  I had owned, operated and consulted in the fitness industry for 10 years by the time I was back in NC.  I had plenty of experience to bring to the table.  I had an undergraduate and a masters degree in exercise science.  And, I can remember thinking, “Oh, no God, they have this covered.”  “Look at what it has grown to, they can’t possibly use me.” 

I negotiated with God.  “Well God, if they need me, they will have to ask me.”  God: Seriously Anna?  There are 1500 people through these doors on a Sunday, they are supposed to look at you and know what you can do?  Come on child, I said they need you here, jump.  My husband was hearing from God too, he was telling me to give them my resume.  I can be so stubborn sometimes.  After a few weeks, I did pass my resume on to someone.  No response.  God wasn’t satisfied.  One fateful day, I crossed paths with the person who had my resume.  We were both in the childcare of the fitness facility one morning (I had purchased a membership and was working out there).  A comment I made about managing and overseeing volunteers caught him off guard.  I can remember clearly him turning his head to me and saying, “Have we met?”  I indicated no, but that he had probably seen my resume.  The rest is, as they say, history.

I give you this story to illustrate how I was being a bystander.  I was standing by the pool and waiting for someone else to jump in.  God Himself had told me to grab a buoy and jump and I waited.  I learned a couple of things from this experience; do not sit and wait or wonder if you are needed, you are needed.  He gave all of us gifts to use for His glory, not ours.  When God shows you an opportunity, it is His timing.  He means now.   God doesn’t use bystanders, he uses jumpers.

Second, as a ministry leader, I can relate to those who are sitting in the “pews” waiting to be asked.  In some cases they hear God telling them to act, but they are negotiating and questioning God.  In sales, the worst mistake we make is not asking for the sale, not asking a potential buyer to invest in your product or service.  Not asking someone to help in your ministry is denying them an opportunity to experience God. 

Ask God to show you where you are needed and then… jump!