A Fit Nurse: Determination

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Posted by Alyssa Schomaker / Friday, August 1, 2014 / No comments / Determination , exercise , fun workout , good habits , health and fitness , Motivation , running , workouts

18 Ways to Change Up Your Running Routine

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There’s something special about being so excited to go running that you count the minutes until you can leave work, lace up, and hit the pavement. But no matter how much you’re in love with running, it takes a little effort to keep the relationship fresh. “If you want to make progress and still keep it fun, variety is going to be crucial,” says <a href="https://twitter.com/JasonFitz1" sl-processed="1" style="color: rgb(28, 161, 200) !important; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Jason Fitzgerald</a>, an elite marathoner, running coach, and founder of<a href="http://strengthrunning.com/" sl-processed="1" style="color: rgb(28, 161, 200) !important; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">StrengthRunning.com</a>.</div>
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Before a favorite neighborhood route starts to feel ho-hum, mix in one of these 18 runs to keep things fun and challenging. Each one can be modified for runners of any fitness and experience levels. Many of the workouts require a set distance, but you don’t need access to a track. Websites and apps like<a href="http://www.mapmyrun.com/" sl-processed="1" style="color: rgb(28, 161, 200) !important; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">MapMyRun</a> and <a href="http://www.usatf.org/routes/map/" sl-processed="1" style="color: rgb(28, 161, 200) !important; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">USA Track & Field</a> make it easy to map distance so you can do these workouts anywhere.</div>
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<img alt="18 Ways to Change Up Your Running Routine: Repeats" class="media-element file-default" height="400" src="http://greatist.com/sites/default/files/styles/article-content-732/public/Track%20runner_604_0.jpeg?itok=IWyZgfXe" style="border: 0px; height: auto !important; max-width: 100%;" title="" typeof="foaf:Image" width="604" /></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Avenir Heavy';">1. Get Stuck on Repeat </span><br />Running a set of repeats interspersed with intervals for recovery is a simple way to mix things up. Choose a distance or time period (200 meters or 45 seconds, for example) and run <em>hard</em>. Rest for a set period of time and do it all again (and again). (Spoiler alert: <a href="http://www.runnersworld.com/workouts/how-much-rest-should-you-take-between-intervals?page=single" sl-processed="1" style="color: rgb(28, 161, 200) !important; line-height: 1.5em; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">The recovery interval is just as important as the repeat!</a>) The <a href="http://www.acefitness.org/acefit/healthy_living_fit_facts_content.aspx?itemid=48" sl-processed="1" style="color: rgb(28, 161, 200) !important; line-height: 1.5em; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) scale</a> is an intuitive way to loosely measure your effort, no <a class="skimwords-link" data-group-id="0" data-skim-creative="300003" data-skim-node-id="101:isanintuitivewaytolo_1" data-skim-product="1959365" data-skimlinks-editor="0" data-skimwords-id="1959365" data-skimwords-word="heart%20rate%20monitor" href="http://skimlinks.pgpartner.com/mrdr.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fskimlinks.pgpartner.com%2Fsearch.php%2Fform_keyword%3Dheart%2Brate%2Bmonitor" occurrence="1" style="color: rgb(28, 161, 200) !important; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="Shopping Link Added by SkimWords">heart rate monitor</a><span style="position: absolute;"></span><span style="position: absolute;"></span> or other gadgetry required.</div>
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For most workouts, repeats should feel like a "7" to "9" on an RPE scale, (ie.  a rough approximation of "intensity") and recovery intervals can either be full rest, walking, or light jogging. Start the next repeat when you’ve caught your breath <a href="http://greatist.com/fitness/how-do-i-measure-exercise-intensity" sl-processed="1" style="color: rgb(28, 161, 200) !important; text-decoration: none;">enough to talk comfortably</a>. The longer or harder the repeat, the more recovery you’ll need.</div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Avenir Heavy';">2. Climb a Ladder </span><br />Ladders add a different challenge to the traditional interval workout with repeats that grow increasingly more challenging (in distance or intensity) as the workout progresses. For example, you might run 200m, rest, run 400m, rest, run 600m, rest, and so on. This kind of workout is good practice for managing exertion throughout a workout—going hard while leaving something in the tank to finish strong. Check out a couple of <a href="http://www.runnersworld.com/workouts/jump-start-your-training?page=single" sl-processed="1" style="color: rgb(28, 161, 200) !important; line-height: 1.5em; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">sample ladder workouts</a> for both beginning and advanced runners.</div>
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<img alt="18 Ways to Change Up Your Running Routine: Stairs" class="media-element file-default" height="400" src="http://greatist.com/sites/default/files/styles/article-content-732/public/Running%20steps_604_0.jpg?itok=aprfPf9O" style="border: 0px; height: auto !important; max-width: 100%;" title="" typeof="foaf:Image" width="604" /></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Avenir Heavy';">3. </span><span style="font-family: 'Avenir Heavy';">Step Up</span><br /><a href="http://publicstairs.com/index_000002.htm" sl-processed="1" style="color: rgb(28, 161, 200) !important; line-height: 1.5em; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Find stairs</a> or a stadium that’s open to the public and run them again and again. As with hills, the walk down is your recovery. Increase the challenge by taking a few at a time. <a href="http://vimeo.com/17492219" sl-processed="1" style="color: rgb(28, 161, 200) !important; line-height: 1.5em; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Shadowboxing optional.</a></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Avenir Heavy';">4. Take on Tabatas </span><br />While most speed workouts call for hard effort, <a href="http://greatist.com/fitness/tabata-protocol-interval-training-032713" sl-processed="1" style="color: rgb(28, 161, 200) !important; line-height: 1.5em; text-decoration: none;">Tabata training</a> demands an all-out sprint. The idea is to go as hard as you possibly can for 20 seconds and then rest for 10 seconds. Repeat that couplet eight times as hard as you can, on stairs, flats, or however else you've planned your workout. Newer runners should start with fewer repeats and gradually build up to the complete four-minute workout.</div>
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<img alt="18 Ways to Change Up Your Running Routine: Run Uphill" class="media-element file-default" height="450" src="http://greatist.com/sites/default/files/styles/article-content-732/public/Run%20uphill_604_1.jpg?itok=2wlQ7PMm" style="border: 0px; height: auto !important; max-width: 100%;" title="" typeof="foaf:Image" width="604" /></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Avenir Heavy';">5. Go Climbing </span><br />Tackling a long hill with a slow climb or running hard up a short, steep incline challenges your aerobic fitness, leg strength, and mental toughness all at once <a class="ifoot-cite active" href="http://greatist.com/fitness/18-running-workouts-try-something-new#footnote-node-3988-1" id="note-node-3988-1" sl-processed="1" style="color: rgb(28, 161, 200) !important; text-decoration: none;">[1]</a>. Plan a running route that includes a few hills, or find a hill that requires a steep climb and run repeats. If you choose the latter, the walk to back to the base is recovery.</div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Avenir Heavy';">6. Stride Right </span><br />Running strides is the bipedal equivalent of pumping a car’s <a class="skimwords-link" data-group-id="0" data-skim-creative="300007" data-skim-node-id="579:Runningstridesistheb_1" data-skim-product="1851620" data-skimlinks-editor="0" data-skimwords-id="1851620" data-skimwords-word="gas%20pedal" href="http://rd.bizrate.com/rd?t=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.americanmuscle.com%2Fgas-pedal-cover-7993auto.html%3Futm_content%3Dgas-pedal-cover-7993auto%26utm_campaign%3DShopzillaNoFitment%26utm_source%3DShopzilla%26utm_medium%3DShopping%26AMID%3Dgas-pedal-cover-7993auto-NoFitment&mid=103510&cat_id=22000200&atom=10681&prod_id=&oid=4617282716&pos=1&b_id=18&bid_type=1&bamt=a5fedf14fd8fec0d&cobrand=1&ppr=ea2c15a289e533b3&rf=af1&af_assettype_id=10&af_creative_id=6&af_id=6784" occurrence="1" style="color: rgb(28, 161, 200) !important; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="Shopping Link Added by SkimWords">gas pedal</a><span style="position: absolute;"></span><span style="position: absolute;"></span>. As you run a repeat of about 100m, speed up until you reach approximately 95 percent of your maximum speed—which should happen about a third of the way into the repeat—then decelerate to the finish. Do as many repeats as you have energy for, with recovery or rest in between. “People love strides,” says Jason Fitzgerald. “They’re a good way to stretch your legs out and feel the wind in your hair.” Fitzgerald suggests doing strides before the end of an easy run, so that you’re warmed up but not fatigued.</div>
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<img alt="18 Ways to Change Up Your Running Routine: Trails" class="media-element file-default" height="400" src="http://greatist.com/sites/default/files/styles/article-content-732/public/Trail_604.jpg?itok=k5q7-UFW" style="border: 0px; height: auto !important; max-width: 100%;" title="" typeof="foaf:Image" width="604" /></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Avenir Heavy';">7. </span><span style="font-family: 'Avenir Heavy';"><a href="http://greatist.com/fitness/know-before-you-go-trail-running" sl-processed="1" style="color: rgb(28, 161, 200) !important; text-decoration: none;">Go Off-Roading</a> </span><br />Rejuvenate the body and mind by getting off the road and into nature. Running a path or trail provides a<a class="skimwords-link" data-group-id="0" data-skim-creative="300003" data-skim-node-id="192:Rejuvenatethebodyand_1" data-skim-product="1555276" data-skimlinks-editor="0" data-skimwords-id="1555276" data-skimwords-word="scenic%20backdrop" href="http://shop.ebay.com/i.html?_nkw=scenic+backdrop" occurrence="1" style="color: rgb(28, 161, 200) !important; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="Shopping Link Added by SkimWords">scenic backdrop</a><span style="position: absolute;"></span><span style="position: absolute;"></span> and tests your coordination on new terrain. Just make sure you have the <a href="http://greatist.com/fitness/how-to-choose-shoes-for-exercise-infographic" sl-processed="1" style="color: rgb(28, 161, 200) !important; line-height: 1.5em; text-decoration: none;">right kind of sneakers</a>, and if it’s your first time off the road, pick a path that isn’t likely to (literally) trip you up.</div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Avenir Heavy';">8. Try "Fartleks" </span><br />Swedish for “speed play,” <a href="http://wordsmith.org/words/fartlek.html" sl-processed="1" style="color: rgb(28, 161, 200) !important; line-height: 1.5em; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">fartleks</a> allow runners to reap the benefits of speed work in an unstructured workout. Bonus: They’re as fun to run as they are to say. To try fartleks, just run at a comfortable pace to warm up and then throw in a sprint—run hard until you reach the end of the block, or until the next stop sign, or until you see a red car. Make <a href="http://running.competitor.com/2012/03/training/workout-of-the-week-fartlek-session_49932" sl-processed="1" style="color: rgb(28, 161, 200) !important; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">a game of it</a>; that’s why they call it “play!” </div>
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<img alt="18 Ways to Change Up Your Running Routine: Get Social" class="media-element file-default" height="400" src="http://greatist.com/sites/default/files/styles/article-content-732/public/Group%20run_604.jpg?itok=uRW6R-6l" style="border: 0px; height: auto !important; max-width: 100%;" title="" typeof="foaf:Image" width="604" /></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Avenir Heavy';">9. </span><span style="font-family: 'Avenir Heavy';">Get Social</span><br />Run with a group or club to learn new routes and meet running buddies. Larger cities will have multiple running clubs that gather for group runs before and after the 9-to-5 workday. And most have a social component too—post-workout recovery fuel might include beer, bagels, or both. If there aren’t running clubs or teams near you, contact specialty running shops in your area; they often host group runs. <a href="http://www.runnersworld.com/workouts/run-together?page=single" sl-processed="1" style="color: rgb(28, 161, 200) !important; line-height: 1.5em; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Reversal runs, rabbit runs, and group fartleks</a> make for challenging, fun group workouts.</div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Avenir Heavy';">10. Run to a Beat </span><br />Sometimes it’s tough to push ourselves to maintain a challenging pace. When this happens, let the music do the work. Apps like <a href="http://www.rockmyrun.com/" sl-processed="1" style="color: rgb(28, 161, 200) !important; line-height: 1.5em; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">RockMyRun</a>, <a href="http://greatist.com/fitness/tempo-run-app-syncs-music" sl-processed="1" style="color: rgb(28, 161, 200) !important; line-height: 1.5em; text-decoration: none;">TempoRun</a> ,and <a href="http://www.pacedj.com/" sl-processed="1" style="color: rgb(28, 161, 200) !important; line-height: 1.5em; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">PaceDJ</a> provide a beat that will keep you moving fast by sorting your music library by tempo. Songza’s <a href="http://songza.com/discover/activities/cardio_workout/90-bpm-hip-hop-running-mix-songza/" sl-processed="1" style="color: rgb(28, 161, 200) !important; line-height: 1.5em; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">90 BPM Hip Hop Running Mix</a> will keep you moving, too.</div>
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<img alt="18 Ways to Change Up Your Running Routine: Walk" class="media-element file-default" height="400" src="http://greatist.com/sites/default/files/styles/article-content-732/public/Walker_604_0.jpg?itok=MdNpl9iL" style="border: 0px; height: auto !important; max-width: 100%;" title="" typeof="foaf:Image" width="604" /></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Avenir Heavy';">11. Run, Walk, Repeat</span><br />Running coach Jeff Galloway developed his <a href="http://www.jeffgalloway.com/walkbreaks.pdf" sl-processed="1" style="color: rgb(28, 161, 200) !important; line-height: 1.5em; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">run-walk method</a> to help marathoners complete the 26.2-mile distance without becoming sidelined by fatigue. He believes it also helps runners build speed while reducing the likelihood of injury. His training programs are highly structured, with recommended ratios of time spent running to time spent walking, depending on a runner’s pace-per-mile.</div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Avenir Heavy';">12. Go Long (and Slow Down)</span><br />Remember that ramping up the pace isn’t the only way to make a run more challenging. Slowing down and running longer is a great way to build endurance (though racking up too much mileage can have its<a href="http://greatist.com/fitness/distance-running-good-you" sl-processed="1" style="color: rgb(28, 161, 200) !important; text-decoration: none;">own potential pitfalls</a>). To avoid injury caused by pushing too hard too soon, increase your average weekly distance by <a href="http://www.runnersworld.com/running-tips/10-percent-rule?page=single" sl-processed="1" style="color: rgb(28, 161, 200) !important; line-height: 1.5em; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">no more than 10 percent each week</a>.</div>
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<img alt="18 Ways to Change Up Your Running Routine: Treadmill" class="media-element file-default" height="400" src="http://greatist.com/sites/default/files/styles/article-content-732/public/treadmill%20runners_604.jpg?itok=6FiymXCj" style="border: 0px; height: auto !important; max-width: 100%;" title="" typeof="foaf:Image" width="604" /></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Avenir Heavy';">13. </span><span style="font-family: 'Avenir Heavy';">Work the Treadmill </span><br />With the ability to do workouts that vary in pace, distance, and incline without having to scout routes or worry about climate, weather, or road conditions, the treadmill is one of the <a href="http://greatist.com/fitness/5-fun-winter-treadmill-workouts" sl-processed="1" style="color: rgb(28, 161, 200) !important; line-height: 1.5em; text-decoration: none;">most versatile tools</a> in a runner’s fitness toolbox. Almost any running workout can be done on the treadmill, including most workouts listed here.</div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Avenir Heavy';">14. Experience the "Pyramids" </span><br /><a href="http://running-advice.com/blog/?p=2558" sl-processed="1" style="color: rgb(28, 161, 200) !important; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Pyramids</a> start with the shortest repeat and increase in set increments until they hit the longest distance, then decrease in the same increments. The last repeat will be your starting distance. For example: 200m, 400m, 600m, 800m, 600m, 400m, 200m, with recovery intervals between each run. Feel free to swap out timed repeats for the distances.</div>
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<img alt="18 Ways to Change Up Your Running Routine: Run with a Friend" class="media-element file-default" height="400" src="http://greatist.com/sites/default/files/styles/article-content-732/public/Run%20with%20a%20friend_604.jpg?itok=K7BOeUfe" style="border: 0px; height: auto !important; max-width: 100%;" title="" typeof="foaf:Image" width="604" /></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Avenir Heavy';">15. Chase a Friend</span><br />If speed work feels too much like, well, work, find a friend who’s a bit faster than you and set out together. This will challenge your legs and lungs, make your workout feel social, and <a href="http://greatist.com/fitness/work-out-with-partner-120512" sl-processed="1" style="color: rgb(28, 161, 200) !important; line-height: 1.5em; text-decoration: none;">provide a little extra motivation</a>. Feel free to take the social and leave the speed work; there’s nothing wrong with running at a comfortable pace and chatting as you go.</div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Avenir Heavy';">16. Throw Weight Around</span><br />Weight training increases strength and can protect runners against injury. “A good running program will also include planned strength and core training,” says personal trainer and strength coach <a href="http://jkconditioning.com/" sl-processed="1" style="color: rgb(28, 161, 200) !important; line-height: 1.5em; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Jon-Erik Kawamoto</a>. Jason Fitzgerald agrees, adding that just 10-15 minutes of <a href="http://greatist.com/fitness/bodyweight-exercises-dorm-room-workout" sl-processed="1" style="color: rgb(28, 161, 200) !important; line-height: 1.5em; text-decoration: none;">bodyweight exercise</a> each time you run is a great way to strengthen core and leg muscles.</div>
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Mix strength training into a run by doing, for example, five squats and five lunges every five minutes and then holding a 30-second plank at every mile. Or do jump squats while you wait for a walk signal or one block of walking lunges for every three blocks you run.</div>
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<img alt="18 Ways to Change Up Your Running Routine: Rest" class="media-element file-default" height="400" src="http://greatist.com/sites/default/files/styles/article-content-732/public/Nap%20in%20the%20grass_604.jpg?itok=gvwIVVaI" style="border: 0px; height: auto !important; max-width: 100%;" title="" typeof="foaf:Image" width="604" /></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Avenir Heavy';">17. Just (Don’t) Do It</span><br /><a href="http://greatist.com/tips/take-rest-day-or-two" sl-processed="1" style="color: rgb(28, 161, 200) !important; line-height: 1.5em; text-decoration: none;">Just don’t run.</a> As Jason Fitzgerald points out, “Recovery is just as important as the workouts themselves. If you don’t recover from them, you might as well not do them.” Days off are “when you adapt to that workload from the workout—get faster, stronger, become a better runner.” Without adequate rest, the<a href="http://greatist.com/fitness/can-you-exercise-too-much" sl-processed="1" style="color: rgb(28, 161, 200) !important; line-height: 1.5em; text-decoration: none;">risk of becoming overtrained increases</a>. Overtraining can cause a backslide in fitness gains, persistent fatigue and soreness, and increases the likelihood of injury.</div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Avenir Heavy';">18. Race!</span><br />One of the best feelings is the zip in your step that comes from race-day adrenaline. Crossing a finish line with tons of other determined racers can provide a motivating sense of accomplishment and renew enthusiasm for the sport. <a href="http://www.runnersworld.com/race-finder" sl-processed="1" style="color: rgb(28, 161, 200) !important; line-height: 1.5em; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Find a race</a> with a fun theme or post-race festival, or one that benefits a cause you care about. Register in advance to solidify your commitment, and start training for the distance. Check out our <a href="http://greatist.com/5k-training-guide" sl-processed="1" style="color: rgb(28, 161, 200) !important; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">5K Training Guide</a> or <a href="http://greatist.com/half-marathon-training-guide" sl-processed="1" style="color: rgb(28, 161, 200) !important; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Half-Marathon Training Guide</a> for everything you need to finish strong (and have fun in the process). </div>
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shared from greatist.com By</div>
Sally Tamarkin</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">April 14, 2014</span></div>
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Determination, exercise, fun workout, good habits, health and fitness, Motivation, running, workouts

18 Ways to Change Up Your Running Routine

Runner*.jpg There’s something special about being so excited to go running that you count the minutes until you can ...

Posted by Alyssa Schomaker / Thursday, July 24, 2014 / No comments / activity , beast mode , Determination , energy , health and fitness , lifestyle , Motivation

Always feel tired? You've Got to Spend Energy to Get Energy!

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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It's a puzzling thought: You've got to spend energy, which you swear you don't have, to get energy.</span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 1.48em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You have to force yourself to spend energy you swear isn't there - push through the horrible moment and just do it. As a result, your body gets a wake up call saying, "We need more muscle fibers, mitochondria, blood, nerves, coordination, ATP, etc." Without the wake-up call, your body doesn't know you need more infrastructure. So it won't make any. And without the additional infrastructure, physical activity won't ever feel easier.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This paradox that you have to spend energy to get energy - especially when it feels like you have no energy - is one of the main reasons sedentary people quit exercise programs. They cannot fathom a future version of themselves where jogging for two minutes then lifting that weight 12 times is no big deal - much less pleasurable. In their minds, physical activity is freakishly difficult and unbearable - something to be avoided.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 26px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 25px;">Even something as simple as a brisk walk gives you natural energy and also releases endorphins that improve your overall mood, making you feel more inclined to go out and accomplish something that day.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 26px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When we exercise, we increase blood flow. This helps deliver more oxygen throughout our bodies. We need that oxygen to create energy.  As more oxygen is being delivered throughout our bodies, more energy is created.  Therefore, after a workout, you are likely to find that you feel much more energetic.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 26px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Also, exercise releases endorphins in our bodies.  You don’t want me to go into the chemistry mumbo-jumbo to explain that, so I’ll just say that endorphins released in our bodies will give us a “feel good” sensation.  </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 26px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 16px;">"It's now been shown in many studies that once you actually start moving around -- even just getting up off the couch and walking around the room -- the more you will want to move, and, ultimately, the more energy you will feel," says Robert E. Thayer, PhD, a psychology professor at California State University, Long Beach, and author of the book Calm Energy: How People Regulate Mood With Food.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">"Contrary to popular belief, exercising doesn't make you tired -- it literally creates energy in your body. Your body rises up to meet the challenge for more energy by becoming stronger," says nutritionist Samantha Heller, MS, RD, a nutrition advisor for the Journey for Control diabetes program.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So don't give up!! If you dream of having more energy, you gotta move your butt! Your body will naturally become stronger, more powerful and more energetic!! </span></div>
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activity, beast mode, Determination, energy, health and fitness, lifestyle, Motivation

Always feel tired? You've Got to Spend Energy to Get Energy!

It's a puzzling thought: You've got to spend energy, which you swear you don't have, to get energy. You have to force you...

Posted by Alyssa Schomaker / Tuesday, July 22, 2014 / No comments / compassion , Determination , fitness goals , good advice , good habits , health and fitness , mental health , mental toughness , positive thinking

Mistakes, Losses & Disappointments

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Mistakes, losses, disappointments, setbacks and failures. I really don’t like any of those words and don’t use them much at all.</div>
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Here’s why.</div>
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<li style="box-sizing: border-box; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; letter-spacing: 0.05em; word-wrap: break-word;">Many people think about losses or failures as very negative events, and that can be very damaging to self-confidence.</span></li>
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But, when you view these experiences as valuable, helpful and necessary to your growth…then they don’t seem so damaging after all.</div>
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I love this quote</div>
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“I have not failed seven hundred times. I have not failed once. I have succeeded in proving that those seven hundred ways will not work. When I have eliminated all the ways that will not work, I will find that way that will work.” -Thomas Edison</div>
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You can make every experience work for you in a positive way.</div>
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Here’s how</div>
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1. After a loss, mistake or setback, think about reframing that event as a “stepping stone” to get you to where you want to go. You need that experience to make you better.</div>
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2. Write down at least 2 things you can learn from that experience that you can help you improve for next time.</div>

compassion, Determination, fitness goals, good advice, good habits, health and fitness, mental health, mental toughness, positive thinking

Mistakes, Losses & Disappointments

Mistakes, losses, disappointments, setbacks and failures. I really don’t like any of those words and don’t use them much at all. Here’s...

Posted by Alyssa Schomaker / Thursday, July 10, 2014 / No comments / Determination , exercise and fitness , fitness goals , Fitness motivation , health , mental health , Motivation , workouts

It's All in Their Heads: The Mental Edge of Athletes Who Win

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<span style="color: #999999; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“When the going gets tough, the tough get going” is one way to say it. Or, as one sports psychologist put it,</span><span style="color: #999999; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><a href="http://www.thesportinmind.com/articles/mental-toughness/" sl-processed="1" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 1.5em; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">mental toughness</a><span style="color: #999999; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="color: #999999; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">is “the ability to consistently perform toward the upper range of your talent and skill regardless of competitive circumstances.”</span></div>
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<span style="color: #999999; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">In other words, being mentally tough means that no matter how brutal the circumstances—whether it’s your 14th hour running through a desert in temperatures well over 100F or you’re halfway through a 400-rep workout that includes pull-ups and single-leg squats—you’re able to withstand the pain and suffering and perform to the best of your skills and talents, with a good time, high place, or even a win.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #999999; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">As psychologists debate the roles of genetics, environment, and learned skills in determining mental toughness, they do agree (along with athletes and coaches) that high levels of mental toughness <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20391082" sl-processed="1" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">are associated with athletic prowess and success</a>. In fact, mental toughness (or “grit”) may be the defining factor between finishing at the front of the pack and not finishing at all.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #999999; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">To better understand how mental toughness can help someone run through a desert for seven days straight, complete 400 grueling reps in a mere 25 minutes, or win a half-Ironman triathlon with a broken foot (yes, really), we spoke to some of the toughest athletes on the planet and asked them to reflect on how they conceptualize, cultivate, and strategize for their mental game. Here's how they manage to withstand the most grueling circumstances—and win.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Andy Scott, Ultra-Endurance Mountain Biker and Ski Mountaineer</span><img class="" height="128" src="http://greatist.com/sites/default/files/AS_Stats_0.png" style="border: 0px; color: #999999; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; height: auto !important; width: 100% !important;" width="200" /></div>
<span style="color: #999999; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Though Andy Scott is not a professional athlete (no big deal; endurance mountain bike racing and ski mountaineering are hobbies for the California-based businessman), he's competed in the <a href="http://www.leadvilleraceseries.com/mtb/leadvilletrail100mtb/" sl-processed="1" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Leadville Trail MTB 100</a>—a high-altitude, 100-mile race that takes mountain bikers through the Colorado Rockies across extremely technical terrain. Despite being <a href="http://marcpro-strava.com/blog/2011/08/16/leadville-100-race-report-thank-god-for-magic-pixie-dust-2/" sl-processed="1" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">crashed</a> into by another rider during the race and getting thrown off his bike and into a rock garden, Scott finished in eight hours and 24 minutes, (32nd in his division and fast enough with a earn him a gold trophy <a href="http://www.fatcyclist.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/IMG_3308_2.jpg" sl-processed="1" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">belt buckle</a> for the prestigious sub-nine hour finish.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #999999; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">As a ski mountaineer, he’s climbed up and skied down some of the largest, most remote, and challenging mountains in the western United States (like the time he climbed California’s 14,000-foot Mt. Tyndall just after a snowstorm that brought with it high-speed winds and an intimidating wind chill).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Mental toughness is…</span></b><br /><span style="color: #999999;">…when you, your body, the competition, nature, or the environment has the best of you so that you’re physically tapped out and need to figure out how to pull something out of yourself… not in a robotic way—in a way that’s mentally aware and engaged. It’s not just the ability to keep moving but to keep doing it in a way that’s engaged and competitive in the environment you’re in, whether that’s competing against the clock or other human beings. It’s easy when you feel good physically. It’s when that physicality leaves you.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Why you're stronger than you think you are</b></span><br /><span style="color: #999999;">What you’re physically capable of in an endurance environment is more determined by your mental strength than your physical capabilities… your body can go beyond what your physical perceptions of tiredness or fatigue are. Your brain will be telling you “You’re tired. Stop.” It’s trying to stop you from killing yourself. The mental limitations kick in before the physical limitations.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">On training for mental toughness</span></b><br /><span style="color: #999999;">Visualization is a piece of the training that is incredibly important. You don’t have to do anything physically—you can be meditating or walking, anything where you’re in your mind, playing it out in advance. You’re imagining the start, the route, the competition, those points that your body is saying, ”stop,” or that you’re suffering. You’re mentally training yourself to push through those barriers.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The hardest thing he's ever done physically</span></span></b><br />
<span style="color: #999999; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The most challenging thing for me… was the solo climb and ski of Mount Tyndall. There was a storm; the conditions just became overwhelming. Something about the winds at high altitude is just intimidating and mentally draining. The second piece of that is that I was alone; there are no external sources of support. I realized, “Whoa, there are no people cheering.” There’s a degree of self-sufficiency required. And then there’s the remoteness.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">How he got through it</span></b><br /><span style="color: #999999;">It’s probably cliché, but it comes back to core faith, and for me, that’s my family and the people that are closest to me. They are actually sitting in my head, and that’s helping bring a degree of mental clarity to the situation to ensure I don’t do anything stupid. The second thing is my training and experience. I mean, in many ways the training is harder than the event itself in terms of the hours you’re putting in. No one is cheering for you. You’re mentally training for those moments and that’s giving you the reserve to be able to say, “I’ve seen this. I’ve done this; I know I can do it because I’ve been there before.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>On Leadville MTB 100</b></span><br /><span style="color: #999999;">This event is about redlining yourself over the course of eight hours. I started out physically and mentally fresh but I had mechanical problems with my bike, and crash mishaps and those things gradually took some physical and mental strength out of me. By the last couple of hours, you’re basically spanked, running on physical and mental empty. What that then results in—you climb inside of yourself. Endurance athletes have this term: “the pain cave.” You have to get comfortable in the pain cave. It’s a place of prolonged suffering. You know you’re going to experience it but you find a way to know that it’s not going to last forever.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Samantha Gash, Ultra-Endurance Runner</span><img alt="Athletes and Mental Toughness: Samantha Gash" class="media-element file-default" height="388" src="http://greatist.com/sites/default/files/styles/article-content-732/public/SG_Stats_V2.png?itok=ETvpmu5U" style="border: 0px; color: #999999; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; height: auto !important; width: 100% !important;" title="" typeof="foaf:Image" width="604" /></div>
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<span style="color: #999999; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">In 2010, when she was 25 years old and had one marathon under her belt, Australia native Samantha Gash took a semester off from law school to race 155 miles through the Chilean desert in the <a href="http://www.4deserts.com/atacamacrossing/" sl-processed="1" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Atacama Crossing</a>—a self-supported race in which participants carry between 15 and 30 pounds of supplies—whatever they’ll need over the course of the seven-day event—on their backs. She then went on to complete in multi-day ultra-marathons across three other deserts, making her the first woman—and youngest person ever—to complete a <a href="http://www.4deserts.com/4_deserts_grand_slam" sl-processed="1" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Four Desert Grand Slam</a>. In other words, she completed self-supported multi-day ultra-marathons through deserts in China, Chile, Egypt, and Antarctica in one calendar year.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #999999; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Having run through some of the toughest conditions imaginable (race organizers describe the <a href="http://www.4deserts.com/" sl-processed="1" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">deserts</a> as some of the “driest, hottest, coldest, and windiest places on earth,”) Gash has continued her endurance racing career in events that are physically and mentally grueling, like her 235-mile solo race across Australia’s Simpson Desert, for which she ran nonstop for three days, 14 hours, and 28 minutes. To learn more about Gash, check out <a href="http://buy.desertrunnersmovie.com/" sl-processed="1" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Desert Runners</a>, the documentary that follows four runners (including Gash) as they compete in Racing the Planet’s 4 Desert Ultra-marathon Series. (Just use the code "GREATIST" for 10 percent off a digital download of the movie.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Mental toughness is…</span></b><br /><span style="color: #999999;">For me, mental toughness is acknowledging that very challenging moments can occur in all sports—and also in life in general—but having the capacity in a quick time frame to turn a negative experience into a positive one.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>The hardest thing she’s ever done physically</b></span><br /><span style="color: #999999;">In 2012 I ran nonstop for 379 km (235 miles) across the Simpson Desert in Australia. I did take 30-minute stops to change into warm clothes, lay down, and eat dinner. That was so physically demanding that I was delirious. The last 40 km was the most painful place I’ve taken my body and mind to.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>The most mentally grueling moment she's experienced while racing</b></span><br /><span style="color: #999999;">I think China (the </span><a href="http://www.4deserts.com/gobimarch/" sl-processed="1" style="color: #999999; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Gobi March</a><span style="color: #999999;">, a 250-mile race through the Gobi Desert) was the most mentally grueling—that long stage I ran with </span><a href="http://www.lisatamati.co.nz/home/runner" sl-processed="1" style="color: #999999; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Lisa</a><span style="color: #999999;"> [Tamati, an ultra endurance athlete from New Zealand]. I felt so many things. The night was coming, we’d been going for 12 hours, it was really hot, and I was pretty injured. But I wanted to stick with Lisa so I was dragging myself and didn’t want to let go of Lisa.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #999999; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I try to focus my mind on the positive of completing. When I’m in immense physical pain, I try to dull the pain as much as possible. Once the pain enters your head (as opposed to just your body), you start to legitimize ways of pulling out. I distract myself by thinking about why I’m doing it. My body and mind is stronger than I’d ever think.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Mark Pattinson, Endurance Racing Cyclist</span><img src="http://greatist.com/sites/default/files/styles/article-content-732/public/MP_Stats.png?itok=ir230Dk1" style="border: 0px; color: #999999; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; height: auto !important; width: 100% !important;" /></div>
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<span style="color: #999999; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Mark Pattinson, 44, has been an endurance racing cyclist since 2006. He rides about 70 hours per week to stay in shape for events like <a href="http://www.raceacrossamerica.org/" sl-processed="1" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Race Across America</a> (also known as “the World’s Toughest Bike Race”) during which he will ride from California to Maryland, covering 3,000 miles—which includes 170,000 feet of hill climbs—over the course of eight to 12 days, stopping only to sleep for about two hours per night. Pattinson has completed the race twice, earning second place in 2011 and 4th place in 2013, and will take it on again in June 2014.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Mental toughness is…</b></span><br /><span style="color: #999999;">It means being able to keep on performing whilst in extreme discomfort. It’s the ability to mentally overcome the brain, which is telling you to stop, and keep pushing yourself forward, even if things aren’t going well.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">On training for mental toughness</span></b><br /><span style="color: #999999;">I prepare myself through my own experience—I’ve been in these positions before. I know that when things are bad, it will get better. It could take hours, it could take minutes, it could take days, but it will. It’s naturally in me. I’ve made it my mantra: “At times it’s so bad but it will get better.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>His strategy for getting through several days of competition</b></span><br /><span style="color: #999999;">I have a distinct strategy. I break the race up by the day. I know I’m going to get up, I’m going to ride my bike, and then I’m going to do it again. When I get off my bike and go to sleep for one-and-a-half or two hours, I get up the next day to do it again. I know I am going to sleep in the dark at nighttime. I think that really helps me break the event down into pieces instead of seeing it as one 3,000-mile race.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #999999; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Stuff does go wrong—you can get a little lost or you might get a flat tire and it’s very easy to get down. But if you spend too much time being down about it, it can throw your race completely. I tell myself, “Get on with it. We’ll talk about that later. We’ll worry about that later.” There’s no point in worrying about things you can’t change. Every moment you’re not moving is time wasted. You just keep moving and talk it through with the crew. We’ve had lots of things go wrong. You have to keep yourself in a place that’s not a panic.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #999999; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Jesse Thomas, Long Course Triathlete</span><img src="http://greatist.com/sites/default/files/JT_Stats_0.png" style="border: 0px; color: #999999; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; height: auto !important; width: 100% !important;" /></div>
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<span style="color: #999999; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">After an accomplished and successful college running career (he was an NCAA All-American in the 3000m <a href="http://greatist.com/fitness/15-things-you-didn%E2%80%99t-know-about-olympic-steeplechase" sl-processed="1" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Steeplechase</a>, a unique event that combines running, hurdling, and long jumping), Jesse Thomas took a break from racing to start a tech company. Four years later, he returned to running to give triathlons a try—and he turned out to be pretty darn good at it, even winning the USA Triathlon National Championship title for his age group in 2007. Four years later, in his first full year as a professional athlete, Jesse won his third <a href="http://www.tricalifornia.com/index.cfm/WildFlower2014-main.htm" sl-processed="1" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Wildflower Long Course</a>, making him the first male to win the event three years in a row. Thomas’ event is the triathlon long course, in which competitors complete a 1.2-mile swim followed by a 56-mile bike race, and finish with 13.1-mile run.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Mental toughness is…</b></span><br /><span style="color: #999999;">I think of mental toughness as your ability to deal with pain and to process it. It’s your body’s ability and your mind’s ability—mostly your mind’s. Mental toughness could be the ability to get out of your body what your body is capable of that day.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>The difference between “bonking” and hitting the wall mentally</b></span><br /><span style="color: #999999;">You actually can hit the physical limits of what you can do, nutritionally and hydration-wise. But when you hit a nutritional or hydration wall, you bonk—you have to stop. Those physical things are kind of impossible to get through, to be honest. But I’ve hit mental walls where I’ve felt like my race is in the shit can and then somehow—through mantras, or if I pass somebody, maybe—I get this positive signal and I gain momentum, and it feels like it has some physical effect. Realistically, it’s probably a mental thing.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #999999; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">On the mantras and mental tricks that give physical kicks<br />In a Half Ironman, I’m out there for four hours. I can have a bad 20 or 30 minutes, come out of it, and still have a pretty awesome race. I have go-to mantras. It’s really dorky. “You’re kicking ass!” “You’re killin’ it!” I say them out loud, almost yelling them. I’ve found that the more physical you can make them, [the better]—you’re not only saying them, you’re hearing them, too, which makes a difference. Also, a mental kick that always gives me a physical kick is interacting with the crowd in some way. When I say “Thank you!” [to someone cheering on the sidelines] or give someone a high five, I feel like I can literally feel tangible energy connecting from those people to me.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>On training for mental toughness</b></span><br /><span style="color: #999999;">I definitely visualize before every race. I try to divide it up into as many key points as I can. I set goals and trigger points and I try to tie as little of it to external factors as possible. So, I’ll say, “At halfway through I want to feel like </span><em style="color: #999999;">this</em><span style="color: #999999;"> and I want to make a move that increases my output by 10 percent.” Those kinds of things make me feel like I am on a race plan regardless of where I am in my overall goal.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #999999; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">One thing I’ll say is that deep tissue massage has become my mental training. In order for it to be effective you can’t block it out or keep it from penetrating. You have to relax as much as possible and accept the pain. I tried the same thing with my track workouts—instead of pretending the pain wasn’t there, I’d accept as much of the pain as I could and make a conscious decision that my body can handle the pain. I can make my body hurt more than it hurts right now and that’s okay. That approach has made me a tougher athlete and [made me] capable of dealing with more pain.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>The most physically grueling event he's ever done</b></span><br /><span style="color: #999999;">At </span><a href="http://www.tricalifornia.com/index.cfm/WildFlower2014-main.htm" sl-processed="1" style="color: #999999; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Wildflower Triathlon</a><span style="color: #999999;"> last year, I broke my foot. It started to hurt three miles into the race. I’d won the last two years in a row and no one had won three in a row, so it was a big deal for me to be there. I was battling head-to-head for the win. As soon as I crossed the finish line I was limping and could barely walk. I definitely think the adrenaline helped. Endurance athletes will be able to do that. My job is to basically process and deal with pain and I’ve spent however many hours a day for however many years dealing with pain so your tolerance goes up like crazy.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #999999; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Lindsey Valenzuela, Elite CrossFit Athlete</span><img src="http://greatist.com/sites/default/files/LV_Stats.png" style="border: 0px; color: #999999; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; height: auto !important; width: 100% !important;" /><span style="color: #999999; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Photo by</span><span style="color: #999999; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><a href="http://instagram.com/hannahhayworth#" sl-processed="1" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 1.5em; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Hannah Hayworth</a></div>
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<span style="color: #999999; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Though it’s not an endurance sport per se, elite <a href="http://greatist.com/fitness/look-inside-world-crossfit" sl-processed="1" style="line-height: 1.5em; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">CrossFit athletes</a> push their bodies and minds to extreme limits in order to qualify for and then compete in the <a href="http://greatist.com/fitness/crossfit-games-start-072413" sl-processed="1" style="line-height: 1.5em; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">CrossFit Games</a>, the sport’s annual competition in which the top 51 athletes from all over the world compete in a series of workouts that take place over three days. The two winners are named the Fittest Man and Woman on Earth.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #999999; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Lindsey Valenzuela has climbed to the top of the sport, finishing the Games in 34th place in 2011, ninth place in 2012, and second in 2013. This means that as CrossFit and the Games have grown in popularity—drawing athletes who are increasingly strong, fast, and tireless—and workouts have gotten more grueling each year, Valenzuela continues to not just keep up, but to improve, dominating competition in her region (southern California) as well as in the Games. CrossFit fans know her for embodying her one-word motto, “Believe,” and for her infectious and spirited</span><span style="color: #999999; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><a href="http://games.crossfit.com/media-gallery/detail/280/565" sl-processed="1" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">whoops</a><span style="color: #999999; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="color: #999999; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">and</span><span style="color: #999999; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awTjHHwVPRQ" sl-processed="1" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">war cries</a><span style="color: #999999; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Mental toughness is…</span></b><br /><span style="color: #999999;">It basically means being able to overcome outside circumstances—negativity and whatever obstacles you have going on in your life at the moment—to focus on the task at hand. It’s easier said than done.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>The toughest workout she's ever done</b></span><br /><span style="color: #999999;">Physically, the </span><a href="http://games.crossfit.com/article/major-announcement-individuals" sl-processed="1" style="color: #999999; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Camp Pendleton</a><span style="color: #999999;"> workout at the 2012 CrossFit Games (700-meter ocean swim, an 8-km bike ride across technical terrain and soft sand, and an 11.3-km run up and down steep hills). I was in pretty good shape, but not as good as I’m in now. The workout felt never-ending.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #999999; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Photo by</span><span style="color: #999999; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><a href="http://instagram.com/hannahhayworth#" sl-processed="1" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 1.5em; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Hannah Hayworth</a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>And the most mentally grueling workout...</b></span><br /><a href="http://games.crossfit.com/video/event-summary-womens-row-1-and-row-2" sl-processed="1" style="color: #999999; line-height: 1.5em; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">The Row</a><span style="color: #999999;"> from last year’s CrossFit Games. [Athletes rowed a half-marathon—that’s right, 13.1 miles—on stationary erg machines. Valenzuela earned a 5th place finish in the event, after one-and-a-half hours of rowing]. I had tunnel vision. I took one water break and you know the game </span><a href="http://www.concept2.com/indoor-rowers/performance-monitors/games" sl-processed="1" style="color: #999999; line-height: 1.5em; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Fish</a><span style="color: #999999;">? I played that in my head and kept thinking “I’ve been through way worse.” I’d look at the screen [giant scoreboards showed each athlete’s progress as they rowed] to see how much I had done and I'd think, “I’ve already done this much, I can do this much more.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #999999; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">On completing SEALFIT <a href="http://www.sealfit.com/camps-academies/kokoro-camp/" sl-processed="1" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Kokoro Camp</a>, a three-day mental toughness training that simulates US Navy SEAL <a href="http://navyseals.com/nsw/hell-week-0/" sl-processed="1" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Hell Week</a><br />I tried to find the right mixture of what’s driving me—the “why.” It’s sometimes a struggle. I wanted to honor my grandfathers who were in the service, and most importantly, I wanted to prove myself wrong. I wanted to prove I was capable of more than I thought I was capable of. I wasn’t going to give up on it. I was going to keep going no matter how hard it got.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #999999; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">A part of what they wanted us to understand [at Kokoro Camp] is that we can do more than we think our bodies are willing to do. The body is going to be the first thing to go. At SEALFit, you’re going to hurt, your feet are going to be raw, you’re going to be tired and hungry, but if your mind can keep you going, you can do incredible things.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #999999; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">On her mantra, “Believe,” which is tattooed on her wrist<br />It just means: What is your goal? What do you want to accomplish? You have to earn it. You have to get it. I say that to myself. I say, “Feed your courage dog.” Don’t feed into your fears or worries or concerns. You have to feed into your positive thoughts—those are the ones that are going to get you through.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>article shared from greatist.com by Sally Tamarkin</i></span></div>
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Determination, exercise and fitness, fitness goals, Fitness motivation, health, mental health, Motivation, workouts

It's All in Their Heads: The Mental Edge of Athletes Who Win

“When the going gets tough, the tough get going” is one way to say it. Or, as one sports psychologist put it, mental to...

Posted by Alyssa Schomaker / Monday, June 23, 2014 / No comments / attitude , Determination , exercise and fitness , fitness , fitness goals , good habits , healthy lifestyle , Motivation , strategy , strength , weightloss , workouts

Do Your Workouts Feel Like a Chore?

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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="line-height: 11px;">by Mark Sisson @ marksdailyappple.com</span></span></h1>
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<img alt="todolist2" class="alignright" height="260" src="http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg158/MDA2008/MDA%202012/todolist2.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline; float: right; height: auto; margin: 0px 0px 2px 7px; max-width: 100%; padding: 4px;" title="Do Your Workouts Feel Like a Chore?" width="320" />Evolution tends to reinforce healthy, beneficial behaviors that improve the survival of members of a species by making them enjoyable. <a href="http://www.marksdailyapple.com/sex-health-benefits/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #668318; line-height: inherit; outline: none;" title="8 Health Reasons to Have Sex (As If You Needed Them)">Sex</a>, <a href="http://www.marksdailyapple.com/how-to-manufacture-the-best-night-of-sleep-in-your-life/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #668318; line-height: inherit; outline: none;" title="How to Manufacture the Best Night of Sleep in Your Life">sleep</a>, socializing, and <a href="http://www.marksdailyapple.com/yet-another-primal-primer-animal-fats/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #668318; line-height: inherit; outline: none;" title="A Primal Primer: Animal Fats">animal fat</a> either feel good, taste good, and sometimes feel <em style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit;">and </em>taste good at the same time not “just because” but because they are necessary components of a healthy, (re)productive lifestyle. And it’s not just the act that feels good. Evolution has also reinforced the anticipation of the behavior. At the prospect of <a href="http://www.marksdailyapple.com/a-guide-to-maintaining-a-healthy-sex-drive/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #668318; line-height: inherit; outline: none;" title="A Guide to Maintaining a Healthy Sex Drive">sex</a>, we become aroused, horny, randy, or whatever you want to call the pleasure of anticipation. Those long, delicious yawns that herald the surge of melatonin and promise excellent sleep as we slip beneath the cool covers with a good book? Nothing better. And I still get happy stomach butterflies when friends are coming for dinner and the scent of crackling <a href="http://www.marksdailyapple.com/pork-belly-croutons-with-kale-salad/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #668318; line-height: inherit; outline: none;" title="Pork Belly Croutons with Kale Salad">pork skins</a> fills the kitchen.</div>
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Okay, but what about exercise? There’s the <a href="http://www.marksdailyapple.com/how-to-get-high-naturally/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #668318; line-height: inherit; outline: none;" title="How to Get High on Life: 10 Natural Ways to Feel on Top of the World">endorphin and endocannabinoid high</a> from exercising intensely, but that exists to keep us moving during an activity as we near the physiological breaking point. It doesn’t get us off our butts in the first place. <strong style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit;">If exercise is so good for us – and it is – why doesn’t everyone crave it? Why does it feel like a chore?</strong> Why do many people dread it so much?</div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit;">Here’s the thing: exercise wasn’t always optional.</strong> If we didn’t chase down the antelope, we wouldn’t have dinner. If we didn’t climb that forty foot acacia tree, our glycogen-starved muscles wouldn’t get the <a href="http://www.marksdailyapple.com/is-honey-a-safer-sweetener/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #668318; line-height: inherit; outline: none;" title="Is Honey a Safe(r) Sweetener?">honey</a>. If we didn’t make the six mile walk to the spring, we wouldn’t have water to drink. We <em style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit;">had</em> to do these “exercises” if we wanted to survive on a day-to-day basis. There was no “Oh, I’ll just sit on this couch and eat microwaved pot pies and go to the gym some other time.” <strong style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit;">There was no selective pressure to evolve a love of exercise because we were gonna do it anyway</strong>.</div>
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Today, exercise is in a weird place. Exercise is optional, but it’s also not. Though being sedentary remains disastrous to our health, circumstance no longer compels us to move. There’s no trench-coated goon pointing a gun at us and nodding toward the treadmill, but plenty of “authorities” point their fingers and strongly recommend exercise on pain of disease. We’re buried in studies proclaiming the essentiality of exercise for good health. The message is clear and overwhelming: we’d better work out if we want to be healthy and live long. Just like they tell us we need to work the crappy soul-sucking job to pay the bills, they tell us we need to exercise for thirty minutes a day to stave off disease. <strong style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit;">For most people living in the first world…</strong></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit;">Exercise is something you do to lose weight. It’s a mechanistic way to churn through the calories you’ve eaten and make room for the <a href="http://www.marksdailyapple.com/dear-mark-maximum-4000-calories-a-week-of-exercise/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #668318; line-height: inherit; outline: none;" title="Dear Mark: Maximum 4,000 Calories a Week of Exercise?">calories</a> you want to eat.</strong></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit;">Exercise is something you do even though it’s unpleasant. It’s like brushing your <a href="http://www.marksdailyapple.com/nutritional-cures-for-damaged-teeth/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #668318; line-height: inherit; outline: none;" title="Beyond Sugar and Soda: Nutritional Cures for Damaged Teeth">teeth</a>, taking out the trash, and emptying the cat litter.</strong></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit;">Exercise is about attaining a far-off goal.</strong></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit;">Meanwhile, the journey – the actual experience of exercising, of moving your body through space and time, of challenging your physical capabilities – is forgotten.</strong> It’s not just forgotten, it’s willfully ignored. We actually try to shut it out, because the act of exercising is all pain and suffering and drudgery. It’s the goal that matters to us, the weight lost, the<a href="http://www.marksdailyapple.com/gain-weight-build-muscle/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #668318; line-height: inherit; outline: none;" title="How to Gain Weight and Build Muscle">weight lifted</a>, the miles logged, the calories burned, the <a href="http://www.marksdailyapple.com/health-vanity/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #668318; line-height: inherit; outline: none;" title="Mirror, Mirror on the Wall">beach body attained</a>, the tickets to the gun show redeemed.</div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit;">The evidence suggests that this paradigm doesn’t work all that well.</strong> A <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11002-014-9301-6" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #668318; line-height: inherit; outline: none;" target="_blank" title="Is it fun or exercise? The framing of physical activity biases subsequent snacking">series of three recent studies</a> illustrates this. In the first, researchers gave healthy adult women (most of them overweight) a map of a mile-long outdoor walking course and told them to walk it for half an hour. Half were told to treat the walk as exercise and monitor their exertion, half were told to enjoy the walk and listen to music. Both groups spent the same 30 minutes <a href="http://www.marksdailyapple.com/the-definitive-guide-to-walking/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #668318; line-height: inherit; outline: none;" title="The Definitive Guide to Walking">walking</a> the same course, but only the exercising group felt grumpy and fatigued. And when they had lunch, the group who’d “exercised” consistently chose soda over water, pudding over applesauce, and ate far more calories than the “fun” group.</div>
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The second study placed a group of men on the same mile loop. Half “exercised,” half walked for fun. After the walk, they were given plastic baggies, access to an unlimited bowl of M&Ms, and instructions to fill the bags with as many as they desired. The exercise group filled their bags with twice as much candy as the fun group.</div>
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Finally, the researchers approached runners as they finished a relay marathon race and offered them a choice of snacks: a gooey chocolate bar or a “healthy” granola bar. Those who said the race had been difficult and unpleasant were more likely to choose the chocolate, while those who’d enjoyed the race usually chose the granola bar.</div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit;">When working out feels like a chore, we demand compensation upon completion, often in the form of junk food.</strong> This can derail weight loss efforts, but it also perpetuates an abusive relationship with physical activity. There’s also evidence, at least in non-human animals, that <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0016643" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #668318; line-height: inherit; outline: none;" target="_blank" title="The Effects of Voluntary, Involuntary, and Forced Exercises on Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor and Motor Function Recovery: A Rat Brain Ischemia Model">voluntary exercise is less stressful than involuntary or forced exercise</a>. If that’s the case, workouts that feel like chores heap additional systemic <a href="http://www.marksdailyapple.com/rethinking-stress-it-could-save-your-life/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #668318; line-height: inherit; outline: none;" title="Rethinking Stress: It Could Save Your Life">stress</a> on top of the local stress the exercise already applies to the muscles. This could make it harder to <a href="http://www.marksdailyapple.com/7-things-impair-workout-recovery/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #668318; line-height: inherit; outline: none;" title="7 Things You May Be Doing That Impair Workout Recovery">recover from exercise</a> and easier to recover from <a href="http://www.marksdailyapple.com/15-concrete-ways-to-play/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #668318; line-height: inherit; outline: none;" title="15 Concrete Ways to Play">play</a> – even if the total work done for each was identical.</div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit;">How do we change our relationship with physical activity?</strong> How can we reframe exercise to make it less unpleasant and more effective? How can we train ourselves to appreciate the journey of movement?</div>
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Reframing our own activities and appreciating movement for movement’s sake can be tough. You won’t have a guy in a white coat wielding a clipboard and considerable amounts of authority telling you to “enjoy the <a href="http://www.marksdailyapple.com/17-reasons-to-walk-more-this-year/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #668318; line-height: inherit; outline: none;" title="17 Reasons to Walk More This Year">walk</a>” you’re about to take like the people in the studies.</div>
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You can’t expect to make everything fun and games. Few people think of hill sprints as “fun.” I can’t ever recall seeing a powerlifter rock a Cheshire grin in the power cage. But it has to be rewarding. You have to get something from it immediately. The activity must be its own compensation. <strong style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit;">The key, I think, is finding immediate value in the activity rather than relying on some far off goal, like weight loss, to motivate you.</strong> The weight loss, the hypertrophy, the fitness gains, all those “bigger” goals will happen anyway, but they’re not enough of a primary motivator for most people. I mean, everyone has those goals. They’re the reason most people decide they need to start exercising and why there are <a href="http://www.ihrsa.org/media-center/2011/4/5/us-health-club-membership-exceeds-50-million-up-108-industry.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #668318; line-height: inherit; outline: none;" target="_blank" title="U.S. Health Club Membership Exceeds 50 Million, Up 10.8%; Industry Revenue Up 4% as New Members Fuel Growth ">over 50 million gym memberships</a> in this country. But by and large, <a href="http://greatist.com/health/exercise-weight-loss-071213" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #668318; line-height: inherit; outline: none;" target="_blank" title="Americans Are Working Out More Than Ever. Why Aren’t We Losing Weight?">they’re not reaching those goals</a>. Something’s gotta give.</div>
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That’s easier said than done. Undoing a lifetime of acculturation isn’t easy. You have to willingly appreciate the flowers along the sidewalk, the birds in the trees above, the sunlight shining down, the refreshing sensations of unused muscles finally used. You have to realize that our bodies are built to move and need to move. We’ve got these shoulders that rotate almost 360 degrees. We can draw our knees up to our chins and touch our toes with straight legs and do the splits (in theory). It’s a crime not to use them – and you have to <em style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit;">feel </em>that. You have to find something of worth in the exercise as you’re doing it.</div>
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That could be a PR in the squat, or discovering that <a href="http://www.marksdailyapple.com/15-reasons-to-sprint-more-this-year/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #668318; line-height: inherit; outline: none;" title="15 Reasons to Sprint More This Year">sprinting</a> up the steep hill outside your place is getting a lot easier. It could be the the perfect high-five shared with a <a href="http://www.marksdailyapple.com/p90x-and-crossfit/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #668318; line-height: inherit; outline: none;" title="P90X and CrossFit">CrossFit</a> bro after Fran that seems to make time stop and the universe shudder for a moment. Or maybe it’s the meditative <a href="http://www.marksdailyapple.com/flow/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #668318; line-height: inherit; outline: none;" title="Total Immersion: How to Recognize and Tap Into the Power of Flow">flow state</a> you reach when training, the peace of <a href="http://www.marksdailyapple.com/hiking-around-the-world-what-to-eat/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #668318; line-height: inherit; outline: none;" title="Dear Mark: Hiking Around the World">hiking</a> through an ancient redwood forest, or chatting with your power-walking partner. It can also be the sheer joy we feel doing something we love to do, like play <a href="http://www.marksdailyapple.com/ultimate-frisbee/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #668318; line-height: inherit; outline: none;" title="Ultimate Frisbee">Ultimate Frisbee</a> (winning doesn’t hurt).</div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit;">It took me a long time to reach that place, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I suggest you try to do the same</strong></div>
<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 13px;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />link to article: <a href="http://www.marksdailyapple.com/do-your-workouts-feel-like-a-chore/#ixzz35RZbS3zh" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #003399; line-height: inherit; outline: none;">http://www.marksdailyapple.com/do-your-workouts-feel-like-a-chore/#ixzz35RZbS3zh</a></span>

attitude, Determination, exercise and fitness, fitness, fitness goals, good habits, healthy lifestyle, Motivation, strategy, strength, weightloss, workouts

Do Your Workouts Feel Like a Chore?

by Mark Sisson @ marksdailyappple.com Evolution tends to reinforce healthy, beneficial behaviors that improve the survival of members of ...

Posted by Alyssa Schomaker / Sunday, December 29, 2013 / No comments / Accountability , Alyssa schomaker , Change , clean eating , Determination , meal planning , Motivation , Recipes , Support , Tips , Weight loss

New year New You health and Fitness challenge

Can you believe the holidays have already come and gone? 2 more days and we will be rocking in the New Year of 2014!<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2013 has been a very memorable year for me! I was able to quit my job in the hospital and now focus on my love and passion.... health promotion and disease prevention! It has been a wild ride and one that I was initially scared to take but, I dived in with both feet and could not be happier with the changes that occurred from facing my fears and just going all in!</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am so excited and really looking forward to 2014! I have invested a lot of time and energy into improving my health and fitness challenge groups in 2014. A lot of research went into analyzing the current process and after many hours and weeks of analyzing the process I am so proud to say that the final product is complete and ready to go for my 2014 challenge groups!</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My first challenge group of the year Ripped Resolutions is full and I cannot wait to watch these individuals change their lives over the next 60 days!</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">However, with so many individuals contacting me about upcoming challenge groups I want you all to be aware that the next challenge group will be starting on January 13th! I have started a waiting list and if you want to be considered and are ready to go ALL in and make this a lifestyle change then contact me <a href="mailto:schomakeralyssa@gmail.com" target="_blank">HERE</a>.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">AFitnurse: New Year New You Challenge</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><b>So what is this health and fitness group you ask??? </b></span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 24px;"> Well, it's a program that I have created to help you reach your own personal health and fitness goals.  No long will we say to ourselves, "I will start on Monday."  or "2014 is the last year I resolve to lose weight."  or "No more muffin top."  You are not going to make a new years resolution and then not follow through with it.  I see it all the time.  People start out January 1st strong.  They go to the gym, they eat healthy and week 1 and 2 are great.  But by week 3 and 4 the gym becomes empty and you slide back into your old ways.  February 1st rolls around and you throw up your hands and tell yourself that you are just destined to be this way forever.  You find excuses like you are too busy or something else gets in the way.  OR you go to the gym for a while, didn't see jaw dropping results in the first few weeks and didn't have the support or education to change your  eating habits and eventually bailed out.  Don't let this be you again this year!</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 24px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, the moral of the story is that I am not going to let you do that! The one thing that I love about Beachbody is that they hook you up with a fitness program that meets your needs. There are options for every single person no matter if you are a beginner or you are advanced.  There are options if you are a zumba cardio type person or if you like strength training or fall somewhere in the middle. There are options if you are short on time or if you don't really mind working out for over an hour.  I feel pretty confident that no matter your ability level I can help you choose a program that will meet your needs. </span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs40L7ZFjTxM1uNsMCdC7tFo9cv8Ww4fKBN3oISbME5c-VqammNgZ9dlhOXwuwCbQ0pGPXa8tbWNUPoAIw2XXSUN-12wbVOJHAFbSXL9_hzne-pv75aPCN9yI16a3jW78HE5mxfUIpFryY/s1600/eat-clean-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs40L7ZFjTxM1uNsMCdC7tFo9cv8Ww4fKBN3oISbME5c-VqammNgZ9dlhOXwuwCbQ0pGPXa8tbWNUPoAIw2XXSUN-12wbVOJHAFbSXL9_hzne-pv75aPCN9yI16a3jW78HE5mxfUIpFryY/s320/eat-clean-2.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 24px;">Now that you have an understanding of the fitness component let's talk about nutrition! Having proper nutrition is the KEY to success! You cannot out exercise a bad diet! I can tell you that I was one of those cardio bunnies that spent hours on the elliptical machine and never saw my body change. I would indulge in fat free foods, 100 calorie snack packs, and was a diet coke junky! It wasn't until I started to educate myself on macronutrients and timing of nutrients that I saw my body transform.</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 24px;">  So my job is going to be to teach you how to not diet, but how to create a healthy lifestyle with whole nutritious foods that will not leave you starving at the end of the day!</span></span><br />
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</span></span> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 24px;">The last piece is <a href="http://myshakeology.com/alyssaschomaker" target="_blank">Shakeology</a></span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 24px;">  It's not a weight loss shake but instead it's a total meal replacement shake. It's not a protein shake its a well balanced meal that is equivalent to 6 salads in one glass.  It has been the one thing that keeps me full, tastes really good and has saved my rear a thousand times when either I didn't make it to the grocery store or I was in a hurry and needed a quick meal.  What was once a run thru the drive thru is now a shaker cup and a scoop of Shakeology!  I feel better, I look better and honestly it's worth every single penny!  It keeps me healthy and its at least one meal a day that I do not have to think about.  I'm at my weight loss goal now but I still drink it every day because it has everything that my daily multivitamin should have!  </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 24px;"> </span></span> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 24px;"><b>You also get access to a closed online accountability group. </b> This is where you will have 24/7 access to me as <a href="http://www.teambeachbody.com/alyssaschomaker" target="_blank">your coach</a>  Everyone starts their workouts on the same day, checks into the group daily and gets my support and guidance. Every day you log into the group and their is either a tip, recipe, motivation or information from me!  I will teach you how to handle everything from creating a meal plan, giving you recipes that your kids and husband will eat, to emotional eating, handling temptations, traveling, eating out, cravings and more!  You will get the entire whole body lifestyle transformation!  All you have to do is commit to the program and finish it!</span> <br style="background-color: white; line-height: 24px;" /><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 24px;">You are responsible to check in each day and rate your day and post how you did. </span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px;"> </span> <span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px;"> </span>   
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 24px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So does this sound like something you would like to do?  Are you ready to make a lasting change that isn't a quick fix or crash diet?  Are you ready to truly change your life and your body at the same time? If so then fill out the application below to be considered for my New Year New You Challenge Group starting on January 13th 2014.  Don't delay the last day to register is January 7th, 2014!!!!</span></span></div>
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Accountability, Alyssa schomaker, Change, clean eating, Determination, meal planning, Motivation, Recipes, Support, Tips, Weight loss

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