Lift Training Studios
Fit, Lean, Healthy, Happy…and the "Trials and Tribulations" of getting there and staying there.

If you haven’t read my article on Ehow…you should.

http://www.ehow.com/how_5629635_build-lean-sculpted-abs.html

            Have you ever wished you had your own personal fitness expert that would walk you through the grocery store and show you what foods to buy? LIFT Training Studios, in association with Rouse’s, is offering a FREE “ Eating Lean Grocery Shopping Seminar” to the first group of reader’s to respond to this article. In this seminar, LIFT Trainers will walk you through Rouse’s describing the perfect nutrition plan for losing body fat, what foods it consists of, and where to find them in your  local Rouse’s grocery store.

            Why do you need a fitness expert to show you what to buy? In the spirit of the New Year, resolutions of getting fit and losing weight is on the minds of more than 70% of the population and very few of these people succeed. LIFT wants to give you a head start in being one of the few who succeeds in obtaining your New Year’s Resolution. Everyone knows that to lose weight and to gain lean muscle mass one needs to train, but most people still do not realize the importance of nutrition’s role in fat loss. There is a specific, yet simple, formula for eating that will aid one in getting super lean and staying that way for life. Once  the lifestyle change is in place, all one needs to do is maintain the changes.

            With LIFT’s years of expertise and, most importantly “fad-free” way of eating, your New Year will be off to a great start. Come Mardi Gras, you will be a fine tuned machine well on your way to that sexy six-pack for the summer. 

January 16, 2010 at 9:30 a.m.

email: info@LIFTtrainingStudios.com to reserve your spot.

“Fitness is a journey, not destination” this is a quote most often begun with the word “life”. However, with 10 years of personal training under my belt, I’ve realized that this most certainly applies to the fitness world. My day started at 5:30 this morning with many hours of training to follow taking my last client at 5:30 p.m. Anxious to give my last kick-ass session for the day and hurry home to my sweet baby girl, I did not forsee that my last client would enter the door with a serious problem.

Dragging from a long day with only one small cup of coffee for support, she walked into the studio to see me pumping out pull-ups and push-ups (better than a jolt of caffeine is an abrupt spike in the heart rate). What’s the problem? Well, not much other than it conjured up thoughts and demons she was already fighting for the day, weeks, years? I see it all the time. Many people think that fitness is as easy as workout + eat less= weight loss success! Well, maybe for  someone who has never struggled with weight issues or food addiction, but for me and this individual the road to fitness was not as simple.

She asked me with a giggle, ” How do you do it? How do you stay so consistent?” to which I replied ” I don’t.” Before we could constructively finish that conversation, her giggle disappeared and her eyes welled up in tears. To the office, I swept her away from the training floor. It was time for a one-on-one heart-to-heart. After several minutes of listening to her speak of her past, seeking approval and love from others through her physical appearance, I was able to finish my initial reply that seemed to conjure her tears. ” I don’t consistently eat perfect day to day. I don’t consistently work-out every day. The only thing I ‘consistently’ do is TRY.”

For years, I did it wrong. I worked out to be “lean” to be at a certain weight. I wasn’t concerned with how fast I could run a mile or if I could even run a mile straight. I wasn’t concerned with how strong I was, if I could do pull-ups, or how many perfect push-ups I could crank out. I wasnt concerned if my hip-flexors were so tight they were causing me to have serious SI pain everytime I had a heavy leg day. No, all I was concerned with was being 110lbs or less. Finally, I realized after having my daughter, I was focusing on the wrong thing first. My goals were superficial and even when I accomplished it, 110lbs did not last for long because what kind of accomplishment was that really? Nothing significant for sure. So, I focused on becoming a better runner to increase my endurance and won first female finisher in a 5k, the first time I ever took first in something physical in my life (at 27 years old)! Then, I wanted to conquer pull-ups. You’re not really strong until you can pull-up your entire body weight. Tomorrow, I can do 8 pull-ups (12-15 chin-ups) on cue…or die trying. My hips are nice and loose, enough so that I can log in 30 miles of running for the week with no knee pain or SI pain what so ever. Then, I didn’t worry about dieting hard-core figure competition style, but instead taking healthy foods and making them appetizing enough that my husband and picky daughter would even love these meals. And, creating a system that allowed us to have quick, healthy, home-made meals available every day of the week. Harold and Sabella love my turkey meatbals with quinoa pasta.

Seems like I’m bragging, but guess what follows all these accomplishments? Ta Da….weight loss! My average weight is 114 – 110lbs at 17 – 14 % body fat.The equation is: Endurance+Strength+Flexibility+Nutrition+Personal wellness= weight loss/health/fitness. How can you possibly get the end result without following the equation first. Well, that’s what most of us try to do first. Try it for once…do it the right way. It will change your life. As I left the studio tonight, my client thanked me which fueled my passion for fitness. I told her “I have no problem divulging the nasty truth of my issues to the road to fitness if it can help others, because I wasn’t always this person. My 27 yr old self kicks my 18 yr old self’s ass”…easily, she couldn’t run a quarter mile to save her life, but that’s ok…I’m taking care of her now.

Life is getting back to normal after over indulging in Thanksgiving feasting. The feasting really began after pictures with pizza and cookies and didn’t end till this past Sunday with left over turkey, stuffing, and chocolate bread pudding. Uh, I felt every toxic calorie seeping out of my pores come Monday morning! I seriously felt like I was in a food hang-over or a sugar coma; although, it was most likely both. That is what happens when you drop carbs for any length of time. I was so happy that I had only done so for a couple of days because I was able to get right back on track with my brown rice, protein shake, egg whites, salads, and ezekial bread first thing Monday. In fact, I was looking forward to it like a lost puppy.What!? Are you serious…could it be that these are my comfort foods now? I felt ‘icky and gross all over, but instead of getting further depressed and continuing to pig out, I turned to the foods that I knew were healthy, filling, and would help me get off the 8lbs of weight I put back on right after pictures!! By the way, another negative side effect of low carbing for any length of time is that, even though you lose a lot of weight fast, you gain it back even faster when you start eating carbs again. I went from a healthy 114lbs at 14% body fat to 108lbs at 12% body fat to 116lbs at only God knows how much body fat, over the course of 2 weeks. Lucky for me, I know exactly what to do in order to get myself back at my normal weight within a week or less. Today I weighed in at 114.5lbs. Dropping carbs to get ready for an event can be very risky for someone who is in-experienced in cutting diets.There really is no reason to attempt this unless you plan on competing in bodybuilding of some form or doing fitness modeling. Today, I looked forward to making turkey meatballs and whole grain pasta with organic marinara. I was so excited but then I realized that I had no ground turkey left and I was not going back out to the grocery store. So, my sweet mother-in-law gave me the only meat she had, ground chuck, so I could cook my family a fresh meal. This is a very fatty meat, but we rarely eat fatty meats and we had been clean all week so I felt we could get away with it for the night. Nearly starving, or so he said, Harold made his bowl of pasta and sat down with it on the couch. He took one bite and looked up at me in shock and asked, “Is this real beef?!?”. “Yes”, I replied, to which the only response I heard after that was, “Mmmmm”. You would think I starved him for weeks….poor thing! In all honesty, this is a meal we usually eat on a weekly basis, minus the ground chuck. And, why not? In moderation, these things are all very healthy. There’s one thing I’ve learned from all my trials and tribulations in dieting is that it has to be something you can do the rest of your life. You need food for fuel, carbs, protein, and fat for energy, muscle recovery/building/healing, fat loss, endurance, metabolic functions, and mental function/clarity. Why would you ever feel the need to cut out one of these food groups when they compliment each other so well?I believe the central theme for a happy successful life is balance and consistency in all things. Why not apply it to your nutrition and training? If you start making changes, but you cave-in to the pressure of cookies or pizza or the holidays, it doesn’t mean you failed. This doesn’t mean that you don’t have enough will power or that, “Oh, heck, I messed up so I ruined the whole day, week, month, or year” mentality. What this does mean is that you are human and destined to err; however, another human trait is the ability to persevere. You accept your faults and aim to better them. So you messed up, but that doesn’t categorize you and destin you to be over weight and out of shape. Just recognize what you did wrong, make a mental note of it, and strive to do better. To pick yourself up after a fall and keep going is a true success. Looking back at an old competition journal, I was reading my food log for 3 weeks leading up to a show in which I cheated and ate a bunch ( and I mean A BUNCH) of chocolate, followed by this comment, “…my emotional addiction to food is debilitating in this sport” . I must have been pretty down on myself. It’s hard to accept you lost control; however, I then noticed I redeemed myself and followed my nutrition perfectly in the last weeks till the show. Four days till the show I wrote, “Sacrifice is only for a short time, to realize a dream is forever.” Was I really deprived of anything, nope, nothing that I truly needed. I finally realized there were alot of things I could live without. I didn’t need chocolate every day. I surely love it, but it’s not essential to my well being; however, when the day comes that I have an irrisistable craving for it, well it will surely still exist.

My daughter is now 17 months old and, as of last Wednesday, I finally took my post baby fitness pictures. I had put it off, well as you can tell, for 17 months and finally I gave myself 4 weeks to get into at least decent “skimpy workout clothing” shape. In contemplating when I would commit to a picture date, several times I set a date in my head only to conveniently forget about it or find some excuse why that day would not work. Subconsciously, I was nervous about my efforts not being good enough to compare to my previous fitness pictures. I had a baby! My once tight perfect abs were stretched, unfortunately, wrecked by stretchmarks! My most prized asset was seemingly ruined.

At 24 weeks pregnant, having only gained 30lbs my entire pregnancy, I began to develop stretch marks. I cried for weeks upon weeks each time I saw a sexy sixpack on the Tv while my poor husband looked at me like I was insane. From there on, as a mother and a fitness expert, I struggled with my self image. I thought that journey was over. Was it not enough that I had struggled with my body since elementary school? “Oh well”, I thought, “it’s worth a shot.” The worst that could happen was that I would hate the pictures, but the simple solution to that problem would be that I would have to show them to no one unless I desired so. After finally deciding to commit, I had the support of my fellow trainers,Tracey and Kim, and even Harold decided he would take his first fitness pics, to train along with me. The support system was set in place.

The next dilemma was how do I want to “lean out”? My past experience as a figure competitor was dieting super clean, hard core for 12-14 weeks, 6 days of lifting, 6-7 days of cardio at 1-2 hrs per day, and the last 6 weeks being low carb, low fat….just low everything. I was not a mom or a business owner at that time. Competing was my life. Even my poor husband came second. I knew there was no way I could do that kind of extreme training right at this time. So, I decided I was gonna just go with the flow. I continued my running that had already been in place since Sabella was 6 months old. Trained and completed an ultra-half marathon while eating clean through the week and enjoying my typical splurges on the weekend (Pizza Friday, Brownie Saturday, Pancake Sunday). I lifted weights anywhere from 3 – 5 times a week, averaging 3 more often. I felt like I could have done more.

The final 2 weeks, I cut carbs at night, drank plenty of water, got my runs in for the week. I focused on 5k’s which was a nice distraction. During this time, I hit some of my fastest times placing 16 out of 400 women in the Fall Classic and even 1st female finisher in a local 5k. I wasn’t truly nervous until the final week, or the last 3 days. I dropped carbs the last 2 days, ran an 8 miler two days before, got a yucky spray tan (which helped my severly pale skin immensely) and prayed that what I saw in the mirror would mimic itself in the camera. As nervous as I was, when I looked in the mirror, I was pretty pleased. At this point, the stretch marks are here to stay, but I was able to look at the bigger picture and be content.

Day of the pictures arrived. Joy! We got to eat a cookie with no water to wash it down (trying to fill out the muscles after carb depletion). Then, we did our pre-picture pump up workout and headed on our way to downtown Covington. Steve Randon is a talented photographer. I left feeling confident and knowing we got some amazing shots. Waiting to see the final result was the truly grueling part. A few days later, the pictures were posted. I have to say, my initial response was pleasing. The pictures were as beautiful and professional as I had expected. I looked through picture after picture with appreciation of the first few shots. Slowly as I picked through shot after shot, I did the “girl” thing and started picking myself apart. I started comparing myself to my competition pictures, to other female competitors, and suddenly I was disappointed with myself. “Why didn’t I diet harder! Why didn’t I train harder! My abs should be more ripped than that!” I wanted so bad to impress myself and others, but my inital response was surely fading into dismay.

I felt like I had split personalities. Part of me said, “You look incredible for having a baby, NO…even for not having a baby!” then part of me said, “Uh, look at your abs after the Colorado show…man!”. It took one of my most beloved clients words prior to the shoot to bring me back to reality. She said, “Get over it. You’re real. This is you.” She was so right. What I did may have not been “show ready”, but it was most importantly something that anyone can do. My training leading up to the pictures could have fit into any mom’s or dad’s schedule. Afterall, that is who I am now, a mother. The majority of my time was not spent dying on the cardio machines or under the barbell, but rather holding my beautiful baby girl in my arms. So, when I do reveal my new “momma fitness pics” I will do so with pride and representing all those parents out there that thought reclaiming their health and their bodies was impossible. Cheers!

After our site crashing temporarily a few months back. I’m finally starting the blog again at square one. For those of you who didn’t have the chance to follow the blog in the past, I enjoy posting a lot of my own nutrition and training journals along with other fitness related articles. Check back regularly for updates and follow us on Facebook or Twitter.

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