Who is the healther me

It's been awhile since I posted something. I've been really busy with life as well as trying to further develop my skills as a Health Coach so I can better support all of you. I've learned a lot over the last year or so and I'm excited to share this new knowledge with you all.

There are so many amazing things that I want to share I don't know where to begin so why not start at the beginning. Starting with really deciding what is it that you want and why is that so important to you? We all have goals that we want, but are they really goals or just general statements like "I want to lose weight" or "I want to be healthier".

When was the last time that you sat down and reflected on what is it exactly that you want? When you picture yourself as this healthier person what exactly do you see? How do you see yourself? How do you feel? What are you doing as this healthier person you envision yourself being that you can't do now?

Whew that was a lot of questions, but that is exactly what you need to do, ask yourself questions. When I asked myself these questions it cleared things up for me, it gave me a target to aim for. I know exactly what I want. I see myself as someone who doesn't have any health issues like high blood pressure (which runs in my family and I've been borderline high until I made changes to my lifestyle), I have perfect cholesterol, not at risk for heart disease or diabetes. I see myself not as a body builder or some fitness model, I see myself as having good muscle tone and strength. I have a waist circumference around 30 inches (40 inches and above puts you at risk for heart disease etc.). Most of all I see myself as not being plagued by the back pain that has bothered me since my car accident in 09. The same back pain that I used as an excuse to be unhealthy. At that point in my life I was barely able to play with my kids without being in pain. I haven't reached the point I where I want to be, but I'm getting there.

How amazing would that feel to have already reached your goal? I hear some of the same things from my clients that really stand out. Things like "I would be happier, have more self-confidence, I would actually be able to look at myself in the mirror and not feel ashamed or embarrassed." How would you feel?

Write all of these things down and keep them for a reference to reflect on. It's a great thing to be able to go back to these thoughts when you're feeling maybe not as motivated as usual or maybe you haven't seen the progress that you want and you're feeling discouraged and want to quit and give up. DON'T! Keep fighting, keep working, and keep making small changes and most of all keep your head up. It's all part of the process, it happens to everyone. You know where you want to be, it's just a matter of taking that next step that will get you there.

Your weight can be your best friend and not your enemy

You have one great thing about your body that can help you lose weight and you don't even know it. Your own weight can be one of your greatest assets in your fitness goals. There are a lot of exercises that can be done that utilize your own body weight that work multiple muscle groups(burn those calories!) at one time.
The key to performing not only these exercises, but any exercise is proper form and mixing it up to work different areas. A lot of these exercises can be done at home, which means you won't need that expensive gym membership.

Chest and Triceps
Pushups work both your pectoral muscles as well as your triceps. You can target what areas you want to work by varying your hand position and the angle of your body. Adding chair dips will give you extra work for your triceps. For guys really building your triceps is what gives your arms the size that the ladies like looking at. Ladies working your triceps targets that area that you complain about, so work those dips and blast those bingo wings.

Standard pushups are performed with your hands shoulder width apart, straight back a tightened core. The key to an affective pushup is reaching a deep contraction(lowering your chest as low to the ground as you can) and a full extension by ensuring that your arms are fully extended and locked out. Remember that it's about quality not quantity. 20 pushups with proper form is better than 100 pushups with crappy form. So take it slow and control yourself on your way down and and really concentrate on squeezing your chest muscles and triceps on the extension. One area where people go wrong with pushups is they take their spine out of alignment by looking forward because they were told to keep their head up. The best way is to look straight down keeping your spine in full alignment. The saying keep your head up comes from when people tuck their chin to their chest.

To mix up what areas you work in your chest bring your hands closer together or spread them farther apart. By spreading your hands farther apart you really target your chest, by bringing your hands closer together you target more of your triceps. You Off set your hands with one set with your right hand farther forward an one with your left hand farther forward. If you want to target your upper and lower pectorals either elevate your feet for a decline pushup working the upper portion of your chest, or do an incline pushup by leaning agains a counter or table to work your lower chest.


By performing dips on a chair you can work your triceps. Simply place your hands on the front of the chair with your hands facing forward. Your lower back should be agains the front of the chair and your legs extended outward. Lower your body until your arms form a 90 degree angle and then extend your arms upward squeezing at the full extension. If you want to add some difficulty you can place your feet on another object like another chair or exercise ball.

Some simple body weight exercises with variations that target different areas and different degrees of difficulty. There isn't a need for a gym membership if you have the discipline to exercise while at home. This can be a go to routine or a back up for days you can't make it to the gym. Stick to your plan, stay motivated and reach those goals.

Stay tuned for back and bicep body weight exercises!