Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Last day of the year

Well the year is almost over and so much has happened both good and bad. However, today let's just think about going forward. I have decided that the whole month of January will be dedicated to helping all that read my blogs with exercises. So many of us walk into gyms not really knowing what to do. Going up to a trainer who is more willing to take your money to show you things that you will probably forget and then once the sessions are over you are even more tired and lost than when you started. Now over the next month I will be giving you one or two exercises that you can use to get yourself in better shape.

In the past I have tried to put a whole workout together only for it to confuse people. Now we will take smaller bites and concentrate on one thing at a time. However, even before we start I would like for you all to do one thing... figure out what your goals will be for next year. Remember losing of weight or getting healthier are not really goals but the result of you achieving the goals you set out to achieve. Make them realistic and attainable and then let NOTHING come in between you and your achieving them.

Happy New Year.

Monday, December 30, 2013

Proudest 2013 moments...

You would think at this time I would turn the spot light on myself and tell you all I accomplished but you are wrong. The proudest moments of the year have taken a while to come to fluision but I consider them achievements that I could never top. What I am referring to are all those people that came to me last January and asked for my help in their lifestyle changing. Ok so who are they. In no particular order here they are:

Carley: She came to me after having surgery and asked for me to help her lost over 100 pounds of unwanted weight. At first I was a little concerned that she would stick to it but after 12 months she has lost 134 pounds and now we are talking about the next step in her fitness and health. Way to go Carley!

Ruth: Just the other day she text me a picture of what she looked like just 12 months ago and at first I did not know who that was that text me. I even responded back to her, “I want to help you. Please let me.” And her reply was, “Kevin, it me Ruth”. I was shocked. She looked totally different, big time.

Bill: After walking into my office and sitting down and talking with me, I did not think he would have survived the last 6 months, but he did and 134 pound later he is feeling better about himself and we have become good friends. Now exercise is part of his life. We talk everyday and now I have been elevated from his personal trainer to his life coach. Thanks Bill.

Ted: After hearing about his family history, he did not want to end like his dad did and for the last year he has worked hard and lost over 90 pounds and he tells me that he never felt so good nor has his golf game been so good.

Dr Tom: My 81 year young member. He came to me frail but willing to really give me his best. Now he is doing things that 81 year old men should not be doing. He has inspired me to know that if I get that old I can still do what I do and at a high level. He has inspired me to on so many levels.

Tom Mount: What can I say? Here is another 81 year young man that has survived longer than most of his friends. He has shown me sides of life and things in his life that he has gone thru and still shows me a positive attitude. He challenges me to keep a positive attitude and I thank him for that.

Andy: He came to me with so many health issues that if I listed them all it would take me 700 words. However, he has followed my lead and I remember him telling me, “Hey Kevin, last night was the first night I actually got 8 hours of continuous sleep and without my machine.” It took it a while to sink into my little brain but what he told me was that his sleep apnea was getting better and all because of his exercising. Now, a year later, he walks everywhere. It is not uncustomary to see him walking around town for hours and putting in at least 10 miles a day. His dad tells me that he walks everywhere. This was something he did not do for years.

Jackie: She came to me a few years ago and I have seen such a change in her attitude since the beginning of this last year. She now craves exercise and is not afraid to tell her friends about it. She has an attitude of not giving up and fight the good fight. Failure is just not an option to her anymore and she now looks at her own health as priority 1 in her own life. She thinks that is it so important that her husband is now thinking about doing something about his health. Every one she comes around feels her excitement and wants a piece of it. She inspires all she touches around her. She has lost over 80 pounds.

Bill: His life has been stressful for years. I don’t even know the half of it. However, when I met him he tells me that there are a lot of medical issues in his family and he needs to be there for them and keep strong. He, himself, has ultra high blood pressure and has been trying to get it under control for years now. Now thru the diet and exercise it seems to be under better control and just for giggles he also lost 50 pounds over the last year.

Linda: It has been a struggle for some time now and trying to get her to concentrate on herself has become an almost impossible task, but just the other day we had a breakthrough and I believe that now she is going to make every effort to now concentrate on herself and break down those barriers that have been keeping her down for so many years now. Linda has called me her life coach and last year she lost over 70 pounds.

Kathy: When she came to me self-esteem was not even though about. Can you say non-existant. I remember her break through and the tears that were shed and the words that were finally spoken. Once we broke down those barriers she began to drop weight and now she has lost 115 pounds and exercise has now become part of her life. Better yet, now she is not afraid to try anything once. By her gaining confidence in her athletic ability it has shown itself in her everyday life and people are beginning to notice. She has gained a no found respect from everyone she touches now.

Lisa: I worked with her for one year and she has done something that even went further than just a thank you could ever, she told her friends about me and they have joined the Parker Place Community. Thank you for the faith you have put in me to help just not you but your friends.

Here are just a few of the people that I have helped over the last year and I am excited to see what happens next year.

Thursday, December 26, 2013

12 Days of Christmas

On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me… a membership at the local gym

On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me… two pairs of shoes and a membership at the local gym

On the third day of Christmas my true love gave to me… three water bottles, two pairs of shoes and a membership at the local gym

On the fourth day of Christmas my true love gave to me… four Zumba classes, three water bottles, two pairs of shoes and a membership at the local gym

On the fifth day of Christmas my true love gave to me… FIVE PERSONAL TRAINING SESSIONS! four Zumba classes, three water bottles, two pairs of shoes and a membership at the local gym

On the sixth day of Christmas my true love gave to me… Six muscle strains, FIVE PERSONAL TRAINING SESSIONS! Four Zumba classes, three water bottles, two pairs of shoes and a membership at the local gym

On the seventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me… Seven pound weight loss! Six muscle strains, FIVE PERSONAL TRAINING SESSIONS! Four Zumba Classes, three water bottles, two pairs of shoes and a membership at the local gym

On the eighth day of Christmas my true love gave to me… Eight suicide pushups, Seven pound weight loss! Six muscles strains, FIVE PERSONAL TRAINING SESSIONS! Four Zumba Classes, Three water bottles, two pairs of shoes and a membership at the local gym

On the ninth day of Christmas my true love gave to me… Nine jumping Jacks, Eight suicide pushups, Seven pound weight loss! Six muscle strains, FIVE PERSONAL TRAINING SESSIONS! Four Zumba Classes, Three water bottles, two pairs of shoes and a membership at the local gym

On the tenth day of Christmas my true love gave to me… Ten walking lunges, nine jumping Jacks, Eight suicide pushups, Seven pound weight loss! Six muscle strains, FIVE PERSONAL TRAINING SESSIONS! Four Zumba Classes, three water bottles, two pairs of shoes and a membership at the local gym

On the eleventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me… Eleven bottles of ibuprofen, ten walking lunges, nine jumping Jacks, Eight suicide pushups, Seven pound weight loss! Six muscle strains, FIVE PERSONAL TRAINING SESSIONS! Four Zumba Classes, Three water bottles, two pairs of shoes and a membership at the local gym

On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love gave to me… Twelve nutritional classes, eleven bottles of ibuprofen, Ten walking lunges, nine jumping Jacks, Eight suicide pushups, Seven pound weight loss! Six muscle strains, FIVE PERSONAL TRAINING SESSIONS! Four Zumba Classes, three water bottles, two pairs of shoes and a membership at the local gym!!!!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

The ultimate weight loss program

Joe was reading the news paper a year ago and came across this article stating that with this ultimate weight loss program he could loss those unwanted inches in a month’s time. Knowing how desperate he was he decided to give it a try so he calls the weight loss company to get information on the program and then to get into this program.

A few days later he decides that he wants to be in the “10 pound club “, so he purchase their 7 day plan. After joining the program, he hears a knock on his door. When he opens it, he sees a very attractive middle age women standing there in a sleek, knock out sweat suit. In her hand she holds up a sign, “If you catch me, you can have me” and then she takes off. Well, just like any man would he takes off after her down the block and around the corner. A mile later he stops totally out of breath. She was just too fast. For the next 6 days this same thing happens and he gets the same result, he could never catch her. Low and behold though… he losses 10 pounds in one week.

He decides that he isn’t done as of yet and calls that company back and asks for their “lose 15 pound club” and after a few brief questions, is accepted into the program. A day after joining he hears that knock on his door. This time he is really ready for whoever shows up. After opening the door he sees this very good looking women in a string bikini and she holds up a sign… “If you catch me, you can have me”. Immediately he takes off running after her but because she is in such good shape he never catches her. For another 6 days he does this and on the 6th day he gets close but doesn’t’ catch her. After that week was over he steps on the scale and once again he loses 15 pounds.

Well, now he thinks, no he knows he is ready to loss the rest of the weight he has, so he calls the company and asks them for “the 50 pound lost club”. After extensive questioning he finds out that it is a 2 week program. He doesn’t care because he has been thru the previous two plans and he was truly determined to catch whoever they sent. The next day the door bell rings and he throws on his shoes and runs to the door and opens it and he was very surprised at who he saw. There stood a big buff, very strong looking man and he holds up a sign and it says, “If I catch you, your mine!”

In two weeks he lost 65 pounds…

Enjoy your day.

Friday, December 20, 2013

My personal training diary


My son, for my 50th birthday got me a membership at Parkers Place Total fitness in town and I was really happy he did. I had wanted to do that for a long while now but never had the guts enough to go in and talk to the owner Kevin there. My son tells me that he is a really nice guy. Well, we’ll see.

Monday morning:

Well, my appointment is for 6:30am and boy it was hard to get out of bed today. I got there exactly at 6:30am and Kevin was waiting for me there at the door with the biggest welcoming smile I have ever seen. He put me on the treadmill for a few minutes and asked me questions. He then did a bit of an assessment on me and I got to find out how to use all the machines and how weak I really am. Boy, my son was right Kevin is a pretty cool guy.


Tuesday Morning:

This morning I drank a whole pot of coffee just to wake up and just got to the gym with a minute to spare. Kevin had me on the treadmill today and my legs felt very wobbly. Today he had me on there for 15 minutes and something strange started to happen, I began to get this strange sensation and my body began to get warm. I went to take off my sweat shirt and he told me not to. Did he not understand I was uncomfortable? After 15 minutes he had me lay down in this bench he called an Olympic Bench and push up this very heavy bar. I was proud that I was able to do that… then he puts weights on it!!! Then he wanted me to do some seated squats. I did 25 of them and felt great! Kevin really provided me with motivation today. This is my new life now, I’m stoked!

Wednesday Morning:

Shaving, brushing my teeth, washing my hair and using the rest room have now become dreadful options. I woke up this morning and felt as though a semi had hit me. I figured out that if I put my tooth brush down on the counter and then bring my teeth down to the brush it was less painful. Aren’t beards in now anyway? Driving to work was ok as long as I did not steer or have to make sudden stops. I never knew I had those muscles before. I think I ran over the curve when I got to work and I didn’t care.

When I got to the gym Kevin was upset with me because he told me that I need to stop yelling and making so much noise… and I haven’t even started the workout yet. His smile today was looking very devious. Goodness I am beginning to hate that smile. And why does he always say, “Enjoy!”? There is very little enjoyment in what I am doing. My legs hurt so much that Kevin decided to put me on the stair “monster” to warm up. Kevin tells me that it is an alternative to the treadmill. Why do I need to use that when most buildings I go into have elevators? Isn’t every day leg day?

Thursday Morning:

I pulled up hoping that Kevin wasn’t there. Yup… there he is with that shit-eating-grin on his face. I swear if he says the word “enjoy” to me today I’m going to punch him. Wait I can’t, I can’t lift my arms above my hips. It took me 20 minutes to get my sneakers on and I think I almost cramped up. I really think I am going to hate Wednesday’s. He kept telling me the Wednesday is leg day. I think he is trying to kill me.

Friday Morning:

I really don’t like Kevin right now. He is a very evil man. This morning my legs hurt so much that I could not walk down a flight of stairs without holding onto the railings. Sitting on the toilet is no longer an option at this point. Thank God I don’t drive a stick shift car. I’m thinking that ibuprofen is going to be my best friend today.
Today that jerk wants me to work my arms. Haven’t I been doing that all along? He says that today is tricept and bicept day. They look perfectly fine to me, just leave them alone! That jerk told me to get on the treadmill to loosen up my legs and when I got on it, 2 minutes later I fell off and ran into the other Personal Trainer there. All she did was laugh, pick me up and put me back on the treadmill. This is truly an evil place.

Saturday Morning:

This morning, after yesterdays work out, my arms were so sore that I could not change the channel on the television and ended up watching the weather channel until I had to leave to go get weighed in. I was 30 minutes late because I had to use my life alert button to get someone to get me out of bed and dress me.
Well I did weigh in and low and behold I lost 11 pounds! WOW! Kevin, that Sadistic Personal Touchier, must know what he is doing, he gave me Sunday off and I need it. Back to the grind on Monday!

Thursday, December 19, 2013

Kevin’s Personal training workout for the Work-a-holic excuse maker

So here is a 7 day workout regiment for all my work-a-holic friends that seem not to have time to get up a good sweat.

Day 1
Beat around the bush several times a day
Jump to conclusions all the time
Climb the walls 3 times
(Get some water at this point then continue)
Wade through the daily paper from start to finish

Day 2
Remember to think about stretching
Drag your heels constantly
Push your luck all the time
Make mountains out of mole hills
Hit the nail on the head at least 3 times

Day 3
Bend over backwards or at least tell your trainer and your friends you did
Jump onto the latest bandwagon
Run around in circles all day

Day 4 (Today is a mental day)
Talk to your friends on how you would run the country and what our President is doing wrong
Have your friends talk about you and how wonderful you are to them for bending over backwards for them yesterday
Remember for today you need to add fuel to your fire

Day 5

Put your foot in your mouth regularly
Start the ball rolling at least 5 times today
And tonight go over the edge with your significant other

Day 6
After last night’s mess you will need to pick up the pieces
Raise the roof
Lift a pint of beer 4 times today
Skip the washing up, you did that last week anyway

Day 7 (this should be Sunday so…)
Kneel in prayer all day
Bow your head in thanksgiving and don’t fall asleep
Raise your hands in praise
Hug and cuddle someone and encourage them

After this seven day workout you should be pretty fit to be tired.






Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Don't believe the hype!

I was just listen to the radio and the announcer comes on the air and says, “Great News! After further studies the FDA has come out and stated that Diet soda is not bad for us and that the amount of ASPARTAME in one soda is not enough to alter our blood numbers.” She went on further to say, “According to the FDA we would need to drink more than 20 sodas a day for that to happen.”

So there you have it. I call this the “OMG people are getting smart and we are losing money syndrome”, so the manufacturers go out and pay whoever they have to just so they can have some “expert” source state that diet soda is OK to drink.

MONSANTO’S was the originator of this sugar substitute and since they have lost their patent, many others have come out with their versions of the same product. Here is the kicker MONSANTO’S along with many other manufacturers give funds to the American Diabetes Association, The American Dietetic Association and the Conference of the American College of Physicians. I know this because it was recently in the New York Times.

Once the report came out about the true facts about ASPARTAME, I know these companies at first thought that there would not be too much backlash but once the stuff hit the fan and people have begun the process of getting off of that addictive substance the manufacturers panicked and pulled the MONEY card and low and behold a few months later we here, “Hey you know… my bad… diet soda is not bad for you… it’s actually ok to drink :)”.

Guys, the facts are the facts. ASPARTAME, no matter in any quantity is bad for you. It has been proven that at 86 degrees F ASPARTAME chemically changes to formaldehyde and then to formic acid which in turn causes metabolic acidosis (that just sounds bad). The average person that drinks diet soda has 3-4 sodas a day and they think that it is HEALTHIER than regular soda, well it isn’t and never has been. Too much ASPARTAME in your system will do the following to you if you suffer from tinnitus or fibromyalgia;
• Spasms
• Shooting pains
• Numbness in the legs
• Cramps
• Vertigo
• Dizziness
• Headaches
• Tinnitus
• Joint pain
• Unexplained depression
• Anxiety attacks
• Slurred speech
• Blurred vision
• Memory loss
If you have any of those systems and you drink Diet soda of any kind you might just have ASPARTAME poisoning.

Now it is reversible and the way to reverse what you have done is simple, stop drinking Diet soda and be on alert for other products that have this killer in them. Dr H.J. Roberts stated this in his lecture and he stated something else, “NO DRUGS WERE NECESSARY TO REVERS THIS PROBLEM”. Well that works for me.

Guys don’t believe the hype even if they try and down play the proof that is out there for all the public to read. Remember, they don’t really care about you. They only care about their bottom line. Don’t believe me? Can you say “Cigarette Manufacturers?” Enjoy your day.

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

The Ken and Barbie doll syndrome

Media tells us that for us to be attractive we need to look like Ken or Barbie. Women need to have the 36,24,36 figure and men need to have that 40 inch chest and 28 inch waist and 8 pack abs. But is this really what makes us attractive? Is this really realistic? Can everyone look like those dolls?

As we all know we are all different. Not one of use is alike in anyway. I was watching the Ms Universe pageant a few years back and this issue of beauty came up at my house. I was sitting on the couch and watching these ladies strut their stuff and I noticed something, every nationality had a different body type. I noticed that the Chinese woman was much more slender thru the hips and glutes. She was built more straight up and down. The woman from Africa was fuller in the hip and leg regions. The woman from Sweden and Brazil tended to be taller and full figured and the woman from the US was a little shorter and tended to have slender hips. But every one of them was very attractive. I did notice one other thing; none of them looked like Barbie and those that did never made it to the semi finals or finals.

In this American culture we have men and women that are trying to look like something they are just not suppose to look like. We have men and women that are trying to be something they are just not suppose to be and it is causing a lot of people have huge identity crisis’s and others to try and take drastic measures and jeopardize their health. Now don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that we should stop striving to be the best we can be. But what I am saying is that instead of trying to be someone else… be yourself whatever that may look like.

Now for my lazy readers, that should not give you the excuse to say, “See I am who I am” and not strive for perfection. That is a lame and lazy excuse which should not even be entertained. Remember you should always strive to be your very best. There is freedom in being healthy and not in having to be slave to medications know that.

Fitness goes beyond outward appearance. Healthy fitness starts from the inside and bubbles outward. It starts with proper nutrition and exercise and trust me the outward appearance will come. Don’t try and take short cuts they always lead to dead ends. Work hard and stay focused because the benefits are incredible, trust me I know.

Friday, December 13, 2013

Are we ever too old?

Science has proven that as we age there are certain chemicals in our body that are not regenerating as fast. Science has been proven that our reaction time gets slower and slower every year from age 30 on. It has been proven that our recovery time increases with age. I have found that my son and I can do the same workout and a day later he is ready to hit it hard again and I need an extra day or two to recover. It has been proven that our muscles begin to deplete at a quicker rate after age 65. Men reach their physical peak at age 26-28 and women at about age 16. So the question still remains, after age 40 are we too old to get in the best physical condition that we have ever been in? How about ages 50 or 60 is it too late?

The reality is that I will never be able to run 10 flat in the 100 meters nor jump 7 feet in the high jump ever again. Those days are over, however the real question should be can we slow the aging process down so that we don’t decline at an already rapid rate? A wise man once told me, “You’re not old until your cold.” This man plays competitive softball in the senior league and is 85 years of age. If you saw him you would not think he was of that age. Another man, who just broke the world record in the 400 meters for men 90 plus years of age told me, “Once you stop, then it ends… so don’t ever stop. Keep challenging yourself and take care of your body and it will take care of you.” Then my dad told me one day while walking with him to the Penn Relays, “Kevin never stop running. Never stop running because once you do, trying to get back to where you finished is almost impossible.”

All of these men are well past 70 years of age and are very much respected in my eyes and the wisdom they have imparted to me is priceless. Here it is in a nut shell. We are all aging, but the question is how quickly do you want to go down this slippery slope? By constantly challenging your body to improve, you are slowing down our already declining process. We will get weaker. But at what rate do you want that to happen? We will get slower. But at what rate do you want that to happen? We will get injured. But will we allow those injuries to totally stop us?

If you look at professional athletes, especially those in their 30’s and even 40’s, you may say to yourself that they are just super human. I disagree with people who say that. My response to them is that those people just get it. They challenge their bodies to maintain a specific level of fitness. Yes, each year it gets harder and harder, but never the less they try and maintain it. Whereas, at younger ages you could take days off at a time and still bounce back pretty quickly, now maybe you have to do something everyday just to maintain. By doing this, we would be slowing down our aging process and the best thing is this… we would be doing it without taking pills.

No, we are never too old to still achieve heights we thought we could never, in our wildest dreams, achieve. Let’s get active and stay active and enjoy life the way it was suppose to be.

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Are they really unhealthy?

A friend just told me that Ebony Magazine had written an article on how unhealthy black women have become. In this article it stated that 80% of black women were very obese and the trend was getting worse every year. When he text me this, at first, I felt like texting back, “Why are the percentages so low that they quoted?” But then I gave it some real thought and my mind went back to my African trip and I remember all those beautiful black women I met and conversed with. I can actually say that each one of them was, according to our BMI chart, obese. But the question I had for myself was, as heavy as they looked, these women would walk miles every day. These women are much more active than I will ever be and it is all out of necessity. Are they really unhealthy? When I look at African Black women and compare them to American Black women I see many comparisons and one of them is body type. This need to be taken into consideration. We need to consider people groups and not make blanket statements.

Let’s look at another people group, Germans. These women are robust and hard working. They are very strong and in some cases all the ones I know are much stronger than some of the men I have at the gym. If you looked at them and did their BMI you would think “obese”. Then look at the Chinese, when they are young and middle aged they are thin and frail, does that make them healthy because their BMI says that they are under 25%?

If you recall I wrote a blog on the Barbie and Ken doll syndrome and how we try and put people in a box and tell them that for them to be really healthy they need to look like this, eat like this, walk like this and sound like that. Every women needs to have a 36-24-36 figure and each man has to have a 45 inch chest and washboard abs and a 28 inch waist. The health industry wants us to feel as though we need to look like that and if we fall short of it, well then, we need to be fixed to get healthy and they have the magic pills for us to take.

I have never followed the BMI because it is very faulty. Did you know that according to their BMI I am Obese, yea me. I have 6% body fat and my lean muscle mass is, well let’s not even go there. Am I unhealthy? I think not. Now I know that the BMI was originally designed by actuaries to show Insurance companies the statistical probability of a certain person at a certain weight, height and age and weight the probability of sickness or even death. For years it has worked for them, but can we look at a whole population of people and just blanket say that they are mostly all out of shape? I think not. I hope not!

Are the majority of black women out of shape and obese? I don’t know but what I do know is that we, as Americans, need to begin to take responsibility for our own health situation and make it much better than it is. We need to hold each other accountable because in the end… our country depends on it.

Thursday, December 5, 2013

The cats out of the bag!!!

Back in the 1905’s Camel cigarettes was the cool thing to smoke. The guys would walk around with a pack of the cancer sticks rolled up in their short sleeve shirts and they just knew they were cool. Back then we were lead to believe that much research was done on the topic of smoking and they had doctors that endorsed cigarette smoking. Hey, if a doctor endorses it, it must be OK right?

Well…years later, after the dust has settled and the real truth was let out of the box, we come to learn that cigarette smoking was never good for us. It never “expanded our lung capacity” or “created a stronger metabolism”. Quite the opposite, it has given us lung cancer and obesity. Why did they tell us that? So that the manufacturers could make money and lots of it. Now look at us, trying to quit the habit and finding it really hard to do. But hey, they have a patch or a pill that can help you. Wow, I am so glad they have the solution to the problem THEY created.

Now for years we have heard that a person can be overweight and still be healthy. For years I would scratch my head and wonder what drugs these people who are telling us this were taking. For years my research has shown me that people who are overweight are not healthy. For years I have been telling people that even if your blood numbers may look OK and you don’t have Diabetes (yet) or High Blood Pressure(yet) or High Cholesterol (yet) it will happen as the years go on and you get older. Our bodies are not meant to handle a consistent load of an extra 50, 60 or 100 pounds. Our bodies cannot work efficiently and one day will finally break down.

The average person should be able to walk a mile in under 17 minutes with no problem. The average person should be able to run (if physically possible) for a mile at 10 minute pace with no problem. The average person should be able to do 20 good pushups. The average person should be able to do 50 good sit ups with no problem. The average person should be able to touch their toes or tie their own shoes or cut their own toe nails. The average person should be able to walk up 10 flights of stairs without getting winded and stopping. Can we do that? Absolutely not and if we find a person that can, we call them super human.

Did you know that for years the cigarette companies knew the side effects of people who smoked and they even understood that once a person does stop, they will gain at least 40 pounds? Did you know that the FDA for years has known that obesity in any form is bad but not until the Research was released by endocrinologist Dr. Ravi Retnakaran, co-author of “the study in this week’s Annals of Internal Medicine” and author Dr. Caroline Kramer. Dr Caroline Kramer has stated, “Even in the absence of such markers as high blood pressure or elevated cholesterol, an obese person with a body mass index, or BMI, of 30 or greater had a 24% higher risk of having a heart attack or stroke or of early death compared to a normal-weight person.

“So we are telling people and doctors that it is not OK to be obese, even though you don’t have metabolic abnormalities…This excess of weight still confers increased risk for cardiovascular events.”

Common sense tells me that when you put more of a load on something that isn’t accustomed to the excess weight after w while it will give in and circum to the pressures of what that extra weight may cause. In our case eventually our heaviness will lead to cardiovascular issues and bone and muscle problems.

So there you have it, obesity in any form is not healthy and now doctors are jumping on board and agreeing. However, all is not lost. Don’t be alarmed. They have a pill for this too. If you want to really save money, get yourself in shape and then stay there.


Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Life Coach

The definition of a life coach is (Business / Professions) a person whose job is to improve the quality of his or her client's life, by offering advice on professional and personal matters, such as career, health, personal relationships, etc. Just the other day I was talking to Bill and he said that I was his life coach. I was going to correct him but then realized that on so many levels that is just who I am to him.

As I look at the things that I do for him and others for that matter, I go beyond what the typical personal trainer does. For my clients I

• Help the plan and create realistic fitness goals
• I construct for them the appropriate workouts for them to get to that goals
• I monitor them by periodically weighing them in once a week and take measurements once a month

But then I also do some other things that go above and beyond the call of duty.

• I call them once a day to check up on them including weekends
• I make home visits when necessary
• We talk about other things outside of just working out. All those life experiences one has that need to be talked about and dealt with.
• I have been known to stop in a restaurant while they are eating and check up on them. But never to embarrass them nor will I do it in front of others.

I do have some people that are out of state that I help and how I do that is by;

• Daily phone calls. No more than 5 minutes unless they demand more time
• Provide them with realistic workouts
• Provide them with realistic nutrition advise or the name of a person that can help them in their location
• I have also been known to find other personal trainers in their area and get them together.

I have a few clients that do a lot of traveling and this year they asked me if I had any contacts at the place they would be staying and I did and got them in contact with them and now they work with that trainer while they are away.

This I want to do for all who read my blogs. I want to do this for you. Now you are probably thinking that this is all well and good but how much does this cost. Well, let me just say that for all the above it is $100 per month. There are no strings nor are their hidden charges. Email me or call me at 262-567-0362 I want to have a talk with you today. Call me…

Monday, December 2, 2013

The Day after Thanksgiving...

It is now a few days after Thanksgiving and now you are focused on Christmas. Statistics have shown that people, on the average gain anywhere from 10 to 15 pounds at this time of year and all because our focus is off of our health and onto the hustle and bustle of gift giving and receiving. What should you do at this time to keep both your mind and your body in shape at this time of year and not be the average?

I have noticed that this year has been especially hard on me and my health. For some strange reason my left knee has been hurting me to a point where I really can’t get the quality of workout I so want to do on the track and because of that I see my weight increasing ever so slightly. I have called several people to give me some insight on what I should do but every person I have spoken to has told me nothing I already don’t know or have tried. So what am I doing now to fight the good fight and keep my weight in check and my body prime?

No, I am not taking any supplements or binging, but what I am doing is really watching my fuel intake. I only eat a regimented times and nothing in between. I am looking for every extra opportunity to get in some additional workout time and getting the rest that, at this time of year, most may forget about.

I recommend you all do the same thing. I am not saying to not enjoy the holiday season, but what I am saying is that you need to stay mindful of what you are consumption and remember that for every bit of fuel you intake there needs to be an opposite reaction and that is energy use.

Enjoy your day…

Friday, November 29, 2013

The day after Thanksgiving, Sweat Day!

Ok, so now you have just eaten more than you really wanted to. You enjoyed your family and friend time and you waking up feeling a little guiltier than you want to. You may have even gotten on the scale and it looks like it is 5 pounds up from just yesterday. Don’t worry all is not lost.

Today, the day after the feast, you should not give up on the rest of the year but today really focus on one thing… using the fuel you consumed on Thanksgiving. Today don’t sit around thinking about what happened yesterday but get up and get going. Go for a 30 minute walk outside.

Today may be black Friday for retailers but for you, it should be get a good sweat day. So here is a workout you can do for the day after Thanksgiving.

• 10 minutes on treadmill or 100 jumping jacks (for those that don’t have a treadmill)
• 25 crunches
• 30 seconds of bicycle
• Repeat these two exercises on the floor three times in total then go on
• Find yourself on a bench and do 25 knee lifts
• 20 leg lifts
• Repeat these two exercises on the bench three times in total then go on
• Now in plank position alternate knee touches, knees to elbows 25 times each leg
• Then hold plank position on elbows for 30 seconds
• Repeat three times before moving on to the final stage
• Back on treadmill but this time put treadmill on high incline, no less than 10 (if possible) and find a good walking pace. Now get a medicine ball or hold your hands up in the air, preferably a medicine ball and walk with that ball up over your head for 30 seconds at a time for a total of 10 minutes of walking time. You will feel this in your lower back, know that.

This workout is only 30 minutes long but will help you lose those extra inches you put on. Enjoy the rest of your day.

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Diet Soda... naming names...

As stated before, diet soda is not a diet product; it is a product that has been chemically altered and filled with sodium and aspartame which in turn makes you crave carbohydrates much more. One who drinks diet soda is more likely to gain weight not lose it and that has been proven on several fronts. As stated before Aspartame, once heated to 86 degrees F, turns into formaldehyde which is an absolute toxin and used to preserve “tissue specimens”. Hey I have an idea… lets all drink diet soda and this way we can preserve ourselves forever (lol).

Dr. H.J. Roberts states that once his patients stop drinking diet soda on the average, without doing any additional exercise or being on any specific diet, they lost an average of 19 pounds in one month.

Aspartame drives the blood sugar crazy so if you are a diabetic and drink diet soda thinking that you are doing a good thing, you are not. Because of the aspartic acid and phenylalanine together they act like a neurotoxin and it throws your acids levels out of whack. Treating diabetes is hard enough but by adding diet soda to the equations it only worsens the whole problem not helps it.

The company that developed this chemical was MONSANTO’S and just recently their patent expired and now there are over 5000 products out there on the market meant to kill us. No, I meant to say there are 5000 new products out there that are meant to give us substitutes to our horrible sugar problem. Sorry my bad. Here is the kicker… before a product like this gets out, I know that there is a lot of research that goes into it. They have taste testers and chemists that analyze their NEW product. I am almost certain that they knew the side effects of this chemical, they just turned a blind eye to it for the sake of the money to be made. That’s ok right? I mean the tobacco companies did it for years. They even found DOCTORS in the 1950’s that told us that smoking was actually good for us because it opens up our lung capacity.

I mean the American Diabetes Association, the American Dietetic Association and the Conference of the American College of Physicians have our best interest in mind right? Then why did they say nothing to warn us of the hazards of diet sodas. Shucks, they probably drink them also. On wait they can’t say anything to the contrary about this subject because they take money from MONSANTO. I guess we all have our price.

Senator Howard Metzenbaum wrote and presented a bill that would require warning labels on all these diet products and especially for pregnant women and children and well… what happened to that bill? It was killed even before the ink dried. The drug and chemical lobbies squelched that quickly. Money really does rule.

In a nut shell, diet soda is bad for us. It has no good and beneficial quality to it. Yea, it may taste good but what is the cost of all those bubbles and sweat taste? The cost in the end is health problems that of course they have a pill for. Hey I am beginning to get this game. Maybe I should move next to a bunch of fast food places, endorse them as substitutes for going home and cooking.



Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Diet Soda... continuation

So let’s get right into it. Aspartame is the big culprit here. They have labeled it the substitute to sugar and where it is a substitute, it is a very bad choice. Here is why… When the temperature of Aspartame exceeds 86 degrees F, the wood alcohol in Aspartame converts to formaldehyde and then to formic acid, which in turn causes metabolic acidosis.

So what is metabolic acidosis? Metabolic acidosis is a condition in which there is too much acid in the body fluids. Formic acid in the poison found in the sting of fire ants and the methanol toxicity mimics, among other conditions, multiple sclerosis and systemic lupus. Logic tells me that many people are being misdiagnosed as having MS or Lupus and in reality they are being slowly poisoned to death. MS is not a death sentence but Methanol toxicity is.

Dr H.J. Roberts states that systemic Lupus has become almost as rampant as multiple sclerosis, especially with diet coke and diet Pepsi drinkers. Most don’t realize the aspartame is the underlying culprit and try medicating so many other things only to put their health in further jeopardy and shortly thereafter becoming slaves to all types of medications. Aspartame drives our blood sugar out of control. Can you say diabetes? Aspartame is especially dangerous for diabetics because is puts the balance of their blood numbers way out of control and because of this can cause memory loss as well as so many other things. In all people especially diabetics Aspartame passes the blood/brain barrier and it then deteriorates the neurons of the brain. This can cause levels of brain damage, Seizures, Depression, Manic Depression, Panic attacks, Uncontrolled anger and/or Rage. In children can you say ADD or ADHD? Yup there is research that has linked the drinking of diet soda to these two issues. How many of our children do we allow to drink soda and diet soda for that matter? I have an idea. Take them off the soda kick and maybe the Ritalin won’t be necessary. Just a thought.

Notice how many obese people drink Diet soda thinking that it is a better alternative to regular soda? This same doctor says that once these people who have taken themselves off of diet sodas, there seems to be a resurgence in their health. I know for myself that once I stopped drinking Zero my health magically got better, big time. Diet soda is NOT a diet product. Quite the opposite it makes you crave carbohydrates and because of that you have a great potential to gain extra weight. It has been proven that once a person stops drinking diet sodas on average they lose 19 pounds over a month’s time.

Tomorrow I will be further discussing more findings. Enjoy your day.


Monday, November 25, 2013

Diet Soda... The best thing for us!


Where to start… Over the past several years I have been doing some research on the effects of diet soda on our system and here are my findings. In a nut shell it is by far the worst thing you can ever have to drink and especially if you are one of those gullible people who think that drinking regular sodas are the worst thing ever because of the natural sugar content, hold onto your seat and put down that Diet, Zero no Sugar soda because what I am about to share with you will upset your stomach and make you think next time you go to a store or a restaurant to order that “diet” soda.

I was talking to one of my employees and they brought something up to me that they wanted me to read. It was about the possible link between Multiple Sclerosis and Systemic Lupus with diet soda. As she discussed her findings she brought up the fact that in diet soda the one thing they market and show pride on is that it doesn’t have regular sugar but a chemical called “aspartame” and this was suppose to be the substitute to our sugar problem because you did not need as much to taste the sweetness. They have marketed it for years as the best substitute out there and “ZERO CALORIES” (Don’t get me started on that!).

However, first let me say that back in the day I was a big soda drinker and I thought it never had any effect on my system until I remember my surgeon telling me that when he went in to repair my patella tendon he noticed how dry it was and asked me if I drank a lot of soda. I blew him off and continued my habit until a few years back when I decided to go off the soda as a dear from my kids. I found that after a few weeks of being off the soda, I had no more cramps, nor was I straining any of my muscles, and I felt really strong. One thing I did go thru though, withdrawal. For several days I had a nagging headache that just would not go away until I had another soda and magically that headache went away. Once that happened the light bulb in my head went on and that was the last soda I had. It has been several years now and my body has thanked me in so many ways.

Kristina, the lady whose article I read, had a sister that was in a lot of pain and so sick that she just knew she was dying. She put her house, bank accounts, life insurance, etc, in her oldest daughter’s name and made sure that her younger children were to be taken care of. She had one thing that she wanted to do before her death and that was to go to Florida. She planned that trip for March 22. Kristina says that she called her sister on March 19th to see if she got her test results back and she told Kristina that the doctor believes that she has MS. Kristina goes on to say that she remember talking to a friend about drinking diet soda and what the possible effects could be to your system. So she told her sister to stop drinking soda and Kristina forwarded the email to her. After her sister read the article, she immediately stopped drinking diet soda and passed the article on to her doctor who immediately contacted all of his patients that he had diagnosed with Lupus or MS and he had one question for them… Do you or have you drank a lot of diet soda before the diagnosis? The majority of them stated that they had and were still doing it.

After telling her doctor and after being off of soda for over 2 days she tells Kristina that her systems started to come back and she did not feel as tired. To make a long story short, when she went to Florida and the cool thing was that she could walk, when just days prior she was being fitted for a wheel chair.

There have been major studies done on this topic of Diet soda and our body and I believe that one of the reasons why we have not heard much about it in the media is because, well, money. If you pay the right people, it’s amazing how much stuff never gets out. Well in my next blog, I will be revealing the results of some of these studies. Enjoy your day and STAY AWAY FROM THE SODA!

Thursday, November 21, 2013

An appology?


Just recently I was asked to apologize for a blog I had written some time ago about holding ourselves accountable to our families, especially our children, when it comes to our overall health. In this blog I also called out men to step up to the plate and get themselves in much better shape than they are currently in, because our future generations only follow our lead and if we are in poor health, it doesn’t give them much hope of achieving much more. How embarrassing is it when you have to have someone else teach your children how to ride a bike or have someone else teach your children the fundamentals of a given sport that maybe you participated in when you were younger. How embarrassing is it when your children follow after other famous athletes because, well, you just don’t cut the mustard any more.
Well, an apology I will not give and here are my reasons why…


• In this life we have made it so that anyone who challenges another to improve on anything is shunned and told that being average is all we need to shoot for. Imagine if our past generations had settled for just being average where we would be today, or not be for that matter. Imagine if MLK did not step out and just accepted the fate of people of color or if JFK decided that going to the moon was just not possible. Many laughed at those men but look at where their efforts have brought us to.


• In this life of political correctness anyone who brings up the possibility of controversy, so that we don’t’ create waives, we are told to just agree to disagree, no matter how wrong the other person may be. “In this life my kids are going to be tempted by people who are going to want them to drink alcohol socially. So that I can keep control over their habits I will allow them to drink only at home while I am here. It doesn’t matter if they are under age. They are going to do it anyway.” Or “Johnny has a girlfriend and I know if he hasn’t done it yet he will be soon so I think I will just give him condoms so that he could practice safe sex.” What is fundamentally wrong with these two statements? Are we just to smile and agree to disagree? I think not! I hope Not!


• I have been told that as a Christian I need to be sensitive to others feelings and always show compassion and kindness. Strange, in my bible I don’t always see that. In my bible I see people being called out to follow Christ and walk towards the light and truth. I see people standing steadfast on their belief that there is only one way to Heaven. I don’t ever remember reading a verse that says, “There are many ways to Heaven and as long as you are a good person and do good to others and don’t hurt anyone you will get in.” I think my Bible says that there is only ONE way to heaven and that is thru Christ Jesus not any other way. I must have a bad edition.


With that said, I stand by my writings. We have become a fat and lazy society and we are losing our ability to be the power house we once were. Going towards the norm and feeling comfortable there should not be even a thought because every year our norms diminish quicker and quicker. Oh, you don’t believe me? We have more people now with Type 2 diabetes than ever before. Taking medications are no longer an exception but the norm just to keep us alive. High cholesterol and High blood pressure have become objects of common dinner conversations as we compare whose blood pressure or cholesterol are higher. Now I am suppose to apologize for stating that we all need to get off our fat butts and get moving. I am suppose to apologize for holding my generation accountable for the illnesses of our children and generations to come. I think not, nor will I ever.


My blogs are meant to motivate you to make a difference in your own life and health. My blogs are to make you feel uneasy with your current situation. My blogs are to make you want to prove to me that I am wrong and that we aren’t as bad as I think we are. I WANT YOU TO PROVE ME WRONG! I DARE YOU!


I will apologize for one thing though… for not writing this earlier. For that I am sorry.

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

The Holidays


Well we are coming up on the holidays and it is the time when we give thanks for all the blessing we have received. It’s time to be with family and friends and make good memories and share good laughs. It’s a time to give to others and receive from others. But it also the time when glutteny, over endulgence and weigh gain show their ugly faces. The question I want to answer is what we need to do to enjoy the holidays without being a joy-kill.


It’s not fun when you have all that food right in front of you and then when you eat it you feel guilty. What should you do so that you can eat all you want to eat and not gain a single pound. The answer is… right before you eat and right after the meal, get active. Now I am not saying go to the gym and get in a 2 hours session, but what I am saying is after you eat, take your family on a walk or go play some football in the back yard. Play some inter-active game on PS2. Do something that will allow your body to use the fuel (food) you consumed. By doing this you may not experience the weight gain like most Americans do at this time and you may just create memories that will last you a life time.


Now go enjoy your holiday season...

Monday, November 18, 2013

Desire-Temptation-Effort-Results


I was sitting in Sunday school the other day and the teacher was talking about the progression that we go thru when it comes to sin and its outcome. What I believe he said in a nut shell is that no one I know wakes up in the morning looking to sin and there needs to be steps before anyone person really sins. They are desire and temptation then sin and finally that leads to death.

Desire is the ability to think about something or someone and we want to follow thru with that thought. Once that desire has been dwelled upon for a period of time, it births temptation. Now we all know what temptation is. Our desires weaken our ability to stand strong against what we know to be wrong and when we dwell enough on that thing, we become tempted to act upon those thoughts. Those thoughts once acted upon breed’s sin. Now some people think that just the thought breeds the sin and there are bible verses to substantiate that claim however, even with that said the thought once acted upon definitely breed’s sin and once sin has fully matured in us there is only one outcome and it is never good.

Now I am not a Pastor but a Certified Personal Trainer so let me see if I can put my opening statement another way. Desire, the willingness to think and dwell on the promise of getting in better shape and once we dwell on this thought long enough we become tempted enough to try and put in action those desires (every January for most Americans, hint hint). Now not acting on those desires breeds sin. As much as we don’t want to admit it, anything we do to the body that harms the body in any way is a sin against the body and thus is sin in the eyes of God. Don’t kid yourself it is. If you smoke or are addicted to drugs or drink excessive alcohol or over eat you are sinning against the body and we all know where that will lead us and it’s not good.

But there is a fork in the road at temptation. There is a decision that one needs to make. If you want to sin and keep on sinning then take the road most traveled to the left and continue but please note that we all know where that will lead us in the end. However, if we want to take the road least traveled then go to the right and understand that this road leads us to a quality of life that will be the envy of most people. There you will find a physical freedom that is very hard to put into words. But I will tell you that this road has no medications, we are able to do anything we wish to do without physical limitations and in the end this road leads us to a great quality of life. Yes, a life worth living.

Thanks for the Bible lesson Titus!


Friday, November 15, 2013

Being Average

Average adult Americans are about one inch taller, but nearly a whopping 25 pounds heavier than they were in 1960, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The bad news, says CDC is that average BMI (body mass index, a weight-for-height formula used to measure obesity) has increased among adults from approximately 25 in 1960 to 28 in 2002 and now in 2013 it is 34.

Meanwhile, the average weight for men aged 20-74 years rose dramatically from 166.3 pounds in 1960 to now pushing 240 pounds in 2013 , while the average weight for women the same age increased from 140.2 pounds in 1960 to now in 2013 an average weight of 180 pounds. Here are some more average facts;

• Men in their 40- 49 age group weigh 35 pounds more now in 2013 than their counter parts of the 1960’s.
• Men in their 50-59 age group weigh the same 35 pounds more than their counter parts of the 1960’s.
• Men in their 60-69 age group weigh 40 pounds heavier than their counter parts of the 1960’s.
• Women in their 40 – 49 age group weigh 35 pounds heavier than their counter parts of the 1960’s.
• Women in their 50-59 age group weigh 39 pounds heavier than their counter parts of the 1960’s.
• Women in their 60-69 age group weigh 15 pounds heavier than their counter parts of the 1960’s.

Here are some troubling statistics I have read from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC):

The average 10 year old boy weighed 74.3 pounds in 1963 and now a ten year old boy in 2013 weighs an average of 105 pounds. The average 10 year old girl in 1963 weighed 77.4 pounds and now in 2013 that average is 84 pounds. The average 15 year old boy in 1966 weighed 153 pounds and today in 2013 that has skyrocketed to 170 pounds and the average girl at age 15 has gone from 124.2 pounds in 1966 to now 140 pounds in 2013.

Now not to over dramatize anything, yes the height of a 10 year old has increased but insignificant compared to the weigh in percentages. In 1963 the height of a male age 10 was 55.2 inches now it is 55.7 inches and for a female of the same age 55.5 inches as compared to 57.2 inches today.

As for the 15 year old boys they have gone from 67.5 inches (5’7.5”) in 1966 to 68.8 inches (5’8.4”) and there was really no notable change in the females (63.9 inches and the same today)

What troubles me is that shooting just to be average has gotten us to where we are today. We all need to step up our games and get healthier lifestyles so that High Blood pressure, High Cholesterol, and diabetes stop becoming common place. Or your other option is to become the average American and well… be a statistic. It’s your choice.

Monday, February 25, 2013

WLC 2013 Great Day Lessons learned

This week I felt as though we needed to go and have some fun outside of Parkers Place. However we needed to do something different and relearn some life lessons along the way. So, what do we do? Go rock climbing. Not just any ole rock climbing but scaling 20 and 30 foot walls. Now what’s the point? When they first arrived, some had fears of heights, some had fears of mot being able to accomplish climbing, some were afraid of thinking they were making a fool of themselves. Well, today is the first day in the process of putting those fears to bed and for good. Thank you Adventure Rock for helping us in this process. After our instructor gave us the once go around and some safety tips, I then had a few instructions for them. They were: 1) Before going on the wall, plot a course and then stay true to the course 2) Don’t look down 3) Use your legs not your arms when scaling the rock 4) Even when you want to, don’t quit As each person went I began to notice a few things, 1) They would all get to a point, and with the exception of a few, they would panic and begin to listen to everyone down on the floor and ultimately fail and fall off the rock. 2) They would use their upper body more than their lower body 3) Once a person looked down and saw how high they were, they would panic and come down. I noticed something else, once a person failed to complete the course everyone would come along side that person and stroke them telling them that it was ok and try and make them feel better. They would give them excuses as if it were ok to not make it to the top. There were a few times when a person would get stuck because they were either tired or confused on what they should do next and I noticed how every person would start shouting commands to them which in turn only made them more confused and in the end they would repel off the rock. In the end not everyone made it up the rock but life lessons had been relearned and here they are. Have you ever tried to overcome something, especially when it comes to getting in better shape, and everything you read and everything people are telling you only get you more confused? So confused that you just give up? Have you ever sat down and asked yourself what your real goals were and then plotted a course to achieve those goals? I wrote about that just a few months back, I called it the Business Fitness Plan, please read it. When we fail, don’t we look for people to stroke us to make us feel better? When we fail, don’t we enable others to do the same, on some level, so that we feel better about our own effort? When it comes to overcoming a big obstacle, we must first look at it in its entirety and then break it down to its smalls achievable pieces and then a little at a time begin the climb to get ourselves to the goal we set. We must find that one person who can give you realistic professional advice and only follow that person. Don’t ask a lot of people because each person will give you different advice. We must use our strong points to achieve (our legs) and not our weak points (our arms) because we will never accomplish much and ultimately we will fail. When we feel like we have reached the end of our rope and we just can’t make it anymore. We need to stay calm and remember the plan. Stay focused and block out the rest of the world and what they are telling you and put one foot in front of the other until we reach that ultimate goal… much better health and fitness. When I asked those who had completed the course how they felt, every one of them told me that they at first felt nervous but once they got started and they kept their head up and their eye in the prize, and they made it, they felt great. They felt as though they could finish any other course put in front of them and they were more willing to try the harder ones. I did one final thing for them. I started them on the easiest rock there. Why? Because once they could finish that course and gain confidence in their abilities as a climber going to tackle hard course became a doable challenge and something they looked forward to. The lesson here is, never take on more than you can really do. If you take too much on you may become overwhelmed and within a short time quit. Whereas if you just take a little bit at a time before you know it, you will have just not scaled that wall but much harder ones. What are those rocks in your life that are keeping you from better health? Look at those rocks, plot a course and begin the process of breaking them rocks down.