New Year - New Body

Seems a lot of people are talking about losing weight, becoming more healthy, working out, etc. Oh wait that's right it's the beginning of the year. Resolution time. This is when so many lock down one of the 2 fundamentals to change their bodies - desire. The other fundamental is more tricky and usually is the reason why many of the "resolution" folk don't hit their goals. That fundamental is belief.

Often people sabotage themselves because they don't believe they can hit their goal and for one reason or another jump on the excuse train to quitsville. "I can't possibly do this or do that so I'll cut a corner here, a corner there" and then "I'm getting no results, I'll never have those massive guns or that six pack - oh look soda, oh look ice cream...oh look soda with ice cream in it!". That's about the gist of the process. Part of the problem is misinformation. We are just not educated enough to understand how the processes in our bodies work and that affects our belief in the end result. If we lose the belief that we can enact change in our bodies we will eventually lose the desire.

A good example of this is the thought that you can spot target fat loss. "Oh look at my belly, I know! I will do 1000 crunches and my abs will magic their way from under the layers of fat!". Turns out that doesn't work and all you gained is a strained neck and an injured back. Reason being, it's true what they say , abs are in fact made in the kitchen. I am a firm believer in the 80/20 rule (80%  nutrition, 20% exercise). If you eat properly (that's great tasting healthy food - it's not a myth people!) you will shed fat over your entire body.

Can't tell me this doesn't taste fantastic!

 Your last fat stores to go tend to be the exact problem area you are looking to "target", like your belly bulge. No amount of crunches are going to make that pouch budge until your other stores are depleted. And on top of that crunches are terrible for you! stop right now! Do some functional core centric routines (abdominals does not equal core btw) and you'll have much better results and avoid imbalances since you are not helping your lateral obliques or your back which can lead to injury due to imbalance, and oh wait no working out due to said injury, and eating since you are sad you cannot work out...but i digress. There is a reason that your body stored all that fat there to begin with. We cannot control which area our body burns fat from at a given time, but we can continually burn it until all that's left is that final problem area and that too will disappear.

Maybe our resolutions should be adjusted to avoid misinformation and using our brains to understand how exactly our systems work so at the end of the day, we can still believe in our end result. That way we can avoid the eventual pitfalls including losing the excitement you had on January 1st that this is your year to rule the pool! Also, maybe we can change that to the year we become more healthy so we can live better quality lives for longer than we would have otherwise, but hey if "rule the pool" gets the same results - there's your motivation. Keep the belief!

Check out the fat I didn't spot reduce - also 0 crunches. Zero!

"There's no way you can get in shape working full time raising an infant and using DVD programs" - Cool story bro

Superhuman

It is thought that superhuman abilities are found exclusively in the realm of fiction. Open up a comic book and you will see unimaginable feats of strength, lasers shot out of eyes, and beings moving faster than light itself. What many do not realize however is that all of us possess tremendous ability but lack the belief to wield it. The source is in our skulls. Our brains have many functions but one function in particular allows us to blur the line between human and superhuman. It is the ability to believe. The inability to use this function is one of the most restricting factors in our lives. We have such a hard time believing, especially in believing just how far our limits lie. Those who can do and those who cannot are separated only by belief.

Once upon a time scientists conducted studies and determined that it is humanly impossible to run a mile in under 4 minutes. That is until Roger Bannister came along and believed he could break this limit and proved science wrong. Since then, that limit has been broken time and again - even by high school students. Bannister's story is an old tale yet we still fail to believe in the simplest of things. We don't believe we can get six pack abs, we don't believe we can stop smoking, we don't even believe we can lose a few pounds. Yet out there are superhumans redefining what we are capable of. We cannot possibly run a marathon, yet in 2006 Dean Karnazes ran 50 marathons, in 50 states, in 50 consecutive days! We are too old and have lost our youthful vigor, yet this past year Lew Hollander completed the Iron Man at age 80! It was his 21st Iron Man event which he began participating in at the ripe age of 59. Anyone, anywhere, anytime can choose to become superhuman and you don't even need to order a shake weight to do it. And if your still wondering, yes we can fly, I'll leave you with the proof...

Best Year Ever!

2010 has turned out to be the longest and best year in the books. This past year has been all change and evolution and to top it off, New Years Eve 2011 continues that trend and probably will be my best New Years Eve. So what have I done so far tonight? - passed out, woke up, worked out (Insanity), cold shower, and ringing in the new year all pajama and hoodied up watching some awesome flicks with some other lazy bums. Yes NYE 2010 PajamaJammaJam is in full effect. I am officially entering 2011 in a complete relaxed and chilled state of mind. My resolution?...keep the peace of tonight with me and enjoy life. 2011 is definitely going to top 2010 considering I will be a father in a few short weeks. The longest marathon of my life is about to commence and it's going to be no sleeping, bottle feeding, poop wiping awesomeness. 2011 is Linkin's year. Here is a look back at 2010...

New Jersey Wedding!

Hawaii Wedding!

Beerfest!

Cruise!

 Tough Mudder Bear Creek!

Honeymoon - Anguilla!

    Tough Mudder Tristate!

Mind - Body - Soul

Balance. Balance is supposed to be the source of peace and happiness in our lives but who has the time to figure out what balance is let alone achieve it. Our worlds move so fast we barely have time to even realize we are out of whack, but if you just pause for a moment the answers usually come rushing up and slap you in the face. I've found the secret to be pretty simple for me. In my case, I focus on 3 simple things - mind, body, and soul. Everyday I feed my trinity and my life is better for it. Each aspect isn't necessarily exclusive despite being completely different components. The things you do to take care of yourself can fall into any combination of mind, body, and soul. Lately to feed my mind I have been reading a lot. I have been reading plenty on health, nutrition, and fitness which enriches my training. Formulating food strategies is definitely amplifying the results of my workouts. My energy levels are high and my body composition is moving along the path I want it to take. Many would stop there and focus solely on mind and body...actually probably only body (and really only physical appearance and not actual health). 

Balance: Not so much

Soul should definitely have as much attention as mind and body. For me feeding the soul is all about emotion. Help someone with something - anything, listen to some epic music, create something - If it's food, I want some, except dessert, I don't like sweet things (makes cutting out sugar pretty easy for me lol). I spend time everyday with my wife (mostly couch time since shes 9 months pregnant!) and always make time for some kind of other relaxation activity. I used to spend a ton of time playing video games and watching movies. The past couple of months I haven't played any video games at all (extremely, extremely out of character for me) and my movie watching time has greatly decreased. I think I may be addicted to health and fitness related activities lol. All in all everything I have been doing as it relates to taking care of mind, body, and soul decreases my stress levels. I usually don't stress about much at all but it would take a lot to throw me out of whack, especially now. Live long and prosper.