Before coronavirus lockdowns, I was a full-time fitness instructor who coached HIIT classes for over a hundred people per day. I used to wake up at 3:40 AM on most days and it was an honor and a pleasure to be part of those people’s lives.
Now I find myself lonely at times, but I am still maintaining my fitness and I want to share the reasons why so that it can help you succeed.
There are so many excuses to quit.
Heavy breathing, burning quads and the possibility for injury?
Please, explain the importance of running so that I can go out and expose myself to these uncomfortable forces for the greater good.
Take a moment to appreciate that you have the capacity to bipedal your way through this life as many others have not been offered such privilege or have had it taken away from them.
Arizona. OTF class, 2013.
While running, there is freedom to express one’s authentic spirit and to traverse the gravitational vibes of Earth’s divine presence. I seek unlimited. With this comes the mindset that allows for inclusion and transformation of any and all things.
It is a mistake to try and think less while running, unless that’s working for you now.
I think it is better to open the mind to the possibility of greater rhythm and flow.
You can really feel the energy flowing through your body this way, especially as you run tall, elbows back and behind, engaging the core, lifting knees high off the ground, and kick back with excellent glute activation.
Maybe, let go of telling your body what to do and do more about asking about what it can do.
For example, instead of saying, “I need to run faster, I can’t do this, it hurts,” perhaps it should be more like, “what is the deeper motivational reason to keep going?” “how centered or heart-focused am I right now, can I lift my chest a little higher? “does this effort bring me genuine, healthy pride?”
I don’t mean to be rude here, but the only reason average runners stay average is because they aren’t willing to go deeper. Going deeper means confronting vulnerable areas of your psyche. While we are all vulnerable, nobody is truly average so keep reading on.
When I speak of energy in this case, I am referring to the type of energy you put in your mouth.
Yes, food. Elite runners understand the importance of good nutrition.
Everything has a symbolic and spiritual nature.
First, let us expand on the idea of, to have meaning. This word has been used for over 700 years and it relates strongly to, “sense.” Additionally, “the act of remembering,” and, “that which is intended to be expressed.”
Energy that is devoid of meaning has been stripped of its essence. It can be argued that it has lost some vital force that once gave it more meaning. The isolation of energy from purpose has stripped too many people of their health. Diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and many gut issues may arise because the foundational pillars of healthy normal function have crumbled.
Meaningless food example: refined sugar.
Refined sugar has been stripped of its original meaning which it was once symbolized by its plant form.
Now, take me back to my trip in Colombia, where I sipped on fresh raw sugarcane juice. Here, you have a different nutritional reality because the enzymes and other vital forces remain active in a fresh juice form. That’s not to say it was without a, “con,” as I’m sure it still raised my blood sugar more than needed.
Colombia inspired my nutritional adventures by offering me fresh raw sugarcane juice on this scenic lake.
Rule of thumb: food should be recognizable to its original form.
I will go on much deeper into the DNA of healthy nutrition later, so stay tuned for that.
I have a belief that survival is a deeper value than longevity. That is perhaps one reason why some people keep running day in, day out, even with nagging pains that they’re neglecting. Caution: even though pain often comes from a nagging area in the body, there are likely deeper imbalances that must be addressed.
Furthermore, boundaries must be set with relationships to yourself and others. I have been guilty of prioritizing my exercise and offering less time for other people in my life. This is an area that I am trying to improve upon.
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Minor injuries like light muscular strains might actually be a good thing. If you can recover from a little something in 7-10 days, it’s certainly not the worst thing that could happen. I can think of way worse things.
There are worse things! We might just need to learn new ways.
So here is a short list of things that might help you in the process of recovery and wellness.
It can be valuable to look for the root cause of a recurring concern. Often times we do need to strengthen the glutes more and get hip flexors feeling better.
Our brain sends the signal that moves us. How we move is important, so it is important to be mindful of our movement.
Good to know about this.
Focus on posture, core, glutes.
It might be beneficial to perform barefoot exercises, especially including a balance component.
Apparently human ancestors have only been standing upright for 5 million years or less and the sun is several billions of years old.
It’s interesting to note that the human foot seems to have flattened out. The animals shown here appear to have hand-like function with their feet in some ways.
We did spend a lot of time barefoot which we certainly do less of in modern times.
Mindfulness and mind-body connection support you in the process.
So long as you use it an opportunity to learn, then I think that you can heal from this.
Meanwhile, the cure may just be apparent in the process itself.
In case you are looking for something a bit more natural that might work with the body, I am a long time customer of this brand on Amazon and also Amazon associate:
Antioxidants are F** awesome!
Even though in bodybuilding, many people will train chest on one day, back on one day, legs on one day, arms on one day, and shoulders and abs on one day, I’ve never found that style to be effective for me. I like to train the basic upper body exercises on the same day.
Dumbell Row
Upper/Lower split is like this:
Monday: Lower body
Tuesday: Upper body
Wednesday: Rest day
Thursday: Lower Body
Friday: Upper body
Sat/Sunday: Rest days or other workouts, yoga, exercise classes, various activities, outings, etc.
Full Body workout would be like this:
3-5x per week with various daily emphasis and listening to your body for recovery purposes. If you are doing Orangetheory Fitness, then it’s possible you’re already doing this. That being said, if you’re serious about gaining more strength, you’ll want to do dedicated strength training sessions and not just cardio/weights combination every time.
If you read the muscle magazines, you really need to understand that mainstream bodybuilding magazines are full of men and women on steroids and/or performance enhancers. The reason is because illegal steroids are easy to order online and widely accessible to anybody who’s willing to do a little research. Also, they work really well and have a lot of side effects.
What those people put into their bodies is none of my business, but it creates false perceptions when it comes to the, “what,” “how,” and, “when” can I see those results for myself. Most fitness magazine cover models have bodies that are simply unattainable for people who are unwilling to risk their health by taking steroids.
You really shouldn’t be so concerned about shredding/destroying your muscles during an excessively long weight training session full of drop sets and exercises to failure. Instead, train for frequency and continually get stronger in key exercises such as squats, deadlift variations, bench press, rows, weighted pull ups, dips, overhead press, arm curls/extensions, and leg curls.
All you have to really do is practice on the key exercises and make progress. Most people can recover the muscles sufficiently within 48 hours as long as you didn’t burn yourself out or always going for 1 rep maxes or always going to failure.
Just imagine if you trained your bench press 2-3x/week, your db row 2-3x/week, squats and leg curls 2-3x/week! You’d make progress way faster than just doing it once per week along with a bunch of isolation exercises.
Of course my demographic is not bodybuilding on this blog even though some people will have an interest in bodybuilding. Let me tell you, I am also interested in bodybuilding and I follow it sometimes, but I am not interested in being a bodybuilder. Fitness is my game. There’s no shame in that.
Standing overhead press is more athletic than seated overhead press and yields more benefits for fitness.
Athletes are probably the fittest people on the planet and most of them are required to take some sort of drug tests. I’d suggest to look into how athletes train — be goal oriented and don’t spread yourself too thin in your training.
For my upper body workout, I’ll usually spend a couple months prioritizing about 3-4 exercises that I would typically do first in a training session. For example, on lower body, I have recently prioritized rear-foot elevated split squats and I went from doing 135lbsx8 reps per leg to doing 205lbsx6 reps per leg — the glute growth was noticeable and my running strength improved.
No need to be fancy, just set a goal on a few exercises at any given point and prioritize them. All of the other exercises are just to support the goal of increasing strength in the ones that you are prioritizing (or to promote injury prevention).
I can program an exercise routine for you that is top notch, guaranteed to be effective. However, if you constantly go to bed late, drink alcohol often, and neglect your nutrient intake, then you’ll never make it past the “newbie gains.”
It’s not a damn secret — vegetables are the best for you.
I love strength training with weights because of the sense of accomplishment and because I know that there is literally no way I am going to make progress in the weight room if I don’t take care of my nutrition and sleep. The weight room teaches me lessons about myself and encourages me to take care of my body.
I feel confident from my experiences, not so much from my body. But I can tell you that if I didn’t didn’t take care of myself, then those experiences I’ve had over the years wouldn’t have been as rewarding or opened nearly as many doors.
Thanks for reading and I’m excited that this blog is growing. It seems like we’re getting new followers everyday!
“If you wanna grow, you gotta row.”
The dumbbell row exercise will help strengthen the muscles of the upper back, lats, rear deltoids, forearms, biceps, and even the core. For an upper body exercise, the dumbbell row has almost countless benefits for nearly all strength, athletic, and fitness goals.
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the aesthetic benefits of having toned back muscles. Both men and women have an improved appearance (and signals of ability) by strengthening the muscles that are targeted by the DB Row.
“Some engaged lats”
For men, waist to shoulder ratio is an obvious sign of attractiveness. And for women, the DB Row can strengthen the lats and upper back and give the waist a slimming appearance due to having improved muscular proportion.
Everybody has some asymmetry so it is an important part of a good strength training program to balance strength between all planes of the body. By working one side at a time, you are guaranteed to know how much that particular side can lift, without ever wondering if your body is compensating.
A fine example would be the
Dre Fitness 