Turbo Fire Journey!

Today I started my first day with doing Turbo Fire.  Now for you guys out there that think this may be a really lame workout let me tell you that it is far from it!  This thing kicked my butt!  I have been doing P90X, Insanity and Rev Abs for over 2 years now.  I look at myself as a person who is fairly fit, and also a person who focuses on eating well also.  In my two years of doing beachbody workouts I have always believed that Insanity has to be the most intense program out.  Well I was wrong.

For those who know about Insanity, the program is pretty intense interval training where you put your body to the test for around three minutes and then follow it with a 30 second rest in between sets.  Turbo fire has that same kind of intensity, only the breaks are not as close together.  I am a huge Insanity fan, and cannot wait for the new Insanity: The Asylum to come out, but this has nothing to do with being a huge fan or not.  Turbo Fire has already showed me what it was all about. 

Day one has consisted of a punches and some good music, mixed in with a little bit of dance.  I am not one to dance either fellas, as a matter of fact I never hit the dance floor in clubs, however in the confinements of my house I have no problem hitting the mix with whatever Chalene Johnson is doing.  I know that this program is legit, but my body has not felt this kind of sore in a long time.  I am anxious to see what tomorrow brings.  I will keep you posted on how Turbo Fire continues to treat me, until then remember to:

Own yourself!  Run your life!

Shakeology 4 Months In

So I have talked before about Shakeology and doing a three-day cleanse, but I really cannot stop talking about this product because I believe in it so much.  I have been taking Shakeology now for 4 months and am amazed with what it continues to do for me.  It took me a while to actually get on this product.  I mean I would see all the videos over it after doing one of our beachbody workouts, but I never really took much thought into doing it.

When the videos talked about all the healthy ingredients and all the x factors of what it does for the body I just figured the way I was eating was good enough and I was pretty happy with how I looked so I didn’t see the point.  It wasn’t until I went to a Tony Horton (maker of P90X) Event that I actually took a sample of Shakeology. 

I tried the Green and was somewhat impressed, but then came across the chocolate and just fell in love with how it tasted.  I also noticed that it kept me full during the event so I was pretty anxious to see what a full month would do.  

I believe that all of my extra energy I have had comes from the Shake.  Not only am I 12 pounds lighter, I notice that after taking my shake it gives me a little extra boost.  I am not saying that I am wired and ready to go for days or anything like that, but I get a little pick me up and it really helps.  I have started drinking my shake at the time when I normally am getting down and really bonking due to the nature of the day, which is normally 3:00 PM. 

I know that my body is getting everything that it needs and it helps me feel more comfortable about my nutrition.  I count calories but have found myself not coming close to going over my target since the shakes are so low in calories.  As a meal replacement, this has really helped me stay where I need to be.  

The doctors are saying that Shakeology is a revolutionary meal replacement.  I know that it has definitely changed my life, my wife’s life, and now we give it to our kids who love the way it tastes.  I don’t mind sharing though, I mean it is not everyday that you have a two, five, seven, and nine year old begging to consume something so healthy.

So although I am only 4 months into it and cannot speak for everyone, I will say that I have loved my time doing Shakeology and recommend it to anyone serious about simplifying their nutrition and taking their health to the next level.

Own yourself! Run your life! 

It is Never Too Late

I feel blessed to have found what I believe to be my purpose in life, and I found it at the age of 26.  I know that for the longest time I struggled understanding what my dad use to tell me.  “Remember your Purpose”, he would tell me all the time, sometimes multiple times during the same conversation with me.  When I was a kid I use to look at him and think, “Is this conversation ever going to end?”  I know now that his phrase means the world to me now. 

What is your purpose?  Why do you do the things that you do on a daily basis?  What is it that completely makes you feel like you are on top of the world?  And vise versa, what is it that you absolutely cannot stand doing?  We all talk about what we like and dislike.  I hear it often, and up until recent I use to say these things and not really understand why I did what I did or liked what I liked. 

Your purpose is what gives you meaning.  It is what helps you form what path you are on in life.  So what is it that you are driven to do?  For me my purpose is to serve God and my fellow man by being loving, passionate, caring, funny, exciting example of the endless possibilities when you commit yourself to helping others achieve.  To me that gives me a joy and a sense of significance that is needed to allow me to keep going.  So many times in the past I would find myself questioning what I really wanted to do.

How often do you find yourself wanting to try something out and then choose not to do it only because you don’t have time, or because you are afraid of what people may think?  I use to worry about what people thought all the time, and I still catch myself doing that at times.  What I have to remind myself is that the people that really care about me would like to see me happy, so do what makes me happy. 

So what is your purpose?  Have you been heading along the path you feel will lead closer and closer to living your purpose?  These are not easy questions, but when answered the feeling of not wanting to get out of bed disappears, and life becomes a little clearer.

Own yourself! Run your life!

To Be A Kid Again

Being a stay at home dad is something I never thought would fit me. I mean I am a go-getter, a guy who just jumps at opportunities and loves to be active in many different areas of life at once.  It was not until recently that I began noticing what it was that really had me loving being at home with my two year old.

I am and will always be a kid at heart.  I love joking around and playing games.  I enjoy laughter and being around people who can make me laugh, and I really dislike putting myself in the stresses of daily adult life.  You know what kind I am talking about, where us adults focus on so many things that has no relevance to the day or even the week we are living in. 

The phone bill do at the end of the month causes us so much stress even when it is just the first day of the month.  Or the grocery lists that are never ending and lead to long lines with people who are so rude and inconsiderate.  Or how about the to do list full of things that are not leading to what you really want, but you do them and still are stressed out because what it is you really desire is not being attended to.  All these stresses in our life continually add up and leave us unhappy and just trying to survive.

I was apart of this crowd.  I was constantly in a state of stress.  And although now I have calmed myself from always being in this state, I still find myself going back to this place I call Adult Ville and have to always work on keeping out.

That is why I love my kids.  I stay at home with my youngest during the day and am always in for a new adventure.  Well in her mind it is a new adventure, in mine it is Tuesday midmorning and were doing “play time with her toys”.  After that we hit the grocery store, followed by lunch and then good old naptime.  See there I am in Adult Ville.  But in her eyes every moment is something brand new.  She plays with a toy like it is the first experience with it, but the funny thing is she sleeps with it every day. 

My other three are just the same.  I pick them up from school, and then it is homework, then snack, followed by a little clean up session.  UGH! there I go in Adult Ville again.  To them they come home and are always playing the “what if game”, or hide and go seek in between snack and clean up.  My favorite is the quick nerf gun war where they are all a different character every time.  "I call spiderman! (spiderman doesn't have a gun!) ya huh! His is a web gun that shoots and can catch bullets too! "

Looking at my kids and the way they truly enjoy life has made me a better person.  I want that youthful spirit.  I lost a lot of that before becoming a stay at home dad.  Do I get frustrated to the point where I feel my head is going to explode?  You bet ya!  But I also find myself being able to lose myself from Adult Ville even if it is just for two minutes, and remember what it is like to live in the moment!

Own yourself! Run your life!

Every Good Thing Starts Somewhere

 I know you have seen all the stories about someone who has come up from out of nowhere to be an overnight superstar.  Do you really think that it happened overnight?  To the public, those who have not ever known the person until they came into the light, it looks like it was overnight.  But if you really take a look at what it took to get them there, anyone can see that it took much longer than what most people would allow to reach their dreams, not to mention a much harder road to travel then some may think. 

I look at the road I have traveled and notice that the bumps and potholes in my own road have been some of the best things for me.  Looking back at when I was a college coach, had the hard times not come and really given me a solid lesson in life I would probably still be coaching.  Not that I did not love the sport, lord knows I do.  But what I do now completes every possible feeling I have in my body and I am able to spend time with my children day in and day out without having to hit the recruiting trail, or a road trip for an away game. 

So why do we hate it so much when something comes into our life that makes us feel uncomfortable or overwhelmed?  Why do we allow ourselves to get frustrated or angry?  Why have the feeling of regret or disappointment?  All these emotions are classified as negative actions, but really they should just be looked at as signs to take action. 

What does that mean to take action?  Well think about it.  If I felt hot and was wearing a sweater, I would simply take the sweater off to help me cool down.  That is taking action.  When you feel Overwhelmed that means you need to really prioritize what it is that you need to get done.  Look at the list you make and take action at the highest thing on your priority list.  If you are frustrated, instead of letting that eat you up, stop and think about what you can do differently.  Change your approach to get to the goal you want, be flexible.  Can’t stand the way you feel?  Then don’t you think it is time to change your perception or procedures?

Change how something is done in order to get a new outcome, or simply stop being the victim in everything.  I know when I stopped saying things like, “well it is because of so and so” I began to really see a change in the way my life started turning out.  I no longer made excuses and really allowed for myself to have the responsibility of owning up to what I wanted to achieve. 

None of this stuff is easy to do.  It will not happen overnight, and as a matter of fact I still have to constantly stay on myself to make sure I do not drift back to old habits of feeling these emotions.  The more you can catch when an emotion is in you that you do not like the better.  Sense it, and make a conscious effort to get out of that state of mind.  Take action.  If you can catch when you have an emotion you do not want, you can replace that emotion. 

The next time you come to a pothole in your road stop and think, "there is a reason for this, I may not know it now and it may not come to me until later in life, but I know that this bump has happened for a reason".  Then after that figure out how to continue on in the direction you were heading, because after all, you are not going to let a little bump in the road stop what it is you want to do right?

Own yourself! Run your life!

What Working Out At Home Did For Me

 At home workouts have completely changed the way that I do things.  Besides the obvious of not needing to go to a gym to workout, and not bothering with traffic to get there, or whether a machine is going to be taken that I really want to use, working out at home has really transformed my thoughts along with my body. 

At one point in my life, not too long ago, I use to rely on everyone.  I constantly was the person that waited around for someone to give me an answer.  I always felt like I needed someone to help guide me along the way.  Now I know that even while doing the workout from the house there is a trainer telling me what to do and explaining proper techniques, however there is a huge element that is being overlooked.  I have to take the initiative to press the play button. 

In years past I would get to the gym and find myself socializing or spending more time wondering about what other people thought about my workout instead of just going at it full throttle.  Not to mention the fact that I never really had a set plan.  Of course I read to do this and that on a certain day, but I never had a start or finish to my program. 

Now that I have started and finished programs like Insanity and P90X, I find myself looking to take more initiative in other parts of my life.  I have the confidence now to know I can do anything that I choose to do.  It may sound cliché but it is true.  I have taken up other things at home, like my personal trainer certification.  I have formed a strong belief in myself and know that it all stemmed from a small workout program I ordered just to get in shape.  I got much more with the purchase and it only keeps getting more and more rewarding. 

So besides the fact that working out at home saves me time and money, I have grown to become much more self-reliable.  Would this have happened without ever doing at home workouts?  Perhaps it would have.  All I know is from 2009 until now, without P90X and Insanity, I would not be where I am today. 

That process began the path to owning myself.  What path will get you there?  Take time to think about it.  What do you really want?   What is stopping you?

Own yourself! Run your life

The Time Is Now!

I am currently 17 days into a new year just like everyone else.  I am looking up at the calendar and realizing that the first month is already closing out.  Where is the time going? 

I know that we all have lives to live and we all have said, “Once things die down I am going to focus on that specific goal that I really want to tackle.”  But you just don’t feel you have the time to do it right this second.  How many of you feel that way about your health?  About working out?  How about eating healthier?  I talk to so many people about getting healthy and staying fit and so many people give me the reason of not having enough time. 

Your health is key, or you wont have any time left.  With our society as unhealthy as it is, the time is now.  It does not have to be all or nothing.  How about making some simple choices to help you get on the track that everyone ultimately wants, which is to be healthy and live a fit lifestyle?  I have yet to meet anyone that desires to die at an early age due to some form of disease caused by the lack of health.  Never have I heard “ Yes I can’t wait until I get diabetes!” 

Instead of making excuses that there is not enough time in your busy schedule, please think about how many lives you touch personally and imagine how your lack of being here on earth would affect them.  I am sorry to sound so rash, but the truth is it is time to start focusing a little on what it is you need.  My life has not always been healthy eating and at one point I definitely fell off the workout wagon.  I look back at that time and when comparing it to now I have to say I was not living.  I was just moving on along waiting for the time to pass and the weekend to come. 

You can start slow.  Get out and go for a walk during a business call.  Get fat free milk instead of Vitamin D.  Park further away from your locations.  Get whole wheat tortillas instead of flour.  Take the kids to the skating rink instead of a movie.  So many little things that can generate some activity during the day and help prevent serious pain in the future. 

Whatever it is, decide on just doing two things for a month.  If you haven’t been moving for years and you choose to park far away from places you go, then stick with it.  Watch how fast that momentum begins to go and how quickly you add something to your workout to do list.  The hardest part is the first step.  Take that step now!  The time is now!

Own yourself! Run you life!