Hope, Optimism and Health

Hope, optimism and health. Turn it into an acronym, repeat three times fast and you have “Hoh, hoh, hoh”. I love finding out the origins of famous phrases…!

We’ve been getting some good news lately - wow, we can shoot at and hit a satellite traveling at 17,000 miles an hour - and I think that we are all feeling a little more optimistic about the future. Our lives are dominated by news stories and a lot of the news has been bad, diminishing our hope for and optimism about the future, but every once in awhile we hear good news.

Until November, most of news will be about the election and we know that the election will bring change. Let’s face it, the game between the Republicans and the Democrats in the last seven or so years has been BORING! Imagine what the ratings would be for a scoreless Super Bowl that was all defense or a Daytona 500 where they drove the speed limit and there were no crashes! We need change and the optimism that it will bring for the future. We need a high scoring game where the Republicans win some innings or quarters and the Democrats win an equal number. When there are “crashes”, no one is hurt and the only thing that happens is that our adrenaline starts pumping and we have a collective sigh of thankfulness! All of the challenging issues will be solved with stirring finishes like this year’s Daytona 500 and everyone will get the checkered flag and win!

I think that all of this hope and optimism will have a very positive impact on our physical health and the health of our nation. When we are happy and not anxious, we accomplish so much more in our daily lives. When we can laugh, the challenges are so much easier to overcome than when we are despairing over today and what tomorrow seems to hold for us.

So this week’s theme is hope, optimism and the health benefits of being happy and facing the future with smiles on our faces…

Week Nine Articles

The power of hope and optimism, or the lack thereof, has a powerful impact on our health. News stories can make or break our days. Seeing hope in a time of crisis can turn around our life outlook. Being optimistic will carry us through even the toughest situations.

This week’s theme is hope, optimism and health and you can even use the acronym as a mantra - HOH, HOH, HOH!

Real Happiness Is There For The Taking
Couples Who Laugh Together, Last Together
7 Secrets Of Naturally Thin People
The Pleasure Principle - Why You Overeat

Hope for the Physically Insane

At other times in my life, the reason that I haven’t blogged since Wednesday would be attributed to poor health. It is not the case this time. In fact, I have been quite busy and have accomplished a lot in terms of my mission to spread the gospel of fitness. I revamped my Do It With Me website to better portray my team members and to convey how each one of us is working to help you achieve your health and fitness goals. I expanded my newsletter by adding more features and that will be coming out on schedule. In fact because of my lifestyle choices now, I seem to have dodged the flu bullet (which this year, unfortunately, seems to be the size of the rocket that blew up the spy satellite).

I also, this week, finally came to the conclusion that I have been physically insane.

What? Don’t you mean mentally insane? No, over the last 20 years, I am ready to admit that I was physically insane - you know, repeating the same workouts over and over and expecting a different result. Yes, I had a bad car accident, went to a bunch of doctors who wouldn’t think outside the box, took tons of antibiotics, had surgery and yet didn’t feel better. Thoughts that maybe everything that I was feeling crept into my head and the whole time, I was going out the door and running mile after mile, doing workout after workout and thinking that was what would make my body right again.

Wrong! What I needed to come to grips with was that my physical landscape had changed because of the medical treatment that I had received and that the body that I had once depended on and taken for granted had been “altered” (read the part about the Caldwell Luc procedure in My Story) and now I needed a new road map for success in life.

Why did it take over 20 years to realize that? I guess that lots of us get comfortable with the status quo and thinking that if it worked before it will work again. Let’s face it, I am a runner so what else should I have to do except run? Running isn’t rocket science. It is whoever has the most heart and training the hardest doing the best. And that works for most people.

But what if your physical landscape changed because of an injury or illness or setbacks in your life for whatever reason. If you are starting from scratch at 20 after being an athlete in high school, maybe you can do what worked before and get the same results. If you are in your 30’s and 40’s and beyond, though, and you haven’t worked out in a while - maybe you got injured, couldn’t work out for awhile and then you got busy with work and family and started putting on some weight or you just lost interest and let your body go - putting one foot in front of the other (or whatever your sport or activity involved) may be a whole lot harder than it used to be.

What’s my advice? Don’t set yourself up for failure by trying to do what you used to be able to do without getting back the strength, cardiovascular capacity and flexibility that once propelled your body to success. Start by getting your weight under control with a weight loss program. Build up your strength with a strength training program and then with your once again sleek strong body, get your heart and lungs in shape to be the engines that drive your body with an aerobic workout program.

Running was my horse pulling my cart. Now strength training and flexibility are my horse and they are pulling my running along. Without them, my running won’t “move” as it hasn’t done for many, many years. In my 20’s and 30’s I was very strong and very flexible because I did manual labor (working on a farm) that required a lot of walking, lifting and being very physically active. Now I sit at a desk and rely on P90X to give me back the body that I used to have as a result of just working. It is my “work” that will give me that incredible “horse” that I once had and that will pull my “cart” as it once did!

Bailing the Wax Under My Wick As Fast As I Can

Do you have a vision of your life or your body that the light of hope is quickly going out on? My light of hope revolves around my ability to run, which has become so challenging that I thought that the melted wax under the wick of the candle of my life was going to extinguish the flame.

I had, in fact, already started saying things like, “I will be a role model” or that it had become “pointless” to keep track of all of those things that revolve around running.

Are you faced with the same dimming hope or have you given up already and assumed that your “light of hope” will go out? I don’t know what your dreams are or what your vision of your future is, but I do know that success could be near at hand and you will never know if you give up.

In my case, I am trying a new approach - a new way to solve the problem that I have been faced with for years. If they are right when they say that repeating the same thing over and over and expecting a different result is a sign of insanity, then what I have been doing qualifies as insane. I don’t give up, ever, but perhaps I have been making the mistake of assuming that if I do what worked before, then it will work again.

Are you trying to lose weight and about to give up because you simply aren’t making any progress or the challenge is too great or you have simply lost hope after too many failures? My advice would be to try a new approach before your flame flickers and goes out and all hope is lost.

Are you an athlete who has let yourself “go” and find it too hard to get back in shape or can’t believe that with work you will regain most of your competitive prowess? Have you thought of trying a new approach?

Are you older and think that the best of your life has been experienced and now you will have to accept the aches and pains of being older and slower and the rest of the things that are now accepted as part of the aging process - when in fact they don’t need to be?

I’m 57 and I am bailing the melted wax under my wick as fast as I can so that the ever shortening wick doesn’t drown my flame in that accumulating melted wax. You can lose weight, you can be fit again, you can be competitive again and you don’t have to let your body age unnecessarily.

Take charge of your life and try a new approach to solve your problem and overcoming your challenges. I did and I am already seeing results. My strength training workouts on DVD are giving me strength, flexibility and a level of overall fitness and conditioning that I never anticipated and it is making my running easier. Although I just do a very short run after my strength workout, after over 40 years of running, I can see and feel subtle changes that give my hope and keep my flame alive.

Find your new approach to the challenge that you are facing and maybe, just maybe, you will have the same success that I am experiencing and it will be enough to keep your flame of hope alive. And I would definitely recommend bailing that melted wax under your wick in the meantime, though, so that you can buy some more time!

Week Eight Articles

I have a stress problem. I guess that I have been in denial for a long time, because now that I have given up stress cold turkey, I realize how good I can feel and how badly I felt. Whether you have a stress problem or not, this week’s articles are all helpful in improving your quality of life.

Cortisol, Stress And Body Fat
The Flight or Fight Response - Stress And Weight Gain
The Stress of Poor Digestion
Tips For Stress Free Living
Exercise To Relieve Stress
Slim Down with These Stress Busting Treats

The Attack of the Killer Stress!

If what I am reading is true, I may not be around a lot longer. My long term goal is to live to 105, but unless I can repulse the attack of the killer stress, then it could get ugly!

If you adhere to the “everything happens for a reason” philosophy directed by a “higher authority” then the bumps and roadblocks that we face in life are just course corrections that our higher authority is making for us (or if you are on auto-guidance, course decisions that you have to make). In my case, in my mind, I failed. If, however, I can somehow alter my thinking, then I can see a business failure as a much needed course correction. The biggest issue, then, becomes how long did I resist this necessary change and how much damage, in terms of stress, has been done?

An interesting definition and discussion of stress from WebMD is, “Stress is the body’s reaction to any change that requires an adjustment or response. The body reacts to these changes with physical, mental, and emotional responses. The human body is designed to experience stress and react to it. Stress can be positive, keeping us alert and ready to avoid danger. Stress becomes negative when a person faces continuous challenges without relief or relaxation between challenges. As a result, the person becomes overworked, and stress-related tension builds. Stress that continues without relief can lead to a condition called distress — a negative stress reaction. Distress can lead to physical symptoms including headaches, upset stomach, elevated blood pressure, chest pain, and problems sleeping. Research suggests that stress also can bring on or worsen certain symptoms or diseases.”

Having substantially reduced my own stress in my life, this week, I would like to focus on stress, its consequences and how to reduce and avoid it. Boy, if I could help just some of you do that (or all of you, for that matter) that would make my week!

Finally, on a personal note, Grace and I went to Old Town on Tuesday to get Valentine’s Day presents and I found a parting word for you. Old Town is a magical place that is the “heart” of Albuquerque and consists of a mix of little shops, restaurants and cafes in an area four blocks long and one block wide. One of the stores is Angel Town and that is where we went to find our gifts. Of the ones that Grace picked out, one is an angel magnet and perhaps when your stress begins to rise today, you can think what it so beautifully states, “Each Day is a Gift. That’s Why They Call It the Present…”

Fitness Success Coaching is the Ultimate Lifestyle

Turning the Corner That Never Came

It would be good for you to first understand what I was doing in my last job before you know what my job is like now. Up until last year, I was a Polar Authorized Internet Dealer, selling Polar heart rate monitors and accessories on the Internet. To be competitive, I shipped 7 days a week (we have full service Post Offices open 7 days a week in Albuquerque), 362 days a year. Many orders were shipped be Express Mail Overnight to be competitive and I had to run Google Adwords for the same reason.

In 2006, I spent over $34,000.00 on shipping and over $39,000.00 on Google Adwords advertising. Although I worked 7 days a week and had one of the top Polar Internet sites, I went heavily into debt to keep the business going, always hoping to turn the corner on profitability. And the stress was killing me…

They Say That Opportunity Only Knocks Three Times

And you never know if you have already missed the first two knocks…

When I heard about Million Dollar Body in December 2006, I gave little thought to it as an opportunity, but saw it rather as a way to offer more to my Polar customers. After they bought a heart rate monitor, I could tell them about this great website with workout programs, personalized meal plans, healthy recipes, access to fitness experts, a wealth of information and fitness tools, etc. It was a perfect compliment for someone wanting to take the next step in their fitness and weight loss program.

I knew about BeachBody, which is another company owned by Product Partners, the parent company. I was an affiliate and had banner advertising on my site for their workout DVD’s, which were very popular. Since BeachBody was ending its affiliate program and I wasn’t going to be getting any ad revenue, I also thought I would be able to replace the small income that I would be losing from being an affiliate.

Oh No - But It’s Network Marketing

If you think that it is inconceivable that someone in the 21st century could never have heard of network marketing, never heard anything bad about network marketing, never heard anything good about network marketing - then think again. I am that person. It also took me three months to realize that a Million Dollar Body Coach was part of a national network of coaches dedicated to helping Million Dollar Body Club members achieve their fitness and weight loss goals - we are in effect marketing fitness.

Now that I know that I am a network marketer who markets fitness in such a unique, fun and effective way, I am thrilled and proud to be part of this network that is working to revolutionize how people get fit and healthy.

How’s Your Day Going?

My day revolves around helping other people, being with my family and working out and my stress is really low now. I love getting emails from Million Dollar Body club members and guest members who need answers to fitness questions or nutrition concerns or who might just need a pep talk and a little motivation. I love getting emails from members who have lost weight, started feeling better, having more energy and a brighter outlook on life. That, too, is a thrill and always brings a smile to my face. I love talking to people who call me and say, “What exactly is a Million Dollar Body Coach?” “What do you actually do?” “Are you actually helping people achieve their goals?” “Are you making an income?”

And you know what else I love? I love having a successful home based business that promotes fitness and gives me the opportunity to support my family and be at home with them. My parents were farmers and we were home on the farm all the time. But instead of tending the herd and nurturing the crops, I care for and nurture my own “flock” of Million Dollar Body Club members who not only get a wealth of benefits, but also each get a Personal Coach as dedicated as me!

I “preach the gospel of fitness” and practice what I preach. Are you ready to have your own flock of successful members? Are you ready to have your own team of successful coaches? Are you ready to have a business opportunity come your way to make some extra income or to eventually turn it into a successful, full-time home based business? Can you see yourself being a lot less stressed, enjoying life more, spending more time with your family and feeling more confident because your “job” is helping other people achieve their goals? Do you want to have a lifestyle that includes working out and being fit and getting paid for it? If the answer is yes to any of these questions. then please call me toll free at 866 797-7336 and let’s talk. Million Dollar Body has been a great opportunity for me and we’ll see if it can be a great opportunity for you.

A Journal of a Runner’s Rebirth as a Role Model

Over the past 25 years (in a 42 year running career), I have used probably a dozen different ways of tracking my workouts and my progress. Ranging from the Runner’s World Runner’s Log to my first computer that had a printer with paper with the little holes on the side to little pads of paper. I recorded every workout, every mile run, my times, my splits, my pace, the weather, you name it. I listed every race in chronological order, by distance, by pace, etc.

And then I just stopped. Health issues and life issues were foremost in my mind and it all seemed pointless.

What could I record anyway? I ran fast times, great races, had a great streak, I’ve run over 45,000 miles - all the things that matter to a runner. I would never be able to run as fast or as far or for so many days in a row. I have bounced back from adversity many, many times, but could never bounce up to the level that I once was able to achieve.

So why start another journal. Because maybe its not the running that is important, but rather what I might be able to do with my body this time. I have been repeating the same thing over and over and expecting a different result (you know, a sign of insanity) and maybe it was. Going out the door day after day and running somewhere, but going nowhere. Dumb, a waste of time, call it what you will, but it was all I knew. It worked once, so it should work again, right?

Wrong. Let me give you an example. I ran seven days a week from July 28th until just before Thanksgiving (which is nothing considering that I have run 7 days a week for over 4 years and most of that time averaged about a 10K a day). We’re talking less than 4 months and I was running okay, but then I picked up a bad cold from my daughter during Thanksgiving week, broke a tooth on December 8th (I remember because it was my birthday) because my calcium had gotten so low, had oral surgery on Christmas Eve and didn’t recover until after the first of the new year. New Year’s Day is important to some people because they start things that day and then try to keep them going. I couldn’t even start running again until January 3rd and then it was back to the same old routine of trying to get in shape again for the 100th time.

Although I always look like I’m in shape, as the years go by, it is getting harder to fake. But once again I started to count the miles and think about pace and having a streak. Well that only lasted until the morning of February 4th when I woke up in the middle of the night knowing that the pain I was feeling in my stomach wasn’t hunger pangs. A flu like stomach virus robbed me of another week. It also meant that my plans to start P90X for the third time were derailed and I changed my start date to February 11th.

That day may be significant for another reason, but I won’t give it that significance for another 3 months. One thing that it does mark is my departure from doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. This time, my “log” doesn’t mention running and only includes my P90X workouts and I follow the online program provided with the program. I do run as part of the workout but don’t think about or record the workout in any way.

Is there anything to report after a week? Well, actually there is. Both my three year old and my 1 year old got sick this week, one with a stomach virus and one with a bad cold and I didn’t get either. That is remarkable for someone with a chronic illness whose immune system has seemed to be irreparably damaged and who had so little continuity in his life because of it. If you want to read more about the nightmare of my life, click here. But this is not about the past. It is about today and tomorrow and if I am doing something that may be improving my immune system and may be giving me some optimism about my health, I need to make note of what I am doing.

My running stories are all in the past, but if I can help someone today to have hope that they, too, can feel well again, then that is something to journal again. It is something to chronicle to give hope and provide some optimism for someone who may have had their own health nightmare and need to know that it is possible to recover and go on with your life. I won’t know until I know what tomorrow brings…

Practicing What I Preach

I am finally vindicating, 31 years later, the college guidance counselor who determined that my best career paths would be as a brick layer or a minister. I certainly would like to think that my advice and guidance is helping to give people a strong foundation to build their fitness and health on. I am also finally accepting that I am not a businessman. My dad was a farmer who ran a farm, not an agribusinessman. I learned caring and nurturing from my parents, not profit and loss statements.

So what am I practicing and preaching? I am practicing and preaching the gospel of fitness. That means that part of every day is dedicated to ministering to the needs of my physical being. I do some form of physical exercise every day (or if my body tells me so, give it a rest and recuperation day) and eat for the sole purpose of giving my body fuel. When you pull up to a gas station to get gas for the vehicle that gets you from place to place and that you depend on, you give it only gas (or diesel). You wouldn’t ever think of going into the little store that is inevitably associated with a gas station, buying some junk food and coming out and sticking it in your gas tank, would you?

You depend on your body to get you from place to place significantly more than you rely on your vehicle, right? So why would you put junk food or fast food in your “gas tank” when you know perfectly well that is not the fuel that will make your human vehicle move and perform.

The way in which this analogy diverges is that your mechanical vehicle doesn’t need exercise like your human vehicle. In fact you want to use it less so that it doesn’t wear out as fast. By contrast, your human vehicle absolutely needs exercise every day to keep its moving parts from oxidizing and to keep from increasing in weight, among other reasons. Can you imagine how you would feel driving around in a vehicle that started bulging here and there because it was taking in more fuel than its gas tank could hold and starting creaking and lurching from rusting parts because you had “abused” it?

I work out to be healthier, have more energy, maintain my ideal weight and so that my body does not fall into entropy. As Tom Venuto so beautifully explains in his article, Entropy - The Disuse Syndrome - “Entropy is the tendency of all matter to fall apart, wear out or disintegrate into the substance from which it came. Entropy occurs in the human body in the opposite fashion: It falls apart when it is NOT used. Differently stated, ‘Use it or lose it’”.

So I am practicing “using it so I don’t lose it” and preaching “use it or lose it”. And if you think that my analogy of comparing your mechanical vehicle to your human vehicle is silly, then try pouring a bag of potato chips or some french fries into your vehicle’s gas tank. Then, as Dr. Phil would say, let me know how that’s working for you!

Working Out Just Got Fun Again

The Past
My identity is wrapped up in being a runner. After almost 42 years of running, it is part of my fiber. But instead of being
my best friend like it used to be, because of a moment in time in May 1983, I realize now, that it was starting to be my enemy. Since this article is about the present, I won’t go into the details, but if you want to learn what happened on that day, you can read my “About” story here.

The Present
Fast forward almost 25 years to a day in my life now…
I am an early riser by nature, but until recently, when I woke up, because of my chronic illness, my body felt like it had run a marathon the day before. These days, however, I have more enthusiasm for life and I seem to need a little less sleep because I sleep more soundly. I don’t get tired all the time like I used to, either. Two significant events have occured and one is that I have finally accepted that there are other ways for my physical being to achieve success than just going out the door day after day and failing at trying to recreate a past and the other is that I now have a low stress job. Now there is a present that includes running but doesn’t revolve around solely running and miles run or times run or how many days in a row that I’ve run. It is a big weight off of my shoulders. I also don’t have to
work seven days a week like I used to (unless, of course, if I want to!)

The greater focus now is on a balanced, total body workout that includes doing a strength training workout on DVD (which I had never done before), running, logging into my Million Dollar Body Club member site and joining a group of other people in the WOWY online gym who are also committed to achieving their health and fitness goals. It is also a much more balanced life, too, with workouts that are fun again and that I look forward to doing, being able to workout with my WOWY “friends” and spending time with my family while I work out!

Now, when Daddy (I have a 3 year old daughter Grace and a 1 year old daughter Carly) works out, that means he goes to the playroom/workout room, puts a DVD in the player and starts working out. Instead of being gone for an hour or more to run, he just goes for 30:00 or sometimes not at all. Instead of going out the door and being gone to run, now my daughters can see me doing my workout and I am being a role model for them in the process. And just as an aside, if I am in the middle of a workout and there needs to be a diaper change or there is something that one of them absolutely has to show me, I just push pause.

So what do I get for $2.99 a week as a Million Dollar Body Club member besides WOWY? Twice a week there is a new
episode of BNN TV (on the computer), there is Slim Style (okay, I’m not exactly a GQ guy but it is probably interesting to most people), Thin Kitchen cooking videos (which are great), Trainer Tips from real experts and a whole slew of additional resources including healthy recipes, fitness tools, a wealth of fitness and health articles and much, much more.

Finally, what’s my favorite part of being a Million Dollar Body Club member? In a word - WOWY (okay, so that’s four words - Work Out With You). When you log into WOWY to start your workout (which I do every time so that I have a chance to win that day’s prize), I see all of the other people working out. Monday, for example, there were 162 people all over the country working out at 4:00 pm MT. Just to name a few of the people working out right now, there is Anna in California who has lost 41 pounds, Ryan in Missouri who just started at the beginning of January and has already lost 5 pounds, Janette in Arizona who has lost 11 pounds and so many, many more (actually 56 to be precise). I think that it is just great to see these other members, know what workout they are doing and feel the enthusiasm in their comments. To me this is what being a Million Dollar Body Club member is all about - the camaraderie and fellowship of a national fitness community that can all say, “Working out just got fun again!”

PS If any of you want to log into WOWY, just send me an email at howtobefit@aol.com and I will send you an invitation to work out. It is as simple as that!