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HG Fitness 2011 New Year Special Offer!
Happy 2011, everyone! Hope your new year is off to as good of a start as mine is! I’ve set a lot of goals that I’m excited to get started on — what about you?
A little while ago I launched HG Fitness, offering virtual training programs and accountability to those who want a little push in getting fit or changing up their routines. Well along with the new year comes a new special deal on HG Fitness! If you’re still on the fence about committing to a month-long routine, why not just set up a consultation with me to see if my services might be right for you? Oh, and did I mention that this consultation is FREE? If you’ve got any fitness goals this year — big or small — leave me a comment or shoot me an email at [hguith at gmail dot com] and we can get something set up. You let me know what your goals are and we can schedule a time to chat over the phone (like I do with my HG Fitness virtual clients) so that I can let you know how we can work together to make those goals your reality.
So what are you waiting for? Let’s chat!
On the Brink
So it’s New Year’s Eve, huh? As much as I’ve hyped this night up in past years, I’m kind of over it this year. Not in a totally jaded way, but more in ‘what will be will be’ way. You know?
I’m so ready for 2011 in so many ways. I’m ready for a fresh start. I’m not necessarily sad that 2010 is over.
Why is 2011 so exciting? I’ve got a lot of big goals, and they feel so much different than last year’s. I still have fitness goals, but I’ve got a lot of other goals that are aimed at making me a better-rounded person. So what do I want to accomplish this year? Here’s an overview for the year:
1) Own all of my decisions, opinions, and goals. I’m pretty outspoken, but sometimes I still act like my views aren’t valid or that I need to explain myself. I justify a lot instead of just stating that I’m doing something and going for it. Less explaining (unless someone asks) and more doing. I’m going to live my own life.
2) To compete in a figure competition. Yup. I want to be one of those crazies who loves being perpetually sore, gets pumped about going to the gym, and eats the exact same thing every single day — all for the end goal of being jacked (while still looking like a lady) and owning a pair of clear lucite heels. I actually already started on this one, and I am surprisingly in love with lifting the majority of the week.
3) Make my relationships and social life a priority. This might be a challenge to combine this #2, but I’ll make it work. This year was interesting as far as relationships went — and I mean all kinds of relationships. Working a lot made it hard to stay close to folks sometimes, or to be a good daughter and visit home as much as I should have, so I want to remedy those. My romantic life had its ups and downs (and there was a lot of good that I’ll never forget, so this is certainly not a sad thing), and I learned a lot about myself and about what I want, so I’m going to be up front about that the next time I date someone. Number one on the agenda for how to build and maintain relationships is accepting more social invitations instead of being lame and saying I’m tired. Because you never know who you’ll meet! I’m really taking this one to heart because I forgot how much I missed my friends and making new ones. So instead of staying in and cleaning my closet like I said I was going to do, I’m going to put on a party dress and have fun with one of my oldest friends.
4) Getting to where I want to be in my career. Whether this is striking out on my own more or building my side projects up a bit, I want to start heading in the right direction. The figure competition has a little bit to do with this, since I honestly know that if I look the part a little more, then people will take me seriously as a trainer. I know that I know my shiz, but hey, sometimes people do judge a book by its cover. I also want to continue my education (just registered for more ISSA online courses!), and to connect to my clients even more regarding their goals, strengths, and weaknesses. I know a lot of my clients really well, but I want to push them even more to achieve whatever they’re aiming for.
5) Become a better blogger and writer. Over at Hollaback Health, we all shared our blog resolutions, so if you’re super curious about mine, check it out. I just want my blog to look cleaner and I want to get organized when it comes to blogging. Not only because writing is a huge passion of mine (and the only way I’m actually using my degree), but because I’ve recently linked my business to it.
6) Get organized. I’m working on putting this into different categories (get it? GET IT?), so check back soon.
I’m going to break these down into month-by-month goals, but these are the big overarching themes of the year. While I do have a fitness goal, I’m pretty happy that I’ve got goals in a lot of other areas of my life as well. I feel like my life is on the upswing, and I’m excited about all of it, not just one small part of it.
Since we’re on the brink of the new year, I want to know: what are your goals for the year? (Or just the month if you’re working on baby steps here) Do you have any goals similar to mine? What’s the biggest area of your life you’d like to focus on? How do you plan to do it? And last, but not least, what are you doing tonight? Party dress or PJs? Both? Spill!
Merry Christmas to Me
Hi all! First, thank you so much for the music suggestions! I got pumped up enough to not completely slack at home. Second, I hope you had a fab Christmas if you celebrate it, and I hope Santa brought you everything you asked for! I got some new fitness swag and a heart rate monitor! In the past I was a little opposed to these suckers because I thought you should listen to your body during workouts and not rely on a little device to tell you how hard you’re working. I still sort of think this, but I did want to see what it was all about! I also was interested in checking out how many calories I was burning in my average workout. So far, I like it, but I think I need to adjust the settings because it told me I burned a ridic amount of calories for what I had done, and it told me my heart rate was super high, which is weird because my RHM is normally super low (as in, a few years ago my docs told me if it dropped anymore to call them because I might be dead. Don’t worry, it’s a little higher now so I’m alive and kickin’!). Oh well, that’s what instruction manuals are for!
Anyway, I also got a little something after the holidays when I returned to Chicago! Yesterday, I got a package from the Connecticut, and I thought, ‘Oooh, who do I know in CT?’ But then my thoughts turned crazy for about 30 seconds as I wondered, ‘OMG, who did I give my ADDRESS to in CT?! Who knows where I live!?!’
But then I opened it and realized it was my Hollaback gift exchange present from the lovely Angela over at A Healthy Fit! And, oh man, she nailed it! This was an awesome gift that included everything that I love!
Dark chocolate with almonds and sea salt (already half gone…), packets of Justin’s nut butters…
..and the best part of all…
'Because that ass needs a miracle'
‘Dieting with Jesus’ magnets!!
I seriously cracked up when I opened these! My favorite had to be the ‘Your body is a temple. Fill it with salad’ magnet, but every single one made me laugh. Although I am Catholic, I have a sense of humor about my faith. I think all of my people do. We’re kind of the fun-loving rascals of the Christian faith. At least that’s how I like to look at it.
Thank you so much, Angela! This was an awesome gift!
If you celebrate, how was your holiday? Highlights? (Mine were seeing my dad dressed up as Santa — again — and getting to spend time with all of my cousins.) If not, how was your weekend? Spill it! And if you’ve got exciting New Year’s Eve plans, tell us what you’re doing!
Monday Motivation: All in How You Say It
As a writer and an English major, I know that it’s not always just about what you say, but also about how you say it. I could tell my friend that the jacket she’s trying to wear out tonight is not such a good idea, OR I could ask her what else she was thinking about wearing and steer her in another direction. In both instances, I’m saying the same thing, but the second one probably won’t piss her off. I can do the same thing with my clients during workouts. I can tell them I’m about to bring the pain with Bulgarian split squats, or I can tell them that we’re going to get them looking good in their jeans with this exercise that’s really going to burn. I’m warning them about the difficulty of this next move in both cases, but in the latter I emphasize the positive and what it’s going to do for them.
Yesterday, as I was making my new vision board, I came across an interesting little blurb in an old Shape magazine that I was tearing pages out of. It said that in order to create a positive association with exercise, we need to start by turning our language around. For example, instead of declining a lunch invite by saying, “Oh, no, I can’t… I should get to the gym for that cardio hip hop class,” I can say, “Let’s reschedule! I want to hit up this class at my gym that I’ve been dying to try.” Or, instead of, “MAN, I have to do legs today,” I can say, “Ooooh, I get to do legs today! Let’s see who I can out-squat!”
I really do think there is something to changing up the way you talk about exercise, because recently I switched up my training plan, and started using ‘get to’ and ‘want to’ instead of less positive phrases, and now I’m excited about my workouts! I think, after reading that, I’m going to consciously cut out the negative words and replace them more often with words that make sweating sound pretty sweet.
Does how you talk about activities — especially those of the fitness variety — change how you think about them? When you say you ‘get to’ hit the treadmill, do you mean it? What other words and phrases make working out seem (even more!) fun? Spill!
Wednesday Workout: When You’re a Vampire
Don’t think I’m jumping on the Twilight bandwagon or anything, here. I’m definitely not, but I’ve had a few friends with wacky schedules — namely nighttime gigs — ask me how to stay fit when their lives are flipped upside down by work.
Two friends in particular have long night shifts and are dead tired when they get home, so they have a hard time figuring out how to fit in exercise. My friend John, a former college track star, wrote to me a while back asking about how he could stay in shape when he works all night as a police officer. Amanda is a sorority sister of mine who’s an avid runner, but now finds herself working the night shift as a nurse at the hospital. Both technically know what to do when working out, but they’re having a hard time figuring out how to actually get those workouts done.
JK, my friends are a little cuter than this.
I’ve never worked a night shift myself, but I have worked SUPER long days, and have started my day at 4am more times than I would like to recall. So here are my tips for fitting in exercise when your career makes it a little difficult:
1) Pay attention. What I mean by this is start keeping track of when you have the most energy after getting off of work. Is it right when you leave work? Is it right before? Is it sometime in the middle after you’ve slept a few hours? Start listening and figuring out what your body is telling you, and try to go with that. It’s not an exact science as some days you are just going to be really tired in general, but you’ll get to know your own energy cycles better and get the best workout in that you can.
2) Decide how your workouts make you feel. John was telling me that the reason he can’t figure out when to exercise is because he’s exhausted when he gets off of work, but if he does his routine before work, he’s dragging his entire shift. I’m assuming the workouts of a former Big 10 college athlete are pretty intense so he might want to wait until after so that he’s not wiped out. It might suck to get started since he’s going to be tiiired, but after he can just crash until he has to work again. Getting through an hour workout while drained is a whole lot easier than getting through a 12-hour shift feeling the same way. However, Amanda might want to do hers right before work if she’s going to be running. A lot of runners really like to get a workout in first thing because that cardio gives them a lot of energy. If this is the case for her, she might as well get it done before pulling an all nighter. But if she’s like me and feels a little sleepier after doing a hard run upon waking up, she might want to save her workout as well. Again, this all comes back to listening to your body.
3) Save the killer workouts for the weekend or your days off. If you’ve got a few lighter workouts scheduled for the week, then do those on work days, and knock yourself out doing intense strength training and circuits for when you feel rested and don’t have to worry about mustering up the energy to head to your job. Why make yourself feel like crap by lifting super heavy or doing your long run and then having to go straight to work? Switch around your schedule until you find something that works. You all know I am the biggest cheerleader for really pushing when working out, but you do need to cut yourself some slack when your job is just as tiring or physical as exercise. Plus, we all need easy cross-training and rest days if we really want to be fit.
4) Make sure your nutrition is on par. One of Amanda’s concerns was that there are always cookies and candy around the nurse’s station, and when she starts to drag, that’s what she reaches for. She of course knows that this isn’t helping in the long run, but when you’re really tired and the clock seems to be ticking by ever-so-slowly, I get why people do this. It helps for about an hour before you crash again, and well, sugar makes people happy — at least for a little bit. For those who can bring snacks to work, pack fruit and veggies, lean protein (even jerky!), and some healthy fat. If there’s one thing I learned from Leah, it’s ‘crave sugar, feed fat.’ (I learned other stuff too, don’t worry!) When sugar and starch cravings hit, reach for fat. Almonds, hard-boiled eggs, a little PB, even coffee with a splash of half and half (this tip has changed my life, no joke) will all do the trick. And don’t let yourself get too hungry!
So many of us know that nutrition is a key part of fitness, but it’s even more important for people with super physical jobs and careers requiring long hours. Sure, treats are allowed here and there, but make sure the majority of what you eat is properly fueling you to do your job well… and then be able to exercise after.
4) Remember how much better you feel when you work out. I know I say this all the time, but really, I almost always feel better after sweating a little. No matter how much I’ve dreaded a workout, I have never regretted one after the fact. I’ve always felt a little better physically and a little more accomplished (and tougher!) mentally for getting through it. Plus, I know how much energy I have when I’m working out and how cranky and lethargic I get when I’m not, so that alone really does keep me going — no matter how long my days are or how early I had to get up that day.
Anyone else out there a vampire? Do you work the night shift? How do you fit fitness in? DO you fit fitness in? What other tips do you have for our 3rd shift friends?
First-Ever Fitness Challenge!
Hi guys! Quick post today to let you all know about a fitness challenge that I’m hosting this holiday season! Right after the holidays we want to get everyone jump started on their fitness goals (if you haven’t already been working on them!), so we’re hosting a 30 for 30 Challenge. The main idea is that we want everyone to move for 30 minutes every day for 30 days! And the grand prize will be at least $250! We’ll also have smaller prizes for other participants as well. If you’re serious about getting fit and want more info about the challenge, leave a comment or shoot me an email at hguith at gmail dot com so that I can email you all of the contest details!
Happy Holidays, everyone!
Sugar, Sugar
So, I’ve told you all before that sugar and I have a bit of a love-hate relationship. I love it, but it makes me want it more and more, all while making me hate the way I feel. On Leah’s plan, I was able to kick the sugar habit for the most part, but sometime the cravings are pretty bad, and sometimes I still do give in. Mind you, it’s not as bad as before, but sometimes… it’s not pretty.
So in an effort to kick my sugar cravings to the curb fo’ realz, I’m going to challenge myself to give up added sugar for….
21 whole days.
They say it takes 21 days to make or break a habit, so here goes! I figured the day after Halloween was the perfect time to do this since the sugar temptations aren’t EVERYWHERE I TURN, but also because it doesn’t mean that I can’t enjoy some of my faves come Thanksgiving Day (which is one day, not 5, remember), like sweet potatoes covered in butter and brown sugar (mmm).
I know I’ve done the whole ‘week without’ thing many times (like here, here, and OMG here), but I guess now I’m trying THREE weeks without! I’ll be giving you guys updates along the way, and I’d love it if other people wanted to join me! The goal here is to feel better and maybe drop a few lbs, but this is not a weight loss challenge. I’m trying to save my sanity and my smile from too much satanic sweetener. I just want to extract this sweet tooth I’ve had for so long!
So here are the official details:
1) 21 days exactly. November 1st to the 21st (or all the way to Thanksgiving if you’d like).
2) No ADDED sugars. So if something was sweetened by something other than nature, I won’t eat it. Fruit is fine (but not to excess!), and sugar in plain dairy is A-OK too. I don’t really eat artificial sweeteners other than the occasional diet pop (YEP, POP. I’m from Michigan), but for the sake of the challenge, I think we’ll cut that out too. I’m sure it isn’t helping any more than the real thang. (Disclaimer: I may chew a piece of SF gum here or there, but everything else is out.)
3) Weekly reports (if not more often) of how I’m feeling, how I’ve been fighting the cravings, and if they’re finally dying a slow death, never to come back. And if I’ve lost a little more weight, of course I’ll brag tell you about that too.
This is really just a continuation of what I’ve been doing on the YNC plan, but I’m going a little more hardcore, and I’m just going to have to grin and bear it. And maybe hang up little Post-Its reminding me that I don’t actually, physiologically NEED chocolate.
What do you guys think? Want to join me? Any other guidelines you think I should add? Spill!
[Edited to add: Leah over at Your Nutritionista joined me in the challenge and created this awesome graphic for people to use as a sign of our solidarity against sugar! (I love how dramatic that sounds now, ha).
SO if you're planning to fight the good fight with us, snag this guy and link back to us so that when I give my weekly updates, I can give a shoutout to you guys, and you can let us know how you're doing as well!]
Wednesday Workout!
So remember when I said I was going to try to shake up my workout routine? Well I switched it up this week!
Monday and today, I went to a boot camp at Chicago Fitness Coach, and it kicked my butt! Monday I thought I was going to die, but today was a tiny bit easier. The instructor and founder, Tony, is super motivating and really pushes you — but does it all with a laugh and a smile on his face! On the agenda today? Treadmill sprints mixed with pushups, tons of squats, lunges, mountain climbers, Spiderman pushups, sumo squats, and LOTS of core work. I was sweating like crazy (and wiping pink toner onto the towel since I had my hair dyed RED!). It’s all very basic stuff, but honestly, it didn’t matter. We were moving nonstop and everyone was dying by the end! Plus, I’m getting my workouts in early since the class is held at 9am! (Ah, the perks of not having a regular 9to5.)
And remember how I said it was pretty easy to sweat on the cheap? I got this month-long, 5x/week boot camp on Tippr for $20! Getting my butt handed to me weekly is even sweeter knowing I’m only paying $1 per class! Can’t beat that!
What have you done to switch up your workouts lately? Ever tried a boot camp or another super tough class like it? Scored any awesome deals on fitness stuff lately? Spill!
Friday Fluff
So… I’m going to honest here. I have nothing to write about today. Nothing.
I’m in a fab, it’s-almost-the-weekend mood, but my brain is just fuzzy from general contentment. Plus I’ve been super busy from work, making sure we still would have a place to live on October 1st (we found a roommate, so HOORAY, we don’t have to to move), helping other people move, ramping up my workouts, being sore from said workouts, and just running around trying to get a few other things in order. Also, I think maybe got my ranting all out on Wednesday. Whatever the case may be, I have nothing of importance to contribute today.
But these folks do!
Bess brought back her weekly Ferosh Female Fridays (which I LOVE, btw, because, well, how cool does that just SOUND?), and gave shoutouts to some lovely lady bloggers (including me!) for being fearless this week, and just kind of made me proud to be a woman who knows other women who support women. My lengthy sentences confusing you yet? Just check her out!
Laura and I must be on the same wavelength lately, because she’s talking body image and dismissing the silliness that is the BMI chart. My favorite line? “I could weigh 105-119 pounds, as the charts suggest in “optimal weight” terms (ha!), but I’d look like a stick with a big fat wad of gum stuck to its lower half. Or a kebob skewer stuck into a melon. You know what I mean.” Girl, I feel you on having a booty and thinking BMI truly is ‘a pile of poo’
Despite my raging sweet tooth, I rarely crave baked goods. Until today, that is. Rachel’s got me wanting to throw on my not-yet-purchased apron and whip up some of these white chocolate cupcakes while only speaking in double entendres. And Jenna at EatLiveRun has got me craving something hot off the griddle with her whole wheat butternut squash pancakes, which I usually only do when staring at a diner menu on a Sunday morning after a rather late Saturday night.
Over at Hollaback Health, we’ve had a whole slew of awesome posts lately! Read all of those, but start with AJ’s second installment in her set of guest posts, ‘I Call It Visibility,’ about her experience as a blogger with the intersecting identities of queer, vegan, and runner. Which, appropriately enough, the name of her blog as well!
I’ve been thinking a lot about running lately and how I need to try some other exercises for a few months because I keep getting injured (well, hello, new possible case of plantar fasciitis, please meet old cases of tendonitis and a stress fracture) and because I keep SAYING I’m going to take a break, and I never do. (Now it looks like I have to take a break, right during the BEST running weather in the midwest because I have really screwed up my feet). Well, apparently, Ashley from Fashionably Fit has been thinking the same thing, because she rejoined a gym and has been having a love affair with the classes and their efficiency and they fact that they play nice with her joints.
Kristen’s post pretty much summed up my experience with weight loss in the past, and I felt like she was practically writing my story on her blog! Kudos to her for learning how to eat intuitively! Still working on that one….
Last, but not least, Nicole’s post on Special K was so informative that I wish college me would have read because I was SOLD on the low-cal Special K crap, not realizing that while I got skinny, I was putting some scary stuff in my body. Also, I really think all of you will crack up at her title and the picture she posted to go along with it!
I like the idea of giving out a little link love to finish out the week, so happy reading! And for the sake of discussion, since we all know I loooove talking, tell me what you’re doing this weekend– healthy or not! What fun stuff do you have planned?!
Body Image: Circles and Puzzles
On Monday, as I was getting ready to leave work, I stopped to chat with our office manager (Hi, Ali!). As I somehow always do with other women, I got onto the topic of body image and weight. I find this happens so easily because most women I know have had some bad blood with their bodies in the past. But it’s so easy to talk about it now because so many smart women are getting wise to the fact that no, this isn’t normal, and it isn’t healthy, and we want to talk about it. Because we want to resolve it, and just be OK with our bodies and use the time we spend worrying about our butt and abs to, I don’t know, fix the economy or reverse global warming. But I digress.
Anyway, we started talking about how, while we’d like to improve upon our figures now, it’s not the most important thing in our lives. Yes, we might want to lose a little weight or tighten up our rear ends, but these things aren’t our focus as they once were. We both have our stories of the times in our lives when focus turned to obsession, and examples of when our quests for health became the antithesis of health itself. But we’re realizing now that creating a good life doesn’t swirl around that one goal of ‘getting skinny.’ We’re understanding that this singular objective won’t make the other ones fall into place. Getting healthy, losing weight, toning up… all nice things, but not the key to happiness.
“I realized recently,” Ali told me, “that losing weight or getting the body I want is one little part of that circle that is my life. Whereas before, those things were the circle itself.” When she said this, I knew she had summed up how I had been feeling lately. In college, everything centered around sticking to my plan and staying small, meaning I let social events or enjoyable company with delicious food pass me by because it wasn’t what I had laid out for the day. ‘Oh sorry, I didn’t go running yet, I can’t.’ Damn, I bet I’m going to hear all about how fun that was tomorrow. ‘Oh, no thanks, I’m not hungry.‘ Plus that doesn’t fit into my calorie count for the day.
That circle had me spinning around and around, but I never got anywhere in life outside of my body. I stayed the same, and my goal never changed. I never progressed beyond, ‘Stay small and fit into that dress.’ It was like my life was a wheel of calories and miles and pounds and jeans sizes, and occasionally, the other stuff –my life – would happen because it accidentally got trapped in the spokes, and I would roll with it until I would snap out of it and get back to the plan. Lately, though, the circle of my life has involved so much more. Instead of those life experiences getting stuck to my tires, they ARE the tires. And I’ve decided that I can go ahead and let losing weight be a part of those rolling circles, but I won’t let it steer.
“In the same sense, I used to think that losing weight was the key, was the piece of the puzzle I needed to find before all of the others would fall into place, ” Ali said. ”But now, I’m finding that I’ve got this beautiful puzzle, and there’s only one piece missing, but I’m working on it.” And again, it was as if she had read my mind, because this is truly the way I’m feeling about my life. Am I entirely happy with my body? No, but I’m working on accepting where it is and improving on it as best I can daily. But the puzzle pieces I thought would fall into place when I was skinny or toned enough? I have so many of them now that I never had when I was thinner.
Career? When I first moved to Chicago, I thought life would just be easier and I would like my 9to5 if only I could get skinny again. But then I decided that I needed to be happy before I could get healthy, and the desk job wasn’t going to do it for me. So I quit, became a personal trainer, and I’ve been calmer and more content with my life (not to mention healthier!) ever since, no matter that my size 4 jeans are a long way from fitting.
Love life? I had boyfriend and a few little crushes and flings in college, but you know what? Even at my smallest, I never felt like myself around them. I had been working so much on my ass that I let the work I had to do on my head pile up to the point where I didn’t even know who I was. Now I’m dating someone who makes me feel more comfortable and happier in my own skin than I have in a long time, with or without makeup, “bikini-ready” or not.
Friends? I seemed to have some friends in college who liked to hang out with me because I looked a certain way and because I was the ’how can I make this healthier aka lower-calorie’ guru. I was told that I was ‘inspiring’ more than once, and while this might sound flattering, it was also a lot of pressure, and it meant that they didn’t see the personality part of me. They liked hanging out with me because I made them want to go running or make a salad, not because I was quirky or a good writer or because I lived for awkward stories and always had one to tell. But my friends now are the friends I’ve chosen, because I’m confident in who I am as a whole, and I know that I can afford to be picky. I can choose the friends whom I love for their never-ending optimism or no-nonsense logic, and who love me for the things I always wanted people to notice when all they paid attention to was what I was putting on my plate at dinner in the sorority house.
So you know what? Between my job and my friends and my dating life and my family and everything I have to be thankful for, I’ve got so many puzzle pieces in place, that while I would love to be perfectly fit and trim again, I’m not obsessing over that tricky middle piece that finishes the puzzle but doesn’t necessarily hold it together. That one piece didn’t make the others fall into place — it actually did quite the opposite. I was missing so many wonderful pieces when I did have a death grip on that elusive piece, because I let all of the others fall away.
Funny how that works, isn’t it?
But, as always, dear readers, I want to hear from you! Does body image or weight play (or has it in the past) a huge role in your happiness? Is it the puzzle or the circle itself, or is that something you’re working for, but not feeling incomplete without? Have you learned that, while it can be important, it didn’t make or break your life? Spill!
