The race was awesome- 20 obstacles including climbing 10′ walls with no footing, jumping hay bails, walking balance beams. Everything felt so easy (except for monkey bars) thanks to the fantastic workouts at boot camp!

Lately I have been thinking a lot about something my personal training client said to me a while back:

He said; ‘You know, I don’t understand why we beat ourselves up over small ‘failures’ like not making it to the gym when we plan or over eating unhealthy food one night at dinner. If our friends did that to themselves, we would support them, tell them it was just one time and encourage them to just get right back on the wagon. Then, we would help them. We would offer advice and help them develop strategies they need to do better next time. But when we do something ‘wrong’ ourselves, we get so down on ourselves and beat ourselves up so much that it distracts us from how we can do better next time. We just quickly jump to the conclusion that we are failures and that nothing we do is right.”

Gosh he was so spot on!

I started thinking about all the times I have done the same thing to myself or heard numerous clients of mine do the same thing to themselves and it is NOT COOL!!

We all do this on a daily basis. And can you imagine how much better you would feel if you treated yourself like you would treat a good friend?

Think about that for a second so it makes sense.

If one of your friends told you they were trying to get their workouts in every day but they had to work late and couldn’t get there yesterday, you would tell them it’s okay. Just make sure you get there tonight. Simple.

So why would you do anything different for yourself? Why would you decide that since you didn’t get to the gym yesterday like you planned that your whole fitness and health routine is destroyed?

If you can’t get to the gym because you have to stay late in the office, try not to beat yourself up.  Instead channel your energy to develop strategies (like you would for a friend) to make sure that this doesn’t happen to you on a regular basis. Because ultimately, you know what’s going to work best for you, your schedule and health anyways.

So, my best advice this week is to

1) Treat yourself like you would treat a friend

2) Celebrate the small successes to stay positive.

I have actually been trying to practice this concept lately and sadly, it is quite challenging

1) Expand your vision – each time you workout, try to have a new focus each day

For Example:

• Monday – Practice different Speeds. For example, doing reps as slow as possible – this will activate different muscle fibers, strengthen your body and teach you to have ultimate control over your movements to avoid injury and increase proper exercise form.
• Tuesday – Focus on the exact muscles working – If you are doing a squat, make sure you focusing on the muscles in the back of your legs. If you are doing a bicep curl, feel every part of the bicep contracting.
• Wednesday – Change your eye position – This sounds strange at first, but most people become weaker in at least one eye position (For example, up, down, left or right). Holding your eyes in one position will help you
• Thursday – Stay as relaxed as possible
• Friday – Focus on breathing – Most people forget that synchronized respiration is one of the most important aspects of having great exercise form. Breathing (through your abdomen) helps you relax during your movements and reduces tension in your neck, chest and upper back. The best way to begin focusing on breathing is to breath in when your chest goes out and breath out when your chest concaves. Or breath out on the concentric or hard part of the exercise and in during the eccentric or point at which the tension reduces.
• Saturday – Long Spine – stay as tall as you can during every exercise to work on your posture.

2) Train the 4 elements of efficiency.

3) Remember why you are there

4) Try a semi private or personal trainer

5)

“I’ll be happy once I lose 10lbs, make a million dollars, have more free time, etc.”

If you are feeling down in the dumps and bummed out on a regular basis, dragging yourself to the gym can be a huge chore rather than something you are up to doing.

And not being in the right mindset just drags your workouts down. The truth is that Happy people move and exercise more.

Apparently 80% of pain we feel in our muscles is actually derived from Visceral Pain, or pain generated because your organs are damaged or injured. Throughout our lives, we will all deal with a significant amount of Visceral pain and it is actually by far the most common pain felt by adults.

Signs that your pain may have a Visceral Component:

Organs, the solid organs such as the liver, lungs, kidneys and heart do not have specific pain nerve endings. So, if they are irritated or damaged, you could feel referred musculoskeletal pain. For example, many people know that cardiac issues produces pain in the left part of the chest and left arm and hand. This is referred cardiac pain due to do poor oxygen supply in the heart.

If you are dealing with any repetitive pain that doesn’t seem to go away, keeps coming back, or is poorly localized to an area instead of one specific spot you can point to, your pain may have a visceral component.

Here are some examples of other areas where you would feel referred visceral pain:

• Upper Right Back of Your Neck, Shoulder and mid back on the right – Gallbladder and Liver irritation
• Upper Left Back of Your Neck – Lung and diaphragm irritation (if you are a chest breather, this is common)
• Pain in lower Stomach, Upper thighs, Hip Flexors – Kidney and bladder Irritation.

Now, I want to explain ways that I think can be helpful in trying to address these types of pain.  But, You should consult your Doctor if you have experienced pain in these areas for a prolonged length of time and feel something more serious is going on.

1) Practice Breathing Exercises

• Practice Deep and Focused Breathing Exercises, breathing in through the nose, out through the mouth. Focus on breathing in through your belly and the chest is the last thing to rise. Most people breath through their chest and never practice breathing through their diaphragm (especially because they don’t want to stick their tummy out. That’s why it is best to wear a lose T Shirt during your breathing practice:-). Breathing through your diaphragm can help to mobilize your organs and use the muscles that are suppose to engage when you breath. A good way to start this is by sitting down, placing one hand on your belly and one hand on your chest. Then, take 10 deep and focused breaths making sure that your belly is expanding and chest is the last thing to rise. Trying to get in at least 4 sets of these a day can make you feel more relaxed and start helping you breath in a healthier way.
• If your breathing feels constricted, take a high lunge position with the right leg in front and bent and left leg in back and straight. Hold on to a wall with your right hand. Bring the left arm up and over your head doing a slight back bend so you feel a stretch in your abdomen and hold. Do not strain your back and repeat on the opposite side.

2) Eat a healthy diet

• Health starts and ends with the nutrients you feed your body. Try to remove foods from your diet that don’t make your body feel good after you eat them. If you are feeling tired or lethargic  after your meals, chances are there is something in your meal that is not agreeing with your system and could be causing some damage that can worsen your system over time. For me, I especially feel tired after eating grains (breads, pastas) so I try my best to avoid these.

3) Use Supplements

• For liver cleansing, using supplements to cleanse the liver such as milk thistle and dandelion root can help by improving liver enzymatic processes.
• If you have frequent irritation in your bladder or ureters, D Mannos can help to support a healthy urinary tract.

4) Move

• Movement is medicine for the body and non painful movement can help your body function better, help you be more energetic, flexible and strong. Not moving for long periods of time can increase pain levels and muscular stiffness.

• 10x  Burpies to Sprint Position (Drop all the way down)
• 10x  Crawl Out Push Up Crawl Back Curl Press
• 10x  Alternating Corner (Ant 45) Lunges (DB Down)
• 10x  Lunge + Row SA Right Leg Back  and 10x  Lunge + Row SA Left Leg Back
• 10x  Rolling 45s Right  and 10x  Rolling 45s Left

1. Stationary Lunge to Press (1/2 on Rt and Lt)
2. Windshield Wiper Push-ups
3. Butterfly Sit Ups
4. Reverse Burpies
5. Butt Kick + Squat

• 15 Romanian Dead Lifts
• 15 Standing Row with Weights
• 15 Wood Chops (per side)
• 15 Reverse Crunch
• 15 Runners to Pushups (run in place for 15 steps then drop into a push up, repeat 15 times)