Leaded vs Unleaded

Some of my clients have been asking about their diets in relation to their new workout regimen with me. We follow a high intensity, functional way of training that burns a lot of gas in a short period of time. So with that being said, I will once again compare our bodies with our cars.

This particular client is concerned that her diet is sabotaging her gains from this new way of training. She has been a jogger for years. Our type of training is basically the opposite of that. She is now craving more food and is worried about calorie consumption.

Along with our analogy, this person has been driving her car like an old couple taking a Sunday stroll home from church - steady-state, consistent, and very fuel efficient. Now all of the sudden, she is taking that same car and racing it like a 16year old with a new drivers licence.

It is real simple. If you want better performance from your car, especially on race day, you have to give it better fuel than leaded gasoline. The same goes with the food we eat. We need to eat as clean as possible to get the best performance possible from our bodies. If you are topping off your fuel tank with high calorie foods, you can't eat as many and it will definitely hinder your performance. The best part about eating the right foods is that most are very low calorie which means you can put more fuel in the tank.

I learned this lesson by actually writing down everything I ate along with the nutritional facts. I found that I could load my plate with lean meats and vegetables and still reduce my calories compared to when I ate half of that portion size in pasta, breads, and fattier meats. You could basically eat a plate of good food for the same amount of calories as a soft drink.

So the next time you are ready to fill your tank just remember what my football coach from high school used to tell us, "You can't drive a Cadillac on leaded gasoline."

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Before beginning any workout program with Trinity Fitness, you will need to complete the form below. If you are unable to complete the online form, email me and I can send you a copy via email or have a hard copy available the first night of training. 

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Cheetah vs Lion

I was watching a documentary on Animal Planet the other day and I saw some video that was very interesting. The video was of a cheetah actually being chased by a lion. The videographer said that he had never seen a lion so aggressively pursue a cheetah for such a long distance. What I found almost laughable was the fact that the cheetah was clearly much faster and it kept looking back at the lion as if he were crazy. It was almost as if the cheetah was thinking, "Uh, you realize I am a cheetah don't you? You have no chance of catching me. You may be stronger and bigger but when it comes to speed, I am King of the Jungle!"

I immediately thought about some of the athletes I have trained recently. They are high school kids who spend the majority of their training working on getting bigger and stronger. Getting stronger is good and essential to being a great athlete but what was missing was speed development. Speed is arguably the most important factor for any sport from grade school through high school. College and professional sports is where speed must be matched with strength and power.

The fact is that on a football team for example, you really want a balance of lions and cheetahs. You may want to throw in some buffulo as well but my philosophy hasn't changed since high school, "I don't care how big and strong you are. If you can't beat me to the endzone, I WIN EVERYTIME!"

My advice to athletes is to train to be better athletes. That means to not focus too specfically on one thing but to become good at many things. Speed training needs to be one of those focus points. Being big and strong will help you but being fast will make you King of the Jungle.

My Fitness Journey Part 1

I think that you are probably born with it but I have been a passionate fitness and athletic enthusiast my whole life. It started with the greatest movie ever made, Rocky. My parents still laugh about seeing me outside shadow boxing at the age of three after seeing Rocky for the first time.

I first started competing in small races at the age of four. As soon as I started school, my annual schedule of sports included Baseball, Basketball, and Track and Field. I started playing Football in 3rd grade. I was blessed with speed which allowed me to excel in most sports. I loved the training aspect as much as the competing aspect of sports. I remember in forth grade listening to the Eye of the Tiger in my room and then going out and jogging down the street and doing a burpee at every other house I passed. I would then come home and lift those plastic, cement filled dumbbells and do push-ups. I remember thinking that they should invent something that allowed you to listen to music while you ran. The walkman came out about a year or two later.

I loved how it felt to feel strong and fast. The results were seen in the sports I was playing. Very little has changed to this day.

Life Lessons

One of the great benefits of physical training is how it mimics life. Some workouts are long and tedious whereas some are fast and intense. Some workouts will test your strength and stamina whereas others may test your endurance and flexibility. The same goes with life. Life will throw obstacles at you that will require you to dig your heals in and tough out the situation. It requires endurance, strength, stamina, speed, and a strong faith to make it through many of life's challenges. I have found that physical training can be a great tool for life training.

When you are doing everything you know to do but are still waiting on circumstances to change, keep running. When the world keeps throwing hurdles in your way, keep jumping. When the doors to your dreams won't budge, keep pushing. And when your workout seems to hard to finish just know that you are training for more than a smaller waist but for the victory of living a better life.

Above the Storms

The forecast for today includes lots of heavy clouds and rain. Not surprising, the second I stepped out of my house this morning, I was met with exactly that. Heavy clouds and rain is what many of us are greeted with every day. Some people just walk around with this dark cloud following them. What I was reminded of this morning is that we can rise above those storms. As I was driving to work, I noticed a break in the clouds. I could see a clear blue sky and the sun beaming off of the white clouds that reigned above the storm. The fact is that the sun is always shining if you can rise high enough. Isaiah 40:31 says "But those who wait on the LORD Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint."

Interestingly enough, eagles are known to fly at altitudes of up to 10,000 feet. They do not have to worry about storms because they can fly above them. We also can learn to fly above our storms. For us, our words are our wings. Our ability to rise above storms will be determined by the words we speak. What kind of words are you speaking each day?

Today it is raining. What a great chance for the grass to grow. With that being said, I can already see the sun.

Renters Insurance

I experienced a first recently. I lost my Grandmother last week. She was 88 years old. She was the first close relative that I have lost in my lifetime. Not bad considering that I am 35 years old. She lived a long life. The last several years were more difficult on her physically but a good life nonetheless. As would be expected, I have thought a lot about life and death since then. Once again I am reminded that we do not own our bodies but rather we rent them for this short period of time we are on this earth (1 Corinthians 6:19).

If you look at the condition of most houses for rent, you will probably find the conditions to be very similar to the condition we find our own health in currently in this country. Maybe we don't take care of them because they are not ours to keep. I find this to be very disturbing. That is nothing more than a lazy cop out to release ourselves from any responsibility. I guess the real question is what is our motivation. My motivation is not singular but includes several factors. One, I feel a since of responsibility to maintain my temple (1 Cor. 3:16). I owe it to God who blessed me with this body to begin with. Secondly, I feel like I owe it to those people who would love to be in my shoes, dare I take it for granted.

My last source of motivation comes from the quality of life that I hope to live. When I was a kid, I was very athletic and active which allowed me to eat anything and everything without the concern of weight gain. I figured that I could just exercise my way to better health without sparing the joys of hamburgers and Twinkies. Now as an adult, I am paying the price. Silent inflammation from years of poor dietary choices have taken their toll. Don't get me wrong, I never was overweight and judging from outward appearances was the vision of health. But somewhere down the line I developed all sorts of digestive issues. I have been diagnosed with IBS, Celiac disease, and have had my gallbladder removed with horrible side effects. I am no longer able to eat anything I want and that will be the case for the rest of my life. Again, this is not a sob story about my inability to gorge on chocolate chip cookies. I am healthier than I have ever been. I just don't get to be care free in regards to food as I was in my younger days. Had I taken care of my temple a little better nutritionally, maybe I could still enjoy some of the foods I used too. My quality of life would be better today.

Doctors are predicting that we will live longer than previous generations. So in other words, we get to stay in this rent house of ours for a little longer. Yet, we are seeing disease and the consequences of unhealthy lifestyles as never before. We may live to be 80, 90, or even 100 years old but the question is about the quality of those years. Do you want to live 100 years but have to have someone change your diapers the last 20 of those years? That will all depend on how you take care of this rented temple of yours. So I encourage you today to look into the future. Your insurance for a better quality of life is not bought with money but with exercise, diet, and the discipline to maintain the temple you have been so blessed to live in.