Trick or Treat? Your Body Will Follow Your Brain

Hi Boot Campers!

First things first. Saturday Morning Boot Camp is Moving: Time and Location Change. Please go to the Meetup site and review the changes that are coming. We're going indoors and starting at 8am at Warren Health & Racquet Club. Beginning on November 14th.

http://www.meetup.com/Body-Basics-Fat-Blasting-Boot-Camp/
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Happy Halloween!

Sure is a dreary and rainy day, and not good for Trick or Treaters. Although the truly determined will done their costumes and go for the bounty! Think about that. It's worth reoeating. The "truly determined" will get their candy today. Maybe not little kids, but 5th, 6th, and 7th graders will get out if they possibly can.

When you think about it, the amount of will and determination one has for trick or treating in the rain is very similar to what one needs to get in great physical shape. Either way you've got to be willing to put up with obstacles, be it the weather, a challenging schedule, or anything else that causes your brain to send you a message that gives you permission to not follow through.

Attitude is everything!

The secret to having a great attitude is having strong reasons why you want or need something. A Halloween trick or treater sees the sack full of candy as the grand prize. When we were kids, my brother and I would walk further and longer than any other time of the year, going from house to house in pursuit of chocolate bars and other delicacies. Yumm! We would start right after school, go home for a quick supper and head right back out after.

The only difference between being grown up and being a kid is that we often lose sight of our passions. With so many responsibilities on our shoulders it becomes difficult to get your motor revved up to go out and do something that requires physical energy. Halloween is also special because it's only one day of the year. Keep in mind that to get in great shape, you'd have to keep that same energy going day in and day out. You have to want great health and a great body as much as my brother and I wanted to see our pillow cases become full of candy!

So where do you find your reasons? In other words, what is it that will help you have that passion? The answer may surprise you. It's your pain. By pain, I mean your emotional pain. Perhaps a better word would be "disturbed". Every day we do things that put us on a potential collision course with being upset about our bodies.

If you step on a bathroom scale in the morning and you
don't like the number you see...Whammo!

If you look in the mirror at yourself just before
you get in or out of the shower and you

don't like what you see...Whammo!

If you get dressed and nothing fits the
way you want it to...Whammo!

There's three opportunities to feel really bad about yourself. What's really "disturbing" is that all three scenarios can occur in the morning back-to-back before you've had breakfast. In fact, you might feel so crappy about yourself, instead of eating a healthy breakfast you just say "screw it" and head for Dunkin Donuts!

It's time to change all of that. It's time to reverse the downward spiral and find your "passion" once again. Make your enemy your friend. Your enemy is the way you feel about yourself.

Get good and mad about the number on the bathroom scale.

Get good and fired up about the naked body you see in the mirror.

Get good and fed up with the way your clothes (don't) fit.

AND DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!

FoodRenegade.com

Stop the old cycle and start a new positive cycle. Remember the passion you had as kid on Halloween, Christmas morning, or when you got a new bike? You still have that passion, you just have to let it out. SO LET IT OUT! The kid in you is alive and well and wants to run and play. It's the tired and frustrated adult in you that is making all the excuses. Find your passion once again and begin to change your life.

My passion is helping people get fit. If I can help you, it would be my pleasure. Please visit one of my websites and see if there's a way I can help you feel and look your best.

Committed to your fitness success,
Larry Wasserman

bodybasicsbootcamps.com
imtiredofbeingfat.com
healthyfitkids.com
bodybasics.blogspot.com

5 Ways To Stop Worrying So Much

We already know that worrying is not good. But we continue to worry...a lot. In fact, we as humans worry so much, it's killing us. Even though we have more technology and resources for a higher quality of life, we also have more psycho-social stress than ever and many of us worry about things that we have little to no control over. Worrying causes added stress which can deteriorate your health and shorten your life.

You know the word "disease"? Well it comes from two words put together, "dis- ease". Think about it. When you have enough "dis-ease" in your life inevitably you'll get "disease"!

And you know what else stress does to you? It makes you fat. Oy!

So read this article and hopefully it will help you find ways to mentally process your stress and worry less.

I found this article on the web and it had no author. I think someone had cut and pasted it from it's original source. So I apologize to the author for not being able to give proper credit.



"Do not anticipate trouble or worry about what may never happen. Keep in the sunlight." Benjamin Franklin

"The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make one." Elbert Hubbard

"If you ask what is the single most important key to longevity, I would have to say it is avoiding worry, stress and tension. And if you didn't ask me, I'd still have to say it." George F. Burns

Worries. They can circle around and around in your head. Becoming louder and louder as they sap your strength and make you feel you weaker. It's no fun.

So what can you do about it? Here are five timeless thoughts to help you overcome or at least lessen the worries in your life. I hope you find something helpful.

1. 80-90 percent of what you fear will happen never really come into reality.

"When I look back on all these worries, I remember the story of the old man who said on his deathbed that he had had a lot of trouble in his life, most of which had never happened." Winston Churchill

"If you want to test your memory, try to recall what you were worrying about one year ago today." E. Joseph Cossman

This is a big one but one that is easy to forget about. Most things you fear will happen never happen. They are just monsters in your own mind. And if they happen then they will most often not be as painful or bad as you expected. Worrying is most often just a waste of time.

This is of course easy to say. But if you remind yourself of how little of what you feared throughout your life that has actually happened you can start to release more and more of that worry from
your thoughts.

2. Don't make mountains out of molehills.

"Worry often gives a small thing a big shadow." Swedish Proverb

"Worry is a thin stream of fear trickling through the mind. If encouraged, it cuts a channel into which all other thoughts are drained." Arthur Somers Roche

"If you treat every situation as a life and death matter, you'll die a lot of times." Dean Smith

It's very easy to fall into the habit of making mountains out of molehills. You think and think about a small problem until it becomes something that you believe may ruin your life.

So why do we do it? Why don't strive to make things easy and simple?

Well, one reason I believe is protection from pain. By making the problem huge can you can invent a helpful excuse to convince yourself to not take action.

Another reason is that the ego wants more. It wants to feel better or worse than someone else. By making things more complicated than they need to be you can make them feel very important. And since you are involved in these important things, since you have these BIG problems, well, then you have to be important too, right? Plus, by doing so you can get a lot of attention and comfort from other people.

So how do you get out of the habit of making mountains of molehills? Three tips:

* Zoom out. Ask questions that widen your current perspective. Questions like: "Does someone have it worse on the planet?" The answer may not result in positive thoughts, but it can sure snap you of a somewhat childish "poor, poor me--" attitude pretty quickly. This question changes the perspective from a narrow, self-centred one into a much wider one and helps me to lighten up about my situation and to be grateful about my life.

* Bring awareness to you own thought patterns. Ask yourself questions like: "Honestly, am I overcomplicating this?" and "What is the simplest and most straightforward solution to my problem
that I may be avoiding to protect myself from pain?"

* Realize that much of this is in your head. Your relationships to what you want to achieve are - just like your relationships to people - to a large extent just in your head. Think that something
is easy and simple instead of "heavy" and complicated and your perception of that external thing you want to achieve tends to change too. Experiment and find healthy and effective relationships
to what you want to achieve instead of just seeing something like many people may do.

3. Let go of that familiarity and certainty.

"Worry is like a rocking chair-it gives you something to do but it doesn't get you anywhere." Unknown

"People become attached to their burdens sometimes more than the burdens are attached to them." George Bernard Shaw

Whatever you have been doing perhaps for decades feels familiar and comfortable. Even if it may be something destructive as worrying. Taking a leap of faith and going into the unknown, making a change that may turn out to be positive, can feel scarier and more uncomfortable than what you are used to. Even if what you are used to is worse in the long run.

But at some point you have to make up your mind to start letting go of that old familiar part of yourself. You have to fill up the space all that worrying used take up with new thinking. It may feel
uncomfortable. It is not so intimately familiar as your past thoughts.

It can be scary and exciting at the same time because now you are not just someone who sees him/herself as worrier and that uses some techniques to lessen that. You are instead making a deep change to who you are, to how you view yourself. You are letting go of something that has been a big part of you and are leaving it at the side of the road.

One great tip that I have learned for making it easier to let go is to first accept it. Then to let it go. When you accept something instead of resisting it you stop feeding more energy into your problem and making it even bigger. A bit counterintuitive.

This is useful when it comes to letting go. If you first acceptwhat you want to let go you aren't so emotionally attached to it and still feeding it with your focus and energy. And so it becomes less powerful and easier to just drop. As long as you resist it then it will be hard to let it go.

Another helpful hint for letting go is found in tip #1 in this article. All that worrying in your past may not have been very accurate at all. So perhaps it's a smart choice to let go of that habit?

4. Focus on a solution.

"There is a great difference between worry and concern. A worried person sees a problem, and a concerned person solves a problem." Harold Stephen

"The reason why worry kills more people than work is that more people worry than work." Robert Frost

"You can't wring your hands and roll up your sleeves at the same time." Pat Schroeder

To move out of worry it's very helpful to just start moving and taking action to solve what you are concerned about. Two tips that have helped me to take action more consistently are:

Using a morning routine.

This is perhaps the most powerful tip I have found so far in this area. You simply set up a routine in the morning that you do as soon as you wake up. This works so well because what you do early
in the day often sets the context for your day. As humans we have a strong tendency to want to be consistent with what we have done before. That's one big reason why a bad start often leads to a bad day and a good start often leads to a good day. Read all about my and other people's morning routines in this article.

Focusing on and taking responsibility for the process, not the potential results.

I use this when I workout. I don't take responsibility for the results in my mind. I take responsibility for showing up and doing my workout. The results have come anyway from that consistent action. And this makes it easier for me to take this action when I know that is all I need to focus on. Instead of using half of the energy and focus I have available on hoping that I "reach my goal real, real soon".

Focus on the process and you will be a lot more relaxed and prone to continue than if you stare yourself blind on the potential results that never come as quickly as you want to and puts you on an emotional roller coaster from day to day.

5. Tomorrow will come anyway. Live and fully enjoy here and now.

"Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow, it only saps today of its joy." Leo F. Buscaglia

It may sometimes seem that by worrying we can less the sorrow of tomorrow. But it never works. It only sucks the life out of today and this moment.

To be able to live better today and to be able to take that action to prevent the possible sorrow it's important to learn to live in the present moment. Because it's there that you can do things in the best possible way with your focus fully on what you are doing.

Three of my favorite techniques for drawing myself back to the now are these (the first one is the one I use most often right now):

* Focus on what's right in front of you. Or around you. Or on you. Use your senses. Just look at what's right in front of you right now. Listen to the sounds around you. Feel the fabric of your
clothes and focus on how they feel. Be still right there and just take in the world around you.

* Pick up the vibe from present people. If you know someone that is more present than most people then you can pick his/her vibe of presence (just like you can pick up positivity or enthusiasm from people). If you don't know someone like that then I have often recommended listening/watching to Eckhart Tolle in the past. I still do. I especially like his audiobook "Stillness Speaks". Another guy that I find helpful for picking up presence from is Dr. Wayne Dyer.

* Paraliminals. I reviewed these guided meditation CDs during the spring and they have become one of my favorite way for reconnecting with the present. I just plop down on my bed for 25 minutes or so to relax and listen. Afterwards I feel relaxed and energized and my self-talk tends to shut down or decrease significantly for maybe half a day. This makes it a lot easier to be in the present moment and just focus on what is going on right now.

I'm injured and can't exercise, now what?

One of my personal training clients is out of commission for a few weeks with an inflamed achilles tendon. He was playing with his kids in his back yard and "wham!". In the meantime, he is healing and unable to exercise, so he is traveling for business and also not paying much attention to his diet.

Now I don't want to pick on him per se, but I want to point out something very significant. Injuries are like any set back in life. It's not what happens to you that is significant, it's what you do about it that counts!

When I am unable to follow my normal exercise regiment, I always ask myself this question, "What can I do today?" For example, if I can't get in a workout, I'll set a goal to make sure that I drink my allotment of water for the day. It's always a good practice to differentiate between our intentions and our actions. We judge ourselves by our intentions, so it's easy to not take action. And before you know it one day leads to another and another, and little gets accomplished.

We all have the best of intentions, but few of us are able to carry them out with consistency. A simple way to improve upon this is a two step process. One. Write your intentions into your daily to-do list. By taking this action step, you immediately trigger the brain to be much more accountable. Two. Just like in business, "you get paid for done". Projects in your head don't make money. Projects completed do pay off. Actions completed pay off too!

So put your daily "habits" of drinking water, eating small meals, and exercising in your to-do list (daily) and think of them as paying you big dividends when "done". Health is wealth!

No BS. This is simply a matter of changing your thinking. Powerful associations to things we already do and value can help us make big strides. It's important to get your brain to stop "thinking" that doing these daily activities is time consuming and inconvenient. Get excited about the changes you are making with every small meal, every bottle of water, every push up! It's the little things that add up to make a big difference.

Avoid having a setback take you out of the game. There is always something you can do to move you toward your goals, but it takes an intention and action to get it done. Think of your "intentions" as priming the pump for the actions that are to follow. Get fired up about your intentions and your actions will fall into place like dominoes.

In the end it's a shift of values where you are taking action on things because they are now higher priority because you "must do" them. Without this thought process your daily actions are just "should do" items that you never seem to get to.

Press on!

What Are Your Thoughts? Please add a comment!

Youth Fitness Program Launches Oct 5th in Warren, NJ

Over the years I have been asked a hundred times or more from moms in Warren about offering a fitness program for their kids. But the logistics of creating a program are huge as it requires designing the "right" program, finding the right space and time, obtaining a facility, not to mention being effective. If you actually take the time to look around, it won't take you long to see that there are a lot of over weight kids. They are everywhere. This has been gnawing at me for over two years. A year ago I met a fellow NJ trainer at a fitness seminar in CT. His name is Todd Dattoli and he has been a certified Youth Fitness Specialist for several years. In addition, Todd is a nationally certified personal trainer and like myself runs his own company, Peak Conditioning Fitness in Far Hills, NJ. And also like me, Todd has been wanting to create the right program too. It only took us one meeting to get our main objectives on paper and within a few weeks "Play On! The After School Fitness Challenge" was created. We sent proposals to the Warren Board of Education, the elementary and middle school principals, Dr. Crisfield - the Superintendent, and the Business Administrator. I am happy to report that everyone loved our proposal and we have been given the opportunity to offer Play On as an "after school enrichment program" in the Warren district. http://healthyfitkids.com This initial program is for grades 4 through 8. Although any student can participate, we're looking to attract those students who aren't getting enough physical activity. Maybe they are academic or artistic in nature, or perhaps they are just spending too much time in front of a computer screen. Maybe they are over weight too. These are the students who don't participate in Rec Sports programs and even avoid athletics because they might feel inadequate. We want to create a place where these kids will feel like champions. Our mission is to get them to exercise through creative games. Through "play", they will get moving. The scope of the program introduces tools and equipment they won't use in PE. They will be encouraged, inspired, motivated, and challenged to use their imagination to ultimately create their own games. You see, we are not only looking to get them moving in the present. - We want them to feel good about themselves and to get moving on their own. - We want them to get excited about having fun so that they begin to change their habits and get outdoors on their own and actively pursue physical activity. - We want them to develop confidence in their physical abilities so that they don't feel socially inept. -We want them to associate healthy eating with exercise and having fun. Please go to our website at healthyfitkids.com and look through the program description. Warren Parents, We Need Your Help This program is in it's infancy, but the knowledge education and passion behind it has over twenty years of combined experience in education, fitness, nutrition, and coaching. The Warren schools are supporting the program, but are limited in their ability to get the word out to parents. They have allowed us to use Woodland School and to place fliers in the school offices, but we want to also notify as many parents as possible which is why I am writing to you. I truly want to help kids begin to get the right message at an early age so that as they grow, they make better choices and live healthier lives. It doesn't happen over night, but we have to plant the seeds so-to-speak. We have to start the process and reverse the trend that is sweeping across our nation. We've got more technology, more diet programs, more self help books, more gyms, more health food stores than ever and we are fatter than ever. It's just crazy! We have to start at the beginning and that is with our kids. So if you or someone you know has kids who could benefit from this program, please direct them (and yourself) to our website where you can register online. The program begins on Monday Oct 5th. We've only got room for 50 students, so please don't sit on this. Registration forms and tuition must be received by Sunday October 4th. You can drop them off at the Woodland School by Friday Oct 2nd in the office, or get them to me personally. If you need help, please let me know. If you have any questions, please call or email me directly. With gratitude, P.S. This is not just for Warren kids. PLAY ON is for all kids! http://healthyfitkids.com