Health & Fitness

Together, Let’s Kick Some A$$!!!

R. Wallen, R.N.1 Comment
I Believe That We All CAN!!!

I heard her talking about me.  She was telling Jeanne, one of the owners of AMAA/Stockton Karate, “I didn’t know who she was, but she was right next to me and she was so encouraging.”  She was a new student at AMAA and Jeanne told her that my name was Row.  Hearing that made my spirits soar high.  She was working out right beside me, and I saw the look of, “Are you freakin’ kidding me?!” written all over her face more than once during our 45 minute workout.  All I told her was that she was doing a great job, to just keep moving, and that she could do it.  Easy.  Nothing to it, just a few words of encouragement.  She had heard me, so my words were not of wasted breath.  Whew!

You CAN, and You WILL ...

I’m one of “those” people … you know one of those obnoxious people who yell in a group exercise class.  It’s even worse if I know your name because I will call you out!  Why?  Because I know how it feels to need encouragement.  I know how it feels to be dead tired, but then to hear someone tell you that you can do it, it allows you to put forth that much more effort to get the work done.  So, yes … If I see you “struggling” in class, I will let you know that you CAN do it, that you only have so many more minutes left.  If I see you in a race, regardless if I know you or not, I will tell you that you’re doing a great job, because you ARE.

Seriously … just by you being in class or running in a race, you ARE doing a fabulous job because you could very well be doing absolutely nothing.  You have won half the battle by choosing to get out and move, and I will commend you for it and help you any way that I can.

Honestly though, I encourage others because it helps me.  I hear myself tell others that they can do it … If I’m telling you

Hear me?

that you can, and I don’t, then it makes me look like an ass  a hypocrite, right?   I can’t look like that.  I refuse to look like that.  When I hear myself give others encouragement and motivation, then I believe it myself and it allows my mind to cancel out what my body is telling it to do which most times is, “Shut the eff up and stop already!”  You see, I believe that your body will do whatever your mind tells it to do even if it’s tired.  I know because I have tricked my body countless times.  I have learned that I can do so much more than what I believe that I can.  It seriously is all in your head …

Others have done it for me … given me encouragement and motivation when I have needed it most.  Some have never met me, others have been spectators with great signs on a marathon course, and some have been my friends training with me … it has helped me every time, and gotten me through to the end.  Because of this, I pay it forward by encouraging others.  Yes, true motivation has to come from your heart, you have to want it, but it never hurts to have a little help from your friends.  So I don’t care if I am the loudest, or the most obnoxious in class … I get heard, people hear me, and they get’er done!  Helping others helps me.  Helping you helps me.  Watching you succeed helps me, it motivates me, it encourages ME …  We have to help each others get thru and push thru … Let’s do it!

I Workout So I Can Eat Whatever I Want – Fact or Fiction?

R. Wallen, R.N.Leave a comment

I’m not going to lie … I am like every other woman who wishes that there was a Magic Pill that would keep the body in shape without working out, to allow me to eat whatever I wanted without gaining an ounce, to keep the wrinkles and gray hair at bay, and to keep me healthy. Fountain of youth? I know that that doesn’t exist so I am not even going to start dreaming about it! I’m just looking for the lazy way … but the lazy way doens’t exist either!

Thankfully though, I am one of those women who has been blessed with athletic abilities. I believe that once I was released from my mother’s womb, I hit the ground running. I started walking at 9 months old. I ran my first track meet in the 4th grade. I dabbled in gymnastics, ran high school varsity track and cross country. I have a black belt in Krav Maga. I have participated in and have taught kickboxing classes. I have run 10Ks, half-marathons, and even a couple marathons. I am proud to say that I AM a very accomplished athlete.

My difficulties lie in that 1) I’m getting a little older, and 2) I like to eat – not a lot, but I do get caught with my hand in the proverbial cookie jar more times than it should be in there! The getting older part, I can’t do anything about. But that part is only numbers. I don’t feel the number that I am, and, if truth be told, I am better than those with numbers smaller than or less than mine. It’s just hard to believe that I am over 40! I laugh when I think about that … when did that happen?!? The eating part, I can change. I cannot change that which I do not acknowledge … therefore, let me acknowledge my weakness now.

My name is Row., and I am HUMAN.

I like to eat. Not junk food, per se, but snacking on those which are not that great for an (slowly) aging body. I love bread and pasta. I love pastries – namely Apple Danishes from Toot Sweets, and Cinnamon Sour Cream or Blueberry Muffins. I DON’T eat them everyday, but I lie to myself when I do eat them. I try to tell myself that eating one will not harm me, and it won’t, but I have to work EXTRA hard to work it off, and most times I don’t do the extra work that is necessary. I forget the mantra, “A moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips.” I understand that I am the only one in control of what goes into my mouth. I cannot lay blame on anyone because no one is forcing me to eat the things that I do. However … there are the occasional sabateurs …. Ha! I won’t blame them either!

It’s a joke to tell yourself that you workout so that you can eat whatever you want. It’s a waste to workout if all you’re going to do is eat crap. If you’re not seeing the changes that you want, or if you’re seeing changes that you don’t want, most likely it’s because your nutrition sucks! Bottom line is, if you eat crap and workout, you’re still going to look like crap! Nutrition is a big part of fitness. We need to remember to eat to live versus living to eat. Fitness alone will NOT solve my “problems.”

So here to day … I acknowledge my weakness and my desire to change this behavior. When I choose to eat badly, I will make up for it in the gym by working out harder or longer. I intend to make better choices because most times it’s just NOT worth the extra effort that must be put out to work it off! Seriously … to “have to” run 2 miles to work off one doughnut … Yeah, no!!! I’d rather do the best that I can to “keep it clean” and out of my mouth! I CAN do it, I know that I CAN!!!

(Reposted from an my old blogsite 12/7/2009)