Fab Fit Squad

I just returned from my 2nd Women’s Tri Fitness and it was just as exhilarating as it was last year. I didn’t win any hardware, but I did beat my times from last year, which is all that matters to me.  Well — that and after all the events my husband who is the most supportive person to me throughout my training turned to me and said he was so proud of me. That made it well worth all missed activities and times spent at the gym vs spending quality time with him.

This time instead of rushing off to the next thing, I did take time to celebrate my accomplishments while I was in Las Vegas, we lounged by the pool at the Monte Carlo hotel which was a balmy 102 (there was humidity and the natives were freaking out) UMMM you don’t know what humidity is and hung out at our very favorite restaurant Mon Ami Gabi in the Paris Hotel. Now I’m back to reality and its time to set some new goals.

This year I’m planning to:

1. work on my legs — would love to have a nice quad sweep
2. increase my speed and agility
3. increase my bench press — I’m getting 50 reps in next year’s Tri Fitness

Guess what, I don’t. This past weekend I competed in the NE Classic it was my first show since July 2009. I worked hard to get to this show after a few false starts this season. My goal was to debut my new fitness routine at this show, but it just wasn’t coming together so I decided to just do the bikini round and get my stage legs back. No sooner than 5 minutes after the show I was already critiquing how I did and what changes could I make before the next show in July.

SERIOUSLY!!! Kim you placed in the top 5 and you couldn’t take 5 minutes to give yourself a pat on the back before you were moving onto the next thing.  OK, here is my moment to savor and relish my accomplishments.  I placed top 5 and it feels great. I did work hard to get to this show and it was also nice share my hobby with 2 women we are new to the sport, Stacey S. and Jenn F. they both had great attitudes and hope they enjoy competing as much as I do. I also got to see 2 great people that I haven’t seen in years and they just made me smile so much and it was so nice to be around them for most of the day. Dottie you are awesome and are such a inspiration so glad that we got back in touch.  Melissa loved the crazy hair!!! You rocked the stage.

But the best thing that I should savor is that after 5 years of doing shows and having to put up with all the pre-show, show and post-show madness, my husband turns to me and says that he is proud of me. Now that is something to savor!

Do me a favor whatever your accomplishments are stop and enjoy them because guess what for each goal you achieved someone else has given up. Keep reaching for the stars because the only person who can hold you back is YOU!!!!

These 5 letters that crept into my brain this week. I am roughly 7 weeks away from my next fitness competition and DOUBT crept into my mind. Can I do this? Should I do this? What the hell? Is this my life? Imagine this all going through my head within 30 seconds. Here’s a little background. I have been competing since 2005. I started competing after I lost 30 pounds because I needed a goal. I lost the weight, but now what. What was my next fitness endeavor. My trainer at the time was a former bodybuilder and suggested I give fitness competitions a try.

Now I’m not a glamour girl by any stretch of the imagination and walking in a bikini with clear heels didn’t seem like my cup of tea, but in April 2005 I took the stage at the Fitness America, show in New Haven, CT and I’ve been competing ever since. I typically compete in 4-5 shows/year like a machine. I wind up every January and wind down each June and the process begins again. Except this time!  (more…)

This is the excuse monster starts to pop up for most people,
well I’m _____________or my husband/SO/parents_____________ or I don’t have _____.

Here is the secret to weight loss, come closer are you ready.  It’s called HARD WORK!

It it came in a bottle, everybody would have a great body. — Cher

(more…)

For the few weeks, I have working on getting a little focus around what I want in my life. A few years ago I created a vision board and hung it on my wall and it really helped me gain some focus and clarity. So.. I decided to do it again.  On previous vision boards I put images on it of what I would like to achieve, places I’d like to go and quotes that will help keep me moving when feeling a little low. What I found to be really interesting is that it was hard to get started. It was hard for me to sit and a really think about what I wanted.  I thought about when I was a little kid and you asked me what I wanted for Christmas a laundry list of items would come out of my mouth. Now I was stuck. Why as it so hard? Was it because I was afraid to want things? Or was it that I had everything I needed. I’m lucky I have a husband who loves me, a roof over my head and money in the bank. What more could I want?  So then I said, yes I am lucky, but there is more that I want out of life and more that I can contribute.  So here is a my vision board. I showed mine, now show me yours, what do your dreams look like? Are you around to put them down because you are afraid you might achieve them?

So, I’ve been on the sidelines for a while. I ‘ve been training for a half marathon, studying for my wellness coach certification and just working my butt to build my business. Okay those were just excuses, if I really wanted to stay on track I could have. Okay pity party over. Here are 6 ways I am going to get back on track for my next fitness competition. I will be competing in the NPC Jay Cutler Classic in Boston on May 2nd.  Time to get my game face on.

1. Schedule, schedule and schedule it. Every Sunday I sit down and mark out in my calendar when I will workout. I get specific like (Wed 7am cardio 40 min) I put it in my calendar and it is an appt that I cannot break. I move stuff around, but my workout does get done.
2. Pre-cook my meals. I go to the grocery store on Saturday afternoon and load up on veggies, lean proteins, chicken broth and lean diary products. Then on Sunday at 6pm I start cooking. Yes exactly at 6pm. (If you can’t tell I like schedules) I cook enough protein and veggies to get me through the week.
3. Get good music. My ipod doesn’t ever leave my gym bag! At least once a month I buy new music and mix up my playlist to keep it fresh. If you have any suggestions, please leave me comments and let me know.
4. Maximize my workout time. If I need to do a cardio and a strength workout, I do a metabolic circuit (a combination of strength and cardio) or just do a crazy interval cardio blast (every 2 minutes you change machine and increase the resistance)
5. Seize the moment. There are days when my schedule don’t allow a full workout, so I’ll need to break it up. So, somedays I will do cardio in the morning and then lift later in the day. That way there are no excuses and its in my schedule.
6. Involve your family. Training for a fitness show can be really intense and takes a large amount of your time! I make sure that I include my husband. We go to the gym together and plan (yeah I know, I can’t help it I have to schedule) to have lunch each Saturday at our favorite place The Parish Cafe.

This week, I had an opportunity to see Suzy Welch speak. She opened her speech by saying that she can’t do it all. I repeat she said she can’t do it all and she doesn’t even try. Instead she picks what’s important and moves on. What a freeing way to live.  So, if you can’t get to it, you don’t dwell on what you didn’t do? AMAZING. That statement felt like the glowing box in Pulp Fiction.  Since that day I’ve been really thinking about what she said and then yesterday I read a great post from Lululemon about what are you going to stop doing.  It stopped me in my tracks, because as women we are always trying to figure our how we can do more!! You know we have 24 hours in 1 day and how I am ongoing to do a million and one things to make everyone happy as well as achieving my own goals.

So now I thinking, I don’t have to it all, so what am I going to stop doing!!!

1. Stop being afraid. Yes, I know I me, afraid, but I am! I have been procrastinating on taking this test because I am afraid I will fail. Guess what if I fail I can take it again. So stop talking take ACTION!
2. Stop spending more than 30 minutes on Twitter and Facebook. I love you all, but I need to get focused on taking my test and growing my business
3. Stop purchasing things and not using them. Now this is going to be tough! I have purchased so many things that still have the tags on them or books that I haven’t even cracked the spine.
4. Stop wanting everything to be perfect. If I doing something just okay. That ’s fine. At least I’m taking steps.
5. Stop feeling like I always have to do something. Say what…It’s a rare day that I can just sit and relax, so take more time to sit and relax. I think about my grandmother, she is 88 years old and I don’t think I’ve seen her sit down for more than 10 minutes at a time. So I don’t want to look back in 48 years and say that I haven’t sat down!
6. Stop multitasking!! That’s right I’m a professional multitasker, if I’m not doing 5 things with my hair on fire I feel like I’m standing still. Moving forward I will set an old fashion kitchen timer and work on 1 thing at for 30 minutes before I move on to the next activity.

So tell me what are you going to stop doing?

On Wednesday, the TV show Cougar Town premieres on ABC. When I first heard about this show and let me take a step back, when I heard the word COUGAR I would get pissed off. I thought because a women is strong and goes for what she wants, why does she have to be a called a cougar. When a man goes for what he wants, he is called DRIVEN, DETERMINED or SUCCESSFUL.

I found a site the helped me change my mind about the term cougar.  A Real Cougar is a woman who is strong, confident, independent, sexy and proud to be past 35.

When I read I said this definition, I embraced and finally came to terms with the word cougar. Taking a look back at myself in my 20s, I remember discovering who I was in terms of my career and the woman I wanted to be living on my own for the first time. Many women work DAMN hard to discover themselves in their own terms. So I ask you ~ why does the term COUGAR have be a bad thing. Go ahead and call me a cougar. I am in the best shape of my life and living my best life with no regrets.

If you know who you are and you are not afraid to show it, embrace your cougar pride!  The Fabulous Fit Squad is all about empowerment and going for it.  So embrace your inner cougar and GO FOR IT!

Let me clarify for a minute, when I say go for it, I’m not saying put on your best push up bra and head to your nearest bar. What I am saying is look in the mirror and ask yourself are you living your best life? Are you:

• taking a stand and making things happen
• thinking age is nothing but a number
• done listening to other people and finally tuned your inner voice ~ positive talk only please
• working out and staying healthy and active
• financially independent or working towards that goal

Don’t be afraid start living your life to its full potential.  In the comments right below tell me how your embracing your inner cougar.

I was reading the blogs that I keep up with regularly and read the Orlando Sentinel’s posting about fitness bucket list and it got me thinking.  I love being active and challenging myself so, that article got me thinking.

These are not written in any particular order.

1. Consistently run the Falmouth Road race in August with Philip, my husband. It’s a 7.2 mile race on the Cape, that allows 10,000 people to run in it and its a lottery to get a number. So fingers crossed we get a number consistently.
2. Run a half marathon, I would like to find one that is fun and interesting through the entire way so if someone knows of one, Holla.
3. Beat my times in next July’s Women’s Tri Fit competition. Fingers crossed my husband decides to compete in it as well.
4. Learn to kayak — this is interesting as I never go in the water past my waist.
   
5. Learn to swim — yes, I’ve gone all this time without learning how to formally swim! Basically if I want to kayak, I think I should learn to swim first, just saying.
6. Organize/promote a fitness competition — I’ve been is so many that, don’t focus on the details. I would love to do one that focuses on the details.
7. Practice yoga consistently — I love yoga, but its always the first thing I dump when I get busy prepping for a fitness competition.
8. Relearn to squat – I lost it and I want it back!
9. Do a handstand — ever since I watch Nadia Comaneci score a perfect 10. I have been obsessed with gymnastics.

Here are a few other sites that listed their fitness bucket lists.

Oh She Glows
Healthy Tipping Point

What’s your fitness bucket list? comment below

I have been avoiding finishing up my wellness coach certification. I took the 13 week class last November and have exactly 1 year to:

• take a written exam
• complete a oral exam
• chronicle 3 clients

Well here we are at almost August and I am no closer to the certification than I was last November. I continually ask myself, why haven’t taken any steps to complete this exam? Am I afraid of succeeding, is it because their really isn’t hard goal.  I know that I am not a good test taker so am I psyching myself out by thinking that I stink at test so why rush to take the test. So I am setting a hard goal for myself.

I will take my written exam on or before 11/1.

I will take my oral exam on or before 12/1.

I will have completed 3 practice clients on or before 2/1.