Evolve: Patience

Patience is the essential companion to success. Patience and hard work allow personal growth and the ability to overcome adversity.  Without patience, we grow anxious and impulsive with the current result and cease moving forward.  Without patience, baby-steps seem like no steps at all and minor hurdles derail us far too easily from our pursuits. Without patience, we resort to making rash and miscalculated choices. However, with patience, proper forethought has taken place resulting in a far more likely successful outcome. Patience also allows us to take the time to reflect on past experiences, learn from them, and determine a better solution to continue moving forward towards success.

Patience is Nothing New Patience is a human quality that has paid off handsomely for us in the course of history. Our ancestors displayed great patience as they hunted wild game. With the right tools, training, and due diligence, they knew a big kill would result if patience was practiced. Other examples of great human works throughout history that encapsulate the importance of patience are the following: The Pyramids of Egypt, the Great Wall of China and Magellan’s voyage around the world. Another example of patience can be embodied by an Olympic gymnast. Gymnasts of this caliber place over ten years into learning skills and conditioning their minds and bodies to perform at this level. Through countless practices, devastating injuries, at times, and sacrifices, gymnasts understand that all this patience and work demonstrated will pay off for their long term goal. So whether it be one more brick on the Great Wall of China or one more repetition on the balance beam for an Olympic gymnast, these human successes were not birthed without patience observed. As John Wooden quotes, “Success comes slowly.  Expect change to happen slowly and to have patience along the way....Whatever you’re doing, you must have patience...” and “...there is no progress without change, so you must have patience”.

An Olympian in Everyone, Everyday Just as an Olympic athlete must display patience to reach their goals, everyone can benefit from this skill to better their life. One dimension of life is your health. The quest and journey to have lifelong health and fitness requires great patience and hardwork. It requires constant learning and practice of healthy habits. Each day you awaken, cook breakfast, and decide how to allot your precious minutes of the day, you are practicing the baby steps that will get you to your long term success. Many might think to reach their goals, such as to lose 15 pounds, to maintain their current weight, to lower their cholesterol, or to start eating better, hard work and sacrifice are all that are necessary, but that is not the case. Again, patience is the companion of hard work. These goals will not be met if one is not willing to be patient, make a solid sustainable plan, and work hard at it everyday. Your goals will also fall short if you are not willing to persevere through the highs and lows. Inevitably, mistakes are sure to be had when starting a new regimen or exercise routine. We are only human and our tendencies to revert to what is known or comfortable will soon bring back those poor habits. However, with patience and a process of learning from these mistakes, one can pinpoint how the pitfall occurred and will be willing to fill the hole with cement so that, once again, they can get back on the bandwagon and cruise smoothly to their success.  Without this patience, many loose site of their long term goal and either reach to a quick fix-- AKA a trendy diet or exercise plan, or give up altogether and revert back to their old habits. This is what we call the yo-yo effect. This is detrimental to your health and teaches those who practice this nothing about creating the sustainable lifelong plan for fitness.

Intertwining Patience into your Plan:

• Lay the foundation to your sustainable plan: Do you research, evaluate what has worked for you/ not worked for you and why? Once you have highlighted this, start to shape your new approach, new goals, and a new road map about how you are going to accomplish your long term success.
• Fill those potholes, now: Determine what those trigger are from the past that have caused your plans to fail. For these triggers, decide how you will overcome these obstacles so that you stay on track.
• Bring patience into the equation: Any long term goal is going to take time. Hold yourself accountable by writing out checkpoints. These can be short term goals that you will revisit through the course of your journey that are pivotal to your success. Revise and make new ones every month. Not only will these small accomplishments motivate you, but they are also proof of your patience and hard work paying off that will keep you on track.

Success is not mere goodluck bestowed onto individuals, nor is it magically created. There are no magicians, here. Success is created from those who possess the ability to practice patience, work really hard, and view life’s obstacles not as bad luck or a force pushing them off course, but as an opportunity to tackle a challenge and push through the storm so that the success is far greater than they could ever imagine. I will leave you on one last quote that is one of my favorites from John Wooden, "intentness is the ability to resist temptation and stay the course, to concentrate on your objective with determination and resolve".

Go, now, and make those dreams a reality :)

Erin

Evolve: 90% Rule

This is what I live by-- the 90% rule, what does that mean? This concept can be understood easily by using a suit as a metaphor. Our daily routines are framed by daily templates most of the time- the alarm goes off-- maybe a couple? and we get up, take a shower- wash with the same soap, brush our teeth in the same particular way, put on all our special moisturizers and hair products, then we dress ourselves, sip on the morning coffee and read the daily paper, then we grab our things and run out the door to work... It is the same cycle played out every morning. Good routines and rituals are great and can yield a very productive, efficient, and balanced person. Take babies for example, we strive to put them on routines so they stay happy and eat on time and sleep well. Another key comparison is to look to our past ancestors and how they lived. Daily life back then was driven by routines-- however, special rituals and life events gave way to spontaneity in life routine and the diet.  Today, a life with too much ritual- too much rigidity and not enough variety and spontaneity can lead to boredom and burn out, which will, in fact, do just the opposite that the good old routine has set out to do.

This is where the 90% rule and my metaphor come into play. Look at your daily routines like wearing a  beautifully tailored suit.  90% of the time your fitted suit is worn and 10% of the time the suit is put into the closet and your most comfortable outfit is put on and enjoyed. While wearing your suit, good routines are established and practiced. This includes getting plenty of rest, eating only the best foods, exercising, working really hard, and staying focused on you, your career, and your family. Now, this is all fine and dandy, but what is this 10% all about? 10% is the time during each day, week, month, year that should be spent doing the opposite of the 90%. Now, I don't mean take off all your clothes and run down the street like a crazy person while eating a whole bag of Oreos. What I mean is that 10% of your time should be spent resting your mind and your body and allowing yourself to indulge. Each person's definition of indulging is different. For some, this means sleeping in until 12PM, watching trashy TV, and eating a pizza. For others 10% means going to the beach and relaxing all day and reading a book. 10% is the time to re-charge your batteries, decompress from the template routine, and live a little. 10% should be practiced everyday. Like a pie, take a sliver of each day to do what every you want-- FB surf, eat a piece of chocolate, listen to music, etc.

Temptations:
This type of mentality can be ideal during the holidays when it comes to your diet and exercise. There will be belly busting temptations all around. The best thing you can do is stick to your routines, but then allow yourself 10% to enjoy anything you want. This 10% will keep you balanced and allow you to stick to your good habits for life and not feel deprived or burned out.

Work:
This type of mentality can help you work harder at your job so you can give more to your friends and family. Knowing that you maintained your focused for 90% of the week and now have 10% of "you time" you will be more apt to keep your mind motivated and focused. After your 10% recharge spurts your will be back in top gear ready to tackle any task.

Resolutions 2013:
Lastly, this type of mentality can be valuable when it comes to setting your 2013 New Year's Resolutions and sticking to them. 90% of the time stay focused on these goals, but 10% relax and take some time for yourself to do what makes you happy and what sets your mind and body at ease.

Remember, always be real with yourself. If your 10% is eating a pizza everyday... your plan, as far as health goes, will be set up for failure. Use your 10% wisely. This 10% will only enhance your life and make you that much more balanced and centered. Enjoy.

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Evolve: Grab a Buddy

We got the ipods on and head phones in... is the gym a place to peace out to the world or could it be an opportunity to network and be with friends? In my opinion it can be a combination. Bringing a friend to the gym can be so rewarding and fun at the same time- DO IT!

Power of 2 or 3 to Motivate: Solo workouts are great, but humans are competitive by nature, bring out the inner competitor in you by working out with a group or friend. Invite a friend and design circuits to do together. By having a person to push you to keep you going or to hold you accountable to your reps and to your workout will make you that much more successful. Also, most gyms offer group exercise classes in a wide array of styles. From dance classes to strength and boot camp style classes, there is one that will fit you and your companion(s). Classes are a great way to network with individuals from all different walks of life. They bring people together from all different types of backgrounds to de-stress and revel in a fun workout. For me it's mobility on Mondays with some friends, IFT (group X class) Tuesday and Thursdays, and Aloha Friday (Friday workout with friends). Workout with friends never get stale.

Cheap: Fitness is relatively cheap, if not free :) Although health is priceless, a gym membership will not break the bank and there are so many things you can do outside a gym that are free. Check out the posts below for workouts you can incorporate into your repertoire without a gym.

Healthy together- That makes two of us: We all know it is easier to do anything when others around us are doing it too. Everyone abstains from wearing red, you will most likely follow and not wear red and feel no qualms about it. Same goes for working out. If your friends are working out, it will be easier to join forces and workout too. John Wooden's quote, "What ever you do in life, surround yourself with smart people who will argue with you..." can be applied here..."surround yourself with healthy people, who will get you off your ass..."Sundays, are workout days from my roommate Lisa and me. We plan it the night before, set our alarms, and push ourselves out the door and cram and jam an hour workout session in before 12 noon. Together we design the workouts and make sure everything get accomplished. Without this partner motivation on Sundays, I know I would snooze the day away. Together we motivate and know we are healthier for it! 

Alright, so I encourage you to take the ear-buds off, get some friends, hook your ipod up to the stereo and workout together :)


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Evolve: Wake Up. Breathe. Move to Success

Waking up early in the AM can be one of the secrets to some of the most successful people. Although I would contend that not all of them have the most balanced lives- AKA workaholics... there is something to be said to waking up early and getting the day going on the right foot. From early morning workouts to reading the news paper, getting a head start to the day can give you an edge.

Check out the article: 23 successful people who wake up really early

Disclaimer! Ha! Waking up early doesn't mean to skimp on sleep!  Be sure, no matter what, to at least get 7-8 hours of sleep per night!

Evolve: Perfect Squatting

It is true... we were born to squat well! My nephew started playing in the tan-bark and as he reached for the small pieces of bark, without any instruction, he practiced perfect squatting. Perfect squatting is innate! The following is observed:

Stance: 

• Feet about shoulder with apart
• Toes slightly turned out

Decent to the bottom of the squat:

• Straight back and big chest

Bottom of the squat:

• Straight back/Big chest through entire movement
• Knees slightly behind toes
• Slight forward angle of the shin
• Feet planted firmly on the ground

Rise of the squat to stand:

• Push the floor away with your feet and extend hips to neutral stance

Happy squatting!

PS. I apologize for the vertical video! 

Evolve: Hawaii Workout #2

WOD #2

It must be the swimming and warm weather, but I was sore for a couple days proceeding Sunday's workout... Ha!

Set your timer for 10 minutes and perform as many rounds as possible (AMRAP) of the following:

• Mountain Climbers x10 reps
• 1 min. of forward and backward shuttle run (approx. 20 yards)
• Medicine ball chops x 5 each side

Repeat!

Explanations of movements:

1. Mountain Climber: Start in the push-up position, drive your right knee up to your belly button. Keep your toes pointing forward. Drive your right leg back to plank, simultaneously driving your left knee up to your belly button. Repeat!
2. Medicine Ball Chop: Pick up the medicine ball. Position your feet so they are slighting outside your shoulders and your toes angled outwards. Bend your knees slightly. With the ball at hip level and arms slightly bent, rotate your torso to the right. As you do this, pivot on your toes so that they stay in line with the medicine ball. Move the ball diagonally across your body above your opposite shoulder. Repeat!
3. Forward shuttle: Run forwards leading with your hips
4. Backward shuttle: Run backwards, staying light on your toes. 

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Evolve: Damn, that's good chicken!

A seasoning blend my family is in love with is called Bill Barron's Savory Secrets: Tequila Lime. It combines REAL tequilia and other south of the border seasonings that pair well with chicken, fish, vegetables, or steak. Sunday, for lunch, I made some quick grilled chicken salads with the seasoning blend. It was so good, I sprinkled it all over the fish I made for dinner.

Damn, that's good chicken! 

Ingredients:

• 1 lb chicken (white or dark), sliced thin (1/2" thick)
• Lettuce
• Tomato
• Avocado
• Bill Barron's Savory Secrets: Tequila Lime
• Ranch or Caesar salad dressing 

Directions:

1. Heat grill to medium.
2. Sprinkle seasoning onto chicken. 
3. Grill until chicken is good through, but still juicy. Let stand 5 min. before cutting
4. Prep salad and toss greens in dressing before transferring to serving dish. 
5. Top salad with the sliced chicken, enjoy! 

Evolve: Hawaii Workout #1

It is my desire, while on my vacation, to post some fun meals and workouts inspired by the island of Maui! Here it goes...

WOD #1

Set your timer for 10 minutes and perform as many rounds as possible (AMRAP) of the following:

• Right arm dumbbell clean and jerk
• Left arm dumbbell clean and jerk
• 5 dumbbell swings
• 10 sit-ups

Repeat!

Explanations of movements:

1. Dumbbell Clean and Jerk: Start with your feet outside your shoulders, feet slightly turned out. Position the dumbbell directly underneath your chin on the ground. Begin by hinging over at the hips with a straight back. Pick the dumbbell up to hip level using your legs. Shrug your shoulder and give the dumbbell a "high-pull" and scoop your elbow forward so that it moves from the high pull position to the "catch" (elbow should be right under your shoulder, now). Then, "dip/drive" by slightly bending your legs and quickly extending them, simultaneously extending your arm straight overhead. To bring it back to the ground simply do the opposite. 
2. Dumbbell Swings: Start with your feet outside your shoulders, feet slightly turned out. Position the dumbbell directly underneath your chin on the ground. Begin by hinging over at the hips with a straight back. Pick the head of the dumbbell up with both hands. Pull back on the dumbbell to push it through your legs-legs should be slightly bent/back straight (like hiking a football). As the dumbbell comes forward, aggressively open your hips and lock out your legs. The dumbbell should swing forwards (arms straight). When arms are straight the dumbbell should be parallel with the ground. 
3. Sit-Up: Lay on the ground with your feet in the "Butterfly" position. Using your arms, sit up with a straight back. 

Evolve: Omelet Bar

Delicious! 

This morning my roommate and I decided to make an omelet bar to celebrate Sunday. Omelet's are a cheap and tasty way to use your left over veggies and protein. Our omelet bar consisted of the following:

• Eggs
• Onion
• Mushrooms
• Red bell pepper
• Tomatoes
• Mozzarella Cheese
• Avocado
• Fresh Basil

To make these delicious creations, you will need a non-stick skillet, spatula, and olive oil:

1. Turn your stove onto medium heat. Coat your skillet with oil. Once hot, add onions, peppers, and mushrooms. Sauté lightly for about 2-3 minutes. 

2. Add egg. Let the egg cook until the top is no longer liquid.

3. Use the spatula to loosen the egg from the pan and flip the egg over. 

4. Add cheese and avocado and cook for about 1 more minute. 

5. To close the omelet, tilt the pan over the serving plate. Let half of the omelet slid out onto the plate and then fold the other half of the omelet on top. 

6. Top with tomatoes and fresh basil.

Other great toppers include: Salsas, pesto sauce, hot sauce, cheese sauce and.or tomato sauce.

Evolve: Preventing Booty Lock in the Gridlock

Lisa and I just returned from the bay area. In the course of three days, we had driven a total of 15 hours round trip. As we are driving, I am telling Lisa, " Booty Lock!" This translates to we need to stop and stretch.  Needless to say our lower extremities were talking to us and feeling tight and fatigued. This story is similar to those that our clients tell us after returning from their long trips, "my back flared up", "my hip is sore", "my knees are stiff" ... One method that Lisa and I take very seriously when on long road trips is called "Take 10". Every two hours of sitting, spend 10 minutes doing dynamic stretching. Below we have put together a series of major movements to keep you not only energized on your trip, but pain free during and after your journey. Enjoy!

Take 10

Twisting Pin Wheels

This dynamic movement is perfect for loosening up your back, hamstrings, and shoulders. Lisa starts with her body vertical, arms bent, and legs apart. She performs a small torso twist and then reaches with her left arm to her right foot. Next, she returns to the vertical position, repeats the slight torso twist and then with the right arm reaches down to her left foot. Repeat 10 times. 

World's Greatest and Reach

This movement stretches the hamstrings, calves, glutes, and quads. Erin starts with her torso vertical and takes a big lunge step forward with her right leg. The back foot comes up on the toes, but she keeps the back leg extended straight, so that her glutes are still activated. With Erin's variation, pulling her arms up by her ears, she is able to add a stretch to her upper back and shoulders. Hold for 10-20 seconds. Then drop the right arm down to the side and slightly lean toward the right with the body to get a nice side stretch. Hold for 10 seconds. Stand up straight and repeat the movements starting with a big lunge step with the other leg (left leg). 

           Hamstring             Shoulder Bridge                  Squat

Next, it's time to move to isolate the hamstrings. Lisa places her heel up onto a surface with her leg straight out in front, no higher than her hip, and proceeds to reach forward toward her foot. Keeping your back straighter will allow you to feel the stretch even more in the hamstring. Repeat three times each side for 20 seconds.

Moving up to isolating the shoulders and upper back, we find a sturdy pole or sign to perform this stretch with. Stand with toes pointed forward, legs shoulder to hip distance apart, and about an arms-width distance away from the pole. Erin holds onto the pole as she hinges forward at the hips and looks down at the ground. Keep your back in a straight line and hold this position for 10-20 seconds.

Last up in this sequence, is the body squat. For this movement, you want to stand up nice and tall and place your feet firmly on the ground in the "squat stance". This means feet are placed slightly outside your hips and toes are toed out 45 degrees. Next with a big chest and a flat back, Lisa is going to hinge at her waist and sit back as she bends her legs. Simultaneously, your arms can go up above your head or reach out in front of you.  You know you have gone down low enough in the squat when you can no longer keep a straight back. Once you are as low as you can go, you can hold that position and rock side to side to feel an even deeper stretch before standing up. Your hips, quads, and back will thank you with this one. 

Happy Travels! 

Evolve: Use Nature to Craft a Workout

Instep Lunge outside my apartment

Over the past few months, I have run and jumped around every inch of my Culver City neighborhood and found some easy ways to put together workouts using my surroundings. Cost for this is FREE and best yet, it takes less than an hour.

Everyday movements involve pushing, pulling and squatting. Each movement in the list is chosen to model one of these types of movement. Our human anatomy loves to move for short, fast bursts and then rest. The idea with these 10 minute AMRAPs (As Many Rounds as Possible) is to provide the body with a full body workout, while adequately giving each muscle group rest and time to recover in between the exercises. In addition, these workouts are metabolic, which means your whole body will be engaged and heart rate elevated. This is good for your heart and for keeping you lean and spry.

Choose 4, GO for 10 minutes:

Sporting goods stores sell tubes

Pick one movement from each category in the following way:

Chest Press w/ tube around a No Parking Sign

Day 1, 3: Push, Leg, Core, Cardio
Day 2, 4: Pull, Core, Cardio
Day 5: Leg, Core, Cardio

Rapid Step-Ups on a curb on my street

Box Jump up to the curb

Perform these workouts 5x/week with 2 days off of your choice. 

Example

The Hill- right down the street

"Lunge O'Mighty"
10 minute AMRAP:
Leg: Lunges uphill (10 each leg)
Cardio: Sprints up hill (50 m)
Core: Sit-ups (15)

Evolve: Tough Muddered- Snow Valley- Big Bear

This past weekend marks one of the most fun weekends of all time!  A friend of mine and myself completed our first Tough Mudder in Snow Valley, California, by Big Bear. Prepping for the feat consisted of lots of morning runs, push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups and YouTube previewing of the event. However, out of all the training nothing could mentally prepare me for the electroshock therapy challenge nor the ice bath. The challenge started promptly at 9AM- although there were hundreds of people and a lot of room for chaos, I have to say things were quite organized. We had a motivator speaker pump our group up before we were given the GO. As soon as the event started, I could already tell this was going to be a long day. However, we took it one mile at a time. We climbed over five huge dried up ski slopes at 6500-7000 ft. elevation. It was incredible! However, no matter how tired we got, my friend and I kept pushing each other and laughing the whole way. I am proud to say after 12.5 dirty miles, some beautiful scenery, one scrape, some sore knees and many bananas later,  I completed the course and made it successfully through each obstacle on the first try. At the finish, I was greeted with a cold beer and the infamous orange headband.

I recommend this challenge to anyone who wants to have a fun time, face some fears, and make some lasting memories. Next year, I'd love to bring a group of us out and form a team to make it even more exciting. I will warn those who want to do the challenge to be sure to train some prior. Strong legs, coordination and endurance are a must. The Tough Mudder website provides some resources that will help you prepare.

Enjoy the video! E-mail me if you have any questions!

Evolve: Fresh Week- Fresh advice

I found an awesome article titled, "Want to be more successful? Revamp you Mornings"by Jessica Stillman, which gave some great advice that can be applied to all your goals and to your lifestyle: 

"Seizing your mornings is the equivalent of that sound financial advice to pay yourself before you pay your bills. If you wait until the end of the month to save what you have left, there will be nothing left over. Likewise, if you wait until the end of the day to do meaningful but not urgent things like exercise, pray, read, ponder how to advance your career or grow your organization, or truly give your family your best, it probably won’t happen," Vanderkam writes." 

On other notes, I was recently at a party and my friend referred me to a site called pinterest.com, which is full of really interesting recipes, shopping, etc. One recipe that my friend made this weekend was chocolate chip cookie dough dip! It was so good. I asked her what was in it? and she answered, "Uhh, I don't want to tell you, just eat it." I was like. "I don't care if it is made out of a pound of butter..." she answers, "it is made with garbonzo beans!" Ha! It was fantastic! 

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Dip- goes great with TJ Animal cookies or for a healthier alternative try putting it on fruit! 

Ingredients
1 can organic garbanzo beans, drained
heaping 1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup almond butter
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup chocolate chips

Directions
Add all ingredients except chocolate chips to a food processor and process until smooth. Chocolate Covered Katie says not to use a blender. Mix in the chocolate chips.
Eat by the spoonful and let me know what you think!

Source for recipe

Evolve: Getting the "Mindset" for Summer 2012

It has been too long of not writing to you all. Life has definitely gotten busy, but not without growing in so many ways and furthering my knowledge base in the field of health and wellness. The early 20's is definitely a time, compared to other ages I have been so far, of highs and lows and many changes constantly. However, one tactic of mine in order to maintain motivation and optimism in all these changes has been to develop a positive mindset and attitude of success no matter what adversity presents its self. True, this epiphany has not come without reading some great books, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck and Be Quick But Don't Hurry by Andrew Hill. What I have taken home from these reads and my experience is to view each day as an opportunity to further myself even if mistakes are had. Although small failures along the way cause setbacks they also inspire growth. Dweck discusses a fixed mindset versus an growth oriented one. The fixed see their life as "I must avoid failing, failures are bad and nothing good comes from them" and a growth oriented individuals views a failure as a learning opportunity and and inevitable consequence of taking risk sometimes. Similarly, Wooden's definition of success: "Success is peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to become the best of which you are capable,” illustrates how success is relative. The key is taking the results from your actions and learning and applying the new skills to the next goal and to keep moving forwards. Turning my mind to a more growth oriented one and understanding how to interpret success, in this way, has helped to create a more positive and motivating environment to keep achieving versus viewing some outcomes as failures, which leads to dead ends.

For Summer 2012, it is essential to adopt a growth oriented mindset to get out of your comfort zone and push yourself to reach new heights. We all can do it. For instance,  when it comes to your health, it is time to put the excuses to rest and enter these goals with the attitude that "I will be successful" and although, failure is possible, it is the challenge that will be exciting and the potential great outcome that supersedes the risk of failure. Instead of avoiding all situations with a smidgen of failure- embrace them.