Relax

Going after your goals requires persistence, hard work and amazing focus that is for sure. However, having some extra ‘down time’, can go a long way. It can help re-fuel your body and heal it. In fact it is quite necessary to allow the body to recoup after intense exercise. It will allow the body to adjust to the intensity it has been through all week and let it heal itself. Take the day off and enjoy it. Enjoy the success and the hard work you have experienced last week.

I’ve learned that life has many challenges in store for each of us. Some of these challenges are expected and some are unexpected. The mindset you decide to use to face your life’s challenges can have a powerful impact on your experience of life, the development of your character and courage as well as your self-image and self-esteem. Through a process of completing a challenge and reaching your goals, you can learn and experience a great deal of training that will help you overcome many of life’s other challenges. You will learn to face adversity and learn to solve problems. You can build character and resolve much like a muscle.

I have started and failed countless times. That is a huge obstacle for me. Fear of failing again is a huge hurdle to overcome. What I have learned thus far is that as long as you can get back up and go again, you haven’t failed. Despite the definition of insanity, doing the same thing over and over again and getting the same results, if we change our path slightly and adjust to the environment, huge results can be obtained.

What do you think? Have you made a decision to overcome a challenge? What are you doing differently to get different results?

I’m certain that they approach life in a new way. The contestants change their dietary habits, exercise regimen, family time, work and approaches to life in general. Its a huge change from being mostly sedentary to leading an active and healthy lifestyle.

Have you changed your mindset in anything? Do you view life in a new way?

This will help me visualize and focus on I will feel in my new healthy body! Visualizing your best body, the more empowered your mindset will become. Revisit it all day and night and let it propel you to success!

Through careless eating, and lack of consistent exercise I’ve gained so much fat that I can’t see any muscle definition in my mid-section. That is where I carry my weight. Although I’m not a novice in the gym, field or ice, I have not put it all together. Now, I believe I have put together a focused plan and have set a goal of losing 80 lbs before I go on a serious vacation.

I’ve had my wife take a before photo this morning so I can clearly see the condition I am in today. I will officially begin my journey and workouts on January 4, 2010. My workout week begins on Monday. I have now planned out my workouts and my nutrition. I have written them down in a journal which I will keep daily. I intend to take photos weekly to chronicle my progress. Motivated by the before and after photos on The Biggest Loser, I hope to have the same impact on others that some of the contestants have had on me.

I’m putting it out here and will post my Pics  on FatAsstoFit.com.

I had the opportunity to participate in a Strongman Boot Camp run by Tom Cole of Colemine Muscle. The first week out I shot some video of just some of the things they had us doing.

…I am cross posting this from my person blog but I Believe this is relevant here…

I recently read a short book “The Success Formula-Three Principles That Will Turbocharge Your Success and Dramatically Improve Your Life” by Bob Burg. The book was a nice little motivating book that I was able to extract some nuggets from. I have copied an excerpt from the book.

Rabbi Yaakov Salomon tells the story of the lawyer arguing a case for his guilty client, who was on trial for murder.

The one challenge in the prosecution’s case was that the body had never been found. However, the abundance of expertly presented circumstantial evidence was more than compelling. Everyone in the coutroom, jurors included knew the man was guilty – so in his closing argument, the clever defense attorney decided to go for broke.

He pointed grandly toward the courtroom doors and declared “Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury: In exactly 60 seconds, the so-called “corpse”, the man you believe to be dead, is going to come walking in through those very doors. We can begin counting now!”

The time ticked by: one second, two seconds, three seconds, ten seconds, 20 secons, 45 seconds, 55 seconds, 56, 57, 58, 59…and then, exactly the one minute mark, in walked…..nobody at all. Certainly not the corpse.

The lawyer addressed the puzzled jury: “Ladies and Gentlemen – I apologize. I told you something that obviously did not come true.However, the mere fact that you looked at the doors showed me – and shows you- that you have ’some measure of doubt’. And of course, if you have any doubt, any doubt at all, you must-you must-return a verdict of NOT GUILTY!”

And with a triumphant flourish , he returned to his seat.

The jury went into deliberations- and just five minutes later, came back out to render theri verdict. The foreman stood up , faced the judge and said they declared the defendant- GUILTY!

The defense attorney was enraged. “How could you?!” he demanded. “I saw all of you watching that door!”

The foreman replied, “Yes, sir, you are correct: We were, in fact watching the door. But we were also watching you and your client- and you did not watch the door. Your client did not watch the door, not even for a moment.And that’s because you both knew there was not a chance in the world that anyone would be walking through it.”

The lesson? Don’t expect anyone else to believe something you don’t believe yourself!

There are other lessons within the story but what I take from it is if your belief system is big enough in your cause, your goals or whatever you want to call it, maybe that is the special ingredient in the Success Sauce!

One ingredient that I think I have been lacking and therefore struggling with my weight loss is the fact that I did not believe I could do it. I have changed that. Lets see what happens

Were just starting out however, we hope to grow a community of people looking to  improve themselves through exercise and proper nutrition, and a lot of hard work.
So my name is Aron, and I am still a Fat Ass… I must admit I have a head start on Drew though. I have been a regular at the gym since we started conversing about starting this site a few months ago to help others like ourselves who don’t quite fit into the normal routine. Due to work I am on call most of the day, and Drew often works odd hours in Wound Care. We came to realize that there isn’t a whole lot of support around for people that have such skewed schedules as ourselves, or people that are stuck working out at odd times, or the few just can’t follow a set schedule due to everyday life. Thus Fat Ass to Fit was born!

I wish I could say I had a noble cause, or an excuse even, but my start to losing weight was driven more from envy and wanting to fit in. I have never been obese, but I have been the heavy kid since around 4th grade give or take a year. I still excelled at sports, I could run, ride a bike, and still keep up with friends in moderate to great shape. I wasn’t necessarily happy with my weight, but I learned not to focus on it, and did my best not to let it get in the way of whatever it was that I wanted to do. Looking back now I realize all I was doing was coming up with creative solutions instead of addressing and fixing the real problem. Needless to say it happened slowly, but it started affecting other areas of my life as well.
Over the past couple years I had begun hanging out with a group of friends, who physically were in shape, loved sports, and to be frank are better than average looking. I started to realize that when we went out while I would start conversations, and create group dynamics, at the end of the night my friends would always seem to be the center of attention. I had essentially become the permanent wing man of the group, and I was extremely good at it. However, I wanted more… Around the same time I had this epiphany, I was relocated for work and moved to the small town I live in now.
After relocating, I decided to join a local gym and begin working out trying to get back into shape and improve my overall health. I must admit that living in a town surrounded by lakes and beaches did help influence my decision slightly.

Since beginning my quest in March I have lost a total of 31lbs, and am in the best shape I have been in since I was little. I have also expanded my workout routines outside of the normal workout routines. I have begun periodically attending Colemine Muscles Strongman bootcamp as well as a fitness program run by the Workout Warden.

I look forward to learning, conversing, and working out with each and everyone of you, and I hope you find Fat Ass to Fit helpful as well. We will be posting everything from trainer advice, personal stories, helpful hints and recipes, as well as launching the Fat Ass to Fit podcast here shortly. If you haven’t yet join our group on Daily Burn and take the time to drop us a line and say hi.