You have to check out this four minute workout by Arnel Ricafranca. He recently had his youtube channel blocked. He has his own website and was really bummed when his youtube videos got blocked. Since the incident he has been posting new youtube videos almost every day.
I think the quality of his videos are much better now than they were before, although I wonder if he will get booted again because of music copyright...we shall see... here are a couple of his videos..
This is the four minute video...
This guy uploaded 34 videos in 2weeks...if that isn't motivation I don't know what is....I think this is how he makes a living...or he has a lot of free time on his hands..
Here is a video posted by Arnel that has only been on-line for 2 weeks and has already had 20000 views---He also has a social network called ARNEL.TV...CLICK HERE to check out Arnel.TV
Until next time…
Think, Believe, Act, Adjust, Never Give up
Dakota
Today’s Mantra: Sometimes the worst mistakes become the best inventions
I think he is talking about the middle way with both exercise and diet. It is no doubt that most of us eat more calories than necessary...but sometimes more is less....right...we eat more because a lot of foods today that aren't filling tend to have more calories, like cake. He has a good point about striking a balance with food and exercise and not over doing either one of those things.
I would argue that he talks a lot about food and not so much about calories. We could definitely eat more food if we eat healthy food and stay away from high calorie food.
Or if we want to eat high calorie food, eat smaller portions...
so the basic idea is...
eat more quantities of healthy food
eat smaller portions of higher calorie (unhealthy) food
Exercise: bike 30 minutes, turbulance training, ankle stretches (it never ends)
Menu: Protein and veggies
Until next time…
Think, Believe, Act, Adjust, Never Give up
Dakota
Today’s Mantra: We are the ones we have been waiting for.
It has been a long week. I am going to post my pics from yesterday and today and call it a night. And I will leave you with a quote...
Do just once what others say you can't do, and you will never pay attention to their limitations again.
James R. Cook
Exercise: bike 30 minutes, turbulance training
Menu: Protein and veggies
Until next time…
Think, Believe, Act, Adjust, Never Give up
Dakota
Today’s Mantra: My advice is to go into something and stay with it until you like it. You can't like it until you obtain expertise in that work. And once you are an expert, it's a pleasure.
When I was a kid growing up I used to love to watch the Olympics, especially gymnastics. Back then there was one athlete that really stood out, Mary Lou Retton. She was a powerhouse; she was all muscle and power and it showed in her routines.
Mary Lou Rettons Bio:
Born January 24, 1968 in Fairmont, West Virginia.
Inspired by Nadia Comaneci she took up gymnastics
Coached by Bela and Marta Karolyi (coached Comaneci)
First female gymnast from US to win the all-around Olympic title.
Won five metals at the 1984 Olypmics
She has a skill named after her on the uneven bars called "The Retton Flip”
In 1997, Retton was inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame
She was the first female to appear on a Wheaties box
Married with four daughters
Currently she is a personal trainer and has her own website called http://www.marylouretton.com/ and http://www.marylousweigh.com/.
Here is an a few questions from an interveiw with Mary Lou Retton on Chron: Health and Medicine.
Petite women know they have to watch their weight more closely than their taller counterparts, and Mary Lou Retton is no different. She became America's sweetheart back in 1984 when she stood on the Olympic podium to accept five medals and flashed her wide, bright smile. America still loves Retton, who is married to a Houston real estate developer and mom to four busy daughters. By trade she's now a motivational speaker and travels weekly to inspire others to achieve their best. She also is launching a diet and exercise program this month called Mary Lou's Weigh (find it at marylousweigh.com). The plan comes with a reinvented scale — a "platform" that doesn't tell you what you weigh, but informs you how much you've gained or lost.
Q: You could be doing anything right now. Why a weight-loss program?
A: I'm a motivational speaker; that's what I do. I can encourage and be your personal trainer. I want people to just think that tomorrow is a new day and they shouldn't be afraid to start. I can help.
Q: What do — an Olympic athlete — say to inspire people who may not do any exercise at all?
A: Whenever you have a pinnacle moment, the Gold Medal moment, there's a story of what it took to get there. I left my family at 14 and had a body type that was not supposed to be a gymnast. A gymnast was supposed to be thin and graceful. I was muscular and strong and no one had seen that. I was not extraordinary. But I had a dream, and I worked my tail off. Anyone can do that.
Q: But when you were training and competing it was different, right?
A: I had to be a certain number — between 92 and 94 pounds — because the less you weigh, the easier the sport is. I had doctors and trainers telling me what to eat. I always made it, but it was tough.
Q: What changed after all that?
A: I was in college at UT, a normal kid. Gosh, you eat fast food and pizza at midnight.
Q: So you gained the "Freshman 15?"
A: Yes, it was fun until I saw pictures of myself. I knew I wasn't happy with myself.
Q: What did you do about it?
A: I needed to get back on track. Not because a coach or trainer said to, but I did it for me. It was a huge moment for me and it felt good. So I did what we all know works. I cut out the junk food and started working out.
A: I focus on cardio, 30 to 45 minutes on the elliptical machine. I also lift light weights with high repetitions. I have to exercise in the morning or it doesn't get done.
Q: What do you do for stress relief?
A: Exercise. That's my time. I read and listen to my iPod. It's alone time, really. I love my kids, but it's chaotic.
Q: What advice to you give other women your age?
A: I urge women to get health screenings, get a mammogram. My mother-in-law is battling breast cancer now and it's awful. I had my first colonoscopy this year. I want a good quality of life when I'm old, and I want to set a good example for my daughters now.
Mary Lou Retton was one of the few female athlete's in gymnastics that was not only talented but also very physically strong. She managed to use her physical strength to her advantage in a sport where women were much thinner and more petite.
As a female athlete who started seriously competing early in her life, where she practiced for hours and hours every day from a very young age; she more than likely never had to worry too much about her weight. Though, she was in a sport where she was told to keep her weight down, I suspect that with all of those hours of exercise she was burning quite a few calories per day.
Also, she was muscular, which made her even more of a fat buring furnace than other girls her age.
So why did she gain weight after she stopped competing? There are many factors to consider....
When she stopped exercising or exercised less her muscles began to atrophy, which made her less of a fat burning furnace
She was away in college where there was no one to tell her what to eat
She probably ate the same amount of calories that she used to eat when she was competing; meaning she did not adjust her diet to her new lifestyle
Her body wasn't telling her when she was full because it was used to the level of energy it required to maintain her exercise levels
She exercised less and burned less calories
Being a woman she naturally had more fat cells than men
Here are a few interesting facts about fat cells and muscles and how they work...
Fat cells are called a dipocytes and multiply in number when you are a baby and during puberty
After you become adults the only time you produce new fat cells is during pregnancy
When you gain weight, fat cells fill up with more lipids and become larger
Fat cell numbers can't be decreased, but fat cell size can
Muscle does not turn into fat, less muscle means easier to gain weight
Muscles increase metabolism
1 pound of muscle extra burns 20 or more calories per day
Training 4 to 5 days per week intensely increases calorie burn by 400 calories per workout
To avoid weight gain, monitor diet and maintain strength training program
Here is a clip of her during her Olympic years: (She is a little powerhouse)
Until next time…
Think, Believe, Act, Adjust, Never Give up
Dakota
Today’s Mantra: As simple as it sounds, we all must try to be the best person we can: by making the best choices, by making the most of the talents we've been given.
I came across an interesting youtube video by some random Yoga instructor named Subodh Gupta. He had a few things to say about Oprah Winfrey’s repeated weight gain issue.
I don’t think there are many people out there who haven’t heard of Oprah Winfrey. She is one of the few entertainers and talk show hosts who seem to really care about her audience and the content of her show.
OPRAH WINFREY has some admirable qualities that make her successful...
1. She has an amazing ability to empathize with just about anyone; probably because of her own personal history of abuse.
2. Her honesty with herself and her audience when it comes to things like her weight helps her viewers identify with her.
3. She has done a lot of giving back to the community and society as a whole, despite her incredible wealth.
Even though she has succeeded in many areas of her life, she still struggles with this one very common issue. Most people assume when it comes to weight loss that it has something to do with eating healthier, eating less, and exercising more; but most people don’t consider the BIGGER issue.
The BIGGER issue is WHY? What is the root cause of this weight problem. I think it comes down to a few very important things...
Remember weight loss does not fix the root, and find the root cause
Figure out ways to address the root cause
If you don’t SEE yourself differently when you lose weight, you will always carry the other self
Changing mindset is number one
Treat your problem like an addiction (even with ten years of sobriety, it isn’t over)
Forgive yourself and keep going
Physicists agree that the power of the mind is far greater than matter, one would not exist with out the other
The Youtube guy Subodh claims that Oprah claims that “life took over” and she thought she had the weight issue beat. He says that she says it is when she has a lot of stress in her life that she turns to food or she forgets to take care of herself.
Here is a little more of his theory about how she can fix this problem. (I am wondering if she ever addressed the root cause?)
Until next time…
Think, Believe, Act, Adjust, Never Give up
Dakota
Today’s Mantra: Before you agree to do anything that might add even the smallest amount of stress to your life, ask yourself: What is my truest intention? Give yourself time to let a yes resound within you. When it's right, I guarantee that your entire body will feel it.
~Oprah Winfrey
If you have ever dealt with the YO-YO weight gain issue and you looked really closely at the reason's why, what would you say is the ROOT cause?
One of my biggest Shero’s growing up was Martina Navratilova. I used to watch hours of Tennis on TV, and she really was an incredible athlete and an inspiration to all women.
She was born on October 18th, 1956 in Prague, Czechoslovakia (now Republic of Czech). She dominated women’s tennis in the 70’s and 80’s. She played in her first tournament when she was eight years old. She was ranked number in Czechoslovakia from 1972 until 1975.In 1975 she went into exile in the US and became a US citizen in 1981. In 1992 Martina won her 158th title, and subsequently marked her as winning the most titles, male or female, in the history of tennis. She retired in singles competitions in 1994, leaving with 167 titles in all. Her career totals include 59 grand slam titles: 18 singles, 31 doubles, and 10 mixed doubles.
She said in an interview I read that the two things that really made her excel was her focus on quality (skill) and quantity (experience).
Skill can only be achieved with consistent effort, practice and desire to improve. With out a desire to get better there are blinders to what needs to be improved upon. She had to continually take a serious look at her weaknesses and faults and figure out how to work with them.
Experience (whether you fail or succeed) is extremely important when learning anything well. Practice is the cornerstone of perfection. My guess is that if you added up all of the hours she practiced versus the hours that she slept, they would be pretty close; and my guess is that she practiced more than she slept.
I came across a blog on bodybuilding.com written by Maureen Meehan, and she mentions someone who inspires her – Dee Lazard. I thought I would check out Dee’s background to find out more about what makes her so inspiring to Maureen.
“From Houston, Texas, this 64 year old is an NCSF and AFAA
certified personal trainer and an AFAA certified aerobics
instructor with over 13 years experience. Dee’s clients include
men and women of all ages. In addition to overall fitness,
health maintenance, and weight loss, she offers strength
training, cardiovascular conditioning, and nutritional
counseling. For those interested in competing, she can
assist with all aspects of contest preparation. Dee has
been weight training since 1994 and competing since 1998.
Dee recently took 7th place in the middleweight class
at the 2008 NPC USA, in Las Vegas and 1st place in the
2008 NPC Masters Nationals in the 55+ class, 4th place
in the 45+ Lightweight and 6th place in the 35+
middleweight in Pittsburgh, PA. In addition to Dee’s
busy competitive schedule she placed 5th Lightweight
at the 2008 Arnold Amateur in Columbus, Ohio. Dee
plans to do a lot more competitions.”
~Biography from HDphysiques.com
Looks like she started competing when she was in her 50’s
and still going strong. Goes to show you that it is never too
late to start competing.
Here is a video of her at a competition where she finished in 5th place...see if you can spot her...
