Archive for the ‘Motivation’ Category
April 24th, 2012 | 
Author: Research has shown that just a few minutes of physical activity, especially when done out-side can improve our mood.
But what can you do with just a few minutes?
Some suggestions….
If at work: Take a non-traditional break by going for a walk. Go outside if you can but if the weather is bad, walk up and down a flight of stairs, or walk around the office or production floor. If you really want to get into it, do a set of air-squats or push-ups.
If at home: walk the dog, (he’ll appreciate that!), or walk to the corner and back, or take out the trash, or go get the mail, or do 25 jumping jacks, or… just stretch your body out a little bit. We could all stand a little more stretching!
You will return to your chores; refreshed, recharged, and with a better attitude.
Smile! You just did something good for yourself!
Tom
Posted in 
Never Rule Anyone “OUT”
High school senior, Dakota Meyer, spoke with the Marine recruiters visiting his school. The conversation ended with the recruiter telling him “….there’s no way you could be a Marine.” Dakota walked away, but the soldier’s words bugged him. He returned to the recruiter and signed up.
Five years later, Dakota Meyer would receive the Medal of Honor for dodging gunfire to save a total of 36 lives!
Never Rule Anyone “OUT”
Now well known, pro basketball player Jeremy Lin was overlooked again and again. He received no athletic scholarship out of high school, was not drafted out of college, and frequently found himself in the development league. A stroke of luck put him in play where he would lead a winning streak that would draw country wide media attention.
Never Rule Anyone “OUT”
And never let anyone rule you out. That right is reserved for you alone.
History books are full of stories about people rising above expectations, even their own, to accomplish great things. Every day, talk positively to yourself. Congratulate successes, ignore failures. Attempt to do more than you think you can. Push yourself.
Take a look at this cool blog put up by Webster health teacher Paul Valenti http://pushyourself.com
Tom
You’ll love what’s happening inside
You are smiling!
That belly is getting smaller, and the weight is coming off. All that time and hard work is paying off. Your fitness habit has given you a healthy heart, clear lungs, and stronger muscles. To mention also: improved self confidence and a positive outlook. Never will you go back to the person you once were.
You are new, inside… and out.
Out for a run one beautiful summer morning back in my jogging days, I slowed to let an older man catch up. We began talking about fitness and running and one of the things that came up was this; why is it, that, sometimes a workout can be almost effortless, and sometimes, it can be so darn hard!
We both suggested various reasons for this such as nutrition, rest, hydration, the beers we had the
previous night, and so on. And somewhere, in all that conversation, my new jogging friend gave me this:
“We need to push ourselves through the tough workouts, to make the good workouts, better”.
He was right. On several levels.
On one level, the physical… pushing the body harder than it wants to go, we improve ourselves by forcing our systems to find the resources it needs to continue.
On another level, the mental… our drive to continue when we want to quit, develops our character.
It is the tough workouts that test us. They are what separate the men and women from the boys and girls. We can finish what we set out to do, or take the easy
way out and quit and in defeat.
Several months ago, my training partners and I conducted fitness assessments on ourselves. We measured the strength of our upper and lower bodies, our endurance, our aerobic recovery, body composition and shoulder and hip flexibility.
My scores blew the charts off the wall!
My scores blew the charts off the wall!
Keeping in mind that I was 61 years old at the time, my strength, when measured against what is considered normal for the population, was graded as “Superior”…for a 30 year old! I’m not trying to brag, I am trying to make this point:
Exercise Works!
All of my training partners performed well above population norms too. And… from my casual observation, I think most regular gym-goers would also test well .
Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not fooling myself. I know that any 30 year old guy who trains regularly, and with intensity, has a fitness level that is far above this old man’s. But I can’t deny that the charts say I maxed out what is normal for a 30 year old!
So, what’s up with that? Well, “what’s up” is that when regular exercisers compare themselves to the population at large, they see two things:
(1) how fit they are, and,
(2) how un-fit is, everyone else.
The fact that the general population is so out of shape is the real story here.
We exercisers appreciate the benefits of what we do, while non-exercisers, unfortunately, have no idea. Hey… this month, help spread the word about how great, regular exercise can be. Invite a friend in for a workout.
But go easy on them, they are out of shape!
Exercise works! Keep it up, and pass it on…
