Hard work pays off ……… and stays off! 70 pounds down!

Hello Everyone, I wanted to share a clients story with you, or I should say journey. This is what seventy pounds down looks like.

I will call him John. I  have worked with John for 2 years now. When John first came to me he was active, had a gym membership and was busy dealing with everyday life events, taking care of someone with a terminal illness, walking his dog, yard work, and working his job.

In the beginning he trained just once a week with me, we would do full body workouts getting his core strong, working on cardiovascular training. John was strong from all of the lifting he did over the years – it was time to take his workouts to an athletic level of training. We needed to increase his core work and challenge his heart more, after all, the heart is a muscle too and it needs to be worked. We did circuit training, lifting weights and getting the heart rate up all in the that one hour workout, training in both systems of the body, the anaerobic and the aerobic, burning fat and building muscle. He would show up to every session and put in a great workout.

Two years ago and today December 1014!

 

John would bring his food journal so we could see what was going on with his nutrition. I would make notes and suggest foods to add or take away. The biggest change was cutting back on flour, sugar, alcohol; you could call it harm reduction in the beginning and  then he cut them out completely. John started adding more exercise to his life (his homework): biking to the gym instead of driving, doing more spin and core classes, running, and then taking his nutrition to another level. He enjoys cooking – this is the battle: getting clients to cook! John brings food when he is biking in an event, he will bring sweet potatoes and  salmon or chicken that he cooked, this is AMAZING! John is not relying on the junk that is provided at these events, a gold star example of clean eating!

I am so proud and so honored to witness John’s journey.  Watching him make his eating and exercise a lifestyle, keeping off the 70 pounds and not going up and down like a roller coaster. John has such a passion and drive for life and adventure. He told me last week, “I feel better than I did in high school at 56.” WOW! Yes, “we can move better feel great at 56.”

This is an athlete here, strong core, muscle mass, cardiovascular training is top notch, moves like an athlete. ” I looked at him in the eyes and said, “John you are an athlete”. I always say, “We can take back our health and our lives, it will happen when you’re ready.”

Ace Morgan

Ace Morgan Fitness, three time winner “Best of the Bay: Best Personal Trainer” San Francisco Bay Guardian  

Advertisements

Today’s 10 tips of fitness. December 13th 2012

Today’s 10 tips of fitness. Thursday December 13th. 2012

1.) set realistic goals. This time of the year, is really hard.

2.) keep in mind when we are moving our bodies we are burning calories. A brisk walk your burning 4-5 calories a minute. When you move your body your heart is pounding and your muscles are contracting. Never underestimate a walk, and it’s a great way to hang out with a buddy, it can be an urban hike, you don’t need to go drive out to the woods, you can just walk out your door.

3.) when you exercise it’s been proven in my 7 years of training, your mood will change, it’s getting motivated when your in a rut or a funk that’s hard, don’t be afraid to ask for help, call a buddy. When most clients meet up with me they would rather be ….. And when they are done, they ALWAYS feel so much better.

4.) organic coconut milk in a can, yum, in my coffee. Great alternative to dairy.

5.) remember to have fun with fitness.

6.) It’s not who you are that holds you back, it’s who you think you’re not.

7.) todays fitness challenge: salt bath

8.) remember when your training at the gym or at home to combine two different movements at the same time, when doing squats throw in some bicep curls, when doing a lunge do a shoulder press.

9.) my clients are to smart for just dumbbells. I say mix it up!use medicine balls, kettle bells, bousu, TRX.

10.) never, ever give up.

Ace

http://www.acemorganfitness.com

Today’s 10 free tips of fitness. Monday december 10th 2012

Today’s 10 tips of fitness. Monday, December 10th 2012.

1.) how was your rest over the weekend? Be kind to your self today.

2.) emotional eating comes up a lot in my practice. It’s real, whew, it’s not an easy topic. I know I fall into it as well. It’s hard. I find myself at a get together and I might be having some social anxiety so I will graze the snack table, eating the junk, cheese, cookies, on and on. I find it to be a way for me to act out my nervous energy. Anyone else have this? Try and watch it, awareness is out first step for change. I will encourage you all to not to eat all of the junk at the parties. Such will power! Black belt style.

3.) I had a great meeting today with http://www.grassfedgirl.com check out Caitlin’s website. Learning yet again about how important it is to eat the whole egg yolk, and how oatmeal is just a big inflammatory, if we are eating it to have a bowel movement in the morning, try kale, and veggies. Thanks Caitlin.

4.) Don’t be afraid to feel as angry or as loving as you can, because when you feel nothing, it’s just death.
-Lena Horne-

5.) how is your meditation? Try and pause for 10-15 a day minimum. Sit quiet with yourself.

6.) you don’t need more then an hour to work out, you can workout in a half hour. We do not want to over train, then we start to get our adrenals over loaded. Rest. If you’ll training four days a week, your doing REALLY good.

7.) dinner beef pizza: 2lbs of beef spread out on a pizza pan, cut up your veggies and sprinkle them on top. Pop in the oven until done, 15 minutes at 375′ cook it until its done to you.

8.) how is your food journal? The first two who respond to this can send me their food journal for one week, and I will give you my opinion as to why your not meeting your goals.

9.) have you cut out your breakfast ceral? I hope so because its toxic, here is the video I put up a week or so ago

. http://youtu.be/8xCtI3gGP8Y

<;;;a href=
10.) neve, ever, NEVER, give up.

Ace

<img src="https://acemorganfitness.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/20121210-155157.jpg" alt="20121210-155157.jpg" class="alignnone size-full" /

Today’s 10 FREE tips of fitness. Sunday December 9th. 2012

Today’s 10 tips of fitness. Sunday December 9th. 2012

1.) breakfast: kale yams eggs w/ bell peppers.

2.) sit quiet for 10 minutes

3.) gluten/wheat free muffins:
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/2 cup organic pumpkin
1tbl spoon of cinnamon
1/2 tsp of sea salt
1/2 tsp of baking sod
6eggs beaten
4 tblsp of butter
1/3 cup of maple syrup
3/4 cup of dark chocolate chips
Per-heat oven 375 bake for 13-16 minutes
Enjoy.

4.) today is Sunday, most people ask me if they can use this day as a cheat day, I say no, sure you can have some down time, but lets not blow all of the hard work you did all week long, eating junk food and drinking, this will just increase inflammation in the body.

5.) take the stairs

6.) Most of us are about as eager to be changed as we were to be born, and go through our changes in a similar state of shock. James Baldwin

7.) fear is what stops us, courage is what keeps us going.

8.) today’s fitness challenge: stretch and foam roll.

9.) get to bed on time tonight. Turn off the phones, I-pads, laptops while we are in bed, it is so stimulating. Read a book, something calm.

10.) this is your life, make it a long one. Never give up!

Ace

Today’s 10 FREE tips of fitness. Saturday, December 8th 2012

Today’s 10 tips of fitness. Saturday December, 8th 2012.

1.) breakfast: 2 scrambled eggs with 2 slices of bacon diced in the scramble, 1/2 avocado.

2.)snack: two dates and a handful of almonds. I call it a even healthier cliff bar. It’s a great snack when you have had a busy day, it’s energy, if your a bit sleepy in the middle if the day, say 2 or 3, eat a healthy snack and see if it helps with your energy, then if you must, go ahead and get a coffee.

3.) like I said a few days ago, happiness is a choice.

4.) how is the batch cooking? When I go to the store I get like a pond and a half or two ponds of meat and cook it up, that will be , meals for a couple of days. Stock up, put the meat in your freezer.

5.) how are your bowel movements? I hope your having at least one or two a day. If not you need to look at what your eating.

6.) ‎”Once we recognize what it is we are feeling, once we recognize we can feel deeply, love deeply, can feel joy, then we will demand that all parts of our lives produce that kind of joy.” – Audre Lorde

7.) how can you challenge your uncomfortable zone, what can we do in the fitness realm, to get you unstuck, take you out of your comfort zone? That is your challenge this weekend. Maybe it’s running in your neighborhood,( who cares what people think, no one is paying attention anyways) or maybe it’s the yoga class up the street. Go to it, do your thing!

8.) jump rope more.

9.) yes it’s the weekend, lets not blow all of the hard work you did in the gym this week. People always ask, ” can I eat whatever I want to over the weekend since I worked out this week” my answer is, it takes one or two days to blow all of that work you did all week, it’s not worth it, think about your goals. I am not saying “lets go Hollywood” but, most clients are looking to lean out, so I say no, once a month, depending on your goals, if your already at your ” happy weight” then your probably ahead of the game.

10.) yup, never give up. Look at yourself, your worth it.

Ace