Holiday Body Blitz (Part 4 Holiday Parties)

We all live in both anticipation and fear of the holidays. Grandmas and Nanas and Nonas and

Great Aunts who can all whip up the best traditional feasts and pinch your cheeks as you eat it.

Unfortunately, you know that their secret ingredients are a 50/50 mix of love and lard. And if
it’s your turn to host this year, you can’t be the person who doesn’t have a full fridge, gallons of
eggnog, and at least a pound of turkey for each of your uncles and cousins. So how do we get
through the holidays without ruining all the work we did the rest of the year?

- Bring Your Own: At any type of party, bring a dish! Most parties I’ve been to are seriously
lacking in salads, fresh veggies, and fruits, so it doesn’t hurt to add some low calorie fare
to the high calorie indulgent foods. Nobody has to know your spinach dip is low calorie.

- Send them Home: If you are hosting the party, a very important action is to send your
guests home with food…don’t even ask; pack it for them and send them home with it.
That way you’re not left with tempting leftovers during the “hangover” period. If you’re
hosting a potluck, do some organized planning ahead of time. If 15 people are coming
over, you don’t need 15 dishes (especially because you know this ends up being at least
five plates of cookies and brownies). Once you have a couple appetizers, a couple side
dishes, and a dessert accounted for, just tell the rest of the people they can bring soft
drinks, plates, napkins, etc.

- Clear the Table: If you’re hosting, serve the meal in courses, clear the table and pack up
the leftovers immediately once everyone’s kind of “done eating” that course. If the
turkey, salad, potatoes, and desserts are all sitting there for three hours, you’re going to
have three servings. The longer it’s in front of you, the more of it you’ll eat.

- Go The Distance: Don’t sit within arm’s reach of the cheese plate. If you have to
stand up, put your drink down, and lean over Aunt Mary to get to them, you’re not
going to have as many.

- Cleaning Crew: Offer to help clean up when dishes need clearing during the meal or
afterwards. If you can spend some time in the sink and suds instead of in front of
whatever’s on the table, not only will you be your mom’s favorite for helping clean up,
you’ll eat a little less.

Holiday Body Blitz (Part 3 - Meal Protocols)

I’ve designed an extremely effective rapid fat loss meal protocols for you to follow. Stick to it religiously excluding the 10% cheats that you plan for yourself. YOU MUST STICK TO YOUR PLAN. ANYTIME YOU CHEAT NEEDS TO BE PLANNED. DO NOT BREAK THE RULES.


Rapid Fat Loss Meal Protocols

• 2 “Regular meals”

- Protein+greenvegetables+oil/fat

• 2 snacks

- Cheese, nuts, small shake, piece of fruit, greek yogurt or cottage cheese

• 1 “workout meal” within 1 hour after workout

- Protein+greenvegetables+starchy carbs

• Hyper hydration

- 16 ounces of water with each snack, 8 ounces with each meal

• Belly blasting boosting supplements every morning such as a B vitamin supplement and a green tea extract

Holiday Body Blitz (Part 2 - Fat Loss Habits)

Before we can get into the real meat of this blog post we need to establish some basic key habits you need to start practicing in order to get ANY results.


Two glasses of water immediately when you wake up: there is nothing more important habitually than hydrating immediately when you wake.

Keep all eating within a 10-12 hour window: There should only be a 10-12 hour window between when you eat your first and last calories of the day. Once that window is closed, so is your mouth.

Eat your first meal when your first hungry: If you wake up at 6am and your not hungry until 9am don’t force food at 7am. Wait until 9am and then start your 10-12 hour window from there.

Don’t let more than 4 hours go without a meal: once you’ve started your 10-12 hour eating window keep all meals within 2-4 hours of each other

Protein and vegetable with every meal: don’t worry I’ll give you ways to eat vegetables that you won’t want to stop eating them!

Plan your cheats for 10% of the time: Let’s face it. You’re going to cheat. It’s inevitable. But only cheat if it’s a planned cheat and limit yourself to 10% of your total snacks and meals. (Example: CHRISTMAS DINNER?) so if you are eating 30 meals and snacks a week then three of those can be cheats.

Zero calorie liquids only: If you have any liquid that has any calories that counts as a cheat. This includes, milk, juice, cream in your coffee, soda (both diet and non diet), alcohol etc.)

Plan Ahead: this is mandatory and only takes 5-20 minutes at the end of the day. Use the protocols in the next post.

Holiday Body Blitz (Part 1 - Introduction)

Congratulations on taking steps towards a better, healthier, happier life and welcome to the Holiday Body Blitz post. Over the next days this blog is going to serve as your go-to guide to burning fat during the holidays.

You see, the reason why I made this program is because without a doubt, the holiday season between Thanksgiving and right after New Year’s is the hardest time of the year to lose weight. There are a few reasons that contribute to this problem:

- No Game plan: the main problem is as simple as that. Not having any set structure of what your going to eat, when your going to eat and how your going to eat. Just by putting a plan in place you will be 10 times more likely to see results than if you just “winged it”.

- Always on the run: this is also the busiest time of the year for most people what with holiday shopping, kids, work deadlines and let’s not forget all the social gatherings.

- Holiday treats: they…..are….EVERYWHERE! Your boss has them on their desk, your co-workers have them on their desk, YOU have them on your desk or maybe in a dish in your living room or a little treat bag in your cupboard. Treats are constantly in your face for the next 40 days and there is little you can do about it.

- Social Gatherings: Work Parties, Friends Parties, Family Parties YOUR Parties…it’s an endless assault of alcohol and food.

So with these key points in mind I set out to design this plan in order to specifically combat every one of those excuses. I say excuses because let’s face it, once I expose the solutions to all of these problems listed above, 90% of people reading this will still use them as excuses to gain weight but they are really just trying to justify their own self-doubt and laziness.

YOU CAN DO THIS. YOU DESERVE THE RESULTS. STAY TUNE FOR MORE POST TO COME.

Three Signs You Need A Diet Break

One of the biggest mistakes that far too many people are making on their diet program is neglecting to consider a diet break. You’re seeing good success and as such, the last thing that you want to consider is stopping.


Or, perhaps you aren’t seeing success – it’s quite the opposite. Try as you might, that weight is just not coming off. You’re frustrated and wondering if you’ll ever be able to attain that dream body that you were going for.

Whatever the case may be, often the biggest way to resolve any dietary problem is to actually take a break. Constant dieting is going to place stress on the body so whether you’re seeing the effects of it already in the form of a plateau or you’re moving along great but are on the verge of suffering from the plateau, a diet break is a must.

Let’s have a look at three signs that indicate that it’s time you took a diet break so that you know precisely what you should be on the look-out for.

You Have Non-Stop Hunger

The very first sign to watch for that would indicate that you need to be taking a diet break is if you have non-stop hunger. When you’ve been on a reduced calorie diet for far too long, the body is going to start sending out signals that it’s time for you to begin eating more food once again.

This is its way of trying to prevent starvation. Hunger increases dramatically and it’s going to take all the effort in the world on your part not to eat.

When hunger seems almost too much to bare, that’s a good signal that it might just be time to give in and take that diet break.

Your Energy Level Has Plummeted

The second signal that a diet break is in order is if your energy level has hit a turn for the worse. This is another defence mechanism that the body has to prevent starvation from occurring. When you’re in an extremely stressed state due to ongoing dieting attempts, your body will try and make sure you’re as sedentary as possible as it just doesn’t have energy to spare.

By making you want to do nothing other than lie on the couch and relax, it accomplishes its objective nicely. Your daily calorie expenditure goes down and the rate of weight loss will decline.

You Aren’t Losing Weight

Finally, the last signal that it’s time for a diet break is if you aren’t losing weight. If you seem to be doing everything right and you are sure that you’re tracking your calories accurately, this is very likely what’s going on.

Your metabolism has slowed down due to that reduced calorie intake and now you’re burning fewer calories than ever.

With this slowed metabolic rate, fat loss also slows, moving you further away from reaching your goal.

So there you have the main signs that it may just be time to take a break from your diet plan. Periodically raising your calories up again for a week or so can do just the trick to get you back seeing the fat loss you’re after and feeling much better as you go about your diet plan.

Fitness and Age



Fitness and Age

 On Oct 21st I will be 51 years old. While others my age are looking for rapid weight loss techinues and taking lipotropic injections for weight loss, I'm discovering the older I get the more serious I get about maintaining my level of fitness. My personal trainer once told me “you're certainly arguably the most athletic clients I've trained to date. That includes pro athletes in their 20s!”

While it is generally true that fitness level decline with age after about age thirty-five, it
is not an absolute. Getting older does not necessitate feeling older, losing strength and vitality,or limiting physical activities. Most people know someone aged seventy or older who continues o participate in physically challenging activities like weight lifting, bicycling, golf, tennis,
or jogging. For example, 75-year old body builder Ernestine Shepherd has made news worldwide with your lifestyle. Shepherd is in better shape than most people, decades her junior. Up at 3 a.m. every morning, she spends her days running, lifting weights and working out. She also works as a certified personal trainer at her gym.

There are a variety of prevalent age-related fitness myths, and Dr. Kenneth Cooper
exposes them in his book, Faith-Based Fitness. Many people believe exercising after age forty
is dangerous, but there is no support for this myth, as long as older continuing or beginning
exercisers have regular medical checkups. In fact, evidence shows that those who fail to exercise
are at greater risk than those who exercise regularly.

The average person loses between 30 - 40 percent of his muscle mass during his lifetime,
but the reason is because most people become less active and less fit as they age. It is commonly
thought that increasing muscle mass after age sixty is impossible, but muscle can be added at any
age with strength training. Cooper teaches that strength training leads to significant increases in
muscle size and strength and in functional mobility, even among nursing home residents up to
ninety-six years old. Likewise, people who engage in regular endurance exercise can maintain a
high aerobic capacity from age forty to about age seventy. It is only in the seventies and eighties
that older athletes normally begin to experience declines in aerobic ability, but even at late ages,
those who continue to train can remain remarkably fit.

Myths may be more about laziness than age-related fears. Research shows that people as
old as one hundred can dramatically increase their strength, improve their balance, restore bone
density, moderate diabetes, and diminish joint pain in just a few weeks of weight training. The
minute a person starts sweating, whether he is twenty or ninety, he elevates his heart rate, his
arteries get more flexible, and his blood pressure is lowered, thereby lowering the risk of heart
disease and stroke. For hours after exercise, bodies are more sensitive to insulin, keeping sugar
levels in check and reducing the risk of diabetes.

Herschel Walker is a great, modern example of the myths of age’s affect on fitness.
Walker won the 1982 Heisman Trophy (presented annually to the top college football player in
America) and was a world class sprinter at the University of Georgia from 1980– 1982. He
played professional football from 1983-1997, and competed in the 1992 Winter Olympics as a
bobsledder.76 On January 30, 2010, at age forty-seven, Walker competed in his first professional

Mixed Martial Arts fight. Critics ridiculed him for entering the sport at such an advanced age,
and concerns for his health were daily topics on national sports shows. Despite all the negativity,
Walker knocked out twenty-six year old Greg Nagy in a dominating performance.

Because of his age, Walker had to endure a battery of tests to be sanctioned to fight.
Allen Fields, chief physician for the Florida Boxing Commission that also oversees MMA
sanctioning, said that not only did Walker pass the most strenuous of all medical athletic tests,
but he produced the highest cardiac stress test score of anyone ever tested by his facility. Fields
said that Walker was in “as fine a shape as Muhammad Ali or any of these people we’ve had the care of.

This guy is 47 going on 22, as far as his physical fitness goes.”78 Like all world class
athletes, Walker is an anomaly. But unlike most world class athletes, Walker has maintained his
fitness as he has aged. Mike Tyson and Bo Jackson are contemporaries of Walker, and at this
stage of their lives, they look like any other middle-aged, overweight man. Everyone has the
choice to age like Walker, or to age like Tyson and Jackson.

Head, Heart and Hands Seminar to be Held in Florissant

Head, Heart and Hands Seminar will be held in Florissant, Missouri on Saturday, November 10, 2012 at the Jamestown Bluffs Library from 1:30-3:00. The event is geared towards providing people with valuable and information on how to take good care of their health.


In general, the said seminar will address the fitness, health and nutritional issues faced by both men and women of all ages, sizes and shapes. The organizers of the seminar are confident that both couch potatoes and extreme athletes will benefit from the knowledge and information to be shared by the speakers.

The seminar will feature 75-year old body builder, Ernestine Shepherd. She is one of the oldest competitive female bodybuilders in the world, declared by the Guinness Book of World Records. Currently, Shepherd leads the exercise classes for seniors at the Union Memorial United Methodist Church in Baltimore, and works as a personal trainer. In her bodybuilding career, she has won 2 titles and run 9 marathons.

In the seminar, Shepherd is expected to discuss all the things about longevity and optimum health secrets. She is also expected to share her experiences and routine as a bodybuilder not just to inform the audience, but to inspire them as well.

Apart from Shepherd, Dwayne Bess and Lyle Johnson will also share their expertise in fitness and health. Bess is an acclaimed author of The Perpetual Hand. He has also appeared and received coverage on The Bernie Hays Show, Essence Magazine, KPLR, ABC, FOX and other media outlets that speak on topics about creating a selfless and positive life and personal protection of ladies. Bess is highly regarded as a speaker who shoots straight from the hip, so he is expected to inspire others with his speech.

On the other hand, Johnson is the CEO of St. Louis-based MVP Fitness and the author of the book entitled “Get Fit 4 Christ”. He is considered as a force in the fitness industry due to his wide background in competitive athletics coupled with his knowledge of personal fitness training. With his long years of experience in the fitness and health industry, he is expected to provide the audience with tips and information that they can use and apply on their everyday life.

For more details about the Head, Heart and Hands Seminar, visit their website at http://getfit4christlive.com/ or call them at 314-831-7505.

Three Ways to Stop Procrastination

One of the most common problems when it comes to starting an exercise program is procrastination. We know what we want to do and should do. But still we end up making all kinds of excuses and spending hours upon hours watching TV, surfing the internet or listening to music.
Now, nothing wrong with an escape from time to time, but if you procrastinate too much you will not reach your fitness goals. Soon you will find yourself gaining more weight and also send yourself into negative spirals where your self-esteem takes a nose dive and you spend your days in a negative funk with no results.
So what can you do? Here are three simple tips to help you to stop procrastinating and start living your life more fully.
1. Stop thinking. Start doing.
A bit of planning can certainly help you to achieve your weight loss goals. A lot of planning and thinking tends to have the opposite effect.
By over thinking you tend to put things off because you are not only trying to protect yourself from the muscle pain that you will experience when you first start your exercise program. You also make mountains out of molehills because you are dwelling on it. And so it expands in your mind. And since you are putting it off you are probably thinking about it in a negative way. This makes a little thing a big giant, a horrible beast that is threatening to ruin your health.
Often you don’t even have to plan, you have been there before and you know what needs to be done. So stop thinking and just do it no matter how you feel and what you think.
2. Just take the first step.
Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, “You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.”
When you start to look at how much weight you want to lose it can seem close to impossible. You begin to shut down because you become overwhelmed and start eating more and more.
You should just focus on taking the first step. That is all you need to focus on, nothing else. By taking the first step you change your mental state from procrastination to “hey, I’m working out and I feel good”. You put yourself in state where you become more positive and open minded a state where you gain enthusiasm because you are making progress.

3. Finish it.
Not taking the first step to start your exercise program can make you feel bad. But not finishing what you have started can also leave you in a sort of negative funk. You feel sluggish or stressed and sometimes you don’t even know why. It’s like someone zapped your inner power. Once you start commit to it. Ask yourself what’s more important to you – Going out to a fast food restaurant and eating 800 calorie or going to Zumba class and burning 800 calories? The former might bring you some temporal gratification, but the latter is what truly gives you satisfaction. The rewards you get from doing the latter are rewards which you’ll continue to reap long afterward. Remember always finish strong, if you fail, try and try again, never give up!

MVP Fitness Opens In St. Peters

MVP Fitness is pleased to announce it has opened a brand new studio at 235 Jungermann - Old Mills Plaza in St. Peters. Working with the St. Louis-based firm of McKelvey Properties, MVP Fitness will develop a 2,400 sq. ft. exercise studio. With construction finally completed, the studio opened for business on January 2nd.

MVP Fitness, opened its first location on May 5, 2005. Since then, it has help hundreds of clients reach their fitness and weight loss goals through seminars and fitness programs training them to go from where they are to where they dream to be. Clients initially come to MVP Fitness seeking weight loss and ultimately reclaim their lives by gaining energy, improving strength, building new-found confidence, reducing pain, eliminating medication, and the amazing side effect of achieving the body they desire.

“We are very excited to open up another studio in St. Peters,” said Lyle Johnson, studio owner. “We believe our fitness classes which include Athletic Boot Camp, Zumba and Kettlebell will be a great addition to St. Peters.”

"The new location in St. Peters will give clients a chance to experience the type of results other clients have received from our North County location for the last six years and that is helping clients get in shape and motivating them to achieve their own personal physical fitness goals."

The Do's and Don'ts of Holiday Eating

Thanksgiving has come and gone and the holiday season
is in full swing I know how hard it is to resist all
the celebrative eating and drinking (and the weight
gain that comes with it) so I put together for you an
awesome guide to eating during the holidays. I was going
to put this on my MVP Boot Camp Blog but decided to only
offer it to you as a subscriber to my e-mail list.

DON'T try to convince yourself that you're going to
eat less after the holiday event therefore it's ok to
eat what you want during the event. You will not have
as much motivation to diet once the event has passed.

DO eat smart for the 3-5 days leading up to the event.
You'll look even better when you turn up at the event
and you will feel less guilty when you enjoy yourself.

DO dress sexy. Wear something tight, do your hair up,
put on your highest heels etc. This way you will feel
less likely to indulge in a huge dinner.

DO position yourself as far away from the appetizer
table as possible

DO bring your own dish to the occasion. Nobody has
to know that it's healthy or low calorie and at least
you'll know how many calories and the ingredients that
are in it.

DO send people home with food if you are hosting a party.

DO sit at the table as far from the unhealthy food
options as possible. If you have to keep standing up,
putting your drink down and reaching across Madea to
grab a piece of bread you're not going to have as many
pieces as if it were right in front of you.

Stick to these guidelines and I promise you will
keep the weight off while everyone around you gains
another 4-8 pounds!

And if you want to actually LOSE weight during the
holidays like many of my personal Kettlebell Bootcamp
clients, then check this out.....

On Thursday I'll be opening up a special bootcamp
workout and nutrition plan that will actually help
you drop an entire pants size during the holidays
without being on a miserable diet.... and the best
part is that I'll be offering it at a RIDICULOUS price.

The only catch is that I can only take on 20 people.
Once these 20 spots are filled, I won't be able to
accept any more people until the New Year so keep your
eyes peeled on Thursday for this one time deal.

Gaining Weight To Qualify For Lap Ban Surgery

At 202 pounds, Steffany Sears knew she was fat, but not fat enough to qualify for traditional weight-loss surgery.

Desperate for help, the Gold Bar, Wash., woman did what seemed the only logical thing: She gorged herself on chips and cookies, pizza and fried chicken so she’d gain at least eight pounds more.

“I would have eaten myself stupid,” recalled Sears, 34, who was turned down by her insurance company for the $20,000 procedure. “I know friends who would have done that, too.”

In the end, she actually qualified to participate in a clinical trial that led the federal Food and Drug Administration this spring to lower the bar for obesity in people eligible for one form of weight-loss surgery, Allergan’s Lap-Band stomach-shrinking device. Because she had a body mass index, or BMI, of between 30 and 35, the target range of the new rule, she even got the treatment for free, instead of having to take out a second mortgage on her house.

Today, at 5-foot-6, she weighs 143 pounds. “I felt like I’d won the lottery, really, with my life,” said Sears, a native of England.

But Sears’ experience highlights what dieters and doctors alike say is a growing dilemma. Spurred by strict insurance policies that limit surgery to high BMIs of 35 or 40, some obese people are actually striving to gain weight – in order to lose it.

Web sites devoted to weight-loss surgery are full of advice and anecdotes from would-be losers who claim they ate piles of bananas, chowed down on burgers and curly fries or swilled gallons of water to nudge the scale to the correct heights.

“That happens all the time,” said Dr. Robert Michaelson of Northwest Weight Loss Surgery in Everett, Wash., who was a clinical investigator for the FDA trial. “I’ve seen people come in with ankle weights on.”

Sometimes, it works. Elizabeth Marks, 32, of San Diego, Calif., was turned down for surgery once by her insurance company for being less than 100 pounds overweight, but accepted after she gained more.

“I just had two weeks of eating all the junk I could,” Mark said.

In general, a person who is 5-foot-6 and weighs 220 pounds has a BMI of 35. At 250, the BMI climbs to 40.

Weight-loss doctors definitely discourage patients from gaining more and instead urge them to pursue non-surgical options, or to find other ways to pay for the surgery. One good reason? Some insurers regard the practice as fraud.

“I tell them go home. You don’t qualify,” said Dr. Namir Katkhouda, a bariatric surgeon at the University of Southern California who has performed 2,000 procedures. “They come back six months later and their problems are much worse.”


Excerpted from MSNBC: Gaining Weight To Quality For Lap-Band Surgery? | A Black Girl's Guide To Weight Loss

The Workout Push For the Holidays

If gobble 'til you wobble is your holiday mentality, You aren't alone. While most are laser focused on fitness during the summer, the holidays prove to be the most popular time to slack off from a workout routine. If you're thinking about throwing in a towel for a turkey leg don't give up just yet.

Everybody is working hard, getting ready for the beach, for many, the summer grind in the gym is over. Gym memberships everywhere typically see a decrease between October and December: the season when holiday fun, family and food are the focus.

Next thing you know, you're eating leftovers. When the winter months come, people get relaxed and the next you know two months have went by and that's the hardest part staying with your fitness goals.

Gaining about ten pounds during the holiday season is the norm for most. Eating small portions every three hours and exercising at least 30 minutes a day, five days a week will give you what you need to still maintain.

Strive to keep fit, stay healthy and push for a yearly, not season goal of physical fitness.

15 minutes of stretching at home or walking will make a difference for those you may not can make it to the gym or afford it:

MVP Countdown Workout - 105 Days Until My 50th Birthday

For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. (Philippians 1:21)

The above scripture is very powerful. Paul says we should live for Christ first, live to please Him by obeying Him and showing love to others. Heaven is the ultimate prize, the Bible describes heaven as Heaven is a place of “no mores.” There will be no more tears, no more pain, and no more sorrow (Revelation 21:4). There will be no more separation, because death will be conquered (Revelation 20:6). The best thing about heaven is the presence of our Lord and Savior (1 John 3:2). We will be face to face with the Lamb of God who loved us and sacrificed Himself so that we can enjoy His presence in heaven for eternity.

Here's Today's Workout

10 minute swim

Kettlebell Training:

Round 1

45lb Kettlebell - Repeat 4 times
2 Hand Swings - 30 seconds
Snatches (right) - 30 seconds
Snatches (left) - 30 seconds
Tactital Lunges - 1 minute

Round 2

45lb Kettlebell -
2 Hand Swings - 30 seconds
Burpees - 30 seconds
Squat/Curl Pres - 30 seconds

Right Hand Swings - 30 seconds
Burpees - 30 seconds
Right Hand Squat with Press - 30 seconds

Left Hand Swings - 30 seconds
Burpees - 30 seconds
Left Hand Squat with Press - 30 seconds

Hand to Hand Swings - 30 seconds
Burpess - 30 seconds
Suit Case Squats - 60 seconds

40 lbs Kettlebell
2 Hand Swings - 30 seconds
Right High Pulls - 30 seconds
Left High Pulls - 30 seconds
Push up taps - 30 seoonds

5 Right side punch ups - 35lbs
5 Left side punch ups - 35lbs
Mason Twist 30 seoonds
Plank - 30 seconds

MVP Countdown Workout - 108 Days Until My 50th Birthday

Today I ran the Premier Bank 5K (3.1 miles) Race at Jacksonville's Nichols Park. The weather was great, I got a good night's rest and woke up this morning ready to go.

It was a great turn out with a lot of fast runners. I got passed up about 5 or 6 times and only passed 5 or 6 runners.

I finished in 142nd place of out 225 runners with a hand time of 28:51 (a 9:17 pace), but running a 5K on the 4th of July is a way to start out the day with a bang (pun intended).

I would like to thank all of the service men and women and our forefathers who have fought for our freedom.

Premier Bank 5K Race Results

http://srrc.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Jax5kOVERALL.htm

MVP Countdown Workout - 111 Days Until My 50th Birthday

Today was a combination of strength training, Kettlebell Training and running.

Strength Training Workout

Seated Dumbbell Curls
20 lbs - 1x12
30 lbs - 1x12
40 lbs - 1x12

Standing Alternating Dumbbell Curls
40 lbs - 1x12 Each Side (ES)
45 lbs - 1x10 ES
50 lbs - 1x5 ES

Barbell Curls
50lbs - 1x12
70lbs - 1x10
90lbs - 1x5

Pull Ups 1x12

Seated Dumbbell Lat Pulls
25lbs - 1x12
30lbs - 1x10
40lbs - 1x10

Leg Curls
30lbs - 1x10
50lbs - 1x8
70lbs - 1x5
90lbs - 1x3
110lbs - 1x3

Kettlebell Workout

Turkish Get Ups - 35lbs 5 ES
2 Hand Swings - 40lbs - 60 seconds
Clean & Press - 40lbs - 10 ES
High Pulls - 40lbs - 10 ES
Snatches - 40lbs - 10 ES
Squat Press - 40lbs - 10 ES
Turkish Get Ups 35lbs 5 ES
High Pulls - 40lbs - 10 ES
Snatches - 40lbs - 10 ES
Squat Press - 40lbs - 10 ES

3 Mile Run

Saturday is an off day. I have an 8 mile run on Sunday. Overall I feel great and blessed and I'm optimistic about the future.

MVP Countdown Workout - 113 Days Until My 50th Birthday

Today's Workout
3-Mile night time run.

Weather was a lot cooler doing a night time run, however I do run slower because of the night vision.

Quote of the day -

"If you are determined enough and willing to pay the price, you can get it done."

MVP Countdown Workout - 114 Days Until My 50th Birthday

Today was a rest day and a day of pray and fasting.

Here are the benefits of a fast:

1. Builds energy
2. Restores vigor and vitality
3. Helps regulate the metabolism
4. Helps slow down aging
5. Removes accumulated wastes and toxins
6. Helps improve skin
7. Helps build discipline

On the spiritual side, it is important to remember that fasting is not a method of punishing our bodies and it is not be used as a dieting method. You should not spend time in prayer and fasting in order to lose weight, but rather to gain a deeper relationship with God. Tom Ciola, author of Moses Wasn't Fat says “fasting is a deliberate physical self-denial for spiritual growth. It enables us to have a more focused prayer life while at the same time develop a greater intimacy with God. Fasting also helps deliver us from the bondage of sin and addictions since fasting helps give us power over the flesh.”

Fasting is good medicine for your mind, body and soul. You will become a MVP as a result of fasting. Therefore, take fasting seriously because it is a very powerful weapon to Get Fit 4 Christ and in defeating your giants.

MVP Countdown Workout - 116 Days Until My 50th Birthday

Today's Workout included:

Weight Training:

Seated Dumbell Shoulder Shrug
40 lbs - 2x20
50 lbs - 2x20
60 lbs - 2x20
70 lbs - 2x20

Standing Barbell Shoulder Shrug

100 lbs - 3x15
125 lbs - 3x15
150 lbs - 3x15
180 lbs - 3x15

Stiff Leg

40 lbs - 30 reps
50 lbs - 24 reps
70 lbs - 15 reps
80 lbs - 15 reps

Leg Curls

40 lbs - 3x8
50 lbs - 2x8
60 lbs - 2x5
70 lbs - 2x2
30 lbs - 1x12

Full Body Press

100 lbs - 2x10
125 lbs - 2x8

7-Mile Run

The Full Body Press was very challenging. The weather was hot and humid and the 7-mile run was brutal, I had to walk a lot during the run but I did finish.

Overall I feel great.

MVP Countdown Workout - 117 Days Until My 50th Birthday

Today is a rest day.

I'm resting up for a long run of 7 miles on Sunday. Tonight I'll take in a live Professional Boxing Bout with Devon Alexander taking on Lucas Matthysse.

7 Tips to Give You a Jump Start

Being physically active is the initial step to living a strong life! Here's seven tips to help you achieve your quest to a healthier and fitter you!

1. Commit for 30 Days – Begin by make a undertaking to exercise every day for a month. This will jump start the habit of exericing.

2. Don’t Break the Habit – The easiest way to keep things going is simply not to stop. Avoid long breaks and don't give up, remember exercising leads to more benefits in the long run.

3. Start Small – Trying to run fifteen miles on your first day isn’t a great way to begin a habit. Work next your ability is the right way to start your habit. Otherwise you may shock yourself off after a heartless workout.

4. Start Slow – Over time, work up to 30 to 60 mins of activity, at least 5 days a week. If you can’t work at a full 30 mins to exercise, break your routine up into three 10-minute intervals to reach your goal.

5. Create a Ritual – Your exercise goal should burn inside you so much that it becomes a ritual. Make an appointment to workout each and every day.

6. Add Variety – Try not to take long breaks (no more than three days off) on a exercise activity. Find a form of exericse that you enjoy. That way, exercise will never appear tedious or routine.

7. Find a Buddy to Exercise With – Exercise may be fun if you have someone to share your thoughts with while you workout. Statistics show that people who exercise with a buddy are more successful at reaching their goals. You can also keep each other accountable.