Bulky? Think again!

In my Internet Marketing class we had an assignment to use Google Analytics and make an analysis of our websites or blogs. So I did that for my blog, and sometimes I check the stats and the other indecies. What captured my attention were some of the most used keywords that led to my blog and they all contained "fat" or "skinny fat".

Nothing new, right? It seems like appearance is everything that matters nowadays! It is amazing how many women consider yourself fat and not attractive. Most of them spend hundreds of dollars some even larger amounts for trainers, weightloss programs and even medical interventions. Always with the thought of achieving the body they want...or most likely the body that is accepted in their society.

I recently read a couple articles on the topic, about the body looks, what is accepted, and what is considered beautiful. One of the articles even contained the results from a pole. The results were as follows:

* The majority of women don’t like the look of muscle on themselves or others.
* The majority of women think that men prefer the look of a lack of muscle on a woman’s body.
* The majority felt that Jessica Biel and Hilary Swank (in MDB) define “bulky.”
* The majority of the women expressed little interest in lifting weight, even if it didn’t result in a “bulking” effect.
* A large majority of women would rather be too thin than either too fat or too muscular.
* More women choose to be fat over muscular.
* Based on the actress looks, women prefer softer and trim over too lean or too muscular.

Bulky

Not Bulky

See the results? I see nothing "bulky" and unattractice with the women that were considered "bulky". I think that Hilary Swank had a pretty nice body in the movie a Million Dollar Baby.

It is so sad to see beautiful women that accept the missleading information as their own oppinion and lifestyle. It is right about time for everybody to understand that women can not get as muscular as the bodybuilders for example,unless they take steroids or some other medications. WOmen just do not have the amount of testosterone that is needed for that goal. Besides if it was that easy growing muscles every man on the Earth would have them. I know guys that have spent years in the gym, practicing pretty hard and they never get those muscles...and women are afraid that just by stepping in the weightlifting room, the muscles will start popping up, and tearing their sleeves!No way that is happening! I myself deadlift 198pounds, squat with 154pounds and so on...and what has happened with my body since I started doing that is that it got firmer and smaller. I lost a lot of fat, and now I have defined muscles. But I do not consider myself bulky. I like myself a lot better now, then when I was SKINNY FAT! :)

So give it a try! I promise you will love it!
For reading the whole articles I was talking about, click on the links below:
The bulky Poll
High heels, deadlift and attitude

Gail Devers and her run to the dream...

“Keep your dreams alive. Understand to achieve anything requires faith and belief in yourself, vision, hard work, determination, and dedication. Remember all things are possible for those who believe.”-Gail Devers

Eight years ago, I was sitting at home, running through the Tv channels, when a movie struck my mind! It was The Gail Dever's story- Run for the dream. Back then I was still a basketball player, and I had big dreams about WNBA. I had some struggles with injuries since early in my basketball career, that I constantly fought! I remember sitting there in the afternoon watching that movie, and being astonished by the strength, the willpower and the dedication that athlete had.

For those that are not familiar with Gail Devers(I doubt there is a lot of people that do not know about her...), I can tell you that she has won three Olympic gold medals and a variety of world championships. But the most interesting part in her life is not that she was a star and a champion on the track, she was a champion in life. In 1988, when she had big dreams about Olympic games and her future career as a runner, something happened-she was undiagnosed case of Graves Disease- an autoimmune disease where the thyroid is overactive, producing an excessive amount of thyroid hormones (a serious metabolic imbalance known as hyperthyroidism and thyrotoxicosis).. The thyroid disorder had sapped her energy, and almost led to the amputation of her legs after catastrophic side effects caused by radiation treatments. But in one of the most miraculous recoveries in sports history, Devers re-emerged from the ordeal to capture the gold at the 1992 games.

I still remember that part of the movie, when she was sitting in her wheelchair in her home. Her coach came to visit and as the conversation went she said "Coach I want to be at the Olympics". He said " No problem! We will take tickets for the front rows". She looked at him saying " No! I wanna run at the Olympics." Back then to all appearances her carrer was over, but did Gail think so? Sure she didn't! She has always known that she was meant to be something more than an ordinary person!

I remember reading somewhere about a story that Gail devers was talking about-Devers, it turned out, had something to draw on that seemed almost programmed into her life. As a sixth grade girl growing up outside San Diego Devers told Science of Mind that, “As part of an assignment, we had to go to the library and everyone had to pick a book. I walked down an aisle and a book fell out. So I picked up the book and I took it home, and I said, ‘okay this is the book for me, I don’t have to figure out what I’m going to read.’ It ended up being the Wilma Rudolph story.”

As Devers tells it, “I kept the book and each year I read it over and over and over until it didn’t have a cover any more. I believe in destiny. I didn’t have any interest in track and field, I wasn’t running track and field; I just thought it was interesting that she had gone through polio, and I did use that as a source of inspiration myself going through my Graves Disease, saying that, ‘If Wilma could do it so can I."

Sometimes I sit in the park thinking about stories like that which attracted my attention and captured my heart. I kinda feel the pain people like them went through. I imagine the physical weakness they were feeling, but yet the strength inside that was fighting to rise. I imagine the dedication and strong mind they had to wake up every morning-knowing the world expects them to crumble and give up, but secretly knowing inside themselves THEY CAN DO IT! THEY WANT IT AND THEY WILL HAVE IT!

All I have to say is that people like them are role models! Those are the people that change lives, either knowing it or not. People like them are those who give hope to others in their place. People who motivate the rest with their excellence, courage, dreams and dedication!

Push through the pain

“Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place..."

We always push through the pain...don't we? At least those of us who believe in the beauty of their deepest desires, in the brightness of the future and the hidden strength inside of us. That's how we are...pain is a basic instinct for human survival. Pain ain't something scary. It may look like it, but it isn't! Feelings are disturbing. We are thought that pain is evil and dangerous. But see...all that pain is meant for is to wake us up. It is just a signal that we are going in the wrong direction; that we are doing something against our good. Actually from that point of view pain can be even a good thing...it is just a protection-a protection signal that your mind sends to your body. It just alerts that you took the wrong turn and if you do not get back on the road you will crash and burn!

Actually pain is something to carry! You feel your strength in the experience of pain. All that matters is how you deal with it! Feelings are your reality, you pick which one will influence your life and which will be on the back stage.

When do you acually stop pushing through the pain?...the answer is you do not stop until you give up! I refuse to surrender in front of pain's control. If I stop pushing through it I start crumbling! Instead I give myself time to think up a strategy and get over it...find the strength inside and use it in my favor!

You have a strength too! Just make sure you keep pushing through the pain! It isn't dangerous! It is just a friend, who came to help you find the strength inside when everybody else walked outside and left you alone! So do not curse it, but praise it and push through it!

The feeling

“You can close your eyes to the things you do not want to see, but you cannot close your heart to the things you do not want to feel.”

Have you ever experienced something? But I am not talking for something ordinary. I am talking about a real feeling! A strong one! That burns your heart, your soul! That leaves you drained! STaying there wanting to move,scream or just do something but feeling empty? Like all your strength is gone...like you payed the price for your happiness with your soul! What a trade! Your soul for a feeling.

Do you know how it feels to be standing...being seen by others as a whole person, but inside feeling broken? Dying with the desire to put yourself together, but feeling helpless in front of your feelings? Wanting to grab that terrible sense, rip it out of your chest, throw it on the ground and then jump on it? Make it feel, the way it makes YOU feel!

Burning inside....hoping that feeling will have some mercy and will just leave you...let you have your life... but then realizing it is stuck inside...and no matter how much you want...there is no escape! It is you and your feelings! You are there feeling restless, and they are taking over you!

Let me tell you...I've felt it three times in my life! And it ain't nice at all! Everytime I promise myself I will never let somebody or something make me feel like this again...and then I let it happen again! But people once said that if you do not learn a lesson from your mistakes you are destined to repeat them over and over again, until you learn!

Oscar Wilde once said “A man who is master of himself can end a sorrow as easily as he can invent a pleasure. I don't want to be at the mercy of my emotions. I want to use them, to enjoy them, and to dominate them.” ...That is what I wish for myself tonight!

First steps toward HSPU

“It is better to take many small steps in the right direction than to make a great leap forward only to stumble backward.”

As far as it comes to workouts I can be pretty crazy and sometimes even dangerous for myself! ;) I always want to be able doing every exercise that exists out there! Nothing wrong with that, but unfortunately I have some really bad injuries. When I was a basketball player I dislocated both of my shoulders five times, and the injuries were pretty bad. I won't go in detail, I will just say that the injuries left behind some pretty serious movement limits in my shoulders and a really paranoic fear!

I remember the first year after the injuries, when I put my arm under the pillow or in some weird position I used to wake up crying scared that I was gonna dislocate my shoulder again. It took me a long time to overcome some of my fears but I still have a long way to go.

For the last year I have been doing crossfit, and I love the idea of doing handstand push ups(HSPU). I know that this won't be soon but after long contemplations I decided to make the first steps towards HSPU. So since yesterday I am doing some handstand progressions and it is going really good so far. Yesterday I was more careful and I did not dare to stick to the wall or to the tree ;) but today, driven by the excitement of doing handstands I did stick to the wall and I am really happy! :) I am looking forward to improving further and finally reaching my goal! :)

Trying to get up :D

Krisi's first workout flipping tires

Yesterday was a great day! One of the girls I coach, started working out with me six months ago. She was really thin, and she wanted to put on some muscles! That was a greta start! I knew I was gonna like being her coach, because I liked the goals she had. She did not wanna be skinny, toned, thin, she wanted to be fit.Her name is Kristina. She started, having three workouts a week. What got my attention was that Krisi has never been an athlete before, but she was still really coordinated and balanced. She improved at a fast pace. Now she is the queen of squatting! :)

I am a crossfitter, and I constantly talk about my workouts, and how fun it is to flip tires, do burpees, jump,run or you name it. So last week during a workout with Krisi, she came up with a question that almost made me pass out from excitement. She said "Do you think I will be able to flip a tire?". I stood there speechless, wondering "Did she really ask me what I heard? ". I have waited for so long for somebody to ask me that question and she just did it. So said and done!

Yesterday we had a workout outside of the gym. First she had her warm-up and later on we moved on to teaching her the technique of flipping tires. She did really good once again. Then I made up a quick WOD with tires and I think that Krisi is hooked up for a lifetime. She is a future crossfitter! :)

I am really proud of her. She has been working really hard, and getting closer to achieving her goals. I hope that in the future I will have the opportunity to work with more girls like her-who will be dedicated to their goals, ambitious and hard-working, motivated, and willing to kick some ass! :)))

N.E.P.A

I bet you wonder what the heck does N.E.P.A mean! Sounds wierd, doesn't it? But actually it is something really simple- N.E.P.A means non-exercise physical activity. At first you might think it is not something worth the talk, but is that the truth for real?

In a world where every day somebody invents something that spoils us and makes us become lazy, where you hardly ever need to do some heavy physical activity in order to survive, our population is destinied to become more obese with every passing year! That is why something needs to be done. And as it always happens in life it starts with some small changes in our lifestyle! Most of us find it hard to restrict on the bad food, others find it impossible to drag themselves to the gym and move a little bit. So if you are the kind of person that gets tired just by the thought of working out( and I deeply hope you are not!!) you can still make some MINOR CHANGES to your lifestyle that will bring to BIG RESULTS!

I know that not a lot of people give it a thought, but if you started your day parking your car a little further from your office you could pump up your blood a little bit by walking that distance. Instead of eating like it is your last day on Earth and then taking the elevator when you get back from lunch, you could have a nice exercise if you just climbed up the stairs. And trust me it ain't that scary at all! I do it all the time and I live on the eight floor. Surprise!!! I am still alive! I assure you, that you will be too! And you will feel better than ever!

Come on! CLIMB THE STAIRS!

I hate it when I see somebody in my University taking the elevator to the second floor! Come on! Even my great-grandma moves more. She does her gymnastic every day twice a day...and she is 90years old! DOesn't that make you feel ashamed?

Then instead of getting back home, and settling yourself down on the couch wqith a bag of chips and cheese dip, watching some boring TV show, you could use the time to go out with your friends and have a nice walk in the park.

So do you see it? You made just three little changes to your day-you walked a little bit to work, climbed the stairs instead of taking the elevator, and walked in the park! Do you know how much this adds up? You already moved three times more what others do, and you didn't even break a sweat!

Now, that is a great beginning! Next step-get addicted to being healthy, start moving, go working out, buy a gym memebership or whatever you want, JUST MOVE! And if you add up some changes to your eating habits...you are already there! The closest to your HEALTHY YOU! But let me not be so greedy and not force you to do so much in such less time! Just make sure you include your N.E.P.A.

Kyle Maynard- Part 1

We all have our road to travel throughout our lives. Sometimes it is straight and clear, sometimes it is bumpy and other times it takes an unexpectable turns just to lead us to a place we weren't prepared or willing to be. That is when some of us break down and decide to give up. But there are those of us that deep inside have a strong desire to live, to be what they can be and reach their full potential no matter the hits they might take on their way! And I will tell you about somebody that did exactly this! He faught! He kept pushing! And he came out a winner- a winner in life and in sports! His name is Kyle Maynard! And if you haven't heard that name before, you've missed a lot!

Who is he? On a Sunday morning, in March 24,1986 he came into the world. He was born a congenital amputee, his arms ending at his elbows and his legs at his knees. Back then somebody might have thought that he was not a normal kid, he was gonna have a really hard life! But was it that way? Maybe they were right for the part about not being a normal kid, and not because he was born with some physical disability, but because he was something more than others! He was a person with a really big heart, with a raging fire inside that kept him going.

I heard about Kyle a couple years ago when I got injured and I lost my desire live life. I was just going thorugh the days, waiting for my life to pass by! But then I decided to start reading about people that overcame hardships and achieved their dreams...so that is how I encountered a video about Kyle Maynered and from than on I was one of his biggest fans. I bought his biography book, and it is called "No excuses"-I think it says it all!

Kyle Maynard lifting weights...There are no excuses on the way to your dreams!

I love the way Kyle accepts the fact that a he was born a congenical amputee. What he says is that " eventhough I was born with much shorter limbs than the average person, I know that I was not born to be an inferior individual. I was born to succeed, not to allow physical limitations to stand in the way of my dreams!" Isn't that specatcular? How often can you hear somebody say it? All I can hear around all day is people complaining how hard life is. How their dreams are impossible and how somebody cursed them to fail!! How is that possible? A person like Kyle who can have the right to complain and feel sorry he isn't like everybody else, has such an optimistic view of life, and others that have more physical gifts, always find an excuse! That is just another example how it is not the physical or intelectual gifts you were given...it is something more! It is all about heart!

It looks to me that it is true that only when you know deep in your heart what you want, that is when you will have it. Only when you fight for it, and never make excuses when you meet a hardship!

Kyle's biography book starts with a forward by his coach-Cliff Ramos. What he tells there is how back when Kyle was in highschool his mother called coach Ramos and told him that her son wanted to wrestle. SHe explaine dthat he had a pysical condition that he should be aware of. Not knowing what she was talking about, the coach replie dthat they had coaches that could handle it. Then she said that her son had very short stubs for arms, and small feet that gave him only stubs for legs.

At first the coach was mute...he paused for a second but then when he met Kyle or actually when he saw him on the mat wrestling his life and view took a turn! He says how during a match he would watch Kyle and say to himself " That is impossible". He also goes further saying how :

"There have been times in my personal life when I have thought about Kyle to help me through a situation. I ahve pictured him in my mind in the middle of a third set of a tough tennis match. I have seen him when I have contemplated taking it easy on my team at practice beacuse I might not be feeling well. I have even thought about Kyle when I have done some very tedious tasks around the house. I have thought about him in moments of crisis. In all of these instances, I have asked myself "Would Kyle give up here? Would he try to find an easier way out?"

Kyle Maynard in action on the wrestling mat

That's inspiration. Sometimes you might pass by somebody that have some physical disability thinking that he is inefrior or something like that. But you will be deadly wrong! I think and I truely believe that everybody has his own mission on this Earth. I think that people like Kyle have the mission to show all of us that there are NO EXCUSES! It does not come up to what you are going through, how big your obstacles are, how tired you feel or you name it...it is all inside of you! If your truely want it, you will have it!

I see people all the time making some assumptions. When they see somebody that is not like them, they claim him to be different! But who has the right to say somebody is different? When a person does not fit in the common comprehension that doesn't mean he is different...he is just unique! As Kyle says:

" I look everyone straight in the eye, as an equal, as God created all of us. We are all created uniquely, but we are all eequally precious in God's eyes. That's something I believe in my heart, that my faith and my family taught me over and over again."

In his first years after he was born, Kyle's family took great care of him. His mom and grandmother did everything for him, they fed him, put his clothes on and so on... His father noticed how his son was becoming dependant on them, and how he could not do things by himself and that is when he decided he was going to take the things under control. He was certain that Kyle could use a prosthetic spoon to eat or use his arms to pick up types of foods that did not require silverware. So he reached the point where he demanded that everyone stop feeding him.

What Kyle says about it all is that he treated the prosthetic device with a spoon the way people treat training wheels on a bike, and hoped that it wouldn't be necessary forever. What a will? And he was still so young! But it is obvious that age doesn't matter! You either have the drive, or you don't!

And as you can guess Kyle wasn't alone during his journey. He had a loving family that helped him. He tells about a story when he was little and he started noticing how people stared at him. He went home and said:

" Grandma, why am I different from other kids?"
"God made you special, and it's ok to be different. No two people are ever going to be exactly the same,", she answered."Why would you wonder such a thing anyway?" . She continued " You are perfectly normal. God loves you just as He loves everyone else. The next time you see someone who looks at you funny or someone you want to talk to, just say "Hi, I am Kyle", and I promise you they won't ever be afraid to talk to you again".

WHat Kyle says now about the way people used to treat him is:

"I know there are many people who, whether they admit it or not, view disabled people as inferior. We are "broken" in their eyes- we are of no use, no value, and we re just running out the string on life. But I believe that we are all disabled in one way or another-including disability of character and personality. My disability just happens to be more visual than some!'

What do you think? A remarkable quote! He is so damn right! As I've read in a book(but I can't remember which one) the auther said how strange it is...on the outside people seem nice and whole but inside some of them are broken and rotten!

What I think is that no matter how you look on the outside, no metter what happen to you...we all have some ability, and because of that there are no disabilities. Everybody has something that he can give to others-something he can show them, or teach them or just be an example by living a worthy life!

By the way here is his website you can check it out!

The mirror in your head

Psychology sience teaches us that there are four ways in which people perceive themselves- first, the way they see themselves; second the way they want to be; third-the way other see them and forth, the way they want others to see them. That's way too much,ain't it? Or maybe you do not care that much, and you do not see yourself through all the forth images? Lucky you! I know about people that are literally dying to satisfy all these expectations and come as close as possible to the perfect image in their own opinion and in other's people opinion, sometimes even go further and self-destroy themselves!

But as you might guess that can be pretty hard. There are close to 7 billion people in the world. All of them have their own view of the perfect image and it is rediculous to think that you could sclupt yourself according to everybody's expectations. Or so I thought... but the people I mentioned, bet on their lives that you could. And who are they? Just ordinary people like us, the difference is just in the way they see themselves. They are so lost in the higly demanding world, in all the information and expectations that are poured on us daily, that they pretty much twist their image, what they truely are, and consider themselves never good enough or beautiful enough. And let's take the pressure off and finally reveal who they are!...Some say they are anorexic, others say they are bulimic...but what they truely are, is beautiful women and sometimes boys that lost control over their lives, over what they truely loved and wanted to be, and started slaving some fashion trends, started living according to other people expectations, left behind their passion and tried to follow somebody's else passion...and all these things just to satisfy the image that others expected, to finally reach the point where everything just broke down, and they neither satisfied others nor themselves...to finally step on the road to self-destruction.

And let me tell you that road is long, full of traps, torturing and discouraing! The road is so exhausting-it drains all your strength, leaving you there surrounded by people wanting to help you get back up, but in the same time making you feel the heartbreaking solitude, being chained in your own thoughts...being the prisoner of your own thoughts and twisted mind. And how do I know it? I haven't felt it, but I've seen it a couple times. And the sight is hearbreaking- to see the one you love, waste the beautiful personality they have, in the mere goal of perfection. SOme of the cases I witnessed had a fatal ending...but luckily others had a happy ending. I really admire the strength and the will that these people have-the will to light the desire in your heart, to live again, to feel again, and to be yourself again! It takes a long time to take control of your thoughts again, and make your thoughts be your slaves...not you the slave of your thoughts!

Last year I wrote the story about my sister's journey in the world of anorexia and bulimia, and her way back to normal life. The other day I read another story about a lady that also succeeded to overcome the pitfalls on the way of recovery from anorexia and the third one I want to share is about a crosfitter that I really admire-her name is Lisa Bender Thiel. I admire her will to pull herself out of anorexia. Her desire to find a passion, that will help her get in control of herself, her thoughts and get her back on the right road. I admire her persistance to become who she decided to be, and the strength to leave the past behind and live the life she deserves and the one she wants. Here is a link to her blog .

So as you see there are a bunch of examples about beautiful girls making the wrong turn, but even when it all seems hopeless it is up to you to take controll of yourself, your thoughts and your actions. Others can only provide you with support, but it is up to you to find your own motivation, your own direction and follow it. Don't let expectations make you feel down and unworthy, pushing you in the wrong direction of self destruction. Live up to your own expectations, not others. Make sure you have the life YOU imagined, not the life OTHERS WANT YOU TO HAVE!

The wrong advice

The other day I was out with a friend of mine. She used to be a synchronized swimmer and back in the days she used to have a beautiful body. When we were in high school I really admired her abs and wanted to look something like that. Back then I was totally uneducated about the way the body functions and everything that had to do with proper nutrition.

I remember her counting calories all the time, doing some freaking strange diets and constantly complaining how her coach told her she was fat and she had to lose weight. That was the first time I heard about a calorie and from then on my life ain't the same! :D I remember both of us going to a supermarket close to the school and we bought BISCUITS AND SWEET YOGURT!!! and we considered that healthy!

So anyways that was just an introduction, so you could get more aware of the background with diets that my friend had. So now she ain't that lean anymore, actually she has some weight to lose. And she was really excited because for the last couple months she is working as a receptionist in a globo gym.

She said that because everybody there is so concious about nutrition she decided to give it a try. So one of the COACHES in the GLOBO GYM made up a NUTRITION PLAN for her..and here she goes sharing what he told her to eat..."For lunch I have a 100grams of boiled rice"...took me a couple minutes to think over what she just said. I was SHOCKED! A hundred grams of rice for lunch??? I was just gonna pass out instead of her!

Later on in the conversation she said she was feeling really good...and what she said was "...besides I am fierce to eat a chocolate pancake and some ice cream and maybe a little more chocolate, and plus when I go to bed I can't wait to wake up and have my breakfast". Hm...do you think that means feeling good? Doubt it. What it looks to me is more like her body is crying for fuel, energy...basically STARVING!

Ok, so after I let say swallowed the information about the nutrition plan, she went further telling me about the workout program...and I am even scared to explain that one...let's just say that the workout takes up like two and a half hours with an hour of cardio, lots of sit ups and exercises WITH WEIGHTS!!-3kg dumbells!... that does not look like a weight to me! Come on! Even my steak on the fork is heavier ;)

I am constantly AMAZED when somebody with a sports background trust somebody like HER COACH! And how in the world is it possible for someone like him to have a certificate for a personal trainer. And the scary part is that the bigger part of the coaches are just like him. Give advices just like his. Provide people with THE WRONG INFORMATION just like he did. And instead of helping people to achieve their goals, they just help stopping them and bringing more problems-like sickness, low self esteem, disappointment, discouragement and they are just a torture to the body and mind in general!

Why you never get the body you want

Throughout our lives we all have to pass the different stages of our let's call it vital cycle. We all go through the years making mistakes and hopefully learning from them. Thenwhen we look back on the past we realize that life hasn't changed so much, but our point of view took a turn.

What makes you stumble throughout the years, actually makes you grow as a person. I find that to be also true about the world of weightlifting and sports in general. If I take some time to remember my first steps in the world of sports and nutrition...Oh,my......!!! I am pretty scared of myself! :) I've done most mistakes that an athlete could have done! When I stopped playing basketball, I spent about 7months recovering from my injury, before I started swimming. During that time I did not stop practicing. I went to the nearest globo gym, got a membership and it all started! I was the new cardio queen. It makes me laugh out loud when I remember the endless HOURS spend on the treadmill. Lucky me there was a TV, so I could run,walk,peddle and watch whatever was broadcasted. Then, pleased with the calories I burned I went back home and ate as much as I wanted, and whatever I wanted.

Did I ever got to look the way I wanted?Hm...NO! There were times that I thought I just didn't have the right genes, and I was cursed to be skinny fat. And that was a hard statement to swallow, keeping in mind that I was DYING to have some nice muscle definition and a descent lean body.

I was doing everything right(at least according to the popular fitness magazines, and all the fitness myths that are fllowing around)...so why I never lost a pound and the closest I could get to my muscles, was just the feeling of them being exhausted after the two or three hours marathon in the cardio room?

Well, probably because you can't get something, when yoo do not work in the direction of building it! How can you expect to get muscles, when everything you do is exactly the opposite? By spending endless hours in the cardio room, you are most likely to destroy even the small muscles you have, in order to provide your body fuel for the cardio session. When you expose your body to long duration activities you kind of send it a signal that it will need some fuel to keep you going through all that. That puts your body on stress to keep your fat so it will make sure it will be able to provide you energy. SO instead of taking that fat off your body, you are just making sure it will stay there! What your body is gonna do next is it will burn your muscle instead of fat , and there are two reasons for this: first it is a proven fact that the body breaks down muscle protein to use it as fuel, when there isn't another fuel available and second muscles use a lot more calories to live than fat does. Thus, by destroying your muscles, there is a consequence- you slowed your metabolism, which is exactly the opposite of what you wanted-to make it faster!

Mistake number two was my nutrition. Food is meant to provid eypour body the macro and micro nutrients needed in order for it to function properly. Rule number one is YOU EAT ACCORDING TO HOW MUCH YOU PRACTICE AND ACCORDING TO YOUR DAILY ACTIVITY!!! You DO NOT...and I will repeat it DO NOT practice as much as you ate, in order to burn the bad calories and stay skinny. That is not how it works! So stop fooling yourself that you can eat that cake, and then you will go and waste a couple hours in the fitness, and it will all be even. It won't! And NO, I am not trying to let you down, and destroy your motivation! I am just trying to help you, because I've done it...for a sufficient amount of time, and it never worked out that way!

SO that was stage one...and I am happy it is far away in the past!

STage number two is moving to the weightlifting room! That is a big step, but still not where I wanted to be. I remember myself, going to the second floor of the globo gym, where the weights were. I saw all these guys with enormous, pumped hands and skinny legs( but that is a matter of another discussion). And back then, they all looked really intimidating. I was a bit frustrated and doubted my place was there. All I saw were a bunch of machines I did know nothing about and a lot of big biceps. I was lost! So what I did was just look what others did and apply the same to myself. Needless to say, it did not work out that way either. So some more time wasted in the gym, and never achieving the body I aimed.


Later on I was already sick enough of everything and decided to explore the human body and how it functions by myself. SO since then I've been reading and reading, I know a lot now but surely not enough! I am eager to get to know as much more as I could...and who knows if I will laugh at myself again in the future.

But what was on my mind at the beginning was that we all pass through these stages. Some of us unfortunately stay there forever, others just give up...and fortunately some build on the skills and reach where they aimed. So if you are just as I was, do not worry. Just give yourself some time, and learn! You can be, whatever you want to be, and look exactly how you imagine yourself. It just takes some time and knowledge!

The truth about idolizing people

Not long ago one guy in the weightlifting room approached me and started asking questions. We were just chatting when he came up with the question if I had an idol and who he was!

Back in the days when I was maybe 14 years old I used to idolize Larry Bird. I was a basketball player and I really wanted to be just like Mr. Bird. I remember going to the library, searching for a biography to read, when my sight was caught by a really thick green book...and guess what? It was Larry Bird's biography. I instantly grabbed it and finished reading it for less than two days. I started doing everything he used to do when he was in high school. I woke up at 4a.m. every single day. I walked 3miles to the gym, and practiced before school. Then after my classes I headed again to the gym where I would have a practice with my team, and after that I would stay like two additional hours, practicing and practicing. Besides I did not miss to spend a rainy day outside in the driveway, shooting free throws. Everything he did...you name it- I did it. Let's add to all that some of my crazyness and you will be amazed by the things I used to do in order to become as good as a basketball player as my idol was.

Well, now when I look back all that makes me laugh. It is so childish to think that if you mimick what somebody does you will become like him. And why would you want it? We all have some special gifts, that we are supposed to develop throughout our lives in order to better ourselves and reach our full potential.

When that guy asked me about my idol....did I say Larry Bird? NO! What I said is that I do not have a particular person that I idolize. I sure have some people that I truely admire, or to be more precise...I admire what they went through...the obstacles they overcame and the life they built by refusing to let the odds keep them away from their dreams.

Now I think that by following an idol you limit yourself to become only as good as he is! And you could be so much more! So instead of picking somebody whose life we will mimick, desperately trying to be like him...it would be better if we just take what we like and apply it to our own identity and thus reach our own full potential!

Life is a beautiful struggle

“If men could only know each other, they would never either idolize or hate"

I have the habit of analyzing life way too much! :) Sometimes it is a good thing but more often than not it is kind of stressful! Today I watched a TV show about female prisoners, what is their life behind the walls and what was it back in "the real world".Most of these women stories really made me sad...and do not get me wrong I do not put off the guilt they have... it is what they said about the way they were treated when they were little,i.e. getting beated,raped, tortured in different ways( one girl told how her mother used to extinguish her cigarette all over her body, beated her with different objects and so on...).

That made me think about the people we meet everyday, either it is you, me or somebody else... we all have our stories. And some of them are hidden deep inside of us. They are our deepest secrets which keep us in our own prison. Secrets that don't let us go anywhere without them constantly reminding of themselves!

Everybody we meet is afraid of something, loves something and lost something. We all have our own burden to carry. Sometimes lost in our saddness or most likely our self pity we tend to look up to others and wish we could switch lives and be in their place. But do you remember the famous saying how you should walk a mile in somebody's else shoes before you can judge them and make conclusions!

That reminds me of a story I read long ago. I can't exactly remember it, I couldn't find it in google either but it went something like this:

There was that person who was sick of his life. He felt like the most meserable person in the world and he wanted to get rid of that burden. He went to God and asked if he could switch his heavy burden with somebody elses. Then God told him that he will let him go to a room where all the burdens are collected and he will give him the opportunity to pick whichever he wanted.

So God opened the door and the "miserable" man went inside. He saw all sizes of burdens, and most of them were not small at all. In the corner of the room he saw the smallest burden that catched his sight. SO he went near it and told God that this wa sthe burden he wanted to take. Then God laughed and said: "Dear son! I am afraid you can not switch to this burden, because this is already YOUR burden!"

So you see how sometimes we think our life is terrible and get jelous about other people's life. But we forget that behind the smile of others is often hidden a tragedy! So do not waste your life and your potential feeling sorry about yourself and what happened to you. There are people that suffer twice as much. People that would be more than right to want quitting their life. People that despitre of the sorrow don't lose heart and hope. People that realized that life is all about fighting and never letting the circumstances be the last one to knock you down!

Remember that we all have our trubles. Our fears! Our secrets! Our own struggles. And switching them to somebody elses life is not the solution. Happy life ain't measured by the care free life you have. Instead it is measured by the obstacles we overcame. By the character we show when everybody would understand us if we gave up!....Life is a beautiful struggle! Make your life count!