I Had A Dream I Was Flying

How great is it when you have a dream you can fly. I remember having these dreams more often as a child. Having one as an adult gives it a whole new meaning, at least for me.

There is so much going on in life, my life, your life, every one's life that we often get bogged down with all this "stuff". Personally I have difficult things and easy things to deal with. Happenings that are painful, events that are joyous and let's not forget the everyday bits and pieces of life.

When I was young and had a dream that I could fly I would wake up feeling good and happy. This time as an adult having that dream that I could fly made me feel secure. It was a truly amazing experience. To wake up feeling that you have the power and security to handle anything that could come your way and make it a positive outcome. This is big for me. I have always had strong convictions and feelings but have come to realize the power of listening and letting go. I have not sacrificed anything just view it differently. Then reacted to it differently.

This is largely due to my training as a coach. It all started with fitness and health, eating intuitively and then learning how to ask the right questions and listen for the answer when I became a wellcoach. Now I do this in many given situations, with my family, friends, and of course clients. Listening and looking for the deeper thoughts in an answer to a well thought out question.

So what can this blog do for you... well I would like you to think about some questions.

1. If you could do anything what would you want your life to look like right now?
2. What kind of relationship would you like with...?
3. What can you do to make these changes happen?
4. What needs to change to make me happy, satisfied, stronger?

Ask yourself a "what", "why", "where", "when" and "how" questions then think carefully about your answers. Whatever you need to change to find yourself flying is worth it.

Happy Dreaming!

Challenge Your Heart Rate

A great way to make your work outs go faster and be more efficient is to challenge yourself and your heart rate. This is simple to do with a heart rate monitor or without a monitor.

The idea is to take your work out up a notch for a few minutes at a time during the session. The plan for any type of exercise it to keep a steady pace for 3 minutes then pick up your heart rate by picking up your pace or intensity for the next 2 minutes then bring your heart rate down back to your steady pace. Every 5 minutes you will be changing the routine for a 3 minute interval then a 2 minute interval. The intensity routine work out can be adjusted depending on your fitness level. 4 minutes to 1 minute of intensity, 2 minutes to 3 minutes of intensity or if you wish, 4 minutes of high intensity and 1 minute steady pace. The important thing is to choose a plan to fit your needs that day.

For example if you are outside walking there are several ways to pick it up. I used walking as a way to teach myself to jog. This picked up my heart rate and made my workout more efficient, challenging and fun because the time went so fast. I would allow myself to walk up the hills and jog lightly down the hills and on the flats.

Ok, so you are not into jogging, don't - you can just walk faster, use a straighter stature, swing your arms bigger, lift your legs into a knee up while your walk.

The idea is to pick up your heart rate. Using a heart rate monitor follow the guidelines on the page on this blog titled "Heart Rate Training Zones". Find the age range appropriate and pick out the range of your heart rate. For example if you are 40 years old a good interval work out would entail keeping your heart rate between 117 -126 for your steady pace then 144 - 153 for the higher intensity level. If you do not have a heart rate monitor check the page titled "Rate of Perceived Exertion" that can help you figure out if your heart rate is up. A good work out using the guidelines mentioned in the article would be to keep your rate of perceived exertion between 6 and 7 for the steady pace and between 7 and 9 for the higher level.

Try this type of work out, have fun, get and energising work out and watch the time fly by. Let me know how it works for you and enjoy.

Do A Combination Work Out

Finally you find 30 minutes, 45 minutes, 20 minutes and feel motivated to do a little exercise. Here is the delima...cardio or strength training? What I would suggested is doing both, especially if you have not devoted much time to exercise during the week.

Pick your favorite heart rate raising routine and get going. Then stop and take a few minutes to add in a little body muscle training. Here is an example of something you can do in just 45 minutes. You will get at least 20 minutes of cardio fitness, enough to start that fat burning off and some muscle conditioning that will help you continue to burn more calories during the day. An added bonus is that if you don't rest your heart rate will stay elevated for a little extra cardio fitness.

• Let's begin with a treadmill work out. Get on that treadmill at a good clip either walking, jogging or walking on an incline what ever it takes to get your heart rate up and running. Stay on for 10 minutes.

• Push the pause button, carefully get off and use a bench or weights for 3 sets of 10 triceps and 3 sets of 10 biceps. This should take you about 7 to 10 minutes. No resting in between sets of triceps and biceps.

• Now back on the treadmill and crank it up. Use as much energy as you can muster for another 5 minutes.

• Again, get off carefully and keeping your head in line with your spine, don't look down hit the floor with 5 push ups (on your knees or toes), breathe - up from the floor - 5 single leg squats on each leg, 5 more push ups, breathe, up from the floor - 5 single leg squats on each leg, and 5 more push ups - up from the floor - 5 single leg squats on each leg. Give yourself 7 to 10 minutes to complete this portion.

• Next, you know - its back on that treadmill. This time crank it up for another 5 to 7 minutes.

• That should complete 40 minutes of fitness using your heart and your upper and lower body muscles.

• During the last 5 minutes, cool down for 3 minutes then do some standing crunches to complete the workout with abs.

This type of working out can be applied to any time frame or cardio fitness you desire. If you are outside walking, tricep dips can be completed on a curb. A push up can be done anywhere as well as squats. While you walk you can use your own body resistance to do some biceps.

Combination workout save time and make the time go very fast. Enjoy!

What Happened to Young Me! Second Edition

One thing I have realized since having my children later in life is that it is never too late to make a change. What you did in your past is in your past and we all have to opportunty to move away and forward to make a healthier life.

The most important thing is to find your motivation. Whether it is staying young for your children, a history of disease in your family, a tragedy that brought you to change or a realization of some kind... you got there now go with it.

So what else can you do to keep or find that youthful you beside finding your "joy in exercise" as mentioned in the First Edition of this post? Another obvious answer, food, eat food to enjoy it! I am not talking diet, restriction, abstaining from food. I am talking about how to enjoy food! Yep again here is that word joy but routed into the word enjoy!

How many times have you decided to go on a diet and not eat sweets, breads, pastas, cakes, cookies, candy. How many times have you given up foods that you love and enjoyed doing it? I don't know about you but I think giving up things I like to eat sucks! Not to mention but to think about how long does this abstaining usually last for you. What ever we give up we crave more of, it is a fact.

Think about that boy/girl you dated that your parents hated. Wasn't that making the forbidden or hated person much more attractive to you. The same goes with food, what ever you give up you want much more. My answer, don't give anything up. Eat, enjoy your food. Tune into your body and it wants and desires regarding food and enjoy what you need and want.

It is amazing if you let your body and your mind dictate your selections how smart your choice will eventually be...

Make It The Right Size

We have all heard or read different thoughts on what portion size we should be eating.

The portion of food that you eat should match the size of your stomach. To adequately describe the size of your stomach, take one hand and make a fist. Then wrap the other hand around that fist you made with your first hand. That is the size of your stomach. Another way of thinking about stomach size is comparing it to a large potato.

When you make yourself a plate of food keep that vision in mind. A real challenge for many people is trying not to walk around and pick at your food. Do this you may eat a lot more food than you realize. Then you end up feeling full and bloated. And NO your stomach is not stretched out. Your stomach size can not be made larger or smaller. The only permanent way to reduce your stomach size is through bariatric surgery.

I would like to offer a couple of ideas for tricking yourself into feeling full with out the overload of food. To create the deception in your brain and make it seem like you have more food, use a smaller plate. AND always put your food on a plate so you are aware of how much you are actually eating. Also, if you want to feel full and satisfied after a meal use the correct pairing of foods on your plate...a carbohydrate, a protein and a small amount of fat as I have blogged about previously. Another helpful hint to feeling full is to maintain the volume but reduce the calories. Fill your plate with, fruits, vegetables, whole grains and hearty soups. These will take up space in your "fist" sized stomach and leave you feeling satisfied.