health

Erik's Weekly Fitness Tip | To The Over 40 Crowd

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Do You Fall Into This Category?

While everyone needs to be working out, it’s the over 40 crowd that needs health and fitness more than anyone.  

Why?  Because:

  • we are losing a small percentage of muscle mass each year 
  • we are experiencing weight gain 
  • we have loss of bone density,
  • our stress levels are generally higher 
  • mother nature tends to pick on those who neglect their bodies without having youth on their side to be the equalizer

What You Must Be Doing

The 40+ crowd needs to be moving, lifting, and not over-indulging on decadent food. Getting older is not for the faint of heart and can be a mixed bag.  Yeah we’re smarter and certainly care a lot less about things that aren’t important in the big scheme of life, but it sure would be nice to recover a little faster, sleep better, burn off calories quicker, and have the energy that we once had in our younger days.

Every phase of life has its challenges and its good fortunes.  With some hard work, a solid game plan, and some luck we you can turn the second half of your life into some of the best years of your entire life.

Become A Time Fighter

How?

The time fighter club welcomes everyone who has a willingness to exercise and eat healthy most of the time.  Strength training, pilates, yoga, walking or riding your bike all count towards earning your time fighter status.  Let’s not forget being consistent, pushing yourself, and having some fun along the way are all necessary ingredients. 

There of course will be great days and days that bring a challenge, you just need to continue to take action and always be ready for a brawl.

Credit to Phil Ambrose for the Time Fighter analogy - thanks Phil!

Image Credit: Erik Taylor

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Erik's Weekly Fitness Tip | Lessons From A Legend

 

Al Carius

17 National Championships, 15 times runner up, “Coach of the Century” are just some of the accomplishments that Al Carius has made. Al sits on the Mount Rushmore of college coaches along with Wooden, Rockne, and Bear Bryant and he is still grinding away.  Al is a small-town guy that is humble and has his midwest roots firmly planted in the ground.  Al values your word, work ethic, family, and being part of something bigger than yourself.  But make no mistake, the jovial, always smiling, glass half-full guy lives to compete and compete he does with a career that spans 5 decades as head of the Men’s Cross Country Team at North Central College.

But as competitive as Al is, it’s the family atmosphere and the relationships that he has made along the way of his legendary coaching career that he is the proudest of.  If I had to describe Al’s coaching philosophy and personality, from what I read he’s a lot like John Wooden.  He’s made such an extraordinary impact on so many young men’s lives that it’s not even possible for me to put into words.

A Bump In The Road

In the fall, I got word that Al hit a bump in the road with his health.  While he and I hadn’t talked in a few years I knew that I needed to reach out to him.  I wanted to remind him of the importance of strength training, that he needed to run less, and that he needed to get himself into a calorie surplus so his reserves were full.  

On a Monday in September I called him. In this first phone call he reminded me why he is who he is - it’s not what he said, it was the energy in his voice, it was his attitude, I knew he was smiling the whole time while we were talking.  You see Al learned a long time ago if you control the six inches between your ears with a winner’s attitude and inner ability of dealing with adversity you can just about conquer any obstacle. 

Life Lessons

What happened next is something I didn’t see coming. He and I began speaking weekly, rarely about health or the team.  Our conversations have become about life. I sort of feel like I’m in an AP life class and these chats have become more important than any actual class that I’ve taken.  The week of Christmas he and I had the best conversation to date, we talked about what it takes to make it in life.  I told him I thought it was about outworking your competitors, your emotional intelligence, and taking risks. 

He agreed and then said I’ll raise you.  Success is much less about IQ and much more about your ability to deal with adversity.  He credited his success to getting knocked down to the ground and having the ability to get right back up.  “If you get knocked down 10 times you get up 11.”  Easier said than done but always such a great reminder. 

1%

Al stands at 5’9” and a buck forty, in no way a physically intimidating man.  But the tenacity that this man has shown in a career and life is something that very few people will ever reach and is somewhat mind blowing.  He is a 1 percenter and I have a direct access, how lucky I am!!

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Erik's Weekly Fitness Tip | When Your Health & Fitness Go Sideways

 

It Happens

This usually happens to me twice a year - once in winter when the flu bug steamrolls everyone in the house & once at the end of the school year when things get a little crazy with multiple events going on.  When I recover from the flu or when the dust settles form the end of the school year I hit the reset button and I’m back on track. 

It's Not Easy

For many people it’s just not that easy. A couple of weeks quickly turn into a month of missed workouts or portion sizes slide back into old habits.  It happens to all of us…ALL OF US!

Turn That Ship Around

So we have to turn this ship around, but how?  Focus on the small stuff, making small changes is a great deal easier to mentally handle than massive changes:

  • Skip second helpings at dinner 
  • Get back to walking at lunch
  • Log your daily calories.

The act of creating action will get the ball rolling again and while some days it might feel like you’re pushing that ball up a hill at least your pushing it. 

Image Credit: Marius Fisku via Unsplash

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