so much to learn

Alright, who knew that taking care of a kid took so much time? I mean, I knew it took TIME, but not this much…

So, the last two months have been super hectic. I’m trying to learn how to better manage my time with a baby, work, keeping the house in check (clothes, dishes, oh my gosh), cooking healthy meals for Aaron and I, keeping up with current trends in the fitness industry, not to mention my own workouts and trying to get rid of this baby weight for our vacation in July (ten more pounds to go, but lots of muscle to put back on).

With all that being said, raising Roman is oh so rewarding. I’m blessed to be able to stay home with him and work at the same time, and being here to witness his first smile and first coo (and all that other stuff that only moms get excited about) has been a lot of fun. ##Sorry, that has nothing to do with fitness or nutrition.##

Anyway, in the midst of everything I’m in the process of reading The New Rules of Lifting for Women.

The New Rules of Lifting for Women is a super book. I highly recommend it for any woman that actually cares about doing the correct things in the gym that will set her on the path to an amazing physique. There are LOTS of stupid myths floating around training circles and TNROLFW strives to dispel these. There are 6 months of workouts included (written by Alwyn Cosgrove), and the nutrition section is written by Cassandra Forsythe. Good stuff.

What are you reading right now?

our new ((amazing)) addition

Roman finally made his appearance on March 6 at 3:54am. He weighed in at 6 lbs. 13 oz. and was 19 3/4 inches long. He’s such a sweetie.

I seriously never knew love like this existed. Sure, I love my husband with everything I have, but this love for my son is totally different.

There will be lots more pictures posted on Facebook. You can friend me here.

(one of) my favorite tools

Killer full-body workouts, extreme portability, and versatile. Check it out here: TRX by Fitness Anywhere.

good post by Seth Godin

This is Seth Godin’s post for the day… Take a look and see what you think.

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2008/12/warning-the-int.html

I really struggle with this. It’s physically impossible to stay up-to-date on everything. There are lots of blogs that I would love to be able to keep up with on a daily basis, but I just don’t have the time. We are on informational overload as a society. If you’ve read the 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss you know that he mentions this. We waste so much time checking email, watching tv, reading random stupid stuff on the internet… and then we wonder where all the time went.

We don’t have to know everything… We need to stop trying to absorb it all and enjoy the time we have on earth. There’s so much more to life. We need to remember the important things and stop wasting time on Facebook and Myspace when we could be with family, friends, and improving our bodies and minds in other more productive ways.

nobody hits as hard as life

I mention the quote from this movie earlier in the blog, but the clip is so freakin awesome I had to post it.

Stallone’s words are VERY true too…

how bad do you want it?

It’s really late right now, but I’m super motivated. I’m in the process of learning some new stuff (some related to fitness and some not) and I’m majorly pumped. Like I’ve said in the past, I’m a big nerd. I love learning new stuff – I thrive on it. New bits of knowledge makes my world go round.

With that said, I can TASTE this new goal that I’ve set for myself. I want to make it happen really really bad.

So, what are your goals for the rest of this year and the new year coming up? How bad do you want to see these goals come to fruition?? Make up your mind and get to it. You are the deciding factor. No one can do this stuff for you. Whether your goal is physical, spiritual, financial, emotional, etc. make it happen.

You will be surprised what a simple paradigm shift can do for you. Try it out and see for yourself.

you don’t HAVE to gain weight over the holidays!

Whew, it has been a whirlwind of activity this past week. We had three different Thanksgiving dinners, and lots of lets-get-together-because-we’re-not-working dinners that weren’t the typical Thanksgiving fare, but were still out of the ordinary nonetheless.

I’ve been thinking about it, and I think a lot of people think it’s inevitable that they will gain weight over the holidays. “It’s going to happen anyway, so there’s really nothing I can do about it.” They just kind of fall into that mindset. I think that thinking is totally wrong. You have the choice to let outside forces act on you, you are in control. It’s your responsibility to control what goes into your body. Be proactive and if your goal is to maintain your weight (or even lose a little) over the holidays make it happen. You choose how you react to your surroundings.

With that being said, I’m not one of those trainers that tells people that they shouldn’t eat what they want at Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners. The holidays come around once a year and I think you should enjoy them. Maybe practice some moderation if you’re more prone to overeat, but eat what you want. There’s a lot of time leading up to Thanksgiving and a month between Thanksgiving and Christmas – use this time to your advantage. Exercise your butt off during these times and know that you can look forward to the reward of great food and time with friends and family. Eat clean any time you’re not at a party or gathering and enjoy yourself. You only live once.

The mindset you need to have is that you don’t have to wait until the New Year to make a change. Start now!

I’ll post some tips for keeping the holiday pounds off later this week.

simplicity

This post has nothing to do with fitness… It does, however, have to do with frugality, something that I’m going to have to get much better at since there’s about to be three of us instead of two. I’ve recently run across a great blog that has a ton of great information on lots of different topics. My favorites are probably the ones that highlight ways to live more simply: getting rid of stuff that just takes up space in your home, cutting costs by cutting out things you don’t need, etc. Living right up the road from Brentwood (pretty much the most expensive city to live in in TN, and the most extravagant) means that it’s super easy for us to get caught up in trying to “keep up with the Jones’s.” This is something that I don’t want. I don’t want to teach that trait to my children. I want them to know that “stuff” doesn’t matter – you can’t take it with you when you’re gone. There are people around the world that don’t have anything except the clothes on their back and they’re always smiling and happy (if you’ve ever been on a mission trip or something similar you’ve witnessed this – it always baffles me but at the same time makes me wish I could possess their attitude).

Check out the blog.

Today’s post on his blog is about how to save money on groceries and it contains some really great tips. My husband and I haven’t really felt the economic crunch like others I don’t think, but we have definitely noticed our grocery bills going up. (The author of the above blog has six kids – I have no idea how he and his wife do it.  He does live on Guam though, how sweet would that be?!?)

Do you have any tips for me on how to save money? How do “de-clutter” your life? Please share!!

loading up

I think know I’m addicted to fitness. I don’t buy clothes or shoes like a normal female… I buy kinesiology books, kettlebells, and fitness DVDs (I guess there are worse addictions). I promise I could fill a whole room in our house with books and fitness equipment.

Since I’m training clients in-home these days I’m working on getting my equipment “stash” up to par, little by little. The newest additions are a Bulldog Kettlebell from Art of Strength, a TRX suspension trainer, and a set of Power Blocks. The kettlebell is freaking sweet because it’s loadable with shot or sand (I’ll use shot because I’m hardcore [jk] and want the heavier bell). The TRX is amazing because it’s so portable. You can easily pack it in your suitcase on trips and get an extreme workout away from home. The Power Blocks are great because they take up so little space. I just ordered The Science and Practice of Strength Training and a Kinesiology book tonight, plus some books on natural childbirth (in 12-13 weeks I’ll be full-term and I haven’t really done anything to prepare for natural childbirth…). I’ve got to get on that.

The next addition will be a pull-up bar. I think I will probably get the ud6 from this site. After that I need to get a better stability ball, a foam roller that is more dense, and some assisted pull-up bands. After that, I will have all the basics to get a really great workout (for myself and clients). I will still go to the gym as well to get in heavy barbell lifting and power movements, but it’s nice to know that I have all the equipment at home if I can’t make it to the gym one day.

Eventually I would like to add some sandbags, ropes, and maybe a strongman log (my husband can make that for me… add that one to the honey-do list…). It would be cool to have a tractor tire to flip and a Prowler, but our neighbors really might think I’m crazy if I start pushing the Prowler up and down our street (just picture that one folks).

Anyway, I have a whole list of books, information products, and DVDs that I want to get. We would have to have a money tree for me to get everything at once, so I have to buy a little at a time. I’m an information junkie, and a huge nerd.

Comment and let me know what equipment you have in your “stash” or if you can think of anything that I don’t have but need.

roman

So, I forgot to post on here that we found out that we’re having a boy last week. We couldn’t be more excited. We are both very into sports, so I’m sure some of Roman’s first toys will be footballs, baseballs, basketballs, etc.

We absolutely cannot wait to meet him. It will be a huge change for us, but one that’s well worth it.

I can’t help but keep thinking of how amazing life is, that he is inside of me (kicking me as I type) and began as two microscopic cells. That he has a teeny tiny heart that is beating wildly all the time, tiny hands and fingers, and all of his organs and systems are slowly forming. The human body is amazing to me anyway, but this takes my amazement to a whole new level.

I keep wondering what he will look like, what his personality will be like, what things he will enjoy, etc. It will be an awesome journey that we (Aaron, Roman, and I) will get to experience together. (It will also be very interesting being the only female in the house with two males…)

Anyway, I guess that’s my rant on personal stuff for the night. I think it’s a pretty good rant.