Inspired Journey Fitness

March to the Madness is Coming!

For the entire month of March, each visit to the Lifestyles Fitness Center will earn you one entry into the March Madness contest. That means each time you come to use the fitness center for the cardio equipment, weights, Personal Training sessions, racquetball, climbing wall, cycling, aqua, or any aerobic classes, you’ll be able to enter. The more times you work out, the more chances you have to win!

The drawing will be held on March 30 when one lucky winner will win a March Madness party for 10 at Ashbury’s Clubhouse at Boughton Ridge Golf Course. Additional prize drawings will be held for dinner for 2 at Ashbury’s, a free massage, and Personal Training sessions.

The contest is open to all Lifestyles Fitness Center members and class participants.

But here’s the real question…

Which member of the Blue Team is going to win the contest? Tell me what your plan is to win!

If you’ve been watching The Biggest Loser on NBC, you might have seen this week’s episode. The contestants had to compete to get a key to their gym so they could work out indoors. The whining and complaining about having to work out outdoors was incredible!

Give me a choice between indoor and outdoor and I’ll take the fresh air anytime.

No treadmill? Walk outside. Take a run. Add even more fun and hike on a trail. You might find something fun in your city that you never knew existed.

• Did you know there’s an abandoned putt-putt golf course hidden in the woods less than 4 miles from the Lifestyles Fitness Center?
• Whalon Lake offers several miles of paved trails around a peaceful lake just a few miles from your home
• Camp Sagwau offers a naturally formed rock canyon, and it’s in Lemont!
• Where can you see Bolingbrook, Naperville, Woodridge, Lisle, at the same time?
• There’s a naturally occuring waterfall just 20 minutes from Bolingbrook? Have you been there? If you’re lucky, you might even see the white deer herd.

We’ve got miles of bike trails, hiking trails, rivers, golf courses, and more right in our backyard. Think it’s too cold outside? Give it a try and you’ll be surpised how quickly you’ll warm up and won’t even notice the low temps.

It’s Mother Nature’s equivalent of the treadmill, Stairmaster, elliptical machine, rowing machine, and exercise bike. Pretty cool if you ask me!

Do you know a fun and interesting place nearby? Let’s hear about it.

Now this guys getting some exercise

A few weeks ago, our Biggest Loser Team did a workout using resistance bands. The exercises we did were:

Lunges
Squats
Military press
Upright rows
Lateral raises
Tricep kickbacks
Front raises
Bicep curls
Rows (with door or pole)
Cable rotations (with door or pole)

If you need a refresher on how to perform these exercises, check out these videos

I’m building a boat in my basement. It’s a 17 foot cedar strip kayak. The plans I’m using are the Great Auk design by Eric Schade of Guillemot Kayaks.

I’m pretty excited about it and it’s coming along nicely. I’ve built the “skeleton” and started laying the strips. It doesn’t look like much to the casual observer, but I can see what it’s supposed to look like and in my mind I’m already paddling. More pictures to follow as the project progresses. It’s going to take awhile!

I’ve had the plans for two years now and I’ve finally gotten up the guts to start the project. It just seemed so overwhelming when I thought about the entire task. I kept looking at the whole and not seeing the parts. I guess it’s kind of like starting a fitness program. Break it down, look at it in smaller chunks and it becomes a lot easier.

For the question you’ve been asking (and my family has been asking), how am I going to get it out of the basement once it’s finished? I’ll worry about that one later. One step at a time.

Let’s get it out on the table right now.

Fat is indiscriminate. You can’t burn fat in a specific area of your body. Said another way, spot reduction is a myth.

All those gadgets you see on TV that help you burn fat in a specific area of the body. That’s right, a myth. Don’t let that discourage you though, because any fat burned is progress. The point is to not worry about where you’re burning the fat, but just to burn it.

Specific exercises can tone and add muscle in a specific area of the body, and that’s a good thing, but they won’t burn the fat in that area. Adding muscle is a huge benefit to fat burning as muscle is more efficient. It helps you move easier and uses more energy. Increase your lean mass and you’ll burn more fat.

So, what should you do? Move more, eat less. Burn some fat. Add some muscle.

Three weeks. That’s when we usually quit.

Think about it. You’re ready to go. All fired up. Three weeks in to it and the excitement is gone. It doesn’t matter what it is. It’s three weeks.

• New car? Three weeks later, the new car smell is gone, it’s just your car.
• New furniture? Three weeks later, it all blends in to the house and the kids are climbing all over it.
• Learning a new language? Three weeks of listening to those CDs and you’re ready to move on. Can’t I just buy one of those electronic translators instead? Surely someone there will speak English, right?
• Starting your exercise program? Three weeks later and you’re not ripped yet? Where’s the six pack? How come I haven’t lost all the weight like the infomercial promised?

Sound familiar? Fitness is progressive. It takes time, but you’ve got to stick with it longer than three weeks. Break through the three week barrier and make it a habit, part of your everyday routine and the results will follow.

Need help staying on track? Remember your long term goal. Think about that hike. That better golf game. Playing with your kids. Running a 5k and setting your personal record. Enjoying the excitement of the Breast Cancer Walk. Not feeling tired all the time.

Need a jump start? Call a friend and work out together. Put on a few layers and walk outside in the sunshine. Take a group exercise class (remember, you’ve got two free class passes!)

What are you doing to keep going and bust through the three week barrier?