A little me

My personal journey into health began when i was 17 years old.  I had just graduated high school and was trying to decide what I wanted to do with the rest of my life.  I was not raised in an health conscious family so, needless to say, the exercise field was not my first option.  Looking back I can remember breakfasts that consisted of chocolate Poptarts, Lucky Charms with a small scoop of icecream (yes, icecream at breakfast), buttered white toast sprinkled with sugar, more sugar and then some cinnamon on top.  Lunch was not much different.  Sometimes it was the little ziplock bag of gummie bears that i carried around with me (we bought them in 5lb bags).  Other days I just picked at whatever the school was serving for lunch.  Snacks were Otter Pops (flavored popsicles with different otter characters) or Little Debbie snack cakes.  I even remember a number of times of eating cookie dough by the spoonfuls or drinking maple syrup straight from the Aunt Jemima bottle.  But at least dinner was always cooked by my mom and much better than the rest of my day.  Coincidently, i was a little more "chubby" than the rest of my friends.  So, here i was at 17 years old at a major crossroads of  my life. I figured the best way to get in shape and stay in shape would be to get a degree in an exercise field.  That was my only reason for choosing that major.  I was tired of being bigger than everyone i knew.  So, I chose the Exercise Science degree at UF and started teaching kickboxing at Gold's Gym.  After moving to Gainesvillle, Gold's gym closed and I started working at Gainesville Health and Fitness Center.  It did not take me long to realize that I could help others.  No longer was I "bigger" than my friends and family.  Now I wanted to inspire and coach others to regain control of their health. Over the past 13 years, I have not only become a Certified Personal Trainer, but also a Holistic Health Coach from the Institute of Integrative Nutrition in New York City,  a Pilates Instructor and Yamuna Body Rolling Instructor. My views have gone from becoming healthy myself, to extremist health freak, to where I am today.  Now I look at "health" from various aspects of life such as:  nutrition, love, laughter, personal/professional growth, finances, fitness and contribution.  Being healthy is not only what you eat or how much you exercise.  It is also what you do on a daily basis that makes a positive difference in your life as well as others.  My goal is for my clients to learn as much about being healthy as possible and to be healthier each year.  I want them to read books, listen to successful people, hire a professional, take school courses, attend workshops...whatever it takes.  Then decide what works for you.  It is perfectly fine, and strongly encouraged, to take little bits and pieces from everything that you learn and create your own strategy for your life.  It is your life, take full responsibilty for it and live proudly.
Robin      

Friday Morning Workout Party

For those of you who missed it; the 6am workout crew worked their butts off this morning.  We lost Rob at the 1/2 way point because he had to be at work, but the Nolle jumped in and we finished strong by 7:05am!  And a big thanks to McCabe for testing this workout for us yesterday!
Here is what we did:

SET 1:
(1st round-60 seconds, 2nd round-45 seconds, 3rd round-30 seconds)
(rest between rounds-2 minutes)

1) Barbell clock lunges
2) Dynamax ball slams
3) Box jumps
4) Plate drags
5) Mountain cross-through (push up position, swing left leg under right arm, tap butt to the ground, then back to push up position)
6) Rope slams

SET 2:
(3 rounds of 30 seconds)
(rest between rounds-1 minute)

1) Barbell jumping lunge taps
2) Push up to dumbbell rotation
3) Hurdle side hops
4) Twisters
5) Dumbbell bicep swing to push press (heavy)
6) Alternating rope slams


Thanks to Heather, Adam, Kristen, Nolle, Rob for showing up and giving it your all.  You Rock!!!!! Happy Friday :-)
Robin

p.s. we missed you Talie and Naomi!

ok. here i go.....

I am not sure why starting a blog can feel like such a scarey thing to do.  Even as i begin to write each new sentence, I can't help but feel slightly anxious knowing that as soon as i hit the "publish" button my every thought and/or spelling or grammar mistake will be out for everyone to see.  Oh well, here i go...  Over the past few months I have begun to read a blog or two.  Yeah I know that i am way behind the rest of the world, as blogging is not really a new concept.  However, what i notice is that people will say exactly what they are thinking online.  There are no real boundaries as to what is politically correct or what is deamed appropriate.  Everyone seems to have a very strong opinion and can blog relentlessly for days about it.  Most people could care less about what other people think about their comments.  I am not that bold, but I have great respect for those fearless bloggers.  It is partially because of them that I am beginning my own journey into blogging.  My purpose for my writing is 2-fold.  To pursue a dream and to inspire others.  The first reason for my blogging is the fact that i have secretly wanted to write for the past few years.  Be it a book, an article, or obviously a blog.  I just want to write.  Sometimes taking that first step towards what we want to do can be the most difficult step in our journey.  So many of us have dreams that remain just that, dreams.  We become so scared that we might fail that we never even take the first step.  We become paralyzed by our fears only to find out in the end that we still fail for lack of even trying.  I went to a concert last weekend for a friend/co-worker of mine.  His dream is to be a rap star.   This may not sound too out of the ordinary, however, he is the first white, Jewish rapper that i have met.  And to be completely honest, HE WAS AMAZING!  It was hard to believe that was really him on the stage, living his dream.  Although during this first concert he only performed 3 songs, the promoters were standing right there waiting to set up his next performance.  You can check him out at http://www.itsblastfome.com/.  What if we all did the very things we were scared of?  What would you do if you knew you could not fail?  What if we stood by our dreams regardless of what other people would think or say? I wonder how many of us would actually suceed just because we tried.  This applies to anything from weight loss, to your dream job, to a marathon, to that one thing you have always thought about doing but never did.  So, this is my start of my journey.  May I inspire you to do that thing you have been thinking about.  You all know what it is.  Here we go...