The Nvigor8 Blog

You have changed your old bad habits and started a nutrition and exercise regiment. You have worked really hard for the last few weeks and have lost weight steadily but now you have noticed your progress has come to a halt. You have been stuck at the same weight for days, weeks, or even months. If this sounds like you then you have become a victim of one of the most frustrating things that can happen in an exercise program, a “PLATEAU”.

If you have been trying your best with your nutrition and exercise program and no longer are experiencing the same results you have in the beginning of your program you have hit, a “PLATEAU”. Nobody ever wants to experience a “PLATEAU” in their exercise program. Just thinking about it, exercising can be hard enough with everything else that is on our “life plate” these days with career, kids, bills, traffic, friends, etc, etc… Why would anyone put in time and a lot of hard work exercising with no continuing results?

But why do we hit a “plateau” and more importantly how do we get over it? Many of us have been caught in the trap of “3 sets of 10 reps”. It’s the same old thing: Monday is chest & shoulders, Tuesday is arms, Wednesday is legs and back, take a day off and do it all over again. We get stuck doing the same workout day in and day out, week after week, month after month, year after year! If this sounds like you (and I know you are out there, because I see you at the gym on a weekly basis) don’t fear, I was in your shoes once before.

One day I was working on a program with Coach Dean, and he asked me to describe “that bad habit” people get into, and I just said, “Routine is the Enemy!” We all do it, even as a trainer it is very easy to fall into the trap of routines. Routines can be a good thing or a bad thing. It can be good because it develops consistency and a habit: show-up on your workout days, regularly working your heart, appreciating the work it takes to reach a goal. And, it can be a bad thing because change will not occur and growth will start to diminish or even cease.

Doing the same thing over and over sometimes produces a feeling of being unaware, or not being present. Starting a new exercise program can be a very “out of the box” feeling. When we see results we are motivated to continue and take the “if it ain’ broke, don’t fix it” motto. People new to exercise don’t have the knowledge or experience to understand that “plateau” is just around the corner. In today’s society we want the results NOW, NOW, NOW! Having frustration while working out and dieting, especially in the beginning, can be a fatality to a new workout program. Most of us quit and go back “into our box” (why do you think 80% of new gym members quit within the first 4 weeks).

We train to get results (become stronger, faster, look better, feel better, get more flexible, have more stamina. Our body is smarter than we think. When we give our body the same exercise over and over again it will adapt in a short time. Growth and progress is the result of constantly challenging our body’s many muscular and nervous system combinations like: balancing, speed, agility, range of motion, postural demands, etc. The longer we do the same routines the more we will we get frustrated with our hard work and diminishing results, and mentally we can get burned out in the process. The key to exercising is to remember that “Routine is the enemy”. New combinations and challenges will keep your body adapting to new stimulus and reaching new and different plateaus, as well as keep it interesting and fresh in the process.

I never do the same workout twice. Everyday is a new day, and every workout is a new one too. If you think it is impossible to do a new workout every single day think again. Adding a few pounds is only one way to add variety (we call it adding a ‘progression’, or ‘stimulus’, or ‘forcing adaptation’) to an exercise. There are 29 ways to add progression to a move. With that said, if you tried every possible combination you could create 530,506, 571,962,432 (that’s 530 trillion) different ways to change just one move!!!

Chris Mello, Trainer

* We have identified 29 unique ways to add progression to an exercise. If you are interested in knowing more, please join us for a healthy conversation on the matter! How did we get this figure? 29 x28 x27 x26 x25 x24 x23 x22 x21 x20 x19 x18 x17 x16 x15 x14 x13 x12 x11 x10 x9 x8 x7 x6 x5 x4 x3 x2.

                  I went to a great Vietnamese restaurant tonight, and what I put across my taste buds was just short of flavor heaven! The picture that I found to represent this amazing assemble-it-yourself delight is missing the long-stemmed fresh herbs, but otherwise the tray looked the same. You can make this one at home super-easy with/ without rice paper…I had a few using only the lettuce as a wrapper and found it to be just as satisfying. I can only imagine how much fun this would be for kids to try! I had a cup of hot chicken broth as an appetizer. The entire meal was very filling and low calorie.

PREPARE: toss shaved chicken, pork and beef in a light oil & balsamic marinade, then cook on medium heat in a skillet, set aside. Assemble these raw ingredients on a large tray:

4-6 Green leaf lettuce leaves, leave whole (per person)

1-1.5 cups each: Julienne cucumbers and carrots

2 cups Beans sprouts

10-15 Baby asparagus shoots

Sweet pickled cucumber (usually where they sell sushi)

10-15 stems each: Fresh long stem: mint, basil, parsley (flat leaf)

PREPARE: 3 dipping sauces (purchase already prepared) into cups:

Hoisin or plum sauce

Sweet rice wine vinegar

Sweet chili sauce

PREPARE: the rice paper rounds (mild heat), or lettuce leaves for wrapping

Try putting the tray on a lazy-susan so that everyone can have easy access to the ingredients.

WOW! Have hot-towels handy afterwords…it gets messy!

This recipe is balanced for protein-fat-carb delivery in the proper proportions. One serving is a complete meal. It isn’t too spicy; actually it is a little sweet and hearty. (Note: Do not substitute beef in place of the lean pork or turkey.)

PREPARE:
In a 16 quart stock pot on med-high heat:

ADD:
(2) cups cold filtered or spring water
(2) 29 oz cans tomato puree (organic if desired)
(1)1.25 oz packet low-sodium chili seasoning
¼ cup real maple syrup (organic if desired)
(2) 40.5 oz light red kidney beans (canned, rinsed thoroughly), or 60 oz soaked dry beans
* You can make this spicier with hot sauce, which doesn’t add calories

PREPARE:
Let the stock pot heat-up and start cooking. Do not use a high heat to speed cooking, it will ruin the flavor.

PREPARE:
in a wide medium heat oiled skillet (until onion edges turn dark and clear do not overcook):

ADD:
32 oz. (2 lbs.) diced white onions
16 oz (1 lb) plum tomatoes
1/8 cup Worcestershire sauce
1/8 cup balsamic vinegar
½ cup chopped garlic (OK from a jar, too

PREPARE:
Add above skillet to stock pot (med-low heat)
ADD:
32 oz. (2 lbs) ground lean pork, or ground turkey breast (best choice)
OR: chopped (5) Boca Burgers

PREPARE:
cook together for about 60-75 minutes uncovered so that the chili will cook-off some of the moisture.

ADD:
8 tablespoons of olive oil AFTER the pot is done cooking. Stir.

PACKAGE:

Makes 10 servings if your meal plan calls for 350 calories per meal (about 2 cups)

Makes 8 servings if your meal plan calls for 450 calories per meal

Makes 6 servings if your meal plan calls for 550 calories per meal

Makes 5 servings if your meal plan calls for 700 calories per meal

You can make a nice baby greens salad to go with it.

What is it like to be healthy? How do healthy people feel?

What sort of privileges do healthy people get? What is the cost of being healthy?

Can you be healthy? Should you be healthy?

Healthy people certainly attract other healthy people, not necessarily in a sexual way. Healthy people like the company of other like-minded people who are striving for the same healthy goals in life. Healthy people embody the energy accumulated from an ongoing investment in self. This energy creates more potential for life. You will always have other people around you who believe in you, and will support your efforts. Healthy people raise healthy children. Healthy people aren’t concerned about impressing anyone. The decision to live a healthy life is mostly about a love of life. Healthy people have taken the time to invest in the knowledge and responsibility that it takes to ensure a high quality of life. They are stimulated by the notion that there is much about life to be experienced, and to enjoy it requires a certain capacity to appreciate life, starting with self-care.

Think about the last time that you got sick or just felt lousy. What kind of care did you practice to help yourself feel better? Did you go to a doctor? Did you try an over the counter medicine? Did you try an herbal remedy? Did you envision yourself as getting better? Where you able to perceive the notion that all healing is already within your power…all you needed to do was to tap into it? Healthy people are motivated by acquiring valuable and fulfilling life experiences, challenging their limits and setting a good example for others. They also incorporate the one missing key ingredient that “waist watchers” don’t, and that’s attitude. If you don’t believe that you will be successful at living a healthy life, then you won’t…no matter how perfectly you diet, or how long you exercise. Perceiving an idea and welcoming it are two different tiers of understanding. Healthy people “wonder” about healthy possibilities. Healthy people believe in the value of the time and interest required to make something happen, whether it is for themselves or others. If you have the capacity to limitlessly honor your own personal self-care, then you are best prepared to help, guide or support others.

Healing, like being healthy is a lifestyle choice. The same life-force energy, that turned two unrelated cells in the womb into trillions of cells working together to make a living adult body, to keep you alive and make you who you are has the power to keep you in great health. Being healthy is not a license or freedom from disease or a troubled life. There are other forces around us that are engaged in motivating us to understand how life can be more meaningful. Sometimes the only way to learn about life is through conflict or contrast, but these concepts are beyond the scope of our focus right now.

A journey toward healing and health

is not a journey towards perfection.

Healthy people do not have a monopoly on the truth about right and wrong. Healthy people don’t always have the right answers. During your journey to become healthy, do not expect an audience to applaud your efforts. Remember that the majority of people do not intend to become healthy, for whatever reason, and will not be pleased to hear that you are doing well with your journey. You must trust that your journey is one of your own, and that no tribal (societal) laws apply to your efforts. You will not measure your success on the feedback of others. Do not connect your emotions to the consequences of your path.

Healthy is not a goal, it is a lifestyle choice

that combines many different aspects of being.

Like healing, healthy is an on-going participation with your ever changing desires and experiences in life. No one is “completely” healthy or “completely” healed. Participation is a mental and physical journey not a destination. Developing and using healthy and healing vocabulary is a great way to reach your goals.

Enjoy the culture of health that surrounds you.

My best,

Coach Dean

What does it take to create health

in the body…in the mind…for you?

I have been searching for that definitive statement that defines the optimum state of the human condition, the state we call, in a word, ‘healthy’. I have asked my chiropractor, my personal physician, my massage therapist, my dentist, my nutritionist, and other fitness trainers this pressing question. Once asked, they respond after some hesitation with a look that suggests I might have caught them with their pants down. “After all this time, I guess I have never really thought to actually define the word ‘healthy’”, one person replied. Each of them took a crack at creating a general definition, but none was able to give a really solid, ‘Webster’ quality answer. Some suggested that existing without pain and disease, is ‘healthy’. Someone else said, “If you are doing all you can, then you are healthy”. Some one else said, “healthy is when you are free from medication”. I went on-line to some corporate wellness websites expecting that they certainly would have a great statement on the subject. One company defines ‘healthy’ as: ” a state of being where one experiences health”. Really?

So why do we strive for something that we can’t define?

If even the best minds at work in the health and wellness field can’t define “health” then why put ourselves through the agony of dieting and exercise programs when we aren’t even sure what the outcome will be? Doesn’t it seem kind of pointless to spend valuable time, money, resources, and energy hoping and wanting to be healthy when it might be a futile calling after all? And even more curious…will we actually be in a better place, I mean like a guarantee, than if we had done nothing?

Is it possible that the act of attempting to become healthy is the greater achievement, and not the result? Is it the promise and the allure of enlisting into unknown territory that seduces us towards this end? Some people find great comfort by having others acknowledge their new aspiring goals, recognizing the valor and dedication towards the rigors required to reach so high above the rest. Maybe it is our personal redemption at stake and not a goal for a stronger heart. Maybe it is not the acquisition of health that interests us as much as the attention it gets us, and the previledge surrounding it.

Is it possible that your definition of “healthy” reflects who you are?

I am sure that you are anticipating my answer on the subject, as I have made such a point of it in this blog. In a simple statement I believe, and have professional experience on the matter, that health can be defined this way: You are experiencing health when there is nothing holding you back from reaching your dreams, attempting something new, fulfilling a desire, preventing you from smiling, and most importantly you feel as though your journey has been, and will be, all about finding beauty in this world.

Limiting your health means limiting your potential.

Enjoy the beauty of now,

Coach Dean