Friends!  It has been a long time and I hope and wish you all nothing but the best!  I feel I could use a little more Truth in Change in my life so I will make an honest effort to be more present within this wonderful community.  A certain reddit moment got me thinking today.  Today I saw a video of a 23 year-old man.  He is 700 pounds and asking for help.  He is at his proverbial breaking point.  His “rock bottom”.  While watching his video, I was reminded of one of my favorite quotes…”Where there is life, there is hope.” Recently, I saw (On a cancer awareness shirt) the Christopher Reeve quote, “Once you choose hope, anything’s possible.”  Anything is possible when you have hope and in my opinion…when there is life there is hope.  I reached out to this young man today and hope (no pun intended) that he joins our community.

This leads me to my overall point…goals and weight loss.  Time will always keep ticking.  Tomorrow will come.  Next year will be here.  If we string enough good days together by the time tomorrow comes….by the time next year comes….we will be healthier….Do not let a number define you…My Dad says to me all the time…The goal is to be healthier today than we were yesterday…If we live with THAT goal in mind, eventually time will pass, tomorrow will come, next year will be here, and you will be further on your way to a healthier you…

God Bless!

Wally

“You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it.” ~Margaret Thatcher

Contact: wallylang@yahoo.com

Squats
Dead lift
Lunges
Pull ups or bent over rows
Pushups
Situps

Pamela has been kind enough to find instructions for all of these for you so now you just have to do it. It’s ok if you don’t finish. It’s ok if you’re sore. It’s not ok to do nothing. If you want to change you have to do the work. It gets easier as you go so don’t get discouraged. Good luck!

Mountain Climber-   Stand with your arms by your sides, feet together.  Bend down and put your hands shoulder width apart on the floor.  Place yourself in the basic push-up position with your arms in line with your chest and your legs extended outward.  Rest on the balls of your feet while bringing one leg (for this example we’ll say left leg) forward to your chest and back to its original position. Keep the right leg tucked during the forward and back movement of the left leg.  Check to be sure your bent leg and hands carry the weight of your body and that you hold your head up during the back and forth leg movements.  Repeat the motion described in Step 4 rapidly, alternating one leg forward and one leg back. This movement mimics the “climbing of a mountain.”

 Bent Over Rows- Bend knees slightly and bend over bar with back straight. Grasp bar with wide overhand grip.  Pull bar to upper waist. Return until arms are extended and shoulders are stretched downward.

Straight (Stiff) Leg Dead Lift-  Stand with shoulder width or narrower stance on shallow platform with feet flat beneath bar. Bend knees and bend over with lower back straight. Grasp barbell with shoulder width overhand or mixed grip, shoulder width or slightly wider. Lift weight to standing position.  With knees straight, lower bar toward top of feet by bending hips. After hips can no longer flex, bend waist as bar approaches top of feet. Lift bar by extending waist and hip until standing upright. Pull shoulders back slightly if rounded.

Military Push Up-   Place your toes and hands on the floor, making sure your back and arms are straight. Keep your hands slightly more than shoulder-width apart and tighten your abdominal muscles.  Inhale as you lower yourself to the floor, stopping as your elbows reach a 90-degree bend. Keep your body from touching the floor.  Exhale and push yourself away from the floor. Don’t lock your elbows, and don’t bend your back.

Modified Push Up-   Place your hands and knees on the floor. Keeping your gluts and abs tight, your back should be in one diagonal line with your head and neck, and your feet should be lifted from the floor.  Inhale as you lower yourself to the floor, stopping as your elbows reach a 90-degree bend. Keep your body from touching the floor.  Exhale and push yourself away from the floor. Don’t lock your elbows, and don’t bend your back.

Squat Jumps-  Stand up straight with your feet shoulder-width apart, toes pointing straight forward. Bring your arms loosely to your sides. Squat down by bending your knees and reaching your hips back as if to sit down in a chair behind you.  Throw your arms up in the air and jump as high as you can.  Land softly in the same spot you jumped from. Bend your knees as you land so as not to hurt your knee joints. Drop your arms as you land.  Hold the landed position with knees slightly bent for two seconds. This gives your ankle muscles and core time to stabilize.

High intensity intervals are a great workout and can be compressed into a short amount of time with excellent results. This is another circuit, but instead of focusing on completing a certain number of reps we will focus on doing as many reps as possible in a set amount of time. Do each exercise for one minute and try and do as much as possible in that one minute. Then immediately begin the next exercise. At the end of the circuit you can rest for one minute and begin again. Complete 3 circuits.

Jump lunges
Mountain climbers
Bent over rows
Straight leg dead lift
Pushups
Squat jumps

That’s one circuit of 6 exercises. At 1 minute each and 1 minute of rest in between circuits, the whole workout will only take 20 minutes! That’s a great workout you can do with little equipment and finish quickly. Just remember to push yourself hard for the whole thing. Good luck!

Lunges- Begin with your feet shoulder width apart and keep your legs slightly bent. Do not stand with your knees in a locked position. Pull your shoulders back in order to have a proper back arch.  When you lunge forward make sure to maintain the same back position that you had in the starting position. Do not allow your shoulders to roll forward.  Returning to the starting lunge position should be done in one step backwards. If you find yourself taking more than one step backward then you are probably using too much weight or have lunged too far forward. Make sure to maintain the proper back position when returning to the starting position.

Dead Lifts- Stand with the bar above the center of your feet - your stance should be a bit more narrow than shoulder-width to give your arms room.  Grab the bar overhand so your arms are vertical to the floor.  Bend through your knees until your shins hit the bar which must remain above the middle of your feet. Shoulder-blades directly over the bar.  Lift your chest but don’t squeeze your shoulder-blades like on Squats. Just put your shoulders back & down, head inline with rest of your spine.  Pull and keep the bar close to your body, roll it over your knees and thighs until your hips and knees are locked. Do not lean back at the top.

Kettlebell Swing- Initiate the swing by lifting the kettlebell one inch off the floor with deadlift posture, take several mini-swings, then push your hips forward aggressively and swing the kettlebell. It is important that the action comes from your hips and not your arms to protect your back and shoulders. Actively swing the kettlebell backward between your legs and repeat

Clean and Press- Place a barbell on the floor and make sure that there is plenty of room on either side of the bar. Load the bar with the appropriate poundage, place your feet approximately shoulder width apart, and make sure that the bar is over the tops of your feet at the midpoint (halfway between your toes and your heel).  Bend down and grasp the bar with an overhand grip. Making sure that your knee’s do not shoot out over your toe’s, lower your buttocks to the floor until your thighs are parallel to the floor. It is of extreme importance that your lower back does not become arched during any point of this movement. If, during this movement, your lower back becomes arched, you dramatically increase the chances of sustaining a career ending lower back injury. contract your shoulder blades, look straight ahead and explode upward from the bottom of the movement. Using a quick movement, snap the weight up to chest level and then, using your shoulders, triceps and trapezius, push the weight toward the ceiling in a straight line. Then, under control, lower the weight back down to its original position on the floor. If you find yourself leaning too far backwards, use less poundage until you’re able to perform the movement with perfect form.

Kettlebell Snatches-  Use the kettlebell swing technique, hike pass the kettlebell through your legs and perform the swing, but instead of fully extended arms at the top you will shorten it by bending at the elbows, this is done in order to position the kettlebell just 6 inches in front of your chest. In order to achieve this you will gradually close the distance between your shoulders and the kettlebell by bending the elbow, and pointing the elbow behind you.  When the kettlebell reaches the chest height, you will reverse pull the kettlebell using your shoulders and your lats, do not try to strong arm the kettlebell, you will wear your arms out.  When the kettlebell goes just higher than your head, you need to begin the punch through to extend and lock out your arms to complete the lift. Timing is crucial here, and the secret to not banging the kettlebell onto your arm is to not let it fall on the back of your arm, but rather to punch through with your arm. A mistake a lot of people make is they leave it til too late for the punch through and the kettlebell is already too high, and must fall down and bang on your wrists.  The correct time to punch through is when the kettlebell is at 0 gravity, where it’s stopped going up, there is a slight pause, before it’s about to go down, do the punch through. When you punch through correctly the ball of the kettlebell stays in the same position as before the punch through, and it seems like only the handle has changed from bottom to top. Effectively there has not been any descent of the kettlebell, therefore no banging.

Pull Ups-  Grab a bar with a grip slightly wider than shoulder width, with your hands facing away from you.  Hang all the way down.  Pull yourself up until your chin is above the bar.  Slight pause  Lower yourself all the way back down.  Go up, and really concentrate on isolating your back and biceps.  Don’t swing!

 Bent Over Rows- Bend knees slightly and bend over bar with back straight. Grasp bar with wide overhand grip.  Pull bar to upper waist. Return until arms are extended and shoulders are stretched downward. Repeat.

Polymetric Push Up- To perform this push up, position yourself in starting position of regular push up. Keep your back straight, place your palms flat on the floor and rest your lower body on your toes. Now, lower your body and push your body off the floor with explosive force such that your hands are off the floor in the air. Get back to starting position by landing safely on your palms.

Dive Bomber Push Ups-  Begin with your hands and feet on the floor and your hips raised, so your body forms an inverted V.  Lower your shoulders, then glide your chest forward, bringing it between your hands and up toward the ceiling.  Keep hands 2 to 3 inches wider than your shoulders and your knees and hips 2 to 3 inches off the floor.  Reverse the move, bringing your hips back toward the ceiling.

Parallel Bar Dips-  Squeeze The Bar. Put your thumbs around the bar & squeeze it hard. The more force you apply to the bar, the stronger you are.   Don’t look straight forward, don’t look the floor. Look to a point slightly in front of you.  Take a big breathe while hanging with locked elbows & hold it. Lower yourself & come back up. Breathe at the top, not during reps.  Don’t let your shoulders roll forward. Keep your chest up & shoulders back. It’s easier on your shoulders.  Bend Your Legs and cross your feet. Letting your legs hang means less strength in my experience. Squeeze your glutes on the way up.  Your shoulders must go lower than your elbows. Deeper stretches your chest more, but your shoulders might not agree with it.  Drive out of the bottom until your elbows are locked. Squeeze your triceps.

Overhead Press-   Press the bar overhead in a straight line, that’s the shortest distance from start to finish.   Tilt your head back so the bar can pass your chin/nose without hitting them. Keep looking forward.  Shift your torso forward. Once the bar reaches forehead level, shift your torso forward. Continue pressing the weight overhead.  Your chin should almost touch your chest when the weight is overhead. Look forward, not down.   Squeeze shoulders, traps & back. Lock your elbows.

Box Jumps- Box jumps are a simple movement. They require you only to jump from one flat surface up onto another flat surface, then either step or jump back down, depending on the purpose of the exercise.

Burpees-   From a standing position, squat down so that your knees are bent and your palms are on the floor in front of you. Without moving your hands, kick your legs back into a push-up position; keep your arms straight and use your abdominal muscles to prevent your torso from sagging. From there, do one push-up, bending your elbows so that your body is parallel to the ground. As soon as you complete the push-up, jump back into the squat position and leap—as high as you can—into the air. Once your feet touch the ground again, you’ve finished your first burpee.

Renegade Rows-  In this exercise you’re going to assume a push up position holding a pair of dumbbells. Set up in a perfect push up position.  Move your feet about 6 inches wider than they are, so that they are shoulder width apart. Next, set your core as hard as you can by squeezing your abs and your butt as hard as possible. Pull one dumbbell towards your hip. You don’t want to pull it up high, or you’ll lose your balance.  You’re going to do this without rotating your body at all, or at least as little as possible. Bring it back down and switch sides.

Sit Ups-   Lie on the ground with your back to the floor.  Bend your knees into a 90 degree angle, but keep your feet on the floor.  Place your hands across your chest. Make sure to keep them there throughout the duration of the exercise.  Using your abdominal muscles, raise your upper body completely off the ground. At the peak height of the exercise, only your feet and buttocks should be touching the ground.  Lower your upper body back to the original position. Perform this movement in a slow and controlled manner.

Squats or lunges
Dead lifts or kettle bell swings
Clean and press or kettle bell snatch
Pull ups or bent over rows
Plyometric pushups or dive bomber pushups
Parallel bar dips or over head presses
Box jumps or burpees
Renegade rows or situps

The exercises on the left are the more difficult (better) exercises and the ones on the right are a good way to ease into the workout. For all the exercises with weights, make sure you use something light that you can do over and over again without compromising form. If you don’t have weights or aren’t comfortable with them, body weight can still be challenging enough. If you don’t know how to do the exercises then just type the name into google or YouTube and you should get the idea. If James would get serious about this we could post our own videos of the more difficult exercises. I swear, I feel like I’m the only one getting anything done on here. Sorry for the long layoff and there will be more to come. Good luck and don’t get discouraged. An open, optimistic mind is essential to achieving weight loss/exercise goals. Feel free to post or ask questions. I will be doing the workout tomorrow morning and I will post my time. If you get a better time than me, then James will go to your home and clean it. Some restrictions may apply.

Okay… First things first, this give away is not sponsored by anyone, and I am not getting paid to do this by the bike company. This is my personal bike that I have ridden, and I just want it to go to someone who needs and wants it. However, I want to say right now that if you are looking for this bike to change your life, then you will be disappointed. It is a cool ass toy, that will make exercise fun, and help keep you active but the reality is no one can make you get on it. In a perfect world whoever wins this bike, will ride it long enough to lose enough weight to where the best thing this bike could do is be given to the next person. Once you are done with it, you don’t have to give it to the next deserving person, but dammit it would be cool if you did. Maybe one day two or three, maybe even four or five of us can stand next to this bike knowing that it brought out the kid in us again, and helped facilitate that lifestyle we all so badly desire. A guy can dream right?

I would do this completely free but I can’t and here is why. Shipping this bike will run about $150, and you can’t ship the bike assembled, so when it arrives in the hands of the winner you have to get it assembled. This will probably run about $100 at a local bike shop. So I’m going to charge to enter the giveaway. $8 per entry. This should fund that expense, and whatever is left over I will find a way to make that pay forward too and probably do some cool giveaways.

 Here is how you enter.

 1) Purchase a wristband for $8,and you get an entry. I can’t charge you to enter the giveaway for legal reasons. Now, you can purchase for someone else, just be sure to email me and let me know what their name is. You can buy as many as you like, and you get an entry for each one. You can do that at the bottom of this page, and be sure to add the name of the person you want to enter for the giveaway.

 2) If you don’t have $8 that is cool. I will pay your entry, but you have to earn it. Post a picture on my Facebook wall at www.facebook.com/truegarrison and then get 50 people to go to my page, “like” it and have them comment on that picture saying you sent them. Also on this Facebook picture, maybe someone will purchase a ticket in your name. So feel free to include your story in it. I am going to put them all in an album for easy access that I will share. However, you will have to promote your picture. I can’t spam everyone all day it’s just not cool. I will only allow you 2 entries this way and you have to meet the requirements. So for example to get both entries you will need to have 100 new people come to my page, like it, and comment on your photo that you sent them.

 3) Since there is a law against raffles, this is not a raffle… and as such you don’t have to purchase ANYTHING to participate. However it would nice, since really this is a community effort to help someone in their journey. That someone could very well be you! So you can mail an entry on a 3×5 in card with your name on it. You can only do this once per person, once per house hold and it must be post marked by Feb 8th 2012. I will have a po box setup soon, check back.

 4) The contest will run untilFebruary 20th, and at that point I will do a live USTREAM broadcast of the actual drawing for the winner sometime that day or the following day. If for somereason we don’t have enough entries to at least cover the shipping, and assembly, etc. I will prolong the contest for 2 more weeks. Spread the word,and hopefully I won’t have to. I just can’t afford to pay for the shipping and assembly myself cause I’m broke and I don’t want the winner to have to cover the cost because what if they can’t?

 Okay… so since this was my bike, and I used it. IT’S NOT NEW. I am not guaranteeing this bike with a warranty what so ever. I can tell you this, I ride it, and it works. It’s a good bike, and it will hold up to 550LBS which is the real selling point. New from www.supersizedcycles.com the bike is $1850 plus tax and shipping so well over $2,000. I don’t know about you, but my first truck cost less than that. Whoever this goes to, I hope it serves you well. I hope when you are done with it, you pass it on as I am doing.  However, that is your choice. I will ask that you post a picture of you with the bike when you get it, it would mean a lot to me. Maybe one day we can get a picture together? Or even go for a ride.

Alright… Well it was you all that helped me figure out how to get this contest setup to where everyone had a chance, and I think we did it. So let’s help someone ride into their new life!

Contest Wrist Band

Category: Giveaway

Price: $8

Description: Purcahse this wristband for a free entry into the bike giveaway. Please Include the persons name you want to be entered into the giveaway below in the input field.

Name you wish to enter for the drawing:

Now when I say emotional eating, that doesn’t necessarily mean you eat only when you are hurting.  Emotional eating is described as eating any time you are not physically hungry, also known as “head hunger”.  Instead of a physical symptom of hunger initiating eating, an emotion triggers it.  That could be boredom, being happy, sad, tired, wired, nervous, excited, just to name a few.  Society and tradition tends to push us toward food as a “celebratory” reward.  Holidays are celebrated with food, birthdays are celebrated with cake and ice cream, promotions, anniversaries, births, deaths, weddings, they all focus around food.

This is one of the biggest problems that people with weight issues have.  Now I’ve heard people say “I don’t emotional eat, I just love food.”   Well to an extent this may be true, however, most times emotional eaters crave “comfort foods”  Foods that are not the healthiest choices.  According to an article by Brian Wansink, PhD, published in the July 2000 American Demographics, “The types of comfort foods a person is drawn toward varies depending on their mood. People in happy moods tended to prefer foods such as pizza or steak (32%). Sad people reached for ice cream and cookies 39% of the time, and 36% of bored people opened up a bag of potato chips.”  Sound familiar?

There are ways to tell the difference between real hunger and emotional hunger:

- Emotional hunger comes on suddenly; physical hunger occurs gradually.

- When you are eating to fill a void that isn’t related to an empty stomach, you crave a specific food, and only that food will meet your need. When you eat because you are actually hungry, you’re open to options.

- Emotional hunger feels like it needs to be satisfied instantly with the food you crave; physical hunger can wait.

- Even when you are full, if you’re eating to satisfy an emotional need, you’re more likely to keep eating. When you’re eating because you’re hungry, you’re more likely to stop when you’re full

- Emotional eating can leave behind feelings of guilt; eating when you are physically hungry does not.  Emotional eating can also lead to an unhealthy cycle — your emotions trigger you to overeat, you beat yourself up for getting off your weight-loss track, you feel badly, and you overeat again.

To break the emotional eating cycles here are some helpful tips to get yourself back on track:

Tame your stress - If stress contributes to your emotional eating, try a stress management technique, such as yoga, meditation or relaxation.

Have a hunger reality check - Is your hunger physical or emotional? If you ate just a few hours ago and don’t have a rumbling stomach, you’re probably not really hungry. Wait 15 minutes and do something to occupy yourself.  You may find that it was just head hunger.

Don’t deprive yourself - When you’re trying to achieve a weight-loss goal, you may limit your calories too much, eat the same foods frequently and banish the treats you enjoy. This may just serve to increase your food cravings, especially in response to emotions. Let yourself enjoy an occasional treat and get plenty of variety to help curb cravings.

Keep a food diary - Write down what you eat, how much you eat, when you eat, how you’re feeling when you eat and how hungry you are. Over time, you may see patterns emerge that reveal the connection between mood and food.

Take away temptation - Don’t keep supplies of comfort foods in your home if they’re hard for you to resist. And if you feel angry or blue, postpone your trip to the grocery store until you’re sure that you have your emotions in check.

Snack healthy - If you feel the urge to eat between meals, choose a low-fat, low-calorie snack, such as fresh fruit, vegetables with fat-free dip, or unbuttered popcorn. Or try low-fat, lower calorie versions of your favorite foods to see if they satisfy your craving.

Get enough sleep - If you’re constantly tired, you might snack to try to give yourself an energy boost. Take a nap or go to bed earlier instead.

Start new traditions – Instead of celebrating with foods, reward yourself with a bike ride, a nice hot bath, a vacation, anything that does not involve food.

Exercise – Exercise will not only be beneficial to your weight loss but it will keep you busy and get you thinking with a clearer head.

Get support - You’re more likely to give in to emotional eating if you lack a good support network. Lean on family and friends or consider joining a support group.

If you’ve tried self-help options but you still can’t get control of your emotional eating, consider therapy with a professional mental health provider. Therapy can help you understand the motivations behind your emotional eating and help you learn new coping skills. Therapy can also help you discover whether you may have an eating disorder, which is sometimes connected to emotional eating.  If you do have a bought of emotional eating forgive yourself and move on.  Don’t dwell on it to much.  Things happen and as long as you know that it was emotional eating you can take a step back the next time and possibly avoid it happening again.  Focus on the positive changes you’re making in your eating habits and give yourself credit for making changes that’ll lead to better health.

It is with the deepest and most heartfelt sorrow that I have to pass these words along. James Garrison is dead,  he walked ahead to whatever world there is beyond this one and I’m sure he is giving them just as much hell as he gave us. And although James is no longer with us, it brings me great joy to announce that The motherfawkin Garrison is still with us. Fawkem.

You reach certain points in your life that in order to move beyond them you have to sit back and flip through a few chapters of the life you’ve led, reflect inward and through this rediscover yourself. Sometimes it takes a little longer to read between the lines but eventually you get there. That is once you begin to question your views, perspectives, and then question yourself as to why they are what they are. When that happens, it’s time to question why you’re questioning.

Somewhere in the middle of sifting through all this bullshit you might find a semblance of truth although the older you get the harder it becomes to tell yourself lies. Which btw thanks for all the birthday wishes, all 14 of you rock. So here I am with the product of my invisibility. There is so much shit I want to say, but I’m sure you have stuff to do like work and not read this. So this post will be short. I want to leave you with one powerful thought for right now.

The only thing that will make you feel better about tomorrow is what you do today. Never be afraid to sacrifice what you were for what you will become, never negotiate with yourself as you will always lose and never forget that sometimes darkness is the best reminder of light.

Btw – For the slower folk… Yes this means I am alive.

-The Garrison

If you have questions post them below. I will answer all of them in my next post.

Nine years ago, over the summer after my high school graduation, I lost 25 pounds. It was the first time I’d ever tried to lose weight, and it felt fabulous. I went into college at 220 pounds, the lowest I could remember being since middle school.  I was still overweight, of course, but for my height, it wasn’t a bad-looking weight.

I didn’t believe that. Some days I felt pretty good about how I looked, but other days I despised my body and my fat. I felt like my intelligence would be judged based on my appearance instead of my performance, and I was keenly aware of all the nice looking guys and the gorgeous beach girls.

Now I’m just trying to work my way back down to that weight (and far beyond!), but as I’m starting to recognize the changes in the mirror compared to six months ago and feel more confident in my appearance, I realize I missed an opportunity in college: I didn’t appreciate what I had then.

These days, I’m excited about seeing that number again. I look at pictures of myself from that year, and I wish I could reach through and tell that girl she looks better than she thinks she does. I look better than I think I do.

It’s easy to be critical of ourselves. It’s downright expected, especially for females. If you critique your body in the harshest light, then you’re prepared for what someone else might say or imply–the problem is, most people we know aren’t going to tell us we look like the Michelin Man. Your friends and family know you, and when they look at you, they see you. It’s time we started doing that ourselves.

So yes, strive to be the best you possible. Get your life back under control, take those daily, weekly, monthly victories. Triumph over the bad days with good weeks, push your body to its limits and let it surprise you.

But don’t take for granted where you are right now. Appreciate the scenery; find the beauty. Flaunt what you have knowing that every day you make the right decision (and every day after you recover from a wrong one!), you’re giving yourself more things to be proud of–strength, determination, success–and those things make you beautiful from the inside out.