AUTHENTICITY- Believing Everything You Do and Everything You Say

I am the Beginning of Eternity
The End of Every Rhyme
The End of Space & Time
The Beginning of the End
Who Am I?

What are two things you cannot eat for supper?

I've began my article today with riddles because the Nutrition I'm hearing in this day & age is a lot like riddles.. It's something that needs uncovering, almost as if simplicity is wrong, evil even.
But here's the BIG question, do you Really believe in what you're saying about Nutrition; do you really believe Carbohydrates are evil, food should be gluten free?? There should be no wheat in your diet and you should eat nothing but vegetables & fruits. If you do, good for you, if you don't allow me to explain my authenticity{What I really believe} in the efforts to help you find yours.

1. Eat the Good Fats i.e. Avocado, nuts, fatty/oily fish, eggs, extra virgin olive oil.
Fats make your heart pump better & makes your joints supple and lubricated. This is critical for your overall performance, which will in turn help burn more of the bad, not so useful fats.
Bonus: Good Fats make your skin look healthier. There's a reason why the most expensive skin care products have olive oil/avocado in them.... Just eat them, don't apply, they'll still get into your body and be used.

2. Eat a protein everytime you eat. Animal protein is the best source of protein as it contains all the 9 essential Amino Acids. Eat your eggs, yoghurt, sea food, meat, cheese, just make sure they're not overly processed.
Proteins with every meal because they help curb hunger and overeating.

3. Drink lots of water. Water does almost everything in your body. It is almost always my solution to everything. When in doubt drink water, when you're hungry drink water. When you're heartbroken drink water, when your team loses just drink water.... You get the drift.

4. Eat as much vegetables as you want. They are the best sources of carbohydrates I know, with few calories. You should see the face I make when someone tells me they're on a carb free diet and their plate is full of vegetables. Vegetables are also rich in vitamins, minerals & fibre.

For Weight Loss or if you're prone to weight gain: Eating lots of Protein & Fats {Good Fats} , getting your carbohydrates from vegetables and minimizing on the starches & sugars will work.
For Weight Gain{Like yours truly} Eating lots of protein, fats, and vegetables would work and you can also include unrefined starches & sugars, and whole grains especially pre & post exercise.

To answer the above riddles : The Beginning of Eternity IS THE LETTER 'E'.. I'm sure you knew that.
And ofcourse you can't eat BREAKFAST & LUNCH for supper. They looked hard but they're pretty Easy right, just like the Food We Eat. Nothing complicated about it.

Your Challenge for the week; Ask yourself, do you Really Believe in what you're doing, saying and writing.
Find me at the YMCA this evening at 5.25pm-6.30pm still singing the same song that Nutrition doesn't have to be complex to work. We are also there Wednesdays & Fridays same time.
We share the same Nutrition tips with BJ Gaddour read more from him, and the riddles were borrowed from the series Knight Rider.
Cheers!

DEATH VALLEY

Death Valley is the dryest place in America; it doesn't receive any rainfall. As such it doesn't support life. In 2004 however, it got 7 inches of rain & in Spring of 2005 Death Valley had flowers.
Flowers in Death Valley, who would have thank it. This shows that Death Valley isn't dead, it's just dormant. Right beneath the surface lies seeds of possibility, waiting for the right conditions.. And with the Right Conditions life is inevitable.

So you can't do a plank or a pushup or you can't sprint... Of course you can't, you've never done it before. Up until 2005 Death Valley was thought of a place that could not support life, it's simply because the right conditions were never present. Your body is capable of more than your mind can envision. Your body is capable of most of the things say you can't do.
Beneath those arms & back that cannot do a pullup or that core that cannot hold a plank up, lies seeds of possibility.

I can hear you saying, "hold on let me workout for a period of time then I'll try planking/sprinting!" This is the equivalent of Death Valley growing the flowers first so as to receive rain. You have to do the former to get the latter. Set the right conditions first, send the message that you're trying.
Here's how the communication between activity attempts, and adaptations in your body looks like...
When you sprint, you send signals to your body to build muscle that you'd need to run, & to burn off the excess fat that's weighing you down. Slow jogging however sends signals that you should burn all the muscle, do away with all the bone density, tendons & ligaments and keep just enough to help you run at this pace. When we sit all day, your body decides to have just enough flexibility to help you sit & stand. When you don't lift heavy weights or your own bodyweight, your body won't give you the strength to support that.
Do that which you think you can't. I'm not saying you should become overly ambitious or unrealistic, all I'm saying is TRY. Say I can and I will. Try & fail, put in some effort and see the sort of communication that you will be passing. Your body will surprise you.

All you need are the right conditions. Deliberate Fitness we aim to provide these Right conditions:
-> A sense of possibility
-> Cherishing & Valuing Relationships
-> Providing a workout environment of hard work, movement & fun
-> Providing a different set of expectations for each individual
-> Supporting you in your journey

Your Challenge for the week- TRY something that you've once entertained the thought that you couldn't. Communicate possibility to your body.
If you need help finding the right conditions, you know where to find us, YMCA State House Rd every Monday, Wednesday & Friday 5.25-6.30pm.

 
Cheers!

YOU RUN LIKE A GIRL

YOU RUN LIKE A GIRL

My high school math teacher once attended our soccer practice and told me that I run like a girl… And I told him he that he could too, if only he ran a little faster… Well... in my head at least.

Fast forward to today and it’s such statements that have women saying lifting weights is for men and men saying yoga is for women. Exercise targets the muscles (Skeletal/cardiac), the bones, the cartilage, tissues, tendons and ligaments and it’s for this reason that I cringe when I hear this is for men and this is for women. Now I’m well aware of the anatomical and physiological differences between men & women and I’ll be the first to tell you that there’s no one part of the body that works in isolation (Kinetic Chain) but muscles are muscles, bones are bones and tendons are tendons.

Do we have women who lift extremely heavy weights or can do pull-ups that would put even the fittest men to shame? WE DO. And do we have men who are extremely limber and strong at the same time? AGAIN, WE DO. Is there something wrong with these peoples' genetic makeup of their respective genders or are they less of women/men? ABSOLUTELY NOT. Hence my premise muscles are muscles, bones are bones.

You want to get Bruce Lee abs and all you are willing to do is brisk walk, because it’s a lot more feminine than doing punches and kicks on a punching bag. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with brisk walking but just change your goal and be satisfied with seeing Bruce Lee Abs on Bruce Lee.

Ladies you want to get ‘tone’ but you don’t want to lift weights or do activities that are “masculine” in nature like pushups and pull-ups because you fear getting too bulky. You will not get bulky because the testosterone that you have in your body is not sufficient enough to support muscle growth in terms of size. What of Serena Williams??? I’m tempted to explain it’s because she works out for a living and while you put in 3 hours of workout a week, she puts in 3 hours a day, but she has 21 Grand Slam titles and a home with 22 Tennis Courts and a golf course so she can have all the muscles in the world. 

Yes there are gender differences, and we must adhere to them because we are different. The difference comes in the women lifting lighter heavy weights(Not to be mistaken for the 5 pound dumbbells that we claim to be working out with) than men, or doing easier modifications of the pull-up as compared to men and not in the entire elimination of exercises because they belong to the opposite sex.

Muscles are great and they'll help you regardless of your gender. Same case applies to flexibility, so go get some.

Your Challenge this week… Ladies, hit the gym, ignore the cardio machines this week and lift something heavier than your hand bag and gentlemen try power Yoga and let me know after an hour if you still think it’s for women.

Catch Deliberate Fitness Monday, Wednesday & Friday 5.30-6.30pm at YMCA State House Road, you'll find us doing pushups, squats, stretches, sprints, playing/running and some yoga poses whatever it takes to earn us those muscles & fitness.

Cheers!

AN EVER ONWARD ALMOST....The Deliberate Incomplete

Success is an event: it's scoring that goal in soccer, snatching that 70kg weight or hitting that 10-ring in archery, but it also means absolutely nothing if you can't do it again & again.

Mastery on the other hand is a commitment to an almost. Mastery is in the ongoing pursuit, it's in the knowing that arriving is not the goal but the constant pursuit is. Mastery should be the goal because it's a better motivator than success. If you workout &/or eat healthy you know for sure you never actually do it perfectly, you'll never get it or get there. There's always more to lift, more to run and a better way to eat. No matter how fit you are, there's always that weight you can't lift, that technique that you can't quite master and that meal plan that you just keep slipping off of. This is the almost that you should be pursuing, the near win that you should embrace and the Deliberate Incomplete that should motivate you.

 Jackie Joyner missed the heptathlon gold medal by 1/3 of a second in 1984. This near win motivated her so much that in 1988 she set a world record that's yet to be broken to date;of 7,291 points. If you know heptathlon you'd know that getting 7,000 points is no easy feat. Gor Mahia missed the KPL title by a whisker in 2012, they went on to win that title back-to-back in 2013 & 2014, and in 2015 they look unstoppable thus far. These two have become masters in their fields not because they have gotten to the peak, but because they know there isn't one. 

Yes, you have not yet mastered that pushup, and you cannot do that pullup yet. That diet keeps making you feel like a failure and you're having a hard time keeping up with your friends during your normal Saturday 2k run. These should be your reasons to keep going, they should be firing you up, towards a constant pursuit. Make your goal constantly reducing that gap between where you are and where you want to be. That's the only way you'll get that dream body, by constantly pursuing. Eventually you'll master the pushup & the pullup but by this time you already know you want to do more. By the time you get to that pushup or pullup you've already set your eyes towards something more challenging(1-arm pushup). So you are constantly working & pursuing. This is the Deliberate Incomplete.

Your Challenge for this week is to embrace Deliberate Incomplete and make it fire you towards an ever onward almost. If Anyone (including yourself) tells you you can't do it, smile and simply say that's the goal.

We'll be at the YMCA today, Wednesday & Friday 5.25-6.30pm working towards our constant pursuit, working towards mastery.

Cheers!

Ever Onward... Almost

NETWORKING AND WEIGHT LOSS

No, neither leads to the other, although networking in heels could help burn some calories... These 2 words are in my opinion often not used very correctly, and for some{not so strange} reason, when one is misused I immediately connect it to the other. Have you been to an event where whenever it's announced.. "I shall give 10 minutes for 'Networking' people walk around with the aim of dishing out & receiving the most business cards??? Well, I have. Have you ever been invited somewhere and when you ask the purpose of the event, you're told it's for 'Networking'?

Networking{No quotes, this time} is an effort to connect with others. A connection that will eventually lead to a relationship, that will be action and execution oriented, when the need arises.

By that definition, connecting & executing require a DELIBERATE EFFORT. Correct me if I'm wrong but very little effort;Deliberate or not, is required to exchange business cards or post a picture on Twitter/Facebook/Instagram with a celebrated person like Nduta Maina, with the caption "Networking Tings"(It was actually painful to write that).

When it comes to "Weight Loss" we tend to  think of the excess fats as business cards stored somewhere that when you feel like using some, you'll just open your business card holder and make a few calls. And since we met at a 'Networking' event in 2005 I'll come running to your aid 10 years later. Your fat cells are not just inert “storage tanks” for excess fuel. They are actually endocrine glands which send and receive signals from the rest of the body. You could say that your fat cells “talk to your body” and your body “talks to your fat cells.” This communication, consistent communication, DELIBERATE communication is the key and it occurs through a hormone and receptor system. For body fat loss to occur, you must first get the fat cells (adipocytes) to release the fat into the bloodstream. THEN, the free fatty acids must be delivered to the working muscles where they are burned for energy. For fat to be released, the hormone adrenaline (epinephrine) must be secreted and send a signal to your fat cells. Your fat cells receive this hormonal signal via adrenaline receptors called adrenoreceptors. (I'll talk about the Alpha & Beta adrenoreceptors in another article). This communication between the hormone, fat cells, blood stream and WORKING muscles is a process. It's a give and take relationship where involved parties put in their effort & play their roles. {This is also why I don't believe hot water with lemon causes fat loss, because I'm yet to understand how the two communicate the above process}.

So actual real work, complete with sending information & getting feedback has to happen for you to use the excess fats & for you to establish a connection(A Network).

 

Put simply without the proper Deliberate communication to stimulate fat cells to release the free fatty acids, no diet or hours of 'workout'(just going through the motions) will help with fat loss. Again it doesn't matter how many networking events you attend or how many business card holders you've filled, if you're not willing to establish & nurture a connection, those business cards(and selfies with the who's who) will not help you. Both fitness & networks work best, when you build them before you need them. They should be preventive rather than treatment, and that's why I take offense everytime someone asks me when they see me working out - "What fat I'm trying to lose" ?? I'm building a network and enjoying the process{An ever onward Almost}. 

Your Challenge this week is to really connect with someone on a personal level. Get to know them before taking that selfie or handing them your business card. And if you're skinny, find the rest of us Skinny folks building our workout networks every Monday, Wednesday & Friday 5.30-6.30pm at the YMCA State House Rd. The aim is not to look fit, the aim is to BE FIT.

Cheers!

Deliberate Fitness Enjoying a Networking & Bonding Session