Colin Sauter

#MKT400UWL

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Blog 4: A journey up the mountain called healthy living: Meet the blogger

Hi everyone! Over the past few weeks we’ve touched on a few topics in the health industry. Due to the limited amount of time this blog has been open, I’ve tried to cast a wide net over a few topics in the field of healthy living and hit the big parts of a journey up the mountain called healthy living. In case you missed my last few posts, here is a quick recap on what we all covered. Week one is about taking the first step up a mountain called healthy living and showing acknowledgement in the process. Week two touches on a booming fitness industry trend/lifestyle, CrossFit. My third post leaves a few golden nuggets of advice for getting started in the right direction with a some tips and tricks on living healthy. Finally, this last blog post is taking a “meet the author” stance as I tell you about my personal journey towards healthy living. These past few weeks have been more focused on being educational and broad, so now it’s time to hopefully be inspirational by showing it’s always possible to make a change.

The start of a bad lifestyle:

Growing up, I was always one of the larger kids at school. We played kickball, tag, basketball, baseball, etc. all at recess and then back to class. When I would go home, the first thing I’d do is turn on the TV and sit there. Hours would pass and then I would either be playing video games or watching TV until it was time for me to go to bed. I was always into video games growing up and looking back, it distracted me from a lot of other things out there in the world to enjoy. My daily lunches were packed as sandwiches and chips with my Pokémon cards in my pocket.  I was just a little kid with no idea of what I was putting into my body and the habits I was creating. I played sports like volleyball and basketball, but always seemed to be less athletic than the rest of my classmates. Then to top of things, I had come to find out I had athletic asthma, not exactly a prime condition when you want to be running around with your friends playing sports.

High School: The start of a change.

As high school came, I had finally grown out of my athletic asthma. This may seem like a great thing, and it was! However, my years of sedentary lifestyle had caught up to me. The summer before freshman year I had decided to do the summer gym session as well as the strength and conditioning class I needed for my high school requirements. For the next eight weeks I was in gym class for a three-hour time frame five times a week and three days a week I was going through strength and conditioning. I can’t explain the exhaustion I felt being so out of shape. I would get done late morning around ten-thirty and go home only to fall asleep from the exercise I had just completed.

Entering my fall semester of freshman year, I was about 5’8” and 220lbs. Now as I’m sure you can picture, I was not exactly what you would call in shape. I was determined to make a change as it came to be that most of my friends in high school played sports and/or were athletic. I started working out with one of my friends and through growing up and getting taller as well I began to thin out. Many of my friends played football, so a lot of our workouts were strength based and had a little bit of cardio as a warm up. I also began cutting out certain things from my meals like chips and soda.

Swimming away:

Fast forwarding to my junior year, I was still overweight and contained small amounts of muscle mass. I remember sitting in the library one day for a class with one of my friends and discussing it. I told him I was looking to go on a stricter diet and do a sport like wrestling. My dad was a wrestler growing up and always talks about how good of shape he was in and the cuts to lose weight for tournaments. He looked at me like I was the dumbest person that he had ever seen. I still remember when he turned to me and said “don’t be a wrestler, join the swim team. You get to eat as much as you want, get in shape, and lose a ton of weight.” It was like I had just got struck by lightning. The next week, I signed up for the swim team and started down the road to one of the most monumental moments of my life.

For those of you that did swim team in high school, you know that season runs through the winter months of November, December, and January. Throughout these three months we swam roughly 3-3.5 miles a day and had drylands three times a week. Drylands are core and bodyweight movements designed to make you a stronger swimmer. The only off day we had was on the day of a meet (competition). In addition to the daily 3-mile swim and three days of drylands, I was also still lifting weights with one of my friends who happened to be a captain of the swim team. Now this may seem like a ton of volume, but I was determined to make a change and when it came time to go practice I felt energized. At first, I started falling asleep in my classes, but by adding more food into my diet I was able to scrounge up enough energy to make it through the day.

Finalizing my first and only season as a swimmer, I swam over 200 miles in three months. Starting out the season I weighed about 195lbs. at 6’4”. Ending the swim season in January, I was 153lbs. I had lost near everything my early age sedentary life had packed on and was now in a different boat. I needed to gain some muscle mass! This realization began the start into another monumental moment in my life: CrossFit.

CrossFit and my future:

The spring after my junior year I was looking for a way to stay in the shape I had gotten to from swimming and stumbled upon CrossFit online. At first my parents were extremely cautious as they had the normal worries of it being too dangerous for me to try, but eventually they came around. Unfortunately, a week into my start, so did my prior injury. I had always had knee pain, but just assumed it was from tight muscles, not a torn meniscus. I had to undergo surgery and physical therapy, enduring a long four months of laying around doing nothing right after I had gotten in shape! I spent my days watching CrossFit videos and eating healthy food, anything I could to prepare myself for the day that I could finally go back to start again.

I began my CrossFit journey and gained back much of the weight I previously held in the form of muscle. Over the past four years I’ve been lucky enough to be a part of four CrossFit communities, compete in several CrossFit competitions, and go on multiple trips with the friends I’ve made through the gym. I traveled to Colorado, Utah, Missouri, and a few other places all with CrossFit at the source. It has become a staple in my life as a means of healthy living through nutrition, exercise, friends, and travel. It is also how I came to realize I wanted to pursue a doctorate in Physical Therapy after finishing my undergraduate degree.

Still climbing:

My journey to healthy living started with high school, and really kicked into gear with swim team my junior year. I remember the day I woke up and decided to make a change. Obviously given my age it was a little more drastic than most people’s goals or changes will be, and that’s ok! I started with just cutting out small things like chips and soda, and for a lot of people that’s a health change that makes a big difference! Like I said in the previous blogs: the steps don’t have to be leaps, they can be baby steps. So long as they keep you moving forward. The big changes of my journey have occurred over the past five YEARS.  Notice years is capitalized. I talked in the first blog I ever wrote about how healthy living is a journey up a mountain. Journeys are long processes. Don’t expect things to happen overnight, you can make great progress in just 12 weeks by staying disciplined and remembering that what you’re chasing is a worthy fight! Enjoy the journey, make some friends, and start your climb up a mountain called healthy living! I promise it will be worth the effort.

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Where do I even start? Three steps/tips to start living healthier this summer

Time and time again, people are saying they wish to make a change but don’t know where to start. They think of the end result and automatically assume it has to be a drastic change to make any sort of difference. This could not be further from the truth when it comes to changing your life. If you want to make a change in life or even have an idea to do so, it starts with baby steps. This week’s blog is going to address the baby steps and small tips and tricks someone can try out to make their life just a little bit better in the first step towards healthy living.

Tip #1: Figure out and understand what your goal is.

This is probably the best advice I could ever give someone. So many people want to immediately say “I want to lose weight” or “I want to get stronger.” These goals are completely understandable but not specific enough to be effective. Taking a note out of the old college health handbook, goals needs to be SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, timely). If you want to lose weight, how much do you want to lose? If you want to get stronger, what’s something you want to be able to do, squat 500lbs? Now for some of us, that last goal may not be as achievable as it is for others, but you’re getting the gist. The next part is to pick a time frame relevant to your goal. “I want to lose 10lbs in the next 6 weeks.” This is an aggressive, yet attainable goal in terms of the weight not being water weight. It also does something else important: it puts you on a timetable for achieving this goal.

While having a good goal is important, more critically you must find a way to hold yourself accountable. Publicize your goals. Make it known to friends, family, etc. what it is that you plan to do and by when. A good friend or loved one will ask you how things are going next time they see you therefore forcing you to avoid embarrassment and stick to your goal. Even if they don’t, the fact that you told everyone what it is that you plan to do will force you to stick to it because you are going to feel as though they are always watching you and your journey. Publicizing your goals gives you a means to hold yourself accountable by inputting an external presence. Being held accountable is crucial to your journey as it ensures you will stay on track.

The most important part in having a goal is that you understand why you want to do something. A person cannot be expected to make a big change in their lives if they don’t understand why it is they are doing that thing in the first place. A person needs a vision of a new life and to recognize why it is that they want something. Why do you want to lose that ten pounds? Is it because you want to look better in your swimsuit? Are you trying to fit into that bridesmaid dress for next month? Are you trying to get off that medication you’ve been stuck on for blood pressure? Every day you wake up, you need to start with that vision. Why are you trying to get stronger? Do you want to start for the varsity football team or are you trying to not be labeled as a fall risk in the nursing home so you can walk around by yourself? Everyone’s “why” is different but a resounding vision or goal should be unanimous. The vision should be as clear as anything you’ve ever done. Babe Ruth once said, “It’s hard to beat someone who never gives up.” I believe this to be the most impressionable point made as it is hard to give up on something that you understand the full importance of.

Tip #2: Choose the carrot, not the chip.

A simple step toward healthy living is the little choices we make day in and day out for what we put into our bodies. Did you know energy drinks actually promote fat production in our bodies? Did you know coffee is good for you in moderation? The first few cups of coffee are a metabolism booster but be careful! The added sugar, milk, or creamer that you might flavor your coffee with really adds up! Sugar is a big contributor to hormone response, metabolism, and fat content of our bodies.

Everybody also makes a common mistake of thinking fruit is the big health kick to losing weight and being healthy. While it may be true that fruit is better for you than a lot of things, moderation is key as fruit is high in sugar! Granted even though the sugar in fruit is naturally occurring and not a chemically produced molecule like that in most drinks and other foods, it’s still something to be monitored. If you recall last week, I talked about CrossFit’s nutrition guidelines for people being eating meats and vegetables, some fruit, little starch, and no sugar (not naturally existing). Notice how some fruit is bolded here. CrossFit recognizes the presence of the high natural sugar content in fruit and wants it to be used as a healthy treat more than a staple in someone’s diet.

The title of this tip is about choosing the carrot over the chip. Vegetables are low density carbs (as in low caloric/calorie density) packed with vitamins and minerals. The best part of vegetables is that since it is low density (and full of goodness) is that you can eat a large volume of them to curb your grumbling stomach. Eating a handful of chips one could equate to a vastly greater number the amount of vegetables that will actually fill your stomach up. The other big difference? Chips are usually loaded in salt or sodium, the leading contributor in water retention for our body. Wondering why you feel bloated or puffy after eating a lot of chips? The culprit is in the sodium. A prime example of this would be in the physique industry where fitness models will cut out all foods high in sodium and consume less water to make them have tighter less bloated skin.  Chips should be consumed in moderation and a better alternative would be vegetables when looking for a quick snack. Choose the carrot, not the chip!

Tip #3: Remember not every step has to be a leap, it can be a baby step. So long as it’s forward…always show up.

So many people forget that everything worth while in life is going to be a process not a product. You can’t go out and buy that summer six-pack, cut off an extra three inches off your waist, or flip a switch to be off that blood pressure medication being a type II diabetic. That last example may be the most important part of this blog, I have multiple friends that are type II diabetics that currently don’t have to be on medication because of the proper implementation of diet and exercise. Chronic disease means it is a change that happens over time however, our bodies are capable of changing back. Although there’s an overarching SMART goal in place in each our journeys toward healthy living, we cannot forget to celebrate the little victories. I just had a conversation with a good friend of mine today that has a full-time job, two kids, and trains to be competitive in CrossFit, who exemplifies the baby steps point. She said, “just getting to the gym sometimes is a PR.” This really stuck with me because honestly, we all have busy schedules because we are striving humans, but just by showing up every day and giving ourselves the opportunity to be successful is enough sometimes.

Thing to remember:

I think the big takeaway from this blog post is that life`s an experiment. Every single person is going to end up in the same place, so we might as well take our time learning what works and what doesn’t as we test new things in our lives. To recap the points made in this article, first define your goal. Make it SMART and ensure you hold yourself accountable for what you set out to do. Making little choices like what to eat as a snack throughout the day can pay large dividends to your energy, fullness, and mood overall. Lastly, always show up. Give yourself the opportunity to achieve the goal you set for yourself and put in all the effort you can afford each day. Tenacity is the victor every single time. It’s ok to take baby steps as long as they’re in the right direction. Choosing a bag of carrots over a bag of chips can be looked at as a win each day because it’s a conscious effort toward your goal of living healthier. This week I’ll leave you with one last quote/piece of advice: Don’t let the fear of striking out stop you from swinging in the first place.

[freetobefit4life-blog]

Exploring a new lifestyle: CrossFit

Hi everyone! This week’s blog is going to be on exploring an up and coming trend in the fitness industry: CrossFit. All the information you’ll read about is what I’ve learned through the last three years of having done CrossFit and receiving my Level 1 certification. CrossFit is leading the fitness industry’s functional fitness trend after having begun in the year 2000 with its founder Greg Glassman. CrossFit gyms have spread across the world after beginning in Santa Cruz, CA and utilize the name of “box.” This name sprouts from the fact that the majority of CrossFit gyms are in fact giant boxes with a few additional features inside to be utilized by its members. This week’s blog is going to talk about the definition of CrossFit, the lifestyle it promotes, and the way the industry has placed itself and its methodology.

What is CrossFit?

CrossFit defines itself as constantly varied functional movements performed at a high intensity. Functional movements or exercises are things you would describe as used to perform the daily tasks of life. These movements such as the deadlift, clean, pull-up, and burpee can be reflected in day to day tasks such as standing up off the ground (burpee), picking something up to put it on a higher surface (deadlift/clean), or even just pulling yourself up to look at something or climb (pull-up). The idea behind CrossFit is to train these functional movements so that the overall health and fitness of a person’s life is improved. The three major aspects CrossFit uses to train functional movements are Olympic weightlifting (snatch and clean and jerk), gymnastics (bodyweight), and monostructural (running, rowing, swimming, biking, etc.). Ideally by training movements under these modalities a person will cast a wide net over their fitness.

Constantly Varied

Any time there is a task, a sport, an idea that you can’t do something, there is a hole in your fitness. In an attempt to eliminate these gaps CrossFit has put constantly varied into its definition. Your traditional workout routine at a gym would probably go something like back & biceps one day, chest & triceps another, and leg day for a third day. You might even do two of each of those days or have a running day mixed in there as well depending on the program being followed. CrossFit’s goal being to create a broad level of fitness and health is reflected in its constant variation of movements. Everyday you walk into a CrossFit gym or go to crossfit.com for HQ’s “workout of the day” or WOD, the workout will be different. The workout is never the same in order to mimic the constantly changing environment of life. The workouts will be varied in movements but not so much format. The main formats of CrossFit workouts are: rounds for time, interval, and “as many reps/rounds as possible” (AMRAP) in a period of time.

Measurable Atmosphere

In order to be able to measure progress, boxes create an atmosphere of support through competition. What is meant by this is that they encourage someone to push themselves by creating a community atmosphere founded on the grounds of competition similar to that of sports. CrossFit has a set of benchmark workouts that are meant to be implemented in programming to give this measurable characteristic to a person’s training. This is CrossFit HQ’s attempt to make itself measurable, however many gyms encourage their members to write down the program and pick one to repeat randomly to see for themselves the progress they have made.

The community atmosphere aspect of CrossFit is part of what causes it to grow and be so successful. From my own personal experience with CrossFit, people do better when they are held accountable. Joining a CrossFit box is more than just signing up for a place to work out.  Joining a CrossFit box is choosing to prioritize your health and wellness over a lot of other things. You walk into the gym and it’s the same people everyday in and out of there that go at the same time as you, you get to know them, you meet their families, compete with them, all with separate sub-goals yet one main goal of improving your health.

 Games Atmosphere

In an attempt to promote the methodology and sport of fitness, CrossFit HQ started a competition called the CrossFit Games.  What started as a small competition at a ranch in California has grown to a worldwide week-long event going to the Stub Hub Center in Carson City, California, and now recently moving its venue to Madison, WI. Each year hundreds of thousands of people compete in the worldwide open in the first step to get to the games. The top 3% get taken from the open and sent to regionals where the top 5 from each region punch their ticket to the games (less than the top one percent!). Once at the games, the best of the best vie for the title of “Fittest on Earth” as CrossFit says. Using this platform, CrossFit has caused its fitness methodology to function as a sport that is scalable to all platforms and ages. The CrossFit Games has easily become the poster-child of the sport of fitness and continues to bring about all parts of the fitness industry to one location in celebration of the test for the fittest on earth.

Nutrition

If you recall back to last week’s blog, I said the commitment to a mountain called healthy living ends with food. In reality, it starts with food. Many people don’t realize that until at some point  there will be a time when your training or bodily well-being is not up to par and you realize its due to your nutrition. What your body is made of and fueled by dramatically effects the abilities it holds. Now, I could dig into the whole hormonal response given to us by each different type of food and how your body digests the different macronutrients, but I think there is a better analogy to give you the idea: you can’t power a rocket with soda and potato chips. As a part of its methodology, CrossFit has written guidelines on nutrition that it teaches in part of its continuing education for affiliate owners, coaches, trainers, and participants. Greg Glassman’s designed diet plan aligns itself with a hybrid of the zone and paleo diet if you are familiar. If not, it goes a little something like this: eat meats and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch, and no sugar. This method of eating reduces inflammation, promotes fat burning, and lean muscle mass to be gained if any.

 Bye Bye Medication

CrossFit’s wellness claim to fame is the fight against chronic disease they are promoting. Countless stories are coming to surface with CrossFit’s war on Big Soda and chronic disease. Through the CrossFit training lifestyle (inclusive of both nutrition and exercise), a lot of people have been able to get off of medication in relation to blood pressure, shed large amounts of bodyweight, and start living their lives to the fullest. CrossFit has always adopted the phrase “forging elite fitness”, and more recently they have used “making people better.” Both of these phrases are important parts of what it is that CrossFit is trying to accomplish as a lifestyle more than a fitness methodology.

As I mentioned in last week’s blog, my experience at the gym and more importantly at a CrossFit box, has lead me to create strong friendships and adopt a new lifestyle that’s changed my life. CrossFit offers many continuing education seminars for those who wish to promote wellness in not just their own lives but also in others. The most common of these continuing education seminars is the Level 1 certification. This is a two-day course or seminar in which a person undergoes lectures on nutrition, fitness, the functional movements used by the CrossFit methodology, and lab time to demonstrate and learn queues to these movements. These seminars are put on by a group of individuals with the highest level of certification in the region and are used as a means to prepare individuals for the final exam at the end of the second day. If you pass the final exam, you receive your Level 1 certification and are now qualified to teach the CrossFit methodology as well as open your own CrossFit affiliate. Having undergone this certification myself, I highly recommend it to anyone in the fitness industry looking to promote wellness to their clients or themselves.

In next weeks blog, I’ll be diving into a few tips and tricks to prepare yourself for the journey up the mountain called healthy living because we are all “Free to be fit 4 life!”

[take-time-to-travel-blog]

Take Time to Travel: To Iceland!

           "We travel not to escape life, but for life not to escape us". We begin to fall into the daily routines of life because every day we wake up in the same town, same place, same bed. We forget that there is an entire world that surrounds us with new scenery, people, food, and anything else you could imagine. The opportunity to travel allows us to look at different parts of life and know that there is always something new and exciting that’s waiting for us to see.

           As a 21 year old college student, I can say that the opportunities I’ve had to travel have changed my perspective and mindset for many things. This past Winter, in January, I traveled to Iceland with my sister. This was the first trip we had taken on our own and it was the most surreal and amazing experience I have ever had. It amazes me that you can get on a plane, fall asleep, and wake up in an entirely new place. Iceland, being an island on its own, was like being in a new world. I had never seen so much life and color in a single place before, I felt like I had stepped into a screensaver. From icy glaciers and mountains formed by black volcanic ash, to the vast green, open land with wild horses running around, Iceland was filled with so much natural beauty. I had only seen scenery like this in movies, but to actually experience it and see it for yourself is an indescribable feeling. We had the pleasure of taking a glacier hike to the top of an active volcano, exploring ice caves, and relaxing in the famous Blue Lagoon, all while taking in our surroundings with every drive we took.

         The different excursions we went on were incredible. My favorite was hiking the glacier because once we got to the top, we turned around and saw the sun beaming over the top of an ice layered mountain, and it was then that I fell in love with Iceland. Overlooking mountains and black sand crevasses, then turning around and knowing an active volcano was just meters away from us was a heart pumping experience. Coming from a town where almost everything in it is man-made, I had no idea what I was missing out on. Our tour guide, named Zeki, told us the history of the glacier and how much it has melted in just a few short years. He also went on to say that the volcano we were standing near was projected to erupt in the next two or three years. Not just an eruption though, the biggest Iceland has ever seen. Zeki explained that the volcano would cover almost the entire country and destroy many homes. This made me sit and take in the scenery for a while because he said we were going to be some of the last people to see any of the area we were standing on. It’s amazing to think I was able to see the land before it was completely destroyed and I am grateful that I took the jump and traveled to this place that not everyone will get to see now. The same goes for the ice caves that I had got to see as well. These caves were melting at an extremely fast rate and would be gone in a few years. The crystal blue caves looked like art, and to think they would be gone was sad. Thinking of something so beautiful and naturally made just disappearing is sad. But that is why taking advantage of traveling is so important while you are young and able to adventure anywhere.

           I have to say, for anyone who is nervous about traveling, I was too before this trip. Being on our own in a place we hardly knew anything about was intimidating, but the trip had actually gone even better than expected. I think the reason for this was because we continued to stay open-minded, calm, and positive through the entire trip. We would stop on the side of the road just to go explore something we saw out our car window (many times), the majority of our trip was exploring and finding new things. Everywhere we looked was something we had never seen before and the journey was always the best part. We had fun with everything we did no matter what it was. Even on rainy days we would still go out and explore because we knew it was a once in a lifetime opportunity. Of course we would be able to travel more, but probably never to Iceland again because there are so many other places to go and see. To think we found so much adventure in one place and know there are so many more like it to go see is an exciting feeling.

           Looking back to before we had left for the trip, we looked at the weather and saw it was supposed to rain nearly every day. For any vacationer, you know that has to be one of the worst things to see in the forecast during the one time you’ll be there. However, some of my favorite days there were the days it rained. It never poured, just a light sprinkle, but nothing that could stop us from being outside to see what the country had to offer. My favorite day was when my sister and I walked across the Black Sand Beach; it was just us two, no one else was in sight, and we just kept going. Keeping each other talking, laughing, and running around to explore, made us barely notice the crisp, cold air around us. That is when you know you have found a great travel partner. I am so thankful for her and having the opportunity to take that trip. My biggest suggestion is find someone who has just as much heart for travel as you do. That is so important, and if they don’t, show them what they are missing out on and they will fall in love with it just as much.

           Although this blog post is a little vague on what to really look for in Iceland, I put together a list of advice I find most helpful for someone looking to travel to Iceland!

1)     Fly there on WOW Airlines!!

a)     WOW Airlines is an extremely cheap way to fly. A round trip there cost us the same as a round trip flight to Florida! This is going to be very important because of number two which is…

2)     Everything in Iceland is expensive so eat light and pack protein bars!

a)     Because Iceland is an Island, they have to import everything which causes HIGH prices. We went out to eat one night and shared a personal pizza, shared a side salad, and each got a glass of wine and it was $75! No joke. So we packed a lot of protein bars and ate ramen for dinner and tried to skip out on the other meals if we could.

3)     They don’t accept tips there

a)     Another reason why our meal was so expensive was because it also included part of the server’s tip. Tipping is not a thing in Iceland which is actually refreshing. Our server was very sweet to us even though she wasn’t working for a tip which is not something you find commonly because most places in America welcome tips very much.

4)     Renting a car is the way to go!

a)     We planned our trip so that we would start on the east side of the island, drive along the entire bottom to get to the very tip of the west  part of the island, and come back. We would not have seen and done so many things if we did not have a car and had to take a bus. When you are driving, you rarely see any other cars on the road. It actually feels like you are the only people in the world. We would see a waterfall, horses, or caves during our drive and just stop in the middle of the road and go adventure. You never ran into people unless you went to a “touristy” area where the buses would take you. We were able to see so much more and do things on our own time with a car, which also helped us get to our hotels and excursions on time.

5)     If you go in the winter, there is mainly one road open throughout the entire island

a)     One highway is open to get you from point A to point B in Iceland during its winter season. Because it snows and rains at some point almost every day there, they don’t bother to salt the roads every day. It is expensive and inefficient so they leave one main road open. It gets so icy you can’t even see where the other roads are, they are completely covered so it is very important you don’t venture off to far on the side of the roads.

6)     Pack layers

a)     With the rain and cold in January, it gets very chilly in Iceland. Pack very warm layers that will also keep you dry! Many people have said “I thought Iceland was green and warm though.” This is true in the summer, but the island is very similar to Wisconsin. It does get green and warm, but we all know how winters in Wisconsin can be, so make sure to be prepared for anything!

7)     Invest in hiking boots

a)     Amazing how much a pair of shoes can change your entire experience with something. If you travel to Iceland in the winter, your feet will not stay dry so tennis shoes are already out of the picture. Regular winter boots though, typically do not have any kind of grip on the bottom of them. With all of the ice and amount of walking you would do, you will definitely need a good pair of waterproof hiking boots! I had never been so thankful for having a pair!

           There are so many more things I wish I could share about this amazing country. What I most want people to see is that taking a step outside their comfort zone to go see a new place is more than worth it. If you want to ask me any questions or tell me about your experience traveling somewhere I would love to hear it!

Thanks for reading!

[freetobefit4life-blog]

A mountain called healthy living

As many know, exercise and healthy living offers many benefits to our lives. Growing up, we are taught that exercise is good for us because it means we are healthier. Then we proceed to take a health class or two on different divisions of the health system divvied up between disease, sickness, age, and nutrition guidelines. Now for some these classes or moments may have really hit home (go you!), but for others one might remember a few small facts in regards to the actual goal of a health class or of exercise which is the snowball effect.

The snowball effect is the concept that one thing is going to have a positive feedback effect on itself (sorry for the science terms). Positive feedback refers to the idea that the effect of one thing amplifies itself to receive a stronger stimulus. When a person chooses to exercise for the many various reasons people settle upon (get stronger, lose weight, look better naked, be better at sports, etc.) they unknowingly begin the climb on a mountain called healthy living. Acknowledgement of the journey up the mountain is the biggest step to making a change in one’s life, whether you already exercise or are debating making the plunge.

The “One-monthers”:

How many of us know someone who started exercising at New Year’s and then quit shortly after? I guarantee everyone reading this has their hand up right now, it might even be yourself! These people who enter the “active environment” come to a realization that many of us never had because it was part of our maturation to adulthood. This realization I speak of is that exercise is the gateway to a long journey (up the mountain) towards self-betterment and healthy living.

For many people, seeing the long road ahead of them and everything that comes with their goal of starting to exercise is seen as a major imposition on their current life, so what do they do? They quit. Humans are classic examples of creatures of habit and as a result, tend to take the path of least resistance. The hope with spreading these benefits of exercise we’ve been taught growing up is that people see that the benefits will outweigh the costs every single time. Now this may sound intimidating after I’ve talked about the “long journey” associated with exercising and transitioning into healthy living. Let me ease your concerns as we dive into the many possibilities of healthy living.

Why should I care?

Let’s briefly jump back to the “snowball effect” I referred to as being the goal of exercise. Many people who started exercising a while ago might not realize just how far it is that they’ve come. How many of us started eating healthier? How many found they sleep a lot deeper? How many of us are just more willing to go out and do things with our friends and family? If you didn’t raise your hand to at least one of those you either aren’t really exercising or might want to see a doctor because you have more pressing health concerns. Exercising throughout the week burns fat, increases energy (remember that positive feedback concept?), causes higher quality sleep, and increases a person’s capacity across multiple dimensions. These are just a few of the big effects exercise has on the human body.

Now let’s talk about the side effects of these gifts from exercise! If we are losing weight, building muscle, sleeping better, and feeling better across the board, are we going to want this to stop? No way! Suddenly, we’ve redefined the path of least resistance. Just like that, the next thing we know we are going out on hikes, being more productive at work and home, and consistently adding more things to our to do list with this new-found productivity. We all know that feeling at work or when studying when your brain is fried and the task at hand feels hopeless. Exercise is funny in the way that physical burnout is the cure to mental burnout. If you walk away for even fifteen minutes to go for a run, your brain rejuvenates and is ready to focus and learn once more. Guess what else that break for exercise did? You just lowered your body’s risk of heart disease, diabetes, removed the glaze over your eyes, and all of the other benefits we mentioned before.

It ends with food:

The snowballing effects of exercise come naturally but only once we make the decision to take the path less traveled by until it opens up into an endless field of possibilities. Every once in a while, we will start to notice our bodies feel more tired or lethargic when we eat certain foods. This may be something we notice during our workout or just throughout our day of classes/work. When we make the connection that the tiredness or bloated feeling we have is connected to that entire bag of potato chips we ate at lunch, we get a negative attribute assigned to this food. As we go to eat something the next day for lunch, that bag of potato chips suddenly seems less tantalizing. Soon enough, our bodies start to consolidate a checklist of things that make us feel good and things that make us feel bad. Next thing you know you are eating meats, vegetables, fruit, less sugar, more fat, less processed, more organic, the list is endless! Okay that may have gone to an extreme point, but you’re starting to see the trend. Once someone reaps the benefits of exercise they don’t want to lose them, they want to amplify them!

Redefine “average”:

Some may say people who exercise a lot are addicted. So, let’s take a look at exercise in that light. If we are exercising every day, what are the habits and dependences we form? We become accustomed to increased energy levels, better nutrition, higher productivity, and lower risk of chronic disease. Addiction can be classified as having a dependence upon something that ending the habit can cause trauma to oneself. As I mentioned before, healthy living is a mountain. So this “trauma” we experience is merely in the form of sliding back down the mountain to what our society had declared normal.

I challenge everyone reading this to not look at sliding back the mountain as normal but as “average.” Does anyone have a desire to be average? As human beings we are constantly growing and learning new things until the day we die through the experiences and trials life puts us through. We have not a responsibility, but a chance to redefine “average” and make that mountain start at just a little bit higher of a spot, a new benchmark for society. It starts with little choices like a decision to go to the gym, to choose the banana over the Doritos, to choose a water over a soda. It ends with finding like-minded people who want to redefine themselves and better their lives.

Not just blowing smoke:

You may think that I’m taking this chance to blow smoke just because I enjoy exercising, but as I type this I’ve had a lot of time to self-reflect and its caused me to have a lot of revelations. Over fifty percent of the people I talk to or see on a daily basis are related to my fitness lifestyle that I’ve embraced. The people I’ve met through my time exploring the possibilities of my body are ones that I’ll carry with me for the rest of my life. Taking the first step and committing myself to a healthier life has led me to be in weddings, go hiking and camping out west, kayaking, Brewer’s games, spend a weekend in Missouri, multiple tailgates and other such social events. These are just a few of the moments I’ve been blessed enough to experience through finding those like-minded enough to always search for more out of life.

Fitness and health is a lifestyle that goes hand in hand and will always lead you to something new in life. It all comes down to this: where do you want to be in your life? Staring at the mountain top, thinking about how big it is? Or do you want to be climbing that mountain and thinking about how great it will be when you finally reach the summit? Throughout the course of this blog, I’ll be choosing some topics in the health field that can help anyone, even if just a little, hopefully start that snowball effect in their life.

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