Story von Holzhausen's 6 week challenge day 4

I am sore today. Can't wait to hear how everyone else is feeling. I want to talk a little bit about my "challenge" and what it all means. Some of you have been so amazingly honest and open when reaching out to me. At times you feel "lost" as to "what am I doing here, what's the plan?". Ironically, half of you are chronic lifetime "dieters" and exercisers who have over managed and obsessed about your weight, food and cardio to burn off the food you eat for YEARS. For you, this challenge is about NOT having a plan. Not allowing food (which you love and is a needed and wonderful thing in our lives) to become the "bad guy". The only way to break out of that cycle is step back and STOP the behavior. There have been a few studies this year that people who do not exercise have an easier time losing weight. I believe it. When we train, we are doing so in a very smart and planned system. In Liquid Strength (or any weight training intervals you are doing) we are working on strengthening all the muscles in our bodies in a very organic way. We are working on strengthening our posture muscles to hold us up strong. We are working on the muscles and propriaceptors that help us balance. We are training hard to break down muscle fiber so it can heal stronger and denser than it was (being sore is when you have achieved this), so we can have more lean muscle mass and increase our metabolism. Cardiovascular exercise is done to strengthen our heart and to keep our body able to get to "threashold" so we can keep our bodies strong and young. Many people use cardio as a means to control weight. This can be a problem when you begin to eat and work out as a method of "control" over your body. Exercise bulimia is a very subtle thing that many gym goers have issues with it.

If you hear yourself in the above paragraph (and you struggle with foraging at night and eating when you are not hungry knowing that you can "burn it off tomorrow") the challenge for you is to change this behavior. Choose 2 very scientifically designed interval cardio workouts and 2 strength training workouts a week. (liquid Strength can be either or both). On the other days, you REST. You feed your body what it needs and wants responsibly. It is VERY hard to break this cycle. I hear daily from some of you just how HARD. I know. To be free of the cycle, you must break it. If you were not allowed to exercise, how would you eat ? Like a normal person. That is what I want from you. Take responsibility for YOU. I will be here to support this very difficult change. All I ask is that you look in the mirror and ask yourself "has my past behavior worked for me ?" The answer is no. While you are looking in that mirror, ask yourself "Do I look different and feel different since I started Liquid Strength?". The answer is YES. That is the only truth you need to concern yourself with. Your job is to calm your mind, get off the "treadmill" of obsession and find your inner peace and trust.

Half of you do NOT fit the above. You struggle with getting yourself to the gym at all. Time and energy are a rare and precious thing. For YOU this challenge is committing yourself to doing 2 cardio sessions a week and doing Liquid Strength or some other kind of training that gets you SORE in the areas you need to strengthen. I want all of you to work on keeping that "joyous chest" and "long strong stable" body and keeping "home" all day and especially when you are training.

I spent years (as most instructors do) teaching up to 4 classes a day. I teach 4 a week now and am amazingly peaceful and happy with my body. It was a long process to get here but it is such an amazing thing. I believe we can all get there. We work very hard to make our "selves" strong in every way while we do Liquid Strength. The more faith and belief you can muster, the better this journey will go.

I will be blogging some of my daily activity to give you some ideas and support. We may have very different challenges (I would LOVE to hear from some of you and I know everyone else would too !) For me, I love food and I love to nosh and forage at night. My issue is that if I sleep on a very full stomach, I snore and do not sleep well and I feel lethargic in the morning. I am VERY busy during the day and tend to eat light so I am hungry at night. My challenge is to take the time and plan my day so that I am well nourished all through the day and eating out of hunger and not for any other reason. I am not trying to lose weight but I am trying to sleep better and feel respect for my body and myself. Kurt and I love fish and most of our dinners are a BIG portion of fish (like a pound each). Salmon is our first choice and last night I baked it at 400 degrees with freeze dried garlic and freeze dried onion flakes (everyone should buy these for all of there meals as it makes everything taste great so easily and without any added salt or chemicals) and coated it with pesto sauce and sprinkled basil on it too. It was AMAZING !! We had steamed fresh green beans with olive oil and some left over Broccoli Rabe from last night. Afterwards I had a little Ciao Bella chocolate sorbet (this is a VERY deep chocolate sorbet that a little bit goes a long way !!) and melon and a pear. I find if I do not want anymore fruit, I know I am not really hungry. I take myself and my crossword puzzle and book downstairs. I floss and brush, wash my face and actually but lotion on and begin to "say goodbye to my day" and have some much needed quiet time. I am on day 4 of this behavior and it is EASY now. I wake up early naturally and feel energic and good.....