30 Day iWater Challenge

Our bodies are made up of over 65% water as adults and upward of 80% water as children. Our next installment of a 30 Day Challenge come as a 30 Day iWater Challenge which gives us a great challenge cause it will not only challenges us to drink the actual water our body needs, but also keeps us focused on how vital H2O really is in our energy production.

Bodyweight To Drinking Chart:
Less than 140lbs you iWater 3 Liters (twelve 8 ounce glasses per day- 96oz)
141lbs- 180lbs you iWater 4 Liters (a full gallon of water per day- 128oz)
180lbs and up you iWater 5 Liters (a touch over a full gallon of water per day- 168oz)

During your workouts the water you drink is above and beyond the iWater Challenge amount. So look at it like this: you must drink your iWater outside of your workout time.


NOTE: Some reactions to drinking more water are spending more time in the bathroom until your body adapt(3-4 days is all it takes), if you get tickled you might wet your pants, greatly increased energy, detoxing, fat loss, fewer headaches, mental clarity, hormonal balancing, less to no mood swings, decreased hunger cravings, overall satisfied feeling of well-being.

Lastly, keep this in mind: It is ideal to drink fresh filtered water that is cold, but doesn't have to necessarily be iced unless you like it that way. Too cold of water is more difficult to drink. Hot water goes through the body too fast. In fact if the water is cold it will actually cause your body to burn a few calories during the time it takes to bring it to your body's temperature.

On Facebook I created a special event for the 30 Day iWater Challenge so that you can see everyone else who's participating as well as comment on the wall for encouraging support and funny comments alongside your experience.  Here's the direct link: http://bit.ly/7WhkWE  Enjoy your iWater 30 Days. :)

SUCCESS TOOL: Here's a special Calendar for the 30 Day iWater Challenge so you can mark off each day of completion. Download here: http://bit.ly/5msCkM


Video by Sirena Bernal. Sirena blogs at The Naked Dish where she has great information on healthy eating and living.

3 Very Simple & Tasty Red & Green Christmas Smoothies

Here's our protocol: From now until the end of the year we're doing 2 smoothie fasts a week with each of those days being on Tuesday and Thursdays. You drink one of the smoothies during the day and the other in the evening. Only have 2 smoothies each of those 2 smoothie fast days and one will be red and the other green. What these smoothies and fast days will do is detox your body, facilitate fat loss, and spike your energy levels up immensely. You'll actually be shocked, if you do these Christmas Smoothie fast days right, how much energy you get. If you've been eating a lot of processed food and grain carbs for a long time your body may even feel a bit weird because of how well this works, but never fear cause that means it's doing its job.

Because Christmas Eve is on a Thursday and I'm sure you're gonna wanna eat some gooooood food we're starting on Thursday, December 10th and then for next week you can do it on Monday and Wednesday if your Christmas Eve schedule doesn't allow you to do it then. Outside of the smoothies drink at least half your bodyweight in ounces of water and then an extra 20 ounces minimum when you workout.

Ok so as promised here's the 3 Very Simple & Tasty Red and Green Christmas Smoothies.

3 Very Simple & Tasty Red Christmas Smoothies

1. Half Cup of Fresh Organic Pineapple

1/4 of a beet

1/2 leaf of kale

1/2-1 full carrot

2. 4-6 Strawberries

Small handful of spinach

1/4 Apple

1/2-1 full carrot

1/2-1 radish with root

3. 1 Whole Apple

1 Banana

1/4 of a beet

1/4 teaspoon size of fresh Ginger root

Small handful of fresh blueberries

Note 1: I use my Vitamix and it tears everything right up. Make sure you don't "over beet" LOL cause it will take over the flavor. Follow as the recipe suggests.  Nothing needs to be peeled. What I do is cut things up into easy to manage(for the blender) chunks and then blend away. :)
Note 2: Don't be alarmed if your stool is redish. The beets do this. The first time it happened to me I thought I had a problem cause it looks bloody, but be rest assured it's A-OKAY. 
Beets are amazing for detoxing the liver.

3 Very Simple & Tasty Green Christmas Smoothies

1. 1/2 Apple

1/2 leaf of kale

Small handful of spinach

1/4 teaspoon size of fresh Ginger root

1/4 of a cucumber or 10 marshmallows - Just Kidding!

2. 2 Celery Stalks

handful of mixed baby greens

1/2-1 full carrot

Half Cup of Fresh Organic Pineapple

Optional, but recommended: 1/4 of a cucumber

3. 1 Banana

1/2-1 an orange

1/2-1 full carrot

1/2 leaf of kale

Optional, but recommended: 1/4 of a cucumber

Keep Right, & Whatever You Do, Keep Moving Forward

"You can't fail. The further you fall, the greater the opportunity for growth and change." -Julie Newmar

I really enjoy reading some of Gordon Byrn's blog posts. Although I have never met the man personally--we do share mutual friends--he seems like a pretty enlightened, and highly achieved human being. Based on what I know of the man, he is the type of person that I strive to be.

Some of his thoughts can be quite difficult for me as his material is basically about looking at our bad habits, the things that we don't do well, and working towards eliminating these things. I like to think of it as trimming the fat. Some times my strategy for dealing with my "challenges" is to work harder. This makes things better about half the time. Sometimes more work is necessary to get things done better and more efficiently; however there are other times that I need to re-evaluate so that I can to see what isn't working and then strategize how to best deal with the issues at hand. Irregardless, it can be pretty hard to look right at yourself, and say, "There are things that I am not good at." As much as it pains me to admit this, awareness of these things is the only way to make changes for the better. Denial is simply us being weak enough to not fully grasp what it takes to become stronger or knowing good and well what we need to do in order to change; however not taking action to do so.

One of the things that I have noticed with most people who want to improve their fitness efficiency and effectiveness is that they take lessons. Then they go back to their workouts and continue to practice their old habits. I find this rather odd, but it does make sense. What we perceive as us doing something right isn't really right at all.  I see it in myself, which is probably why I can see it in others. With this new found awareness, my plan right now is to only practice what I know and have confidence I can practice "correctly."  In short, I'm not going to go back to old habits just to make simply get through the day, my workout, or any activity whatsoever.  I'm going to focus first on the right way of the technique; for right now, time is a secondary concern.

Anyway, as I make these changes, it's going to hurt. I understand that in order for me to grow in my physical performance I must grow in my mental performance.  I'm going to be frustrated, I'm going to want to go back to my old style and habits, and I'm going to be upset that I'm not getting better fast enough. Too bad! I must keep on focusing on the small changes and take each day at a time. But the good news is that if I am willing to negotiate with my resistance to change, I will improve, and things will get better. I simply need to persevere through consistent practice no matter what my schedule throws at me, what happens at work, at home, or what arises in my day. Today I will focus on changing myself.

No Fear Of Public Speaking And Compound Interest Success

"The most powerful force in the universe is compound interest." - Albert Einstein

"There is power in small and simple things." - Gordon Byrn

When I was in college, one of the general education requirements was public speaking-- I saved this class for the second semester of my senior year. Unlike most people, I have always loved public speaking. Most people hate the opportunity to be scrutinized and judged in front of a large group of people; I absolutely love having a group of people captive for any length of time. I guess I am just a whore for attention or maybe my Mom didn't give me enough kisses when I was a kid. Don't know, but I like being in front of people even if public speaking is the world's greatest fear. True Story!

The last speech of that class was on basic financial management. I started off the speech by saying that a reporter asked Einstein what is the most powerful force in the universe. The reporter thought Einstein would say something like, "Love is the most powerful force in the universe," or "God is the most powerful force." They were basically trying to back the guy into a corner, but were unsuccessful. POW! Compound interest! Who would have ever guessed Einstein would have busted out with that?

Compound interest is simply, "Interest which is calculated not only on the initial principal but also the accumulated interest of prior periods." Instead of getting a return on what was put down initially, the individual receives a return on the "return" from previous periods. I think this concept of compound interest applies very well to any sort of discipline or practice that someone goes about cultivating.

When I started swimming years ago, I couldn't make it across the pool swimming freestyle. Swimming 200 meters was an accomplishment. But I realized that if I just kept practicing that the practice would build upon itself, and I would develop "feel" or mastery for the craft. But the underpinning of this idea is something that most hard-ass drill instructors miss: enjoyment. I really enjoyed being in the water, and feeling of holding water. So, killing myself to knock out what most 8 year old swimmers did as a warm-up was worth it.

Lately, I have been looking at my life on a wholistic level, and trying not to be as granular as I usually am. Historically, I get really upset when small little things aren't right where they should be. I can get fixated on them very easily. I recognize that this habit of being fixated on small imperfections gets in the way of enjoying the big picture. Some call this OCD, but for me I have to set a long-term horizon in order to force change and become a reality. I keep coming back to Gordon Byrn's words that we can achieve much more than we think possible in the long-term.

My driving thought for this week is come up with a simple plan that I can achieve each day, and really enjoy. I've been bringing fruit and nuts to the office alongside drinking 8-10 ounces of water on the top of every hour, which have really helped to keep my energy level and focus going through the afternoon swoon rather than eat a grain-filled big lunch that will just dip me down and lead me into a nonproductive comatose state. Again, this just comes down to a little extra planning.

Author: Michael Munson lives in Phoenix, AZ and is one of my Girevoy Sport (G.S.) Kettlebell Students who regularly practices endurance swimming, running, and high intensity workouts. To read more of Michael's work follow him here: http://www.zenaccountant.blogspot.com/

10 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Cry When You Weigh Yourself

10 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Cry When You Weigh Yourself

Keep this in mind: Scales Suck! They really do. What do they actually tell you, but how much gravity is pulling on you at that given moment. It does not tell you how much muscle you have, water weight you're carrying, fat you have, bone density, etc.

Consider this:
The average woman’s weight can fluctuate 6-8 pounds
The average guys weight can fluctuate 6-12 pounds
The factors that affect your current weight are:

1. The Amount Of Sodium You’ve Recently Consumed: (more salt= more stored water= more weight, check your labels and only consume max 2400mg a day). This can be hard if you eat processed foods. 97% of processed foods contain higher than excess sodium that cause this bloating.

2. Time Of The Month: This of course, is for women can cause bloating and extra weight). This is natural, but you CAN control this with your eating habits. Symptoms of both PMS and Menopause need not be or need not be as great if your eating habits reflect a more anti-estrogenic approach.

3. Time Of The Day: When you wake up with an empty stomach, you weigh less than in the evening, much less, you must be consistent if you are going to focus on what the scale says.

4. Your Stomach & Digestive Tract Content: What you’ve eaten so far today, whether there is indigestion in there and/or food intolerances that can cause bloating alongside excess fecal matter due to irregularity or constipation. Most adults have 5-15lbs. of excess fecal matter stuck within their intestinal tract. Only way to get that out is a really good colonic or dietary cleanse that specializes in this. My Synergy Natural Cleanse (entirely food based) targets just this topic. If you don't get this gunk out you will have all sorts of health adversities and often times not even know it because over time our bodies adapt to small changes and we don't always know what the signs are when it tells us something may be wrong so we just keep on going.

5. Number Two Time (aka "Potty or Bathroom time"): Whether you’ve used the bathroom that day or not, for both purposes, your body will be holding onto undigested food, fecal matter, and waste toxins. See our previous number 4 for further mentioning of this number 2 problem.

6. The Amount Of Carbohydrates You Recently Consumed: Every 1 gram of carbohydrate attracts approximately 2.8 grams of water so the pasta you just ate the night before could be making you hold an additional 2-3 pounds. This is why people believe low carb diets work, when they drop the carbs they drop radical weight. It can almost be a false security because of this very reason. Low carb diets definitely have a way of working, but are not for a lifestyle. A managed carbs diet is what I recommend. Keep out the unhealthy grains, keep your healthy fats high, and eat a lot of color(fruits & veggies) as your main source of carbohydrates.

7. Amount Of Muscle Glycogen In Your Body:  Are your muscles full and fresh or depleted? Depending upon how much “energy” your muscles have indicates how much your muscles presently weigh. If you exercise often on a regular basis where the muscles get stimulated for denser growth and strength (cardio does not count) then as long as you eat naturally, balanced, and for your ongoing post workout recovery then your muscles will be full and fresh. In this case you will always carry just a few extra pounds, BUT keep in mind that this is very good weight. The more lean tissue(muscle, bone density, organs, and anything that is not fat) you have the higher your metabolism is and thus the more calories you burn on a regular basis during the day. More muscle (doesn't have to be bulky at all) due to being active and eating healthy equals less fat.

8. Daily Water Consumption:  How much you drank prior to when you weigh-in and whether it is in your body or not is also a factor.

9. Stress Levels:  The more stressed out you are, the more likely you are to retain your fat and water due to the elevated cortisol and estrogen which leads to fat deposits, water retention and a whole mess of other health and physical adversities.

10. Scale Calibration: Is the darn thing EVEN WORKING? Most scales differ by at least a small difference and when you weigh week to week, or even for the insanely addicted crazy's day to day weigh ins, this could prove fatal in both true weight and psychological ramifications to your self esteem.

In conclusion, don’t stress out about one bad weigh-in, but instead have focus and faith! Focus on your overall inches lost and gained, body fat percentage(have your fitness coach assess that for you), alongside how you feel. Do what you know to be ongoing healthy changes that are ingrained as a lifestyle rather than simply a "diet". Diets have quick endings, but lifestyles last much longer.




Here's some food for thought that one of my Facebook Friends recently said that I liked and want to pass on to you.  Think of what you put inside your mouth and body: Some things give us energy and strength, and our bodies say thank you for those things. some things taste good to our mouths, but take our energy and strength away, and our bodies say: 'Yuck why'd you do that to me?

Article collaborated by Bob Garon & Omar Isuf.

How NOT To Do A Pushup

If you've been following my blog long enough you'll know that fitness is a huge part of our life in the Garon household and sometimes we randomly just break out in some Kettlebell swings, pushups, jumping jacks, lunges, or whatever. It's my goal to ingrain into my son Brayden that life needs to be active and health is a huge factor to always keep in check and focus. Since moving back to Illinois and being around family they too have the opportunity to benefit from our lifestyle. My niece Brooke has been practicing some fitness activities with Brayden recently and when we got to pushups we ran into a wall. Without even giving her instructions, and just telling her to perform a pushup, she did what she thought was what she should be doing. Needless to say we laughed a lot. Ok... now we weren't laughing AT her, but just at what she was doing. She innocently was trying her best, but simply didn't know exactly what how to properly do it. We adults are like this too and often times our bodies won't do what our mind wants or sometimes our mind doesn't grasp exactly how to physically do something. That's okay. We just need patience and consistent practice at the things we want to get better at.

Check This Out: In the U.S., the average body fat percentage for a man is around 25%, while a woman it’s around 40%. Men should be at about 12% and women 22%. It take a lot of work to be healthy and people are generally lazy… so they get fat. Be encouraged today to make your actions reflect your goals.

One thing you can be certain that if you regularly perform pushups, even if you think you cannot there are always modifications to help you so you can(ie. wide leg stance for a stronger base), you will become much stronger in much more than your arms and chest because your core works a lot in the movement to stabilize your legs and hips. Give 5-10 pushups a go 3 times a day, at set times every day, and inside of 3 weeks you'll be able to do that many all at once.  Happy Trails!

The Biggest Enemy of Being Great

“I have nothing against millionaires, but I want El Bulli to remain accessible to a greater number of diners who appreciate what we are creating here." - Ferran Adrià

"Good is the biggest enemy of great." - Gordon Byrn

Yesterday I watched a DVD about Ferran Adria and his restaurant, El Bulli. For those of you who aren't familiar with the man, he is creator of a subset of the culinary arts referred to as molecular gastronomy. I was struck by two things about the man:

1) He is extremely passionate about food, more so than your usual chef--who are almost always extremely passionate about food, and

2) He went off and did something that was so out of the norm--which in hindsight was absolute genius--that he risked absolute disaster. Instead of playing it safe, going to culinary school, and getting a job working at a prestigious restaurant under a famous chef, went off and did something that was completely unique and groundbreaking.

In one of Gordon Byrn's blog posts, he said that one of his mentors mentioned that being good will hold you back from being great. If a person feels that they are good, they are going to get attached to that comfortable feeling of acceptance, and are less likely to go off and do something groundbreaking. It is very true that real genius is almost always misunderstood, and often times leads to dysfunction in other areas of one's life.

Okay, all this stuff is well and good, but where I really think my world and the world of Ferran Adria's cross is in the way of total disregard to perceived failure. When I take on new challenges sometimes I worry about being "wrong" or not "getting it fast enough." If I really want to do something great, I have to put these thoughts out of my head.  It is only when I step outside my comfort zone and feel some weirdness, discomfort, and awkwardness that I change and grow.

The fastest way to failure is not believing. The quickest way to success is believing and never stopping until you get there. There will be awkward moments and moments that take you outside your personality (comfort zone); however if you never experience that then you'll remain where you are, unchallenged, and never become better than good.  If you want to be great- believe you already are.

Namaste

Post collaborated by Michael Munson & Bob Garon