There is no real do or don’t on this one, it more of a personal inquiry that I felt needed to be thrown out there and established. No matter how I say this it is going to come out wrong so please bear with me. I am having a hard time understanding why personal trainers at various gyms (and even in personal resident gyms) are not in shape themselves. I am by no means talking down to people that are not in shape, unless you are out of shape and are a personal trainer at the gym. This is an anomaly to me. When you are supposed to be teaching others how to become fit and practice a healthy lifestyle, you yourself should be an exemplary model for your pupil to follow suite.

Now, I understand that this trainer might have a degree in physiology, kinesiology, have been through several trainings and/or courses to qulify them as a trainer (or maybe none of the above) and they do in fact know what you are talking about, so their expertise can theoretically be trusted. But things that are theoretically sound do not always apply to real life practice and pursuit. We can lay out an efficiently sound plan to re-build our economy that looks great on the bill but it doesn’t mean that it is necessarily going to work when applied to the economy and its fiscal droughts. It is hard to get motivated by someone and trust them with your personal conditioning and well being when they themselves are not physically fit.

I guess the thing that makes me the most frustrated is that if I am going to choose a profession, I would want to be the best at it or at least at the top of my game. And with a job like personal trainer, where your physical appearance does have quite an impact, I would think that it would be a motivator for you yourself, as a trainer, to get into shape. You are actively trying to change some.

Like I said before I may be completely off basis with this one. I guess I can see two main counter arguments to this. One being: it doesn’t really matter what the person looks like as long as they know what they are talking about and I can trust them with my body’s well being. And I do pretty much agree with that in a logical sense, just not in a practical one – but once again that is just personal preference. The other counter to my argument that I could see as being somewhat relevant is that it might be beneficial to have an out of shape trainer in the sense that it boosts your morale. For example if I am out of shape and so is my trainer, it is going to boost my moral if on a daily, weekly and monthly basis I can see that my overall physical fitness level is exceeding that of my trainer’s. This would boost confidence levels and might increases personal drives and performances.

Both of these counter examples are purely based out of speculation. I have no idea as to what people think on this subject. And seeing how I am noticing this more and more these days I wanted some outside perspective on it. That is why I wrote this specific entry. I want to hear what you all have to say about this. What do you think about personal trainers who are out of shape? You all know my opinion on the matter, do you agree, disagree or put simply you could care less? Once again this is simply my opinion, take it or leave it.

Phase Fourteen of “appropriate behavior at the gym: the do’s and don’ts, according to a guy with an opinion about anything and everything.”

Don’t: talk so loud on the phone that everyone knows your business

This is a no brainer that goes along with so many things that I have mentioned in the blogs before this one. Nobody needs to know your business, especially while at the gym. This is in that same category as the guys who just in general talk way too loud at the gym, so that people know what they did last night and with whom. But this time it is even worse because you are on the phone at a gym. There is no need for me to hear about how your night went or for me to hear about why Rachel didn’t think that guy was cute. Like I said, it is bad enough when this goes on at the gym in the first place. But the situation is compounded 10 fold when it happens when someone is pacing around throughout the gym on their phone. At least when people are overly loud about their conversations for the most part in the gym, they are usually stationary. But people who talk on their phone at unnecessary decibels so that others are able to peer into their lives, tend to –from 99% of the examples I have encountered, seem to want to pace around while they have these conversation, spreading around their verbal garbage like an out of control crop duster. Why is this necessary?

Do’s for the last three phases:

I’m just going to dive right into this one: don’t abuse your phone at the gym. People, it can wait for the most part. Brad and then gang are still going to be available to tell you that they are going out four hours from now, in another thirty minutes. The chances of you missing out on a once in a lifetime phone call of your buddies inviting you to go on helicopter ride with Jay Z, David Beckham and two super models, that warrants immediate response, is about one and two billion – unless P. Diddy is reading this. It’s OK to clear the call and save it for a little bit later. But regardless, even if you do answer your phone which is still ok, there are some norms you should follow. If it is a call that really can wait, why don’t you just tell the person that you are at the gym and will call them back in like 45 minutes to an hour. If the call is super urgent step outside of the gym and take it. If the call is urgent WHY wouldn’t you step outside is the bigger question? I don’t know about you but if I get an important call I don’t want to try and battle the background noise of grunting, machine clacking, poppy songs, and random conversations. Ok, onto another plane: if you do feel like having a conversation in the gym, why can’t you step aside where no one else is occupying space and simply take the call like you normally would. Now if you always take calls at a loud volume so that we can all enjoy your conversation, well there is simply no hope for you because your narcissistic ways have crippled your ability to function like a normal person in society. Like the rest of these rants and topics all that is really needed to correct this malfunctioning beast is common sense, decency, public awareness and a sense of communal courtesy. I am not saying you shouldn’t ever use your phone at the gym by any means, I am saying that you should be mindful about how you go about using your phone in the gym or in public in general for that matter, that’s all. Once again this is simply my opinion, take it or leave it.

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2) Don’t arrive hungry! Have a healthy snack before you attend a holiday gathering as it will be much easier to resist temptation.

3) Reward yourself in small doses.  It’s okay to try a bite of your favorite food because it will keep you from feeling deprived and possibly overindulging at a later time.

4) Minimize the consumption of alcoholic beverages.  They contain empty calories and can hinder your ability to make healthy food choices.

Follow these tips for a happier, healthier you this holiday season!  For more tips or to ask questions, please visit our forum!

Hope this finds you healthier then the day before. Today is National ‘start eating healthy day’. So I ask you, what changes are you going to make to eat healthier? Me, I started eating breakfast again. I discovered I like Greek yogurt with frozen fruit and a little granola for some crunch. Greek yogurt is packed with protein! I also have 1 cup of skim milk with a scoop of my Designer Whey Protein Powders. I mix up the flavors for a variety. Some days I have chocolate, some day’s vanilla, some day’s strawberry and some days The Biggest Loser brand. I like the variety. I find that when I do this I have fewer cravings for sweets and for me that is a major plus! I have been packing my lunch and snacks. Lately I been packing whole wheat 100 calorie bagel with good turkey slices and just a smidgen of low fat mayo (I don’t like mustard) along with fruit and a string cheese for my snack. My kids love the 100 calorie bagels.  They think they are cute! Hey, if cute has them eating better… Go for it!

Did you watch the Biggest Loser this week? Wow, they were at The White House this episode.

At The White House

All the people who came out to exercise with Bob and Jillian and the contestants were amazing! This proves Americans are not lazy we just need a plan and guidance. I am disappointed our President did not come out with his family that would have been the frosting on the cake. I felt bad for Tracey for all the havoc she took for doing what she did to remain in the game. I probably would have done the same. Did you see Tracey’s “How are they doing now” segment? Holy cow! She looks great. I cried when she re-ran that mile that the contestants ran on their first challenge. And Daniel almost at the 200 pound mark, Shay under the 400 pound mark! Wow, what opportunity! Like Bob said, this is the “Biggest Loser Movement”

I recently bought the Biggest Loser Jump Start book and Jillian Michael’s Master Your Metabolism; still have to read them. But one cool thing is you can look up the old contestants and request to be their friend on Facebook. Designer Whey has a Facebook fan page as well. You will want to add Designer Whey to your friends list because they will let you know when coupons are available or special promotions. They have recipes, encouragement and lots of great people to support you. Plus it can save you a few bucks and that is always good!

I got the Biggest Loser Wii game and so far my kids are doing the game and they love it. I need to find time for my time to play too! The other day my 9 year old sweetheart got my Jump Start Book out and my Biggest Loser music CD. She went in our living room popped in the CD and was reading how to do the exercises. Then got a towel for her mat and was doing the exercises. So I asked her what made her just start doing the exercises and she said, “well, mom first of all its fun and second I want to stay fit. Why don’t you come do some of these with me sometime”, bless her heart! Maybe it’s that easy, think exercise as being fun and wanting to be fit… hmmmm OK, Note to self… Exercise is fun and keeps you fit.” end of note.

Have a great one friends, today day a great day to drink your whey and start eating healthy.

Camille

Phase Thirteen of “appropriate behavior at the gym: the do’s and don’ts, according to a guy with an opinion about anything and everything.”

   Don’t: attempt to complete a life altering business merger or try to get your life together over the phone at the gym.

   All three of the aforementioned phone conversations seem a little extreme and maybe even far fetched for an everyday workout at the gym, but at least once a week while I’ m working out I notice one of these three occurring. Now, I work out at three different gyms in three different areas every week and I have seen this at least once a week since I started noticing these “do’s and don’ts of the gym world.” Even more disturbing is the fact that I go at sporadic times and I am only at the gym usually for an hour to an hour and a half. That in itself isn’t the disturbing part, the disturbing aspect of all of these statistics is that if I am catching this at least once a week, at any of the three given gyms that I go to at an of the given times that I am at them, then holy hell this must be happening a lot.
And with this one it’s not just mainly a male phenomenon. Ladies, you in no way are exempt. I have seen women trying to setting up high powered business appointments, trying to change cable accounts and of all things attempting to organize their finances all while mid workout in the middle of the gym floor – guys I see the same things go on with you as well. I say of all things, because isn’t the gym a place you can go to leave all of that other crap behind for a hot minute. You go to the gym to get the day started on a good foot or to break the day up or to work the day out of you. These financial, business and personal conundrums are all very important and are all matters that should be high on your priority list but you need to make them their own priority. Just like people make going to the gym a priority. They do so because it is its own entity and as such it should not engulf or encompass any of these other entities or priorities. In simple terms make the business mergers at the office or step outside of the gym if it is absolutely that important. Change your cable plan when you want a break from the everyday or when you want to step away from your desk. And above all things don’t try and maintain your financial stability at the gym. Do you really think it is a good time and place to talk Wells Fargo while Bruno does squat thrusts next to you? This one is just plain annoying, not disturbing. This is more of a heads up for your own well being. Leave that crap for some other time and leave it outside of the gym. If you want to work out at your own home gym with a Bluetooth in your ear in front of your own T.V. be my guest – that is a power play in a half. But most of us cannot afford that and that is why we go to our gym, where we pay fee’s to work out, to shape our selves into someone else for a brief period of the day. Enjoy the workout that you went to the gym for and leave life’s stresses at the office when you leave or at home, don’t bring it into a place that is supposed to relieve stress.

   I am holding all of the do’s for the last phase of this second mini series because they will apply to all three of these. And like so many of these offences do… I don’t want to waste your time. Although, I probably already do by posting this mess. Just kidding…but seriously. Once again this is simply my opinion, take it or leave it.

I hope this finds you healthier then the day before. I have been extremely busy. Too busy and that stresses me out! There never seems to be peace in our house, something is always going on. I even have had to record my favorite show and watch it later. Which I don’t like because then I hurry through it and miss a lot of valuable info.

Oh, I discovered a great new mix using Designer Whey 100 Calorie Strawberry protein powder . I bought a bag of frozen fruit mix which has pineapple, strawberries and mango. It mixed up in a blender so creamy it was like ice-cream… A very good combination. 

 The last two Biggest Loser shows have been so emotional. Man, its draining. But I am happy to see the contestants break through difficult emotions that they have carried in their lives. I am blown away by Abby’s break through. She’s an amazing person to give up her spot. She said in her ‘how are they doing now spot’, ”Even in your darkest hour, there is always hope.” I love that saying. I counsel people addicted to crack cocaine and tell people who I am working with, ”No matter how low you go there is always hope and sometimes hope is all we have left” As long as we are breathing, we can change, we can make a difference, we can overcome, we can try new things. Go to new places and if we embrace each day with that attitude we can make our own break throughs.

Take Care Friends,
Camille

Phase Twelve of “appropriate behavior at the gym: the do’s and don’ts, according to a guy with an opinion about anything and everything.”

Don’t: talk on the phone and try to work out for extended periods of time

I see this one happen on a regular basis on so many different fronts with so many different levels.

Level one: the “What is happening tonight call.” This call at the gym always seems to come when others are waiting for your equipment. Rightfully so, you yourself might have waited for the equipment and that with that being said are in fact initialed to use it how you see fit. But that does not include making people wait an extra five to ten minutes because you want to find out what club your bro Chad is going to be at tonight. A lot of people are pressed for time at the gym, and while I know that is a personal issue there should be a medium. Now if I am in a hurry and I go to the gym and equipment is simply not readily available because others are diligently using it and I am not able to get a full work out in, then it is my own fault for trying to squeeze in a work out when I didn’t really have enough time to begin with. But if I am in a hurry and want to use a machine but the person on the machine tells me to hold off because they just have a few more sets, and then they answer there phone to talk for another 5 min and then do their sets then I am entitled to be a little pissed off. Why do I have to wait for you to wrap up your phone conversation so that I can use the equipment? Most people who answer the phone at the gym realize this and are at least decent enough to let you work in or move away form the equipment and let you use it. But there is that 25% in this category that instantly transform themselves into the power tool isle at Home Depot. And yes, I do mean the whole isle. By doing this you are going past being a singular tool, you are stepping into a whole new realm where your tool-ness is pissing others off and is no longer just something that other people laugh at your expense. I feel so bad for people that are actually nice and wait for these H.D.’s to not only finish up their sets but also their telephone conversations. I have no patience when it comes to crap like this, which probably makes me an ass and which probably puts me on someone else’s “gym offender’s type cast list.” But on this one I don’t care because I am not budging on my stance regarding this issue. I have only had this happen to me personally once and at first I was cool about it. I said to myself “ok this guy told me to wait because he is almost done… for sure I will just wait for him to finish up.” But then I see him answer his cell, and again I think to myself “I will just wait for him to wrap up this call. He will probably tell whoever is on the other line that he is in the middle of working out and that he will call right back.” Wrong. I waited for about a minute until I realized that he was not about to end the conversation, and then I signaled the old “can work in with you.” And he so toolishly gave me the wait one sec gesture. At this point I was still patient, but yet another minute went by and he had yet to commence in doing a set or getting off of his phone. So I literally hopped on the machine and started doing my own sets. He looked at me like I wasn’t wearing pants, like he could not believe what he was seeing. He was like I am still on that…so I did what any normal person pushed to the brink of being an a-hole by someone else would do…I gave him a taste of his own medicine. I told him “hey man that’s cool you can work in if you want.” That irked him to no avail, but who the hell cares…I certainly don’t. And like I said, in some regards that makes me a hypocrite. But what is he going to do. Is he going to pick a fight with me? Is he going to just walk away still talking on his cell? Or is he going to hang up and finish his sets in between mine? And for that matter what m I supposed to do. Go tell on you like a little child? Sit their and wait another ten minutes? End my work out short? Or do what I did and then bitch about it three weeks later in some off the top blog? I am going with the last option on this one.

I am holding all of the does for the last phase of this second mini series because they will apply to all three of these. And like so many of these offences do… I don’t want to waste your time. Although I probably already do by posting this mess. Just kidding…but seriously. Once again this is simply my opinion, take it or leave it.

Phase Ten of “appropriate behavior at the gym: the do’s and don’ts, according to a guy with an opinion about anything and everything.”

 Don’t: listen to your IPod or music device at ungodly levels

First and foremost, by listening to your IPod way louder than you should be you are destroying your inner ear (75% of the parts included). The thumping kicks of drum beats, the “audiotisticle” rampage of harrowing guitars, the high thumping bass of digital audio and even the bongo drum in a acoustic college radio song all severely damage the ear and effect the proficiency of one’s personal hearing abilities, if amplified at loud volumes.  This is especially prevalent and in many cases much worse when it happens with head phones, magnifying sound with a greater immediacy to the inner ear – according to several studies done by the Swedish. Ok, now that my attempt to make myself sound more academically profound has concluded – it’s bad for your hearing to listen to loud crap. But where this comes into play in our little realm of fitness is its invasive nature on the hearing of others around the “soon to be hearing-impaired” gym goer with his or her head phones turned up full blast. I don’t mean to sound crude (ok who am I kidding, that is why I write these rants) but me being able to hear your Tom Jones – over not only the music already playing at the gym, but the clinking sounds of the equipments, the ongoing conversations, and the loud grunts of our other offenders – is kind of ridiculous in it’s own right. I’m half and half on this situation. In some regards the invasive nature of me that sometimes likes to rear its head about from time to time, likes to be able to match a song to a face. Meaning that I find it interesting in some regards to see if the behemoth with the tattoo’s on his face is listening to an old slayer album or is in fact getting his Britney on or if the tiny little girl doing leg extensions is listening to an indie Conor Oberst track or in fact kicking it old school with Andre and Big Boi with an “Atliens” track. But the other half of me is like, what if it is “afternoon delight” set to repeat? Should I have to hear that all work out long because I forgot my IPod and I can’t focus on the gym’s music or my workout because I keep thinking of Ron Burgundy or the actual nature of the song itself? Of course I don’t typically run into people at the gym who bump afternoon delight, but I do run into people at the gym all of the time who have music that I hate blaring out of their head phones to a point that I am forced to listen if I want to use a machine. And then there is also the guy, who I see from time to time at the gym who forgot to bring his IPhone head phones and is just listening to his music from the speakers – wow that is annoying. I have only seen this happen four times but it has definitely happened four times too many.

 Do:  Listen to your IPod at a reasonable level and make sure that you do in fact have head phones in, in the first place.

The same mentality as the person in the movie who knowingly doesn’t put their phone on silent, or the person that lets their cell phone ring so they can get to the good part of the their ringtone, or the person that bumps Tupac while stuck at red light in front of a kindergarten cross walk, applies here. What you listen too or what you like applies to you and should only apply to you and not to others around you – unless of course you are prompted and invited to share. Why should I be subject to your personal tastes unless I want to be. In general when out in public, in a shared communal setting, people in this shared space should not be able to hear what you are playing on your IPod because it is too loud or because you are using your speakers and just can’t go with out “PYT” for that hour that you are in the gym. I find also that this seems to be the culprit of the trio. Having your IPod too loud leads to you singing loudly and also leads to you dancing around. In fact of these three IPod trio occurrences this one is the least harmless, the most offensive to the general public surrounding it, and it leads to other occurrences that disturb one self as well as others around them. With this definition I would say it is like marijuana in the “Nixon/refer madness era,” it is the gateway drug that is difficult to lead to anything good. Ok I’m just kidding about that one, but just do us all a favor and be mindful of the volume of your personal music device. Once again this is simply my opinion, take it or leave it.

Phase Ten of “appropriate behavior at the gym: the do’s and don’ts, according to a guy with an opinion about anything and everything.”

 Don’t: Play the drums or rock out profusely at the gym (with or with out an iPod)

    Now I thought that this was completely harmless (and damn it if I don’t catch myself doing it once in a blue moon) but I saw first hand what can happen when this gets out of control. Drumming and head banging ravenously or jumping around and flailing your arms about is just not meant for the gym – or for the public eye in general (but sometimes it’s hard to help). I personally think it makes you look like an idiot, but that alone should not matter to anyone – who cares if you look like an idiot, right? But it isn’t looking like an idiot that puts people out with this distraction; it is the actual physical disturbance that can derive from the air band performance itself. This one is actually funny because it happened to me for once, as opposed from me always seeing it occur to others – I got to experience first hands the ill effects of this lord of the dance “C. Diddy” air guitar uproar. I was in mid set of doing military pull-ups on the bar between the cable-cross over machine, when I felt someone strike me in the right leg, rather close to my groin. It immediately made me stop my set, let go of the bar and hit the ground with a rather pissed off look on my face. The guy to my right had this look on his face like when Smalls (from The Sandlot) realized that he hit his step dad’s “Sultan of Swat” autographed ball into The Beast’s lair. He instantly became apologetic, and exclaimed, “holy shift I am so sorry.” He then took the two little white head phones out of his ears and told me “dude I lost my balance…this song is incredible.” I was of course like, “no problem man” but I had no idea what the hell he was talking about. Then I saw him walk to the drinking fountain like two minutes later with his head phones back in, swinging those invisible drum sticks like he was Travis freakin’ Barker. I then realized that he had hit me in the midst of a, unaware of his proximity to me, rock out session. I wasn’t pissed off or hurt from this encounter, in fact I got a chuckle out of it, but I can’t say that it is not annoying to be sporadically perturbed mid set.  I then saw the same thing happen the very next day to a guy doing some shadow boxing dance moves and definitely getting seven shades of hyphy to whatever song he was listening to. He was not aware of how close he was to a guy doing hammer curls and bumped into the back of him. The guy looked a little more pissed off than I did about having to interrupt his set. Meaning things: one that this can be hazardous to people around you if you are doing this, because in some rare occasion you can loose your balance from doing something moronic in a place you shouldn’t be doing it in, and bump into someone doing some strenuous activity and end up causing them extreme frustration or in some cases injury. And two that this can be hazardous to you if you continue to do it, because judging by the look on the dumbbell man’s face, he was about two seconds away from doing his own shadow box dance on that guy’s face.
 Do’s: Just work out without dancing around, rocking out or shadow boxing or take a pilates, dance, or personal workout class where you can dance about

    This stuff proves its hilarity to me on a regular basis but that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t frustrate the likely hood’s of others to no avail. Just remember this the next time you feel compelled to strum an air chord to ‘Master of Puppets’  or jump around to an old school “Red and Meth ” joint or scratch the wind turntables. I still have not had a chance to talk to people that actually commit these so called offences at the gym only the phones who look peeved that these offences occur in their presence. So with that being said I don’t truly know the psyche of our air band heroes at the gym who feel it is still appropriate to continue on with these prancing antics even after they have knowingly disrupted other’s around them. Maybe they just listen to music that they can absolutely not resist the urge to get down and boogie to, I don’t know. What ever the reason though, they or you or me – whoever finds themselves dancing around, drumming along, or boxing forward at the gym – should be mindful that it can lead to negative effects upon others.  Once again this is simply my opinion, take it or leave it.

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www.amp1basketball.com