Danced with the Greatest Triathlete of all Time..

Yep. I danced with Mark Allen. Oh sure, it was a Huichol Indian Deer Dance around a fire with 50 other people but yep I can say I danced with the man! The conference so far is fabulous. We spent yesterday in sessions alternating between Brant Secundo-(Shaman) and Mark Allen all day. The interweaving of spirituality and training was beautifully done, in my opinion. It was also fun! We did do some dancing, ceremonies and exercises on one of the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen here in California. We are about 15 miles south of Santa Cruz in a very nice condo a stone's throw from the beach. Hartley and I went for a very long walk yesterday AM before the conference and got locked out of our condo for about an hour. A very minor blip in the scheme of things but it does seem like there is an annoying negative force following us this trip..
However the positives have FAR outweighed the negative so far..


Mark (yes I met him and am on a first name basis now-:)) delivered a talk on heart zone training yesterday. I knew about Maffetone training but this is the first time I have heard it explained clearly and why it works. Then he told his story of how he lost IM in Kona several times. When he started training like this he started winning. He proceeded to win 5 IM World Championships in a row, took a year off, then in one of the most amazing and inspiring stories I have heard, he told of his win in 1995, against all odds at age 37. This is where his Shamanism practice came in. He called on the island for help at the last half of the marathon and he shifted into some other reality where he caught the leader and won. I was in tears at the end of that story. And if you met this guy, this exceptional athlete, you would think he was just one of us. He is very humble, approachable, and sweet. He is 50 years old now, hasn't raced in 20 years and loves his life still. The combination of shamanism practice and right training helped him win that last race.

OK-I am inspired! Now I will go out and win at Kona-well not yet but damn after that talk I feel like I really could do anything I set my mind to. And may start using some of the exercises we are learning from Brant, who has a story of his own that is fascinating.

So today I am going to ask Mark about his online training program. I may use his approach for IMCDA..I like the idea of training with someone who has won Ironman Hawaii. Yesterday, some man asked him about some other program that contradicted Allen's HR training. Mark humbly said-"Well, he hasn't won Ironman Hawaii has he?" Subject over..

Workshop weekend..

I sit here in the Phoenix airport where H & I missed our connection to San Jose. We were stuck on the runway at ABQ because of "weather delays" in Phoenix-"Don't worry about your connection-all the flights are running behind" Well, we landed here and there was no rain, not even any turbulence and it appears that our flight was the only one with the "weather issues". Now I feel distrusting of this reason for missing my flight. Like the airlines are plotting just to keep their profits up in some way. At any rate, we are stuck here for 3 extra hours. We should be on the road to our condo near Santa Cruz, California as I write this. OK-now breathe! Now the clouds really do look dark and thunder is predicted so who knows when we will get to face California rush hour traffic at this rate. To top it off, there is a bird flying around our heads here in the terminal-a bird-no kidding. Hartley says this is a bad sign-is it? He seems to like us alot because we have been eating sandwiches and have crumbs I guess. Not a normal sight in an airport in my experience.

The good new is we are going to a great conference this weekend on the beach in CA with none other than Mark Allen-yep the Mark Allen-famous triathlete extraordinaire. He is doing a workshop with a Shaman called "Fit Body, Fit Soul, a Visionary Way to Health, Balance and Well-Being". We rented a very nice (we hope) condo on the beach to enjoy the great Mother Ocean while we are taking in education and spirituality. This workshop is something we know nothing about so should be interesting. We were told to bring pocket knives and hiking shoes. Some kind of art/self exploration exercise, I guess. I am just hoping this will make me a really fast triathlete and secretly make Hartley want to do an Ironman. He is still injured from Soma so not looking good at the moment. Guess i will be running on the beach alone this weekend-bummer.

Looking forward to the weekend-OK now we have only 2 hours to wait..then California rush hour on Friday in a rental car for 2 hours. That should be fun!

On a brighter note..

Here is my granddaughter Lane, making a snow man on Thanksgiving here in ABQ.

In honor of Sara..

Today would have been my oldest sister's birthday. She would have been 58. Sad because she died so young-52 years old of Multiple Sclerosis. It was a sad day in December when I got the news while traveling around the country of Chile over the holidays. It was sudden, she had been doing pretty well but got an infection and in one 24 hour period, she was gone. Traumatic moment for me that day of the phone call, in a foreign country, shocked beyond belief. We got home on New Years Eve, 2001. Wasn't 2001 sad enough? There were 300 people at the funeral-it was surreal-this is my sister's funeral? I think of the daughters Sara left behind and how cruel it is that they don't have their mom anymore. I think wasn't it just yesterday when Sara was taking care of me as a kid and we were creating plays to perform for the neighborhood? Losing a sibling is up there with losing parents, only closer to home. I remember calling her on her last birthday alive. I remember where I was, what we said and that is a gift. Amazing really after all those birthdays all those years. And the thing I am most grateful for is that the last words I said to her on the phone on December 23rd, 2001 were "I love you".
Happy Birthday sis..

Think I will go and tell my loved ones and friends I love them again today..you never know..

Losing weight is simple?

Now that Turkey Day is near, I thought I would share these articles from my favorite guru of the day-Josh Hillis, the trainer. I really like his no BS approach to weightloss. Now go on and pig out on Thanksgiving:

Losing Fat Is The Simplest Thing In The World
All of the stories in the media make fat loss sound more complicated than it is. The way certain diets are marketed often complicates weight loss also. Sometimes searching for more information online and running into a million different opinions can complicate weight loss.

Let's take a step back and simplify. Take a deep breath, here comes reality: Most of the time, if someone isn't getting results, they are simply eating too many calories. Eating too many calories will ruin the results of even the best workout program.

One of my favorite people to listen to when it comes to fat loss, Neal Spruce founder of Apex Fitness Group, said this -

Calories in, Calories out
You must come to accept the factual calories in and out aspect of weight management; otherwise, there’s no point in trying to solve for the motivation aspect. Repeat after me: if you’re overweight, it’s not because of your age, it’s not your thyroid, it’s not menopause, it’s not because you don’t eat enough, it’s not your parents’ fault, it’s not the number of fat cells you were born with, it’s not that you don’t do your aerobic work in your target heart range, it’s not high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), it’s not that you weren’t breast fed, it’s not your medication, it’s not your hormones, it’s not sugar, it’s not trans fat, it’s not saturated fats, it’s not carbohydrates, it’s not because you eat after 7:00PM, it’s not because you had a baby, it’s not because you eat the wrong glycemic foods, and, no, it’s not the fast food industry’s fault if you are overweight and don’t like it...

...So let’s get past the calorie piece and all the misinformation and boil it down to one simple sentence you can apply to your life right now: “I won’t think about anything else except eating fewer calories than I burn until I reach my goal.” Say it again! “I won’t think about anything else except eating fewer calories than I burn until I reach my goal”.

That's what I like about Neal, he doesn't mess around.

It's really a pretty simple game we are playing.
Here is your four step plan to get you 99% of the way to your goal:

1.) Eat less calories. Keep an online food log. Trust your scale and how you fit in your clothes to tell you how accurate your food log is.

2.) Eat good food. You know what is good food, and you know what is bad food. Eat less bad food.

2.) Do short, high intensity cardio.

3.) Do an intelligent strength training workout a few times per week.

4.) Drink lots of water. Don't drink anything that isn't water.

If you are a girl just doing those four things will take you from 30% bodyfat (below average) all the way to 21% bodyfat (pretty damn hot). For a guy that would be like going from 20% bodyfat down to 12% bodyfat.

Getting lower than that it gets a little more interesting. If you want to get really rockstar lean, you'll have to periodize your workouts (your workout goes through different cycles, like seasons) and you'll have to eat even cleaner. But that's it. It's not rocket science.

Don't over complicate things.

Here is some wisdom from one of the best workout articles of all time, written by my friend Dan John:

"When things go wrong, simplify."

Usually, when we aren't getting the results we want, we complicate things to the point of insanity. That, of course, makes it worse.

When things go wrong, that's actually the time to get back to basics.

Focus on the few simple keys that make everything work. (steps 1-4 above) Ignore everything else.

By Josh Hillis
or:

How To Enjoy Thanksgiving and Not Get Fat

November means one thing in the fitness world - Thanksgiving.
I want you to totally pig out at Thanksgiving dinner, and still look like a rockstar. To do that, you've got to start now.
You should earn the right to pig out at Thanksgiving dinner.
That means tightening up your workouts and nutrition right now. Start keeping a food log now. The time between now and Thanksgiving is critical.
The best way to manage weight gain at Thanksgiving is to lean up right now.
If you lose 2lbs of fat per week, every week between now and Thanksgiving, you'd lose 10lbs total. With a smart workout program and a food log, losing 2lbs per week is totally realistic.
You can totally lose 10lbs in the next 5 weeks. Then if you gain 2lbs at Thanksgiving, you're still 8lbs leaner than you are right now.
Earn the right to be able to eat what ever you want on Thanksgiving, and not feel guilty at all.
My clients manage to enjoy Thanksgiving and come out ok on the other side. Most Americans get fatter because of Thanksgiving, and keep that fat until Christmas, when they gain more fat.
I want you to enjoy Thanksgiving, and in truth, I want you stuff your face until you pass out. It's only one meal, and one meal won't be the end of the world. But that's if it's only one meal.
Most people's Thanksgivings spill over into the whole following week.
People have such an "on diet" or "off diet" mentality, that they destroy themselves. They figure if they eat one "bad" thing then they might as well give up. So they figure after "messing up their whole diet" on Thanksgiving, they might as well keep on pigging out the next day, and the day after that. Hey why not keep on going straight through 'til New Years. That kind of thinking will put you 5 or 10lbs fatter at that New Years party.
I want you to plan to pig out for one day - on Thanksgiving - and then stick to that plan. And then get back to your clean, whole food, low calorie, balanced nutrition plan the next day. Stick to that plan. You can totally go crazy on Thanksgiving, just keep it to Thanksgiving Day.
Go back to your eating plan and go back to your workouts. The 2lbs of fat you gain you'll lose the next week, and then you'll be even leaner when you roll into the New Years.
Fat loss expert Alwyn Cosgrove just asked on his blog "Do you want to be the hot girl in the little black dress at the New Years party that everyone is talking about?" There's 12 weeks of training between now and then.
Or do you want to gain 8lbs over November and December like most Americans?
Waiting for January to make a new New Years Resolution is a mistake.
Set yourself up for the holidays by making smart food choices now. I recommend reading Tosca Reno's Eating Clean.
Get on a smart workout program now. I always recommend for guys to get Men's Health writer Craig Ballentyne's Turbulence Training, or for girls to get my own 8 week fat blasting workout program: The Stubborn Seven Pounds.
By Josh HillisAuthor of How To Lose The Stubborn Seven Pounds
National Academy of Sports Medicine Certified Personal Trainer (NASM-CPT) and Performance Enhancement Specialist (NASM-PES), and currently studying the Corective Exercise Specialist (NASM-CES) course.
Josh is a kettlebell instructor and personal trainer in Denver, Colorado.
© Joshua Hillis 2007