HOW BODY FAT HAS BECOME THE NEW RELIGION

Body fat has become the new “opiate of the masses.”

Or at least, the modern day opiate of the female masses. Back in Karl Marx’s day, religion was what kept people quiet and afraid. It kept them docile, malleable, and controllable. But religion doesn’t really serve that purpose anymore, and while I wish I could say that’s because we’re finally free of oppression, the truth is we’ve simply acquired new sources.

Nowadays, the thing that keeps women controllable and afraid is the feeling that their bodies aren’t good enough. Specifically, the feeling that they have too much body fat, or the wrong kind, or in the wrong place. This preoccupation with our own fat keeps many women feeling powerless, insecure, and eager to hand over their power and money to anyone who offers them a quick solution.

Diet pills and workout plans have become our modern-day “reparations.”

Read More

LIFT WEIGHTS, CHASE ETERNAL GLORY

I sat down to write about the things that feel good to me about working out. One of the messages that I’m absolutely passionate about spreading is that your choice of exercise should feel good to you. Not after, like “I’m glad I did that,” or “I like seeing the results,” but actually during your workout… the endorphins, the feeling of embracing a challange and succeeding, and the pleasure of moving your body should feel delicious.

I planned to write a list of the myriad reasons that working out feels good, but I got sidetracked by one singular idea: every workout, I am essentially chasing 3 to 5 seconds of absolute, soul-changing glory. I may work out four days a week for 45-60 minutes, but it is always in pursuit of those moments of glory, the last rep of a heavy lift, that I crave so deeply. The whole thing… the coffee, the warmup, the mobility drills, the work sets, the whole damn thing is done so that I may come alive for 1-2 “money reps,” maybe just once in each workout.

What is a “money rep?” It’s the moment at the end of your set when you’re not sure if you can do another rep but then you give it your absolute all. It also happens to be where real gains in strength and muscular development are made. I know myself and my body pretty damn well at this point, and I typically won’t attempt a rep that will fail if I don’t want to be training to failure (which I usually don’t), so I very rarely miss an attempted rep. That having been said, there is a moment sometimes during that last rep when I’m not sure I will succeed. But it is exactly that moment, as the barbell is slowing down and I’m not sure if I can make it, that holds within it the eternal glory I’m chasing.

Read More

WHY I’M GAINING FAT

“Fat,” when used as an adjective is supposed to just means that a person has too much body fat. How much is too much? That depends who you ask, but we all have to have body fat. In a healthy range, body fat is neither good nor bad. It just is.

15 months ago, when the below photos were taken, I had a very low percentage of body fat. I was light in both spirit and body; it was a playful, restful, easy, anxiety-free time in my life. My habits, shape, and size reflected that.

As you can see, my waist measurement back then was around 24.5 inches. Throughout this year, while I’ve certainly fluctuated here and there, I’ve been comfortably hovering around 27 inches. Sleep and rest and self-care got pushed to the far back burner while I was in school and building my business. It was a stressful and productive year. Again, my habits, shape, and size reflected that.

But this week I measured at almost 30 inches. I’ve been noticing my weight slowly creeping up recently based on how I look and feel, too. Other than the total 5 extra inches around my waist, I can tell I’m carrying more fat now by the way my clothes fit, the way I look naked, and the number on the scale. Here are a few photos taken in the last week or two, just for comparison.

Read More

HOW TO ABSOLUTELY CRUSH IT AT RELAXING

When most people think of relaxing, they think of quiet spa days, massages, fluffy white robes, yoga, candles, meditation, and a gentle soundtrack of nature sounds: Ahhh, the Pinterest definition of relaxation.

Not me, though. All that stuff kinda gives me anxiety. Seriously. I feel stir-crazy trying to lie perfectly still during a massage, and I’m not into all the gentle passive shit. I’d much rather deadlift to hip-hop than do sun salutations to Enya. I am, shall we say, too energetic. Driven. (Ok, maybe “aggressive.”) I like to crush it at life, and I find it impossible to just suddenly drop all that and zen out, just because there are babbling brooke sounds in the background. But that doesn’t mean I don’t value relaxation.

Knowing how to relax, in today’s overly revved-up world, is a super important skill.

Firing up the parasympathetic nervous system  is actually one of the most important aspects of the work I do with my clients. It’s truly astonishing how even small increases in deep relaxation can have such a profound impact on a person’s body fat percentage, ability to recover from workouts, confidence, self-expression, mental clarity, energy levels, and free-flowing joy.

Read More

TRAVEL WORKOUTS

It’s no secret I’m obsessed with smart and efficient workout programming.

The reason I talk about progressive overload so much is because I want you to feel empowered by knowing how to actually create physical changes in your body!

Most people work hard at ineffective workouts, and thus they conclude that there must be something wrong with their body, since it never changes. That’s the opposite of empowerment, and it sucks. By training according to the rules of science, you can not only see actual changes, you can also start to re-build trust in your body’s ability to respond appropriately to stimulus. (Hint: trust is a crucial component to learning to accept and love your body.)

The science is simple: your workouts must consistently and continually progress, aka become harder in some way, if you want to see consistent and continual changes in your body.

If you don’t want to see any changes, this rule doesn’t matter; just carry on doing whatever makes you happy.

But if you want changes of ANY kind, aesthetic or performance or otherwise, you’re gonna need progressive overload.

Read More

THE REAL REASON I’M LOSING FAT (THE ANSWER MIGHT SURPRISE YOU!)

This fall I wrote a blog post to share how and why I had been gaining body fat, and why I fully accepted and embraced it.

I was struggling with a lot of inner chaos, fear, stress, and sadness, and I trusted that I needed a little extra padding on me for protection. I knew that when I no longer needed to be protected, the fat would disappear again.

When I feel heavy on the inside I feel heavy on the outside.

This is perfectly normal and appropriate. My new belly fat wasn’t a problem, it was just a reasonable response to the emotional chaos I was working through. So I greeted it warmly, made it feel loved, and invited it to pose naked with me.

In December I did a naked photoshoot with my friend and photographer Chris. I showed up days after a breakup feeling puffy, pale, depressed, and exhausted. I told Chris to capture me exactly as I was; no smiles, no holding in my belly, no flexing, not even sitting up straight.

Read More

RELAXING: YOU’RE DOING IT WRONG!

“Self-care” has recently become a buzzword, but what does it actually mean?

I often hear clients say “I know I should do more self-care,” and I ask them what they mean by self-care. Their answers usually start with “Oh umm, I don’t know…” and end with things like “maybe eating healthier,” “probably get more massages,” and “take a vacation.”

Nobody ever says self care might look like sitting in a dark room and grieving for an old version of yourself that you’re letting go of before you start a new chapter of your life.

Nobody ever says self care might look like spending an hour at the shooting range.

Nobody ever says self-care might look screaming into a pillow, or writing an angry letter, or learning Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

But trust me, those are all perfectly legitimate forms of self-care, depending on who you are, what you’re going through, and what you need.

Read More