Blast From The Past

No health and fitness message today. Just a quick story.

I celebrated my 28th Birthday last Thursday. I took the day off. Didn't even step foot in the studios. It was great.

I slept in a little. Had a big breakfast - my favorite meal of the day. Took a jog to the fountains in Forest Park. Laid by the pool. And topped it all off with dinner at Niche down in Soulard with my girlfriend.

It was an awesome birthday!

When I checked my email late in the day, an old friend's name stuck out like a sore thumb among the other hundreds of emails jamming my inbox.

Omar Santos. Everyone called him Omi.

I met Omi when I lived in New York City back in 2000. I got my first job as a personal trainer at the New York Sports Club(NYSC) on Wall St. He and I went through their training orientation at the same time.

We became quick friends and since we could train at any of the 50 or so NYSC locations throughout the city, we buddied up with our own training programs. We kept in touch for a couple years after I moved back. But we haven't spoken in 5 years.

He emailed to wish me a Happy Birthday. He said it popped up in his calendar so he googled my name and found my website, www.ftladue.com. He's been living in Guam working for Deloitte and Touche for the past few years. He sent a picture of Tumon Bay where he goes for daily swims in the ocean(It's pictured above).I immediatley became jealous.

He went on...

"How's business(es) going? I'm sure you're doing really well and bringing good health and fitness into people's lives. I remember you mentioning back in NY that you always wanted to run your own fitness club. All these years later, you're doing just that and that's awesome."

A feeling of joy and a sense of accomplishment came over me. Wow! I have always known I would be teaching fitness and nutrition and I would own my own business some day.

Man... I'm livin' the dream!!

And I have you to thank for it!

Over two and half years ago I opened Fitness Together here in St. Louis. (it seems like it was just 2 1/2 months ago). And since then we've grown our FT family by the hundreds. And I'm happy that you're apart of it. The jealousy from the island picture quickly dissipated.

While I was on my jog in Forest Park, I thought about the past five years. I have come a long way. Seen good and bad times. And I'm thankful for all of them. I'm thankful to have the support of my family and friends. I'm thankful to the support of my FT Team; Apryl, Josh, Nick, Lori, Kelly, Jon, Carey, Nate, Chad, and Christen. But most of all I'm thankful to YOU. Becuase you are truly why I'm here. And me and my team will continue to coach, motivate, and support you with your health, fitness, and nutrition.

Talk to you soon.

To your health,

Tim

For Women Over 40

Today I've got proof that aging can be defied. I’ll get to that in just a minute.

But I'll warn you again - this is only for women over 40 years of age. (But I wrote this and I'm a guy and under 40:-)

Do you want to be in the best shape of your life...to be in better shape than you were in your 20's?

Do you want to know how to have the lean toned body of an athlete?

Do you want to know how to overcome any obstacle getting in your way...even a pregnancy?

Then meet Dara Torres. If you watched any of the Olympic trials you know who I'm talking about. Go watch this youtube of her here.

Dara is 41 years old and recently set a world record. She is swimming against females half her age and medaled in her first Olympics back in 1984...before some of them were born! She looks like a Greek Goddess and is now set to medal in her 5th Olympic Games!!

Here's a little background on Dara:

-- She's 41 years old - a generation
older than most of her competitors.

-- She will go the Beijing Olympics as
the oldest-ever member of the US swim team.

-- She's a mother - and still has maybe
the most impressive abs I've ever seen
on a woman.

-- She's considered to have the purest
and most efficient swimming stroke...of
any woman in the world.

-- She's medaled in four consecutive
Olympics...Beijing will be her fifth,
and she's favored to at least medal,
possibly win the 50 meter freestyle.

-- She owns 8 Olympic medals

-- She retired from swimming after 2000
Olympics in Sydney...and now she's BACK!

-- And she is amazingly fit.

Not too shabby for a 41 year old mom.

I know what you're thinking. "Sure, she's a 41 year old fit mom. But she's an Olmpic athlete. She's gotta be some sort of genetic freak."

Well, to be an Olympic athlete I admit, you do have to have some genetics and God-given talent. But the fact is she has worked her @$& off to get where she is. Listen to what she said in an interview with Women's Health:

You've trained for the Olympics in your 20s and 30s. At 40, is your body responding differently?
"It's very difficult for my body to recover after workouts now that I'm older, so we have to keep them short, which means they're extremely difficult and intense(from Tim- this is why our clients drink Physique, for post-workout recovery). It sucks. I can't sit here and say that it's been easy making this comeback. It hasn't. I mean, there are days when I feel like I'm swimming with a piano on my back and I'm going to sink."

You see. She is human. Both you and I have days where doing another squat or walking another mile seems impossible. But just like us, Dara has those days.

So how do you overcome those days? Follow Dara:

How do you keep going?
"I think about the end goal. When I feel like my body is exhausted, I focus on making my fifth Olympic team so I can push through it. They may become harder to achieve, but your dreams can't stop because you've hit a certain age or you've had a child"

Awesome!!!

Just because you're 40, 50, or 60 years old doesn't mean a damn thing. Just because you've had 2 kids and don't have the body and fitness level you once had doesn't mean didley squat.

...unless you allow it to.

Sure, it's going to take some hard work. I mean, Dara didn't get BACK to the top of her sport at 41 years old without some good, honest hard work. But how bad do you want it?

How soon were you able to get back into the pool after having Tessa?
"Tessa was put on my chest just after she was born, and I was saying, "Oh, she's so beautiful." Then the doctor came in and the first thing I asked was, "When can I work out?" He thought I was kidding. He told me I could do aerobic exercise in 6 weeks. I said, "I have a swim meet in 3 weeks!" About a week and a half after I delivered, I had to do something, so I went to the gym to work on my triceps and biceps. Then around the corner, I saw my doctor, and thought, "You've got to be kidding me!" When he spotted me, I think he just gave up. He said, "Go ahead and swim!"

What's your workout routine like now?
"I do a lot of core work, and I work out on a Swiss balance ball. I train with a coach from the Florida Panthers hockey team, and my body has completely changed. It's a very fluid type of training, which is great, since swimming is a very fluid motion. In the weight room we concentrate on equipment that works a lot of different muscles at once. As for swimming, I'm now in the pool 5 days a week from 8 to 10 a.m. And I'm in the gym for an hour and a half, 4 days a week. Two days upper body, two days lower."

Dara wants to be the best swimmer ever! Even as a 41 year old mother. She's not using either as an excuse.

I find her story truly inspiring and hope you do too. Age, kids, work, lack of motivation, etc... These things can easily bog us down and lead us to believe that getting back in shape, toning and tightening up your muscles is impossible.

But it's not! And Dara Torres is living proof that you can accomplish your goals...even as an 'over the hill' mother!

You can do it,

Tim Chudy

P.S. Dara's journey back to the top has not been easy. Even she feels like she has a piano on her back at times. But she is still taking ALL the necessary steps to get back in shape. Core, weights, swimming, and she didn't touch on her diet but I assure you it's spot on. Her program resembles a lot of what we do here at Fitness Togther. If you would like more information on our 5 step system to getting your body back request a consultation. Or if you're not quite there yet request our infopack.

It Takes Two Days

When I was growing up my siblings and I were on the swim team. My mom forced us so we’d learn how to swim when we went down to the lake. I still think she did it so she could keep us busy for a couple of hours everyday in the summer:)

I had two or three coaches while I was on the team. But I remember Coach Widner. She always reminded us, “It takes two days to make up every day missed. So get in the water and swim!” When it was raining…we swam. When the water was frigid cold…we swam. Whenever we could increase the margin between us and them we would. Especially our rivals, the Lazers. We hated them;)

I’m not sure if Coach Widner was telling the truth or if she was just getting us into the pool. But I can tell you a day missed can set you back. Once in the groove our clients tell me this all the time. They hate missing workouts. That's so cool to see!

When our clients begin their program I always stress how important the first 30 days are. This is when you gain all your momentum! And I think you’d agree going downhill is a lot easier than uphill.

But let’s face reality. You will miss a workout. And that’s ok. But what’s not ok is not re-adjusting. When you miss a workout you must reschedule. Don’t fall into the trap of you can only workout in the mornings. Or you can only workout on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

No! You can only workout when it constitutes results. That’s the bottom line. That should be your barometer for if and when you exercise.

Results rule. Always.

It takes two days to make up every day missed.

Don’t get your priorities confused. Don’t fall short of your plan. Don’t fall behind and lose momentum.

Jim is pictured to the right fresh after his workout. You might think it’s a little weird that he’s wearing a polo shirt. But it’s not.

It’s commitment. It’s determination. It’s momentum.

You see, Jim was getting his car fixed (he’s a big car enthusiast) and his wife and him were carpooling. Well, once Jim got his car back, he caught himself in his car but without his workout bag. Knowing traffic on Manchester Rd. he wouldn’t have had enough time to go home and get it.

As he was walking into the studio Carey commented to me he was without his bag and was in street clothes. "What’s the deal?"

Jim wanted to workout. And he wasn’t going to let khakis and a polo shirt stop him.

That’s commitment.

And it is of NO surprise Jim is rockin’ it! He’s been training 5 weeks and hasn’t missed a day. He’s down 2% body fat, 2 inches in his waist, and has strengthened and sculpted his upper body.

He knows a day missed is NOT an option. He knows it will take him two days to make up that missed day.

Nice work Jim.

Now my question for you…

Where’s your commitment level right now? Do you let a different day of the week get in the way of your workout? Do you miss workouts because you don’t have the ‘right’ shoes? You can add in any excuse or rationalization you want. Everyone has a list. Even me.

So how do you get over your list? How do you get the momentum in your favor?

Here’s a tip. Write down YOUR list. Take a good hard look at it. Then, tear it into a hundred pieces and trash it!

Ditch the list!

When our clients start, they ditch their list. We hold them accountable and push through to the finish line so they look and feel better than ever!

Stay committed. Stay focused. And you will reap the results in the end.

To you health and fitness success,

Tim