9 of 30 Things to Stop Doing To Yourself and Start Doing For Yourself

Stop trying to buy happiness. – Many of the things we desire are expensive.  But the truth is, the things that really satisfy us are totally free – love, laughter and working on our passions.


It's even harder these days to keep up with the "Jones es".  Do you feel you have to make more, have more, buy more to feel happy?  You know the saying you can't take it with you and your money won't be at your bedside when you are dying?  How many people do you know that were devastated over the past few years and may have lost all their expensive, big houses.  Some have recovered only to find that all that stuff is not the key to happiness, but the love of the family and friends when the tragedy occurred was more important.  WM of PBC


Start enjoying the things you already have. – The problem with many of us is that we think we’ll be happy when we reach a certain level in life – a level we see others operating at – your boss with her corner office, that friend of a friend who owns a mansion on the beach, etc.  Unfortunately, it takes awhile before you get there, and when you get there you’ll likely have a new destination in mind.  You’ll end up spending your whole life working toward something new without ever stopping to enjoy the things you have now.  So take a quiet moment every morning when you first awake to appreciate where you are and what you already have.


It's great to dream, but don't put off living in the now and enjoying what you have and who you have in your life.  Don't always think that what is just out of reach is so much better than what you have now or you will never appreciate where you have been or what is happening today.  WM of PBC

Balancing Act

If you get dizzy or lose your balance from time to time, you're not alone.  More than 90 million adults 17 or older share your experiences.  "The big thing with dizziness is you have to figure out where it's coming from," says Krista Bohlen, MPT, a physical therapist with Penrose.  "Once you know where it's coming from, then you can treat it."
If a lack of balance stems from vertigo - a conflict between the signals sent to the brain by various systems of the body - a physical therapist can use techniques to actually retrain your brain to decrease the dizziness and enhance your coordination.  Therapy also helps you strengthen the senses you use to maintain balance to compensate for the inner-ear disorder.

If you find that losing your balance is not because of a health issue, then you can begin an exercise program that will enhance your balancing capabilities.  Remember watching a little toddler and how they can balance on one foot and sometimes fall over, the point being, we were are most balanced when we were younger.  Balance is something that we have to work on consistently.

I teach balancing exercises regularly to clients and they are very surprised at how unbalanced they have become over the years.  Balance can help you when you hit a slick spot on the ice.  Balance can help you when you are caught off guard and step off the curb not so gracefully.  Balance can help you when you get out of the shower and slide across the wet floor.

I also do presentations on balance.  Contact me if you are interested in a program or presentation.

Help for Varicose Veins

I just had a client who had some vein's burned out and she was off work for a month.  I have also had former clients with varicose veins and it was not fun thing to experience.  They have had surgery and was also down and out for almost a month.  Some may think that having the surgery was just to remove those ugly blue and red enlarged veins.  Having the surgery isn't just for vanity, there are some serious health issues that come with varicose veins.  According to Laura Kissell, MD at Penrose hospital  "Not only can they be painful, but they can lead to skin ulcers and blood clots, which can be fatal".

Here is what she says about the goal of treatment.  "Veins take blood from the body back to the heart.  If the valves in the veins of the legs are damaged or weak, blood can leak backward and pool in the veins - causing varicose veins.  Treatment blocks off or removes the leaky veins so that blood can't back up.  Then the remaining healthy veins take over blood flow.

Laura Kissell, MD also states the various treatment options that she offers;
First, we try compression stockings for three to six months.
If that doesn't work, we may try sclerotherapy, where we inject a chemical that seals off the vein to stop the blood flow.
We also can use lasers or radio frequency ablation to treat larger veins.  During this procedure, we put a tiny tube into the vein and, using a small probe with a heated tip, we close off the large vein that's causing the varicose veins.
Finally, we can remove the lumpy, bumpy veins with phlebectomy.

Varicose veins are not just an ugly sight that we want to get rid of, there can be serious health complications.  If you or someone you know has varicose veins, have them talk with their doctor.

8 of 30 Things to Stop Doing To Yourself and Start Doing For Yourself

Stop berating yourself for old mistakes. – We may love the wrong person and cry about the wrong things, but no matter how things go wrong, one thing is for sure, mistakes help us find the person and things that are right for us.  We all make mistakes, have struggles, and even regret things in our past.  But you are not your mistakes, you are not your struggles, and you are here NOW with the power to shape your day and your future.  Every single thing that has ever happened in your life is preparing you for a moment that is yet to come.

Have you ever just sat down and said WHY?  I have so many times in my life.  I have struggled, regretted and even thanked myself for going through the times I have.  I didn't grow up with a support system and relied heavily on myself to get through all the tough times.  I didn't fair to well on some of life choices but I don't berate myself because of them.  I had me to work with and what I knew and could deal with at the time.  I learned from everything I have encountered in my past and that has allowed me to learn even more about me and how I want to live my future.  WM  of PBC

Start being more polite to yourself. – If you had a friend who spoke to you in the same way that you sometimes speak to yourself, how long would you allow that person to be your friend?  The way you treat yourself sets the standard for others.  You must love who you are or no one else will.


When you start realizing that self sabotaging thoughts will get you nowhere you want to be, you will then start to catch yourself when you say something degrading.  The first step is realizing it, then stopping yourself and think about what you are saying.  If it just isn't true then acknowledge with something that is true.  For example; if you say I always feel like crap.  Do you really always?  Recognize it when you say it and then recant with something like, well that was ridiculous, of course I don't always feel like crap, there are plenty of days when i feel spectacular and this is one of those days.  WM of PBC 

10 Ways Band Training will help you reach your fitness goals faster in 2012

Great post by the Band Man Dave, I use his bands in my training sessions all the time.
1.  Start training with bands TODAY!!  I know this seems pretty basic but when I first saw bands I thought they were another silly fitness gimmick.  That was 1996!!   They are not a gimmick and they get results quickly.  I tried his bands during a bootcamp conference in 2009 and he is very impressive, they can be used for any fitness level and work really well for group training.  
2.  Start stretching with bands especially through the hips. Fitness success over 40 will be a direct result of maintaining your joint mobility and muscle flexibility.  The #1 reason men saw me in physical therapy was because they had lost their mobility and as a result their joints, disks and cartilage were paying the price.   You are not going to beat mother nature but you can definitely slow her down.  Start stretching with BANDS!!  I use some of the heavier bands that wouldn't normally be used by my clients to have them do some really great stretches.  Flexibility is very important as we age and helps us be more mobile.  
3.  Eliminate shoulder pain by starting to do overhead pressing and pushing with bands and not just with weights.  Bands allow you to press without putting a high degree of pressure on the rotator cuff which is easily the most injured structure in the shoulder.  Plus you will train end range stability which is where the rotator cuff becomes weakest as we age.  Bands do allow you to increase your range of motion further using slower movements.  
4.   Adding band circuits to your dead weight training will take the pressure off your joints but still allow you to really feel the burn.  I’m not a body builder but I like to keep my body looking good as I am sure many of you do.  Unfortunately, doing dead weight muscle isolation training is not tolerable to the body as we age.  Fortunately bands are and since muscle's are dumb, they won’t know the difference between band resistance and dead weight resistance but I promise your joints will.  I like integrating bands into the clients session instead of weights sometimes, they can work harder with more stability.
5.   Take the load off your back and start squatting with bands.  Squatting is one of those exercises you want to be able to keep doing for a long time because of its strong carry over into function.  Unfortunately dead weight will be hard on your back.  Band front squats, RDLs and lateral lunges keep the hips strong and healthy without killing your vertebral disks in your back.  When you squat with a barbell and you are weak you open yourself up for injury, you can start training with bands and it stays closer to the center of your core which helps stabilize you more.
6.   Staying quick goes a long way in keep our body orthopedically safe.  If you can maintain your agility and quick reaction you can prevent a lot of potential injury causing events like slipping, tripping or buckling that lead to ligament, cartilage, and joint trauma.  Making sure those proprioceptors do not become dormant is pretty important and can easily happen if we forget to train them.  Training slow with dead weight will make you a slow.  Training reactively with resistance bands will keep you quick and ready at all times.  Remember the erasure drills?  Try working in some reactive training with bands and see how effective it can be.
7.   Drop the sit-ups and start training the abs the way they were intended to work.  Bands not only can increase the isometric stabilization exercise intensity, they can also train the abs to become reactively strong which will make your low back and other joints very happy at the same time.  Sit ups and crunches set you up for risk of injury.  Crunches accentuates the same movement of sitting crunched over a desk all day.  Training the abs with isometrics and with bands will increase your core strength and help stabilize you much better.
8.   The key to a successful program is consistency.  You are going to have times when getting to the gym is simply not going to work.  Or there are those times when all you want to do is go by yourself some place like a park or your basement and just get after it.  Create a simple home band gym that can go where you want to go and therefore never miss a workout.  Some of my best workouts are when I go to the park or into my band gym early in the morning.  Using bands in a workout is affordable, time efficient and effective.  I can create an exercise program based just on bands that you can do anywhere, at home, while traveling, at work and yes at the park.
9.  Experiencing an amazing body transformation, means getting everyone around you on board.  My wife joins me 2 times per week to work out.  Having her onboard with band training, makes it super easy for me to stay motivated knowing she is working hard at keeping herself in great shape.  All three of my children train with bands and I feel will always make fitness a part of their life as a result of this training. I promise once you get started, they will follow and make it easier for you to keep pushing.  Bands can be used by people of all fitness levels and kids can use them too without the worry of them using weights when they may not be strong enough yet.
10.  There is no better tool to perform partner training with then bands.  Nothing pushes you more than having a friend who is pushing as hard as you are hooked onto the other end of that band.  I train with one of my greatest friends every Wednesday and we get after it using band.  The change of pace is a weekly game change.  I use bands in my workouts and the clients can team up and it teaches them how to exercise in conjunction with another which also teaches them how to stabilize when someone else is moving.


Bands are a great way to challenge yourself and is time efficient, affordable and packs easily for travel.  If you are interested in purchasing bands or an exercise program with bands click here

7 of 30 Things to Stop Doing To Yourself and Start Doing For Yourself

Stop being scared to make a mistake. – Doing something and getting it wrong is at least ten times more productive than doing nothing.  Every success has a trail of failures behind it, and every failure is leading towards success.  You end up regretting the things you did NOT do far more than the things you did.


When we were children we didn't even think twice about trying something new, about reaching for something just out of arms length.  What happened when reached?  We either touched it or we fell.  We either picked ourselves back up or we sat there crying waiting for someone to pick us up.  Fast forward 20 years, do you still reach for things or do you just cry about not be able to touch it?  Oh, I have reached and fallen so many times and I use to think why didn't that work for me.  I wish my life growing up would have been different and I didn't have to make so many mistakes, but I learned the biggest lesson of all and that was how to take care of me and love me, not depend on anyone else.  Life is wonderful when you have loved ones around but life funtabulous when you love yourself and you have loved ones around.  WM  of PBC

Start valuing the lessons your mistakes teach you. – Mistakes are okay; they’re the stepping stones of progress.  If you’re not failing from time to time, you’re not trying hard enough and you’re not learning.  Take risks, stumble, fall, and then get up and try again.  Appreciate that you are pushing yourself, learning, growing and improving.  Significant achievements are almost invariably realized at the end of a long road of failures.  One of the ‘mistakes’ you fear might just be the link to your greatest achievement yet.


I continue to make mistakes, albeit not as drastic as when I was younger, because I know me and the waters I may be testing.  I love pushing myself and seeing how far I am willing to stretch my arm out to touch.  I still get scared, I still think what if, but I am happy that I am willing to give it a try knowing it may or may not work.  What are you wanting to do and keep putting off?  TRY IT.  WM of PBC

Five Weird Ways To Lose Weight

It lays there, motionless and lifeless.  It beckons you, though, every morning to step on it.  It lies to you…
Every day, you faithfully step on it and turn your head, taking in a deep, soothing breath.  Then you look…
You may be surprised or HORRIFIED by what you see.  Your SCALE lies to you constantly.

It NEVER seems to change.  Maybe a pound or two, but for some reason it ALWAYS COMES BACK.
It mocks you and your weight loss attempts.  But now you have the power to FIGHT BACK.  You may know the scale as your WORST enemy.  Let me explain…

The Battle With Your Scale
If the scenario above rings a bell, then you may have experienced weight loss or weight gain success or failure.  The scale may be the WORST measure of your health and fitness.  Granted it does provide numbers, and sometimes those numbers drop.

But what it does not tell you is HOW FAT you are.  Weight may fluctuate every day or every minute of every day.  But remember, a scale measures EVERYTHING in your body.  From your FAT to your bones and everything in between!  The scale may give you accurate readings of EVERYTHING going on inside of you. 
But it makes you frustrated.  You get mad…  You may even SCREAM at the top of your lungs, “you worthless, f#%$@ scale."  Today, you need a NEW alternative.

A new way to measure success and a new way to make yourself FEEL GOOD!  These tips may take you on the road to happiness…

Weight Loss Trick #1: Throw It Out The Window
That’s right folks, step one is to throw your scale out the window.  Stepping on the scale may be your breaking point to weight loss success or failure.  When you focus solely on numbers, you may find yourself frustrated when the pin does not move.  Or if the pin moves…IN THE WRONG DIRECTION!  The scale is nothing more than a way to weigh everything inside of you.  It doesn’t determine how much FAT you have, compared to your lean mass.  It may determine how much WEIGHT you lose, but does nothing to determine how much FAT you have lost.  Losing the LBs is important, but the more important number might be how much FAT is covering your metabolism-boosting lean muscle.

Weight Loss Trick #2: Find Out Your Bodyfat
Not for a suit or a pretty new dress (but that may come later).  You should get your body fat tested.  By finding out how much fat mass you have, compared to lean muscle, may be a better judge as to where your weight loss stands.  More fat may mean an increased risk for chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, or more.  And higher fat levels may indicate that you may have more visceral fat.  As a review, visceral fat surrounds your organs
And may be EXTREMELY harmful to your health!Increased levels of visceral fat may increase your risk for heart disease and diabetes.  So you now have your numbers.  What do you do with them now?  Now it’s time to implement your exercise and dietary changes.

Weight Loss Trick #3: Include More Protein, Fiber, And Fruits And Vegetables Into Your Diet
Protein may provide the building blocks you need to SUCCEED.  Protein provides amino acids that may increase lean mass on your body.  Heard the myth muscle turns INTO fat?  It is not true (to set the record straight).  When your diet sucks and you may be lacking calories, then your body starts to USE your muscle as a source for energy.
Your body thinks you are starving!

And starvation may cause your body to keep your FAT stores, since they may possess a greater amount of STORED energy.  This may cause your METABOLISM-BOOSTING lean muscle to suffer.  Increasing protein may increase your lean mass, possibly BOOSTING your metabolism - even WHILE WATCHING TV.  That’s right, the more muscle you have may INCREASE your resting metabolic rate.  And this may lead to WEIGHT LOSS - especially burning your unwanted FAT STORES.

Click here for an easy way to increase your protein throughout your day.

More circulating amino acids may build more lean mass (in combination with a solid strength training workout) and it may actually suppress your appetite!  This may lead to fewer calories eaten, BOOSTING your energy levels and your metabolism.  And speaking of muscle…

Weight Loss Tip #4: Exercise For Weight Loss (excluding boring old cardio)
There is a new method of exercising, which is GIVING TREMENDOUS RESULTS!  And it is very simple.
But first, if you do not exercise the best advice is to START.  One of the most effective ways to burn extra calories and fat may not be by using a treadmill, bike, or the stepper.  Intermittent bouts of high-intensity exercise may be your answer to strip away YEARS OF UNWANTED BELLY FLAB.  But it does not happen overnight.  You have to work at it!  Movements which target the whole body but done back-to-back with very little rest time in between exercises, may boost metabolism-boosting muscle.  This may boost heart rate, jumpstart muscle building, and DESTROY YOUR FAT CELLS.  The best part: you may still be burning calories - for days on end.  And this may lead to greater weight loss and a slim, sexier you!

Weight Loss Tip #5: Stimulate Your “Good” Hormones To Work CORRECTLY
Your fat cells release hormones every day.  And they are powerful hormones which may control your appetite and determine your need for more energy (energy = food).  But due to the way you eat or how much/what you eat, your cells may become inflamed.  And if they are inflamed, then chances are they may now be dysfunctional.  And that spells T-R-O-U-B-L-E for your weight loss.  Inflammation may prevent your cells from responding to certain hormones and others that cause you to eat more.  And this may lead to weight gain.  But there may be way(s) to stop this from occurring.  You may need to change your diet and add in superfoods, which may slow inflammation and possibly return your fat cells to normal.  Superfoods may contain TONS of antioxidants which like to eat up free radicals.  

Free radicals are dastardly little molecules which roam around and may cause inflammation and DAMAGE

But you need to eat A LOT of fruits and vegetables in order to get the same ORAC value as Krill oil or a Greens supplement.  But hope is not lost.  Increasing your fruits and veggies may give you enough antioxidants to possibly reduce the damage caused by free radicals.  Arm Yourself  Your fat is not the enemy.  But your scale may be!  Including these five tips into your weight loss arsenal may spell success or failure for burning your spare tire.

Remember, a scale gives you a measurement of EVERYTHING inside you.  And those numbers may fluctuate from day-to-day or even from morning to night.  Changing your eating habits to increase protein, fruits and veggies, and fiber may increase your FAT CELLS' ability to regulate POWERFUL hormones responsible for weight loss.

You now may have the perfect weapon against weight loss.

You may be arming yourself with the BEST possible list to burn stubborn belly fat and BOOST your metabolism like you have never seen before!

Go ahead and give your scale THE OLD HEAVE-HO!

6 of 30 Things to Stop Doing To Yourself and Start Doing For Yourself

Stop trying to hold onto the past. – You can’t start the next chapter of your life if you keep re-reading your last one.

Everyone has a past, good or bad, but its just that; its the past.  We can use the past to define our future or we can CHANGE it.  How many people do you know play the victim role?  Their life is surrounded by this happened to me, that happened to me, and its still happening to me.  Step outside the victim role and rethink the things you are attracting, only then can you start to change what your future may hold, instead of the past holding you.  WM OF PBC

Start noticing and living in the present. – Right now is a miracle.  Right now is the only moment guaranteed to you.  Right now is life.  So stop thinking about how great things will be in the future.  Stop dwelling on what did or didn’t happen in the past.  Learn to be in the ‘here and now’ and experience life as it’s happening.  Appreciate the world for the beauty that it holds, right now.


Get that bucket list out and start doing some of the things on it.  Don't wait for retirement to do things you would love to do.  We don't know what the future holds and if you wait on the future to enjoy what you can do right now, you may find regret when you get older.  If there are things you want to do physically when you get enough money, when you get enough time, when you figure it out, DO THEM.  What happens if you lose your physical capabilities and didn't even try when you could?  Don't regret living life when there is no reason not to live it TODAY.  WM OF PBC

5 of 30 Things to stop doing to yourself and start doing for yourself.

Stop trying to be someone you’re not. – One of the greatest challenges in life is being yourself in a world that’s trying to make you like everyone else.  Someone will always be prettier, someone will always be smarter, someone will always be younger, but they will never be you.  Don’t change so people will like you.  Be yourself and the right people will love the real you.


I love this because so many people especially women try to be what their parents want them to be as they grow up, what the newest model looks like, what their spouses want them to be in their relationship.  The mold of being someone else needs to be broken.  I have had clients find their power within and start to figure out who they.  WM of PBC


Start being yourself, genuinely and proudly. – Trying to be anyone else is a waste of the person you are.  Be yourself.  Embrace that individual inside you that has ideas, strengths and beauty like no one else.  Be the person you know yourself to be – the best version of you – on your terms.  Above all, be true to YOU, and if you cannot put your heart in it, take yourself out of it.


It's never too late to start being yourself.  If you have lived a life of everyone else's expectations, its time to start living YOUR life.  It can get scary growing up at any age.  This one resonates with me because I lived a fast, hard life and didn't know who I was until I started really going within to find out what kind of person I truly wanted to be.  I didn't start living MY life until my late 40's and I would never go back to living how I thought I was suppose to or just had to in order to survive.  If you don't like the person you've grown into, change it, do it differently.  It really is that easy.  WM of PBC


Great article from http://www.marcandangel.com and I've added my own opinion

4 of 30 Things to Stop and Start Doing for Yourself

Stop putting your own needs on the back burner. – The most painful thing is losing yourself in the process of loving someone too much, and forgetting that you are special too.  Yes, help others; but help yourself too.  If there was ever a moment to follow your passion and do something that matters to you, that moment is now.

Think back to when you first started dating and how you did things just because the other person liked it.  You may not have involved your friends alot or did outside activities without the new love of your life.  Do you still that?  Do you still do things just because the other person does, or do you pursue your own interests also?  Usually the first 6 months of a new relationship dictates how it will go and what types of activities you will do with each other.  Don't just do what everybody else wants to do.  Don't always say you will get to doing what you like when you get the time.  WM of PBC

Start making your own happiness a priority. – Your needs matter.  If you don’t value yourself, look out for yourself, and stick up for yourself, you’re sabotaging yourself.  Remember, it IS possible to take care of your own needs while simultaneously caring for those around you.  And once your needs are met, you will likely be far more capable of helping those who need you most.

Be there for yourself as well as others.  Think about something you use to do and really liked and then find a way to start doing it again.  Have outside interests other than your families or spouse.  Take care of your health so you are at your best when someone else needs you.  WM of PBC

Great article from http://www.marcandangel.com and I am commenting on what you should stop doing to yourself and what you should start doing for yourself.