Think about it! Unshakable mountains surround us! Guess what, we did nothing to deserve it. That is God. Mountains serve us to protect us. Those mountains around Jerusalem were an advantage, those mountains made for limited accessed and protection. Those amazing mountains God created were on purpose and there for protection. I am extremely grateful to have God protect me from everything! Think about how incredibly beautiful mountains are and think about being completely surrounded by mountains.
“Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be shaken but endures forever. As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people both now and forevermore.” – Psalm 125:1-2
Think about it! Unshakable mountains surround us! Guess what, we did nothing to deserve it. That is God. Mountains serve us to protect us. Those mountains around Jerusalem were an advantage, those mountains made for limited accessed and protection. Those amazing mountains God created were on purpose and there for protection. I am extremely grateful to have God protect me from everything! Think about how incredibly beautiful mountains are and think about being completely surrounded by mountains.
0 Comments
“Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.”
– Ephesians 4:29 Most people have heard the saying if you do not have anything nice to say do not say anything at all. Most of us understand that concept when it comes to someone else, but what words are you saying about yourself? What are you saying when you look in the mirror? What do you say when you mess up? I know for me personally, I definitely could use more forgiveness and compassion in my self-talk. I have a tendency to be hard on myself and say negative things about myself, whether it is my body or my personality. I am good at building others, but I continue to tear myself down. Nutrition can be extremely confusing, it seem like it is always changing and there is a new enemy that will solve everything. Sugar and carbs are the new culprits and I put together some information from articles to help you understand more.
First, before we get too in depth let’s review go over added sugar and natural sugars. Natural sugars are those found in fruit, milk (lactose), and 100% fruit juice. Added sugar is found in processed or prepared foods, such as beverages, ready made cereals, and desserts. It may seem obvious that desserts would have added sugar; there is a gray area in most cases. Let’s look at yogurt. Yogurt has some natural sugar and typically has added sugar as well. The natural forms of sugar prove us with fiber, vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals (4). Fiber helps to tame the effects of sugar and improves the diversity of our gut (7). Increased fruit consumption, which contains natural sugar, is tied to lower body weight and a lower risk of obesity-related diseases (7). We are going to do a little exercise today.
Shin Splints are just a general term which can be any kind of pain in the shin area. Physically speaking it can be anything from small tears in the muscle, inflammation of the sheath, or inflammation in the muscle. But no matter what specific injury is, we can all agree pain in our shins is something we would rather not have. Below is a list of prevention strategies to help prevent shin splints:
Unfortunately injuries happen to everyone. Currently, I have a severe ankle sprain and an avulsion fracture. It is not the worst injury I have had, but for me it is still hard because it seems like everything that I want to do involves my ankle. Most of the activities that seem fun do not lend themselves to allowing my body to heal itself. I know that it is better to rest my foot and periodically attempt to write the alphabet with my foot (Watch out D, P Q and S I am coming for you!). So I am feeling stuck trying to figure out what is best to do as I still have a couple weeks, at least, before I can play volleyball and do other fun activities. Thankfully I am still able to bike at the gym. Even though I am not feeling 100% moving around just feels good. Sitting around and waiting for bones and ligaments to heal is not my idea of a fun time. I am really glad that I still can do some activity, but the whole situation is testing my patience. I have a short break from my classes soon and I am stuck here trying to figure out something to do. My normal go-to activities are not an option so I keep searching something to do, that’s both cheap and fun and honestly workout just seems to trump all. Even though the fitness industry is a big business and they want your money. There is no reason why fitness needs to cost anything. Fitness should be free- hence the reason I made some YouTube videos (hopefully soon I will get more camera problems :/ ). I have been adapting and working on improving my binge Netflix watching skills. Do not get me wrong my life is by no means awful, I am hanging out with friends, and doing games nights. It just doesn’t compare to playing sports in my eyes. If anyone else is going through an injury I feel for you, try to find something that you can do to keep your mind off it maybe its an exercise or maybe it is a new or old hobby. Hopefully you can stay patient and wait. Appreciate your body and everything it is doing right now. Use your time to rest up and become a better version of yourself when you come back - and yes that better version is open to your interpretation. <3 Jessica #GIGAC Tracking progress can be tricky. There is all this talk about SMART goals, and finding an objective way to track progress. Ask any fitness professional, they will be able to list a ton of quantitative measurements to track progress without hesitation. These quantitative measurements are nice tools because numbers are simple and help to see what is going on, and show progress. Although, some people get hung up on the numbers, and they can get very discouraged. Even though these measurements do not even get at the heart of the goal. Most people have health and fitness goals to live a certain lifestyle, whether that be the able to play with their kids, or having enough confidence to wear a bikini. It is really easy to forget where you started, which is why recording some numbers is useful, but one bad day or month can derail you if you are solely focused on numbers. I am a numbers person myself, and I have evaluated progress in a standard fashion: running faster, jumping higher, increasing my 1 rep max, statistics, and of course winning. Although, I have been noticing more holes in tracking progress this way. These measurements do not show the full picture. I still see the value in these tools, but for me right now I have been noticing that my performance has more to do with what is going on mentally more than physically. This makes me think that I should focus on a new tracking technique… smiling :). http://olympics2014schedule.wordpress.com/2014/01/26/sochi-2014-winter-olympics/ I absolutely love the Olympics! I love the atmosphere and excitement behind it all. These athletes have been dreaming about this moment for years- the chance to represent their country on the biggest stage in their sport. They have been training hard and preparing for this opportunity to compete in 2014. It is amazing how long people have been waiting for this opportunity and the respect shown during the games.
Although, I love the competition between these amazing athletes, my favorite part is the backstory about how they got to the Olympics, and how they pursued their dreams. Learning about their journey, about how the athletes got to the Olympics. The stories are Incredible with athletes training on roads because they so not have access to ice. Learning about the oldest and youngest athletes competing and their mindset during the game. Reading about athletes giving up their spots for other athletes whether because they wanted their brother/sister to compete or thought that a different athlete would better represent their country. It is heartwarming, and I could not image being in that position. It is incredibly humble to train that hard, but see the bigger picture and choose to let someone else compete. The Olympics truly reveal character in every way. I love how you would think all the stories would be about the person who got gold, but there is more to it. Examples of great sportsmanship and of people's stories are incredible. There are already a ton of incredible stories, and I am very excited to continue to watch more incredible stories of sportsmanship and perseverance. Confidence is a beautiful thing, although most people often lack confidence. a person’s confidence gets drained from a combination of things, such as other people’s comments, “facts” or “statistics,” and negative self-talk. Think about the most successful people, they are call confident, even with all the negative comments. Imagine talking to any famous athlete or a big time CEO as a child and they told you what they wanted to be. You would think that it was cute, but unrealistic. Instead of listening to society, they followed their dream no matter how outlandish the goal seemed at one point. Most successful people do not allow outside negative beliefs to penetrate their minds. They still know their value and capabilities.
It is sad that some people are so down on themselves they do not understand their worth. It is okay to stand out and be bold, “The righteous are bold as a lion” (Proverbs 28:1 NIV). Stand out for what you believe in, you are called to be confident and bold. You will never know what could have happened unless you act and go for it. If it was meant to take off and be your purpose it WILL. Keep in mind that failed attempts do not mean YOU are a failure or that it will never happen. Reassess and stay confident J Let me be clear, confidence is not cockiness. Being confident does not mean that you do not need other people, or that you are the greatest. An easy way to not be cocky is to be thankful. Being grateful and confident is by far the most attractive combination to find in a person. People are typically drawn to confident people, but will always want to come back to a grateful person. You are perfect the way you are - own it! Be yourself. You are loved just the way you are. Be confident and grateful, <3 Jessica #GIGAC I remember being shocked after reading the read an article, “Brain Sees Men as Whole, Women as Parts” on yahoo about a year ago. At first I didn’t think much of it, making excuses about the study. Now after some time has passed, reflecting on my thoughts, the comments, and the compliments to individuals of different genders, it is clear to me that there is some truth to women being seen as parts not a whole person. Not only are women more likely to see others as women, they are more likely to see themselves as parts. Focusing on one apart of their body, that is “not good.” The thigh gap craze, even the fake bikini bridge craze, shows how there is focus on the parts of the body not the whole person. There is a mindset of having the perfect legs or abs make the person more desirable to themselves and to others. It is absurd.
Although it may be more apparent in females, I can’t help but think that guys are seeing themselves as parts too. It seems like there are more pictures on social media of pictures of guys taking a selfies of their abs, and focusing on getting one part of their body smaller or bigger to reach the “perfect” body. No matter what gender you are, you are extremely valuable, as a whole person no matter what you look like (or one part of you looks like). I challenge you for this next week to only think about yourself and those around you only as a whole. It is easy to get sucked into the social media craze of posts with only parts of people showing, but resist! Anytime a thought comes into your head about a specific part of yourself, stop yourself and think about how great you are as a WHOLE person. Think about what you are able to do. Refocus on the positive WHOLE person that you are. Stop breaking people down and think about the personality of the individual you are breaking down. It may be shocking when you stop and realize how much you break yourself, and others down to parts, but the only way to stop the cycle is to monitor yourself. I was initially appalled at how often I break people down into parts, but after being intentional about viewing everyone as a whole I can tell I have a new healthier outlook on others and myself. I sincerely hope you try this for at least a week, and I hope you get a happy healthier outlook. :) You are an AMAZING person, do not let anyone, any media, or especially yourself tell you otherwise! <3 Jessica #GIGAC |
Welcome to
GIGA-Calisthenics! I hope you enjoy :) AuthorI am Jessica Hoeffner, an ACSM Certified Personal Trainer. I have a MS in Health Science and BS in Exercise Science. I love helping people achieve there goals and guiding them to allow them to see that nothing is impossible. Categories
All
|