∆ Here, you will find a consistent Motivation for Fitness. Whether your choice in fitness involves weights, dance, gymnastics, pole, cycling, running, yoga, silks, swim, HIIT, contortion, cheer, crossfit or anything in between; you'll find it here. Thank you!
I picked up the fitness bug while I was deployed in the Navy in 2007. It was my “I need to throw a rage fit and I probably shouldn’t kill the guys in my shop, so I’m going to go run until I puke, pick up heavy things until my arms drop off and then stretch until I fall apart.” Once I came back from deployment I was in and out of the gym with stunning irregularity.
Once I got out of the Navy and came home for good in 2009, I got fat and lazy. I gained a lot of weight and finally decided enough was enough in 2010… I was 28. I bought myself an elliptical (I loved using those things) and was quite dedicated to it. I lost weight from that and from becoming vegetarian. I learned to read my food labels and understand what I was actually putting in my face. And I took a long hard look at things labeled as “healthy, low fat, low calorie and diet.” I really LOOKED at them and then promptly threw them all in the trash. Junk. All of it. I learned that if it has a label I’m already looking at the wrong thing. Almost none of the food in my house comes in a box. I do buy bread (I eat 1 or 2 slices per day of whole wheat or oatmeal bread) and I do keep cereal around (100% organic bran flakes from The Silver Palate) that I only eat if I’m running REALLY late in the morning and can’t make myself a nice protein rich breakfast.
Then I signed up for a race. My first race. A zombie race. How could I resist? I mean… zombies… ZOMBIES!!! Who would say no to that??! Crazy people. Boring people. People who aren’t me.
I paid my money, booked my hotel, planned the road trip and then… realized I hadn’t run (really run) since the Navy. Oh shit son.
I laced up my shoes and went out for a mile run and nearly died. All of a sudden, 3 miles seemed like the most impossible task of my life. Who the fuck runs 3 miles???? 3 miles is like… stupid far. That’s outrageous. No way. I’m going to DIE.
But… I kept at it. 1 mile became 1.5 and 1.5 became 2 and so on. Next thing I knew, I was running 3 miles like nothing and up and up I went. I signed up for a half marathon. I started lifting weights and doing squats like it was my job.
So, here I am about 4 years later and still at it. I’m not the weight I’d like to be… but this big butt can run 15 miles at the drop of a hat and cycle for 50 without batting an eye lash. I can pick things up and put them down all day and I can do pull ups and chin ups and push ups like I never imagined I could.
I’m 31 years old and I’m in the best shape of my life.
Did you know that oats were once considered a weed? They were only fed to livestock and human consumption was only by the absolutely poor and only when starvation was immanent.
Did you also know there are six (count them, six) different varieties of oats!
For more information about our favorite breakfast food, click the picture or click this link.
The first YMCA in the United States opened on December 29, 1851, in Boston, Massachusetts.
It was founded in 1851 by Captain Thomas Valentine Sullivan (1800–1859), an American seaman and missionary. He was influenced by the London YMCA and saw the association as an opportunity to provide a “home away from home” for young sailors on shore leave. The Boston chapter promoted evangelical Christianity, the cultivation of Christian sympathy, and the improvement of the spiritual, physical, and mental condition of young men. By 1853, the Boston YMCA had 1,500 members, most of whom were merchants and artisans. Hardware merchant Franklin W. Smith was the first elected president in 1855. Members paid an annual membership fee to use the facilities and services of the association. Because of political, physical, and population changes in Boston during the second half of the century, the Boston YMCA established branch divisions to satisfy the needs of local neighborhoods. From its early days, the Boston YMCA offered educational classes. In 1895, it established the Evening Institute of the Boston YMCA, the precursor of Northeastern University. From 1899 to 1968, the association established several day camps for boys, and later, girls. Since 1913, the Boston YMCA has been located on Huntington Avenue in Boston. It continues to offer social, educational, and community programs, and presently maintains 31 branches and centers. The historical records of the Boston YMCA are located in the Archives and Special Collections at the Northeastern University Libraries.
