Life truly is a journey and not a destination!  Even though I’ve written and spoken these words, this phrase, numerous times I find it funny how it always surprises me when my journey takes me back to what feels like the starting line.  Making a bold statement to me that I had the nerve to think I had arrived.

Even though it’s not the same starting line each time, there are similarities to one another.  For me, the common thread would be body image.   I created my best body, and my strength in self and mind seemed unstoppable.  When conditions changed, when my body was taken down, the body image work I thought I had arrived at suddenly wasn’t so strong.  When I looked the way I wanted to, total confidence.  When that started to go away, doubt and insecurities.

I do not look like I want to.  I do not feel the way I want to.  This is not me, yet it is.  How do I love myself for all of who I am, when I’m not exactly who I am?  These are the questions I’m grappling with as I also heal some serious metabolic damage from my autoimmune disease and competing.

I’m ready to be in a place of vulnerability with our fitness community at Hell Bent.  It’s been a long time coming, but I think there is part of my journey, whether I look the fitness part or not, that can inspire you and I know YOU will all inspire me to keep moving.  I’ve been at this latest pit-stop just a little too long.

I am Jill.  I am enough.  I am healing…my mind, my body, my soul.

Summer Youth Athletic Training

General Details:

2x per week (duration will be 3 or 4 weeks)

30 minutes of speed training followed by 30 minutes resistance training (sign up will be either speed training, resistance training, or both)

Probable days/times are Tuesdays/Thursdays 9:30-10:30am

Location TBD (potentially King Park)

Ages: 11-15

Cost: $50-$80

Most of us have taken a road trip in our lifetimes.  Some of us more than others, but at some point we have gotten in a car and driven many hours to a particular destination that we had never been to before.  Most times, if not every time, we have had a specific destination in mind.  We picked this destination for some particular reason.  Whether it was for work, visiting friends and family or for a fun family vacation.  Imagine this was a place hundreds or even thousands of miles away.  Would we start this trip out by jumping in the car and begin driving until we found our destination without ever looking at a map?  This would not be a very smart or efficient way of arriving at our destination and there is a very good chance we would never get there.

Why do most of us continue to do this everyday with our own health and fitness goals?  Wait, but isn’t it good enough that I am at least doing something?  Do you know if that something is truly taking you closer to your goals?  Do you know what your goals are?  Would you continue to kill yourself doing hours of cardio on the elliptical or treadmill if I told you this activity was having the opposite effect of what you really want?  Maybe you are totally comfortable with the current state of your health.  Maybe you are totally happy continuing to do the same workouts day after day, week after week to maintain where you are at?    But, is comfortable really where you want to be?    Is there such thing as “maintaining” when it comes to your health?  The answer is no!  Everything in our bodies is in constant motion.  Either you are moving forward or moving backward.

Wait a minute, I have a bad back so I need to be careful or my massage therapist says my muscles are too tight and I shouldn’t make them tighter by lifting weights…WRONG!  Your back probably hurts because your core is weak.  Your muscles are tight because you have a muscle imbalance.  Your body is a complex machine made up of muscles, bones and connective tissue that is designed to work together.  If you have a tight muscle, there is a very good chance that this is the result of a compensation.  The muscle that should be doing the work is not firing appropriately or lacks strength so another muscle designed to assist is taking all of the workload.  What’s your plan to fix this?  I think I’ll just rest it.  How’s that working out for you?  Let me guess, your back still hurts or you still feel tight.  Have a plan!

Personally, my goal is to continue to move forward.  This requires a plan or roadmap to specific goals along the way.

Know your goals.  Have a plan.

If you need help starting your plan, we recommend HB Blueprint!

School lunch can be a source of stress for busy families.  The time to prepare.  What to prepare.  Will they even eat it?  Is it properly balanced?

Our family goes through these same struggles.  We decided to make some new items this summer and see if they were lunch box worthy.

Here is one that my kids just gobbled up.  When asked if we could include it for lunch this next school year we got an enthusiastic YES!

We’d like to share it with you:

   In a bowl with a cover (makes 2 servings):

put 1 cup unsweetened coconut milk (We use Trader Joe’s)

add 2 T dry chia seeds and a dash of stevia (also Trader Joe’s)

Let this sit for 3-4 hours (or overnight) for chia seeds to expand.   Place in an individual sized container and  add          unsweetened cocoa powder and a handfull of fresh or frozen berries.

Make sure your child’s lunch box is insulated and has an ice-pack.  Enjoy!

Check back here on our blog for more Lunch Box Chatter ideas.  We want to help busy families lead healthy lives!

Let us know how your kiddos (and yourself for that matter) feel about this recipe!

HB Fitness

After School Program

(Grades 6-8)

Fall Quarter

(Aug. 26-Oct.31)

Monday-Friday

3:45-5:30

3:45-4:00  Snack (bring own OR provided if purchased snack add-on)

4:00-4:15  Warm-Up

4:15-4:45  Conditioning Work-TRX/ladders/jumping (daily schedule will be provided)

4:45-5:00  Group Game

5:00-5:15  Homework Time

5:15-5:30  Clean-Up/Parent Pick-Up

*Reminder: We will follow MPS calendar.  There will NOT be after school programing on release days during the Fall Quarter session.

Any questions or concerns, contact Jason at:

612-203-2908 OR jason@hellbentfitness.com

I like to define words according to what they mean to me.  Have you ever noticed that we tend to speak the same words as those around us AND even though there may be an Oxford definition, since people all have their own filters of words based on personal experiences, we end up on different pages because of our definitions?

Well, here is what my definitions of FREEDOM and DISCIPLINE were back in 2005.

FREEDOM: the ability to try/do anything, unbound, stress-free, follow my own beat, I decide, “yes”

DISCIPLINE: keeping on task, day-to-day mundane schedules, focused, study, ‘to-do’ lists, ‘no’

I would say that I still define them similarly today.  The change I am having in 2013 is that I am acting on these definitions differently.  In 2005 I weighed 170 pounds, was searching for the quick fixes to give me my freedom, and really floundering.  I tried to deny taking care of ‘boring’ everyday business or taking care of myself.  I became so focused on the results, having variety, not getting stuck doing the same thing day in and day out that it was sucking the life, and freedom, out of me.

I thought that if I kept following my to do lists and being so rigid in my schedules, that I was somehow giving up being free.  As I learned to master more of my fear based filters and became more aware, I realized that following discipline was not giving up anything…I was making a choice.  A choice to take care of what needed my attention, so that I could move on and free up the space in my head, around my home, with my children, and more.  I learned how to make consistent CHOICES that were empowering and holding me accountable for what I really wanted!  I got the focus I wanted instead of trying to figure out how to be ‘free’.

It turns out, choice is the only thing any of us really have control over.  We can’t control the weather…or other people…or the circumstances that life throws us.  We can, however control our response and choice in any given situation.

Many people hit those plateaus in their workouts and healthy lifestyles they have started.  They get to the point they’ve always been before and think, ‘well here it is!  Again, just when I get in a groove, life throws this at me!’ Come on…I’ve been there.  I know this happens.  I also know you have a CHOICE.  A choice to let it consume and stop you…giving you the evidence needed to affirm your deepest fear…that success is not yours for the taking OR A CHOICE to say, NO…I will not accept giving in this time.  A CHOICE to stay consistent and see what you’re made of.  Fear stops us ALL THE TIME and we don’t even know it.  We’re on auto-pilot in a way that stifles our freedom.

Now is the time for you to embrace your daily ‘to-do’s’.  Choose to do them.  Choose to follow through on your workouts.  Choose to continue to move through what holds you back.  In creating your discipline, it will free up space for you to do all the things you never thought you’d have time for!

People think I’m a little crazy (I used to, too) for getting up at 4:00am 6 days a week to get my own workout in.  I CHOOSE this so I can keep to my promise and discipline to building my everyday body.  Although I still have fear based thoughts that show up, I continue to act on my commitment.  My discovery?  That in doing this one act of discipline, I realized that before doing my 4:00am workouts I had many unconscious space being used up in my mind about when I’d get it done…excuses that held me from working out…blah, blah, blah!  Now, I get it done and voila…FREEDOM!

Join us for consistent effort by coming to 3 HIIT sessions a week.  Always leave a day in between for your body to rest.  On those days you can get a little extra vitamin D with an outdoor walk, run, or ride!

Cheers to FREEDOM!

I’ll see you soon…

Jill