It's Not Too Late!!

So, did you eat way too much and exercise way too little over the recent holiday? Did you miss the January 1st window for making a New Year's Resolution? No worries! There's plenty of time! There's over 300 days left in 2016!

The clip below was originally posted on my Facebook page just before Christmas Eve, but besides the holiday music in the background, the workout is still a great one to help put a dent in the damage you may have done over the holiday.

So, take a few minutes and look at the video from start to finish and write down the exercises to help you remember them and then get started! Remember, if you don't have a kettlebell, you can use a dumbbell or a jug of laundry detergent! Many can be done just with body weight. No excuses!!

If you do the workout, post a few pics of your efforts in the comments section below!! I'd love to see the fruits of your labor!


RunnerDude's Holiday Tabata Workout from Thad McLaurin on Vimeo.

New Year's Resolutions: Avoid the BOMTICC Syndrome

You can tell it’s the New Year. Just drive by any fitness club or fitness center and the parking lots are packed. The big box gyms are full of well-meaning resolutions of starting the year with a better, healthier, and fitter you.

Drive by the same gyms in 2 months and you’ll see tumbleweeds blowing through the parking lots. The scientific name for the soon-to-be epidemic of bare parking lots is BOMTICC Syndrome (Bite-Off-More-Than-I-Can-Chew- New-Year’s-Resolution Syndrome.) What’s the cause of this peculiar, yet predictable phenomenon? Individuals with unrealistic expectations.

Opting for a healthier you isn’t rocket science but nor should it be an impulse buy standing in line at the super market. The following 10 simple tips will help you avoid becoming the next victim of BOMTICC.

1.  Be a savvy shopper. Be wary of the memorizing infomercials promising a rock-hard beach body in 6 weeks. Some of the latest Make-You-Fit-Quick products do provide results, but before shelling out a ton of dough, ask yourself if it’s right for you. The product may do as promised and make you leaner and stronger, but are you the type to stick to using an at-home product. Do you have enough drive and internal motivation to pick-it up and use it every day? If not, put the phone down and back away from the TV. Maybe you need to find a gym, fitness center or personal training studio.
2. Shop around for gyms. Not all gyms are made alike. Some are full of bells and whistles. There’s one huge chain of fitness centers in my area that has a name that puts me off from the get-go. The name itself makes me anxious. Makes me think I have to hurry and get done quickly. It’s also full of bells and whistles that are a little overwhelming. One friend described it to me as a “Chucky-Cheese for Adults.” I chuckled when I heard that, but he was right (for me anyway).  The point is that some gyms provide tons of bells and whistle and that may be just what you need. Other gyms may not have all the fanfare, but may provide more personal service. So, visit more than one gym before purchasing a membership, you may discover that the big box gym isn’t for you at all.
3. Go small. If you feel lost in a big gym, check out some of the small personal training studios in your area that provide one-on-one or small group training. You may pay a little more because of the one-on-one instruction, but you might be surprised that in some cases, you’re paying no more than what you would for a gym membership and personal training at a big box gym.
4. Get Educated. If you join a gym, take them up on the free personal training that often comes with a new membership. It may only be a couple of sessions, but take that opportunity to have a personal trainer show you how to use the equipment properly and with proper technique.Also, it's worth paying for a few personal training sessions (if not more) in order to be assured that you're getting well balanced workouts and weekly fitness plans.
5. Set realistic goals for yourself. Rome wasn’t built in a day and you didn’t get out of shape in a day either. It will take some time to begin seeing some results. Be patient. Make a long term goal as well as several interim short term goals. For example, maybe your long term goal is to lose 40 lbs and run a 10K by this time next year.  Now back up and set short term goals to help you get there. Check with your local running clubs and running stores to see if there are any beginningrunning groups starting in January in your area.  Then set up an appointment with a nutritionist or join a weight-loss support group (free or ones like Weight Watchers). Maybe you want to tackle the beginning running first and then meet with the nutritionist. It’s your decision, but set your plan up in incremental steps. Baby steps.
6. Brace yourself. Realize that the saying “No pain. No gain.” is pretty much true. That doesn’t mean you should suffer an injury, but if you’ve been a sedentary person, you’re going to feel some discomfort when beginning a new fitness program. The good news is that you will acclimate and that discomfort will subside. Most people suffering from BOMTICC Syndrome never stick with it long enough to experience the pleasure that comes from a good workout. When anyone (athlete or couch potato) increases the intensity of their activity, they’ll feel it. This is called the gain threshold. When you begin a new fitness program, you start it with your current level of fitness. When you add the new stresses on your body, you’ll feel sore and your fitness level will actually dip a little, but if you hang in there and keep up the workouts, in about 4-6 weeks you’ll pull out of that threshold and be stronger than you were when you started the new exercise.
7. Get your head in the game. Exercise is often as much mental as it is physical. If your head isn’t in the game, you’re not going to be successful. Yes, you’ll have down days. You’ll have days that you “fall off the wagon.” But, if you go into the new life of fitness with a true commitment and positive mental attitude, you’ll be able to pull yourself out of the lows and get back on track.
8. Tell your family and friends. Saying out loud that you’re going to start a fitness program makes it “more real” to you. Verbalizing it to friends and family makes you more committed to your goal. It ups the accountability level.
9. Find a workout buddy. Put the word out with your family, friends and colleagues that you’re starting a fitness routine and you’d like some company. It may that little nudge your cubical neighbor at work has been waiting for. Scope out your city for weekly fitness groups or running groups. Groups can help hold you accountable. Plus, you’ll meet new people going through the same struggles. (Be careful to find groups suitable to your fitness level. Hard corps boot camps may not be appropriate for one of your first short term goals.) No such groups in your area? Check with your HR department at work and see if they can provide some fitness classes. Remind them that healthier employees means less sick days taken.
10. Celebrate the small steps. When you reach those interim goals treat yourself. Not with food, but buy yourself that new pair of jeans or shoes you wanted, treat yourself to a movie (smuggle in your own air-popped popcorn), or take that weekend getaway. Pat yourself on the back and acknowledge your hard work when you reach your goals (big and small).

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All Yellow Muffins Are Not Created Equal

One of my many talents besides running is cooking. My wife is a 1st-Grade teacher and often doesn't get home until after 6PM from preparing for the next day (all you fellow teachers can relate, I'm sure). So, I usually play the role of executive chef. That's right, just call me Mr. Mom (I do laundry too).

Now tonight, like any other night, I was preparing dinner. Unlike most households, in our house, dinner doesn't begin with prepping the food. No, in our house it begins with clearing off the counter and doing yesterday's dishes (okay, I do laundry, but dishes just aren't my thing). But before the dishes can be washed, I have to get the plunger to unclog the sink that has backed up with water from the dishwasher. You see the garbage disposal broke about a year ago. Yep, it's on the to-do list of things to fix along with the leaky toilet, the broken banister, the front stoop railing that needs to be painted, yada, yada, yada. Anywho....tonight I was fixing one of my specialties—pork-n-beans and franks and corn bread. (I know, I know, but it's cheap and I use the fat-free franks.) I even added some canned corned to the corn bread mix. 

All's going well, but I keep smelling something that reminds me of banana bread. I ignore it because my 14-year-old daughter was also doing some holiday baking and I just assumed it was something she was cooking. So, now I'm feeling really good. Dinners cooking, the Christmas music is playing in the back ground, the kitchen is semi-clean and I'm spending time with my daughter. Not quiet a Rockwell moment, but close. Then my daughter asks me why I'm baking banana bread. Of course a perplexed look comes over my face as we both head for the trash can to find the corn muffin mix boxes. Yep, you got it. Chef RunnerDude has just prepared banana muffins with added corn to accompany his main entree of beanie weenies!

My daughter and I laughed and laughed and laughed. We said nothing about the mix-up to my wife, 18-year-old son, or my 9-year-old daughter. We had a big ole second laugh as we watched them discover the banana corn muffins. The expressions on their faces kind of reminded me of that face you make when you take a big ole swig of your long awaited cola only to discover it's tea, instead. Your brain's telling you it's one thing, but your taste buds are telling you something different.

You know what though? Those banana corn muffins weren't half bad!

My experience tonight with the banana muffins reminds me of something most runners are guilty of—ignoring the obvious. Often we'll feel a little twinge or pain and we tell ourselves that it's nothing and that it will go away. And, even when it's months later and we're still feeling that twinge we still continue to delude ourselves into thinking it's nothing. I know I've been guilty of it. Then when the pain becomes unbearable, we'll finally head to the doc to discover its something major that could have been prevented if tended to earlier.

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If it looks like banana bread and it smells like banana bread, then it's probably banana bread.

So, join me in making a New Year's resolution to be more in tune with the aches and pains associated with running, not to let those twinges go on too long, and to make an appointment with the doc when things don't clear up in a few days. Oh yeah, and to double check the muffin box before putting it in the cart. All yellow muffins are not created equal.