Day 1012 - It has been said .....

How often have we heard that phrase? In order to win you have to have confidence. To go one step further it has also been said that in order to have confidence one must posses a believe in one's self.

Now, this belief has got to be strong. There are certain things that a person can do to strengthen their belief in their self.Here is a real simple list.

• always be excited( if you can't get excited lock yourself in a closet and give yourself a pep talk!)
• treat people good
• don't listen to the gloom and doom crowd
• don't worry about things you can't control
• don't listen to what other people say
• don't worry about making mistakes
• get yourself a hero
• always be EXCITED!

Eight simple steps to having a belief in yourself. you owe it to yourself to practice these steps on a daily basis.

Today, was my second day of chasing 430 am. Since, the doors open to the gym now at 430am I have been making a push to arrive at that time. Today, I was on the machine at 450 am. I beat yesterday's time of 510 am. Tomorrow we go for 440 am- Cool-

I burned 1236 in an hour not good. However, I am excited to beat that tomorrow.

I am pumped up for day 1013!

Day 1011- Day Ten Eleven

With a fresh set of legs and some 19 hours of rest we burned 1281 calories in one hour today. I kinda sell myself short when I post how calories I burn. I really do cardiovascular exercise for more than an hour everyday. The reason I say that is because every time I workout after 60 minutes I cool down for five minutes.In those five minutes, I usually burn another hundred or so calories that adds to my total for that day.

Either way, I feel stupendous after the workout. I have come to realization that not many people will ever get where I am in terms of exercising everyday for as long as I have. I have also realized that not many have a desire to do what I have done. However, I still believe there are millions of people out there that have and are doing what I do and have done.

My question is......... Where are they???? They are not commenting on this blog. That is fine I write this just to offer motivation to both myself and readers.

Day ten twelve harks - The big Tuesday workout will present its challenges in 20 or so hours.

Day 1010- With every beat of my heart!

Gee, I have been doing that for about 2 and half years.Really? Two and half years. What have you been doing for the last 2 and half years? Eating the same ice cream? Going to a dry cleaners? Watching the same TV show? Same hair dressers? Same liquor store? Same supermarket? same restaurant?

Do you see where I am going with this? Number 1 your habits are taking you there. Number 2 whatever it is you have been doing I will bet out of the list I just gave you, you have not been doing that for everyday for the last 2 and half years. Maybe you have done it for 2 or 3 times a week for 2 and half years. But not everyday for the last 1010 days!

To quote my cousin Vinny, " I think I get the point." To quote further " No, you don't."

That is the same thing for 1010 straight days without a break!

Today I burned 1290 in an hour and did 1070 crunches on 25 hours of rest after working 11 hours yesterday. Not bad!

The gym opens tomorrow at 430 am. My goal is be there..... It will require a little sacrifice.

Day 1009- After a night of nostalgia we make our way to challenge ourselves one more time

Yes, let's compete one more time. Let us take this opportunity and ask ourselves what have we got today? We can give thanks for what ever it is we have and we can build on that very fact. My body has been tested time and again. In an incredible journey I have chosen to stay on this path. The road has been sweet and the fire still burns.

After a relatively brief rest, I have put myself in position to enjoy another workout. Realizing that my actions are perhaps strange and focus usually sharp. I want to compete one more time.

Yesterday, my results were not what I had hoped for as today I have a keen desire to exceed the totals of the workout. Burning only 1248 calories in an hour yesterday, is way off from what I usually do and are planning to do today.

The gym opens at 7 am. That is where I intend to be!

When door opened and I was there. Six fifty five am we started our workout. The goal was to hit 1300 in an hour. The minimum was to beat yesterday's 1248. So how did we do? We wound up right in the middle. Our goal was 1300 calories burned in an hour. We burn 1272 which was 24 more than yesterday.Also, yesterday I did 3 workouts in 20 hours. Today I rested 24 hours in between workout. Keep in mind, I went to bed at 125 am and got up at 525 am. So, I only had 4 hours of rest.

So the key factors are break time in between workouts and the amount of sleep before the next workout. They all play a role on how many calories get burned in an hour.

The next day we go after 1010- ten ten - How cool is that?

Day 1008 We are now at 1015 work outs!

That is all within 1008 days.That is a total of 1015 hours of vigorous exercise at least within the last 1008 days! Can I get an Amen? As I spent my day with people who ate normal meals I felt out of place as I watched them eat foods I have decided not to eat. I figure a lot of my life I spent doing what they were doing. Enjoying all the different tastes a person can get to.

I must admit, it was hard not to notice how much food there was and how much people were enjoying it. I simply sat there with my own food which consisted of strictly vegan. Having brought my own chopped carrots, cucumbers and anise. I was able to put together a salad that I topped off with sweet potato. I really felt great and just concentrated and enjoyed my food.There after there was tons of deserts which I had no trouble abstaining from. I had a nice cup of hot tea and felt relaxed and content.

So the day was done. I got up this morning around 425 am and waited for the gym to open at 545 am. Which is an hour later than normal. I eliminated the stretching part of my workout and was able to get right on schedule.

I was able complete my third hour of vigorous cardiovascular exercise within a 23 hours. What happened was from 745 am on Sunday until 650 am on Monday I workout for three hours of vigorous exercise--- Not bad and I feel awesome!

Today should be a day of watching people eat foods I do not eat and some socializing along with a good full day of daily toil.

Tomorrow we tackle day 1009. Three years is in the horizon.

Day 1007- Let's do two! There is a tremendous amount to be Thankful for

In honor of the holiday, which is today. I will show my appreciation for the strength that God has given me by working out for 2 hours today. I feel great and enjoy God's blessing. The gym opens at 8 am and I have the day off. Later in the day, I will be sitting more than standing so I mind as well be as active as I can when I can.

Life has a lot of subtle blessings if we take the time to look. I imagine there are a lot of people bustling around on this Thanksgiving morning getting prepared for the day's activities. The activities all center around eating and sitting. The traditional way in which this day is celebrated.

I on the other hand have a different thought process. You see I am an advocate for a healthy life style. An active way of carrying on the day by use of a good amount of energy.

In addition to movement I also have come to realize that the foods we eat aid in how we move or don't move. I chose foods that are non traditional. I tend to eat foods that have very little fat content and are water soluble. Fruits, vegetables and whole grains is my base diet. I have come to enjoy these foods and include them in my meals and celebrations.

You may think I am weird, or worse rude, but that is what I enjoy at this time in my life. A very healthy diet and a lot of exercise.

One other thing I have come to notice is the way people handle stress. What are the choices. Feeling no stress, eating a lot of unhealthy foods that offer temporary comfort, drinking alcohol or smoking. Those are all stress reducers that offer bad side effects especially for people who are older than 25 years of age. The body in my opinion has a great ability to bounce back when we beat it up at a younger age than it does when we age. I think we all know that.

Question? So why do we do it? Why to eat and partake in activities that hurt our bodies? That is a story for another day.

The clocks ticking I am psyched for the extra play time ......

Awesome, did 2 hours and burned 2,549 calories. I wish I could do that every day! Oh what a feeling! Did a few crunches, around 400. I wonder what is hard to change the action or the attitude toward the action? Example, let us assume someone does not like to do something that they know they should be doing. However, they eventually start doing what they should be doing, that's great! Although they really do not like doing it. You see their action completely changed but their attitude about doing it only partially changed. So, in my opinion it is harder to change the attitude than the action.

If there are changes that need to be made, it starts first, with attitude. Only two things determine our attitudes; what we think about and how we feel about what we think about. The great news is, we have control over each!

Day 1008 and work out number 1015 lie in wait.....

Day 1006 Oops, almost wrote 900 - Energy is the key!

Question is how much do you got? Funny thing is we all only have so much to offer the day. Then like some vacation days if not used they go away. Suppose you did know each day how much energy you had would you behave differently. Consider this, you not only know how much you have but you are told how you potential energy you have.

So now, the game is how do I tap into all that potential energy. Am I off base? Are we all not dying to know what we got? Energy is magical. We need it but yet we know so little about it.Our lives would be dramatically different without it. How do we get our potential energy. I am sure we all know how to use the energy we have but I would not be surprised that we leave so much of the potential energy.

While I was on the machine today during my workout one of the two members got off the machine he was on. The response of the other member who was still working out was- "That's it?" When he said that it hit me. I thought right is that it? Man, to me he left a lot on the table. It looked like to me he had a ton more to give. Oh well, so much for his potential energy during that workout.

Today, I hope I tapped all of my potential in burning 1273 calories in an hour. I beat yesterday's total of 1257 which was one of my goals.

We head towards Thanksgiving day and day 1007 - we are now 89 days from three years.

I have an extremely large amount to be thankful for.