Super Set Workout

I've been focusing on total body strength training recently with super sets.  That's two exercises back to back with little to no rest in between.  Super sets are beneficial for fat loss and strength maintenance.  Here's my workout today.  I'll post my weights, but please be sure to choose the best weight for your level of fitness.

Warm up 5 minutes rhythmic movement

3 Sets 8 Reps little to no rest
Assisted Pull Up
Push Up

Smith Machine Squat 65# in plates
Assisted Chin Up

Leg Press 300#
Static lunge with 40# barbell on shoulders
(each leg)

Barbell Bench Press 85#
Dumbbell Bent Over Row 30#

Finished with Dead Lifts 135#

15 minute 2 mile run.
(This was on a treadmill.  I pushed myself up to as fast as I could go 8.5 MPH  for as long as I could go then down to 6.0 MPH to recover.  As soon as I was recovered usually less than one minute I'd push myself up again.)

Finding Inspiration

Finding inspiration can be tricky business.  Sometimes it's all around you and it feels impossible to keep up with all the opportunities.  Other times you have to dig deep, use discipline  and work through even if you feel less than inspired.  The other tricky bit with inspiration is that you can find it sometimes quite unexpectedly.

I've been working with my Serious Weight Loss Clinic since November of 2012.  I have a few long timers who have come back to the clinic over and over again and we've all formed a strong relationship.  Our relationship is based on respect, honesty, and time working towards the same goals.  We've had disappointments, successes, tears, and cheers.  Leading this group of women has been an honor for me.

One of my ladies came to me feeling quite poorly about herself, though everyone around her saw her inner strength and determination.  During the class she struggled to look at herself in the mirror, eat on track, and to find a sustainable balance between eating and exercise.  Overcoming multiple struggles, difficulties, and a low self image she has emerged a changed woman.

Every day to session she has worn dark, over sized clothing that as much hid her as covered her.  Often in the beginning she wouldn't make eye contact with me.  When I would see her outside of the class, her eyes would be downcast, and she hurried along as though she was avoiding being seen, hiding in plain sight.  The woman today, I almost don't recognize when I think of how she came to me.

Now she comes to session early, gives feedback, support, shares struggles and solutions with her classmates.  She shares recipes, resources, and laughs out loud. She makes eye contact with every person.  At the beginning of our time together she would apologized for having poor form or made an excuse if she made a choreography mis-step.  Not so today.  Today she just laughs and says "at least I'm moving right."  She encourages her classmates when one lags behind.  She accepts correction on form and adjusts immediately attempting to perfect her form and get the most from her workout.

She is an inspiration to me, she inspires me to develop new workouts, to give of myself, and to trust the process.  Nothing inspired me more then her last day in session with us.  Instead of the over sized men's t-shirt and baggy shorts, she wore a tank top.  She wore a tight hot pink tank that is a specialized workout garment.  She has given herself over to her new body and her new self identity.  She is investing in clothing to wear to the gym.  Her clothing investment isn't in dark drab easily to overlook colors.  She's wearing HOT pink, LOOK AT ME pink, she is walking in with her head held high and ready to participate in whatever the gym has.  Nothing could have inspired me more than that hot pink tank top.

Congratulations on your new confidence, on your new lifestyle, and your dedication to you!  It's been an honor to work with you.  You will continue to inspire me from now until forever.  Healthy lifestyle is medicine.  We get better when we live healthier.  I'm terribly sad to see you graduate, but I'm incredibly grateful for our time together.

With love,
Jen

SMART Goals!

We all have goals or something we are working towards.  I'll bet a few of us even made resolutions this past January and as we cruise into the end of February I wonder how many of us are still on track.  It's very tempting to make vague future goals such as; I'm going to lose weight, or I'm going to get into shape.  However, it's very hard to figure out how to get started achieving those goals or knowing when you've reached them.  Often people (myself included) get discouraged and will quit.

Here's a quick trick about making goals you can reach!  SMART goal setting is a very popular strategy.   Here's how I use the strategy.

SMART Goals=

S specific; answer who/what/when/why questions to get clarity on what you want to do
M measurable; Ask yourself, how will I know when this goal is accomplished?
A attainable; Identify if this goal is attainable for your current lifestyle and circumstance.
R realistic; Given your current situation are you willing and able to do what needs to be done?
T timely; What is your time line for this goal?  Is it a short or long term goal?  If it's a long term goal what are some short term goals you can meet along the way?

For example; my goal is to lose weight.  Let's use the SMART Goal method to improve my chances of sticking to it!

Is my goal to lose weight specific so that I know exactly what I'm working towards?  Well, not really.  Let's make the goal a bit more specific:  "I want to lose 10 pounds."

Is the goal measurable?  Well now that I've rewritten it, I can measure my loss in pounds so YES it is measurable!

Is my goal to lose ten pounds attainable.  Here's where some soul searching comes in.  I know that before I got married and moved to Germany I weighed 10 pounds less, and I managed to maintain that weight for quite a while.  I think losing 10 pounds is pretty attainable, so I'll say YES!

Is my goal realistic to my current lifestyle?  Well it is hard to lose weight when you travel as much as I do.  I've also been trying to lose this 10 pounds unsuccessfully for quite some time.  However, I am trying to eat right, exercise at least 5 times a week, and my husband is also trying to drop some pounds.  I think that this goal is relevant and realistic to my current lifestyle and family needs.  YES!

Is my goal timely?  Well, no I never did say how long I think it will take to lose these 10 pounds, just that I wanted to lose them.  I have a photo shoot scheduled at the end of April with my husband to celebrate our 2 year anniversary.  I think my goal will be "I want to lose 10 pounds by the end of April."  

After walking my goal through the SMART model it's changed from a vague "I want to lose weight" to "I want to lose 10 pounds by the end of April!"  Now that I have a specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely goal I can start figuring out how to meet that goal!

Try it with your goals to see if you can use the SMART strategy to further develop your goals.  It can be any type of goal!  Try it with professional, parenting, and relationship goals.  You'll be one step closer to becoming the person you are becoming.

Cheers,
Jen Cherry

Where to find recipes?

I often share recipes that I find with my clients and friends, especially when I find something extra delicious.  It's always a double treat to find something that's easy to make and pleases the whole family.  Once you start looking, you realize there are a LOT of options out there.  

Here are some of the sites I use regularly to find new, delicious, and healthy food for my family.  Please remember that I support a healthy whole balanced lifestyle and do not restrict anything from my meals.  I even eat processed food at times, because let's face it, life sometimes happen.  

Please check out my Pinterest 'Good enough to eat' to see what I'm playing with in my kitchen.

www.skinnytaste.com A free blog offering recipes for low fat low calorie foods complete with nutritional information.

www.cookinglight.com A free site that also has a paper magazine you can purchase a subscription too that offers healthy cooking recipes complete with nutrition information.  The site will allow you to search recipes by diet restrictions ie. Vegetarian, diabetic, etc.

http://www.thegraciouspantry.com A free blog that discusses clean eating and offers family friendly recipes.  

Sunday Breakfast!

I love Sunday breakfast.  When I was a little girl Sunday breakfast was a big deal in my parents' house.  Some times my Mom would make French toast from left over bakery bread.  Other times it would be a big spread with bacon, "dippy" eggs, and toast with jam.  My Dad would always make a big pot of tea and we would all eat together.  My Dad would sometimes make the most amazing silver dollar pancakes with warm blueberry syrup.  He'd stand at the stove and make a million of those little guys and my sister and I would eat and eat and eat!  The table at my house was where a lot of good things happened.

As much as I love eating breakfast, I HATE making it.  I hate messing up my kitchen and having to spend time cleaning it when I can be relaxing with my pup!  Not to mention my husband likes to sleep in way later than I, so if I wait for breakfast I just get "hangry"  hungry+angry="Hangry" in our house.

Today though I have a plan.  I'm going to eat some oatmeal and then make a Sunday brunch.  I want to try to bring some of my family's traditions to my new family.  Sunday brunch will have to take the place of Sunday breakfast, but hopefully the most important part: spending time with the person(s) you love and laughing with them is the greatest reward!

I found a great recipe on Pinterest to try from Sweet Sugar Bean.  I loved her blog and am going to try this recipe today: Breakfast Tacos with Avocado Salsa.  I hope to try more of her recipes in the future! Please visit her blog to see what she's cooking up!

Photo from Sweet Sugar Bean's Blog... I could never make anything this beautiful, but hopefully it will be just as delicious!

Cheers,
Jen Cherry 

Fitness Magazine

Fitness Magazine is looking for stories about people who qualify as both overweight and/or obese and also identify as a "Fitness Buff"  When I saw the call for stories, I thought to myself, Self, you need to tell YOUR story.  Then I read the 24 or so comments.  

Some of the comments were very positive and people identified themselves as both a fitness buff and overweight.  What?  They thought they were just like me!  I was so happy reading those posts.  

Then I saw several responses that accused "Overweight and Fitness Buffs" of 'stuffing their face' or challenging that you can't be both overweight and healthy.  I immediately felt embarrassed that I even thought I might be a fitness buff.... then I got angry.  

I as a person am important.  I may not be 100% but I am a work in progress. So I wrote my entry and sent it off!

Here is what a wrote:

My name is Jen Cherry and am both a Fitness Buff and overweight.  I qualify as overweight really easily.  I am 5 ft 8, 178 pounds.  I have a BMI of 27.1, solidly in the overweight category   My body fat percentage is 29.9% (nearly obese) and I have 54 pounds of fat on my body.  I wear a size 10-12 in the United States, but here in Germany where I am stationed with my Active Duty Military husband, I often cannot fit in to clothing that is sold in regular stores.  I find myself needing to go to the the "grossedammen" shops, or the large woman's store.  This can, at times, be disheartening.

Qualifying as a Fitness Buff is pretty easy too!  I am a certified personal trainer and small group instructor.  I teach a 2 popular programs on our military base: A Serious Weight Loss Clinic for women with more than 30 pounds to lose and a high intensity Boot Camp.  I'm also the aerobics manager at our facility, teach indoor cycling, and am occasionally invited to  appear as a guest on our local radio station during "Fitness Power Hour."  I work out regularly 3-5 times per week and am lifting at this time trying to increase my muscle mass.  I have personal fitness goals to do an unassisted pull up and bench press my body weight!  I eat healthy and use MyFitnessPal to count calories and model healthy choices for my clients who can all view my log.

I have been called, "The Fat Trainer."  I have at times felt humiliated and ashamed that I do not look "the part."  I have cried, doubted myself and my vision.  I almost quit more than once.

I have overcome illness and injury, separation from my family, friends, lost careers, and all the stress that comes with Military life.  I am independent, have created a strong positive community and developed programs for my clients that not only work; they are healthy programs that have long term lifestyle changing success.  I'm proud of my life and my body on a daily basis.  Though I still struggle with insecurity.  I didn't always look the way I do now.  I have been varying degrees of overweight my entire adult life.

I have had many struggles with my body and my feelings towards my body.  After college I began my career as a Mental Health Counselor, a desk job and started gaining weight.  When I turned 30 my struggles became harder and harder.  I was lucky to adopt a dog.  He made it necessary for me to take a walk every day, before I knew it, we were jogging together.  He was an older dog though, and he couldn't run in the summer heat in Arizona.  So I joined a Boot Camp Class.  Suddenly working out was fun.  I had a smile on my face every day at an ungodly hour of the morning and it stayed there all day.  I had energy and motivation.  I will always be grateful for Boot Camp, the instructor, and the women who cheered for and challenged me.  Boot camp changed my life.  Up to that point I had joined and quit dozens of gyms, rented and bought hundreds of DVD programs, and used just about every quick fix miracle diet cure sold.

After 3 years of Boot Camp workouts I had lost over 40 pounds.  I had tried spinning, I had jogged with friends, and I had started to play tennis and hike on the weekends.  I was happy, confident, and proud of my body for the first time.  I decided to take a giant leap with the support of all my friends. I earned my Personal Trainer Certification!  Life threw me a curve ball, as sometimes happens, and I ended up moving to Germany with my husband.  Now I've started Cherry Wellness, a place I can bring both my training as a mental health counselor and personal trainer together to help people.  I want to help people take the big steps both physically and emotionally to live a strong healthy long life and enjoy it!

I hope Fitness Magazine get's thousands of entries from women like me.  I hope this can be a start to understanding that health and thin do not go hand in hand.  I hope other people are inspired, challenged, and uplifted by this project even if they do not choose my story.