Today was the beginning of a new adventure.
I am at a different place in my fitness level that I have been in the past 4 years of working out. I am at a place where I really need to focus on building muscle, strength and agility. I have always refused to do Cross Fit because they just branded what trainers do and it's really expensive. Today, I went for a cross fit assessment at Crossfit Discovery on Daniel Island. It truly changed my life. It is exactly what I need that this moment. I need the group camaraderie. I need the challenge. I need the coaching on correct skill sets and posture. I need the accountability and intensity on a daily basis. It's exactly perfect for me in this time in my life especially with the Spartan beast coming up in just a few short months. I need to be deep into this so that Nov. 9 I don't get injured. Seriously. There's a wise way to do everything and I don't want to show up unprepared and get hurt where I can no longer teach TaeBo or have to slow down to recover. With all aspects being perfect, the cost of 160 a month is still not perfect especially in addition to needing 350 for TaeBo(R) recertification camp in November. I of course left that place awestruck and so in love; knowing that it's what I need in this point in my life and I quickly was reverting to "there is no way I can afford that in addition to my monthly stuff." Then I was quickly reminded by a best friend that God is my source. How true that is and I will absolutely stand on that as truth and promise. He is my source in every single situation there is.
It's so easy for us to look at our life from a lack mentality but truly truly the Lord has met so many of my needs throughout my life. Not only has he met my needs but he has met my desires. Delight yourself in the Lord and HE WILL give you the desire of your heart. He takes joy in those things. He is our provider.. not your parents, not your boss, not your pay check... HIM! He is my soul source of provision. He has provided so much for me throughout my life but especially in my weightloss/health journey as I have been seeking to love me, discover who he created me to be and do nothing but give the Lord glory and serve others/sow seeds. He has rewarded me from free running shoes back in 2009 when I first was starting, to a trainer who has selflessly given to me expecting nothing in return except to give it my all, to even today when a woman in my taebo class who has lost a good bit of weight brought me FIVE flippin lululemon jackets that don't fit her anymore! (I ALMOST PEED IN MY PANTS!) God shows off like that. Today when she brought me the jackets, it was after the moment where I forgot my provision comes from. Then I quickly reminded myself that God is my source then BAM got to TaeBo at the gym and she had that for me. What a beautiful sign that the Lord cares! He cares about what we desire and wants to provide for us in abundance if we will just receive it. God is my rock and am already claming victory and glory to Him for providing this opportunity for me as well as my recertification. To God be the Glory for the great things he HAS done and CONTINUES to do on a daily basis. He truly is my love, father, best friend and provider.
Wednesday, August 28, 2013
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
Beast Mode Stength & Struggle
74 Days Remain.
Beast Mode Crunch time is officially here.
See, there was this day (back in my younger days around January ) where I thought I was invincible and that I was strong enough and fierce enough to do anything. I sat there with my friends (who are all dudes by the way. Big. Big. Big. Big Buff Dudes) and we discussed doing the Spartan Beast Run. I have always wanted to do a tough mudder/obstacle run and I already had a full and half marathon under my belt so I willingly agreed. Now, on this day towards the end of August with 74 days remaining, I realize that this may just have been the most ambitious and stupidest decision of my lifetime. It is just under the distance of a half marathon with 28+ obstacles such as climbing walls, jumping fire pits, barbed wire, gladiators hitting you, mud, carrying rocks, etc
Thank God I have learned a lot in the past five years of my life and I have grown tremendously in my faith. Praise God that he has instilled in me a confidence in his faith and a confidence in myself and the strength that he gives me. His word tells me that I can do all things that Jesus Christ who gives me strength and All means ALL. That includes the Spartan Beast. I am choosing to no longer look at this as the a stupid decision but rather as something that is truly going to push me to the limits and challenge my mind, soul, body and spirit. I can do this. My team will have victory. We all will finish and finish strong. I can do all things.
The next 74 days will probably be updates about me developing strength and muscle because at where I am in my weight loss as well as my fitness/strength level for this race, that is the area that is weakest and I need to severely improve on. The last few weeks have been focused on doing weighted squats, squat cleans, bear crawls, push ups, pull ups and building my lats. And honestly, I hate it. I never FEEL like doing it. But as Jennifer Beckham has stated in her books and audios, who has asked you to feel? No one asked me if I FELT like doing it. There were many days losing the bulk of my weight that I didn't FEEL like working out or I didn't FEEL like eating healthy but I knew what I needed to do. I knew what I was called to do. I knew I had a purpose and something I had to follow through on and it's the same thing in this moment at this stage in my journey.
So lets get real here. Lets break down this struggle for you. Ready for this? After all these years of working out non-stop... after becoming a certified Tae-Bo(R) Instructor... Get ready for it... I, Blair Christie, can barely do a real push up and cannot do an unassisted pull up. I know, right?! I have endurance for days- I can run and do cardio til I bleed but my strength--woooo! I'm not perfect and I am still growing. The thing is... we cheat ourselves. Don't get me wrong, I have been working hard. I am incredibly strong and have grown in tremendous ways so I am not discounting where I am or where I have come from. But all these years, I have been cheating myself from the real struggle that would've made me stronger a lot faster. For example, when I have done pull ups, I have done them on the assisted pull up machine and instead of regular push ups with your elbows going back (not out to the side- that in fact is not a real push up so don't fool yourself like I did) I have done years of girl push ups. The thing is, assisted pull ups and girl push ups were and still are difficult for me but too often we protect ourselves from struggles in life that really would toughen us and develop an inner and outter strength that would develop us tremendously. Too often we scam ourselves out of the things that hurt and are hard to do but benefit us in such a tremendous way. If I had been doing these all along, I would be a lot further than I am now. In any thing in life, you cannot protect yourself from things that are meant to challenge you in your fitness, your health, your faith, your job, your relationships, your self image. You have to walk through the fire and honestly, it's going to hurt. You have to dig deep and focus on what God's word tells you... you can do ALL things. You can do All things. You, Blair Christie, you can do all things. Blair, you can do anything because I am in you. Blair, you can accomplish this pull up because I am the one who gives you strength. Trust me and walk through the fire. Don't run away from the things that I have placed in front of you that are meant to develop you into who you are. No one said it was going to be easy but it is always worth it.
I am committing myself, on this blog in front of all of you and to my awesome Spartan Beast team and most importantly to myself and to God, to work on my push ups and arm strength every single day. In 74 days, my God and my faith in Him and His power will have completely transformed me into a different human being. Walk through the fire, set yourself ablaze and people will come from all over to watch you burn.
Beast Mode Crunch time is officially here.
See, there was this day (back in my younger days around January ) where I thought I was invincible and that I was strong enough and fierce enough to do anything. I sat there with my friends (who are all dudes by the way. Big. Big. Big. Big Buff Dudes) and we discussed doing the Spartan Beast Run. I have always wanted to do a tough mudder/obstacle run and I already had a full and half marathon under my belt so I willingly agreed. Now, on this day towards the end of August with 74 days remaining, I realize that this may just have been the most ambitious and stupidest decision of my lifetime. It is just under the distance of a half marathon with 28+ obstacles such as climbing walls, jumping fire pits, barbed wire, gladiators hitting you, mud, carrying rocks, etc
Thank God I have learned a lot in the past five years of my life and I have grown tremendously in my faith. Praise God that he has instilled in me a confidence in his faith and a confidence in myself and the strength that he gives me. His word tells me that I can do all things that Jesus Christ who gives me strength and All means ALL. That includes the Spartan Beast. I am choosing to no longer look at this as the a stupid decision but rather as something that is truly going to push me to the limits and challenge my mind, soul, body and spirit. I can do this. My team will have victory. We all will finish and finish strong. I can do all things.
The next 74 days will probably be updates about me developing strength and muscle because at where I am in my weight loss as well as my fitness/strength level for this race, that is the area that is weakest and I need to severely improve on. The last few weeks have been focused on doing weighted squats, squat cleans, bear crawls, push ups, pull ups and building my lats. And honestly, I hate it. I never FEEL like doing it. But as Jennifer Beckham has stated in her books and audios, who has asked you to feel? No one asked me if I FELT like doing it. There were many days losing the bulk of my weight that I didn't FEEL like working out or I didn't FEEL like eating healthy but I knew what I needed to do. I knew what I was called to do. I knew I had a purpose and something I had to follow through on and it's the same thing in this moment at this stage in my journey.
So lets get real here. Lets break down this struggle for you. Ready for this? After all these years of working out non-stop... after becoming a certified Tae-Bo(R) Instructor... Get ready for it... I, Blair Christie, can barely do a real push up and cannot do an unassisted pull up. I know, right?! I have endurance for days- I can run and do cardio til I bleed but my strength--woooo! I'm not perfect and I am still growing. The thing is... we cheat ourselves. Don't get me wrong, I have been working hard. I am incredibly strong and have grown in tremendous ways so I am not discounting where I am or where I have come from. But all these years, I have been cheating myself from the real struggle that would've made me stronger a lot faster. For example, when I have done pull ups, I have done them on the assisted pull up machine and instead of regular push ups with your elbows going back (not out to the side- that in fact is not a real push up so don't fool yourself like I did) I have done years of girl push ups. The thing is, assisted pull ups and girl push ups were and still are difficult for me but too often we protect ourselves from struggles in life that really would toughen us and develop an inner and outter strength that would develop us tremendously. Too often we scam ourselves out of the things that hurt and are hard to do but benefit us in such a tremendous way. If I had been doing these all along, I would be a lot further than I am now. In any thing in life, you cannot protect yourself from things that are meant to challenge you in your fitness, your health, your faith, your job, your relationships, your self image. You have to walk through the fire and honestly, it's going to hurt. You have to dig deep and focus on what God's word tells you... you can do ALL things. You can do All things. You, Blair Christie, you can do all things. Blair, you can do anything because I am in you. Blair, you can accomplish this pull up because I am the one who gives you strength. Trust me and walk through the fire. Don't run away from the things that I have placed in front of you that are meant to develop you into who you are. No one said it was going to be easy but it is always worth it.
I am committing myself, on this blog in front of all of you and to my awesome Spartan Beast team and most importantly to myself and to God, to work on my push ups and arm strength every single day. In 74 days, my God and my faith in Him and His power will have completely transformed me into a different human being. Walk through the fire, set yourself ablaze and people will come from all over to watch you burn.
Monday, August 26, 2013
September 2009.
September 2009 was when I started this journey. I cannot believe that it's almost been four years. Four years since I started my weight loss journey. It's funny how it can seem like just yesterday yet so long ago at the same time. I wish I had taken better notes or journals of the time that has passed each day. Notes of how I felt, what I thought, things that were hard, things that were easy. It's funny when people have success. We tend to compare our worst with there best. We tend to focus on what is going right for them and often we do not know the struggle or hard work that they put in during the back ground to get there. We don't know the daily moment by moment battles and hardships that they had to walk through to get where they are. We often have such a skewed perspective. And comparison. What a trap that Satan uses in our lives. When you compare, no one wins. Comparison is truly the robber of joy. When we look at what others have, what others do, what others receive and we look at it from our mentality of lack when in reality we all come from a place of gain and fortune.. but most people choose to look at the lack rather than fortune. It keeps residing in my spirit here lately in regards to weight loss, my business, my job, my life, my relationships... you have EVERY SINGLE THING that you need to do what you were called to do. You are equipped with everything inside of you to be who you are and walk out your purpose, your dreams and your calling now stop looking to the others in front, behind or to the side of you, rise above, dig deep, dig in (THE WORD) and look up and trust. Forward march to victory!
The last four years have been extremely interesting to say the least especially this last year. Year 3-4 was the biggest challenge. I finally had gotten to a place where I was smaller than I was when I was in elementary school (4/5th grade) and I was ok with where I was. It's funny how complacency can set in so quick. I began to be ok with where I was and was not pushing through to victory and my final goal. My goal is not finished. 150 pounds it was and I still desire that. My itch to tighten up is coming back and I am not a quitter. The thing is that too many people fall down in their journeys like these whether it be weight loss or whatever. They do well. They do well. They do well. They succeed. THEN BAM. Obstacle! Struggle! Road Block! Plateau! Backward Slide! and they stop fighting. They give up. They quit and then they go back exactly where they were before if not worse. I refuse. We ALL will fail at some point in our journeys but how long will you stay down? Will you quit? Will you forget your goals and your dreams? Will you forget why you started in the first place? Will you let circumstances take the victory that is rightfully yours? GET UP. Dust off! Move forward. Fall. Rise. Fall. Rise. Fail. Move Forward. Fail. Press Harder. It is part of life. Failing is how you succeed. You only lose if you quit.With that I end with a lyric of a Cher song from the great movie Burlesque "This is far from over. You haven't seen the last of me."
September 2009 was when I started this journey. I cannot believe that it's almost been four years. Four years since I started my weight loss journey. It's funny how it can seem like just yesterday yet so long ago at the same time. I wish I had taken better notes or journals of the time that has passed each day. Notes of how I felt, what I thought, things that were hard, things that were easy. It's funny when people have success. We tend to compare our worst with there best. We tend to focus on what is going right for them and often we do not know the struggle or hard work that they put in during the back ground to get there. We don't know the daily moment by moment battles and hardships that they had to walk through to get where they are. We often have such a skewed perspective. And comparison. What a trap that Satan uses in our lives. When you compare, no one wins. Comparison is truly the robber of joy. When we look at what others have, what others do, what others receive and we look at it from our mentality of lack when in reality we all come from a place of gain and fortune.. but most people choose to look at the lack rather than fortune. It keeps residing in my spirit here lately in regards to weight loss, my business, my job, my life, my relationships... you have EVERY SINGLE THING that you need to do what you were called to do. You are equipped with everything inside of you to be who you are and walk out your purpose, your dreams and your calling now stop looking to the others in front, behind or to the side of you, rise above, dig deep, dig in (THE WORD) and look up and trust. Forward march to victory!
The last four years have been extremely interesting to say the least especially this last year. Year 3-4 was the biggest challenge. I finally had gotten to a place where I was smaller than I was when I was in elementary school (4/5th grade) and I was ok with where I was. It's funny how complacency can set in so quick. I began to be ok with where I was and was not pushing through to victory and my final goal. My goal is not finished. 150 pounds it was and I still desire that. My itch to tighten up is coming back and I am not a quitter. The thing is that too many people fall down in their journeys like these whether it be weight loss or whatever. They do well. They do well. They do well. They succeed. THEN BAM. Obstacle! Struggle! Road Block! Plateau! Backward Slide! and they stop fighting. They give up. They quit and then they go back exactly where they were before if not worse. I refuse. We ALL will fail at some point in our journeys but how long will you stay down? Will you quit? Will you forget your goals and your dreams? Will you forget why you started in the first place? Will you let circumstances take the victory that is rightfully yours? GET UP. Dust off! Move forward. Fall. Rise. Fall. Rise. Fail. Move Forward. Fail. Press Harder. It is part of life. Failing is how you succeed. You only lose if you quit.With that I end with a lyric of a Cher song from the great movie Burlesque "This is far from over. You haven't seen the last of me."
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