A BFL Summary - Possibly Helpful Info for Newbies

[Guest guest]

Howdy fellow BFL'ers,

Since I have notice a number of new members to our group, I thought I would

forward something that I did to introduce the BFL basics to another virtual

fitness team that I guide.

Here it is:

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BFL'ers,

In my last info-thesis, I suggested I would try to review the main

components of the Body for LIFE program.

For those that are at the #1 - Nunyo level and truly don't care, I suppose I

can summarize it here so you won't have to read much further. Ready? Okay,

it is...

Drum roll and... Ta Dah!... Eat right & Exercise!

A little deeper view...

The real starting point in BFL is the same in just about every diet and

exercise program. It starts with the decision to make a change. For those

like me, it may have been the decision to get into better shape. For some,

it may have been the decision to find a healthier lifestyle. And, for

others, it may have been the decision to build muscle mass.

Fitness of the mind...

The big question is, how dedicated are you to making a change? The answer

to that question, I think, can be found in the reasons for our change. I'll

refer to that as our " why " . If the " why " is big enough and strong enough,

the " why " alone can help carry us to our goals. Sometimes, the " why " can

change, migrate or morph into a different " why " as time moves forward. In

the BFL book, this " why " and the subsequent action on our part is what is

referred to as " crossing the abyss " .

To help in crossing the abyss the BFL program provides the framework for

identifying your dreams, developing goals from your dream, and then changing

your patterns of actions to help reach your goals. Much of the BFL program

also depends on maintaining a positive mental attitude. Within BFL, the

framework for maintaining this PMA is referred to as the positive mindset,

the universal law of reciprocation and the focus on progress not perfection.

The positive mindset includes the ability to develop a future vision and

being able to view the silver lining within every perceived cloud. The

universal law of reciprocation is what the character " Earl " , on the TV show

" My name is Earl " , refers to as Karma. And, my personal life's favorite is

focusing on progress and not perfection helps us see what doesn't work as

progress toward our goals: like Edison's finding thousands of ways a

light bulb could NOT work and recognizing that as progress.

Much of this has to do with finding your reason, ensuring your reason is

strong enough to carry you when your fitness life is challenged and then

being able to maintain your motivation to continue forward with your new and

improved lifestyle. After all, changing ones lifestyle is a major

undertaking and falling back into bad, old habits is too easy to do if we

don't have that strong reason for change in the forefront of our minds. We

may take a little deeper dive into what it means to be mentally prepared to

face the challenges of life in a separate info-thesis.

Eat right & Exercise...

I've heard Bill , the author of Body for LIFE once say that the term

" eat right & exercise " is to health and fitness as the saying " take it easy "

is to the field of psychology; neither offer any real substance. The key

here is understanding what to eat, how much to eat, & when to eat. For

exercise, it is much the same with the key understanding being: what do we

exercise, how do we exercise, and when do we exercise.

For BFL, we learn that having frequent meals is one of the best means of

keeping our metabolism stoked. It is also the best means I have found of

stopping binge eating. We also learn about consuming palm sized portions of

protein and fist sized portions of carbs with every meal. We understand

that protein & carbs provide is the building blocks our body needs for

recovering muscle and that the vegetables provide the appropriate nutrients

we need, otherwise. By keeping this balance in food intake, it is not only

healthy, it stops the cravings of improper or heavily fatted foods. We do

know the importance of fat in our diet, but understand what is good fat, not

so good fat, and fats that are outright dangerous for the human body.

Exercise is not spelled with 4 letters so it is NOT a bad word. Exercise

helps develop lean muscle mass and lean muscle mass helps us burn calories

even when are bodies are at rest. Exercise helps our blood circulation, our

heart, our joints, just about all of our hormonal and bodily functions and

helps us sculpt our bodies. The BFL program provides a framework for the

proper level of exercise for our upper body, lower body and our cardio

needs. BFL'ers follow a 6 day per week program where they alternate between

resistance exercises and cardio exercises, performing one or the other on

consecutive days. The resistance exercises are then alternated between

upper body and lower body which provides the body an appropriate amount of

recovery time for the body to rebuild. All exercise are done following a

high intensity interval training ( " HIIT " ) format. HIIT basically takes the

specific muscle group through a series of exercises, from warm up to

toasting the muscles. We use and intensity index rating of basically 6 (5

for cardio only) to 10 with the 10 being the complete exhaustion or fatigue

of the muscle.

Rest...

One last component of the BFL program is assuring proper recovery. Recovery

of the muscles & cardiovascular systems comes as a result of proper rest.

Our muscles build while we rest, not while we exercise. Our muscles are

torn to shreds when we exercise. The puffiness associated with the muscle

after a workout is the added blood flow to that region. The added blood

flow is the means the body has to send the necessary nutrients to the

damaged tissue. Proper resting between reps, proper spacing of exercises,

proper sleep at night are all part of this last critical step of maintaining

the Body for LIFE lifestyle.

Closing...

Thank you all for you feedback on my prior info-thesis. It encouraged me to

move forward with this one. If there are added areas you want me to explore

or present, simply ask. If you would like me to provide any added support,

one-on-one, I would be happy to try that as well. My goal is to help you

all reach your activity goals and maybe help you understand more about the

BFL program along the way. Your continued feedback is appreciated.

Next up on the agenda is either a deeper dive into the Mental Preparedness

or Out of Town Meals. Maybe I'll let you all decide?

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I hope you find this little cut and paste useful.

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Holowko, CPA, CCP

PO Box 444

Lafayette Hill, PA 19444-0444

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Telephone:

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E-mailto:gholowko@...

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Remember... Progress, NOT perfection!

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