My (Brief) Appearance on “Tia & Tamera”!

A few months ago, I wrote about how I went to Slimmons one night to take one of Richard Simmons’ classes, only to find a reality film crew there. They were filming twin actresses Tia and Tamera Mowry, who star in a hit Style Network show called “Tia & Tamera.”

GUESS WHAT! Last night, the episode aired!

Creating My Own Olympic Memories

Check it out, I’m in LONDON!

Okay, Okay, I’m lying. I’m nowhere near London. But I did have a fantastic afternoon on Saturday that directly connects me to the events happening over in England. Everything about this post has me nerding out, so get ready, because I learned a ton putting it together, and hopefully you’ll learn something too.

Newest Additions to My iPod

Last week, I mentioned one of my favorite new songs – “The Rifle’s Spiral” by The Shins (watch the awesome video at the end of this post), and after doing so, I realized that I’m overdue for a post about the music that gets me moving when I’m working out.

I shared my entire workout playlist in April (check it out here), and since then, it’s evolved significantly. I removed a bunch of songs that I was tired of hearing, and added a bunch of new songs to the mix. I thought I’d share some of them with you. And I’d love for you to comment with the newest songs on your playlist!

A Good Week

This one’s gonna be short and sweet, ladies and gentleman. I’m off to bed soon, and feeling really good. It was just last week that I was in the midst of a minor self-inflicted inner turmoil involving the frequency of my workouts. The short version: I had some unplanned rest days, beat myself up over it, revised my thinking, then got lazy, then rallied. (For the long version, start by reading this post, then this one, and finally, this one.)

When the dust settled, I had three rest days last week. This week, I had…

Breakfast Fail

I tried something new as part of my breakfast today, and it was disgusting. This may look like oatmeal, but it’s not just oatmeal:

Overtraining?

A large part of my blog in recent days has been devoted to my exercise. Last week, I struggled to meet my goals, and had to step back and remind myself, via a little pep talk, that my goals actually have a little wiggle room that I often choose to ignore. Despite the pep talk, I struggled some more over the weekend, although I rallied through it.

A bunch of you voiced your support, which I appreciate, but Sunday’s post also elicited a lengthy comment from a buddy that I know from the twitter and blog worlds. Reinaldo lives waaaaay down south, in Chile, and blogs about weight loss/exercise/paleo here. You can read Reinaldo’s entire comment at the bottom of this post, but here’s an excerpt that sums it up pretty well:

There’s Always Room For…

…JELL-O!

I can’t remember the last time I had Jell-O. It’s been years. I used to make it with some frequency growing up. One time, my friends Jonathan, Jocelyn and I used it with great success in an 11th-grade physics project that involved designing a structure that would catch an egg dropped from 10 feet. We filled a pie plate with various squishy foodstuffs, like Jell-O and marshmallows, and ta-da! Our egg landed safely, without so much as a crack in its shell.

A few weeks ago, I was at my local GNC, stocking up on protein powder, when I saw this on one of the shelves. It’s not Jell-O brand, but close enough:

Workout Update

The last time I wrote about my exercise, a few days ago, I had to give myself a pep talk and remind myself that working out five times a week instead of six was just fine.

Well, here’s the update: It’s now Sunday, the start of a new week, so I can look back at the week that just ended and say, quite definitively, that I did not work out five times last week.

I worked out four times.

And skipping that one additional workout this past week makes me feel like I’m off my game and that I should stop working out altogether for a while. I wish I was exaggerating, but I’m not. Getting that fourth workout in was a struggle, too. But I did it, and I’m not even sure how.

Comment From My Brother

If you’re a regular reader of this blog and the comments at the bottom of each post, than there’s a good chance you’ve seen a comment by a member of my immediate family. My two sisters, Laura and Sarah, are frequent commenters, as is my mother, who comments, appropriately enough, under the name “Mom.” Even my father, who would be the first to admit that he’s not a fluent typer, has piped up a couple times (although most of the time he delivers his comments to me over the phone). There’s only one person who hasn’t ever commented before… and that’s my brother Steven.

Until now.

Listening to My Own Words

One of the questions I get asked all the time is this:

“How often do you work out?”

I have a standard answer that rolls off my tongue without me even thinking about it:

“I aim for six workouts a week, but five workouts a week is acceptable.”

That answer it completely one hundred percent true. This morning, though, I realized I’ve only been focusing on half of it, and I need to make a change. Here’s what went down: