BEST DRUG ON the MARKET

I believe in the power of exercise for the mind and the body. Exercising consistently will start a chain reaction of events that can and will change your life for the better. Physically and mentally it's the best drug out there. Trust me on this one. Ha... Endorphins and hormones released during exercise give you a similar euphoric feeling as morphine. These endorphins are the same ones chased after with addictive behaviors. Gambling, drugs, binge drinking, irresponsible sex... Chasing after that high. I can check the box on all of those. That's a different blog though. I could argue in moderation all these behaviors are acceptable but usually moderation is not the case when it comes addictive substances.
We also go to the doc for these in pill form.
 Here are  five main hormones released.
Serotonin: Mood boosting brain chemical. When suffering from depression serotonin is usually at low levels. Exercise is a natural serotonin booster.
Norepinephrine: it's a hormone and brain chemical. Increases memory focus and being alert.
Dopamine: the motivation and reward brain chemical. People who are depressed typically have low levels of dopamine.
Oxytocin: the Love hormone. Improves relationships and connection with others. My favorite.
BDNF: brain booster. Helps improve cognitive function and wards off brain deterioration.
Brian, I'm so fed up and depressed that the last thing I want is get up and exercise! I understand that feeling but just knowing this will help, might get you started. Over the years I've had clients come in depressed, sad, angry and just plain down in the dumps like Eeyore. After just 30min of moderate to intense exercise they leave feeling great ready to tackle the world again like Tigger. Its not my charm or good looks that does that for them... It's the endorphins and hormones released because of exercise. As much as I personally would like to take credit for that. Ha..  Exercise doesn't dissolve life's myriad of problems, but it helps us tackle them in the right mindset. The better we feel the better we treat those around us, and more lives can be changed for the better. Find YOUR PURPOSE and use exercise as a tool to achieve it!
 Goal this week. 5 days of 30 min to an hour of exercise. Mix it up with aerobics and weight training. Thank you  for reading my blog. Please comment or share if it helps at all. Love you all! Brian

I prefer an enema

Have you ever wanted something so bad that you can smell it,feel it, taste it? It could be that job, that significant other, that car, that near perfect body. Whatever the goal or object of your desire. What did you do? Did you do everything  possible ? Or did you make a feeble attempt to attain that wish? I've made plenty of feeble attempts and when things didn't happen fast enough for me I went on to something else.
How bad do you want it? Are we willing to do what it takes? These are the questions we need to ask ourselves. Remember no more status quo!
Rewind back to 10 years ago in my life. I was on a landscape job in 100 plus degree weather. I was hot and didn't want a farmer's tan so I took my shirt off for a bit. A truck with 2 country ladies in pulled right next to me and said "hunny, you are way too good looking to be doing this. Find something better that suites you" They then whistled at me and left. I felt like a piece of meat. Ha..I got over it. Though It left with me an extreme feeling of dissatisfaction. I made a vow to myself that I would no longer be looking at others with an envious eye. I would do whatever it takes to succeed. I have my dream job now. I'm in a gym all day. I LOVE IT! It took me being extremely dissatisfied for me to put in the effort to change my circumstances.   You want to be a doctor? Are you willing to study all night, go to school for years, sacrifice a social life? You want those six pack abs? Are you willing to meal prep, hit the gym six days a week and do cardio?  When you absolutely would probably prefer an enema before cardio. I want the  six pack but am I willing to say no to the booze, pizza and ice cream?

 You can always tell when someone is not that interested in someone when they are just "too busy" too spend time with them. If they like them badly enough they will make time. It's simple if we want someone or something bad enough we will do what it takes and put in the time and effort to attain it. We will be out of our comfort zones, suffer set backs and be weary at times. We will feel alone at times with no support system. Want to quit or binge eat because the scale didn't move when we thought it should have.  How we handle the setbacks, the rejections, the plateaus will determine us reaching our destinations.
 How bad do I want it? Ask yourself this over and over.  Stay focused, driven, dedicated and consistent this week. Love you all. Brian

Eye Balls

Passion : a strong feeling of enthusiasm or excitement for something or about doing something
Flashback to high school or college. Sitting in the front seat with your significant other making out like your life depended on it. Nothing else mattered! The world could be falling all around us but the only thing that mattered was the person your body was intertwined with. What happened to our passion for living? I tell you what happened. Life hit us full in the mouth and we acquiesced. We submitted ourselves to the status quo. We half ass our workouts, our jobs and our families. Then we mindlessly watch T.V., drink and use drugs to numb the pain and regret of not fully living. I'm guilty, guilty, guilty of this myself.

I can say without a doubt that at 39 I have not come close to reaching my full potential. One way or another I have sabotaged myself.
 Sabotage: a act or process tending to hamper or hurt
We limit ourselves. Usually, by destructive habits or living in fear. I refuse to continue to allow that in my life.
 My purpose of this blog is to help inspire others to truly live! I was told once by a girlfriend. "Brian, you can't always shit rainbows and skittles" Ha... I know. I realize positive thinking can't solve all of our problems. I know life is extremely difficult. What I want to see in myself and others is a passionate mindset. A strong will and desire to live again. Live life like we are necking in that car. Pure abandon.  Quit doing the things that hold us back. It could be drinking, drugs, poor nutrition, binge watching television or playing video games... Ect... Don't get me wrong those things have its place but when they take over your life because you've lost the will to participate in life it needs to be dealt with.
I'm a firm believer that the eyes are a window to the soul. First thing I look at when I'm interested in someone. Do there eyeballs show a fighting spirit? Is there a fire within showing thru the eyes? The eyes can tell me almost all I need to know. I believe you can tell if someone is going thru the motions or is ready to punch life in the mouth just by looking into there eyes. Let's inspire people truly to live healthy motivated lives this week. Let us fight together to not be the status quo.  Live with passion, desire and true commitment to ALL that we do! We will and can reach our full potential.
Thank you for reading. Next week should be more fitness related. I do believe it all ties together. Have an amazing week. Love you all! Brian

Philosophy of hiking

So it's been a long time since I've written in my blog. I'm looking forward to starting up again. My focus will be mainly on fitness but also living a physically and mentally healthy life. My purpose is to encourage and help motivate others.
 I had a client look at me the other day and say it's nice to see that you're human. Ha... She caught me eating a Philly cheese stake sandwich. I often quote the phrase perception is more important then truth. I've come to realize that's a dangerous way to think. I am deeply flawed. I fight addictions and bad habits every day. I just am not very open about it anymore because I've fallen into the trap of protecting my image. It's what people perceive and believe about you that is important right? False. That mentality allows you to be two different people. And that restricts me from helping those that need motivation and encouragement the most. A man I highly admire and respect says it's not what you do when everyone is watching that's important.. It's what you do when you believe no one is watching that makes your character!
So now what?  You ask.. It's time to get back to the basics for myself and for my clients. The basics in my opinion are exercising hard, eating healthy the majority of the time, and keeping positive growth minded people around you. Participating in activities that challenge you and force you to push yourself mentally and physically. That leads me to Hiking. Hiking has always helped push me to my limits and bring me back to the basics, plus it seems to make me a philosopher... Here we go!
Hiking on a trail is a lot like the path of life. The path of life is full of climbs, descents, peaks, valleys, plateaus, curves, switchbacks, obstacles and detours. You get my point. When I'm on a new trail it's really easy for me to step off my path and get lost or turned around. It's also extremely easy to get off our path in life. Distractions are every which way you look. What do we do? We get back to the basics. We stop, we breathe, we retrace out steps, we see what got us off our path, we get back on the trail and we move forward on our path!
An hour and a half later I'm doubled over breathing extremely heavy after climb after climb, switchback after switchback. I tell myself to move forward to not quit. Don't stop..move! I'm repeating this mantra. Keep moving forward on your path! That divorce won't stop you, that job loss won't stop you, our addictions won't beat us and so many other obstacles we face every day. Don't stop..move forward.. stay focused... i repeat and repeat to myself. I finally reached my destination. It felt good. At the moment I had no thought of what I just endured. I was thrilled that the journey got me to my goal.
We all have different paths and callings in life. No matter what our path is let's encourage others, motivate others, build others up. Help them move forward on there path. Time to get back to the basics. Love you all. Thanks for reading. Brian

Our Greatest Enemy

To my amazing clients,

Thanks for being patient I know I've missed a blog or two while I was prepping for the competition. It went really well and I'm so thankful for all of your love and support.
We all know how people talk to us can affect us on a daily basis. Especially growing up those kids that have parents that love and nurture with kind words of encouragement usually grow up healthy and happy. Now those that have been called a loser or told they were never going to amount to anything usually meets those expectations. Now, let me ask you this. How do you talk to yourself? BRIAN, I DON'T TALK TO MYSELF...I'm NOT CRAZY!!! lol Think about it. We talk to ourselves all the time. Is it positive affirmations? Is it encouraging? Or is it. I'm so fat. I can't do this. Nobody's ever going to want me. It goes on and on how discouraging and mean we can be the most important person alive. YOU!! Look in the mirror. Are you your greatest ally or greatest enemy? WE usually ARE OUR OWN GREATEST ENEMY! WE need to be our greatest ally at all times. I'm not saying to be unrealistic about our mistakes. We need to be able to analyze how we can be better on a daily basis. Make positive changes to be better but constantly beating yourself up is not the answer. Learn, get thou over it, and move the hell on! Do Not Live in the Past! Focus on the future! Believe it or not there was a time in my life I had extremely low self-esteem. I read about looking in the mirror and repeating. I love myself. Over and over again. Like 50 times a day. I LOVE MYSELF. I thought is sounded bat shit crazy. I did it though. It helped a ton. Once, I started actually thinking and believing in myself I naturally stopped a lot of the egotistical things I would do for attention. If you don't have confidence in the man or woman that you are it is pretty highly likely that our co-workers, bosses and family members think about you way you think of yourself.  Those of you that have trained with me a long enough know that I have a burpee rule for anytime to put yourself down in my presence. I want you to start applying this rule to when I'm not around. 10 burpees anytime you talk to yourself negatively. Start today! Remember, procrastination is the thief of dreams! Lets get serious about being kinder to the most important person out there.
Next weekend I'm going to try and write a blog from the GRAND CANYON. I'm excited. Get out and exercise frequently this week. Eat healthy and small frequent portions. Lots of Salads.
Text or call if you need anything.
Love,
Trainer Brian

Do you BELIEVE?

To all my amazing clients,

The definition of doubt is: A feeling of uncertainty or lack of conviction. Definition of belief is: trust, faith or confidence in someone or something. Now stop and answer one question for me. DO YOU BELIEVE IN YOURSELF? Or do you doubt yourself? I have said numerous times I believe more in the power of belief itself then what we actually believe in.  IF your goal is weight loss do you truly believe that you can accomplish your goals? Do you truly believe you can get a new high score on that PT Test? Complete that marathon? Lower your blood sugar?  Get on stage for a competition? Are you willing to do what it takes to get there? I don't care what you decided your goals are but I do care why you are doing it? Believing in yourself will help you accomplish things you could have never imagined! Rid yourself of all doubt.

Most of you know I'm going to do another competition at the end of March. I have wallowed in my own self pity the last two days. I've had extreme doubt in my diet, the amount of cardio I'm doing and so on and so forth. I've been moody and snappy and just want to be a hermit when I'm not with my clients at work. Saying my posing has a lot of work to do is being kind. I had to go back to the basics. Do I believe in myself? Its not about placing to me or winning a trophy. Its about doing what I said I was going to do. But WHY? Remember, people don't buy into what you are doing unless they buy into why you are doing it. I do these competitions so I can keep confidence in me looking toward a long term goal and following a daily disciplined process to achieve it. My passion is not bodybuilding. My passion is fitness and helping my clients live healthy.
I do what I do because I want to inspire others to do the things that inspire them! But since I will not be a part of Fit to fat to fit I've decided this in another way I can support you all. If my clients are going to achieve their goals they also need to create daily disciplines/habits to accomplish them. Making changes in routines and food choices. Life is full of choices. Make changes. Remember the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results. I will no longer focus on how hard this process is I will focus on the growth I achieve from it and what I learn about myself during it.
Take home points.
1.) Have self-confidence in yourself and believe in what you are doing.
2.) Don't ask what? Ask why? Why are you doing this. State the reasons clearly.
3.) Do I need to make changes in my daily routines to accomplish my goals?
4.) LIVE WITH INSPIRATION! INSPIRE OTHERS!

Stay focused and stay driven. Love you all. Brian

THE LATE NIGHT COOKIE MONSTER!

To my amazing clients,

Hope you all had a fantastic week. My goal is to write a blog to you every other week. Sometimes, you will hear from me more often. I would love for you all to use my email to send me questions on topics you want to hear about. For example: Dear Brian, How do I focus on loosing the hanging bat wings from my arms? It grosses me out! I would then answer: Dear Bat wings... Ha You get the point.
  Today I want to talk about late night cravings and different ways to tackle them. "Om nom nom nom" Its been a long day and we get home, eat our dinner planned and then we have the insatiable urge to continue eating for the rest of the night. We sit in front of the T.V. and eat a whole bag of Doritos or a sleeve of Oreo cookies, half a carton of ice cream so on an so forth. I've been there and still have to focus on not overeating at night. Like the cookie monster I want cookies! One girl scout cookie at this time can turn into a WHOLE BOX!! Not only does that ruin our workout but also negates the good choices we might have made through the whole day! Then we sleep restlessly and then wake up with a sugar hangover and start the process all over again. If our body is a million dollar plus machine as I believe it to be then that's a terrible way to fuel it day in and day out.
Their are multiple reasons and theories to why we have this urge at night. One goes back to our ancestors and the need to overeat to store fat for upcoming droughts of food and long periods of famine. Now it's just plain unhealthy for us. Others is to relieve stress of the hard day. One is just plain boredom. We eat to have something to do. Another is the lack of healthy meals throughout the day. Whatever your reason it is I want to give you a few ways to tackle this urge at night and before it even hits us.
Take Home points:
1.) Eat a healthy breakfast every day! Starting your day off with breakfast starts the domino effect of making good choices the rest of the day.
2.) Don't skip meals! Skipping meals leads to binge eating when we do finally get to eat. Make eating healthy throughout the day a #1 priority!
3.)Healthy sleep patterns. Have a time you go to bed and a time you wake up everyday! We've all binged watched Netflix or stalked our favorite people on Facebook all night with that bag of junk food. It's unhealthy and unproductive to the goals we have for ourselves. Having erratic sleep patterns messes with our circadian clock and that will have an impact on our self control.
4.) Stay busy! Distract yourself after you eat your dinner. I eat then shower and get ready for the next day. Then I have given my brain and stomach time to catch up with each other and I realize I'm no longer hungry.
5.) Cravings could be a sign of a lack of vitamins or minerals. Eat plenty of colorful fruits and veggies every day!
6.) Eat a high protein and high fiber dinner. Insoluble fiber keeps you feeling full longer. Lots of leafy greens. I like to suggest some form of salad every day. I'm like Popeye I love me some Spinach. 7.) Brush your teeth immediately after dinner! Brian, you've lost your mind. No, I'm serious this works great for me. After I brush my teeth I hate eating again! So in return it helps me from overeating.
8.) Drink lots of water daily. At least 64 ounces but I wouldn't complain if you doubled that daily.

That's all for today but lets remember to LIVE AND BE HEALTHY on a daily basis. I love you all and I'm here for you. MAKE GOOD CHOICES TODAY THAT WILL LEAD TO GOOD CHOICES TOMORROW AND SO ON...
A couple side notes. If you haven't been measured and want to be measured this week. Please remind me. I want us to stay focused on our goals. And send me questions that you want to read about in future blogs.
TRAINER BRIAN
trainerbrian.blogspot.com
bcoxptrainer@gmail.com