First off please allow me to welcome all the new members and guests here on JSF :) . This is a site that can act as a launching pad for success not only in your fitness goals, but it can also catapult you to success with other facets of your life through personal awareness and discovery.

Well, Tuesday I walked into the gym and ran into a girl whom I attempted to help a few months back by spending a lot of time with her, changing her diet, bad habits, and training. For the first couple of weeks she was doing great, then I didn't see her again for quite some time. But when I saw her a couple days ago she tried to squirm away from me, then guiltily acknowledged that she did not stick to the diet and had gained 30 lbs. :eek: . Her excuse was that she had an addiction to sugar and couldn't stop eating her M&M's, strwberry/yogurt Special K cereal, donuts, and whatever. The amazing part being that she comes to the gym almost daily to do her 45 minutes of cardio :rolleyes: . She stopped all weight training becuase she was getting "bulky" :whistle: Hmmm....I wonder why? :doh: I think she took offense to my response when I told her she was wasting her time by coming to the gym, while in the same sense eating crap every day. She got upset and once more reiterated the fact that she had "cravings". Well, what I said next was probably not the right thing to say, ( most here are aware of my being in recovery now for the past 23 years) but I said that I am addicted to alcohol, yet have not had a drink in over 20 years. There is nothing more I crave after a workout than an ice cold beer. Yet, I know that if I have one, it'll be GAME OVER for me. With that, she huffed and puffed and stormed out of the gym. I guess it wasn't the proper thing to say, but man was I upset :mad: I was going to do some RDL's and shoulders today but wound up doing:

Deadlifts supersetted with weighted chins, Hammer Strength low iso rows, Push Presses, weighted dips supersetted with barbell curls, barbell hack squats supered with smith machine sissy squats, 15 sets of various calf raises, heck I even did abs for the first time in two years - weighted decline crunches with an 80 lb. dumbell against my chest.

This workout took 95 minutes, a far departure from my usual 30-45 minute session. This girl definitely gave me a kick in the pants, but if I see and talk to her on a regular basis, I'll be overtrained in a matter of weeks LOL :lol:

Moral of the story? Never underestimate proper nutrition. It's the key to unlocking your fitness potential. Always strive to improve upon some aspect of your nutrition/training experience. Heck, I've been training for 25 years but recently hired a personal trainer to bring up some lagging bodyparts.

Good luck to everyone, and welcome!!

:tucool:

P.S. If you still lack motivation, look at the owner of this site - John Stone> Here is a man who truly walks the talk! :nod:

:lol:I could use her to rile me up before my workouts:nod:

In case I've never said it before, congrats on giving up the alcohol:tucool:

She got upset and once more reiterated the fact that she had "cravings". Well, what I said next was probably not the right thing to say, ( most here are aware of my being in recovery now for the past 23 years) but I said that I am addicted to alcohol, yet have not had a drink in over 20 years. There is nothing more I crave after a workout than an ice cold beer. Yet, I know that if I have one, it'll be GAME OVER for me. With that, she huffed and puffed and stormed out of the gym. I guess it wasn't the proper thing to say, but man was I upset :mad:
Is the truth an inappropriate thing to say? I hope I've left this planet the day it becomes so.

Perhaps there are more tactful or compassionate words you could have said... but I think telling her the truth of the matter was the most useful of all things you could have said.

-R

smith machine sissy squats, Good luck to everyone, and welcome!!

Tell us about this one, I have never seen it.:bb:

Thanks Mastover for yet another very inspirational post. I think in todays ever increasingly PC world, its hard for someone like the girl at your gym to hear someone "keeping it real". Too bad, I wish I was fortunate enough to have direct coaching from someone like you! :tu:

Love the story,..It's another example of how most folks just don't accept, understand, or know how important our nutrition plan is.

>>>--->

Perhaps there are more tactful or compassionate words you could have said...

-R

Tactful? I'll have to look that word up. Maybe if I practiced being more tactful, I'd have more "friends"? :confused: ..:cool:

Smith machine front squats (where's chic now that we REALLY need him :rolleyes: )......Get under the bar and use a front squat, arms crossed over grip, bar resting on delts. Step back a little so that your feet are slightly behind the bar. Descend as if you are doing a sissy squat, knees coming way over the toes, laying back with your upper body almost perpendicular to the floor, thrusting the hips up and out. At the bottom you should be on your toes. Now come back up but try not to lock out the knees. You don't need much weight on these, trust me. Tom Platz liked doing this same exact movement on the hack squat machine. I get better results with the smithy.

Well, what I said next was probably not the right thing to say, ( most here are aware of my being in recovery now for the past 23 years) but I said that I am addicted to alcohol, yet have not had a drink in over 20 years. There is nothing more I crave after a workout than an ice cold beer. Yet, I know that if I have one, it'll be GAME OVER for me. With that, she huffed and puffed and stormed out of the gym. I guess it wasn't the proper thing to say,

I don't think there was anything wrong with what you said. As a recovering alcoholic myself (18 months) I firmly believe that I would be dead today had people not been willing to tell me some things that were hard to hear.

I don't believe that her "sugar addiction" could possibly compare to the power that alcohol has over some of us (but then, I could be wrong about that. I've been wrong plenty of times). I do think, though, that there are a lot of similarities between the position she's in and that of an alcoholic first trying to get sober.

Obviously there are things about herself or her life that she's not happy with and wants to change. Her presence at the gym is evidence enough of that. It bothers her enough that she wants to do "something" to change it, but when she hears the truth about what it's going to take, it turns out it doesn't bother her enough to go to those extremes.

Sounds a lot like I was for two years when I knew drinking was destroying my life and killing me, but the thought of giving up my beer completely seemed impossible, and it took me a long time to be willing to take that step.

I definitely understand and share your frustration with her, but at the same time I kinda feel bad for her, too. Wanting a better life but not being able to find the strength to do what's necessary is a scary, lonely place to be.

And good job on the 23 years! With a little help from above, I hope to be able to say the same in 21 or so years!

I really enjoy your stories Mastover. You offer great assistance both on and off the JSF boards, you practice what you preach, and you give people the straight goods whether they want it or not. You're a great example of what someone can do when they put their mind to it.

Tact shmact. She needed to hear exactly what you said.

You don't need much weight on these, trust me.

Ya think?

These sound terrifying.

Well, in retrospect I should've used more tact with this individual. Addiction is a very complex issue which has many different levels. The compulsive/obsessive nature is difficult to deal with and often times we become secure in our insecurities, fearful of initiating any change whatsoever. The gym goer may feel confident in their training methodologies, compromising an emotional need, rather than a physical one. People are also afraid of getting healthy. Yes, it may seem contradictory but it happens all the time. A smoker may wake up in the morning and hack their brains out, sounding like they're going to die. One day they awake and do not go through the usuall coughing ritual. Immediately they think something is wrong. Dealing with these type personalities on a daily basis (and being a compulisive/addictive myself) makes it difficult to address the problem, especially when dealing with others who share your affliction. It's an ongoing battle.

Zen, the smith front squats are truly one of the most difficult movements I've ever done. You can half-ass it, or you can make it as difficult as you wish by going all the way down and holding the stretch. The old style barbell hack squats are also very difficult, but results oriented. :nod:

Zen, the smith front squats are truly one of the most difficult movements I've ever done. You can half-ass it, or you can make it as difficult as you wish by going all the way down and holding the stretch. The old style barbell hack squats are also very difficult, but results oriented. :nod:

Do you think weighted sissy squats would amount to the same thing? I'm just asking out of idle curiosity though, I'm not planning on doing any.

I love your posts Mastover :spaz:

So true... so true..... so many people think that cardio is some kind of magic antidote. So they end up eating all the wrong things at all the wrong times and end up frustrated and just give up.

Great post!

So true... so true..... so many people think that cardio is some kind of magic antidote. So they end up eating all the wrong things at all the wrong times and end up frustrated and just give up.

Great post!

I find this to be true. Maya, you're a perfect representative of what hard training and consistant, intelligent nutrition could accomplish for both women and men. :tu:

Zen, I also do the sissy squat with plate against chest. As with many movements, sissy squat variants become a matter of mind to muscle connection, especially if it's more of a "finesse" type movement. I prefer them on the smith machine simply because it's a lot more difficult, I feel it more in my teardrops, and you can use more weight.

I prefer them on the smith machine simply because it's a lot more difficult

Why are we not surprised?

On the other hand I know what you mean. More difficult usually means it gets you there with less overall work. So more difficult today often means easier in the long run.