Stress Eating

After the emotional roller coaster that has been September I look forward to my favorite 3 month stretch of the year. In the next 3 months lie my favorite 3 holidays and of course my birthday!

So I should be in stride with my workouts, right? Check!

And the diet must be automatic by now...right?

For some reason this has been a tough week with eating. I've been racking my brain trying to think about why I was eating so carelessly.

Am I happy? Yes!

Am I living life at 90%? Yes!

Am I fulfilled professionally? Yes!

Is fight training a smashing success? Yes!

So what the hell was it!

And then it hit me. I'm flying to Chicago on Friday. I HATE FLYING. It's not a fear, it's just a deep dislike and I am currently stress eating. While the fact that I am eating poorly sucks I'm glad I identified the reason. It was not lack of dedication. It was not because I fell off the wagon. It was stress, and now that I've identified the problem I'll solve it. No more junk and no more excuses, I'm back to eating clean!

Holding Back the Hands of Time

Three weeks ago I started training a group of MMA hopefuls. This was exciting and a bit scary for me. I haven't competed in MMA in 2 years and had not trained full time in that span either. Add to the mix that I underwent surgery in late April of this year and I was officially doubting if I could still "Go" like I used to.

Well, 3 weeks into my training camp I can gladly say that I haven't skipped a beat. In fact I am so much more balanced than I was in my fighting days! And without a shadow of a doubt I couldn't have accomplished this without DDP Yoga. My increased flexibility and balance have me 2, maybe 3 steps ahead of my students, who just happen to be 2, maybe 3 years younger than me! I know he preaches it each and everyday, but Dallas couldn't be more right, DDP Yoga has literally helped me "Hold back the hands of time!"

Addicted to DDP Yoga

Does anyone ever feel like it's never enough? When I have down time I am constantly feeling like something should be done about it. Whether it's a DDP Yoga session, a quick round of push ups and pull ups or an attempt of a "psycho extreme push up". I always get the feeling that down time = bad time. Now I know that this isn't true, but I just always seem to have that inclination.

When I think about it, I have this kind of all or nothing attitude toward most anything in my life. When I got fat 10 years ago I got REALLY fat! When I hated my job I tended not to even do it at all, but on the contrary when I enjoy it I immerse myself in it mind, body and spirit! This attitude was the key to my success in the MMA arena and is becoming my gateway to success with DDP Yoga. I know it's not always healthy to be so all or nothing, but in my quest for physical fitness and over all wellness my obsessive nature is just that. Healthy. Some may say even  a little too healthy!



DDP Yoga Psycho Extreme Push Up 1st Attempt

Why be gluten-free?

"Why be gluten-free?"

That is the question my wife asked me this week. And to be honest, I had to think about it for a minute. I didn't want to say because that's what the program says to do, that's an answer for weak minded people and I don't usually just do what I'm told so I needed something better. As an agent of independent thought, I did just that, I thought about it.

What I came up with is that I just don't need it. Gluten has nothing in it that I need to thrive in my everyday life. In fact, for the current lifestyle that I have chosen it flat out gets in the way. For example, a main ingredient in gluten is Lectin. Lectins are associated with insulin resistance, higher blood pressure and higher inflammation levels and those are things that I can do without. So right there in my explanation I found my answer. I simply don't need it. It produces no unique value to my daily diet and if anything gets in the way of my search for a more fit existence. It isn't always easy, some gluten-full foods are truly tasty treats. But as long as I have my Redbridge (Gluten-Free beer from Anheuser- Busch) I am good to go!



Day 60 Pics

The Genuine Article

For those of you who doubt how genuine DDP is about his DDP Yoga program and building into a fitness empire while helping thousands and thousands of people along the way, I found an article from the WCW Magazine Jan 2001 issue (more than 12 years ago!) that lays the ground work for what was YRG and became DDP Yoga. 

Any DDP Yogi will instantly recognize catch phrases like, "Hold back the hands of time..." and remember what it was like the 1st time they Ignited their lower half or elongated their spine from the seated position. He passion jumps off of the page and his hard work has helped so many along the way. He truly is the genuine article!

We don't mess around in my house!

Have you done your DDP Yoga today?

Because my 1 year old has!

Emotional Anchor!

I had to fight myself to roll out my mat today. I had to fight myself to press play on the Blu ray player today. I had to claw tooth and nail to get through the 38 + mins of Strength Builder today.

It's not because I didn't  want to do it, but with the emotional gravity, no, the emotional anchor that has been hanging around my neck this last week or so, it has been a prize fight for me. My hamstrings "seemed" tighter or my muscles "felt" too sore, but I rolled up my sleeves and got it done. Today however was my toughest day of DDP Yoga to date. 

With my cousins wake just a couple of hours away I found an hour in my hectic schedule to hit the mat. The only problem was not all of me was down for the session. But I did it. It may not have been my best workout in the past 2 months, but it was my most trying. And in a way my most satisfying! As I let out my 'UGE breathe as DDP would say, I laid back and just let a few tears roll down my face. The tears however may not have been for the reason you assume. Sure it is a sad day for me, but my tears were tears of satisfaction. I am often my own arch nemesis and today I won the battle. With all that life and my own subconscious has thrown at me I never gave in and I never gave up. Today I truly owned my life!

I dedicate his blog to my cousin, Tim.

Therapy Session

DDP Yoga has been a lot of things for me in the last 2 months. A motivator, a guiding hand, a kick in the ass when I need it & a judgement free friend. But for the 1st time last night, DDP Yoga worked as my therapist. Yesterday morning at 8:05 am my cousin, friend and a hero of mine lost his battle with brain cancer. Watching him suffer these last few months has been heartbreaking, but losing him is a devastating blow to me and my entire family. So to put it mildly, yesterday was a very tough day.

Under 3 hours after the news of his death I found myself at work. Everyone would have understood if I called in and continued on in the grieving process, but I thrive when I am busy and when one wants to be busy work is a great place to be. I had a productive day, but the gray cloud of loss hung just above my head and I just did not want to be there. I was sure that I was going to just chalk this day up as a loss and try to move onto Thursday.

When I arrived home my oldest daughter and niece were there to great my with hugs and smiles and asked me to tuck them in, which I gladly did because that kind of love can snap you out of anything if only for a moment. As I walked down the stairs I remembered what DDP said about the "attitude of gratitude" and how much love and joy I still had in my life. I even decided that instead of mourning my cousins loss I would try to celebrate his life! Now there is nothing wrong with shedding tears for love ones lost, but they should be followed by smiles of memories of days gone by. So this is exactly what I did and am continuing to do the next couple of days as we approach his wake and memorial service. I'll share this with my friends and family through this trying of days and hopefully we can laugh and cry together in honor of our fallen family member.


P.S
I almost forget, I absolutely killed it with STAND UP last night as well. That's enough to turn any one's day around!

Intense!

First day of camp for my fighters (I have 2 now!) Was intense! I have the black eye to prove it! A black eye and I'm their coach! I feel bad for the guy locked in the cage with them.

It feels so good to be back!

I am excited! As excited as I was to start DDP Yoga and as excited as I was when I signed my first fight contract. I'm excited because tonight just 3 months after my 10th knee surgery and a little under 2 months since I committed to DDP Yoga I start training my 1st fighter for his 1st fight!

This is a huge deal for me on many levels, but in respect to my new and damn sure improved lifestyle it is tangible proof that my positive choices, attitude and commitment are paying off. They're opening doors, new and old alike, for me that just 6 months ago I didn't think would be a possibility then, now or maybe even ever.

I'm happy to say that beside my obvious physical gains and improvements, I am in a healthy mental and emotional space as well. And when all 3 of those things are in sync nothing can stop me! This is just the beginning of a never ending journey that I look forward to taking every single morning. It's time to own it!

A peak into my transformation

I was trying hard to a before and after pic for progress. I wanted to just show how I have changed in my everyday appearance. The before pic was in May a month and a half before DDP Yoga and the after was taken yesterday. My face is a lot less fat than it was back then!

On day 60 I will post my day 1, day 60 pose pics!

Double Success

So if you've been reading this blog (and why the hell wouldn't you be?) you'll know that a couple of weeks ago a poor decision turned into a massive hangover and I was kicking myself for it big time. Not only was it a dumb thing to do but it goes against everything positive I am trying to accomplish in life. So with another wedding on the horizon I concocted "Operation act like a responsible adult and don't make dumb decisions so you'll remember a good friends wedding" (O.A.L.A.R.A.A.D.M.D.D.S.Y.R.A.G.F.W. for short). It's a little on the nose but sometimes I need on the nose!

Well, the wedding was last night and O.A.L.A.R.A.A.D.M.D.D.S.Y.R.A.G.F.W. was a rousing success. Joelle and I had a blast and woke up bright and early this morning to hang with the kids!

But wait, the title of the blog is double success, right?

Which brings me to my next point, I had another random weigh in today and am down 3 more pounds! In under 2 months that's a total of 19. I'm currently tipping the scales at 209! That's what I call a productive 24 hours!