Part of my journey to optimal health is to become physically stronger by building more muscle mass. As we age this is so important to prevent osteoporosis. Now that I am at a healthy weight and easily maintaining it my focus can now be turned to strength training. I have attempted this many times over the years and had some success but I never kept it going.
Truth be told I don’t love the actual act of strength training but I do love the results. As many of you know I am a student of Chef AJ’s and a member of her Ultimate Weight Loss Program since February 2015. I am also a graduate of her UWL Mastery program and serving as a mentor in her current mastery program. This is pretty amazing considering I was a yo-yo dieter for nearly four decades!
In mastery we are making vision boards and focusing on one goal right now that we want to achieve. Jay Pea one of the masterminds behind the UWL program and the UWL Mastery Program instructed us to choose a goal revolving around our weakness. He said he never works with clients on what they are already good at – as soon as he discovers their weakness he knows what to have them focus on. Makes sense doesn’t it? Although I have made some progress in the area of strength training it is still a weakness for me. Guess what my goal and my vision board is focused on?
Before & Now
Nutmeg Notebook
The top photo was taken in May and I had been using some exercise bands and some hand weights. I was starting to see some results which was encouraging. The bottom photo was taken in September and I had been using the exercise bands as well as as well as the light hand weights on a more regular but still random basis. I was really surprised by how much definition I was getting even though my work out schedule was rather random. Now I am excited to become more consistent with my resistance training and tighten up my upper arms even more. I would like my arms to look like this when I am not flexing! It sure would make my sleeveless tops look more appealing.
Vision Board
Nutmeg Notebook
This was one of two vision boards that I made earlier this week to help me with my goal of becoming stronger. I spent a couple of hours that day looking at photos on google and finding quotes that inspired me. Using a free App called PhotoGrid I plugged in my photos and quotes and easily made my vision boards. That night I had a dream about my vision boards and in my dream I reached my goal of having strong firm arms. I usually don’t even remember my dreams – already the vision boards are working! The next morning I got right out of bed and headed to my work out room! Where the mind goes the body will follow. I am a huge believer in vision boards – the ones I made when I first joined the UWL group helped me achieve my weight loss goals and my new vision boards will be equally as helpful.
I can print my vision boards at home or take the images to Kinkos or Office Max and have them printed so I can have multiple boards to place around the house for inspiration. I also have them on my phone so I can be inspired anytime anywhere and keep my goals forefront in my mind.
Feeling stronger is kind of a powerful thing mentally as well as physically. It’s rather interesting how the two go hand in hand. I do believe that I now posses a level of confidence that wasn’t there for me before I had some arm strength. The fact that muscles burns more calories at rest than fat is a bonus! Hey I will happily trade in any lingering fat for more calorie burning muscle mass!
Exercise Bands
Nutmeg Notebook
Exercise bands come in different strengths and there are different companies that make them. I prefer the TheraBand CLX resistance bands as they are excellent quality and they have built in handles which makes it easier to hold onto them. If you purchase a few of them they can be placed in different rooms of your house so you can randomly pick them up and use them. If you have one in your TV room you can use the TheraBand resistance band during commercials and still get a work out accomplished. They are light weight and easily pack-able to take on vacation. Also TheraBand has a free smart phone App called THERABANDCLX that includes videos to show you how to use the bands. If you prefer to use your PC go to the TheraBand Website you can also watch various videos on the bigger PC screen while you are working out. That is all you need to get started. My goal is to work out three times a week for about 20 minutes each time doing resistance exercises using the resistance bands and light hand weights. The Amazon link provided is an affiliate link – by using it you help support this site at no extra cost to you. Thank you for the support.
Nutmeg Notes
I will work on my strength training for a couple of months and then give you a progress report. Wow – now the pressure is on to perform and make a big change! It’s good to have accountability when you are trying to make changes. If you use vision boards I would love for you to share in the comments and let me how it works for you and how you make them. If you have incorporated strength training into your work outs please share about that too. I am inspired by your stories and love it when you take the time to leave a comment.
Happy Fall,
Tami
A Little Nutmeg Nugget: When I started this blog in January of 2010 I followed what I understood to be a healthy version of the standard American diet, ironically also known as the “SAD” diet. As interest in my own health and how it was affected by the food I ate evolved, I transitioned to a whole food plant based diet also known as “WFPB” diet. I have wrestled with the fact that this blog still contains all those posts and recipes from the SAD way of eating I have left behind. I no longer advocate for anyone to eat that way. At this time I am leaving those recipes and posts here. It is a record of my journey and how I came to follow a WFPB way of eating. It is my hope that those who still come here for those old recipes will be curious about what I am doing now. Perhaps they will dip their toes across the line as I did and try some plant based recipes and learn more about the health benefits.
Please feel free to leave a comment or ask a question.
Tami, your transformation in a few short months is just amazing!!! I’ll be watching to see what happens when you put those vision boards to work. What a fun dream to see it all come to fruition and know what you have to do to get there! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you for the encouragement and being such a positive role model for me!