Dear Internet,
How's it hangin'? I see you've been busy lately. So have I.
I just thought of some band names:
Milk Cravings
Inflammatory Responses
Off-limits
Inflammation Factors
My cholesterol was 203 as of April 26. I freaked out and tried everything i knew to lower it. You know, oatmeal, blah blah blah.
I had it rechecked on June 2 - a month later. 207. Conventional wisdom sucks.
I talked to Molly, the nutritionist at my work. She broke it down for me. Starches cause inflammation and certain other foods (like ALL dairy).
So I am having the biggest milk craving ever, and almond mild just tastes like dookie after my insane 122-hour-long work day. No, really it was just 12 hours at work.
Thanks for listening.
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Monday, May 14, 2012
Internerd Wheat Stuff
I was looking at some things on the internet today and
thought you might find these interesting. Some interesting trivia about
wheat:
- Wheat has been in the human diet less that 10,000 years. http://www.mercola.com/article/carbohydrates/paleolithic_diet.htm
- Wheat contains gluten, a protein that can cause or accelerate inflammation in the body. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gluten
- Most wheat products are refined and stripped of their nutritional
value. Enriched grain products are still less nutritious than whole
grain products - even with the added vitamins and minerals! Many
products that say "whole wheat" have misleading labels - Look at the
ingredients to make sure you are not falling for a marketing tactic! http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=66
Sunday, April 1, 2012
Progression
What do you do when you can do 20 push-ups no problem? You might put your feet up on something or put your hand on a medicine ball and do traveling push-ups. They could be plyometric push-ups with a clap. When those plyos get easy, you can start clapping above the head or behind the back. My spell check does not recognize the word plyometric, which is indicative of the typical person's lack of knowledge about exercise.
I am a personal trainer. In my line of work, these adjustments to an exercise are called progressions. a push-up is a push-up whether is is on a wall by an old lady or if it is done with your feet in a set of rings and each of your hands on its own stability ball because you are a TOTAL BEAST. A good trainer will progress you through variations of the same exercise as your ability grows.
As a recovering addict, I have picked up a lot of mantras and sayings along the way. At some point, I realized that a lot of my problems were because I had failed to look into the future and figure out what was about to be happening in my life. I'm not talking about any wierdo crystal-ball-tarot-card stuff. Just putting pieces together and and figuring out what I was looking at. I developed a method of being a focused person and called it preparing for what's next.
I was 27 when I learned a basic life skill. It felt like the clouds opened up and Jesus himself came down from heaven and told me about it! It was a total epiphany – for real!
All I had to do was figure out my next step and make sure everything was in place to make it happen. I knew I wanted to have a normal life and spend it with the insanely amazing woman I was lucky enough to be dating. I put this into practice by starting a savings account, just in case I lost my job or something. So I wouldn't be completely screwed. I knew I wanted an education and began (slowly) digging myself out of a HUGE pile of debt so I could eventually go back to school.
That was six years ago. Now I am married to that woman, we have all that married people stuff like a cool house with a dishwasher and a yard that I get to mow and hate doing. I have been a personal trainer for 3 years and though still chipping away at my old debts, I have been also chipping away credits at school!
I am one of the most fortunate people you will ever meet. How does a strung-out 115-pound heroin addict, hustling for dope on the streets of Memphis (Ranked one of the most unhealthy cities in the U.S.) that had given up any hope for a regular middle-class life (which sounds really stupid, but that is what I wanted when I was a kid) make such a huge comeback? How does that same guy reinvent himself into someone who helps other people reinvent themselves? Who does that? How am I not dead or in jail?
Preparing for what is next – progression. A little bit at a time.
A few months ago, I started working at a new gym. Although it was hard for me to leave my clients and my co-workers, it was time for the next part of my life. I have grown my knowledge and skill at my new gym and I am starting to see my business take off!
I want to change more lives and help people to make these positive changes. Because of the nature of our business, we can only help those who can afford out time, or who consider personal training to be important enough to go without certain things so they can work with one.
So much of being a trainer is teaching people to make healthy choices. In my opinion, the workouts are pretty much secondary to the diet and lifestyle coaching that is given during a session. Sure, there are those people that just want their butt kicked so they can justify eating half of Panera for lunch. They will get a butt-kicking workout, burn hundreds of calories and not lose a pound. Anyone can make somebody sweat.
What's next for me is finding a way to to give back. I want to find a way to bring the fitness lifestyle mainstream and make words like plyometric something everyone knows. I am up super late writing this, and I might be very tired tomorrow, but if you see me ask me about the idea that my wife and I came up with today. I will be making steps toward it, and soon it will be a reality!
Life has been good to me, and now it is time to give back.
I don't want to be just a personal trainer anymore – I want to make Memphis a healthy city!
I am a personal trainer. In my line of work, these adjustments to an exercise are called progressions. a push-up is a push-up whether is is on a wall by an old lady or if it is done with your feet in a set of rings and each of your hands on its own stability ball because you are a TOTAL BEAST. A good trainer will progress you through variations of the same exercise as your ability grows.
As a recovering addict, I have picked up a lot of mantras and sayings along the way. At some point, I realized that a lot of my problems were because I had failed to look into the future and figure out what was about to be happening in my life. I'm not talking about any wierdo crystal-ball-tarot-card stuff. Just putting pieces together and and figuring out what I was looking at. I developed a method of being a focused person and called it preparing for what's next.
I was 27 when I learned a basic life skill. It felt like the clouds opened up and Jesus himself came down from heaven and told me about it! It was a total epiphany – for real!
All I had to do was figure out my next step and make sure everything was in place to make it happen. I knew I wanted to have a normal life and spend it with the insanely amazing woman I was lucky enough to be dating. I put this into practice by starting a savings account, just in case I lost my job or something. So I wouldn't be completely screwed. I knew I wanted an education and began (slowly) digging myself out of a HUGE pile of debt so I could eventually go back to school.
That was six years ago. Now I am married to that woman, we have all that married people stuff like a cool house with a dishwasher and a yard that I get to mow and hate doing. I have been a personal trainer for 3 years and though still chipping away at my old debts, I have been also chipping away credits at school!
I am one of the most fortunate people you will ever meet. How does a strung-out 115-pound heroin addict, hustling for dope on the streets of Memphis (Ranked one of the most unhealthy cities in the U.S.) that had given up any hope for a regular middle-class life (which sounds really stupid, but that is what I wanted when I was a kid) make such a huge comeback? How does that same guy reinvent himself into someone who helps other people reinvent themselves? Who does that? How am I not dead or in jail?
Preparing for what is next – progression. A little bit at a time.
A few months ago, I started working at a new gym. Although it was hard for me to leave my clients and my co-workers, it was time for the next part of my life. I have grown my knowledge and skill at my new gym and I am starting to see my business take off!
I want to change more lives and help people to make these positive changes. Because of the nature of our business, we can only help those who can afford out time, or who consider personal training to be important enough to go without certain things so they can work with one.
So much of being a trainer is teaching people to make healthy choices. In my opinion, the workouts are pretty much secondary to the diet and lifestyle coaching that is given during a session. Sure, there are those people that just want their butt kicked so they can justify eating half of Panera for lunch. They will get a butt-kicking workout, burn hundreds of calories and not lose a pound. Anyone can make somebody sweat.
What's next for me is finding a way to to give back. I want to find a way to bring the fitness lifestyle mainstream and make words like plyometric something everyone knows. I am up super late writing this, and I might be very tired tomorrow, but if you see me ask me about the idea that my wife and I came up with today. I will be making steps toward it, and soon it will be a reality!
Life has been good to me, and now it is time to give back.
I don't want to be just a personal trainer anymore – I want to make Memphis a healthy city!
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Hey, I liked your story
Although up until now I write this blog anonymously, and since about 5 people read it anyway, it seems like a good idea to share my story on my blog.
The local paper wrote one of those success stories about how I got into fitness and it changed my life. For the past two days people have been coming up to me telling me "Hey, was that you in the paper? I liked your story."
It is very humbling and strange at the same time. As I have mentioned before I was addicted to heroin for several years. Right now I have been totally winning (not in the Charlie Sheen way) for approximately 6 years, 5 months and 28 days. Not that I'm counting. I just did the math right now in my head.
I'm not a big 12-step person. Meetings tend to make me feel negative about myself and get me in the frame of mind that I have some sort of disease. I do not believe addiction is and actual disease. I think it is a symptom of something else that is wrong in your life, the same way overeating is.
Sure the brain gets hooked on the release of serotonin and different chemical things that go on when you binge eat or get high.
The thing that I found most helpful was figuring out why I needed that feeling so bad in the first place. What was I trying to fix?
That is figured out now (for the most part) and I try to confront those issues every day so I won't end up in the same place. That's how I did it. With counseling and positive people around me.
I didn't realize that real people contact you after you put something like this out there. It is really cool and very new to me. People are e-mailing me and approaching me at work telling me their stories and wanting to be listened to. I was not prepared for this, and it makes me a little nervous, but I'm going to do my best to rise to the situation.
I totally used a bunch of Oprah language and I apologize for that. I saw an episode of Oprah where they had this junkie family in Ohio and they were trying to get them to get clean and it was so depressing to see. My wife was the one watching it (I was just there because I don't watch lady shows) and she was crying. I was in rehab at the time on methadone (which saved my life).
So maybe Ellen will run a less depressing episode about addicts. I would watch that lady TV show.
Here's a link to my article:
http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2012/mar/05/success-story-gary-berglund/
If you need to share your story with someone, you can send it to me.
gberglund@lifetimefitness.com
The local paper wrote one of those success stories about how I got into fitness and it changed my life. For the past two days people have been coming up to me telling me "Hey, was that you in the paper? I liked your story."
It is very humbling and strange at the same time. As I have mentioned before I was addicted to heroin for several years. Right now I have been totally winning (not in the Charlie Sheen way) for approximately 6 years, 5 months and 28 days. Not that I'm counting. I just did the math right now in my head.
I'm not a big 12-step person. Meetings tend to make me feel negative about myself and get me in the frame of mind that I have some sort of disease. I do not believe addiction is and actual disease. I think it is a symptom of something else that is wrong in your life, the same way overeating is.
Sure the brain gets hooked on the release of serotonin and different chemical things that go on when you binge eat or get high.
The thing that I found most helpful was figuring out why I needed that feeling so bad in the first place. What was I trying to fix?
That is figured out now (for the most part) and I try to confront those issues every day so I won't end up in the same place. That's how I did it. With counseling and positive people around me.
I didn't realize that real people contact you after you put something like this out there. It is really cool and very new to me. People are e-mailing me and approaching me at work telling me their stories and wanting to be listened to. I was not prepared for this, and it makes me a little nervous, but I'm going to do my best to rise to the situation.
I totally used a bunch of Oprah language and I apologize for that. I saw an episode of Oprah where they had this junkie family in Ohio and they were trying to get them to get clean and it was so depressing to see. My wife was the one watching it (I was just there because I don't watch lady shows) and she was crying. I was in rehab at the time on methadone (which saved my life).
So maybe Ellen will run a less depressing episode about addicts. I would watch that lady TV show.
Here's a link to my article:
http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2012/mar/05/success-story-gary-berglund/
If you need to share your story with someone, you can send it to me.
gberglund@lifetimefitness.com
Monday, February 13, 2012
Gimme some PT
I have been going to physical therapy for about a month or so. My PT is a total mom. The way she talks reminds me of a special-ed kindergarten teacher. It is pretty funny because I am a grown man and she is saying things like "OK, now we're going to roll over on our tummy!" I might end up making a macaroni necklace for her when my program is complete.
The exercises are as painful as shitting out a chain mace. And make me feel super dignified, like waking up naked in a puddle of vomit on the bare hardwood floor of the hallway in an old, unheated house.
But they are working, and soon I will be lifting again.
The exercises are as painful as shitting out a chain mace. And make me feel super dignified, like waking up naked in a puddle of vomit on the bare hardwood floor of the hallway in an old, unheated house.
But they are working, and soon I will be lifting again.
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