MONDAY'S MOTIVATIONAL MINUTE..."Don't Like Working Out, What Does That Have To DO With It"?

Wow, Monday again! Ya know, it seems as though it rolls around just about every week. HA ha ha ...I know, not so funny Candace! Well, I need to prefece todays post. After this short explaination and introdution of sorts,You will be reading a two year old flash back. Actually MY VERY FIRST POST!
Now, there's very little chance that you would ever have noticed...except for the little updated inserets that I've added ( just like this), to keep it current.. However, the reality is, this will be a huge flash back for me! The ONLY way you might have read this,  is if you are really dedicated and read all the archives back to the very first post(most likely not) - OR, if you happen to be one of the two people, other than myself, who I really know for sure, actually have.  They would be Trish and Dana...two of my very best friends. The only reason they read the post that's coming your way, is because I begged them to. Two years ago, I told them I was finally starting my blog and told them I'd cry if NO ONE read the first one.  So that's what dear friends do! How can I be certain they read it? Well, when I say I told them to, I actually mean...I TOLD THEM. I didn't text it becuase I didn't text. I didn't E-mail a huge amount,  most likely I used that thing they used to call a "land line" or possibly my cell! You know, I "spoke" to them. Rare now days. Back then, I didn't have a Facebook page, a Twitter account, No LinkedIN contacts, No YELP friends, etc., etc., ETC.! I had no idea what I was doing. I just started to write and that was that. I'd never heard of  'Social Media Network Marketing' and I was more consumed by and considering....I'm actually still in shock.... because I'd actually created this blog site all by myself. Thus one of the reasons for calling a couple of my 'somewhat' computer savy  friends to check and see if they could find it online, "Join it" and actually comment on it. That way, I would know it was working. SO, they did and the rest is history.  Now days, I,m actually a bit of a geek! Not only that, I'm actuall quite proud of it. I have a smart phone, a droid.  I'm not particularly an Iphone fan, (don't send my hate E-mail PLEASE because...), I do have and love,love, love.... My Ipad 'two'. Already had the IPad 'One', and needed the new camera component. Both of them of course.... are 3G(what geek would be caught dead without it)!  I've not only had 6 Ipods, (getting the new upgrade each time they changed them up, but I do it because I create Audio Cardio downloads that can be purchased  not just from my own website but yep...also from ITUNES). I also do certain work off of my lap top, I work swiftly between three sepereate and necessary e-mail accounts and send cross over documents from each to get my work done....as well as setting up several client Ipods with new music whenever needed....Yet before, just having someone talk to me like that would have made me cry. But, I had to learn SO...I got the job done, and I'll be honest, IT TOOK A WHILE.  Who knew, under this six pack, beat the heart of a Techy?
SO, after starting my post for the day and feeling uneasy that I had said something very much like it once before (which is bound to happen but this was feeling identical), I stopped and decided to search my posts just to make sure. When I couldn't find it I got a little frustrated and decided I'd just go back and start at square one. I went back to the oldest post,  FIRST THING I ever WROTE and hit post #1. That was it! Feeling a little nastalgic, I started reading my first post and it was exactly what I wanted to say today. Being certain that no one (but two), had ever seen it, I posted it today! Imagine that. I wrote the darn thing. But it was so long ago, I was amused! SO...a slightly 'New Version' of my first post is here for you today. It's been edited by  removing the things that you don't need to hear again after all the posts I've written since. In addition and interestingly enough.... the workout I described doing in this first post, I am about to do to again and in fact, it's going to be almost exactly the same (as my husband paces back and forth waiting for me to join him for HIS version of it with me). Somethings just CAN'T CHANGE...for now anyway. It's a matter of the will and the choices I've chosen to make. SO, her is my VERY FIRST "MOTIVATIONAL MINUTE", I hope you enjoy it. It's actually motivated me to keep on working toward my new goals, I hope it works for you too!
*One of the questions I get all the time, is " What keeps you motivated to workout Candace"? Well, a better question might be, " Do you enjoy exercise"? That is the question. One of the more wide spread misconceptions about me is that I must. In order to stay this consistent and be this dedicated to being fit, it’s apparently assumed that I do. People have even stopped me and said things like “Well Candace, it’s easy for you; I mean look at you. You’re naturally thin and you enjoy working out”. The truth is, and I don’t mind telling you, I am NOT naturally thin. I have a predisposition to be large. When my first precious daughter Kaggin was born, (both births were C-sections), my weight was 170 pounds (I’m 5’4” tall, I was an EGG). Fifteen months later, when my darling Brittany, was born I topped the scale at 189! As for liking exercise NO... NADDA…NOPE! Sports… rock climbing, riding and jumping horses…yeah, I LOVE IT! Working out….I’d rather do anything but. Just like the rest of you. I have met a few folks that enjoy it; they are few and far between. What I do enjoy is this: what it does for me, that feeling I get the moment when each workout is completed or, even more intense, WHEN I CROSS A FINISH LINE no matter how much it hurts. I know I did it in spite of it all…I DID IT. What I am, is a bonified accomplishment junky! So there, I’ve admitted it. Hi, my name is Candace and I’m an accomplishment junkie! In order to understand my life in this industry, it’s important to understand that in addition to 60 to 80 hour work weeks that I put myself through…I am my own boss. For me, staying ultra pro-athlete fit is in addition to work hours. This is how I stay where I am at this point in the game.
SO, tonight at 6:35 p.m.(present time, 4:54 pm 2 years later), after grunting out my last few reps of a grueling 2 hour upper body and cardio circuit workout, I jumped on my treadmill ...and I love my treadmill, she's a beauty, and sprinted my last 1/2 mile interval at warp speed. DONE. That feeling is what keeps me coming back for more – that and wanting to keep my company on top!! In doing so, I completed a total of 6 HARD miles and exactly 16 sets of back training, 12 sets on my biceps and 12 sets on my triceps and two hundred various HARD abdominal reps. I'm will work my deltoids, 'translation; shoulders' and legs another day this week. In addition, I will, as always, work the all important "6 pack ab conservation project" I've dedicated myself to. This concerted effort to procure and preserve an abdominal sheet hard enough to feel like one is hitting some kind of material other than flesh to the touch, will ultimately be a part of almost ever workout I engage in. I promise you I am not being vain in this statement; it’s just the way it is. It’s really a bit ab-normal!! Once, when a bunch of my friends and I were on our way to Jamaica for a wedding, the plane was delayed. We were all bored to tears. I overheard one of my "friends" say ..."I know, have you guys seen Candace’s abs? Hey Candace, pick up your shirt and let them feel your abs, its freaky"! GREAT…. I'm apparently a side show circus freak. From the inside looking out I don’t see things this way. It appears that I'm amusing. Back to my workouts, we're not finished, we're NEVER FINISHED. I will repeat this same amount of upper body muscle work one more time before the week is out, for a total of two crazy upper body weight training sessions and one brutal leg and shoulder routine that's just cruel...even more so when your legs are involved. Mind you, that is in no way the totality of the workouts that I will begrudgingly endure in the course of this and most every week of my life now for almost 20 years straight without so much as a hiccup or interruption. The only exception is when I've had surgery or have been sidelined by injury. Considering I've only been seriously injured TWICE as a result of my 20 year athletic career, I must be doing something right. If I'm being completely honest, and that's what this blog is about, I've often not minded having surgery just so I can get a legitimate BREAK in the action! That has to be something to put me on the Dr.'s coach for diagnosis, huh? I pray you’re all laughing! In addition to these weight training and ab sessions, I'll teach an hour long punishing kick boxing class which creates a workday that starts with my daily 5 a.m.(presently about 3:00 to 4:00 am) wake up call and finishes with me pulling into the house around 8 p.m.! Don't think that when the hour class is finished that I am too. NOPE! I'm the instructor and coach. I jump on and off that stage at least 8-10 times during the class, circulating around the room. I not only check for proper form but also try to make everyone feel welcome and to pump up the back of the room. We currently rock out at about 65 people in this class. For the size studio we're in, it’s like a rock concert. People are packed in there so tight; my ability to see folks in the back of the studio is rather obscured from the stage. Now here comes the full disclosure part....Contrary to many other instructors thinking, this is NOT MY WORKOUT! Nor should it be for any other instructor when they’re up at bat. I am there for the members. I lay it out for them. This is, or SHOULD BE...SPECIAL FOR THEM. This is intense. This is a unique experience and because of that, the words, "me, myself and I" are not in this picture. So, if I have to leave the studio at the end of class and jump on a piece of equipment for another 20 to 30 minutes to keep this fitness level up to a notch above the rest, as it should be, SO BE IT!
Here's the difference and here's what motivates me. I am a FITNESS PROFESSIONAL. I am a sponsored PROFESSIONAL ATHLETE! This is my job. It never ends.  It's never finished. I do a similar class on Saturday mornings, which follows my live fitness segment on NBC affiliate station WBAL-TV in Baltimore, Maryland. I am out of bed at 4:30 a.m., prior to reaching the club to do the job with the energy they've come to expect. I’ll fight to do nothing less than deliver. Add another three to four more cardio workouts of at least an hour to an hour and a half and there you have my NON-COMPETING weekly workout schedule. Add a marathon pending and ai- yi- yi!!! It's just the amount of work and time it takes to stay fit enough to keep my sponsorships, my level of competitiveness, my physique in top form and, in all earnestness, MY CAREER and INCOME at the level it is now. It costs me something every day and I wouldn't and still haven't wanted to change one minute of it. CHANGE, it is a coming!!! I often ask myself "how did this all start"? Well, the answer to that question, as well as how I got to where I am now, is on its way. Right now, it’s time for a ½ measured cup of dry chardonnay and a grilled chicken salad for dinner….and then to collapse. It’s late now. Good night all. Get some rest and sleep tight.
As I close my eyes, I’m at peace. I’m at peace because this I know for sure - I will always Love Life, I’ll never stop laughing loudly, I’ll always live large, I’ll never stop striving to comfort others and do all that I can to be gentle, patient and kind. Ultimately, this is my life’s goal. I rest assured that it CAN all be accomplished because I’m not alone in this endeavor. Anything is possible because of …the GRACE OF GOD!*

Well, back to the Presesnt time. After reading that with you, I can see that I'm still on my path. Only now, it's running  close to passing into the 21st year of this crazy career. But it's so good for me to also look back and see that those changes I spoke of, as many have been implemented over these past two years. I'm working towards my five year plan to change....not my career, but the focus of it. BUT the body, no matter what may come..needs to be fit for service. It's been a cool flash back but good to know I'm still on track. But that's never good enough for me. My question is now, and it has always been....are YOU on that path With ME? By the way, I not only have this blog to reflect upon for good measure, but also journals that help me do the same. Just a little reminder for those who do regularly now... follow this blog. Having the ability to really look back and reflect, not only at where you were then, but  where you had said you had hoped to be now...that's good to look into.Again,  Just a friendly little nudge!
Monday's Motivational Minute, brought to you from a throw back to the past.

POWER ON,
Until tomorrow.....stay on track,
Candace