For the past 5 days, I had been feeling like garbage   I’d get a decent amount of sleep but wake up exhausted. My workouts were uninspired. And every time I’d sit down to start writing at night, the words I typed were wasting the digital space they occupied.   “What’s the deal here?!?” I’d say to myself. I was following my self-prescribed 10 Steps to not have a stress-induced heart attack (read: don’t burn out) that had previously worked superbly. But not this week.   I was in a rut and didn’t know how to get out   At about 11:00 on Friday morning (Day 5), I made a decision. Instead of just accepting this constant feeling of ‘blah’ – I decided to take action.   It would’ve been easy and uncomplicated to just sit in my office’s break room for 30 minutes, eat lunch, then proceed with this […]

Hi, Team!   What’s below is a unique exchange between two bloggers. Scott (at Making Momentum), is a blogger I’ve come to know, respect, and learn A TON from recently. His weekly Saturday Round-Up posts may be the best I’ve seen and his combination of personal finance, fitness, and overall self-improvement posts are right up my alley.   Given the info above, I’m pretty glued to his site these days, and when his recent post about him walking to work every day for 4 years was published I was all-in! Probably equal parts respect, jealousy, and sheer wonder had my mind spinning while reading through his post.   He did a great job explaining the benefits of walking compared with driving or public transit, but the questions I had were more of a “nuts and bolts” variety (e.g. – how does he actually do this???). So I reached out on […]

If you missed the first half of this article, feel free to check it out here before reading the conclusion. There I explained the purpose of this post, in case you were thinking, “Why, on earth, would a man want to do Zumba?” If you already understand my craziness, please feel free to press on. Thanks for coming back!   Last time we covered my experiences in Pilates and a boot camp at my daughter’s preschool. This time, we’re getting down to business. We’ve got Zumba and Dance Fusion…   Zumba beginning     Before lacing up the Nikes and setting foot on that parquet floor, my tank-top and running shorts wearing self sat in my car and thought, “Really man? Just stand up, get in there, and get this over with. Who knows? Maybe you’ll love it.” A hopeless attempt at getting me to believe I’d enjoy what’s coming […]

I know what it’s like to be on the physical fitness path…   To be an athlete competing at the highest level of your ‘profession,’ against other fine-tuned-machines of men. Some of whom would go on to play in the NFL and earn Super Bowl rings.   My collegiate football career saw me gaining muscle, burning fat, and improving every day as I competed with my teammates on Division I (MAC Conference) Kent State Golden Flashes Football Team.   At 255 pounds, I was a Tight End / Fullback hybrid that was used primarily in the passing game. I ran a respectable 4.68 40-yard dash, and although my numbers were decent, I still had quite a ways to go. But I was on the path…   I was in the prime of my athletic career up to that point… Until one day – I wasn’t   During the course of […]

Hi, Team! This week’s post comes to us from Gehana Kennedy, owner of vitaminshop.ae, the go-to source for high-quality wellness products including a range of step-by-step formulated vitamins, fitness supplements, and natural skin care products. With innovative ideas and implementation of new technologies, she was able to establish a platform that offers not only quality products but also valuable information for customers. I’ll say 2 things up front: 1) I have not used her products before, but 2) I get pitched on occasion for a wide variety of guest posts and this one stood out from the start. There are some great and actionable tips below, so let me get out of the way and let Gehana take it from here!     Contrary to popular belief, you don’t have to dramatically change your lifestyle to see significant changes in your health. Every dramatic improvement in your health can be started […]

I was a 15-year-old 3-sport athlete that was fortunate enough to play in highly competitive leagues that typically led to great opportunities at the next level. Baseball and Football were my top 2 sports, and (humble brag alert) I was on track to play one or both of these in college… And maybe get paid to do it. Basketball, on the other hand, was the spot I played in the winter to stay in shape without the dreaded (and required) winter lifting program that came as a side to the main dish that was the football team. Throughout all of these practices, games, off-season conditioning programs, fights, and the like, I had learned to push my body and mind in ways previously unimagined. Every day led to increased strength and confidence as I became accustomed to my growing self. But it was a sequence during this afterthought of a sport […]