Death Valleys--NOT THE DEATH OF YOU!

I say that because, depending on the effort you put into this exercise, it can be very taxing on your lungs, in a good way. For beginners, you should of course take it slowly and for anyone, work your way up. It's always about progression and gauging your progress.

Death Valleys will drastically improve your cardiovascular health & endurance. You will notice changes the more you do of them, just as in running. The more running you do, the more you will notice you can run farther and faster.

Ok, the real question, how do you do them? Well, Death Valleys were first introduced to me in volleyball and basketball. It is a running and interval exercise. Somewhat of a plyometric exercise if you ask me. First off. Look at the diagram of the gym floor below. If you were starting right below the hoop, behind the first line, you would jog to the free throw line, reach down, touch the line and jog back to starting line. Reach down, touch the starting line and jog to the center court line, reach down, touch line, jog all the way back to the start line. Reach down, touch line, jog all the way to the other end of the court's free throw line and so on. For beginners, you would want to monitor how your breathing feels and how you feel overall. These get hard, quick! For someone who has built up cardiovascular stamina, I would say pick it up to a quick run. If you want to really get your heart rate up, sprint from line to line.


Note: Not all gyms have a basketball court. However, if your gym has an aerobics room that isn't occupied, by all means, make your own lines and make it work for you. I will go into our aerobics room and look at the center of the room and run to that line, then back to start, then to the other side of the room's wall and then back and repeat, repeat, repeat.

Death Valleys are the type of exercise that you know it's working because you feel it.

DO NOT, I repeat, do not overdo it. Start small and work your way up. This should be taken seriously, as each person is at a different cardiovascular fitness level than another and these can be very challenging on your breathing/lungs. Once you get the hang of them and work up an endurance, you will see changes in other aspects of your workouts!

The Choice to Change Your Life

You're sitting there thinking how you've been over this thought in your head a hundred different times. "Why can't I just start?"
"I don't have enough time."
"I just won't be able to do it."
"I'm too big, it's going to take too long."

If any of those thoughts are running through your head, your thoughts are holding you back. A year ago, I was almost 40 pounds heavier. I was there. I kept sinking further and further into the dark and knew it. And I didn't know how to stop myself. It was like, the further I would go (the bigger I got), the stronger the magnetism of where I didn't want to continue going, was.

So here I was 40 pounds ago. I can tell you what it looked like, and you'll probably have a very close understanding of the mental state I was in if you are doing and thinking the same things I was.

I was sad, lonely, angry, depressed, confused and so many more feelings that I was being eaten alive inside. Straight and to the point: I was unhappy with myself.

This is not a way to live. I finally decided that it was the last time I was going to try to change, this time, I was going to. Yoda said, "Do or do not...there is no try." This relates exactly what I had to do that separated this time from all the other times. I wasn't going to just try, I was going to commit to this more than I've ever committed to anything else in my entire life. It was time, I could not let myself get worse. And that's how you have to jump into this, with your arms and mind completely open. Your direction MUST BE CLEAR. It must not have anything stand in the way, or else you could go right back to where you started. The most important part of starting is committing to yourself that you will not give up.

This is the hardest part for most people, and i know because I have been there and also because I continue to ask people what they are going through and what the hardest part is, and usually it is sticking with it. Usually there are the same 5 excuses as to why someone doesn't want to commit to changing their lifestyle, aka, their mind. The most honest one I've heard is I'm just not ready. This is honest and it's so true, you HAVE TO BE READY AND WILLING. Now if you can admit you aren't, to me, you're just telling me you haven't decided that this is what you want. That you don't want it bad enough. Because we all know, when we want something sooo bad, we will do anything to get it. I've thought this through over and over in my head, the psychology behind the inability to continue on and not give up. I believe it's hard for humans to perservere and be patient for the results they are looking for after perservering. We wouldn't perservere unless we wanted something in return. For me, through my journey, I've found that the perserverence is what my return is. To feel the power of what I feel when I push myself. Sure, I may not always see results right away, but I've given that need up for the positive feelings of pushing myself harder than anywhere else in my life allows me to push. It's all in our mind. What we want. What we need. What we will do to get what we want or need. What we won't do. What restraints we will choose to bring alive to keep us from the one thing we are scared of, failing. Perhaps this isn't the truth for all of us, but I think there is some truth in that idea. Another truth is creating excuses because we know it will take too much time to get what we want, and we all are used to having what we want now in America, because that is how we have been trained. This is where we must train our minds to think in a different direction.

If it weren't hard, everyone would have an amazing body. To this day, I have lost 37 pounds and am by no means near the best shape of my life I strive to work for, every day. In the front of my head, I know that that reality is in the distance, but it's going to take a lot of more work and effort on my part and constant change to initiate new growth. It has taken me a year and a half to train my mind to be okay with this idea. I work on this way of understanding every day and apply it to other areas of my life.

Plain and simple. You have to choose what you want. Don't just say, I want to lose weight. That's not a precise enough vision. You have to say, I know what I want to look like and how I want to live, and this is it. IF you have a vision of that in your head, you have already begun to make major efforts in the area of moving forward with your lifestyle, mind and body. The body comes last. First it's the mind, training it and using it to empower yourself and move yourself into a different realm of thinking. Then come other feelings, feelings of positivity, reinforcement, self love, confidence. Your mind is strengthening. Then your body catches up with the strengthening of the mind. If you are patient and UNDERSTAND what you are working towards and for, then you will have the understanding that it won't come right away, that you have to work for it, as you work for a promotion. If someone just handed you a free house, how much would you really appreciate it, versus if you worked years to buy a home yourself, free and clear. (ok, I'm sure some of you are saying, hell yah I'd take a free house if it was offered to me, over working for it myself. My point is deeper)

It starts in your mind. Then comes your body. Then comes your mind again and again and again. You will find that if you continue on with this lifestyle, your life will change, because you are changing. When you embark on this journey, only positivity can come from making these types of choices for yourself and for your life. See, the real deal here is, anyone can have this lifestyle, they just have to choose to walk through the door and put the effort in that is required to keep the key to the door. The shame is, not many people have chosen to walk through the door, and behind that door is a life of gold. I'm not talking money, I'm talking wisdom, inner strength, outer strength, self-power, confidence, positivity; a life that you can only imagine unless you choose.

My smile says it all. I am truly much happier in my life and with myself since I have CHOSEN to change. I know not many people have made that commitment and know that I was there myself once. I feel it's important to share the harsh reality that it takes effort and a seriously fierce attitude to make this happen. Sometimes only the person working for something like this can find that themselves, but if I can give a helping hand as to the tools you need, I am all for it. I want to help people think about it from a different point of view. To realize that your mind is where it all starts. The commitment, the choice. Any one can do this. The door is ready to be opened by anyone and no one will be shut out. It's your choice. That's what it comes down to. Are you ready?