Know When To Walk Away
January 18, 2012 By 28 Comments

Know When To Walk Away

JC Deen - zombified

I know you’ve been there.  Perhaps today is one of those days…

You’re stale, weak, and dehydrated from the previous nights (insert crazy activities here). On top of that, you’re running off fumes from some weak espresso you picked up on your way to work.  You still have the bitter taste of day-old coffee on your palate.

By lunchtime, you’re famished; but the container of hardboiled eggs, and that soggy tuna sandwich you whipped together will tide you over until you hit the gym for back and bicep day.

As you plow through the rest of your shift, you continually nod off; quickly looking up after each mini-snooze to be sure no one caught you sleeping on the job.  In the back of your mind, you know the smart thing would be to head home, get into something comfortable, and chill out for the night.

But that’s the rational thing to do, and we’re not rational beings.

No, we continually find a reason to go against logical thought processes and dive into senseless acts of I-can-do-whatever-I-put-my-mind-to insanity.

Once we get to the gym, one of two things will happen.  If, and only if we’re lucky, our workout goes smoothly and according to plan – nothing out of the ordinary and we make it out alive, for the most part.

Nine times out of ten, though, it will go pretty sour. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Random Thoughts
The More I Learn, The Less I Know
December 23, 2011 By 20 Comments

The More I Learn, The Less I Know

It’s true – the more I learn, the more I wonder how much I really know.  The fact is, this is completely true for all of us – we’re only capable of really knowing a small amount of information and knowing it very well on our own.

Sure, we can memorize a bunch of random facts or terms, but is it something we really know, or something we’re just familiar with?  There’s a difference.

This is my last article of 2011 and I didn’t want it to be the typical motivation-for-not-stuffing-your-face-over-the-Holidays type of post.  Sure, those are great, but I’ve already done that and others have done a really good job of it as well.

In retrospect, I’ve been very fortunate to travel all over the country and spend time with other professionals learning and building relationships this past year.

I won’t go into every single detail, but I want to highlight the importance of realizing we can’t know everything and just how pertinent it is to build relationships with others to aid you in your journey to understanding and a fulfilling education.  In this case, I’m mainly speaking from a place of our fitness education, but it can be applied to other areas of our lives too.

I Love To Learn

I get a lot of questions about training and diet – mostly from readers and clients, but I even get the occasional question over dinner or when I’m out and about in situations not in any way related to fitness – those times when I’m out with a girl or with my family for dinner.

I began to think about my conversations and how I go about formulating my thoughts.  My responses to certain questions are far different now than what they were a year ago, so it’s clear something has changed. As a result, I’ve been reflecting about how my views have altered when it comes to diet, training and other goals.

In a sense, it’s part of my evolution as a science-focused trainer and physique-enhancing counselor.

There are a few people who’ve really shaped my views over the last year, and they probably have no idea just how much of an impact they’ve had on me from a training and even a personal level.

Today I want touch upon a few of them and explain what they’ve helped me to understand, why It’s important, and hopefully it’ll encourage you to open your mind a bit more going into the new year. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Random Thoughts Tagged With:
Birthday Month for JCDFitness + Some News
October 21, 2011 By 25 Comments

Birthday Month for JCDFitness + Some News

In my house, we don’t believe in cutting off our birthday celebration at the 24 hour mark – no, we celebrate the entire month. As a result, there are three months of celebration.

We have March (my roommate) and this year we spent time in Vegas for his celebration.  We have August (my birthday) where I spent 3 weeks in Hollywood CA playing and working, and this month is the 3 year mark for JCDFitness.com.

Yes, my friends, that’s practically forever in internet years considering how many websites are created daily that never get updated and fall into the interwebz abyss.

In fact it’s hard to believe, but I put up the first post on October 15th, 2008.  I’m sort of embarrassed to make that post so public as I was an awful writer when I started (just scan the archives…).  In fact, I’d never written much more than a high school paper when I started JCDFitness.

Anyhow, THANK YOU for reading and sharing my work over the last 3 years.  I’ve made a lot of great friends in the process and I look forward to creating more awesome relationships in the next 3+ years to come.

To celebrate birthday month, I’ll be doing a little traveling.  I leave next Thursday for Boston in which I’ll be visiting friends such as Roger Lawson of RogLawfitness.com, eating lots of ribs and seeing the city.

On the 30th, I’ll be heading to New York City to hang with Kenneth Yim of FitID.com, Dick Talens of Fitocracy.com (get a personal invite here), John Romaniello, as well as paying a visit to the folks at Greatist.com.

So while this trip will be fun, I’ll also be working a lot as well. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Random Thoughts
Improve Your Fitness by Limiting Your Choices
August 26, 2011 By 34 Comments

Improve Your Fitness by Limiting Your Choices

As I write this, I’m sitting in the living room of my friend’s home about 2 blocks from the famous Hollywood Boulevard.  I’ve been here since the 9th and won’t be home until the 30th.  The plan was to come here for 2 weeks and then return to the south, but I’ve been having too much fun, and actually swapped out my tickets for an even cheaper flight, so I figured I’d stay another week.

My birthday is August 4th, but I always celebrate the entire month (in my house, we call it birthday month).  It’s been the best birthday month yet and a great vacation gift to myself.

Being my first time in Los Angeles, I’m a bit overwhelmed as I’ve never been to such a big place in my life (other than flight layovers).  I’ve had the chance to meet some interesting people, and experience a slightly different culture than the southern living I’m accustomed to.

Regardless of the differences, I’ve fallen in love with the place thus far.  I’ve made some new friends, had some interesting experiences and conversations along the way.

In fact, this article is inspired from a conversation I’ve had most recently with a lady I met through my friend who’s hosting me. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Build Muscle, Clients, Random Thoughts Tagged With: , ,
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