Kinney Health Journal: Resolving through the resolutionists

I’ve never believed in resolutions. I’ve always thought that if you want to make a change for yourself or try to be a better person, it shouldn’t be mandated by what month it is on the calendar.

I haven’t done a lot of heavy weight training so the first day I stepped foot into Iron Clad, I was nervous at the size of some of the kettle bells. Shari gave me a 24kg bell to swing and I thought that was nearly impossible. Thanks to the classes and learning proper technique, I’m now able to swing a 48kg bell, or as it’s affectionately known “the beast”, and can deadlift two 48kg bells. I’ve started learning more advanced techniques within the swing and can now do hand to hand swings where you transfer the weight from one arm to another at the height of the swing. These are all things I couldn’t imagine myself being able to do in such a short time.

Since starting my workouts at Iron Clad Fitness, I’ve lost 4 and 1/2 inches and continue to get stronger with every workout!

Shari has also been helping me with her habit based nutrition coaching. Anytime I tried to “diet” in the past I would last a couple of weeks restricting myself but then, eventually would fall off and revert back to whatever I was doing before. They say it can take 30 days to make things a habit, Shari is helping me make slight changes to my diet, one at a time, so that they stick and won’t just be tossed aside. Here are some of the things we’ve worked on.

Eating Slower – My history in retail and now a fast paced sports media job have always rushed my meals. When you eat fast, you tend to eat more than you need. Since I’ve been working on this I’ve started feeling full sooner and not over eating.

Adding more Vegetables – Another thing I like about Shari’s coaching is it isn’t restrictive but more inclusive. So it doesn’t feel like “eat these things and don’t eat those things” but by doing something as simple as adding more veggies to every meal, you end up eating more healthy things and less of the “bad” stuff. Shari has given me tips and recipes so that I can get more servings in without even really knowing I’m making an effort to do just that.

Adding more Protein – Being a guy in his 20’s this was an easy one. I don’t really have trouble getting protein but it’s important to know how much you need and to fit it into every meal.

Adding healthy fats and carb portion control – We’re focusing on this right now so I’ll update on this later.

We’ve also added smaller habits as easy as drinking more water throughout the day, among other things. Focusing on one habit for a couple of weeks, evaluating, and making changes before moving to the next has really helped me and I think these habits will stick longterm.

If you’re looking to make a change, do it for you, not just because it’s a new year. Shari and the clientele at Iron Clad are all welcoming and a great environment for beginners even if you’ve never heard of or picked up a kettle bell before. If you want to do a class contact Shari and then let me know and I’ll come do it with you!

Catch up on my first journal entry here.