Posts Tagged fitness
Where is Your True Starting Point?
Posted by Matt Hoover in General on August 16th, 2010
Yesterday I was out on a bicycle ride with a good friend of mine. As we were riding we started talking about the progress I’ve made over the past year in the sport of triathlon and how I am feeling as I prep for next Ironman in November.
I told him I felt unbelievably different. I am down several pounds, my cycling has improved, and so has my running. Most importantly, my mindset has improved. Last year when I took on the Kona Ironman I had no idea what I was doing. I didn’t know that carrying around extra weight could affect me as much as it did.
Last weekend I was flipping through the channels and caught the replay of the Kona Ironman on NBC. I watched the race and saw my brief segment once again. When I saw myself, I wasn’t disappointed, I was a little sad. The reason I was sad was because I knew that I had a false sense of how I looked and felt physically.
I was big, not as in pre-Biggest Loser big, but I was carying more weight than I should have been to be competing in a race of that magnitude. The thing is, is that at that time I didn’t realize it. I felt like “I can move 140.6 miles in one day. I am in pretty good shape.” That statement was partially true.
True in the sense that you have to have a pretty good level of fitness to do that race and make the cut-offs. Not true, in that I was definitely carrying too much body fat and failed to realize it. I saw myself as being better off than I was. It wasn’t until I saw myself on television that I realized just how big I was.
I am convinced that had I weighed then what I weigh now, I would have finished that race in under the cut-off time and would have been an official Ironman. That is neither here nor there now. I didn’t finish in time. Heavy or not, I have yet to become an Ironman in the true sense.
What does this have to do with the title of this post? As I was talking yesterday, I came to the conclusion that many of us have a false sense of where we are when it comes to weight. Some of us can think we are smaller and better off than we are, others think we are bigger and worse off than we really are.
In order to know where we really are, we must give ourselves a true starting point. By true starting point I am talking about where are TODAY. I don’t mean 5, 10, or even 20 years ago. The only way to gauge our progress is by having an official starting point and then using that point as a gauge.
For example. If I weigh 240 pounds today, that is what I weigh. In a year from now, if I weigh 200, I will say I lost 40 pounds. If on the other hand I weigh 245, I will say I gained 5 pounds this year. Here is why this is important. I could use my pre-Biggest Loser weight of 353 as a gauge and in turn be able to say that I have lost 108 pounds. Although this is true, it isn’t necessarily the whole truth.
I lost 157 pounds on the show then gained weight back. I then lost weight again. The reality is that If I use the 353 pound number than I am really just losing and gaining the same weight over and over again. This is why I am now using 240 as my starting point. By doing this I can have a clear number and place to begin.
What this allows me to do is wipe the slate clean. I can no longer play games like the “I use to weigh… and even though I have gained…. I ‘ve still kept off….” I know what I weigh and will use this as my starting point and lifelong marker. By doing this, I will have a realistic perception and gauge of how I am doing on this lifelong journey.
In essence, our true starting point is TODAY. Now, lets get started!
See you tomorrow.
Stretching Myself…
Posted by Matt Hoover in General on June 14th, 2010
Well, day 1 at Biggest Loser Fitness Ridge Resort is done. It started at 6:15 AM with a hike and the rest of the day was filled with working out and having classroom sessions. In total I ended up doing around 7 hours of work outs. Though many of the classes were challenging, you may be surprised to find out what class was the hardest for me.
This morning I had a class entitled Stretch. It was exactly what the name says, a stretching class. Not really yoga, I think, but simply stretching your body. It was by far the hardest activity of the day for me. For one, I am about as flexible as a wooden fence post. I don’t stretch very often because it hurts me and is uncomfortable.
I also feel a little embarrassed about just how inflexible I am. Stretches that were suppose to loosen my legs hurt in my back. Stretches designed to target my back hurt my legs. Stretching my neck pulled by my hips. It wasn’t really pleasant, but it is exactly what I need.
As I was lying on the floor stretching my body I got to thinking about how not being flexible has affected me. Not just in my muscles, but in my life in general. Just as having inflexible muscles can affect your entire body, being inflexible in everyday life can affect all aspects of living.
I’d like to give an example. When I first meet people I don’t have a lot to say. It is easy for me to go for days without saying anything to anyone, except my wife and boys, without giving it a second thought. This in itself is a little odd considering that I make my living as a motivational speaker and actually really do enjoy talking with others.
I often rely on my wonderful wife to help me “break out of my shell” when I am in a new environment. Herein lies the problem this week. She isn’t here. If I am going to make new friends and get the most of my time here at the resort, it is up to me. If I choose not to stretch myself, it is going to be a long and lonely stay.
Don’t get me wrong, there are areas in life where it is good to be rigid. There are other times where we need to stretch ourselves in order to become better. If I only choose to build on my strengths, other areas will continue to tighten up. It is easy to work on the areas that we excel in. It is comfortable, it is familiar, it requires little effort. Stepping out of our comfort zone and stretching just a little each day can lead to abundance in the areas that may currently be lacking.
Of course it may be a little uncomfortable at first and at times even painful. But if we don’t take a little time each day to stretch oursleves, we will never see what we are truly capable of.
As for me, I am going to use my time here to stretch myself both physically and mentally. I am going to start trying to get to know the people I am surrounded by and make the most of my opportunity to be here. As far as I am concerned, that class I took this morning has already made my time here worth it.
Little did I know that laying on the floor in a little pain was going to lead to a life changing lesson. Are you stretching yourself?
See you tomorrow!
Biggest Loser Fitness Ridge…
Posted by Matt Hoover in General on June 13th, 2010
Tonight I arrived at the Biggest Loser Fitness Ridge Resort in Utah. As soon as I arrived I was taken to be measured, weighed, and have my picture taken. After that I was suppose to go to supper. I went out to my car and had a mini panic attack. I felt like the new kid in school. A lot of the people had been here a while and already knew each other. I was intimidated. I was more nervous tonight than when I went on The Biggest Loser.
I think a lot of it had to do with the fact that I am not where I want to be physically. I knew people would know me, and I let my thoughts take over. “What would they think of me?” “Are they going to wonder why I am not the size I was when I left the show?”
These thoughts and more were paralyzing me. The thing is, is that I was doing it to myself. I walked in and found a place to sit. Everyone introduced themselves. All of the people seemed really nice. Some gave advice, some told stories, all are here to change their lives.
When it got to me, I took the microphone and stumbled through an introduction. I get paid to travel the country and speak. I’ve had audiences of over 2000 people and tonight I couldn’t talk. I was more nervous than when I got to the ranch to be on national television.
When it was all over I headed back to the condo I will be living in for the next two weeks. It can be lonely when you are all by yourself and I noticed the loneliness immediately. I am use to being around my wife and two little spark plug boys.
It’s going to be interesting, but as I said earlier this week; sometimes the best thing you can do to take care of your family is take care of yourself.
I am going to bust during my time here and will keep you all updated along the way. Check back for daily wrap-ups as well as video of my time here.
It’s time to stop being scared and go to work!
Are You Pushing Yourself Hard Enough?
Posted by Matt Hoover in General on February 16th, 2010
This morning I had the chance to workout with some MMA guys at my gym. For those of you who don’t have a clue what MMA is, it’s mixed martial arts or most commonly known as ultimate fighters. These guys are tough and their workouts are even tougher. After my workout I realized how easy it is to fool ourselves into thinking we are working harder than we are.
I have been training seven days a week for nearly three weeks now. I am feeling good and am glad that I still feel pretty good after I get done with a workout. I have been chalking it up to the fact that I am getting into pretty good shape. Today I realized that the reason I have been feeling so good after my workouts is because I have been holding back.
I think a lot of people feel like they are working hard when they workout by themselves, some do but a lot of them aren’t going as hard as they think they are. I for one know I work harder when I work out with a group. First, it’s a pride thing. I don’t want to look like a sissy. Second, we tend to feed off the atmosphere we are in. If we are in a group that is working hard we tend to work harder.
It’s easy to slip into a comfortable place when we are doing workouts. Most of us do the same thing every time we step in the gym. I, for one, see other people doing stuff sometimes and wonder if I could do what they are doing. I’ll admit it, sometimes I will even go and try it after the person has left.
There comes a certain boost to an ego when you try something new and succeed. Unfortunately, the opposite is also true. We can get ourselves all kinds of messed up in the head when we try something and fail. Here is what I think. Try it anyway. Try a new class, try doing a group workout, try doing a workout that you think is impossible. Give it an honest try. If it is hard, do the best you can. If the class is an hour long and you don’t think you can make it, just keep moving the entire time and try to go a little longer each time.
I think you will amaze yourself if you will just give yourself the opportunity. Next time you go to workout ask yourself, “Am I really pushing myself?” I hope you can answer yes!
See you tomorrow!
Are You a Do-er or a Gonna Do-er?
Posted by Matt Hoover in General on February 5th, 2010
Yesterday I talked a little about how we can’t change others, only ourselves. I want to talk about how our actions speak louder than words. By changing ourselves we can encourage those around us to make changes without saying a word. I am going to share how I use to be a “gonna do” person instead of a “do” person.
For a lot of years when I was struggling I would tell people about what I was going to do. I was going to lose weight, I was going to quit drinking so much, I was going to go back to school. Let’s just say I was going to do a lot of things.
Nearly every week I was gonna start a diet. I was a lot like people you have seen or maybe even yourself. On Monday I would show up to work with my water and a salad for lunch. On Tuesday I would show up with a salad, a sandwich, and a water. On Wednesday I would have a sandwich and a pop. On Thursday a sandwich, a pop, and a bag of chips. On Friday I was like “Forget it, let’s just go out for lunch. I did pretty good this week.” This pattern would repeat itself pretty regularly.
The other thing I was always gonna do was cut back on the drinking. On Saturdays when I was good and drunk I would tell my friends that “After tonight, I’m done.” They would laugh a little and then say “OK Hoover, whatever you say.” I use to get upset and think to myself “Why don’t they beleive me? They should be encouraging me!” Again, I said this on a regular basis but never got around to actually doing it.
It never dawned on me that the reason people didn’t get excited for me is because they were constantly hearing me say things and never doing anyting. It wasn’t that they didn’t want to see me do things they just knew from my past that I probably wasn’t going to follow through. It wasn’t meaness, it was past experiences.
I don’t think I am much different from a lot of people in wanting praise for the things I want to do and not wanting constructive criticism for the things I say I am going to do and then don’t. We all want to look good in others eyes and not look like a failure. Unfortunately, when we don’t follow through we start to talk about what we are going to do next as though to somehow make up for what we didn’t do.
It’s a vicious cycle and it leads nowhere. We need to start small with the changes and then check them off as we go. More importantly, we need to follow through. It’s easy to set big goals and talk about all of the great things we want to do. It can be difficult to actually do them.
I rarely tell people all of the things I am going to do now. I just do them and let people see the results. One reason is that a lot of the things that I tend to do seem downright insane to others. For example, competing in the Ford Ironman World Championships having never done more than a sprint triathlon before. The other reason is that I have learned that my actions speak louder than my words.
In the words of the great Nike slogan, Just Do It! That being said, when we begin to take action more than likely those around us will too. If you want to encourage someone close to you to lose weight, lose weight yourself first. If you want to get a better job, start looking and preparing yourself. We can’t just sit around and wait for things to happen for us. We have to be do-ers instead of gonna do-ers! Have an awesome weekend and go do something!
See you Monday!
Life After The Biggest Loser…. Part 3
Posted by Matt Hoover in General on January 26th, 2010
I knew I had changed a lot when I was on the ranch. It was easy to see the physical changes. What I didn’t see is how much I had changed internally. I arrived home to the fanfare of a small town 4th of July. Many of my friends and family were there as well as my favorite local band The Cedar Island Band. It was an exciting time. Most people hadn’t seen me thin in years and some had never even know me as a thin person.
I was a pretty good mess in the head when I got home. I was happy to see everyone but I was also scared. Not scared of them, but scared of how they would react to the new me. Almost everyone was really great. Those who weren’t, I let go of. Probably the toughest thing to readjust to was going out in public again.
Keep in mind, this was right after I had come home from the ranch so people didn’t know who I was yet. The show hadn’t aired yet so people didn’t know that I was “that guy from that show”. My problem was just being able to interact with others. I hadn’t had a chance to talk to anyone but the other contestants on the ranch and it kind of turned me into an introvert.
It was easy on the ranch because that is just what I did. I worked out. When I got home I was still competing and the only thing I had on my brain was winning. Even though nobody knew who I was I felt like people were always looking at me and talking about me. It kind of drove me nuts. Looking back I’m sure they weren’t. To everybody else I looked like a normal guy out and about.
I had a few freak outs. I knew that everything I did had potential repercussions on my outcome on the show. I was crazy about how food was prepared and how much of it there was. If vegetables looked to have any type of oil I would send them back. If I ordered a burger and it came out with fries or a bun I would send it back. Needless to say, I didn’t go out very much.
My routine was exactly that, a routine. I did the same thing every day. I got up in the morning and had a bowl of Kashi GoLean with yogurt instead of milk. I rode my bicycle to work 17 miles each way. At lunch I ate a bag of lettuce shreds with deli meat cut up into it and a couple tbs of Galileaos dressing. After work I went to wrestling practice. For supper I had 8 oz of some lean meat and then before bed I did an hour of cardio.
On Sundays I went to Dairy Queen and had a Banana Cream Pie Blizzard with Reeces Peanut Butter Cups in it. I think my Blizzard was the thing that kept me sane. It gave me something to look forward to. I think I was able to keep this routine because I was still playing the game and had a chance to win the money.
I had blinders on the entire time I was at home. I didn’t do well with any deviation from my routine. I am glad that I was able to do that but it has also been one of my biggest struggles since. I am an all or nothing person. I am 100 % on track or I’m all the way off. $250,000 is a pretty good incentive to stay on track. It can also get just about anybody to do just about anything for a period of time.
The hardest part for me after the finale was finding that balance and finding a way to be motivated by something besides the game of The Biggest Loser. I will get more into this on another day.
To put it plainly, my life during The Biggest Loser was pretty boring. My life after was anything but boring!
See you tomorrow.
Life After The Biggest Loser…. Part 2
Posted by Matt Hoover in General on January 22nd, 2010
Yesterday I talked about what it is like having people know you and how contestants are real people and how we should all be nice to one another and give hugs. Well, that is kind of what I talked about. Today I am going to talk about how The Biggest Loser changed me personally.
Before I went on the show I was angry. As most people know, I was a college wrestler at The University of Iowa. I pretty much blew it there. It wasn’t a talent issue, it was a commitment issue. I was more committed to partying and telling people I was a wrestler than I was to training and actually being a wrestler.
Long story short, I quit the team and left school only a few credits short of a degree. I had never quit anything in my life up until that point and once I learned how easy it was to quit, it got easier and easier for me to do so. I went from being a 177 pound athlete to over 350 pounds in a very short time. The bigger I got, the less I cared.
I drank a lot and ate a lot. Prior to going on the show it was not uncommon for me to put down two bottles of rum in one night. I don’t know what happened after they were gone. I just know that I would wake up and they were gone. Food was something that I used to medicate when I couldn’t drink.
I would go through the McDonald’s drive through and order two value meals. Even though I knew I was going to eat both of them, I thought maybe the person handing me the food would think I was getting them for two people. The other thing that I use to do was eat them really fast. Like somehow if I ate really fast the calories wouldn’t count! I will talk more about this at length on another day and how those habits still affect me today.
My friends knew me as a Chris Farley type (I did have a spot on impression) who was the happy, fat, drunk guy. I had lots of friends that were girls but none that were really interested in being my girlfriend. I became resigned to the fact that this was how my life was going to be. After all, I deserved it for blowing it at Iowa. Let me summarize my life in just a couple words. I was a miserable mess.
Fast forward. I show up on the ranch weighing 339 pounds. You may not believe it but I actually lost weight before taping began because while we were sequestered before the show I couldn’t drink. I also didn’t want to look like a pig so I didn’t eat very much. Kind of ironic isn’t it? I weighed over 300 pounds but didn’t want people to know I ate bad!
Even though I was obese I thought I could still do things like I did when I was a college wrestler. I couldn’t. It was a deflating moment. I finally realized how bad things had gotten for me. The infamous clip of Jillian and I talking or should I say her talking and me bawling my eyes out has recieved several thousand hits on Youtube. As rough as it was, that breakdown was the beginning of my transformation on the inside.
I was still angry, still walking around with a chip on my shoulder and still fat, but I was beginning to change whether I knew it or not. Like I have said before, when I was on the ranch we didn’t have TV, internet, magazines, or much else besides gym equipment to keep us occupied. What I did have was myself.
Sometimes being alone with yourself is very frightening. Especially if you have no idea who you are or that the person you thought you were really isn’t you at all. When I was finally forced to be alone and deal with my issues I went through the same range of emotions that people go through when they experience a loss or a death of someone close to them.
Along with losing weight I was losing years of baggage and in essence, my old self. It wasn’t until I arrived home after being on the ranch for all those months by myself that I realized just how much I had changed.
See you tomorrow!
My Life After The Biggest Loser Part 1
Posted by Matt Hoover in General on January 21st, 2010
This is a serious question I want you to think about. What do you suppose would happen to you if you walked up to someone at the grocery store, looked in their cart, and then picked something up and asked them if they should be eating whatever it was that you picked up?
They may look at you like you were crazy or they may spray you with a can of pepper spray. This very incident has happened to my wife and I on several occasions. When you go on television you open yourself up to receive unsolicited opinions both bad and good.
Here’s the weird part, we don’t mind when this happens to us. It is our life. Suzy and I have opened our lives up to the world. People know a lot about us, they know about our children, they know about our marraige, we have made that available to them.
The thing is that the people they “know”, they really don’t know at all. Most of what they know is based on CHARACTERS from television. I changed a lot during my time on BL. There are actually very few people who really know me.
When I first signed up to go on the show I was very naive. Seriously, I thought that when you go on a reality show you just have a camera following you around while you do whatever it is you do. I didn’t know about filming days or interviews or doing press. I was like the country bumpkin going to the big city.
I’m not going to lie, when I arrived at the BL ranch I was there to workout, lose weight, and win some money. That was it. I didn’t care about getting famous or being on tv. Needless to say, I was a tough person to work with. I didn’t realize until later in the process that I was a character in a story.
What people see each week is a two hour story based on hundreds of hours of footage. What the viewer gets to see, and the opinions that they form by watching, is based only on what the story line is for that week. You will never really get to know the people on the show unless you meet them personally.
“Matt, quit complaining. You won a bunch of money and this what you get.” You are right and I am not complaining, in fact, I enjoy it. My career as a speaker depends upon people wanting to see me and hear about my life. What I am saying is that I had no idea how much life would change as a result of being on BL.
Yes, it is tough when you read some of the harsh words that people say from time to time and yes I do see it. I would bet that most people who have been on the show see what is being written about them. What I am saying today is this. I wish that people would think about what they are saying about another person when they say what they say. I wish they would give the contestants the courtesy to be human, to make mistakes and even have struggles.
I love this country and the rights that we have. I believe in free and uncensored speech and opinions. All I ask is that before saying what a horrible person someone is or calling them names is that we think about a couple of things. First, you may not really know that person or what they are going through. Second, that person probably has family and friends who do know them and words from a stranger can hurt.
For me, words from strangers can sting but often they motivate me. You wouldn’t believe the things that people said about me when it was announced that I was doing the Kona Ironman. At first it was a little rough but then I used it to motivate me.
Lesson for today: The people who go on BL are real people. They have feelings. They have struggles and successes. They have jobs, families, and friends. They have opened up their lives in order to inspire, motivate, and yes, even entertain perfect strangers. Keep that in mind next time you may feel like tearing them down.
As for me, let it rip! I love the good and the bad of being a “celebrity”. It allows for me to have a great life, spend time with my family and love my career. I appreciate and value the opinions that I get from everybody because at the end of the day I know who I am. My family, friends, and my God know who I am and that is all I need to know.
See you tomorrow!
PS. For those who were wondering if I ever tried to reach out and talk to Jillian, the answer is yes. I wouldn’t have talked about it if I hadn’t taken action on my end.
In Defense of Erik Chopin…..Season 3 Biggest Loser
Posted by Matt Hoover in General on January 19th, 2010
I don’t want to count calories! I don’t like to count calories! I have to count calories! It has finally sunken in that I am not blessed with a body that allows me to work out and then eat anything I want. It is no secret that I have struggled with my weight since winning The Biggest Loser. I want to talk about it today.
With all the controversy as of late about The Biggest Loser I have decided to give my two cents. Many people who follow the Biggest Loser also tuned in to see the Discovery channel special on Erik Chopin, the winner of season 3, who has put back on a good chunk of his weight that he lost on the show. After reading some of the comments that people were writing about his episode I felt it necessary to talk about a few things.
One of the things that I saw over and over was a pretty nasty comment about how he wasted his opportunity and it was especially disgraceful since he won money. First, he didn’t waste his opportunity. He won the show! I want people to understand that being on The Biggest Loser and losing weight in that environment is completely different than doing it in the real world.
People, including myself, get the results they do because the only thing they have to do is work on losing weight. They don’t have to go to work, or take care of their kids, they only have one thing to do and that is lose weight. When I was on the ranch there was no television, no internet, no magazines, no phone calls, in essence no distractions. ANY person in that environment can lose that kind of weight.
Here is the thing about being on the show. I have never been to prison, but I imagine that coming home from BL is a little like being released from prison. Although one may go through a serious transformation and may see the error of their ways, the minute they leave that structured and regimented environment, they are faced with many of the same temptations they faced before they went in. Even though the individual may have undergone a significant transformation both physically and mentally while away, they are returning home to people who may not have done any changing.
The thing about being on the show is that after you come home you are still working toward the goal of winning the cash prize at the finale. To use the prison analogy, you are on probation upon release. But what happens when you get off probation, in effect step on the scale for the last time? Many criminals tend to go back to their old ways. On The Biggest Loser, many begin to think that their struggle with weight is over, that they are rehabilitated. I did!
There is certain euphoria that comes with winning a reality show and all of the sudden becoming a “celebrity”. For a while that euphoria seems to be enough to help you want to stay on track, you are eager to show people how great you are doing since being on the show. After a while the cameras fade and real life sets in. It is at that time that a few past winners began to lose focus.
For me, the thinking was like this. “At least I’ve kept off 120 pounds… at least I’ve kept off 110… at least I’ve kept off…” It is a vicious pattern because after losing so much weight I kind of felt like I deserved to gain a little weight. That right there was a problem in my thinking. I was setting myself up to gain weight again and I did.
I am going to spend the rest of this week sharing my thoughts on this and what life is like for a “weight loss celebrity”
See you tomorrow!
Wake Up!
Posted by Matt Hoover in General on December 17th, 2009
The alarm clock buzzed at 5:30 this morning. It was still dark and I could just feel that it was going to be freezing cold outside. To stop the ringing of the alarm I didn’t just push snooze, I turned it off fully expecting to stay under the warm covers.
I lay there thinking about all the reasons to stay in bed: I am sore and need to recover. I have a little cough, maybe I am getting sick. I’ve worked hard this week, I deserve a day off. No one will notice if I am there or not. I’m not hurting anyone by not going. It’s still dark out!
As you can see, there was no lack of excuses to stay in bed. Then it hit me. In the same amount of time it took for me to think up all of those excuses I could have stood up and got moving. Rather than getting up right then, I started thinking of rebutals to all the excuses I had just made for myself.
I am sore…. So what, if I don’t work through this I will continue to be sore everytime I do these workouts and the fact is that I am going to continue to be sore for a while since I am pushing myself again in wrestling.
I have a cough, maybe I am getting sick…. Maybe I just have a cough. If I get up I will know whether or not I am sick or not. If I don’t get up I will lay here and convince myself that I am sick and waste a whole day.
I deserve a day to rest…… I will get a day to rest on Sunday. I deserve to get up and push myself to improve a little more today!
No one will notice if I there or not….. Actually, my team mates will notice, they will be there putting the work in to become champions and it isn’t fair to them that I “need” a little more sleep. If I am not there the guy I would have worked out with won’t have a partner. Someone WILL notice!
I’m not hurting anyone by not going…. I am hurting someone, myself. I am also hurting my family who allowed me to come here to chase my dream. I am cheating them and myself by not doing what I came here to do!
Next time you are laying in bed making up reasons not to or don’t feel like going to work out, ask yourself if those reasons are really that good or if you should call them what they are. Bad EXCUSES!
