Teamwork Makes All The Difference.

 Michael Bronco

 I recently volunteered to be a chaperone for our nine year old daughter’s third grade field trip to our state capitol in Columbia, S.C.   I try to do these kinds of things as often as I can.  Holly and I both have a full plate, so it’s important for us to share all the duties of parenthood.  But not just because it’s important to our kids – it’s important to us too.  By sharing the responsibilities of school activities and the things around the house, we are able to help each other to stay on track with our fitness.  In fact, it’s things like field trips that make me realize how great I have it!

Staying on top of our diet and making sure we don’t miss workouts is not only an important personal goal for us, it’s also our job.  Allowing for excuses is simply not an option. 

The trip to Columbia began with a bus ride from the school at 8 o’clock and included three stops: the State House, the museum, and the zoo.  Lunch was picnic- style on the grounds of the State house, and our late afternoon snack option was the zoo’s snack bar.  Hmmm?  Snack bar at the zoo?  Doesn’t work for me, or for my daughter.  This is where great teamwork comes in.  For that you need a great teammate.  Mine is Holly.

Holly knows how important it is for me to be consistent with my diet, so when I opened my convenient little soft cooler, I found another insulated container inside that had salmon, broccoli, and sweet potato nicely packed.  Oh, and a fork.  Kasey had some fruit, veggies, and a peanut butter sandwich on wheat.   We both had a bottle of water.

Our 3 o’clock snack was peanut butter and blueberry jelly (no sugar) on Ezekiel whole grain bread, and water.  We also had apple slices that Holly packed so we could nibble on them all day as needed.  Having them already sliced up was perfect! 

The lesson here is that when you’re prepared, and when you have a good teammate, nothing can keep you from living the way you want to live.  As I have said so many times before, we really don’t work out all that much, and our diet is really simple.   We’re just prepared and we work together.

Now that school is out, we’ll make a few adjustments to our workout schedule, and we’ll continue to make sure that we each have what we need to stay fit and to eat healthy.  The most important thing is that we won’t let each other slip.  When Holly doesn’t feel up to her workout, I’m there to push her out the door.  When she comes back, I’ll make sure she has what she needs.  That’s what good teammates do – they make each other better.  And they make life a lot more enjoyable!

 

Charlene Circele - Managing partner of Bronco's Gym in Madison  

Charlene has twenty years of experience in Health and Fitness, is a champion bodybuilder; a former corporate executive, and is fluent in five languages!   So, if you've got a question on just about anything at all, Charlene can probably answer it! 

Q:  What's was more important to your success as a bodybuilder: Working out or diet?  I've heard diet, but what do you think?  Steve R - Rhode Island

A:  Steve, this is a great question, and very timely, as this issue of the newsletter focuses on teamwork and consistency in your training.

Well, first of all, you can’t be a bodybuilder without building your body – by working out!  And the bodybuilder’s diet regimen is legendary.  I don’t think anyone in the world wants to, or needs to, diet like a bodybuilder.  In order to show off all of those hard-earned muscles, a bodybuilder needs to strip the layer of fat that usually hovers over them, and show off the definition and striations that everybody has, but that very few people present.   So, knowing that working out and dieting are “givens” for successful bodybuilding, what is the surprise ingredient?  CONSISTENCY AND TEAMWORK.

When you decide to become a competitive bodybuilder, you have to agree to the rules:  you will never miss a workout, and you will never deviate from your eating plan. The one thing that needs to be on a bodybuilder’s mind is that somewhere, someone is working out and dieting harder than you are, so you cannot let yourself slip.  Consistency is key.  If you’ve read these newsletters before, that might sound like a broken record, but it’s true.  Consistency is key.

The other “magic” ingredient is surrounding yourself with helpful and supportive people.  My trainer, Michael Bronco, would not let me miss a workout, and sometimes sacrificed his own in order to make sure I did what I had to do.  Since I was working in the city, the only time I had to train was early morning.  Michael met me at the gym at 4:30 am 4 days a week, and worked with me on Saturdays and Sundays to make sure I got all the workouts in. As my trainer, he was selfless and committed to my success! 

The other “magic” ingredient was my husband at the time, Greg.   He knew time was at a premium, so he would help out by cooking my food while I was at the gym working out.  While I was gone, Greg would be home cooking my turkey, broccoli, and sweet potatoes for the week, so all I had to do was pack it up into my meal containers.  I don’t think I could have succeeded without his help, since between work and “working out”, I didn’t have much time left.  He never complained about my diet, and never tried to sabotage me.  He let me do my thing, and if he saw that I was losing focus or drive, he would bring me right back.  He wanted me to succeed as much as I did!  And he was willing to do whatever he could to help me get there.   

Mike,

I wanted to drop you a note to thank you for your running tips. I've been incorporating your techniques into my training runs this season with good results.  "Tips to hips", "Buddha breath",  open, erect posture, and short strides with faster turnover, have permitted me to go from an uncomfortable 9:45 minute mile to a relatively easy sub 8:45.

I know that's not fast, and would not seem noteworthy until you consider that, at the age of 57,  I had been running at the same rate for 10 years and could not make progress.  Now, I time the last mile of my 5 mile training run and am consistently and comfortably under 8:45.  With speed work now part of my regimen, I hope to reduce my time (and effort) even further.  Thanks for your help.

Richard

P.S.  I did a 10 K  training race in the woods on Sunday  and had a good time.  Instead of pushing and suffering through it, (as I usually would do) I took my foot off the gas, concentrated on technique and just enjoyed the scenery.  I finished relaxed instead of exhausted.  It was great!

 All the best to you, Holly and the kids

 

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