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Introducing Guest Blogger; Jason Seib!

I would like to introduce you all to Jason Seib.  In his own words, Jason is: A Trainer, Owner of Clackamas Physical Conditioning, and Full-Blown Fitness and Nutrition Geek. My hope is that Jason’s contributions will fill the gap in my blog that needs more focus on fitness. Jason’s viewpoints are powerful, insightful, and intelligent.  Being a fellow personal trainer, I enjoy seeing other trainers passionate about truly helping people reach their potential rather then just showing up for another day at work.  Jason believes in his clients and in his work. Hopefully Jason will be a regular contributor to Everyday Paleo so please enjoy his first post below.

Enjoy!

Limitations:

The vast majority of your success in this health and fitness endeavor will be determined by your head.  If you begin with a head full of inhibitions, you will needlessly pre-obstruct your path.  Age and injury are the examples I will use here, but we could just as easily be discussing an inability to visualize success due to having a large amount of weight to lose, severely deficient mobility, etc.  Let’s get on with the proof.

The three ladies in the pictures and below all came to me in fairly typical shape for their respective ages, and all had very modest goals in mind.  They just wanted to lose a few pounds and feel a little better.  Like many good trainers, I guess I’m not a good listener when it comes to these things.

Debbie is 55 years old.  She has always been active, but she was not in the shape she wanted to be in when she came to our gym.  When I explained the workouts in the beginning of our group classes, Debbie was always one of the people that would let out a groan in anticipation of the agony she foresaw in her immediate future.  Like most people, her sights were set much lower than her actual physical limits.  This is what she looked like about a year ago:

Next we have Cheryl.  Cheryl was 53 years old (she just turned 54) and suffered from low back pain for more than 10 years.  Cortisone shots, physical therapy, and multiple meds didn’t help.  If you would like to hear it in her words (including her description of our first meeting), she wrote about her situation in the comments of this post.

Finally, Deb (not to be confused with Debbie) came to me at age 50 and she was a mess.  She was taking a lot of medications, she could hardly climb her stairs in her house, she had no energy, and she felt like she was on her way to an early grave.

Now for the results.

Debbie looks like this now:

Her current strength stats look like this:

Back Squat – 145 lbs
Shoulder Press – 67.5 lbs
Deadlift – 200 lbs
Power Clean – 100 lbs
Bench Press – 87.5 lbs

Cheryl was convinced she would always be hindered by her back pain.  Here are her current strength numbers:

Back Squat – 145 lbs
Shoulder Press – 75 lbs
Deadlift – 185 lbs
Power Clean – 90 lbs
Bench Press – 95 lbs

Does this look like a 54 year old lady with a bulging disc?

Deb is a brand new person all together.  Here is her testimonial and a picture of her new body.  (And Debbie’s is just below Deb’s.)  Her current strength stats look like this:

Back Squat – 190 lbs
Shoulder Press – 85 lbs
Deadlift – 225 lbs
Power Clean – 110 lbs
Bench Press – 117.5 lbs

Deb, who was losing her battle with her stairs, looks like this in the gym these days:

Okay, so this post is not to brag about my training skills because you probably don’t live anywhere near my gym, and in reality I didn’t do any of the hard work anyway.  I wanted to share this so that you might tell your inhibitions to go to hell.  Do you think any of these ladies expected to end up with these results?  On the contrary, they were all quite convinced of all the things they could not do.  Nearly everything I threw at them sounded impossible and insane.  Please understand that I’m trying to get you to reevaluate your goals and ditch some assumed limitation, but I’m not advocating insanity in the gym.  You may not be ready for some of the exercises in the videos above, but that doesn’t mean you never will be.

All I’m asking is that you shut off your head and let your body decide how far you will go.  The picture in your mind of the perfect you is probably a far cry from what you are truly capable of achieving.  Stop blocking your own path and who knows where you might end up.

Sarah Fragoso

Sarah Fragoso is an international best selling author of 6 books, co-owner of the Chico, CA based gym JS Strength and Conditioning, and founder of the Everyday Paleo franchise. Sarah is the co-host of the popular Sarah and Dr. Brooke Show podcast and she also conducts workshops and retreats on the subjects of nutrition, lifestyle and fitness.

Her message is from the heart and she carries a genuine desire to help other families looking for guidance. These attributes have contributed to her successes and provide the drive to keep the discoveries coming.

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16 Comments

  1. Jessica Richey says:

    That made me cry! These ladies are just a bit younger than my mom, are quite an inspiration. It’s true. Our bodies are MUCH stronger than we think they are. Keep up the good work!

  2. Cara says:

    “tell your inhibitions to go to hell” AMEN- well said! Just the boost I needed to help bust through this post-baby plateau.

  3. Traci (Colorado) says:

    High Fat diet. My husband told me that he read an article yesterday that high fat diets such as Atkins, Paleo, etc. are good for only short term. I know you cannot believe what you read but I wanted your take on this. I thought maybe you could explain it to me and the reasoning behind it. So then I can explain it to my husband and family/friends. 🙂

    I am not sure if I have mentioned this before but I have been doing Paleo since Nov. 14 2010. I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 1998. I am 30 years old. We are looking to try to start having a family around mid June. My last MRI scan was great! All 3 of my active lesions on my brain were resolved as they say!! I feel great! Still learning and experiementing but all is good. I just wanted to share my story with you guys and also ask about the high fat diets…..

    Thanks
    Traci

    1. Traci,

      It sounds like you are living proof of what a Paleo diet can do for someone! I would use your personal experience as the best way to explain it to friends and family.

      As for high fat diets (let’s call Paleo the “anti-inflammatory” diet instead), many articles (and I think I know which one he may have read) claim that these diets only work short term because people tend to go back to the way they used to eat (the standard american diet with grains/dairy/sugar). Clearly that’s not the case for all of us in the Paleo community, this is a lifestyle change! Fat is not bad for you and not going to make you fat despite what we have been told, and unfortunately it will be very hard to change some people’s minds about that…I say, stick with what is clearly working for you, be the living proof they need!

    2. JasonS says:

      My guess is Jessica is correct in assuming that failure is probably an adherence issue, which means similar statistics for all diets. Labeling the Paleo Diet a high fat diet is a little misleading, though. While paleo is certainly higher fat than the typical lipophobe (fat fearing) western diet, we usually aren’t making a specific effort to raise our total fat intake. We are simply eating human food which, by default, is higher in naturally occurring fats (not veg oils). It’s funny how difficult it is for people to accept natural human nutrition from an evolutionary perspective without labeling it “high this” or “low that.”

      For info behind why fat isn’t what you have been told it is, check out this article by Gary Taubes from the New York Times.
      http://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/07/magazine/what-if-it-s-all-been-a-big-fat-lie.html

      1. Traci (Colorado) says:

        Thanks Jason S and Jessica!! I feel great and have lost weight and owe it all to Paleo and Crossfit!!!

    3. Stephanie O. says:

      That article was all over the place yesterday, I think what they were saying is that the study they cited was only a 5 month study showing that the arterycloggingsaturatedfat “surprisingly” did not cause clogged arteries. So of course they felt the need to caution us not to start eating all of that arterycloggingsaturatedfat, just in case.

  4. Brianna McLeod says:

    We are so lucky to have Jason as our trainer! He is encouraging, supportive and great at making us think about what we really need to work on. These women are incredible and SO strong. Such inspirations of beauty and strength. Keep it up gals! Hugs, Bri

  5. Jason – what a great post! While I am a bit younger than some of those ladies, I can relate to their stories with regards to wanting to lose a few pounds and “look better.” Too often I let my head take over when I see the WOD on the board. Your post is a good reminder to let our bodies lead. Looking forward to more of your guest posts!

  6. Michelle says:

    I absolutely love reading about strong women and their accomplishments! It is so inspiring.

    I have been attending CFC since November 2010 and eating Paleo. In March of 2011, with my rheumatologist by my side, I was able to take myself off of the medication I took for Lupus. First time in 30 years I’ve not had to pop a pill (or two). I am convinced that changing the way I eat and exercise got me to this point. I am forever thankful for Jason (and James) and CrossFit Clackamas!

  7. “shut off your head and let your body decide how far you will go”

    This has been my mantra for the past six months. It’s my new favorite quote and I’ve already blown it up for my Twitter, Blog and Facebook fans today!

    80 pounds lost since going primal/paleo. 8 pounds to the first goal. It could be tomorrow!

    1. JasonS says:

      Well played, my friend!

  8. Inspiring!

  9. Kimbo9697 says:

    Very inspiring! I have been dealing with self sabotage lately…I need to just do it!

  10. carie says:

    I have been following your posts or a few weeks now and have not been able to shake the idea that I need to chat with you. Been Crossfit/Paleo since January. Have become passionate about Paleo…eat very clean. Getting PRs at my box, but am thinking I would like to dial it in a bit. Do I call your gym to set up a time to chat or shall I just stop by?

  11. Candace says:

    I can’t find Jason’s blog!!! The links only take me to his web page. Help, please?

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