Do you remember your first experience with exercise or fitness? I remember mine vividly. I was about 4 years old. I had my purple sweater from Life Center Church on and the gold posts on the front. That year’s theme was on “Good health, good friends and God’s very best.” You see mom was a big performer and sang in this big production show every Christmas & every major holiday. It was July and they were getting ready for the Christmas show. I was getting close to the age of performing and loved purple at the time. The music pastor, Kenton Lee, and his team were genius marketers about the show. They sold sweatshirts to those performing in the show to then wear out in public and be walking billboards. Mom bought me one of course and I remember wearing it one day.
I remember having that purple sweater on and she pops in a Jane Fonda fitness VHS and we start exercising like Jane. Mom and I did this regularly I remember. It was fun because I was doing something with mom and it felt good to tighten my tummy muscles and feel my calves. That was my only structured PE experience until I went into public school in 6th grade. Mom home schooled us up to that point. We did get YMCA memberships and had swim/gymnastics/gym 1 or 2x a week from the time I was maybe 6-9 years old simultaneously. However mom was our main teacher and we were with her 24/7 so her influence was much stronger.
I remember bits and pieces of it. I mostly remember working out with mom doing those Jane Fonda videos and lots of walks in the neighborhood. Mom was a great example modeling to me body weight exercises should be a regular part of your life. She still works out regularly 5 days a week of weight training and walks with her bestie Sharron on the weekends and sometimes more during the summer when they’re both not teaching.
The experiences you have when you’re young can shape the way you perceive healthy lifestyles. I am fortunate in that the experiences I had were positive towards exercise and sports. I struggled with coordination with sports because I am left-handed and we could afford right-handed equipment. So I leaned in on the fitness style/dance and rhythmic style workouts because I am very musically inclined and enjoyed the challenge of moving to a beat and the creative expression involved as well.
When I was student teaching back in 2008, I had the pleasure of learning how to lead group fitness using music tied to a beat per measure CD. Yes CDs were used back then 😂. My mentor teacher, Tina Streleski (Scansen at the time) was SO good at teaching fitness. She was my teacher in high school actually still in her college program and was so good she convinced me to get my schooling at the same school she went to. I wanted to be just like her and teach like her. So when the opportunity came open, I was asked to work with her to finalize my college experience.
I’m so glad I got that opportunity. Even though we have two different learning/teaching styles, I learned so much from that experience. I used the skills she taught me and was blessed with having my Masters tuition covered and provided a monthly stipend by teaching step aerobics that I learned in her class my senior year in high school and beyond.
After grad school and the challenge of teaching college students and many adults going back to school, it taught me to level up my game. One of my undergraduate students was also a full-time bar tender and business owner. He was going back to school to get a business degree and took my weight training class. He asked me why I wasn’t certified in fitness. I was shocked 😳. Ummmm… because I have a degree K-12 health and fitness and went a different route. He didn’t like that answer. He said if you’re teaching me how to weight train, you should have some sort of national certification to back up your claims. I was like DAMN okay, let me get right on that.
So I did. I made $1,050/mo stipend. I scrapped money together over the next few months and studied my ass off for the American College of Sports Medicine Group Fitness Exam. This is one of the most rigorous exams I’ve ever taken in my life (even more challenging than a lot of my exams as a graduate student 🤣). You had to have an 85% pass rate I believe to become certified. I got in the 90s like 94% or so on the first try.
I had 1 year of PE experience in public school my senior year in high school and 1 year in elementary PE with Mrs. Benavidez where we went 1x/week for 30mins. Most of my professors in my undergrad were substitutes instructors because my department was going through some transitions and rumor had it there was some bullying going on in the leadership there. I taught myself my curriculum development during my undergraduate experience. I taught myself how to teach others for the most part. I studied my ass off in grad school to understand statistics, how to set up a proper study, how to create meaningful research that benefits society. Then I got certified in the gold standard of gold standards in national fitness certification. When I decide on doing something, I go ALL IN.
The year following graduate school I worked 5 part-time jobs, then had a huge opportunity to be a health educator for the United States Army and Air Force at Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM). During this experience I learned how to do baseline testing of VO2 sub-max (treadmill testing), basal metabolic rate testing, plysthmography (bodpod) testing that the NFL also uses to scrutinize the best of the best athletes, and I also learned to do 1:1 health consulting using Motivational Interviewing (MI), group nutrition classes, and lead the group in the mindfulness-based cognitive therapy training to help the soldiers with resilience training. This was a 1-year assignment, paid really well but was temporary. I went back to teaching in public schools after this and coached middle school athletics the following year.
This blog is just a tiny bit of knowledge I’m sharing with you on one of my favorite topics to speak on because there’s no way I could teach you 14 years of teaching experience in one weekly blog. However, I do want you to know that I’m bringing the most relevant based on the goals I have for you to build stronger communities, have and practice regularly a positive mindset, and practice regular fitness you enjoy doing.
This blog is all about body weight exercise, the benefits behind it, and some real stories from my family and friends that might sway you if you’re not doing body weight exercises currently.
#1 Truth: Know The Truth About Bodyweight Exercise!⠀
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Check out this article on the benefits of bodyweight exercises from Dr. Axe. I especially like that the author goes into depth about our metabolism slowing down in our 20s anywhere from 3-8% and how adding some strength training into your routine can combat that. You might not have experience with weight training machines, and that’s okay! You can still do things without a machine or with if you have a gym membership or equipment at home/apartment complex/work fitness center if you’re blessed with that. With my Move Happy® Movement, I especially love benefit #4. Check it out and let me know your thoughts!
#2 Truth: Simply by adding some body weight exercises to your regular fitness routine will help you burn more calories long term.⠀
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If you’re not doing bodyweight exercises, you need to start today! Think of the exercises on two different bell curves. You’ve got cardio which will burn a ton of calories during the workout and some afterwards. A high peak and a quick return to your resting metabolic rate. Body weight or strength training exercise however will not burn as much during the workout because the work load is generally not as high as cardio (unless you’re doing a CrossFit type workout). However, when you consistently do weight training, 3-4 days a week (the ACSM recommends after you’ve built a solid base), then your body will continually burn calories for 1-2 days after the workout. A moderate peak with a wider base that’ll last 1-2 days after the conclusion your workout. Let me repeat that for you. When you add weight training to your workout regime, your body burns the calories after you’ve completed the workout 1-2 days afterwards. Talk about bonus! Why wouldn’t you want to add body weight exercises to your routine?
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#3 Truth: Doing Regular Body Weight Exercises ⬇️ decreases your risk of cardiovascular disease?⠀
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#1 Killer in America and most 1st 🌍 countries is cardiovascular disease⠀
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So if you’re doing bodyweight exercises on the regular, you’re decreasing ⬇️ your risk of ♥️ disease, increasing ⬆️ your chances of living longer and having a more meaningful life 🤸♀️
My dad took heart medicine from the time I can remember. He had a very stressful career in sales and was the sole provider of income for a family of 5 until I turned 14 (I’m the baby) 12 years. Then mom worked part-time as a substitute teacher to bring some income in, but mainly the financial pressure was on my dad’s shoulders.
The company he worked for when I was 11 until he passed away almost 3 years ago today had a very strict buy back commission structure. He worked in the grocery industry as a vendor. His company policy was 100% buy back commission so if he ordered too much food for the store that customers didn’t buy, he had to take the bread back and call it spoils and get 0% commission. He learned quickly the predictability of human behavior, holidays and storms would adjust store sales. He had to get very good very fast as how others would shop in stores all over the state of Washington. My dad was the best salesperson I ever met. He was stressed most days and worked 12-14hour days working from midnight until 3pm daily except Wednesdays and Sundays.
Dad took heart medicine because it helped him a little bit not have so much pressure on his body from the psychological stress of his job. He also liked sweets and didn’t get good sleep which affected his metabolism as well. I know had he been able to sleep more and had a job that didn’t have the same commission structure maybe he wouldn’t have had as many heart and health problems.
I also know life is a lot of what you perceive situations to be and the meaning you take from them. Dad put so much pressure on himself for his job and providing for mom and us. I didn’t know how good he was at his job until I saw a room full of people standing behind the filled chairs at his funeral. Most of the people standing were customers from the stores he sold bread to. They were the employees at the grocery stores and even from the job he had before I turned 11 with Jumbo Foods. The mom-and-pop stores in Washington, Wyoming, Oregon, and Idaho when he was an outside sales rep. He worked for that company in the 70s-90s until my eldest brother was screaming for attention from getting into some trouble in high school one too many times 😂.
Even though dad put all this pressure on himself to do well at his job and complained a lot at home about not having money, no one viewed him as a complainer in our community. People came and talked about how he’d bring them donuts randomly, or ask them about their families. Dad cared about every single customer he ever met and treated them like family.
Dad made the best he could in his work situation and there are thousands of people that were positively impacted by him in his life. I want to continue his legacy through my movement by educating people on the importance of your mental and physical health. Dad may have lived longer had he felt like he could talk about his stress more or strategize ways of bringing in more income without killing himself. Maybe he wouldn’t have had as many heart issues. Who knows? My purpose is to share my truth from the way I perceived our life.
#4 Truth: Doing Body Weight Exercises Regularly can decrease Diabetes Type II risk!⠀
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It’s crazy right?!⠀
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Diabetes Type II can be really harmful! You can lose feeling in your fingers, eyesight, cognition (memory, thinking), lose limbs, and more from it’s negative effects.⠀
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So if you could do something that’s free, at minimal effort to you, and prevent all the bad from occurring above (or most of the risks) why not start today?!⠀
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My dad was diagnosed way late in his life and I know he probably had it for a longer time which meant that his brain wasn’t functioning as well as it could have the last few years of his life and maybe even sped up the cancer growth.⠀
My mom’s best friend Rebecca had it for 19 years and wasn’t treating it the way she should have. She told me so. Because of that, she had permanent eyesight damage from one of the vessels bursting in the back part of her eye. Apparently the blood is poisonous to our eye cells. She told me one day to pay very close attention to the types of food I eat and to never let myself become obese from her personal experience. She said people treat you differently, which doesn’t matter much, but what does matter is your health.
Rebecca lost over 100 pounds one year to prepare for her open heart surgery by walking and tracking her diet. She had the surgery and it was successful but then a couple years later with all of her health complications and medications, she suffered a heart attack (about 9 months after my dad passed away). She survived that one, and they paid close attention to her health. Tim, her husband made sure she was taken good care of and always spoiled her by rubbing her feet and whatnot. He couldn’t control the health factors though and even though Rebecca took herself from obese to a healthier weight, it was a little too late, the damage had been done.
In June the following year a few days from my birthday I get a call in the middle of the night from my mom. Rebecca had suffered a series of heart attacks and they used the paddles on her 11 times in the night to revive her. She survived but she was so badly beaten up by the electric paddles and the force of the CPR compressions that it didn’t look good.
I get to the hospital as soon as I can and Rebecca is awake. She looks at me and Tim says, “That’s Erin.” She said, “oh Erin, what day is it? Thursday is your birthday. Happy birthday in a few days. Do you have fun plans?” She was always focused on others and despite nearly dying the night before, she remembered my birthday, and she wanted to make sure that I was going to have a good one. I miss her so much.
She and Tim didn’t have any children and I was kind of like her niece. Rebecca had given me a silver ring with a pink heart stone on my 16th birthday. She had saved it for me for a long time and told me she knew how much I loved hearts and loved pink and wanted to give me something special on my birthday. I wear that ring just about every day now because I want to remember her and how to always be thinking of others first before myself.
There needs to be a balance though because Rebecca put others before herself always even with her health. Had she taken care of her diabetes for the 19 years when she was first diagnosed, maybe she would have lived longer. No one really knows. All I know I that I must share my truth. I miss her dearly and have so much of my upbringing and life shaping owed to who she was. She spent so much time with me intentionally to help me become a strong woman.
I was a very shy child, even around my family. When Rebecca would take me out for lunch or have girl time, she was so good at asking me questions that got me to open up and talk. She went to school to work with special needs kids in the school system. She couldn’t afford to complete her schooling because they didn’t have the FAFSFA back then. I think her experience with that and her compassion as a human being helped shape her into the woman that helped me come out of my anxious shell, and helped demonstrate to me how to be a compassionate action-taking person towards others.
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Learn from my real story of losing my dad and my mom’s dear friend as a free way to decrease your disease risk. Adding body weight exercise can maybe prevent a heart attack down the road when a part of a regular routine of your physical health.
#5 Truth: Doing Body Weight Exercise Regularly Can Improve ⬆️ Your Mood?!⠀
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Bodyweight exercise can improve your mood and decrease your depression⠀
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There is enough empirical data out stating that movement can improve mood, and is recommended for those diagnosed with depression⠀
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Specifically cardio exercise is going to make a more positive impact because it’s getting more oxygen and good hormones in the body, but do what you LOVE ❤️ and you’ll start to feel better consistently over time!⠀
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The more consistent you are with your workout routine, the more consistent your mood will be⠀
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I believe it so strongly I encourage you to find empirical data that says otherwise and post it below! If I’m wrong, I’ll own up to it 😉 ⠀
Truth #6: Move Happy Facilitator Program (MHFP) Helps Improve Mood ⬆️ With Minimal Equipment 🔥 ⠀
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I’m proud to share with you my MHFP program that incorporates over 60+ workouts with minimal equipment (and demo vids) ⠀
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Whether you have a background in fitness or not, you’ll be able to be successful facilitating to your group.⠀
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It also incorporates journaling, & group discussion to build community and help your audience move towards their own happiness.⠀
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I provide simple 1-page questionnaires to measure happiness levels as well as fitness levels so you can track progress and participants can see their own improvement as well.⠀
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When you order any Move Happy® Product:⠀
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♥️ 30% Goes Back to Mental Health Organization of Your Choice⠀
💜 10% Goes Back To Big Brothers and Big Sisters Local Chapter to You ⠀
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To Order Go To Here.
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It may not be for you, but maybe you know a group facilitator or fitness instructor needing some new curriculum. I’d be honored if you’d share this with a friend or colleague if you find value in my content⠀
Move Happy Announcements
The Move Happy Podcast is growing steadily! I’m so honored that Deborah Heisz, CEO of Live Happy® and President of Neora® a Multi-Billion Dollar skincare and wellness company took the time to be on my show. She even said she’d be glad to come back anytime! Her episode should be airing in January of 2020.
I’m so excited to announce the expansion of Move Happy® Into Hospitals Soon! I am working steadily at getting my program accredited so medical professionals can take my 2-day intensive course and receive continuing education for it. My goal is to make it educational, fun, and meaningful for their work and also their personal life so they can use the information in a variety of arenas. I’ll keep you posted on the official release of the class and which hospitals will be included.
Move Happy® is hiring! I’m looking for 3 sales people that want to make some extra income and are fans already. I’m looking for people that like my content and believe in what I’m about. You’d be selling my consulting services and growing the B2B side. It is commission based, work from home or anywhere in the US.
If you’re interested in learning more and believe in my mission, send me an email with your resume and a short 1 paragraph summary on why I should choose you to join my team and what you’d most want in return aside from money (long term goal, recognition, connections, brand growth training, or something else entirely). Please be 18, men or women, any background. Looking for someone that isn’t afraid to make phone calls, DM people, network in person, etc. If you have a big circle of connections already, that would be helpful but not required. If you have experience in sales, that would be helpful but not required. I’ll fully train you on the process.
I’m so excited to hear from you! 💃 🤸♀️ 🧘♀️
That’s a wrap folks! You now know the benefits of body weight exercises as a part of a regular routine. You know the harmful effects if you’re not doing body weight exercises and health consequences. You have heard some real stories from my family and friend experiences around health. You also know that Move Happy® is expanding and I’m hiring 3 sales reps. I’d love to work with people in the US to start in different time zones, however I’m excited to connect with my fans that support me from all over the world. If you aren’t selected right now, I’ll definitely be holding onto your information and will reach out to you in the future for other possibilities. Thank you in advance for reading my blog and emailing me if that applies to you.
If you found any value in this blog, I’d be honored if you’d share it with a friend or family member.
PS: Don’t forget to tell someone you love them today
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