Bodybuilding calves collection 3

Celebrity Calves collection 8

Beauty and the Beast

Hopefully, it's obvious from this picture which is which. Now, since my lovely daughter is covering up one of my love handles, and the other didn't make it into the frame, you're probably not getting the full effect. But you can clearly see that this is not the midsection I was sporting when I named this blog.

Now I don't want you to get the wrong idea about how I feel about my body based on the title of this post. I intentionally let my body fat drift up a bit in the fall and winter for two reasons:

1. It's difficult to be as strict with my eating habits as I am in the spring and summer (when I get down around 10% body fat), and

2. Especially since I shaved my head, I get cold too easily in the fall and winter when I'm that lean.

The reason I'm calling my belly a beast is not because I think it's hideous, or even particularly unattractive. It's more symbolic. So many of us have a fear/aversion about our bellies. We measure our bellies by ridiculously impractical standards, and give the idea of a belly of a certain size and shape way too much influence over our sense of security and self esteem.

As I've mentioned here before, fitness is about physical capacity and robustness (energy, strength, endurance, flexibility, core support, posture, coordination; stuff like that) than it is about having visibly discernible abdominal muscles. Really, who cares? What really matters is that you live better, longer.

But if you're one of those people, who like me, doesn't mind doing the extra work to have a particularly lean body (at least one season a year!), the same principles I've introduced in previous posts to lose excess body fat for those who are clearly overweight or obese work on those last five or ten pounds as well. But once you get to that point, you have to be very disciplined and consistent to get and stay at that very lean composition (between about 8 and 12% for men; between about 12 and 16% for women).

You can find all those posts in the fat loss tips section of the post index in the upper left hand corner of the blog.

For me, starting tomorrow, it's back to the "Red Zone". http://45yearold6pack.blogspot.com/2008/06/red-zone.html

The spring will be here before we know it. But for the time being, I'm just going to enjoy the extra warmth :-)

How to Inspire Someone to Get Fit

Lance Arm-who?? THIS man inspires me.

Encouragement is powerful. To be perfectly honest, I'm a people pleaser and have been willing to do pretty much anything to get praise since the second I slid out of the womb. (Doctor: "Baby Girl Hilton, APGAR at one minute - 10" Me: *squeeee*) However, I became acquainted with this fact in a gym setting about five years ago. My first foray into real adult fitness was right after the birth of my 3rd child and I was about as beginner as they come. I knew I liked yoga. I knew I didn't fit into my pants. And that was pretty much it.

Then Nasca took me under her wing. A yoga and kickboxing instructor, not to mention a veteran bodybuilder and fitness competitor, she had a personality part Earth Mama and part Warrior Woman. Contrary to how most bodybuilders operate, there was never any talk of fat or thin with Nasca. She simply thought everyone was gorgeous. Including me. But she did think I should be stronger. Not from a looks standpoint but rather a functional one. I remember going on a joint expedition to Costco - with Costco it's never just a shopping trip; even if you're just getting milk it feels like the modern equivalent of slaying a buffalo and tying it to the back of your pony - and watching her heft 50-pound pallets of flour.

"Come on, use those triceps!" she joked as I struggled to help her.

"What's a tricep?" I asked lamely. "I don't think I have one."

"Everyone has one," she giggled. "Two actually. It's this cool little cut on the back of your arm." She lifted her sleeve to show me a beautiful mark of muscular definition etched into her caramel skin. Then she lifted my sleeve. "See? Yours is right here."

"Where?" I could only see white mushiness.

"Hold your arm like this." She flexed. I imitated her. Still nothing. Concerned, she felt the back of my arm up and down as I tried flexing in several different directions. "Wow," she finally said. "You really don't have one!" And then with no judgement whatsoever she said, "We've got to start you lifting weights."

As anyone who has ever explained something they are very good at to someone who is very bad at it knows, educating newbies is not fun. But to watch Nasca teach me basic weight lifting skills you would have thought I was the most exciting thing to hit the gym floor since thong leotards. Nasca gave me a lot of good information over the next few months but the real thing that kept me coming back was her friendship. She was always encouraging, always positive and always cared about me. If I didn't show up to class one day, she missed me. It sounds like a small thing but it meant a lot to me.

Since then I've tried to be that person for others. I try to notice when there are new people in class or on the weight floor. I try to reach out to them - say hi, offer a friendly smile and a little encouragement. And most of the time I think it works. I've made some great friends that way and people usually at least smile back. Some even sit on my lap! But now that I've been 'round the proverbial track more than a few times, I find it is easy to forget how intimidating gyms can be to newcomers. There are all those crazy machines to figure out and gym etiquette to learn, not to mention all the spandex - if there was ever an intimidating fabric, that would be it!

We're coming up on the New Year, otherwise known as "Tourist Season" in the gym due to all the newly resolute folks who show up to crowd the classes and monopolize all the equipment only to disappear three or four weeks later. But instead of getting annoyed this year I'm making an early resolution to do my best to convince the "tourists" to stay a bit longer and soak up the local culture. Maybe they'll even teach me a few new gestures!

Who is your health hero? How did they inspire you to get fit? What do you do to reach out to the new people?

PS> Sorry for anyone who got the earlier, unedited, much more negative version of this post.

Sexy Fitness Male Model Sean Faris

Fitness Male Model Ryan Phillippe

How to Choose the Right Fitness Shoe [Help a Reader Out]

Be honest: how many pairs of athletic shoes do you own? (Notice I did not ask you how many total pairs of shoes you own. I learned my lesson freshman year of college when asking that question found me helping my roommate pack up her 85 (!!) pairs into boxes on moving day. And those were just the ones she felt necessary for school. Not that I'm judging - I am a girl who loves her silly shoes.) At any given point in time, I own one pair of running shoes (Aasics as this is the only area I'm fiercely brand loyal), a set of cross-trainers for lifting weights and Crossfitting and whatnot (currently black & hot pink Nike frees - adorbs!!), a set of different cross trainers specifically for high-impact activities like TurboKick (Rykas at the moment) and a pair of smooth-bottomed dance shoes for Hip Hop and Zumba (Nike studio dance shoes but my sparkly silver or pink Chuck T's work pretty awesome too).

Yes I just confessed to owning 6 pairs of workout shoes. In my defense, I workout a lot. One could make the case that I'm in my gym clothes and shoes more than my street clothes. Never being able to get into the whole barefoot running craze, this also means that I go through a lot of shoes. I have even been known to buy my Aasics GTs in bulk. While I'm confessing my sins of extravagence, I also have a natty pair of gray and turquoise Pumas knocking around. They're the equivalent of taping paper to my feet but they match so many of my cute gym clothes!

Why so many shoes? Reader Rachael explains her (and my) quandry:

I am in the market for a new pair of workout shoes and thought I'd ask you what kind you like. I don't necessarily need a brand/model recommendation, but have been unsatisfied with many of my fitness shoe purchases so thought I'd try asking around. I used to do primarily heavy lifting so I got some Nike Frees, but those aren't making my feet happy for kickboxing. I bought a pair of running shoes and ran a 10K in them, but they aren't so good for tkb either, as I can't always keep my balance if we are doing slow kicks--it feels like I am trying to balance on marshmallows. So, should I just go get me some all-purpose crosstrainers or should I try out some martial arts-type shoes? Or studio dance shoes? I don't know what or where the shock-absorption is on either of those. I do lots of different sorts of activities and financially can't always have five different pairs of athletic shoes, so really should settle on just one or two different kinds. Gah. That was such a long-winded question.

It's funny how many times I have had this conversation in the gym! Turbo Jennie and another Turbo instructor swear by Nike Shox (only the closed shox) but I've never tried them. Can you guys help Rachael out? What kind of shoes do you swear by? How many athletic shoes do you own? Any tips on pairing the right shoes to the right activity?