I think the number one request I get from my clients is to flatten their stomach. While most of the flattening will take place by losing the fat around the midsection, it is very important to keep a strong core for an overall healthy body. I think of a strong core as an insurance policy for you back.
My Got Core DVDs, have been one of the most popular sets of DVDs I have sold. I am still selling the first one and then you get the second one for free. They make great gifts and have been responsible for alleviating or eliminating hundreds of my client’s lower back pain. Click here to get one sent to your door step.
If you have an Apple product I have an awesome Flat Stomach Workout App for $1.99. Click here to download.
Here is a great video showing some of my favorite core exercises.
Question of the day: What are some of your favorite core exercises?
Kim and her family before changing their diet
Today I want to share a story of a mom named Kim and her 7 kids, yes I said 7! I met her through my Fit Moms For Life DVD program and then went to ND and did a bootcamp out there for a bunch of her friends. She just launched her own FMFL community at a recent elementary school orientation and has 36 women who have committed to working out together each week and getting together intentionally to support on another and develop authentic relationships!
I recent wrote a post on “How much money are you wasting?” This story you are about to read goes pretty well with it.
Here it is in Kim’s words:
“I always thought we were doing pretty good with what we were eating. The kids ate school lunch and I was taking a freezer meal to work for every day. Kevin ate a lot of bologna sandwiches with Miracle Whip and Cheez Whiz, and we had a lot of macaroni and cheese for dinner. Kevin didn’t really have a severe weight problem and I was maintaining a 30 lb loss that I achieved with Weight Watchers, with freezer meals and a lot of fat free foods. Aside from your typical kids’ sicknesses, we didn’t have anything major wrong with us, and I was proud to be feeding nine people on a strict grocery budget. I sometimes made it a game to see how cheap I could get our food. It did seem like I took a lot of days off of work because of colds and flu, and we were always in the clinic with somebody. That seemed to be part of having seven kids.
Kevin’s job required a lot of lifting and twisting and he was at the chiropractor a few times a week. His chiropractor finally referred him to a medical doctor who started a series of X-rays and MRIs. The diagnosis was bulging discs and the treatment plan was physical therapy and probable surgery down the road. Kevin wanted to avoid surgery at all costs, so he started seeing a wellness chiropractor in another town. She did a lot more than adjust his back and send him on his way. She started picking apart his diet. What could his diet have to do with his back? We thought she was crazy, but continued to make the changes she suggested.
The first thing to go was the 6-10 cans of Coke a day. Along with the pop, the candy was stopped as well. She also suggested we throw out all processed foods, white flour and white sugar. Click here to learn about all the dangerous effects of sugar. She introduced us to the world of organic fruits and vegetables and we started eating different kinds. We sometimes make a game out of how many different colors we can get on our plate. She also started a fire in Kevin for knowledge about nutrition.
With her guidance, we threw out all of our vegetable oils and purchased coconut oil for cooking. I was already buying butter instead of margarine. Not because I knew that margarine was such an unhealthy fat, just because I liked the flavor of butter, better. We started the whole family on cod liver oil supplements. Kevin continued to research and I started modifying recipes and learning how to cook and bake with different flours and sugars. I was still of the mentality that good moms bake cookies for their kids, and that kids need treats.
Kim's family after
We learned the importance of eating grass-fed meats and free range eggs. We started making changes to the dairy we were consuming as well and went from skim to whole milk for the whole family. Our pediatrician was not excited about this change. He disagreed about the fat content in whole milk. We merely smiled and continued on, believing in what we were doing.
It wasn’t long in to our changes that one of our triplets started having problems in school and we took him in for hearing tests. He ended up being diagnosed with ADD. The first (and only) suggestion we received from the child psychiatrist was medication. Not wanting to go down that route, we researched ADD and discovered that some people have problems with focus and hyperactivity because of gluten intolerances. We decided to take the whole family off of gluten for a while and see what happened. This was a difficult change as gluten free food is not the best tasting. Little by little, we eliminated grains. This made meals a lot more difficult, because I relied a lot on pasta or grilled cheese sandwiches for quick and easy meals. We had to modify some more, but we got used to it pretty quickly. We still eat gluten-free pastas from time to time and occasionally I will purchase a loaf of Ezekial Bread, but we really eat very little grains.
Sometimes, I second guess the latest changes Kevin wants to make, but they are validated to me every single time I receive my Fit Mom’s For Life dvd in the mail and listen to Tracy Hittman’s nutrition segment. This makes me feel better that we are making the right decisions, but the biggest indicator that things are going really well are all the radical changes we are seeing in our health. So, while our grocery budget has easily doubled, the changes we have seen in our health have been priceless.”
Day One
Breakfast
Choice of:
Nitrate Free Bacon and Free Range Eggs
Greek Yogurt Smoothie
(Greek Yogurt, Frozen Fruit, Milk, Protein Powder)
Lunch
Grass-Fed, Nitrate Free Hotdogs
Assortment of Fresh Fruit – (melon, grapes, berries)
Cottage Cheese
Dinner
BBQ Chicken Legs
Dilled Baby Red Potatoes
Assortment of Fresh Vegetables – (carrots, celery, broccoli, cucumber)
Day Two
Breakfast
Choice of:
Nitrate Free Bacon and Free Range Eggs
Greek Yogurt Smoothie
(Greek Yogurt, Frozen Fruit, Milk, Protein Powder)
Lunch
Romaine-Spinach Salad
Baked chicken breast, cheese, broccoli, carrots, ranch dressing
Assortment of fresh fruit
Dinner
Meatballs (made with grass-fed beef)
Mashed potatoes and gravy
Asparagus or Green Beans
Day Three
Breakfast
Choice of:
Nitrate Free Bacon and Free Range Eggs
Greek Yogurt Smoothie
(Greek Yogurt, Frozen Fruit, Milk, Protein Powder)
Lunch
Chili topped with greek yogurt and cheese
Assortment of Fresh Fruit
Dinner
Beef Roast
Baked Potato
Assortment of Fresh Vegetables
Snacks include: String Cheese, Yogurt, Organic Granola Bars, Apples and Peanut Butter
Most fruit and vegetables are purchased organic. We try to follow the Dirty Dozen List.
Stay tuned for part two were Kim talks about what changing their families eating habits have done for the family. It is pretty shocking!
Do you have questions for Kim? Please feel free to ask her in the comments section below?
One of my coaches made a statement that got me thinking. He told me “How much money is it costing you, NOT to do it?” I am not going to go into the details of my specific example, but it got me thinking…
How much money is it costing you to not put your health as one of the top priorities?
How much money is it costing you not to eat healthy?
How much money is it costing you not to participate in a fitness program that has hundreds of documented success stories?
How much money is it costing you to consume so much processed foods?
How much money is it costing you, going from one diet to the next?
How much money is it costing you to continually have to buy different sized clothes because you are always losing and gaining weight?
How much money is it costing you in medication for high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, and many other drugs?
How much money is it costing you to continually take your kids to the doctor because they are always sick?
How much money is it costing you in sick time from work?
How much money is it costing you in worthless fitness infomercial products? (except P90X and Insanity, those are ligit)
How much money is it costing you to drink all the crap out there besides water, milk, and unsweetened tea?
How much money is it costing you in dental bills with all the sugar and soda consumption?
How much money is it costing you in chiropractic bills because your core isn’t strong enough to make a chiropractic adjustment hold?
Or Even Scarier!!
How many YEARS less of life are you going to lose, because you didn’t put your health first?
I don’t want to make this post be negative or use fear tactics, but when I hear someone tell me they can’t afford XYZ (good for their health stuff), and then I see their house and it is huge, they drive very new cars, they have all the big screen TVs, they go out to eat all the time, and they drink and smoke… all I can do is scratch my head and smile and walk away.
Now obviously this is an extreme example, but many people do fit in a few of these categories. All I am saying is that we should be using enough of our discrecinary income on things that are going to make us healthier, instead of things that either make no difference or make us sicker.
I am going to share with you next time a story from a family I know who learned this lesson and changed!
If this really hit you hard and you are looking to invest in yourself here are a couple options for you.
Fit Fun Bootcamp: If you are in the Madison area and looking for the ultimate workouts and accountability this is the program.
Got Core: If you have a ball at home or have back problems, or a mid section that is bothering you, this $30 investment is a great place to start.
Fit Moms For Life DVDs: Would you like to hire me as a trainer but couldn’t afford it or don’t live in the Madison area? This monthly program is like having me train you in your house. These are the exact workouts that some clients pay me $150/hour to share. Each month you will receive a DVD in the mail. I give the first one away for free (just pay shipping) in order to test the program out. http://www.fitmomsforlife.com/thankyou.html
Buns Guns Back and Shoulders: Are you looking for short 8-15 minute workouts that target certain areas? These 12 workouts are the perfect solution for you. Remember you can’t spot reduce fat, but you can spot tone certain areas.
I am curious your thoughts. Do you agree or disagree? Did anything strike you one way or another?
Katy Smith Before
Today I would like to share with you a story of a mom who refused to let any excuses get in her way of reaching her goals. If you watch her workout, you can tell she is on a mission and will give everything she has everyday. Not only has she been extremely consistent coming to Mamatone, but she she really made some drastic changes to her eating. I asked her to share a 3 day food journal with you. As you will see, it is by no means perfect, but it shouldn’t need to be perfect to see results. I hope you are inspired by her story. Please share this with any mom who you think would benefit from it.
Here it is!
“Weight has been an issue my whole life. I stayed fairly fit during my high school years by running cross country, but from college on my weight was constantly fluctuating depending on what was going on in my life. When I went through a divorce in 2005 I lost a lot of weight. A year later when I met my current husband (and was happy), I packed on the pounds. I would try every fad diet out there, but I would lack will power and eventually give up. I would also try to exercise. I thought running on a treadmill was the best way to burn calories, but when I didn’t lose any weight I would get frustrated and stop.
After giving birth to my 3rd child the end of November 2009, I was the heaviest I had ever been at 184. I knew this was my last child, so I couldn’t use the “I’m just going to have another baby and get fat again” excuse that I had hidden behind for the previous 6 years. I had to do something about my weight, and this time I was determined to succeed! Both my mom & sister had great success with Weight Watchers, so I started that program, but I needed to exercise, too. Luckily, a friend of mine suggested Dustin’s classes.
Katy Before Again
January 22, 2010 I took my first Mamatone class. It was a completely different way of exercising then I had ever experienced. The best way to describe it is eye-opening! I thought I was in OK shape, and after one class realized I clearly was not. That particular day, Dustin was also doing body fat tests and I was shocked to learn mine was 41%! Yikes! So, I started a food journal and went to Mamatone consistently two times a week. I also bought a treadmill, weights, and a ball so I could work out at home an additional three times a week.
The first couple weeks I didn’t see any results and it was very frustrating, but I stuck with it. Finally, after 3 weeks I had lost 5 pounds and after that I continued to drop approximately 2 pounds a week. In early May I had lost 30 pounds and Dustin did another body fat test. I had lost 11% of my body fat and 7 inches off my waist!
Today, I have lost 42 pounds and my body fat is at 24%. I’ve lost a total of 9 inches from my waist and went from a size 14 to a size 8. I still follow Weight Watchers, but incorporate some of Dustin’s nutrition advice into my eating. I make sure to have protein with every meal and avoid fake sugars. The most important thing I’ve learned is to read labels! I used to buy the cheapest item on the shelf. Living on one income, I thought that was the smartest way to shop. WRONG! Knowing what you are eating makes a huge difference when you’re trying to lose weight. I’ve also become much more conscious of what my kids are eating.
Here is a sample eating plan.
Katy After losing 42 lbs!
Day 1
Breakfast
Chobani Blueberry Greek Yogurt
1 cup of coffee with 1 tbsp. fat free vanilla coffeemate
Snack
Whole Wheat Bagel Thin with wedge of Laughing Cow Cheese
Lunch
Strawberry Salad (spring greens, strawberries, feta cheese, chopped almonds & Newmans Own rasberry walnut vinagrette)
Snack
Banana & string cheese
Dinner
Fajita (grilled chicken breast, green pepper, red pepper, onion, lettuce, 1 tbsp. plain greek yogurt in 100% whole wheat tortilla)
Day 2
Breakfast
Special K Protein Plus Cereal with skim milk and blackberries on top
Lunch
McDonalds grilled chicken sandwich with no mayo
Small iced coffee
Snack
1/2 cup cottage cheese with fresh peach
Dinner
Weight Watchers Mexican Meatloaf recipe (ground turkey, ground beef, cornbread stuffing, egg whites, enchilada sauce)
Steamed green beans
Day 3
Breakfast
Chobani blueberry greek yogurt
1 cup of coffee with 1 tbsp. fat free vanilla coffeemate
Snack
Small handful of almonds
Lunch
Turkey Bacon, Lettuce & Tomato Sandwich on 100% whole wheat bread
Snack
1 serving of baked pita chips with homemade black bean salsa
Dinner
Grilled chicken breast
Steamed green beans
Glass of wine
My focus now isn’t so much on losing weight as it is staying healthy. I try to make it to Mamatone three times a week. I love to do exercises I physically couldn’t do in the beginning. I also love that there are still some things I can’t do, and that continues to push me. My kids love going to the gym, and I love showing them how important exercise is. I can seriously say these classes have changed my life and made me a better person, mother, and wife!”
Thanks Dustin!
Katy Smith, Madison
Great job Katy! Does anyone have questions for her? I am sure she would love to respond. Please write questions in the comments section below.
Last week I was able to get a glimpse of where I believe my business and vision is going. I recently did a post about what some of my core mission statements and beliefs are regarding what it means to be a Fit Mom For Lifer. Click here if you missed it.
I have spent the past 2 years reading tons of books, talking to some of the biggest names in coaching, and getting advice from anyone who has produced results in the areas I am looking to go into, and I am about ready to launch a world wide Fit Moms For Life movement with the goal of reaching 1,000,000 (I like typing that number out) moms by the end of 2015. This is a huge goal, that will take an incredible amount of work, but I am ready and excited about the possibility of helping transform the lives of 1 million moms. Think about it, not only would those 1 million moms be transformed, their 2 kids (on average) will have a better life, their husband/significant other might be positively influenced, and they will probably help at least 3 other friends become healthier. So if we help reach 1 million, we have touched at least 5 million! That gets me excited. But I can’t do it without your help, actually if I do my job, I won’t be the one transforming the lives, it will be YOU! I will just be their to guide.
I am not going to go into detail of the structure that is going to be created, but basically I am going to help train and build up moms who raise their hands and want to be leaders in their communities. They want to help empower women through weight training, eating right, positive thinking, changing their environment, and surrounding themselves with only positive like-minded individuals. They will get together in authentic community, where they can open up with each other and talk about their struggles, and celebrate their successes. A community of like-minded moms who put themselves first, in order to be the best they can be for others.
If this is something that interests you even a little, click here. This will send you to a page where you can enter your name and email and be on a special list that will be used to ignite the movement once I get the ball rolling within the next 6 weeks.
But today I want to share with you a couple of moms who are already ahead of the curve and have done exactly what I have been envisioning!
Kim (left), Patty (right)
Meet Kim and Patty. They live near Fargo, ND, in the middle of nowhere. They have large farms and big families. One day Kim was searching on youtube for burst workouts and found a video I did on burst training. Her and her friend Patty had just finished half marathons, and to their horror, GAINED weight! If you have been reading this blog for awhile you will not be surprised by this, but for most it seems impossible to be doing so much exercise and getting fatter. They both signed up for the FREE trial Fit Moms For Life DVD and CD and I guess you could say the rest is history.
Very short post today. In less than 6 weeks I will be coming out with 4 more DVDs that I am super pumped about. It fills a gap in my products up until this point. I need a help with the name, so I will give you a couple bullet points of what the DVDs are like.
-Partner Workouts
-Fat burning
-Muscle toning
-Very interactive: you are using each others body weight for many of the exercises
-Creative: Many of these exercises you have probably never seen before
-Positive: It was great to see the couples in the DVDs encouraging and suffering together
-We had a husband and wife for two of the DVDs, and two mom friends for the other
-These workouts are the closest workouts I have to my bootcamp workouts, since many times in bootcamps we are doing partner exercises to increase the commrodery and relationships.
-Fun, with all the new workouts and positions you have your body in, the workouts are funny and unique.
I hope that helps.
Please write in the comments section below as many names that you think would sound good. I will pick the winner by Sunday evening. You will win a free set of the DVDs if yours is chosen.
Have you ever noticed when you receive a compliment from someone you immediately down play it and try to not make a big deal about it? Have you been told you looked really skinny in a certain picture and you say something like, “Well the lighting was really good, black made me much skinnier, and I was posed at the right angle.” Why is it so hard for us to accept compliments? Or another question… Why is it so hard to let others know about our successes? I think we don’t want to come off as arrogant or braggish (not sure if that is a word, but it is now). We all know some of the most annoying people to be around are those who always talk about themselves and brag about what they have done. I believe it is ok, once in awhile to tell others what you have accomplished. It helps us celebrate our successes, if we just kept them up all inside and never did anything about them, I don’t think the successes would mean as much to us.
So be sure to post your response to the question at the bottom of this article.
This month I reached a big goal for me, and a huge honor. I was featured on the cover of my favorite magazine Personal Fitness Professional. This is the magazine I picked up 6 months before I decided to become a personal trainer, and to be featured on the cover was a huge honor. I was also told that I was the youngest trainer ever to get on the cover for the “Success Journey” story. To be acknowledged amongst my peer trainers, who I respect and love so much means a lot. If you are interested in reading the article, I have included it below.
Here it is!
Being called a “Mama’s Boy” is not something most people take kindly to. Dustin Maher, however, wears the label proudly… and has already turned his self-proclaimed identity, as well as his unique connection with moms, into a growing empire.
Maher’s strength comes from the fact that he knows who he is and where he’s going. The confident son of a stay-at-home mom who sacrificed a lot for her four children, Maher loves working with moms. With a handsome grin and the youthful charm to make any mama proud, Maher (who isn’t married and is nowhere close to busting out of his 20s) proudly proclaims his goal to be America’s Trainer to the Moms.
Maher is blazing his own trail through the fitness world, with three thriving MamaTone classes and an iPhone app developed from pieces of his core training DVD, 300 boot campers enrolled in his 12-location Fit Fun Boot Camp and more than 1000 moms from nine countries having purchased his monthly DVD program, Fit Moms for Life.
But it didn’t start out that way. Maher, from the first grade on, had dreamed of being a weatherman. It was his passion. That is, until his freshman year in college, when his love for fitness clouded over his weather aspirations. He had been studying exercise and nutrition on his own, and Maher began teaching anyone who would listen — which often times was his mom and her postmenopausal friends — the benefits of moving your body and eating right.
So Maher, a student at the University of Wisconsin, switched his major to kinesiology with a minor in business. He also picked up a job at the university recreation center, where he cleaned weight machines and answered questions. Soon, Maher applied to teach a circuit class and got the job. It was his first boot camp style class. He then recognized the need for a 30-minute core class, which Maher felt was his specialty. His boss asked him to write a curriculum for his proposed class. Soon thereafter, Maher and eight other trainers were teaching his core class, which became the most popular class on campus with more than 400 weekly attendees.
It was at the Rec Sports Center that Maher earned his ACE certification and trained more than 30 students and faculty members his last two years of college. During his senior year, a local health club hired Maher. He initiated his core class there, as well as doing general fitness assessments. After graduation, Maher knew he had the tools to begin focusing in on his niche — mothers. He wanted to develop an exercise class for stay-at-home moms, somewhere they could get a great workout, have free childcare and socialize with other moms. More on Achieving Your Goals
I received an interesting email from one of my Fit Fun Bootcampers Angela. You may remember she is the one with only one arm that made a really cool video about the process she goes through before bootcamp to put her other arm on, and what she is able to do in the workout. In case you missed it here it is.
Here was her question:
Hey Dustin,
I don’t know if this is a more appropriate forum for my comments or not but I am trying to refrain from writing random thoughts on your blog that don’t answer the question you ask 
Awhile ago you wrote about a long bike ride you took and asked yourself the question “why do I do this?”. I get this question a lot, mostly due to the 5:30 bootcamp start time. I usually throw out the very profound “because it’s fun”. I decided to ask myself this question, not only as it relates to bootcamp but with the martial arts stuff I do as well. Obviously it isn’t always “fun” so there must be more there. I tried out the “it’s just what I do/who I am” thing, but again it is a choice, so there is more to it. I’m still working on figuring out what is true for me but I do know what the answer should be. Although on the surface it isn’t more profound, your reposting of your interview with Megan reminded me that the answer should simply be, “because I can”. I don’t know if I see it as a responsibility, or what I think of the “to whom much is given, much is expected” idea. I do know how lucky I am to be able to run the hill, even if it isn’t always fun. I’d be interested in knowing what you came up with for an answer (and everyone else for that matter). Can you make it an official blog question sometime?
Thanks for all you do!
Angie
Here are a couple of my thoughts.
-The feeling I get immediately after the workout.
-The sense of accomplishment.
-The adage, how you do one thing is how you do everything… If I slacked in my workout, quit early, or didn’t try hard, it would be the same way with any other area of my life.
-I always want to be getting better as a person in all areas, so I want to continually improve my body.
-The knowing and belief that exercise will help me feel better long term, allow me to do whatever I want, give me more energy… etc…
Hope that helps!
Dustin
Question: Why Do You Workout Hard and Push Your Body?
The possibilities of different exercises are endless if you have a knowledge of the body and how it moves in addition to a little creativity. In this CBS episode I show some exercises you can do on a picnic table. My guest today is Emily a Fit Fun Bootcamp veteran of over two years. Like we mention in the video, she is 48 years old, but doesn’t look a day over 35. Her positive energy and enthusiasm is contagious and we are very blessed to have her in our bootcamps.
Question of the day: What are some fun workouts you do outside?
Recently ABC came to Fit Fun Bootcamps to try to experience what a workout with us was like. They got in for a playground workout that really hit every singe muscle group. Enjoy the video and I hope it give you some new ideas when you are out at the park.
