Just wanted to let everyone know that…

This blog is going to have a new layout very soon!

More to come!

Regards,

The Running Bear Team

If you know me well, you might know that I’m a big fan of the work of Tom Venuto (@tomvenuto), a leader in the fat loss and motivation industry. Every year (the past two), he holds a 49-day fitness challenge that runs through all 3 major holidays. This year, I’ve decided to enter. Although I don’t know if the forum is public, I’m reproducing my entry post in the competition for you all to read. I’m posting this entry because it touches something I’ve been thinking a lot about lately, the idea that sexiness, or what we perceive as sexiness, is a function of self-confidence. I dig it! Not that he gets quoted often, but, according to Hugh Jackman, sexiness is “being comfortable in your own skin.” I like that definition, because it reminds us that sexiness is not all about ripped abs or curvaceous bodies, although that does contribute, don’t get me wrong. But a lot of it is loving the skin you’re in!

I encourage you all to check out www.burnthefat.com and check out the competition and this guy’s awesome work.

—-

Hi guys,

My name is Zack and I am proud to say that I am entering this year’s 2010 BFFM Holiday Challenge and I plan to get ripped!

Although today marks the start of a new fitness journey for me, my personal fitness quest has lasted for years. Having always been overweight as a young kid, I knew that I had to make a change when I weighed in at 253 at my high school graduation. Right now, I’m hovering around 220. While I am in good shape, my body fat is very high for my taste - mid to high 20’s, and I would love to use this holiday season to help me get to my ultimate goal of weighing 185 pounds. I eventually would like to get to 8% bodyfat or lower, but 185 pounds is a good intermediate goal for this first cut. I hope to reach 185 by mid-March, so I figure that doing this challenge during the holiday will be a huge step toward achieving that goal.

Fitness and getting in shape has been a part of my life for years. It has defined who I am. I have pushed the limits of my body by taking on running as a guy who has a body not necessarily suited for the sport, and have run 3 half-marathons in my life, in addition to countless other high school and recreational college races.

The reason I like Tom Venuto’s challenge so much, besides the fact that his BFFM book is amazing and that this challenge is during a time when I personally get derailed every year, is because his contest is focused on fat loss, rather than weight loss. I wouldn’t really care if I were 185 or 220 if I could see my abs. I have never seen my abs in my entire life. I’ve always had a layer of abdominal fat covering me.

This issue is why I’m calling this challenge the “I’m feeling sexy” challenge. I’m calling it that because in order to look sexy, you have to feel sexy. You have to feel self-confident. You have to feel that you have the power to act and change your life and realize your wildest dreams, and that’s exactly what I want to do. [My] self-confidence is finally where I want it to be, and I need to use that to make my body feel how my mind does.

I’m convinced that sexiness is directly related to self-confidence. I’m convinced that you’ve got the love inside, that if you feel comfortable in your own skin, that if you’ve got a smile that can light up a room, then that’s really what it’s all about.

So here I am. I’m ready to show my self-confidence in my food choices, in my water choices, in my exercise choices, and in my lifestyle choices. I’m ready to show it by getting all of my work done (I’m a senior and thesis-writer in college right now). I’m here for me. I’m here because I care about myself and because that extra bowl of cereal is not so good that it’s worth deferring a dream that has been so close to my heart for so long.

Best of luck to all of you! I look forward to starting this competition in a few days and hearing more about and sharing your stories!

Zack

I’m not sure if I’ve written about this bet on the blog yet, but one of my friends has bet me $100 that I don’t get into the shape that I want to be in (which involves losing, to date, 37 pounds by March 16, 2011).

Just a week ago, that number was 37.8 pounds. That means I lost only 0.8 pounds that week. That doesn’t seem like a lot, but what’s important is that it has been a week and my mind is still in the game. It means that I’m still playing to win. It means that after I get up from this chair I’m going to eat a nutritious brunch, make good choices, get a lot of great work done, and get some good fitness in later today!

Sometimes it’s not all about the numbers. Sometimes it’s just about being there and showing up, you know.

Zack Gober

The Running Bear

It’s Saturday morning, and I’m contemplating how I want to structure my work for the day. I’ll probably go to the gym after I finish this post, and then do some good work before meeting up with some great people later today.

Wanted to mention a few notable things:

Last night I was very proud of my buddy Prashant who resisted a Five Guys Burger - notoriously one of the worst burgers to eat in America, nutrition-wise, no matter how good it may be. His strength inspired me to really monitor my consumption and resist a ton of temptations including a 10% off late night delivery coupon I found in my Gmail inbox at an unsavory hour.

Also, if you’re in a situation where you have a ton of fat to lose, and you’re going to the gym and you’re not sweating, I’ve got two words for you: CHANGE THAT! For years, I’d go to the gym and I’d lift, or I’d do cardio, and I wouldn’t have that much of a sweat going on. Especially if you’re trying to get muscle definition or lose fat, it doesn’t matter whether you’re running on a treadmill or doing hyperextensions or ripping some bicep curls. You need to be sweating! If you aren’t, you’re workout isn’t hard enough or intense enough, which means that it’s going to take longer for you to achieve your goals and it’s going to be easier for you to reverse the gains that you made in that workout session. In essence,

SWEAT!!!!

Zack Gober

The Running Bear

The Brian Honan 5K was a great race. Ran it in 24, which means that I haven’t lost anything since April. Felt good through it. 7:45 pace was nice. The hill at the start of the 2nd half of the course is a little tough, but I powered through it. It’s all about thinking that you can do it, getting that next foot down. I had no idea what kind of time I was going to run during the race because of my lack of training this summer, so I kept saying “Yes, you can” to help myself get the next foot down on the course, and it really worked. Positive thinking works at the margin and it works on a large scale.

You could probably also equate writing a thesis to running a long race. Right now, I need to just put that next foot down and get some good apple turnover going!

Zack Gober

The Running Bear

The Running Bear clan is back in school and recording runs. We’re about to get a lot more active, so get pumped, especially with regard to local races!

In other news, with respect to cardio, if you aren’t sweating, it isn’t working!

Zack Gober

The Running Bear

Today is the first day of the rest of my life.

I weighed in this morning for my before pics and measurements, and I will confess that the numbers were eye-opening.

221.6, 26%, 39” waist

These numbers, in isolation, are tough.

However, I had such a fantastic summer, and have such love inside of me right now, that I can just feel the pounds being incinerated off of my abdominals and legs. The candle that was once a flicker is now a roaring flame, and I’m ready to go. First stop: distance run this morning before I do anything else. Will get some breakfast in there as well to make sure the fire is stoked properly.

If you are out there reading this, and you feel like you need to join this journey, don’t ask. Just hop on for the ride. Do it for yourself!

Ran today in the heat. Felt great. Will hopefully be running tomorrow. Some big races are up ahead. Lots of excitement in the future. More to come. I’ve got a lot of backlogged posts but now I’ve gotta go lift! Lifting is key!

Zack Gober

The Running Bear

One of my favorite running videos of all time:

http://www.flotrack.org/videos/speaker/635-german-fernandez/78340-episode-7-ok-state-cowboys

Zack Gober

The Running Bear

 http://cupcakestakethecake.blogspot.com/

 http://www.thisiswhyyourefat.com/

http://www.tastespotting.com/

In case you haven’t gotten enough food sensationalism for the day!

Zack Gober

The Running Bear

One of the greatest ultramarathoners of all time.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/13/sports/13runner.html?_r=1&pagewanted=1&hp

Thanks, Stephanie Wolf (@Micro_Mundo), for submitting this link!

Zack Gober

The Running Bear

I’ve spent a lot of time writing about goal setting. I’ve written about how to achieve goals, what goals to set, what goals to avoid, and why goals themselves are important. In a sense, I think that’s good. Goals are very important, and they can help you find the motivation to achieve a lot of important things. Today I actually want to write about something different. I want to talk about goal execution and why it is so important.

I read an amazing e-book from Tom Venuto the other day an insight from which I wanted to share. Like it or not, your brain is cybernetic, or inherently goal-seeking. What that means is that your brain has goals that it works to achieve even if you aren’t trying to consciously achieve them. What goals does your brain set? It sets the goals of habit. It sets the goals that have been sent into your unconscious mind after being repeatedly seeked in the conscious mind. So, if you tell yourself, “I’m never going to look great” or “Weight loss is impossible for me,” for example, your brain will actively seek those goals! That can be pretty dangerous, and honestly, it’s something that I think has impeded my own personal fitness for many years. If you don’t know how to set positive goals, then I would advise you to read some of my earlier posts on goal setting, why you should love yourself, and how to stay motivated. But, if you are ready to set positive goals and ready to live your life and achieve your dreams, the realization of your goals will be a direct function of your ability to execute.

Goal execution can be a tricky thing. It can be very easy to get discouraged or carried away or disillusioned by a far-off goal. I’ve been discouraged by far-off goals many times. How am I going to solve this problem? I am going to do it, in the words of my good friend Matt Hellauer, by taking one step at a time. If you take one step at a time, and make sure that every little decision you make is a positive one and contributes toward your goal and your general happiness, then you will by definition succeed, because to get from point A to point B, you have to take a bunch of steps towards point B. That’s the ONLY WAY TO GET THERE!

That’s enough for today. I have to go take steps to achieve my goals and execute. Hopefully I will be back with more positive news later!

Zack Gober

This morning, I woke up at 5am. I was tired. I was still full from an amazing dinner last night. I wanted some more sleep. But I knew I had to get up because I had told my friend Sachin that I would run with him at 5am. So I laced on my shoes, and just got out of my apartment so that I could not question my decision. As I ran the first few steps of my NYC outdoor running career, I knew that I had made the right one. I felt great, my iPod mini was booming with music, and I felt pretty epic. I ran to 59th and met Sachin there where we embarked on my first on-foot entrance into Central Park, and I was awestruck. What a beautiful area! It was empty, it was serene, it was natural, and it was just awesome. I was tired during this run and doing serious sweating, but I knew it was worth it. I wish I could write more about the foliage, the serenity, and the power of the early morning running experience, but I’m going to leave it at what I have here and save some of that description for future NYC run recaps! Have a fantastic Monday!

Zack Gober

The Running Bear

http://bit.ly/3Q9VOi

Fantastic post by Mark Suster (@msuster). Great words of wisdom.

Short post by me today because I have to go to work, but my message for you today is to stay strong! I woke up early, had a healthy breakfast, and feel great now.

Tip for the day: Eat breakfast!

Have a great one!

Zack Gober

The Running Bear