Skip to main content

Guest blog entry: Samantha Votaw's 100% Commitment to herself!

After almost 20 blog entries of my own over the last 4 months (with over 3,600 views!!! Thanks everyone!) I have decided to bring in guest bloggers in order to bring in new ideas and topics and also to keep thing on my page fresh and interesting!

For this entry, I have asked my beautiful friend and spin instructor Sam, (who royally kicks my butt every Friday morning) to give her opinions on health and exercise from a fitness instructor's point of view:

It Comes Down to 100%


My name is Samantha Votaw, and I’ve been a group fitness instructor for over 18 years.  I’ve taught many different things throughout the years, but currently I teach three Spin classes per week.  Spin is an interval style group cycling class.  If you haven’t tried it, what are you waiting for???

This may come as a surprise, but being the teacher does not make it easier to look fit or to be fit.  Oh, how I wish it were the case!  Doing something on a regular basis actually makes you VERY efficient, so you get fewer results over time if you don’t push yourself, and change it up!  In addition to my classes, I lift weights 4-5 days a week (depending on my current split), and I do some limited cardio outside of teaching.  One would think that working out 10 hours per week, with a high level of intensity, would have you in amazing shape, right?  Not necessarily…at least in my case.

It comes down to the fact that you can’t out train a bad diet!  I can say that from experience.  Over the last year, I’ve had some health challenges.  I still worked out most days, but not always at the level my body was used to.  You’d think that would have at least kept me in maintenance mode, but on the contrary.  I gained about 20 pounds over that year.  Since I wasn’t feeling that great, I didn’t plan and prepare my food like I usually do, plus I did some emotional eating.  (Doritos always seem like your friend when you’re eating them – but clearly they are my enemy!!!)  I didn’t even always eat too many calories.  I just didn’t really care as much as I had in the past.


Fast forward a little, and I’m back on track!  I’m feeling amazing!  I’ve been back to tracking all of my stuff for 5 weeks, and I’m making progress with my fat loss goals.  I saw a post the other day that said it’s 20% workouts and 80% clean eating that gets you results…then someone scratched both of those out and rewrote the following:  It’s 100% workouts, 100% clean eating, AND 100% commitment to your goals.  I think that about sums it up!  Never give up, give it 100% in ALL areas, and you WILL reach your fitness goals!

 

 

 

 

Comments

  1. mansour ansariSeptember 29, 2013 at 10:59 AM

    Oh this is my formula... 60% diet and 60% how you are training, it takes 120% effort for physique transformation. That means fat loss and muscle gain at the same time.
    It is working for me... oh by the way it also takes about a year to show....
    I saw you at the gym and you look great Sam...

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My Round, Firm Glute Series: Part 2

Alright folks, are we ready for round 2 of my butt blasting series?!?! The first post was a huge hit so I’m hoping this one will be too. Now, just because this is my second entry DOES NOT mean that these workouts are secondary to the previous workouts I mentioned. In fact, these are some of the best moves for complete isolation of the glutes! So without further ado, let’s get to it: •              Leg press (narrow stance): This is one of my favorite exercises!!! And arguably the one that I’m the saddest about not being able to do while pregnant. The leg press is an excellent weighted machine for lower body work. With a traditional leg press movement, the legs are about shoulder width apart and the focus is on the quads. However, with a narrow stance, the focus shifts to the glutes and hamstrings. I prefer to place my feet right next to each other and put my feet high enough up that my heels are in the very center of the platform. That way, when you press up, you’re pushing
2 comments
Read more

Supplements 101

 Supplement stores can be very overwhelming! There are so many options to chose from, I suggest reading reviews on sites like Bodybuilding.com and know what you want before you buy anything. Sales people at a store will often try to push certain items.... like the ones they make the most profit from! Ah, the billion dollar industry of supplements…. With most of those dollars coming from false claims from weight loss pills claiming you can eat whatever you want, sit on your ass and still lose weight! I would like to preface this blog with a disclaimer: SUPPLEMENTS IN NO WAY REPLACE HARD WORK AND A GOOD DIET!!! Supplements should be used only as an aid for hard exercise and clean eating. Nothing will ever make you lose weight without making you pay for it in one way or another. Nothing! I'm going to break down what I take, what I have taken, what supps are good for various goals and what I would like to possibly try in the future. What I take daily for exercise: A f
10 comments
Read more

USING FOOD AS MEDICINE

Disclaimer: I’m what you may consider a “crunchy” mom. I co-slept, breastfed, made my own baby food, etc. I firmly believe that there are many solutions to problems that we, as a society, tend to overlook because there is now a medicine or cream or solution that is faster. However, many times, when we look into the history as the human species, those quick fixes may not always be the best solutions. So basically, if you don’t believe in the benefits of practices like yoga and chiropractic care, you   may want to stop reading now!                 Now, to jump off my soapbox and rewind a few years to when my oldest daughter was in 3 rd grade and she was given homework assignments that were supposed to last us around 20 minutes to complete. Well, unfortunately, this task ended up taking us closer to 2 hours, due to lack of focus and, well… because doodling was more fun! The more I fought with my child to focus, the more I began looking for reasons and solutions as to why this was
Post a Comment
Read more