Today we hit a bit of legs. These days are waking up and priming our muscles. We’re just preparing for later days which will have more intensity. If you have more time and feel up for it you can always add more circuits and/or reps. Let me know what you think so far by commenting below. Remember to subscribe and turn on the notifications. Have an awesome day! Coach Nilo’s Daily Move are going to be a series of videos to help people make fitness a daily habit. Many people fail at health and fitness because they either quit and/or are not consistent. There are different reasons why. I name a few of the most common ones in the video. These videos will show what I did after my knee injury so that I could get my fitness back up without re-injuring my knee. By default it created a daily habit in me and now I train smarter than before I injured myself. As a “weekend warrior” this helped me tremendously to get back on my feet. I have no more injuries and I was able to compete in my first triathlon, which was a half ironman. If you have struggled to stay consistent with your fitness for whatever reason and you want to make fitness a part of your daily life, then these videos are for you. My first triathlon! Ironman 70.3 Indian Wells / La Quinta took place this past, Sunday, December 9, 2018. 1.2 mile swim / 56 mile bike / 13.1 mile run. A long time goal that tested me like nothing I’ve ever experienced. Before I get into my race summary, I wanted to take this opportunity to say that I am so filled with gratitude and an overwhelming feeling of care, love, support and outpouring positivity coming from my family, friends and my social media friends. Thank you so much for all the messages of encouragement, positivity, love, support, tips, suggestions, motivation and for truly caring. I am in awe of how many of you have taken the time to message me to ask me how my race went and to congratulate me. I wanted to make a video, but I don’t have enough footage so I will be writing my summary instead. Saturday was check-in day and even though I read the 46 page athlete guide 3 times during the week, I was somewhat clueless. The process was very different from a cycling event or a marathon. In those events, we go check-in, get our packets and go home to get ready for the race. In a triathlon, we have to check-in, get our wristband, our packets, go to another line and get our swim caps, then our swag bag and t-shirt, then our timing chip. There were about 4 different stations. From there, we spent some time at the expo and bought some t-shirts and memorabilia. But we were not done yet. Next we had to go to the different transition areas and check-in our running gear, bikes, decontaminate our wetsuit, and leave everything at the transition areas. Honestly, I was nervous about leaving my bike outside overnight. I don’t have the most expensive bike out there, it’s not even a triathlon bike, it’s a regular road bike, but that’s my baby. Anyways, it was a long day. My little ones were tired and they were starting to get fussy. My wife was so supportive throughout this whole process and we tried to make it as fun as possible for Gianna and Vianney. Finally, we got to have dinner and went back to the condo we rented out for the weekend, (very nice place btw). My mom, aunt and brother arrived about the same time we got back. I prepared my nutrition, water bottles and final details. I ate a final carb loaded snack and went to bed around 8:30 pm. I didn’t sleep too well. But I guess the practice of not sleeping well the last 8 months because of my little angel keeping us up most of the nights helped. I got up at 3 am, jumped in the shower, (yes I shower before my events). My wife always asks why I shower before a race or event since I’m going to get all sweaty anyways. I just feel refreshed after a shower. Anyways, I got dressed, had a green shake with some beet juice, my vitamins, and protein. My wife drove me to the venue at 4:15 am. Once we got there, I had no more phone or camera, so I wasn’t able to take any pictures or video. I went to the T2 (transition 2 area) and put my water bottles and nutrition I was going to need for the run in my bag. From the venue we were shuttled in school buses to the start line, which was at Lake Cahuilla. When we arrived to Lake Cahuilla I just followed the crowd. They marked both our arms with our numbers and our left calf with our age. Through this whole process, it was pretty quiet. Most people were still half asleep and cold. I only talked to one person and that was back at the main venue and she was a spectator. She was nice. Her husband was there and she went on to tell me that he had quite a few Ironmans under his belt. I always get amazed with stories like this. So I got marked and I went straight to my bike. It was wet from being out all night. I checked the tires, gears, chain and just made sure it was good. I put my bottles in the cages, and put the bike back on the rack. Next I had to go to the bathroom really bad. The lines were super long. Luckily the day before I saw some port-o-potties that nobody had been using, so I went to the back and to my luck there was nobody there. It was super dark though and I didn’t have my phone for a light, so I opened the door a little to get a little bit of the light from outside. Talk about relief. Phew… lol… TMI? Sorry… lol! I went into the changing tents, put my nutrition in my bag and picked up my wetsuit. I wasn’t sure of when I should start putting on my wetsuit, because by that time it was only like 5:15 am. I had 1 hour and 55 minutes to start time. We started at 7:10 am. So I picked a nice spot in the bike area and just started looking around, seeing what others were doing, I chatted with a few people and this is when I started asking myself all kinds of questions. I felt too relaxed. There were a lot of people running back and forth, huge lines to the bathrooms, huge lines to get a pump to pump up their tires, people forgot their goggles, one person forgot their wetsuit, which was strange because wetsuits had to be decontaminated and checked in the day before and there was a lot going on. I was just waiting for the moment to start putting on my wetsuit. So finally around 5:45 am, the announcer recommended we should start putting on our wetsuits and start putting our extra items in the white take home bag. So I did. I put on my wetsuit and a fellow athlete helped me zip it up. A nice couple that was there to see their son compete were giving me tips on the swimming while all this was going on. I was really nervous. Mostly because I didn’t know if I was forgetting something. Like I mentioned before, there were a lot of people scrambling for things. I guess reading the athlete guide 3 times and following directions really works. After I put on my wetsuit I started moving around in it and I started stretching. When the sunrise came, they announced for everyone to exit the transition area and head on over to the beach area. They allowed us to go in the water and warm up. So I followed the tips people gave me. “Go slow into the water, lie on it for a few minutes and get your face wet. Try to get a small swim so that you can get used to the cold temperature. Get your heart rate up before you start swimming.” So I did all that. But oh my… the water was so cold. It was 57 degrees. I was freezing. When I put my face in the water it burned so bad. When I tried to swim in it, I couldn’t keep my head down in the water. It felt so cold. I only got a few minutes in the water before they told us we had to get out of the water. It was a rolling start an it was self seeding. I lined up with the time 35-40 minute swim. Finally, time arrived. The cannon goes off and there go the men’s pros. Five minutes later the second cannon goes off and there go the women’s pros. All us age groupers applauded and saw as the pros went off into that cold lake. They were flying. Time passed and the age groupers started their swim. As we stood there in the beach area watching the swimmers go, we got to see a few people struggling in the beginning. Some people were hanging on to the kayaks with the life guards and the buoys that lined up the swim course. Personally, that made me really nervous. As I waited in line, I saw my brother walking around looking for me. Somehow, he managed to get to the lake without a shuttle. He had to walk over a mile in order for him to get there. It was really not a spectator friendly course. But thanks to him I have some pictures of the swim. I started at around 7:50 am. As I stood there at the start line waiting to be given the green light, I asked God to help me get through this swim, I did my sign of the cross three times and the alarm for me to go went off. So there I go, I stepped into the water and it felt colder than it did when I went in to warm up earlier. I started swimming like I practiced for the past year and I noticed I couldn’t control my breathing. I was hyperventilating and I was having trouble breathing. So I kept swimming with my head out of the water. I tried to slowly put my face in the water so that I could start swimming normal, but I just couldn’t control my breathing. With only a few minutes in the water I felt my throat close up and I literally couldn’t breathe. I stopped swimming to keep my head above water and was fighting to get air in my lungs. I couldn’t breathe. I started to panic. I had never felt like this before. I’m trying to breathe through my nose and mouth and no air would come in or out. I thought I was going to drown. What was seconds felt like minutes. Somehow I had to compose myself and the first thing that came to mind was to turn on my back and float. So I did. I turned on my back and floated until I was able to breathe again. I kept looking to both sides and people were swimming by me by the bunches. But in those bunches I saw other people panicking, gasping for air and looking for something to hold on to. I don’t know how much time I spent floating on my back. All of these crazy thoughts and the one fear I had, the one thing that kept me from doing this event my whole life was facing me at that very moment. I had always been afraid of the swim. Thoughts of quitting came in my head many times in those minutes that felt like eternity. I was afraid of drowning. What if, what if, what if? So I just waited there. Once I felt like I could breathe again, I turned around and started swimming again. But it happened again, my throat closed up two more times for a total of three times. For some reason I was able to get my breath quickly on the last two. But after the third time I looked for a kayak and swam to it and held on. I wanted to quit. I don’t even think I had swam 100 or 200 meters when all of this happened. I asked the lifeguard on the kayak how much time we had to finish the swim and she answered back with a question, “do you need to finish the swim?” I smiled and said, “yes!” So she told me to take the time I needed. In case you’re wondering, we get 1 hour and 10 minutes to complete the 1.2 mile swim before we’re pulled out of the race. During this time, I focused on controlling my breathing and I kept wetting my face. So I thought to myself, “ok, I need a plan.” I looked around and told myself, “I’m allowed to hold on to the kayaks and buoys (course markers) as long as I don’t have forward progress, so I’ll swim from buoy to buoy. Before I let go of the kayak I dipped my whole head in the water to make sure I wasn’t going to hyperventilate again and I took off to the next buoy. When I got there I stopped for a couple of seconds and kept going. As I was swimming, little by little, I was putting my face in the water and as I got to the next buoy I felt better so I kept going to the next one without stopping. When I got to the third one I was finally swimming normal. I think all of this happened in the first 300-400 meters of the swim. I don’t know how much time had passed by, I just wanted to get out of that cold water. So I put my head down and to my surprise I was actually passing a few people and staying on pace with a few others. On my way I got hit a few times and one poor woman literally held on to me. I stopped swimming and looked back and asked if she was ok. She said sorry, but she couldn’t really talk. She looked like she was done. Luckily there was a kayak right there and she swam right over to the kayak and I continued my swim. After this, things started going as I had trained. I had a smooth stroke, I was keeping up with the other swimmers and passing a few swimmers. I finished my swim in 52 minutes 27 seconds. Super slow compared to how I’ve been training. But I was just happy to get out of the water. Once I started getting up and taking my first few steps, I go straight down. I fell over. I stand up again and I fall over to the other side. My brother took the quick pictures where you can see me slowly disappearing from the shot. He said I fell three times before someone helped me up. At the transition area as I reached down to get my bag, I fell over again. One of the volunteers had seen me outside and told me to stay down. As I lay there, he pulled off my wetsuit and he told me to just sit for a few minutes. So as I sat there, I dried myself off with the towel and started changing on the floor. I spent almost 14 minutes at the transition area because I couldn’t walk straight. Finally, I can walk straight, so he let me go get my bike. When I walked out to the bike area, it was nearly empty. Put it this way, out of the 2,199 finishers I came out of the water in 1,853rd place. There were 3,125 registered, but 2,199 crossed the finish line. I was so close to last place. I felt like, man where did everyone go? Any longer and I was going to be part of the clean up crew. I got my bike, ran out of the transition area, jumped on my bike and started hammering. It didn’t take long before I started passing people. My legs burned in the first few minutes as they warmed up but they felt great. I made sure I kept to my plan so that when I got off the bike I still had something in me to run. I was averaging about 21 mph for the first hour of the ride. I was pumped on the bike. I wasn’t the fastest, but I had a great pace and managed to finish the bike ride in 2:58:30 with an average speed of 19 mph. There was a lot of headwind on the way back to T2 so in order for me not to burn out, I put my ego aside and focused on my power and cadence and not on my speed. When I got to T2, my legs were tired, but I felt good. I was able to keep up with my nutrition plan on the bike and that kept me from cramping or having any digestive issues. As I ran out of T2 there were so many spectators cheering us on and there I saw my wife and my little ones. I wanted to go give them a high five, but they were on the other side of the course so I just waved. I kept an easy stride and to my surprise, I was still passing competitors. Most of the run was on a golf course so there was a lot of up and down. Most people were walking up the little rolling hills and would run the down side and the somewhat flat parts. I slowed down a lot the second loop, but I didn’t walk. The run was all mental. I was tired but after my experience in the water I really enjoyed it. I finished my run in 1:57:55. Not my fastest time running 13.1 miles, but all I really cared about was finishing my first triathlon. That swim challenged everything about me. I came out of that water a different person. I’m seeing life and things with a different perspective now. I still want to keep challenging myself and for all of you who have asked if I would do it again. My answer is “yes”. My goal is to do a full Ironman and one day qualify to Kona. After having that feeling of not being able to control the one thing that we do every second of our lives unconsciously and that keeps us alive, which is to breathe, there are many lessons I have internalized that I believe have changed me. It may be too soon to see it in me, but I feel different. Would I recommend that other people do an Ironman? Of course! What I really recommend is that people challenge themselves physically and mentally. Some might even say, emotionally and spiritually too. But keeping to the subject of the sport, I would say put your body to the test. Even if it means walking down the block, hiking, running a 5K, marathon, playing soccer, baseball, basketball, football, tennis, weight lifting, snowboarding, swimming, skating, surfing, moving your arm, or leg or fingers, etc., etc. Challenging myself physically has been part of my life since I was a kid. It makes me feel alive and I’ve learned many valuable lessons about me and about life. I want to finish off by giving a special thanks to my brothers, my sister-in-law, my aunt, nieces and nephew for driving out to my race to cheer me on. And a very special thanks to my two little angels and my loving wife, who has been there through the toughest of times and doesn’t give up on me. Thank you so much! Thank you for reading, for following and again for your love and support. Here's a short video of my finish. I’ve been on vacation with my family and we’ve been in Rosarito, B.C., Mexico a few days visiting family, relaxing and having a great time. Even on vacation I like to stay active. I don’t do anything too hard, but I do stay active. Running is the easiest way to stay active and if I have access to a gym I’ll go to the gym. In this case I didn’t have access to a gym, but what better way to change it up and workout on the beach! The beach is literally the backyard of where we’re staying. Here’s what my workout was: I ran 5K (3 miles). I usually do strength training first, but I ran first to beat the high tide. Otherwise I’d have to run in the afternoon which is not likely because by then we’re out and about. My strength training consisted of 2 sets of a long circuit. Standard Push-Ups - 10 reps Air Squats - 10 reps Staggered Push-Ups - 10 reps Split Squats - 10 reps on each leg Diamond Push-ups - 10 reps Heisman - 10 reps to each side Push-ups (extended hand placement) - 10 reps Side Step Shuffles - 10 reps each side Diamond Push-ups (extended hand placement) - 10 reps High Knee Jumps - 20 reps Make sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel: CoachNilo Follow me on FB, IG and Twitter: @CoachNilo #coachnilo #training #vacation #rosarito #beach #pushups #plyometrics #running #cycling #swimming #marathon #triathlon #ironman #suntan
Landmines have been a long time favorite for me. They work more than just shoulders and one has to really engage the core. With limited time, these are great to hit the upper body and core. In this workout I did 3 moves back to back. It took me about 20 minutes to complete my strength training so that I could get my pool time in. #coachnilo #training #landmines #swimbikerun #swimming #cycling #running #marathon #triathlon #ironman #daddylife January 2017, I struggled to press 360 lbs. Today, I did 4 sets of 15 reps at 360 lbs. and my 5th set of 12 reps at 410 lbs. The weight isn’t really the focus here. I know people who can press way more than this. In 2016 I couldn’t do an air squat. January 2017 I was at a point where I was getting stronger and healing from a long term knee and Achilles injury. I lost a lot of strength in my legs because of that. But I’ve been patient, consistent and I’ve built and continue to build a strong foundation so that I can get back to how I used to be and surpass it. Pool was closed today so I improvised a workout. I didn’t go heavy today... kept everything at 15-20 reps. (except for the Nordic Curls). I suck at those! 1. Good mornings 2. Box Squats 3. Step ups 4. Assisted Nordic Curls (I gotta work on these) 5. Pull downs 6. Barbell Rows 7. Straight Arm Pull Downs Just last week I turned 43 years old. It's crazy how time just flies. 2016 was a year of therapy and recovery for me. After I ran the marathon last year, I wasn't able to participate in any century rides or any other endurance events for that matter. I decided I was going to focus on truly healing my leg issues, (knee injuries, achilles tendinitis and plantar fasciitis). If you've been following my journey on social media and on my previous blogs, I have made a huge improvement. Since I was getting better, I decided to go see a therapist and get checked out to see if I needed orthotics to avoid future injuries. To make a long story short, I've been using orthotics for two weeks now and I began to develop a huge, hard, painful, bump on the top of both my feet. I developed tendinitis on a new area of both my feet to where I can barely move my fat toes because the pain is so bad. This really bummed me out because I was really praying I would be ready to run the L.A. Marathon this year. With this new injury, there's no way I'm going to put my feet and legs through that kind of stress with an injury so close to the event date. I was so bummed that I came to the point where I just wanted to say, "the "F" with everything" and just stop. I composed myself and forced myself to go out and train, and man it was a hard workout that day, (it was a back and shoulder workout). This got me thinking... If I wanted to quit and throw in the towel, even for that moment... I can understand why so many people who have health and fitness goals give up. Here's a list of what I feel are the biggest reasons people fail in health and/or fitness. 1. It's not a priority Most people don't have a big enough reason to make their health and fitness a priority. An example is all the people who make a new year's resolution and don't follow through with it. People just say what they want, but never act on it. It's a wish, a dream, something they would like to happen, but it's not important enough for them to act on that dream. For me, I guess I was lucky that I've been an athlete since I was born thanks to my dad. Baseball was my sport as a kid and through my high school and college years. But I also, ran, played soccer and I've always been an all-around type of athlete. In nutrition though, I was horrible, but there were a few big incidents that have changed that around for me. I used to eat McDonald's breakfast before a mountain bike race and Twinkies and Honey Bee rolls after my rides. Now, I am certified in nutrition, specialized in fitness nutrition and I've gotten to the point where I eat organic, avoid gluten, GMO's, and processed foods as much as possible. I'm not perfect, but I would say a good 90% of the time, I eat pretty darn healthy. This started back in high school when I stopped drinking milk. After my dad's passing of a heart attack in 2000, then my mom survived breast cancer in 2013, and the most recent incident, my baby almost dying on us with pneumonia in 2015, I made drastic changes to my nutrition. Every event led me to take a step closer to eating and making healthier choices. I made it my priority because I wanted to be an example for my friends and family and I want to live a long healthy life. To summarize, if you want to have a healthier and more fit life, then you must make it a priority. You must make the decision to make healthier choices when it comes to your eating habits and you must make the time to train. 2. Wanting results "yesterday" It's nothing new that these days, people expect things immediately. From fast cell phone services, to fast internet services to fast food, this has now carried into people's health and fitness decisions. People want to lose 100 pounds in a week. Yeah, I know I exaggerated, but you get the point. There's so much marketing about "magic pills" that'll make you lose weight by sitting on your butt all day. Then there's all of these companies that have the 30 day challenges, 60 day challenges, and 90 day challenges, that push people to get "fast results". "Magic pills" don't work, period. You can get quick results. But the damage done to your health and body with these products that suppress your appetite and claim to burn fat while you sit at your desk is not worth it in my opinion. In the long term, your body becomes resistant to these products and just like drugs, you need higher doses. By that time, you've already caused damages that make it harder for you to become healthier. Just because people have 6-packs and look good on the outside, doesn't mean they're healthy on the inside. The challenges are cool. I was part of a company that promoted a challenge and I saw upsides but at the same time I saw many downsides to it. People lose weight quickly, but a few months down the road after their first challenge, they're on the challenge again because they regained the weight. Also, if they didn't win or didn't lose a certain amount of weight during the challenge, they'd give up or stop completely. Even if they lost 10 or 15 pounds during their challenge. There's obviously the exceptions, but the exceptions are very few compared to the people who quit and go back to their previous states or get worse. Just look at the contestants from the "Biggest Loser". Most of them are worse off than when they started in the TV show. When someone starts a business and invests $1 million in that business, I can assure you that this person is going to give it they're all to make their business become profitable no matter what it takes and how long it takes. One would think that our health would be priceless, but people's actions say a totally different story. We know that eating and drinking greens is healthy for us and they can give us unlimited health benefits. But if people don't lose weight, build muscle or even "cure" something like cancer after a week of eating or drinking more greens, most people just stop and go back to their lousy eating habits that got them the way they are in the first place. If people would approach their health and fitness like if they invested $1 million into their bodies, it wouldn't be a 30, 60, or 90 day "diet". On the contrary, it would be a lifetime journey and one would do whatever it takes and work as long as it takes to get the healthy results they're looking for. To summarize, go into a health and fitness plan understanding that it's for the long term. You're investing in your health so that you can live healthy and be fit for the rest of your life and not just for the next 30 to 90 days. If you enter a challenge, that's great! Use it as a kick starter, but whatever your results, get on a plan that is sustainable for the long term. 3. Approaching health and fitness like if you were an expert I've been an athlete my whole life. But it wasn't until I studied, got certified, did some extensive research and on top of that I practiced and trained in my craft that I actually learned how to train correctly. I learned how to train specifically for different sports and I learned how to get results, like weight loss, muscle gain, strength, speed, power, endurance, etc., and I'm still learning. I'm still taking courses and seminars about health, nutrition, the body, exercise, kinetics and I plan on learning more and more everyday. Most people think they know about health and fitness because they saw a YouTube video or read something online. They go to the local supplement/vitamin shop and load up on protein powders, bars, pre-workout drinks and supplements. In reality they have no clue about what they're doing and worse, they have the wrong information and don't know it. Then when they don't get the results, they get frustrated and quit. In business I learned that if I wanted to be successful, I needed to learn from the people who had already done it and had success. If I want to become a millionaire, I need to learn from a millionaire and not from someone who's making a couple thousand, right? Well, it's interesting how people will follow health and fitness advice from people who are out of shape, sick, obese, never played a sport before or trained for anything. Unfortunately, so many people will go to the gym and have no idea on how to train. Most people workout so hard their first couple of days, get super sore and stop working out within a week. Then they get on a diet that just doesn't make sense. It's not sustainable. They lose weight the first week or two, or they get a little muscle, then like 3 weeks into it, they start to feel like shit. Then they stop losing weight or they stop seeing gains; so what happens next? Most people quit. Am I saying you have to get certified in fitness and nutrition to get started? No. But creating a plan personalized for YOU is necessary. Talking to an expert, a personal trainer, or someone who has gotten the results you're looking for so that you can at least get started in the right direction would be a smart thing to do. To summarize, do some research and talk to an expert or someone who has gotten the results you're looking for and create a personalized plan to help you get started in the right direction. Creating a plan is part of getting started. When you start a business, you create a business plan and prepare before you begin to sell products or services, right? Approach your health and fitness the same way. It doesn't take that long to create a nutrition and fitness plan compared to a business plan. 4. Making the wrong plan and/or an unsustainable plan When people start their nutrition and fitness plans, their expectations are to look like the fitness models on the cover of magazines or to run like the Kenyans. There's nothing wrong with shooting for the stars, but people will make plans that start off too fast or too hard. They go from one extreme to another and expect immediate results. They want to go from drinking 6 Diet Cokes a day and hamburgers or burritos everyday to all of a sudden becoming vegan. Again, I'm exaggerating, (actually I'm not), I know someone like this... but you get the point. Yeah, this person didn't last a week as a vegan. Why? Again, there was no preparation, especially in this case. A 400 pound person wants to lose weight, but the mistake I see often is that they get on a diet plan and a training plan that's suited for a body builder. A good trainer or nutrition coach wouldn't make such a drastic change. Depending on the person's habits, abilities, will power and urgency, sometimes it's best to start with baby steps. An example would be to take away the Diet Coke and replace it with water or instead of drinking 6 Diet Cokes a day, bringing it down to 1 a day. Then a week or two, or even a month later, make another small adjustment or two. The same with fitness. Maybe starting with walking 50 to 100 meters would be a better option than to begin training like a body builder. I have personally seen examples like this and people get discouraged and/or injured. Back in the day when I used to eat McDonald's, my wife started working with a trainer at the local gym. My wife never did sports and weighed over 200 pounds. The trainer failed to make an initial assessment and on her first day, the trainer gave her exercises that involved her jumping... since then, my wife has had knee problems that have limited her to this date. She never went back to that gym. People will go from being a couch potato to wanting to go to the gym 5 days a week. I can appreciate the wanting to work hard and getting started, but it's not often that these people have success. Most people quit within their first month. Why? Because they went from one extreme to the other. The idea looks great in your mind and on paper. It feels good in the beginning, but once the hard work begins, the feeling of excitement and motivation is gone, so they stop. In summary, create a sustainable plan that fits your lifestyle. Take small steps to start off. As you progress, increase the intensity and make small or big adjustments depending on how you feel. It doesn't mean to go easy. It means to make it sustainable and progressive. 5. Lack of Motivation Not having an "Urgent Why". Most people don't know what their "Why" is. If they have a "Why", it's not Urgent enough to make them move and do whatever it takes to make it happen. If you saw a man drowning in a pool that had a shark, would you jump in and save that man? If it was your baby, would you jump in and save your baby? Did you hesitate in any of these two questions? Which one had more urgency? I would have to guess that your baby had more urgency. Most people don't have a "Why" this urgent and it's the reason why people don't do the things they say they want to do. So if you don't have a "Why", how can you stay motivated? For me the best thing to do is to join clubs/teams and/or events like running, cycling, or triathlons. There's other clubs/teams and events like Cross Fit, Mud races, Spartan, Body Building, Martial Arts, and there's a long list. Running and endurance events are the easiest because there's no need for equipment, except for a good pair of running shoes and/or a bike. In all my years of competing and being around the fitness and nutrition industry, I have seen more success stories with people who put their focus on participating or competing in an event, like a 5K, 10K, half marathon, etc. For the most part, people want to lose weight, but when that's their only focus, it becomes boring. When there's no immediate results, it becomes discouraging. When you sign up for an event, first you work hard because you paid for the event. But as the date gets closer, there's excitement, the focus is no longer on how much you weigh, but on training to complete your event. Then after you complete your event, you tell yourself, it was tough, but man it felt great! Then you tell yourself, I know I can beat my time, or I can do better, so you sign up for another race or event. Even better, you begin to meet people, new friends, and people who are on a similar journey as yourself. All of a sudden, it becomes about how good it feels when you're around other people who are going through the same struggles as you and are doing something positive in their lives to become better. Then you add the friendly competition. It becomes fun. Then you realize you found your "Why"! Believe me, it won't be about your weight, but about something more important and meaningful in your life. In summary, when you get involved in a sport, a team, a club, or an event, and put your focus on something else other than your weight, it becomes your motivation. I have seen more success stories about health and fitness in environments like running, cycling and triathlons, (endurance events), than in any other sport or with people who have tried dieting and exercising at a gym alone. When I say "success stories", I'm referring to results that are long term and sustainable. Not the 30, 60, 90 day temporary success stories we hear about that soon turn into people going back to their old ways. I believe the people who get involved in clubs or sporting events achieve the long term, sustainable results because the focus goes from the person's weight to the event. Just by being active and eating better to have better recovery and better results, that alone will have a huge impact on a person's health. Wanting to be better prepared for your event is also motivation for you to go to the gym and train. Plus there's the people you meet along the way that begin to help and motivate you. To achieve long term, sustainable results, in my opinion, becoming part of an active environment, like running, cycling or triathlons, becomes a lifestyle that can be fun, bring excitement, adventure, challenge, growth, and so many benefits that one doesn't get by just dieting and going to the gym. That ongoing motivation is a great way to keep you from quitting and failing in your health and fitness journey. 6. Setbacks and Injuries The inevitable setbacks and injuries that even the best of the best run into. We can take all of the steps to help us prevent injuries, but one movement, or loose rock or a bad move on the field all of a sudden leaves you with a sprained ankle, or shin splints, or broken bones. It happens even to the professional athletes. Then life happens, our baby gets sick or you have to travel for business and your training plan gets interrupted or challenged. Then there's the weddings, birthday parties, quinceañeras and company parties where you eat all kinds of food, drink and you get off your nutritional plan. I know a handful of people that one setback will throw off their psyche. They see it as a sign that it's not meant for them, they lose motivation, so they throw in the towel. I felt like giving up when I woke up with two big, painful, bumps on the top of my feet and my therapist friend told me I had tendinitis and recommended I lay off running for a few days. After a year of recovering and training, I get a new unexpected injury with only 3 weeks of the L.A. Marathon. I was heart broken. Not being able to participate in the L.A. Marathon this year was a big downer for me. The only thing I can say is to remember that we want to be healthy and fit for the rest of our lives. There's always ups and downs in every aspect of our lives, but I've learned to live with appreciation. So everything that happens to me, I appreciate the experience and do the best to learn from it. For me it's simple. Do I get frustrated or upset when I have setbacks? For a moment I will, but I'll remember that God is giving me a lesson. So if I get off my plan for a day or two or even a week, I'll just start where I left off, or make the necessary adjustments to continue. If I have an injury, there's always different ways of staying active, even while watching TV, or sitting at my desk. If my feet and legs are injured, I can work on my upper body. If my arm or shoulder is injured, then I can work on my lower body. I take the necessary rest to heal, but once I can move, I'll get active in one way or another. To summarize, setbacks and injuries are a part of life. It helps us grow as people and it's what makes life exciting and keeps it interesting. Even plateaus can be seen as setbacks. Plateaus are when you stop seeing progress and sometimes it feels like you're going backwards. When setbacks happen, if you're not injured, just continue your plan where you left off. Many times, small adjustments are needed, which is part of nutrition and fitness anyways. If you get an injury, take the days needed to heal, but you can always stay active in different ways. To get long term, sustainable results, remember that we want to be healthy and fit for the rest of our lives. Create a plan that fits your lifestyle and make the proper adjustments so that you keep progressing even when you have setbacks. Finally, have fun and enjoy your journey to a healthier and fitter YOU! Thank you for reading! God Bless. Jose Nilo aka Coach Nilo It was August 9th, 2014 and my good friend and I participated in the Jenna Ride hosted by Empire Bikes to raise funds for Jenna. It was a great day, great ride, the pace was just right, my legs felt great and everything was running smoothly. With about 4 miles left to go on the 54 mile ride, a rider up front carelessly decided to move lines in the peloton while we were moving at about 21mph. That careless move caused a chain reaction that ended with me landing in the middle of the street, almost getting hit by a passing car, with a couple riders on top of my bike, a few others running over my wheel, and the peloton of about 80 riders stopped and pulled over to make sure everyone was fine. I was in pain. In order to avoid hitting other riders in front of me, I endowed and somehow, on my front wheel, I maneuvered my bike so that I would land on the outside of the peloton, which is why I almost got ran over by a car. It still didn't stop the riders behind me from crashing and landing on my bike, but I landed hard on my side, bruising my hip and the side of my leg including my knee, and then there were the road rashes on my hands, arms, and legs. That crash took me out for the week. The following weekend, a few of us decided to go mountain biking, I figured I'd be ok by then. So we're ready to go and as soon as I get on my bike and press down on the pedal to take off, I feel an excruciating pain on my right knee. It was the opposite leg from where all my bruises were from the crash. I had already warmed up, so I massaged it a little and kept going. I figured the pain would go away as it warmed up more, but no, it kept getting worse and worse. We rode 22 miles through Carbon Canyon that day, and the whole ride I was in crazy pain. I iced my knees when I got home, stretched, massaged and took a bunch of muscle, tissue and joint repairs. The next day, I wanted to see how my knee was so I went out and did a 21 mile loop, heading up towards Mt. Baldy and turning down on Shinn Road. I started off fine until I started to put a little pressure on the pedals, the pain was still there. That's when I knew it wasn't just some random pain... I had an injury that seemed to be getting worse. So I decided to take a few weeks off the bike to rest, stretch, ice, massage and load up on my repair supplements. This is where the roller coaster ride began. I would rest up, I would feel better, go for a ride, feel good. Ride a few more times and when I would push hard, my injury came back. It's been about a year and half that I've been on this roller coaster. Doctors say there's nothing wrong with my knees, they tell me to rest and take anti-inflammatories. That obviously didn't work, because I had already been doing that. So last year, on Valentine's Day, I decided to run the L.A. Marathon. I wrote a blog on that, but just to recap, a few weeks before the marathon, my knee pain came back much stronger than before. I had to call my brother to pick me up 5 miles into my training because I couldn't walk. So I stopped my training a few weeks prior to the marathon. The day before the marathon I went for a short run just to see how I was feeling. I didn't feel any pain, so I decided I'd go run the marathon with practically no training. That was a huge mistake. I finished the marathon, but my knees, my achilles, my hip flexors and my heels were in pain for almost 2 months after I had ran the marathon. My soccer players and coaches would make fun of me because I couldn't walk. I looked funny when I'd try to move. That's when I came to my senses. I'm certified in fitness, nutrition and sports therapy and I wasn't using any of my knowledge on myself. So I began to train slowly, (no bike, no running), just therapy type training and I kept loading up on my repair supplements. I started off with easy joint movements, stretching, and massaging. I started in April of 2016. For a whole month, it's all I did and little by little I would add super short easy jogs, (like 400 meters), just to see how my legs were doing. Finally about a month into it, I decided to go for my first run. In May 2016 I ran my usual loop around Claremont, which is about 4.1 miles. I averaged 8:01min/mile and I felt pretty good. I continued my therapy type strength training, I changed my running stride, I was feeling better and finally in October I decided to go on my first bike ride. I felt strong, my knee pain had not returned, but I decided I'd do my usual loop up to Shinn Road. Big mistake. As soon as I started climbing, I felt tingling in my knee and by the time I got to the top, I felt the pain return. I was so frustrated and upset at myself for not taking it easy on my first ride back. Fortunately, the pain wasn't as bad. So that weekend I went out for a long, flat, easy 42 mile ride. I felt a little pain, but not as bad as before, which lightened up my spirits. From there I concluded that I needed to continue strengthening to completely heal. So with the same type of therapy training, I picked it up a few notches, I kept on running and working on my stride. If you follow me on social media, mostly Facebook, Instagram and YouTube: @coachnilo, you can see my training and workouts. So why am I writing this blog? Well, last week I had a small breakthrough. See, when I didn't have knee pains, I could squat 135 pounds as a warm up. My brother and I would squat 20 reps with 135 pounds. I was able to leg press 360 pounds, (8 x 45 pound plates), and I would do 4 sets of 10-12 reps at this weight. After the marathon, my range of motion and my strength diminished tremendously. When I started my training in April of 2016, I could barely squat the bar. That's why I used dumbbells or just body weight when I worked out my legs. Honestly, I would feel embarrassed at the gym, especially when I would see petite women lifting much more than me. But I had to put my ego aside and I just did what I had to do. My legs had been feeling pretty strong for the month of December, so last week I decided I would go heavier than what I had been lifting. I was able to squat 3 sets of 6 reps with 135 pounds. I deadlifted 185 pounds - 4 sets of 6 reps. I leg pressed 270 pounds - 4 sets of 6 reps. That's the most weight I have lifted with my legs since 2015. But my week didn't end there. I also spun on my bike at 90-100 RPM's at 150 watts 3 times last week. Finally, Sunday morning, I ran 13.4 miles at an average pace of 8:01min/mile. The best part is, I haven't felt any pain on my knees, my achilles, my hip flexors or my heels. I do feel a little sore in my calves, but not so sore that I wasn't able to run Monday morning during my team's soccer practice with no pain. I know it's not a lot of weight and it's not like I lost a limb or something worse. I know there's a lot of people out there that have it way worse than I do, but even though I'm still strengthening my legs, and I may still be prone to re-injuring myself... I have been patient and I've trusted the process. I'm fortunate that I know what I'm doing when it comes to training, and I'm taking small steps so that I don't re-injure myself. I'm writing this because there's a lot of people who give up too soon. I worked hard to build a foundation to strengthen my injured areas but I didn't put a timeline on when I wanted to heal. If it was up to me, I want to heal already! But some of these things take time, and we don't always have control of when it'll happen. I just know that I want to be able to start competing again, so my main focus is to heal completely. I'm going on 10 months and I'm still not where I was before my injuries, but now that I have a foundation, I'm progressing much faster and I still don't know when I'll be ready to compete again. Should I give up because I didn't heal in 8 weeks or 90 days? Heck no! Way too often we want results "yesterday" and we're not willing to go through the process. We were taught to put a timeline on our goals, but from my experience, when most people don't hit their goals, they become discouraged, lose their drive and give up. Whether it's in business, weight loss, health issues, relationships, school, sports or in anything we do in life, there's always a process. We just have to make sure that we're taking the proper steps, that we're consistent and that we're moving forward, even if it's tiny steps at a time. Success doesn't move in a straight line. There's always going to be obstacles and set backs, but it's through these challenges that we learn, grow, become better and stronger. If you ask me, unless I have a deadline, like saving up to buy a present for a birthday or a project in school or at work, why would I place the unnecessary stress of putting a deadline on something I want? If I really want something, who cares how long it takes me to get it, as long as I get it, right? For me, it works to set goals without timelines. I just know what I want. From there, I focus on my daily activity that moves me towards my goals as quickly as possible without taking short cuts. I track my daily activity, review my progress at least once a week and make adjustments as needed. Shooting for that goal now becomes a daily routine or as some call it, it becomes a "lifestyle." Before you know it, I'll be rocking 'n' rolling and off to the races. #coachnilo #training #fitness #running #cycling #endurance #workout #nutrition #supplements
A Few Simple RulesI've tried different nutrition plans and I've gotta say, most of them work as long as I followed them. The plan I use below has been the easiest for me to follow and the one that has given me the quickest and most consistent results. What I did notice about most plans is that they have something in common. That's the protein intake. If you research some of the best fitness and nutrition gurus out there, the ones who keep their bodies looking chiseled all year round, you'll notice that they all have about the same amount of protein intake to body weight ratio. The rule of thumb is about 1g of protein per pound. So if you weigh, 150 pounds, then you would consume about 150g of protein daily. Now, what we need to understand is that everyone has different goals, especially athletes. So athletes will have specific plans depending on their sport and workload for the day or week. But in the long run, they too need a consistent, sustainable nutrition plan. This is what's going to keep anyone going everyday, all year round. Before I give you my personal nutrition plan, let me give you a small set of rules that keep my nutrition plan simple. This has worked for any plan that I have followed. 1. I try to eat 1g of protein per pound daily. 2. Everytime I eat protein, I will have carbs also with that meal. 3. I supplement daily. 4. I take digestive enzymes with every meal. 5. I drink water or hot plain tea 99% of the time with my meals. (Green Tea and Peppermint Tea are my favorites). If I ever drink anything else it'll be once in a blue moon. Meaning maybe once a month I'll have a drink of soda. Alcohol - very rarely. Only on special occasions. 6. I drink my water or tea after I'm done with my meal. 7. I drink water with lemon every morning upon rising. 8. I drink plenty of fluids throughout the day. If I had to count - I drink about half my body weight in ounces of fluids. (Mostly water and green drinks) 9. I use a lot of spices on my food: cinammon, turmeric, cayenne pepper, black pepper, sea salt, and garlic salt are the ones I use most. 10. I drink Greens 1-2 times a day. 11. I eat the foods I like to eat. 12. I eat when I'm hungry. 13. I don't count calories. All I focus on if I do count is the amount of protein intake. 14. Once or twice a year or before I start any new plan, I will cleanse or detox. This year I've done the 10 Day Transformation by Purium and it's worked like a charm. 15. I don't call any of my days or meals "cheat days" or "cheat meals". It is what it is. I just make sure I follow rules 1-14 every single day. My Nutrition Plan1. Upon Rising 16 Ounces of Water and I'll squeeze half of a yellow lemon into it. 5 - Super Amino 23 2. Breakfast - Shake with 12 ounces of Water 2 scoops of the L.O.V. Shake 3. Brunch or Snack - Greens / Antioxidants with 12 ounces of Water 1 scoop of Spirulina 1 scoop of Bio Fruit 4. Lunch - Light High Protein Meal / 1 Digestive Enzyme Example: 1 can of Tuna (I prepare it with Lemon, Black Pepper and Chili Paste or Sriracha) / 2 Boiled Eggs / 1/2 Avocado / 12 ounces of water with 1 Scoop of the Power Shake. 5. Snack - (Optional) - Depends on how I feel in regards to being hungry it'll vary if I eat or not. Fruit, Shake, Nuts, Chips, Pretzels, Greens. 6. Dinner - High Protein / High Carb. / 2 - Digestive Enzymes Example: 5 Protein Pancakes with 3 Eggs over medium. Maple Syrup. 7. Late Snack - (Light Protein / Carbs High in Fiber) / 1 - Digestive Enzyme Half cup of plain oats with a tablespoon of Cinnamon and 12 ounces of water 5 - Super Amino 23 8. Before Bed 1-2 Probiotics 2 Protease IFC 2 RepairZyme 1 Joint Health If I do the math, I'm at about 130g of Protein with the meals I used as examples. But I still haven't included my Post Workout Meal which will take me over the 135g (I fluctuate between 135lbs and 138lbs). Post Workout Meal - The Most Important Meal of the Day!!!My post-workout meal will vary depending on what type of workout I do. I will take my post workout meal immediately after my workouts. We have a 30 to 45 minute window after we're done training to get the nutrients (especially our protein) in our body. Don't wait 30 to 45 minutes to take your post workout meal. By then you missed the sweet spot of when your body will absorb the most nutrients into your system so that you don't begin to lose muscle and lose the benefits of the workout. The Post-Workout meal is the most important meal of the day! Following a Short Run or Bike Ride (1 hour or less) or a Light Day at the Gym 1 Scoop of Spirulina 1 Scoop of the Power Shake 5 - Super Amino 23 Following a Long Run or Bike Ride (Anything over an Hour) or a Heavy Day at the Gym 2 Scoops of the L.O.V Shake 1 Scoop of the Power Shake 1 Scoop of Spirulina 1 Scoop of Bio Fruit 5 - Super Amino 23 So a few months ago I was introduced to Organic Spirulina. I had read about it, but I had never met someone who actually drank that stuff. I thought, "Gross, why would anyone drink sea weed?" Talk about being close-minded.
Well, to keep it short, I've been taking Organic Spirulina now for about 3 months and man has it helped me out. See I don't drink coffee... nothing to do with health, I just don't like the taste so I have to put a lot of sugar in it so that I can drink it. Going to the local coffee shop is not an option for me either. Those things have so much sugar and caffeine! Just not for me. If you have been following my blogs or my social media, you know that the past 6 months have been so stressful, plus very little sleep and just so very stressful. I sometimes didn't know where I got the energy and the motivation to get up everyday to go out and do what I had to do. So I needed an extra energy boost and it just happened that a good friend told me they were taking Organic Spirulina, so I ordered one for myself. Man, this was better than that energy drink that gives you wings! I started mixing it in with my greens and my shakes twice and sometimes three times a day! This gives me so much energy! I mean, this is embarrassing to say, but even my sex drive is through the roof! If my wife and I keep up this pace, baby number 2 might be coming soon! Oh and after my cousin's bachelor party and then the following weekend his wedding! I'm not big on drinking, but these were very special occasions. I took one before bed on each event. Next morning after both events, I didn't feel any sign of being hungover, not even a slight headache. Talk about potent! So what is Organic Spirulina? The scientific name is cyanobacterium (blue-green algae) which is a unique algae with abundant nutrients and pigments that grows in semi-brackish water. From the research I've done Organic Spirulina has tons of health benefits that can help with:
Spirulina is Nature`s Richest Food Source of:
MY FAVORITE: It has an easily digestible source of complete protein, and all 9 essential amino acids! Great for athletes!!! So there you have it. Another source of healthy energy. If you'd like to know which Organic Spirulina I use, feel free to contact me or click here. For more tips on fitness and nutrition you can download my FREE mobile app: Coach Nilo. These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA and were not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. So we all want to get an edge and get quicker results. Here I'm sharing something I've done for as long as I can remember. Something so simple that can make a huge difference on your road to getting leaner and staying leaner. This works best when you do cardio in the mornings. Any type of cardio as long as it's less than 1 hour. It can be 10 minutes, 20 minutes, etc. It has to be on an empty stomach. If you're the type of person that gets dizzy, light headed or just doesn't feel right doing cardio on an empty stomach, then you're probably not getting enough or the correct nutrients before bed. So if you are that type of person, then you might need a pre-workout meal instead of trying this. So here it goes, it's super simple. Get a glass of water. 8 to 16 ounces. You don't need to warm it up. No ice.
Cut a yellow lemon in half. Squeeze into the water. Drink it. Yes it's that simple! Now let's go get our cardio workout done! Running, cycling, swimming, kickboxing or whichever cardio workout you choose! Cheers! Back in November of 2015, I started a venture that was completely new to me. That led me to buying a Semi-Pro Soccer team and eventually creating my own Semi-Pro Soccer team. This was also very new to me and not something I had ever thought about doing as a business. This past week was an emotional week for me because I am no longer part of this venture. As always, life happens, and I had to make a tough decision on whether I stayed in that situation or I moved on. After weighing all of my options, I decided to take an offer and I sold my 50% of my team.
On paper, everything made sense to sell. But my biggest challenge I had in making a decision was that there were people involved, (the players). These young talented athletes were part of a tough learning experience in my life, so it was a "little" difficult not to become attached to these boys. They have put in so much effort to be part of this team and they were a big part of why I continued through such challenging times since December of 2015 until last week. Even though it was an uphill battle, our team created hope for so many young athletes aspiring to play soccer at a higher level. The players may not realize this, but they have made an impact in this sport. People are now talking about our team, we're winning games against some of the best semi-pro teams, and I was part, (along with a great partner), of creating a team that could possibly go far in the soccer world. So the battle was worth it. Except now I feel like if I broke up with "my girlfriend". I was heart broken when I addressed the team and told them I had to move on. I came to a crossroads and had to make the tough decision. So how did I cope with this move? Imagine being consumed for 10 straight months, day in and day out. Giving it my all, building, stressing, traveling, investing, dealing with everyday issues, networking, everything that involved building a team, a successful business and getting involved with the players by helping them in any way possible. With their fitness, conditioning, but most importantly, trying to be the best coach and mentor I could be so that they can be stronger physically and mentally. The long days, getting up early in the morning and going to sleep super late. Sleeping 2-4 hours a day. Feeling so heart broken... I know people, (friends and family), and I've heard stories of people who finish a project, a relationship, or achieve something great in their lives and they fall into depression or they have some radical change emotionally. I can understand why. Anytime there's emotional attachment, it can be painful. One may feel a bit of relief, as if a weight was lifted off our shoulders. But as the days pass, one begins to feel that nostalgic feeling and sometimes the feeling of being lonely and not knowing what to do. For those of you who follow me on social media, you may or may not have noticed, that all this past week I barely posted anything. For me, the way I moved on was not easy, but here's what I did. 1. I completely stepped away from everything for a few days. I took a small vacation from anything that had to do with business including my workouts. 2. I focused on my family. The reason I do what I do is for my family. So I spent that much needed time with my wife and my baby. I missed putting my baby to sleep. I didn't take her to school a couple of days this week and just spent the day with her. I took her to the park for a few hours, read to her, watched TV with her, and just gave her all of my attention. I spent some alone time with my wife. I accompanied her to the doctor, we went to lunch, had a long needed conversation about us and just spent time together alone. 3. I reached out to friends and family and had long conversations with those who had the time. We talked about anything and everything. There were some friends that I paid visits to and just hung out. I didn't try to sell anything, we just talked and laughed a lot. 4. I worked on a few things at home, not much, but a few things that needed to get done. Like laundry and small tasks like that. 5. I have another project that I'm preparing to launch, but I didn't work on it on purpose. I wanted to make sure I was ready mentally and emotionally, but it also created a kind of excitement or sense of urgency to get started already. It's like wanting to open a present under the tree, but we can't open them until Christmas. So now I'm more excited to get started and launch my new project. 6. I focused on my nutrition. These past few days I haven't worked out, because again, I took a small vacation, but I really paid attention to my nutrition. For me, nutrition has a huge impact on my mental and emotional state. The difference between having energy and not having energy can be the difference on whether someone falls into depression or is able to keep motivated and inspired to move on. 7. I read, listened to and watched inspirational and leadership books, audios and movies. 8. I found a person that I could talk to about how I was feeling and just let it all out. No I didn't cry, (there's nothing wrong with crying), but I did vent. I basically did the things that I normally don't do, but a lot of us talk about doing. For example, not taking my baby to school and spend the whole day with her is something I normally don't do. Spend a whole weekday with my wife. Usually she's at work and goes to her doctor check-ups alone because I'm either at an appointment or because she goes during her lunch hour. This time she had the day off, so I took advantage of that and spent the day with her. I hung out with friends and had long conversations over the phone. We work so hard to provide for our families so that we can have time to spend with them, yet many of us get so caught up in work, we forget why we're doing it. That's another topic. Now, I still miss my team, but I was also reminded of why I do what I do and I loved the time I spent doing the things I mentioned above. I feel mentally refreshed and emotionally ready to take on my new project which is going to be huge and exciting! I'm ready to move on. What does this have to do with fitness and nutrition? Well, it has to do with mental and emotional health and I strongly believe that fitness and nutrition have a huge effect on our mental and emotional health. It's a topic that I don't talk about much, but it's a topic that I study and deal with daily being a coach in life, fitness, sports, business and nutrition. Something so simple can take away so much from someone's life, especially time. Learning to move on can sometimes be difficult, but it's something we all have to deal with at one point in our lives. I hope this gives anyone in a similar situation an idea or some perspective of how to deal with changes and be able to move on. Please share if you liked this post and feel free to comment. Maybe you have ideas or experiences that have helped you move on in your life. God bless, Jose Nilo #coachnilo #moveon #life #changes #mentalhealth #emotionalhealth Did you know that the number of people getting chronically sick in the United States keeps rising year after year? Did you know that over 1/3 of American adults and 17% of American children suffer from obesity? Imagine if we add the number of people who suffer from heart disease, cancer, diabetes and many other chronic diseases. I'm not a doctor or a genius, but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what's going on here. With so much information available to us, it's very easy to do a little research and figure out the truth.
There is more information about health, nutrition, fitness and there are more gyms and trainers now than there ever was. But still, most Americans prefer to follow the corporations who have basically poisoned our foods and are poisoning our bodies. Our bodies are being filled with toxins even when we don't know it. The pollution in the air, the stress in our lives, the food we eat (sugar, processed foods, chemicals, etc), the food we don't eliminate that stays stuck in our intestines, etc., etc. We're basically auto-intoxicating ourselves and it's what's causing so many health issues. I can go on and on about why, how and what, but instead, I'd like to go straight into what has been a solution for so many people. That's right, detoxing. Exactly what is detoxing? Detoxing is to eliminate the toxins from our body. It is usually done by taking a vacation from the sugars, processed foods, chemicals and all of the food most people consider "the good stuff" and replacing it with clean whole foods and juices for a certain number of days. Most people think it's crazy to do this, especially because in the first few days most people feel really bad. What most people don't realize is that it's all of the toxins that are passing through the body as they're being eliminated. It can cause headaches, muscle and joint soreness, skin breakouts, a lot of going to the bathroom, some people even get "flu-like" symptoms, anxiety and there can be a number of things that people can feel during the first few days of their detox process. Not everyone goes through this phase, but a lot of people, especially first timers, do. A few days of going through a detox process can be a small price to pay for the huge benefits that come with completing a detox a few times a year, (depending on your habits, especially eating habits). So are there true benefits to detoxing your body? You bet there is! What are the benefits of detoxing? Well it's all the opposite of what people feel before a detox. Here are just a few benefits of detoxing. 1. Energy - So many people need caffeine to get them going. If they don't have their coffee, they feel sluggish all day. A detox will give you natural energy for various positive reasons. 2. Fat loss / Weight Loss - A detox will teach the body how to burn fat and use it as energy. Also, the lower calorie intake will help with weight loss. The one most people forget about is all the defecation one eliminates throughout the detox process. That alone will cause weight loss and loss of inches in the mid-section. 3. Skin and Hair - Your skin and hair get so much softer, fuller and brighter. A lot of people get rid of their acne after they finish detoxing. The benefits for the hair and skin are amazing after a detox. 4. Stress levels drop - A detox won't get rid of stress, but it gives you mental clarity and you're able to cope better with stressful situations. 5. Immune System gets stronger - A detox will cleanse your organs like your intestines and your liver and they'll function much better. You'll absorb more nutrients and eliminate the waste. With less toxins, less stress in the body, and with more nutrients, it's easier for your body to strengthen your immune system. 6. Anti-aging - By getting rid of toxins, you're reducing the free radicals that damage the cells in the body. Not only that, we're regenerating new healthier cells. If one continues to adapt healthier habits after the detox, it is very common to receive compliments of looking younger. 7. Taste buds change - This is a strange one, but your taste buds really do change. After a detox, one enjoys the whole foods much more than before the detox. It gets to the point where people will prefer healthy whole foods over sugars and processed foods. Not because of the health factor, but because they actually enjoy the whole foods over the sugars and the processed foods. These are some of the physical benefits that are noticeable. But then there's the benefits that happen inside of our body that we don't see. That list can go on and on. I personally detox 2-3 times per year. I've been doing it for over 8 years now. Plus I follow a healthy nutrition plan for the most part. I still eat the "normal" foods. I'm not vegetarian or vegan. I'll eat a hamburger, pancakes, pizza, tacos and the "normal" food, but for the most part, I eat a healthy nutrition plan filled with organic whole foods. At the age of 42, I feel great, I'm in great shape, people say I look way younger than my age and I've passed all my medical physicals with flying colors. I can't say that a detox will cure you of any disease, but it sure does make a huge difference in people's health. If you'd like to know more about my detox plan, you can click here to check it out. Jose Nilo I was looking for a picture through my iPhone and ran into this picture of my wife and I that we took in beautiful San Diego last weekend. This picture just reminded me of how beautiful life is. I see the beach behind us, my beautiful wife with her angelic smile and this picture, at least for me, is filled with so much peace and love. That's how I felt when we took this picture.
Then we have the "news". There's so much crime and hatred going on in our world. And it's not just something recent, it's been happening for as long as I can remember. The first sign of world violence for me that I can remember was when I was about 5 or 6 years old. I don't remember the exact dates, but I remember the moment as if it just happened. I remember sitting on the couch with my grandma. I was helping her fold the clean laundry and she was watching the news on Univision, channel 34. That was back in 1979 or 1980. The news talked about a possible draft to the armed forces to send americans to go to war. I remember my heart dropping to the pit of my stomach, it hurt so bad, and I leaned over and lied my head on my grandma's leg. I still remember that feeling of fear, disgust and feeling helpless. Now that I'm 42 years old, over 35 years later, the crime and wars are still going on and maybe because I'm more aware, it's more and more noticeable. Our politicians are getting worse and worse, mass killings and shootings, videos of violent acts, and the list just goes on. I pray to God everyday to guide me and help me make this world a better place. But again, I feel like there's no solution for peace. The people we're supposed to trust, usually follow a law that has been changed and interpreted to benefit certain people. The laws in the United States seem to protect criminals. White collar crimes, robbery and theft, vandalism, domestic violence, welfare (from people who don't deserve to be on welfare), and so on and so on... so many people get away with what I believe to be crimes. A friend of mine saw his neighbor's house was being broken into and called the police immediately. Fortunately the police arrived before the thieves could get away. The thieves were caught as they were leaving the house, with the stolen evidence in the car, yet the police asked my friend if he would agree to identify the suspect. My friend asked why? The police said that because if they didn't have a witness identifying and saying that they saw the suspects breaking in and leaving the house they broke into, it would make a harder case to prove that it was them who broke into the house. When my friend told me this I was like... WTF! It was so obvious that it was them, how would it make it a harder case to prove it was them? Our laws make it so easy for criminals to get away with crimes. So why am I ranting on about this? Maybe I'm looking for a solution. Maybe I worry about my family. I believe in God and Jesus Christ and it's hard for me to believe that God would want us to kill each other and make each other suffer. I understand that we have to work hard to earn the things we want in life... that for me is not suffering, that's living for a purpose. People say, "we have to vote!" Vote for what? Vote for people and laws that only benefit certain people and beliefs? What about the Golden Rule? Treating people as we'd like to be treated. What does voting have to do with the way we treat each other? The older I get, the more I'm learning to focus on what's important to me in my life. That's my family and helping others as much as I can. Maybe trying to help a bunch of young talented men reach their dreams of playing soccer at a professional level isn't much, but it's the way I know how to make a difference in my life and in the lives of these boys. A while back I got tired of chasing the money. Instead I just started living the lifestyle that made me happy and I noticed the things I wanted just started coming into my life. Every morning I get up excited ready to go! But sometimes, like today, after seeing this picture, and with the mass shooting in Orlando that just happened... I stop and wonder if I'm doing enough. Is this something that I should be thinking about? Is there a solution to all this violence? Again, voting surely isn't a solution. It hasn't changed anything since I was 5 years old. No matter who we vote for, the same crap happens. More wars, violence, greed, hatred, fear, anger. So it's hard to know who to vote for because it seems like they're just puppets up there being told what to do, what to say and it seems like they're running for their benefit and not truly to make our country and our world a better place. That's my opinion, but who am I to judge, right? I believe there's more "good" people in the world than "bad" people. Like Jim Rohn said, the "bad" people just tend to move a lot. If there's more "good" people, why does it seem like we're losing the war? I see more and more posts on social media about God and Jesus Christ, but yet it seems like we're losing this war against evil. When I mentor and coach people in any area of life, what I see and hear a lot is that people worry and focus more on what other people do and say rather than focus on themselves. I learned to focus on my actions, to do the best that I can as best as I can and leave the rest in the hands of God. I learned that I can't control what other people say, do or think, but I can control my own words and actions. This is where I believe it all starts. What and who we focus on. I focus on my words and my actions as much as I can and maybe my words and actions will be an example to the people around me. I focus on Jesus Christ, and remember that he's always there, that I always need him and that everything that happens in my life is for a bigger purpose. When I start focusing on other's actions, I notice that it brings anger, frustration, jealousy and unwanted feelings... so I go back and remember Jesus Christ and focus on my own actions. All this came from this picture that reminded me of how I have so much love in my life even though there's so much violence in this world. A while back I started focusing on my life and stopped chasing other things like money and it's made a huge difference for me. I don't know how else to influence the world and make a change. I just know that I can make a difference in myself and hopefully my words and my actions will transfer in a positive way to my friends, family and anybody around me. I'm just a person trying to live with a purpose. A person lucky enough to be surrounded by people who love me and people that I love. A person who believes that Jesus Christ is looking over me at all times. A person trying to make a difference. God bless, Jose Nilo How can I describe one of my bucket list achievements? PAINFUL!!! Running a marathon is no joke. So this was long overdue. I ran my first marathon on Valentine's Day, February 14, 2016, (10 days away from turning 42). It's been a little over a month now and I can say it's still pretty fresh in my head. First off, what made me want to run a marathon? Well, I don't consider myself a runner. Ever since I was a child, I've always had problems with my legs. I blame it on the fact that I'm flat footed. I've always had pain in the bottom of my feet, my heels, my achilles tendon always hurts, shin splints, and knee problems. I only get these pains when I run long distance, (3+ miles), for the exception of my knees which I also get knee pains when cycle. So, I guess I can say for me running with aches and pains has been the norm because I've dealt with this my whole life. So not being a runner, I got into cycling, loved it, and now I've been wanting to do a triathlon. But in order to do a triathlon I have to run. That's the scary part. It used to be the swimming, but now at the age of 42, what scares me is the running part. So I decided to run the marathon this year with a little push from my sister-in-law who ran a couple of marathons before. My brother, his wife and I signed up to do the Los Angeles Marathon. I'm going to be honest. The most I ran for preparation was 5 miles. My training routine was to run 2-3 times per week, 3-5 miles. About 3 weeks before the event, I hurt my knees during a training run to the point where I couldn't walk and had to have my brother pick me up in the middle of my so-called training run. So 3 weeks prior to the event, I only ran twice, which was the week of the marathon just to see if my knees would hold up. So I guess I can say I ran about 3 miles the week of the marathon for preparation. The morning of, we met at my brother's house and took his RV. We were on the road to Los Angeles at around 4:15AM. We arrived at Dodger stadium when it was still dark, and we were given special parking all the way out by what they called "the garden" because they didn't expect someone to drive up in an RV. In a way it was cool because it was like having our own private parking. We got ready, used the bathroom, went back and forth on whether we took a jacket or not because it was so cold that morning. I had my protein shake, vitamins and oatmeal, put on sun screen lotion and around 5:45AM we started making our way to the starting line. On the way to the starting line, it was pretty un-eventful, I just remember being really cold! I decided to just wear my arm warmers and not take any extra stuff that I knew I was going to take off 10 to 15 minutes into the run. When we found our gate, we had to squeeze in because it was so packed! There were so many people, I believe there were over 25,000 runners that day. So we stood in line for what felt like eternity because it was cold and like it always happens... when it's least convenient, the urge of going to the bathroom hits. I don't know if it's happened to you, but it's the worst feeling. So I start with the bathroom dance making it seem like I'm trying to get some type of warm up in before we start. During the national anthem, standing still was so hard. Finally we get started. Just to reach the start line took us about 5 minutes with maneuvering and hurdling through all the "obstacles", (water bottles, clothes and stuff people left lying on the road). The fence to the left was full of sweaters and jackets that people took off and left behind. It was hard to get in a stride so we just kept it easy and super slow which was good because I felt like my bladder was going burst. About mile 2 there were the porta potties. We didn't hesitate to stop. Talk about relief. So we're off again. We took the first 5 miles easy to get into rhythm. It was at around mile 5 where I lost my brother and sister-in-law. I waited for them and turned back but it was so crowded that I just didn't see them. So I'm off on my own now. Usually at around mile 5 is where I begin to feel my aches and pains, but I was feeling pretty good. I pick up the pace to about an 8:30 minute mile and kept it there until about mile 13. It was at mile 13 where I noticed my knee pain coming back. Even worse, I got a really bad pain on my left achilles and the bottom of my left heel. I felt like I had a rock that was dabbing at the bottom of my heel. Super painful. And my achilles just tightened up so bad, I felt it was going to tear with every step. It was like all my injuries just hit me all at once. My time at mile 13 was at 1 hour 59 minutes. From there I started running funny because I was trying to avoid landing hard on my left foot so that it wouldn't hurt as much, but nothing seemed to help. Unfortunately, the funny running led to over working my right hip flexor. It just kind of gave out on me. Now I could barely lift my right leg. Not only did it give out on me, but it was also painful to move it. This was at about mile 18. The crazy part were the things that were going through my head. I was physically in pain, but in my head, I was more concerned about getting passed by (with all due respect), these little old ladies. WTF! My respects to these women. They are warriors! I was like... there's no way I'm going to stop and get beat by a little old lady. So here I am, a 42 year old fit guy, limping and running all weird and in the worse pain in my life, trying to keep up with little old ladies. Then at around mile 20 I'm texting my wife just to give her status of how I'm doing and she asks me if I wanted a ride. Hell no! I replied! Here I am, in the worse pain in my life, but in my head I'm thinking, if all these people can do it, there's no way I'm stopping, especially getting beat by little old ladies. They ended up leaving me behind and demoralizing me, hahaha, but I was determined to figure out a way to walk faster or run or something to keep me moving. Just being on my feet was painful. My muscles felt fine, I wasn't tired, I was just in pain. I felt like someone was sticking needles in my knees, like I had pulled a muscle in my hip flexor, like having sharp rocks dabbing the bottom of my heel, and like my achilles was about to tear apart. But my main concern was my pride. Is that crazy? Am I crazy? All these different thoughts went through my head over and over. Should I stop? Is this worth it? What if I stop? What if I injure myself so badly that I can never run again? But if I stop, will I regret it? If I stop, I'm probably going to regret it and it'll be in my head the rest of my life. Then I'll be looking for excuses the rest of my life of why I didn't finish my first marathon. I can say, I didn't train, which is true. I can say the pain was unbearable, which is true, but deep inside I knew that if I quit it would haunt me for the rest of my life. So I decided to keep going. I changed my focus to asking all these questions about quitting, to focusing on a strategy to get me through the last 8 miles. So I did, I started focusing on small efforts. I'm going to run 1 mile in pain, then walk, stop and stretch, then go again. So I did that until about mile 23. Then from mile 23 and on, I just said... suck it up and run it in. I ran (remember this is at a really slow pace, running super weird because I can barely lift my right leg, and I can't put pressure on my left foot), to mile 25... and had to stop and stretch. These felt like the longest 2 miles of the whole run because my negative thoughts came back in. Should I stop? Should I just walk? No, keep going! But what if...? Come on! Go! Keep going! I'm in pain. I need to stop... Don't slow down, keep going. These are the things that were just going through my head these 2 miles. Felt like forever. My last mile I said to myself, this is it Jose, just finish. Doesn't matter how, just finish. So I started up, couldn't run anymore. So I just simulated running and walked as fast as I could. I see the finish line. I'm getting passed by so many people including more little old ladies. I don't care anymore because I am about to accomplish something that took so much out of me. With about 200 yards to go, a lady comes up to me and tells me, come on, let's run it in, don't quit... and I tell her, I'm right there with you... I'm going as fast as I can. She looks at me and smiles and takes off. 100 yards, 50, 10 I finished! 5:00:41 hours. Was it worth it? You bet it was! I was still in pain, but the feeling inside of having to endure such pain and finishing such a task in my conditions were unexplainable. It's something I can live to talk about and be proud of. Painful experience, but well worth it. Will I run a marathon again? If I want to run an Iron Man triathlon, I'm going to have to. My training will start very soon again. I'll keep you posted. God Bless! Jose Nilo aka Coach Nilo #coachnilo #lamarathon2016 As an entrepreneur, I was pulled into the life of work, work, work. It just sucked me in so deep to a point where I started to believe that I wanted things that really didn't fill me inside. The things I was going after were material things, like money, cars, houses, and superficial things. There's nothing wrong with having nice cars and nice things, but it got to the point to where conversations and presentations were mostly all about that.
For a long time, I forgot about what really mattered in my life. The people who were there for me since the beginning. For a long time, I saw them as my enemies because I felt like they were holding me back and putting me down for not supporting what I had decided to do. In presentations, meetings, webinars, we hear speakers talk about how our loved ones are the enemies. That they hold us back and kill our dreams because they're negative about an opportunity that we just joined. They tell us how when we listen to broke people, we buy into their lifestyles. I know, I was one of them. In the beginning, I didn't believe it, but it got to the point where I began to believe it. So I pulled away from the people who loved me because I was taught that I am the 5 people I hang out with. Sometimes, speakers forget to explain a little further, and people, me included take things to heart and don't "read" in between the lines. There may be truth and logic into what "leaders" say, but it's not the whole picture. We are told that we need to figure out our "Why". And most of us do things because we want a better life for our families. But during our fight and struggle to get to where we want to be, we stop enjoying life with our loved ones. Not only that, but we see them as the enemy because they won't join our opportunity. I saw it all the time with the people around me and it happened to me in the beginning. It got to the point to where my own family didn't answer my calls or I felt like they didn't want to be around me because I was going to pitch them on my opportunity. My "Why" was to make life better for my family, yet, I wasn't enjoying or participating in my family life. Now, let me make something clear before I go on rambling more on this post. In no way, shape or form am I talking negatively about anyone or any opportunity. I'm talking about my experience and how it changed me and how I learned from it. Hopefully, it can help someone that is in the same situation I was in. Getting back to my rambling... during my times in network marketing, where I learned so much about business, entrepreneurship, and so many other things I met so many different people. I still communicate with many of them to this date. During those times, I remember one of my mentors saying that a friend was a person who we did things with and followed the same things as us. (He used different words). An example of that is, we have our drinking friends. We hang out when we drink. Or our cycling friends, we hang out when we go cycling. And so on and so on. This makes sense and has a lot of logic to it. But now that I've stopped the chase for the superficial things and I'm more focused on my passions in life, that meaning doesn't fit me anymore. Now I see things a little differently. The way I see it now that I've changed my priorities in life, a friend to me has some kind of love for the other. Not the "I want to marry you kind of love", but that person truly cares about you and whenever possible he or she will be there for you through thick and thin. I used to call friends people who hung out with me. But most of them hung out with me because they benefitted from me. That has been the case the majority of my life. I still have those acquaintances who say they're my friends, but as soon as they don't benefit from me, they stop answering my calls. Not all of the people who I hung out with were like that, but I can honestly say that out of 10, maybe 1 or 2 of them truly cared for me and would be there no matter what. Luckily I know tons of people, so I'm blessed to have more than a handful of people who truly care for me. There are still a lot of people in this world who care for humanity. More than we think. But sometimes we just get pulled into our own little world, that we forget about the good things in life, like cherishing a good friendship. We forget to call them on their birthdays, or on special days. Nowadays, all we do is send a text message or post it on Facebook or twitter. People say that calling up a friend and having a conversation with someone that doesn't involve business or making money is a waste of time. Now I think it's important to be able to call someone and have a conversation. This weekend I had the opportunity to attend a special event that a friend invited me to. At this event I was reminded of how important it is to nourish our relationships. I've always known it's important, but as I mentioned above, we get pulled into our little world where we forget and don't make the time. My friend Howie Palmer invited me to this event. I met him through network marketing. For me, he has been my guardian angel on this planet for about 10 years now. When I was left homeless, he and his beautiful wife Ellen, who is also my good friend, took me into their home and let me stay in one of their empty bedrooms (rent free) for a few months until I was able to get back on my feet. We've had our differences, but not once have they let me down or put me down. For the longest time, they had nothing to gain from me, except for my company and sincerity. Now they still have nothing to gain from me. We do own a couple of businesses together, but our friendships, I believe has only grown to a level where I consider them to be my family. Howie and I can sit and talk for hours, (he does most of the talking), hahaha... but I enjoy the conversations we have. We talk about so many different things in life and unwind from our everyday lives. We talk about our crazy business ventures, our dreams, our wives, our kids, bikes, basketball, soccer, and topics that just come out of the blue and we laugh a lot. Together, I believe Howie and I were able to keep each other motivated and inspired through the tough times that we've gone through. We went from people who didn't go to church, to now we attend church. We have conversations about God and everything we do, we do it for God, to service and bring value to as many people as we can. It's a beautiful feeling inside knowing that I have people there for me and I thank God for putting people like Howie and Ellen in my path. Life is so much better when you have people who truly care for you and are truly there for you. I have a loving family who one way or another we have managed to stay together and now they answer my calls again, hahaha. My loving wife, baby, mom, brothers, sister in law, nieces and nephews, my cousins, aunts, uncles, and friends that we've kept in touch and we know that there's love for each other. We all know we're not looking to buy, sell or benefit from each other besides knowing that we care for each other and we'll be there when we need a shoulder to lean on. That is such a great feeling inside and it is priceless. If there's one thing I learned in my roller coaster life is that a true friend will always be there for you. I learned that deep inside, I know who truly cares for me and who is just there to benefit from me. So I still treat everyone as I would like to be treated, but my true friends, I make sure I nourish that relationship and show them whenever I can that I too care for them. Who are your true friends? Deep inside, you already know. Remember to call them up and say "hello". God Bless, Jose Nilo #What a life changing experience. This is what started the whole change in the new chapter, or I should say, new book, in my life. My first year as a coach.
In an earlier post I mentioned how I made a decision to go back to what truly makes me happy, which was team sports. At the age of 41, I decided that instead of going back as a player, I'd go back as a coach. I was lucky enough to be referred by a friend and received a call from Head Coach, Damian Galvan. Somehow Coach Galvan and I just seemed to click from the beginning. His philosophy about coaching and about life just gave me a good vibe. I accepted the position of an Assistant Coach and Fitness Coach. In the beginning the boys didn't take it very well that I worked them super hard, especially when I suggested morning training sessions. We were up at 5:45AM and in the gym or on the field working out. Oh man, were they some tough workouts. But I have a thing about training, I won't give someone something I can't do myself, so to show the boys that I could do it, I would do the workouts with them. I loved it! Most of them didn't like it so much. The morning sessions only lasted 2 weeks and already in such a short time I was beginning to get a name for myself. There were a few players who liked the workouts, but most of them hated them. So we moved the fitness back into practice time. I still worked the boys hard, but now I only had 15 to 20 minutes. Either way, even when Coach Galvan only gave me 10 minutes, I found a way to be effective to get these boys to improve their fitness. Finally, the time came to select the roster. It wasn't easy because there was so much talent on the team this year. It was unfortunate that some of the boys didn't make grades, so it made that easier for us coaches. Only a few players were cut and we ended with a team of 22 players. Once scrimmages began, figuring out strategic moves and player formation was the focus. Now the players were fighting for starting roles. We experimented so much with moving players to different positions, people must have thought we didn't know what we were doing. Fortunately these boys have talent. Wherever we asked them to play, they would go out there and play their hearts out. Once we established a foundation and a starting line up the team started improving game after game. It was amazing how people could notice how the team was coming together and growing at such a fast pace. It wasn't all nice and dandy... there were some tough times for the team. From tears of frustration, to challenges with school, relationships, family, health, financially, injuries, and more. These boys went through a lot to make it through the season. To us as adults, we've been through this, but for them, being in their shoes, we have to remember how tough it was. These boys were more than a team, they were a family. They may have gotten on each other's nerves sometimes, but they always had each others backs. It was amazing to see. Even through the challenges they had, they found a way to stick together through thick and thin. Coach Galvan was a huge impact. He didn't only focus on playing soccer, he focused a lot on working on their mentality and emotions. Attitude, consistency and staying composed were his most used words. He was hard on the boys, but in a respectful manner. One could see the respect these boys had for Coach Galvan. It was quite a sight to see. But that's what it all came down to during a game. Attitude, consistency and staying composed. The league was a tough league. The only differential during the games was "who wanted it more". Who had more heart, more passion and who was willing to fight for that extra inch. Our team always came out on top. We went undefeated in league. Our last game against Garey High School would decide who was the league champion. Garey or Ganesha? When our injured goal keeper blocked a penalty and the follow up shot, our boys took that same play and scored on a break away, which was the game changer. Our spirits were lifted so high, Garey had no chance of coming back and turning off that energy that just roared and lighted up all the fans and players. It was a feeling I hadn't felt since I was a boy after we won our little league championship game. Man it was a great feeling! Now we had a little over a week to get prepared for CIF. We trained hard. The boys were ready. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to make the CIF game and we were eliminated in the first round. It was a tough loss, but it was a great season. Ganesha hadn't won a league championship since I can't remember when, but it had been years. What these boys accomplished was something that they can be proud of for the rest of their lives. It was well deserved and I just hope they take this experience and apply it to their daily lives. As for me, it will be a lifetime memory and feeling. It was this that started me on my new careers and ventures in the soccer industry. It was this team that helped bring that spark back of when I was a kid and I played my heart out to help the team win. It was this team that reminded me of becoming resourceful, especially when life is constantly knocking me down. It was this team that inspired me even more than I already was to continue on this path of living my passion every single day to help others in any way I can. Congratulations to the 2015-2016 Ganesha High School Varsity Soccer Team! Thank you for such a great season and thank you for an experience and memories that will last a lifetime! #CoachNilo #Ganesha #HighSchool #Varsity #Soccer After studying, researching, having personal results and having client results, I have learned that the biggest reason why people fail when it comes to diets is because diets are usually unrealistic. Most diets starve you, they complicate things with counting calories, and most people, especially men, do not want to live off of chicken and salads all day. People like to eat real food! When it comes to athletes, people think that it’s more complicated, but I have come to learn that it really isn’t that complicated. Of course, everybody is different, and to get optimal results, it’s usually best to go to a nutritionist. I’m certified in sports nutrition and fitness, but a nutritionist will go deep into blood analysis and all the cool scientific stuff that I won’t get into. For most people and young athletes, they can’t afford a nutritionist and worse, don’t have the time or patience to follow strict diets. Most diets require lots of cooking time and food deprivation. As a 41-year old man, it’s hard enough to squeeze in my workouts because of time. If I want to compete at an elite level, I can’t miss my workouts and I have to include my sports specific training, my rest time and I have to eat properly. This is why I took the time to research and learn how I can live a healthy athletic life. So I have these simple rules to staying healthy, energetic, improving performance, strength, building muscle, burning fat and keeping lean muscle. For the most part, they're consistent. But as I get older and my body and metabolism changes, I adjust accordingly.
9. I eat oatmeal almost daily with nut milk. (I don't drink cows milk) 10. I eat plenty of avocado and peanut butter. (Not at the same time) 11. I drink plenty of water daily. More than half my weight in ounces. 12. I drink water with my meals the majority of the time. This has worked for me for many years. We'll see how I feel later on in my mid and late 40's. Drop a comment below and let me know if this works for you or what rules, if any, work for you. God bless, Jose Nilo aka Coach Nilo So many things have changed in my life this past year. I've learned so much about myself and so many things that I'll be talking about in later posts and blogs. Learning to brand myself has been a tough one because I do so many different things. Why the change? How did I decide what to focus on having so many different options that I'm really good at on my plate? What's different? Everything changed this summer, end of July beginning of August. For those who follow me on Facebook know that my baby was hospitalized and thank God, she's a lot better now. Well, what people don't know is that right after she was released from the hospital, I got very sick. Doctors didn't know what was wrong with me. It wasn't a flu or something that I could just take medicine for. For a week, I was down with headaches, joint pains, high fevers, sweating, eyes super red, not being able to hold my baby or my wife thinking that I might have gotten something contagious. Doctors thought that it might have been a spider or insect bite. All my blood and urine analysis were clean. It was weird and scary not know what was happening to me. During those weeks that my baby and I were sick, I had a lot of time to think about life. I've had a lot of ups and downs in my life, and the last few years have been successful thank God. But I came to realize that I was working and focusing on making money. Even though I was helping many people, I came to realize that the businesses I was growing were not what I'm passionate about. I was finally able to answer my question of: "What truly makes me happy?" I was honest with myself and made a big decision in my life. Ever since I was a child, sports were my passion. Even though I still ride bikes, and I really like riding my bike, I was always happiest when I was involved in team sports, like baseball and soccer. I talked to my wife and she was very supportive of the decision that was coming. Getting involved in team sports again. I wouldn't let go of my businesses, but I would be focusing on starting up in team sports, so I became a Coach for a High School Varsity Soccer team. From there, God just has an interesting way of working, I was offered a partnership starting up a Futsal league and owning Futsal courts. Not too long after that, I was offered the opportunity to buy a professional soccer franchise, which I accepted with little hesitation. I'm still continuing to offer my fitness and nutrition tips and products, which have been very useful in my return to team sports. Once in a while I'll post some business and leadership tips, which have also been very useful starting up my new ventures. With me knowing exactly what makes me happy and what I want to do in life as an entrepreneur, it has been a smooth transition and I've been able to focus my energy on what I had once left behind. I've gotten that spark back in my life and with the support of my loving wife and with God's blessing, I know this will be another successful venture. It has been a lot of work, like everything, but it's been exhilarating. I want to take the time to thank you for following me, I want to thank my loyal clients, and I will do my best to keep giving you the best of me through my blogs and posts on social media. God Bless, Jose Nilo I did it! I completed my first challenge of 2014 and it feels awesome!!! The Tour de Palm Springs. My great friend Howie Palmer (www.healthcoachhowie.com) joined me on the ride. He says I tricked him into doing this 100 mile bike ride, (I might have a little), but I'm sure he's happy he did it! He did an awesome job out there. I also want to congratulate my brother Eddie for doing an amazing ride out there and all the riders, organizers, volunteers, bands and spectators who made this adventure even more exciting. Well there isn't much more to say... enjoy the video and I hope you enjoyed my journey to completing my first challenge. www.coachnilo.com En la cima de GMR. Mis entrenamientos van mejorando, me siento mejor y mi condición está mejorando. No estoy donde quiero estar todavía pero se siente bien poder ver que estoy progresando. Solo estoy siguiendo mi plan y disfrutando de mi jornada. Si alguien va ir al Tour de Palm Springs el 8 de Febrero, 2014, avísenme. Ya me registré! Los veo en la ruta. #coachnilo #tourdepalmsprings #sdashow #unetealreto At the top of GMR. My trainings are getting better, I'm feeling better and my conditioning is getting better. I'm not where I want to be yet, but it feels good to be able to see progress. I'm just sticking to the plan and enjoying the journey. If anyone is going to the Tour de Palm Springs on February 8th, 2014, hit me up. I'm already signed up! See you guys out on the road. #coachnilo #sdashow #tourdepalmsprings #jointhechallenge #8weekchallenge Today I worked out with my brother. We did an intense leg workout. A little of Kris Gethin and Greg Plitt with a touch of our own. We could barely walk after this workout. 30 minute warm up on the stationary bike - (about 10 miles) 10 sets of Leg Press (work up on the weight. use enough weight so that when you're done with your set, you should be at or near failure.) 40 reps, 30 reps, 20 reps, 10 reps, 5 reps, 5 reps, 10 reps, 20 reps, 30 reps, 40 reps / 2 minute bicycle (1 minute hard - 1 minute easy) - rest time is the 1 minute of easy spin. 3 sets of Deadlift (use weight so that you can do about 10 - 12 reps but you're near or at failure after each set / Eccentric bodyweight leg curl - (focus on the eccentric - do between 4-6 reps.) Rest time is switching from one station to the next. This video is the last set of the eccentric bodyweight leg curl. I could barely finish my last set. www.coachnilo.com |