Meet my FXB Instructors: Austin

Austin: a.k.a. Steven

I’ve been crafting this one for a while now. My buddy Steven and I went through our ten weeks at FXB together, and I wanted to do him justice. So why Austin? A few reasons, actually.

First, there’s this guy.

What could be more fitting for Steven than a British spy? Let’s look at the facts (aside from the obvious British part).

Those who have been following these instructor posts know that I like to use urbandictionary.com as my source for all things facts. I’ve gone there again, and here’s what it tells me about a spy:

n. a person or thing designed or trained to infiltrate or extract information from a normally impenetrable source, usually while disguising themselves to evade capture. 

  

1) A Person or Thing - yep, he’s a person.

2) Trained - FXB certified, yo!

3) Extract Information - here ‘information’ is a code word for ‘pain’. If you’ve been in one of his workouts, then you know that’s covered.

4) Disguising Themselves - the proof is in the pictures!

I’d say that’s a pretty solid argument. Oh, and I have to throw in his ability to spy all my errors. I’ve tried really hard to keep this post error-free, but I know Austin will let me know if I’ve missed one!

But we won’t stop there, because Austin Powers is only half of Steven’s personality. The British half. So what’s missing?

The American half.

This leads us all the way down to Austin, Texas. I knew I was on the right track when I was trolling Steven’s Facebook page for pictures and stumbled upon this gem.

Texas is the state of ‘go big or go home’. From his Texas-sized laugh to his epically crafted workouts, Steven brings this attitude into everything. Those who have been working out at FXB the past couple months have had the pleasure/pain of partaking in a Steven created resistance training workout, even if he wasn’t in the building. Here’s just one tail of pain from his epic-sized workouts:

They say the best things come in threes, so let’s give one more Austin reference. And that would be this guy:

Is I said at the start of this post, I’ve been thinking through Steven’s nickname for some time. The last few months I’d been settled into Austin, but as with all my nicknames I had to let it marinate to make sure it was truly fitting. And then just yesterday Steven sent me a message saying I should consider wrestling for a future challenge theme. Could this be a sign? Yeah, I thought so too.

So why Stone Cold Steve Austin? Well, in this case it’s actually Stone Hold Steve Austin—because that man dishes out holds in a bands class in an impressive stone-faced way!

Keep giving us those epic Texas-sized workouts, holds and all, Austin! And I’m sure you’re actually spying from somewhere in the gym during all the classes just to make sure we’re all giving our Level 10 best!

~ Carrie

Sometimes It’s About What You Gain

I recently finished up my third year at my gym, Farrell’s Extreme Bodyshaping (FXB). Probably the most common question I get is, “Is it still working for you?”

It’s an understandable question, but it’s one I’m not really sure how to answer. Not because I don’t know, but because my answer most likely doesn’t match up with what the person asking had in mind. It’s a gym that advertises in extreme body makeovers. I’m clearly overweight. Logically, people want to know if the program is helping me shed my many unwanted pounds.

Here’s the thing—my answer has nothing to do with pounds.

Don’t get me wrong. I signed up for this program with visions of being ten sizes smaller dancing in my head. I knew I wouldn’t get there in the first 10-week session, but maybe by the end of a full year. Certainly by the end of three years.  But something happened along the way.

I learned I had no clue what I really needed.

I thought I had to lose weight, but what I needed was to get healthy.

I thought I had to eat better, but what I needed was to establish a healthy relationship with food.

I thought I had to be smaller to be an athlete, but what I needed to learn was that I’m already an athlete.

I thought I needed to stop failing, but what I needed was to stop looking for failure.

In nutrition terms, I no longer look at food as my enemy. I don’t analyze every piece of food I put in my mouth. I don’t beat myself up if I eat something that isn’t on the ‘healthy’ side of the food logs. I do still have a tendency to hide some of the things I eat, but I’m working on it. I realized I started hiding what I ate back in my teens, and 30 years of a bad habit is really hard to break.

In physical terms, I now make working out a high priority in my daily schedule. Even above sleep most days (but that’s a topic for a different post). In 2017, I logged the 6th highest number of classes at my gym. Six days a week I’m on that mat, giving my Level 10 best. Another gain for me has been my mindset on how I look at my workouts. My Level 10 may not be the same as others. At the start of this journey, I felt like I was too slow. That my weight was holding me back from giving a higher Level 10. But now I see it differently. I might not get up off the mat as fast as others, but I’m pounding out the same grueling workout as some people who are literally half my size. Think about that. Imagine doing your workout with someone holding on to your back. That’s me. And I’m doing it like a boss.

Do I still want to lose some weight? Absolutely. But I no longer want to lose that weight because I think it’s what I need to be healthy or happy. A while back I posted some reasons I wanted to lose weight. Those are still valid. And it would also be nice because I’m sure my knee would be much happier if it had less weight to support.

So if you want to ask me how the program is working, be prepared to hear an unconventional answer. Because yes, this program continues to not only work for me but surpass my expectations. Not in terms of pounds lost, but in how much I’ve gained—both physically and emotionally. Oh, and in terms of family. I’ve gained so much family.

It’s the start of the year and many people make resolutions to ‘get healthy’ when what they really mean is ‘lose weight’. I challenge you to open your mind to a more broad definition. Get healthy, but don’t just focus on what you want to lose. Look at what you can gain as well because, unfortunately, despite our best efforts there are times when that scale won’t budge. Or it goes in the opposite direction. And then you’re left feeling like it failed, or you failed. But if you look at a bigger picture, you might find you were aiming at the wrong target from the start and you succeeded just fine.

~ Carrie