Hiking the Long Trail to Mount Mansfield - Vermont

I've been spending some amazing time with my family here in Stowe, Vermont and while my family wanted to do the Auto Toll Road to the Vermont's Highest Peak, which is Mount Mansfield Summit, I decided to hike it instead and just meet them at the Mt. Mansfield Visitor Center.

I took the Long Trail from the base of the mountain which was located just passed the Stowe Mountain Lodge (Trail #1). I took the Long Trail (2.3 miles one way) all the way up to the Summit (The Chin) which was 4,393 above sea level with a total of 2,800 in elevation gain.

Working Out Tips While Traveling

From the Chin, I then hiked (and did as much running as I could) along the Summit Ridge (about 1 mile) to meet my family at the Mt. Mansfield Visitor Center. As soon as I arrived, I found out that the mountain was not letting a lot of people go up the Auto Toll Road because there were so many people already up. It was going to take forever for them to come up, so I decided to take the Hasleton Trail back to the Gondola Base of the mountain which was about 1.6 miles. I did a total of about 5 miles of hiking, and it was one of the best experiences that I've ever had. I would highly recommend it!

Feel free to watch the video that I created from my hike all the way up to the Mount Mansfield Summit. It's a great way to experience the breathtaking hike with me =)

Long Trail Hike to the Mount Mansfield Summit (The Chin)

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PIYO DRENCH at 813 Fit Club

PIYO Drench - 813 Fit Club

I remember when the PIYO program was first launched, I thought to myself, "this must be a program for girls", and I pretty much laughed at the program. Boy, was I ignorant lol. It wasn't until I actually tried the PIYO DRENCH workout that I eventually started to gain total respect for it. For someone who is religiously focused on P90X and Insanity type of workouts, I thought that this was going to be a piece of cake. Again, I WAS WRONG =)

PIYO is a program that combines Pilates, Yoga, and Body-Weight Resistance movements. It is for anyone interested in gaining more strength and flexibility. The program is low-impact and geared for all fitness levels and includes a full time modifier.

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At my Fit Club in downtown Tampa, we typically only host Beachbody's most elite fitness programs, and we just added the PIYO Drench workout into the mix, and everyone loved it. Let's put it this way, every member who did the workout was literally DRENCHED. Although you are not jumping up and down and killing agility moves and a million push ups, this PIYO Drench workout seems to have everyone sweating more than a P90X or Insanity workout. Yeah, I know, you just have to try it! =)

You can check out my other post on PIYO - Hardcore on the Floor here.

I made a quick video from last night's PIYO Drench workout at 813 Fit Club last night, check it out:

Watch Video - PIYO Drench  

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So are you a little curious about PIYO? Ask me about my upcoming Online PIYO Challenges. You will get everything that you need to get to your strength and flexibility goals! Message me here!

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KAYAKING Caladesi Island State Park

I had an absolute blast kayaking and spending time with my daughter and her boyfriend at Caladesi Island. This place is pretty amazing because you can rent a kayak all day and go ISLAND HOPPING and explore miles of mangrove trails. And as far as I know, you can actually go beach camping on these small remote islands.

First of all, Caladesi Island State Park is a Florida State Park located in Caladesi Island in the Gulf of Mexico across St. Joseph Sound to the west of Dunedin, Fl which is just north of Clearwater, Florida.

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The only way that you can access the island is either by ferry, private boat, or non-motorized vehicles such as kayak, catamaran, paddle boards etc. The ferry departs from Honeymoon Island. We actually rented kayaks from this place called Sail Honeymoon which is just off of the Dunedin Causeway. You can check out the kayak rental rates here.

Sail Honeymoon provides Sailboat rentals, kayaks, and paddle boards. Included with your rental is a life jacket as well as a medium sized dry bag. The staff is very courteous and knowledgeable about the area, they have been around for years. From the rental facility, it takes about 15 minutes to kayak to the edge of the main island. The mangrove trails are located around the Caladesi Island State Park Boat Dock area, just ask the park staff and they can assist you.

We had an absolute blast and just did a little island hopping. Ocean Kayaking is definitely a lot more work than river kayaking (not river rapids lol) in the normal Florida Springs, so be prepared for a pretty good upper body workout. Thank goodness for P90X ha ha =)

Here is a small check list to bring for a nice day of kayaking:

- Hat
- Sunglasses
- Sunscreen
- Mosquito Spray (deep woods) if you plan to hit the mangrove trails
- Small cooler with snacks, water
- water camera (dry bag provided for all of your dry goods, phone, wallet etc)
- Flip flops
- Water shoes if you plan on island hopping, the terrain is a little rocky around the remote islands
- GoPro highly recommended =)
- Cash ($2 for park entrance fee)
- Beach towel
- Extra clothes to change in afterwards

There are bathroom facilities in the main area of Caladesi State Park as well as at Sail Honeymoon rentals.

Pai White Water Rafting and Hill Tribe Trekking - Thailand

Here is a quick video of our FUN day of kayaking. If you have any other questions, feel free to message me here =)

Kayaking Caladesi Island

Check out more of my adventures here!

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P90X Chest, Shoulders, Tris - GYM Workout

P90X - Chest Shoulders Tris - Gym Workout

I have been doing P90X since the first time I started my health and fitness journey back in 2010. What I love most about P90X is that it REALLY works. The workouts are nothing fancy or glamorous. You are not snatching things up or climbing ropes, it's just basic and simple functional fitness, and if done on a consistent basis, P90X can provide some pretty darn amazing results.

As an obstacle racing athlete, I enjoy participating in races which require strength to climb ropes, walls, and all kinds of monkey bar variations. There are barb wire crawls and even crazy fire jumps. So how do I train and prepare for these events? It's simple, I just use P90X and incorporate a lot of running. I see people do all kinds of crazy things like tire flips and other unnecessary exercises. Yes, some of those can help, but it is definitely not required, and not proven that it will even help at a race. You just don't need any of that fancy, bulky, "looks good on video" type of equipment. But hey, if you feel that it works for you, then have at it =).

Get the P90X Workout Sheets Here!

Another thing that I love about P90X is that you can do it anywhere. I especially enjoy going to the gym because sometimes I like to use the equipment to change it up a bit. I recently went to Powerhouse Gym in downtown Tampa and did a modified version of the P90X Chest, Shoulders, and Tri workout. I basically used the worksheet which was uploaded into my iBooks app, and just replaced some of the original exercises with the use of some gym equipment.

Here is the P90X Chest, Shoulders, and Tris Workout Sheet

You will notice in the video below that I used gym equipment to replace some of the push up varieties. I also replaced some of the tricep exercises with gym equipment as well. If you are not familiar with the use of various types of gym equipment, just ask a staff member, or just stick to what the worksheet calls for. I've seen some people bring their laptops to the gym to do P90X, and I really do not recommend it because it may be a liability to the gym owner, plus it would really suck if a weight fell on it. 

I encourage all of you newbie P90X'ers to first do it at home, and once you feel comfortable with all of the exercises, then simply go to the gym and use the workout sheets, or even the Beachbody on Demand (Online Streaming) and just follow it through a mobile device instead of a laptop. 

If you would like to see how I incorporated gym equipment to do the P90X Chest, Shoulders, and Tris workout, you can watch the video here:

P90X Chest, Shoulders, Tri Modified Workout at the gym

If you would like give the P90X Challenge a try, I can definitely assist you with that. Message me here and ask me about my upcoming Online P90X Challenges. You will get all the motivation, accountability, and nutrition advice that you need to get to your goals. Looking forward to meeting you! 

Check out my P90X Gym Workout in Luang Prabang, LAOS

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When People Say "I Love My Job"

"I Love My Job", I used to say that too! =)

I wanted to write a blog post on this because trust me, there is nothing wrong with people absolutely loving their jobs, heck....I've had a ton of jobs that I loved, but here's the thing....a job is still a job (where someone controls your income other than YOU).

I'm sure that most of you would agree that the main reasons why people work is to do one or a few of the following:

- Pay Bills
- Take Vacations
- Support Your Family
- Buy Things
- Investments
- Start a Business
- Stay Active

Now I have to say, all of the above is great, so why not be happy with your job right? Here's the thing, as long as you have a job where you are working under a boss, you will never have total control of your income, which means, you will never have complete time and financial freedom. If that's what you want. If time or financial freedom is not important to you, then truthfully, it really isn't necessary to continue reading.

One of the best jobs that I ever had was working for the Hyatt Corporation. I worked for this amazing company for about 7+ years. The people were great, the benefits were on point, the free luxury hotel rooms around the world could not be beat, and it was a great learning experience. But again, my life was dictated by a boss. When I wanted to go on a trip, I had to request time off, or try to find someone to cover my shifts for me. If I used up all my vacation and sick days, I could not go on vacation. I missed a lot of things that I wanted to do, like spending time with my family on Christmas. I missed out on a lot of things that I wanted to do because I either couldn't afford it (limited income), or I had to "work". I had to bite my lip a ton of times because my bosses were not always open to change, my creativity was not as important as what was already set for the company, so I felt very limited, which didn't allow me to grow like I wanted to as person. The list goes on...

Some people will say, "well that's just life", you can't change it. Or, "you have to take the good with the bad, at least you have a job" etc. That's the thing, if you are okay with letting people lead you to living a mediocre life, then that's your prerogative =) It's your life! I wanted something different.

I wanted to live life to my fullest potential. I wanted to go on trips whenever I wanted to, for as long as I wanted to. I wanted to spend time with my daughter anytime without a boss telling me when I could or couldn't. I wanted more control over my life. In a nutshell, I wanted to build my dreams, not the dreams of my boss. I knew that if I could help my boss live his dreams, then I could do it for myself......so guess what? I DID!

My daughter is my world! 

So what do you want for your life? Becoming an entrepreneur was one of the toughest things that I've ever done, but it was the best decision that I ever made.

When you decide to become a entrepreneur, there are struggles. Here are the "Inevitables of Success":

1.  You will feel pain
2.  You will cry before you get it
3.  You will lose some friends
4.  Your family may discourage you
5.  People will hate you for no reason, other than the fact that you want a better life
6.  You will almost talk yourself out of it hundreds of times
7.  You will doubt yourself thousands of times
8.  You will think you're going crazy
9.  You will develop weird habits
10. You will lose some money
*BUT IT WILL ALL BE WORTH IT!

So the next time you say, "I love my JOB", ask yourself these questions:

- Do I love my job more than I love spending time with my family?
- Would I rather be working or traveling the world?
- Would I like to sit around the break room with co-workers, or watching my kids grow up?
- Do I enjoy making other people successful, and myself mediocre?
- Does my job limit me to do the things that I really enjoy out of life?

So instead of saying "I love my job", how does this sound...."I LOVE MY LIFE".

If you would like to find out how I started a Online Beachbody Coaching business part-time while working 3 jobs, 100 hours per week, and then was able to quit and live my dreams as an entrepreneur, then click here, or message me here. I look forward to meeting you!

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The Mud Titan 4 - (Full Race Video)

Mud Titan 4 - Plant City, FL (September 19, 2015)

I had the opportunity to film the Mud Titan obstacle course race this past weekend on September 19th, 2015. This was the 2nd time that I filmed this particular event for my non-profit OCR project "OCRTUBE.com" which specifically focuses on helping the sport of obstacle racing grow through GoPro videos. Located just outside of Tampa, the Mud Titan 4 (fourth year) was hosted in Plant City, FL. The property was huge. There was only one thing, it unfortunately was raining for days leading up to the race which lead to a lot of the obstacles being under water towards the beginning and the end of the race.

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The first thing that I normally do once I arrive at the event is check out the course, especially the start and finish line area, as well as the spectator area. I arrived at the Mud Titan race and almost immediately started walking into shin to knee deep swamp water. I said to myself, this is going to be very interesting. But with anything, I always look at the positive side of things. Heck, this is Florida, and this was a Mud Run right? One of the most challenging things about an obstacle course race is the ever-changing terrain, you just never know what you're in for. Yes, the property was under a lot more water than usual, but who cares, that's just another obstacle to deal with, and I think the athletes including the fun runners were ok with it.

Top Male - Jay Flores, Top Female - Shelly Hawk

At any rate, the event was super fun and challenging. Something that I would recommend to the Mud Titan event organizers would be to implement some sort of penalty or mandatory obstacle completion for the Elite Wave. I actually witnessed "more than usual" athletes skipping or purposely failing obstacles to get ahead of other athletes, and this could have been prevented if there was a set protocol for this, as well as having better trained volunteers during the competition waves. Other than that, it was a great event which I highly recommend to anyone who is in the Florida area.

Good times at Mud Titan 4 - Plant City, FL

So without further ado, check out the video that I created, and hope to see you at the next race. Also, being that I am an avid OCR enthusiast and athlete, as well as an Online Fitness Coach via Beachbody, I would love to help any of you train for the next race, or simply just train for LIFE in general. Life is filled with a ton of obstacles, but if we learn to keep ourselves happy through health and fitness, we can conquer anything! Message me here to learn more about my upcoming online fitness challenges.

Watch Video - Mud Titan 4 - Plant City, FL (September 19th, 2015)

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P90X3 at the Park

What? I thought that P90X workouts were just for in-home use? Ha ha, NOPE! Especially now with Beachbody on Demand, you can actually take P90X workouts anywhere......ANYTIME! I actually prefer using the workout sheets which I put in my iBooks app on my iPhone, and it works perfect for me when I am doing the strength-based (weight-lifting) workouts. I can do this anywhere around the world whether I am at home, the gym, or just like yesterday at the park.

So I decided to go to Alafia State Park in Lithia, FL yesterday to do some P90X3, Triometrics to be exact. This specific workout gets me every single time! When you watch my video below, you will probably think it looks easy, but trust me, it is far from easy. The X3 Triometrics workout is like Plyometrics. The workout consists of jumping, squats, and just a lot of leg, stability, and core work. There are about 15 exercise movements and each movement is done with 3 levels of intensity, and if you do the movements correctly, your legs will be BURNING all day =). You can check out the Triometrics Movement List from a previous blog post here.

Check out my quick video:

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