Archive for the ‘Rants’ Category

Forrest’s Girlfriend: Quinoa (Keen-Wah or Quinn-o-ah) – Golden Grain of the Incas …etc.

Below is a guest post from my awesome girlfriend, Arleene! For those of you who don’t know, we’ve been dating for about a year and on total cloud 9. …And, let me back up a little here, for those of you who haven’t heard about what I’ve been up to for a while, I got a divorce over a year ago, too.

I was married for 7 years, and I must say, it was the toughest time of my life (I’ll spare you the details). But know this…somewhere during that 7 years of turmoil with the “X”, I lost my ability to laugh. Not my conversational laugh, mind you. I’m talking about that deep belly laugh. That laugh where you’re hunched over, tears coming out, and sore the next day kind of laugh. My wonderful girlfriend taught me how to laugh, and love, again. Thanks Baby! Now, without further ado, here’s Arleene:


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Hello Fit For Life Solutions Folks!

I’ve officially taken over Forrest’s blog (for just one entry), not by choice mind you but only …ONLY because Forrest’s requested my guest blog input. Honestly, it’s about 10:10pm on a Friday night and taking a good 7 hour nap sounds way more enticing than Forrest coaxing me to write something witty and entertaining. Ugh. What I do for love, and to get him off my back! =) You guys spend an hour of your lives every day (every other day…maybe even once a week) with this guy anxiously training and being motivated. Lucky for me, I get this treatment 24/7 although let me tell you…sometimes I just need a damn nap!

With that said, I’m going to go ahead and attribute this completely scattered blog to the late hours of which I’m writing it. We’re officially at 10:30pm now folks!!!

So, Forrest granted me the creative justice to write anything I want regardless that this is a fitness and lifestyle blog. He had a few brainstormy ideas in mind but I think I’ll rely on what’s always worked best for me and that is unadulterated, unfiltered, stream of consciousness, ramblings! And maybe just maybe I’ll throw in a list of some sorts. Who doesn’t enjoy reading a good list now and then!?

Hmm… What to write…What to write…tick tock tick tock 10:35pm…

So let’s get to the goods shall we? Forrest and I have been in blissful smitt for almost a year now. Maybe one sweet day you’ll read a blog on the nitty gritty details of meeting at the Foster City dog park, stars aligning, and a perfect three hour conversation leading up to facebook friendage via the iDouche. Until then, let’s just say that because of your Trainer For Life, I’ve never laughed so loudly, smiled so hard, and worked out so much in my life! OH THE IRONY that is life! I should have known from our first date after he’d ordered a chicken sandwich, on wheat, hold the mayo, with a salad on the side that life would never be the same! FYI, I ordered a crab sandwich with french fries…ON WHITE! (Dee-lish!)

With that said here’s a list of healthy/healthful shiz I’ve experienced/seen/felt/partaken in since Forrest “Rice Protein Rules” Folen entered my life:

1) BOOTCAMP!
This should come as no surprise to you all. Forrest and I met in September and I officially became a wannabe bootcamper in December. I dragged a few wonderful co-workers with me for the 7pm class and BAM, I finally got to witness my man in his element! The first day was a mixed bag of feeling awe and pride, sweating my ass off, and contemplating if having a personal trainer for a boyfriend was still a good idea. Sadly, because of the busiest work schedule of my life (and a few admittedly lazy days), I don’t go as consistently as I should, but I’m working on it!! So if you see me, by all means REMIND ME TO GO!

2) JAMBA JUICE SELLS FOOD?
Since when has the king of the fruit smoothies sold meals? No kidding Forrest LOVES this stuff! Not the sugary juices, but the chimmi-churri chicken wraps with jam packed veggies and protein galore. For a girl who’s palate has led her to chicken tikki masala burrito’s, pork belly buns, and truffle fries with a side of sparkling white sangria, Jamba Juice has never been my style. He likes that he knows what’s in it but more importantly he “likes how he feels after eating it” which is something I’d never previously considered in my meal choices. I can’t deny that I do feel much more enthused with life after a veggie wrap than Sunday dim-sum. Then again, dim sum feeds the soul =). In moderation that is. hahaha

3) THIRD DATE PANTING! (Dont’ get excited people)
I do believe that our official third date was one that I’d planned. Anyone who knows me knows that the other love of my life comes in a twelve pound, furry, white, woman’s best friend package lovingly known as Elvis Bojangles. I took Forrest and my dog Elvis to Fort Funston in San Francisco which happens to be one of my favorite places in the world. We walked high above the seacliffs overlooking the city, we laughed amongst other dog walkers and paragliders, we walked down a steep (SUPER STEEP) trail for a walk along the ocean side. You’d think I must have been on cloud nine but I was far from it. I was too busy figuring out how the hell I could walk back up the damn mountain without him noticing me out of shape, out of breath, and unattractively borderline passing out. haha. It’s a funny thought now but hey, almost a year of working out with Forrest later and I can hike up any damn mountain and still make it look cute!

4) HIKES, HIKES, and mo HIKES!
This relates to point number three of which I’ve never hiked so damn much in my life. Coming from a girl who grew up camping with electric generators, roughing it is most definitely not my forte. A few years ago, I’d hiked Bridal Veil Falls in Yosemite and thought I was going to die from the altitude and uphill climb! I’m sure I can take it now after all the weekend hike extravaganza’s with Mr. Folen and the kids.

5) KEEPING UP WITH KIDs
To truly know Forrest, one must know that he is genuine, altruistic, humble and is one of the most amazing fathers you’ll ever in your life meet. His capacity for love knows no boundaries and Jada and Jesus are testaments of this influence. The kids are rad! Though in a past life I might have run quickly in another direction, I couldn’t help but fall for them as well. With that said, keeping up with a 6 and 10 year old is no joke! Swimming, running, jumping, swerving, loving, living. It’s all new, and it’s all pretty wonderful. Just let me catch my breath once and again =)

6) 5K nuttiness!
Back in 2008 I ran (more like jogged/walked) my first ever half marathon (13+ miles). You’d think a 5K would have been nothing but WOW was I out of practice when Forrest, Jada, Jesus, and I ran a 5K at Fisherman’s Wharf last spring. What better way to spend a Sunday morning than to wake up at 6am and drive to the city to run 3-ish something miles. I think my dog ate my ribbon. See below:

7) QUINOA
Hearty, delicious, a great substitute for high carb rice, yummy, and hard to pronounce… Quinoa has it all! Where it comes from, I still have no idea, but thanks Forrest for introducing it to me.

8) AIKIDO Saturdays!
Need I say more?!?!

9) KAYAKING in my BACKYARD!
This is just one alternative way of getting a workout outside of the gym. I have to admit to you that I have a love/hate relationship with Foster City. It’s a nutty little town where people can windsurf from their homes to Safeway. I love how it’s clean, it’s safe, it’s kid/pooch friendly, it’s where I met the love of my life, it also does NOT have one friggin’ bar to save my life. (If i’m wrong, please do fill me in on your favorite Foster City watering hole).

Anyway, I do love how we can jog safely in the middle of the night, kayak and get a massive arms workout right outside my apartment. etc. etc. I’m totally straying from my initial point that should have been Forrest has taught me that fun activities don’t have to cost loads of money, can be tons of fun, and can be health benefitting outside the four walls of a gym.

10) I’m sure there is a ten but I can’t think of one. Ugh, it’s getting late and I’m starting not to make sense (12:55am to be exact!)

So that’s my list of awesome health/life benefits and experiences that I’ve experienced/adopted since Forrest entered my life. I’m not sure who’s reading this but sorry to bore. AND sorry for my punctuation errors, misspellings, and run-on sentences. I’m not a pro. I’m just sleepy. Thanks Forrest for the opportunity to write again. I do feel like a sucker though being that you’ve been sleeping for hours and I’m still typing away at 1:00am!!! Played!

See you at the next boot camp my people!

Hugs and High Fives,

~Arleene

Yelp Rant

A few months back I made an announcement to the people in my bootcamp. “Hey guys, since my business is spread by word-of-mouth, I would really appreciate you going on Yelp and writing up an honest review of your experience here at Fit For Life Solutions and write a bit on what you think about our Fit For Life Bootcamp. Thanks!”

Within 3 days I had over twenty, 5-star reviews posted by my clients on Yelp. Each of the reviews was honest and sincere. They each talked about their own unique experience with the training at our fitness boot camp. They shared their hard-earned results and their new-found passion for fitness due to the motivation and training they received from us.

About a month later, Yelp removed all the reviews.

Ok…I thought, maybe if I call them and explain why these reviews are legitimate and not spam, they would post them back up, right?

Wrong.

Well, what about sending me the reviews so I can post them on my own personal website. After all, the reviews are from my clients about my business…

Sorry, can’t help you.

Really? Can’t help me? C’mon!!

Then I get a phone call from Yelp. Turns out they want to “help me” after all. They want to meet with me so I can pay them between $350 – $1,000+ a month to place an add on Yelp.

Gee, thanks, but no thanks!

I spent some time surfing the net about my little Yelp problem. Turns out Yelp is doing similar shady things to small business owners everywhere. Wow. I think I’ll go and review Yelp and give them 1 star for shady business practices. Well, what do you know? You can’t review Yelp, they won’t let you! (Hmmmm…I wonder why?)

Then another couple months past and I had a great idea! I’ll bet Yelp users who spend a lot of time reviewing small business on Yelp would appreciate being rewarded and at the same time be able to help me build my Yelp reviews back up.

What if I offer a free month of training for exchange of an honest and sincere review of my services? It couldn’t hurt. It didn’t seem like unwanted solicitation, because I’m not selling anything. And I wasn’t asking for illegitimate reviews, only complete honesty about what they thought of my business.
So I contacted a few Yelpers. And I had some excited responses by several people!

A week later, Yelp closed my account with no warning, and no way to get ahold of these people I promised a free month to, who were already making plans and getting excited to get back in shape this coming January.

Message to Yelpers who I contacted: I apologize for any inconvenience. Please reach me at 650-771-5149 and I will still set you up with your free month. Hope to see you soon!

Message to Yelp: I think the idea of Yelp is wonderful, and I use Yelp to learn about things I want to try all the time. I just wish you would consider trusting the good will of the people who use the site, and find a way to let the consumers do the talking and editing of the site. Look at the way Craigslist works, where the user can flag a post. I think your Yelp service can be improved if you utilized a similar approach.

Sincerely,

Forrest Folen, MCT

Owner of Fit For Life Solutions

Gym INTENSITY!!!

Ok so i came across this personal video of one of my favorite WWE wrestlers Mr. Kennedy and thought i should share this video with you all. This will make you thrive to push yourself to the limit every time you step into the gym. He shares the same passion i do for intensity, Its all about what you put into workouts. Taking a average everyday exercise and cranking it up, to make it as beneficial as possible.

Show no mercy. -Roy