Gross Gamer Fitness

Basically, my childhood dream has finally come true. Ever since 5th grade, I have wanted to write a novel. These ideas floated in my mind, gnawing at the edges of my fingers just begging me to put them on the page... but it wasn't until NaNoWriMo finally came around and kicked my butt in gear that I actually put in the work and made it happen, all 75 thousand words of it (and several drafts). Along comes Kindle Scout, a campaign so generously provided by Amazon to find the very best of the novels produced by NaNoWriMo, and make the dreams of would-be authors around the world finally come true, publishing their book. The process itself requires votes. Each individual account gets three votes to "spend" on novels that they feel are worth publishing, and it is the votes of the people that decide the lucky winners. I'm not going to beg anyone to support, but suffice it to say that having this book finally published, to be able to run to my 5th grade English T...

Yes, you heard me right. Stop making New Year’s Resolutions, and start changing your life. There’s little wonder why such a dramatic stigma surrounds the “New Year Crew” crowd. Gyms will be packed for a month or two, maybe some of the trendy health food stores will have packed parking lots, and in the worst case, the practicing resolutioner will ramble on endlessly over Facebook about how committed they are to their resolution. But these people are all making a change for the better, right? At least, they’re attempting to, and that should be encouraged. What should not be encouraged, however, corresponds with the tragic reality implicit with the very notion of a New Year’s Resolution: they are temporary. In the worst case, those who undertake this challenge to themselves may last a week or two before they forego their gym membership in favor of a “beer of the month” club. That’s the “New Year's Crew” gets such a bad rap. They put in the motions, and heck, they may ev...

Most of you have probably heard the name before, and perhaps you've even tasted this tangy tea for yourself on occasion, but as it turns out, there's far more to this purple-hued tea than good taste (YMMV). Remember how green tea has been, and is still touted as one of the absolute best sources of antioxidants in the human diet, providing a whole host of health benefits including  decreased fat mass, lower cholesterol, increased blood flow,  and what was touted to be the most powerful antioxidant punch amongst all the teas out there? Well, as it turns out,  hibiscus tea actually beats out green tea in this regard by quite a bit.  More than that, this particular type of tea appears to be beneficial in ways that go far beyond the realm of antioxidants, and actually rival some pharmaceutical medicines in both power and potency! The potential for hibiscus to lower blood pressure is on-par with some pharmaceutical medications, while also providing the amazing bene...

No, the word NEAT is not capitalized because I'm trying to be all cool and cynical with those lame ads going around. Rather, it's an acronym for a quite amazing tool when it comes to a fit lifestyle, Non-Exercise Associated Thermogenesis. Basically, this means that it's a term made up on the spot to account for all the activity you accrue, all the calories that you burn throughout the day, without specifically trying to through traditional forms of exercise. Ever notice how some of the leanest people you've ever met tend to be the fidgety, restless types? Never wanting to sit down, always tapping their feet... Hell, that las one really adds up in terms of calorie burn over the years. Turns out it isn't just some sort of genetic blessing or overactive thyroid, after all. And that's one of the biggest aspects of all of this that people to consider: the long-term factor to fitness, and especially weight gain/loss. Sure, maybe you're only burning a few ext...

All I could smell was her hair… Burning. The exact events of that day are but a distant echo, the last remnants of the girl that I once was. But that last memory of her will be emblazoned in my memory for an eternity. The way that her pristine white dress, which seemed to almost give off an ethereal glow of warmth, crumbled to blackened ashes to match the remains of the place that I once called home.  Home. That word almost seems humorous to me now, but back then… It almost seemed like it really meant something. I know better now. There is no home. Not for people like me, anyway. Not for people like us.  Attachments like that make us weak, unfit to survive in the cold world that I couldn’t bear to fathom back then. After all, I was only a girl. Eight years under my belt, but even that is far too long to be sheltered from the truth.  I know that I should feel grateful for such a revelation, but I must admit that, at times, I feel regret for my actions. Not f...

How I Skyrocketed My Fitness Using Animal Crossing Yep, you heard me right. Animal Crossing, a video game produced by one of the most beloved video game companies out there, Nintendo, helped me, a seasoned fitness enthusiast already, to skyrocket my fitness to the next level. How?  Simple, they finally brought one of my favorite franchises of theirs, Animal Crossing to IOS and smartphones everywhere.  Now, something you need to understand about my personality, my approach to fitness in general, is that I am very much one of the "all or nothing" mindset. That's why I love lifting weights, going to and beyond failure, even to the point where people come up to me after grueling sets of squats to ask if I'm alright, genuine concern flooding their voices Not like I can blame them either, as I was close to passing out, or at the very least puking.  But we all have our flaws, our gaps that need filling, weaknesses that need addressing. For me, for th...

This is a question that comes up quite often, and well, I’m not sure that there ever will be a definitive answer. Does this mean that you can run a flight of stairs without running out of breath? Being able to survive a bear attack in the wilds of Alaska? Being able to run a five-minute mile with a cheetah chasing you for motivation? At any rate, my definition of fitness encompasses three crucial segments: mind, body, and yes, even soul. I may not be religious, but after a series of events… Well, the life that I’ve been blessed with in general, it would simply be foolish for me to refuse to believe that there is something beyond ourselves. Something that makes humans, one of many species on only one of countless planets in an unfathomably large universe. There simply needs to be something, some element that goes beyond our understanding, and while it might not be the perfect word for it, “soul” is close enough for what I mean here. With that out of the way, let’s ...