After working for hours trying to figure out how to embed a YouTube video into the blog here I have realized I cannot figure it out...or maybe my patience has just worn out!  So here is a link to a YouTube video I did explaining a bit about where I'm at and where I am heading.  Its a history of my journey thus far and a precursor of so much to come!  Please check it out HERE. But be aware, I am a goofball and have a very dry sense of humor...hahaa ;)

Tags: Figure | Fitness | adrenal fatigue | isagenix | Emerald Cup | Craig Productions | fitness routines | competitors | mind | strengthFigure | Ironman | training legs | setbacks | energy | vision | discipline | focus | training partner | disciplined | focused | night show | persistence | commitment | choice | challenge | personal training

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Wow. Let's just say that it is 9:00am and I JUST woke up. To me, this is absolutely insane because I consider sleeping in to be 7:00! I've gotten up at 4:00 every morning this week in order to squeeze in my cardio before I head off to work and I have to say that it feels pretty darn good to sleep in so late for once! I decided to not set my alarm because I have no work this morning and to just let my body wake up when it feels ready! So overall, I'm thankful that I did this because it allowed my body to rest up after all the hard work this week!

SO training! I'm officially COMPLETELY in my zone and my workouts have been AMAZING!!! I trained legs on Monday and to be honest, my hammies are still sore!! Then I met with Misty (she's doing Vancouver) and Pete on Weds to train chest and triceps! It was a great workout and it felt so great to workout with the both of them. Since my school schedule is a little crazy and with Pete's busy wrestling schedule (He's the coach at Bellevue Christian), it has been tough to coordinate our workouts together! So, it was great to work out with Misty and see Pete as well! They always push me to my limits and I think it is so great to have those kind of people in your life...

Which reminds me...When preparing for a show, who are the people that you chose to surround yourself with? Heck, not only JUST when prepping for a show, but through out your entire life? I strongly believe that you are who you associate with and I've witnessed this in my own life! I remember hanging out with the "wrong" crowd when I was younger and my parents would constantly say, "You are who you associate with!! Do you really want to be like them?" I HATED it when they would say that, but now I am so thankful because it truly taught me that I need to surround myself with strong, confident, optimistic people who are living their lives with shear determination to reach their own goals and dreams!! You see, it is their drive, focus and determination that will be contagious to those around them...Same goes for you..Keep shining because it is going to affect those around you more than you could possibly imagine. So anyways, I was just thinking how incredibly blessed I am to have made the decision to only surround myself with people who completely lift me up, or have the potential to lift me up! Don't get me wrong, if someone is having a tough time and are temporarily bringing me down, I'm not going to 'kick' them out of my life because I will want to help them! BUT! I will not tolerate anyone in my life who is going to waste timing bringing me and my dreams down with them everytime I'm around them! There's just no time for this - I've got BIG things to do and I'm not letting anyone step in the way!

So off to I got to the gym. I'm going to kick major butt during my cardio session and then head home to relax and prep my food before I head to Redmond to meet Pete for shoulders!! Oh yeahhh!! My shoulders are definitely making big improvements over this last year and I'm so thankful that both myself and Pete have been working hard to build that beautiful shoulder cap! Bring it on!!

"You don't concentrate on risks. You concentrate on results. No risk is too great to prevent the necessary job from getting done."

Tags: Determination | Goals | Mindset | training partner | Shoulders

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Good Morning!!!

While in the midst of finals, I have not been on here as much as normal. BUT I'm officially done with Fall quarter and I am very excited to have a more open schedule now. I was actually able to get home before dark last night and it felt AMAZING! I have to soak this all up because before I know it, I'll be back at UW for Winter quarter!

Alright...So I have a lot of things that I am VERY excited about...

My training has been going AMAZING! I've really been kicking butt in the gym and I have an entirely new cardio routine that is kicking my butt as well.  I'm really mixing it up. For example, yesterday I did 15 min on the step mill, then went straight to the treadmill and ran for 20 min, then I went straight to the bike and did about 15 min.  I made sure that there was VERY little rest between machines and my intensity was kicked into high gear! Overall, it was great and I left the gym feeling great knowing that I put 100% into my cardio! With the help of Peter and John and Roxana Kreklo, I'm actually staying pretty slim in this "Off Season" (Although we all know that there really is no off season - There's always time to make progress). I'm about 10 lbs up from my weight at this last Ironman. So overall I'm feeling great because I'm eating a good amount of food and staying lean enough that I won't be SWAMPED with cardio as the Vancouver show and ECUP approach! Whoo!! It's been great to work with John and Roxana because there is absolutely no guess work...I simply measure out and eat exactly what they say! A lot of people are just fine doing their own diets, but for me I really need to work with a nutritionist because I constantly second-guess myself! So that's where I'm at...Training hard, building muscle, staying healthy - Everything is going amazing!

I've also had a blast working with Optimum Nutrition/ABB so far! I've done a couple product demos this week and I've had such a blast.  It is a great opportunity for me to meet tons of new people who have the same passion for health.  It is amazing how much can be learned by simply listening to people.  I spent several hours talking with gym-goers and customers at both Emerald City Smoothie and All Star Fitness and everyone has something to share.  I don't care how long you've been working out - Everyone has something to offer. Honestly, I'm constantly inspired by the people around me and I love learning from everyone - So the demos have been great! I've been meeting people who are just getting started on their fitness journey and others who are far more experienced than myself.

I'm also in the midst of a very big project!! In one of my classes last year I had to work on a quarter-long project where I came up with my own business/organization and wrote a long paper on it.  I did my project on an organization that promotes strength training and clean eating among teens/young women in the Northwest.  While it only started as a school paper - I've begun to work on this project more and more. I'm currently working on the website and my goal is to get my NSCA certification once I get out of school in the Spring! So I'm very excited and can't wait to get things rolling! I know it will be a long process to get an organization up and running, but I'm willing to put in the hard work and have patience!

I think it is important to give back to the community, so that is why I feel so passionate about starting this organization!

We all have something that we can offer to help other people out and I think that it is VERY important to make the most of what we can offer...We all have the ability to help other people - So get out there and help someone out! Use your gifts to assist someone else :)

Stay Strong. Stay Focused. Let the Lord's Light SHINE!

Diane

Tags: intensity | disciplined | training partner | vision

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America, I'm pissed!  No...not for anything personal (that ain't nunya biz anyway...).  I'm pissed because I missed two days in a row due to this nagging arm injury.  It's getting better but I decided to take today off as well so I'd be back for sure on Monday.  "Make Haste Slowly" I always say.  BTW, here's something I heard a while back that was pretty humorous.  The first time you hear or read something and you repeat it, you give credit to whomever you heard/read it from - "As so-n-so says...".  As you continue to use it, giving credit changes to "I heard..." or "I read...".  In time you've said it so many times that it changes to "As I've always said...".  I don't have a clue as to where or when I first heard "Make Haste Slowly", but I've been using it so long that it's mine now!  Don't hate!

Tonight I wanna touch on training partners.  Over the years I've been blessed to have a few not just good, but GREAT training partners.  I actually wrote an article on the value of training partners years ago.  It's posted on my website - www.personaltrainingsystems.net.  Check it out!  N-E-Whoo...my first great partner was my best friend down in Portland, OR back in the late 70's through mid 80's - Steve Moses.  I wrote about Steve a couple of days ago - incredible physique!  Steve and I hooked up shortly after I started working out at Oregon Athletic Club.  He was always there the same time I was so we'd spot each other.  The spots became pushes, and eventually we agreed to become training partners.  We had one simple rule - I would never give him my phone number and he'd never give me his.  Why?  It made us even more committed and disciplined to working out.  You know I'm not a big 'motivation' person, but I am a disciplined, focused, committed individual.  In fact, my current workout partner, Steve Large, recently sent me a great saying that I've incorporated into one of my email signatures: "It's not the work that's hard, it's the discipline!"  I love that!  Says it all.  Don't know where it came from, but it's mine now...lol!    

Steve Moses and I had KILLA workouts.  We pushed each other so hard it wasn't even funny.  We were very close to each other in strength so there wasn't much changing of the weights between sets.  We played the one-up, one-down game...as soon as he was done he'd jump up and I'd jump down to do my set.  When I was done we'd switch.  Rests were only long enough to change weights or get into position.  I'm talkin' KILLA, America!  Eventually we ended up competing against each other.  I never beat Steve, but it was always good to take a solid second behind him.  

My second great training partner was the one and only Kim "Kong" Farrison - the NW's premier MC.  We trained together from the mid 80-s until he blew his shoulder out in the very early 90's.  Didn't matter where we trained, we always had brutal workouts.  Kim was significantly stronger than me, so it was always my challenge to not only keep up with his intensity, but work on catching him in strength (which I never did, but it was fun trying...).  Kim was a clown - always crackin' stale jokes and lookin' at any pretty woman that walked by.  He got easily distracted at times, usually when women were around, but when he was on, he was ON!  He'd out-train just about anybody who wanted to go up against him.  Kim hated to lose at anything, whether it was a contest, wrestling (he actually had a shot at making the Olympics until he blew out his knee), training...you name it, Kim was ultra-competitive in it.  We'd travel to all the different dungeon gyms from Olympia to North Seattle taking on all-comers.  It also gave Kim an opportunity to scope out his competition.  One of the things I learned from Kim was to always stay covered up during contest season.  No one needed to see his physique, he'd always say.  The only thing that's important is what the judges say the day of the show.  I still live by that creed.

My third great training partner was, and still is, my chiropractor, Jeff Kahrs.  I met Jeff while I was in graduate school.  He found me through some advertising I'd done back in the late 80's.  I worked with him and gave him some pointers on bodybuilding stuff he didn't know.  Obviously he knew the human body as a chiropractor, but he wanted more bodybuilding knowledge to tie it all together.  When I opened my facility in 1994, Jeff was the first person in, helping me move in the equipment.  When I closed the doors in 2007 Jeff was the last person out, helping me move it to my new location.  That's a true friend!  Anyway, shortly after opening Personal Training Systems, (PTS) Jeff joined the facility.  Shortly after that we became workout partners.  Now I gotta give you a visual on Jeff - he's 6' tall weighing in at about 240.  Needless to say, it was like working out with Kim all over again.  I gave Jeff the nickname "Sherm", short for Sherman Tank, cause that man is STRONG!  Two words are not in his vocabulary - light and easy!  It eventually reached the point to where Jeff and I would be working out together but he'd be doing his thing and I'd be doing mine - I just wasn't in his league.  But we worked hard and we worked consistently.  Jeff was with me when I achieved my "yellow trunks" look - my all-time best condition back in 95.  We literally destroyed ourselves during that training cycle, but it paid off.  I still look at those photos and wonder how I was able to achieve that look.  Jeff and I trained together up until the time I closed PTS.

My fourth great training partner is my current partner, Steve Large.  Steve was a client back at PTS in the mid-90's through about 2005 or 06.  He was one of the most consistent people I knew - hardly ever missed a day of training.  Steve trained by himself most of the time, but I'd spot him every now and then.  If Jeff couldn't make it for whatever reason I might hold off and train with either Steve or another client.  Steve blew his shoulder out and had to leave for surgery.  During that time PTS closed.  When I reopened the new gym here at my home (I've got over 1000 sq. ft. of kick-butt equipment, including ellipticals and a 42-inch flat-screen) after my hip replacement I sent out a global email to all my old clients.  Steve responded.  He came back fat, deconditioned, and totally outta shape (sorry buddy, but you know I speak the truth...).  A couple of months into his training I lost my 'partner'.  I asked Steve if he wanted to workout together.  Best move I made!  We started training together in October of 08.  We've only missed 3 scheduled workouts.  Steve is a great partner - like Steve Moses we're close to each other in strength, so I'm always trying to stay ahead of him in exercises in which I'm stronger while he's always trying to catch me, and if he's stronger, then I'm trying to catch him while he shoots to stay ahead of me.  Makes for killa workouts!  

Oh, BTW...since Steve came back he's dropped over 40 lbs of bodyfat, gained back his lost muscle, got his weight back down to 185, and he's getting ready for the Ironman as well...there y'go  Steve, I put it out for the world to see - you can't back out now...

I've had many other training partners over the years as well, but these are my 'Big 4".  They're the best of the best - far ahead of the rest!  I could always count on them to show up and give their best push, which helped me give my best push.  I truly believe a great partner can make you, whereas a crappy partner can break you.  So if you've got a crappy partner (and you know if you do...), dump him or her and find someone that will be more committed, disciplined, focused, and determined.  You'll be glad you did!

Well America, today's Friday - I gots two days of rest comin'.  Many projects around the house as I prepare for my 55th Surprise Birthday Party!  Hey, ya'll are invited if you wanna show up and surprise me!  Hit me at my email on the signature and I'll send you the link with all the pertinents. I'm out!

The Dr.
--
David ‘Dr. Buff’ Patterson
Personal Training Systems | “There Are No Shortcuts!”
http://www.personaltrainingsystems.net
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mobile: 253.576.4859

“We do what we have to do so we can do what we want to do!”

Tags: focus | discipline | Determination | training | training partner

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