Regarding Haiti, we have narrowed our efforts to supporting the rehab hospital at Love A Child Orphanage in Fond Parisian (see the recent BBC story http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8597729.stm), where we sent a medical team shortly after the earthquake, and an impromptu tent camp of 2000 people 10 minutes down the road.

We have worked hard to support both projects to get them to the most basic living standards: food, water, sanitation (kind of), and tents and tarps to keep out the rain. A pressing need is security and the emotional distress of living in the dark.

We have found a solution in Tough Stuff (http://www.toughstuffonline.org/) solar light units. They are made for the third world, last up to 10 years, and the company is will to sell them at cost to us. $15 covers the purchase and shipment of a Toughstuff solar light to Port Au Prince. We need 1000 units to cover the families in tents at both places.

I humbly appeal not only to you, but your email lists, twitters, facebooks, or diggs, or linknd, or whatever else exists out there for $15. Simply go to the website and hit the ’support us’ tab on the homepage. Connect to the justgive.org link and be sure to note ‘lights’ on the donation.

Thanks in advance for the support and interest. Peace, JLA and the United Aid Foundation.

  www.unitedaidfoundation.org

Bone Marrow Registry Drive for Kieran Holohan
Needed: Your Cheek and Your Check To Help Save Some Lives

Date: Saturday, January 23, 2010
Time: 4:00pm – 8:00pm
Location: Cornerstone Tavern, 961 2nd Ave (at 51st St) New York, NY    Why: So Kieran can be at Riley’s wedding

Kieran Holohan, 42, is the loving father of 9 month old Riley, husband to Suzanne, Partner at Gonzalez Oberlander & Holohan LLP, Village Lions RFC Hall-of-Famer and friend to countless more. Kieran was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia on December 9 2009. His Leukemia is temporarily in remission, but he will need a Bone Marrow Transplant in order to survive in the long term.

This event is an earnest request for you to support Kieran and thousands of other Leukemia sufferers who depend on the Bone Marrow Registry should they require a transplant. Please see the following note from Kieran to see how you can help both him and his family, and potentially thousands more people:

I need you checks and your cheeks. Cheeks to find a bone marrow match. Checks to help pay for the testing. We’re hosting a Bone Marrow Registry drive on Saturday January 23 at the Cornerstone Tavern – please attend, and lend your cheek and your checks to help save lives.

What you can do to help:

- Come to the Cornerstone Tavern Sat Jan 23 lend your support
- Join the Bone Marrow Registry (via a cheek scrape test)
- Donate funds to support the $100 it costs the registry to test the DNA
- Encourage as many people as you can to join us

Cornerstone Tavern has opened their doors wide to us. They have three bars over two floors and will provide Happy Hour Pricing and a full menu throughout the afternoon. We won’t be done at 8pm either – I am sure a few of us will keep the party going (and I may even buy you a drink)

Remember, this is to be an afternoon of fun with a little bit of giving.

Where: Cornerstone Tavern, 961 Second Avenue @ 51st Street. http://www.cornerstonetavern.com/
When: January 23 4pm-8pm (stay five minutes or five hours)
Why: So Kieran can be at Riley’s wedding
Who: Everyone we can find! Friends, friends of friends, absolutely anyone you can drag along.

2. Join the Bone Marrow Registry via a cheek scrape test

The easiest way is to attend our event in NYC at the Cornerstone hotel on Saturday January 23 from 4-8pm.

Thanks to “Be The Match” all each person will need to do is swab their cheek. “Be The Match” will be there to register everyone and collect the kits. 10 seconds to scrape your cheek and you’re a part of the registry!

If you can’t attend the event, you can order a kit and do it at home here: http://www.marrow.org/JOIN/Join_Now/join_now.html

3. Donate funs to support the $100 it costs to test the DNA for the Registry

It costs about $100 bucks for the test to be administered. We’re aiming to cover the costs for the charity of all those who lend their cheek at our drive. So if you can spare $100 (or more!) for charity please do, BUT your cheek is more important than your check. Therefore, if money is tight – just come on down.

All donations to “Be The Match are tax deductible and any contribution is most helpful.

If you can’t attend the event but would like to help from afar, please contribute money to help cover the testing costs. You can do so buy sending me money at my paypal account: holohan@gohllp.com

How to use PayPal: http://www.mahalo.com/how-to-use-paypal-basics-and-beyond

Or, give direct to ‘Be The Match’: http://marrow.convio.net/site/PageNavigator/Donation_home

4. Tell your friends – encourage as many people as you know to join!

First, we need the biggest crowd we can gather at the Cornerstone Tavern on Saturday Jan 23 from 4-8. I will be there to drink some beer and show cancer that it may have knocked me back but I am gonna knock it out.

Please send this Facebook Event to all of your friends!

Even if they’re not in NYC, see if they might be interested in joining the registry remotely here: http://www.marrow.org/JOIN/Join_Now/join_now.html
Photos

I have been working hard on getting my legs and glutes to “pop.” That’s a bodybuilding term for getting them looking strong and lean.

The leg workouts have been insane! Leg workouts 3 times a week including lunges, plyometrics, kettle bells and duck walks that make your quads feel like someone put a match to them.

Corey Cooper Smith, my nutritionist, has had me on a muscle-building diet that includes increased calories with added protein. Believe it or not, it’s a great deal of food, more than I am used to since starting my training, so it’s a challenge to try and get it all in. It all seems to be working though because with this stringent diet and exercise I can visualize my legs changing shape, it is finally happening!

Many of you know of my early morning ritual: up at 3:45 am for coffee (lots of it). Then Corey has me taking taurine and tyrosine along with arginine to get the blood pumping and assist the body in forward movement. (Yes even I sometimes am challenged to move forward at that time of the morning!) I also take a tablespoon of coconut oil for a fat supplement and fuel supplier. It’s fascinating how the body works and what it uses efficiently as fuel.

 After my fueling process, I put on my 50 lb. weight vest and head off to the piers to run stairs. If you want added attention, just wear the weight vest, especially during a heightened security alert in NYC! The red-uniformed security guards at Chelsea Piers and even cops stand at alert and take notice! Once they see it’s a blond-haired fitness fanatic trying to grow her glutes with the added weight of a 50 lb. vest they move on to more important concerns.

The 50 lb. weight vest isn’t for sissies. I can tell you that the admiration I have for our firefighters who carry 7O lbs. of gear up and down stairs has gone up tenfold since I initiated training with the vest. After a workout with the vest up and down stairs and step up/down drills, I really feel like collapsing but must return to fusion to complete the remainder of the workout.

I am usually met by my lovely employees who greet me with inspirational sayings like, “Come on, boss, you can do it! This is easy work!”  Oh how they love to see me in pain!

Sounds like my father coming back to remind me!

“Pain is weakness leaving the body.”

Since the last post 4 weeks ago, I’ve been extremely busy.  First off, we’re working to expand our wellness center/gym here at Fusion; we’ve talked about this for a long time and now the dream is finally coming true.

 Our HUGE storage loft is being turned into the new home of the physical therapy aspect of Fusion. There’ll be more room for people to do their rehabilitation exercises and more space for ouch couches!   Our plan is that the former combined space will now be dedicated to wellness including personal training and sports performance. This will give us a lot more space to get fusion clients in tip-top shape.  We’ll be increasing our cardio equipment and space for more specific functional training.

We’re the only facility in New York City to have the Alter-G anti-gravity treadmill. It is a treadmill enclosed in a “magic bubble” that allows people to rehab injuries without the stress of a full body weight workout.  You can adjust the percentage of weight from 0 – 80% and it feels like you’re jogging or walking on the moon! 

On October 21, we had an open house for the Alter-G which had a fabulous turnout of fusion clientele and at least 20 people actually tried it out. 

I want to send out huge thanks for everyone for putting up with the paint smell, the dust, the workmen and all the mess with our added renovations!  Check back to see pictures of the progress we have made and a sneak preview of the new space. I promise it will be worth it. (And finished very soon, yeah!)  Also, stay tuned for additional weekend hours in both the PT facility and the wellness gym when our additional space is open and ready to go.

“The race is not always to the swift, but to those who keep on running.”  ~Author unknown

Stay tuned this week as I go through my diet and exercise plan for the weeks leading up to the competition!

It’s now about ten minutes to competition and the attendants start rushing around and yelling at us to get downstairs. We go into the back hallway with all the competitors – men’s body-building, women’s figure and women’s bikini (This last category is a different category and is for women who don’t body-build.) When we get backstage everyone starts sizing each other up. People are doing push ups, pumping up with Therabands; they’re all trying to get that last muscle pumped. I’m just standing there like a deer in the headlights observing and taking it all in. There were some incredible physiques that were very inspiring. And I couldn’t believe that in 10 minutes I’d be prancing around on stage in a spray tan and tiny bikini. All I kept thinking was, Lord, please let this bikini stay in place!

We’d forgotten the glaze – that’s the final touch that makes you glisten and glow. Jill, a fellow contestant from New Jersey who was a veteran at competing, walked up and told me I needed to get glazed – all I had was Pam – she said that wouldn’t work. We traded my Bikini Bite for her glaze and called it even.  The glaze smelled like fresh coconuts; at least I didn’t smell like a burger and fries.

I heard people yelling, “Doctor, doctor, where are you?” Huh? Was there a doctor in the house? Was someone sick? “Doctor Mazur, get in line.” OMG that was me. I had a big button with number 11 that I had to attach to my tiny bikini bottom — the button was bigger than the side of my suit (suit so small button so big)! Tune in tomorrow for the finale on show time in AC!

Strike a pose – what pose?

We all pranced on stage and waited while competitors did their star turns. I step up to the holding place and ask the woman who’s running that part of the show what to do. She says, “Just go to the square and do your poses.” And I say, “What poses?” She laughs and reminds me that, “practice makes perfect” and then replies, “Okay, do front, side, back, side and hold each one for five seconds.” When it’s my turn to go solo, I’m counting out loud the fastest five seconds ever as I do my “freestyle poses.”  I have a new appreciation for my patients who ask me to speed up the counting when I’m stretching them! Those five seconds seemed to last an eternity.

After you pose, you have to wait for everyone to finish, and then we all went to the front of the stage in a line-up. All I could do was smile and laugh. I was having a great time! I didn’t have any pressure on me because I was just learning, knowing that this was one chalked up as experience. Still, I know I have lot to do before the next time.

By the way, the super model who gave me some great tips on how to walk in stilettos would have been proud of me that day.  I never once concerned myself with the height of the shoes;  that practice paid off!

When they gave out trophies, I didn’t get one. They said that I had a great, “pro” upper body, but that I needed to work on my poses and lower body. I know I’ve got to work on legs and butt – I have a torn glut muscle and need to recover some strength there.

Afterward, I ran for coffee and water – hydrating at last!  But oh how I needed that coffee too.  Although I was thirsty, I wasn’t terribly hungry because Corey’s food plan always kept me feeling satisfied and stoked. After the competition I ate four ounces of steak, a baked potato and salad. The next day I ate some wonderful French cheese and wine provided by my dear friends who have encouraged me through these last 4 months, but I had to get back on my schedule the following Monday. And I didn’t mind at all, I was looking forward to getting back into my regimen.

For the next competition, I’m concentrating on legs and glutes, and Corey has modified my diet to build muscle. Corey is not only an awesome nutritionist, but also an MMA (mixed martial arts) fighter and personal trainer. He and Erika have got me on an intense, killer leg and glut routine thati is sure to bring pain and gain to my lower body.  I’m sure David Barton, who keeps me inspired and working hard, will throw in some creative killers that will also contribute to the strength and shape of my legs and glutes.  Next competition:  November 14th, 2009 right in New York City! Keep reading – the fun has just begun!  I will be sharing my workout and diet regimen in the next post.

Finally, Jill and Erika made it over with my bikini, make up and everything else I needed. Erika was still half asleep. We couldn’t find a dressing room, so we went into the handicapped stall in the bathroom. As I struggled into my suit, Jill increased my confidence level by repeating frequently, “Oh my God, oh my God, that’s a tiny suit! You are so brave Carolyn.” Imagine postage stamps on the top and the bottom that have to cling to the body, with nary a wrinkle. Wait, postage stamps may be covering too much!

Erika is filming the whole thing and Jill is in charge of getting my suit to stay on. She pulls out the Bikini Bite, the glue that holds the tiny patches of the bikini to my body. I “assume the position” while Jill reads the directions. Jill rubs me with Bikini Bite while rolling the suit up, but its application is very painful, feels like sandpaper rubbing my butt raw! Jill’s pushing and holding the suit in place, but it doesn’t stick. Jill finally puts on her glasses and reads the directions – she had left the plastic on the roller ball! Note to self: Jill needs to be reminded to wear her glasses while driving and applying Bikini Bite. I had road rash where she scraped me with the plastic roller. It was a lovely sight!

But Jill did redeem herself. She went out and found the official dressing room upstairs at the hotel. When we walked in, there were gel pads (to push up boobs) everywhere and white sheets to protect the furniture from the enormous amounts of spray tan. Mind you, Erika is still filming.

Jill gets ready for her next duty, “touch up tan” attendant. Again, I have to bend over so that Jill can put tanning cream on my gluteal clefts and my front and side cleavage Remember, it’s a small suit and there’s lots of “peekage” going on.

If you didn’t see me practicing in my 5-inch platform stilettos in the evenings at Fusion, you missed quite a show, but here’s a picture of my shoes. At this point, the shoes were the least of my worries. I had had a lot of training from Fusion clients in how to walk in heels, so that, believe it or not, was the easy part of the competition.

The competition in Atlantic City was a trial run for me, so that I could understand what a figure competition all entails. I found out that most of the competitors got interested in these competitions to help raise their self-esteem. That meant for most of these women their goals were to get out of bad situations, bad jobs, bad marriages and move forward toward a more positive purpose in life. I understood their motivation because it was very empowering to get on stage. I felt completely different after I had done it; it was like I was Braveheart running gallantly into the middle of battle, sword pulled, loins exposed, war paint on and not knowing what to expect at the next crossroads. I showed my ass to everybody! When I walked off stage, I felt that I was strong for myself: I had challenged myself; I had sacrificed; I had met the challenge to realize the dream!

The Preparation
Believe me, it was a grueling preparation, even though I wasn’t competing for a trophy. I’ve been on a very restricted food plan, which I’ll post here next week, and my workout schedule was extremely intense. I’ll also post that on my blog, too.

First, Corey Cooper Smith, my nutritionist (who I call foul names behind his back referred to me by David Barton, www.davidbartongym.com), devised a safe plan for me to dehydrate my body, to see what my muscles/body would look like with low hydration. This is not advised unless under the proper medical care. After this experience, if I ever complain about having to drink water again, please someone slap me. The concept is you over hydrate five days before competition and then start the dehydration process three days before the competition. Once I entered the final stage of drying out on Friday I could only suck on ice chips and dream of luscious H2O.
My “entourage” – Erika Green, CSCS Personal Trainer and long time physical therapist aide at Fusion and Jill Christenson, accomplished Athletic trainer at St. John’s University accompanied me to AC. After a lovely visit to downtown Newark, Jill finally figured out the GPS so we could take highways to Atlantic City, instead of back roads.

Before we left on Friday night, I had to get spray tanned at the salon. Note to self: the tanning process should start days before the competition. I stood naked in a little room while the attendant used what looked like a garden spray to turn my skin nice and orange, looking similar to an umpa lumpa from Wizard of Oz. Mind you, I could not get lost because I left a trail of orange wherever I traveled! Be sure and check in tomorrow to read more about the AC figure competition.