Well, look who just showed up here–YOU! Thanks for coming, and I hope you enjoy your stay. There are lots of blogs, photos and a forum that might interest you.
Much of this site is about fitness, which is “fitting” so to speak, since I am a 2006 Body for Life Champion, and fitness athletics is one of my passions!
I have also within the last few months begun to try my hand (feet actually!) at running again. Running is one of those things no one is “lukewarm” about. You either love it or hate it–though I have found you can both love and hate it at the same time, too! So, I’m gradually adding some running info on this site as well.
My other passions are my faith and my family. Leave me a note if you have questions or problems with the site–I’m a judge, not a webmaster! Nothing gets fixed instantly anymore because the webmaster, my son, actually has a real job too!
-Mike Harris
This is a video of me speaking on the Champions for Life Cruise in July 2008
After the Challenge–What Then?
by: Michael Harris 3/19/2007
So, your results were good, and you’re looking forward to living a “normal life” now. Only one thing is bothering you–you’re not sure what that is going to look like. You are also more than a little worried about your ability to hold onto this newfound you, right?
First, the “good [...]
Getting the Most out of Your Time Between Transformation Challenges
by: Michael Harris 3/18/2007
Are you planning another challenge after finishing the one you’re in now? If so, the material that follows should be of some interest and some help to you. It seems like roughly one-half of those who start and complete a 12 week transformation challenge [...]
THE UNRECOGNIZABLE BODY FOR LIFE ROUTINE!Tweaks are a common occurrence and usually a common cause for discussion on this forum. Over and over, it is debated whether the “latest and greatest” science is the way to go, rather than that which is in a book from 10 years ago. The debate rages both in the [...]
Here is a rerun of a blog I did for the Body For Life website, in late May 2007. It is right where I am today, coming back again and again to the basics of this program. So, I thought I would share it with you readers!
The Simplest Program There Is!
by: Michael Harris 5/30/2007
This blog is actually just a guestbook post I wrote recently on the Body for Life guestbook. Its purpose was to inform others that anyone can do a championship level challenge, but that sudden enthusiasm or a quick attempt to catch up on missed opportunities is not going to work.
Whenever anyone does an excellent job, [...]
BEFORE YOU EAT THAT JUNK!!
Go through this little checklist that those of us who are prone to addictive behavior often use in order to avoid doing the wrong thing for the wrong reason:
1. Hungry? Am I truly hungry, or is this a craving ignited by something as simple as a whiff of good food [...]
The days of Barney Fyfe are long gone and law enforcement, military, and para-military people are professional to the core. So, it’s hard to imagine even that a conversation like this could occur between law enforcement officers: “Hey Jim, would you mind swinging by my apartment before we answer that call? I just realized I [...]
When Will It Ever End???
What did you think when you read the title of this blog–that I was going to be complaining about some form of torture or a deep problem I was experiencing? Well, actually, I am thinking about something very good that is happening right now, and wondering when it will end!
The very [...]
“ What the mind can conceive, the body can achieve!”
I’ll grant you that the thought above is somewhat true though certainly the mind cannot transcend the normal laws of physics or whatever. And I always read that quote above in a triumphant statement of what someone is going to do! However, that’s not what this little [...]
My alarm didn’t wake me this morning–I simply woke up at 5:18 a.m., and the alarm was set to go off at 5:30. I was “tempted” to just lie there until I hard the alarm, but instead I simply got up and went out to do what I needed to do. My morning reading, study [...]
Well, it’s Monday all over again. Mondays for me are probably different than Mondays for most of you, and I really kind of like them! Monday is a work day, but not a day I have to go in as early or work as structured as most of my other days. I can work a [...]
If I had to name the four biggest reasons people fail their body for life challenge, other than laziness, I would say they are fear, resentment, self-pity and guilt! What? Not things like failure to plan, or injuries, or “life getting in the way?” No, the truth is that [...]
Mother’s Day! Every year I think about what I would have turned out like if I hadn’t been raised by my mother, and I shudder to think what it could have been like without her.
My mom, born “Thelma Jean Taylor” in Horton Michigan on July 31 1922 was one of three children in that family. [...]
Here’s a “blog” I put up on the body for life guestbook today. I think it is important enough to run it here as well!
If you’ve been around the guestbook for any time you’ve no doubt seen some of my blogs about how important it is for you to become part of the fitness community [...]
Today’s blog concerns a phenomenon I’ve noticed taking place more and more often. I’ll just call it “tweaking” for simplicity’s sake, but it is really even more than that. What I often see happening is a trainee taking the body for life program and then modifying both the workouts and the diet to a point [...]
Last summer on the Champions Body for Life Cruise I was asked to do a short program on the elements of doing a challenge, and just for the fun of it I threw in a few minutes about the differences between men and women–both generally and while doing a transformation. Well! That little few minutes [...]
One of the most common reasons given for failing to successfully finish a challenge is peer pressure. Peer pressure is a real and powerful phenomenon. But it’s not as simple as it seems. Most people who feel what they say is peer pressure are experiencing a combination of peer pressure and low self-confidence. This is [...]
They are just one letter apart, two of the most important words in the English language–”think” and “thank.” From my perspective, most people do far too much of one, and not near enough of the other!
Trust me–I’m not an anti-intellectual! Believe it or not, I once ran a think tank in Lansing Michigan, an organization [...]
The Few, The Proud, The Persistent!
The title here is the beginning of the Marines’ recruiting slogan. The Marines’ slogan ends with, of course, “the brave,” but it didn’t seem to fit here, because I’m talking about those who do BFL!
As much as I would like to say that bravery counts in a good BFL challenge, [...]