Wednesday, December 15, 2004

OK – I want to talk about T-Tapping because I will be incorporating it into my life and my blogs over the next year. This is my long-term goal: to get into the kind of shape that I desire by this time next year. For me, that would be fitting into a true size 10. I am currently a true size 16. At nearly 6 ft tall, I’m not fat, but more just a “big girl”. This goal challenges T-Tapp the t-tapp method, as my body tends to want to stay at either a size 16 or a size 12, and every time I’ve managed to get down to a 12, I have taken diet pills and exercised for several hours per day.

I’ll keep you up on my journey with my blogging here.

After January 1, 2005, I will take my measurements, get on a scale, and start getting more committed about following my routine. A few weeks ago, I made a commitment to get serious, but the holidays have thrown a cog into the whole works. There have been years when I have remained focused over the holidays, and it always feels good to come out of the holidays thinner than going in, but I was also taking diet pills then, and I am not going down that road again.

So let me tell you a little bit of what I know about T-Tapping, and what I have found out for myself. As I said in my last blog, I believe that T-Tapping is to exercise what ER4YT is to dieting: It is a life changing program that celebrates and takes into account our differences rather than taking the cookie-cutter approach. Teresa Tapp has a varied and interesting background that has allowed her to develop this program. Rather than get into it here, you can check it out on her site:

http://t-tapp.com/home/default.asp

One of the first things that you will notice when you go to her site are some pictures on the right hand side of people who participated in a 60 day t-tapp challenge. One of the problem areas that women, in particular, complain about is the “back fat”. Take a look at the winner of the challenge! I know of no other workout that can do what t-tapp has done for that woman, and I have tried them all. In particular, I have lifted weights since I was 13. I got into Universal weight lifting equipment in Jr. High and did that through HS. After HS, I was on a varsity team and Cornell University, and we had access to professional trainers. That’s when I started doing Nautilus and free weights. I needed to be very strong for my sport, but, unfortunately, the strength training that I did also bulked my up considerably. After college, I got involved with aerobics and using the newer types of weight equipment. Then I got into running, Pilates and step aerobics. Finally, I tried yoga and kickboxing and did those for several years. The problem with all of this was that, after leaving college, my body looked basically the same. It didn’t matter if I ran 6 miles or did step aerobics on 3 or 4 platforms (yup, I’m one of THOSE people) or did yoga or kick-boxed. My problem areas remained the same throughout. I had back fat, my stomach was never truly flat and my inner thighs always rubbed together. I would wonder how it was that a woman who ran half-marathons while still riding 6-8 horses per day could have thighs that chafed each other.

What I have found out from t-tapping is that the exercises that I was doing were not targeting my problem areas, but were, in fact, making them worse. No matter how many dead lifts, sit-ups or stretches I did, they were not doing what was needed for MY body.

T-Tapping, like the BTD, addresses different people differently. We are not all the same, and not all of us have the same needs. The NICE thing about T-Tapping that I have discovered, is that, after the initial learning of the program, it can be done far less than other exercise programs, and in a far shorter time, and you can still get great results.

OK – I’m going to run right now, but I’ll talk more about it tomorrow.