Got my first hater!

Today's blog reminds me of the unknown wait that occurs when you begin to date someone that you really fancy - when that beautiful first kiss is going to happen. Today, after long years of waiting (I'm now blogging into my fifth year), I got my first "hater" comment today.

Because it's so complimentary, I've decided I'm going to share it with you and my thoughts on the subject. And, to think that I was resigned to "being boring" today now that my PMS has left the building....

Here is a copy of my wall plaque worthy first ever Hater Comment:

Liz you obviously are not far behind this person if you have taken the time to sit down & write this rubbish, who do you think you are to judge people on what they put on face book, aren't you supposed to be some guru trainer that supports people, the only thing you have is this blog, which gets more & more looking like it's author needs more help herself, how about you get off your butt & get outside & live your lean life instead of sitting front of your computer screen & watching face book to see if someone posts something you don't like :)

Here's my reply:

"Hi Anonymous,
Welcome to my blog (finally!) and thank you for your compliments. I never knew that in the whole time that I've been blogging and coaching others that I am regarded as a "guru trainer". I've always considered myself someone who has used their extensive University background to help make fitness and health accessible to anyone who wants to better their health and better themselves.

You're absolutely correct in saying that a nice coach will support people - a good coach will provide a dose of tough love. The clients that grow and achieve are the ones that take what they didn't want to hear, consider the information and go from there and do more than they ever imagined! There is tough love in my post and in real life I know this person I called out to be top notch. If anyone ever sees me Facebook between teaching tracks in RPM, I'd like you, especially to blog about it. I may be taking an unpopular line, but if you want to improve, you need to get off the phone and back on task. The status updates I mentioned all occurred within a thirty minute period - that's annoying in most people's eyes. Then to film it all (which I refrained from mentioning) is a little over the top, don't you think?

Anonymous, thank you so much for picking up that life has been a struggle over the past few months. Now that you know that I'm not a guru, and just an normal human being like everyone else, you'll understand that I have my ups and downs and ins and outs. And that the last year has been a bit of a downer for me.

Now Anonymous, I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest that you just may be part of my former subject's BFF brigade and probably have no idea about why I'm not a fan of her said BFF or why I'm tiring of self promoting Facebook posts, videos and the like. I was also friends with the BFF once. I supported the BFF as her star rose and she became the Editor for a well known fitness publication. I was really pleased for her, however these warm and fuzzy feelings quickly evaporated when I saw the first edition under her direction. Imagine my horror when I saw one of my "sorting fact from fiction" posts on her forum (written, like you said, to help and encourage others), plagiarized and presented as "Letters to the Editor - Ask the Expert". To say that I was gutted and felt betrayed by my supposed friend was the understatement of the century. Then there was the promise of including my photos in an article that I had written for the mag's sister publication. The photos that were being included are in this link.

Not only was the article published in the Sister Publication in my ex-friend's name, I was told by the publisher of the magazine that I "really wasn't looking my best that day". Gotta admit that it hurts a bit, when you think you look pretty darn good.

I did seek legal advice and got the right resolution out of this and a piss weak apology from the Publisher in his last Editorial about how I had "worked alongside" Ex Friend (the more accurate description being wrote and submitted pics for the entire article).

Yes, Anonymous, I have to admit the whole shebang has left a rather sour taste in my mouth and had me feeling down and out for awhile. I have had the internal debate raging within me for months about whether I should post my story and bits and pieces have slipped out over the months rather like an octopus falling out of a string bag.

To sum up Anonymous, I want to thank you for setting me free. I know it was your intention to give me a serve and put me back into my box, but that isn't ever going to happen. I've set the truth free now and I've released the monkey off my back and I can now go forward and keep doing what I do well - post user friendly and real fitness and health info for real people. And creep in some of my RPM exploits in there as well.

Thanks a million mate, you've made my day!
Cheers
Liz N


PS

It should be noted that any post you make on a forum remains yours under Copyright Protection and protection of your moral rights, no matter what the forum disclaimer says. And it's always good form to seek permission from the author if you wish to republish material. My unfortunate situation could have been avoided with the offending party simply asking permission to publish the works with credit going to the author. You know the story, credit where credit is due and nothing else....


PPS - beauty fades, dumb is forever...

Me too!

Yes, confirming that the gorgeous Selina was in this latest issue of Ultrafit in an article called "Deconstructing Cardio Training". Although I am expecting a formal apology in next month's magazine, the writing was mistakenly attributed to Lindy Olsen instead of myself, and I want to let everyone know that I am the author of the work (and the entire "Deconstructing" series that has featured in the magazine over the last six months or so). Lindy has modelled for some articles, but has played no part in the writing of them. It's been a real pain sorting it out, that is for sure. But I am pleased to see Miss S looking fantastic in the magazine, no question.

Now onto today's training - taught RPM this morning at Toowong. I've inherited the Friday 9.30am class from the beautiful Emma and had a great time teaching this morning. Then Shelley and I followed up with our weights. Drumroll please - 50kg incline bench today (2 reps, seeing me trying to do three was a real picnic...
Me: "noooooooo!!!!"
Shelley: "I have the bar"
Me: "ooohhhh nooooooo!!!!"
Shelley (racks bar) "see?"

Shelley's turn - Shelley is a bad ass - she nails four of these bad boys...
Me: "c'monnnnnn!!!!!"
Me: (gently beginning to assist) "lock out!!!!"
Shelley: "don't you dare help me!!!!!!!"
Shelley smashes the weight into the air (you beauty!).

We're not sure what Toowong or the PTs thought of us this morning - I commented to Shelley that I think Jinders is now used to our lifting antics and that we're going to have to " break "Toowong FF in.

Then off to buy all the fruit and veggies for the coming week (I will guess they may only last until Tuesday, but we shall see).

Credit where Credit is Due...

I've had this post bubbling away in me for quite a while, but hadn't known exactly how I wanted to express it. As is usual Liz standard, I'm just jumping headlong into this one boots and all.

When I started this blog back in 2006, it was to serve the purpose of writing about my journey to my second Figure Competition and my thoughts about prepping, training and eating well in a remote location. Things have changed a lot since then - as many of you would know, I started my online coaching business, "The Fitness Solution" in early 2007. I consider myself extremely privileged to have had the opportunity to connect with so many clients who have also become good friends. I have learned so much from my clients and have also learned about myself in the process - and have used my blog as a platform from which to dish my perspective about a whole slew of things, from fitness training through to emotional eating through to life's everyday mysteries. When I hear that something I have written about has had a positive effect on someone else or that another blogger relates to whatever conundrum I'm posting about, I'm really pleased. Even better, it's fantastic when you get credited publicly for such effect.

It also works in reverse - I have met so many bloggers who have inspired or helped me with a post that they have written and because I know how good I feel when I get credited for my stuff, I try to ensure I credit them if I am writing about something that has been directly inspired by them (for example, I couldn't write about Lamb Saag without crediting Kek ) . It's basic good manners and I believe that good manners makes the world a better place, because without good manners, the world can go downhill pretty fast.

The past few months I have been a victim of what I would call the one lowest common denominator in the variety of Online Pond Scum - that is the Copyright/Moral rights infringer. I have seen my blog posts and parts of my blog posts turn up on other peoples' websites/blogs as if they were their own. I've even had a forum post I wrote to help someone on a fitness forum turn up as someone else's work. The scary part was that I didn't know until a few readers sent me emails alerting me to the infringements.

Seeing this has really stirred up different emotions in me - the first initially was that I couldn't believe that anyone would want to plagiarize my writing and then that quickly turned to feeling like I'd been violated. I had thoughts of taking my blog private and thought that it might be a shame if anything I write really helps anyone. I don't want to sound like I have tickets on myself, but if I've helped make the world a better place, it's been worth it.

Being the idealist that I am, I hired a solicitor who is helping me sort out these issues. (compensation and removal of my writing from certain sites/blogs) I'm certainly not going to profit financially from any of this but I hope I'm sending a strong message that I will stand up to anyone I see trying to profit from my writing (or anyone else dear to me for that matter).

The more I've thought about it, I think that much of it boils down to really bad manners and some naivety on my part - I really believe that 99% of us are good, 99% of us do have good manners and give credit where it is due. I also want to stress to be wary of what you post in an Internet forum, even if it is with the good intentions of helping others or Facebook or Twitter for that matter.

I'm not going to stop writing and I can safely say that others influence my blogging in a big way. That said though, I want to ensure that I give credit where it is due and ask for the same in return.