Three topics today:
Hill sprints/fear/time management
Hill Sprints
When is the last time you ran up a hill as fast as you can?
I bet it’s been awhile.
If that’s the case, it’s time to find a hill and attack it.
For those of you who have never run a hill or haven’t in a long time, START SLOW!
Eventually you want to build up to running all-out but to begin, start with a more submaximal run.
You probably have many questions about the details of hill sprinting.
I understand, I was the same way when I first heard of this effective, powerful form of conditioning.
Let me just say first- forget about all the questions.
Just find a hill, get warmed up and start running. Each time go a littler harder, until you are going at about 80% on your last sprint.
A good number to shoot in the beginning is 4-6. Work up to 10-12 over time.
You will find great benefits from running hills.
Leg strength, fat-burning, improved conditioning, and a great test of your mental resolve.
Fear
Have you ever heard the phrase “false evidence appearing real”?
That’s how I think of fear.
So many things we fear turn out to be no big deal.
Are you afraid to try something new?
It could be a new workout or something in your personal life.
When I decided to quit my job in tv production to pursue my own business as a fitness coach, I was scared.
For months, I debated the pros and cons of the big decision.
Eventually, I just picked a day I would quit and I took the plunge.
It was scary all the way, but I did it anyway.
That’s the way we grow.
When I was procrastinating on making the leap, I thought people who were successful were not afraid. They somehow managed to avoid fear or they had something figured out that I didn’t.
What I learned from reading and listening to people I admired was that they were also afraid. They didn’t let the fear stop them.
Successful people feel the fear, and do it anyway.
It was liberating for me to hear people who I thought had it ALL figured out say they were scared but didn’t let that stop them.
Are you holding back due to fear?
Remember, fear is just false evidence appearing real.
Time Management
I love when people say “oh, it’s easy for them, they basically live in the gym”.. or it’s easy for that person because they have a chef and masseuse..
Or they would get so much more done if they didn’t have to work, support a family, clean the house, have a social life etc…
When someone says it’s easy for me to train because I’m a trainer and I live in the gym, I like to remind them that I was once in their shoes..
I worked an office job, along with two part-time jobs as a single dad who had my daughter twice a week at night. Every other day I worked early morning to late night.
There was no free time.
How did I work out?
It wasn’t perfect and it wasn’t pretty.
Mini-workouts became my friend.
Bodyweight training was also a key component of my workouts at that time.
I ran here and there between jobs, or in the dark before work.
Instead of going to lunch, I took my sled to the park and dragged it for twenty minutes, then ate my chicken and salad at my desk.
When it was raining outside, I would walk the stairwell for twenty-thirty minutes on lunch.
There’s ALWAYS a way, if you want it bad enough.
For me, being inactive, getting out of shape, gaining excess bodyfat, was NOT an option.
With determination and a mindset that won’t quit or give in to weak excuses, you can achieve GREAT things in life.
Sure, someone else may have “more time” or some better situation or circumstance than you, but that should NEVER be a reason you don’t get your body moving.
We all have just this one life. At the end, I want to know that I gave it my ALL. How about you?
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