Quick Holiday Workout

Yeah yeah I get it, you are soooooo busy. All day, every day, every week.. You work 3 jobs daily, have 12 kids and have absolutely no time to cook or work out.

Right?

I don't know about you but I get tired of these excuses. But I do understand. I can relate. I sympathize because I am human and I'm also busy.

Real quick story here-  Back when I was working 3 jobs (for real), being a single dad taking care of a child a few days a week and living alone (cooking/cleaning for myself) I had to find a way to get in some workouts. 

I had to "find" time.  What I really did was MAKE time.

No way to get to a gym? I would do a quick bodyweight workout on my lunch or at the end of the day or in the morning (my least favorite)

Truth be told, I hated bodyweight workouts. They felt lame. No weights, no clanging of plates and dumbbells. No benches or pulleys or cables or racks.

I would dread those workouts. But I found a way. Which meant I just did it. Even if it was just 20 minutes.

So today is a holiday and we are all busy, including myself. I had some clients this morning and I have family gatherings all day but I had a small window (that I created) of 30 minutes between clients and going home to get ready for the family holiday party.

Not enough time to drive to a gym and get warmed up and work out with weights, cardio etc..so I did a bodyweight circuit.

And honestly, I don't dread them anymore as much as I used to.  Maybe it's my age or the years of lifting under the barbell, but lately I almost (stress- almost) enjoy these high-intensity bodyweight circuits. Today's felt good.

Here's what I did- squats-15 reps, pushups 15 reps-bird dogs-12 reps-reverse crunchesx15-side crunchesx12-planksx30-reverse pushupsx15-

I went from one exercise to the next without rest. After the circuit I rested 30-45 seconds. I did 5 rounds. It took about 25 minutes. For the next 5 minutes I did some stretching/yoga/mobility flow movement. Done.

Work up a little sweat and feel better about your day and your self.

Take pride in the fact that you chose to do something. Instead of saying you have no time (but you have time to watch tv/play on the internet/social media etc.. Have some pride, it's ok. It means you worked on improving yourself today. And that's nothing to be ashamed of. Even if it's only bodyweight exercises and not anything exciting like a big heavy squat or deadlift.

Happy holidays to you and your family. And if you don't celebrate any holidays, have an awesome day!

Go Hard or Go Home?

Hey I'm all for going hard in the gym. You get what you give, right? The harder you work the better your results will be... for the most part.

But you have a life. You don't spend all your time and energy on working out and your nutrition and getting enough sleep, massage, stretching, yoga etc..

So this is where I say let's get realistic.

How much work can you do in a week to make progress? Should you always strive to do more? Or should you do just enough?

As with anything fitness-related, there are a ton of opinions on this and many studies, of course.

Here's my opinion, take it for what it is. My experience and my opinion. Works for a lot of people, but not for everyone.

Keep in mind that this is for a general fitness-enthusiast. It's a funny term, fitness-enthusiast, but when reading articles and books about fitness, remember that the writer has a specific person in mind. For me it's not an athlete. It's not a competitive bodybuilder or powerlifter. I am writing for the person who wants to get in better shape, get stronger and look better on the beach but who doesn't want to spend a ton of time in the gym (if at all) and who has a busy work life, family life and fitness is not the number 1 priority.

With that said...I'm not going to give you a number of days per week to workout or anything like that. What I want to do is give you an idea of how I like to structure going hard in the gym and having more "park bench" days.

One way that is very effective is to have a very hard day followed by an easier day. You could go heavier weight one day and the next you could do just bodyweight exercises and some machines (if at a gym)

Another great way to structure high intensity days is to just get after it when you get into the gym and feel like you are pumped, full of energy etc..

Not every day needs to be one of those all-out crazy marathon workouts where you leave every single drop of yourself in the gym and you have nothing left. Those memes that say you have to go hard or go home and that try to be hardcore and make everyone feel like if they don't basically pass out by the end of the workout that it's useless.

Pay no attention to memes on the internet! Seriously, they are the worst.

Mix in some very hard days with days that you go in work hard and do what you need to do. Put together enough of those and you will get where you want to go. Consistency is the key.  Not going as hard as possible for every single rep, exercise and workout.