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!

Do You Need a Workout Plan?

Here's a great answer to the question Do you need a workout plan? 

It depends.

That's the truth,

If you need structure, maybe you do.

Or you crave variety and being surprised then having no set 'plan' may work better for you.

Either way, you need to show up and work your ass off consistently.

You can be one of those guys with the little notepad, writing down every set, weight and exercise. Or you can go into the gym and wing it all the way from your warmup to your workout and cooldown. You do a cooldown right?  I didn't think so.

I've had great training plans and made progress. I've also had no real plan and made progress.

Depending on what you want to get out of your training, you may need to track your workouts and stick to a plan. There's some flexibility here too. The best plans allow for changes to be made over the course of the weeks/months.

There are a million ways to structure a workout/plan so I won't get into that here.

I'll leave you with this.  You should try a program at least once. Stick to it for 3-4 months. If you hate it or just don't like being tied to a single program then you've learned some valuable information.

You don't always have to have a goal with your training. Fitness is good enough on it's own without a specific goal, but if someone has a burning desire for a goal, then I say go for it with all you have!

Rules are Made to be Broken

When you are running a fitness business you absolutely must have a presence on social media.  Or so they say. Who are "they" anyway? What else do "they" say?

You must have your post-workout shake within minutes of your last set or else all your lifting will be wasted and you will not grow any muscle... so they say..

"They" say a lot of things. Full range of motion. Compound movements first. Machines are worthless.. squat ass to grass..be hardcore, hustle.. Most of which I have learned. Then I learned to forget them.

I've been doing this all my life.

Whenever I didn't do this and I did what I was supposed to do, my results were average at best. It doesn't matter what I was doing. And more importantly, I am not happy when I go according to the "rules"..

What does this have to do with you and your fitness pursuits?  Glad you asked.

You have to learn the basics first. Of nutrition and training. The most effective ways to lift weights, burn fat, gain muscle and strength..

Once you learn your way around and you achieve some results you can start to tweak to your own design. Eventually you may break every rule.

I'll use myself as an example-  I ate every 3-4 hours, decent amount of lean protein, small amount of carbs, very small amount of fats. I saw some results.

I also made sure to focus on the "most important meal of the day"- breakfast and the post-workout shake. I got some results.

Eventually I started to break those rules. And guess what,  I got results that way too.

So yes, you need to learn the tricks of the trade. Gain some discipline and make some progress. Then you will hit a plateau. This is normal.

Then you start to experiment. Find out what really works for you. What speaks to you. What do you really enjoy and know that you will be consistent with?

Maybe one exercise is not effective for you or makes you feel too much pain in a joint. Or maybe it's one specific food you think you're supposed to eat, according to the rules, but you can't stand the taste of it and dread packing it in your lunch..

Break the rules. Find your own way.

As Jim Morrison once said "Learn to forget"..

That's what we need to do. In fitness and in life.  There's only one you and I believe that within each of us there's some sort of wisdom, an instinct and knowledge that we can align with, that will give us great strength and lead us to evolve and adapt as we go through life.

3 Times Per Week for 30 Minutes is all you need!

Have you seen the articles that say all you need is 3 workouts per week for 30 minutes each session? 

Is this just a bunch of bull?

Nope.

In my experience with clients, if a guy hasn't worked out in awhile 3 days per week for a half hour each will be plenty.

If you are starting up at the gym after a long break or if you've never trained vigorously in your life, then 3 days will be plenty.

On the other days you need to do some walking. Yes, walking. Outside, inside, at the mall. I don't care. Just get in a walk every day. Ideally you will walk an hour every day, even on days you train with weights.

But I get it. You don't have time as it is. How are you supposed to do something physical every single day?

You start small. 20 minute walks. 30 minute workouts.

Find a way.

How does anyone do it?

You make it a priority. It should be anyway.

Once you establish this healthy habit for a few months you are ready to take it up a notch. You will no longer be sore from workouts (not AS sore at least) and you have already 'made time' for your health and fitness. Now it's time to take it up a notch.

Shoot for an hour of physical activity every day.

This could be weights or cardio. But just messing around in the yard does not count. This is your time. Where you are working on improving yourself. An hour a day. You can dedicate this time to your most important asset- your health.

Start small. 30 minutes. Even 15.. but eventually you will need to do more. Embrace it.

Now get started. Go for a walk today.

That Damn Snooze Button

How did you start your day today?

Did you hit the snooze button?

That damn button is no good!

I know you don't want to be preached at. To have someone tell you to "do this, do that" or "stop doing this, stop doing that"..  I get it. I don't want anyone telling me what to do or what not do do.

It needs to happen on your own terms. On your own time. When you are ready. When will you be ready to change your life?

What will it take to make you decide now is the time? Today is the day I change my life for the better...

I can't be the deciding factor for you. No one can except the man in the mirror.

What I can do is tell you the benefits of changing your life with weight training and fitness.

You will have more energy. When you feel drained at work, or after work when you get home to your wife and kids or home to your girlfriend. It may seem counter-intuitive that by working out you will generate more energy but it's true. 

You will notice your body change on the outside. Looking in the mirror you will see your muscles pop, your belly shrink.. your shape will take on more of a masculine, attractive look.

When it comes time to work in the yard, or to move furniture, you will be more confident. Up and down the stairs you will have more air, you won't be out of breath as easy.

You'll sleep better. Eat better. You're standard of living will improve. Yep, all this from lifting weights on a regular basis.

Get on a program today.

Do something daily.

Don't do it for anyone other than yourself. Or if you find your motivation comes from wanting to be strong for your kids or your wife or whatever, then use that as fuel for your fire.

Whatever it takes, find a way to just do it. Morning, on lunch hour, after work, late at night in the garage.. etc.. Find a way, not an excuse.

Most people find an excuse.

But not you.

Be different. Be strong.

What gets you out of bed in the morning?

I remember it clearly.

It was the first day of my new life. My new work.

Work as a personal trainer and coach.

I could barely sleep. I was too excited. But I had no problem getting up at 5 a.m. when my alarm went off.

Of course, this doesn't last forever. No one gets up every single day like this, no matter how much they love their job, their passion etc.

But it makes me think of an important idea.

This idea about being excited. What motivates you to change your life?

I'm sure it's not seeing pics of models on the cover of men's health. Or some big gym sending you a flyer saying "get fit, get healthy!"..

But what will get you to change? What is the catalyst that can drive this difficult transition?

It's not for me or anyone else to know. No one can tell you what will drive you to get up at 5 a.m. and go train, when all you want to do is sleep another hour in a nice warm, cozy bed.

Only you can find that reason that will propel you when you get home from work and you are exhausted and stressed and hungry and just want to lay on the couch and watch sports center.

But what will it be? Is it to be healthy for your kids? And then grandkids? Is it to get lean so next summer you aren't embarrassed to take your shirt off? Maybe it's to prove to someone that you can do it.

The more the reason can resonate with you, the better the chance you will stick with it when things get tough. And they will.

Everyone can start and go a few weeks/months.

This can be tough enough and part of the barrier to being consistent with fitness is the fear of failure. That you will give up eventually. Go back to your old ways. Your will-power will run out of gas.

But if you have a powerful reason, that comes from deep within yourself, you will have much much better odds of sticking to it.

So if you don't know your reason yet or have lost your way, do some soul-searching. See what resonates with you. It may be totally different from the last time you committed to a fitness regimen.

If you're 45 years old and working long hours in a white-collar job, you're motives will be different than when you played high school baseball and wanted to be a better athlete, stronger and look muscular for the chicks. (maybe the last part is still the same)

This exercise of looking within to find what drives you to change into a better version of yourself, is so crucial. It's easy to overlook it. Many do.

Don't be one of them who think they can just will themselves into the gym when they sign up for a year at a big commercial gym. Thinking that because they pay $30 a month that they will automatically go and results will come.

Find what compels you, what drives you. And make this your best month ever.