Have you ever spoken with a personal trainer, and only heard the following…
Hello, my name is Billy the Great and I’m a personal trainer who was certified through (blah blah blah blah) and who has an ENDLESS supply of motivation – AND YOU DON’T! Muahahahaha! But lucky for you, you’re paying me TONS of money to have me bark orders at you in an effort to manipulate you into doing unpleasant things for a whole hour, three times per week. And it’s a good thing, too! You NEED someone like me to help rescue you from your plight of being a fat slob and having ZERO motivation to save yourself. But don’t worry, I’ve got plenty of motivation to spare. In fact, for just a little more money, I can provide you with some extra inspiration you NEED to succeed. So, it’s a good thing you hired me, for YOUR sake, if ya know what I mean! Now, pardon me while I go refresh my cologne and check out my gunz in the mirror.
See what I mean? The holier-than-thou, egotistical shtick aside, there’s this rampant idea in our culture that personal trainers, fitness coaches, and strength and conditioning specialists – among others – have superhuman sources and abundant reserves of motivation to succeed day-in and day-out. Naturally, they’re described as driven people. They just get it done because they’re fired up all the time, and most other normal people just aren’t born this way and don’t have access to this level of motivation. Right?
Well, hold your horses there, hot shot, because that isn’t exactly true – not by a long shot. Sure, it may be somewhat true that most fitness professionals, in general, tend to be more tapped into their sources of motivation than your average Joe, and exemplify character traits like determination, persistence, and self-discipline as a result. But that doesn’t mean all fitness pros are like this all the time. Quite the contrary.
Allow me to use a personal example to explain. I’ve been involved in physical training pretty much constantly since I was 11 years old. Exercise has simply always been a part of my life, and there haven’t been many times that I’ve had an extended break (ie longer than a week off from training). But there have been plenty of times when the motivation to train wasn’t entirely there. And I couldn’t possibly keep track of the number of days that training time has come around and I simply didn’t want to do it. And truth be told, there have even been entire seasons of my life when training was not something I looked forward to. So, yes, my motivation to train has run dry many a time.
But I’ve always stuck with it, no matter what, because that’s what men and women do. They stick with it. They get it done. They do what they have to do because it needs to get done. And it’s as simple as that. Or, is it? Continue reading How Fitness Professionals Stay Motivated To Train (Hint: We Don’t!)
A Simple 7-Step Blueprint To Maximize Your Health, Fitness, and Quality Of Life By Pursuing Excellence In Your Physical Training Regime In A Systematic And Holistic Manner
 There are many ways to skin a cat, and virtually unlimited ways to improve your health, fitness, and quality of life through some form of physical training, practice, or recreation. My journey through this realm has brought me many places and has had me try many different things in an effort to find what works best.
And so, today, I want to present you with a simple blueprint for optimizing your physical training regime in a systematic and holistic manner in an effort to help you maximize your health, fitness, quality of life, and the other various benefits you receive from training – using the best knowledge I currently possess.
It should be noted that this is most certainly not the easy way to go about these things. This isn’t something that can be done in a matter of weeks or in 20-30 minutes per day. Certainly not! But you can start there if you need to. Heck, start at one minute per day if you have to!
Also, an underlying principle in this method is gradual progression. It may very well take years to acclimate yourself to using the full gamut I’m about to present to you, and it’s a process that should not be rushed. That said, here are the key areas I would suggest you address in your training program. In my opinion, some ares are more important than others for most people, and this isn’t necessarily the order that would be best-suited for you – your needs, goals, and circumstances.
Continue reading The 7 Crucial Elements Of A Balanced Physical Training Regime
Discover The 5 Easiest Strategies To Systematically Destroy Your Health, Decrease Your Quality Of Life, Inhibit Your Daily Performance, And Dramatically Decrease The Risk Of Living a Long Healthy Life
 If you want to look older, feel older, and dramatically increase your risk of kicking the bucket sooner than expected, then you’ve come to the right place! Inside this super-secret, wealth-infused tome of blueprint-esque tips from the demi-gods (aka “the gurus”) of health, fitness, weight loss, and elite athletic performance, you’ll find tons of golden nuggets scattered everywhere about everything you need to know to make your hopes and dreams a reality.
Finally, achieving your goals couldn’t be easier, and if you ACT NOW, you can learn exactly what you need to do in just five easy steps…
1) You can start by sitting around all day. Not only should you remain sedentary at home and at work, but you should avoid any and all forms of exercise or physical activity in general. Besides, no single activity could do more damage than this, and according to recent research, sedentary behavior is more destructive to health than smoking a pack of cigarettes per day. Speaking of smoking…
2) While you’re sitting there, you could improve your results by ingesting toxic substances regularly. Now, don’t get me wrong here. I’m not saying you should do anything illegal, as that would be quite a problem indeed. Besides, you can get much the same effects on your brain chemistry from pursuing a sugar addiction as you can from crack cocaine. Who needs narcotics, anyway? Just make sure you’ve got a steady supply of alcohol, tobacco, or sweet tarts (etc.), and get to work. Once you’ve chosen your vice, only then should you worry about having a surplus on hand (max out those credit cards!). And once you do, use liberally.
Continue reading 5 Easy Ways to Accelerate Aging and Reduce Your Expected Lifespan – GUARANTEED!
Discover The So-Called Physiological Reasons Why Some People Are Hard-Wired To Hate Exercise And Learn The Simple, Rarely-Acknowledged Solution To Overcome This Predicament
Note: that photo cracks me up every time.
I know a few people who just hate exercising. Period. And truth be told, I can’t blame them. Exercise can be both boring and exciting, hard and easy. And if it’s a whole new world for you, it can be difficult to make exercise right for you (so that it’s both enjoyable and rewarding). In fact, I’d even go as far to say that most people who start exercising for the first time do so in both a boring and hard manner, which one could argue, predisposes oneself to a higher likelihood of failure. That’s just the way it goes most of the time, and it should come as no surprise when we look at the rate of quitters in the exercise community. Don’t believe me? Just join a gym around New Years and you’ll see what I mean.
Now, I was reading an article in The Wall Street Journal (thanks to John Belkewitch of Day 1 Personal Training for the reference) about how certain people seem to be hard-wired to exercise, and others are not. It was a fascinating read that sheds much-needed insight into some of the inner-workings of our physically-starved culture, and even offers a simple solution for how to improve the situation we’ve been spiraling down into for decades.
So, what I’ve done is post most of the relevant sections of the article (ie practically the whole thing actually), and I’ve included my commentary beneath each one. This is also an exercise in transparency for me because what follows is basically an inside-look at my thought-processes while reading health and fitness articles in mainstream media sources. And yes, I do come a bit unhinged sometimes. So, prepare thyself.
But alas, I’m posting my thoughts for you here, complete with a direct explanation as to the solution for those who tend to hate exercise or avoid physical activity, in general (but that’s not you, right?). You’re gonna hate me when I’m done. Ok ok. Hate may be too harsh a term. You may be slightly unsettled and feel a distinct annoyance towards me after reading this. Please hold the redhead jokes.
Continue reading Why Certain People Are Hard-Wired to Hate Exercise (and what to do about it)
Just a few minutes ago, I typed in “new year’s resolutions” into Google and clicked on the first result, which was titled, “Top 10 New Year’s Resolutions” (source here).
 According to that article, the number one New Year’s resolution is to spend more time with family and friends. That’s followed up by a list of things revolving around improving health and fitness and quitting addictions, but also with things such as serving others and getting more out of life, in general. They’re all fantastic things to want to change. And who wouldn’t want to spend more time with those that matter most, and who wouldn’t want to be healthier, fitter, and enjoy a higher quality of life? My hand is raised, too!
Now, you’d think with so much sheer desire that many of these resolutions would be fulfilled, but we all know that isn’t exactly the case. And I’m going to argue that the massive failure in resolution-seekers is because we have a poor understand of how to change habits that is only made worse through the annual New Year’s Resolution binge that serves as a terrible example.
Every Day Is New Year’s Resolution Day
Not too long ago, I read something by fitness professional, Craig Ballantyne, who is the creator of the popular Turbulence Training Program. He said that “every Monday is New Year’s resolution day.” I like that, and I think there’s some truth to it, but only some.
As I write this, it is Monday afternoon on January 28th, 2013. That, my friends, is a fact. It is also a fact, that for most people, Monday is the beginning of a new week – not all that unlike how January 1st is the beginning of a new year. It’s a fresh start, a new opportunity to seize the day and actively pursue and achieve the goals you’ve established for your life. Yes, it’s true that it isn’t technically a New Year’s resolution, but “Monday resolutions” sounds corny. How about we call them “new life resolutions” because isn’t that what we want, after all, a higher quality of life?
But here’s the thing, even though Monday is like January 1st fifty-two times a year, the whole idea of New Year’s resolutions is a distraction – an illusion. While we’re at it, why don’t we imagine having New Month’s Resolutions, New Week’s Resolutions, and even New Day’s Resolutions? Who’s to say we can’t make a New Life Resolution any day we want? It’s certainly not subject to happening on just the first of the year or the first of the week!
Continue reading Why Every Monday is Like New Year’s Day
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