Fitness Friday – The Unofficial Official Gym Rules

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The gym can be a scary place, sometimes feeling more like an untamed jungle rather than a place people come together to do fitness. There’s treadmills, ellipticals, barbells, dumbbells, and machines all ready to be used once the membership fee is paid. It can be extremely intimidating for a newbie let alone a seasoned fitness enthusiast. Not only are there tons of different ways to work out but it feels like there almost as many rules, both official and unofficial. It can be a little overwhelming. Though many of the rules are posted by the gym for everyone to follow there are unofficial rules which can get you penalized by the other patrons.

For those who decide to take a moment to Google “gym rules” or “gym etiquette,” the results can be dizzying. Men’s Journal, for example, had a list of 5 rules while Nerd Fitness had 29 rules and Muscle and Strength had 50. How are we supposed to remember them all? Well, I’m here to help. The gym is scary enough without having to remember a million different Gym Rat rules. Let’s get started:

Follow the Rules at the Gym: I pulled this straight from the Nerd Fitness article on gym etiquette, I linked to above, but I think it’s an important place to start. While many gyms have similar rules, there will be differences. There may even be different rules within a particular gym chain depending on size and the type of equipment. Understanding what should or shouldn’t be done at a particular gym location is important. It doesn’t matter whether or not we feel the rules are “dumb,” to train there, the rules must be followed.

Clean Up: This might sound basic and simple but sadly some gross people attend gyms. When it comes to cleaning up first we need to ensure all the equipment we use is put away when we are finished. This includes barbell weights, dumbbells, medicine balls, kettlebells, etc. This is not our home where we can leave things all over the place. When we’re are done with the equipment, put it back. Forgetting this rule will definitely get garner some angry looks.

Second, it’s important to wipe down the equipment when we’re finished. This includes the benches, machines, and the cardio equipment. I know it can feel badass to be dripping in sweat after a tough workout, but I promise no one else wants our nastiness on them. Not only will many gyms provide towels for free for those who forget one but they usually have Lysol/disinfectant wipes around the gym for this express purpose. Gym owners generally try to keep their facilities clean but they need help to ensure germs don’t get passed around like a preschool.

Lastly, we should carry our workout shoes with us into the gym and not on your feet, especially in inclement weather. This helps ensure the nastiness outside doesn’t get dragged into the gym for everyone to share. Sure it might take an extra couple of minutes to change our shoes out but it is better for everyone in the long run.

Shut up and Train: A gym is a place for us to work out and training. Many people show up to get in, run through their routine, and get out. This isn’t a social club for them. They are here for business. What does this mean for us? It means we need to be respectful of those around us and not hinder their progress. It means get in, use a piece of equipment, and move on to our next exercise. Sure we can take a few moments in between sets, but not to pull out our phone to check the news or mess around on Facebook. And let’s keep the selfies to a minimum. Get in and get out.

This also means observe the time limit on the cardio machines, especially during prime time. Typically, there’s a 30-minute time limit which more than enough time for a decent workout. Get off when times up. You can always get back on when someone else is done or come back later. Be respectful of other gym goers who want to work out as well.

Don’t Hog Equipment: The gym is a first come, first serve kind of place. If a piece of equipment is being used we might have to wait (weight?) or work on something else. This goes for everyone. If we are using a piece of equipment they’ll need to wait for us.

This being said, there is a difference between using equipment and hogging it. Using equipment for exercises other than what they are intended for, like the squat rack for non-squat related exercises, is a big no-no. Use the equipment and move on. Equipment like the squat racks tends to be very popular with the serious members.

This also includes routines which require a variety of equipment like circuits or supersets. Trying to commandeer too many benches, dumbbells, and other gym pieces will the anger people around us, especially if the gym is crowded. If the gym happens to be slow with a handful of people, go nuts. More often than not, however, we’ll need to change up our routine.

Be Courteous to Each Other: This is one of the bigger sections but also one of the most important. What does be courteous mean exactly? It means a bunch of things. Don’t be creepy. (I’m looking at you, guys). There are people of all types in the gym and none of them want to be stared at. Focus on the workout and keep it moving. At the same time dress appropriately. Sure everyone has a different personality they want to show off at the gym but it should still be tasteful. This isn’t meant to single out men or women. I’ve seen crazy things from both genders. Shorts which were too short and shirts that aren’t covering anything. This also means clothes should be clean. We shouldn’t smell like we worked out before we make it through the gym doors.

Ensure those around us have enough space whenever possible. I know I don’t like strangers in my personal space when I’m working out and I know I’m not alone. Stay out of other people’s bubble. This goes for listening to music in the gym as well. We shouldn’t be listening to our own music without headphones and the volume set at a reasonable level. No one wants to listen to my workout mix of N’Sync, Taylor Swift, and Britney Spears, but me. Similarly, phone calls should be done away from the equipment and while on the exercise bike.

Lastly, unsolicited advice is an unfortunate part of going to the gym, and I’ve heard is even more prevalent with guys mansplaining to women. (I’m sorry ladies but men are dumb). The only reason we should give advice is if asked or if someone is about to do something dangerous. If neither things have occurred, then we don’t say anything. It’s called unsolicited for a reason. There are times a Gym Bro will feel the need to share their wisdom with us. Feel free to smile and nod then continue with what you were doing. If they start becoming harass-y report them to a gym employee. I love the line Staci, from the Nerd Fitness Team, gives: “I appreciate your input, but I’ve got to finish my workout now. I’m on a tight schedule.”

All of this advice comes down to following the Golden Rule. We may pay to use the gym but so does everyone else there. Similarly, the gym employees are there to maintain the place for us, not to be our maid. This isn’t our house. We don’t make the rules. We are a part of a micro-society of fitness goers so don’t be a jerk. This means we should treat the gym better than we would want a guest staying at our home.

Is everyone going to follow the rules? No, but this doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do better. I know the gym can be a scary place but it can be a little less scary when we know what to expect. Mistakes will happen but we will learn from them and do better next time. We’ve got this. Now go out there and get some fitness.

Mom, I Persevered!

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My oldest son is an interesting and funny kid. About two weeks ago he came downstairs, before school, to ask me what persevered meant. Now any parent of kids will know these “life” questions tend to come out of thin air, but this question felt especially unusual for 7:30 in the morning. Wanting to be a good, helpful parent I did my best to define the word for him. Then he asked me if he had ever persevered? “Damn, kid, this is a little heavy for a Friday morning,” I thought to myself, but I tried to give him examples of times when he persevered. Then I went to work and didn’t think much of it.

A couple hours later I was randomly messing around on Facebook and noticed my wife’s post My oldest waking her up in the MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT to ask about persevering. I lost it. This kid is too funny. Of course, he would wake up in the middle of the night because he was worried if he, in his short, little life, has persevered.

Later, after he got out of school, my wife took my kids to a rock climbing wall to run them down a little. (Parents you know what I’m talking about). My oldest struggled for a little bit but it didn’t take him long to make it to the top. Once he hit the bell at the top, he looked down, and yelled, “I persevered!” God, I love this kid!

For those who don’t know, like me until I started writing this post, the official definition of perseverance from Merriam-Webster is a “continued effort to do or achieve something despite difficulties, failure, or opposition: the action or condition or an instance of persevering: Steadfastness.” Basically, it’s when we keep at a task or goal even when it’s hard and we suck at it. It’s Thomas Edison with the light bulb or Martin Luther King, Jr. with the Civil Rights Movement.

This begs the question, where does perseverance come from? Why are some people able to persevere when challenges are placed in front of them and others fold like a house of cards? Is perseverance something we are born with or can it be learned? Well, thanks to the research of Carol Dweck we have a pretty good idea of how to answer these questions. Ultimately, it comes down to whether an individual has adopted a Fixed Mindset or a Growth Mindset.

Fixed vs. Growth Mindset:

“That’s great, Joe, but what’s the difference?” Well, those with a fixed mindset believe people’s basic abilities, intelligence, creativity, and talents are predetermined at birth. They are unchangeable. This makes an individual’s goal to always look smart and avoid looking dumb as much as possible. This leads to an avoidance of challenges to prevent failing because failing means, “they suck!” If they do put themselves out there and they fail it can be devastating, defining their personality forever. These people tend to put themselves into boxes likes:

I’m not creative
I’m not a people person
I’m not athletic
I suck at writing
I can’t get in shape
I’m lazy
I’m a procrastinator
I’m an introvert

It becomes about talent over skill. They either have it or they don’t. They focus on who they are rather than who they can become.

People with a Growth Mindset, however, believe the abilities and talents they were born with can develop through hard-work, dedication, and practice. When they work on growing their skills it helps to strengthen their motivation, which creates a love of learning and builds resiliency. They know their skills are a starting point and though not everyone is a genius, they can become smarter with persistence and education. There is a willingness to face challenges instead of running from them realizing setbacks are temporary and success takes time. Criticism is a growth tool, for them, rather a judgment on their character. Lastly, they are able to improve because they are able to focus on the type of person they want to be instead of who they are currently.

Now, while it’s easy to make this black and white seeing some people have fixed mindsets and others have growth mindsets, life tends to be a little gray. There are times we will have fixed mindsets about ourselves but will also work on personal growth projects. We work to change while fighting to keep things the same.

I know for myself, I spent most of my non-adult life with a fixed mindset. I was “smart” as a kid so I didn’t have to work hard, I was pretty good at playing the saxophone so I didn’t really need to practice, and of course, I was a starter in Fencing because I was better than most of the people on the team. (Yes, I know I’m a nerd. It’s cool). I had the talent and others didn’t. I was arrogant. As I grow up, I realized I had to work for the things I truly wanted. Getting into my college fraternity, completing boot camp, and in shape to get a better fitness test score all took energy and work. I had flashes of a growth mindset but still, my fixed mindset prevailed. Recently, I’ve been working to change my mindset through hard-work, dedication, and practice. Slow and steady.

Developing a Growth Mindset:

It’s easy to say we need to develop a growth mindset but the question becomes “how?” Are there things we can do to change how we see the world? Sure there are but the important thing to remember, as with anything, developing the growth mindset “skill” will take hard work and patience. Here are some things we can do to cultivate this mindset.

Practice Failing: One of my favorite stories of individuals who have a growth mindset comes for Spanx Founder Sara Blakely. One of the things her dad would ask her at dinner each night was, “What have you failed at this week?” Each time he wanted her to have an answer. This wasn’t the request of an obsessive father who wanted his daughter to be perfect. This was a man who wanted his daughter to try new things, be adventurous, and not worry if she wasn’t the best.

We need to try things that scare us and we might find new things we actually enjoy. At the very least it will help us get comfortable with the uncomfortable. It was this one little question Ms. Blakely attributes to her success and being the youngest self-made female billionaire in America. We may not become a billionaire but maybe it will help us live the life we’ve always dreamed.

Work on Weaknesses: We all have a good idea of our strengths and weaknesses. This makes it easier to avoid the things we aren’t good at to focus on where we excel. This can limit our growth potential since we have become afraid of trying new things. In a similar vein to practice failing, we need to embrace our weaknesses. We don’t need to be scared of them but rather work on them making them better. Our flaws don’t need to hold us back but can be fun changes as we try to improve.

Learn Something New Every Day: One of the keys to a growth mindset is the ability and willingness to learn something new. This doesn’t need to be some amazing revelation about the meaning of life but could be a fun fact for the day. Something like: did you know a great white shark can only breathe when they are moving? If they stop moving they will die so they never sleep.

While it’s a good idea to take time each day to read, we can pick up our information from anywhere. Podcasts, audiobooks, YouTube, or even the next door neighbor all have something they can teach us if we are willing to learn. There’s also no better teacher than experience. Have a leaky faucet in the house or apartment? Find a YouTube video or Wikihow and try to fix it without the plumber. The point is to get out of our comfort zone and continue to learn.

Develop Identity Based Habits: I wrote about this a couple weeks ago talking about who we want to become. This is extremely important for a growth mindset. By focusing on who we want to become we are focusing on the process rather than the results. Here’s what I mean. “I want to lose 10 pounds,” is a result. It is what we want to happen. If we change the thought to “I want to be a healthier person,” then we are focusing on who we want to become. We are thinking about long-term goals and become interested in learning how to be healthier overall. What should we eat, how should we exercise, and what else can we do to increase our overall health? These are all things we get to explore, and more when becoming a healthier person.

I recently decided I want to become a freelance writer. If I was asked six months to a year ago if this was my plan, I probably would have laughed. When I think about it now I’m excited, and more than a little terrified. For years I only thought about monetary goals. I wanted to be a millionaire. I wanted to be rich. I bounced from idea to idea like Tigger from Winnie the Pooh because I didn’t care what I did as long as the money was there. Now I’m focused on who I want to be when I grow up. I’m focusing on the process and not the results of making money.

I know it’s easier to focus on the results because they are a tangible we can track, which is important. These numbers are still important to track to show we are heading in the right direction but if we only care about the numbers we will look for shortcuts. People who concentrate on who they want to become and the process to get them there will have increased, longer lasting results.

In the end, each mindset has its place but if we want to learn to be better than we were yesterday, we have to adopt a growth mindset. We need to remember our God-given talents and skills are only a starting point and it is our job to develop them further. We have to do away with words like “I can’t” or “I’m not a (fill in the blank)” and spend more time saying, “I can” and “This is who I want to be.”

There’s no doubt the world is a scary place and no one wants to be made fun of or thought of as dumb. It can be easy to hide in our little holes afraid to experience the world but then we spend our life scared of our own shadow. Sure a fixed mindset is safer in the short-term but in the long-term, our life is like a treadmill. We put thousands of miles on our bodies but never go anywhere. It’s time for us to go somewhere.

My 2018 Year in Review

2018 Year in Review:

I’ve finally gotten around to do my Year in Review. This is something I saw the author of Atomic Habit James Clear and the freelance blogger Kaleigh Moore as a way reflect on the Good, the Bad, and what I learned over the past year. This will be a little rough since this is my first one but I plan on making this a regular thing.

Without further ado…

The Good –

I had a baby girl: To start things off, in September, during Hurricane Florence, my wife and I had our 3rd child and our 1st little girl. She is cute as a button and the whole family loves her to pieces. The best part was deciding to have her at home. IT WAS AWESOME! I woke up around 3:30 am, called the Midwife, the Doula, and the Birth Photographer to come in around 4:30 am, and our baby girl was here by 5:45 am. The Midwives setup everything, they cleaned up everything, and when they left it was like they were never there, except we had a new baby. Thanks to my wife I’ve been an advocate for natural and homebirths for some time now but this was my first homebirth. I couldn’t imagine any other way.

It’s taken some time to get used to having a new baby in house and I’ve personally had some growing pains juggling three. Still I’m thankful to have her in our lives and I couldn’t imagine our family any other way.

Started Lifting again: In April I decided to start lifting again to get my body in shape for the beach trip back in August. My wife, knowing how much I wanted a garage gym, bought me a Squat Rack for Christmas, and, after taking my sweet ass time putting it together, I finally got after it. I LOVED IT! There is nothing like working out in your home. I would roll out of bed, stumble into the garage, put on my lifting shoes, and work out. The best part was how successful I was at it. From the end of April until our trip in the beginning of June, I lifted four times a week, each week. That was over three months, which is the most consistency I’ve had working out ever in my life. Nothing was going to slow me down. I wanted to drop the weight and turn myself into a brick house at the same time. It worked and it was good.

Started a Blog: This is the thing I’m most proud of this year. When I finally decided I wanted to start a blog back in October, I honestly had no idea what would happen. I didn’t know how far I would go or if I would quit because things got too hard, like most things I start. Surprisingly, I’ve been writing for almost three months and almost 50 blog posts now, which is still shocking for me. It goes to show what can be accomplished when it becomes a priority. I have lots of plans for this blog and I can’t wait to see where this goes.

The Bad –

Lifting has been spotty lately: When I started lifting in April I became surprisingly happy. It was still taking me some time to get up in the morning but I didn’t miss workouts because I knew how important it is to be consistent. Then I went on vacation and things went sideways. Between the break and not having ready access to my home gym for a month, my fitness went out the window. Then my baby girl was born and I barely had the energy to function let alone workout. From August to December I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve worked out which was extremely frustrating. Since December I’ve slowly started building this practice again but it’s slow.

Lost almost 25 lbs but gained ten back: One of my main reasons for lifting was to drop, from over 240lbs, down to 215 lbs by my vacation in August. Though I didn’t make the goal I did come close, hitting a low of 219 lbs. This represents the lowest I’ve been since I left the Navy which is awesome. It took a lot of hard work, dedication, and plenty of missteps.

So I had the discipline to drop almost 25 lbs in several months, which was a real accomplishment for me but it didn’t take much for me to gain a good portion of this back. Between the lack of a solid routine, lack of exercise, and the holidays my old bad habit quickly came back. It’s made me feel like a failure. I know this is a bump in the road and I’m more focused on it now but building the habit back will take some time.

I found I still get derailed easily: Routines, while tedious, are great for a reason. They help to keep us consistent. When we break the consistency there is the tendency to lose the routine all together. Then when we want to restart the routine it takes twice the effort. There’s the desire to start the routine but the emotional baggage which comes with it. The frustration of being a failure, the memory of how difficult it was to start the first time, and the willpower to start again when it feels easier to let go. These are all the things I’ve been feeling since August and it didn’t take much.

I don’t know if it was the week away, the emotion stress of having massive amounts of flooding damage due to a broken water heater, the new baby, or a combination of all of it but the grit wasn’t there. I’ve tried to get back into the routine kicking and screaming and I’m finally starting to make progress. Fitness, eating, drinking water, writing, and a variety of other things will gradually need to be worked on this year. I know I need to take it one step at a time to create compound results.

What I learned –

Babies don’t get easier the more you have: This should be a no brainer but apparently I still need to learn things the hard way. Babies are babies no matter how many someone has in their family. They take time, patience, and energy. They take our routines, throw them out the window, and force us to get us to a new normal. It can be difficult to feel like there’s a light at the end of the tunnel when caring for a newborn and it can be difficult to ask for help. I had to remember it was okay and I’ll get through it. Thankfully, after four months things are starting to calm down.

Writing is more difficult than I thought: First, writing isn’t difficult. It’s fairly easy. Writing with intent and with a purpose is the difficult part and I thought it would get easier. The thing is good writing takes time and energy. It takes patience and a willingness to persevere, even when the “I don’t feel like it” or “I’m not in the mood,” for me to keep going. It’s not always fun but I know, in the end, I’m making progress and becoming a better writer.

Don’t be afraid to ask for help: Recently, I recruited my brother-in-law to be an accountability buddy (accountabilibuddy?). This one little step has helped me more than I had imagined. I’ve always considered myself someone who didn’t need anyone’s help to make changes in my life. It’s the “I can’t help you if you can’t help yourself,” mentality. Since I started working out with my brother-in-law I am becoming more consistent. I’m working out multiple times a week and even adding some running into the mix. It’s still a far cry from perfect but I’m making it.

You won’t get anywhere if you don’t start: For years I’ve hated the direction my life was heading. I didn’t feel like I was growing as a person. I kept learning all of these new things but either not applying them or not willing to share. I was on a treadmill heading towards a dead end. Then I started this blog. I wrote one blog post, then another, and then another. I was scared to put myself out there but I was more afraid of how my life would turn out if I didn’t. Afraid of what my life would look like in 10 years if I refused to start. Now I may only be at the beginning of my journey but the important thing is I’ve started. I feel like Bilbo Baggins from The Hobbit. I’ve caught up to the dwarves, fought off some trolls, and I’m on my way to Rivendell. The Lonely Mountain, and Smaug, are thousands of miles away but I’m getting closer everyday.

Each day is a chance to start over: We tend to wait for milestones to start a new habit or new project. “I’ll try again on Monday,” or “I’ll make this a New Year’s Resolution.” The best part is we don’t have to wait. Each new day is a chance to start something new. If we don’t like the way our life is going, we don’t have to wait for a random start date in the future, we get to make a fresh start whenever we want. We just have to decide to make the change.

Thanks for reading my first Annual Review. I can’t wait to see what next year brings and want my review will look like then.

Fitness Friday – These are App-Actly What I Needed

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Alright, we are almost three full weeks into the new year and still going strong, right? We have our health and fitness goals, we’ve made our plan, and we are killing it. “Hey, Joe, what happens if we don’t have a plan?” Wait, no plan? Of course we have a plan. We talked about this.

Okay, deep breaths. I’ve got us covered. For those of us who don’t want to scour the internet for a workout routine or build one themselves, myself included, it can be difficult to have a plan. I’ve been there many times. I know what I should do or could do but planning takes a ton out of me. Have no fear. Help is on the way. Here are some apps to get us started (I am not getting paid to endorse any of these apps):

Running:

Running is not my thing, which I’m sure I’ve mentioned over and over by now, but I know it’s fun for many people so who am I to judge. The important thing is to get in shape. Of course running can difficult and demanding for those of us who haven’t laced up our running shoes in a while. The apps below make the process of getting back into it a little bit easier.

Weight Loss Running: Created by Verv, this was the app I used a few years back when I wanted to get in shape and was preparing for a Spartan Race. I may not be a fan of running but this was the perfect way for me to get started. Instead of the constant long, slow runs with traditional running programs, this app turns it into interval training.

It starts you off with a walk/jog warm up for 5 minutes then cycles on and off between jogging, sprinting, and walking. The difficulty can be changed depending on your current training history and has several different training plans including for weight loss (obviously), 5Ks, 10Ks, Half Marathons, and Marathons. Each plan starts you off easy and becomes progressively more difficult with each workout. If followed properly, by the end of the training plan, you should have little issue completing the assigned program.

This app is free with an in-app paid premium version which includes more fitness tips, songs and music mixes, workouts.

Zombies, Run: For the gamers or those looking to add a little fun to their run, there’s Zombies, Run, by Six to Start. As one of the few remain survivors of the Zombie Apocalypse, you are a “Runner,” an individual tasked with gathering supplies, finding and rescuing other survivors, and traveling to other outposts. Each run is a different mission where you walk, jog, or run anywhere in the world and at the end you collect supplies to help your base. Basically, you feel like you’re on the Walking Dead and with 200 plus missions (both free and paid) boredom is unlikely.

I have not used this app before. I heard about this from the Nerd Fitness message boards and decided to save it for later. I love the idea of gamifying something life to make it more fun. Now after looking into this app even closer I need to add this to my fitness cycle. I’m excited. ZOMBIES!

MapMyRun: For those of us who just want to get out and run, this app is for them. Created by Under Armor this was one of the first and most popular running apps to track mileage. While they have training plans and a few other features, for those willing to pay to upgrade, it’s still one of the easiest click and go running GPS trackers when you just want to run. You can track how far you’ve run, keeps a list of distances, and share them with friends. Simple but effective.

Bodyweight/At Home:

Looking to get into shape but don’t want to run or have access to a gym? Try these apps out. These bodyweight apps allow us to work out just about anywhere, including our homes, getting rid many of our fitness excuses. Those these are great for beginners or people who are on vacation, the apps listed below have fairly limited functionality, however, without the paid upgrade.

Mammoth Hunters: Named after the founding company, Mammoth Hunters Fitness app is one I’ve used personally and I really enjoyed it. This app provides close to a dozen free premade workouts, a basic nutrition guide, and allows users to create their own tribe to help keep each other accountable. The paid upgrade version tailors the fitness program to the user, provides a personal meal plan, and weekly shopping lists.

Weight Loss Fitness: Also created by Verv, but has significantly less functionality than its Weight Loss Running counterpart when not upgraded to premium. While the free access is very limited, it is a great app for beginners looking to get their feet wet. Workouts are about 6-7 minutes long which is great for users who don’t think they have enough time to work out properly. After several weeks on the free program, users can either upgrade to the premium version or find a new app.

Strength Training:

For those of us who are looking to build strength and are willing and able to go to the gym these are great options to get started.

FitBod: This app, created by Fitbod Inc, works for a variety of individuals who want fairly customized workouts. The user can set the type of equipment they have available to them, their fitness goals (like get stronger, bulk up, or lean up), fitness experience, workout duration, and a bunch more. Then it creates a workout routine based on these preferences, which can always be changed. It even has videos of each exercise in the routine to ensure the user has proper form. The best part is it is free. Of course there is a paid upgrade version but there is a ton of free stuff in this app, most people shouldn’t need the upgrade.

Kettlebell: Have you seen the kettlebells in the gym and want to start using them but don’t know where to start? Fitify has you covered with their kettlebell app. The free version allows you to access all of their workouts except the lower body. Then you pick your workout duration and follow along to the videos. When the time is up, you move to the next exercise until the workout is over. According to the developer, Martin Mazanec, there are over 55 different kettlebell exercises in this app helping to ensure you never get bored. As with most of these there is a paid feature, which, much like Fitbod, could probably done without.

Hylete Daily Circuit: Though I’ve never used this app, I think it’s awesome and will be using it when I want to get Spartan ready. Created by the fitness clothing company Hylete, this app is completely free. No premium upgrades or plans to purchase. Download the app, click on today’s circuit, and get started. The workouts run about 20 minutes, not including the warmup and cooldown, making it easy enough to fit into most people’s busy schedule.

The best part? There’s zero need to think ahead or plan, and if you find a routine you enjoy you can save it to your favorites to repeat. Movements can be modified and there are videos tutorials for any exercise you don’t know how to do. This HIIT training app is definitely one to check out.

StrongLifts 5×5: This app from the creator of StrongLifts 5×5, takes the program and makes it even easier to get started. It helps the user figure out their starting bar weight for each exercise, automatically adds the correct progression amount for each workout, and tells the user how much weight belongs on each side. (For people who are not used to “plate math” this calculation can be difficult). Your workout history is logged and graphed to measure progress.

There is a paid upgrade with a quarterly and annual plan which offers the user a few additional features but I’m not sure it’s necessary. For those of us who are willing to put in a little work, the free plan is enough, though if you can afford the upgrade it’s worth helping the creator out.

Health:

These are the miscellaneous apps I find or have found helpful when wanting to get serious and healthy.

MyFitnessPal: For those of us who want to track what they are eating and aren’t doing Weight Watchers, this is an amazing app. I’ve used this a bunch before and Under Armor’s database of food is intense. You can scan barcodes from the foods you eat, choose the number of servings you’ve eaten, and it adds all the information to your daily total. You can also make recipes to know how many calories you eaten and save the recipes to reuse later. This is the app I recommend to anyone interested in tracking what they eat. It’s great for beginners and the premium version has even more information for those who want to get micro with their macros.

Calm/Headspace/Oak: Meditation isn’t just for hippies anymore. Fitness leaders, Titans of Industry, and the little, old lady down the street have meditation practices. There are plenty of benefits to meditation from reducing stress and anxiety to reducing blood pressure to improving sleep, to name a few. Unfortunately, meditation gets a bad rap from being too crazy and hippy-like to being too difficult. This is where these apps help. They allow you to access free guided meditations to start out and more advanced guides at a low monthly cost (except Oak. It was created as a Facebook tutorial/experiment by Kevin Rose and is still free at this point). For those who are looking to get into meditation but don’t know where to start, look no further. While I don’t have a regular practice, when I do meditate I always feel better.

Google Docs/Google Spreadsheets: I do most of my fitness related work on these two apps. I have my list of exercise and the overall fitness plan in Google Docs and use Google Spreadsheets for the actual workout routine numbers and tracking. They are simple, easy to use, and don’t cost a dime. These can even be used to keep recipes, keep a food log, count macros, or track weight progress. For those of us who want or are willing to put a little more effort into their fitness and wellness planning, these are great.

Okay, wow, that was a lot. Still with me? I know this list might look a little overwhelming but I hope it’s less intimidating than the app store. Like everything else I try to put out, the goal is to make things a little easier for you. Fewer choices, fewer headaches, and fewer reason not to start. Find an app and give it a try. If it doesn’t feel right, then feel free to move on to something else. The point is to get started. Good Luck and Happy Gainzmas!

JDP Bookshelf – Walden on Wheels

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I want to start off by saying I picked up this book by accident.

I was given a Kindle for Christmas and I was looking for books to read. I figured I’d give Kindle Unlimited a try finally deciding to use my free month and browsing through the book selection I came across this book. Thinking it sounded familiar, like a book someone on the Tim Ferriss Podcast recommended, I picked it out, and added it to my library. That night I decided to give it a shot. I… WAS… BLOWN… AWAY!

Summary:

Ken Ilgunas is an average high school student who goes off to college to continue his average academic career. After 5 years in school, he finds himself with zero job prospects and over $32,000 in debt. Soon after hearing a Jiminy Cricket type voice in his head, he decides to take a fate filled trip to work in Coldfoot, Alaska, a town with the population of approximately 10 people which primarily serves as a truck stop on the Dalton Highway. Soon he becomes obsessed with getting out of debt taking several jobs in and around the Coldfoot area, cleaning up in Gulfport, MS after Hurricane Katrina, becoming a voyageur, and hitchhiking all across the US. After completely wiping out his debt in only a few years, Ken decided to get his Masters in Liberal Arts at Duke University in Durham, NC. Resolute in his desire to stay out of debt he becomes a Vandweller throughout his collegiate tenure, graduating as debt free as when he started.

Why I loved It:

The short answer is almost all of it. Honestly, this hit extremely close to home for me. Much like Ken, I was an average student in high school, though I could have been better if I’d applied myself, I was an average student in college, for much of the same reason, and both of us went off to find adventure while needing to pay off a sizeable collegiate loan. One of the main reasons I left to join the Navy was to break out of the linear progression my life seemed to be taking me. School, more school, job, wife, kids, family. I was on the assembly line of life, due to no one’s fault but my own, destined for mediocrity. Unlike Ken, however, I’ve mostly continued to play it safe.

The main focus of this story is Ken’s resolute desire to get out of, and stay out of, debt. He wants to get out of debt so badly he chastises himself whenever he spends is money “frivolously.” Many of these so-called “frivolous” items are things most of us don’t even bat an eye at. Things like buying new clothes, going out to eat when there’s perfectly good food at home, having a cell phone plan, spending money to hang out with friends, or any of the myriad of things we do throughout our lives and take for granted.

At first, I thought this book was about one man’s obsessive need to be out of debt. Then I thought it was about having adventures while getting out of debt. It wasn’t until a few days ago I realized this was a personal development book and a commentary of what we think we need verse what we actually need.

For many of us, the thought of living in a van and eating food from a camping stove conjures up images of homelessness, not a choice someone’s made to save money while being frugal. The idea of moving to a town in the Arctic Circle in Alaska for work is something we would do out of desperation, not for fun or excitement. Forget about hitchhiking down the street, let alone across the country. That’s for hobos and vagabonds, not respectable folks like us. But why? Why does the thought of these things fill us with dread? Why are we afraid of downsizing our lives to need and want less, rather than always trying to get more? Why not decide to pick up and leave today with only the clothes on our backs?

I’m sure for many of us, myself DEFINITELY included, it’s fear. Fear of not having enough. Fear of what other people will think. Fear of needing something and not having it. We live in a world of excess so of course, the thought of having less scares us. It’s not the norm. It’s not our neighbors, the Jones, are doing. They want more and better and new so it becomes our default as well.

Why do we need more? Does it make us happy? Do we become more fulfilled with each new purchase and each new thing? I know for me, it makes me feel exhausted. Exhausted by the wants. Exhausted by the perceived needs. An exhausted feeling I’m swimming in stuff which doesn’t really make my life better.

This is what made this book so appealing. It wasn’t just the self-discovery or the adventure after adventure Ken took. It was the realization we are the ones who are holding ourselves back from what we really want. In fact, the things we have around us which we think are making our lives better are actually acting like anchors. They keep us from the life we want. Does this mean we shouldn’t buy the brand new car or the 70-inch flat screen? Of course not but it shouldn’t be at the expense of our dreams or put us under so much debt we are constantly drowning.

In the end, the book represented freedom. Freedom from debt, freedom from things, and freedom from the average, uneventful life. It might be an extreme example but I think Ken’s journey can teach us all how to leave happier simpler lives. I know his book has already helped change the way I see my home, what I value, and the world around me. It won’t be a quick change but I’m excited about the journey.

Come check out the book for yourself. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

Finding Our One: Building Our Virtual Mentor Network

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I’ve always wanted a mentor. Someone I can turn to help guide me through my personal and business related developments. Someone who is willing to help me start a business and grow it into something sustainable. Or someone who bounce questions and ideas I have in my personal life. Unfortunately, I do not any formal relationship with anyone, however, I’ve found the next best thing. I discovered a world of virtual mentors who I can “crowd source” for information on the questions I’m facing. We’ve never met but they help guide me more than they’ll ever know.

“But, Joe, there are so many people out there peddling their Cure All’s, how do we know who to trust?” It’s a good question. There are tons of people out there, including me with this blog, who are looking to help and share what they know, many even come with a cost. It can be difficult to know who to trust. Where are the individuals we will actually find helpful and who are the snake oil salesmen/women? (I don’t want to discriminate against salespeople.) Most importantly how do we find them?

These are important questions. How do we cut through the noise and the garbage to find the people we can trust? Here is the best way I’ve found to find quality virtual mentors:

Start with One: Cutting through the noise and finding quality mentors comes down to this one simple principle: Start with One. What does this mean? Well, we find one person we trust, whether personally or virtually, learn as much as we can from them, and find out who they trust. Then the cycle begins again. Our “One” could be a parent, friend, celebrity, or someone we heard about on the news. Maybe it’s Warren Buffett or Steven King or our Dad. The important thing is to find someone, just one person, to start the process. Typically, this is someone in a field we’re interested in but we can start anywhere.

Once we’ve found, and learned from, our “One,” we find out who they trust, usually through interviews, books, or personal blogs, if they have one. It doesn’t them long to mention at least one or two people they like, follow, are reading, etc. If they aren’t famous or don’t have much information out there on them, check social media profiles. It’s easy to check to see who they follow on Twitter or Instagram which gives us more people to check out. Then it’s a matter of looking into these new batch of people to hear what they have to say. If we like what we hear from this “New One,” we assimilate it and repeat the process. If what they say doesn’t resonate, move on to the next person on the list.

I started collecting virtual mentors when I found podcasts in 2014. It started with a show called Barbell Shrugged and they were interviewing Joe De Sena, the founder of the Spartan Race. Having wanted to run a Spartan Race for some time, I decided it was worth a listen. I LOVED IT! The interview was intriguing, the conversations were fun, and the hosts were interesting and knowledgeable. I felt it was an all-around great show. From this point on I was hook.

Later the hosts of Barbell Shrugged created a second show, called Barbell Business, where they discuss the ins and outs of running a gym business. Since I was currently the admin of a CrossFit gym in the area, I soaked up every piece of information form ever episode. In one episode they shared the business books they believed helped them the most. This is where I found Tim Ferriss, his book the 4 Hour Work Week, and, soon, others who would change my life.

I picked up the book on Audible and blew through the 13-hour recording as quickly as I could but it wasn’t enough for me. I wanted more Tim Ferriss as soon as possible. This led me to his blog and eventually his recently started podcast. I subscribed to the show, started from episode 1 and continued to work my way through the list. Each episode was filled with new and interesting people I had never heard of, spider webbing the number of people I turn to for advice and guidance.

It’s not a quick process but, when done well, can lead to a mountain of quality mentors. I’ve found new “mentors” from podcast interviews, blog post mentions, reading lists, social media suggestions, Google search rabbit holes, friends, family, and more. This process, which I unintentionally started when I listen to that fateful Joe De Sena interview, has blossomed into a network of virtual mentors in a variety of categories, which still continues to grow. People who I “know” and trust the information they share.

It’s said knowledge is power but I believe the right knowledge is even more powerful. Finding the right people to listen to and trust can easily set us up and apart from those around us. It is this drive to learn and be better which will eventually help us grow into who we want to become. The best part? It only takes “One!”

*I’m curious to know who you consider your “One.” Let me know in the comments.*

(Bonus) Perfect is Boring Challenge

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Today, I issued a challenge to post/share publically something you haven’t shared because it was unfinished or not perfect. The goal is to become more comfortable and get over the fear of being imperfect. This would make it easier to share more of your imperfect work in the near future.

Not wanting to be left out or have you thinking I’m not up to my own challenge I’m sharing the post below to show I still struggle with imperfection. As you’ll see there are a few breaks and restarts. Now everything will make sense because it is still a draft but I’m stilling willing to share it. While I believe in the topic and eventually I’ll post the completed draft, at this moment I’m unable to find the “perfect” words to explain my point. Enjoy.

“I don’t have the time.” It’s a phrase I’m extremely tired of hearing and one I’m working hard to remove from speak, much like “I can’t.” The more I hear it the more frustrated I get by the people who use it. Frankly, I feel it’s lazy. When we say, “I don’t have time,” or its sister phrase, “I’m too busy,’’ what we are really saying is, “It’s not a priority” or “I don’t want to.”

The problem, I’ve found, is we waste so much time on things we don’t want to do, things we could do better, or things that don’t matter. I know most of us have made plans we wish we didn’t, binged watched an entire season of a show on Netflix, or tried to get the bottom of our Facebook Newsfeed. It happens to the best of us and it’s not necessarily a bad thing. It is important to spend time to unwind and relax. We need “me time.”

Unfortunately, we abuse the “me time” we take for ourselves. Instead of making it focused quality time, we procrastinate, putting off the things we need to do until the last minute. Then we are scrambling to get the important things done while other things get missed. There are a total of 168 hours in a week. When you subtract the time we spend at work, the commute, and 8 hours of sleep we are left with as much as 62 hours each week to get things done.

“But, Joe, I’m a very important person and lots of things I NEED to get done. I don’t have time to waste time.” Uh huh, sure! It’s easy to feel like we don’t waste time. I was only on Facebook

First we need to understand our priorities. While these could be things we want to do from our bucket list, most likely they are items we need to do every day. Making dinner, getting ready for work, laundry, and spending time with our families are responsibilities we have on a regular basis. Then there are things we choose to take on beyond our normal responsibilities. This could be volunteering, helping a friend move, cleaning out our attic, or working out to be healthy. Lastly, we have bucket list type items. Once we take some time to create this list and put things in an order of importance we can find ways to give us more time.

My favorite way to give myself more time is bundling. While some days I do this better than others, I’ve found it to be an effective way to give myself more time during the week. This is the process of doing a task you might spread out over the course of a week like grocery shopping or folding laundry and doing it all at once. By bundling certain tasks together, we save time by not having to prepare each time we want to do the same task. Something as simple as ironing a shirt every morning could take 10 minutes a day or almost an hour a week but might only take 15-20 minutes if the shirts were ironed all at once. The iron is already out, warmed up, and ready to go. We only need to use it once. So much time can be saved by bundling tasks together it’s surprising we don’t do more of it.

The second way to create more time is to delete responsibilities. These is obviously more difficult than bundling but might be even more important. Many of us have a difficult time saying no to things. People ask us for help and we oblige because we don’t want to let them down. There are other tasks we feel are important but if they were removed from our lives we would never notice. These items need to go on our priority list somewhere usually bumping something else we thought was important, down the list. The problem is we didn’t want to do it in the first place but we didn’t want to say “No.” There are also PLENTY of responsibilities we take on because we want to and we think they are priorities but wouldn’t be missed if they were gone.

Delete and understanding your priorities

Our lives are filled with maybes and somedays. Someday I’ll start a business. Maybe when things slow down I’ll organize my closet. Someday I’ll get to spend more time with my kids, parents, or friends. Maybe, if I had more time, I could finally take my dream vacation. “These all sound nice but where will I find the time, Joe?” I have a few ideas.

The problem is we don’t understand our priorities. We classify everything as important even when it isn’t. Then things which should be important get pushed to the back burner relegated to “maybe someday.” We need to understand all the things we need or want to accomplish and put a true order or importance. Take time to do an honest assessment of your list. Are there tasks you can bundle together like planning the meals for the week and grocery shopping for everything? Are there tasks you can delegate or ask someone for help on like moving furniture or pick up the kids from school? Are there tasks you have on the list you’ve been putting off for

Trying bundling. This planning meals for the week and buying all of the groceries at once instead of each day. Or picking out work clothes and ensuring they are ready instead of each morning. You can even bundle different chores together like doing the dishes while dinner is in the oven or cleaning your room while the laundry is in the washer and dryer.

Perfection is Boring, Let’s Be Imperfect!

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For years I wanted to create something. Something people would find interesting and exciting. At first I thought it was a business. I was going to be a titan of industry, creating a startup, and “disrupting” the world but I never found the “right” idea. Then I thought it would be a podcast. They seemed easy to do and I found the “perfect” partner to make it happen. Unfortunately, we had different life goals which killed our project. Realizing I might need to go in alone, I thought a blog might be the best way to start. Still it took me almost two years to get started. It wasn’t until I let go and started was I able to make progress.

So, what happened? How did I go from a serial project procrastinator to publishing over 40 blog posts? Honestly, I got pissed off and feed up with myself and stopped fighting the resistance. I stopped coming up with excuses to push my project back another week. I stopped trying to be perfect.

I consider myself to be a fairly rational person. I can see the world for how it is, warts and all. Unfortunately, being able to think rationally doesn’t stop me from acting irrationally. Sometimes the mind goes on autopilot and the body is only along for the ride. (I’m sure I’m not alone in this respect). So when I decided I wanted to start some kind of project, creative or otherwise, I KNEW I was going to suck at it no matter what I thought I knew. I was a beginner, a white belt, a N00B, if you will. I wasn’t going to be the next Mark Zuckerberg in business, Joe Rogan in podcasting, or Steven King with writing. I knew they weren’t great out of the gate either. It took years for them to develop the skills they needed to get where they are today. I knew even if I did make it to their level, it would take me years of hard, continuous work.

I knew all of this but still didn’t start. Why? I wanted, whatever I was doing, to be perfect. I was afraid of what people might say. I didn’t want to show the world my imperfect product to be judged as garbage. If it was perfect, however, no one could say anything!

It wasn’t until I read Linchpin by Seth Godin, it clicked. I realized perfection is impossible. Perfection is boring. Sure I don’t want to put garbage into the world (there’s already enough out there) but I didn’t know why I was waiting, either. Perfection is a made up word the resistance created to keep us complacent. Keep us in fear. Keep us from reaching our potential.

Think about it. Who out there is perfect? Who out there is without flaws? Brad Pitt might be extremely attractive but his relationships are a complete mess. (That’s right, I said it… Brad Pitt is attractive). Robin Williams was a great comedian and actor but he took his life when his demons finally caught up with him. And don’t get me started on the Kardashians or all of the people we see on Facebook.

Still, we seek perfection in our own lives. We want things to be flawless before they are shown to the world, much like this Apple Commercial. The problem is perfection is boring. It’s the imperfections which make us, and our work, unique. We aren’t some cog on the assembly line needing to be exactly the same as the one before it. We are supposed to be the square peg trying to fit into the round hole. We are, by nature, imperfect so let’s act accordingly.

Once I figured this out progress became much easier. I’ve create significantly more when I let go. When I leave in the flaws. When I accept what I made will be imperfect. This doesn’t mean I’m trying to product something of low quality. I care about what I write and what I’m putting out into the universe. I also know it can be a quality product and imperfect at the same time.

I am giving each of us a challenge today. We need to share something we’ve created, especially if it is incomplete or unfinished. Take a picture or share the blog post, or whatever, on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Nextdoor, or a blog. Whatever way gets the imperfection out there into the universe. Then post the link in the comments section.

*Remember we always suck at the beginning but with some practice we get better, faster. It’s far easier to make progress when we are first starting out (learning the first 80% of a new skill), then later on (learning the last 20%).*

Who Do We Want To Be?

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I wrote a few posts last week about New Year’s Resolutions, here, here and here. It was a good week for me. It was the first week, I put three posts out on the day I promised I would. It wasn’t easy but I forced myself to write them, and I’m grateful I did. It made me feel good and gave me an enormous amount of confidence. Unfortunately, this weekend hit and the motivational stores are running low.

It’s not surprising though. New Year’s Day was last Tuesday and it’s easy for us to ride out the “I have goals and dreams and I’m going after them,” high this time of the year gives us. Now it’s a new week and we lay there realizing we have a “Coyote Ugly” hanging on our arm. Present Us made a promise Future Us has to keep and now it’s time for Us to collect.

But a promise is a promise so we give it the old college try. We’ll begrudgingly stumble to the gym or type random works on a blank word document to find our motivation, all the while grumbling about what an asshole the Past Us was for this resolution.

So what happened to us? How did we go from ultra-motivated to the lazy beatnik who only wants to chillax on the couch? We have our goals, we even came up with a plan, but we are still coming up empty.

The problem is we haven’t changed our identity. We still see ourselves as the same slackers we were last year and don’t think our goals will help us become our own Heroes of Battle. I think James Clear in an interview with Jory MacKay from the RescueTime Blog says it best, “Who is the type of person you want to become? Who is the person that’s already achieving the results you want for yourself? For example, the type of person who loses ten pounds is probably someone who doesn’t miss workouts. That’s just part of their identity. They see themselves as someone who exercises consistently. And going to the gym is just part of their being.”

Maybe the goal is to start the business we’ve put off starting. We just became an Entrepreneur. Maybe it’s time to learn a new language. BAM, now we are linguists. We need to change the way we see ourselves to bring us closer to our end goals.

For me, I want to be a Skald, the badass warrior-poets of the Viking world, similar to the medieval bard. These were the people who fought next to great warriors and passed their stories on from generation to generation. They need to be strong to be a part of the Viking world but also used their intellect rather than spend all their time thinking about raiding. I want to be built like a brick house and write like a philosopher.

Unfortunately, if aren’t willing to focus on the person we want to become it is easy to stay in our rut. If we want to lose weight but don’t see ourselves as a lover of fitness or we want to write but don’t see ourselves as a writer, it’s easy to let our goals slip away. Basically, if we continue to see ourselves as losers this is how we will stay. It’s only when we are willing to change the way we think about ourselves, we are able to affect real change. Sometimes it happens by accident but most of the time it takes time and focused effort.

Still having trouble making the change? Take a page out of Scott Adams, the creator of Dilbert, proverbial book and try writing it down. Every day he writes down what he wants or who he wants to be on a piece of paper 10-15 times until it comes to fruition. Sometimes it’s quick and other times it can take years but it allows him to focus on the path he’s trying to follow. He used this technique when he wanted to be an illustrator and now he’s the creator of one of the most recognized comic strips in America.

Remember, we will never be the same person we were yesterday and tomorrow we can be whoever we want. Taking time to stay focused on who we want to become will only help bring us closer to our goal. This way, when we are presented with what use to be difficult choices, we already know the right answer. We’ve already made the choice. We can skip the extra piece of cake or the three extra episodes of the show we would normally binge. That’s not us anymore. We are the hero of our own story.

This isn’t a magic bullet. We will still need to put in the work but it will make it easier the more we practice. Good luck.

*Check out James Clear’s article “Identity-Based Habits: How to Actually Stick to your Goals This Year” for more on this topic.*

Fitness Friday – Ringing in the New Year with Fitness

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It’s a new year so it’s going to be a new us. (Sensing a theme yet?) We bought new workout clothes, found a gym near the house/office, and we’re full of fire and determination. It’s gonna work. Now’s the time. Carpe Diem!

Of course, it will. It worked for us last year, right? We had the clothes and shoes and a gym membership or found the PERFECT app. We were ready to go. What happened? By February we had given up. Life got in the way. We didn’t adjust and got steamrolled. Maybe we went too hard out of the gate getting burned out quickly. Maybe one, “I’ll get it tomorrow,” turned into two or three and then it was all over. It could have been any number of things but the point is we didn’t keep it going.

But it’s a new year and another chance to start over. We want to be successful this year making it the best year ever for us. But where do we start? How do we ensure we don’t fall into the same traps we do every year? Here are a few tips and tricks I find helpful.

Make Goals Specific and Attainable: Inevitably, every year people create nebulous New Year’s Resolutions of losing weight, going to the gym, or getting healthy. While these are great in theory they are vague and unhelpful. There is too much wiggle room and no way of knowing if we meet or fail at our goals. These “goals” are not measurable.

We need to add specificity to our goals. Instead of “losing weight” make it “I want to lose 10 lbs by the end of February.” Change “I want to go to the gym,” to “I want to go to the gym 3 mornings a week for 30 minutes, rotating between upper and lower body workouts, for the next 6 weeks.” Go from “I want to get healthy” to “I will reduce my soda intake to 3 times per week for the next month,” or “I will cook 3 paleo meals a week, for dinner, for the next month.”

See the difference? We made them specific: losing 10lbs, going to the gym 3x per week, and making a specific lifestyle change instead of a general one. They are also measurable. We either meet our weekly goal or don’t. Lastly, we’ve built in a time frame giving us an end goal to shoot for rather than a vague time frame of… whenever.

They should also be attainable. Want to lose 30 lbs in a month? I’m sure it can be done for those who don’t like eating and are on the show Survivor. Planning on working out or running every day for 2 plus hours? Hopefully, we were a bodybuilder or marathon runner in a previous life. Deciding to go strict Paleo, cutting out all our favorite foods, cold turkey. I pray we have the willpower. The problem is these aren’t attainable for the average person. We need to start with smaller more manageable goals. Most people can lose 1-2 lbs safely per week, 30 minutes to an hour at the gym 3 times per week is sufficient for general health, and removing foods slowly can make the change more sustainable.

I know we aren’t working to be average or “most” people but we need to start somewhere and remember getting “healthy” is a marathon, not a sprint.

We Can’t Out-Train Our Diet: If we run one more mile we can go get McDonalds or ice cream or whatever tasty treat our hearts desire. The problem is we can’t out-train our diets. If we work out in the morning then eat like shit all day, we will likely have a surplus of calories which only adds to the scale. This can easily become discouraging making it easier and easier to give up.

Jeff Godin Ph.D., CSCS, SGX wrote a post for the Spartan Race website which highlights this concept perfectly. As he lays it out, it’s easy to see how many burpees someone would need to complete to work off these various delicious items. For example, to work off one slice of Domino’s Pepperoni Pizza I would need to do 161 burpees. I hate doing 1 let alone another 160 of them.

This doesn’t mean we need to give up everything we love but if we want to meet our goals, changes will need to be made. Trade a glass of water for the usual can of soda, or two. Make an extra healthy meal at home rather than eating out. Buy the small “hundred calorie snack pack” instead of the full-size container of the same snack. By making smaller changes to our diet we can set ourselves up for greater success than going cold turkey.

That being said, some of us might have difficulty with moderation. (I’m pointing at myself pretty hard right now). I tend to be an all or nothing kind of person. I know this about myself and I’ve learned to be okay with it. For those of us who need to go cold turkey to make these changes in our life pick one thing at a time. Remove soda, cookies, or ice cream one at a time rather than cutting out ALL sugar at once. Once we master the removal of one item we can move to the next.

Figuring Out Where We Belong: I wrote about Fitness Communities a couple weeks back so I won’t beat it up too much here. The important thing I recently learned is, for most of us, it doesn’t matter what kind of fitness regimen we follow we just need to follow one. There are tons of different ways to work out and fitness sub-communities to belong to out there. It’s important to try a few to see which one sticks.

For years, I tried many different ways to get “in shape.” It’s was until recently I realized I wasn’t a fan of the cardio based workouts like running, spin, or high-intensity interval training (HIIT). They filled me with dread every time I needed to work out. This was why I found it difficult to stick with CrossFit. I enjoyed the lifting but the circuit training scared me so I would skip more classes than I’d go. Now I only lift and I love it.

In comparison, I have a friend who recently found HIIT training through a company called D1. She wanted to get her kids physically active and decided to join with them. SHE LOVES IT and can’t get enough! Every week she tells me how difficult it was and how much fun she had doing it. She’s figured out where she belongs and her life is changing because of it.

Another friend of mine is running a 100-mile marathon in April. He’s been training for the last year and can’t wait. He loves doing the long endurance training but could care less about lifting anything more than his bottle of kombucha. Both sound exhausting and unappealing to me but exciting to them.

We have a tendency to follow the new fitness crazy or go along with what everyone else says we should do. Unfortunately, we ignore our personal goals to follow other people. Take some time, experiment, and find the right fit to keep the fitness train running.

Keep it Simple Silly (Stupid feels so Angry): Every time I decide to get back into fitness I usually spend a ton of time looking through different workout routines. I delve into sites like BodyBuilding.com, Men’s Health, or individual fitness “leaders” workout regimens to see what’s out there and to find my new routine. It’s doesn’t take me long to get overwhelmed by all of the information out there and the complexity of each routine. Each workout programs about 5-10 exercises per day, 5-days a week. They take forever and soon I’m too frustrated to continue.

Everything changed when I found Jim Wendler’s 5/3/1 program. It was SO SIMPLE! Later I found Starting Strength and Stronglifts 5×5 which were even less complicated. I’m using Stronglifts 5×5 right now and I’m finished within 45 minutes.

This led me to realize how difficult we make fitness on ourselves. We believe we need to find programs with an unnecessary number of exercises programmed in them but it’s not true. There are better ways and, depending on the community, it can be really simple.

For those of us who are looking to work out at home or alone there are plenty of apps to choose. I’ve mentioned a few free ones before like Running for Weight Loss or Zombies, Run for runners, Hylete’s Daily Circuit for HIIT training, and StrongLifts 5×5 for strength training. There are plenty more of these in the App Store. Those of us who prefer working with a partner or with a group most gyms have free classes or Personal Trainers, there’s CrossFit or other functional fitness gyms, Yoga, or Fitness Boot Camps.

The point is unless we plan to geek out on fitness, letting someone else do the grunt work for us is a good thing. This way we can sit back, relax (but still get at it), and enjoy the fitness ride. By making it more difficult on ourselves, the less likely we are to continue.

Don’t forget to rest: When we start any new habit there is always the fear of backsliding. It takes 21 days for a habit to stick, right? Not necessarily. According to the author SJ Scott, it can take up to 66 days, depending on the person, for a new habit to stick with us.

When we start a new fitness habit we feel we need to go all in every day to ensure our routine sticks. (We don’t need a rest day. We just had 365 of them). Then what happens? After a couple of days of working out, we get too sore to continue. Then we take a day or two or three to rest and recover which turns into a week or more. Now we are in pain, pissed at ourselves, and quit. We figure this fitness thing isn’t for us and we move on with our lives.

We didn’t give ourselves enough time to rest. Our New Year’s vigor created an all or nothing mentality, which told us not to slow down and we listened. We need to remember it’s okay to rest. It’s okay to slow down. It’s okay to get our bodies’ use to this new level of physical activity. We should put our heart into our workouts and give it our all, but burnout is really easy to do, especially early in our training. Again we are looking for sustainability over the long run and ensuring our bodies successfully recovers is essential.

Bringing it Home: Phew… Still with me? Alright! I’m going to end it with this recap. First, we need to make specific, yet attainable, goals we can measure to know we are making progress, not go off our feelings. Second, our diet is more important than physical exercise. If we are consistently eating like garbage we won’t be able to burn off enough calories to make see a difference. Third, we need to find the type of fitness which makes us excited to get out of bed. Don’t know what it is yet? Experiment. Fourth, KISS it! We want to make it as easy as possible to get excited about exercising regularly. Fifth, do not forget to rest. Our body’s need time to heal and recover to maintain progress. Lastly (and a bonus), slow and steady will win this race. We are participating in a marathon, figuratively but possibly literally, not a sprint.

There it is. I hope you are as excited as I am to start the new year off right. Leave a comment and let me know what you think. Are you planning on using any of these? Were these tips helpful? Keep me posted and good luck.

*Didn’t get enough in this article and want more ideas to make your fitness goals stick? Check out these Nerd Fitness articles: The 10 Key Differences Between Weight Loss Success and Failure, How to Build Healthy Habits that Stick, How to Build a Batcave for Habit Change. Enjoy!