ONE thing...

I think I've mentioned this before but I've been asking clients "what's the one thing (non-gym related) you're going to do this week to help you reach health/fitness goals?" I basically send each client an email every Sunday and then touch base during their first session of the week. I do this to help them realize that while going to the gym is great, you have to be doing stuff outside of the gym if you really are looking to make sustainable changes.

The other reason I do this is because clients usually try to do too much. Often when I ask for the "one thing" clients will often come back with 2 or 3. I always push back against this and have them choose one. I've found that most of the time when clients try to do 3 things, they often end up doing none. So I help them decide on one thing and go from there.

Picking one thing sounds (and is) simple but it's not easy. I had two clients this morning that showed this to be the case.

1. Client #1: When I asked him what his one thing for the week is he replied, "I'm going to drink water & go for a 10 minute walk every hour." This is a pretty good answer (I count water and walking as one thing, because when you drink water you should move around so that it's absorbed) on the surface.

   When you dig a little bit though you realize some things. For instance, he has a job. He'd be taking an hour and twenty minutes just to walk around. So I asked is this feasible?

   We ended up settling on water and a 5 minute walk every hour. It's better to start small, succeed and grow than it is to start big and fail. This is psychology at play; success and failure but snowball.

2. Client #2: When I asked him what his one thing for the week is he replied, "I'm going to do all the stuff I'd been doing." Last week was a particularly busy and stressful for him. So he thought he would just restart doing everything.

   Problem here is before last week he had done at least six of these weekly habits. It would be awesome for him to just pick up where he left off, but like a I said trying to do a bunch of things is a quick way to get nothing done. Even if you've done them all before.

   We ended up settling on him only one drink per night. This was a habit he practiced back in January that he's going back to. He's been successful with this in the past but then life happened. He essentially taking a step back so that he can take, at least, two steps forward.

So figure out ONE thing that you can and will do this week. Make sure you do the one thing, whatever it is. If you do some other stuff, that's great but really focus in on the one thing. Use the success of the one thing to lead you into next week's one thing and so on.

The other part of this is accountability. Tell someone about you're one thing and have them check in on you. Better yet, leave a comment and I'll check up on you.

What can your workout learn from personal finance?

A topic I've been into lately- outside of health/fitness- has been been personal finance. Learning about things like investing, retirement accounts and savings rates have taken up a lot of time for me lately. I'm not saying I'm on my way to being the next Warren Buffet or anything but I can tell you the difference between a Roth IRA and a traditional IRA. (I think...taxes or something). Anyway, there's an investing principle that has a lot of crossover into health and fitness. The principle states that you can't time the market. Meaning that the best investors don't try to buy/sell stocks based on when the market is up or down. The best investors are in the market for the long term and don't worry about the ups and downs; they know the long term compounding effects of the market is where the real money is made.

This is similar to your fitness routine. We all know those people that go from workout to workout or diet to diet. These people may see some short term benefits from doing this but in the long run they don't see any real changes. However the people that stick to the same workout/diet, whatever it is, see more long term benefits.

The reason people go the former route (workout to workout, diet to diet) is because consistency is hard. Consistency requires you to stay the course when you don't see immediate results or, even worse, when you see negative results in the beginning. This is the equivalent on not selling a stock when it's price drops.

It's hard to watch your account lose money or your weight go up and trust the process. However, this is exactly what you should be doing. Whenever someone asks what's the best fitness routine for them, I always reply "the one you'll stick to."

When it comes to stocks the saying goes "time in the market beats timing the market." The same goes for fitness. Pick a course and stick with it. You need at least six weeks. Give your returns a chance to compound.

(Also for the record I do know the difference between a Roth IRA and a traditional IRA.)

Motivation is Finite

I guess I should say self-motivation is finite. It is a limited resource that we can and very often do use up on any given day. Any time we have to do something that isn't automated, we have to figure out a motivation to do the task. Things that are important to us (meaning we're highly motivated to do them) usually get automated. For instance breathing: we are highly motivated to breathe because without it we die. So thousands of year ago some pre-historic person figured this out and worked really hard to automate his/her breathing. Then the energy that used to go to (thinking about) breathing could go chasing food or not becoming something else's food. Not exactly a scientific representation but you get the point.

So fast forward back to today and we have a lot more chances to use up our motivation than our pre-historic ancestors. You didn't log into Facebook when you got to work. Congrats. You walked past the fast food joint to the healthy salad place. Good job. You didn't lose it at Bob for asking about those TPS reports again. You're winning. You responded to Susie from accounting's email. It was a one word response but you still responded.

You've taken all those actions and hundreds more that don't even register (did you walk to the fax machine; do people still fax?). Each action takes away from the amount of  motivation available for the next thing. So on those particularly busy/hectic days it can be herculean effort to order take out, let alone go to the gym.

So what can/should you do?

1. Automate As Much As Possible- it'll take you a few generations of offspring to automate to the level of breathing but there are some things you can do in the mean time. Things you do daily, weekly, or monthly do them at the same time. Make it non-negociable.
2. Avalanche Method- in the personal finance world there's a school of thought for dealing with getting out of debt. The thought is you should pay off your credit card with the highest balance first without worrying about interest rates. This way you gain motivation from seeing the biggest balance disappear.

   This thought can be applied to your daily tasks. Figure out what your biggest tasks for the day are and do those first. This way you gain motivation and momentum to get the smaller tasks done.

These are just a couple of suggestions for how to avoid lack of motivation as a roadblock to success. Try these out and maybe you'll save yourself from telling Bob off and you'll send Susie a thoughtful response to her email.

Let me know if you have any other motivation hacks.

"Glow up. Shine down."

"Glow up. Shine down." This is an idea I came up with while listening to the song Glow by Drake. It's from his "More Life" album. An album that, I hate to admit, has gone from absolutely terrible to at the very least tolerable. Anyway, I'm not here to talk about the merits of Drake music. This idea of glowing up and shining down has been on my mind for a couple of weeks. So what is it? For me "glowing up" is about self promotion. Which I hate. It makes me uncomfortable. I think people should do good work and that work should be recognized/rewarded without having to be blasted all over social media or anywhere else.

That being said, I realize self promotion is a necessary evil. We live in hyper competitive times and for anyone trying to advance in their careers, love lives or anything else they are going to have to sing their own praises.

"Shining down" is all about educating and helping other people get where you are or wherever it they're trying to go. This is my happy place. I love helping people take complex (to them) ideas and breaking them down into simple tasks.

"Shining down" allows me to lead by example. Now calling myself a leader is very self promotional and it's making me squeamish just typing it. The difference here, is that I get to lead by example. I get to say "I did that thing, I did it this way and it totally didn't work; you might want to try it this way."

Like I said this is just something that's been on my mind recently. As I think about it more and more it kind of explains some of the things I like and dislike. I like teaching and mentorship activities. I don't like listing my accomplishments. In sports I always enjoyed participating with friends but I didn't necessarily enjoy the competition of the games/matches.

Do you have any philosophies that, either purposefully or accidentally, explain the actions you take or decisions you make? Let me know in the comments.

Super Bowl Reset

A couple of weeks ago, I talked about how the third week of January is when people fall off the resolution wagon. I imagine Super Bowl Sunday is really the day where people let go of any pretense of a healthy resolution for the year. (If you were at a Super Bowl party  yesterday, did any one bring up New Year resolutions?) Let's be honest, for a lot of people  the food at the party is more important than the game itself. That brings us to today; the day after the Super Bowl. Today can be your reset. I was reminded of this by a Facebook memory. Apparently a few years ago, I made a public proclimation to not drink (adult beverages) for a month after the Super Bowl.

It reminds me of the old Chris Farley Saturday Night Live sketch "Diet Starts Monday". Super Bowl Sunday, like New Year's Eve and Mondays, serve as a great breaking point to start something new or to pick something back up.

There are a lot of these moments throughout the year. They're usually around major holidays and they give us these natural assessment points. For people with kids these might coincide with breaks from school. For the working folks, it could be any of those days where you get a paid day off.

All is not loss if your resolution has fallen by the wayside. You can use today, Super Bowl Monday, to start over (today should be a holiday anyway, it's not like any of us are being that productive). Then check on your progress around Easter/Passover. If you keep it up until then, great keep going. If you don't, reset.

The point here is that starting, stopping and starting again is still progressing. Sure it would be great to start and never stop but life sometimes has other plans. There's no need to concede and wait until the next New Year. You can start over on the next holiday, major event or better yet tomorrow even.

What ONE thing are you going to do to improve your health/fitness?

There are 168 hours in a week. You go to the gym 3x times a week for about an hour. You're committed to eating healthy meals, let's over exaggerate and assume your meals all last an hour. So three hours at the gym and 21 hours eating (breakfast, lunch & dinner for 7 days). That's one day out of the week. That's 52 days out of the year. When people start a new health/fitness journey this is usually what they think they need to commit to. In case you haven't done the math (you definitely didn't do the math), that's 14%. No wonder most people don't achieve their health/fitness goals.

"What ONE thing (non gym related) are you going to do this week to improve your health/fitness?" This is the question I've been emailing clients every Sunday. This gets clients thinking beyond the gym. It helps them to realize that there has to be some commitment beyond their workouts and nutrition habits. There's a reason I end all my social media posts with the hashtags fitness, nutrition and lifestyle.

Lifestyle changes have to be a part of the equation. Lifestyle changes include getting more sleep, being more active outside the gym and improving your mental and social health. These are just some of the ways you can increase your commitment time outside of what you're eating and exercising.

The thing is by improving just a little bit of these things it can have huge affects. The reason being because these are the things that make up the majority of your time. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying you shouldn't be exercising or eating healthy. Please keep exercising and eating healthy.

I saying that exercise and eating healthy are (cliché alert) only the tip of the iceberg. I'm also saying that by working on some of the underlying stuff you may find that you achieve your health and fitness goals faster.

So with that, what one non gym related thing are you going to do this week to improve your health/fitness?

Let me know by leaving a comment. Seriously, leave a comment. I want to know.

Never apologize for progress...

Last week one of my clients apologized to me for, get this, losing weight. Ok, it was more for not logging his meals. And he didn't exactly say he was sorry but his tone was very apologetic. Anyway. The point is he was almost apologizing for getting the desired outcome. He thought that I would be upset because he wasn't logging his foods. That's throwing the baby out with the bath water. (Actually I don't know if I'm using that phrase correctly or not; also why would anyone throw away a baby?)

As his coach, I couldn't care any less that he wasn't logging his food because he is getting the results that he's after. My job as the coach is to help clients get results. I definitely come in with a plan but if the client is doing something that's working, good bye plan.

More importantly my client shouldn't care about my plan if, and only if, he's getting the desired results. I think people get caught up in "following the plan" that sometimes they sabotage their own progress.

This isn't me railing against planning. All of my clients will tell you that I love having a plan. I love them making progress even more though. Progress is the key. If progress is being made, as long as no one is getting hurt, I'll help clients do whatever to help clients continue that progress.

Now once/if the progress stops, the client and I will have to reevaluate. Either way we will continue to monitor for progress. Most importantly we will celebrate any and all progress.

Actions > Results

The other day on Facebook, I asked "what was the ONE THING you did this week to make your life easier, happier, healthier, more efficient, etc.?" One response a friend posted was that he "lost 2 pounds". After congratulating him on losing some weight, I challenged him a little. His answer was a "result", I had specifically asked for the "action" that lead to the result.

I realize that I sound like one of those jerky people who makes arguments based off of semantics. But semantics are important...at least in this case.

People like results, particularly results in there favor. People like to celebrate good results. People go out of their way to look for good results.

Results only matter if they are reproducible. Results are only reproducible if you know the actions that led to the results.

This goes both ways. Being able to notice actions also prevents bad results.

I'm not trying to be all negative here, you should definitely celebrate when you have good results. Hell, tell me about your good results so that I can celebrate with you.

I'm just saying that you have to find the actions that lead to your successes. That way we can celebrate more together.

2018 Growth

We're already half way through the first day of 2018. How are those resolutions coming along? Just kidding. Hopefully you're enjoying the day. I can tell you that the rest of my day will be spent in front of the TV watching college football.

I did want to take a minute and wish everyone a healthy and happy New Year.

Last night we out to dinner and Alli asked if I made resolutions. She knows I usually put down a few goals for the year.

Honestly I hadn't given it much thought this year (or technically last year at this point). But she got me thinking. The thing that immediately popped into was growth.

If you follow me on social media then you know or family is growing and we'll be welcoming new Baby Brown in March.

Also the main goal for business this year is growth: more clients, more readers/followers and produce more content.

I also want to grow socially. A lot of our friends aren't as close, physically, as they used to be. So it can be somewhat difficult to get together. It would be nice to have a few more friends around that we can call up spur of the moment.

So that's where my head is for 2018. What's your plan for the New Year?

2017 Reading List, 2018 Goals

Here's a pic of the books that I've read over the course of the year. Usually a common thread jumps out immediately. The common thread usually represents whatever I deem to be the most pressing thing I need/want to learn for that particular year. In the past that thread has been things like coaching techniques, the psychology of behavior change and exercise techniques.

This year was a bit of a mixed bag for me. I'm not really sure why. Topics included this year are social issues (can't really avoid those these days), psychology (always a mainstay), stress and it's affects on the body, various business topics and personal finance.

Looking back at the list, it represents what 2017 has been about for me. This year has been all about learning how to run a business and the stress that goes with it.

The picture doesn't include all the reading from yearlong Precision Nutrition level 2 certification that I finished back in May. (It also doesn't include the 100's of times I've read Horton Hears a Who and other children's books.) The course was about coaching more than nutrition and it probably had the biggest affect on any and everything I've done this year.

I write this not to (only) pat myself on the back but also as a way to identify what I need/want to focus on in 2018. Some things I'll be focusing on:

• Exercise Technique/Programming: this is the heart of what I do and if I don't keep  getting better at this, then the rest doesn't matter.
• Business Growth/Marketing: I've made it through a full year, I want to make it through at least a bunch more
• Personal Finance: if things go well all the business reading will produce more income, this is about learning how to best use that hard earned income

Looking ahead these are the major topics I'm going to be diving into in 2018. What will you be diving into?

PS: If you have any book suggestions for me just let me know. Thanks in advance.

FREE HOLIDAY WORKOUTS

I've been talking about the holiday season a lot over the past couple of weeks. For good reason. With all the social, professional and family events that get scheduled things can get super stressful. It's when things get super stressful that health and fitness go by the wayside. This doesn't have to be the case.

Before I tell you how to make sure you're not in this situation, let's talk about why it works out this way. Us (modern day) humans are kind of strange in that we err toward complicated solutions for simple problems. We've forgotten about Occam's Razor (the simplest solution is the usually the best; shoutout to Google for the spelling of "Occam").

I've often heard people say "I've got to work out more because I've got all these parties to go to". I'm all for people working out more but this doesn't make any sense. The parties are already taking up more time/energy and you want to combat this by demanding more time/energy of your body. Again it doesn't make any sense.

So what to do? First thing is just make sure you're doing enough. If you've been going to the gym twice/week, make sure you keep going twice a week. This may mean rescheduling gym appointments (by the way, the gym should be a scheduled appointment) or finding different ways to get workouts in outside the gym.

The second thing I'll suggest is shortening your workout. Stick with me here. You're going to shorten the workout but you're going to do more. Just saying you're only going to be in the gym for 30 minutes versus your normal hour is going to make your workout more efficient.

(Let's be honest, most of us spend way too much time standing around/talking to people and not working out during our workouts.)

Shorter workouts tend to be more intense workouts. This means you can get more bang for your buck and still make it to the all the parties.

I've put together a 4 workout plan that you can use to hit all the major body parts. To get this free workout plan all you have to click this link. Fill out the form and then the workout plan will be delivered to your inbox.

You get your workouts in and you still get to party. Best of both worlds.

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Holiday Party Survival Tips

It’s the most wonderful time of year. You’ve got your office holiday party. You’ve got your significant other’s office holiday party. Then there is your family holiday party. Can’t forget about the in-laws’ party. Oh and this is the one time of year all of your friends will surely get together for some merriment. Also you can’t miss little Timmy’s holiday pageant which will be followed by the parents’ reception. With your calendar as booked as it is, it’s easy to let your exercise/fitness regime fall by the way side. All of a sudden you’ll be canceling trips to the gym so that you can make it to the next event. I still haven’t even mentioned Aunt Betty’s homemade Christmas cookies and all the passed hors d’oeuvres and the drinks.

If you let it things can get out of control very quickly. So here’s a few tips and tricks that you can use to get through the next few weeks without sacrificing all of the year’s hard work or to help you get the new year off to a great start.

1. ENJOY YOURSELF: it’s easy to read those first two paragraphs and have anxiety start rushing in and make you resent having to go to all these parties. Listen, the holidays are about celebrating life and enjoying time with friends and family. Do that. If you’ve spent the whole year practicing good habits and consistently working out then enjoying yourself at a few parties is not going to undo that. The stress relief may even lead to some positive changes.
2. BE PROACTIVE: you’re probably already receiving invites to all of these parties. You also probably know what your gym schedule is. Plan accordingly. The company holiday party is the same time as your favorite kickboxing class? Well when else does the instructor teach the class? If you usually work out in the evening, you may have to get up early to hit the gym in the morning.
3. EAT AHEAD: if you’re hungry you’re not going to be able to turn down that bacon wrapped scallop or that bacon wrapped asparagus or that bacon wrapped anything anything else. Avoid bacon and other temptations, by eating you’re normal healthy meal before you get to the party. This will also help you to not get as drunk as quickly if you choose to drink.
4. KEEP A DRINK IN HAND: just not an alcoholic one. If you don't want to drink, or drink excessively, keep a glass of water with lemon in your hand. Here’s the trick though, ask the bartender to put the water in a tumbler glass (for some reason bartenders like to shame those who are drinking water by putting it in a different glass). Why is this a good idea? Because at parties a common icebreaker is to ask “do you need a drink?”. Well water looks exactly like vodka. Now you don’t have to be in the awkward position of turning people down or explaining why you’re not drinking.
5. SCHEDULE DEPARTURE: don’t walk in the party without knowing exactly when you’re going to leave. Then stick to that time. The longer you’re at the party, the longer you’ll have to fight the food and booze temptations. Eventually you will lose. Having a departure time will make sure you speak to whoever you want and need to in a timely fashion. When you know you have 20 minutes before you have to leave and you still have to search out your boss, you’ll skip the long wait at the bar.

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If you say you can't...you can't

Here’s a common way for one of my sessions to start:

Client: what are we going to do today?

Me: we’re going to do some squats and pull-ups...

Client (incredulously): i can’t do pull-ups!

Me: not with that attitude you can’t.

My response is only half joking. The joking half is because I like to tease and bust my clients’ chops a little. I believe the other half to be 100% percent true. The moment you tell yourself you can’t do something is the moment it becomes the truth.

I’ve literally had clients walk away from a exercise if they go into it saying “I can’t...” or “I don’t think...”. I’ll have them do a different exercise or just wait a minute or two. Then I’ll tell them (or ask them why they think) why I switched the exercise. Then I’ll have them rephrase and try to do the exercise.

To be clear, I don’t have a problem with “negative talk” because I know my clients can do every exercise I give them. I say “try to do the exercise” because there are times when I’m not sure if they can do the exercise or not. My problem with “negative talk” is that it’s usually a cop out.

What I mean is that people use “negative talk” when they aren’t sure if they can do something or when they don’t want to do something. For example, pull-ups. The exchange above happens just about every time I introduce pull-ups into a new client’s program. The majority of my new clients are new exercisers, so it’s conceivable that they have never attempted to do a pull up in their life. Here lies the problem with “I can’t”: it becomes an excuse to not even try.

When you try something new there are two possible outcomes: either you can or you can’t. If you can’t, that’s great. It’s great because when you learn you can’t do something, you gain insight into what it takes to do that thing. The insight is what you use to get better at the thing. Then you try the thing again. You get the point.

If you can, that’s great too. Keep trying things until you can’t. Just don’t say you can’t.

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Using momentum to keep moving toward goals ...

This is a cop out post. I know it is and I'm telling you up front. I'm not telling you so you can get out quick. I'm telling you so that you can know where my head is as I write this.  Normally, at the very least I'd have an idea of what I was going to write about if not have some of it written already. Not the case today. I've got nothing written and no fully thought out ideas. What to do then? The first step was to simply open up my laptop. I'd be lying if I said that was all it took. There was definitely procrastinating on Facebook and Instagram. I unnecessarily checked email and took a break to eat lunch (can you take a break if you haven't started?). That said here I am writing this post. More importantly, I'm going to finish writing this post.

I know I'm going to finish it because I've started it. Starting gave me the momentum needed to finish. Just like opening my laptop gave me the momentum to, eventually, start writing. The momentum was necessary to get me started and (soon to be) finished.

So where did the original momentum come from? Why even open the laptop in the first place? I'm not sure what the original impetus was but back in June I said I was going to post at least one blog a week. I haven't missed a week. They haven't always come out on Mondays like planned but they always come out. So today when it came down to opening the laptop today I had the momentum of 14 consecutive weeks pushing me.

The point of all this is to say that it's not always going to be easy. When it's not easy, use previous successes to keep you going. We are loss adverse. So if  you know you have a streak, the streak itself propels you to keep going. This is where a log/record can come in handy. Momentum.

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The Best Diet?

At this point it’s widely accepted that a training program is only as good as the food choices that go with it. Also, at this point it’s widely accepted that nutrition is one of the most confusing topics this side of quantum physics. Vegan? Paleo? Organic? Ketogenic? IIFMM? (That last one is a real thing, it stands for If It Fits My Macros; natural follow up, what are my macros). I haven’t even mentioned Atkins, Mediterranean or South Beach. People ask me about these things all the time. My response is you should definitely go to the Mediterranean and/or South Beach they’re both beautiful. (I’ll be here all week, be sure to tip your waitress and bartender). Seriously, which one of these diets should you follow?

The answer is the one that YOU can follow everyday for the rest of your life. Two things about this answer. First, “you” is emphasized. You have to figure out what works for you. Got moral objections to eating meat? Paleo probably isn’t going to work for you. Your body will react differently to the things you put in it. You need to know these differences and make food choices based off that knowledge.

The second thing is the follow everyday for the rest of your life part. Here’s the thing, if your diet has a name you’re probably not going to follow it everyday; especially not for the rest of your life. (Barring a complete lifestyle change, ie going vegetarian/vegan and even then the odds are stacked against you.) Think of all the diets you’ve tried. They’ve all had names and they’ve all come to an end. This is not to say they didn’t work while you were doing them. The problem with most diets isn’t that they don’t work, the problem is that they can’t be sustained.

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Year's worth of lessons

This week makes it a year since I left Equinox and went out on my own. I can honestly say I haven't looked back. I don't say that because I've been super successful. I haven't been...super successful, that is. I've done well enough. Our bills are paid, food is on the table and we're able to put a little into savings each month. Do I think I can do better? Absolutely. And I will...do better that is. Let's take a look at some of the things I've learned and how they might relate to making changes and/or reaching goals.

1. The Nike Rule: just do it- it's been a year since I've been in business. What most people don't know is that I registered my LLC in August 2015. More than a full year before I officially started working for myself. Why? I've probably asked myself that question everyday for the last year. All I got from waiting a year is a loss of income and a year's worth of opportunities to learn how to run a business.

   I've had people tell me they want to get into better shape before working with a trainer. This doesn't make any sense. The trainer's job is literally to help you get into better shape. Stop wasting time. As the saying goes: the best time to improve yourself was yesterday, the next best time is right now.

2. Perfect doesn't exist- I'm a paralysis by analysis type of person. I will go out of my way to find the perfect solution when the "good enough" is right in front of me. For instance, I spent (literally) hours on Saturday looking for an app that would allow be to make "pretty" forms for clients to fill out. After all that time, I ended up going with Google forms, the same Google forms I've been using for years, and it took me about 10 minutes to complete.

   Searching for perfection is just another form of procrastination. It doesn't matter if you're looking for the perfect workout or diet or anything else. Pick something and do it (see #1).

3. Wrong leads to right- part of the reason people don't start or get stuck looking for the perfect solution is because they don't want to do anything "wrong". I'm willing to say over the last year I've done 10x more things wrong than I've done right. Thank goodness for that. Without being so wrong, I would never learn what I shouldn't be doing.

   In the words of George W. Bush, "fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice....can't be fooled again." Make mistakes, lots of them. Learn from them. Don't make the same mistakes over and over again.

4. Journey>outcome- this is cliché at this point. That doesn't make it any less true though. Once you reach a outcome (favorable or not) you start chasing the next one.  Celebrating (or sulking over) a outcome for too long just makes the next one that much harder to reach. So you had better learn how to enjoy what it takes to get to each outcome.

   You've reached your goal weight? Now what? You should've had that question answered before you got to your goal weight. If you want to stay at your goal weight, now you're on a different journey. Don't waste time trying to figure out the path.

5. Finish- I just talked about journeys over outcomes and all that good stuff. That doesn't mean outcomes aren't important however. Outcomes tell us what we're doing right and what we're not doing right yet. Outcomes inform the journey you're on and the one you're going to be on. So in order to get outcomes, you have to finish what you start. It's that simple. (Remember simple≠easy.)

   Ever quit a workout or diet plan before it was supposed to be over? If you're like lots of people then you probably said the workout/diet didn't work. How would you know? You didn't see it through until the end. If it calls for six weeks, then give it six weeks. That's the only way you can give/get an honest assessment of the plan.

These are just some of the things I've observed over the last year. As I thought about this over the weekend, I couldn't help but be amazed at how similar my struggles have been to my clients. The main thing I tell clients, and now myself, is that any action is better than no action and progress is better than perfection.

With that here's to another year. If you have any questions about how you can start taking progressive actions, let me know at dwayne@startinglinefit.com.

Squatting Basics

I've mostly been writing about some pretty abstract things like change (and here & here) and motivation. This post is going to be more concrete. It's about the squat. Last week a friend sent me a text about squatting and how to do them correctly. My elementary school teachers always said if I had a question then somebody else probably has the same question. So I figured this would be as good a place as any to talk about the squat. Squats pretty much work all the muscles in your thighs, predominantly the quads (front of thigh), glutes (butt) and hamstrings (back of thigh). Since these are such large muscles squats are a great cardio option along with being a one of the best strength exercises. While squats focus on the legs, squats are a full body exercise. They require mobility and stability at different parts of the body. So you may need to do some stretching and warmup exercises before hand. Also it may take time to be able to do a full range of motion squat.

First thing you should know is that squatting is good for you, despite what you may have heard. Second thing is that everybody squats at some point everyday. I can confidently say this because everyone sits and/or goes to the bathroom everyday. Knowing those two things, everyone should add squats to their workout routine.

So with that being said I'm going to lay out the basic components to a good squat. A couple of caveats before I start. First, squats (actually no exercise) shouldn't hurt while you're doing them. If there is pain stop. Go to a professional (orthopedist, chiropractor, physical therapist, trainer) to figure out what is causing the pain. Second, it's up to you to figure out your starting point. If you can't get full range of motion on day one that's ok. Keep working on it and there will be progress. Let's get to it...

• Stand with your feet about shoulder width apart: I say "about" because this is going to be different for everyone. Some people will be able to have a narrower stance and some will need to be wider. Also your toes will probably be somewhere between being pointed straight ahead and 45°. Stance is highly individual so you're going to have to experiment a little to find what works best.
• Sit BACK and down: squatting occurs at the hips. Pushing your butt back is the first movement and then it goes down. Stand in front of a bench/chair: take a step away: sit on the bench/chair. Notice how you have to "reach" back to get to the chair/bench? This is the   you want to replicate when you squat.
• Keep  your back straight: your spine (back) should not move when you're doing a squat, especially if you're using weights. This one may be a little tougher depending on your flexibility. Imagine you have a broomstick taped to your back when you squat. Now depending on the length of your legs and torso, your torso may be completely vertical, more "folded" down towards the ground or somewhere in between. No matter where the torso ends up just make sure the spine/back doesn't move to get there.
• Butt just below parallel: the goal of the squat is to get the butt just below the knees. If you can get lower while keeping your back straight that's great but from a strengthening stand point, just below parallel is the standard. Also the lower you go the higher the risk your lower back will round (remember the back moving is a no-no). If you can't get below parallel try stretching your glutes, quads and calves and keep squatting. This is a case where practice will lead to closer to perfect.
• Keep your heels down: your feet should stay flat on the ground the whole time. Don't lift the heels just so you can get lower. If you can't get low without lifting your heels, work on stretching the areas I mentioned above and only go to the point where your heels begin to rise.

These are the main points a beginner squatter needs to remember. There are hundreds of squat variations. These rules will hold true in the vast majority of variations. Once/if you can follow all of these rules then you can begin to add weight or try more advanced squat variations. Try these out and/or share with a friend. Let me know if you have any questions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkbtqX4U6Ts

Monday Motivations

Today is Monday. Social media feeds all over will be full of #motivationmonday posts. The fact that it's Labor Day and the unofficial end of summer just means more people will be thinking about how they want to finish out the year. Which means even more #motivationmonday posts than normal. Put simply, motivation is the driving force that gets us to do something. Motivation can be boiled down to two types: extrinsic and intrinsic. Extrinsic motivations are drivers that are from a outside source. For example: I want to get into shape because the hot chick at work likes fit guys. Intrinsic motivations are drivers from within. For example: I want to get into shape because I feel better about myself when I'm taking care of myself.

Both types of motivation can and should be used to get you wherever you want to go. That being said each type of motivation has to be used at the right time in order to be effective. I've been talking specifically about intrinsic and extrinsic motivation but each of these can be broadened to encompass different specific motivations. I'm going to talk about a few of these different motivations.

• Incentive (extrinsic)- you're going to get a reward. It may be a raise or promotion at work. Or you may get the attention of the hot chick at work if you get into shape. In order for an incentive to be motivating it has to be something that is outside the norm but not too far outside. If you don't think it's possible to do what's needed for the reward then you won't even try. So the reward has to be (perceived as) attainable with extra work.
• Fear (extrinsic)- you're going to lose something or get hurt. Your physical or mental health may be in jeopardy. Maybe it's financial repercussions or loss of your social circle. Fear can be a great motivator if, and only if, the fear is big enough to spark action. Think of a lion running toward you growling. Now think of a house cat doing the same.
• Purpose (intrinsic)- you're making a difference or you're a part of something. You feel like what you're doing is shaping the bigger picture. This could mean your affecting things at home, work or with your friends. Knowing they'll be a part of the end product drives people to work harder.
• Mastery (intrinsic)- you're getting better. It may be that you're work or workouts are getting easier. In order for mastery to be a motivator there has to be clear progress markers. Going from blue belt to black belt, getting a promotion at work or going from lifting 100lb to 200lb all show improvement. Reaching these markers helps to propel you to the next marker.

Again, these are only a few specific motivators. There are plenty more that can be used and certain motivators will only motivate certain people. The point here is to highlight differences between intrinsic and extrinsic motivations. Extrinsic motivations can be taken away (the lion isn't running toward you anymore; the raise is off the table; the hot chick changed jobs) so they have to be taken advantage of quickly. Extrinsic motivation are usually great to get started. Then if/when they are used correctly they can lead to long lasting intrinsic motivations. Then all it takes is periodic reminders of your intrinsic motivators to continue moving toward your goal.

Core Activated Leg Lift

On Monday I wrote a blog and talked about this exercise a little. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7ot5i9u_mM

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This is a great ab exercise for everyone but particularly if you have back issues. Laying on the floor supports the back and since only the leg is moving the spine is stable.

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This exercise is harder than it looks. You may need to start by bringing the knee to the chest instead of lifting the whole leg. If shown version isn't too tough, try using a smaller ball. Just make sure to keep your entire back flat on the floor. Begin with 3 sets of 10 repetitions.