Before I go into some of the responses that I received and the playlist that they have submitted, I would like to try and offer up a debate regarding the playlist (of any sort) and the work out. Is it beneficial to listen to a playlist or does it serve as more of a distraction? Is it fueling your fire or draining your efficiency? Does the playlist keep you focused or does it create yet another distraction for you? I only ask these questions because I myself constantly face these crossroad like conundrums.   And for the most part it really comes down to inconsequential factors for me, such as time I want to physically spend at the gym, the mood I am in, the muscle/muscles I am trying to target on that given day, the type of day I have had, the means by which I am getting to the gym and the amount of people at the gym, just to name a few.

                Most days I will take my iPod to the gym with me, but it is about a 50/50 crap shoot to whether or not I will actually put in the head phones and use it and it really has to do with running down the list above. If I get to the gym on a day where I am doing chest or back, I will most likely use a playlist, for three main reasons. One, those are usually Mondays and Tuesdays so I typically just need that extra “umf” to power me through my workouts – and believe me the playlists that I made for both days are more than enough to get the blood going. Two, I know that I will easily eat up an hour at the gym for either of these days, so I budget my work day and week out so that I take an hour lunch on both days and stay that extra ½ hour  (assuming I work an eight hour day which doesn’t really ever happen –usually 9-11hrs). So with that being said I have the luxury of listening to music while I work out because I can get caught up in a song and space out for a couple minutes here and there and it’s no big deal, because I have already allotted that time for my workout. But on bicep and tricep days I can usually crank out a 35 minute full workout and typically don’t listen to music if I am trying to get my workout in during lunch, because often times music distracts me because I love it and find myself more attuned to the songs I am listening to than to my workouts themselves. Three, my mood is always a factor. If I am in one of those, I can’t live without the new music I just got, then it doesn’t matter about anything else, I will definitely listen to my playlist. But if I have spent most of the day listening to music while I crunch numbers at my desk all day, I will take a break from it while I am at the gym and just enjoy the cluttered silence of my thoughts while I find some solace within my workout. And typically on Mondays and Tuesdays I have days of reporting that require my utmost attention, so I usually won’t be listening to music while I process them so I will plug in the phones at the gym and drown out the world for an hour while I work out. Another factor that comes into play is the mode in which I travel to the gym. Usually it is by car, but about once a week I will run to the gym and anytime I run I have to listen to music because it distracts me from all the elements that want to work against me when I run.  Then when I arrive at the gym I typically just leave them in and go about my work out.

                As you can see I have created this complicated mental equation for using or not listening or listening to music while I work out. I was just really curious if most people preferred to listen to music while exercising or preferred to just go without. I ask this question not only based on my own antics but also on those of others I see at the gym. I see about 20 of the same people at the gym every time I go at lunch, of those people I see about three who always have headphones in about four that never have headphones in and the rest have them some days and some days they don’t.   So as usual this peaked my curiosity. I am sitting here talking about how music distracts me but as I am writing this I can see that I am often distracted by the practice of others – sheesh I got to get it together here.  Like I have said my mind is constantly going it is what space mountain would like if you turned the lights on. Anyways please, if you have any opinions on this one let me know, because I am genuinely curious.

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Hey Friends,

It’s hot in Michigan, we are filling our pool up, we bought a fire pit thing for our back yard….all is good.

My weight stayed the same this week but I m ok with that cuz my pants are not so tight. I was at the tightest stage for my jeans almost having it get another size up but now I am just at the tight stage…next will be the perfect fit, the loose then will have to buy a smaller size..whoohooo!

I am feeling good and excited to start a 12 week challenge in my group at fast track to fat loss site. I am excited Kim Lyons one of the pass Biggest Loser runs this site. I joined and loving the meal planners, challenges, exercise planner and meeting lots of new friends…awwww don’t fret Designer Whey friends are still my favs! Coolest of all…I could win a trip to Loreto Mexico on the Fast Track Vacation Home! FREE! I have to get the most votes and be the most improved in the 12 week challenge… what an incentive! So I expect my Designer Whey followers to vote for me when the time comes to vote. Deal?

So who you going to vote for to be one of the 3 finalist on the Biggest Loser? I feel for Darris…I have the same problem…I do excellent all day right on target but as soon as the sun goes down the wolf fangs come out and it is very difficult to control myself. Not sure why that is, something I have to work on. Then Koli he really deserves it he did not mess up and did an amazing job at home. I am torn on who to choose. Final show is Tuesday be sure to watch! I am excited to see all the players and how they did.

Well I am off to mow the lawn in 85 degree weather…that should muster up some sweat! My last weigh in is Wednesday for the 8 week challenge I am in right now so we shall see the fruits of my labor and I will blog about it right after cuz I know you all are there with me.

I love my Designer Whey!

Have a great one.

Camille

Ps I love these 90 calorie buns! Put a hunk of chicken along with some fruit on the side then a glass of ice water with a 2GO pack in it… there ya go a complete meal. Be sure to sit outside and enjoy your meal.

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This is the final thought of helpful tips and methods on “defeating the Itis” pertaining to the daily fitness routines that many go through.

Well once again I am coming to the close of another segment and with that I wanted to offer some final thoughts on the underlining message behind this last series of blogs, which is “it doesn’t matter how you get yourself into the gym, it’s just important that you do.” I say getting yourself into the gym but what I am really talking about here is following through in general when it comes to fitness resolutions. It can be as simple as doing pushups and sit ups in front of the TV or running a mile or two around the block every day or making sure that you stick to a certain caloric value on a daily level. Whatever your fitness goals are it is important that you follow through with them, and in order to do so you have to create some sort of routine or regimen that keeps you on the right path to achieving these goals.  That is what I was trying to do with this set of blogs, offer up some helpful tips and tactics to make staying on whatever path you set for yourself a little less trifling.

Staying on these paths that we make for ourselves is much easier if we make our goals realistically obtainable. Creating goals like seeing a drastic change in your body figure or a major decrease in your weight or wanting to be in the top ten for a marathon are all perfectly fine goals, and yes it is true that anyone can achieve them. But what is unrealistic are some of the timelines that people put forth to reach these destinations. If you are a hundred pounds overweight and in really bad physical health, you are not going see results over night in trying to be in the top ten places of a marathon. But you will see significant improvement and over time if you keep on a realistic schedule you will arrive at that goal. I read stories all of the time about something like this happening, so it is absolutely reachable. But within all of these stories that I read, there are always depictions of the (in most cases) long road that it takes to get there. Which is why it is important to set bench marks for these physical aspirations because while it is in fact important to always keep the main goal in sight it is even more important to mark your progression in reaching it. Lots of time we burn out on our habitual fitness routines because we are not seeing the results we want and we are not receiving that notion of self gratification that we feel when we accomplish our goals.  In this day and age with convenience in technology, schooling, and infrastructure break down, as a society we want immediate results. We loved this “internet thing” when it was brand new even though it took 15 min to change the page we were on. But now we spit at our computer when it takes more than ten seconds load. Don’t get me wrong this progression in life is amazing and I wouldn’t trade it for the world, but it has enabled us as a society in many ways. And part of that enablement is how we handle situations when the going gets tough.

We all hit walls in every aspect of life, there is no avoiding them. But it is what we do when we hit those walls that makes or breaks us. I for one spent a lot of my life getting to these walls and trying to find a way around them instead of a way over them.  I would set goals with unrealistic timelines to achieve them and when I would hit one of these walls I would just create a new goal with a new path, instead. And I would keep doing this over and over again every time a wall popped up.  This just creates a labyrinth where we often find ourselves circling back to where we started and losing a lot of ground and time in the process.  Sometimes when we get to these walls it is in fact good to try and go around them, but in doing so it’s imperative that you remember to find your way back to that original path or you will slowly progress away from your true objective until it is completely out of reach for you.

With the right goals and timelines, it is much more accessible to stick to your routines to help you acquire what you truly want. And when you hit these so called walls try and climb them, use some of the techniques that I have shared with you or create your own to keep you on that mental and physical corridor that is needed for you to reach your overall goals. Once again, these are simply the opinions of a guy who has opinions about anything and everything, take it or leave it as you will.

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All too often we start feeling that our workouts are getting stale. When that happens it’s easy to become bored and fall off track. Or even worse, we hit a plateau and just don’t get the great results we once were. One way to make sure this doesn’t happen is to shake-up your routine by adding new exercise moves on a regular basis, or by varying ones you already do.

Take lunges for example. You can really only do so many before they start getting boring.  When this happens, try the “walking lunge”. It’s more active and will transform your workout from ho-hum to oh-so-fun. We love the walking lunge because it works the glutes, hamstrings and quads and in one move. Many bootcamp classes start out with 50 walking lunges just to warm-up!

You can use dumbells for an even more challenging workout. If you decide to use dumbells, stand tall with dumbbells hanging down on either side. Step forward with your first leg, land on your heel then foot. Lower your body by flexing your knee and hip of your front leg until your knee of your back leg is almost in contact with floor. Stand on your forward leg, feeling the burn in your glutes and quads. Lunge forward with your opposite leg. Repeat by alternating lunge with opposite legs.

Here are a few helpful hints to maximize this move and to make sure you remain injury-free (Always consult a professional trainer or your physician before starting any new workout or exercise move).

1) Make sure you get a really good stretch in before AND after your workout. Flexible hip flexors are very important when lunging. Stretching helps reduce post-workout soreness and helps elongate the muscles.

2) Keep your torso upright during lunge. Your lead knee should point in the same direction as your foot throughout lunge.

3) A long lunge emphasizes the gluteus maximus; a short lunge emphasizes the quadriceps.

4) Do 2 sets of 15 reps, building up to 3 sets.

5) If at first it’s too hard to do with dumbbells, just place your hands on your waist instead. Eventually you’ll work up to using dumbbells.

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Well, I’ve completed my “Lent” diet.  46 days without fast food, soda, alcohol, and minimal burgers and other things not so great for me.  And more exercise, mostly in the form of walking everywhere since I no longer own a car.  And where am I at now? Well, Sunday morning I surpassed the 250lb point to 249.5 pounds, which is pretty remarkable for me.  Granted, it’s just a number, but it’s a significant number, nice and round.  Also, it’s only a few pounds away from my monthly goal of 245lbs.  So I can honestly say that my diet worked, and worked way better than I expected.  I’m really proud of the weight loss I accomplished; having said that the diet is over and I’m going to begin to allow myself some fast foods and alcohol again.  However, not nearly in the capacity that I had been consuming before.  Seeing the results, and how astonishing they were, I’m going to only eat fast food and drink alcohol on weekends.  During the week it’s going to be healthy only.  I’m going to continue to walk everywhere, and in fact now that I bought new running shoes I’ve started running again, which will help out even more.  Today I ran 3 times further than yesterday (which was the first time I had run in quite some time), and I’m hoping that tomorrow I’ll run even farther.  If I keep at it, I know that I’ll get back into my runner’s lungs before I know it, and then I’ll really start stripping the weight off.  Combine that with some weight training, healthy eating and good friends to keep me at it, and I’ll be nearing my goal much faster than I had planned, maybe I’ll even make my goal that I had set for myself on January 1: to be at 170 pounds by Dec 31.  I think I may be able to do it, but we’ll see.  One step at a time.

So for the rest of you, how is your “new” New Year’s resolutions going? Are you still working out? Are you still dieting?  If so, then good on ya.  I’m living proof that it’s never too late to start (or restart).  If not, then I urge you again to finally make that promise and stick to it.  It can be difficult, sure.  But nothing worth doing is ever easy.  If you put in the effort, the results will not be far behind.  I personally promise.  And if you need motivation, or advice, or have questions, by all means contact me and I’ll help you out the best I can.  Because we’re all in this together, and together we’re strong enough to succeed! Until next time, keep at it!

Posted in Nathanael Mulder | 1 Comment

This week, I want to touch on two subjects.  The first, and foremost, is that having good friends to watch my back while my relatively strict diet has been crucial to my success.  Just last night I was tempted to cheat by eating a Philly Cheesesteak, because technically I hadn’t declared Jersey Mike’s as fast food.  My friend Bruce refused to stop nagging me on how I was quitting my diet and my pledge to not eat fast food.  His dedication to my diet reminded me that I’m in this for more than just the thrills of dieting, I’m in this to prove to myself and to everyone that it’s possible for me to lose the weight.  Even though my weight loss has been good thus far, I have to keep focused, and he reminded me of that.  So instead I got a much healthier sandwich at Jersey Mike’s, and I was very proud of both myself and him for demanding such perfection.  Likewise, my friend Jessi is constantly making sure that I’m working out, even if I’m just watching TV at home.  Her dedication to my weight loss reminds me of why I’m doing this in the first place, to be a healthier person.  It’s great to know that I have friends that care this much about me.

The other thing I wanted to talk about today was the constant standing on the scale.  For years I’ve been told not to weigh myself every day because weight loss isn’t instant, and that it could be discouraging to stand on the scale and see that I’d only lost a half a pound over a couple of days, or worse, gained weight.  While it is certainly true that your weight can fluctuate quite a bit, I’ve found that keeping a month-long calendar in my bathroom, and weighing myself the first thing in the morning EVERY morning has been quite wonderful.  I’ve talked about this before, but it’s never been more evident than now.  In the course of a month I lost 20 pounds, and on the days that my weight went up from the day before I made sure to double my weight loss efforts.  On the days that my weight went down, I patted myself on the back and thought about what it was that I had been doing to help me lose that weight, like walking to school and working out, and I made sure to do it more often.  Basically, so long as you take the positive look at your weight, no matter which direction it went, you can’t be defeated! So I challenge everyone that’s trying to lose weight to start stepping on a scale every day for a month.  I prefer to do it in the morning, because you don’t have the fluctuation of what you ate that day to affect the outcome.  Yes, some days you’ll weigh more than the day before, that’s normal.  But watch your weight loss over the course of that month, and if you’re honest with yourself and work hard you can see a downward trend that will have you grinning from ear to ear by the end of May, just in time for beach season!  So until next time, keep at it people!

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This is part 7b of helpful tips and methods on “defeating the Itis” pertaining to the daily fitness routines that many go through.

Continuing on with the subject of little things you can do when you are at the gym to motivate you through those tough workouts: one thing you can do is go the “easy route.” Ok now the real easy route would be to get up and walk out and be done with your workout prematurely, but the easy route here pertains to your own personal definitions of “easy.” Trying to articulate this now in my head and put it on paper at this moment would make me sound like I am blurting out non-sense (not much different from my other blogs right?), so it is better suited in this case just to go off a personal example. On Mondays I typically do “chest” and Tuesdays I typically do “back” and both of these are by far the hardest two days to work through. After the first sets on either day I am exhausted, because I am maxing out (here I’m talking about doing about 4 sets of 5-6 reps at max weight and one set at 3 where weight is increased even further) two muscles that account for the majority of my upper body.  So what I will do is put the first three exercise sets that I do as the hardest three that demand the most physical exuberance out of all the different exercises planned for that particular workout. I have about 10 other exercises that I can do at this point regarding chest or back but I know at this moment I am physically exhausted and a likely candidate to throw in the towel.  So what I will do is then pick three to four exercises that I think are easier than the other six of those ten choices. In reality they are all equally challenging and work your chest and back muscles just as hard as any other chest or back exercise, but in your mind for whatever reason they are easier. Everyone has those couple of “easier” exercises for every muscle or exercises that you find really easy but work really well. Whether it is switching to a machine instead of trying to do it with free weights or whether it is running at 6 % incline rather than doing a set on the stair master, in your mind they are easier to do than the other option. I like to save these exercises as a form of a backup plan, meaning that I typically won’t employ theses exercises when working a certain muscle because most days and weeks I have enough energy and natural motivation to power through that particular workout. But everyone has those days where energy and motivation are as hard to find as Bobbie Fisher. When those days hit I always try and power through what I can of the normal routines and then switch to my reserve drills to allow me to truly conquer those fatigue demons.

Riding the coattails of this “easier” workout scheme, I also will switch up the order of what muscle I want to work on a given day. Like I stated before I try and get the toughest two workouts finished by Tuesday because I like to keep that mentality that “the hardest part is already behind you and it is a downhill battle from here on.” But some Mondays and Tuesdays I will have just about as much enthusiasm as a zombie from a 60’s horror film, you know the ones with their hands parallel to the ground moving at a pace of 10 steps a minute. So I will scrap the Chest and Back weekly startup and go right into a Triceps and biceps workout, because I actually look forward to those two workouts every week. Or I will completely flip the script and say that I am going to go to a full upper body workout on Mon, Weds and Fri or Tues, Thurs and Sat and fill the opposite days with non resistant core and leg workouts.  Some weeks this is my saving grace, because before trying to utilize these little tricks I would just hit a half a day’s work out or miss a day completely, which in turn would throw off my entire schedule. And you know what; sometimes your body and mental capacity within the realm of the fitness world need that derailment.  For me it is not beneficial unless I plan it. It is one thing to plan a week of half workouts or plan to take a two week break, but it is another thing to come up short on your goals because you were simply just “too tired.” Every time I think I am too tired and end up finishing a work out I feel so much better about myself and every time I fail to do so I feel like I have truly let myself down. So instead of letting yourself down and succumbing to the daily fatigue factors, take the “easy” route, for once it is actually ok and beneficial to do so. Once again, these are simply the opinions of a guy who has opinions about anything and everything, take it or leave it as you will.

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Remember in high school English when we learned the concept of a euphemism?  From the Latin for beautiful, it’s basically a nice sounding word for something that sucks. And when you’re trying to lose weight the plateau definitely sucks.

It can come at any time in the weight loss process. After, say, the first ten or so pounds lost, you’re still doing the right things but can’t lose any more weight. That is the dreaded plateau but there are ways around it.

Neely Simmons trains several championship athletes at neelysimmons.com and elitefitnessnc.com. She was kind enough to offer us some of her tips for getting past the plateau:

H.I.I.T. -  High intensity interval training. Alternate high intensity activity with low intensity movements to raise and lower the heart rate to help speed up your metabolism.

Supersets - Follow one exercise up with another similar movement. That cuts down on rest between sets.

Cardio in the Morning – Do your cardio first thing in the morning, before your first meal to jump start the metabolism early in the day.

Eat more often – You don’t want to eat more, just more often. Instead of three meals try five, but definitely make sure they are smaller. Designer Whey protein shakes make great mid-morning or mid-afternoon meals. I’ve found that whey protein keeps my energy up, gets rid of hunger and helps me recover faster from my workouts. I always keep the Protein 2Go packs with me, especially when I travel.  There’s no easier whey, I mean way to get protein when I’m on the go. 

Water - Drink your weight in water. For example if you weight 230 pounds get 230 ounces of water per day.

I will be heading these tips over the next week hoping for a better Wednesday weigh in. I’ll let you know how they worked for me!

- John Roberts

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So this weekend I made my goal for the month.  I wanted to start with that right there.  My goal by April 30th was to be down to 256 pounds, and on Friday I weighed in at a svelte 255.  Not bad, considering earlier this month I had ballooned to 272.  So I’m really proud of myself for having met my goal, and now that I did, I think it’s a good time to look back at the last few weeks and see what I was doing right, what I was doing wrong, and what I need to do for the next month to keep losing weight.

First off, what I did wrong.  As much as I really hate to admit it, I have to officially place both Philly Cheesesteak & NY Pizza, a restaurant near my school, on the fast food list.  I had initially avoided this move, since it wasn’t a Burger King or a McDonald’s, and therefore wasn’t obviously a fast food place, but the fact that the pizza is extra greasy and the Philly’s are made short order (read: really bad for you) is undeniable, and therefore it goes on the banned list.  My friend really was the one that pointed this out; that basically I had been cheating on my pseudo-Lent promise.  So now I’m officially putting that restaurant on the fast-food list, meaning I can no longer go there.  Probably a good thing, because as good as their food is, it’s really pretty bad for you, and I began eating there more and more lately.  Next up is pizza in general.  It’s great to have a cheat day every once in a while, but this week I think I ate pizza 3 different times, and that’s really not good for anyone.  Sure it’s convenient, but it’s also expensive in comparison to say Subway or making a bowl of soup and a sandwich, which is even cheaper.  Plus, eating an entire large Meat Lovers pizza from Papa John’s just can’t be healthy.  So, ordering pizza is out as well.  Now, grabbing a slice if you have some friends over or are at a friends house watching the game is another matter.  1 or 2 slices won’t really be that big of a deal.  My problem specifically has been that I order an entire pizza for myself, and then eat it myself, and I’ve been doing that more and more lately too.  So, no more ordering pizza.

Now, the good.  I haven’t had a drop of alcohol, and I really don’t miss it at all.  Same goes for Soda.  The fast food, as discussed above, is kind of a gray area, but I haven’t stepped foot into a Burger King or any other traditional fast food place since I placed a ban on them.  Also, I’ve been eating a lot less burgers (my friend’s wedding reception BBQ notwithstanding) which has been good for me.  So I am meeting, on all points, everything I said I wouldn’t do, which is good.  And obviously it’s been paying off.  However, I can’t say I’ve been working out 4 times a week.  I have been walking a lot more places now that I sold my car, so that is healthy, but I haven’t set aside much dedicated time to actually work out, and that’s something I need to do.  30 minutes on the treadmill followed up with some decent weight lifting will do wonders for me, and that’s really what I need to do.  But, I can’t say I haven’t been working out at all, since I do walk to and from school everyday, and some days I will walk around my block (which is exactly a mile) several times over the course of a little more than an hour, which is really nice for clearing my head or listening to some music that I’ve been meaning to listen to.  So all in all, the workouts could be better and more frequent, but I haven’t been skipping them either.

Overall, I’ve definitely slimmed down some.  It’s noticeable, and that’s important.  More important than numbers is how you look.  If you’re 5′5″ and 200 pounds, but you have a trim tummy and well-toned legs and whatnot, then your muscles just weigh a lot (I have no idea why this would happen), but so long as you’re happy with how you look, that’s more important than some arbitrary number.  That said, most people, including myself, have a magic number they want to reach, and that’s based on knowing that at that weight we will look a certain way, which is our ultimate goal.  I want to reach 170 pounds, and with the help of DesignerWhey, I’m well on my way of getting there.  So take a look at what you’ve done the last month and what you’ve accomplished, and keep going at it.  Because there is a pot of gold at the end of this journey, but only if you work hard to get it.  Thanks for joining me, and I’ll see you next time.

Nate

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This is part 7 of helpful tips and methods on “Defeating the Itis” pertaining to the daily fitness routines that many go through.

So up until this point, I have just been bombarding you with all of these alternative ideas and concepts about how to motivate yourself into actually getting your foot inside the door at the gym. And although some of these might prove to be helpful I overlooked one key element and that is “what is motivating you once you have actually stepped into the gym.” Yes there are the typical reasons (very valid ones I might add): I want to lose weight, I want to improve my looks, I want to get stronger, I want to be more involved in the fitness community, I want something productive to do to relieve the stress of a hard day, I want to improve my health, etc. Like I said, these are all extremely valid reasons, I know because they are constantly recycled in my daily thoughts.  The great thing about these is that every person can have their own and create their own unique goals and lifetime milestones from themselves that stem from these.  And I say to those who abide be these ideals and others that follow a similar lifeline, rock on and use these as motivators to get you into the gym and to get you through your workouts, I know I certainly do – they are excellent tools. But they are obvious ones that we think about all the time. What I want to get at in these next couple of blogs are the little tiny tricks that keep you going when you are in mid work out. All this time I have been talking about the crash that we can all feel that prevents us from getting into the gym but what about that brick wall that sometimes pops like the annoying “punch the monkey in face and win a Car” web pop-up. I have a couple easy, tiny behaviors that you can employ as your so called pop-up blockers at the gym, to help you tear down that wall.

The first of these is what I like to call the “only” factor.  The “only” factor refers to the method by which you count while working out. When counting focus on what you are striving toward and what you have already done.  Meaning that if you are on your 2^nd of 4 sets don’t think of it as the 2^nd set but instead put yourself in mind frame that you “only” have two sets left or that you are half way done with your sets for this exercise. This works perfect for running as well and in fact that is where I got the idea in the first place.  When I used to run cross country to get in shape for the soccer season back in high school, I used to hit a giant mental barbed wire fence after the first mile in every race that I ran. On every regular run day I would be absolutely fine and be able to power through the entire run without the mental fatigue. But for whatever reason when it came race time I would be so drained psychologically that after that first mile I seriously always wanted to quit. After burning out my first couple races and losing my hard earned place after that first mile, my coach began to trouble shoot for me.  At first the obvious diagnosis was that I was just physically burned out after the first mile, but when he saw me run time intervals on the track he knew that was not in fact the case. He taught me this technique of focusing on what you have accomplished and then honing in on fact that you are already partly done so really you “only” have this much more to go.  I was thinking to myself in the beginning holy hell I still have two more miles to keep at this pace, but after I really focused on this new method of thinking everything turned around. I would hit that mile and not think about the 2 miles I would think to myself “ok just keep this pace for ½ a mile more (which is much more reasonable than for two more miles) then when I hit that ½ mile point I would think to myself ok that last ½ mile was very doable just go a ½ more mile at the same pace. I would have just enough mental and physical energy to do that for one more ½ mile and then when I realized I only had one ½ mile left I would actually pick up the pace because I knew that it would all be over in no time and I would be so much more happy with myself if I did it. The same I found out carried over for the gym. By far chest and back are the most physically and mentally demanding days for me out of the whole workout week.  So I started putting the 3 most challenging exercises at the very beginning of my workout, then once I hit that burnout point I would tell myself that “I have already done the three hardest exercises and that I only have 3 left.” Then I would do the two next easiest exercises and tell myself that I “only” had one more to do. Then half way through my last one I would convince myself to do one more exercise afterword just to push it and feel that much more accomplished because at most I only had 7 min left at the gym.

Looking at this on paper it might sound like a giant crock pot of self indulged crap, and it might even seem a little confusing,  but when actually set forth in motion and practically maintained, it really works. I always thought that it was just something that worked for me but I started telling people about this when they would share with me in passing about problems with burning out not just in the gym but in many different facets of their lives, and they told me that it truly started working for them as well.  Maybe they are just trying to make me feel good about myself by telling me that this works but hey it works for me and it is something that is so easily done that I whole heartedly encourage you to give it a try for a little while. Once again, these are simply the opinions of a guy who has opinions about anything and everything, take it or leave it as you will.

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