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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Hello Friends!

Hope this finds you having a fabulous day! I did mention that I started a weight loss challenge and so far I have lost 6 pounds in 2 weeks, which is a great start but I have done these challenges before and know I need to tweak my plan so I get a little better result. I did get a stability ball and have really only sat on it at my desk; I can feel it working on my core! Who would have thought just sitting on a stability ball would make your core stronger? I plan to do on exercises on it as well once I get over the fear of rolling off it onto my butt! Now that would not be a pretty picture!  lol

WOW! What an emotional Biggest Loser show this week. I feel for O’Neal losing his brother to cancer. That was very touching. I know you all shed a tear or 2 along with him. My daughter had that experience with her grandfather. My dad passed in the night and my daughter found out the next day after school. She was crushed that she did not get to say good-bye. My dad was my daughter Sue’s life…she did everything and went everywhere with him.  That was 7 years ago. Time sure marches on.

I have been walking a lot and going to the gym. I even have walked over 20K steps in one day which equals 8.5 miles for me. I have realized that no one is going to step up and help me, no one is going to come knocking on my door  to go walking, no one is going to meet me at the gym, no one is going to help me plan menus for the week, no one is going to say I better not eat that… I do not have close friends or family. So I have realized I am on my own with this weight loss and have accepted that fact. Now don’t get me wrong I have a lot of facebook supporters cheering me on, and designer whey friends and fast track to weight loss friends, and neighbor friends but it’s not the same as someone saying come on I will help you and support you, let’s get walking.

It’s also difficult as for me because I do not have a treadmill at home to help track what I am doing. I am waiting to hear if I won a contest to win a treadmill through the Life Fitness brand so send in the lucky vibes for me to win! If I win the weight loss challenge it will be for over 300 bucks that will pay for my Fast Track to Weight Loss with Kim Lyons membership. With the Gold membership you get a personal trainer maybe even Kim who was a Biggest Loser Trainer in the pass! The trainer will help monitor your diet, exercise, give you pep talks, encouragement and suggestions. But as most things in life it is not free.

One thing I am being faithful using is my Designer Whey Weight Control Powders. I love the taste and the energy I get from using this great product. I also carry the 2GO packets in my car so I have no excuse to stop and grab something to eat that probably is not good for me.

Thanks friends for reading this blog entry. I hope it inspires you to continue on your quest to be the healthiest you can be. Life is too short to waste time on unhealthy habits.

Take care, until next time.

Camille

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This is part 6 of helpful tips and methods on “defeating the Itis” pertaining to the daily fitness routines that many go through.

Something that I have been doing lately that has kept me motivated at a constant, continual and healthy rate is to fully document my physical progression. Meaning the whole kit-n-kaboodle: weekly and monthly pics, daily, weekly and monthly measurements, diet journals and of course exercise journals. I have always been opposed to this whenever it has been brought up in the past because for some reason it carried a very narcissistic stigma for me. When magazines or people I knew spoke outwardly about this, for some peculiar reason, I thought that they were just being vein but after working in operations in the business world I have changed my mind. Now I know you are thinking to yourself, what the hell do the business world and your perception on this particular subject have to do with anything, the two go together like “ketchup and mint cookies” (I know you are thinking random comparison right, but once as a kid I got dared to combine the two and believe me I can think of nothing worse: validating this opposition). So anyways, I realized that in order for a business to be successful they have to evaluate everything from head to toe on a daily, weekly, monthly and yearly basis. And being in operations I crunch these numbers and evaluate progression and unfortunately sometimes decline. Being able to see, have and evaluate these numbers is the only way a business can successfully set, retain and reach the goals that will make them flourish. The same should apply to the gym.

What diets have been working the best? How much weight am I sustaining, gaining or losing? What did I look like at the start of this venture and have a progressed? Why have I been stuck on the same weight for these reps? All of these questions can easily be answered if you are documenting what you do at and outside of the gym. It is really easy and will take no more than 10-20 min a day to keep up with. This is extremely motivating for several different reasons. The first obviously being that if you can see improvement on a weekly-monthly basis and especially a yearly basis, you will be much more motivated to stay on that path and keep in the gym or keep on an exercise plan. Just looking in the mirror when you get home does no true justice because your mind is conditioned to have a certain perception of you…I know that sounds weird but it is true, whereas pictures and actual numbers don’t lie. The same goes for daily measurements; they can also be deceiving depending on if you just worked out, if you just ate, if you just did something extraneous, which is why it is helpful to have ongoing data so that you can truly measure progress or as I am about to bring up, back sliding. The second main motivator can be a plateau or decline in your measurements or appearance. Some people get really attuned to how they look or what they weigh because they feel that because they are going to the gym everyday they have to be improving their physical fitness and appearance. But this can most often lead to falsehoods, because many times we plateau or even, what I like to call back slide. For me I was increasing the weight that I was lifting but I was not increasing the mass of my body. This had to do with several factors like daily calorie intake, protein intake and not enough recovery. But I did not notice because I mentally convinced myself that I was getting bigger because I was going to the gym everyday and hitting it hard. So once I started documenting everything and saw that I was at the same level, I was able to isolate the things negatively impacting me and try and improve them one by one. The whole grand scheme of the fitness game might be as hard to understand at first as the initial reaction to a nerdy dude dating a perfect ten: “how is this really supposed to work.” But truly figuring this “game” out is the key because once you can isolate your downfalls and weaknesses you can move on and improve, which acts as a huge motivation. It is like when a teacher yells at and punishes a student for acting out when called on in class. It seems like the right thing to do because this child is being disruptive. But in reality this kid can barely read and was put into this class due to social promotion and lack of funding for special programs, so he is acting out as a defense mechanism. You can not expect motivate this kid and see progress until you take the time to fully understand him, and truly evaluate his skills. And like in the world of teaching and in the world of business, there is no better, cheaper easier way than to personally document this stuff as you go.

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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Recent life situations have given me every reason to run off into a corner and pout. And yes, I did. But during that time I remembered hearing a speech that inspired me then and is helping me now.  And because I think the statute of limitations is up, it’s safe to tell this story.

Back in high school there was a very prestigious basketball camp up in Pennsylvania. But in order to get into this camp, you had to get a recommendation from a coach that WASN’T from your school. So on our applications, we created a fictional Coach named Red Jenkins, and a fake school called Union Hills Prep where he coached. They bought it and we were in.

We had a chance to see if we could hang with the best players in the east, and the answer was a resounding no.

But the featured speaker the first night was a little known college coach from the Midwest. He spoke about “saving yourself” and how it was death to an athlete. We have all fallen into the trap of saying, “I’m gonna go hard tomorrow so I’ll save myself today”, or “Next year will be my big year, so I’m going to take it easy this season.”  His message was “train like a champion today, and practice and play like it’s your last day.”

That coach was the guy we now call Dickie V, ESPN analyst Dick Vitale.  And that message can be applied to us as we try to win at the game of losing weight. We have all said, “I’ll have the Double By-pass Burger and the stroke fries today, because tomorrow it’s all salads.” Or “I’m going to hit it really hard tomorrow, so I’ll take it easy at the gym today.”

When in reality, if we’re going to diet tomorrow, why couldn’t we start today. And if we make the effort to walk through the gym door, why not go until failure, like tomorrow really isn’t there. And above all else, “Train like a Champion, Today.”

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This is part 3A of helpful tips and methods on “defeating the Itis” pertaining to the daily fitness routines that many go through. This last suggestion that I have regarding when to go to the gym, is the one that reigns supreme in my mind. It is what I have been using the most and the one that I have found, works the best when battling the “Itis” and that is to go to the gym during your lunch break.

Pros to going to the Gym during lunch:

Going to the gym during lunch is amazing in so many different ways. It not only helps cure the workout “itis” but it also greatly helps to curb the work “itis” that many of us constantly face on a daily basis. It generates a true break from work and although it is a break filled with physical work, it is nonetheless a break from that constant grind. When I first started working at my job, I didn’t want to take lunches, because I thought that there wasn’t enough time in the day. But like with most jobs you find a great time management system to allow you to complete all of your job details on time and well throughout the week, as you strive to become more efficient – or maybe you don’t (who knows). Now, granted you are going to run into that project where there is just no getting around working 12-14 hour days, but even the eight hour day is a daunting one. Whatever the case may be, you are likely to be 5 times more productive if you break your day up by at least half an hour, when you are work. My problem: I was running myself ragged because I would eat my lunch in about 5-10 min, go back and work because there was really nothing else for me to do during lunch. I would not try to find ways to better handle my time and become more proficient because I never gave myself a reason to in the sense that I never really found the importance in a full 30 or more for lunch. So by going to work out during my lunch breaks I am forcing myself physically to take a break away from my desk, which in turn permits me to clear my mind and when I come back for those last 2 or 3 hours of work it is almost like getting to work in the morning – a fresh new start almost. I feel surprisingly rejuvenated when I return and definitely have seen a difference in the output of my work rounding that 7th-sometimes 12th hour.

The other amazing phenomena that occurs in this situation is that from about 12:30-2:30p the gym is as vacant as welcome home party for Bernie Madoff (thank god that won’t happen). I have personally gone to four different gyms two by one chain, and then two separate gym chains and all of them were empty at these times. I even double checked by asking the people at the front desk and they said it is definitely a trend that they see on a daily basis: come 12:30 the number of people in the gym dramatically decreases until about 3p. Just think to yourself for a hot second, you can wake up at your normal time, you don’t have to worry about going after work, you can get a full work out in, and make work a little more refreshing on the afternoon curve, all without really tweaking your day that much. Personally, I would much rather stay at work an extra ½ hour or 45 minutes and get my work out in at lunch then have to try and hurdle that brick wall that seems to erect itself everyday when the clock strikes the “time to get the hell out of dodge,” hand at work.

The lunch time work around is also perfect for people who like to get in, get out and get on with their lives when they go to the gym. For those of you who enjoy being in that zone when you work out, where every second is meticulously calculated out so that your break time and actual physical endurance time are in perfect harmony, this routine is perfect. I can sometimes get caught up in those resting periods during normal workouts, and although it is by little increments at a time, it adds up and I find myself being at the gym a lot longer than I really want to be. But when I go on my lunch break my eyes are on that wall clock every second of my rest period, and I fly through my workout. The time restraint really helps me stay focused and keeps my aimless wandering, that can easily occur, stagnant.
Even though this is my favorite option in fighting the “itis” I do realize that it is a very unrealistic plan for many. After saying that, I hope that the cons to this one in the next blog won’t discourage you too much from trying to give this method a try. 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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So yes, we hit the gym a few times a week, and we feel good.  We’re eating healthy also, and that makes us proud of ourselves.  The question on the mind is: can I do more to make this new healthy lifestyle more healthy? The answer is ABSOLUTELY! I like the workout outside the workout.  The things that you can do during your daily routine that will allow you to add just a bit more to your day, without the worries of changing into your gym clothes and ending up with a cold shower.  Things like taking the stairs instead of the elevator, parking further from your office and walking the distance, riding your bike to work instead of driving (my uncle rides his bike about 20 miles each way, every day) or walking to work.  For those of us lucky enough to live in Southern California, we are especially blessed that Spring is officially here and it’s a balmy 70+ degrees everyday.  So walk that extra bit from your car and enjoy a little sun and some fresh air!  If you only live a mile or so from work, that’s really only a 20-minute walk and you’ll feel better about yourself, not to mention the money you’ll save on gas.  Work on the 2nd floor but have a meeting on the 10th? Take the stairs.  Your co-workers might look at you funny, but you’ll have the last laugh come this summer when you’re in great shape for the beach or pool and they’re looking for extra-big towels to cover up with.  Have a pet? Race them when you take them for a walk.  They might be fast, but if you keep at it you’ll be able to challenge them soon enough.  And that’s great for them too.  Have a pool at your apartment or house, and want to cool off? Great, swim down and back a few times too.  Swimming is one of the greatest workouts there is, because it works just about everything.  Swim until you can’t anymore, then swim some more.  Stuck in the office at your cubicle all day, typing emails and reports and memos? Well, strap on a couple of 1-pound weights to your ankles, underneath your pants, and do leg lifts while at your desk.  That might not add huge, bulking muscle but it will tone very well, and it’s still burning calories.  Remember that the most important think you can do is to just do something.  Every little thing you do is a few more calories burnt.  My friend once told me that you burn 80 calories an hour just sleeping, so imagine what you can do if you put your mind to it.  The workout outside your workout is exactly what we all need.  Until next time, keep at it! YOU CAN DO IT!

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Part 2A of helpful tips and methods on “defeating the Itis” pertaining to the daily fitness routines that many go through. This is the second suggestion that I have. It was something I was forced to do one day and I realized it was great for battling the “Itis” To go to the gym really late at night.

Pros to going to the Gym on the “Late Late” night:

The local gym becomes a completely different place late at night, especially if it is open past 12a or if it is 24 hours. The best part about going to the gym this late (around 10:30p or later), as you can probably figure out, is it is an utter ghost town. All those pesky little things that I wrote about so frequently during the “Do’s and Don’ts series” are almost irrelevant when it is only you and 1-3 other people in an entire section – unless of course you are the one who is committing these indiscretions. Every piece of equipment at your finger tips with absolutely no wait times. On many occasions when I want to go to the gym I crave that feeling of solidarity. The ability to be in my own world and get done exactly what I need to get done. Many times this desire gets lost among the mad house crowds, the ambient howl of busy conversations, the sharp clinking of machines, and the lack of being able to do what it is that you need to. It’s really easy to scrap a game plan and fall short of a new one if you are rerouted at the gym. If you set up this entire workout and by the time you are on your last leg someone is using your first and second options in machinery or weights, you are going to be more than inclined to skip it if you are in a pinch for time. But during the late night you don’t run into any of these little dilemmas because like T.M. “The World is Yours”, pertaining to the reality of the gym at least (don’t get carried away now). This is also perfect for anyone who is trying to get into cross fit type workouts because you have the freedom of using up three to six different things at one time because no one else is there, and you can’t be the ass that hogs all of the equipment if no one is there to call you out, right?

Another awesome thing about going to the gym on that late, late night tip is the switch up in atmosphere. There are only one or two employees at the gym and true personalities come out. At both of the main stream chain gyms that I go to, I have witnessed workers in their late night element and their normal hour element. And with out sounding too cliché, the difference is day and night (awful pun intended). During both of these shifts, employees are pleasant and nice, but during the day, you get that forged, almost forced smile and conversation with the staff that is written right into their contracts.  During the night shift people get real, like Chuck Klosterman, and it actually looks like they genuinely enjoy their jobs.  They are always doing batty things like dancing around and revamping all the equipment. Keeping real conversations around your workout and not trying to make what they say take precedence over your gym routine. They are helpful and offer a lot of different tips. This goes for both male and female co-workers at the gym. I have had this interaction with both. Grave yard shift workers of any kind know how to entertain themselves which from what I can gather makes them quite interesting people. I would think that you would be a little more reclusive if you worked one of these type shifts, but clearly that is not the case here.

Something else that I really enjoyed was that you let you entire day’s food intake have more than enough time to go through its proper digestion cycle before you workout. You essentially get the chance to work it all in at one time instead of splitting it. I can guarantee this is a mental victory and not an actual proven physical one, but I definitely feel more complete when I am able to finish a work out and know that I am not ingesting any more for the day, other than a protein shake to close it out.This state of mind definitely plays to the side of vanity though, in the sense that I like this because when after I am done working out and when I wake up the next day I know what my body looks like: it is not really going to change like it would if I ate two meals after I worked out. This might just be a personal satisfaction but nevertheless it is something that I see as being a positive.

The last thing that I noticed I appreciated about going to the gym late at night was the media controlling ability that you have. Because it is a ghost town you can ask the workers to put on any station you want on the T.V.s, any radio stations or Music lists that you prefer. I have been in there when I heard 10 songs in a row that I really loved. I asked the worker what type of mix that was and he simply told me that it was a CD that he had made. I know, everyone and their sister Jane (including me) has an iPod “so what’s the big deal right?” Well, sometimes I don’t feel like bringing my iPod to the gym. Sometimes, I feel like the iPod slows me down (on contrary, I also believe that it speeds me up a lot of the time) and when I feel that I will go to the gym without it. When that happens I depend on the music that is playing or the T.V. programs that are on, to get me through my workouts.  But this might not be for you, and the next blog might show you why it might not be for you. But no matter what, I believe that one of the four suggestions will fit your lifestyle.  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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Welcome back loyal blog fans, to another stimulating conversation about weight loss and the hard work we put in to do it.  Today, I think we need to talk about something really important: getting over the proverbial plateau.  If you don’t know what I’m talking about, here it is.

One is said to have plateaued if they continue their workout regiment and find that they can’t lose any more weight.  No matter how many extra laps in the pool or miles they run or walk, the weight loss either slows to a snail’s pace or stops altogether.  I just hit my plateau.

I didn’t expect it to happen so quickly, but I guess that’s life throwing me a curve ball.  Here’s what you have to do with the plateau: keep working! Don’t give up and starting eating triple-cheeseburgers just because a few workouts didn’t lead to some lost pounds.  Keep at it.  Because it’s possible that what you may be losing in weight you’re also putting on in muscle.  I’ll be honest, I would workout hard (on Saturday 2 and a half hours straight, almost 4 miles put in! Plus lots of sit-ups and push-ups) and after a week see no change in my weight.  I thought my scale was broken.  Then my roommate Serge said something quite interesting when we were working out together.  He said “Hey man, it must feel good to be able to do push-ups without your stomach hitting the ground.” I thought about that and realized he was right, although my weight hadn’t gone down, my stomach had.  So I may not have been losing weight, but I was losing FAT, which in the grandest of all schemes is really the point.  Putting on some muscle is good for you, and lifting weights is still a great way to burn fat, as your body will burn calories to rebuild the muscles you tore in your workout.  It may not feel as exhausting as running a couple (or 26.4) miles but it still helps out.  So give your body the old “shock and awe” once in a while, lift some weights instead of just a cardio workout, and don’t be depressed because the numbers aren’t dropping.  Because it’s the fat we want out of our lives.  I’m in desperate need of a workout, and Sergio is waiting for me while I write, so I’m headed to the gym.  Who’s with me?

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Hey Friends!

Just got back from the gym, burned 812 calories. I had a friend ask me why I was not extremely sore for all I do. I said, “Well, after I work out I drink a bottle of Designer Whey Protein Water”. Generally when a person my size works out we are just about dying in pain the next day. Now, don’t get me wrong, I am achy but not sore. I contribute that to drinking the Protein Water and if I am out of the water I mix a 2GO pack in my water bottle. It really helps you recover.

The Biggest Loser show was a hoot this week! Some pretty thick tension on the ranch… ya think? I don’t know, I would do what ever I had to do to stay as long as possible on the ranch so GO RED! I really would not even care about the money. I would be more concerned with trying to get the most out of my time there so I could bring what I learned home to stay healthy. I get to the gym at least 5 days a week and at least 30 minutes up to 90 minutes each time. I really wished I had a home gym, then I could get in much more time when a moment was open like while dinner was cooking or after kids in bed or before they get up.

One of my faults is wanting to be too perfect. For example, I will draw up a schedule for eating, exercise, house work, my jobs etc. and when it does not go exactly the way I plan I give up. When the house is not perfectly clean (which is most of the time) I really get upset but because its not perfect I don’t do anything. I am typically an ‘all or nothing person’. So this time I am setting simple goals for my health.

A simple goal… eating enough calories at breakfast.

In Bob Harper’s book “Are you ready”, he says your breakfast calories should be between 400-600 calories. All meals should have protein, carbs and good fats. He also says to eat every four hours… have to work on that one!

My 17 year old daughter, Sue and I are really trying to get to the gym as often as possible. She has a goal. We bought her prom dress purposely a size too small. Her goal is to lose 15 pounds to fit in the dress. I as her mom have to encourage her and be a good example.

Take Care friends, remember to bring your Designer Whey Protein Water to the gym with you and when some one asks where you get it from…you say from the best protein makers in the world…Designer Whey!

Camille

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This is part 1B of helpful tips and methods on “defeating the Itis” pertaining to the daily fitness routines that many go through. The first suggestion I have, was the first thing that I tried to battle the “Itis” and that was to go to the gym before I went to work.

Cons to going to the Gym before you go to work:

Like I stated in my last blog, “getting up and going to the gym early and getting it in before you go to work can be an absolute godsend.”  But the kicker in this statement is the word “can.” I specifically worded this sentence this way to convey its duality, like a crafty politician or like the statements in those medication commercials right before the onslaught of all the negative affects it can have on you. Just like working out in the morning before work can be a godsend, it can also be that hellish beast that kicks you in the teeth when you are down. But one of the worst things about this particular option to fighting the “itis” is that while a large percentage of the time it works it can also progress the “itis,” in the same way that antibiotics can make your immune system worse if you take them too much.

The number one downfall to this option is of course, waking your ass up earlier than normal. I found that even though I woke up earlier, I didn’t necessarily go to bed any earlier, which poses a problem when discussing the burnout and its correlation with exhaustion. If this cycle progresses, you are much more likely to hit that snooze button and when this happens the gym is the first thing to go. You are not going to sacrifice the other things you need to do in the morning and just go to the gym, if you oversleep your alarm or keep hitting snooze. Let’s face it you are not going to substitute a bicep workout for smelling, looking and feeling awful at work. So lets say you skip the morning work out because in theory you have so foolishly convinced yourself that you will just catch a workout when you get off of work, you are still faced with the original “Itis,” because you never know if you will have the standard 8 hour easy breezy day or if you will have the dreaded 12 hour, employees in your ear every minute, reports piled on the desk that never diminish, day from hell. And so even though you set out to combat this phenomenon you end up once again in a vicious washing machine cycle of displacement.

Another downfall is the morning food intake problem. Many people cannot start the day with out a meal and for the most part they use this meal to boost their brain and body power while at work. But if you eat this meal depending on its size, you are likely to cramp up or feel like crap while you workout at the gym. And then on the flipside, if you wait and eat your food after the gym, you are likely to feel like crap because you are depriving your body of the normality it usually feels from the time you wake up to the time you eat. Vice a Versa you could be like me and be on the other side of the spectrum, where you can’t eat in the early morning because it messes with your stomach. Usually, you are fine because you start your day and have just enough energy to go about 3 hours without eating until your stomach adjusts and then you snack on something until lunch. This works fine for the most part for your work schedule (depending on your job), but it’s a whole different ball game when you try this and immediately wake up and go to the gym. You have absolutely no energy the entire time you work out, and because you have drained that last bit of energy while working out you don’t always get that “pumped up” feeling when you are done and you start your work day exhausted. So in this regard it is extremely important to find a balance as soon as possible.

The other downfall that I came across is gym proximity. Meaning that your gym might not be close to your home or your work and may be completely out of the way making it inconvenient to go in the morning when time is of the essence. I myself do not experience this but after snooping around and asking people about it like I tend to do, I found that it becomes a big problem for many. Waking up early to go to the gym is a problem for many but compound that with waking up even earlier to travel out of the way to get there, you simply have a mute point.

To go to the gym in the morning you really do have to way the pros and cons and see if it is a fit for you. It by no means is the best option for everyone. Once I started doing it on the regular it wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it would be. If this option isn’t for you then hopefully one of the next two will be. Once again these are simply the opinions of a guy has opinions about anything and everything, take it or leave it as you will.

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