Today I veer off the favorite exercises path to discuss some tips for getting the most out of your trips to the gym. I offer up some of the things I personally have found work well. I end with a discussion about obsession and why it might not be such a bad thing. I hope you enjoy this podcast. If you do, please remember to share it with all your friends!
Podcast: My Favorite Exercises Part 2
Today I hit the second in my series of podcasts about my favorite exercises. I discuss the squat and how to properly execute that exercise. I include some tips for overcoming some of the more common squat problems. I hope you enjoy listening to my latest podcast.
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Mission 1, Day 58: Chin up Challenge!
After reading about other people's experience with chin ups and my own situation wherein I've been trying to do a single unassisted chin up, I want to issue a challenge to all shredders.
The Challenge
Complete the most unassisted chin ups.
I challenge all of you who currently cannot complete a single unassisted chin up to see who can do the most unassisted chin ups by March 22, 2008. It is important that you currently cannot complete a single unassisted chin up.
How do you get involved?
Leave a comment letting me know you want to be involved. I will post an entry outlining my plan for how to accomplish some unassisted chin ups and in that entry will be the list of people interested in joining the challenge.
What is involved?
Starting on Sunday, December 23, 2007 (80 days from the end of the challenge), I will begin a weekly post regarding the challenge. Each of you should provide me (via email) your current progress regarding chin ups. I will post this every Sunday for all the world to see.
My workout log for today (everything between each gray line is a superset with 60 seconds full rest):
| Exercise | Weight/Reps |
| Squat | 225 x 10 [PB] 225 x 10 [PB] 225 x 10 [PB] 225 x 10 [PB] |
| Deadlift Shrug | 225 x 10 [PB] 225 x 10 [PB] 225 x 10 [PB] 225 x 6 [PB] |
| Bulgarian Split Squats | 40 x 10 [PB] 40 x 10 [PB] 40 x 10 [PB] 40 x 10 [PB] |
| Step Ups | 35 x 10 [PB] 35 x 10 [PB] 35 x 10 [PB] 35 x 10 [PB] |
| Reverse Crunches | 17 17 17 15 |
| [PB] = Personal Best |
I don't know what has happened to me the past couple of days, but I'm on fire for the goals I've set myself. I am not accepting failure and refuse to be beaten by the workouts. Today I posted personal bests on every single exercise. For the first time ever, my deadlifts were taken to complete and total failure. I could not get a 7th rep on that 4th set if my life depended on it! I've been done for an hour and already my legs are on fire. At the same time, I feel exhilirated. I want to do more and more.
I decided today that on February 23, 2008, I will run in a 5k race. I will complete the race in less than 30 minutes–that's the goal. Again, failure is not an option!
Podcasts are coming later today. 3 days until I unveil my surprise. Hopefully, the suspense is killing you.
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Mission 1, Day 57: Your decisions matter…all of them
The feedback on yesterday's blog (Mission 1, Day 56: Do you know what makes you successful?) points to another issue that's been on my mind lately. The concept of decisions and how they effect us is something that I've spent some time thinking through and I want to share those thoughts today.
Every single decision we make is important. When we decide to plan out our programs, we are conciously moving ourselves towards our goals. When we decide to have a cheat meal, we tend not to overdo it because it is a planned event. When we decide, spur of the moment, to cheat on a meal we tend to feel guilty and that guilt eventually drives us to cheat again. It is almost as though we feel we've failed, so what does it matter if we fail again?
Failure to consider our decisions carefully is a big cause of failure in any plan. We can either be spontaneous or we can be methodical. If we are methodical about our decision making process we tend to make better decisions, decisions based on properly addressing our needs. When we are spontaneous with our decisions we tend to be impetuous. We tend to just go with the flow, thinking that we can make up for lost time later. We end up procrastinating because our spontaneous decisions seem so good at the time. However, when we are methodical we look at all angles and make decisions that lead us towards the completion of our goals. This is what breeds success.
Don't get me wrong. There is a time and place to be spontaneous. I just don't believe that decisions regarding our health or finances should be spontaneous. Those are the types of decisions that need to be methodical.
I've noticed myself doing more and more planning where it relates to my exercise and nutrition. I think the reason I enjoy the Metabolic Surge nutrition plan is that it is very methodical. There is a rationale behind why we are told to eat the way it says to eat. That brings me to a comfort zone. It helps me understand what the goal is and because of that, I am much more successful at sticking to the plan.
Podcast listeners, you will get two podcasts tomorrow (Saturday). My surprise is coming on Christmas day. I decided that was a good day for it. Who can guess what the surprise is? Leave a comment and tell me what you think the surprise is going to be.
Until tomorrow…
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Mission 1, Day 56: Do you know what makes you successful?
It is a tough question when you think about it. Do you know what makes you successful? Are you logging what changes you make and how they change your results? Are you tracking your results regularly? If not you could be short-changing yourself.
When we have goals the best way to accomplish them is to break them into smaller parts and then attack them. By breaking them into smaller parts they become much more manageable. It is easier to get to the ultimate goal. It is not different with fat loss.
First you have to set a goal and then you have to break that goal down into more manageable parts. You then have to see how you are doing at each milestone. For me, I have a long term goal that is set to happen on February 3, 2008, but I also have weekly goals that lead me to the long term goal. Not only do those weekly goals help me get to my long term goal, but the act of setting them did two things.
First, by setting the long term goals, I was able to determine if my long term goal was realistic. Remembering that goals need to be SMART (specific measureable attainable realistic time-specific), if a goal, when broken into parts, proves to be unrealistic or unattainable, you need to adjust the goal slightly.
Next, writing the goal down (including the smaller parts) makes it more likely that the goal will happen. There are statistics that show that just by writing a goal down, you are more likely to attain the goal. In fact, studies have shown that if you write down 10 goals and shove them into a desk drawer and forget about them, when you return in a a year, 80% of the goals will have been accomplished. The act of writing them down does something to your brain and puts it into action towards achieving the goals you set.
I read on Jenny's blog that she doesn't want to become one of those people who become motivated and ultimately fall off. There are so many people that do this and it is sad because everyone is capable of achieving their goals. To me, the best way is to be realistic. I've thought alot about this topic (as you might be able to tell) and what I've decided might be interesting to some, sacreligious to others.
Most of the “experts” agree that you need to eat clean 80% of the time to be successful at fat loss. If you eat 5 times a day like you are supposed to, that leaves you 1 meal a day where you can be less than perfect. Now, that would be a minimal effort in my mind, but it is the truth–you can fall off on one meal per day and still see good results. Will you see better results by eating clean 5 meals a day instead of 4? Of course you will because your body will respond to what you put into it.
I honestly believe that the largest part of our success is our nutrition. It makes us who we are. Exercise builds up the look on the outside while nutrition builds up the foundation. Without a strong foundation you are bound to fail.
With this said, please make sure not to beat yourself up about small setbacks. They are bound to happen. Anyone who says they've been perfect is lying. Get in there and do your best. Don't get down on yourself for the setbacks you might experience. Measure the results you are getting. Record the timing of the changes you make. Observe what happens to your results because of those changes. That will lead you inevitably to other changes. Those changes, in cumulation, will lead you to the successful completion of your goals.
Until tomorrow…
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