ELIMINATING EXCUSES | fitness

There was a request for a simplified version for the clap push-up, so here it is!

Assume standard push-up position. Keep your back in a neutral position so that you feel no discomfort or pain in your back. Keep your hands, measuring from your outside finger, about 6 to 8 inches (about 15 - 20 cm) outside your shoulders. The key difference vs. the standard clap push-up is that you will use you knees as part of your base rather than your feet. Keep your knees together or slightly separated (~2 to 3 inches or ~5 to 8 cm).

By making this change, there is less weight for your pectoral muscles to move during each rep; so the exercise is now easier. Do not worry; you will still be able to DO SOMETHIN’!

Question or comments? Let me know.

Enjoy.

While I was visiting my family over the thanksgiving holiday, I heard the sad news of the passing of one of my favorite high school teachers. He was a long time smoker which lead to lung cancer. Why did he smoke? I don’t know. I do know that many people smoke to deal with stress. If you fall in this category, I challenge you to find more positive methods to address your stress. By no means am I judging anyone who smokes or am I judging my spanish teacher. I share this perspective with the hope of encouraging some positive changes that will enhance (not diminish) the quality of one’s life. It is just sad to know that people knowingly choose methods of stress relief that undoubtedly lead to death. If you want a suggestion on more positive methods of stress relief, please talk with your physician or trusted health professional. To relieve my stress, I choose to DO SOMETHIN’!

Take care.

Looking for a new way to track your progress towards your fitness goals?

I suggest that you consider a workout journal. In your workout journal, you can track all of your workouts at home, at the gym, on the track, etc. This journal will not only serve as a written record of your efforts to DO SOMETHIN’, it will also serve as a reference for you to track your progress. In addition to logging the number of sets, reps and weight used for an exercise, you can also write comments about how the workout went, what you will change next time and why, etc. For three years, I used a workout journal religiously and it was great!! After taking a week off from lifting weights to rest, I would review my last several workouts to remind me where I left off on certain exercises. Seeing my routines written down also helped remind me when it was time for a change in the routine. On of the most exciting parts of the journal, was seeing how I improved in strength as my repetitions and/or weight used increased on multiple exercises.

I think you get the point.

DO SOMETHIN’!

For all the folks in the US celebrating thanksgiving, I hope that you enjoyed the holidays. I had a great time with my family and friends, and I ate like a king.

After thanksgiving, some of you may be feeling bad about the food you ate and the amount too. Do not be too hard on yourself. A few days of rich food and/or large amounts of food will not ruin your chances of achieving your goal. Remember that you are disciplined and that you are focused. Get back to your fitness routine and to your normal, healthy eating habits. DO SOMETHIN’ is a lifestyle, not just a fleeting fad; so all the hard work that you have been doing has primed your body to be a high performance machine that can handle occasional deviations in the quantity or “grade” of fuel. Also, make sure that you have set some small goals or milestones for yourself in route to your ultimate goal. Focus on knocking down one milestone at a time and then focus on conquering the next one. With this approach, you are destined for success.

DO SOMETHIN’!

Recently, someone that I thought was a friend lied to me and broke my trust for the sole purpose of his personal benefit. I admit that it was disappointing and also angered me. However, in this situation (as in every situation), I had the power to choose how to react to such foul behavior. Rather than return the negative energy in a vengeful way, I took that energy into the gym and handled some business. Did going to the gym remove all of the anger and disappoint? No, not all of it. Though, the gym did allow me to have some form of an immediate release and to focus that energy in a positive way rather than a destructive manner. After the workout, I could reflect on the situation from a calmer perspective.

When you face similar situations that lead to anger, disappoint and/or hurt feelings, I suggest that you find a positive outlet to help you move forward. Rather than allowing these unfortunate situations to hinder or destroy your progess towards your fitness goals, flip the script and use that energy to propel yourself to that next level of fitness. Two wrongs don’t make a right and negative energy often finds its way back to the originator.

DO SOMETHIN’!

I only have two things to say:

1) watch the video. if you have any questions, please post a comment. if not, proceed to #2.

2) DO SOMETHIN’!

If you write me a comment and you don’t see that it ever shows up on the particular post, please know that I may have deleted your comment accidentally. Everyday my blog gets spammed with more than 100 comments. Interwoven with this spam are often legitimate comments. In the process of deleting the spam, I may have inadvertently deleted your comment. I apologize in advance if this mistake occurs in the future and to those that this may have happened to in the past. So if you write a comment and you don’t see it on my blog within a few days (and I am not traveling), please post your comment again. Thanks for your understanding!

DO SOMETHIN’!