ELIMINATING EXCUSES | fitness

It’s been an honor to serve you over the last year in your quest to DO SOMETHIN’. Now, I believe that it is time for me to continue my quest with more focus in other areas. This is the last post for eliminating excuses fitness. However, I will continue to respond to questions and comments while I own this domain name.

I thank you for your support. Special thanks to Shawnelle Sanford, Dana Baynard, Everton Edmondson, Kristen Nicole and Emile Cambry for their unwavering support. Lastly, I’d like to thank Surya Yalamanchili for helping me bring my vision of eliminating excuses fitness to life.

So my final words are:
Always pursue your goals and stay the course; be bold and confident. Know that adversity only sweetens the taste of victory. This journey is not just about fitness; it’s about fulfilling your purpose. DO SOMETHIN’!

Another week is here. Some of you might be dreading another day of classes that bore you; or you might be dreading another day of a job that is not fulfilling. Let’s focus on the positive and be confident regardless of the current situation. Believe that you will be attentive in class, and believe that you are in route to getting the grade you want. Know that you have the skills to excel at your current job and know that a better job is on the horizon.

After a long day of work or school, dig deep and find the energy to workout. It doesn’t matter how many days it’s been since your last work out; and it doesn’t matter how many pounds you are from your desired weight. You have it in you!! A little confidence will go a long ways. We have to take life one day at a time while being confident each day that we will succeed. Look at what confidence did for the NY Giants in Superbowl 42.

DO SOMETHIN’!

Since I am traveling this week, there will be no posts.

For those of you that have made new year’s resolutions to improve your fitness, how are things going so far? Are you on track? Off track? Big ups to those of you on track!! If you are off track, do not be too hard on yourself. Ask yourself the tough questions that will help you get to the root cause of what’s getting in your way. Then, eliminate your excuses and DO SOMETHIN’!

Please meditate with me on the following questions:

-What would you do during your workouts if you had no fear of the discomfort of an intense workout and no fear of not exceeding your fitness goals?
-Let’s take it a step further. What you be doing in life if you had no fear of failure?

Those are some deep questions. In order to DO SOMETHIN’!, we have to conquer those fears!

Are you up to the challenge?

I admire your dedication and commitment to DO SOMETHIN’. You’re always looking for ways to elevate your game. Well, here’s a tip for you: superset exercises during your workout.

Superset means combining exercises so that you are alternating from a set of an exercise to a set of a different exercise with almost no rest (as you move from one exercise to the other, those few seconds can be used for catching your breath, if needed). Often, people superset exercises that work different muscles groups so that the muscles be trained do not get over worked. For example, when I work my chest with knuckle push-ups, I love to do bicycle crunches during the 45 – 60 second period that would normally be rest time. By supersetting in this manner, I am increasing the intensity of my exercising by practically eliminating my rest period, and I am being efficient with my workout time by completing two exercises (for example: about 6 minutes to complete 3 x 30 knuckle push-ups and 3 x 40 bicycles crunches) in the about the same amount of time that I would usually complete one (for examples: about 5 minutes to complete 3 x 30 knuckle push-ups). Be on the lookout for some superset recommendations.

DO SOMETHIN’!

This weekend I was in the local sporting goods store to pick up a few items. While in the checkout line, I looked over at the gum rack and I couldn’t believe my eyes! I saw ENERGY GUM!! Yes, energy gum. The package said that 2 pieces of gum had a much caffeine as a can of red bull. Since when has caffeine been a legitimate energy source? We know about the harmful effects of long term consumption of large amounts of caffeine. Keep handling your business in the nutrition and fitness departments and talk to your trusted nutritionist or physician to get the facts. Also, you could do the research yourself. Whatever route your choose, beware of these false claims.

DO SOMETHIN’!

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’!

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’!