Less Is More: Stop Wasting Your Life By Endlessly Working Out

It surely won’t take much to convince you that we live in a society that has become too busy for it’s own good.  We are constantly looking to get things done faster and more efficiently so that we’ll have time to… well, do more things.  More, more, more is the mantra of Western society and it has permeated fitness and nutritional lives too.

photo credit: WTL photos

I’ve come to realise that what’s important is what’s important. Everything else is optional.  What I mean by this is, if we cull from our lives that which is secondary and focus on what is of first importance, then we’ll be getting less but more important things done.  Then we’ll truly see that everything else is fluff.

Working out and eating right is important. Working out every day and eating absolutely no unhealthy food, is not important.  It just isn’t.

For those that are striving for a better, healthier body, without wasting their lives, ignoring the unimportant is of utmost importance.  In the book First Things First, Stephen Covey asks the question, “How many people on their deathbed wish they’d spent more time at the office?”.  A great question for sure, but I’m also going to add to it for all those who find themselves labeled as health or fitness nuts, how many wish they’d spent more time in the gym?

The conventional wisdom of the day will probably make you react by saying you will indeed wish you’d spent more time in the gym.  And don’t get me wrong, I encourage consistent regular fitness, and for people who have spent their spare time watching TV and eating junk food, and haven’t set foot in a gym, they probably should have this thought on their death bed!  But if you really think about it, lying there on your death bed you’ll be reminiscing about what you could have done that would count.

Spending time in a gym, or hour-long runs, or whatever other fitness method you use, are not activities that reward you the more you do it.  Yes, you should keep active, lift weights, run the odd sprint and do plenty of walking.  And if you truly enjoy it then don’t let me stop you from doing it every day.  But know this, there is a point when you reach the optimum level of fitness activites after which you begin going back down the other side of the bell curve.

photo credit: Drewski Mac

Don’t waste time being ultra fit if it means letting life pass you by.

Yes, being too much of a “fitness freak” is actually detrimental to your health.  Our bones, our muscles, our ligaments all need time to restore and repair.  Remember those times when you woke up feeling sick and you had a workout anyway?  You would probably have done better to sleep in another hour or two.

Even if you are benefiting from the extra workout, or Hitler diet, you’re probably hurting yourself (or others) in other ways.

What about that time you refrained from eating the main dish at a meal with friends or family because “you’re on a diet”.  You would probably have done better to indulge for one meal and enjoy the therapeutic benefits that fellowship and sharing food together bring.

You don’t have to be guilty when you skip a workout!

The worst thing about being a fitness freak is that you voluntarily take on the feeling of guilt whenever you don’t go 100%.  Listen folks, a life of always feeling guilty for not working out enough, or not eating the right foods, is not a life at all.  Life is to be enjoyed and while we were made to have a purpose and be busy doing that, there are definitely times where relaxation (even laziness) and indulgence are part of living.

Besides, your purpose in life is not to be continually working out!  Fitness and nutrition, among other things, are tools that will empower you to live out that purpose.

So, how about skipping today’s workout?

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Five Ways To Achieve Success

So you want to achieve some goals. You wanna get back into working out and feel better, look better, lose a bit of flab and generally perk up a little. Well, its tough!! I have 5 ways that could help you achieve success.

1) Set a time frame

Possibly the most important of the five is setting a time frame. Perhaps you have an important event coming up. A reasonable time frame is anywhere between 3-6 weeks. I’m talking about a small transformation here – not looking at anything too drastic.

2) Create clear goals

If you do not have clear goals, then you will be floundering around, wondering what to do. An example of a clear goal would be somewhat like this: ‘I want to have to wear a belt with that pair of trousers.’ An unclear goal would be somewhat like this: ‘I want to have a little more definition on my arms’. ‘Little more’ could mean anything – there is a vast scale on which it could be placed so it is not particular enough. Your goals must be particular so that you can efficiently gauge if you have attained them or not.

3) Set achievable goals

As well as being clear, your goals must be attainable. For example, if you have a 3 week time frame and say ‘I want to be able to fit into those trousers’ and currently you can barely get it past your hips, then you have no hope of being able to achieve that goal unless you don’t eat a thing. Your goals must be achievable. However, don’t make them too easy. Perhaps try to make goals that are a step on the road to your ideal. Make them achievable so you avoid setting yourself up for failure.

4) Journal your day

This one really works for me. If you keep a running journal on your day – on what you eat and drink, and what you do for exercise, it forces you to think every day and enables you to look back and analyze. Even better, put it up online so people can read it and comment – can help you change for the better.

5) Stick to your plan

A plan is very important. If you have clear, achievable goals in a reasonable time frame, then you must be consistent with your diet and exercise. If you are not consistent and you do not stick to the plan, then you will not see results. If you give up part way through, you will not see results. If you eat something you ought not to, you will not see results. For example: I decided to give up eating sugar – refined sugar – or anything with refined sugar as an ingredient – and during my three week time, I refused to eat anything with sugar. I did my best to avoid it and unless I unwittingly consumed something containing sugar, I successfully refrained. I stuck to my plan. Three weeks is a short time. If you focus hard and stick to your plan, you will see results.

So, if you do these five things, I can’t actually guarantee that you will see success – because I don’t know what exercise you are doing or what food you are consuming. But if those two components are excellent, then you will see success.

However, there are cases when you may not see success at the end of your time frame. What do you do then? Check back next week as I have reasons to celebrate despite apparent failure.

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Why Doesn’t Everyone Have Six-Pack Abs?

I’ve yet to meet anyone who is really comfortable being overweight. Either they complain about it from an attractiveness perspective, or they suffer from obesity related problems (such as lack of energy, prone to sickness, depression etc).

So it’s pretty obvious that most people would like to have six pack abs. Many of those people even attempt to get them. The truth is however that few people actually have visible abs.

Why?

I could come up with a whole host of answers to that question, but there are really only two reasons why people fail to reach their goals – and I’ll put these people into two groups according to their reasons;

Group 1 – “Because we’re lazy. We’re undisciplined and lack longevity.”

Now before I get flooded with hate mail let me add this, I am completely aware that there are some people who are physically challenged and thus unable to reduce their body fat percentage to a level that makes their abdominal muscles visible. These people should not be discouraged or feel bad about them selves. After all, the ultimate goal is to be healthy, isn’t it? So I hope this article is not going to hit people in the wrong place but rather that it will motivate us to press on and achieve the goals we’ve set for ourselves.

Going back to my point however, most people will hide behind myths such as “I have bad genes”, or “I’ve got the wrong body type” when in actual fact they just haven’t stuck at it long enough to see real changes and steps towards success. The truth is, most people who are overweight, or have a undesirably high body fat percentage, are this way because they do not stick to the goals they’re setting.

I know, because I used to be in this group (and some weeks I still am).

Getting in shape is hard, if it wasn’t then everyone around us would be fit.

If you want abs then you had better be prepared to work for it. It’s hard to give up those unhealthy foods we’re almost addicted to, and it’s hard to rearrange our schedules to fit in three or more workouts per week. But, if we stick at it (even when it feels like we’re not making any progress), then we’ll eventually be able to stand on our own to feet as people who are in control of our fitness, body and health.

It is possible to get rid of that flab, just get our of Group 1 and try and avoid…

Group 2 – “We keep trying but we never make any progress”

There is another unfortunate group of people out there who don’t fall into the first group. They are disciplined, they hardly ever eat (what they think is) unhealthy food, and they are consistent with their workouts. But they never seem to reach their goals.

Misinformation had destroyed their chances. They are following diet plans, workout guides and fitness information that can never actually help them. It will only ever produce short-term results. If only this group had the right information, they’d be catapulted to a new level of health (not to mention their elusive goal of six-pack abs).

I also have been part of this group. I used to take any information, hook, line and sinker, as long as it sounded good and intelligent, and the person giving the tips was an ‘expert’. Unfortunately I rarely made progress other than some short-lived results when I changed to a new diet or workout routine.

I cannot help group 1, but I can help group 2.

I can’t make you get six-pack abs (or whatever goal you’re seeking) if you’re not able to help yourself. But, if you are prepared to totally change your lifestyle, then I can help you. I’m still half way out of group 1 and avoiding to be in group 2 myself. But I’m on a journey which is headed in the right direction and I’m inviting you to join me.

No more excuses! Stop talking, and start doing.

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2 Simple Rules That Ensure You Workout At Least 3 Times A Week

LifeRemix has recently published an article written by Gretchen Rubin, ‘10 Tips to Change Yourself From a Dedicated Couch-Potato to a Gym Enthusiast‘.

Most of the tips I found to be common knowledge or not very helpful.  Two of the tips however are worth reiterating here.  They are very simple yet very effective.  You will know just as well as I do that it is easy to start a workout plan but very difficult to maintain it.  Using these 2 rules will help you not to let the workouts fade away till they fizzle out to nothing.

1. Always have a workout on Monday
2. Never skip a workout for two days in a row

They aren’t hard to understand.  They make up the kind of advice that I love in fitness.  That is, you don’t have to know anything about fitness to follow them.

Sticking to these 2 simple rules will mean you’ll never have less than 3 workouts in a week

Let’s say you don’t workout in the weekend, there is no way that you can have less than 3 exercise sessions per week.  You must have one on Monday, then if you skip Tuesday you have to have one on Wednesday, and of course if you choose to skip Thursday you have to have one on Friday.  That would be the worst case scenario.

3 workouts per week by the way, is what I believe to be the minimum amount in order to continuing making progress in your fitness efforts.  It is possible to get away with 2 workouts if you do nothing but full body exercises like squats, deadlifts and lunges, but this is not ideal (especially for beginners).

Have a workout on Monday morning and you’ll have a better week all round

This is a lofty promise I’m making but I think it’s pretty accurate.  If you manage to fit in a workout on Monday you can be confident that things have got off to a good start.  You’ll feel healthier and you’ll be more enthused to stick to your diet and eat healthier as a result.

So have a go at following these rules and let me know how it goes!

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