I try to do the right thing. If you do what you know is right, and you're a good person, you might not win short-term all the time, and financial gains might not be there all the time, but ultimately, you can be pretty happy, and you can do some pretty good things in the world. Keep a positive outlook.
I always train my weaknesses and work on my shortcomings - in the gym and outside the gym. Ha!
Work is in the word 'workout.' But I try to put some levity to it because you've got to want to come back.
I get tired when I keep shorting my sleep, but I always make it to the gym. In our house, we live by this: 'Never quit, never cancel, never be late.' We've found it's a great way to live.
I really like battle ropes. They're so versatile; you can get a terrific workout doing a ton of different exercises with them. My clients like them because they're a good way to get aggression out, too. Had a bad day? Take it out on the ropes!
If you think you're going to do 100 crunches and a plank and burn away belly fat, you're not. Yes, you're going to make the area stronger, but it's not going to get rid of the fat. So do yourself a favor and, once and for all, let that idea go.
Try training on an empty stomach, if it is just this kind of resistance training workout, so that your body fat is sacrificed as a fuel source. Then, immediately post-workout, make sure you take in all three of your macronutrients.
Multi-joint movements - squats, push-ups, bent over rows - all put a greater metabolic demand on the body and can be effective when performed with very light weight to get you back up and running. Think bigger movements, not bigger weight, when you are on the mend.
Hydration is everything. Think of this: your muscles are 70-plus percent water - how are you not drinking water during a workout? I get the whole, 'Let's challenge ourselves; let's do that prison, tough guy thing,' but at the end of the day, you're underperforming.
I have nothing against tricep kickbacks, but I'd rather have you do a skater's lunge with a kickback and get a lower body workout.
I don t have a scale; I'm not big on measurements. Until a person looks in the mirror and is happy with themselves, you have not reached your fitness goals.
The Gunnar Challenge offers new workouts every day, a meal plan and daily 'verbal vitamins,' which are a motivational video or workout tip. The thing that really makes the program work is the forum, where Challengers can communicate with each other and with me.
There are 800 some muscles, 200 some bones. Your body works in three planes of motion: arms, legs - pentadactyl limbs. That's what we're working with.
Remember that everything you do in the gym makes a difference in the way you live your life outside of the gym. The brownie tastes better when there's no guilt for eating it. Your relationships with other people are more satisfying.
You need to lift weights and do more resistance training. Get more sleep. I'm the first one who's guilty of not doing that, but I work on it, and I'm aware of it. And drink more water. Drink Propel. You have to hydrate. You simply can't perform at the level you could perform at if you're dehydrated. Period.
If you were inactive due to an injury or a surgery, then common sense rules the day when inching closer to the area that was hurt. That is very different from inactivity due to being ill. After illness, be aware of how taxing your workout is cardiovascularly and err on the side of less.
Use music to motivate you. If I had to pick one song to work out to on repeat, it would be Prince's 'Let's Go Crazy.'
I think it's good for people sometimes to get out of their own environments - there are less distractions.
When I opened my gym, I got rid of the scales! Stepping on a scale empowers an inanimate object - every time you get on it, you turn over the helm of your emotional well being to something that doesn't care about you.
The key to anyone's success is staying with it!
