A Fitness Community to get Motivated and to Motivate Others 

12/14/2011

By Fitness Dojo

Finals are finishing up, school is breaking until next semester, what are you going to do to set yourself apart from the pack?  The champions are the ones that work harder then everyone else.  This is applied to our workouts and training all the time right?  One more rep, one more set, 5 more pounds.  Let’s take this and apply it to this holiday season.  Here’s a few thoughts and some questions you should ask yourself over the next month or so while on break.  Ask yourself these questions:

What time did I sleep until today?  Do I really have more time or less?   What made me miss my workout today?  How hard are the people I want to be like training right now?

What time did I sleep until today?

10am, 11am, noon?  I just got off of the phone with a student and training partner of mine… it was after 1pm.  When you were in school wait time did you wake up?  How many classes did you have at 8 or 9am?  If you are sleeping your day away then you might not have time for your training.  Most of the time its not “finding the time”, its “making good use of your time”.  Want your cake and eat it too?  Sleep an hour later than you were when at school, then get up and get your workout in.  So if you had an 8am or 9am class, you can sleep until 9am, workout and be home by 11am.  There’s a good chance that you will find yourself waking up easier and ready to go in the mornings by not sleeping too late.  Like to workout in the evenings?  I teach a 6:30pm BJJ class, even on a Friday night class is over by 7:30pm.  Get home, get showered, get out!  You can still get your workouts in and have fun.  We need both, work and play… the time is there, you just have to make the most of it.

Do I really have more time or less?

School’s out, classes are done, it’s party time!  My friends want to see me, my family, my boyfriend/girlfriend.  Everyone is pulling me in ten different directions and I have less time now then ever!  Is this really wants happening or another excuse?  “Too much work makes Jack a dull boy”, its all about balance in your life.  All play is no good either.  Be a master of your time and make the most use out of it.  “I’m hanging out with my friends all day today”.  Are your friends coming over to have breakfast with you at 9am?  Get up at 8am and get your workout in, or have them come at 10am.  There’s a good chance that hanging with my friends all day ends up being 12pm.   Why do I say that?  They are probably sleeping in just like you.  How many hours a day did you spend in class before the semester ended?  Where did those hours go?  Give yourself one hour minimum, a day for yourself.  Hitting the gym, or training center should be your escape from everything that stresses you out daily.  Leave it all at the door and forget about it, even if it just an hour and then back to the craziness of life.  You will thank yourself for doing it and be happier.  You’ll be able to throw away that feeling of all I do is work.

What made me miss my workout today?

I’m too busy, I don’t have enough time, I too tired, my body hurts, its too cold outside… the list goes on and on.  As a trainer, I have heard them all.  I’m going to be harsh right now when I say this… I’m calling BS, in my experience 99% of the time they are just that… excuses.  By definition: “ to try to remove blame from ” we are looking for the easy way out.  If you really were “too busy” would you need to make an excuse?  Would you need to take the blame off of yourself?  Convincing yourself you can’t do it will only lead to failure.  It’s not easy, it takes work but it can be done.  Even the people that it seems like it comes easy for them, they are still busting their butts in the gym or training room.  One of my favorite quotes is, “If it was easy, everyone would do it”.  The point is that you can do it and you will do it as long as you decide your going to do it.

How hard are the people I want to be like training right now?

Maybe it’s an athlete, maybe someone famous, maybe a friend, or just someone you see at the gym and think I want to look/be like that.  Maybe there is someone on your team that is great at their position and you want to get to or past their level.  Think of someone right now and picture them in your head.  Now ask yourself, “are they training hard then I am right now?”  Everyone is great and has the ability to be great.  So why isn’t anyone talking about you?  Again, think of someone great and picture them in your head.  What makes them great?  I’ll give you an easy answer, Arnold Schwarzenegger.  He is most known for body building and won the Mr. Olympia seven times.  So what makes him so special?  Why is he any better than you, me or anyone else?  Isn’t he just some guys that really like lifting weights?  The truth is that he is no better, has no more ability to be any great than you or I.  The thing that sets him apart from the rest is that he decided to “be great.”  Remember, everyone is great and has the ability to be great but not everyone take the next step and decides to “be great.”  Make the decision to be great, and start taking the steps forward to get there.  Then the next time someone reads this, maybe it will be you that they picture as someone who is great.

So let’s put away the excuses right now and tell yourself, “I got this”.  Find your motivation, inspiration or whatever you need to make it happen.  Draw from your personal life, people that inspire you or anything that you can use.  I have used many different motivators to reach different goals.  Some stay with me and other I use for a little while and then find a something new that gets me going.  If this motivates you to get up then it is doing its job.  If you read this and think I am full of crap, then I challenge you to show me a better way.  They say the pen is mightier than the sword but the pen is useless without your hands.  Put your hands to work and show us how mighty you are.