Mastering a Skill

 I can remember 2 years ago when I first purchased P90X.  I was excited but nervous at the same time.  For all of my life I had done sports and was in a position to be pushed daily by a coach.  My inner core was not built for doing a workout on my own.  So once my time with playing was done I fell into a bit of a nasty routine called over consumption.  I took in way too many calories then I was expending and it caught up to me fast.

So on day one of P90X I found myself really questioning whether or not I could get it done.  I really liked the push-ups but found myself struggling with pull-ups.  Through the rest of the week I found myself loving Kenpo X, but finding it hard to finish Yoga X.  I really was not set out for it, or so at the time I believed.

What helped me get through day in and day out was the simple fact that it was set up for achievement if all I did was press play.  By the end of the first week I found myself feeling firmer and that feeling had me wanting more.

They say that it takes 21 days to loose a bad habit.  With that being said it also takes 21 to acquire a good habit as well.  By the time month two of the program came around I realized that I was waking up in the morning with working out high on my priority list.  No more sitting on the couch during an episode of my favorite rerun, instead it was time to pop P90X in and press play.  My priorities shifted and due to that my inner core was now different. 

I look back at the person I was two years ago and I can’t help to think about what would have happened had I not persevered and got through that first month.  I now love pull-ups and even though the Yoga X is still not my favorite I have a strong respect and understanding for the importance of the workout. 

What does it take to master a skill?  Consistency is the answer.  No matter what it is you will find yourself starting out a little shaky.  But over time you get better and better.  Working out is the same way. Day in and out you will find yourself being able to do more and more, the key is to stick with it! And just because you struggle with something today, with just enough practice you will find yourself knocking out whatever it is you thought was hard before. 

So the next time you say you can’t do something, just rephrase and say you are currently not a master at it, and know that if you are patient and stick with it, you will own the situation. 

Own yourself! Run your life!

Things We Take For Granted

Last night I was running and wound up spraining my ankle.  On the drive home I was thinking to myself how upset I was to be hobbling around and really found myself in a negative state of mind.  Suddenly it hit me; there are so many people that are in my situation day in and day out.  They wake up with aches and pains on a constant basis.

By the time I got home my ankle was throbbing and I knew that it was going to be a couple of days before I got back to doing anything remotely close to the way I was doing it before.  But at least I had that day to look forward to. 

At least I have the ability to go out and really give it my all without experiencing the pain of a body part just completely shutting down on me.  I am just like the rest of you when it comes to working out.  There are some days when I just don’t feel like working out and make every excuse in the book why I will not be participating with physical activity.  Sometimes I even blame a little bruise or soreness for taking it easy. 

This sprain has opened my eyes to what it really feels like to not be able to go as hard as you really want to.  To have a paralyzing feeling, and have something in your body truly holding you back from doing the things you really want to do.

By the time I got into bed I had thought about so many people that were in my life that had either been severely injured or experienced a disease that did not allow them to experience the fun of working out to the fullest.  How dare me make excuses that were not legit only to try to justify to myself why working out is just not a good thing to do for that day. 

Do you find yourself in this situation?  Where you are unmotivated to really pursue the day’s workout.  Where you find yourself making the excuses of why you can’t workout.  Stop and think about the person without a leg who would give anything to run, or the person with lung problems or heart problems who wished they could break a good sweat without health risks.  Think about what we take for granted all the time.  No more excuses.

Own yourself! Run yourself!

Build The Foundation... The Palace Will Come

So how many times have you found yourself working out and wanting to see more results then what you are seeing?  I mean you go home after what seems to be an eternity already that you have been doing this, and you look in the mirror only to see yourself still carrying the extra weight in the areas you do not want to see. 

But wait; when you really think about it you have only been doing it for 3 weeks now and even though it may seem like an eternity, your body is still trying to figure out what it is you are really trying to do.  How much time did it take your body to get into the condition that you are in right now?  If you are out of shape, did you just wake up one morning and look and feel like you were out of shape?  Or did it take weeks, months, or even years to get to the shape you are in?

When it comes to working out you have to consider that your metabolism is going to play a huge role.  You have to eat properly and often.  I do my best to eat six times a day.  I don’t mean huge meals that will leave me on the couch holding my stomach wishing I had forced those last bites.  I am talking about the mini meals as I call them, large snacks throughout the day that is sandwiched between two glasses of water.  This type of eating helps your body feel like it is constantly being fed.  Since it feels this way, your body will be ok with burning off the calories quicker because it trusts that you will provide it with something very soon.  So you want a faster metabolism to burn more calories, which will help you lose weight and make your experience in the mirror a happier one.

Another huge concept to grasp is one about compounding.  If you are a person who tends to see everything as the final result and cannot quite picture the between stages, please try to understand this.  The working out that you provide for your body is not going to change things over night.  Everyday if you put in the work towards your ultimate dream of where you see yourself you will begin to build momentum.  As the momentum grows and you continue on your process you will see more changes at a more rapid pace. 

It is the same concept as saving money.  At first the amount of money that you save may be very small.  But each month if you stick with it, you will see the savings begin to build more and more rapidly.  And as you keep building and investing, soon you look up and you have something that is pretty dang solid.

Your body is your bank.  How are you going to invest?  What are you going to do to ensure that you are going to get to your ultimate goal?  A little today and a little tomorrow are the foundation of what you are trying to achieve.  And that is building a palace in which you live.  Start with the foundation, the palace will come. 

Own yourself!  Run your life!

The Power of The Mind

 I have been focusing the psychological aspect of better living for quite some time.  I know that my goal is to encourage good health and I am into physical training, however to only workout the body will not do much for you in terms of getting the desired outcome with your life.  The brain is the engine that drives the body and if your brain can only go at the capacity of 4 RPM due to the lack of training you provided it, then how can you expect it to get you anywhere at all?

What you want is for your brain to be the engine that most sports cars have.  Something that is able to get you to a destination quickly.  By destination I mean the ability to assess a situation and come up with a plan to make sure that you are happy with its results.  So many times we come across something and are completely leveled with what life threw at us.  I know I have been here before.  When I was just ten my mother passed away and it really knocked me down.  It took me years to actually be able to let go of that pain and actually give my heart out.

Now why the heck am I spilling my life to you?  I mean what does that have to do with mental training?  Well the tests that are constantly being thrown at us by life, things like death, breakups, getting laid off, fights, arguments (the list goes on and on), these things are what help build your brain.  These are the very tests that, if taken on and assessed properly, will place you towards the destination you want. 

So why do you want to have a solid engine running your body?  If you workout daily and have a super fit body, but everything that happens to you in the course of the day really brings you pain or the feeling of un-fulfillment, then what is that generally called?  Depression.  If you are physically fit and can handle the tests life throws at you, and you are able to come out of each day feeling fulfilled, what is that generally called?  Happiness. 

How we get to our destination is determined by how fast our engine will get us there.  It is up to our brain to get us there.

Own yourself! Run your life!

Finding Your Purpose

How many times have you said you wanted to do something and then you not follow through and do it?  For me that answer use to be all the time.  I use to find myself always wondering where my “will power” was or why I didn’t have enough motivation to follow through on something.  I know that over time I have become much better at actually following through on what I intended on doing. 

What has turned me around?  I believe it has been the fact that I have found purpose in all that I want to accomplish.  Let’s face it, if you had a pile of dishes and you saw no point in why they should get done, the chances of them getting done are very slim.  But if you can find a sense of purpose behind it, the ratio goes much higher than slim.  If you can look at those dishes and ask why do I need to do them?  Then ask how will this make others in the house feel?  Now you should have a better understanding of what those dishes being cleaned will mean for you and for the people around you.

I know that dishes are pretty simple, so let’s take waking up an extra hour to make sure you can attain what it is you really want.  For those who want to get healthy and fit but are unable to find the time during their busy day to do so, why not wake up?  If it is a high enough goal, 45 minutes earlier a day won’t mean much.  But if you just think about the concept of waking up early to wake up, is there any purpose to it?

Ask yourself why you want to workout? What kind of feeling is that going to bring to you for the day and in the long run?  It is what we ask ourselves that can get us our purpose.  We can find purpose in anything if we ask the right questions.  Now does working out seem more achievable now that you have asked questions that will give you some real reason for doing it in the first place? 

Now think about what it is you have been putting off, or have found a hard time really being able to get into a constant flow with doing.  Figure out your why?  Why do you want to do this?  What is going to happen if you do this?  These two questions will help you find your purpose.  And when you find your purpose, well that will change your actions from a “should do” to a “must do”!

Own yourself! Run your life! 

How Do Our Rules Affect Us?

What is happiness?  Our rules make up our life and it is these very rules that either allows us to feel good about the moment or have another feeling, a feeling of disgust, or overwhelming, or even just being bored.  It is our rules that are making our life.  What are rules?

Everyone has them.  They are what make our lives work.  For example it is what helps us decide whether or not we are going to have fun or feel pain.  If you see something you may want to do, like jumping out of a plane, you reach for your rules to see if this is something that will work for you.  For some of us the thought of jumping out of a plane is way to painful to think of, bringing too much fear and uncertainty.  For others it brings this sense of pleasure, having so much excitement.  The ultimate decision is left up to our rules. 

Growing up I always heard statements like, “ just take a leap of faith” or “think before you do”.  All of these simple sayings that I grew up with have helped form my rules.  I am completely into fitness.  So a rule that I have made a must do everyday no matter what is workout.  Another one is making sure that I take in the proper nutrition to fuel my body for what I put it through.  I have that high on my priority list and because of that it is a must for me to do. 

For those who tend to struggle with their health or their nutrition, the first question I will ask is this; is your fitness something you SHOULD be doing, or something you MUST do?  The difference between those is huge.  On the days where you may not want to workout, or it just seems like it is going to be a busy day, your SHOULD rule is not going to bring anything into action.  If you MUST do it then you u will find a way to get it done.  It may not always be easy or even the fun thing to do, but it is a priority and because your rule is a MUST then you will make sure it happens. 

So what can you do to change your rules?  Here is something that has helped me.  I ask myself what it is that I really want.  I mean really want!  I place it high on my priority list.  Anything that is top five on my priority list I know is a must.  If I ever have the thought of not doing it for the day I have my list right there with me knowing that I really want to accomplish this certain goal.  If I don’t get this activity done then my want will not be met.  The thought of me looking back when I am older and regretting not accomplishing something I wanted so badly brings me enough pain to get the job done.  Eventually this becomes easier and over time it is imbedded in my head as a rule. 

So although we have rules now that run our life, we can change them.  It takes a few things.  The understanding of what you really want is one of them.  Another is making a priority list; followed by making sure you do something towards your top 5 priorities every day.  The biggest thing is to do it everyday.  It is not going to be easy at first.  But every time you feel like you are not going to get it done, look at your list and ask yourself are you where you want to be? If the answer is no then ask this, is the task you are about to ditch out on the answer to getting you where you want to be?  Start today!  What is stopping you?  This is the time for you to take charge!

Own yourself! Run your life!

Stepping Outside The Comfort Zone

In all of my years as a youth I was taught to stick to something until you were good at it.  I realize that mentality also put me in a situation where I was constantly doing the same thing.  By me doing the same thing I developed habits and formed boundaries with trying new stuff out.  It was not until recently that I grasped the understanding that in order to be more I had to step outside my comfort zone.

To step outside of the comfort zone means to strive for more.  I mean think about it, you cannot get more by producing the same results right?   So how can you expect to reach a certain goal if you are not doing the uncomfortable thing to get to that goal?  Lets face it, we are a species that loves our certainty. 

I made it a resolution to make sure that I try other workouts.  I did not want to continue the road I was down with always knowing my results or what was in store for my workouts.  I had been doing P90X and Insanity.  Those were the only workouts that I had done for a long time! And so I have now started a new program and absolutely love it!

Turbo Fire is really impressing me.  I am only 4 days into it but can feel a difference in my body.  I am no longer stuck with the same old routine of doing my workouts.  This has brought a totally different twist to how I am doing things.  I recommend it to anyone really wanting to have an uplifting, motivational type workout with good music and lots of sweat.  How many times have you passed up an opportunity to try something new and then backed out by making a lousy excuse?

I started thinking how much fun would life be if I just stuck with what I knew and never tried to do something different?  Can you answer that?  If all we did was live our day knowing the outcome because we never wanted to change up our routine, or never wanted to try something new, would that really be living?  No it would not be, because as humans we also need uncertainty in our life to make things enjoyable and not boring. 

So we now know that we need certainty yet we also need uncertainty. I have a challenge that you can do.  This challenge will allow you to step out of your comfort zone and still be able to be in it enough so you are not uncomfortable all the time.  Once a week make it a conscious decision to do something completely out of your norm.  If you never dance for workout do that.  If you are a treadmill person, then find yourself on the bike.  If all your knees can handle is the elliptical, then take it to the swimming pool or the bike.  The goal is to do something you never would think to do. 

All major changes in life start with a decision.  And this decision is normally compiled of mini decisions.  By making a decision to do it once a week I know that it can be attained.  And as the days get more throughout the year, you can go from once a week to twice and so on.  The key is taking that first step.  That is the hardest.

Own yourself! Run your life!