Monday 9 June 2014

Be BOLD despite the cold!

The Fitful Alternations of the Rain

By Percy Bysshe Shelley

"The fitful alternations of the rain,
When the chill wind, languid as with pain
Of its own heavy moisture, here and there
Drives through the gray and beamless atmosphere."

Stop Percy STOP! I KNOW....it's Sooooo ridiculously COLD.
And wet. 
And windy....and...UGHhhhh.

But you still need to move. 
Need some motivation to move yourself out that door and into an exercise routine in this icy season?

Pick ONE or more of the points  below and DO it...you'll be that much closer to releasing yourself from hibernation....and heading for HAPPINESS!





1.     WHERE ARE YOU AT TODAY?. Set a BASELINE. Do a quick fitness test right now.  How many, how quickly etc.  Now establish YOUR GOAL. Attempt to achieve it by: spring/summer/that wedding/holiday cruise/school re-union…etc etc.  Or to simply maintain consistently till ______(fill in the month/EVENT)

IDEAS for the test:
  • Push up
  • Pull up
  • Air squat
  • Box squat
  • Skipping for time/revolutions
  • Plank hold (strict, no hollow/hammock shapes!)



  
2.    Take the “thinking” element out of it: SIGN UP now! STAY MOTIVATED by being COMMITED. Results come only with commitment and consistency. Try to exercise AT THE SAME TIME every day. If you SCHEDULE a time to do it, you'll be less likely to skip it. Keep the schedule VISIBLE, to remind you!



3.    Look forward to your alarm... Rather than a normal, annoying alarm clock, use your iPod or smartphone to PLAY a SPECIFIC SONG that gets you going.





4.     Put your WORKOUT CLOTHES in a pillow case or bag (shoes excluded obviously) and keep it WARM by popping it into bed with you the night before. When your early morning alarm-tune goes off, you’ll already have warm gear to jump into before you can start arguing with yourself! Worst case scenario…try SLEEPING IN YOUR WORKOUT CLOTHES! (…yes, OBVIOUSLY shoes excluded!)
5.  What is your WHY? This IS YOUR real motivation.
Write it down. KEEP it VISIBLE. “Because WHEN THE FIRE COMES FROM WITHIN, there is nothing that can put it out. NOTHING!” Mycal “Derz” Anders, MS, CSCS 

  



6.     Try NEW TYPES OF EXERCISE that interest you, or that current research shows to be stimulating or effective.  Make exercise MORE LIKE PLAY. The HUMAN BRAIN LEARNS best, IN THE PLAY/FLOW STATEExercising this way, helps to improve mobility, spatial awareness AND your mental state!.  


7.     When you reach your goals, REWARD YOURSELF. (First full month/first push up!/first WINTER training pack purchase!) Winter is often the season when workout gear goes on sale….TAKE ADVANTAGE and reward yourself with a little token of your commitment…wear it and remind yourself of this accomplishment.



8.     EXERCISE DURING YOUR LUNCH BREAK.  Lots of us struggle in the icy dark mornings. If your work hours are flexible enough, try exercising DURING DAYLIGHT HOURS.  This will warm you up and mean you can get back home guilt free. Or END YOUR WORK DAY, late afternoon with a quick training session.

9.     PHONE A FRIEND!  A WORKOUT PARTNER, who is more driven than you, will hold you accountable and help to keep your motivated when your enthusiasm is dropping faster than the temperature!


10.   Training with a SMALL GROUP/or friends can also be another great way to keep motivated through healthy social group spirit.  Being able to LAUGH, ENCOURAGE AND MOTIVATE each other – will keep the class more enjoyable and relaxed. A sense of SATISFACTION after completing a difficult workout IS AMPLIFIED in a group setting. Each sweaty, panting participant knows EXACTLY how hard the team worked!




Wednesday 4 June 2014

“KETTLEBELL SWINGS and the DANGERS of drinking out of a toilet...”

I once bought a book at Barnes and Noble. 

It’s sensible title alone, was reason enough to spend $12 on a rainy Saturday afternoon. Who WOULDN’T want to own this book, huh??!!  I HAD TO have it…..!!!!


Physics For Dogs: A CRASH COURSE IN CATCHING CATS, FRISBEES, AND CARS”

14 years later, unread, and unappreciated, it looked sadly at me from it’s dis-comfortable position on the shelf, wedged between, You Cannot Afford the Luxury of A Negative Thought (really??…), and Around Africa on A Bicycle by Riaan Manser. (…no coincidence.)  So I reached out, released it from its paperback prison and started to flip through its neglected pages.

Having recently taken a few enthusiastic Crossfitters through a Kettlebell Swing Basics class, I couldn't help drawing comparisons to my recent experiences and the precautionary words of warning on page 18 : 




“ED-9.  DRINK OUT OF A TOILET”


 


Before drinking toilet water, you must understand the magnitude of the risks involved.


Typical polypropylene toilet seat specifications help us find the seats mass (m).






Should the seat fall, its angular momentum, L, can be determined by the following formula.

Thursday 29 May 2014

“SOON is not a time and SOME is not a number.”


James Clear - Entrepreneur, Weightlifter and Travel Photographer



I LOVE this statement. Like, seriously LOVE. All caps, bold and italicized, kind of serious.

James Clear, clearly knows what HE is talking about. He makes a habit of putting out two blog entries a week. Consistently.  He’s done this without fail, since November 2012.  

Bruce Lee once said: “Long term consistency, trumps short term intensity”.  (THIS PRINCIPLE is fleshed out in James’ AWESOME 45 page “Guide To Transforming Your Habits”.  It’s a must read for anyone wanting to make an IMMEDIATE change to their attitude towards building better habits.)

In a few simple sentences, James will quietly yet swiftly urge you to DO SOMETHING.  Not necessarily a GREAT thing, but just something more than before.  This light-bulb- gem on page 29 was key for me:


“It took me awhile to realize it, but it's not about always doing your best work, it's about doing the best you can on a consistent basis. Once I stopped focusing on results and simply held myself to a consistent schedule, my work and my output improved.”

It was the stone between the eyes that I PERSONALLY needed, in order to breathe new life into my comatose blog.  

Monday 9 January 2012

JUMP ROPE GENIUS

So you have 20 minutes MAX to spare. 
You NEEEED to workout; but:

You do NOT feel like jumping into your car and driving to the gym/studio/East Beach or place-where-you-go-to-'exercise'. 

However because you are old-school savvy, and like cheap effective training tools, you own a jump rope/skipping rope. Added to this, you also happen to own a gorgeous little  Gymboss interval timer (which has changed the way you train FOREVER).

And fortunately for you, you have also invested in some incredibly forward thinking authors writings, which suddenly come to mind. 


Allow me to share the flash of brilliance which will save you from a drive and have you wiping off rivulets of perspiration from your forearms/forehead, before round one is over: