Do You Make These Mistakes With Your Workout?

Recently I asked the GymJunkies newsletter subscribers what their BIGGEST problem was with getting in shape. The overwhelming responses came down to three things:

1. Not having enough time to work out.

2. Not knowing what to eat.

3. Not having motivation to work out.

These answers only scratch the surface. To be blunt, the three responses above are complete bullshit.

Not enough time to workout?

Not a single workout I gave in the 31 Day Challenge fat loss programs takes longer than 15 minutes. And let’s not forget about my post on 8 workouts you can do in 8 minutes or less. And if you’re really pressed for time I have one word for you: Tabata. A Tabata interval is 20 seconds of work followed by 10 seconds of rest repeated 8 times with the same exercise. For all of you without your calculator handy, a Tabata interval takes only 4 minutes total time.

Try it with bodyweight squats, skipping rope, or burpees and try to tell me you didn’t have a workout. Not having enough time to workout is NOT the problem (how you use your time is!)

Not knowing what to eat?

Did you miss my post on my 10 Favorite Foods For Fat Loss? Have you seen one of the first posts to hit GymJunkies, The Easy Fat Loss Plan (with diet)? My friend Mark Sisson provides a ton of free information on healthy eating at marksdailyapple.com. And then there are great resources from Joel Marion and Isabel De Los Rios that I’ve recommended. And yes that’s an affiliate link. Just because I stand a chance to make a buck doesn’t mean I don’t believe in the product. In fact the exact opposite is true. When I recommend a product that is for sale, I am putting my reputation on the line and you can be damn sure what ever is recommended is top quality information.

So between the free and for sale resources I’ve listed (and the magic of Google), not knowing what to eat is NOT the problem.

Not having motivation?

How’s this for motivation: YOU ARE GOING TO DIE! Seven out of the top 10 killers in the United States are diseases or illnesses that can be prevented or reduced through proper diet and exercise. I’m talking about big scary words like heart disease, cancer, stroke, pulmonary disease, diabetes, kidney disease, and Alzheimer’s.

Screw getting ready for a beach vacation – motivation lies in having the energy and mobility to play with your grandkids someday. If you’re not motivated by having more years in your life and more life in your years, no short term superficial goal like fitting into an article of clothing or hitting the beach is going to sustain your motivation for long. Lack of motivation is NOT the problem.

So what IS the problem? The real problem, the problem no one wants to talk about because they know how much work it takes to overcome, is habit. That’s it. Habit.

It’s not that you don’t have enough time to workout. It’s that you are not in the habit of setting your alarm clock 4 minutes earlier to sneak in a Tabata interval before you start your day.

It’s not that you don’t know what to eat. It’s that you are so accustomed to the way you eat now, changing your diet takes an amount of effort that you are not accustomed to putting forth.

It’s not that you don’t have the motivation. It’s that you are giving up when you are two weeks into an exercise program and the temptation to blow off a workout strikes.

So what can you do? Below are five tips that can help you establish new habits:

1. Measure your performance. I wish I could remember where I read this so I could give credit where credit is due, but I have found the axiom “that which gets measured, improves” to be very true. And let’s be clear on what you should be measuring. I’m not talking about your sets or reps or food intake (although those should also be tracked), I’m talking about measuring the success rate of how many times you complete the new habit you are trying to establish.

Make a simple Excel spreadsheet, hand write a checklist, or if you’re so inclined – use an iPhone app, and keep track of when you do the task you are trying to establish. Evaluate your rate of success weekly and make adjustments as needed to further ingrain the habit.

2. Give it some time. How long does it take to establish a habit? Well, I think that is going to vary from person to person. 30 days is a good initial goal to shoot for. Personally, I like 28 days because it breaks down nice and neatly into four weeks.

What we are looking for here is enough time to get through the initial stage of excitement, the painful middle ground of resistance, and then the home stretch period where willpower is needed less and less as the habit becomes firmly established.

3. Expect the pain and plan accordingly. Change is not easy. If it were, everyone would be the epitome of health and fitness. After the initial buzz of trying something shiny and new, there comes a point on the path of establishing a habit where you want to quit.

And this is exactly the point where you have to be mentally and practically prepared to gut it out. On the mental level, accept that moments of difficulty are inevitable and make a decision to stay the course with iron will. From a practical standpoint, have procedures in place to compensate for when the iron will gets rusty. Maybe that is announcing your new habit to friends, family, or co-workers and using positive peer pressure (or embarrassment) to keep you on course.

Perhaps that means keeping a back-up gym bag with a set of old workout clothes in your car at all times just in case you forget to grab your usual bag as you head out the door for the day. As you plot the course for establishing your new habit, identify where the potential trouble spots will arise and then plan and implement contingencies.

4. Find a trailblazer. So you want to be in the best shape of your life. Or just lose 10 pounds. Or become the next middle weight champ of the octagon. Whatever your training goals, it is highly likely that someone with similar, if not nearly identical, situation has already accomplished what you are seeking. If you are a 30-something white-collar cubicle dweller who wants to train for his first cage fight, someone else has already done it. If you feel stuck in your day job and want to start your own business, someone has already done it.

The “been there done that” thing is good, not bad. It means someone else has blazed the trail. Someone else knows the formula – they hold the recipe to the secret sauce. One of the basic tenets of being successful is to find someone who has already accomplished what you want to do and model what they did. So don’t reinvent the wheel. Follow the footsteps of someone who has come before you and streamline your path to establishing habit.

5. Never, ever quit. I’m a big fan of the “ready, fire, aim” approach. That simply means to get started with some forward momentum, acknowledge that mistakes will happen, and course correct while continually moving toward the goal.

If you are trying to get into the habit of waking up at 6:00am each morning for training, set the alarm clock and go for it! Oh, you hit snooze four times and didn’t get up? Don’t quit, try a new tactic. Place the alarm clock on the other side of the room. Still not getting up? Set two alarm clocks and put one in another room. Still not getting up? Put some financial pressure in the mix and pay for a wake up call service.

Still not getting up? Make arrangements to meet a training partner at the gym that you know you won’t stand up. Still not getting up? Give your seven year old son or spouse authorization and immunity to dump a bucket of cold water on you if you are not out of bed at exactly 6:00am.

Still not getting up? . . . Don’t quit. Get creative, be persistent, and you will find the solution.

Not having enough time to workout, not knowing what to eat, and lack of motivation are symptoms, but they are not the real problem. The real problem is failing to take the time and effort necessary to establish new habits.

I hope this was a refreshing slap across the face for those who needed it

Leave me a comment below and let me know what you thought of this post…

- Vic

P.S. – The 31 Day Challenge Manual has already gotten some great results for people who picked it up the week I released it…. I’m offering a 200% money back guarantee on it as well (how can you beat that?) Check it out here…