Some days you feel like absolutely nothing can go wrong.  You’re on fire, unstoppable.  Ideas are flowing, confidence is high, and you’re walking around with your chin up and your back straight.  There’s no better feeling than knowing you’re at the top of your game.  The world is your oyster.  Everything you touch seems to turn to gold and you wonder how you were ever stagnant before.

Until the past few years, I had really only been able to identify these times when looking back.  Now I’m acutely aware of them when I’m in them and I grab onto them and try not to let go when that train is rolling.

But these feelings never last long. Maybe a day or two, maybe a little more. If you’re lucky, you’ll get a full week of this superhuman ability to create things out of nothing without obstruction.  Sooner or later things will return to normal and there’s no explanation why this happens.  You just can’t self-motivate like you were able to the day before.  Ideas are at a distance, just out of reach.  You aren’t feeling flow and a day’s worth of work is taking two full days instead of just three hours.

It’s crazy frustrating when this happens. You try and recreate the environment, the feeling you had, and you just can’t. Your mind has moved on, your thoughts are elsewhere, and your current experience has been altered in some inexplicable way. And you don’t like it at all.

What happened?  Well, nothing at all.  It’s perfectly normal for creativity to ebb and flow like this.  It happens to every single creative person dozens – even hundreds – of times throughout a year. It’s just not possible to keep anything running at its highest capacity all the time.

But are there ways to keep it running for as long as you can?  Maybe.  There are things you can do that will help but only in the sense that they may be able to prolong that window.  There’s no guarantee that these things will work every time, but if they buy you an extra few days or a shorter period in the downswing, it could be worth it.

First you need to realize that any extended period of creativity comes down to the amount of energy you have and are able to apply to your task at hand. Remember that life is the sum of what you focus on, and in order to focus you need to have the energy (and the skill) to be able to do it. Energy is one of our most important assets.  If we have appropriate energy, that foundation will at a very minimum keep us going through the inevitable dry spells – and could even make peak creative output sustainable over the long run.

Tony Schwartz, speaker and author, says in his epic and highly recommended book, Be Excellent at Anything, “human beings are not designed to run like computers—at high speeds, continuously, for long periods of time. When we try to mimic the machines we’re meant to run, they end up running us.”

He recommends a ‘pulse’ approach.

See, our bodies themselves are pulsing all the time. Our blood flow, our brains, our muscles. Virtually every part of the immensely complex human system is pulsing between times of increased output and decreased output, and it’s because of this rhythm that our bodies and minds are able to perform at their best when they need to. This, of course, is assuming you’re working with your body and mind on its natural rhythm and not sabotaging it!

So how does this relate to creativity? Creativity comes down to maintaining energy, and energy comes down to effective “pulsing” – balancing renewal with hard work and making sure to keep some fuel in the tank for later. If you can do this, chances are you’ll be able to eek out a little more of that flow state when your creativity train starts to slow down (as it always will).

Here are three basic things you can do immediately that can work wonders.

Train for your brain every day.

Move your body every single day in some way. This can be through basic movement – stretches or light exercises you do at your desk every 30 minutes, it can be brisk outdoor walks, or more formal gym time. There’s so much research that shows the positive effects of exercise across the board, that it can be almost overwhelming to dig into it (don’t bother, just exercise instead).

Yet the thing that many people still don’t realize is just how important exercise is for your mind itself. Studies with lab mice have shown that brainpower improves when the mice are given the ability to run as freely as they would like. When the mice are pushed to their limits (think: lab technician as personal trainer of mice) the cognitive ability of the mice improved even more.

The same happens with us. We’re able to strongly improve our cognitive capacity – the range in which we’re able to flex our brain muscles – with daily exercise.  If you consider yourself a creative person and you’re not exercising every day, you really should try it.  Here are some specific suggestions to start with:

Exercise for 30 minutes each and every day with an alternating approach. Stretching, yoga, biking, strength training, boxing, gymnastics. They all have their benefits and they’re all worth doing. Remember, think of yourself as an athlete and look at how serious training translates directly to real life. Also, skip the slow-go cardio training and switch to interval training. As a proponent of using intervals for almost 15 years now, I can vouch that it’s the single best way to improve performance, health, and overall fitness when done with progressive resistance. You’ll be astounded at how fast your mind starts working after just 20 minutes of interval training.

Get up and move every 30 minutes. Stretch your arms, legs, and neck if you’re sitting at a desk for a prolonged period of time. Switch to a standing desk if you can, and try to use every opportunity to walk to work (or while at work). As I mentioned last year, I have lots of my 1:1 meetings outside while walking.

Eat small snacks of protein, low-glycemic carbs, and water every 3 hours. While its impact on bodyweight is debatable, this is something I’ve been doing for 15 years as well – and it’s hard to argue with its impact on energy. Maintaining blood glucose is critical to maintaining energy. If you’re subsisting on a muffin and a latte all day, you simply can’t expect to be performing at your best. You need to start treating your body like a high-performance vehicle and fueling it!  Here are some ideas.

Singletask every day.

Remember that multitasking is a total joke, and that it’s impossible to apply real brainpower to two or more tasks at the same time.  What you’re really doing is just switching really fast so that it appears as if you’re doing more than one thing at a time.  And of course, if you’re like 99.9% of the population, both of the things you’re trying to do aren’t being done well.

As I wrote about in Multitasking vs. Background Processing:

We’re not really multitasking, we’re just context switching really fast. Think about the last time you were interrupted in your office as you were deep in thought. You stopped to pay attention to someone and your focus shifted. Then when the conversation was over, you went back to what you were doing. That’s quick context switching, not “multitasking”. Whatever it’s called though, it will impede your efficiency.

Here are some ways to get out of the habit of multitasking and start focusing on one thing at a time:

Harness the ultradian rhythm. A powerful concept discussed in Be Excellent at Anything, the ultradian rhythm is based on the principle that during the day we oscillate every 90 minutes or so from higher to lower alertness. Which means we should focus our energy on a single thing for 90 minutes, and then stop, take a break, and after some time refreshing, prep for another 90-minute sprint. I know that when I focus for 90 minutes on a single thing, I can get the equivalent of 3 or 4 hours worth of “normal” work finished!  That’s how I wrote this post.

Use RescueTime for a week or two to see just how much you’re switching between tasks every day. This service will literally track what you use on your computer, for how long, and you’ll quickly discover patterns for yourself that you may not like to see. You may think you only use Facebook for 15 minutes every day, but what would you change if you found out that it’s really an hour of usage every day? We fool ourselves – and data is reality.

Get the time wasters out of the way first. This is counter to lots of advice, but it works best for me. If you know you’re going to be “pulled” into email, RSS feeds, or Facebook – then just timebox your usage, allow yourself to do it for that set period of time, then get up, stretch, grab a cup of tea, and settle in for a 90-minute sprint of real work. This structured play time will keep your mind from wondering “what’s happened” in your many inboxes, and instead you’ll be able to focus immediately on your task.

Renew every day.

Pulsing between high levels of output and low levels of output effectively means you need to allow yourself to have low levels of output, even when you’re on a roll. Making sure you have some downtime means that you’ll be better equipped for times of flow when they make themselves available to you.

Meditate using mindfulness. Meditation comes up in virtually every book on happiness, wellness, or even leadership and productivity these days. There’s a reason for this: it’s a vital habit to form if you’d like to become more in touch with your thoughts, emotions, body, and train your brain to stay in the present moment. Just 15 minutes of mindfulness meditation every day is preparing your brain to pay attention to the present moment in a way that’s non-judgmental and non-reactive. It’s literally exercise for your brain.

After just a week or two of mindfulness meditation, you may find that your mood has improved, your energy levels are higher, your work is higher quality, and your relationships have more purpose. Seriously. Check out Mindfulness for Dummies for a crash course (yes, I realize it’s a ‘dummies’ book – but it’s good).

Take your micro-vacations. Creativity is restored with exposure to nature and with downtime. In Take Micro-vacations to Boost Focus, I defined a micro-vacation as “Daily activity lasting at least 15 minutes that can’t be considered “work” by any sane, rational human being; purpose of which is to recharge and increase overall focus for the next few hours”. Aim to take a few micro-vacations every single day, and really strive to get Downtime with Nature while doing so.

Give yourself a “tech-free” hour (or more!) Wow, is this a hard one for me. My time revolves around being connected; I have 6 PCs and Macs, an iPad, a Windows Phone, a Kindle, a Kindle Fire, and about a dozen more gadgets that connect me to the outside world (don’t judge, it’s part of my job!) Yet even I will admit that being attached to the web via a Matrix-like brain implant isn’t the healthiest thing. So every day, I make sure to have at least one tech-free hour. I never take my smartphone with me to the gym, so sometimes this qualifies – but most of the time, it’s the time I spend with my family that I prefer to be most present. This is an explicit goal for me to improve on for the new year.

And of course, I’ve covered sleep before on Refocuser and that’s indeed a big part of renewal. Get your sleep!

Tony Schwartz goes into a lot more detail (352 pages worth) on many of these concepts in his book, Be Excellent at Anything. I had the opportunity to chat with him briefly after a seminar a couple weeks ago and I came away impressed with his approach to human performance – you may too.

Let me know how things go!

No related posts.

This is a short story of why I haven’t posted here in a while. I’ve been pretty busy reorganizing some aspects of my life around this mini-epiphany.

When I was a kid I played baseball, football, practiced martial arts, and would beg anyone around me to catch whatever I was going to throw at them… for hours. The notion of treating my mind, body, and emotions as seriously as an athlete would has stuck with me since those days.

When I was in school, being a “student athlete” was an achievement worth recognizing.  Kids who would do well in school and sport were somewhat rare and it was obvious they had mastered a life skill so many others hadn’t. 

Yet as an adult, it seems all we’re trying to do is survive.  Somewhere along the lines, people give up on being extraordinary – to be that “student athlete” in life.  They’re just trying to get through to tomorrow.

Through years of business, marriage, kids… ups and downs… my system is still running that base ‘student athlete operating system’. It forms the foundation of who I am despite the fact that I’ve never been very good at any sport!

Shortly after realizing this, I started embracing it more as a part of who I am. This meant thinking about myself as an athlete “in training” instead of as someone who “stays in shape”.

This has affected almost every aspect of my life:

• I started training in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Muay Thai, and Mixed Martial Arts again. Just before my son was born last year, I had to put my martial arts training on hold – and I decided that when I’d pick it up again, I would be doing it without concern about rank, status, or looking like an idiot. It would be all about immersion, learning, and camaraderie.
• I joined a Crossfit gym and found a culture that embodies this “everyday athlete” mentality with something they call “the sport of fitness”. Say what you want about the “cult-like” atmosphere (I know I have over the years) I’ve never worked as hard over the course of a 20 minute workout as I do at Crossfit. It keeps me working for “points” instead of going through the motions in the gym, which quickly becomes a pattern for me after a while.
• I’ve maintained to eat better and spend more time researching the latest in nutritional science (conclusion: I’ve gone Paleo). I’ve spent more time finding local organic fruits and vegetables, doubled down on grass-fed beef, almonds, avocado, spices, and wild fish, and re-upped my Gyokuro green tea obsession. It’s become a family affair as my son shares my veggie omelette with sliced avocado every morning.
• I’ve re-embraced the importance of sleep and have made sure I’m not robbing my body of key recuperative hours. Some nights this means lights off at 9pm.
• I ordered a standing desk for my office which resulted in a complete reversal of the neck and upper back pain I had felt for years. Athletes don’t sit slumped over a keyboard all day, every day. Neither should I.
• I’ve accepted that I’m not 18 anymore, and that soft tissue work and movement is important for me. I purchased a few lacrosse balls (see the comments on my last blog entry for why) and have settled into a routine of moving with less restriction. Lacrosse balls and foam rolls are my friends.
• I started a journal of my training – something I’ve always wanted to do – using Evernote. I have every jiu-jitsu lesson written up; everything from who I trained with to how I felt. I, of course, was especially proud to write the day I got my first promotion within white belt as unlike boxing or kicking, ground work like Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu has never really come naturally for me.
• Best of all, I’ve become a student again. Not just someone who reads 140-character tweets about stuff, but someone who is curious and wants to soak up information. Learning about how to be a better athlete is really learning how to be a better all-around husband, father, manager, and human being. They become inseparable once you make the tie.

Of course, through this process, I also got injured… like a real athlete. I tore the medial meniscus in my right knee while rolling on the mat in jiu-jitsu a day after a super intense 4th of July workout at Crossfit. It required surgery which I had last week, and I’m now on the mend. It was an old injury made worse through an increase in intense activity starting in April. Again, I’m not 18 anymore.

Yet when people ask if it’s going to slow me down, of course my answer is “for now”. No, I fully intend to get back to it though will pay more attention to early warning signs from my body. As my wife said to me, “if you’re going to train like an athlete, you can’t assume you aren’t going to have the types of setbacks athletes have”.

So through this journey, other than realizing that I probably pushed myself a little too hard, what else did I learn? In short I learned that thinking of yourself as an athlete is a fundamental shift in your mindset. It makes every downstream decision easier.

Suffering through the peaks and valleys as you struggle to get in shape – or stay in shape – feels almost like part of the human condition. For decades in the United States people have been saying that you need to exercise more, eat less, and the rise of all sorts of ways to do that has grown into a multi-billion dollar business.

But is it all supposed to be this hard? Why does it always, always feel as if we’re doing the thing someone else wants us to do instead of what we like and enjoy? We do silly things like run on a treadmill in a hot and depressing gym when it’s 68 degrees outside and there’s a slight breeze. We look at it all as a “sacrifice” instead of as a “mission”. We resent it. We feel like weirdos when we say “I don’t eat that anymore” instead of feeling empowered. We feel like we’re missing out on life instead of thriving within it.

Being an athlete is a lifelong thing. A way of relating to yourself. Whereas getting in shape feels like work. Sure, you want to set goals for yourself, but what you really need is purpose. Similar to the thought of “being on a diet” vs. a “way of being”, how you present yourself TO yourself is critically important.  Think about yourself as an athlete and you are an athlete.

Here are some of the benefits of ditching the “old way” and becoming an athlete:

• You’ll think like an athlete. Your comprehension will improve, your synapses will fire quicker, you’ll be more alert, and you’ll prioritize your well-being and performance when you make choices.  Being an athlete means that even during the off-season, you’re still an athlete. So you’re always thinking ahead.
• You’ll eat like an athlete. You’ll view food as fuel (note that this doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy it anymore). You’ll stop thinking about food as a quick fix – it’s something you plan, just like the rest of the things that are important to you.
• You’ll crave consistency. You can only get better at physical activity through lots and lots of repetition, and consistency is the key to progress.  Even on days you don’t feel like it, view it “just something you do” and you’ll eventually start looking forward to training sessions.
• You’ll feel like an athlete. Your muscles and joints will reflect your hard work back to you. You’ll have energy and will feel upgraded.  You’ll be able to keep up with people half your age and play in the company softball game without worrying about being sore the next day.
• You’ll meet people like you. All athletic adventures have groups of like-minded people also looking to get better. Whether it’s paddle boarding, tennis, running, or something a little crazy like fighting, you’re going to inevitably form new social circles.
• You’ll harness beginner’s mind, or what I call the “white belt mentality”. When you start anything new, you have to get past that awkward phase. You’ll ask tons of questions and feel like a little kid again. But that’s what it’s all about: personal growth. Don’t worry about looking stupid, just do it.

Sounds great, so now what?

• Form a master habit of sport. Sport of any kind, but preferably something you’ll find both intrinsically rewarding and challenging. Something you used to do and loved, or something you’ve never done but have always wanted to…
• Let it permeate other areas of your life over time; take it slow. Enjoy the process. Start calling yourself a <blank> depending on the sport you’ve chosen from day one. Don’t let anyone tell you that you aren’t one…
• Compete with yourself every day.  Compete with others in a playful way.  Work to get better each time out.  Track your progress and celebrate successes…
• Research your sport. Research what makes people great at that sport. Particularly people who it doesn’t come easy for. Try stuff. Experiment. Let it become a part of your life…

Most of all, just have fun with it! After all, moving, eating, and sleeping are supposed to be fun.

No related posts.

I’ve learned a lot of great things through training, been (mostly) able to keep exercise as a habit over the years, finally created my ideal home gym, and even branched out and tried all sorts of new stuff like running, swimming, kettlebells, and different martial arts.  It’s been a fun ride to-date.

So what prompted the recent change in intensity?  I don’t really know.  But it’s been building for some time and, starting with the birth of my son last year, everything about my training got more… well, focused.  Could it have something to do with the fact that I’m now a role model for a little boy who looks kind of like me?  Maybe.  Probably.  I really don’t know.

One thing that’s clear is that my gym bag these days looks quite different from years prior.  My training itself has gone back to the roots.  I don’t use any sort of machines at this point; I stick to dumbbells, kettlebells, and fixed bars.  Yet I’ve become more interested in using toys like the ones below to help me progress, and I like to have them with me all the time at the gym.  It’s the geek in me.

In order to benefit from any of these items, you need to already have a base of both knowledge and fitness.  Don’t jump right into any fitness program without doing the obvious stuff first like talking to your doctor and ramping your training up over a period of months.

But if you’re good to go already, and have a penchant for good workouts, these five things can only help.

Digital Camera with Video

I’ll admit, it’s a strange thing to put in your gym bag… and probably not something you’ll actually keep there.  But it’s really quite important if you plan on emphasizing form (which you should).

My kettlebell coach (who rocks) suggested it to me a few months ago after seeing my two-handed swing.  Turning your head during a motion like this in order to see yourself in the mirror is a huge no-no as you can pretty easily injure yourself.  But placing a camera nearby so you can see how your form looks from the side is a big win.  You can see just how far back your hips get, how high your hands are swinging, how quickly you start to fatigue and get sloppy, and what your overall motion looks like throughout the set.

In other words, you can’t improve your form if you can’t see it.

Being a bit of a camera junkie myself, I’ll go so far as to actually recommend a specific camera.  This recommendation may not hold for long (this is being posted in April 2011) but at the current time, the best bang-for-the-buck camera is the Canon S95.  It’s simply the best camera at its price and size on the market given that you’ll likely not use it exclusively in the gym.

Of course, it’s not important which camera you use for this so long as it supports taking video.  You could just use your smartphone if you already have it on you!

Gymboss

Most athletic watches don’t have good interval training functions, so I’ve switched to using the Gymboss. 

It’s a small, inexpensive interval timer optimized for intense workouts.  And when I say small, I mean you can clip it onto your shorts and completely forget it’s there.

It’s easy to learn and keeps you on a short leash with loud or soft beeps, or a vibrate feature if your gym is full of wimps who don’t like any noises around them.  I use it primarily for kettlebell workouts, box jumps and other explosive movements, and running sprints, but it will work well for just about any interval-based workout.

And for $20, the price is hard to beat.

Platemates

I first learned about Platemates back in 1999 or so through the writing of Charles Poliquin.  These things are great ways to increase the weight you use on dumbbells or barbells slowly and methodically instead of with large 5 or 10lb jumps. 

They’re magnetic weights that attach easily to existing weights, helping you do things like turn a 40lb dumbbell into a 42lb dumbbell in just a split second.

This keeps you focused on improvement and can help prevent injury by easing you into heavier weights.

Instead of rambling on and on about my own experience with Platemates, a quick Bing search brought up a post by the man himself, Charles Poliquin, on Platemates from last April.  Here’s a snippet:

The best way to coax your muscles into adaptation is through application of the Kaizen Principle.  In Japanese, “Kaizen” means “constant and never-ending improvement.”  It is a philosophy that small, incremental improvements made consistently will, over the long term, produce large gains.  As practical advice for loading, this translates to “increase the weight at every opportunity, even if the increase is very small.”

Poliquin also has a great quote with respect to this training mentality, “You need ways to coax, not force, your muscles to adapt to greater loads.”  Platemates are a pretty cool way to do this.

Cando Digi-Extend Hand Exerciser

Pull-ups, deadlifts, swings, and many dumbbell movements are going to give your hands and fingers quite a workout.  Your grip in many cases is going to be the weak link in your body (more on this later) and will fatigue before your primary movers. 

And if you’re spending time driving, typing, or doing other “closed finger” activities over the course of a day, your hands may start to resemble a caveperson’s over time.

Solution: You need to open your hands and exercise your fingers in the opposite direction.

The Cando Digi-Extend Hand Exerciser is a great way to give those finger extensors some resistance to help increase strength and coordination.  I carry this thing with me in the gym and use it in between sets just to make sure I’m actively exercising my finger extensors with each workout.

Fat Gripz

Speaking of grip development… if you want to continue to get stronger, you’re going to need to be able to turn coal into diamonds with your grip.  You can’t expect to pull any heavy weight if you can’t even hold onto it. 

Granted, not everyone cares about getting strong or throwing weight around, but if you do, you’ll need a grip like a vise.

FatGripz are a great way to build grip strength.

But be careful, you’re going to feel it on your first workout. 

The recommended protocol isn’t to use Fat Gripz all the time, or even most of the time, you’re only going to use them every once in a while.  For instance, on your ‘light training day’ prior to going heavier in a multi-week cycle.  Just be prepared for some forearm soreness for a few days.

If you have your own favorite piece of gym gear, please do post it in the comments and help out the thousands of people who stop by Refocuser every month!

And if you’re looking for a good gym bag, I use the rad OGIO Locker Bag for getting to & from the gym, and a drawstring back sack (though mine has a special symbol on it) for toting around the gym itself.

* On another note: Part of getting serious with training is more diligent tracking.  I’m considering using Dailyburn.com more seriously but I’m wondering if a basic Tumblr blog or something is easier.  I’m actually looking for something that incorporates martial arts training as well (jiu-jitsu, boxing).  If you have any experience with good tracking sites, let me know.

Related posts:

1. 26 Things I’ve Learned Through Intense Exercise

It’s just so much easier to give in, isn’t it?  Hell, it takes real effort to fight the urge, especially if restraint isn’t something you’re used to.  More on that later, but first let’s take a look at exactly why self-control is important.

“Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment.” — Jim Rohn

Self-control is the basis of all change; nothing can be transformed without first determining what needs to happen, and then being consistent and predictable in implementation over time.  It is, in fact, the most important skill to have when it comes to achievement.  Self-control is really the platform in which achievements are built upon.  It’s an essential ingredient in any high performer’s personality, just as impulsiveness and “action without consequence” is central to the self-defeatist.

If you want to start modeling success, the most important thing you can do is to start exhibiting self-control. 

Show me a successful person who doesn’t have a superhuman amount of mastery over his or her daily actions and I’ll show you someone who has benefited only from chance and circumstance – and that type of success is not repeatable or transferable.  Anyone can win the lottery or sign a book contract, but it takes true dedication to be able to maintain success over time.

Many people believe they are born with self-control (more commonly called willpower) or lack thereof, and this inborn trait determines their ability to focus for a lifetime.  The truth is (absent diagnosed medical conditions like ADHD) that self-control isn’t something you have to accept as something you don’t have.  And in fact, you shouldn’t. Self-control isn’t something that some people have and others don’t, and the very act of believing that it isn’t a learned skill hinders your motivation to learn how to harness it.

So first things first: drop the limiting beliefs as they’ll just hold you back.  And if there’s ONE thing you can’t afford to be held back from, it’s improving your self-control.  Everything else comes later.  Because once you have self-control at your side, you can make anything happen.

Self-control can be learned…

It turns out that self-control is actually a lot like a muscle, and it can be exercised just like one.  Research by Mark Muraven at the University of Albany demonstrates this (relevant studies are here, here, and here).  After two weeks of abstaining from candy and performing hand gripping exercises (with something like the Gripmaster referenced in my Home Gym post), Muraven found that self-control had actually increased across the board.  The simple act of being consistent with one thing helps ‘pick up’ other things around it.

In similar fashion, research over the last few years has also shown that the act of monitoring what you eat, keeping a close eye on your finances, or even just sitting up straight can have positive effects on your overall ability to exercise self-control.  In one study, students at a university who started an exercise program and stuck with it found themselves doing the dishes more often, and even spending less money on things they didn’t need!

So in many ways, you can think of self-control as contagious across your habits.  Each time you strengthen your self-control over one thing, other things benefit as well.  So the verdict is clear: if you work your self-discipline like a muscle – often enough – performing small, basic activities that require self-control, you can develop the strength to have that self-control spill over into other areas of your life.

This is one of those ah-hah realizations that is immediately actionable. Having trouble quitting smoking?  Try stopping the nail-biting.  Want to work out regularly?  Floss each morning and night for a month.  Want to stop snapping at your kids?  Eat a high-protein breakfast every single day.  It sounds crazy, but it actually works.

Self-control is also exhaustible…

Most of our daily actions don’t require self-control.  Normal, everyday life is pretty routine – waking up, taking a shower, getting dressed, driving to work.  Lots of mindless action.  None of these things require any deep-seated ability to focus attention… which is a good thing.  If they did, they probably would probably only get done once a month.  But we also do things that require buckets of self-control whether it’s running a large meeting, resisting the pizza temptation, or keeping yourself from snapping at your kids.  Each of those things decreases your overall self-control reserves.

Think of exercising self-control as the equivalent of doing curls at the gym.  When you start off, your muscles are fresh and there’s no struggle at all.  But as you start to become fatigued, your arms start to shake and eventually you can’t do any more curls.  Self-control is the same way.  There’s not an inexhaustible well of the good stuff – so push yourself too hard in any one area and expect others to suffer.

Exercising some self-control, even in small amounts, can be draining. And just like any muscle, self-control itself can be exhausted. Following the contagious comment above, give in to the donuts today and expect to skip the gym tomorrow. Let your email inbox fill up and expect the same thing to happen to the interior of your car. Just like upswings in self-control can help other areas, downswings can actually hurt them.

So what can you do?

First of all, start with the assumption that you can train your self-control.  You aren’t predestined to be a useless sloth any more than someone else isn’t predestined to be a self-mastery machine.  Start putting a training program in place immediately (it takes about 30 seconds to decide to do this and put the pieces in place) and dedicate yourself to it.

As part of your new self-control training program, pick one small thing to go with one big thing.  Don’t pick multiple big things!  If you want to do start eating right, commit to doing 10 push-ups every 4 hours.  You’ll be surprised at how much these two things will feed off of each other.  And, with this example, you’ll actually make more progress towards a fitness goal.

Be careful not to group activities that require a lot of self-control together.  If you can avoid it, don’t schedule a workout immediately after leading a 3 hour meeting in a room filled with cupcakes.  If you’re like most people, by the time you get to that workout time, your self-control will be so depleted you’re going to end up eating four cupcakes and crashing on the couch watching Dexter until 2am (going to bed early requires self-control for most people too!)  At a minimum, find a way to pre-commit if something is important to you and you think your self-control will be depleted when the time arrives.

Try and find ways to refill your reserves periodically.  This means different things to different people – you need to find what works best for you.  This recharge probably involves a break from any sort of activity that requires self-control… so if you find yourself giving into temptation more today than yesterday (and thereby not putting your self-control powers to use) you need to get away from those temptations and start filling your self-control well back up.  If you’re a gamer, think about this as your ‘health meter’.  Your health meter won’t go up if you keep getting attacked from all angles.  Run the other way and fast.

And finally, see if you can identify your master habit.  The master habit concept has worked absolute wonders for me over the years (mine is physical activity) and there’s no better way to get going than to follow the four steps in Your Master Habit: Get One Thing Clicking, Watch Others Follow (if I say so myself!)

Hope this helps and that you enjoy being more in control!

“Self-discipline is the ability to do what you should do, when you should do it, whether you feel like it or not.” – Elbert Hubbard

Related posts:

1. Action Triggers: Getting Back on the Self-Control Wagon
2. 7 Tips to Make Exercise a Habit (and Keep It That Way)

Here I am, many years later, still longing for the same.  They say some things never change.  Over the last few months (and the next few really) I’m piecing together the home gym setup I’ve been thinking about for almost two decades.  Below is my list.

First, a word about the investment required.  Depending on your bank account and your tolerance for spending, the list below may seem extravagant… or perfectly reasonable when compared to a pricey gym membership.  No matter how you slice it, different people have different priorities and not everyone wants to spend money to improve their overall health, mood, or strength.  You can tell where I fall on that spectrum.

The great thing about having the ability to workout at home is that you have no excuses.  Not a one.  You can get a great workout finished in less than 20 minutes and you don’t have to wait for your turn to use any equipment.  You can listen to whatever you want, you can wear whatever you want, and you can be in the shower 10 seconds after your last rep.  The convenience simply can’t be beaten.

The list below is based on a few things:

• Strength training is critical.  I love running, swimming, and biking as much as the next person (in fact, I may even love them more than the person sitting next to me at this coffee shop) but strength training itself is a ‘must-do’.  With just a little strength training you can improve your heart health, sleep better, feel better, lift all sorts of things with ease, and even live longer.  In short: you need to lift in addition to whatever else you’re doing.
• The must-haves below are optimized for compound multi-joint exercises that will give you the most bang for the buck.  Things like bench press, chin-ups, squats, and lunges.  You don’t need much more – everything else on the list is gravy.
• Even the must-haves below are presupposing a level of experience and interest that may not be there.  If you really don’t know where to start, I’d recommend just getting a Swiss Ball and a medium-weight pair of dumbbells (10-15lbs for women, 20-25lbs for men).  You don’t need the things below to get started, and not having the equipment isn’t an excuse for doing nothing.

OK, let’s get to the list…

The Must-Haves

Folding Gym mat from PerformBetter.  If your room has carpet or hardwoods, you’re going to want to protect it from your scuffling feet and any heavy equipment you have.  This lifting mat is one of the best I’ve found – it’s inexpensive, expandable, and easy to place.

Bowflex SelectTech 552 Dumbbells.  These dumbbells come in two different versions depending on the amount of weight you’d like – 52.5lb or 90lb versions.  For those who haven’t worked with adjustable dumbbells, they’re perfect for a home gym setup as they take up 1/15th the space of standard dumbbells.  With two dumbbells you can go all the way from 5lbs to 52.5lbs (or 10lbs to 90lbs) just by turning a knob.  I opted for the 52.5lb set on a recommendation from a co-worker since the 90lb model is apparently quite a bit bulkier and harder to use.  Plus I got them for 40% off on Black Friday!  Alternative to the Bowflex set which are the “original” but not quite as elegant in my opinion: PowerBlocks.

Bowflex 5.1 Bench and Dumbbell Stand.  One of the best benches on the market for the price, the 5.1 bench gives you the flexibility to do 17-degree decline all the way to 90-degree incline and has an incredible 30-year warranty.  (My mom got it for me for Christmas just like my first set when I was a kid.)  Alternative to the 5.1 bench: the 3.1 bench which doesn’t give you the ability to decline.  Note that technically the stand isn’t really a must-have – you could get by without it – but it certainly helps your back when you’re lifting the dumbbells.

P90x Chin-up Bar.  I know, I know.  First Bowflex and now P90x.  I feel like a fitness sell-out hawking things on infomercials at 2am.  But the truth is that this bar is the best one I’ve found.  It’s the sturdiest (it has a steel frame), it gives you 12 different grip options, and it doesn’t require any installation.  You just pop it on your door frame and go.  There are alternatives like the Iron Gym but I don’t think they’re of the same quality.  Be careful when ordering that you’re getting the actual P90x bar from Beach Body and not a bar that’s “designed for P90x”.

65cm Swiss Ball.  Technically called an exercise ball these days (old habits die hard) this gym staple ranks among the must-haves.  Swiss balls are great for core work as well as functioning as an alternative to the bench for a little variety in your workout.

Jump rope.  Old faithful.  Doesn’t take up any room and costs only $10 for a killer cardio workout.  You can’t go wrong with a jump rope!

Music! Use whatever you have; an iPod/iPhone or Windows Phone/Zune with headphones or a speaker system in the room.  Music before and during exercise has been shown to dampen the pain response and increase power output.

The Killers – Not Technically Must-Haves, But Close

Versaclimber 108 HP.  The reason this is on the “killers” list and not must-haves is due to cost, but this machine is phenomenal and takes up very little space compared to an elliptical, treadmill, or rowing machine.  10 minutes on a Versaclimber will get your heart pounding out of your chest regardless of how in shape you think you are – it’s very, very hard.  It’s a true full-body workout and has even been shown (due to the movement itself) to improve body coordination.

Kettlebell.  As Pavel Tsatsouline, the “father of the Kettlebell”, says: when you think of strength, think of kettlebell – and when you think of kettlebell, think of strength.  The kettlebell gives you a fantastic workout once you know what you’re doing with it.  Most strong men start with a 44lb kettlebell, and most women start with an 18lb one.  If you’ve never received training with a kettlebell before, I’d recommend looking up a trainer or, at a minimum, watching Pavel’s DVD video before doing anything.

Extra (Optional) Stuff – Worth Having, But Take Your Time

Perfect Pullup Ab Straps for Chin-up Bar.  Use that chin-up bar for targeted ab work like hanging leg lifts.  There are better exercises for your core than these, but given the low additional price, it’s nice to have the variety available to you.

Ultimate Body Press Dip Stand.  Very basic contraption for basic – but important – exercises like chest and tricep dips and bodyweight rows.  The cool thing about the Ultimate Body Press Dip Stand is that it folds right up for storage or travel, so just like most other things on this list, you can keep your ‘gym’ in a closet when you’re not using it.

Push-up Rings + Dip Belt and Resistance Bands for Ultimate Body Press Dip Stand.  Fun add-ons for the dip stand which give you more versatility.  The push-up rings help with bodyweight push-ups and the dip belt helps make your dips even harder.  You can also use the rings with the chin-up bar for bodyweight rows and more!

Xbox 360 with Kinect! I’ll accept that this is a strange addition to the list, but I’ve found that 20 minutes of Kinect with friends (or alone!) is a fantastic workout.  There are two games specifically that I use: Kinect Sports (boxing or track & field) and Your Shape Fitness Evolved.  If you’re into competing with friends online or just having something to take your mind off of your workout, the Kinect can’t be beaten.  I’m personally looking forward to a realistic Kinect boxing game like Fight Night.  I love boxing… even if it’s fake.

Medicine Balls (various weights).  Also great for core exercises, balance, plyometrics, and coordination.  Start with a small ball and buy heavier ones as your strength improves.

Basic Strength Bands with Door Anchor.  Can’t go wrong with a good set of strength bands!  This set supports all levels so you can grow into it as you get stronger and strong.  These are also great for travel; I almost never leave home for more than a day without throwing a few of these in my bag.  You can get a great hotel room or beach workout with just these bands.

Perfect Pushup. I used the Perfect Pushup at a boutique gym on the Oregon coast over the summer and I’ve wanted them ever since.  They really do reduce strain on your wrists and shoulders – and after years of pushups and typing, that’s something I sorely need.  These are a little pricey for what they are, however.  But I do like them quite a bit more than the alternatives on the market.  I love the grips!

Valeo Dual Ab wheel.  Though you can replicate these core exercises with the Swiss Ball, the wheel itself is good for a little variety.  Be careful though as you’ll feel the effects of this for a week!

BOSU Trainer.  The BOSU gives you so many options for balance/core work, you could easily swap it with the Swiss Ball above on the must-have list.  But just given the price, it’s relegated to the optional stuff.  I’ve loved the BOSU for close to 10 years for ab work and for “the best exercise you’ve never done”, the Push-up Plus.

TriggerPoint Grid Foam Roller.   Fantastic for targeted massage to help loosen up your tight muscles.  It seems to have more of an ability to focus in on trigger points than a traditional ‘flat’ foam roll.  If you’re a lifter or runner and you’re not foam rolling, you need to be!

Full length mirror.  Enough said.

—-

Now what are you waiting for?  Have fun!

* I’m about halfway through Tim Ferriss’ new book, The 4-Hour Body.  While some of his recommendations are a bit extreme, I can’t help but recommend the book for the sheer ambition of it.  I’ve already gleaned some great tips from the book about enabling extraordinary body change (and thanks to Kindle highlighting, I’ll never forget them).  Besides, how can you not be intrigued by the sub-title: An Uncommon Guide to Rapid Fat-Loss, Incredible Sex, and Becoming Superhuman.

Related posts:

1. Only Perfect Practice Makes Perfect

A couple months ago, I made the decision on a complete whim to become a runner.  After years of self-identifying as an “athlete”, “martial artist” or a “lifter”, I dove into running with everything I had and studied it like I studied plant biology back in high school.  I’ve learned a ton and feel like I may have found a new escape for myself.

If you’ve never run a mile, or if it’s been years since you laced up running shoes, keep reading.  And if you’re an old pro, you might learn something new here, but I kind of doubt it

The obvious caveat is that all of this advice is coming from someone who’s probably a lot like you and not some ultra-marathoner or Tarahumaran.  I’m not a “real” runner… yet.  I haven’t finished a 5k (my first race is July 31st) or written a book about running 50 marathons in 50 states in 50 consecutive days.  But ultimately that shouldn’t matter much, because unlike learning how to hit a 90mph fastball or drive a car, running is about overcoming the resistance to move more than anything.  And that’s mostly a mental game… it shouldn’t take years of experience practicing impeccable form until you can run well enough to impart wisdom, it requires the will to get yourself up off your ass and onto the street.

That isn’t to dismiss the fact that running, like most physical activities, is something you can dissect down to the most minute detail.  Ankle inversion, foot pronation, stride length, heel vs. toe running, etc.  But I’m not at that level yet – probably never will be – and my guess is that you aren’t either.  We’re just two wanna-be runners right now… so let’s start with the basics together.  I’ll give you some links to follow when we’re done to learn more if you care.

First, a little background: I’ve always hated running.  Loathed it with a real passion reserved only for instant chocolate pudding.  There have been times in my life (college, mostly) where I ran pretty regularly but it’s been something I’ve dreaded the whole way through.

Yet running is the world’s oldest and simplest activity.  Most everyone is born a runner… it doesn’t require a gym membership or any special overpriced equipment (like, say, biking does).  Ear buds, running shoes, headbands, and special socks aren’t required in order to run.  You just need two healthy feet and a bit of willpower and determination.  I mean: you don’t even need to have a destination in mind, you could run in circles around your block and feel better.

And boy will it humble you.  Running will teach you more about yourself than most other sport or activity.  Mostly because it’s you against yourself and you’re in your own head most of the time… but also because it’s just plain hard.  Exercise is meant to give you progressive resistance in order for you to improve, and running does that in spades.  There’s always a new goal to be had no matter how accomplished a runner you are.

That’s why it’s a real focuser (or a refocuser as it were).  Teaching yourself to push through pain and fear is something that transcends sport or activity – it’s something you need in life.  I’ve found that the hardest part about running is “pushing through”.  Knowing that it hurts… but that it won’t hurt forever, and that there’s more to gain through “pushing through” than there could be by quitting.  And the better you get at it, the more fun it becomes (just like most anything!)

As the character of Bob Bowerman said in the great Prefontaine movie, Without Limits:

Running, one might say, is basically an absurd past-time upon which to be exhausting ourselves. But if you can find meaning, in the kind of running you have to do to stay on this team, chances are you will be able to find meaning in another absurd past-time… Life.

Running will make you a better you. There are twenty-six things I’ve identified that you can learn from intense physical activity such as living in the present, performing well under pressure, and fostering healthy competition.  Check out that list because becoming a runner means you’ll benefit from each and every one. 

Will Smith put it best when he talked about running as a key to life (along with reading).  Check it out:

You’ll also see your cognition and concentration improve with running, which is a big unexpected win for most people.  We moved a lot as early humans, chasing down our next meal everyday, and as such the brain has evolved to thrive when fed with aerobic exercise like running.  There have been many studies that have shown the importance of exercise for the brain, demonstrating that with an increase in oxygen flow due to exercise, the brain works better and faster as well.  You can see mental acuity rise in direct correlation with exercise, and fall when it’s taken away.  So if nothing else, running will help how you think better as well.

OK, enough of that, let’s get to it.  Want to be a runner?

Ditch the limiting beliefs

First things first, everyone can be a runner.  For years I believed that I wasn’t a runner because I was told somewhere along the line that my body type is better suited for building muscle mass.  And muscle mass and running don’t mix.  Of course, that’s ridiculous. 

In just 8 runs over two weeks, I was able to go from sucking wind on day one after just two minutes of running, to running for thirty minutes straight.  Naturally your experience won’t match mine exactly.  But if you believe you aren’t a runner, you won’t be.  If you want to be one, just run!  But…

Don’t start running!

The biggest mistake you could make is to think you can run a marathon on day one of training.  No matter what kind of a runner you’ve been in the past, accept that you aren’t one now – and give yourself some time to build up to one.  Over the course of 30 days you could go from primarily walking to primarily running provided you take a slow progression. 

Start with walking… then run for a bit… then walk again.  This way you’ll ease your muscles and your psyche into the process of running regularly.  Go at your own pace and if that means you only run for 30 seconds at a time, that’s fine!  Just make sure that the next time out you run for 35 seconds

Start with measuring time rather than distance

In fact, don’t even think about distance for the first 6 weeks.  Just keep yourself moving for a period of time (say, 20 minutes) regardless of your speed or distance.  Distance is something you can worry about later once you’ve established your running habit.  Getting hung up on distance too early is a sure path to injury or burnout, and we’re in this for the long haul.

For what it’s worth, I made this mistake myself.  After a 4 mile run a few weeks into starting, I had so much pain on the ball of my foot that I couldn’t run at all for a few weeks.  It was fun to explore cycling and rowing during the downtime, but I could have avoided this injury altogether if I just took it slower.

Track and share your progress

One of the best things you can do is to let success breed success.  Running is a fun activity and doesn’t need any sort of hard measurement, but if you’re like me, you might benefit from knowing how well you’re doing.  There’s nothing better than seeing consistent improvement and having friends cheer you on. 

There are a variety of tools available for tracking your runs:

• GPS watches like the Garmin Forerunner 110
• Nike+ (which I use and covered a bit here when talking about self-tracking)
• iPhone apps like RunKeeper and RunMeter.  There are great videos of both of these apps on Scobleizer.
• Dailymile.com which is the best way I’ve found to network with running friends and motivate each other.  This is me on Dailymile.

  

Get past the awkward stage (that first 3 mile run)

For many new runners, it takes a while for your muscles to adapt and the right mindset to take over.  Typically you’ll see a lot of people “get it” after they pass their first three mile run.  Three miles is just long enough to be hard, but not such a long run as to be completely debilitating.  And it just so happens to be almost exactly the length of a 5k, which is probably one reason 5k races are so popular these days.

Take it slow and know that once you pass that first three miler, you’re doing it.  You’re past the “hard part” and can now really focus on the intrinsic joy.

Learn as much as you can

Running as a lifelong pursuit requires a certain level of knowledge about it.  There are a bunch of resources out there for inspiration and straight-up learning.

• Read Runner’s World and other magazines about running.  Just remember that lots of the information presented in these magazines are about equipment you don’t need or goals you may not have.  I’ve found that a lot of them cover ultramarathons (anything longer than a marathon) and I doubt I’ll be running a 50 mile race… ever.  So remember to “just be you” and not get too caught up in being the person the magazine thinks you should be.
• Check out the Couch to 5k plan and the Runner’s World 8-week beginning training program.  Both are great resources for getting started and I recommend starting with one of them.  Couch to 5k also has a great Facebook page where updates will come to your news feed automatically.
• Read Born to Run by Christopher McDougall.  Hands down the best book I’ve read on sports in a long time; hugely inspirational and informative.  This ‘creative non-fiction’ piece will have you wishing you were running while flipping the pages   If you like this one, you may also like Ultramarathon Man or Chi Running too.
• Read The Complete Beginner’s Guide to Barefoot Running on Zen Habits.  This is the guide I wish I would have written, but I’m a couple months behind Leo in my barefoot running exploration.  It’s quite detailed and after everything I’ve learned, a great general resource.
• Check out the No Meat Athlete blog for good tips on running and gear.
• And if you’re having trouble keeping up with exercise as a habit, check out 7 Tips to Make Exercise a Habit And Keep It That Way.  4 Steps to Learn Any Physical Activity can also help you “drill” until you find your running zone.

Most importantly, have fun!

By the way, it goes without saying (but I’ll say it anyway) that you should talk to your doctor before you start any exercise program.

No related posts.

Over the last 15 years I’ve certainly had ups and downs.  I’ve slacked off and felt completely out of shape for months at a time.  I’ve also hit my stride many times throughout the years and realized that when I’m exercising regularly, just about everything else in my life comes into serious clarity.  I’ve learned that for me, the benefits of strength training (and martial arts) are far more mental than physical.  I’d tradeoff any gains in strength, size, or flexibility for the things I list below.

In 1999 I started a list of the things I’ve felt I’ve learned “in the gym” and I’ve been expanding on this list ever since.  These are things that I learned as a kid (and as an adult) training in martial arts, and how I’ve since expanded my understanding through intense strength training in a gym environment.  Just like other posts in the Exercise category, the things I list below are certainly not limited to the activities I perform.  If you’re a dancer, a yoga practitioner, a cyclist, or a volleyball player, chances are a lot of these same lessons can be learned with your activity.

Here are the 26 things I’ve learned and continue to learn:

1. Always drive for results.  A good effort is important, but what matters at the end of the day is the results.  Are you making progress, are you pushing yourself hard enough, or are you holding back for some reason?  Learn to push yourself harder than you thought you could.
2. Overcome fear.  What would you attempt if you knew you could never fail?  Would your outlook on what’s possible change at all?  Learn to work through the fear of failure and open your mind to the amazing possibilities of accomplishment.
3. Work as a team.  If you’ve never had a training partner, you’re missing out on one of the best parts of training.  Teamwork and “spotting each other” all the way through can help you both breakthrough walls and set personal bests.  Sports – all sports – can help people internalize how important teamwork is throughout life.  Learn to work well as a team and see how doors start to open.
4. Maintain a positive attitude.  Intense exercise of any kind is hard stuff.  If you’re going to get through it, you need to stay positive all the way through – or you’ll end up curled up in a fetal position on the floor.  Learn to use your training time as a time to train your mind to stay positive.
5. Perform well under pressure.  Pushing yourself hard creates a sense of pressure and urgency.  Some people buckle, and others rise to new heights.  You can quickly determine the kind of person you are through intense exercise and, if interested, set a course to improve.  Learn to get better at dealing with stressful or uncomfortable situations.
6. Embrace a sense of accomplishment.  When you achieve something you once thought to be impossible, your notion of what’s possible changes.  Even if it’s something others consider a minor accomplishment, the fact that you’ve pushed yourself beyond the limits you thought existed means you can do the same for just about anything in life.  Learn to embrace this sense of accomplishment when you feel it, and start doing that in other areas of your life.
7. Foster healthy competition.  Competition is healthy if approached with the right mindset.  The word ‘competition’ is actually a combination of two latin words – com (together) and tition (improvement/growth).  Ask anyone who has competed with others and you’ll always hear that you don’t know what you’re made of until you’ve to put it to the ultimate test.  Win, lose, or draw isn’t the point – it’s the preparation you go through that matters.
8. Be goal oriented.  This involves setting short-term as well as long-term goals for what you’d like to achieve.  Use this arena as the first one in which you experiment with writing your goals down and reaffirming them on a daily or weekly basis.  Then branch out into other aspects of your life (finances, professional, family, etc.)
9. Focus on incremental progress.  Be sure to focus on progress from session to session, one step at a time.  Don’t worry about perfection!  The philosophy of kaizen is all about focusing on incremental progress, and before you know it you will have accomplished the impossible.  Tip for how I use this: instead of adding 10lbs to a strength training set, or adding 3 miles to a run, try smaller increments.  A 1lb increase in weight or a .3mi increase in distance for 10 weeks adds up!  Learn to take baby steps towards the big goal.
10. Be honest with yourself.  It’s hard to trick yourself into thinking you’re better than you are when the results don’t lie.  Intense exercise will force you to be honest with yourself about where you and what you need to do to improve.  There’s no better test.  Learn the truth about where you are right now, and set a course to improve on it.
11. Overcome misfortune.  Throughout my 15 years of strength training and 24 years of martial arts, I’ve had injuries, sickness, travel, stress, deaths, births, and so on.  Nothing is ever perfect and the second you think it is, everything changes.  Learn to work through it to the other side – you’ll emerge stronger.
12. Be OK with awkwardness.  When you start learning any physical activity, you have to go through the awkward stage.  And if you want to be at a more advanced level, the awkward stages never stop coming.  Learn to be at peace with feeling clumsy because the awkward stage is a necessary first step.
13. Live in the present.  Always focus on what you’re doing today.  Make sure you meet your expectations and goals on a daily basis so you can meet your expectations and goals on a monthly and yearly basis.  Big accomplishments don’t happen in leaps and bounds, they happen a little bit each day.  Learn to live in the present moment.
14. Treat everyone equally.  No one is ‘better’ than anyone else.  While there are people who may be able to outperform others, everyone is in it together and each person has their own life experiences and world views.  Learn to keep from judging people based on how much weight they can lift or how fast they can run, and instead just get to know them.
15. Plan for success.  Wandering mindlessly through an exercise program won’t yield nearly the same kind of results as some dedicated planning would.  Certainly no one believes that elite athletes got to where they are by wandering into the gym everyday and doing whatever they feel like doing that day.  Learn to plan weeks or months ahead – not only is it motivating, but it can keep you from wasting your time.
16. Apply acquired knowledge.  As Bruce Lee said, “Knowing is not enough, we must do”.  Knowledge is only potential power until it falls into the hands of someone who knows how to act on it.  It isn’t necessary to know everything there is to know about something in order to apply some of it.  For instance, you don’t need to know the underlying structure of your computer’s operating system in order to write an email.  Learn to understand and then apply the essentials in whatever it is you’re doing.
17. Break through conformist thinking.  Look at things through the lens of a scientist and be skeptical about things that aren’t proven.  Don’t just accept things for what they are.  Learn to question things you hear or read and use a critical thinking process to arrive at what works best for you.  Be an individual.
18. Embrace humility.  The best gyms are the ones that have a sign that says “leave your ego at the door”.  Your accomplishments are all relative – there’s always someone better than you – so don’t mistake any success for superpowers.  Learn to be humble and earnest.
19. Deal with Pain.  Physical, mental, and emotional pain is a part of life – but you’d be surprised how many people can’t “breathe through it”.  Intense exercise can certainly teach you that pain doesn’t always have to be a limiter in life – sometimes it’s just a minor nuisance along the way.  Learn to push through pain.  (obvious exceptions here are when pain isn’t just soreness but is actually an injury – it’s NOT good to push through injuries)
20. Be aware of what makes you “you”.  Do things that you know are "you" while at the same time, don’t rationalize anything by saying, “that’s just the way I am”.  What’s important is that you understand what you like and what you don’t well enough to determine a strategy.  Learn to leverage your strengths and improve on your weaknesses through an understanding of self.
21. Achieve the feeling of "flow".  Physical activity is a great precursor to the flow state; a period in time in which one becomes so completely involved in an activity that all other thoughts and emotions – what some consider the "self" – are excluded from consciousness.  Learn to trigger this state with less effort.
22. Maintain a healthy balance.  Balance is an important aspect of any intense training – you can’t go 100% all the time, everything needs to stay in a delicate balance to get the most out of training.  Naturally this is just as important as it is in life.  Learn to keep things in perspective and keep them in order.
23. Use your creativity.  Don’t be a robot; sometimes creativity can break-up the monotony or ease some of the pressure of intense training.  Learn to think creativity about any situation to see if it can be improved in any way.
24. Have patience.  Nothing happens over night, success in any area can take time.  Patience isn’t just nice-to-have, it’s a requirement in life.  Believe that your path is long and that each day you’re one step closer.  Learn to be patient and not “rush to the top”.
25. Adapt to different environments.  Your environment won’t always be what you expect – you need to be able to adapt to changes around you and still perform at your best.  Learn to not be thrown for a loop when something around you changes; your strength should continue to come from within.
26. Use positive visualization.  See yourself achieving whatever it is you want to achieve, and you will inherently start moving in that direction.  Train your brain to get better at things through mental practice.  Learn to “think yourself better”.

That’s my list!  Surely there are more things that I’ve missed on this list.  I’d love to hear about them.  If you’re into intense exercise of any sort and feel I didn’t cover one of the things most important to you, please let me know about it in the comments below!

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It’s clear that training the mind in various ways (NLP, visualization, meditation) can help develop physical skill as much or more than rehearsal of the activity itself.  But just as the mind drives the body, the body can drive the mind as well.  Confidence and real strength can be derived from physical activity whether it’s through enhanced coordination, a sense of empowerment and control over something, or as an avenue for achieving flow.

Looking at empowerment and control alone, it’s clear that overcoming challenges – small and large – can increase self-esteem and confidence.  And having confidence in your abilities in one area can translate to other areas of life, effectively parlaying success in one controlled arena to other potentially less controlled ones.  Tony Robbins has his conference attendees walk on fire on day one of a retreat to show them how their limiting beliefs have been holding them back, and once they’ve done something they previously thought was impossible, they’re more open to tackling more personal challenges.

In many ways building muscle has this same effect on people. 

If you can control your weight and build your physical strength, your ability to drive control over other areas of your life increases.  If you find yourself struggling to do so, this can equally be a negative influence on you.  Generally someone who’s able to overcome adversity with repeated success in a single environment will be ready to do so in an office, a relationship, or a classroom.  And someone who lives in equilibrium without a negative body image weighing on their conscience will have more inner strength and be ready to engage new challenges.

Getting there relies on some knowledge about strength training.

Why Strength Training?

It’s a common misconception that training with weights or cables with exercises that work against “resistance” will make you look “muscle-bound”, and that the only way to build a better body is to perform aerobic or cardiovascular exercise (defined as any exercise that requires oxygen).

The truth is that strength training is the best way to shape your body and lose unwanted bodyfat. Training with weights (and cables) is the only type of exercise you can perform that will permanently change your metabolism; that all-important rate at which your body burns calories for energy.  In just a few weeks or months, a regular resistance training program can help you add five or more pounds of muscle.  And with that extra five pounds of muscle, you’ll burn more than two hundred extra calories a day without changing your diet at all.

It may sound impossible, but it’s not.  Muscle is “metabolically active”, meaning that even during rest, muscle burns more calories than fat does.  Therefore the bigger the muscles, the more calories burned!  This is why resistance training to build muscle (and burn fat) is a great suggestion for everyone; male and female, young and old.

Does this mean that aerobic exercise should be abandoned completely in your quest for fitness domination?  Not necessarily – some level of aerobic exercise (like running, biking, and swimming) has a time and a place in most fitness programs.  However, it should be secondary to strength training for people interested in fat loss and overall strength gain.  Let me explain why.

The Aerobics Conundrum

The belief that aerobic exercise is the one and only way to burn fat has been promoted time and time again and is a classic example of “old habits die hard”.  Advocates in the aerobics-only camp believe that by entering the zone called “targeted heart rate”, basically when the heart is elevated to 60% of its maximum potential for over 20 minutes, the body will begin to burn fat like a furnace.  There are, however, a few problems with this theory.  Extensive forays into the aerobic zone can cause the body to lose muscle at an alarming rate.  If muscle is continually being sacrificed as fuel, it becomes close to impossible to keep your metabolism at the level required to burn unwanted calories.  In order to burn fat effectively, lean body mass (muscle!) must be added.  Since aerobic activity does not directly add muscle, but can actually strip the body of muscle if done in excess, it’s certainly not the only (nor the best) way to burn fat.  To make matters worse, gains in strength are severely hampered if you do too much aerobic work, and this can adversely affect performance in most sports.

Note however that aerobic activity can absolutely introduce the same types of challenges as strength training in terms of building character and overcoming obstacles.  Running a marathon isn’t easy by any means – and some of the best learning comes from the type of deep conflict within yourself you get through long-distance running.  But it’s still not the best way to get in the best physical shape on its own.

Strength Training as the Basis

Training for strength with resistance will give you that baseline of muscle to support your aerobic activity.  Without this lean body mass, your aerobic exercise will be counter-productive in the long-run, eventually stripping your body of the muscle it does have.  This will cause you to regain more weight than you originally lost once you reduce the intensity of your aerobic sessions – or stop exercising completely.

This concept of strength vs. aerobic training is best exemplified in the Olympics in an example that’s been used time and time again in recent years.  There’s a distinct difference between the marathon runner and the sprinter in terms of their physique (male or female).  The marathon runner looks emaciated, almost like skin and bones, with little to no apparent muscle tone. In contrast, the sprinter (think Michael Johnson or Usain Bolt) is muscular and lean, with skin that looks paper thin due to his or her low amount of bodyfat. The training methods of the marathoner and the sprinter are very different and contribute greatly to their physiques.  The marathoner spends an inordinate amount of time in the aerobic zone, so much so that his or her body starts breaking down muscle tissue in an effort to become more efficient and conserve energy for long bouts of running.  The sprinter on the other hand, is the product of repeated (yet short) bursts of explosive energy, such as weight training and 100m sprints, and therefore has additional lean muscle with a very small percentage of bodyfat.

Making strength training the basis of your exercise routine also makes practical sense.  Life is a series of sudden, explosive activities just like strength training.  Strength training is preparing you to lift your groceries, chase your kids, and throw a softball. As you age, and your body starts to lose muscle mass at a shocking rate (fact of life, unfortunately), the addition of muscle will keep you from becoming frail and weak.

Aerobic exercise, on the other hand, resembles close to nothing you would ask your body to do on a regular basis (I don’t know many people who jog around the copy machine at the office for 45 minutes!)  Aerobic training trains your body for efficiency in long, steady, repetitive activity, not for sudden bursts of energy.

Last but not least: the Chief Rule!

When training with weights or cables, there is one rule I would like you to follow all the time. I call it the “chief rule of strength training” and it will help you determine how much weight you need to lift every time you exercise. Far too regularly, I see people (most often women, in fear of bulking up!) using weights they could probably throw fifty yards if asked to.  I also see people (most often men, in a desire to bulk up) lifting weight they can barely move without the help of three people. Both of these strategies are self-defeating!  Lifting weight that you can lift 100 times will not give your muscles enough resistance to stimulate growth, and lifting a weight just once with the help of three people doesn’t give your muscles adequate time under tension!

Forget the adage that "more reps, less weight" will tone you up.  It’ll train your muscles for endurance, but it won’t necessarily stimulate adequate muscle growth.  Moreover, the myth that “more weight, fewer reps” will add muscle mass is equally unsound.  This is the way to build maximal strength, not muscle mass.  Muscle growth is best achieved when all rep ranges are used in a systematic manner to build strength and size as well as endurance.

So what does this mean when you’re in the gym?  It means you should follow the chief rule of strength training: Always, in every situation, use a weight that you can lift at least twice yet no more than 25 times. When training for muscle growth and fat loss, spend 60-70% of your time in the 6-12 rep range and 30-40% of your time training for strength and endurance. Train for strength by lifting heavier weights fewer than 6 times, and for endurance by lifting lighter weights 12 or more times, but always stay within the 2-25 rep range!

Note: Just as important as those guidelines: change your routine regularly. Exactly how often will depend on such factors as your age and workout history – but every 4 to 6 weeks is a good guideline.

Thoughts or comments?  Let me know!

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Learning a new physical activity can be hard. You feel clumsy and awkward, you feel like you’re being watched like a hawk, and you consider quitting when you’re not getting it right.  But remember: everyone starts where they are, and the best dancer/fighter/runner/juggler (or insert your interest here) was where you are now once in their life.  No one is born with near-perfect coordination over their body, it always takes some time to build it.

A number of years ago I did some training at the Straight Blast Gym, one of the best mixed martial arts gyms in the world.  Other than being thrown around the mat like a ragdoll by UFC champ Randy Couture (yes, I’m a name dropper), I had the privilege of training with someone who has had a profound impact on the way people train in modern martial arts.  His name is Matt Thornton and the steps I’m going to outline are based on his steps for learning a new martial arts movement as covered in his original Functional Jeet Kune Do series.  But this is certainly not limited to punching, kicking, or choking – as you’ll likely see, the same steps work just as well for learning just about any physical activity provided you want to do it well and do it “for real” (i.e. you don’t just want to pretend you can pull it off, you actually want to be able to pull it off in a real setting).

For this example, I’ll walk you through learning how to throw a left jab (aka straight punch).  It’s something I can relate directly to as I sit here covered in sweat from a Muay Thai session.  Again, you can replace throwing a jab with learning a salsa move and the same steps apply.

1. First, you’re going to introduce the concept to your body without any distraction or resistance.  You’re going to create a “safe zone” for yourself without judgment from others, and you aren’t (yet) going to throw yourself into the deep end of the pool to try and make this work as part of an integrated whole.  For learning to throw a left jab, this step is going to consist of setting up your boxing stance, learning the basic hip and hand movements, and performing a jab without movement, timing, or distance.  This means hitting a stationary focus mitt or even the air, and making sure you understand and can perform the basic body mechanics before moving on.  In the case of surfing (which I can’t do) this is likely where you practice jumping up on the board from a prone position while on the beach before even getting in the water.  Take your time – but once you think you’ve got the basic mechanics down, move on to the next step.
2. Second, you’re going to isolate the movement in an alive manner.  This means training the movement, and just that movement alone, in a more realistic setting.  You aren’t going to worry about incorporating your other movements yet, you’re just going to make sure you’re able to throw the jab against a moving target – someone who’s moving in and out, mixing up his or her timing, punching back (in a safe way) and generally not just standing there letting you punch them.  You want the steps you take here to be realistic, even though you’re limiting your response to just a single isolated movement.  In surfing (again, I know nothing about surfing!) this could be practicing your movement in light surf, closely replicating what it will be like when you do it “for real”.
3. Third, you’re going to functionalize this movement (and in the case of the jab, against a resisting opponent).  This means incorporating the movement into your complete arsenal, and continuing to try to land it against someone actually fighting back.  You’re no longer isolating the movement, so you’re free to throw a cross or hook as well.  It’s now integrated and being used “for real” against energy in a way that very closely resembles reality.  At this stage, it may be necessary for you or your partner to remind you to use the movement you’ve recently integrated if you start to subconsciously avoid it in favor of something that feels more comfortable.
4. Fourth and finally, you’re going to maintain, improve, and drill the movement.  Just because you’ve been able to functionalize it, you aren’t finished yet.  Now you need to continually get better at it (remember: the basics are important!) in order to improve your overall approach.  For the jab, this may mean drilling it in isolation again – or just focusing on the jab in the context of an otherwise normal sparring session.  You can always get better at something, right?  Don’t just “move on” if you’re serious about being good at it.

Things to watch-out for:

• The beginning is always awkward.  Just know that consistency over time will make all the difference and keep pushing yourself through the awkward phase.  For many people, the first few weeks of doing anything can make them feel like they have two left feet, even if they feel like they actually “get it”.  Sometimes the body doesn’t care that you think you’ve got it.
• Give yourself permission to start slowly.  Don’t rush yourself, go at your own pace.  If you’re the last person to “advance” don’t let that bother you – what’s important is that you’re picking up the movement.  If you join a ballet class and think you should be in the Level 3 class immediately, you probably need to relax.  In other words: don’t rush to the top just to collapse to the bottom.  Remember: the journey is the reward!  Even if you’ve got 5 years of experience but have taken a few years off, it’s always best to start slowly and work your way up.  In other words, set yourself up to nail the basics before getting in over your head.
• Don’t expect perfection or become a victim of shame.  Don’t beat yourself up if it takes you a little longer than you expected!  Remember: you are where you are, and with time and energy you will continually improve.  It’s an inevitability!
• Don’t give up too soon.  It’s easy to quit when things aren’t coming as quickly as you had hoped, but sticking with it (if it’s truly something you want to do) will be far more rewarding than packing it in and living with regret.  Do your best to stick with something for at least 4-6 weeks of consistent practice before deciding whether or not it’s for you, because it’s highly likely that no matter what it is, you couldn’t have mastered it any sooner anyway.

That’s it!  Give these steps a try and let me know how they work for you.  What is it you’d like to learn?  (Note: if you actually want to learn to throw a left jab, I would visit the Straight Blast Gym!)

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First, let’s start with: why exercise at all?  There are obvious numerous physical benefits to exercise ranging from reduced risk of heart disease & Type II diabetes to more physical strength for everyday activities.  These benefits are simply too numerous to list in a single post and should really be common knowledge at this point for anyone over the age of 10.  But the hidden benefits to exercise lie not in the body but in the impact to the mind.

• Regular exercise is critical to good focus.  Studies over the years have shown that even light to moderate exercise can make a material difference in someone’s ability to achieve mental clarity.  A 2004 study at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign found that “aging adults who give up a sedentary lifestyle and replace it with a cardiovascular fitness regimen as simple as brisk walks reap greater focus and reduced decision-making conflict as they perform a variety of tasks”.  This is just one of many, many studies like this. 

  John Medina, a brain development expert and author of Brain Rules, lists exercise as “rule #1 to boost brain power” and shows how brain function rises with regular exercise and falls once that exercise stops!  He says that exercise is the closest thing we have to a silver bullet. 

• Discipline and coordination in the body translates to discipline and coordination in the mind. It’s a simple formula: get active with your body and watch your mind follow.  I’ve certainly seen this in my own life; the times when I’m physically active are the times when I’m making sure to floss, keep my closet clean, starting and finishing more projects, and generally being more focused. 

  This really speaks to a couple things happening: 1) Because I feel “in control” in one key part of my life, my physical activity, I’m free to start exploring other areas, and 2) Because I’m learning to control my body physically, this confidence starts to spill over into other areas.

Both of those bullets are prime for some follow-up posts.  But for now, with some of the “why” behind us, let’s focus on the “how”.  How do we make exercise a regular activity such that we can be consistent day-in and day-out?  These tips all center around one single theme: Putting exercise into automatic mode.  In other words: make it a real habit, just like brushing your teeth or walking the dog.  Take all thinking and processing out of it.  Let’s get started:

1. Realize that staying in shape is easier than getting in shape.  If you’ve been on the “get in shape, fall out of shape” cycle for a while like many of us, you’ll notice pretty quickly that getting in shape is not always easy.  It takes a lot more effort to get in shape than it does to maintain it.  Just internalizing this can be somewhat curative because you can train yourself to value the time you spent getting in shape – value it enough that you don’t want to go through it again!
2. Pack your bag when you get back from exercising for the next trip.  This is something I’ve been doing for years yet it’s always surprised me how many people don’t do this.  It’s probably the simplest thing you can do to make exercise automatic: as you’re unpacking your bag after a workout, start to fill it with clothes/snacks/whatever for your next workout.  This removes a big part of the most common excuse in the book: feeling too lazy.  When your bag is already packed, what’s holding you back?
3. Always plan to eat 1-2 hours before a workout.  Far too often I’ve just been too hungry to workout – and once I’ve eaten, I need time to digest before exercise.  Before you know it, too much time has passed and I’ve missed my window.  I’ve started making sure to eat 1-2 hours before a workout so I can’t use food as an excuse; I do this by planning both my meals and my meal times in advance.  This is now just a habit that I don’t really have to think about anymore.
4. Hold yourself accountable.  Track your progress visually somehow.  If you’re someone who feeds off of other people’s energy, make sure to hold yourself accountable through them.  Tell them what you’re doing and ask them to follow-up with you regularly.  I find that what works best for me is to keep a simple “chain” or goal checklist.  Two great sites for this are Joe’s Goals and Don’t Break the Chain.  When you can see your missteps visually (either on a screen or on paper) you’re more likely to try and avoid them.
5. Write-up 4-6 weeks of workouts in advance.  Take all the guesswork out of exercise by spending 10-20 minutes every month or two to write-up your routine.  Just like some of these other tips, if the process of exercising has minimal cognitive overhead for you, you’re more likely to go on auto-pilot.  Add these workouts to your calendar with reminders and guard the time ruthlessly.  Always include at least one thing you love in each workout, and one thing you don’t particularly like (because these are usually the hardest and therefore the best for you!)
6. Arrange for an appointment near the gym/park/track.  Sometimes just getting there is the hard part, whether it’s the tedium of the drive or the annoyance of trying to find a parking spot.  See if you can’t schedule appointments, social lunches, or meetings with friends somewhere nearby.  If you’re already going to be close by, it’s just going to be that much harder to get back into your car or hop on the bus to avoid the workout.
7. Mix up your audio entertainment.  One thing I’ve found over my fifteen years of training is that the times I most look forward to working out are the times I have new music, an audiobook, or a great podcast to listen to.  The best invention for people who actually look forward to rocking out to new music during a workout is the Zune Pass, which gives you unlimited access to music for $14.99/month.  You can drag almost any album under the sun right onto your Zune to take with you to the gym.  For those who would rather learn, Audible.com or some fun podcasts can make all the difference.  If you’re dreading the sweat, you can at least look forward to hearing what happens next in your favorite novel!

Hope this helps!  There are so many ways to make exercise a regular habit; this is just a start.  Does anyone have any other tips or tricks?

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