10 Tactics to Try When Your Workouts Aren’t Working Out

It’s 7:00 in the morning.  The sun hasn’t quite risen yet, but you can see the first rays of light peeking over the horizon.  I’m on the beach with my partners-in-crime planning the Saturday morning boot camp.  We’re setting up equipment that you have probably never seen in a gym.  Sand bags, a large rope, a black strap with loops for handles … these will be our tools.  The workout is grueling, fun, and full of variety.

Aliens, Corruption, and Weight Loss

Inflammation: How to cool the fire inside you

Up the Down Escalator: 5 Steps to Simplifying Your Weight Loss

There’s a machine called a stepmill in my gym, and millions of gyms around the country.  It’s a piece of cardio equipment that continuously cycles through steps that you have to climb.  I was on this machine for 40 minutes, during which time I had an interesting revelation.  First of all, let me explain that I hate that machine, but I do it anyway because I like the results I get from it.  As I endured step after grueling step, I started thinking about how the machine is actually kind of a metaphor for the way most people (maybe even you) try to lose weight.

What excuses?

Way to go Nicole!

Check this out ...  I got a call from Nicole (a former camper) who tells me she is down to 203.  Read on to see why this is so impressive!

The mother of all antioxidants

Dax Moy's Lies Report

For those of you who want to read the report that inspired the conference call I posted yesterday, here it is.

Resolutions, Really?

Physics or motivation ... you decide!

In terms of reaching a goal, I remember something I heard once that helps to keep me going in the face of adversity.

Whenever you accelerate in your car (or a roller coaster, or anything that can accelerate quickly), the law of inertia tries to keep us in the same place. 

Motivation

Strategic Fitness: How to Avoid the “Frankenprogram” Syndrome

Act I Scene I: Fade in on a woman exercising in a gym.  She is working vigorously on an elliptical machine.  Her breathing is heavy and slightly audible.  Droplets of sweat have formed on her face, neck, and shoulders. 

Cut to the weight room.  We see the woman sitting at a chest press machine completing a set.  We can hear a “clank” as she allows the weight stack to rest after the final repetition of her workout.  She exits the machine leaving a vague sweat imprint.

Cut to the locker room.  The woman is seen exiting the shower area wrapped in a towel.  The camera perspective changes to her point of view.  A doctor-style scale comes into focus.  The scene is silent, except for the sound of a strong heart beat.  Still in first-person perspective, the woman approaches the scale, the sound of the heart beat becoming more intense.  Change to a close up of the woman’s ankles.  We see the towel drop to the floor...

Read the rest of this article, and much more on the CFS Fitness & Weight Loss Camp Blog.

You know what "they" say ...

So there you are.  

You've worked up the motivation to go to the gym. 

You've packed your gym bag ... your water bottle, your workout towel, your headband (it's okay, I'm not judging!)

You've shown spartan self-discipline at the kitchen table. 

You're ready to walk out the door and show this workout who's boss, when it happens.

Funny video on the cardio debate

Here's a video created by Scott Tousignant. His blog is called the fat loss quickie. Enjoy!



Here's his original blog post.

Honest-to-Goodness Fitness Results

If you’ve ever experienced a failed attempt at weight loss you know the frustration that comes with it.  You’re in good company.  In a country where more than 2/3 of the population is either overweight or obese, and where as many as 80% are trying to lose weight at any given time, I think it’s time for a mindset shift.  

Read more on the CFS Fitness & Weight Loss Camp Blog...

The "I Want To Quit" Zone

We've all been there ... that place where we can't imagine continuing to push ourselves any further ... that place where every second feels like pure torture.  Somehow we find a way to convince ourselves to carry on, but there are times where we just can't seem to push through it, no matter how much negotiating we do. 

This, my friends, is what I like to call the "I Want to Quit" Zone.