Make it Routine... a Part of Your Life.

The other day I was on Instagram looking at various and famous fitness enthusiasts profiles. One thing that they all had in common was that in their pics or in their captions there was always some motivational quote or jargon; most of them seemed pretty over dramatic and cheesy but there were a few good ones don't get me wrong.  I realized that when it comes to fitness there's so much motivational and inspirational media and marketing out there. I'm not saying it's a bad thing at all, but whatever your goal may be exercising, getting in shape, building muscle, etc. it's like it almost sets up everything to be this huge, dramatic, daunting, journey, where you'll suffer, and want to quit, but you'll have to prevail against all odds if you're going to reach your goals; it reminds me a lot of Lord of The Rings!

Now motivation is good, but don't fool yourself right out the gate, see what you're doing for what it really is! Yes it's going to be tough, yes you're going to put in a lot of work, yes you may want to give up at times, but if you look at it in that way then you have already failed at reaching your goals in my opinion. You shouldn't hate coming to the gym, exercising, dieting, and whatever else your goals entail; it shouldn't be seen as a huge hurdle that you have to get over... All you simply have to do is make it routine. give yourself 1 hour for 5 days where you bust your ass exercising and that's it; there's nothing more to it, it's not a Hollywood drama movie production! Take a little extra time to clean up your diet, and prep your meals, it really isn't hard! Bottom line if you really want it, whatever your goal may be, you're going to be wanting to bust your butt in the gym, wanting to eat the right foods, and not looking for outside motivation from pictures or videos, which makes the task at hand seem so much more dramatic.

Basically my reasoning for writing this entry was because I came across a quote by a guy who went by the name Zyzz, who has since sadly passed away, but he was an inspiration to millions of fitness enthusiasts across the globe... Now you'll notice this isn't your typical "inspirational" or "motivational" quote... There's no corny lines like "fight through the pain when you feel like giving up", or "no pain no gain" and so on. He simply states it for what it is...

"I wouldn't even use the word motivation. I don't need motivation now, as training is a necessity in my life. It's all a part of my lifestyle, and I couldn't imagine any other life than the gym/training/dieting lifestyle, as it is rewarding physically and mentally in ways beyond measure, you would have to experience it yourself."

Now I don't want to contradict myself here, but I guess the point I'm trying to get at is a spade is a spade, call it for what it is. Reaching your goals is only hard if you make it hard, if it's your passion then virtually nothing will get in your way; if it's your passion it will become routine, apart of your life.

Does Weight Lifting Cause Acne?

Here's an interesting theory, when I was younger and when I first started lifting weights at around the age of 18 I would always breakout. Now there is so much else at play here than just lifting weights alone, but I will just put that after a day of heavy training, especially legs I would always break out with at least a couple of big zits. Now that I'm older though this has since subsided for the most part, but I'm curious to see if any of you experience this at all? I used to run a blog for a website based on the issues of acne called: pimpleplanet.com, check it out... I did write about this issue back when it was a big problem for me, you can scope out the article here:

http://blog.pimpleplanet.com/2010/05/weightlifting-and-acne.html

The Weider Priority Principle

The Weider Priority Principle is a very old lifting principle that Joe Weider came up with; it's a very common-sense type of law but a lot of people in the gym completely pass it up. Basically it states that you train your weakest or lagging part(s) of your body first, in the beginning of the workout when you're the most focused, and have plenty of energy and strength. For example if your abs/core are weak or lagging behind from the rest of your body then you should train them first, rather then wait till the end of the workout like most do when they're already tired and wont be able to give 100% to training them. I for one hate training abs so whenever I tell myself I have to train abs for the last 10-15 min of a workout a lot of the time they don't get done or they're half-assed. So I make myself do them in the beginning, or I'll do abs on their own day even if only for 20-30 minutes.

The Weider Priority Principle doesn't just have to deal with just lifting though, anything that you are struggling with or are weak in should be moved to the front of the list, it's only common sense. So identify your weak points and begin hitting them first in your workouts and over time you'll find that what once was your weak point is now one of your stronger points!