The only easy day

Image from Flickr, by Rennett Stowe

I'm a Navy man.  You may not have known that about me, but I am.  I did my enlistment as a Navy Hospital Corpsman, but there was a part of me that dreamed about becoming a Navy SEAL.  During their training, there is a sign that says "The only easy day was yesterday."  The idea is that each and every day is progressively more difficult.

What does this have to do with your training?

How about the fact that you need to embrace the same philosophy, for starters.

A response to "It's too hard"

Image from Flickr, by jimmypk218

It started out as a conversation.  I was talking about my renewed focus on fitness and losing weight, which lead to them saying that they'd love to lose weight, but "it's just too hard".

Folks, what's too hard is being overweight.

I'm still fat.  My body mass index is still over 30, even after losing over 35 lbs.  I'm not going to blast away at folks who are overweight, because I know all to well what they're going through.  Let me say it again: What's hard is being overweight.

Are you resting the right way?

Image from Flickr, by Shlomi Fish

Rest is an important part of fitness.  There's no way to cut it, you need to rest.  After all, your body needs rest periods in order to repair the microscopic damage that results from the more aggressive parts of your training schedule.

The question is, are you resting the best way possible?

For most folks, rest is either sleep (a "right" way to rest) or bumming out on the couch (which isn't). 

The difference between pain and PAIN

Image from Flickr, by CGehlen

"No pain, no gain."

We've all heard it, and to some extent, it's true.  If you're training hard, you're going to feel a little pain.  You'll feel the burn of your muscles, and you'll fee soreness the next day.  Unfortunately, the "no pain, no gain" attitude can also result in a very different kind of pain.

One of the most important lesson a novice trainer can learn is the difference.

Is fitness is a revolutionary act?

Image from Flickr, by chris.corwin

Most of us, at some point in our life, have glorified the idea of normal.  This is usually during our school years, where standing out leads to ridicule and social outcast status.  However, as we grow up, we should shed this idea that "normal" is automatically superior.

Right now, two-thirds of all Americans are either overweight or obese.  Out of the other third, only a handful could be defined as "healthy" in any way other than the fact that their body weights fall within a correct range according to their height.  The current "normal" is to be fat and unhealthy.

Why be normal?  Be a revolutionary instead.

Four tips for dealing with fitness information overload

Image from Flickr, by jontunn

There is a lot of data out there.  There are paleo blogs, vegan blogs, kettlebell blogs, free weight blogs, pilates blogs, and so on.  This doesn't touch the fitness magazines, fitness television shows, podcasts, vblogs, video podcasts, and a million other things.

How is one person supposed to filter through all of the crap and get to the Golden Truth (TM) [patent pending]?

Luckily, there's a few tricks that I use that helps.  A lot.  Here, for a limited time only, are just those tips.

Why 'an athlete'?

Image from Flickr, by familymwr

Yesterday, I wrote about identity and shared the rules I've decided to use to build that new identity.  Rule number 10 may have raised a few eyebrows, because it didn't make a lot of sense on its own.  That rule was "I am an athlete", and I wanted to go into why that was my choice.

First, there's a reason why I ruled out choices like "I am a marathon runner" or "I am an MMA fighter" or similar things.  That reason is simply that I don't have any intention of competing.  While I might take MMA classes (I've taken a few and had a blast), or I might choose to run in a marathon at some point, that's not something I'm actually considering right now.  Why say I compete in a sport if I'm not competing?

In that case, why be an athlete?