“I just don’t have enough willpower.”

“I’m too busy.”

“My significant other isn’t on the same page.”

“I’ve tried everything and nothing works.”

I hear it over and over. And most of the time it’s coming from a place of genuine frustration, not laziness.

Negative self talk will kill your goals. Truth is, these aren’t moral statements. You are not a bad person because you struggle with motivation, or willpower, or an unsupportive environment, or confusion.

Time shouldn’t always dictate your workouts, but life happens. Something is almost always better than nothing. Give these ideas a try next time you need to squeeze a workout in, or you need to shorten your normal session due to other obligations.

This year has been hard. Really hard. Between the natural disasters that rocked Nashville in the spring and now the ongoing COVID19 pandemic, we’re all facing a great deal of uncertainty, instability, and uneasiness.

The mental health toll that these events have taken on us can’t be measured. I know I’ve struggled with that uncertainty. Sleepless nights, overthinking, finding it hard to relax, even physical symptoms like shakiness and that tight feeling in your chest that doesn’t seem to go away. Maybe that’s you too.

Recently I heard a recruiter was mad at one of my clients for lifting weights, thinking that the lifting would make him big and slow when he needs to be lean and fast. There’s always an exception, and if you look for an example of someone that got big and slow from lifting, you can probably find one.

That’s not the rule though.

Sleep needs vary a lot from individual to individual, and I have no idea how much sleep YOU actually need. You probably already know how much sleep to get to feel and perform your best. Unfortunately, it isn’t always easy to get whats “optimal.”

Even when your schedule doesn’t allow for a full 8 hours, there are still many things directly under your control that you can address to increase the QUALITY of the sleep you get. Not everyone needs all of these methods, all the time, but you may find them useful during high-stress and busy portions of your life.

Long duration cardio can get boring, but it’s absolutely necessary to improve both health and performance. Aerobic fitness is correlated with many positive health markers (improved insulin sensitivity, lower resting heart rate, lower blood pressure, and higher heart rate variability, among others) and improves recovery from strenuous exercise. However, running or swimming for long distances tends to beat people up, so if these methods aren’t necessary for job performance or a PT test, I like to prescribe tempo circuits for longer aerobic work.

I learned about tempo circuits through coaches Chad Wesley Smith and Charlie Francis. Basically, this involves alternating low intensity aerobic work with calisthenics, mobility work, or other low-level exercises. This breaks up the monotonous joint stress of repetitive movement while also allowing for a wide variety of other goals to be targeted at the same time.

“Maximal Aerobic Speed,” or MAS, is the fastest you can run while still relying on oxygen to produce energy. Increasing this speed is important for all distance running but especially 1.5 and 2 mile runs.

Interval training is an important component of a good running program, but we don’t all have access to a track or a nicely measured area to run. The treadmill isn’t a great option unless it’s all you’ve got.

So what do?

It’s been a couple of weeks since stay-at-home guidelines have been issued from the city and state. The gym withdrawal is real, and for many of us meatheads that live and die for heavy weights, at-home bodyweight workouts sometimes get tedious after a while. If you’re used to pushing your limits in strength, many bodyweight exercises might not feel challenging enough.

Fortunately, there are many creative ways to make bodyweight workouts more challenging, interesting, and beneficial. You may not put any weight on your lifts during the next few weeks, but I guarantee you’ll maintain your muscle mass and maybe even drop some fat and improve any nagging joint issues you may have.

The last couple of weeks have been insane, hence the lack of any posts here. On Tuesday March 3rd my property and neighborhood got rocked by the Middle TN tornado, forcing a 3 day delay in my first vacation in about 2 years. Crazy circumstances, a ton of help from friends and strangers, and a fair amount of luck still allowed me to get away to Alaska for a few days. Got back home last week to COVID19 causing mass toilet paper shortages.

These are strange times.

Amid all the uncertainty, here are a few friendly reminders and some resources that will help you if your gym is currently closed due to COVID19.

It sounds counterintuitive, but creating systems for yourself actually frees you up.

Willpower and mental energy are finite resources. Work and family stress take up most of our reserves, and unexpected life events derail everyone from time to time. Expect the unexpected and consider putting a plan in place for repeated tasks. We all have to eat. That’s non-negotiable. Why not have a system for how you prepare food so you aren’t always scrambling, hungry and lethargic, or bloated and overstuffed?

Prepping meals ahead of time is a proven way to keep yourself on your nutrition plan and minimize the chances of going off-plan unintentionally. You can create an environment for success – by planning ahead when you have some down time, you’ll not only save money, but take the guesswork and willpower out of making good choices throughout the week. You’re much less likely to be left in a bind and have no choice but to hit the drive thru.

Here’s a scenario you’re probably familiar with: You go through basic training or a police or fire academy and graduate in the best shape of your life. You feel strong and conditioned and look the part too. You’re motivated and ready to take on any challenge, physically or mentally.

Then you get stuck on a swing shift or nights and gradually that feeling starts to wear away. One day you realize your gear isn’t fitting like it used to. You aren’t sleeping well. Your diet is crap. You start noticing in the mirror, or even worse, other people start to notice.

You’ve lost your edge, but it doesn’t feel right to you. This isn’t who you are. You can’t afford to be sloppy. People count on you, and maybe most importantly, YOU count on you. If you can’t take care of yourself, how will you take care of anyone else?

You don’t have to think about being fit and healthy as an either/or proposition.

Social media makes us think that some people have it all together. They look amazing, work out 24/7, eat perfectly at every meal, and everything is just great for them.

That isn’t reality. Even worse, that image is harmful to everyone. No one is 100% consistent. No one has a perfect record of success. Everyone has setbacks and frustrations, seen or (most likely) unseen.