Friday, March 14, 2008

7 Ways To Get Motivated For Your Workout

By: Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS of TurbulenceTraining.com

There will be days (everyday?) when you don't feel like doing your workout.

Sometimes you don't want to get out of bed.

Sometimes you don't want to leave your office because you feel like there are too many deadlines (but this is when you need a workout the most!). Sometimes you don't want to end story time with the kids only to head down to the basement gym.

It even happens to me.But I knew how I'd feel like a million bucks after the workout. And in the end, I know I can't let myself become "soft" and start skipping workouts. I have to lead by example.But if you are set on achieving a goal, then when it's workouttime, come heck or high water you've got to bear down and do the job.

So here are 7 ways to get motivated for your workout and to get you inspired to get through your workout.

1) Reward yourself. Finish your workout and treat yourself to a magazine, a TV show, some extra time with your family, some new songs for your IPOD, or even a little extra time for yourself.

2) Or set up a punishment for missing workouts. Skip the workout, put $20 into a jar to spend on home repairs. Make sure your spouse controls the jar.

3) Review your goals everyday and every night. Keeping your goals fresh in your mind will help you stay on track.

4) Realize that the hardest part of the workout is often getting your butt to the gym. Once you get 5 minutes into the workout, you will be over the hump. So tell yourself, "I'll just go in and do 1 set of the first 2 exercises, then I can go". Next thing you know, you'll have done the entire workout.

5) Visualize yourself doing a great workout and finishing strong. Get yourself mentally prepared and you will literally have better workouts each time.

6) Crank the tunes. Seriously, nothing motivates like music.

7) Get social support. If you have a workout partner, you'll feel like crap if you let them down. Or become accountable to everyone in the Turbulence Training workout forums...if you don't post your workouts, they'll track you down and demand to know why you've fallen off track! So online or offline, get everyone on your side!

Now get out there and kick the fat to the curb,
Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS

About the Author
Craig Ballantyne is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist and writes for Men's Health, Men's Fitness, Maximum Fitness, Muscle and Fitness Hers, and Oxygen magazines. His trademarked Turbulence Training fat loss workouts have been featured multiple times in Men’s Fitness and Maximum Fitness magazines, and have helped thousands of men and women around the world lose fat, gain muscle, and get lean in less than 45 minutes three times per week. For more information on the Turbulence Training workouts that will help you burn fat without long, slow cardio sessions or fancy equipment, visit TurbulenceTraining.com

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Bike Repair Blogger

looking for bike repair help online, but not sure where to go?

it can be tough sometimes. even the best sites like park tool don't always have the perfect advice. however a new blog i found might be changing things around.

they are going to analyze every tutorial on a given repair task and list the best of the best. so far the best answer isn't always at parktool.com or sheldonbrown.com

check it: bike repair metablog

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

how to teach a kid to ride a bike

i really wish i had a book or something back when i was teaching my kids to ride. the method my parents used of "give him a push" isn't the most helpful, however, it did teach me the importance of learning quickly!

luckily these days there are various guides to teaching childen to ride bicycles. here are some that are online and are free:

teach your kids to ride a bike

teaching children to bicycle safely

teaching kids to ride

teach your child to ride

they should be riding in no time!

Saturday, January 26, 2008

Yoga

anyone practice yoga? it seems to be such a big trend that i can't miss out. my wife goes to yoga class, although i'd be more comfortable with a dvd where i can just work out at home. i was reading up on cyclo-zen but i'm not sure if i would go that far. maybe something more basic.

or better yet, i'll just go to a yoga class. no matter how bad i look, my legs are smooth as a baby's bottom!

Friday, January 25, 2008

bike repair

oh boy. you know what i should be doing this winter? maintaining my bicycle. i really do enjoy riding my madone, but wiping the grime off each individual spoke, well, that's not my cup of tea.

bike repair and maintenance = something best left to someone at the lbs

however, if you choose to take on such tasks yourself, here to two websites full of bike repair advice: sheldon brown's site and the bloom bike shop bike repair section.

exercises to better my cycling

think it's a good idea for me to do some exercises? maybe lift weights? i'm no skinny climber, more of a sprinter, but not the best. i could use some more power.

all these core exercises sound good too. better power transfer for explosive sprints. oh yeah! not to mention my back isn't what it used to be.

so for february (all 29 days) i will actually workout, do core strength training, and diet. well maybe not diet so much...

it's cold

being as this is just my second blog post, i think it calls for some complaining. it's cold, wet, and windy.

i would prefer to be riding in sunny california or arizona. but i'm here.

biking in cold weather can be fun if it there is snow and i if i had a nice winter bike, but if there is snow, i'm usually pounded on my heavy winds. winds die down, but then the snow is slush.

a bicycling vacation to california really does sound like a good idea.