5 Excuses for Skipping Workouts You Can No Longer Use

1. “I’m Tired.”

If you are feeling fatigued, working out will wake you up. In a University of Georgia study it was found that people in both moderate-intensity(jogging) and low-intensity(walking) exercise regimens had a 49% and 65% reduction in feelings of fatigue compared to a control group (no exercise). So if you’re feeling a little tired and thinking about skipping your workout today, remember that if you get your blood pumping, even a little bit, you’re going to feel more awake and less fatigued.

This is different than if you are feeling tired from sickness. Low to moderate intensity workouts tend to raise your immune system response, but high-intensity workouts tend to suppress your immune response. Listen to your body and adjust accordingly.

UGA Study

2. “I don’t Have Time.”

If you don’t ever have time for a workout you are simply lying to yourself. Yes, being a college student, I know that there are times where it is incredibly difficult to find a full hour to devote to working out. The thing is you don’t need to spend a full hour working out to get an incredible benefit.

 I introduce HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training). The basis of HIIT is to go all out for a period of time and then go at a slower pace for a rest period and then repeat. I won’t go in-depth into it but I will include a very detailed post that I have saved in my StumbleUpon Fitness list (favorite non-exercising hobby). HIIT not only takes less time than most workouts, but it burns more calories during and after your workout. Think of it as working really hard now to burn more calories all day not doing anything. Sounds like a plan to me.

High Intensity Interval Training Information

3. “I’m Sore.”

If you’re sore get over it and go workout. Work on something besides what you worked on yesterday. If your muscle is sore, you probably shouldn’t work it harder. You don’t want to get hurt. If you ran yesterday, and your legs hurt, go lift upper body today. We aren’t simply talking about needing a rest day. Everyone deserves a rest day every once in a while. You can get a workout in today if you’re still sore from yesterday. Stop making excuses.

 Remember, there is a difference between a sore muscle and a hurt muscle. If you have had pain in your muscle longer than 3 days, you may have tweaked or strained a muscle. Take a few days off of any work on that muscle. Again always listen to your body. Working out is going to make you sore, but if you do it properly you shouldn’t hurt yourself. Freak injuries happen, listen to your body.

Me playing a Disc Golf tournament

4. “I’m not the working out type.”

There is no reason why you can’t get a workout in a way that doesn’t feel like a workout. If you like to hike, use that as your workout. If you like go fishing, paddle a boat. Find something that you like doing that requires you to move. You don’t have to be moving at an intense pace to receive the health benefits. My personal favorite non-working out workout is Disc Golf. I’ve grown up playing Disc Golf my whole life, I love the game and I never really realize that I’m walking a few miles every round I play. All those miles walking add up. Any activity helps.

5. “I don’t know how.”

This excuse is one that really gets to me at a personal level. The amount of easy to read and free information available these days is ridiculous. If you google any lift, any workout, or any exercise related problem, you are going to find an abundance of information. There are better sources than others, but if you click on any random link in those searches, you are going to be ahead of where you started.

Simple Exercise Information Resources

1. Google random workout related searches.

2. Use StumbleUpon.com and search “fitness” or “workout plans” and sit back and get workout ideas thrown at you.

3. Ask staff or someone at a gym.

               A lot of times you can get helpful hints from just asking. The staff is there to answer questions. I’m not telling you to always ask questions of people working out, but most people can give you tidbits of quick information as they go.

4. Get a personal trainer.

               This can be expensive but worth it. If you truly don’t know where to start, a personal trainer can be a valuable investment.

You are no longer allowed to use any of these excuses. Next time you try, remember this article, and hold yourself accountable. The next time you try to make an excuse to why you can’t workout today, ask yourself if it’s a valid reason that you shouldn’t or just a frivolous excuse. 

Pole Sculpt Review and Today's Workout

Pole Sculpt Review

Yesterday I went to try out the "Pole Sculpt" Class at the same place that I do ZUMBA. Going into it, I was nervous that I was going to have to spin around and such, like a stripper. I wasn't really excited for that idea and was happy when she explained that we wouldn't be spinning around like a stripper and would be climbing and holding our body weight up in different ways to work different muscles. When we were starting the instructor told us that we could use some sticky wax to help keep our grip, at first I thought that I would be fine. I was wrong. We had just finished ZUMBA and I was really sweating it up. I put the grip on and it helped quite a bit. It was still hard getting the hang of the grip techniques to prevent slipping and I was having a lot of trouble. The instructor said that eventually I would get much better and the gripping the pole would be easier. Looking past the grip aspect, the class was HARD. I could really feel the burn in my shoulders and arms as we were going along. My goal is to be able to do the flag (arms extended above your head with legs straight out horizontally) eventually so I will be going to these classes as much as possible. It was a good time and I would suggest it to anyone who wants to work hard at something.


The last few days I have been doing workouts twice a day and I've been feeling great. On Monday I went to the playground with a friend who is joining the army and we made up a workout on the spot and it turned out to be a really good workout. You don't need to go to a gym to get a workout. Just crossing the monkey bars can be a really good workout. You can do push-ups and pull-ups and dips and all sorts of exercises on playground equipment that you would normally do in gym. If you want to succeed, you have to be willing to do things that are out of your norm. Don't make excuses, you can go workout.


Today's Workout-


2 rotations of Max
          -Wide grip pullups, Narrow pullups, neutral grip pullups
3x10 Lat Pull Down
3x10 Lat Hammerstrength Row
3x8  Bent-over Rows
2x20 Back Extensions
2x 30 second Supermans

I'm about to go for a nice jog, I plan on running more and more to work my knee so that I can eventually run as much as I want without being sore. That's my goal right now.

5 Easy Weight Loss Tips to Help You Today

5 Easy Weight Loss Tips to Help You Today

          Sometimes all you have to do to start towards your weight loss goals is stumbling across a well put together list of easy things you can do to lose weight. Recognizing this, I decided to put together a list of tips that I personally find very helpful.


      1. Eat Less: Often times changing your entire diet is difficult. You have to move slow and not make too drastic of changes. Instead of changing your entire diet, to start your way to weight loss just eat a little bit less. A wrestling coach I had in high school one told me and a friend, when we were contemplating eating barely nothing to make weight, that it wasn't a smart idea and we had to do it a better way, he said, "Think about how much you eat normally. Every meal only eat half as much as you normally eat. You can survive on half of what you eat now, and this is much better than just not eating." If you listen to your body, you don't ever need to be extremely full. Instead of the 4 pieces of pizza you eat and feel really full after, eat 2. The pounds will start melting off.

    2. Drink Water: There are many reasons why drinking water can help you lose weight.
                -To burn calories efficiently, you body must have enough water.
                -If you feel hungry at a non-mealtime, you can drink a glass of water to curb the hunger.
                -Drinking water with a meal can make you feel more satisfied with less food.
                -Dehydration harms your ability to exercise. To have a better workout, drink more water.
                   
    3. Eat More Protein: You should be eating protein with every meal. It will help your muscles repair themselves nicely as well has fight off hunger pangs better. Try for a 40%/40%/20%  split of
Complex Carbs/Proteins/Fats. Try to stick to the leaner proteins, turkey over ham, fish over steak.


    4. Do High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT): Interval training is the new wave of fat-loss Cardio. The best way to burn fat isn't to jog for an hour in your fat loss zone, the best way to lose fat is to burn more calories. In a 16 minute HIIT you can burn more calories than an hour at steady pace. Along with more calories burned during the exercise, HIIT ramps up your basal calorie output for hours after you are done working out. You need to remember that the majority of your daily calories burned are outside of the gym. If you can raise the amount burned outside of the gym by spending less time IN the gym, I think that's maximizing your efforts.

   5. Weight Train: Girls, I'm going to say this once right now but I will say it a thousand more times. LIFTING HEAVY WEIGHTS WILL NOT MAKE YOU LOOK LIKE A BODY BUILDER. If you want to "Tone" your muscles and tighten up areas that you aren't happy with, LIFT WEIGHTS. Weight training is essential for building a lean body. If you only do cardio to lose weight, the majority of your weight lost will be in muscle mass. You can't look lean and toned if you don't have any muscle. You can only look skinny. Being overly skinny is not the current trend and I think that it should stay that way. No one wants a twig. Having more muscle, increases your basal caloric output, or how much calories you burn just sitting around. To maintain your muscles, your body has to burn more calories and in turn will help you lose fat easily.

Go ahead and hit that like button, share this on facebook and twitter. Comment below and I will field any questions that come up.

 I will be going to workout soon here. My workout post will come shortly after that. Be well.