Last Saturday I went to the gym to work out.  I turned on my Ipod and found that I must have left it running the last time I had used it. The battery was completely dead.  I always listen to music when working out, so, this was quite disappointing to me!  I stuck my head into the office and asked Colleen, the Fitness Consultant on duty, if she had an Ipod charger.  “Nope”, she said.  Then she said something very cool.  She said, “Hey, I guess you’ll have to listen to your own music in your head!”

I loved that statement!  What a novel idea, listen to the music in your head.  Listen to what is inside of you.  Listen to your thoughts and ideas.  Listen to your soundtrack, not AC  DC, Aerosmith, Kanye West, The Killers or Britney Spears.

I took her advice.  I got on the rowing machine for my standard 10 minute warmup.  I beat my personal distance record for a 10 minute row!  Wow, that’s interesting.  It seemed I was actually more focused on what I was doing when I was listening to myself, listenting to my body.  I hit my weight machine circuit next.  I thrashed ‘em!  I squeezed out  a few more reps on almost every machine and added 5 more pounds to my normal weight lifted on almost all of them. 

Many people will say that listening to music helps “pump them up” for their workouts.  And, I think it can.  But this experience last Saturday made me realize that sometimes we may be too focused on the beat or the words or the memories we have of the first time we ever heard that song, and we take our focus off of the objective:  getting a great workout.

This idea obviously extends into the business world, our personal life, and our spiritual life.  Could we be more effective in these other parts of our life if we listened to our own music in our heads?  Do you even have your own music list in your head, or are you following someone else’s list?  Can you get in touch with your own music?  Try it, you just might find you can get more done when you Listen To Your Own Music!

Thanks Colleen!

Most everyone I know says or thinks or believes their schedule is too busy.  For many, they also believe that their schedule is too busy to fit in exercise or a work out.  There is a myth out there that says if you can’t get in 45 minutes to an hour straight, then forget about working out, it’s not worth it.

Well, that is a myth, it is wrong!  I have started doing a 20 minute workout over the last few weeks that will kick your butt!  This workout will work up a great sweat, provides a good cardio workout and provides a good resistance training/strength training workout as well.

And, this one can be done in the gym, at home, in the office or your hotel room.  So, it is very portable.  It can be done just by itself, if all you have is 20 minutes, or as part of a longer workout.

This is just three exercises, done in sets of 10, with little or no rest in between, repeating the sets, for as many sets as you can do, for 20 minutes.  When the 20 minutes are up, count up your sets.  Try to do more sets the next time.  Do this workout 2-3 times per week.

Exercise 1:  10 prisoner squats.  This is very easy.  Put your hands behind your head, interlacing your fingertips, as if you were a prisoner being led by a guard.  Spread your feet shouler width apart.  Squat down, keeping your eyes focused ahead, until your thighs are parallel to the ground.  Keep your back straight.  No weights. 

Exercise 2 (Option 1):  Pull-Ups.  Grab the pullup bar and do as many pull ups as you can.  I shoot for 8.  Or, if you don’t have access to a pull up bar, then try……

Exercise 2 (Option 2):  Dumbbell arm raises.  Put a light dumbbell in each hand, 5-12 pounds each.  Put your feet shoulder width apart.  Raise your hands forward, away from you (perpindicular to your body), with your wrists facing the floor, until they are shoulder height.  Then bring them down.  Then raise arms up to the sides (parallel to your body), until shoulder width apart.  That is one.  Do this 10 times.

Exercise 3:  10 push ups.  Any way you want:  Regular push ups, hands shoulder width apart;  arms spread out, arms pulled in; push ups with your knees on the ground; push ups with your toes elevated on a step or stool or bench or swiss ball.  Whatever your comfort and fitness level allows you to do in terms of push ups.  Whatever works for you to complete 10.

When you do 10 reps of each of these three exercises, that is one set.  Repeat the sets with little or no rest between them for 20 minutes.  Then you are done.  Count up how many sets you did, and try to do more in 20 minutes the next time you try this.

I have now made this a regular part of my work out routine.  It gets me lathered up, my heart rate gets jacked up, and it is a nice combo of cardio and resistance training.  And you can do it anywhere, any time.

So, don’t say you don’t have time to workout.  I know you have at least 20 Minutes to Success!

The human brain is about 2% of our body weight but it uses about 25% of the oxygen we breathe.  We all know how important and critical our brain is.  Sometimes people will refer to it as the most important muscle in your body, although it obviously is not a muscle.

As people age, they get more and more concerned about losing their memory, staying sharp mentally.  My mother in-law does the crossword puzzle every day to keep her mind sharp.

But when we get to the gym or hit the road running or biking, or doing laps in the pool, or lifting weights, whatever your workout is, the natural reaction is to focus on the physical aspect of exercise and working out.  We focus on the muscle groups required to do the activity we are engaged in.  And, we listen so intently to those muscle groups as they moan and groan and call out in pain and agony as we push them hard in our efforts to lose weight, get in shape, or prepare for a race.

I teach Spin class 1-2 times a week at my YMCA.  Very often I am pushing the class to ride hard for one minute, then hard for two minutes, then hard for three minutes.  I have started encouraging them to concentrate and focus with their mind, rather than their legs, because the legs want to stop!  The legs will keep going if you think you can, if you focus on completing the current interval as hard as you can.  In fact, I tell them, “It’s in your head, not your legs!” when I want them to push hard on the final 4 minute song after a hard hour of spinning.

Our mind may in fact be our strongest “muscle”!  So use it. Concentrate, focus on the end game that you want in your workout, and remember that by engaging your mind and your muscles, you can go much farther and harder than you ever thought you could! 

If you don’t believe me, show up at 5:45 am every Thursday morning at the Buckhead Sanders YMCA in Atlanta, on Moores Mill Road, and I will prove it to you! 

http://www.ymcaatlanta.org/Branches/SBY-Sanders_Buckhead_YMCA/default.asp?id=87

I went for a bike ride yesterday, down at the beach, along Gulf Boulevard, through a beautiful neighborhood near Clearwater, Bellair (former home of Hulk Hogan!), and then over the Clearwater Causeway into downtown Clearwater and on over the tall bridge at Sand Key.  Great ride, nice afternoon, mostly flat with a few hills on the bridges.

As I came flying down the Sand Key bridge I looked towards the South and saw the wall of rain I was heading into.  I could pull over and wait it out under a condo parking area, or I could keep pushing on.  It started slamming down hard, my sunglasses fogged up, the puddles on the side of the road were 3 inches deep and of course I was totally drenched. 

Another rider was going north, in the same storm, and as he passed me, he gave me a snappy military salute with his left hand.  His enthusiasm reminded me that I was out to have fun, and a little rain and wind shouldn’t get in the way.  I shifted gears, started pumping harder, and smiled and chuckled to myself.  At the first sign of rain, most people high tail it for the indoors, they quit whatever they are doing. 

I relaxed my shoulders, focused on my cadence and picked up speed.  A little bit of rain was not going to get in my way, was not going to ruin my afternoon, was not going to stop me from accomplishing my goal.  The last 8 miles in the rain were the fastest portion of my entire ride yesterday.

Don’t let a little rain get in the way of accomplishing your goals.  Stay focused, smile, relax your shoulders and keep pumping.  You might even find that riding in the rain is more fun than riding in the sun!

Am on vacation for a few days, down at the beach on the Gulf of Mexico, in between Clearwater and St. Petersburg, FL.  Vacations can be a tough time to stay focused on eating the right things and sticking to your workout plan.  I brought my bike down with me, so I went for an hour bike ride yesterday.  The beach is a fairly easy place to walk or run or swim…..of course, you have to get out of your chair and do it!  Would love to hear from folks about their suggestions on how to stay within your eating and fitness plan while on vacation.