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Want to get in the best shape you can? Getting a personal trainer, going to the gym, these are all good things. But here is the kicker…….

Familiar with the story of the tortoise and the hare. Remember how the tortoise goes steady and wins!!

Well it would help a lot of people to remember that story when it comes to their workout.

Diving in and working out hard is great. But trying to do more than you can do on a regular basis is not really going to do much for you.

Doing a good solid workout and doing it on a steady constant basis. That is what will change your fitness.

Adding personal training to your workout is awesome. But not so awesome if you fail to show up. If 3 times a week is too much for you, start with 2. Not as ideal, but better than setting yourself up for 3 and then blowing them all off.

Same goes for cardio. Showing up for a fitness class and then just following along and not really doing your all or setting yourself up on the elliptical on level 1 so you don’t break a sweat, also a waste of time.

Working out does not take hours and hours a day. IT REALLY DOESN’T. A great personal trainer can design a workout for you that fits in your life, usually less than an hour a day.

Not quite happy with your body? Not quite happy with the results of your workout? Still too soft and squishy? Well then let’s get serious and let’s get real about why you are not as hard and fit as you like.

I have seen people get amazing results. And I have also seen people do very little and think they are working out hard and getting little results. And then I also see people who work out like dogs doing all kinds of crazy things and end up in a lot of pain and needing surgery. That is just plain stupid.

I am all for working out hard. But I am MORE for working out smart. If you are hurting, you are doing something wrong. And I don’t just mean pure mechanics. I mean wrong for you. That is one of the reasons I promote individual workouts and personal training as opposed to classes. Fitness classes cannot take your unique set of circumstances into account. They don’t know if you broke your wrist when you were 12, nor do they know if you have very weak quads or very tight hamstrings, you get the idea.

So first step to getting fitter and firmer – Get honest. Wear a heart rate monitor, stop yapping to your friends at the gym and counting it as workout time and do solid workouts. One suggestion, get off the elliptical and onto the treadmill and make sure that you are working out hard enough. The elliptical can be awesome but I see people cheat it every day. You have to work out hard enough and just going through the motions is just that.

Next, get a routine that you can do regularly that includes cardio and strength training and that uses scientific methods to help you progress. This ensures you get a workout that can be performed in a reasonable amount of time that will get results. It also ensures that you work on certain weaknesses that you have (and we all have them). And it ensures that you get a proper amount of cardio. Only a board certified personal trainer has the tools and training to design that kind of workout. No more to be said. Not negotiable. Anyone else can try but if they really wanted to put their money where their mouth was, they would take the testing to be board certified, wouldn’t they? To learn more about board certification , you can click here and visit my page totally dedicated to the topic because it is important. BOARD CERTIFICATION

I just came back from an awesome morning run with one of my hardcore clients. We ran a local park here near Douglasville, Sweetwater State Park – and did some serious trail running.

The whole time we were running, I was thinking how perfect this would be for an insane fitness blog entry because it was INSANE!

Some of the highlights that really kept us moving had nothing to do with the exercise. We saw about 20 deer grazing — try getting that in a fitness class!!

I know, I know – I am not bashing classes, they have their place. But to stay seriously motivated and constantly challenge your body and mind, you have to change it up. Doing the same routine or the same class day in and day out gets old. Just like it would be if you had the same breakfast, lunch and dinner every single day.

Variety is truly the spice of life and there is NOTHING in the world like getting outside on a beautiful, clear day with a great workout partner and going for an exciting trail run.

Thanks to Jeff for going and for being a motivated devil dog! Can’t wait to do it again, don’t worry, I have plenty more stories from my military career to keep it interesting.

If your fitness routine is getting dull or your body has stopped responding in a positive way, change it up and try something new.

Now, when I was in the Armed Forces, I did a ton of PT tests. There they are meant to maintain a standard but they also have a real use for you. You can use them as your benchmark to ensure that you are fit and to measure your improvement. While many different exercises can be adapted to be used as a benchmark. And for your personal training or for your personal fitness routine, the benchmark is key.

If you want to use the military standard, here it is :

Army:

- pushups for 2 minutes — record the number you do
- situps for 2 minutes — record the number you do
- 2 mile run — how fast?

Marine Corps:
- pushups for 2 minutes — record the number you do
- situps for 2 minutes — record the number you do
- 3 mile run — how fast?

Hope this helps you set goals and measure your improvement.

Personal training works — plain and simple. A board certified trainer such as myself we have techniques that are scientifically proven to change your body.

But here is the kicker……

They only work when you do them AND the other things we tell you to do….

If I tell a personal training client to come in and do 1/2 hour of cardio before training, then that is what they should do.

Don’t skip the cardio and show up late to the session with me (or blow it off all together) and then whine when you don’t see results. Pretty hard to get the results when you are not even present!

And when I say to do your cardio for 30 minutes (or 45 or hour or whatever) then i really mean that. Don’t flit about the gym picking at some of the strength moves you are going to do with me. Do the cardio. I promise you will get enough strength training when you train with me — you don’t need to try to “help out” by doing some of the moves prior. But you can “help out” by doing what I tell you.

I see a lot of people whine about their results but they all have one thing in common — they cheat! And sadly they only cheat themselves