The Best Way to Unlock Exercise Motivation

The simple truth is that the world we live in today does not reflect the world our body needs.

Our 200,000 year old body expects to be physically & mentally challenged, at the same time, almost every single day.  Our hunter gatherer ancestors may have traveled up to 20 miles per day:

• hunting
• gathering
• building
• climbing
• running
• jumping
• carrying

Just reading about it is tiring!

The Power of Primal Fitness

The original exercise motivation was survival.

Michael Pollan, in his book bestselling book “The Omnivore’s Dilemma”, writes that “Under the pressure of the hunt… the human brain grew in size and complexity”.

As we all know, humanity has survived (and thrived) because of it’s intelligence and brain size.

And our brains grew because of hunting.

Therefore…

We survived because our brains grew because of intensely focused group exercise.

Kinda funny, right?

Find a way to tap into these emotions and level of intensity, safely, and you will feel satisfaction and happiness from working out.

Engage your intelligence and focus; the human brain, while representing only 2% of the bodies mass, uses 18% of the calories we consume.

Focus on each exercise throughout the workout,  you will burn more calories and time will fly by. And you will see just how motivational fitness can be.

How to Make Exercise Sticky

So, how do you empower yourself to workout consistently and connect to the concept of primal fitness?  Lots of ways! (Please share yours in the comments).

1. Welcome to Reality – our bodies are meant to move every single day.  If they didn’t, we wouldn’t have survived.  This is what Primal Fitness means; move it or die. The same applies today, except a quick death by saber-tooth tigers has been replaced by the slow death of disease.

2. The Best Ab Exercise in the History of the Universe- does not exist! Period.  Don’t focus so much on finding the “best workout”, what is great for one person is no so great for another, and no matter what, you will need to progress any exercise or program to avoid getting stuck in a plateau. Try different things, go slow at first, respect your bodies limits, and build from there.  It is easy to get comfortable doing the same workout all the time, but it is hard to get results doing that.  Remain curious in the gym and while working out and try different things.  It is easier to maintain exercise motivation when you are not overly focused on immediate results.

3. The Quick Fix vs. Patience- make listening to your body and learning to exercise a higher priority than achieving some superficial goal in a short amount of time.  Focusing on the quick fix leads to mediocre success.  What’s the point of getting in great shape for summer, if you can’t maintain it?  This cyclic approach often leads to joint issues, and each year, it will get harder and harder to get back what you lose during your down time.  It’s way more effective to stay consistent.

4. Social Fitness – Back to the whole aspect of primal fitness; we survived through evolution by working together.  Hunting, gathering, carrying, building, these are all things we did together.  Adding a social element to their experience is a great way to keep yourself motivated and focused.  This can mean working out in tandem, at a group exercise class, bootcamp, or  a running group.  Either way, it helps make exercise more fun and less boring, which makes it easier to stick too. Social workouts = motivational fitness.

7. Goals and Competitions – Finding opportunities to compete is a great way to connect with the concept of primal fitness.  Weight loss contests, races, and exercise competitions are great ways to keep yourself motivated consistently. (Check out http://www.active.com for events in your area) You may think “I could never run a marathon” but that is not true.  We are all have the potential to do it, or our genes would not have survived this long.  Start very slowly, break your goal into little sub goals, and you will be running a 5k in no time and on you way to doing all kinds of thinks you “THINK” you could never do.  What’s really crazy is you will start to like it.  SHOCKING! But our bodies are meant to move, we can’t be happy without health and exercise. You will start to experience how motivational fitness can be, even if you think of yourself as a non-athlete.

8. Connect to Your Joy – Yes, most of us want to get in better shape to “look better naked”, but the simple truth of the matter is that you cannot be happy without being healthy and fit.  NO EXERCISE = NO HAPPINESS.  Your brain, not just your body, needs the physical stimulation to be happy and balanced, and your body needs it so that it does not fall apart.  What are your life goals, what hobbies or physical activities do you enjoy, what sports did you used to play?  Training to better perform activities you enjoy is a great way to stay motivated and stick to the program.  It can even be as simple as wanting to have more energy to pick up and play with the grand kids.  Whatever your initial exercise motivation may be, as you exercise consistently, you will find your mind at peace and happier more often.

9. Workout for a Cause, Not Just Because- Last but not least, we can be leaders and help others while getting in better shape and pushing our limits.  There are numerous races and physical events were you can raise money for a great cause and be more involved in your community.  This is a great way to meet other active people and feel really good about exercising consistently.

What do you think?  Try out some of these ideas and let me know how it is going in the comments, I would love to hear about any success stories, questions, or challenges that you are facing.  Connect with your primal fitness, discover the motivational aspects of fitness, and exercise motivation will come easily and consistently.

SHOW ME YOU ARE ALIVE!

Until next time, keep your business fit.

Johnny Fitness

Jonathan Angelilli aka Johnny Fitness has worked as a full time trainer for over 8 years, has completed 9 certifications, trains several celebrities, and is currently the Training Director of Dynamic Results, an upscale fitness and lifestyle company in NYC. He has personally witness the power of personal training to transform people’s bodies, minds, and lives.

Aerobic Exercise is PROVEN to Reduce Anxiety & Stress

Maybe I am thinking about stress because of the holiday season.

Must Find Gifts!

Anyway, i just read this great article about how exercise relieves stress.

Is there anything that exercise can not due!?!?

Seriously, the research is clear.  Aerobic exercise makes are brains more resistant, and less traumatized by all kinds of stress.

So exercise for stress relief, and exercise for stress reduction!

Isn’t that amazing?

Now, yes, the research was done on rats, but out genetics are very similar (about 70% to be exact).

They basically exercised some rats and not others, and then forced them all into a very stressful situation (evidently, rats hate water).  The effect was noticeable when the rats trained for 6 weeks.

These exercised rats showed less oxidative stress in the brain, which can lead to cell death, and they didn’t exhibit anxious behavior like hiding in the corner when confronted with a stressful situation. Talk about anxiety!

Check out this article and let me know what you think: exercise reduces anxiety

And when you are stress outed, head to the gym and get your heart rate up, it is the best way to manage your stress levels naturally and effectively.  Don’t let anxiety get you down, exercise for stress relief and stay happy and relaxed!

We all face stress situations; that is life.  But that doesn’t mean that we have to get stressed out

Leave me some comments, let me know your thoughts and I will get back to you.
Thanks.

Johnny Fitness

Jonathan Angelilli aka Johnny Fitness has worked as a full time trainer for over 8 years, has completed 9 certifications, trains several celebrities, and is currently the Training Director of Dynamic Results, an upscale fitness and lifestyle company in NYC. He has personally witness the power of personal training to transform people’s bodies, minds, and lives.

Personal Training and Accomplishing Life Goals

My client Joe just competed in the 2009 NYC Marathon! Not only that, but he finished with a great time of 3 hours and 39 minutes! I am so proud of Joe, he worked real hard to complete this goal.

My client Joe with his NYC Marathon Race Bib.

Joe has been training with me for almost 6 years now. Running a marathon is something we have talked about for quite some time. But training to run 26.2 miles as fast as you can (without getting injured) is a major goal and takes serious commitment, what I call “Lifestyle Commitment”.

That’s right, a weekly commitment to a large goal: a goal that seems too big at first, until you break the goal up into a bunch of small steps. Joe ran 3 or 4x/week and strength trained 1x/week (should have been 2x at least, but hey, we are working on it!) We often feel like there is not time to exercise, but you actually only need to exercise about 3.3% of the time you have in a week.

His time is excellent, especially for a first timer. He basically ran at a 8:20 minute/mile pace the whole race, and did so without any major joint pain (an issue many runners have). I am so proud of him.

Run Baby Run!

You may be saying to yourself “I could never do that”, but the fact of the matter is, you can, it just takes commitment and consistent effort. We so often sell ourselves short. It is really that simple. Joe and I talked about him doing the NYC half-marathon for a while and when I could tell he was ready, I supported him 100%. The 2009 NYC Marathon is an awesome event, I am looking forward to doing it myself, and I am so happy and proud of Joe.

Real World Goals & a Powerful Secret

It is easy to be too focused on aesthetic goals and going to the gym. But by training for a competitive race, your focus shifts to performance, and your goals take on a more emotional element. This is a powerful tool to tap into. It can get very difficult to go to the gym over and over again, but when you have a “real world” or “external” goal outside of the gym, it is much easier to stay committed and motivated. This is a powerful secret that many top level personal trainers utilize with their clients; get the client focused on enjoyable activities outside of the gym, and they start self-motivating and exercising consistenly.

Of course, you do not have to run a marathon; you can do a swimming race, stair race, bike race, trail race, or a smaller running race, like a 5k. In fact, it is important to build up to longer distances, so try a 5k, then maybe a 10k. You will be surprised how addictive it can become and where it might lead you! That is another reason I am proud of Joe, he is now very motivated to work out on his own, something that was lacking the first 5 years we trained.

Some of the many advantages to competing in races are:

1. They bring out your competitive side and force you to push yourself.
2. They can be very social which makes it easier to be consistent (Joe had a running partner he trained with, in addition to our training).
3. They force you to commit. Yes, it can be a little scary, but a little bit of discomfort and pressure is the only way to achieve your fitness goals.

I hope this blog post inspires you to push yourself, safely, and expand the range of things you think you are capable of doing.

Do you like racing? What was your first race experience? When is your next race? Show me you are alive, I would love to hear what you have to say!

Until next time, keep your business fit.

Johnny Fitness

Jonathan Angelilli aka Johnny Fitness has worked as a full time trainer for over 8 years, has completed 9 certifications, trains several celebrities, and is currently the Training Director of Dynamic Results, an upscale fitness and lifestyle company in NYC. He has personally witness the power of personal training to transform people’s bodies, minds, and lives.

How to Track Exercise Frequency & Ensure Consistent Results with Our Free Exercise Journal

Many struggle to workout consistently throughout the year. Consistent exercise is the only way to attain and maintain your health and fitness goals.

Read this post and download our free workout tracking software (see below) and you will have a major advantage when it comes to working out consistently all year long.

Have you ever kept a food log? Didn’t you make better choices just because you were more aware and conscious of them? It’s the same thing with exercise. Using an exercise log will help you be self-accountable, motivated, and make it very hard to lie to yourself! (We all do it from time to time).

Download the free exercise log below, use it, and see for yourself.

Many of us say to ourselves “Oh I workout 3x per week for an hour” and believe it. But we are talking about our ideal week, when everything lines up perfect, work isn’t too busy, and we don’t have to travel or aren’t sick.

But the non-ideal weeks count just as much! Your body never stops adapting, and when you average them all together, you will find that the number in your head and the number in the log to not match! This forces us to be truthful with ourselves. As my grade school gym teacher always used to say, “If you cheat, you are cheating yourself!”.

Download Your Free Exercise Journal Now! (excel file)

Exercise Frequency and Results

One of the biggest challenges people have is exercising consistently. For many people, exercise is a cyclical activity; they exercise their New Year’s Resolution in January, they exercise before beach vacations or reunions, and they exercise in anticipation of the summer.

But what happens during the rest of the year? For many, we spend our time moving away from health and fitness. Supposedly, 75% of weight gain occurs between Halloween and Valentine’s Day. While some inconsistent exercise is way better than no exercise at all, it is impossible to reach your goals working out this way; it ends up being 2 steps forward, 2 steps back (or in many cases, 2 steps forward 3 steps back!).

If you fall into this category, don’t get frustrated! There are allot of ways to increase your motivation and ability to workout consistently. Read on to learn how to track your workout frequency and workout more consistently.

Working out in a bikini is kinda silly. When getting started, workout in whatever clothing makes you feel comfortable.

Progressive Exercise: Use It or Lose It!

First, it is important to understand why consistent exercise frequency is important. A better understanding will help you put this knowledge into action! To reach your goals, exercise (both strength training and cardiovascular training) must be progressive. In other words, each new workout builds on the previous workouts.

If you stop going to the gym for over 2 weeks, you start to loose strength and adaptation. The next time you workout, you have to retrace your steps. Yes, you should get it back quicker, all things being equal, but this is like swimming up stream or swimming past a break while surfing; if you ain’t moving forward, you are moving backward!

The body adapts very specifically to the forces it encounters. If you go to the gym and do the same workout over and over, you will be training your body to maintain what you have already achieved (and potentially opening yourself up to injury caused by repetitive motions and not enough variety, but that is a tangent). So if you want to lose weight, lets say 20 pounds, and you build yourself up to running 3 miles and loose 10 lbs in the process, if you keep doing the same workout, you will be training your body to stay the same weight, instead of losing the last 10 lbs.

You must build on top of your previous exercise accomplishments and gradually push your abilities, in order for your body to keep adapting and moving in the right direction. There are many ways to do this, including changing the amount of time exercising, the speed/intensity, the amount of rest, or the kind of exercise.

Here is the key principle; your fitness goals rely on a solid foundation of health, and health is a dynamic process, not a static state. Your body is a finely tuned instrument! It will adapt to whatever the conditions and forces that are being imposed on it. This is why astronaut lose bone mass without gravity, and people who don’t stay intellectually active are more susceptible to dementia/Alzheimer, etc. USE IT OR LOSE IT!

When you take those 3 weeks (or more) off, you body does not stop adapting, it just starts adapting in the other direction. “Life is easy, I don’t need these muscles or a strong heart”. At this point you are moving backward and AWAY from your goals.

Therefore your number one goal is to keep what you have already got! And the best way to ensure that is to workout smart and consistently. Many people get caught up in trying to find out “the best exercise for abs” or “the best workout for losing weight and being toned”.

Yes, how you workout is very important. But, as long as you don’t have any major issues or joint problems, I think it is just as important to focus on consistency. Just get into a groove, workout regularly, try different things gradually, explore your bodies abilities respectfully.

There are an infinite number of great exercises and new techniques out there. If you want to try some to get started, that’s cool, but I make a commitment to exercise frequency and stick to it for maximum results.

Don’t be intimidated by strange looking equipment!

How to Use the Free Exercise Journal

Here it is, just download and save this file. I suggest making a short cut on your desktop, so it is easy to remember to update it every day. It only takes 30 seconds to update the sheet daily, and at the end of the month you will know exactly how much you have worked out.

This sheet focuses on being more aware of how often you workout. More advanced people will want a program that will track the kinds of workouts by exercises, so they can manipulate the acute training variables (type of exercise, intensity/weight, how often, tempo, rest, sets, etc).

But for both beginner and advanced, I suggest you download this free tool and use it. The results will most likely surprise you! This tool forces you to be truthful, and the truth shall set you free

• Download the sheet and save it to your desktop. (Click the “save as excel” button at the top right of the box.)
• Put your name, the month, and the year at the top of the sheet.
• Fill out the dates for the month, so that it matches up with the days. (The first month is November.  If it is no longer November, fill out the correct dates for the current month).
• BIG SECRET- Even if you are in the middle of the month, don’t wait until next month to start tracking.  Just start in the middle of the month.  Yes, it will give you incomplete data for that month, but the point is to get into a habit with exercise frequency, not have a perfect spreadsheet.  If you wait you risk “never getting around to it”.  The time is NOW!
• Every day, put in the number of minutes you spent doing cardio and the number of minutes you spent strength training, in their respective columns. (Yes, always warm up, but don’t include it in the #.)

• Grade both your cardio workout and your strength training workout on a scale of 1-10. (10 being an amazing workout, however you want to define that is fine for now.)
• If you don’t workout on a certain day, just leave that column blank.
• At the end of the month, look at the bottom of that spread sheet. It will give you the total amount of time you spent doing cardio and strength training, in both minutes and hours.
• It will also show you what percentage of your time you spent exercising.
• At the bottom of the spread sheet, there is a tab for month 2.  Put in the next month’s dates and start putting in your exercise numbers.  This software allows you to keep all your exercise frequency information for 1 year in the same place!
• For the following year, just save the spread sheet under a new name to create another spreadsheet for that year.
• Leave some comments at the bottom! How could the software be made better? What did you like about it? Where you surprised by the #’s? Do you find your results frustrating or inspiring? Let me know!

If you are having trouble downloading this free exercise journal, please contact us and we will send you the file immediately

How Much Should You Exercise?

This is a great question, and the answer really varies. First and foremost, get in the gym and track your frequency, don’t focus so much on being perfect. Just do your best and get your body moving. Start with whatever feels comfortable, and gradually introduce more discomfort.

Once you have built yourself up, you will most likely need to spend 1 hour 5x/week in the gym at a minimum. Please do not feel overwhelmed if you are just starting out. Just take it one step at a time and start slow. Keep in mind that allot of that time is spent resting in between sets, and that not every workout should be high intensity.

There are 168 hours in the week, 5 hours represent less than 3% of a week!!! It’s so little, and yet it is a major investment in your mind, body, and soul. I know what you are thinking, “But I am sleeping for 30% of that time!”. That is true, but even accounting for 8 hours sleep per day, and 30minutes of travel time each day you go to the gym, exercising 5x per week for 1 hour is still only 6.7% of the total time in a week (total “waking” time).

Seriously, right now you can start investing 6.7% of the time you are awake on this planet to make sure that you are healthy, happy, strong, balanced, and disease free. Seems like a great investment to me, doesn’t it!?!? And yes you may be more tired at first, but after some time, you will have more energy and more focus, allowing you to be more effective the other 92.3% of the time. Sometimes, less is more

Those who do not find time for exercise will have to find time for illness. -Earl of Derby

Two and a half (2.5) hours strength training and two and a half (2.5) hours of cardio a week is a good guideline to go by for a beginner with good general health and no major joint issues, although this is very general guideline. The golden rule is to start slow, err on the side of caution, progress gradually, and always listen to your body.

Beginners should emphasize control, form, and slower tempo for reps, to minimize risk without sacrificing effectiveness. For guidance on starting a exercise program, check out our blog post How to Exercise.

Yes, your goals, genetics, diet, and lifestyle are all going to effect how much and in what way you workout, but no matter who you are, you are a human being! The human body was designed to move allot! Our ancestors used allot of energy just to survive every single day: hunting, gathering, building, fighting, climbing, hiking, running, transporting. That is what you are built for! Some estimates have our ancestors covering 10 miles every day.

Clearly, this is not the world most of us live in today, but we can replicate these forces in the gym in very little time. (Just 6.7% of the time you are awake, to be exact!)

Download the exercise journal, track your exercise frequency, and let me know how you are doing!

If you have any comments or questions, please post below and I will get back to you! Do you like this tool? Where you surprised by the results? Will you commit to updating the sheet each month? What is missing from the exercise journal? Let me know!

Take care and stay fit!
Johnny Fitness

Jonathan Angelilli aka Johnny Fitness has worked as a full time trainer for over 8 years, has completed 9 certifications, trains several celebrities, and is currently the Training Director of Dynamic Results, an upscale fitness and lifestyle company in NYC. He witnessed the power of tracking exercise personally, and with his clients.

How to Quit Any Addiction

I just finished reading an excellent blog post about how meditation has been proven to be an amazing cure for addiction. The benefits of meditation have been studied somewhat extensively, and proven through research.

According to Paul Saintilan, a spokesman for the Buddhist Recovery Network, over 500 studies have shown that meditation increases serotonin levels, the “happy brain chemical” that is deficient in addicts.

Meditation Casts a Bright Light on the Darkness of Addiction

Click here to read this excellent article about meditations ability to cure addiction. Very well done. I encourage you to read it and start practicing meditation to prevent and cure any addiction you may have.

You may have a compulsive way of thinking or acting, rather than a full blown addiction, but meditation will help you control your thoughts and prevent irrational and compulsive behavior by providing insight into your behavior and thought patterns. Have you ever said to yourself “Why do I do that!?!?!” about some recurring behavior or thought that does not suit you or is self-destructive? Meditate and stop the behavior in its tracks!

One of the most powerful aspects of meditation is it give you breathing room between you and your thoughts.

You are not your thoughts!

But this is something we deny and have trouble accepting since our culture has been fetishizing rational thought ever since Copernicus, and rational thought is the emphasis in our schools (SAT’s?…seriously? Come on!). A great mantra I often repeat to myself is

• “My body is not me, but mine. I am the master of my body and mind”.

When we identify our entire being with our rational thoughts, we start to become imbalanced and unhappy. Meditation gives one the ability to take a distance and choose a different way of being and thinking.

Of course reading and math are great, but neither can teach you to be happy. Isn’t meditation a smart thing to teach our children in conjunction with their usual studies? Won’t they be happier, healthier, and more focused?

Your Brain is Like a Forest

In addition to meditation, cardiovascular exercise has been PROVEN be highly effective at curing addiction because it creates new neurons in the brain; these new neurons can be utilized to create new pathways in the survival areas of the brain, which is the area that addiction affects.

The old “addiction” pathway will remain, but the more you exercise, the more you can create a new path. The more you walk down that new path, the stronger the path will become, like a well used path in a forest. The old “addiction” path in your brain will start to become overgrown with shrubs, just like an old path in a forest, making it harder to use.

This research has drastic and profound implication for our prison system, rehabilitation centers, and education system.

If you are interested in the research about exercise induced neurogenesis (new neuron creation), I highly recommend this book. It is a great read and very enlightening and empowering:

Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain

Exercise and Mediation Cure Addiction

“Exercise and Meditation are like two pillars that form a bridge to support you, keeping you balanced, elevated, and happy despite the hectic world we live in.

Forget all the drugs. Exercise and meditate. When the average personal understands this, we will not have a health care crisis. Remember, for any drug to work in your body/brain, you must already have a receptor for that drug. And if you have a receptor for that drug, it is because your body produces that drug, that why it has that receptor. So any and ALL MEDICATION is just mimicking what you already have the ability to create inside yourself.

Then the question becomes, “why am I low on any particular chemical in my body? And how can I create it?”

Exercise and meditation, that is how! If we all believe that we can actually physically change our bodies through the choices we make (exercise and diet), why is it so hard to accept that fact that we can change our minds and brain by the activities we engage in and the way we use our mind?

I hope this inspires you to take control of any unhealthy behaviors you may have. There are many kinds of meditation; don’t be intimidated, just give it a shot and suspend judgment. Believe in yourself!

Meditation in nature is great, but not necessary! You can meditate anywhere by using your focus.

If you have any questions or comments, please leave them in the comments below and I will get right back to you. How long did it take you to learn to meditate? Who do you know that could use this information? What challenges do your face toward meditating and exercising every day? Questions in the comments will be answered and appreciated!

Take care, stay fit, and be present

Johnny Fitness

Jonathan Angelilli aka Johnny Fitness has worked as a full time trainer for over 8 years, has completed 9 certifications, trains several celebrities, and is currently the Training Director of Dynamic Results, an upscale fitness and lifestyle company in NYC. He witnessed the power of meditation to transform his life at an early age, and enjoys helping others discover this transformative healing practice.