It’s Time to Look At Your Worst Picture Ever, And Take A New One

Remember when we asked you to Take Your Worst Picture Ever?  Well it’s time to take it out.  If you haven’t taken it yet, or are new to World Fitness Network, we’ve got reminders at the end of this post…

What Do You See?

That old picture of yourself – is that what you still look like? Have you made any progress?  Have you made enough progress?  I’m not here to lecture you – I’m here to help you lecture yourself.

If you think you’ve made good progress, skip to the Take a New Picture section and then compare.

If you haven’t made progress, do these things right now:

1. write down every excuse you can come up with; don’t hold back!
2. now rank those excuses by their “power”; the stronger their power over you, the closer to the top of the list they go
3. for each of your top 5 excuses (more if you have the gumption), write down at least one action you are going to take to eliminate it as an excuse moving forward
4. take your top 5 excuses and share them with someone who cares about you; ask them for their advice on how they think you can eliminate those; don’t share the previous step with them – you want original ideas
5. take the combined list of approximately 10 ideas to combat your 5 major excuses, and tape the list to your bathroom mirror
6. every day (especially on your workout days) recite that list out loud;  if you get embarrassed reading it out loud, good!  you’ve got to break through some barriers if you want to eliminate those excuses
7. now act!

And time to take a new picture:

Haven’t Taken Your Picture Yet?  Or Need To Take A New Picture?

Did you fail your self-evaluation?  Or are you just now planning to get in shape, but haven’t quite started yet?

Or even if you’ve made progress, you now need a new benchmark – a new picture.

Go into your room and take all your clothes off. That’s right, strip down to nothing but your briefs, your Spiderman Underoos, your boxers, your lingerie, whatever you are wearing underneath. (more…)

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All of us (at least us men) would love to have such an awesome physique that we could be a Men’s Health™ cover model.  For the most part, those guys look amazing and definitely fit the physique we are going for.  They’re strong, they’re healthy – I have no idea whether they’re happy or not – but they do embody the physicalness that we strive for.

But at the same time, in a very practical sense, only 1% or 2% of us will ever achieve that physique.  And maintaining that as we age can be tough.  Some of us, a big percentage, could never get there no matter how hard we worked, because our genetic proportions just aren’t quite “perfect”.

Enter:  The Paradox

So on the one hand, these guys are inspiring.  On the other hand, they are depressing!

When you set up a mental image that is that far out of reach, it can be demoralizing. So that’s why it’s a paradox:  it’s fantastic to hold that type of physique up as a goal to strive for; but if that’s really your objective, chances are you’ll never reach it. Just like if your objective is to be president of the United States, there’s nothing wrong with trying to do that; but at the same time, on some level, reality has to factor in.

The Ultimate Fitness Goal – Look, Feel, Do

A goal is something you achieve and allows steps toward achievement.  Your “ultimate fitness goal” (or UFG) is your ideal, so that’s the vision, and you hold that vision in your mind throughout your life and throughout your eating habits and exercise routines.  The routines themselves are not your ultimate fitness goal.  They are step-goals or process-goals that lead you toward your UFG.

Take a moment and close your eyes.  Yes, I’m saying literally close your eyes after reading this paragraph and do these steps.  Picture how you will look, how you will feel, and what you will be able to physically perform when you achieve your ultimate physical goal.  Really imagine that you have achieved it and imagine yourself looking, feeling, and doing.

There’s a very good chance that the “looking” portion is pretty similar to that Men’s Fitness cover model, right?

But we just established that that is unlikely.  So what do you do?

I say, keep those goals anyway. I don’t care how unrealistic they are, your ultimate fitness goals (look, feel, do) need to be your own personal vision for ideal.  Realistic or (more…)

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Why is it that the world is focusing more and more on fitness, but at the same time everybody seems to be even more out of shape?

Scores of new diets come in and out of the market place that promise us amazing results in a matter of weeks. There’s always some sort of new magical pill which claims to be able to make you “fit”.

Each year, waves of people make a New Year’s resolution to keep in shape and sign up for a gym membership, only to return to their sedentary lifestyle a month later.

The world is constantly in search of the answer. Unfortunately, so many people go looking for the easy fix, the path of least resistance.

The problem is that there is no easy fix.

There is no easy answer.

The truth is that anything worthwhile in our lives requires our effort and attention. Our physical health should be no different.  Who do you want to be – the out-of-shape person you’ve been in the past, or the fit and tone person you know you can be?

We Are All Human

Each person is built slightly different, but we all have the same basic needs. Both men and women alike need to maintain certain levels of muscular strength and endurance. We also need to maintain good cardiovascular health and flexibility. Where we differ is in the level, degree, and type of fitness we are trying to achieve.

Regardless of the type of build you are shooting for, you will need to know how properly build your strength, cardiovascular health, and flexibility. For many people, this will mean learning how to lift weights and exercise effectively.

Weights Matter

You may have friends who claim you can get fit without weights.  That may be true, (more…)

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