Yet, if you’re trying to get in shape, and really want to tackle some tough workouts, here are some tips to keep you with it ’til the end. *PLUS!! As a bonus, read to the end to learn a new word for softness that I just invented!*

A Soft and Delicious Destructor. You're just soft.

1. Go Somewhere

Guess what? That collection of gym equipment in your basement is now a collection of cobwebs and abandoned dreams for a reason: your domicile is too distracting to get real work done. Get a gym membership or go to the local park just because it will specifically dedicate your time to working out – and not answering the phone, playing with the dog, or appeasing the spouse.

2. Go Somewhere

Ever do an interval running workout? It’s hard. So hard that you’ll want to quit about 20% of the way through. How do you prevent this? Get away from your starting (and quitting) point.

When I want to get the most out of my interval running, or locomotive workouts in general, I make them either on a huge, workout-encompassing loop or two separate starting and finishing points. That way, every step you run away is one step you’ll have to run back. If every time you finish an interval you’re right back at your car, it’ll be way too easy to just call it a day. Run away from pansydom!

3. Bring an Equal

Bring someone who is at your level, is equally motivated, and will push you both toward your goals. Accountability to another person is huge, and I always look for a partner when I really want to do something outside the box and difficult. If neither of you wants to be the quitter, then you’ll both avoid sissification and get it all done.

4. Bring a Newbie

This might even be better than having a hardcore equal as a partner. If you can find a newbie who wants to get started on what you have been already doing, then you have a lot to live up to. A motivated (though these can sometimes be difficult to find) newbie will want to work hard both for their own goals and to impress you, oh seasoned vet, which will require you to step up your game. When showing someone the ropes, you are undoubtedly going to want to look impressive and avoid losing face, which will keep you moving at top speed and perfect form, and DEFINITELY not quitting before they do or before you’ve done what you said you would.

5. Change Surroundings

I walked in the newly renovated weight room of my alma mater and left wanting to go back and pump serious iron there. Why? It was new, shiny and fancy. Sure, the equipment I had been using was good, but the change of venue put a little pep in my step.

6. Get Hopped Up

Could be emotion. Could be supplements. Could be caffeine. There are lots of things that can get you feeling amped that won’t put you behind bars, but will get your ass up that hill or under the squat rack rack one more time.  I’m not a big supplement guy or energy drink or drugs guy, but every now and again a big ‘ol dose of caffeine will get me in gear with some extra fight. Just make sure you don’t take so much that you can’t get down from that gear.

7. Chop Your Goals

Reality is, you can take one more step, do one more rep, or keep going for another second. You might not think you can, but you can. Piece together all those individual reps, sets and seconds and you’ll eventually put together a mosaic you can call a decent workout.

So if you’re solo with no one to push you, push yourself by calling yourself out in small increments. Ultimately those 5 more miles you have to run are run one step at a time, so chop it up and tell yourself that. You can do one more of anything.

8. Distract Thyself

Be one of those retards rocking out to music while working out, if it will help you work out. Sometimes tricking ourselves or just having a distraction is the best way to divert attention from the pain we are enduring. Tool (watch singer Maynard choke out an unruly fan in the above video) and Rage Against the Machine are pretty awesome tools for amplifying aggression and suppressing all those feelings of uncookedbiscuitism (yes, that’s the word that you’ve been waiting for!).

We’re all a little Pillsbury on the inside…

but take some preventive measures to ward it off, and get the most from your time in search of improved athletic prowess, health or whole-body hardness. Don’t be soft, and don’t quit.

…or maybe not.

EAT MORE VEGETABLES, LESS CRAP

Enough broccoli to shelter a community of smurfs

I know you feel duped, but there really is no big secret. You just need to eat mostly vegetables and lean protein.

If you want to look good on the beach, stop giving in to your guilty pleasures and eat some veggies, for god’s sake. If you’re not committed to eating vegetables, your body isn’t committed to losing fat. That’s the (not so)shocking truth!

Step 1: Identify The Clutter

Ask yourself these questions:

• What have I been doing?
• Why have I been doing it?
• Have I gotten the results I had been training for?
• How do I currently feel?

This seems really basic and obvious, but you would be surprised how few people actually take the time to examine their daily routines (after all, a routine is by definition minimally variable).  Those who are hungry for new results overhaul their lives when things stop progressing.  As time passes and an athlete gets closer or farther from their season, training methodology must change.  If one never takes time to make sure his goals and training are congruent, then hard work will be in vain – working hard AND SMART is what world-class athletes do.

Step 2: Compare to the Past

• How do I feel compared to when I used to do things differently? Do I feel better or worse?
• Has my body changed in positive ways?
• Have I performed better as a result of new techniques?

Step 3: Test New Variables

Nothing works for everyone, and results vary from person to person.  If you feel more fatigue, aren’t enhancing your performance, or have reached a plateau, then shame on you if you don’t try something new.  Your body will always become more efficient at any given exercise or program over time, resulting in diminishing returns.  Ever see those folks who go to the gym and perform the same routine for years? Of course you have; those are the folks who never get new results.

Even when you are being diligent with a set routine of arm care given to you by a therapist, team, or strength coach, for example, your body will still adapt to it over time.  How do you combat this? You ask? Changing your angle of pull is one of the easiest ways.

Take Blackburns, for example.  The 6 exercise Blackburn series is an incredible routine to increase scapular stability.  Yet, you’ll plateau at these just like any other exercise.  By changing the angle of pull, you can created a new stimulus for your muscles with a very simple tweak.

Y Raise on a Flat Bench

Y Raise on a 45 Degree Bench

Performing Blackburns, for example, at a 45 degree angle will change the muscle recruitment on the rotator cuff when compared with performing them on a flat bench, thus giving your muscles a new stimulus.  More scapular depression is achieved and the rhomboids are more strongly recruited when you use a steeper angle for prone rotator cuff and stabilizer work.  You could use any angle from 0-45, but any higher than that would start getting away from the rotator cuff and the scapula stabilizers that we want to hit using Blackburns.  Simple tweaks like these can be the push you need to get through a plateau and keep making progress.

There are lots of ways to vary your training which I will highlight in more depth in an upcoming article.

Step 4: Throw Out That Which Isn’t Working

I’ll give you an example of a recent change I made using steps 1-4, just on the hunch that it might be holding me back: I had been using 4lb weights for my standing and prone shoulder circuit for the past 2 years now, but I had only moved up to that weight when a friend of mine told me that 4lb was the “healthy pro” standard for his organization.  I was happily using 2lb weights (and throwing harder than I ever had), until he told me that 2lbs was the weight only rehab guys were using for their shoulder work.  So, I graduated to the heavier weight, and never threw as hard again as I did that fall.  Was it the extra 2lbs? I couldn’t say.

So just recently, suffering through a few week bout of dead-arm, I decided to go lighter.  I am plenty strong in my shoulder, with no popping, clicking or instability to speak of (it didn’t used to be that way), so I figured I could maintain that level of strength by changing my rep and weight scheme.

I used to do this:

• (3x/week) 2×12-15 with 4lb

Now I do this:

• (3x/week)  1×5 w/5lb ; 2×15 w/2lb

Why did I do this? The short set of 5 reps with the 5lb weights will make sure I maintain maximal strength, but don’t tire myself out, while the 2 sets of 15 will give me a lower workload while still giving my muscles endurance and therapeutic work.  I never felt fatigued using 4lb weights, but my velocity wasn’t as high as I felt it should be, so I made a choice to change it up and see how it goes, to see if there was something actually holding me back. So far, I still feel strong, stable, bounce back quickly and feel fresh. Cool.

Step 5: Restock Your Shelves With Fresh Methods

If you’re plateaued, fatigued, or underperforming, get some fresh training in your life!  As we have been discussing, you can get new stimuli to your muscles in a variety of ways…

If you’re fatigued, plateaued or underperforming (or suspect you might be):

• Change training volume
• Change weight
• Change both
• Try new variations
• Switch exercises altogether
• Try a week of active rest (if you’ve been going very hard for at least a few weeks)
• Enter a new training phase (more on periodization here)
• Get more sleep
• Re-examine your nutrition

If your performance is increasing:

Keep doing what you’re doing!  But, don’t forget to be introspective about it and be open to new methods because nothing works forever!

In an upcoming article I’ll share with you some easy tweaks for your shoulder work, forearm work and the sleeper stretch.