Times are Tough, But Keep Pushing!

Wow, it's been way too long since I've written to you on Pursue Fit. Between the holidays, work getting crazy, and all sorts of other commitments, I've hardly found time to piece thoughts together either here or on our Twitter (@Pursue_Fit) for Pursue Fit's readers and followers. I can't promise it will be easier with the frenzy that December brings, but one thing I can assure you is that the training regimen has remained the same.

It can be so darn difficult, but the same thoughts always pop back in my brain: remember why you started!

Right now is the easiest time of the year to slack off on the commitments that you have made to yourself. It's true, the proof is in the gym attendance, which is so much lower than three weeks ago even. We have the holidays, colder weather, work, shopping, parties, family, etc. But let me take just a few moments to remind you about a few things regarding your training.

1. Remember that you have made an investment in yourself that no one else has. There is no one that can take that investment away from you, except for you. Keep up the fight and keep up the discipline to achieve your goals and mold yourself into the you that you can be.


2. It's cold outside right now! The quickest way to get warm is not to snuggle back up under the blankets, but to get your body moving! 30 minutes of cardio will get your body warmer and you'll feel satisfied that you did.


3. The greatest stories always revolve around overcoming obstacles. There are plenty of obstacles in our lives without us imposing even more on ourselves. Take a survey of what's stopping you, develop a plan, and execute your plan. It's easier with a big support network, but that's not always in reach for others. Own your moment and own your life. Overcome the seemingly insurmountable. Michael Jordan said "Limits, like fears, are illusions". We'll come back to that in a future post, but understand that illusions are meant to be seen through and pushed aside.


4. Stop saying I can't and start saying I will. Until you break past that mindset, your dreams to run a 5K will never have a glimpse at finishing a marathon. Once you get to 'I will', you are unstoppable, you are on a mission. You will run out your last mile, you will get that last rep, you will NOT give up until you break your mold and realize that the old you was never any match for the current you.

Pursue Fit Around the Clock

Hey readers!

I appreciate all of the clicks and reads on this blog. In order to better connect with you, please feel free to reach out and connect to Pursue Fit anytime.

You can email the blog at: pursueyourfit@gmail.com. I'll take the time to read and reply to each of your emails and would love to hear from you about any of the following:

• Suggestions for the site
• New topics to cover
• 'Read-aheads' for future posts
• Posts you might like to submit

You can also follow Pursue Fit on twitter with the handle @Pursue_Fit. Be sure to follow Pursue Fit on Twitter, as additional content is added to that profile on a daily basis than what is posted to this blog.

One last important note, one of the goals of Pursue Fit is to empowers you to find what motivates you to pursue your fitness goals. As such, I openly invite anyone to email Pursue Fit at any time if you need an extra bit of motivation, a pep talk email, or even just a couple workout ideas to get you out of a workout block.

Know that you can look to Pursue Fit as a partner to help you get to your goals. We know that getting there is a long journey, and a journey that might never actually complete. Since this can be arduous, it is often helpful to have a resource you can refer to for a little inspiration and boost.

Please let Pursue Fit know anything else that can be done to help you out on your way.

Please Make Fitness Fun!

Tony Horton made a plea in P90X3 to 'please make fitness fun!'. Gotta say something I find myself saying pretty darn often, Tony Horton's totally right. For nearly all of the population, working out is not their job and, thus, many people even see it as a hobby. Hobbies are supposed to be fun, right? When they're not fun anymore, no matter how challenging or enriching, they just cease to be a part of our daily rituals. 

So many people quit because the workouts fall out of habit, but what might be one of the causes of that? At the root, I think that it really does have to do with not having fun. Of course, there are other things that are very powerful drivers like needs for improved health or self-esteem. Those might take precedence on the 'Fitness Hierarchy of Needs', but there certainly is a place for fun on there. When it comes to a point in the early morning, how many times have we probably thought, 'dang, this going to be a serious drag' as opposed to 'Wow! Can't wait to do 5 sets of 24 lunges!' I'd like to think that the second one crosses my mind more often than not, but when the former hits my brain first, that's the sure-fire indicator that it's time to switch up what I'm doing. 

Speaking personally, I find that there are a number of programs that I've simply stopped doing a few weeks in just because I got bored with all of the repetition of the same routines and lack of diversity. I'd become sluggish and generally lost any enthusiasm to wake up early to get going for the gym. To me, the best programs are the ones that keep challenging you by trying to keep the training fresh by introducing different exercise pairings, schedule variations, and more imagination and do all of this early and often. New ways of challenging me, equals continued excitement for the day's workout. 

Regardless of whether or not you're a gym goer or a runner, etc., there are so many great, fun ways to keep fitness in our lives. All sorts of lower intensity activities like yoga to higher intensity activities like rock-wall climbing and whitewater rafting can be channeled to fight the good fight and incorporate physical activity into our lives. Not just any physical activity though, amazingly fun activities that challenge our minds and bodies. Sometimes the overall goal is to just keep moving, but we need to find something that charges us to move. 

However, I will add that proper physical training (whether it be cardio or resistance) is certainly a force multiplier that will help you excel at the things you love to do, thereby, upping your enjoyment of the sport or activity you've been enjoying!

In my daily routines, I've found that playing on organized teams (or even with the pick-up football crew) has become a motivator for pushing hard in the gym. Once we find something that we love to do, something to apply our fitness to, it seems natural, in a way, to use our desire to excel at that activity and use it as motivation for training. The premise of this almost seems to be physical activity begets more physical activity. If so, I like that idea. 

Coming full circle though, we have to find what makes us happy and what we find fun and challenging. What one person finds fun will not necessarily drive someone else. I think what I typically find fun is the general progress, the pursuit, of meeting the goals I set for myself. Setting benchmarks doesn't necessarily excite someone who finds lifting iron dumbbells completely overrated, no matter the program. This, again, brings us back to one of the above statements: just keep moving. Once we stop moving, we start regressing. 

If you're at a point where you need to find a little motivation, my suggestion is to think about the physical activities that you find the most fun to do. Don't just think about how to find ways to do them, but think about how to get even better at doing them once you start (or even before you start). This is this week's main charge from Pursue Fit. We've focused on a lot of introspection this past week! My apologies for that, but the mental side of fitness is such a crucial component to your overall success, so please do find the time to think and plan out your fitness.

The Status Symbol of Being Fit

The below quote has stuck with me for a long time. This line is attributed to well-known bodybuilder Ashley Horner  and there is just something about it truly resonates with me and is something I've come to use for some sort of motivation when the daily grind slows me down. Check this quote out:

I've shown this quote to different people and has received a couple different reactions. Some friends thought it to be spot-on while others even found it a tad bit arrogant. I've reflected a bit and while I whole-heartedly agree with what she's saying, I would address that what's being said here is actually proud, vice arrogant, and that's a completely different ballgame.

Is a well-built physique a status symbol? Absolutely, yes. If you go back to the very first Pursue Fit post (found here), this is something we touch on, at least as one of my personal motivations. Speaking for me (and I'm sure many others to some extent), a lot of the heroes we looked up to in movies, sports, etc. likely had very chiseled physiques, and I think that at a young age we make associations that show that to be something to be proud of and something that is fundamentally good that we should be driven to attain.

That should be piled on further to the discussion of hard work. For me, a high level of fitness is almost all about achieving a higher level of what I deem to be 'good'. To achieve this means relentless hard work and the fruits you harvest from that hard work result in a product that is uniquely yours and yours alone. This is your body and you've worked so hard to get to where you are and to get to where you want to be that your results are a source of pride. The only person that can take that away from you is you and it requires just as relentless of a pursuit to keep it as it did to get there.

Ultimately, all of your work and all of your results still boils down to one very fundamental premise and that's being truly happy with you. While I believe that a well-built physique is a status symbol, it's also important to point out that the definition of a well-built physique can be very relative and open to interpretation. It has often been said or alluded to in Pursue Fit but fitness is not anyone else's fitness it's your fitness.

Fitness doesn't just show someone a bit about who we are, it can sometimes scream it. Our physique lets others know that you have commitment, vision, and self-respect. This brings us full circle to the physique operating as a status symbol. Sometimes all we have before we speak to anyone or before anyone knows us are simply the first impressions we give off by your own appearance and that can make or break a personal/professional relationship in some cases. People will make a read on us and then develop core assumptions before the first words are ever spoken. All this to mean that our own fitness can be a true tool or ally in some cases in marching forward in other aspects of our lives.

This belief is a powerful motivator for me and is part of a complex picture of what gets me up early in the morning to start training. Fitness means different things to different people, but that's really the point of it, isn't it? The point is about transforming yourself into the good that you want be. It's not about being anyone else version of good, it's about developing and pushing you to be satisfied with yourself.

While I'm interested in whether or not you agree with what is being said here, it is much more important for us to sometimes have these conversations with ourselves. We need to ask ourselves questions like what is it mean to me to be fit or why is this lifestyle so important to me? If anything, I just hope that this post challenges us to take a step back for a second to evaluate and then re-affirm to ourselves why we drive ourselves.

Thanks for checking out today's post. Any comments are always welcome!

Headphones In, World Off

All bad workouts begin with forgetting an iPod, headphones, or an updated workout playlist. Overhead music at a gym can't account for your specific tastes and what motivates you to be at your best. I imagine it's much of the same way for so many runners, I'm more of a silent runner myself, but still, without the proper ambiance, your workout can start to feel pretty unsuccessful. 

Aristotle once wrote:

"Music directly represents the passions of the soul. If one listens to the wrong kind of music, he will become the wrong kind of person."

I like what Aristotle is saying here. No matter what your musical tastes are or no matter what it is that motivates you when you get your workouts in, the music you listen to is your tool that helps drive you that much more.

The right songs and the right playlists can whip us back into focus and push us through one more set and one last mile. For me, music is that boost of adrenaline to overcome the obstacles that are in front of me. Time and time again, the right song and the follow-on ability to block out the rest of the world and focus on the moment right in front of me is exactly what I need to push me through.

Now that I think about it while I'm typing this out, there has been no other dietary supplement that has had quite the same impact on my overall health and fitness than the musical sound waves have supplemented me. The right multi-vitamin, protein, or amino supplements only mean as much as the work that you put in. Without that work, we do not get that change that we seek. So, over everything else, I prioritize those things that push me to do my workouts that much more effectively.

A Muscle and Fitness article from a few years ago ranked the top 25 workout songs across all genres. Here are the top 10:

1) "Welcome to the Jungle," Guns N' Roses
2) "Enter Sandman," Metallica
3) "Back in Black," AC/DC
4) "Fight the Power," Public Enemy
5) "Eye of the Tiger," Survivor
6) “Hit ‘Em Up,” 2Pac
7) "Smells Like Teen Spirit," Nirvana
8) "Mama Said Knock You Out," LL Cool J
9) “Gonna Fly Now,” Bill Conti/The Rocky Orchestra
10) “1812 Overture,” Pyotr Tchaikovsky

For the entire list: 25 Best Workout Songs of All Time

Admittedly, only three of these are on my entire workout playlist, though all perhaps unarguably deserve a spot in the all time top 10. To give you a bit of a peak behind the curtain, my tastes are a bit harder for the gym, but these are the songs that get me pushing myself.

1) "Coming Undone," Korn

2) "Metalingus," Alter Bridge

3) "I Walk Alone," Saliva

4) "Original Don," Maor Lazer

5) "The Clincher," Chevelle

6) "Southtown," P.O.D.

7) "This Fire Burns," Killswitch Engage

8) "Psychosocial," Slipknot

9) "Magnolia Blvd," Butcher Babies

10) "Knights of Cydonia," Muse

Please share any of your top 10 workout songs below. Personally, I always welcome new additions to the playlist and any of your favorites might also help motivate others Pursue Fit readers too!

Total Body Circuit Workout (Birthday Edition)

Hey Pursue Fit Readers!

The most common roadblock we always face to meeting our fitness goals is the fight against time. We all lead very busy and packed lives and it's not easy to find time for a workout every day. One of the most significant contributors to our overall success is our ability to make fitness a habit, but without time, it's difficult to form a habit.

With that being said, check out the below workout that Pursue Fit put together. It's a total body circuit trainer that hits cardio, resistance, and core workouts. Timing this all out the workouts can range from about 15-20 minutes in length. Admittedly, it does not necessarily give you the same effect as 30 minutes running or a gym session, but the brevity ensures that you have time in your day to burn some calories. Here's how it works:

• You'll notice that there are cardio, resistance, and ab workouts and each corresponds to a day/month/year combination. Everyone has two numbers to choose from for each workout. I went ahead and used a birth date as a simple example. Say that your birthday is on October 17, 1994 (10/17/94), you would take each number and do the corresponding workout in order.
• Do each circuit of six workouts at least 3 times. 18 total sets should be enough to put you in that 15-20 minute range, but certainly feel free to grind out additional sets if time permits or if you made quick work and finished well before that 15-20 minute mark.
• Birth date is only used as an example. You can put a date combination for the current date, a milestone date in your life, or any random combination of numbers!

Cardio (Month)

0: 60 Jumping Jacks

1: 60 seconds jump rope

2: 45 seconds burpees

3: 20 box jumps

4: 30 plyometric lunges

5: 60 seconds mountain climbers

6: 30 Jump knee tucks

7: 60 seconds sprint-squat (3 seconds sprint-1 squat)

8: 45 seconds high knee spring

9: 45 seconds butt-kick springs

Resistance (Day)

0: 30 push-ups

1: 15 pull-ups

2: 15 two arm shoulder press

3: 15 dips

4: 30 body-weight squats

5: 12 plyometric push-ups

6: 25 body-weight squats into calf raise

7: 45 seconds wall squat

8: 20 step-ups

9: 10 handstand push-ups

Core (Year)

0: 25 In-Outs

1: 45 seconds high plank

2: 45 seconds low plank

3: 50 oblique twists

4: 30 second planks

5: 15 side-plank oblique-ups (per side)

6: 25 seated leg lifts

7: 50 lying flutter kicks

8: 25 sit-ups

9: 25 bicycle crunches

One of Pursue Fit's biggest aims to find ways to encourage you to get your workouts in and achieve your fitness goals. I hope that you enjoy this challenge and incorporate it (or any variations to it you make) to keep building on the positive habits that you have already established!

Let Fitness Pick You Up

My favorite part about fitness is and always been not the impact had on the body but the impact that it has on the mind. The medical community abundantly backs the understanding that physical activity has tremendous impacts on our mental well-being. It's a productive, inexpensive means to a positive and healthy end.

Many friends and family-members have struggled with depression and some hit some fairly low points. One of the most commonly shared remedies by these people was exercise; all types of cardio, lifting, yoga, and recreational sports. While not a single-source cure-all, but many of these folks attribute the positive influences that fitness have had on them to leading renewed and happier lives.

Here are a few of the things that regular fitness and activity can do for your mind and transform your well-being.

1. Working out increases your energy level. A simple boost in natural energy levels has significant impacts on your mood and general outlook. Physical activity releases a chemical called endorphins. This chemical is said to reduce our perception of pain, reduce anxiety, and even improve the quality of our sleep. Shifts in these three categories can cause a wholesale shift in our moods and, when done on a consistent basis, combat that negative energy.


2. Exercise can help our self-image. We're talking about building up our confidence here. Succinctly put, in addition to the feeling good that exercise can do for us, looking and feeling more healthy can go a long way when we look at and perceive ourselves. If self-image is ever a cause for any negativity or depression, exercise is the natural protagonist. It's never easy, but the end result is feeling better about ourselves and feeling more confident in the process. When we feel confident, we're better equipped to take on the world and do good.


3. Achievement is always the best feeling. A certain satisfaction comes with just getting stuff done; setting goals and not just achieving, but surpassing those goals. One workout, leads to a routine, which leads to a regimen, which leads to results. This progression and building yourself, all while keeping high energy and boosting our confidence, gives us a sense of drive and even a sense of purpose in some cases. At the very least, the achievements of general fitness allow us to find positives in ourselves and the things that we set our minds to. That continual ability to find the positive and strive for something good will inevitably combat the bad.

The mental aspect of fitness can so often be overlooked, but, my friends, the body is nothing without the mind. A healthy mind leads to a healthy body, and a healthy body feeds back into building an even healthier mind. This is a symbiotic relationship in which each are mutually dependent on the other for long-term sustainability. Never discount the pure value our minds have for our overall fitness. I can't stress enough how important of a topic this is for me, and I encourage all of you to reflect not only on the physical perks, but take time to reflect on what fitness does for your mind.

Please leave comments or send me an email with some of your thoughts how fitness keeps us mentally strong as well. Thanks for reading today!

Hercules Workout

Hey Pursue Fit Readers!

I like trying a lot of different workout plans. There's so many ideas that a lot of great fitness experts have for all sorts of goals like muscle gains, toning, cutting weight, etc. I find myself cycling through the different types of programs fairly regularly but always come back to programs that promote hard lifting and muscle gains. As it stands right now though, there's no bigger fitness icon in that department than Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson. So, of course, it was natural to gravitate toward the workouts he put together just to try them out! The five workouts are linked below:

Chest Day
Back Day
Shoulders Day
Arms Day
Leg Day

Here are some pros and cons here.

PROS

• The sequencing of the sets during each individual workout is really intense. They promote a consistent burn and challenge your muscles through the fatigue. The triple drop set lateral raises and 4 sets of 50 leg press reps (super set with 40 walking lunges) were two of the most grueling exercises and I loved every second of each of them!
• The amount of reps per set is much higher on average than most muscle gaining workouts. You will find that you're often pushing yourself past your comfort zone, which ultimately results in change.
• I don't know about you, but I don't have hours to dedicate daily to the gym (as much as I'd love it!). I've been able to complete each of these workouts in about an hour, which fits perfectly in my routine.

CONS

• The first con that comes to mind is built on all the pros. These individual workouts are so good that it's really disappointing that there aren't more of them. Would love for The Rock to build and market a complete 1,2, or 3 month program. If this is a sample size, I'd buy what he puts together.
• I like to train my core about three or four days a week, so I had to build in ab exercises because the individual workouts just don't have that option. 
• Chest day is my favorite day of the week in the gym. I think the other four workouts are completely stocked with very challenging sequences, chest day was the only one that didn't make me sore. I still got a great pump out of the workout, and it might be on me to use different weights too. Something I'm going to give another shot.

While there are only five workouts, I've been cycling through them in the order that they are posted above. My plan is to cycle through about four times. Even after this training regimen is complete and

I move onto something else, you can count on the fact that I'll return to these workouts when I'm in between programs. 

Everyone has their individual goals that they have set out to achieve, and if you're looking for a catalyst for muscle gains, Pursue Fit absolutely recommends The Rock's Team Hercules Workout. Tweet @PursueFit or leave a comment and let us know how you did!

Get What You Deserve

It's pretty simple today. The moral to every fitness story is 'you get what you put in'. When combined with life's obstacles, doing your routine is difficult and not every day is an easy day to get geared up for. Remember though, hard work pays off. Simply wanting it and going through the motions will not get you to where you want to be.

So, when we start to talk about 'Pursuing Fit', know that this is a chase, a real daily grind. It takes a lot of stringing together positive days, weeks, and months. Of course we stumble on occasion, but then we get right back up keep pressing to achieve our goals. We keep pressing to get what we deserve.

You've been working tirelessly and sticking with your regimen. Keep up the chase and keep transforming. Pursue Fit is in your corner.

Don't Cheat Yourself of a Cheat Meal

A buddy of mine once joked that the two of the most important things to enjoy in life are food and beer...that might be part right. There's so much amazing food out there to savor! Let's face it, we're not all robots and we have to break from the norm and enjoy the pizzas, the pancakes, and the cookies from time to time.

It's important to know that it's not a bad thing to enjoy a cheat meal every once in awhile. Not everyone can throw down a cheat meal like The Rock, but I think there are ways we can all enjoy our favorites. Here are some guidelines to model your cheat meals by:

1. Cheat meal not a cheat day: There's a reason this is listed in the lead-off spot. Cheat meal = Acceptable, Cheat day = overkill. For the most part, your regimen has probably been fairly clean. A cheat meal can test your discipline and, in a lot of cases, can strengthen your resolve. A little taste of something different can be enough to hold you over and really keep you sane. When cheat meals start to turn into cheat days, that's when we start to negate the tireless work and we begin to veer off track.


2. Make a plan: You know best what your training regimen is like but it's best to have no more than two cheat meals a week. With that in mind, create a strategy for when you know you can indulge a little bit in some of these tasty treats. I normally have about one cheat meal a week and plan for it to be on either Saturday or Sunday (as scheduling permits). I ate pretty clean this week and was able to enjoy a few slices of my favorite pizza while watching some football this weekend with some friends. Knowing when this was going to happen and having a plan made it easier to avoid temptations that pop up throughout the week.
   


3. Train before your meal: I try to make sure that cheat days never match up with rest days. It's important to align a training day with a cheat meal to help offset some of what we're enjoying. Some people jokingly call this a zero-sum war, and, to an extent, it kind of is. Ultimately though, we want to be able to have our cake and eat it too by being able to enjoy our food without having to deal with some of the repercussions. 


4. Portion control: Don't forget to moderate with this meal just like you would any other meal. Balance is still something to keep in mind. Quantity means having enough to stave off temptation but not going past the point of being full. 


5. Forget the guilt: Enjoy your meal! The point here is to be able to take a break and relax the mind and body. 

Above all else, remember that a cheat meal is a part of your overall diet. It's crucial that we don't have the mindset that the other meals during the week are a series of labors meant to punish and test us and the cheat meal is the big relief from all of that. Enjoy your meals during the week and savor your next cheat meal as a part of your overall health and lifestyle.

Marathon, Not a Sprint

I try hard not to look around all that much at the gym, but I noticed this one guy today that hasn't been coming for all that long. This was definitely a guy that was at the beginning of his journey. Fitness/gym newcomers range the whole scale of confidence and comfort when they first start up. However, the man was frequently looking a bit on the uncomfortable side. He would do a set and then stop to look around. A lot of times when I see this, I see people who are just trying to see what kind of attention they're getting. The look on this face though was one checking out to see who was judging him. OK, sure, he really wasn't lifting all that much, but that doesn't matter. I walked up to him when we were both in a rest period, tapped him on the shoulder and saying with a reassuring nod 'hey man, you got this'. His mood flipped and worked hard with a sense of determination the rest of the time he was there.

The moral of the story is this. When we start out, we will definitely not be where we want to be inside of a couple of weeks. Chances are strong that, if committed, we'll start to see the positive change we're looking for after about three months. This takes time. Fitness is all about the long game, and the long game is the marathon, not the sprint.

I know I get discouraged sometimes when I take a look in the mirror and things just aren't where I quite want them to be. That's OK. That means there's a silver lining, and that lining is that improvement and progress are coming. We all start in different places, but, regardless, we all start in the beginning.

When the times get tough, remember that even all of the fitness icons had to start somewhere. You will get there.

Chest Day!!!

My favorite gym day of the week! I was particularly excited to get into the gym this morning after having to take about a week off to recover a strained wrist. The hope was to come back strong and really hit the chest hard. I created this workout the night before with the intent of hitting the chest every which way possible. As you see below, I incorporated a mix of leverage/machines, dumbbells, cables, barbell, and body weight.

Excercise	Sets/Reps
Leverage Chest Press	7 sets
Incline Dumbbell Chest Press	3 sets, 15-20 reps
Reverse Grip Bar Raise	3 sets, 10 reps
Seated Machine Fly	4 sets, 12, 10, 8, 6 reps
Medicine Ball Pushups	3 sets, 10 reps per arm, 10 reps with no stability ball
Cable Crossovers	4 sets, 12, 10, 8, 6 reps
Barbell Bench Press *	Burnout Sets

Leverage Chest Press: I started at 170 pounds of resistance and pressed out reps to failure. The weight was increased after each set until the one rep max was found. I finished out with a one rep max of 290 pounds of resistance!

Incline Dumbbell Chest Press: I absolutely love incline press with dumbbells. This really can challenge you a lot more than using a bar since you also need to account for providing stability to the weights going above your head. The purpose of these sets was to pick a weight in the middle of my range and go for high reps. Super challenging and really fatigued the muscles.

Reverse Grip Bar Raise: This is a move that you'd like want to use more so on a shoulder day, but the underhand grip forces your pectorals to flex and essentially functions as the inverse of a pullover.

Seated Machine Fly: Nothing really too flashy about these sets. The move is fairly basic but the effect is straightforward. The aim is to increase the weight and decrease the reps over four sets. A couple things to keep in mind when you're doing this move. First, make sure you adjust the seat to where you are gripping the handles just below shoulder level. Second, range of motion is key. So, make sure you go all the way back during your negatives and you bring the handles together with arms slightly bent and back firmly against the backrest.

Medicine Ball Push-up: I really love incorporating in body-weight moves into a weight-intensive workout. This is also a fairly basic transition. Pick out a medicine ball (weight doesn't matter). Go into a high plank position and place your right hand on top of the medicine ball. Do 10 push-ups and then move the ball over to your left hand and do 10 more push-ups. Once you complete that, do 10 push-ups without a medicine ball. Repeat this series two more times.

Cable crossovers: See the seated machine fly explanation for the set/rep sequence. Just find handles you are comfortable using and attach them to your available cable equipment. Make sure that your handles are in the resting position at about shoulder height. The most important aspect of this move is to cross your hands at the bottom of the motion to flex your chest and push the muscles a bit.

Burnout Bench Press: This is my favorite way to end a workout and puts a lot fatigue on your muscles and really makes you sweat. Here it is in a nutshell. On a free bar bench press, grab x amount of weights of equal weight and an equal amount on either side of the bar. Perform six reps and then pop up and take a weight off each side and do six more reps. Repeat this until all of the weights are off the bar and you are only pressing the bar. After six reps of the bar, begin placing the weights back on the bar until you end up as you started. Repeat this until completely fatigued. For reference, I typically place four 10 pound weights on each side of the bar and pyramid the sets for three complete 'up-down' or 'full to empty' sets. Great way to finish!

Anyway, I definitely recommend you to try this out. It was a great way to start the workout week up, and it should really help stimulate some growth and generate more strength.

Try it out and leave some comments on how you do!

Thank You So Far!

Hey readers!

I've been at this blog for a little over a week now. I have to say that I'm pretty excited about the good volume of traffic so far! It's even better than I had expected to this point. Thank you very much for checking in here and seeing what's new. I'm very energized to keep pushing thoughts and posts your way, and there's so much still to come.

I'm very grateful for the views, and, if at all possible, I would be further beholden to you if you could please share these posts to any of your profiles like Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus +, etc. It would certainly mean a lot for this blog to get even broader visibility. So, if you see a post that you like, please share away!

Also, please feel absolutely free to leave comments on any of the posts. The readers (and me too!) would appreciate any additional thoughts and even opposing views to anything posted here. Additionally, shoot me an email if you there's a topic that you'd like to see discussed or a product rated, etc. I plan to be committed for the long haul, and ask that you jump on with me!

-Andrew
Pursue Fit!

Your Competition

One of my favorite aspects of most gyms isn't always the equipment or the atmosphere, I like the gyms that have plenty of mirrors.

There is a saying about golf that I think is applicable here. It's not a game that can be won, only one that can be played. Arguably the same about fitness, right? I'm not sure that there's ever a state of complete victory, but there is a state of pursuit. Ultimately, the only one you're actually competing against is yourself. So, yeah, I like to peek up and see the man I'm trying to beat when things get tough, and I know that sometimes the biggest victories are when I overcome the boundaries that that man sets in front of me. 

Chip Away Everything That's Not

When Michelangelo was asked how he made the famous statue of David, he replied that he "chipped away the stone that didn't look like David". This picture stuck with me all day, and this quote was one of the first that came to mind. In a way, this will be a motivator for me as I go about the next week of diet/exercise (or probably two weeks at least). If it only it were so simple though! If only it were so simple that we could just chip away (or build) to get to where we want ourselves to be.

Keep this in mind. We already are the person that we want to be. I'd argue that it's already inside of us and all we need to do is put in the work to find it. I know I'll be reflecting back on this when it's time to get to work, and I encourage you to think about this or whatever it is that drives you to get exactly to where you want to be.

Absolutely Positive

You know all about the absolutely horrible gym habits. Those things that totally irk your every fiber…you know what they are. I think my teeth grind when people casually chat on their phone, camp out at machines, don’t wipe up sweat, and don’t re-rack (I really shake my fist at those people). We can easily spend a lot of time thinking about all those things that gets our blood boiling; so much so that we forget about the simple things that people do that can change an experience for the better.

The biggest thing for me after any given workout is knowing that I was able to do all of the things that I set out to do. It’s not necessarily important to me that I make friends at the gym. Bluntly, that’s just not why I’m there. I have my headphones on and I’m putting myself in the zone. That being said, a good attitude surrounding you only enhances your own drive and chances are strong it’ll contribute to you returning to the gym another day. Here are some of the more solid things I’ve seen:

1. You might be a great lifter/runner/spinner/body combatant, but there’s almost always someone else (or even several other) fellow gym folk that you really respect. You see them go to work and make things happen. You might not know them all that well (or at all) but you know who they are. That person walked up to me the other day after I pushed through a last rep, nodded at me, and gave me a fist bump. No words said. I tried to stay fairly emotionless about the exchange but I was running laps! My attitude changed for the rest of the workout, and I had one of the best sessions I know I’ve had in a long time. I’d suggest doing this to others, sparingly though. It has to mean something when it happens or it’s just an empty gesture. Take time occasionally to recognize the success and struggle of others. Speaking personally, it will go a long way.


2. Arnold Schwarzenegger loses tone every time you forget to wipe up your bench sweat! Granted, we’re not always perfect, but I get heated when I see a bench have an outline of a body that just came out of the pool and the guy walks away. What’s up with that!? No one needs to go get ringworm from the gym, or whatever the old saying is. Anyway, I’ve jumped in and wiped up my bench before someone else sits down and they have always been grateful. General courteousness keeps others invested.


3. This next thing I endorse under very rare circumstances, but it’s something that can be abundantly necessary, not just for physical safety reasons but also for the psyche of the lifter. When necessary, take a split second to help someone get that last rep up or just stay stable. I can count two times for me (both on seated shoulder press) where someone has come over to make sure I can get the weight moving in just the right direction. It’s a tactic that is not always welcome, so you just have know the situation and the atmosphere. If you notice someone can’t set the weight by themselves to even get started moving, it definitely cannot hurt to offer ‘a quick lift-off’. Remember earlier when I said that the biggest thing for me is doing those things I set out to do? Sure, you’re not necessarily helping yourself, but you’re doing a fellow gym pal a fine favor that might mean a good deal to them. Even more, they might have an eye out to help you the next time around.         
   

In any event, I'm really interested in anything you have ever seen or experienced that you think is a positive gym habit. Please comment below to share your experience! Getting your thoughts out there might encourage others to do some of the positive things that you want to see happen more often where you workout!

The Six Best Doctors

I absolutely love this and try to see these doctors as often as possible. A healthy dose of each allows us that much more progress toward our goals. Keep this in mind! Post it at your work; share it on your profiles!

Good luck over the next week with achieving your goals. Stay the course. You will always be so much happier that you did.

It Takes Time, You Will Get It!

This is one of my favorites. Change takes time. This is true for anyone at any fitness level. Don't be discouraged when you don't see what you want at first. You can get there, just stick with it! You'll thank yourself in three months. It takes time, you will get it. 

What Motivates?

The hardest part of doing any workout of any sort is not always the one-rep max, the extra mile, or successfully getting into the ‘wheel pose’ during yoga. I’d suggest that the hardest part is just getting the drive to get up and go do what you do. Let’s face it. It can be so incredibly hard, and it takes keeping in mind the things that motivate you.

What motivates me? I’ve thought about this a bit, and I think there are three things that really drive me to keep up with my regimen. Interestingly, these motivations are intermixed with both vain and practical motivations. Maybe some of these are relatable?

• I’d like to think that I’m fairly lean, but that definitely wasn’t the case in the early teen years. I was a little bit bigger and was known as ‘Chubs’ in certain circles. I rolled with it for awhile and even thought it was pretty funny (was actually sort of catchy). Regardless, over time, it became a huge motivator to change my image and reach down to transform. I was tired of the jokes, so I took it upon myself to do something.


• I’m a sucker for a good action movie, well any action movie. And sports. Oh, and professional wrestling. What do all these things have in common? Often times a pretty jacked hero. From where I sat, who didn’t want to be that guy? People loved him, he overcame adversity, and he saved the day. When this is what you see as a kid, these things can become pretty ingrained into your brain. So, admittedly, the hero image goes a long way for me.


• The last main motivator for me is that I’m a guy that, like most guys, just wants to be useful. While there are tons of ways to be useful, the doors of opportunity open for you when you’re the one that can the opening for others (or lifting, moving, holding, dragging, etc.). So, from a practical standpoint, I keep pushing myself a lot of times because I want to be that guy that my wife, family, friends, and neighbors go to for help and support. It’s always good to be needed.

I hope I didn’t get too heavy with the first real post here; most posts won’t necessarily be of this variety. The truth though is that motivations are fundamental for why we do what we do and those motivations are seeded deep in our mind. Here are some other motivators that other folks have told me about.

You know I had to

• ‘Suns out, Guns out’. Yes, the ole’ beach season readiness. Everyone wants to look their best come summertime.


• Compliments. Some people really need the positive reinforcement in the day-to-day. So, it’s very important for some to get the deferential nod in the gym when they put up a bit on the bar or the ‘wow, are you losing weight?’ type of questions. Get this once and you want to keep hearing the positivity.


• Revenge shape. You know what I’m talking about. A guy or gal becomes recently and sometimes unexpectedly single, so they just want to get in the best shape ever to make the old lover so jealous.


• So, I said in the welcome post earlier today that I’m no Mr. Olympia. Well, there are plenty of people I know that could try to pass! Just the pure competitive spirit might be enough to push folks that extra bit to stick with it and go through the grind.

Here was a quick list of motivators. I would love to know what else motivates you to get in or stay in shape. Please comment below about any of the above or anything that you think should be on the list.

Welcome to Pursue Fit!

First off, I want to thank you for taking the time to check out Pursue Fit and for taking a look at what we have to offer. Of course, as of 07 October, there’s just not that much since this is the first post, but I certainly intend to keep the entries fresh and insert some (hopefully) good and constructive thoughts that might possibly be of some for you.

I won’t spoil it now, but I have long-term plans for this blog/site and what it can bring to you. Some of the things that I’ll be doing are reviewing different workout programs, supplements, and newer trends. I’d also like to put spotlights on different exercises and muscle groups and let you know some of the things I do that have helped me achieve some results. Eventually, I’d even like to have guest interviews posted on here and a number of other fun things that I think you’ll enjoy.

The first post on Pursue Fit will go into detail a bit more about what exactly ‘Pursue Fit’ means (at least to me) and will talk a little about motivations for fitness. You’ll notice that in that post and in several others I’ll be heavily referring back to my experiences. Why is that? No, I’m certainly not a Mr. Olympia, but I’m a guy that’s been busting my butt for a long time and still has a long way to go before I get to where I’d like to be. I’ve done and tried a lot of things that have been very helpful, caused setbacks, or, dare I say, even be a little lame. All this to say, like most of you, I’m just an average person that’s trying to make it work and is doing my damnedest to pursue what I define as fit.

I hope you keep checking in or subscribe so you can see some of what’s going on with this site and try and use some of my lessons learned to prop you up even further along your journey to be fit too.

Thanks again, and please feel free to comment on any of our posts or reach out to me by email.