It’s a lack of motivation, not time.

We often times get so busy with obligations at work and home that we neglect our health. We neglect fitness and diet because it’s not the “priority”. It’s true that family, work, and many other things usually need to be more of a priority but honestly is it a lack of time or a lack of motivation?

If we have time to scroll Instagram or Facebook, if we have time to watch a Netflix show (or 2 or 3), if we have time to play a video game…… then we have 20-30 minutes to knock out a quick workout. I think that the issue is motivation rather than a lack of time. Motivation is man made. If you don’t have it, create it!

The best way I have found to dig up motivation is to:

A. Find an inspirational person who you can look to for that boost. There are plenty of individuals on all social media platforms and numerous podcasts to find that inspiration.

B. Set a goal and make a plan. Without a goal and a plan, what’s the point?

C. Accountability, make a goal or a plan and tell someone about it who will keep you accountable.

D. Share your progress. You can share with a friend, your spouse, social media, whatever works.

E. Try to share you goals and inspire others as much as possible. If your becoming an inspiration to others, it will help you to keep at it. (Another form of accountability)

F. Just suck it up and do something. You won’t always hit your goal, but even if you miss your workout or get lazy, do something. Knock out 100 push ups, sit ups, etc.

#strengthenfathers

Efficiency in Fitness

Efficiency!🏋🏻‍♂️👨‍👩‍👧‍👦💍😴

It’s supper hard to juggle all the demands of life, especially in your 30’s. Your career is taking off, kids are in the picture, the marriage needs attention, grad school may be in the picture. Exercise is at the bottom of your list of priorities. It shouldn’t be. In order for you to be able to handle the things mentioned earlier, you have to take care of yourself physically. Now that doesn’t mean you have to be in the best shape of your life or competing for the #crossfit games, but you need exercise for its physical, mental and emotional benefits to do the other things well.

Efficiency, you must be efficient with your time. You need a workout that can give you the most results in the shortest Ammount of time (20-30min). Let’s be honest, that’s the most we have to give during this season of fatherhood

Consider a 15 minute AMRAMP, Supersets and HIIT workouts. Gone are the days of a 2 hour gym session of 3×10 with rest between each set. Life has changed and your methods need to as well.

“I don’t have time….” really??

Almost every man I talk to about fitness responds with the same excuse. “Life is so busy, I just don’t have time to workout.” I get it, life with kids, work, marriage, grad school, etc…. is crazy busy. There is barely time to breathe and often times you have to cut out the non-essentials. I would like to challenge your priorities and your perspective on fitness and personal health.

Priorities: I’m going to keep this short because I believe you are smart enough to understand what I’m about to say. If you aren’t taking care of yourself, are you any good to those around you?

“Well I’m not my best but I’m not bad.”

So here is the reality, we all know that exercise and a little personal time of reflection is beneficial, but most of us don’t do it. We also know that if we did exercise and take some time to self reflect on a regular basis that we would feel better and actually be better fathers, husbands and friends. So if that is true, I think we need a shift in our perspective of priorities. I guarantee that we all give time to things throughout the day that are not as important as exercise and taking time to self reflect.

Perspective: A lot of people think that if they are going to work out, it has to be 5 days a week of at least an hour at the gym. The truth is that most of the people that are doing that are failing. First of all they are going to the gym and doing ineffective workouts. They are also wasting time talking, looking for a good playlist, waiting on a machine, or a million other things.

TRUTH: you don’t have to live in the gym to get fit and feel better. Be realistic. Commit 3 days a week for 20 minutes (we can all find a spare 20 minutes, but it takes discipline). I could design a workout for you that would fit those criteria and along with some changes to diet, we could all be on our way to reaching our health goals and becoming better parents, husbands and friends.

The second piece of self care is taking time to self reflect each day or at least most days. This doesn’t mean taking an hour or two to leave the house or go do something that burns up your time and burdens your spouse. You can accomplish this goal in 10 minutes every morning or night. You know that time each day when you take 10-15 minute to look at social media or the news. Ditch that and make that your time of self reflection. Get a journal app (I use “Day One”) and ask yourself a few questions each day that will help you reflect on the past, become self aware of the present and plan for the future. Here are some questions I use:

1. How do I feel right now?

2. Why do I feel this way?

3. Highlight’s from yesterday? (Usually billeted)

4. Low points from yesterday? (Bulleted)

5. What am I thankful for right now?

6. What are the most important things I need to do today?

These questions work for me but everybody is different. Come up with a plan that works for you.

Let’s raise the bar and strengthen fathers! Email me is you are interested in a custom fitness plan, online coaching or just some help making a plan.

Strengthenfathers@gmail.com

Much Love

– Harrison

Absolute most efficient workout