Let's pick it up

Wanna join me in a little test?

For the next 55 days(as part of our 90 Days to Discipline), our goal is to push ourselves to the absolute limit, physically. By all means, continue with all of the Simple Disciplines we've outlined...they're the fundamentals we must execute on a daily basis, to create the visions we hold for our lives. We're only simplifying the health and fitness aspect of the program...and I can promise you...the results will be worth the extra pain.

Here's the deal --

For 55 days, let's adhere to a simple plan that will allow us to blow through the extra pounds of fat we have left to shed. One of the worst feelings in the world is feeling fat, especially in a t-shirt. Fat...in a shirt? You've got to be kidding me. I've had enough of this bs. Summer is approaching quickly. Which is normally a great thing. Right now, it's not good thing...it's quite sickening, because I'm still nowhere near ready to strip off the shirt at the beach. Nowhere near.

So, what's the plan?

Massive amounts of cardio...tons of core work and body weight exercises...and a clean diet. Fifteen pounds of fat are keeping me from looking and feeling the way I want to this summer. The trick is to drop the fat, while building or, at least, maintaining the muscle mass we've built up to this point. How do we accomplish this? The best way for me is to keep it simple...

Over the next 55 days:

Run 200 miles
Perform 5000 pushups
Perform 5000 crunches
Perform 2500 pull ups


Let me explain the logic behind this experiment...

My responsibilities at home, with all of my kids' activities, keep both my wife and I hopping. Monday through Saturday is filled with different sporting events, mixed martial arts, voice lessons, guitar lessons, acting lessons...a ton of time and a ton of driving back and forth. Add to this my schedule with the businesses and I'm left with only a couple of extra hours to get several important tasks in -- like blogging, writing my book, reading, planning, bookkeeping, etc. I'm struggling to find the time I need to go to the gym every day and work specific body parts. My normal gig is to go in, blow up two body parts each day, then run. Well, this is actually starting to take its toll because I can't always run over and put two hours in at the gym. When I get to the gym, I end up wasting time trying to figure out which body parts, what exercises to do, how many reps...blah, blah, blah. The whole thing's confusing. The last thing I need at the gym is to have to think a million thoughts. I know it's important, and I'm fully aware of how much this sounds like a huge whaaah fest of excuses and rationalizations. Bear with me...

One of the things I know for sure when it comes to health and fitness is it pays to change things up, to keep our bodies guessing. The change of pace places extra demands on us and is usually taxing enough on our bodies to create real change and improvement. That being said, I want to return to the basics and focus on pure output. Simple, measurable, efficient tasks that will produce results, while saving the extra time of preparing to go to the gym, driving, loading up the weights, resting between sets, etc. This way, we can set out on the trail and just go, without worrying about what our workouts should consist of that day. Our minds will worry less about how and more on just hitting it hard. A good, long run and some push ups, pull ups, and crunches when we're done.

Just so you know, this is a big-time stretch goal for me. I'm not in the greatest of shape right now. The mileage worries me, for sure, seeing as how I haven't ran to this degree in at least five years. If you're sweating the totals on each category, you're not alone. Don't feel bad if you have to walk part of your daily miles...the point is to get out there and put in your mileage. Also, we are all going to need some assistance with the pull ups. I can't just rap off 50 pull ups...no chance in hell. I'll use a chair or something. Point is, this will require some heart and some perserverance to carry on. But, that's what this whole process is about...placing huge demands on us mentally through physical tests. The more we break ourselves down, the stronger we are able to build ourselves back up.

Solid nutrition will be what makes us or breaks us in hitting these numbers. I can't imagine being able to rack up this kind of mileage without fueling up each day with the right foods and plenty of water.

This is something we should do anyway. It's amazing what we can do when we're in a situation in which we must do it. Our "shoulds" in life rarely, if ever, happen. Our "musts" get done. The things we must do always seem to get done. The key is to take our "shoulds" and turn them into "musts". How? By committing to them to the whole world...not looking like a pussy can be a powerful motivator for most people. Exactly why I've created 90 Days to Discipline...it's leveraged me into taking massive action.

I'm going to post my results every day. Please comment with your results. I'll only ask, if you're in...then be in. I want to surround myself with folks who see the value in following through on the commitments they've made...to the group, and to themselves, more importantly. I'd enjoy nothing more than to log onto this blog and see a ton of activity and feedback from the group. Please add whatever comes to mind when you comment. Thanks in advance...It's always more enjoyable to lock arms with other good people and fight the good fight. If nobody joins me in this endeavor, that's fine too. I get off in being able to do things that 99.9% of the population won't do.


Flip the Switch