Whether you DO IT in the bedroom, the living room, or the guest room, JUST DO IT!

I have not really talked about the physical aspect of getting healthy, such as the exercises you MUST do, and gyms you HAVE to join, or how fast and how often you NEED to run.  If you keep reading I will tell you why.  I don't really care what type of exercise routine, work out program, gym, sport, or endurance type activity you do, just so long as you DO IT and DO IT CONSISTENTLY.

With that being said, I would like to tell you what has worked for me, why it has worked for me, and why it might be able to help you.  I am currently doing P90X by the former stand up comedian, Tony Horton.  Didn't know that did you?  If you haven't seen the infomercials for P90X or know of someone who has done it or bought it , but never did it, you should really get out from under your rock and join the world of the living.

Here is why I enjoy an "at home" total body fitness program.  I only had to pay someone one time to own the program for the rest of my life.  I love (right now I am lying so as not to offend anyone) gyms.  They allow you access to an amazing assortment of torture devices of which 90% of the people in the gym RIGHT NOW don't have a clue how to use.  OK, so you are paying someone else a monthly fee to use 10% of their equipment; to each their own I guess. 

Go ahead and disagree, but the next time you are at a gym, watch the people around you.  Every few minutes or so a person will approach a particular machine much like a dog discovering a frog for the first.  They will circle it 12 times, do a quick recon to see if anyone is looking, and then finally make 6 feeble attempts at a repetition before retreating back to a machine they are more comfortable with.

IT HAPPENS ALL OF THE TIME!

Now it may sound like I am making fun of people particularly because I am, but I am shedding light on a behavior that every one of us at one time or another has done.  If you have the time and resources to hire a professional trainer, I highly recommend it.  As long as they keep you motivated and accountable and train you as hard as you can be trained then you can probably stop reading this blog because you are not part of my target audience. 

Let me run off on another tangent for a minute.  Please bear with me.  Treadmills, ellipticals, stair masters, and stationary bikes are great additions to gyms for people who are nowhere near their place of residence, but come on people, is running around the block so hard?  I remember growing up as a kid and riding my bike everywhere.  Hell, I would ride my bike down to the park to go play football or basketball.  Just think, exerting energy getting to a place where I could exert more energy all the while doing it OUTSIDE.  Weird concept, I know. 

So why do we not run OUTSIDE, ride a bike OUTSIDE, or climb stairs OUTSIDE?  Because frankly, doing these activities outside is harder.  We like to believe we are "working out" even though we know deep down we aren't.  I know for a fact I can run a 12:30 two mile on a treadmill, but barely break 13:45 outside, which is exactly why I run OUTSIDE. 

The real thing is harder, but THAT IS WHY IT IS BETTER! 

Don't even get me started on the bacteria and body smells inside a gym.  Plus, whoever heard of an indoor triathlon?  I have yet to see a marathon run on treadmills. If that ever happens I claim the rights to the idea and want 50% of the profits please. 

For those of you who skipped that last tirade, welcome back.  Moving right along.  Fear.  Fear of looking stupid, fear of being judged, fear of not following the herd.  These are real fears people have for joining a gym and not fully utilizing their membership. 

I watched "that show" again last night, the one where "large" people are "losing the biggest" amount of weight they possibly can and I loved every minute of it, minus the elimination part of course.  I love it because you get to see people forced out of the aforementioned fears by incredible motivators.  I have never in my brief life in a gym, seen a person fall to the floor weeping in pain after running on a treadmill or treading water at the side of a pool.  I would fully endorse gyms if the participants inside worked themselves hard enough to throw up and/or cry, but people are too scared to push themselves that hard for fear of judgment. 

THIS IS WHY I SUGGEST AT HOME WORKOUT PROGRAMS!

Chest and Back!  For those of you who have ever done this routine you will appreciate this.  Chest and Back is the very first work out of the P90X series.  It is only done once a week, and only for the first 3 weeks and 3 out of the last 4 weeks of the entire 90 days.  So you only have to do the workout 6 times.  I have thrown up 75% of the time I have done this workout. 

WHY? 

Because I am able to push myself to my breaking point because I am in my own home.  I don't have to worry about other people judging me, so I am able to place my entire focus, no wait, my entire being into doing this work out as hard as I can possibly do it.  Amazing enough, I also get results.

I also have the benefit of my own personal trainer in Tony Horton, who has obviously done his homework because the guy in an ABSOLUTE BEAST!  The same thing goes for any of the other fitness gurus who have created a workout routine.  I have the best of both worlds, I am in the comfort of my own home so I can cry and throw up without any fear of embarrassment and I have my own personal trainer who keeps me motivated and moving forward.

But wait, did I just hear you say, "What about form"? "How do you know you are doing the exercise correctly"?  "What about injury"?  "What if I can't do it the exact way he does it?" 

Well lets see, I have two eyes and a mirror so I am fairly confident I can mimic other people.  I have been doing that for many years, plus, all I am doing is body weight exercises along with free weights or bands.  I am fairly confident in my abilities as an intellectual person that if a weight is too heavy for me to pick, well then, I won't pick it up or if a move is too complicated or hurts me in any way, I will modify it or do something else.

The point is I am DOING IT.  I am pushing myself as hard as I can and getting results because of it.  Here comes the not so shameful plug again.  If you are curious about researching "at home" workout routines, go to HighOctaneHealth.com and checkout the "Workout" tab.  There are a number of different programs for all types of fitness levels.  Each one is a link to a video that will help you decide which one is right for you.  I implore you to look over each one.  You never know which one might appeal to you.

Hopefully this is the last time I will focus on the topic of "How to Exercise" because I think that as long as you are consistently exercising as hard as you can on a regular basis then you will be fine 

My focus for the next couple of blogs will be nutrition and the fact that we really don't have a clue as to what is good and/or bad for us.