Week 11 of this year’s Fit for the Holidays challenge means it’s the end of the line this week! Please read Fit for the Holidays Challenge introduction if you haven’t done so already. The challenge runs until December 24th and started October 8th. If you have made it so far, you should feel really proud of yourself, as well as feeling in great shape for the holidays. Congratulations are coming your way, but you’ve still got one more week to go.

• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 1
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 2
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 3
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 4
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 5
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 6
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 7
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 8
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 9
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 10

Sunday, December 17, 2017 – Final Elimination!

There is a great book, The Paradox of Choice, that explores the buyer’s remorse and decision fatigue so common in our society. We have more choices than ever, but that seems to be overwhelming, creating less satisfaction with each decision, and less productivity as we second-guess ourselves.

Consequently, one amazingly freeing concept is restriction. This week you must give up either: eating out, sugar, social media, or If you are really feeling up to a challenge…

No television or no phone (except emergencies).

Monday

While we are restricting, how about a workout with no right arm? That means Left Arm Only. I’m stealing this one from Dan John. You’ll need one kettlebell and you must do this outside.

For Carries go as Far as Possible

For Squats, Deadlifts, Rows, and Presses do 10

5 Rounds

Tuesday- Do This Now

Plan a day in December to volunteer. Give your time and energy to other people less fortunate. This is a priority! Follow through!

Wednesday

Repeat Monday’s workout, but do the opposite. Right Arm Only.

Thursday – Winter is Coming

Imagine you live in a tribe of 100. It’s winter and food is less available. You must hunt while hungry. Today do an 18 hour intermittent fast. Figure out when the last time you ate was. Now count 18 hours from there. Can you make it until that time without eating? For example, if it was 7 pm, then you aren’t eating, or drinking calories, until 11 am? How was that? Did your perspective on hunger change at all?

Also! Take a 3 minute cold shower! You didn’t think we were done with this one, did you?

Friday – I like to Move it, Move it!

What a challenging week! What a challenging 11 weeks! Today find joy in your exercise. What’s that mean to you? Is it repeating your favorite workout from the past 11 weeks? Is it skill practice on bodyweight movements or kettlebell work? Maybe it’s calling a friend and playing racquetball, or getting a group and playing Frisbee football. Maybe it’s dancing. Just go enjoy yourself.

Saturday – You are Awesome!

Check in with yourself. What was it about this challenge that was worthwhile? What do you want to continue doing? What needs to become a habit? What will be your approach going forward? Maybe you can do things in different ways. For example, what if you restricted social media checks to two times a day and every time you wanted to check social media, you meditated for 2 minutes instead.

Make notes and then celebrate! You made it! Reward yourself!

The post Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 11 appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Week 10 of this year’s Fit for the Holidays challenge starts this Sunday. Please read Fit for the Holidays Challenge introduction if you haven’t done so already. The challenge runs until December 24th and started October 8th. Keep looking for updates every weekend. That’s a minimum of three days a week of exercises, along with challenges meant to instruct and grow your knowledge of nutritional and emotional health.

• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 1
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 2
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 3
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 4
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 5
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 6
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 7
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 8
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 9
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 11

Sunday, December 10, 2017 – What do you really need?

As the Holiday rush ramps up, let’s find more time and clarity by creating space. This week let’s eliminate stuff. Start with a sweep of your clothes, your garage, and wherever else. If you haven’t worn it or used lately, it’s cluttering your life. Fill some bags and donate to the Salvation Army or some local donation bin. Then go through email and block a few mailing lists you are no longer interested in.

Monday

Do the Following Workout, Outside! Yes, I know it is December:

The following video teaches the ascending press ladder and explains the benefits of ladders in general.

Tuesday – Unplug

No TV today! You can do it! I mean there isn’t any football on, anyway. Don’t let yourself think about it. Substitute reading, board games, walks in the park, Frisbee, whatever! It’s not too cold, yet! Remember, it’s only getting colder.

Wednesday

Thursday – You’re Too Sweet

Today we eliminate sugar. Eat nothing with added sugar, yet find flavor! Plan for this and make a new dinner. If you can’t cook slow down and just have fun.

Friday

10-1 Ladder ROUND 2! You’ll do a round of 10 reps of each exercise, followed by a round of 9, then 8, all the way until you do a round of 1. Time Yourself and try to beat your time from November 17th.

Saturday

What else is there to eliminate? Greg McKeown says in his book, Essentialism, “You cannot overestimate the unimportance of practically everything.” Today take 30 minutes to examine your job and your life. Are you spread too thin? What is really essential that you don’t make enough time for? What is getting in the way? What work tasks waste time with little reward. What else could you do with that time? Identify one priority for the day and crush it! Job well done.

The post Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 10 appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Week 9 of this year’s Fit for the Holidays challenge starts this Sunday. Please read Fit for the Holidays Challenge introduction if you haven’t done so already. The challenge runs until December 24th and started October 8th. Keep looking for updates every weekend. That’s a minimum of three days a week of exercises, along with challenges meant to instruct and grow your knowledge of nutritional and emotional health.

• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 1
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 2
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 3
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 4
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 5
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 6
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 7
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 8
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 10
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 11

Sunday, December 3, 2017 – “The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way, becomes the way.” – Marcus Aurelius

All that meditating has probably made you far more aware of your relationship with thoughts than ever before. I encourage you to look at how you can keep this habit. Hopefully you are now more aware of the thoughts you have and are more intentional about your response to them. With that in mind, just notice today any time you complain. If you complain, you have to immediately think of something you are grateful for.

Monday – Everyone Presses on Monday, but Not Like This

Today lets really learn to press. Not bench press. Kettlebell Strict Press. Practice with intense focus. However many sets you like, but never too heavy and no more than 5 reps per side.

Don’t forget to Meditate!

Tuesday – Train Luck

Your mind can be trained to see positives and possibilities or to catastrophize and be victimized. Choose optimism. Will Bowen started a 21 Day No Complaint Challenge. Get a rubber band and put it on your wrist. If you complain, snap it and switch wrists. Your goal is to make 21 straight days. The one caveat, I’m stealing from Tim Ferriss, is that you can give constructive criticism where solutions are offered. This ensures that you can work to overcome obstacles. This one may take a while, but its worth it!

Wednesday – Clean Up

Today lets really learn the kettlebell clean. Practice with intense focus. However many sets you like, but never too heavy and no more than 5 reps per side.

After that do the same kettlebell strict press practice as for Monday.

Don’t forget to Meditate!

Thursday- Empathy Seeks Understanding

It’s Pearl Harbor Day. Take a moment to learn about Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder from the author of Tribe, Sebastian Junger. So many have sacrificed so much for us. Perhaps the least we can do is try to understand their experience better.

Friday- Practice Makes Perfect!

No music and no distractions. Let your workout be a form of meditation.

Saturday- Leave it Better

Take a walk today with a garbage bag. Every time you see trash, throw it in the bag. Bonus points for squatting or hinging perfectly when picking up trash.

The post Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 9 appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Week 8 of this year’s Fit for the Holidays challenge starts this Sunday. Please read Fit for the Holidays Challenge introduction if you haven’t done so already. The challenge runs until December 24th and started October 8th. Keep looking for updates every weekend. That’s a minimum of three days a week of exercises, along with challenges meant to instruct and grow your knowledge of nutritional and emotional health.

• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 1
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 2
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 3
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 4
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 5
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 6
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 7
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 9
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 10
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 11

Sunday, November 26, 2017 – Don’t Just Sit There, Do Nothing

The Thanksgiving rush is over. But life just seems to accelerate this time of year. This week you will meditate each day.  It will be a habit for at least this week, so plan a cue, a routine, and a reward. Have you continued waking up and moving? If so, I recommend adding this to the end of your 5 minutes of activity. It is only ten minutes and I truly believe it is worth your while to know why meditation matters. Here’s what to do:

Set a timer for 10 minutes, get comfortable, and follow your breathing. Make sure no distractions are around and just watch your breaths as they come in and out. When thoughts inevitably arise, don’t fight them. Just let them go and return to the breath. You may be tempted to skip this one. Please, just trust me and do it. Don’t judge how well you do it, or label your performance. Just observe the breath and allow your brain to have no objective.

Monday

No Equipment this week. Today, find a hill or bleachers. Sprint up, do anywhere from 5 to 15 push-ups and walk down. Do as many as seems appropriate. As always add in a few Grease the Groove Pull-Ups throughout the day.

Tuesday

10 Minute Meditation

Wednesday

Pick 4 or 5 movements from this set of suggested bodyweight exercises and practice. Do 4 rounds of practicing each exercise until fatigued. If you’re really bad at any exercise, just regress. Baby steps can go a long way over time.

Need More Specific Direction? How about 4 rounds of:

Followed by 4 Rounds of:

Thursday

10 Minute Meditation

Friday – Your Heroic Potential!

Round 2 of Wednesday’s Challenge. Practice makes perfect. Need some extra motivation? Watch the trailer for The Motivation Factor. Watch the movie if you can. I bet that makes you curious as to what your body is capable of. Have fun practicing these bodyweight skills.

Saturday

15 Minute Meditation! Up the ante. Then reflect.

The post Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 8 appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Week 7 of this year’s Fit for the Holidays challenge starts this Sunday. Please read Fit for the Holidays Challenge introduction if you haven’t done so already. The challenge runs until December 24th and started October 8th. We’ll release the next week’s list of daily challenges every weekend. They’ll include a minimum of three days a week of exercises, along with challenges meant to instruct and grow your knowledge of nutritional and emotional health.

• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 1
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 2
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 3
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 4
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 5
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 6
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 8
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 9
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 10
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 11

Sunday, November 19, 2019 – The Name Game

Congratulations! You’ve made it through more than half of the weeks.

There are many essential ideas in the classic Dale Carnegie book, How to Win Friends and Influence People. This week , as people gather to celebrate, I want to emphasize the amazing power of calling people by their first name. I’ve witnessed this first hand as a Coach, a Teacher, and a student. I’ll never forget struggling through a Hot Yoga session holding some sadistic contortion of my body and ready collapse. Right before I quit, my instructor, Stacy, exclaimed, “Great job, Shane. Keep it up.” The rest of the session, I was hers. Today and this week, go to great lengths to remember names and call people by their first name.

Monday

Return to your kettlebell.

Do SLOW Turkish Get-ups. 5/side with each Get-Up taking at least 30 seconds.

Next, warm-up with a couple sets of 10 Kettlebell Swings.

Then swing for as long as you can without breaking form. Count the reps and record them.

Tuesday – Get Back on Board

Take stock. We’ve added a ton of layers to your life over the past 8 weeks. Some challenges ask you to create new habits. How are those going? Have you been doing a few pull-ups every day? If pull-ups are a piece of cake now, substitute daily Crow’s or Handstand Practice. Have you been moving for 5 minutes first thing every morning? How about before bed? Are you able to have no phone or TV in bed? Reflect on these exercises and, if you’ve faltered, make a plan to redouble your efforts even through travel or the holiday rush.

Wednesday

Move however you can and however you most like. You may be travelling all day. If so, every rest stop requires 10 squats, 10 push-ups, and pull-ups creatively accomplished. Regardless of what you do, find 5 to 10 minutes to go through this recovery.

Thursday – Gobble Up!

Happy Thanksgiving! Have fun. The day is full of enough challenges so just be Thankful.

Friday – Slow Down and Run!

When’s the last time you went on a long run? Take it easy, but just run. Whether 1 or 10 miles, just enjoy nature as you run. Here’s the catch: No technology allowed on the run. No headphones, no phone, no nothing. Stick with the gratitude of Thanksgiving.

Saturday – Self-Less

How to Win Friends and Influence People, also talks about the concept that people love to talk about themselves. Today, you are not allowed to talk about yourself, except to answer questions, or as a means of relating to others to ask someone more about themselves. All communication today must be focused on people other than yourself. Observe how much people appreciate this.

The post Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 7 appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Week 6 of this year’s Fit for the Holidays challenge starts this Sunday. Please read Fit for the Holidays Challenge introduction if you haven’t done so already. The challenge runs until December 24th and started October 8th. We’ll release the next week’s list of daily challenges every weekend. They’ll include a minimum of three days a week of exercises, along with challenges meant to instruct and grow your knowledge of nutritional and emotional health.

• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 1
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 2
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 3
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 4
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 5
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 7
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 8
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 9
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 10
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 11

Sunday, November 12, 2017 – Boot Down

No phone or TV in Bed. The screens excite your brain and work against sleep. Reduce the stranglehold of your digital leash by stopping all phone use 30 minutes prior to bed and charging your phone outside the bedroom or at least out of arm’s length. Disconnect from the rest of the world! It will be okay! If you’re a nervous parent, you can set the phone to only ring when certain people call. Here’s the catch. You aren’t just doing this for tonight- it’s a new habit. Replace phone time with reading or another habit that relaxes you.

Monday

All done with complete rest (credit to Pavel Tsatsouline)

Tuesday- Take the Plunge

Take a Cold Shower for a minimum of 3 minutes. The health benefits are overwhelming, including everything from increased alertness, to improved mood (afterwards), to improved immunity and circulation. You know your ancestors didn’t get warm water whenever they wanted. Don’t think about it, just go!

Wednesday- SLOW DOWN

Today: Squat, RDL, Push-Up, & Inverted Row. Do 4 circuits of 5 reps for each of these movements at light weight. Lower Each Rep (eccentric) at a steady pace for 5 seconds. Pause at the bottom with tension (isometric) for 3 seconds. Drive to the top (concentric) slow and steady.

Thursday

Take a Cold Shower for a minimum of 3 minutes. Yes you are reading that right. Do it again! It is a great habit. Most of all, it teaches willpower. Willpower is a muscle we can build over time. If you have the willpower to jump in that shower, you’ll have it to start a workout, or delay gratification.

Friday- Come Down the Ladder

10-1 Ladder. You’ll do a round of 10 reps of each exercise, followed by a round of 9, then 8, all the way until you do a round of 1. Time Yourself and record the time in your notebook for a later date.

Advanced & Intermediate Exercises:

Pick anywhere from 45 lbs to 205 lbs., but be conservative.

BB Bench Press; BB Deadlift; Pull-Ups; BB Back Squat; Hanging Knee Raise

Beginner’s Exercises:

Inverted Rows; Squat to Jumps; Reverse Crunch; Push-ups; Frog Pumps

Saturday

Set a timer for 10 minutes, get comfortable, and follow your breathing. Make sure no distractions are around and just watch your breaths as they come in and out. When thoughts inevitably arise, don’t fight them. Just let them go and return to the breath. You may be tempted to skip this one. Please, just trust me and do it. Don’t judge how well you do it, or label your performance. Just observe the breath and allow your brain to have no objective.

The post Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 6 appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Week 5 of this year’s Fit for the Holidays challenge starts this Sunday. Please read Fit for the Holidays Challenge introduction if you haven’t done so already. The challenge runs until December 24th and started October 8th. Each Friday, we’ll release the next week’s list of daily challenges. They’ll include a minimum of three days a week of exercises, along with challenges meant to instruct and grow your knowledge of nutritional and emotional health.

• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 1
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 2
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 3
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 4
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 6
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 7
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 8
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 9
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 10
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 11

Sunday, November 11, 2017 – Wake up and… ?

The father of psychology William James once said, that “we are mere bundles of habits”. Any lasting change has to become habit to become part of your lifestyle. Today, you’ll start not checking your phone for the first 30 minutes every morning.

Monday- Swing Away

Learn the kettlebell swing. This week is all swings all the time! It takes a bit, but Coach Chris Holder and many others maintain it is THE MOST Important exercise. It’s a bit of a dance that will improve with time. Practice in sets of no more than 10 and for no longer than 20 minutes. You’ll do this Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Add Turkish Get-Up Practice and Pull-up Greasing the Groove. For advanced kettlebellers, do the same, but feel free to go heavy, single hand, etc.

In today’s video we cover:

• The kettlebell swing
• This week practice the kettlebell swing in sets of no more than 10 for no more than 20 minutes
• Then move to Turkish get-ups practice. If you have moved to doing these with a kettlebell do 3-5/side
• As usual, make sure you are being consistent with your daily pull-ups

Tuesday- Eliminate, Replace, Reward

How is the not checking your phone going? It’s probably difficult if you haven’t substituted a new habit. Habits are chains. There is a cue, followed by a routine, followed by a reward. Your cue is waking up and you probably used to immediately check your phone to get a reward of dopamine as you received all that juicy attention or information. We must substitute a new habit. For now, try 5 minutes of moving! You decide on the reward.

Wednesday

Refer to Monday. Keep working on what you started there.

If you want some variety this week try the finisher discussed in the video below, it might be more challenging then you think:

• 10 minutes of this doing a full circuit every minute on the minute (EMOM)
• Push-ups x5
• Inverted rows x5
• Kettlebell Bulgarian split squat x5/side

Thursday- Staycation?

Plan a mini-vacation. You don’t have to spend much but break out of the routine. Might a suggest camping or a little cabin. Something close, but also out of the ordinary. It can be one evening or a few. Maybe you even plan a Friday off of work.

Friday

Check Monday’s routine again. It should have been challenging you all this week and helping you build technique and skill, at the same time.

Saturday- Building Social Skills

Part 2 of this challenge. It must be important! A day of no smartphones, social media, or internet. The only exception being phone calls to solidify plans. Embrace awkward pauses and enjoy the people you are with.

The post Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 5 appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Week 4 of this year’s Fit for the Holidays challenge starts this Sunday. Please read Fit for the Holidays Challenge introduction if you haven’t done so already. The challenge runs until December 24th and started October 8th. Each Friday, we’ll release the next week’s list of daily challenges. They’ll include a minimum of three days a week of exercises, along with challenges meant to instruct and grow your knowledge of nutritional and emotional health.

• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 1
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 2
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 3
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 5
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 6
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 7
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 8
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 9
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 10
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 11

Sunday, October 29, 2017 – On Purpose

Week 4 is a classic week for burn-out. Are you tired of challenge? Read this article on how to define and act on your values and answer the question prompts. Clarifying purpose and values is often the best motivator.

Monday

Squats and Turkish Get-Up Practice. Repeat Week 2’s Monday, if you don’t know what to do. If you’re a refined squatter, go heavy and have fun!

In this video we cover:

• KB Goblet Squat (Cue Screwing Feet into floor)
• Double KB Front Squat
• 20 Sec Iso Hold Circuit:
  • R Split Squat
  • Side Plank
  • L Split Squat
  • PUPP (elbow bend)

Tuesday – Isolation is TaBOO

Happy Halloween! Be part of the community tonight! Walk the dogs with the wife. Take the kids trick or treating. Set up shop on the front lawn, or whatever is most inviting to people. Enjoy those around you. Oh and dress a little weird. Embrace weirdness.

Wednesday – The Elements

Workout Outside! If it’s cold, bundle up. If it’s rainy, put on a rain jacket. I don’t care what you do. Push sleds, run hills, or bring that kettlebell outside and practice getups from the earth. Just enjoy time out in the fresh air.

In this video we cover:

• Kettlebell Swing or Jump Lunge
• Crawl Variation x 10 Steps
• Carry Variation x Failure

Thursday – The Hunger Game

Intermittent fast. Figure out when the last time you ate was. Now count 16 hours from there. Can you make it until that time without eating? For example, if it was 7 pm, then you aren’t eating, or drinking calories, until 11 am? How was that? Did your perspective on hunger change at all?

Friday – Ta-what-a?

Tabata is a classic protocol perfect for spiking your metabolism and getting a lot done in a short time. It’s simple 8 rounds of 20 seconds on and 10 seconds off of any lift. After 4 minutes you are spent.

Today you have two Tabatas:

• Push-Ups (regress these by moving hands up higher to a bench of plyo box)
• Squats (either Front Squats or air squats)

Crush them!

Saturday- You’re Rich (spiritually at least)!

Today is the last day of your 3-Week spending purge of all but the bare-necessities. Reflect on this challenge. How hard was it? Are there any purchases you normally would have made that you’re glad you didn’t?

The post Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 4 appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 1
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 2
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 4
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 5
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 6
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 7
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 8
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 9
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 10
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 11

Sunday, October 22, 2017 – Act like a Baby

Listen to this Breaking Muscle Podcast episode with Tim Anderson. Spend a little time breathing deep, rocking, neck nodding, rolling, and crawling. Just play with the idea.

Monday

End or Begin your workout with 5 Minutes of Lunges- GO! Also, how are the pull-ups going? If unsure what else to do, practice those and go through that get back up circuit again.

In the video below we cover:

• Make sure you have a notebook and are tracking each day. This takes virtually no time, but will become really necessary as we move forward.
• 5 Minutes of Lunges
• Bonus- Pull-ups, Dragon Walk, RDL, Carries
• A reminder to do all days of the challenge, even the non-workout days. There is method to the madness. Many of the goals will become integrated as we go and promote willpower and mental health necessary for long term training success and physical health. Though our society doesn’t model this, we need to remember that you cannot separate physical, mental, and emotional health- they are deeply interrelated

Tuesday- Pay Attention to Your Attention

Nothing kills productivity like our frequent email and social media checks. Tristan Harris, a former Google employee, illuminates how the smartphone is designed to be a slot machine. You get hits of dopamine that create constant habitual checks for messages. Take back control. Set a new rule for your day that you will only check email at two specific times each day. If possible, make these during the work day and leave work at work. Train people to know that if something is time sensitive, they should call. Think you’re too busy to do this? Tim Ferris has successfully run companies batching email and checking only once a day.

Wednesday- I said Get-Up!

Learn to Turkish Get-Up. Read the linked article and practice. This exercise may have more bang for the buck than any other. It will make you strong and help you move better. Gray Cook calls it loaded Yoga. Don’t rush it, though. Start with a shoe on your fist. When you get good, go to a half full cup of water. For beginners, that’s as far as you can go today. For the advanced, dedicate a full day to nothing but the get-up!

In the video below we cover:

• The Turkish Get-Up
• Have fun learning this skill!!! Take the pressure off of trying to rush it and trying to get tired. This time investment will unlock tons of physical benefits and future training success. It’s a limitless exercise with limitless variation and upside

Thursday- Pay Attention to Your Attention Pt. 2

You’re down to 2 email checks per day. Now lets do add 2 social media checks per day. Batch it into 2 periods of 30 minutes or less.

Friday- Walk the Plank!

The plank is a foundation you have to have. Dan John claims that anyone who cannot do a 2 minute Push-Up Position Plank needs strength work. Set a timer for 2 minutes and Plank. If you crushed that, progress your plank. If those progressions aren’t enough, I like plank pulls or renegade rows. Play with 5 sets of these plank variations with 5 sets of 100 Jump Rope Jumps between each.

In the video below we cover:

• Plank Variations
• Plank Pulls, Bar Roll-Outs, or Renegade Rows, w/ 100 Jump Ropes- 5 sets
• Want to Really Crush your Core? TGU w/ Crawl (moving Plank) w/ J-Ropes

Saturday- Just Do It

What have you been putting off? Paying that bill? Calling your Mom? Raking all these dang leaves?!? Whatever you’ve put off, knock it out as early as possible today. Doesn’t that feel better?

The post Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 3 appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 1
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 3
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 4
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 5
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 6
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 7
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 8
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 9
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 10
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 11

Sunday, October 15, 2017 – The Bare Necessities

Today’s challenge is a 3-week challenge and will actually start tomorrow! Can you make it until October 28th, with no expenses except the necessities (as you define them)? Today, take care of all the little details. This may mean you have to buy coffee at the store to replace that daily Starbucks habit. It might mean you buy a couple books today because you’ll need some entertainment. If you don’t have access, you may want either a 16 kg or a 24kg kettlebell. Plan and commit.

Monday – You Don’t Know Squat

Start with Light Kettlebell Goblet Squats and do 3 sets of 10 reps with a 5 second negative and 3 second pause at the bottom. Keep tension through your entire body during all phases of each repetition. Focus on driving through big toe, pinky toe, and heel as you come up on each rep.

Next, do 3 Rounds of this Isometric Hold Circuit:

Advanced Option: Now add 3×5/side Airborne Lunge, or Kettlebell Bulgarian Split Squats

Tuesday – Awkward!

You are awesome! Often we limit ourselves for fear of public perception. To be our fullest selves we must be willing to be weird and buck the standard. This strength is necessary for acts of integrity and counter-cultural healthy behaviors. Today, we will build our tolerance for social awkwardness. These Rules Dictate Your Day: You must stand all day at work. Prop up your computer if you need. The only exception will be that you may sit on the floor. Lastly, if waiting in a public space you cannot pull out your phone. Instead, practice standing on one foot with your eyes closed. Alternate feet until your waiting time is over.

Wednesday – It’s time you start pulling your weight

Your goal: To do one Pull-Up or, to do more pull-ups. Read the article on Grease the Groove Training. Find ten to 15 times throughout your day to do one-third of your max number of pull-ups with perfect form. Let the world start to look like a gym. If you see a soccer goal, jump up and do some pull-ups. If you see monkey bars or a sturdy branch, pull yourself up there. If you can’t do 3 pull-ups, read the article How to Nail Your First Pull Up, and ignore the first one. You can get one and according to Tony Gentilcore in our Breaking Muscle Podcast: Deadlifts, F-Bombs and Authentic Weirdness, this is probably the best fitness goal for you. Here’s the deal, it isn’t a one day sort of thing. Following the grease the groove philosophy, you’ll want to do some easy pull ups every day!

Thursday – Let’s Get Real

Plan ahead for this one. Today you will drink only water and eat only foods that have one ingredient. You may combine single ingredient foods yourself such as eggs, with spinach, onions, and avocado, or have vegetable or nut medleys where multiple single ingredient nuts or veggies are mixed together.

Friday – Get Up, Already

Did you know that your ability to get up off the floor is a predictor of health? Try the Sitting and Rising Test. Then practice Dan John’s “get back up” circuit.

Do this for 4 Rounds.

Saturday – Leave it Better

Get a garbage bag, maybe some plastic gloves, and walk your neighborhood or a local park picking up trash. We all know we shouldn’t litter, but few do anything about it. Beautify the neighborhood and work on your squat and hip hinge each time you pick something up. Whether just 5 minutes worth or 30, you’re making a difference and getting great practice!

The post Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 2 appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

We are humans. We once braved the Ice Age, chased down wildebeests, outwitted wild tigers, and converted trees into boats to travel the oceans. We survived starvation, violence, and the elements, and bonded together into units to defy them all. Once upon a time, daily physical challenge was expected, not feared. Adversity and discomfort were par for the course. We moved with confidence and confidence, and even invented dance and sport to fill our spare time with more activity.

We thrived in this environment. We respected our biology’s need for nature, for challenge, for community, and for a purpose bigger than ourselves.

My, how times have changed. Phil White, co-author of Unplugged, explains in our podcast The Fitness Technology Inside Your Head, “We’ve largely tried to program adversity and extremes out of our daily lifestyle.” While this is more comfortable, it is not conducive to growth or a thriving existence. “Our biology is optimized when stressed in a variety of different ways”, says White.

Since our environment no longer provides that stress, we must intentionally seek out daily adversity in a world that’s gone to great lengths to remove it. Endless comfort and convenience are killing our humanity and our bodies. Challenge is the only path to fulfillment, health, and growth that feeds your spirit.

The Fit for the Holidays Challenge

Whether you’re looking to kickstart your fitness habit, or just shake up your current routine, I’ve created a program that will challenge you. Too often, our New Year’s resolutions are meant to counteract months of poor eating through the holiday season. Rather than float through fall and early winter, conceding defeat to the season of impulse, let’s circumvent the cultural binge by beginning a quest for growth. Lets embrace the holiday spirit, indulging only on occasion, while also embracing a spirit of adventure and challenge.

The Challenge will begin today, October 8 and finish Sunday, December 24th. Each Friday, we’ll release the next week’s list of daily challenges. They’ll include a minimum of three days a week of exercises, along with challenges meant to instruct and grow your knowledge of nutritional and emotional health.

If the exercise prescription provided isn’t enough, add more. For advanced lifters, it is likely just a great addition or starter to your workout. If the day calls for a sugar purge and you have a family holiday tradition that would be ruined, shuffle the days to better suit your schedule.

Be sure to share your feedback. The most important thing is to understand the philosophy behind these daily challenges. Health is not something that we can do for 45 days and then be good. My intent is to expose you to many healthy habits and methods that might push you out of your comfort zone. By the end, I hope this process helps you find concepts, strategies, and methods that you incorporate into your daily habits for the rest of your life.

It all starts today. In the meantime, make sure you have an empty notebook. Track and plan each day in the notebook. Write reflections on tasks, or just use the notebook to help organize, record vital information, and keep you progressing.

• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 1
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 2
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 3
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 4
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 5
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 6
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 7
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 8
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 9
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 10
• Fit for the Holidays Challenge – Week 11

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…the process of adapting well in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats, or even significant sources of stress – such as family and relationship problems, serious health problems, or workplace and financial stressors. It means ‘bouncing back’ from difficult experiences.

By virtue of this definition alone, an athlete easily fits within the parameters of this description. Now, couple this psychology definition with the factors of opponents, fans, training, competitions, teammates, coaches and trainers, controllable and uncontrollable variables, and injuries. Who better to bounce back from the face of adversity or to bounce back from difficult experiences than an athlete?

Can Resilience Be Taught?

Athletes of all abilities, but especially high-performance athletes, must have resiliency in abundance in order to war with the dynamics of internal and external conflict. As Dr. Robert Heller, a psychologist and sports psychology consultant, attests, resiliency in sports is:

…one of the key mental attributes an individual or team player must have. The ability to come back from behind, to fight fiercely until the last second…

As psychologists, coaches, and trainers seek to understand and to train their athletes in the art of resiliency, the question arises – is resilience an innate trait or a trait that can be taught? All answers to this question seem to stem from the resiliency theory, which is broad based and may be applied across a variety of spectrums. 

In essence, the resiliency theory is based on the principle that all people have the ability to overcome adversity and to succeed despite their life circumstances. The resiliency theory focuses on providing developmental support and opportunities to promote success, despite the mistakes or errors an individual makes.

The Resiliency Theory in Action

NBA star Michael Jordan (pictured below) is the epitome of resiliency in sports. Cut from his high school basketball team, he did not let this stop him from playing the game. In Bud Bilanich’s article, 50 Famous People Who Failed at Their First Attempt at Career Success, Michael Jordan states:

I have missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I have lost almost 300 games. On 26 occasions I have been entrusted to take the game winning shot, and I missed. I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.

This is the quintessential example of the value of resiliency in athleticism. Bo Hanson, a four-time rowing Olympian and now a coaching consultant and director of athlete assessments, also attests to the importance of resiliency in an athlete. Mr. Hanson acknowledges that while all athletes make mistakes, what sets an elite athlete apart from the norm is his or her ability to quickly recover from a mistake.

A 4 Step Process to Increase Resiliency

In researching the different ways to instruct and implement resilience in sports programs, I was struck by the lack of consistency and agreement in how to teach it. As stated above, we know that athletic resilience can be learned, but how can athletic resilience be taught? 

In her article Overcoming Performance Errors with Resilience, Dr. Gloria B. Solomon, a specialist in sport psychology and a renowned sport sociologist, explores the subject. In collaboration with her colleague, A. Becker, Dr. Solomon developed a four-step process to help athletes deal with and learn from performance errors and to increase individual athletic resiliency. The simple mnemonic device, ARSE, (yes, really) follows:

• A = Acknowledge. The athlete acknowledges and accepts responsibility for his or her error and the frustration it has caused. Ownership of the error is essential in this phase of resiliency, as is acknowledging the frustration for the individual athlete, as well as for the team. ?
• R = Review. The athlete reviews the play and determines how and why the performance error occurred.
• S = Strategize. The athlete makes a plan to take corrective action for future plays. At this point, team members or coaches may also assist in corrective action, but again, the ownership for the performance error, as well as for the future strategy, belongs to the individual athlete.
• E = Execute. The athlete continues to perform in the event and prepares for the next play.

At first glance, it appears that this list will take time to enact, but in reality, as the athlete continually practices and implements this process, feedback will take seconds to accomplish. The faster the athlete realizes and actualizes this process, the more resilient the athlete becomes.

Practice Makes Resilient

Resiliency has become a popular buzzword in athletics and can encompass a wide range of situations. Despite myriad definitions and theories regarding resilience in athletics, one thing is certain – it is a highly desired and sought after athletic trait.

Through practice and repetition, feedback comes quickly, harkening back to Bo Hanson’s suggestion that elite athletes have an incredible recovery time from mistakes and errors. Drawing upon the necessity for trainers and coaches to adopt a resiliency plan and to teach athletes the ARSE method, we know that the art of resiliency can be a learned athletic trait.

References:

1. WestEd. “Resilience & Youth Development”. California Healthy Kids Survey. Accessed 10/6/14.

2. PsychCentral. “What is resilience?”. American Psychological Association. Accessed 10/6/14.

3. Solomon, G., “Overcoming Performance Errors with Resilience”. Association for Applied Sports Psychology. Accessed 10/06/14.

4. Hanson, B. “6 Ways to Improve an Athlete’s Resiliency.” Athlete Assessments. Accessed 10/06/14.

5. Bilanich, B.. “50 Famous People who Failed at their First Attempt at Career Success.” Bud Bilanich. Accessed 10/06/14.

6. Resilience Training Institute. Resilience Training Courses. Accessed 10/5/14.

Photos 1 & 3 courtesy of Shutterstock.

Photo 2 “michaeljordan” by Jason H.Smith Attribution-NonCommercial License.

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