Stop Doing That. Seriously!

[Taylot]

Are you tired of doing way too much and not seeing results?

 

Are you sabotaging your own efforts to get healthy?

 

Are you sick of reading these questions and want me to stop?

 

It's time to knock it off!

 

Today, we're going to look at some of the top mistakes made when trying to get healthy; things that hold us back from succeeding.

 

Although changing habits isn't an overnight process, simply making yourself AWARE of these behaviors is a step in the right direction towards improving.

 

So, seriously. If you're doing anything below and you hate doing it...this is my doctor's note that tells you it's okay to stop.

 

Onward!

 

 

 

 

Stop doing that exercise!

 

Stop doing crunches and sit ups.   I know you want a flat stomach, but you won't get there with 1000 crunches and sit ups every day.  It doesn't work that way.  Believe it or not, sit ups can mess up your lower back, as can crunches.  They're also an incomplete exercise, as they don't work out your entire core (stomach AND lower back).  But that's missing the point: a flat stomach is made in the kitchen, and 90% of your results will come from clean eating.

 

My favorite "ab exercises?" Squats, deadlifts, pull ups, and eating right.  Yoga, handstands, planks, push ups, and other full body exercises all contribute to a strong core.  In order for you to see those stomach muscles though, you need to lose the fat on top of them!

 

Stop doing side bends.  Boy, I'm ripping both side bends and situps to shreds? Sir Mix-A-Lot is NOT going to be happy.  Doing side bends might make you think you're getting rid of your love handles. Nope.  You're building up the muscle UNDER your love handles. Want to get rid of the love handles? Make better food decisions!

 

Stop doing "power curtsies" (half-ass squats),

.  If you're going to squat, do it right! Not in a Smith machine. Do it with a bar across your shoulders, and dropping until the tops of your legs are bellow parallel!  Squat deep, or it's a "power curtsy," which is an incomplete exercise.  In my 13 years of training in a commercial gym, I have probably seen less than twenty people do a proper squat.

 

By simply putting in a bit of effort and learning to squat properly, you'll be ahead of 99% of the general public.

 

Stop doing exercise you hate! If you don't like running, get the hell off the treadmill!  If you don't like gyms, get the hell out of there!  If you don't like weight machines or picking up weights, get stronger with just your bodyweight or yoga.  I get my exercise from basketball, yoga, strength training, hiking, and walking.  You might get yours from Yoga, playing with your kids, walking your dog, and rock climbing.

 

Life is too short to spend time doing stuff you don't enjoy!

 

Stop doing the wrong exercises for your goals: Are you trying to look like Daniel Craig by running 30 miles a week? Are you spending your time in the weight room training for a triathlon? Make sure you are doing the right exercises for your goals. If you're trying to build muscle, then build muscle. If you're training for a race, then train. If you're just looking to look and feel better, then get started with the basics that will get you there. Far too many people spend their time and energy on the wrong exercises for the goals, simply out of habit...or they try to fix and improve everything at the same time!

 

Keep it simple! Boring gets results.

 

Stop over-complicating your exercise: Despite what the fancy trainer tells you, you don't need to be doing all your exercises on a bosu ball. Most of the time beginners overcomplicate a simple exercise or workout routine by adding in unnecessary complications.

Instead of barbell squatting on the bosu ball, do a normal squat and focus on form, increasing the weight each week.

Instead of coming up with a routine that looks more like an interpretive dance, just stick to the basics: whole body, compound movements that build the most strength (and burn the most fat) in the least amount of time.

Not sure what I mean? Start with the training routine here.

Stop multi-tasking and wasting time:  Instead of spending 90 minutes in the gym reading a magazine while working out, checking your phone and talking to people, why not get your workout done in 30-45 minutes and get home to your family/friends/Xbox One/PS4?!

 

If you look like NF Team Member Staci having some fun here while working out...you're doing it wrong

 

 

Seriously, stop freaking out!

 

Stop weighing yourself every freaking day.  Definitely don't do it more than once a day.  The scale can lie, and it's a SMALL part of your progress.  Depending on how you ate the night before, the day of the month, or how much water you've retained, that scale can fluctuate worse than bitcoin's value (current event reference FTW!).  Saintand Staci both GAINED weight towards the ends of their transformations.  Joe didn't step on a scale for 6 months.  THAT NUMBER DOES NOT DEFINE YOU.

 

Stop freaking out over calorie totals! Not all calories are created equal.  Who cares if you eat 2050 calories when the Daily Plate says you should eat 2000?  Your body is a finely tuned piece of machinery that can handle a tremendous amount of fluctuation.  We're all for educating yourself on macronutrients and figuring out how much food you are eating, but don't become neurotic about that amount each day.  If you find yourself eating too much one day, eat a little next the day next. Our body doesn't reset our stats each day after going to sleep!

 

Don't feel like counting calories? Cool, me neither! Just fill yourself up with the right foods, and make adjustments as you go based on your goals.

 

Stop calling it a "cheat meal!" The term "cheat meal" assumes you're cheating and doing something wrong while on a 'diet.'  You are being a bad person by cheating from the norm and thus are in danger of falling apart or beating yourself up.  Guess what, I eat bad food without guilt.  This past weekend I ate pizza and drank beer with my dad while watching football - my stomach didn't like me very much, but come Sunday I got RIGHT BACK on track.  It wasn't a 'cheat,' it was a conscious decision to eat something outside of the norm...and then get right back on track.

 

Stop letting one bad decision ruin everything!  Who cares if you had an unhealthy breakfast?  That doesn't mean the day is ruined and lunch and dinner are lost causes.  Who cares if you missed yesterday's workout? That doesn't mean the week is ruined. One bad decision will not derail your efforts. One bad decision is only a problem when you let it dictate the rest of your day/week/month.   No more "eh, I'll just start tomorrow/next month."  Start now.

 

When you make a "bad" decision (and it's only bad if you make yourself feel guilty about it), just don't make it two days in a row.

 

 

Stop perpetuating that mindset!

 

Stop saying "I can't."  When you say "I can't eat that" or "I can't do that," you are telling your brain to focus on that one thing you can't do.  "I can't eat cake" is making you think about the one thing you're depriving yourself of eating.  Besides - the

.  Instead, say "I don't."  When you do this,

!

 

It's science.

 

Stop collecting underpants.  There's no perfect moment.  More information at this point isn't going to help.  You read Nerd Fitness, which puts you in the top 1% of potential superheroes on the planet.  Take action.  Try stuff.  Learn as you go.  That's how we all do it.  There's no master blueprint for everybody to follow. It's trial and error, self experimentation, and adaptation based on results!

 

Stop going on 'diets.'  Congrats! You never have to go on another diet for the rest of your life.  A diet assumes you're making non-permanent, drastic changes that you don't like to quickly achieve a goal before going back to your old ways. Stop that!  You don't have to be miserable.  What you're going to do instead is make a series of teeny tiny, lifelong adjustments.  Over time, you're going to gradually shift your eating habits to line up with the goals you're interested in.

 

Stop thinking that it's all or nothing - Small changes lead to big results. You don't have to hop on a nutritional program and revamp your diet overnight, eating radically different for the next 30 days. This is a recipe for failure. Instead, try starting by just drinking one less soda tomorrow. Wait until that change feels normal before making another one.

 

Stop making excuses - It's amazing what we can justify to ourselves when we don't feel like exercising.  "Well I only have an hour, and I need 70 minutes for my workout...I'll just go tomorrow."  "But it's cold out!"  "I had a really bad day at work" "But there's a zombie apocalypse."  Identify what your priorities are, and MAKE THEM A PRIORITY.

 

Stop using "I deserve this" to sabotage your efforts!  "I worked out for 30 minutes today!  I deserve these six donuts."  "I worked out three days in a row! I deserve this pint of ice cream."  Stop rewarding your good behavior with bad prizes that send you back three steps!  Reward yourself with things that reward you back.

 

 

What you should doing

 

You should start.  

 

.

 

Find a way to be better each day...just a little bit.

 

Big simple movements. No overreacting and beating ourselves up over a bad day.  No self-sabotage.

 

Small changes. Experimentation. Constant improvement.

 

Every change counts.

 

You got this.

 

Be honest: What's one thing you need to STOP doing?

 

What's one step you're going to take to help you stop doing it?

 

 

Me: I need to stop getting distracted online and pushing my workouts back by hours, thus messing up my schedule for the rest of the day.

 

 

Solution: Over the past two weeks, I put my workouts IN my calendar and my phone alerts me when it's time to exercise. That one change alone has forced me to get to the gym sooner than I usually do.

Your turn. No judgment.

 

-Steve

 

###

 

photo source: stop gate, stop button, stop sign, start, [url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/angelsk/2552101096/]eyeore

[pirateradio]

I loved this, I think it is the pragmatism that makes it work, that cuts through the BS and really gets to the heart of things. Anyone who I have found who makes sense says pretty much the same thing, that there is no magic bullet, that with exercise it is what works for you, and that what works for that lady across the street with the kick ass body or the guy who looks like he could bench press two Navy seals, might not work for you. It is about learning to eat healthy in a way that works for  you, whether paleo, vegetarian, low carb, high carb, high fat, you name it, and I think the real thing is being deliberate about what we do. There is a famous study if you ever study organizational behavior, that is a classic, called the Hawthorne Study (or Hawthorne effect)...in the study, they tinkered with the work environment of employees of a gas works (where they produced coal gas for streetlights, for you steam punk types:), they lowered the lighting, raised it, shifted the work furniture, raised the temperature, lowered it, painted the walls white, painted them black..and were surprised that with each change, productivity went up..until someone figured out what they did didn't matter, it was that someone was paying attention to what the workers did and cared enough to do so..well, with diet and fitness, I think it is the same thing, it is because we make deliberate choices that it works..if we miss a day of exercise, we are aware of it and get back on the wagon....if we have some sort of gluttenous treat, we get back to eating the way we want; if we don't feel like exercising, we imagine ourselves looking like the stay puff marshmellow person (of indeterminate gender), and we deliberately get back on track. Exercise we like is going to stay in our mind, exercise we don't like we try to bury....and in the end, if we find stuff that works, stick with it.

 

The other thing I would tell people "Don't"..don't listen to advice that goes against what you find works, don't listen to the Atkins people (well, forever....), don't listen to your doctor steely eyed looking at the BMI table and saying "tsk, tsk, you are obese" (and when you point out your body fat is like 15% and you could bench press or squat the doctor all day long, and he says 'it doesn't matter', you have permission to laugh in his/her face:), don't listen to the treadmill queen/king who says "that is how you lose weight", just find what works, and do it..and if it doesn't work, try something else. One thing I have learned, learning to do whatever exercises with good form is critical, but it is also okay to modify routines, use pieces of others routines with your current one, and if it works, congrats, you can call it the exercise plan so good, even an endorsement from Jar Jar Binks wouldn't deter people from trying it:).

 

Now, of course, I just have to listen to all this good advice, and stop doing anything with my scale except threaten it with my MAP torch and/or throwing it out the window, along with my doctor and his BMI table:)

[mamaLacey]

I love this <3 

thanks for posting!!!

I really needed this =]

[xoek]

My favorite ab exercises are kettlebell swings and lifting heavy things over my head, followed closely by cleans, then squats

[gloryw]

That cake lie is awesome, however I like this one better. Great post.