Health and Fitness Excuses I've Heard and Tips on How to Avoid Being the Person That Makes Them

"We’re going to make our body great again! We’re going to build muscle. We’re going to keep the bad stuff out and let the good stuff in and it’s going to be great. We’re going to be great. We’re going to make our body great again."

- Health and Fitness Donald Trump, probably

You want some real substance? Here I take four excuses that I have heard come out of people's mouths, call them lame, and give you some applicable tips on how to not be the person making the excuses. By now we all know that living a healthy life is more of a mental game than anything. I know what it's like to think you can overcome a mental struggle only to find yourself back a square one after thinking you've got it beat. Folks, sometimes we need to find the right approach and sometimes we need to reach out to others for help. I have found help for my struggles and I am here to help others conquer theirs.

"I didn't have time to make a smoothie so I just made some toast."...LAME! That excuse doesn't even make sense. It takes 3 minutes to make a smoothie and you are mostly in control of how long it takes. With toast you are at the mercy of your crappy toaster when it comes to how long it takes. If there is any difference in the time it takes to make toast vs a smoothie, it's negligible. What isn't negligible is the nutrient value of toast vs a well-rounded smoothie. Toast, muffins, and bagels are not breakfast. They are treats to enjoy on occasion or as part of a well rounded breakfast. They are addictive, inflammatory and shouldn't be consumed every morning if you don't want to be fat. If you feel hungry two hours after your smoothie, it could either be that you're addicted to wheat products- which, when digested yield morphine-like compounds that bind to your brain's opiate receptors- or your smoothie isn't well rounded enough. Your smoothie should have enough bulk, healthy fats and protein that it should satiate you for a few hours. An example of a good morning smoothie that tastes great and will hold you over looks like this: 1 generous hand full of kale, half cup pineapple, half cup mango, 1/2 scoop Vega vanilla protein powder, 1 scoop super greens powder, 2 tbsp chia seeds, 1 heaping tbsp coconut oil, ½ cup coconut water, ½ cup orange or apple juice.

This workout can be as hard or as easy as you want it to be.
It all depends on the effort you put in.

"I was going to work out but I was super busy and wasn't able to."...LAME! What, you couldn't find 7 free minutes to move your body? Seven minutes! That's it! I guarantee you were on your smartphone for at least an hour during the day. I am a father of two demanding toddlers, working a full time job, contributing to household chores, and running a side business and I can find time to work out for 7 minutes. Anybody can. Give your body 7 minutes to move, pump some blood around, heat up, and lube those rickety old joints. And don’t give me the “that’s not enough time to make any difference” line. I use this workout and it DOES make a difference. If you do three 7 minute workouts a week for a year your body is going to have to adapt to that hormetic stress. Three 7 minute workouts a week for a year works out to a little over 18 hours of vigorously moving your body. You are going to change physically, but more importantly you will change mentally. You will feel loose, energetic, and it will influence every decision you make, including what you decide to put in your face. Yes, you will choose foods that make you feel good about yourself if you exercise regularly.

“My back is killing me and my knees don’t like to bend anymore.”…LAME! Your back and knees are like that because you abuse the shit out of them by not moving them. Then, when your bros are watching you'll willingly grunt that barrel of oil into the back of your pickup by yourself so you look tough even though your body isn't even close to being ready to lift a heavy object. If you don’t use your body’s full ROM on a regular basis you are going to stiffen up. MOVEMENT IS MEDICINE. The way to fix your body is to move it. Not move less, not take pills…just MOVE! Right now I’m recovering from rotator cuff surgery (it was wrecked from all the stupid stuff I did in my twenties). I can barely move my arm. It hurts to move it. But guess what, the protocol that I have been prescribed to get full ROM and get rid of any pain is MOVEMENT. I have to move my arm every way that it's supposed to move in order to become pain free and fully functional again. I’ll tell you what the doc didn’t tell me to do, “don’t move it anymore and sit around eating cheesypoofs because you said it’s stiff and sore.” So move often, and move in a variety of ways under your own body weight as well as under load in a controlled environment. Use active (your muscles change related joint angles) and passive (keep muscles relaxed and use external source to change joint angles) techniques to move your body. Doing the 7 minute workout I mentioned above a few days a week goes a long way towards battling body pain and arthritis. I know this from experience.

Don't cripple yourself because you like treats.

"Well, I've been eating like shit and I haven't worked out in two weeks so I might as well just keep that going."...LAME! With this kind of thinking you are asking for a diseased retirement. When you take that kind of narrowed perspective and you allow two weeks to become so significant that it overshadows what should be a life-long practice, you're automatically set up for failure. Here's an analogy for you. Think of a sniper looking through a scope. He can only see one small portion of the big picture. When the sniper takes the shot at the target in his scope of vision he either knocks the target down or the target flees. Either way, if he just called it a day after one shot and didn't step back to regroup and focus on a new target he would be considered a terrible sniper. He wouldn't be very effective at contributing to the cause he's fighting for. That sniper's activities need to be guided by a wider perspective. He needs to take into account that the war he is fighting goes far beyond what is in his scope of vision. In the same way, you can't work out in January (knock down a scoped target) and quit in mid-February (target flees) and just hang’em up because the target no longer exists in your narrow scope of vision. You would never accomplish your ultimate goal of health, function and longevity. No, you step back and look at things from a broader perspective and refocus on the target you missed the first time or another target you want to knock down. In other words, your lifespan is the full war mission and map. You always revert back to the full map and mission objective where things are happening on a grander scale and then focus in on a target. That can be a short term goal like a race you want to run or a specific body composition you wish to achieve. Whether or not you succeed at knocking down that target, you revert back to the full map and continue focusing in on smaller missions that are going to help you achieve your ultimate goal of lifelong function and longevity.  You pick them off one at a time. At the end of each year you will have missed a handful of targets but you should have taken down a whole lot of them and developed a pile of successful strategies and tactics you take into the next year. If you eat crappy and don't work out for two weeks, you regroup and get the ball rolling again by consuming a few good smoothies and doing a few 7 minute workouts. You focus in on a small mission and use tactics that have proven to work for you. The bikini bod you want for vacation will always be there if your mission objective is lifelong health, function and longevity.

Stay healthy and functional so your senior years aren't a
 burden on you and your loved ones.

No more excuses for not striving towards health and function. If not for you, do it for your family and friends. Don’t end up crippled by your own actions. If you like eating snacks and drinking beer while watching other people move their bodies there are going to be consequences for doing that on a daily basis. Consequences will either come in the form of obesity and disease or a greater need for you to make sure you are getting exercise and eating nutrient dense foods when you aren't watching sports in order to mitigate the obesity and disease. Be aware of that and choose the latter. There are no free rides when it comes to gluttonous activities. If you like sports so much, then get out and play some. You shouldn’t be hobbling, obese and diseased by the time you are 50. I believe you should be able to enjoy quality time with your kids well into their adulthood and well into your senior years.  Just focus on what you have control over and practice things that contribute to function and longevity over the course of your entire life.