Bringing It

Making fitness a way of life is a challenge. It's not just throwing in a DVD or going to the gym when it's convenient. It's committing to a program, scheduling it, and sticking to it. It's working on constantly dialing in your diet and nutrition to give your body the fuel that it needs to get through your workouts along with the rest of your "real" life.

As I've progressed through my fitness and coaching journey, what I've found most important is the concept of bringing it. When I first went through P90x, I wasn't that sore. I was attributing it to my recovery drink. As I look back now, I'm still taking the same recovery drink, but I'm sore.  I wasn't committed and I wasn't trying hard enough. In my first time month of my first time through Insanity, I took alot of breaks, and they always fell during squat jacks. I told myself that I needed to slow my heart rate down.  I just didn't want it bad enough.

As I've mentioned, fhe switch flipped for me when Shaun T told us that it was all in our heads.  We could go harder; we could go longer, we just had to want to Dig Deeper.  I've kept that in mind ever since, and I've been getting great results ever since.

So, what does brining it look like to me?  In a resistance workout, I always try to up my weight or reps with each set and each workout. I'm a;lso using a weight where I struggle to get to 8 reps, not easily pumping out 12-15. I want size and I know the only way to get size is to up the weight and put in max effort.   When I'm doing cardio, I try to give everything that I can, and then give some more.  That means jumping as I as I can for as long as I can.  That means running harder and lunging deeper.  No, I'm still not going to get through Max Cardio Conditioning without taking a break, but you don't see anyone on the video do that either.  But, I do more than I think I can, and I end up a drenched, sweaty mess, collapsed on the floor when I'm done.  When I'm thinking about what to eat, a Big Mac might sound pretty good and easy every day.  That ice cream cone might smell really good when I walk through the airport.  I have to stay on track with my nutrition plan so that I don't start sliding backwards.  Tony Horton says, "Bring It", Shaun T says "Dig Deeper", to me, it means leave everything you have on the floor in front of the TV, and then get back at it tomorrow.

I'm just entering the Asylum, which is about athletic performance, and I've never been an athlete. The past several months have led me to the highest fitness level I've ever been at, and I still have a long way to go. I know that to get there, I need to bring it every day. I need to push more weight, I need to eat better foods, and I need to stay more focused and more committed than ever. My goals for the year are to have abs, to touch the rim, and to score 100 on the Army Physical Fitness Test for my age.. I fully anticipate to be there and the only way I'm going to do that is by doing more than my best every day.