How to Go from “Perpetual Beginner” to “Epic Winner” in Your Fitness

Even though we are still a few months away from the New Year (as of the time of this writing), I want to talk about something that — statistically — almost everyone will have on their mind within the next few weeks:

New Years Resolutions.

The basic premise of your promise to yourself is likely something along the lines of “leveling up” from where you are currently.

Well, let me tell you something, pal-o-mine, I’ve been in this biz for 12 years (compared to 2 years, the average length of time most trainers max out at in this industry), and I’ve noticed a few overarching patterns that keep people from leveling up year after year. Let’s take a look at a just a few:

Why people stay stuck as beginners

• Lack of a plan.

If you don’t have a plan, you don’t have a prayer. Period.

While you can get by for a while just tooling around and doing random stuff that you like in the gym/your household Courage Corner/etc, your results might well disappoint you.

People want it all — to be strong as a powerlifter, flexible as a gymnast, fast as a sprinter, stealthy as a cat that managed to sneak into a school full of ninjas, etc. — and they think they can do it all at the same time.

These things aren’t mutually exclusive (meaning you CAN achieve them all eventually), but without guidance, you will likely remain with your feet firmly planted in Square 1.

• Over-focus on one area (i.e. specialization).

Short-term specialization isn’t actually a bad thing; it will help you achieve all the various qualities mentioned under the first section.

The problem is that many of us treat training like we treat marriage: you find ‘the one’ and never dally with others (at least I hope that’s how you treat your marriage!)

Really, training for health is more like an Ottoman Sultan taking on another concubine. You’re not limited to just one, and you can have your favorite, but you’ll probably want to revisit the others periodically (again, I’m talking about physical skills and characteristics here; please don’t apply this to your personal life)

• Not enough focus on health/restoration.

If you eat like garbage, sleep like garbage, and move like garbage, guess how you’ll feel? Yep.

You can get away with neglecting these things for a while, but once your health starts hitting bigger and bigger speed bumps, it won’t matter how great your program is — you will end up taking time off due to sickness or injuries that could have been prevented.

Obviously things like eating and sleeping better will take time, but improvements in mobility can be as simple as adding a few key moves to your warm up to prepare you for your workouts. It’s not going to turn you into a gymnast overnight, but will absolutely make your life easier AND will make your lifts easier — and the easier your lifting is, the stronger you can get, right?

We’ll start by “untying the 4 knots”, as flexibility expert, Tae Kwon Do Grand Master, and Master Kettlebell Instructor Jon Engum refers to the shoulders and hips. Consider this an introductory course, not the alpha and the omega.

You can your hip mobility with a deep squat and your shoulder mobility with your overhead position (simply put both hands overhead). Take note of things like range of motion and ease of movement. Do this right now! Squat deep, take note, then stand up and put your hands overhead and take note.

Done? Great! Here’s your pre-workout warm up (and cool down, if you want to speed up your results)

1. Hips.
   — 2 minutes of rocking

— 1 minute of dead bugs: (start with your knees bent if you need)

2) Shoulders.
— 1 arm bar per side
— 1 T-spine extension stretch (30 seconds to 1 minute)

Then retest your deep squat and overhead position. If you haven’t improved at least by a little bit, I’ll eat my damn gym socks. Hell, I’ll eat YOURS!

Give these a shot and let me know how you like them.

On that note, if you like training that:

• Gives you more strength than it takes from you
• Improves your stamina and resilience simultaneously
• Powers-up every nook, cranny, crevice, and corner of your Soft Machine

Then you just might like my 9-Minute Kettlebell and Bodyweight Challenge.

As the name indicates, it’s just 9 minutes long, and it’s designed to be done WITH your current workouts — NOT instead of them.

How?

By harnessing the power of your body’s gait pattern (i.e. walking pattern) to unleash the strength ALREADY hidden inside you — via movements like crawling, loaded carries, and more.

Even cooler:

Many find that it actually amplifies their strength in their favorite kettlebell and bodyweight moves, like presses, squats, pullups, and more.

And best of all, it’s free.

How free?

I’m talkin’ freer than the 4th of July, my friend.

Get thee thine own copy here => http://www.9MinuteChallenge.com

Have fun and happy training!

Aleks Salkin