No Excuses

When I started training, I was in high school. I jumped head first into the ‘hardcore’ bodybuilding lifestyle with training, dieting, and mindset. Nothing would stand in my way of eventually competing as a bodybuilder, getting bigger, leaner, and stronger. After all, to be a champion, you do whatever it takes, right? I never understood (and called BS on many occasions) when people stated they were too busy, couldn’t eat right, couldn’t deal with the daily stress, or any other list of what I thought were ridiculous excuses. I hadn’t even graduated high school, and was taking additional college classes at 2 different colleges and working 2 jobs, played in a band that had weekly practices and concerts almost weekly, all while lifting weights 5 times a week, doing cardio 2-4 times a week, and following my diet to a ‘T’.

Clearly they didn’t want it bad enough., I’d think to myself.

Fast forward nearly 15 years, and while I still do think that you absolutely can achieve anything you can put your mind to, I realize that while I was busy back then, it was not the same as ‘the older people’ (at the time) were talking about. My energy level is no where near as high now. I have bills. Lot of them. I have a very high stress level ‘day job’. I have a beautiful baby girl while I love every waking second with her, comes with her own list of responsibilities. There is no need to go into my daily routine, because all of us have our own struggles, lack of time, things come up, stress, and an ill planned routine makes everything worse. I understand how it can be very easy to let some of these thing deter your goal. 

But majority of the time, these are not excuses. 

Things are going to happen that you cannot control. You cannot change that. But the better you plan for the unexpected, the easier it will be to get to your goals. 

Got stuck late and missed dinner? That is your fault you missed a meal, not work. 

Too busy to get to the gym? Why didn’t you do something at home? 

I want to share a few things that I have started doing over the years that have ensured that I almost always am able to stay on track, even when things don’t go your way. 

Have some basic equipment at home
   Just a few inexpensive things, like a set of resistance bands, core ball, a few sets or 1 adjustable dumbbell, jumprope. While you cant do your squats and bench presses with these, this is more than enough to get the job done once in a while. You are more than capable of doing an entire body workout with one resistance band if you get creative.


Don’t use time as an excuse
   Using the above equipment, even a 15 minute circuit, or run for that matter, is better than nothing. 


Meal prep
   We all hate it, but do it. Regardless of how strict you are on your current plan, you need to have good food readily available. 

Always have extra food
   At my day job, I don’t get to punch out at 5, I leave when the work is done. There have been MANY times where I am ready to leave, it is 4:55pm, and 1 email comes in and BOOM! I’m there until 8pm. Now, I planned on being home at 5:30 for dinner, so what do I do? I pull out my Tupperware and eat my next meal. 

   On the same topic, always have snacks. Quest (or any) bars, quest chips, you can get protein pudding, anything that fits with your nutrition, have extra for these types of situations. Something else I always do is I always have protein powder, peanutbutter, and sometimes oatmeal in small bags in my (giant) lunchbox so depending on the time and/or day, I can make some ‘cookie dough’ and tailor it the way I need p/c/f wise. If you are going to do this however, have measuring spoons with you. We all know the difference between 1 regular spoon full versus 1 tbsp of peanutbutter.

   Unless you literally are stuck somewhere for more than 6-8, you should never run out of food. Taking just 2 days a week to prepare multiple meals means that as busy as you are, all you have to do before you walk out the door is grab a few containers on your way to work or run errands, accompanied with protein bar in your purse or pocket.


Music
   This may seem insignificant, but for those days where you were up early, you did work late, didn’t have a lot of sleep, and you are already thinking about what you have to do tomorrow, stop. Put on some Amon Amarth (or your other favorite band) and get your blood pumping, Take a minute to focus not on the upcoming stresses you will be dealing with, but how channeling this into your 20 minute power circuit will relieve the tension of the current day, keep you on track, re-energize you, and knowing you did NOT let this stop you in your journey sometimes is all you need. 

Meditate
   This may be as little as taking a few minutes at the beginning of your day, perhaps a few minutes at lunch, or end of your day to sit and reflect, but this time to relax and refocus can truly help you maintain the right mindset and help clear your head.  



We all know that consistency is the key to long term success. Try using some of these ideas to help make sure you stay on target.

Paul Emmick