ALL! I treat working out like a career, and sometimes it can be a bit overwhelming. I may not have the energy to attack the challenges of the day. The stresses of the daily grind could disinterest me from heading to the gym for an hour of muscle ripping weight training. Maybe I just want to chill and veg out in front of the TV and attempt to beat Mass Effect 3 (which I haven’t played in weeks, smh). As much as I want to throw my hands in the sky and say fuck this shit I’m done, I know that won’t help me reach my goals. Sometimes you need motivation to get out of bed and hit the gym. Here are a few things I do to keep my spirits high and my focus on fitness sharp:

FIND A MUSE

I subscribe to Men’s Health and peruse different health and fitness sites. I always look at the different men and women fitness models in order to find those individuals that have the bodies that I want. I’m very realistic, and I’m not one of those people who’s looking for the jacked steroids build. These muses help me to visualize my best body and remind myself that blowing off gym sessions after work and eating junk day in and out won’t get me there. If you can’t picture yourself with a healthy lean body, then who’s to say that you will obtain that body? There have been numerous studies on the effect of visualization on performance. Basketball players will shoot free throws and imagine the ball going into the hoop. This builds confidence, rhythm, and makes their goal tangible. Now, of course practice makes perfect, but positive thinking goes a long way. So find that person with your ideal body type, or even your fit friends that you admire, and use them as fitness muses so that you can stand amongst them too.

 GOAL SETTING

I set goals for everything in life. Maybe it’s my neurotic nature, but it helps me keep focus. I have my goals hanging in my room and read them every day. I set realistic goals, and track my progress. I track the exercises I do, the food I eat, and my measurements weekly. When you can see results from your hard work, it will motivate you to #KEEPGOING! It also helps you to remain accountable. If you know that you have a goal weight or body fat percentage in mind, then you know the consequences of deviating from your fitness and nutrition plan. You will have to think twice before you stray. I get upset at myself if I have a setback of any kind, and it pushes me to be better than my best. I want to exceed my goals and be successful. Goals keep this all in perspective.

FEAR OF FAILURE

I hate to lose. I can be a sore loser, but I try to remain gracious. I never want to fail in any of my endeavours. This fear of losing motivates me greatly to succeed. Especially since I write about fitness all the time. I always get comments like “you better be a greek god the way you always talk about working out!” Well, I’m DEFINITELYnot that, lol, but I am healthy. My yearly physical exams reveal an excellent cholesterol level, no hypertension, and the overall levels are great! Now I’m working on the outside. My body is good, where I want it to be great. The last thing I want is for anyone to point at me and say I couldn’t succeed. So I take fitness seriously so that the lifelong dividends pay off in the end.

A GREAT SUPPORT SYSTEM

I remember reading somewhere that you are most likely to resemble and reflect the friends that you most associate with. translation: you hang out with bums, you’re liable to be a bum. You hang out with successful individuals, and you will most likely be driven to succeed. I make sure to converse with my friends who are into fitness regularly to keep my motivation high. I see their progress and want to achieve it too. I have friends who are personal trainers (Like Barrington B-Better) who assist me in my fitness progress with great tips and advice. Although I do go to the gym alone most of the time, we all are working towards our goals together.

These are some of my motivational tactics. What are yours?

StreetZ

ADMIN NOTE: Check out my newest post on SBM:  Secret Service: Why Men Always Pay For Sex fb.me/LqTrZ02R

From Nick

This is the most intimate, emotional episode of the NCredible Health Hustle to date. It’s important to me that I’m as candid as possible, and though sometimes it hurts to watch, I hope my experience has managed to help those that may need encouragement or support. The latest episode is below, and I can’t stress enough how important it is for you all to share my story with anyone who may need motivation.

I’ve heard and seen Nick go through his health issues and I’m rooting for him! Good to see he is focused and ready to rock!

StreetZ

Another Monday! Time to get that money!

Last week was a mini holiday for me (translation: didn’t work out as much as I would have liked). So it’s time to regain focus and make the continuous push towards the summer goal. Of course you want to stay fit around the clock, but we also want to look good for the beaches right? Anything to keep your eyes on the prize in my opinion. Here are my 3 goals for the week.

1) Daily Cardio 

I had this goal of doing a month of cardio straight. Whether it was high intensity, moderate, sports, or just walking, I want to do something every day. From 4/30 – 5/31, I’m going #ALLIn! I recently picked up Spinning (which is the truth), and I’m looking to spin 3x a week in addition to other forms of cardio. I’m including yoga in this as well, since you burn major calories doing it too.

2) 1/2 Gallon of water a day 

I don’t drink juice like that, but I’ll forget to eat/drink anything if I’m busy or working. I have to get into the habit of drinking water daily. It’s necessary for health and fitness purposes, and I must remain hydrated with all this physical activity I will perform going forward.

3) More Veggies

I love my brown rice, wraps, breads, and fruits like everyone else, but to accelerate my fat loss for this intense 6-8 week workout period, I want to restrict my carb intake and replace it with vegetables. So I will make sure that I eat veggies with my dinner and lunch. I’m not going to go crazy like people who won’t eat a carb for the rest of their lives, because I definitely will. I want to make sure I’m eating healthy and supplementing my workout well.

Good Luck with your week and train well!

StreetZ

Another week, another push towards the summer and reaching goals! I want to switch things up a bit here. I’ll give you updates on my progress still, but I wanted to set weekly goals and track that too. It doesn’t have to be anything crazy or extreme, but when you have an achievement to reach, working towards it is the greatest fun! So here are my 3 goals for the week

1) Do yoga this week (I’ve been horrible with this and need to improve flexibility which will aid me in all facets of fitness)

2) Drink 1/2 gallon of water 5 days this week (and continue to restrict the juice I drink)

3) Do at least 2-3 reps of 225 bench press (haven’t touched this weight in a while)

These are great focus points for me. It will help me improve on my deficiencies, and just get better.

What are your 3 fitness goals for the week?

StreetZ

You can check the video HERE

I figured if Dre could bring back Pac While still not releasing the mythical album known as Detox, then I could get back on my job and bring back my weekly fitness report!

I know I’ve been M.I.A., which I will explain in a future post, but aint nothing to this, but to do this!

So for the first couple of months, of the year, I took it easy. I had a lot of nagging injuries due to overtraining and not properly warming up prior to workouts. While I am still young, I am no longer a teenager and can’t throw a middle finger to the basic preparations of a workout. So I allowed my body to heal, which is good. The bad part was that I strayed away from my normal nutrition and made my occasional “bad” meals the norm. I eventually found myself at 198.4 lbs, which is 6.4 lbs higher than my self-imposed threshold of 193. I never wanted to go back to 200 lbs and gave myself that restriction so that I could regulate accordingly. Now, I wouldn’t say that I’m fat, but I’m not in the optimal shape that I set for myself in the beginning of 2012, and I’m not even where I was as of last October!

Fortunately, I was able to refocus and started back on the right track. After a good week of eating well and training, I’m currently at 196.8, losing 1.6 lbs in the progress. I’m proud of this, because I know I can set my mind to the goal and achieve it. I’m still writing down my goals (although i could check them more often and need to do so), I’m using my iPhone app LoseIt to record all my meals and  nutritional info. Another app called Gym hero has all of my weight training stats (I fell off using it because I’m so locked into my routine weights wise that I haven’t cared for tracking strength gains). I’m doing cardio at least 4x a week too. It feels good to have that workout soreness again. I feel like my body is healthier and it invigorates me to no end!

Two words that I will keep in mind as I march towards my fitness goals: “Consistency and Accountability.” I want to remain consistent in my approach. I want to workout 5-6 times a week. If I can’t lift weights, no reason I can’t do body weight exercises. I have enough insanity and P90X tapes for me to get some type of workout going no matter the circumstance. So that will have to continue. I will hold myself accountable for my nutrition, my workout regimen, and my overall attitude. Only I can check myself, and I have to remind myself about that daily. I know the goals and the heights I want to achieve, so I just have to GET THERE!

My current goal is to lose 10 lbs of fat and be at 185 lbs by Memorial Day. That’s about 2 lbs lost a week. It’s an aggressive goal, but one that I have met before and that I will meet again! Some plans for this week are the following:

1) Take official measurements with @BarringtonBFit so I know exactly how much body fat I have and can track it accordingly

2) I want to incorporate weekly yoga to my regimen. The goal is eventually to perform Yoga twice a week. At least once weekly.

3) Weight Training (Total Body) 3-4 times a week

4) Cardio 4-5x a Week

5) Nutritional to be at its most optimal. Make the right choices and decisions.

These are the minimum. I have goals and can’t wait to reach them. I also enjoyed the building sessions with you, as we all work towards reaching our fitness goals. Let’s take that trip together again and make it happen! Summer is 2 months away, b*tches!

Make it Happen!

StreetZ

Streetz

You walk into the gym and now it’s time to be EFFICIENT and SAFE! If your first guess is …hmm… THE MACHINES!

Let me let you in on a little secret…NO. This may not be your best bet. Did you know, more injuries come from machines and not free weights. But why? Well for one “restricted movement patterns aren’t always safe” (but that’s another post).

Today I, Barrington B. Personal Trainer and owner of Barrington B-Fitness, LLC. based out of NYC am going to list 5 machines to steer clear from. From a safety point of view and also a workout efficiency point of view. I call it “5 machines to steer clear from at the gym” vol. 1. Enjoy.

# 5 The Smith Machine

You know the machine with the barbell attached to it to make it “safe” for you to do squats and bench presses, ALLEGEDLY.

3 Cons for you:

a. You don’t work your smaller stabilizer muscles when using a fixed bar. In other words you are not maximizing your strength and are having a less effective workout.
b. Because you are not training these smaller stabilizer muscles you have now INCREASED your risk of injury outside of the gym when doing pretty much anything physical in that motion/direction of movement.

c. This machine teaches you poor form. No movement is strictly up and down (bench press) or if you’re squatting your feet should not be in front of you with an upright back. Movement is free in nature this machine fails to adhere to that.

Be Better…use the regular POWER RACK or free weights as they are your best and SAFER bet.

#4 Adductor/Abductor Machine

The let me show my crotch machine -___-.

I mean the one that works your inner thighs and outer thighs, ALLEGEDLY.

Guess what it doesn’t work. In actuality you’re using interior hip rotators more than anything else (that’s that burn you feel) and we can’t really see those muscles from an aesthetic point of view.

Be Better…Do some Squats (and other variations of squats) and make sure your knees don’t buckle towards each other and you’ll hit the muscles you’re trying to hit.

#3 The ever famous…LEG EXTENSION MACHINE!

^^^^^ WTH is he smiling about.

Ok Ok Ok.. I know you feel it in your Quads and a lot of bodybuilders use them. But the pros vs cons scale is HEAVY on the CONS side.

Unless you are rehabbing a knee injury, have been on bed rest or not using ANY LOAD/Weight. I have two words for you… stay off.

A. Every time you lift you stretch your ACL. A vital ligament which hmmm does NOT like to be stretched!

B. Loading and moving ONLY from your knee joint puts extreme pressure on the back of your patella aka kneecap at its thinest areas —————> CRACK!

C. I have A LOT more CONS if you would like but decided those two should suffice and turn you away. Be Better.

#2 The AB Crunch Machine

OH NO and now they come in all different colors, sizes and pretty names with infomercials…NOOOO!!!!!

Every time I see someone adding load to their spine to do a crunch or doing a crunch on a machine in general I cringe. Why? B/c I just know one day I’m going to have to help that individual until the EMT’s arrive.

Seriously, IT DOESNT WORK! It puts enormous amounts of BAD pressure on your spine for nothing! Be Better… do your cardio, planks and other SAFE ab movements to get those desired abs.

#1 The AB TWIST MACHINE!!!

*SMACKS FOREHEAD AND SHAKES HEAD*

^^^ Say a prayer for his Spine.

Take a second and look at this movement… Your upper body going in two different directions while your lower body stays put/fixed.

Honestly, it looks like a machine Jigsaw would use from the SAW movie series. Your spine is screaming folks get off this machine!!!!!!!!

Does it help give you your six pack abs, NO. Ice pack for your back, YES. & maybe even a brace!!!

There you have it now don’t let me catch any of you on one of those machines or else…actually… I won’t have to do anything you’re already hurting yourself.

BE BETTER.

-Barrington B.

FOLLOW: Twitter.com/BarringtonBFit

LIKE: Facebook.com/BarringtonBFit

A major issue in recent news is global food shortage. How concerning is this issue? Alarming statistics on global food shortage and the amount of food wasted are detailed in this infographic.

Created by: Public Health Degree

With all the talk about healthcare in this country, it’s safe to say that healthcare = big business. Now, for those who have the copay struggle embedded deep within their souls like me, we know that without coverage, some of these prescription drugs are outrageously overpriced! I always wondered why, but didn’t really pay attention as long as I had healthcare to hedge those costs. This infographic sheds some light into the healthcare industry, mainly the brand name drugs, to see where these costs originate. Check it out and let me know your thoughts!

Created by: Medical Billing and Coding

This weekend was the first time I hit my gym (A New York Branch I should say) in a month. I wasn’t going to go this weekend and just wait until next week, but I remembered my mantra of “The future is now!” Some of my other friends involved in fitness also motivated and encouraged me to get back at it. I did total body weight lifting on Saturday, and I still feel the effects today! That’s how I know I haven’t been consistent! I usually feel sore after a heavy lifting session, but I love this feeling. It reminds me of why I work out, and keep myself fit. It reminds me of my goals, and how only I control the pace at which I achieve them.

I still want to go moderate before going into full psycho mode. 2 a day workouts and massive cardio should only be performed for certain intervals of time. I don’t plan to train like that year round (no one should! You’ll over exert), but I like super intense workout schedules for quick two -three month intervals.

My goal for this week is to do 5 days of cardio and 3 days of total body weight training. I plan to do cardio Mon-Fri, and lift on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. I will follow this regimen until November.

I’ll post my weight and fat percentages at the end of the month so we can see my progress.

I know a lot of you are also following my brother Barrington B-Better’s 100 Day fitness challenge. Good Luck to you and let me (and him) know how’s it ng for you. I gotta check his challenges too!

Stay Fit and Good Luck in your fitness efforts!

StreetZ

Happy Friday Everyone,

So my fitness posts have been pretty light over the past month. As you know, I completed my 14 week fitness contest. Ever sicne then, work ramped up and I just got lazy/tired. I was more focused on eating better and didn’t feel like working out. I got a few days in here and there, but nothing like my “usual” 6 days a week. I miss the gym, and plan to go back this weekend. Book it! I haven’t been going consistently in a month but I have a good plan set.

I plan to go to the gym 3 times a week in October and do total body exercises. Chest Press, Pull up, rows, deadlifts, squats, etc. I’ll hit all the major muscles groups. On my off days, I’ll do some typr of cardio + ab work. More than likely I’ll bust out some Insanity exercises, since I can do them at home and they burn fat like no other.

I plan to do this until November. More than likely, Tom Venuto will have his Thanks giving to New Years fitness challenge, and I’ll definitely be in that too. My plan is to moderately gain efficiencies with my workout and be ready to go full tilt back to my 6 day a week plan for November. I plan to hit my goal by the end of the year, and spend Jan -March 2012 in maintenance/refining mode. Then Apr – Memorial Day I’ll be in full tilt to get super shred. Its a good plan, but will be even better when I execute!

I’ll also be re-reading all my fitness literature to get my mind right. It’s always good to get a refresher and get the basics down once again. No need to freestlye or rest on my laurels.

How’s everyone else’s journey going? Let me know, and have a great weekend!!

StreetZ