I want to continue a bit on the theme started last week with the introduction of Nate Green and his Hero Handbook and “11 Tenets of an Awesomely Rich Life” (see Nate Green and the Hero Handbook and More Great Stuff from Nate Green).  Today I have a good read for you from Dean Somerset.  I have been reading Dean’s blog for some time now ~ he is a smart guy who has a sense of humor.  Back in February he had a post titled “You Don’t Know How Good You Have It.”  Dean references Nate Green’s Hero Handbook, and then does a pretty good job of giving you a kick in the pants of his own.  Here are some of the things his clients were dealing with…and they came in to workout anyway:

Son was in a car accident, had to work off stress

Cancer diagnosis on Monday, surgery scheduled for the following Friday, had to work off stress

Accountant working 80 hours with RRSP and income tax season in full swing, yup you guessed it, had to work off stress

Fresh from knee replacement surgery 2 months ago

Wheel chair. Need I say more??

Pipes burst in her basement due to the cold

Multiple Sclerosis, she shows up to feel better and keep her disease in check

And your excuse is what?  Dean also laments the change in the Canadian recommendations for physical activity (Dean lives someplace in Canada, maybe BC or Manitoba, I forget, where it seems like summer lasts for the month of August and the rest of the year he is battling snow). 

Recently, Canada changed the recommendations for physical activity for adults from 1 hour a day to an accumulated 30 minutes, simply because people were finding it too difficult to walk for an hour each day, and they were feeling bad about it. So let’s give everyone a medal and a ribbon for trying and tell them they’re special and that it’s alright they didn’t get their hour a day, because after all it’s not their fault. Don’t worry about the crippling obesity epidemic in North America, because we have to protect everyone’s feelings.

I’m with Dean on this one…why do we keep making things easier on people?  Why is it not politically correct to challenge people, to ask them to do more than maybe they are comfortable with? 

Dean finishes with a list of lame excuses that a personal trainer will hear over and over and over, along with his spin on it:

My legs are sore. At least you have legs

I’m tired. But you’re not dying from illness

I have family obligations. You have people who love and care for you, and would gladly trade an hour to get 20 more years.

I have to work. Your productivity and attendance go down with prolonged stress and reduced health. Plus, you work to live, not live to work.

I don’t have time. Unless your unemployed or retired, you’ll never have time. So find some.

My shoulder/back/knee’s sore. You’re not paralyzed.

I’ve always believed that excuses are like assholes: everyone has one, but no one wants to hear yours. Find reasons to work out, rather than reasons not to.

I love that last line…let’s hear it again:  Find reasons to work out, rather than reasons not to.  Do you think you’re the only one who has kids, who has a job, who’s tired? 

And if you haven’t had enough from Dean, here is another little piece from Jason Ferrugia called “No Excuses, No Limits (Jason’s girlfriend is Jen Grasso, who I have shown video clips of before being strong as hell and looking like a woman to boot).  If you are feeling like you are too old to train, or you are too old to do much more than bob up and down in a water aerobics class, then read Jason’s post. 

He gives countless examples of athletes doing great things past the age of 40.  His post is a bit of a rant…he takes no BS from anyone.  Here are his recommendations for improving your life and taking care of your mind and body:

Invest in what you put in your body and start spending the extra dough for organic food, grass fed beef, wild caught fish and high quality protein powders. Shitty food makes you look and feel like shit. There’s no two ways about it.

Cut out sugar, conventional dairy, wheat, soy, corn and processed foods of any kind.

Get off the booze or at least limit it.

Drink tons of pure water.

Get 20 minutes of sunlight daily… but don’t cook yourself like George Hamilton. That’s never a good look.

Get 8-9 hours of sleep per day and a nap in the afternoon if possible.

Stretch and do mobility work every day. No wonder your hamstrings are tight and your lower back hurts. You haven’t stretched since 8th grade gym class and have been sitting in a chair hunched over a computer for the last 19 years straight. Get up and get loose once in a while.

Reduce stress in your life.

Do what you love.

Find a hobby.

Stop working so much. By cutting down the amount of hours you work but focusing on getting more done during that time by giving yourself deadlines you will be far more productive.

Meditate.

Smile.

Laugh.

Live how you want to live where you want to live.

Have fun.

And train hard.

I think I’ll end on that note…train hard. 

Go out and do something…have a great day!