Want to Get Started? Try Showing Up

"80 percent of success is showing up" - Woody Allen

I don't know about you, but when I need motivation to throw some iron around in the gym, I always turn to the wise words of Woody Allen. Sometimes. Once. Anyway, I like that quote.

Nowhere is this sentiment more applicable than the gym. If you come to the gym on a regular basis -I'm talking, 3 days a week for 3 months or more- and do something, you are on the right side of in-shape. You might still be overweight, you might still be using the lightest dumbbells on the rack, you might still be scorekeeper for every pick-up basketball game you are a part of, but I would bet my favorite Adidas ClimaTee that you are not "need-a-doctor, never-take-the-stairs, cholesterol-higher-than-your-credit-score" out-of-shape.

But it starts with walking through the door. You will lose weight or gain weight or get stronger or get faster one way and only one way: bit by bit. You're building a tower on top of quicksand, and if you take too long adding to the top it's just going to sink underground.

Show up. Here is how you do it:

1. Set a goal, and let the world  know. If you want to bench 225, that's a Facebook post you should be making every bench day. Write your current weight on the top of a sheet of paper on your fridge, your goal weight at the bottom, and a weekly weigh-in that hopefully bridges the gap between the two.

 2. Find a gym or buy some equipment. In all honesty, unless you have friends or a favorite trainer to influence your opinion, the most important aspect to look for in a gym is convenience. Your facility should be close by, or on the way home from work. A thirty minute drive to a gym across town is a great reason not to go. Failing that, spend $50 on a pair of adjustable dumbbells; they're really all you need to get started.

3. Have a game plan. I meant it when I said that doing something was good, but having a plan is the way to go. A plan could be:

-Tagging along with a friend who knows what they're doing. Anyone worth their gym socks is happy to show a newbie the ropes. This is how I got started as a fat kid in high school, and I've shown up ever since.

-Google "beginner program" and stick to it. Stick to reputable sources (Men's Health, Shape, Bodybuilding.com, etc.), but pick one.

-Get a trainer. <shameless self-promotion>This is by far the best option, especially if they've earned their stuff from, say, the University of Kentucky and the National Strength and Conditioning Association and have a fondness for teal. The traditional in-person trainer can provide instant feedback and correct your form, all the while yelling at you to do, like, two more reps. Or, you could try out that new-fangled online personal training, where a trainer sends you a personalized program via the internet and provides an online training log and email feedback so that both of your can keep track of your progress. </shameless self-promotion>

Fitness really is one of those life goals that rewards you for diving right in. But you have to show up and give it something as often as you can, else the fickle bastard will leave you to decay at the bottom of a flight of stairs when the elevator is out.

Go forth and lift heavy things. We're saving you a spot.

A Sensible Approach to Nutrition

We live in an obesogenic environment. Blogger doesn't recognize that as a real word, but it basically means that conditions are ideal for those of us who wish to become obese. Calorie-dense food has never been cheaper nor more widely available, most modern tasks are designed to use as little physical energy as possible, and since being overweight would put you in the majority you would no longer be viewed as a social pariah!

Your dreams can become a reality.

If you need advice on how to gain weight and become obese, I can tell you it has never been easier. However, some of you would like to know how to lose weight, and that's a bit trickier.

The physical activity side of the equation, believe it or not, is pretty easy to deal with. You can hire a particularly handsome personal trainer, and he'll explain, in a sultry but reassuring tone what exactly you should be doing and how to do it.  But if you want to be successful in your pursuit of losing weight, nutrition is what will make or break you. And, unfortunately, it is much harder to deal with.

The problem will always come down to our finite source of willpower. Many of us just have too much on our plate to make good decisions about what's literally on our plate; most commercial diets require such a radical change in the way we eat that we just don't have enough willpower left over after dealing with work, family, and other life problems to follow them with any degree of success. And if you do manage to claw your way through a tough diet and lose a significant amount of weight, you're at a great risk of gaining it all back.

According to this study published in the New England Journal of Medicine and the subsequent article by the New York Times, a significant reduction in calories that results in weight loss (a diet, in other words)  can lead to a physiological and psychological response that promotes weight gain. In the study, the obese participants were fed a very low calorie diet that consisted of low-starch vegetables and a drink best described as "liquid sadness". After ten weeks, the participants lost an average of 30 pounds.

The (fairly predictable) bad news? After a year, almost all of the participants had gained some of the weight back, and reported feeling hungrier and more preoccupied with food than they were before the study.

At Skape Fitness, we're big advocates of a sensible approach to nutrition. Most people wanting to lose weight want to do it quickly, and while that's understandable, it's not exactly practical. Look at it this way: if you are 40 years old, and you want to get back down to the weight you were at 20, you've spent half of your life gaining this weight! You can't expect to lose it in six weeks without some serious consequences.

So what can you do to approach nutrition in a sustainable way that doesn't sap your entire supply of willpower?

Our answer: one step at a time.

Every month, make a small change to your diet. Just one. Something bigger than "pick the pepperonis off my pizza", but maybe smaller than "only eat organic kelp and distilled water." Focusing on one thing at a time is not only more manageable than a complete diet overhaul, but may help you identify the real problem foods that have been slowly moving in over your belt. Here are some suggestions:

-Start taking fish oil. I'm not even going to take the time to tout the benefits of fish oil. Take five seconds to Google it. It's cheap, it helps with heart health and brain function and weight loss, and come on all you have to do is remember to swallow two pills a day. Do it.

-No soda, diet or otherwise, for a month. Soda is the pinnacle of empty calories. Fitness people throw that phrase around a lot, but basically it means that pop will provide calories, but without any other nutrients and without making you ever feel full. Diet soda may -or, hopefully for my sake, may not- be harmful to your health, but I can tell you that I very rarely pair healthy food with my diet cola.

-No alcohol for a month.  Booze is not only empty calories, but it is basically anti-muscle juice when consumed in large quantities. Give it up for a month to see if your lifts go up. Also, if after two days you start shaking, you'll know you have bigger problems to worry about.

-Eat at least 30 grams of fiber per day for a month. If you've never paid attention to fiber in the past.... well, never be more than twenty steps away from the john. I promise it's worth it, and any friends you lose in the process probably weren't all that great anyhow.

-No cold cereal for a month. This once is geared specifically towards me. I love me some Honey Nut Cheerios. Thing is, a human-sized bowl of any cold cereal is about three or four servings; that 120 calories written on the side of the box refers to an amount of cereal that I would consider to be no cereal left. It's also a poor macronutrient profile for either gaining muscle or losing weight, and it never tends to fill me up. If you have a similar weakness, consider giving it up for a while.

By implementing this strategy, you can start to zero in on what your biggest source of weight gain has been. If you look more defined after a month of abstaining only from alcohol, it might be worth avoiding. If soda has been your Achilles heel, you might find that out this month. The point is to make simple, targeted changes that you can implement without completely turning your daily routine on its head.

So there you go. Try focusing on just one thing every thirty days, and keep track of your progress. You might not see the 30 lb transformation you've always dreamed of just by switching to whole-wheat bread, but you might drop a pound or two and make progress toward a healthy lifestyle without devoting all of your extra energy towards it. I hate to say this, but there are more important things in life than being skinny.

Like lifting heavy things, for example.

Introducing Skape Fitness!

So, remember a few months back, when Darren Powers and myself had an epic contest of mass-itude challenging the very notion of what could be done with the mound of organic clay that is the human body?

You know, when we had a contest of who could look better in a month?

Well, we've set aside our differences (for the time being because I totally won and I don't think his psyche can take it much longer) and started a business venture together.

What business, you ask? Did you not read the title of this blog post?

Skape Fitness is part of a new movement in the fitness industry. I know that sounds cliche to the point of losing all meaning, but it's actually true. You see, we're finally starting to realize that the internet is a pretty neat thing, on account of its ability to share information and pictures and videos, sometimes of things that are not cats.

Online personal training is a growing industry, and for good reason. It combines the personalized workouts and instruction of an in-person personal trainer with the affordability of something you can afford. It works like this:

1. You check out our website, realize how awesome and worth it we are, and contact us.

2. We'll create your Trainerize profile for you. Trainerize is the software we use to send you workouts, and it contains a host of videos and charts to instruct you on exercise form as well as keep track of your progress. Through this software,we send you an online consultation form that lets us get to know you and your goals, you fill it out and send it back, and we give you a basic layout of a program we'd write for you.

3. If it sounds good to you (and it will), you pay for a month's worth of workouts for the price of a single in-person training session with a trainer.

4. We send you your first week's worth of workouts through the software. Please do them, this is actually the important part. Record your progress, either by printing out the workout and writing it down, or by downloading the app on your phone and recording it there. We'll be able to see your numbers like this, and it'll help us both keep track of how you're coming and what we need to adjust.

5. With this software, you'll have access to videos and written instructions of all the exercises, as well as instruction regarding sets, reps, rest, what have you. If you have any questions, you can throw them over the internet at us, and we'll throw answers back at you.

6. (Optional) You get a modeling contract with Hot Bodies That are Sexy, LLC and break the world record in the horse toss and the 400m backflip dash, two events you had to invent because you're too in-shape to do normal things.

Like this, but with the horse still attached. 

All of this, the training, instruction, and nutritional guidance that I forgot to mention, is set up to be tailored to your schedule and equipment options. If you have 8 days a week to work out in the biggest gym in Kentucky, we'll give you the absolute best program to take advantage of your options. If you have 40 minutes a week to work out in the corner of your kid's toy room using only old milk jugs and your body, we got you covered there too.

And, of course, this business is the base of operations for my personal training business at Wildcat Fitness, so you'll find all the information you want about training with me in personal on the website as well. Since in-personal training still trumps the admittedly awesome online option because of the immediate feedback and seeing my face, the ideal setup would be training with me once or twice a week, and on your own using our online services the rest of the time. It's like having a tutor and the best study guide ever and a magic potion that makes you sexier all in one.

Since I'm pretty sure it's now required by law, we are now also doing internets on Facebook and Twitter, and you should totally watch us do that. Here are the things:

Twitter Handle: @SkapeFitness

Facebook: facebook.com/pages/Skape-Fitness

We're just starting out, so we could really use the support of awesome people, and since you're reading this blog, you've passed the Awesome Litmus Test. For our first official week of business (from today until April 30, 2013) if you like, share, or scream from the rooftops our name, we will give you a free week of workouts  through our new online training program. Yes, you can do pushups and squats and one-legged Romainian Dumbbell Deadlifts the way we tell you to free for a week! How cool does that sound?

We've given you the means, now go forth and pick up heavy things, the Skape Fitness way!

Basic Gym Etiquette

Going back to working in a bigger gym -as opposed to a small training studio- has reminded me of a basic, all-encompassing human trait:

People are savage, terrible beasts who will desecrate the things you love without repentance.

I, of course, am referring to people who curl in the squat rack. Those monsters. For the sake of all that is gym-holy, please refer to the following lists of things you should and should not do in the gym.

1. Do not curl in the squat rack.

DON'T DO IT. DO NOT CURL IN THE SQUAT RACK.
Why would you? I don't understand. Very, very few people can effectively curl the gym's heaviest un-adjustable barbell, why not just use those? Even if you needed a straight bar, why not start with it on the floor? The squat rack saves you, like two feet, how does this help your biceps grow?

2. Put your weights back when you are finished.

The humanity...

You're here to work out. If you've hoisted a dumbbell, weight plate, or barbell off of its rack to use it, you can put it back. Think of it as a mini farmer's walk.

This goes for plate-loaded machines too. The only way to know if an empty machine is not currently in use by someone in the bathroom is to look and see if it is unloaded. This creates mass chaos, as some loaded machines have been abandoned for days, while others are currently being used by a guy in the world's slowest circuit, and I never assume correctly which is which, and it's like society has no order anymore.

3. Use as few pieces of equipment as possible at any given time. 

These are plyo boxes:

You can jump on them, use them for step-ups, and other neat stuff. However, apparently some people see them as little tables that are designed to hold water bottles, towels, and training logs, because the floor is so far down. 

No joke, I saw not one, but two guys yesterday dragging these from station to station so they wouldn't have to set their stuff down on the dusty old floor. 

This rule also applies to any bench or bench-like object: if it can be used for exercise, do not set your stuff on it. Do not use it as a chair when you are using something else. 

4. Respect the "No-Lift" zone in front of the dumbbell rack.

It's an unwritten rule in most gyms, but there is an area stretching out about five feet in front of the dumbbell racks where it is rude to lift. It's obvious, but some people feel the need to stand right in front of them while curling, because there is also a mirror there and come on what am I supposed to do not stare at my biceps while curling what are you mad that's the whole reason I come here bro.

5. Do not spend more than ten minutes hogging a bench.

Monday is International Bench Press day, when every guy who lifts comes in and does chest. This usually means between two and fifty sets of the flat bench press. This means every guy who comes in is waiting for you to get done, begging for the moment when you finally strip your plates off the bar so they can make a b-line for your bench before literally every other guy and a good portion of the girls can do the same.

Life is hard. Taxes are expensive, the job market is terrible, and I stub my toe on the coffee table like every fifth time I walk through the living room. For many of us, the gym is the only place where we can see tangible rewards for hard work and perseverance, and these evil, heartless people are trying to take that away from me us.

Please, do not be one of them.

Go forth and pick up heavy things, and respect thy neighbor who does the same. 

The New Generation (Also Ninja Unicorns)

The #1 cause of gymtimidation backed by no study whatsoever is the perceived adherence to gym culture required to be successful.

In order to feel like you belong at the gym, you must do the following things if you're a guy:

1. Call people "bro".
2. Wear either a skintight Under Armour compression shirt (regardless of belly size) or cut the sleeves off a regular shirt (regardless of arm size).
3. Grunt like it's your second language when picking up anything heavier than the gallon jug of water you are currently drinking from.
4. Do two sets of bicep curls for every set of any exercise that's not the bench press.

If you're a girl, you must:

1. Wear shorts a size too short or those skintight yoga leggings. Over-sized tank tops are your go-to top.
2. Avoid any weight not coated in neoprene.
3. Do every ab and butt machine in the gym at least twice.
4. Perform no less than twenty variations of crunches.

There is a new generation currently invading the clique that used to be the gym.

We're among this new generation.

 We grew up watching Digimon and playing Yu-Gi-Oh! and marching in the marching band. 

We geek out over Game of Thrones and laugh at Grumpy Cat memes on the internet. 

We were the ones who got picked on by people who are supposed to go to the gym. 

And we're more awesome than you. Just check out these guys: 

If "To be a Rainbow Ninja riding a Unicorn" isn't enough of a reason to get you working out, then I just don't think I am able to help you. 

We also have iron guru Ben Bruno rocking a Batman shirt while finding ways to make deadlifts harder:

And here is a girl half your size lifting heavier weights with better form than you:

These guys and girls didn't exist a few years ago. In order to be a fan of the weight room, you had to have a certain personality, you had to like the right things outside the gym, and you definitely could not be a Rainbow Ninja riding a Unicorn.

They were dark times. 

We're not done though. Let's get some more geeks and nerds and tiny girls and shy guys picking up heavy things like the jocks of old think only they can. The gym has done well thus far in accepting us, but until we're embraced like we should be there is still work to do.

Now join me, no matter who you are, and find something heavy to lift. 

Going to the Gym (When You Really Don't Want To)

I am a personal trainer by trade. I spent four years going to school with the intent of doing this for the rest of my life.

I read articles and books on strength and conditioning for at least half an hour every day.

I have, more often than I like to admit, been that jerk who chastises people who find excuses not to work out.

And damn it, I did not want to work out last week.

The first week of April was a rough one for me. I decided to leave my old job at LIFT Fitness and was lucky enough to find work at Wildcat Fitness within two days, but as anyone who has gone through transitioning to another phase in their professional career can tell you, it's one of the most stressful things you can put yourself through. There was a lot of uncertainty, a lot of work put in for little tangible gain. And while I'm not exactly starting over, I know that the next few months will be spent building up a new client base, and there is a lot more stress to come.

Working out seemed like the least important thing I could have been doing.

A friend of mine has a pretty nice home gym setup, complete with a squat rack and adjustable dumbbells, and he was gracious enough to let me use his equipment while I was between gyms. Even with his generosity, it took just about all the willpower I had left over from my job search to put on a pair of shorts and squat. I did six sets with a weight I thought was kind of heavy, and quit.

Sometimes that's good enough.

Even for someone who more or less does it for a living, I know that working out should not be the most important thing in your life. That does not, however, mean it's not worth doing even during the most stressful times of your life. Here are some tips to get you to the gym when it's the last thing you want to do.

1. Get in and do something.

Not every workout needs to leave you drenched in sweat with jelly legs that can barely get you back to the car. Sometimes just getting to the gym and moving around is enough to keep you from losing the progress you have made with such workouts in the past. Do a set or two of goblet squats, some pullups, your favorite machine and ab exercise, and go home. Don't think ten minutes in the gym is a waste of time.

2. Have someone else write your workout.

I've mentioned it before, but this can do wonders for your work ethic. I was surprised at just how much willpower it took for me to write an honest workout for myself, until I bought Dan Trink's arm program and, more recently, started following the Olympic lifting workouts on Central Kentucky Weightlifting's blog. There's no more, "should I do another exercise for my shoulders?". Instead, you look at what's written, and do it.

3. Work out with someone who needs it.

There is no shame in getting out of shape. Life happens. But sometimes it gets to the point where it puts you at risk for losing your quality of life, and going to the gym becomes a literal life-saving endeavor. Maybe you have a coworker who has constant back and neck pain from her office job, maybe your mother is becoming at risk for type II diabetes, maybe your friend is clinically obese. Work out with them. Hold them accountable for making this important change. If you miss a workout, they might miss a workout. When it's someone else's health at risk, getting to the gym makes a big jump on your priority list. And hey- they might end up being your inspiration instead. 

These are just some ideas to get you through a rough patch. My goal is to make everyone I train love the gym as much as I do, and to make those patches as short as possible. As for me, all it took was a new facility and a new pair of Olympic lifting shoes to get me back on track.

Despite matching absolutely nothing I own

Go forth, fight through it, and pick up heavy things.