Without first hitting the cue ball, nothing happens.

However, with plenty of practice, getting balls in the pockets get easier and easier.

The critical point is that without cause there is no effect, without action there is no reaction. To play pool, you must hit the cue ball…. In life, you must take action.

Can you imagine the feelings of helplessness and frustration that would overcome you if no matter how hard you tried, you were unable to get up off the floor after having fallen down?

As we get older, these questions cease to be implausible hypotheticals, but real possibilities as the consequences of the habits of our youth become ever so real.

What are you willing to do today in order to better ensure a healthy later life?

It takes a lot of discipline to get up every morning, get dressed and get to work, even more so on the days you stayed out longer than you should have the night before. The same goes for anything that requires you to be consistent on a daily basis.

Losing weight and staying healthy is just the same. You simply need to frame it in your mind as being just as important to your welfare as going to work, getting an education, or raising a child.

In one sense it can be the most critical, as if you do not have good health, then the other things that you work so hard to achieve become hard to enjoy as you may be forced to turn your attention inwards towards fighting an illness – a byproduct of excessive weight and poor health that has developed over time.

The key is to realize that you already have the skills and practice to be disciplined at weight loss – you practice it on a daily basis in many areas of your life.

Now it is time to harness that skill to improve your health and lose weight.

Exercise programs fall into one of three categories. There is the experts way, the absolutely ”bass ackwards way”, and then there is the “real world” way – which falls somewhere in between the first two.

99% of people will never seek profesional fitness advice. They will either rely on their peers, celebrities, various media outlets, or their own intuition to devise their fitness programs. These approaches are not much unlike someone saying “although I am not a mechanic, I recognize that my car is emiting smoke, however I will use my gut feeling and something I saw in Car and Truck magazine to fix it.”

However….

That said – reality is where we live and people will do what people do – so instead of going against the grain – let me go with it and provide a simple, easy to follow plan that will help you create your own program!

Firstly…. Plan for a repeating 4 day cycle.

Day 1 is strength training. Work the big muscles first – the muscles closest to the center of your body (butt, back, hams, chest)  - then work outwards towards your limbs.  Focus more on the back of the body than the front. Do 8 exercises- 3 sets of 15 reps each at a moderate weight. Pick your exercises here:

Day 2 is Cardio training to strengthen your heart. Bike, Swim, run – whatever you like. Just get your heart rate up and keep moving.

Day 3 is fun or exercise class day. Take a yoga class, go for a walk, just keep your body moving and do something enjoyable and different.

Day 4 is rest and recovery day. No exercise. Let your body recover from the 3 days.

Things to remember:

1) The gym is where you are going to get stronger and build more muscle…. not lose weight!!!  Weight loss is a byproduct of the workout….. PROVIDED that you sleep well and eat right!!

2) Plan for the long term – teach yourself to overcome the desire for quick fixes and instant gratification.

3) Record your progress

4) Warm-up properly before every workout. Try 5 minutes light bicycle then 10 minutes of dynamic stretching.

Link: Today’s Chicago Woman Magazine

1) Self determination: The acceptance of one’s responsibility for one’s state in life.
2) Discipline and self-restraint: The execution of self-control.
3) Physical Stamina and health: The pursuit of physical strength, endurance, and optimal health.
4) Fuel and simplicity: Simplicity and quality in food.
5) Kaizen: The pursuit of continual improvement in all areas of one’s life.
6) Awareness and education: The never ending study of oneself and the world around.
7) Performance Mindset: The relentless pursuit of the development of one’s mental strength and resiliency.
8 ) Measurement: Continuous self improvement through tracking, measurement, and reflection.

One of the tactics that I am employing in order to increase their performance is to change their diet. It has turned into be a much harder endeavor than I thought. The variables that are involved include, history of malnutrition, cultural differences, adolescent/cultural/personal food preferences, accessibility to healthy foods, optimal food requirements, and a language barrier.

When I first initiated the dietary intervention – I met with both passive and assertive resistenace. The former coming in the form of simply not eating the veggies, while the assertive made itself shown through vocal dismay.

To counter this – I realized that I had to eliminate the option of choice… and although push-back came at first – ultimately hunger led to behavior change which led to a successful implementation of the dietary change.

The message – sometimes changing the environment and eliminating choice can create desired behavior change.

Attached is one of the pictures that I gave the cook to look at while serving the athletes in order to make sure my intervention was followed through. The picture is pretty self explanatory – first have a plate of veggies and a cup of lemon water – then a diagram of the main meal including servings.

Health benefits:

• Relieves depression
• Speeds up recovery from exercise
• Increases circulation
• Increases testosterone
• Make you feel invigorated.

Mental toughness benefits:

Voluntarily putting your body through discomfort is not something most people jump up to do.  It can be very distressing if you are not used to the cold. But if you push yourself through the discomfort – you become stronger mentally for every additional second you endure.

 Here’s what to do:

1. Wear a watch that has a timer (trust me on this one – times seems to slow to a trickle when you do this).
2. Take a nice long warm shower
3. Then when you have psyched yourself up – turn the shower knob to cold.
4. See if you can stay in the shower for about 20-30 seconds – moving around so as to have the water directly hit your back – your front – both of your shoulders – and both of your thighs.
5. For the mental toughness of it – gradually test yourself to stay in longer.
6. Stick with it!

I personally find that the best time to do this is after a good workout – when your body’s furnace is still burning hot from the rigorous challenges you just placed on it.

**for novices – a gentler way to try this is to start with cool temperature and gradually decrease the temperature over weeks.

**Know your limits – start off slow.

1. Frogs. The frog hop – legs only or hands and legs plyometric jumping
2. Cats – Stretching
3. Bears. The bear crawl – a four legged walk
4. Fish. Swimming
5. Horses . walking, trotting, and galloping – walking, jogging and running
6. Monkeys. Climbing and carrying
7. Beavers. Dragging and pulling

Here’s how:

1. Frogs jump forward by using their back legs to propel them. You can do this by either doing two leg squat jumps across a room or by mimicking the frog and propelling yourself across the room while on your hands and legs.
2. Part of a cats ability to survive falls and perform sometimes incredible movements can be attributed to their flexibility. So be like a cat and stretch!
3. A great exercise is the bear crawl. Simply travel around a room on your hands and legs. Measure your progress on this exercise either by time or distance.
4. Swimming is a wonderful type of exercise inspired by fish!
5. While horses may walk, trot and gallop – we can mimic that by mixing up walking, jogging and running into our routines.
6. Monkeys have incredibly strong back muscles – much of it do to the fact that they do a great deal of climbing throughout their lives. Chin-ups or any exercise where you are doing some form of climbing are great additions to your workout. You can also partner with a friend and do as monkey mothers do as they carry their young on their back.
7. Beavers build their dams by stacking mud, rocks and wood/logs together. They drag the sometimes mammoth logs to the location of their dam. How this can be transferred into your workout is by pulling things during your workout. Whether it be a tire attached to a long rope attached to your waist or simply carrying medicine balls or heavy weights from one side of a room to the other – the only limitation is your imagination.

Here are two solutions I use.

One – don’t eat a big meal the night before  – ideally you are simply eating small meals throughout the day.

Two – plan ahead and do the following – make ready-to eat breakfasts on the weekend and freeze them. I personally like quinoa (sprinkled with some extra virgin olive oil), egg whites with feta, and a pear.