Celebrating the Holidays – Rocky IV Style!

Saludos amigos!

I hope you all had a great holiday season, took some much-needed rest, hung out with friends and family, and enjoyed pigging out without being too neurotic about calorie counts.

I spent some time visiting my parents out in the backwoods of Minnesota, and managed to stay physically active the entire time.

The Hidden Benefit of Being Fit

Although the weather in Minnesota is notoriously harsh (and trust me, the reputation is rightly earned), it really is a beautiful state.

From a city containing several lakes and a vital local arts scene to a vast and uninhabited park where all motorized vehicles are prohibited, the home of Prince and Garrison Keillor is truly a well-kept secret for people looking for both exciting city life and rustic wilderness.

I was able to spend a lot of time doing both snowshoeing and pheasant hunting while I was there, both activities that are quite active, and both requiring a rudimentary amount of fitness to truly enjoy.

It’s during times like these that I’m truly grateful for my good health, as it surely beats sitting around watching Bad Santa for the 100th time (which is saying something, cuz that movie is hilarious).

How to Kick a Russian Boxer’s Ass

So being physically active without specifically “working out” cuts both ways: it helps you become healthier painlessly (similar to the way most people stayed in shape before gym culture took over in the last couple of decades) and it is really only enjoyable if you have a reasonable amount of physical fitness to start out with.

If there was one video I could point to as being indicative of how we do exercise here at LMVM, it would be the classic training montage from Rocky IV, with Rocky roughing it out in the wilderness, training by climbing mountains, jumping rope, and hauling logs through thigh-deep snow, while his Russian opponent trains in a state-of-the-art facility that looks eerily like most modern “Globo” gyms.

Go here and check out the video again. All the cool kids are doing it!

I may not be able to clean and press a giant wheelbarrow with two people sitting in it, but I definitely felt like the Italian Stallion when I was out chopping wood for a fire last week.

No matter if you already work out religiously, make sure you find time for physical hobbies in your life.

Whether it’s surfing, skiing, hiking, or anything else, you’re missing out on one of the main reasons for being in shape if you don’t go out and do anything about it.

Making the Most of Your New Year’s Resolutions

This advice probably couldn’t come at a better time.

Since this post is coming out in the first week of January, there are many of you who have doubtless made some lofty goals for the new year, whether it’s losing your beer belly, bench pressing your bodyweight, or running your first 5k.

Unfortunately, these resolutions tend to become more like “to-do lists” for the first couple weeks of the year, most people throwing in the towel well before they have really made these new changes habitual.

One solution is to add one of these physical activities to your life. They tend to be easier to implement, and honestly, they are much more enjoyable than waiting in line to use the bench several times a week at the gym. Since they generally don’t have specific goals, these activities can be excellent hobbies since you aren’t fretting about banging out those 100 push ups or deadlifting 2 times your bodyweight.

But if you are going the resolution route, here’s a few tips to help you get where you want to go:

1. Don’t bite off more than you can chew. Trying to completely overhaul your diet and physical activity on one day is often a recipe for disaster due to the tremendous amount of willpower it takes to accomplish this. Most people lack this Herculean ability, and thus burn out before January has ended, reverting back to their old ways.
2. Focus on diet before exercise. Still eating Easy Mac and frozen White Castle sliders? Don’t even think about throwing the dumbbells around until you start giving your body the fuel it needs to effectively burn fat and build muscle. By eating more meat and vegetables while minimizing the amount of ultra-processed foods you consume, you can put yourself way ahead of the game when it comes to getting to 10% bodyfat, or whatever goals you have. Click here for more information on how to get started.
3. Give it a month. If you “force” yourself to do one simple task repeatedly, chances are that at the end of four weeks or so, it will become habitual, or a ritual. If you are keeping things simple, this should be a snap.

Happy New Year to all! If you have any specific goals for this next year, let me know in the comments section, and I’ll do my best to help you over these next months.

Tagged as: better life