What's all this “Winning the Week” talk?

How many times have you heard a client desperately bellow, “BUT I don't have enough time!” or “I've just been SUPER busy,” or “my schedule is nuts this week, I'll start next week.” Most of us have heard these excuses. Let's be honest- excuses are easy! It's the “showing up” part that proposes a challenge for many. Let me teach you how to make time, and stop using excuses.

Co-founder and acting CEO of twitter AND Square, finds one hour a day to exercise / meditate. I own two gyms, am currently writing my second book, teach 46 hours per week, personally train over 10 hours, and I still find time to exercise at least 90 minutes a day. Ever try giving examples like these to your friends or clients? It doesn't help. It's like we're telling the world we're better. “Ohh I work out 10x a week. It's easy to find time, just do it!” People don't need examples, they need direction on HOW TO DO IT, combined with some structure and intent. Who cares about Jack Dorsey (Twitter stock is down 68% over the last year), and who the hell is Chris Hitchko anyways (Hunky, #longhairdontcare, single, modern day John Wayne)? Our job as fitness professionals isn't to make our clients feel worse. Rather, it's to educate them on how to move properly, create better decisions, and lead better lives. If you focus on winning the week, I guranatee you that you'll start seeing results with 90-days.

Winning The Week
A major theme at Show Up Fitness is Winning the Week. I coined this term in the second version of my book, The Vulgar Truth Diet: Fat Loss II. We've found it encouraging for our clients struggling with time management and squeezing exercising into the week. Instead of presenting our clients with, “you need to work out every day” we simply state, “If there's 168 hours in the week, do you think it's reasonable to lift weights four of those hours?” The sixty-minutes of resistance training doesn't need to be continuous, you can break it up into thirty-minutes bouts in the morning or at work, but the important part is to exercise four out of the seven days- #wintheweek (second favorite hashtag behind #ImaBeliber)

With the NBA playoffs in full-action, think of what it takes to win a playoff series- four out of the seven games. If you lose game 1, it's not the end of the world. Lose game 2; no biggie. Even if you lose game 3, you've still got a shot. As long as you win four games, you'll advance to the next round. We encourage our clients to take this approach with resistance training. Let's pretend that you worked out on Monday (1-0). If you were to go to a Taco Tuesday and inhale six tacos and three margaritas, WHO CARES, the series is tied at 1-1- you've still got five days left to work out three days and win. Instead of taking a half-empty approach, we focus on maintaining a positive mindset; every day is an opportunity. Even if you were swamped with work, kid's games, family e, and its Thursday, you can still WIN THE WEEK by working out four consecutive days. Imagine if you told the 2004 Boston Red Sox in the ALCS that the series was over at 3-0? If you don't recall, Boston beat the New York Yankees 4-3.

As a country boy who works out 6+ days a week from Northern California, I'm not any better than any of our clients. I empathize with people today. Who cares what that tool on a Shredz post is doing, or a NPC bikini girl. The focus needs to be on YOU. Some of these stories can be motivating, but for many, it's a slap to the face. If you're into bikini/physique competitions, or a Tough Mudder, that's awesome, but most of us don't give a rats ass. For many people these events must seem overwhelming. I want our clients to be successful based on what their goals are. Ideally within a month, our clients will be winning the week. That's my goal. I want your default lifestyle to be success. This is vital.

What generally happens after the first few weeks of the New Year? People return to their default lifestyle which is eating too much, and not lifting weights. I feel that if you can change your behavior so that your new default is WINNING THE WEEK, you'll be one step closer to being a full-time member on the GAINTRAIN- CHOO CHOO!

Step 1: Time Card. At Show Up Fitness, we don't demand our clients to do anything, we challenge them. Who honestly likes being told what to do (minus in the bedroom)? I challenge you to complete this Time Card. Find opportunities in your day and work week where you can add in a workout. According to T-Nation, the average person watches 37 hours of television a week (it was a meme with a buff dude, so it must be true.) To tell someone to cut out watching TV isn't realistic. Why don't you reward yourself with an hour of TV if you workout for an hour? I like watching basketball games while I workout. Bring your freaking Ipad to the gym and be THAT person, WHO CARES what other people think- you showed up! How can you manage your time better to get those four workouts in a week? The purpose of this time card is to teach you how to manage your time better. Stalk your ex on IG/FB between sets at the gym, not on your ass at home. You're going to find a lot of time that you're wasting. When my weekly tasks begin to get delayed, I revisit this time card to see what I'm doing. In 2016, I originally set out to read a book a week. To date, I'm at s- well under my targeted goal. I sat down to figure out where my time was going. I was spending too much time perusing through social media. I was spending over 90 minutes a day on f*(&^%$ INSTAGRAM; it's a blackhole. I have two social media sites (IG/FB), I can only imagine the average person with Pinterest, Snapchat, Twitter, etc. Why are we so damn interested in other people's lives? I'm only human so there's no point in getting frustrated. Now that I've recognized where my time is going, I've fixed the problem, and in the last two weeks, I've read three books. I'm challenging you to be creative and find five hours within your 168 hours per week to lift weights (I'm even giving you 15 minutes to get to and from the gym.)

Step 2: SHOW UP. Joe Rogan said it best in the YouTube clip! Showing Up regularly is what's going to create the new lifestyle you want to enjoy. I received an email from a client the other day asking about how I'm capable of drinking 2-3x a week and maintaining my physical stature? I told her, my default programming is winning the week and showing up regularly. For some it's chocolate, others it's pizza. For me, I enjoy socializing. I don't condone drinking alcohol, but it's something I enjoy. One thing I never do is use it as an excuse not to exercise- I'm too hungover isn't viable. Any punishment that I do to my body, I take upon myself and will always win the week. If I were to abstain from exercising, I'd pack on the pounds, NO DOUBT. But why? My choice is to exercise, I don't need any excuses. The work is hard, but I earn my lifestyle.

Step 3: Win The Week. Focus your energy on working out four times a week. Go by week to week; not day by day. If you get discouraged because you missed one workout, that's perfectly normal, you can still win the week. Find a friend or co-worker to hold yourself accountable. The likelihood for success increases when you workout with a partner. You're less likely to let others down, so find someone who needs a gym buddy.

Here's a simple workout routine that you can follow for the next month. WINNING THE WEEK WORKOUT ROUTINE:

Day 1&4: Chest/Back/Shoulders
Super Set: 1: Bench Press & Cable / DB Row 3 x 8-10 reps resting 2 minutes
Super Set 2: DB Military Press & Push-Ups 3 x 8-10 reps resting 2 minutes
Super Set 3: Bent Over Barbell Row & Arnold Presses 3 x 8-10 reps resting 2 minutes
Super Set 4: Suitcase / Farmers walks (30 seconds) & Face-Pulls (12 reps) & Jumping Jacks (1 minute) CIRCUIT STYLE x 3 rounds
Walk for 15-30 minutes depending on your time constraints

Day 3/6/7: OFF

Day 2&5: Legs/Biceps /Triceps
Super Set 1: Hip Thrust & Chin-Ups 3 x 8-10 reps resting 2 minutes
Super Set 2: Deadlifts & Close Grip Push-Ups 3 x 8-10 reps resting 2 minutes
Super Set 3: Step Ups & Bicep Curls 3 x 8-10 reps resting 2 minutes
Super Set 4: Floor Bridges & Tricep Extensions 3 x 8-10 reps resting 2 minutes
Walk at an incline of 10% for 15 minutes or Interval Sprints (Sprint for a min / rest of a min x 10)

Step 4: BE HUMAN. enjoy some whiskey, amazing food, and good company, because your default lifestyle is now awesomeness. After a month, I'm confident that you've now established a new routine that will yield results, a positive mindset, and confidence.

SHOW UP FITNESS TIMECARD
If 90% of success is Showing Up, lets start Winning the Week!
168 hours in the week / 24 hours per day

Hours, Event
9pm – 4am or 930pm – 430am (pending on the day), Sleep
430 – 9am Write, Website, Business Marketing
930 – 11am Teach NPTI
11 – 1130am Read
1130 – 230pm Teach / Practical for NPTI
3 – 5pm Workout OR Train Clients (always workout 4x)
530 – 7pm Teach NPTI
7 – 730pm Read
730-9pm Teach NPTI