Don’t let your workout leave you thinking, “What went wrong?”

I learned such a great and valuable lesson over the past few weeks…

When one strategy doesn’t work, you’ve got to try another and another until you find the one that works.

Sound obvious? Well it may be. But many times after we make an attempt to accomplish a goal and it doesn’t work exactly the way we had planned the first and second time, we’re tempted to just throw in the towel and just tell ourselves (and others) a bunch of excuses as to why it didn’t work.

Let me explain…

Before the birth of my son 3 months ago, I always exercised at home. With just a few items (a few dumbbells, an exercise ball and a spinning bike) I could put together an effective and intense workout.

Well, all of that drastically changed when my son was born. I made every attempt to do my workouts at home…waited until he was asleep, put him in a swing, even tried to sing to him while doing squats and lunges. None of that ever really worked. Sure, I might have gotten a few of the first exercises done, but it was never quite a complete and focused workout (How focused can you be singing “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” during a set of squats?)

If I was committed to get myself back into my pre-baby shape I had to re-adjust my fitness plans!

First and foremost I decided to join a gym near my house where they offer a wonderful babysitting service. Yes, I would rather workout at home, but that clearly was not working and I am open minded and willing to give something new a try. Who knows? Maybe I’ll even meet some other new moms and we can keep each other motivated.

Secondly, I had to put some structure back into my workouts. I wasn’t following any specific plan and I was kind of just “winging” it each time. I know firsthand this is NOT the way to reach any fitness goal. So shame on me for not setting myself on a structured plan sooner.

Like I told you earlier this week, the program for me is going to be Rob Poulos’ Fat Burning Furnace. I chose Rob’s program not only because it is intense and effective, but because it only requires 3 workouts a week, each only taking 30-40 minutes. Yes, I am committed to my fitness goals, but my time is very, very limited these days (whose isn’t right?) so I do need to get in and out of the gym and back in front of the computer in less than 1 hour. Rob’s workouts are put together in a way that allows me to do just that, without sacrificing intensity or results.

What can you do if your current workout strategy is just not working?

1. If you’ve tried over and over again to fit exercising into a certain time of the day without success, try something different! Switch to a morning workout instead of an evening workout where you may already be tired from a long day. If kids are what’s keeping you down, recruit another parent to watch your kids during your workout and then you watch theirs while they work out. Or even setting up dinner in the morning in the crockpot so you have more time after work to fit in some exercise would work well 2-3 days per week. The point here is to get creative and keep trying until you find the scenario that works best for you.

2. Pick one program and commit to it for a minimum of 6-8 weeks. If you need a plan that’s time efficient, effective and easy to follow you can start Rob’s program along with me. Or you may already have a program you like that you want to follow. Whichever it may be, pick one and COMMIT to it. I’ve already added the following reminders into my online calendar “Start FBF – Day 1″ (this is tomorrow morning, Saturday Nov. 7, 2009). After 3 weeks I’ve added “Assess FBF Progress” (Nov 28th). After 6 weeks I’ve added “Re-take full body pictures” (Dec. 20th).

Oh that reminds me….

I am going to do something I’ve never done before. I am going to post my before and after pictures, after 6 weeks on the Fat Burning Furnace program, on my blog on December 21st, 2009 (right before I leave for my holiday vacation). I need accountability and motivation just as much as anybody else (I’m not superhuman you know). This kind of accountability will ensure that I stop using the lame excuse “I didn’t have time today to workout”.

How about you? Why don’t you do this along with me? Take some pictures today and get started on Rob’s program with me tomorrow. We’ll be in this for the next 6 weeks together. I’ll even post your before and after shots on my blog alongside mine if that would give you even more motivation. Email me today and tell me if you’re onboard.

If you didn’t get a chance to take a look at Rob’s program, you can read about it here:

Fat Burning Furnace

You can also read a great article Rob wrote here:

Fat Burning Workout

Jeff at the gym

As promised I’ve got the full scoop and review of Rob Poulos’ Fat Burning Furnace program for you today.

In my previous post, I told you how this is going to be the workout program I am going to use to get myself back into my pre-baby shape.  (If you missed that post you can access it here: Fat Burning Workout).

Now, after 10 weeks of following the program, my test subject Jeff (also my business partner and good friend) is ready to disclose his thoughts and experience with Rob’s program.

Just to give you a little background info on Jeff, he’s been hitting the weights regularly for over 10 years now (I remember bumping into him a lot at the gym when we were in college) and he’s not messing around when he’s there either.  He can bench press well over 300 lbs and he’s tried and followed many different workout programs.  His goal has always been to achieve and maintain that lean and muscular look, not the bulky meathead look.

How did this strong and avid exerciser do on Rob’s program?  Here are his answers to a few questions I emailed him.

Jeff, what have been the top 3 things you have enjoyed the most about the Fat Burning Furnace program?

First and foremost, the fact that I am in and out of the gym in 30 minutes is awesome (sometimes 40 if I squeeze a few extra exercises in there).  It’s so much easier for me to schedule my gym time knowing that it’s not going to be an hour or longer experience.

Secondly, I love the full body workouts.  It allows for more variety of exercises and makes sure there are no lagging parts.  As someone who is guilty of skipping the body parts I don’t enjoy (somehow I tend to leave out leg day, and sometimes core…which is really bad news), the full body workouts have really helped me to bring my body into balance.

I also love the schedule.  Only going to the gym every other day instead of multiple days in a row is the better way to go when you work your whole body intensely.

That’s 3, but I have one more.  I love that my heart rate is elevated throughout the duration of the program without having to do any cardio.  I’m huffing and puffing by the end, as if I had gone for an intense interval workout.

Jeff, I remember you telling me before you started that you were scared you were going to lose some of your muscle mass using a full body workout routine instead of a body split routine.  Has that been the case?

No, not at all and good thing, otherwise I’d be really mad at you.  All kidding aside, I’ve had no signs of muscle loss or strength loss whatsoever.  Actually, quite the opposite.  I think the fact that I’m working all of my muscles (even the ones I may have ignored in the past) has really helped my strength and my muscle retention.  I actually did 8 reps with 255 lbs the other day (with a hurt shoulder) using the controlled weight lifting method Rob teaches.

Jeff, what have been some of the downsides to the program?

As a guy who’s been exercising for a long time and someone who knows many exercises, the ones in Rob’s book were a bit on the basic side for me.  However, this is probably a good thing for most people and you can substitute and make adjustments if you want to, just like I have.

Another downside is that since I know a bunch of people at my fancy gym (mostly all the trainers) I have to tell them I’ll catch up with them at the end of the workout because I want to keep the intensity up (It’s also a lot harder to talk to the girls, but there’s no need to go into my personal life here).

Thanks for sparing us the details of your personal life.  Anything else you want to let us know about Rob’s program so far?

I really like that Rob has included a complete bodyweight workout in the book if you need it.  I’ve even used a bunch of the exercises during a few of the out of town conferences I recently attended. It’s definitely not the same as going to the gym, but it certainly is a good holdover when you have no other options.

I have to admit, I was really pretty surprised at how effective this workout really is.  You have total control of the intensity and you will sweat and get fatigued just as if you had done a much longer workout.  The way Rob structures it is a lot more enjoyable without the boring repetition that everyone else teaches.  In fact, I was visiting my folks a few weeks ago and did these workouts with my dad (he just turned 66) and he’s been loving it. We even designed a bunch of workouts together for him to do going forward.   Hey, if you can get your folks into it, that definitely says a lot about the program.

You can take a look at Rob’s program for yourself here:

Fat Burning Furnace

Stay tuned…in my next post, I’m going to share with you exactly how I’m going to implement Rob’s program into my own hectic and busy life.

For now, take a look at what’s been keeping Jeff going:

Fat Burning Furnace

  

Fat Burning Furnace

If you’ve been keeping up with my posts over the past several months, you know this has been quite an exciting time for me. I gave birth to my first child, Christian, on August 12th and life has not been the same (in a good way, of course!).

Now my little guy is almost 11 weeks old and it’s time for me to get back into a solid workout routine. Yes, I have done some exercise here and there…walks around the neighborhood and some light strength training at home. But I’ve seen myself fall into the same predictable trap that I’m sure happens to many new moms and dads…”I just can’t find the time to workout”.

I know. You probably never thought you would hear me say that, and again, I’m not saying I’ve been doing absolutely nothing. But if there is one thing I have learned in the past 10 years about achieving long term fitness results, it’s that you have to go into your workout sessions with a plan! It can’t just be “a little bit of this or a little bit of that”. You’ve got to have structure to your workout routine, otherwise it turns into more of a “time wasting” session than a “fat burning, muscle building” session. You know who I’m talking about. Those folks at the gym who walk around the gym aimlessly just doing whichever machine they think looks interesting, or worse yet, whichever one happens to be free at the time. This is not the way to get your body to burn fat and lean down. I assure you.

I will tell you what I have been doing…my homework…and that entails researching and reading the latest and greatest (and admittedly not so great) fitness programs that are available today. I know I’ve told you this before, but I don’t really have to search too far to find a new workout routine. I regularly receive emails from lots of great fitness authors asking me to take a look at their programs.

Well, I have now narrowed down my search. My first and most important criteria for the workout I was going to choose was it must be time efficient! I know you parents can relate to this one. Ever spent your whole workout time thinking “Please don’t wake up, please don’t wake up. I’ve only got 4 exercises to go, ok now just 3, ok last one…almost done”.

Yup, that’s me. When your kid is only 11 weeks old, nap time is workout time so I’ve got to get it done FAST!

I also don’t want to sacrifice my results just because I have a limited amount of time to exercise. That’s why I’m going to follow Rob Poulos’ Fat Burning Furnace program for the next 12 weeks to get back to my pre-baby shape (and you all know that my pre-baby shape is no joke).

When Rob first sent me his program, I had still not been cleared by my doctor to exercise, so I had to find myself a good guinea pig to test out the program for me. I asked my business partner Jeff if he would be up for the challenge (I say challenge because Rob’s workouts don’t sacrifice intensity for the sake of time . Yes, they are short, but as Jeff will tell you, they do provide a very effective workout).

Now Jeff is almost at 10 weeks on the program and he’s got a lot of great insight to share with us. Stay tuned for Jeff’s results and his feedback on the program (good and bad).

For now, just so you have an idea of exactly what kind of workouts and program Rob’s Fat Burning Furnace provides, here is a great article from Rob that gives you a bit of background on why he structures his workouts the way he does.

If you’re currently spending hours at the gym and not seeing your body change the way you want it to, click here for a fat burning workout.