“Hey coach. I am doing p90x and have been doing really good for the first 3 weeks. I went out of town for a few days and came back home and missed a total of 4 workouts. I’m having a hard time deciding if I should restart the program so I don’t miss any days again or if I should keep going.”

Very common question that I get, especially with p90x since its a longer program. My answer is always the same to these questions. KEEP PUSHING FORWARD.

When you start a journey of health/fitness, especially on a strict program like p90x, it’s not going to be a walk in the park. There WILL be days that you may have to miss a workout for the day. The key to this is to keep pushing forward no matter what! It is pointless to start working out/eating right, skip some days, then restart. You are only pushing day 90 back further and further with each restart. As you already know, time goes by SO quick! If you go all 90 days, skipping workouts, slacking on nutrition, you’ll be looking at yourself in the mirror on day 90 with disappointment.

There are 2 main reasons I find that people tend to skip workouts.

1st being they take a trip, get extremely busy, long shift at work, that kind of stuff. I actually had one of those days yesterday! These days shouldn’t be frowned upon. Yes it sucks you couldn’t squeeze your workout in, but you will have many more chances;) Now the key for this setup….Miss one day, GET BACK ON IT the very next day, bringing it HARD! If you’ve missed a day of working out before, you KNOW how easily it turns into a domino effect. When you know you will be skipping a workout that day, PLAN AHEAD what workout and what time you’ll hit it the very next day.

2nd reason is pure laziness or lack of motivation after a certain amount of time. When you start working out and eating right, those first 4 weeks are exciting, its all new to you, motivation is sky rocketing, then weeks 4-6 come…This is where you start to look at yourself in the mirror and wonder why you aren’t seeing the results you have pictured in your mind. After that first 4 week excitement period, that motivation starts to die off. This is when you will get those days where you wake up and just don’t feel like working out. Skip 1 workout for the week. Next week you skip 3 workouts. And the domino game is in full effect! This is when people send me questions, like the one above, “Do I restart?” “Do I keep pushing forward?” This lifestyle you are trying to achieve is not just about changing your body. It’s about changing your habits. Do 100% for a few weeks, fall off track, restart, and repeat. I’m sure we can all relate to that, I’ve played that game many times. For that reason, PUSH FORWARD! When you feel yourself start to slip and skip workouts or slack on nutrition, look at this as the time to make some change in yourself. Find that fire that got you started to begin with, remember your goals, and STICK WITH IT!

All in all, doesn’t matter the reason the workout was skipped. If you do skip 1 day or 7 days. Learn from it, and move forward, do not restart. Know your habits, and the patterns that lead you to the lack of motivation, and figure out how to rekindle that flame. As always, you have support here. Not just from myself, but my team of coaches. Any 1 of us would be more than happy to help you stay on track with your health and fitness goals. Have a great St. Patties Day everyone!

“Chaz, how do you stay motivated and on track all the time??” VERY common question that I get on a daily basis! Staying motivated, especially when going at this journey of health and fitness alone, is probably the hardest aspect of the whole thing! When I first did P90X 2 years ago, I had no idea that there was a massive community of people doing the same workout. It was simply my burning desire to get healthy and in shape that kept me going for those 90 days.

Now days, I’m in a LOT better shape and self motivation is something that I really don’t struggle with anymore. The transformation period is honestly THE hardest part of losing weight/getting in shape. It’s so easy to start working out, eating right, then 4 weeks down the road, look in the mirror, and get discouraged that you aren’t super tight and thin like you have envisioned. Here are some tips I have for staying motivated.

Goals

Hands down the most important part of any transformation! It is SO important to have a future event or goal in mind that will make TODAY accountable. The more days that pass, the closer you get to that future event, the more realistic it is that time FLYS by. Week after week can pass and your body/health will remain the same. Set your main goal. Run a marathon, lose 20lbs, get a six pack by summer, whatever it may be. From there you break that goal down into SMALLER, more realistic goals. Weekly or monthly. Example, I started my journey at 225lbs. My goal was to get below 200lbs. Looking at a 25lb weightloss goal is a huge deal. But if you break it down and make it realistic, it can be accomplished MUCH easier than you think. I knew 2lbs per week was a healthy weightloss so that is what I set my smaller goal to. Each week pushing hard in the workouts, MAKING TIME to put in the work that I knew would get me to my goal. I hit the 10lb weightloss mark. Felt amazing. 15lbs down. This is where my motivation started to dip. It was phase 3 of p90x. Last 30 days. I slacked for a week, stepped on the scale, and saw 4lbs gained:-/ Talk about a wake up call. I just simply had to remember my goal and get that FIRE burning again. Those last 3 weeks flew by like always, only difference was I DID something during those 3 weeks. And I hit my 199lb mark. Guess what you do once you accomplish your goal….MAKE NEW ONES! That is honestly the main reason I am so motivated all the time. I have a list of goals, big and small, that I know I WILL accomplish, as long as I do what it takes. Simple as that. Put in the work, see the results.

Support/Accountability

Also a huge aspect of staying motivated. Going week after week pretty much by yourself it tough, I’ve been there many times. The key here is first, find an accountability partner. Someone that you can either workout with in person, or someone you can at least talk to on a daily basis. KNOW eachothers goals, weaknesses, strengths. Simple things like a daily text asking “Hey how is your diet today?” or “Wow I just kicked butt in that workout! When are you doing yours?” These kinds of messages have helped me out on numerous occasions. If you can find a friend/family member in person to physically be there to workout with everyday, even better! As for support, make it public that you are on a mission to lose the weight, get in shape, run that marathon, whatever your goal may be. Family, friends, co workers, hair stylist, massage therapist, everyone should know what you are up to. I use hair stylist/massage therapist as examples because those are types of appointments that you have time to talk/see this person once a month or so. If you are truly sticking with it week after week and go back to see that person, they will notice the changes, they will ask you everytime, “How’s the training going??”

Plan

Have a written plan. Very simple to create, very tough to stick with. Don’t wake up everyday and ask yourself “Hm what workout should I do today” or “What should I have for lunch”. Sit down, make a written plan, and follow it day by day! For myself, I use a whiteboard that has a big calendar on it. The 1st of each month I will sit down and write out which workout I’m doing for all 30 days of that month. I wake up, look at the calendar, and know exactly what workout I need to do. Then it is just a matter of MAKING time during that day to kick some ass. As for food, one method I love to use is prepping my meals ahead of time. For those of you that follow my facebook, you’ve seen me post pics of the containers. I will grill up a bunch of chicken, make some brown rice, and steam broccoli. Then I divide it all up into 6 containers. Bam. There’s my lunches for the week.

Hopefully these tips can help you out with your journey. I know how hard it is to keep the fire alive and putting in the time to workout 5-6 days a week, WHILE putting healthy foods in my body each day. Its no walk in the park. It takes extreme dedication to accomplish weight loss goals. From here, my challenge for you is to sit down, write out one big goal that you want to accomplish in the next 6 months. Then break that goal down into smaller, more realistic goals that you can accomplish on a weekly basis. After that I want you to write out a written plan for the next 30 days. Finally, I want you to reach out to someone and ask them to be your accountability partner. Someone that will be there with you each and everyday. It can be a friend, co worker, family member, or just someone you know on facebook. Reach out. Get out of your comfort zone. To get the results, you must put in the work. Simple as that. If you need help with making a plan, setting goals, anything at all, visit the “Contact” page and get in touch with me anytime!

“I’ll just start on monday.” I’m sure ANYONE reading this has used that term before, I know I have several times. When it comes to fitness/nutrition, for some reason we look at it as a chore of some sort. Start Monday, do great for 4 or 5 days, miss one day, then next thing you know, its been a few weeks. “I’ll just start on Monday”. Breaking that stop/go habit is such a HARD task to accomplish, but it CAN be done!

One of the reasons I believe this whole “Starting on Monday” thing happens is because you need to have a future event that will make TODAY accountable. Yes we are in this to make it a lifestyle. Every single day pushing that much closer to our overall goal of being in shape and healthy. With no future event in mind, such as a wedding to look good for, a marathon, fitness event, ANYTHING, it makes it that much easier to skip days and days of no workout or eating complete junk and being relatively guilt free about it. This is such a huge reason why people don’t get the results they are looking for. Starting something like P90X for example…90 day program. You have that day 90 goal in mind, so if you skip a day, guess what, you just lost 1/90th of your opportunity to become the person you want to be. Day 90 isn’t set back by another day, it stays in place. The more days you slack on or skip, the less time you have to accomplish that 90 day goal. Make sense?

Fitness and Nutrition is not a chore, so it shouldn’t be viewed as one. It’s not  something you should have to remind yourself to do everyday. This is a lifestyle. It should be HABIT. Have you honestly ever fully committed and STUCK WITH IT for a full 30 days straight? If never, then why not? What do you have to lose? Damn, you’d have to give up some junk food and deal with some cravings. But look at how you would FEEL and LOOK afterwards!!! The first 30 days is only a warm up. But even after that warm up I can promise that you will feel amazing and unstoppable! If you HAVE stuck with it for 30 days in the past, what made you fall off track? Laziness, lost motivation, gave into temptations more than just a few times a week? True commitment will happen when you answer these questions truthfully. KNOW what your weaknesses are, then create a game plan on how to conquer them when it happens.

For those who actually have read this entire post, I challenge you to contact me. Call, text, facebook, email, whatever works for you. Contact me. Tell me you are ready to take the 30 day challenge. You are sick and tired of the typical start/stop method to your working out and eating healthy. You WANT to make the change. You WILL make the change. I will personally be here every single day to help keep you on track. Then after 30 days, you can look at yourself in the mirror and guess what….You will feel DAMN proud and accomplished that YOU did it. YOU put in the work. YOU got the results!

30 days. All or Nothing. Thats just the beginning. It typically takes 3-4 weeks for something to become a habit. These 30 days are the warm up. After, you must learn to make it a lifestyle. So with that being said…Are you ready to BRING IT???

You can visit the “Contact” page to find all of my info. I’ll be waiting to hear from you;)