A common question from new clients:

“Which do you think is better: The low-sugar soft drink or the organic kind that’s made with cane syrup instead of high-fructose corn syrup?”

The point that’s unfortunately lost on them - “better” in this case is misleading. It’s still soda.

Truth is, it doesn’t matter if your cookie is milled from the finest, most sustainable whole grains from Tibet, or if it contains the highest quality cacao nibs from the deepest reaches of the Amazon. It’s still a cookie. It still gets broken down into glucose. That glucose still has to be dealt with (pulled out of your bloodstream). And your body still only has one mechanism to do it with: Dump insulin into the bloodstream to shuttle all that glucose to its final destination (either as fuel for your cells or as fat in your fat cells - typically the latter, if insulin levels are high).

I happen to think it’s wonderful that you’re taking steps to make your health better and to achieve the body you want. Here’s the thing - it takes just as much energy and motivation to go from drinking regular soda to organic soda as it does to forgo soda completely.

Stop doing what’s better and start doing what’s best.

Here is the dirty little secret of fat loss (and athletic success, incidentally):

Nobody likes doing it.

That’s right - those fitness models with perfect 6-pack abs? They still say to themselves, “I’d rather have a waffle” every time they get up in the morning, open up yet another package of cottage cheese and sprinkle on exactly 3 oz of blueberries.

I’m sure David Beckham is pretty damn tired of doing his sprint intervals.

The truth is, it’s not any easier to for the best in the world to bring themselves do what it is you’re doing, and there are days where even they feel like throwing in the towel and indulging.

But they don’t. Unless they’ve planned it (but that’s a topic for another post).

Now, the corollary to that truth is this:

What’s hard is not the doing. What’s hard is the pre-doing.

It’s not eating the poached egg or lifting the weight or trying to throw that 200 pound guy with yoko tomoe nage, it’s that little voice inside your head telling you “I can’t do this” before you’ve even tried.

There’s a really easy way to shut that voice down. Just start doing it. You’ll find that 99.7% of the time, it won’t be so bad.

The other 0.3% of the time? You get a pass.

Ever feel like the world is on your shoulders?

No problem; just lift it.  Have a good Monday workout, all.

My brother is an amazing sight on Rock Band drums.  He can (nearly) flawlessly execute songs on Expert setting (which is akin to playing the actual drum tracks).  And as good as he is, there are a whole host of people who blow him out of the water (like this guy, for example).

Now, it’s interesting to note that unlike many of these other folks, my brother can actually play (real) drums.  And it stands to reason that if you rock out on a Rock Band drum pad, you’ll likely do well on an honest-to-good drumset. 

Why, then, are there 5.5 million copies of Rock Band out there and not 5.5 million fledgling punk bands?  I can’t be certain, but I’d bet that there will be less than 7.5 million new guitar players this fiscal year, but that’s how many copies Guitar Hero 3 is projected to sell.

Now, I know what you’re thinking, but humor me for a moment: How long do you think this kid took to learn to “play” this song?  What if he’d applied the equivalent number of game-hours to playing a real guitar?

Let’s apply this thought to exercise and fitness: How many people do you know who think playing Wii Sports is a suitable alternative to heading to the gym or eating better? 

Let’s stop with all the simulacra and get back to reality.  Put the Wii controller down.  Go outside.

Exercise is more a matter of quality, not quantity. In other words, it’s not how many exercises you do, or how long of a marathon workout you can sustain, but how much you put into each exercise, each rep.

One thing that often catches new trainees off-guard is the degree of effort required of them when they begin training “in earnest.”

Effort is essential, when you’re trying to maximize the results from your exercise program. It’s not necessary to work to gut-busting failure, per se, but it is necessary to work hard in order to stimulate your body into making the changes you want to happen (increased number of muscle fibers, greater muscle density, increased vascularization, etc.).

A quick example:

Today, I trained a client who worked so hard she couldn’t grasp her water bottle and had to cradle it in the crook of her elbow.

Working hard enough to stimulate change, but not so hard as to knock yourself out; that’s the essence of effort.