I really, truly believe that deep down, everybody is an athlete.
It doesn’t matter if you sucked at sports in high school. Or how uncoordinated you are. Or if you can’t do a pull up (yet).
If you believe it, you are an athlete.
“If you have a body, you are an athlete.” – Bill Bowerman, Nike Founder
But you can’t truly harness your power as an athlete if you don’t act like one when you’re working out. If you really want to be an athlete, you have to train like one.
So here’s how to get started:
I love CrossFit. Like, love it.
I think it’s one of the coolest, most challenging workouts around today. I love its focus on functional fitness. I love the variety. I love the community aspect of it.
In fact, I did CrossFit for nearly a year before I decided to give it up. When I was living in Brooklyn, I went to the most amazing CrossFit gym, CrossFit Virtuosity, and had the time of my life.
The people were cool. There were both men and women, and no one expected me to work less hard because I was a chick. And the coach (as they’re called in CrossFit) was inspiring and just, well, awesome.
But when I moved to San Francisco, I decided to give it up.
If you’re like most people I know, then then there’s a high probability that of the hundreds of different exercises we do during 12 Minute Athlete workouts, handstand push ups intimidate you the most.
Maybe they’re so intimidating that you’ve never even tried them, and have a habit of skipping any workouts where they’re included.
In fact, you probably think they’re near impossible — that they’re only for gymnast types with insanely broad shoulders, and strong, compact bodies.
But let me tell you a secret: you can do handstand push ups.
I don’t care how strong you are, how long your arms are (my nickname for years was spaghetti arms, so I can relate), how unbalanced and uncoordinated you are.
Unless you have a shoulder injury or something else actually prohibiting you from standing upside down, there’s absolutely no reason you can’t do handstand push ups.
Because here’s the thing: you don’t have to be superhuman to do handstand push ups. And just like anything else, you can break them down into progressions that will eventually lead you to working the full thing.
If I had to choose on exercise to rule them all, there’s no doubt in my mind that the burpee would be it.
Burpees have it all: they’re cardio, strength training, balance, plyometrics and functional fitness all rolled up into one, incredible, mind-blowing exercise.
Sure, most people hate burpees. And if I had to take a guess, you probably do too. But burpees pack so many awesome benefits, they’re totally worth it.
That’s why I’m declaring burpees the official exercise of 12 Minute Athlete.
Because if I could only get you to do ONE of the 50+ exercises on the site, it would be burpees, hands down.
To celebrate, I’ve created a handy little infographic so you have no excuse not to do burpees at every waking hour (just kidding):
Let’s face it. It’s not always easy to eat healthy 100% of the time—especially if you’re not used to eating that way.
But along with consistent exercise, healthy eating is what’s really going to propel you to the fitness level you want. Plus, it will make you feel better, give you more energy, and help you achieve the body of your dreams.
But it doesn’t have to be difficult. Healthy eating can actually be incredibly easy and enjoyable—if you know how to structure your meals and your days around it.
Along my fitness journey, I’ve discovered there are eleven healthy eating rules I follow that when combined with the HIIT workouts, mean I never, ever have to worry about my weight.
And that’s pretty awesome, if you ask me.
For most of my life, I’ve tried to be as tough as possible.
I used to punch all the guys in high school. I also put a few holes in my parents’ walls (sorry mom and dad). After that, I asked for (and was quickly given) a punching bag to take out my toughness on instead.
And while I’ve never taken myself very seriously (OK, other than maybe my freshman year in high school when I died my hair pink and covered myself in spikes), I still love the idea of being a badass.
Because being a badass means more than just trying to be cool. It means being true to yourself and who you are, sticking to your beliefs, and putting yourself out there in the world. And most of all, it means having the confidence to go after your dreams—even if no one else believes in you but yourself.
Ever wonder why sometimes, you feel strong and awesome and powerful when your workout is over, and other times, your workout just kind of… well, sucks?
Sure, it could be due to external factors—maybe you haven’t been feeling that great lately, or maybe you’re extra stressed/sad/overwhelmed with life. Heck, even little things such as changes in temperature can affect your workout (I certainly experienced that in Mexico).
But while these annoyances are, for the most part, out of your control, there are several things you can do to make sure your workout is as awesome as humanly possible.
I have a confession to make.
Despite being reasonably tall for a girl (I’m 5 ‘ 8 1/2″), with legs that prohibit me from ever buying regular length jeans, my jumping skills have always been a bit… weak.
As a basketball player in high school, I may have been pretty decent on the defensive side of things, but for some reason, jumping just was never my strong point. I was so pitiful, in fact, that my dad would ask me if my feet ever actually left the floor when I jumped (my husband has made the same joke years later).
Yep, I was that bad at jumping.
To be perfectly fair, I never actually practiced jumping as a teenager. Sure, I ran lines, and shot lay ups, and didn’t have a half bad three point shot, but jumping? I never even did a jumping jack, let alone a squat jump or a tuck jump.
It’s rare to come across someone who doesn’t want to be in really awesome shape.
That wouldn’t love to be able to crank out several pull ups in a row.
Or run a sub 5 minute mile.
Or eat healthy foods, effortlessly.
Or have a rocking body they don’t mind showing off at the beach.
These people are everywhere.
They talk about how nice it would be, how only if they had better genes, or more willpower, or more money for healthier food or a gym membership… then they would be fit. They’d have the body of their dreams, and the athleticism needed to conquer the world.
And that’s it. These people are talkers.
While most people have trouble getting motivated to work out at all, there are some people—myself included—who have trouble taking even a single rest day.
And though it’s good to keep moving and working out on a near daily basis, it’s possible to overdo it sometimes.
Most people understand that rest is important—rest helps rebuild your muscles and allows them to grow back bigger and stronger—but there are times when we may try and push it too hard.
In the fitness world, this phenomenon of exercising too much is called overtraining, and most athletes of all levels have experienced it at some point in their lives (whether they know it or not).
Rather than helping you reach your goals faster, overtraining can actually send you backwards, resulting in symptoms such as unwanted weight gain/loss, lack of motivation to exercise, and fitness plateaus.
So how do you know if you’re exercising too much?
Here are 10 warning signs you might be overtraining:
