Motivation

How a 10-Year-Old Boy Who Can't Walk Can Inspire You to Work Out

braxton

“Your sister is in the hospital,” the principal told me, a look of concern on her face.

I remember the day clearly, even now. I was sixteen years old and a sophomore in high school when I got pulled out of class because of my older sister, who was then 27 weeks pregnant with twin boys.

“The babies have to come out. And the doctor isn’t sure if they’ll live.”

Rushing to the hospital, the rest is a blur. Just a few minutes before, my mind had been on Spanish class and the latest teenage boy I had a crush on.

Suddenly, everything had changed: all I cared about was whether my sister, and her not-yet-born baby boys, would survive.

I remember the looks on my sister and brother-in-law’s faces over those next few days. Pure white with more than a hint of ghost. It was not an easy time for our family.

Seven weeks too early, the boys were born, weighing just over two pounds each. But that didn’t relieve anyone’s fears. They were hooked up to a ventilator for what seemed like weeks because their tiny, premie lungs didn’t have the capacity to breathe like normal babies did.

Still, the doctors didn’t know if they were going to make it.

That next year was tough for all of us. I was too scared to hold the boys (soon named Wyatt and Braxton) for fear I’d break them. And since they could have stopped breathing at any moment, they couldn’t be left alone in a room by themselves—even for a moment, for fear they wouldn’t be alive when you returned.

But they kept on fighting for their lives. And eventually, the boys convinced everyone that they were here in this world to stay.

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Why Sitting is Killing You—And What You Can Do to Stop it

standing desk

Be honest… how much do you sit during the day?

6 hours? 10 hours? More?

You’re not alone.

Because whether it’s due to a desk job, a long commute, or just hours of TV watching or video game playing a day, the typical American sits for 8 to 10 hours a day.

But while it may be normal to sit that much… it sure isn’t healthy.

In fact, here’s the ugly truth: sitting all day is not only bad for your health—it can also kill you.

Sit less, live longer

As a nation, we have a sitting epidemic.

We sit all day at work.

We sit all day in the car, driving to and from work and running errands (with no actual running involved).

We sit during our entertainment. Movies, television, video games, watching (but not playing) sports, you name it.

But we have to stop. If we do, it can add years (literally) onto our lives

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Why the 12 Minute Athlete Workouts are Perfect for Traveling

It’s happens to everyone…

You keep a perfect workout schedule when you’re at home, never missing a day. But then one day, you go on vacation or travel for work and bam—all your hard work falls apart.

Because while you might pack your workout clothes with good intention to use the hotel gym, they never actually make it out of the bottom of your suitcase.

And before you know it, you’ve stopped exercising at all, completely abandoning your usual health routine. You start eating all the local foods, drink a little more than usual, and rather than walking, splurge and get a cab (it is vacation after all).

Soon enough, your pants start fitting tighter, your energy levels drop, and your motivation goes way down—you’re back to square one. And worst of all, it’s not so easy to get back to being healthy when you get home.

But that’s where the 12 Minute Athlete workouts come in.

Here’s why they’re the best way to motivate yourself to work out when you’re traveling:

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How to Keep Fit When All You Have is a Hotel Room

hotel-room-hiit-workout

It’s no secret that most people use traveling as an excuse to not work out.

They assume that just because they don’t have access to a gym or fancy exercise equipment, there’s no point in even trying to keep fit.

But it doesn’t have to be that way.

Because despite what you may think, you can actually get a really good workout when you’re traveling—even if all you have is a hotel room as your gym.

And best of all, you won’t have to spend an hour a day of your vacation exercising—or shell out $20 for a day pass at an expensive gym.

All you need is a hotel room—and determination

I used to always use traveling as an excuse not to exercise—even on long European vacations filled with French pastries and German beer.

And even though I’d end up walking a ton every time I traveled, I never did a single push up or lifted even one weight. As a result, I’d end up losing much of the hard work I’d put in before my trip… and have to start from the beginning when I got back home.

So a few years ago, I changed my stance on exercise while traveling, and now I work out just as I would normally, albeit with a little less equipment or space.

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How to Keep Working Out—Even When Your Life is Turned Upside Down

Let’s face it: life just doesn’t always go as planned.

No matter how hard you may try and control it, something always gets in the way.

And what’s the first thing that gets put on the back burner when something unexpected happens and turns your life upside down?

Your workouts.

You’re too tired, too busy, too stressed. So you stop exercising regularly, start eating like crap, and let all your hard work disappear.

I should know. I’ve been there.

And it’s completely understandable. But you can’t let it happen.

When moving gets in the way

Over the past four years, I’ve moved a total of 8 times. Three of those moves included going thousands of miles (from Portland to Amsterdam, Amsterdam to New York, New York to San Francisco), and four were into temporary housing—which, if you’ve never experienced it, is very unsettling.

And now, my husband and I are thinking of moving again(!)—but this time, we’re trying to buy a house in San Francisco (not an easy feat).

The one thing all these moves have had in common? They have all been very, very, distracting. And they would have all been perfectly good excuses to temporarily abandon my workout routine.

But I didn’t let that happen.

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Need Some Workout Motivation? Read This Right Now

Are you in dire need of some motivation to work out?

Have you been putting off your workouts because you’re just too busy, you’re just not ready yet, or you’re just not feeling up to it?

Well, we’re going to fix that problem right now.

So if you want some motivation, stick around. If not, click away from this post IMMEDIATELY and go read something safe and unmotivating.

Ok.

So you said you want some motivation?

Are you sick of not being able to fit into the clothes you want to wear? Avoiding the beach because you don’t want anyone else to see how jiggly your abs have gotten? Feeling embarrassed… disgusted… and hopeless about how you look?

(I’ve been there.)

Then let’s DO THIS. Let’s get you some motivation.

Now follow these steps below carefully:

Quit saying you don’t have the time to exercise.

We’re all busy. We all have too many things to do in a 24-hour time period.

But go ahead and ask yourself right now: What are your main priorities?

If they’re your family, your friends, your career, your hobbies, that’s all great.

But what about your health?

Shouldn’t that be a priority?

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Putting the Play Back in Exercise

When I was a kid, I never had to worry about my weight.

I could eat all the food I ever wanted, yet despite my rampant sweet tooth, there was never an extra ounce of fat on my skinny, Gumby-like body.

This is true for the majority of kids (or it used to be… childhood obesity rates are at frightenly high levels these days).

Until they reach puberty—or for some kids, college—the word ‘fat’ doesn’t even enter their vocabulary. They can eat as much pizza and ice cream as their hearts desire, and they’ll suffer no noticeable repercussions.

So why is this true? Why don’t kids have to watch their weight, despite their carbohydrate and sugar-filled diets?

Sure, a big factor is their high metabolisms and growing bodies—many of which require so many calories, their appetites can barely keep up.

But the biggest factor in keeping kids slim? Play.

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Why You Should Learn a New Sport

There’s no doubt about it: doing the same thing for extended periods of time can get, well, boring.

This is as true with exercise as it is with anything else in life.

And while you’re never going to be able to get away from the rockstar exercises like squats, push ups, and burpees, you can find ways to mix up your fitness here and there.

Wondering one of the best ways to shake things up?

Learn a new sport!

It doesn’t have to be scary

Yes, I know, some of you probably have nightmare images of P.E. coming back to you when I mention anything about sports.

Maybe you were terrible at softball (I was), or sucked in golf (I did, but then again, we used whiffle balls instead of golf balls). But the beauty of being an adult is that you get to do anything you want to do.

There’s no mean old P.E. teacher anymore to tell you which sport you have to excel in. You can just have fun.

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How to Crush Your Workouts

Are you mindlessly drifting through your workouts, never pushing yourself to go harder, faster, stronger?

This kind of working out won’t get you anywhere.

Because if you want to reach your goals, become healthy for life, and get fitter than you ever thought possible, you can’t just half-ass your workouts.

You have to crush it.

Give it your all

The awesome thing about interval training is that you never have to worry about pacing yourself or saving your energy for later.

If you were running a marathon or participating in a triathlon, you couldn’t just give it your all the entire time—because you’d never finish. Instead, you’d have to pace yourself, working hard to find a steady stride so that you could stay at that exact same pace the entire time and never burn out.

Not so with interval training.

With interval training, because you’re only working in spurts of maybe 20, 30, or 50 seconds, you never have to hold back.

There’s no need to pace yourself, to think about how you’ll be at it for 30 or 60 minutes—because that’s just not the case.

Interval training only works when you work harder than you ever thought possible, making your muscles scream and sweat pour during every single interval.

So don’t hold back. Run, jump, and lift like your life depended on it. Crush it.

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OMG My Thighs Are Getting HUGE!

“Krista…”

My mom called me up the other day, noticeable worry in her voice.

“I have a problem.”

My mom then explained how after nearly five months of doing some type of resistance training four or five days a week, she was starting to notice her thighs getting bigger.

“And that wasn’t exactly the goal,” she said, obviously freaking out a little.

“Calm down,” I said. “Tell me exactly what’s happening.”

“Well,” she went on, “my waist is getting smaller and firmer, but my thighs are GROWING. It’s getting harder and harder to fit into my pants!”

I laughed, and proceeded to explain.

Here’s what happens when you begin a new exercise program:

You start to lose weight and gain strength almost immediately. This makes you happy and motivates you to keep exercising.

Then you hit your first plateau. Your strength and endurance gains start to slow, and you stop shedding the pounds as quickly as you were in the beginning.

And then… here’s the scary part for women… often certain body parts start getting BIGGER.

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