There’s something you need to understand, especially if you’re new to the 12 Minute Athlete, new to interval training, or even new to working out at all.

And that something is this: these workouts aren’t easy.

In fact, they’re really, really hard.

And they’re supposed to be hard.

As someone who may have never done a handstand before, never done a strict pull up, maybe even never done a full push up, you may look at the 12 Minute Athlete workouts and think: I can’t do that.

Let me tell you a secret: I would have said the same thing even just a few years ago.

Back then, my workouts consisted of a three mile run; nothing else. I hated them. Plus, I couldn’t do a pull up (or a push up) to save my life.

And now… well, now, I feel pretty good about my fitness level. Sure, I always want to get stronger, faster, and fitter.

But really, who doesn’t?

You can do these workouts

It doesn’t matter what your current fitness level is. You can do the 12 Minute Athlete workouts.

Yes, they’re tough. But the great thing about them is that they’ll always be tough. That means you’ll never hit a plateau or get bored and stop making progress like traditional workouts.

Because the key to these workouts is that you work as hard as you possibly can.

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For many people (and you might count yourself as one of them), exercise is a chore.

But here’s the truth: it doesn’t have to be.

I used to feel the same way. I’d go to the gym, waste an hour or so on the treadmill or elliptical machine… use a resistance machine or two… maybe do a few crunches.

Not only did it make me gloomy, my body never transformed the way I wanted it to.

But once I found something I loved, it completely transformed my idea of exercise.

Because here’s the thing…

Exercise doesn’t have to be torture

In fact, for many people (and I now include myself as one of them, after years of dreading it), exercise is a release. It makes people happy. It changes their lives and bodies for the better.

The key is to find something you enjoy.

Everybody can like some form of exercise. Our bodies were made to move. We were not designed to be couch potatoes.

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1…2…3.

I still remember that day. The day I did my first real push up. Actually, the day I did my first three real push ups, to be exact.

I was visiting my parents, so I must have still been in college. And though I’ve always acted strong and tough… In reality, I had a pretty weak upper body my entire youth.

How weak?

I didn’t get an excellent on my Presidential Physical Fitness Test in grade school because I couldn’t do a single pull up (my good friend and athletic arch rival Renee did two).

I definitely couldn’t do a push up.

And until about three years ago, my brother called me “spaghetti arms.”

Now, to be fair, I have a build somewhat like my Dad’s—we’re both tall and lanky, with long, stringy arms.

We’ve both always had a hard time getting long sleeved shirts that would cover our entire arms. In fact, my arms are so long my high school basketball coach asked me if they ever drug on the floor (I was not amused at the time).

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It happens to all of us.

We plan our workouts for the week, fully intending on completing all of them.

We have the time carved out in our schedule. But sometimes, when the time comes to actually do the workout…

It just sounds so… hard.

Sound familiar?

Maybe you’ve had a tough, stressful day.

Maybe you’re still sore from the previous day’s workout.

Or maybe you didn’t get enough sleep the night before.

Whatever the reason, there’s something in you that is completely resistant to the workout ahead of you.

So what can you do about it?

How can you push past that resistance and complete your workout?

There are many different ways to approach it, but here are the steps I follow:

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