Training

Three Important Lessons I’ve Learned From Failing

I’ve failed a lot in my life.

And as much as I tell you guys to never give up, I’ve given up—a lot.

I’ve tried things that I was so bad at I never gave them another chance. And I used to be so afraid of failing that I wouldn’t even try new things (not something I’m especially proud to admit).

Here’s a short list of things I’ve failed at:

  • Fencing: I was semi-obsessed with the movie The Princess Bride in high school and romanticized the idea of being a master fencer. My parents agreed to sign me up for a four class intro, but I sucked so bad the first class I walked out in total shame and never went back.
  • Learning to play the guitar: Starting in third grade, I tried to learn to play the guitar with zero success. I took lessons at different times in my life for months at a time, but just couldn’t ever convince myself that I actually enjoyed it. I couldn’t even play you Happy Birthday (my third grade specialty) today if I tried my best.
  • An endless list of careers: I’ve failed at and given up on countless careers since high school, ranging from a photographer to a radio journalist to working in politics.
  • Gymnastics: I’ve failed over and over in my recent pursuit of adult gymnastics, and have been working on back handsprings for so long now that any person in their right mind would have given up and moved on by now.
  • Handstands: I’ve fallen thousands of times trying to do handstands, and failed pretty much constantly for the first year attempting to be upside down (Read more about my handstand journey here).
  • Speaking a second (or third, or fourth) language: Ever since I discovered my love of traveling as a kid I’ve dreamed of speaking multiple languages. Living in Europe only furthered this desire. Yet although I’ve taken lessons in both Spanish and Dutch, I’m a long way from being able to speak either.
  • Muscle ups: Despite kind of working on them for maybe two years now, I’ve failed at these again and again.
  • An unending list of fitness skills: Despite trying, I still can’t do a muscle up without a band or assistance. I’ve yet to successfully do a full range of motion freestanding handstand push up, can’t do a handstand press for the life of me, and topple over every time I attempt a shrimp squat.

And although I definitely get discouraged at times, I know deep down that these failures (and my many others) have helped me grow and become the person and athlete I am today.

Here are three important lessons I’ve learned from failing a lot in life:

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How to Warm Up Before a HIIT Workout (In Under Three Minutes!)

What’s the best way to warm up for a 12 Minute Athlete HIIT Workout?

This is a question that I get all the time.

A warm up is supposed to do just what it says, after all—get your body feeling slightly warm and your muscles fired up. It helps you avoid injuries and also gets you feeling fired up for your actual workout.

Yet if you’re spending 20 minutes on your pre-workout warm up, you may actually be doing more harm than good, or at the very best, just wasting your time. Because if you spend too long on the warm up, you run the risk of tiring yourself out before your actual workout, which isn’t ideal if you’re trying to have an epic workout or get a PR (personal record).

A lot of people tend to do some pretty half-ass static stretching before their workout, which again, tends to be a waste of time and actually can make you more prone to injuries (some foam rolling is acceptable though, but no need to spend too long).

What you really need is a super efficient warm up that will get your muscles firing, your body slightly warm, but won’t take up too much extra time.

So what exactly does that mean? Here’s a warm up I like to do before I do a HIIT workout:

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How to Work Out in a Hotel Room

 

One of the most common excuses people have for skipping their workouts is because they’re traveling or away from home.

And yes, there’s no doubt that being away from your regular routine can mess with your motivation levels. Yet as I like to mention often, you can always get in a good workout—no matter where you are or how little equipment you have available.

True, it may not be the same type of workout you’d do if you had access to a pull up bar, sandbag, and a bunch of different kettlebells. But I will always be a firm believer that something is better than nothing—and that it is possible to get in a kickass workout, even if you’re in a hotel room.

MindBodyGreen recently published an article I wrote on exercises you can literally do anywhere, including a hotel room. If you missed it, make sure to check it out here!

And here’s my best advice on how to work out in a hotel room:

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11 Tips for Crushing Your Workout with Mind Power

 

Today I’m super excited to bring you a post by our newest 12 Minute Athlete team member, Kersten.

Kersten is a rockstar personal trainer and outdoor workout enthusiast who also runs UrbanJane.co. You might have seen her crushing some workouts on Instagram during our recent New Year’s 5-Day HIIT Workout challenge 🙂

I’m really excited to have her on board, and love her tips on how to crush your workout!

Take it away, Kersten:

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The reason high intensity workouts are so efficient is…well, they are high intensity. Working as hard as you possibly can and not leaving anything in the tank, is what you have to do if you want to get faster, stronger and become a badass.

…and that’s what we’re all here for, right?

Because of their high intensity, you will spend less than 20 minutes a day on these workouts.

That’s it.

But you need to push yourself hard, to get maximum benefits in a minimal amount of time. However, pushing yourself can be difficult.

In this post, I’m going to share with you how I consistently power through a workout, even when I feel like giving up.

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7 Indoor-Friendly HIIT Workouts Perfect for Cold Weather

 

Whether you’re traveling over the next week or two and won’t have access to your normal workout space or you’re just stuck inside due to the rain, snow, or chilly temperatures, as always, there’s no real excuse to skip your workouts.

I’ve put together seven super effective workouts you can do even if you’re stuck in your parents’ basement (or in my case, their garage), are in a hotel room, or just don’t have any equipment available to do a workout. Each of the workouts can be done with very minimal or no equipment and take very little space.

And if noise is a concern, you can always substitute any jumping exercises with non-jumping ones (for example, substitute air squats for squat jumps). This is extremely helpful if you’re on the top floor and your neighbors like to yell at you, or if your family doesn’t understand all the racket you’re making and you can’t get them to work out with you.

Here are seven indoor-friendly HIIT workouts to get you through the cold weather:

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The September 30-Day Pistol Squat Challenge

After so many of you participated in the 12 Minute Athlete Summer Strong 5 Day Workout Challenge this summer, I thought it was about time to do another fun challenge.

This time we’re going to be focusing on one of my favorite exercises ever—the pistol squat.

I know, I know—most of you can’t do a pistol squat yet. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if at least some of you think that there’s no way you’ll ever be able to do a pistol, no matter how much you work at it—so you might as well not even try.

Well let me tell you something: I used to be exactly the same way. As a long limbed person, even just a little over two years ago I thought I would never, ever be able to do a pistol squat. But you know what? I don’t like to be told I can’t do something. So I put in the work—and slowly but surely managed to be able to do one legged squats, despite previously thinking that they were impossible.

So keep that in mind with this challenge, because no matter how far you are from being able to do pistols today, you can do them if you put your mind to it (and work really hard). Everybody has to start somewhere.

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5 Reasons To Master Pistol Squats (+ The September 30-Day Pistol Squat Challenge)

 

Whether you’re still working on getting your first one or can already bust out five ore more in a row per leg, there’s no doubt that pistol squats are one of the best bodyweight exercises you can do for strong, powerful legs.

Yes, pistols are tough. Yet if you’re too intimidated to even begin working on them, don’t be. We’ve all got to start somewhere, and even if you’re nowhere near doing a full pistol now, with hard work and consistency you’ll be amazed at what you can accomplish.

Here are 5 reasons to master pistol squats once and for all:

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7 Ways Working Out Makes You More Awesome (Aside From Making You Look Good)

It drives me absolutely crazy when people tell me that if they weren’t worried about gaining weight, they would never work out again.

Sure, there’s no harm in admitting that part of the reason you work out is to look good. We all want to feel confident about how we look, and feeling good about your appearance undoubtedly helps you feel better and more confident about yourself in general.

Yet working out and eating healthy just for the sake of your appearance is never going to be very motivating, and should never be the main (or at least the only) reason you take care of your body. There are so many better reasons to keep yourself fit and healthy—reasons that will keep you motivated to keep exercising long after beach season ends.

Here are 7 ways working out makes you more awesome (aside from making you look good):

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Becoming Superhuman: How to Master the Front Lever With Coach Sean Maples

Most of you know by now that I’ve been working on my gymnastics skills as a way to challenge myself and keep learning new skills.

And as someone with zero gymnastics background and pretty much the exact opposite of the idea gymnastics body type, let me tell you, it hasn’t been easy. But I’ve had a TON of fun along the way, and have undoubtedly made progress towards my goals.

So to continue my own pursuit of becoming superhuman, I’m super excited to have Sean Maples, a strength and conditioning coach from movestrong.club showing us how to do an incredibly difficult gymnastics exercise, the front lever.

If you’ve never heard of them before, front levers are a really advanced exercise that require incredibly strong lats and super strong core strength.

It’s an exercise that you’ll definitely see a lot of gymnasts doing, but rarely people at a regular gym, because they’re really hard! Also, the taller and lankier you are, the more difficult this exercise will be (as I found out when trying this exercise).

Yet that doesn’t mean they’re impossible. There are several logical steps to building up to front levers, and just like anything else, with time and consistency you can get there. Yet even if you don’t make it your lifelong goal to do a full one, working on the various progressions is still a great way to build a crazy strong back and core.

Note: We’ll be using rings to work on the progressions today, but you can also use a regular pull up bar to practice these progressions.

Watch the full demonstration video above or browse through the short clips below to see how far I got in the progressions (not very far…) and see Sean demonstrate them for us:

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15 Awesome Bodyweight Substitutions For Equipment-Based Exercises

Whether you’re used to using much equipment in your workouts or not, there will always be times when you just don’t have access to any workout equipment at all.

Maybe you need to skip your usual gym workout and work out at home instead, or maybe you’re traveling for weeks or months and won’t have much gym or outdoor fitness park access while you’re away.

And though you can definitely get a really good workout in using no equipment at all, one of the main reasons I tend to use equipment (especially when I’m at home in my normal routine), is that it helps to mix up my workouts and keep them interesting. It’s fun for me to think of different ways to incorporate some of my favorite pieces of equipment such as plyo boxes, medicine balls, pull up bars, and dip bars or parallel bars into my workouts, and always keeps them challenging.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t still get in a good workout when you don’t have equipment available. A few simple substitutions and a bit of creativity guarantees that you can always get an awesome workout in, no matter what you have available. No excuses!

Here are 15 simple yet awesome bodyweight substitutions for when you don’t have access to any equipment:

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