Want to improve your performance, flexibility, and reduce injuries?
Then it’s probably time you gave foam rolling a shot.
Because while it’s necessary to work out hard, it’s equally as important to make sure your body gets the recovery it needs. And stretching (including yoga!) just isn’t enough.
So whether you’re a hardcore athlete, or squeeze in a workout two or three times a week to keep the pounds off, a foam roll is a magical device that will make you wonder how you ever lived without one.
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.
In fact, I used to spend ages on the treadmill and in the weight room until I discovered something amazing: it doesn’t take hours of exercise to get a good workout.
I talk a lot about 12 and 16 minute workouts here on the site, but honestly, it can be even less than that.
Because here’s a secret: you can get a good workout in just four minutes.
Yep, you read that right. Four minutes is all it takes to get your heart pumping, blood flowing, and fat disappearing.
It’s called Tabata Training, and here’s how you can use it to your advantage.
What do extreme athletes, elite military forces, and football teams have in common?
They all embrace burpees and regularly include them in their workout routines.
Lots, and lots, of burpees.
But burpees aren’t just beneficial for hardcore athletes or certified badasses…
They’re for everyone.
That’s why we include so many burpees in the workouts in the official 12 Minute Athlete HIIT Workouts app—they’ll get you fitter than pretty much any other exercise can.
Because not only will burpees turn you into an athlete, they’ll also help you scorch fat, rev up your metabolism and get you conditioned like no other exercise can do.
But what the heck is a burpee… and why should you care?
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.
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.
Busting out the biceps curls, leg presses, and calf raises…
Only to find you have trouble lifting a heavy suitcase above your head in a crowded airplane, or going up five flights of stairs when the elevator is broken?
You’re not alone.
Because the truth is that when most people work out, they focus on exercises that isolate individual muscles, such as the biceps, triceps, quads or glutes.
This type of training isn’t necessarily wrong (it’s used by bodybuilders to pump up particular muscles so they’re big and puffy), but it won’t help you in everyday life.
Because in the real world, your muscles don’t work in isolation—they work together as a whole.
And that’s where functional fitness comes in. Because if you want to be truly fit… you have to be fit inside and outside of the weight room.
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.
If you’ve ever belonged to a gym, you’ve no doubt noticed the cardio crowd—that group of people appearing on the same treadmill, elliptical or stationary bikes day after day, week after week.
These people (sadly, this crowd consists mainly of women) diligently spend 30 to 60 minutes three to five days a week on these machines, usually going at a steady pace, often reading a magazine, and never, ever leaving their sacred cardio area.
And yet, despite their dedication, this cardio crowd always seems to look the same.
While the weightlifters sculpt their bodies and gain strength and endurance in the process, the cardio crowd’s bodies have gotten used to their daily routine… and as a result are not changing at all.
Maybe it’s been months since they’ve seen a shift in their body mass or upped the speed on their machine.
But one thing’s for certain: 99% of this cardio crowd is experiencing a state of constant plateau.
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.
