What do you know now?
Learning from your own screwups is good.
Learning from other peoples’ screwups is better, because you maximize your knowledge pool, and avoid the inconvenience of being an idjit yourself.
Staying motivated
You get up in the morning all ready to head to the gym and CRAP! it’s raining or snowing or windy or another one of those damn pestilences of locusts outside. Arrgghh… gym… so… far… away… well, back to bed! What is the secret to leaping energetically out of the house and into the gym? If you find anything foolproof do let me know. Usually the secret to us doing something is that we want to get it done. So we’re “too busy” to scrub out the toilets or balance our chequebooks but never too busy to read the comics. It’s a question of where we choose to direct our efforts.
Setting goals
I see a lot of folks get into the gym with the best intentions and a bit of knowledge, and even some smashing gym outfits and nice little navel rings, and either make no progress or make so little progress it’s discouraging.
Progress tracker worksheet
Here’s a handy little progress tracker worksheet that goes beyond the usual “pounds lost” or “pounds lifted” — it looks at some of the more intangible aspects of what constitutes real, meaningful, lasting progress.
Boy butches up girl
Even though this is ostensibly a site about women, a lot of male readers email me. Some are trying to encourage the recalcitrant females in their lives to hit the weights and are looking for evidence of why weight training is a good thing. Some would like assistance in training their wives, girlfriends, friends, moms, daughters, and female clients. Some just like the training advice, most of which is gender neutral.
How to read a scientific study
How do we know what the “truth” is? When it comes to health and fitness, people are often confused by what seems like conflicting research reported in the media. It seems like everything conflicts. Eat this. Don’t eat this. This will give you cancer. This will cure cancer. And so forth.
So how do you, an average schmoe, figure out who to believe? Well, a scientific background is helpful, but if you don’t have one, you use your common sense. Here are some helpful tips about how to read and interpret scientific research.