Spring Has Sprung

It's been a while...  Sorry.  Fortunately, it is because we have been busy in a good way. 

Speaking of busy-ness... we have been doing a lot of international travel lately, and some of our friends have commented on being 'unable' to train when those busy times show up, whether it be due to travel, being crushed at work, etc.  There is never a legitimate reason for skipping training, truth be told.  You always have enough time.  Did you sleep more than 4 hours last night?  Did you watch a TV show in the last few days?  Did you surf the internet?  Then you have time to train...

When you are feeling those doldrums, however, it can be tough to bust out of that rut.  Here is the go-to trick combination that one of our old-timers at the Gold Medal Boxing Club who still trains uses:

1)  Tell yourself that you will "just warm-up," and, after that 10 minutes of warm-up, if you still feel lousy you will just pack it in and do some stretching and mobility work before taking a recovery day.  Invariably, for those people who have an ounce of athletic determination inside, once you have warmed-up you are fired up and ready to hit the bags and throw the weights around. 

2)  Do some "high rep" workouts when it comes to your weight training and cals.  This can be useful not just for when you are feeling "lazy," but for when you are a bit beat-up but can't/won't take a day off.  Do some high incline push-ups (shoulders above feet, not vice-versa) standing in a door way with your feet 2-3 feet behind you, so you are getting a good stretch, supersetted with some sort of high incline body rows (towel or strap closed over/in a door, body held straight at 45 degree angle or more from the floor at *bottom* position of row) and crank out a couple of back-and-forth sets of 50 reps.  Then, do some lunges, one-legged Romanian Deadlifts with no weight (or the old forward bend/reach-touch for you functional folks) and finish off with some Jay Schroeder "ISO Exteme!" stretching/isometric work.  This is an easy workout on paper, but with its emphasis on full ROM and quality movement, it will do you some good. 

Have at it!