Drill Sergeant Fowler yelled over to a group of “broke dicks”, Army slang for soldiers who had an injury or other medical restriction that prohibited them from physical training.

He ordered the broke dicks to go to the laundry room and fill up the water jugs. He ordered the rest of us who were fit for duty to “the hill”. It was obvious that he intended on giving us a physically exerting and muddy farewell. So there we stood on the soon-to-be muddy hill, anticipating doing push ups and low crawling through the wet earth of Georgia on a crisp November morning.

One of the broke dicks came out of the laundry room and approached Drill Sergeant Fowler with an empty water jug. “Drill Sergeant, the water jugs are too big to fit under the faucets in the sink and we can’t fill them up.” Seething with frustration the Drill Sergeant turned and bellowed, “Private, if the good Lord had placed your pecker square in the middle of your back, you’d still find a way to jerk off, wouldn’t you?”

Of all of the Army euphemisms I would hear during my service, it was this one that I would return to time and time again.

Never quit. Masturbation jokes aside, that’s all the Drill Sergeant really meant. Make no excuses. Make it happen. Find a way.

And there is always a way. It might not be ideal, it might be less than you want at the time, but there is always a way to move closer to what you want.

Right now my own training is not going exactly the way I would like. When I work out at my gym, I am constantly distracted by business tasks. Even when I block off the time, an employee question or a ringing phone inevitably interrupts.

So now I work out at home most days. I don’t have a barbell or pull up bar or squat rack at the house – in fact the only piece of equipment I use at home is a 70 lb. sandbag. But I’m making due when I could have just as easily quit and decided to not train at all.

Maybe Drill Sergeant Fowler’s reference to the male anatomy is a little crude for you. So find another reference. But make no excuses. Make it happen. Find another way.

What excuses are you making?  Leave me a comment below and let me know…

As a last remark… many thanks to all military personnel, past and present, for your service. Happy Veteran’s Day.

- Vic

If you’re short on time, doing a home workout is a great way to get in a killer workout in less than 10 minutes.  I’ve posted a few home workouts on the blog before, and I also post 2 new ones each month in my Personal Coaching Program (you can trial it for $1).

The biggest problem I’ve seen with home workouts is that people don’t commit to them like they do a gym workout.  Once you’re at the gym you’re pretty much committed to doing something.  But when you’re at home, its just as easy to get back on the computer or to plop on the couch and watch TV.

Here’s a few of my tips for sticking to your home workouts…

1. Designate your time. Treat your workout time like it’s an appointment with the most important person you know – whether that’s the President of the United States or your spouse. The point is to be non-negotiable with the time you designate as time to train.

The easiest way to do this is to exercise first thing in the morning. Starting your day with exercise greatly reduces the chances that your scheduled workout will be derailed by the inevitabilities of life like traffic delays, unexpected late night work assignments, and being tempted away from an after-work training session by happy hour.

2. Designate your space. Maybe you have an entire room set up for exercise. Or maybe you consider yourself lucky to have a spare corner in your studio apartment that you use for training. Whatever your situation, designate an area that is strictly for exercise.

Have fun personalizing your space with inspirational pictures and music that you find motivating. This freedom to make your exercise space truly “yours” is a luxury people going to the gym will never have.

3. Seek support from others. Just because you workout at home doesn’t mean that you have to be isolated. Take turns exchanging wake up calls with a friend if you both exercise in the early morning. Participate in online forums where people exchange exercise ideas and help each other stay motivated.

Exercising alone can give you moments to yourself that provide physical improvement as well as time for mental, emotional, and even spiritual clarity. However without some regular interaction with like-minded people, motivation and accountability can be difficult to maintain.

4. Track Your Progress. Keeping a journal of your training is crucial to staying on the right path. Make your training log as detailed as possible, including variables such as the exercises performed, resistance used, and sets and repetitions completed.

But also consider recording other factors such as the time of day, the length of the exercise session, the amount of rest taken between each exercise or set, and even your mood before and after training. The more details you include, the easier it will be to course-correct from the inevitable slips and plateaus you will experience as you strive towards your fitness goals.

You do not need to leave the comfort of your home to get in phenomenal shape. Designating your time and space for training, seeking support from others, and tracking your progress can make your home workouts rival the training sessions you would have in even the most well-equipped modern corporate gyms.

- Vic

BTW if you want more home workouts and personal coaching from me, you can test out my Personal Coaching Program for 30 days for just $1.  You’ll have full access to me and the tight knit group of Junkies on the forum… I highly recommend you try it out….

Recently I asked the GymJunkies newsletter subscribers what their BIGGEST problem was with getting in shape. The overwhelming responses came down to three things:

1. Not having enough time to work out.

2. Not knowing what to eat.

3. Not having motivation to work out.

These answers only scratch the surface. To be blunt, the three responses above are complete bullshit.

Not enough time to workout?

Not a single workout I gave in the 31 Day Challenge fat loss programs takes longer than 15 minutes. And let’s not forget about my post on 8 workouts you can do in 8 minutes or less. And if you’re really pressed for time I have one word for you: Tabata. A Tabata interval is 20 seconds of work followed by 10 seconds of rest repeated 8 times with the same exercise. For all of you without your calculator handy, a Tabata interval takes only 4 minutes total time.

Try it with bodyweight squats, skipping rope, or burpees and try to tell me you didn’t have a workout. Not having enough time to workout is NOT the problem (how you use your time is!)

Not knowing what to eat?

Did you miss my post on my 10 Favorite Foods For Fat Loss? Have you seen one of the first posts to hit GymJunkies, The Easy Fat Loss Plan (with diet)? My friend Mark Sisson provides a ton of free information on healthy eating at marksdailyapple.com. And then there are great resources from Joel Marion and Isabel De Los Rios that I’ve recommended. And yes that’s an affiliate link. Just because I stand a chance to make a buck doesn’t mean I don’t believe in the product. In fact the exact opposite is true. When I recommend a product that is for sale, I am putting my reputation on the line and you can be damn sure what ever is recommended is top quality information.

So between the free and for sale resources I’ve listed (and the magic of Google), not knowing what to eat is NOT the problem.

Not having motivation?

How’s this for motivation: YOU ARE GOING TO DIE! Seven out of the top 10 killers in the United States are diseases or illnesses that can be prevented or reduced through proper diet and exercise. I’m talking about big scary words like heart disease, cancer, stroke, pulmonary disease, diabetes, kidney disease, and Alzheimer’s.

Screw getting ready for a beach vacation – motivation lies in having the energy and mobility to play with your grandkids someday. If you’re not motivated by having more years in your life and more life in your years, no short term superficial goal like fitting into an article of clothing or hitting the beach is going to sustain your motivation for long. Lack of motivation is NOT the problem.

So what IS the problem? The real problem, the problem no one wants to talk about because they know how much work it takes to overcome, is habit. That’s it. Habit.

It’s not that you don’t have enough time to workout. It’s that you are not in the habit of setting your alarm clock 4 minutes earlier to sneak in a Tabata interval before you start your day.

It’s not that you don’t know what to eat. It’s that you are so accustomed to the way you eat now, changing your diet takes an amount of effort that you are not accustomed to putting forth.

It’s not that you don’t have the motivation. It’s that you are giving up when you are two weeks into an exercise program and the temptation to blow off a workout strikes.

So what can you do? Below are five tips that can help you establish new habits:

1. Measure your performance. I wish I could remember where I read this so I could give credit where credit is due, but I have found the axiom “that which gets measured, improves” to be very true. And let’s be clear on what you should be measuring. I’m not talking about your sets or reps or food intake (although those should also be tracked), I’m talking about measuring the success rate of how many times you complete the new habit you are trying to establish.

Make a simple Excel spreadsheet, hand write a checklist, or if you’re so inclined – use an iPhone app, and keep track of when you do the task you are trying to establish. Evaluate your rate of success weekly and make adjustments as needed to further ingrain the habit.

2. Give it some time. How long does it take to establish a habit? Well, I think that is going to vary from person to person. 30 days is a good initial goal to shoot for. Personally, I like 28 days because it breaks down nice and neatly into four weeks.

What we are looking for here is enough time to get through the initial stage of excitement, the painful middle ground of resistance, and then the home stretch period where willpower is needed less and less as the habit becomes firmly established.

3. Expect the pain and plan accordingly. Change is not easy. If it were, everyone would be the epitome of health and fitness. After the initial buzz of trying something shiny and new, there comes a point on the path of establishing a habit where you want to quit.

And this is exactly the point where you have to be mentally and practically prepared to gut it out. On the mental level, accept that moments of difficulty are inevitable and make a decision to stay the course with iron will. From a practical standpoint, have procedures in place to compensate for when the iron will gets rusty. Maybe that is announcing your new habit to friends, family, or co-workers and using positive peer pressure (or embarrassment) to keep you on course.

Perhaps that means keeping a back-up gym bag with a set of old workout clothes in your car at all times just in case you forget to grab your usual bag as you head out the door for the day. As you plot the course for establishing your new habit, identify where the potential trouble spots will arise and then plan and implement contingencies.

4. Find a trailblazer. So you want to be in the best shape of your life. Or just lose 10 pounds. Or become the next middle weight champ of the octagon. Whatever your training goals, it is highly likely that someone with similar, if not nearly identical, situation has already accomplished what you are seeking. If you are a 30-something white-collar cubicle dweller who wants to train for his first cage fight, someone else has already done it. If you feel stuck in your day job and want to start your own business, someone has already done it.

The “been there done that” thing is good, not bad. It means someone else has blazed the trail. Someone else knows the formula – they hold the recipe to the secret sauce. One of the basic tenets of being successful is to find someone who has already accomplished what you want to do and model what they did. So don’t reinvent the wheel. Follow the footsteps of someone who has come before you and streamline your path to establishing habit.

5. Never, ever quit. I’m a big fan of the “ready, fire, aim” approach. That simply means to get started with some forward momentum, acknowledge that mistakes will happen, and course correct while continually moving toward the goal.

If you are trying to get into the habit of waking up at 6:00am each morning for training, set the alarm clock and go for it! Oh, you hit snooze four times and didn’t get up? Don’t quit, try a new tactic. Place the alarm clock on the other side of the room. Still not getting up? Set two alarm clocks and put one in another room. Still not getting up? Put some financial pressure in the mix and pay for a wake up call service.

Still not getting up? Make arrangements to meet a training partner at the gym that you know you won’t stand up. Still not getting up? Give your seven year old son or spouse authorization and immunity to dump a bucket of cold water on you if you are not out of bed at exactly 6:00am.

Still not getting up? . . . Don’t quit. Get creative, be persistent, and you will find the solution.

Not having enough time to workout, not knowing what to eat, and lack of motivation are symptoms, but they are not the real problem. The real problem is failing to take the time and effort necessary to establish new habits.

I hope this was a refreshing slap across the face for those who needed it

Leave me a comment below and let me know what you thought of this post…

- Vic

P.S. – The 31 Day Challenge Manual has already gotten some great results for people who picked it up the week I released it…. I’m offering a 200% money back guarantee on it as well (how can you beat that?) Check it out here…

Everyone on my Facebook page, seemed to like this video. What ‘ya think?

Feel free to share this with your friends or post it on your Facebook/Twitter if you liked it!

- Vic

I asked a few of my fitness friends to contribute guest posts this week.  Today’s post is from Ryan Magin.  Ryan is a muscle building and strongman training expert from Florida.

Strongman training is an awesome way to train for gaining muscle in the fastest time possible. It combines strength, endurance, and explosiveness all in one complete package.

One of the major benefits of strongman training is the equipment is very easily attainable, and can be had for FREE or at bare minimal cost.

I discovered this style of training after attending a seminar with NAS Strongman champ Tom Mitchell. He put me through a workout that taxed my body and made me sore in places I had never felt before.  It was at that point I knew this type of training has a place in my quest for gaining muscle.

Here’s a few reasons you should try it…

• Equipment is FREE to obtain or bare minimum cost

• Unlimited variations of exercises

• It trains your body to function in a unstable environment

• Gives you a huge mental edge over your other competitors (if you’re an athlete)

• Develop usable strength not just pretty muscle

Here are some of my favorite strongman exercises to get you started:

1. Tire flips- Tires can be had for free by calling up your local tire yard and asking for them. They are a great fullbody exercise that works the posterior chain to the fullest as well as developing extreme mental confidence.

2. Farmers Walk- Is another great fullbody exercise that will pack on massive amounts of size to your legs arms and upper back. Farmers walks can be obtained by using 2 heavy dumbbells and carrying them for long distances.,. or you can purchase specific handles online for very cheap.

3. Sandbag Loading- This exercise is awesome for developing explosive power and is great for athletes, all you do is fill a bag with sand and lift it to a high platform. I recommend using a heavy duty military duffel bag that can be purchased for less than 20 bux.

As you can see these pieces of equipment can be had for very little cost and have a a huge carryover in packing on muscle size and strength you just cant achieve by staying inside your local gym.

If you want more info on strongman training and muscle building, check out Ryan’s site at http://www.musclegainingexperts.com

Here’s Jason’s Top 10 Tips For Building Muscle (skinny guys listen up!)

1. Lift weights for no more than three to four days per week. Doing so is not only unnecessary but can quickly lead to over-training, especially if you are doing other physical activities such as cardio or playing recreational sports on a regular basis.

2. Limit your workouts to 30-45 minutes and 15-20 total sets. If you can’t build muscle and gain strength in that time frame then I’d say you are half assing it. You have to remember that results are greatest when energy levels and mental focus are at their highest. That is during the first 30-45 minutes of your workout. Going beyond that point causes both of these to plummet.

3. Use big, compound exercises and lift heavy. Deadlifts, military presses, squats, bench presses, rows and chin ups should always be the main focus of your muscle building workout programs. These have been the best muscle building exercises since the beginning of time and that will never change.

4. Continually try to get stronger and always track your progress with a training journal. Progressive overload is the most basic but often forgotten principle in weight training. It states that to make progress you need to constantly increase the amount of weight you lift. Follow this rule and you will get bigger and stronger. Ignore it and you will get nowhere. If you are benching 225 right now, you better be benching 315 by this time next year if you want to build muscle.

5. Train with a multitude of rep ranges. Doing this allows you to target both slow twitch and fast twitch muscle fibers and maximizes your muscle building capabilities. Reps from 1-20 should be used to target both fast twitch and slow twitch fibers.

6. Always change your weight training program every 3-4 weeks. After 3-4 weeks on the same program you will start to burn out and your results will slow down. To keep your body in a muscle building state, be sure to change your workouts frequently. If you have been lifting for several years, this may need to be done every two weeks because you will adapt more rapidly to the same stimulus.

7. Make a serious commitment to eating. Proper nutrition plays a huge role in your muscle building efforts. Without adequate calories you will never grow optimally. Force feed yourself if you have to and be sure to time your carbs correctly, meaning around training and at breakfast, while cutting them out at night if you want to stay lean while building muscle.

8. Be sure to get at least 8-10 hours of sleep per day and take naps whenever possible. When you are sleeping is when you are building muscle. Sleep is the time when you recover and grow. Without adequate sleep you will never reach your true potential and your muscle building efforts in the gym may be wasted. Do not overlook this important factor.

9. Utilize recovery methods. Training and eating properly are not enough to ensure the fastest muscle building results. You also have to be sure to use whatever recovery methods you can to accelerate your progress. Some of these include taking contrast showers or baths after training, stretching after training and on off days, icing, using foam rollers and whatever else you can think of to help you recover faster.

10. Find a good training partner. While I left this for last on the list it may, in fact, be the most important factor of them all. Without a good training partner your results will always be less than what they could be. It is imperative that you try to find someone to push you and to compete against if you really want to take your muscle building efforts to the next level.

About Jason…

Jason Ferruggia is a world famous fitness expert who is renowned for his ability to help people build muscle as fast as humanly possible. He is the head training adviser for Men’s Fitness Magazine where he also has his own monthly column dedicated to muscle building. For more great muscle building information, please visit Muscle Gaining Secrets

If you have any questions about my 31 Day Challenge, leave them here and I’ll answer them.

BTW I wanna thank everyone who has picked up the 31 Day Challenge Workout Manual this week.  I truly appreciate it!  This helps me keep this site running so I can keep pumping out info to help solve your problems.

If you haven’t bought it yet, check it out now while the price is still low…

I have such confidence that you’ll see results with the workouts in here that I’m offering a 200% money back guarantee if you don’t get the results you want.  You read that right, I’ll pay you double what you bought the manual for…

You owe it to yourself to check out the manual and some of the amazing success stories….

Check out the manual right now!

Mike McNeil was one of the winners from the 31 Day Challenge.  Mike has a great story of how he went from eating lean pockets, slugging energy drinks and spending 2 hours per day in the gym to getting absolutely ripped (look at the pics) in just 1 month with the 31 Day Challenge Workouts…

If you’re at wokr, put this on play in the background while you work… Mike shares some of the sticking points he had to overcome to get ripped.  I think this will really help a lot of you who read this site…

Here’s the audio…

Audio Interview with Mike

Listen to the interview below, you’re bound to be inspired and to learn a few things about getting in shape…

Lisa Anderson Interview

Leave me (and Lisa) a comment here when you’re done listening!

- Vic