by Siddiqu Muhammad

1. Ooze Confidence- buy some expensive and fly workout clothes and shoes.  "When you look good, you feel good"  Halimah Muhammad   Who would want to workout in an old t-shirt with holes in the arm pits?

2. Hit the Road- Workouts aren't just about burning calories they're about getting in shape, so going for a serious run could be just what you need.  Being outside sometimes frees you from your mundane routine in the gym.  My client Trey McClure loves to remind people about his pool deck workout, where I killed him! 

 

3. Be Fit Parents- The worse part of growing up as a kid is having fat parents.  Kids hate pretending like their mom is really there aunt so other kids won't make fun of them.  Or that their dad is just a hired driver!  Look at Will Smith and Jada Pinkett they are good looking and fit parents and they have really cool kids because of it. One time my mom wanted to discipline me for misbehaving and couldn't even catch me, I kept running until she forgot what I did.  

 

4. Get on the Ball- Stability balls and medicine balls are really fun.  Learn how to use those and you can add more variety to every basic exercise you usually do.  Just using weights all the time is really boring.  The different balls in the gym are colorful and cool looking, and when you use them people just assume you know more about working out than you really do.

 

5. Build Strong Bones and Muscles- Lift heavy weights every once and a while.  Not too heavy and make sure you have a spotter, but seriously test your limits, you may surprise yourself.  The other day in the gym, I walked in between these two huge body builder guys, and picked up two dumbbells almost double what they were lifting.  Sure I couldn't lift my arms the next day, but hearing someone say as I was lifting "What the hell is this little guy doing" made it all worth it.

 

6. Focus on Yourself-  Just the other day someone asked me what they should do for their workout.  My response, "What do you like to do?"  Most people are always trying to do the "right" thing, well guess what; the "right" thing is whatever you feel it is.  If you like to run, run, if you like to swim, swim!  You know my motto people.  K.I.S. (keep it simple)

 

7. Mix Things Up- There is nothing worse than someone who is still working out to a VHS.  Just walked to a local sports store or go on-line and buy a DVD that you would not normally want to try.  Those 1987 workouts aren't really relative anymore and guess what, they don't breed results!  Do something different for your workout, box a little with gloves, rock climb, take a spin class, jump rope, run stairs, anything!!  Just make sure you are constantly changing it up.