11 Life Law of Fitness by Tony Horton

The following is written by Tony Horton, well-known trainer for the company that I'm a coach for.  Simple, stellar advice from the man.   1. Variety:  You avoid boredom, injury and plateaus. Do those things you are afraid to do. 2. Consistency:  You are only good at stuff you do often.  You should exercise 5-6 times a week.  Eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner. 3. Intensity:  Go hard! Add a rep, add weight.  Don’t jeopardize the form.  If you go only 8 reps, go 9.  Go lower on your pushups, whatever, but go at it hard. 4. Purpose:  Why are you doing it?  Whatever your motivation, keep it going.  Your real reason should be health, fitness, quality of life, getting sick less and having less injuries.  Be aware that your purpose changes, but keep at it. 5. Reality:  If you are 14 and weigh 100lbs you won’t be a linebacker in a football team. You are either an ectomorph, mesomorph or endomorph.  Skinny, muscular or really big person.  Stop trying to shape your body into someone you are not.  If you are trying to manipulate reality with some fantasy you are always going to come up short.  It’s just better to be really fit and healthy, authentic and unique.  Be you rather than a fake celebrity or other version of you that you were never made to be.  Just be happy with who you are.  It takes time.  Most people want what this person has.  But most of the time what that person has, 9 out of 10 times, what they have ain’t all that great.  Be unique, stand out, be yourself, be different and people will be drawn to that rather than your version of someone else.  Just be you. 6. Sport or Play:  People who get involved in sports accelerate their fitness levels.  Don’t be afraid to experiement with different sports (see # 1).  Do kayaking, cross country running.  Do something, anything.  Go out and play.  7. The Plan:  If you don’t have a plan or system, you are screwed. Get a calendar or pda or whatever, schedule it in.  Have an appointment. You make appointements for everything else, why not your meals, your exercise. Put it in your bathroom, your refrigerator and your front door.  I work out 6 days a week and only 1 or 2 times a month by myself.  If I didn’t have people to push me, I would blow it off.  I find like-minded people and they make me successful.  Have a plan.  Successful people have a plan.  I have these little note pads all over my house.  Everywhere I am I write my ideas and then I put it all together and get through it so I am not so scatter brained.  I keep writing it down and I accomplish it.  8. Rest and Sleep:  It’s an uphill battle all the time.  7.5 to 8 hours of sleep.  Your body recovers during sleep.  Sleep is healing.  No sleeping, no healing.  Stress is how you are going to deal with life.  Just let it go.  If you sleep, you will have less stress.  If you have these little notepads, you will be able to write things down, get them off of your mind and you will be able to sleep better. 9. Loving it:  Do what you love and you will never work a day in your life.  Find something you love to do.  10. Flexibility:  Don’t become a robot doing the same thing over and over again.  Get variety into your workouts, stretch and do some yoga.  If you work on your flexibility now, it will impact the rest of your life later. 11. Food and Supplements:  You are what you eat.  It is your fuel.  Fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins, healthy fats.   Finally, vitamins supplement the food you are eating.  You need extra vitamins to help you recover.  Make sure you get some quality supplements for your nutrition needs and take them.  Don't let them sit on your shelf.