When I’m working with people and/or students on their fitness and weight loss goals, one of the things that often comes up is the issue of time. Specifically the time that you have to invest in an effective workout program. I have a lot of people tell me that they are just too busy to exercise. Really? I have a simple word for that; Bulls**t. In my very experienced opinion, 99.9% of you aren’t that busy, so get a grip. The time is there, trust me you just have to be honest with yourself and stop wasting time and making excuses. Plus its a common misconception that you need to spend many hours everyday doing hard core PT to get/stay in great physical condition and keep your weight right. Unless you’re in a Special Forces outfit, or training for a specific athletic event like a triathlon, that’s just more Bulls**t. In fact the average military, or firemen or cop would do very well to spend five hours a week on PT, many do much less. As I outline in my book Corps Strength I am convinced (from many years of personal experience and observation) that you can obtain and maintain a very high level of fitness with the time investment of only about five hours a week of the right PT. Now my normal routine is to PT every morning 0530 -0630 (a little later on the weekends) for an hour, and I take a day (at least one day a week) off when I have/need to. I do the standard stuff I recommend in my book, and this includes some more traditional military PT that I do with my students. In any case its balanced and the intensity level varies depending on my mood and energy level. I relate this to illustrate that I’m like anyone else, I don’t have all day to PT and then lay around resting up. I work full time, travel a lot and have a family/home to take care of. Plus I have another important part of my life, its called fun, so I’m not going to spend all my free time in the gym, or running. PT is part of my life, not my life, and it doesn’t need to be to stay in shape.

An hour everyday is my baseline, and I do my best to stick to it. However for the average person five – one hour sessions (Mon, Tues, Thurs, Fri and one day on the weekend is great routine) a week isn’t that much when you compare it to how you spend much of your other free time, like on the internet, watching TV, etc. In fact its less than 3% of your total weekly hours. Which by the way is the same for all of us. You can do this, its just a matter of priorities. To start out with you have to look at it like an investment. Its just like going to college at night, or saving your money. Spending time exercising is a investment in not only your future health, but your present quality of life. It will also pay big dividends in your attitude, and your outlook on everything around you is better when your health is good. Secondly once you imbed these five hours into your life, it will be come a no-brainer and you’ll be pretty much on cruise control. I set my own cruise control on this somewhere around 1977 and its been pretty much been running every since, and that’s during years of construction work, active Marine service, and now as a contract instructor. Different locations and duties the whole way. Its not that hard bro, if you just look at it the right way. Of course it must be said that you need to eat right also, which isn’t a matter of time. As you are going to have to eat my friend, and it takes just as much time to eat crap as it does to eat something healthy, but that is the subject is for next month. Till then be safe always, and good when you can. Good luck.

Semper Fi
MGunz

One common problem I see with people that are trying to get in shape, is that they don’t let themselves enjoy the process. I have a news flash for you tough guy; Every exercise program can, and should include some fun stuff. It doesn’t have to be ass-kicking painful 24/7 to be effective. The fact is that if you try to make it that way, you won’t last long, that I know from personal experience. You need a balance for it to work long term, hard vs. easy (fun). When I’m trying to work out a exercise program for someone, one thing I always ask them is what did they like to do for fun when then were 10 years old? Rarely (like never) have I had a person tell me that when they were 10 they liked to do “Cross-Fit” or run marathons. Well of course not, back then it was about fun, not fitness. but the point here is that you can greatly help your overall physical fitness (and mental fitness) program by not spending everyday preforming a 4am Weight-Vest, Beach Run Beat down (or something like it). I don’t care what your physical condition is, or your fitness goals are, you need to give the hard-core PT a rest once in a while and just do something for the fun of it. Good examples of this are sports like golf, softball, touch football, hunting and fishing. They all get you outside, are best done with friends, and while active, pretty easy on the PT scale. One thing I like to do is ride a bike. Now I’ve been in many Cycling and Triathlon races over the years, and in the process logged in thousands of hard bike miles training for them, but thats not what I’m talking about here. When the weather cooperates, I get up a little earlier and ride my bike to work. I don’t dress up like Lance Armstrong, nor do I ride my $2000 mountain bike. I have an old “hard tail” mountain bike that I tuned up with some road tires, and a old man gel saddle. I ride the 7 miles to and from work at a leisurely pace, and just enjoy the ride. Its an easy way to get in another hour of PT without really trying. It also works wonders for my attitude, just like it did when I was 10, as there was nothing I liked more than riding my Sting Ray bike with my friends. The bottom line is that riding a bike is still fun and it is exercise at the same time. So give yourself a break now and then and take a day just to do what what your inner 10 year old liked to do. No, you can’t throw rocks at girls. Haha. Be safe, and good luck.

MGunz
www.corpsstrength.com

About a month ago I got a phone call from a old Marine buddy of mine. Way back in the good old days (early 80’s) we were in 3rd platoon together as a part of a Marine Security Forces attachment. This guy was a PT stud back in the day, a 300 PFTer and one tough bastard in a scrap, even at a lean 5ft11/170lbs. Unlike myself he ended his active duty career after four years and settled into comfortable civilian life in Houston. I had lost touch with him until, through the magic of Facebook, we reconnected. After we had caught up on the last 30 years, he related to me that he was very worried about his health. Since our “3rd Herd” days his weight had ballooned to over 280lbs, his blood pressure was sky high, and he hadn’t really done any regular exercise since he left the Corps. He had heard about my book Corps Strength and wanted some advice. My advice? First I sent him a copy of my book and I advised him to try the eating plan I outline in there. It’s a simple, easy to follow plan that’s helped many hundreds lose weight, and maintain strength. As far as exercise goes, I told him that for the first 30 days, I wanted him to do only two things; walk and stretch. These two are the best way to start after a long layoff, and much more beneficial than people think. He was doubtful, and wanted to jump right into a Marine Corps style PT program. That I advised, would be the worst possible thing for him to try at this point, and was sure would fail and may be even dangerous. The further you are from being in shape, the slower you have to go on your way back. That’s if your serious about losing weight and getting in better shape, and not just making a show. This is a very common situation, people go for long periods without regular exercise, or watching what they eat and after a period of time find themselves overweight and out of shape. Then their first impulse is to jump into a exercise routine that is way too advanced for their present condition. This ALWAYS leads to failure (and probably injury) within a few weeks. Former military people and athletes are the worst offenders of this foolishniess. “Long term results, not short term fixes” has to be your guidance if you want to make a serious and lasting physical “comeback.” My advice is to go slow and you’ll get there. My friend? He sent me a email today, he’s lost 12lbs in his first three weeks and feels better already. A couple more weeks and we’ll add some calisthenics, no rush. We’re focused on the long game.

Good luck, be safe.
Semper Fi
MGunz

Last week a startling report was published in the national news. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, (based on current state by state surveys), by the year 2030, more than 42% of the adult population will be obese – not merely overweight – but obese. For comparison; In 1990 the obesity rate in the U.S was 12 percent, 2010 – 35%. The impact of obesity on overall health are well known; diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure rates increase dramatically as body fat increases. Not only is this a huge burden on our already stressed out health care system, but frankly a threat to our national security. As I’ve said before, no country can maintain a strong economy and military, if the majority of its people are unhealthy. It just won’t work.

Since my book Corps Strength was published in 2010 I’ve received 100’s of emails from people trying to lose weight and get in better shape. While everyone is different, when you strip a way all the hype and BS, losing weight, and maintaining a healthy bodyweight is really comes down to more movement, less chow. Now I realize that is a simple solution to a very difficult problem for many people, but I also think most people make this harder than it has to be. In my book I lay out a proven exercise system and simple healthy eating plan that has been proven to work for all types of people. That being said, I think that beyond diet and actual exercise, there is a very important aspect in helping keep your weight in check. Its what I call “Active Rest.” These are daily activities that would not be considered exercise but do burn calories. Good examples of Active Rest are walking the dog, mowing the lawn, washing the car, riding a bike, etc. The blunt fact is that too many people in this country spend way too much time shining a chair with their backside. Our go to recreation over the last few years has become watching TV, surfing the internet, etc. I read another medical story recently that “sitting has become the new smoking” when it comes to influencing overall health. Its more than just being lazy, our jobs have become much less physical also. Progress has made doing less a habit that is effecting or health. Not to mention the effect thats its having on our children, their obesity rates are also on the rise.

If you travel overseas like I frequently do, you’ll notice very few obese or overweight people. It’s not because they exercise 24/7 or have perfect diets, far from it, in fact I think they do much less formal exercise and certainly don’t pay as much attention to their diets. It’s because they’re generally just more active. Meaning more active rest, they do more walking and bike riding in their daily lives, and I’m convinced this has a huge impact on helping keep their weight in check. The bottom line is if you want to get your weight right, diet and exercise may not be enough, you need to get moving. Turn off the TV, or computer and take the dog for a walk. Especially after dinner. Try it, it works. Good luck and take care.

Semper Fi
MGunz

One challenge that many of us face when trying to stay in shape is traveling. Now this travel could be for military deployments or business travel. Either way, even a short trip can throw a wrench into your fitness routine. Trust me when I tell you I have plenty of experience in this area and I talk a lot about this in my book corpsstrength.com.

The bottom line is I’ve been dealing with it all my adult life and still doing it since I retired from the Marine Corps. Just last week I made a return trip of almost 40 hours from Sierra Leone, Africa. The training we did there was awesome, but the trip over and back was not fun. There is no way around the fact that a trip of that length sucks, and there is going to be some jag lag and fatigue. The point is that you can take a few steps to make travel have much less of an impact on your health and workout routine.

First, if at all possible, you need to get some PT in before you get on the road. This will go a long way. We all know how airports are nowadays, the crowds, TSA, rushing around, it can make you nuts. If you can, get up early and get a workout in before you go, it will really take the edge off of your attitude. This is especially true if you are going to have to go through international airports, and especially so when you travel to 3rd world countries.

The second part is how you eat and drink during your trip. Now I have sat in airport bars and drank beer for hours waiting for flights and I still think a FEW beers can be a good thing, but if you drink to much while you are traveling you will pay for it later. It just seems that airplane “air” makes your a hangover worse, so try to keep your drinking minimal. With that limit your coffee, too much caffeine will add to your jet lag. I go with only 1 cup in the am on travel days. If you must drink coffee after that go decaf.

As far as food goes, its been my experience to try to eat very little while traveling. I avoid fast food and anything fried or high fat. Want to get sick? Just load up on too much coffee, greasy airport food, throw a half dozen beers, then get on a long plane ride. Its a sure plan to feel worthless when you get to your destination. I stick with low fat, high protein sandwiches and high octane snacks like trail mix, beef jerky and fruit.

You also need to constantly drink bottled water, traveling by air will dry you out in short order. To be perfectly honest when I get on a long flight, (6 hours plus) I get a apple juice, drop an Ambien and go to sleep. The combination of high carb juice and the medicine knocks me right out. Too much chow and/or alcohol tends to make it hard to sleep even with a sleep aid. Soft earplugs and a sleep mask are a must.

After you get to your destination, make every effort to get your body clock to match your new surroundings. This may mean you have to stay up when your tired but it will be a big help to get in some PT as soon as you can. After I returned from my recent trip late on Sat night. I slept a few hours then I got up early Sunday morning and went for a run. Now this run would never make the Olympic standard, but it did get me going. I then went to work early Monday morning after a another PT session and even after that 2 day trip from hell I was pretty much back to normal. By comparison the guy I traveled with had to take 2 days off to recover and still was half ass when he came back to work on Weds.

No doubt these types of trips will tire you out, however they don’t need to totally beat you down and screw up your routine long term, it just takes some planning and a little discipline to make it a whole lot less hassle. Good luck and be safe.
Semper Fi
MGunz

Note – My class, these are the most senior NCO’s in the Sierra Leone armed forces. We had a great 3 weeks of training. Everything from Land Navigation to International Terrorism. Great group of (tough) guys.

The book, ‘Corps Strength’ is also available from our friends at OP Tactical.