Breaking News: Michelangelo’s David Comes To Washington, DC For A Month

Have you heard that Italy is sending Michelangelo’s David to visit Washington, DC for a month?

The historic museum trip has 3 generous sponsors that provided free food unfortunately.

This brings up an important point:  How To Make The Body You Want last forever.

After you’ve cleaned up your diet, worked hard in the gym/ and/or at home, disciplined yourself to be consistent with all of the other demands on your time and energy, and navigated the myriad of obstacles and setbacks that are sure to come up, you will arrive at the body you wanted when you started.  Most people think that this is the end of the road.

No.  No.  No.

The conscious or unconscious belief that most people have is that eating better and exercising regularly is something that you do until your clothes fit again (or your arms are as big as you want them).  Then, after you look and feel the way you want to, then you can go back to what you were doing before you got in shape.  (Occasionally people will say this in a sentence, but usually they will demonstrate their belief with behavior.)

The way you used to eat and the way you used to exercise (or not exercise) was the problem. If you go back to your old lifestyle, then you will also go back to your old body.

The 3 Skills You Must Have To Make The Body You Want Last Forever

#1.  Learn how to come out of a spin: Just in case you weren’t aware, you are human.  That means that you are most definitely going to fall off the wagon at some point.  Maybe you’ll have to work 80-100hrs a week for a while, you’ll have a major family tragedy, get pregnant, or something else will get you off track.

The  common response to realizing that you’ve messed up is, “see, I always do this.  I messed up again.  I don’t know why I just can’t ever seem to keep it up.  I always fall off the wagon.  I don’t even know why I tried in the first place, I’m just a screw up.  I should just give up and stuff my face…”

I know how that feels, and I have most certainly been there too.  It’s not a good place.

People who are successful long term and people who fail long term have one thing in common:  They both fall off the wagon.

People who are successful long term and people who fail long term have one important difference too:  The successes pick themselves up ASAP, refocus on where they want to be and get started back there; the failures wallow in misery and spend their energy insulting themselves.

#2.  Start with the right attitude: Getting and keeping the body you want is a 3 step process:

• Step 1:  get it.  Do what it takes to get what you want.
• Step 2:  find out how many carbs you can eat, and how little exercise you can do to keep it.
• Step 3:  when you mess-up, reset, go back to #1

This is not a quick fix.  This is a new life.

#3.  Learn how to cook: Most people cannot cook period.  They only way that most people (or restaurants) can make their food taste good is by making it unhealthy – extra sugar, high fructose corn syrup and trans-fats.

Healthy food can and should be good food too.  Investing a few bucks in a good cookbook, and some time in learning how to cook will pay huge dividends in life – more energy, less fat, more muscle, and you might even impress somebody special in your life.

Here is my new favorite cookbook:

Josef Brandenburg is 2010, Washington, DC  Personal Trainer of the Year Nominee for both Personal Fitness Professional Magazine and The Washington, DC Fitness Association, The DC Fitness Advisor and the Fitness Expert for the PCOS Challenge TV Show. He shows normal people with hectic lives and average genetics how to create the bodies they want in the time they actually have. To find out more about the 7-Day Free Trial click here. You can also pick up a FREE copy of his brand new CD – “Why Eat Less and Exercise More is The Worst Advice Ever” here.

8 Week Transformation Prizes Revealed!

So, this is what you get for getting the body you want if you’ve already registered for the 8 week transformation contest.

• $200 Visa Gift Card to buy new clothes for your new body

• 1 hour massage gift certificate to help your body recovery from all that hard work

Thank you to everyone who joined the contest.  I wish you all the best of luck!

Josef Brandenburg is 2010, Washington, DC based Personal Trainer of the Year Nominee for both Personal Fitness Professional Magazine and The Washington, DC Fitness Association, and author of “The Body You Want”.  He shows normal people with hectic lives and average genetics how to create the bodies they want in the time they actually have. To find out more about the 7-Day Free Trial click here. You can also pick up a copy of his brand new CD – “Why Eat Less and Exercise More is The Worst Advice Ever” here.

Why Are You Peeing In Your Pants? The Myth Of Motivation

A lot of people tell me that they’ll start exercising or eating better when they get motivated.  I don’t know if you know anyone like this personally?  (Like, I don’t know, yourself maybe!)

The attitude is, “oh, I’m just waiting for my motivation to kick in.  When my motivation arrives its on, I’m gonna eat right and work hard and get sexy!”

People start saying this when they hit a size 10 and they’re still saying it when they hit a size 16.

Motivation is a myth.  Motivation does not exist.

The only things that exists are:

#1.  You

#2.  Your standards

Everything else is a figment of your imagination.  Just some BS you made up so that you don’t have to take responsibility for your own behavior.  “Its not my fault, my motivation hasn’t shown up yet!”

What Really Matters

What really matters are your standards – what you are and are not willing to accept from yourself.

Back when I was like 20 years old I saw this homeless guy living outside of the WSC that I worked in and really wanted to help him get off the streets.  I thought to myself, “all this man needs is an opportunity to get on his feet again and I’m gonna give it to him.”

So I went to REI and a few other stores and got him a huge box of toiletries, books on job hunting, new clothes, etc.  I wrapped that box up in bright red wrapping paper and tied it up with a giant white bow – it was Christmas time.

I asked him if he’d like some help getting off the streets and he said “yes!”  So I gave him the box and then took him to a boarding house in Foggy Bottom.

I told him that his job was to apply for jobs every week and to get one.  I would pay for all his food and housing, and he had a month to make some serious headway in getting a job.

The funny thing is that he actually did nothing.  He didn’t drink at all.  He just acted like a lazy high school kid over the summer.  He stayed inside, watched M*A*S*H and ate pizza.  He cleaned himself up, but he literally did nothing.

To make that even worse one day when I was driving him around trying to help motivate him to seek job opportunities around he peed in my car!  He gave no warning, he just let it rip and soaked my passenger seat in urine.  NO, he did NOT have a bladder control problem or anything like that.

Living on the streets he had gotten into the habit of just letting “it” go in his pants if he felt like it.

The point of this is that I seriously doubt that any of you has peed in someone else’s car as an adult.  Why?  Because that kind of behavior is completely unacceptable.  Its so far below the standards that you have for yourself that you would never even dream of doing something like that.

The food that you put in your mouth and the exercise that you do or do not do is EXACTLY the same thing.  It is a standard.

A standard of behavior and YOU are where the buck stops.  Raise your standards and you will change your life.  Keep waiting for your motivation to show up and your pants will keep getting tighter.

It’s YOUR choice an NOBODY else’s.

Get off your ass and get to work and the motivation will follow.  Stay on your ass and the motivation will never show up.

Josef Brandenburg is Washington, DC’s top personal trainer for busy people. He shows normal people with hectic lives and average genetics how to create the bodies they want in the time they actually have. To find out more about the 7-Day Free Trial click here. You can also pick up a copy of his brand new CD – “Why Eat Less and Exercise More is The Worst Advice Ever” here.

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