Your Household Is Your Gym

Many people like to believe or have been told in order to get in shape you need this or that for equipment. Sure it's important to realize that in order to build specific types of strength and fitness there are things you may not realize that can aid in your quest to get fit. Now, when people say you can train in the comfort of your own home they're mainly talking about using bodyweight styled exercise or using small pieces of easy to carry equipment you can use anywhere. There's more to it than meets the eye. What if you could you use your household items as a token of your fitness? If you want to spend the day inside due to weather conditions or recovering or whatever it is, you can and still get fit.

Believe it or not one of my favorite household items to use is my toothbrush. I know what you're thinking "how the hell can you workout with a toothbrush, it weighs nothing." I use it mainly for working my fingers and my grip by rolling my fingers until I get a full grip on the brush and hold for a few seconds then do a couple more more reps that way. Be sure to do both hands, it develops dexterity and isometric strength from the squeeze you're putting on. I don't recommend toilet paper as a workout tool but that's up to you, a smooth rounded hairbrush can work the same way or you can do push-ups on your bathroom sink; it's like a modified version of dips but to get the best benefit, tense your muscles as you go up and down, works the chest, abs, arms and shoulders. 

A good number of houses have stairs depending on the level of the house itself. With stairs you can do a variety of things that won't cost you anything; step-ups, jumps, push-ups, duck walks, dips, you can even have someone hold your legs as you walk up and down the stairs on your hands. Be simple and creative, use your imagination. During my MovNat or Darebee Workouts I use the stairs of my house for quality jumping, stepping and Push-ups at an elevated level to challenge my body in a different way. Even if all you can do is walk up the stairs barely that's great, one thing I like to do especially if I want to strengthen my joints is after a couple steps, press your feet into the ground for an isometric contraction using an "sssss" sound as you exhale. Do double steps as you walk up go sideways to strengthen the hips and gain flexibility in your hip flexors and extensors. Many ways to use the stairs.

Where is one of the best places to be after a long day at work and want to chill out? Most likely your couch or comfy chair. Now you can still get an awesome workout even in the comfort of your favorite place to sit. Want an example of what you can do even if you just want to sit and exercise....Get yourself Sofa Abs or Get fit watching your favorite movie and why not kick back and do a little workout during the commercials of your favorite TV Show. Don't make excuses, make the time to exercise in your home and get in great shape. 

Break The Rules

When you learn different ways to train its all good to get an idea on what to do, how it works for you in certain times but in the end; hiding behind a book or a DVD won't bring you full training success. In order to get the best out of your training is to follow your own path while learning your ideal methods to help you find the success you want to achieve. A DVD won't always give you results because you're following someone else's pace and rhythm while you aught to learn how your own body suits certain aspects of a program. A book can only take you so far until you realize it won't always help you in your favor.

Be open to ideals that can have you follow your own path as you train within your own style and goals. Breaking the rules doesn't mean shrugging off everything and being "rebellious", it's about not restricting yourself into the palm of someone else's hand. Some will tell you to follow your own path but are secretly getting you to follow them to boost their ego and have you splurge the good money you earn. I have had many mentors in the last decade but I don't worship them as fitness gods or allow them to dictate my success, I learn from their ideals but develop my own style that suits my personality, my body's energy and interest. Rebel by being your own person while learning what works for you.

There are some courses out there that don't want you to go to failure exercise wise and yet others will tell you going to failure will have you reach the pinnacle of your will to "beat" an exercise or system. Which one should you choose? I'd say go in the middle and pick your moments of when to test your abilities and when you go with the flow and challenge yourself but to a degree. Breaking the rules is not about who to stand up against but about making a decision that pits you in that unique group that see's not the right or wrong way but going beyond that and daring to do things that bring you a sense of self-awareness and individuality that bring you the success you crave.

You can learn from others what can be helpful but yet your way of training is a gift and it's something that you can own for yourself and not allow those assholes in the mainstream to tell you if you do this it's wrong or that your way of training is not up to their standards. You are one person finding their way and it's never an easy path due to what you may have been exposed to. I fell for it a lot trying to follow someone else's path and it kept making me frustrated. Their way is their way period. The way you do things is your choice, you choose who to learn from, where to get ideas and what style you settle for that bring you success or failure. Don't be afraid to fail and make mistakes, it's finding who you are and what makes you unique. Break the rules, it's not only fun but it exposes what's a lie, the truth and the reality of what things come about.  

Who The Hell Can You Trust???

If you plan on getting a trainer to help you reach your goals, you can't just go to any trainer and i'm going to tell you why. Most trainers try to fill their ego by throwing down way too much money a student can barely afford and many don't practice what they preach because they fill their head with meaningless books on exercise and believe because of what they read and don't really practice but just throw it on other people and think they'll actually get fit. I don't care how many seminars, DVDs, CD's and equipment or certificates you have, if you don't have an imagination and have been put through certain ringers, you're not a real trainer.

When it comes to trainer and student, two things come to mind that should be in synergy with one another from both sides to work and that's Passion & Trust. Trust is precious and has to be on mutual ground otherwise you're both just running with the motions without having any regard for one another's faith and understanding of the other. Passion is something very few trainers have and here's my take on it: Many trainers like to play out their routines for people like they've rehearsed this script they wrote for themselves and repeat these little scenes they played out over and over until they become their own star that pretends to have passion. For the very few, they treat people with respect until otherwise no matter how big, small, tall, short, thin, overweight or whatever. They have them see things the students don't always see and feel in ways that can't be described unless you've experienced it. I have been trained by some of the best in Physical Culture and all of them share one thing and that's passion. Others fill their ego and rather take someone's money than be open with them and help in not just getting fit physically but emotionally as well. Trust is earned both ways not a one way street where this guy/girl tells you things and the student just goes a long with it like a sheep that follows the dog.

The type of trainer I look for if I wanted someone to train me is someone that has passion, lives out their training like it's their livelihood, helps you find out things about yourself you didn't see before, gives you hope and guidance; let's you be yourself and push unexpectedly without ever telling you directly but testing you in their own way, not the scripted type I just told you. They make you feel good about yourself and don't drill you like you're in the damn army but give enough to where you listen and hit it. Someone that could turn things into an awesome friendship that goes beyond training and helping each other on both sides; making the trainer learn something about themselves and learn lessons that will make them better. Most of all, I want a trainer that won't bullshit me and bring out the very best in my abilities.

To get the very best out of your training from a certain trainer, you must become more than what they believe you to have and will get out of it. Most trainers rather push you and see what you're capable of but to a cold and distant degree. I believe in how expectations can back fire either way but in the end, if you the student and your trainer come out less than what is expected within one or the other something isn't right here. The best trainer is when he/she has gotten better because they made their student better for them and vise versa. Sounds confusing but here's the jist, as a trainer you have the duty to train a student and your best to make them better and it's their duty to make you great not to look good but realize just how good they really are and you're seeing results. It's mutual feedback and you're learning from each other's body language and being able to understand what the other is teaching. The moral is, be better than you were before on both sides and with trust, passion and doing the best you can, you have a high chance of both succeeding.