Dear reader,

Schedule be damned. Rain be damned. I figured I just HAD to make another 20 minutes…

And so I did. My own version of the “F” starts with “<20” as it took me around 18:09.

15, 25, 25, 15, 85.  I’ll let you do the Math.

I think I mentioned somewhere in this blog about being good at Math “back in the day”. The esteemed Doc who I mentioned in that particular blog post would probably be rolling over laughing if he saw this now.

Smart dude, if there ever was one.

Back again later! In the meantime you can either ONE of TWO things: –

• Make excuses NOT to train
• Just do it.

The choice is YOURS, my friend.

Rahul

P.S. – The smart choice to make is to get the videos along with the books. I can tell you so  much more in the videos than I ever could in the “written courses” – Videos

And  BEFORE I TELL YOU what this entails, here is a bit of a primer.

I’m NOT at home – where I normally train. I’m indoors (thank god – it’s bucketing down outdoors – btw, y’all that are reading this from Houston, and apparently FL soon – and Southern China as well – I feel for ya, believe me).

The TV was blaring at full volume. Noise galore. Hardly the place to train without distractions, eh?

To top it all off, I am REALLY pressed for time today, and did NOT even have 30 minutes to train (literally running with my ass so to speak).

The vast majority  of folks would probably be like “Oh, thats not a good time to train”. “Oh, we’ll get to it later”.

“Oh, thats just a day missed – no problem!”

And so forth. Excuses galore, and reasons NOT to train – reasons NOT to get her done as it were.

And in the amount of time that it takes people to formulate (and then put in action – curiously enough a lot of folks are more than willing to put “negative” thoughts and plans in action without a second thought) – guess what.

I got a great one in. I’m sweating like a fat man at a dance.

Here’s the routine.

50 regular squats.

15 jumping squats.

30 “R”

30 “J” (I’m on a phone now and can barely type with all the sweat beading down my brow)

30 “R”, 30 “J”, 38 “R”, and 22 “J”.

You do the Math and add that up and tell me what it comes out to.

Try this one for size the next time “you dont have time”.

Guaranteed to KICK your butt, and if it doesn’t – well – I’ll be a “horse’s ass and monkey’s uncle rolled into one”, packaged and delivered (with a red bow for you  ladies out there) to your DOORSTEP.

All for now! Oh, and I almost forgot to mention I’ve been getting a lot of interest about this from mainland China so I’ll be working on adding in QR codes for payment (thats how they pay for most things in China – the land where the smartphone RULES). Stay tuned.

Rahul Mookerjee

P.S.- I can have the book gift wrapped as well at no extra charge. Might well be “purdier” than me, hehe – http://0excusesfitness.com/the-book/

 

Well, I’ve been tearing my hair out for the last few hours trying to get this “thang” to auto-post to Facebook (Twitter was a cinch), but I still (apparently) have not been able to get it done.

I’m getting “socket errors” and other weird stuff no matter what I do, and I’ll call it a night on that front for now.

Good thing is though that I finished workout #2 a while back BEFORE starting this whole process,  or my own sockets would be completely jammed by now – NO PUNS intended, hehe.

As it stands right now – it’s “just one of those things”.

AARGGH!

Anyway, as an addendum to what I said in the last post about sometimes hitting personal reps, what I should have also said is often times your “mental self” can push you WAY BEYOND what you think the physical can accomplish, and therefore the “PR’s”.

But, there will obviously be a lot of times when your body does tell you that “it’s enough”, and this despite everything else I’ve said in the last post.

All that stuff about goal settings while training DOES HOLD TRUE – but with the slight mod in that though you might well end up getting a new PR SOME DAYS without really focusing on the number of reps – other days, you might not.

Thats just the way it goes, of course.

Anyway, given the length of the last post, thats it for today – or now, at any rate. More later!

Rahul

P.S. – If you have not grabbed your copy of the book already – WHAT are you waiting for? http://0excusesfitness.com/the-book/

Dear reader,

I’m so ZONKED (my own euphemism, by the way) and those that have been following me for any length of time know what that means.

In short – ZONED out – and could care LESSSSSSS about anything else if you get my drift – and again – thats something you have to experience to really understand, both a mental and physical level (and no we’re not talking meditating for 7 years as the esteemed Bodhidharma is reputed to have done, although that requires some serious FOCUS!)

The title of this post started out as “keep your goals in mind…”, but after writing that above sentence I did something I never ever (or rarely) do – I EDITED – and changed it to “focus upon…”

Now, today’s post may come across as a series of “disconnected rambles”, but it’s really not if you read between the lines. For those that do, I applaud ya … for those that don’t … well … that’s life!

Anyway, today’s workout started off with an extremely sore back and (surprise) legs as well although I’ve been doing no direct work for the legs at all. No hill climbs, no “500 squat” days, nothing of that nature. and yet, my upper back, traps and thighs felt like they’ve been HAMMERED when I woke up this morning.

In a good way, of course, and thats likely why I did my 100 squats today in sets of 50, with 3 to 4 seconds rest between the first and the second set.

100 wasn’t a goal, by the way. Neither was some of the advanced stuff I have been doing for the past few days – that said though, there’s absolutely nothing wrong at all to HAVE those goals – in fact, a lot of you SHOULD start to set some goals – and NOW!

This post also (and again, this was unplanned) curiously enough ties into what I said about not needing pull-ups earlier this morning. Strange how that works, eh?

Anyway, one of my current goals has literally ZERO to do with fitness, as well as money – its something else altogether. Something that impacts me at the very BOTTOM OF MY HEART. Something that CUTS DEEP – something that MATTERS.

While I’m not going to detail that goal here for obvious reasons, I will however say that THIS goal is what I focused upon today during my routine.

Yes, this may sound a bit strange given I constantly tell you to focus upon the reps and your breathing – but I DID focus upon those as well.

The breathing is key by the way – in fact I should say I focused upon my goal with EACH INHALE AND EXHALE!

Read that part again. EACH INHALE AND EXHALE – yes – it’s THAT important to breathe correctly!

Now, bear in mind that you do need to be at a somewhat advanced (or least not beginner) level when you incorporate this technique into your routine.

Why, you might ask?

Well, because like I’ve said before, some of you will have trouble even GETTING into – let alone HOLDING the positions I show in the book and videos – and get this – for more than a few seconds, IF AT ALL.

And then of course we come to performing reps in CORRECT form.

So it’s obvious that you have to “do the thing” at a certain level first, but once you get there – incorporate this technique into your routine – and watch things start to FLOW in EVERY area of your life.

I find wrestler pushups or “Hindu pushups” as they seem to be commonly called to lend themselves best to this. Up and down, up and down, inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale… This, and the “table” pushup are what work best for me in this sort of a “mood”.

And purely fitness wise, you might also find yourself achieving record reps while “not focusing upon the number”. Thats a great, great and oft-ignored tip – and I’ve achieved many a record number without even focusing upon the number itself.

And I DID end up setting another “PR” in my all time favorite exercise today – NOT the wrestler or “table” pushup BTW – although those are great, great exercises if done correctly.

Rationally speaking you might say goals in other areas of your life have NO co-relation to fitness  – and if your amongst the scores of people that say this – well – I have THIS to say – YOU, my friend, are UNEQUIVOCALLY WRONG!

In a rational world, the 0 excuses fitness videos would never have gotten made in the first place as the lady who took the videos speaks NO English, and I speak VERY little Chinese.

“Try, try, try”, is a phrase she commonly uses, and this one tip alone CAN CHANGE YOUR LIFE, my friend.

Thats not to say I didn’t “try” before – but I’m just trying to tell that “rational” thinking is NOT the be all and end all of everything as it’s commonly made out to be. It’s REQUIRED – but it’s NOT what “gets the engine going”.

And that, my friend is that for now. Long enough post – ADIOS – for now!

Rahul “Mou Hua The” Mookerjee

P.S.: – The book has more great tips – grab your copy HERE: – The Book

Dear reader,

This is a question oft-asked by those that come to my website, make a purchase, etc etc.

“Your book mentions pushups repeatedly, and a LOT of different types of pushups”.

“You extol the virtues of pushups – but though you’ve got a Chapter devoted to pull-ups in the book – you don’t particularly “push” (no pun intended) pull-ups as much as you do the good old pushup”.

And so forth.  I’m paraphrasing there, but I’ve received plenty of comments along those lines in the past, and I’m pretty sure I’ll continue to receive them in the future.

And my response?

Well first off, do you NEED pull -ups to “hammer the upper body until it can’t take it any more”?

My answer would be a NO, and my own results bear testament to this. ALL you need is pushups and done correctly – they’ll give you a FAR FAR better workout than pull-ups every would.

Does this mean pull-ups are a bad exercise, though?

Absolutely not! Pull-ups are great, and I used to do a LOT of them in the past (I worked up to doing 100 daily at one point in time, along with other supplementary grip work).

But, I found out that it wasn’t NECESSARY – and that I could get BETTER results by doing pushups – and get this – in LESS time.

The key though, is the type of pushups you do, and HOW MANY you knock off – and – perhaps most importantly, KEEPING AT IT.

I haven’t done a single grip exercise in MONTHS now. My forearms are NOT, I repeat, NOT huge by any stretch of the imagination – and yet – I have a level of grip strength that most gym goes, and even a lot of athletes (and NO – that is NOT an exaggeration) would be hard pressed to match.

None of that means pull-ups aren’t great though. They’re great – and if your goal is to knock off, say, 100 pull-ups daily – well – go for it!

All I’m saying is you don’t NEED them.

Last, but not least, NO, although pull-ups and some other supplementary exercises I’ve used in the past WILL build a grip along the lines I’ve mentioned above – again – you don’t NEED them.

The good ole pushup is ALL you need.

Let me repeat that – the PUSHUP is ALL you need!

With all that being said, there are plenty of folks out there that want to improve their pull-ups as a “goal” – and I’ve put out a course dedicated especially to this in the past. I may re-publish this in the future HERE – stay tuned!

Or, just rifle through 0 Excuses Fitness until you get to the section on pull-ups. That’s really all the info you need in that regard.

For now though – bear in mind that the main exercises I mention in 0 Excuses Fitness are ALL you need. Work on those for a while, and THEN go test yourself on pull-ups.

I think you’ll be amazed.

All for now – back later.

Best,

Rahul

P.S.: – 0 Excuses Fitness is available right HERE: – The Book

Dear reader,

What is the one modern invention that is the very BANE of modern day living, and that I (despite having to use at times) – absolutely DESPISE?

It’s NOT the computer, by the way, for those that are thinking it is (given my constant refrains of being “chained” to the keyboard – thats something I ENJOY). Computers (and the Internet as well) were a great, great invention.

While laziness, “procrastination” and many of the other things all feature high up there on the list – guess whats even higher up there.

It’s something that most folks (at least most I’ve met) can’t seem to do without, much like they can’t do without breathing in life giving oxygen.

And it is – none other than the – hold your breath – the almighty SMARTPHONE.

If there is ONE thing in this world along with chemical weapons that I’d suggest be “dis-invented” (or was it “un-invent”?)  I’d say  it should be the smart phone.

I’ve NEVER EVER come across a greater productivity killer than the smartphone, and this holds true while working out as well as for life in general for that matter.

I’ve lost track of the number of times (back when I still paid the darn thing any serious attention) that I was about to write something, or had some ideas, or was simply going to get something accomplished when that annoying “green light” on the smartphone flashed, signalling yet another (and for the most part) useless “IM” or some such junk.

And of course, I ended up losing track of what it was that I was doing.

I’ve written about this extensively as well in my other publications, but as for exercise? Well, you see plenty of folks that use the smart phone as a workout accessory and this is one of the VERY WORST mistakes you can make, period.

Why?

Well, because your attention is not on your workout. It’s on the latest “going ons” on Facebook, or the “latest message” from that “hot chick you’ve been texting”, or the latest “emergency at work”.

Yada, nada, schnada, and once that workout is interrupted, it is usually never resumed given the propensity of most folks to be “lazy” (especially when doing tough stuff).

My suggestion would be to, and what I DO is to completely IGNORE the damn thing anytime I do something of any note, be that writing, or exercising, or simply “thinking intensely”.

I don’t just ignore it – I flip it over on it’s “stomach”, hehe, so I can’t even see the annoying little lights blinking nineteen to the dozen.

And guess what – I’m still living!

Now, that doesnt mean you ignore the world, period – NO – but there’s a time and place for everything, and that time is NOT when your “in the zone”, if you get my drift.

Anyway, all of this basically boils down to DOING ONE THING AT A TIME regardless of the “war” going on outside (and in most cases the “war” is but a figment of your imagination and can WAIT).

Do one thing at a time – focus – and IGNORE any and all distractions.

That’s another reason I like to workout at home, by the way. There’s no distractions, no “gym bunnies”, no tomfoolery, no stupid questions, no-one “pumping their tris to look like Arnie X3” , and so forth.

It’s just ME – my living room – and my WORKOUT! And boy do I “get her done”  – NOT with minimal distractions – but with NONE.

And thats how it should be, my friend.

All for now!

Best,

Rahul

P.S. – A lot of what I talk about in terms of fitness holds true for LIFE as well. So do most, if not all of the “10 Commandments of Successful Physical Training” that you can find right HERE: – The Book

Dear reader,

I’m STOKED – and I’m on the CLOCK (as usual, haha).

And no, this post is NOT about Math, although Math was a subject I always excelled at. Most of what they teach in schools and colleges has literally no real life practical applications – and have NO bearing upon (in the  majority of cases) what folks actually end up doing.

Be it the “techie” who rarely ever “got into tech jobs”, or be it the engineer who ends up writing sales proposals and what not – it holds true for the most part.

Thats something I’ll talk about later though. What is funny though and what bears importance is here that funnily enough, those “closest to me” (or supposed to be the closest to me) chose to always focus upon what I wasn’t good at (in my case that being the vast majority of others things that I was supposed to learn, both in school and college).

And how does that tie into fitness? Well, the same darn thing happens when people take a look at their current fitness levels. It’s all about “where I’m not” as opposed to a rational, FACT based analysis followed by a  “where I can – should – and WILL be!” conclusion – and then of course, “doing the thing”.

I speak about this repeatedly, of course – but what I also want to point out here is I’m NOT by any stretch of the imagination asking you to “ignore obvious flaws” here.

I’ve got notoriously tight hamstrings, for instance, something you guys might not think true after watching the videos and reading the books etc – and this even after YEARS of practice.

Does that mean I “throw in the towel”?

Heck no. I keep working upon it, and I improve – DAILY!

Thats just one example by the way. Key thing being to ignore the naysayers (and there will be PLENTY) and focus upon the POSITIVE – and what you do have going for you.

See a previous blog post about “being grateful” for more on this. My book “From 120 – 60 kgs…”  goes into it in DEPTH as well – a must READ for anyone looking for self improvement in ALL areas of life – From 120 &#8211; 60 KGS!

Anyway, what price the title of this post, you may ask, and deservedly so.

Well – simple. Thats what I did to get to 200 pushups. Added in 50 more, and bang – I’m done, and ready to hit the showers.

Eat a bear one bite at a time, my friend. There is great innate wisdom in this saying.

I’d type more, but I gotta rush – so thats it for now.

Meanwhile though if you train today – make it a super one!

Best,

Rahul

P.S. – Thanks, Dr. K!

P.S.#2 – And no, being “sucky” at Math does NOT give you a ready made excuse to cop out of the “20*10” routine!

Dear reader,

Well, I’m going to “plunge” into my workout soon, but first, a few updates on the tech front.

I got a complaint last night from a Chinese lady (residing in mainland China) who was trying to watch the “video snippets” I’ve got throughout my site. It apparently wasn’t loading at all for her…

At first I was like “huh”? It loaded fine for me, but upon closer inspection, I figured out the issue and then tested with an IP based in mainland China – and YES – she WAS RIGHT!

So before I continue with this post – thank you, thank you, and THANK YOU again, Madam “S”. It’s folks like you that make my day!

This lady was obviously interested enough to actually READ – and then watch the video – and hence the “complaint”. In other words, she actually took the time to write in to me about it and let me know as opposed to the usual “Ah well, forget it” that a lot of folks might say at that point.

Much respect!

On another note, I’ve been receiving way too many queries from people who (sometime despite reading the book) question “why”.

In other words – “why do we need this”.

Well, I’ve gone over this so many times in prior blog posts, the book, and even my old website (which is still up by the way).

And yet – the same questions keep pouring in – and dont get me wrong, folks. Questions are a GOOD thing!

I’m going to put up a short audio clip giving you a very “barebones”  answer as to why. Simple, concise, and to the point – and if you want further detail, well, you know exactly where to look: – The Book

All for now – back again soon.

Rahul

PS – Believe it or not, I used to be a “techie” back in the day!

Dear reader,

Well, it was certainly a deviation from my normal plans today. For a change I wasn’t “chained to the keyboard” for a few hours this afternoon – though that will start very soon again – and thats how I  prefer it anyway.

I’m a writer first and foremost and though I teach fitness and have been doing so for a while, if you were to ask me to name one thing that “defines” me I’d say “writing”.

Anyway, those of you “in the know” know that I usually get my workout in after a long “stint” at the keyboard, and that’s usually in the afternoon or thereabouts for the initial workout, and late night for the second, shorter one.

Well, I had a new schedule to adapt to today. Happens at the best of times, and I’m sure y’all reading this (especially those of you with “desk jobs” or kids,  or what not) know how that goes.

Hey, it happens. Schedules change, although I really, really, really hate changing mine – but it happens – and we gotta adapt.

Long story short, I had to change my workout plans as well to adjust to the new “schedule”.  I was planning on getting my workout in before heading out, of course, but due  to a (very fortunate, I must say) amalgamation of events I wasn’t able to do so, and so out I headed anyway without having gotten my workout in first, which is something I NEVER EVER do.

Getting my workout in sets me up for the rest of the day, beyond it, and done correctly, I experience a “carry over buzz” for the next day as well.

Now, something else I NEVER EVER do is skip a workout. Even if it’s a 10 minute routine, I do SOMETHING EACH AND EVERY DAY – and this, of course is something I emphasize over and over again in my posts and obviously the book as well.

And so when I got home in the evening, I figured I’d do a 10 minute routine. Nothing major, some gentle stuff that I normally do in the evenings.

But, being I was feeling a bit “stiff” in the legs if you get my drift, I figured I’d do 40-50 squats to warm up before jumping into it.

So, I start my squats. Up and down, up and down. BREATHE in, BREATHE out, and I start to get that BUZZ going. OH BOY!

Before I knew the horse had “done” bolted (that’s a Southern expression for those that don’t know, hehe) and a 100 squats were done and dusted (75 regular, 25 toughies).

And by then of course  I was in full flow. 250 pushups “flew” (pun NOT intended) by and before I knew it I was completing my bridging as well (which I normally do in workout #2 for the day).

Now, being that my regular routines take between 45-60 minutes and the “evening” routine takes between 10-15 minutes, you’d imagine this to be a 75 minute workout, right?

I did as well.

Guess what though.

1:03 – and I’m done – and STOKED!

So, thats the story for today. You could call this the “incorporated” workout as it basically incorporates two workouts into one.

Will I get workout #3 in today? Well, I don’t know – perhaps – if I get time – but I DO KNOW one thing – it’s back to “regular programming” from tomorrow for ole Rahul in terms of working out before even considering heading out of the house.

All for now. If you workout today – make it the BEST!

Very best,

Rahul

P.S. – I keep mentioning the quick and dirty 10-15 minute routine that I do for workout #2 in the evening. Well, there’s plenty more of those to be found right HERE: – The Book

Dear reader,

There’s a LOT of wisdom in the old saying “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”.

In other words, if it’s working – and by working I mean working at whatever level you consider to be “satisfactory” (or acceptable) – then it’s probably best not to change or tinker with it unless absolutely necessary.

Customers, and those that follow this blog will know that I’m dead set against “modern way” weightlifting, “pumping and preening”, “toning the 61st head of the left upper part of the top bicep (or some such rot)”, treadmills and so forth.

However, some people that use the above claim it works for them – and my opinion on that?

By all means KEEP AT IT! If it WORKS – well – then there’s no real reason to change, eh?

But bear in mind that things can always be IMPROVED.

I’ve never quite understood shelling out big bucks on gyms, fancy equipment etc when you don’t need any of it. To me, it just makes more sense to get home after a hard day (well, make that “get away from the keyboard in the middle of a hard day”) – and get my workout in – and feel like a billion bucks later.

It’s also of course true that a lot of those that “pound the treadmill” and do bazillions of “cable crossovers for the outer head of the “pectoralis majoris” (or whatever rubbish is floating around these days)” and all that would be hard pressed to complete – get this – TWO TO THREE reps of some of the exercises I do – and this AFTER trying for a while.

And thats not just me talking. I’ve seen it happen over and over again.

So would these people benefit – and benefit BIG from 0 Excuses Fitness? The answer is quite obvious – a resounding HELL yes!

Other hand though, there are those that are “content to be where they are”. And despite what I said earlier about constantly striving to improve, at the end of the day it’s not my business (and neither should it be) where or HOW you choose to train.

All I can do is presents facts and proof in front of you  – and it’s up to YOU after that.

The choice is YOURS, my friend!

All for now – back again tomorrow!

Rahul Mookerjee

P.S. : – I made the smart choice years ago. I suggest you do the same: – The Book