Now, you don’t need to get locked up to do this workout. It works just fine when you don’t have any cash to spend on expensive (and worthless) equipment and gym memberships or you are on a business trip in an hotel room and need your dose of hardcore workout to get the day started.

This is a wonderful addition to our non-equipment workout routine and get fit at home posts.

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1. Acknowledge the rule of least resistance.
By default, your subconscious-mind, the ruler of your body, is a lazy entity. It follows a simple universal rule that is found in chemistry, physics and other natural phenomena: the path of least resistance. That is, your sub-mind will seek the path of least energy. If it can avoid doing something, you bet it will. It won’t get off its ass in the morning to go jogging. No. It has to be trained over a very long period of time (to build an habit), but until then you must make it do what you will.

2. Ignore your inner dialogue.
Now this one is very important. We all had those inner dialogues when you know you have to do something like to go running in the morning and start looking for excuses: “It’s cold outside you’ll get sick”, “You look awful when running, what will the people say”, “I am too tired today, I went to sleep very late last night. If I go now, I’ll be very tired all day.”, etc., etc., etc. In most cases (like 99%) these statements are false excuses. Even if your inner self was right 1% and you DO get cold after running: the positive build-up of your will is far more valauble than having cold for a day or two.

I have found a solution that works for me like a charm: I just ignore these dialogues. You cannot stop them: at least, in the beginning (when you build an habit they will disappear gradually. But YOU CAN ignore them). Just listen to your inner whining while starting what you have set to do. Mostly, the dialogue will disappear within the first 5 minutes as your sub-conscious realizes that you are un-bribable and cannot be talked out of your goal. This is really amazing. Who would have thought that you are NOT in control of your own body, by default. You have to take the control by power. Power of will by ignoring excuses.

3. Set goals and make them public.
The Runner’s Magazine suggests signing up for a competition regularly and making it public (among your family and friends). It doesn’t matter whether it’s a small or big one. This will kill two rabbits with one stone: First, you will be more motivated to go out and train since you have a definite goal and date to train for. Secondly, your submind will be more cooperative because it does care whothers will say should you flunk the competition after promising (publicly) to participate.

Don’t let anyone, incluiding your inner self, to talk you out of your goals!

Almost half a year with barely any movement you learn to appreciate the bodytweaking lifestyle. The bad thing about putting your fitness second is the vicious cycle it leads to. Believe me, I know.

I have experienced some bladder problems last September, basically I was sick for two+ months. Each time I tried to do anything, my condition seemed to get worse so I decided to stop jogging and rowing and working out for a while. After the two months everything was perfect again, but I have conditioned myself to the work-pc-sleeep-eat-work-lifestyle during that time.  Somehow I neglected to get into the full bodytweaking way of life again.

The months passed and I have noticed a sharp downhill movement in my energy levels. I felt tired in the morning (I have to wake up at 5 :00AM for work) and throughout the day. And I felt absolutely no motivation to do anything productive in the evening, after work. This ‘anything’ includes workouts. The more I stayed like this, the more I felt drained and unmotivated and annoyed about everything. My productivity and motivation at work also suffered a bit.

I knew that this way of life can lead to a overweight-couch-potato-lifestyle within a year. So to get into the shape again I signed up for a 10 miles city-run with Sparky a month ago. The run itself takes place in June (you will hear about it).  It is not really that big of a challenge, but still requires you to run regularly over the period of several weeks.

Running has always been the main pillar of bodytweaking. It gives you unheard energies and motivation and conditions your lower part of the body (from the chest down, which BTW includes most of your muscles, volume-wise) for more physical challenges.

After four weeks of running 3 times a week things have changed tremendously. Motivation is back at high-levels. I get up at 5:00AM and feel fresh. I feel that my sleep became very deep and energizing again, since I remember dreaming a lot. And most of all, my legs start to feel like two power rockets. It gives me that self-confidence that I can jump over anything that comes in my way.

I am the rocket man!

Recently, high vitamin D dosages of +3,000 IU have been linked to kidney stones and nausea. So by taking too much of it out of the bottle might eventually be counter-productive and even harmfull! The findings are yet to be proven, which won’t happen till the mids of 2010, but you’re better off using your common sense and keeping your “the more the better” philosophy in check. It doesn’t matter whom to blame: the general public ignorance or industry’s abusive disinformation campaigns. You are resonsible for yourself. No one else.

And while the world is getting more and more complicated everyday and you seem to lose track of what is truth and what is a lie, you need just a few simple rules that will always keep you on the safe side. Rule #1:  too much of anything is never good.

This is an absolute rule that applies to anything. Vitamin D is not an exception. Just take a 20 minutes walk in the sun, which will give you some 1,500-2,000 IU of Vitamin D. This way you’ll avoid the bottled supplements and do something for your fitness in the process.

Keep it safe bodytweakers!

Knee problems have always been an issue for me. I suppose, it lies in my family’s genes since my mother and his father had the same problem as me. It started as I was about 14 years old It didn’t hurt at all and I didn’t feel anything disturbing. Just this strange cracking sound. So I though “whatever… I can live with it!”. Unfortunately, it changed during the following years.

The cracking sound got louder and I felt a small pain in my knees. I mean, I still could live with this problem, but I was worried if it could get worse at the age of 30, 40 or 50? So I went for an specialist’s advise and was told that there was nothing wrong with my knees and that the sound would go away with the age. I was also advised that I should start running and train my quads as it usually helps in this kind of problem.

However, running didn’t change much. I think, it even got a bit worse since I was running on concrete back in Madrid and this impact is not very healthy for the knee joints. (Follow my advice and go run on a beach if you have one nearby! You will avoid the trouble in the long run! )

Fortunately enough a friend of mine suggested to try cycling. It doesn’t have much impact on your knees, trains your whole legs and is fun as hell! So I started with simple spinning classes half a year ago. Very soon I was doing 2 classes in a row, 3 to 4 times a week. Apart of dramatically improving my endurance and cutting all that fat I have saved up during my time off running, I have noticed an incredible improvement in my knee joints! There’s no pain anymore and the sound is almost nonexisten. Hooooray!!

Two months ago I have bought a mountain bike (which was my biggest fitness investment ever) and have started to train going up and down the hills in my area. Sometimes aroung 100 miles in one go! This is really fun and gets very addicting! Leg strength, endurance and overall health keeps improving. I am even considering to participate in a few mountain bike marathons this fall!!

Summing up, cycling is probably the best choice if you have knee problems (better than running or leg training at the gym). Good road or mountain bikes can get somehow expensive, but they are worth every penny! I consider my bike as my best investment since the benefits you get are worth much much more. Cut the costs on other crap. Get rid of junkfood and stop bying stuff you do not need. Save money for things that DO matter!