The Chaos Method

I can imagine what people are guessing this one thing is. Maybe get a personal trainer. Take a pill. Add
some specific exercise to your routine. Do a specific routine. It's got to be something like that, right?

No, actually it's much simpler than any of those. It's more of a concept than a concrete application. If
you are looking to get results from your fitness program, the most important thing you can do is to
embrace change.

You know the famous quote%u2026if you keep doing the same things you've always done, you will keep
getting the same things you've always gotten%u2026or something like that. But even if I screwed up the exact
wording, the concept still holds true, especially in fitness.

You have to give your body a reason to change. The body is an incredibly efficient machine. If you
continue to do the same thing over and over, it gets very good at it. Unfortunately, that means it burns
fewer calories and doesn't have to work as hard, since it already knows how to do this activity very well.
In order to get results, you have to push your body beyond its comfort zone. This is what prompts the
body to strip fat and build muscle.

In a 2006 study, researchers discovered that men and women who jogged regularly and logged the same
miles week after week, year after year, gained weight%u2026regardless of the miles logged.*

This also holds true for the strength training aspect of your workout routine. You are sore after strength
training because this mode of exercise actually tears down the muscles. After an intense workout, the
body attempts to overcompensate by building and strengthening the muscle (this is what gives you a
toned, lean look). The body is anticipating being stressed again, so it builds itself up. That way, if you
do the same workout over and over again, the body is ready for it, and has no reason to change
anymore.

So you keep getting the same results%u2026none.

The solution is simple. Change up your routine! Do something different! Go do a stair workout. Stack
some 10-Minute Fitness Fury workouts together for a really intense session. Go to the park and do a
workout on the playground equipment. If you usually go to the gym and do the machine circuit, get off
the machines and get into the free weight area. If you usually do higher reps with lighter weight,
increase the weight and do some lower rep sets (6-10 reps). Or do a bodyweight workout. If you run 2
miles every other day, go and do some hill sprints. Do an interval cardio workout.

Just change it up and have some fun with it!

*Int J Obes (Lond). 2006 Mar; 30(3): 543-51

Why Should It Be About Having Fun?

I do hardly any cardio. No treadmill. No elliptical. No running outside.
On occasion, I will hop on the recumbent bike for 8-10 minutes, or if I'm really full of energy and motivation, I will stomp on the treadmill for a little while%u2026sometimes even with an incline! : )

For women over 30, like me, who mostly work at a desk, like me, these activities, are staples of their fitness routine. Why? Because we are told that these are the things we need to do in order to stay slim, trim, and fit.

Did you notice that there isn't anything about enjoying the activity? For some reason, that doesn't seem to matter. We want results. Not fun.

Or do we? Would we take the fun if we thought we could still get the results?
I don't do those activities because I don't enjoy them. Simple as that. They bore me. I have no doubts about the cardiovascular benefits of these activities. But I don't like them. So I don't do them. I honestly believe that life is too short and precious to do anything out of obligation or duty.

Now sometimes, as adults, we have to make compromises. We do things we don't necessarily love to do in order to reap better rewards at a later time.
OK. That makes sense. I give up instant gratification for an investment in the future.

But what if I can have both? What if I don't have to do something I don't like to achieve the results I want? What if it's not necessary to run on the treadmill for 90 minutes every day to tone up and lose that last 5 lbs?

Is that even possible? We have been conditioned to think that we have to suffer and sacrifice in order to look and feel good. Isn't that just how it works? No pain, no gain, right?

Wrong!

It's taken me almost 15 years in the fitness industry to learn and really accept what I'm about to tell you. So listen up. And take this to heart.

You don't have to suffer, sacrifice, and deprive yourself.

I learned this when I ran my outdoor boot camps for women in Illinois, FitCamps4Chicks.

Fun is the underlying theme of every camp, every session. We have fun. That doesn't mean the girls don't work hard, don't sweat, don't push themselves for all their worth. They do all these. But while their having fun.

We don't do measurements, or keep food journals, or even do weigh-ins. We laugh, play games, have competitions, and in the midst of having fun, pounds are lost, clothes get looser, blood pressure lowers, and bodies get toned.

I didn't notice the correlation at first. Not until one of my boot campers came to me after a doctor's visit. She had lost weight, and her blood pressure and cholesterol were down. The doctor and nurse asked her what she had been doing to get such good results.

As she told me this story, it started to click. All those results were simply side-effects of her coming out to boot camp and doing something fun and challenging for herself.

No charts, no numbers, no graphs, no journals. Just the dedication to come out at 6 AM, give it all she has, and have fun.

Fun first. Fitness follows.

So How Do You Go About Making Fitness Fun?

So what does this mean for you? Should you cancel your gym membership? Make a pact to never step on another treadmill? Not necessarily. Fun is a subjective term. I actually enjoy going to the gym and strength training. And not every fitness workout you have will be the most fun thing you've done.

But, what you can do is start integrating more fun into your routine gradually.

Here are some simple ways to get started:

* When the weather is nice, take your workout outside. Go to a park, grassy field, walking trail or other large outdoor area to do your work out.

* Find a small hill and do hill sprints, lunges, side squats, duck walks, etc. This is a killer workout!

* Hook up with a buddy and do a challenge workout. Set up a series of 3-5 exercises, and see who can complete the most rounds in a specified period of time (i.e. 5 or 7 minutes).

* Find some stairs (in your house, hotel, at the park, outside a city building, wherever) and do stair sprints, plyometric stair jumps, push-ups, lateral squat walks and any other exercise you can come up with on the stairs. Be careful though! You won't be able to walk up a flight of stairs for the next couple of days after this workout!

* Grab a group and go play some dodge ball or kickball. After each round (or inning) two exercises are called out. The team that won that round gets to choose which exercise they do. The team that lost that round has to perform the other exercise.

* Go to a playground and do a full body workout using only the playground equipment.

* Use unconventional equipment for something different: sandbags, kettle bells, car tires and other objects can be a fun way to change up your workout!

* Do a bodyweight only workout. Come up with a series of exercises you can do with no equipment, just you. Perform the exercises as a circuit, not resting as you move to the next exercise. Complete the circuit, 3-4 times, resting about 1-2 minutes between circuits. Some exercises you can do: squats, push-ups, burpees, mountain climbers, walking lunges, air bikes, crunches, and planks.

* Grab a die and choose one exercise per number. Roll the die and perform the exercise for 12 reps. Keep rolling until you've done each exercise at least two times.

These are just some ideas to get you started.

On the FunFirstFitness website you will find a complete library of innovative and fun workouts. Each workout video includes a blueprint outlining the workout with the exercises, sets and repetitions to complete, video demonstrations of every exercise done in that workout, and an explanation of the workout, game, or challenge.

Get a free video of a workout that is FUN and EFFECTIVE! Go to www.funfirstfitness.com.

Copyright 2009 Bobbi Johnson, CSCS, CPT