#60in3

If you can do 10 reps, you’re not using enough weight – Trust me, adding weight won’t kill you, nor will it bulk you up like a body builder.  It will however make your workouts more efficient and your body healthier.  This is especially true for women who seem to think 20 reps with light weights is a good thing.  Sorry, the point of a weight workout is to challenge your muscles, not wear them out.

If you can read a magazine, you’re not going fast enough – This is for all of you on the elliptical or the stationary bike, reading your magazine like you’re at breakfast.  If you can do that you need to go faster.  A cardio routine shouldn’t be comfortable, it should be challenging and get your heart rate up.  If you want something easy, go take a walk and leave the magazine at home.

Good form matters a lot more than more weight – If you’re swinging your whole body around while trying to do curls, you’re not really doing curls, are you?  Good form helps prevent injury and provides for a better workout by isolating the muscles you’re trying to work on.  In general, the only thing that should be moving is the area of the body you’re trying to exercise.  If something else is moving, you’re doing it wrong.

When in doubt, ask – Find someone who looks like they know what they’re doing and ask for help.  Then find someone else the next day and ask the same question.  Do this repeatedly and sooner or later, you’ll start seeing a consensus emerge on what you should be doing. People love to help and give advice, so why not use that?  Don’t sit there afraid to do something or, even worse, possibly doing it wrong, when you have a whole bunch of experts standing around you.

The core is what you should worry about – Guys work out their pecs and biceps, women work out their legs and butts.  No one works out their core, or at least not enough.  The core (lower back and stomach) is where the real work gets done.  It keeps us stable, helps out in almost every movement and burns the most calories.  It’s a solid sheet of muscle that goes ignored by most people.  Stop ignoring it and work on the core.  It may not be as sexy as a toned ass or a chiseled bicep, but it gets the job done.

Bonus rule #1, creating a nice body is like creating a nice world, it takes six days a week – Yes, you should be working out at least six times a week.  That doesn’t mean going to the gym six times a week, it means doing something physical like hiking, dancing, playing soccer and so on.

Bonus rule #2, look for ways to workout even when you’re not working out – Take the stairs up, walk down and then walk up the stairs again, work standing up, have really energetic sex, walk to the store, clean your house yourself, build a bench in your back yard.  Stop looking for ways to avoid physical work and start loving the opportunity to challenge your body.