So the next day at work, sharing the story with a colleague, who was also miserably out of shape, I said, “Look at us, we need to start working out. Can you do a push-up? I mean, right now. Let’s start right here, right now – here in the hallway. One push-up”.

He said, “Sure, I can do one push-up. Are you kiddin’ me? But I ain’t doing it here.”

Come on, I said, we’ll do one push-up a day for a week. The second week, we’ll do two push-ups a day. Third week, three a day, etc.

Next Blog

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About 2,500 Runners & Walkers

Do you keep track of your progress? I mean, with a few things that are really important to you.

Your checkbook maybe. Or your vacation savings. Or your weight loss or weight gain. Or your running distance or running times?

I love running.

And sometimes I don’t.

Like yesterday at the Central Florida 5k (sponsored by Track Shack) Watermelon Run, I wanted to stop a few times.

You know, quit.

But I didn’t.

Hope you find whatever it is you need to not quit.

Quitting is for amateurs.

Become a pro at not quitting.

And be prepared to bleed to make it a reality.

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He's Counting On A Role Model (for life)

Ever struggle with your motivation to exercise or with making smart food choices?

(If you said no, you’re lying)

Yesterday while at Gold’s Gym Orlando, I asked one of the staff, “What is it that makes some people commit to exercise for a lifetime and others quit after a few weeks?”

What do you think?  How would you answer it?

I suggested that we can not do it for ourselves, we must do it for someone else. If we fail, we only let ourselves down. But if we do it for someone else and we fail, we let them down.

The other person challenged my rational (which is exciting), and in the speed of the day, neither one of us, in this casual conversation, really had a desire to debate this further at that moment.

Yet on the drive home, what I had been trying to say was revealed. We need to be a role model for great health habits. This is the secret that eludes people.

You must be someone’s role model, for life. This means you can not fail. There is no greater motivation.

If this is flying over your head, you’re at huge risk to miss this simple, but compelling health secret.

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There are hundreds of ideas here at Lane 8.

But they are of no use if you don’t do something, like read them.

Here’s today’s biscuit.

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Just yesterday, coincidentally, this article “10 Tips to Better Digestive Health” arrived via email from our free Everyday Health subscription. Click here to read.  They’re common sense and serve as a reminder that good health is not that complicated.

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Lane 8 In Finland 2009

Last night I experimented with a WordPress front page “sticky post”. This allows bloggers to indefinitely keep a certain blog post as the very first post. Like a sticky note.

If it works, regular Lane 8 readers will see the same “Welcome to Lane 8″ post indefinitely. This is really for first time readers to give them a quick look at what Lane 8 is about.  All you’ll have to do is simply scroll past it each time you visit, to get the daily Lane 8 post.

Do you experiment?  At work?  At home?  With your diet? With your exercise routine? With your rest? With your motivation?

We all know that experimentation and creativity are the keys to innovation. What grade do you give yourself for practicing what you preach?

Anyone on the honor roll this semester?

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Just Do It

Do you know your blood pressure? And do you know your resting heart rate?  How often do you check?  Do you know how and why you have the numbers you do?

Also known as a no-brainer, putting it off and being afraid to know are not good. I check it virtually every time I’m in a Wal-Mart or Publix Grocery Store, for free, at one of those testing stations.

What would happen to your results if you walked five days each week, fitting in 15-30 minutes (or more) each time? And what would happen if you did that for five years in a row?

Last night’s results at Wal-Mart:

Show Me The Money

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USA Team Jersey...Priceless

Last night at Gold’s Gym Orlando in the Dr Phillips area, I meet Pleasant Lewis, the owner of several Central Florida Gold’s Gym facilities.

As a 50-year old, I struggle like everyone else, to find time and motivation to exercise.

This is one of life’s big truths.  We all are given the same amount of time. Successful people figure it out, plan for set backs, never give up and they find a million ways to motivate themselves.

And sometimes, if not more often, the thought of, “Is this worth it?”, enters their mind.

Gold’s Gym, Lifestyle Litness, Bally’s, YMCA’s, all struggle too – with finding a way to inspire people to make a lifetime commitment of healthy living.

I proposed to Pleasant that I could help.  We’ll see if “Goliath” has any interest in “David”.

Gym owners have the same challenge as their customers – finding time to do the important things that make a difference.

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Hayward Field Inspires Impossible Goals

Lane 8 is the worst lane.  The slowest competitor is placed there. You know this already.

There is an art to being in Lane 8.

Huh?  Exactly.

Although it doesn’t seem so, striving for (metaphorically) Lane 8 is really impossible.

Getting healthy and staying healthy, until we die, is really quite impossible too.

Or is it?  There is an art to not quitting, not giving up, no matter what.

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Poison or Passion?

“Be willing to be uncomfortable. Be comfortable being uncomfortable.  It may get tough.” — 2006 Fortune Cookie

A Lane 8 reader commented recently that part of her motivation, as she was training for a Marathon, came from a fortune cookie saying.

Had to read it several times.

Each time, it got better.  Each time it had more power. Each time it made indomitable will seem more like an antidote than a pain.

Be willing to be uncomfortable.

Be comfortable being uncomfortable.

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