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Why wait until the new year to push yourself? Let’s be honest — 99% of people who do that fail year after year. Don’t be like them. Let’s skip that and push hard now! Are you where you said you would be in January 2014? Then let’s get busy and use the end of the year to bring the pressure. We got 30 (okay, 31) days to make this happen.

The push has two components and this is the way I do it. Others do it differently but I don’t care. Here’s what’s important:
1. you workout as many days as possible to maximize results. I will be doing 6 days a week. 2-3 days a week likely won’t cut it but if that’s your maximum then push those days hard.
2. You will improve on at least ONE exercise EVERY DAY. Keep track of all your exercises, each rep and each set. On at least one exercise, do one more rep on that first set each time you do it or go up in weight, or improve your form.

Both of these are crucial. Contestants on Biggest Loser work out for hours every day so do you think that you can’t? Programmed wisely, you can do a whole lot more than you think. Getting 10,000 steps a day, every day is a great start. The next level is to get 10,000 steps not counting your workout. Walking is good because it won’t interfere with anything other exercise you do but it’s just one idea. Be creative.

Improving on at least one exercise every single time you work out is how you make progress. It’s called kaizen — Japanese for never-ending improvement. Using this principle, you will slowly increase your workout capacity over time, leading to big results. I recently worked out for 6 days a week for about 5 weeks straight and I took my hip extensions from 3×15 with bodyweight to 3×15 with the 32kg kettlebell and now I’m doing 5×5 of the mush harder glute ham raise. What got me that was constant, slow improvement.

Post a brief comment on your progress each day with me over at the Formosa Fitness Facebook page.

So today I did:
rower 10:00
strict chins 13, 8, 8, 8, 7
dips 16kg 6 24kg 17 (a new PR by 5 reps!!), 13, 11 bodyweight 10, 10
grid curls 32kg 10, 10, 34kg 7, 7,
cat vomit with ground claws 10, 8, 7, 6
ball curls slow 10, 8, 6, 6

I get it — you went to the globogym and they told you that if you sign up in the next 33.5 seconds, then they would waive the new members fee but if you waited till 34 seconds from now, the offer would expire. You’re used to hearing that BS so now you figure that all new member’s fees are bogus.

Sorry, but you’re wrong. Just because the globogym’s fees are bogus doesn’t mean that all gym’s fees are. Yeah, I know. The worst example I’ve heard of was the local fancy-pants gym had a “typhoon special” where, if you signed up the day after the typhoon, you could waive the new member’s fee. How crazy is that?

Here’s what our new member’s fees are for:
1. most people don’t realize this but the overwhelming majority of issues presented by gym members comes from new members. This just makes sense if you think about it. All new members have to get used to the gym. They ask more questions, need more assistance, take more time and resources, and in general take more of an effort to help them adjust to the gym. Of course we’re happy to do it, but we have to be compensated for the effort, as well.

2. Contracts, member’s cards, computer software to check you in at the front desk, computer systems, etc. all cost quite a bit of money. The gym has to make that back.

3. And the final huge one — marketing. Every new member the gym gets comes from our marketing, which takes up a chunk of time so huge that it’s hard to describe. For example, I once traded 25 emails with a potential client before he came in. How much is your time worth? We have to make up for that somehow and the new member’s fee is how we do it.

Facebook, Youtube, and other social media are platforms that allow immediate access to us but they also take up tremendous amounts of time that has to be compensated. Want an example? One of our Youtube videos got a question, so we answered it. The guy then asked about our classes. So we answered and told him he should visit the gym if he had any more questions. He then asked what was the gym’s phone number? Yes, seriously. He couldn’t even bother to look at the website or our Youtube homepage. We gave it to him in another comment answer. Know what he asked then? He asked if it was okay for him to call now? All of this happened in a Youtube comment thread. How much time do you think that took? And that was one guy.

Outside of actual training people in the gym, most of our time is spent marketing and with social media, we never stop working. You might go home at 5pm but we answer questions, emails and posts long into the night.

All of that activity is NOT compensated for by the gym fees.

We try not to tell people this stuff because it shouldn’t be your concern. Let us handle the behind the scenes stuff and you worry about getting a good workout. But realize that new member’s fees, at least at our gym, are NOT bogus and actually pay for real things that we do everyday to make the gym better.

Thanks for your understanding.

If you want bigger muscles, then endless bicep curls aren’t the way to go. See the guy in your gym that does nothing but curls? How big is he? Not very big, right? I see this all the time and wonder why people don’t change something that clearly hasn’t worked for years.

Think about how big your biceps are compared to the rest of your muscles. They’re kind of small aren’t they? Look at the muscles of your back on an anatomy chart. Huge, aren’t they? Look at the size of the quads and the hamstrings. Look at the gluteus. All those muscles groups are some of the biggest on your body and no one works them. No look at the pectorals, front delts, and biceps — the muscles everyone overworks. They’re so small it’s no wonder people have to get naked to tell they work out.

A properly done barbell squat works the whole back, gluteus, hamstrings, and quad muscles all at the same time. Working these large muscle groups grows all those muscles you don’t see in the mirror and this causes you to gain tons more muscle than you would by avoiding them. Working the large muscle groups through compound movements like the barbell squat and barbell deadlift will do much more for you than twelve different varieties of curls. Try is out and you’ll see what I mean.

Some folks can keep an exteneded spine, just as long as you don’t ask them to move like that. Learning to move the arms while keeping the spine extended is crucial to weight training. Many people have very weak upper back muscles and this can hinder all their weight training. Here’s how to fix the rounded back problem and build up your back strength in one exercise.

Very humbled by this. As a trainer, you plant the seeds wherever you can and hope they sprout but you can never really tell. Some places the seed takes, and in others it whithers. Below is a testimonial from our buddy Ray, someone that got it.Thanks, brother!

Looking back at my pics from 2012. Looking at my physical transformation is shocking. Thanks to Dave Chesser, Abram Chuang, Kerry Wu at Formosa Fitness in Taipei for everything. You gave me some great instruction and a foundation for fitness I can take with me the rest of my life. Not even close to where I want to be, but the slow steady approach with no shortcuts certainly works. I’m stronger than ever and I always get compliments on how I’ve changed. I can deadlift, squat, bench, clean, and overhead press ridiculous amounts of weight now. This is real strength that is useful in your everyday life. I’m thankful for it.