Albert K. Park

            The quality of your workout is influenced before you even walk through the doors to your gym. Believe it or not your training starts the moment you decide that you even want to workout. Your attitude towards your commitment, training, and the workout that particular day can set the pace for your results. So ask yourself, can you already tell what kind of workout your going to have before you’re even at the gym?

                        Okay, I know that this sounds like another self-motivational book or a Tony Robbins seminar but I am only bringing this to your attention because we can all so easily get lost in Bad attitudes. I’m talking about Bad attitudes like a teenager dealing with roller coaster hormones, pro active worthy acne, and a serious identity crisis. But unlike teenagers, we don’t have a parent, teacher, or coach to tell us to “Check our attitudes.” So, here is your chance.

            One of my favorite fitness coaches, Todd Durkin – trainer to Drew Brees and owner of Fitness Quest 10, says, “Your attitude can reflect your altitude.” Damn, isn’t that the truth. Your perception of your training easily effects how successful you are in reaching your goals. If you are dreading your workout and have to keep writing it down on your to-do list, chances are your progress is going to be suffering from a serious lack of results.

            Here are some ways to overcome bad attitudes..

                        For a lot of individuals, (men, cough, cough) commitment can be a scary thing. In fitness, this is no different. Everybody wants to lose weight, get lean, and look great but when it comes time to seriously commit, people quickly shy away.

                        Verbal commitments don’t count for much these days, I’m sure you have a sketchy friend who says they will always be there, if you don’t, you probably are that friend. I see the same dry verbal commitments in fitness. So, the first step to the right attitude for training is writing your goals down. Write it down the old fashion way with a pen and a paper. Yes, Microsoft word will spell check it for you but there is something about writing it by hand that makes it so much more official.

                        Another thing you should incorporate into this hand written document is “BE SPECIFIC”. Writing down I want to get in shape is not enough. Sit down with a cup of coffee and seriously think about what you want to achieve. How much weight do you want to lose, when do you want to lose it by, and why do you want to lose this weight are all great starting points for you.

                        This step is easy because the hard part of writing your goals down is over. Now, you need to put this piece of paper somewhere you can see it every single day. It’s not only going to be a reminder of what you committed yourself to but it’s going to be an attitude check system whenever you start acting like a punk ass teenager.

                        Just because you wrote your goals down doesn’t mean your going to remember them. It’s like that ab crunch machine you purchased on a TV infomercial that promised you a 6 pack in 3 weeks. It doesn’t work if it’s sitting in your closet, out of sight, and out of use. So make sure you put this attitude check system paper somewhere you can “REALLY” see it. I mean really see it.

                        Before you take this advice to heart I will share a small story to put the main idea into perspective. I used to always run into this guy at the gym I worked out in college. He was a nice guy but every time I talked to him he rambled on about how he was trying to bulk up and hit PR’s on the bench press and bicep curls. His rant was endless and made me want to shoot myself in the face. So when I say tell people about your goals, I want you to tell people in the less annoying way possible. Don’t be the douchebag at the gym everyone goes out of their way to avoid.

                        By telling your friends and family about your goals, you are creating a personal accountability circle for yourself. The next time you see them, if your not ranting on about your fitness goals all the time, they will probably ask to see how your training is going. I am always adamant about doing something I said I was going to do and when people know about it, I go out of my way to get it done fast.

                        We have all heard “Have a positive attitude!” all our lives that a lot of us are desensitized to the intention behind the overused coaching slogan. In fitness, it’s not just having a “positive” attitude but an attitude that is serious about training and seeing real results. This has truly been the secret to my results. Ice cube said it best in this case, “Check yo’self before you wreck yo’self!”