The Life Plan (53 page)

1 minute Level 15 followed by 1 minute Level 4

1 minute Level 16 followed by 1 minute Level 4

1 minute Level 16 followed by 1 minute Level 4

1 minute Level 16 followed by 1 minute Level 4

1 minute Level 16 followed by 1 minute Level 4

1 minute Level 16 followed by 1 minute Level 4

1 minute Level 17 followed by 1 minute Level 4

1 minute Level 17 followed by 5 minutes Level 4

5 minutes static stretching cool-down (see

Chapter 5

)

Total time: 40 minutes. I do this 4 to 5 times a week.

The beauty of HIIT is that you can be very creative and design your own program that fits your time schedule and your choice of exercise. Changing it around also enhances cardiopulmonary fitness and fat loss, as long as you follow the 1,000 to 2,000 calories per week goal.

If you’re a walker, you may want to get a good iPod or some other means to listen to music or an audio book. If you’re exercising inside, set up a TV so that you can watch it while exercising. Or you may just prefer peace and quiet. Do whatever makes exercise most enjoyable for you. You are much more likely to exercise consistently if you enjoy it.

My “rigid rules” show how to make aerobic exercise sustainable, motivational, and transformational, whether at home, in the gym, at the office, or on the road. Since I won the Body-
for-
LIFE Challenge in 1998, the challenge for me has been staying on track. It is very easy to fall back into old eating habits and not exactly find time for exercise. What keeps me going is that I know that it won’t take long for me to look exactly like my “before” pictures. In fact, I’ve found that many men who try to get a stronger, leaner body revert to their old habits and their old bodies within a very short period of time.

In order to keep going, I’ve developed reliable strategies I use to prevent my returning to the overweight, out-of-shape, unhealthy, unhappy person I was before the challenge.

I count on a reliable training partner to help me keep this goal. There have been many mornings that I could easily have blown off the gym were it not for knowing that Rod, my training partner and trainer, was there waiting for me. I knew that the grief and abuse I would receive from him, myself, and others in the gym would be far worse than any pleasure I would get out of sleeping in! And I can also tell you that after I finish a workout, I have

been sorry I did it.

Now, I’m not telling you that you have to be a jerk to your friends or the other guys at the gym, but it makes it a lot more fun if you can get some buy-in from the men you work out with. I think this really energizes all of my workouts. Competition, for me, is truly a great motivator! I am always trying to set new goals and new challenges for myself, which really keep me on track. A little friendly competition keeps us all motivated. And when I’m working out at home, or when I’m on the road, my biggest competitor is myself. I have kept records of my performance over the years, and I am continually trying to beat my previous bests. When I travel and work out in new gyms by myself, I focus on beating my old records. This can be in poundage, reps, number of sets, or number of exercises. It doesn’t matter, it’s all about doing better.