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New Years day...I went for a short run, guess what?

I've never seen the roads and sidewalks so packed with runners. It was comical almost. All these people...ALL OF A SUDDEN start running?

Jan 2nd, at the gym, WOWA is it $%#@ing packed.

And this Wednesday at my jump rope class (see the full schedule here) , I can only imagine the UCF gym here in Orlando. I remember last year it was a frikin zoo for the entire month of January.

On the positive side, it's great to see all of these people out and about, GETTING OFF THEIR ASSES, and taking some action. It's inspiring.

On the flip side, I would bet my life that 9 out of 10 people who just now started working out (or significantly amped up what they were doing before), will not make it through The Dip.

What is The Dip?

On one level, a short ~70 page book written by Seth Godin. After a long ship time, I finally got to reading it 2 days ago. Finished it pretty quickly.

Great, simple book. Highly reccomended. The basis? Learn when to quit, and when to stick to something.

As far as exercise and the new year go, take a look at the cover of the book.

Basically, a ton of people begin working out more this time of year. They have some initial success, and a lot of start up vigor.

Then towards the end of the month, they hit the dip, where that little stick figure is trotting along. They get discouraged, and focus on short term pain (which can take a lot of forms, from being physically sore, to laziness or a new found skill of making excuses), and forget about the long term benefits that FAR outweigh the short term crap you get to experience

Basically, most people make a stupid decision, and quit when it's actually the BEST time to stick it out and keep working out (until the habit is formed and it becomes auto-pilot to exercise consistently).

So, for those of you who are going to stick it out, I want to list out a few key things that I feel will help you get past "the dip", and reap the benefits that follow.


1. 21 Days to build a habit, 30...who cares? STICK WITH IT

There have been various studies done on the brain that suggest habits can be formed in X amount of days. As in, physical connections are formed in your brain that make Y habit auto pilot. Once they are made, they are harder NOT to do, than to stick with. Steve Pavlina is a fan of 30, Anthony Robbins says 21...I say who's counting and who cares? You want to start something new, like exercising (or modifying what you already do), pick a set amount of time to do it, and go for it!

Or, get really ballsy, and decide to do it indefinitely. This is what I did about a year and a half ago with working out. One day, I realized that exercising in some form, every day (or very close to it), was not only beneficial to my health, but what my body was designed to do.

So far, I've only missed about a handful of days. One of the best, and simplest decisions of my life situation.

2. Reduce or Drastically Eliminate the following from your diet

-Milk
-Conventional Meat/eggs (organic/free range/wild being great of course, especially whole soft boiled eggs)
-White Flour and White Sugar (this stuff DOES NOT BELONG IN YOUR DIET)
-Hydrogenated Oils and High Fructose Corn Syrup

Getting this crap out of your diet will take you a long way, fast.

3. Start eating more of the following

-Whole/raw nuts of all kinds, especially almonds/walnuts/pecans. Cashews and peanuts are NOT nuts and I do not recommend them.
-Veggies! Yep, your mom was right for once, eat your veggies! Raw or lightly cooked is best, try to stay away from frozen, overcooked, or canned veggies.
-Raw fruits and berries.
-Organic free range eggs. One of the best foods you can put in your body. tons of healthy, fat, vitamins, and the STANDARD for complete proteins. Yep, not even meat compares to eggs.
-Olive and Coconut oil. Olive oil is amazing, and thankfully this is catching on mainstream. Coconut oil is even better, but not as common or easy to find. Coconut oil on your salad is actually a great way to speed up your metabolism for those looking to cut up naturally.
-Raw honey!!! Goes great on nuts or even drizzled on cut fruits (apples for example). This stuff is amazing for you, and tastes great to.


4. Try something new!

Try a new exercise, a new type of cardio, a new type of weight training, try something! Variety is the key to staying interested and enthusiastic about working out. Trying something you've always shyed away from is even better. Some suggestions

-Swimming
-Barefoot Running
-Squats/deadlifts (these are so awesome for you!)
-Jump rope
-Group Exercise Classes (kickboxing anyone?)
-Yoga

And the list goes on.

Hope these suggestions have sparked some interest, good luck with your new years resolutions everyone!

-Dream

ps- are you signed up on the Dream Vitality newsletter? I'm about to release over 70 minutes of free audio from the 2008 Under 21 Convention to the subscribers, don't miss out!