Developing a habit of regular exercise is the single most important aspect of of getting in shape, and staying in shape. Too many times I see people do an exercise program for 4-weeks, or 8-weeks, see great improvements in their fitness, only to go back to old habits and see those results go away just as fast as they came. In order to get fit and stay fit, you need to develop a habit of doing two or three quality workouts per week. Not for four weeks, or eight weeks, but ideally for the rest of your life.

Our next round of exercise programs are starting next week. Friday is the last day to register. Next month will either be a month you spend developing good exercise habits and getting closer to your goals, or developing bad exercise habits and getting further from your goals. I hope you choose good exercise habits.

Visit our Vancouver boot camp website for more information about our outdoor boot camp program.

I just read an interesting article by Men’s Fitness called 101 Ways to Lose Your Gut.

Some highlights:

Mix up your movements. When you lift, perform supersets in which you alternate between sets of lower-body and upper-body exercises. That way, your lower body rests while your upper body is working. “This allows you to work your muscles maximally with very little downtime between sets for a faster, more effective workout,” says Craig Ballantyne, C.S.C.S.

Hit the weights. If you’re lazy, it’s not as bad as you think—just 10 minutes a day of lifting, three days a week, will help. Harvard research shows that 30 minutes of weight training per week has a greater reduction on waist size than almost any other variable.

Have breakfast every day. Research from Harvard and Boston’s Children’s Hospital shows that obesity rates are 35%-50% lower in people who eat breakfast regularly, compared with folks who don’t. Nutritionists believe a.m. meals help regulate insulin levels and hunger, so you’re less likely to overeat throughout the reminder of the day.

Do sprint intervals. Interspersing short, all-out sprints with brief periods of rest is the most effective form of cardio for fat loss, says Stankowski. Try a 2-to-1 “work-to-rest” ratio. That is, sprint two times longer than you rest. So if you run a 150-yard sprint—a good distance to start with—in 20 seconds, rest 10 seconds, then repeat 3-7 times.

And my personal favourite:

Get off your ass. Do every exercise standing instead of sitting. “You’ll expend up to 30% more calories,” says Joe Stankowski, C.P.T. The solution for the bench press? Dips.

It’s no secret that I’m not into working out in traditional gyms and health clubs, and I’m constantly looking for enjoyable activities that I can do to exercise and stay fit.

About three years ago (November 2006) I started training Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) but I quit after less than two months because I found the instructor to be inattentive and completely uninterested in the class. It was very difficult to learn from an instructor that didn’t seem like he wanted to be there, I constantly felt like I was going to get injured, and frankly it was a miserable experience.

Roughly a year later (January 2008), I made another attempt at learning BJJ at a different martial arts academy with a different instructor. Again, I quit after less than two months, this time because the program wasn’t remotely tailored towards beginners like me. I was being taught complicated sweeps and transitions to submissions from positions I had no prior experience with, and this was before I had a basic understanding of the fundamentals BJJ. The result was that I was overwhelmed, constantly discouraged, and I quickly lost interest and quit again.

Roughly two years later (October 2009), still interested in learning BJJ if I could find the right instructor, I became aware of a very highly regarded BJJ instructor named Shane Rice who had recently moved to Vancouver from Los Angeles where he had been the head instructor at the Rickson Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Academy. Rickson Gracie is widely regarded as the greatest BJJ fighter who ever lived, so I felt it was a very unique opportunity to learn from Shane Rice, who earned his BJJ black belt from training directly under the great Rickson Gracie.

I figured surely if I was ever going to safely and effectively learn BJJ, it would be from Shane Rice, and if I quit this time, I would be certain that BJJ just isn’t for me.

After three months of training with Shane Rice at Universal Mixed Martial Arts, I have only positive things to say about the quality of instruction I’ve received from Shane. I’ve been doing a combination of private lessons and group classes, and I finally feel like I am making real progress towards learning the complicated martial art of BJJ.

Injuries are still frequently on the front of my mind, particularly when learning throws (which I have a very hard time with), but I am slowly but surely getting more comfortable in these areas, and Shane’s instruction has been instrumental for me in making progress in these areas.

I finally feel like I have gotten past the initial period of being overwhelmed and discouraged trying to learn something as complicated as BJJ, and as I start to better understand the basics, BJJ is finally starting to become fun and I am excited to continue training and learning.

If you are in Vancouver, BC, and are interested in learning Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, I recommend Shane Rice at Universal Mixed Martial Arts.