MILO BRYANT: Don't let guilt get in the way

Surely you've heard the adage "Hard work pays off."

I genuinely believe that's true. However, I like the second part of that phrase, the part that always seems to get left off:

Hard work pays off; smart work pays off more.

Therein lies the answer to our fitness discipline.

How strict are we supposed to be? Can we cheat at least a little every now and then?

What if we miss a day: Is the whole program messed up then? Can we just do double tomorrow to make up for today?

The word "cheat" has nothing but negative connotations associated with it.

Let's remove it from our fitness dictionary. Sure, I understand it's just a word that supposedly means doing something you shouldn't have done. Folks even smile when confessing about cheating on their exercise and diet programs.

"Oh I only cheated a little bit," we say.

Yeah, ask the faithful partner in a relationship how they feel about the other's cheating "a little bit."

So I can think of few situations in which cheating is good.

Let's work smart instead of cheating. Let's find ways to work those "evil" foods into our dietary plans. It's next to impossible for us to go four weeks or more eating rabbit food. At some point we're going to need a good buffalo wing or a scoop of Baskin-Robbins Pralines 'n Cream.

What we don't want is to give into a craving, get our pig on, and eat 50 wings and four scoops of ice cream. Or sit on the couch, watching that great show instead of doing that workout.

It's largely a mental thing. We gave up. We gave in. We had to have it, and we just didn't have the willpower to resist. In other words, we failed. Now we've got to start over. So we made it for 23 days. Now can we go 25 days without giving in?

Many of us are smiling right now because we've done that. Instead of smiling about it and shaking our heads, let's do something about it.

Let's add a day or two to our diets and workout plans. Once a month we get that Pralines'n Cream - let's have two scoops if we want! Then one day a month, we get those wings!

And don't put it on a certain day every month, because that's when we start to look forward to that day. If that day is too far away, those same cravings creep up on us.

Another day we can drive past the gym and watch that show.

For peace of mind, I'm willing to give up three days to make sure the other 25 to 28 days are great.

We should be working hard on the days we need to work. But being smart about them is the key to keeping us sane.

-

Bryant is a former Gazette reporter now living in San Diego. He holds training certifications from the National Strength and Conditioning Association, USA Weightlifting and the Titleist Performance Institute. Reach him through the "contact" link at www.nobullfit.com.