Louis Dorman’s Winning Fit Assignments!

• by Admin
• Nov 12th, 2009
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Welcome to Louis Dorman’s Fitness College where you can receive the one and only “Adaptation Degree” – the only degree of its kind ever created designed specially from a former fatty. You must ask?

“Adaptation” – what the hell does that mean? It means the ability for an organism to efficiently adjust itself to the changes in its new environment.

What are the new changes that will create a ripple effect of success?

The change is the new, positive attitudes created by YOU to challenge yourself today, to get closer to the person you want to become tomorrow. Always remember that you become who you think you are.

Your ability to re-invent your body to ‘adapt’ to the new adjustments you created in your new positive mindset will give you the score you need to ultimately win in your personal, fitness contest.

We are here for one reason and for one reason alone: For personal development.

While your fitness journey is filled with concrete pain and vigorous trials at the gym – the biggest thing developing in this process of personal re-invention is the revealing of:

The Mind: the Mind that overcomes each mental setback.
The Body: the Body that strengthens through time and resistance.
The Spirit: the Spirit that unlocks and reveals itself as the powerful core housed inside all of us.

The First Step in achieving fitness success is to create a winning plan devised by you and you alone: for you are the only one who knows your personal injuries, private fears, emotional setbacks… you are the only one who can create the WINNING STRATEGY to battle the individual war you chose to fight.

I have created a “Lucky #7 Assignment Chart” I used to lose weight – These are quotes I often chanted in my head and strategies I frequently performed to lose over 140 pounds of fat – Underneath it all was a powerful spirit manifested in a new me: the strong me: the Louis Dorman I knew I was.

Assignment #1:
Create A Strong Team.

“Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. The ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results.”
-Andrew Carnegie

The great Andrew Carnegie said it best when he said that as a team we are invincible. Your team is made up of your mate, your family, your friends, your co-workers, etc.

These people hold you accountable to achieve your set goals and support you when you are not hitting your goals… most importantly, create a team who is like minded with you: positive, healthy, progressive and supportive.

When you are a friend to those who are also fitness minded – know that in your daily life, as you make a commitment and choice to complete a set fitness goal – it is soothing to know that there are hundreds more people in the same community doing the exact same thing.

Homework:

List the people in your life who are valuable to your personal cause and those who are toxic. List them and create an action plan to create an environment that mirrors the power you need to achieve your goal. Then create an Action Plan.

Assignment #2:
You Want Support? Learn To Give It.

“What’s money? A man is a success
if he gets up in the morning and goes to bed at night
and in between does what he wants to do.”
-Bob Dylan, US singer & songwriter (1941 – )

Success is all about creating circumstances that force you to succeed… accountability is a huge tool you can use to direct any life goal into a successful outcome. This week, if you weren’t able to complete your goal, alter it a little bit so that you can complete it this week.

For example, instead of saying you will run three times last week and only did it once- this week make it a goal just to run twice this week. Always look at the step ahead not ten steps ahead.

My success was dictated on how much I helped others, because the more I helped others, the more I started holding myself accountable to listening to my own advice. This week the goal is to locate a weblog with a person who you feel a ‘connection’ with, whether it is goals, emotional issues, age, gender, whatever… and I want you to post advice on their blog.

Remember, that you can only get what you give. If you want support you need to give it.

Homework:

Follow through on your action plan this week and give support to others who are on your team and in your fitness community. Your ability to exchange your role frequently as a student-teacher will give you unique perspective that will lead you to greatness.

Assignment #3:
Take Action With Laser-Beam Focus.

“It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.”
-Charles Darwin

Charles Darwin couldn’t be more accurate when he spoke about his theory of evolution. Now, looking back at my personal change, I realize that the number one thing that made me successful was my ability to transform any discomfort and utilize that powerful energy and direct it towards my long-term goals.

Success not only comes from positive action – success also comes from positive re-action to people and the negative things surrounding us.

This week’s TEAM GOAL is to stay focused. Create your game plan and stick to it. Stick to the very last calorie, the very last rep – the very last day. So that when Thursday comes along, you can enjoy yourself.

I mean this. Enjoy yourself on your free day/meal- without regret. Because you know that you worked out hard days before hand, and you will get back on track the day after. Remember your body loves surprises. See how your newly programmed metabolism reacts to the shock your going to give it this week. I know mine will love me.

Homework:

Evaluate past Action Plans, create a new one that adjusts to your personal challenges and STICK TO IT. Concentrate on your bodily actions. Concentrate on your mind’s awareness. Concentrate on your spiritual transformation. Focus.

Assignment #4:
Find Your Core.

“There are two primary choices in life; to accept conditions as they exist, or accept the responsibility for changing them.”
-Denis Waitley

There are two choices in any crossroad: failure or success – active living or passive dying. We are all here because we choose to not accept life’s conditions as they exist, we are all here because we choose to change the conditions life presents us with and – transform it into personal power.

Even though I was born and raised in a small town, didn’t have a trainer, didn’t know how to cook clean – I figured it out. When you set a goal and design its realism in your mind, everything begins ‘figuring itself out.’ You begin to see all the tools you need to create the machine you envision in your brain.

One tool that is in constant use is your core muscle. The core is your back and abdominal muscles – the area of your body where all your power and strength stems from. Many people suffer from lower back injury or lack abdominal definition. This week, let’s all focus on strengthening our core muscles by performing a simple “Plank” exercise.

This exercise targets your TVA or Transverse Abdominal. It is your deepest core muscle hidden underneath your Rectus abdominal (6 pack) – I like calling it your support belt.

Position your body in a neutral push-up position on hands or elbows (if this is still too strenuous get in an all four position with knees on the ground).

Make sure your shoulders are directly above the elbow or wrist (if you are on your hands).
Draw belly button in without curving or hunching your back

Hold position. Perform 3 sets and hold for 1 minute each (vary according to strength level).

Homework:

Besides posting your Action Plan, completing it and giving support to others on the site, this week I want all of you to perform one exercise involving Core Training.

Assignment #5:
Give Gratitude Each Step Of The Way.

“The deepest craving of human nature is the need to feel appreciated.”
-William James

When we train and challenge ourselves to become our very best, we are satisfying our most basic human hunger- and that is to become visible – to exhibit to the world our uniqueness by recreating a physical body that matches our internal strength.

I was the exact same person internally when I was heavier: I was creative, focused, hard working and strong. But not many people saw that: the only thing people saw was my inability to be disciplined enough to train my body and moderate my food intake.

As William James quoted, I craved peer appreciation – I craved social identification – I craved to have everyone really see the real me: the powerful me: the Louis Dorman I ‘thought’ I was.

Your ability to transform this ‘craving’ into a real satisfying hunger is your golden key: you know which one I am talking about – the one that ‘eats’ at you every time you look in the mirror or pushes you a little harder when training. It’s the one that makes you write your action plans, update your workout charts and support others who also have that same thirst for greatness.

Add this to your list: Show appreciation to those who helped feed your hunger.

Homework:

I want EVERYONE who reads this to briefly write a one liner, two liners or a paragraph of a person, place or thing that you appreciate and give gratitude to, for helping you on this road to success.

Assignment #6:
Create The Correct Circumstances.

“The Starting Point of All Achievement is Desire.”
-Napoleon Hill

Two things happen when you start to desire something: first you get motivated to achieve it then you create inner fear for if you don’t achieve it. When you get intimidated by desire and fear you get stuck in a paralyzed universe of inaction.

Team, this personal war is all about action. It is about progress and most importantly, it is about desire.

“I believe that motivation + goals + circumstance = success.”

For those of you skeptics: I’m not bullsh*ting when I write this stuff. I mean it.

I suspect that everyone here has the motivation (which is why they joined) and has some goals: which is why they are posting, but the next question is: have they created the circumstances?

These circumstances are created so that when your ‘desire’ to attain the goal becomes wavering – your circumstances won’t allow you to give up. It could be because you held yourself accountable to co-workers or your spouse. It could be because you paid thousands of dollars with a personal trainer, joined a competition or booked a vacation at a beach resort. It could be because you threw away all your old clothes and vowed you wouldn’t purchase anything until you were three sizes smaller.

I questioned my circumstances a few times before I moved from my home state of Missouri to the bustling city of Phoenix, Arizona almost six years ago. I knew that I desired something so badly – so badly that I created a passionate energy that I channeled to accomplish huge feats in my weight loss success.

The lesson here? I created my circumstances. I consciously decided to not go back home until I proved everyone wrong. I made new friends, got a new job, joined a new gym – I created the progressive circumstances needed to succeed.

Not only did I create a new physical environment, but I also created a new mental environment: I lived the dream to be in shape in my mind. There was no way out because I desired it so much. So much that I couldn’t imagine life if I didn’t re-create my mind’s reality into the physical reality.

Homework:

Create circumstances that will make you accountable for achieving tangible success in the next three months. Write it down. Post it on your bathroom mirror and make it happen.

Assignment #7:
Understand You.

“Effective people are not problem-minded; they’re opportunity-minded. They feed opportunities and starve problems.”
-Stephen Covey

How effective are you when you are unable to work out and eat right if you can’t afford a gym membership? What if you are surrounded by sugar and sweets in the holiday season – how effective do you become?

Your ability to change your perception from a problem to an opportunity to ‘gain’ a lesson will ultimately measure your personal proficiency to overcome any life adversity, including your challenges in your weight loss/gain battles.

For Example:
When I traveled in a moving truck all day (couldn’t get to the gym), I created the ‘opportunity’ to perform jump squats and lunges during restroom breaks.

When a restaurant didn’t serve nutritious meals I worked with my server to find an ‘opportunity’ to politely order an alternative meal with substitutions.
When I am really busy, I wake up an hour earlier just to get my work out in.
There are a ton of excuses in a single day to find a bunch of problems/challenges/obstacles to prevent you from fulfilling that daily fitness goal. Whether it is eating five clean meals, taking your multivitamin, running twenty minutes or even drinking enough water.

Homework:

Reflect on one of the “excuses” you have given this past year (the year of 2005) – the one you used most often, that prevented you from getting to your fitness goal.

We all have it. I have it. Being able to reflect and communicate your thoughts to yourself is a powerful mind tool that will assist you in devising a more personalized program based on your private battles.

Conclusion

These are my first “Lucky 7″ Assignments. Remember that your fitness war is won one battle at a time. Conquer these seven and you will be that much closer to manifesting the strength of your tenacious spirit; the same spirit that made you read this. Good luck, and do your homework!

About The Authors:

Maria Kang is 24 years of age and has successfully competed in both beauty and fitness competitions since the age of 16. Her extensive fitness background expands a period of over six years as a personal trainer, group exercise director and instructor, membership sales counselor, fitness manager, freelance writer, and now project coordinator for 24 Hour Fitness Corporation. Visit Maria’s site at: www.mariakang.com for some ass-kicking motivation and thought provoking articles.

Louis Dorman is 25 years of age and is widely recognized as Bodybuilding.com’s Transformation Expert and Spokesperson. He has lost an amazing 150 pounds and has worked as a personal trainer, fashion company owner, freelance writer and now creative art director for an international corporation. Join his web log fitness community at: www.louisdorman.com for more fitness support and inspiration.

By: Louis Dorman And Maria Kang

Courtesy Bodybuilding.com