“Come play with us, Nate…”

I have a confession: I suck at self-control.

I’m reminded of this every time I visit my girlfriend’s parent’s house. You see, they always have a plate of cookies or candy or something delicious sitting on the kitchen counter. The last time we went to visit, it was a beautiful plate full of gooey homemade cinnamon rolls.

I told myself I was just gonna have one.

An hour later I had eaten FOUR.

It may sound ridiculous, but the guilt I felt at not being able to control myself outweighed my gut’s unhappy reaction to so much sugar, salt, and fat.

And it made me think about why I don’t have cinnamon rolls sitting on my counter: They’re just way too tempting.

When they’re right in front of me, I have to use all my willpower and self control to not eat them. (And most of the time, the cinnamon rolls win.)

We all have moments of self-control blips like this, of course. Moments of “weakness” where we tell ourselves we’re gonna do X…and we end up doing Y anyway.

A lot of this has to do with temptation and self-sabotage:

• We say we’re not gonna eat “junk food”…but then we tempt ourselves by keeping chips, frozen pizzas, and Oreos in the house.

• We say we’re gonna make it to the gym 3 days per week…but we forget our workout clothes or pick a gym that’s a pain in the ass to get to.

• We say we’re gonna check email or Facebook only twice per day…but we tempt ourselves by keeping an alert that pops up on our phone every time we get a new message.

That’s why here at S2B, we always encourage guys who want to get better — at eating healthy food, working out, being productive, and more — to do two things:

1. Remove temptation.
2. Create “action triggers” that set you up for success.

Here’s how to do it for yourself.

Step 1: Remove Temptation

Think of self-control and willpower — the ability to restrain your own impulses — as muscles. What happens when you work your muscles hard? They get tired and less effective.

So just like your biceps will eventually give out after too many dumbbell curls, your “willpower muscle” will give out after making too many decisions.

In other words, it’s a lot easier to avoid eating junk food in the morning when your willpower is fresh and functioning. But it gets a little harder to resist temptation at 8PM when you get home from work and see a bag of salt-and-vinegar potato chips in your cupboard.

But by strategically removing temptation, you’ll keep your willpower muscles fresh.

How do you remove temptation? A couple of ideas:

• If you’re trying to eat healthier, don’t buy junk food or keep it in the house. (You can’t eat it if it’s not there.)

• If your constant “connectedness” is bothering you, consider canceling your Facebook or email alerts that let you know when you have a new message. Or just delete email or Facebook off your phone altogether. (You can’t check it if it’s not there.)

When you don’t have to choose whether or not to do something, you keep your willpower muscle fresh and can more easily avoid the “bad” behavior.

But it doesn’t stop with simply removing temptation. To make huge progress with your health, productivity, or whatever else you want to get better at, you need to do one more thing.

Step 2: Create “Action Triggers”

In their book, Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard, authors Chip and Dan Heath talk about creating “action triggers” to help people follow through with their new habits.

For example, you might say, “Tomorrow I’m gonna go straight from work to the gym and work out before I go home.”

You’ve just tied a specific behavior (working out) to a specific situational trigger (leaving work).

According to the Heath brothers and NYU psychologist Peter Gollwitzer, action triggers are effective because “they eliminate the need for conscious deliberation.”

In other words, when we set action triggers — like laying our workout clothes on the bed in the morning or setting a stopwatch to count down the amount of time we’re spending on social media sites — we’re “pre-deciding” what we’re going to do: get our ass to the gym and not stalk random high-school friends for more than 5 minutes.

Seriously, Give Yourself a Break

We guys are notoriously hard on ourselves. When we do something we think is bad or stupid, we become self-loathing. We question our own manhood and ability to follow-through.

“Ugh, I shouldn’t have…”

“I really fkd that one up.”

I don’t want to get all preachy, but that kind of negative self talk is hurting more than it’s helping. It’s a real confidence wrecker that’s also unnecessary.

Here’s the truth: no one has 100% willpower and self-control all the time. There is no perfect superman-type who has everything figured out. You, me, him…we’re all making it up as we go.

The important thing to remember is that we’re not in competition with other guys on this stuff. We’re only in competition with ourselves.

And It’s up to us to hold ourselves to a high standard…but also cut ourselves some slack when we inevitably “screw up.”

So if you’re trying to start a new habit or make a significant change in your life, know that me and the guys at S2B are in the same boat as you.

Sometimes we skip the gym when we know we should go.

We eat junk food without thinking.

We check our phones when we should be enjoying our conversation with friends.

We waste entire days watching random YouTube videos when we should be working.

But we’re also working on getting better. Not by blindly trying to build more self-control, but by removing the need altogether.

The bottom line: If you learn to give your self-control and willpower a break — if you learn to remove temptation and set action triggers — you’ll find that you’ll stick to your guns more often, get better at everything you try, and be healthier and happier because of it.

Trust me.

What Temptation Will You Remove? What Action Trigger Will You Set?

To get the conversation started, here’s one of my recent ones:

Removing temptation: To avoid doing the “iPhone pray” and checking texts at the dinner table when I’m out with friends, I’m gonna leave my phone in my car when I go out to eat.

Action trigger: When I pull up to the restaurant, I’ll send a text to everyone I’m meeting to let them know I’ve arrived and that I’ll be leaving my phone in the car.

Chuck Norris, interesting man. Photo by JD Hancock

What does a burn feel like?

Here’s something to try: define the word “burn” as if you’re describing the feeling to someone who has never actually felt it.

You’ll probably come up with something like this:

“To be suddenly taken aback with pain.”

“A sudden sharp sting. A stabbing feeling.”

But are those accurate definitions? I don’t know about you, but to me they just as easily describe being stung by a bee or stepping on a Lego.

The point? You can read all the words you want, but your mind will not truly know what “burn” means until your fingers accidentally slip off the hot-pad and onto the dish you just pulled out of the oven.

Before that happens, “burn” is simply a collection of letters used to represent a concept. You won’t fully understand what it means until you’ve experienced it.

The Most INteresting Man In the World

Ever notice some of the phrases people throw out in conversation?

“I’m starving.”

“I’m exhausted.”

“I’ve had a rough week.”

We all do it, of course.

But have you ever met someone who doesn’t talk like that? Someone who seems unshakeable, like nothing that comes up really throws them off balance?

They’re the “World’s Most Interesting Man” types. And they got that way by doing lots of stuff.

You see, human experience exists on a continuum.

The degree to which you’ve experienced something will determine your frame of reference when you’re using that word.

By way of example, let’s say there’s an “experience scale” where everything exists with 1 being the minmum level of experience and 10 being the maximum level of experience.

For a guy who’s been living a fairly uneventful existence in a first-world country, a week of staying up late studying for college finals will be pretty exhausting. Perhaps a 9 out of 10 on his scale.

Now, take someone like the mountaineer Joe Simpson.

Joe fell off a cliff and shattered his leg during a storm near the summit of an Andean mountain. Then he fell another 150 feet into a crevasse where he was left for dead. Despite severe frostbite and hypothermia, he eventually climbed out of the crevasse and crawled for three days down the mountain in agonizing pain.

Joe pretty much maxed out the definition of “exhaustion” and “I’ve had a rough week.”

So on a scale of 1 – 10, how would he rate college finals week?

Joe’s frame of reference is so vastly different from that of the average person that perhaps he knows the truer meaning of the word “exhaustion”.

EXPERIENTIAL VOCABULARY – WHAT DO YOU REALLY KNOW?

“I learned very early the difference between knowing the name of something and knowing something.”

Richard Feynman, Nobel Prize-winning physicist

Consider some of the most intense experiences you’ve had in your life, the moments that make up your highlight reel.

You can try to explain all of these little moments in words if you care to. But just like someone who actually ate the meal instead of stared at the menu, you know what those moments were really like because you lived them.

There’s a great scene in the movie Good Will Hunting that illustrates this difference:

The Bottom Line: Stop Talking. Start Doing. 

All of the misfortunes and struggles you’ve had in your life? This is where they become valuable. They expand your vocabulary and increase the degree of discomfort you’re capable of confidently facing in the future.

What was once a 10 is now a 6 on the scale of difficulty. This is growth. 

None of this is to say that conventional education is unnecessary or without value, of course. There are many things that we can never understand without studying, reading and learning in the traditional sense.

Yet many of the things that bring color, beauty and depth to our lives don’t really fall into that category. Things like love, fear, sadness, joy, struggle, triumph and loss all have to be tasted and fully experienced to be understood.

Until then, you can use the words but you’ll never know what they truly mean.

So what does it feel like to “build an awesome body?” Or “live life to the fullest?” Or “escape average”?

There’s only one way to find out. And the clock is ticking.

Free 5-Day Course Start Building a Muscular, Athletic Body Today

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Coming Wednesday Nov 6:

The S2B Coaching Program

Want to work with us, get a huge discount, and maybe even win some cash? Then put your name on the presale list. Spots are first come, first served and sell out within hours.

Get Me on the Presale List

I want you to try something for me.

Open your hand as far as you can, like you’re holding a monster hamburger. The gap between your fingers and thumb is roughly $10,000 worth of crisp twenty-dollar bills stacked on top of each other and wrapped in rubber bands.

I carried this stack of money around for 2 days. I smelled it a lot. I counted it multiple times. I briefly considered spreading it across my hotel room bed and rolling around in it.

Instead, I took it to the front door of our latest S2B Grand Prize Winner and tossed it to him. I’m just glad he didn’t drop it.

Check it out here:

(As you can tell from the video, Jean-Charles is a gracious host and all-around stand-up guy. It’s not common to invite a video crew into your house and answer tough questions in your non-native language.)

So, if you don’t know by now, a cool feature of our S2B Coaching Program is the muscle-building contest we run for clients. With each new program we offer $20,000 in prize money — $10,000 for the Grand Prize Winner and ten $1,000 prizes for the next ten runner-ups.

Our latest program just wrapped up, and we’re getting ready to start a new one next week. (If you’re interested in working with us, make sure to go sign up for the presale list now.)

We had one hell of a time narrowing down the guys who should win some money. There were so many awesome transformations, we almost got to the point of flipping coins to see who should win. (Kidding.)

That’s why we decided to give away another $1,000 and award 11 more guys with money. Here they are, in no particular order.

$10K Grand Prize: Jean-Charles

• Name: Jean-Charles
• Weight Gained: 36lbs
• Starting Weight: 175lbs
• Max Weight: 211lbs

gained 36lbs.

$1K Winner: Mark

• Name: Mark
• Weight Gained: 33lbs
• Starting Weight: 148lbs
• Max Weight: 181lbs

gained 33lbs.

$1K Winner: Simon

• Name: Simon
• Weight Gained: 25lbs
• Starting Weight: 212lbs
• Max Weight: 237lbs

gained 25lbs.

$1K Winner: Aaron

• Name: Aaron
• Weight Gained: 25lbs
• Starting Weight: 195lbs
• Max Weight: 220lbs

gained 25lbs.

$1K Winner: Rishi

• Name: Rishi
• Weight Gained: 22lbs
• Starting Weight: 142lbs
• Max Weight: 164lbs

gained 22lbs.

$1K Winner: Brad

• Name: Brad
• Weight Gained: 29lbs
• Starting Weight: 161lbs
• Max Weight: 190lbs

gained 29lbs.

$1K Winner: Richard

• Name: Richard
• Weight Gained: 21lbs
• Starting Weight: 164lbs
• Max Weight: 185lbs

gained 21lbs.

$1K Winner: Don

• Name: Don
• Weight Gained: 33lbs
• Starting Weight: 193lbs
• Max Weight: 226lbs

gained 33lbs.

$1K Winner: Jason

• Name: Jason
• Weight Gained: 28lbs
• Starting Weight: 159lbs
• Max Weight: 187lbs

gained 28lbs.

$1K Winner: Terry

• Name: Terry
• Weight Gained: 37lbs
• Starting Weight: 138lbs
• Max Weight: 175lbs

gained 37lbs.

$1K Winner: James

• Name: James
• Weight Gained: 25lbs
• Starting Weight: 133lbs
• Max Weight: 158lbs

gained 25lbs.

$1K Winner: Paul

• Name: Paul
• Weight Gained: 22lbs
• Starting Weight: 158lbs
• Max Weight: 180lbs

gained 22lbs.

Are You Next?

OUR ONLINE WORKOUT AND NUTRITION COACHING PROGRAM STARTS In November.

If you want to get in wicked shape and have a shot at winning $20,000 in prize money, we’d love to have you. In fact, we recommend you put your name on the S2B presale list below.

We accept a very small number of new clients every 6 months, and the spots in the program typically sell out in hours. However, those motivated enough to put themselves on the presale list get to register 24 hours before everyone else. Plus, they receive a big discount at registration.

So put your name on the list below to take advantage — because, as always, spots are first come, first served, and when they’re gone, they’re gone.

BOnus – The COveted 225-Pound Bench Press

Sometimes it’s the little things that show us we’re making progress. In JC’s case, it was finally being able to lift 225 pounds on the bench press. The guy’s a natural story-teller.

Our latest program is wrapping up, which means we’ve spent hours going over physique photos, weight gain numbers, body composition data, and participation records in order to choose a handful of potential finalists.

So at this point, we need your help in determining the 11 guys who should make the final cut and win some money. You can vote for just one guy or put together a list of the 11 you think we should include. Either way is cool.

Remember, the people below aren’t professional bodybuilders or fitness models. They’re just regular guys who added the right workout, nutrition, and lifestyle strategies to their lives one step at a time. (If you want to do the same, I suggest you put your name on the exclusive presale list as our next coaching program kicks off in November.)

One more thing: This isn’t like one of those reality TV shows where the person who gets the most votes wins. Since we have no way of controlling how many times people vote, it’d be chaos if we ran it that way. Instead, think of this as you helping us make the final cut. We’ll reveal the final list and the $10,000 Grand Prize winner on Wednesday May 1st.)

We’re super-proud of all these guys. I think you’ll see why.

Potential Finalist: Aaron

• Name: Aaron
• Weight Gained: 25lbs
• Starting Weight: 195lbs
• Max Weight: 220lbs

gained 25lbs.

Potential Finalist: Jean-Charles

• Name: Jean-Charles
• Weight Gained: 36lbs
• Starting Weight: 175lbs
• Max Weight: 211lbs

gained 36lbs.

Potential Finalist: Mark

• Name: Mark
• Weight Gained: 33lbs
• Starting Weight: 148lbs
• Max Weight: 181lbs

gained 33lbs.

Potential Finalist: Simon

• Name: Simon
• Weight Gained: 25lbs
• Starting Weight: 212lbs
• Max Weight: 237lbs

gained 25lbs.

Potential Finalist: Rishi

• Name: Rishi
• Weight Gained: 22lbs
• Starting Weight: 142lbs
• Max Weight: 164lbs

gained 22lbs.

Potential Finalist: Brad

• Name: Brad
• Weight Gained: 29lbs
• Starting Weight: 161lbs
• Max Weight: 190lbs

gained 29lbs.

Potential Finalist: Paul

• Name: Paul
• Weight Gained: 22lbs
• Starting Weight: 158lbs
• Max Weight: 180lbs

gained 22lbs.

Potential Finalist: Jason

• Name: Jason
• Weight Gained: 28lbs
• Starting Weight: 159lbs
• Max Weight: 187lbs

gained 28lbs.

Potential Finalist: Andrew

• Name: Andrew
• Weight Gained: 13lbs
• Starting Weight: 147lbs
• Max Weight: 160lbs

gained 13lbs.

Potential Finalist: Peter

• Name: Peter
• Weight Gained: 16lbs
• Starting Weight: 151lbs
• Max Weight: 167lbs

gained 16lbs.

Potential Finalist: James

• Name: James
• Weight Gained: 25lbs
• Starting Weight: 133lbs
• Max Weight: 158lbs

gained 25lbs.

Potential Finalist: Richard

• Name: Richard
• Weight Gained: 21lbs
• Starting Weight: 164lbs
• Max Weight: 185lbs

gained 21lbs.

Potential Finalist: Terry

• Name: Terry
• Weight Gained: 37lbs
• Starting Weight: 138lbs
• Max Weight: 175lbs

gained 37lbs.

Potential Finalist: Scott

• Name: Scott
• Weight Gained: 22lbs
• Starting Weight: 152lbs
• Max Weight: 174lbs

gained 22lbs.

Potential Finalist: Don

• Name: Don
• Weight Gained: 33lbs
• Starting Weight: 193lbs
• Max Weight: 226lbs

gained 33lbs.

Potential Finalist: Artie

• Name: Artie
• Weight Gained: 30lbs
• Starting Weight: 147lbs
• Max Weight: 177lbs

gained 30lbs.

Potential Finalist: Brian

• Name: Brian
• Weight Gained: 22lbs
• Starting Weight: 133lbs
• Max Weight: 155lbs

gained 22lbs.

Potential Finalist: Chris

• Name: Chris
• Weight Gained: 28lbs
• Starting Weight: 163lbs
• Max Weight: 191lbs

gained 28lbs.

Potential Finalist: Josh

• Name: Josh
• Weight Gained: 22lbs
• Starting Weight: 164lbs
• Max Weight: 186lbs

gained 22lbs.

Potential Finalist: Martin

• Name: Martin
• Weight Gained: 25lbs
• Starting Weight: 176lbs
• Max Weight: 201lbs

gained 25lbs.

Potential Finalist: Nick

• Name: Nick
• Weight Gained: 28lbs
• Starting Weight: 222lbs
• Max Weight: 250lbs

gained 28lbs.

VOTE IN THE COMMENTS BELOW

We have all kinds of guys join the S2B program — from complete beginners to guys who just need to get back in shape — and your votes should reflect who you think created the most dramatic changes over the course of the last 12 months.

Cool? Cool.

And thanks for helping.

Want to Get In the BEst Shape Of Your Life?

OUR ONLINE WORKOUT AND NUTRITION COACHING PROGRAM FOR GUYS STARTS IN November.

If you want a shot at winning $20,000 in prize money, we’d love to have you. In fact, we recommend you put your name on the S2B presale list below.

We accept a very small number of new clients every 6 months, and the spots in the program typically sell out in hours. However, those motivated enough to put themselves on the presale list get to register 24 hours before everyone else. Plus, they receive a big discount at registration.

So put your name on the list below to take advantage — because, as always, spots are first come, first served, and when they’re gone, they’re gone.

No More Nasty Protein Shakes

Sometimes you just want a muscle-building, fat-burning meal…but you don’t want to break out the knives and pans. Much easier to grab a blender and toss in some healthy ingredients. 

The only problem? Most protein shakes suck.

They taste like chalk…or they’re way too sweet. They’re too watery…or they’re so thick you almost have to eat it with a spoon. The complaints go on and on.

Here at S2B, we were tired of drinking nasty protein shakes. But we still wanted to have a quick and easy meal, something that would help our clients build muscle and lose fat, even if they had to run out the door soon after waking up.

So we set out to discover how to build the perfect “Super Shake”.  And you can download our top 5 recipes — from Blueberry Madness to the weird but delicious Popeye shake — for FREE right now.

Just download the PDF, grab the recipes, and enjoy. And toast your glass to a better-looking, better-performing body.

Cheers.

Click here to download your free Super Shake Guide.

WANT US TO HELP KEEP YOU ACCOUNTABLE AND CONSISTENT?

OUR ONLINE WORKOUT AND NUTRITION COACHING PROGRAM FOR GUYS STARTS IN November.

If you want to get in awesome shape and take a shot at winning $20,000 in prize money, we’d love to have you. In fact, we recommend you put your name on the S2B presale list below.

We accept a very small number of new clients every 6 months, and the spots in the program typically sell out in hours. However, those motivated enough to put themselves on the presale list get to register 24 hours before everyone else. Plus, they receive a big discount at registration.

So put your name on the list below to take advantage — because, as always, spots are first come, first served, and when they’re gone, they’re gone.

The Gradual Decline Of My Body And Business

That’s me on the left…and me on the right.

Let’s talk about the photo on the left for a minute. Give it a good look. It was taken nearly 2 years ago.

The guy in that photo was a personal trainer and coach who had been working in the fitness industry for nearly 10 years.

He was a former NCAA All-American Athlete who had once experienced the heights of peak physical performance. But in the photo, he was a shadow of his former self.

And even though he was fit and healthy by “average people standards”, he was embarrassed about the way he looked. You can tell just by looking at his face.

He doesn’t look too happy does he?

Why I Felt Trapped There (And Nearly Gave Up)

After 10 years of pulling crazy hours at the gym to help my clients get in better shape I realized I had grossly neglected my own needs.

I had spent so much of my time and energy focused on helping others that there wasn’t anything left for me.

It got to the point where I was nearly burned out. On working out and eating well. On caring about body composition. I was even sick of simply being in the gym.

Sure, I’d still try to eat healthy and do the bare minimum workouts. But I just didn’t care as much any more. I skipped too many workouts. And when I did go, I wasn’t really pushing myself. I knew what to do, but my motivation had dried up.

I hate to admit this, but I even got close to quitting the fitness industry altogether and giving up on the career I had committed my life to.

The Truth: Thousands Of Trainers Feel Like This

Back then I felt like I was the only personal trainer who had ever felt this way.

Now I realize I was feeling sorry for myself. As a coach in the S2B Coaching Program, I hear from personal trainers, chiropractors, coaches, and other fitness professionals every day. And for many of them, before joining S2B, they were going through the exact same thing.

They’d built up a business in the fitness industry but had hit a professional and personal rut. This rut made them look worse than they had in years, and feel unmotivated, embarrassed, even a little ashamed.

What amazes me the most is the quality of these guys: they’re otherwise successful and healthy. But they were struggling with the same questions I had two years ago. Stuff like:

“Is this it? Is this how my life is going to be?”

“I can’t believe I let myself get to this point.”

“Is this what I have to look forward to from now on?”

“What should I do next?”

These trainers needed to break out of their rut and achieve the growth and success they knew they were capable of. Their body and their business depended on it.

But like me, they needed to experience two things:

1. The gradual decline of their own health and fitness.

Missing workouts; wanting to get out of the gym as soon as possible; not getting enough sleep; skipping meals and being nutritionally unprepared for the day.

2. Feelings of discouragement about the future of their business.

Not getting great results with clients; working long and weird hours; questioning if it’s what they want to do for the rest of their life.

From Rock Bottom To Bouncing Back – How I Got Back On Track

For a while I was on autopilot. I showed up to the gym, trained my clients, and went home. It was a boring routine, and I was starting to feel a little hypocritical.

Sure, I looked fit and healthy from my clients’ perspective. But I knew the truth: helping people get in shape had become a job, and I was doing the equivalent of showing up to an office and checking Facebook all day.

I wasn’t helping my clients as much as I could have. And I certainly wasn’t helping myself.

But then, 2 years ago, a question popped into my head that demanded an answer:

“What kinds of things were happening in my life when I looked and felt my absolute best?”

I struggled with that question all morning.

So I cancelled my afternoon clients, sat down with a pen and paper, and brainstormed.

And three important things emerged:

1. Body: If you take care of your body, the rest of your life will catch up.

Personally, I realized that the catalyst for growth and change in my life had always been rooted in my body. Whenever I was taking care of my own health and fitness, all other areas of my life naturally followed suit and took care of themselves.

By neglecting my physique because I was too busy dealing with clients, I was self-sabotaging other areas of my life.

2. Coaching: A coach or mentor will hold you accountable and push you to be your best.

From my wrestling coach to my college strength coach to some very influential college professors, I always loved my life when I had mentors I trusted.

Each one of my coaches provided me with guidance, words of encouragement, clear direction and, most important, accountability.

I had been missing any kind of coach or mentor for close to 10 years.

3. Competitive Team Environment: Being a part of a team fosters growth, challenge, and fulfillment.

I realized I was at my best when I was part of something more than myself.

For me, this meant being part of a team in a competitive environment. In the past, it had kept me from becoming too wrapped up in my own selfish desires. And it pushed me to accomplish great things.

What Happened Next (More Than I Ever Expected)

When I came up with my health and success formula two years ago, I had no idea where it would lead my personal fitness or my business.

As it turns out, it led to me joining the S2B Coaching Program in May 2011.

A year later, I was in the best shape of my life, I had a full load of clients who were getting awesome results, and I felt better than I had in years.

(It even led to me winning the $10,000 Grand Prize and being offered a job as a coach in the program, an offer I quickly accepted.)

But while I wanted to share my personal story with you, this isn’t about me.

Dozens of trainers have used the “health and success formula” to rebuild their bodies, improve their lives, and build better businesses. I know because I’ve helped them do just that.

Here’s how they’ve taken control over their body and life, and how you can do it too.

The Bottom Line: You Can Do It

If you’re a personal trainer, you can be in awesome shape, maintain a great lifestyle, and run a successful business helping people.

I know because I did it. In fact, I still do it. And you can do it, too.

Through the S2B Coaching Program, we’ve helped pull dozens of trainers and fitness professionals back from the brink of burn-out.

If you’re game, we’d love to help you too.

But whatever you do, remember this: You can’t help others if you don’t first take care of yourself.

WANT US TO HELP KEEP YOU ACCOUNTABLE AND CONSISTENT?

OUR ONLINE WORKOUT AND NUTRITION COACHING PROGRAM FOR GUYS STARTS IN November.

If you want a shot at winning $20,000 in prize money, we’d love to have you. In fact, we recommend you put your name on the S2B presale list below.

We accept a very small number of new clients every 6 months, and the spots in the program typically sell out in hours. However, those motivated enough to put themselves on the presale list get to register 24 hours before everyone else. Plus, they receive a big discount at registration.

So put your name on the list below to take advantage — because, as always, spots are first come, first served, and when they’re gone, they’re gone.

About the Author: Calvin Buhler is a Scrawny to Brawny Coach. You can find him on Facebook.

When I was going through special operations selection in the military, I developed IT band syndrome so badly in my right leg that my knee would lock up if I ran more than a couple hundred yards. When I tried to to bend it, lightning bolts of pain shot up my side.

In special ops selection courses like mine, it doesn’t matter how much you suffer as long as you meet the standards and don’t quit. So in order to pass, I sucked it up and ran with a locked knee, swinging it around to the side like a pirate with a peg-leg instead of bending it.

Running like this got me through the selection process, but it also produced a painful injury to deal with. The pain started at my knee and radiated throughout my body, affecting my lower back, hips, and shoulder, too.

It seemed like every time I tried to do one of my favorite exercises in the gym, I tweaked something and had to take a couple days off from training. It was frustrating as hell.

So that’s when I decided to work with a coach to work around my injury, continue training hard, and get back to 100%.

After four months of working with the coach, I was a new man.

I could move better. I felt better. I even put fifty pounds on my deadlift, and ticked off a fifteen mile run without pain (and without looking like a pirate).

I’m glad I chose that path, because I nearly went the opposite way, the way most guys go when they get injured or tweak something: I almost stopped working out.

When You Stop Working Out Because of an Injury

Of course, I wasn’t going to stop working out indefinitely. I told myself I was just gonna take a couple weeks or maybe a month to let everything heal, and then get back to it.

Yeah right.

After working with hundreds of clients in the S2B Coaching Program, and helping dozens of people at my gym in Denver, I know it rarely works out that way.

Despite his best intentions, whenever a guy stops working out or takes an extended break from training because of an injury, he almost always gets out of shape and stays that way.

He does the exact opposite of what he really wants to do: He loses muscle, gains fat, and sometimes even starts to become a little depressed.

For most guys, their decline from in-shape to out-of-shape starts small and builds into something huge. Because of this, most guys don’t see it coming until it’s too late.

How To Outsmart an injury: Drive Around The Wall

A few years ago, I was at a driving course behind the wheel of a car, doing 60 miles-per-hour. An instructor was seated next to me, leaning over and alternately watching my speedometer and looking through the windshield on his side.

“A little left… hold that… ok, good.”

This guidance was necessary because most of the windshield was covered by a large piece of cardboard, leaving just a little opening on the passenger side for the instructor.

I was driving blind.

A few seconds later the instructor yanked the cardboard down and I saw a rapidly approaching wall of orange plastic road barriers. The tires shrieked as I locked up the brakes, crashed through the barriers, and came to a stop amidst an array of bouncing road cones and the sound of my friends laughing their asses off from the back seat.

The instructor took a sip from his coffee, looked over at me, and then glanced over to the field of grass to the right of the road we were driving on.

“There was no reason to crash.” he said. “Everything around you right now is drivable terrain. Next time, steer onto the grass and go around the obstacle instead of driving into a wall.”

I’m telling you this, by the way, because I see the same thing happen to guys who suffer minor injuries. The injury becomes a wall in their minds, and they can’t see any way around it. The road they’re on is the only way they know to get in shape and build a good body. And now that there’s a giant wall in the way, they don’t know what to do.

At that point, most guys either hit the brakes and stop working out, or they try to plow right through the wall and end up hurting themselves even more.

But I’ll let you in on something: the road you’re on isn’t the only way to get strong and healthy and build a good physique.

And if you just happened to glance over to the right, you’d see lots of driveable terrain and a new path to follow to stay consistent and get in shape while your injury heals.

How To Gain Muscle With a Broken Leg

Jeremy is a current S2B client. Several months ago he was hit by a car while riding his bicycle and somehow ended up with only a broken leg.

When he joined the S2B Coaching Program, he was in a cast and couldn’t do anything with his lower body. Even upper body stuff was difficult since he had to hobble around the gym on crutches or hop around on one leg.

A lot of guys would have said “screw it” and quit. In fact, they probably would have never joined a workout and nutrition coaching program while in a cast in the first place.

They would have rationalized that there’d be nothing for them to gain and that they should wait for their injury to heal and do the program later. (But as we’ve seen, “later” never really comes. It’s simply an excuse.)

Jeremy had the courage and good sense to ask for help, though. And we quickly found him some driveable terrain. We wrote him a program that kept him off his leg and, quite often, on a pullup bar (among other things).

In the two months or so that he was in his cast, Jeremy gained nine pounds of muscle and went from a max of 11 pullups in one set to 20.

Not bad for a dude on crutches.

Getting What You Need

When I finally decided to man up and get some help for my IT Band syndrome, I learned some new workout and nutrition strategies that helped me heal my injury fast and helped me get in better shape overall. I built muscle, added strength, and generally felt better all-around.

But I also learned another important lesson: No matter what wall gets thrown directly onto my course, with a little coaching and support, I can learn to drive around and still be at my best, physically and mentally.

I can stay consistent with my workouts and nutrition, even when other guys are slacking and feeling guilty.

And that’s a powerful thing to understand: Injuries or being “busy” doesn’t hold you back. You hold yourself back.

So what’s holding you back? A tweaked lower back or other injury? Chronic pain?

No matter what it is, believe this: You can still build a good physique, get healthy, and feel great. All you gotta do is find some help and look for some drivable terrain, a way around your obstacle.

Do that and you’ll always be consistent with your workouts and nutrition and feel awesome because of it.

Have An Injury but still want to get in great shape?

OUR ONLINE WORKOUT AND NUTRITION COACHING PROGRAM FOR GUYS STARTS IN November.

We’ve helped hundreds of guys with previous injuries get in awesome shape. If you want to work with an expert coach and take a shot at winning $20,000 in prize money, we’d love to have you. In fact, we recommend you put your name on the S2B presale list below.

We accept a very small number of new clients every 6 months, and the spots in the program typically sell out in hours. However, those motivated enough to put themselves on the presale list get to register 24 hours before everyone else. Plus, they receive a big discount at registration.

So put your name on the list below to take advantage — because, as always, spots are first come, first served, and when they’re gone, they’re gone.

It Started With a Facebook Message

“I work out a lot, but I still have this layer of fat around my stomach. Can you look at some of my photos? Based on my body type and experience, what do you think I should do?”

That was the last paragraph in a Facebook message I got a few days ago, sent by a guy I met at a fitness seminar. Now, being asked to look at physique photos and give workout or nutrition advice may seem weird, but it actually happens a lot.

These kinds of requests generally come from guys who have some workout experience but are facing one or two uncomfortable things:

1. They’re not being consistent with their training and nutrition and are having a hard time staying on track.

2. They’re not getting the kind of fat loss or muscle growth they think they should be getting based on what they know about working out and eating healthy.

As I scanned through this guy’s photos, I realized he looked like a lot of guys that join our S2B Coaching Program: Not really skinny, not really fat. Just somewhere in between.

Nobody would call him out of shape. But you wouldn’t call him in shape, either.

I could tell he worked out occasionally — I found a photo of him shirtless on the beach with his fiancé, and he looked healthy — but he also had some belly fat and skinny arms. He didn’t have much “noticeable muscle”, which, he told me, made him a little embarrassed.

I went back to my inbox and read his message again from the beginning.

He admitted that when things got busy, it was hard for him to be consistent. He frequently got off track with his nutrition and skipped workouts.

Like a lot of guys, he’d be consistent for a few weeks and feel awesome. But then he’d miss a few workouts, eat crap food, and feel a little depressed because of it.

He told me he was frustrated.

He felt like he should have a better body to show for his knowledge and hard work. He felt like he was missing something important, but just didn’t know what it was.

And he thought that maybe I had the solution for him, one thing that could turn everything around and help him get his sh*t together.

Normally, I’d roll my eyes at the thought of having some kind of magic bullet, one thing I could tell him that would change everything.

But as it turns out, I knew exactly what he needed.

Why I Knew What This Guy Needed

Now before I tell you what I told him, let me tell you why I had the solution to his problem.

Most people who visit scrawnytobrawny.com don’t know this, but a good chunk of guys who join the S2B Coaching Program aren’t complete beginners.

Instead, they’re “intermediate” or “advanced” guys. They read articles on training and nutrition. They work out. They eat healthy, or at least try to. Most are the go-to “fitness expert” for their family and friends. Some are even personal trainers.

They’re guys who should be in great shape — and maybe at one point, they were in great shape — but are now having a tough time getting back into it and are frustrated with a body that’s not as muscular, lean, or strong as they know it could be.

You see, the coaches and I have helped hundreds of non-beginner guys build muscle and lose fat.

So when I looked at this guy’s photos and heard his back-story, I knew exactly what he was missing, because it’s the same thing most non-beginners are missing.

The “Missing Link” To Building Your Best Body

The one thing most non-beginners are missing isn’t a different workout program, a better nutrition strategy, or a new supplement.

What most guys are missing is being accountable — to someone or something — for their workouts and nutrition.

“Accountability is the acknowledgment of responsibility for your actions with the obligation to report, explain, and be responsible for the resulting consequences.”

In other words, accountability keeps you consistent because you have to report back what you’re doing — or not doing — in the gym and in the kitchen to someone else.

In fact, accountability is more important than personal motivation for this simple reason: Not one person always feels motivated to go to the gym or eat healthy.

But if we have someone who’s checking up on us to see how things are going, we’ll likely get our sh*t together so we a) won’t disappoint them or b) won’t feel lazy.

If we’re accountable, we’ll actually do the workouts and eat the food we need to look and feel great. And we do it over and over again, even when the going gets tough.

That’s why you can know exactly what to do. And you can even do it — work out hard, eat good food, get 8 hours of sleep — for short bursts. But you can still end up without the body you want.

If you can’t be consistent, you can’t make progress.

And that’s why accountability – not the perfect training or nutrition program – is the thing that turns everything around for our clients. Heck, maybe it can turn things around for you.

So how do you get accountability?

Let’s get back to the 2 strategies I shared with this guy who asked for my help.

First, commit yourself to something.

If you feel like you’ve bounced back and forth between hardcore training and half-assing it, it’s time to commit yourself to something.

Forget trying a new diet or training program every other week. No one makes progress that way. Instead, lock yourself in to something that will force you to change your habits — while having fun.

One of the easiest ways is to set up a contest with friends. (Who can go the longest without missing a single workout? Who can cook the most meals at home instead of eating out?)

Think about it: What do you think you can you accomplish with just one month of consistent workouts and healthy eating? How about six months?

How about one year?

In S2B, our clients commit to a full year of learning and practicing new workout, nutrition, and lifestyle habits.

They don’t have to be perfect — in fact, we only ask them to stay compliant to the program 80% of the time — but they do have to work their asses off and be accountable to their coach and to the S2B interface, which actually tracks what they do and don’t do.

On the surface, this kind of commitment can seem a bit weird or restrictive. But our clients quickly see why we ask for a full year.

As one of our clients, Justin, told us recently:

“Being in the program for a year turned out to be a blessing because it helped me stay on track and not flip flop. This is the longest I’ve ever been on a program.”

(Justin, by the way, has gained 17 pounds of muscle in S2B so far.)

Next, get some help from at least one other person.

Let me tell you a quick personal story.

There was a time, a few months ago, when I started skipping one or two workouts per week. Why? Because I was too “busy.” (Yep, even I use that excuse sometimes.)

The workouts didn’t matter much in the context of one week — it’s not like I was losing muscle or gaining fat every time I skipped one — but after a month, I’d missed 7 total workouts, nearly half of my gym time. Not good.

And it was showing in the mirror. I looked a little smaller and weaker than I would have liked. Plus I just felt crappy and a little guilty.

I knew I had an accountability problem. No one was checking to see if I was doing my workouts. And because of that, I was slacking.

So the next day I called a personal trainer friend and asked if he had any openings. Even though I know how to work out and eat healthy, I asked if he would write my workouts and train me at his gym a couple times per week.

I made myself accountable to him.

Of course I could still skip my workouts if I wanted. But that would involve actually calling and canceling an appointment with him, something I’d be embarrassed to do.

And here’s the best part: ever since I became accountable to my friend, I haven’t missed a single workout. And I feel incredible.

What can you learn from this?

If you’re struggling to get in shape — or if you have the tendency to get too busy with other stuff and slack on your workouts — the best thing you can do is hire someone to keep you accountable.

It could be a coach you pay money to or a friend who will meet you at the gym, no matter what.

In our coaching program, we keep our clients accountable by regularly emailing, calling, or Skyping them to see how things are going. Plus we can check on their progress whenever we like by simply pulling up their profile page and seeing whether or not they’ve done their workout or followed their nutrition habit.

If they’re on track, we give them a virtual high five. If we notice they’re missing workouts, we talk with them and see how we can help them get back on track.

And all of the guys who join S2B are immediately accountable to every other guy in S2B through our forums.

Do 2 Things: Commit and Become Accountable To Someone

In the end, the message I wanted to communicate to the guy who Facebooked me is this:

“Yeah, it’s completely possible that you can go to the gym and eat healthy and still not have the physique you want.”

“But there’s a simple fix, and it has nothing to do with a new workout or diet plan. All you have to do is commit to something and make yourself accountable to at least one other person.”

Of course, if you’re reading this and have some workout and nutrition experience but still don’t have the kind of body you want, we can help.

Every day, through our S2B coaching program, we help guys prioritize their own health and fitness and get in awesome shape.

But whether you choose to do S2B or not, I do encourage you do something — anything — as soon as possible to stay consistent with your training and nutrition.

Because before you know it, an extra 5 pounds of fat could quickly become 10 or 20 pounds. The muscle you’ve worked hard to build can wither away.

But the worst part? You’d have to start all over with the knowledge that you didn’t live up to your potential.

Don’t let that happen.

Want Us To Help Keep You Accountable and Consistent?

Our online workout and nutrition coaching Program for guys Starts in November.

If you want to get in awesome shape and take a shot at winning $20,000 in prize money, we’d love to have you. In fact, we recommend you put your name on the S2B presale list below.

We accept a very small number of new clients every 6 months, and the spots in the program typically sell out in hours. However, those motivated enough to put themselves on the presale list get to register 24 hours before everyone else. Plus, they receive a big discount at registration.

So put your name on the list below to take advantage — because, as always, spots are first come, first served, and when they’re gone, they’re gone.

Imagine this: You’re at a restaurant having dinner with friends. The meal hasn’t started yet. You’re talking with one of your buddies as the waitress fills your water glass. She disappears for a minute then returns with a basket of fresh bread and sets it in front of you.

Question: Do you reach for a piece of bread?

In this situation, most guys will revert into their “default eating mode”. Their brain will switch to autopilot and they’ll do whatever they’re used to doing. (For most of us, that means we’ll reach for the bread, even if we don’t really want it.)

Should You Eat the bread…or not?

But here’s the thing: The bread doesn’t matter.  For guys who want to be healthy and build a good looking body, the question shouldn’t be “Is bread OK to eat?”.

Instead, it should be this:

“Is today a High Carb day or a Low Carb day?”

How you answer that will not only dictate if you have a nice slice of warm bread — it’ll also guide you for the rest of the food decisions you’ll make that night:

• Sweet potato appetizer…or skip and go straight to the entree? 
• Steak with potatoes…or the salad with a double order of grilled chicken?
• Lots of carbs…or no carbs?

This is called “carb cycling” and it’s our nutritional secret weapon that will help turn your body in a muscle-building, fat-burning machine. Here’s how to do it.

HOW CARB CYCLING WORKS

While it has a fancy name, carb cycling is nothing more than eating more carbohydrates on some days (High Carb days) to help promote muscle growth and eating less carbohydrates on other days (Low Carb days) to help minimize fat gain and even promote fat loss.

We focus on carbohydrates (and not protein or fats) because carbs seem to have the most influential effect on body composition and how you look.

High Carb Days:

• stimulate an insulin response that shuttle nutrients in your muscle cells, causing them to grow

• replenish glycogen stores that fuel your muscles

• make you feel good and energized

Low Carb Days:

• promote fat loss by tricking your body into burning fat for fuel (instead of the sugar from the carbs it would normally get)

• keep your body more receptive to insulin, improving your body’s muscle-building response

Follow This: easy Carb Cycling Plan

The rules for carb cycling are very simple.

Rule 1. On the days you lift weights, eat starchy carbs along with protein, vegetables, and healthy fats.

Rule 2. On the days you’re either off from the gym or are doing some kind of intervals or cardio, don’t eat any starchy carbs, but continue to eat protein, vegetables, and healthy fats.

That’s it. There’s no need to measure how many grams of carbs you’re eating or count calories.

If you can add and subtract, you can do carb cycling.

High Carb Meal With Grains:

Low Carb Meal Without Grains:

So what would a typical week for a guy who wants to stay lean, improve his health, and gain a little muscle look like? Assuming he’s doing three weight workouts per week, here’s how we’d set it up:

Sample High Carb Day

Main carb sources highlighted.

Breakfast:

3 whole eggs (scrambled, poached, or fried)
Oatmeal (1/2 cup of oats, cooked in microwave)
Couple handfuls of frozen berries for the oatmeal

Snack:

2 scoops protein powder in water
1 banana
Couple handfuls of raw mixed nuts

Lunch at Restaurant:

Burrito wrapped in whole wheat tortilla with lots of meat and vegetables

or

Sandwich on whole grain bread with lots of meat and lettuce, tomato, etc.

Optional 2nd Snack:

2 scoops protein powder in water
1 banana
Couple handfuls of raw mixed nuts

Dinner at Home:

Healthy Pesto Chicken Pizza

Sample Low Carb Day

Breakfast:

3-4 whole eggs (scrambled, poached, or fried)
Breakfast salad with broccoli slaw, arugula, and low-calorie dressing

Snack:

2 scoops protein powder in water
Couple handfuls of baby carrots
Couple handfuls of raw mixed nuts

Lunch at Restaurant:

Salad with lots of meat and vegetables

Optional 2nd Snack:

2 scoops protein powder in water
Couple handfuls of baby carrots
Couple handfuls of raw mixed nuts

Dinner at Home:

Sirloin Burger with Coconut Cauliflower Mash

Tips and Tricks – Carb Cycling FAQ

What if I get hungry on Low Carb days?

Occasionally, you may feel hungry on your Low Carb days. This is because you’re avoiding starchy carbohydrates which fill you up fast and contain a lot of calories.

Ride through the hunger by adding more protein and vegetables to your meal. There’s no harm in eating an extra bun-less burger or more salad.

+++++

How many carbs should I eat at every meal?

Don’t worry about counting grams of carbs. The beauty of our carb cycling plan is in its simplicity. Just remember the rules:

On High Carb days, eat starchy carbs and fruit along with your protein, veggies, and healthy fats.

On Low Carb days, don’t eat starchy carbs or fruit, but continue to eat protein, veggies, and healthy fats.

+++++

Can I do a High Carb day on days I don’t lift weights?

You can, but we don’t usually recommend it. The reason we relegate High Carb days to the days you lift is because your muscles will be ready to soak up all those nutrients after a tough workout.

+++++

Can I eat “junk food” on my High Carb days?

We’re not your mom. And we’d be lying if we said we never had dessert. But the more you stick to the “Eat This” Carb List, the better off you and your body will be.

Junk food normally has a high amount of carbs and a high amount of fat. If you get in the habit of eating crap food on your High Carb days, your body will be more prone to pack on body fat thanks to the combination of high blood sugar, high blood insulin, and high blood fat.

Which, you know, kind of defeats the purpose of carb cycling.

Nothing To Lose But Your Belly

Forget complicated math, counting calories, and measuring food. Instead, use our simple carb cycling rules to turn your body into a fat burning, muscle-building machine.

Lifting weights today? Eat your carbs.

Doing cardio or taking the day off? Pass on the bread and feel good about it.

About the Author: Calvin Buhler is a Scrawny to Brawny Coach. You can find him on Facebook.