I’m going to talk about excuses for a few minutes.  Some people are going to be offended.  Sometimes the truth hurts.  Your excuse sucks.  That’s the truth.  Whatever excuse you have, it just sucks.  An excuse is a lie that you tell yourself to make you feel better about limiting yourself.  I’m not talking about a legitimate reason for not doing something, that’s a different thing.

No excuses in here.

For those of you who haven’t heard of Kyle Maynard, go look him up.  I don’t reference him to try to make you feel guilty, I reference him to show you an example of a guy who doesn’t have excuses.  Kyle might have thought, when he was younger, that he had a legitimate reason to avoid physical activity; what could he actually accomplish without arms and legs?  But he realized that his disability was just an excuse to avoid hard work, and that his disability didn’t mean he got a free ride.  It meant he had to work harder than everybody else just to keep up.

The same is true for you and me, whatever our excuses are, and I’ve heard tons of them.  Here are some of the most common:

• My back/ knee/ foot/ shoulder/ etc. is messed up, or my body just doesn’t move that way.
• I’m too old.
• I just don’t have the time because I have work/ pets/ kids/ obligations.

These are excuses that you use to limit yourself.  Let’s talk about them one at a time.

Injuries.  If you have an acute or chronic injury, you have to work harder to keep up with everybody else.  That does not mean that you need to run on your busted foot, or do heavy lifts with the herniated discs in your back.  What it does mean is that you have to put in the work to rehabilitate yourself.  It might mean seeking out doctors, chiropractors, and physical therapists.  It might mean doing rehab and mobility work multiple times every day.  It might mean changing your diet and sleeping patterns, or changing how you do basic activities.  It might mean that you have to do things that are harder than the thing you need to avoid.  Just because you’re injured or immobile doesn’t mean you get a free ride, it means you have to work harder to keep up.

Age.  If your excuse is that you’re too old, then you might as well just give up and die.  Getting older is normal, it’s how you know you’re still winning at life: the difficulty setting increases.  There is or there will be a time when you feel like you’re not as good as you used to be.  That’s okay.  But it’s not okay to use it as an excuse for not doing something or for not trying as hard as somebody younger than you.  If you’re old and stiff and messed up, then you need to put in more work to maintain yourself.  Fix your diet, do your stretches, break your bad habits.  Just because you’re old doesn’t mean you get a free ride, it means you have to work harder to keep up.

Obligations.  If you’re using your kids as an excuse for not taking care of yourself, maybe you should consider how your kids would do without you, or with a you that is constantly tired, injured and sick.  Your family should be the reason that you take care of yourself, not your excuse to slack off.  (Ask Bill Berry about that).  Work is a bad excuse too.  Guys, this isn’t 1890 and none of you are mining coal or laying railroad.  Whatever you’re doing isn’t that bad.  You just have to change your habits and learn to stand up from your desk and stretch 3-4 times per day, do a workout at home or in the hotel while you’re traveling, pack your lunch, go to bed early, take an actual rest day, or whatever it is that you need to do.  It isn’t easy, but you don’t get a free ride just because you have kids, a hard job, or other obligations.  You have to work harder to keep up.

Now that you know why your excuse sucks, go do hard work.  See you in the gym.