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I help people all of the time with different problems when it comes to their workouts (and even life sometimes). Many of those times, these distinct problems are attributed to a much larger situation. I am a HUGE believer of getting to the source of a problem and NOT just treating symptoms.

Treating symptoms never lets the person understand what is actually going on and can be very self defeating. Imagine for a minute that you are allergic to peanut butter. Now, you love peanut butter so you get a medicine to let you eat peanut butter to your heart's content.

Of course, the medicine costs money and carries all sorts of side effects. Wouldn't it make more sense to just give up peanut butter? After all, it's the peanut butter that is the source of your problems. Taking the medicine is just an unnecessary step.

So, the best thing to do in most instances revolves around the source of a problem. But, for people trying to get in better shape, what are the primary problem sources? What exercise tips prove to really pay off?

Honestly, most of the underlying problems involve psychology and the way people perceive things. The leftover problems stem from either overflowing or faulty information.

Today, I want to go over motivation and why it might not necessarily be the 1st thing to focus on when beginning a new program.

Follow me here. (I'll get to the correlation at the end)

I think most people can relate to this.

You have an underperforming employee. Generally speaking, underperforming employees tend to fall into two categories -- those that need more training and those that have significant training but need to be motivated (I usually let these people go by the way as they tend to be a drain on the team).

Most of the time, an underperforming person gets lumped into the "I need motivation" category prematurely. However, looking further, we can see that our employee really just needs more training to ensure more confidence.

But, what do we do?

We say, "Oh, you just need to be more motivated" or "come on, just think about how much money you can make." Then, our "motivated" individual goes out, does a crappy job, gets discouraged, and then falls back into the same trap as before. It's a vicious cycle. (By the way, if you have an employee like this, chances are they need more training. It's a clear sign that you haven't been doing YOUR job, instead of them not doing theirs).

Think about it this way, if you have an idiot and you motivate them you don't get a lean, mean, employee: you've got yourself a motivated idiot! Imagine what kind of destructive power that can have.

I've digressed a little. What does this have to do with working out?

A LOT!

If you are doing all of the wrong things and you get more motivated (i.e. work harder, more weight, reps, intensity), you are going to trash your body, period.

Think about the motivated idiot.

Now, I'm not saying to get into information overload by any means. The easiest thing to do would be to grab a magazine or two from the grocery store and start with a few of the workouts inside. That way, you don't have to worry about your plan and can actually GET MOTIVATED with the right information.

This is very important.

Now, if this does not sound appealing, put something together yourself and get it critiqued by a qualified individual before you start. You might have a great majority of it right and realize drastic improvements with a few small tweaks.

Search out reputable sources (don't "diet" Google) and follow their advice.

**IMPORTANT**

Do not pick 15 people to follow and mash all of their teachings together. Pick one and follow him/her only. When you try to put more than one system together, you not only diffuse the power of the system, you put yourself into potential information overload from all of the different "exercise tips".

Again, do some research and find one person to focus on. You'll see quicker results from your simple approach.

REMEMBER! Information overload = no results.

Moral of the story, get equipped with the right information from a singular source...

..and don't be a motivated idiot.

Copyright 2006 Brad Howard