What’s happenin everybody! John Heringer here comin’ at ya with another Monday Motivator that I’m super psyched about. I’m about to give you a little insight as to how I operate (although some of you could have probably guessed it) and what one of my greatest pleasures is in life.
British businessman, essayist, and journalist Walter Bagehot once said:
“The great pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do.”
- Walter Bagehot
STOP. Re-read that quote one more time and a lot slower. Let it sink in. Now some of you may not be very competitive and that’s ok, but you should never let others dictate your limits to you.
I can tell you that Walter and I have a lot in common because this is one of my greatest pleasures as well. The thing you have to remember is that it should always be for the greater good and you should get something positive out of it. I’m not recommending that if someone tells you that you cannot go 120 MPH in your car that you should….or if they say there is no way you can eat 30 pieces of pizza that you need to prove them wrong. 
In fact, I think these are best when directed towards health and fitness goals and challenging yourself in new and creative ways makes it fun and pushes you to your limit as a human being. Fellow San Jose bootcamp and Fast Action Training member Rob Freer recently decided to go Vegan for at least one month. He’s already surpassed that goal and says he feels so good that he may continue!
The beautiful thing about Walter’s quote is that you can fuel your level of commitment and desire to change through the challenge of others….or even challenge yourself as Rob did. The point is that you should never have your limits so well defined because YOU are, in fact, more capable than you give yourself credit.
Trust me when I say that it’s not always your body that is giving up during workouts but your mind instead. And while it may be your hand reaching for that slice of chocolate cake, it’s really your brain operating those controls behind the scene as your willpower diminishes.
YOUR CHALLENGE FOR THIS WEEK:
1) Find someone to give you an easy challenge for the week (or give one to yourself) and follow through to completion and sucess. For all of our F.A.T. members, once achieved, POST ON THE “BRAG BOARD.” 
2) Now get another challenge you can delve into and don’t limit yourself on what it is about. It could be a 5K, 10K, coming to our fitness bootcamp in San Jose 5x in a row, cooking foods in advance for a week, planning and shopping ahead of time for your meals, making it through a whole workout without stopping once, using heavier weights etc. etc.
Be creative, 
have fun, jump outside of your comfort zones because it’s the only way you will truly grow and it will become a path to your fitness success and enjoyment forever. Plus, when you call your friends to tell them all that you have done and achieved, they will be shocked….just like this guy.
Now post below what your challenge is and then go rock your week!
Till next time my fitness friends.
Dedicated to your success,
John Heringer
Hi All, Rob Freer here, fellow boot camper and FAT member.
I just wanted to give you all a quick insight to the Veganism.
Like a lot of people I have my own personal battles with my body image.
First things first, I like all types of food, yes that includes food that is not that good for me (pizza, burgers, fries, ice cream..you get the jist), the problem is I couldn’t control my eating, I was eating too much of it too often.
I like a challenge so when FAT did the Body Transformation contest in Oct/Nov last year I was up for it, controlled my calorie intake and worked out, it was great. I lost a load of weight and body fat % dropped I was in the best shape of my life (see pic on FAT Facebook page), but as soon as I finished the weight in I went straight to Buffalo Wild wings and gorged myself and pretty much went back to where I was before. I was so mad with myself as all that hard work was gone to waste, it continued for a long time. Apparently this happens to a lot of people.
Ok why Veganism?
I read a book: Finding Ultra by Rich Roll, which is about a guy who nearly died from alcoholism and was so out of shape that he had to rest after 8 stairs, he was 39. He turned his life around by going on a plant based diet, eating unprocessed plant based foods. He is now a Ultra Tri athlete and considered one of the fittest men on the plant. There is also evidence to suggest a plant based diet can reversed the signs of heart disease and other major illnesses, I won’t go into too much detail but here a couple of websites if you want to read about it for yourself http://www.richroll.com http://www.forksoverknives.com.
So, I decided to try it, I challenged myself to do 21 days, unprocessed plant based diet. I ate more than I ever have, lost 10lbs in weight and I felt absolutely fantastic. So 21 days came and went, today will mark seven weeks. There are definitely challenges I face but it is something I feel I can stick to long term and trust me there is some very tasty food out there. If you do decide to try it my 2 bits of advice are: it is very hard to eat out at restaurants but you can definitely do it (I work in sales and have to go out every day for lunch) and if you have no other choice and you have to eat meat or dairy then do it forget about it and carry on.
@Rob, such an awesome story and I love that you have challenged yourself with something and are truly feeling and seeing the results! Combined with our workouts, nothing can stop you now!