Yesterday I went on a learning binge. By learning binge I mean:

1. I spent hours searching all my favorite blogs for new sources of information. I perused some great new fitness blogs such as myathleticlife.com and  beheavy.wordpress.com.
2. And I googled the heck out of women’s fitness, lifting, powerlifting and strong is the new skinny (which by the way…I LOVE THIS “MOVEMENT!”).

And during this learning binge I found so many topics that I want to discuss. But this morning (sore, grumpy with two hours of spin ahead of me), the only thing I wanted to talk about was the learning binge itself.

Yesterday just reminded me of how important it is to constantly seek out new information – how important it is to always be open to learning.

We can never know everything so to really be knowledgable about any subject, we must always be seeking out new knowledge. We must be in a perpetual state of learning.

So sometimes we must go on learning binges. I usually check out the same few websites, but every couple of months I’ll spend an extra few hours searching everything in sight (which can include picking the brain of any human around me!). When I do this I’m looking for any new studies or developments that have come out about fitness or nutrition. I’m also looking for new exercises and new trends in women’s fitness.

I’m looking for information and not just information that reinforces what I already believe (actually most of the time I’m searching for information that argues against what I believe in just so that I can tell them how wrong they are! :-P).

I don’t like to follow anything blindly, even lifestyles I agree with and/or follow. There is always someone out there with a slightly different perspective on things. AND that new perspective that you find may help you adjust your lifestyle to make it work even better for you.

I always inform my clients of new things that I’m trying or topics that I’ve found. I want them to start exploring fitness and health by themselves. I want them on a constant quest for knowledge or at least to every once in a while go on a learning binge!

Of course a constant quest for knowledge isn’t just about finding new information it is also about trying it out!

Self-experimentation is an integral part of learning. I mean how do you really know if something works unless you try it out!?!

If you find a new workout routine, try it out! A new diet, try it out! But when you “test” something, make sure you first follow the plan EXACTLY. If you cheat on what is prescribed, than you aren’t giving it a fair shot. You can’t really honestly report back on how that workout or diet works.

But once you’ve found something that you like, edit it! Learn more about the diet through research and experimentation and then make changes to the diet or workout plan so that it works perfectly for you. Once you’ve done the research and run an experiment on yourself (sounds sort of creepy but it isn’t!), tailor it to fit your specific needs!

By constantly trying to learn, you will find a diet and fitness plan that works perfectly for you (a.k.a. it keeps you satisfied while helping you look AMAZING and reach your fitness goals!) 🙂