Is Laziness a Mental Disorder?

Here are few common scenarios that happen to lazy people:

-          You are a busy person and you do not have time to exercise.  You promised yourself that you will wake up every morning at 5:15 to go to the gym or to run. Your alarm goes off, you turn off the alarm and continue sleeping.

-          You promise yourself that you will go to the gym after work. You leave the office, you drive towards your gym but instead of hitting up the gym you end up at home.

-          You promise yourself that you will work out really hard when you are in the gym. You start the warm up with enthusiasm but when you finish the session you realize that your heart rate never went over 120 beats per minute.

Human Brain

In order to understand why some people can keep these promises and why some cannot, we first need to understand basic anatomy of the human brain. The human brain is separated into two cerebral hemispheres, the left and right, which are connected by the corpus callosum (a bundle of neural fibers located under the cortex). According to the left brain/right brain dominance theory, each side of the brain is responsible for a different kind of thinking. While in popular culture the left brain/right brain theory is oversimplified, this oversimplification can help individuals recognize a source of personal weaknesses; thus, these individuals will be able to create a strategy on how to overcome these weaknesses.

In general, the left brain is responsible for reasoning and logic (among other abilities); when you always think about source of a problem, you can rest assured that your left brain is working hard and your right brain is forced to take some time off. Also, the right brain is the home of your creative side. So, when you stop thinking about the source of the problem and you start thinking about the solution to the problem, it means that your right brain has established dominance over your left brain.

So, if you are not the person who jumps up from your bed immediately when the alarm goes and if you recognize yourself in any one of the scenarios from the beginning of the article, you are in desperate need of changing the ways of dealing with your own weaknesses.   

Here is one scenario and a simple strategy that you can easily and successfully implement into your daily workout routine:

-          The alarm goes off at 5:15 am and you want to go to the gym. As soon as you hear the alarm your left brain says: “Stay in the bad, you will have a long day at work, you can work out tomorrow morning”. When this happens, do not fight the left brain with force because you are going to lose that fight. Instead, deploy your right brain’s ability to find a way to fix the problem. When this happens your right brain can say to your left brain: “I will just get up and go to the kitchen to make some coffee but I will not work out today.” Go to the kitchen, make the coffee, and tell your left brain: “You know what, it does not make any sense to go back to bed; I will just go to the gym to see if anybody is there working out right now.” You go to the gym, still sleepy, and say to your left brain: “Since I am here, I will do just a few exercises to break a sweat, but I have no intention of staying here longer than 15 minutes”. After these 15 minutes your left brain will say: “You know what, you have been lying to me since 5:15 am and I have had enough; you do not appreciate me, do whatever you want, you are on your own now”. The right brain will say: “It was about time. Goodbye left brain”.

I think you have a clear picture of how you can easily cheat the reasonable and logical part of your brain.

When I was 17, I was selected to be in the Serbian junior karate team. As part of our training program the other selected team members and I had to undergo battery of psychological tests designed to determine the level of our self motivation. The tests were conducted in the Yugoslavian Institute of Sport by one of the leading European sports psychologists Dr. Ljubica Bacanac. I was very intrigued with these tests because at the time we did not know what the real purpose of the tests was. During one session with Dr. Bacanac I told her that I wanted to be the world karate champion. She said that it is a great ambition to have and that in order to be able to achieve my goal one of things I should do is visualize myself in the finals of world championships with one of the best karate champions ever. She advised me to visualize me beating this champion in an impressive fashion and that I really became the new champion of the world. This was one of the best pieces of advice I have received during my sports career; I have used this visualization technique often and although I never became the world champion, I was able to collect many wins against the winners of medals of the world and continental championships.

The moral of this story is that if you have a problem with keeping your commitment when it comes to your workout routine, you can overcome this problem by visualizing the situation when you are tired, sleepy, and stressed. If you visualize these kinds of situations often, when that exact situation happens, you will feel that you are on familiar territory and will be able to do your workout as you have planned it despite how bad and unmotivated you actually feel.

To answer the question from the title of this article: laziness is a mental disorder but the condition is treatable.

To be Outdoor or not to be Outdoor, that is the Question

Approximately 90% of all gym members never engage in any outdoor workout activities; this percentage is not a result of scientific research but rather my estimation based on my experience and observations.  

Running and Walking Trail

at Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area

Johnson Ferry Road, Sandy Springs, GA

The gym is a controlled environment where you know what you can expect (safety) and whom you will see (social life). While there are tremendous benefits of working out in the gym, there are serious downsides as well. One of downsides is overuse of the same skeletal muscles due to constant engagement in the same kind of workout; this overuse can lead to number of injuries. The human body is a fine and sophisticated machine and all of the skeletal muscles are meant to have a balanced amount of strength in order to create movement and protect organs.  Because in doing the same thing over and over again, certain parts of the muscular system are overused and some are not used at all; this imbalance in strengths of particular muscles can create a condition called mechanism of injury. One example of the many mechanisms of injuries is a condition when adductor muscles are weak and inflexible and the muscles surrounding the groin area are strong and flexible so during a fast run (sprint) athletes often end up injuring their groin area.  This injury can prevent you from working out for approximately 20 weeks. The next common mechanism of injury is a situation when only quadriceps is strong and hamstring and calf muscles are weak so you become susceptible to the knee injuries. How many people do crunches during a workout but never do any exercise for the lower back muscles?  This circumstance creates an environment suitable for lower back and spinal injuries.

Running and Walking Trail

at Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area

Johnson Ferry Road, Sandy Springs, GA

So, when you leave the safety of your gym and go to some trail close to your house, this is what will happen to your skeletal muscles:  your tired muscles that you use every day will take some time off and your forgotten muscles that you barely use during your gym workout will start working. When you start balancing your outdoor and indoor workouts, you can rest assured that you are using every single muscle fiber in your body. Also, and this part is very important, the mental and emotional feeling after finishing an outdoor activity is dramatically different than when you leave the gym. For example, by moving through a terrain you will constantly be changing your surroundings and you will feel very energized by the beauty and the sounds of the nature. By paying attention to the rocks, roots, streams, branches that can scratch your face, the fallen tree that you have to go over, under, or around, you will become more alert and focused then than in any controlled environment, and by inhaling negative ions (negative ions are nonexistent in gyms) and inserting them into your blood stream you will initiate a complex biochemical reaction that will result in increased levels of serotonin, a neurotransmitter that helps alleviate depression,  relieving stress, and boosting your energy. 

I know that we are creatures of habit and that old habits die hard but if you are in this large group of individuals that are religiously loyal to your gym, leave your comfort zone once a week and go outdoors. You will be happier, your body will be stronger, and the next time you go back to the gym you will go with more enthusiasm than you have in a long time and your usual gym routine will not appear to be boring anymore.

Goran on the Regular Guys Show - Atlanta Rock Station: Insulting Vinny and Big Fat Joe

From the left: Tim Andrews, Goran Lozo, Larry Wachs

This morning I was a guest on The Regular Guys Show, Rock 100.5, Atlanta Rock Station; here is the link to the video: http://ustre.am/:1nmJg . The Regular Guys ( Larry Wachs, Eric VonHaessler, Southside Steve Rickman, and Tim Andrews) are very funny and very smart guys. We were talking about the Fat Guy $5000, a weight loss contest sponsored by 100.5 and the Dramatic Weight Loss Center. The contestants are the station’s overweight employees that are divided in three teams: Team Larry, Team Eric, and Team Steve. You can find out more about this competition on www.regularguys.com  

R U Serious? You Did Not Know That You Should Not Eat Crap?

Milo of Croton (6^th century BC) was one of the greatest athletes of all time. In addition to winning many wrestling tournaments, he was an Olympic wrestling champion six times. Based on the stories of ancient Greek commentators, Milo’s daily diet consisted of 20 pounds (9 kilograms) of meat, 20 pounds of bread (9 kilograms) , and 18 pints of wine (2.25 gallons or 8.5 liters). While, based on physical appearance, it looks like some of today's professional and recreational athletes still use that kind of diet we can say that most individuals that are involved in sports activities are aware of important connection between nutrition and athletic performance.

In addition to talent and the burning desire to win, there are three components that are equally responsible for sports results: the quality of training, the quality of rest, and the quality of nutrition. When an athlete has satisfied only one or two of these requirements, the chances to achieve their top level of performance are immediately diminished. The consequences of this scenario are less visible in team sports where one extraordinary or very good individual can carry the entire team on their own back (Kobe Bryant - LA Lakers or Lionel Messi – FC Barcelona) but the consequences are highly visible in individual sports.

Since the quality of training and the quality of rest are not subjects of this article, let me go straight to the subject of relationship  between sports nutrition and athletic performance. Improper nutrition among athletes has multiple negative effects on performance:

• Extended recovery time after workouts
• Limited ability to sustain high levels of intensity and high volume of trainings
• Unsatisfactory performance in competitions
• Muscular system becoming susceptible to injuries
• Recovery time after injuries is slower 
• Immune system’s ability to fight infections diminishes

I know lot of athletes who do not think that nutrition is that important, but they are wrong. In professional or amateur sports you do not become a champion because you do something dramatically different than your competitors. You become the champion because you work just a little harder, your workouts are just a little longer, you plan just a little smarter, you sleep just a little longer, and you eat just a little better. When in each of the segments of athletic training you do just a little bit more than others and the difference between you and your opponents becomes dramatic: you are the champion, others are not.

Often, athletes work hard and they feel that they have hit a roadblock; they feel that whatever they do will not bring an improvement in their competition performance. They start using performance enhancing drugs because they think doping is the only remaining solution to achieve the dream. That is a mistake. This is the 21^st century; information on everything is easily accessible. Everybody, from recreational athletes to personal trainers, from professional athletes to their coaches, should spend some time and do some serious research on proper nutrition. Small changes and adjustments will bring a visible difference between the past and future performance: even if you do not become a world champion, you will definitely beat your personal best; and even if you do not have competitive goals, you will definitely bear your personal best as well.. 

About That Guy in the Photo (the One in Funny White Outfit)

Goran Lozo receiving Gold Medal at

Yugoslavian Karate Championship 1995

Sanctioned by JKA (Japan Karate Association)

Goran  Lozo is a former professional athlete, national and international karate champion. Also, he is a Karate Black Belt 5th Degree holder. Goran earned his Coaching Degree from the Faculty of Sport and Physical Education, University of Belgrade.

In addition to having articles published in several professional magazines, Goran is the author of two publications: Karate (1996/Yugoslavia) and Logout Workbook and Journal (2011/USA).

To find more about Goran's professional background visit www.goranlozo.com 

Workout Logbook and Journal (2011)