If there’s one complaint I oftenhear, it’s that people don’t have the “time” to workout.  Well if such isthe case with you, all I have to say is "I'm sorry, I didn't realize yourhealth wasn't a priority.”

There’s a misconception that to work out hard,your workouts also need to be long.  Well, that’s completely wrong. Most people are surprised when I tell them that the amount of time I devote tolifting is 45 minutes, every other day.  Yup, you read that correctly. If you streamline your workouts and take your program seriously, you should bespending less than 3 hours at a gym every week.

Ok, so how does one streamline theirworkouts?  Well, here are five easy changes to make below:

Does your back hurt?  Of course it does.  You’re an American.

Kidding, of course, but the statistics are ridiculous.  80% of Americans will experience lower back pain at some point in their lives.  You can blame this fact on our mostly sedentary society, the prevalence of desk jobs, being overweight, etc.  Yet, once you get past the fact the people HAVE back pain, things get a bit more interesting.

“Back pain?  Never heard of it!” – said no one ever.

As I mentioned in my first post about back pain, almost everyone will suffer from it at some point in their life.  For this reason, I’ve decided to post another 5 tips that could help if you’re suffering.  (In fact, if you said I’m a back pain junkie, you’d probably be right). 

I’m always surprised at the lackof good information on the internet concerning women and lifting weights. (Note: if you’d like to know what I’m talking about, trying googling anythingwith Tracy Anderson.  Seriously, what in the world is THIS!?) Further, I’ve written in previousblog posts that women need to lift weights, but I haven’t really touched onwhy. 

Well for starters, the health benefits areenormous.  In fact, there's probably too many benefits to list in a singlepost, but one of the more important ones is that it decreases your risk of bonedensity loss in your later years. Yet, many women fear lifting weights becausea) they’re intimidated, or b) they fear that coming within a two foot radius ofa weight larger than 20 lbs will “put on too much muscle.”  While I don'tthink any single blog post will quell the former, the latter is just an excusethat has no scientific merit.

I’ve made it no secret that squats are probably one of my 5 favorite things about life.  While you probably think that’s pretty sad, I’d counter by saying that it’s much better than spending any amount of time watching E! or “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo.”

Anyway, since Monday is always bench day, that means Tuesday or Wednesday should be squat day.  To help avoid the skinny legged bros hogging the squat rack and using a barbell for their “all biceps all day” routine, I wanted to post some of my favorite squat variations.