Goals are important

Goals are important, otherwise, how do you know what you want to accomplish or how will you know when you have achieved what you desired.

Don't wait until next Monday to set your goals just because you think it will be harder to achieve them over the weekend. On the contrary, studies on personal achievement have shown that you'll usually reach 80% of the goals you put onto paper. The real problem is that few people set any goals at all, and even fewer still set them prior to starting their new fitness routine.

Make sure your goals are measurable and be realistic. Just saying "I want to be in better shape" gives you nothing to strive for. Decide when and what you wish to accomplish such as "I want to lose 10 pounds in the next 10 weeks".

"Get to work".

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Dispelling some Myths

Here's a good video that helps quickly explain away some non-truths about fitness and diet.

Some diet research

Science is constantly trying to figure out the best diet method and how we tend to lose weight. As a result, new information regarding diets is streaming out. Most of what we are finding seems to be logical but in some cases may defy our logic. take a look at some new discoveries and see how they might help you lose the unwanted pounds.

1. Fewer rules help to lose weight. If a diet is too complex or confusing, we are less likely to stick to it. Try focusing on a single rule or two, like: eat 4 meals of 400 Calories or, eat a source of protein every time you have carbs.

2. Whole grains are healthier but that doesn't mean you eat less. It is true that whoel grains typically help you feel fuller longer but studies have seen that it doesn't necesarily change eating habits. Be aware of why you are eating (hunger vs. boredom) not just that you are eating foods that are better for you.

3. Snacking vs. eating a meal. The question is what makes a meal. Many definitions are available but typically it is a more formal, prepared food eaten with others on plates and with utensils, usually taking an half hour or so. To avoid simply snacking all day, make your snacks more formal by sitting down and using a plate and not shoveling food in your mouth.

4. Satisfaction increases with prior knowledge. If you believe a meal or food is satisfying and will fill you up it usually will. This is the old mind trick. Having experience with different healthier choices that are satisfying to you ought to fill your diet not ones that you don't care for or will leave you empty.

We will take a look at some less common sense conclusions about diet in the next post.

Stay tuned and "Get to work".

Take it easy

Do you ever not feel like training? Happens all the time. There are many reasons for a lack of motivation: stress, fatigue, lack of sleep, nutrition, consecutive hard workouts, etc. You name it, it probably has an affect on how you feel going into your workouts.

Quite often I find my clients feeling down prior to working out but once they get into it their body wakes up and they feel better after, even if it was particularly difficult. Exercise is such a great stress reliever and improves your state of mind as well as your physical well being.

But what if you really are just dragging. Take it easy. This lack of motivation or physical drain is often a sign that your body needs some time to recover. Whether it is taking a day or two off to revive or simply backing off the intensity, your body will typically respond better.

Recovery and repair is done during recovery. Their is no adaptation or growth that takes place during your workouts. It is after that your body repairs and improves. Knowing this can help you plan some recovery time. Have an evenly spaced workout routine during the week. This ensures that you don't load all of your workouts back to back.

Stay consistent. Not every workout has to be all-out. Do make sure you are adequately challenging yourself each time but pay attention to your body and how you feel. This trick has helped me stay injury free during my fitness career.

"Get to work."

Take it outside

As the weather starts to turn more friendly for outside activity, take your workouts outside as well. This will give you a fresh set of exercises typically and keep you rejuvenated. It is a nice morale boost to be able to get outside and do some physical work.

Start to look for activities that you can do outside that you enjoy and can replace typical workouts. Activities like hiking, biking, basketball, volleyball, and many others. Do make time to get in some resistance training to maintain lean muscle.

Enjoy physical fitness and you will stick to it. If you find something you enjoy you won't think of it as a chore. Get a partner, join a bootcamp, pick up a new sport or hobby. Now's the time.

"Get to work".

Everyone has an agenda

I have been reading different texts and watching several health documentaries in preparation for teaching a college level nutrition and fitness class and have realized everyone has an agenda. From those toting the fast food restaurants as the evil monster forcing everyone to be fat and those claiming that eating a high fat, high protein diet will cause health benefits, everyone has an agenda.

So how do we know what we really should be doing? It comes down to individual differences. We are all unique. We all have different needs and motivation. Different approaches will work for different people. If it is so unique, what are we to do? Just believe the hype or give up?

No! Do some research for yourself. Find out what works for your body. It comes down to personal responsibility. Take some time and research what is out there. Play around with your diet and exercise routine and see what works best. It takes time but it will produce a regimen that fits your lifestyle and eating habits for life.

That's the key. It needs to be something you can live on and live with. Make sense?

"Get to work".

Listen to your body

What is the most important component of fitness? Cardio, weights, nutrition, or professional instruction?

It is recovery. If you do not allow your body time to recover it will not grow. All the best nutrition and training in the world will go to waste if you do not give your body time to adequately recover and adapt.

So many times, we are over zealous and go out of the gate full bore or feel the drive to keep going day after day. This is how we burn out or develop chronic injuries. A basic understanding of what happens in the body during and after workouts will make this perfectly clear.

It is not during the workout that we grow or adapt, it is after, during rest and recovery. During our workouts whether it be weight training or cardiovascular, we impose stress on the muscular and connective systems. This stress causes micro damage within these structures. This damage is what leads to increase strength and growth, if you allow the recovery process to occur. To withstand further stress placed on the body, you have many signals that repair and increase strength within these areas of stress.

Not only are you stressing the physical structures of the body you also stress the nervous, endocrine (hormone), and cardiopulmonary systems. These to will adapt and improve with adequate rest (decreased stimulus).

Without proper rest, and next importantly nutrition, the natural processes in the body do not have time to fully heal wounds or properly develop.

When and how long should you rest? That is completely up to each individual. Each person is unique. Listen to your body. This is foreign to most people but you will become better at knowing when you need a break. Look for lack of energy, decreased drive or motivation, weakness and other common signs of decreased performance.

You will be able to sustain your workout routine much longer and will find greater growth and enjoyment with this principle in mind.

"Get to work!"

Shin splints and plantar fasciatis

Do you have foot pain? Suffer from shin splints? Most lower leg chronic injuries or pains are due to over-stressed tendons and ligaments. Usually it is because we went too hard too fast. One way to help eliminate these ailments is to throw in barefoot training.

When we have a chronic injury, we have done too much for too long and it has put stress on weakened muscles, tendons, fascia, and ligaments. Obviously if you suffer from these currently, you should take time off and let it rest. It took time to be injured and it will take time to heal.

Besides rest and recovery for healing, we should start with a sound training program to help strengthen key muscles and their attachments. Barefoot training helps strengthen all the key stabilizer muscles within the lower leg and in the foot. Think of your feet like your hands. Your feet hold your body all day. Stabilization and movement originate from the foot. To be strong on your feet your feet need to be strong.

Simply remove your shoes when you are doing lower body training. This will recruit the muscles in the foot and calf complex as well as the anterior of the leg like you ahve never done before. When you were a kid, did you have feet problems? No! You probably ran barefoot everywhere. Use sparingly at first and work your way into it. Have fun with it.

"Get to work."

Eat healthier

The best way to reach any fitness goal is to imoprove your diet. Don't ever go on a diet. It doesn't work. You need to focus on long term changes in your eating habits. One thing you can do is substitute plain nutrition-less white rice with brown rice.

Don't particularly care for the taste of brown rice? Make it with stock instead of plain water. You can use a chicken stock for a better flavor or some pineapple stock to make it sweeter. Whatever your preference, use it. You get the added nutrition by having the full grain rather than a stripped down, naked, nutrition lacking side dish. The added fiber helps curb appetite as well for those looking for weight loss.

Don't be afraid to try new things in the kitchen; you might be surprised. Changing foods that you include in your diet is just as important, for most people, as changing the exercises that you do in your workouts. It keeps your diet fresh and allows you to continue forward with new results each week.

Good luck and "Get to work".

Develop Explosive Power

Whether you are an athlete or not, there are things that we do each that require us to create more powerful moves. In order to help prevent injury and improve our efficiency in these moves, we need to workout our nervous system and train the muscles to be able to respond this way. Here is a great power developing workout that will test your nerve and your cardiorespiratory system. Make sure to use appropriate weights to allow maximum effort but with conrol through the whole movement.

Warmup:

Repeat 3 times.
Jumprope-100 jumps
Pushups-10
Squats-10

Repeat 3 times.
Jumprope-100 hot plates
Rows-10
Lateral Lunge-10


Workout:

Superset 1: Repeat 2 times.
Wall Chest Pass w/ Shuffle- 20 reps
Deadlifts w/ Box Jumps- 10 reps

Superset 2: Repeat 3 times.
Medicine Ball Reactive Pushups- 10 reps
Max Effort Box Jumps- 6-10 reps

Superset 3: Repeat 4 times.
Dumbbell Box Jump Cleans- 8 reps
Broad Jumps- 15 yards

Killer Cardio

If you are looking for a killer cardio workout that breaks from the norm, try this. It only requires a medicine ball and somewhere to hang from.

20 minute Interval Run

90 seconds at 6 mph or 70% of max effort
30 seconds at 9-10 mph or about 90% max effort

Repeat intervals for 20 minutes.

2-3 minute recovery.

30 Minutes Bodyweight Training

Instructions for workout: Perform each exercise for one minute and move directly into the next exercise. Perform one complete round of all 15 exercises and then take a 2-3 minute recovery by performing stretches.

Perform second round in reverse. Mirror the set by working from the last exercise to the first. Again all 15 exercises performed without rest. 2-3 minute recovery stretch follows last set.

Exercises:

Jumping Jacks
Mountain Climbers
Seal Jumps
Squat Thrusts
Pushups
Flings
Squat Jumps
Medicine Ball Vertical Slams
Mini Hops
Medicine Ball Twist
High Knees (Or March in place)
Chinup Hold
Ice Skaters
Swimmers
MB Chest Pass

Recovery 1: Biceps Stretch, Lat Stretch, Shoulder/Pec Stretch, Low Back Stretch
Recovery 2: Quad Stretch, Upper Back Stretch, Triceps Stretch, Hamstring Stretch,

Post any questions and get to work.

Great fat blasting workout

This workout focuses on upper body strength with a big hit of high intensity cardio to burn away the fat.

Make sure to give yourself a brief warmup that ramps up to the intensity of the workout. An example could be: Squats, Lunges, Jumping Jacks, Seal Jumps, Pushups, Mountain Climbers, and/or adding Jump rope.

Perform three exercises, 30 seconds each, in a mini circuit for the specified number of sets before moving on to the next group of exercises. Only give yourself 30-60 seconds between sets, no rest between exercises.

5 Sets of:
Pushups
Seal Jumps
Stair Sprints

Recover 30-60 Seconds

4 Sets of:
Band Lunge with Chest Press
Jumping Jacks
Wall Knee Drives

Recover 30-60 Seconds

4 Sets of:
Dumbbell Neck Press
Squat Thrusts
Suicide Sprints (5 yds, 10 yds, 5 yds, 10 yds)

Recover 30-60 Seconds

2 Sets of:
Decline Pushups
Reverse Crunches


Self Myo-fascial Release (SMR) or Stretch for a Cooldown.

Have fun and push the intensity.


Chime in on what you think or if you have questions on any exercise, post a comment.