Moderation

I am not one of those trainers that believe in cutting out everything from the diet. There is usually a reason for your cravings and to satisfy them may not be a bad thing. If you crave sweets and it’s not a cheat day then eat some fruit. If you are dieting try to make sure it’s low glycemic (apples, pears, grapes and cherries are good). There are many other choices but those are the ones that come to mind. I try to make sure that when I do want to eat something bad I do it during the day. I sometimes will eat dinner early so I still have time to burn it off unless I am going out then it’s not that big of a deal. My rule of thumb has been what you do in three day increments. You have one day where you blow it you have two days to make up for it. If I have a three day weekend of eating every fattening yet delicious food I feel horrible the next day, so I rarely do that. The only time I really allow that is on my birthday weekend that usually falls on labor day. Just remember this if you eat horrible you have to burn it off. So if that deters you from eating badly then great, if not you have been warned.

Results=Pain….not quite

The old adage “No pain, no gain” has been what a lot of people of used to motivate them to keep going to the gym. Now if that works then I don’t have much of a problem with it. The only thing you will have to do is take care of the pain when you notice you are not as strong as you normally are. Usually that means you are overtraining which is pushing the muscle to the point where it is exhausted and can not be broken down. You are not going to be in danger of tearing a muscle but you are going to need to rest with no questions asked. The more pain you have does not equal results. I once had an inflammation in my chest and shoulder that really slowed me down. If it wasn’t for the massage and constant stretching I would have probably missed a month. Pain hurts and like I have said there is a fine line between the two. You can’t be afraid of that though, pain isn’t a bad thing but it’s all about your pain tolerance. I luckily have a lot of it, but now I complain a little bit more than I used to.

Excuses

We all have these on why we won’t get them done. I am tired, I don’t feel like it, and I don’t have time are the most common with fitness. If you can just make it to the gym and do something, even a half work out you may find yourself not tired anymore. If you don’t feel like it there might be a reason other than feeling. Are you burned out? How has your diet been? Are you eating enough? These are the questions you have to ask yourself before taking a day off or in some cases a week off. Sometimes we need to take a week off because you can burn out, especially if you are training hard. The hard part is are you disciplined enough to come back, or is there going to be another excuse to keep you out of the gym. As far as time is concerned there is always something you can do. If you have to work out 15 minutes at a time then you do that. I understand with family, kids and work you may not have a full hour to work out. It is up to you to figure out what you can and can not do. I can give you all the advice in the world but you have to figure out what works and how to fit it into your life. This is that important.

Consistency

That is the biggest key to your fitness goals. What you do consistently is pretty much going to determine your results and how fast you get them. If you eat good quality foods and less junk and also maintain your workouts your results could be on the more positive side. If you eat bad foods and are lazy you just get fatter. What some people don’t understand is your body can maintain fat better than it can maintain muscle, that is why you see people who can weigh up to 800+ pounds. It takes more work on your part and your body to maintain muscle. Also if you are consistent and feel like cheating a little bit you do not have to feel guilty. The more consistent you are with doing the “right” things the more likely you will see success.

There is no tomorrow

People need to understand one thing: if you continually put things off for tomorrow they either become forgotten or less important than they were in the beginning. So many great ideas get cast aside because of time and excuses. If your attitude is there is no tomorrow, only today imagine how much you will accomplish. Imagine what your relationships will be like, let alone your work outs. If more employees felt this way imagine how much more work can be done and how much money can be made. The best way I have seen to do this is start with small things. The big things in life: kids, family, and work, etc. are easy to make priority. Try to look at the small things you are missing and work on that, eventually you may see not only yourself benefit, but the important people around you as well.

Aging

This is a little bit of a sensitive subject for me because I absolutely hate to admit I am getting older. Now I am not “old” and to be honest at this moment stronger than I have ever been in my life, however, it hurts a lot more. Also, I am greying and losing my hair. I am still being stubborn about buying hair products by the way so please don’t post those tips for me, I am quite aware and know my options. Maxing out and trying to see how heavy I can lift is happening less and less. Like I say the goal is to be better today than you were tomorrow, you have more days like that and we are making progress. The truth is we get older every day and if you keep worrying about yesterday you are going to miss out on an amazing today and future. Fitness is the only thing I have seen (that is natural) that keeps you younger and help with your overall quality of life. The fitter you are the better you will be at your normal daily tasks. So no matter what, I am not 18 anymore but I am in great shape and every day I still feel like I am gaining rather than losing…well except for my hair J. If you keep your goals relative to where you are and stop competing with the younger people. You may find yourself doing things to yourself that once you start you may not be able to stop.

Strength and Pride

This probably applies to the guys more than the women because strength for the most part is more important for the guys. I don’t see too many women getting asked how much you bench. Though that does happen, it is very rare. Your pride can make you do dumb things sometimes. There are a few things I don’t do arm wrestling and get into a strength competition. Arm wrestling in short I have seen too many people break their arms and I actually almost broke a guys arm doing it so the risk is too great for a reward that means absolutely nothing to me. It is about priority with my work outs and daily life. Now don’t get me wrong pushing yourself to be stronger and more successful is not a bad thing. A person who challenges you can be a positive thing, especially if you have been holding back with your work outs. I say it makes things more interesting when someone says I can’t do something. I shattered my 225 bench press by doing it for 55 reps. Not many people can do that and I am actually very proud of it. It all started because an acquaintance irritated me and I wanted to do something he could not do even on his best day. Your pride can lead you to awesome strength gains, but it can also lead you to a week of hurt that sets you back. You have to decide if what you are doing is really worth it to you and be aware of your body and mind before you do it. If you are sore and achy and not mentally prepared it may be best to wait a week. Injury is never fun and I know that first hand. Good news is with injury you learn to be aware of your body and every ache and pain.

Simplified Fitness

Fitness in general should be simple and consistent but still a challenge. The hard part is keeping it challenging because the more consistent you are the stronger you become and the more endurance you get. I just add more weight and go faster on my cardio. Like on the stair climber my goal is to get 4 miles in 30 minutes. It is definitely a challenge for me to do that. My weight routine is always about how much can I lift for how many times. I lift “heavy” but I usually try to see if I can do about 6-10 reps. I rarely do the max out sets because the more you do those the longer it takes for me to recover afterwards. Now for the women I don’t want you to be afraid to increase the weight in your work outs. You don’t eat enough to gain weight. If that still bothers you mentally add 5 reps to what you are doing. You should always go in the gym and try to think I am better than I was the day before. That is what has kept me going all these years and has helped me keep going.

Diet

First I hate dieting and have not done that since I was 19. Now don’t get me wrong sometimes it is a necessary evil and must be done. I always say there has to be a reason for suffering. I dieted because I had to lose weight because my knees had a hard time dealing with being 235, my body is comfortable at 180 lb-210 lb. So I am aware of my body and my goal is for each client to be more aware of theirs. At the moment I have a very hard time eating fried foods and drinking alcohol because I get bloated and I just feel horrible. I may not look different but I feel like I gained 15 lbs. So those are things I do not have as much because of that. I personally prefer lifestyle changes versus dieting because it is something you will do for the rest of your life. The more you read these blogs the more you will realize that the game of fitness is about consistency and what you do on a daily basis. Dieting is always going to be temporary solution. If you constantly diet you might be missing out on nutrients your body needs to be kept healthy. You cut out too much fat in your diet and your skin and hair may not look so good. Cut out carbs too long and you are likely to get more fatigued. If you don’t get enough protein your muscles won’t be able to recover after your workouts efficiently. So take note of those when you decide it’s time to diet. Diet is always short term and never should be long term.

Your Biggest Fan

When working out you may have some people who can be a sabatour of your work outs. They may not understand why you are working out now when you may have never done a work out program before. They do this directly or indirectly. Like in some cases I have a few clients that have family members that buy mostly sweets and it will constantly tempt my clients. Now I am not one of those people who say you can never eat that stuff but it is a test to keep it in moderation. I am one of those people who is aware that if it’s in the house I may not be able to control myself. So you have to know who your support system is when you are working out, who other than myself is routing for you to succeed. I do say listen to the ones who are negative, even if they live in your house. Use it all as motivation to push you to your success because you are the one who looks at you in the mirror, and not them.

« Previous Page — Next Page »