February 22nd, 2009 -- Posted in Personal Training |
Well I know that we have talked a lot about cardio for getting started but now it is time to look a bit at your nutrition. Here is your “assignment”. I want you to keep a food diary. No, don’t change anything yet. Just write down for one week every single thing that you put in your mouth.
And I mean everything. Gum, drinks, coffee, meals, snacks, those few jelly beans you grabbed from a co-worker’s candy bowl — EVERYTHING.
A food diary helps us get honest about what we put in our mouths and it is the only place to start for you to get your diet under control. And YES, healthy eating is critical for fitness. It keeps your energy up and fuels your body properly. You can work out a ton but if you put garbage in your body — well you know the old saying about garbage in, garbage out.
So that is it — simple — keep a food diary.
January 23rd, 2009 -- Posted in Personal Training |
Well back with Part two of our series here at Douglasville Personal Training on how to get started with fitness.
In step one, I wanted you to find a cardio program that you like. Now I want you to do that 3 times a week MINIMUM. I have found many people who do well when they do cardio every day. Oh don’t freak out but it puts off the procrastinating. Some people procrastinate until the week is over and they haven’t done anything. So be honest about what kind of person you are and work your cardio routine to suit that.
Check Back soon for part Three
December 27th, 2008 -- Posted in Personal Training |
Pregnancy takes it toll on your body and it will take a while to get it back. Celebrities make it look so easy to get your body back so don’t use them as an example!!
You can get yourself back in shape with a four-pronged approach and you can start as soon as your doctor gives you the all clear. For some women, this is very soon after birth. For others it can be a month or even 2 – so be sure to discuss it with your doctor.
Here is the FOUR PRONGED APPROACH
1 – CARDIO – A cardio plan you can stick with as a busy mom. For a lot of moms this can be taking the baby on a walk every day. For others, time on the treadmill during baby’s nap or when you have help may be more realistic.
2 – STRENGTH TRAINING – You need to get back to lifting heavy weights to build muscle. This will help you burn more calories and strengthen your body. It will also help your bone density which pregnancy could have had a negative impact on.
3 – HEALTHY EATING – You ate well for the baby; now it is time to eat well for you!!
4 – AB WORK – All new moms need a personalized ab workout to help pull their abs back. Crunches are not enough and many new moms need exercises that target deeper muscles so be sure to discuss with your doctor and a personal trainer with certifications specific to the needs of pregnancy.
December 21st, 2008 -- Posted in Personal Training |
Walking has almost become like letter writing, a lost thing of the past. But the reduction is walking explains a lot about this country’s fight with obesity. European countries don’t have the issues, nor do Asian countries. Why is the United States so special in our obesity epidemic? Walking has to be part of the equation.
Children do not walk to school like they used to. As a result, many counties, especially Douglas County, do not have the infrastructure for walking. Many roads do not have sidewalks (or even shoulders) in the area to encourage you to make small trips. Hopefully that will change as people pressure to have these things back. Until then, you can still add walking in many ways.
According to AAA, 15% of car trips are less than one mile. Is there a sidewalk to the grocery store, restaurant, bank, gym etc? If so, why not walk it? If you walked to the gym, you could choose to either skip your cardio or to have a longer session by including that walking time as an increase to your workout time.
If you walk 3 miles per day, you burn about 240 calories. If you do it every day for a year, you will lose 25 pounds.
Do your children ride a school bus? Our children are getting more and more obese. If your children ride a school bus and it is safe to do so, why not start a walking bus with some of the other parents. Yes, you can still walk your children to school. A walking bus is basically a group of children with adult supervision that follows a specific route to school so additional parents and children can join along the way. Can’t fit it in your schedule? Maybe you can just do it in the morning and let them ride the bus home. Every little bit counts.
The point is not to add a bunch of things to your to do list here but just to get you thinking about small things you can change to add more steps to your day. A really small one is instead of waiting or driving around and around for that spot right in front of the gym or grocery, park farther away and walk. Save yourself the door dings and save the close spots for people who are sick or elderly or who may need to be closer.
Make some small changes to your everyday routine to try to rediscover the lost art of walking and watch how the fresh air and extra steps makes you look and feel better.
November 29th, 2008 -- Posted in Personal Training |
With back to school upon us, many of us feel the extra pressure of family life upon us. Having a family is one of the greatest blessings in life, yet it is also one of the biggest challenges. If you don’t believe so, you are not being honest with yourself. Most parents put their families and their children above all other priorities. AND THAT IS GREAT! It is also important to remember that if you don’t look after yourself, you may not be around for your children as long as you want to be. Your health, both physical and mental, is critical to your survival.
So, you are probably now saying to yourself “He doesn’t understand the pressure I am under or the responsibilities that I have” Well, as a parent, I do understand. I know the challenge. But, that said, I also know that there is time in everyone’s week for a bit of self-care. Don’t agree? Here is what you need to do if you are sure you do not have a minute of spare time for exercise. For the next 2 days, track your activities. This is a common exercise in all time management courses.
Where are the wasted chunks of time? Do you spend a lot of time watching TV in the evening? Do you think you could give up just 30 minutes of TV for your workout? Or watch that TV show while you work out at the gym! Do you have a couple of evenings per week where you have larger chunks of time? Maybe these are the times that you should commit to yourself?
The point of doing this exercise is to find a program that fits into your life, not to force a pre-programmed routine into your life. Fitness is a lifetime commitment and it should be enjoyed. If you find something that fits your life, you will stick with it!
I don’t have a lot of time, but I make a small amount of time every morning before work for my routine. This fits my lifestyle. Some days, I would love to spend 2 hours at the gym but that is not realistic. So, I commit to getting up a bit earlier and working out.
Find out what fits into your life. And then find a routine that helps you get the most benefit from the time that you can allocate. This may require some help. I have helped many people develop individual routines so if you know how much time you can commit and you know your goals, come see me and we can work out a program that you can stick with.
November 21st, 2008 -- Posted in Personal Training |
In a recent study at Auburn University, several different workout programs and weight loss programs were compared. The winner? A combination of cardio and strength training. The participants had an average increase to their base metabolic rate of 61 percent. That is nothing short of amazing. It is critical to add strength training to your routine if this is not something that you already do. If you are already strength training and not getting your desired results, you may need to have a serious look at your workout to determine why it is not working.
Strength training workouts must be “changed-up” on a regular basis. You cannot do the same workout day in and day out and expect to see progressive results. There are several different ways to progress. One of the most effective is to add movements that challenge your balance and core strength. These moves also make the original move more challenging. An example of this is adding the ball to your workout. Overhead tricep presses change completely when done on the unstable surface of the ball.
Another way to progress is to make like a flamingo. Performing exercises on one leg adds to the challenge because of the added weight and the instability. Check out one-legged marble squats if you don’t believe me. If you are a beginner, you need to be careful that these new moves do not challenge your form. Proper form is critical to injury prevention.
And a simple no-brainer way to change the load for everyone, STAND UP! Most exercises that you normally perform while sitting on a bench give your body more of a challenge if you perform them while standing. Think of exercises like bicep curls. There are also many other ways to challenge (and breathe life) into a stale routine. Just ask and I would be happy to give you some pointers.
