Alright October is the month where we get back to the swing of things know that school has been in session for 1 month. It’s also a great month to refocus and get back on track before the holidays. Sometimes simplicity is best instead of trying that crazy workout your neighbor got from the infomercial they saw. Here are five practical but effective steps you can take to regain your momentum going into the holiday season.
1. Define purpose and goals. These are like the foundation of a house if you don’t define these things you will run out of motivation and that the “why” is truly more important than the how so put that first. Your purpose has to have some emotional strings attached to it. Just feeling better doesn’t cut it. How will being fit affect how you are with your family? Will you have more energy to do activities with your kids? Does losing weight make you feel more self confident? Whatever it is you must define it. Whatever it is it has to be strong enough to pull you out of bed on those cold mornings are starting to experience or powerful enough to skip the tempting dessert at dinner.
SMART is acronym commonly used for goal setting it is what adds substance and clearly defines goals. Many people come into us and say things like “I want to get in shape” or “I want to tone.”
Define what that actually means. So using the SMART acronym we could look at it the following way.
Specific-What do you want to accomplish? Lose a dress size; hit a certain body fat percentage, or a combination of these.
Measureable-You can measure bodyfat, girth and clothing sizes so this works
Attainable- You will not drop the 30 pounds you put on over the last year in 30 days. Make it a goal you can hit but you will have to reach and work to do it.
Realistic- I once had someone over 300 pounds tell me they wanted to look like a famous celebrity who was in phenomenal shape and had better genetics whereas this person had been heavy her whole life so be honest with yourself. Don’t set yourself up for failure
Timely-We all focus and work harder when there is a deadline so make one. Maybe it’s a trip or reunion if you don’t have one set up a photo shoot or plan an event. Without this in place we will all procrastinate.
There is we’ve tackled the why. Now let’s get into the how.
2. Nutrition is 70-80% of changing how you look and feel so prioritize it. No matter what you think you cannot outwork a bad diet. There is a saying that abs are made in the kitchen not the gym and it is true. You have to pay attention to what you eat. Don’t expect to change the way you look by just exercising and then turning around and eating pizza and drinking beer the same night. There is no magic bullet it takes discipline.
Here are some tips on dialing in your nutrition.
• Eat 5-6 smaller meals per day. Do not skip breakfast it’s what kickstarts your metabolism.
• Eat protein with carbohydrates at each meal this will help control cravings and keep blood sugar stable making it easier to burn fat, concentrate and maintain energy levels
• For carbohydrates focus on whole food sources versus instant, boxed processed carbohydrates and sugars. Stick with fresh fruits and vegetables and healthy starches like steel cut oats, wild/brown rice, potatoes, and quinoa.
• Track your food intake daily to be more conscience of what you are putting in your body and make adjustments. We recommend using www.dailyburn.com
• Stick to your plan 6 days a week one day is designated “free day” but don’t go overboard.
It’s about consistency not perfection!
3. Strength training at least two times per week. Strength training has so many great benefits but unfortunately it always seems to rank behind cardio. Really when it comes to long term weight loss it gives you more bang for your buck. Each pound of muscle takes 50 calories to maintain so by adding some lean mass you increase your metabolism which helps keep the fat off. Strength training builds up bone density and connective tissue as well puts muscle around joints where it can act like armor and protect them. Focus on basic movements that utilize the entire body and teach it to work as one unit versus machines which isolate the regions of the body and don’t do much in the way of making the body more efficient. Here is strength outline I like to use:
All exercises do 2-3 sets of 8-12 reps
Pick 1 from each category
• Quad dominant –squats, lunges
• Hip Hinge-deadlifts, good mornings
• Horizontal push-pushups, chest press
• Horizontal pull-rows
• Vertical press-Overhead press any variation
• Vertical pull- Pull ups or lat pulldowns
4. Shake up your cardio! The days of moving like a bored zombie on the elliptical are done. Interval training shown to be more effective at improving the metabolism and it keeps you much more mentally engaged. You will also train both the aerobic and anaerobic systems. We recommend 3 sessions per week on non consecutive days.
Here are a couple of practical ways to do this. Always start each cardio workout with a 5-10 minute warm up and cool down.
Option A-Elliptical at moderate pace for 2-3 minutes hop off and do jumping jacks or jump ropes for 1 minute continuous. Repeat this for 4-8 cycles.
Option B-Jog 2-3 minutes then sprint 1 minute. Repeat 4-8 times. Can be done on a treadmill. For beginners you can power walk for 2-3 minutes then jog for 1 min.
Option C-Let mother nature create your intervals try power hiking, trail running, hill running, x-c skiing or my favorite mountain biking. Intervals are not super structured but believe me all these activities get you outdoors and require more balance and focus than a machine in the club.
The bottom line with cardio is keep changing it up your body adapts and gets efficient at using less calories to do an activity after a awhile so you have to keep it guessing if you want to keep making progress. Also find something you like versus doing something because your neighbor lost a bunch of weight doing it. Something you like you will continue to do for the rest of your life.
5. Treat flexibility and joint mobility as equal partners in fitness. With most of us having desk jobs and not moving as much as we used it is that much more important to stay on top of our flexibility and also joint mobility. Flexibility refers to a muscles ability to achieve mechanical length where joint mobility basically refers for a joints ability to move correctly without restrictions. Both are important for example tight calves can be the cause of knee pain with squats and lunges while a locked up joints in the feet can make the hips weak. Maintaining healthy joint mobility and total body flexibility will help us not only prevent injuries but also perform better at whatever we do whether it’s golf, running or just yardwork. These exercises create better overall movement efficiency. I recommend getting a functional movement screen (FMS) here at the Life Wellness Center or Puravida Fitness to determine which area you might need to work on in this department.
In terms of flexibility training we are trying create permanent change in the body so there needs to be more regular stimulus applied so 5-6 times per week is our recommendation.
There you go five areas where you can put some focus on getting back on track. Now this all sounds great but sometimes implementation is the most challenging part. If you need help please contact us at Puravida Fitness to set up a complimentary 1 hour fitness consultation ($75 value) to go over your goals and see if we might have a plan to help you get on track in Backtober. Just call us at 952-220-2448 to set it up or you can go to our website at www.puravidafitness.com
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