Think FITT for Fitness and Weight Loss

You’re ready to start working out – great! Now comes the tricky bit – getting the right balance of exercise for your goals and taste. Just copying the routine of a fit friend may seem like a good idea, but chances are they’ll have taken a while to work up to that level, and may have very different reasons for exercising.

The key lies in selecting a routine that fits your personal needs. It’s best to seek out a program that makes sense for you. If you’ve not exercised for a while (or ever) you need to start off with a routine that you can really commit to, and that doesn’t become just another stressor in your life.

When designing your routine think FITT: Frequency, Intensity, Time, and Type

Frequency – how many times per week can you commit to training? Be realistic here, you’ll get much better results from going regularly than by beasting yourself everyday for a week and then not going for two. For a balanced routine you’ll want to do cardio 3 times per week and resistance twice per week. 30 minutes 5 times per week has been shown to give significant protection against heart disease, cancer and diabetes!

Time – how long is each session? No one should be in the gym for more than an hour – ever! If you can do more than an hour you’re not working hard enough. The days of long slogs on the treadmill are gone. Think short and intense; do intervals, lift weights, swing the kettlebell – but be out within an hour. After an hour your levels of Cortisol (a stress hormone) rise significantly and your body starts breaking down muscle for energy.

Intensity – how hard should you work? Simple, as hard as you can! Why spend more time than you need looking at sweaty people, under artificial light in questionable outfits? Get in, hit it hard and get out. As above, do intervals, lift weights, swing the kettlebell. Make sure however that the intensity is right for you.

Type – what exercise should you do? This largely depends on what your goals are. If you’re looking for weight loss then a balanced programme of cardio and strength is generally best. If you need to rehab an injured back then more time would be spent on posture and flexibility. The other thing to consider is what do you enjoy? If you love football then playing 5-a-side a couple of times per week, may be much more appealing than interval training. Enjoyment is one of the strongest predictor of long term adherence to exercise.

One of the best ways to make sure you select a fitness routine that suits your personal needs is to work directly with a trainer to create a workout programme just for you. We can help you tailor a routine to your needs and help you make sure your concerns are addressed.

Good Luck

Craig 

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Think Positive for Weight Loss

Getting into shape, losing weight and developing a healthy, happy self-image is a long term project that doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time and dedication to reach goals and make sure the efforts made result in lasting change.

The three keys to successful weight loss are nutrition, exercise and psychology – and not necessarily in that order! The difference between my most successful weight loss clients and the rest isn’t what they eat or how they exercise – its how they think. Don’t misunderstand me, you cannot think the weight off – you still need to eat right and exercise regularly, but dismiss the power of the mind and you’ll limit your results.

So what are the key points for each of the ‘holy trinity’?

Nutrition – What you eat is one of the keys to enjoying weight loss success. Rather than starve yourself or go on a fad plan that won’t produce lasting results, learn to adopt sustainable, healthy eating habits. It’s best to eat a balanced diet that includes whole – not processed – foods. Be sure to include plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables, lean meat, whole grains, legumes, low-fat dairy and other smart options. It is also wise to consider eating less at a sitting, but increasing the frequency of “meals.” Three small meals a day combined with well-spaced-out snacks can keep your body primed for fat burning. Don’t forget your 2 liters of water each day.   

Exercise – Exercise is simply critical for weight loss success. The best plan includes about five days a week of activity that extends for 30 to 60 minutes each time. Make sure to blend in both cardiovascular and strength training for the best results. Cardio exercise can build endurance and burn fat, while strength training helps develop lean muscle mass. The more lean muscle mass you happen to have, the more calories your body will burn naturally. Keep the intensity of your exercise high to reap the best results

Psychology – This is the real secret ingredient necessary to enjoy healthy, happy and successful weight loss. It does take time, dedication and a willingness to achieve to make weight loss goals happen. When you develop the right positive attitude, you can sustain yourself even during the roughest of days. Set realistic weight loss goals, strive to achieve them and focus on mini-successes along the way. Think of exercise as part of your life not and extra – schedule it in. Plan ahead if you’re traveling or away on business. Keep an exercise diary and monitor your progress. When you’re positive about the things you are doing, you will see the results you’re after.

When you strike a balance between eating, exercising and attitude, obstacles will not stand in your way. You’ll have the inner strength to power past weight-loss plateaus and you’ll gain the fortitude necessary to carry you throughout your entire journey. If you’re having trouble with any of these key ingredients or want some insight on setting realistic goals, talk with a personal trainer. They can help you tailor a plan that will work best for you.

Good Luck!

Craig

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Get Fruity For Weight Loss

What’s your fruit intake like? Not as good as it could be?

Most people know they need to eat more fruit in their regular diet. Knowing and doing, however, are two very different things. Fortunately there are some very easy ways to work more fruit into your daily routine. The trick lies in making this healthy and tasty snack more available.

Best Bets

Grabbing any fruit instead of a processed sugar laden or fried snack is always the better choice. That said, when picking up fruit to work into the regular routine, consider fruits that are:

Easy to carry – Bananas, apples, pears, peaches and other similar fruits are easy to toss into a bag to consume later.

Rich in vitamins, minerals and antioxidants – Just about any fruit fits the bill, but some choices are better than others. Generally the darker or more vibrant the colour the better, berries, cherries and citrus are all great choices.

Lower GI – GI (Glycemic Index) is how ‘sugary’ a food is – and applies to fruit as well. Lower GI foods release there energy more slowly and are better options for health and weight loss. Berries, Cherries, Apples and Pears are the best options. Don’t exclude other fruits but don’t overdo them.

Slipping Fruit into the Routine

It’s really not as difficult to work fruit into the regular diet as it might seem. Here are some tips for making sure good, healthy choices are made each and every day:
Be prepared – Throw a few pieces of fruit into a lunch box or bag before heading out for the day. If its available your more likely to eat it. It’s easy to peel a banana, for example, to snack on in the office. An apple is also a great choice here.

Include smoothies into your day – Smoothies are generally better than juice as they contain the whole fruit and are there for more balanced, and easier on your system. Homemade is obviously best but there are some great shop bought options – just check for no added sugar.

Add fruit slices to regular meals – Cut up a banana and add it to the morning cereal. Toss berries into a yogurt cup to get an extra burst of nutrition. Use orange slices and pineapple to enhance a salad. Apple slices also go great with balsamic vinaigrette dressing.

Add dried fruit to cooking – Be careful though as it can be easy to ‘over-do’ dried fruit which can lead to the obvious side effects.
Keep a food diary – It can be very motivating to see in black and white all your good efforts and also your mistakes.

Eating fruit doesn’t have to be difficult or boring. Why not make a resolution to try a different piece of fruit every week – you’ll end up eating more and may find many new, interesting and healthy snacks along the way!

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A Strong Core is Essential

All too often, we try to target our workouts to take care of problem spots. Big thighs, flabby arms, fat rear ends and other very specific areas get the bulk of our exercise attention while the core is overlooked. The truth is this is not a wise way to proceed if real results are desired. Targeting is fine, but it won’t get the job done on its own.

The core – the back and stomach muscles – are essential to include in regular workout routines for a number of reasons. The fact is that all body movement comes from the core. If your stomach and back muscles aren’t properly strengthened and toned, your entire system will suffer.

Try lifting heavy weights to tone those flabby arms, for example, and your back muscles just might protest in a very big way. If this happens, you could suffer an injury that just might sideline your weight loss and exercise efforts for a time.

So, how can you get the workout you really need?

The key to enjoying weight loss and body strengthening success is to go for a whole body workout. While focusing on the core is critical, ideally you do want to include the entire body. To make sure this happens, develop a workout plan that involves all major muscle groups. Be sure to blend both cardiovascular and strength training together, too.

If you’re unsure of how to develop a true full body workout routine, enlist a personal trainer or the professionals at a local gym. The pros can help you out by:

• Tailoring a program to suit your needs – Not everyone can follow exactly the same workout routine. What works for your best friend, for example, might actually be too rigorous for you. Consulting with a pro will result in a routine that takes your strengths and weaknesses into account. Your tailored routine will also be designed to offer the right level of challenge without taxing your body too much.
• Making sure you avoid injury – Beginners often strive too hard to see results. When they do, injuries often happen. At the very least, a workout that is too hard can kill motivation very quickly. When you involve the pros, you’ll end up with a plan that’s been developed to help you reach personal goals while motivating you to succeed.
• Offering moral support – The professionals are there to help you reach your goals. They do this not only by offering their expertise, but also by cheering you on along the way.

A targeted workout won’t provide the overall results you’re after. If you want to see real changes in your body, you need to focus on the whole.

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Stress Can Hurt Your Weight Loss

If you’ve been exercising and eating right to lose weight, but haven’t seen the results you’re after it might be time to check your stress levels. Stress, if left to its own devices, can harm your chances of successfully shedding pounds and reaching your goals. It can also cause a host of other problems you don’t want to deal with!

So, why does stress affect weight loss?

First of all we need to understand that stress is a perfectly natural reaction to the demands of daily life and we need some stress to get things done. But when stress becomes overwhelming we can get into trouble. When we’re stressed we release 40 plus hormones including Adrenaline and Cortisol and we’re more likely to binge eat, drink and smoke and have difficulty sleeping. Left unchecked stress can cause serious physical and mental problems.

All is not lost though as there are a few simple things you can do to reduce stress naturally and help your weight loss efforts in the process. Reducing stress will improve your mood, energy levels and even your weigh in results.

Try these simple, but very effective measures:

• Get active – Exercise is one of the most effective ways to reduce the toll stress can take on the body. Exercise helps you remove the circulating stress hormones from your blood and release muscular tension. Not only will you help yourself lessen stress, but exercise will also aid with weight loss. Work with a personal trainer or talk to the guys at your local gym for assistance in creating an exercise program that fights stress and promotes weight loss.
• Get some sleep – Making sure the body is properly rested is an essential key in the fight against stress. When people are stressed out, they tend to sleep less. This, in turn, can lead to irritability and even more stress. Work on getting at least seven to eight hours a night. Exercising can help make this goal reality but make sure you don’t exercise to close to bedtime, leave at least 3 hours to ‘cool off’ physically and mentally from your workout.
• Meditate – You don’t have to go to a yoga class or read tomes of books to gain the basic benefits of meditation. Just learn some very simple deep-breathing techniques and give yourself a few minutes a day to practice them. Clear your mind, breathe in deeply, relax and let go of the tension you’re holding. When this is combined with other efforts – exercise and rest – the positive impacts can really shine.
• Eat right – Proper nutrition is also important not only for weight loss, but also stress reduction. Steer clear of caffeine. Eat your fruits and vegetables. Avoid fried foods. All the stuff you should be doing anyway, but it will really help

Stress has been linked to heart disease, digestive problems and mental illness. Most people don’t realize that their level of stress is damaging their health. Although the causes of stress cannot be changed by implementing the recommendations above, they will feel a lot easier to deal with and you’ll feel a lot better. Good luck!

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Stay Motivated for Weight Loss

Congratulations you’ve decided to get off the sofa and into your trainers to lose those extra pounds that have crept on over the last couple of years. You’ve probably spent hours researching the best personal trainers, classes and gyms, bought the latest fashionable Lycra number, agonized over the water bottle that best represents you as a person and spent a small fortune on the trainers that ‘work’ with your feet – your motivation is high………..but it won’t last!

Motivation is easy to come by but hard to keep. Type motivation into YouTube and I guarantee you’ll find at least one video that will get you fired up immediately. But what about tomorrow and the next day and the next? When you’re ½ a stone in and that last seven pounds won’t seem to go away, you need a plan in place to keep yourself going.

So, how can you bolster your motivation and make sure it stays on course? There are a few simple tricks that can help you retain your desire to achieve even when the going gets tough. Try these things to help yourself stay on track:

• Don’t work out alone – When you work out alone, it’s all too easy to quit in the last 10 minutes. It’s also a whole lot easier to skip a day here and there. You need a way to hold yourself accountable to overcome those dips in motivation that are very likely to occur. Instead of going it alone, workout with a friend. Keep up with personal training sessions. Join a group exercise class. Just do something that involves another human being that can help hold your feet to the fire if and when the urge to quit strikes.
• Keep a diary – The journey to get into better shape can be long and arduous. It is often fraught with ups and downs, too. Write down everything that happens in a diary. Record your successes and lament about your struggles. Releasing your doubts can help you gain focus. Recording your successes might give you the strength to draw on when you need it the most.
• Set goals – Saying you want to lose 100 pounds is great, but it’s a pretty big number to shoot for. While it’s a great idea to have an end goal, try setting smaller ones along the way. Use milestone goals to help keep yourself going. Give yourself rewards when you attain these milestones, too. Little things like a massage or a new piece of clothing for losing 10 pounds can motivate you to keep reaching for your goals.

Motivation is fleeting and needs to be nurtured if you’re to work through all the ups and downs and achieve your goals. Use the tips above and you’ll be much more likely to stick to your new healthier (and happier I hope) lifestyle, good luck!

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Runners World asked my opinion on how to maintain training over the tricky Christmas period, see what I said……..