Planning Ahead

As we begin the 4^th month of the year, it’s a good time to reflect on how your goals are progressing now that 25% of the year has passed.  Maybe you planned to work out a certain number of times each week or lose a certain amount of body fat by the start of summer.  How consistent have you been in taking small steps towards those goals?  Confucius said that “the man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.”  Small steps over time really do create big changes.  How can you help facilitate those small steps?  Planning ahead!

For most of us, life gets too crazy too quickly.  When it comes time to cook a healthy meal or squeeze in a workout, if you haven’t planned for them they often get pushed down the priority list along with your health.  Here are a few tips to help you prepare for a healthy week.

• Meal planning: Grocery shopping can become overwhelming if you haven’t thought about what to make with your ingredients.  Take some time the day before going to the store to plan out your meals for the week.  Try browsing healthy cookbooks for breakfast, lunch, and dinner ideas.  Use these recipes to create your grocery list.  Double the recipe to make enough for a few days to save time in the kitchen during the week.  Knowing what healthy meal you’re going to have each day eliminates the guess work and nudges you down the path of eating well.
• Sunday ritual: It doesn’t necessarily have to be Sunday, but that’s typically when we start to think about the week ahead and what we need to do to prepare for it.  Take a few hours out of each Sunday to stock your kitchen with healthy foods, but don’t just stop there!  Use the rest of your time to prepare and cook your healthy foods so that they’re available and ready to eat during the week.  Wash, chop, and store produce.  Grill, steam, or bake your lean meats.  Cook up a few meals in bulk so you can just reheat and eat or even store some in the freezer for later.  Every Sunday I chop and wash numerous raw vegetables and store them in a large Ziploc bag.  My goal is to finish them by the end of the week and I’m much more successful when I wash and prepare everything ahead of time.
• Pencil in your workouts: I’ll say it before and I’ll say it again.  Make your workouts a priority by scheduling them in your calendar.  Don’t decide that day if you want to work out or not.  Chances are you’ll find an excuse not to.  Treat your workouts like any other appointment and make time for them in your weekly schedule.  Pack your workout bag the night before.
  When you make fitness a priority and carve out time for it you’ll be more likely to cut back on other sedentary activities like watching TV or surfing the web.  Always remember too that doing something is better than nothing.  Just because you don’t have 60 minutes to exercise every day doesn’t mean it’s not worth sweating it out 3 times a week for 45 minutes.  Do what you can.
• Have a backup plan: Things don’t always go according to plan but having a backup arrangement will help you stay on track.  If you can’t get to the gym, have a few home workouts or fitness DVDs to pull from.  Store healthy snacks in your bag or car such as raw nuts or Kind bars in case you get stuck out of the house and hunger strikes.  Have several nutritious meals stored in the freezer in the event that you find nothing in the fridge to eat.

I hope these tips will help you on your path to wellness.  I’d love to hear from you!  What are some ways you plan ahead for healthy living?

In good health,

Ryan Healy, BS, NSCA-CSCS

Staying Motivated

It seems we were setting resolutions only a few short weeks ago, but as March quickly approaches it’s been almost two months since New Year’s Day.  If you set fitness or health related goals for 2012, hopefully you’ve stuck with it so far and are reaping the benefits!  If you haven’t or you’re starting to lose steam, that’s ok.   Tomorrow is a new day, and you can use your experiences to figure out what worked well for you and what needs tweaking in your program.  Here are some tips to help keep you motivated and get back on track to reaching your goals!

• Mix it up: Fitness programs often fail because participants do the same workout routine every time they go to the gym.  Not only does it become boring but your body becomes more efficient at the movements it’s performing and you end up burning less calories than when you first began.  If you use the treadmill every time, try an elliptical, stair climber, or a rower.  Mixing in intervals is an engaging way to increase the intensity and there are endless ways in which you can modify the work and recovery periods to change the workout.

  Progression is key in resistance training.  Advance the exercises to more difficult ones (provided you’ve mastered the basics) and keep increasing the amount of weight you’re lifting.  Even small amounts and changes can add up to big results.

• Measure your progress: Peter Drucker said “what gets measured, gets managed.”  A powerful statement.  Looking at yourself in the mirror everyday you might not see the changes that are happening to your body.  Depending on your goal, keeping track of measurements such as body weight, body fat percent, circumferences, or maximal weight lifted can be extremely motivating once you see the numbers start to change.

  If your goal was to exercise to feel better, ask yourself what that really means to you.  Does that mean more energy, enhanced endurance, improved sleep, or fitting into your clothes better?  Whatever it might be, find a way to measure it to get a good idea of what works for you.  For example, at the end of each day rate how energized you felt on a scale of 1-10 to make your progress more objective.

• Remind yourself why you’re doing it: Do whatever it takes to remind yourself on a daily basis of the importance of your goal.  Write out your goal several times and tape it to different objects around your house or in the car.  List the reasons behind your goal too and tape those to the fridge or save them as your desktop background if you use your computer frequently.  Dig deep to find compelling reasons that will help you thwart excuses.  Do you really want to lose 20 pounds so that you can fit into your high school jeans or is it something more than that?  These little reminders can help you make smart choices that lead to long term gratification over short term convenience or satisfaction.
• Don’t let roadblocks stop you: Sure, you probably got sick over the winter which challenged your consistency or went on vacation and didn’t exercise as usual.  These are normal parts of life so don’t see them as reasons to quit or start again next year.  Your body will thank you if you can get back into the swing of things as soon as possible!  Don’t beat yourself up for missing a few days or weeks even, just do what you can the next day.  Something is always better than nothing!

  Also, keeping a diet and exercise journal can really help to identify your most common roadblocks.  It’s great to be aware of these because you can plan around them next time or think of alternatives.   For example, maybe you notice that each time you go home after work to change into your workout clothes you don’t make it to the gym.  As an alternative, you could pack your gear the night before and head straight to the fitness center.

• Seek professional guidance:  When you’re not sure what exercises you should be doing, how many sets vs. repetitions, or if you’re even doing the exercises correctly it’s a great time to hire a qualified personal trainer to help educate you and evaluate your routine.   In a few short sessions they can have you ready to go on an effective and successful fitness program.  If that’s not an option you could also enlist in a program like we offer at the LVO YMCA called Activtrax.  It takes the personal information you input and will give you a general fitness routine.  You can even access it online and use their software to track your workouts.

 

Now let me ask you!  For those of you that exercise regularly, what tips do you have that keep you motivated and consistent with your fitness routine?

In good health,

Ryan Healy, BS, NSCA-CSCS

Seated Elliptical: What’s that?

At the end of December the Lynch/Van Otterloo YMCA was fortunate enough to have most of its cardiovascular equipment replaced with new pieces, in addition to receiving a third weight lifting rack.  Just in time for New Years!  While most of the new cardio machines are similar to the pieces they replaced, you may have noticed a few new machines you’ve never seen before.

I’d like to introduce you to our two new Octane recumbent ellipticals.  I’ve seen many people walk past these while giving them a quizzical eye maybe because they’re new or because they’re not exactly sure if it’s an elliptical or a bike.  Next time you walk by this hybrid, give it a try!  There are many benefits to these for the physically fit or the physically challenged.

Here’s what you should know about them:

• Requires significantly more glute activation, uses a greater range of motion in the lower body, and burns more calories than a traditional recumbent bike
• Has multi-grip arms to push and pull
• Allows you to work upper and lower extremities together or each separately
• Lower impact than a traditional elliptical which can be good for those with joint problems
• Extremely adjustable seat height and tilt
• Features a step through design which is particularly useful for the physically challenged
• Option to pedal backwards
• Uses a back pad to support the upper body

This is really a versatile piece of equipment and worth a shot if you want to try something new or if you have physical limitations.

Have you tried a recumbent elliptical yet?  What did you think?

In good health,

Ryan Healy, BS, NSCA-CSCS

Goal Setting

Having a goal to shoot for is always a good thing as it keeps you motivated and engaged.  Not to mention achieving something you’ve worked really hard for feels great.  Where many people go wrong is in creating the plan, or lack thereof, to help them reach their goals.  As the old saying goes, “He who fails to plan, plans to fail.”  If you wanted to go on a road trip you’d use a map to figure out the best way to get to your destination depending on what you wanted to see.  Goal setting works the same way.  You need a map to get you to your destination quickly and safely.  At the Y we use the acronym S.M.A.R.T to help our clients set their goals and create a map.  Let’s use an example of someone, we’ll call her Jane, that wants to lose body fat.  To make her goals S.M.A.R.T let’s go through each letter to give you an example of proper goal setting.

Specific: Don’t just come up with a vague goal such as “I want to be in better shape.”  Figure out what that means to you.  Does that mean becoming faster, stronger, or having a better body composition?  Let’s take Jane’s goal and make it specific.  Instead of “I want to lose body fat,” Jane’s specific goal would be “I want to lose 10% body fat bringing me to a body fat percent of 20.”

Measurable:  It’s hard to gauge your progress unless you can measure it.  To help Jane keep track of hers she could meet with her trainer every month to get her body fat assessed and see how close she is to meeting her goal.

Action Steps: What steps will you need to take to reach your goal?  You’ll have to go beyond what you’re currently doing to get there.  What are you willing to give up or sacrifice to meet your goal?  Try listing 6 of the most important action items to help you reach your goal.  Don’t try to do them all at once but instead see if you can master one of them each week or two.  That way you’ll be more likely to form a habit instead of getting overwhelmed at the prospect of changing everything at once.  Here’s Jane’s hypothetical list.

1. Strength train 3 days a week
2. Drink 8 cups of water a day
3. Have dessert only twice a week instead of every night
4. Eat vegetables with every meal
5. Add in two days of interval training
6. Eat breakfast daily

Realistic: Your goal should be something that’s not easily achieved or you probably would have done it already, but also not something that’s so unrealistic that you give up easily.  This can be very subjective but most people know if they really take some time to think about it, what is feasible for them.  If the last time Jane had 20% body fat was when she was 12 years old that might not be a reasonable goal for her.  However if it was a body fat percent that she maintained 10 years ago when she was in her twenties then it is probably realistic for her to achieve that with hard work.

Time Frame: An open ended goal without a specific date or time frame can easily get pushed down the list of important items in your life.  Picking a significant date such as a birthday, holiday, or important event can give more urgency to your goal and help keep you on track.  Maybe Jane wants to lose 10% body fat by Memorial Day so that she can feel comfortable in a bathing suit during the summer.    Now she has a date set that she can circle on her calendar and work backwards to figure out how much body fat she’ll need to lose each month to hit her targets.

Additional goal setting tips:

-Write out your goal and hang it up where you can see it regularly, especially first thing in the morning so you can start your day off with a gentle reminder.

-If your goal is to lose body fat try hanging up pictures of yourself from a time when you were at your goal weight around the house for motivation.

-Schedule and include your timeline, action steps, and measurements in your daily planner or calendar.  Jane would write in her: workouts, monthly meetings with her trainer, targets for each month, end date, and any new actions steps every few weeks.

-Take time each day to help prepare for your action steps.  For Jane it could be packing her gym bag or preparing her healthy breakfast the night before, filling up a few water bottles to have around the house, or chopping and portioning out her vegetables for the week on Sundays.

With New Year’s Day right around the corner, will you be making any health oriented goals and how do you plan to achieve them?

 

In good health,

Ryan Healy, BS, NSCA-CSCS

Reasons to Hire a Personal Trainer

As 2011 comes to a close many people will look back and reflect upon the year while they set goals for 2012. New Year’s resolutions are often health related because of its importance to quality of life. A personal trainer can make a big impact on helping you achieve those goals. If you hadn’t thought about hiring one before or if you’re on the fence about it, here are 5 reasons why you should hire a personal trainer.

1. Save Money: Working with an educated personal trainer will allow you to stop wasting money on exercise gimmicks, weight loss pills, or the latest fad diet book. An experienced trainer will help you sift through ineffective techniques to help you stay on track with a solid exercise program and a basic nutritional foundation so you don’t have to waste your money or time. As someone who worked for several years in corporate fitness, I also know that becoming fit can reduce healthcare costs in a big way. With the right program, hard work, and consistency I’ve seen many clients come off or reduce their prescription medications by suggestion of their doctor. Not to mention fewer sick days, doctors’ visits, and co-pays also equates to more money in your wallet.
2. Save Time: Do you know exactly what kind of exercise to be doing to support your health and fitness goals? Unless you actively and thoroughly educate yourself from knowledgeable sources it’s really easy for workouts to become filled with ineffective exercises or improper techniques. Understandably so because proper exercise technique and program design is not something most people are taught. Instead of taking a blind leap and guessing what you should be doing, a trainer will devise a program just for you and use it like a map to get you to your destination in the shortest amount of time. In a society where everyone seems to having a growing list of obligations, why wouldn’t you want to make your workouts as efficient and timely as possible?
3. Accountability: Habits take time to develop and by scheduling a weekly meeting with your personal trainer you’ll start settling into an exercise routine. Having a set appointment each week will help you show up, which is often half the battle. Not only is your trainer counting on you to be there, but they can hold you accountable through other means such as food logs, weigh-ins, and body fat or strength testing.
4. Injury Reduction: A good trainer will evaluate or screen you so they can spot poor movement patterns, limitations, and tight or weak muscles. They’ll use that information to incorporate corrective exercises into your program to help reduce your risk of injury. I see a lot of people every week that spend hours at a desk each day. This alone can cause a lot of imbalances in the body, and if they’re not addressed they can cause a host of other problems.
5. Special Conditions: Those with prior injuries or certain health conditions may have more questions than the average person on developing a safe and effective exercise routine that works for them. Personal trainers can work with your doctors or physical therapists to ensure you’re getting the best possible workout routine for you.

Things to keep in mind: Make sure your trainer holds a personal training certification, preferably from one of the major certifying bodies such as NSCA, ACSM, ACE, YMCA, NASM, etc. Be an informed consumer and find out what their qualifications and experiences are. Do they hold a degree in a related field? Are they CPR certified? Does their motivation and communication style work well for you? A trainer worth your time will have no problem answering these questions. If the first one you meet with isn’t a good fit don’t be afraid to look for a better match!

Now let’s hear from you! Have you ever hired a personal trainer or would you consider it? What were your top reasons for working with a trainer?

In good health,

Ryan Healy, BS, NSCA-CSCS