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LET'S GET REAL
You may be aware the first step to change is the decision to change. The second step is to make a realistic plan and the final step is to take action. What follows are the steps people just like you have taken to lose weight and look and feel better than ever. Maybe you’ve incorporated several of these habits into your life and are already reaping the benefits. Maybe you need to get on track and start at number one. In either case, let’s get to work!
SO YOU THINK YOU KNOW CARDIO
Aerobic exercise involves the use of large muscles groups moving for long periods of time (but not as long as you think). Running, walking, swimming and biking are all aerobic activities, which increase the heart rate and the body’s usage of oxygen. This is important because the body uses oxygen in the energy-generating process (read: calorie burning).
FAT ATTACKS
When you move on a regular basis - which means consistent bouts of exercise - you change your body chemistry in ways researchers are only beginning to understand. Muscle, just like fat, is an endocrine organ and produces chemical secretions which communicate with the rest of the body.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
I predict it’ll be another multi-billion dollar year in the diet and fitness industry. The fact that most of the widgets, pills and diets will not be the answer you’ve been looking for won’t be remembered in a year. My aim with this article is to dispel a few myths before you start making 3 easy payments.
DON'T WAIT TO MAKE YOUR RESOLUTIONS
Am I willing to decide, is the question you need to ask yourself? What is a decision you have been avoiding in the hope it will be made for you? Are you waiting to commit to daily exercise because work is too busy right now? Or will you start eating healthier when your spouse stops ordering pizza?
DON'T ACT YOUR AGE
Research has confirmed that consistent exercise can add years to your life. More importantly, an active lifestyle lowers your biological age regardless of your chronological age. If you stay fit and healthy, you’ll never act your age.
A LITTLE OLDER...and A LITTLE MORE FIT
Getting older isn’t for the weak, but you can make it a little easier by getting strong. Strength training can improve balance, your kinesthetic awareness (bodily sense of space and movement) and will improve your muscle mass and bone density. This makes your everyday activities easier and a week at the beach less frightening.
Guest Post: Tips for Boosting Confidence While Entering the Post-Lockdown World
For many, social anxieties are part of the mix of emotions leading to this stress. If you’ve been locked down and working from home all the time, odds are it’s been a while since you regularly interacted with people outside of your household. Justin Bennett of HealthyFit.info has created this guide to help you figure out tools you can use to boost your confidence and get back out there.
GOT SQUATS?
If you had to get down in a squat right now without holding onto a chair or bending at the waist excessively, could you? I’m not talking about going to the gym and squatting with a bar on your back. I mean, can you squat down to pick up your phone from the floor without bending at the waist or hurting your feet, knees, hips or back?
BE A CAVEMAN
Does the dramatic rise of obesity and degenerative disease may stem from mankind’s recent adaptation of processed foods, many of which contain grains or products, such as gluten, which come from processing grains? This is a contention behind what is alternately called the Paleo or Caveman diet.
IS STRESS MAKING YOU FAT?
You know the scary things stress can do to your health. Stress raises your blood pressure, lowers your immunity and decreases your performance in everyday tasks. Over time, chronic stress makes everything less enjoyable. Now don’t get stressed out, but stress can also make you fat.
STAND UP STRAIGHT
In Sesame Street terms, “C is for chronic (back pain) or compression (of the spine). I know that’s not catchy, but poor posture may contribute to low back pain, in part because of the disc compression in the spine. Another factor is the weakening of our best friend, the gluteus maximus and a shortening of the hamstrings. In short, if you sit on your butt all day, it will be inactive and weak. The hamstrings shorten after long periods of time in a seated position and have to over-compensate for weak glutes (they extend the hips), which adds to their tightness. Some studies suggest tight hamstrings contribute to 80 percent of all low back pain.
BE FLEXIBLE
Life is not a series of either-or-choices and you always have an option, if you are willing to see it. When you are able to step into the moment and improvise, you allow yourself to enjoy the opportunities, which arise everyday. You can’t change the nature of life, but you can be flexible in your approach.
BUILD CONSISTENCY FIRST
It’s simple, people who make the goal to exercise twice a week are much more likely to achieve their goal than those who seek the “perfect” record of working out every day. This is not to suggest you can’t exercise every day, but if you haven’t seen the inside of a gym for a while, maybe you should be honest with yourself.
MAKE ONE CHANGE
Research confirms our brains can only handle one task at a time. This is especially true if you are exerting “willpower” toward a new endeavor or one in which you’ve failed in the past. The key to successful change is giving yourself permission to master one change at a time, even if it takes weeks, months or a lifetime.
BEGIN WITH THE END IN MIND
Have you tried beginning from where you wish to be, rather than from where you are? How about focusing on your destination rather than from the place you judge yourself to be. Can you really envision the person you will become?
KNOW YOUR WHY
The truth is, you know what to do. You don’t need another diet or a celebrity endorsed cleanse or a trainer to be an accountability partner. You know you should eat better, exercise more consistently, go to sleep earlier and reduce the stress in your life. So, what’s holding you back?
OH NO! KNEE PAIN
I know you know this, but let me say, your body is amazing. It is a dynamic mechanism in which nothing happens in isolation. That said, dysfunctional movement patterns in one area, if left uncorrected, will negatively affect neighboring areas. This can begin a chain reaction, which may trigger pain in parts of the body you had no idea were connected.