Welcome to 2015!
A NEW YEAR of Regenerate Personal Training, better health and wellness.
It’s a given that we always start our year with positive and good intentions.The gym is never as busy as in January and February. It is easy to make a New Year resolution regarding losing weight. It is not easy to implement the resolution if you are not realistic about your goals and plans. Remember it does not make sense to wake on January 1st and commit to the latest fad diet to kick-start your weight loss campaign. How will you start your New Year of FITSPIRATION?
I personally think this year will be a great one. If you have the same resolve and plan to keep your positivity flowing then congratulations, you've already made a great head start.
Make it your resolve in 2015 to follow an educated, well researched approach towards food and exercise, and keep your New Fitness Year on track with these ideas!
1. Be realistic. Create short-term goals that slowly change your lifestyle. Start with daily goals and slowly progress to weekly/ monthly goals. Recording a food and exercise diary are a great idea to keep track of exercise adherence and calorific input and output. You become a lot more responsible when you have to document what goes into your mouth each day. Also writing down and regularly reviewing your motivational goals will help you monitor self-progression and self-motivation.
2. Mix it up. In 2015 try something new. The big trend in fitness isn't one thing, it's everything. Avoid drudgery, avoid stressing the same muscles and work your entire body by doing a variety of workouts.
"Incorporating several different forms of exercise in a training program can be an excellent way to develop the various components of fitness," according to the American Council on Exercise. If your goal is to lose weight, vary
your exercise routine - walking one day, lifting weights the next or take a yoga class after that - this keeps your muscles from becoming too efficient at any one exercise.Remember the 3 components of fitness are cardiovascular, strength and flexibility - try to incorporate them all.
3. Find what works. If you don't enjoy it, you won't do it. Think about what you like to do, or what you liked to do in the past. Did you love riding your bike or swimming as a kid? Why not let the grown-up in you to rekindle your childhood love. Try a spin class or aquarobics class. Indoor cycling and indoor pools provide no excuse for bad weather situations!
Dance exercise classes come in many forms these days. Give Zumba or Shabam a go. These classes are a great FUN way to get fit. Try some TRX suspension training, BOSU or Ballast Ball sessions or if time poor grab a 30 min core class. Mix it up with some TABATA training for a quick fired way to burn those calories, or release some stress with BodyBalance or Yoga - (always check your instructor’s qualifications).
4. Eat smart, eat simple. The more we learn about food, the poorer we seem to eat. Healthy weight is necessary to maintain good health and common sense eating is the key. Cut sugars and fat. Shop the peripheries of the supermarket and stay out of the middle (fresh food generally lines the walls, processed foods are in the aisles). Watch portion size and cut back on alcohol. Think of food + exercise as an equation. If the calories in are always greater than those expended we will never get the right answer or the answer we want!
5. Try the unthinkable. Try running, for instance. An increasing number of people who find their metabolism slowing as they pass 40 are turning to running as a way to keep the weight off. One reason running doesn't seem as arduous anymore could be the inclusion of a walk-to-run program. A walk-to-run program takes non-runners over the course of time, and converts their walks into runs to the point that they can now run easily and comfortably. Use interval systems that change daily to create interest and prove results. For example walk 2min, jog 1min / walk 30 sec, jog 2min. Change ratios until eventually you jog more than you walk. This might just be the thing that will kick your metabolism in the butt.
6. Apply the 5min rule. The 5min rule really works on those days when you just don't have the motivation to exercise. Tell yourself that you will exercise. That once you get started if you feel really bad, or really don't want to you can stop after 5mins. Guaranteed the 5min rule works every time. Within that first 5mins your blood starts pumping, airways open, endorphins kick in, you tell yourself you've made the effort now so why stop. Before you know it you are actually happy you made the effort!
7. It's a lifestyle, not a quick fix. There's a reason why fad diets quickly fade. Fad diets - promising fast results based on a quick fix - may work in the short term, but once you've dropped those kilos, you're back to your old, bad habits. Programs that focus on changing behaviour have a better chance of helping you lose weight and keep it off. Diets alone don't work. A healthy weight-loss program should promote slow, gradual weight loss, generally 0.5 – 1.0kg a week; offer flexibility in food offerings; and not cut back on your recommended daily allowance of vitamins, minerals and proteins. Foods should come from all food groups and not restrict one food group.
8. Persevere. Losing weight, moving more and adopting a healthier lifestyle aren't easy. It won't happen, in a healthy way, overnight. And studies have shown that most resolutions fall by the wayside before January is over. But if you slip up, don't throw in the towel. 71 percent of people surveyed who achieved their resolution, slipped up at least once (and usually early on, in January). So go get back on your fitness horse. If you miss a day at the gym or give in to the temptation of a seductive slice of cheesecake, look at why you slipped up - maybe five days a week at the gym is too much with your schedule, maybe one dessert a week isn't a bad thing - and adjust if you think it will help you reach your goal, get back on your new lifestyle program and carry on.
Above all life is meant to be a balance and FUN. LIVE IT. HAPPY 2015 Everyone :)
Yours in Health and Fitness
Marg Anderson
Quote - “Character is the ability to carry out a good resolution long after the excitement of the moment has passed.” - Cavett Robert:
