Our reasons for beginning to exercise are fundamental to whether we will keep it up, says Michelle Segar, the director of the University of Michigan’s Sport, Health and Activity Research and Policy Center. Too often “society promotes exercise and fitness by hooking into short-term motivation, guilt and shame”. There is some evidence, she says, that younger people will go to the gym more if their reasons are appearance-based, but past our early 20s that doesn’t fuel motivation much. Nor do vague or future goals help (“I want to get fit, I want to lose weight”). Segar, the author of No Sweat: How the Simple Science of Motivation Can Bring You a Lifetime of Fitness, says we will be more successful if we focus on immediate positive feelings such as stress reduction, increased energy and making friends. “The only way we are going to prioritise time to exercise is if it is going to deliver some kind of benefit that is truly compelling and valuable to our daily life,” she says.
The danger of the typical New Year resolutions approach to fitness, says personal trainer Matt Roberts, is that people “jump in and do everything – change their diet, start exercising, stop drinking and smoking – and within a couple of weeks they have lost motivation or got too tired. If you haven’t been in shape, it’s going to take time.” He likes the trend towards high-intensity interval training (HIIT) and recommends people include some, “but to do that every day will be too intense for most people”. Do it once (or twice, at most) a week, combined with slow jogs, swimming and fast walks – plus two or three rest days, at least for the first month. “That will give someone a chance of having recovery sessions alongside the high-intensity workouts.”
It is helpful not to try to make yourself do things you actively dislike, says Segar, who advises thinking about the types of activities – roller-skating? Bike riding? – you liked as a child. But don’t feel you have to really enjoy exercise. “A lot of people who stick with exercise say: ‘I feel better when I do it.’” There are elements that probably will be enjoyable, though, such as the physical response of your body and the feeling of getting stronger, and the pleasure that comes with mastering a sport.
“For many people, the obvious choices aren’t necessarily the ones they would enjoy,” says Sniehotta, who is also the director of the National Institute for Health Research’s policy research unit in behavioural science, “so they need to look outside them. It might be different sports or simple things, like sharing activities with other people.”
Individual motivation – or the lack of it – is only part of the bigger picture. Money, parenting demands or even where you live can all be stumbling blocks, says Sniehotta. Tiredness, depression, work stress or ill family members can all have an impact on physical activity. “If there is a lot of support around you, you will find it easier to maintain physical activity,” he points out. “If you live in certain parts of the country, you might be more comfortable doing outdoor physical activity than in others. To conclude that people who don’t get enough physical activity are just lacking motivation is problematic.”
Segar suggests being realistic. “Skip the ideal of going to the gym five days a week. Be really analytical about work and family-related needs when starting, because if you set yourself up with goals that are too big, you will fail and you’ll feel like a failure. At the end of a week, I always ask my clients to reflect on what worked and what didn’t. Maybe fitting in a walk at lunch worked, but you didn’t have the energy after work to do it.”
“If you need willpower to do something, you don’t really want to do it,” says Segar. Instead, think about exercise “in terms of why we’re doing it and what we want to get from physical activity. How can I benefit today? How do I feel when I move? How do I feel after I move?”
Anything that allows you to exercise while ticking off other goals will help, says Sniehotta. “It provides you with more gratification, and the costs of not doing it are higher.” For instance, walking or cycling to work, or making friends by joining a sports club, or running with a friend. “Or the goal is to spend more time in the countryside, and running helps you do that.”
Try to combine physical activity with something else. “For example, in my workplace I don’t use the lift and I try to reduce email, so when it’s possible I walk over to people,” says Sniehotta. “Over the course of the day, I walk to work, I move a lot in the building and I actually get about 15,000 steps. Try to make physical activity hit as many meaningful targets as you can.”
When you take up running, it can be tiring just getting out of the door – where are your shoes? Your water bottle? What route are you going to take? After a while, points out Sniehottta, “there are no longer costs associated with the activity”. Doing physical activity regularly and planning for it “helps make it a sustainable behaviour”. Missing sessions doesn’t.
What if you don’t have time to exercise? For many people, working two jobs or with extensive caring responsibilities, this can undoubtedly be true, but is it genuinely true for you? It might be a question of priorities, says Sniehotta. He recommends planning: “The first is ‘action planning’, where you plan where, when and how you are going to do it and you try to stick with it.” The second type is ‘coping planning’: “anticipating things that can get in the way and putting a plan into place for how to get motivated again”. Segar adds: “Most people don’t give themselves permission to prioritise self-care behaviours like exercise.”
A workout doesn’t have to take an hour, says Roberts. “A well-structured 15-minute workout can be really effective if you really are pressed for time.” As for regular, longer sessions, he says: “You tell yourself you’re going to make time and change your schedule accordingly.”
It rains for a week, you don’t go running once and then you feel guilty. “It’s a combination of emotion and lack of confidence that brings us to the point where, if people fail a few times, they think it’s a failure of the entire project,” says Sniehotta. Remember it’s possible to get back on track.
If previous exercise regimes haven’t worked, don’t beat yourself up or try them again – just try something else, he says. “We tend to be in the mindset that if you can’t lose weight, you blame it on yourself. However, if you could change that to: ‘This method doesn’t work for me, let’s try something different,’ there is a chance it will be better for you and it prevents you having to blame yourself, which is not helpful.”
“We start to lose muscle mass over the age of around 30,” says Hollie Grant, a personal training and pilates instructor, and the owner of PilatesPT. Resistance training (using body weight, such as press-ups, or equipment, such as resistance bands) is important, she says: “It is going to help keep muscle mass or at least slow down the loss. There needs to be some form of aerobic exercise, too, and we would also recommend people start adding balance challenges because our balance is affected as we get older.”
“If you do 5k runs and you don’t know if you should push faster or go further, rate your exertion from one to 10,” says Grant. “As you see those numbers go down, that’s when to start pushing yourself a bit faster.” Roberts says that, with regular exercise, you should be seeing progress over a two-week period and pushing yourself if you feel it is getting easier. “You’re looking for a change in your speed or endurance or strength.”
If you have caring responsibilities, Roberts says you can do a lot within a small area at home. “In a living room, it is easy to do a routine where you might alternate between doing a leg exercise and an arm exercise,” he says. “It’s called Peripheral Heart Action training. Doing six or eight exercises, this effect of going between the upper and lower body produces a pretty strong metabolism lift and cardiovascular workout.” Try squats, half press-ups, lunges, tricep dips and glute raises. “You’re raising your heart rate, working your muscles and having a good general workout.” These take no more than 15-20 minutes and only require a chair for the tricep dips – although dumbbells can be helpful, too.
We are often told that housework and gardening can contribute to our weekly exercise targets, but is it that simple? “The measure really is you’re getting generally hot, out of breath, and you’re working at a level where, if you have a conversation with somebody while you’re doing it, you’re puffing a bit,” says Roberts. “With gardening, you’d have to be doing the heavier gardening – digging – not just weeding. If you’re walking the dog, you can make it into a genuine exercise session – run with the dog, or find a route that includes some hills.”
Joslyn Thompson Rule, a personal trainer, says: “The general rule is if it’s above the neck – a headache or a cold – while being mindful of how you’re feeling, you are generally OK to do some sort of exercise. If it’s below the neck – if you’re having trouble breathing – rest. The key thing is to be sensible. If you were planning on doing a high-intensity workout, you would take the pace down, but sometimes just moving can make you feel better.” After recovering from an illness, she says, trust your instincts. “You don’t want to go straight back into training four times a week. You might want to do the same number of sessions but make them shorter, or do fewer.”
Clearly, how quickly you start exercising again depends on the type of injury, and you should seek advice from your doctor. Psychologically, though, says Thompson Rule: “Even when we’re doing everything as we should, there are still dips in the road. It’s not going to be a linear progression of getting better.”
Again, says Thompson Rule, listen to your body – and your doctor’s advice at your six-week postnatal checkup. After a caesarean section, getting back to exercise will be slower, while pregnancy-related back injuries and problems with abdominal muscles all affect how soon you can get back to training, and may require physiotherapy. “Once you’re walking and have a bit more energy, depending on where you were before (some women never trained before pregnancy), starting a regime after a baby is quite something to undertake,” says Thompson Rule. “Be patient. I get more emails from women asking when they’re going to get their stomachs flat again than anything. Relax, take care of yourself and take care of your baby. When you’re feeling a bit more energised, slowly get back into your routine.” She recommends starting with “very basic stuff like walking and carrying your baby [in a sling]”.
For goal-oriented people, Grant says, it can be useful to monitor progress closely, but “allow some flexibility in your goals. You might have had a stressful day at work, go out for a run and not do it as quickly and then think: ‘I’m just not going to bother any more.’” However, “It can start to get a bit addictive, and then you don’t listen to your body and you’re more at risk of injury.”
“Winter is not necessarily a time to hibernate,” says Thompson Rule. Be decisive, put your trainers by the door and try not to think about the cold/drizzle/greyness. “It’s the same with going to the gym – it’s that voice in our head that make us feel like it’s a hassle, but once you’re there, you think: ‘Why was I procrastinating about that for so long?’”
I’ve tried and failed a few times to establish a consistent running routine, but that was because I kept pushing myself too hard. Just because I can run for an hour doesn’t mean I should. Running two or three times a week for 20-30 minutes each time has improved my fitness hugely and made it easier to fit in.
I keep a large bag of Midget Gems in my car to motivate myself to get to the gym, allowing myself a handful before a workout. Sometimes I toss in some wine gums for the element of surprise.
I tapped into the vast network of fitness podcasts and online communities. On days I lacked drive, I would listen to a fitness podcast, and by the time I got home, I would be absolutely determined to make the right choices. In fact, I would be excited by it. Your brain responds very well to repetition and reinforcement, so once you have made the difficult initial change, it becomes much easier over time.
I have kept a “star chart” on my calendar for the past two years, after having three years of being chronically unfit. I put a gold star on days that I exercise, and it’s a good visual motivator for when I am feeling slug-like. I run, use our home cross-trainer and do a ski fitness programme from an app. My improved core strength has helped my running and ability to carry my disabled child when needed.
If, like me, you need to get up early to exercise or it just doesn’t happen, move your alarm clock away from your bed and next to your kit. Once you have got up to turn it off, you might as well keep going!
I have one simple rule which could apply to any fitness activity – I do not allow more than four days to elapse between sessions. So, if I know I have a busy couple of days coming up, I make sure I run before them so that I have “banked” my four days. With the exception of illness, injury or family emergencies, I have stuck to this rule for 10 years.
Ask almost any personal trainer and they’ll tell you that regardless of your training goals, healthy eating is the backbone. Food is what fuels your body to reach your goals, and without proper nutrition through quality foods, you’re likely to stall. Maintain a balanced diet consisting of fruits, vegetables, complex carbohydrates, complete proteins, and healthy fats like fish oils and flaxseeds.
Preparing meals in advance gives you the best chance to accomplish your nutrition goals, says Micah LaCerte, a personal trainer and fitness competition world champion. That way, he says, you won’t feel pressured to eat unhealthy foods or skip meals. Check out 10 of our favorite simple meal-prep recipes.
Eating only three daily meals? Not a great idea. “Half the people I deal with aren’t losing weight because they don’t eat enough,” says veteran personal trainer Mike Duffy. Duffy advises his clients “to eat five times a day, about every three hours, to stimulate their metabolism” including two mini-meals between three basic meals. With activity levels decreasing throughout the day, he advises to “eat less as the day goes on.”
You’ll be eating more often, so paying attention to portions is extremely important. “Make sure chicken breasts, (and) meats, are no larger than your palm, and that pastas are no larger than your fists,” says Jay Cardiello, a personal trainer to countless celebrities and professional athletes. He also suggests using “smaller bowls, plates, and cups” because studies show people “serve themselves 20-40% more food when they’re using larger plates.” Here’s how to estimate portion sizes.
Everything you consume should have substantial nutritional value. “You want the most nutritional bang for your buck,” says Dan Trink, C.S.C.S., a strength coach and trainer. “Everything you eat should serve some sort of nutritional purpose in your body, fuel your workouts, and (be) geared toward optimizing your body.”
Talk to any personal trainer and they’ll tell you there are certain muscle-building basics. First, increase your caloric and complete protein intake, so your body has enough building blocks to get bigger. Then, when you enter the gym, focus on your form. Perform compound movements and train with weights on average around four times a week. Never underestimate the importance of rest. Remember, muscle tissue grows outside of the gym when you’re giving your body time to relax and recover following your workouts.
Don’t take any shortcuts. “Aim for the largest range of motion you can achieve in your exercises,” says Lee Boyce, C.P.T. “Your muscles will do more work per rep, and it will result in your breaking down more tissue by the end of the workout.”
Wondering how to get the most out of lifting weights? “Use a weight that will have you failing on the set between the 30- and 40-second mark,” Duffy says. Time under tension causes muscle to grow. “If you’re failing at 20 seconds, you know that weight was too heavy.”
If getting huge is your goal, then throttle back on your cardio workouts, says LaCerte—chances are, you’ll be burning far too many calories. So what should you do if you still want to get in some cardio? LaCerte says “a light jog a few days per week for 20 minutes is adequate.” If you’re aiming to burn fat, of course, then focus on getting enough protein every day (usually one gram of protein per pound of ideal body weight), while still keeping your overall caloric intake low.
Some trainers and lifters feel supplements can play a key role in boosting muscle gains. If you subscribe to that theory, then chances are, you’re already taking protein supplements—but what else? Creatine, for one, “seems to be about the most effective strength- and size-building supplement,” Trink says. To boost your performance, you may also want to try peppermint. Cardiello explains that the scent “alters the perception of how hard you’re working out,” making it seem “less strenuous, slower-paced, and easier to complete.”
When it comes to training for endurance, you’ll need to be hydrated and be sure you’re eating properly because, by its very nature, this form of training is very demanding on your body. You should be doing a good mix of cardio and weight training. And, to increase your aerobic capacity, you should incorporate high-intensity interval training, or HIIT. You’ll likely be sweating buckets and burning calories galore, so be prepared.
If you already own a heart rate monitor or fitness tracker, then this is a good time to start using it. If not, you may want to either go out and buy one, or learn how to do it yourself. “Don’t just exercise for a set amount of time and call it quits,” Duffy says. “You need to bring the intensity with it, and a fitness tracker can help you get a sense of exactly how hard your heart is working.”
To further your endurance training, you need to put in total effort. “You’re going for muscle exhaustion, so remember to fully exhaust the muscles,” Boyce says. How can you do that? Boyce suggests that you “get good at the bodyweight staples—pullups, chinups, pushups, inverted rows, (and) squats. If you can master these movements for high reps, your muscles will get well-conditioned.”
It’s always tempting to take a break when training, but LaCerte advises that you should “stick with rest times of 30 to 45 seconds between sets, because this will help increase your overall endurance. If you are strength training, lift moderate to heavy weight and keep your rep range between 8–15 reps. If you’re running, mix low-intensity, steady-state cardio with sprinting.”
Fatigue may be your biggest enemy when endurance training, but there are some ways to combat it. First, drink beet juice, which is packed with healthy nitrates that can improve your cardiovascular functioning. “Beets can actually increase stamina by up to 16%, and it helps your muscles produce more energy, more efficiently, making exercise less exhausting,” Boyce says. Another way to boost your performance is by carefully selecting your music. “When people listen to favorable music their blood vessels expanded 26%,” according to a study, Boyce says.
If you want to build strength, you have to set goals and be patient. As you’re starting off, it’s important to be consistent and stick with your plan. When you’re in the gym, don’t get distracted. Stay focused on the task at hand. When you leave the gym, make sure you get proper rest and keep track of your progress. If you stay determined, your goals can be accomplished.
Motivation is key. Some good ways to stay motivated while you’re working out: Count down, not up, when performing reps. Another trick: “Look at your dominant hand while you’re pushing up,” Cardiello explains—it “automatically includes a positive reinforcement” because the dominant hand more easily and quickly moves the weight.
When strength training, you’ll be putting your body through very strenuous activity, so it’s important to maintain proper form. By maintaining proper form, “you’re guaranteed to activate the muscle groups that you are looking to train and, most important, you’ll stay healthy and injury-free,” Trink says. “The guy who can stay healthiest can train the most, and, in the long run, make the most progress.”
Ever notice how a bunch of seemingly insignificant things can make all the difference? Strength training is no different. When you’re strength training, you have to “pay attention to the little things, because you’re only as strong as your weakest link,” Boyce says. “If you notice a deficiency, address it in conjunction with your program.”
If you want to make progress, sometimes you have to change things up. “Ensure your body never gets adapted to what’s coming next,” LaCerte explains. Once that happens, you may notice diminishing strength gain results. To avoid this possibility, “switch up how heavy you’re lifting, your tempo of an exercise, your rep/set count, or what time of the day you’re lifting,” he says.
Forget calorie counting, and start thinking of food as fuel for your body. Getting six-pack abs is usually a function of fat loss, not a lack of muscle definition—and burning fat all boils down to a simple equation: Calories in versus calories burned. That means going beyond calories and studying your macronutrient intake—fats, protein, and carbs—to understand how much you consume relative to how much you burn during a workout.
Can’t get the scale to budge? It’s possible you’re gaining muscle and shedding body fat—and that means your net weight change will seem “stuck,” even though you’re making progress. “Take pictures on a weekly basis—front, back, (and) side pictures all from the same angle, same lighting, same clothing.” That way, you’ll see change over time, even though it may not look like it day to day.
Say it with us: Carbs are not the enemy. Unless you’re on an extreme nutrition plan like the keto diet, carbs are an essential source of your body’s energy. That said, you need to be mindful about how you consume those carbs, because eating too many carbs—or eating carbs at the wrong times—can cause your body to store the excess energy as fat. Here’s how to eat carbs for more muscle and less fat.
To flatten your belly, “go below your navel,” Cardiello says. “In a Syracuse University study, people burned more calories the day after they did a lower-body resistance training exercise than after they worked their upper bodies, simply because legs have more mass.” Here’s our roster of lower-body workouts on Men’s Fitness.
An often-overlooked factor, and one stressed by Trink, is to make “sure that your GI tract is healthy, because that’s how you absorb all your nutrients.” Do so by consuming vitamins, fiber, minerals, a probiotic, and water. Cardiello suggests you drink “ice cold water first thing in the morning” adding “you’ll naturally boost your metabolism by up to 24% for 90 minutes.” LaCerte recommends you “drink at least one gallon of water per day.”
As we get older, it’s always a good idea to check in with our General Practitioners (GPs) for regular health check-ups. GPs can check your blood pressure, cholesterol and heart health and also measure your waistline to ensure you’re in a healthy condition before kick starting any new fitness programs.
As you get older, different health issues may develop as you age that alcohol can affect in different ways. Cutting back on alcohol consumption means you’re at less risk of developing long-term health problems such as cancer, heart disease or liver cirrhosis (scarring). You might even lose weight, have more energy and feel better.
Need a reason to stay fit? How about a longer life? For men, fitness level can predict length of life even better than body mass index (BMI) can, according to a study of more than 14,000 men. As a man’s fitness improved, his risk of death from all causes dropped 15 percent and his risk of death from heart disease was reduced by 19 percent.
It’s recommended that older adults do at least 30 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity on most, preferably all, days. If 30 minutes seems too much to you, don’t worry, as some activity, however light, is better for your health than none at all. This could be walking around the block, doing some gardening, or even playing some backyard cricket.
Not too sure where to start when it comes to exercising? No worries! Speak to an Accredited Exercise Physiologist. Basically, an exercise physiologist specialises in designing and delivering safe and effective exercise programs for all populations. Having a chat with one before undertaking any exercise is a smart move.
Cycling is mainly an aerobic activity, which means that your heart, blood vessels and lungs all get a workout. You will breathe deeper, sweat and experience increased body temperature, which will improve your overall fitness level.
Stair climbing burns more calories than a traditional walk and increases your chance to achieve weight loss. It can help to improve your energy, increase the function of your immune system and lower your risk for diabetes, high blood pressure, osteoporosis and heart disease.
No equipment, no worries. Bodyweight exercises like squats, push-ups, or step ups will help to increase muscle tone, maintain sound strength, build bone density, maintain a healthy weight, optimize metabolic function, and reduce the risk of injury, falls and fatigue. It is recommended a minimum of two sessions per week be conducted to achieve the benefits of this training.
Resistance training is one of the most effective ways to maintain muscle mass as we age. There’s a wide range of benefits of engaging in resistance training, and we listed 22 of them here.
A social exercise group class may not immediately ease your arthritis or make your shoulder range amazing but if you have a good time doing it, you’ll feel better. Feeling better means you’ll be more likely to go back again to help kick start those health benefits. Even exercising with a buddy can help keep you accountable ensuring you both get your body moving and heart pumping.
Hydrotherapy is a type of exercise therapy done in a heated pool. It has a wide range of benefits and is used to target and treat a variety of conditions. The use of gentle, controlled movements in warm water (heated up to 31-35 degrees) allows people to steadily progress their range of movement. It’s also a safe, comfortable and often enjoyable environment.
Core strength is more than just working on the six-pack. These muscles support the spine through flexion, extension and rotation, and incorporate the pelvic floor. Learning how to properly engage and activate these muscles daily will help to prevent injury during daily activity, prevent incontinence, boost sexual health, and improve pelvic stability.
Good nutrition plays a key role in healthy ageing and quality of life, especially when there are many physiological changesassociated with the ageing process. When it comes to providing adequate nutrition, making every mouthful count is key, and speaking with an Accredited Practising Dietitian can sometimes be the best option if you have any concerns.
Did you know that simply by playing golf you can extend your life by 5 years in comparison to non-golfers? The research is piling up on the wide range of health benefits you receive from playing golf including improved longevity and cardiovascular fitness, reduced risk of chronic conditions, positive mental health and boosted strength and balance.
Can’t make it to a gym class or out for a run? Stretch in between your favourite tv show or footy game. Resistance stretching (also known as power band stretching) allows you to increase your range of motion and keeps your body moving correctly.
Balance exercises are so important for older men over the age of 55 to help enhance proprioception awareness, coordination, maintain muscle activity and tone, and prevent against falls and the resulting injuries.
There is no one perfect workout or exercise; everyone is different. There’s a wide selection of exercise or physical activity you can undertake from swimming, dancing, cycling, walking the dog, the list goes on! Creating an exercise habit is difficult, but finding one you enjoy can make it easier to come back to – and more likely you’ll stick to your program.
The reality is that running is hard on your body but that’s why it can impact our health in such profound, positive way. Our body adapts and evolves to physical stress if it is dosed out appropriately and investing some money in the right pair of shoes helps too.
Exercise is a great way to keep your heart happy and healthy and it’s a good idea to pay attention to your heart rate during exercise. For adults, moderate intensity exercise is about 50%-65% of your age-predicted heart rate maximum. Your maximum age-predicted heart rate is calculated as follows: Age-predicted HR max = 220 – age. For example, if you’re 50 years old, your maximum HR would be approximately 170 (220 – 50).
Your body won’t recover quite as quickly as it once did when you were younger, so it’s important to take it easy and to allow yourself some recovery time. Whenever we exercise, the body undergoes change to adapt to the stress that we place on it. The by-product of these adaptations can include muscle soreness and fatigue and reduced muscle strength and power. Resting your body is essential by getting plenty of sleep and staying hydrated.
“The first step is truly taking the time to figure out your why, what, and how. The questions I ask my clients are: Why are you adding fitness and wellness into your life now? In what ways will your life be different when you have fitness in your life on a regular basis? And how are you going to include fitness into your lifestyle today, and this week? Once you know the why, what, and how, the mindset is ‘just do it.’ Nike got it right with that one.”
“If you are just starting a new workout program, don’t overcommit or over-perform! Try starting with three days a week, and schedule it into your week like a doctor’s appointment. No need to take a full class—stay for 30 minutes, or try a short private training session or an at-home workout. You want to make sure you are working yourself into shape safely and effectively. Then, after week four, try adding another 30 minutes every other week. You’ll be surprised how empowered you’ll feel!”
“You are better off doing a 45-minute, moderate-intensity strength circuit three times per week than to do a two-hour, high-intensity workout six times a week, and then burning out in three weeks because it’s not sustainable. And remember that it takes time and consistency to build your body, but one workout can put you in a better mood. You leave it all in the gym: the annoying boss, the argument with your best friend, being stuck in traffic… It’s like you get to press reset.”
“Motivation is what gets you started, but making things a habit is how you keep the longevity of an active lifestyle. Having friends, family, and coworkers that exercise with you can help you to persevere. Try to find workout buddies to do healthy things together. Also, what you do outside the gym will have a big influence on the workouts you do inside the gym—making positive changes in your nutrition, hydration, sleep, and stress levels will create big results.”
“My best advice for beginners is to find something you enjoy and focus on small, incremental progress each day. I believe that we get the best results from consistency, and in order to be consistent we need to enjoy the journey. That’s why I like to focus on small daily goals—small goals completed each day make for big progress over time and give us a sense of accomplishment daily.”
“Wearing old, broken-down shoes can negatively impact your joints and ligaments, especially if you’re running, sprinting, or doing plyometrics. So selecting the correct shoes for your workout is important: For instance, tennis shoes are built for lateral movements. If you’re lifting weights, you will want a harder, flatter bottom of your shoe so you feel more connected to the floor. And if you are a runner, most specialty running stores will give you a stride assessment to help decide what shoes are best for your arch, heel strike, and foot width. Invest in the shoe that can be as diverse as possible in the gym and outside, but gives you the correct support your foot needs.”
“Start slow, set realistic goals, be gentle with your body and take breaks as often as necessary. Making the commitment to begin a new workout is hard enough, so if you’re not honest about your physical fitness level and go too hard, you’re setting yourself up to potentially burn out or get injured, and that’s so far from the intended goal.”
“Be patient with yourself—you will have setbacks, and every day will not be perfect. The key is to be persistent and keep moving forward. The only thing constant in life is change, so we should be prepared to make changes to be the best version of ourselves.”
“I always want my new clients to know that the journey they’re about to embark upon tends to be the road less traveled. Those mental battles are hardest to deal with in the beginning stages so stay humble, stay committed, and know that the benefits far outweigh any difficulties. Wake up every day and remind yourself that self-care in all forms is the best decision you can make.”
“Warm-up before starting your routine—a proper warm-up [with dynamic stretching] is important to get the body ready for injury-free movement. Take time to stretch after your workout, and take rest days. There’s plenty of time to build and progress. My other tips: Go into your new venture with a fun, can-do mentality. Set goals and reward yourself upon meeting them, like a massage, new gear, or a weekend away. Stay hydrated, and get yourself on a good nutrition plan—you need proper fuel in your body to succeed.”
“Keep it basic, and don’t over-complicate your workouts. Too often people skip foundational exercises for workouts that look cool and are trendy. Mastering the basics truly takes time, so don’t rush through. A progressive basic workout program including exercises like squats, rows, lunges, and chest presses totally work and get great results.”
“Be willing to look silly and make mistakes without judging yourself. Keep trying, and with every workout you’ll get better and better. Remember, the goal is progress, not perfection. And in a group environment, don’t compare yourself to anyone else in the room. While others may move seamlessly and appear to have superhuman strength, remember that they were once beginners too. Don’t compare your chapter one to someone else’s chapter eleven.”
“People come in with the expectation of long-term results happening fast, but people should look at fitness as a big picture and making exercise a part of their life routine, as opposed to an acute, momentary mindset. Also remember that working out is multi-faceted, and it’s the combination of healthy eating and training together that creates the best results.”
“Focus on the feels. Most fitness goals are long-term projects, but the one exception to this is how we feel, which can immediately and profoundly improve after a single workout. If you’re just starting out, tune into the positive vibes you feel after exercise and let that be your reward. Remember, even as a newbie, you’re only one workout away from a good mood.”
“I tell someone starting out to wear a heart rate monitor so they know how their body is responding to the physical stress of training. Workouts are much more fun if they make sense. That goes along with my motto: train smarter, not harder.” Quick note: A heart rate monitor is a device you wear that tells you your heart’s beats per minute, so you can check it in real-time during your workout. This gives you objective information about how hard your body is actually working, regardless of how hard you feel like you’re working, which is known as your rate of perceived exertion. How hard a workout feels can be influenced by factors like how much enjoy it, the temperature and humidity of the room you’re in, and more—but how you feel isn’t always entirely representative of how hard your body’s actually working.
“Set something other than an aesthetic goal. This can be a certain amount of weight you want to try to squat with, a distance you want to run, or maybe you just want to be able to do a push-up on your toes [instead of your knees]. The issue with aesthetic goals is that they’re fleeting, and they won’t keep you engaged enough to continue working during those tough times when you want to quit. There’s no better feeling than accomplishing that goal. Trust me—that’s how I got into fitness!”
“Make it easy for yourself not to find excuses. Lay your clothes out the night before or pack your bag. Sign up for classes or a trainer at the beginning of the week and put it in your calendar. Order your meals or meal prep or plan out your meals for the week, and make a list of go-to spots that have healthy food near your work, home, and gym. You could also sign up for a race—this gives you a specific training time frame. I know I can commit to things when there is a clear start and end date. It forces me to put in my best effort, and once I cross that finish line, I am overjoyed I accomplished it and ready for another challenge.”
“Be grateful for where you are, right now, and have a clear picture of where you’d like to be. From there, take on a simple plan that aligns with your goals and doesn’t bore you to death… and tackle it one step at a time. And remember to enjoy the process. Getting too caught up in where you want to be can rob you of your joy, today. And that just sucks. Happiness isn’t something that should be reserved for some imagined future. Your body is an absolutely amazing thing. Take a few moments, every day, to appreciate that. Believe or not, that simple gratitude can help you create the strongest body of your life.”
You probably have some idea of how fit you are. But assessing and recording baseline fitness scores can give you benchmarks against which to measure your progress. To assess your aerobic and muscular fitness, flexibility, and body composition, consider recording:
It’s easy to say that you’ll exercise every day. But you’ll need a plan. As you design your fitness program, keep these points in mind:
You’ll probably start with athletic shoes. Be sure to pick shoes designed for the activity you have in mind. For example, running shoes are lighter in weight than cross-training shoes, which are more supportive.
If you’re planning to invest in exercise equipment, choose something that’s practical, enjoyable and easy to use. You may want to try out certain types of equipment at a fitness center before investing in your own equipment.
You might consider using fitness apps for smart devices or other activity tracking devices, such as ones that can track your distance, track calories burned or monitor your heart rate.
Now you’re ready for action. As you begin your fitness program, keep these tips in mind:
Retake your personal fitness assessment six weeks after you start your program and then again every few months. You may notice that you need to increase the amount of time you exercise in order to continue improving. Or you may be pleasantly surprised to find that you’re exercising just the right amount to meet your fitness goals.
If you lose motivation, set new goals or try a new activity. Exercising with a friend or taking a class at a fitness center may help, too.
Starting an exercise program is an important decision. But it doesn’t have to be an overwhelming one. By planning carefully and pacing yourself, you can establish a healthy habit that lasts a lifetime.
Sorry to burst your bubble right off the bat, but it’s true. You can certainly speed up the process, avoid mistakes and maximise your efforts with tried and tested methods, but the key words here are your efforts. Working hard and being disciplined is a prerequisite. The trick is knowing and putting into practice the advice and methods that are more effective than others, so you’re able to maximise your time.
Unless you have over 10-15kg to lose, the scales aren’t going to give you a great deal of useful feedback. The issue with scale weight is it doesn’t distinguish between muscle and fat, and most people know by now that increasing muscle will help you lose body fat and make you look better. Losing muscle is bad, increasing muscle is good, but the scales won’t tell you that!
Just because you aren’t sore the next day, don’t think that you didn’t train effectively. Some people tend to get quite sore and some don’t, it’s quite an individual thing based on your body’s own inflammatory response to training.
This fact is greatly overlooked in much of the fitness industry. While movement quality and training technique isn’t ‘the sexy stuff’ which is going to motivate you and make for an inspirational marketing campaign, it’s often the difference between progress and results or spinning your wheels and getting nowhere. Even worse, training with poor technique and lead to acute or long-term chronic injury.
If you have a positive, can-do attitude with a genuine desire to improve and progress – you WILL get results. A bad attitude will hold you back significantly. There is a direct correlation between attitude and success, regardless of genetics and natural abilities.
None of us are going to live forever, but the more time you spend keeping unhealthy habits, the worse you’ll get over time. The cause is NOT your age, but the amount of time spent living a lifestyle which is detrimental to your body.Is smoking for 10 years worse than smoking for 5 years? Is banging your head against a brick wall for 10 minutes worse for you than doing it for 5 minutes? Of course the answer is yes, and it has nothing to do with being older.
No one gets excited about brushing teeth, but you know it needs to be done, and you just do it. And you wouldn’t clean your teeth five times one week and only once the next. By the same token, exercise shouldn’t happen in just 8-week or 12-week blocks, it should be a normal part of your routine.
Some people are genetically predisposed to being leaner, stronger and fitter. Some people started exercising later on in life so have less training experience and are playing ‘catch up’. Some people grew up eating poorly, and are now trying to
. Exercise is just like brushing your teeth
No one gets excited about brushing teeth, but you know it needs to be done, and you just do it. And you wouldn’t clean your teeth five times one week and only once the next. By the same token, exercise shouldn’t happen in just 8-week or 12-week blocks, it should be a normal part of your routine.
Some people are genetically predisposed to being leaner, stronger and fitter. Some people started exercising later on in life so have less training experience and are playing ‘catch up’. Some people grew up eating poorly, and are now trying to change deeply ingrained habits and reverse the consequences. Some people just need to work harder than others to get the results they want. We are all different. It’s important to understand where you are along the spectrum and where you want to be, and match your dietary efforts and exercise output accordingly.
A healthy post workout meal, 7-9 hours of sleep, stress reduction, and some downtime are essential to a balanced program and optimal results. You don’t get results from the workout; you get results by recovering from the workout.
What you eat (or don’t eat) might have the single biggest impact on your health and lay the framework for your physical fitness and body composition potential.But also think about the quality of the food you eat. If it’s a fruit or vegetable, how was it grown? If it’s an animal, how was it raised? Did it live in a cage or roam free? Was it given a natural grass fed diet or an unnatural grain fed diet? Was it pumped full of hormones and antibiotics? Your food is only as good as the health of the plant or animal it came from. You are what you eat, eats.
But just remember than somewhere in the world there is someone else, in worse circumstances than you, still reaching their goals.
Your body doesn’t work like that. Sometimes you just have to embrace the grind and deal with the monotony of eating well and training and have faith in the process. Don’t expect consistent progress every week. Sometimes things just have to come together to hit a critical mass or a tipping point and, all of a sudden, you’ll notice a big increase in fat loss, or a breakthrough in strength. Embrace the grind.
Not everyone has to follow the same eating plan as long as the fundamental principles stay the same – eat natural whole foods, remove processed foods, provide your body with sufficient nutrients to maintain health, fitness, muscle and strength, and create an energy or calorie deficit to lose unwanted body fat.
This will also be the case in one, five, or 10 years from now. How do you currently eat and move every day? And what adjustments can you make to help you reach your health and fitness goals?