1. Set realistically attainable goals. Track your progress to keep you motivated when times are tough and you don’t feel like exercising. Keeping a journal of your cardio and resistance training workouts, as well as tracking what you eat is truly a fitness success “secret”.
2. In the beginning your fitness plan should not be overly aggressive. If you try to do too much too fast, you may end up quitting altogether. If you’ve tried and failed doing it alone then I suggest you get a training partner or personal trainer who will help you sustain your motivation and accountability.
3. Eat regularly throughout the day. When you restrict your diet, your body instinctively thinks it’s being starved and shifts into a protective mode by storing fat. Your body’s energy expenditures will be fueled by your lean muscles causing your body fat to remain essentially the same while you lose vital fluids and muscle. Here’s a good rule of thumb: make sure that you are consistently “grazing” on health foods about every three hours. This includes at least half a gallon of fresh water every day.
4. Avoid Doing Cardio for more than 28 minutes or more at the same level of intensity. If your trying to store fat then do your long distance cardio, but if your trying to turn your body into a fat burning machine then you must do all out effort repeats of cardiovascular exercise. All out bouts should last anywhere from 10 seconds to 60 seconds with a total exercise time of 10 to 28 minute. Try this: 10 minutes of 20 seconds all out bouts with a recovery of only 10 seconds. It’s intense and so is the afterburn effect you that speeds up fat loss!
5. Don’t waste your time working small muscles with isolated movements. If you don’t enjoy doing resistance training, or are pressed for time, concentrate on working the largest muscle groups with compound resistance movements. Men should be concentrating on legs, chest and back. Women should concentrate more on their legs and back. Get a personal trainer to show you the best exercises including proper form, how many reps and sets to do.
6. Stretch or not stretch – this is debated and you must listen to your body to know how much is right for you. In general hold a stretch for 10-60 seconds and Never bounce, or aggressively push and pull a muscle beyond its natural range.
7. For a flatter mid-section of days gone by be sure to breathe properly while doing abdominal exercises. Pull your belly button in towards your spine during the exertion phase of executing an abdominal repetition.
8. Schedule exercise into your daily planner – and then stick to them. You wouldn’t miss a business meeting or client appointment, would you? So don’t miss your exercise appointment with yourself. Nothing is more important than your health. Nothing. Everything else will crumble around you if your health goes south.
9. Resistance Training reshapes your body – do 2 to 3 times per week, every week: Do you want shapelier legs, firm tummy, defined arms and strong back? Resistance training will give it to you. How about a firm perfectly shaped rear? Being physically fit affects every single aspect of your life: you sleep better, eat better, love better, overcome stress better, work better, communicate better and definitely look better!
10. Never Ever skip breakfast. Your breakfast should contain complete proteins and complex carbohydrates (if you’re trying to lose weight, you should eat the bulk of your complex carbohydrates at breakfast and lunch, and only have vegetable carbohydrates at dinner). A great breakfast is oatmeal (not the pre-packaged, pre-sweetened kind) with a little honey and banana and a protein drink. Or try scrambled egg whites with Healthy Choice turkey sausage.
Yours in good health,
Tonya Tittle, M.S. ACSM
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