Saturday, April 4

On The Spot

A lot of people ask me how to get rid of the jiggle under their arms, or the pouch around their belly. Everyone wants to be able to target one area and fix whatever they think is wrong with it and have that be that. Unfortunately, "spot training" is impossible.

When you exercise, your body pulls energy (calories) from all over your body to perform the task. If you are doing a bicep curl, the calories being burned may not be, and probably won't be, from the bicep. That's why spot training doesn't work. If you want to get rid of the jiggle under the arm, or the floppy belly, you'll have to work your entire body. I guarantee you that you will not see the results you want by simply doing crunches to slim that waistline!

When you work the entire body, you burn way more calories and slim down everywhere. Doing strength training exercises to build lean muscle tissue in the areas you want to have toned up is certainly important, but you can't blast fat away by only working one specific area. Get your whole body involved in cardio workouts as well as strength training, and then you will see the results you want.

On another note, I'm unbelievably excited to say that one of my clients has lost just over 25" as of today, and almost 12lbs. This is after training for about 2 months. She's an absolute success story, and I couldn't be more proud of her. She worked hard to get to this point, completely changed her habits, and stuck with it. I like to think she had fun too *smiles*

And, her results go to prove that you can't just use pounds or a scale to see the full picture. Judging your success by pounds alone will not show you the true results of your hard work. AND, women, it goes to prove that strength training does not make you bulk up!

I hope when you read my blog you find yourself more and more ready and able to make healthy changes in your life. Don't just read what I'm writing, listen to what I'm telling you and take charge! Take the next leap and do what you know you need to, whatever it may be. You CAN do it!

Friday, April 3

What 's Your Motto?

"The advantage of exercising everyday is that you die healthier"

If this is your motto...tsk tsk tsk

Being healthy and fit is proven to increase your chances of living a long life, and living it well. When you exercise, you are less likely to get diseases, become disabled, stiff, and depressed.

Yes, we all die, but I don't think many people lay on their death bed wishing they ate more greasy foods or cake during their life. I doubt many people on their death bed think "Man, I wish I had just stayed home on the couch watching TV more often, instead of going out with my family on those hiking trips."

Ya get what I'm saying? Sure, it's easier to do nothing but sit in your comfies curled up on the couch watching your favorite show on TV; it's easier to eat junk to cover up your emotions of pain, guilt, fear, etc etc, instead of facing them head on. I've been there and done that, and I know that lifestyle did nothing for me.
It did not make me a better or stronger (mentally and physically) woman. We don't become better without challenge, work, failure, and fear. When we let these negative elements control our lives, we sink into a shell of a body that we hate.

When I started my journey towards a healthier lifestyle, I taught myself what it felt like to succeed. I learned how to GO FOR IT despite being terrified. The amount of times I've felt proud to be who I am now, compared to before this journey started, is amazing. I actually have a sense of fearlessness within me. It sounds silly and cliche, I know, but if you've ever been unhealthy, shy, and insecure, to come out of that to the other side will change you forever.

Now, you will probably never feel like you're as healthy or fit as you want to be. I know that no matter how hard I work I will always want to be better. That is what it is to be human. That is what drives us and makes us move forward in life. We can't be satisfied or we'll stop progressing.

Being happy of your accomplishments is crucial, being proud of who you are and loving the person you've made yourself into is vital, but that doesn't mean you can't want more. Push yourself to do what you want to do, but don't think you can, and surprise yourself!

Thursday, April 2

MmmmmMm Panini!

So I tried a panini for the first time this evening. YUM!

I was running a little late getting home and still had to stop off at Sobeys to grab something for supper. Having no interest in dirtying a bunch of dishes and making a big dinner, I went straight for the microwave dinner section. I'm not a fan of TV dinners; I find they are usually over processed, full of sodium and fat, and just don't compare to a healthy, natural, home cooked meal. But, I feel there are some that are fine for quick meals once in awhile.

I've had good luck with Lean Cuisine dinners in the past. The food is always reasonably yummy and from reading nutrition label after nutrition label, I think they have a good track record. So, I grabbed one of their panini dinners and headed home. I wasn't expecting it to be great, but man, YUM!

I got the chicken, spinach, and mushroom panini. It has 7g of fat, which I consider a lot, so that didn't thrill me, but at only 270 calories, 20g of protein, and 25% of your daily intake for calcium, I was content. This is definitely not a dinner I would recommend eating all of time though! The sodium, though not as high as I've seen, is still quite high for an everyday meal and there are way healthier meals you should try to consume regularly instead.

I would consider this to be a low-guilt treat :) If you're in a hurry, and you want something quick but justifiable, go ahead, grab one and enjoy!! I did!

Wednesday, April 1

SMART Goal Setting

You can't have success without a goal, and it's hard to have success if you're trying to obtain a goal that is not S.M.A.R.T.

This is one of the first things I learned becoming a trainer. SMART is an acronym for Specific, Measurable, Action oriented, Realistic, and Timed. For health and fitness, the best goal is one that fits these requirements.

Example: If you have a goal that is specific (run a half marathon), measurable (you know when you've reached your goal as you cross the finish line), action oriented (start a running program), realistic (the date of the race is in a reasonable amount of time for you to safely train for), and timed (race date is ____) then you have something solid to work towards.

One thing I stress about goal setting, is to forget about weight or inches. Set a goal for an experience! Plan a hiking trip in the mountains, or a canoeing trip, triathlon, anything that will provide a positive and exciting reward at the end. Setting a goal to lose 10lbs may fit the SMART terms, but what happens after you lose 10lbs?

Set a goal to run 5km (for example), pick a race, and train as hard as you can for it! You aren't in control of the race date, so you know making it to a workout, or missing it, will have a strong effect on how well you perform. And when you participate in an event or activity, you will usually have pictures to look back on, sometimes a T-Shirt or even a medal, and you'll have these things forever to show what you accomplished.

Once you meet your goal, and you get the rush feeling of victory, you'll be looking for a new challenge to embrace and train your butt off for! Losing pounds, gaining strength, becoming more toned, all of that will happen, but it will not be the focus of your journey, it's just icing!

Monday, March 30

Moncton Conference

So, I went away this past weekend to Moncton for a CanFit-Pro conference. In order to stay certified, it is mandatory that I keep current with my education by participating in continued education course each year. Of course, with my attitude of wanting to become one of the best of the best, I am learning whatever I can whenever I have the opportunity to.

This weekend's conference was fantastic! There were five 90min. courses in one day, and all hit on basically the same thing; muscle imbalances and how to train the body in a functional way to improve daily living.

It is amazing to me how our bodies work. I learned a lot of new exercises and how to make the body work the way it was designed to so that the movements we make naturally in life are preformed safer and more efficiently.

I was taught that if you want to target every single muscle in the body, you only need to do three exercises: plank, side plank, and bridge. Who knew it could be so simple?! Of course, in order to keep overloading the muscle you need to change those three exercises over time to be more complex. I learned many ways to change the intensity of these three base move. Man, what a work out!

I can't wait to start integrating some of these new exercises into my classes, and am looking forward to training my clients with this new fresh information in mind!