As a personal trainer who has been in the business for five years, I know what to expect when January rolls around. There is a HUGE influx of new members that are SO excited to start a New Year and FINALLY achieve those New Year’s resolutions of living a healthier lifestyle. When I sit down with those people, I am obviously excited for them to start on their wellness journey, but I am also afraid of their consistency.
If you are one of those people, what I would highly suggest you do is sit down and ask if you are TRULY ready for this transformation process. Looking back on all of your past excuses on why you haven’t been in a consistent fitness program and telling yourself that there are no more excuses this year, could you do that? It’s hard for all of us to set priorities in order to put ourselves first each day, but the fact is you HAVE to in order for you to finally live a healthier lifestyle.
Secondly, you need to have patience and take baby steps in order to achieve success. You CAN achieve these goals but you need to set realistic goals that you know you can achieve consistently to give you positive motivation to continue. This whole process is all about changing your lifestyle behaviors to the point where you feel guilty about not working out on a consistent basis. If you made a list of everything that you want to change about yourself and then conquered one thing on that list a week, you could have that list done in no time! Each task that you cross off your list is another positive motivation factor that will keep you going so that you won’t want to quit.
Tools for Success
There are four main tools that you need in order to change your behaviors and live a complete healthy lifestyle and those are:
- A positive mind
- Proper nutrition
- Strength training
- Cardiovascular training
The baseline requirements for a complete fitness program are at least two full body strength training workouts along with 150 minutes of moderate intensity cardiovascular exercise per week. Strength training allows you to build up lean muscle tissue in order to increase your metabolism so that your body is transformed into a fat burning machine that lasts all day. Cardiovascular exercises is not only good for the heart but steady state cardiovascular exercise acts as a catalyst effect with weight loss because it helps your body to burn off excess bodyfat quicker.
Even the best workouts where you are dripping sweat aren’t beneficial if you aren’t eating properly. I have my clients log their food with MyFitnessPal in order to see how many calories they are eating along with how many of each macronutrient they are ingesting. Our bodies need a variety of foods with protein, carbohydrates, good fats, minerals and vitamins in order for our bodies to run efficiently. If we are undernourished or over nourished, our bodies will store fat for later energy use unless we eat the right amount of each. This is another reason why tracking your food helps because this tool shows you exactly how much you should be eating and holds you accountable along your fitness journey.
How We Can Help
Fitness & Nutrition Seminar – With all of this information in mind, it’s now the time for you to make a choice of how you want to achieve your goals in 2016. At Performance we are holding a Fitness & Nutrition Seminar on January 16th at 9am and January 20th at 6:30pm where, our dietitian, Eric Bockelman, and I will be discussing the importance of each of these components in order for you to make the right decision based on your individual needs.Our goal is for you to be able to learn what we have to offer here at Performance as well as give you the basic knowledge on how to achieve your wellness goals faster. This is perfect for anyone who is struggling on reaching their goals or has finally told themselves that this year is the year they will finally change and develop a healthier lifestyle. We will focus on the benefits of a fitness program along with proper nutrition to hopefully steer you in the right direction in time for the New Year! Please stop at the front desk to register for this free seminar.
Fit360 – Fit360 is a complete wellness program that is perfect for any beginner that is just starting their fitness journey or for those individuals that need the extra accountability. This 12-week program has been developed for members to receive all the tools they need in order to reach their fitness goals and live a healthier lifestyle. Each week you will be participate in two 45-minute workouts with one of our certified personal trainers, as well as receive a weekly appointment with our Dietitian to hold you accountable for your nutritional habits. All of these components are needed in order to achieve a healthier lifestyle, but as an added bonus you will also receive a MyZone watch along with a belt to track your daily caloric output.
Most people have a hard time when they start a new transformation to change their behavioral habits and it’s very difficult to change everything at once. This program allows you to have help along the way for 12 weeks to give you the education, accountability, commitment and results for you to continue for the rest of your life. The next session will start February 1st with training sessions offered at 5:45 am Tuesday and Thursday along with an evening schedule of 6:15 on Monday and 5:30 pm on Wednesdays. You will also have weekly individual consultations with our dietitian scheduled at your convenience. Please make sure you register at the front desk because there are only 12 spots available for each time. More details on Fit360
Individual Goal Setting – Please feel free to e-mail me for any questions at lweatherford@perfther.com or schedule an appointment with me in order to get you started on your goals. I look forward to meeting you!
