Multiple Layers

          Welcome to afitnewyou!  Today I would like to help you achieve your fitness goals by encouraging you to "hit the weights."  We all know that exercising is good for us, and most people know that the harder you work the more you will get out of it in return.  But even though the majority of people know this, many people do not actually go through with it.  One of the reasons for this is that people are often discouraged, thinking that they will not get enough out of it to make getting to the gym a worthwhile sacrifice.  People commonly do not act upon something unless there is a large enough incentive to do so.  When something comes across your path, the decision process usually involves a debate over the cost-benefits and / or the pros and cons.  And for someone to go through with something, there usually needs to be enough incentive for that person to follow through with it.  Furthermore people typically want to get the most out of something while doing the least amount possible.  So even to just get started, there needs to be a "carrot dangled in front of you.".  But, I am here to tell you that training just a little bit harder, specifically through lifting weights, the rewards and benefits that you get out of exercising become magnified.  You actually can get more out of it than you put in to it.  Just as there are negative spirals that can make one fall into a deeper and deeper whole, on the flip side, there are positive spirals that make your efforts more and more worthwhile.  Lifting weights the correct way will lead to compounded benefits, many of which are the "cherries on top" of what is originally sought after.  So trust me when I tell you that lifting weights is going to give your layers upon layers of benefits.

          I have found that when people decide to start exercising at the gym, they usually have a primary goal.  This goal usually involves achieving a body change.  It is typical for someone who joins the gym to want to either "lose weight" (by lowering their body fat percentage) or "get bigger" (by gaining muscle mass).  People know that in order to achieve the body change that they seek, that there will be a good deal of effort required.  What people don't realize is that the effort they put forth will not only help them reach their primary goal, but also achieve other benefits as well.  Whether trying to lose body fat or gain muscle mass, by choosing to lift weights there will be two and threefold benefits more....sort of like positive side effects.  Even more importantly, the additional benefits achieved will result in an even easier time reaching and maintaining the primary goal.

          Even though personal training involves a specific program shaped around an individual's goals and current abilities, my training philosophy to help anyone achieve a body change always involves lifting weights.  This is because whether someone is trying to lose body fat or gain muscle mass, both body changes call for a healthier body fat percentage which leads to to improved body composition.  However, by lifting weights, the health benefits of exercise becomes multi layered.  And each of these benefits become more helpful to the others creating a positive spiral.

          Without getting into the complexities of the different ways in which the body produces energy, I explain to my clients that it takes a lot more effort and caloric expenditure to build muscle rather than burn fat.  For someone struggling to "lose weight" this might not be so obvious, but it is true.  Even during a resting state, our bodies will be burning fat as a source of energy.  However, when we increase the workload to more moderate to strenuous activities, such as while lifting weights, the body switches to sugar in the blood stream as its source of fuel.  This is what can cause someone to become light-headed while performing very strenuous activity.  So the first layer of benefits of lifting weights and working harder is that you are burning more calories from the get-go.  But here is the first kicker; by training at a higher intensity level, not only are you burning more calories, you are also going to burn fat AFTER the training session as your body converts fat that you have stored to replace the sugar it had just consumed.  In fact, the time that your body remains in the fat burning process after a weight lifting work out in order to replace the spent sugar could be longer than the time you would have spent in a lower intensity fat burning zone. 

          The next layer of benefits comes as you add more lean muscle mass from this muscle building process.  Lean muscle tissue has a higher metabolic rate than does fat tissue.  What this means is that the leaner you become, the faster your metabolism becomes, and therefore the easier it is to remain at a leaner body composition.  This is one of the reasons why you encounter "skinny" people who are able to eat anything they want without ever gaining an ounce.  Again, this isn't meant to discourage you if you aren't at a lean body composition yet; it is meant to encourage you to reach that leaner state, as maintaining it once you attain it will become easier! 

          As I had stated at the beginning of this post, most people who start an exercise routine are doing so in order to attain a body change.  What many people do not realize however is that a body change just doesn't come easy, and that they will have to work plenty hard to achieve that.  But rather than throw in the towel from the start thinking that the reward isn't worth the effort, think about all of the added layers of benefits that I have already mentioned.  And on top of those come many more!  Improving your body composition will not only improve how you look, but your blood chemistry will improve leading to an actual healthier physical body.  Getting leaner requires you to increase your muscle mass, and with increased muscle mass comes increased strength...who wouldn't benefit from being stronger?  Plus, once you start to achieve a body change other people will notice!  I know from my own personal experience, there isn't anything more motivational than someone complimenting you on all of the hard work that you have put in...it makes keeping the hard work up even easier!

          We all know that for one reason or another that we should exercise.  There is no one person that wouldn't benefit from having a healthier body composition and a better proportion of lean muscle mass.  And even though it will not be easy to get there, the benefits to working towards that far out weigh the discomfort along the way.  Training at a moderate to high intensity level can be grueling, but the amount that you will reap in rewards is worth it!  So stop dwelling on all of the reasons you rather loaf about, and think about all that you have to gain...there is probably more for the taking that you realize!  Let the many layers of benefits to increasing your muscle mass and improving your body composition be a rewarding reminder to achieve a fit new you!

Just Do One Thing

          Welcome to afitnewyou!  Today I would like to help motivate you to reach your goals, by taking some of the pressure you might feel off when thinking about all of the things you need to do along the way towards achieving them.  Quite often, when we start to think about something, such as our fitness goals, we tend to start to over think the situation.  Our thoughts can then spiral away while we worry about everything involved.  It is at times like these when we need to think about the K.I.S.S. acronym..."Keep It Simple Stupid."  Rather than thinking about everything that needs to be done and becoming overwhelmed by it all, keep it simple and focus on just one aspect of what you need to do.  This is particularly effective and important when you are focusing on the one thing that you can actually do.  Focusing on something that you can do is crucial to you achieving your goals, because even if you can do one thousand things, spending your time and thoughts worrying about the only one that you cannot accomplish can derail you just as fast as focusing on too many things.  The easiest and simplest way to both start, and advance further down the road towards achieving your fitness goals is to start with the one thing that you can do.  Doing so will not only actually get you started, but it will also give you a sense of accomplishment, which will give you the drive to continue forward!   

          Being a teacher, during this time of year I start to plan ahead for the upcoming school year and set a list of goals that I would like to achieve by the end of that school year.  For a teacher, this is very similar to what many of us do at New Year's with goals for our health and fitness.  And goals are great when they are set up properly, as they lead us to somewhere that we want to eventually be.  But no matter what time of year it is when we set them up, one surefire way to never meet them is to become overwhelmed by them.  Sometimes people become so consumed with what they need to get done that they teeter out before ever getting on their way.  Have you ever gone on a vacation and tried to stick to an overly detailed and ambitious itinerary only to find that at the end of the trip you have become more tired than when you arrived?  If you were the one who made the list of all the "To do's" maybe the most important part of the vacation like "Relax" and / or "Have fun" was forgotten from the list.  With teaching, I know I have had project goals that I was so focused on achieving that I didn't get to enjoy my students' development as much as I should have during the process. Be careful with your fitness goals because the same can be very true.  Whether you are just trying to start out, or you are trying to get to the next level, there may be in fact a good number of things that you need to do, to ultimately achieve the goal.  But don't become so focused on EVERYTHING that has to be done when you can start better by starting with just one thing.

          Even on a day to day basis, in the gym, focusing on getting just one thing done will be helpful.  You most likely go into the gym with a plan for what you want to accomplish for that particular session.  Maybe your goal is to do an entire leg routine, or you are going to do Bi's Tri's and Abs.  That one exercise can become more complicated by pairing it with another exercise in a super set, or you plan on doing a number of sets.  And of course don't forget how many repetitions for any one set.  However you have to start with just one, and you will get the most out of any exercise simply by focusing on each individual repetition as it comes.  For example , this past summer I was training a college student who was home in between semesters.  While performing a set, he would ask me if we were going to be making a drop set, as I would incorporate them frequently into his work outs.  I asked him if it made a difference and he said it did as he wanted to "save some in the tank" for the drop portion of the set.  I tried explaining to him that he wasn't working to his full potential if he was trying to hold back for something later.  He would have been best off if he put 100% effort into the one thing he was doing right there.

         Another time focusing on doing just one thing is efficacious at the gym is when you are either trying something completely new, and / or you are coming back from an injury.  The fear of failure, whether you think you will not be able to do something because you have never done it before, and the fright you have when thinking that you might re-injure yourself often holds many people back from doing their best.  In fact, many people who have a relatively minor ache or pain, and not a significant injury, often don't go through with a workout because they are afraid of failing.  The classic joke "Patient: Doctor it hurts when I do this. Doctor: Then don't do that." rings in my head when I hear and / or see someone in the gym who is hesitant to train because of something ailing them.  Here is a perfect time when simply doing just one thing would be better than doing nothing.  If your back hurts when you dead lift or squat, then do a leg extension instead.  You feel a shoulder strain when doing an over head press?  Doing a lateral raise instead for your shoulders.  The body is very resilient!  I'm sure you can find just one thing to do while at the gym that is comfortable enough.

          I hope that everyone who reads this one day sets the World on fire by reaching their own unique fitness goals.  No matter what your goals are, there will be some sort of plan to get you there.  And whether you're required to do a lot or a little, everyone has to start somewhere.  Make your starting point simple; just do one thing.  Make that one thing the thing you enjoy most.  Make that one thing the thing you CAN do if you are just starting out and / or are limited in some way.  Start small.  The cliche goes, a journey of one thousand miles starts with one step.  Doing just one thing is the simple, yet effective way, you reach a fit new you!