Strickland Fitness

Is one of your New Year’s resolutions to lose weight? The best way to conquer this goal is to slowly change your lifestyle. What most people do is immediately go on a diet. Let’s just say the diet works and you reach your ideal weight. What do you do then? Most will fall back to old habits and gain all the weight back. That is why they don’t work in the long run. Diets are just a short term solution. If your resolution is to lose weight, try changing it to lose weight and keep it off.

Losing weight and keeping it off comes from changing your lifestyle. Healthy eating habits, getting plenty of rest, having a consistent cardio and resistance program, and keeping stresses down are all the components of a healthy lifestyle. These are the things that will help you lose weight, keep it off, and live a healthy life for good. You will feel great and you will look great.

How do you successfully change your lifestyle? The answer is to set yourself up for success. Most people use the New Year to try and change everything all at once. This is a very difficult thing to do. The best way is to make small changes over time to give you and your body the time to adapt and implement them into daily life. Make a list of all the things you need to do or change in order to meet your goal. Then start with one. Once this change has become part of your new lifestyle, move to the next one. Move through each change as the previous one becomes normal to you. Over time, all the changes you have made will not feel like changes anymore because they will be part of your lifestyle. Have you ever noticed how gyms get really crowded at the beginning of the year and then taper off to normal crowds by March? This is a perfect example of people trying too much all at once. They give up because they say it’s too hard to do all the things needed to reach their goal. This may not be the fastest way to lose weight, but it will have the longest success.

How can you stay in shape if you are traveling during the holidays? The most important thing is to stay active and make sure your calorie intake doesn’t exceed your calorie output. If you are staying at a hotel, try and stay at one that has a gym. That way the weather will not get in the way of working out. If the weather isn’t a problem, get outside. Do some intervals around the block. Walk up some steep hills that might be around. You can also do some body weight stuff for your resistance training. Pushups, planks, dips, body squats, back raises, and crunches are great body weight exercises. Don’t wait for the New Year to come to start training again. Keep yourself going and then step it up once you get home.

I am going to Oregon on a snow shoe and snowboarding trip. Next post will be Mon. the 29^th. Happy Holidays!!!

What you see in the mirror is just a reflection of how you feel. So what does this mean? You have to change the inside in order to change the outside. Most people find this statement to be backwards. You are probably saying; if I look good then I will feel good. Think about it for a minute. Ask anyone (or yourself) who has an overeating problem when they binge on food. It’s usually when they are sad, mad, stressed, depressed, or have simply given up on their goal. Those are bad feelings which cause a bad behavior.

Go take a look in the mirror right now. What do you see? Does the outside match the inside? Very few people look in the mirror and say; I look fat but I feel great. Or on the other hand, say; I look great but I feel like crap. I am in great shape, but I know on days I don’t feel great, the image that I see usually reflects that.

No matter what your fitness goals, first start with the inside. Get plenty of rest so you start each day feeling refreshed. Eat well to have the energy to complete your day and stay healthy. Do all the things that make you feel fresh, energetic, and motivated. Those feelings will take you to the gym, help you make good eating decisions, and start to change what you see in the mirror.

The core is not a muscle. That is the major misunderstanding people have. Core is the relationship of a group of muscles and how they function together. The core or Lumbo-Pelvic-Hip-Complex (LPHC) is made up of two categorized muscle groups: Stabilizers and movers. The stabilizing muscles of the core are the transverse abs, internal obliques, lumbar, pelvic muscles, and diaphragm. The movers are the lats, hamstrings, rectus abdominus (abs), hip adductors and abductors, and external obliques. All of these muscles make up the core.

Having a strong core is vital to movement, posture, and prevention of injury. Just like most muscle groups, you have to stabilize the core before you train or move it. Strengthening the muscles as individuals and as a group will help to ensure optimal and efficient movement of the body.

Some basic core stabilizing exercises are bridges and hip abductions. Some basic core strengthening exercises are crunches, back extensions, and twists. Remember, doing a bunch of ab exercises is only part of core work. Just as much time needs to be spent on your back, sides and deeper muscles of each. Safe and efficient movement starts and ends with the core. If you have any questions on how to strengthen your core, feel free to email me.

When you go to the gym, make it count. The more intense your workouts, the more calories you burn and the more lean muscle you build. Keep in mind what your goals are while exercising. That should help motivate you in to giving it your all. If you are on the treadmill, don’t watch TV or read a book. Concentrate on hitting your heart rate and not the channel button. Dedicate your workout time to your body and not to catching up on your shows.

I love the feeling of heading to the showers tired and sweaty. I always feel accomplished and motivated to do it again. Doing something is better than doing nothing, but I always feel the difference between working hard and just working. You will always find time to relax. So when you find time to go the gym or workout at home, work hard!