Strickland Fitness

When we need to reach a goal, it is sometimes better to walk before we run and take it one step at a time. It's the same with working out and attempting to get healthy and fit. It takes every little step to make it and it might have to start with walking. Non-runners always ask me how they can become runners and I always tell them the same thing – start walking first and build up from there. Hope this story helps those who are trying to get to the path of health. – Best, Chad

It's really hard for many folks to stick with an exercise or diet program. It really takes strong willpower to stay committed to one's physical goals. As we head into May and closer towards summertime, here's a great piece on how to keep your willpower strong and steady as you start a new exercise program. – Make it a great day, Chad

By Christine Carter, PhD / Huffington Post

Who among us has not made a plan to get up in the morning and exercise, but then hit snooze one time too many, sleeping through our morning jog?

We may have been super-inspired by the incredible brain-boosting properties of exercise. We may have had every intention to start an exercise plan and stick to it. But then… We didn't. Our warm bed sucked us in. We'll exercise tomorrow.

What we need is willpower. Once we get in the habit of exercising — or of staying calm in the face of a toddler meltdown, of not checking our email after 5 p.m., or of doing anything else we want to have the resolve to do — we don't need to try so hard. But for now, because we are in the habit of pushing snooze — or yelling, or checking email compulsively all evening — we need self-discipline.

Here are five tips for strengthening your willpower.

1.Get enough sleep. That's seven to eight hours for adults, at least nine for teens, or 10 to 12 for elementary and middle school kids.

Sleep deprivation makes us susceptible to temptations like Facebook and that chocolate-covered cookie over there, for physiological reasons. Self-control takes a ton of brainpower, and when we are tired, our bodies don't tend to deliver enough glucose to our brain for it to get the willpower engine going.

2. Meditate for five minutes a day. Sit up straight and focus your attention on your breath. When your mind wanders, as it will, you'll be building willpower when you simply notice that your mind has wandered and you bring your attention back to your breath.

As Kelly McGonigal notes in her awesome book The Willpower Instinct, the worse you are at meditation, the better it is as an exercise for building self-control. Here's why: In order to check your impulsive tendency to snag that donut off the counter, you need to build self-awareness.

When you are aware of what you are doing (e.g., "I'm feeling tempted to scarf that down."), you're actually engaging the part of your brain you need for willpower, rather than letting your impulses take over. Meditation gives you practice at engaging your self-awareness; as a bonus, deep, slow breathing also helps strengthen your self-control.

3.Lay off the cocktails. Science of the blazingly obvious, I know, but face it: We often have a glass of wine right before we need willpower to make healthy choices at dinner. Alcohol lowers your blood glucose, which a series of studies shows can dramatically weaken your willpower. (You'd be better off drinking sugary soda before testing your will, although I'm not actually recommending that.)

Alcohol also reduces self-awareness, and it is self-awareness that we need most to bring us back to our goals. (See numbers 2 and 5.) Read the rest of this entry »

I wouldn't really say exercise makes one overeat as much as the extra activity and exertion might make one hungrier than normal. This piece highlights a couple of studies that show how exercise affects different people's brains. Interesting indeed. Please share and comment. – Best, Chad

By Gretchen Reynolds, NY Times

Some people respond to exercise by eating more. Others eat less. For many years, scientists thought that changes in hormones, spurred by exercise, dictated whether someone’s appetite would increase or drop after working out. But now new neuroscience is pointing to another likely cause. Exercise may change your desire to eat, two recent studies show, by altering how certain parts of your brain respond to the sight of food.

In one study, scientists brought 30 young, active men and women to a lab at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo for two experimental sessions, where they draped their heads in functional M.R.I. coils. The researchers wanted to track activity in portions of the brain known as the food-reward system, which includes the poetically named insula, putamen and rolandic operculum. These brain regions have been shown to control whether we like and want food. In general, the more cells firing there, the more we want to eat. To continue reading, please click HERE.

If you've come up with a New Year Resolution to lose weight or start to exercise, good for you!  Most people don't even make it to the resolution phase.  The problem is…by the time you got to Christmas this year, your resolution from last year seemed to have faded.  Here’s a trainer that’s got some good tips about how to come up with and keep your resolution.  Please comment and share. Best, Chad.

By Eric Schmalzried, exercise physiologist and personal trainer
Wilfred R. Cameron Wellness Center
www.wrcameronwellness.org

It’s that time of year again! New Year’s is the perfect time to set positive exercise goals for yourself. These tips can help you stick to your resolutions all year long.

1. Set SMART goals. Use the acronym SMART to assist you in setting goals. SMART reminds you to make your goals:

• Specific—clearly define the goal
• Measurable—use concrete criteria, such as a number, so you can monitor your progress
• Action-based —include an activity; focus on what you will actually be doing
• Realistic—make the goal relevant to you and firmly based in the reality of what you can accomplish
• Time-anchored—link the goal with a specific time frame

2. For best results, meet the minimum recommendations for exercise. The American College of Sports Medicine has set the following guidelines for exercise:

• Aerobic exercise should be performed at least three to five times per week. If you are exercising only three days per week, you should exercise vigorously for at least 25 minutes. If you are exercising five days per week, you should exercise at a moderate intensity for at least 30 minutes. You can also use a combination of vigorous- and moderate-intensity exercise
• Resistance training should be performed at least two to three times per week. Select an exercise for every major muscle group in the body, and perform at least one set of each exercise.
• Stretching exercises should be performed at least two to three times per week. Ten minutes is typically a sufficient time to stretch all the major muscle groups in the body.

3. Use available time to exercise. Do you feel like you have no time during the day to fit in exercise? Think again! Research shows that exercising for as little as 10 minutes in multiple bouts throughout the day provides many of the same benefits as exercising continuously for a longer duration. If you have a
short break at work, use the time to walk up and down the stairs or around the halls.

4. Try something new. If you are so bored with performing the same routine that you dread exercise, it’s time to mix it up. Exercise should be fun and invigorating, not dull. The New Year is an excellent opportunity to try a new class or type of exercise. If you are a frequent attendee of aerobics classes, try yoga or Pilates; if you are a runner, try swimming. There are so many different options available that you should never be bored! 

For more on this article, click here.

Ready to belly up to the bar without the belly out? Check out these tips.

Happy Hour Fitness?  It's always the same reaction. 

"She can't talk about cocktails and nachos. She's a fitness coach and fitness coaches don't talk about cocktails and nachos. They just don't!"

I will agree, it's a bit unconventional. I mean, when was the last time your trainer gave you a "how to" guide to the bars?  Never? I guess that's why I'm the renegade trainer. The way I see it, and proven through six years of bartending, people will go out to happy hours and someone's got to teach these poor little moths how to stay on track.

As the renegade fitness coach, my goal is to enlighten you with the best options for food and drinks. Shaving off calories here so you can splurge a little there.  Although those skinny jeans you haven't worn in 10 years aren't necessarily waiting for you at the local watering hole, here are 10 tricks, tips and secrets to bellying up without bellying out. 

Does Alcohol Have Calories? Darn it! Without adding the orange juice to your screwdriver or the Coke to your whiskey, your standard, 80 proof bar shot (1.5-2 oz of vodka, rum, tequila, whiskey, gin, etc.) has about 80 calories. Keep in mind that the sweeter the drink, the higher the calories.   Although peppermint schnapps might momentarily diminish that dragon breath, it's a mini cup of sugar, weighing in at about 140 calories. 

This article was written by Jaime Jereb.  For more on this article, click on this link:  http://poway.patch.com/articles/happy-hour-fitness-how-to-choose-the-right-cocktail

I like this article written by Jaime Jereb.  She helps make us a little more aware about the calorie content of the drinks we ingest during happy hour.  I think most people are aware of calories regarding food, but when it comes to drinking, somehow they don't end up counting those…as if they don't count.  I know several people that eat very clean, but they drink 6 beers a night!  This will go right to your belly.  When you're looking at nutrition, be aware of everything you're ingesting.

Happy Training, 

Chad