Strickland Fitness

Weight Loss Resolution?

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.

Bored?

Have you just hit the top of the boredom mountain when it comes to your workout routine? Take a bite out of the conventional workout book and bring fun back into your fitness time! While working with a new client today, I was struck with the fact that there are a lot of people out there that are bored with their routine, do it anyway, and never look forward to going to the gym because they know they will do it again! While training, my client said to me today, “I have never done any of these exercises before. I love it!” And then she continued to say, “This is what I have been looking for. I have been doing the same stuff and I was so bored.” This client went from wanting to train twice a week to four times a week. That’s what I call looking forward to going to the gym and working out!!! Besides mixing up your routine for the purpose of bringing enjoyment back into your regiment, that change will also help you to avoid hitting plateaus; thus, getting you that much closer to hitting your goals. Our bodies are used to being in auto pilot. This means the body going through motion in the most easy and energy efficient way. That’s not what we want our bodies to do when we are working them. We want the body to be under constant demands from start to finish, burning calories, and putting on lean muscle. Search for new ways to work the body. And a final good reason to change it up is because our bodies are made for it. Think about this: Most traditional exercises are very one dimensional. The body however, moves in three dimensions. The best results, both functionally and physically, will come from training it that way. This will help to strengthen support muscles, increase flexibility, and help to reduce the chance of injury. The next time you are doing a lunge for instance, lunge forward (1^st dimension), lunge to the side (2^nd dimension), and then turn and lunge away from your original position (3^rd dimension).  

I decided to make a list of the top 10 excuses people use to stray away from their health and fitness goals. But I’m not going to stop there. Each is followed by an answer to that excuse.

1. “I don’t have the time.”

Make the time! If anything in life is important enough, time can be made. It’s all a matter of priorities.

2. “I can’t afford a gym membership.”

Not all gyms are expensive. There are some out there that cheaper than you think. You can also do exercises at home with little to no weights needed. Check out http://stricklandfitness.com/2008/11/20/2-full-body-exercises/

3. “I just don’t know what to do.”

It can be scary starting to work out and not know what to do. However, there are plenty of good websites out there (like this one  ) with free content to get you started.

4. “I need to lose a lot of weight and it seems like it will take forever.”

Shorten your goals to a month. If your goal is to lose 25 pounds, start by trying to lose 5. Once you reach that goal, try for another 5. Before you know it, you will have lost all 25. Read http://stricklandfitness.com/2008/11/17/short-term-goals-long-term-success/

5. “I know myself, and I can never commit to anything.”

Begin a program with a friend. Accountability is key.

6. “I’ll start soon.”

Start now! If you do, 6 months from now, you’ll be glad you did. Trust me!!!

7. “I’m not in good shape and everyone at the gym seems to be. “

Everyone at the gym is working towards their goal. That is what they are focusing on. Put your focus on your goals and not on other’s perception of them.

8. “I’m afraid people at the gym will laugh or stare at me while I’m exercising.”

To tell you the truth, I only laugh and stare at the people who walk around the gym doing nothing. To me, that’s funny. If you are worried about your form, work out with a friend or in front of a mirror to make sure you have correct form.

9. “I’m already in pretty good shape, and I don’t do anything.”

The outside doesn’t always match the inside. Working out and doing cardio is great for stress relief, prevention of heart disease, controlled cholesterol and blood pressure, and overall well-being.

10. “I have been working out but I haven’t seen any results.”

You have to mix it up or you might be overtraining. If you don’t change your routine, your body goes into autopilot and plateaus. You have to keep it guessing. Overtraining can also slow down results. Be sure to get plenty of rest between workouts and eat a healthy diet.

Congratulations!!!! You have made it half way thru the October Challenge! How are you feeling?  I have gotten some great responses from some challengers. Keep the comments coming, keep up the hard work, and look forward to a great 2 weeks towards your goals. Let’s send the end of this week into overdrive!!

When completed, put a check in the box for October 16^th. Great job!!!

The Workout:

Warm-up

Do series 1 all the way thru with no rest. Follow it with 3 minutes medium pace on any cardio apparatus. Rest to recovery and repeat series 1.

Do series 2 all the way thru with no rest. Follow it with 3 minutes medium pace on any cardio apparatus. Rest to recovery and repeat series 2.

Cool-down

Series 1

Lat Pull Down – Use a weight you can do 12-15 times. Pull the weight down to the front of your chin, not behind your head. As you are pulling the weight down, try and pull your shoulder blades into your back pocket throughout the movement. This ensures you are using your lats and not only your arms. Be sure to try and keep your back straight. Don’t lean back.

Lunges – Hold dumbbells in your hand (5-20 pounds) and step forward into a lunge (both knees bent at 90 degrees) and then step back. Step forward with the other leg. Keep your back straight. Alternate legs for 16 total repetitions, 8 on each side.

Dumbbell Press – Lay on your back on a bench.  Using dumbbells that you can press 12-15 times, start with the dumbbells at your shoulders, elbows bent at 90 degrees and your palms facing out. Press the dumbbells straight up like you are doing a bench press. Use your muscles to lower the weight and then press again.

Isolated ab crunches – 25 times

Series 2

Row – On a row machine, use a weight you can do 12-15 times. Be sure when you pull, you are squeezing your shoulder blades together to start the movement. Then continue pulling the bar towards your stomach with your arms.

Squat to Military Press – With medium weighted dumbbells (12-15 reps), start with the dumbbells at your shoulders, palms facing toward you.  Lower yourself into a squat keeping the dumbbells at your shoulders. Stand up immediately pressing the weight above your head while turning your palms away from you. Keep your back straight!! As you go back down into the squat, return the dumbbells to your shoulders, palms facing you.

Pelvic Lifts – Lying on your back with both feet on the ground and your legs bent at 45 degrees, press through your feet on the floor raising your pelvis off the ground. You should raise it until you have a straight line from your head to the tip of your bent knees. Lower your pelvis to the ground and then raise again. Concentrate on activating the gluts while going through the motion. You can add intensity to this by extending 1 leg out to straight while holding your pelvis up. The next step would be to raise and lower your pelvis with 1 leg while the other leg is in. Do 15 lifts.

Plank – Until exhaustion or up to 1 minute.

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