Strickland Fitness

Today’s prep tool for the Strictly Fit October Challenge is a bit of some fitness education. We have challengers from all over the United Kingdom, Ireland, Europe, the United States and beyond. However, for the purpose of this challenge, I will be using pounds and inches (and it’s what I know best). If you need help with the conversions, here is a good place http://www.lenntech.com/calculators/mass-weight/mass-weight.htm.

Ok, so the fact for today is that you have to burn 3500 calories in order to burn 1 pound of fat. If your goal is to lose weight, you will have to burn 3500 calories more than your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) in order to lose 1 pound. Your BMR is the number of calories you’d burn if you stayed in bed all day. What does this mean exactly? If your BMR is 2000 calories (kcal), you burn 2000 kcal just doing nothing. So if you ate 2000 kcal and your BMR is 2000 and you did nothing all day, your weight would stay the same. If your BMR is 2000 kcal and you consume 2500 kcal and do nothing all day, you would slowly gain weight. If you did this everyday for 1 week, you would gain 1 pound. That’s 500 kcal over your BMR for 7 days. 500 x 7 =3500. So far so good? Great! If your goal is to lose weight, you want to make sure you burn more calories than your BMR. You can do this by lowering your daily caloric intake, exercise, and cardio. If your goal is to gain weight and/or muscle, then you have to burn less than your BMR.

How do you find out what your BMR is? There are a couple things that have to be factored into the equation. Your height, age, weight, activity level, and gender are the major factors. You can go this website and it will compute it for you automatically. http://www.caloriesperhour.com/index_burn.php. Just click the BMR and RMR calculator button. It’s not a perfect science, but it’s pretty accurate. Once it’s calculated, write it down. I also want you to email it to me so I can send you specific instructions throughout the challenge based on your BMR. Now that you have it, you have a great starting point towards your goal.

Now is the time to go to your food journal that you have been keeping. Remember Prep Tool #1. Have you counted the calories that you take in every day? Compare your daily caloric intake with your BMR. How do they compare? I will go over with you what to do with this information just before the challenge starts.

Once you have calculated your BMI, compared it to how many calories you have been taking in, and emailed it to me, put a check in the box for Sept. 23^rd. GREAT JOB!!!!

I hope everyone had a great weekend! The excitement level is growing with the October Challenge just 10 days away. This is going to be a great way to gain new knowledge on fitness and nutrition while expanding your tool box with new exercises and cardio workouts. And it’s all for free!

Well, hopefully everyone has started or continued to be active with their workouts and not just waiting for the challenge to begin. The next prep tool will be to know your resting heart rate and maximum heart rate. You will need this for the cardio workouts in the Challenge. Now that you know how to get your heart rate (with a heart monitor, the machines at the gym, or manually), take your resting heart rate. It’s best to do it right when you wake, but you can do it at any time you are at full rest. For your maximum heart rate, it’s best to get it by using the form of cardio (running, biking, swimming, etc.) you plan on doing. If you don’t have access to your mode of cardio, you can run in place at home or outside to get it. We will use running in place for the purpose of talking about how to get your maximum heart rate. After a couple minutes of warming up and stretching (see pre workout post in fitness tips category), start running in place. Slowly increase your speed to maximum intensity. As you are hitting maximum intensity, start singing your favorite song out loud. Stop running the instant you need to gasp for air between words. Check your heart rate. This is your maximum heart rate. Be sure to write down your resting and maximum rate. You will need this when the challenge starts. If you need a refresher on how to get your heart rate, see http://stricklandfitness.com/2009/09/17/prep-tool-2-for-october-challenge/.

Once you have done this, put a check mark in the box for Sept. 21^st. Great Job!!

Use of any knowledge from this website is voluntary. By reading this post, you agree to the terms and conditions outlined in the disclaimer in the about section of this website. Thanks for participating!

 The next thing you will need to do for the October challenge is know how to monitor your heart rate during exercise, both resistance and cardio. If you have a heart rate monitor in the closet, dig it up. If you don’t have one, don’t despair. Most cardio machines at the gym have sensors on them for you to check your heart rate. Make sure you know how to use it. The third way is to take your pulse manually. Place the tips of your first two fingers lightly over one of the blood vessels on your neck, just to the left or right of your Adam’s apple. Or try the pulse spot inside your wrist just below the base of your thumb. Count the pulse for 10 seconds and then multiply by 6. So you should at all times be able to, using one of these methods, check your heart rate. Next time you are working out, try stopping and seeing if you can get it. Once you have this down, put a big check mark in the box for Sept. 17^th. Great Job!!!

Use of any knowledge from this website is voluntary. By reading this post, you agree to the terms and conditions outlined in the disclaimer in the about section of this website. Thanks for participating!

 Ok, here is the first tool you will need for the October Challenge. For any fitness program, the biggest element is nutrition. Whether you want to gain, lose, or maintain weight, this will have to be looked at. Create a food journal that you can keep track of what you eat and drink, when you consume it, and how much specifically you consume. I will not be looking at anyone’s journal so be honest with yourself. Now starting at the beginning of the next day of reading this, start journaling. It shouldn’t take long and you should create an easy way to do it to be sure that you do it every day. Write down everything!! There are many websites and iphone apps out there that can track your intake for you for free. If you don’t know how to count calories, this might be the way to go because later you will need to know the specific amount of calories you are taking in. Again, just figure out the system that works best for you to be sure you do it every day!

Next, print a generic calendar from your computer for the second half of September and the whole month of October. Keep this calendar next to your computer. Once you have found your food journal entry procedure, put a big check mark in the box for the 16^th! Great Job!

Use of any knowledge from this website is voluntary. By reading this post, you agree to the terms and conditions outlined in the disclaimer in the about section of this website. Thanks for participating!

Starting October 1^st is the Strickland Fitness Strictly Fit Challenge. This is a one month program to help you kick start your fall and help you take steps toward your fitness goal. If your goal is to lose weight, burn fat, gain muscle, or kick your workout into the next gear, this program will definitely help.  I will teach you about nutrition, resistance training, cardio, fitness level assessment and much much more.  All you have to do is read each day’s blog entry for the day’s exercise suggestion.  I will prepare you for the gym or your house if you don’t belong to a gym. You will learn new exercises and how creativity can boost your workout, change your daily routine, and elevate you from a plateau.

There will be a 2 week prep period starting Wednesday Sept. 16^th.  This prep period will be designed to prepare you with all the tools you will need to participate in the challenge. Visit the blog daily for new information.

So the next step is to make the commitment. All it takes is an email to me stating your goal and your commitment to your goal for the next 30 days.

You can comment on the blog about your experience with each day’s suggestion and how you are doing in the challenge. There might be some days that are hard and others that are easy. Whatever the case, share it with the community. If you have any questions regarding a post, put it in the comment section and I will be sure to answer it with the next day’s entry and suggestion.

There will be variations in the workouts to help tailor them towards different goals.

You have until Sept. 30^th to enter yourself into the challenge.

The next day’s blog post will be up by 9:00 pm P.S.T.

Some workouts will be emailed to you directly so be sure to email me your entrance.

If you happen to miss a post, you can go to the October Challenge Tag on the right to get all back posts. Good Luck!!!!

This 30 day program is not intended to treat or diagnose. If you have any concerns, you should consult a physician immediately.

Disclaimer: Chad Strickland, Strickland fitness, and any other associated business, entity, or person is not liable for any damages from the use of any information available on this site. Any use of the information provided by this site is voluntary. By use of any knowledge from this website, you voluntarily release, forever discharge, and agree to indemnify and hold harmless Chad Strickland, Strickland Fitness, and any other associated business, entity, or person from any and all claims, demands, or causes of action, which are in any way connected with my participation.  You should consult a physician before starting any exercise program.