Fit 235 How to stay motivated and stop making the same nutrition mistakes, plus, workouts you should be doing right now!

Lack of motivation is the number one reason most people stop exercising. Don’t fall victim to the motivation zappers! Your workout cycles for the next 12 weeks! The secret weapon to changing your body! It’s a new year, but are you still making the same old nutrition mistakes that ruin your metabolism? Find out what you need to do to boost your metabolism permanently! All of this in episode #235!

First of all, a quick refresher from last week’s podcast:

Did you write your WHY for working out?
How about your program? Did you figure out your cycles of routines for the next month or two?
What about your diet? Any little changes you can make or already have made?

Let me know how you are using the info from the podcast! Via Facebook, Twitter or email!

MOTIVATION

Digging deeper into the subject of motivation and knowing your WHY for training. We need to identify the problem that zaps your motivation. Why is lack of motivation such a huge problem for so many people? Not just for working out but in others areas of life too.

When you say “I’m not motivated” do you really mean, “This isn’t very important to me.” or do you mean, “I have no clue how to achieve this goal so why start?” both interpretations can cause you to not take action. Yet those same two reasons are very easily overcome.

#1-if you’re not motivated because that activity really isn’t that important o you, not your priority, then change it. Find something you enjoy, I’ll be you’ll be motivated for that, right?

#2 is even easier to solve. If you’re not motivated and really mean, “I have no clue how to achieve this goal so why start?” Get help! Whether its a trainer, a friend or the internet, these are ways to learn what and how to do something!

What does all this mean? Well, it means that most likely, lack of motivation is an excuse!

Let’s be honest, you’ll NEVER be motivated all of the time. So stop using it as an excuse! Don’t rely on motivation to take action!

You can’t “find” motivation, you can’t “get” motivation by going to a store. The only way for you to have motivation is to know what you want most and WHY!

When you don’t feel like getting up in the morning your reason WHY gives you the kick in the butt to get moving.when you want to go crazy at a dessert buffet, its your WHY reason that reminds you what is important, your health.

I’ve had alot of questions about how to use your WHY and mindset to stay motivated. I know it’s a lot easier to work on your training and eating, but your mindset is what its all about!

Let’s call this “PART 2” or How to go deeper than the surface goal to find your true WHY.

You may have a goal “to get in shape,” or, “ to lose 10 pounds,” but those are NOT the true deep WHY. You have to look deep inside your self and answer the question, “WHY do I want to achieve this?”

For example, a true deep WHY could be “I want to have a healthy heart to avoid the heart disease that killed my father.” Or, “I want to be able to keep up with my kids on bike rides.”

WHY do you want to lose weight? Take the time to write down and list all the reasons.

Examples

to feel better
clothes fit better
not be embarrassed about how I look
be more active with my family
increase my self worth and self confidence
improve my heart health
avoid diabetes
control my blood pressure
live a better quality life

WHY do you want to “get in shape”? Again, list all the reasons.

I want to feel strong.
I want to be able to carry my groceries without puffing.
I want to feel good.
I need to take care of myself

If you need help finding your true deep WHY, contact me to schedule a power session.

TRAINING

If you’re getting back into the swing after the holiday layoffs, now is a great time to focus on cycles of routines for the next few months. For example: If you were inconsistent during the holidays, I’d suggest you return to workouts for a “renewal” cycle. This would be a 3-4 cycle of workouts done 3x a week. This routine would focus on the full body plus a little cardio for about a 45 minute to no more than 60 minute workout.

I’ll lay it all out for you!

Exercises:

Squats or leg press
Pulldown
chest press
rotator cuff
bicep/tricep
calve/ab
cardio 20 min after workout

Your outline would look like this:

A light warm up of 3-5 minutes cardio and light stretches, remember to stretch btwn sets (rather than sit there and rest)…well you are resting while you stretch, sorta….
The first three exercises you’d do 3 sets. One as a warm up (lighter) then 2 more at a working weight for 10 reps. That’s a weight that challenges you the last few reps but doesn’t kill you. (time enough for that later). You can do these superset style or straight set.
The next three, do 2 sets per exercise, 10 reps and superset.
Cardio (not killer) 20 minutes moderate pace.

If you need a refresher on the exercises visit the Exercise Library at Fitnessmakeover.com or Fitnessmakeover.com/muscle.

You may notice that there is no direct shoulder work because your shoulders get way too much wear and tear. We focus on rotator cuff and shoulder stability exercises as you get back into working out consistently.

Realistically, you’d be doing 15 sets plus 5-8 minute warm up and 20 cardio = 45-60 minutes depending on how much you rest, whether you do supersets or not.

Your goal this cycle is to be consistent, get your muscles back into action without strain or severe soreness. You are conditioning your muscles/body for the upcoming cycles. You are not going for maximum weight during this cycle! After you complete this cycle, your next one would focus on strength for 3-6 weeks. After that the cycle would be recovery type workouts for 2 weeks then on to the next conditioning/toning/metabolism boost cycles.

Your plan for the few months would layout like this:
Renewal avg 2 weeks
Strength (metabolism boost) avg 3-4 weeks
Recovery/replenish/revive avg 2 weeks
Condition/tone avg 3-4 weeks

This all equals about 12 weeks with each cycle being anywhere from 2-6 weeks depending on your fitness experience, level and workout history. Beginners are on the longer end of the spectrum while consistent exercisers will do each cycle for less time, on the lower end of the time frame.

This is one of the structures I use for Fitness Makeover programs. If you like gym workouts and want to print your log, and go, then you’d love Clubfit. Check it out at FitnessMakeover.com/Clubfit

NUTRITION
New Year, Same Mistakes?!

Don’t fall victim to the same mistakes! Eat to lose! Eating several smaller meals throughout the day keeps the body nourished with a continual in flux of nutrients. Energy levels remain high and the brain alert due to the consistent fueling of the body. Eating the right foods can actually increase the metabolism! Smaller meals spread out between 3-4 hours daily helps the body let go of stored fat more easily. Your body should expect food frequently and not be starving.

When the body goes without food for more than 6 hours it hits starvation mode and will hold on to fat for long term energy and use protein stores (muscle tissue) for current energy needs. This is very damaging to the metabolism since muscle tissue is metabolically active while fat tissue is not. This means if you lose muscle your metabolism slows down.

Ever wonder why people drop pounds quickly only to regain more after they stop the “diet” they are on? Here’s the reason: Muscle weighs more than fat, but is deemed non-essential by our body. Fat is deemed essential by the body because it is a source of long term food for times of famine. Of course, we think the opposite!

Unfortunately, the body was programmed in cave man days when finding food was not so easy! Back then, food was not readily available. There were no drive-thrus or grocery stores, so the body learned to adapt to inconsistent feeding by holding onto fat in case hunting and food finding was unsuccessful.

During rapid weight loss, the body reverts to its caveman plan and dumps muscle to save itself. Muscle weighs more than fat, so it appears that one has lost many pounds on the scale.

However, since muscle equals your metabolism, any lost will lower your metabolism. A lower metabolism will make weight regain easy! Then the circle of diet continues!

No wonder so many people struggle with their weight when they only use the scale for tracking progress. The scale is not a good indicator of fat loss! Measurements and the way your clothes fit are much more accurate indicators of fat loss and metabolism changes.

Our goal is to change the body fat ratio to have more lean muscle tissue than fat tissue. When this is accomplished, the metabolism is increased and the body can maintain more easily its shape, despite imperfect foods entering into it from time to time.

This marks the end of the vicious diet circle cycle! This is called having your cake and eating it too! Yes, you can eat “bad” foods and maintain your figure if you stick to the main principles of this program. Of course, you would not eat these foods daily, but you can enjoy them occasionally guilt free.

Now you can see that losing lean tissue is counterproductive to fitness goals, especially weight loss, and we must do all we can to keep and even increase lean tissue! Keep in mind that increasing muscle does not mean “bulking up”. On the contrary, lean tissue takes up less space than fat tissue and is not hugely visible to the naked eye. So the body can end up heavier but smaller. So who cares what the scale says as long as we are smaller and look better!

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