Do you want to improve the quality of your life? Do you want to look and feel better than you have in years - maybe better than you ever have before? Do you want to protect yourself from disease and injury? And do you want to live a longer, more vital life?
Here are 16 essential strategies that will help you achieve the health and fitness goals you have always wanted!
TIP 1. Start slow
A big problem people encounter when starting a fitness program is rapidly depleted motivation after only a few weeks due to an overly ambitious fitness program. Start out slow and once you have successfully incorporated it into your normal routine, then gradually add to your fitness program.
TIP 2. Have a detailed plan
In order to reach your health and fitness goals, you must have a road map to follow. I can't stress this enough. If you are unsure of how to put together a fitness plan, or if you're uncertain of the effectiveness of the one you have, please let me know and I can help you put together a plan. With a well thought out plan you are much more likely to be successful!
TIP 3. Set realistic, attainable goals
Set tangible, quantifiable, short and long-term goals so you can measure and assess your progress. Too many people have totally unrealistic expectations of what to expect from an exercise and nutrition program. The best way for you to understand what is realistic and attainable is to talk with a fitness professional, not to buy into the "hype" of infomercials and diet and fitness products that are blatantly misleading. Be SMART!
This is one of the most important things you can do. If you're not tracking what you're doing, how will you know what worked? There are a few great exercise and nutrition logs I've come across. You should keep track of all your exercise and also each day's food intake.
TIP 5. Keep yourself accountable
Set exercise appointments with yourself just like you do for meetings or events. Don't let things get in the way. Nothing is more important than your health! If you don't have your health you can't effectively do anything. Whatever your situation is, making the commitment to exercise and your health IS possible, and very important. Plus, it sets a great example for the people around you!
TIP 6. Remember the benefits of exercise
Being physically fit affects every aspect of your life: you sleep better, eat better, love better, overcome stress better, work better, communicate better, and live better! Remember how good it feels to finish a workout, and how great it feels to meet your goals!
TIP 7. Exercise safely and correctly
So much time is wasted doing, at best, unproductive exercise, or at worst, dangerous exercise. Educate yourself on how to exercise correctly. The best way to do that is to hire a personal fitness trainer. It could be for just a few sessions to learn the basics, or it could be for a few months to learn everything. It's completely up to you. But statistics prove that those who understand how to exercise correctly get better, faster results. And that's what you want, right?
TIP 8. Enjoy your exercise
If you don't like working out in a gym, why not join a sports team? If you want to improve your cardio fitness but don't like running, why not try cycling or boxing? The key is you should enjoy it, and if you don't, you need to look for other exercises or activities. If you don't enjoy it, how do you expect to stick with it?
TIP 9. Make time to stretch
It has so much benefit and takes very little time. So many people suffer from various aches and pains of which most can be eliminated by basic stretches! Try to spend at least 5 minutes after each workout stretching.
Many people feel they're getting fat because they're not exercising. Totally not the case! It's all in your eating habits. Think about: when you eat, what you eat, how much you eat, where you eat, and how often you eat.
Exercise aids in burning body fat, think of exercise as a bonus. Plus most people don't need to exercise more than 4-5 times a week. That doesn't mean you can't exercise more; it's just not necessary.
TIP 11. Never skip breakfast, or any meal
If you want to maximize your fitness or fat-loss efforts you've got to eat breakfast! So many people skip breakfast, and it's the worst thing you could ever do when it comes to fat-loss. Skipping meals throws your blood sugar all out of whack and it sets you up to store your next meal as fat, almost guaranteed!
TIP 12. Eat fat to lose fat
Healthy fats are necessary to your body for numerous reasons: regulating hormonal production, improving immune function, lowering total cholesterol, and providing the basics for healthy hair, nails and skin. The key is to eat the right types of fats. The "good' fats are monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats like olive oil, canola oil, sunflower oil, safflower oil and avocados, to name a few. The "bad" fats are partially hydrogenated oils, trans fats and saturate fats (those found in animal products). Most processed foods contain large amounts of these bad fats.
TIP 13. Drink plenty of fresh, clean water
Yes, I know that you have probably heard this one over and over again. But there's a reason for that - it's that important! The recommended daily intake of water is 8 glasses, or 2L. You should even be drinking even more if you are active or exercise regularly. And no, soda, juice, coffee, and tea DON'T count! Proper blood flow and digestion are both affected by how much water you drink, and poor blood flow and digestion can be linked to numerous health conditions.
TIP 14. Stabilise your blood sugar
If you want to burn fat and prevent your body from putting it back on, you must stabilise your blood sugar. In order to do this you need to eat small, balanced meals or snacks every 2-3 hours. Fasting, skipping meals, and overly restrictive diets will enable you to lose weight - in the short run.
The weight you lose is primarily water weight and muscle tissue, and in the long run has opposite effect of what you want. When you restrict your diet, your body instinctively thinks it's being starved and shifts into a protective mode by slowing down the metabolism and storing nearly all calories as body fat. Plus, losing muscle tissue is the last thing you want to do. Muscle burns calories, even while you sleep. You should be focused on increasing, or at least maintaining muscle tissue.
TIP 15. Focus on increasing muscle tissue
As I mentioned previously, muscle burns calories, so if you want to increase your metabolism, you have to increase your muscle. The best way to do that is with progressive strength training. That doesn't mean you have to join a gym, buy expensive fitness equipment, or follow some bodybuilding workout program; it simply means you need to challenge your muscles! You can do that at home in just 15-20 minutes, 2-3 times per week.
TIP 16. Get the help of an expert
Obviously, meeting your health and fitness goals is important to you, so why not eliminate the guesswork and start seeing the results you have always wanted? With the help of a qualified professional you can! If your car breaks down, where do you take it? Mechanic, right? How about if you have a cavity? Dentist. So why is it that so many people attempt to solve their health and fitness problems without consulting an expert? If you have any questions or need help with an exercise program, feel free to contact me and I will be more than happy to help!
So let's get moving!
JW
