Simple question really…Do you feel awesome everyday? How about most days? Maybe just a few days?
The answer to this question for most people is a resounding NO! Today’s lifestyle has us rushing around like busy fools, not spending any time on ourselves and slaving away at work for very little reward.
The only time we really look to do something about our health, energy and well-being is when it’s too late and it starts to seriously impact us. But by this time the damage is done and reversing these ill effects will take some serious work, commitment and A LOT of patience…
After all, it probably took you YEARS to get into the position you are in now!
But what if it doesn’t have to be that way? What if you could do some very simple tasks each day that will have you feeling awesome, each and every day!
Below are our 5 important hacks that will lead you t awesomeness. So if you wish t feel great, act great and get great results, read on:
OUR 5 BEST WAYS TO FEEL AWESOME DAILY
1. Hydrate Quickly After Sleeping and Keep It Going
You will likely spend around 6-9 hours in bed each night, during which time you aren’t consuming any fluids. When you are asleep, your body uses the fluids you do have in order to conduct much needed repairs, leaving you dehydrated when the time comes to wake up and tackle the day.
What most people do upon waking is to grab a cup of coffee and sip on it as they rush around getting ready for work and sorting the kids out for school. This leaves people dehydrated for the day, leading to increased hunger, tiredness, high levels of stress and poor performance.
This simply won’t do!
What we need to do as a priority is to get some fluids into our body as quickly as possible, and by fluids I mean water. Our body is made up of around 70% water and we need to keep those levels topped up to allow us to function optimally.
Personally, I consume around 500 ml of water as the first thing I do in the morning. I would also suggest a cup of warm water with the juice of half a lemon in it. Lemon water helps to wake up the digestive system and to get your metabolism functioning in preparation for food and energy. The warm water will help pass the lemon juice around the body easier.
If you’re looking for ways to help you spring out of bed every morning then read this previous article here:
Are You Starting Your Day Great?
This will help you feel energetic for your early morning walk (see point 2).
2. Get Outside First Thing in the Morning (before breakfast)
Once you’ve hydrated and stretched, I suggested getting outside for a 20 minute stroll on an empty stomach.
Too often we are chasing the day from the minute we wake up, which leads to stressful situations from very early on. This cascades into the whole day, leaving us feeling drained by mid morning and often in need of stimulants just to keep us functioning.
To alleviate this dilemma, I suggest spending the first hour of your day on yourself (see point 1 & 3 combined with this hack), which includes a 20 minute brisk walk in the fresh air, on an empty stomach. This has a ton of positive health benefits for the body and will also help you get ahead on route to those 10,000 steps.
It will also help clear your head and allow you to plan the day ahead. And if this means getting up 30 minutes earlier than normal…then do it!
You will thank me for it in a few weeks time…honest.
3. Stretch Mobilise and Move
I got this one from my pet dog! Each and every morning he comes out of his bed and spends 30-60 seconds stretching…and we should do the same too!
I usually spend 5-10 minutes stretching after getting out of bed and having my water. I spend this time just stretching and slowly moving from one position to another to gently wake up the body. This gets the blood flowing around my muscles after hours of laying dormant.
I tend to start from the top down starting with the neck, shoulders, hips and don to the quads, hamstrings, calves and finally the ankles. I feel that this then sets me up well for my morning 20 minute walk.
And it doesn’t stop there…
During the day, we often sit around for most of it (usually hunched over a computer screen) and moving very little. If you work in an office, then look to get up for 10 minutes every hour and go for a drink or use the loo. Just get up, move and get away from the screen. If you can get outside, say for lunch, then do it. Get the fresh air into your lungs and spend 15-20 minutes moving.
Look to perform some form of exercise daily too! This doesn’t mean thrashing yourself for hours in the gym. It can mean going for a swim, run, a long walk or doing yoga for example. In the summer, get yourself outdoors and absorb that Vitamin D too. This will help you feel even more awesome!
4. Eat the Rainbow
It’s no secret that food is data for the body. The nutrients and minerals in that food help feed the body with the vital ingredients that help the body conduct simple functions such as keeping your skin smooth, helping you see clearly, provide you with energy to tackle the day and to help you move with less pain…and the list goes on.
The foods that are richest in these vital nutrients are vegetables and fruit and the easiest way to ensure you get an adequate spectrum of these vital vitamins and minerals is to EAT THE RAINBOW!
Aim for as many different colours of vegetables as possible, including beets, carrots, tomatoes, spinach, avocado, red onions, celeriac etc. Think bright and colourful and get as much of it on your plate as you can.
Oh! And as an added tip…eat your vegetables on your plate before anything else. They will help fill you up and will often stop you from finishing off the junk food that’s around ?
5. Simplify Life
Let’s face it. We’re all busy these days! We always seem to have something going.
Have you ever noticed that your to do list just seems to keep growing and growing as the day goes on and you then end up transferring that uncompleted list over to the next day. You look at the day and don’t feel as though you have accomplished much due to the ever growing list and you dread the next day before it even arrives as you know there’s a mountain of work waiting for you.
This is simply a recipe for disaster and all this ‘busy-ness’ is killing you slowly. Often leaving you feel down and often depressed. Well, there is a simple trick to solving this…
And that’s to SIMPLIFY LIFE…And it all starts with cutting your list down!
Pick 3 BIG things you want done that day. Don’t add anything else to your workload until the BIG 3 is complete and only after you’ve had a break too. It doesn’t get anymore complicated than this. When I learned to say no to people, and to tasks and just focused on the big movers in my day, I noticed a massive difference in my mood, energy, focus, productivity and happiness!
Try it…
These are just some of the hacks that we use with our clients to help them feel awesome everyday. And the beauty of our coaching means that we are routinely checking in with them in some way or other in order to keep them committed, motivated and striving towards their goals and results.
Why not try these 5 tips to help you feel more awesome everyday?
if you like what you read and want to know more, then why not hook up for a what to see if what we do would be right for you…
If you have any others then why not post them in the comments below?
]]>Understanding what to do regarding fat loss nutrition is hard.
There is so much information out there.
There are so many so called ‘best’ diets – guaranteed to get results
No wonder people don’t know which way to turn…
Hence why people try something for a week or 2 before they are convinced that something else is better.
I am here to tell you that there are very few rules involved with fat loss nutrition and if you were to stick to these over a prolonged period of time, you would see amazing results for a very long time.
The best bit of it being that you could allow yourself to go off track for a short time period, KNOWING you could get back again should you wish.
And that is the key!
Basic is beautiful.
Basic allows you to follow a plan time and time again.
You know how you got your results.
You know what to do should things not go right all the time.
You know it will work.
So what are these basics?
In a nutshell it is this:
Eat real whole foods in the right quantities…..most of the time!
Sounds like a bit of a cop out, but that is it.
Obviously this can be broken down further to make it more understandable….because keeping it simple seems to confuse most people.
What is a whole food? What is the right quantities and what is MOST of the time??
I will break each one down……
Please bear in mind that I will keep this basic and simple for a reason….
It is exactly that.
People who try and over complicate things are either selling you something or trying to stop you from achieving long term and sustainable fat loss.
So here goes:
Whole foods:
Meats, eggs, fish, poultry, seafood, legumes, pulses, vegetables, fruits, fats (animal, oils, and the list goes on.
You can also supplement this with other foods such as dairy, rice, oats, protein powder, fish oils etc for convenience.
People will argue that some of these things are technically not whole foods, which is fine. But for the average punter like me who wishes to be simply lean then this list is effective.
Right quantities
So what are the right quantities?
This will differ from person to person and the amount of activity done per person.
However, for the average gym person who has a desk job who goes to the gym 3 times a week the following is a good place to start.
- Protein (meats, eggs, dairy, etc) – palm of your hand size
- Fruits and veg – hand fist size
- Fats – thumb size
- Carbs – cupped hand size
Your typical plate may look a little something like this:
- 1 quarter protein
- 1 quarter carb and fat
- 2 quarters veg/fruit
keep most of your meals like this and you will be fine.
But this is dull I hear you say…
- Where is the booze?
- Where is the take-away?
- Where is the chocolate?
This is where the term ‘MOST of the time’ comes in.
Never try and be 100%.
Try and you will fail.
So what should you do?
MOST OF THE TIME
Ideally, you want to aim for around 80% of the time.
The remaining 20%, you can get away with the wine, Chinese and dairy milk.
So long as you don’t go mad with it.
Don’t binge and eat this stuff in moderation and you will be ok.
What most people do is that when these foods are consumed, the diet goes out of the window and a binge ensues.
The trick is to not let this happen.
If you use the following as a guide, you will have a key strategy that works a treat.
“Example”
- If you eat 3 times a day over 7 days that works out at 21 meals
- 80% of 21 is roughly 17-18 meals that should follow the rules above.
- This allows you 3 or 4 meals during the week where you can eat/drink the stuff you want ‘in moderation’ and still be happy in the knowledge that you will see progress.
- This you can do without the need to feel guilty about your fat loss.
The real key is to be honest with yourself and admit when you have strayed from the guidelines above and when you do then pull back on future meals to compensate.
It really is a balancing act.
The issue we have is that we go too far on one side or the other.
On starting a diet, we go too far into the ‘good’ food side.
When we ‘cheat’ we delve too deep into the ‘bad’ side.
It is a world of extremes and this is what sells.
Everyone wants a quick fix.
Results have to be instantaneous in this fast paced world.
The problem is that the body still works in a very similar way to what it did thousands of years ago.
And this is why basics work great!
Eat whole foods – non-processed stuff basically.
Eat them in the right portions – use your hand and your eye as a measurement.
Eat this way most of the time – around 80%.
That’s it!
There are no extremes.
Just solid basics that leave you room to manoeuvre.
This really is the basics of nutrition.
Nutrition that will work for 95% of the population.
People have been doing this well for thousands of years without the need for the internet, books and other sources of garbage information.
Why can’t you?
Speak soon, Gaz
]]>It can come very easy at times but then never seems to stick around and at other times it just never seems to want to get going.
Most fat loss diets fail before they even begin.
Simply because the person doesn’t comprehend the fundamental principles of how to lose the fat and keep it off. This is why I see so many Yo-Yo dieters who are frustrated and fed up with seeing progress only to slip back to their old self a few months down the line.
Once you have a set of principles you can use a whole host of methods to make something work (I should know, I have been up and down on that Yo-Yo a few times myself).
You must have heard the proverb – give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach him to fish and you feed him and his family for life”?
Well, it is the same thing. Give someone a diet plan, they follow it with success only to struggle when they return to their normal habits. Teach someone principles to guide their eating habits by and they can adapt their habits to ensure prolonged and sustained fat loss, health and well-being.
I could ramble on all day about things you need to know. However, all that would achieve is you getting lost in a swamp of information, you wouldn’t know where to turn and I end up pushing you further away from where you want to be.
Therefore, what I have here are 4 basic principles that can certainly set you off on the path to your goals and desires. These are the things I wish I knew when I started trying to lose fat:
#1 Forget the good food vs bad food, organic food, gluten free and sugar-free hype
You need to be in a calorie deficit to lose fat.
I am assuming you understand what calories are. We hear about them all the time. TV shows seem to go on about them almost relentlessly. But how does a calorie fit into the bigger picture? Surely you just need to eat all these healthy foods to lose weight right?
How does the amount of calories compared with eating healthy foods during the day influence if we lost fat? To understand this we need to understand energy balance:
Energy Balance (Calories in versus Calories out)
Calories = fuel.
We burn Calories to fuel our daily activities and this includes eating, sleeping and loafing around on the sofa watching TV. Everything we do in life burns calories. It gets more complicated than this but for this article, I am just going to say that if you use more calories than you consume then you will lose weight (ideally fat).
Put another way, this means if you eat less than your body requires then it will use its own fuel reserves to provide energy.
A topic for another time, but participation in a well-structured strength training program will go a long way to raising the level of calories burned during a day/week/month/year.
Eating healthily just doesn’t cut it
When a lot of people go on a diet they try to eat healthily. What this means is that they drink coconut water and almond milk, swap butter for coconut oil and eat things like nuts, dried fruit and lots of cracker breads. These all still contain calories and some of which are extremely dense and can be over consumed.
What this results in is you actually consuming more calories than your body needs. You believe you are eating healthily but in fact you are just staying where you are or worse, you are gaining weight.
Has that ever happened to you?
#2 Fat loss is never linear
So many people start a diet and plan to lose ‘X’ amount of weight each week.
Unfortunately, fat loss doesn’t work like this for a whole host of reasons. What most people experience is a sudden drop in weight over the first few weeks followed by a few weeks steady weight loss and then a stall on the scales 6-8 weeks into a diet and maybe even a rise in weight.
The immediate success followed by periods where nothing happens or there is an increase in weight often leads to frustration and succumbing to temptation. Here is an explanation of why this happens:
Don’t be fooled – Initial weight loss is almost always water
When people go on a diet, they go ultra strict with their eating and they tend to cut out the junk food, bread, pasta, rice etc. These foods all contain carbohydrates, commonly known as carbs. Carbs require water to break them down to be used by the body (approximately 4 grams of water for 1 gram of carbs).
Therefore the body can use 300 – 500 grams of water to break down the average bowl of pasta consumed. That’s a quarter to half a kilo of retained weight to break down that Spaghetti Bolognese you had the other night. And that’s not including the garlic bread!
Because we routinely eat carb rich meals, the body will keep hold of the water to break the meals down (it is clever like that). When we start a diet we predominately get rid of these food types so after a week or so the body will also get rid of the excess water it uses to break down (I did say it was clever like that). The result is rapid weight loss in a short space of time.
A lighter body requires less energy
When you lose weight, the body then requires less energy to maintain itself. If you keep eating the same amount of food the chances are the body will adapt and you will end up eating at your energy maintenance, resulting in no weight loss.
Therefore, the amount you eat should be staggered so it can be reduced over time. Liken it to walking down a flight of stairs. The decrease should be one step at a time.
There are also unexplainable factors that we need to consider. Having spent countless months in the trenches with fat loss myself I have been frustrated on many occasions by things that science has no explanation for. For example, I went 5 weeks without a budge in scale weight, which frustrated the hell out of me.
Trusting the system I was using, I was patient. My strength numbers were fine, I had good energy and I was not being tempted by sweet treats so all was good.
On the 6th week I stepped on the scale to find I had lost almost 1.5 kilos overnight! I cannot explain how or why this happened. All I know is that the body acts in strange ways sometimes and we need to show patience and trust in what we are doing.
You need to be patient. You need to accept the bad with the good. You need to trust the system you are on and give it time.
#3 It is normal to be hungry when on a diet
You will see adverts these days informing you that you can stuff yourself silly whilst losing weight. These people are either trying to sell you something or they are idiots…usually both! To lose fat you need to be in a calorie deficit, period. This often means eating less overall, resulting in feelings of hunger. However, there are ways to combat this:
Use strategies to take your mind off being hungry at that moment in time
Hunger as we know it is not true hunger. To be truly hungry we would have to go a long time without food. Ask some of the people in 3rd world countries about real hunger. Our hunger is more to do with routine and hormones.
The brain expects food at midday because that is what you have done most of your life, therefore come midday your brain signals the stomach to get into gear and expect food. That is the hunger we feel and this is easily suppressed through simple tactics. Now, the purpose of this email is not to provide you with a boat load of tactics.
This article is about bigger picture principles and strategies. That way you can implement some of your own tactics that work for you. Not wanting to be a cop-out however so here are a few I have found to work for me:
- Drink a glass of water – feelings of hunger are sometimes a sign of dehydration
- Get stuck into some work – your mind will often tell you the body is hungry simply because it is bored. Occupy your time and you will likely find the hunger disappears. Have you ever lost track of time and not even realise you have missed a meal?
- Go and train – when training your body will stop thinking about ingesting food.
- Have a low-calorie snack that you can use as a last resort – if you cannot stand to stay away from the fridge or cupboard any longer, you must have strategies that minimise the damage of snacking and allow you to stay on the right side of your energy balance.
Look at low-calorie food types that will fill that gap if you can’t wait any longer
The video below shows the difference between 200 calories in a few different food types and the difference in volume. Just look at all those strawberries. Who is telling me they won’t be even slightly satisfied eating all of those. There are other food types, which are amazing too. Vegetables of any description are usually a great choice. You can add herbs and spices to them to really make them taste amazing.
If you think veg is bland and boring, go and get yourself a meat-free cookbook. These people are masters of making veg sexy.
#4 You will stall from time to time so be patient
This one kind of speaks for itself but is worth a mention as this is the reason why so many people give up on their fat loss goals. Basically, they stop seeing results after only a few short weeks and no longer trust the system without giving it sufficient time.
Fat loss should be a slow burner but modern society means we are no longer willing to wait for anything these days. We want it all and we want it now (I am definitely guilty of this by the way)!
A stall in weight during a diet is a very normal thing and no movement in fat loss during a diet over a period of time usually indicates that the body has adapted to your current situation. This is what the body does and after millions of years of evolution, it has got very good at it. What you need to do then is change things around a little and keep the body guessing.
However, what we actually do is we lose patience. The cast iron plan that we have followed for a few weeks now has suddenly stopped working, therefore we deem the plan is rubbish! Clearly the plan can’t be that bad as it has got you some results. It is simply a case of the body understanding the rules of the game. This means you change the game slightly. Keep progressing and be patient and results will come. Those that lose patience are likely to give up and therefore not gain the results they desire.
Well, that’s about all for now.
Keep things simple and concentrate on nailing these principles. If you do then all the smaller things will all fall into place.
You won’t need the next best instant results FAD diet.
You won’t need all those ultra-expensive supplements.
We all have a habit of concentrating on the smaller things in life, which hardly make a difference when our strategy is not in place.
Remember:
- You have to eat/consume less than you burn….period.
- You will not lose weight/fat every week…accept it. It is the long term progress that counts.
- Expect to be hungry at times and know how to deal with it. When you succumb to the snacking bug, have low calorie go to foods you can have without ruining your calorie intake.
- Be patient! Accept stalling is part of the process and look to make subtle changes over time.
Get these 4 things dialled in and I guarantee you will see results you can maintain.
If you are struggling with your fat loss and have become frustrated with your continued lack of results then get in touch for a clarity call and we can chat and see what is going wrong and what you can do to make it right.
What are you waiting for? Get to it!
Speak soon,
Gaz
]]>And we have believed these stories to our peril. Instead, we have started to consume much more sugar than we used to and the obesity rate increased roughly at the same time as this advice (far be it for me to say these instances are related). Spooky eh!
The list of things we should and shouldn’t eat can be endless…
Confusing…
And just far too time-consuming to actually do.
One thing I work on and focus on is to get enough Omega 3 in my diet.
Have you heard of it? I hope so. It plays such an important role in how your body functions and your battle against fat loss.
Here are 5 reasons why you should focus attention on including Omega 3’s into your diet.
#1 IT WILL HELP YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEM
Your immune system is vitally important. Have you ever had a period where you seemed to pick up every cold and disease that was around? Especially if you have kids or work with kids.
This stops you from training properly, it affects your mood and even the decisions you make with your food choices. This can spiral if continued over a prolonged period of time.
Ever felt like this?
Omega 3 fatty acids help to build your immune system and combat such circumstances.
Omega 3’s have also been suggested to fight certain autoimmune diseases such as type 1 diabetes, Crohn’s, Lupus and rheumatoid arthritis.
Sick of getting the colds from the kids or want to look for an effective method of combating your autoimmune disease? Then try adding Omega 3 into your diet and see what happens.
#2 YOU WILL SLEEP BETTER AND LOOK BETTER
Sleep is the most underrated method of recovery and beauty treatment out there. Your body recuperates, regenerates cells and repairs damaged muscle tissue whilst you dream sweet things during the silent hours.
A great night’s sleep will, therefore, make you look better, feel better, will aid in fat loss and performance. Your skin and hair will look and feel better and it will improve focus, energy and therefore your moods.
Omega 3 naturally helps to boost your natural levels of melatonin and sleep apnea.
This is a fancy way of saying you will have a better night’s sleep, have better looking and feeling skin and hair. Just think how much you spend on skin and hair care products when your body can do it all for you…if you feed it the right data.
People say that you need 7-9 hours of sleep but there is little point trying for this much if it is broken and poor sleep.
If you are struggling to sleep properly then Omega 3 may just help to naturally boost the quality of your sleep.
And you can be well on your way to amazing nights of cozy, deep sleep.
#3 OMEGA 3 FATS CAN HELP TO BURN FAT
This is the important one right!
Omega 3 has been suggested to raise the levels of HDL Cholesterol (the healthy type – yes there is a good type of Cholesterol). This then helps the body to function in the process of burning fatty acids as fuel more effectively.
Of course, this has to be combined as part of a well-balanced diet. This goes without saying, but ensuring you get in Omega 3’s will aid this process and make the journey that much more fluid.
#4 LOWER THE RISK OF HEART-RELATED DISEASES
I have previously mentioned that Omega 3’s help to boost your levels of HDL (good cholesterol). This helps to reduce high blood pressure, prevents blood clots and reduces the buildup of plaque in the arteries.
Omega 3’s reduces inflammation too, but this is a separate topic altogether.
It is well-known that heart disease and stroke are common incidents within the western world and combined they account for the most deaths for both men and women.
Links have been associated with our typical western diet…which happens to be getting worse by the way.
An interesting find is that fish eating diets, high in Omega 3 have been found to show lower levels of heart-related diseases…and the evidence is mounting year after year.
Fish oils seem to be the key factor in this…so start eating your fatty fish.
#5 HELPS FIGHT ANXIETY, DEPRESSION AND MOOD DISORDERS
So many people today suffer from some form of mood disorder. Those that have will understand how this can severely impact on your energy and lust for life. This can affect your job, your relationships amongst many other things.
Tests including Omega 3 fish oils have shown to suggest a 40% decrease in symptoms amongst both men and women. This is to do with the nutrient content of the brain. One study suggested that Omega 3 was as effective as Prozac.
So there we have it. 5 good reasons why you should get Omega 3 fatty acids into your diet.
So where do they come from?
Naturally, omega 3 can be found in various food types but the highest quality is contained in fatty fish such as Salmon, Mackerel, Sardines etc. You can also find them in Flaxseed, Walnuts etc but the quality is nowhere near as good in these food types.
The issue with fatty fish is their calorie content if trying to maintain a calorie deficit. Not to mention the smell and the messy preparation.
So what if you don’t like fish or don’t have time to prepare this stuff?
Well, you can always aim to take fish oil capsules. These are small, convenient capsules that you can supplement your first meal of the day. Be wary however as not all fish oil capsules were created equally.
Many supplement companies out there work on maximum profit and will put substandard ingredients in their products in order to get as much return as possible.
SO WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FOR?
When looking at Omega 3 supplements, you are checking out their EPA and DHA quantities. You are looking at 500mg EPA and 250mg DHA per capsule.
HOW MUCH SHOULD YOU TAKE?
Substandard fish oil companies will recommend you take 10-15 capsules a day. This is due to their lower quality and that they want you to buy more from them.
Ideally, you want to aim for between 1500-2000mg of EPA and 750-1000mg of DHA per day.
That’s around 2-3 portions of Salmon per week or 3-4 quality capsules per day.
Personally, my wife hates the smell of fish so it’s a no go in our house. I get round it by supplementing with a product called GOOD FATS FORMULA from LEANGREENS.
This caters for my Omega 3 needs.
You now know 5 good reasons why you should be including Omega 3 fatty acids into your diet.
The question now is…
What are you doing about it?
]]>I have known my friend since we were in middle school (for those that remember middle school) so we go back a long way. She is as fit as a fiddle but just can’t shift that weight around her problem areas.
She is the queen of Boxercise, Zumba, Body Pump and all those other super cool sessions that most gyms run these days. Yet she is still super frustrated that these problem areas are there, will not budge for love nor money and she is almost resigned to the fact she will have to accept her lot in life.
I asked if she had tried strength training…….I got a blank stare as though I had just spoken a foreign language
“I don’t want to be big and bulky” came the reply.
I realised that I had just hit on the biggest problem with women and strength training.
Strength training for women has had a bad rap for years. Ever since I was a lad, watching Thin Lizzy on breakfast TV get her thing on in dayglo lycra, bouncing around advocating aerobics I have heard the negatives of strength training for women:
It makes you huge like those body builders.
Let me tell you those women that look huge have devoted their entire lives to trying to look like that. What makes you think training a few times a week without eating to get huge will make you look like they do. I would hazard a guess they have had to go through pain, the majority of their income and sacrificed their social lives to get to that point. Not to mention they MAY have taken the odd substance you can’t buy in the shops. Trust me, you won’t look like that with simple strength training.
It won’t tone your muscles like lifting lighter weights
Lifting lighter weights for lots of repetitions doesn’t tone your muscles in the way you understand tone. Losing weight will provide you with the toned look you are after. Lifting lighter weights lots of times WILL provide you with strength endurance. The irony is that you require strength first before you attain strength endurance.
When you lift weights you get STRONGER muscles, not necessarily BIGGER muscles. Strength training improves the speed at which the muscle speaks to the brain and vice versa, making your movements more efficient. If you lift weights and eat to lose weight, you will get STRONGER, move more efficiently and become more TONED.
It isn’t as good as cardio for losing fat
Popular consensus seems to be that you need to do cardio to lose weight/fat and this is the best method to adopt. You only need to observe the streets in January to see this (New Year’s resolutions and all that).
This is also the message that the massive, ‘low fee’ chain gyms tell you. The reason being is that they have invested heavily in rows and rows of cardio machines that you see people toil away on then day after day, week after week. These gyms can get away with hiring a low paid attendant to monitor it whilst raking in the cash.
Go back a year later and you will probably see different people (as the others gave up) who are built the same, doing the same thing, achieving the same results (going nowhere fast).
Sure, cardio can be used to help shift body fat but I would argue that strength training does a better job of it, due to the high energy demands placed upon the body for recovery following the training session (this is known as Exercise Post Oxygen Consumption or EPOC – but enough of that science stuff).
What you need to know is that the demand for energy from the muscles also increases your metabolism in general following repair.
This means that your body will continue to burn more calories for DAYS following your strength training.
What you put in your mouth as way of food has a greater impact than either cardio or strength training but that is a story for another day. Just be aware that cardio is not the be all and end all for fat/weight loss and that strength training will not only help lose fat but it will have you moving better and enable you to carry out more daily functions, which I go into below.
The majority of the reasons you hear hitting on strength training are utter nonsense!
- Lifting weights will not hurt your back. Lifting weights (or any other object for that matter) incorrectly will hurt your back.
- Neither is bad for your knees. In fact, stronger connective tissues and tendons may relieve joint pain.
I can point to hundreds of studies printed in reputable journals that advocate the benefits of strength training for women.
3 Reasons Why Women Should Strength Train
However, I realise you don’t have all day and you certainly don’t want to read my ramblings as I drone on and on about these so called benefits, so I have picked out 3 very important reasons why women of all ages should conduct some form of strength training each week.
1. It will improve your physique without you having to focus entirely on it
So many women worry about their physiques and how they look. This is not a bad thing by any means! However, women will restrict themselves from a whole host of enjoyable real life activities, foods and treats in the attempts to look great in the mirror.
Strength training has huge benefits for your physique that you may be unaware of. Firstly, your muscles will burn more energy when repairing themselves and afterwards too when they are stronger.
This will result in a greater amount of fat burned without actually having to do anything other than eating intelligently. Secondly, you can focus on something else other than what the scale weight says. You will start to count how many repetitions you are able to do in any given exercise or how long you can work without needing a rest. This will give you a much needed mental break from worrying about the fat loss.
So long as you eat consistently well, strength training will result in burning fat without thinking too much about it. That doesn’t mean you can eat what you want and lose fat. I am saying you can focus on something else instead and have the benefit of losing fat at the same time. How cool is that?
2. It will help you move better, reduce risk of injury and increase bone density, therefore, minimising the risk of osteoporosis
When someone strength trains, the process strains the muscles. These strains cause micro-tears in the muscle fibres, which the body repairs to withstand the same stress should it happen again.
When this happens the muscle comes back stronger and more efficient. It is more capable of doing more and withstanding stress, aiding in the prevention of injuries.
What people don’t know is that the same happens to your bones. Strength training also causes tiny little micro fractures in the bone, which are repaired to withstand the next bout of stress. The result is more dense, stronger bones. The stronger bones will be able to withstand the rigours of life more and will offset the risk of osteoporosis as you age.
The end result is you age beautifully and are able to get the most out of life, regardless of your age.
3. It will make you feel like a bad ass
Close your eyes for a second and imagine taking that jar of peanut butter off your other half as he struggles to open it. You grip tightly, strain a little and open it pops…
Obviously, he loosened it for you! Either that or you are stronger than he is. How cool would that be?
Or, you are in the gym in a group class and you are blasting the guys off the floor with how much work you are able to smash out. Strength training consistently will make you stronger than most of the nation (including guys).
I have indicated that strength training will help you to move better, be resistant to injury, allow you to do things you were previously incapable of and it will help you look great in the mirror. Imagine the confidence that would give you! What else could you do in life if you were brimming with confidence and feeling like a bad ass?
Bonus
It will inspire other women to improve also!
Despite many women now taking part in strength training, it is still seen as a guy’s activity. However, take a look at those ‘normal’ women doing it and see how fantastic they look.
How easy they move and how they are able to do superhuman feats normally reserved for men, such as moving furniture around the house, mowing the lawn and changing car wheels (sexist I know – tongue in cheek though).
Seriously though, think of all those shopping bags you could carry!
The simple fact is that strength training is good for you for a whole host of other reasons that I have previously mentioned such as improving posture, improving movement efficiency, making you look great in the mirror as well as many other health reasons too.
You could do all of those things and you could have all those benefits….if you strength train.
All you have to do is release those pre-dispositions.
The more women who do it, the more exposure to strength training women will get, which will lead to even more women doing it.
This means, even more, women moving, feeling and looking great. It is a circle of inspiration.
Be one of those who inspires others whilst being a superwoman bad ass at the same time!
What an amazing thought.
That and the thought of having a boatload of super strong chicks walking around mowing my lawn and changing my car tyres does it for me.
Take care and speak soon.
Gaz
]]>Before I knew any better, I focused almost entirely on the scales and that I had to lose a few stone.
Over the next few months I became obsessed with the scales. That little digital display with a number that doesn’t actually mean that much at the end of the day, suddenly became my world.
I had specific weigh in days but found myself jumping on the scales almost daily; sometimes a few times a day!
Even though I would do this, I would dread the moment as the numbers flashed on the scales and gauged the rest of my day on those little numbers.
If the numbers went down, my day was amazing. If the numbers stayed the same or went up then my day was ruined.
I would always question the reading when it wasn’t in my favour too:
‘I’ve been good lately so my weight should be down…’
This was a bad place to be.
Over time and with lots of study, I have realized how to over come this obsessiveness.
The biggest factor of this has been with my mindset and how I approached the whole fat loss / weight loss plan.
Although I have learned to curb my ‘eagerness to weigh myself, there are others out there where stepping on the scales can still be a traumatic event, so I want to show you how to use the scale to your advantage.
What I have here then are 4 things you have to know about the relationship between your body and the scales
#1 Fat loss will not always go down….be prepared for this
Here is the bottom line that I feel most people don’t understand fully.
You will not lose weight steadily every single week!
The body is complex and just doesn’t work like that.
Be prepared for some weeks to see the number stay the same ….or even go up a little.
This is where most people fail. They are unprepared for this and give up as a result.
What you should look to do it track your net loss over time.
For example:
If you lose 1 lb per week for 5 weeks and then in the 6th week you put on a pound then you are still down 5 lbs from the start.
Play the long game and you’ll win.
Stop thinking quick fix and short term.
After all, you want the weight off for a long time yeah??
#2 There are more ways to track fat loss than just with the scales
All too often we get fixated on the numbers of the scale that we forget the bigger picture.
There is often a reason WHY we want to lose 2 stone and it isn’t because we simply want to lose 2 stone.
It is often something along the likes of wanting to feel better, or look better in clothes or have more energy.
Because of this, we should look at all levels of progress to measure success.
Here are a few others I suggest you use.
Mirrors : How do you look in the mirror compared to before..pretty simple
Pictures : Take progress pictures as you go in the same room, clothes, stance, lighting etc (front, side and back). This will give you a great visual of how it is going.
Tape Measures : The tape doesn’t lie. I have seen a few of my own gym members lose only a few pounds but several inches around the waist and hips. This has meant they fit better into clothes and feel great.
Clothes : I have just touched on it. I often get messages saying how gym members are now into their old jeans or in a dress that fit maybe 2 years ago. This is much more important to the person than a few pounds on the scale.
Feeling/Energy : How are you moving around each day? Are you able to focus more at work? Are you seeing mid afternoon crashes anymore? How are you sleeping?
These are all great indicators of progress and whether you are seeing success.
Again, this can be difficult to measure, but you can certainly feel it within yourself.
#3 Progress is progress….1 lb per week is great for sustainable fat loss
So many people see the adverts on the TV or magazines and think they have to lose 5 lbs per week EVERY WEEK or else they are a failure.
This is simply not the case and I advocate that 1 lb per week is great progress.
Disagree?
Look at it this way.
If you lost 1 lb per week for 28 weeks that would be 2 stone.
6 months may seem like a long time away but if I was to say that in 6 months you could easily get 2 stone off and keep it off, I think you would take it.
Also, what people do not take into account is that when resistance training, it is likely that muscle will be gained.
Muscle is more dense than fat (it is not heavier). This means that you can fit more muscle than fat into a certain volume.
In real terms this means that you can gain muscle AND lose fat without realizing it as the fat may be masking the muscle.
This muscle growth plays havoc with the scales, resulting in no move at all or MAY even go up.
Play the long game… the tape measure and pictures will solve this puzzle better than the scales by the way.
#4 Your body changes daily….understand this
The body is extremely complex. I have said this before.
It changes on a daily basis and will not weight the same each day. After all, you do different things everyday.
You drink different things, you eat different things, you conduct different activities…why should it stay the same?
To that end, don’t expect to see the same numbers.
What I advise is that you weigh yourself in the same condition each time. i.e. first thing in the morning, naked after going to the loo).
- Same time period. Whether this is weekly or bi-weekly. Keep it to the same day each week and the same time of day. You will weigh different at different times of the day so factor that in.
- Weigh yourself in the same clothes….quite simple really.
An example being:
- I weigh myself on a Thursday first thing in the morning at home on my own scales after going to the toilet.
- I then have a hectic morning, have a big lunch and then pop into town.
- It is winter so I have a few layers on.
- I pop into Boots and they have a set of scales there. I decide to jump on.
- I have broken all of the rules above and guess what………I WEIGH MORE!!!
- As a result I give up my healthy eating and go and pig out……my progress is ruin anyway right???
This happens to so many people.
Oh, and just to finish…if you have had a bad day or a bad weekend then the absolutely last thing you need to do is step on the scales.What else do you think it is going to read other than what you don’t want to see.
Remember that bad days will usually lead to an increase in water retention and therefore some excess weight.
Don’t worry though as this weight will shift in a couple of days and you will be back to where you were before.
What I have resorted to with some of our members is to ban the use of scales altogether. Changing mindsets on how to approach fat loss and measure it with things that actually matter, rather than concentrating on the digital scale that actually matters little in the grand context of things.
Think about it for a little while….what do the scales matter to you?
What does fat loss matter to you?
What will it do for you in the long run?
What will it enable you to do?
How will it make you feel to fit into your old clothes?
Or have more energy than before?
Or being able to focus more at work and crush the day?
If these things are improving then what does a digital reading that doesn’t actually give you a true reflection of fat loss actually mean?
Think on it….
]]>