LifeLong Fitness Blog

One of the biggest barriers for our clients is the planning and preparation of meals.  I have included some information that will be helpful IF applied into your daily preparation and consumption.

 1-      Plan your day one day in advance.  Yes this takes a little bit of time initially but it will save you a ton of time in the long run and it will help you avoid fast foods and highly processed food as a result of being pressed for time.

2-      Remember to include a veggie in your meal at least 3-4 times per day.  I know most of you are whining at this point but please know that his will help you more than you know.  Veggies help to stabilize blood sugar and insulin levels which in turn curb your appetite and discourage overeating.

3-      Remember Balance:  This means that you should stick to a ratio of approximately 50% carbohydrates, 30% Protein, and 20% Fat.  This can vary depending on your needs but this is a good starting point for most people.  For example a chicken and rice dish should be composed of around 50% rice, 30% chicken, and the fat will follow around 10-20%.

4-      Remember Fruit!  You should include around 2-3 pieced of fruit in your diet daily.

5-      Remember the glycemic index!  Before planning a meal you should know what foods you are using and what their respective glycemic index is.  You want to stay within the medium to low range.  There are some healthy high GI foods but they should be balanced with a lower GI food such as veggies.  For example if you choose to have a small potatoe (high glycemic) you should balance that with a lower glycemic index carb such as a salad with low-fat dressing.  For more information on this topic please consult the book, The New Glucose Revolution The Authoritative Guide to THE GYLCEMIC INDEX-the Dietary Solution for Lifelong Health

6-      Remember to eat frequently.  This means every 2-3 hours without exception.  This will help to jump start your metabolism and keep it in high gear.  If you choose to ignore this principle I wish you good luck in your failure…I say that in the most affectionate terms possible.

7-      Remember Creativity:  This is hugely important to prevent burn-out.  I recommend the book The Eat Clean Diet by Tosca Reno.  This book is filled with recipe’s that are nutritious and taste good (yes that is possible!)

8-      Be consistent:  I know that you have heard this one before but I will continue to beat this drum until ALL of you are disciples of this concept…for if you are not you will never make long term progress with your goal of lifestyle change. 

 Well my friends, I appreciate all of you and I really hope that you will apply these principles into your nutritional routines…they will help you immensely. Life is Good!

This a a description of some of our services at Lifelong Fitness but it also has some good points that anybody can use when trying to change one’s lifestyle.  It also helps you out if you have ever considered the services of a Personal Trainer.  Enjoy!

By virtue of you reading this website I would bet that you are wanting to change some habits in your life that keep you from looking and feeling the way that you want too.  I want you to picture your average day from top to bottom.  What do you see?  Chances are that you do some of the same things over and over again.  You go to work, you attend to your kids, you consume food in regular meals or you graze throughout the day.  Whatever your day consists of one thing is certain…the way you look and feel at this very moment is directly related to the habits that drive your actions on a daily basis.

 Many of us make excuses to justify our actions, such as, “it’s my gene’s fault that I am overweight”, or “I am too busy to exercise”.  We all have excuses although it is very difficult for us to admit them and even more difficult to change our actions.

The Solution?

 At Lifelong Fitness we understand that the most powerful tool of change is the mind, followed by actions to change your current habits.  Our approach to help you change your habits has already been discussed.  First you must change the mental before the physical.  Second, you must change your nutritional lifestyle.  Third, you must become educated, accountable, and be consistent.  Fourth is what we are currently discussing and it is a culmination of the previous 3 ingredients…habit change.  If you never change your long-term habits your lifestyle will never change and you will always fall short of your health and fitness goals.

Why is it so important to have an educated and qualified Personal Trainer?

1- So That They Can Customize Your Program To YOUR NEEDS!

                -Most Personal Trainers take a cookie cutter approach to every client, never addressing individual needs and peculiarities.  You have special goals, wants, needs, and visions and we respect that.  With that respect we give you a trainer who has formal training in exercise prescription so that you are guaranteed to get an exercise program that is completely customized and tailored to your exact needs!

 2- So That YOU become EDUCATED!

                -It is one thing to go to the gym and be told what to do by a Personal Trainer.  It is an entirely different thing to be taught by a professional with the intent of educating you.  We want to train you HOW to work out, so that you feel confident in doing it by yourself when you leave us!  This also pertains to nutrition!  We want to teach you principles that will last a lifetime!

3-So That They Can Hold You Accountable!

                -A recent survey by the National Strength and Conditioning Association (www.nsca.org) indicated that one of the top reasons that people fail with nutrition and exercise is that they do not make themselves accountable to somebody.  We understand the value of accountability and have formal system in place to ensure your success.  Once we customize your exercise program you will be held accountable to it!  This also applies to the Lifestyle Coaching.  We will find your biggest mental and physical barriers and hold you accountable to them in a very formal and quantifiable way.  The result is a method that keeps you on track and away from the excuses that ultimately preclude your progress.

4- So That YOU Can Remain Consistent!

                -The only way that you will ever change your HABITS is by consistently performing actions that are contrary to your current actions.  Through accountability and motivation given by your trainer you will find consistency with your lifestyle change program.  No consistency no results.  Come and find out how it feels to be in control of YOU!

Life is Good!

Hello All!  I am still reconstructing the Lifelong Fitness Website and the following is some of the content that is going to be on there but I thought it appropriate to post it here because it has some great information that you can use right now.

Without any doubt, nutrition is the hardest part for most people to master!  On a scale of 1-10 (10 being completely healthy) how would you rank your nutrition?  Nutrition truly is 80% of your success equation.  Think of it…have you ever caught yourself in a mindset such as the following:  “I workout so that I can eat whatever I want!”  Chances are that you have had those thoughts or some very similar.  Don’t worry you are not alone, BUT you are wrong!  The old cliché’ that “you are what you eat” could never be more true.   Think about it just for a moment…your body LITERALLY (yes literally) becomes what you feed it day after day.  Your bones, skin, hair, body fat level, organs, and essential fluids are ALL a direct transformation (chemically) of the foods that you consume. 

With this in mind, can you possibly make the argument that nutrition is merely an inconsequential part of your physical make-up?  Of course we know this not to be the case.  The problem is that most of us do not eat as healthy as we should…and we know it!  From processed foods to artificial sweeteners, we are bombarded daily with choices that may or may not be healthy for us.  This may be a source of confusion for you as you try to live a healthy lifestyle.

 The Solution?

Knowing how important nutrition is to your overall success, how do you sift through all of the fad diets and all of the hype to get to the truth?  Is dieting the answer?  According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) at any given time two-thirds of all American adults are on a diet to either lose weight or prevent weight gain. Of those, 29 percent are men and 44 percent women. Yet only 5 percent of these dieters will be successful at keeping the weight that they lost off!  Can you believe that!  That means that 95% of all diets fail!  That is why we believe in long term change!  You must change your nutritional lifestyle.  You must change your nutritional habits.  You must change the way you view foods and the roles that they play in your life.

At Lifelong Fitness we take an in-depth approach to your nutrition.  We start by customizing your calories, your macronutrient ratio’s (Carbs, Pro, Fat, %) and writing you generalized menu plans according to your calorie range.  All the while we will coach you as to what long-term sustainable nutrition is and you can achieve it in your life.  We will be by your side every step of the way.  And by the way…we don’t encourage rabbit food and we won’t tell you only to eat 500 calories per day.  We teach you reasonable, sustainable and good tasting nutrition that you can live with the rest of your life!  We want you to succeed in changing your nutritional habits and our program is designed specifically to help you do just that.  Come and learn how to change your nutritional way of life…it’s that important!

This is actually content that we are going to be updating our website with but I thought it appropriate to post it here as it contains good information about changing your lifestyle by changing your mind first!

How many times have you got energized, motivated, and downright excited to start an exercise program?  You then commence in your efforts and find yourself exercising and/or trying to eat better.  You pat yourself on the back as you complete the first week.  The second week rolls around and you find yourself in a slight decline with your enthusiasm but you push past it and you make it through the week.   The third week rolls around and all of the sudden you find that your brain is making excuses about how busy you are.  “Maybe I will exercise and maybe I won’t” you tell yourself…in any case you are justified because you are “busy” after all!  The fourth week rolls around and you find that you have slipped back into your old ways and you find yourself making more and more excuses as your exercise program faces extinction.

Sound familiar?  We human beings have something brilliant that we rely on everyday for food, work, relationships and fun.  We also have something that causes us unnecessary angst, anxiety, and a plethora of excuses that truly limits our potential.  This “something” is YOUR BRAIN!  Your brain is programmed to keep things the same and anytime you try to do something to “better” yourself, your brain subconsciously kicks back.  The physiological mechanism responsible for this is called the Reticular Activating System (RAS) and its sole purpose is to find and search for information from your past experiences that supports your OLD habits.  This is exactly why most gyms look like a ghost town come February!  You will always revert back to your old habits because you never address the most pressing problem…YOUR BRAIN!  If your outlook never changes, your actions will never change.

The Solution?

The only way to outsmart your inborn human nature is to actively form a new habit through the application of new actions and a new mindset.  As you start changing your behaviors in a positive way and you accompany your actions with a positive mindset, your mind begins to change. 

Here at Lifelong Fitness we understand that you must “First change the MENTAL before you are able to change the physical”.  The problem with most exercise programs is that they reverse the two or ignore the mental all together.  Isn’t it about time that you succeeded LONG-TERM?  If you are sick of failing, let us show you how to target those mental barriers that have body slammed your hopes time after time.  Our lifestyle change course is designed to help you first find your mental barriers.  We then make a plan of attack with goals and timelines, and hold you accountable to your plan each and every session.  You will be asked to perform in many different tasks and assignments that are geared to help change your mind set.   We make sure that you are actively combating your old way of thinking and replacing it with a new one.  Come and experience what it feels like to enjoy your new lifestyle by conquering your old ways of thinking!

Well there you have it my friends!  Remember you CAN change your thinking habits because life truly is GOOD!

Howdy all!  I just got done putting together a Powerpoint Presentation for a company that I will be speaking at tomorrow.  I thought that I would cut and paste the contents of it here so that you too can benefit from it!  I hope that you enjoy, and remember…life is good!

Resistance Training Programming: The Basics

•If you’re a beginner (0-6 months) you must start with a Foundation Mesocylce

•Foundation Guidelines:

– 2-3 weight training sessions/week –Work “major” muscle groups –Stay within 10-13 total exercises

–Work the full body with each workout

–Allow at least 48 hours rest between workouts

–Select exercises that will challenge balance and proprioception

–Select exercises that you enjoy doing (at least at first)

•Programming Considerations

–Circuit Vs. Station…which is best for you? (www.llfit.com and click on the upper right tab entitled “Get Fit Blog”

–Station Training: Rest approximately 1-1.5 minutes per session

–Circuit Training: Little to no rest in between exercises.  2-5 minutes of rest between circuits

–Rep Range (the amount of repetitions lifted per set) •10-15 per set for adults •8-15 for kids/adolescents

–Progression Model:

Linear • When you reach your rep range max for ALL sets, you can then increase your weight and start back at the bottom or middle of your rep range

Intermediate Resistance Training Programming
(6-24 months)

•Circuit Training:

 –15-20 total Exercises

–Maintain Muscle Balance

 –Heart Range typically between 120-150 BPM depending on age

–Can incorporate isolation exercises now •Station Training

–15-20 total exercises

–Rest 1 minute between exercises

–You may superset or compound at this point (explaned in the next slide)

•Programming Considerations

–No rest between exercises for circuiting

–Rest approxiamately 2-3 minutes between circuits

 –Select exercises specific to your sport if you engage in athletics

 –Station Training Super Sets…Taking one muscle group and paring it with the antagonistic muscle group

–Example: Super setting your Biceps with your Tricpes

–Supersetting Rest Period: No rest between the two exercises but 1-1.5 minutes of rest between the actual super set.

•Compound Sets: (Only to be done with 12 months experience)

–Working one muscle group twice in the same set with a different exercise

 –Example: Bench press (chest) compounded with a fly (also chest)

•Rest: :45-:30 between exercises •1:00 to a 1:30 Between compounds

•Be sure to listen to your body

•Rep Range: varies depending on goal, but generally 8-12 at this point

•Compounds are very demanding to be sure that you are physically prepared for them

A Sample Foundation Program (station)

Well there you have it my friends…short and sweet but hopefully it will give those of you that are new to weight training some good tips!

As the head trainer of Lifelong Fitness, one of the most common responses to goal setting, is: “Well Griff, I would love to commit to the lifestyle that you preach but I just don’t have the time”.  As determined by national survey, time is the number one excuse as to why people do not exercise regularly.

 In the most recent addition of the American College of Sports Medicine’s Certified News, we learn that 66% of US adults are overweight and 32% are obese!  UNBELIEVABLE!  The article further states, “Many factors contribute to this global epidemic, but two elements that play key roles are the transition from a primarily rural lifestyle to a highly technological urban existence, or more precisely, the ability of our environment to lure us to eat more and move less”.

Making Fitness a Priority

May I offer my own observations along with some proven facts . I have observed in many a client that when life gets busy fitness is the FIRST thing to bite the dust.  Ironically, other “coping” mechanisms we employ to deal with our stressors are simultaneously increased.  Some of these unhealthy coping mechanisms are listed below.

*   Increased TV watching as a form of escape

*  Increased surfing of the Web (non-important surfing)

*  Increased movie watching

*  Increased eating out…especially fast food

*  Increased time making excuses as to why you are not exercising

*  Increased snacking

*  Decreased self-control

*  Decreased self-concept

*  Increased Depression (exercise increases serotonin (your feel good hormone)

*  Decreased Endorphins (your other feel good hormones)

*  INCREASED TIME WASTING:  Studies have confirmed that people’s productivity decreases when exercise is taken out of their daily routine

*  Increase irritability:  what did you think was going to happen when those “feel good” hormones were taken away?

Suggestions & Solutions Please?

My simple suggestion is this: start with the basics and make fitness a priority!  Below are steps to help:

1-         Know and accept that fitness adherence should be a lifestyle change, NOT a temporary fix to get ready for your sunny vacation coming up in three weeks.

 2-         Train your mind to think of fitness as long term.  For example, think to your self, “I am learning lifestyle habits that will still be with me in 5 or 10 years from now.  I AM CHANGED FOR THE BETTER FOREVER”.

 3-         Know that dropping exercise because of a tight schedule will hinder your efforts more than help them.  Make all of the excuses you want and at the end of the day you will still know that this statement is true.

 4-         Make a SCHEDULE and abide by it.  For example be very specific in setting your goals (i.e. “I will exercise Mon through Friday at 8:00 in the morning and nothing will stand in my way of that goal). 

5-         Hold yourself ACCOUNTABLE to your goals and to your schedule.

6-         Do not fall into the trap of telling yourself  “Well, my situation is different than everybody else’s”.  I have news for you:  IT IS NOT!  Your schedule may be unique but it is not “unexercisable”.  I just made that word up to make the point that you do possess the power to make it happen if you want it bad enough.

7-         Use your trainer to help motivate and inspire you.  That is why you have hired them in the first place!

8-         If something has to give in your schedule, let it give!  Exercise should not be one of the components that gives!  Search your life and you will find things that take time and should not be there…get rid of them NOT the exercise! 

**Comment on #8: This single decision to keep exercise in your life will ENHANCE the rest of your goals, projects, ambitions, and daily tasks that occupy the rest of your time.

Final Word

 My number one goal in serving the clientele of Lifelong Fitness is to instill within you the education and desire to change your life for the rest of your life…hence the name LIFELONG Fitness.  I sincerely appreciate all of you and hope you will take this moment to re-assess your lifestyle and make changes towards a more healthy and productive lifestyle.  Remember you CAN do it and also remember that Life is Good!