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The Secret to Success in Your Health and Fitness Journey

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Lately I have been having a lot of discussions with members about what it really takes to see success in achieving better health and fitness. Most think it has to do with the program they are on. Although a good program is highly beneficial to getting the most out of your workouts, it’s still not at the top of the list. You could have the best program in the world but if you don’t actually do it, it’s just a useless list of exercises.

What is really going to get you results, especially over the long term is CONSISTENCY.

First, you need to figure out what a realistic amount of time each week you can dedicate to your exercise program. The important part of this is what is “realistic”. You don’t want to set yourself up for failure here. You don’t have to be at the gym 5 days a week to see results. We recommend 3 days a week for most people but you can see results with 2 days a week or even 1 if you are consistent every week with it. Here’s proof.

I have trained a gentleman for over 5 years now who dedicates 1 hour a week to the gym. Outside of that 1 hour a week here he does no other planned exercise, although he does stay active with other activities, his only day of resistance training at the gym is this one hour. Over 5 years he has tripled the number of pushups he could do, lost body fat, decreased his resting heart rate and got rid of his shoulder pain that had been limiting his movements for years. And his secret is one hour a week, every week, no matter what. In five years, he may have only missed a handful of workouts. It’s his consistency that has gotten him the results. And not to mention, he is in his mid 60’s. This is a time when most people are losing strength and instead he is making slow but steady increases in his strength. Sure, if he had done 2 or 3 workouts a week maybe he could have accomplished more over these 5 years, but he was realistic with his time, put it into his weekly schedule, same time, same day, every week that worked for him and now 5 years later he is stronger, more mobile and pain free.

So, the secret is in the consistency you can build into your weekly routine. Don’t get hung up on how many days that is. Just focus on what is realistic for you. Put that time into your schedule and treat it like any other appointment you would not miss. After all, what could be more important then your long-term health and abilities?

Our health and fitness are a lifelong journey, it never ends. Once you achieve your goal you still have to maintain it so figure out what a realistic cadence is for you and then do it! When you have this part figured out we can then start to focus on what the best program options are for you and your goals.

What has exercise done for you lately?

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Since returning to the club on a more regular basis now, I’ve had the opportunity to once again, stop and chat with many of our members. One member in particular stopped and chatted with me one day and the only thing I could think of saying to him after he was finished was “I wish I had a recording of what you just said”. Sometimes, something that is so obvious and makes so much sense isn’t even realized by you until someone points it out. He was kind enough to send us a brief summary of what he said to me that day so I could share it with you. Pay particular attention to the bolded type at the end.

“The day I walked in the doors at G&M Fitness I was unhealthy and unhappy. I had a resting heart rate of about 80bpm. When I spoke with Matt I had one goal in mind and that was heart health. I want to live a long life and have many years with my 2 boys and my wife. Today, a couple years later my resting heart rate is now 57bpm which falls in the category of athlete… I can tell you this: I went from unhealthy and unhappy to being stronger than I have ever been and having amazing heart health and being very happy with myself. This is not just great for me but also great for my family. My boys and my wife can see how truly happy I am…. you can be bigger and still be healthy and the key to that is definitely exercise. As Gino told me “Be the best you” and he is absolutely right.

Cool aye! We seldom think how our health, how we feel physically, emotionally, mentally can affect the other important people in our lives. Here is a prime example of how exercise can most definitely help you, but more importantly sometimes, how it can have a positive effect on others in your life.

Gino

The Importance of a Good Warm Up

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Before jumping into your strength training routine, you should always begin your exercise session with a light warm up of some kind. The warm up often gets skipped, especially if time is short but it is a very important piece of your exercise routine that should be incorporated every single time.

When you warm up you are taking your body from a resting state and getting it moving. This usually means some kind a cardiovascular activity. It can be walking, running, biking, jumping jacks, skipping, anything to get your body moving. You don’t want to surprise your body at the beginning of a workout by walking into the gym and beginning with weight lifting.

Once you start moving a few things happen. Your heart rate will start to elevate from it’s current resting state. This will get more blood flowing out to your muscles which helps to deliver more oxygen and nutrients to your muscles during exercise.

Your body temperature will begin to rise. This gets your muscles warmer and better prepares them for the exercise ahead and helps to prevent injuries from loading cold, unprepared muscles.

The third and one of the most important reasons for a warm up is to give you a few minutes to get the days worries, stresses and demands out of your head and to switch your focus to the workout ahead. Clear your mind and mentally prepare for your workout. You don’t want to be distracted during your workout and mindlessly go through it. You should be focused to get the most out of it.

For a good warm up all you need is 5 minutes of continuous light movement that gets your heart rate up, gets you feeling warmer, maybe even a light sweat started and lets your body and mind know to get ready for exercise.

4 Keys To Achieving Optimal Wellness in 2020

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If you are looking to become the best version of yourself this year, try implementing as many of these key principles into your daily and weekly routines as you can. Start with one of them, schedule it as part of your regular routine, get consistent with it and then add another. Don’t overwhelm yourself adding all of them at once and understand that adding even just one of these ideas into your regular routine will have a positive impact on your health and well being.

There are no magic potions here, but these are all simple ideas that most of us know we should be doing, it’s just a matter of doing them and doing them consistently.

Here we go:

  • Move More, Sit Less

It’s no secret that replacing sitting time with more movement time will have positive results to our health. Again, we just have to do it. Try to set a goal of sitting for less then 3 hours a day, and when you are sitting at work to get up at least once every hour to walk around and move to break up the sitting time.

You can also track your steps and try to hit a daily goal of 10,000 steps to ensure you are moving enough.

  • Get Regular Exercise

Try for 3-5 cardio sessions a week which can be any activity that maintains an elevated heart rate for at least 20 minutes. Walking, biking, the gym, skating. Pick something you enjoy.

Strength train 2-3 times per week. Keeping your muscles strong is one of the most important things you can do for long term health, independence and confidence. Make sure you are getting all major muscle groups.

Stretch daily if you can. Keeping good range of motion helps you move better and stay injury free.

  • Rest

The body adapts and recovers while you rest, not while you work so make sure you are getting enough rest. Try to get 7-8 hours of sleep each night, schedule regular rest days and even take a vacation once in a while to get away from the day to day stresses and focus on relaxing and resting.

  • Eat Well

Eat mostly minimally processed food, preferably real, whole foods. Eat lots of vegetables, get enough protein and limit your sugar intake. Make sure you control your portion sizes and eat regularly to maintain good energy levels throughout the day. (Eat Smart, Eat Often, Eat Small!)

That’s it. Start implementing these principles into your regular routine and reap the rewards in 2020!

How Long Does It Take to See Results from Exercise?

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Everybody wants to know; how long do I need to exercise before I see results? Depending on what results you are after the period of time it takes will vary. We will look at a few of the more common benefits and when you can expect to start to see some results. There is a catch though! We will address that at the end, so read on.

Resting Heart Rate
Within just a couple weeks with regular aerobic training you can see improvements in your resting heart rate. The heart is a muscle and improves and gets stronger with exercise. As you get fitter, not only will your resting heart rate decrease but your heart rate will recovery quicker after an exercise bout as well.

Blood Pressure
Again, within just a few weeks you can start to see improvements in blood pressure if you have high or borderline high blood pressure.

Endurance
Expect it to take 4-6 weeks of regular aerobic exercise before you see noticeable improvements in your endurance although the changes begin within the first couple weeks, it just takes a bit before they translate into noticeable improvements.

Strength
You will begin to notice strength gains within the first 2 to 3 weeks. These gains are mostly from neuromuscular adaptations where your muscle learns to move more efficiently. In a 3 to 6 month period you can see anywhere form a 25-100% gain in strength.

Muscle Size
This one takes a lot of work and needs a long-term perspective and the amount varies from very little change to up to about a 60% increase. There are a lot of variables that come in to play for this one such as age, gender, genetics, type of resistance training program and nutrition.

Weight Loss
With no change in diet, depending on how much energy you are expending throughout the week you could see results within a week or never see any weight loss results. Remember, you can’t out work a bad diet. The best weight loss results come from combining diet and exercise. If you do that the results are immediate.

Mental Health
Results in your first workout! Every workout will produce positive mental health benefits.

Now here is the catch.

Most of these results begin within the first few weeks of beginning an exercise routine BUT they only matter if you maintain the consistency with your exercise program. You have to keep it up to keep the results up.

Find a way to make exercise a regular part of your weekly routine and you will reap all of the benefits listed above for the rest of your life!