Tips on hiring a personal trainer

Need Motivation to Workout?

Finding the motivation to go to the gym, or to workout at home, can be challenging at times. So, what do you do when you find yourself skipping workouts, or just not giving 100 percent of your effort?

There are several things you can try when you are lacking the motivation to workout.

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Wonderfully Fit Personal Training

5 Tips to Stay Motivated and Keep It

Losing weight and becoming more fit is a couple of the most common New Year’s resolutions. New Years resolutions are talked about a lot. They are a great if you can stick to them. The key is sticking to them. Most people make them but don’t stick to them.

On average about 80% of New Years resolutions are not met. Why? For a couple of reasons. Being overambitious, not making a plan and going on willpower alone. The old statement is true, “if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.”

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Plan to succeed with these 5 tips to help you stay motivated and meet your New Years resolution goals.

1) Show yourself some mercy

When attempting to make positive changes in your life you will at some point have a setback. When you have setbacks don’t get down on yourself. Don’t let a setback cause you to stop you from meeting your goals. Use the setback as motivation to push even harder than before.

2) Stop Making Excuses

Humans can be very resilient creatures. Look at the great shape professional athletes are in when they push themselves. The more you push yourself, the better results you will get. But a lot of people love to make excuses for why they can’t workout.

The most common excuse is “I don’t have time” or “I’m too busy”. Really? You don’t have 10 minutes? You can construct a quality workout that lasts 10 to 20 minutes around your schedule. The key is to get your heart rate up to burn calories and get your metabolism going.

3) Find Inspiration

Visit and talk to individuals that have already achieved success. You can learn a lot from people that have done what you are trying to do.

4) Keep an Eye on your Progress

Checking your progress is very important. You need to check your progress to see where you are doing good and also more importantly see what you need to improve on. You will only get better if you do this.

5) Keep Yourself Accountable

This is one of the most important things you can do to ensure your success when working on a New Years resolution. When you have an accountability partner to keep you accountable, you have someone to call you on your excuses and challenge you to do better.

An accountability partner will push you on days when you don’t want to work out. They will help you become a better person. A good kick in the rear from your accountability partner will definitely help you stay motivated. Having an accountability partner will help you get over the temptation to try to go on willpower. Doing that will get you in trouble, ten times out of ten.

If you are wanting to start the New Year healthier make a realistic New Years resolution. Use the tips mentioned to help keep your New Year’s resolutions and stay motivated. Get out and do what is necessary to meet your goals.

Personal Traing Tips: Pre-Workout Meals

Working out can be a laborious and taxing exercise for anybody, regardless of how healthy or fit he or she may be. As well as dealing with muscle pains, pacing your body and the mental stress that is often associated with exercising, eating the right kinds and the right amount of food should also be taken into account. Often referred to as “pre workout meals“, a suitable, nutritious meal that is consumed before a workout can greatly help anyone aspiring to achieve a great shape and enhanced health.

Pre workout meals do not just provide you with the nutrition that your body needs, but they also help you maintain your energy levels, whilst ridding you of the hunger that can sometimes affect you during your training session. So whether you want to work out to lose weight, build up muscles or simply get healthier, pre workout meals are undeniably essential and worth learning more about.

pre workout meals
It is important to remember that whilst working out on an empty stomach may make you feel lighter and seemingly able to train more effectively, it can result in you having a lack of energy which can adversely affect your exercise (or worse, your well-being later on in the day). Before training or even simply going out in the morning, it is a must to get the nutrients and energy needed to help your body function properly; and you can start with simply drinking water for personal hydration.

Moving on to the food you take onboard, it is best that you have your meal at least 45 minutes before you begin exercising. Your meal should provide both protein (30 to 40 grams is recommended) and carbohydrates (low glycemic type to be exact), and anyone can have these by starting the day with a good combination of milk, cereal (specifically oat meal), whole wheat bread and fruit.

If you intend to exercise in the afternoon or perhaps later on in the evening, there are a number of ideal pre workout meals for those periods of the day too. For instance, a lunch could be a healthy combination of meatless soup, a portion of green salad, some thin crackers and around half a pint of water is one such recommendation. As long as you give your body that essential mix of protein and carbohydrates, you will be well on your way to preparing yourself properly for an effective workout.

Giving yourself an appropriate level of nutrition before any workout routine is just one small part of the many personal training tips that can help you achieve your health and fitness goals. But having the knowledge, guidance and specific consumption of the right foods can have a tremendous impact, not only with your workout plan but also with your personal discipline.

Exercise and Fitness Tips for Everyone

Do you have trouble getting the initiative to work out? Feel like it’s not even worth the effort sometimes? Well, as doctors will tell you, keeping fit and exercising are crucial to good health.

The following are some exercise and fitness tips for staying in shape with the least amount of conflict with your busy schedule.

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1. Walk

Walking is an extremely effective workout that can be done anywhere with little effort. Even in your everyday life you likely walk many places, simply because it is necessary.

Walking for exercise can either be a refreshing walk outside (with the dog, with a friend, etc.), or you may simply choose to walk places instead of using other forms of transportation. For instance, if you work a few blocks away, you may choose to walk to work every day instead of driving. You can also make other decisions such as choosing to take the stairs instead of the elevator.

Walking can also be done in place of another cardio workout. For instance, speed walking with weights can burn many more calories and leads to more muscle mass gain than if you just walked at a slow, normal pace.

2. Use Technology

There are new technologies that can help you burn calories. These include computer games, video games (such as Wii Fit), and the old standby, aerobic workout videos. All of these technologies make losing weight and getting fit fun.

3. Dance

Dancing is seen by many as the most fun form of exercise. While aerobic videos often feature dancing, simply listening to a CD and dancing along to it at home can help keep you fit. You may even dance while you are cooking or doing other chores without the music, and have fun while you are doing it.

4. Watch a Favorite TV Show While Working Out

If you own a home gym or go to a fitness center that has TVs, pop in a DVD or Netflix of your favorite show while you work out. You can even make your workout session the only time that you watch that particular show. This gives plenty of incentive to stay fit.

Positive Dieting Behaviors Deserve a Reward

When you are dieting it can be hard to stick to your goals and shed your body of excess weight. The good news however, is that there are numerous thing you can do to help keep yourself on task. Make sure to reward yourself when you stay with your weight loss regimen. Rewards are a wonderful way to make yourself feel happy and good about the new lifestyle you are leading.

Some people find it useful to set short term goals such as promising themselves that they will lose a certain amount of weight in a set amount of time. The important thing is to make sure that you do not set goals that are out of reach.

dieting

You should view the fact that you even reach a goal as something worth rewarding yourself for. People of all ages respond well to rewards and being an adult on a diet is not an exception to this rule.

Rewards are a wonderful way to motivate you to keep going and working towards a healthy life. As you reward yourself you are far more apt to want to keep working so that you can receive the next reward that you have set for yourself.

Rewards work in so many different areas of a person’s life that it makes perfect sense to think that a reward system is a good way to keep you on the right diet track.

Rewards are designed to make you feel happy about something that you have reached. It makes you feel better about yourself and the effort that you have put in. A reward tells you that you have worked hard and deserve to be treated.

There are so many different ways that you can reward yourself for doing well on your diet, however, it is wise to choose a reward that is not food related. If you really do want to treat yourself with a dinner out or something along those lines, just make certain that you pick only healthy foods.

Rewarding yourself with sweets is not a good idea as it will just create a problem in allowing you to stick with your diet. You could opt to make your reward something such as new clothes or a day of pampering at a spa. Anything that allows you to feel good about yourself is a good idea as a reward.

If you choose clothes as your reward, it is a nice way to watch your wardrobe grow with clothes that are very flattering to your new body shape.

Rewarding yourself with other things that will improve your appearance such as a new hair cut or color will go so far in making you want to continue working out and getting in shape. Men who diet but are not interested in such things as cosmetics can always purchase something that they like for their rewards such as a new tool.

Couples who are working on a diet routine with one another could create a special weekend away as a reward for keeping consistent with their diet. Always keep in mind when choosing your reward that it should be something that you really like or want. An item that is special is seen as far more of a reward than something that is necessary or that you would have bought for yourself anyway.

A great idea is to browse around ahead of time and find things that strike your fancy that you can use as rewards for yourself in the future so that you have some wonderful treats to work towards.

Rapid Weight Loss Techniques

Other than physical appearance weight affects a person in many ways. This could be the overall quality of life, self-esteem, depression, health risks, and physical incapabilities. There are a lot of positive changes once a person experience weight loss. It is for this reason why a lot of people are searching for a weight loss technique that will surely trim down those fats and get a super slim head turner body.

The first thing that an over-weight should do is seek a doctor to recommend the best weight loss regimen. This will be done after a full physical examination, which leads to the determination of proper weight loss technique. And to lose weight fast and effectively four aspects of life should be changed: what to eat, how to eat, behavior and activity level.

Here are fast tips that can change an over-weight’s life:

First: Fast weight loss composes of a multi-faceted technique that consists mindset, exercise, and in other cases, diet supplements. Begin by learning a diet food plan that can easily be accustomed with. Incorporate an exercise plan that allows even at least fifteen minutes a day like brisk walking, running, swimming, and dancing.

Second: Set realistic approaches. The ability to focus and have proper mindset enables someone on a diet to quickly lose those extra pounds. With discipline and proper mind set, a dieter will never be discouraged and lose focus.

Third: Listen as the body speaks. Each and everyone’s body metabolism reacts differently to different fast weight loss programs and plans. Try substituting one program for another to compensate the body’s reaction. Exercise program must be suitable to one’s body, as others are not able to exercise as rigorously as others can. If walking is all that can be done, then walk for this is proven the best exercise. Muscles burn more calories than fats so it’s also best to put on a little muscle and looking good too.

Fourth: Eat more fibers for it makes a person full sooner and stays in the tummy longer, slowing down the rate of digestion. A single serving of whole grain bread moves fat through the digestive system faster. Grains turn into blood sugar that spikes the body’s insulin level. Thus, making the body more energized and ready to tell the body when it should stop burning fats or start storing.

Fifth: Keep away from fried foods especially deep-fried as this contains a great amount of fat. Although fish and chicken appear leaner than beef, this white meat can contain more fat than when a beef is fried. It is recommended for those on strict diet to opt for grilled food as this does not have or contain less amount of fat after the food is cooked.

Sixth: Takes lots of fluid. Drinking at least six to eight glasses of water a day keeps the body refreshed. Since weight loss depends on how the body eliminates body wastes, the body must stay hydrated.

All in all, discipline and consistency is still the best practice and the key to a rapid weight loss success. Light dieting, workout, and right amount of supplementation applied in a regular way everyday will result in faster weight loss than having a massive action only to be followed a return to old habits as this would only lead to gaining more weight than when the weight loss plan has started.

5 Ways to Improve Your Fitness

Are you struggling to attain a perfect body fitness? Have you been exercising for months without any significant changes? To be physically fit, you need to eat well, exercise and sleep. It is all about leading a healthy, active, relaxed, and stress-free lifestyle that can help you achieve your goals.

Here are 5 Ways to Improve Your Fitness

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  1. Make sure that aerobic activity is a major part of your fitness routine. Some people make the mistake of spending all of their time on strength training. However, in order to make your muscles stronger, you have to get rid of the fat which is hiding them. That is where cardio activity comes into play. So make sure that you engage in at least 30 minutes of aerobic activity each and every day.

  2. If you want to tighten you muscles be certain that you engage in strength training. This will help you tighten up all of those lose areas once you get rid of the body fat.

  3. Remember to keep things fun. Fitness should not be something that you dread. It should be something fun, so go ahead and engage in an activity that you enjoy. If walking on a treadmill at a gym is not your thing, try running or rollerblading outdoors.

  4. Exercise is the key to improving your body fitness. In fact, people who have an active lifestyle are seldom seen with unattractive figures. If you can manage simple workouts on a daily basis at home, or go to a gym regularly, then you will notice visible changes in your body fitness within a month. Exercise helps in protecting your body from muscle loss. It increases the metabolism, improves blood circulation, and revitalizes the entire system. Yoga is a perfect way to achieve a perfect body fitness, and to relax your body. It helps you in overcoming the stiffness of your muscles and produces great agility in your body. If you want to trim specific areas of your body like tummy, thighs, biceps, then you can consult your trainer to guide you about the relevant postures, and exercises.

  5. Finally, keep off from stress. Stress factor does not directly affect our body fitness, but it alters our attitude towards life. It also affects our eating patterns. We neglect our exercise, proper diet, and stop thinking positively in life. We tend to starve either, or glutton on anything and everything especially on caffeine, chocolates, and colas.

The Many Benefits Of Running

For most people, running is exhausting, boring, and sometimes painful. However, you see today so many people running as if their lives depended on it. (That is actually true to a point.)

There are many reasons why people engage themselves in running these days. Foremost of which is to stay in shape or to reach their ideal body weight. Studies show that the potent combination of correct diet and the right exercise is the most effective method in losing weight.

running

Weight loss

For all its boring features, running is very effective in allowing a person to burn an average of 100 calories for every run mile. Biking and walking, on the other hand, only burn a fraction of these calories in the same amount of time.

While we burn around 2000 to 5000 calories every day doing nothing, running 5 miles a day burns an additional 500 calories.

The speed in running has little or no effect on the number of calories burned. Rather, it is weight that counts. A 220-pound person running an 8-minute mile burns 150 calories. A person weighing 120 pounds running the same pace burns a measly 82 calories.

Understand that a person needs an excess of 3500 calories in order to gain a pound. This means you need to burn that much number of calories in order to lose a single pound.

Overall health

Another motivation that drives runners is the health benefits they get. Running helps lower blood pressure by maintaining the elasticity of the arteries. During a run, the arteries get exercised as well, what with all the blood moving about.

Running also maximizes the lung’s potential, keeping it strong and powerful. Deep breaths force the lungs to use more tissues, but half of both are unused. Running makes the lungs use almost all of its tissues.

Running also strengthens the heart and helps prevent heart attacks. During a run, the heart muscles are exercised, thus keeping it fit and strong by itself.

The heart of an inactive person beats 36,000 more times every day compared to that of a runner. The reason is simple – the runner’s arteries are wider and blood flows smoother.

Endorphin

Most runners keep this secret to themselves: running gives an intense exhilaration and euphoria right after a run. And they are addicted to the feeling and it motivates them the most.

Science had already found out the nature of this natural high: beta endorphins. These are released by the body’s neurons intended to relieve the pain after a run. It creates a feeling of extreme happiness and exhilaration and can be so intense it often can replace other addictions to drugs, alcohol, including appetite for food.

Natural tranquilizer

There is a trend for doctors now to recommend to their patients suffering from clinical depression and other psychological disorders to try running. This is based on studies that show running as a natural tranquilizer. Patients are reported to be less tense, less confused, less depressed, and less fatigued.

Whatever your reasons for running are, it is a safe bet that it is one of the best natural disease-fighters man had discovered. What’s more, it’s free and it’s delirious as well.

 

10 Fun Ways To Become More Active – Every Day

You know you should be getting some sort of exercise, you know of all the health benefits that come with a more active lifestyle. You’ve tried the whole Gym thing, but it just wasn’t for you. The temptation to just sit in front of the TV, to curl up with a good book, or to spend a little extra time at your computer is just too big. Who wants to head to the gym right now anyway?

There are many other options to get more active that don’t include jogging, weight lifting or other “traditional” ways to work out. Here are a few ideas to get you moving

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1) Chase your Kids around the Yard
You’d be surprised at how much of a work out you’ll get playing catch with your kids. Time will fly while you are having fun and your children will enjoy the extra time with you. Just get out there and play.

2) Turn up the Music and Dance around the Living Room
While you’re dusting, putting up dishes, straightening up the kids’ rooms, or after you’ve been sitting around for too long, just play some of your favorite upbeat music and dance around in the house. Not only will you get your heart rate up, but you’ll also have more fun doing some of those chores.

3) Plant some Flowers
When the weather is nice, just get out there and plant some flowers. Or you could start a little vegetable garden, trim some hedges, cut the grass, or plant a tree. You get the idea. Just get out there, enjoy the sunshine and fresh air, and play in the dirt. Yes, this actually counts as exercise in our book.

4) Go for a Walk with a Friend
Take a walk and invite a friend to come along. I’ve had some of the best conversations while on a walk. Getting to chat with a friend makes the time fly by and before you know it you’ve been walking for 30 minutes.

5) Listen to some Music or an Audio Book while You Walk
Again, keeping your mind on something else will make the time fly by and you’ll get some extra fun out of your walk. You may even want to consider getting an MP3 Player. You can easily add what you want to listen to and go for your walk.

6) Sign up for a Yoga or Pilates Class
Consider starting a yoga or Pilates class. Both of these workouts are pretty low impact and won’t leave you sweaty and sore (mostly). You may also enjoy meeting some new people in the class.

7) Take some Dance Lessons with your Partner
Ok, here is the tough part: Convince your partner to take some dance lessons. Dancing will give you quite the workout and it’s just plain fun and of course romantic. Think about all your options here. You can pick from anything from Ball Room Dancing, to Line Dancing, to Latin etc. Pick something that sounds fun to you and go for it. You’ll enjoy the extra one on one time with your partner as well.

8) Go for a Swim at Your Local YMCA or Aquatic Center
Swimming makes for some great exercise. It is low impact and easy on your joints. Start by swimming a few laps, or play in the pool with your kids.

9) Go for a Bike Ride
Take the entire family on a bike ride. You can ride through your neighborhood in the evenings or plan a longer trip for the weekend. Pack a picnic for extra fun and start peddling.

10) Go for a Hike
Look for some hiking trails in your area and go for a hike. This could be a fun activity for you and a friend, or take the entire family along. Start with some easy trails and work yourself up to some longer or steeper trails.

Go ahead, pick one or two of the activities and get moving. I’m sure you’ll come up with plenty of versions of your own. The most important thing is to find something you enjoy, so you’ll stick with it. Get out there and get moving today.

5 Action Ideas To Get Big Fast

Are you sick and tired of reading an online article or picking up that latest body building magazine off the shelve, opening it to the latest program on the current, big bodybuilding star and discovering that he is using a six day split program that has you in the gym for four hours and day!!

What it won’t tell you is that the guy is a professional and probably doesn’t have to hold down a steady job, pay off a mortgage or raise a couple of kids.

The thing is you don’t have to train like an athlete to put on muscle, all you need to do is follow these action ideas below and you will start making big gains fast without spending all your time in the Gym.

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Lets have a look:

1. Back to Basics – To build muscle you must train short and with intensity, you only have a limited amount of energy per session. Tests reveal that blood sugar levels drop dramatically after 20 minutes, so exercise selection is crucial.

Compound multi-joint movements have to be used as these offer more training stimulus, are more functional and heavier loads can be lifted. Examples of compound movements include squats, bench press, dips, and chin-ups. Performing three to four exercises with high intensity during a session are what is needed.
All the main structures of the body are worked hard during this time, remembering that as you get stronger in your upper body exercises i.e. Dips, Lat Pull downs, you will also add size to your upper arms as well as your shoulders.Working on these big compound movements has a knock-on effect throughout the whole body; there is no need for specialization techniques or isolation movements.

The thing is, the whole body is worked hard, rest and recuperation is allowed to take place and at the next exercise session we push out a few more reps than before with the same weight, then we have gotten stronger i.e. more muscle.

2. Perform One Set Per Body Part – Having performed one set of an exercise to total failure then it should be near on impossible to generate the same force and intensity for another set.

If you are able to generate the same force and intensity for this second set then the first set was not worked hard enough.If you give the first set 100% effort and work it to total failure (You cannot move the bar after the last rep) there is no more requirement for further stimulation.Therefore you need to do one set per exercise, remembering to complete the training session in 20 – 30 minutes so to have the most stimulus as possible and then move on to the next exercise. 

Current research shows that single set training is as beneficial as multiple set training, decreasing the chances of over training and saving energy for other lifts required during the workout. Because you are doing one set per exercise, you will have to work it hard and to total failure.

3. Cycle Your Strength Training – The development of muscle and strength is interrelated so the exercise session will have to be designed so that increases in strength are equal to increases in functional muscle. Cycling intensity through changes in repetitions and poundage’s throughout your training program is an effective way to maintain progression and avoid training plateaus.

4. Don’t Train To Long – Training itself causes the breakdown of muscle tissue. When a person trains very intensely cortisol is released into the blood stream, which causes the breakdown of muscle tissue.
The amount of cortisol released is highly dependent upon the length of training time.

Therefore to minimize this effect training should be completed in the absolute minimum time required which is no longer than 20 to 30 minutes max. Your blood sugar levels are also dropping by this time, so do what you have to do in this time and get out of the gym, go home and grow.

5. Don’t Cheat – Do not cheat on your reps! Every strength-training trainee runs into this problem sooner or later and it will grind your gains to a stand still. There are many ways to increase the intensity of your sets and the weights used in order to maximize results.

Cheating to increase your weights actually takes strain off your muscles and places it on your joints, which is counterproductive.

Now that you are armed with this information, you wont need to spend all of your time in the gym, by all means workout hard while you are in there but when you are finished go home and grow and enjoy life.