The New Year is under way and now it’s time to put up or shut up!
You talked a big game, but are you actually going to follow through with your fitness resolutions this year? And if so….where do you start?
As a personal trainer, I strongly suggest you begin this task by incorporating the following 6 tips into your daily life.
You may just find yourself looking lean and mean before springtime.
1) Have you ever noticed the skinny girl who constantly seems to be eating? I’m sure you have and you most likely concluded that she has a ridiculous metabolism and is very lucky!
The truth is that skinny men and women snack every 2 or 3 hours throughout the day and never really indulge in a large meal.
They consume around 1600 to 1800 calories per day, broken up into 5 or 6 smaller meals (snacks), and therefore have actively increased their metabolism. As a result, these skinny people are never overly hungry….they have no desire to over-eat…and therefore NEVER GAIN WEIGHT!
2) Don’t work out too much. Workouts should last no longer than 1 hour per session and some people like to break this up into two 30 minute sessions—1 in the morning and 1 in the evening. This can be extremely beneficial because working out first thing in the morning jump starts your metabolism and working out at night ensures your metabolism remains elevated while you sleep…sweet dreams!
The take home message, however, is this: working out too much is not necessary and may even be counterproductive. Keep workouts short, intense, and vary them constantly for best results.
3) Drink water constantly! Take a look around at the people you see throughout the day…you should notice that those looking really fit are almost always carrying a bottle of water.
Pass on soda, fruit juices, or other high calorie drinks and replace them with water. This will not only be an easy way to reduce daily caloric intake, but drinking more water itself has major fat loss effects…so drink up!
4) Get your lift on! Slanging around some heavy iron in attempt to build lean muscle no longer requires a “meat-head membership.”
I cannot stress this enough— toning muscles will make you look better and will work wonders towards burning off excess body fat.
I can tell you that the muscle tone I have personally added to my body frame is my savior….it allows me to make mistakes (yes, I’m human) and over-indulge once in a while with literally no effects!
I can wake up the next day, still see my abs, and the scale has not changed a bit! Again, those around me consider me to be “lucky,” but the truth is that I have primed my body to be a calorie-burning machine.
5) Eat your fruits and vegetables. You thought childhood was over, didn’t you?
Consuming fruits and veggies throughout the day provides your body with high fiber, low-calorie snacks that fill you up without adding fat.
By making wiser food choices, you can feed your face all day long (remember our skinny girl example), but still keep your total calories and fat content held to a minimum.
6) Make a conscious effort to move more throughout the day. We have become such a lazy, sedentary society!
A typical day starts after about 7 hours of sleep and is followed by 8 to 10 hours of sitting at a desk, only to head home for several more hours of sitting on the couch watching TV.
This lifestyle will pack on the pounds on in a hurry if you cannot break the cycle.
There you have it….6 techniques that will certainly have you cruising down the lean lane en route to Skinnyville!
Tags: diet, exercise, fitness, health, nutrition, personal trainer, personal training
January 8, 2009 at 5:46 pm |
I couldn’t agree more with the gym time. A lot of people make the mistake of spending too much time at the gym.