Start Strong, Finish Strong

Welcome to afitnewyou!  Today I want to help you get your workout started, because starting out is usually the hardest thing to do.  For the majority of people, Monday is the start of the work week, with Saturday and Sunday being the weekend, and is usually when we say our training schedules start.  Although we should be active every single day, its Monday when we try to get ourselves going.  Even from the religious perspective, God rested on the 7th day, which we observe on Sunday.  Unlike Him, I'm usually too busy on Sundays to rest, catching up with all that needs to be done around the house, so even I start my training week on a Monday.  But even though this is the day that most people plan on starting their routines, its often one of the hardest to get to the gym.  There are plenty of posters and memes, that emphasize how much we all sarcastically love Monday mornings when we have to get "back to the grind."  So after struggling in the morning, and then getting through the day, getting the extra energy to be physically active is often tough to do.  A way to help your overcome the doldrum of a Monday is to plan on doing something you really want to do.  Being excited about what you plan on doing is the greatest way to ensure you actually do it!

A former employer of mine often used the phrase "You want to finish how you want to start."  What he meant by this was that even if you started off the year on the wrong foot, as long as you finished strong, you would start the next year strong.  And I agree with this for a number reasons.  For one, its how we finish that is the most important.  If you are weak or out of shape now, you want to get to the point, finish, where you are stronger and in better health.  It is said it is never to late to start, but with our health, being active usually is end goal orientated.  We start exercise routines to get into shape.  So finishing strong is important.  But without being contradictory, it is just as important to start strong, because you need to start to get you going. 

One way to start strong when you otherwise would be dragging is to do something you really enjoy.  I often joke that Mondays in most gyms are "International Chest Day" because so many people are hitting the bench press.  Why?  Because so many people prefer to do chest and biceps exercises because not only are they less demanding than leg exercises, but they also hit the areas of our bodies that are often most noticeable.  While I used to use that moniker for Mondays at the gym as a bit of a diss, I could also recognize that the gym was often most crowded at that time.  There are a few reasons for that, but I would argue one is that there are more people there because they are there to do the exercises that they most enjoy.  If you are having a hard time getting started with your weekly routing, choose exercises that you most enjoy.  Picking things that you enjoy doing will ensure that you actually do them.

On the other hand, another way to start strong is to get the parts of your routine that you most dread out of the way.  Hitting the dreaded "leg day" on a Monday might not sound like the most enticing way to start your week, but if you get it done and out of the way, it will make getting to the gym later in the week easier to do.  Furthermore, hitting your legs on a Monday is also preferable because, as I already mentioned, Monday is International Chest Day anyway, so the squat racks should be free.  Sometimes it is easiest to finish strong by getting what you desire least out of the way first.

No matter which mindset works for you, doing what you find easiest first, or doing what you dread the most first, starting the week of strong is extremely important.  While putting in the time at the gym is all about the ultimate payoff, we only get there once the ball gets rolling.  Its simple physics to understand that the ball wont get rolling until we push it, but once it gets going it will be much easier to keep it going.  So no matter what day your training routine starts, think about which tact you will take to get you going.  Whether you do what you enjoy the most, or what you find the hardest to do, just starting strong is what will let you finish strong.  Starting strong is a motivational way to finish at a fit new you!

One step at a time

Welcome to afitnewyou!  This week I would like to make some suggestions on how to train your lower body’s strength in a way that is completely functional.  Many people dread the “leg day” in the gym, primarily because those big muscles that are key to your movement and power do get sore; this causes leg day to often be skipped.  Another reason people skip leg day is because many don’t feel leg muscles are going to get them the attention that working their “bi’s and chest” will, so they simply ignore them.  But any good athlete or experienced trainer will tell you that for most of our movements, our power comes from the lower body.  Hence, it’s important to train those muscles, in the correct way, because having either an imbalance or lack of strength in those large muscles can lead to injury.  There are several standard leg machines in practically every gym, but if you watch a good personal trainer work with their client, you will rarely see them use most of these machines.  This is because these machines will often lead to muscle imbalance, and are not functional.  And performing Olympic-type lifts with free weights might not be appropriate for everyone. So, I have a few recommendations for you to train those all important lower body muscles.  It just takes training one step, or leg, at a time.

The owner of a gym where I was once the manager of was asking me and the other trainers about which machines he should get rid of when he was redoing the gym to make it fresh and to allow for more functional space.  A few of the other trainers and I quickly said to get rid of the hip abductor and adductor machines.  These are the machines where you sit down and either bring your knees together, or push your knees apart.  We said that these machines aren’t functional, and are used only by a few gym members.  The owner argued that he sees many female clients using them, and these machines are facility staples everywhere.  We countered by asking if any of those clients are put on them by a trainer or use them on their own, and reminded him that his goal of making space in the gym was to allow for more room for functional training.

One of the first lessons I learned while becoming a Functional Fitness Specialist is that functional training has been defined many different ways by many different people.  But all of the definitions revolve around the same premise that training can be considered functional if it is done to improve specific movement (in the case of sports or rehabilitation) and improve quality of full body movement.  Also, the exercises are geared to mimic movement patterns that are used in everyday life.  Training the lower body in a functional way is therefore recommended because it will both improve your joint stability, and increase the strength of how your body moves.  It is designed to increase the quality of your movements; both in terms of ease and power.

Rather than using the many “leg” machines at your gym, start off by doing simple body weight exercises.  You don’t need to load up the weight on those hip machines because you most likely will never do that movement during any given day.  And repetitions of heavy leg extensions may lead to knee injury or tight hamstrings due to an overdevelopment of muscle.  On the other hand, performing body weight squats, or adding a little weight, will be challenging enough to your lower body muscles to have development of the strength needed for everyday movements such as getting up and down out of your office chair, or up and down from the toilet. 

Another key is to choose exercises that allow you to work one leg at a time.  Walking lunges, step-backs, step-ups are examples of functional exercises where you train your muscles how you actually move.  When we walk and climb stairs, we always do it one step at a time.  Most of our lower body movement comes one step at a time, meaning, we walk, jog, run, climb stairs, traverse steps, etc. one leg at a time.  So, to train functionally, you should be training one leg at a time.  Furthermore, the exercises I just suggested will have you training in more than one plane, allowing you to improve your balance and core strength as well.

Planning a training routine can be easy if you take into account how you actually move.  Evaluate an exercise by asking your self “Do I ever move like that?”  You should have a large percentage of your exercises in your training routine that mimic the actions you will need to perform.  This is especially true of our lower body, where our legs both are our primary movers, and the first set of muscles in the dynamic chain to your mid and upper body.  When you train your legs, take it one leg at a time. Training one step at a time is a functional way to be a fit new you!

Best of times and worst of times

Welcome to afitnewyou!  Today I would like to give you a tip on how to get through some of your hardest exercises and workouts.  We all have those days and / or workouts that we can’t stand to bear.  But ironically, it’s usually the ones that we need and should be doing the most that cause us the most displeasure.  So here is a tip on how to get through these troublesome routines…pair the ones you find to be the worst, with your best.  Pairing the loved and hated exercises will average out in your brain, and will allow you to do the ones you know you should be doing, but just don’t like.

Reina is one of my favorite clients for many reasons, but one thing that particularly makes me so fond of her is that even though she rarely misses a session with me, she also gets into the gym a few days a week on her own.  It makes my job much easier to have a client coming in on their own, and who uses the same exercises and principles that I teach when she is training with me.  But, she will be the first to tell you that there are certain exercises that she does only when she is training with me; and its not because of a lack of confidence, but she just doesn’t like them.  And for someone who has been classified as a gym rat and is also very open minded about fitness, its not that she doesn’t find anything wrong with the exercises, its just that they are a bit more challenging.  Sometimes I have her do a number of these types of exercises in the same session and she jokingly questions if I am punishing her.  So, what I have found to be the best balance of getting her to do what she needs, and still making the session as enjoyable as possible is to alternate one of these more challenging exercises with one she likes much better. 

I have also given this advice to gym clients who dread doing a “leg” day.  Most everyone who works out regularly know that most males hate doing legs, and if there is a day to skip, it would be their leg day.  Walk into any gym on a Monday and you will see most guys training their chest, because according to me it’s the unofficial National Chest Day.  Guys would rather train their chest and arms, because not only do they think these muscle groups are more noticed by the ladies, but also because training legs involves more demanding exercises.  However, training your legs is incredibly important as they are the largest muscles in your body, and it’s where we derive our power from.  So, what I have suggested, and honestly have been doing myself, is to combine the leg and chest day workouts.  Super setting leg and chest exercises works quite well as you can jump from one exercise to the other, being that one is a lower body exercise and the other is an upper body exercise, allowing the heart rate to stay elevated the entire workout while giving each muscle group time to recover.  Many people whom I have made this suggestion to have used it with great success both in terms of fitness development and overall enjoyment.

Combining your least and most favorite exercises is a great way to integrate all of the exercises that you should be doing during a workout, not just the ones you like the most or find the easiest.  It’s often the exercises that we dread that are the most beneficial for us.  I have always said the best exercises are the ones that you will do.  And while I still maintain that thought, as a trainer I know it’s harder to want to do certain exercises over others, and that some you simply need to do.  What will make it easier to do the most beneficial exercises is to combine them with ones that you enjoy to a greater degree doing.  This balance of exercises is a great way to reach a fit new you.