No Time to Get Fit?
I read in the local newspaper yesterday that the US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice gets up at 4am to go to the gym.
No wonder she looks so good at 53.
It’s not that she is any different to anyone else. As she says
“Like everybody, I get up some mornings and think “I can’t do it” and then I think “Sure you can, because you won’t feel alert if you don’t”"
Although you might think being featured regularly in the media might give you the motivation to stay in shape, (and I’m sure that would work well for me – vanity prevails) the same can’t be said of some stars who get in and out of shape with alarming regularity. Don’t they care when a million people see their flab over breakfast? I sure would.
If you know getting up at 4am is not an option, yet you’re so busy it’s the only time you can see free in your schedule, why not take a look at my Fitness in No time program because 10 minutes, three times a week and a simple home routine is all you really need to get in shape.
Maybe Condoleezza should try it for those days when matters of State get in the way?
Make Fitness a Lifetime Goal
Photo by Thowra_uk
A lot of people start all guns blazing on a fitness program, put in a lot of hard work, get pretty fit and then give up until the next time they get the desire to do something about their condition.
I have done something similar myself with running (though I usually do at least something to keep fit all year round).
It’s such a waste of effort to let fitness go once you have achieved it.
I’ve just been thinking why so many of us do this and the answer keeps coming back to me that we try and get fit with activities we just don’t like enough.
And I’ve also come to the conclusion that there’s no point even starting something if we KNOW we’re not going to keep it up for more than a brief period.
Now, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try new stuff – after all you don’t know whether you’ll absolutely fall in love with circuit training or yoga or horse riding until you’ve got over the initial few weeks training – the awkward stage.
I just mean that if you know yourself well enough to be pretty certain you’ll never visit the gym regularly for the rest of your life BEFORE you sign up for membership, you are just kidding yourself when you hand over your hard earned-cash.
You see paying for something never made you fit – only doing it on a regular basis does that.
Try activities that you will look forward to doing, that you’d like to learn, that you think you could enjoy forever given half a chance.
Try loads of different things until you find something you will stick at – simply for the pure pleasure of doing it.
Even if you’re not that enthusiastic about an activity to begin with, give everything a fair chance and you’re more likely to uncover the pursuits that will keep you fit and having fun for the rest of your life.
Using Exercise to Lose Weight
You have to be pretty dedicated to lose weight through exercise alone.
I remember how astonished I was when I first worked out that at 3500 calories a pound you have to run more than a marathon to lose a single pound of fat!
That’s why going to the gym and then rewarding yourself with a snack is counter-productive – you will probably eat more calories than you use up.
Yet, exercise is still good for weight loss for many reasons :-
- every calorie counts whether it’s 10 or 1000 – better to use them than not use them
- it helps build muscle and muscles burn calories even when you are at rest – your metabolism (the rate at which you burn calories) increases
- it improves your mood and general sense of well-being – so you are better able to avoid comfort eating
- it keeps you occupied and away from the fridge
- if you exercise enough, you can eat just a little more and still lose weight. This helps to prevent a sense of deprivation
- you will keep your muscles and skin in better condition as you lose weight and are less likely to lose muscle tissue and tone
The best way to lose weight is to combine exercise with healthy eating so that you exercise a bit more (say 250 calories worth of exercise a day) and eat a bit less than you need at your normal (non-exercise) level of activity (say 250 calories) – that way you’ll steadily lose about 1lb a week without too much hardship.
More on the Myth of the Fat Burning Zone
A little while ago I wrote about the myth of the fat burning zone – the idea that moderate exercise is the best way to burn fat.
This myth led to every piece of cardio equipment at the gym being given a misleading fat burning program or fat burning zone workout.
You think you’re doing well – 30 minutes “burning fat” – when really you’d be better getting on your treadmill and doing interval training for the same period (and you’d continue burning fat after your workout).
The myth arose because you burn proportionately more fat when you exercise at a moderate pace than you do when your workout is more intense – so a bigger percentage of the calories used come from fat.
You just tend to forget that you use fewer calories overall!
Anyway, I read today in Personal Trainer Cliff Lathams‘ newsletter something even more interesting about fat burning. He says
“I have news for you. You burn a higher ratio of fat to carbohydrate during complete rest. Therefore, sleeping would burn the most fat off your body. And you don’t really think that sleeping in on Saturday morning helps you reach your goals do you?”
Mmmh – think about that next time you step on your treadmill and choose your workout program.
Ladies : 12 Ways to Look Good Naked
The TV show “How to Look Good Naked” has been a raging success and with good reason – it tackles women’s insecurities about their bodies and makes them feel good about themselves – a sure-fire winner.
For a show about how to look good naked an awful lot of attention is focused on how to look good in clothes. I guess the confidence you get from looking good out and about (and the admiring glances you receive) translates to you feeling altogether better whether you’re wearing clothes or not.
Although the show has to be applauded for attempting to make women feel good about themselves without trying to change their shape, it does go against the grain a bit for me because I am all about helping people to improve their bodies and their health.
Let’s Face it – Your Mirror Doesn’t Lie
When you take your clothes off to get in your shower or to make love to your partner, you no doubt want to look good naked and when you look into your mirror . . . it tells you the truth, whether you want to ‘hear it’ or not. For many people, the mirror is the only time they ever see their toes . . . their excess flab, their love handles and every other bit hang without support – which means ‘how to look good naked’ is more than looking good in clothes.
And I believe the best way for you to look good naked is for you to actually work on your body so it’s the best it can be.
Nevertheless you can do a lot without making yourself feel bad about your body and feeling you are less than perfect because you can’t manage 2 hours a day in the gym.
So what can you do WITHOUT too much effort?
1. Good Fuel
Looking good naked is not about losing weight – most of the women in the show would have liked to be lighter but sexy does not have to mean twig-like. In fact it’s easier to be sexy with a few womanly pounds of flesh here and there than with a bony too-skinny look. Looking good naked DOES mean caring for your body with the right foods to make you feel great – good food and plenty of water to keep you nourished, hydrated and full of energy. And quite often the right foods will result in a slimmer body anyway.
2. Avoid the Pregnant Look
No one is going to look good naked with a stomach stuffed full of pasta. (Just look how you get a 5 months pregnant look next time you go into carb overload). If you want to look good naked, make sure you eat in moderation before you take off your clothes! And if the pregnant look is a constant feature of your body (and you haven’t stuffed yourself with carbs for ages) sign up for the FREE 5 Easy Ways to Flat Abs course here on this site and do something about it in just a couple of minutes a day.
3. Firm Not Flabby
It’s not only our stomachs which look better toned. We all look better – excess flesh or no excess flesh – if we have great underlying muscle tone. Just a few minutes a few times a week spent firming, toning and strengthening your butt, thighs, chest and arms will go a long way to making you look great without your clothes.
4. Pampered Soft Skin
The ladies on the Look Good Naked show have plenty of pampering beauty treatments to make sure that their skin is soft, hair-free and smooth. Flaking, rough skin, goose bumps and hairy legs are not the look you are aiming for…
5. Beautiful Color
If you’re pale, an even and subtle fake tan always makes flesh more attractive in and out of your clothes and helps cover a multitude of sins (fat and cellulite…to name but two).
6. Hair Update
Your hair is the only fashion statement you’ll be wearing so it needs to look current, soft, healthy and touchable (give the hairspray and sticky gel a miss). Most important of all you need a cut which suits the shape of your face and is in proportion to the size of your body. Find a good hairdresser and visit often for a regular trim and occasional restyle.
7. Don’t Forget Your Extremities
Make sure your hands and feet are beautiful with a professional manicure and pedicure or learn to do it yourself. Chipped nail polish, rough hands and jagged nails are not going to win any prizes in the Look Good Naked stakes.
8. A Bit of Makeup
You don’t want your face paint to come off on the bed clothes but a bit on subtle makeup can work wonders to accentuate your good points and camouflage the points you’re less than happy with. And you can also use a bit of body makeup to cover up flaws such as spider veins.
9. Smile
Don’t forget your teeth. If they don’t enhance your look and they make you want to hide your smile it’s time to save up, get over any fear you have of the dentist and get them sorted out.
10. Let Your Eyes Sparkle!
When your smile reaches your eyes you want them to sparkle not show the effects of too many nights burning the candle at both ends. Get plenty of beauty sleep before a big night or as a last resort for a special occasion, use those brightening eye drops.
11. Smell Good
Don’t overpower the world with too much fragrance or use a whole selection of competing products – differently perfumed shampoo, deodorant, soap and body lotion can be a toxic combination. Lightly layered perfume from matching bath products and no more than a light spray of fragrance from the same range will leave you smelling good as well as looking good.
12. Lighting
Remember that none of us looks our best under bright fluorescent light – soft lighting or candle light will improve the mood of the moment AND your body.
If all else fails, you’ve eaten too much pasta, your jeans have popped the first 2 buttons, you’re bleary eyed, your make-up is smudged and you never did do your toning exercises, bear in mind – the person you are getting naked with probably couldn’t care less – especially if you are going to get jiggy with it!
What is the Best Time to Exercise?
There are quite a few studies going the rounds about one time of day being more beneficial for working out than another.
Just ignore them!
The best time for working out is the time which is most convenient and works best for you – that means you’re more like to actually do it!
When I was working full-time in an office, I chose to work out at the gym (which was just around the corner) at lunch time. That gave me a much needed break and set me up for the afternoon.
Others liked to go to the same gym before or after work, but I found the “before” too much of a rush and the “after” encroached on my child-care responsibilities. (Not to mention I was hungry for dinner by that time 
)
Now that I work from home, I have to do something in the morning before my shower or somehow the day just disappears without me doing anything.
It all depends on the activity you’re doing too – you might have to fit in with an exercise class schedule or generally when your chosen activity is available – not much in the way of salsa dancing at 6 a.m. I guess unless you want to do it alone
Exercise Myth Debunked: Fat Burning Zone
I don’t know how many times I’ve read and heard that you are better to do moderate exercise if you want to burn fat – and exercise for at least 30 minutes to start burning it. I think I even believed it myself at one time I heard it so often.
It’s true of course that all exercise is good for fat burning – a calorie burned is a calorie burned after all (although you are probably not burning as many as you think – so no, you can’t have that Snickers Bar after the gym, no matter how hard you think you worked, without making your visit pretty much a waste of time as far as calorie burning goes).
Anyway I digress.
The truth is that you will burn a lot more calories (and in the end shed more fat) if you vary the intensity of exercise during your session rather than sticking to a moderate pace the whole time.
So for example, you would go at a moderate pace for 3 minutes and then go as fast as you can for 3 minutes before returning to your moderate pace for 3 minutes – essentially alternating moderate and fast pace for the duration of your session a.k.a. interval training
The advantages to this:-
- you are working harder for half your session and so directly burning more calories
- you will be working wonders for your level of cardio fitness – interval training is one of the best ways of getting fit fast
- you get an added calorie-burning boost AFTER your workout. Research shows that you burn 25 per cent as many calories in the hour after your interval training session as you do during it. So, that means if you burn 400 calories during your session – you’ll burn an extra 100 calories in the following hour while you sit with your feet up! Why? It seems the body has to make more effort to get back to normal after intense exercise.
If you feel a bit distraught at the idea of all that intense exercise, don’t let it put you off working out altogether. Remember some exercise is ALWAYS better than none and if you are doing anything at all then good on ya!
Fitness Motivation : Are You a Fair Weather Exerciser?
When the roads are icy, rain is beating down and the wind is blowing right in your face, the natural reaction for many of us (including me) is to batten down the hatches and snuggle down in front of the TV.
After all, the day when you have to reveal the results of your laziness on the beach seems a long way off.
But try and curb the temptation to be lazy because it really won’t be long before you’ll regret it.
If you think about it logically, there’s no need to exercise outside anyway unless you really want to risk slipping on the ice and catching pneumonia.
If you are a member of a gym, make the most of the opportunity you have to use the equipment at your disposal – the crowds will have thinned out by now since the joining hysteria in January and it should be a lot pleasanter there.
If you don’t have gym membership, then there are plenty of workout options that you can do at home (with or without equipment) which will get you just as fit as any gym and getting to your lounge or basement will take up less of your precious time. (See all the suggestions for working out at home in “27 Ways to Get Fit for Free“) .
In just 2 – 4 months when the fair weather arrives (depending where you live) you will be so pleased you made the effort when you reveal toned arms, firm thighs and flat abs.
Or you can stay in front of the TV and feel out of shape along with 95% of the population when April comes around.
Don’t ever accept being less than you could be. You deserve better than that!
I have a confession to make…
My Confession? I have never been a happy exerciser.
There, I’ve said it.
I hate going out in the cold and rain. I hate getting all sweaty and puffing and panting. And I’d rather lie on the sofa with a glass of red wine than go out for a country walk.
That’s my big, dark secret – after all, maybe you’d expect better from a Weight Loss, Health and Fitness coach wouldn’t you?
Or maybe not…
You see I love the feeling of being on top of the world, full of energy, strong, fit and healthy that exercise and healthy living in general do for me. That means I have to motivate myself with every trick in the book to achieve what I want to achieve. And I am constantly looking for new ways to get myself to stay active and “Just Do It”. I also know every excuse my clients will use – because quite honestly I’ve used them all myself at one time or another. I know how to deal with every obstacle.
If you are made of sterner stuff and love nothing better than spending hours in the gym, you may want to learn from someone who is more naturally enthusiastic about it all – I won’t hold it against you Just be aware, I am not going to be giving you hints on how to spend half your day working your abs to perfection.
Still, you may find a useful tip or 5 here for those days when you are less than enthusiastic…
Fitness Tip 7 : Monitor Only Your Own Progress
You can see the insecure gym-goers a mile off – taking more notice of what everyone else is doing, how much weight they are shifting, how fast they are going on the treadmill, rather than focusing on getting on with their workout.
But the thing is, bodies are all different so there’s no point comparing yourself to others even if you are doing the same routines or trying to achieve the same goal.
The only thing which counts is that you are making a consistent effort with your workouts. If you make the effort and follow a good program you will see progress in your body – you will be getting fitter, leaner, stronger and more flexible day after day.
It takes motivation to keep going when the going gets tough – to turn up and “just do it” as the saying goes when you are tired or busy or just don’t feel like it.
The best way to keep up your motivation is by monitoring your progress. Make notes on every workout and what you achieved in a fitness log and you’ll see that your consistent effort is giving you results. The very worst way to keep motivated is to continually check your progress against Mr or Mrs Universe at the gym.
There will always be someone better (or worse) than you, but any comparison other than a comparison of last week’s, last month’s or last year’s with today is totally worthless to you.
-
CLICK ON THE IMAGE above
for your FREE course -
