Simplicity

I think I’m on at least 15 different mailing lists regarding fitness. Some are trainers I follow, others might be nutrition or therapy based. Not to mention, the countless trainers, programs or organizations I might follow via different social media outlets. And this is the time of year that you see the words in some way shape or form:

New Year, New You.

The message remains essentially the same.

You survived the holidays, now let’s reinvent you.

In my heart of hearts, I know I’m supposed to convey a similar message. I want you to lose the holiday weight. I want you to feel better about yourself: to be stronger and have a better self-image. Contrary to what happens at the box gyms around me, I don’t really see much of an uptick in business in January. Perhaps it’s because the price point for personal training is higher than the fees of joining a place like Planet Fitness or the like. Or maybe it’s just that many people believe they can do it on their own and so that’s the first course of action at the beginning of the year.

But rather than see how many massive changes we can make in your already busy and demanding life, I would only ask that you simplify what needs to be done. Take a look at this list and see what would be the EASIEST change to make in your life starting NOW.

Not drinking enough water? Add 16-20oz to each remaining meal or snack today. Refrain from drinking more water after your last meal of the day. Tomorrow morning, wake up to 16-20oz of water and repeat the drill for the rest of the day. If you find it difficult to eat frequently enough to match water intake to your meals, I recommend setting the timer on your phone to go off every 2-3 hrs. It sounds a little tedious but it will help you develop the habit of keeping yourself hydrated through the day. After a week or two, your body will start asking for the water with signals you’ll be well aware of and you won’t need to use the timer on your phone any longer.

Eating too much in the evening? Start balancing the size of your meals at the beginning of the day so you’re not completely famished at night. One counterproductive trend I see more often than anything else regarding food is people who cram the majority of their calories into the end of the day. If you reverse this trend and keep evening consumption smaller, you will wake up with more of an appetite making this change easier to implement. This is not an easy change to make for many people because they have trained themselves on the habit of overindulgence at night.

Drinking too many calories? This can go hand in hand with the effort to drink more water in general. Look at what you drink throughout the day. Remove or drastically limit ANY drink that has more than 10 calories per serving. This will likely include juices, sports drinks, creamer or sugar in your coffee/tea, alcohol, and pop. While I can’t completely change those who drink diet pop, I would ask that you limit the intake of those drinks and switch for water instead.

Confused by what should be on your plate? The media might have you believe there are bad foods out there. As in, if you eat these foods you’ll never lose weight or look the way you want, etc. While this may be true for those with diagnosed food allergies, the general problem for many is just too many calories in general devoid of food selection. A simple change would be to look at your plate and fill it like this: 50% of the plate should be a fibrous veggie (spinach, broccoli, etc), 25% of the plate should be a protein (beef, chicken, fish, tofu, etc.) and 25% should be a starchy or low sugar carb (rice, potato, etc). No calorie counting necessary.

Crunched for time and don’t think you can exercise? Your body will benefit from ANY movement you do above and beyond what you currently do. Granted, you will need to ramp up the intensity of your movement at a certain point but there are countless studies proving that 3 bouts of 10 minutes of exercise in a day can be just as beneficial as a straight 30 minutes. The important thing is to continue to challenge yourself with the time allotted.

Find one change and implement it immediately. Then, remember to forgive yourself if you happen to derail. Life happens to all of us. Any one of these changes can make a difference for you, you just need to determine which change fits your lifestyle right now. As life and work and family continue to dictate what happens for you, some of these changes may need to revolve around that.

We’re here to help!

Do More With Less

When I started this business back in 2009, the workouts I ran clients through were chock full of variety. I was driven to make sure my clients never had the same workout twice. My hope was that I could help avoid any staleness or boredom in the routines and keep clients excited to come back. It wasn’t a totally misguided approach. Clients did get stronger and they were exposed to a plethora of exercises.

The problem (among many) was there was little rhyme or reason to why it was done. Not to mention, it was near impossible to track the progress of any given exercise because it could take so long for an exercise to be duplicated. Truth be told, not every client needs to see the strength increases in the gym. Many people just need to get moving and they need to know they’re doing so in a way that leaves them at low risk for injury and feeling like they’ve accomplished something.

As the years went by, I became less satisfied with this approach and knew I had to streamline more of what happened here. I have always liked variety in a workout but there had to be a method to the madness. After running myself through a variety of different programs and testing different protocols on clients, I started putting together a system that made more sense. “Rev6” became part of the solution.

To be frank, it was inspired by two different needs: I needed a workout I could do in a minimal amount of time in between clients. In addition, my clients needed workouts that ran at a faster pace so they could get back to juggling work, family and everything else they had on their plates.

Walk into any gym these days and it can be a very social affair. Nothing wrong with socializing. It can actually be very motivating to the workout. Not to mention, it potentially can make time go by faster. Conversely, there are a lot of gym-goers who spend way too much time talking and not enough time working. Now, I don’t know about you but when I’m training, I don’t have time for that. There are too many other things to get accomplished and I need a workout that gives me the most bang for my buck.

In addition, taking too much time to talk and procrastinate between sets and exercises can be detrimental to your goals. It amazes me how many people are bound and determined to squeeze an hour or an hour and a half out of their workouts just to feel they’ve accomplished something.

To the credit of group exercise, there are some modes of fitness that do need to take a bit more time. Because more people have to be tended to, it can be a time-consuming affair. And if you’re inclined to do things like powerlifting, you definitely have to take time between sets so your body can recover appropriately from the stress.

However, for the average person who is involved with exercise most of what you need to accomplish can be done within the span of about 30 minutes. This goes for strength/resistance training and cardiovascular workouts.

But don’t take my word for it. If you’re used to spending an hour at the gym, try this approach for a change. Approach your workout the same way you normally would. This time, take no more than a 1 minute break in between sets of the same exercise and a 30 second break between different exercises. A sample workout might then look something like this:

Lunges for 12 reps each side
30 second break and then
Lat pulldowns for 10 reps
30 second break and then
Push-Ups for 12 reps
30 second break and then
Bicep curls for 10 reps
30 second break and then
Lat raises for 12 reps
30 second break and then
Crunches for 30 reps
Break for 1-2 minutes then repeat the circuit.

Chances are (if you picked appropriate weights for each exercise) you’re feeling something far more intense than what your hour-long procrastinated workout was giving you.

It was ideas like this that helped turn Rev6 into the program it is today. Shorter, more effective workouts and enough variety fused into the program to keep from going stale. In addition, you get to spend enough time on each exercise in a given cycle to actually see progress occur.

As we’re inching closer and closer to our launch date, I wanted to tease a bit more information about what you would find in store when the program is ready for mass consumption.

In conclusion for this newsletter, I hope all of you had a great Thanksgiving. Christmas is approaching and with it comes the increase of holiday social events, family gatherings and a great deal of food that can easily derail your fitness efforts. Keep your eye on the goal, whatever that may be for each of you and brace for the remainder of 2014.

We’re here to help along the way!

The Stars Aligned

I know what you might be thinking. I’ll get started/re-started when:

I have more money
I have more time
The kids are back in school
I’ve gotten a few pounds off first
I can work out around other people without feeling embarrassed
I get back from vacation
I survive the eating temptations from that upcoming party
Etc
Etc
Etc

I would like to remind you of something: the stars will never perfectly align for you.

Don’t get me wrong. They may fall into place temporarily, giving you a glimpse of relief. Maybe, just maybe, you’ll actually get something started.

And then (cue ominous music)…life happens.

You get a bad night’s sleep
The scale doesn’t move at the rate you like
Your bonus check wasn’t as big as you had hoped
The kids get an unexpected snow day
You ate the cake you swore you wouldn’t touch, leading to the chips, and the cheese, etc.

Funny how easily we get derailed, right?

Allow me to take a slight detour with this…

The last few weeks of my workouts have been some of the hardest I’ve ever endured. They will only get harder with time as the cycle I’m on invariably must progress. More often than not, I find myself “almost” talking myself out of them.

Imagine that, a guy who makes his living from fitness who doesn’t relish every moment of lifting a weight?

Fact of the matter is: it’s damn hard.  But I get my head back into it, commit to the work that has to be done, lift the $%&#@ weight and then call it a day.

And really, that’s what I’m asking of you.

The results you want, in whatever manifestation they have, will not be accomplished without you being “in it”.

The exercise (for those of us with some semblance of sanity left) isn’t really the fun part. It’s hard. You might sweat. Your heart rate may elevate.

The food is ridiculously agonizing to dial in and behave with. In many cases, it can be so boring and redundant that it borderlines on painful.

But wherever you are, there is an end to meet.

I don’t fancy myself as the aggressive “Push Harder” type. However, I know there has to be a fire somewhere to not only start you but to keep you honest.

So, if you’re waiting for the stars to align, the heavens to part, angels to sing and a fluttery breeze to blow which signals your call to action…please don’t hold your breath.

There’s work to be done. And we’re here to help you do it. 

This Is Gonna Hurt

Pain is an interesting thing. Line 10 people up side by side and their respective definition of pain will likely be very different. I’ve seen people fight through tremendous pain to overcome adversity. Ask any mother about the pain of childbirth and you’re likely to get a very specific definition as well!

The pain that concerns me most is what happens in the arena of fitness. What shocks me is how many people choose to distinguish between an effective or ineffective workout by how sore they were afterwards. It’s about as misguided as someone who says “I know it’s been a good workout if I sweat a lot!”

So, allow me to clarify a few things:

Post-workout soreness should never be your goal. When you’re literally tearing muscle fibers every time you lift a weight (a good thing), your ability to recover is just as important as the amount of trauma you just created for that muscle. As we age, the ability to recover stands the greatest potential to decrease. I would ask you to concentrate more on giving your reps in the gym your best effort while you’re there. Not trying to obliterate your body to the point where sitting on the toilet becomes the most challenging part of your day!

Don’t get me wrong: I love a tough workout. And from time to time, I want to know that I pushed myself because I feel tender in some muscles the next day or so afterwards. Contrary to some opinion, I don’t secretly rub my hands together in victory when a client tells me that they’re having trouble taking the stairs the day after a good workout!

That being said, “some” soreness is okay. It can mean that muscles have been utilized and stimulated in ways they haven’t been in some time. This will generally lead to (wait for it)….progress!!!

Typically, when a new client starts here, we start conservatively. There may be some areas of the workout that are more strenuous than others, but for at least the first few weeks (depending on how the body reacts) soreness is rarely an issue.

With time, we can assess how the body is reacting to a given stimulus and raise weights and intensity accordingly. Fact of the matter is, many people just don’t MOVE well. So, the initial workouts are lessons in mechanics just to get the body functioning appropriately. For some, that can mean very fundamental movements with low or no weight.

In addition, there is a mental aspect to consider as well. There are some clients who fear going up in weight with a given exercise. They equate it to immediate injury and/or a bulking effect. 9 times out of 10, they’re wrong on both accounts.

Unfortunately, there is a belief based on current fitness trends that pain is the answer to your fitness woes. If you push harder, you’ll achieve more. If you fight through it, it makes you stronger. You know the adage: what doesn’t kill you…?

My challenge to all of you pain junkies is this: focus on cleaner movement, focus on progressive training, focus on responsible eating for your goals.

Just try to remember: post workout pain rarely equates to the quality of a workout. Any bozo can make someone sore: simply add more weight, time, or reps to an otherwise unconditioned body and soreness will soon follow. The people who reap the most benefits are the ones who can make steady, long-term progress with as few injuries as possible. 

Introducing: Rev6

Late last year, I set out to design a program that we could actually sell to the masses. Many of you have probably heard of programs like P90X or Insanity that can be performed in the comforts of one's home or home gym. I loved the concept of that but knew what some of the limitations were of  these types of programs.

Don't get me wrong: EVERY program has limitations.

But I know that our clients got to experience our perspective on an effective workout regimen: challenging, progressive, and time-efficient.

However, not everyone wants a personal trainer. And there are many of you who receive this newsletter but aren't geographically close to here to take advantage of training at RevFit.

It's people like you who inspired me to design Rev6.

Over the next couple of weeks, I'll continue to unveil some more insight to this program as well as direct feedback from the clients of ours who have allowed us to use them as subjects for how well it works.

Besides, it's easy for me to promote a program I designed and tell you how great I "think" it is. I'd prefer you hear it from those who have taken part in it; women, men, even adolescents!

When it is finally available for sale, you will be among the first to know.

So, who is the right fit for the program?

Rev6 is a base-level conditioning system. I wanted it to work for people who had 2 or 3 days a week to dedicate to strength training.

I will say that if you have over 50lbs to lose, this program may be too challenging for you. However, if you're a conditioned athlete, Rev6 may be too easy.

It's a program for the average person who wants realistic and no-nonsense results. I've taken all of the fluff and hype out of it. You won't be bored sifting through pages of theory and physiological jargon, just to get to the heart of the system.

One of the greatest things about it, like the aforementioned programs, you only need access to dumbbells and your own body. If you have some weight to lose, or muscle to gain there is something in Rev6 for each of you.

Over half of our clients have been introduced to this program and our first "graduate" finished it yesterday. She had wonderful things to say about it, which I will be sharing with you next week.

Until then, I would like to formally thank you for giving us the opportunity to expand our fitness vision yet again.

Rev6 is officially coming soon!

All Or Nothing?

People do strange things when it comes to fitness. In a newsletter I wrote a few months ago, I talked about people who continue to do exercises they enjoy even though they continue to get injured with those activities.

One has to ask the question: Is the activity bad for the individual or are they suffering from incorrect form?

I like to use running as an example.

Few will argue that running is one of the best calorie burners when it comes to fat loss. Not to mention, it takes little to no equipment to perform it.

However, other factors contribute to the high injury rate associated with running. (Have no fear runners, I'm not picking on you. There are other suspects as well!)

-Does the individual have too much weight to lose, thereby adding excessive pressure on their joints when they run?

-Is the individual wearing proper running shoes (fitted appropriately based on gait, arch, etc.)

-Is the body given ample time to recover from a run before embarking on another or is the individual "fighting through the pain" to be able to exercise?

This list isn't comprehensive but rather a brief look at things to consider.

So I'd like you to consider something else as well:

The Extremist.

This person can float within different spectrums. They can be the obsessive dieter, the hardcore fitness enthusiast, the holistic wellness snob, etc.

Frequently what you see, is someone who will either completely embody something or completely abandon it, with no cognizance of a middle ground.

Examples like:

"If I can't work out 5 times a week, I won't work out at all."

"If I start the day with a bad meal, I might as well eat poorly for the rest of the day"

Or using our previous example

"If I can't run, then I just won't get to exercise"

I have to say, all approaches are incorrect.

If you've been sedentary for awhile or if you have a significant amount of weight to lose, you just can't go from a base level of zero to 10 in the matter of a week or two.

Often times, it pays to start things off gradually and build a foundation for yourself.

Remember that for many people, drastic and abrupt changes don't work well. They have to be slower and with moderate progress so both body and mind can adapt without being overly taxed and shutting down.

To use a frequently heard phrase: burning out.

It bears repeating (as I've mentioned in other newsletters), some forms of exercise just DON'T working for some people. Maybe your body does really well with Zumba but not with Yoga. Unfortunately, you hate dancing but you love "downward facing dog". Sadly, you may have to give up on yoga or find a practitioner who is more flexible with instruction (or willing to give private instruction so you're not as likely to be injured).
Or maybe you like lifting heavy weights but your body is prone to injury and lighter weights for more reps are actually more beneficial for you.
And to use the running example one last time, maybe your inability to recover from long distance running is keeping you from being able to enjoy other types of exercise.

Your body is constantly sending you signals. You can prefer to ignore them and risk injury that may be difficult (or impossible) to recover from or you can listen to the signals.

Exercise, dietary adherence, and personal wellness should never be an all or nothing approach. You just have to be flexible with what works and doesn't work for your body so you can have a lifetime of healthy patterns and habits without making things more difficult on you than they should be.

We're here to help discern the difference!

When You Care, You'll Change

Where do you fall in your list of priorities?

Is your exceptional ability to please and tend to others among your best traits?

Maybe you're the loving parent who makes sure their children have everything: material needs, your physical companionship to their sporting or extracurricular events, etc.

Maybe you're the perfect partner: always carving out time to make meals for your loved ones, making sure you spend ample time at the end of the day with each other, etc.

I love being around "pleasers". They're so impressive with their ability to multi-task and accomplish everything they need to and then some, so that no one is disappointed or left wanting in their life.

So, what's the problem?

Well, typically pleasers take care of everyone but themselves.

Don't get me wrong, there is absolutely nothing wrong with being a fantastic parent, spouse, significant other, etc.

But when you invest your 110% into all of those avenues, many pleasers get to the end of their day and realize they accomplished little for themselves.

It never ceases to amaze me, many of the pleasers I work with can cover the most intimate details of all the things they did for others.

Only to discover, they forgot to shower, brush their teeth, fix their hair, put on matching socks, remember to wear all the proper clothing, etc.

At a certain point, you have to stop, take pause, and realize that only YOU can take care of you.

No one can make you exercise, eat right, or sleep well.

The initiative starts and ends with you.

Sure, you might hire someone like a trainer or a dietitian or a doctor to help get you on the right path but ultimately you're the one making every step.

Sadly, the pleasers save themselves for last.

And what happens?

Try this:
Repeated bouts of illness (due to exhaustion, poor nutrition, or too much stress)
Excessive hypertension (due to lack of balance in the homelife since one person is carrying more of the load than another)
Weight gain (due to lack of consistent exercise or adherence to a food regimen)
Decreased self esteem (see any of the above)

And this is why I respectfully say, when you decide to start caring about YOU, then YOU will change.

Sometimes it starts with reconfiguring priorities, schedules, and lifestyles. No one could (or SHOULD) penalize you for taking control of your health.

But any hope of having some sense of balance in your life will come when you start to take control and start looking after the few things in your life that are within your power to fix.

The pleasers I train who haven't wrapped their arms around this concept see slower weight loss, higher likelihood of regaining weight which was previously lost, and the frequency with which they get sick is astonishing.

And you look at their lifestyle and say..."Well, it's no wonder".

We can't force you to care about yourself and make YOU a priority.

But we can help you once you've made that very important step.

You Just Haven't Earned It Yet...

Sometimes, it's okay to be a cheater.

Alright hear me out on this one.

When it comes to diet plans and weight loss, you may hear the terms "cheat meal" or "cheat day" used with a fair amount of frequency. So, what do they accomplish?

If you've been living in caloric deficit, meaning: you're eating less than a maintenance level of calories to cause weight loss, your hormones are postively and negatively affected. In many ways, you get the response you're looking for by losing weight. However, when you spend too much time in deficit, your body might stall with progress.

Many diet plans add in a cheat meal or a cheat day to accomplish one of a couple scenarios

1) Allowing you to have the food you've been depriving yourself of so you can justify the restrictions of your "proper eating"
2) "Reset" your hormonal balance so you can return to weight loss again

I've found something else interesting can happen as well...

Let's say you've been eating really well from Monday through Friday. Calories are in line and you're not bingeing on foods you might normally.

Then on Saturday evening, you have something you normally wouldn't like: cheeseburger and fries, or pizza, or a slice of cake. Typically, your body recognizes that you're eating junk and a thermogenic effect can happen internally. In other words, signals go off in your body saying "This shouldn't be here!!!" and your body works overtime to help flush the system of the food.

This is where the cheat meal can be really beneficial for those who are trying to lose weight.

That being said, you HAVE to have dietary consistency for this to work and it does NOT work for everyone.

Taking our typical week as an example, let's say you eat really well on Monday and Tuesday but you go out with your friends for chicken wings and beer on Wednesday. You most likely won't get the option of having a cheat on the weekend as well. Your body needs/craves/wants consistency in many ways. When you can establish several days in a row of clean eating, you stand a better chance of the cheat meal having positive effects.

I'll add this as well: the thermogenic effects tend to be more pronounced if you have a "greasy" meal.

But here's the other thing: if you have a significant amount of weight to lose (let's say over 30lbs), you would be better served to stack up several weeks of consistent eating to lock down the habits before you can even consider a cheat meal.

The downside to adding the cheat in prematurely is, from a behavioral standpoint, you may not know when to stop eating the "unhealthy" food choices. It can trigger more poor eating and turn a cheat "meal" into a cheat "weekend".

So, while there can be some really positive outcomes to an unhealthy food choice, you have to EARN that luxury first.

The Pains of Perceived Perfection

Not sure where you are with your current fitness level, but most anyone can relate to this:

Let's say you've been working out for a while (weeks, months, years) and you've seen a measured amount of progress. Maybe you're leaner, clothes fit better, and/or you're noticeably stronger than you were the last time you checked.

But you wake up one day and you just don't feel right. Sleep was less than spectacular, the alarm clock went off much earlier than your body was ready for, and you're pushing it to get to work on time. You shuffle through work (extra caffeinated please) and it's safe to say you're not firing on all cylinders. You know that after work you're going to have to get in a workout and you're just NOT feeling it.

By time you lift the first weight, you're shocked at how a weight that was so easy a week ago feels like a ton of bricks now. By the end of your workout, you know you didn't make one bit of progress. Depressed, tired, and aggravated you beat yourself up unmercifully the rest of the evening.

If you've never experienced this, you can easily switch out exercise for diet. You know, you eat REALLY well for a few days and you're already seeing weight loss, then you eat that cheeseburger and order of fries you told yourself you weren't going to touch. The next day you're bloated and the scale is laughing at you.

All too often, people expect perfection from themselves. I see it here with my clients on a regular basis. The thing is, NOTHING is that easy to perfect.

Your job doesn't operate on perfection and perfect accomplishments, recognitions, etc.
Your marital/intimate relationship isn't happiness and sunshine every day.
You don't have days of perfect parenting.
And most certainly, you don't have infinite days of perfect eating or perfect workouts.

I have 3 words I will affectionately say: Suck it up.

You may have heard the adage, "If it was easy, everyone could do it"

This goes for really any aspect of your life: work, healthy relationship(s), parenting, workouts, diet, you name it.

It's time to get away from the guilt of your less-than-perfect days. Not only are they inevitable, they're necessary.

The people who can work through the proverbial valleys of progress are the ones who appreciate and enjoy the peaks.
The people who cherish consistency and can forgive the detours they make, reap the highest benefits.

Understand that your body due to age, genetics, and any other imperfections will see different peaks and valleys.

Perfection, while admirable, is a bit misguided.

Aim for progress.
Hold yourself accountable.
Stop blaming external stimuli for everything you don't get accomplished properly.
And then remove the guilt from your misgivings and trudge on.

The people enjoying the spoils of their efforts have already embraced these things.

We can help!