IT’S NOT ENOUGH TO JUST BE MOTIVATED
At first when starting out as a personal trainer, I believed there were two main components for anyone to achieve their goals, great intense workouts and even greater nutrition plans which is all you need to succeed.
Surprisingly not long later I had released, that’s not the case, and about half of my clients weren’t seeing the results they intended for.
I always thought to myself that they were either missing far too many sessions just coming on and off their training, or they were slacking a lot in their nutrition programs and not following them.
Soon after, what I then came to realise is that the majority of clients are not committed enough. Commitment means staying dedicated in your efforts and make sure you get it done, after you have brought together your main goal. This is a main sign in the Stages of Change.
Even after commitment has been put in place by the client, there was more for me than just planning good nutrition and workout programs for clients. That’s when I said “MOTIVATION IS WHAT THEY NEED!”
And I was dead wrong…
The amount of hard work I put into motivating my clients, from being enthusiastic, friendly and making sure they are on point with teaching points, to giving them daily advice on how to improve on their nutrition and progress in training.
I made it my goal to get in touch with clients on a more personal manor and inspire them not just as a personal trainer, but also as their friend, also to ensure they do a better job in and out of the gym.
This definitely made a significant improvement. Combining motivation to training and nutrition did a lot better than just training and nutrition on its own. However, unfortunately, motivation has a big flaw, it doesn’t last!
Don’t get me mistaken; I still believe motivation is a big factor in anything you do. Everyone has to be pushed, inspired and encouraged. But the truth of it is, when looking for long term permanent results, motivation starts you up and GETS you going, but DISCIPLINE is what’s going to KEEP you going!
In anything you do, especially in regards to fitness consistency is the key. Ask any personal trainer, and they will tell you, the hardest thing about training and fitness is being consistent. After you have mastered that, your nutrition and fitness program will come to you so easy you wouldn’t even have to think about that. It needs to become part of your lifestyle.
That’s why I say to my clients you need to make the time AT LEAST to train 2-3 a week. Just to follow the process.
Do you have a healthy diet mind set?
Before telling yourself “I need to be healthy, I need to diet”, it’s more important to make sure you get yourself in the right mind set to being. People who don’t start off with the right mind set are sure to drop out and give in to the health wrecking foods, rather than those who are focused on their goals and choose their nutrition based on their lifestyle and regular daily diet.
Three things you need to focus on when thinking about a healthy diet and setting yourself up to a proper mind set:
You’re Willing To Accept Mistakes
You need to understand that no one is “perfect”. Mistakes happen and don’t pretend they don’t. If you are expecting to be 100% perfect as soon as you start, then you’ve set yourself up for problems. It is how you go about with these mistakes that determine the outcome of your success.
You Focus on Effort
The next thing you need to do is to make sure you focus on the effort you are putting in rather than the outcome, having a healthy mind set and a balanced diet should be part of your lifestyle instead of something you need to do to achieve a goal. Losing weight is hardly ever linear, instead, most of the times you will see different periods of weight loss either being faster or slower than usual, don’t let this put you off. Remember, it’s about effort and lifestyle, not outcome.
You won’t progress and achieve any significant results if you are just going to be thrown off by every little barrier that comes your way. Your body adapts to change in different ways which you can’t control and this could end you up feeling powerless, instead give maximum effort into what you can control – work out and eat right.
Be Flexible
It’s important that you are willing to be flexible towards your approach. A lot of things always happen in life, some of which could get in the way of your diet at times, make sure you are flexible in dealing with it.
Not everything works for everyone, you won’t have a perfect daily diet from the first day, you will need to adjust your diet as you go along with what life throws at you. If you try making your diet so fixed that one little change will throw you off, you probably won’t follow that diet for very long.
Think About the Long Term
Make it a long term goal that you will keep being healthy, not something to do from now until you reach your goal. Picture it as something you need to do to go on about your life every day and forward. If you are thinking to yourself you’re going to be fine after you have reached your goal and drop all the habits you picked up on the way, the odds are you won’t reach your goal in the first place.
So stick with these points and set your mind to a healthy frame, it will make the difference.
ONE WAY TO DECREASE FAT
INCREASE MUSCLE:
If you continuously attempt to lose weight, it’s expected in most cases that you will probably lose some or, sometimes, A GREAT DEAL of muscle also.
You need to pick up some weight. Some heavy weight. It’s called “resistance” training for a reason – to resist weight. You can swing around your pretty pink dumbbells all you want, but that’s not putting enough resistance on your muscles and you won’t see results.
To achieve a firm toned body and lose fat, first I’m going to drive out some myths about muscle.
– “I don’t want to get muscly”
The image of female bodybuilders has driven away women from lifting some heavy iron. Lifting weights will make you look good!
Here are 3 reasons why lifting weights WON’T make you bulky like you believe.
1) Most female bodybuilders are likely to take steroids, you are not (at least I hope so).
2) Naturally men have up to 8x the testosterone than in women, and how many men STILL struggle to build muscle. So if men are struggling even with this substantial advantage, you can be assured you won’t turn into she-hulk from touching some weight.
3) The muscle building process is slow and takes time. It takes a lot of years of hard work for a body builder to get to where they are
Here is something else that you should take in – if you don’t lift weight or exercise to keep your muscles active, after you turn 30 your body can lose an average of 1lb per year which also makes you burn fewer calories and in turn makes you gain fat again. This is the main reason gradually gain fat as they’re older.
If that isn’t enough for you how about this – if you don’t lift weight that is challenging, your body will slowly lose bone mass and decrease bone density, this can lead to osteoporosis and osteopenia.
Here are 3 reasons how muscle can help you avoid that and make you lose weight.
1) When you are resting, muscle can help you burn fat (resting metabolic rate). This means you don’t have to starve yourself to lose weight.
2) Muscles are what shape your body, to look good you need to be muscularly toned and developed. If you try to lose weight by just cardio and no resistance, you will burn into your muscle fibres and you won’t have a great shape. Working your muscles under tension and pressure will force it to burn the fat around.
3) Lifting weights and being stronger promotes osteoblast, making your bone density higher and stronger.
NOT BUILDING MUSCLE? HERE’S THREE REASONS WHY
:
“There are a few key things you need to make sure are put in place if you are focused on building lean muscle mass.”
Either yourself, or you know a lot of people, who have time after time again set the goal of building lean muscle mass but always fail, because they are missing probably the most vital basics which hold them back from achieving results. Here are our TOP THREE fundamentals for building muscle:
1.YOU ARE NOT EATING ENOUGH!
The number one cause for you not gaining any muscle size that you’re looking for is not eating enough. Ask any fitness professional, they will tell you the first basic of putting on any kind of mass is that energy input needs to be greater than energy output (this is not to say you shouldn’t work as hard as you can in the gym).
You need calories to grow, if not enough are coming in, you won’t grow – it’s that simple. It is recommended to consume 200 – 300 calories over maintenance value to notice any sort of increase in mass.
2. NOT ENOUGH REST!
The second most important reason why you are not building muscle mass (and probably the most important in relevance to any exercise) is that you are not resting enough. Would more regular exercise in the gym guarantee you fast results? – Sort of, but not quite.
When you put your muscles under tension and pressure of exercise, you are tearing and damaging the muscle fibers. When you rest, especially when you sleep, that is when your body repairs these damaged fibers and THAT is when they GROW and DEVELOP. If you are not giving your body enough rest, then your growth and recovery will slow down immensely.
3. YOU ARE DOING THE SAME WORKOUT!
And here is our final basic principle to make sure you get the best out of your workouts. An amazing thing about being human is that we have the capability to adapt to change, physically and psychologically. If you train your body with the same movements and exercises in every workout, your body and your mind will familiarise itself with that routine causing you to stop developing. This is what we call “plateau” which is a word you might hear a lot. In the fitness industry this means “reaching a state of little or no change after a period of activity or progress”.
The best way to avoid a plateau is to always “shock” your body so it never becomes accustomed to your exercise. The way to do this is by changing different variants in your work outs, this includes doing different exercises, changing the weight, sets, reps, rest time, advanced methods (supersets, drop sets, pyramids, circuits, interval cardio) and how many times a week you work out.
Put all these 3 factors into play and watch your body grow before your eyes.
Choosing between Different St John’s Wood Personal Trainers
There is a good selection of St Johns Wood personal trainers to choose from, each trainer is qualified to a professional level and is trained to be the right personal trainer for you. Not every Fitness Revolution personal trainer is going to be somebody who looks at keeping fit in the same way that you do. All trainers stick to a solid training structure that will ensure vigorous workout for an adequate amount of time.
Fitness Revolution personal trainers are constantly going through assessments and are qualified to know their profession to give people good training advice and come up with good routines .Trainers also keep fit and spend time in the gym trying to get there body to perfection, setting a good example for clients. Also it’s easier to work with somebody when they happen to have a driving personal interest in the type of fitness that you are pursuing.
For Tough Challenges
St Johns Wood personal trainers enthusiastically embrace the challenge of working with new people who are not physically where they want to be and are determined to work hard for a healthier lifestyle. These personal trainers generally get a buzz out of helping people feel better about themselves.
The Fitness Revolution personal trainers in St John’s Wood take precious time to come up with the right routines and fitness/diet plans that will allow people who are not used to an intense workout schedule to get into an invigorating workout. It is very easy working with people who are already very athletic but the personal trainers over at Fitness Revolution St John’s Wood are looking for a challenge. Anyone who needs a little bit of extra help and who truly need someone with the patience to help them get over their particular challenges then Fitness Revolution St John’s wood has the perfect trainer for you.
Fitness Revolution has the best selection of personal trainers in St John’s Wood area; there is no doubt that there is a trainer and a fitness plan right for you in 2014.
Achieve Fitness Success with Fitness Revolution St John’s Wood Personal Training
Getting into shape is a promise that many people make themselves, but it is one where too many often fail. In some cases, the routines become boring. Other times, people don’t see the results they want soon enough and they feel the discouragement settle over them. When you don’t approach getting into shape the right way, failure is imminent. You have to go in with a plan and stick to that plan. However, most people don’t know the first thing about coming up with a workable plan to meet their fitness goals. The Fitness Revolution team of highly qualified personal trainers in St Johns Wood will be able to change that.
The Right Plan
Before you or your trainer is able to implement a plan, you have to know your goals. What do you want to get from the exercise? Are you trying to lose weight or are you trying to add some muscle to your body? Is it a combination of these things? Once you understand your overall goals, you will find that it is much easier for your trainer to develop a road map that will help you get there.
Your Fitness Revolution personal training specialists will be able to help you find the best exercises and routines to help you meet your goals no matter what that might be. From specialized cardio routines that incorporate calisthenics, boxing, or weights to routines that incorporate outdoor activities, your trainer will be able to find the best solution.
When you are talking with your trainer about your goals, it’s important to be honest about your current level of fitness. Even if you are not overweight, you might not have the energy levels to keep up with some of the routines that he or she might suggest. That’s okay. Just tell your trainer that you want to start out very slowly and work your way up to the more rigorous routines.
You can also ask your trainer for some tips on things that you can do when you aren’t at the gym. Since you will likely only be working out with a trainer a few times a week, you have a number of other days where you could be doing something healthy on your own. The trainer might suggest hiking, swimming in a pool, or playing tennis. The more healthy activities you are able to incorporate into your life the faster you will be able to get into shape.
Reaching Your Goals
One of the best things about choosing to be trained by a Fitness Revolution personal trainer is that you will not only have a new friend but a companion with you every step of the way as you take your journey to a healthier body and a better life. The trainer will be able to encourage you when you are feeling low and praise you when you start meeting all of your goals. It’s nice to have someone who understands what you are doing as well as the dedication that you are putting into your exercise.
You will also find that you can reach your goals more easily when you have a personal trainer guiding you, and that’s something that everyone wants!
Goal Setting for Success
Exercise plateau and lack of motivation are two factors which really limit us reaching our potential. Goal setting is a crucial part of gaining success, you must have a clear goal in mind every time you step into the gym and a long term vision of what you want to achieve.
Having smaller short term goals and an overall long term goal will help to keep you motivated to keep working hard.
Goal setting for success should of course include what you want to achieve. But you must dig deeper and break the goal down into more detail.
Ask yourself what specifically do you want to gain from exercise and nutrition whether its sports performance, fat loss, strength gains or increased energy levels you must write down detailed goals in which will help you achieve success. For example if you want to strip body fat…
- Decrease body fat percentage by 10 per cent
- To lose 4 inches from waist
- Drop 2 jean sizes
Once you have determined specific goals you now must give yourself a time frame in which you want to complete it in. This again will keep you more driven and achieving your training goals will become easier with a time line in place. So for example your goals would now look like this…
- Decrease body fat percentage by 10 percent cent by June 10th for my holiday
- To lose 4 inches from waist by March for wedding
- Drop 2 jean sizes by February for my birthday.
Setting out a reward for when you accomplish your goals is another great way to keep you focused and driven to succeed. This reward should be something positive and not be anything related to bad eating habits or something counterproductive to what you’re trying to achieve. A good idea is to set a reward that encourages you to keep going and stay healthy like a beach holiday or a nice piece of clothing. Your goals may look a bit like this now..
- Decrease body fat percentage by 10 percent by June for my holiday and buy a few nice new outfits for it.
- To lose 4 inches from waist by march for the wedding to buy a certain dress
- Drop 2 jean sizes by February for my birthday to fit into some new skinny jeans
Set your goals for success and achieve them using a well structured framework which will keep you focus and driven when things get tough.
Is it your slow metabolism to blame for increased body fat?
Your metabolism refers to the amount of energy or calories your body burns in order to maintain itself. The rate of which your metabolism runs is affected by different factors such as your body composition for example.
This blog will take a look at the relationship between exercise and nutrition and the body’s rate of metabolism.
Through consuming food and drinking liquids we of course are taking on calories which in turn is what enables the body to function. Your metabolism is a complex biochemical process which is constantly working even when your asleep, It maintains hormone function, repairs the bodies cells and circulates the blood.
These functions of your metabolism are referred to as your basal metabolic rate and determines how many calories you burn at rest.
One of the main factors which determine your basal metabolic rate is body mass. People with more muscle mass or people who are overweight will burn up more energy at rest.
Gender is another factor which can shape your metabolism, males usually have more muscle then women, they burn more calories throughout the day. Age also can dictate your metabolism because as we age testosterone levels drop meaning so does the amount of lean muscle tissue which again has a direct affect on the rate of your metabolism.
Factors such as the amount of exercise you do and the types of nutrients you consume will determine how many calories you burn; these two factors are the most variable. The more exercise you do the more calories you burn increasing your metabolism.
Is having a slow metabolism an excuse for gaining body fat?
This is often what people blame their weight gain on is having a slow metabolism. However a slow metabolism isn’t always responsible for an increase in body fat but in fact it’s the amount and quality of calories consumed compared to the calories burned through exercise which is to blame. If this ratio of calories consumed is greater then calories burned your body will not use it so it will be stored as fat around the body.
Leaner people have less body fat not necessarily because they have a fast metabolism but because they are more active. Having a slow metabolism is actually quite rare and doesn’t usually lead to obesity. Instead factors leading to obesity, weight gain and poor body composition are low activity levels, eating too many low quality calories, unhealthy habits, and lack of sleep and skipping meals.
Fitness St Johns Wood
There is allot of information available in regards to nutrition and fat loss. So much so that it becomes very confusing as information is contradicting its self leaving people perplexed at what exactly they should be doing. This blog will outline 5 foods that you should never eat in order to achieve a better body composition. I will then include healthy alternatives so you can make the swop and eat for success and achieve your goals.
1) Do not eat FRIED FOOD
Frying food should be avoided at all costs. It offers no nutritional value to your body only serving up a big dose of fat and calories. By avoiding fried food you will be on the way to becoming leaner and healthier.
Instead of eating fried food, grill it instead and you will avoid that big serving of extra fat and calories. By grilling your food and making smart choices you can turn something unhealthy into a more nutritious but tasty meal. For example many people love to eat chips. If you really need some as a treat simply make your own by using sweet potato which is a slow release carbohydrate cut them into chips and drizzle some good quality olive oil onto them before putting them into the oven to cook.
2) Do not eat WHITE BREAD
Products such as white bread also have little nutritional value but what is worse the calories consumed from white bread will be released in one big dose. Your body will not be able to use all of this energy and is quickly turned into sugar by the body meaning it is much more likely to be stored as fat.
If you must have bread opt for whole meal bread which has a much better nutritional value then its white counterpart. The energy is secreted from whole meal bread slowly meaning that you are less likely to store it as fat.
3) Do not eat SALAD DRESSING
Salads can be very low in calories and full of good nutrients but avoid adding the high calorie dressing that will have you putting weight.
Instead opt for a drizzle of olive oil or vinegar dressing. They have a lower calorie count and add flavor to your salads. Make your own dressing using olive oil, lemon and fresh chilli.
4) DO not eat WHITE RICE
White rice is similar to white bread in terms of little nutritional value and being high in calories. Its high glycemic level will have you storing more fat around the body.
Instead switch to brown rice. Your body will receive more vitamin B and importantly will keep your blood sugar levels more constant.
5) Do Not Eat WHITE SUGAR
Refined sugars are of course well known for storing fat and causing more serious health issues. Refined sugars should be avoided at all costs; your body does not need them.
Switch to fruits such as berries, grapefruits and apples. They also contain sugars however these sugars are naturally occurring and host high nutritional values. Things like blueberries and grapefruits are have lower sugar content and offer plenty antioxidants and fat burning properties.
Weight Loss St Johns Wood
When people want to lose weight they should increase exercise and assess their diet to see what they can change. It’s common knowledge that by increasing energy expenditure you will increase weight loss. But unfortunately its not always as simple as that, people who are new to exercise and are out of shape may actually stay or increase body weight slightly at the start of their program.
This information shouldn’t stop you from exercising as it will lead to sustained fat loss but it’s important for motivational reasons to understand why you may gain weight slightly at the beginning. Below are the reasons behind weight gain while exercising and eating well in the initial stages of your program.
Lean Muscle Tissue.
To induce better body composition you should be implementing resistance training as the cornerstone of your program. Resistance training aims to increase lean muscle tissue which increases your metabolism and creates a better fat burning environment within your body. For a beginner implementing a good progressive weights program and nutritional plan will result in gaining lean muscle tissue relatively easily when compared to someone with more training experience as they have far more potential to fill.
It’s this muscle gain which is one of the main reasons why some novice lifters may gain a little weight, however this initial rise will then have a positive effect by increasing your metabolism and burning body fat. Muscles are structurally far more dense and heavy when compared to the same amount of body fat so an increase in lean muscle doesn’t transfer to an increase in size.
It’s for this reason that measuring your success in the gym should be done by body fat readings via callipers rather than just getting on the scales. This gives you a true reflection of how well you’re doing by giving your body fat percentage.
Consistency with weight training and good nutrition will lead to increased strength, healthier joints, and denser bones and will increase the body’s fat burning capabilities helping you stay leaner. Its important to consider this when you first start training hard to avoid disappointment. If you are incorporating nutrition and training you should be increasing lean muscle tissue which may cause a slight increase in weight to start with.
Nutritional habits.
When you increase exercise your body will burn more calories then before leaving you feeling hungry. People often then eat more as a result. I suggest keeping a detailed food journal to keep track of the quantity and quality of what you’re eating.
Just because you have worked out doesn’t mean you can eat what you like. Nutrition accounts up to 70% of your success in regards to fat loss. At the same time you cannot simply starve yourself as this is counter productive for muscle building. This approach will simply slow your metabolism right down and eat into your lean muscle tissue while decreasing hormonal functions. Choose healthy nutritious calories to fuel your body through the workouts and aid in recovery and muscle gain.
Fluid intake
Water intake can also make a difference if your weighing your self on the scales. So if you do weigh yourself instead of using a calliper to determine your body fat percentage you should take into account the time of day your weighing yourself. Its important to be consistent with this, to get a true reflection weigh yourself in the morning before any water or food.
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