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Monthly Archives: December 2017

Wellness Roadmap Part 5

This is part 5 of a 5-part Wellness Roadmap series.  You can find part 1 here.

What happens when you reach your health and fitness destination? Consider the acronym, CARG0:

Celebration – Take the time to look back at where you were and how far you have come. Celebrate your success and consider rewarding yourself.

Adjusting to your new normal – You’re looking and feeling healthier and people may make comments, both positive and potentially negative. Accept the new you.

Reset your GPS – You’ve achieved your initial vision. Don’t let that be the end. Shift your attention to what you’d like to achieve going forward and set your new vision (GPS).

GO – Take action and continue working to maintain and improve your health and fitness.

The end of one journey is the beginning of another. Health and fitness is no different. When you reach a goal, use CARGO to keep you looking toward what is on the horizon.

Wellness Roadmap Part 4

This is part 4 of a 5-part series.  You can find part one here.

On the last episode, we discussed the first three aspects of STREETS, or how to reach your health and fitness destination. Now we’ll discuss the final four: energy, education, time, and stress management.

Energy – This includes both hydration and nutrition. Many people do not drink enough water on a daily basis. Figure out what makes the most sense for you in terms of drinking water and keep at it. In terms of nutrition, most experts agree that the quality of the food you eat is important. Generally, avoid processed foods, certain oils, and high fructose corn syrup. Find an eating plan that works for you.

Education – Use information to make an informed decision for your own health. Recognize that you might need to experiment to see what works for you.

Time – Use the 3Ps: patience, persistence, and progression. It will take some time to achieve your vision. Stay persistent and stick with your plan. Push yourself and progress if you want to continue improving. Your body wants to find a balance point and you may experience a plateau as a result. This is normal. Consider altering your strategy or applying the patience, persistence, and progression principles.

Stress Management – Recognize that stress is a part of life. Let go of the things you cannot control. Don’t allow stress to derail your progress.

Think through these aspects of STREETS and align them to your vision to set yourself on the pathway to health and fitness success.

Part 5

 

Wellness Roadmap Part 3

This is part three of a five-part series. You can find Part 1 here.

Now that your GPS has been set, it’s time to take it to the STREETS and determine exactly how you’re going to reach your destination. We’ll discuss the first three aspects: strategies, training, and rest.

Strategies – Set strategies that align with your vision. Along the way, you may need to make adjustments and adopt new strategies. Determine how you will use accountability to personalize your strategies. Consider enlisting the help of a personal trainer. Evaluate your habits and eliminate those that are not serving you.

Training – Choose the modalities that make the most sense for you based on your overall vision. If you want to maintain and build strength and improve mobility, endurance, balance and agility, training is the answer. Though you can lose weight without exercising, you may not lose it as quickly as you’d like or you may not have the final look you are seeking.

Rest – This includes recovering from workouts and sleep. Remember that rest is equally as important as the work. Resting also helps you to avoid injury.

On the next episode, we’ll finish up with the last four aspects of STREETS: energy, education, time, and stress management.

Part 4

Wellness Roadmap Part 2

This is part two of a five-part series you can find part 1 here.

With a GPS, you enter your destination and the GPS charts the path to your destination. For the Wellness Roadmap, we will do the same in three steps: Grounding, Personalizing, and Self-awareness.

Grounding – You must understand what you want to achieve. This involves making a firm commitment to your goal. What’s your vision? What’s your emotional why that ties you to this vision? Is it big enough to drive you past any obstacle that comes your way? It is the foundation of where you want to go and why you want to go there. Keep this in mind throughout your journey.

Personalizing – Identify your unique baselines and understand what they mean relative to your vision. Set milestones and SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, timely) goals. Know where you are and establish these little segments to give you success along the way.

Self-awareness – This includes physical self-awareness and understanding your limitations. Mental self-awareness is also critical, especially when it comes to accountability. It’s important to have a friend or personal trainer to help keep you moving toward your destination. If you need help with this, check out group training at https://40plusfitnesspodcast.com/training/.

Once you set your GPS, you have a foundation for why you’re doing what you’re going to do. This is the cornerstone of your health and fitness success.

Part 3

Wellness Roadmap Part 1

Throughout the next four episodes, we’ll be talking about the Wellness Roadmap, a concept that will provide a pathway to get you where you want to go on your health and fitness journey.

I'm sure you remember using a paper map, charting your path to reach your destination. The Wellness Roadmap is no different. You can use this technique to prepare for your next health and fitness trip.

In Episode 296, we’ll “set your GPS”. This means establishing your destination or what you’re trying to achieve. In Episodes 297 and 298, we’ll examine the “STREETS,” and determine what avenues you need to take to make sure you arrive at your health and fitness final destination. And finally, in Episode 299, we’ll discuss what happens once you reach your destination or goal.

Use this Wellness Roadmap to put together a plan for 2018 that guarantees your success! Let’s get started!

Part 2

December 25, 2017

Solving stress with Kraig Brockschmidt

Kraig Brockschmidt is the author of a new book entitled Solving Stress. In his book, Kraig explains that while stress is a consistent, persistent experience for most people. techniques and exercises can be used to help solve stress, not just manage it.

Kraig explains that stress occurs whenever there is a separation between what one expects and what occurs in reality. All people experience this. With any potential stressor, one will react. However, it is the nature of the reaction that one can control. The idea is to move the reaction away from anger and tension and toward relaxation and calmness in that critical moment.

Many of the popular stress management techniques offer immediate, but not long-term relief. These tips can be grouped into three categories within the Great Stress Exchange: Venting, Discipline, and Escape. These strategies buy time to avoid immediate and negative reactions to stressors.

A four-step process included in Kraig’s book involves the following prompts: stop, breathe, reflect, and choose. One should pause for 10 or 20 seconds and take a breath to put himself in-tune with the environment. Reflecting presents different options and choices, instead of feeling like a victim. Then an appropriate response can be chosen.

Kraig’s book includes a set of daily exercises to help people achieve a reaction of calmness. These exercises take about 20 minutes and include arm and shoulder rotations and neck rolls to help release stress and tension in the body. Meditation is also incorporated. By following these exercises, the brain is trained to know what relaxation feels like so that it can be triggered when a stressful situation arises. Over time, one’s stress threshold will rise and the intensity of a stressor that will push one over the edge will be very high.

To learn more about Solving Stress or to connect with Kraig Brockschmidt, visit http://www.kraigbrockschmidt.com. To facilitate his how practice, Allan is developing a checklist of exercises from Kraig's book.  To receive a  copy of this checklist of daily exercises, join the 40+ Fitness Podcast Facebook Group and post a photo of yourself with Solving Stress in hand.

Another episode you may enjoy

The 7 principles of stress with Ori Hofmekler

December 18, 2017

Training for an ironman with Diane Bergeron

Diane Bergeron is a visually-impaired athlete who appeared on the podcast previously and spoke about her intention to complete an Ironman competition. In this episode, she shares an update on her Ironman experience. After competing and unsuccessfully completing the race in 2015, Diane shares that she was recently successful in her quest.

In her most recent experience with the Ironman, she shares that just over 2,000 athletes competed. Her goal was to finish the race healthy, strong, and feeling uninjured. She was able to accomplish just that with a time of 16:15:57.

In order to achieve this goal, Diane invested a significant amount of time and effort into her training. First, she evaluated the 2015 race and what caused her to be unable to finish. She considered what factors she could she have changed. After realizing that the run was one of her weak areas, she made sure to focus on this in her training. As a result, Diane did two marathons and a lot of running to prepare for the next Ironman. She worked on the spin bike three times per week and ran three times per week. She also incorporated strength building with lighter weights.

To avoid overtraining and lessen the possibility of injury, Diane made it her personal policy to have at least one day off per week. This allowed her muscles to rest and recover. As a result, on the day after the Ironman, she experienced little pain and felt strong and healthy.

Looking forward, Diane is aiming to qualify for the Boston Marathon. She is also organizing the first five-person relay team of all blind athletes to compete in the Canadian Death Race, for which she will begin training in January.

Diane has a website launching in January called http://www.blindironvision.com. To connect with Diane, email her at blindironvision@gmail.com.

 

Another episode you may enjoy

Running injury free using the run walk run method with Jeff Galloway