Category Archives for "fitness"
Jim Rohn said, “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” If this is the case, are the people you surround yourself with helping you or hurting you?
Many of us struggle with health and fitness, particularly as we get older. When this occurs, it becomes even more important to surround ourselves with people who motivate, encourage, and inspire us to continue along our health and fitness journeys.
However, you may encounter saboteurs along the way. Here are a few types of saboteurs you may find in your own circles:
Focus on building up others as well as yourself. Create a strong foundation by joining teams and making connections. Say hello to people at the gym and surround yourself with these like-minded and motivated individuals who will help you stay focused on your health and fitness goals.
Quitting is not always the best policy, but there are some times when quitting can work to your benefit:
You may only quit temporarily, but it may be just the break you need to continue along your health and fitness journey long-term.
Matt Fitzgerald is an avid runner, a certified sports nutritionist, and the author of a new book called The Endurance Diet. In this book, Matt shares findings from studying the training and diet habits of elite athletes.
In the book, Matt discusses the 5 core eating habits of elite athletes:
Matt also talks about training essentials for endurance fitness:
To connect with Matt Fitzgerald or learn more about The Endurance Diet, visit www.mattfitzgerald.org.
Donna, a podcast listener, submitted a great question about how we can get back on track after a slip up in our health and fitness journeys.
We’re human. We’re going to slip up from time to time. Getting back on track is important. To do this, you’ll need to build a paradigm around yesterday, today, and tomorrow.
You cannot fix what has happened in the past. When you first slip up, you’re angry and frustrated, and also stuck in the yesterday phase. To get out, realize that you made the decisions to act in a way that caused this setback. Own it those actions and then forgive yourself. Forgiving yourself is so important because it allows you to move on and release those negative emotions such as anger, remorse, or disappointment.
The next step is to recommit. If you’re not committed to your health and fitness journey, these cycles of failure will keep happening. Your commitment is based upon your why. Reconnect with your why and revision your vision of the future and what you’re trying to achieve.
At this point, you are ready for tomorrow. To look to the future, you must do a root cause analysis of why you had a slip up. Drill down beneath the surface level reason and find the root cause of why you made those choices. Establish good habits to manage future points of frustration instead of choosing familiar bad habits, such as eating unhealthy foods.
Consider journaling how you feel, what you ate, and how you slept. Meditation is another option to assist with recognizing thoughts and feelings. Both of these tools will help you understand yourself better and be better equipped to bounce back from any future slip ups.
When our weight lifting objective is mass building, there are three key phases to consider: work, food, and rest. All three phases are very important, as you cannot properly build mass without focusing on all three.
This is what most people think of when building muscle mass—doing the actual work or exercise. Pick particular muscle groups that you want to work. This work tends to be more single-joint movements that will isolate muscles. Reps for each set should be in the six to 10 range, with three to four sets total. The weight with the movements are slow and controlled to create time under tension combined with this volume of reps. That combination will give the stimulus to grow the muscle.
After each workout, you will need to consume certain foods to assist in building mass. A little bit of carbs after the workout will restore the glycogen used during your workout. You will also need protein, so consider 1-1.5 grams of protein per kilogram of lean body mass. Also, be sure to drink plenty of water and maintain an overall healthy, nutritious diet.
Between sets, be sure to rest for 60 to 90 seconds. Slowing down will give you energy and intensity to put into your sets. For most people and muscle groups, a proper rest period between workouts is about 48 to 72 hours. Even if you’re still experiencing delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), as long as you’ve given yourself the proper rest period, you should be okay to proceed. Make sure to get quality sleep, usually seven to nine hours per night.
Remember to focus on all three phases to put your best foot forward in building muscle mass.
Here are a few of my biggest pet peeves related to health and fitness:
There are many health and fitness objections, but many of them don’t hold up. Here are some of the most common:
Need help? Reach out to me at main@forever.fitness.