Goals

We are once again approaching that time of year when we tend to reflect back, and maybe some of us are in awe of what we have achieved, but more often than not it seems we can tally up more areas where we fell short of what we might have set out to accomplish.  Sometimes that can be attributed to setting unrealistic goals or New Year's Resolutions but often we just get off track.

Most "impossible" goals can be met simply by breaking them down into bite size chunks, writing them down, believing them, and then going full speed ahead as if they were routine.

 ~ Don Lancaster

Learn to Love Your Fitness

"We do what we do because we love to do it." This comment was made by two female athletes that have accomplished big things in the fitness world. They have continued to push themselves and post some very dynamic videos of workouts that they love to do. Why did that quote grab me? It was an epiphany for me. I have used what the scale says as a big motivation along with how my clothes fit and the guilt of my own mind, but shouldn't I use positive affirmation as a motivation instead? I do what I do because I love it! I run because I love it! I do metabolic workouts because I love them! I spin, I do resistance training, I do cross training, I do hiking because I love to do them! (Even if you don't love them try saying it anyway and try switching your paradigm..afterall you do love yourself and this is a great way to love yourself is by taking care of yourself.) So what do we do with what we love to do? 

Make it a Priority

Plan for fitness. Even the best athletes have days they don't want to get out of bed but THEY DO. They have a schedule and you need one too.  Be specific with what your plan is for each day and what time you are working out. The night before or day of your activity have your fitness clothes and accessories laid out or packed and ready to go. We have a strong core group of Metabolic Warriors that have had to be out of town during trainings and they are quick to replace the missed trainings with other types of fitness. Try to keep to your usual routine when you are on the road.  If you do a metabolic workout on Mondays & Wednesdays when you are home then try to do that when traveling too.  When you are booking rooms at hotels, check out the fitness rooms online. Does your destination have local features you can take advantage of...like stairs? Frequently you can also buy day passes to local gyms. Worst case scenarios you have your body weight and floor space and as you know that can be a killer workout!

Mental Positive Reinforcement

I used to think that this meant to visualize the person I wanted to be but that can be self defeating. Instead think of words that embody how you want to feel. Example, when doing push ups avoid 'Ugh, more push ups, I hate these'. Instead try "I am strong, I can do this, just one more, just one more..." When you are doing plyometrics (jumping exercises) think "higher, stronger, faster, deeper, propel, fly..." Think it and you will do it. Mind over matter is a powerful tool.

Visualization

See yourself performing the exercise. Stand in front of the mirror and see yourself perform, with your best form, bicep curls, triceps extensions, push ups, squats, lunges, chest presses, planks...see how your body works as it moves through a full range of motion. Now that will be in your mind when you are in Metabolic Training doing those same exercises. You can also make your muscles work more efficiently when you imagine the actual muscle shortening and lengthening as you move through the range of motion. 

Set Goals

With push ups I tell myself how many I am going to do and try to beat it. At other times I focus not on reps but on full range of motion or even changing hand position so that I continue to challenge myself in different ways. You should have small goals that lead to big goals. This is a game plan for success. Lets say you do shallow push ups, a big goal would be deep push ups (chest to ground). Small goals that would help you get there would be doing chest presses with a challenging weight and doing incline push ups at a full range of motion. As your chest and shoulder muscles become stronger you would progressively increase your chest press weights and decrease the incline of your push up. This same philosophy can be applied to any exercise. Spontaneous goals are great too. In the moment of Tabata or Metabolic Training as the exercises are introduced you can quickly determine how many reps you will push for.  We often refer to rep goals during timed intervals because it gives you a consistent measurement. First round of training you count the reps you do, you determine if you can go harder and you set a higher rep goal for the next round. It is a game that makes time fly by. Another type of goal is event goals such as races and competitions.  In those cases all training will support that event until it is accomplished. Your trainers can help you with goal setting.

Support your Fitness 

If I have a plan to workout tomorrow morning (and I do) and I stay up late or over imbibe in alcohol or junk food, the next morning will be a sludgy mess that I will have to push through while feeling lousy! Things that support fitness are getting plenty of sleep and eating quality foods. These contribute to mental clarity and general well being. If you suffer from seasonal allergies then you most likely are not getting quality sleep and you most likely find yourself pushing through brain fog and muscle sludge all too frequently. Just do your best, we have no miracle answer, sorry. Post workout or on days off don't get all wackadoo on your eating. If you put bad gas in your car it performs poorly.  Likewise, if you put junk in your body it performs poorly. Eat nutrient dense foods most of the time and don't beat yourself up over a few desserts. Your aim is balance.

Be Realistic

Don't judge your success by comparisons with other people. I have done that and that is also self defeating. Every single person is as unique in their needs as their DNA. It takes time to determine what your fitness program for success is, so be patient. See it as a life long endeavor not a temporary bathing suit moment. Your trainers have found that as we age, gracefully of course, that our needs change so be prepared for the adventure of constant change!:) Look at your genetics (that would be your parents and grandparents) and know what your challenges are physically and mentally. Your concern physically should predominately be related to your internal health. Cancer, heart attacks, and strokes don't have a shape, size or gender and they can effect any of us at any time but you decrease your risk significantly when you exercise. In the event that you have to deal with a health problem, surgery, or other trauma your recovery tends to be shorter and better than those that do not exercise. Lastly, variety is the spice of life and don't we all enjoy a variety of spice? I don't know anyone that wants to just have salt and pepper for seasonings. So make your fitness something you do because you love it and not an obsession of a body type.

Last Words: We have an amazing core group of Metabolic Warriors! You have stayed true to your training despite life challenges. We are proud to be the Fitness Trainers of a group of Warriors that clearly love what they do! Why else would you keep coming!:)

Last Last Words:

The only disability in life is a bad attitude. – Scott Hamilton

Go Nuts!

One of our weekly reads is Dr. Mirkin's e-Zine.  The following information is taken from his November 22, 2015 issue.

Good Fat in Nuts

A review of 61 studies shows that feeding people one ounce of tree nuts per day for three to 26 weeks helped to lower total cholesterol, the harmful LDL cholesterol, triglycerides, and Apo B, the main fat-protein in VLDL and LDL (American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Nov 11, 2015). Tree nuts include walnuts, pistachios, macadamia nuts, pecans, cashews, almonds, hazelnuts and Brazil nuts. Doubling the amount of nuts to two ounces per day lowered cholesterol and triglycerides even more. NOTE: These studies were done on nuts from trees, but it appears that peanuts confer the same benefits.

How Nuts Lower Cholesterol and Triglycerides
Nuts lower cholesterol and triglycerides because they are good sources of soluble fiber which cannot be absorbed in your upper intestinal tract. The soluble fiber passes unabsorbed to your colon where bacteria ferment it to form short-chain fatty acids that are absorbed from your colon into your bloodstream. Short-chain fatty acids lower cholesterol by traveling to your liver where they prevent your liver from making cholesterol. Nuts lower triglycerides because soluble fiber is a gel that sticks to other components in foods that you eat to reduce the absorption of calories in your upper intestinal tract. All extra calories can be converted by your liver to triglycerides, so reducing calories lowers triglycerides.

Why Nuts Don’t Cause Weight Gain
Nuts are a rich source of fat, but the fat in nuts is absorbed very poorly (Am J Clin Nutr, Jan, 2015;101(1):25-33). For example, the fat in almonds is located inside the cells of the almond kernel. Even after prolonged chewing, most of the almond cells remained intact and the fat is still inside the cells. Humans lack the enzymes to break down these cell walls. You have to liberate fat from inside cells to absorb it into your body. Furthermore, the fats in nuts are coated with proteins called oleosins that help to prevent fat from being absorbed. Since fat is absorbed only after it is released from cells, most of the fat in almonds cannot be absorbed in the upper part of your intestinal tract. Some of the fat that has passed through the upper intestines is absorbed after the nuts reach the colon, where bacteria ferment the cell walls to release some of the fat (Am J Clin Nutr, Sept 2004;80(3):604-13). Cooking helps to break down the cellulose that makes up cell walls, and it also breaks down the oleosins which coat fat, to allow the fat to be absorbed at a higher rate (American Journal of Physical Anthropology, January 2015;56(1):11–18). Grinding to make nut butters and milks also breaks down cell walls to increase available calories.

The calorie count of nuts is really lower than what you read on the label. The calorie counts shown on food labels are computed from how much heat can be produced by the food in a laboratory. However, this method of measuring calories is meaningless for foods that are poorly absorbed. The number of calories listed on the label can be much higher than those a person actually absorbs; many of the potential calories pass through, undigested, in the person’s stool. This explains why blood fat levels are lower than expected after a person eats nuts. More at Why Nuts Won’t Make You Fat

Nuts are Healthful
Epidemiological studies on populations show that eating nuts is associated with reduced risk for heart attacks, gallstones, diabetes and some cancers. Many studies show that eating nuts lowers high blood pressure, cholesterol and belly fat, and that nuts are not associated with gaining weight (Nutrients, July, 2010;2(7):652-82). A new study confirms that eating almonds reduces belly fat, the type of fat that is associated with diabetes and heart attacks (Journal of the American Heart Association, January 11, 2015). This result is likely to apply to other tree nuts as well.