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Showing posts tagged exercise
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How to Make Eating Healthy Easier For Your Busy Life
You may be wondering, with all of the things that keep you busy throughout the day how can you still eat healthy and make it work for you? My advice for you is to first keep it simple and plan out in advance.
I want you to get a list of healthy foods such as healthy meats, vegetables, fruits, nuts etc. Next I want you to get a blank piece of paper out and then write down all of the foods that you enjoy or at least somewhat enjoy to eat,
From this list I want you to write down and plan one full day’s worth of healthy eating. I want you to plan it out so you can see what a good nutrition plan will look like so it can be your guide.
Next I want you to take this list and follow it for a minimum of 3 consecutive days. I want you to take notes and write down how you are feeling while eating this way. I want you to include things such as how your energy levels are, how hungry you feel throughout the day, how is your mood and things of that nature.
Next I want you to study what is going on during those 3 days and really pay attention to how your body feels. This is the exact way you can find your personalized nutrition that makes you feel your very best as well as look your best too!
I promise you, if you invest your time in studying yourself during these days that you are logging what you eat and how you feel, you can solve your problem of nutrition and know exactly what to eat.
This has been the exact way I have found my eating routine which works for me and allows me to eat the foods that I do enjoy while allowing me to have the results and energy I desire.
You are probably tired of hearing that you need to eat healthy, spike your metabolism, and eat 5-6 small meals throughout the day. You may be thinking where you are going to find all of this time to eat and cook all of this food in your exceptionally busy day.
Well my solution to your problem is to take this very seriously and invest your time for no more than a week and figure out what are the specific foods that nourish you to be your best you.
If you need a little help with your motivation then I created a video to help you out with that. Click the link to watch http://youtu.be/rDEWfaxDJc8
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Medicine Ball Ab Crunch
This is one of my favorite exercises to do for abdominals as I feel it challenges you to keep your core tight and adds resistance to your workout.
I typically like to use a 10 pound medicine ball while I suck my belly button in toward my spine so that my abs are doing all of the work. I like to do anywhere from 15-25 reps with very minimal rest in between.
I also enjoy doing a more advanced medicine ball ab crunch on the bosu ball as I feel it is one of the best exercises to challenge your lower abs.
I want you to incorporate this exercise into your routine especially if your goal is to strengthen up your core and have a better set of abs for the new year and the new you.
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How to Burn More Calories in Less Time
With your busy schedule and having more responsibilites than ever you may wonder how could you possibly have enough time to work out in the gym and still have a healthy body that looks great.
Maybe your goal is not to be the next Mr or Mrs Universe but you probably want to feel more comfortable in your clothes, have more energy, and overall just feel good about yourself.
You may think that you need to spend two to three hours per day in the gym to achieve all of those goals. Well, the good news is you can have more energy, fit better in your clothes, and feel better about yourself with workouts that are less than sixty minutes per day.
If you want to really maximize your calorie burn when you go to the gym, then I want you to focus on working your larger muscle groups. What I mean by this is, working out your legs, chest, and back.
You do not have to work all three of those in a workout, unless you really want to challenge yourself. But choose one of those muscle groups in a day such as legs and focus on doing compound movements.
Compound movements for your legs would be exercises such as squats, step ups, lunges, and leg press. If you are trying to burn the most calories in less time then I would avoid doing isolation exercises and focus more on the compound movements.
The next question you may have is where does cardio come into play with this? My response to you is you should do cardio after you do your weights and then if you are going for maximum calorie burn do interval training.
Interval training would be doing something with high intensity for a specified amount of time followed by rest. For example, if you were to sprint on the treadmill for thirty seconds and then walk on the treadmill for thirty seconds and repeat for twenty minutes.
You could easily get away with working out in forty five minutes (20 minutes weights/25 minutes cardio) and still get great results. Try it out and let me know how it works for you.
Those are some quick tips to follow when you are trying to burn more calories in less time. Hope those tips helped and feel free to check out my you tube channel for more advice at http://www.youtube.com/gregmarshall17
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6 Simple But Effective Ab Tips
1) Abdominal exercises are only part of the equation when looking to tone up your abdominal muscles. Be sure to do exercises that incorporate all of your ab muscles such as abdominal crunches, bicycle crunches, and planks. When doing each of the exercises, I like to do them for time such as sets of thirty seconds to a minute. The purpose of the timed set is to be able to focus on the form while keeping the intensity levels higher. In between your sets rest for thirty seconds or less. The goal is to not rest in between your sets in order to increase intensity and stimulate the ab muscles.
2) Eat a clean diet. The saying is true, abs are made in the kitchen. Your nutrition should consist of high protein foods such as chicken, fish, egg whites, and turkey. Keep your carbohydrates to a minimum especially the high sugar low nutrient carbohydrates such as white flour products, fast food, candy, and anything else that is high in sugar. Consume slow burning carbohydrates such as green vegetables, oats, and whole grain foods. Eat several small meals a day with your goal being four to six meals. Do not forget to drink a gallon of water per day to help increase your metabolism.
3) Incorporate resistance training to help build lean muscle tissue, which will help you to increase your metabolism. The higher your metabolism is, the more calories you burn, the greater your opportunity to burn fat. Great exercises to do in the gym would be squats, lunges, shoulder presses, bench press, and back rows. If you do not have access to a gym then you can of course substitute those exercises with jump squats, body weight squats, lunges, push-ups, and resistance band back rows.
4) Cardio exercise is not the only way to get those summer abs, but it is important. If you have access to a gym, incorporate the stair climber, treadmill, elliptical, stationary bike, and sports of your liking. If you do not have access to a gym then take a walk outside, go hiking up hill, ride your bike around town, or go swimming at a local pool. When doing cardio training intensity is the name of the game in my opinion. Focus on how you feel and if you feel like you are pushing your personal limits. Your body will be the best judge of your intensity so listen to it.
5) Reduce the stress in your life. Yes I said stress. Stress increases your body’s cortisol levels. Cortisol is a hormone that you want to stay away from, as it is a muscle wasting and fat gaining hormone (a summer abs nightmare). Work on budgeting out some “me time” every day to help you unwind. During this time do not feel guilty, instead look at it as an investment. This will be the best investment you will make because it will improve not only your summer abs but other aspects of your life as well such as being a better parent, spouse, and friend.
6) Stay consistent and most importantly have fun when going after your pair of summer abs. Choose the exercises and foods that you enjoy and create a routine for yourself where you can get into a “groove”. For more help on the exercises that I recommended, do a google search on them and get a few picture and video demonstrations. Also do a google search for high protein and low carb recipes to supplement your plan. I wish you the best of luck!
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3 of my favorite abdominal exercises
Some of my favorite abdominal exercises that I like to personally use with not only my clients but myself are the cable ab crunch, medicine ball ab twist and the decline crunch.
What I have found to be most beneficial with using these exercises are they are different exercises that stimulate the ab muscles in a different way as well as they give you an opportunity to add resistance to your ab work.
Abs have incredible endurance because they work all day with stabilizing our bodies and so these are some of the best ways I have found to really shock them into change.
I recommend that you do each exercise 3 to 4 sets with minimal rest in between sets. I personally like to take no rest in between the sets to make sure that I am challenging my abs as much as possible.
If you need any help on how to perform these exercises send me an email or message and I will send you some instructions on how to do them.
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How to get rid of muscle soreness
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Preparing for Your New Year’s Resolution
This is the time of year where everyone starts to set their new year’s resolution. Usually the new year’s resolution has something to do with getting in the best shape of their lives. I want to give you a couple of tips that can help you prepare to succeed for the year 2013.
One tip is to write the exact goal down of what you want to accomplish. Be extremely specific such as ” I want to lose 30 pounds this year” or “I want exercise 5 days per week”. The more specific you are the better. Once you write down your goal then come up with a weekly and daily plan of what action steps you will take and how you will measure it.
Another tip is to start researching and planning your shopping list of what you will be eating. Prepare a list of foods that you enjoy eating and start researching the best recipes that fit you. You want to have at least 3 different options of foods you can eat for breakfast, snack, lunch, and dinner. The more prepared you are the more likely it is you will succeed. (If you would like a list message me your email address and I will send you one.)
Give yourself a buffer on “cheat meals”. Don’t get so strict with your diet that you never get to have any fun and eat foods you enjoy. We all enjoy eating that pizza or dessert or thing that we know is unhealthy for us. And it is ok, I know in my life my cheat meals tend to be chicken wings or candy and I plan around them. I don’t apologize for liking them or feel like a bad person when I eat them because in the grand scheme of things it is about what your daily habits are and cheat meals for the most part will not make or break you, so just know that you will eat them and plan around the meals.
Start putting together a workout routine that is tailored to your goals. If you are a beginner I would highly suggest hiring a personal trainer to help you. It will be money well spent as it can save you tremendous amounts of time and frustration and get you to your goals quicker. (If you would like a jump start program message me your email)
Write down all of the benefits that you will receive by exercising and getting into better shape and these will be put on your wall or somewhere you can see them everyday so that you can stay motivated. I personally do this!
Create and plan your reward systems so you can positively reinforce yourself everytime you achieve a goal. I will tell you what I use that works tremendously for me. Everytime I hit a milestone or goal that I want to achieve I buy a piece of clothing that I can wear and it serves as a constant reminder of me being successful. It is a way to show myself respect for the hard work that I put in and psychologically it programs in my mind that I am successful.
For christmas I would like to mail you guys a sticker for you and/or your friends to post on your workout wall or somewhere that will remind you to keep striving to be your best. Below is the picture of what it looks like.
If you would like one just message me on here your name, email, and shipping address and I will send it to you for FREE. Or email me your info at (greg@fiture.co)
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Resting More Can Get You Faster Results
Today I wanted to share with you the importance of resting. Most people believe that the more you workout the better. This can be one of the main reasons why you are not getting the results that you want.
There are times where you want to increase how often you workout to get your body going and get yourself from the inertia of not exercising, but once you are in the routine of things you will want to make sure you are proactively setting up days where you rest.
Rest can be any form of sleeping or not working out and replenishing your body with the nutrients you need in order to recover. Results comes from the rest and recover stage as opposed to the actual workouts.
When you workout you are breaking your body down so that it can build up into something stronger and better. Do not overlook the importance of resting and sleeping if you are serious about getting the best results you possibly can, this can be the one thing that is holding you back.
Key tips are pay attention to how much sleep you are getting, how much water you are drinking, and what nutrients you put in your body.
You want to sleep anywhere from 7 to 9 hours based on your personal preference and how you feel. Use how you feel as the best way to figure out strategies that work for you. Do not worry about copying someone else’s routine.
As far as nutrients, make sure you are eating quality proteins and carbohydrates with every meal and drink a minimum of 64 ounces of water per day. These changes can make bigger impacts than you think.
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Roman Chair Abs
This is personally my favorite abdominal exercise to do because it emphasizes on the lower ab area that is a trouble area for most, while still building up strength in the core.
I suggest that you work up to sets of 15-20 reps and rest very minimally(30 seconds or less) in between sets to get the best results.
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Questions you MUST answer to Change Your Life
What are your fitness goals? Be specific (lose 10 lbs, run a mile, increase your energy)
What do those specific goals look and feel like to you?
When would you like to reach your goal by? Set a realistic timeline here
In what ways will your life change when you reach these goals? (Will your life be better and more fulfilling, will you feel more confident, will relationships with yourself and others improve?)
In what ways have you held yourself back from reaching these goals?
What are some of your limiting beliefs? (examples are you are too old, too young, you are not pretty enough, your not worthy etc)
What will be your new beliefs about yourself and your life?
What will you accomplish in the next year? 5 years? 10 years?
What is your plan for reaching these goals?
Are you currently living someone else’s life or have you designed your life?
Who is or will be a part of your support group?
Who are the people in your life who may not be supporting you and your dreams?
What is your strategy to reduce or eliminate these people from your environment?
What are some of your specific educational goals? ( read one book per month on a new subject, go to a seminar, have a friend teach you a new skill)
What is something that you have always wanted to do but have always postponed? ( graduate college, learn how to cook, take karate lessons, play an instrument)
What is the reason why you have never pursued this goal? What is your plan to ensure you achieve this goal?
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How to Deal With Being Intimidated in The Gym and Where to Start
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3 Fat Melting Strategies to Use on a Treadmill
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Big Goal Achievement Increases Your Confidence
Today I want you write down a big goal that gets you excited to reach. Write a goal that you feel may be a little bit more than you believe that you can achieve. Once you write it down, I then want you to devise a strategy to reach that goal.
I want you to break it down to a day by day goal that you can track. Next, I want you to find someone that you consider supportive but can hold you accountable. With your strategy that you come up with to reach your goal, do not rule out getting a personal trainer or mentor who has reached the level of success that you desire.
Success usually comes from pushing yourself and we all can use a push from an outside source to help us reach that next level. Take control of your life and what happens in it and do everything with intent.
Until you physically write down your goals, it will not feel as achievable and real.
Now BEGIN!
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Post Workout Photos of Yourself on Your Wall To Help Keep You Motivated
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New Video About Core Training and it’s Myths
