Perhaps you’ve been motivated to exercise by the last few weeks of slovenly behaviour, over-indulgence in unhealthy food and perhaps the few extra kilos you’ve packed on around your mid-riff or on your behind? Make sure you start off your exercise regime the way you intend on finishing it. I’m trying to tell you that there’s no point starting something you can’t finish.

Start of your exercise this year with some S.M.A.R.T goals.

Specific

• Well defined – Written down on paper in a tense that indicates success

Measurable

• Use a unit of measurement in your goal setting terminology

Attainable

• I love the word ‘attain’ – it means you get something out of it. Be prepared to be a little bit selfish.

Realistic

• Within the availability of your resources and time commitments

Time Based

• Set a time frame for your goals so you don’t slack off

Goal Setting for Geeks is easy. Here are a few examples:

1. By the end of October this year (2011) I will be ecstatic when I fit back into my size 12 jeans.
2. In October 2011 I will feel fantastic after completing the Melbourne Marathon for the first time.
3. I will feel glorious when I weigh under 80kg for my 40th birthday in November 2011.

I have read articles of people that like to put in the HOW into their goal setting, you may find it useful to add phrases such as ‘I will feel great when I maintain consistency in my exercise routine in 2011, going for at least 2 walks outside with my family, and 3 gym sessions every single week until I reach my goal weight of 80kg before my 40th Birthday in November 2011′.

MAKE SURE YOU WRITE DOWN YOUR GOALS. Put your freshly written goals in your wallet, on the edge of your computer screen, on the fridge, your bedroom or bathroom mirror. The repetition will reinforce your desire to achieve.

Its amazing for me to think that many of us have lost awareness of our bodies, but I’ve recently come to see that quite often when I give prompts to people and ask for feedback they have no idea where they are meant to be feeling it, or they feel nothing at all. This says to me that many of us have lost a subtle awareness of our bodies, and this worries me because it means we are losing touch with ourselves.

In my programs I often try to get my clients to do really simple awareness drills. These drills are basically a way of isolating certain muscles and allowing you to feel that particular muscle working, so that when you are doing more complicated movements you know how to integrate the movement of that muscle with the rest of your muscles.

One of the most important movements I think many of us have lost recently is the ability to control the movement of the pelvis. In my experience a lot of back discomfort and injury comes from instability and stiffness in the joints above the pelvis, cause by lack of mobility in the pelvis. Here is a simple drill you can do to mobilise your pelvic tilt and gain a greater awareness of it:

1. Assume  a horse stance on hands and knees.
2. Try and tilt your pelvis forwards to accentuate the lumbar curve in your back.
3. Try and tilt your pelvis backwards (tucking your pelvis under) causing your back to arch like an angry cat.
4. Now integrate these to opposites with your breath.
5. Firstly, breathe out and tuck your pelvis under. Arching like and angry cat and tucking your chin toward your chest.
6. Now, breathe in and tilt your eyes to the sky as you push your bum backwards and accentuate your lumbar curve.
7. Always stop if you feel discomfort, but continue to synchronise your breathe with your movements for 5 – 10 repetitions.

This will mobilise and free up your pelvis and lower back and is a great way to start the day!

If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Getting in shape is about 3 things. Eating right. Exercising. And doing those two things consistently! Of course, that’s easier said than done but it’s the truth. Getting into shape is not rocket science! Let’s get right into it.

Food:

1. Eat every 3-4 hours. By doing this you’ll keep your blood sugar stable which is the key and also turn your body into a fat burning machine. Think of your metabolism like a camp fire. If you don’t want a camp fire to burn out, you have to constantly add wood and logs to it.

2. Never let yourself get hungry! This serves many purposes. It keeps your blood sugar stable, keeps that fire burning, but also when you’re very hungry it’s extremely hard to make good decisions!

3. Eat only complex carbs. Refined and simple carbs will spike your blood sugar which is exactly what we don’t want. Eat whole wheat bread instead of white, whole wheat pasta instead of regular, brown rice instead of white, etc.

4. Eat lean proteins! Depending on your lifestyle stick with proteins like chicken, eggs, and fish. Beans, nuts, legumes, and lentils are also awesome choices.

5. Veggies! You can never have too many vegetables. I say everything in moderation. Even moderation. Not with veggies!

6. Fruit is nature’s candy. Eat fruit when you are craving something sweet. You’ll be amazed at how little you miss junk food!

7. Drink lots of water. No need to get obsessive but try to drink a glass of water with each meal, and in between every meal. Your body will love you for it.

8. Don’t eat 2-3 hours before bedtime. And if you must – make it a protein rich snack.

9. Don’t eat until you’re stuffed. Instead, eat until you’re satisfied. You should feel like you can exercise right after you eat.

10. Eat slowly. The best way to eat until you’re satisfied is to savor every bite. The slower you eat the more full you’ll feel. It takes 20 minutes for our brain to realize we’ve eaten. We don’t need nearly as much food as we think we do!

11. No such thing as perfection! No one eats perfectly. We’re not robots! Remember: It’s what we do most of the time that generates most of our results! If you eat unhealthy make your very next meal healthy! No big deal. Just make that U-Turn! Every meal, every healthy choice, every compromise, really and truly makes a difference. Your body never lies!

12. Am I hungry? Or am I eating to change the way I feel? Ask yourself this before you eat. If the answer is yes, you’re eating for the wrong reasons! Physical hunger comes on gradually. Emotional hunger comes on suddenly.

13. Focus on eating foods that make you feel good. What does this mean? I like ice cream and cookies as much as the next guy. But I hate how it makes me feel afterward. Tired, lethargic, unfocused, etc. Instead, focus on foods that make you feel good before, during and after you’re done. You’ll never regret making a healthy choice!

Exercise:

1. Do it 4 times per week for at least 30 minutes. Seriously, doesn’t matter. Basketball, jogging, weights, push ups, etc. Unless you have a specific goal just make sure to get it done!

2. The two day rule! You can’t miss 2 days of working out in a row. You can skip one day. But not the next!

3. Don’t let the “Exercise Monster” build up. When I don’t do laundry for a while it becomes what I like to call the ‘Laundry Monster’. It builds up in my mind and I avoid doing it at all costs. Until finally, I have to. And it’s never as bad as I think it’ll be! Don’t let it happen to you. Follow the two day rule!

4. Don’t focus on exercising at a certain time. Just focus on making time to exercise!

5. Make it fun! Listen to music; join a nice gym; etc. Bonus: If you love working out with music as much as I do, only listen to your favorite music while you workout. I’ve actually exercised just to listen to my music.

6. Focus on how you want to feel. We always feel energized after we workout. Yet, we usually skip exercise when we’re feeling tired!

Remember: Exercise will give you energy. Want more energy? Exercise more! Exercise and eating right pays off big in your quality of life! If you need to spend extra money on groceries, a gym membership, trainers, etc., do it! Warren Buffet said it best. “The best investment you can make is in yourself!” And if you’re able to follow these rules consistently you’ll be well on your way to getting in shape!

This post was written by Adam Gilbert of MyBodyTutor.com.

I’m lucky that I do a fair amount of incidental exercise everyday or else I’d be the size of a house. I’ve been the size of  a (small) house before and I didn’t enjoy it very much.

A few years ago I had a job that involved very long hours at work (up to 12 hours per day) for 6 days of the week. I ate dinner out almost every night, drank a beer or two every day of the week, and exercised very little. Before I knew it I weighed over 95kg and had upsized my jeans by 3 sizes. I wasn’t very happy and my life was seriously imbalanced.

Balance is crucial if you want to be happy.

Wow, that’s a huge statement. In fact that is the mother-of-all statements so I’ll rephrase it and say it again.

HAVING BALANCE IN ALL ASPECTS OF YOUR LIFE IS CRUCIAL TO YOUR HAPPINESS AND WELL-BEING.

Ok. So having balance means not having too much or too little. It means following the middle road in all aspects of your life.. Work / Play, Food, Activity / Recovery – If you have balance in all of these things then your body should find its natural balance, its natural weight, its natural state.

I bet you’ve all seen the Yin & Yang symbol. This symbol represents balance. It shows that everything has an opposite and that all things are interconnected and dependant on each other. For example, without day-time there is no night-time – and yet the distinction between the two is very fine and both dusk and dawn appear very similar.

Applying the law of balance to your life means shying away from the extremes. It means not over exercising, but not doing absolutely nothing. It means not over eating, but not starving yourself. You may waver sometimes between not eating enough, or over indulging every now and then, but if you consistently stay somewhere in between the two then you should be able to find, and maintain, your natural balance.

You see I believe that our natural state is balanced. I believe that we are born balanced, and that over time we develop, or are taught, bad habits that imbalance us. Regaining this balance once we have lost it is crucial.

I wish there was a magical ratio for work : life or for activity : rest, but we are all different. All we can do is look out for the indicators that we are over doing things and start to cut back.

Some of the signs that you might be over exercising are fatigue, injuries, pain or tightness in certain muscles and a general disinterest in exercise. This is a good indication that you should have a few days off, do some extra stretching, try a yoga class or get a massage. A classic sign that you might be under exercising is an abundance of body fat, and puffing or straining to do simple tasks.

This is an introduction to the ‘Law of Balance’ – Keep your eyes peeled for my new eBook coming out soon.

If you’ve ever been to, or plan to go to, the Mirror Lake (also known as Lake Matheson) in the South Island of New Zealand you may very well experience something that could change your perceptions forever.

I was only perhaps 20 at the time and I remember our ‘Contiki’ tour bus arriving in the car parking area. I vividly remember standing on the edge of the lake looking at the reflection of a view that quite literally blew my mind. You see, the reflection on the Mirror Lake is supposedly about 99% perfect. There are minimal disruptions on the water and its quite literally like looking into a mirror.

For some reason it seems human nature than when you attain this ‘perfect view’ you automatically want to try and disrupt it! I actually wanted to throw a stone in this lake and cause massive ripples on the surface of the water. It seemed too good to be true.

There are a few reasons why I say that the lake has a ‘Perfect View’ and I’ll try to explain them as best as I can..

The Lake has no ego

The Lake reflects what it sees much like the reflection of a mirror. For over 14,000 years this lake has probably seen it all and yet it continues to reflect exactly what it sees unmarred by judgements, opinions, previous experience, memory or ego. It lives in the moment and reflects things perfectly as they are. It does not dwell on or compare things with the past, nor does it day dream or live hopelessly in fear of the future, it simply lives in the now, accepting everything as it happens.

It occasionally loses perfection but re-balances quickly

Even if something were to disrupt its perfect view (i.e. someone throwing a stone) it would automatically rebound to its natural state of mirror-like reflection. It may not happen immediately, but perfect view is its natural state, it is not bound to an ego, or to thought processes, so even if it loses its mirror-like reflection it will always return to its perfect, natural state – Its perfect view – because that is how nature intended it to be.

It has experienced impermanence

In the last 14,000 years I could imagine hundreds of thousands of people have stood on the shores of this lake and marvelled at its pure perfection. And each one of those people has eventually moved on (both literally and figuratively). Tree’s would have grown from tiny seeds and then eventually either been cut down or died and fell down on their own. The Lake itself is not even the same lake it was last year, last month or even yesterday because of the evaporation of water molecules. One day the lake will disappear completely, but until that day it maintains its perfect view.

It understands cause and effect

It rains. Water runs into the lake. Its sunny. The lake evaporates. The lake itself is dependant on these circumstances to exist, a never ending cycle of cause and effect that results (for the moment) in the lakes existence. Perhaps one day there will be only sun and the lake will dry up and disappear. When that happens will the perfect view still be there? Or does it only exist because the lake does?

I think there is a lot to be said for this perfect view.

Perhaps we can all learn from the Mirror Lakes and try to live without ego, judgements, memories and opinions marring the way that we see things.

Hopefully we can all learn that we are imperfect, but that deep down we have a natural perfect view that can be re-attained if we can only learn to put our egos aside.

If we are fortunate we will understand that our own reflection in the mirror is sometimes distorted by the ripples of our memories, and marred by the strong impressions that current day advertising has on our self image, but that the mirror sees us just as we are. We are Perfect.

I vividly remember reading the “Lobsang Rampa” series of fictional books when I was in my early teens and ever since then I have read books, meditated, and tried to implement as much of the Buddhist philosophy into my life as I could. I was recently reading a book on Zen Buddhism and it mentioned the Japanese Tea Ceremony or “The Way of Tea” and it mentioned how the ancient and traditional Japanese Tea Ceremony was based on Zen Buddhist practises so I decided to do a bit more research.

What I found was an amazingly ritualistic art form that I think could be applied to every part of your life. Here is a simplified bullet list of the steps involved in a traditional tea ceremony.

Traditional Japanese Tea Ceremony (Simplified)

• The host hand writes invites to guests and sends them (Intention)
• The host buys seasonal vegetables, ritually cleanses utensils and prepares the tea using set movements (Preparation)
• The guests sip the tea, admires the bowl and utensils and then have conversation (Manifestation)
• The host ritually cleans all the utensils while the guests watch in silence (Conclusion)

You may ask how this applies to you because (like me) you probably drink tea from tea bags. Likewise, if you’ve ever read The Secret or watched The Secret DVD then you’ve probably been trying to figure out how to apply it to your life. Here is a breakdown of what I believe is the easiest way to apply this new found knowledge into your life and start achieving success in everything that you do.

1. Intention

Everything begins with the intention to do something. Perhaps you notice that you are unhappy with how you look in the mirror, or by your bank account balance, the clothes you wear or anything else that you are dissatisfied with. Once you become aware of something that you want to change you form an intention to change it. Without this intention, or desire, you have nothing. This is the reason why someone can’t force you to change, this is also the reason why you will never lose weight, or tone up, or get fitter unless you perceive the NEED or DESIRE TO CHANGE and form an intention (and commitment) to make it happen.

2. Preparation

There is a famous saying that goes something along the lines of ‘If you fail to prepare, then you prepare to fail’. From my experience as a natural bodybuilder, a personal trainer, businessman and now as a father I know for a fact that preparation is crucial to success in every endeavour you embark upon. Convenience Food has earned its name for a reason, it fills the gap when we have failed to prepare for our daily intake of nutrients. The thing with convenience food is that is a quick fix, and generally loaded with quick release (or high GI) carbohydrates. In order to succeed at weight loss, or any other goal, you really need to prepare to maximise your chances of success. This might mean preparing your meals the night before, or even the whole weeks meals in one afternoon. In our house my wife Ashley does most (actually ALL) of the cooking, and she makes most of the weeks meals on a Sunday afternoon. Salads are made fresh daily as required but my lentils stew, vegetable soups and other dishes are all PREPARED on the weekend. Prepare in advance and your success is assured.

3. Manifestation (or Action)

Contrary to what was portrayed in The Secret, merely having an intention to achieve a desired outcome does not mean that it will come to fruition on its own. Once you have formed an intention and done all of your preparation, then it is your responsibility to manifest your own desires by committing to action. What this means is that you have to commit to, or write down, an action plan and see it through. You may plan to go to the gym five days per week,  attend three yoga classes, eat all of your pre-prepared healthy meals at home 6 days of the week and so on.. But unless YOU COMMIT TO ACTION it will never happen. The manifestation of your desires will come in the form of opportunities that you will need to take advantage of. For example, you may drive past a gym and notice that it has a special on memberships.. If you think that you need that gym membership to achieve your health and weight loss goals then take action, join up and get started RIGHT NOW!  Having an intention to do something, and becoming emotionally attached to the desired outcome, activates your Reticular Activating System and makes you become infinitely aware of the things that will help you achieve those goals. Have you ever noticed that when you become particularly attached to a specific model of car that you suddenly see that car EVERYWHERE! This is your bodies natural manifestation systems working hard to show you what you want to see! Make the most of these opportunities and you will achieve everything you desire.

4. Conclusion (or Celebration)

Everything has a beginning and an end, although these are sometimes difficult to see and can often blur together into an ongoing cycle. In my mind, everything has a beginning and an end although often the end of one thing is the beginning of something new. In this instance the conclusion is the attainment or achievement of your intentions (goals) as you set them at the beginning of this article. Sometimes you have multiple intentions under way at any one time, and sometimes these change and morph overtime into something completely different from what they began as. I think it is important is that you celebrate your small victories. Sometimes the act of achieving a goal is celebration enough, and sometimes a small reward is needed. I used to celebrate a week of perfect nutrition by going out for lunch on a Saturday. This small treat was enough for me to refocus on the next week and ensure that I stuck to my meal plan and achieved my bigger goals in the long run. My advice is to celebrate your small victories and then set new goals to focus on.

The Way of Tea changed my life, and it can change yours as well.

If you’d like information on Personal Training, Effective Movement, Weight Loss or Goal Setting then please send through an email on our contact page and we will reply within 24 hours.

The fitness industry evolved to cater for the basic needs of people, and even though many buzz words have come and gone these needs are still the same. In the past I would have said that the purpose of the Health and Fitness Industry was to improve the Health of people, these days I use the term Wellness.

What is Wellness?

The reason that I differentiate between Health and Wellness at all is because most of the people that I speak to think that being healthy means being skinny and fit, and unfortunately many personal trainers think the same. This couldn’t be further from the truth.

Some references to Health define it as the ‘absence of disease or infirmity’ whereas other definitions focus on ‘physical, mental and social well-being’. I believe that health by definition is our natural state of homoeostasis, which is a state in which our body naturally regulates  its internal environment to maintain a constant, stable condition free from disease or infirmity.

Wellness, on the other hand, builds on the natural foundation of homoeostasis and adds the ‘constant, conscious pursuit of living life to its fullest potential’ – It is a state in which we are not only healthy, but also thriving.

How can Wellness be achieved?

My theory of Wellness builds on the basic indicators of health (weight, diet, exercise, cholesterol, flexibility etc..) and adds some of the core concepts of Needs and Motivational Theory from psychologists such as Maslow, Herzberg, Alderfer and others.

Taking into account many of the aspects of Mind, Body and Spirit we can take a broader snapshot of where you’ve been, where you are right now and where you are going, helping you make a plan to live your life to its fullest potential.

We are in the process of putting together a full Wellness Program so contact us for more information, or watch this space over the next few weeks as we elaborate and discuss the endless and limitless possibilities of human health and wellness.

]]> http://ptinyourpocket.com.au/archives/301/feed 0 http://ptinyourpocket.com.au/archives/296 http://ptinyourpocket.com.au/archives/296#comments Mon, 23 Aug 2010 08:43:00 +0000 Troy Hasler http://ptinyourpocket.com.au/?p=296 I just found this article online and had to re-post it here. It was written by Chris Lopez and you will find a link to his blog below.

We live in an information overloaded society. There has not been a moment in history when information has been this available, right at our fingertips. By typing one simple phrase, we now get hundreds, thousands, sometimes even millions of answers to our most desired questions. And now it seems, because of the abundance of information available to us, that a lot of us are confused.

No more confusing has been our struggle with living excessively. As a result, many of us are in debt, have too much stuff and are overweight.

There are too many questions on how to exercise, how to eat, or how to live healthily – cardio or weights? How much protein? Does fat make me fat? Will situps give me abs? Am I going to get big, bulky muscles?

I don’t profess to know the answer to EVERY question out there, but I do know that all things being equal, the simplest answer is most likely the right one (Ockham’s Razor). That holds true in life as much as it does in weight loss, exercise and general health.

So in saying that, I have devised a list of The 7 Essential Rules to Optimal Health.

You may read these rules and be turned off that I’m insulting your intelligence. But let’s face it, now more than ever, do we need to get back to the basics in order to save our waning, unhealthy & obese society.

We’ve veered off the path of “simple” and have really made things more complicated than they are.

1. Eat REAL Food.

For a busy population who doesn’t have time to count calories or how many grams of protein or how much sodium or saturated fat, this is your answer to health and weight loss.

Anything that Mother Nature put on this earth in it’s simplest form is real food – unpackaged, unprocessed, unpreserved fruits, vegetables, legumes, naturally raised meat & fish.  Steak from a cow that has been allowed to eat from a pasture, not an all-beef hot dog. Water, not soda. Apples, not apple fritters.

Here’s the truth … if you eat nutritious real food then your body feels nourished and doesn’t feel the need to consume more. If you eat the common processed food products of today with empty calories and little to any nutrition value, then your body needs to 1) work harder to digest and assimilate what you’ve eaten thus using energy 2) still feel hungry because what you’ve eaten provides no nourishment and 3) throw your systems out of whack because your body has no idea what you just ate.

2. Live Life Actively.

Our society was the healthiest when there were no such things as treadmills, ellipticals and Pec Decks. We used the gym to support our activities (like what athletes do).  We rode our bikes, skied, surfed, played pick-up basketball and walked everywhere.

Now, we go to the gym. We run on treadmills like rats in a cage, partake in bodybuilding programs that give us bulky, unuseable muscles and create imbalance & injury, and do aerobic classes that give us little to no benefit with the way we look.

As our society transitioned from an active culture to a gym-going culture, obesity, heart disease and diabetes slowly started to increase. Coincidence? Maybe. But staying active and trying new things – playing a sport, going for a hike, being active with family, playing frisbee with the dog- never killed anyone.

Ask yourself these questions…When was the last time you got excited to go to the gym (to actually workout, not to see the hot aerobics instructor or personal trainer)? And what about when you knew that the weekend was just around the corner and you were going to the beach to play some volleyball?  Or out to the golf course with your buddies to play 18 holes?

Live actively and use the gym to support your efforts.

3. Get outside.

This goes hand-in-hand with the point above.

True that some of us live in a climate that isn’t always condusive to outdoorsy things. Hogwash.

Unless it is 110 degrees in the shade or sub-Arctic temperatures outside, there are always options for us to be active outdoors – even if it’s just for a walk after dinner. Our bodies crave the outdoors and being with nature.  It’s hard-wired into our systems. Being outdoors gives us a feeling of freedom and calm that no gym, mall or office building could ever provide for us.

4. Constantly strive to improve in order to see change.

If you are doing the same thing, day in and day out (lifting the same weights, running the same distance for the same time, etc) without any change or improvement, then nothing is going to happen to your body.

Your body wants to stay the same, and it is only when you decide to venture outside of your comfort zone that you will actually see any improvement – and that rule holds true with life as much as it does with exercise. Set goals, break records and constantly strive to get better. If you ran 5km in 30-minutes yesterday, then the next time out, aim for 29-minutes.  If you did 10 push-ups yesterday, then aim for 11 the next time you attempt them.

Force yourself out of what’s comfortable and you will change – both in body and in mind.

5. Get some sleep.

Often the “missing link” to everyone’s weight loss quest is their lack of quality sleep. Healthy adults require 7-9 hours of uninterrupted, good quality sleep EVERY night.

Sleep helps regulate your hormones. It kills off bad bacteria that has accumulated in your gut throughout the day and it’s the primary time for your body to repair its tissues – especially your muscles. Don’t get enough of it and your immune response will suffer (your ability to fight off disease & sickness), you gain belly fat (because of the higher amounts of the hormone cortisol) and you’ll experience lows in energy.

6. Practice Active Recovery .

This is the Yang to intense exercise’s Ying and is probably the most overlooked rule. You were not designed to “go hard” 100% of the time.

Regardless of what you may believe, exercise, with all it’s benefits to your body and health, is still stress. Any response that produces an adrenalin rush will also produce a stress response in your body. Because of this, we must balance our intense exercise activities with calming, stress management exercises. Traditional yoga, tai chi, qi gong or some form of deep breathing or meditation are the most common examples of ways to handle stress.

Try to incorporate at least one of these activities into your weekly (if not daily) practice. Only a few minutes of deep breathing or mediation is all you need to regain balance move on with your day without anxiety or nervousness.

7. Use Natural Movements.

There are 5 natural movements – Squatting, Lunging (which includes walking & running), Pushing, Pulling & Rotation. If you want to save time, increase results and live healthy, then all your exercises should incorporate at least one, if not more, of these movements.

Is there a need to stand in front of a mirror holding dumbbells and lifting them up to the side while standing on a ball? No. Is there a need to sit on a machine, strapped in and squeeze your thighs together or push them out? No. These movements are unnatural. They force you to break your body up into individual parts, when in truth, your body operates as a network of nerves, bones and muscles to move you and the objects you lift or carry from Point A to Point B.

Exercise naturally, move naturally, be healthy.

So Now What?

Use the above rules as a checklist and try to incorporate and adhere to one rule per week, introducing a new rule each time you have mastered one.

Try not to get overwhelmed. This isn’t a “shotgun” approach. We’ve gotten away from the basics of health and it will take time to get back. Just keep at it and be consistent and you’ll get there.

By just living with these 7 rules in mind, you’re sure to become a healthier, happier and more fulfilling life.

Read more from Chris at his blog, Fit and Busy Dad.

“Every human being is the author of his own health or disease.” – Buddha

1. Small steps. That you get fitter in stages, as you exercise more, is pretty obvious I think. You might start out just walking, but as you get fitter, you might add some slow jogging to your routine. And then eventually you’re running three miles, several stages later. However, this really applies to everything, including diet, and many people don’t realize that. You shouldn’t try to change your entire diet overnight — do it in stages. Small steps, one thing at a time, and you’ll get there. Just start eating more fruits at first, for example. Then cut out sodas. Then eat more veggies for dinner. Then change your white bread for whole wheat bread. Then cut out candy at work. And so on. The thing is, you get used to each thing after awhile, and so the changes don’t seem drastic. A year later, and you’re eating extremely healthily (that word again), and you can’t imagine going back to your old diet. Small steps — this is extremely key, to both diet and exercise.

2. Find short-term rewards. Most people quit their diet or exercise program because they’re looking for immediate results. And they’re discouraged when they don’t get them. But you won’t get immediate results. One fitness trainer said something like, “After a month, you’ll start feeling some results. After two months, you’ll start noticing results. After three months, others will start noticing.” And that’s pretty true — it takes months before you start to see the results you want … but in the meantime, you have to look for other things to keep you going. Those shorter-term rewards could be simple things like the great feeling you get after a workout — that helps me stay motivated. Or you could give yourself a treat (something healthy, preferably) or buy a book or something like that.
3. Track your progress. The scale is probably the most popular way to see your progress, but other ways include measuring your waist, or taking photos of yourself each month. You could also track your performance — for example, do a 5K every month to see if you’re getting faster, or log your miles to see them increase. However you do it, you should have some kind of objective way to see your progress over the weeks and months. Otherwise, you might not really notice the difference — but the numbers or pictures will.
4. Enjoy yourself. Very very important. If you see your exercise as extremely difficult, or painful, you won’t be able to sustain it for long. You’ll quit. If you see your diet as very restrictive, or torture, you’ll go back to junk food in a short while. You must find exercise that you enjoy, and find healthy foods that taste good to you. Maybe not chocolate cake good, but good nonetheless. Experiment with new recipes until you find ones you absolutely love. Above all, enjoy the whole process.
5. Never ever give up. Maybe the most important truth on this list. If you give up, you won’t get to your goal. Very obvious, I know, but the problem is that people don’t put this into action. Messing up by falling back into junk food or stopping exercise — that happens. Life gets in the way. No one is perfect. Just forget about that stuff, and move on. Learn from your failures, adjust your plan to prevent the same thing from happening again, and start again. If you stop, that’s OK — just start again. Always start again. If you do that, there’s no way you won’t eventually get to your goal.
6. Get a workout partner or a Personal Trainer. It will be the best move you ever make. The reason for this is that it keeps you accountable to each other and to your self. Most people really struggle to motivate themselves and there is nothing wrong with that. As humans there are very few things we do on our own, we usually live with someone and work in teams or/ groups, so why shouldn’t we exercise with someone as well. Not only will it be good to have someone keep an eye on your form while you exercise, but you’ll be less likely to cancel walks, runs or workouts if you know that someone will be waiting there for you.
7. Brush your teeth after dinner. This is such a simple thing, but it really helps. It makes you have that fresh, clean feeling in your mouth, and makes you not want to eat an after-dinner snack. For me, after-dinner snacks or desserts are what ruin my diet a lot of the time.
8. Vary your workouts. This helps keep things fresh and fun. For runners, for example, don’t just do 3 kilometres every day at the same pace. Vary the distance, the route, the speed. Do intervals. And do stuff other than running — go hiking, go biking, play basketball, do strength training, swim, paddle. Mixing it up will get you in even better shape, challenging your body in new ways, and making it an enjoyable process.
9. Focus. There are always a lot of things we want to accomplish, goals we want to focus on … but by spreading ourselves thin, we lose focus and energy. Focus on one thing at a time in order to really get it ingrained as a habit. For example, for one month, focus on adding healthier foods to your diet (and dropping some of the less healthy ones). After that month, it’ll be ingrained. The next month, add walking or jogging or something like that, and only focus on that. One goal at a time, one month at a time, and you’ll get healthy.
10. Rest is important. People who really get into exercise often forget this. Without rest, exercise just keeps breaking down our muscles, and they don’t have time to recover and grow. The exercise puts stress on our bodies, and the rest allows them to adapt and improve. Without the rest, they can’t really improve. You should always follow a day of hard workouts with a day of rest. If you’ve been exercising a long time (and then you probably don’t need this article), you can do hard-easy days, or rotate different types of exercises so that parts of your body are getting rest on different days, but even then always have at least one day of complete rest, or you’ll get burned out.
11. Shoot for a year or two, not a few weeks. There are no instant fitness fixes, no matter what that website or magazine promises. Don’t believe them. Getting fit and healthy takes time, and should be gradual. If you’ve got a long way to go, aim to be healthy after a year. Those with a very long way might shoot for two years. Those closer to the goal could try for 6 months. Main thing: gradual improvement.
12. Focus on your diet first. I’m a huge proponent of exercise for health and other benefits, but if you’re looking to lose weight and/or fat, the biggest factor is diet. You can cut out more calories from what you eat than you can burn with exercise. Of course, both should be vital components of your fitness regiment, but start on diet first, then add exercise. Don’t think that because you are exercising you can eat whatever you want (unless you’re a marathoner or triathlete or something like that) — you won’t reach your fitness goals that way, most likely.
13. Don’t compare yourself to magazine models. Seriously. I’m sure we’ve all done this, wishing we looked like that slim or cut or buff model on the cover of a magazine. It’s natural. However, it’s not healthy. First of all, genetics plays a key factor in how these models look — most of us don’t have body types like that. Second, these models don’t usually look like that — they go on special diets a couple weeks before a photo shoot, so they look perfect for that day. Third, most of these magazines do some pretty heavy photoshopping. And fourth, what’s important is getting a healthy body image, not trying to look like a perfect model. Focus on health, not appearance.
14. Find the exercise that works for you. Ashley loves running, but not everybody is born to be a runner. Many people enjoy swimming or water aerobics. Many like lifting weights. Many like cycling, or kimax, or Pilates. Others like sports like basketball or soccer or rugby. It doesn’t really matter what you choose, as long as you’re moving and you enjoy what you’re doing. Also find the solution that works best: working at the gym, going on the road (running and cycling, for example), working out at home, etc. Choose the one that you’re most likely to stick to.
15. Learn to be present. Going back to one of the key principles above, “enjoy yourself”, one of the best ways to do that is to learn to really be present when you exercise and eat. For example, when you run, try to keep your mind in the moment, and feel your body and your breathing, and experience your surroundings as your run past them. As you eat, really taste the food and feel the textures, instead of gobbling it down mindlessly. It makes the entire experience much more enjoyable.

16. Don’t let your body adapt too much. Sometimes we hit plateaus, where we’re still doing the same exercise but not really improving. The reason is that you have to keep changing things, either taking your exercise to a slightly higher level (gradually), or giving it new angles or routines. Otherwise, your body adapts to doing the same exercise over and over, and it stops improving. Once you start hitting a plateau, take it to a new level by increasing intensity or length of time in some way.

This article was adapted from www.zenhabits.com

When people refer to the ‘core’ what usually comes to mind is the abs, or abdominal muscles, because having strong abs is the same as having a strong core.. Right? WRONG! The ‘core’ is actually comprised of 29 equally important muscles, which means that if you are only doing crunches in your ab routine then you are working on only one facet of the core and that you are probably neglecting the rest.

BUT I HAVE A SIX PACK! I don’t care if you have a six pack, an eight pack or a twelve pack.. In terms of core activation your six pack is about as relevant as a one finger grip is when trying to grasp onto something. A 10 finger grip will beat a 1 finger grip EVERY TIME.

I like to use CUBE THEORY to describe how the core works. Its not a perfect theory, but its a simple explanation that doesn’t require a degree in human movement to understand. (If you want to read a more advanced description of core activation then google search ‘Paul Chek’ to read about the Inner and Outer Units).

A cube is supported from SIX sides.. Front, Back, Left, Right, Top and Bottom. If you take away any of these sides, or if one side is stronger than the others then it loses its balance and strength. I’ll describe the six sides of the cube in more depth, but first lets look at the spine.

The spine consists of 33 vertebrae presented in 4 different curves (Cervical, Thoracic, Lumbar and Pelvic) which stack on each other vertically to create the Vertebral Column (which is just another name for the spine). These vertebrae are separated by discs and supported by the musculature of the ‘core’. The way that these ‘core’ muscles support the spine is by providing tensional integrity (a.k.a tensegrity) that, in a basic sense, pulls it from all different directions in order to stabilise it (think of guide wires holding up a ships mast).

CUBE THEORY

Front – Rectus Abdominus (also Psoas and Hip Flexors)

Back – Multifidus, Erector Spinae (also Glutes and Hamstrings)

Sides – Inner and Outer Obliques, Transverse Abdominus (TVA)

Top – Diaphragm

Bottom – Pelvic floor

The diagram below shows the core muscles of the front and sides. Notice how there are vertical AND horizontal fibres. The combination of these is what provides tensional integrity.

NB – One important thing to note now that I have described the basics is that clearly the human body is not shaped like a cube. It is cylindrical, like a can, and even more importantly is that there is no real distinction between front, back and sides because the human body works synergistically – This means that all of the muscles and fascia are interconnected and work together to support the spine.

The Plank

Almost everyone has done the plank (a.k.a The Hover, Prone Hold, Bridge) at some point or another in their life. But have you ever done it properly? Try these next few steps the next time you do a plank and see if you can feel the difference in the structural integrity of your core as you do so. Steps 1 – 5 are the basic steps to proper activation of your core in almost all movements.

1. Start on your forearms and knees, with forearms parallel to each other and palms facing down.
2. Find your neutral pelvic tilt by tilting forward and backward – in the middle is neutral.
3. Draw in your belly button – this activates your Transverse Abdominus (TVA).
4. Start breathing diaphragmatically (feel the air enter and increase pressure in your stomach as you breathe)
5. Clench your pelvic floor (this is the same sensation that stems the flow of urine when you pee)
6. Maintain all of these things as you come up into the plank position – Forearms and Toes should be the only parts of your body in contact with the ground.
7. To increase difficulty try putting your feet in plantar flexion – Point your toes so that your weight is on the tops of your toes/feet rather than on the balls of your feet.
8. Breathe – Always try and maintain a steady breathe when doing a plank.
9. Try and hold for 60 seconds or longer.

The Plank can also be done on both sides (Side Plank) and as the ‘Table Pose’ in Yoga which is a kind of upside down plank.

I hope you have found this BASIC explanation of core activation helpful. But if you have any questions, need a personal trainer, or would like further instruction on how to properly activate your core muscles, or do any of these movements, then please contact me.

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