Fitness is my job, passion, and profession. It is easy for me to maintain or improve my fitness because it’s part of my DNA. But that’s not the case for everyone and maybe even you. For some it’s difficult will all the competing things they have going on, particularly in the time we’re living in now.
Part of my job is to make things difficult for clients by placing them in situations where they are challenged. Like picking up heavy weight from the floor.
But an important part of my job is making fitness easy for clients and accessible for the public. Because with your life already time squeezed and with so much fitness information smacking you in the face, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. So, here are some tips to make your fitness life easier.
And anyway, I love lists. They’re easy to read and may give actionable information to the reader. Hopefully, this does it for you like Chuck Norris does it for me.
You didn’t know I’m obsessed with Chuck? Well, you know now and it’s not weird. At all.
10 Tips To Make Your Fitness Easier
1. Like you eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner around the same time every day, pick a time to formally exercise every day, even if it’s just 10 minutes. Extra points if you schedule this in your calendar to remind you.
2. Doing three exercises with the same piece of equipment using legs, push and pull tri set is a great way to get a short full body training in when you lack the time, energy, or motivation. For example, a dumbbell
1A. Goblet Squat 8-12 reps
1B. One Arm Row 8-12 reps on each side
1C. One Arm Floor Press 8-12 reps on each side
Repeat 3-4 times resting when needed. Check out more ideas here.
3. If you’re feeling tense, stressed out or need to recover between sets of exercise, follow the 7/11 breathing technique Breathe in for 7 seconds and then breathe out for 11 seconds. Repeat until you’re calm.
4. An easy way to strengthen imbalances between sides and to strengthen your core area is to lift with one arm (or leg) at time. Single arm rows, presses and single leg exercises throw you off-balance and force you to use more muscle to stay upright with good posture. And this is great for fat loss if this is a goal.
5. You make lots of decisions a day and this brings about decision fatigue. If you’re tired of making decisions, then the last thing you want to do is decide what exercise you’re doing, then don’t. Get a program to follow or hire a coach to make it easier. Being told what to do is sometimes easier than deciding what to do.
6. Following on from the point above, writing a food menu for the week and then shopping for it is lots of little decisions you don’t have to make.
7. Dieting hard and exercising hard is tough and not sustainable. Instead diet hard, with a moderate exercise program or exercise hard with a moderate diet program. Alternate between the two to help with fat loss or muscle gain.
8. If you stood up instead of sitting down for an extra 3 hours a day, you could burn over 30,000 calories during a year or 8 pounds of fat. When fat loss is your goal, do most of your exercises standing on two feet. For example,
STAND UP ROUTINE
1A. Goblet squat
1B. Single arm row
1E. Farmers carry
Instructions
Day 1
4 circuits-5 repetitions for each exercise with a heavier weight. Farmers carry 50 yards
Day 2
3 circuits-10 repetitions for each exercise with a moderate weight. Farmers carry 50 yards.
Day 3
2 circuits-15 repetitions for each exercise with a moderate to lighter weight. Farmers carry 50 yards.
9. Walk before you eat breakfast, lunch, or dinner. For example, if you get 30 minutes for lunch, stroll for 10 minutes and eat and relax for 20 minutes. Even better, do it with a coworker, friend or family member and make each other accountable. This is potentially 210 minutes of low to moderate intensity exercise per week before even setting foot in a gym.
10. Buy a calendar. The calendar gives you an idea about where you want to go and what lies ahead and writing in busy and easier times helps with planning. Plus, the traffic light analogy lets you know if it’s time to go ahead with caution or come to a complete stop.
Green light periods are the times when you’re not so busy. You can attack your diet and training with intensity and focus because you have the time and energy to do so.
Yellow means caution. If you’re a parent and have the kids’ home during school holidays, it’s probably not the best time to start a new fat loss program.
Red means stop. Things like surgeries, death of a loved one, divorce or moving to a new house are all consuming and deserve your full attention.
Wrapping Up
Short, sweet, and straight to the point like Chuck Norris. Hopefully, one of these 10 tips makes your fitness life easier. Because let’s face it, life and deciding what’s for dinner is hard enough.
Tacos anyone?
Email-shanemcleantraining@gmail.com
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