GETTIN’ REAL WITH YOUR 2010 RESOLUTION
It’s that time of year again. The new year has just started and the air is filled with brand new resolutions of hope and prosperity. Of these hopes, the most popular one has to be one of better health and longevity. But with most things in life, coming up with the great ideas is often times more ambitious than the cold hard reality of the hard work work and dedication required to make them realities. A gym membership is still JUST another card, just as acquiring the services of a personal trainer is NO guarantee that you will get into fantastic shape. It all comes back to you and only you, so listen up and learn how to make the right adjustments to get started and stay motivated in achieving a tighter, slimmer, stronger, healthier you.
For the past week since January 1st, I have been observing the popular gym trends of 2010. Just as in past years, I still see a lot of misconceptions and poor planning that do nothing but doom New Year’s Health Resolutions. Don’t get me wrong, I love seeing driven people hit the gym and filling the air with newfound hope and determination. What i don’t enjoy watching is crappy lifting technique and/or a bunch of people congregating around gym equipment with all talk and no walk. Consider the gym your “other” workplace. You are there to produce results … YOUR RESULTS.
The right attitude starts long before you walk into the gym. You need assess your strengths and especially your weaknesses to determine your plan of attack. If your primary goal is to slim down, then you should focus the majority of your gym time on cardio equipment. Make no mistake about it, I am not saying to stay away from weight lifting … just allocate at least 40 minutes of your training hour for cardiovascular activities. I am not going to tell you what kind of cardio to do as it does not really matter. Just get on something and stay on it for the duration of your time. Sure you can mix up machines, but make sure you spend at least 15 minutes per machine. Whatever you do, don’t lost sight of the fact that this resolution is a change for the duration of your life and not just a means to an end. It is never too late so long as you are not late (pardon the pun).
Don’t try to do too much too early and build momentum sequentially. For example, I think running or jogging are excellent ways of building cardiovascular endurance. I recall taking up running after my second 25-pound muscular growth spurt back in 2003, and especially how much my lungs and muscles ached after just a 5-minute run. As physically demanding and seemingly impossible running felt, I was able to gradually build up enough endurance so that a 3-mile run was achievable after just a short 10-week period. Can you do this? Absolutely! Your body is highly adaptive to whatever it is that you wish to do so long as you are consistent with your training methods.
My recommendations are the same regardless of what your goals are and what you are doing inside and outside of the gym. Nothing will discourage you more than hitting the gym so hard that the ensuing soreness makes you limp around like a wounded Tyrannosaurus Rex. Start with 30-35 minutes of total training time and increase 5 minutes every week until you are able to efficiently train for about 60-minutes at a time. Again, let your personal fitness goals determine how long you need to allocate to training. If you need help determining this, don’t hesitate to shoot me an email (www.erykbui@scglobal.net). Of course there is a charge, but if you are serious about your fitness resolution then the cost will be more than worth it.