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Tips on Lifestyle Change
#1 - Hire your own personal trainer. If you can use your imagination, your trainer won't cost you a penny. Use all the tips on how to get ready in the morning, put if nothing is working to keep you on track and working out consistently, your may want to try and find that part of your brain willing to take on the job. How many of us have no problem doing all kinds of self talk where we tear ourselves down or talk ourselves out of doing something that would make us feel better and stronger, so why not try some positive self talk? Problem is we never do positive self talk so hard to override that system that has been in place for all our lives. If you cannot do it for yourself make up a person that you think could motivate you and hear that voice telling you to get up out of bed on work on you. Perhaps you are reminded that any doubtful thoughts of the need to exercise require a reality check where you look at yourself in the mirror taking in as much as much as it takes to wipe out any thoughts of not needing to do the work. That voice also might remind us that at our age, being successful is not just a matter of looking and feeling good, something else you want of course, but now the risk of dying from a heart attack has become something much higher. If immediate family members have already died at young age you are at risk no doubt. Success and failure take on a whole new meaning. #2 - Push yourself only when you are ready to be pushed. Start to be in tune with your body and everything that is happening to it as you start off on your workout program, hopefully after your doctor has determined your program will be good for you. You have to recognize when you can work through the pain and when you should ease up. Always better to take lots of rest periods in between reps, than to push through using bad technique and cause injury. So what if it takes twice as long, you got through it safely is what matters. Lower weight with more reps is always safer and will help you build a strong muscle without lots of bulk. If you want bulk, you work on that ONLY after you have 2-3 months of building you foundation muscle layer. Otherwise you could push too hard and cause permanent damage. A walking program is always a perfect start. Even if just 10 minute periods of walk, you are building strength and endurance. Settle on a route that you feel comfortable you could do consistently, or daily. Not too short or too far. Instead of trying to add more weight or distance, instead work on intensity or reps. Walk faster and maybe even try a slow jog a small part of the way. Chances are you have a long way to go before mastering the route or routine you haven chosen for yourself. Many times people get ahead of themselves thinking they are farther along than they are and put pressure to add more to the routine. Don't do that. Instead work on mastering your beginning routine until it is not difficult and then long after that. Consistency should always be your #1 goal above all else. Not being consistent is where most all programs fall apart. It gets harder and harder to get back into the routine because you know you have slipped, lost muscle and put on fat. We become overwhelmed at what all of that will require to reverse and not sure what to do about it. Actually a smart thinking in a way because it is during that time when we try and go back after not exercising for awhile you can do the most damage. Recognize that you are stepping into a high risk, low frequency situation that your body is not prepared to deal with so you need to approach slowly and cautiously for your own benefit. Focus on your muscles and how your body is feeling while you work out so you can avoid injury and get positive reinforcement for progress to increase muscle mass, strength, and heal or relieve stress and pain. Use the opportunity while you are working out to also get to know your body. Are there weaknesses that you should pay attention, where are you at really, are you mindlessly working out or can you feel the exercise causing fatigue in target area, is there underlying pain that you have been ignoring but is now responding to exercising? Let you personal trainer be in charge of executing negative reinforcement for procrastination behavior. Think because you have set your deadline to be out the door for your walk by 9:00 am your are going to get out of it when you really could still go. If weather permits, and not too hot for example, execute negative reinforce on yourself and make it though the exercise anyway. That way you will actually be training yourself to not wait, but get it done earlier when weather will hardly ever be a problem. Consistency builds muscle not long sporatic workouts when you finally get to it. It is also telling your brain that your next workout is going to be long and miserable. Later after you have gotten to the point where your routine is not only imbedded in how you live, you can go for the big workouts when you have the time and energy. Later after you achieve a high level of fitness you may choose to maintain your fitness with intense workouts 3 or 4 times a week instead of less intense with more frequency. This is way down the line and only mention to remind you to not waste time thinking about this big workout you are going to be doing soon. Instead focus on doing the one that is easy to maintain and doesn't always involve a lot of work. Otherwise you will just not want to do it. Remember more muscle more calories burned at rest because muscle burns through calories like a high maintenance girlfriend burns through money. It is a complex tissue that requires high quality calories and more of them than to maintain fat or other tissues, so you burn more calories doing the same things during the day when you body carries more muscle. Muscle takes up less space because more dense than fat. Compare a pound of styrofoam with a pound of rocks. The styrofoam will take up much more space than rocks like fat takes up more space. We may weigh the same because our body has build more muscle mass than when we started, but fat has been lost. Weight may not change, but our body will change big time. Less fat, more muscle means lost inches and looser clothes. More muscle means more of the "Sexy Hormone" or Growth Hormone. Your body makes more the more muscle you have, and the more growth hormone you have the greater your sex drive. Good thing is with all those new curves, you will also find interest as well. Don't be afraid of the attention. Some people use weight as a way to divert attention to themselves sexually. If you find this is the case for you, perhaps you should talk to your doctor and try and explore ways to help you be ok with living in a heathy strong body. Expect your endurance to increase which can impact weight. Glycogen in your muscles will increase as your keep pushing and get stronger with more endurance to exercise for either longer periods and/or at greater intensity. Glycogen is muscle energy and without any left after running a marathon or exercising for over an hour, you could "hit the wall" which means glycogen is gone and your body will have to switch to burning fat or protein to keep the fuel coming. The system of burning fat and protein can produce lactic acid because uses an anerobic system with little oxygen. Lactic acid makes muscles sore. The more glycogen, the more water your body may store as well as it needs water to help metabolize the energy. Glycogen is shaped like a tree with many branches. The more endurance you have the more branches you have. One molecule can be removed at a time from each branch, so more branches, more molecules can be grabbed at once. Don't depend on others but us a buddy if that works for you. Ideally have a solid plan that works for you. Getting to be with a partner is a reward, not the standard. Replicate what worked for you in the past. Music Team Sports Club Think about learning a new sport Golf Beach volleyball Mountain climbing/Wall Hiking but watch out for Lyme disease Yoga Pilates Tennis Tai Chi Tai Guan Do Dancing Walking your dog - Adopt a pet Join Weight Watchers Start a garden. Get back in the kitchen Accept your need to change how you eat because that's partly what got you out of shape. Don't buy it and keep it out of the house. Get fiber, minerals, Omega 3s, probiotics, aloe. Get some safe sun on your skin so you can make Vitamin D and prevent depression. Avoid sunscreens with nano particles. Exercise will also give you brain chemicals that make you feel good. Eat organic food from local farmers if possible, grassfed organic beef/dairy, non farmed fish, good oils, nuts and seeds. Learn to breath right and relax. Just better breathing can change your life and reduce the need for asthma medications. Relax and tell yourself to relax. Stress weakens you and your immune system. Avoid phthalates or fake perfumes. Get enough sleep. It is during the deep REM sleep that your immune system gets stronger and your body builds muscle. Extremely important during the first couple of months and you are rebuilding your strength. Look forward to the time when your strength is there and exercise becomes a time to reflect, be creative, spend time with our spritual guide or higher power. When you feel weak while working out try and reach out for strength from these sources as can be very powerful in helping us to keep going. Plan on your body doing everything to defeat you in your efforts. Watch out for that lazy gene that makes us want to give up and not use energy and burn fat. Recognize it and work past it knowing that each time you work out it is taking you one st |
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