16 Tips to Looking + Feeling GreatWritten by Jesse Cannone
Do you want to improve quality of your life? Do you want to look and feel better than you have in years – maybe better than you ever have before? Do you want to protect yourself from disease and injury? And do you want to live a longer, more vital life? I’m confident that you answered YES! to each of those questions, just as hundreds of individuals I’ve counseled, coached, and trained in my career as a Certified Personal Fitness Trainer and Rehabilitation Specialist. I’m now going to reveal to you 16 essential strategies that have enabled my clients to achieve health and fitness goals they always wanted! 16 Essential Weight Loss and Fitness Strategies 1. In beginning, your fitness program should not be overly aggressive. One of biggest problems people encounter when starting a fitness program is rapidly depleted motivation after only a few weeks due to an overly ambitious fitness program. Attempting to do too much too fast is worse than doing nothing at all! Because then you feel like exercise is too hard and it’s just not for you. Start out slow, maybe just shooting for 1 or 2 workouts a week. Once you have successfully added that to your normal routine, then attempt to slowly add to your fitness program. Plus, most people don’t need to exercise more than 3-4 times a week. That doesn’t mean you can’t exercise more; it’s just not necessary. 2. Always have a detailed plan! In order to reach your health and fitness goals, you must have a road map to follow. I can’t stress this enough. If you are unsure of how to put together a fitness plan, or if you’re uncertain of effectiveness of one you have, I highly recommend you consult a professional fitness trainer. With a well thought out plan you are much more likely to be successful! 3. Set realistic, attainable goals. You must have tangible, quantifiable, short and long-term goals so you can measure and assess your progress. Too many people have totally unrealistic expectations of what to expect from an exercise and nutrition program. The best way for you to understand what is realistic and attainable is to talk with a fitness professional – not to buy into “hype” of infomercials and diet and fitness products that are blatantly misleading. 4. Keep a journal! This is one of most important things you can do. If you’re not tracking what you’re doing, how will you know what worked? There are quite a few great exercise and nutrition logs I’ve come across. You should keep track of all your exercise and also each day’s food intake. There’s a company called NutraBiotics that makes a great 90-day journal that can be used to track strength training, cardiovascular exercise, and daily nutrition. If you would like more information on this journal, please feel free to call me at 240-731-3724. 5. You must be accountable! Set exercise appointments with yourself if you’re not working with a personal fitness trainer. Use your appointment book to set aside times for exercise, just like you do for meetings or events. Don’t let things get in way. Nothing is more important than your health! If you don’t have your health you can’t effectively do anything. I often have mothers tell me that they can’t find time to exercise because they have to take care of their children. I have 4 daughters myself, and a baby on way, so I know exactly how hard it is. Whatever your situation is, making commitment to exercise and your health IS possible, and very important. Plus, it sets a great example for children! 6. Remember benefits of exercise. Being physically fit affects every aspect of your life: you sleep better, eat better, love better, overcome stress better, work better, communicate better, and live better! Remember how good it feels to finish a workout, and how great it feels to meet your goals! 7. Exercise safely and correctly. So much time is wasted doing, at best, unproductive exercise, or at worst, dangerous exercise. Educate yourself on how to exercise correctly. The best way to do that is to hire a personal fitness trainer. It could be for just a few sessions to learn basics, or it could be for a few months to learn everything. It’s completely up to you. But statistics prove that those who understand how to exercise correctly get better, faster results. And that’s what you want, right? 8. Enjoy your exercise! For example, if you hate doing strength training, try to find ways to make it more enjoyable. Circuit training might be a more fun and exciting way to fit this important part of fitness into your program. The key is you should enjoy it, and if you don’t you need to look for other exercises or activities to replace whatever it is you don’t enjoy. If you don’t enjoy it, how do you expect to stick with it?
| | Aches, Pains, and Injuries Written by Jesse Cannone
Being a Personal Fitness Professional, I hear from many people who are suffering from various aches and pains, and unfortunately are misinformed. One thing I am constantly hearing from people is "I've got a bad back," or "just my old tennis elbow acting up". This frustrates me because these people are misled and are often suffering unnecessarily. My frustration is not with person experiencing problem, but with Health and Medical Industry as a whole! Frequently, these people are diagnosed with conditions they don't have such as Arthritis, Osteoporosis, and many others. Nearly all of aches, pains, and Injuries people experience are caused by muscle imbalances! The human body functions as a whole. The main reason people experience these problems are because certain muscles are pulling their body out of proper alignment. First, you must understand some basic human anatomy. Most importantly, how does a muscle function? Muscles are connected to bones in two places, insertion and origin. In order for movement to occur muscles must contract or shorten, which pulls on one end or attachment. Two things can cause a muscle to pull too much when it is not being asked to contract. The most common cause is poor posture or positioning. An example of this would be how hip flexor muscles (the muscles in top front of your thigh that bring your leg forward) shorten while sitting. The more time you spend sitting more hip flexor muscles will tighten due to poor positioning. What's worse is most of us spend a lot of time sitting! Whether it's while driving, while at work, at home watching television, or at home on computer! This sets you up for a big problem! The other cause is a corresponding weakness, or lack of use in opposing muscle groups. For example, hamstring and gluteus muscles don't get worked nearly as often as hip flexors and quadriceps, unless of course one walked backwards. The pull of these muscles directly affects positioning of pelvis. Think of a muscle imbalance as a tug of war. If one side is stronger it will over power other muscle group. The tightening of hip flexors pulls front of pelvis downward causing lower back to arch excessively. Serious problem I This puts unnecessary pressure on discs and also muscles of lower back! This is number one cause of low back pain and injury!
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