A Successful Workout Is When Preparation Meets Opportunity

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I’ve heard almost every excuse in the book as to why people are not able to achieve success with their workout, ideal physique, and/or fitness goals. Here are the 5 most valuable tips I share with all my clients to overcome obstacles that you get for free, so pay attention and take notes!

1. Track Your Food 

You will never be able to create solutions without being accountable and identifying problems. Any time you go to change your body composition it comes down to calories in vs. calories out or energy in vs. energy out. I teach my clients to treat calories like currency to help them better understand the importance. Medical studies show and prove that keeping a food journal doubles your likelihood for weight loss! I recommend tracking your food/beverages by either grabbing an old fashioned notebook, creating a spreadsheet on excel, or by simply downloading one of thousands of free calorie counting applications and websites available. One of my favorites is MyFitnessPal (www.MyFitnessPal.com). I use this program with most of my clients because It’s simple to setup on your mobile device and user friendly. It even has a bar code scanner that has most items in it’s database. In addition, you can create custom recipes and break down specific serving sizes to more accurately track your caloric intake.

2. Prepare Your Food/Snacks In Advance

If you take the time to cook your food and prepare healthy snacks, you will most likely eat healthy throughout the day. I have taken dozens of my clients grocery shopping and seen every one of them succeed by simply taking an hour to cook all their food for the week in advance and storing it for later. Thus, it is cheaper and healthier to make food in bulk and in advance than eating any value meal from your nearest fast food restaurant.

3. Don’t Skip Meals

 Without proper preparation, you may skip meals or you wait too long to eat in between meals, your blood sugar or insulin numbers will drop off causing you to see a drop off in energy, reduce your optimal brain function, and lead to possibly overeating or worse creating deficiencies.

4. Commit Time Everyday to Exercise = No Excuses

Even though I’m a personal trainer, it is difficult for even myself to get workouts in. If you are like myself and feel exhausted by the end of a long work day, then I would recommend scheduling a workout in BEFORE you go to work to reduce the chances of you not getting in at all. Even if you don’t make it to the gym, you can walk even just 15-20 minutes before work, set a timer every hour or two to get up or stop what you are doing to walk for 5-10 minutes, and then commit to walking another 15-20 minutes before dinner. Congratulations! You just did and hour of exercise and didn’t even have to drive to a gym. Mission accomplished!

5. Drink More Water

You might just be thirsty! Feeling hungry or cravings kicking in? Sometime it is your body telling you it is thirsty. No joke! Approximately 60% of the adult human body is composed of water. While deficiencies from lack of macro-nutrients, vitamins, and minerals can take weeks to years to develop, the human body cannot survive without it for several days. So, how much water should one consume? According to the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM), 13 cups of water for sedentary men and 9 cups for sedentary women. If participating in a fat-loss program, add another 8 ounces of water for every 25 pounds of weight you are above your ideal body weight.

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