Week #10 When things go wrong

I didn't write a blog post this weekend.  Mostly cuz I didn't feel like it.  I had a massive migraine, so I took care of that instead.  So like all my best work, I will just make something up on the spot without research or forethought.  Pretty credible, right?

The fact is that when you are trying to be healthy, things will go wrong sometimes.  You will get sick, get hit by a car, get a migraine, eat some bad shellfish...  who knows?  If you have finally decided to get healthy, you may have some fear in the back of your mind about what will happen if your break your new habits.  It's happened before.  You were doing pretty well at the gym, something came up and next thing you know it's 6 months later and you are living out of the backseat of your El Camino and living on your substantial fat stores.

People who have been unhealthy for a long time may harbor feelings of fear that they will backslide into their old ways of wearing dirty sweat pants and eating ice cream from the carton.  This leads many people who are injured or sick to push HARDER at the gym.  The fear of losing their hard won successes keeps them working out even when rest has been prescribed.  Alternately, some people have a problem come up and they give up completely on their fitness because they know their old goals are no longer achievable.  They collapse into a sobbing pile of chocolate and marshmallow fluff.

May I suggest that the problem comes because people think of themselves as a fat, unhealthy, or weak person who is doing healthy things.  Do you think the Olympian next door is worried about getting sick and gaining weight?  Nope.  Because she IS a healthy person doing healthy things.  She knows that once she gets better, she'll start her training again and will catch back up in time.  She's not afraid of something breaking her healthy habits, but they aren't habits anymore.  They are part of who she is.

What's the point to this rambling?  When you are sick - take care of yourself.  The gym will be there when you get better.  If you are sick, injured, or have big life events going on - TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF.  You body doesn't need to be distracted by weight loss or building muscle when it should be focusing on healing.  You may be surprised to see how fast you can recover when you actually take time off.

 If you need to lower your goals based on your new situation, then do it.  You can't fail as long as you are progressing.  Start BEING a healthy person.  Habits come and go.  Make healthy living part of who you are and you will never need to worry about breaking your goals.

Week #9 Why weight train?

Is lifting weights part of your fitness regime? If the answer is no, then you should keep reading. Weight training will not only help you get those chiseled abs you dream about every night, but will provide long-lasting health benefits as well. The following article, from Weight Watchers online, provides reasons to weight train and benefits from doing so. And if that wasn’t enough motivation to get you lifting, the Wellness Committee has come up with 15 more reasons to guilt you into incorporating weights in your routine.   

The rate at which our body burns calories is known as our metabolic rate. This rate can be affected by many factors, one of which is the amount of lean muscle tissue your body contains. Muscle burns more calories than fat, so the more lean muscle mass you have, the more calories your body burns at rest. But as we age, we naturally lose muscle tissue, and therefore our resting metabolism (the amount of calories your body burns to keep all systems going throughout the day) decreases by about 10 percent per decade after the age of 45. So if you don’t take preventative measures, you will see your body become heavier and "flabbier" as you age.

So we have established a need to resistance train — we need to prevent our body from losing muscle mass in order to keep our metabolism high. But there are other gains to be made. Resistance training can offer some help in the fight against osteoporosis — the stress of the muscle pulling against the bone helps with building bone density. Weight lifting can also help balance your appearance.

So how do you begin a weight training regime? First, as a complete beginner, you will need to pre-condition your body. That means treat your body to a period of gentle training with light weights in order for it to acclimate.

The ACSM (American College of Sports Medicine) has recently updated its guidelines for health and fitness and now recommends 8 to 10 strength training exercises, 8 to 12 repetitions of each exercise, twice a week.

With resistance training, quality is more important than quantity, and you should perform good quality repetitions with a weight heavy enough to tire your muscles by the end of your session. And women, don’t worry, you won't end up looking like a big, bulky guy. It's not easy for women to build large muscles as we do not have the necessary hormones.

Follow a simple regime at least twice a week (avoiding working the same muscle on two consecutive days) combined with some cardiovascular exercise and, of course, stick to a dietary plan, and you will be on your way to a slimmer, trimmer, stronger you!

(Article from weightwatchers.com)

15 reasons to strength train:


Lifting weights....

1.     Builds lean muscle. Muscle speeds up the metabolism. An increase in metabolism helps burn more calories.

2.     Helps develop a stable, injury-free structure by building stronger connective tissues and increasing joint stability.

3.     Makes you feel awesome (at the time, afterwards, or both!)

4.     Can transform your physique, whether you feel you’re overweight, carrying too much fat, too skinny or not shapely enough for your liking.

5.     Teaches you new things (not something we encounter often as adults).

6.     Helps you reach sport and fitness goals, whether that’s to compete in bodybuilding or get better at endurance or team sports.

7.     Helps you learn about how your own body works and what its limits are (or aren’t!).

8.     Might surprise you: you’re capable of a lot, you know!

9.     Enables you to set goals… then smash them to bits.

10.   Boosts testosterone, giving you more energy and focus.

11.   Builds and enforces mental toughness which you can carry over into other areas of your life.

12.   Helps with body composition (in other words, gives you a helping hand in the battle against excess body fat).

13.   Improves self-esteem (you just lifted how much? Look at you!)

14.   Has been proven to help offset diabetes, arthritis and osteoporosis.

15.   Shakes up your training routine and gives you a quick option for raising your heart rate, burning calories and blasting body fat, even when time is tight.