Archive for the “Fitness Motivation” Category

I was listening into a conversation going on around me yesterday about whether it is worth it to work out. I am sure that my workplace is no different then any other where we talk ourselves into and out of things through conversation with others.

Martin and Christina where talking about whether to work out or not. Christina has not used her treadmill since she got it and Martin said that it is tough and boring to use equipment and that there is so much more to do in life then to walk or run on a treadmill.

Neither Christina nor Martin need to lose weight, I have no idea about their fitness level but if you feel OK when you look in the mirror it is hard to workout or rather easy to make an excuse not to workout.

So here goes the rant.

I know that working out is tough, I know that working out takes time and I know that it can be boring or inconvenient so why not hit all of these factors head-on. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: accomplishment, doing weights, excuse, Fitness Equipment, health benefits, treadmill, workout

Depression is one of those illnesses that can be helped in a large part by starting an exercise program. Exercise as any seasoned runner knows will increase endorphin levels and the idea of a runners high is very much something that can help a person. Add the regulating of hormones that happens as you get in better shape and you have a great prescription to a better attitude and a cure to some peoples depression

The number of doctors prescribing exercise for people with mild to moderate depression has increased significantly in the past three years.

According to the Mental Health Foundation (MHF) 22 per cent of GPs now prescribe exercise therapy as one of their three most common treatments for depression.

This compares to just five per cent who did so three years ago.

GPs’ beliefs about exercise therapy have also changed since 2005, a survey by the charity revealed.

Over six in ten GPs now think that a supervised programme of exercise is ‘very effective’ or ‘quite effective’ in treating mild to moderate depression, compared to just over four in ten three years ago.

Two thirds of the 200 GPs polled who currently do not have access to an exercise referral scheme say they would use one if it were available.

The MHF described the survey’s findings as “excellent news” but warned that exercise on prescription is still not widely available.

Less than half of GPs are able to access an exercise therapy referral scheme for people with depression.

“There is a real need for increased availability of exercise on prescription so that it is accessible alongside antidepressant medication and psychological therapies,” said MHF chief executive Andrew McCulloch.

“Depression is a complex illness – it is important that GPs have a range of treatments to offer and that people with depression have a choice.”

The MHF is working in six sites in areas that offer exercise referral schemes to identify the barriers preventing the schemes from being offered universally.

Tags: endorphin levels, hormones, mental health foundation, mhf, moderate depression, treatments for depression

I was so excited this year about new years resolutions that I decided to create minor ones to support my big ones for the year for February.

Of course I am a little off pace after January for my new years resolutions but I can almost expect this. I always seem to aim too high and then when real life gets in the way I have to ratchet back my goals a bit. I have done this before and I will do it again and I expect it.

So I have made some nice smaller goals that are all about consistency. I have decided that there are certain things in my life that have not been gelling together and nothing will fix this faster then consistent effort and small results.

My fitness took a bit of a fall in January when I hurt my back and now my back is better so I am again looking at cardio every day and then taking out cardio days for weight days as I go through February.

Last week I was again reading the 4 Hour Work Week by Tim Ferris and it reminded me of a couple of things that I am doing terribly wrong in my life. First email, I check email constantly during the day so now I have decided as a way to save time I will only be checking mail a few times, maybe 3 or 4 times a day and either dealing with or deleting what I do not need. My email mailboxes are sitting at 3000 or 4000 messages across a few accounts and most of it is just junk and spam. I am not much better with reading RSS feeds and right now I follow about 300 different blogs, I will be cutting back on that too.

Another thing that I am looking at now is that I have made really great changes with my eating and not snacking at night. I am proud of these changes but now I am looking back on my new years resolutions and realize that the next step is cutting back on my pop and chocolate. This change in diet will not be as big as the other changes that I have made but I always like to make sure that I am moving in a more healthy lifestyle and going in the right direction at all times is more important then making those big changes that we always seem to strive for.

So now that I have shared all of that what are you going to be doing? As we all know most new years resolutions have failed already for most so it is my guess that now that we are into February you can make some better decisions and easier to attain goals that are all about you and not what you want to tell everyone else.

Share them or keep them private, but I really do believe that this is the best time to make better  goals and resolutions that will stick.

Tags: blogs, consistency, diet, healthy lifestyle, new years resolutions

Craig Ballantyne of Turbulence Training sent this email about what to do to keep yourself motivated to workout even when you don’t feel like it.

There will be days (everyday?) when you don’t feel like doing your workout.

Sometimes you don’t want to get out of bed.

Sometimes you don’t want to leave your office because you feel like there are too many deadlines (but this is when you need a workout the most!).

Sometimes you don’t want to end story time with the kids only to head down to the basement gym.

It even happens to me.

But I knew how I’d feel like a million bucks after the workout.

And in the end, I know I can’t let myself become “soft” and start skipping workouts. I have to lead by example.

But if you are set on achieving a goal, then when it’s workout time, come heck or high water you’ve got to bear down and do the job.

Workout Motivation Tips

1) Reward yourself. Finish your workout and treat yourself to a magazine, a TV show, some extra time with your family, some new songs for your IPOD, or even a little extra time for yourself.

2) Or set up a punishment for missing workouts. Skip the workout, put $20 into a jar to spend on home repairs. Make sure your spouse controls the jar.

3) Review your goals everyday and every night. Keeping your goals fresh in your mind will help you stay on track.

4) Realize that the hardest part of the workout is often getting your butt to the gym. Once you get 5 minutes into the workout, you will be over the hump. So tell yourself, “I’ll just go in and do 1 set of the first 2 exercises, then I can go”. Next thing you know, you’ll have done the entire workout.

5) Visualize yourself doing a great workout and finishing strong. Get yourself mentally prepared and you will literally have better workouts each time.

6) Crank the tunes. Seriously, nothing motivates like music.

7) Get social support. If you have a workout partner, you’ll feel like crap if you let them down. Or become accountable to everyone in the Turbulence Training workout forums…if you don’t post your workouts, they’ll track you down and demand to know why you’ve fallen off track! So online or offline, get everyone on your side!

Now get out there and kick the fat to the curb,

Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS

Tags: craig ballantyne, Fitness Motivation, motivation, turbulence training

I have been having some trouble sleeping lately and it is a little puzzling to me. I have no stresses in my life that I am waking up with so I am not to concerned and am just chalking it up to some disturbance in my circadian rhythm.

The real problem with not sleeping enough is that it drains your will power, confidence, and energy. When you sleep well you feel great but when you do not sleep enough it is easy to say

“What the hell I deserve to have desert and while I am at it I don’t feel like working out today”

That is dangerous especially at this time of year when, a couple of weeks into the new year, confidence may be waning a bit on that new years resolution to get in better shape and this is the only time that really matters as most people give up in January, not in February so sleep is important so that you can keep pushing yourself over that hump.

If you are having trouble sleeping as well I have written some tips for better sleep.

Tags: circadian rhythm, sleep

I have been writing this blog for a couple of years now and this post should probably have been one of the first posts that I ever wrote. Change is hard, change is difficult, most of all change is exciting and helps you grow as a person.

We all want change and change needs to happen at many points in our life.

Of course that is not always true as our bodies and our minds fight change all the time even when we know how important it is.

So we end up having two choices, we can either stay the same or we can change. I like the idea of change.

So if you want to change, what does it take? I think there are a few things that you can do to make sure that you actually make some or all of the changes that you want to make. Here are a few tips that you may or may not know already.

1. Everytime that you find something that you want to change in your life write it down.

2. Align yourself with people looking to make the same changes

3. Every morning and every night look over your list and look at what you did to get closer to the change that you want to make (who cares what you failed at, we can fake it till we make it)

4. Don’t obsess about what you want but instead look at yourself as having already got there.

The simple fact that is most overpowering to all of these tips is that if you want to make changes then you must internalize and believe that the changes are already a part of your being.

I remember years ago how much I struggled to quit smoking and when I finally did quit I realized that it had not been hard at all as long as I want around smokers. About a year later i ran into lots of people that would say “I quit for 2 years and then I started smoking again” These comments made my will waver a little but I never started again and now after 10 years I do not even feel like I ever smoked. I have lots of things that back me up so it is not just my word in my mind telling my that I am not a smoker, it is my actions.

Fit people don’t smoke

People that exercise don’t smoke

Only unhealthy people smoke

This is exactly the way that my mind now looks at smoking. I am sure that almost everyone that reads this has some kind of weight issue that they are dealing with. You either want to lose weight or you want to gain muscle, or both hopefully. All you need to do is get all of your knowledge together and act on changing the way that you think of or picture yourself using the four points above.

Tags: change, gain muscle, lose weight, motivation

I got an email from one of the guys at the Discovery Channel telling me about Discovery Health’s National Body Challenge 2008, because it’s all about offering helpful tools for getting in shape. As you have seen in the past I have plugged all the TV shows that have to do with fitness from the Biggest Loser to X-Weighted to last 10 pounds Bootcamp.

Registration is totally free and includes an 8-week trial membership to Bally Total Fitness and online components, including over 1,000 recipes and tailored meal plans by Eating Well, a progress tracker, health tips from renowned experts Dr. Mehmet Oz and Dr. Pam Peeke, and a workout designed by fitness guru Gilad.
http://health.discovery.com/national-body-challenge/ Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Biggest Loser, discovery health, getting in shape, health tips, meal plans, national body challenge

OK I guess this year is an open book for me, no real burning plans but lots of little things that I want to do, see, and experience. I try to share whatever I can on this blog so I thought that I would share some of what I am hoping to do this year. Just in point form, you wouldn’t want to see all the writing that went into these goals/resolutions for the year.

Run a 10k - This has been on my list for years but I have never been able to run long enough to get my self ready to run one. My crap knee gets sore and swollen and I stop my running workouts. This year I am going to try to cross train any way that I can so as to avoid too much actual running until race day. This is I know stupid as I will not continue the running beyond that one race but this has been one of those lofty goals to me for year…I want to get it done.

Lose 10 pounds of fat - I have been holding on to this ten pounds of fat for a few years. I am not really lean but I know that the 10 pound loss to pring me weight around 190 will make me feel better and look better if only for the summer (it’s hard to see a 6 pack in Calgary in the Winter).

Reduce the bad stuff - Dropping my intake of chocolate, pop and coffee. I will not be quitting them as we all know that is a certain path to failure but I will instead be very conscious of the times that I have any of these things and will reduce on a weekly basis the amount that I am taking in.

Work, Play and Family - I have all three although I often blur the lines between them. This year I will be shutting off the computer more and staying away from the blackberry when I don’t need it. Reading with the kids more and going out to do my own fun stuff as well. Over the last three years or so I have been trying to juggle and multitask myself into doing a lot of things and in the end I have let my family suffer by doing stuff with them while thinking about the web or how I resent not doing more fun stuff.

These are all fitness, home and health type resolutions. I have lots more for career and earnings and other things that are not related to this. I am going to be moving again this year and want to travel more as well. One of my big goals this year will also to be to make more money online so that my IT work is not the only income source that I have. I also want to be leaving free time all over the place to do things like writing a book (non fitness related) that I have been apparently working on for years as well as making it a focus to type faster and with fewer mistakes and finally to make sure that I have the time to try new things. There are always opportunities in life for new adventures and new skills but when you are too busy you just have to let them pass by. This year I am going to let less things pass me by.

Tags: bad stuff, chocolate, coffee, fun stuff, lofty goals, resolutions, workouts

I was just writing a post of new years resolutions and realized that I had not taken a hard enough look at last year and what it brought me as well as my failures. I will list the downsides of last year first just to get them out of the way.

Over 2007 my fitness activity actually went down. The exercise that I have always enjoyed on my bike dropped as the year went on because I moved to a house that was a lot closer to work so my ride is shorter. One thing that has helped in this regard is that I have been riding a lot more days, still not enough in my opinion though to make up for the shorter ride. Another fitness issue has been my lack of weight training. This last year I was very on again off again about it and have not joined a gym because the distance is far to great for me to really make it worth my while. Lastly my eating although good also comprises some bad foods and that is one thing I will be working on this year.

I hate that part. This part is much better, my victories for 2007. In this last year I was really happy in my focus on fitness increasing, I at a lot better, I focussed on great thoughts instead of destructive ones and I strengthened my core (back and abs) more os I feel really good about myself. I got myself a new bike and although it was still under $250 it is much better than my sub $100 bike I rode for three years. I was able this year to spend more time with my family taking them to California and Disneyland in the Summer although I have to stil improve my work-family focus over the next year.

As far as this blog goes I am most excited with the fact that I moved from and old family subdomain to a whole new architecture (Wordpress) and domain of www.fitnesstipsforlife.com. Also since about the beginning of October I have posted everyday which for me proves to myself that I can be very consistent although I always think of myself as not.

Overall I am happy with how 2007 worked out. My family and work life are better this Jan 2nd than last and I think that I am more excited about this upcoming year than I have been in several years, this is a sign that I have forward running momentum I think.

Only one more post remains for this whole new years resolution stuff and I am ready for the new year anyway.

Tags: disneyland, exercise, family focus, fitness, new bike, new years resolutions

I have been planning and putting this offer together for a while now and it is nice to finally unveil it on the blog. As I hope you have seen I have done reviews of the three big internet weight loss and fitness programs. The programs are:

Fat Loss for Idiots - This is a customized online diet program that comes with a handbook to help you through your diet to lose weight.

Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle - This is a mammoth 350+ page book written by a natural bodybuilding champ that shows you how any normal overweight person can lose fat and gain muscle through a special diet and good exercise.

Turbulence Training Program - A three day a week weight training program that will help you lose fat while gaining muscle. Not the standard way that most people workout but in fact a new program that is done in just 45 minutes 3 times per week.

The above links are direct to the sales pages of the programs but if you want to see my reviews you can just click on the links on the right side of this page. Each of the programs are only $39 so you can choose any of them and know that you won’t get soaked for a bunch of money, they are all really cheap. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Diet Program, diet tips, diet to lose weight, e books, ebooks, fat loss for idiots, fitness programs, gain muscle, gaining muscle, internet weight loss, losing weight, natural bodybuilding, new years resolutions, nutrition secrets, overweight person, special diet, tom venuto, turbulence training, weight training program, workout