How to Keep Your New Year's Resolution!

 

As the saying goes “Talk is cheap”, and most New Year’s Resolutions end up not happening.    So here are some tips on how to make sure you actually follow through on your resolutions!   

Write Down Your Goal - the act of writing goals is a concrete action and makes you more likely to follow through in taking action to achieve the goal.  Use the SMART goal format:

Specific – vague goals are dreams and dreams never happen.

Measurable - being able to measure progress and success is critical.

Achievable - do not set yourself up for failure by setting unrealistic goals!

Relevant - make sure the goal is something that is important and meaningful to you.

Timebound - you must set a deadline for achieving the goal because without a deadline the goal is just a dream!

Focus on one goal at a time - science has proven that we only have so much willpower and if we set to many goals we run out of steam.    Focusing on one goal at a time allows you to conserve your willpower and discipline enhancing your chance of reaching your goal.

Create habits that lead to your goal - when something becomes a habit it takes a lot less mental energy and willpower to complete it.   So start with small, easy to achieve habits that help you move towards your goal.   For example, committing yourself to a 5 minute walk each morning or evening is a simple and relatively easy commitment.     Then when you follow through and start to do it each day you create a habit.   

Plan Your Work - Then Work Your Plan -science also shows that people who create a plan are much more likely to achieve their goal.  Part of your plan should be becoming aware of the triggers of your bad habits and planning on avoiding them.   For example, if you are trying to quit smoking and you know that going to a coffee shop is a trigger for lighting up – plan on avoiding coffee shops.   Many bad habits are associated with specific locations.

Share Your Goals with Others - sharing your goals with friends, family or co-workers can help provide support.   Studies have shown that people who share weight loss goals with family are 22% more likely to succeed.

Plan on Mistakes and Focus on Progress not Perfection - we all make mistakes, but just because we make a single error of judgement or have a short lapse in willpower does not mean we need to give up on a goal!    If you make a mistake, such as having a high calorie meal while trying to lose weight, do not give up on the whole effort.    Acknowledge the lapse – and get back on the horse!

By focusing on progress, you put mistakes in context.   For example, if your goal is weight loss and you have a week with 6 days of following your plan perfecting and have one bad meal – realize that overall you are doing well!

Holiday Travel Workouts and Gifts

 

It is easy to get out of your regular exercise habit during the holidays – particularly if you are travelling!    The good news is with a little preparation it is easy to get in an effective workout anywhere.

Here are a couple of ideas for getting your workouts in anywhere, anytime and some make great gifts for the Fitness Enthusiasts in your life:

Workout Anytime App Workouts – if you do not have our app download it now – there are literally hundreds of workouts for every goal, ability level, and equipment available (or no equipment BW workouts).    This video guided workouts can be accessed anywhere, anytime, and it is super easy to caste them up to your nearest flat screen!

X-3 Bar System - https://shorturl.at/vdfeO - The original resistance band/bar and footplate system that started this incredibly popular trend.    This provides an amazing full-body resistance training program.   While not inexpensive – it really works!  You can also put together a much less expensive options by combining purchases of bands, footplate, and bar such as:

           Less expensive footplate from Amazon - https://shorturl.at/5eAp0

           Less expensive resistance band bar from Amazon - https://shorturl.at/ybcxN

           High quality resistance bands from Amazon - https://shorturl.at/SPiWZ

These three options together only cost - $196 and make a great gift for the fitness lover in your life – or for you to use on the road!

TRX Suspension Training - https://goo.gl/TtpmAA - The TRX Home System provides another great travel workout option including a great app that shows you exactly what to do!  Another easy to use travel system that makes a great gift as well.

Bodyweight Routine - https://www.muscleandfitness.com/training/workout-routines/best-bodyweight-workout-all-time - this Men’s Fitness Bodyweight Routine provides several options that require zero equipment.

3 Best Bodyweight Exercises - https://workoutanytime.blogspot.com/2016/03/the-three-best-bodyweight-exercise.html - a simple, yet highly effective workout check out these three bodyweight moves that can be done anywhere.

Walking or Running can be done in many locations, and with proper clothing you can go for a walk or a run even during cold weather.  In addition, cold weather workouts provide the added benefit of revving up your metabolism (cold exposure is a proven way to boost metabolic rate).

Stairs can be found almost everywhere and walking or running up and down stairs provides a fantastic interval based cardio challenge while also challenging lower body and core strength.

Yoga Routine – Yoga can be performed anywhere and there are many great online videos including this one from Pop-Sugar:  https://www.popsugar.com/fitness/10-Minute-Power-Yoga-Workout-31081952

 

Tips for Handling Holiday Stress!

 

Although the holidays are a fun time of year they are also a very stressful time of year!   45 percent of Americans say they would prefer skipping the entire season because of financial pressure.     Most Americans feel that the stress really starts to build around December 13^th, grows worse through the 18^th and peaks on Christmas Day.

This holiday stress can be highly detrimental to your health, and it is sad but true that many take their lives during this season.    The physiological impact of this stress manifests as increased cortisol which boosts blood sugar levels, helps drive weight gain, and breaks down muscle.

Here are some tried and true ways to combat holiday stress:

Get your workouts in!  Now is NOT the time to skip workouts – even a short one can have an immediate and lasting effect in reducing your mental and physiological stress response.    A quick high intensity workout - just three 20 second sprints with one – four minutes of active recovery – is all it takes!   Remember something is always better than nothing when it comes to working out.

Get your Sleep!   Easier said than done, but focusing on when you eat and when you go to bed and wake up can keep your body in a good rhythm.    A simple way to do this is to get up and go to bed at the same time every single day regardless of the day of the week – do NOT change your schedule on weekends. 

Then try to keep your food and beverage intake (except for water) in a 12-hour window so that you are NOT eating or drinking anything (except for water) for 12 hours.   For example, if you wake up at 6am and drink a cup of coffee at 7am (the clock has started at 7am).   That means you want to take in your last food or beverage no later than 7pm.  

If you know you are going to go out to parties try to take in your first food and non-water beverage later in the morning.   If you start at 8am – 9am this gives you until 8 or 9pm to finish all food and beverage intake.   By keeping your sleep/wake cycle consistent along with your eating and not-eating schedule you allow your body to recover better.

If you are going to go out to parties – drink any alcohol early and stop drinking early or just start drinking water and nothing else once you hit the end of your 12-hour window.    Each drink takes about an hour to fully metabolize and you want this process complete BEFORE you go to sleep!

Set an alcohol budget – and switch to water after you hit it.     Doing this along with scheduling your wake/sleep cycle and food intake cycle can prevent a lot of issues while allowing you to have a great time!

Do not overbook yourself or your family – plan on downtime and keep it simple.  Less is often more in life, and the holidays are no exception!

 

 

Weight Loss Made Simple - Prioritize Protein and Fiber!

 

Weight loss requires you to consume less calories than you use, but there are many factors that influence both calorie intake and calorie burn!  This complexity is why many weight loss interventions fail.     Regardless of how people lose weight most people regain all of it because they revert to old habits.

Another reason is that our fat cells have an epigenetic memory meaning that cells respond to dietary and movement patterns which activate specific genes (either good or bad depending on the patterns!).      In the case of poor eating and movement habits cells tend to be resistant to changing their genetic expression.     In other words, once you become overweight or obese you become more susceptible to regaining weight.

In order to lose weight and keep it off we need to make sustainable dietary and movement pattern changes.     According to a new study this change may be as simple as eating more protein and fiber!

Participants who ate more protein and fiber lost significantly more weight over 12 months compared to those with lower intake and this did not involve counting calories – just a focus on eating more protein and fiber rich foods.

Satiety = Protein and Fiber

Satiety refers to feeling satisfied and not hungry.    Protein and fiber both promote satiety through distinct mechanisms.    Fiber promotes healthy gut bacteria, improves bowel regularity, helps maintain blood sugar in the optimal range, and reduces cholesterol.     Consuming fiber rich foods such as vegetables, fruit, nuts, seeds and whole grains are also linked to lower all cause mortality.     Fiber also promotes satiety after meals.

Protein also increase satiety compared to sugar and starch or fat.  Protein causes the release of specific peptides that interact with receptors in our gut to control appetite.  Protein also provides two other important benefits related to weight loss and maintaining weight loss:

Protein increases post-meal thermogenesis (technically called post-prandial thermogenesis) meaning that it takes more energy to digest protein so that you actually have to burn some calories to digest protein.  This means you get fewer usable calories from protein.    When you consistently prioritize protein this adds up to a lot of calories burned!

Protein also builds and preserves lean mass including muscle!   Muscle and other lean mass are the big calorie burners in your body so building more muscle and minimizing muscle loss during weight loss is key to successful weight loss that you maintain!   Studies suggest that high-protein diets cause almost twice as much fat loss as moderate-protein diets.   

Participants in this study were taught how to choose foods with high levels of protein and fiber.   Participants aimed for 7 – 11 grams of protein per 100 calories of food and 1.8 – 3.2 grams of fiber per 100 calories of food for weight loss.   For weight maintenance participants aimed for 4 – 8 grams of protein per 100 calories and 1.4 – 2.8 grams of fiber for 100 calories.   Participants did NOT count calories!   This equated to 140 – 210 grams of fiber per day and 28 – 56 grams of fiber daily.

An Easy Nutrition Program

To make this even easier shoot for a minimum of 1 gram of protein per lbs. of lean mass every day.     To measure your lean mass, ask a trainer about getting a complimentary Styku Scan which will measure your lean and fat mass.    To make it even simpler – you can focus on consuming 1 gram of protein per lbs of your bodyweight.   

Here is a link to a free downloadable list of high protein foods:  https://reallifenutritionist.com/high-protein-foods/

When it comes to fiber focus on getting at least 25 grams of fiber per day.   Here is a list of High Fiber Foods:  https://reallifenutritionist.com/high-fiber-foods-chart/

An Effective Ski Conditioning Program

 

In order to design an effective ski conditioning program the first task is to understand the key physiological requirements of skiing ski specific:

Strength

Balance/Stability/Kinesthetic Awareness

Speed

Muscular Endurance

Cardiovascular Endurance

Flexibility

What is Ski Specific Strength?

Ski specific strength requires strength of the key muscles used in skiing and the right type of strength relative to the specific muscular contractions required in skiing.  The key muscles include the Quadriceps (front of thigh), hamstrings (back of thigh), Gluteals (hip musculature), inner thighs, outer thighs, calves, core musculature, low back, shoulder, back, and arms.    These muscles will use all three contraction types: Concentric (muscle shortening to project force externally), Isometric (static contraction to prevent movement), and Eccentric (muscle lengthening to absorb forces – like moguls!).     

The unique requirement for skiing is Isometric and Eccentric strength and endurance which requires a specific set of conditioning exercises that mimic the sports requirements from these muscles.  The core muscles will also mostly be used in an eccentric and isometric fashion and need to be conditioned specifically as well.

Strength Training for Skiing

It is important to use mostly compound, multi-joint exercises for the majority of strength training exercise for skiing.   For example, a leg press will provide better overall benefit for the quadriceps than a leg extension because it is a compound, multi-joint exercise.  Better yet, if you are able, choose an exercise that also requires balance such as a squat or a lunge that is also a compound, multi-joint movement yet requires much more stabilization and balance resulting in better transfer of benefits to skiing. 

These same ideas apply to upper body strength training. For example, a machine bench press will provide more benefit than a Pectoral Fly Machine (aka “Pec Deck”) because the bench press movement is a compound, multi-joint movement rather than an isolated single joint movement like the pec dec.  However a bench press will provide more benefit than a machine bench press because it requires more stabilization and balance, and dumbbell bench presses provide an even greater carryover of strength since there is an even higher stability and balance requirement!

Great Ski Training Strength Exercises

Squat with barbell or dumbbells

Wall seat for time

Lunge with dumbbells or barbells

Walking lunges

Side lunges

Lunges on a slide board (very strong eccentric component)

Standing Adductor Exercise on Slideboard

Push-ups

Dips

Pull-ups/Pulldowns

Seated Rows/Dumbbell Rows

Pulldown with rope handle linked with a tricep extension to mimic the mechanics of poling.

The reACT Trainer – Ski Specific Training Tool!

The reACT Trainer (see a video demonstration here: https://youtu.be/w83ALxHwujY?si=dJuq5OjUmgEwhYYI ) is by far the most effective tool for developing ski specific strength, endurance, power, balance and stability.    It emphasizes eccentric muscle contractions which are so important in skiing while also demanding balance and core strength.    5 – 10 minutes twice a week for 3 – 6 weeks before ski season will make an incredible difference in your skiing performance!

What is the best way to do Ski Specific Cardio Training?

Skiing, particularly at altitude, will place demands on the cardiovascular system.  Aggressive skiing, particularly in moguls, places high end demands on the cardiovascular System.  Specifically skiing involves high levels of muscular effort for 1 – 5 minutes followed by rest while on the ski lift.  So cardiovascular conditioning should include interval training to specifically condition for the stresses of skiing. 

Slideboard Training – the ideal tool for Ski Specific Cardio and Strength Training!

A slideboard specifically stresses the key muscles used in skiing emphasizing eccentric and isometric muscular contractions along with strong concentric contractions in a dynamic manner that demands balance and stability.   

The slideboard also uses lateral movement which is required heavily in skiing and not provided by any other apparatus!  The down up down and side to side pattern of weight transfer that is so essential to downhill skiing can duplicated perfectly on a slideboard.  Slideboards are one of the few devices that Olympic skiers actually use for conditioning because slideboards work!  Here is a great company to purchase a slideboard from:  https://ultraslide.com/ 

Other Cardiovascular Training Options

Rollerblading is OUTSTANDING if you find a place where you can maintain speed safely, learn to Rollerblade properly, and wear protective gear.

Bicycle – both indoor and even better outside because of increased balance requirements

Stair climbing real stairs or using a machine (Do NOT hold on at all while using a climber). Holding on while stepping decreases the benefits of a climber by eliminating the need to balance and stabilize and also reduces the caloric expenditure – there are no bars to hang on when you ski!

Treadmill using an interval based program with elevation.

Rower, elliptical or other machine – as above

Flexibility and Skiing

Flexibility Training aka “Stretching” refers to exercise done to restore the resting length of muscle groups to their ideal position.  Flexibility requirements are different based on your body type and skiing has its own particular flexibility requirements depending on how hard you ski.  Key muscles that require flexibility to allow proper mobility of the ankle, knee, hip and shoulder include:

Calf muscles such as Gastrocnemius (long calf muscle) and even more so Soleus (short calf muscle) must be capable of a large range of motion so that they allow the knee to flex forward to keep pressure on the front of the ski while the foot is fixed on the ski.

Adductors (inner thighs) need to be capable of moving through a relatively wide range of motion and be capable of producing force throughout the range.

Hamstrings are not typically put through an extreme range of motion skiing, but flexibility is required.

Hip flexors are used frequently and because the hip is constantly in a position of flexion the hip flexors are prone to becoming overly tight from skiing.

Shoulder and chest muscles are used extensively for poling and the upper arm is moving through a significant range of motion in poling.

Static Stretching

The most recognized and safest form of stretching is called static stretching which refers to the fact that a muscle is placed in a slightly stretched position (any pain is always bad) and held there without movement for 30 -60 seconds.  This type of stretching is most effective AFTER exercise and in fact stretching before exercise has NOT been shown to be of benefit and done incorrectly can clearly cause more harm than good.

Stretching cold muscles is not beneficial which is one of the reasons stretching after exercise is more effective.  To prepare for vigorous exercise warm-up by easing into the activity.  In the case of skiing start with easier slopes well within your ability and perform lots of turns to warm the muscles up and prepare for the challenge ahead.  By holding a stretch position after exercise your nervous system turns off the tendency to pull against the stretch and allows the muscle length to reset to a more appropriate position.

Ski Stretches

Bent leg and straight leg calf stretches

Hamstring stretch

Hip Flexor stretch

Adductor stretch

Chest stretch

Speed and Power Training for Skiing

AFTER building a base of strength, muscular endurance, cardiovascular endurance, and flexibility you can begin to focus on speed and power through plyometric training.  Plyometric training utilizes jumping and other explosive drills that use energy stored in the muscle during prestretch to produce maximal muscular contractions. You have no business doing this type of high intensity training without professional guidance and then AFTER you have established a base of strength, endurance and flexibility.  

The slideboard actually provides this type of approach in an easy to control manner.   After achieving a level of skill and initial conditioning you can incorporate a down up down movement pattern that results in rapid eccentric loading followed by a vigorous concentric contraction to provide plyometric training specific to skiing.   The reACT Trainer is the ideal, safe way to develop ski specific strength, speed, power and endurance!