The Key to Better Fitness Habits

"Why isn't it working? I'm not getting any results!"

I won't tell you how many times I've heard that as a trainer, because I'm not sure that you'd believe me. I've seen so many people come and go in the gym that after a while it's easy to get jaded and cynical. Not just about your new clients, but about people in general. Our tendency to play the victim is especially made manifest when it comes to health and fitness. And yet, a number of people, at various times in their life, will believe that changes need to be made, and they will find their way to the gym or start eating healthier. Unfortunately when results don't come after a week or two, they get upset.

Last June I wrote an article about the importance of working out to feel better, as opposed to looking good. It isn't that I don't understand the motivation of looking good, but as a motivator, unless you're one of those rare people who are already in great shape, it's a terrible place to start. No one looks the way they want to look. Not even the celebrities you see in movies and in magazines. Movie and TV insiders will tell you about the transforming effects of hair and makeup specialists, not to mention our ability to digitally, err, enhance photos. And even if we finally get the build we want, what then? Too much hair on our body. We don't like our hips. Our ears are too high. Pretty soon we're lost in an egocentric world that revolves around us turning ourselves into a doll. The human experience should be more than that though, shouldn't it?

One of the first questions I ask my new clients is this: Why do you want to be fit? Why do you want to watch what you eat, spend hours cooking your own food, walk past the chips section in the grocery store, and get up at 5:30am on a cold, fall day to go for a run? If you can't answer the 'why' question, there's no point in starting a new fitness routine. You'll only end up being disappointed and bitter towards people who are in shape. And then you'll end up starting the blaming game. "That person has better genetics." "That person is not as busy as I am." "Of course they look good. They can afford to eat healthy! The rich always look good." And the blame game spills into other areas of our life as well. If we're not careful, pretty soon everything will be everybody else's fault and we'll have ceded control over our life completely. It sounds like I'm exaggerating, but I've seen it many, many times. I'll meet people I haven't talked to in years, who are thirty pounds heavier and truly bitter about it. Hey, there's nothing wrong with putting on weight (It's not healthy, but it's not like a crime or something.) Just don't blame others for it. Accept it. Accept control of your life. If you don't accept responsibility, you won't be able to address it.

The reason this happens so often is that people refuse to ask the "why" question. A healthy perspective goes a long way towards a consistent lifestyle change. One of my clients wants to be stronger so she can be more active with her young children. That's a great reason to get in shape! You see, if your 'why' answer has long term implications, and isn't completely vacuous, you will worry less about the results (what others see) and more about the process (how you feel). And when that happens, you'll be on your way to a very different life.

-Steve

How Can I Afford Personal Training?

I found this article, and thought it might be relevant to some of you interested in personal training. The only thing I would add to it, as I never recommend another trainer unless I know them (too many hacks in the business), is that you should NEVER be forced to buy large packages. If a trainer is confident in what they do, and know that they're good, they don't need to sell 50 sessions at a time. This is how people get ripped off. I've seen it over and over at various gyms. Whether you have a trainer at a gym, or at your home, don't buy the big package. My clients, as per my direction, pay me AFTER I've trained them. I do not sell sessions in advance. This helps with their financial flexibility, and ensures that I have the right mindset when I'm working.

-Steve

Boot Camps, Fitness and Sex

As you all know, this past week I completed our first boot camp. By any measure, it was an outstanding success (according to the participants) and a great time for everyone, including me. Everyone worked very hard, and I think we all learned some things along the way. (I'll be posting some of the comments on this site in the next couple of weeks) Moreover, it cemented that running these boot camps is something I want to pursue in the future.

I was fortunate this week to meet up with Zack Sandor Kerr, a friend of mine and PR specialist who took time to sit down with me and help me set a vision for this new enterprise. Zack gave me tons to absorb and think about, and so you'll be seeing some changes to this site over the next few weeks, along with a new site specifically reserved for the boot camps. Even for someone who is relatively tuned in to the tech world and social media, when you talk to a professional, it's quite startling to realize how little you actually know.

The same is true of the fitness world. When I first started training a few years ago, I spent the majority of my first six months playing catch-up. At least, that's how it felt. Despite two decades in the gym and years of coaching and working as a strength consultant for various teams, there was a seemingly endless amount of information to process. These days, I feel relatively caught up, and it helps to have married someone who knows more than I do about fitness and nutrition.

The purpose of a boot camp is not only to kickstart your drive towards being fit, but also help you 'catch-up' in a field that is much deeper than it appears. In many ways, it's like taking a course, albeit a fun one. (Gotta be fun!) A number of people at the last boot camp were amazed at what they were able to learn, sometimes simple things that really helped put other things in perspective. I think is especially helpful in a culture where we are overwhelmed with information.

Fitness and Sexuality

For those of you who visit my regular website, you've already seen some of the firestorm my article caused this past week. It was an article aimed at finding Mr./Mrs. Right, in which I admonished singles who refused to put in the hard work to be fit that they shouldn't complain when other people found them unattractive. A great deal of the complaints came from married women with children, who were not the target of the article. Obviously, life demands change when we have kids. Perhaps the real problem is the tie between fitness and sexuality. People were upset, I think, because the article felt like I was rudely suggesting that a women needs to be "hot" to be loved. And when she has children and is no longer hot, perhaps does not need to be loved?! I know how it sounds, but that wasn't the point at all. So let me be blunt.

I'm tired of people, specfically women, being put so low on their own priority list that they can't find time to work out or go for a walk or a bike ride because everyone else comes first. Self-care is a must for everyone. If your wife/girlfriend/partner/mom has no time for herself, make an effort to give her some time. This is especially true with mothers, who are so giving with their time, they tend not to take the time they need. Can we all agree to honour their commitment by helping lift some of their burdens so they can have time for themselves.

I'm tired of people making excuses for our obese society. Obesity is not only a killer, it's a life changer. Especially for children. We're too caught up in being politically correct (so we don't say anything), or we're just too rude (and we make fun of others), to simply be honest, without inflection or condemnation.

Fitness is not about looking like the skinny girls on the cover of magazines. They aren't fit. Fitness is a healthy, whole, balanced lifestyle that requires neither arrogance or wealth. Not everyone can afford to buy organic food (we don't), but we can all slow down a bit, turn the TV off, and do some stairs.

Fitness is about you. Ultimately, it's about taking care of what God's given you. It's learning to have a good time and being honest with ourselves about how we look and some of our habits. It's not about changing overnight, but working towards a healthier journey.

I wrote a follow up to the first article about Finding Mr./Mrs. Right, and imaginatively named it Part II. Mostly it's about fitness and sexuality. If you're interested, you can find it here.

Thanks, everyone. I'll keep you up to date on the boot camp developments.

-Steve

A Couple of Dumbbells

And no, I'm not talking about my kittens. This past week my wife and I purchased a new set of Bowflex SelectTech 1090 dumbbells. Despite working out for the past twenty years and spending the past three in the fitness industry, they're the first expensive piece of fitness equipment I've ever purchased. The closest, in terms of cost, would be my two year old running shoes (which were about 500$ cheaper). Generally, I warn my clients away from expensive equipment. The tendency in fitness, as in other things (like religion), is to consume, consume, consume. And a healthy life is less about consumption and more about expenditure. In this case however, as I don't have a gym membership and prefer to work out at home, the dumbbells are a blessing in that they allow me to push the heavy weight (they adjust up to 90lbs… they're huge) and produce the deep fatigue that can't be replaced (for those who love to lift) by any form of cardio.

The weights are sturdy, and take up very little space in our apartment. We did our reading before we purchased them, and the only caveat was that you had to be careful setting them down. Unlike the set, octagonal weights, which are almost indestructible, the 1090's can be broken if they're thrown around. And if you've spent any time in the gym, you've seen the heavy lifters throw the weights around before arching the super sexy eyebrow to warn you how tough they are. Fortunately, I can't seem to raise one eyebrow, though I've certainly tried, so I've always settled for rolling my neck and grimacing after setting the weights down carefully. In that sense, the 1090's suit me perfectly. Bowflex also has a smaller set of dumbbells, the 552's, which adjust up to 52.5lbs. I've used the smaller ones with a number of my clients, and absolutely recommend them for home use, though the same caveat about throwing them around applies here.

As I've said before on this site, the importance of resistance work can not be understated. And yes, for women too. Especially when it comes to doing back work, which is, along with core work, the most important and neglected area for most women. Ultimately, it leads to bad posture and back pain as they get older. Learning to do a proper back workout is VERY important.

For those of you who don't know, I do a lot of work as an unpaid writer, and supplement it with my training. We are not rich. Paying for those dumbbells wasn't easy, but moderated by my simplicity in other areas. For example, I've pretty much worn two pairs of shorts all summer. My 24$ sandals are my number one chose of footwear, and my idea of a good time (aside from the wild parties in Manhattan)is sitting on our balcony and reading a good book from the library. In that sense, it pays to be a geek, if a two hundred pound slab of geekiness.

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LAST DAY for Harriston Boot Camp

It's the last day for my Harriston Boot Camp. What a blast it has been! They've been an unbelievable, hardworking bunch and I feel as though I've made ten new friends. (Although, that's a bit mitigated by the cheers I hear every time I tell them we're done.) Honestly, it's been a terrific experience, and I'm looking forward to the last workout in a few hours. Thank you all for your hard work, for your questions, and for your desire to change your lifestyle. You guys were awesome!

-Steve

Losing Perspective: Portion Control

One of the first things I do with my clients in my initial fitness assessment is to ask them to describe a typical meal. What I'm looking for, before I even get to what they're eating, is a clear indication of their portion control. That is, how much food do they eat in one sitting. When it comes to the actual volume of food we put down our throats, let me say this politely: North Americans eat FAR too much at meal time. Seriously, we're pigs. We load up huge dinner plates with massive helpings, and can't figure out why we suddenly have a belly. We eat massive amounts and wonder why the food doesn't just mysteriously vanish, but actually gets lodged on our hips and thighs and stomach. Why is this such a mystery?

At least, that's how my fellow trainer put it when he was ranting last week.

The truth of it is a bit murkier. We live in a society where we are pushed to always be consuming. Whether its food or toys or religion or sex, everything is a commodity. And when it comes to food, we are pushed towards volume eating by our so-called dinner plates and the portions we're served when we go out to eat. Have you ever wondered why our plates are so big? If they don't seem big to you, know that you have been sufficiently tricked by those pushing you to consume. Our portions are significantly higher than those in most countries, and as a result (along with a few other issues), we're a significantly obese populace.

Neurologically, our brain doesn't "do" size. It sees a plate and counts it as "1 plate." It sees a cup, and counts it as "1 cup", regardless of size. My parents used to tell me that my eyes were bigger than my stomach. Thanks to the advances in neurological studies, I can tell you that she's absolutely correct. You cannot trust your eyes to measure portion control. (For more information, check out Malcom Gladwell's article on it in his book) The other issue with portion control is speed. We eat too quickly. Since we're always rushing, gulping down our food instead of savouring it, we literally eat too fast for our brain to receive proper signals from our stomach that we are "full." Food is meant to be savoured and enjoyed, not consumed, and it's the first step towards a better diet.

The assignment this week for my boot camp is to eat only off dessert plates. No dinner plates or large bowls! And, only one helping every two hours. Instead of three meals, however, they are allowed to eat five. Why? Smaller meals shrink the stomach. We want to promise our body we will feed it small amounts on a regular basis. What that does, in turn, is increase our metabolism. You'll feel lighter as you shed this idea that "more is better." That's a flat out lie used to get you to consume more products. Don't believe it. Instead, challenge yourself by shrinking your portions and observing how much better you feel. It's unfortunate that we have to wade through so many lies to be healthy. In this case however, it's pretty simple. Stay away from buffets, and make your dessert plates your dinner plates. I guarantee you'll see and feel the difference.

-Steve

Boot Camp... Fun?

Here are some pictures from our boot camp. We're having a great time, okay, well, I'm having a great time. They're working their tails off! lol

-Steve

It’s About Control

I think there's a misperception for many people who are trying to get fit and eat healthy, in that most programs and advice center on the symptoms, rather than the causes of obesity, one cause in particular. This past week I assigned my boot camp to eliminate one unhealthy item from their diet. Sounds simple enough, doesn't it? Most people assume that when I hand out assignments like that, the goal is to keep removing an item every week or so, and replacing those choices with healthy ones. And if we're able to keep doing that, eventually our diet will be healthy. A healthy diet is a good result, of course, but it's not the reason for the assignment.

We live in a culture redundant with choice. Colour, flavor, style, size, packaging, imported, home grown, the list is endless. But as neurologists have shown in a number of studies, but probably best illustrated in The Paradox of Choice by Barry Schwartz, the result of too many options is usually paralysis. That is, when we have too many choices, we actually become less suited to make good decisions. The activity in our brain becomes accelerated, and we become even more susceptible to sales people and advertisements. And in the end, our tendency is to make decisions that tap into our emotional core. Hence the brilliant marketing of companies like McDonalds, who create memories and nostalgia by marketing to children. No matter how often or how many studies reveal that the food at McDonalds is completely unhealthy, we still get the urge to visit, don't we? We still want to bring our kids there, although we're basically lining their bodies with chemicals and hormones and fat. For me, the memory is Christmas. $1.44 day (the first Monday of every month) at Woolco, where my mom would take the three kids to do their Christmas shopping every December. When we were done she'd take us to McDonalds. My parents made sure that we ate healthy, so McDonalds was a rare treat. The next memory is college, going with my buddies to "Mikky D's" after class and plying back the Big Macs.

As we get older, and as we become swamped with the choices on the market, it's easy for me, especially when I'm stressed, to re-create those moments by heading to McDonalds. (I don't have any emotional ties to picking up a salad.) This is how our brain works, and advertisers know it.

So when I ask my clients to remove one unhealthy item from their diet per week, the goal is not merely a healthier diet, but more importantly, to remind my clients that they have a choice. That everything we eat, everything we do, is a choice.

I pass people all the time, people in their twenties and thirties who walk and act like they're eighty. Bowed and discouraged, they smile apologetically as they move beside you, their bulk rendering it difficult for them to maneuver. I'll be honest, I find it enraging that companies are able to sell their garbage and promote it as being healthy. (The latest is a chocolate milk commercial that tells you it is healthy. Of course, milk has been getting away with this for years, due to the size of their lobby) What's worse, it is passed down from generation to generation. Having spent the majority of my life as a youth worker, I consider obesity in children a form of child abuse. Abuse by both the society and the adults who allow children to eat whatever they like. Fat cells never die, and the amount of cruelty overweight kids have to endure is unbelievable. Most adults are not privy to the abuse because they don't see it, but when you witness it, day after day, month after month, you realize just how much obesity sets you apart as a kid and makes you a target. As adults, we have the ability to inform ourselves. Children do not have that luxury. That said, our culture is designed so that even adults do not realize that they've lost the ability to choose.

Conventional wisdom is rarely wise. In our society, "conventional" wisdom is still established by companies with the most money (Meat & Dairy) and the best advertising (McDonalds, Wendy's, etc…) The issue is control. They want to dominate your decisions, and they spend $300 billion dollars a year to do it. Fortunately, thanks to the mixed blessing that is the internet, there is plenty of information available for people everywhere, from the smallest towns to the major cities, to do their own reserch, to challenge the information that we're being swamped with each day.

My advice then, is simple. Everything you do is a choice, so inform yourself and choose wisely. Understand that advertising companies know how your brains work better than you do, and beware the emotional ties that cause us to make poor choices. Even in small towns, the pace of life in North America is fast, as we have somehow bought into the lie that pleasure and work must be kept separate, and that only leisure activities provide pleasure. We rush from place to place, from event to event, our bodies starving and filled with processed food that is loaded with hormones because we associate leisure-busy with pleasure, although our bodies indicate otherwise.

Every day, from the moment you wake up to the moment you lie down, you are being prodded to consume something.

Stop!

Go for a walk.

Spend time with your family.

Turn the television off.

Spend time in meditation or prayer.

Take out a piece of paper and think about what you like best in your life, and what you don't like, and then set yourself some modest goals to change. In the end, you'll realize that it isn't the result that matters, so much as the journey, and if you're in control, it makes all the difference.

-Steve

I’ve Never been to the Gym Before!

You can find them in any gym, wandering through the machines and weight racks like they're searching for lost treasure, or like they're simply lost. My heart always goes out to them, because they've made an effort to come to the gym, to go against the grain in our hormone laden, fatty food, sedentary society to change things, but don't know what to do. Some of them will get a trainer. Seven times out of ten, the trainer will give them a workout and show them a little, but most won't ask proper questions about injury or design workouts specific to what they need. I know, because I've been a trainer for some time, and most of us are not worth the cost. Here in Canada, you're looking at 60$-80$ an hour. Expensive even when we're not in a recession. So what to do then? Unfortunately, if something isn't done, people eventually just stop coming. The gym is like a strange new world, and it is intimidating, especially when you see the big guys grunting and throwing their weights around and pulling up their shorts like they're in a gangster movie. So what to do? Here are a few tips that hopefully will keep you coming to the gym, and help you get more comfortable there.

1. Check out some workout books from the library:

I know this sounds obvious, and I know that the amount of literature in the multi-billion dollar fitness industry is intimidating. I recommend anything by Jillian Michaels, the trainer from The Biggest Loser. Books on basic exercise are fairly similar, and most of them are good enough to give you a few exercises to start.

2. Warm up first:

When you get to the gym, do at least five minutes of cardio to get your heart going before you work any of your big muscle groups. If you're not sure how to use the machines like the treadmill, just ask. This is where you have to be willing to ask someone at the gym to help you. Any trainer will be happy to help, because the machines are easy to explain. (Remember, if you have knee issues, don't use the treadmill. Use the bike or the elliptical.) For more information about the machines, you can look here. Once you get comfortable on the cardio machines, the rest will come easier.

3. Big muscles next:

When you're working out, you always want to go from big to small. So work your legs first, then chest and back, before doing your arms and shoulders. If you're doing core work (abs, lower back), I'd recommend you do it at the end, but it can be done anywhere after the warm up. Multi-joint exercises, like squats and lunges, should always go first.

4. Use body weight before using machines/weights:

One of the reasons I'm always slow to recommend trainers is that I watch them put people on machines, and they never learn how their body works and miss out on what they should be learning. Machines aren't horrible, they have their uses, especially for the elderly and those who are rehabbing, but I wouldn't recommend starting there. Learn how to do a proper squat, without weights, by moving your hips back and keeping your knees from passing in front of your toes and your chest up. Learn a proper lunge. Look up diagrams and practice on your own. Pushups, from your knees if you're a beginner, along with crunches and the Plank, are all great beginner exercises. Lat pull downs are the one machine you'll want to consider. Keep your shoulders down and pull the bar down in front of your chest. Pull from between your shoulder blades.

Lat pull down: Notice in this picture how her shoulders are down, and the bar is just above her chest.

5. Have fun!

The most neglected part of most training workouts. If it isn't fun, you won't get any consistency with your workouts. Incorporate dance or whatever you need to make it fun. The first thing you must conquer, after you start feeling less intimidated, is your schedule. It has to become part of your life, and that won't happen if you're only going because you feel guilty. Change will happen, but learn to enjoy how it feels!

6. Stretching:

Never stretch cold!! You'll tear something that way. Make sure that you're warm and that you have a good sweat. There are a number of good books on stretching. Avoid the hurdle stretch (One leg pinned under you) because it will tear your knee. Breathe deep, and enjoy it.

If you're new to the gym, or have been thinking about it, let me encourage you to go through with it. I've seen the changes in my clients who have radically changed their lives! More energy, more control, and more confidence. It can be done! Don't let others dictate what you want to look and feel like, do it yourself. And if you need some encouragement or have any questions, don't be afraid to write!

-Steve

NOTE: I found this site, with video illustrations for beginners. I don't love the order of their exercises, but the rest of it is pretty good. It is a 'feminine fit' workout, but for you guys who are beginners, don't be turned off. I do all those exercies, and I bench press 300lbs!!