How to Reach Your Goals Faster
- At March 21, 2016
- By Michelle Struckholz
- In Uncategorized
- 0
For those of you that don’t know me already (because this tends to come up within the first five minutes of any conversation I have with anyone), I’m a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu athlete (student? Practitioner? I do Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, is what I’m trying to say), and have been for about two years, after my stint as a college athlete ended but the need to feel like a part of a team remained. While two years is a drop in the bucket compared to many of my teammates, I’ve been around long enough to witness a few belt promotions. Like any other martial art, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu adheres to a belt system to define rank, from white (the lowest rank) to black (the highest rank), and every instructor or gym decides how they want to go about promotions. At the school where I train, promotions are done with no advanced notice—your instructor simply gives you the belt when he feels you are ready. Granted, there are some criteria that go into deciding who exactly is ready, and being that I am not yet a black belt, I’m not entirely certain what all of the criteria are. However, one night, at the conclusion of a class, my instructor made an announcement. This was at the end of a week of training, and some promotions had been made earlier that week. This is what he said to us:
“After I promote some students, the following weeks my classes are twice as full. Students that haven’t come to class in months all of a sudden show up to train again. But these aren’t the students that I’m promoting; these are the students that are going to stand there, clapping for the other students I promote.”
What I gleaned from this rather pointed remark from my instructor is that consistency is of significant importance. Now, lets shift for a second and apply the analogy of a belt promotion to your own personal gym goals, whether that’s weight loss, strength gain, or overall health. As a martial arts practitioner, I’ve asked the question, “how do I get better at jiu-jitsu?” and was met with the response “keep coming.” Be consistent. Put in the time. As a trainer, I’m asked all sorts of questions: how do I lose weight/get stronger/improve my squat/deadlift better, etc. On the surface, all of these questions have different responses, but all have one common denominator: consistency. If you pick an example of anyone you know who has had lasting success in the gym (I’m not even talking about high-level athletes here—I’m talking about the people I see the same times every day in the gym, either working out with a trainer or following their program), chances are its because at least one aspect of their program was followed consistently.
So, consistency is great. But life is crazy, even if “the diet/weightlifting regimen/eating a vegetable at every meal starts Monday,” and we have the best of intentions, it’s so easy to get derailed. So how do we harness the elusive quality that is consistency (note the irony of describing consistency as “elusive”)? Here are some ideas:
Decide on a Goal
Are you trying to lose weight, put on some muscle, run a marathon, add 50lbs to your squat or deadlift, or just get healthier? Whatever you decide, keep this in mind as your goal. Remember, some goals might overlap, but picking just one goal is ideal to ensure that 100% of your attention in the gym is dedicated to achieving that goal, so that the movements you choose to do will not detract from it. For instance, if you’re aiming to run a marathon, you would likely be doing movements that are very different from a person whose goal is to add 50lbs to a deadlift.
Check yourself
I believe it was Aristotle that said, “we are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but habit.” Habits make our world go round. You already know, some habits are good and others are not so good. Be honest with yourself. Identify your habits—the good and the bad. Recognize your strengths, as well as the areas of your life—or in this case, your fitness—that need some improvement. If you are looking to lose weight and you go to the gym faithfully every day, and see a trainer three of those days, but every Friday after work ends in a junk food binge, we then know that the habit of going to the gym is a positive one, while the Friday night junk food isn’t so positive. Knowing your habits can be the first step in replacing or improving them.
Be Accountable to Something or Someone
Being accountable to a trainer or workout partner can be a great tool for people who struggle with getting to the gym consistently or sticking to a program, or even those who lack motivation. For starters, you are less likely to bail on a workout if you know someone else is depending on you, or, in the case of a trainer, because you’re paying for it. If nothing else—or even in addition to having accountability to a trainer or partner— be accountable to a date: sign up for a 5k or road race, or mark your calendar for the start of that beach vacation you have planned. Having a trainer or partner as a third party not only keeps you showing up to the gym, but also keeps you honest as far as exercise (was that weight too light? Did you really do ten repetitions or was it more like eight?). Having a date can help set the ball rolling—once you realize that achieving a certain goal by a certain date will take a defined amount of work, it may be easier to develop a plan, and easier to keep going.
Focus on your behavior, and the outcome will take care of itself
Mature athlete and powerlifter Charles Staley often writes about what has continued to keep him motivated and consistent as a weightlifting veteran, and one of the points he made has stuck with me when talking training with clients or friends about success in the gym. I’ve already mentioned how important goal setting is, and how it can give direction to your workouts. But, when it comes to achieving those goals, we tend to focus on how close or how far away we are to achieving them, and less about what its going to take to get us there. So, take a tip from Charles Staley on this: the goal is the outcome, but focus on the behaviors that will get you there, like completing so many workouts a week, or logging so many miles. Reaching your goal is the product of many different behaviors, and the outcome involves so many factors that it is difficult to control what ultimately happens. Your behavior, however, is comparatively easy to control. Remember when we talked about habits? Identifying the good and bad habits is the first step to ultimately being able to control your behavior. So, while you may have less control over the end result, I can say with confidence that focusing on your behavior first, and working to replace your bad habits with good habits will not lead you in the wrong direction.
Success, particularly in the gym, is the sum of cumulative efforts, not just a couple of hard sessions and stints of clean eating spaced out over the course of months. It’s hard to see no results after what feels like ages, but attainable, sustainable progress will be yours through dedication and consistency.
~Maria Capuano, CPT
Exercise of the Week #9: Weighted Glute Bridge
- At March 01, 2016
- By Michelle Struckholz
- In Uncategorized
- 0
Have Your Chocolate (And Eat It, Too!)
What says Valentine’s Day more than flowers and chocolate? Few things are more delicious and satisfying than a chocolate dessert, or even a piece of a high-quality chocolate bar. But chocolate often gets painted as a dietary villain—after all, it is quite high-calorie compared to other foods, and has been anecdotally reported to cause breakouts and migraines, and can’t possibly contain any nutritional value. Or can it? Chocolate lovers, here are a few reasons why you can push your guilt aside and head straight for the Godiva. Chocolate has been shown to have the following benefits:
- It improves memory and focus The cocoa flavanols found in most chocolate products have been shown to reduce damage to nerve pathways, as seen in Alzheimer’s patients. These same flavanols help boost blood flow in the brain and may help you feel more alert: a small British study showed that those who consumed chocolate beforehand performed better on counting tasks.
- It’s a Heart Helper Cocoa’s inflammation-fighting properties have been shown to protect the heart, helping increase blood flow to the muscle and even lower cholesterol. The British Medical Journal suggests that regular consumption of chocolate can help lower the risk of developing heart disease by up to one third.
- Its more “diet friendly” than you think Dark Chocolate is high in fiber, which helps you feel fuller longer and may help reduce your cravings for other junk food.
- It’s good for your skin Chocolate is also good for the largest organ of your body—your skin. Despite the belief that chocolate leads to breakouts, the antioxidants found in dark chocolate are good for your complexion, and may even protect it from damaging UV rays.
- It’ll help boost your mood How good does it feel to indulge once in a while? Plus, with chocolate now known to provide all of these health benefits, you should feel even better about allowing yourself a little bit of chocolate now and then.
Just remember… A healthy daily serving of dark chocolate is about 1 oz.
~Maria Capuano
Want to get more out of your workout? Try This…
Regardless of what your fitness goal may be (weight loss, increased strength, better endurance, or some variation thereof), you probably already know that the time and effort you log in to the gym only goes so far in getting you there. Yes, putting that time in is essential in reaching your goals, but just as essential is the fuel you choose to put into your body before and after your gym session. However, this piece of the fitness puzzle remains puzzling to many. What should I eat before a workout? How much protein do I need? What is the best thing to eat after I work out? I’m completely lost on what kind of protein supplement to use. You get the idea. Nutrition, but especially pre- and post-workout nutrition, is confusing. Your body goes through a series of chemical reactions every day: it breaks down nutrients, digests food, builds muscle tissue, and stores or expends energy… all while you go about your daily activities, completely unaware of everything your body is doing. So it makes sense that all the science that’s happening in our bodies this very moment is overwhelming—after all, we can’t see it happening, and getting closer (or further away) from our goals is the product of long-term dedication and consistency, sometimes a trial-and-error process of what does or does not work where nutrition is concerned. In this blog, we’ll try to make that learning curv a little easier.
Before we talk about food itself, lets talk about macronutrients—carbohydrates, protein, and fat.
CARBOHYDRATES: Everyone’s favorite, these are your body’s preferred energy source, key for helping you recover after training and building muscle. Think starchy vegetables, grains, fruit, and, to some degree, dairy products. There is also what I call the “engineered” variety: processed flour, refined sugar, and corn syrup—all of which should be used sparingly.
PROTEIN: lean meats and fish, eggs, soy, nuts, and dairy. Protein is often considered the “muscle builder,” and the best friend of all those heavily muscled bodybuilders you see on the cover of fitness magazines. But protein is important whether you’re a bodybuilder or not: it’s digested slowly, which means it helps keep you satisfied longer—great, even if your goal is weight loss.
FAT: oils (olive, canola, coconut), avocados, nuts or nut butters, seeds, fatty fish, full-fat dairy (butter, ice cream), and certain cuts of meat. Fats are important to keep your internal organs and skin healthy, and they help maintain steady blood sugar. Again, be sure to steer clear of engineered fats, such as trans fats, which are known to cause a list of health problems. Trans fats and other saturated fats, if consumed over a long period of time, have a high chance of increasing your oximeter pulse to abnormal limits.
You’ve more than likely become familiar with all of these terms in various contexts, probably in terms of “eat this, not that.” The truth is, all of the macronutrients are important in their respective quantities, especially where pre- and post- workout are concerned. With that said, what should you be eating before and after you work out?
BEFORE YOUR WORKOUT
Regardless of your overall goal, the purpose of pre-workout nutrition is to avoid low blood sugar, which can make your workout seem much more difficult than it actually is, hindering your ability to work to full capacity. When timed right, what you eat before your workout provides fuel for your muscles to promote growth and function.
Ideally, your pre-workout meal will be forty-five minutes to an hour before your training session, and will consist of carbohydrates and some protein. The food types you select will largely depend on your personal preference, as well as your tolerance to certain types of food. For instance, some people find it difficult to digest many high-fiber carbohydrates, so some trial and error may be necessary to find out which foods work best for you. You will want to keep your pre-workout meal relatively low in fat, because fat takes longer to digest with respect to protein and carbohydrates, and can’t be processed as quickly for energy. A good starting point for judging your pre-workout food intake is to multiply your bodyweight in pounds by 0.5g to yield the number of grams of carbohydrate to take in about an hour before working out.
If you’re just going to head to the gym to do mostly cardio, it isn’t necessarily imperative that you eat before you work out provided you’ve been eating normally throughout the day. If you feel your energy level start to plummet, a small snack (a piece of fruit, a small yogurt, half a protein bar) should be all the pre-workout nutrition you need, provided your activity level won’t be longer than an hour.
AFTER YOUR WORKOUT
The hard work is done, and recovery begins right when your workout ends. Muscles begin to use protein made available from your blood and use it to build and repair muscle tissue. Your energy stores are also somewhat depleted, and your body is looking to replenish them with carbohydrates. Protein becomes even more important here as a partner to carbohydrates. A good refueling strategy would be to have a meal consisting of a 3:1 ratio of carbohydrates to protein to promote the release of insulin and help replenish energy stores by drawing glucose into muscles.
THE PROTEIN DILEMMA
But what about protein shakes? You’re probably thinking. The issue here is not in the supplement itself, but in the supplementation for supplementation’s sake. That is, many people will go out and purchase a protein powder while paying very little attention to where the gaps in their diet may actually be, and, even worse, may forget that a supplement is exactly that—a supplement. There are many benefits to using a good quality protein supplement, and one of these is to ensure that you take in enough protein to support your level of activity. Many people do not get enough, and a supplement can be a helpful way to make sure you do. Some people find that liquid meals are easier for them to digest than whole-food meals, particularly before and after exercise, so they tend to favor a post-workout shake. Whatever the reason, it is key to remember that protein supplements can only offer so much as far as other nutritional content besides protein, and spending your money on a protein supplement may not be critical to your success in the gym.
Bear in mind, there’s no one-size-fits-all approach, as everyone has different fitness goals, nutritional needs and sensitivities, and body types. But hopefully, armed with some of the information in this article, you’ll find you have more energy and get more out of your workouts, recover faster from them, and be that much closer to reaching your goals.
-Maria Capuano
***Special Thank You to Shira Hirschberg MS, RD who supplemented my existing knowledge of nutrition with concrete facts and gave this post a push in the right direction. Thank you Shira!***
Momentum Fitness Open 7am-10am
We will have to close the gym today at 10am due to the inclement weather and parking ban.
We are Open Today!
Momentum Fitness will be open from 8am-12pm today. Hope you enjoyed the snow!