Beginners Guide to Starting a Fitness "Journey"

Social media has made the fitness world overwhelming.  This tool that could easily be an incredible asset/tool has made it a nightmare. 

I primarily blame influencers.  They have all these new/improved/best workout plans but yet when looking at half of them, they are straight junk.  They aren't maximizing movements or the range of motion for the muscle.  

Half of these influencers talk about spending two to three hours per day in the gym.  Who has time for that?

So many clients come to me overwhelmed not knowing where to begin.  I always take a simplistic approach until they get the basics down, then we scale workouts.

So, what is a simplistic approach? Keeping with the basic movements or what I call "old trusty workouts."

Here's a quick example basic three day per week strength training split that I like to start most beginners performing.

Push (4 sets, 8-12 reps; when you can do 10-12, it's time to move up in weight)

• Flat Bench Press (Barbell or Dumbbell)
• Flat Bench Chest Flys
• Seated Shoulder Press (Barbell or Dumbbell)
• Side Lateral Raises
• Triceps Kickbacks
• Overhead Triceps Extensions

Pull (4 sets, 8-12 reps; when you can do 10-12, it's time to move up in weight)

• Pull Ups (can be assisted but goal is to do unassisted)
• Lat Pull Downs
• Rear Delt Flys
• Bicep Curls
• Hammer Curls

Legs (4 sets, 8-12 reps; when you can do 10-12, it's time to move up in weight)

• Barbell Squats
• Leg Press
• Lunges
• Seated Leg Extensions
• Lying or Seated Hamstring Curls

Need help getting started? Let us know! Are you a veteran at this whole thing? Leave your favorite tips in the comments!

Are Fitness Trackers Accurate?

My beloved Apple iWatch

Take a look at the people around you.  If I had to guess, three out of five of them are wearing some sort of fitness tracking device whether it be an Apple Watch, FitBit, Android Watch, etc.

You may have thought about purchasing one out of curiosity.  But the question of how accurate these devices really are remains.  

While there are many different opinions/research on each device, the consensus is almost the same across the board with most - the calorie burn tracking is not 100% accurate.  However, it can give one an idea of their general activity and a general estimate.  For example, when I set up my Apple Watch for the first time, it asked for items such as my height, weight, etc.  This allowed the device to calculate a fairly accurate Basic Metabolic Rate (also known as BMR).

Based on my heart rate throughout the day and during my workouts, my watch is able to estimate my calorie burn for the day.  Even when I take it off when I sleep, it adds some calories burned based on my BMR to give me a total calorie burn for the day.

Fitness trackers do give great accuracy (in most cases) of steps taken, running, and walking distances (when equipped with GPS).

Final determination? I am rarely without my watch on.  Maybe my calorie burn isn't 100% exact but it gives me a little push each day to burn more than the previous day.

Glute Growth and Development

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For most people, glutes are the hardest muscle to grow.  Despite this being a challenge, it's often the most popular muscle women want to grow.

While popular for women to do glute focused workouts, it's actually an important muscle for men to focus on as well.

As I tell clients all of the time, glutes are the center of our body and they serve a greater purpose beyond aesthetics!

Did you know back pain can be attributed to weak glutes? When your glutes are strong, your pelvis and hip joints are stabilized which results in your lower back not taking the brunt of your basic movements (Source).

In addition to helping prevent back pain, strong glutes can relieve the pressure off of your knees since our knees absorb about one and a half times our body weight with every step you take! Once again, with the glutes stabilizing the pelvis and hip joints, your basic movements aren't putting pressure on other joints.  

When the pelvis and hip joints aren't stable, you tend to sway.  Imagine with that extra sway does to your knees and ankles!

How do you develop glutes? That's the tricky part since there are three muscles involved and different movements hit the different muscles. Gluteus Maximus, Gluteus Minimus, and Gluteus Medius.

To make sure you hit all three muscles, focus on these four types of movements:

1. Bridge/Thrust
• Barbell Hip Thrust - several variations can be done here from thrusts using a bench, bridges on the floor, smith machine hip thrusts, top range hip thrust pulses, etc.)
2. Pull/Hinge
• Sumo Deadlifts
• Conventional Deadlifts
• Cable Kickbacks
• Single Leg Deadlifts
• Kettlebell Swings
3. Abduction/Rotation (these will really hit the medius aka "shelf")
• Abduction Machine
• Cable Standing Abductions
• Lateral Band Walks
4. Squat/Lunge
• Walking Lunges
• Stationary Lunges
• Back Squats
• Step Ups
• Reverse Lunges
• Bulgarian Split Squat

These are simple movements - nothing fancy.  Sorry if you don't see your favorite influencer's "fancy" glute workout movements listed. 

If you're looking to develop for larger glues, I'd build a workout with 2-3 from each of these categories.  Do three sets for 10-20 reps three days a week.

For basic glute strength, do 1-2 from each of these categories.  Do three sets of 10-20 reps each 1-2 days a week.

What are your favorite workouts for glute building?

Crash and Fad Diets

 

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While you may not know the exact definition to a crash or fad diet, I bet you can name a few. 

Let's start with the definition:  a simple diet that are often short-term, weight loss intensive and potentially dangerous when extended (source).  Note the phrase potentially dangerous here.  

Why are they potentially dangerous? Because most of them involve starving yourself of basic daily caloric needs or a sufficient amount of necessary nutrients.  That's in addition to the yo-yo dieting effect.  This is when you diet for a short term, drop weight/fat, and then start eating like you used to which results in even MORE weight/fat added.  Your body doesn't know what is going on (to put it simply).

They even cause you to lose muscle! Why? Because your body has nothing to use for fuel so it goes to whatever sources it can find - which is often muscle.  Who wants to destroy their hard earned muscle gains?

A few popular crash/fad diets include:

• Beverly Hills Diet
• Blood Type Diet
• Cabbage Soup Diet
• Grapefruit Diet
• Israeli Army Diet
• Junk Food Diet
• Master Cleanse Diet
• Subway Diet
• Zone Diet

Just google a few of these and I am sure you will think of other diets that are similar in nature.  

The best way to lose weight/fat is by a lifestyle change.  We teach our clients how to still enjoy the foods they love while changing their mindset about food.  

What crash/fad diets have you tried successfully or unsuccessfully?

Muscle Imbalances

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 I feel safe in saying almost everyone who has worked out for any amount of time has experienced a muscle imbalance at one time or another.  This can also happen to those who do not workout regularly but most of the time they do not realize that they are experiencing a muscle imbalance.

What is a muscle imbalance?

When one side of a joint or the body becomes too tight from overuse, it can cause the muscles on the other side to become weak from lack of use.  

Those who workout and are focused on changes in their physique will notice the differences while one who isn't focused on a certain physique will most likely notice it through pain or just call it "their weak side."

How does this happen?

• Training a muscle group too frequently
• Using poor form when training
• The kind of work a person performs (channeling my safety career here).

While training a muscle group too frequently and poor form are simple fixes, the kind of work a person performs is one cause that isn't always as easy to fix.

Our client Mary is a massage therapist.  She is on her feet several hours a day and note that she is also right handed.  Mary's muscle imbalances in her lower body weren't visually obvious but became obvious when we started doing unilateral lower body exercises.  She began to notice that her right knee was a little bigger than her left and her left leg in general was weaker than her right.  Before she told me how she stood when she was working, I guessed it - she was putting most of her weight on her right foot.  To correct this, we had to do a little extra work on her left side and have her consciously focus on her posture when she was working.

How is a muscle imbalance corrected?

1. Find the root cause.
2. Is is a mobility or flexibility issue? Incorporate stretching and/or some light yoga.
3. Do unilateral exercises.  When you do bilateral exercises, you will naturally do more work with the stronger side.  Unilateral helps "even the playing field."
4. When doing unilateral work, start with the weaker side.
5. Add an extra set to the weaker side. (only do this for a week or two, then reassess or else you can potentially end up with another muscle imbalance!)

While muscle imbalances are frustrating to see and painful at times, they aren't impossible to fix.  The key is identifying, finding the root cause, and then putting corrective measures into action.  Also to note - this may not be something one can do alone.  A physical therapist or a (good) chiropractor can be your best friend during this process.

"I Hate Working Out"

There are some people who naturally love working out while others hate every aspect of working out.  When talking to clients and asking questions to find out why they hate working out, we often find a few things: 

• They were doing the wrong type of workouts. 

•  They didn't have any guidance on how to workout so they didn't feel the workouts were working and/or they got injured. 

•  The workouts weren't designed around their needs and lifestyle.

This is why  as coaches, we have to figure out what our client truly needs and wants in order to attain their goal. THEIR GOAL not the COACH'S GOAL.  That's where a lot of coaches can get off track - not focusing on what the client's goal is.  Everyone has a different goal. That's also why these cookie cutter programs that are often sold on social media are not effective most of the time - they aren't customized to what a client actually NEEDS.

In order to ensure that as a coach, you are providing top notch service to your client, having a comprehensive client intake form is key.  In addition, it's an awesome time saver since as a coach, you can always refer back to it!

What's been your experience with working out? Are you a natural born workout lover or hater? 

Coaches - what tools do you find most effective in order to ensure that you are giving your clients something that they want, love, and need? 

"I Can't Afford a Coach"

 

Another thing I hear/see a lot of when discussing coaching opportunities is "I can't afford a trainer/coach/gym membership."

A lot of things are more expensive right now due to inflation, we get it.  Expenses are definitely up.

That's the key phrase - expenses are up.

That's the mindset problem.  People want to view a coach as an expense rather than an investment.

Before we get too far into this limiting belief, let's take a look at the definitions of each term first.

Expense: (source)

• Cost or charge.
• A cause or occasion of spending.
• The act of expending or expenditure.

Investment: (source)

• The investing of money or capital in order to gain profitable returns, as interest, income, or appreciation in value.
• A particular instance or mode of investing.
• A thing invested in, as a business, a quantity of shares of stock, etc.
• Something that is invested; sum invested.
• The act or fact of investing or state of being invested, as with a garment.
• A devoting, using, or giving of time, talent, emotional energy, etc., as for a purpose or to achieve something.

The last part of the last definition of investment is key here:  as for a purpose to achieve something.

When you look at a coach as an investment rather than an expense, then your perspective changes.

Why not invest in your current AND future health?

Can you afford not to make this investment? Can you afford future possible medical expenses after making poor health choices and/or neglecting your health (both mentally and physically)?

"I Have Bad Genetics"

 

I get it.  Genetics do play a factor in overall health/wellness.  Sometimes.

Hormones play a HUGE role of course but those can be addressed with your doctor so not going to discuss that here.

Let's focus on the whole wanting to blame your "genetics" or say "it's a thing my family has" as a crutch.

Too many times people will just accept having to take a bag of medication with them or take ten pills a day as normal.

Sometimes things do happen to people randomly - such as my former healthy eater coworker who loved to run and workout but yet he had a heart attack in his 40's.  I get it.  Things can happen.

THIS IS NOT ALWAYS THE CASE.

What gets me is watching someone eat something like two jumbo sized honey buns while saying "my family all has diabetes which is why I do too." Or watching someone eat food with grease dripping off of their food (and their chin) saying "My heart problems come from my family.  Everyone has heart issues." Said person may or may not be sitting on the couch for six of more hours per day and can barely walk across the room without complaining of pain (just to add for dramatic effect).

Call me a jerk, but at times, it's hard not to roll my eyes.

Why do people not look at lifestyles of their family members with these conditions to see if there is a common denominator?  I cringe whenever I have to give my family's health history. I swear I've seen doctors cringe.

Random fact to interject - I started thinking about my own health after my paternal grandfather (in his 70's), my father's sister (60's), and my father (52) all died from Colon cancer. Oh, let me add my maternal grandmother is a colon cancer survivor. 

Maybe I'm too proactive or too much into research.  I look at the conditions that are "common" in my family and ask myself "What can I do to change this?" "What can I teach my children from this?"

Break the family "curses." Look up risk factors and how you can mitigate those. The body is a machine and it's a pretty cool machine when you really start to look into how it works.

Building Habits

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So many people that we coach, a root cause to a lot of past (and current) "failures" for lack of a better term, comes down to simple habits.  Many want to say that they do not have time to get a workout in, meal prep, etc.  But when we take a look at how they are spending their time, we can typically work together and FIND a small window - even if it's a simple half hour time block. 

Another factor? Perfectionism.  Bad habits and perfectionism are two things that will result in missing a goal every single time.  

Let's talk about habits. . . 

Habits are either good or bad.  Good habits? Brushing your teeth, eating nutritious foods, and so on.  Bad habits? Hours of TV each night, drinking excessively, making excuses, etc. 

Research shows that the easiest way to break a bad habit is to REPLACE it with a good habit.  For example, watch too much TV or surf too much social media in the evening? Replace that time with a quick workout or an evening walk.  It takes about 21 days for a new habit to stick.  

Try replacing just ONE habit this week and see what happens.

HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) Workouts

High Intensity Interval Training aka HIIT is a great way to burn a lot of calories in a shorter amount of time.  The key here is "short amount of time" due to the fact that many say they do not have time to workout due to job, family, and other life demands.  

So what is HIIT? This is a fairly broad term for workouts that involve short periods of intense exercise alternated with recovery periods.  These recovery periods DO NOT mean you just stop and stand around gasping for air.  This is something like 30 seconds of an all out, give it all you have sprint followed by a 45 second to one minute brisk walk - not some slow trudge walk.  Keep your heart rate up still!

HIIT doesn't just involve sprinting/walking, it can be done on a stairclimber, or it can be done on an elliptical or even with your favorite movements (burpees, high knees, push ups, etc.).  

Tabata is another great HIIT style workout. This involves 20 seconds of intense work followed by 10 seconds of rest.  This is repeated 8 times then a one minute total rest break is taken.  Five rounds of this gives you a twenty minute workout.  If you want a 30 minute workout, then do 6 rounds - fairly simple.  

An example Tabata workout is listed above in the graphic.

Benefits of HIIT workouts:

• Burn a lot of calories in a shorter amount of time
• Metabolic rate is higher for hours after completing HIIT
• It can help you lose fat
  
• You *might* gain muscle depending on the exercises you perform
• Improve Oxygen consumption
• Reduce heart rate and blood pressure
• Blood sugar can be reduced
• 
  

What's your favorite HIIT workout?