fitness tips

Erik's Weekly Fitness Tip | You Don't Have To Be Perfect

 

I Speak From Experience

Being a perfectionist myself I find it a blessing and a curse.  I spend too much time making sure things are perfect because I care, so half-ass jobs on my part do not sit well with me.  The issue with things being perfect is that it slows down or completely stops momentum.  So, when it comes to your health and fitness, you need to care and make sure things are on point…most of the time.

Be Consistent With Food

Let’s first start with food.  Consistent good eating, i.e. healthy food, not overeating, but allowing yourself to indulge here and there is how you win.  Life can throw you a S*#t storm with work stress, family stress, travel, or you’re just on the go all time. 

How can one eat perfectly?  Well for most of us you can’t. A glass of wine to calm the nerves, a piece of chocolate to help you move on from the day at work, or in my case heading to Starbucks and getting Nature’s way to get amped and bring me some good old comfort are all ways we deal with the day-to-day grind.  These treats are all completely normal and all completely okay in the big scheme of things. 

The 80/20 Rule

As I posted in a video last month, it comes down to the 80-20 rule, 80% of the time be on target, 20% of the time allow yourself to have the stuff you love.  Remember that even if you are trying to maintain your current weight or even lose weight you can allow yourself some treats.  The secret…staying within the calorie range that allows to reach those goals.

The same logic applies to working out.  If you are 21 years old and you are in college, there is no reason why you shouldn’t crush every damn workout and I should know because I lived that life once.  But for regular people that work, that aren’t 21, who may have families, and are social, crushing every single workout isn’t a reality.  We must temper our expectations of ourselves and know there will be more ups and downs.  Lack of sleep, slower recovery time, and sick kids can swing the pendulum more there we care to admit. 

Adjust

Here again is where the 80-20 Rule can be applied successfully to your game plan.  If you are tired, beat up, or have zero to low motivation…adjust your workout.  In most cases, it’s better to do a little something like a light walk, stretch, or go on an easy bike ride, more times than not it will make you feel better anyways.  This is the 20%, yeah you didn’t get that planned strength training session in or go to that spin class but you still moved your body.  This again is a victory.  Consistency at work. 

Be Consistent

Good things happen when you practice consistent habits day in and day out.  As always remember that this is a marathon not a 100-meter sprint.  

Call today & I can support you with your fitness & nutrition goals 310.251.7420

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Erik's Weekly Fitness Tip | New Year, New You?

 

Hello 2017

The new year is coming and with it inevitably comes an influx of training fads. Midnight infomercials are full of ripped models that are paid to tell us how their amazing bodies are the result of using some stretchy resistance band once a month. If only it were that simple!

I’ve seen a lot of fads come and go in the past few decades:

  • Bowflex machines
  • Zumba
  • Richard Simmons
  • Shake Weights
  • Tae Bo
  • P90X
  • and let’s not forget the Butt and Thigh blaster by the lovely Susan Summers 

Don't Buy Into The Fads

The fitness industry is a multi-billion dollar business that preys on those without basic fitness knowledge or self-confidence. They'll tell you that what they’re selling is going to change your life, that all of your problems will melt away, that you'll experience a spike in energy, and that you'll never have body fat or cellulite again. Whatever you do, do not fall for this trap. There are no short cuts!  

Want Results? Do these Things:

1. Consistency

Eat well mostly, work out often, sleep soundly always. 

2. Go hard in the gym

Squats, deadlifts, presses, and hard intervals are the most optimal way to train. Period.

3. Set goals

Even though I don't compete anymore, I still set goals for myself. 

4. Never compare yourself to others

Compare yourself to where you were when you started.

That's it, keep it simple and you'll see results. 

I can help you get results the tried and true way 310.251.7420

Image Credit: Pascal via Flickr

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Erik's Weekly Fitness Tip | Sticking To The Basics

 

What The Basics Aren't

  • The basics aren’t sexy.
  • The basics don’t grab the headlines.
  • The basics, quite frankly, can be boring.  

But, the basics produce results! 

People have a hard time believing me that when it comes to fitness, all you need to do is stick to a few basic principles and you get results. 

Complication

Now complication looks sexy, shiny, fun, and all the cool people are doing it.  The fitness and supplement world is littered with this junk:

  • program hopping
  • infomercials of ab rollers with ripped models (who by the way did not get those ripped abs by doing the ab roller)
  • Shake Weight
  • vibrating platforms
  • diet pills that sound to good to be true
  • fancy machines at the gym
  • 8 min abs/buns
  • Power Balance bracelets with a special hologram to improve balance (my personal favorite) 

All hype, all snake oil, all totally crap.  But these companies do know one thing, they know how to sell.  They know how to reach that emotional trigger to get us to buy their product or to try their cutting edge workout programs.

But trust me on this, focus on the basics and you’ll get the results you are looking for, without wasting a bunch of money and time on junk that you’d wind up selling at your next garage sale

What do the basics look like?

  1.    Consistently eating well
  2.    Not over eating
  3.    Moving every day
  4.    Avoiding sugar
  5.    Doing squats
  6.    Jogging, running, riding a bike
  7.    Incrementally making your workouts harder
  8.    Sticking to one program
  9.    Setting a goal and sticking it out until you hit that goal
  10.    Let’s not forget the most important thing of all…you have to put in the work! 

If you'd like to get back to the basics, call on me 310.251.7420. I offer tailor made fitness & nutrition programs.

Image credit: Ben Warren on Unsplash

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