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Get fit at Shape Up Fitness & Wellness Consulting

What does fit mean?

Occasionally we face a client who is pretty skinny and still wants to lose weight. Often they just talk about a couple of pounds, not more. So why is it, that I feel the need to write about it?

That is simple: These people, might have a skewed view of what it means to be healthy. Being 27extraordinarily skinny is definitely not healthy, or fit. But years and years of conditioning have created a paranoia and fear of the scale. They fear, that if they weigh a couple of pounds more that they are being overweight.

Instead of losing weight I propose to change body composition, since many are so called “skinny-fat”, meaning they have a relatively high body fat percentage and little lean muscle mass.

Nobody needs to become a heavy duty weight lifter, runners but they should be able to lift more than a 5 lbs dumbbell without breaking a sweat. Everyone should have good basic physical strength and decent cardiovascular abilities since both promote health.

My call to action

Screw skinny. Make healthy and fit your new goal. If you want a six pack that is fine, but it is not a requirement to be healthy. We should not strive to look like a starved, hungry person but like someone who is fit and healthy. If you are close to your ideal body weight and you start a fitness routine don’t freak out if you gain a couple of pounds. Most likely it will be muscle mass.

Use your clothes and body fat

Instead of being obsessed with the scale look how your clothes fit. Check your bodyfat percentage. If the numbers improve, you are doing well. But even here make sure that you don’t drop too low, because it can mess with your hormone household, see below

What is fit and healthy?

A healthy body fat percentage for men is between 6-20% and for women between 16-30% body fat. The closer you get to the lower number the more strict you will have to be with your eating, lifestyle, & training habits. The range below those numbers is usually reserved for elite bodybuilders and fitness models on contest day and during photo shoots. Those numbers are rarely maintained and staying there for a prolonged period of time can have a negative impact on a couple of things:

  • Loss of sexdrive
  • Low testosterone levels (men)
  • Disordered eating
  • Social isolation
  • An unbalanced life
  • Amenorrhea (women)

If you are interested in more detailed please read this article by Precision Nutrition.

I hope I made a case for being fit versus skinny.

Have an awesome day

 

 

Personal Training for Older clients at Shape Up Fitness & Wellness Consulting

How Long Should A Workout Take?

We are asked many times how long a workout should take. The answer is not that simple. Sure, there is the optimum length but even that depends on the person’s fitness level, age, and willingness to commit time.

Research indicates that it is better for people to have more frequent, shorter workouts than only a few long workouts.

So, yes, ideally I would like you to go through a 10-15 min warm up sequence including foam rolling, some stretching, corrective & activation exercises. After that I would like you to work out for 60 min and then cool down for about 15 min.

But it is not going to happen for most

For most people this is simply not going to happen. So if 30 min is all you can do then it will have to do. Working out 30 min 5 days a week is always better than 90 min one day a week and then wait until the following week for the next workout.

Sometimes we don’t even have 30 min. A lot of our accountants are slammed at this time of the year. They work from 6 or 7 in the morning until 1 or 2 at night. Do some chin ups, run up and down the stairs, do some push ups, planks, etc. There is always something that can be done.

There is not really I don’t have the time. You might not have the time for a full on workout, but you might have enough time for one exercise here and there.

Today is the day

Today is the day to get started. Stop waiting for the perfect time. It will never come around. Start working out your day. It is not about a six pack, or a perfect butt. It is about your health & well being.

Yours in health & fitness,

Michael

 

Changing Nutrition Is Not Easy For Everyone! – A RANT

This blog is kind of a rant. It is a rant against being self-righteous. We need to pull back because here are some of the things we say to others and most

Habit Changes take time and will include setbacks
Habit Changes take time and will include setbacks

importantly to ourselves:

“You just need to cut down on the portions!”

“You are so lazy, just get up and work out!”

“Just quit drinking soda!”

“Why is that person so overweight?”

To a person with anxiety: “Just relax!”

These are just some of the things we say to ourselves, about others, or to others. Here is a newsflash. Do you really think that they/we don’t know that already? If it was that easy for us to do just that, I am pretty sure we/you/they would have done it already.

Life is more complicated

What comes easy to one of us, might be much more difficult to someone else. Our own personal experiences, fears, addictions, passions, believes enable us in different ways to cope with life. Sometimes food is one of those coping mechanisms. Whenever that is the case [which quite honestly, is quite common] we need to understand that millions of people in the USA have the same problems.

Compensating with food

Sometimes we need time to be alone with ourselves. We are so used to headsets, music, videos, books, anything that drowns out our little inner voice. Sometimes it is important to feel the pain, feelings, etc, that we associate with with wanting to compensate with food.  We need to experience it with compassion knowing that we are not alone with it.

Life does not go in a linear way. It never has and never will.

We need to understand that our coping mechanisms have evolved over decades. If we want to change them it will take love, compassion, hard work and the willingness to fail, just to try it again. We will have road blocks, there will be tough times when we lose a job, a partner or simply when we have a fight, or a bad day at work. We don’t succeed every day all day long, nobody does! It has nothing to do with willpower but with forming a habit. Nobody has enough willpower. We simply form habits which takes time. Time during which we may fail, again and again. Just don’t quit.

My Call To Action

This is my call to action: Whenever you see someone who obviously, or not so openly struggles bring them the benefit of the doubt. You don’t know what that person has going on in their life. If it is you, then call to mind the things that you have had to deal with in your life. Meet yourself with compassion and give yourself a “reset button” after you fail.

Just hit the reset button and restart the computer called “LIFE”. Start again and move on.

We cannot change anything in our past. But we can reshape the future, slowly. It takes time for new habits to form, new ways of life.

Judging is normal

You might think now: “What the heck?” He jus told me to be less judgemental. Well, good luck with it. Just like anything else it is a habit. We have learnt it over decades. You cannot just “not be judgemental” anymore. Just acknowledge when you are doing it, smile and move on, knowing what you are doing and work towards acceptance.

“Japanese: DO”

“Do” in japanese means way, ergo Karate-Do, means the way of Karate. It basically tells you that this is a journey. You won’t just get to the finish line and be able to yell: “Heck, I made it!” It is always work in progress.

Yours in health & fitness,

Michael Anders

Head Trainer Shape Up Fitness & Wellness Consulting

A man and woman doing a heavy weight lifting routine at Shape Up Fitness & Wellness Consulting

How to Get Back Into Exercise After A Long Break

We all have had longer breaks from exercise. Sometimes we just got too busy at work, with our family, other times it might have been an injury. If you have been out of training for longer than 3 weeks you should follow a couple of simple rules to get back into it.

The Short about what you need to know about getting back into working out

  •  Slow down after a longer break
  • Work with your body, don’t see it as the enemy
  • Frustration is a normal part of the process
  • Shorter, more frequent workouts might be better for you
  • Listen to the cues your body is giving you!
  • Listen to a professional at the beginning

Slow is the new fast

If you are like me then you might want to jump right back into where you stopped at. Same weights lifted, same mileage run, same hours put in. This is a sure way of setting yourself up for failure, injury and frustration.

  • If your break was shorter than 1 month but longer than 2 weeks reduce your volume by 25%.
  • If your break was longer than 1 month but shorter than 3 month reduce your volume by 50% and increase it by 10-15% per week.
  • Anything longer than 3 months of no exercise start at around 35% of what you have been doing and increase your load by 5-10%/week.

 

Your body is not the enemy

Sometimes we treat our body like the enemy when it does not perform on the level that we are looking for. We push through pain, force workouts and keep setting ourselves back. We also diminish our joy of working out. Listen to your body and work out accordingly. You will have more fun and success in the long run!

Frustration is normal

If you have a history of working out regularly and you were sidelined because of injury, frustration can be one of the biggest problems you can have. You will get impatient, you might feel like it will never get better.

It will get better, just not necessarily on the timeline that you were looking for. Our bodies have an amazing capacity to heal. Supporting it with soft tissue work like foam rolling & massages, stretching and corrective exercise can do wonders. Advancing too fast will get you injured quickly!

Go for less more often instead of going big one time

You might feel that working out for 10 min is not nearly enough, that it is not worth the effort. But research shows that it is better to do something for 10 min six times a week than exercising for 60 mins one time in a week. Most likely you are hitting it too hard during your one big workout in the week anyway.

Trust your body

Nobody else feels what you feels. If you work with a healthcare professional or a personal trainer make sure to explain to them what you are feeling as acurately as you can. They are better at interpreting where it might come from but they will need your feedback to make the best decision in regards to your training and health. If you have the feeling that your advisors are not listening, get new ones!

 Get help

I get it, we all think we can do it ourselves, and you can. With a lot of reading up, thorough research and commitment you will be able to put something together for you that might work. On the other hand you can always ask a professional in your field (cycling coach, personal trainer, running coach, etc), to help you with the basic setup. This person will be able to put a training routine together based on your current fitness level, observe your movements and make adjustments.

If you are interested in finding out more about our program,

visit our main page

 

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