@FitnessHeroics.

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October 15th, 2016

Bring a friend to show them what Fitness Heroics is all about !!!

Intensity. It’s a word thrown around in fitness that many people have gotten wrong. When I say intensity what you do think of? Many people it depends on your sport of choice. For a runner, that might mean interval sprint work. For an olympic weightlifter it is how much weight for 1 rep. In bodybuilding, intensity is the contraction on the muscle. CrossFit hones in on Intensity, as force x distance / time. In other words, how much real work did you do and in what time period.

So as you can see this, you need to be specific on your goals first and then determine your intensity for that sport. There is one common misconception about intensity and that is when to push it and when form and skill is in place. There is this vision of intensity leading to over training, so people tend to steer clear of feeling the slightest fatigue.

Sadly, many of us are NOT elite athletes or at risk of over training. Compare these two (partial) lists of symptoms and decide for yourself:

Overtraining Syndrome

Insomnia
Loss of motivation
Fatigue
Weakened immune system
Joint Pain

Adrenal Fatigue

Insomnia
Loss of motivation
Fatigue
Weakened immune system
Joint Pain

Hmmm. looks rather similar doesn’t it? Facts don’t lie, more than 2 cups of coffee on average are American’s consuming a day and this included energy drinks as well. Combined with stress and lack of sleep, it’s no wonder you think you are over doing it. But are you?

Whether you train for hypertrophy, strength gains, body composition changes, or improvements in speed or endurance, you can rely on a simple formula for that improvement:

Sufficient Stress + Sufficient Recovery = Improvement

If your body is stressed you go though 3 phases:

-Alarm: the body recognizes stress for the first time
-Resistance: Repair what is broken (your muscles)
-Recovery or exhaustion: if you gave your body what it needs to repair it will come back stronger, however, failure to do this will result to exhaustion. The exhaustion stage can lead to over training if tapped into too many times.

So how do you get stronger without over training? There is a thing called over reaching. Placing enough of a stressor on the body along with repair and recovery, will lead to you coming back stronger thus pushing a little harder next time. Your body will only change when there is stress applied. The body is a beautiful LAZY machine. Yes it would rather do it the easy way and conserve energy than push itself all the time.

Fixing ongoing stress is a little more complicated than taking it easy. You should plan an intelligent de-load combined with a strong plan for recovery and maintenance. During any deload, your training intensity and volume both slow down for a few days. You keep your caloric intake where it was during the days you trained. Spend some of the extra time on additional recovery, from ice baths to contrast showers to massage and meditation.

Your body can handle a lot, but over reaching too often is where you can get into a lot of trouble. You are NOT as fragile as you think you are. Every person that is a high caliber athlete is made up of the same thing you are. The difference in capacity between you and the pinnacle of humanity is measured in inches, not miles. Adaptation happens when we have to respond to threats to our survival. Use some intelligent planning you’re going to make better progress than you’re making now. Train, eat, sleep,repeat.

Make excuses or make changes, the choice is up to you. If you are the type of person who is a “maybe” sometime, you might fall into the excuses trap. Our society makes it super easy to make excuses for everything. Some people make excuses that are logical to many yet still make them a victim to preventing goals to be met.

Excuses come in one of two types: those that contain blame, and those that invite accountability. Making excuses is a behavior believe it or not. You have the ability to change your behavior but it takes time and conscious commitment.To overcome your excuses, you must first admit that you are making them. Then begins the work of identifying them. Yes, we all make excuses for things and you need to be honest with yourself in order to make changes to fix it. Most of the time, you may not even know that you are making an excuse.

Why do we make excuses? Ask yourself if you are able to recognize the reasons why you have delayed taking action. Fear is frequently the underlying culprit: fear of failure, of embarrassment, of success, of change, and of uncertainty. Fear is not the only problem, and being scared is all too often used as just another excuse. There are also lack of willpower and self-discipline, which lead to lost focus and procrastination.

Next, is it a priority to you? If it is not, admit that to yourself. If something is important you will keep pushing towards that however if you are not interested in something, don’t try to force yourself to be. Saying yest to someone might hurt someone’s feeling, but more often than not it’s really about avoiding confrontations. Or you don’t want to have to admit that other things are more important to you. The more often you pick the desire to win over the fear of losing, the more power you take back from the excuse making habits we all have built over the years.

Do you have energy suckers in your life? Think about all the things in your life that you do that may not provide you satisfaction but in fact take away from your life. We all have 24 hours in our lives and it’s up to you when you decide who is worth your time. Everybody has their own strengths and weaknesses, and it’s only when you embrace everything you are and aren’t, that you will discover your true potential.

Here is the biggie, comparing yourself to others. It makes it super easy to quit on yourself when you look at others and what they have accomplished. There will always be someone, somewhere who as accomplished more. Compare yourself only to your own reflection. There is no one else in this world that can do a better job at being you than you can.

Learn to take the excuses out of your life because it diminishes your confidence. Imagine where you could be if eliminated one excuse per week for one year straight. It’s the small, consistent progressions that get the results, not the big tasks that you do every once in a while. Just remember this, if it’s important you will find a way, if not you will find an excuse!

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Sometimes the foods you eat before bed can interrupt your sleep patterns. Sleep is critical for you to repair and recover from your workouts and daily life stress. If your sleep is getting interrupted, you might want to look into the foods you are eating before bedtime.

#1 Simple Carbs
Simple carbs like white rice and potatoes have a high glycemic index, which means they contain enough sugar to spike energy levels rather quickly. When your energy levels go up so does insulin. Insulin is a hormone, whose primary job is to clear the body of sugar.When blood glucose levels drop quickly this causes hormones like cortisol and epinephrine to be released. If you have to have carbs at night try to eat fibrous, slow digesting carbs like green vegetables, root vegetables, beans or quinoa.

#2 Coffee
This might seem like a no brainer, but I know that I am guilty of this from time to time. Coffee delivers caffeine, along with a variety of other natural stimulants. Caffeine is a stimulant that has a direct effect on the central nervous system, increasing energy levels and alertness. It may also cause you to be alert and jittery which is the opposite of what you want to happen when winding down to sleep. Instead of coffee, try a nice hot tea. Choose blends that help with relaxation such as chamomile.Choose blends that help with relaxation such as chamomile.

#3 Dark Chocolate
Even though your sweet tooth will be tamed, your body will get a dose of caffeine and theobromine which cause alertness.n fact, per 2 oz of dark chocolate you will get about 80 mg of caffeine! Did yo know that about 2 squares, and almost as much as a small cup of coffee. Need a late night snack? Try having protein avocado pudding.

#4 Steak
Eating red meat in moderation is great but steak is hard for the body to breakdown and digest. Instead of a big steak meal, opt for smaller portions of lighter proteins like eggs, white fish or chicken. Having a casein protein shake is also a good idea. Casein is a very slow digesting protein that releases slowly into the blood stream, providing a steady supply of aminos and nutrients that can help with nighttime recovery!

#5 Asparagus
Did you know asparagus is a diuretic? This means that you will be up at night going to the bathroom if you eat too much. Another interesting fact about asparagus, it also contains raffinose, a carbohydrate that is not broken down easily by the digestive system. If you are looking for some healthy veggies for your meal try eating squash, zucchini, or cucumbers instead.

Personal training, online coaching, nutritional guidance and group training sessions are an amazing place for personal growth. For starters you normally pay a certain fee for coaching whether it is online or face to face. You start to plan goals, make a conscious effort to make better life decisions and you start to change your life in small steps.

But as more and more athletes sign up for expert advice, there are a few things I’ve noticed from the other side, the coaching side, that people need to consider before putting the money and time into something.Your coach can be a huge asset in your training and nutritional program but what you don’t know is that there are things your coach can’t do for you if you are not willing to do it yourself,

You need to have your own motivation. Many times you have a personal trainer or nutritional coach who you see maybe weekly and a little more often than that if you want to pay for that. Your coach is there for you in the moments that you see them or personally reach out but what you do with the rest of your day is up to you. If you think that results will follow when you only do what you are instructed to do when you are with your coach you are going to be on a LONG journey !

This is why goals are extremely important to have. You are going to have days where you fall off track. Days that you can’t make it to the gym. Days where your will power will fail you. Have a plan ready for times like these. Your coach can help you identify your goals, negotiate timelines to meet them, and be mindful of key milestones, but your coach cannot give you the purpose or your “why”. That is deeply personal and unique to you. If it’s important enough to you, nothing will get in the way.

So many people are looking for that one diet or training plan that will get them to look like their favorite fitness athlete. Having physical goals are great but what happens when your body is just not designed to do that? What your coach can give you is guidance in the trial and error process of finding out what works for your physiology and your lifestyle. They cannot give you immediate and final answers. Many people want something set in stone like if I workout ___ times a day with ___ diet, my body will look the way I want it to forever. Sadly, it’s ever changing.

Take the time to learn what works with your body both nutritionally and training wise. You might see the person next to you needing a lot of cardio while you need none. Maybe that person works on higher fats and low carbs where you are higher carb person. You can’t based what you do to work for someone else! . Be prepared to try, fail, adjust, and learn with your training/ nutrition coach.

This is the biggest one that needs to be handled. Your coach can’t fix your physiological issues with food! Your coach is not a magician. They cannot wave a magical wand and fix your issues with food. Whether it’s eating too much, too little, or drinking alcohol, either sporadically or all the time, everyone has a weak link to one degree or another.We all have that one deep issue is causing this issue that needs to be uncovered and fixed. It can be a bad breakup, body image issues, or even a childhood trauma, whatever it is, your coach can help you become aware of a psychological issue, but they can’t make it go away.

Ultimately, you’re the one who needs to ask yourself the hard questions, and you don’t want to really commit to the plan, it will never work out to give you the results you want. keep and open mind when you are thinking about hiring a coach or trainer to obtain your goals. They will guide you through very rewarding journey. Your coach is a powerful tool in the decision to reach your goals. Use them for motivation and support. You will learn a lot about yourself if you allow them to help you.