Jes Reynolds…Your Fitness Coach

In my previous posts, I addressed the first two of three crucial components to health, fitness, or athletic success: mental preparation and nutrition planning.  In this post I want to focus on the third component, which is exercise.  In order to achieve fitness goals, especially those related to athletic performance, you should incorporate a both resistance training and cardiovascular exercise into your plan. 

 A well designed fitness plan recognizes that exercise is a systematic method of applying stress to the body.  Your body responds to that stress during the recovery process by adapting, and adaptation prepares you for the next workout.  In order to achieve a goal, you should plan to increase or change the type of stress applied to the body during workouts (in both cardio and resistance training) by changing number of reps, increasing amount of weight, limiting rest periods, or changing the type cardio you do.

Remember, the body adapts during the recovery period, not during stress.  If you neglect to include recovery time in your workout plan, it may inhibit your ability to progress and improve at the rate you desire (psst…aka recovery is crucial).

Including progressive exercise in your plan and evaluating yourself from a weekly, monthly, and yearly perspective will prevent you from becoming discouraged about poor performance such as a bad game or a disappointing workout.  As you use this theory you’ll begin to appreciate the times when you’re at your best and encourage yourself through times when your motivation is low or the business of life takes time away from your training schedule.

Progression in the form of cardio, strength, and endurance is one of my favorite things to teach and do in the gym.  It’s how you measure success and progress on the way to achievement.  It’s also an excellent concept to remember when recovering from injury or any type of surgical procedure (with the correct guidance of course).

In my previous two posts, I discussed the first two steps to fitness results, whether it be improved health, general fitness goals, or athletic success: mental preparation and nutrition.  In this post, written by both myself and one of my clients Julia Berman, I will discuss some of the psychological aspects of nutrition using Julia as a real world example.

As you can see, Julia had many beliefs about food that were driving her away from her goals.  When I first started working with Juila, not only was she was working out waaaaaaayyyyyy more than necessary, she was also causing injury to her body by over training, lack of sleep, and lack of proper nutrition.  She hadn’t applied the proper logic to her nutritional plan, in fact I am not sure she had a plan at that point.  But even beyond that, the real issue was that even though Julia did not have the results she wanted, she refused (because of fear) to step back and objectively assess what was happening so she could make necessary changes to get results.

Julia had sortof trapped herself in a place where it SEEMED impossible to make changes or achieve her goals.  But, as usual, I definitely had something to say about this.  Over the course of MANY MANY MANY MANY discussions, I was able to coax her into using the SMART method (or a slightly modified version I guess).  We created a plan for her to follow each month, a plan that included ways to cope with some of her food behaviors and a structured exercise plan to follow.

At first, Julia basically rejected the entire thing and stayed on her own plan.  Although she was really frustrating me by doing this (to the point of being suspended (SHE IS NOT ALONE!!)), she wasn’t doing it on purpose.  Her beliefs and psychology were controlling 90% of her behavior (I got 10%).  After weeks, months, and years of persistence (Jes being a total bossy controlling traininer), Julia started to adhere to both the exercise and nutrition plan.  And wala…she started to see her goals were slowly being acheived!

Listen to what Julia says now (over a year later):

Another nutritional goal I am working on with Jes is understanding my body’s nutritional needs in order to function properly. The focus of nutrition for me has always been focused on weight and calories, but proper nutrition is crucial in order for the body to perform optimally; which includes healing and repairing itself. I have had many injuries over the past few years, and my body has not fully healed from any of them. It wasn’t until the last few weeks that I started to understand that part of my body not healing and performing the way I want could be due to nutritional deficit (that doesn’t just imply calories).

Part of developing a positive attitude towards food has been changing how I view food. Jes is helping me learn to enjoy food. Who knew food could be fun? I think of food as fuel; it’s a source of energy, not a source of pleasure. Jes is helping me to become less rigid and experience some foods that most people would describe as enjoyable (e.g. ice cream and pizza), without feeling that my results will go out the window. I am working towards understanding how these foods can be incorporated in moderation, and not to be scared of them causing me to stay trapped in a place of hating food.

What I would like to point out here is that while Julia felt her goals were far far far away and maybe even impossible, all she needed was a proven method, some encouragement, and the right guidance to get herself onto a healthy path.  She had many behaviors and habits that were actually taking away from her overall health that she didn’t understand, but we were able to work through them so that she could put herself on a new and effective path to success.

By telling this story I hope that everyone would be encouraged that no matter where you are right now, it is only a starting point, and you have the ability to change your course and go forward to achieve your goals.  You can start now by reading about and implementing step 1 and step 2, if you have questions, email me at jes@jesreynolds.com and I will do my best to help you go forward.

In my previous post, I gave a basic description of the first step to getting fitness results.  This includes, defining goals, prioritizing, and then creating a step by step plan to achieving one goal at a time.

In this post, I’m going to take you through the steps necessary for success and discuss simple nutrition ideas and strategies that relate to each step.  

Remember, nutrition is a key component in successfully reaching any goal whether it be weight loss, body fat reduction or athletic performance (some fitness experts suggest that nutrition can account for up to 80% of results…that’s HUGE).

 
Define your goal
Once you define and prioritize your goals, you can then create a meal plan that correlates with your goal.  A nutrition plan for a marathon runner is going to be entirely different than a plan for weight loss, bodybuilding, or sprint distances and recommendations should be tailored to your body and the responses you see and feel after shifting your nutrition.

Troubleshooting tips:

• do not attempt to go without carbs and get lean while training for a marathon (you know who you are)
• do not attempt to lose weight by working out alone
• do not double your workouts and cut your nutrition in half before spring break

Create a step-by-step plan to achieve your goal
Like we’ve talked about in previous posts, effective goal achievement happens when you break your goal down into increments and work one step at a time towards the final result. Studies show that one reason diets fail is the lack of sustainability over time. This means that long-term results occur when you can make permanent changes in your lifestyle.

Tip:

• Use the time frame you’ve set for your goal to make gradual changes in diet as well as fitness.

S.M.A.R.T. Goal Nutrition Example
Let’s use the example of wanting to lose 10 lbs in 8 weeks as a goal. Next, we create a map that leads us to that goal.  You will need a “MAP” for both exercise and nutrition.

Nutrition “MAP” Steps:

1. Determine your current caloric intake.
2. Second, create a food log and track what and how much you eat for the first week.
3. Cut out pop, juice, and late night snacks.
4. Follow these guidelines for 3 weeks and assess your results.

What happened…did you lose weight?  Did you gain weight?  Did you have the energy necessary to workout as you planned?  Once you understand your response to making a few small changes, you can adjust your healthy eating plan and exercise activities to accomplish more.  Remember to stop and asses the effect of the changes you’ve made before continuing forward for the entire 8 weeks.

In this post I’ve illustrated the importance of nutrition and how you might create a nutrition “map” to help you reach your fitness related goals.  As I said, nutrition is a huge contributor to any fitness goal and should be addressed with the same importance than exercise.  In my next post, I would like to discuss a huge roadblock people face on their path to fitness results…psychology and behavior.  In my experience, those who reach their fitness goals and sustain them over time are the people who have an understanding of their own behavior and psychology as it relates to both food and exercise and have developed a system that works effectively for them as an individual.  If you would like to learn more about creating a nutrition “map” or reaching fitness related goals, email me at jes@jesreynolds.com