Jes Reynolds…Your Fitness Coach

 In the first two gym tips I discussed, we addressed the first two of three crucial components to health, fitness, or athletic success: mental preparation and nutrition.  Our next tip is focused on the third component, which is exercise.  In order to achieve fitness goals, especially those related to athletic performance, you should incorporate a progressive resistance exercise program into your plan.

A simple explanation of progressive resistance is that of Milo of Croton and his ability to carry an adult bull on his shoulders, which obviously requires amazing strength.

Milo (Greek: ?????) of Croton was a 6th century BC wrestler from the Greek city of Croton in southern Italy who enjoyed a brilliant wrestling career and won many victories in the most important athletic festivals of ancient Greece.[1][2][3] In addition to his athletic victories, Milo is credited by the ancient commentator Diodorus Siculus with leading his fellow citizens to military triumph over neighboring Sybaris in 510 BC.

Milo was said to be an associate of Pythagoras. One story tells of the wrestler saving the philosopher’s life when a roof was about to collapse upon him, and another that Milo may have married the philosopher’s daughter Myia. Like other successful athletes of ancient Greece, Milo was the subject of fantastic tales of strength and power, some, perhaps, based upon misinterpretations of his statues. Among other tales, he was said to have carried a bull on his shoulders, and to have burst a band about his brow by simply inflating the veins of his temples.

…Legends say he carried his own bronze statue to its place at Olympia, and once carried a four-year-old bull on his shoulders before slaughtering, roasting, and devouring it in one day.[2][3] He was said to have achieved the feat of lifting the bull by starting with a newborn ox, and carrying it everyday.[12][13]

^{Source:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milo_of_Croton}

The take-away from this story is that each day Milo lifted just a little more than the day before until he achieved an amazing goal.  This is the definition and purpose of progressive resistance exercise. 

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 (progressive resistance exercise).  By changing number of reps, increasing amount of weight, limiting rest periods, or changing the type cardio you do, you’ll be incorporating progressive resistance into your plan.

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…one of the crucial gym tips). 

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.

Progressive resistance is one of my favorite gym tips, and one which I use to determine the type of workouts I do each day.  It’s also an excellent concept to remember when recovering from injury or any type of surgical procedure.

Of course it’s important to know which workout ideas will help you achieve your goals, but sometimes the most valuable gym tips are those you’ll use when you’re living life outside the gym.  If you truly want to succeed, learning to create a healthy nutrition menu that considers your specific goals is a must.

Define your goal

It’s important to realize that 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.

Once you’ve determined your goal, make sure it’s defined clearly, using S.M.A.R.T. Goals is the method I recommend using to ensure goals set properly.

Create a step-by-step plan to achieve your goal

Like we’ve talked about in previous posts, effective goal achievment 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.

S.M.A.R.T. Goal Nutrition Example

A common goal among fitness enthusiasts is to lose 10 lbs. Basically, this is a smart goal, but it doesn’t include a time factor. 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. While exercise will be a significant contributor to acheiving success, learning to create a healthy nutrition menu is paramount.

First, determine your current caloric intake.  Second, create a food log and track what and how much you eat for the first week.  Ad at least 3 20 minute workouts per week.  Cut out pop, juice, and late night snacks.  Follow these guidelines for 3 weeks and assess your results.  Did you lose weight?  Did you gain weight?  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 6 weeks.

I’ve also written an article that explains the importance of creating a healthy nutrition menu and why it’s one of the most important gym tipsyou can utilize.  Educating yourself in the subjects of nutrition and exercise will propell you forward so I encourage you to read this and offer me feedback or questions if you have them.

Gym Tips & Workout Ideas – Tip # 1: Start with a clear and specific goal

Whether you are a fitness novice or seasoned expert who aspiring to achieve new things, clear and specific goals will create your path to success.  Defining how to set clear and specific goals has been characterized in many ways, one of the most common being by setting S.M.A.R.T. goals (from Wikipedia): 

S = Specific
M= Measurable/meaningful
A= Attainable
R = Relevant/realistic
T = Time-bound

When you have decided to reach a new level of health, fitness, or athleticism (such as a new 5k or triathlon time) start with the end in mind.  Define exactly what succeeding means to you by using the S.M.A.R.T. goal setting system.  Once you’ve defined your goal, then create a realistic plan that takes you forward step by step until you’ve achieved your objective.

This is one of the simplest yet most important gym tips I can share.  There are millions of health club members working out each day with the simple goal of losing weight, yet year after year their weight stays the same, and it’s not due to lack of desire!  Almost everyone wants to lose weight! 

What is it that holds so many back from achieving this simple goal?  I believe it’s lack of clear direction combined with an influx of confusing, hypnotic marketing messages that fill peoples minds with unrealistic and often unhealthy expectations of what they can achieve.  Long term health and true weight loss does not come from a bottle or a pill, it’s the result of hard work and tenacity, derived from dedicated effort in one direction.

Unfortunately, the goal of ‘losing weight’ + a health club membership does not = weight loss success. It’s just not that simple.  While purchasing a health club membership is a step in the right direction, if you’ve been doing that same workout year in and year out with no results, it’s time to reassess. 

Instead of having a general weight loss goal, try to make it more specific and attach a time factor.  For instance, reducing a pant or dress size in one month or building 5 lbs. lean body mass and losing 5% body fat in three months are both goals that fit within the S.M.A.R.T. guidelines. 

Once you’ve determined your goal, develop a realistic plan to help you achieve it.  Realize that your plan may have to include health and fitness education, either through books or the services of a personal trainer.  If you’ve set an athletic goal, you might employ the services of a sports specific coach or a nutritionist.

Using this method to set health, fitness, and athletic goals will allow you to measure your success or failure to achieve them.  If you missed achieving your goal, refuse to give up.  Instead you can reconfigure your plan and identify strategies that did and didn’t work for you, set a new time frame, and continue forward.

While it may seem trite, this simple concept combined with the appropriate health and fitness education is more effective than any of the popular supplements, workout ideas or gym tips you might find in popular magazines or fitness products.