New Year Fitness Resolution DON'TS
Get Fit this New Year
Every year— during the first few weeks of January and February—my gym gets packed with new people making New Year fitness resolutions.
By the middle of February the number of cars in the parking lot start to dwindle, gym equipment becomes more easily accessible, and the personal trainers start spending more and more time texting on their phones. By March or April, the gym is back to its normal ebb and flow.
Why Most Resolutions Don’t Work
Many people don’t stick to their fitness resolutions past a few weeks because they don't set realistic expectations when it comes results, duration of workouts, and habits.
They also go about it all wrong when it comes to working out. Instead of quality, they think quantity, and that is where the problem arises.
Increasing the number of hours at the gym may help a habitually sedentary person whose act of just getting off the couch is going to help in weight loss, but for the regular person looking to lose the 10-15 pounds that has crept up on them, the real solution is to workout smarter not longer.
Changing body composition requires the SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant & Time-Bound) method.
Tips for what NOT to do
Below are the top 5 fitness DON’TS to keep in mind when setting fitness resolutions:
1. Don’t only rely on steady state cardio alone
Endless hours on the elliptical or treadmill will burn you out and won't give you the quick results you want. Instead look at mixing things up with lower duration (think 20-30 minutes) but higher intensity workouts (think intervals).
Avoid the 50+ minutes of steady pace cardio if you want to improve your body's ability to burn fat and build lean muscle.
An example of a SMART resolution DO: I will do 2 HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) sessions a week at 20 minutes each for 3 months. In 3 months, I will reassess and perhaps work on adding 5 additional minutes of HIIT to each session.
2. Don’t be afraind of the heavy weights
You will not get big and bulky by lifting weights.
I actually want to get a little big and bulky and no matter how hard and heavy I lift, I have a difficult time gaining enough muscle mass to get bulky. My female hormones make it quite difficult to look manly, and instead weight training has made my cellulite disappear and I look more toned because I have muscle under my skin that holds it taught.
If you are not building muscle, you've got fat holding its place. Fat is all wobbley and squishy, adding to the look of cellulite dimples under your skin. You can be thin, but if you don't weight train, you probably have a higher fat to muscle ratio, making you "skinny fat".
Strength training is also crucial for bone health and overall long-term health, and will improve your body composition and help you burn fat faster as your muscles continue to burn energy even at rest.
An example of aSMART resolution DO: I will start weight training twice a week for 30-45 minutes a week for 3 months. In 3 months I will reassess and aim to add one additional day of weight training to my schedule.
3. Don't forget that Diet is 80% of the game
I hear this time and time again: "You simply can't out-train a bad diet"… and it’s true. No matter how hard you stick to your workout schedule, if you are eating junk and not providing sufficient fuel for your system to run on, you will not see any results. At the same time, don't diet or think calorie restriction, but instead, think of food as fuel for your workouts.
Carefully consider the amount of each macro-nutrient (Carbs, Fats & Proteins) necessary for muscle building. Use a simple BMR calculator to calculate the amount of calories your body needs at rest, and from there calculate how much your body needs with additional training.
Don’tt take in less calories than your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) requires but do switch bad eating habits for healthier options. At the begining, you can use a calorie tracking tool and track your meals everyday to get a better sense of what you are putting in your mouth along with portion sizes and servings.
An example of aSMART resolution DO: I will start to track my diet using myfitnesspal.com everyday for 2 weeks. I will cut out overly processed foods and for 3 months I will eat 3-6 meals a week that I have personally made at home.
4. Don't waste time doing ab work
Getting a thinner midsection comes from overall fat loss and not from doing 20minutes of ab exercises. Through compound exercises like squats, deadlifts, dips, pull ups, and chin ups, you can engage your abs while strengthening large muscle groups that are going to burn fat even after your workout is over.
Abdominal muscles are particularly sensitive to excess fat storage and so a tweak of the diet is what's required to get those 6 packs coming through.
With that said, I don’t believe that abs are a key indicator of good health, but if that is a goal that you are after, you must set realistic goals.
An example of a SMART resolution DO: I will include compound exercises that engage my abs in every workout session. I will learn how to do Barbell Squats, Deadlifts, Upright Rows, Kettlebell Swings, and aim to do 1 unassisted chin-up at the end of 3 months.
5. Don't spend so much time at the gym
Your workout regimen should be relatively short but meaningful.
Set a training schedule, go in with a purpose to have an intense workout, spend no more than 40mins to an hour there, and be sure to listen to your body and give it proper rest.
Rest days and enough sleep are crucial to building muscle and balancing your hormones. You will also be less likely to get burned out if you give your muscles the proper rest they need.
With that said, do not take more than 3 days off between workouts since you want to make working out a habitual ritual and should be scheduled into your weekly schedule.
SMART resolution DO: I will work out 3 days a week, for 50 minutes each day. I will be sure to rest for a minimum of 24 hours between each workout and get 6-7 hours of sleep minimum each night (8 would be best, but for some, 7 hours is still asking a lot, small steps).
Ready, Set, Go!
This March, I hope to see all of the January Resolution Makers still at the gym and feeling fabulous. I want to have a hard time finding space in the parking lot and want to wait for every machine and barbell before I can get 'em.
Don't be hard on yourself, real change takes real time and consistency, but everyone was a beginner at one point or other.
Set attainable goals, ask for help every chance you get, and track your progress through photos and the fit of your clothes. Do not use the scale as your only method of measurement and be sure to give it at least 2-3 months before you expect any changes.
To a Positively Strong year,
Sunny