Every day we see more extreme “fitness programs” advertised with high-intensity workouts and volumes of work that even my elite athletes would never hold up to. “What most recreational athletes and fitness buffs don’t realize is that elite athletes spend more than half of their time in the gym on injury prevention, and the rest of the time on performance enhancement. Safe and effective stretching and injury prevention workouts might not be spectacular to watch, but they allow athletes to work harder at their sport and in the gym on performance enhancement.” Robert Forster – Physical Therapist to 42 Olympic Medalists, NBA and Grand Slam Champions and Member of the Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness.
What Jonathan Angelilli in his article “The Massive Fitness Trend That’s Not Actually Healthy at All” described as all-out war on the body, what he called the “militarization of fitness — all the boot camps, marine-inspired workouts, extreme workout routines, and general glorification of pain. Even our recovery and regeneration techniques are prioritized by how painful they are.
How Does the Militarization of Fitness Affect Your Workout?
In every way possible. It affects your health, happiness, the sustainability of your program, and your ability to reach your goals.
Do you believe any of the following are true?
No pain, no gain. You have to suffer to get in shape.
More is always more.
Working out is not fun, but it’s an obligation.
If I don’t almost throw up, I’m holding back too much.
You’re only as good as your last workout.
I feel like a loser when I miss a workout.
If you answered yes, then you’re at the “exercise is war” understanding of fitness!
“I spent a decade there, with plenty of joint casualties and war stories to prove it. So I’m not belittling you—I’m just saying that this isn’t the only way to train, and it sure as heck isn’t sustainable” Jonathan Angelilli
Periodization Training
A better approach, periodization training with the 24Fit Workout, give u more stamina, strength, & an overall greater performance! The basic premise of all well designed exercise programs is the progressive overload principle. Fitness must be “pushed” from below, i.e. starting slow and progressing to harder workouts slowly. 24Fit builds your fitness up with a stair step series of methodical, progressive challenges and recoveries that strengthen your body and keep brain and brawn fresh.
The calories you burn during workouts are inconsequential to your overall body weight or body fat content! Instead, it is how well you use your exercise time to reprogram your daily physiology that matters. Take a look at this graphic comparing “What people think they need to do, to look better, lose fat get in shape” v What people actually need to do”?
Take a look at the 24 Fit Workout, a 24 week programme with 3 phases. Key advantages:
Teach your body to burn body fat over time rather than just burn carbs..
Address common vulnerabilities of the human body regardless of age or previous activity level. Make your body more resilient to injury, unlike many “insane workouts” which lead to injuries
Periodization training so you need to sequence your training, to develop one aspect of fitness at a time and then use that as a foundation to build the next. And principles which recognise that all exercise is much less effective if rest and recovery periods are not provided.
Workout lasts for 30 mins, the time it would take you to drive to the gym and back!. This length of workout is achievable over time. “Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.” Why strength training 3 times a week for 30 minutes?
You will be less likely to quit the 24 Fit Workout once you get started because it follows scientific training principles. The program progresses your fitness naturally, so that you not only keep going, but never want to stop!
Improve posture with 24Fit. Standing up straight can improve breathing and digestion. And uses less energy. A good antidote for all those people stuck at their desks all day.
Has 3 levels of difficulty so any age, any condition, anyone can build a better body! ( beginner, intermediate and advanced)
Clear instruction, it’s like having a PT in the room with you.
Includes nutritional advice, which is so important to get results, including what to take around exercise
Developed by Robert Forster a PT that has has worked with top athletes such as Pete Sampras, Jackie Joyner Kersee, Florence “Flo-Jo” Joyner, Greg Foster, Allyson Felix, as well as weight management clients looking to burn fat. Thirty years of experience in a set of 13 DVDs! He learnt from his work with endurance athletes how to burn fat as an energy source, rather than carbs. And hes wriiten a new book called Healthy Running – Step by Step
Additional sources:
Read article – The Massive Fitness Trend That’s Not Actually Healthy at All
When it comes to finding motivation to get up off the couch and improve your fitness level, sometimes it takes more than willpower alone to make it happen.
‘I’m too busy and I can’t find the time.‘
This is the number one excuse I hear for not exercising and, you may find it hard to believe, but this was also my go-to excuse after having triplets. It was an excuse that really worked because who would ever disagree? My four young kids sure do take up a lot of time.
And this ‘I’m too busy…‘ excuse sounds so much better and less embarrassing than the truth: ‘I’m just too tired and I don’t have the motivation’.
The reality is that we can all make time to add activity into our life. All we need to do is realize that excuses will only hurt us in the long term. Sometimes it takes a health scare or an embarrassing moment to force us to address the issue but why wait for that to happen before improving your life?
My changing moment was being asked to leave a steam room at the spa and being lectured in front of a full crowd on how heat could harm my unborn child. Sounds awful, right? The real problem was that my babies were five months old already. Talk about a cringe worthy moment! This was all the motivation I needed to get my body and fitness back on track.
3 ways to squeeze in a workout into your day:
1. Set your alarm 30 minutes earlier
This may seem like an obvious tip but it definitely takes motivation not to hit the snooze button and lie back down!
My next piece of advice may seem crazy but it worked for me: for the first few weeks wear a loose fitting workout kit to bed or place your workout outfit with your tennis shoes right next to your bed. When the alarm starts buzzing, put on your socks and shoes and get to it.
Working out at home or close to home is the best way to start out because it removes any excuses about joining a gym or having to travel anywhere. Sure, jogging along a beach at dawn may sound nice but, in reality, you probably need to get your workout done and dusted as quickly as possible.
As your body gets used to the time adjustment, add an extra 10 minutes so that you can actually comb your hair and brush your teeth before you go!
2. Pack your workout clothes and take them to work.
If you are not a morning person then it’s time for Plan B: the lunchtime power-walk. Schedule it in like you would a dentist or your hair salon appointment. It’s funny that we wouldn’t dream of not getting our hair cut but taking care of our health often gets overlooked or sidelined.
Asking a co-worker to join you will give you the extra motivation not to skip a session.
3. Split your workout into smaller segments.
If finding a full 30 minutes is too difficult, then try to do three or more mini workouts. It’s fine to accumulate your workout throughout your day.
This tip works especially well for stay-at-home-moms with young children because occupying a child for 10 minutes while you jump around and squeeze in a workout is a realistic goal.
If you work in an office and sit down all day, try taking a brief 10 minutes to stretch out or walk around the office, it may improve your energy level and boost your concentration.
Making an activity part of your lifestyle instead of a chore makes results easier to achieve. You might be amazed at how quickly small changes really do add up. Trust me, I’ve tried these and they worked for me. When I first got back into exercise, I sometimes went with tip one and other days I chose tip two or three, but I made sure to aim for at least 30 minutes every day and I began feeling more active, and consequently happier, in no time.
Once I decided to ditch my excuses and made time in my day to exercise, I was able to quickly progress to a regular spinning class and being active became just something I did rather than something I had to think about. People even started complementing me on all the extra energy I seemed to have.
So, no excuses - everybody can find time to exercise.
Written by Samantha Clayton. Samantha is a paid consultant to Herbalife.
Cardio exercise can include activities like walking, running, aerobics, cycling, swimming, dancing and workout DVDs. Cardio workouts strengthens the heart and lungs, increases endurance and burns calories which helps you lose weight.
Strength training is another form of exercise that works the body in a different way than cardio. With strength training, you lift weights (dumbbells, barbells, resistance bands, machines, etc.) to strengthen the muscles, bones and connective tissue. Strength training is just as important for weight loss as cardio. Through strength training, you build lean muscle tissue which raises metabolism and reduces body fat as long as you’re also watching your calorie intake. Adding even a few pounds of muscle will increase the number of calories your body burns each and every day.
Tom Holland ” Many people complain that, as they age, they eat and exercise the same amount but still gain weight. One of the main causes of this is loss of muscle mass. The more muscle mass you have, the more calories you burn. Strength training preserves and even increases muscle mass, keeping metabolism at a high level. Genetically, women have less muscle than men, and as a woman ages, the preservation of lean muscle becomes vital”
Why Strength Training Works
For light exercise, your metabolism may be elevated for just a few minutes after exercise, but for more intense activities, like weight training for instance, your metabolism may be elevated for up to 36 hours after your workout. When you perform strength training, you’re burning additional calories for a much longer period of time than if you merely do cardio exercise.
Muscles are like ” far furnaces” they burn calories…
Focusing only on cardio and skipping strength training could actually make it harder for you to lose weight. In fact, you may even gain weight – especially if your cardio workouts exceed 45 minutes. If you do cardio too long, your body consumes muscle for energy. For most people, that “too long” mark is at about 45 minutes. Done over and over again, day after day, this excess cardio could have a substantial impact on your body – and the muscle loss could decrease your metabolism and result in weight gain.
If you working out at the gym and have 60 minutes of gym time, here’s a recommendation of a client looking to lose weight:
25 minutes of cardio (5 minutes of warming up, 15 minutes of intervals, 5 minutes of cooling down)
30 minutes of strength training
5 minutes of post-workout stretching
If you are working out at home for 30 mins a day, then alternate between strength training and cardio work outs, in the time it takes to drive to the gym!
An effective fat loss program like 24Fit, will include regular strength training and cardio workouts, which are done on seperate days. Another important component is, of course, eating a healthy diet as well. Ask any fitness pro or nutrition expert and you will hear that diet is typically about 80% responsible when it comes to losing weight, with exercise contributing 20%. By implementing all three components, you can maximize your weight loss and your health.
Post Exercise Shake
Have you had your shake after your’e exercise or dance class?! “Important! Don’t skip your protein shake after you exercise and think that you’ll save calories! A protein shake after training accelerates lean muscle growth, which in turn revs your metabolism and burns more fat. Ideally aim for at least 20g of protein that includes Leucine (an amino acid that boosts muscle growth – found in Herbalife 24’s REBUILD range!” . Or if your using the existing range, then a combination of Formula 1 and 3. The optimum time for taking the shake is within 30 mins of exercise. Also avoids you eating something unhealthy as you are starving hungry! What many clients do, is to have a sip of their shake before the workout( getting some fuel in the engine), then the remainder of the shake afterwards.
