MARCH Challenge: Make SMART Goals

It is March, time for Challenge Number Three in our 12 Months of Fitness: SMART goals.

People often set lofty, general goals such as “I want to lose weight” or “I want to be in better health”, especially this time of year. By setting goals, you take the opportunity to sort through what is important to you and focus on what matters most. Unfortunately, these goals often fall short because there is no specific plan to make them happen. 

So what is the best way to achieve an objective? Be SMART! Smart goals can be just that, intelligent and clever, but in this case, "SMART” defines the steps to take to be successful:

S – Specific

M – Measurable

A – Attainable

R – Reasonable

T – Timed

This functional little formula was designed by Stephen Covey in his book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.  He encourages goal-setting to achieve your full potential and help you on stay on target.

Start by creating 2 to 3 SMART goals. Be sure you feel confident that you can achieve them but don’t be afraid to challenge yourself.

Example Using SMART

Goal: Lose 50 pounds in 7 months

·                       Specific:  Lose 1.6 pounds each week till loss of 50 pounds in 7 months

·                       Mesaurable: Weigh in weekly

·                       Attainable: Yes, reasonable weight and can weight in weekly

·                       Reasonable: Two pounds a week might be difficult - more reasonable for a 1.6 lbs per week

·                       Timed: Weekly weight loss with an end goal of 7 months.

Analysis – Losing 50 pounds in 6 months equals a loss of 8.3 pounds per month, or an average of just over 1.93 pounds per week.   A 50 pound weight loss in 7 months equals 7.14 pounds a month, or about 1.6 pounds a week

Off to Challenge #3 go set some SMART goals!

February Challenge- EXERCISE INTENSITY

One month into the New Year and we are ready to take a look at our next challenge: Exercise Intensity.

We can all agree that exercise is beneficial. In fact, any form of energy expenditure provides benefits, and there are piles of scientific evidence to prove it. Understand, however, that not all exercise is created equal.

The American College of Sports Medicine(ACSM) currently recommends 30 minutes of moderate activity at least 5 days per week (a minimum of 150 minutes per week), or 20 minutes of vigorous activity at least 3 days per week. It is important to periodically reassess your our current routine to determine if we are working out at a high enough level of intensity to suit your specific needs and health concerns.  At some point most individuals will reach a point where they need to move on to the moderate to vigorous intensity levels.

To illustrate, let’s compare walking and running.  We know that to lose one pound of fat we must burn 3,500 calories.  Based on this, and the metabolic equations from ACSM – for a 150-pound person to burn one pound of fat, he/she must walk at 4 mph for 8 hours and 45 minutes or 35 miles or run 8 mph for 3 hours and 42 minutes or 29.5 miles. That is only a 5.5 mile difference, but a whopping time savings of 5 hours and 3 minutes. Granted many people can’t jump from walking 4mph to running 8 mph, but we can gradually incorporate intervals to up the exercise intensity.   As an added bonus, research out of Beaumont hospital in Michigan shows that working out at a higher intensity can over time give us a cardio protective benefit-( limit our risk of a heart attack).

So next time you think about just moving why not pick up the intensity you will not only get more benefit out of your time but provide a better bang for your heart health.

Doing anything is always better than doing nothing, but America is experiencing a health epidemic and lack of exercise intensity and duration contributes greatly to this crisis.

JANUARY CHALLENGE!

Start your new year with good health and fitness!  Over the next 12 months I will offer 12 challenges designed to help you make small improvements in your mind, body, and spirit for lifelong health.

The purpose of each challenge is to simply increase your awareness of your healthy, or unhealthy, food choices and exercise habits. Every decision and every movement you make is driven by both conscious and subconscious triggers. How often do think about the “why” behind your decisions of when and what to eat or how you exercise.

Many of us are multi-taskers, juggling our time between work, school, parenthood, and life in general. But what really happens when we juggle all these obligations? We tend to neglect our health, mindlessly eat, skip the workout, or just go through the motions at the gym. It is impossible to care for yourself if you don’t take time to listen to your body.

And that’s your January challenge! LISTEN TO YOUR BODY!

·         Acknowledge your hunger! Know when you are truly hungry and when you are full. Grazing all day when you are not hungry or starving yourself to lose weight will never lead to a healthy relationship with food.

·         Take the power away from food! There are very few truly BAD foods and no PERFECT food. Food can be pleasurable, but it also needs to power the phenomenal engine that is your body. Eat a variety of foods to meet all of your nutritional needs.

·         Respect your body! You were born with a specific genetic code giving you a unique body type. There are always ways to make improvements and changes to it, but respect the one you were blessed with and make it the best it can be.

·         Honor your health! Make choices that honor your overall health. There are many fit people who are not healthy! Make conscious choices in what you eat and do exercises that will help make you feel better. The goal is to feel good and to have the mental and physical ability to do the activities you choose to do. You do not need to be perfect. You will not suddenly be nutrient deficient or gain weight from one snack, one meal, or one day of less than healthy eating. Missing a workout or two will not cause your body to become weak.  It is consistency over time that matters.

Life is a marathon, not a sprint! Good luck with January’s challenge!

RANDOM ACTS OF…

As the holiday season approaches is important that we take the time to take care of ourselves.  We are 3 dimensional beings nurturing mind, body, and spirit. The stress of this time of year can take its toll on everyone. I propose we all take time out for Random Acts of Mind, Body and Spirit!

Random acts of RELAXATION (MIND): The holidays should be fun, but instead, they can be wracked with stress, anxiety and sometimes even depression. By taking random moments just for you, you can help to reduce some of the anxiety and stress. Meditation, prayer and biofeedback are great ways to relax. Taking time to read a good book, taking a leisurely walk or playing a game with the kids are also ways to unwind.

Random acts of EXERCISE (BODY): As the time crunch hits and the holiday parties abound, finding little random moments to exercise can help keep your fitness plan on track and ward off some of the holiday pounds. Find multiple times during the day where you can take a 2-10 minute exercise break. These can be structured exercises like jumping jacks, lunges, or push ups, or spur of the moment opportunities, like taking an extra flight of stairs or dancing around the house. These become cumulative and can help your holiday season run smooth while you stay fit.

Random acts of KINDNESS (SPIRIT): It is especially nice during this time of year to reach out and touch the spirit of another person.  You might make their day or even their holiday season. These acts do not need to be lavish or extravagant. They can be as simple as buying someone their holiday meal, or sharing a smile or a kind word.

 

By combining Random Acts of Relaxation, Exercise and Kindness we address each component of the individual.  Together, they will relieve stress, keep us healthy, and allow us to reach out and help a neighbor.  HAVE A BLESSED HOLIDAY SEASON!

Jump Rope

All movement requires energy (also known as adenosine triphosphate, or ATP), and our bodies use many energy systems (the ability to convert fat, carbs and protein into ATP) simultaneously to allow us to move with various intensities. The million dollar question is which movement is the best? The answer?? It depends! It depends on what you wish to accomplish.

We all come to the table with different wants and likes, and different body types and health histories.  Therefore, the “best” exercise for you may not be the “best” for someone else. One of the most simple and basic exercises that may work for you may be in your own back yard!  It’s the jump rope! If you are not limited by health concerns, it can add a great metabolic boost and offer the most bang for your work out buck.

To start, jump with both beet together as you swing the rope. Or, alternate the feet as if running.  As you advance you will be able to do a variety of foot positions.

To be an effective jumper it is important to wear a good pair of athletic shoes and be light on the balls of the feet. Make small circles with the wrist while keeping the arms close to the sides of the body. It is important to maintain an upright posture while jumping.

Start with small goals of 20- 50 consecutive jumps, building up to 100 – 500 consecutive jumps. Once you’ve mastered that, work on building up to 10 minutes of non-stop jumping.

Research has found that ten minutes of jump rope is equal to:

·         30 minutes of jogging

·         2 sets of tennis singles

·         18 holes of golf

·         30 minutes of racquet ball playing

·        

Jumping rope can be a versatile tool that can be incorporated in to various aspects of your work out.  It can be an effective warm-up or part of a circuit for high intensity training. It can also be used as an active rest during training, or a workout in and of itself.

No matter how you use the jump rope, it will add variety and intensity to your workouts with almost no equipment.

Hi! I'm Your Heart

I look nothing like the valentines and little heart-shaped candies you give out on Valentine's Day. I am actually about 12 oz in weight (about the size of your fist) and reddish – brown in color.  I am a muscle, located in the middle of your chest, slightly to the left.  Many times when people think of me, they think that I am very delicate and even fragile.  This is very far from the truth.  I am strong enough to circulate all the blood around your body about once every minute.  This provides your body with all the oxygen and nutrients it needs.  As the blood pumps through the body it also carries away waste products.  I am a very hard working double pump system.  One pump carries blood to the lungs and the other pump moves the blood out of the lungs into all the working parts of the body.

Generally if you take care of me you don’t need to give me a second thought. I will keep doing my job.  Occasionally, due to heredity, I may cause some problems.  Most of the time the trouble I give you can be avoided by following some simple rules.  First, lets look at your weight.  When you’re overweight it makes me have to work much harder because I have to push the blood through so much more area. Carrying extra weight can also increase your blood pressure which makes me also have to work harder and get very little rest during my rest time (the bottom number of your blood pressure).

The next thing to consider is smoking.  Nicotine is very stressful to me.  It causes my arteries to constrict which again makes me have to work against pressure.  Nicotine is also a stimulant which makes my normal number of beats per minute speed up.

Now, I would like you to consider exercise.  Regular exercise helps to me relax and decrease some of the stress you put on me.  Exercise will also help to burn off some of that extra weight, which will reduce the stress on me.  Additionally, performing regular exercise (most days of the week) at a moderate intensity helps to create the formation of new blood pathways. 

Finally, let’s consider your eating habits.  By following a healthy eating plan that limits fats and sweets you can reduce the plaque that is forming in my arteries.

So if you could watch your weight, stop smoking, get some regular exercise and cut back on the rich foods you and I can work together for a long time!

JUST GET MOVING!

Many people get stuck, never starting or follow through on an exercise program. They get bogged down on formal conditioning programs which are very structured and aim at achieving a particular goal. More people would have success just by making MOVING as a part of their conditioning program. Moving can be accidental, social and fun. There is definitely a place for structured conditioning, but adherence may be improved if moving for simply enjoyment was just as important.

1) Movements are 3-Dimensional and Dynamic.

2) Movements take into account the effects of gravity.

3) Movements teach your body how to stop, decelerate and control motion.

4) Movements are subconsciously driven...not having to THINK about everything we do.

5) Movements are variable in terms of positions, loads, vertical distance, horizontal distance, and angulations in all three planes of motion and in every possible movement.

6) Movement programs are individualized.

7) Movements are fun and creative and can be applied consistently over time.

8) Movements are done mostly from your feet to take advantage of gravity and ground forces.

9) Movements are specific to your functional needs: Walking, playing with kids, sports, yard work…

10) HAVE FUN, FUN, FUN!!!