by jc | Jan 11, 2024 | Diet/Nutrition, homepage, mindset, weight loss, Workouts
As you already know, this is the time of year people start diet and exercise routines with the best of intentions, and then usually anywhere from 2 weeks to 2 months later, something happens and they quit…. Then try again at some point in the year or the next January, and so on. The on and off again roller coaster of results.
If the previous paragraph describes you, then I have good news – you can easily get off that roller coaster and get results this year. This can be the year you stick to your new year’s fitness resolutions!
How??? One simple word – CONSISTENCY
I have worked with thousands of people over the past 20 years and I have found that the number one thing in common with all the people who have achieved the best results, more than the best routine, or hardest worker, or who sacrificed the most, and so on, is that the people with the best results were the ones who were consistent. The ones who consistently do their workouts and who consistently eat decent (while still cheating!).
If you want to make this the year that you stick to your new year’s fitness resolutions, you have to make exercising regularly your top priority, even over your diet.
Priority Shift
Start with a priority shift. Remember, if you eat bad all the time and you don’t exercise, you will go backwards in your health and weight. The key is to make exercise a priority. You are going to cheat on your diet at some point, and I totally encourage you to cheat. If you don’t, you are ultimately setting yourself up for failure because if you don’t intentionally cheat, you will do it at some point and then throw in the towel completely. So, start with exercise consistency as the most important part of your health and fitness journey. Your diet will come and go, but if your exercise is consistent, then you will always be either moving forward or staying the same, instead of going backwards. See when you place all of your results on your diet and don’t exercise, when you fail on your diet, you go backwards with your results because then you aren’t dieting or exercising. If exercise is consistent, then when you are eating good and exercising, you will be moving forward and when you are eating bad, you will at least not go backwards because your exercise will keep you moving forward.
Your Default Settings
Back to the priority shift. You have to change your default settings with exercise. You have to make it like your job. Let’s say you work Monday through Friday 9am-5pm. Your default settings with your job is that you go to work to work every day Monday through Friday, except for when you call in sick or take time off intentionally. You don’t wake up on Monday morning and say to yourself, “I think I’ll go to work today.” You already have work planned. It’s your default setting. You need exercise and diet to be the same. You have days you workout and eat good as your normal default setting and it’s already in your routine to workout and eat good that day – unless you get sick or decide to take a day off or decide to cheat on your diet. Then after the intentional day off, you are back on your plan. With work, we don’t miss a few days due to sickness or vacation and then say “well I missed so much work, the damage is done, I’ll just quit working…” But for some reason we do that with our workouts and diet. So, if and when, you miss, the key is getting back on your plan.
Don’t Aim for Perfection
Remember, you don’t have to be perfect with your routine. You don’t have to eat good all the time. You just have to never completely quit! I cheat on my diet very regularly. Probably more than most people. The difference is that I never totally quit. Most weeks I exercise 5 days per week and take 2 days off and cheat on my diet at least 3 or 4 times per week. But there are some weeks where life happens, or I travel, or holidays, etc. where I miss some workouts and I cheat more than normal. But after these weeks, I don’t quit, I just continue back to my normal default settings.
If you stay consistent, you will not only get results, you will keep them! Our bodies are designed to where you have to exercise and eat good (not great) most (not all) of the time. No one gets a pass. But for some reason we think our health is optional. As we all know, when we quit for months or years at a time, our bodies don’t just freeze and pick up where we left off.
So, make this the year you are consistent. Instead of trying to do great and then quitting, try to do good without quitting. Instead of 100% perfect diet and then quitting, try to eat good 80% of the time and bad 20% of the time, but doing this consistent without quitting. And never give up on your exercise – it takes the pressure off the diet!
Final Thoughts
I have used these principles and many more listed in my book, Calorie Budgeting 101, to get and maintain results myself and help thousands of others over the years, so I know without a doubt it works!
To easily get started and lay the groundwork for your routine, message me about our 6 Week Total Body Transformation – which can be done in person at Hoover Fitness or remotely if you don’t live in the area.
CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE TO OUR MAILING LIST and get FREE weekly tips and advice that we guarantee will help you on your health and fitness journey!
by jc | Dec 27, 2023 | Diet/Nutrition, homepage, weight loss, Workouts
No more New Years Resolutions that end up in failure within the first month! These 6 tips will get you off that year after year roller coaster of failed attempts and set you up for success to reach your health and fitness goals now and in the long run.
Have the Right Mindset
To reach your health and fitness goals, you need to have the right mindset. You want to set yourself up for success, not failure. Most of the time, people approach their diet and exercise the wrong way and they set themselves up for failure. So what is the right mindset? Think big-picture, and think GOOD, not great. Most people think that they have to get all of their desired results NOW, and then when they don’t see them, they quit and then go backwards and even further away from their goals. You have to think big-picture.
You have to think long term. Remember, diet and exercise have to be a part of your life forever, so you might as well think of it in the long term. Our bodies are designed to be taken care of and if you don’t exercise and you don’t eat right, then you will go backwards. So, yes it is a life-sentence, but it doesn’t have to be a bad one. Your goal is to do good, not great, and do it for a long time. Most people try to do everything perfect. They go from doing no exercise and eating terrible to going crazy with their exercise and going on some super-strict diet. It’s too far from what you were doing and it’s too much to sustain, so you quit and then you are back to not exercising, not eating good, and you start going backwards. (this is the roller-coaster of losing 10lbs, then quitting and gaining 20lbs, then starting back and losing 10lbs, then quitting and gaining another 20lbs, etc., on and off for years and years). It’s all mindset! Think progressive changes. Think GOOD instead of great. Start exercising regularly and start making easy changes in your diet that will help you improve without total deprivation, which causes you to quit.
I can’t express how important this mindset thing is. I have spent 25 years teaching people how to be a normal person and still get results and how to avoid the pitfalls that cause people to quit. I have created a system that allows you to enjoy life while getting results. This is a system for the person who wants results and still wants to enjoy life. I could write several more pages explaining this, and I have… For a quick and easy read showing you exactly how you can get real results while still enjoying life, check out my book, Calorie Budgeting 101.
Consistency
I have worked with thousands of people over the past 25 years and I have found that the number one thing in common with all the people who reach their health and fitness goals, more than the best routine, or hardest worker, or who sacrificed the most, and so on, is that the people who reached their health and fitness goals were the ones who were consistent. The ones who consistently do their workouts and who consistently eat decent (while still cheating!).
While it is important what you are doing for your workouts, cardio, and diet, it is even more important that whatever you do, you do it consistently. The best program in the world will not work if you do not do it. So make consistency your top priority and then worry about what you are doing.
Commit to not quitting for an entire year. I don’t mean never missing a workout or never cheating on your diet. What I mean is commit to not quitting completely. Miss days here and there, go on vacation, take sick time, etc., but just like you do with your job, when the missed time is over, get back to work!
Pick the Right Workout Program
To reach your health and fitness goals, you need to choose the right workout program. You need to choose a workout program that is safe, efficient, and effective, and one that is sustainable for a long time.
Most of us are super busy, so time is of the essence. Look for workouts that are 45 minutes or less and cover pretty much every body part. This way time is not wasted and you won’t miss working any specific areas of your body. My workouts at Hoover Fitness and via my Virtual Personal Trainer are all 45 minutes or less and cover every body part. We also superset exercises and do combination exercises which make them very efficient.
It will be very difficult to reach your health and fitness goals if you get injured. But, you can get in great workouts that produce great results and great strength gains without getting injured. In our programs at Hoover Fitness and via my Virtual Personal Trainer, no one ever gets injured. The reason being is because the moves are designed for the individual and can be adjusted to their limitations and also because we use dumbbells instead of bars and racks. The benefit of dumbbells is that they conform to your body’s movements, whereas a bar requires more that you conform to it.
There are lots of great programs out there. I recommend finding something to follow that uses dumbbells, is not competition based, and that works multiple body parts per workout. Find a workout program that is safe, efficient, and effective, and also that can be adjusted to your improvements and advances throughout the year.
Do Cardio in Addition to Weight Training
The 3 main components in your health and fitness are to workout, eat better, and do cardio. If you haven’t gotten results in the past, there is a good chance it is because you left out one of these three, and usually it is cardio.
Cardio not only will help you with your heart health, stamina, and health in general, it will also help you burn fat and tone up. In addition to those benefits, cardio will help you have better endurance for your strength training workouts, thus enabling you to get more out of those workouts.
And most importantly, working out regularly and doing cardio regularly take the pressure off of the diet. Your diet will never be perfect, so the more you can be consistent with your workouts and cardio, the less your diet failures will effect you.
My advice is always to work hard for 15-20 minutes. If you are working hard enough, 15 minutes on a regular basis is plenty. Often times people walk or do something easy for 45 minutes or an hour and get nothing really from it. Their mind tells them that they are working hard because they went so long, but the reality is that there is a reason they were able to go so long – it was easy. My best advice that I can give for cardio is that it is not how far you go or how long you go, it’s how hard you work.
As for what to do for your cardio, pretty much anything that causes your heart rate to increase and stay increased for 15-20 minutes will suffice. If you are at home, this could be a jog or run outside, up and down stairs, riding a bicycle, etc. At a gym, you can use the treadmill, an elliptical machine, a stairstepper, an exercise bike, or any other equipment in the cardio area.
Get out of your comfort zone and be miserable, but only for a short amount of time, like 15 minutes. Not only will you get better results, it will be better for your joints and keep you from racking up chronic injuries that accrue over time when you just keep rolling up that odometer.
Have a Realistic Diet
You can’t reach your health and fitness goals by going on some crazy, miserable fad diet. You need to have a realistic diet. Start simple and with small changes. People fail on their diets because they change too much too fast and deprive themselves of everything and then they quit. And when they quit, they quit everything, including their exercise.
Commit to exercising, then the pressure should be off the diet. Your diet will come and go, but your exercise can be consistent.
Find ways to cut calories without being miserable. One way to do this is to take something that you normally eat and replace it with something that you like that has less calories. Then it becomes relative to what you normally eat, not relative to what the actual food item is.
Skip a meal. Yes, skip a meal. This is by far the easiest way to cut calories. The bottom line is your calories in vs. calories out. You have already increased the calories out by your exercise, so find ways to reduce the calories in. The bigger the deficit is each day, the faster you get results. You don’t have to eat 5 times per day, and you don’t have to eat breakfast. Never eat because you think you have to.
Avoid snacking. Grab a cup of coffee or a piece of gum. Cut out those snacks and you have cut out those calories.
Drink lots of water. Water will make you feel more full and also help your body operate better with your exercise. Shoot for 64-100 ounces per day.
I could go on and on about the diet and what to do and what not to do to keep you from quitting, but for the sake of simplicity in getting started, just implement these few diet tips. For a lot more easy diet tips and help with the mental side of all this, read my latest eBook, Calorie Budgeting 101. It is a quick read and the ultimate diet guide for the person who wants results and still wants to eat the foods they love and enjoy life.
Take Supplements
You get aftermarket accessories for your car. You get the best equipment for sports and hobbies. But yet when it comes to health and fitness, people hold back on getting “extras” that can boost performance and help achieve health and fitness goals easier.
If you take the right things, then you can get even better results with little to no extra effort, which is always a good thing to keep you going and keep you happy.
Think of taking supplements like an athlete having the best gear. A baseball player having the best bat and cleats and then taking supplements to get the most out of his training. Or like If you get into running, and you wanted to get serious about it, you wouldn’t just start running without doing anything else. You would probably start by getting good running shoes and then taking supplements for your performance.
There are a lot of quality supplements out there that can help you get results in the gym and with your diet. While there are a lot of great supplements on the market today, I am going to talk about the supplements that I take and recommend professionally. As always, do your own research. But if you want my professional opinion, then I would advise these.
As for workout performance supplements, I personally take and professionally recommend Prestige Labs products. If you are looking for something to help you lose weight and burn body fat without having to do anything other than take a product, then take a look at the Prestige Heat and the Prestige Crush. These are two of the most popular products we sell in our weight loss workout programs. Check out all of their amazing products by clicking HERE.
As for health-type supplements, I recommend Juice Plus+ fruits and vegetable capsules. I have personally been taking Juice Plus+ for almost 20 years and it is a great way to get real, whole food nutrition without having to eat a ton of calories. The recommended amount of fruits and vegetables is 7-13 servings of raw fruits and vegetables per day. If you eat this amount, then you will reap amazing health benefits, including heart health, feeling better, better immune system, and much more. The problem is that it is impossible to physically eat that amount. Plus the cost and the calories would be way too high. Juice Plus+ gets you this amount of fruits and vegetables daily, in a capsule! learn more at by clicking HERE.
Final Thoughts
Make this the year that you stick with it. The year that you get results and keep them. The year that you make exercise a priority in your life. January is the time to get started. Motivation is usually very high in January, so use that motivation to get started. But have the right mindset, be consistent, pick the right workout program, do cardio in addition to weight training, have a realistic diet, and take supplements, so you will be able to make this the year. Realize that health and fitness is not optional and that to get results you have to do the things things that are needed on a regular basis. If you make the right decisions with your health and fitness, you will be able to get results and keep getting them for a long time.
CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE TO OUR MAILING LIST and get FREE weekly tips and advice that we guarantee will help you on your health and fitness journey!
by jc | Nov 21, 2023 | Diet/Nutrition, homepage, Workouts
Regardless of where you are currently with your health and fitness, you can get in shape at 50. Not only can you get in amazing shape at 50, you can drastically improve your strength, your health, your energy, and basically every other area of life. The damage is not done! So keep reading and find out the best way to get in shape at 50.
Do Weight Training
If you want to get in shape at 50, then you absolutely need to be doing weight training. As you age, you start losing muscle, so to combat that loss you need to be doing weight training even more so than in your younger days.
Another reason to be doing weight training at 50 is to improve bone density. As you age, you become more susceptible to bone density issues. Resistance training helps create stronger bones and helps improve your bone density.
A third reason to be doing weight training at 50 (or any age) is because weight training builds muscle, and muscle helps burn fat. As you age, you have less muscle to help you fight fat gains, so the more muscle you have the better you are able to burn that fat.
Do Cardio
If you want to get in shape at 50, then you need to be doing cardiovascular exercise in addition to Weight Training. In addition to burning calories and fat and helping you look better, cardiovascular exercise will also help your heart health, your lung health, your circulation, and many other health benefits.
Cardiovascular exercise also will help your endurance. You will be able to handle your strength training workouts better and get better results from them. You will also be able to handle daily living better and get more out of work, hobbies, etc.
For cardio, remember, it’s all relative to where you are in your journey. If you do nothing currently and you have a low level of health and fitness, then walking will suffice until you get into better shape. If you are physically able to work harder than walking, then you need to do something more than just walking, like jogging, running, elliptical, exercise bike, stair stepper, etc.
Find more specifics on cardio options in my article 9 Easy But Effective Workout Tips for Beginners.
Choose the Right Workout Program
Chances are, if you are near 50 years of age, then you probably aren’t trying to be a body builder and you are just wanting to get in great shape and look and feel good. With that in mind, you need to choose a workout program that is safe, efficient, and effective.
At 50, life is busy, so the days of spending 2 hours in the gym are probably over. Look for workouts that are 45 minutes or less and cover pretty much every body part. This way time is not wasted and you won’t miss working any specific areas of your body. My workouts at Hoover Fitness and via my Virtual Personal Trainer are all 45 minutes or less and cover every body part. We also superset exercises and do combination exercises which make them very efficient.
The other concern for working out at 50 is to have a workout program that is safe. The last thing you need in life at 50 is to be injured. But, you can get in great workouts that produce great results and great strength gains without getting injured. In our programs at Hoover Fitness and via my Virtual Personal Trainer, no one ever gets injured. The reason is because the moves are designed for the individual and can be adjusted to their limitations and also because we use dumbbells instead of bars and racks. The benefit of dumbbells is that they conform to your body’s movements, whereas a bar requires more that you conform to it.
There are lots of great programs out there. I recommend finding something to follow that uses dumbbells, is not competition based, and that works multiple body parts per workout.
Choose the Right Diet Plan
To get in shape you need to eat right. But you also need to choose a diet plan that is realistic and that will set you up for success, not failure. At 50, you have a lot going on in life and the last thing you want to do is go on some strict diet that makes your life even more complicated. And not to mention the last thing you want to have to do at 50 is give up foods you love!
With the diet, start simple and with small changes. People fail on their diets because they change too much too fast and deprive themselves of everything and then they quit. And when they quit, they quit everything, including their exercise.
Find ways to cut calories without being miserable. One way to do this is to take something that you normally eat and replace it with something that you like that has less calories. Then it becomes relative to what you normally eat, not relative to what the actual food item is.
Skip a meal. Yes, skip a meal. This is by far the easiest way to cut calories. The bottom line is your calories in vs. calories out. You have already increased the calories out by your exercise, so find ways to reduce the calories in. The bigger the deficit is each day, the faster you get results. You don’t have to eat 5 times per day, and you don’t have to eat breakfast. Never eat because you think you have to.
Avoid snacking. Grab a cup of coffee or a piece of gum. Cut out those snacks and you have cut out those calories.
So, make simple changes and cut calories. At 50, make it your goal to eat good, not great. Enjoy life, but still get results.
If you really want to live your best life at 50 and enjoy life in the process, read my latest eBook, Calorie Budgeting 101. It is a quick read and the ultimate diet guide for the person who wants results and still wants to eat the foods they love and enjoy life.
Take the Right Supplements
There are a lot of supplements that can help you get in shape at 50. Supplements will help you get more out of your workouts and diet. Supplements also are an easy way to boost your results and health without having to work harder. At 50, it is important that you take the right supplements for this stage of life and for your personal health and fitness goals. Don’t just grab something on display at Walmart or something that the kid at the nutrition store says that he takes.
There are a lot of quality supplements out there that can help you get results in the gym and with your diet. While there are a lot of great supplements on the market today, I am going to talk about the supplements that I take and recommend professionally to my clients that are near the age of 50. As always, do your own research. But if you want my professional opinion, then I would advise these.
As for workout performance supplements, I personally take and professionally recommend Prestige Labs products. One specific supplement that I personally take and recommend for 50 year olds is Prestige Recovery, which helps recovery from workouts and ultimately aids in muscle improvements. At 50, if you have let yourself go and gotten out of shape, then your energy is probably low and you will struggle with your workouts. To combat that struggle, I recommend Prestige Energy. If you are looking for something to help you lose weight and burn body fat without having to do anything other than take a product, then take a look at the Prestige Heat and the Prestige Crush. These are two of the most popular products we sell in our weight loss workout programs. Check out all of their amazing products by clicking HERE.
As for health-type supplements, I recommend Juice Plus+ fruits and vegetable capsules. I have personally been taking Juice Plus+ for almost 20 years and it is a great way to get real, whole food nutrition without having to eat a ton of calories. The recommended amount of fruits and vegetables is 7-13 servings of raw fruits and vegetables per day. If you eat this amount, then you will reap amazing health benefits, including heart health, feeling better, better immune system, and much more. The problem is that it is impossible to physically eat that amount. Plus the cost and the calories would be way too high. Juice Plus+ gets you this amount of fruits and vegetables daily, in a capsule! learn more at by clicking HERE.
Have the Right Mindset
The problem that I have seen the most in my 25 years of working in health and fitness is that as people age and get out of shape, they develop a mindset that the damage is done and it’s too late to get in shape. Or if they try to get in shape, they think that it has to be an all or nothing perfect diet and exercise plan.
The key is to have the right mindset. Know that it’s never too late to do the right thing. Also, understand that your results are relative to your current status. All you have to do is make progressive improvements and work harder than you currently are working.
At this point in life, you have a lot going on, and you are going to eat bad and miss workouts. The key is to get back on track after you do. Eating bad and missing a workout shouldn’t mean that you quit everything. It should be a part of your plan. Work hard and eat better on a consistent basis, and cheat and take days off when needed. Just avoid quitting all-together whenever you fall off.
Make your health and fitness a priority. Make health and fitness a nonnegotiable part of your life, like work, and set long-term, but realistic expectations.
If you really want to dive into the mindset aspect of all this and see how you can easily win the battle in your mind that has been holding you back with your health and fitness all these years, read my eBook.
Final thoughts
You can be in the best shape of your life at 50. It’s nowhere near too late to get in shape. Working out and taking care of yourself is the fountain of youth. It is the closest thing to reversing the aging process. Workout with weights, do cardio, budget your calories, and do everything you need to do to get in great shape and your quality of life improves drastically. You will feel better, sleep better, have more energy, go to the doctor less, and just be able to do more in life. The results are endless.
CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE TO OUR MAILING LIST and get FREE weekly tips and advice that we guarantee will help you on your health and fitness journey!
by jc | Nov 17, 2023 | Diet/Nutrition, homepage, weight loss, Workouts
Jump-start some serious results and get in shape fast!
Do you want to get in shape fast? Are you already working out? Do you already do some form of strength training? If not, then you really don’t need to read much further, you simply need to get started and you will see results no matter what you do! Remember, it’s all relevant to your current situation. If you do already do some type of strength training exercise though, and you have hit a rut, or simply just want to boost results, then these 3 EASY TIPS will help you.
1. START RUNNING
The first of our 3 easy tips to get in shape fast is to start running.
Now, I know, immediately some of you had all these running-defense mechanisms pop up telling you why you can’t run. I’m sure there is a long list of reasons why not. And, for some of you, this may be true. But… for most of you, you can run, even if you don’t think that you can. If you can handle running to any degree, then you should strongly consider it.
How much running? That answer is easy – simply more than you already are doing. But, to be more specific, it would be good to do a plan, such as a couch-to-5k type plan. Or a plan to get up to 2 miles. Don’t worry about getting into “running” and running long distances. The goal here is still to try to stay under 30 minutes of high intensity cardio, but just to make that cardio running.
I also think a treadmill running plan is great. The benefit of the treadmill is that it makes you work hard. When you are running outside, sometimes your body will automatically slow down when you get tired, but when you are on a treadmill, you have only two options, do what the treadmill does, or get off. Basically, it is harder to cheat on the treadmill.
(For a FREE progressive treadmill running plan, click HERE and request treadmill running plan)
Note: I am not saying get into running for sport and running long distances. Running for sport is different and can wear your body down and cause chronic problems. I am saying running for cardio and trying to keep it to like 3 miles or less on a regular basis. If you stay in this zone, you will avoid joint problems and other problems.
If you take a look at those people who are in good shape, or those who have seen the results that you would like to see, then you will see that one common denominator usually is that they run, in addition to strength training. Myself included.
If you want to run, but honestly can’t due to physical reasons, then try another form of cardio, just make sure the intensity is high and that you are working hard! The reason that I recommend running is because it is an easy way to work hard. It is very efficient. But, if you can work hard on another machine, then by all means, go for it. Just make sure it is as difficult as running.
2. CUT SOMETHING OUT OF YOUR REGULAR DIET
The second of our 3 easy tips to get in shape fast is to cut something out of your regular diet.
You don’t have to eat all the time! I know, you are probably thinking about everything that you have heard about having to eat every few hours to keep your metabolism going, etc., but you don’t! I see so often people eat just because they think they have to or they think that if they don’t eat then they will starve or they will lose their muscle, or even worse, they will tell themselves that they have to eat so they can justify eating and not have to have as much discipline.
When it comes to health and fitness, everyone seems to freak out a little and think that if they don’t eat that something bad will happen. People always tell me that if they don’t eat then their metabolism will slow down. So what do they do? They go and add all these extra calories that they now have to burn.
You can look at it like this – Jane wants to reduce her caloric deficit by 300 calories per day. She hears that if she doesn’t eat then her metabolism will slow down. Her goal was to burn an extra 300 calories per day. But, since she doesn’t want to slow down her metabolism, she eats a 300 calorie snack between meals or a 300 calorie meal that she didn’t want because she didn’t want to slow down her metabolism. The way I look at it is that any amount you slow down your metabolism by not eating (which I do not believe to be all that true) is definitely not 300 calories worth of slow down. The benefits of eating when she thought she had to were not 300 calories worth!
Another way to look at it is to think about fasting. I used to think it was bad for me not to eat, and then I started fasting for spiritual reasons and then after many long fasts I realized that if fasting wasn’t bad for me when I did it spiritually then why was it bad for me when I did it for diet reasons??? Your body can go a long time without eating. And a lot less of your energy than you think is derived from food. I am not telling you not to eat, but what I am doing is trying to inform you that you don’t have to eat as much as you probably think and that it’s ok to skip a meal to save hundreds of calories!
This tip is just one of many in my Calorie Budgeting System. If you really want to get in shape fast, read my short eBook, Calorie Budgeting 101.
3. DO SOMETHING EVERY DAY FOR 21 DAYS
The third of our 3 easy tips to get in shape fast is to do something every day for 21 days.
Years ago, I started The 21 Day Fast Blast at Hoover Fitness. The goal of the 21 Day Fat Blast was for people to workout 21 straight days. The results were great, but the real success was that it developed a habit of working out and exercising for people. After the 21 Days, going down to 4 to 5 days per week wasn’t a problem.
The important thing here is to develop the habit. If you can do it for 21 days straight, then you will prove to yourself that you can do 4-5 times per week on a regular basis and that you will be able to finally incorporate exercise into your lifestyle and rise above your previous excuses and limiting factors.
The other part of 21 days straight is that it can help you get fast results because you will be doing more in those 21 days than you normally have been doing, even if you have been working out regularly. If you are working out 3 or 4 days per week consistently and you are stuck in a rut and not seeing great results, 21 straight days could get you out of it.
Need ideas or workouts to follow for your 21 days? My Virtual Personal Trainer will deliver them to your inbox daily and comes with easy to follow instructions and video demonstrations.
Final Thoughts
Get in shape fast by running or improving your cardio, by cutting out something from your diet, and by trying 21 straight days. If you are looking for more results, that means that there is something missing from your routine or you are doing something wrong with your diet or exercise and you need to change something. These are 3 easy changes you can make that will get you results and set you up for more results in the future.
CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE TO OUR MAILING LIST and get FREE weekly tips and advice that we guarantee will help you on your health and fitness journey!
by jc | Nov 8, 2023 | Diet/Nutrition, Workouts
In this article, you will find 11 senior health and fitness tips that are all very doable, user-friendly, safe, and meet realistic and attainable expectations. Seniors need to exercise, and eat decent, but it doesn’t have to be as difficult as you may think. We will walk you through easy to follow tips that literally anyone can apply and we will show you how to progress one step further in your journey to better senior health and fitness. These tips will show the path that can help seniors feel better, sleep better, prevent injury, recover from injury faster, improve their immune system, and have more energy!
1. It’s Never Too Late To Get Started
I once heard someone say that it’s never too late to do the right thing, which is true for all aspects of life. So, It’s never too late to get started on the path to better senior health and fitness. A lot of times people reach a certain age and think that it’s too late and the damage is done, etc. You have to remember that your health is not stagnant. If you are not proactive and you do nothing to improve your health, it will go backwards. So, when people reach a certain age and they throw in the towel and do nothing to for their health and fitness, they start a steady decline, which leads to becoming overweight, feeling bad, no strength, no energy, limitations in daily living, and constant health problems. Again, it’s not too late. Your health and fitness can be improved in simple progressive steps, so keep reading to find out how!
2. Get enough fruits and veggies
Adults are recommended to eat 7-13 servings of raw fruits and vegetables every day. Although the meat and 3 at the local restaurant tastes very good, chances are those “3” aren’t counting too much towards your 7-13 servings. You need fresh, healthy vegetables. Preferably raw and not with tons of butter, cheese, sugar, and other ingredients added to them. The benefits to eating more fruits and vegetables are incredible. Eating more fruits and vegetables can greatly improve your immune system, help with joint pain and inflammation, help with heart health, help prevent disease, and many more benefits, including feeling better! I know what you are thinking – “I eat my fruits and vegetables and I take my vitamins.” But remember, the meat and 3 veggies probably aren’t the best for you and definitely aren’t enough, and that multi-vitamin probably isn’t cutting it. Take a look at this article from time magazine which basically states that vitamins can do more harm than good, or at least be a waste of money. So, to ensure that I get enough fruits and vegetables, I turn to whole-food nutrition. Since it is virtually impossible to eat 7-13 servings of raw fruits and veggies every day, I take Juice Plus+ fruit and vegetable whole food nutrition capsules. This is by far the easiest part of my diet. Juice Plus ensures that I get 7-13 servings of raw fruits and vegetables every day, regardless of what I eat. While I still eat a decent amount of fruits and vegetables in my diet, I don’t get anywhere near the 7-13 servings of raw fruits and vegetables that are recommended. Plus, this allows me to concentrate more on calories when it comes to my diet.
If you are really serious about being healthy and preventing health problems, spend a little time on my Juice Plus+ page and learn more about the importance of fruits and vegetables. We take our health for granted and we also do not realize how far off we are on a daily basis in terms of our fruit and vegetable intake. Juice Plus+ is the only nutritional product that I personally take or recommend. My wife and I have been taking it for several years and we rarely get sick, and when we do, we recover quickly. Our senior parents take it as well, and our children all take it and it seems that they all keep up good health.
3. Balance Protein, Carbs, and Fat
You need all three of these nutrients to some extent. Don’t stress too much over this, but do try to get a good balance of them, especially protein and carbohydrates. As you age, you start to lose your muscle mass and strength. Protein (along with exercise) can help combat muscle loss. As for carbohydrates, they give you fuel. You need them for energy. With carbs, try to have complex carbs, such as brown rice, whole grains, etc. These types of carbs will give you more sustainable energy than simple carbs such as sugars and sweets. But remember, carbs are fuel, so you need to stay active so you can burn this fuel and then replenish and repeat! As for fat, don’t stress too much about fat, just try to keep it moderate. Try to choose foods lower in fats and you will not only be reducing your fat intake, but you will also be reducing your caloric intake, since low-fat and fat-free foods usually have less calories.
4. Drink enough water
Water is one of the few things in life that has all positive qualities and no real negative qualities. Make sure you are drinking enough water. How much? The answer is easy – more than you currently are! Water will help you feel better, have more energy, keep you hydrated, help your muscles function, help you feel full, help your skin, and many, many other benefits. Not to mention, water is calorie-free and most importantly, when you are drinking water, you are not drinking whatever else you would drink, which is definitely worse for you than water!
5. Eat junk food!
What???? That is not a typo! This is my favorite senior health and fitness tip. You need to eat some junk food. You need to splurge. Food = Happiness, and if you are happy, you will do better longer. Strict diets lead to failure. If you deprive yourself of the foods you love, then you will eventually throw in the towel and quit and turn to eating junk food all the time. So, do good most of the time, not all of the time. And regularly choose to splurge and eat dessert and other foods that are bad for you. Just do it in moderation. Try to do more good than bad. Try to eat good the majority of the time, but not all the time. This is the foundation to the Calorie-Budgeting System. Learn this easy to follow system and you will see just how easy it is to get results and be healthy and still be able to eat junk food!
6. Start progressive exercise
Everyone needs to exercise, regardless of age or anything else. If you start exercising, you will feel better, sleep better, have more energy, get injured less, have better mobility and balance, and so on. With exercise, take baby steps. Do this progressively. You don’t have to start with the most drastic, over the top exercise. Just do more than you currently are doing and increase it over time. Take baby steps and consistently make improvements progressively over time. It’s all relative to you, not to what you saw on TV or what your in shape friend tells you that they do. All you have to do is more than you currently are doing! If you need help with where to get started, check out this FREE GUIDE to help you get started on your health and fitness journey.
7. Include Weight training
Everyone needs to do resistance training. Which is usually weight training or some other form of resistance training, such as body weight exercises, bands, balls, etc. Weight training will improve your bone health, increase your strength, increase your energy, help you prevent injury, and helps you feel better. My best advice is to get with a trainer and learn how to exercise safely and effectively based on your goals and physical abilities. If you are in the Birmingham area, we have excellent senior personal training at Hoover Fitness and also via our In-Home Personal Training services. If you are not in the Birmingham area, we do offer online coaching and virtual workout plans – CONTACT US for more info.
8. Make sure to do Cardio
Cardiovascular training is necessary for everyone. Cardio will help your heart health, your energy and endurance, and also your mobility. Cardio could be literally anything that elevates your heart rate for an extended period of time. I think the best way to do cardio is progressively and to increase your level and intensity over time for 15-30 minutes. Remember though, the key to beneficial cardio is having some degree of intensity. Not so intense that you cannot last more than a minute or few minutes, but at a level that you are out of your comfort zone and can make it 15-30 minutes. If you walk, try to walk faster or jog. If you jog, try to run. You can also do machines, like the bike or elliptical. Just remember to give yourself some degree of difficulty. Don’t just log minutes. Put in some work! If it’s easy, it probably isn’t helping any!
9. Get Enough Sleep
Try to get enough sleep! Lack of Sleep (and Stress) will kill your immune system. One easy way to improve your sleep is exercise! The more you exercise, the more your body will want to sleep and recover. Another tip for sleeping better is to eat further away from your bedtime. This way your body will concentrate on sleeping instead of digesting and processing your food. The more active you are and the better you eat, the better you will sleep. And, the better and more sleep you get, the better you feel!
10.. Boost your Immune system
It is important to boost your immune system. If you are sick all the time, you can’t be consistent with your health journey. Get sick less! Recover from illness faster! How do you boost your immune system? Juice Plus+ is one great way to do it. But you can also boost your immune system by following these 11 senior health and fitness tips. Exercise more, eat less junk, reduce stress, sleep more, eat 7-13 servings of raw fruits and vegetables every day, drink lots of water, stay active, and so on.
11. Take Control of Your Health
Are you sick and tired of being sick and tired? It’s time you take control of your health and the way you feel. You have probably been living life being led by your symptoms. You wake up and what you do is determined by how you feel. You let your health symptoms determine what you can do. If you follow these tips, you can take control. YOU CAN LEAD!
Do what you want to do and let your health follow. Not the other way around. At first, you will have a ceiling of how much you can do and how good you can feel, but as you reach that ceiling, it rises, and over time you can do more and you can feel even better. It is progressive and continual, but as long as you keep on going, you will keep on improving.
Final Senior Health and Fitness Thoughts
Senior Health and Fitness doesn’t have to be just for those who have been healthy and in shape their entire life. It can be for you too, no matter where you are in life. Remember, whatever your health and fitness looks like, it can improve. Don’t wait – there will never be a perfect time. No more excuses. Everyone can do something. It is never too late to improve and feel better. Don’t throw in the towel. No matter who you are or how old you are, you can make improvements and feel better.
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by jc | Nov 1, 2023 | Diet/Nutrition, homepage, Workouts
Has your health and fitness suffered due to your super busy schedule? If you are like a lot of people in today’s world, then chances are it has suffered. I have good news though, it doesn’t have to! Below are 8 simple health and fitness tips for busy people that you can apply starting immediately to get results no matter what your schedule is like.
1. Make Your Health and Fitness a Priority
The first of the health and fitness tips for busy people is to make your health and fitness a priority. If you want to lose weight, build muscle, burn body fat, become healthier, get in shape, have more energy, sleep better, and have the benefits of regular exercise and a better diet, then you have to stop using your busy schedule as an excuse. I get it, your schedule is crazy and the last thing you want to fit in is working out or following a diet. If you want the results that come with improved health and fitness, then you have to improve your health and fitness. There is no other way.
The good new is that you can follow these health and fitness tips to get results, even if you are busy. Before you move on though, you have to decide that you are going to make your health and fitness a priority. It has to be something that you place an importance on moving forward. That doesn’t mean that you have to quit doing other things or try to alter your already crazy life, but what it does mean is that you have to decide that your health and fitness is something that you are going to put into your life on a regular basis moving forward.
2. Adjust Your Mindset
Now that you are going to improve your health and fitness, the next step is to adjust your mindset. Get out of the all or nothing thinking. Your health and fitness doesn’t have to be perfect, it just has to be better and it just has to be an ongoing part of your life. While your busy schedule doesn’t mean that you get a pass from diet and exercise, it does give you a pass to adjust your thinking.
Doing something is better than doing nothing. In the past, one of the things that probably prevented you from exercising is that you thought that if you didn’t have time to do everything 100 percent then why do it at all? If you get started doing some exercise and make some diet improvements and do them on a regular basis, you will get results, and you will improve over time. Sometimes it just takes enough to get started. Get the ball rolling and then once you make your health and fitness a habit and start seeing results, everything improves from there.
Remember, your results are relative to your current diet and exercise routine, not to a perfect diet and exercise routine. To see results, all you have to do is improve what you are currently doing.
3. Schedule Your Health and Fitness
Working out is not a spur of the moment kind of thing. It should be a part of your life just like work and other non-negotiables are. If you keep a calendar or planner, schedule your workouts on it. Treat them like an appointment. Often times, people put no value on workouts and base them on convenience.
Fill in your calendar for the week with everything that you have to do and then schedule everything else around those things. Include your workouts in this! Schedule in at least 3 workouts for the week (4 or 5 if possible). Probably the number one reason people miss workouts is because they make them optional and they base it on if it’s convenient or not each day.
Do the same with your diet. Look at your calendar and put all the times on there that you will not be eating good because of work or whatever reason you may have and then make sure you eat good the rest of the time. Remember, the diet doesn’t have to be perfect to get results, it just has to be better than it used to be.
4. Be Efficient
The most practical of the health and fitness tips for busy people that I can give is to be efficient with your exercise. You don’t have time to waste, so you have to work hard when you exercise. With your workouts, try doing total body workouts that allow you to get in a lot of exercises in a short amount of time. Try doing combination exercises and supersets where you go back and forth between different exercises instead of resting between exercises. Try to avoid exercises and machines that are easy to do and take too much time to do them. You can get in a much more effective and efficient workout with some dumbbells and an open area than you can by going down the line from easy workout machine to easy workout machine slowly doing whatever single body part move each machine calls for.
With your cardio, the best tip that I can give is to run instead of walk. Run for 15 minutes instead of walking for 30 minutes or an hour. You will get in a way better workout in a fraction of the time and it will be way less on your joints over time. If you cannot run, then I recommend a stair stepper or bike or other cardio machine, but work as hard as you can for 15 minutes instead of working at a low or medium level for 30 minutes to an hour. With cardio, it’s not how far you go or how long you go, it’s how hard you work!
Work hard, be efficient, don’t waste time. If it were easy, everyone would be in shape.
5. Follow a Program
The previous tip of the health and fitness tips for busy people was to be efficient. The best way to be efficient is to follow a program. There are a lot of good workout programs you can find at your local gym or online.
Our in-person workouts at Hoover Fitness are designed with the busy person in mind. We never go longer than 45 minutes and often times are even closer to 35-40 minutes. This leaves you time to get in a good 15 minute cardio session and still be in and out of the gym in an hour at the most. With online programs, you can find programs that are even quicker. My Virtual Personal Trainer workouts can be done in 30 minutes or less and are super efficient because they work every body part and contain combination exercises where you are working your lower body, upper body, and core all at the same time.
Remember, wondering around the gym or at home aimlessly trying to figure out what to do is not only ineffective, it is slow and not a good idea for the person who is trying to figure out how to fit exercise into their busy schedule.
6. Get a Coach
You invest in the things that you want to excel in, so why not invest in your health. If you don’t get results, you will probably end up quitting. If you are a super busy person, then your path to better health and fitness is going to be challenging and you need to set yourself up for success. The best way to do this is have a professional set you up on a specific program based on your personal schedule and your personal goals.
In my programs, I work with clients to maximize their time and efforts and set up programming that is doable based on their current schedule. Basically we meet and go over your goals and your schedule and map out a plan to ensure you get results based on what you can do and when you can do it. To set up a free consultation to discuss further, request online coaching information HERE.
The good thing about a coach is that they can set you up for success based on your unique situation. Trust me, there is a plan out there for everyone. Coaches can help you map out a plan and keep you held accountable to continue to see results, especially when your schedule throws you that curveball that would normally lead you to quit.
7. Skip a Meal or Two
This is tip is also mentioned in my 7 Easy Weight Loss Diet Tips post. One of the best weight loss weight loss diet tips is to cut calories. The easiest way to cut calories is to skip a meal. You don’t have to eat 5 times per day and not eating will not mess up your metabolism. These are diet myths. (If you want to overcome several other diet myths that are probably holding you back, check out my eBook). Don’t ever eat because you think you have to. The goal is to burn more calories than you normally burn and to eat less than you normally eat. The greater the deficit the faster the body fat falls off. All that matters at the end of the day is that you created a deficit.
You are super busy, and the last thing you have is time to put towards learning a special diet and preparing food and eating based on a certain schedule or plan you have to follow.
Instead of going on a diet, just cut your calories by skipping a meal or two. Have a cup of coffee or a water or a zero calorie drink instead of those calories you normally have in a meal. This is also a way to enjoy your other meal or meals a little more. Don’t cancel it out by adding the same amount to your other meals, but if you cut out 500 calories at lunch and then add 250 to dinner, then you still came out 250 ahead!
8. Don’t Quit
This is arguably the most important health and fitness tip for busy people that I can give. None of it matters if you quit. You are guaranteed not to get results if you quit. Your health and fitness routine will be good some days/weeks/months and it will be not so good some days/weeks/months. As long as you don’t completely quit then you will get results and maintain results.
If you miss a workout, no big deal, do it the next day. If you miss a few workouts or an entire week, it’s still not the end of the world. Start back the next week. Just don’t let a missed week turn into quitting completely and then waiting 6 months to start back again and then on and off that roller coaster for the next several years.
Your Health and Fitness Path Moving Forward
What’s more important than what you do, is that you do it. This is especially important to the busy person. Start today and apply these 8 health and fitness tips for busy people to your own personal health and fitness routine. Mold a routine to your busy schedule and commit to doing something with your diet and exercise and don’t quit.
Make your health and fitness a priority, adjust your mindset, schedule your health and fitness, be efficient, follow a program, get a coach, skip a meal or two, and don’t quit and you will be set up for success, regardless of how busy you are. If you stick with it, regardless of how good your routine is, you will get results!
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