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.
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by jc | Dec 7, 2023 | homepage, weight loss, Workouts
I want to do cardio but I cannot run. What do I do? In this post I will give you some good non-running cardio ideas, and how to do them effectively!
You will hear me say over and over that running is the best form of cardio because it is efficient and yields the best results in the shortest amount of time. When I talk about running though, I mean 15-30 minutes of running, not hours of running per day or marathon running, etc. That gets into running for sport, which has as many negatives as it does positives. I mean running at a high intensity level for 15-30 minutes 4 or 5 days per week. This gives you maximum output and keeps your odometer low, thus keeping you from chronic injury. But, back to the original point of how to get in good cardio without running????
I recommend doing other options for 15-30 minutes at a high pace and high intensity. Remember, 15 minutes is enough time, if you are working hard enough. If you can go a whole hour, then you are not working hard enough. I also recommend doing a progressive plan. Pick a time between15 and 30 minutes and increase the level or speed every minute or every few minutes. Try to avoid going fast one minute and then resting one minute. The goal is 15-30 minutes straight of working hard. You can rest when you are finished…
So, let’s take a look at some non-running cardio ideas.
1. The Stair Stepper
One of my favorite non-running cardio ideas is the Stair Stepper. I recommend the stair stepper as one of the next best options to running for cardio. One of the best things about running on a treadmill is that you are at the mercy of the belt speed, which means that in order to slow down, you have to push a button, so as long as you don’t jump off or reduce the speed, you cannot slow down (like you can when running outside). Well, the same is true with a stair stepper. Most are designed to where you have to keep moving or else it will sink to the floor. So, like the treadmill, you have to adjust the level to make it easier, you can’t just simply slow down. One thing to note is that in order to make a stair stepper effective, you have to use your legs. I often see people leaning on top of the stepper and taking all the pressure off of their legs. Don’t do that!! You can hold on, but just make sure that you are using your legs to step and you are staying upright.
2. The Fan Bike
I also recommend the Fan Bike as the one of the next best options to running for cardio. The great thing about the fan bike is that it has arms and legs movements that can be done simultaneously or individually. I find the best way to work hard on the Fan Bike is to do intervals of each movement. I do one minute of just peddling without holding onto the arm handles, then one minute of just moving the arm handles back n forth without moving the pedals, and then one minute of doing both together. Another good option is to just do the arms and legs together the entire time and push through it at a good pace continually.
3. The Elliptical
The elliptical is a tricky animal. The tricky thing with the elliptical is that you can make it easy and simply “ride it” instead of working hard. I see this all the time. People log hours and hours on it with little or no results. So, make sure you have it moving at an uncomfortable or miserable pace with speed and resistance. Start medium and increase every few minutes. Try to work progressive, increasing every few minutes without stopping or resting until you are finished. A good way to ensure that you are working hard on the elliptical is to make sure that you stay level. Imagine there is a ceiling 1 inch above your head and you cannot hit it. If you do this, your legs will be on fire! When you go up and down with the motion of the elliptical, you take away a lot of the resistance. Staying level will prevent that.
4. The Upright Bike and Recumbent Bike
Both of these can be good cardio ideas and be very effective if done right. You have to have the right combination of speed and resistance. Don’t make it too hard to pedal. But also, don’t go too slow. And, make sure you are gradually increasing the intensity. These bikes can be very effective, but just like a bike on the road, if you are coasting, you are getting nothing out of it, so make sure that you are actually working hard. One great tip to ensure that you are working hard is to pick a speed that is fast and fairly uncomfortable and keep it above that speed the entire time. You have to remember to keep an eye on it thought, because you will automatically slow down if you don’t. The speed is usually indicated on the bike’s screen as RPM. Gradually increase the resistance while keeping at the desired speed and you will get a great cardio workout on the bike.
5. The Spin Bike
You don’t have to be in a spin class to use the spin bike. These bikes can get you a killer workout. As a matter of fact, I don’t really recommend spin class often, but that is a whole other topic that I will go into in another post. But, for your 15-30 minutes of high intensity cardio, you can use a spin bike. On the spin bike, I recommend going back and forth between fast and resistance. Notice I didn’t say fast and slow, or hard and easy. Once again, we have to stay out of the resting zone. So, start by going fast for a minute and then after that minute, make the resistance very hard and try to count 100 pedal revolutions. When you finish the 100, you can go fast one minute then do another 100, and so on. You can also do 30 seconds fast, 50 resistance revolutions, and other time intervals.
Other cardio ideas
There are other cardio machines out there. There are some that are like ellipticals and steppers combined, row machines, etc. You can also jump rope and things like that. Any of these can be effective if you work at a progressive pace and if you start and don’t rest until you are finished. So, be careful on some of these and make sure you are working hard enough. If you can only do a few minutes at a time, then you are not really doing cardio, you are doing more like weight training.
So, to recap…
*15-20 minutes is enough if you are working at an intense pace and you do it consistently (shoot for every day you do a workout)
*Work progressive – gradually increase intensity. Don’t go fast one minute then rest, etc. Remember, your results happen when you push through, not when you rest.
*Use the misery index – If you are miserable, then you are probably working where you need to be. If it is easy, you will not get results. You want to work at the level of where the minutes go by like hours and the seconds like minutes. Use music, videos, tv shows, prayer, and any other things you can to distract yourself.
Use these tips to help you maximize your cardio. And remember to do all three, Weight Training, Cardio, and Calorie-Budgeting to get maximum results!
Need help with the weight training? – Check out my Virtual Trainer
Need help with the diet? Try the easy to follow Calorie-Budgeting system
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by jc | Dec 4, 2023 | homepage, mindset, Workouts
The “Perfect Week”
To develop a good workout routine, you need what I call the perfect week. Your perfect week is basically your baseline. Your default setting. This is what a week will look like if everything goes as planned. Now just like work, school, or anything else in life that carries a high priority and a normal schedule, this perfect week will not always occur as planned. The goal is for the perfect week to be the normal setting and then you adjust when needed. It’s like your work – you have a normal work schedule and that is the schedule unless something changes, like you call in sick, take a vacation, etc., then back on track. The same for your diet and exercise. You do your normal week, except when something happens that causes you to miss, either intentionally, or not intentionally. Either way is fine. You miss, then get back on track. This will keep you from on again, off again, rollercoaster of diet and exercise. This will get you on track for doing good the majority of the time and bad the minority of the time, and continuing on and on forever without quitting.
Be Consistent
Remember, the most important thing is consistency. Don’t ever quit. That doesn’t mean that you can’t miss a day or more, it just means make it one of those things that is always a part of your life. So, develop your perfect week and make that your plan every week and when everything goes as planned you will complete your perfect week of exercise and when life gets in the way you get in what you can and then try again the next week.
It’s all about averages
It’s all about averages. Let’s say your perfect week is 5 days of exercise and 2 days of rest. Some weeks you will get in 5 days. Some weeks life will happen and you will only get in 1 or 2 days. Some weeks you will be inspired and get in 6 days. And some of the weeks you get in 3-4 days. At the end of the year, you may average around 4 days of exercise per week. Or you may even average 3 days. But either way, 3 or 4 days per week average for a year is way better than 2 great weeks then quitting for a month and then 1 great week and then quitting for 2 months, and so on and then end the year averaging like 1 or 2 workouts per week. Approach this logically and look at the big picture – the year as a whole.
How to Develop Your “Perfect Week” (and what mine looks like)
The first thing to do is look at your amount of days. I think 3-6 days is a great range. I think the minimum perfect week should be 3 days and the maximum perfect week be 6 days. Your body needs a day of rest. 4-5 days done consistently is great. My “perfect week” is 5 days on and 2 days off. On a perfect week, I exercise Monday through Friday and take the weekends off from my normal routine. Does this happen every week? No, but the majority of weeks it does. let’s take December and January for example. The first 3 weeks of December I may exercise 5 days per week, but the next two weeks have Christmas and New Years, so I may only exercise 2 times each of those weeks. Then the next 3 weeks I am able to get in 5 days per week. So, if you look at the average, over an 8 week period, I can average 4.25 days per week.
The next thing to do is look at what you do those days. This is based on your goals. On my 5 days, I do 3 of my Virtual Trainer total body workouts, and the other 2 days I do traditional workouts (bench press, squats, pull-ups, etc.). I also run 2 miles on the treadmill each of the 5 days before the workout. Your breakdown may be different. The total body Virtual Trainer workouts work for everyone, regardless of their goals, so I coach everyone to have that be the main part of their perfect week. The difference is what to do on the other day or two. That changes per person based on their goals. It may be a cardio only day and a total body workout, or it may be two cardio only days, or a traditional workout, etc. I also recommend doing a 15-20 minute cardio workout every day that you exercise.
Not sure what your perfect week looks like? Contact Me and I can help you develop your perfect week.
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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.
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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.
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