Ten things to improve your exercise program

Ten things to Improve Your Exercise Program

1.      Have a goal.  It amazing how many people come to me, and when I ask, “what is your goal?” answer with some variation of, “to be healthy,” or, “to lose weight.”  Congratulations on achieving a generic, mundane, and vague goal.  This goal will get you nowhere quick.  A proper goal is a specific and measurable objective that can be obtained in a realistic time frame.   Don’t say your goal is ‘to lose weight.’  How much weight and in what time frame?  An example of a solid goal would be to lose thirty pounds in six months.  That is specific, measurable, and realistic.  That is a goal that lends itself to development of a solid, organized plan. This leads into point number two.

2.      Have a plan. Would a person set out to build a house without a well-designed blueprint?  You could but it would not last long or stand up to the storms.  Fitness programs are the same way.   Develop a plan that is not only structured to achieve the goals in the gym but can also account for the chaos of life.  Vacations, holiday seasons, sick kids, overtime, bad weather and many other obstacles happen almost every day.  Some come up unexpectedly while other happen at the same time every year or are scheduled months in advance.  Thanksgiving through New Year’s does not jump out of the wood work.  Plan ahead to deal with these obstacles then work the plan when the time comes.  Maybe November through January means cutting back from four workouts a week to three.  Life can be accommodated with a little forethought and planning.

3.      Action.   Work the plan.  It won’t work if you don’t do it.

It is the goal that sets the plan; it is the plan that sets the action; it the action that achieves the result; and it is the results that bring success.  And it all begins with the simple word goal. - Shad Helmstetter

4.      Nutrition.  It is impossible to out exercise poor nutrition.  It does not matter what the goal of the program is.  If the eating does not match the goal of the exercise the results will never happen.  Start by correctly identifying the amount of calories needed to achieve the goal.  There are several online resources that will help you do this.  I suggest starting with the calorie tracker at www.livestrong.com, ultimately, it is important to have a healthy understanding of what amounts of macronutrients; the protein, carbs, and fat your body will need to achieve the goals.  But, before that simply focus on learning to eat and live with the right amount of calories.

5.      Evaluate and adapt.  Another word for this is variety.  Do something different every time.  Einstein said, “Doing the same thing over and over while expecting different results is insanity.”  Change the weight or change the reps, move faster or move slower.  Workout at a different time of day or different days of the week.  Exercise for a longer period of time or cut down on the amount of time.  The human body adapts quickly, if nothing changes then within six to eight weeks the body has adapted and the exercise is no longer as effective.  This is called a plateau.  Avoid it by evaluating and adapting.  Change it up.

6.      Focus on improving the ability to move.  Exercise is often associated with achieving and maintaining a healthy body weight. While it will help burn extra calories and make it easier to stay at a healthy weight that is not it’s most important function.  Whether for everyday living or sport performance exercise is specific movement done to improve the ability to move.  Everything that the human body does in the gym should be aimed at improving everything that it does outside of the gym.  Ask this question when considering including any exercise in your program, “do I repeat this movement in real life?”  Bicep curls will help to give a person big arms but how often in real life do you use just your arms to lift 100lbs?  Think about the movements outside of the gym that your body does consistently.  In the gym find exercise movements that mimic real life and train to be strong in those movements.

7.      Coordination is key.  This is directly tied into point number six.  Exercise should not simply mimic real life movements and make a person stronger in those movements.  It should also improve the efficiency with which the body performs the movement.  Translation:  the maximum result desired with the least amount of effort.  For the reason it is important that during training form is never compromised.  When you begin to sacrifice form for more repetitions or heavier weight you immediately begin training against improving coordination and efficiency.

8.      Focus on proper posture.  Probably the most common problem I see with people is ignoring proper posture when lifting.  This will only make poor posture worse.  Standing with proper posture will help strengthen the core muscles and improve posture over time.  Stand with the feet shoulder-width apart and the torso erect.  The head should be up and looking straight ahead.  The shoulders should be back so that the chest looks open and the shoulder blades feel ‘tucked in.’ Maintain this position throughout the exercise.  Any parts of the body that have difficulty moving into this position may be signs of muscle tightness or weakness that needs to be addressed. If you are going to move into a squat from this position the hips should move backward as they come down.  This will ensure that the back stays braced with the shoulders back and open.  If you lean forward so that the shoulders pass in front of the knees the back has become rounded.  This is a dangerous position and is a sign that the lower back and core muscles are too weak for the amount of weight being lifted.  Lighten the weight and maintain proper form.

9.      Train to improve balance.   It is probably one of the least trained aspects of physical fitness and like muscular strength, if you do not use it you will lose it.  Most exercises are performed with both feet firmly planted on the ground.  Again, how often is the body actually like this?  Walking, jogging, running, going up stairs and just about every other routine movement the body goes through over the course of the day is done with only one foot in contact with the ground.  Master the fundamentals of exercise following the posture guidelines in point eight.  Every exercise becomes more challenging when performed on one foot or on an unstable surface like a BOSU ball or balance board.

10.  Sit as little as possible.  The human body is designed to move.  A long period of sitting is one of the worst things for it.   It slows metabolism more than lying to sleep at night.  Proper posture is harder to maintain when seated than standing.  Immobility will wreck the body very quickly.  Excessive weight gain is just one of the ways that happens.  Spend all day at a desk.  Get up and move every hour for five minutes.  Stand up while you talk on the phone.  Any movement, even for short periods of time will improve blood circulation and make you feel more energetic.