Daydreamer that I am, during what seemed like a 15-hour meeting with our DJ, I started thinking about how nobody EVER fails in planning a wedding.  Seriously, have you ever been to a wedding where the bride tapped out two weeks before the wedding and declared that she just couldn’t fill out another placecard for table #13?  Ask any married woman (and her husband, too), and you’ll find that wedding planning was one of the most stressful times of her life – but they pretty much have a 100% success rate.

Conversely, most people bite the big one when they start a new fitness program.  Last I heard, 50% of people stop exercising within six months of starting.  The success of commercial gyms, in fact, hinges on the fact that a huge percentage of the members that enroll don’t actually come after the first few months (if they even make it that far).  Heck, 80% of people who enter the fitness professional leave within one year.  The placecards are kicking people’s asses.

What’s the difference between brides dominating wedding planning, and aspiring exercisers getting whooped in their exercise programs like an American Little League team against a bunch of 25-year-old Cuban “Little Leaguers?”

In a word, accountability.

If you’re a bride, you’ve got a groom counting on you (and helping you along, hopefully).  And, in our case, you’ve got about 140 guests expecting to party like rockstars on your dime.  You’ve got bridesmaids, groomsmen, a minister, an organist, a chauffeur, and an entire host facility – all expecting you to present the complete polar opposite to an epic fail.  You might as well put it on a billboard.

The bride has hundreds of people involved in the process to keep her accountable.  Conversely, the upstart fitness consumer usually goes it alone.  I would be very curious to see what the success rate is of people who start exercising with a training partner – and I’ll bet all my 2010 paychecks that it is markedly higher.

Coincidentally, I chatted on the phone on Friday with Tim Ferriss, the author of the wildly successful book, The 4-Hour Workweek.

Here is a guy who has published a #1 New York Times Bestseller as well as one of the most popular blogs on the internet.  Tim’s also an entrepreneur with his hands in a lot of successful businesses, and he’s learned multiple languages and taken on all sorts of physical endeavors – from martial arts to dancing.  And, most importantly, he’s succeeded (thrived, actually) in all of them.  Moreover, he’s mentored loads of people on how to do the same for themselves.  In short, he’s an expert on getting stuff done.

So, when Tim decided that he was going to go for a 500-pound deadlift in 2010, what did he do?

Made his goals very public.  Anybody who reads his blog knows about them – and that’s a lot of people.  It makes him accountable to not only himself, but all of them as well.  And, he’s allied himself with resources – from training partners to meathead deadlifters across the country (yours truly) – to help him get to where he needs to be.  He is like a fired up bride who just wants to lift some heavy stuff.

And, what did I do to ensure that I’d have my new product ready in time?  I told you all that it’d be launching on September 21 – and it absolutely, positively will, even if I have to stay up every night until 3AM before that launch to finish it and all the tag-along materials.

This is why my biggest recommendation to those starting a fitness program is to find a training partner and get into a solid training environment.  This isn’t just for offering hand-offs and spots when you’re benching, which, while nice, are the tip of the iceberg.  Rather, on those days when you’re tempted to skip an exercise session, it’ll make a big difference to know that there is someone waiting for you at the gym who will be disappointed if you don’t show up.  They’ll be there to push you when you need to be pushed, or to hold you back when you’re being stupid and pushing too hard.  And, when you start to get soft and try to skip out on training, they’ll be there to remind you of your goals – which you made very public.  You’ll do the same for them, too.

This is also one reason why I think you’re seeing semi-private training and bootcamps absolutely boom in the fitness industry while one-on-one personal training dies a slow death.  In the former two options, you don’t just get affordability; you also get increased camaraderie, accountability – and built-in training partners and motivation.

So, regardless of your goals, find a few people you can clue in on them – and get those people involved in the process.  Doing so just might keep you from becoming another bride who tapped out on the fitness wedding.

Lastly, while I’m speaking of deadlifts and the new product, I’d encourage you to enter your information below to subscribe to my FREE newsletter, and you’ll be among the first to know when this new resource is released – and you’ll (immediately) receive a detailed deadlift troubleshooting video.

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Bobby was super-intimidated about starting to lift back in 2007 because, although he was a great athlete, it was unfamiliar territory for him because he immediately become the little dog at the pound.

It took a lot of guts to start things up – something we see with a lot of people from different walks of life who begin exercise programs with motivation and a desire to change, but a long way to go and a fair amount of intimidation and embarrassment in their minds about where they stand with respect to the challenge ahead.  Whether you’re an elite athlete who has never trained in an organized setting, an untrained 14-year old baseball player, or a 55-year-old female who is just getting into exercising to drop body fat, the first step is the toughest – and it’s our job as fitness professionals to make this first step more manageable and less daunting. The problem is that we have outside influences with which to compete.

With many people embarking on an exercise program, there are other people in their lives – maybe it’s relatives, spouses, employers, best friends, or others – who for whatever reason go out of their way to find fault with people for making the decision to start exercising or eating healthy.  In many cases, these “disablers” sabotage people’s efforts at the exact time when they need the most support from those close to them.

Usually, the ones doing the “disabling” are simply insecure about themselves.  Maybe they are just comfortable eating poorly and not exercising, and they perceive it as a threat when someone close to them starts changing these habits, as it may have a spillover effect to them.  Or, perhaps they’re deconditioned and just don’t want to be alone – so it’s easier to try to bring someone else down a peg than elevate themselves.  Maybe it’s just that the world wouldn’t be safe with only one overweight superhero as opposed to two.  Batman wouldn’t just leave Robin out to dry like that.

And that’s how we come back to my buddy, Mr. Ballsofsteel, and his great progress of late.  Bobby came to the gym royally pissed off the other morning, and proceeded to tell me the story of how he had met up with some of his best (long-time) friends the previous night.  While it had been good to see all of them, one of these friends – we’ll call him “Tommy the Tool” – went out of his way to remark (in front of the entire group) that Bobby had “gotten awfully big suspiciously quickly.”  Effectively, he was implying that Bobby was using steroids (which is clearly not the case if you ask anyone who has seen him regularly throughout this time period).  The accuser (or shall we say “disabler?”) practically tried to turn it into a group intervention.

You can imagine what an awkward position this created for Bobby.  On one hand, if he had gotten defensive in light of all the hard work he’d put in to do things the right way, they’d have thought he had something about which he should be defensive.  On the other hand, if he had just shrugged it off, they’d have thought that the accusation is true and that Bobby just wanted to change the subject.  Awkward situation, indeed.

Awkward situation aside, there is a “not-so-coincidental coincidence” that emerged in my eyes as Bobby told me the story.  Apparently, Tommy the Tool presented to this gathering about 15 pounds of “not-so-good weight” heavier himself because he’d been on the road for work, eating poorly and not exercising.

It’s funny how our disabler chose to call someone out and attempt to delegitimize someone else’s progress at the exact same time when he was feeling the worst about himself.  Actually, it’s not really “funny.”  It’s more “predictable” and “pathetic.”  You try to take someone down a peg to make your unfit, unhealthy status quo feel more acceptable; it’s easier to take when everyone is miserable.  Or, maybe it simply takes the attention off you, Tommy the Tool.

This happens in fitness, athletics, business, academics, and countless other components of our everyday lives.  I always tell our athletes that the higher up you go, the more hot air you are going to encounter.  Get negative people out of your life and surround yourself with those who are not only supportive of your goals and your progress, but can actually help to set you up for more success.

In Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard, one message from authors Chip and Dan Heath is that you will almost never effect quick change a person, but you can always work to change the situation that governs how a person acts – and do so relatively transiently.

As an example, we’ve had numerous high school athletes who have completely changed their family’s nutrition for the better by applying the principles they’ve learned in nutrition consultations at Cressey Performance.  It isn’t that their parents didn’t want to be healthy prior to that point; it was just that the situation in which they cooked and ate was different.  Once a young athlete came home excited about nutrition armed with knowledge and recipes, though, their supportive parental instincts enabled him to adopt these new habits, and his enthusiasm and newfound education and resources enabled them to adopt new practices for the family.  They were still the same people; they just happened to have new situations.

It’s why I think our semi-private training model at Cressey Performance works so well.  Sure, it makes training more affordable, and the programming is obviously very individualized.  However, I think that most important thing we’ve done is creates an unconditionally positive training environment where people can support each other – even if they may have different fitness/athletic goals.  Success is both visible and encouraged.

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There are a couple of options for people who walk, run or jog for exercise. Of course, the most obvious choice is a treadmill, but easy-on-the-knees elliptical machines have also become a popular choice. Both types of machine come in a variety of styles and are priced for various budgets.

However, if an exercise machine isn’t in your budget, or if you simply don’t have space for one, you also have the option of using exercise programs on DVD or video. Whether you go with an aerobics program or a program that simulates actual walking, you’ll find that you can get a complete workout with videos, including stretching and cool down sessions. Look for complete sets that include stretch bands or hand weights to help you get a full body workout.

If simply walking at home isn’t enough for you, you can really power up your at home exercise routine by using steps. You can buy sturdy plastic steps or build your own simple steps from wood. They add extra burn to your exercise, and are easy to store under the bed or in a closet. Of course, if you have a stair way in your home, simply use the bottom step as a stepper. And to really get your heart rate up, go up and down stairs briskly for 10-15 minutes.

Cyclists are another group of fitness enthusiasts that have trouble with inclement weather. A stationary bike is one solution. Like treadmills though, it is a large piece of equipment, and not everyone has room in their home. In that case, indoor bike trainers are a great way to get your exercise inside. Just hook it up and literally in seconds, you’ll be riding comfortably on your regular bike. Because it’s your own bicycle, it gives you a more realistic ride than a separate stationary bike.

If you’re bicyclist who’s serious about physical fitness, an indoor bike trainer can really make a difference. To learn more about using a bicycle trainer in your exercise routine, check out Cycleops Fluid 2 Indoor Bicycle Trainer to see just how simple it is to set up and use.

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Many of us have taken short drastic trips to the diet and exercise arena only to quit after a few weeks. Weight may come off with a diet, but quickly gets tedious and hard to stick with. Exercise programs that are structured are just too difficult to maintain when a timetable must be flexible to accommodate the needs of others. But, if there were a way to get healthy that would not require major changes, a healthier lifestyle would be better.

Taking a holistic approach to diet and working out and starting slow enough to allow our bodies to adjust as we go will help us to be healthy and slender. This program is not a wonder diet that will make you drop a specific number of pounds. You will lose weight because you are getting healthier. You will start looking better because you are exercising more. Diet and working out are inter-connected and work together to create the body that we want.

Starting a journal with our important information in it will be a great way to measure progress. Putting in actual weight, BMI, what we eat, how much we eat, and energy we are currently use will give a complete picture of where we are. From this picture it is easy to set a plan into motion to change it.

A healthy diet and exercise program does not require that you weight yourself each day. When people start exercising and strengthening their bodies they begin to build muscle mass. Muscle weighs more than fat so the scales may show a person is gaining weight when they are actually losing fat.

Starting an working out program that will work up to thirty minutes a day will help you to stick with it. By starting off with a fifteen minute walk to the corner and back, you can gradually build up to 30 minute walks. When walking is not a challenge any more move to jogging. Each time that the thirty minute working out becomes less of a challenge do something different.

Diet is going to be a sneaky game that you play with your brain to keep it from throwing up obstacles as you are switching out bad foods for healthy foods. Start by replacing snacks with fresh fruits and vegetables. The body becomes addicted to many of the chemicals in processed foods and refined sugar. Most diets tell people to stop eating those foods immediately. Instead of stopping food cold turkey, just swap out healthier foods in small portions.

Increasing meals to five each day will keep you from getting hungry at any point during the day. The extra 2 meals can be healthy foods and the 3 other meals can be cut down portions of what you regularly eat. As you get used to eating healthy foods, start switching the foods on your 3 bad plates with healthy alternatives. Over the course of a couple of weeks you will be eating healthy with no withdrawal from the chemicals of processed foods that you have stopped eating.

Click here is you would like more information on women’s fitness or on personal trainer. You’ll find all the information you need at Fitness4Her.com

categories: exercise,diet,dieting,weight loss

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Ladies should train differently from men as their hormones and muscles are not the same. Men tend to bulk up thanks to testosterone and other muscular differences. Ladies tend to induce longer, leaner muscles no matter what kind of weight bearing exercise is being done.

In the same method that almost all men would not want long, lean ballerina legs, most ladies conjointly do not need huge biceps that ripple underneath a nice blouse at work. We tend to have to admit, there are specific differences that the sexes have and one of those variations is in exercise.

Ladies usually complain that men can lose weight faster, however this is as a result of of the sheer muscle mass that men possess. A lot of muscle equals faster fat burn, thus girls may have a more durable time removing fat from those abs. But, regardless of how many babies a woman has had or how several bowls of ice cream she has eaten in her lifetime, she will be able to dispose of that spare tire round her middle by doing some abdominal exercises.

The key for many ladies is finding an exercise routine that’s difficult but fun. It wants to be able to be done fairly quickly as a result of women, especially mothers, tend to be terribly busy people! It additionally wants to be an efficient exercise program that is engaging and entertaining too. Exercise programs that incorporate balls, stretchy bands and even dancing are sometimes a good fit for most women. Most women realize that even the proper music on the DVD is an important part of whether she enjoys the program or not.

Take some time to read reviews of various ab exercise programs to essentially get a feel for a way they work. Women want to relate to the trainer therefore that they’ll sort of see themselves in the trainer. Girls abs are completely different and would like to be trained a totally completely different means from mens abs. But, they can get the identical nice results with a very little perseverance!

Now we know that girls abs are uniqueand need to be trained a certain way. To read more about which program to pick, visit this site: Flat Abs Advisor.

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So you have got to control your diet too. You also must practice certain back workouts as back exercises use biceps as a aid to perform the work-outs. In order to do bicep exercises the weight you choose should be very important, as you’re a amateur and you should be able to complete your last rep. Slowly try to increase the weight before you begin this weight training exercise have a thorough medical check up.

Follow the correct technique of the best way to lift the weight and then do the exercises. In a noobs fitness program you have got to train with weight for 2 3 times per week, working on each particular set of muscle collection for each workout spend at least 30 minutes.

With resistance training you need to practice light aerobic exercises which will help you to reduce your blubber. Adjustment of the weight will depend upon you but recall you need to be happy with the rep. If you need rest between exercises, feel free to do so but never continue if you’re feeling uncomfortable.

Between exercise sessions you need to take one or two days of rest. Start keeping a record of the quantity of weight you are lifting as the heavier the weight lifts are the speedier the muscle building is.

You’ll have to upgrade to a harder, newer fitness program, bolstering step by step your programs with new exercises and new systems of lifting. Side-by-side you also have to keep an eye fixed on your nourishment so as to get the entire results of your fitness plan.

This author is the director of operations two corporations. His numerous articles cover a selection of subjects, includings subjects like Exercise Equipment Mat and Folding Exercise Mat.

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When you focus on posture and balance, you help align both your posture and your body in general. Before you begin your bodybuilding exercise program, you’ll need to have proper posture. Because most professional bodybuilders have good posture, their programs may not concentrate on this particular feature. However, if your posture is good, you can look more fit simply because of the way you hold yourself.

When you are engaging in a bodybuilding exercise program, you also need to make sure that your shoulders are stable. If they’re not, you could injure yourself. If you injure your shoulders, you could find yourself in pain because you did things wrong. This is something you don’t want, of course, and assuming the proper techniques will assure that you don’t have this problem.

Core stability is important, too. Bodybuilding exercise workouts need to include this information because core stability helps protect your lower back from injury. If you don’t develop core stability, you could injure your back. Many existing bodybuilding exercise programs don’t really focus on core stability because experienced bodybuilders already have core stability. If you don’t, though, you’re going to need to learn how to make your core stable before you can embark on a serious bodybuilding program.

The right bodybuilding exercise program will also help make you flexible and focus on the training that’s right for your particular body type. You are going to need both your lower and upper body flexible. You cannot be stiff before you begin to work out or you can injure yourself. Therefore, you’ll need to stretch and warm up, again with exercises perfect for your body type, to give you maximum flexibility and therefore lower your risk of injury.

You might also find that you have parts of your body that are more developed than others. This is normal, but it will need to be corrected. You’ll need to have a bodybuilding exercise program that focuses on all muscles of your body equally so that none are more developed than others. Having parts of your body overdeveloped while the parts are underdeveloped can make the overdeveloped parts work harder and can cause injury. This also slows you down when it comes to getting in your best shape.

In addition to your bodybuilding exercise program, you’ll also need to do overall conditioning. Overall conditioning requires that you add cardiovascular exercise, too. Even though cardiovascular exercise may not help you “bulk up,” it still exercises your heart and lungs, which is necessary for proper health and maximum benefit. In addition, this type of training is also going to help keep you from getting injured while you work on gaining weight by building muscle.

You’ll need to know about many things if you want to engage in a bodybuilding exercise program that will turn your slender frame into one with plenty of muscle. The best program is going to include exercises that will work on everything, from your core stability, to your posture, to stabilize your shoulders, to making you as flexible as possible, and improving your overall conditioning through cardiovascular exercise. Having a ball got physique is great, but if you want this, you’ll need to learn the right techniques for your particular body type.

Building muscle mass will be a cinch with the appropriate bodybuilding exercise for your body type. Your bodybuilding routines will never be the same again – discover the fastest way to build muscle!

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