Like all of you, I have a really busy schedule. Besides the time I spend training others, I manage my business, I work a full time job, I do volunteer work each week, I spend time with my family, and I take care of household chores. But scheduling and planning my own workout is just as important as those other activities, because keeping myself healthy and in good shape gives me the energy and availability to help others. So how do I plan my own workouts? Here are the four things I do to keep my workouts on schedule and make them effective: I Put My Workout on My Calendar - I've learned over time that if you’re going to accomplish anything in your busy life, you need to schedule it. My exercise time is booked on my calendar, and is (generally) non-negotiable. I once heard the illustration that if you had to have treatments 3 times per week for a serious illness, would you let anything get in the way of having those treatments? No, you would rearrange your … [Read more...]
A Beginner’s Guide to Strength Training
About 6 months into my fitness journey, I joined a gym with the intent of moving from using the Wii Fit to actually lifting weights. The problem was, that's all I would do: "lift weight". I had no real idea of what I was doing. I just basically went from machine to machine doing 10 reps of the exercise on a given machine and then moving on to the next machine. There was no real plan, and I really had no idea what I was doing. I wasn't really strength training. After a couple of months of spinning my wheels, I started working with a personal trainer. During that time, I learned how to focus on specific body parts, the foundations of how to lift, and how to really engage the muscle groups to get stronger. Within a few weeks, I increased my strength and built noticeable muscle. Now, as a personal trainer myself, I help others with strength training programs to assist them with fat loss and to build lean muscle. It's one of my favorite things to visibly see the results my … [Read more...]
6 exercises to improve your golf swing
Six exercises to improve your golf swing - ACE Fit Life blog provides us with these six body weight exercises that you can do anywhere will help your rotational power for a better golf swing. A TRX Rip Trainer is also a great tool you can use to improve your rotational strength by adding some additional resistance. You can pack it up and take it with you anywhere. … [Read more...]
An interesting thing happened on the way to filming my deadlift….
I recorded myself doing deadlifts today, because I was planning to talk about how deadlifts are the king of exercises. But an interesting thing happened - I noticed that my back was more rounded than it should have been. So I recorded the above lift with a lighter weight and better form. You can see from the still below, my back is rounded more than it should be. This video exercise taught me a valuable lesson. With lifts like this and the squat that are hard to see your form with in the mirrors, it might be a good idea to film it so as to see your form. This can help you identify your problems in form and correct them. … [Read more...]
Test of Strength: Squat, Curl, Push, Press
Kevin at my gym 24/7 Fitness has been doing a great series of videos on how to do different exercises, with a great focus on challenging yourself to do something new. In one of his latest videos, the challenge is to do as many reps as possible of the Squat, Curl, Push, Press move within 1 minute using 25% of your body weight. I did this yesterday with two 25 pound dumb bells (I'm currently at 195 pounds, so 25% of my body weight is a little less than 50 pounds), and cranked out 23 reps in 1 minute. How many can you do? Check out their YouTube page for some other great videos and strength tests. … [Read more...]