fitness goals - fitknitchick

10 Reasons Why You’re Not Getting Results in the Gym

January 25, 2013 by Tamara 44 Comments

It’s the third week of January.

Congratulations! You’ve been sticking to your new year’s goal of exercising regularly and cleaning up your diet. Three to 4 quality workouts a week and lots of veggies, fruits, lean protein and healthy fats.

Yet why, when you look in the mirror, do you see the very same body that you saw before Christmas staring back at you?

not getting results in the gym

Why are you not getting results in the gym?

1. You haven’t been on your program long enough. It’s simply too soon. You’ve only been working on a new program for 2 or 3 weeks. While you’re probably feeling stronger and most likely lifting heavier weights, you have yet to see that muscle definition you crave and the scale hasn’t budged.

Relax and stay the course. Don’t expect to see bigger guns, tighter glutes or a smaller belly until you’ve been consistently and progressively training for at least 4 to 6 weeks.

2. You’ve been on your program too long. Although this is unlikely to be true for those of you just getting going (see point number 1), if you’ve been exercising regularly for awhile and haven’t changed your routine in a couple of months, you’ve probably stopped seeing results and may even be losing ground.

To continue to make progress, your body needs a change. New exercises, a new ordering of the old exercises, a different body part split, or at the very least, making the old program more challenging. Bodies are inherently efficient (or lazy, as it were), doing as little as they can in an attempt to protect and minimize energy expended.

3. You’re on the wrong program. Enrolling in a zumba class won’t help you build upper body strength. Single joint exercises performed with light weights won’t significantly contribute to weight loss. Matching the program to your individual fitness goals is key to getting the results you want in a reasonable amount of time.

Don’t know where to start? Hire a personal trainer to create a program specifically designed for YOU. (Why not try online personal training?)

4. You’re not lifting heavy enough. If you want to build a stronger, leaner body, you must lift heavy. Not HEAVY, heavy, but HEAVIER than you think. The only way to stimulate muscle growth (and a leaner physique) is to work with loads that are heavier than your body is used to. Hint, if your handbag weighs 10 pounds, bicep curling with 5′s isn’t gonna build muscle.

5. You’re not lifting often enough. You need to train each body part at least once per week to see results. Any less and you’ll be hard pressed to increase the weight on any particular exercise. Weight training is based on the principle of progressive resistance; you need to keep making things more challenging to see changes in your physique. Most beginning lifters find that 3-4 days of strength training per week is ideal.

6. You’re lifting too often. Beware, when it comes to weight training, there IS too much of a good thing. Muscle fibres need time to rest and repair between workouts. That’s when growth occurs. Train too often and you risk injury, fatigue, failure to progress and sometimes even losing ground in the weight room. Overtraining is to be avoided.

7. You’re not eating the right food. Food is fuel, and as such, not all fuels are created equal. You’ve all heard the phrase ‘you can’t out train a bad diet’. It’s true. Your body needs lean protein, healthy fats, lots of vitamins, minerals and fibre and a bit of starchy carbohydrate to function well while you’re training as well as to translate that training into physical change.

8. You’re eating too much food. Even if your diet is ‘clean’, you may still be eating too much. Excess calories are stored as fat, regardless of whether they come from chicken breasts or donuts. Pay attention to portion control and resist the urge to use exercise to rationalize overeating.

9. You’re not eating enough food. It may sound counter-intuitive, but eating too little can be just as detrimental to your fitness goals as eating too much. Your body requires a certain number of calories each day just to carry out it’s basic functions. For most women, this number will be in the 1200-1400 calorie range. Eat less than this, for too long and your body will do everything it can to hold onto those energy stores. Starvation mode is to be avoided.

10. You’re paying attention to the wrong metrics. While the bathroom scale can give you a general indication of your health and fitness level, it is not the be-all and end-all when it comes to measuring progress in the gym. Why? Body weight can fluctuate by up to 5 pounds within a day, depending on when and what you’ve eaten, as well as how hydrated you are and what day of your cycle it is (why do we all jump on the scales first thing in the morning? It’s when we weigh the least!).

Better indicators of progress towards your goals include circumference measurements (abdomen, hips, thighs), body fat estimates, the fit of your clothes (use your favourite skinny jeans!), the weight you’re lifting in the gym, how many good form pushups you can do and how long you can go on the elliptical.

Have you stopped getting results in the gym?

Do any of the items on my list sound like they could be the culprit?

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Review, reflect and move forward | 5 lessons from 2012

December 31, 2012 by Tamara 34 Comments

My very favourite thing about January 1st? The need for new stationery! (Are you a stationery geek too?)

A new calendar to keep my family’s activities organized. A new journal for me to write my thoughts and dreams in. My first Fitbook to plan and record my workouts and nutrition.

But before I move forward, I’m taking the advice of my blogger friend Kareen (of iameatingright) and making time to review and reflect on my accomplishments and near accomplishments of the past year.

While these reflections are personal, I do believe that many of you will have had similar experiences and will relate to one or more of them.

1. Make a fitness plan and stick to it. When I look back at the workouts and programs I engaged in throughout the year, I’m struck by how often I changed plans midstream. From whole body metabolic training to body part splits to incorporating yoga and running, I tried to do a lot of different things; none of which I stuck with for long enough to really reap the benefits. I like to think of this as ‘shiny new thing’ syndrome.

I did, however, get to the gym and engage in some sort of exercise 5 days out of 7 almost every week in 2012!

2. Find ways to work around injuries. Way back in July, I strained my intercostal muscles. The recovery and rehabilitation process was long and drawn out. There were a lot of movements that I couldn’t perform pain-free. Although I continued to teach and hop on the Cybex ARC trainer daily, I let my weight training slide. Rather than figure out what I COULD do, I worried a lot about what I COULDN’T. As a consequence, I lost considerable ground in the weight room. And because I didn’t adjust my nutrition to take into account all of those calories I was no longer burning daily, I saw the scale go up (and stay there!).

This experience has made me much more sensitive to my clients’ injuries and has led me to getting more creative with their workouts, so as to keep moving them towards their fitness goals.

3. Acknowledge and accept that the hormonal effects of aging may require you to change the way you exercise and eat. I am 45 1/2. Peri-menopause is part of my daily experience. Mood swings. Food cravings. Hot flashes. All caused by changes in my hormonal profile. Like it or not, my body responds to food differently than it used to. I used to be able to eat whatever I wanted without repercussion. Not so now. Same with exercise. In the past, cardio and light weights were enough to keep me lean and strong. Now I find that my body needs heavy weights to maintain muscle mass and keep the belly fat at bay.

Earlier this month I PR’d on three exercises in the same workout; squats, dumbbell bench press and bent over row. I’m excited to keep up the strength training momentum in 2013!

4. Place your own fitness needs before those of others. I spend 15-20 hours per week teaching group fitness classes and training clients. As I look back at my 2012 calendar, I see many, many days when I cut my own workout short or delayed it to a low energy time of day to accommodate a client’s last minute schedule change or to sub a class for a colleague. I put on everybody else’s oxygen masks first.

I will remember and avoid this tendency as I plan my own January workouts.

5. Don’t be afraid of trying something new. Over the past year and a half I stepped outside of my fitness comfort zone more often than ever before! I took a Burlesque class! I tried CrossFit and Trampoline fitness! I made yoga a regular part of my fitness routine!

What shall I try in 2013?

Whether you’re making resolutions or not, I encourage you to watch Kareen’s video and take a few minutes to think back on your OWN 2012. Celebrate your successes, identify areas where you could have done better and make a plan for tackling those aspects of your life in 2013.

Wishing you all a happy, healthy and fit 2013! xo Tamara

What was your biggest health and fitness accomplishment in 2012?

How will you improve even more in 2013?

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Under Armour ‘What’s Beautiful’ campaign; why I’ll be cheering from the sidelines

May 2, 2012 by Tamara 14 Comments

Last week I got an email from a friend about Under Armour’s ‘What’s Beautiful’ campaign. She suggested that since (a) I was into fitness, (b) I was already used to writing and photographing and video blogging about exercise and (c) love Under Armour workout gear, entering was a no-brainer.

Haven’t heard about the campaign? According to the website, ‘What’s Beautiful’ is a “competition to redefine the female athlete”;

Anyone can enter. You needn’t be an athlete in the traditional sense. Just declare a fitness-related goal and complete the challenges sent to you. You’ll be uploading your progress videos regularly and at the end of the 9-week challenge, three women will be chosen as the new faces of Under Armour.

And did I mention that the winners will receive UA workout wear? Two $1000 winners and one $5000 winner!

I immediately starting racking my brain for a goal worthy of the challenge. Since I already workout 5 or 6 days a week, it had to more than a ‘get to the gym regularly’ kind of goal.

Running a marathon (or a half-marathon or even a 10K) was the first thing that popped into my head. Only one problem; I don’t run. Is completing a 5K in less than an hour epic enough to convince UA that I should be their new ‘face’? Probably not.

How about a triathlon then (maybe a sprint or ‘Try it’ tri?). In addition to being a non-runner, I’m not really a swimmer or a cyclist either (other than indoor cycling; no weather to deal with!). But think about what an incredible story that would make? ‘Non-runner, non-cyclist, non-swimmer trains and completes her first triathlon in only 9 weeks!’ (that’s 9 weeks of training, not 9 weeks to finish the event ; ) )

Perhaps. But I’d need to buy a bike. And a wet-suit. And running gear. Spend upwards of $1000 to win $1000 worth of workout gear. You do the math. Plus, how on earth am I going to fit in 2 runs, 2 cycles and 2 swims each week? I could ditch my clients, but they’d be none too happy about it!

After a week of thinking hard on a goal worthy of the competition, I remembered a recent post I wrote about goals. I confessed that I didn’t really have any long term fitness goals and that I needed to put that on my list of things to do.

Somehow, I haven’t gotten around to it yet. And I’m okay with that. Turns out that I’m not really the type of person who needs a long-term training goal to get her workouts in. Exercising is just something I do daily, like brushing my teeth.

So I’m not entering the competition.

Instead, I’ll be cheering on several of my FitFluential friends from the sidelines. Women who were daring enough to throw their hats in the ring. Click on the names to view their UA profiles and show them some love! With a little luck and determination, three of them could be the new faces of Under Armour!

Under Armour’s ‘What’s Beautiful’ campaign is still accepting challengers. Are you up for it? Declare a goal and get to work!

Have you ever challenged yourself to a longterm fitness goal?

What was it? And how did you stay motivated to see it to completion?

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Short and long term goals in fitness, knitting (and life)

April 11, 2012 by Tamara 20 Comments

Believe it or not, I am a knitter. (I know, I don’t look like a knitter. But what does a knitter look like?)

I knit for the same reason I exercise; it relieves stress, it’s a productive use of my time, it teaches me new things and it’s introduced me to many new friends; friends I might not have met otherwise.

There are a lot of similarities between knitting and fitness. I’ve blogged at length about them before here. But one of the most important elements the two have in common is the need for both short and long term goals.

Short term goals hold your interest for a few days or weeks at best. Not too much investment. Easy to forget about once attained. In contrast, long term goals require you to look beyond the immediate and see the bigger picture. More investment, more stops and starts, more satisfaction when you reach them.

My current short and long term goals?

Knitting:

Short term: socks, always socks. I’m currently working on a wild-stripey pair for my 9-year old daughter. Knitting socks for kids has to be about the shortest term project out there. You cast on, knit while watching an episode of House and presto, it’s time to turn the heel. Four to 6 evenings of television and they’re done. Almost instant satisfaction (unless, of course, your child then refuses to wear them because they’re either too pretty or too itchy to come in contact with their foot…).

Long term: a beautiful, flowing, drapey cardigan for me. Garments don’t always have to be long term projects (I’ve knit a chunky weight vest on 6 mm needles in a weekend), but this one is knit in sport-weight yarn (very thin) on 4 mm needles (moderately small) and has a very large, overlapping collar and extension PLUS long sleeves. I’m hoping it will be done in time to wear as an evening cover up come summer… Here’s what it’s supposed to look like

This is what mine looks like right now; still a fair ways to go…

Fitness:

Short term: consistently get to the weight room 3 times a week, yoga and spinning once or twice. Showing up is all that matters for my short term goals. I’ve been tweeting (and will continue to tweet) my #PROOF pics just to stay accountable and motivated.

Long term: other than my super long term goal to do unassisted pull-ups (it occurs to me that if I was being consistent, this would be a short term goal; funny how short terms goals can turn into long term goals, isn’t it?), I don’t really have any. I’m not training for any particular event. I’m not trying to drop weight or body fat (not to say that I wouldn’t love to be a bit leaner, but I’m not really concentrating on it these days).

I think I just added another action item to my short term fitness goal list: identify a long term fitness goal!

I’m keeping my long and short term life goals to myself (for now). Suffice it to say, we’re all works in progress!

What are your current short and long term fitness goals?

What other areas in your life do you set goals for?

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On letting go and moving forward; fitness in the new year

December 31, 2011 by Tamara 4 Comments

I don’t make New Year’s resolutions.

I used to, but somehow the things I resolved to do never got done.

Sad to say, this is only a small part of my yarn stash

Perhaps they were too big (learning a new language). Or too long term (knitting up all my stash yarn before buying more). Or just too darned optimistic (getting up early every morning to meditate).

Regardless, like almost all resolution-makers, I abandoned my ambitious plans for change long before the end of January. Instead of leading to a better, more positive me, those failed resolutions made me feel even worse about myself.

That being said, I still believe that the end of the year is a great time to reflect on where you are in your life. To celebrate the successes and examine the not-quite-successes of the last twelve months. To move forward by, in the words of my favourite yoga instructor (as we settle onto our mats and begin to turn our focus inward);

Letting go of whatever you’re holding on to that no longer serves you.

After a long, hard think (oh the things you can think*), I’ve identified three things that I need to let go of to move forward in my life.

Occasional twinges of inadequacy. I am surrounded by rock stars. Bloggers who post more frequently and more profoundly than I do. Trainers and instructors who have more clients and a larger following than me. Moms whose children are calmer and better-behaved than mine. Facebook pages that have more ‘likes’. Friends who have bigger biceps and more defined delts. Anyone that can do unassisted pull ups!

I need to let these comparisons go. I am exactly who I need to be right now. I am enough.

The tendency to put others’ fitness goals before my own. I love to workout in the morning. I have more energy and stamina then than another time of the day. Mornings are also the preferred training time of most of my clients and the most likely time other group fitness instructors are looking for subs. Frequently, I give up the hour I’ve scheduled for myself to teach a class or train a client who can’t possibly make it into the gym any other time that week. Some weeks, the only workouts I get in are during the classes I teach.

I need to stop putting myself second. To stop being so accommodating with my time. My fitness goals are just as important as everyone else’s.

An all-or-nothing approach to fitness. During the past few months, my family has faced a number of health challenges. Both my husband and daughter spent time in hospital. My already busy schedule became more so. Often, I didn’t have an hour to get to the gym. Did I fit shorter workouts in? Not always, even though I know that even a little bit of exercise is better than none.

I need to let go of the idea that a workout doesn’t count unless it’s long and hard.

By letting go, I’ll be making room for more positive emotions and opportunities. I’m not expecting it to be easy (nothing worth anything ever is). But I know that I’ll still be trying come spring. Long after most New Year’s resolutions will have already been forgotten.

Do you make New Year’s resolutions? Do you keep them?

What do you need to let go of in your life?

*Seussical the Musical

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Enough is enough: the new year starts today!

December 29, 2011 by Tamara 1 Comment

Whew! The holiday season is over for another year. Lots of fun with family and friends. But a few too many cookies and a few too few trips to the gym. Sound familiar?

I’m starting my new year today. Join me?

(I’m still learning the ins and outs of video logging – vlogging for short. Please be patient with me on this still very steep learning curve!).

Tell me about your new years fitness plans.

What steps are you taking towards a healthier you in 2012?

**** Just in case you missed the links in the video;

The 30 Day Burpees Challenge, brought to you by YourInnerSkinny

Online food tracking at myfitnesspal

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Change, personal bests and serendipity

November 11, 2011 by Tamara 3 Comments

This past Wednesday, I finished up a four-week weight training cycle. All. Done.

Recall that I had reduced my weight training sessions from four times a week to just two. In part, because I’ve been trying to make time to address my lack of flexibility through yoga, but also, because I had plateaued in my strength gains and thought that a change might stimulate new growth.

For the past month, I’ve split my training time over two days; one day for chest, back and triceps, the other for legs, shoulders and biceps. I’ve kept the exercises the same each week, but manipulated the loads and repetition numbers. (For those of you new to weight training, this is called progressive resistance training. To continue to make strength gains, you need to continually add weight (or difficulty) to an exercise.)

And boy, did it work!

She should be lifting heavier... Source

Below, I’ve listed my start and end performances for just the chest and back exercises (don’t want to bore you with all the numbers!). Notice the increase in load over just four weeks! The chest press, bent over row and cable pec fly represent all-time personal bests! Hip, hip hooray; let’s hear it for change!

Dumbbell chest press: 25 lbs x 8 reps x 4 sets TO 30 lbs 8 x 10 reps x 4 sets
Single arm bent over row: 35 lbs x 8 x 4 TO 40 lbs x 10 x 4
Lat pulldowns: 70 lbs x 8 x 4 TO 80 lbs x 10 x 4
Cable pec flys: 25 lbs x 8 x 4 TO 27.5 lbs x 10 x 4
Seated row: 65 lbs x 8 x 4 TO 75 lbs x 10 4 4
Pushups: 30 (total over 4 sets) TO 57 (total over 4 sets)

I saw similar changes in the amount of weight my shoulders, arms and legs could move. Some exercises resulted in greater gains than others, but all in all, I’m pleased with my progress and thrilled that spending less time in the gym produced greater results!

However, I don’t think I’ve gotten everything I can out of this training schedule. So for the next four week cycle, I’ll be following the same schedule. Still splitting my training over two days. Still grouping chest with back and triceps, legs with shoulders and biceps. Only the specific exercises will change (I’ll post details next week).

As a consequence of the heavy rows and presses I did on Wednesday, I’ve been feeling very tight and constricted through the shoulders. Although I did stretch thoroughly after my workout, delayed onset muscle soreness hit me hard this morning. Since the gym is closed today (Remembrance Day in Canada), I thought I’d head to the yoga studio for a more intense stretch.

Source

The instructor must have read my mind. We spent the entire class on chest and shouldering opening poses. I left feeling thoroughly relaxed with no hint of tightness remaining. Serendipity always makes me smile!

Have you made a change in your exercise routine lately?

Tell me about it!

If not, why not?

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New to weight training? Use your own body weight to get strong and lean

November 3, 2011 by Tamara Leave a Comment

For many reasons, people (women in particular) are intimidated by dumbbells (that aren’t pink…), barbells and squat racks. Rather than cross over to the free-weight section of their gym (where the ‘gym rats’ hang out), they head for the machines (hamstring curl, leg extensions, seated shoulder press, chest press and row, to name a few).

Source

While machines have their place in some people’s fitness programs (correcting muscular imbalances, rehabilitating injuries, improving range of motion and breaking through plateaus are how I typically use them with my clients, when I use them at all…), they’re not so great for metabolism raising, fat burning or improving day-to-day functional movements. The three primary reasons people choose to exercise.

Why? Because you sit at machines, rather than standing on your own two feet. Sitting does not require you to activate your glutes or engage your core to any great extent, both of which will dramatically improve your posture, fitness level and caloric burn.

For those of you who are still not convinced that you need to learn to love free weights (or get to the gym in the first place), I’ve put together a list of my favorite body weight exercises. Exercises that can be done at home with minimal equipment, or at the gym in the corner or in the ‘stretching’ section of the weight room.

These are all ‘bang for your buck’ exercises, in that they use multiple muscle groups and require you to stabilize your shoulder girdle and core throughout. When done correctly and at a good tempo, they’ll also elevate your heart rate, blurring the lines between ‘cardio’ and ‘strength training’.

A word of warning; some of these exercises are not for beginners. Just because you’re not lifting dumbbells or barbells doesn’t mean the exercise is easy; pushups and pull ups require you to push and pull 75-100% of your body weight (dumbbells are starting to sound like a good idea after all, aren’t they!).

Source

That being said, there are modifications that you can do as you progress towards full pushups and pull ups. I’ve written previously about learning to do chin ups; you can apply the same rules in your quest for the pull up, just widen and reverse your grip (palms face forward). Check back tomorrow for ways to progress your ‘knee’ pushups to full on ‘toe’ pushups. Click on the links below for exercise descriptions and images.

Fitknitchick’s best body weight exercises

Source

Pushups
Pull ups or chin ups
Planks (of all type)
Squats (there are tons of great variations)
Lunges (again, variations aplenty)
Bird dog (looks easy, but isn’t and is extremely beneficial to all)
Back extensions (on the ball, floor or the back extension apparatus)
Burpees (half or full-on)
Skipping rope

Are you already doing some of these exercises in your daily workouts?

Anything I missed?

As always, I love to hear from you!

{Leave a Comment }

Dig deep (in your psyche) and give me one more rep

September 9, 2011 by Tamara 11 Comments

Earlier this week I wrote a post about goal setting (or intention setting, as I’m preferring to call it). We all know how important it is to set goals for ourselves; it gives us something to strive for and helps to keep us heading in the right direction when life throws us a curve ball.

Source: stayfitbug.com

While most people have no difficult telling you what their fitness goals are when you ask them (lose weight and run a half or full marathon are the two I’m hearing most frequently right now), very few can provide more than a superficial response when asked why they’ve chosen those specific goals over all other options.

“To improve my fitness level”

“To fit into my skinny jeans”

“Because all my friends are doing it” (as a parent of three school age children, I particularly love this last one!)

Valid responses, all three, but superficial, none-the-less.

Why do you want to improve your fitness? Are there health concerns associated with your current level of fitness? Is it you who wants to become fitter or have your friends/significant other/medical practitioner created this goal for you? (In addition to being superficial, this goal is non-specific; what aspects of fitness are you wanting to improve upon?)

Why do you want to fit into your skinny jeans? What does being thinner mean to you? Do you like yourself more (and assume that others will too) when you’re 10, 15, or 20 pounds lighter? If this is an issue for you, I suggest you check out ‘Appetites‘ by Geneen Roth; it’s a fantastic book about the relationship between body size and self-image. (I might just do a book review next week ’cause I loved it so much!)

What does running a half or full marathon signify to you? Are you doing it because you genuinely like to run or because it seems like the thing to do (particularly for women in their 40′s…) to demonstrate that you’re still young and vital?

Source: emotionaldetective.typepad.com

I frequently ask my personal training clients to look inside themselves and really question why they’re working towards a particular goal (some call this ‘navel-gazing’. Dig deep, into the inner workings of their own psyches and understand what really motivates their health and fitness goals.

Only once you’ve done the inside work, will the outside work get you closer to those goals.

I’d love to hear the ‘what’ and ‘why’ of your current fitness and health goals! Please add your comments below.

Check out the Friday Fitness Blog Hop by clicking on the link below! Happy Fitness Friday to all!

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What inspires you?

August 15, 2011 by Tamara 2 Comments

Recently, I was invited to join Pinterest; an on-line site for creating photo boards and essays simply by ‘pinning’ pictures directly from the internet onto one of your ‘boards’.

Like Facebook, you can follow other users’ boards and they can follow yours. If you see an image you like, you’re free to go ahead and ‘re-pin’ it. When you pin or re-pin an image, it’s original URL moves with it, making it unnecessary to remember to give photo credits to the photographer or website you’ve grabbed the photo from. Easy, peasy.

I’ve been using Pinterest to design a vision or inspiration board. My board is a collection of images pertaining to my current health and fitness goals; strength, flexibility, healthy eating, better hydration and family time (yes, improving the quality of family time counts as a health goal in my books; less conflict means lower blood pressure and stress-induced belly fat!).

Vision or inspiration boards are a great way to remind yourself daily of what’s important to you. Kind of like pinning a photo of a fitness model on the fridge door (does that really work when there’s leftover chocolate cake inside?). I use mine as the wallpaper on my computer monitor. Every time I check my e-mail I’m reminded of what I’m working towards.

Want to join the fun? E-mail me (tgrand AT telus DOT net) and ask for an invitation. (Pinterest is still in the beta-testing stage and new users must be invited to join). You can follow my boards and I’ll be happy to follow yours!

Do you have a vision or inspiration board?

If you’re already using Pinterest, who’s boards are you following?

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