Looking to get on track with a fitness routine to improve
your health and/or appearance? It is
important that you choose a program that fits your needs. With a never ending stream of ads for workout
programs and gym making the right choice can be both confusing and
frustrating. I don’t want that to stop
you. Below are a few tips that I
recommend to help you decide on the right fitness program for you. But first
lets chat briefly about what a great fitness program should include:
- A well structured exercise routine
- A sound nutritional plan
- Motivation
- Adaptability
- Time Consideration
A well structured exercise routine. The routine should be progressive and take
into account your current fitness level and needs. If you start out with something to aggressive
you are likely to end up very sore from the workout. If you start with something to easy you may
feel like the program isn’t going to work for you.
A sound nutritional plan.
Don’t get caught up with all the supplements and specialty food
nutritional plans. Depending upon your
specific needs that may play a part later in the program, but to begin the
nutritional strategies should be simple.
For example I tell my clients each meal should consist of a lean protein,
fibrous carbohydrate, starchy carbohydrate and minimize the consumption of
simple sugars and processed foods.
Motivation. To find
motivation look past the typical ‘why’s’ people use to start a fitness
program. You need to finds something
that you have a strong emotional connection to.
So, to say, “I want to loose weight” isn’t going to be a strong enough
motivator to get you through the tough times.
Instead dig deeper as to why you want to lose the weight. Something like, “I want to lose weight
because my mother died at the age of 45 because of disease directly related to
being overweight. I want to reduce my chances of getting diabetes…etc”. There needs to be a strong emotional
connections. A good program is going to
walk you through the process of discovering your ‘why’/
Adaptability. Life
throws curveballs, so the program needs to be adaptable to fit your
circumstances during these moments.
Whether the program needs to adapt because of an injury or time
conflict.
Time considerations.
It is only the rare few that can and are willing to commit to 1-2 hour
long workouts. If this is you,
great! But if it is not then find a
program that’s time commitments are doable for you. Research is pretty supportive of shorter
higher intensity workouts. That is
workouts that are 20-30 minutes in duration and repeating them 3 times per
week.
Now that we know what a great fitness program should
include, let’s look at what you need to consider when choosing a program:
- Budget
- Time
- Simplicity
- Nutrition
- Equipment
Budget. How much are you willing to spend? With so many
programs to choose from budget would be the first place I would start. However, don’t always pick the lowest price
option. If you spend to little it is
easy to blow off the program which of course defeats the purpose. It should pinch the pocket book a little bit,
this contributes to the motivation aspect ;-)
Time. How much time
are you willing to commit to the program?
If you are only willing to commit to three thirty minute workouts, then
it makes no sense to purchase a program that has you working out six days a
week.
Simplicity. Can you
easily follow the program? Pick a
program that you can follow. The more
experience you have or get using fitness programs the more you will be able to
handle. Just start simple and advance
from there.
Nutrition. Keep it
simple. Don’t get to complicated. I have found through the years that a simple
eating strategy will go along away.
Having a lot of available recipes is nice, but I rarely find clients
that use many of the available healthy recipes.
The better strategy seems to apply sound nutritional concepts to improve
what is currently being consumed. For
example instead of having the typical hamburger at the summer bbq (75% lean
ground beef, 200 calorie enriched white bread bun, topping of your choice) opt
for a leaner hamburger patty, skip the bun or make a lettuce wrap, add your
choice of toppings. This dramatically
cuts the calories.
Equipment. You don’t
need any equipment at all to achieve your desire fat loss goals. So, anything you choose to add is icing on
the cake. If your new to fitness get the
most bang for you buck by investing in a stability ball and a set of resistance
cords. From there you can add dumbbells
I like to recommend a set ranging from 5-25lbs.
Ultimately when in comes to choosing a fitness program, it
comes down to using the old K.I.S.S. method, Keep It Simple Sexy. Pick a program that you can incorporate into
your lifestyle.
