It takes a lot of courage to walk into a weight room, a gym, a Pump class or even Clear Rock.  So if you are working out with weights, I want to congratulate you for overcoming that feeling of intimidation and doing something that is really good for yourself.  It may have been a while ago or it may have been very recently that you started.  Either way, you are doing something really good for yourself.

I believe that a fitness program is personal and each of us has to find our own formula that works with our lives, our schedules, our work, and our physical limitations.  But within that formula we have to find a way to keep our muscles balanced and strong, get our cardiovascular exercise for our heart and for fat burn, and to find the foods that support our very best life.

·         Strength Training

·         Cardio (Aerobic Exercise)

·         Nutrition

How on Earth are we supposed to do that and get everything else done?  Especially this time of year!  Here's my view.  We build it - slowly over time.

A common scenario is this: a woman comes to Clear Rock and begins strength training once or twice a week.  She hasn't been doing much exercise on her own and it's gotten to the point where she feels like she has to do something.  Maybe she went up another size, maybe she's heard bad news from her doctor, or maybe she was inspired by someone in her life that is getting healthy and feeling better.  But something has tipped her motivation enough to get started.  There's an excitement and a hope at the first meeting.  There is actually a way out of this hole she's dug for herself.

She schedules her first week of workouts, comes to the studio and gets through her very first strength training sessions.  Her body feels like she's done something and it feels exciting to be making a good choice.  She gets another two or three weeks under her belt, starts to know the difference between a row and a press, and looks forward to her workouts.  Then the honeymoon is over.  This is hard work!  It is hard work to get to the gym, it is hard work when you're there, and the scale hasn't even moved.

That scenario is very common.  The reason the scale hasn't moved is because strength training is just the beginning.  It is the foundation.  It is metabolism-boosting muscle tissue.  It is leg strength so that you can start walking consistently.  It is balance.  It is posture.  It is core.  But it is not the only piece.  You have to build on it.

It can seem so overwhelming to talk about everything that needs to happen to lose weight the right way so that it stays off; strength training, cardio, nutrition, hydration, sleep, stretching, and finding healthy ways to deal with stress to name a few.  It really doesn't work well to try to do everything at once.  That's why diets and resolutions fail.  (Starting January 2^nd after my six week binge, I am going to count calories or points, walk six days a week, lift weights twice a week, do yoga, get to bed on time, drink eight glasses of water a day, and try not to shoot anyone.)  It's not the right approach.

Master one thing.  Get consistent with your strength training.  Twice a week is great.  Learn proper form, bring your best to every workout, and give it your all.  Learn what to eat and drink that works for you.  Feel the confidence that comes with mastery, then build on that.  If you are lifting twice a week but aren't doing any aerobic exercise, can you add one cardio workout?  Add one.  Then for the next however many weeks, do your two strength training workouts and your walk (or run/bike/swim/Zumba/elliptical).  You just went from two to three!  That's awesome!

Now build on that.  Once you've got those three scheduled consistently, can you add another aerobic workout?  Now this is starting to be fierce; two strength training sessions, and two cardio workouts.  Can you make the commitment to stick with this?  Can you overcome the old obstacles that always tripped you up in the past?  Schedules, stress, work, holidays, vacation - same old same old, right?  It's always the same stuff.  So how do your pants fit now?  Is the scale moving yet?  It might be, but it might not.

If not, build on what you are doing.  Look at your food choices.  Are bad food choices undoing everything you are doing at the gym and on your walks?  This is a common place to get stuck.  Old food patterns die hard, but they do die if you are willing to work on them.  Remember to build on what you are doing.  You have four workouts a week now that you are invested in.  If you are still not progressing the way you want, make some different choices.

I believe a good place to start is by adding.  Add vegetables.  Add grilled fish.  Add egg whites.  Add apples.  Add water.  Pick one and see how that goes.  Then once you master it, build on that and add some more.  Add things that you are willing to stick with.  Make them part of your new healthy lifestyle.  Keep building.

I believe we are gaining weight, losing weight, or staying the same at any given time.  It's really a direction.  If you don't like the direction you are going in, you have to change something.  Change one piece at a time, master that, and then build on it.  Make the commitment to stick with it and eventually you will have implemented so many changes you will have basically changed your life.  Do it in your own time but do it.

I remember the day I came to the realization that no one was going to do this for me and if I wanted to be moving in a different direction, I'd have to make a different choice.  It was not an easy thing at the time but ever since I got really honest about it, I've felt empowered in ways I never thought possible.  It may sound like bad news.  No one is going to do this for you.  But really it is the best news possible.  You don't have to wait for a single thing outside of yourself, you are completely empowered to change any time you're ready.

Now get moving (in the right direction).