People ask me ALL the time:

“What are the best machines to use at the gym?”

The answer to that question: ALL OF THEM!!!

Being able to go to a gym is a great asset to your health and fitness training. I have personally used commercial gym equipment and I will continue to do so! Having access to these machines allows you the opportunity to create a very diverse workout.  You want to be able to target different muscle groups on different days of your workout.   You also want to be able to do different types of cardio exercise (such as use the treadmill, use the stair master, the bike, or even a row machine).  Alternating between different cardio machines is a great way to get your cardio done.  It also allows you the option to split up your cardio over several different machines as opposed to staying on one machine for 30+ minutes.  Try staying on one machine for 15-20 minutes and move to another one!

As you can see in the picture above, being able to have access to different machines allows you to get creative with your workouts!  That is the BEST part!  You can use something as ordinary as a treadmill for one whole workout to get a  full body workout!

They key is to KNOW what you want to do when you get into the gym!

You should ALWAYS have a plan of the exercises you want to do for that day.  You should go ahead and plan out a whole weeks worth of workouts so you can be prepared when you get to the gym!  If you have a weeks worth of workouts planner it will also allow you the chance to switch your workout days if needed.

Example:  You go into your gym and there are a lot of people waiting to use certain machines you wanted to use that day….if you already know what you wanted to do for another workout just use that other workout instead!  It will allow you to not have to sit around and wait for people to get done with the machines you want to use.

Am I saying that you HAVE to have a gym membership to achieve your goals?

 NO NOT AT ALL!

But, I am saying that having access to a gym will allow you to do more diverse workouts.

Not to mention, the gym is a GREAT place to get health and fitness advice from fellow fitness junkies as well as try to meet people who are dedicated to a healthy lifestyle.

Want an example workout to do?  Here is a great workout ANYONE can try:

Want to get back on track but you just don’t know how to start?

Starting is the HARDEST part!
First you have to pick a day.  Pick a day that you want to start living and eating healthier.

On this day start first thing in the morning when you wake up.

The best thing to do is to start fresh at the beginning of the week (like Sunday or Monday).

Here are some day-by-day things you can do to help you get on track:

Day One:

Today try to drink at least 1.5 liters or water.  Try to substitute your favorite afternoon sugar drink with a glass of water.  Or have your favorite drink BUT also have the extra glass of water.  The key is to start incorporating more water into your diet

Day Two:

Make a healthy snack choice.  Instead of having chips with your sandwich at lunch try some veggies or a piece of fruit.  You want to start making healthier food choices for your meals and snacks

Day Three:

Go for a brisk walk.  You want to walk at a pace that is faster than a casual walk and you want to keep up that faster pace for about 30 minutes.  You want to get your heart rate up but you also do not want to push yourself too hard starting out.

Day Four:

Regulate your meal choices.  You want to try to eat several small meals throughout the day.  You want your first meal to be within two hours of you first waking up.  Once you have breakfast try to have more small meals (around 400 calories each) every 2-3 hours.  This will help kick-start your metabolism and allow you to fuel your body as you are going through the day.

Day Five:

Create your own stretching routine.  This routine should be done before AND after you workout.  It does not have to be a long drawn out routine, just something that will stretch your major muscle groups and allow you to stretch your muscles.

Day Six:

Try to drink 2 liters of water!  If it helps try to get a large water bottle or container that you can monitor how much you are consuming to help you keep track.

Day Seven:

Go through your cabinet and collect all of your unhealthy foods.  If you still have some food that is unopened donate it to a local food pantry or other type of food service.  You will not be as tempted to eat bad foods if you do not buy them or have them at home.

Day Eight:

Go for another brisk walk.  This time make sure to stretch BEFORE and AFTER your walk.  Do not forget to keep up the fast brisk pace for at least 30 minutes.  You want to keep your heart rate up to help you start to burn those extra calories.

Day Nine:

Go one full day without eating anything “unhealthy”.  This means cutting out carbonated beverages, candy bars, greasy foods, chips, or anything else that you know is unhealthy.  If you even have a doubt if it is unhealthy or not, do not eat it! Stick to simple things like chicken, fish, beef, turkey, veggies, fruit, whole wheat pasta or bread, etc.  This will allow you to dedicate one full day to fueling your body with healthy low processed foods.

Day Ten:

Today try to do more physical activities.  These following exercises do them for a minute and record how many you can do.  A month from now do them all again and see how many more you were able to do in that minute.  That should help show you how much you are progressing!  Try these exercises: jumping jacks, sit ups, push ups, lunges, air squats, and mountain climbers (if you do not know what these exercises are you can type them into Google or YouTube and see how to do them!)

Day Eleven:

Today try to combine several of the things listed above.  Try drinking the 2 liters or water and eating healthy for a full day.  Or try the brisk walk and drinking 2 liters of water.  Whatever you choose, try to do at least two of the items listed above.

Day Twelve:

Start a health and fitness journal!  Write down what you have been doing and how you feel.  You can write down how much you weigh now and also keep track of the exercises you have been doing.  There are some great online fitness journals (like myfitnesspal.com) or you can buy a regular journal to write in.  Writing down what you do will help you to keep track of what you are doing and will hopefully hold you accountable for the healthy choices that you should/want to make each day.

Day Thirteen:

Today you should drink 2 liters of water, walk briskly for thirty minutes (and do not forget to stretch!!), and lastly you should also have a regulated day of eating every few hours.

Day Fourteen:  

By this day you should have already started some healthy habits!  Today will be the toughest day!  Today you should make sure to drink 2 liters of water, eat healthy ALL day, have regulated eating (every 2-3 hours), go for a brisk walk (with your stretching), and keep track of all of this in your fitness journal.

This is just a sample of some things that you can do to get you stated on living healthier.  Most people ask me “where do I start” or “what are some good things to start doing”.  These are all some great things that allow you to make your own wise choices.  The key is to not completely jump into things head first.  You want to gradually start to make positive habits so the will become a good habit and you will stick with them.  Try this for fourteen days and then see how ready you are to start living healthier!

FOOD is the MOST important part of reaching your health and fitness goal.

Below are some ESSENTIAL foods that anyone should add to their grocery list.

These are some great foods that will efficiently fuel your body before and after your workouts.

You should feed your body foods that will help it to recover and grow!

Efficiently losing weight will depend on the proper combination of a good workout PLUS a good CLEAN diet.

Have some general questions about starting a new health and fitness routine?

Need help with some great foods to add or take out of your diet?

Here is a great easy guide that suggest a general idea of what you should and should not do when adapting a new health and fitness routine! 

You can try this move to add something extra to your work out routine!

What to do:

Get the treadmill started first! Start off with a LOW SPEED (like around 1.0 or 1.5)

As you do it more and get better at it you can increase the speed or even the incline of the treadmill

I did this exercise for a total of 20 minutes!

60 seconds on the treadmill and 30 seconds rest.

I alternated between the  60 seconds and 30 seconds until 20 minutes had passed

It increased my heart rate as well as worked my shoulders, back, and arms.

BE CAREFUL when doing this exercise!

Your hands are close to the rollers and you do not want to get them (or your clothing) caught in the machine.

Like I said before, start out slow and then you can increase the speed.

For your first time try to have someone near by just in case you need assistance!

Have a house full of sleeping people?

Well here are some great exercise you can do in your home that should not disturb your sleeping family members

Make sure you clear enough room for you to move around

Have your towel, water bottle, and iPod ready to go!

Cant go back to sleep?

GET UP AND GO WORK OUT!

Well instead of writing out some long post (because i honestly have TONS of tips for newbies) I decided to share some YouTube videos that I thought would be a little more helpful.

I will also be sure to make more post in the future on some great fitness tips to help those out who are needing the help and advice.

Warm Ups:

I have said this MANY times…it is wise to warm up/stretch before your workout.  You can create your own warm up…but i can see how that would be hard for those who have never had to do this before…so here is a suggestion…

Push Ups:

It is SO important to learn the CORRECT way to do these from the start! If not…you will do them wrong until someone sees you and corrects you! And, you also need to do them correctly in order to get the best results out of this exercise

Non-Gym Workouts:

I know that some people are on a tight budget and just can not afford to purchase a gym membership.  THAT IS OK!  There are so many things you can do IN YOUR HOME that will still allow you to get an amazing workout!

Yoga:

There have been some request for some Yoga tips…to be honest I bought an amazing DVD that I watch and follow.  I got into yoga because a college friend of mine taught the classes here in town.  She moved away so I had to find other alternatives (until she makes a DVD   )

I hope these videos explain and show you some things better than I can explain them by writing them down in this blog. Please keep sending me your questions…comments…and suggestions! I am here to help YOU GUYS! So please take advantage of the advice you can receive!

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