It's not only the most wonderful time of the year, but the busiest.  Finding time for all of your family and friends, shopping, parties, and travel plans is a juggling act in itself. Much less finding the time and effort to keep your fitness goals on target. Unfortuntely, for many, that is easier said then done.
So how do you stay focused and maintain the integrity of all your progress?  Here is what you need to keep in mind:

1. Find Your Balance 

• Time management will be your biggest hurdle. Even the best of intentions are challenged this time of year. Things just pop up out of no where. So, each day you will need to evaluate, prioritize, and adjust to accomplish your objectives for that day.
• Squeezing in those workouts is usually the biggest challenge. Remember its all about quality not quantity. So, keep those workouts at 20-30 minutes with highly efficient verticle workouts that include combo type exercises. You can refer to my post on creating effecient workouts by clicking HERE. As far as cardio, there are more accessible resources in walking, running, jumping rope, bike riding, etc.
• There is certainly no shortage of food, holiday "spirits", and over indulgence. Know your limits and hold yourself accountable. 

2. Keep It Simple

• When it comes to cardio, you can do 10, 20, or 30 minutes at a time which makes it a much easier fit into those busy schedules.
• If you haven't already, check out the Fooducate App to track your food choices with ease. Click HERE to review my post on Fooducate.

If you have made a lot of progress to date, you don't want to lose that momentum.  So stay focused, be consistent, and hold yourself accountable.

Until next time, enjoy your workouts

Cardiovascular (cardio) exercise is one of the key ingredients to any successful fitness program. A well balanced cardio program strengthens the heart muscle. It improves the heart's ability to pump blood to your lungs and throughout your body, builds endurance, helps lose excess fat that hides muscle definition, and improves coordination and range of motion. You would think that these health benefits alone would be sufficient motivation. However, many are derailed by those ever present excuses: it takes too much time, the weather, "I'll do it tomorrow", and the list goes on. Excuses are just that, and when you take a closer look it's all about results versus expectations.  This is usually a direct result of biting off more than we can chew or we hit a plateau with our current cardio efforts, get discouraged, and quit. Case in point, how many treadmills do you think you would see at ten garage sales? My guess is at least seven.

So, how do we fix it and get back on track?

1. Set realistic Goals: These goals should be time dated with established benchmarks or checkpoints to monitor your progress. For example, if you are trying to lose 20 pounds in the next 6 months establish checkpoints every 30 days. It might look like this:

Goal: Lose 20lbs by June

Total Pounds	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	June
Lost	3.5	7	10.5	14	17.5	21

At these checkpoints, reward yourself if you hit the mark.  If you didn't hit the mark, evaluate why and make the necessary changes to get back on track. This provides you with tangible results in digestable bites and keeps your fuel tank full.

2. Establish a Game Plan: Avoid those plateus created by redundancy. Evaluate your resources and mix it up.  There is the gym, parks, schools for running, jump rope, rowing, hiking, swimming, and cycling.  There are no real established time tables for cardio exercises. So, invest the time that best suits your needs, schedule, and established goals. As food for thought, my schedule includes 20 minute cardio sessions every other day either jumping rope, rowing, or spinning.  This fits well and compliments my weight training schdeule. For a little more insight on the positive impact of rowing, check out my post all about rowing HERE.

As you can see, there are plenty of avenues to help you find the cardio exercises that best fit your needs.  Just remember to set realistic expectations, establish an applicable plan, enjoy the challenge, and you will get better results.

Until next time, enjoy your workouts.

I have to tell you, I'm pretty pumped. After 10 months of in-depth reading, study modules, and a 90 minute final examination, I've now added NASM Certified Fitness Nutrition Specialist to my resume. It's funny, as a health and fitness professional, I really thought I had a good working knowledge of nutrition. What I found out is that we actually only use and support bits and pieces of information without knowing the whole story.

The history of nutritional studies is storied with previous diseases, plagues, and the impact of essential nutrients, water, water soluble vitamins, fat soluble vitamins, major and trace minerals. Studies also include how all of these affect the digestive system, the importance of absorption, and the results of either levels of deficiency or toxicity on our overall health. The bottom line is a person who has a diet that includes the recommended levels of essential macronutrients (protein, carbohydrates, and lipids), fruits and vegetables, and the daily recommended value of vitamins and minerals will be satisfied. Of course, this does not include those with serious illness or preexisting medical conditions.

As you can see, just using bits and pieces of information could prove detrimental to your health. Which brings me to the point of my post.  In general, our nutriental knoweledge is easly influenced by friends, family, marketing, and the latest media hype. Outside of family and friends, the other resources are just trying to sell you something without disclosing everything you need to know. Just take a look at the vitamin and supplement market today.  It's a multi-million dollar marketing/media success. This is not to say they are all bad.  Just make sure you do your due diligence and rely on the right resources. My money is on those resources that don't benefit monetarily, but through your good health and well being.

These are the resources I would consider reliable:

1. Your Doctor:  There is really no one else who can better determine if you have any kind of vitamin or mineral deficiency.

2. Registered Dietician or Certified Nutrition Specialist: They deal in factual information, studies, and any input from your doctor.

3. Myplate.gov: (Click here to go to the site) This is a goverment sponsored site that provides recommended dietary intake, recommended daily values, nutrimental meal planning, exercise suggestions, daily food intake journals, and guides.  This is just a small sample of the benefits available on this site.

4. Product Information Labels:  This is government mandated information for all products and supplements.  Pay close attention to the percent of daily recommended values.

5. Fooducate:  I illustrated the impact of this smart phone app a couple of months ago
(click here to read), and after receiving my nutritional certification, I'm even more convinced this is a great resource.  You will note their set standards are in line with all of the regulating goverment agencies.

Using these resources will keep it simple and put you in control of your healthier lifestyle needs.  OK, I'm off my soap box now.

Until next time enjoy your workouts.

Whether it's your vacation or work, keeping up with your exercise goals while traveling can be a big challenge.  Keeping that balance while you are at home is hard enough as it is.  When you are on the road, your time and resources are often limited and working out is usually not at the top of your list. Your schedule is hectic, you're exhausted, and you want to relax. I get it.

I get it because I spent a large portion of my forty years in the corporate world on the road so, I know it can be done.  You CAN stay in shape while traveling. It's all about knowing the limitation of your resources, finding your balance, planning ahead, and being prepared.  You will actually have more energy while spending time with your family on vacation or those longer work hours as a road warrior.

If finding time to exercise is a challenge when you are at home, it will become even more difficult when you are on the road. So, whether it's work related or vacation, plan short sessions. Focus on the quality and each workout will have an impact.

Most hotel "gyms" are outdated and usually inadequate at best. Think about what you can accomplish in your hotel room or outside. Here are a few suggestions that should address most situations:

1. You can do bodyweight exercises such as push-ups, planks, squats, and jumping jacks.
2. Go to YouTube on your smart phone or tablet and try yoga or Pilates.  You can always find a session that meets your scheduling needs.
3. Pack a resistance band and your room is now your personal gym. I actually used to pack a jump rope as well. It makes for great cardio either in your hotel room or outside. Don't worry, the ceilings are always high enough.
4. You can go outside for a walk and use the stairs instead of the elevator.
5. If you enjoy running, make room for tennis shoes when you pack.
6. If most of your travel is work related and you frequent the same locations.  Look for local gyms close to your hotels. They usually have good travel programs or membership incentives for travelers.  At one time, I actually had three memberships that cost just $30.00 a month.  

Working out while traveling is about maintaining your fitness. So address those limited resources as an opportunity to be creative, find your balance, keep it simple, and make it fun.

Until next time, enjoy your workouts (wherever you may be).

When you think about it, without flexibility, balance, and coordination you really can't do much of anything. We all know this, but how do we address this need in our daily lives and fitness efforts to ensure long term results?

We all incorporate some sort of stretching in our daily lives. Sometimes it's to get moving in the morning, after sitting for long periods of time, or preparing ourselves for an athletic or fitness activity.  However, we need to incorporate activities within our fitness efforts that encourages ongoing muscle elasticity, giving our muscles and joints a greater range of motion. This elasticity and increased range of motion can help you prevent injuries, back pain, and balance problems.

In discussion with my clients and friends, their initial reaction is that we already do that. We stretch, do squats, and incorporate the stability ball in our work routines. That's a great start. You have to be careful, however, not to be too routine in your efforts. That type of redundancy will start to dilute your results and really doesn't focus or encourage the full range of motion of all joints and muscles. The key phrase being "all joints and muscles".

So, what do we do or what is the alternative? Workout fads that address flexibility, balance, and coordination come and go, but virtually no other exercise programs are as enduring as Yoga and Pilates. They each have a lot of similarities. Choosing one or the other is really a personal preference.  Let's take a look:

• Yoga: It's been around for more than 500 years and does more than burn calories and tone muscles. It's a total mind-body workout that combines strengthening and stretching poses with deep breathing and meditation or relaxation. While it may seem mellow compared to most training programs, yoga's health benefits keep pace and often surpass what many people would call traditional forms of exercise.

• Pilates: Uses controlled movements, primarily focused on your core to build body strength, flexibility, and endurance. It's a body conditioning routine that won't result in bulky muscles.  Instead, the movements serve to lengthen your muscles as they strengthen them. It emphasizes proper postural alignment, core strength, and muscle balance.

I can't think of a better way to ensure a consistent effort toward establishing a greater range of motion, improved balance, endurance, and coordination. Importantly, it provides the needed variety to avoid redundancy and creates the real potential for better results. I engage in both Yoga and Pilates at least once a week and encourage my clients and friends to do the same.

Keep it simple. It's not hard to find the right avenue to enjoy either Yoga or Pilates with really no additional investment or interrupting your current schedule.  If you are a gym member, most gyms provide a variety of Yoga and Pilates classes.  If you want to do this at home, there are plenty of Yoga and Pilates routines on YouTube, as well as free apps for your phone or tablet. As in any new exercise or fitness endeavor, start slow and progress at your own pace.  You will enjoy the results for a lifetime.

Until next time, enjoy your workouts.

Sources: Google for Yoga and Pilates Definitions 

No matter where you are in life, healthy habits such as diet and exercise never lose their importance. But for those of us managing our health after the age of 50, fitness becomes an even more essential factor in daily life. It can reduce the impact of illness, enchance mobility and improve daily moods. In fact, a recent study published by JAMA Network suggested that regular, moderate to vigorous exercise can also significantly reduce early mortality.

So, how can you get started on fitness after the age of 50? Here are a few guidelines that I think will provide you with the needed direction to create the most positive experience:

Find Your Balance
Fitness is not a race or a quick fix, but rather a lifestyle. This lifestyle is like developing a plan on how you want to live a healthier life moving forward.

1. Incorporate functional fitness: Exercise is crucial to keeping our muscles and bones strong, preserving our balance, flexibility, coordination, and even enhancing the health of our brain.

2. Keep up the nutrients: After the age of 30, we begin to lose valuable muscle mass and flexibility. So, you need to ensure that your nutrition plan includes the right balance of adequate protein, carbohydrate, and essential fats.

3. Get started and keep going: You need to commit to your plan and be consistent in everthing you do. Importantly, you need to hold yourself accountable. You will be pleasantly surprised how things start to fall in place and become a noticeably healthier way to live.

Keep It Simple:
Start slow and progress gradually. As mentioned earlier, this is a lifestyle.

1. Develop goals that allow you to monitor your progress and grow into your plan:
Include time dated benchmarks so you can make any necessary adjustments to stay on target.

2. Establish a Support System: Everyone one has those not-so-great days. So, encourage your children, spouse, or friends to help keep you accountable.

3. Reward yourself: There is nothing like a pat on the back to keep you motivated.  Find ways to reward yourself as you hit those benchmarks.

Some these changes and adjustments will be big changes, while others will need only minor adjustments.  Change is difficult for many, but realize that there is absolutely no downside to this journey especially when you consider the average life expectancy has reached a new record. It is not about how long we live, but rather the quality of those years that truely matters. There is no better time to start than now.

Until next time, enjoy your journey to a healthier lifestyle.

Source: JAMA Network

Tracking your activities, workouts, and eating is the only way you can measure your progress towards your established fitness goals.  This information lets you determine what's working and what's not working. Importantly, it provides you with the information to make the neccessary adjustments to stay on track. It's almost like when you are using your GPS, take a wrong turn, and you hear the message "recalculating."

In today's fast paced world of technology, there are countless fitness apps that allow you to easily track your progress. There are some that track workouts, some that track running and walking, some that help you track your eating habits, and some that provide nutritional facts.  I don't know about you, but I find having to use that many apps very cumbersome and time consuming.

To keep it simple, I would like to tell you about the one app I personally use.  I think you will find it to be a real benefit to track your efforts. While this app is basically designed to help you eat healthier, it does that and more:

Health Tracker: This is where you track your workouts, meals/snacks, and water consumption and it compares your calorie intake to what is suggested for you.  It also provides a breakdown of percentage of carbohydrates, protein, and fat as well as the level of processed foods.

Food Finder: This allows you to scan products while you are shopping to determine the nutritional value of the product.  It actually gives it a grade based on nutritional value and level of processing.  It's easy to use, quick, and encourages feedback if you scan an item that is not in their data base.

Community:  This allows you to interact with others in the Fooducate community to exchange ideas, recipes, successes, etc. with the ability to upload and download photos.

Recipes: A wide range of healthy recipes that are updated daily.

Diet Tidbits: Great facts on everyday foods and separating fact from fiction in the diet/nutrition world.

This app also interacts with many of the fitness trackers on the market today.  I use the Apple watch
and it applies all my workout data to the health tracker.

I'm sure everyone has their favorite apps and preferences, I just think this app captures the information I need to stay on track, and keeps it simple.  Take a closer look by clicking here.

Until next time, enjoy your workouts.

Ever have those days where everything seems to get in your way? The days where everything seems to pile onto your already busy schedule and the time you've set aside for your workout gets buried.  If you're like most people, this probably happens more often than you'd like and finding that balance becomes a real challenge.  In fact, lack of time is the number one reason for not working out.

I would argue that, thanks to technology, we are also busier than ever before.  Finding a full hour to exercise is difficult for many.  However, it is important to recognize that there is nothing inherently "magical" about working out for an hour. It's the quality of the workout and the consistency of your program that matters, not the realitive duration.

The great news is that shorter workouts sprinkled throughout the day are extremely effective and will keep you in touch with your fitness goals. Just because a workout is short doesn't mean it is any less important to your overall health.  Here is one great example of a quick yet effective workout:

• Squats - 30 Seconds (Lower Body)
• Jumping Jacks or Jumping Rope - 30 Seconds (Cardio)
• Push Ups - 30 Seconds (Upper Body)
• Planks - 30 Seconds (Core)

This micro-workout keeps it simple. You can do one set or as many as your schedule permits. It requires absolutely no equipment, very little space, keeps you on track with your fitness goals, and helps you find that balance on the busiest of days.