Last week I talked about the issues around setting extreme goals. I love to talk about long term goals, about where we visualize ourselves in a year, two years, or five years down the road. It gives us a destination, something to see ourselves at in the long term. There’s nothing wrong with setting high standards for yourself, but it’s important to take into consideration the path we have to take to get to the destination. The end goal is only a small part of the journey you will take to get there. Sometimes, even just setting big goals can seem impossible. Surmounting your obstacles and achieving your goal can seem as difficult as reaching the peak of Everest. It’s a long way to the top, and there’s going to be a lot of difficulty on the process. For some, this is the hardest part of starting at the gym; just making the plan to start on the journey. So how do you reach these big goals? To answer that, I want you to think way back to your time in school, or perhaps during a particular ...Read More »
I love setting goals. Giving us a target to aim for is the very first step of visualizing ourselves at the end of the journey. It allows us to see how much progress we’ve made, and how much farther we need to go to complete our journey. Whether it’s running a marathon, summiting Dog Mountain, or walking up the 3 flights of stairs unwinded, each long-term goal is equally worthy of your time. But what about setting goals that push us even farther? What if you have bigger dreams, like running in the next Iron Man. Maybe you see yourself competing in a bodybuilding competition, or just getting down to 10% body fat. How hard could it be? Far be it from me to tell you what you cannot achieve. If you can set your mind to it, you can and will become the next Iron Man or Woman. But what about the other side of getting lean? We see movie stars and bodybuilders who have the 6-pack abs, the enormous muscles, and the extremely low levels of body fat percentages. What does it really take to get to that level of fitness? ...
Last Tuesday, I had a bit to say about breaking up routine. Doing the same exercises every time you head to the gym will get easier, but that doesn’t mean it will be better for your fitness growth. Like a lot of fitness advice, sometimes it can appear to be easier said than done. Routine is hard to break – it’s natural for your body to want to take the easy way out. How to we shift our focus from doing the easy program to doing the correct program? At Boomer Fitness, we know that taking the easy way doesn’t help us reach our goals. Progress becomes an illusion as our bodies exert less energy each time we repeat. You have to exercise new muscles and make your body find new challenges. So enough about why. How do we break up routine? How to we get out of the rut of doing the same work-out over and over again? The first thing you have to do is stop watching the calorie counter on the treadmill. To this day, I don’t understand how these fitness machines can claim they know the exact number ...
Routine is something we all have. We all get up in the morning, shower, brush our teeth, grab some breakfast, and proceed to our daily lives. It’s the easy path. It keeps us on track through our busy schedules. So as you head to the gym, you might have your own routine you go through. You spend 20 minutes doing cardio, work the same three or four exercises at the free weights, maybe 10 minutes on the row machine, and then stretch out and cool down. Day in and day out. Let me share something that might change your perspective on personal fitness. The more you do something over and over again, such as riding that bike machine during spin class, the more efficient your body becomes in performing the activity. In other words, the more you do it, the easier it gets. Sounds good, right? Well, not exactly. The more efficient your body gets at doing the same activity over and over again, the less energy you’re going to be expending while doing it. You’re going to be getting faster and faster the more times you hop on the bike machine, ...
Congratulations! You’ve just finished the hardest step of starting a workout regiment: telling yourself that you can make a change in your life. I’m completely serious in saying this. Lifting dumbbells and doing burpees are small potatoes when compared to making yourself realize that now is the best time to start. That making a change in your life starts at this very instant. So now what? You’re ready to make a change, but maybe the next step is a bit daunting, especially if you’re not familiar with gyms, or personal fitness. If you’re reading this blog, you probably know a little about Boomer Fitness and what we do, but you might not be clear on how we get you started. I want to tell you a little bit about what you can expect from our sign-up process, so you don’t feel anxious about coming in. This way, you will know what to expect from the minute you walk in the door. When you first come in, you’re going to meet with me, Brian Stecker. I’m a friendly guy, I promise! During our initial talk, I like to get to know a few ...
It can be difficult getting yourself to a gym weeks at a time for results that sometimes seem small. Other times the barriers of starting just seem too high, and not worth overcoming. One concern I keep hearing from potential gym goers is the age barrier. Many men and women thinking about a personal fitness plan sometimes worry that “I’m too old to start exercising,” or “going to the gym is something for younger people, not me.” This brings up a big question for potential gym-goers: How old is too old? Is there an age requirement at the front door that keeps everyone over the age of 39 out? The obvious answer is no, but sometimes that’s easier said than understood. A client of mine was talking about her father who endured a major lifestyle change late in life, and it reminds me of just how little age really matters when we want to start an active lifestyle. We’ll call her father Rob. Rob lived an active lifestyle in his earlier years, which allowed him to age relatively gracefully as he got older. Even in his mid 70s, Rob was still walking ...
his last Tuesday, I wrote about some of the less-than healthy food you might have been enjoying during the Superbowl. Like I wrote before, hindsight is always 20/20, but I feel it’s important to acknowledge the reasons why we are making changes. Especially when it’s a daily change, like our diet. Today, I want to highlight healthy foods, things you can enjoy without worrying about empty calories, excessive carbs, or high levels of salt. One misconception I hear a lot is healthy food is simply boring food. It can be bland, repetitive, and at the end of the day, simply doesn’t taste good. We all know these culprits of the bland food crime: Celery sticks, plain kale salad, white fish a la carte. Trust me, after a week of nothing but white fish for dinner, even those plain corn chips in the cupboard start to look really, really good. It doesn’t have to be this way. You can still enjoy healthy food without forcing yourself to endure tasteless, repetitive health foods we start to dread. The Right Carbohydrates – Carbs are not the enemy! A lot of people who come to the ...
Well, the game is over. The Patriots won a solid victory, and more importantly, the Packers are now undefeated for the 2015 season! If you know me, you probably know I wasn’t such a fan of the Superbowl this year. But I know many of you were watching yesterday, and I’m sure there was plenty of buffalo wings, barbecue sauce, and beer to be had. There’s nothing wrong with celebrating once in a while, especially at such a big occasion as the Superbowl. But after an event like this where we tend to go overboard on junk food, it’s a good idea to reflect on what we put in our body. So what exactly did we eat this last Sunday? I want to take a brief look at some common Superbowl Foods that may have graced your coffee table this weekend, and give you an idea of what you were really eating this weekend. Buffalo Wings – You don’t have to convince me! Buffalo wings are a delicious part of any Superbowl party, especially when you get just the right kind of sauce. But before you start preheating the oven, be sure ...
Well, it’s coming up to the end of January, the first real road bump of our scheduled resolutions. January 1st, we got to the gym determined to hit the ground running, cycling, lifting, and kettlebelling. We throw out the cookies and bring in the kale, swear off the beer and grab some protein mixture. 2015 is going to be great! But by week three or four, you get home from work and you’re dead tired. You’ve been on your feet for eight hours, and the last thing you want to do right now is more work. Besides, you’ve been good all week! Right now, a drink would really hit the spot… Stop! Put the drink down. You’re right, you have been good all week. Now let’s make it another good week. It’s important to remember that Fitness isn’t just a physical exercise; it’s just as much a mental one! You can go to the gym every single week, but unless you’ve got the Mental Fortitude to keep yourself on track with your fitness goals, you’re just wasting gas. Mental Fortitude is a common barrier when we’re entering the fitness barrier. We set ...
As a personal trainer based in Vancouver, Washington, I work with a lot of baby boomer and senior clients. Not only do I teach them personal training tips for success, but I also learn from them. What I learn from each of my clients is what worked for that person. There are some things that are consistent among everyone who has been successful at being fit, such as working out and eating right, but there are some personal motivators that differ. David, my personal training client, has been successful in his quest for being fit and healthy. David has the motto that you need to climb the mountain one step at a time and realize that weight loss is inconsistent, but you have to stay committed. He also reminds us all that we have to learn to balance nutrition, muscle strength training, and cardio in order to be successful, as they are a package that all play off of each other. Here are some of David’s keys to success: Learn to enjoy stomach growls and almost embrace them. This is what lets you know you are actually hungry! Realize that much ...
