It's that wonderful time of year again when the flowers start blooming, the days are warmer and many of us look into the mirror wondering how to lose that winter layer and where to even begin. Have no fear my former hibernating friends I have some quick, easy and fun suggestions to help get you out the door and into fighting shape come summer time.
First, become your own Drill Sergeant. When I joined the Army I was 80lbs overweight and in terrible shape. My "friendly" Drill Instructor was not only able to help me lose that extra 80 but an additional 20 more pounds. How? Tough love! He used it on me, I use in on myself and now you're gonna use on yourself. This means accountability. No more oversleeping or skipping workouts for happy hour. You're going to make a plan to get into shape and stick with it. If you fail to plan you plan to fail. I tell my clients at Gut Check Fitness "Don't focus on the scales. Focus on getting healthy and fit and the weight loss will happen. Let weight loss be a by-product and incredible shape be your goal.
Second, keep it simple. What I mean is you don't have to go purchase some fancy exercise gizmo or join an expensive health club, use what's available. The oldest and most effective workout program in the world is the military Boot Camp style. You can make it as easy or hard as you want. Start out with basic calisthenics. My favorites are pull-ups or modified pull-ups, push-ups, sit-ups, dips, lunges and squats to begin with. Where you begin depends upon your fitness level. Beginners may start with 2-3 sets of 10-15 reps, more advanced can do 20-25 reps and for all my HOO-RAHS out there, I like to do a descending pyramid from 50-40-30-20-10. Is it tough, yes. Does it work, yes! I recommend doing your calisthenics circuit 2-3 days per week, like M-W-F for instance. Tip; to make this more challenging and obtain better results, add a pair of 10-20lb dumbbells to your routine or I like to use what's available, like rocks, bricks, logs, etc. It keeps it fun and definitely makes neighbors wonder what the heck you're up to.
Third, Change up your cardio. Weight lifting and calisthenics help build muscle and the cardio really helps ya get rid of the unwanted fat. Unfortunately most people are guilty of going out the door and doing the same old run or ride every day at the same old pace. Guess what? They see the same old results! You've gotta change it up and do what I call, "shock your body." A couple of my favorite additions to the workout program to really spice it up is to add hill or stair repeats and speed work. These two alone will definitely shock your freshly un-hibernated body. Go to your favorite hill or stairs then run or ride up them for 3 or 4 times or for about 15-45 minutes. Next workout, hit your local track or street for some speed work, either run distance or time, for example 400 m repeats or for 1-2 minutes. Again, depends on your fitness level and how hard you want to work.
I recommend some form of cardio most days of the week, generally at least four or five. Here's my schedule, Monday - off, Tuesday - hills/stairs, Wednesday - easy trail day, Thursday - speed workout, Friday - cross training, Saturday - Gut Check Fitness Workout & Sunday - mountain biking with my friends. Every couple weeks I change it up. You do the same. Change can definitely be good when it comes to getting more fit.
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