Plan a California beach vacation, visit a luxury beachfront resort, explore world-class shopping, or dine at the best restaurants in Orange County, CA – Tips and news to help you be an OCeanfront, CA expert.
Stay in bikini shape all year long with these tips from Balboa Bay Club & Resort Personal Trainer, Steven Lewis!
To help you get fit and feeling good for your OCeanfront vacation and beyond, we asked personal trainer Steven Lewis to share his top 10 fitness tips for 2010. Steven has more than 15 years experience training people to reach their fitness potential. He is certified by the American Council on Exercise (ACE) and National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM), making him an expert on fitness, exercise and motivation. Steven’s Orange County clientele love him—in fact, most have trained with him for more than three years!
Did you know that 90% of people who join a gym in January quit by the end of the month? We would love to hear your tips on exercising and staying fit. What’s worked for you? What hasn’t? Leave us a comment! Meanwhile, here are Steven’s tips for staying motivated and turning your resolution to “get fit in 2010” into a healthy, sustainable lifestyle.
1. First, educate yourself. It’s not just a New Year’s resolution to get fit, it’s a lifestyle and behavioral commitment. To live a healthy lifestyle you need to learn how to balance a nutritional diet, take appropriate supplements and exercise regularly, including resistance and cardio workouts.
2. Talk to your doctor or trainer. Most diets don’t offer the full range of vitamins and minerals a body needs—a professional can offer tips for what vitamins and nutritional supplements are right for you.
3. Make a 30-day commitment. It takes 30 days to go through a behavior modification change—meaning you need to commit to the gym and diet for 30 days. After that, it becomes a natural part of your life and you have a better chance of reaching your goal.
4. “Just do it!” No Nike plug intended, but honestly just stop worrying, talking, being indecisive or procrastinating. Just do it! Go to the gym, get a membership (and a trainer) and start…before the resolution gets old. Once you start, you’ll be so happy you did.
5. Stay focused. Good guidance is a key factor to staying motivated. If you don’t know what exercise will help you achieve your goal, then you’ll only wind up frustrated. Meet with a trainer, read health magazines and get a workout partner. If you’re not ready for a trainer, join a group exercise program at your gym or in your community, such as a spinning or kickboxing class or group run or biking organization.
6. Lift weights. I know it’s not fun, but there is no effective alternative unfortunately. The real motivation is to see results on the scale or in the mirror—and while it may be tempting to just take a pill, they don’t work.
7. Combine cardio and stretching. Combine resistance training (weights) with cardio (elliptical, stepper, treadmill) and stretching and flexibility exercises (Pilates or Yoga).
8. Lose fat to highlight muscle. To get a six-pack or washboard abs you need to lose the fat in your midsection that is covering your abdominal muscles. There are three groups of muscles that make up your abs, and to get amazing abs you need to exercise each group. There are various ab exercises but doing different versions of crunches and stretches on the ground, on a medicine ball and standing will help you get that flat tight stomach.
9. Combine machines and free weights now that machines have become more efficient in targeting specific muscles. To tone upper arms (biceps and triceps) do curl exercises with free weights or machines/cables. For toning shoulders there are multiple exercises: lateral raises and front raises with free weights or a machine, pull ups and chin ups, and spend some time on a rowing machine. For legs and gluts, do your cardio on a treadmill, elliptical or stair stepper to help build muscles. And to target each leg muscle leg extensions, curls and calf extensions are ideal. But, the best exercises to give you amazing legs and a firm butt are squats and lunges—they hit all the leg muscles and always achieve the best results.
10. Think moderation. You can eat whatever you want, but be reasonable. Most people eat a small breakfast or just coffee and a large dinner. It is much healthier to eat a big breakfast and small dinner as part of a three meal and two snacks a day diet. Eating this larger meal earlier in the day helps start your metabolism and continuing with small portions through the day keep it burning more calories all day.
Last thoughts: It is never too late to start. You can get fit at any age! I operate under the belief that everyone has a biological and chronological age. If you are fit, you can be 60 and have the biological age of a 35 year old. No matter your age, just remember to work out hard and smart! Like in business, work smarter and you’ll get quicker, faster and lasting results.
- 0 Comment(s)
- + Add A Comment
