Stay Motivated and Lose Weight by Training Like an Athlete

One of the challenges to people who are looking to improve their fitness is staying motivated until they reach their fitness goals. With about 9 in 10 people wanting to change their appearance (make that: lose weight) as their primary objective, getting all the way to the target weight and keeping those extra pounds off can prove to be much more difficult than some had originally bargained for.

One of the big obstacles that people face is the fact they have been out of shape for years when they decide to finally do something about their fitness, and once they do start working out, the fact that the results that they seek may take awhile and can feel like hard work will test their motivation to the limit. One of the big reasons people hire personal trainers is that, in addition to the education they can receive from a professional instructor, the trainer can create workouts that are consistently fun and engaging as well as an atmosphere of support. And this can keep a person taking on their fitness motivated all the way to the finish line.

As a personal trainer myself, I believe that one of the best tools to keeping a person really motivated all the way to their goal and target body weight is to set very specific guidelines as to what that goal is, and have the person working out be very excited about what reaching that goal can mean to them. If a person wants to lose 20 pounds, we will discuss in detail what losing 20 pounds can do for their life and how they will feel and be different when they get there. And we come back to this reason over and over again during the period of working toward that goal.

One thing that I found, though, in my career as a trainer is that frequently just having a goal about weight loss is insufficient to keep a person motivated all the way to the end. The reason is that the process of weight loss in a healthy way can be a slow one. Even if a person had a great week of training and eating well, their body may not have changed a lot anyway. That can leave them with a feeling of being unsuccessful, even though everything that they did that week was positive and will benefit them in the long run. So, I was left with the problem of having a person doing everything they need to be doing really well and actually feeling like they were successful even if they hadn't lost a lot of weight in a particular week.

The key is to get all people in the process of improving their fitness thinking like athletes, even if on a smaller scale than someone training for the Olympic Games. I believe that all people have the ability to experience their athleticism on some level, even those that have been out of shape for some time, and when they make a connection to their bodies that allow for this, they can get hooked on that experience and want more of it. They will see that improving their fitness itself feels good and can be fun on its own, and that it would be something they would enjoy doing whether they were losing weight doing it or not. Once a person gets to this level, the irony is that they will lose all the weight they want anyway because they are actually at a point where they will stick with the exercise.

A few years ago, I had the opportunity to be a trainer in a couple of "weight loss" competitions sponsored by a local TV station here in Phoenix. Each of the two years that I participated, I worked with a person who was competing against three others to see who could make the biggest successful lifestyle change over a 5 month period. What the other trainers and I found over the length of the competition was that the people who ended up losing a significant amount of weight were the ones who got to the point that they realiozed that the weight loss was actually secondary in motivation to them feeling fit, athletic and healthy for the first time in a long time. All of the trainers worked with their clients using some techniques that were athletic in nature, similar to how an athlete on a sports team would train, with jumping and running drills, using medicine balls, playing basketball, etc. All of the successful participants said that once they realized they like feeling like they were athletes, they knew they would stick with the program for the rest of their lives.

I use the term "inner athlete" to describe this way of thinking, and I know that it works. Rather than having a client do just cardio, we may set a goal to have them do their first ever 5k road race in 3 months, and their cardio trains them for that in addition to helping them lose weight. Or they want to do a great hike in the coming summer, or their kids are now playing sports and they want to be able to play with them, so I do sports drills with them so they build the skills that any athlete at any age would want to have. These are the things that people like having whether they are losing weight or not, and the fact that this type of exercise helps them lose weight makes it all the better.

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Cardio Threshold Training - Medium Intensity Days

The Plan: The threshold workout or medium intensity workout is the #1 workout that most cardio athletes and enthusiasts miss in their programs. The goal of the threshold workouts is to work at the max at which your aerobic metabolism produces energy. Because you have another energy source called your anaerobic metabolism, you have the ability to train harder or faster than a proper threshold workout. Most people thinking that they need to be killing themselves to be getting a good workout never slow down enough to train their body effectively.

Your aerobic metabolism is the way your body burns fat and carbs as energy with the use of oxygen. The only way to optimally perform in cardio or endurance races, as well as, achieve your weight loss goals is to train your aerobic metabolism to be as fast as it can. The perfect workout for weight loss, 5k training, and running a marathon.

How do we find the proper intensity to train at? The only way to know for sure that you are training at the right intensity is through having your own personal heart rate profile. With Live Lean Today's online fitness plans, you receive your own heart rate zones to optimize each workout. Most people not watching their heart rate are way off to what they think their heart rate is to what it actually is.

Threshold workouts range from 15-30 min. in total session time. With Live Lean Today, your online personal trainer will work with you to create the right program and progression for your threshold workouts. If you can go longer than 30 min than we need to go faster. What is important is highest rate of energy and heart rate that you can sustain for the entire threshold workout.

The Results: Threshold hold workouts train your body to burn more fat and carbohydrates as energy. This is another way of saying you have a faster metabolism. As it relates to performance, with threshold training you create a faster pace. Especially, if you have found that you can't seem to increase your running pace, threshold workouts are needed in your program.

After effective threshold workouts, the biggest difference you will instantly feel is how much faster you perform at lower heart rates. Your heart rate profile will change as you progress and improve. This is why it is so important for a cardio expert to be monitoring your progress and making adjustments. You now have the ability to run faster for the same distances and times that were once a struggle.

Your weight loss results occur while you are resting. If you have ever said you wanted a faster metabolism than threshold workout are for you. Your body will burn more calories of fat 24 hours a day 7 days a week after your body improves from threshold workouts.

The Difference: Live Lean Today is the only online personal trainer program to have precise heart rate training programs to optimize your results. Training in the right heart rate zone makes each workout as effective as it can be. The fastest way to your results is through proper heart rate training and progression.

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Bodybuilding Tips - Back to the Muscle Buidling Basics

Have you been struggling to achieve your bodybuilding and muscle mass goals? Sometimes getting back to the basics is the key to overcoming your training plateau. Often as we look for the next best thing, we get away from tried and true keys that always work for being successful.

Muscle Mass Bodybuilding Tips

Set Realistic Goals: Too often we set goals that we can't reach or at least in the time frame we have given ourselves. When you set realistic goals it gives you motivation as you complete them, and you can always set more goals to achieve more as you continue. Don't burn yourself out by unrealistic goals. More than just a program: Most people have a program they are following. If you don't stop know and find one to follow. Also, if you have been following the same basic program for a long time find a new one that will give your body a new stimulus. Important to make sure you train your entire body that leaving smaller muscles out only causes a lack in overall results.

With your program, set up from the start how many days a week, how much time per workout, and does that fit into your schedule and the program you have chosen. I see more people stressed because the time they have allocated doesn't support the program they have picked. You have to be committed: I personal feeling is that people quit one step from their results changing. This kind of comes back to realistic goals. Every week and every month isn't going to be the greatest mass building month of your life especially if you are serious and have made this a lifestyle. I believe it is those with faith and what we do on our bad weeks and bad months that make a difference.

Enjoy it: Sometimes we can get so rapped up in the results that we forget to enjoy the daily workouts and the good tasting protein shakes. Bodybuilding is a lifestyle so I find the more you enjoy all the small aspects the better your results are. A positive attitude goes a long way.

Create a flow: Creating a successful training habit during your workout keeps you in the right mind set to get the most out of every set. There is no sense spending all the time training only to go through the motions.

The more you stay in the moment of your training program the greater your results. Bodybuilding is about a lifestyle more than just a 90 minute muscle building workout. I believe the details matter, and the difference in people's results doing the same workouts and same supplements is the little consistent details.

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Heart Rate Training Optimizes Your 5k Training Program

Are you looking for a 5k training program? When you start looking you see many program offering beginner programs and advanced programs. What is interesting is that most beginner programs are too many miles for the average beginner. The key to effective 5k cardio plans is for every person to have their own heart rate profile. With optimal heart rate training every workout will be optimized for the greatest impact for your results. Heart rate training is for advanced and beginners; the difference is the heart rate profile not using a heart rate monitor.

The most effective cardio workout for running faster races and burning fat is interval training. Interval training is short durations of high intensity followed by short durations of low intensity and then repeated. Most programs only offer interval training for advanced programs though effective programming is good for all levels. The key is a person's heart rate profile. The most advanced you are the higher heart rate you want to train at for your interval.

Each person has a different level of fitness associated by their heart rate. As you run the energy required needs a certain consistent heart rate produce the energy. The more fit you are the lower your heart rate is for a given speed. This is why heart rate training is so effective. By finding a person's targeted heart rate profile you can make sure each workout is training in the right zone to optimally improve your performance. Often, people's lack of results comes from not training hard enough, or very common with cardio runners is overtraining by running with too high of a heart rate on every workout.

What is important for your metabolism and race speed is the rate at which you burn calories not how many calories you burn. This is why walkers and people who run mile after mile seem to never achieve their results. The more calories you burn the more calories you need to eat to restore energy back to your muscles cells. It is challenging your muscles to burn more energy by going harder relative to your fitness level forces your metabolism to improve and than makes you fun faster and burn more fat. People after completing an interval workout burn more fat 24 hours after their workout than any other form of cardio or strength exercise.

Though the interval workout is important it isn't the only workout that makes an effective 5k running program. Two other key workouts is a threshold workout and a long day. The threshold workout is a medium intensity workout that almost no person does. The reason why is people can always go harder and there is this myth that you have to push yourself in every work to your max. The other reason is people go on their slow steady pace never picking up the pace for a shorter run. An optimal threshold workout is between 15-30 min. If you can last longer than 30 min. you should run faster. When you run at your threshold level you are at the max at what your aerobic metabolism can burn for energy. When you go harder your anaerobic metabolism is kicked in to produce the needed extra energy. A threshold workout trains your body to burn energy the most effectively utilizing oxygen. It is the best workout for creating a good race pace.

The long day is the last workout you need every week in your 5k training program. Having running session that go for slower speeds and longer durations trains your body to burn fat and increases effectiveness of burning energy while running. You only need to do one long day a week and spending hours doing cardio during every workout may be a key reason why you are no longer seeing results.

To truly see your results you want a program that creates a personal heart rate profile. The charts on most treadmills are not accurate and the doctors who came up with the charts admit they made them up as a best guess for insurance companies and were never supposed to use as training heart rates. The other major key as you continue to run is a 5k program that uses specific and multiple threshold and interval workouts. The workout that worked for the first month won't work for the second as your body needs a new stimulus. With proper heart rate profiles you will be running your first or fastest 5k in no time.

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How to train like Bear Gyrlls

If you are a fan of Man vs Wild, you may want to achieve a fitness level like Bear Grylls. For those that don't know who he is, Bear Grylls is the survival expert in the Discovery Channel show Man vs Wild. Bear Grylls has one of the best all around fitness levels that I have seen. The key to a fitness plan like Bear's is to have core strength, flexibility, and cardiovascular fitness involved.

I would call Bear Grylls strength functional strength. Being able to have a big bench press isn't going to necessarily help you hold on to a tree to climb down it. Core strength exercises require your abdominals to engage during the entire movement similar to outdoor activities. They also help by forcing multiple muscles to work together which is different that isolation exercises common at gyms. Proper core exercises should also work your flexibility and more important your strength through a full range of motion.

Good cardio is more than just 60 min. on the treadmill day after day. Proper cardiovascular training utilizes specific targeted heart rates to achieve effective workouts.

The last important aspect to achieve a fitness level like Bear Grylls is to get out and climb and hike yourself. Going for a weekend hike is the best way to build the hip strength needed to go backpacking. Indoor rocking climbing is a great strength workout and is considered one of the safest indoor activities you can do.

How to pick the right online fitness plan

You start searching the internet and you find lots of different looking fitness plans. So what is the right online fitness plan for you? Even though there may be tons of websites you can easily narrow down your search with a few easy steps.

What seperates the online fitness plans is how comprehensive they are. Most are strength only and do just basic workout routines. An effective online fitness plan should consist of strength exercise that work full range of motion, exercises that incorporate flexibility, exercises that work on posture inbalances, and exercises that work more than one plane. More than one plane means that you do the movements in multiple ranges of motion. For example, the basic chest press is press straight out in front of you though you move your chest in more than just that motion in life. An effective chest plan would have exercises where you do a chest press down, to the side, up, and in any other direction.

The other aspect vital to a good online fitness plan is the ability to customize and progress. A lady told me on the Gillian Michaels program day 1 was the same as day 90 which is no good. To continue achieving results your workout has to change with you. Also, no person is the same or has the same goals. An effective plan has to be to be changed by a professional personal trainer.

If you use these two aspects for reference you will find that you eliminate almost all online fitness plans except for the very best.