Read 33 times since Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Through my years as a Glasgow personal trainer I have come to realise that generally speaking most people are their own biggest obstacle to reaching their training goals. If people would just get out of their own way the path to that flat stomach would be 90% easier.
Vegetables are one of your strongest weight loss allies yet I hear "I don't like vegetables" all the time. Most people didn't like vegetables as a kid and assume they still don't. Our taste buds changes as we age and kids are normally more sensitive to bitter tastes so prefer sweet things. This childhood memory stays with you into your adult life but your taste buds develop and become less sensitive to bitter tastes. Stopping eating all that processed junk food will also let your taste buds function normally and actually let you taste the vegetables. The texture of badly cooked vegetables can also be unpleasant and best option to retain all the nutrients, flavour and keep them from going mushy is to steam them.
Sleep is essential to weight loss but I often hear "I'm never tired enough to go to bed early". If you normally sit up till 2am your body will be used to that and it is a hard habit to break. The way to reset your internal clock is to pick a day that you don't have anything to do and stay up all night the night before. Don't let yourself sleep at all during the day. Now you will be ready to sleep much earlier so take advantage of it and get to bed for 10pm. Set your alarm nice and early the next day, about 7am. This is your new routine, keep it up because it will make a huge difference.
The first thing you should train is your legs but lots of people don't stating "I don't train my legs because my knees hurt". Actually your knees hurt because you don't train your legs. People often mistake inactivity induced lack of strength as pain but a few short weeks, sometimes even sessions, spent strengthening your legs can rectify the problem. Strong legs are essential to you reaching your physical goals, almost regardless of what they are. A lot of people think that doing cardio will strengthen your legs but it will do nothing to cure you of your aching knees. For that you need exercises like squats, lunges, deadlifts and step ups. Iain Smith (MPhil/CSCS) owns Standout Gym, an independent warehouse gym in Glasgow, focusing on weight loss. He offers small group training as an affordable alternative to Glasgow personal training. Iain is a former international decathlete with 17 years coaching experience. www.standoutgym.com.
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