I have been working with clients for over 15 years now, and I’ve heard all the excuses. Generally 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. Did you know our taste buds changes as we age? Children 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. Try some vegetables and you might surprise yourself! Also, stopping eating all that processed junk food will let your taste buds function normally and actually let you taste the vegetables – there are some great flavours out there, and you don’t need heaps of salt to uncover them! Another thing that gets in the way of eating vegetables is cooking. The texture of badly cooked vegetables can be unpleasant and definitely off-putting. It doesn’t take long to cook most vegetables; steam or stir fry for 5 minutes and you to retain all the nutrients and flavours, and keep them from going mushy. If you prefer to boil them, again you likely only need 5 minutes, or less if you’re cooking something small like peas.
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’s a hard habit to break. If you really want to reset your internal clock the failsafe method is to pick a day that you don’t have anything to do and stay up all night the night before. Then don’t let yourself sleep at all during the day. Now you will be tired and 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. Activity can also help with sleep. If you spend all day sitting at work, sit in the car to get home and then sit in front of the TV all evening, you’re not doing much physically to tire yourself. Try to get more activity into your day, and you’ll feel more like sleeping at night.
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 just a few 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, and strong legs will help you with so many day-to-day activities. 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. Here at Highlander I only teach the best exercises for health and wellness, and exercises like these are always part of the session plans. If you’d like to learn the right way to do them (correct technique is crucial) get in touch today!