1. Cook your food in advance and take it with you. This is the number one tip you can incorporate to stay on your diet. There are many advantages to doing this. It takes the guess work out of your meal plans. You don’t have to decide whether to eat healthy or not. You have your choice already made before you are hungry, the portions made out, and your meal is there and ready when you need it. The only time I make poor diet decisions is when I am starving, short on time and have limited options. This tip alleviates all of those problems. Twice a week I generally cook 3 different dishes all at once for 3 days worth of eating. Each dish will make up one meal per day. I like large, casserole type dishes for my bulk cooking. The advantage here is that you can combine your protein, carbohydrates, vegetables, etc. into a portable Tupperware bowl, microwave it and eat it quickly without much hassle. I will grill 3-5 chicken breasts at once and chop them all up at the same time. Then I will have a large bag of cooked chicken I can throw into a bowl of rice, on top of a salad, etc.  Again prepare it before hand and have it ready before it’s time to eat.
2. Treat yourself. Once a week I have one meal that I eat just because it tastes good. I don’t concern myself with the fat, salt or sugar content at all. In the grand scheme of my overall nutritional intake it won’t affect my progress and it’s a nice mental reward for all of my hard work. It also gives me something to look forward to throughout the week and keeps me from burning out on my diet. Your diet should be something you can maintain indefinitely. There is a place for indulgent foods in a healthy diet. They just should not make up the majority of what you eat.
3. Moderate and Compensate. When I have a treat, I moderate the amount of it I have. I don’t need to eat a gallon of ice cream to treat myself. A scoop will still allow me to taste it without taking in too much fat and sugar. Try to eat the same amount of your treat that you would any other meal or food in your normal diet. If I know I am having something for dinner that is high in salt or fat for example, I will lower my salt and fat intake throughout the day to compensate for my dinner. That way my overall intake for the day is still in line with my goals.
4. Make a meal plan. Write down what you are going to eat for a given day and when you are going to eat it. This will cut down your chance of snacking while bored or eating beyond your nutritional needs. If you know you are going to eat a small meal in an hour, you will be better able to deal with a little hunger for a short amount of time. You are also less likely to overeat if you know you will be eating again in a few hours. It is easier to stay within your daily requirements if you do the math before hand instead of eating on the fly and estimating your intake after the fact.
5. Eat before you shop. When you are hungry everything looks good. If you are stuffed even thinking about food is unpleasant. If you eat a full meal before you go grocery shopping you will be less likely to pick up unnecessary foods like chips, cookies, soda, etc. just because it looks good in the moment. If you can avoid getting these types of diet killers in the house you won’t have them readily available to snack on.
6. Feel a little hunger. If you have your meals made and ready for a certain time, there is no need to rush and eat the second you feel hungry. Get use to being hungry for a short amount of time. You should not skip meals or go more than 3-4 hours without eating something. But try to break the habit of eating “something” every time you feel the slightest bit hungry. Food is fuel and one of life’s pleasures. But keep in mind how much you really need and stick to that.

Set clearly defined long term and short term goals. If you want to run a marathon or compete in some other athletic event this is easy. You know what you need to do and when. In your initial evaluation of your fitness level you will get your base line fitness level or your starting point. This is where hiring a personal trainer can be very useful. If you want to run 13 miles and you can only run 3 when you begin your training routine, you know you need to improve by 10 miles. This is your long term goal. If you have 5 weeks to reach your goal you need to improve by 2 miles a week. This is your short term goal. This is simple math. But what if your goal is to lose weight, inches, or just firm up? If you lose 1 pound or 1 inch have you reached your goal? As a personal trainer, most of the clients I meet have vague ideas of what they want to achieve. I’ll tell you the same thing I tell them. You need to set clearly defined, measurable goals so that you know where you are going and thus how to get there.  Make sure your goals are realistic. Average healthy weight loss is 1-2 pounds a week. Trying to lose 50 pounds in a month is probably going to result in some drastic, unhealthy weight loss methods and set you up for disappointment. If you want to lose 50 pounds to reach your ideal weight, plan on 2 pounds a week for 25 weeks, or about 6 months.

Keep an exercise journal. This does not have to be long or in depth. Merely write down the date and duration of exercise along with your target for your next workout. If you walked on a treadmill at 3 mph for 20 minutes write that down. Immediately write down your next workouts goal next to it so that when you exercise the next time you will have your workout already written out for you. Again this is where setting short term goals on a time line is so useful. You are much more likely to push that extra bit each time you exercise when you have numbers to meet than you are if you arbitrarily decide to take it up a little bit when you feel like it. Some days you won’t feel like it. Setting goals and recording your progress in a journal will keep you focused on meeting your goal. It is also a great way to reassure yourself that your exercise routine is working or analyze why a routine isn’t working when you have a dated record of your performance to look back on.

Be consistent with your effort. Do not skip workouts or totally quit on your diet for weeks on end. The most important thin you can do to insure successfully reaching your goals is to not give up. Not even for a short amount of time. You may have days where you don’t reach your daily short term goal or stick to your diet perfectly, but you should still come as close as you can that day. As a personal trainer I see many clients beat themselves up and punish themselves for not being perfect. They skip a workout and then decide to go off the deep end with their eating figuring its OK because they have blown it anyway. Fitness training is more psychological than it is physical. It may be your body that you’re using to meet your goals but it is your brain that you are using to move your body. Your body is not going to tell itself to perform. It will do or try to do whatever your brain tells it to. When you stay focused on your goals and do the best you can that day it will add up. Even if you don’t gain that day you can keep yourself in place instead of backsliding. The feeling of having to start over from scratch is probably the number 1 reason people give up on a routine. Not that it works that way but people are pretty good of convincing themselves that it does. We are creatures of habit. Stay in the habit of putting your workouts in and keeping your diet going. You will have the strength to push beyond your limits again.

Set clearly defined goals, record your progress, and consistently put in the effort and you will be rewarded with reaching your goals and all that goes with it. It will be worth the effort. Just try to remember why you set these goals in the first place. Good luck in Good Health. J. NyQuist CPT (San Diego Personal Trainer)

1. Have a clear purpose for reaching your goal. Are you pursuing this goal because you feel it’s expected or that others will be pleased with you if you do? If so this makes sticking with your goal very tricky. You can easily become resentful of the pressure to perform and may become rebellious when it comes to “the work”. You should examine and perhaps write down your reasons for taking on this task in the first place. What are your reasons for setting this goal? What do you expect to receive in return for attaining your goal? How “fun” does it need to be in order for it to be worth it to you? If you are going to school so you can get a specific job, the schooling may not need to be fun in order for the reward to be worth it. But what if it’s a hobby you’ve always wanted to learn, like a musical instrument or a new language. If it’s supposed to be fun make sure that it is. I recently started to learn to play the guitar, something I’ve always wanted to do. I have no intentions of making music my career , joining a band or even performing for others. I just want to learn for myself. So when I start to get frustrated in any way, I set it down. I may not progress as fast as I could if I just soldiered on but it would quickly become a chore or burden if I did. I always remind myself WHY I am doing it in the first place. This is supposed to be fun. (*Almost 2 years in and I am still at it and have made significant improvements, all the while being a relatively painless process.)

2. Set a bunch of mini-goals or benchmarks along the way. If you are completely focused on the ultimate end result before you can give yourself any credit or enjoy what you have accomplished you are in for a very long road (or a very short one if you get frustrated and quit). By setting mini-goals, you get a continual sense of accomplishment along your entire journey. I like to look back at where I started and see the progress I’ve made. I figure if I’ve improved in any way there is no reason I cannot continue to improve on what I am currently working on. Past success is future possibility.

3. Do a little research. Or a lot. I like to look at the entirety of what is coming along my attainment of my goal so I can wrap my head around it all from the beginning. I am a big fan of the … for Dummies or Idiots Guide To… for this very reason. Regardless, it makes it easier to maintain your vision and keep track of where you are in the big picture if you’ve seen what is to come. Instead it may seem as if you will never reach your goal. You can never educate yourself too much on a given subject you are interested in. The library and the web are great free resources you can use to do this.

4. Give yourself a little wiggle room. You do not have to be perfect or do a perfect job along the way to attaining your goal. You may fall off or blow off the work you have committed to from time to time. This is OK and there is no need to beat yourself up over it. In fact you should be proud of yourself that you have even undertaken this goal in the first place. Putting undue pressure on yourself is not going to help you reach your goal and will only serve to make it an unpleasant experience. The key is to remind yourself why you are doing (or did) this in the first place and pick it back up where you left it, whether it is a day or even months later. Pick It Back Up! When I started to practice my guitar I “played” religiously every day for two months. Then I set it against a wall for six months. At that time it would seem like it was a failed endeavor. But I picked it back up, I didn’t beat myself up for all of the improvements I could have made in that time, and I never set it down again. Even with my six month hiatus I have made significant gains  since I started and I now practice nearly every day. I consider it a total success so far.

5. Set goals you can actually reach. If you are 4’11″ you will probably never win the NBA Dunk Contest. I wouldn’t try swimming across the Atlantic Ocean by yourself either.  I think it is great to dream without any limitations. There is no reason not to. But if you set goals for yourself that no one, no matter the effort put forward could reach, you are only setting yourself up for failure. You might also endanger your safety as well. That being said, if anyone has ever even come close or it is in the realm of human capability, follow the points of this article and see where it takes you.  Shoot for the stars and you may hit the moon. You may be surprised.

Here are a few things you should think about before hiring a personal trainer in San Diego.

Beginning a fitness routine can be a daunting task. Most people don’t know where to begin or are afraid of getting no results, or worse, injuring themselves during their workout. This is where hiring a certified personal trainer can make the difference between successfully meeting your fitness goals or not. A good personal trainer should help you set up a fitness program that meets your goals and teaches you the best way to exercise.

What is a Personal Trainer?

A personal trainer should be educated in anatomy, exercise physiology, nutrition, and certified through a national fitness organization (like ACE or ACSM). Your personal trainer’s job is to assess your current fitness level, set up an individualized workout program for you and keep you focused on your fitness goals. A personal trainer will also get you to train harder than you normally would on your own. A personal trainer also provides:

• education about strength training, cardiovascular exercise and basic nutrition
• goal setting strategies
• accountability
• security that your workout is safe and effective

What to Look for In a Personal Trainer

• Education: A personal trainer should be certified through a nationally recognized personal training organization.
• CPR: your trainer should be currently certified in CPR and/or first aid.
• Experience: Your personal trainer should have several years of experience in the fitness industry, especially in relation to your goals. For example, if you’re rehabilitating an injury, you want someone who knows something about rehabilitation.
• Specific expertise: If you have a certain medical issue, injury or condition (such as heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, pregnancy, etc.) make sure your personal trainer has education in these areas.
• Someone who listens: You are in charge when it comes to your training. If your personal trainer doesn’t listen to your needs or concerns, or tries to force you into following an approach you’re not comfortable with, you have the wrong personal trainer. Remember, personal training should be a fun journey to self improvement.
• Pays attention: Your personal trainer should be focused on you during your workout. They should not be talking on their phone, eating lunch, or generally distracted.
• Goal oriented: Your personal trainer should sit down and set short, medium, and long term goals with you and make sure you are on track to meet them. There should be a direction and strategy to your training.

Be Wary (Forgive me if I repeat myself, it’s that important!)

• Is he or she certified and insured? Just because someone has a great physique themselves does not mean that they are qualified to train you or someone else. Some people are blessed with great genetics or have figured out what they need to do in order to meet their own goals. How do you know they have the knowledge and experience to analyze your body and determine the best approach toward your goals. A nationally recognized personal training certification insures that they have shown proficient expertise in a number of relative areas relating to training. Make sure they have liability insurance as well. If your prospective personal trainer is a professional they will have both of these things.
• Are you in pain? It is normal to be sore after engaging in strength training. This should be an all over soreness that lasts for 2-4 days. This is normal and should be expected. If you find you have acute pain in your joints, low back or a small, localized area of a muscle, your personal trainer may not have you working out with proper form and/ or an appropriate weight. Again, this is their job to begin with.
• Are they distracted? During your session it is perfectly normal to carry on a conversation with your personal trainer about non training related topics. As you work with someone you develop a rapport and it can make your training sessions much more enjoyable if you can take small mental breaks occasionally from your intense training. But your trainer should always be focused on the fact you are there to train, not hang out. Also there is no excuse for your personal trainer to carry on a conversation with someone else (especially on the phone) while you are training, eat their lunch, or stare off into space waiting for the workout to be over. You are paying good money for their services, not just their time.

Working with the right trainer can be a life changing experience. I have seen it time and again with my own clients. Unfortunately, working with the wrong trainer can sour many people on exercise and fitness permanently. By doing a little research and asking yourself what you need out of your trainer, you can increase the chances that you will get a perfect fit.

J. NyQuist C.P.T.

Water is crucial to your health. Every system in your body depends on water.

The human body is made up of between 55 and 75 percent water. Men generally have more water in their bodies than women because muscle holds more water than fat does (and women have a higher percentage of body fat compared to men). When a person loses 10 percent of their body weight in fluids, they are considered to be dehydrated, but as little as two percent can affect workout performance, cause fatigue and dull critical thinking abilities. Adequate water consumption can help keep joints lubricated, lessen the chance of kidney stones, prevent and lessen the severity of illness and help prevent constipation.

Symptoms of dehydration:

• Excessive thirst
• Dry mouth
• Little or no urination
• Fatigue
• Headache
• Lightheadedness
• Dizziness
• Muscle weakness

Daily hydration requirements:
Every day you lose water through sweating, exhaling, and going to the bathroom. For your body to function properly, this water needs to be replaced by consuming beverages and foods that contain water. A healthy adult’s daily fluid intake can vary widely. Most people drink fluids to quench their thirst but this may not be enough. A good guideline is to drink eight 8-ounce glasses of water a day, although many beverages can take the place of water for fluid replacement. Alcohol and caffeinated beverages should not be added to this total since they are diuretics and can cause you to lose more fluid than they provide. If you drink enough water to quench your thirst, produce a colorless or slightly yellow amount of urine, and you feel well, your current total fluid intake is probably OK. If you exercise or engage in any activity that makes you sweat, you’ll need to drink extra water to compensate for that fluid loss. Also keep in mind that you need to drink additional water in hot or humid weather to help lower your internal body temperature and to replace what you lose through sweating.

By following these guidelines, you can minimize the chance of injury during your strength training workouts. Of course the best way to minimize your chance of injury is to hire a certified personal trainer if you are unsure of what you are doing.

Warm up: Before you perform any strength training exercises you should do 5-10 minutes of light cardio or calisthenics. Also the muscle groups you are working out should be warmed up before every strength training session with light sets of your working exercises.

Maintain proper posture: Incorrect posture can easily lead to injuries Make sure your spine is aligned properly and your joints are not put into any unnatural positions.

Listen to your body: Pain is your body’s way of telling you something you are doing is harmful. There is a big difference between a slow building burn in the muscles and a sharp pain. If it’s a sharp pain, stop doing it. There is always something else you can do.

Stretch: After your hard workout, spend 5-10 minutes gently stretching out your entire body. Stretching helps promote flexibility and decreases post workout soreness.

Keep your sets around 10-12 reps: Unless you are an advanced trainee, you should not be going so heavy that you cannot perform at least 10 reps with good form. Going too heavy, then losing proper form to lift the weight anyway is a great way to get injured.

Follow a varied and balanced routine: Incorporate strength training, cardiovascular training, and stretching for flexibility into your workout routine. Also try to cross train with different activities like hiking or swimming to work different muscles in ways they are not accustomed. Make sure to work all of the major muscle groups so you don’t create any major muscle imbalances.

Stay hydrated during your workout: When a muscle becomes dehydrated, it is more prone to strain and injury. Avoid sugary drinks and just stick with water during your workout.

J. NyQuist

Make your weight loss plan a life style.

I always say diets are like vacations, they’re something you go on temporarily before you go back to your regular routine. Your body is a reflection of your lifestyle. If you eat a healthy diet and exercise you will have one type of body. If you eat unhealthy foods and you are sedentary you will have another type of body. In order to lose the weight and keep it off, you must continue to do what made you successful in the first place.

Set realistic goals and expectations.

Most people who begin a diet do so with unrealistic expectations. They want to drop 30 lbs in a month when it took them 3 years to gain it. Focus on the process and let the results happen naturally. 1-2 lbs a week is a realistic weight loss goal. If you are strength training, which you should be, you may not see much if any weight loss on the scale initially because you are gaining lean body mass (muscle) while burning body fat. The way your clothes fit is a great way to measure your progress instead.

EAT!

Bodybuilders and most athletes eat small meals every 2-4 hours for a reason. This is ideal. Your body’s digestive system can only handle so many calories efficiently at once. What it cannot use for repair or immediate energy is stored for later use as body fat. A tip I use and give my clients is to not get full or hungry throughout the day. Eat before you really get hungry so you don’t overeat at your next meal and stop eating before you are full. Don’t worry, you will be eating soon enough again.

Drink Water.

Water plays many roles in your body (your body is mostly water), and it is essential for proper metabolism. It is very easy to take in a large number of calories just by drinking them. An average 12 oz. soda has about 150 calories. Fruit juice is loaded with sugar as well. Alcohol has 7 calories per gram. I’ve personally found that if I make water about 90% of my fluid intake, I can control my calorie intake quite easily.

Cook at home.

When you prepare your own food you have complete control over what goes into it. By learning to read and understand food labels you can know exactly what you are putting into your body when you make your meals. Use sugar, salt and fat sparingly or look for substitutes in your recipes.

Get moving.

You don’t have to join a gym to lose weight. Exercise comes in many forms. You can try taking a class, following a video at home, going for a walk, or even work around the house. Many people are having success with video game programs such as Nintendo’s Wii Fit or Yoga. The point is you need to physically exert yourself somehow on a regular basis. 3-5 times a week is a good goal to set.

Treat yourself.

Occasionally you should have something just because it tastes good. These choices may not be the healthiest options but are an important part of a successful diet. If you constantly deny yourself your favorite foods it can become easy to burn out on your healthy diet and overindulge. I try to have a “cheat meal” once or twice a week just for my mental health. My diet is low enough in sugar fat and salt that if I have a meal that is loaded with any of these, my overall intake is still low. Always look at the big picture.

Eat Breakfast.

When your body goes without food for a while it slows down it’s metabolism as a survival mechanism. When you eat breakfast in the morning, your body can start revving it’s metabolism up early in the day and keep it going throughout.  Remember, it’s not how much activity you do or even how much you eat that determines weight loss. Weight loss is determined by how many calories you burn. Eating breakfast every day helps keep your metabolism up.

J. NyQuist

No one says they want to train so all of their joints will hurt, or they will constantly be irritable or tired. But this is exactly what many, if not most of the people in the gym are accomplishing by over training. Over training is when you tax your body’s recuperative abilities by training beyond their limit. When you are working out, you are actually getting weaker. Strenuous strength training breaks down and stresses every system in your body. After a workout your body not only has to heal itself back to where it was prior to training, but then it has to adapt to the increased workload it’s been given by getting stronger. This takes time or to be more precise, proper nutrition and rest. Most people jump back into the next workout as soon as their muscles are no longer sore, long before they have actually gotten stronger and then wonder why their gains have reached a plateau. Here are some tips to ensure that your strength gains come steadily and you remain injury free.

1. Avoid over training in the first place. One simple way to recover faster is by limiting the volume of training you do. You are better off training briefly at a higher intensity than doing set after set with a low or medium intensity.
2. Sleep. During sleep, your body produces Growth Hormone (HGH) which is largely responsible for tissue growth and repair. Getting as close to 7 or 8 hours a night is the key. Also many bodybuilders incorporate naps into their daily schedule to get additional HGH release and the cool thing is that this happens when you first go to sleep so even a brief 20 minute nap will achieve an additional HGH spike for you.
3. Adequate nutritional intake. This is key (especially if you are a “hard gainer” like me) to your strength gains since muscle is literally made out of food. In fact I personally think of my muscles as bags that hold food and water. If I want them bigger I need to fill them up. Remember, you can’t build a mansion out of 2 bricks and a nail no matter how you put them together. You must have the raw materials available and in terms of muscle these are calories and water.
4. Water. Water is literally the key to life. Nothing on our planet lives without it. Your muscles are 60% water. Water also plays a vital role in metabolism which is really just moving calories around. Think “Water helps food bags get filled”.
5. Light activity. Moving your blood around with some light activity helps flush out waste products and brings fresh nutrients and oxygen to recuperating muscles. It can also decrease muscle soreness which is a nice side benefit.
6. Stretch. This is a simple and fast way to help your muscles recover as it promotes circulation through the muscle.
7. Massage. You don’t have to pay someone for a massage in order to get the benefits. You can perform self massage on sore muscles if you can reach them or use a stiff foam roller for hard to reach places. Much like stretching, massage also promotes circulation. If a muscle is really sore from strength training, start with light pressure and increase pressure as you can tolerate it.

A general rule I use to know when to train next is how I feel mentally and physically. If I am tired or not excited to train, I probably need some rest. If my joints, tendons, or muscles are sore I definitely need rest. I use my dog as a good example. When he wants to play, he can’t be stopped. When he is tired he can’t be roused. When I feel like training the way my dog wants to play, it’s time to train. If I don’t feel excited to train, I probably need another day or more. Too many people are afraid that if they go too long between workouts their muscles will atrophy but if you keep eating properly you will be surprised how long your muscles will continue to grow. J. NyQuist