Within a few days of publishing my column I inevitably receive the following email: ‘What’s the fastest way to lose weight?’.Ask most Fitness Experts (or your grizzled, no-nonsense neighbor chipping ice in sub-below temperatures), and the answer will be the same — eat less and move more… now get off my lawn!.Not the answer you were looking for? Surely, there’s a secret to finding everlasting health and wellness that doesn’t involve toil and trouble. Well yes, there are many secrets. The problem is none of these secrets fit nicely into today’s comfort mantra — ‘you deserve more for doing less’!.Sure, late-night-weight-loss-solutions, dispensed at low monthly instalments of $19.99 are a great way of divesting hard earned money with little to no return. Do you want to lose pounds or dollars?.Don’t let the suggestion of exertion turn you off. Rest assured, this column isn’t about hoisting hundred-pound bags of potatoes while lunge-walking to the mailbox. Not a bad idea but I doubt it will extricate your comfy self from the cushy Posturepedic..The secret to lasting fitness involves more brain than muscle — at least in the early stages. Trainers dispensing interval sprints, squats and deadlifts to new clients miss the mark. Us ‘normals’ simply can’t do this stuff!.Its like assigning War and Peace on the first day of kindergarten. Inevitably there’s a budding Mensa toddler in every crowd that picks up Tolstoy for a quick read while the rest of us struggle with ski pants. But that’s, by far, the minority. The Elon Musks of the world aren’t waiting for us knuckle draggers to catch up..So, without further ado, here are my top five fitness tips for beginners. I’ve got more but let’s make sure we’ve got our snow boots on the right feet before we sprint out the door for recess..In my next life I will be a millionaire..I usually save this tip for the end as its somewhat sobering. Feel free to read it last..Still reading? Ok, you asked for it..Unless you score a nine (or more) out of 10 on desire, your chances of securing long lasting fitness success are pretty low. Hear me out. Anything below a nine translates as ‘kinda’ or ‘would be nice’. ‘I kinda want to play the guitar; I kinda want to speak Spanish; I kinda want a million bucks.’.Ergo, I kinda want to lose weight..It's simple maths, really. When diet and exercise rate 7/10 and a chocolate, double-dipped Texas size donut rates 10/10, your overall score is negative 3..Show me a person who scores a 10 out of 10 and I will show you results..Don’t make the mistake of expecting a trainer, boss or teacher to supply motivation. That’s your job. Absolutely, they should throw fuel on the fire but their main role is to understand, engage, support, guide and educate. In that order. If you don’t show up we can't help..Which leads us to tip number two. (No worries, the rest are more palatable.).Splash around in the shallow end for a bit..Back to Tolstoy..No one wants to feel like a failure. Where you stand is where you should start. Ski pants — one leg at a time..Don’t let the exclamation mark on the ‘10k Fun Run!’ e-mail fool you. It's neither fun nor does it involve a lot of running. Wheezing? Maybe. Plodding? Probably..OK, back to the success calculator: Degree of perceived Fun-Run-fun, including your cool race T-shirt and a juicy orange, prior to race day: 9/10. Ability to walk the next day: 2/10 (including stupid T-shirt, crappy orange and hamstring pull)..Those who run before they can walk have a painful appointment with inflammation..The solution? Take it easy!.I seldom admonish clients for taking it easy. I do, however chastise them for being overly self-critical. Maybe a few .05k walks should precede the 10k Fun Run..Your gray-matter interprets easy as, ‘huh, not that bad.’ Pain and suffering, on the other hand are interpreted as, well, pain and suffering..I’m pretty positive I’m a pessimist..No one likes a downer … or the enthusiastic student who requests homework over the holidays. I love learning!.The right attitude is somewhere in the middle..With diet and exercise, you need to establish a positive mindset while maintaining a reasonable degree of realism. When repetition, hard work and the daily grind erodes novice enthusiasm, you need to be ready..Here’s my guarantee: Failure will come. It arrives on the tail of celebrations, all-inclusive vacations, cookies and cheesecake, lack of sleep, too much work, sick kids. Prepare for it, embrace it, learn from it, shrug it off, move on..You’ve got about two weeks of missed workouts before the slippery slope becomes really slick. The quicker you hop back on the bandwagon, the easier the recovery..To be clear this doesn’t mean you get to take two weeks off after every workout..Will this be on the exam?.Content is important but attendance counts towards your final score..Here’s your hall pass. When you don’t feel like working out, take the day off..Ah, but there’s a caveat. You still need to do something for your health. Go for a walk, stretch, meditate in the sun, take a nap, reduce calories for the day, go to bed early. No bad, eh?.You don’t want your brain registering truancy as failure or as something that should be repeated. Instead of leaving it blank, fill your mental calendar with a health break. Think of it as a recharge. Feel good about it, recommit tomorrow, avoid the slippery slope, check the box, move on..And finally….In the long run, consistency is a superpower..If I had to pick one tip to help you move the flag on health, it would be consistency, assuming your version of consistency isn’t to consistently skip workouts..Fitness is a long haul that isn’t accelerated by one or two killer workouts or derailed by the occasional cheat meal..Well being is the sum of all parts..Rather than making drastic changes to your life, grab onto something that’s doable. When you’ve become good at it, add another manageable behavior. Start with a walk or some quiet time in the sun. The important part is scheduling and repeating. Yes, sprints, weight-lifting and clean eating are important — in good time..Remember, snowpants before Tolstoy..Paul Robinson has enjoyed more than 30 years career in the fitness industry. With partner Monica, he owns Kneifel Robinson Personal Training in Edmonton.
Within a few days of publishing my column I inevitably receive the following email: ‘What’s the fastest way to lose weight?’.Ask most Fitness Experts (or your grizzled, no-nonsense neighbor chipping ice in sub-below temperatures), and the answer will be the same — eat less and move more… now get off my lawn!.Not the answer you were looking for? Surely, there’s a secret to finding everlasting health and wellness that doesn’t involve toil and trouble. Well yes, there are many secrets. The problem is none of these secrets fit nicely into today’s comfort mantra — ‘you deserve more for doing less’!.Sure, late-night-weight-loss-solutions, dispensed at low monthly instalments of $19.99 are a great way of divesting hard earned money with little to no return. Do you want to lose pounds or dollars?.Don’t let the suggestion of exertion turn you off. Rest assured, this column isn’t about hoisting hundred-pound bags of potatoes while lunge-walking to the mailbox. Not a bad idea but I doubt it will extricate your comfy self from the cushy Posturepedic..The secret to lasting fitness involves more brain than muscle — at least in the early stages. Trainers dispensing interval sprints, squats and deadlifts to new clients miss the mark. Us ‘normals’ simply can’t do this stuff!.Its like assigning War and Peace on the first day of kindergarten. Inevitably there’s a budding Mensa toddler in every crowd that picks up Tolstoy for a quick read while the rest of us struggle with ski pants. But that’s, by far, the minority. The Elon Musks of the world aren’t waiting for us knuckle draggers to catch up..So, without further ado, here are my top five fitness tips for beginners. I’ve got more but let’s make sure we’ve got our snow boots on the right feet before we sprint out the door for recess..In my next life I will be a millionaire..I usually save this tip for the end as its somewhat sobering. Feel free to read it last..Still reading? Ok, you asked for it..Unless you score a nine (or more) out of 10 on desire, your chances of securing long lasting fitness success are pretty low. Hear me out. Anything below a nine translates as ‘kinda’ or ‘would be nice’. ‘I kinda want to play the guitar; I kinda want to speak Spanish; I kinda want a million bucks.’.Ergo, I kinda want to lose weight..It's simple maths, really. When diet and exercise rate 7/10 and a chocolate, double-dipped Texas size donut rates 10/10, your overall score is negative 3..Show me a person who scores a 10 out of 10 and I will show you results..Don’t make the mistake of expecting a trainer, boss or teacher to supply motivation. That’s your job. Absolutely, they should throw fuel on the fire but their main role is to understand, engage, support, guide and educate. In that order. If you don’t show up we can't help..Which leads us to tip number two. (No worries, the rest are more palatable.).Splash around in the shallow end for a bit..Back to Tolstoy..No one wants to feel like a failure. Where you stand is where you should start. Ski pants — one leg at a time..Don’t let the exclamation mark on the ‘10k Fun Run!’ e-mail fool you. It's neither fun nor does it involve a lot of running. Wheezing? Maybe. Plodding? Probably..OK, back to the success calculator: Degree of perceived Fun-Run-fun, including your cool race T-shirt and a juicy orange, prior to race day: 9/10. Ability to walk the next day: 2/10 (including stupid T-shirt, crappy orange and hamstring pull)..Those who run before they can walk have a painful appointment with inflammation..The solution? Take it easy!.I seldom admonish clients for taking it easy. I do, however chastise them for being overly self-critical. Maybe a few .05k walks should precede the 10k Fun Run..Your gray-matter interprets easy as, ‘huh, not that bad.’ Pain and suffering, on the other hand are interpreted as, well, pain and suffering..I’m pretty positive I’m a pessimist..No one likes a downer … or the enthusiastic student who requests homework over the holidays. I love learning!.The right attitude is somewhere in the middle..With diet and exercise, you need to establish a positive mindset while maintaining a reasonable degree of realism. When repetition, hard work and the daily grind erodes novice enthusiasm, you need to be ready..Here’s my guarantee: Failure will come. It arrives on the tail of celebrations, all-inclusive vacations, cookies and cheesecake, lack of sleep, too much work, sick kids. Prepare for it, embrace it, learn from it, shrug it off, move on..You’ve got about two weeks of missed workouts before the slippery slope becomes really slick. The quicker you hop back on the bandwagon, the easier the recovery..To be clear this doesn’t mean you get to take two weeks off after every workout..Will this be on the exam?.Content is important but attendance counts towards your final score..Here’s your hall pass. When you don’t feel like working out, take the day off..Ah, but there’s a caveat. You still need to do something for your health. Go for a walk, stretch, meditate in the sun, take a nap, reduce calories for the day, go to bed early. No bad, eh?.You don’t want your brain registering truancy as failure or as something that should be repeated. Instead of leaving it blank, fill your mental calendar with a health break. Think of it as a recharge. Feel good about it, recommit tomorrow, avoid the slippery slope, check the box, move on..And finally….In the long run, consistency is a superpower..If I had to pick one tip to help you move the flag on health, it would be consistency, assuming your version of consistency isn’t to consistently skip workouts..Fitness is a long haul that isn’t accelerated by one or two killer workouts or derailed by the occasional cheat meal..Well being is the sum of all parts..Rather than making drastic changes to your life, grab onto something that’s doable. When you’ve become good at it, add another manageable behavior. Start with a walk or some quiet time in the sun. The important part is scheduling and repeating. Yes, sprints, weight-lifting and clean eating are important — in good time..Remember, snowpants before Tolstoy..Paul Robinson has enjoyed more than 30 years career in the fitness industry. With partner Monica, he owns Kneifel Robinson Personal Training in Edmonton.
