Starting a fitness program, and knowing where things stand...

I've been leading a fitness accountability group on the Team Beachbody website, with a focus on the Focus T25 workout. I first launched the group in August, and while there's been some turnover we have a strong core of about 20 committed people, with new members joining every day.

In the past few days there has been a lot of discussion of exercise modifications. One of the great strengths of T25 are the modifiers which are demonstrated for every exercise. This means that the program is accessible to a wide range of people with a variety of fitness levels.
 
One point that I constantly make is the importance of exercising within your current fitness level. You need to start with your current physical conditioning in mind, rather than the  condition you wish you were in (or used to be in, for that matter). Otherwise, you put yourself at risk of injury (there's no quicker way to derail a fitness plan) or a quick burnout.

Some people's bodies simply don't react well to high-impact work. In that case, modification is the right call. Can't do 10 push-ups? Do as many as you can with good form, them modify to increase the number of reps. When agility drills trip you up, slow the pace down to get the footwork right. Speed will come in time, but good form is key to improvement.

My point is, embrace the shape you're in. You can't wish it away - you can only work off any extra weight through healthy eating and an appropriate exercise program. If you persevere, you will see results. In my Focus T25 group, we've seen some impressive results. Most of these people are using modifications, and everyone is focused on using good form. They've achieved these results by accepting where things stood, then digging deep to take their fitness to the next level.

A mind-body approach to fitness

I've been reading a book by Jillian Michaels (of "Biggest Loser" fame) called "Making the Cut". If you're interested in losing those last few pesky pounds, or really going for that six pack, this book is written for you. I'm not following the program as laid out in the book, but it's filled with great advice that is helping to enhance my workout program. Since I've been slipping a bit over the past week, I pulled the book off the shelf to find some motivation.

I'm particularly interested in her focus on the mind-body connection and its impact on fitness results. In addition to the importance of a positive state of mind, she talks about focusing your full attention on your body during workouts - visualizing our muscles working, getting stronger and performing the actions that we demand of them. By centering your mind within yourself and focusing on performance (rather than how tired you feel!), you can fully experience the workout and achieve greater results.

I've realized that all of the workout programs I've done in recent months - especially T25 and Chalean Extreme - achieve their results by demanding that you focus on technique, maintain a full range of motion through each move, and flex the muscles through every exercise to create better resistance. When I first started working out, I was pushing hard and achieving results, but I was primarily surviving the workouts, not fully experiencing them. My technique was sloppy at best, and although I burned off plenty of fat, I did not achieve optimal muscle definition. My best results came later, during T25, when I fully concentrated on doing each move correctly, carefully, contracting my muscles through the entire move. Once I made that mind-body connection, I saw the results that I'd been hoping to achieve.

So when you work out, regardless of whether you're doing a fitness program, running or lifting weights at the gym, don't let your mind drift away. Focus on how you're moving your body, check your form, and engage that core at all times. Keep your head in the game, and the results will follow.

Creating accountability to ensure success

Each New Year's, millions of people across America resolve to start working out, get in shape, join a gym, lose weight, eat healthier foods, or some combination of the above. Most of them fail. Part of the reason for this is that most people try to go it alone, rather than finding support they need other people to help get them through.

Of course, the first thing a person needs to have before starting a fitness program is inner motivation. You can't do it for someone else - it sounds like a cliche, but you really have to do it for yourself.

However, as this brief article on the Mayo Clinic website notes, a support group of like-minded people can also offer accountability, which can be a strong motivation to stick to weight-loss and fitness goals.

When I first started Insanity in March, I didn't know what an accountability group was. I didn't think about whether I needed support. I decided to order the program on a whim, so I figured I would just do my best to keep up with the schedule (which was daunting, to say the least). I planned to jump from essentially no daily exercise to 40-60 minute workouts, 6 days a week. It was probably a recipe for failure, but I was lucky - I found a range of support, both on-line and among friends, which helped me stay motivated to finish.

Initially, I started reading some of the Insanity threads on the Beachbody message boards until I found one that suited me. The thread's leader was a really positive guy who'd had lots of success with the program, and other members offered encouragement and solid advice. Having a place to post what I accomplished each day (even if I had a bad workout or missed one altogether) kept my mind focused on moving forward through the program. Plus, having a community of people who were facing the same challenges helped motivate me to finish the entire program. Twice!

Even more importantly, some of my friends in Brussels started doing Insanity with me. Nobody else was doing the entire program, but at least 3 or 4 days a week I had someone else in the room with me, suffering through the same pain. Not only was it a great bonding experience, but knowing that others were planning to exercise with me kept me on track. I can't thank my friends enough for all of their support.

Now, with the upcoming move to England, I know I won't have a group of friends ready and willing to share in my suffering. At times I'm worried that I won't stick with my new-found dedication to fitness, and that I'll go back to my old ways. However, I've recently started my own on-line Focus T25 accountability group on the Beachbody website. I'm hoping for two things - that I can create a small community of my own to help hold me accountable, and that the community I create can provide support to other people, giving them a place to be held accountable as well. Even though we're all ultimately responsible for our own fitness success, it sure does help to have people supporting you during the tough times.

Counting calories - Where to start?

I first want to say that I do not religiously count calories. I do not track every bite I take in myfitnesspal.com or any other calorie tracking program. However, over the past six months I've taken a much greater interest in the number of calories in my food, along with the amount of fat, carbs, proteins, vitamins and other content. While I refuse to obsess over the caloric content of every bit of food that crosses my lips, I think it's useful to know how many calories I should consume to maintain, and how many I should consume to lose. I'm currently trying to maintain my weight (over the summer), but come fall I want to lose the last 3-5 pounds, so I'll need to be more careful.

So, to figure out my baseline, I've used the Harris Benedict-Equation, which determines a target caloric intake based on your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR). The Insanity program uses a calculator based on this. BMR is basically the number of calories your body needs to stay alive and healthy. Once the BMR is calculated, you add an "allowance" for physical activity to determine the number of calories you should consume to maintain your current weight. From this number, determine a healthy caloric deficit based on your weight loss goals (this will vary greatly from person to person; you may want to chat with your doctor to determine the right level for you).

As a rough estimate, healthy weight loss is approximately 1-2 pounds a week, requiring a caloric deficit of around 3,500 calories to lose one pound. So, a deficit of 500 calories a day is probably a reasonable target if you're trying to lose weight. Like I've said in the past, I'm entirely opposed to diets. For me, it's all about eating healthy food in the right amounts, and permanently changing your approach to food.

THE HARRIS-BENEDICT EQUATION:

1. Calculate your BMR:

        Women: BMR = 655 + ( 4.35 x weight in pounds ) + ( 4.7 x height in inches ) - ( 4.7 x age in years )

        Men: BMR = 66 + ( 6.23 x weight in pounds ) + ( 12.7 x height in inches ) - ( 6.8 x age in years )

2. Multiply your BMR by the appropriate activity factor, as follows:

           Sedentary (little or no exercise): BMR x 1.2

           Lightly active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/week): BMR x 1.375

           Moderately active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/week): BMR x 1.55

           Very active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days a week): BMR x 1.725

           Extra active (very hard exercise/sports & physical job or 2x training): BMR x 1.9

NOTE: For Insanity, most people choose to apply "Very Active" or "Extra Active". I think that for T25, "Moderately Active" is probably more accurate (though if you do other physical activity during the day, that will bump you to a higher category).

3. Your final number is the approximate number of calories you need each day to maintain your weight. For weight loss, determine the mild to moderate caloric deficit that is right for you.

So in my case:

Female, 148 pounds, 70 inches, age 42: 655 + (4.35 x 148) + (4.7 x 70) - (4.7 x 42)= 1429

Multiply 1429 x 1.55 (moderately active) = 2,215 calories a day to maintain my weight. With this information, I will probably aim for 1,900 over the summer, since I'm basically maintaining until fall (though dropping a pound or two wouldn't be unwelcome!)

 

Don't forget to rest!

I'm currently in the middle of a Beachbody program called Focus T25, which calls for 25 minute workouts 4 days a week, plus a double workout (50 minutes) on Fridays. Sunday is reserved for stretching, but Saturday is reserved for rest.

I'm really glad to have a rest day today. We've had a long week of moving furniture and boxes, and my shoulders are sore! I've kept up with my fitness schedule this week and haven't missed a workout, but I'm going to embrace this day.

Rest days are an essential part of a fitness program. Even elite athletes schedule easy days into their overall training plan. During the week, you work your muscles hard, causing microscopic damage to your muscle fibers. This is a good thing, because as the muscle recovers, it rebuilds itself stronger than it was before. This is how we gain strength and tone.

If you don't give the muscles a chance to rest, this can lead to fatigue and overtraining, which can compromise your overall fitness program. If you're new to working out, take the day off on your scheduled rest days (except for walking or other low impact activity). If you've been regularly working out for a while, it's fine to do an easy run or another activity that you enjoy, but be sure to give those muscles a rest. You've earned it!

So no T25 for me today - I'm planning a nice easy kayak trip with the kids! Tomorrow I'll enjoy a stretching/yoga session (which will hopefully get rid of any remaining soreness). Then Monday morning, back to the program...

Yoga 1.0

I don't have much experience with yoga. Even though I've often been involved in sports, in the past I've typically avoided stretching as much as possible. I'd stretch when my coaches told me to, or for a couple of minutes before a run, but that was it.

Predictably, in recent years I noticed that my muscles were becoming less flexible. For a while I managed to ignore this unfortunate fact, but recently I acknowledged that this is an issue to be dealt with sooner rather than later. As we age, flexibility decreases, which has a negative impact on mobility in the later years. If I intend to be active in my 80s and beyond, I'd better start doing something about my flexibility now, before its too late.

My current workout program is Focus T25, which includes a full 25 minute stretching sequence that should be done at least once a week. It incorporates active stretching as well as yoga positions. I've been enjoying the yoga aspects of the workout, especially a section that incorporates the "pigeon" pose. The stretch through the hip is fantastic, but I feel like I haven't quite gotten it right. I'm now hoping to take a yoga class at least once a week in the fall, but in the meantime I found a website which offers some good tips on correct position. Please check it out - the link below is about the "pigeon", but once you're in the website there's a lot of good information for beginning yoga practitioners. Enjoy!

http://www.yogajournal.com/basics/1808

Focus T25 - Speed 1.0

Like I mentioned yesterday, I really need to improve my agility. I used to fence for the University of Michigan, so once upon a time I could handle the quick footwork. More than 20 years later, I'm not quite where I need to be.

I'm in week 3 of T25, so I've completed this workout several times before. It addresses one of the issues I mentioned yesterday, by mixing active and static stretches with speed/agility cardio moves throughout the video.

I do understand why T25 can't include stretching segments in every video. The program is designed to be completed by people with limited time, so if you spend too much time on the stretch you can't do the hard work needed to improve cardio fitness and strengthen the core. That said, I'm still concerned about the possibility of injuries, particularly with people who are new to exercise. Think about adding some extra stretching at the end of the workout (in addition to the cool down section) if you want to improve flexibility and reduce the chance of injury.