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.

Quality over Quantity - Paying Attention to Form

When I was doing Insanity, often I was trying to pace myself to some degree, making sure that I could get through the whole thing without bonking. This summer, I'm doing a new program called Focus T25. It's designed by the same trainer (Shaun T) as Insanity, but it's a very different approach. First of all, the workouts are 25 minutes long, compared with 40 minutes - 1 hour for Insanity. There are no breaks - the idea is to push through the entire workout, using proper form to most effectively work out the various muscle groups. It's not as intense as Insanity, but I'm still seeing good results (down 5 more inches overall during the first four weeks).

In T25, Shaun T repeatedly makes the point that you should use the fullest possible range of motion when doing the exercises. He talks about this during one of the push-up sets, asking you to get your chest to the floor to the best possible results.

For me, the "fullest range of motion" concept is the key to T25. Its true that the workouts are shorter and less "intense" than Insanity, but if you push through every move with correct form, you will get a good burn and see real improvements in muscle tone.

Take squats, for example. Shaun T clearly loves doing squats, since there's all kinds of them in T25. It's easy to cheat when doing them, by dropping just half way down and leaning into your toes. But do them right every time - back straight, weight in your heels, knees behind the toes, dropping into it so your thighs are as close to perpendicular to the floor as possible - and they will burn and fatigue your quads (in a good way). When you come up, squeeze the gluteus muscles and bring your buttocks back under your hips. You'll be sure to see results.

So, regardless of which kind of fitness program you are doing, always mind your form and technique. Even if you wind up doing fewer reps, you'll most likely see greater benefits from your program if you commit to practicing proper form!

Laura