More isn’t always better…  Ask anyone living life outside of high school, and they’ll probably confess their own personal “too much of a good thing story”.  Well, along those lines, one mistake that I constantly see people make when planning their workouts is the lack of a rest day (or two) in their routine.

Some people think that if they workout 7 days a week, they’ll hasten their results.  While I understand the logic behind such an assumption, I have to tell you the truth — The only things that get hastened when you don’t give your body a rest are the chances of injury and fatigue.  But there’s no need to fear, FDF is here (yes – I just played with the old Underdog catch phrase… Hope I’m not dating myself)!

There are two schools of theory on Rest Days:

1. The fist is a Total Rest Day, which is basically a “day of nothing.”  Don’t lift a thing, don’t run anywhere – just relax.  This day is NOT to be confused with a “Cheat Day” (a day where you break your diet or indulge in some other unhealthy habit that basically sabotages your workout progress) for those who were wondering.  A Total Rest Day is a day of physical rest, not one of dietary-indulgence.  Treat yourself to a day at the spa, go on an outing with your family – get creative with whatever relaxes you!  *NOTE: Doing things like meditating or even light Yoga are fine if you result to this type of rest day.*
2. Your other option is a Partial Rest Day, which means that you change up your exercise routine to not be so taxing on various parts of your body.  If you’ve been lifting all week, take a day to just walk.  If you’ve been jogging all week, take a day to focus on your arms.  This is sort of a “cheat” around the 7-day-a-week total body methodology… Does that make sense?  A lot of veteran workout enthusiasts subscribe to this technique, and may take advantage of it with a relaxing bike ride or leisure stroll.

Rest Days are vital to the recovery of your body.  If you let your body fully recover over the span of a day, you’ll be able to go even stronger the day after you’ve rested.

Take having a fun day at a lake as an example of a perfect rest day. You aren't working out, but you're still being active and giving your body time to recover! Live a little!

If you have any other questions about the subject of Rest Days, or just any inquiries about fitness at all – feel free to contact us using the form in the upper-right portion of this web page.  Someone from FDF will get in touch with you ASAP.

Have a nice day, and remember to rest!

 

I have a question for you (I promise there’s a point to this)…

If your goal in life was to be recognized as a World Famous Dancer, but you never practiced dancing on your own – mastering specific techniques – do you really think you would succeed?

Making that relate a little bit more to some of the subject matter on this blog…

If your goal is to see meaningful progress in your body towards your ideal weight (say losing 10 pounds or so), but you never practiced exercises on your own – making the exercise your own – what do you think the chances are that you’ll achieve your goal?

If you haven’t picked it up just yet, today I’d like to focus on the value of consistently performing an exercise and how it relates to your results.

The amount of time people spend with a personal trainer, whether it be in a gym (in a more traditional/inconvenient sense) or from the comfort of their own home like FDF offers, isn’t what determines their success towards their goal.  That’s true whether you’re talking about losing weight, getting stronger, toning up, etc…

What determines success is what those people do on their own time.

• How often are they going back over the things their trainer tells them?
• How often are they going for a jog on their own?
• How often are they practicing the proper technique of the workout in order to get the best results possible?

The key to having those personal breakthroughs doesn’t lay in the amount of time that is spent having a great workout with a trainer (hopefully that’s a given when you’re working with a great trainer).  The solution is only found in the personal time spent practicing the achievement of your goal.

Don’t just wish you can run a 5K — that won’t make it happen.  Practice running a 5K until eventually, you do.  Don’t just wish that you were fit — practice being fit, and eventually you will be!

I’m sure you get my point by now, but I just felt like I needed to throw that one out there to help keep someone motivated and remind them why they’re putting their body through the physical rigors they’ve decided to take on.  You’re doing it all in the name of a better version of yourself, but you have to keep practicing “being better” in order to actually get better.

If you need any good ideas on what routines you could practice in order to get to your better-self, don’t hesitate to contact us using the form in the upper-right portion of this screen.  Someone from FDF will follow-up with you ASAP.  (Like us on Facebook too while you’re at it!)

Have a good day, and don’t forget to stay motivated.

Hey everyone – it turns out that people who start amazing businesses and fitness enthusiasts have something in common.

I forget where I was reading this yesterday (sorry), but an article on “what makes a successful entrepreneur different that everyone else” claimed that the simple determinant in many cases is a simple/non-sexy personality trait… Discipline.

Based on personal experience, I’d say that’s a simple trait that is shared with people who pursue any health-related goal.  However there’s a small twist – you have to be disciplined at managing (and measuring) your expectations when it comes to working out or getting better at any physical activity.

Think about it for a second, whether you’re trying to lose weight or bulk-up – it’s realistically going to take time.  How much time it takes will all depend on how much energy you personally dedicate to the task, but in the end it’s on you to not be discouraged along the way and maintain a consistent DISCIPLINE to get what you ultimately want when everything is said and done.

I offer up these 3 tips to help you maintain your fitness discipline:

1. Set realistic goals that you can work through in phases.  If your ultimate goal is to lose 50 lbs. – don’t set your bar that high initially.  Go for something like 10 lbs when you begin.  You’ll eventually get to your ultimate victory if you stay disciplined, but until then – go for the small victories to keep you motivated.
2. Realize that there will be bumps in the road.  You may have to miss a few sessions, but that’s not the end of the world nor is it a good enough reason to just stop entirely.  Stay flexible and just keep progressing vs. stopping entirely.
3. Have an “accountabili-buddy”.  Haha – I have no idea if I spelled that correctly (it’s not a word anyway – so does it matter?), but the concept takes us all the way back to grade school.  Tell someone close to your about your goals so that they can help keep you on track.  A friend of mine is a writer and asked me to keep them on task so that they could get a draft in for a writing contest — I called and text him everyday reminding him to write.  It only took a moment of my time, but made all the difference for him.  I was his “accountabili-buddy”.

If you need anymore help with your discipline, our trainers have it in spades!  Feel free to contact us using the form in the upper-right portion of this web page, and we’ll be your “accountabili-buddies” all the way through.

Have a nice day!