The US has seen an enormous increase in the number of people considered obese by the medical community. In fact many call it an obesity epidemic. Doctors are seeing people coming in at an alarming weight, yet we continue to be one of the fattest nations in the world.
I heard a story the other day from an instructor of mine. We were chatting about the subject of obesity and comfort foods. He informed me that people don’t notice what or how they are eating. They just eat. He told me this story (and let me set up this guy for you: He is an older gentleman, health FANATIC, type 1 diabetic, fit as a fiddle) when he was at a Super Bowl party. He got there and started snacking on chips, then pretzels, then had some pizza (mind you this guy is a health freak, and a diabetic, so he needs to watch what he eats). He capped the night off by having some ice cream. He had his ice cream in a bowl and start chatting with someone, next thing he knows, he looks down and his ice cream was gone. He said out loud “what happen to my ice cream?”. He knows he ate it, but he was not aware of eating it, nor was he aware when he easily snacked on all the great good that usually accompanies a Super Bowl party.
How many times has that happen to you? I know it has happened to me quite a few times. So why did I tell you this story? I want you to know it happens to everyone! And I can sit here all day and try to tell you to be conscious of what you eat, and more B.S., but the reality is things the the above are going to happen. Don’t let it spiral you!
Take a bad day, a bad weekend, a bad week, whatever, put it behind you and keep moving forward! And for crying out loud don’t sit there and tell me you are going to diet around the holidays! Holidays are time to celebrate something. Good people, family, food. Enjoy it! Don’t be that person who doesn’t have a hot dog because they are on a diet (unless you are on special orders from a doctor – always listen to doctors!). Enjoy the holiday – just don’t have the holiday follow you into the next day, or next week.
Think LONG term with your eating habits. Like really long term – the rest of your life long term. You cannot tell me that one family BBQ, or one thanksgiving weekend will destroy your eating habits for the rest of your life.
As always, email me with questions/comments/concerns, or leave a comment. I will get back to it.
Most people take their breathing for granted. Our body is smart enough to keep us breathing without us really thinking about it. If we had to try to concentrate on breathing, and having our heart beat, while we think, walk, or really do anything else, our mind would go into overload. Are you breathing? Of course you are, but have you ever really noticed your breathing?
I am guessing the answer to that is probably not. But you should.
When I say you should, I am not talking about just sitting in your cubicle and saying “Yes – I am breathing”. What I want you to do is truly feel yourself breathing. And here is how to do it.
Once a day (or more if you can), really focus on 10 consecutive breaths. If you are at a place where you can, close your eyes while you do this (obviously don’t do this while driving!). Take 10 slow, deep breaths. Why you do this, think that you are letting in oxygen into your system, which is vital to life and letting the bad CO2 out. Focus on feeling the cool, clean oxygen into your mouth, and the hot, dirty CO2 out. Corny I know – but trust me, this will help you consciously know you are breathing if you can visual something like that.
So why focus on breathing? Well, the biggest thing is this is a great way to relax. If you feel yourself getting stressed out, focus on your breathing. 10 slow, deep breaths will help you regulate and even out your breathing, which will help you to relax. Another reason is the body/mind/spirit relationship in regards to your health. Breathing is something that we do naturally, but is a HUGE part in the functioning of a body. So why not take the time to realize what your body is doing. This will help develop a sense of your body that most people don’t ever develop.
All I ask is that you try it for 1 week. 7 days, and see how you like it. Once a day, take those 10 breaths, focusing on breathing deep and slow and let me know how you feel.
In middle school, you more than likely took a health class. In that class, they told you that diet and exercise was the best way to stay healthy. That hasn’t changed over the years, regardless of how long ago you were in school. What does change over the years that people get confused about is how much physical activity you need. The requirement depends on which organization you look at. There are some that say 5-7 days of moderate physical activity and then there are others that say 3 days of low to moderate exercise.
I think the first thing that needs to be done is you need to define what Physical Activity actually is: From an earlier post, Physical Activity is any bodily movement produced by skeletal muscles that result in energy expenditure. In real life, physical activity is basically anything that you break a sweat doing. Walking the dog, playing with the kids, joining a softball team, anything!
But how much are you suppose to get? Really, whatever you can. 5-7 days of moderate physical activity, according to the ACSM, is optimal for great health benefits. But if you can do 3 days, that is better than zero days.
Honestly, though, you should not really say “5 days” or “7 days” or anything else. You should try to just make physical activity part of your life. If you put to much emphasis on trying to get enough days of physical activity in during the week, more than likely, you will say something like “I will just get my 5th day in tomorrow” or ” If I take today off, I will go the next 5 days”. And due to human nature, you more than likely will not hit what you want to. Instead, just make physical activity part of your lifestyle. Be active. Live active. Start walking every morning. Join a sport league. Start hiking. Whatever it is, just start living a healthy, active lifestyle and you will start living a healthier life. But if you must put a number on it, shoot for 5-7 days of moderate physical activity for optimal health improvement. But also make sure your diet is in check. A good, active lifestyle doesn’t mean anything if you are eating crap. But that is another post for another day. Have an awesome day.
People often hear the word meditation and get scared. They think it is some zen/religious practice that they want no part of. Others think it is a waste of time. And still then, there are those who just plain think its weird to do.
Meditation, as defined by Wikipedia, is “a mental discipline where by the practition attempts to get beyond the reflexive “thinking” mind into a deeper state of relaxation and awareness.” In other words, it is going to your “happy place”.
Mental health is often over looked when people want to try to get healthy. Relaxing is an important part of being healthy. It reduces stress, and clears the mind for increased mental health. And you don’t have to sit cross legged on the floor humming in order to reach this state. Think of a place where you go that you are completely relaxed. Some people meditate in silence. Others in noise. Some in the gym. Others outside. Some by themselves. Others with people around. It all depends on you! Meditation is nothing more than blocking every stress that you have in the world out, if only for a moment, and focusing on relaxing and letting nothing get to you.
One question I get asked when I talk about meditation is “How do I know when I hit that mindset”? That is a hard question to answer. It totally depends on what your mind thinks is relaxing. For me, it is getting my mind to “vacation mode”, even for a brief moment. When I go on a vacation, I don’t have a care in the world. I don’t think about work, stress, projects, deadlines, or anything else. I am fully in the moment and am completely relaxed. That is the place I try to get to when I meditate. I can’t go on a vacation every time I get stressed out. That is why meditating is so helpful. If you get stressed, and you need to relax, a quick meditation session can work wonders. Daily meditation will help you to be less stressed overall throughout your life.
Still struggling on the whole meditation concept? Just try this for starters: Whenever you are feeling overwhelmed, stressed, frustrated or anything of that nature, think of a few of your favorite things. It could be “Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens” (I kid). Or your grand kids, your wife, a place that you love, a time in your life where you were on cloud nine. Whatever makes you the happiest is what you are going to focus on. So when you are feeling stress, focus on that one thing as hard as you can. Try to get yourself to actual FEEL like you are there in the moment. Listen to the sounds of that moment. Feel the feelings of that moment. For example, if your place is the beach, feel the sun on your face, hear the ocean crash down, feel the sand in between your toes. Really get yourself into that place that makes you happy, even if just for a brief moment in time. Your mood/mind set will start shifting and you will start to feel better. You will know that your stresses and frustrations are little things in life and the important things are really the only things that matter. Stress doesn’t solve anything. Take a deep breathe and get back to whatever you were doing with a fresh new mindset and start kickin’ butt.
So in order to start getting your mental health as good as your physical health, start trying to meditate once in awhile. It will help clear your mind and relax your body.
You hear it all the time on the TV, Radio, from Doctors, around the coffee machine and throughout your daily life: Get physical activity in your life. But what exactly is physical activity and how much should you really get?
In science, physical activity is any bodily movement produced by skeletal muscles that result in energy expenditure. In real life, physical activity is basically anything that you break a sweat doing. Really anything. Do you work when you vacuum the house? That is physical activity. Do you work when you chase your grand kids? That is physical activity. Do you work when you go shopping and have to walk around the entire mall? That is physical activity.
What is NOT physical activity? Watching hours of TV. Sitting in front of a computer (reading killer articles on Ninteman Fitness is OK for now). Doing nothing is not physical activity. Physical activity doesn’t have to be hard to do. Just make sure what you are doing is hard. Park farther at the mall. Do lunges when vacuuming. Race the kids around an obstacle course around the house. Do jumping jack during commercials through your favorite TV show. Walk up and down your stairs at your house. Find a step and do 20 min of stepping up and down your step. When you look around, you can really find ways to get in your 30 min a day 5 days a week of physical activity each week. It shouldn’t be a chore. Find things you are doing already and amp them up to get in your activity. Your health will thank you in the long run.
The term “Health and Wellness” is starting come into main stream as of late. Most people just relate it to their health and “wellness”. But do you really know the meaning behind “health and wellness”? It goes deeper than you would think.
I recently posed the question “What is the definition of health and wellness to you” on facebook and twitter. People came up with some great responses:
Here is my definition of health and wellness: Getting the whole pie.
Health and wellness has 5 categories mixed into one.
Health and wellness is making sure you have a full balance of every aspect of your health. Most people get too caught up in their diet. Or their workout. Health is not one thing. If you really want to get healthy, you need to take into account every single aspect of your life. If you are highly stressed at work, that effects your weight. If you are over weight, that more than likely effects your social health. If you are overweight, your hormones are not in check and that effects your emotional health.
It is time that you get serious about your health. Start today. Start looking at every aspect of your life and finding ways to making it better. This can be a very difficult task to do on your own. If you find yourself struggling, or just plain don’t know where to start, drop me a line at Zach (at ) nintemanfitness.com. When you email me, I want you to give me a list of all (when I say all, I mean ALL!, every single one) the things in your life you want to change. Your email is only between you, and me. So don’t hold anything back. Remember, PERSONAL training needs to be personal. So get personal with yourself first, then get personal with me so I can help. Dig deep and really think about everything from family, social, health, business, anything in your life you want to change. We will start with this list and start adjusting the things that we can. I cannot help with every single aspect of your life, but I can get you walking and you can start running with it.
Again, email if you need. zach (at) nintemanfitness.com.
It is your life. You only have one. Make sure it is the best ever. Period.
The term “Health and Wellness” is starting come into main stream as of late. Most people just relate it to their health and “wellness”. But do you really know the meaning behind “health and wellness”? It goes deeper than you would think.
I recently posed the question “What is the definition of health and wellness to you” on facebook and twitter. People came up with some great responses:
Here is my definition of health and wellness: Getting the whole pie.
Health and wellness has 5 categories mixed into one.
Health and wellness is making sure you have a full balance of every aspect of your health. Here is a breakdown on how you can work out each area of health and wellness:
For more information on ANY of these aspects, please feel free to email us at fitcoachzach(at)gmail.com. We will send you more information so you can stay healthy in all the areas of wellness.
