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Do You Hate Cardio? You’ll Want to Read This…

"I Hate Cardio - What Can I do?"

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Do you hate cardio and dread running on the treadmill? You might want to read this blog to find out how to exercise for weight loss with minimal to no cardio at all! #ihatecardio

If you hate cardio it's really NO PROBLEM because there are ways around it. I'm about to tell you exactly what to do! Read on...

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Do you hate cardio? You're in luck! Kelly Athletics can help!

It’s time to get in shape again!  You might be wondering what in the world you can do to squeeze into last year’s wardrobe.  And now you want to figure out how you can fit into a smaller size,but you're thinking "I Hate Cardio!".  The easy answer would be to eat healthy and work out!  But you hate cardio!! And it’s more complicated than that.

You don’t have to run 5 miles a day to get fit.  In fact, you don’t have to run at all!  You can maximize your results by doing resistance training and as little as 10 minutes of low intensity cardio per day.  This could mean brisk walking or light pedaling on the stationary bike.  Why 10 minutes?   Well 5-minutes of cardio to warm-up for your workout and 5 more minutes to cool-down.  Phew!  For those who hate cardio, this is a relief, huh!

The fact is, cardiorespiratory exercise burns a lot of calories during your workout, but it does not boost your metabolism post-workout.  Upon completing a cardio workout, your heart rate can drop back to its resting state within minutes to make up for your oxygen deficit.  If you are lacking lean muscle mass, forget about relying on your RMR (Resting Metabolic Rate) for shedding fat.

With resistance training, not only do you build lean muscle mass to increase your RMR but there is a higher EPOC or “excess post-exercise oxygen consumption” which will increase your metabolism for the next 36-48 hours while your muscle tissues are recovering.  During EPOC, your body is metabolizing additional nutrients, replenishing glycogen stores, and reloading depleted oxygen stores.  The higher your workout intensity, the longer your EPOC lasts.

Key Takeaways:

Get away with doing only 10 minutes low intensity cardio.

Do strength training as your primary workout.

Increase your Resting Metabolic Rate.

Conclusion: 

So, get out your resistance bands, your dumbbells or medicine balls and start a strength training program.  If you are unsure where to begin, hire a Personal Trainer to take out the guess work.  Your summer beach body will appreciate the hard work!

If you think "I hate cardio", but are looking for a Personal Trainer that can make cardio more fun (or totally exclude cardio altogether), contact me.

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Hate Cardio? Try Kelly Athletics! Strength Training is Better
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5 Easy Ways to Be Accountable Like Never Before

5 Easy Ways to Be Accountable to Your Workouts

Like Never Before

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5 EASY ways to be accountable. Little effort to plan, Lots of results! #accountable #beaccountable #accountability #stayaccountable

You may have been hitting the gym day in and day out for a few months, but then all of a sudden something came up and you stopped going. It's not for a lack of motivation, but life keeps getting in the way and you're not satisfied with the way you look.  Even if you feel like you are eating healthy, but you're not tracking your food into myfitnesspal.  You might think about doing a workout and might even have a workout plan ready to go, but you don’t have time to workout. Sometimes you want to, and you're motivated internally, but externally you can't seem to make it happen. The result? Your jeans are getting snug. The reality is that without having easy ways to be accountable, it's hard to get around to your workouts.

Before you find yourself in the fitting room trying on a bigger pant size, make a commitment.  To get the results you are so desperate to find, you have to work on both your nutrition and exercise. It's a hard reality to face, but even a little bit of gradual change per week can make huge changes in your body fat. You could be exercising to your best ability, but eating back your calories. Or you could be eating a totally healthy diet, but your metabolism isn’t working hard enough to burn fat because you are sedentary.

If you're not doing your workouts consistently, or eating within your calorie budget, you are sacrificing your metabolism. To put it in perspective, your resting metabolic rate (RMR) accounts for 70% of your total energy expenditure (TEE) for the day.  The thermic effect of food (TEF) accounts for 6-10% of your TEE - this is the energy you use to process & digest food.  The other 20% of your TEE depends on your physical activity level.  Roughtly 20% of your weight is dependent on exercise and 70% of your weight is dependent on your diet, leaving about 10% depending somewhat on genetics, medication, age, and/or other factors.

Losing weight is NOT easy.  Staying fit is NOT easy.  But staying accountable to your workouts is NOT easy either.  You'll constantly be disappointed in your health if you don't act now. It is important for my Personal Training clients to eat properly during an exercise program. And I stress to my Nutrition clients that they need to stay on top of their workouts.   It is a two-way street and you can't accomplish much unless you focus on both.  So you're probably not sure what you need to do to be accountable to your workouts and diet. That's why I put together these lists.

 

Top 3 Ways to Fail at Being Accountable

  1. Rely on a Friend to Be Your Diet & Workout Buddy.  You might think having a new workout partner is the next best thing to date night. Chances are, your friend is on her own journey and doesn't have the expertise to be anymore accountable than you are. In fact, I find that when people are self-reliant they are more likely to succeed than the ones who rely on a friend to show up to the workouts with them. When your friend fails, you fail. Do not fall dependent upon someone else to keep you accountable to your weight loss plan. (Read on for a better solution.)
  2. Prioritize your Work and Social Life over your Fitness. It sure is easy to say YES when someone invites you to a dinner date. It's almost impossible to say NO when your boss requests a lunch meeting at the least healthy chain restaurant in town. Remember - no matter what happens in the world around you, your health is #1. If you want to go out to dinner, plan ahead on what to order before your appetite chooses for you. If you have a mandatory lunch, bring your own food or eat an early lunch only leaving room for the side salad at your meeting.  A work meeting is about work and food is secondary.
  3. Overbook yourself with Extracurricular Activities. Whether its for your kids, school, or for fun it doesn't take much to have too much on your plate.  Three hours of extra activities per week could mean three less hours of exercise if you put them first. Not to mention all the driving time it takes to commit to other activities, you might even forget to pack a meal and stop for fast food on an empty tummy.
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Accountability is the Glue that sticks your goal to your mind. #mindful #accountable

 

5 Easy Ways to Be Accountable to Your Workouts and Diet

  1. Join a Group: Is working out and dieting alone not something you are comfortable with? Find a social group that isn't going to bail on you. A good example would be Weight Watchers or a group fitness class at a popular gym.  By choosing one of these well-known environments with larger groups, chances are slim that the entire class will bail. Even if your instructor for the day calls in sick, there's a good chance someone can fill in for her. With this type of no-excuse policy, you can stay accountable to your diet and exercise plan no matter what!
  2. Hire a Coach: Many people think hiring a Personal Trainer is the answer to being accountable. In many cases this is true, but if your Personal Trainer is not a Certified Coach in Nutrition or Wellness, they might have no formal education in coaching.  It's tough to be accountable to your workouts when showing up is a recurring issue.
  3. Schedule it in: Having a generic plan in mind like "I'm going to work out 5 times this week" is not a clear enough plan to stay accountable. Be very specific and intentional about scheduling in your workouts and meal prep. Schedule things at the same time each day and every week to keep it consistent and develop a habit.  Example: Workouts - Daily at 7:15-7:45pm, Morning Meal Prep - Tues Thurs 6-6:20am.
  4. Set multiple reminders: Reminders, reminders, reminders. Set your reminders EVERY single day, MANY times a day, in MANY ways.  For some people, post-its do the trick. For others, alarms. In some instances, an email or web browser pop-up would help you remember things better. This isn't to say that we only skip our workouts because we "forget". However, having a constant reminder certainly helps keep us on track. You can make the workouts, meal prep, grocery shopping, and food tracking much more of a priority with a daily reminder.
  5. Put a reward system in place: Chances are, if you're on a new diet or exercise plan, you don't have intrinsic motivation to stick to the plan (i.e. enjoying how it feels to be healthy).  Most people seek external rewards for doing the things they don't particularly enjoy but feel like they have to do anyway.  Extrinsic motivation for going to your day-to-day job would be earning money. If you didn't earn money and didn't like your job, you probably would stop going. A similar concept applies for eating healthy and exercising. You may need to reward yourself with something immediately after finishing your workout or eating a healthy meal to feel good about it. An extrinsic reward for healthy habits would be putting money in a jar for a vacation, going to a spa, going to a music concert, or simply relaxing in front of the TV.

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