Physique... By Charles Mallory

Wayne had hit plateaus before. But this was the longest ever-he felt stuck in weight training hell, not able to find his way. He did not have the energy to lengthen his aerobic workout, he could not successfully add more weight or reps in strength training, and his favorite ‘weekend warrior’ sport felt like actual war.

Many people fall into this situation, and the usual methods to get out of the rut don’t work. The answer lies beyond the gym-at your dining table, your work cubicle, and in your bed.

These other factors affect the foundation of fitness. Your building blocks for exercise are built with proper rest, life balance, good nutrition, and stress control.

Take steps now to give your body and mind what it needs so that you can have success in looking and feeling your best. First step, remember that it is not a huge race, with no failure permitted.

“For healthier habits to work with you and for you rather than against you, you must become flexible enough to allow it to be a comfortable, enjoyable way of life,” says Chad Tackett, ACE-certified personal trainer and president of Global Health and Fitness, Portland, Or. “If you happen to overeat, or eat a high-fat meal, or skip a workout, enjoy it. Do not worry about it ruining your program or your future. Shift instead to living low fat and healthy rest of the day. By taking it one day at a time, you can do a better job of concentrating on what is working for you and what is not, how you are feeling and what you are thinking.”

So remember that building your basic foundation is not a new goal or a new task to add to your already-busy life. Consider it ‘correction.’ You are getting back on track so that you will look and feel your best. First, run through this checklist to identify problem areas:

· Are you skipping workouts because you feel pressed for time or exhausted when its time to workout.

· Do you eat more fat because you feel stressed?

· Have your job demands sapped so much energy you feel like your job is taking over your life?

· Have you noticed a correlation between problems with your mate and staying in shape? People often find their workout weakening when there is trouble at home.

· Are you trying to get by on less sleep?

· If you do not work out when you should, do you skimp on food so that your waistline will not grow?

· Have you had difficulty sleeping?

· Do you put off regular exercise with future promises, such as you will get back on track when the season changes, when you get through a certain time at work, etc.?

· When other life goals are not met, do you find yourself becoming discouraged with exercise?

· Do you drink more when you are stressed?

Besides these questions, think of others that apply to your situation. Too often, we let a few small setbacks knock down all our good efforts like a house of cards. Examine how your life has changed recently, outside of the reps and routine, and determine which factors have negatively impacted your fitness goals.

You might need to reconsider how you have framed your fitness goals. “Every goal should be one that you are in charge of,” says Tackett. “Setting a short-term goal where you are in charge, such as exercising four times a week, will help you achieve your long-term goal. Remember, and remind yourself, each time you reach a short-term goal, you are one step closer to achieving what you really want-a healthier, more attractive body.”

Here are shortcuts to easily get you back on track, solidifying your foundation for fitness.

REST

· Make sure you get enough sleep. Do not feel guilty about getting eight or even nine hours a night.

· Reduce or eliminate alcohol in the evening. You will get better rest.

· If you have to get up in the middle of the night to the bathroom, reduce your overall evening fluid intake.

· Do not do rigorous exercise within three hours of bedtime. An even longer wait between exercise and bedtime is better.

· Get products that will help you sleep, if they are needed: a sleep mask, earplugs, a ‘white noise’ or a soothing-sounds machine.

NUTRITION

· Keep healthy snacks in your desk at work.

· Do not use work stress as an excuse to eat junk food. Fatty food only makes you feel worse.

· Eat more carbs in the evening, if you want a little help getting good nights sleep but do not over do it.

· Reduce spicy and fatty foods in your diet. This will also help you sleep better.

· If you tend to binge-eat when you are happy, develop a new habit to handle those times.

· Drink more water during the day instead of coffee, tea or sodas.

· Begin eating more fresh fruit as ‘dessert’ to reduce the amount of refined sugar in your diet.

· If you want to measure how you eat each day, but do not want a lot of record-keeping hassle, just remember the ‘fruits and vegetables’ portion of the pyramid. If you eat your allotted amount each day (most people do not), you will not have much room for fatty-laden foods.

· Make eating right like a hunt or adventure. If you like to cook, experiment with recipes from a healthy cookbook. For eating out, try new low-fat and vegetarian restaurants.

WORK

· If you work out at lunch, schedule it like a meeting with an important client. Do not let last-minute demands or drinking buddies talk you out of it.

· If you work out after work, view it as an ‘oases rather than more work.

· Remember how good your body will feel as you are working out. Give yourself extra time to relax in the sauna, steam room, or shower at the health club.

· Contrast your work with your workout. If you feel isolated at work, temporarily abandon your home gym and find a club that has lots of people, action and music. If your work is people-packed and you want a break, consider setting a nice, quiet home gym.

· If work is so demanding that it is eating away at your life without a break, consider counseling for the stress or even seeing your medical doctor for a prescription medicine that will help you. Consider if you should change jobs.

FITNESS

· Make your workouts totally yours. Do not let others nag you to spend less time at the gym or tell you that “at your age, people do not try so hard,” and other comments. Do not apologize to anyone for wanting to look and feel good.

· Do not make the stakes so high that workouts become a pressure. Set your own reachable goals, rather than bet buddies which one of you will have the smallest waist or biggest chest by Christmas.

· Pay less attention to the scale. “When you step on the scale,” says Tackett, “your weight reflects the combined total of both your lean body weight-muscle, bone, organs, fluids-and body fat weight.”

· Do not rely solely on height/weight charts such as BMI (Body Mass Index). These formulas do not take into account body composition and fat distribution, says Tackett. And since you cannot increase your height, such an index relies solely on weight loss to improve health.

· Invest in having your body fat measured by hydrostatic weighing, electrical impedance, or simply by skin-fold calipers. The calipers method is by far the cheapest. Health clubs, university and college health centers, and even some personal trainers’ business offer these services.

· On days when you do not see improvements in the mirror as quickly as you would like, remember the benefits of you exercise you do not see. “Long-term decreases in medical problems, injury and other health risks and an improved quality of life,” says Tackett.