Why wait until New Year's, when you can get ahead of the game?

Fitness Lifestyle for Busy People Podcast guest, Cory Grenz, personal trainer and nutrition expert at Lifetime Fitness shares strategies you can start now, and keep building on as your fitness goals evolve.

Question:

I was hoping that you could share a little bit on why the back-to-school time is a great time to get back on the wagon with fitness and nutrition?

Answer:

The main reason is to get ahead of the holidays. Right after the holidays, people may be 6 to 8 pounds heavier than normal. If we can get ahead of that, strategies we use now can really set us up for success going into the holiday season.

Right now, we are in September, so that gives us four months. It helps that the weather is nice, so we can still be active outside too. The steps add up.

Question:

What is the first step that you recommend to people who want to lose weight, tone up, or start a new fitness goal?

Answer:

1. Get a calendar and create a plan with a start date.
2. Write down your your specific goal. For example, if your goals is to be 10 pounds lighter by January 1 there's no reason this can't become reality.
3. Block off times that detract from your goal, as this will adjust the goal's realistic accomplishment date. For example, if there's a business trip, or family trip, block it off so you can schedule around these dates. You can still make progress toward results by getting at least 3-4 days of workouts in per week.
4. Block off social events as well. I call these, "ESMs." Earned social meals. Allow yourself a mental break from your meal plan at these big events. Having this break helps people not feel so much social pressure. Many people have good intentions, but by the 20th question later from family members, they simply give up; they end up eating more than they wanted, then they feel bad about themselves. Then one meal turns into an eat whatever all weekend, and then into the next week. If you look at most social calendars, the ESMs only add up to 2-3 meals during the month. When you put that into perspective of your other healthy eating, that's less than 5% of the total meals in the month. During the ESMs, eat what's offered, but don't treat it like a buffet. Keep quantities reasonable.
5. Schedule in meal prep time for your week as well. Two hours a week, perhaps Sunday and Wednesday (1 hour per day) is really all you need. This will help you keep calories and macronutrients consistent versus the variation from eating out.

Question:

In addition to planning and meal prepping, what other advice can help people get more fit right now?

Answer:

Add resistance training. A minimum of 3 days/week helps the metabolism. Be sure to include progressive overload. Many people pick up a weight, but they don't have a goal in selecting the weight.

Start with 3 sets of 12 reps with 45 second rests.

• For example, if you are doing a dumbbell chest press with 20 lbs and you can do 3 x 12, that equals 36 reps. Since you met the 36 rep goal, next time you workout, try 22.5 lbs.
• Alternatively, in that same example, if you achieved 1 set of 12, 1 set of 11, and one set of 9, that equals 32 reps. Next time you workout, keep the same weight, but aim for 33 or 34 total reps, as that is progress as you work toward the 36 reps before adding weight.

Question:

When going to the gym, do people need to spend 3-4 hours/day there? As adults, we often feel that way given our previous experiences in high school sport.

Answer:

Often 40-45 minutes per workout is a good starting point. If people hit plateaus, then add 10 minutes of cardio to each workout. 90 minutes/workout max. The most I have people workout is 6-7 hours per week. The exception is endurance event goals; that's a different situation. For most people, if they need more than 6-7 hours/week, then something isn't right; we need to re-assess.

Bonus:

As the body changes physically, the nutrition plan needs to change with it. Track your nutrition and stay consistent. Most people that struggle are inconsistent. Just keeping calories consistent each day of the week is a big step in the right direction. If things aren't moving the way you want them to after a couple of weeks, still stay the course. Many times, with weight loss, people have initial loss in the first couple weeks, but then plateau. That's when they quit. Instead, keep going. Fat loss and weight loss are rarely linear. Stay the course.

Seek more information on how to achieve your fitness goals before the holidays? You can contact Corey Grenz at [email protected]

As an added bonus, if you use Lifetime Fitness supplements and seek a discount, e-mail Corey for a 10% off code.