When is the Best Time to Hire a Trainer?

It’s a new year, and you finally decided to stop talking and take action regarding your health. Exercise is generally the first thing people think of when beginning on the road to good health. But where to begin? Do you join a gym? Head outside for a walk/jog/run? Follow exercise videos? Search for a trainer?

With so much information bombarding us, it can get confusing. Yes, there are many ways to get started. However, some of them are not for you. First, ask yourself a series of questions: 1) What is your level of exercise experience? 2) Are you easily motivated? 3) What is your spending amount? The answers to these questions will get you headed in the right direction. If you have very little exercise experience, guidance is strongly suggested. If you are experienced, but need motivation, again; guidance is strongly suggested. If you have very little money to spend, consider that your health should not have a price tag. Take a look at where your spending priorities are, and verify whether or not this is impacting your health for the positive.

Joining a gym is a nice option when starting out or starting over. The trouble is that most people do not continue attending very long after they join—unless they have a trainer. Why? Trainers are there to safely guide you toward your very specific goals—which they can also help you figure out—and help keep you accountable. Accountability often times leads to success. In fact, working out with a personal trainer increases your fitness goal success rate by over 30%, according to a study found in Journal of Sports and Science Medicine www.ncbi.nim.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3937569/.

Let’s suppose your budget cannot afford a trainer 4 x’s a week. What then? Well, going it alone, in a gym, all by yourself has a very low success rate. So basically, that translates to wasting good money on a little used gym membership. Watching videos doesn’t have any accountability factors, nor is it specifically tailored towards your personal goals. Well, there are options: you could extnay the gym membership all together, and just pay for training. Or, maybe there is an option for group training? Though not exactly one-on-one, at least there’s still the accountability factor, which leads to a higher success rate. Or, the option of checking in periodically with a trainer may suit you, if you are well motivated already on your own.

Any way you look at it, all roads lead back to accountability equals success. So, when is the best time to hire a trainer? The moment you decide to get serious about your health and fitness!

Good luck,

Coach Lord

My Vegan Journey

My Vegan Journey began in 1998, after meeting my spiritual mother in Israel. I had recently met a group of blacks who were vegan, but it wasn’t until I met Rofah (Hebrew for doctor) TaminYah, that I was truly awe-inspired.  I was convinced also that veganism would lead to reduced violence in the world.  So, my reason for becoming vegan, you could say, was in response to world violence.

Since then, many many people have become vegan.  There are tons of restaurants, grocery store foods, and even apps and clothing.  I am excited, yet a little wary.  It’s all happening so fast that this Vegan tide seems like a fad.  The problem with fads is that they don’t last long, and people tend to return to wherever they were before the fad took place. 

With me, veganism is not a fad. I’ve been vegan for 18 years. It is challenging and has requireddiscipline, but it’s so rewarding.  As a vegan I have so much more strength than I had before I was vegan. I love preparing and creating new dishes.  I also love the fact that I’m much less distracted and slower to anger than before my vegan journey.

My body looks better now than it ever has because I fuel it with mostly plants, and looking fit is the reward.  I have energy to exercise and, in fact, I desire to move around.  Being vegan gives me so much more energy that I have to figure where and how to channel it. 

For me, vegan is a way of life.  It is not a fad.  I do it for myself and not for anyone else.  If you don’t do it for yourself, there is always a risk of recidivism or backsliding, health-wise.  For example, if a vegan eats only to avoid animal products that means fries, cookies, and an array of junk food is acceptable food.  If a vegan becomes so for their personal health - even in addition to political reasons - then they will makefar better food choices.  Better choices mean better health.  Better health reduces the desire to return to the old ways of eating.

I have heard a few times that people were “vegan for a moment,” and then had to switch to meat because they were not getting enough of a certain mineral.  I would guess that this switch back to old habits is due to ignorance - as in not knowing.  

Careful research must be done to avoid harming one’s body/temple.  As a nutritional consultant, I do a lot of research.  I research for my clients as well as for myself.  I realize that I am paving the way for vegan weightlifters to come, so I have chosen to adapt a long-term formula for success.  As I research and learn, I share this knowledge with others.  I do not promote things that I have no knowledge of.  Trying things just because others are doing it could be costly. 

I see myself being vegan as long as there are yummy crops and plants and farmers markets.  I hope that the masses will educate themselves as to how veganism can be good not only for the animals, but also for their own human bodies.

Recovery

The body is like a well-oiled machine.  As such, it needs to be looked after, and maintained to keep it running at its optimum.  Recovery is one of the ways I which we do this.

Exercise is a great way to strengthen and fortify the body.  It also is a good way to keep the bones and joins lubricated.  However, since exercise puts stress on the body, the body needs to recover.  There are a few ways to do this:

1)    When working out, take a rest between sets.  This allows time to let the muscle recover and regain enough strength to do the next demand we ask of it.

2)    As we sweat, we need to recover those electrolytes that are leaving the body.  This is done throughout the workout, as well as after.  Try to avoid the commercial drinks, though.  Opt for natural, such as coconut water.  Coconut water has electrolytes and simple carbs, which are just what the body needs.

3)    After training, the best recovery is to take a nap.  A 50-minute nap does wonders for the body and its muscles.  It relieves stress immediately (instead of waiting until night time), after the body has undergone so many types of daily stress.  If you can find the time to squeeze it in, do it.

4)    Sleep at night is another way to recover.  Here is where all the gains happen from all that the body did throughout the day.  If we are not resting, we are adding yet more stress to the body.  Ideally, 8 hours is best. However, some people find they can function on 4 to 6 hours.

5)    Meditation is recovery for the mind.  The mind goes on and on and on without ever stopping. Meditation is a way to give the mind a break.  It does not necessarily stop the mind, but it does quiet the mind.  And, quieting the mind allows it to be clearer.

If we continue through life without recovering, our bodies will age and injure.  So, refuel, relax, and renew the body.  Your body will thank you later. 

30-Day Pull-Up Challenge

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Join me in our 30-Day Pull-Up Challenge!  If you've ever wanted to be able to do a pull up, or improve your rep count, this is the challenge for you.  The challenge is complete with upper body exercises, and moves to strengthen your core.  Once your core strength improves,  your pull-up rep count will simultaneously improve as well! 

For a day-by-day calendar of the 30-Day Pull-Up Challenge, click here.  For videos, follow me on YouTube, and photos and some positive reinforcement, check in with me on Instagram.

Coach Lord

Eco Exercise and its MANY benefits

There’s a new word for exercising outdoors: Eco Exercise. Why do we need a new word? Because outdoor activity is something most of us have done ‘So Long Ago.’ Technology has taken off so fast, and made our lives so easy that now all we need do is to push a button and tasks are done. But since we have so much extra time, we’ve taken on many more tasks…and so today, all we do is sit around pushing buttons and ‘Getting Things Done.’

However, there is no such button for Exercise, not to mention, the Human Body is created to Move. All the sitting is counter productive. Add to that, sitting around hour after hour in artificial light, to make matters worse.

The GOOD News is Eco Exercise can reverse the effects caused by artificial lighting in many ways:

1. Increases energy

2. Revitalizes

3. Improves Self Esteem (no awkward gym lookers)

4. Easier to stick with due to the added pleasure from being in Nature

5. Sunshine provides Vitamin D3, feel good endorphins and helps us sleep better.

Not convinced? Sign up for one of our Beach Boot Camp sessions and see for yourself!

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