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Ok, I had a question today at the gym I work at here in Douglasville about what exercises someone can do while they are waiting for an injury to heal.

So let me be a bit blunt

If your doctor has said that you need to NOT EXERCISE and LET IT REST — then just DO THAT!! Trying to circumvent your doctor will lead to one thing, you being more injured. It truly will not be that long before he clears you to work out again so don’t let your vanity get in the way of your recovery.

That said, ask your doctor if you can still do cardio and some other forms of exercise that are not related to the injury (not possible with all injuries but certainly with most) For example, if you injured your knee, your doctor is probably fine with you doing upper body strength training and he may be fine with you doing more — ASK.

Recovering from an injury takes time and time, rest and anything prescribed from your doctor are really the only ways to get there so follow his advice.

Once you are better, you should review your fitness routine to see if it is something your can still participate in or if you need some corrective training prior to getting back into it. Also, it is important to review HOW you got injured. If it was from an accident such as a fall — what made you fall — lack of balance? Things like that need to be addressed in your routine. Or was it a repetitive use injury such as tennis elbow often caused by overuse but also caused from poor mechanics. If you are not playing that often but still having pain, you may need some lessons or personal training sessions to see why you are not performing the move correctly.

Hope that helps !!

Well, first, it is snowing here in Douglasville. A rare thing so I just had to tell everyone!!

Staying motivated can be a tough thing and there are a lot of people this time of year who are new to fitness and sadly many will not stick with it — I wish every single one of them the best of success with their fitness and weight loss goals but the sad reality is in the percentages.

So here are a few tips to keep you rolling:

- KEEP IT SIMPLE — While group fitness classes can be very motivating, it is also easier to blow them off when you are not feeling like working out because they occur at a specific time. If you decide that you are blowing off your group fitness class because of the schedule, then go straight to the gym for a personal solo workout. NO STOP — no excuses. You go straight to the gym and commit to just standing on the treadmill. Yes, just stand there. Trust me, going to the gym will shake this laziness. You are NOT too busy – you are just not feeling like it. So commit to just going there and stand there. You will do one of three things. You will go to the gym for your group fitness class, you will go to the gym and work out on your own or you will blow it off completely. Which brings me to the next tip….

- When you blow off a workout session, OWN IT. Don’t justify it by claiming to be too busy, too tired, having too much work. The entire country is too tired, too busy and has too much work — that is the world we live in. If you blow off a personal training session, a solo workout or a group fitness class, own it. Stand up and admit that you let laziness and life sneak in and then get to the gym and get over it with a good hard workout.

- Wear a pedometer sometimes. While I see the wearing of a pedometer to be a total pain in the ass to do every day, I do see the value in wearing it once in a while. Did you do more than 10,000 steps. If not, try adding a walk after dinner with your spouse (this takes a whole 1/2 hour so don’t claim you don’t have time). Try adding an extra 10-15 minutes to your treadmill workout or add a warm up on the treadmill before your class. Doing that on a regular basis will add up to a lot of extra pounds of weight loss every year.

Check back for more tips to keep you motivated from Douglasville Personal Trainer Dave Hansey.

And to everyone here in Douglasville, be careful in the snow!!

Time Crunch?

Ok — we all have them. Look at your day to day routine for me — even if it means keeping a detailed diary of your day for a few days. Are there not a few hours a day where you shoot the breeze with co-workers or buddies. Are there not a few hours where you watch TV (many of you watch several hours of TV per day)

That is not time crunched. That is LAZY — Let me say it again — L-A-Z-Y

If you cannot take an hour a day from your TV watching and simply put a treadmill under you — then you are lazy. If you actually show me your diary and you literally go from morning to night — like hour commute, 9 hours work, hour commute, take care of kids, shuffle kids from this to that, kids homework, housework, fall into bed.

If your day looks more like — half hour commute, 8 hours work, hour commute, relaxing and cooking dinner and watching tv for 4 hours, go to bed and read for an hour — then trust me — you have time in the day.

So let’s first FIND THE TIME

Then let’s use it in a way that makes the most bang for the buck — one hour a day is all I am asking. In that hour, 4 times a week you will do cardio. At least 30 minutes but nothing wrong with doing 45 minutes to an hour or more.

2 Times a week, you will warm up for 10 minutes and use the rest of your hour for strength training. You will lift HEAVY WEIGHTS. You will not take long rests. You will work all major muscle groups.

That leaves one day to rest or to do something fun with your hour. Go ride a bike with your kids, go roller blade, go walk, go to the gym and try something different like a group fitness class, go hike — whatever — you get to do whatever you want with no guilt because you worked out every day!

See– doesn’t seem so hard once you lay it out does it?

almost 200 WHOPPING POUNDS lost!!

Need inspiration — you need look no further than Jennifer Marnell who lost a TON OF WEIGHT through a variety of methods including working out at Gold’s Gym Douglasville. She worked with a trainer and found the process so wonderful she now teaches group fitness classes at Gold’s Gym Douglasville

Congrats to Jennifer on both her Oprah appearance and being in People magazine

Well I started a bit of a running group here in Douglasville with a few friends and it has turned into a regular Saturday event. Every Saturday morning — now that is cool.

Yesterday morning when it was below 30 degrees, I seriously thought that I would be out there running all alone but NOPE — running club as usual. THAT is the commitment that you need to have. Commitment to work out even when it is cold, even when it is UNFUN, even when you would rather sleep in. The key with working out, group fitness classes, weight lifting is to be consistent. It is better to work out every day for 30 minutes than to TRY to work out for an hour and only actually do it once a week.

So simple advice, COMMIT — and your body will get in shape.

Did you make a resolution? Hopefully it was not something vague! You can meet it if you make it a goal that you know when you get there. Like did you lose 20 pounds, are you working out 3 times per week. If you set a vague goal, like I will be healthier or I will work out more, then you better rewrite it or forget it.

Just being real here — goals only work if you can measure it.

So here is one for those who like a challenge

Work out 5 times a week. That will include at least 4 sessions of no less than 30 minutes of sweat producing cardio and a minimum of 2 strength training workouts using a program designed for YOU. Group fitness classes can count as cardio if they make you sweat but do not EVER count as strength training regardless of what props they use.