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Every week I hear “Dave, I really want to____________” – fill in almost any fitness thing from losing weight to having a six pack. And also every week, I hear ” I used to be so _____________” Again, fill in things like thin, fit, strong and sadly also fill in happy.

Neither of these are fitness realities. These are fitness wishes, goals, dreams, memories.

In order to truly GET FIT NOW, you need to live in your reality. Are you overweight? Seriously overweight? Do you have the eating habits of a 14 year old boy? Do you eat in restaurants often (and I am not just talking about fast food here, many nice restaurants have salads with over 1000 calories)

Look at these things and get familiar with your reality. Accept it. Keep a food and exercise diary — there is a free food diary under links on my 4 fit bodies site — free FOOD DIARY.

Nothing fancy but just print it out — it is one page. Carry it around for a week and write down everything you eat or drink. Check off your fruit and vegetables and water — see where you are lacking on these. And also see the empty calories.

It is truly the only way to see things for real. Anding getting real is the only way to change.

Now, let’s look at your fitness. If I were coming to the gym to do personal training, I would show up a half hour or more early. I would punch out that 30-45 minutes of cardio and then be ON TIME for my session. I would work HARD during my session and LISTEN. If my trainer said in order to meet my goal, I have to do 45 minutes of cardio 4 times a week and do strength training twice, I would actually do that. I would not show up late or fail to warm up or blow off my personal training sessions.

Now, I get that things come up. They do for everyone. It is just that you must weigh whether it is really “critical” vs. “important” Critical things like sick children, broken down cars, big clients in town unexpectedly, job interviews that came out of nowhere, spouse needing you to come get them or your children — those are all critical. But, there are important things that you could adjust for. Wanting, YES WANTING, as opposed to NEEDING to stay late at work is a major reason people blow off their workout. Is it critical that you stay tonight? Or can you come in early tomorrow? Or catch up at home after the kids go to bed…..yes, I know you love your personal time but think about it.

This is not meant to sound harsh, it is meant to help you understand the reality that you live in and that good health and fitness can be a major part of that. And the sooner you get to seeing where you are, the faster you can to where you want be.

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!!

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.

Does group fitness to you mean fitness classes? And do fitness classes leave you wanting or missing completely because of the schedule? Well then step right up because I am going to introduce you to a new way to look at group fitness.

The thing people love about group fitness is the moral support and the accountability. Well I run every Saturday morning with a few friends — is that not group fitness. And when I was in the service, I did PT with my unit, is that not group fitness.

Take the group concept out of the aerobic studio and all of the sudden it starts to work for more and more people.

I have 3 great clients who work out at lunchtime a few times a week together — POOF — look at that — group fitness. Each one doing their own thing but getting the benefits of having the support of the group.

If you have never been able to stick with fitness classes, try one of these new workouts. Try just going to the gym together. Try working out with a personal trainer or getting a few training sessions with some friends where you all get a unique workout designed for you but you get the benefit of the group environment. Try joining a running club where you can go do your own run but be with other people and get the safety and fun that comes from being with other people.

Think about it!!

With best wishes for the holidays — Merry Christmas — Dave!!

The basic progression of any strength training routine is corrective to strength to power. It is kinda like building blocks. Corrective to fix any problems, then strength to build a base and then power.

Power moves are a great addition to any strength training or personal training program. Don’t worry – you are not going to get power moves in ANY GROUP FITNESS CLASS even if power is part of the name — LOL

Power training is unique for you and unique for what you want to accomplish. If you play a sport, a lot of power moves emulate your sport.

No idea where to start your power training? Well then a few sessions of personal training sound like just the ticket to get you moving on to the next level.

If you are in the Douglasville area, give me a call about personal training or if you are not, look for a Board Certified personal trainer in your area.

Want to get in the best shape you can? Getting a personal trainer, going to the gym, these are all good things. But here is the kicker…….

Familiar with the story of the tortoise and the hare. Remember how the tortoise goes steady and wins!!

Well it would help a lot of people to remember that story when it comes to their workout.

Diving in and working out hard is great. But trying to do more than you can do on a regular basis is not really going to do much for you.

Doing a good solid workout and doing it on a steady constant basis. That is what will change your fitness.

Adding personal training to your workout is awesome. But not so awesome if you fail to show up. If 3 times a week is too much for you, start with 2. Not as ideal, but better than setting yourself up for 3 and then blowing them all off.

Same goes for cardio. Showing up for a fitness class and then just following along and not really doing your all or setting yourself up on the elliptical on level 1 so you don’t break a sweat, also a waste of time.

Working out does not take hours and hours a day. IT REALLY DOESN’T. A great personal trainer can design a workout for you that fits in your life, usually less than an hour a day.

Not quite happy with your body? Not quite happy with the results of your workout? Still too soft and squishy? Well then let’s get serious and let’s get real about why you are not as hard and fit as you like.

I have seen people get amazing results. And I have also seen people do very little and think they are working out hard and getting little results. And then I also see people who work out like dogs doing all kinds of crazy things and end up in a lot of pain and needing surgery. That is just plain stupid.

I am all for working out hard. But I am MORE for working out smart. If you are hurting, you are doing something wrong. And I don’t just mean pure mechanics. I mean wrong for you. That is one of the reasons I promote individual workouts and personal training as opposed to classes. Fitness classes cannot take your unique set of circumstances into account. They don’t know if you broke your wrist when you were 12, nor do they know if you have very weak quads or very tight hamstrings, you get the idea.

So first step to getting fitter and firmer – Get honest. Wear a heart rate monitor, stop yapping to your friends at the gym and counting it as workout time and do solid workouts. One suggestion, get off the elliptical and onto the treadmill and make sure that you are working out hard enough. The elliptical can be awesome but I see people cheat it every day. You have to work out hard enough and just going through the motions is just that.

Next, get a routine that you can do regularly that includes cardio and strength training and that uses scientific methods to help you progress. This ensures you get a workout that can be performed in a reasonable amount of time that will get results. It also ensures that you work on certain weaknesses that you have (and we all have them). And it ensures that you get a proper amount of cardio. Only a board certified personal trainer has the tools and training to design that kind of workout. No more to be said. Not negotiable. Anyone else can try but if they really wanted to put their money where their mouth was, they would take the testing to be board certified, wouldn’t they? To learn more about board certification , you can click here and visit my page totally dedicated to the topic because it is important. BOARD CERTIFICATION