We’ve all been there. Staring at the gym equipment, feeling utterly lost, unsure of what those intimidating machines do, or how many repetitions to execute. A common scenario, isn’t it? This is where a personal trainer can completely change your fitness experience. Hiring a personal trainer can help you get better results, in less time, and with a lot less stress. Here are the top 10 reasons why you should invest in a personal trainer to get better results.
Why You Should Work with a Personal Trainer
2. Personalized Workout Plan
A personal trainer tailors your workout plan to your specific goals and abilities. Unlike a generic program, this personalized regimen takes into account your current fitness level, your health conditions, and your goals, ensuring a safe and effective routine.
3. Correct Technique and Form
Imagine spending hours in the gym, only to find out that your technique was wrong, leading to minimal results or even injuries. A personal trainer ensures you perform each exercise with proper form, maximizing the outcome and reducing risk.
4. Motivation and Accountability
Staying motivated and committed to a workout routine can be challenging. With a personal trainer, you have a dedicated professional who provides encouragement and holds you accountable, keeping you on track to reach your fitness goals.
5. Efficient Use of Time
Trainers create highly efficient workouts that provide the maximum benefit in the least amount of time. They keep you focused, pushing you to make the most out of your workout time, making them perfect for people with busy schedules.
6. Handling Plateaus
Hit a fitness plateau? No problem. Personal trainers use their expertise to modify your program, ensuring continued progress when your results have stalled.
7. Enhancing Mental Health
Exercise is beneficial not only for physical health but mental health as well. Trainers can help develop workouts that release the maximum amount of endorphins, boosting your mood and overall sense of wellbeing.
8. Overcoming Excuses
Ever found yourself justifying skipping a workout? Personal trainers are great at combatting self-sabotage. They help you overcome obstacles and excuses, maintaining your focus on the end goal.
9. Education and Nutritional Guidance
Trainers provide valuable insights into the relationship between nutrition and exercise. They can guide you on how to fuel your body optimally for your workouts, promoting overall health and faster results.
10. Investing in Yourself
Hiring a personal trainer might seem like a luxury, but it’s truly an investment in your health and wellbeing. With their support, you can attain not only your fitness goals but also gain confidence and a new perspective on life.
Conclusion: The Value of Personal Training
Personal trainers are far more than just gym guides. They provide a comprehensive and individualized approach to health and fitness, offering invaluable support, guidance, and motivation along your journey. The experience with a personal trainer transcends the physical—it impacts every aspect of your life, enhancing mental resilience, boosting self-esteem, and promoting a sense of wellbeing.
When you invest in a personal trainer, you’re investing in customized care and expertise tailored to your unique needs and goals. It’s more than a financial decision—it’s a life-changing one. So, why not take the leap? Embark on your fitness journey with a personal trainer today, and watch as they help transform your life. After all, when it comes to our health, we deserve nothing less than the best.
“A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step” – Lao Tzu
Thinking about doing your first obstacle course race? Go for it! Obstacle course racing is a very fulfilling and rapidly expanding sport today. OCR is reeling folks in from all walks of life, ages, and fitness backgrounds. From a wide spectrum of distances to diverse course types, the world of obstacle course racing has something to offer everyone. The purpose of this article is to give you advice on how to prepare for an obstacle course race.
What is an Obstacle Course Race?
An Obstacle Course Race (OCR) is a multi-faceted athletic event where competitors run a certain distance while tackling a series of exciting challenges along the way. These dynamic races can be set in natural or rural landscapes, threading through rugged cross-country trails, or within the urban heartbeat in concrete-jungle stadiums.
The distances? They can span anywhere from a short 2 miler to a grueling 15, with some “ultra” events pushing the envelope even further. The intrigue of an OCR lies in the diverse obstacles that test your mettle, from scaling towering walls and hauling heavy weights to wriggling under barbed wire.
With hundreds of obstacle types, each OCR brand and course brings its unique flavor to the table. Whether you choose the valiant Spartan, the gritty Tough Mudder, the daring Warrior Dash, or any of the other thrilling races, you are guaranteed a phenomenal mind-body challenge. An OCR nudges you out of your comfort zone, testing your limits and pushing your willpower.
Why do an OCR?
You might be wondering, “Why should I swap the cozy embrace of my couch and climate-controlled living room for the muddy trenches, tire flips, wall climbs, and the miles of running that come with an Obstacle Course Race?”
I hear you. I found myself pondering the same question preparing for my first OCR. However, let me reassure you – there is magic in the mud. 15 races and counting later, I can attest that outside of your comfort zone is where the magic happens. OCR is more than just a physical event; it’s an exploration of your tenacity and resilience. It’s about pushing your boundaries and discovering strengths you never knew you possessed. Yes, it’s demanding and strenuous – but this challenge is truly valuable simply because… when you finish an OCR, you feel like you can do anything! You take that inspiring and transcendent feeling back with you to your everyday life and that my friends, is why we do OCR.
So, are you ready to prepare for an obstacle course race?
Pick a race and sign up! Do it today! Get it on the calendar and backwards plan your training to get ready for it.
Start training! Ideally you want to give yourself a few months to prepare. On the cardio side, build up your mileage slowly, aiming to peak a week or two before race day. On the strength side, be sure to include total body resistance training and exercises specifically for grip strength.
Train like you’re going to race. For the running piece, train on terrain that’s similar to the course. If you are doing a race on trails, find some trails to train on and break in your trail shoes as soon as possible. I highly recommend getting trail shoes because they tend to be a little firmer than street running shoes and also have lugs, which provide grip on rocky or slippery surfaces. If you are doing a stadium race, go run STAIRS at least once a week during your training plan.
How many days a week to train? This will vary depending on your fitness level and schedule but remember consistency is key. Aim for at least 2 strength sessions and 2 runs per week to help you get race ready.
Taper a few days before race day. When you get to race week, it can be helpful to include a taper, or a purposeful break, as you’re approaching the big day. This will allow your body to recover and replenish as you get ready for the max effort day.
Finally, get out there and go for it! Putting an OCR on your calendar is an awesome way to hold yourself accountable to getting in your workouts each week because it gives you a purpose and a reason to get moving. There is no one right or wrong way to prepare for an OCR but consistency is the key no matter who you are or what type of race you’re getting ready to do. Being consistent in your training allows to keep taking steps forward towards keeping your mind and body healthy and well for the long run too!
Most any trail running shoe will do. Find one that feels good and also has some good treads, aka lugs. Some trail shoes are tailored more for cold or hot weather, so be sure to do just a little bit of research to get the right ones for you. My go to trail shoes for the last decade have been from a brand called Salomon. I like the lace up technology (never comes untied) and ability to bundle the lace clip into the shoe. I also like the firmness of the soles and the extra grippy lugs.
Disclaimer
Throughout my posts and pages, I occasionally recommend products that I believe to be worthwhile and personally use myself. If you click on these links and purchase, I will earn a small commission from sites such as Amazon. As an Amazon Associate, I will earn a commission each time you link from my site to Amazon and make a qualifying purchase. Thank you in advance for your support of my small business and I hope that I can save you time and money by only recommending products that I know work and personally recommend to friends, family, and personally use myself.
Boost Your Hiking Performance with These Essential Workout Tips
Hiking is more than a workout. It’s a love affair with nature. To truly enjoy hiking, a certain level of fitness is required. In this blog post, we’ll talk about some workout tips to boost your hiking fitness, allowing you to conquer every trail with more endurance, stability, and strength.
The Importance of Working Out for Hiking
Before diving into the workouts, it’s essential to understand why some specific categories of fitness are crucial for hiking. Hiking is a full-body activity, requiring cardiovascular fitness, lower body strength, core stability, and even upper body strength for carrying a pack or using poles on rugged terrain. Workouts specifically designed for hiking focus on these areas, preparing your body for the physical demands of various trails.
Cardiovascular Training:
A strong cardiovascular base is key for hiking. Hiking often involves long periods of activity, and having a robust aerobic system allows you to sustain these efforts.
The Goal: At Least 90 Minutes Per Week of Cardio Training
Aim for at least 3 sessions a week of 30 minutes of moderate to vigorous effort. That means getting your heart rate up and sustaining it just a little outside of your comfort zone. If you were to imagine intensity on a scale of 1-10 with 1 being the easiest (a casual saunter) and 10 being the hardest (breathing so hard you can barely speak), try to do your workouts somewhere around a 6-8 level of exertion. This will help you challenge your system and develop endurance adaptations over time.
Stair Climbing: Mimic the demands of hiking by including stair climbing in your fitness regimen. Whether it’s on a stair machine or actual steps, this is an activity that will help your body be ready for long ascents on steep terrain.
Interval Treadmill Walking: This is done by alternating between fast and slow OR alternating between low incline and high incline walking periods. Pick a time such as 2 minutes on and pair it with 2 minutes off. Alternate going fast for 2, slow for 2. You can also mix in incline walking for 2, paired with low or no incline walking for 2. Repeat these cycles for 30 minutes. This improves your heart rate variability, or in other words, trains your body to recover between bursts of intensive effort, exactly like hiking up steep sections of a trail.
Lower Body Strength:
Strengthening your lower body will help you manage steep inclines, declines, and rough terrains with ease.
Squats: A foundational movement, squats strengthen your entire lower body. Start with bodyweight squats; as you get stronger, you can add weights.
Lunges: This exercise targets the quadriceps, glutes, and hamstrings. Just like squats, you can begin with bodyweight lunges and gradually add weights.
Box Step Ups: Using dumbbells or simply body weight, box step ups can help you develop range of motion and work on training the major leg muscles to get better at working together.
Calf raises: Pushing your body up an incline requires strong calves. Work them out in the gym and build up muscular strength and endurance for this key lower leg muscle group.
Core Stability:
A strong core enhances balance, reduces fatigue, and prevents injuries.
Planks: A simple yet effective workout for core stability. Hold the plank position for 30 seconds and gradually increase the duration as your strength improves.
Bird Dog: This exercise engages your entire core with a particular focus on stabilizing opposite sides of your body when you’re off balance, which will help you with hiking on unstable surfaces.
Upper Body Strength:
A strong and stable back and shoulders are especially important for challenging trails where you may need to carry a pack with gear and water for the whole hike.
Pull-ups: While they can be challenging, pull-ups are excellent for increasing your upper body strength and back strength.
Rows: Any type of row – seated cable, bent over with dumbbells, with resistance bands, et cetera – will help strengthen the back to prepare for carrying a pack.
Conclusion
By incorporating these exercises into your workout routine, you’ll be on your way to improving your hiking fitness! Begin with two to three sessions a week, listen to your body, and progressively increase the intensity. The more reps you put in during training, the easier the hike will be going up (and down) the trails!
“The days are long but the years are short” is typically said by parents of young kids! But it’s a great adage for fitness as well. At the end of yet another short year that went faster than the last, I am grateful. Grateful for my strong capable body and my ever evolving mindset. My attitude on fitness has evolved greatly in 3 decades of sports, fitness, and wellness pursuits. I am incredibly grateful for this body of mine and all it can do at this age and beyond. As the year wraps up, I have reflected on some of the best tips for fitness for longevity. I hope you enjoy!
Mount Elbert Summit 2023
Here are my favorite fit things I did at age 42 this year.
Climbed a 14,000+ foot mountain for the second time! In June my husband Jessy and I climbed Mount Elbert, elevation 14,440 feet, the highest point in Colorado, and the second highest peak in America. Shout out to Top Out Adventures and great friends for making it an awesome experience!
Completed another Spartan Trifecta, which means finishing one obstacle course trail race in each of their three distances (3 miles, 8 miles, & 13 miles) in a calendar year.
Went to my favorite power yoga class on most Sundays.
Ran a 5 mile Turkey Trot race in Austin in about 50 minutes.
Ran a 6 mile trail race in the Texas Hill Country, Texas Trail Running Festival.
Averaged 33 miles a month of running, or about 7-9 miles a week.
Lifted weights 2-3x a week.
40 is the New 20
When I was in my 20s, I thought 40 was the end of the road for fitness. I don’t really know why I thought that but I think it’s because I didn’t personally know many people in their 40s who were doing fit things. I used to think you turn 40 and then you fall apart. Fortunately, that was simply not true. Here are some of the things I’ve learned over 30 years of lifting weights and running.
Believe You Can Be Fit Forever.
Having a good mindset is the most important tip! I want to climb mountains with my kids and future grandkids, and run Spartan races basically forever until I die. I refuse to believe anymore that my body will just wear out once it hits a certain age. Strength training is the fountain of youth! It keeps muscle strong and healthy, which supports your spine and joints! Muscle helps you keep your metabolism strong and helps with a lot of other physiological aspects of staying young.
Consistency is a Mindset of Fitness for Longevity
As I’ve aged, my goals and mindset have drastically shifted. In my 20s I was always chasing goals around appearance, size, weight, sports performance. I was a college athlete then I served in the Army til age 28. So my 20s were all about being faster, stronger, and leaner. I wanted to be strong enough to hit homeruns then I wanted to lean and fast enough to run a sub 15 minute 2-miler for the APFT.
Then in my 30s I started to realize the power of just being consistent with workouts and nutrition. I didn’t want to take advil everyday because I had so many aches and pains anymore! So I lightened the intensity of my training and started focusing more on mobility and flexibility. Now in my 40s I don’t really care very much anymore about running fast or how much I can lift on bench, squat, etc. Now my most important goal is just to keep showing up consistently 3+ times a week! And ironically enough, I feel way better now than I did in my 20s! My joints don’t hurt nearly as much and my core is more stable now than before I had kids!
Never Skip Your Warm Up!
A thorough warm up is one of the most important keys to long term fitness success. Not only will it help you prevent injuries, it also helps you achieve greater performance. This tip I learned the hard way! I used to think warming up was a waste of time. I thought it would take time away from the actual exercises that would help me get stronger, faster, etc. But now I realize the warm up is just as important, if not more so, for performance and especially for longevity.
Warm Up Smarter
We know a lot more about this now than we did 30 years ago. Out with the static stretching and in with the dynamic and activation drills to prepare your body for its workout.
Dynamic drills are warm up exercises based in movement rather than the old fashioned static-pull-and-hold-still. Dynamic drills help get the joint fluids. They also help with preparing muscles and connective tissue so you can have better range of motion for the workout.
Activation drills are low intensity exercises that wake up certain muscles and get them ready for different purposes. When you lift weights, some muscles have the job of moving some bones while others brace and hold other bones still. A great example of an activation drill would be doing some planks in your warm up. This gets the core muscles ready to brace your spine before you do deadlifts.
Invest Time and Energy into Your Mobility and Flexibility
Don’t skip the cool down either. Always spend a few minutes after every workout, hike, or run to stretch or foam roll a little. Work foam rolling into your regular routine. Find a good yoga class. Work on improving your form when lifting weights and care more about your form than how much you can lift. Think of mobility and flexibility like an ongoing project that is never really complete.
Invest Time and Energy into Training Your Core
Core stability is HUGE. I didn’t realize that in my 20s but I certainly do now in my 40s! Not just the 6 pack abs part of your core either. The deep set muscles such as the transverse abdominis, pelvic floor, and multifidus. These muscles hold you together from the inside out and really make a huge difference in how well your pelvis and spine function together to prevent back pain and other chronic injuries. To stabilize your core, add more moves like plank, bird dog, dead bug, and hip bridge to your workouts!
Be Proactive with Aches and Pains
Anybody of any age who exercises regularly is going to have the occasional ache and pain. When you feel one starting to develop or it becomes a regular thing, deal with it quickly before it escalates into an actual injury. Sometimes a rest day or two nips it but sometimes you need to take action.
Examples of that action range from foam rolling to getting a massage to seeing your local sports medicine doctor. Bottom line – don’t ignore pain and don’t give up! You are not just getting old if you have some aches and pains! Deal with them and keep moving.
Thankfully, We Know So Much More Today About Fitness for Longevity
We have more tools and knowledge at our fingertips than ever before. 30 years ago, hardly anybody had heard of a foam roller and now they’re everywhere, including {hopefully} in your home! If you want to be fit forever, follow this short list.
1. Always have a thorough, intentional warmup. 2. Think of flexibility and mobility as an ongoing project. It’s never finished and you can always get better at it. 3. Listen to your body and take great care of it.
Finally, Perspective is Everything
We choose how we see fitness at every age. What does fitness at 40 mean to you? It used to be a death sentence to me. But now that I’m there, I realize it’s the beginning of a whole new era for me. I now think of fitness after 40 as the prime of my life because I finally know what I’m doing!
Fitness is not as impressive but is way more enjoyable at 40+. No longer am I destroying myself on the track or in the gym like I did at 25. I may not be able to run 7 minute miles anymore, but I have something even better. I have longevity and a strong, balanced, and durable body. I plan to be hiking, climbing, racing, and training with my favorite people for at least another 40 years.
Thank you for reading my post about fitness for longevity! To contact me or check out recommended reading, please keep going past this picture!
I offer virtual training package and custom programs! I am also available to answer your questions anytime! Please feel free to fill out my contact page anytime to get in touch.
Affiliate Disclaimer
This post contains some affiliate links, which means that I make a small commission off items you purchase at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products I know and use personally!
