GUEST BLOGGER AMANDA MARTIN: HOW TO DEDICATE MORE TIME TO FITNESS

Fitness! It is a word we hear too often in our everyday lives but may not truly understand what the hype is all about. Fitness to me is equivalent to health and longevity. It is something that we should value in order to live happier, healthier, and longer lives!

Fitness isn’t defined by how good someone looks, but defined by how good someone feels. When we dedicate more time to health and fitness we sleep better, have more energy throughout the day, feel better, recover better and most importantly we decrease our chances of disease and illness.

Here are some quick tips for those looking to add some fitness and health into their daily routine.

Quick Tips to Promote Health & Weight Loss

1. Nutrition consists of 80% of your results! Eat non processed whole foods such as meats, vegetables, nuts and seeds. Avoid sugar and grains and drink a lot of water.
2. Add fish oil supplements to your everyday vitamins. This decreases inflammation and promotes healthy hearts!
3. Add resistance! Training with loads such as kettle bells, dumbbells, and barbells are extremely important for weight loss. In fact, for every pound of muscle gained you will burn an extra 5 calories per day just to help keep your body running. The more muscle and strength you build, the more fat you will be burning!
4. Stop Jogging for extended periods! Running can be a great way to lose weight initially but to get more bang for your buck do sprints or high intensity jogs followed by rest periods. Try this! Sprint for 30 seconds followed by a 60 second slow jog or walk to recover. Repeat 8-12 times.
5. Do Multi-Joint Movements! Most machines at basic gyms consists of single joint lifts like leg presses, bicep curls, and lat pulls. These won’t get you anywhere! Try multi-joint movements that will embrace your entire body such as deadlifts, squats, bench press, etc. These are also great for strengthening your core and will also add excitement to your training routine. (Be sure to check with a certified trainer to ensure proper form on each lift)
6. ALWAYS be creative and change up your workouts. Routine is the enemy!

No Time for Gym Time Tips

1. Tabata! Take advantage of this well-known effective interval style training that consists of 8 rounds of :20 work followed by :10 rest. One tabata workout ONLY takes 4 minutes so pair 2-3 movements together and you have a challenging 8-12 minute workout. 8 rounds of 20 seconds of Squats and 10 seconds of rest alternating with 8 rounds of 20 seconds of Jumping Jacks followed by 10 seconds of rest. You can replace these examples with any movements you see fit such as burpees, sit ups, push-ups, sprawls, lunges, etc.
2. Add Variety! Routine is the enemy, remember? Pick a few movements that you can perform safely and create a short workout for time such as 3 rounds of 10 burpees, 20 sit ups, and 30 walking lunges.
3. Ditch the machines! Start using your body to move which creates a higher response for weight loss and body composition. 10 Minutes of high intensity interval training using multi-joint movements is much more effective than 30 minutes on the elliptical.

Amanda Martin is a CrossFit Level 1 Master Coach at Westlake CrossFit with a focus in creating balanced fitness for individuals 40 years and above. Using physical assessments and movement analysis, Amanda creates individualized programs for her group and personal clients in order to enhance their experience, create long term physical changes, and promote faster results. Amanda runs the Masters Class at Westlake CrossFit ranging from ages 48-66 years old, as well as the Kids Fitness program. She is available for private and group training. If you are interested in learning more about balanced fitness please email Amanda at amanda@westlakecrossfit.com. You can also visit Amanda’s personal blog at farbeyondfitness.blogspot.com.