Fitness Coaches in Boston

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Here are 10 things that you can do to keep yourself on a track when you start working out for the first time in a long time (or ever).

1. Check with your doctor
Many people ignore this when they start working out. We think that we know our body best, but most of us do not realize that something is not quite right until someone tells us. For example, if you are overweight, you have a higher possibility that you have knee and lower back problems, since you are imposing extra stresses on your joints. You may not realize, however, the weight is the cause of the joint problems until a doctor (or someone) tells you. It means that you may want to start with a stationary bike workout or walking instead of jogging. A doctor can tell you whether you can do certain workout or not, especially if he specializes in sports medicine.

2. Hire a personal fitness trainer and/or a nutritionist
Again, many people start a workout based on magazine articles or fitness books. This is quite dangerous! You do not need to work out with a personal trainer every time, but, at least, you should work out with a trainer once a month so that the trainer can modify your workout accordingly. The trainer also can correct your posture and some exercise your are not doing quite right. The same holds true for a nutritionist. If you are going to do a weight loss diet, consult with a nutritionist (who is also willing to work with your doctor). A nutritionist may disappoint you, since she/he won’t recommend any fancy herbal supplements, but the recipes that he/she recommends are usually safer, more effective, and cheaper.

3. Work with a personal fitness coach
The main problem for some people who cannot continue working out is actually due to the lack of mental preparation. Work with a coach for a few months so that you can develop a new way of thinking about your body, mind, and a new attitude toward your life. Once you make a big shift in thinking, you will not stop working out and you will stay healthy.

4. Ask for help from your family and friends
Especially for men, this is the hardest thing to do. Asking for help from family members and friends! You need to realize, however, your family and close friends could be your worst enemies, if you do not ask for the help and support. They unknowingly drag you back to the old life style, if you do not tell them. If you ask them explicitly for the support you want, they will be the best support for your life style change. So ASK!

5. Be friend with fitness buffs
If you want to be a fitness buff, be with them. It is the easiest way to motivate yourself. You are with your role models, and they love to help you (or show off their knowledge and physique). Just tell them how you truly admire their accomplishments and ask for help. One caution; they may not know or forgot how beginners work out; so watch out if they try to push you too much.

6. Continuously feed your mind with fitness information
This is another way to keep motivating yourself. Read fitness magazines and books, watch workout videos, and go to a workshop. Then tell your friends the new information that you just learned. Impress yourself and your friends with fitness information constantly, then you will be a fitness buff yourself really quickly.

7. Gradually increase workout load
Although the human body has the capacity to take a big change, it is recommended to go slowly. It is better to build up slowly rather than too quickly and having your motivation die away in two weeks. It also prevents you from getting serious injuries. If you once get injured, the probability that you come back to working out is quite small.

8. Give yourself a break
Your body and mind need a break. At least once a week, give yourself a non-workout day. You can be officially a couch potato. If you do diet, at least one day a week, eat whatever you want to eat.

9. Give yourself rewards
Set some goals, and decide what kinds of rewards you want to give yourself once you get there. It could be a piece of chocolate cake, or a nice massage. We are still Pavlovian creatures; if you once connect a good reward with working out, just by thinking about the reward, you can keep motivated to work out.

10. Find a workout you enjoy
This is quite an important point. If you do not like to run, why do you do it? Don’t do it, unless your ultimate goal is to be a Boston marathon runner. There is always something that you could enjoy physically. Do you like window shopping? Then go to a mall, and walk around the mall for an hour. You can get a workout!

Many people start exercising with good intentions, motivation, and goals, but cannot continue beyond the first few days. It is very important to make exercise a part of your life style; it takes about a month to feel a new thing becoming a part of your life. Here are some suggestions of things to avoid when starting a new fitness program.

1. Do not expect to see results in a week

Despite the promise many advertisements, you will not see washboard abs, or a 20 lb weight loss in a week. If it does happen, something is totally wrong in your body, and you should see a doctor immediately! It is a gradual process to become healthy. If you lose your weight quick, you usually gain it back quick and possibly more.

2. Do not make your workout schedule too rigid.

Although it is a good idea to allocate a specific time of a day for working out, it can be hard in our life to actually can get the same time slot every day. Instead, use a floating time block system. For example, if you scheduled 1 hour of workout time at 7a.m., but end up with an early morning meeting, you can instead use your lunch time, or even divide your workout into two 30 minute sessions – morning and after work.

3. Do not compare yourself to others

Comparing yourself to someone else is the fastest way to discourage yourself and make you want to give up the commitment. There is always someone better at a specific point, e.g., your pal may have the larger biceps (but he has skinny legs), or your girl friend has a narrow waist (but her skin is sagging). You want to compare yourself today to yourself yesterday.

4. Do not buy expensive equipment

You do not need any expensive pieces of equipment. More than half of exercise machines (such as abdominal machines, or running machines) are used no more than a few weeks after purchased. As a beginner, only thing you need is a reasonably good pair of workout shoes.

5. Do not take it too seriously

If you do not enjoy what you are doing, you will not last. If you miss a workout today, just smile to yourself and workout tomorrow a bit more.

6. Do not limit your workout to a gym or to a certain time of day

You can work out anywhere, anytime. You do not need to go to a gym. In fact, there is a study, which tells us that some gym goers spent fewer calories per day than non-gym goers. How is this possible? These gym goers spent 30 minutes or so in a gym, but were totally sedentary the other 23.5 hours of the day. Some non-gym goers walk more, use stairs, or go dancing. On average, the latter group burns more calories per day than the former. So don’t think that you can finish your workout after 20 minutes in a gym. Just use your body all day long.

7. Do not punish yourself

If you miss a workout, recognize that you missed a workout, and just reschedule the workout without guilt. A guilty feeling has a negative effect on your psyche. You want to reward yourself when you do workout, and that is a better way to keep you motivation.

8. Do not blame anyone

Don’t blame anyone for what you did or did not do. Your body is totally your responsibility. No one will take care of yours but you.

9. Do not stop

It does not matter whether a workout is only 10 minutes, just keep doing it until the workout becomes a part of your daily life. At night, if you realize that you have not done any working out yet, then do some stretching for 10 minutes before going to bed. Just do something until working out is a part of your life style.

10. Do not wait till tomorrow, start now

Yes, start at this moment. there is a fifty percent chance that you won’t start your personal fitness program if you wait until tomorrow.

1. Why do you want to be healthy?

Many people don’t know why they want to be healthy. it’s not good enough that you want to look good. If you really really want to lose 20 lb, you can lose it. If the reason you want to lose weight is that your wife told you to, it won’t work. If the reason is that your doctor told you that you would die in a few months unless you lose 20 lb, you can lose 20 lb easily. Yes, motivation is almost everything.

it’s your new life style

If you think that dieting three months to lose 10 lb is all you need to do, it’s not quite that simple. Most people who rely on a short-term diet gain back what they lost and more in a year. You need to make a (possibly huge) life style change. One time over-eating did not make you over weight. Your life style gradually increased your body fat. Without a life style change, the result won’t be a permanent one.

2. Isn’t your health the most important thing in your life?

Without health, you can’t enjoy your relationships with your family, your wealth, your intellectual life, or even food. Do you want to eat food from a tube inserted from your nose to stomach? If you are not healthy, it could happen. Put a priority on improving your health.

Make it a part of your daily life.

Some people say that they’re too busy at work and family life, and don’t have time to work out. It’s not true. There is always time, if you make it. As I mentioned previously, health is the most important thing in your life, and you can find the time. Think about it, many American watch TV for 4 hrs or more a day. And you can’t make 30 minutes for your health? You don’t need to go to a gym to work out, you can work out at home, at work, on the way to and from work. You just need to commit yourself.

3. Are you getting support from your family, friends, or co-workers?

It’s not easy to achieve anything if your family members are not helpful. Tell them what your goal is, and what you want from them to support you, If you can, involve them. However, don’t depend on them. You want to have a system that does not require other people’s involvement. You can do it; just believe in yourself.

If you think you can’t, you can’t. If you think you can, you can. This is true. Everyone is far more capable than they think they are. The main obstruction for achieving goals is not believing in oneself. In fact, most people know that intellectually, but it’s not easy to believe it emotionally. The best way is, as anything else, taking a small step first. Pick something that you already can do well, such as walking. Maybe walk bit faster or longer next time. Then increase a little bit more next time. Eventually, you will build your self-confidence, and will reach your goal.

4. Find out how other people succeeded

The best way to succeed in your health goals is to find someone who was in the same situation, but achieved their goal. If you can find someone among your friends, that is great, but the person could be from books, magazines, or tape courses. Whatever difficulty you face, someone had it before, and solved it.

5. Live by your own standard, not by TV standards

Many women dream of having a fashion model’s body. Yes, they look good with nice clothes on, but many of them are very unhealthy. They suffer osteoporosis by their mid 20′s!. Besides they’re not sexy at all for most men. Think about it. Marilyn Monroe was 5’4″ and 140 lb. Wasn’t she sexy? If you are healthy, it makes you attractive, both physically and mentally. Set your own standard and have a pride on it. Don’t live by someone else’s standard. There is no bad food. You can eat whatever you want.

Do you know why diets fail? Because people stop eating certain foods. If you love chocolate, but stop eating it for 3 months to lose weight, what do you think will happen after you stop dieting? You eat three times more chocolate and gain back all weight and more! Eat whatever you want to eat, but learn how to eat right. If you know that whenever you want to eat, you can eat, you will have less craving for the food.

6. YOU ARE GREAT, KEEP ACHIEVING MORE AND MORE!

Yes, you are great. You have already achieved so many things. So don’t worry. You can do it.