Getting Fitness Now!

Welcome to Getting Fitness Now!

Filed under: Uncategorized — Fuzz @

Hey there! Did you know that 60% of American adults are classified as overweight? Almost 1/3 of our adult population is obese! Fairly soon we might all look like the floating blobs in Disney’s Wall-E. That’s absurd, and i’m going to do my part to make sure that doesn’t happen. My name is Steven Worley, and it is my passion and my profession to help people transform their bodies and minds. I have been working with Gold’s Gym as a nationally certified personal trainer since November 2007. Every day I learn, I help people, and I have fun. I watch people progress and reach physical achievements they wouldn’t have believed possible just 1 month prior. Most people just need a guiding hand.

This site is my effort to guide people day by day on how to lose weight, gain muscle, eat healthy, and feel good! From finding motivation to understanding macronutrient balance, this blog can be as simple or complex as carbohydrates. Hahahaha, but seriously, from beginner to experienced, you will find all the info you could ever need to succeed. Feel free to comment, ask questions, and give suggestions. Getting fitness is a journey. GettingFitnessNow.com is your path!

The First Step: Decide to be Healthy.

Filed under: Mentality — Fuzz @

Imagine this: It’s Monday night, and Karen just started another grueling week of the same old routine. She comes home to sit around and relax, even though she’s been doing quite enough sitting around through the work day. She pops a frozen entree into the microwave for dinner. She’s not stimulated, so she turns on the TV for eye and ear sensory overload. 100 different people are trying to sell her 50 different things. She’s watching a show that never has and never will have anything to do with her, but she thinks she can relate or learn something useful, but if she really thought about it, she would realize she can’t. There is no value. Her life is being wasted to complacency, and she can’t figure out why she is unhappy. She has surrendered to herself, and she will suffer great health and mental consequences later in life if she allows this to continue.

Hard to imagine? Probably not because this describes mainstream American culture. This is what it’s like to never realize your potential. This is half the reason why 60% of Americans are overweight and half the reason why our population is the wealthiest yet most unhealthy in the industrialized world. The good news is nobody has to live like this, and it’s fun, easy, and infinitely rewarding not to! The absolute only thing one has to do to avoid falling victim of such an unhealthy lifestyle is dedicate him/herself to becoming active at any cost! Because the value is exponentially greater than the price. 100% laziness back guaranteed!

So you say, “it’s not that simple.” Well it is! I see it happen everyday.

“I don’t know how to exercise. I don’t know how to eat right.” Well great! You’ve come to the right place to learn! And you know what? It’s not hard. It gets more complicated as you progress, but the beginning is so easy because anything you do differently will make your body respond positively. So tell yourself right now: “I will be healthy. I will feel good. I will become active, and I will prosper.” Make that decision right now and mental and physical success awaits you.

Eat Right… Burn Fat, Gain Muscle.

Filed under: Nutrition — Fuzz @

If you can master these five concepts, you will burn fat solely from changing the way you eat. How you eat is half the battle to getting and maintaining fitness. You are what you eat!

Nutritional Concepts for Success!

  1. Eat Small, Eat Often
  2. The Macronutrient Balance
  3. So Fresh and So Lean, Lean
  4. The Colorshow
  5. The Fountain of Youth

1. Eat Small, Eat Often.  Eating small meals every three hours will prevent overeating, increase your metabolism, and keep blood sugar from spiking. Increased metabolism = increased ability to burn fat and calories. Steady blood sugar = more energy, consistent energy, and less risk of diabetes. Eating until you are satisfied, not until you are full is the key here. If you eat small, you will eat often, and you will succeed.

2. The Macronutrient Balance.  Protein, Fat, and Carbohydrates. Your three Macronutrients. They should be balanced at every meal. 60% Carbs, 30% Protein, 10% Fat is an example of a good macronutrient balance and does not need to be exact. This means adding chicken (Protein) and olive oil (good fat) to the pasta (carbs) you were going to have by itself for lunch. Adding lean protein to a high carb meal will extend the glycemic value of those carbs giving your body more time to use them for energy before storing them as reserves in all of your least favorite places! (Replace starchy carbs [pasta, bread] with fibrous carbs [broccoli, spinach, asparagus] for late meals.

3. So Fresh and So Lean, Lean.  Pick lean protein [Chicken, Turkey, Tuna, Whey, Soy] over fatty protein [red meat, pork]. Pick whole grains over refined grains. Pick good fats [poly- and mono- unsaturated] over bad fats [saturated and trans]. Pick grilled or baked over fried or broiled (tons of butter). Pick low/no sugar options. Pick fresh foods over processed foods which are high in sodium and low in nutrients.

4. The Colorshow.  Eat a variety of fresh, colorful foods. A few pieces of different fruits through the day, and plenty of veggies through the evening. (Fruits have a lot of sugar in them and are best eaten earlier, veggies can be used to replace starchy carbs later in the evening.) You should see some yellow, blue, red, orange, and green by the end of each day. Do this successfully and diminish the need for a multi-vitamin.

5. The Fountain of Youth.  Drink 1/2 ounce of water per pound of body weight per day and reap the benefits. Cut the soda. It will destroy you. If you need caffeine, drink coffee with either splenda or no sugar, and non-fat milk. If you HAVE to have soda, make it diet. Staying hydrated will keep you looking young and beautiful. Your skin, as well as the rest of your body, will thank you.

Create an exercise plan!

Filed under: Mentality — Fuzz @

Creating a plan is the fastest and most solid path to losing weight and/or reaching the fitness you desire. As the proverb goes, “He who fails to plan, plans to fail.”  This is especially true in the fitness world. A plan will keep you focused which is HUGE for maintaining motivation. You should have an exercise plan as well as a meal plan. This article will focus on creating an exercise plan. Your plan should answer these questions:

  1. How frequently will I work out?
  2. Which days of the week will I work out?
  3. What will be my individual focus of each day?
  4. How long will my workout be?
  5. When will this plan expire?

If you cannot tell yourself what day next week you are doing resistance (weight) training for legs, it is far more likely this day will never come about. Beginners who plan are 90% more likely to succeed. So let’s take a look at what a sample plan might look like.

I am going to exercise four days a week because i want to ease myself into this new world so i don’t become over-stressed and drop off the wagon.

Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday will be my work out days.

Monday – rhythmic cardio for 45-60 minutes within my target heart zone.

Tuesday – full body resistance training 60 minutes.

Thursday – rhythmic cardio 30 minutes, followed by interval cardio 20 minutes

Friday – full body resistance training 30 minutes, balance 20 minutes, plyometrics 10 minutes.

I will continue this plan for 60 days or until I stop seeing results.

It’s simple and to the point, yet it will keep you accountable. If you don’t do your cardio on Monday, you know you missed a session and it must be made up, so you can squeeze it in on wednesday. If you didn’t have a plan you would say, “Oh i guess i’m not working out today.” And that would be the end of it. 

Make sure your plan is challenging yet realistic. Don’t try to do too much and end up quitting. The above example is actually a very good beginner plan for someone who is trying to lose weight. (Maybe drop the plyometrics.) So what are you waiting for? Make your plan right now and get your fitness on!

Why Weight Training is So Important.

Filed under: Exercise, Weight Training — Fuzz @

“I don’t want to look like those body builders. They look disgusting with their huge muscles and bulging veins.” I hear this every day, and yes, a completely visible vascular map and 20 inch biceps are rather off-putting to the majority of folks. The reality is that to look that way, it takes insane amounts of time, focus, energy, and dedication towards that goal. You will not get there by accident or every frat boy in the gym would look like Arnold Schwarzenegger. “Hasta la vista, baby.”

When you start a resistance (weight) training routine, you won’t become instant beef cake, but you will…

  1. Reduce Body Fat: Using and increasing muscle mass (even a little bit) will increase the energy that is required by your body, even at rest. Translation: More calories and fat being burned each minute. 
  2. Improve Heart Condition: Regular resistance training will result in a lowered heart rate and lowered blood pressure. Thus, the risk of heart diseases is reduced. 
  3. Increase Lean Muscle Mass, Strength, and Endurance: Everyone benefits from being stronger. We can work harder, we can play more, we can workout longer, and we can be more alive. 
  4. Increase and Restore Bone Density: Inactivity and aging lead to a decrease in bone density and brittleness. Studies have clearly proven that consistent strength training increases bone density and prevents Osteoporosis. 
  5. Improve Balance, Mobility, and Stability: Stronger and more resilient muscles improves our balance, which means more comfortable living & fewer falls or accidents. 
  6. Feel and Look Better: There is nothing more satisfying than the feeling after a good solid work-out. Stronger muscles and joints can have a dramatic impact on posture and leaner toned muscles make everyone feel better about their appearance. This all leads to improved self-esteem and increased confidence.

So by glancing over what weight training can do for us, we can see that obese grandma’s should be crowding the gym. Why granny isn’t frequently hollering for a spot is beyond me. What we can also see is that you should be reaping the benefits of resistance training, a.k.a. weight training, because there is no person on earth that couldn’t benefit from training.

I know it’s difficult to figure out how to get into resistance training, but there are a few options.

  1. Join a gym and get started with the circuit machines. These machines are designed for folks who have no idea what they are doing. Most gyms will offer free orientations with personal trainers, or if they don’t then ask for one. We love when people approach us for advice. A trainer will get you set up.
  2. Hire a personal trainer. This can be expensive, but if you get a decent trainer, you will see some serious results. What’s the price on your health and well-being?
  3. Find a workout partner with some experience. Try to find somebody that is relatively close to your physical abilities.
  4. Read, practice, read some more. You can teach yourself, but it takes time and effort. Weight training is an art. It’s almost impossible to do it wrong, and it’s almost impossible to perfect. Just start slow and easy, and you will be fine. I taught myself, and I’m still constantly learning. It’s an enlightening and endless journey, as most things in life worth striving for are.

In the future I will be posting much more on the subject to help get people started, so stay on the look out. In the mean time, you can check out your local book store for some good reading such as… The Body Sculpting Bible. This is a great beginner book.

Get into it now!

“Where there is no struggle, there is no strength” ~ Oprah Winfrey

Know Your Energy Stores and How They Affect Your Weight Loss.

Filed under: Cardio, Exercise — Fuzz @

Have you ever tried relentlessly to lose weight but NOTHING seems to work? You start to wonder, is it my diet? Is it my genetics? Is this exercise craze just a hype that doesn’t work? NO! Well the first two may be partially responsible, but the truth is so many people don’t understand what actually causes the body to shred the fat that it so desperately stores for its survival. If you don’t understand what makes your body burn the fat, how are you going get rid of that belly?

Your body has 5 major sources of energy. These include

  1. Adenosine TriPhosphate (ATP) [3 seconds]
  2. Creatine Phosphate [8 seconds]
  3. Anaerobic Glycolysis [2 minutes]
  4. Aerobic Glycolysis [15 minutes]
  5. Fatty Acid Oxidation [until you pass out]

Your body uses these energy stores in this order. When one source is depleted [average time to depletion] it moves on to the next source. So, what about fat loss can we deduce from this?

  1. Fat is stored heavily as an energy reserve for the body. 
  2. Fat is the last source of energy your body wants to use. 
  3. Your body will take at least 15-20 minutes to even think about burning off its precious fat reserves.

So what does this mean for those of us who want maximize our fat loss? It means you need to get into your target heart zone and stay there for at least 15 minutes before you can even begin to think you’ve shredded some poundage. Don’t get me wrong, you can burn calories and strengthen your heart in less time and in different ways. But there is only one way to tackle that fat: Deplete the first four energy stores, and then keep on going. There are two effective ways to do this.

  1. Do your weightlifting routine first. When you hit your cardio immediately after 30-45 minutes of weightlifting, your glycogen stores are depleted, and fat will be burned for energy almost immediately.  (No food or drink other than water in between. This will replenish your glycogen and defeat the purpose.)
  2. Do 45-60 minutes of non-stop, rhythmic cardio in your target heart zone. 

Got it? Good! Combine that with a well-balanced diet, and watch the pounds fall off!

Target Heart Rate. Your Key to Successful Cardio.

Filed under: Cardio, Exercise — Fuzz @

So everybody knows that the heart is the most important muscle in the body right? RIGHT?! So it’s mighty important to exercise it often, and it’s best done through cardiovascular exercise. Cardio is any exercise that significantly elevates your heart rate for a period of time, and there are a million and seven different exercises to elevate your heart rate. The most common ways are walking, jogging, running, biking, stairmaster, step class, elliptical, and high rep weight lifting.

When you are doing cardio, it is important to make sure you are getting the most burn for your minute. Don’t take a leisurely stroll through the park and think you just strengthened your heart and burned fat, because all you really did was relaxed your mind, get your blood flowing, and burn a few calories. Not saying that’s a bad thing, but it’s not going to help you lose weight or get fit. You need to be working in your Target Heart Rate (THR) to see real results.

THR is calculated by finding your Maximum Heart Rate (MHR), 220 – your age, and multiplying by 50% intensity and 85% intensity. Example: You are 30 years old. Your MHR is: 220 – 30 = 190 beats per minute (BPM). So your target heart rate is MHR (190) x (.50)  -  MHR (190) x (.85) = 95 – 162 BPM. So a 30 year old should be performing cardio in a range of between 95 BPM to 162 BPM. In this range you know you are getting an effective workout. Your heart will get stronger, you will increase endurance, you will burn fat, you will see results!

How do I figure out how many beats per minute I am doing?!?! Glad you asked. They make watches for such things that monitor your BPM. These are fantastic inventions and highly recommended. Just type in ‘heart rate monitors’ in google. If you are strapped for cash, you can take your pulse every now and then while you are exercising, but it’s harder, less accurate, and less effective. The final and least effective way to figure it out is to judge for yourself. If you can sing, you’re not pushing hard enough. If it is less comfortable to talk then you are about on track. If you have to pause every so often, you are going too hard.

Beginners should start at the bottom of their range and hold it for 45 – 60 minutes. You should then progress every cardio day. Increase a few beats per minute. Got it? Good! I promise it becomes second nature with just a little practice! Your love handles will hate you for it, but your heart will love you!

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