Trainer Tip: Working the Back without Weights

It can be tough to build your back muscles without access to a gym and weights.  Here are some exercise ideas for working the back without weights.

Upright Band Row

Band High Pull

Band Lat Pull

Add these into your routine to build a strong and beautiful back!

xoxo,

Coach Steph

Comparison is the Thief of Joy

Teddy Roosevelt was a pretty smart guy.  "Comparison is the thief of joy." I feel like this applies to so many areas of our lives.  Specifically, I'm going to speak to fitness and weight loss.

I coached a personal training client yesterday on this topic.  She was finishing her post-workout cardio and cooling down on the treadmill when she asked me, "so how much progress should I be seeing right now?"

This is such a loaded question and I HATE IT!

Do you know why I hate it?  Because no two people are the same.  Because no two bodies metabolize food the same way.  Because no two bodies respond to exercise and weights the same way.  Get the idea?

Comparison is dangerous.  It can take you down a scary path where you start to look at your life and someone else's and decide that their life is better or easier.

When you compare your fitness progress to someone else's, you can take yourself out of the game or delay your success.

I know it's tough not to compare; when you see those amazing 'before and after' ads for weight loss. My company even has a weight loss challenge and we use testimonials to show people what's possible.  That's the key, though.  Be inspired by other people's success.  Don't compare.

Honestly, shows like 'The Biggest Loser' or 'Extreme Weight Loss' don't help either.  Those people are in completely controlled environments with expert help 24/7.  That's just not reality.  Most of those people go home and gain the weight back because they didn't gradually learn how to adopt a new lifestyle.

How can you overcome the desire to compare?  Track your progress! Not just your weight and measurements.

• Take photos - Progress photos, wearing the same clothes, in the same pose at the same time every week.  Put the photos side-by-side.  You'll start to see changes.
• Celebrate the NSVs - Non-scale victories.  How do your clothes fit?  Can you do something you couldn't do when you first started?  Has your health improved? I always recommend clients do a physical inventory when they first start.  What hurts?  What is physically hard to do? What are you unable to do because of your physical condition?  Revisit that list every 4-6 weeks and track your progress that way.
• Track your vital signs - Record your resting heart rate and blood pressure when you first start.  Check them every 4 weeks.  When they improve, that means you are getting healthier.  Yay for you!

These are just a few ways to show yourself that your exercise and healthy eating plan are working.  Be kind to yourself.  Change takes time.  How long had you been eating unhealthy food?  How long did it take you to gain the weight?  It's going to take a while for your body to reset and return to its home state, its homeostasis.  Do you know what homeostasis means?  When internal conditions remain relatively stable and constant. That's balance. When your body is balanced, you will be able to lose or maintain your weight.  

Need some help?  More accountability?  Someone to just listen? I'm here.  Reach out.  I'd love to chat.

Check out YouTube for my video summary on this topic.

xoxo,

Coach Steph

Inspiring Woman #1 - Real Women, Real Struggles, Real Inspiration Series

It's here! The first in a series of four blog posts about real women taking control of their self-image, fitness and health.  Every other week I'll bring you a story from a woman just like you and me who is just trying to love her self, be healthy and take back the notion that we have to be "perfect" to be fit and healthy.

Meet Brittany Arroyo:

Brittany is a nationally certified personal trainer (ACSM) out of Viera, FL and has been dedicated to changing her body and self-image through heavy weightlifting. 

Brittany has a history of eating disorders and being unkind to her body.  Through her fitness and wellness journey, she has been at war with the most powerful "muscle" in her body: her mind.  

Brittany counsels clients, friends and family members about health and fitness issues and has shared what she herself and others deal with.  She also gives her personal philosophy on coaching clients with diet and exercise.

Below is Brittany's personal and candid narrative of these trials and triumphs.  

Disordered Eating/Body Dysmorphia 

"I have a long past of disordered eating and body dysmorphia. While I am much healthier now, I find myself constantly berating myself (too fat, too many calories, not strong enough, not pretty enough, the list goes on). I say things to myself that I would never imagine saying to a loved one or client,  and yet since I've started working in the fitness industry, I've heard many women (and some men) say these things aloud about themselves. Most of the time it's in a joking manner, but I recognize the hurt and pain behind it, as it is my own. 

My struggle is with myself; how do I preach body love and acceptance when I don't accept and love my own body? On the flip side, how do I encourage healthy living and weight without creating unhealthy thought patterns and habits in the process?

I don't remember a time when I've felt comfortable with my body. I stopped eating in high school.  It got to a point where my parents intervened.  They said, 'get better or we're getting you professional help.'  I did go to therapy, but I wasn't ready to deal with it.

People pass judgement that mental health is internal.  As a society, we're bombarded with images and media. Appearance is important. I was raised in a loving home with supportive parents.  I was always comparing myself to others.  I think about it everyday.

I have a PT client in her 50s.  She's really fit but wants to look better.  She told me she's had liposuction and cosmetic surgery.  She only weighs 120 pounds yet still sees a fat person in the mirror.  I want my clients to accept and better themselves.  I want them to stop seeing unmet unrealistic expectations as failure. 

I need to find balance. I'm working on that and self-awareness.  I didn't even acknowledge the problems and the thought process until 1.5 years ago.  People want to train with me because of the knowledge and experience I have.  It's funny the way other people perceive us is not how we see ourselves.

Unhealthy Patterns on Nights and Weekends

"I struggle with not falling into the binge/restrict cycle. I eat super clean on weekdays, all day long and then night-time or the weekend rolls around and I lose my dang mind. I struggle daily to find a balance between being 'on' or 'off.'" 

Teaching Healthy Habits

"Tracking and calorie counting can lead to obsessive behavior.  'Cheat days' can be very detrimental.  I give general guidelines that will work for most people.  2-3 meals a week, eat whatever you want.  I try to screen people and be aware of triggers or red flags with clients.  I keep track and find out the WHY behind why people want to lose weight or get fit. 

I feel like disordered eating is very common.  We've come to accept strange habits as normal.  Juice cleanses, restrictive food habits and 'trendy diets' are all accepted as normal.  Hollywood perpetuates them.  Every person is a personal trainer and expert.  There's so much misinformation on the internet. I only read articles with scientific notation.  If there's no study to back it up, it's just conjecture.  I give resources with legitimate professionals in the industry."   

Working Out is 'All or Nothing'

"I am fairly good about this one.  My clients and friends, not so much. I find many people think they need to workout 7 days a week for an hour or more or else it's useless and they might as well do nothing. I try to emphasize that something is always better than nothing and more is not better but better is better when it comes to fitness.

Most of my clients think that if they can't do the perfect workout, then they shouldn't bother.  Effectiveness of your workout is more important than how long it is.  I give clients at home workouts to do in their off days.  Quickie workouts to create a habit. 

Set a minimum amount of days to workout, whether at home or they gym, and stick to it.  2-3 days at a minimum is my recommendation."

Brittany's Biggest Epiphany

"Lift weights.  Nothing will change your life more than to put weights on a barbell and lift. Lifting weights is the key to looking better, feeling better and thinking better.   I'm most proud of being able to deadlift 1.5 times my body weight and squat over 200 lbs.  I feel strong and powerful."

---Brittany Arroyo, ACSM Certified Trainer
Like Brittany on Facebook 

Committed to continuing education. PT is a science and exercise changes all the time.

Thank you to Brittany Arroyo for your candid testimony and advice to women and men.  Trainers are people too and no one is perfect.  When we stop comparing ourselves to others, we can start to achieve balance.  

Please join us in two weeks for our next profile of and inspiring woman.

Inspiring Woman #2

Perri G - Wife, Mother and Full-Time Chauffeur

Perri became a mom at age 40.  Blessed beyond measure, she struggles with having time to workout, eat well and achieve balance with her mom, wife and work duties.  I think a lot of people can really relate to Perri's story.  She and her husband are trying to be good examples of self-love and healthy body image to their son.  I hope to help Perri find solutions for her busy life, and in turn, help you make exercise and meal planning a priority in your own life.

Thanks for reading my blog this week.  This project is really important to me. I think we need to be talking about our body and food issues.  The only way the rhetoric will change is if we demand it to.  Love your body.  Love your exercise.  Love yourself.

Yours in health,
Coach Stephanie
Like me on Facebook
Follow me on Twitter and Instagram - StephLipp1
My Fitness Company, Positively Fit and Facebook Community 

I offer private online and offline coaching.
For more information about the nutritional supplements I support:
www.spxworks.com

Why participate in a weight loss challenge?

I want to preface this post by saying this: you are amazing.  you are beautiful. you are enough.  

That being said, I know that sometimes the amazing person that we are on the inside doesn't always show through on the outside.  I personally know how that feels.  I am the same person I was two years ago: AWESOME, smart, funny, kind compassionate, caring; I could go on and on because I know now what it is to love myself.  However, the person I am today was buried under self-hate, depression and unhappiness.  I couldn't let the light shine out because I felt broken on the inside.

The answer to my troubles was not to lose weight.  

I know you're probably thinking, "Wait, did she just say that?  I thought this was going to be a post about losing weight?"  It is, let me get there.

The answer to fixing whatever is broken is not going to be found by weight loss alone.  It starts with loving yourself.  

I believe the reason that I have been so successful for the first time in my life in finding balance between work, relationships, fitness and nutrition is because I finally took the time to assess why I was unhappy.  For me, it started at the core with my faith.  That's not the case for everyone, but it was for me.  

From there, I started making lists of the qualities about myself that I loved, and those I didn't like so much. I asked for help from people in my life who supported me: parents, close friends and my husband. I know it sounds cheesy, but make a list about what you love about yourself without referring to a body part.  Make a list of what you'd like to improve, and don't put a body part.  If you ever want to be successful at finally losing and maintaining weight, you have to start by loving yourself.

I'm still on my journey, but in the process of "just wanting to lose weight," I found out how miserable I was in my job and was diagnosed (finally) with a legitimate medical condition and used that as a springboard to better health. I also realized I am perfect the way God made me and that any improvement physically would not make me any more beautiful in His eyes.  I just had to see and believe that, too.

So, the weight loss part...

I consider myself a coach. I train clients physically to be their best. But I also realize that with outward changes, a lot happens on the inside and between our ears.  Our minds are powerful.

I have a lot of success stories.  I'll be posting some in the coming weeks.  You'll meet some of my clients who I've helped.  You'll see their before and after photos.  The biggest thing all my clients have in common are these:

1. They were ready mentally to make a LIFESTYLE change
2. They embraced my plan and were honest and vulnerable
3. They stopped the self-hate

Those are pretty much my requirements.  Check the negativity at the door and be ready to improve yourself.  I don't work with clients who crash-diet.  Yes, we set goals, but we're in this for the long haul.  And goals come in all shapes and sizes, not just numbers on a scale.

That being said, when you work with me on a 90-day challenge you get one-on-one coaching, personal training and exercise tips and plans, email, phone and social media support, nutritional counseling and someone who 100% is committed to helping you reach your goals.

If you've tried every diet, workout plan, etc, and you're ready to change your life for good, then look no further.  You are here.  And I offer all this for the very low price of $40/month for 3 months (or longer if you decide to stick with me).  

Want to learn more?  Message me on Facebook, send me a DM on Twitter, Email me or leave a post below and we'll get connected.  

Thank you for reading.  I love hearing from you.

Yours in health,
Stephanie

Cardio before weights? Or vice versa? The chicken vs. egg debate of fitness

Just last week I was working with a new member of my gym, Positively Fit, going over her new exercise program.  She was really excited to get started and begin her weight loss journey.  Following her workout, we recapped her plan for the next two weeks. 

She then asked me, "why am I lifting weights before walking on the treadmill?" Before I could even respond, she then asked, "if getting into my fat-burning zone on the treadmill is important, why am I lifting weights?"

Before I got frustrated with her since we had just spent 45 minutes together during her gym orientation, I told myself two things: 1) I have thrown so much information at this woman over the last 3 workouts that I can't possibly expect her to remember it all in one week.  2) I broke my cardinal rule about training clients - I forgot to mention the purpose of my methods.

Just like how I felt as a child when my mom used to say, "because I said so," my clients feel the same way when I don't explain the reasoning behind the plan. It's so much easier for most people to embrace a new way of thinking and a LIFESTYLE change if they know why it works.  So, I'm going to address her to questions here.

"Why am I lifting weights before walking on the treadmill?"
The reasoning behind this is two-fold. 

1. You need fuel to lift weights.  Your body is an incredible machine that can do phenomenal things when fueled properly.  Weight/strength training requires fuel.  Eating carbohydrates 30 minutes before a strength workout will give you energy.  Eat enough to sustain your activity.  This looks different for everyone. I recommend fruit like apples or oranges 30 minutes prior to a workout.  Depending on the intensity of your workout (time, exertion), you may need more to eat.

2. You don't enter your fat burning zone until about 30 minutes into your workout. Now don't get discouraged when you read this.  Any movement you do during the day is good for you.  It's good for your heart, your mind and stress management.  You burn calories anytime you move.   However, if your goal is to burn fat, you need to get into your fat burning zone.

So, if your weight routine takes you about 30 minutes, you've essentially burned off all the carbohydrates and sugar your body was storing for energy. Now, you're ready to enter your fat burning zone.  Once here, the entire time you are at your target heart rate, you are burning the most fat.  Essentially, the calories you are burning on the treadmill are coming from fat cells.  We'll talk about your THR in another post.   

"If getting into my fat burning zone is important, why am I lifting weights?"

 For many years, people have been sold a bill of goods by pseudo-fitness experts about the pitfalls of strength training (mostly women).  We've all heard the myths:

"lifting weights will make me bulky"
"low weight, high reps"
"you only need to do cardio 3-4 times a week"

As a fitness professional and someone who has not only changed my own body, but those of countless clients, I'm here to tell you to PICK UP THE WEIGHT!

I'll even give you 8 reasons why lifting weights is good for you:

1. Building muscle is the only way to permanently increase your metabolism.  Muscle is an active tissue; the more muscle you have, the more calories you burn.

2. You burn more calories. Your body will be burning calories for up toe 24 hours post-workout.  There's a great article about that here.  

3. Women do not get bulky from lifting weights. When you lose fat and gain lean muscle, you appear thinner.  Any perceived "bulk" comes from fat on top of the muscle.  The more fat you lose, the more lean and fit you look.

4. Building muscle increases athletic performance.  I love to run and am always telling those in my group that adding strength training to their running programs will make them better runners.  Running great Hal Higdon promotes strength training in all his programs.

5. As we age, muscles deteriorate. Building more lean muscle will help slow the loss.

6. Muscle requires more calories, so you can get away with eating more.  Just make sure to choose healthy, nutritious foods.

7. Building muscle prevents and fights osteoporosis.

8. Muscle helps burn more fat.

I hope this helps you on your quest for fitness and weight loss.  If you'd like private coaching or additional information, please visit me on Facebook, Twitter or my nutrition website.

Yours in health, 
Stephanie