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Starting Line Fitness
Starting Line Fitness?

I was recently asked why I chose the name Starting Line Fitness. I realized that I've only told a couple of people how I picked the name Starting Line Fitness. So here goes... It was a dark stormy night...just kidding. One day my wife and I were hanging out in our living room and she asked if I could write her a workout program. She had recently joined a new gym and wanted to do more than just group fitness classes and cardio machines.

I was up to the challenge. I wrote the best damn program that was ever written. She looked at it for all two seconds and said "what are those?" She pointed to the words "Barbell Back Squats 45lbs 3x10".

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FREE HOLIDAY WORKOUTS

I've been talking about the holiday season a lot over the past couple of weeks. For good reason. With all the social, professional and family events that get scheduled things can get super stressful. It's when things get super stressful that health and fitness go by the wayside. This doesn't have to be the case.

Before I tell you how to make sure you're not in this situation, let's talk about why it works out this way. Us (modern day) humans are kind of strange in that we err toward complicated solutions for simple problems. We've forgotten about Occam's Razor (the simplest solution is the usually the best; shoutout to Google for the spelling of "Occam").

I've often heard people say "I've got to work out more because I've got all these parties to go to". I'm all for people working out more but this doesn't make any sense. The parties are already taking up more time/energy and you want to combat this by demanding more time/energy of your body. Again it doesn't make any sense.

So what to do? First thing is just make sure you're doing enough. If you've been going to the gym twice/week, make sure you keep going twice a week. This may mean rescheduling gym appointments (by the way, the gym should be a scheduled appointment) or finding different ways to get workouts in outside the gym.

The second thing I'll suggest is shortening your workout. Stick with me here. You're going to shorten the workout but you're going to do more. Just saying you're only going to be in the gym for 30 minutes versus your normal hour is going to make your workout more efficient.

(Let's be honest, most of us spend way too much time standing around/talking to people and not working out during our workouts.)

Shorter workouts tend to be more intense workouts. This means you can get more bang for your buck and still make it to the all the parties.

I've put together a 4 workout plan that you can use to hit all the major body parts. To get this free workout plan all you have to click this link. Fill out the form and then the workout plan will be delivered to your inbox.

You get your workouts in and you still get to party. Best of both worlds.

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Holiday Party Survival Tips

It’s the most wonderful time of year. You’ve got your office holiday party. You’ve got your significant other’s office holiday party. Then there is your family holiday party. Can’t forget about the in-laws’ party. Oh and this is the one time of year all of your friends will surely get together for some merriment. Also you can’t miss little Timmy’s holiday pageant which will be followed by the parents’ reception. With your calendar as booked as it is, it’s easy to let your exercise/fitness regime fall by the way side. All of a sudden you’ll be canceling trips to the gym so that you can make it to the next event. I still haven’t even mentioned Aunt Betty’s homemade Christmas cookies and all the passed hors d’oeuvres and the drinks.

If you let it things can get out of control very quickly. So here’s a few tips and tricks that you can use to get through the next few weeks without sacrificing all of the year’s hard work or to help you get the new year off to a great start.

 

  1. ENJOY YOURSELF: it’s easy to read those first two paragraphs and have anxiety start rushing in and make you resent having to go to all these parties. Listen, the holidays are about celebrating life and enjoying time with friends and family. Do that. If you’ve spent the whole year practicing good habits and consistently working out then enjoying yourself at a few parties is not going to undo that. The stress relief may even lead to some positive changes.
  2. BE PROACTIVE: you’re probably already receiving invites to all of these parties. You also probably know what your gym schedule is. Plan accordingly. The company holiday party is the same time as your favorite kickboxing class? Well when else does the instructor teach the class? If you usually work out in the evening, you may have to get up early to hit the gym in the morning.
  3. EAT AHEAD: if you’re hungry you’re not going to be able to turn down that bacon wrapped scallop or that bacon wrapped asparagus or that bacon wrapped anything anything else. Avoid bacon and other temptations, by eating you’re normal healthy meal before you get to the party. This will also help you to not get as drunk as quickly if you choose to drink.
  4. KEEP A DRINK IN HAND: just not an alcoholic one. If you don't want to drink, or drink excessively, keep a glass of water with lemon in your hand. Here’s the trick though, ask the bartender to put the water in a tumbler glass (for some reason bartenders like to shame those who are drinking water by putting it in a different glass). Why is this a good idea? Because at parties a common icebreaker is to ask “do you need a drink?”. Well water looks exactly like vodka. Now you don’t have to be in the awkward position of turning people down or explaining why you’re not drinking.
  5. SCHEDULE DEPARTURE: don’t walk in the party without knowing exactly when you’re going to leave. Then stick to that time. The longer you’re at the party, the longer you’ll have to fight the food and booze temptations. Eventually you will lose. Having a departure time will make sure you speak to whoever you want and need to in a timely fashion. When you know you have 20 minutes before you have to leave and you still have to search out your boss, you’ll skip the long wait at the bar.

Sign up for my newsletter here. It’s two emails a week: the blog delivered directly to your inbox and another message filled with articles, recipes, videos and whatever else I think you’ll find fun and useful.

If you found this article to be useful share it with your friends on your social media sites. While you’re doing that you can connect with me on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.