A few weeks ago, I wrote about the integrated, whole lifestyle approach that we take to personal training in an article called GET ON THE PATH.  I break down what we recommend for fitness, nutrition, sleep, hydration and mental hygiene.

I’ve placed that breakdown below as well as a reminder.

This week’s article is going to be a quick one.  While we take an integrated whole lifestyle approach, it’s really important to remember that perfection is never required and you don’t need to change everything all at once.

One of the things that is tricky when talking about “lifestyle” is that it is easy to imply that without complete perfection, nothing will improve.  The truth is, you probably want to pick one thing to work on.

I am a fan of that first thing being exercise.  I recommend this not because I am a personal trainer.  In fact, I am a personal trainer because I believe this.  When you get your body moving, other things get MUCH easier to work on.

Once you are strength training regularly, sleep gets better with little effort.

Once you are strength training regularly, it’s easier to make better nutrition choices.

Once you are strength training regularly, you’ll naturally drink more water.

Once you are strength training regularly, your attitude and outlook are much brighter.

It’s not a magic pill or a silver bullet.  But regular exercise is an excellent start.  Another reason I like starting with exercise?  Here is a really common question I get “How good do I need to eat?”

The answer is “not perfect, but good enough that you get the maximum benefit from your time with me in the gym”.  That’s the long and short of it.  While we do take this whole lifestyle approach, truth be told, you’ll pretty much only see me during your workouts.  I won’t be cooking for you. In the gym is when you need the most help.  All the other stuff just needs to be good enough to not undermine the workouts and it’ll be good enough to lose weight, have all-day energy, and feel more confident.

When you are ready to talk to a personal trainer about your goals, fill out the form at the top or bottom of this page and I will take care of the rest : )

Here is my breakdown of the 5 parts of THE PATH

1. Exercise

   1. Strength train 3 days per week.

   2. Walk 10k steps on non training days.  When the walks get too easy, add a pack.

2. Nutrition

   1. Stop eating CRAP.  You know what it is : )

   2. Meet your daily protein requirements.  (We help you calculate this with our meal plan)

   3. Meet your daily caloric requirements.  ( We also help you calculate this with our meal plan.)

   4. Take a multivitamin

3. Sleep

   1. Get 7-8 hours of quality sleep.

   2. If you aren’t, follow the 10, 3, 2, 1, 0 rule of better sleep: No caffeine 10 hours before bed, no more food/alcohol 3 hours before bed, no more work 2 hours before bed, no more screen time 1 hour before bed, and 0 is the number of times you hit snooze.

4. Hydration

   1. Drink 8oz of water as soon as you wake up.

   2. Carry a water bottle with you everywhere you go.

5. Mental Hygiene

   1. Establish a regular gratitude practice.  This can be as simple as writing down 3 things you are grateful for as soon as you wake up.

   2. One good decision away.  You are always one good decision away from being back on track.  It doesn’t matter how small.  Just make it.

   3. “Brush your teeth”.  You brush your teeth whether you “feel like it” or not.  You just need to.  It’s not exciting or particularly fun, but you do it anyway.  Workouts should be fun, but you still need to just “brush your teeth” sometimes and do it even when you don’t feel like it.

   4. Say “no” more.  Saying yes to everything means you are always saying no to your own needs.  Do this for too long and your life is like trying to cut wood with a very, very dull saw.  There is a lot of heat but nothing is happening.  Take some time to sharpen that saw and you’ll end up cutting more wood.  This is a concept from “7 Habits of Highly Effective People”.