Greenway Drive West Hoxton, NSW, 2170
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info@motivateyou.com.au
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(02) 8001 6506

Better Gut Health: You would be amazed at how important Good Gut health is!

Many factors of modern life can have an impact on your gut health, such as taking antibiotics, high levels of stress, not enough sleep and consuming processed and high-sugar foods all damage and effect the bacteria found in our stomach. If your gut bacteria is out of balance, your body isn’t able to digest food as well and this impacts your ability to absorb nutrients, which can lead to digestive conditions and other symptoms such as gas, bloating, constipation, diarrhea, heartburn, mood swings, depression, anxiety, difficulty concentrating and joint pain. This can also be the hidden culprit for everything from weight management, fatigue to learning and behavioural difficulties in children, asthma and skin conditions such as eczema and rosacea to name a few.

 

Positive lifestyle changes you can make are;

By maintaining a healthy gut, you will contribute to better overall health and this may assist in weight loss and management. However, a person should talk to their doctor before making any drastic changes to their diet.

 

Recovering from the Festive Season

Twoman runninghe holiday season is a great time to spend with family, friends and feast some of the most amazing foods. Now that this festive season has passed you may find yourself in a state where it’s hard to pick up your health and fitness routine again, especially after spending two to three weeks consuming cheat meals and not maintaining physical activity. Let me tell you- You are not alone, this is a thing for many people and these situations come up many times throughout the year, particularly this time of year. This is why the Motivate You Team is here to provide you with tips and strategies to get you through this and put you back on your health and fitness schedule.

Below you will find a set of steps which will help you get back on track for a healthy and happy 2016.

Goal Setting

It is important to take time to think, what is it I want to achieve? For some of you, you may have gained weight over the festive season, so your goal is to lose weight. For some it may be that you did not gain lots of weight but you did lose lots of muscle mass which you want to regain.
It can also be little goals which lead to a larger goal for example, “I want to reduce my sugar Intake by half” or “I want to stop eating after 7pm from now on”. Your goals can also be exercise driven for instance, “I want to walk for an hour at least three times per week”
Whatever your Goal may be, make sure before commencing your fitness routine, you know exactly what it is you want to work towards.

Planning and managing your time

Set a routine so you can’t say Ï didn’t have enough time” and whatever come up that may destroy your routine for that week, at least you have a set plan which you can follow back on the next week.
An example plan is for someone who participates in “Motivate You Small Group Training”

Monday: Small Group Training
Tuesday: 40 min power walks
Wednesday: Small group Training
Thursday: 15 minute intense at home workout (equipment free)
Friday: Motivate You Small Group Training
Weekend: Rest

For those who do not participate in the “Small Group Training Program” can create their own routine from scratch.

Monday: Boxing/boxing class
Tuesday: walk for 20 minutes on your work break
Wednesday: Swimming
Thursday: Walk the dog
Friday: Rest
Saturday: bike riding

Consistency

This is the difficult step. Once the program is all planned and looking good and youre two weeks in, things may come up here and the first thing to suffer as a result of this is your fitness schedule, which is fine because sometimes things come up which must take priority, e.g. increased work load due to promotion. In this case you may need to reform your schedule so it is better suited to you. However if it is a one off thing, you must ensure that is you slip you just pick up where you left off. Most the time when you are in a situation where you aren’t able to train for a week or so, you find yourself giving up on your program, this is where most people go wrong, because they assume they have to start again when you simply have to just kick off from where you left and work a little harder during your session to get you back to where you were before you stopped training.
Consistency is easier said than done so here are some tips to help keep you motivated
– Something is better than nothing, If you can’t train for a couple of days, take 10 minutes out of your day to do a quick circuit
– Add variety to your schedule so that you don’t get bored of your program e.g. swimming, cycling, dance class, boxing
– Increase incidental physical activity e.g. taking the stairs instead of the elevator, walking to work if you work close to home, walking the dog
– Find a friend to keep you motivated and to train with

I often speak to people about their goals, fitness aspirations and the ideal body they are hoping to achieve.

A question I always ask is “what are the most important things you are looking for in a personal trainer?” The results vary greatly but there are some common themes.

“Someone to push me” is a common one .  Sometimes the person thinks they need to be pushed to their limits in order to achieve the outcome they want. They may have tried exercising , or been exercising for a reasonable time but they are confused because the results have not occured. Automatically,  they think that they need to be trained harder as this what is needed to achieve their goal.

High intensity training needs to balanced and planned, followed by rest and recovery, and sound nutrition. Excessive training at these levels can also be dangerous. In reality, the person probably needs support and guidance to address;

  1. their eating habits or food intake.
  2. developing a fitness program that will work for them
  3. accountability and support mechanisms in reaching their goals.

On another level, whether conscious or not, sometimes people do not want to change the way the eat, follow nutitional guidance, nor address taking advice from another person. Sometimes there is often an interplay with accountability as well, so the person doesn’t want to show their food journal. The ego is in control here.

The result is that the person believes that traininig harder or being “pushed” will do the trick, when in reality it may be other factors that need to be addressed.

The whole picture needs to be examined, and following the program and advice of a fitness professional will help you achieve your goals in the shortest possible time.