Hi Everybody, Kris Stokes from the Custom Fitness studio here, your personal trainer in Amarillo. Custom Fitness customizes fitness, nutrition, and lifestyle modification to meet the need of each of clients.
First reminder: we have 21 detox coming up. Want to emphasize again, this detox is ACTUAL food during the challenge. It isn’t liquid based or supplement based; we like to eat and think you should too. We are just trying to get rid of your body’s inflammation and return it to a metabolic balance so that way you can begin to see changes and growth from what other lifestyle changes you are doing. The detox starts on June 16th, next friday. 21 days for $21.00. You get the support of our entire staff as well as unlimited small group training sessions. We max out at 8 people per group session so we can give everyone the help that they need. We like to keep things a little smaller so you can really get that customized approach.
Second announcement is our Summer Walking Challenge kicks off on June 19th and will go until June 30th. If you get to 258 miles (an average of 6 miles a day, so it is not as bad as it sounds), then you win a free month of small group training. You can sign up online; there is a $25.00 registration fee. Like I said, once you hit that 258 miles then you win a free month of small group training (IN THE AIR CONDITIONING!) so you can come in and get lean, and toned, and sexy. You’ll be ready to go for all your summer trips.
On to today’s discussion. We will be talking about two things that I know of that you can change almost immediately and have people see you completely differently. These two improvements will impact how people interpret your confidence level, your weight issues (regardless of if you are over/under or just right),etc. You know what I’m talking about, how strangers, co-workers, or family members see our body language and the human nature response is to judge who we are based on those criteria. The two things you can do immediately and can help you find work, help you socialize more confidently, and enhance your relationships with others.
First up: Wear Clothes that Fit You
I don’t care if you are a guy or a girl, overweight, underweight, if you’ve lost weight, gained weight. When you wear clothes that fit you, you come across looking differently than when you don’t. Whether your clothes are too tight or too baggy, you are making an image that people will perceive and then, whether we like it or not, will judge you when your clothes don’t fit you right. I see this alot with clients who lose weight. They lose a significant portion, but they aren’t ready to buy new clothes because they don’t want to spend all that money if they aren’t sure if that weight will be maintained. I do recommend buying one or two outfits that actually fit you. It is amazing the difference you will notice with friends and family; not only their perspective, but yours as well. The self-image you will have when you look in the mirror, will remain the same if you wear the clothes that are ill-fitting. Lacking a positive self-image can lead to a lack of motivation and further issues down the line of your lifestyle change. I definitely encourage you to wear one or two outfits every week that really fit you well and make you think, “Wow! I look great in this!”. You will notice a difference in how people interact with you and how you look at yourself. That confidence will take you places.
The Second: Posture
The first one was an easy fix, maybe not cheap, but easy. The second one we don’t think about a lot, but it is something we hear about often. With so many people working desk jobs you are constantly hearing about how “sitting is unhealthy and how our posture affects yada, yada, yada”. Posture is crucuial.
If I enter into an event or building and I walk in with my shoulders hunched and my stomach forward, you aren’t going to see me as a very confident person. You’ll doubt if I have confidence in myself, maybe that I can’t do what I promise, etc. If we stand up nice and tall we will take note of changes in our body and see the results we are looking for. Other people will notice those changes as well.
My favorite story is one about one of my dear clients who was in their late 60s. They told me they were having trouble remembering to stand up straight. They would walk and their back would be humped over and it would hurt their hips. The more you slouch the more physical pain your body will create to compensate for not being aligned. It can cause headaches, hip pain, leg pain, even down to the feet.
My client told me as she was working on her posture she wanted her husband to work on his as well. She would be hunched over and she would tell him to straighten up as soon as she would remember to. When she did this, he was slouched over, he would only pull his shoulders back. Pulling your shoulders back doesn’t do a lot for your posture, but that’s what he thought she meant by standing up straight. That’s what happens when you don’t live in front of a mirror all the time (things we get as perks by coming to a studio or a gym covered in mirrors). So our goal is to have full body posture, not just pulling your shoulders back.
You can actually pull your shoulders back, but still have a rounded spine, bad legs, everything can just be out of place. WHat you may or may not know is that posture starts from the ground up. So you start with your feet hip width apart. Many of my clients will overshoot where their hips actually are and place their feet 2-3 feet apart. I don’t know many people whose hips are that wide. So self-esteem boost here for a minute, to find your actual width place your hands pointing down touching the front of your hip bones, then place your feet underneath where your hands are pointing. Muuuuch smaller, right? This will give us a strong base of support.
Spread out your toes and find balance. Placing your weight between 3 points of the foot: the center of the heel, the joint of the big toe, and the joint of the pinky toe. That creates a triangle of pressure that is even throughout the foot. You’ll notice your body will already start to feel more aligned. Stand up tall with your knees being soft; not locked, not extending backwards, but that you can easily sink down if you need to. Next up is the pelvis. We want our pelvis to be level. To do that you place your hands palms facing down along your pelvic bones. Your index finger wrapping around the front of the bones and your thumbs wrapping around the back. You want to keep your hand parallel to the floor. I can see where my hands are level. Many clients who work with my Amarillo personal trainers have spinal issues where they either round their spine backward, or curve their spine inward from sciatic issues or hip pain. When your hands are parallel to the ground you have found the perfect arch of your spine.
We can also experience thigh tension. People do not realize that your body is tensing up to hold itself in whatever posture (bad or good) you decide. Your tailbone is not tucked, but rather pointing straight down. Our belly button is pointing forward. We are not sucking it in here, I’m not trying to push our shoulders up from our core. Rather, you are going to engage that belly button in and up towards your chin as your ribs are pushed down. Now, your tummy is in and being useful.
When we just suck our stomach in we are just displacing organs and not really receiving a benefit from it. When we engage our muscles and squeeze our core we are working on bettering our bodies. Shoulders roll back and down. Palms are slightly open.
Notice ankle, hip and shoulder are all in one line. Our goal is to get our ears ontop of our shoulders. From there you lower your gaze one to two inches in order to level our chin. People are typically looking up (from phones or computers), so lowering the gaze will reduce some of the strain in the neck.
Now just double check: ears on top of shoulders, shoulders on top of ribs, ribs are pulled down, stomach is tucked in, ribs on top of hips, hips on top of ankles, feet have equal pressure across the foot. What you’ll notice is you just stacked yourself into a supportive tower not the leaning Tower of Pisa.
Practice your posture 3 times a day, breakfast, lunch, and dinner, for two minutes then as you get stronger, increase the time. The more you practice that posture the easier it will be to learn to move in that posture. Once you are able to hold it trying walking with that posture. You will start to notice you are changing and people around you are changing, all for the better.
If you would like our help with posture or nutrition training or you’re just tired of all the masses of information and you want a simplified individual program then get in touch. That’s exactly what we do at Custom Fitness. Each person is unique, each person needs unique things, and we want to provide a unique solution for you. Give us a call 806-322-3188 or e-mail us at info@customfitness.biz If you’d like to get started sooner, you can join our detox program. 21 days for $21.00. At Custom Fitness we are YOUR personal trainer in Amarillo. Talk to you soon!