Hi guys, Kris from Custom Fitness here, your personal trainer in Amarillo. Fall is right around the corner. I know it feels like summer just began, but it is now officially August and summer is starting to wrap up. Today I’m taking a look at how best to prepare your body for the fall season. If you’d like to know more about having your best fall yet, give us a call: 806-322-3188.
I know tons of people who are getting geared up to go back to school. This time of year, school really takes over our lives: you begin building your schedule, helping your kids build their schedule, and returning the body to normal sleep habits. A few of my clients have told me that their kids are staying up all night long and sleeping in, so they have to try and intervene to get them ready for school. Even if you don’t have kids, I’m sure you’re preparing for the shift in season and what all that encompasses.
Summer becomes like a big chaotic weekend where our social, work, and family schedules collapse and the “anything goes” attitude is adopted. Now, it is time to get back on track. While people are busy thinking of how to best prepare for back to school, they also have to be ready for the other changes fall brings like lots of germs ready to be inhaled as the general population starts hanging out inside more often than outside.
Fall is prime time for getting sick especially if you haven’t prepared your body as well as you could have during the summer months. Thus, I’m here today to really talk about how you can build up your defenses before those germs infiltrate you and keep you from fulfilling your schedule. You now have the time to begin making transformation changes (losing fat, building muscle, and getting toned) as well as to build up your immune system.
Here a few things you can do to help amp up your immune system before those pumpkin spice flavored products hits the shelves:
- Drink your water (are you surprised this is the first on my list?)
You will hydrate your system, flush toxins out, and get your body working properly.
- Sleep
People are trying to reset their sleep schedules by going to bed a little earlier and waking up a little earlier to get set for school nights. That’s a great thing. Make sure you are getting anywhere from 6-9 hours of restful sleep a night regularly for adults; kids can use a little bit more than that. Clients will scoff when I say 9 hours of sleep regularly. Seriously, if you can do that at least once a week, your body increase your rejuvenation properties where you can build up your immune system and rest your bodies. When our systems are fatigued, our metabolism shifts and our immune system is weakened.
- Eating Correctly
Eating healthy, cutting out processed sugars, eating more whole foods. This does not mean you have to go full Paleo or any of the other strict, fad diets. You want to avoid as much processed as you can. You want to make a nutrition game plan for the fall. “When I know I have activities x,y,z right after work, I know I won’t have enough time to cook. So on Sunday I need to prep a crock pot meal or freezer meals for that morning.” Now, is a great time to reduce your bad eating habits and start from the ground (or table) up with healthier choices. Most people don’t realize that 65% of our immune system lives in our digestive tract. You can help out your immune system by maintaining a healthy digestive tract with probiotics. Whether that means taking a probiotic supplement or consuming probiotic foods (i.e. sauerkraut or Kefir). What about yogurtt? Yogurt is a great source, but it doesn’t have all that you need. For a full day’s supply of probiotics, one would have to eat a minimum of one gallon a day of yogurt to get all the nutrients they need. Vary your sources of whole foods up to get the right nutrition. If you are teaching or working in a cubicle, or in a setting where it is hard to keep probiotic rich foods within arms reach, then a supplement might be a good alternative for you.
- Exercise
Make sure you are not over exercising. A lot of people will “kill it” at the gym by working out 2-3 hours a day. I have had some new clients tell me they will work out an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening, some even come in on their lunch hour, but they aren’t meeting the goals they have set for themselves. As a personal trainer in Amarillo, let me tell you this doesn’t work! You are actually working away from your results. You are also working yourself into a stressed state. Meaning your body is overworked and it isn’t responding to exercise because it doesn’t have time to heal itself in between workouts. Yes, exercise, but in efficient moderation.
For example, at Custom Fitness we work you out once a day (twice if you are doing a recovery workout like yoga as well) for an intense 45 minutes to raise your metabolism. So while the workout is tough, your body is receptive to the transformation. Our trainers customize everything to you so your program is short, efficient, and meeting your needs. Who really wants to spend 4 hours a day in a gym? We will help you strengthen your body from the inside out rather than breaking it down. This, in turn, will boost your immune system and help get you fall ready.
What else can you do to take on fall? There are plenty of supplements you can take. Instead of relying on pills, try eating a healthy rainbow of fruits, vegetables, proteins, healthy fats, fibrous and starchy carbs, to get the nutrients your body needs in a full scale diet. Challenge yourself to eat every color of the rainbow everyday; try to hit each color at least once.
If you have questions about your immune system or diet, feel free to ask. We would love to help get you ready for Fall with the time we have left. We can also help you reach your muscle or weight loss goals that you’ve been keeping on the back burner for too long. In as little as 2 weeks people begin to see a change in their bodies because we provide comprehensive service. Our trainers look at nutrition, lifestyle, and body modification when they develop the customized programs to our clients. We are working with you and your life to find the best solution for you.
Hopscotch
Cardio exercise today for today is a hopscotch – kicking it old school style, back to our days on the playground. Don’t add extra weight to this; we will be using only our body weight. Imagine something in between your feet like a sandbag or a pencil here, so you know exactly where you middle point is. For this, squat down to the ground with your feet wide, tap your fingertips to the floor, jump up with one foot, and land in the middle of your imaginary object. Again, jump your feet out wide, squat, tap, and come up on the other foot in the middle. You can do this as fast or as slow as you’d like. Modification for no-impact would be to eliminate the jump and just stand up with one foot, squat, then stand on the other foot. Intensifier would be to speed it up. Try this as a finisher on your next workout by doing it for 30 seconds the first time, 20 seconds the next, and 10 seconds the time after that, then repeat and see how many reps you can do total.
At Custom Fitness, we are YOUR personal trainer in Amarillo, Texas. If you have questions or would like to know more about our nutrition, exercise, or group training services, reach out to us: 806-322-3188 or info@customfitness.biz. We would be happy to set you up with a complimentary consultation for you to find out who we are, what we do, and if we are the right fit for each other. Talk to you soon.