5 Exercise Keys To Transform Your Body
The Great Debate
Weight v. Fat Loss
There are lots of great exercises and exercise programs and depending on how you combine all the pieces of the puzzle, you’ll get different results even when you are performing the exact same body movement!
I want to be clear that a body transformation is more about focusing on a change in body composition, not weight loss. And the change you want to focus on most, is decrease in body fat and then, an increase in muscle mass.
Depending on how much weight you have to lose, say 50+ pounds, to transform your body, you’ll want to focus on reducing the body fat and maintaining or increasing the muscle mass you currently have on board.
And if you want to lose it faster rather than slower, start with Exercise Key #1.
Exercise Key #1:
Do Resistance Exercise
Step away from the cardio and dive into strength training exercises.
Now, a LOT of women fear they will get even BIGGER if they lift weights, especially heavy ones.
But ladies, that is simply not possible for the vast majority of women. If you’ve ever been in shape before without looking like the incredible hulk, chances are, you won’t get there this time either.
Getting started with resistance training… kinda sucks. It’s kinda painful and extremely exhausting. In fact, most people give up sometime during the 3rd week because of that combined with the fact that many times, they don’t see a change in the scale. At least not the one they want…
Exercise Key #2:
Consistency is queen…
So, here’s the thing…
When you start resistance training, your body starts changing inside, only you can’t see it. Everyone is different and loses weight differently. In a 6-month study, the participants experienced different changes in the beginning.
Some lost weight and girth, some increased weight and lost girth, and some increased weight and girth. However, at the end of the study, they was only a marginal difference between them.
What does that mean? It means, when you are first starting out, find more factors to look at and monitor to keep motivated and consistent.
Don’t give up if the scale isn’t reflecting what you want… or what you think it should, based on how hard you’ve been working. If you do, it’ll all be for nothing.
Stay the course and your results will follow.
This is assuming that you’re working on other healthy nutrition and life habits as well…
Exercise Key #3:
This Is A Marathon, Not A Sprint…
You don’t want to start full-on, giving it everything you’ve got, from day one. You actually need to reserve a little in the tank. Do less than what you think you can or should.
This applies to anytime you’re beginning again. I define that as anytime you miss more than one week, if you’ve been consistent less than one to two months. Or, any time that you miss 2+ weeks when you’ve been consistent for 2+ months. You’ll be able to get right back up to where you were much faster and avoid injury, if you scale it back a bit on your return.
Otherwise, you’ll experience that pain I mention earlier and be tempted to quit again. Plus you’ll be too sore to keep progressing. You know what I’m talking about…
When you get into your first returning workout and you’re like, “Hmmm. I can do more. This feels so light. Maybe my body just needed a rest.” And you keep adding weight. Tomorrow you wake up and it you feel like you were hit by a truck. You can’t lift your arms to brush your teeth and forget about walking down stairs. Can I get one of those stair chair lifts, please?
Really, I like to imagine it sort of like this…
When you haven’t worked out in a while and all of the sudden you start and you pick up some heavier weight. (You don’t really know where to start. You figure if you can lift, that’s a good place.) And then it’s like your brain says, “Wake up, muscles! All of you! We need everyone on board. We are saving a life here, this is a one-time deal. Give me everything you’ve got!”
It’s like when the mom gets this incredible amount of strength to lift a car off her baby that hear about from time to time. A one-time accomplishment. You might even feel just fine the rest of the day and sometimes into the next day.
But then, that delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) kicks in. And whoa. Now you really don’t want to get out of bed. That sore and unable to move-well state might last up to a week or more. And you know what’s happening? You’re moving less and burning fewer calories than ever before.
So naturally, you won’t see much change reflected anywhere because all the effort didn’t help change your energy balance by the end of the week.
Talk about making it easy to feel like quitting is smarter…
Key #1
Do Resistance Training
Key #2
Be Consistent
Key #3
Remember:
It’s A Marathon Not A Sprint
Key #4
Learn To Modify & Progress
Key #5
Know When To Get More Help, Then Go Get It
Exercise Key #4:
Modify & Progress
You need to learn how to appropriately, effectively, and efficiently modify and progress your exercises.
Most workout programs and plans won’t be quite right for you. Especially if you have 50+ pounds to lose, any specific injuries (chronic or acute), or any other chronic pain somewhere.
Most programs are written for people that are already in decent-ish shape and that program helps them maintain or get stronger. Basically, it takes them to the next level.
But when you can’t do this level effectively, how can you get to the next level?
These programs don’t take into consideration physical size limitations. Ever try to do a mountain climber and find you keep kneeing yourself in the gut? (I’ve been there and it’s beyond frustrating.)
If you can’t do the exercise itself, you need to ask yourself, “What is the intent of this exercise?”
When you can figure that out, then you can find a suitable alternative so you can get to the next level.
My personal belief is that there is ALWAYS another way perform an exercise to keep with the integrity of the workout design, and be something you can effectively complete – without putting yourself into greater risk of injury.
And that is one of the toughest elements to master when you have a big transformation road ahead… progressing without injury.
Exercise Key #5:
Enlist Some Help
That brings me to my final tip for this week. And that is to enlist some help!
If you are serious about making a major transformation in your body and a year or more has gone by since you’ve desired to change…
If you’ve tried on your own a few times or attended some group fitness classes and you’re not really getting closer to your goals…
Then it’s time to seek out real help. How and when you do it, really is dependent on how serious you are about making a change, and how long you want your transformation to take.
Imagine if you started a year ago and today, right now, you were exactly where you wish you could be…
What would you be doing differently? How would your relationships be different? Your career? Would you have more confidence or self-esteem? Would you spend more time with your kids or be more active? Travel more? How would your life be different?
I’m a huge advocate for lasting change and getting off the diet roller coaster one and for all. But that means you need a different strategy. It means making a long-term commitment. Short-term programs are great for a jump start and to prove to yourself that you can stick to something.
But in my experience, most people have already proven they can stick to a program. They’ve done it many times already. The problem is, those programs just aren’t long enough to create real habits.
Or to test them out through life-changing situations, so you never really develop your strategy for staying on track when your life-path gets bumpy…
Join Me For This New:
FREE Masterclass…
My mission is to empower more people to transform their health so they can create a life they love living with passion and purpose. So, I have created a new masterclass called “Transform Your Health. Own Your Life.”
I’ve pulled out one of the most impactful pieces of my main program, (which I’ve only ever shared with clients before) to give you more help…
…a solution to the most common and biggest roadblock when you’re just getting started
… not just more enlightenment and passing on knowledge
And I’m going to walk you through the same exercises I use with my clients to help them:
- Drop more than 12 pounds in a month WITHOUT focusing on food or fitness
- Save more than $31,464 in prescription medication costs alone since implementing this system
- Make their results last, even more than six years later
You can register for the next training here. This has been my best masterclass to date, so I’ll be running it for a little while, but not exactly sure how long…
Don’t Miss:
Next Week…
Come back for next week’s post, where I’ll show you how to take your fitness to the next level and show you:
- The 4 best exercises for a body transformation
- Progressions for those 4 exercises
- A workout routine to use them in to get started
Health and happiness,
Marylynn
