Today I’m going to start with something we’re going to call, ‘just an hour a day’, that I read in Men’s Health Magazine (issue: April-2011 pg 12).
“…and Nightingale had an interesting theory: If you spend just an hour a day- about 4 percent of your week-concentrating on your path to success, strategizing, and learning, you can reach the place you want to go.
Imagine that! Want to be rich? Just spend an hour a day reading about finance, plotting your investments, moving toward money. Want to lose weight and get fit? An hour a day- spent exercising, taking fitness classes, cooking healthy food, maybe just reading up on the latest science- and you’re on your way. Want to be a dancer- an hour a day! Want to look like Jean Claude-Van Dame, seduce like Clooney, invent like Jobs (apple), speechify like Obama? You don’t have to hand your life and full paycheck away. You just have to give an hour a day to yourself. After all, nobody can be the expert on the topic of you-except you.”
How does this apply to us? Well, as mentioned above, all we have to do is ‘invest’ in ourselves. How can you spend numerous hours working, taking care of your kids, husband, girlfriend…helping friends, talking and texting way more than a couple of hours a day, but cannot seem to want to help yourself…
Baby steps: maybe it is too difficult to get an hour a day- seven days a week, because of time constraints, school, work, or simply that your body is not ready for that time commitment. I say, start from the beginning! Too often, (me included), we want to start at the finish line… instead, start with small increments with the finish line always in mind! Today and this week, you will start exercising 20 mins. a day -4 days a week. Once your body is ready- and you are mentally ready to increase the intensity and duration, go to 30 mins a day 4 times a week (then 5 times a week) and so on. You will be working out 5 days a week for 35- to 55 mins a day in no time, thus ‘investing’ in your health, your visual self, your future, and those around you (people tend to get inspired and motivated by their surroundings and their "circle of friends" those closest to you).
** Some useful Nutritional info: People with a history of skipping breakfast have larger waists- by nearly 2 inches- than those who eat in the a.m., new research in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Pass on breakfast and you may pig out later, the study warned. Over time, this causes your body to store more fat. Shoot for 20 to 30 grams of protein at breakfast. (Eggs have about 6 grams each: yogurt has 8 to 12 g per 8 oz: peanut butter about 4 g per tbsp: cereal or oatmeal about 6 g per cup).
The word ‘breakfast’ comes from ‘breaking’ or stopping a fasting period- or the 8 + hours of sleep you just had (for some of you- 12 hours… J). At this point in the morning your body has not received any nutrients for a long time and needs to replenish. When you skip that breakfast- you're sending a signal to your body- saying “I’m going to starve”- and your body automatically goes into ‘fight mode’ and starts tapping into your muscle (eating it or using it for energy) and storing fat. Avoid skipping meals throughout the day: Eat light, healthy and often!
Your trainer
Sebastian =)
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