Is Tracking Essential?

Anyone who's worked with me over the past 2 years will know that tracking is a huge part of your journey with me as a client. Not just tracking nutrition, but tracking sleep, digestion, steps, workouts and anything else that relates to your end goal. The way I see it, tracking = data, and data = answers. If we know exactly where things are going wrong, we can figure out exactly how to resume progressing toward your goals. In regards to nutrition, tracking your calories and macros is not essential for fat loss, I would however argue that it is the most effective method. Most people don't want to track their nutrition because of a previous bad experience they've had. The biggest mistake that people make when it comes to tracking their nutrition is setting calorie targets before they've got any (accurate) idea of how many calories they currently consume each day. Regardless of what your goal is, your first priority should be to establish a baseline. How many calories (on average) did you consume over the past 2-4 weeks? Then, you can manipulate this number to help you put in the work. In regards to tracking everything else, I use the same method as above. Find your baseline and work from there. On the other hand, a lot of people don't want to track these things. They think that it's too much work or that they'll become obsessed over the numbers. The biggest thing that I've found with tracking data is actually the opposite. Clients realise just how little that high calorie day or that day you spent lounging on the sofa affects your overall progress. Rather than looking at each day as a pass or fail, you can start looking at your entire life as a whole. So, is tracking essential? No, but I do believe that it's the best way to get to know yourself and make progress not just in the next 4-6 weeks, but whatever your goal may be for the rest of your life. If you have any questions about anything in this post send me an email at Beth@bethlavisfitness.com and let's have a chat. Always here,

Beth x

@bethlavisfit @trainedbybeth

www.bethlavisfitness.com

beth@bethlavisfitness.com

Keeping Up Your Routine As We Move Into Autumn.

Are you struggling with the colder weather and gloomier days?

I've heard a lot of concern this week surrounding the issue of keeping up with routine during the current transition of the seasons. After such a lovely summer here in the UK, I hear you. Keeping up with our steps, getting out of bed in the morning and generally keeping morale high is getting more and more difficult as the days go on. If you're concerned about falling behind or not quite sure how to best transition your routine, read on for my top tips.

Keeping up with your steps.

With the darker mornings/nights, it makes sense that we feel like we have less time in the day to be on our feet. I get it, I'm not a huge fan of walking out in the dark either. My biggest tip here is to stand up as much as you can throughout your day. As an example, this past Sunday I managed over 10,000 steps just by going food shopping (15 minutes walk each way) and meal prepping for the week. Whilst in the supermarket, I made sure that I walked down every aisle and then when I started cooking, I kept myself busy by washing up between dishes. As I was prepping all of my meals for the entire week, this meant 2.5 hours on my feet that otherwise I'd have spent sat on my laptop and/or watching television.

A task I often set new clients who are struggling with getting their steps in is to break up all long periods of sitting with 5-10 minutes of standing/walking every 30-minutes. Set yourself a timer on your phone and get up to make a cup of tea, do some washing up, take out the bins and/or wander around browsing on your phone. You'll be really surprised by how much these little bursts of steps add up throughout the day.

Getting yourself up and going in the morning.

We've all struggled with this one. It starts to get darker in the mornings and suddenly our internal clocks don't know what to do with us. We set our alarms for 6.30 am, waking up cold and in the dark, with the intention of getting out for that early run/morning gym session only to roll back over and say 'I'll do it later'. Some blame a lack of motivation, I blame a lack of desire.

My tip here is to get to the bottom of your why and keep revisiting it. Before you go to bed, remind yourself why you want to get up early and what that means to you. When your alarm sounds in the morning, force yourself to think the same thing, except this time, you go a little further. You need to engrain in your brain why you want to do something. Then, when you do manage to get up, revel in how it feels. How much more did you get done that day? How much better did you feel when you got it done. By associating waking up early, going for an early run/morning gym session with a positive, rewarding feeling, it'll end up a habit and motivation/discipline will no longer be a question.

Dealing with the rain.

Honestly, this is where I'm going to turn to tough love. Rain is not an excuse to sit around at home and get nothing done all day, we live in the UK where it rains 30% of the year. If you had to go to work via public transport (which say included 10-15 minutes of walking), would you just not go into work that day? Probably not, you'd put on your waterproof shoes and your raincoat, you may even grab your umbrella and you'd face the rain. Why is getting out for your morning/evening walk any different? If you go out for a morning walk, you get to come home, jump in the shower and then get ready for your day. If you go out for an evening walk, you get to come home, jump in the shower and then get ready to get into bed.

No more being afraid of the rain, grab your waterproofs and get it done.

Getting yourself to the gym in the evening.

You finish work at 6 pm, it's getting dark and the last thing you want to do is get yourself to the gym. My first tip here would be to switch around your schedule and gym first thing in the morning instead. You'll have much more time in your day and it'll be harder to put off because of social events (like after-work drinks etc).

But, I also understand this isn't always possible. If you must complete your gym session in the evening my top tips are:

- Set yourself an alarm so that you make yourself finish work on time (especially important now that we're working from home).

- Have a plan for your gym sessions for the week. That way, you won't be tempted to miss one because then you'll be behind.

- Have a friend/workout buddy/trainer that is waiting for you at the gym. You're less likely to let down another person than you are yourself.

Battling the common cold.

It's that awful time of the year where we're all battling a sniffly nose and sore throat, questioning whether you should let yourself rest or sweat it out. You try listening to your body, but you're not quite sure whether it's just being lazy.

My top tip here is to take a break. Not only do I recommend you keeping your germs to yourself, but also if you're feeling run down (even with just a slight sore throat) your body is likely asking you for a bit of TLC. What's more, is that the more you push through it (sweating it out as they say), the longer you'll be battling said sore throat. The majority of the time, those lingering colds could have been eliminated earlier on if you'd just rested up and given your body what it needed.

Tracking comfort food.

Cooking becomes a little more of a hobby for me in the colder months. I guess there's just something about a warm, spiced smelling kitchen that comforts me. Soups, pies and stews become more of a staple in my diet and as some of my clients have already pointed out, they become a little more complicated to track. Unless you're tracking for sport competitively, I really wouldn't sweat it. My Fitness Pal has a great recipe feature which allows you to log all of the ingredients you've used and then choose how many servings the dish splits into. The trickiest part is determining the serving sizes.

My top tip here is to weigh the entire end result i.e. if you're making a stew, set the scales to 0 with the empty Tupperware on, then fill with your stew. Then you can weigh out an appropriate serving size and work out how many of those servings are in your entire result. Another way is to look at nutrition. If you know your end result has 2000 calories in and you want 1 x 400 calorie meal, that will be 5 portions. Of course, if you've got a beef and potato stew, you want to make sure each portion has an equal amount of beef to potato to the sauce. In this case, you want to weigh it out into individual Tupperware all in one go i.e. 50g of beef, 50g of potato and 20g of sauce. This way you can ensure that you have the same nutrition in each container. Whichever direction you go, choose the method that works best for your goals.

As always, some of the tips from one point may also be relevant for another. When it comes to transitioning, you've always got to come back to consistency and routine. Once you know what you want and why you want it, the rest of the journey is much more simple.

If you have any questions, please let me know by commenting below or sending me an email at Beth@bethlavisfitness.com.

Always here,

Beth x

www.bethlavisfitness.com

Beth@bethlavisfitness.com

@trainedbybeth @bethlavisfit

5 Things Fitpro's Overcomplicate.

Anyone that knows me, knows that a huge passion of mine is making fitness, exercise and nutrition accessible for everyone. Health and fitness should not be an elitist commodity in today’s society, and yet we're still seeing fitness professionals and brands treating it that way. Today, I've chosen 5 of the things I see fitpro's overcomplicating each day and have decided to break them down to the simplest terms possible. Enjoy!

1. Exercise Exercise should not be complicated. It should be so simple that it's just a part of each of our every day lives that for the most part, we do not even think about. Many fitpro's overcomplicate exercise by recommending 'fat loss' 'belly buster' and 'thigh sculpting' workouts when in actual fact, there is no such thing. Exercise is just a term used to describe a set amount of time where we move our bodies, elevate our heart rates and burn more calories than we would be sitting at a desk. Your exercise should be chosen based on your goals, your likes, your dislikes and your current health status. It should also be noted that there is no one 'best' exercise.
   

2. Nutrition Many fitpro's overcomplicate nutrition as a way to gain followers and create the illusion that their 'method' is better than the rest. Truth is, our bodies require a good balance of all-natural foods that exist. The best way to view this is as fats, carbohydrates, protein (macronutrients) and vitamins/minerals (micronutrients). None are bad and unless your body has special requirements due to existing medical conditions, we each need a certain amount of each to function daily. For the general population, nutrition doesn't have to be complicated. In fact, it should be a case of making sure you get a variety of colours on your plate for micronutrients, choosing a substantial lean protein source to maintain the health or soft tissues, a complex carbohydrate to provide the body with energy and a portion of healthy fats to keep our brains and hormones functioning as they should.
   

3. Sets/Reps Depending on your goal, there are a few different ways to look at this. To keep it simple, I'm going to cover the basic sets and rep ranges used in lifting (if you're interested in reading more, see references at the bottom). If your goal is strength: 1-5 reps per set 4-7 sets per body part/exercise 2-6 minutes rest between sets If your goal is hypertrophy (growing muscle): 6-12 reps per set 4-8 sets per body part/exercise 2-5 minutes rest between sets If your goal is endurance: 15-60 reps per set 2-4 sets per body part/exercise 1-2 minutes rest between sets If your goals are a mix of each/a couple, then choose a mix of each for the appropriate body part.
   

4. Goal Setting Generally, goal setting can be a little daunting so I understand why some fitpro's overcomplicate the matter. Ideally, you want to set long term and short terms goals that relate to each other. The approach I take with my clients is this... Long Term Goal: Where do you want to be in 6-months to a years time from now? Short Term Goals: What do you need to do to achieve the above?
   

5. Programming Now I'll be the first to say that programming is one of my least favourite activities as a coach - I'll write more on this another time - but really, it can be rather simple once you get the hang of it. First, educate yourself on the different movement types; Squat, Hinge, Push & Pull. Then, make sure you have a variety of each in your program corresponding with however many days you can afford to train (don't overthink this). Focus first on the bigger compound lifts (those that use more than one muscle at a time) and then fill the gaps with isolation exercises to put more exertion on the other muscles that you either want to grow, strengthen or build endurance.

Essentially, my biggest take-home message from all of this is to keep it simple. If you're unsure of something, ask somebody who does, do your own research to draw up your own opinions and above all, continue doing what makes you happy. If you have any questions about anything in this post or want me to talk about anything specific, please send me an email at Beth@bethlavisfitness.com.

Always here, Beth x

www.bethlavisfitness.com

Beth@bethlavisfitness.com

@trainedbybeth@bethlavisfit

___________________________ References:

https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/exercise/free-fitness-ideas/ https://www.allthingsgym.com/sets-reps-table-for-strength-hypertrophy-power/

https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/eat-well/