Fit 163: Workouts, Motivation, Nutrition Timing

In this episode: Are you a workout-aholic? What is motivation? Do you know the most important times to eat each day?

TRAINING
Are you a workout-aholic? How much time do you spend exercising &/or at the gym? Has your workout time increased because you have reached a plateau? Have you added more exercises in an effort to lose weight faster? More is not always better, in fact, too much exercise can cause repetitive use injuries, boredom, even lack of motivation!

Workout smarter, not harder or longer! Do you have a plan? Where is it? If you write your workouts and your plan you are more likely to succeed, prevent burn out and spend your time wisely! Keep your training balanced with the other areas of your life! Nutrition, rest, family and fun are just as important as training!

If you do spend too much time in the gym, take a moment to analyze why. Here are a few of the top reasons and some solutions:

1. Do you talk to other people too much?
1. Get a watch that beeps to tell you (and your chatter friend) it's time to resume exercise
2. Ask them to catch you while on cardio to talk
3. Tell them you can talk after your workout
2. Do you do too much cardio?
1. Focus on less rest between your weight training sets
2. Do cardio after weight training only!
3. Do You rest between sets too long (usually a result of #1)? 
1. Get a watch that beeps to tell you (and your chatter friend) it's time to resume exercise
2. Use Supersets with no rest!

MOTIVATION
Take the motivation surveyat FitnessMakeover.com, help me find out how to motivate you!  What does motivation mean or lack of motivation mean to you? When you say “I'm just not motivated” what are you REALLY saying?

Let's look at the definition of motivation. To get to it we have to break down the word into:
"motivate": to provide with a motive  or motives; incite; impel. Well, not much help there......breaking it down again.....
We find "motive":something that causes a person to act in a certain way, do a certain thing, etc.; incentive. 2. the goal  or object  of a person's actions.
Ahha! This is what motivation is all about! Motivation is the WHY you do what you do! Take the time to find out your deep reason for doing what you do! Whether it is exercise or sabotaging your diet, find out what your reasons are. These are your incentives and your goals too!

NUTRITION
Do you know the two most important times to eat?  They are when you wake up and after you train! Your breakfast should be a combination of carbs and protein, maybe in the form of egg whites or protein powder.  Regardless of what you eat for breakfast, it is better to eat than not eat! Skipping breakfast lowers your metabolism, causes your body to hold fat and burn muscle instead!  Some trial and error may be required to find the right meal for you but its well worrth it!

It's also important to eat after you train.  Begin the recovery process right away! An RTD (ready to drink) or a homemade protein smoothie are examples of quick acting post workout drinks. This should be followed by a balanced meal of proteins, carbs and fats about 60-90 minutes after the workout.

Still doing my best to keep the podcasts coming every Wednesday (like previous years). Last week's sneezy fit threw the schedule off. Oh well, back on track now! Enjoy!

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Get all the most recent episodes on iTunes or download this episode here: Fit 163: Workouts, Motivation, Nutrition Timing.