Hello Everyone!
And - Happy New Year! I hope you all had lots of fun times.
I’m not going to drone on about ‘new year, new you’ or anything like it - I know we’re all spinning our plates and *still* dealing with CV19 - schools on/off, health passes pinging and generally just getting on with things.
But - I thought I’d go through a few things about how to get started. Often the hardest part of working out is actually building up the motivation to kick things off. After that, the next hardest part is knowing what to do!
Today’s long read (below) goes through the step-by-step guide to identifying where you are just now, and what you need to do to get it all moving!
On my side, I’ve really missed seeing clients face-to-face and going to the gym. It will be two years, in March, since I last saw my clients in person! Unbelievable really, but also the reality. Between work from home mandates to restrictions on movement and tossing in the whole restriction on number of people meeting in a group, has meant that it was never possible to get anything going with my clients. And to be brutally honest, that has had a knock-on effect on my own fitness levels. Since 2010 I’ve been working out every single day, dribs and drabs during every single class and session - and it has kept me in tip top shape and condition.
But, just like you, I’ve been restricted to either living room workouts or sessions out at the local park. And like a lot of people, I’ve had to rely on my own motivation to put on the sweats and actually start working out. Let me tell you - it’s way easier when you’ve got clients to see and meet and chat to. Doing it on your own is really tough.
I’m telling you all of this so that you don’t think that I live on some other planet. That you don’t think that the drop in fitness activity doesn’t happen to personal trainers - because it absolutely does!
What I’m doing to restart my own tempo is to make some subtle changes every single week, and layer up these changes so that they are not too dramatic or difficult to maintain.
Hopefully by the time I’ve done this we’ll be into late Jan and I’ll be back training clients by Feb!
So - my own training plan looks like this:
🔥 Monday & Wednesday - long walk covering at least 6,000 steps in total each day. My son is in basketball training so I walk when he’s training - win/win
🔥 Tuesday & Thursday - two x 10-min mini-workouts - so 20 mins in total - I pick Monday + Tuesday’s posts in the Fit Mama Club (daily 10-min workouts are dropped in there) for Tuesday’s workout, then Wednesday + Thursday’s posts for Thursday’s workout
🔥 Friday - longer session - 30-40 minutes - full body, no kit, at home or at the park
🔥 Saturday or Sunday - park session with my son - partner workout - gets us out of the house plus dog walk at the same time. The other day is a day of rest, but will always have dog walks in there
Goal: to hit 150 minutes per week of moderate to high intensity training
Longer goal: to throw in gym workouts and training with clients (February)
👉 When I was planning this week’s newsletter I actually got a spark of motivation from a headline I saw - “Couples Goals” - clearly referring to a couple and their life goals… however, it got me thinking - if we all paired up and became accountability partners, that would be amazing! So - who would like to couple up with me??
I’m looking for someone to be my Couples Goals in my fitness life - and I can be yours too.
👉 DM me and we’ll get this Gal Goals started!
Okay - have a read of How to get started and send me any news or questions hello@fitmama.io
Have a great week ahead!
Michelle
xoxo
Here is your 10-min mini-workout for this week #WOTW
🔥 45/15 - push up into inverted V leg raise - alternate legs with each push up
🔥 45/15 - tricep dips
🔥 45/15 - up/down planks
🔥 45/15 - reverse spidermen
🔥 Repeat x 2 = 8 mins
Good Luck!
45/15 = 45 seconds of the exercise 15 seconds of a break
The long read: How To Get Started
Extracted from New Mom: The Ultimate Guide to Fitness, Health & Wellness
Fitness is a wonderful thing, isn’t it? When you’re on a roll and totally on your game,
fitness is a throwaway word… you’ve forgotten entirely what it was like when you didn’t have a fitness routine. When you weren’t high on the post-workout endorphins. You’ve no concept about how running up a flight of stairs could be the most dreaded part of your day… you’ve forgotten entirely!
H E A L T H , F I T N E S S , S P O R T
Or perhaps you’ve never had your “fitness game”? I’m guessing you might be somewhere in between. So let’s start at the beginning. Fitness can encompass rather a wide spectrum of exercising and general “feeling fit” ethos, so let’s narrow this down to three distinct areas in our spectrum:
Exercising for:
• Health: this can be someone who is: injured and recovering; high-risk heart
disease client; midway through pregnancy; post natal; “special population” – elderly, obese, arthritic, new to fitness, etc.
• Fitness: clients who are looking to ramp up their exercising to encompass cardio, strength & resistance training. Enjoys working out. Varied routine.
• Sport: clients who are amateur sportsperson – competing in local triathlons, biking events, cycling sportifs, mountain events etc. Very aware of the link between working out for a specific goal and nutrition to fuel that successfully.
Having a rough idea of where you are on the multi-directional spectrum is a great place to start. Notice that it is a multi-directional spectrum and not linear. This is the ideal way to look at your fitness and exercising in your life. One year you may be focusing intently on a sporting event – training hard every day and maintaining a strict nutritional diet to support your training and your overall sporting goal.
The next year you could embark on the wonderful journey of pregnancy – where your
diet is critical, and keeping in the “healthy” zone essential to a healthy pregnancy and delivery. Post delivery of your bouncing bundle of joy you’re shattered, barely getting time to eat anything of any nutritional value, and catnapping when you can – energy is gone, and the ability to think straight in those first few weeks is almost laughable. So at this point your exercising could be nothing more than simply “living”… give it a couple of months and you’re back in the “health” zone, a few more months and you’re back in the “fitness” game! Just like that.
Recognize where you are today – don’t be worried about the zone you’re in – embrace
it!
I'M IN THE HEALTH ZONE
Great! Welcome to the health zone and let’s get your fitness program scheduled in.
I’m thinking that a minimum of 3 sessions of “exercising” should set you up nicely. We're aiming for at least 150 minutes of "moderate-intensity activity".
Details:
• 3 exercise sessions of at least 20-25 mins each (60-75 mins per week) or daily 10-min mini workouts (70 mins)
• At least 1 day of “active rest” in between these exercise sessions
• At least 20 mins of walking each day (140 mins per week)
Example:
Mon, Wed & Fri –session in local park from 12.30-1pm (lunchtime)
Mon-Fri – walk from work at least 15 mins before getting my usual bus home.
Other 5 mins made up during my walk to and from park at lunchtime, plus walking from bus stop to house
Sat & Sun – out for a walk around the local park with friends
I'M IN THE FITNESS ZONE
Great! Welcome to the fitness zone and let’s get your fitness program scheduled in.
I’m thinking that a minimum of 4 sessions of “exercising” should set you up nicely.
Details:
• 4 exercise sessions of at least 30-45 mins each (120-180 minutes per week)
• At least 1 day of “active rest” in between these exercise sessions
• At least 20 mins of walking each day (140 minutes per week)
Example:
Mon, Wed, Fri & Sun – alternate lunchtime session with 5k run
Mon-Fri – walk from work at least 15 mins before getting my usual bus home.
Sat & Sun – out for a hike with the family
I'M IN THE SPORT ZONE
Great! Welcome to the sport zone and let’s get your fitness program scheduled in.
I’m thinking that a minimum of 5-6 sessions of “exercising” should set you up nicely.
Details:
Well – you’ll have a goal in mind for your sporting event. Let’s keep to: cardio, strength & resistance training, in line with your sporting event. Mix up body weight exercises, interval running training, with weight training in the gym. Try to keep the interval training and boot camp sessions to max 40 mins, and the weight training do what you need to in line with your sporting event.
Example:
Mon, Wed, Fri & Sun – alternate lunchtime gym / boot camp session with 5k run
Mon-Fri – run or bike to and from work. Fit in longer cardio “endurance” training by wrapping these sessions around work. If you work from home or odd-hours then consider getting out for a run when you’re feeling mentally drained – the fresh air and exercise will boost you up for the rest of your day.
TO RECAP
Take a minute to figure out where you are in your fitness game. Once you know if you’re health, fitness or sport, take note of how many exercise sessions are expected of you.
Get your schedule out and get ready to schedule your exercise appointments, your non fitness module reading time.
Get your fitness clothing picked out for the week – the entire week. Don’t count on “I’ll wash my clothes as I go along” or any other potential pitfall or excuse.
Prepare to pass this fitness program with flying colors!
Community is the Key!
Just a little reminder how to join the free and paid membership!
How to Join:
Head over to the website
Click on “Join the Community for Free” button
It will send me an email - I’ll reply with the secret link to join the main channel
Once you join you can see all of the channels and groups and join as many as you want!
For those interested in the Fit Mama Club:
Head over to the website
Click on the Subscribe button
You should receive an email with your secret link to join the main channel
After your 14 day free trial, your card will be debited - and you’ll also qualify for a free copy of The New Mom: Ultimate Guide to Fitness, Health and Wellness eBook! (value €59.99!)
Michelle Caira is the Founder and CEO of Fit Mama Fitness Inc , a community contributor at Thrive Global and a certified Master Personal Trainer. Michelle launched Fit Mama, a digital platform for mothers, in 2018. Its goal is to equip women with the fitness, nutrition and mental wellness solutions and tools they need to thrive - at home and returning to the workplace. Passionate about women in business, Michelle is an entrepreneur with a global vision, and committed to help create a world where women thrive, regardless of any and all other factors.
You can follow Michelle on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Telegram
You can follow Fit Mama on Twitter, LinkedIn and Telegram