Tom Menting,
NSCA - CSCS & CPT
Certified Personal Trainer
Lakewood Colorado's Personal Training for All Fitness Levels!

Tom's Health Tips

Holiday Fitness Tips December-7-2011

10 Holiday Fitness Tips to a Comfortable and Happy New Year   This holiday season there will be many gifts both bigand small. Kids will yearn for toys or games while adults will wish for jewelry and electronics. However, few wish-lists will include weight loss or a healthier lifestyle. Often thoughts of fitness are pushed back until New Years and then soon forgotten. How about this holiday season you give and ask for the gift that actually keeps on giving: health and wellness. You may ask “how in the world can I tangibly give or receive health and wellness this year?” It isn’t about a big package or a pretty wrap job, it’s about real changes to your life. They will certainly worth it! Here are ten tips to give you and your family the best chance to get into amazing shape. 1. Support Each Other and Provide a Positive Environment: Have you tried to lose weight without anybody’s support before? It’s extremely difficult. In today’s world of excess and dangerous processed food and beverages it can be almost impossible to eat and workout properly without a support system. Speak to your spouse or your parents and get them on board so that they can help you remain positive throughout your health journey. If you are trying to help your children get healthier be a great example for them to see everyday 2. Set Real and Tangible Goals: How many times have you set a goal that had no discernable plan or ending? You need to set both short and long term goals but they need to be goals that you can know with exact certainty that you have accomplished. Rather than saying “I’m going to get in shape this year,” you should change your cue and say “By June I’m going to lose 20 pounds and 10% body fat.” Tangible goals will help you stay on track and motivate you during those difficult time periods 3. Understand that Being Healthy is a Lifestyle, Not a Wish: If you want to make real changes you need to take it seriously. It takes a combination of physical activity, nutrition, proper sleep, and stress management. Luckily those things don’t have to consume your life for you to be healthy, but you need to make positive changes in multiple areas of your life in order to see positive changes in your body and mind 4. Focus on the Types of Food that you Eat rather than Calories: While cutting calories can result in a short term weight loss, eating healthy foods can result in sustained weight loss and a healthy lifestyle. Instead of eating a meal of holiday candy and then starving yourself, have one piece of candy and then supplement with some fresh fruit or nuts. The more nutrient rich foods that you can incorporate into your diet the more you will shed unwanted pounds and keep your body from developing debilitating disease 5. Be Aware of how Your Body Feels: Too many people go through life unaware of how they actually feel. To understand wellness is to understand how your body and mind feel. Do you feel energetic? Do you feel happy? Do you feel motivated? If you do not know the answers to those questions then you need to take a little time to yourself and understand what is feeling great and what isn’t. When you begin to learn how you feel you will learn when you need to make changes in your diet and workout routines in order feel even better 6. Mix up Your Workouts: How many times have you thought “I’m so bored with my workouts?” You need to make sure that you are staying excited about your journey toward a healthier lifestyle. One of the most effective ways to keep motivated during your workouts is to try new things. Instead of jumping on the elliptical machine everyday for 4 months why not try rowing one day, biking the next, and hiking the next. Changing the exercises you do not only keeps your body guessing, which is great for getting more fit, but it also keeps your mind excited, which helps you get to the gym on those tough days 7. Challenge Yourself and Your Results will Emerge more Quickly: Your body responds positively when you introduce new things to your repertoire. That idea holds true with intensity as well. If you workout hard you can build strength faster. That strength helps to speed up your metabolism, which helps cut body fat. As you lose body fat you will feel more energetic during the day as well as in your workouts. This process is how you get the physical results that you want, while adding additional mental toughness that will help you during work, school or your daily routine 8. Smile, it makes it that much more Worth it: It is a simple equation. When you enjoy what you are doing you will want to do it more. There is no set equation to get in shape or be healthier, so hunt for a strategy that makes you happy. Maybe you like being outdoors and eating organic, healthful foods. If so, go for it. Maybe you like lifting heavy weights and eating a great deal of protein. If so, go for it. You don’t need to run 10 miles a day or eat 1 exact way to earn your health, when you find a strategy that you like go ahead and implement it, then enjoy the ride 9. Know that it is All a Decision: Your health boils down to one thing, YOU. Are you willing to work for it? There is a reason why fad diets don’t stick around very long. They don’t work. Either your weight loss isn’t sustainable or dangerous side effects develop. You need to eat a bit better and take care of your body a bit better to get healthy. Once you have made the decision, and made it for real, you will gain the energy and the will power to achieve your goals 10. Remember why you want to be healthy: There are difficult times during any journey and this journey to better your health is no different. When you feel like you may lose your way or when you don’t have the motivation you usually have take a second and remember what you are working toward. When you get healthy and learn how amazingly your mind and your body can feel you will want that feeling all of the time. It is worth it, your motivation loss is only a temporary phenomena, so wait it out and come out even better on the other side The holidays are about family and happiness. There is no better time to begin to make these positive changes to your mind and your body. You should begin to feel more energetic, sleep better, look better, and work better. Whether you give the gift to somebody else or give it to yourself remind yourself that it’s worth it and so are you. Cheers!

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Tom's Golf Fitness Tips November 9, 2009 Off Season Golf Training Off-Season Golf Fitness Training Program Overview The off-season is officially here and now is the perfect time to review how you played this year. Did you play to the level you wanted to or know you could have? If so, what did you do that allowed you to reach your goals. If not, what was holding you back? Knowing exactly what is keeping you from reaching the next level with your golf game is a critical step for outlining your off-season golf improvement plan. Are your limiting factors technical, physical, mental/emotion or is it a mix of the three? Knowing the answer is the difference between having the same game and making significant progress next year. August 17, 2009 Latest for Sun Fitness Golf Tom Completed another certification. Archives August 2009 November 2009

QUICK GOLF TIPS FOR RESTORING MUSCLE IMBALANCES   The golf swing relies upon core strength, endurance and proper engagement in seeking elements of stabilization, control and coordination. Core conditioning is very important for a golfer because all movements in your entire body stem from the strength in this area. Wherever you find a weak core, you find a major source of energy leaks in the golf swing. As a golf biomechanic, my focus is on looking for areas of poor flexibility and muscle imbalances which effect the mechanics of the golf swing and create opportunities for the body to break down in injury. Each of these situations presents possibilities for improvement in your swing as well as keeping the body in an injury free state. When the body is out of balance, this means some muscles are shorter than normal and some muscles are longer than normal. When muscle length is less or more than optimal, swing mechanics are altered. According to Paul Chek of the Chek Institute, there are five factors which influence the flight and destination of the ball. Club face alignment  Swing plane  Angle of attack/impact Club head speed  Hitting the sweet spot Unfortunately, many golfers experience limiting physical factors which prevent them from achieving accuracy and consistency regarding these five factors. Below are some examples of a common swing fault and how they may be affecting your current swing. Tight hip flexors are a common reason for loss of distance off the tee in addition to limitations in achieving a full backswing because of restrictions in trunk rotation. Short and tight hip flexors are a known source of lower back pain where the low back muscles tighten while hamstring and abdominal muscles lengthen. You see, everything has a cause and an effect within the body. Tight hip flexors limit a golfer's body in trunk rotation which ultimately leads to compensations at the shoulders, elbows and wrists. It is important to clearly understand where the chain broke down in the first place so corrective action can be taken. Follow these quick golf tips to restore optimal rotation in the joints which most affect the golf swing. Contact a TPI certified golf biomechanic for a personal analysis of your golf specific strengths and weaknesses. Begin using exercises and stretches which primarily focus on your weak links. Follow a continuum of flexibility, stability, strength, then power in developing your body for better golf.