Author: tom44

So you’re gonna buy yourself a gym membership?

Great! I have one too!

Having access to a dedicated place to get stronger and train can be really helpful for leveling up your life.  

So if you want a gym membership yourself, I support your decision 100%.

However, there’s a lot to consider when thinking about purchasing a gym membership (click each to go to that section):

• Which gym should I pick?
• What should I do before I sign a contract?
• What are some tips to save money on my membership?
• How do I train in a gym?
• How can I overcome anxieties in the gym?
• Is there an alternative to purchasing a gym membership?

These are great questions!

Let’s make sure you have answers to all six.

And if you’re joining a gym for strength training purposes, make sure you download our massive guide: “Strength Training 101: Everything You Need to Know.” Get yours free when you sign up in the box below:

HOW DO I FIND THE RIGHT GYM?

As part of our Strength Training 101 series, we dedicate an entire article to picking the correct gym. Let’s recap some of it right here for you.

Here’s How to Find the Right Gym:

#1) WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FOR? Picking a gym isn’t as easy as running to the closest one and signing up. There are a lot of things you need to take into consideration. There’s equipment to contemplate, classes offered to compare, and distance from your home to calculate.

It can be a good idea to create a list of things you are after, to make sure the gyms you research have what you need. Want such a list? You got it.

There are also types of gyms to think about. You’ll mockingly hear big-name-chain gyms referred to as “Globo Gyms,” taken from the critically acclaimed masterpiece, Dodgeball.

You can think of Globo Gyms as your standard large franchise like 24 Hour Fitness, LA Fitness, Gold’s Gym, etc. You know, the big commercial gyms.

Oftentimes their price and location make for a convenient membership. I am a member of a Globo Gym. It’s conveniently located and fits my budget.

On the flip side would be a locally owned gym. Something where the owner hangs out and greets everyone. You’ll often find more free weights at such a gym, which is awesome, but it might come at the expense of other amenities like childcare.

These are some pros and cons to weigh.

The other thing to consider would be a CrossFit gym. More expensive, but arguably more of a community setting than you’ll get at a “Globo Gym.” Although they tend to be a little pricer.

Bringing us to…

#2) WHAT IS YOUR BUDGET? How much are you willing to spring for your membership? You might get away with as little as $10 a month. Conversely, a $400 monthly membership is not unheard of.

Although typically a gym membership will run you $30-$50.

To put the cost in context, it can be important to consider the gym’s amenities offered. Do they hold free classes like yoga? A single class can cost $10-$15, so if you plan on attending a few, this can quickly equal the price of your gym membership.

Do they offer childcare? If you need someone to watch your offspring, this alone might be worth the membership. Refer to our list above for some ideas.

#3) HOW IMPORTANT IS LOCATION?  Don’t set yourself up for failure here. If your gym is all the way across town, you may end up less likely to use it.

Consider a location on the way to or from work.

If you have to pass by the gym twice a day, you’re much more likely to stop in.

Might be worth springing more for a convenient location for your day-to-day.

As I mentioned, this entire section on “Finding the Right Gym” was taken from our Strength Training 101: Everything You Need to Know ebook.

It walks you through every aspect of starting a strength training practice, from equipment, specific workouts, and how to know when you should progress to lifting more weight. You can grab it for free when you join the Rebellion below!

WHAT SHOULD I DO BEFORE I PURCHASE MY GYM MEMBERSHIP?

So you’ve narrowed down the type of gym membership you want to purchase.

Before you pull the trigger, do the following:

Get a guest pass.

Some gyms give out free passes for a week or two, some you have to pay for (e.g. $20 for 20 days). Even if you have to pay for it, this is probably the best money you can spend.

After all, you don’t buy a car without test driving it, right?

Make sure you head to the gym at different times of day that align with when you plan on going regularly.

There’s nothing worse than finding a perfect gym, signing a big contract, and then discovering that the gym is so swamped with people after your workday that you can’t even get to the equipment you’d like to use.

During your guest visits there are lots of things to look for.

Questions to Ask When Checking Out a New Gym:

1. Is the equipment in good working order?
2. Is there enough equipment for everyone or are you fighting for a bench?
3. What’s the general vibe of the gym? Does it seem clean?
4. If you’re going before work, are there enough showers available?
5. Did you have to wait to use one?

It’s also never a bad idea to talk to the other members and ask them what they like and dislike about the gym.

You can also read reviews online on sites like Yelp or Google, but remember that people are more likely to complain than compliment, so take all online reviews with a grain of salt.

Nervous about approaching people? Read this.

HOW DO I BUY A GYM MEMBERSHIP?

At this point, you’ve decided to pull the trigger.

Want some potential money-saving tips? I got you.

To Save Money When Buying a Gym Membership:

#1) Join with a friend or family member. Gyms can be sales-driven, so bringing in someone else can make for an enticing offer. They likely have a quota to make, so the more the merrier. It’s worth asking every gym about a family plan.

#2) Join in January (or keep an eye out for specials during the slow months). The start of the new year brings a fitness craze, and many gyms capitalize on this by waiving fees or offering discounts. If it’s near, it might be worth signing up during this rush.

January won’t be the only time gyms offer specials. Google “name of gym deals” and similar items to see if any recent ads show up, as well as check on sites like Groupon and LivingSocial. If you just missed a deal, bring it up to them. They very well may still offer it.

If not…

#3) Haggle. While this can be uncomfortable for some, asking for a discount won’t hurt. The worst thing they’ll tell you is “no.” The best thing that could happen is they’ll give you a free membership.^[1]

While I’m joking on that last part, many people do have success with negotiating gym membership fees, especially at locally owned stores which don’t have corporate oversight.

It doesn’t hurt to ask.

Once you settle on a price, the next step is contract time.

Keep an eye out for the following in your contract:

• An out clause, in case you move, lose your job, etc. Often you can get out of a contract if you move a certain number of miles from the club without a fee, but usually, any other item requires an “early termination fee” to get out of your contract.
• Can you freeze your contract if you go out of town or are on vacation?
• What happens if the club goes out of business?
• Does the membership renew automatically?

Always get everything the salesperson promises you in writing (and remember that most of the time they are working on commission). I’d also suggest that you get a copy of the contract and take it home with you to read before you sign it.

If they won’t let you do that, that’s a bad sign.

Remember, if the salesperson is overly pushy, or you don’t feel comfortable for any reason, walk away. There are a lot of gyms out there that would be happy for your business.

Got your membership? Perfect. Now the fun starts!

HOW DO I TRAIN AT THE GYM?

If you’re worried about what to do at the gym, you’ve come to the right place.

We have an entire guide on “How to Train in a Commercial Gym,” which you should check out. If you’ve never worked out in a commercial facility, it’s a great place to start.

I personally train in such a facility and I wrote about being the only Rebel in a big box store right here. Read it for my personal tips on how to get in, take care of business, and get put.

You can also check out this article to make sure you walk into the gym with the right equipment in order. Be prepared!

Afraid you’ll make a fool of yourself the first time you try and work out with your new membership?

I’m prepared for that too!

I wrote an article “How to not be a newbie at the gym” covering this exact concern.

Jim Bathurst, our head male trainer for Nerd Fitness Coaching, also wrote a sweet article on “29 unwritten rules” for proper gym etiquette. You can check that out right here.

Both should help for the first time you step foot in the gym to train.

What’s that? You have absolutely NO idea what you’re doing in a gym and you wander around like a lost sheep without a shepherd?

You’re not alone! There’s nothing worse than feeling foolish or worrying so much about doing something wrong that you never try in the first place.

Our advice would be to consider enlisting the help of a trainer – if you can afford it – for a few sessions to help you get started.  

If you want full accountability, expert guidance, and consistent instruction, we have you covered there too.  Check out our online Coaching program that might help you too! If you’re just starting out, and have no clue where to begin, we got you covered! We can build you custom workouts, provide accountability so you can follow through and crush them, or help you change your nutrition strategy if you’re trying to lose weight. We work with busy people just like you, helping many of them step foot in the gym for the first time.

Wanna see if we are a good fit for each other? Click on the big image below to schedule a free call with our team:

WHAT IF I’M SCARED OF THE GYM?

If you’re nervous about even stepping foot inside a gym, you’re not alone.

We get tons of emails from Rebels anxious about walking in the door of their local fitness facility.

This is understandable, because stepping foot into a commercial gym to train can be intimidating. The people there all seem to know what they’re doing, making you a potential outsider.

I’ll tell you what I tell all Rebels nervous about walking into a gym:

1. Everybody around you is just as self-conscious as you are. Yes, that super jacked dude. Or that thin (or jacked), fit woman on the elliptical. They aren’t focused on you, because they’re too busy living inside their own head wondering if everybody is thinking about them.
2. Everybody starts somewhere. You don’t have to be strong and fit to train in a gym. You go to the gym to get stronger, more confident, and then you’ll become fit.
3. MOST will applaud you for trying. When I see somebody who is severely overweight at the gym, it makes me happy – they’re trying to better themselves. This is the mentality 95%+ of the people will have.
4. MANY will be too self-focused to even notice you. These are the dudes lifting up their shirt in the mirror to check their abs, doing bicep curls in the squat rack, and/or making sure they take photos to post on Instagram to prove they did, in fact, go to the gym.
5. A RARE few will judge. Though they’re not just judging you, I promise. They’re judging EVERYBODY around you because they can’t help but compare themselves to others. This is no different than in real life. Screw these people, haters gonna hate, Slaters gonna slate.

After explaining these points to a worried Rebel, I then bring up the idea of “20 Seconds of Courage.”

It’s something Coach Matt brings up in the video “How Not to Be Scared at the Gym!”

Our lives are a series of decisions.

And each individual choice really doesn’t take that long to make – less than 20 seconds. Once you make that decision, you set yourself on a course with no way off, until you make another decision.

You don’t have to be courageous for a full hour. 20 seconds will be enough to walk into a gym.

I want you to use 20 seconds of courage to enter any local fitness facility. From there, you can start thinking about actually purchasing a membership.

WHAT IF I DECIDE THE GYM ISN’T RIGHT FOR ME?

Hey, I get it. The gym can suck.

If you want to get a membership to start working out, great!

But if it’s not your bag, don’t sweat it.

There are tons of other options outside of the gym:

• You can start doing bodyweight exercises from home.
• You can start doing an at-home yoga practice.
• Like the outdoors? Start working out there!

There’s is nothing, written anywhere, that says the only way to get fit is in a commercial gym. And if it is written, it’s just some sales propaganda.

Do what’s best for you.

However, if you DO want to start working out in a gym, follow the tips laid out in this article:

• Scope out some different facilities
• Try out a guest pass or two
• Have a workout plan prepared when you enter to train.

What kind of plan should you have?

Welp, these are the tools we’ve created to help you CRUSH the gym:

1) Our popular 1-on-1 coaching program. No more guesswork, no wondering if you’re doing the right program, no shame or guilt. Just results that don’t suck, and a plan that doesn’t make you miserable. 

We keep you accountable to make sure you actually do your workout, we answer any questions you have, and we cheer you on every step of the way:

Expert accountability and support in your pocket. Learn more about our Coaching Program and App

2) If you want a daily prompt for doing workouts at the gym (or at home), check out NF Journey. Our fun habit-building app helps you exercise more frequently, eat healthier, and level up your life (literally).

Try your free trial right here:

3) Join the Rebellion! Our free community numbers in the hundreds of thousands scattered throughout the globe, and we need good people like you!

You can join by signing up in the awesome yellow box below, and I’ll send you a bunch of free guides and printable workouts, including our Strength 101 guide! 

Alright, I think that about does it for this article on buying and using a gym membership.

Did I miss anything?

Do you have any advice for someone just stepping foot in the gym?

Let me know in the comments!

-Steve,

###

All photo sources can be found right here.^[2]

The post Buying a Gym Membership: 6 Things to Consider Before You Purchase first appeared on Nerd Fitness.

from Nerd Fitness: Helping You Lose Weight, Get Stronger, Live Better. https://ift.tt/RVObphk
via IFTTT

If you find yourself struggling to talk with people, or you want to try and meet NEW people, you’ve come to the right place!

Today we’re gonna teach you how to master a conversation, instead of staring at your feet hoping somebody else will come talk to you.

These are the 4 steps you can master to talk to ANYBODY about ANYTHING:

• Step 1: How to Make Small Talk – and Not Suck at It (Human Interaction)
• Step 2: How Do You Talk to Random People (Thoughtful Small Talk)
• Step 3: How Can I Be Good at Talking (Be Quirky)
• Step 4: How Can I Be Fun to Talk To (In Defense of Being Imprecise)
• How Do You Interact with Others (Start Talking)

By the end of today’s article, your friends will need a muzzle to shut you up.

Believe it or not, we actually often work on “social skills” with our 1-on-1 NF Coaching clients.

Many clients are bettering themselves to start dating again, so we work hard to help them level up all areas of their lives.

Trying to improve your life? Learn how a Nerd Fitness Coach can help!

Okie dokie, without further ado, let’s jump in.

Step 1: How to Make Small Talk – and Not Suck at It. (Human Interaction)

The main reason we human folk seek to connect with one another is that it scratches a social itch.

Our social needs are just like hunger and thirst—we eat, drink, and talk to people because there’s a gap between our actual state (hungry/thirsty/lonely) and our ideal state (satiated/quenched/connected).

Your brain is saying, “Dude, mind helping me out a little? I’m not where I want to be.”

The whole idea here is to feel better after than we did before.

You ever talk to people who are in a super sour mood?

It’s kind of contagious, isn’t it?

Unless you happen to be friends with people who can make crankiness charming (such as professional comedians), it’s usually a bit of a bummer.

Let’s not be bummers!

Let’s be those other kinds of people, the ones who leave our conversational partners in good moods after they talk to us.

Engaging in happy small talk isn’t just good for the people we talk to, by the way—it helps us as well. “Fake it ‘til you make it” is more than just a catchy rhyme.

The idea that acting a certain way encourages us to be that way has been around since Aristotle’s time. Take a look at his quote (from over 2,300 years ago!):

“Men acquire a particular quality by constantly acting a particular way.

We become just by performing just actions, temperate by performing temperate actions, brave by performing brave actions.”

Turns out the man knew what he was talking about.

A team led by Fritz Strack showed in 1988 showed^[1] that simply holding a pen in your mouth in a way that simulates the muscle movements of smiling makes cartoons seem funnier than when you hold it between your lips like a straw; other studies have shown^[2] that merely crossing your arms can make you more persistent!

So the next time you’re feeling surly and looking for a change, challenge yourself to talk to someone in a more upbeat way and see if that helps shake it off.

I’m not suggesting you bop around like sunshine and fairy dust, but isn’t it powerful to realize that by simply chatting with another person in a positive way, you can walk away from the conversation with both you and them feeling better off?

(Feel free to give a little mental fist bump to Aristotle when you see how well this works.)

Step 2: How Do You Talk to Random People? (Thoughtful Small Talk)

Good small talk adapts in real-time, thoughtfully and attentively applying to whatever is happening in the moment.

This may sound overwhelming at first, especially if you like to plan things to say out in advance. The trick is to take a step back and pick one thing, anything, on which to focus your attention.

There’s a finite list of what this thing will be:

1. Whether it’s sunny, rainy, or snowy, that’s weather.
2. Whether it’s a street parade, an art exhibit, or a hot tub limousine driving by, that’s scenery.
3. Whether it’s someone with crazy shoes, a guy doing back handsprings, or a woman swinging from a chandelier, that’s people.
4. Whether it’s a cute baby, a fluffy puppy, or a cool book, that’s belongings.

See how all of a sudden you can imagine having one or two prepared responses that can still perfectly apply to even the most novel of situations?

Now, this may only get you as far as your first or second line within a conversation, after which you may need to start coming up with stuff in the moment.

But the same logic of “step back/pick one thing” applies here too, and will help you keep from getting overwhelmed or panicking about what to say.

Here’s an example of small talk:

You: “I think I literally saw a cat and a dog raining down from the sky today.”

Them: “Ha! I know, right? I thought it was supposed to be spring.”

You: “It must be really tough to be a weatherman. You’re either stating the obvious or you’re a liar.”

Them: “My cousin is a weatherman.”

Curveball! You haven’t prepared anything about weatherman cousins! But this is interesting and novel enough to justify a conversational tangent all its own (and could fall under the category of jobs, if you wanted to add it to your earlier list). Try a simple question.

You: “Oh, interesting. How’d he or she get into that?”

Before you know it, you’re having a unique conversation, not banal “small talk”.

You’re also learning things about your conversational partner (and they about you), which will help you build from one-off conversations with strangers to consistent friendships and relationships with people.

Challenge yourself to identify these “one things” (weather, books, back handsprings) as you’re out interacting with people.

Use the comfort of a prepared line to open with if you like, but with the goal of finding something interesting that’s happening in that moment to comment on. Your conversations will instantly be more thoughtful, and the people you’re talking to will feel it, too.

Step 3: How Can I Be Good at Talking? (Be Quirky)

My cousin Kim met my fiancé for the first time a few months ago.

As soon as we all sat down, she said to him, “Tell me every single thing about yourself, starting from birth, and ending with right now.”

I thought it was just about the greatest thing I’ve ever heard.

If my friend Jess is at someone’s house for the first time, she’ll say, “If I were the bathroom, where would I be?”

She gets the answer– and a chuckle.

My friend David struck up a conversation with a cute girl in Jiffy Lube by asking her if she thought the guy in the waiting room looked like a beagle.

He called me to thank me for introducing him to his girlfriend.

These examples all have in common the theme of turning awkwardness into awesomeness. They’re about being confident, not being smooth.

Sometimes dialing up the awkward dial can be just what everyone needs to loosen up a little, like when my friend Mike starts his presentations at work by saying, “If I seem incredibly nervous, it’s because I am indeed incredibly nervous.” It’s a bold strategy, to be sure, but it can be incredibly refreshing.

There’s something undeniably fun about someone who says, “I’m hugely overcaffeinated right now, so I may pass out at some point. How was your weekend?”

In short, don’t feel pressure to rigidly adhere to some abstract notion of what small talk should be, losing all of your own delightful personality in the process. You’re a member of the Rebellion, after all!

You challenge conventional wisdom and embrace the weird every day– let small talk be no exception.

Step 4: How Can I Be Fun to Talk To? (In Defense of Being Imprecise)

Remembering the little things? Sweet. Remembering every little thing? Creepy.

I happen to be in possession of a frighteningly good memory; I remember specific conversations (as well as where they took place, and what we were wearing) with people who couldn’t pick me out of a lineup.

I’m absolutely the person who goes up to people and says, “You’re a chiropractor? We sat next to each other on a plane from L.A. to San Francisco about a year ago, right?” Yes, right… but it didn’t matter. The dude was thoroughly creeped out, and I couldn’t blame him!

I’ve had to learn to hold back a little (okay, a lot) and not spew forth with every single thing I remember about my last conversation with someone the next time I see them.

Instead of: “how was that conference you went to in Phoenix?” go with, “You were going out of town when I saw you last, right?

Instead of: “Is your upper left molar feeling any better?” go with, “Hey, how’s it going?”

Like a good hairdo or pocket square, it sometimes takes a bit of effort in conversation to make it seem effortless, but it’s far preferable to freaking people out.

Take your time.

With each conversation, you’re watering a healthy plant, not dousing a fire. 

In fact, leaving a bit unsaid is probably the best way to ensure future conversations, and give you something to talk about next time!

Besides, when you’re imprecise, you allow the other person to narrow in on a topic that they are comfortable with, rather than forcing them to talk about their upper left molar!

How Do You Interact with Others? (Start Talkin’)

With these four keys in mind, you’re ready to start small talkin’.

Challenge yourself to approach one person a day and strike up a conversation, even if it’s brief.

Like everything else we do in life, good social skills can be learned, developed, honed, and improved. 

Though, it’s really tough to practice unless you commit to TRYING it out.

And who cares if the conversation goes poorly?

Failure is awesome.

Odds are you will NEVER see that person again in your life, and your life is no different now than it was 5 minutes before the conversation.

Of course, the opposite could be true: you could meet somebody awesome.

And there’s only one way to find out which outcome you’re gonna get.

If you’re feeling really rusty, give it a shot with a friend or family member and ask for a little feedback afterward.

If you’re feeling bold, approach someone you wouldn’t normally talk to. If you draw a blank, ask a question.

Breathe, smile, listen.

Most of all, remember why you’re doing this, and remind yourself that you’re not imposing on someone by having a pleasant conversation with them—you’re making their day a bit brighter, and you should never be made to feel bad about that.

As always, I’m very interested to hear what you think, and how these lessons feel when you take them out for a spin.

We all crave regular social interaction; you might be surprised by how easy being good at small talk really is!

What are your major hangups with small talk?

Where do you plan to give these tricks a try?

-Lindsay Miller (good friend of Steve, and the Relationship & Social Skills expert of Nerd Fitness!)

PS: Like developing your social skills, getting healthy can be really intimidating, which is why we’ve built services and products to help you overcome the chaos and feel confident in the actions you’re taking every day:

#1) 1-on-1 Online Coaching: A coach from Team NF gets to know you better than you know yourself and builds a workout program and nutritional strategy that fits your busy life, your body type, and your goals.

#2) If you want an exact blueprint for learning new skills, check out Nerd Fitness Journey! Our fun habit-building app helps you exercise more frequently, eat healthier, and level up your life (literally).

You can even join our private community of nerds, many of whom are also trying to improve their social skills!

Try your free trial right here:

#3) Just want to learn more about what we do? That’s great too! Grab your free Nerd Fitness Starter Kit by clicking in the box below and I’ll send it right over!

###

Check out Lindsay on Twitter @RellimYasdnil or send questions/comments at LoveAndDatingAdvice@gmail.com.

photo source:  lego small talk, happy, thoughtful, mw3016chi © 123RF.com, catchyimages © 123RF.com, storm trooper

The post The 4 Step Plan to Talk to Anybody (About Anything) first appeared on Nerd Fitness.

from Nerd Fitness: Helping You Lose Weight, Get Stronger, Live Better. https://ift.tt/3IlXczA
via IFTTT

So you’ve hit a workout or weight loss plateau the size of a…well, an actual plateau, eh?

Have no fear, our step-by-step guide will get you back on track! (Plus, the most badass Bruce Lee quote you’ll ever read).

Whether you’ve stalled in your weight loss journey, strength training, or some other fitness benchmark, today we’ll tell you exactly how to keep progressing by sharing with you the exact tools we use with our coaching clients.

A Nerd Fitness Coach can design you a program to keep progressing! Learn more here.

Don’t lose morale. Together we got this!

We’ll cover:

• What is a plateau?
• How do I know If I’ve hit a plateau? (3 ways to tell)
• Why am I plateauing? (4 reasons why)
• Is a plateau normal? (The Dip)
• What should I do when I hit a plateau? (Setting Personal Records)
• 5 tips and tricks for overcoming a plateau

Alright, let’s do this thing.

What is a Plateau?

A plateau occurs when you stall out on progress despite continuing to do “all of the right things,” usually including:

• Eating right
• Exercising properly
• Getting adequate rest.

And so on.

Our bodies go from losing weight consistently to getting stuck at a certain number.

Or we go from building muscle and getting stronger, to having a week or two where we can’t seem to lift anything heavier.

We call this point in our training “The Plateau,” and we don’t like being stuck on them.

As we learned in a previous article on happiness, humans (nerds especially) are happier when we make progress.

When we work hard for something and don’t see progress, we get unhappy.

How Do I Know If I’ve Hit a Plateau?

I get a lot of emails from people who tell me they’re stuck on a plateau.

They talk about how they’ve been eating right, exercising, and getting enough rest and they can’t seem to make progress!

They throw their hands in the air, freak out, get discouraged, and give up or quickly move on to the next plan that they hope will work.

When somebody comes to me saying they’ve plateaued, my first response is always:

“Have you REALLLLLLLLY plateaued? REALLY?”

In a strong majority of the cases, plateaus are really just issues with concentration, tracking, and discipline in disguise. Before you think you have plateaued, consider the following:

1) HOW IS YOUR NUTRITION…REALLY? Oftentimes we think we are being diligent, until we realize that after a few weeks of eating great we’ve started slacking. “Oh I’ve been good, just this one time…” and “Hmmm, sure why not” become more commonplace as we start to fall back into old habits. Track your calories for the next week and check your numbers.

And even if you are eating the right amounts of food, there’s this: as you lose weight, your metabolism slows down. This isn’t sabotaging black magic, it’s science.

There’s simply LESS of you that your body needs to maintain.

Here is the estimated daily resting calorie burn (“sit on your ass all day”) of a 35-year old male nerd at 3 very different weights:

• 300 lbs: 2,600 calories.
• 250 lbs: 2,300 calories.
• 200 lbs: 2,000 calories.

You might have hit a plateau simply because you’ve reached an equilibrium of calories consumed to calories burned! This means you need to adjust your calorie intake to continue losing weight.

If you are trying to bulk up, are you eating ENOUGH calories to promote muscle growth? Rededicate yourself for two weeks, track your meals, and see if progress picks back up!

2) HOW ARE YOUR WORKOUTS…REALLY? If you are weeks or months into a workout plan, I bet the initial luster of “NEW! PROGRESS! WINNING!” has worn off.

Have you been skipping that last rep, cutting out an exercise here or there, or getting bored and wanting to go home?

I know when I hit a plateau at the gym, it’s generally because I haven’t been pushing myself as hard as I had been previously. Track your workouts diligently for two weeks and see if these changes kick you back on track.

If you need a tool to track your workouts, check out Nerd Fitness Journey. It’s designed so when you wake up in the morning, you know the exact next step to help you reach your goals.

You can try it for free right here:

3) HOW iS YOUR SLEEP?…REALLY? This is one that most people skip out on. They are exercising, eating right, but for whatever reason, they’ve been slacking on their sleep.

It’s might be too much television…

We all know sleep is important – lack of sleep leads to increased levels of stress, less time for our bodies to rebuild muscle, to recover from strenuous activity, and more.

I know that if I didn’t get a good night’s sleep, then my performance in the gym the next day will suffer.

Can you honestly say you’ve spent two weeks with quality sleep, nutrition, and exercise?

In many cases, we think we’re stuck, and in need of some sort of drastic change or adjustment to kickstart progress again. Now, there are definitely instances where we ARE stuck or stalled, and that’s when things need to change.

However, before we cover the dreaded plateau, let’s get a few things clear.

Why Am I Plateauing?

To start, linear progress cannot continue indefinitely: 

1. If you are learning to squat and you start with just the bar, adding 5 lbs a week (which is how you should learn to squat!), you will eventually reach a point where your body cannot build the strength/muscle fast enough to continually add 5 lbs a week. If it DID work that way, in three years everybody would be squatting 1,000 pounds.
2. You will run into the same issues with weight loss. For example, it’s easier for you to lose 3 pounds a week when you are at 300 lbs than it is to lose 3 pounds a week when you are 150 pounds….there’s more of you to “lose” when you’re bigger and thus progress will be easier. If you could lose 2-3 pounds a week every week forever, at some point you’d disappear, and we don’t want that. Weight loss might slow to 1 pound every other week.
3. Your margin for error gets smaller. When you are at a higher body fat percentage, or just getting starting with training, you can make a lot of progress quickly due to there being MORE of you to lose, or MORE gains to make quickly. As you start to make progress, you can’t keep making big progress without making more and more effort.
4. Adaptive thermogensis. Our bodies WANT to maintain the extra body fat we have (“I don’t know when I’ll need this, better save”), and are actively working in unison to preserve it – so even after a few pounds, it’s going to be a persistent challenge to keep progressing. It’s a subject a dive in deep in the article “Why can’t I lose weight?” If you’ve stalled on your weight loss journey, this might be the problem, as your body is adapting to the body fat being lost.

Your progress at a consistent pace will definitely slow down, which can FEEL like a plateau. 

If you’ve been training for more than a few months, you might need to slightly adjust your expectations. Maybe this week you can only add 2.5 lbs to the bar. Or 1lb. Maybe your muscle-building will crawl to 1 lb gained a month.

It happens to all of us. Even Batman.

Now, if your progress stalls out COMPLETELY or you actually regress, AND you are doing all of the right things, then congrats!

You MAY have plateaued.

Like in games like World of Warcraft, at some point you will stop gaining experience from killing rats – you could spend all day doing so but because you’ve hit a certain level they no longer provide you with value.

It’s time to move on to attacking spiders, then orcs, then dragons.

It’s something Coach Jim brings up in this video on progressive overload:

When you started out, just doing 5 push-ups might have felt like a full workout. Now you can do 50 push-ups for a warm-up and not break a sweat.

Our bodies are constantly adapting and learning to manage the stresses we put on it, seeking the path of least resistance.

Back to our gaming analogy:

If it’s something worth doing, there will most likely be grinding involved, and that’s why I need to talk to you about The Dip.

No not a strength training type of ‘dip’, though those are good to help bust through a plateau too!

You can learn more about how we help build plateau-less workouts at Nerd Fitness by downloading our free Strength Training 101 eBook when you sign up in the box below:

Is a Plateau Normal? (The Dip)

I want to introduce you to Seth Godin, author of The Dip.

We all hit plateaus in our lives and quests for health and happiness. In order to be successful at the task at hand, we need to grind our way through that low point (or flat point) until we can climb out and continue progress.

Here’s a visualization of the dip:

When you first start something new, you can make quick progress, and everything rocks because you see big changes.

However, after a few months, the reward you get from your effort decreases and it seems like you’re rapidly slowing down:

1. In the first few weeks of weight loss, everything is GREAT! The scale is moving, your clothes are getting looser, progress is exciting because it’s coming so quickly. Then, you might have a few weeks where you’re really trying hard and yet…the scale stalls or increases.
2. When building a new running habit, each new run is exhilarating – you rapidly progress from wheezing and coughing after two blocks to now being able to run a whole mile! A few months later, that progress slows, and you find yourself struggling with the same distances and speeds even though you’re doing all of the right things.
3. When lifting weights, the first few months can be life-changing. Squats, deadlifts, pull-ups, push-ups. Every session in the gym is an opportunity to see massive progress compared to the time before, except for that week or two when you walk in and you have to lift less than before! What gives!?

When we hit that dip/plateau where our hard work seems like it goes unrewarded, it’s easy to give up and say, “I’m a failure.”

Not true.

We will all experience a dip when it comes to progress on things that are important to us.

If we want to TRULY be successful, we need to anticipate the dip’s arrival and plan for it so that it doesn’t completely derail us.

Much like grinding out experience points in an RPG, sometimes we need to grind out practice in life, workouts, nutrition, and more…until we can hit that sweet spot for progress again.

So, how do we stay dedicated, focused, and motivated through the dip?

How do we progress during the plateau when we feel like our hard work is a waste of time?

We focus on small wins, and find a way to get a teeny tiny bit better.

What Should I Do When I Hit a Plateau? (Setting Personal Records)

In order for us to crawl out of a dip or off a plateau, we need to find a way to make a small win every day.

Think of these small wins like “a light to you in dark places, when all other lights go out.”

The longer we’ve been training, the older we get, and/or the more advanced we get in our training, the more likely we’ll be to hit plateaus and the more necessary it will be to grind out small victories, prepare for dips, and power through them.

Here’s how you can grind out your own small wins and prove to yourself that you are still progressing when you are in the dip:

1) TRACK EVERY SET, REP, AND WORKOUT. Find a way to be better today in SOME WAY than you were yesterday, and prove to yourself that you are still making progress – even if it’s progress in a different way than you were progressing before.

If you are stuck at 3 sets of 5 reps of 150 pounds on the bench press and haven’t been able to go up to 155 lbs for a few weeks, try 3 sets of 6 reps of 150 pounds.

Or 4 sets of 5 reps of 150 pounds.

Then come back to 3 sets of 5 reps of 155 a few weeks from now, and see if you can do that.

If you wait 60 seconds between sets, try waiting 90 seconds instead and lift a different amount

As long as SOMETHING has progressed in some way – your total amount of weight lifted, decreased time between sets, one extra rep, or one more pound lifted – it proves to yourself that you made progress. Remember, progress makes us happy.

RECORD EVERYTHING.

2) COLLECT TINY WINS. Optimus Prime doesn’t transform with one single movement; it’s a combination of hundreds of thousands of tiny movements that happen rapidly.

We are transformers (Joe especially), and our small changes add up too.

It’s these tiny, small victories that can push us over the edge. Enough small victories and we can reach that tipping point, that end of the dip where progress continues again.

Find a way to set a tiny win in SOME WAY each day that shows you that you are getting better/faster/stronger.

Here’s an example: I have been working on handstand balancing. For the past few months, my progress has stagnated and even gone in reverse on some days (helloooo Dip!).

I continued to work on building the habit of handstands for five minutes a day (Hard Hat challenge for the win!). Progress felt nonexistent, but I knew that my continued dedicated practice was adding up in ways that didn’t make themselves readily apparent.

I had “stalled,” so I focused on getting tiny wins: increasing flexibility in my wrists, staying against the wall as long as I could, practicing my kick-ups, tightening my core, etc.

Despite not being able to balance for longer than 10 seconds at any point in the past, I kicked up into a handstand, without even touching the wall (something else that had never happened before), and I held my handstand for 24 seconds!

I still have a ways to go before I’m holding perfectly vertical handstands for 60+ seconds, but months spent grinding out practice in the dip have paid off.

I made it through the plateau, and my progress has continued rapidly after struggling for months. Those months of struggle were teeny tiny wins in different ways that added up until I hit that tipping point where progress exploded.

3) TRACK OTHER METRICS OTHER THAN THE SCALE. The scale can lie. The scale will DEFINITELY slow down even if you are making progress in healthier ways, simply due to the fact that you have less weight to lose than you did before! You might also be dealing with extra water weight, or bloat, or menstruation, or anything in between.

So, track other things! Here’s what you can track to help keep you motivated while plateauing:

1. Take biweekly photos. Who cares if the scale isn’t moving. Are you looking better? Are you FEELING better? Do your clothes fit better? That is progress.
2. Take measurements. Spend 5 bucks on a cloth tape measure (or one of these), and measure the important parts of your body. Maybe the scale isn’t moving, but you took half an inch off of your waist. Or maybe you added a quarter of an inch to your arms.
3. Track your body fat percentage. A simple caliper is enough to show trends. Remember Saint? His weight went UP but his body fat percentage dropped. Had he only been tracking the scale, he might have panicked during his ‘dip.’ Fortunately, he was tracking more metrics and used that momentum to catapult himself to victory.

The goal is to consistently prove to ourselves that we are moving one step closer to our goal. 

This is exactly the system we used when we built Nerd Fitness Journey.

When you’re working through the app, not only are you doing fun missions, but you’ll see how tasks build up to your larger goal. There’s no getting stuck or frustrated, just log in and work on the next adventure.

If you want, you can sign-up for a free trial right here:

5 Tips and Tricks for Overcoming a Plateau

The above is just the beginning. This will also help you make progress and get out of that dip:

1) Shock your workout. Our bodies crave efficiency, and love to be as lazy as possible, but we truly thrive on chaos. So introduce some chaos into your system!

Note: This is NOT the same as “muscle confusion” (which is a made-up marketing term to sell DVDs). We’re still progressing, lifting more, and doing the same exercises – we’re just throwing in some variation occasionally to help stimulate progress. 

If you do the exact same thing over and over and over, your body becomes more efficient at that activity.

In fact, your body can learn and adapt after doing the same thing enough times so that it burns fewer calories to carry out the process. So mix it up!

• If you are trying to run a faster 5K? Mix in a day of sprints rather than just basic runs.
• Trying to increase your deadlift? Rather than just doing a 1-rep max, do a day of higher volume, or train the deadlift twice a week.
• Want to squat better? Squat with higher frequency. NF Senior Coach Staci followed an advanced Smolov Squat program for 13 weeks (Warning: not for beginners). Your body can adapt and overcompensate by getting stronger.
• Want to improve your upper body strength/size? Try doing a PLP program along with your regular workouts. Starting with 10 total reps of Pull-ups, Lunges, and Push-ups, and every day add a rep, for 50 days.

2) Adjust your diet. Your body can also become quite efficient with calories (not to mention the oft-mentioned but controversial “starvation mode” theory), and can sometimes struggle to progress.

As we lay out in “Why can’t I lose weight?,” if you’ve lost a decent amount of weight, your body now burns significantly fewer calories each day (there’s less of you to manage!) This means you need to adjust your calorie intake!

So, I would start by tracking your intake and determining how many calories you should be eating.

ONLY after that doesn’t work would I recommend the following:

Consider throwing in one day a week of OVER eating, along with days where you are intermittent fasting. Keep your body guessing and see if that shocks your system back into weight loss mode.

Consider adjusting your macronutrient breakdown. Keep your protein intake high, and adjust your carbs and fats. Some people feel better or worse with high fat or low fat, high carb or low carb.

And remember, thermodynamics still rule all: weight loss requires caloric deficits.

3) REST! I’ve heard it said “there’s no such thing as “overtraining, just under-recovering.” Are you getting enough sleep?

Maybe you’re a new parent and trying to maintain your old workout routine on 2 hours of sleep a night.

Or work has you stressed like crazy and it’s causing you to eat like crap.

Rest is such an important part of a healthy lifestyle that it needs to be prioritized too. In the book Essentialism, this is referred to as “Protecting the Asset.”

You are the asset.

If you are trying to do too much, or you’re caught in a plateau, consider a week off, refocusing on sleep and recovery, and come back refreshed.

4) Adjust your goals. Maybe your body needs a new dragon to slay.

Again, nature loves chaos. If you are focused solely on weight loss, you might feel like you have stalled out. So shift your focus. Work on handstands. Or running faster.

Or doing your first pull-up.

Pick a new skill!

Try something different. Give your body a chance to recover and then come back to it.

If you’re solely focused on the scale and it stalls out, it can be depressing. So put the scale away for a month, and instead focus on the process of getting stronger and eating better. Stop stressing and remember to enjoy the game you’re playing.

5) Accept that we have bad weeks. We are complex pieces of machinery.

Sometimes shit happens.

We just have bad weeks and can’t lift enough or we GAIN weight when we expected to lose weight. It doesn’t make you a bad person, it doesn’t make you a failure, it makes you human.

So on days when you feel great, PUSH yourself harder. On days when you feel like crap, scale back the heavy lifting and focus on more reps or better technique.

The greatest predictor of success in our lives is grit (which can be developed). Grit is what you need to slog through these slow weeks. These dips are where we find out who’s truly dedicated. I know you are, and you know you are.

Remember, look for any sign of progress in any way to reveal that “light” at the end of the tunnel.

If you are stuck on a plateau when it comes to strength training, consider working with one of our Yodas in the 1-on-1 Online Training Program at Nerd Fitness! No guilt, no shame. Just somebody to keep you accountable, expert guidance from somebody that knows you, and peace of mind knowing you’re doing the right thing!

How did you break through your plateau?

Here’s that dope Bruce Less quote I mentioned earlier:

“If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there. You must go beyond them.”

-Bruce Lee

Hopefully, I’ve covered everything you need to know about plateaus. What’s that? You were expecting some lame joke about plateaus somewhere?

You know me too well. Okay, how bout this one:

Did you know that a plateau is the highest form of flattery?

Get it?

Thank you, I’ll be here all week.

I want to hear your story:

• Have you successfully busted through a plateau? Leave a comment with how you got out of it.
• Are you currently stuck? If so, what’s ONE SPECIFIC piece of advice you’re taking from today’s article to apply to what you’re going to do this afternoon?

Let’s hear it! I’m excited to hear how I can help.

-Steve

PS: We know starting with this stuff can be intimidating. If you’re looking  to take it to the next level:

• 1-on-1 Online Coaching: A coach from Team NF gets to know you better than you know yourself and builds a workout program and nutritional strategy that fits your busy life, your body type, and your goals.
• Nerd Fitness Journey: a fun app that will show you the path for overcoming any plateau. Sign up for a free trial below:

###

Photo Sources: olegmit1 © 123RF.com, Nattapol Sritongcom © 123RF.com, seeveeaar: success, Stefan Baudy: question, clement127: Eurobasket 2015, Four Bricks Tall: Mountain Biker, JD Hancock: Heroes, Anton Ivanov © 123RF.com

The post 7 Reasons For a Workout or Weight Loss Plateau (& 5 Quick Fixes) first appeared on Nerd Fitness.

from Nerd Fitness: Helping You Lose Weight, Get Stronger, Live Better. https://ift.tt/6OcYTS5
via IFTTT

So you want to learn about functional fitness?

Great!

We create strength, balance, and flexibility workouts as part of our 1-on-1 Online Coaching Program, so you’ve come to the right place to learn about functional fitness.

Have a Nerd Fitness Coach build a custom workout for your exact situation! Learn more here.

Plus, we add sweet LEGO photos for good measure. 

Here’s what we’ll cover to answer the question: “What is Functional Fitness?”

• What is functional fitness and why is it important?
• What are the best functional fitness exercises?
• What is a functional fitness training workout?
• Is CrossFit functional fitness?
• How to build functional fitness (Next steps)

Let’s do this thing!

What Is Functional Fitness and Why Is It Important?

Functional fitness means training your body for everyday activities, and to make daily motion easier and safer.

When we practice functional fitness, it’s for activities like:

• Carrying groceries 
• Picking up small children
• Walking in nature
• Being mobile on the floor 
• Fighting off sharks

Functional fitness seeks to build strength, flexibility, and balance for navigating the physical world and the objects in it.

We do this by replicating and practicing movements necessary in the real world: squatting, pulling, pushing, bending, climbing, walking, and running.

Personally, I like to think of it as becoming “antifragile,” or being able to physically handle the chaos of life. 

So for functional fitness, we prioritize natural movements (squats, pull-ups) over exercises that are done on a machine (leg presses, lat pulldown).

Here’s the rationale: in your everyday life, you probably won’t find yourself in a situation where you have to push weights along a guided track…while seated:

But you’ll probably find yourself in a situation where you have to lift an object from the floor, then raise it above your head, like loading your luggage into the overhead bin on a plane.

So it makes sense to practice:

And this too:

Here, the kettlebell is substituting for an object you may have to pick up and lift during your everyday life: a book, a pet rabbit, a cursed golden idol, etc.

It’s why we encourage free weights instead of machines, because free weights force you to balance and control objects just like you have to in day-to-day life. 

Another thing to consider for functional fitness: “compound exercises.” 

Compound exercises require more than one muscle group working together for the exercise (squats, pull-ups), so they replicate the way your body actually moves. This would be different from isolation exercises like biceps curls, which more or less train JUST your biceps muscles to move one particular way.

Since functional fitness seeks to improve your body’s ability to work as one unit, compound exercises are encouraged!

As they say, variety is the spice of life.

Let’s give you one last example of functional fitness.

Compare running on an elliptical vs going on a short hike:

• Both will get your heart rate up.
• But a hike will challenge your stability and balance as you move over uneven terrain. The elliptical, on the other hand, provides a repetitive motion over and over.

There is a time and a place for both, but it’s important to introduce variety and instability if your goal is to develop all-around functional fitness.

What’s that? You want exact exercises to try? 

You got it!

The 10 Best Functional Fitness Exercises

A functional fitness workout prioritizes natural movements that help us conquer the obstacles and tasks faced in our everyday life.

Here Are the Best Functional Fitness Exercises:

#1) Squats

Squats are one of the most fundamental functional movements in our lives.

Getting off the ground, moving in and out of chairs, and shoveling snow will all be easier after a regular squatting practice. 

Simple bodyweight squats are a great way to get started, but if this is too tough at first, start with assisted bodyweight squats:

Once you get comfortable with a regular bodyweight squat, you can start incorporating weights, like with a goblet squat:

If you build up to a 30-pound dumbbell, this move can replicate picking up a small child off the ground. Practical and functional if you’re a new parent. 

2) Deadlifts

Speaking of picking up stuff off the ground, let’s talk about the deadlift as a part of functional fitness.

Moving furniture, grabbing bags of dog food, and taking a sleeping child to bed are all forms of the deadlift. When you start to incorporate the deadlift into your life, you make all these movements easier (and safer). 

If you’ve never deadlifted before, it can be a little intimidating. A good place to start might be the Romanian Deadlift with very light dumbbells:

If you’re looking for other deadlift variations, or you want to make sure you have proper form, read our full guide with step-by-step instructions on how to deadlift safely.

#3) Overhead Press

The overhead press is another exercise that will provide benefits in daily life:

• Placing a cast iron skillet into a top kitchen cabinet
• Hoisting luggage into the top bin when flying
• Showing off the piece of the Triforce you just scored

Performing the overhead press will not only increase your upper-body strength, but it will also strengthen your core, since you balance and stabilize yourself while standing and lifting. Compare this to the bench press, where the bench itself offers support during the movement.

Again, some lightweight dumbbells are a great starting point if you’re just getting started:

Make sure you read our full guide on how to perform the overhead press for more variations and tips for progression.

#4) Farmer’s Walk

The farmer’s walk is really simple: pick up a couple of weights and walk.

To up the difficulty, pick up more weight. Or walk further. 

Very basic, yet very functional, because most of us carry objects from one place to another all the time. 

When performing the farmer’s walk:

• Pick the weight up with a good form
• Keep a tight posture with your shoulders back
• Take small, manageable steps

That’s it.

The farmer’s walk will challenge your arms, back, shoulders, core, and grip.

Being able to lift and carry heavy objects is about as functional as you can get.

#5) Bear Crawl

When we’re young, it’s a given that we’ll be mobile on the floor.

As adults, eh, not so much. The only interaction with the floor comes from us standing on it. We won’t even sit on it without a chair helping us. 

Not very functional. 

Enter the bear crawl…

To perform the bear crawl:

• Begin in a tabletop position.
• Bring your knees up, so they hover.
• Using opposing arms and legs (ex: right arm, left leg), take a small step forward with each limb. You want to use small steps so your torso is stable, instead of rocking side to side.
• Repeat on the opposite side. 

It’ll look like this:

#6) Walking Lunge

The walking lunge is going to provide lower body strength, as well as balance, for when you come in and out of the movement.

To perform a walking lunge:

• Stand with a shoulder-width stance.
• Step out with your right leg.
• Lower your hips until your back leg’s knee almost touches the ground.
• If you stepped out far enough, your front knee won’t extend past your toes.
• Explode forward and up by pushing off with your back leg and up with your front leg.
• Bring both feet together, and then step forward with your other foot and repeat.

#7) Pull-Ups

When discussing the best functional fitness exercises, we can’t neglect your “pull” muscles.

Being able to lift yourself up is very functional, and may save your life if you’re being chased by velociraptors.

If you can’t quite get your first pull-up yet, an inverted bodyweight row will help you build strength until you can.

#8) Kettlebell Swing

The kettlebell swing is an explosive full-body movement that focuses on building strength with your hip hinge.

How to perform the kettlebell swing:

• Get down into a bent-over, flat-back position and grab the kettlebell with both hands from the handle.
• Swing the kettlebell behind you, then get ready to jump up.
• Jump up (without leaving the ground) and swing the kettlebell up. You should be standing tall at the peak of the movement.
• Reverse the movement and bring the kettlebell back down and behind you.
• Repeat.

If you want more tips for training with a kettlebell (a great tool for functional fitness), then check out “The 20 Minute Beginner Kettlebell Workout.”

#9) Push-Ups

Push-ups, the ole fitness staple. But being able to hold yourself firm in a straight line (don’t sink), while pushing yourself up will create a lot of core strength. And a great functional exercise. 

Plus, you can add some variation to level them up, creating a more dynamic exercise. 

For example, you can do dive bomber push-ups:

#10) Step Up

It doesn’t get much more functional than going up steps. Life doesn’t always provide us with elevators.

If this seems too easy, start mixing weights into the practice:

BONUS: #11) Handstands

On the one hand, handstands are really tough. On the other hand, the amount of strength and balance required to perform handstands are central to functional fitness.

And…ah…you need both hands to do it…unless you’re Luke Skywalker:

We have a full guide that will walk you through getting your first handstand, from simple wrist stretches:

All the way to handstand push-ups:

Are you doing these moves correctly? A good way to check would be to record a video of yourself and match it against the gifs and videos here. If they look close, you’re doing great!

The other option would be to have a trained professional review your form, which we can do in our 1-on-1 Online Coaching Program!

Our spiffy mobile app lets you send a video of your training directly to your coach, who will provide feedback so you can perfect your technique.

They’ll also build a workout program that’s custom to your situation, which can improve your functional strength!

Have a Nerd Fitness Coach build you a functional fitness workout and check your form! Click here to learn more!

What Is a Functional Fitness Training Workout?

Now that we’ve gone over specific functional fitness exercises, let’s pull them together!

Let’s pull a video to do so!

How to Build Your Own Workout :

As Coach Staci mentions in the vid, for a beginner just getting started, we’d recommend doing a full-body routine, two to three times a week.

A full-body workout will need to include:

• Quads (front of your legs).
• Butt and hamstrings (back of your legs).
• Chest, shoulders, and triceps: (“push” muscles).
• Back, biceps, and grip ( “pull” muscles).
• Core (abdominals and lower back).

Since we prioritized compound exercises in today’s post (because they are more aligned with functional fitness), our muscle groups will overlap when we build our routine.

That’s a good thing.

Using the exercises covered earlier, our Functional Fitness Workout could be:

• Quads: Bodyweight Squats
• Butt and hamstring: Deadlifts
• Chest, shoulders, triceps: Push-ups
• Back, biceps, and grip: Pull-ups
• Core: Bear Crawl

That’s it! If you start doing this once a week you’ll be well on your way to building functional fitness.

If you want to do this twice a week, maybe switch out some exercises:

• Instead of push-ups, try the overhead press
• Instead of squats, try lunges
• Instead of pull-ups, try bodyweight rows

One important point: no matter what routine you pick, always warm up first!

It can be simple arm circles:

Or some jumping jacks:

Warming up is important because we want your muscles engaged and loose before we jump right into our training. So warm up for about 5 minutes before jumping into your workout.

As long as you include your warm-up, you can now start your training.

If you want more help building a functional fitness practice, I have a couple of resources for you:

1. How to Build Your Own Workout Routine: our guide will walk you through building your own training practice. We’ll teach you what exercises you should do, how many sets and reps you should perform, and how often you should work out. It’ll help you start performing functional fitness exercises today.
2. Our 1-on-1 Online Coaching Program: if you want a more customized approach for your exact situation (kids, an old injury, you turn into a werewolf once a month), then check out NF Coaching. We’ll build you an exact plan of attack on how to become a functional fitness master.

Have a Nerd Fitness Coach guide your functional fitness training! Learn more here.

Is CrossFit Functional Fitness?

CrossFit claims to support “functional movements” by using “safe, effective and efficient movements similar to those you use every day in life.”

So yeah, that does sound like what we’ve been talking about this whole time.

The difference with CrossFit is the intensity. It’s something we highlight in our Beginner’s Guide to CrossFit.

CrossFit does promote functional fitness. It’s why you’ll see people carrying sandbags, flipping tires, and wielding sledgehammers at CrossFit gyms:

But the intensity is another noteworthy aspect of CrossFit. Workouts are done in a group setting, with people cheering you on.

While this can be great for motivation, it can be less great when trying to move at your own pace and train with proper form.

Now, this is a generalization, and all CrossFit gyms will have their own characteristics and culture.

If you’re curious, it doesn’t hurt to walk through the door of your local CrossFit gym – just make sure you read our Crossfit Beginner Guide first. I’m sure they’d love to see you and show you around.

How to Build Functional Fitness (Next Steps)

We’ve covered a lot of different ways to increase and build functional fitness.

But our article barely scratched the surface:

• Gymnastic rings would be a great way to promote functional fitness.
• Working your way towards your first handstand is fun strength practice.
• A yoga routine could also be considered “functional.”
• A hike would be a great way to prepare for traveling through natural landscapes.

Also, let’s not get close-minded here. Being strong will help you navigate the world in front of you, so in that sense, any form of strength training could be considered “functional fitness.”

So would parkour, which has you traveling through urban landscapes:

Just find something you like and get started!

The more you do, and the more variation you include (barbell training, yoga, and hiking), the more functional fit you’ll be.

This is how you become “antifragile.”

Now, all that’s left to do is start:

Want a little help getting going? The perfect next step on how to begin your functional fitness journey?

No problemo!

Here are 3 options to continue with Nerd Fitness:

Option #1) If you want step-by-step guidance on how to get strong, lose weight, and level up your life, check out our killer 1-on-1 coaching program:

Our coaching program changes lives. Learn how!

Option #2) If you want a daily prompt for functional fitness workouts, check out NF Journey. Our fun habit-building app helps you exercise more frequently, eat healthier, and level up your life (literally).

Try your free trial right here:

Option #3) Join the Rebellion! We need good people like you in our community, the Nerd Fitness Rebellion.

Sign-up below and receive our free guide Strength Training 101: Everything You Need to Know. It includes step-by-step instructions for the Best Functional Fitness Exercises covered in today’s guide. 

Alright, enough from me. Your turn:

Do you practice functional fitness?

Do you have any specific exercises you cover?

Any tips or tricks for someone just getting started?

Let me know in the comments!

-Steve

PS: Strength training would be a great way to promote functional fitness. If you’re not sure where to start with your strength training journey, start here.

###

GIF Source: Bear Crawl, Batman vs Shark, Triforce, Indiana Jones, CrossFit, Chest Press, Parkour

Photo Source: “I’m Batman,” Wandering, Strongman, Scenes from an empty lot in Brooklyn, vol 1., Antonio Guillem © 123RF.com

The post The Ultimate Guide for Functional Fitness: Exercises and Workout Plans first appeared on Nerd Fitness.

from Nerd Fitness: Helping You Lose Weight, Get Stronger, Live Better. https://ift.tt/D8KCm4a
via IFTTT

You’re here to learn about supplementing with creatine.

Perhaps you’re wondering: what exactly does creatine do? Should I take creatine to get strong?

We weigh the pros and cons of different supplements as part of our 1-on-1 Online Coaching Program, so you’ve come to the right place to get the lowdown on taking creatine.

Should you take creatine? If so, when and how much? Let our coaches help you decide!

Here’s what we’ll cover in today’s guide:

• What is creatine?
• What does creatine do? (An introduction to ATP)
• What are the benefits of creatine?
• Is taking creatine safe? (Is creatine bad for your kidneys?)
• How to train on creatine
• Common mistakes when taking creatine
• What is the best creatine to take? (Brand recommendations)
• How much creatine should I take?
• When should I take creatine?
• Should I supplement with creatine? (Next steps)

It’s a lot to cover, so let’s jump right in!

What Is Creatine?

Creatine is a naturally occurring substance found in muscle tissue.

Right now you have creatine, specifically creatine phosphate, in your body. All vertebrate animals do.  

Yes, even corgis.

Think of creatine as an energy reserve your body taps into when it needs a boost. Or like an extra energy tank in Metroid or Mega Man.

Our bodies naturally produce creatine in our liver, pancreas, and kidneys.

We also obtain it from certain foods, because all vertebrate animals contain creatine in their muscles.

So if you eat meat, you are getting extra creatine in your diet. Red meat in particular (beef, lamb, bison), has the highest levels of dietary creatine.

(Don’t eat meat? Cool. Read our plant-based guide.)

Outside of diet, people often supplement with creatine. It’s one of the more popular supplements taken, and in fact, is THE most popular supplement taken amongst college athletes.^[3]

The reason people supplement with creatine:

The more creatine you consume – whether through nutrition or supplementation – the more will be found in your muscles.

Why should you care? What does creatine do, exactly?

What Does Creatine Do? (An Introduction to ATP)

Science time! To discuss supplementing creatine with any justice, we need to talk about ATP.

All cells rely on adenosine triphosphate (ATP) for energy. It’s our body’s energy currency.

Sort of like “Mana” in World of Warcraft or Magic: The Gathering, ATP is a fuel tank for doing awesome things like running, doing pull-ups, or summoning lighting.

But much like “Mana,” ATP can be replenished only so quickly by your body. With intense enough exercise, you’ll use more ATP than your body can produce. Which means you’ll run out.

It’s why people can only sprint at 100% maximum effort for a short amount of time. You just plain run out of juice, or ATP.

Depending on how you are exercising, your body will replenish its ATP through one of three ways:

• Less than 10 seconds, for exercises like short sprints or heavy lifting, ATP is replenished with creatine phosphate stored in muscle tissue.
• 30 seconds to 2 minutes, for activities like swimming a few laps, ATP is replenished with glycogen found in your muscles.
• Greater than 2 minutes, ATP is replenished with oxygen and glucose. You can think of endurance activities for this stage.

I get it, there’s a LOT more to it than that (The three systems often blend into each other, so it’s not so clear cut).^[4]

Why I bring all of this up: your body can quickly convert creatine to ATP (in seconds).

This means the more creatine you have stored in your muscles, the longer you can utilize the phosphagen system – short and intense energy – to produce ATP.

It’s math:

• The more creatine you consume, the more will be found in your muscles.
• The more creatine you have in your muscles, the longer you should be able to sprint at max effort (or lift heavy, etc.).

Granted, there’s a point where your muscles become saturated with creatine and your body can’t hold anymore.

We’ll talk about dosage and absorption rates shortly. But first…

What Are the Benefits of Creatine?

There is good evidence to suggest that creatine supplementation does, in fact, allow for longer periods of intense exercise by helping to produce more ATP. ^[5]

One such study found that supplementing with creatine for 28 days allowed users to increase their bike sprint by 15% and bench press performance by 6%.^[6]

This is generally why people supplement with creatine. If you can produce more energy for more intense exercises, you can workout harder.

• Instead of stopping at 10 reps because of exhaustion, perhaps you can squeeze out that 11th rep if you are storing more creatine.
• Normally you slow down your sprint at 10 seconds, but now you keep going until 12.

If you’re looking to improve physically, being able to achieve one more rep or just a few more seconds of a sprint can be critical.

Creatine has a boatload of other benefits too:

#1) Cell signaling. Creatine has been shown to increase satellite cell signaling, which helps your body communicate its “needs” better. I personally picture a little cell crying out “help me, I’m broken” when thinking about cell signaling. However, improvements in cell communication can have an impact on muscle repair and growth.^[7]

#2) Cellular hydration. Creatine helps your muscles retain water, which helps them work more efficiently.^[8] Hydrated muscles perform better than dehydrated muscles, so creatine as a performance enhancer seems appropriate.

#3) Muscle growth. Creatine supplementation has been shown to increase the hormone IGF-1, which is needed for muscle growth.^[9] In fact, the International Society and Sports Nutrition states “Creatine monohydrate is the most effective ergogenic nutritional supplement currently available to athletes in terms of increasing high-intensity exercise capacity and lean body mass during training.”^[10]

Don’t get thrown off by the “creatine monohydrate.” We’ll talk about types of creatine shortly. Just know that creatine has been shown to aid in muscle growth.

#4) Brain health. While not technically a muscle, your brain stores creatine. Can more stored creatine help with brain health?

There is research and evidence that suggests some conditions like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and epilepsy can all be helped by supplementing with creatine.^[11] A creatine supplement might also help with memory and cognition in the elderly.^[12]

Also, I have to highlight this study linking creatine supplementation with working memory and intelligence.^[13] This makes sense because your brain also uses ATP, which remember, creatine helps produce.^[14]

All of these studies are going to lead to a natural question…

Is Taking Creatine Safe? (Is Creatine Bad for Your Kidneys?)

The use of creatine has been “extensively studied,” which makes my job of recommending it easy.^[15]

The International Society of Sports Nutrition analyzed over 500 studies on creatine usage and concluded:

“There is no scientific evidence that the short- or long-term use of creatine monohydrate has any detrimental effects on otherwise healthy individuals.”  

However, we should acknowledge there is anecdotal evidence that taking creatine can cause: ^[16]

• Kidney damage
• Dehydration
• Diarrhea
• Upset stomach

Kidney damage would be the most serious of these, let’s talk about that specifically for a moment.

Again, no study has been able to verify the claim of organ damage, and kidney function with creatine supplementation has been looked at specifically.^[17]

However, if you have a history of kidney problems, it might be a good idea to talk to a doctor before you start supplementing with creatine. Better safe than sorry.

The other concern would be dehydration and diarrhea, which actually might have an easy cause and solution.

I mentioned earlier that taking creatine can help with muscle hydration. Because your muscles are holding onto more water, this leaves less water for other places. So if you start taking creatine, you should also increase your water intake!

Shoot for 16-18 ounces of water (a half-liter) for every 5 grams of creatine you take. We’ll devote an entire section to dosage in just a moment.

It should also be noted, that being dehydrated puts extra stress on your kidneys. It can also cause diarrhea.

Drink water.

How to Train on Creatine

The reason creatine is so popular is because of its impact on athletic performance.

For you to receive most of the benefits of supplementing creatine, you’ll need to work out. The creatine won’t lift that barbell for you.

The interesting thing about creatine: nearly any type of physical performance has been linked to improvement when combined with creatine supplementation.

For example…

Supplementing with creatine has been shown to improve:

#1) Strength training. If you’re looking to grow strong, you need to lift heavy. Taking creatine has been shown to increase muscle strength.^[18] In other words, taking creatine can help you lift slightly heavier or slightly more.

If you do this consistently, you could start to achieve gains faster than you would without creatine supplementation.

This is the number one reason people take creatine.

#2) Endurance. Despite creatine’s popularity for strength training, it can also be used as a tool for endurance athletes. That’s because creatine has been shown to increase glycogen stores.^[19] If you remember our example from earlier on different metabolic ways to replenish ATP, you’ll recall that glycogen is a medium to long term energy source.

Meaning the more glycogen you have, the longer you can run. If you’re looking into improving an endurance sport, creatine might be worth checking out.

#3) Recovery. Creatine has been shown to help reduce inflammation and muscle soreness.^[20] Shorter recovery times, means you can get back to training sooner. More gym time can equal a stronger you.

No one likes being overly sore. Creatine may help a little here.

When you start to learn more about creatine, it makes sense why so many athletes take this supplement.

However, I do need to mention that a majority of the benefits of creatine supplementation kick in with the conjunction of a regular exercise practice.

Supplements must be combined with a good solid workout! You don’t get big muscles or faster speeds from only protein and creatine.

They need to be combined with a proper training program!

If you’re not quite sure how to get going, I’ve got a few resources for you.

• The first is our Beginner Bodyweight Workout. It’s a circuit – where you quickly go from one exercise to the next – that you can start doing tonight in your living room or basement or spaceship. It’s one of our most popular routines here at Nerd Fitness, and it’s something you can do from your own home. No gym required. Or…
• Follow our 6 level Gym Workout Program if you DO have access to a gym. It’ll help you get started with strength training.

If you want someone to help guide you – and hold you accountable – we can help with that too!

A Nerd Fitness Coach can guide your weight training! Learn more here.

Common Mistakes When Taking Creatine

So far this article has more or less come out as an advertisement for creatine supplementation.

While there are a lot of great benefits of creatine, and not much in the way of studies showing harm, we need to talk about one potential downside.

Bloating.

Since creatine helps you retain water, you might feel a little bloated after taking it. Granted, hydrated cells perform better. But it can still be uncomfortable and cosmetically unappealing to hold onto a bunch of water.

The dosage and timing of taking creatine might be a factor, which we’ll talk about soon.

However, if bloating continues to the point that it’s interfering with your life, stop supplementing with creatine.

Speaking of creatine challenges, there’s also the fear that taking too much creatine could upset your stomach.^[21]

We’ll get to proper dosage of creatine in just a moment, which might solve this.

It should be noted, that certain types of creatine are sold as “anti-bloating” and “easy on the stomach.”

Let’s talk about types and brands of creatine right now, by looking into these claims.

What Is the Best Creatine to Take? (Brand Recommendations)

Creatine actually exists in multiple forms. We’ll go over each one briefly, plus give our recommendation on which type to take.

We’ll then leave you with a brand or two to try out.

First, some different types of creatine:

#1) Creatine Monohydrate is the most common, and thus the most studied form of creatine.

It’s essentially a creatine molecule and a water molecule combined.

This would be the form of creatine we recommend. When we discuss the benefits and safety of creatine, we mean creatine monohydrate, because it’s the form that ends up being used in research.^[22]

If there is a downside to creatine monohydrate, it would be that your body might have trouble absorbing all of it.^[23] Which means you can pee a lot of it out. When people sell other types of creatine, they’ll generally claim their version has a better absorption rate.

#2) Creatine Ethyl Ester is thought to be absorbed into the body easier than creatine monohydrate. There may be some evidence that this is true.^[24]

However, when it comes to body composition, creatine monohydrate still looks to be superior.^[25]

#3) Creatine Hydrochloride is another form of creatine that is touted as being absorbed easier than creatine monohydrate. You’ll also see claims that it won’t make you bloated.

Early evidence may back some of the claims of better absorption rates, but I would hold off on this form of creatine until more studies are done on its safety.^[26]

#4) Buffered creatine attempts to solve the stomach issues that are anecdotally reported as a side effect of creatine consumption. This form of creatine is mixed with an alkaline powder, with attempts to make it easier to digest. So far studies on the results of these benefits are mixed.^[27]

Again, for now, I’d avoid buffered creatine until the research concludes its safety.

Hopefully, I convinced you to stick with creatine monohydrate. Again, it’s the most tested version of creatine there is, which makes it the most recommended.^[28]

Want some recommendations on brands?

The brand of creatine monohydrate I personally take: Bulk Supplements.

• dotFIT is another good brand for you to check out.
• MyProtein also carries a good choice.

Both of those are creatine monohydrate options.

If you are going to take creatine, take creatine monohydrate. This leads to the next question…

How Much Creatine Should I Take?

The question “How much creatine should I take?” will lead us to the topic of Creatine Loading.

The theory on Creatine Loading goes like this:

At first, you’ll want to take more creatine so your muscles start storing it in greater quantities. Then you can taper off, as your muscles will already be saturated to their max with creatine phosphate.

Studies have shown this is the most effective way to increase creatine levels in muscle.^[29]

Note, your results may vary, though the strategy below is well researched. Do what works best for you! I’m no doctor, nor do I play one on TV.

Here’s how to Creatine Load: 

• For 5 days, consume 20 grams of creatine per day to ‘load’ your muscles.
• After this period, then you can go to 3 to 5 grams of creatine per day.

If you’re concerned about taking 20 grams of creatine a day (more is not necessary or beneficial), the other strategy would be to just take 3 to 5 grams of creatine a day. In three to four weeks your creatine stores will be full.^[30]

If you have stomach issues with 20 grams a day, forget about loading. Stick to 3 to 5 grams a day and you’ll be fine.

This is the strategy I employ: 5 grams of creatine on training days mixed in a small amount of water, consumed like a shot, immediately following my workout.

This leads us to…

When Should I Take Creatine?

Studies demonstrating the best time of day to take creatine are mixed.

When it comes to “Should I take creatine before or after my exercise?” this study showed it didn’t really matter.^[31]

It might be up to your personal preference on whether to take creatine before or after your training.

However, there is evidence you should take creatine somewhere close to when you exercise.

One study split subjects into two groups.

• The first supplemented with creatine immediately before and immediately after their exercise.
• The other took creatine first thing in the morning and again at night.

The experiment found the first group gaining the most muscle and strength.^[32]

I would recommend taking creatine either before or after your training practice. Maybe split your intake and do a little bit of both. Take a mixture with you to the gym, start drinking it before working out and finish it right after.

On rest days, when you take creatine matters less. The point of taking creatine on a rest day is to keep the creatine phosphate content of your muscles raised for when you do workout next.

Take it whenever it is convenient on rest days. But take it close to when you work out on a training day.

Should I Supplement with Creatine? (Next Steps)

You don’t need to supplement with creatine.

If you’re eating a varied diet that includes a little bit of meat, you’ll be consuming and building plenty of creatine.

Our stance at Nerd Fitness: if you have a healthy diet, you don’t need to worry about any kind of supplementation. Eating nutrient-dense foods like vegetables, fruits, and meat will provide you with all you need to thrive.

However, if you are strength training and looking to maximize your gains, a creatine supplement might be worth looking into.

• There’s decent evidence in support of it allowing people to increase their athletic performance.^[33]
• All the downsides of creatine don’t appear to be supported by the data.^[34]

To be fair, more long-term studies will be welcome on the safety of creatine supplementation.^[35]

And just to be safe, if you have any history of kidney trouble, make sure you talk to a doctor first before you start supplementing with creatine.

Okay, I think that about wraps up the article on creatine.

…still here? Perfect!

I have some great recommendations on where you should head from here. A perfect next step as you progress on your fitness journey:

#1) If you want step-by-step guidance, a custom weight training program that levels up as you get stronger, and a coach to keep you accountable, check out our killer 1-on-1 coaching program:

#2) If you want an exact blueprint leveling up your nutrition, check out Nerd Fitness Journey! Our fun habit-building app helps you exercise more frequently, eat healthier, and level up your life (literally).

If you follow our Nutrition missions, you’ll learn to eat healthier while earning XP! Sah-weeeet.

#3) Join The Rebellion! We have a free email newsletter that we send out twice per week, full of tips and tricks to help you get healthy, get strong, and have fun doing so. 

Sign up in the box below to enlist and get our guide, Strength Training 101: Everything You Need to Know. 

Now I want to hear from you:

Do you have experience taking creatine?

What results did you see?

Does it sound like I’m being sponsored by the supplement industry?

Or am I not praising creatine enough?

Let me know in the comments!

-Steve

PS: If you’d like to learn more about our stance on the supplement industry, make sure you read “What Supplements Should I Take?”

###

GIF source: Lab dog, Muppet, Simpson’s Doc, Bunny, Wayne, You Do You.

Photo source: Evgeniy Losev © 123RF.com, Creatine Powder, Gandalf, Sprint, scientist-minifig, New Years Resolutions, Stomach Ache, Teaspoon, Measuring Cup, Clock, Running

The post The Ultimate Guide to Start Taking Creatine (What is Creatine?) first appeared on Nerd Fitness.

from Nerd Fitness: Helping You Lose Weight, Get Stronger, Live Better. https://ift.tt/sCK2wIG
via IFTTT

All of us have plenty of stress in our lives.

After the last couple of years, your stress level may have quadrupled.

If you find yourself responding by “stress eating,” know that you are not alone.

One of the top issues faced by clients in our 1-on-1 Online Coaching Program is emotional or stress eating. And yep, the global pandemic only made it worse.

You’re not alone in this. Learn how a Nerd Fitness Coach can help.

Today, we’re going to show you exactly how we address emotional eating with our clients, including when it’s – GASP – actually okay to stress eat. 

Here’s what we’ll cover in today’s guide:

• What is stress eating? (a video from NF Kitchen)
• What causes stress eating? (Lesson #1: Playing Detective)
• How do I stop mindless eating? (Lesson #2: The Stress Response Menu)
• How common is stress eating? (Lesson #3: Learning Self-Compassion)
• Is it ever okay to stress eat? (Next steps)

Let’s jump right in.

What Is Stress Eating? (A Video from NF Kitchen)

The above video from Coach Justin comes from the Nerd Fitness Prime “Mindset” video series. 

Justin covers three important lessons I want to highlight, but before we do that, we should ask ourselves a question: 

“What exactly is stress eating?”

Stress eating is consuming food in response to negative emotions like fear, anger, or sadness.

When we stress eat, food is being used to solve a problem. Now, unless we’re actually hungry, it’s likely a problem that food itself isn’t meant to solve.

That’s stress or emotional eating.

Here’s what compounds the whole problem: stress eating itself can make us feel guilty. We often feel terrible once our spoon hits the bottom of the pint of ice cream.

This can drive more negative emotions, which can trigger even MORE stress eating.

And the pattern continues.

We’ll talk about ways to break this cycle in a moment, but before we do, we need to create some tools to identify it in the first place. 

What Causes Stress Eating? (Lesson #1: Playing Detective)

You may have been surprised in our video above when Coach Justin gives permission to stress eat.

Counterintuitive and seemingly counterproductive, I know. But this is going to be important for two reasons.

How to Approach Stress Eating:

Step #1: we need to curb the guilty feelings about stress or emotional eating. 

I started this guide off by highlighting the frequency of stress eating amongst our Online Coaching clients. 

You are not the only one struggling with this.

Most humans do.

And robots with human-like emotions and taste buds

We’ll come back to this idea again, because ending the shame of emotional eating will be critical for moving forward. 

Step #2: allowing ourselves to stress eat will help us learn why we do it.

We’re going to be playing detective here, to see if we can piece apart your actions and routines.

At the end of the day, our lives are a cumulation of habits. Stress eating is one such habit.

So let’s learn about it!

To do so, we’re gonna record some Emotional Eating Notes. 

During an episode of stress eating, it’s important to ask:

• What am I doing?
• What am I feeling? (Both physically and emotionally)
• What am I thinking about?
• What time is it?
• Where am I?
• Who am I with?

Also, gauging these at different times can be helpful too.

How is your stress looking:

• An hour or two before the eating episode?
• Right before it?
• During it?
• Right after it?

The purpose of these Emotional Eating Notes?

To look for patterns!

Perhaps you’ll notice some of the following:

• “After my recent Tuesday morning conference call, when I got grilled by my company’s leadership, I grabbed some chocolate chip cookies. This happened the week before too.”
• “Around 2pm, when I get the ‘afternoon slumps,’ I normally grab a Coca-Cola. This little boost gets me through the end of the day. This is almost a daily practice.”
• “Last Sunday evening, when thinking about the start of the workweek, I had a couple glasses of wine. When looking back at my notes, this takes place at the end of most weekends.”

We’re looking for patterns to help us understand what drives our stress eating. 

The most important thing about this process: withholding judgment.

We’re looking at our notes for clues into our psyche. Whatever we captured is okay.

If you order pizza every Thursday after talking with your overbearing mom (of course, she means well), step one is to recognize it.

Oftentimes, this awareness step alone can help shift behavior. “Oh, I’m reaching for a beer like I normally do after ending my workday. Typical Me.”

After creating some notes on what spurs our emotional eating, it’s time to think about some alternatives for coping with stress.

How Do I Stop Mindless Eating? (Lesson #2: The Stress Response Menu)

After documenting what sets off our stress eating, we need to formulate a plan on what to do when our anxiety rises.

That means it’s time to build…a Stress Response Menu!

Our Stress Response Menu will be a list of actions or activities you can do to de-stress outside of eating.

Ideally, you’ll do them before an eating episode, but they can be done during or after the fact too.

In other words, if you only realized you were stress eating when your hand reaches the bottom of the Doritos bag, no problem, you can do your stress response activity right then. 

The purpose of the Stress Response Menu is to reward yourself with a small moment of self-love, whenever your anxiety levels are too much.

Examples for a Stress Response Menu:

• Close your eyes and take five deep breaths (Coach Justin’s go-to move)
• Drink a large glass of water
• Take a short walk
• Go listen to one of your favorite songs
• Do a quick stretching routine
• Write in your journal
• Play with your dog
• Shout at the sky

The more the activity from your Stress Response Menu can match your personal goals, the better. 

In other words, if you’re trying to build muscle, some push-ups might be the perfect de-stressor. 

Just make sure it’s something you won’t dread doing. 

A combination of a “de-stressor” and a “reward.”

This is important, as Coach Justin mentions that many of his clients only reward themselves with food. The self-love they practice only takes place in the kitchen. 

Our menu above will help us develop some more options, not solely based on food.

To make the most of your Stress Response Menu:

#1) Make the activities short and easy. 

You should feel confident that you can do every item on your list. So avoid activities that will take longer than 10 minutes to complete. 

Also, set yourself up for success by hacking your Batcave:

• If you’re going to journal when stressed, keep your diary open on your work desk.
• If you’re going to drink water before any emotional eating, keep your full glass  near you. 
• If you’re going to take a short walk, keep your kicks near the door.

Don’t set yourself up for failure by picking overly complicated or burdensome activities.

#2) Place your Stress Response Menu somewhere visible. 

Once you make your list, print it out and place it in your kitchen or pantry (or wherever you typically stress eat). 

You could also write out a couple of your favorite activities and attach them to your refrigerator. 

If it’s right in front of you, it’ll be harder to ignore (however, it’s okay to ignore it from time to time, as we aren’t striving for perfection).

Just please don’t write it and then stick the list in the junk drawer that opens to another dimension.

You never can find anything in that drawer.

#3)Track your usage of the Stress Response Menu. 

This will help us in two ways:

• First, by tracking your usage, you’ll start to feel better about using the SRM. You’ll see an accumulation of all the times you successfully deployed a stress response, helping you visualize the momentum you’re building. 
• Second, the data will help you understand your patterns of emotional eating. Maybe five deep breaths steered you away from ice cream but the large glass of water did not. You can then use this information to update and revise your response plan.

For the first point, Coach Justin has his clients keep a “Jar of Awesome.”

Every time they have a small win in the day, like taking five deep breaths instead of chugging soda, they place a marble or small token in a jar. After a while, the jar will have a decent amount of marbles or “small wins” in it.

This will then stand as a visual reminder of all the progress being made, proof of their ongoing wins.

Want to start a “Jar of Awesome” with a NF Coach? Learn more here!

How Common Is Stress Eating? (Lesson #3: Learning Self-Compassion)

The American Psychological Association has found that about a third of Americans respond to stress with food.^[1] 

This research was done BEFORE our global pandemic.

So if you find yourself binging in response to the stress of our global pandemic, know that you are not alone here.

Our coaching clients, and the NF Coaches themselves, have all found themselves turning to food and alcohol for comfort during quarantine. 

Heck, recently I mindlessly devoured an entire tub of Animal Crackers too. It was only when the bag was gone did I understand what just happened.

Many of us, even fitness “experts,” are prone to stress eating.

Now, don’t take this as a free pass to stress eat. 

If the behavior goes against your goals, it’s something we want to work towards improving.

But there’s a reason they call it “comfort food.” Food can often be used to make us happier, pandemic or no-pandemic. 

At the end of the day, we’re all emotional bags of meat on this floating hunk of space rock, and we’re doing the best we can. 

Give yourself a bit of a break, my friend.

You’re here, you’re reading, and you’re trying. That’s great!

This will bring me to my last point with our handy guide:

Is It Okay to Stress Eat? (Next Steps)

There are times when food is the perfect response to stress.

It’s something Coach Justin mentions in his video.

“Stress eating” might be appropriate if: 

• After a long workday, a glass of wine with cheese helps you unwind.
• To celebrate the coming of the weekend, you have an ice cream party on Friday night.
• The week already seems long, and it just started, “Taco Tuesday” might help you survive until Friday.

The important thing here? 

“We are making a choice.” 

We are choosing to deal with stress or anxiety with food. By making it an intentional activity, we can remove the guilt around emotional eating.

Food can be fine as a reward, as long as it’s us controlling the behavior, and not the food itself.

In addition, if we can recognize the action (or plan for it), we can then adjust our calories before and after and not go off the rails. 

(You can calculate your recommended total daily calorie intake here, by the way!)

If it seems like you aren’t quite there yet, start with your Emotional Eating Notes and your Stress Response Menu.

Even just the process of taking notes on specific episodes of stress eating may be enough to slow down the behavior.

Remember, no matter what happens:

• You are not a bad person if you stress eat.
• You are not a bad person if you forget to take notes.
• You are not a bad person if you ignore your Stress Response Menu.

You are not a bad person (unless you’re a Death Eater, but come on, you know what side you’re on). 

If you need any help along the way, we are here for you.

We have three specific paths to continue with Nerd Fitness:

#1) Our Online Coaching program: a coaching program for busy people to help them make better food choices, stay accountable, and get healthier, permanently.

As I said before, “stress eating” is the number one issued faced by our coaching clients, so we know exactly how to help recognize and address the habit.

You can schedule a free call with our team so we can get to know you and see if our coaching program is right for you:

Our coaching program changes lives. Learn how!

#2) If you want an exact blueprint leveling up your nutrition, check out Nerd Fitness Journey! Our fun habit-building app helps you exercise more frequently, eat healthier, and level up your life (literally).

If you follow our Mindset missions, you’ll learn to de-stress while earning XP! Sah-weeeet.

Try your free trial right here:

#3) Join the Rebellion! We need good people like you in our community, the Nerd Fitness Rebellion.

Sign up in the box below to enlist and get our Rebel Starter Kit, which includes all of our “work out at home” guides, the Nerd Fitness Diet Cheat Sheet, and much more!

Alright, I want to hear from you:

Have you been stress eating more over the last year?

Do you have any tips or tricks to interrupt the pattern?

What’s your favorite way to de-stress?

Let me know in the comments!

-Steve

P.S. Make sure you check out A Nerd’s Introduction to Mental Health for more.

###

Photo Source: Plant LEGO, beer5020 © 123RF.com, Programmer, On the couch, LEGO hot dog stand, 

The post How to Stop Stress Eating: 3 Uncommon Tools for Ending Emotional Eating first appeared on Nerd Fitness.

from Nerd Fitness: Helping You Lose Weight, Get Stronger, Live Better. https://ift.tt/qVojWaz
via IFTTT