Student Fitness Journey: Sore Muscles

During your fitness journey you’re always going to run into those after workout pains. These muscle pains from working out are when the muscle fibers are injured during physical activity. The body then sends a message to the immune system to send white blood cells to repair the damage. Don’t be alarm this is a positive reaction for your body and this is when you know your body is changing. This pain you feel 72 hours performing physical activity is called delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS).

There are some trips to relieve this pain a little and to help you to stick with you fitness journey. Your body is not a machine and needs a break to heal the injuries. The best solution for this would be just to rest. This is why a lot of fitness programs have each day focus on different muscle groups. This means that the certain muscle groups have a certain amount of days to repair themselves.

The second method of relieving this pain is the Ice, then Heat trick. Take some ice and put it on the sore area, give it some time and then when you feel ready, warm up the area again. Apply the ice again if your muscles feel uncomfortable.

The last and the most important thing I want to add are to stay motivated. Though you’re in pain, hopefully it’s the good kind of pain where your body is changing. While enduring this pain keep in mind this most famous quote.

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/546694842237620035/

Student Fitness Journey: Adapt to Healthy Eating

During my Student Fitness Journey I've been facing a problem quite frequently. When it comes to the new healthy eating part of the life style I find it easier to commit to the workouts than to a new eating plan. Here are something I've kept in mind while trying to control my eating habits.

The best thing that will keep you on track for healthy eating is to stay motivated. When you’re motivated and excited about your fitness goals it makes it easier to resist temptation. Create an eating plan and try your ultimate best to stay mentally strong to resist those bad for you goodies.

To avoid those goodies that are bad for you here are a couple of ways you can avoid temptation. Make sure you eat five times a day, and not just big meals all day, but snacks. Snacking for me personally has been the greatest thing. Since I've been working out more and eating healthier I find that my body gets hungry every 3-4 hours depending on what I eat. My body is always hungry and this shows that my body is always working. The bad part is when I haven’t eaten anything for 6 hours then those horrible temptations come back.

The most important element to make you stay focused on your eating plan is to reward yourself. By rewarding yourself with achieving smaller goals it won’t feel like a lifetime until you reach your fitness goals. I hope that this will help you as it has me on our own personal guide to healthy eating.

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/389279961512270485/

Student Fitness Journey: Gym Bags Are Awesome

I never thought I would say this but I've actually purchased some gym stuff for my fitness journey. I've recently just bought myself a gym bag and I’m very happy with my purchase. Workout bags for women at least to me symbolize more than just having another cute bag to put your stuff in. When you buy a gym bag it shows that you’re ready for a commitment with your personal fitness goals and exercise programs. Before you bought the gym bag you were bringing your clothes in another kind of bag. Once you realized that you needed a gym bag because it’s quite annoying when you have to fit it all into one bag, especially when the clothes are sweaty.

The ultimate best thing about having a gym and how it helps with our work out plans is that the bag is that you can bring some essentials with you without having to leave some at home. Some examples of essentials would be some shower shoes and some accessories for a more pleasant and clean experience when using the provided showers. Some another good thing to bring with you now that you got this new and fancy bag is to bring along some extra snacks and a reusable water bottle. Since your bag can fit it now a reusable water bottle will not only save you money but also keep you hydrated all day long. Ever finish working out and feel like you can eat a cow? Now with your new bag you can bring along some nutritious and delicious healthy snacks so you to eat after your workout.

The bottle line is that gym bags are wonderful and buying one is not only adding another accessorize to your daily wardrobe, but also increasing your commitment to your fitness goals.

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/234609461809550660/

Student Fitness Journey: Rational Goals

I have been on my student fitness journey for 4 weeks now and it’s taken me day by day to get use to this new healthy lifestyle. I have come to the realization that my fitness goal of losing 20lbs is going to be a slower process then I imagined.

There is this wonderful quote I've come across over and over again. This quote states,

                        “It takes four weeks for you to notice your body changing.
                                    Eight weeks for your friends to notice
                              Twelve weeks for the rest of the world to notice.”


I could not imagine anything else being truer. Being on my fourth week of fitness training I feel like I've defiantly gotten stronger. I can jog for a longer period of time, my stomach isn't as big as it was at the beginning, and I’m getting stronger overall.
When I first started tracking my fitness goals it was only about losing the 20lbs. I've come to the understanding that the only way to obtain the main fitness goal by having smaller objections to reach along the way. Now I’m tracking my fitness goals by a weekly period. If I can stay committed and work out for an hour per day for four days that to me is a success. I have to remember that at one point I was not doing any physical activity at all and now I’m doing four days out of the week, though I have not lost my 20lbs yet I still have something to be proud of. Now my fitness goals are divided in the three month period that the quote has stated. I've overcome the first month and still have two months left to go for the rest of the world to notice.

Picture is originally from http://twitpic.com/c988p4 !

Student Fitness Journey Motivation

Fitness Quote of the Day

The difference between WANT and NEED is self control.

Student Fitness Journey: Music Always Helps

During my student fitness journey I've learned how music truly always helps the hard way. If there is one piece of advice I can give you through-out your own personal fitness journey, it’s to use music as your working out. When I first started my journey of a women in fitness I felt like I didn't need music, I would just listen to the radio that they played in the gym. Little did I know what I was truly missing in my daily workout.

When I would do my 20min 5.0km jog it would start off pretty easy. I would start the clock and for 10 minutes I would think about some of the stuff I need to get off of my to-do list. Once I finished about that I would start thinking about other things to make the time go by. At about half way into my run I would have ran out of things to think about and this is when I began to get tired. I would begin to look at the timer more frequently than the first half of the jog and was hoping for it to be done as soon as possible.

It has been said that when music is used during the time of physical activity, it can reduce the exhaustion levels and can boost the physical workout. During my fitness women journey I find this to be very true since when the music is on I’m not focused so much on what I’m doing but what my song is actually playing. The music is like a small distraction that is used your benefit to make the workout more worth it for you. Just always remember that music really does always helps. 

Sweat Is Gross

I’m on my second week of my Student Fitness Journey! When I would go and do my couple of jogs I would sweat quite a bit. Since I’m a young female this idea of sweat to me is pretty gross and very uncomfortable. While I’m running I get very self-conscious and a little concerns that everyone is looking at me since I’m sweating so much. To make the feeling even more awkward is the ratio of males compared to females in the gym is pretty high.   

While my visit to the gym yesterday a sudden thought came to me. I was doing my 20 min jog and once again I was sweating as I always did. Since I had 20 min I decided to think to myself about this very topic.

Since I’m a female doesn't mean I can’t sweat. Women are supposed to be more elegant and graceful in every way. When it comes to the gym, I personally feel a woman who breaks a sweat is a real woman. If you go to the gym and don’t sweat it’s a waste of your time. While going through my Pinterest account there was this really neat shirt that said “Sweat is the Fat Crying”, and is it ever true.
Check out my Pinterest account to see the T-Shirt!
http://www.pinterest.com/fitnessj/fitness-attire/

Did you know you have around 2-4 million sweat glands. The body uses the sweat glands to regulate body temperature. When I go for a job for 20 min and my body is producing sweat to cool down my body since I’m increasing the temperature. If you think that a woman who is sweating is gross or icky, just remember it’s going to happen anyways so might as well work it! 

Student Fitness Journey: Proper Focus

During this Student Fitness Journey there has been one thing that I have kept in mind that has helped me keep going with my daily workouts.

Like many of you I’m a very busy person, I have a work life, a school life, and a social life. When you start to get involved in all of these different parts of your life your to do list starts to get longer and longer. Before you know it, you don’t have time for anything other than getting items off of that to do list. For me personally it got to the point where I didn’t have any time to work on myself.

I realized while I was working out yesterday that all of the sudden I have this extra time to add fitness into my hectic schedule. It seemed a little strange at first but then I thought about it, but then it started to make much more sense.
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It wasn’t like all of the sudden I suddenly had more hours in the day. What really happened was that I started to make sure I had at least an hour a day to work on myself. At Humber College we have a workout facility on campus and no matter what time I always ended up going for at least an hour. No matter how late I finished my classes or assignments, I always go for a one hour workout.
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How I look at it now is why can’t I just put everything else on hold and spend an hour on me. I work extra hard with everything else I take on but then I never have time to work on myself. Therefore I have come to the conclusion that nothing and no one is more important than you. When you have that really long to do list it should always be you at the top of it. You should always be putting the most effort into ensuring you spend time on yourself to make yourself better so that you can do a better job on all of the other things you take on.   

Fitness Trainer: Day One

I finally met with my fitness trainer. Her name is Abi and we had already met previously at a couple of workout classes. She is very bubbly and seems like a lot of fun and I'm very excited to work with her. In this meeting we did not do too much but some paper work and talk about my fitness goals.

My personal S.M.A.R.T. goal is to obtain those two ab lines that appears on the stomach. In order to achieve this I'll have to loose 25 lbs. This goal will take me at least the next couple of months in order to achieve it. 

When you first decide to do a student fitness journey you have to create a goal. A S.M.A.R.T. goal is a goal that is Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timed. When you create a goal make sure to keep these five words in your mind. Keeping this in mind will ensure that your goal has the required criteria and will be easier for you to achieve. The thing about fitness goals (for me personally) is that they look like it is going to forever to achieve them. In order to fight this negativity I will be making my end goal of gaining the two ab lines into smaller mini goals. My main goal for this week is to change my eating habits into a much healthier diet.
In order for me to achieve my goal of loosing 25 lbs I will have to do a workout three times a week on my own as well as one with Abi. I will be posting under workouts on what days I do a workout as well as my workout plan for that week.

Please visit me next week to see how my progression is going and feel free to comment! Any advice would be fantastic!

Step One: Breakfast

As my student fitness journey begins I have quickly come to understand how important breakfast really is. Being a student, I wake up a little later and get dressed really quickly then I’m off to start my day. I never use to eat breakfast until I made it to my destination whether it be at work or school, I would just buy it once I arrived.

It was recommended to me to try eating breakfast as soon as I wake up. When I mean breakfast I’m not talking about eggs, toast and bacon. When I say breakfast I’m referring to one that is filled with carbohydrates. A prime example would be cereal which is also what I have been eating lately. 
 

A single bowl of cereal can contain on average 15-30g of carbohydrates. You may think to yourself, well since I am trying to lose weight should I not stay away from carbs? The answer is no! When eating a nice healthy bowl of cereal in the morning it does a couple of things for your body.

For starters, it keeps your metabolism steady. When your first wake up and your body needs energy your body is going to get it somewhere. If you eat breakfast it gives your body a head start at breaking down those carbs and knows it is going to have to work throughout the day. On the other hand, if you don’t consume anything for breakfast, then your body tries to conserve its energy since it thinks it’s going to need it later.

Since your body has received some food it does provide quite the energy boost. I guarantee that you will have a better morning, especially if you’re not a morning person like I am. Eating breakfast also prevents one from binging. Even if you don’t eat breakfast and a couple of calories are saved, you will most likely want to snack on something that is filled with fats and calories to fill the cravings you have from missing the meal.

All-in-all it just seems like a better idea to eat breakfast makes you a happier person on those early days, kick starts your metabolism and prevents you from binging throughout the day (especially on bad things!).

My Fitness Journey Begins

Welcome to my student fitness journey!

My journey begins a year and a half ago when I first decided to go to college. I decided to finally take that leap of faith and see what this whole school thing was all about. The program I have been completing in school is the two-year marketing program. Since I started this program my life as a student has been pretty hectic.

I have to juggle between work,class and meetings and it's a lot of work. As you can see below I have made a schedule of what a week in my life is like. While I have been participating in all of these wonderful opportunities in school and getting the most out of my college experience I forgot about the most important thing, which is myself. Let me explain this.

Being a student has been wonderful but I forgot to take care of myself. I put everything else before I put myself. At the moment I am 145lbs and I am unhappy with the way my body looks. I also don't like when I run out of breath so quickly or get tired after a little bit of physical activity. I have decided to take charge of my life and get myself not only looking, but feeling the way that my body should feel.

To help me along the way I have signed up for a personal fitness trainer. This will ensure that I will work-out at least once a week to help keep me motivated and committed.