We're Not Judging You

I see it all the time.  New people at my gym.  I've only worked out there for 6 months, but you start to get used to the regulars.  Then there are the "periodicals"-they come in here and there, you usually see them at least once a week, but probably not daily.  Then there are the newbies.  Most newbies are obvious because they're nervous-they're not just new to this gym, they're new to ANY gym.  They aren't sure how to work the equipment, they don't know which cardio machines are in front of which TV's running the stations they like to watch, and they have NO idea what to do when they get into the weight room-you can FEEL their intimidation.  You can't always tell which ones will become regulars and which ones will drop out quickly, but there are warning signs, and I'm sad to say, they are so avoidable and preventable.  The biggest red flag?  How they nervously look around and tug at their clothing and walk with their shoulders hunched and head down, eyes on the floor, silently begging "PLEASE DON'T LOOK AT ME."

I usually only see these folks once.

Work It Circuits

Another thing people often want to know is *exactly* what my workouts look like.  It's never enough to tell people I do 30 minutes of cardio 5x/week and 3 weight-training sessions 3x/week.  People want specifics.  I get that.  When I was first starting out, I didn't know enough about exercise to mentally fill in the blanks, and it was frustrating and intimidating not to be told *exactly* what to do.  Unfortunately, I can't actually write workouts for everyone on the planet.  One, I'm not a personal trainer, and two, my workouts are choreographed by me, to challenge myself.  I have no idea how much weight *you* can lift, how many reps *you* can do, how long is too long for *you*.  Some of the moves I do, you will not be able to pull off.  Others, you will be able to do that I have not yet attained the strength to accomplish.  But if what you need is a general idea of what a good workout should look like, here are three different sets for you to use as a starting point.

On Nutrition

Ok, I haven't posted in a million years, and sorry about that.  Life gets in the way.  I always have all these grandiose ideas, and then they just don't play out b/c I can't fit it all in the way I want to!  Perfectionism and procrastination go hand in hand; if you can't do it perfectly, you don't want to do it at all, so you put it off.  Better never than half-assed!  But I digress.

As usual, I'm getting a lot of the same questions from people and it's time that I put them in writing to share for all to see.

So this week's top question is about nutrition.  People don't want to just know the basic facts about what to eat (calories, number/frequency of meals, carb/protein/fat ratio, etc.), people want to know what *I* ate to lose all that weight.  After all, if it worked for me, it has to work, right?