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Welcome to all our new subscribers, and I extend my appreciation to everyone who forwards this newsletter to friends. One friend telling another is how we grow, and I deeply appreciate your support. If you know anyone who might like it, please forward this newsletter to them or send them this link: http://www.FitnessMovtivatorNewsletter.com

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IN THIS ISSUE:

1. Greetings from the Editor
2. Article—Working Smart: 4-Easy Ways to Get Fit, Faster!
3. Article—Losing Weight by Finding Time
4. Article—Finding The Right Exercise Intensity
5. Inspirational Quotes
6.Web Sites Worth A Look

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Dear Fitness Friends,

We tend to find ourselves busier all the time. We have goals and best of intentions, but we seem to keep finding excuses not to do what we need to do to obtain our goals.

In this issue you will find articles which focus on making the best of your time, in order to achieve your fitness goals.

Stay healthy and happy!

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"All motivation is self-motivation. Your family, your boss, or your co-workers can try to get your engine going, but until you decide what to accomplish, nothing will happen."

~~Seth Godin

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Let's face it, getting and staying in shape can be a costly investment. And, if you're not careful, its greatest cost is the one commodity you could use the most of: time (keeping
monetary costs in check is another volume, entirely). Yet, even many seasoned exercisers often have difficulty changing their bodies with regular workouts. And worse, many think the more hours spent training heavily, the better the result. Not true! Often this break-neck pace leads only to fatigue, burnout, and injury.

What most people also may not realize, there are several, easy ways to redistribute your time and create `smarter' workouts. These common sense, turbo-chargers cost little or no money, will help change your body in a positive way, and all without giving up a lot of time.

Here, I've given you four simple strategies that can help you turbo charge your workout (and your body), too:

1.) Warm Up and Cool Down Sufficiently. In short: take 10. Strive to take 10 minutes before heavy exercise to get blood flowing with light aerobic activity (walking, or a series of slow arm and leg circles) to get the large muscle groups moving and prevent injury. At the end of your workout, try to opt for 10 minutes of light stretching, aiming at the major muscle groups: arms, back, chest, and legs. This will help re-absorb lactic acid (metabolic waste that builds up during exercise and can lead to soreness).

2.) Drink More Water. Just eight-8oz. glasses of water per day will carry away waste and toxins from your body. It will also help keep you cool during exercise and replace the fluids lost during your workout (you will usually lose 1 liter per 1-hour workout).

3.) Get Adequate Rest. The body requires a sufficient amount of sleep for rest and tissue repair (usually around 7-8 hours per night for the healthy person). Sleep also provides the body time to lower levels of bacteria in the body. It actually stimulates the immune system! If you can't get your eight hours, try to take a quick 10-20 minute power nap sometime during the day.

4.) Go Easy on the Starchy Carbs. Try to "balance" starchy carbs (cereals, breads, white potatoes, rice) with protein and veggie alternatives.

My own personal case study: Even though I'd been exercising for years, I couldn't shake the extra 10 pounds I'd gained in college. I exercised for about an hour every day rotating my routine between cardio and resistance training. Did I need to exercise more? I wondered. Maybe, but I couldn't fit another hour into the day. So, I took a good look at my diet. What I found was, every day I was loading up with starchy carbs! Lots of cereal and toast. Lots of potatoes and white rice. Resolve: Just by balancing my meals with egg whites, sweet potatoes, green leafy veggies, and lean meats, I lost what remained.

If you could use a Jump-start in you workout or haven't seen changes in awhile, these four ideas are well worth your consideration. Plus, just by changing one small thing, you could make quite a difference in your shape. It will add a new element of vigor to your workout! So, reap the big rewards of these small changes, they will pay dividends on your investment.

Laura Turner, Certified Personal Trainer has developed a series of health fitness and nutrition tips available at www.1brand-new-body.com In 21 days you can create healthy new you, let her show you how! Subscribe to her free newsletter *Fitness Focus* Send a blank email to: mailto:hiperformbody@getresponse.com *Plus get her free report: 7 Steps to a High Performance Body*

Copyright 2003 © Laura Turner

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"Shoot for the moon because even if you miss you'll still fall among the stars."

~~Unknown

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Losing Weight by Finding Time

by David Junno Psy.D.

I have had a number of people ask me, how can they make changes in their diets when they have such busy schedules and so many things to do. The answer is- you cannot make successful changes to improve your health, without devoting time and effort to the task. We've all seen the advertisements for programs, diets, and devices that will help us lose weight and get in shape- even while we are sleeping! The unfortunate fact is, there are no quick fixes that are going to help us meet our goals and maintain them over time.

One Hour a Day

Ann Mary Kearney-Cooke Ph.D., a psychologist specializing in weight loss and control, estimates that we need approximately one hour a day to do the work necessary to successfully lose weight, and maintain the loss over time. One major reason people are not successful with diet plans, is that they are not devoting enough time to preparation and carrying out their plans.

What this means is that before we can even consider starting a diet to improve our health, we first need to find the time. Skipping this step is not optional if you wish to be successful. Tim Gallwey, author of The Inner Game of Work, observes that we can not manage time, we can only manage the things we use our time to do. So if changing our diet is important to us, we need to change some of the things we do to create the time necessary to be successful.

Where might we find the time?

* Look at what you spend your time on now, are there things that actually make your efforts at dieting less successful you could eliminate? For example, what about shaving off some couch potato time in front of the TV and devote that time to menu planning for the week or doing a physical activity.

* If you eat out a great deal, think about spending one hour a week meal planning and one hour a week shopping for those meals. These two hours will result in big time and money savings over the course of a week.

* If you have a lot of people putting demands on your time, maybe you can delegate tasks to others or let people know you are no longer available to do certain things.

* Sit down with a friend and brainstorm your schedule and the demands on you. Others can often see areas of potential flexibility we do not.

* Simply set aside an hour each day, for the different tasks you need to do to maintain your diet program, and see what gives. Chances are you will discover a few low priority tasks in your schedule that you can put off.

Things you will need time for to successfully make diet changes:

1. Researching the foods you can eat, and how much.

2. Menu planning

3. Shopping

4. Meal preparation

5. Exercise

6. Periodic review of what is and isn't working about your diet program and making adjustments.

7. Reading, talking to people who are supportive to your efforts, or participating in group programs to help you continue to develop your knowledge and sustain your efforts.

This may feel like a lot of work, and it is. However, if we want big results we need to put in a big effort. Over time these efforts will become habits and take on a life of their own. So take the time to get it right, you are worth it!

Remember, having the right diet and getting enough exercise will not only improve your health—IT WILL IMPROVE YOU LIFE.

Until next time,

Dave Junno Psy.D.

David Junno Psy.D. is a personal coach and author of: Lower High Cholesterol, Reduce Your Risk of Heart Disease- READY OR NOT! an e-book program for living a healthier lifestyle. You can e-mail him at: drjunno@drjunno.com or visit his website and sign up for the free newsletter at: http://lower-high-cholesterol-ready-or-not.com

Copyright 2003 © David Junno

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"A goal without a deadline is a dream."

~~Alec Mackenzie

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Finding The Right Exercise Intensity

We've all heard the exercise guidelines that recommend we participate in 30 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity 3-5 times per week. That seems easy enough to implement. Or, does it? The duration and frequency guidelines are very straight-forward and easily defined. But, "moderate" intensity is often left to interpretation. So, how do we define "moderate?"

First we need to understand that the definition of moderate intensity can be completely different from one individual to another. For example, a well-trained athlete may be in the moderate zone when running 5 miles in 30 minutes. Yet, for a novice exerciser who is very overweight, moderate means walking one mile in 30 minutes.

Don't let this confuse you. While the intensity level is very critical in the overall guideline, fortunately it's also fairly easily identified. The ACSM (American College of Sports Medicine) defines moderate as an intensity of 40 percent to 60 percent VO2 maximum. But, since most of us don't know how to determine our VO2 maximum, there are easier definitions to utilize.

You can base VO2 loosely on your maximum target heart rate zone. A VO2 maximum of 40-60% equates to about 50 to 70 percent of maximum heart rate (MHR). And determining your MHR and the corresponding percent zones is relatively simple. Below is an easy calculation for determining your specific MHR and what 50-70 percent of equates to.

Target Heart Rate Zone

• Take 220 and subtract your age. This equals your MHR. (Example: For a 30 year old your MHR is 190) • Next to determine your low range of 50 percent, simply take 190 and multiply it times 50 percent. (Example: For a 30 year old this would equal 95). • Finally, to determine your high range of 70 percent, simply take 190 and multiply it times 70 percent. (Example: For a 30 year old this would equal 133).

So, in this example the 30 year-old would want to exercise in a heart rate range of somewhere between 95 - 133 BPM. Keep in mind that this calculation is age-related. It does not take into consideration your fitness level. So, it is not completely accurate, but still a good guideline. For an even more accurate (and more complicated) method for determining your training intensity range, visit this link: http://www.workoutsforyou.com/intensity.htm

Also, some medications can raise or lower your heart rate and change the heart's response to exercise. Beta-blockers are among those that alter the heart rate. This means that people taking these types of prescriptions should probably use another option for monitoring their intensity.

There are some other very good ways to measure intensity for both people taking medications or those just looking for a more convenient method. Two good options are the Ratings of Perceived Exertion (RPE) method and the Talk Test.

RPE

This takes into account what the exerciser is perceiving in terms of exercise fatigue and it correlates well with cardiorespiratory and metabolic factors like heart rate and overall fatigue. The RPE scale starts with 0 and ends with 10. A rating of 0 equates to doing nothing, being at rest. A rating of 10 is equal to maximum effort, working very, very hard. For moderate intensity, an exerciser should strive for reaching somewhere between a 4-6, which the scale defines as a somewhat hard to a hard effort.

A great way to measure intensity (where appropriate), is utilizing both the RPE and Target Heart Rate Zone. The exerciser should identify where they fall on the RPE scale when their heart rate is between 50 – 70% maximum. This will allow them to accurately use only the RPE scale for measuring intensity when it is not feasible to determine their THR.

Talk Test

The final method for measuring exercise intensity is the Talk Test. Like the RPE, the talk test is subjective. The exerciser simply ensures that he works out at a level where he can carry on a comfortable conversation. He should be able to breathe comfortably during exercise. In simple terms, the exerciser would be working out too hard if he has to take a breath between every word he says. On the flip side, he would be exercising at too easy of an intensity if he could sing several phrases of a song without breathing hard.

Now you know how to define "moderate" and that means you don't have any more excuses. It's time to get moving. Keep in mind that the ACSM guidelines are minimum recommendations. For more significant health improvements and/or weight loss or for more advanced exercises, consider increasing any part of the three recommendations found in their guideline.

Lynn Bode, certified personal trainer, offers her services online through WorkoutsForYou.com. Visit: http://www.workoutsforyou.com for a free sample workout and to sign-up for their monthly fitness newsletter. Workouts For You provides affordable online exercise programs custom designed for each individual. You'll receive weekly customized workouts designed just for YOU, plus much more!

Copyright 2003 © Lynn Bode

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Web Sites Worth a Look

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If you need more motivation and some group support, feel free to subscribe to the Exercise Your Willpower mailing list. We have a great group of people who help motivate each other. To get more information, visit our website at: http://www.exerciseyourwillpower.com

Check out the many online fitness and health tools.

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