Meal of the month from Revive Wellness: Freezer Veggie Breakfast Wraps

September signals back to routine and often busier days—don’t forget to fuel up with a good breakfast! Try freezing our Veggie Breakfast Wraps to have on hand for mornings when you are short on time.

Makes 8 Servings

Ingredients:

  • 1 tsp. olive oil
  • 8 eggs
  • ½ cup broccoli, chopped small
  • ½ cup red peppers, diced small
  • 1 Tbsp. green onion, chopped
  • ¼ cup cheddar cheese, grated
  • ¼ cup milk
  • 1 tsp. pepper
  • 2 Tbsp. salsa
  • 8 whole wheat wraps

Preparation:

  1. Heat oil in a pan on medium-high heat and add broccoli and peppers.
  2. Cook for 4 minutes, then add the green onion and salsa.
  3. In a bowl, combine eggs, pepper and milk, whisk until combined.
  4. Pour into vegetable pan and cook until eggs are cooked through.
  5. Sprinkle ½ Tbsp. of cheese into each wrap and pour 1/8th of the egg mixture into each.
  6. Wrap up tightly and then wrap in plastic wrap.
  7. Freeze for up to two months.
  8. To serve, microwave from frozen for 4-6 minutes, turning half way.

Nutritional analysis per serving: 234 calories, 10 g fat, 11 g protein, 27 g carbohydrate (23 g available carbohydrate), 4 g fibre, 416 mg sodium

The ONLY Thing You Need to Get Fit EVER

Now that we have your attention, it’s about time we talk about this one thing that you need to get fitter, healthier and dare we say, happier:  SLEEP.

I am sure you have read or heard before how important sleep is.  Well, we are saying it’s the ONE AND ONLY thing you need to live a healthier and fitter life.  Big claim, right?  Well, we dare to say it because if there is one consistent factor we see in clients that affects their performance, mood, food choices, mental clarity, stress…it is LACK OF SLEEP.  Everyone wants to get more done in a day, and with our hectic lives, sleep is usually the first activity to be sacrificed.

We see a lot of people at SVPT and can honestly say that the one issue that keeps coming up with clients is their lack of sleep, or living in sleep deprivation.  They think it’s their training program or diet that is not working but actually it’s the fact that they just simply are not getting enough sleep! 

Proper sleep means normal energy levels. If you are trying to get in shape and sculpt your body you will definitely need energy. People who feel sleepy can’t find the energy to work out, prepare a healthy meal or simply take a walk.

On top of lack of energy, sleep deprivation also means that your body won’t have time to recover from training. In case you didn’t know, your body needs some time to repair muscle tissue after a workout and also restore chemical balances.

Here are a few other things that can happen with a lack of sleep (no citing sources here, but you can ask your doctor and the internet):

  • Memory Issues
  • Mood Changes
  • Weakened Immunity
  • Difficulty Concentrating
  • Accidents
  • Weight Gain
  • Poor Balance
  • Risk of Heart Disease
  • High Blood Pressure
  • Decreased Performance/Endurance
  • Injuries Won’t Heal 

You cannot crush fitness goals in a consistently sleep deprived state.  Normally we would say that consistency is the real key to fitness success, but without sleep you can’t apply consistency.  

Sleep is one of those things that needs to be trained, and made into a routine.  The body loves routine and homeostasis.  Make a plan to go to bed at the same time for 2 weeks.  Yes, even on the weekends.  Commit to getting a solid 8 hours for 2 weeks and see what happens to your energy, recovery and quality of life. 

We dare you.

A well-rested body (and mind) is a force to be reckoned with! 

 

Shara Vigeant, BA, NSCA-CPT*D, CFSC

Meal of the month from Revive Wellness: Pizza on a Stick

Cooking and preparing food is an everyday occurrence in most households, so why not try and let your kids help and learn along the way.

Bonus: children are more likely to eat what they help prepare!

Pizza on a Stick

Makes 12 skewers

Ingredients:

  • 2 whole wheat pita breads, chopped into squares
  • ¼ cup turkey peperoni
  • ½ cup chicken, cubed and precooked
  • ¾ cup small mozzarella balls
  • ½ cup cherry tomatoes
  • ½ cup red or green peppers, chopped into large chunks
  • ½ cup mushrooms
  • 1 Tbsp. olive oil
  • 1 tsp. oregano
  • 1 Tbsp. parmesan cheese, grated
  • 1 cup marinara sauce
  • 12 wooden skewers, soaked in water

Preparation:

  1. Heat oven to 400 °F.
  2. Allow your child to build their own personal skewer, trying to layer as much variety as possible.
  3. Lay the skewers onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
  4. Combine the olive oil, and oregano and brush over the skewers, being sure to put extra onto the pitas so they don’t dry out in the cooking process.
  5. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese.
  6. Bake for 6-8 minutes, until veggies are starting to soften and the parmesan cheese is melted.
  7. While the skewers are cooking, warm up marinara sauce either on the stove or in the microwave.
  8. Use the marinara sauce as a dip.
  9. Serve and enjoy!

 

For more kid-friendly recipes or health information, check out our blog.

-From Revive Wellness Inc.-

F*ck Burpees!

Literally. Please stop the madness. STOP.

We don’t burpee. Ever.

On the heels of some of the top trainers in the world, including Ben Bruno and Mike Boyle, we too are saying NO to burpees. #justsaynotoburpees

I know, I know – there are no bad exercises, only bad application. The fitness industry is awesome at fear mongering when it comes to certain exercises (squats are horrible for your knees, don’t you know??!!), but this demonizing of squats, deadlifts, or any number of other legitimate exercises is generally unwarranted and unnecessary.

However, we believe that burpees are one of those exercises that is an exception to this rule and should be retired. While ANY exercise can be dangerous if performed incorrectly, we as trainers can teach and reinforce proper technique to reduce injury risk, as well as scale the difficulty level and choose appropriate load for the trainee. But…burpees are neither coachable nor scale-able.

Simply put, there is no good way to perform a burpee! Too many things can go wrong, as instant fatigue quickly leads to a breakdown of form and feelings. Excessive fatigue leads to sloppy movement, and the resulting floundering, flapping, and flopping that is commonly observed during a set of burpees is a little bit hard to watch, if we’re being honest.

Let’s be real for a moment. There are not too many humans on this planet who actually truly enjoy doing the movement. Why push a client to do something they don’t like, when you can find something they dislike a lot less and you will get far better work QUALITY? After all, isn’t training primarily about learning proper movement and constantly improving the quality of this movement?

Why does a trainer even consider a burpee? Most trainers (and by most, I will say those that are using them regularly) use burpees to ‘punish’ or to raise the heart rate, as a conditioning tool. And of course, it works ‘every single muscle’ in the body. More bang for your buck, right? The huge downside is that as the client gets fatigued, form becomes absolutely atrocious and their risk of injury increases – especially in the lower back. All for the sake of making them tired.

Full disclosure here. Did I program burpees in the past? Absolutely. But once you know better, you do better. As a new trainer, I thought my job was to kill the souls of my clients, and what better way to do that than burpees and all the variations of burpees known to mankind!

Once I started getting more experienced and educated I thought to myself…there has to be BETTER options for the same effect (whole body movement, conditioning, energy system development). After seeing clients butcher the burpee and literally just stop having any productive or high-quality movement, I cut the exercise from my programming for good.

In summary, we free you of burpees for the rest of time. You do not have to do burpees to get in shape, to be fit and to crush goals – there are so many other options and exercises that, when programmed properly, can crush your soul all the same.

Shara Vigeant, BA, NSCA-CPT*D, CFSC

Meal of the Month from Revive Wellness: Campfire Chicken Fajitas

Just because you’re away from home doesn’t mean you have to throw away all your good eating habits!

Here are 10 tips for a healthier trip:

1) Do as much prep work for larger meals at home = more time for fun!

2) Pack fruit that travels well: oranges, apples, bananas, or dried fruit. Since these don’t have to be kept cold it will help save space in your fridge or cooler.

3) Prep (wash and cut) raw veggies: carrots, celery, broccoli, cauliflower. Or just buy the pre-washed/bagged kind; throw in some snap peas and cherry tomatoes, don’t forget the bagged salads too!

4) Pack the following: cheese sticks or pre-portioned light cheese and Greek yogurt. High fiber bread, crackers, pitas or tortillas.

5) Pre-cook pasta at home and store it in a ziploc or container. Make a simple pasta salad by throwing in some of those pre-cut veggies; add some cheese and vinaigrette, Voila!

6) Crack your eggs before you go. Store them in tupperware and keep frozen or fresh. Much, much easier to travel with eggs this way!

7) Take your crock pot. Before leaving, mix ingredients and pack in a ziploc (or just prep at the campsite). On your way out to the beach pop it in your crock pot! Some ideas here: chili, sloppy joes, salsa chicken, pot roast (use the leftover for sandwiches the next day).

8) Pack homemade muffins, cookies, trail mix (cereal, dried fruit, nuts, seeds, air-popped popcorn. Or Commercial Trail Mix with no added salt).

9) Try tin-foil dinners (see below) for an easy and tasty balanced meal.

10) Bring one or two of your favourite treats! You are camping after all 🙂

 

Campfire Chicken Fajitas
Serves 4

Ingredients:

  • 2 chicken breasts, sliced into strips
  • 2 cups red peppers, sliced
  • 1 cup onion, sliced
  • 1 Tbsp. canola oil
  • 2 tsp. chili powder
  • 1 tsp. garlic powder
  • 1 tsp. oregano
  • 1 tsp. cumin
  • ½ tsp. salt

Serve with whole wheat tortilla wraps, Greek yogurt, salsa and cheese.

Preparation:

  1. Combine all in ingredients raw in a large bowl and mix well.
  2. Use 4 large pieces of tin foil and split the mixture evenly between all four.
  3. Wrap the mixture up being sure there are no holes, but leaving a little room in the package for steam to grow.
  4. Place in the fridge until ready to use.
  5. When ready to eat, heat a grill over propane or fire and place the fajita package directly on the grill.
  6. Cook for 10 minutes.
  7. Serve and enjoy!

Nutritional analysis per serving: 171 calories, 6 g fat, 19g protein, 9 g carbohydrate (7 g available carbohydrate), 2 g fibre, 49 mg sodium

The Muddled Meaning of Mobility

“Mobility” has become a huge buzzword in the area of fitness and health. The term gets thrown around quite often in online articles, but rarely is its true meaning explained. What exactly is mobility, why is it made out to be such a big deal, and why is it so good for me?

The general definition of mobility is “capable of moving, or being moved freely and easily.” The word mobilityas it relates to the human body refers to a joint’s ability to actively achieve a certain position – that is, to move the joint using the body’s own muscular strength and control, without any external assistance. This is the joint’s “usable” range of motion, the range of motion that you are able to access at any given moment, during any day-to-day activities.

This is in contrast to flexibility, a term that is often used interchangeably with mobility, despite not meaning the same thing. They sound similar, but they are not synonyms! Flexibility means “capable of being bent, usually without breaking.” When talking about the body, it refers to a joint’s ability to passively achieve a position – that is, to use no muscular effort or activation to get there. To get an idea of passive movement, picture a yogi grabbing her foot and pulling it up behind her head. While her joints can obviously get into those positions, it requires the external help of her hands to do so. It is very unlikely that she could lift her leg into that position completely on its own, without her hands pushing it into place. In this example, she has great flexibility but limited mobility. The crucial difference between the two is the way in which her body’s joints achieve the position. Any joint position that requires external help to get into is not a usable position, but is “un-usable” range of motion.

Despite the “un-usable” label, passive flexibility is not bad. It is actually needed in order to have mobility, but it is only one part of the equation. Mobility is a combination of flexibility, strength, and control. To have mobility, you need:

Lots of available passive range of motion (flexibility)  +  lots of strength throughout that range  +  great control over that range

From this, we can see that we have the potential to convert passive flexibility into active mobility through training. Using our yogi as an example, we could train her joints to have the strength and control to lift her leg behind her head unassisted, thus giving her the active mobility to match up with her great flexibility. All of her passive range would become “useable”, which is a very good thing!

Now that we have a better understanding of what mobility actually means, we can dive into why it is so important to have it, as opposed to just having flexibility. Mobility is the key physical ability of the body. If we know that having good mobility means having active control of joints, being able to move them into a ton of different positions, and having strength in all of these various positions, then it’s easy to make the case that having mobility in your joints is the single most important prerequisite to any activity that you do in sport or life. Without the ability to move your joints into the positions needed to do a squat, to take a shot in soccer, to reach overhead and paint the walls in your house, or to bend down and pick up your toddler, your ability to perform those activities safely and effectively is severely compromised. No matter how strong you are, no matter how fit you are…if your joints cannot physically get into the positions that you repeatedly ask them to, your performance and your body will suffer.

Mobility is the base of the training pyramid, and it undergirds absolutely every other physical quality that you can train for (aerobic capacity, strength, power, speed). Mobility is what allows you to pursue and train for all of those other qualities without getting injured, without wearing joints down, without spending undue amounts of time and money on trips to the doctor or the physiotherapist. Mobility is what keeps your joints healthy as you age and prevents you from losing the ability to do the activities you were once able to do.

 

 

Maintaining the necessary mobility to do all of your favorite activities into your later years doesn’t just happen on its own, though. Joints don’t maintain themselves – it takes time, intention, effort, and a lot of movement on our part. Consistently challenging and constantly using the active ranges of motion that you currently have in your joints is the key to keeping those ranges over months and years and decades. Think of a person you know who is older than you. Have you ever heard him or her say something like “these knees/hips/shoulders just don’t move the way they used to” or “I used to be able to [insert activity here] but my [insert joint here] just can’t do it anymore”? Most people would chalk this up to simply getting older, but in many cases the main cause is actually disuse rather than age. Losing mobility in your joints is only a consequence of natural aging if you let it be. The best way to prevent this from happening is to never stop using your joints through the biggest possible range of motion you can.

Is training for mobility fun? Not usually. Is training for mobility easy? No, it is in many cases much more difficult than strength or endurance training. Is training for mobility important and rewarding? Absolutely. It should not be overlooked, or skipped, or disregarded as less worthy than lifting weights or going for a run. Mobility training is an investment in your body, a very long-term one. If you prepare your body to its very best ability to handle the tasks that you throw at it, you put yourself in the best possible position to not only crush life’s daily physical demands, but to keep your body as pain-free and injury-free as possible while doing so.

 

Erica Saunders, BPE, CSCS, FRCms

Meal of the Month from Revive Wellness

We dedicate June to men’s health and will be blogging all month on the topic, sharing the top nutrients for men, BBQ tips, Father’s Day lessons, motivation and more. Men have specific health and wellness needs (just as women do) – here are some of the ways our dietitians can help:  https://www.revivewellness.ca/mens-health/

As you know, your diet and exercise choices can play a large role in health statistics and while more research needs to be done, the evidence is strong to recommend men to consume enough lycopeneand seleniumin their diet on a regular basis. These nutrients in particular contribute to prostate health.

The best place to find lycopene is in tomatoes or tomato products. Carrots, red peppers and grapefruit also contain lower amounts of lycopene.

Selenium is found in abundance in brazil nuts, oysters, sardines, halibut, sea bass, cod, salmon, mackerel, liver, puffed wheat, mushrooms, and cottage cheese. 45mcg is all you need on a daily basis from your diet.

Our meal of the month is full of both nutrients.

SageHealth for Men
Sage Halibut (makes 4 servings)

Ingredients

  • 4 (5 oz.) halibut fillets
  • 1 Tbsp. canola oil
  • ¼ tsp. salt
  • 1 tsp. pepper
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • ¼ cup fresh sage
  • 2 Tbsp. white wine
  • 2 tsp. butter
  • 1 Tbsp. lemon juice

Preparation

  1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
  2. In an oven-safe pan, heat canola oil on medium-high heat.
  3. Season halibut with salt and pepper before putting in pan. Sear both sides of the fish for about 2 minutes each. Add sage leaves and garlic.
  4. Place into the oven for 5 minutes, until fish is flaky. Remove from oven, and remove fish from pan.
  5. Add white wine, butter and lemon juice to the garlic and sage that remain in the pan and simmer gently, until thickened. Pour sage sauce over fish.
  6. Serve and enjoy!

 

Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings): 218 calories, 11 g fat, 30 g protein, 2 g carbohydrate (1 g available carbohydrate), 1 g fibre, 263 mg sodium

Pair this protein with stir-fried carrots, red peppers and mushrooms, and a grain such as quinoa, rice or our Barley and Mixed Mushroom Pilaf for a balanced meal.

 

SVPT and Revive Wellness are swapping content once a month in a new series: “move of the month/meal of the month” related to the same theme. Look for the move to be shared on https://www.revivewellness.ca/blog/on the 1st, and the meal to be shared on the 15thon http://www.svptfitness.com/blog/

Social Graces of Stair Season

The weather is finally nice, and stair season is upon us.  This is where all Edmontonians take advantage of the beautiful river valley and get their fitness on the stairs.  Did you know Edmonton has over 40 sets of stairs of all sizes for you to utilize for free for your workout?

Top 3 Sets of Stairs (most well-known):

  1. Glenora (202) – Ezio Faraone Park
  2. Fox Drive (242) – Whitemud Park
  3. Wolf Willow (200) – Access from Westridge Park (*steepest in the city)

Whether you are a newbie or a veteran, there are some common sense rules that we feel need to be followed to ensure everyone has a great experience, especially when the stairs are jam packed on a hot sunny day!

  1. Head Up.Watch where you are going.
  2. Stay Right. Rules of the road. This is the most simple rule to prevent chaos.
  3. Be aware of the people around you.  I get that you are in the zone with your headphones while crushing your personal best, but pay attention to people in front and behind you.  Turn down the volume of your motivation mix so you can hear people coming up behind you.
  4. Mid-Stair Stop. If you have to stop mid-stair to catch some wind, do it off to the right side, and make sure you aren’t disrupting someone else’s goal crushing (refer to #3).
  5. It’s awesome you have brought your best fur friend to workout with you. Keep them on a close leash next to you, not a long retractable leash that allows them cut people off.  (I have actually seen people TRIP up and down the stairs from dogs cutting them off and tripping over leashes.)
  6. Single File. You and your bestie are hitting the stairs, chatting up a storm while you suffer the burn together – love it.  However, when you are going up and down side by side, you are disrupting the space of others (especially when the stairs are packed).  It’s hard to pass team bestie on the stairs when you are shoulder to shoulder.
  7. Respect.  Some are walking, some are jogging, some are sprinting, some are jumping, some are sightseeing, some are dancing.  You don’t know everyone’s goals and history.  Respect everyone’s workout goals. Someone might be just starting, someone might be back from an injury, someone might be training a different energy system, someone might be crushing their second workout of the day. You don’t know everyone’s story – don’t be so judgy and think your workout is more important or better than yours.
  8. High Fives. Ever just high 5 a stranger?  Try it.  You are both there working your butts off, and sometimes you just need to celebrate. Or try it because sometimes you see a person there struggling, and maybe they need it!

We get that stairs should have no rules, its free, its open to anyone to enjoy and no one owns them.  But if we all follow a few of these rules, then everyone’s experience will be more positive.

Shara Vigeant, BA, NSCA-CPT*D, CFSC

Functional Fitness

All fitness is functional.  All exercise is functional.

All exercise will help you do daily activities with greater ease, and therefore allow you to live a more full and adventurous life.

When most people see the words “functional fitness”, one of two things usually comes to mind:

  • Some type of circus-act exercise that makes you look absolutely ridiculous.
  • Exercise that looks exactly like the movement you will be doing in life.

We have all seen the crazy circus-type exercises on social media. Cringe.  And I am sure you have seen our commercial, where you will see people doing exercises that mimic everyday activities.

Sled pushes will help you mow the lawn, but so will any well-rounded fitness program that includes general lower body, upper body, and core strength exercises.  Landmine squats with a press will help you lift your child over your head, but so will dumbbell presses and squats, performed independently as part of a complete workout plan. Farmer’s carries will help you carry your groceries, but so will planks or chin-ups.  What we are trying to say is – full disclosure – the people in that video do other exercises too! And those other exercises are no less functional than the exercises they so expertly demonstrate for us on camera.

Functional fitness is typically considered to be less about isolation and more about integration –   all the body parts and systems working together seamlessly to accomplish a task. The more you can train your body to work as a whole, the more you will benefit in everyday life and the more injury-resistant you will be.  When you work your entire body in multiple directions of movement and ranges of motion, you can avoid overuse injury in a single direction or range and instead allow your body to be strong and functional in all of them. This style of training prepares you for anything unexpected that might occur in your day-to-day life. It’s about being proactive, rather than reactive.

Isolation exercises such as bicep curls are often criticized for not being ‘functional’, but if your biceps are a weak link in the chain of your body, then they might be an incredibly functional exercise for you. What counts as functional exercise all comes down to the individual – what is functional for one person might not be for another.  Getting an assessment from a qualified trainer to find anything that may be preventing your body from working as a strong, complete unit – and finding out what exercises are therefore ‘functional’ for you – is a great idea.  Eliminate the guessing game, save time and invest in a proper program (Shameless plug: svptfitness.com)

All consistent fitness and exercise will help you fend off those injuries that happen simply because your body is not strong enough or fit enough to handle the activities you are trying to do every day.  For some, like an older population, that means preventing falls and creating physical independence, and for the younger population that might be preventing a knee blowout at a weekend flag football game, or on that impromptu ski trip.

Finally, functional fitness is a bit more fun and a lot less boring than bicep curls!  Exercises that tend to involve more movement, in multiple directions and range of motion, can add more challenge. Because let’s face it, moving all the parts of your body at once is harder! Think about a bear crawl – fun but hard, and working EVERYTHING – co-ordination, legs, shoulders, arms and all the core in the land.  Does a bear crawl translate into everyday activity? Not straight across (unless you have to bear crawl for a living), but all the things happening when you are doing it will help you – carry groceries, play with your kids, go for a hike, help a friend move…all that great stuff.

So is running on the treadmill or sitting on the bike functional fitness?  YES! Cardiovascular health is super important for heart health and the ability to be able to sustain physical activity and daily activities longer (i.e. mowing the lawn without breaks ). Is chest and bicep day functional fitness?  YES! If upper body strength is your weak link, chest and bi’s will certainly help you in that regard. Of course, what would be even more optimal would be to include additional training that ties those muscles in with the rest of your body.

The takeaway point is – all fitness is functional and all fitness will improve your quality of life!

Shara Vigeant, BA, CPT, CFSC

Keep it Simple Stupid!

There is no magic recipe for getting stronger, running faster, jumping higher, or losing weight.

There is no such thing as the “best exercise for X,” or “perfect stretch for Y.”

THERE IS NO QUICK OR EASY TRICK TO ATTAINING YOUR FITNESS GOALS.

The fitness and nutrition industry is chocked full of information that often advertises quick fixes and overcomplicated answers to help people lose weight, build muscle, get stronger and run faster by yesterday. Often, multiple people have different opinions and many try and make mountains out of molehills by emphasizing the minutiae. The eventual information overload leads us to believe that exercise is way more complicated than it actually is.

Another issue is that people see professional athletes or Instagram stars performing particular workouts or exercises and they have to do the same. So they attempt to execute incredibly complex workout regimes in an attempt to be like the pros.

The issue with doing these programs is that they lead to increased likelihood of drop out. Some people may succeed and be able to adapt or enjoy these grueling workouts. Most people, however, will end up dumping their fitness regime in the trash and catching up on the latest season of Black Mirror.

When I sit down and write a program, I take into consideration things like the amount of load someone can handle safely, the body positions they have good control over, the total volume/intensity in a day or week of training, and specific warm-ups that help prepare the body for certain exercises. I also make sure to relate the program to the client’s assessment findings, goals, and personal preferences. All of these things are good fun and super interesting FOR ME as a fitness professional, but remember that knowing this stuff is my job.

All those things are nifty tools that I use to give my clients the best possible training experience, but for someone just looking to lose a few pounds, get fitter and live a more full life, without making their brain explode, that level of complexity is not really needed.  This is where the K.I.S.S. principle comes in handy! The K.I.S.S. principle is one that is taught to all trainers in their education.  When in doubt, KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID.  Complexity kills execution!  The more complicated the approach, the less likely you will execute.

There are a couple of factors that are equally as (if not more) important when engaging in a fitness program: your ability to maintain CONSISTENCY and EFFORT with your fitness program.

There are some weeks where it feels like everything goes wrong and you can’t make it to the gym. That’s all right, just go for a walk/run/bike/yoga/hike, or engage in a friendly game of dodgeball instead.  Find a fitness program and/or activity that you like outside of the gym to stay active. Just maintain the consistency of your exercise/fitness schedule.

Some weeks are harder than others, no doubt. During those weeks where things are feeling like a drag, instead of going by weight on the bar, try and go by feel. This might mean that you do less repetitions or a lower weight. It might mean that you go for a shorter or slower run.  Just maintain the effort of your exercise.

In order to achieve your goals, focus on the basics using the K.I.S.S. principle.  Do your squats, do your carries, do your deadlifts, push some stuff, pull some stuff, get in some cardio and when in doubt, do some more deadlifts. Regardless of what you do, it always comes back to consistency and effort – if you have those two things, you WILL be successful!

 

Kieryn Marcellus, BSc. Kinesiology, CSEP-CPT