Here’s a review of each step. We covered #1 and #2 thus far.

1. Goal- Vision
2. Plan
3. Tools and Support
4. Progression
5. Joint Integrity

Tools and Support.  What do I mean by tools?  First off, ways to measure your progress would be where I would start.  That could be as simple as a tape measure to do some circumference readings and then body fat using the NAVY guidelines and website on line. http://fitness.bizcalcs.com/Calculator.asp?Calc=Body-Fat-Navy

When you step on the scale to see you have lost 5 pounds, you do not know where that  5 pounds came from.  It could be fat, water or muscle.  I think it’s very important to test body fat MORE than body weight because ideally you want to keep all your muscle, lose any extra water but concentrate on using the fat as energy so your percentage keeps reducing.

Where do you workout?  If you like going to the gym, they have plenty of tools there for you to use.  If going to the gym is something you would rather NOT do, you can have very similar (but cheaper) tools at home or in your office.  A ball, mat, tubing, free weights, etc.  These are all tools.

You body weight, if you know how to apply it and use it properly, is a tool as well.  My biggest delight is taking men off the machines, having them do a workout with body weight and show them where they are weak (or not using the muscles).  Don’t underestimate body weight- esp if you are tall, big boned or broad shouldered.

Now my favorite tool for cardio- a heart rate monitor!  Why?  I have heard other trainers talk about high intensity training and using RPE (rate of perceived exertion).  I love RPE but here is the thing with PERCEPTION- it’s skewed.

An athlete will push themselves hard because they are used to it.  A non athletic person will feel their body and maybe not push as hard but THINK they are working as hard as they can.  If your threshold has not been challenged and your comfort zones expanded then you might not be working hard enough to change your body to the next level.

I had a client once for many years who has trained with dozens of trainers.  When we started working, I trusted that she was pushed hard so her perception was accurate to her fitness level and capabilities.  I’d find her RPE of “8” (out of 10) for each exercise and train her there.  I’d ask her at the next session if she felt anything the next day or 2 days later.  She replied no for the first 2 months.

This boggled my mind.  So after getting to know her better, I decided to increase her weight beyond her comfort zone and showed her what a REAL “8” was supposed to feel like.  From there on, her fitness level changed and she got great results.

This example was using RPE with strength training so let’s get back to heart rate.

I had a man in his 70’s that is a super successful businessman.  Great guy, not in touch with his body at all. His perception was that he was working hard but could not FEEL when his body was in crisis mode.  Luckily, he had a heart rate monitor on and I could see that he was hovering at 170+ while on the floor!!!  This is very dangerous.

Without the monitor, I may have pushed him harder.  I am glad I did not because that could have ended very badly.  You need to know where you are regardless of what you are doing.  When your fitness level increases, the same activity does not get your heart rate up to the same level anymore.  This is good news—it means you are more fit.  AND it’s time to change the exercise or something about it to get back into your zone.

Let’s review my tool suggestions so far:

1. Tape measure
2. Body fat test
3. Equipment for exercising
4. Heart Rate monitor

There are more but by now you get the point.  Let’s look at support now.

1. Family member or friend to be accountable to
2. Trainer, Nutritionist, Doctor to be accountable to and to create your program
3. Having the house or office set up to reinforce your goals
4. Gathering with like minded people to keep you on track
5. Using hypnosis to change your mindset or therapy to breakthrough some patterns
6. A journal  to use every day
7. A rewards system set in place to celebrate each step of your progress
8. And more!

As you know, we offer most of these things on our 6 Week Beach Body Program- that now you can get in download form, the entire program for only 97$! If you need some tools and support, you might want to consider investing into YOU today and get a jumpstart on summer! http://www.6weekbeachbodyinabox.com

“I definitely can see how my new habits have taken root. This is the most fabulous part of the whole program–feeling that there is knowledge and confidence within myself now and creating life long changes for the better. I have lost a total of 14 pounds, 10 inches and I am now automatically making healthy choices– this program works!“

Cindy Browne, Cincinnati Ohio

1. Goal- Vision
2. Plan
3. Tools and Support
4. Progression
5. Joint Integrity

Plan.   Yes, you need a PLAN.  If I decided to drive from LA to Lake Tahoe (a place I have never been before), I would need a map to show me where it was in relationship to where I am now.  Then, I would plan out a route to drive, considering that there may be multiple choices with factors that would influence me to choose the route I do.  Let’s now translate this to your body.

You have a goal.  Let’s assume it’s weight loss right now.  You want to lose 35 pounds and get to a weight you have not been at or seen in 25+ years.  Technically for you, this is new territory.  How will you get there? What is the plan? What happens at each stage? Do you know the stages?

On a road trip, you stop for gas.  On a weight loss plan, you stop for “progression” (we will cover this more in part 4).  On a road trip, you may run into a closed road or dangerous conditions that force you to choose another road that you didn’t plan on. (thank God you have a map!)

How many times have you tried to lose weight before and hit a road block and stopped?  Do you know what to do when you hit a road block?  Most people don’t (that is why they hire a trainer or coach) so they get frustrated, give up and decide they have failed.  This doesn’t have to be the case.  There is hope.

What elements do you need in your fitness/health map?  I teach a formula called the FITT principle (Frequency, Intensity, Time and Type).  It’s outline in the 90 Day Health and Body Makeover Program, the 6 Week Beach Body in a Box and I believe in the 30 Day Jump Start (which you can get for free at http://www.invisiblefitness.com/” so I won’t go into all the details here.

Besides using the FITT principle properly, elements for your map are:

1. Resistance Training- we all need it.  Why?  It’s the basis of your metabolism.  The more active tissue you have (muscle) the more calories you burn (and can eat!) This is also your  “long term investment plan” for keeping weight off.
2. Cardiovascular- we all need this as well for keeping blood pressure low, improving cholesterol and all heart related functions and it’s the best way to burn calories in a short amount of time.
3. Food Log- Daily Diet Plan-  And I don’t mean “diet” as in “ give stuff up” , I refer to diet as in “what do you eat?”
4. Rest and Relaxation- we all need this to keep our adrenal hormones in balance (having adrenal fatigue causes weight loss resistance) as well as allow our muscles and body to “repair and rebuild” from our exercise.  The body changes in REST, not in work.  If you are working too much or too long, you never allow the adaptation to occur.

This would be what you need to address to START the map.  The next 3 weeks will give you a chance to see what other factors can help you make stages and “alternative routes” to your map so you get where you want to go this time!

Other questions to ask yourself about your plan:

1. How long/ how much time do I have to do each one of these steps a week- what is realistic for me?
2. Where will I do my workouts?  Will I have more than one choice?
3. Do I know which exercises are best for me for cardio?  Can I do more than one?  Do I have to do more than one?
4. Do I know if I am efficiently building muscle?  What exercises do I do now that build muscle?
5. Have I tested my bodyfat?  How would I?  How often should /will I retest it to see if what I am doing is working?
6. If I am super busy, what is the more important thing for me to focus on right now?  What will get me the most results?

If you have been struggling for a long time, as many people do, I hope you realize by now that I have options of how to help you!!  The first, a “do it yourself” program, is now available for less in download form!!  http://www.6weekbeachbodyinabox.com can be purchased so you can start TODAY with the download only choice.  This gives you step by step instructions and includes the breakdown to a fitness program you can do anywhere and includes the 90 Day DVD with 25 exercises on it.

I offer coaching over the phone and even personal training on Skype!  Check out one of my star clients:  

Click here to view the embedded video.

And of course, if you are local in CA, I can offer you a 5 package of sessions  to build a program for you to do on your own.  Call for details and to see if there is room in the schedule.  800 571 5722

“JJ helped me to understand that adding extra cardio workout is not what my body needs. 4 sessions with JJ has helped me more to shape my body and  to drop 5 pounds. Can only imagine how much more I can lose if I incorporate better eating habits. Thanks JJ “ Anita Trujillo

I am sure you can relate.

My refrigerator was almost empty and I had a few random things to work with.  So I created a new soup in this house:  Pork Vegetable.

I have never had it and I have never made it. So to the stove I went with my creativity and random ingredients.

I used:

• 1 large red onion
• 2 medium red potatoes
• 1 cup of frozen corn ( that was in a container from an ear we cut who knows when)
• 4 stalks celery
• 3 roma tomatoes
• ¼ c medium salsa
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 2 pork filets frozen
• Onion salt
• Dried parsley
• Mineral salt and pepper to taste
• 2-3 tbsp olive oil

I sauteed all the veggies cut up in the olive oil.  I started with just onlon and then kept the heat on as I chopped and added to the pot.  Once all veggies and salsa were in with oil, I added the pork cut into small pieces and cooked it a bit longer.  Once I could see it starting to cook, I filled the pot with water and brought it to a boil. I boiled the mixture for a few minutes and then simmered for 20.

My husband loved it and I spiced it to taste so feel free to add what you like to it!

Here are some fun facts that aren’t so fun about detoxing and why we need to detox our bodies. There are over three new chemicals introduced into the planet each day.  In fact, we enter a world with over 200 chemicals in our body.  The environmental working group found that samples of blood taken from the umbilical cord of newborns contain an average of 200 chemicals that can cause cancer, brain damage, birth defects and other serious illnesses.  Now although our bodies do have a natural detoxification system, it is necessary to assist our liver and our body at least twice a year so that it can work more effectively to eradicate these toxins from our bodies.  I recommend 4 times a year on our 6 Week Beach Body program.

Step 1: Cleaning House. I want to talk about cleaning out your house, but I want to do it in a way that has you think about energy.  If you’re in a room full of people that are very happy and very positive, you know that you’re eventually going to feel happy and positive because you’re going to “calibrate” to the people around you because they’re going to lift you up.  You’re going to want to be at their level.  Not only because feeling good feels good and having positive energy feels good, but because you’re in the minority and the dominate energy in the room is happy.  So you will find yourself sort of sliding up the scale to feeling better just because of the people that you’re surrounded by.

Now on the opposite side of that of course if you’re in a good mood and you walk into a room full of very upset angry people you can pretty much guarantee that you, over time, whether you ever get to the level of anger and negativity as they are is not important but you will definitely slide down the scale from where you are which was happy to the dominate energy in the room which is negative.  It’s the same thing in your body and it’s the same thing in your environment.  When it comes to your space (office, home, work), de-clutter, move things around to shift the energy and identify any energy vampires in your environment and eliminate them!

Step 2: Your Kitchen. In your kitchen, I want you to be really honest with yourself and look in your kitchen and cabinets.  I want you to identify your stress-eating foods, your boredom foods and the snack foods.  If you were on my 6 Week Beach Body Program, I would be telling you to pack it all up and give it away. I’m not a big fan of wasting food and I definitely am not encouraging anyone to waste food.  You have the option of throwing out the things that you know you want to get rid of or the alternative choice would be to package it all up and take it to a friend’s house or donate it.

Step 3: How many days? How long should the detox last? The detox program I facilitate on our 6 Week Beach Body Program has a duration of nine days. Some detoxes last 14 days or even 30. I suggest starting with 9 and working your way up depending on your goals for a detox.

What is the cost? Of course doing a detox will cost something to get the proper products and supplements but you should think of this as your food budget for 9 days. You would need to eat for 9 days so use that money to invest in a good detox program. There are a few books out there about detoxing, one of them I used in helping me to create the one for our program and it’s called The 7 Day Detox Miracle by Bennett and Barrie.If you are doing this on your own, let me give you some tips.

Step 4: What to avoid?

• dairy,
• caffeine
• alcohol
• sugar
• meat
• fried foods
• packaged foods
• salt

Step 5: What to include?

• a protein shake
• eggs
• salmon and low mercury fish
• fruits
• vegetables
• rice
• kefir
• nuts,
• Seeds
• green tea
• and lots of water!

You want to sweat everyday for at least 10 minutes, sleep 6-8 hours and focus on something that keeps you inspired and your mind occupied.  When people do a detox for the first time, they often focus on a lack of food or restrictions causing unnecessary stress.  However, I am sure we can all find days in our lives where we didn’t eat because we were too busy- it’s all about the mental focus.

For more info on the 6 Week Beach Body Program, visit http://www.6weekbeachbody.com or call JJ at 800 571 5722 x 84 to find out how to get your detox started today!

First off, what is a vision board? Many of you already know and probably already have one but for those of you who do not, it’s a place where you put photos or quotes of things you would like to have in your life.  Some people cut them out of magazines and some people just throw up words or phrases that they create on the computer.

When The Secret came out, vision boards were a hot topic.  It’s how I manifested my husband in 3 weeks actually.  Jeanne knew this and wanted me to share my experience with their patients to inspire them to do the same and enjoy success in all areas of their lives- esp health and wellness.

How to do a vision board:

• Find and cut out pictures that inspire you
• Arrange and attach them to a cork board or posterboad
• Be as creative as you like or as simple as you like

How to USE a vision board:

Putting the pictures on the board will excite you as you do it.  The good, positive feelings you have will help to raise your energy and vibration causing you to become a magnet for higher energy things.

But once the board is up on the wall and you see it everyday, the effect will wear off unless you use it.

• Stand in front of your creation
• Pick 1 picture to focus on
• Imagine yourself IN the picture
• Concentrate on the smells, the sounds, and the feelings of touch or air on your body
• Focus on this until you FEEL something in your body for 1-2 minutes
• Open you eyes and carry these good feelings with you all day long

Vision boards are like exercise- they only work if you practice!

for guidance and coaching on your weight loss, exercise or wellness vision board be sure to start by visiting www.6weekbeachbody.com and get your free tools and inspiration and call us at 800 571 5722

Click here to view the embedded video.

1. Family time does not have to mean sit and eat.  Quality time together can be spent doing other activities.  Try to clear the table while people are slowing down to take away temptations of over eating.
2. Traditional meals probably contain high calorie ingredients such as pasta, butter, oil, cheese and sugar.  Be creative and consult some low fat cooking sources on alternative ingredients that will cut several hundred calories per dish using items like egg whites, applesauce, fruit paste, lighter versions (not fat free) and etc.  No need to tell the family–they probably won’t notice!
3. Add some new dishes to the dinner table of salads, vegetable, fruits and broth-based soups.  These are generally healthier choices so you can fill up in these and eat less “empty calorie” stuff.
4. Schedule in your exercise in the mornings.  Ask a friend or family member to join, it will help with accountability/
5. Learn to say “No Thank You”.  You do not have to try every dish prepared or eat all that you take.
6. While in preparation, only sample the food that is necessary.  You could potentially eat 500-800 calories in sampling before you sit down to eat.  Save yourself for the meal only to save some unwanted calories that may sneak in!
7. Eat ONLY until you are satisfied, NOT full.  If you sit at the dinner table for more then 2 hours, you are probably going to eat more then you need to because it’s there.
8. Keep a log of ALL of your exercise and food.  The average amount of calories for an adult between the ages of 30-55 who participates in moderate activity of 2-3 hours a week is 1800 (women)-2300 (men).  The average holiday meal including drinks can average around 2800-3200.  Logging keeps you aware of why the scale goes up and down during this time of year.
9. Create a 15 min exercise routine that you can do every during the busy times. Add things like jumping jacks, jump rope, bridge, push ups, etc.  You want to have tools outside of the gym!
10. Holidays are stressful times and sometimes depressing for some.  Exercise boosts your body’s production of serotonin, the body’s “happy drug”.   Don’t let stress win!  If you need some support hire a trainer or a coach.  You’ll be glad you had the discipline and you will be ahead of the game for the New Year!

Get your FREE copy of the 30 Day JUMP Start program workbook and audio on my site!  http://www.invisiblefitness.com

This is the perfect time to print it and use it as a daily log til the end of the year.  It can motivate you as well as be a gentle reminder that the holiday is just a DAY, not a season.

Join me for FREE on Saturday November 7^th at 10:15am at The Scottsdale Weight Loss Center where you will find your Easy Exercise Solution!

What you will learn:

What is stopping you from regular exercise

How to create a 15 min exercise routine that works!

Which exercises increase metabolism

Why you don’t need a gym

Why a plateau is a good thing and more!

JJ Flizanes has been a personal trainer since 1996 and has had her own company, Invisible Fitness, since May 2001.  JJ is well known in the media, she has appeared on NBC, KTLA, CBS, and Fox 11 as well as been featured in many local and national magazines.  She was chosen as best personal trainer in Los Angeles for 2007 by Elite Traveler Magazine’s Global Black Book and one of the featured trainers in Shape Magazine in 2003. JJ was chosen as a finalist for IDEA Personal Trainer of the Year 2009.Before starting her own company, she was the Director of Education for New York Sports Club in New York City. She is also the Fitness Expert for the Nourishing Wellness Medical Center’s Anti Aging Program in Redondo Beach and is also the Wellness Expert for FKC International.

Where:  Scottdale Weight Loss Center

9989 N. 95th St.
Scottsdale, AZ 85258
(480) 366-4400

When: Saturday  Nov 7th, 10:15am

Cost: FREE

To Register:  call 800 571 5722

BONUS:  All participants will also get a free gift!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Since our 6 Week Beach Body Program uses MIND TOOLS such as EFT, hypnosis and meditation, I wanted to share with you WHY and HOW you can lose weight by changing the way you THINK.

For some of you , the idea of hypnosis is being told to act like a chicken.  Wrong.

This article was written by Susan French, C.Ht.

Hypnosis is a powerful tool but exactly HOW does it work? The real magic is that hypnosis works as both a “magic wand” and as a “snowball gathering snow.”

Let’s take a look at each separately and then how they work together.

The magic-wand effect is when you have a hypnosis session and your issue is solved instantly and without further effort. Magic!

The snowball effect is what you experience with several hypnosis sessions, in which each session reinforces and enhances the relief created by previous sessions.

The reality is that both effects create permanent change. Hypnosis creates the initial change. Reinforcement ensures that the change lasts.

Reinforcement occurs when you regularly use a reinforcement CD made by your hypnotherapist, induce self-hypnosis, or through continued subsequent sessions with your hypnotherapist. Your hypnotherapist guides you in creating the initial change and reinforcing it, thereby accomplishing your goal of permanent, positive change.

Now, let’s look at it a little more closely.

We use hypnosis to change responses and behaviors. All responses and behaviors are learned. All that hypnosis really does is cause very rapid learning (or relearning) to take place so that new responses and behaviors become automatic.

Hypnosis allows this rapid learning to occur by interrupting the conscious, critical factor of the mind/brain. For reasons of survival, the critical factor of the mind/brain slows down the learning process. However, when those initial survival reasons are no longer necessary, it makes sense to interrupt or bypass the critical factor, which is precisely what hypnosis does – painlessly, safely, and effectively.

We know that no learning is INSTANT. You didn’t learn to ride a bike instantly. You didn’t learn to speak instantly. You didn’t learn to read or write instantly. You were taught the initial ideas and methods and those ideas were repeatedly reinforced until they become automatic.

Hypnosis allows that learning or relearning to happen more rapidly. However, as with any learning process, it needs to be reinforced. Thus, hypnosis is both a “magic wand” and a “snowball gathering snow.”

Let’s take a look at Joanna’s experience to get a better idea of exactly how hypnosis DOES work:

Joanna was sitting in the waiting room at the Hypnosis Motivation Institute. She was waiting for her first hypnotherapy appointment. She was desperate to lose weight. She had lost and gained at least three hundred pounds in her thirty-two years. Now, here she was, seventy pounds overweight again. She had tried everything.

She had heard some say that hypnosis could be like a magic wand. She had heard others say it didn’t work at all. Her best friend Martha had just lost fifty-five pounds using hypnosis. She said it was easy and it worked, but that Joanna would have to do her part too. Would it work for her?

If this reminds you of your own questions about weight loss and hypnosis, keep reading.

We can call the habit of overeating a food addiction, compulsive overeating, or a self-destructive habit. Whatever we call it, though, once that kind of behavior takes control, you will need to unlearn old, destructive behaviors and relearn new, constructive ones.

Joanna followed through with her hypnosis for weight loss. She learned the reasons she ate for comfort and she altered those behaviors. She learned that eating good, fueling foods were essential, and she incorporated those ideas into her daily life. She also learned that she needed to move her body more. Exercise became her oasis. It became her “me-time” every day.

Joanna lost her seventy pounds easily and happily and has maintained her new weight because she created a new relationship with food, with her body, and with life itself. That was five years ago.

Hypnosis makes the process of transforming counterproductive behaviors to productive behaviors easy, effective, and empowering. Any behavior that does not serve your goals and dreams can be changed using hypnosis.

Hypnosis accelerates your learning process so that what might have taken you twenty years to “learn” can be restructured in four to six sessions.

Hypnosis is being used in major medical institutions, such as, Harvard Medical School, UCLA, Stanford, Kaiser Permanente, Beth Israel Deaconness Hospital, and many burn centers, to ease pain, fear, and treatment [, and accelerate healing] for their patients.

Hypnosis is approved by, both, the American Medical Association (AMA) and the National Institute of Health (NIH) for Complementary and Alternative Medical Treatment and as an adjunct to traditional treatments.

The moral of this story is this: if you are wondering if hypnosis is a magic wand or a cumulative change response (snowball effect), it is both!

If all else has failed and you are ready and committed to achieving your goals, it is time to try hypnosis. It works!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And that’s why we use it as the foundation for changing your MIND on the 6 Week Beach Body Program.  We want you to have long lasting change, not temporary results!   http://www.6weekbeachbody.com

Please take a minute to read one of my favorite speeches given by Marianne Williamson. I think the title of this is ” Don’t Shrink”.

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves,“Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?” Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

Every time I read that I feel like there is nothing else I could say to make this point any clearer. You always have at least 2 options.  You could go left or right, think of something as right or wrong, go forward or backward as well as many other choices, I am sure you get the picture.  And in life, I believe you have the choice to believe that you are here to serve the world or you are here to get from the world.

Can you have both of those beliefs at the same time?  Of course, but on a day to day basis how do you look at the world and what do you expect?  From way back in my childhood, I can remember KNOWING that I had to give back, serve the world and help people.   And through my journey, it has been revealed to me the most effective and joyous ways I can do that.  Just be me.

Live my life to the best of my ability and be an example of what it is I stand for.  Walk my walk and talk my talk. As I learn and grow, I share that with people around me.  I use my life as an example for others to learn from.  I put it ALL out there because I feel that is how I connect with the teachers I have as well.

It’s inspiring to me to watch other women grow, change, become wildly successful, find their perfect mate, be insanely happy and that inspires me to do the same.  If I looked around, read the paper, watched the news every day, I would probably believe that life is hopeless, hard, unhappy and negative.  But I don’t.

I CHOOSE my thoughts.  I search for inspiration. I choose to live my life as an example of inspiration to others who might not otherwise believe in themselves.  I create products and programs that serve as a way for me to reach out and help others overcome the obstacles in their way.  I love what I do and I love who I am.  And everything I stand for is also about helping you to love who you are too.

“Hi JJ, I had to write to tell you I think you are really gifted at what you do and are passionate about. I can’t tell you how much your own openness and naked honesty about yourself helps me and encourages me in my journey to health, wealth and overall life satisfaction!

I am feeling very encouraged today and feel this sense of encouragement and empowerment that came from our session today will carry me over to the next week, and so on. Thank You again for being true and authentic!” Brenda R, CA

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Believe it or not, a lot of my clients both in person and over the phone are people who are already exercising regularly but are NOT seeing results.  One of my favorite clients above, Michael Schapa, was one of those very diligent people who exercised 4-5 times a week consistently.  But he wasn’t seeing any results in terms of muscle building, increasing metabolism or weight loss.

" I have lost 28 pounds so far and muscles galore at age 67!"

Click on the picture above to watch his recent video testimonial and this is also what he had to say a few months back:

“There is no doubt that I could not have achieved the weight loss without J.J’s relentless innovative and ever changing exercise program. J.J.’s routines are highly effective as well as being sensitive not to aggravate old injuries. Consequently I had the gain with no pain. J.J actually listens to my joints for any creeks and squeaks to make sure that no injuries are being developed.

On top of being extremely knowledgeable in the field of physical fitness, she also has a great personality. She knows how to motivate and encourage moving on to ever more advanced routines.  I found her next-day follow ups to be very helpful in judging how effective the workout was. Put all this together, assures me that I am in very good hands indeed. In short, she is a keeper.” Dr. Michael Schapa

I decided to dedicate on section of this newsletter to all of you out there who are already exercising often but not seeing results.  I am going to explain the principle I use and hope you will apply it to your workouts as well.

It’s called the FITT Principle:  Frequency, Intensity, Time and Type.

Frequency: The number of days or workout sessions- for example I did 2 in one day last week.   In the morning I did legs and some cardio and at night I went dancing.  That counts as 2 sessions towards frequency.

Intensity: The level at which you are working.  We use both RPE (Rate of Perceived Exertion) and heart rate. Our RPE scale is 1-10, 1 = being on the couch resting and 10= the hardest you could ever work and almost collapse.  You will rate the RPE as well as log the heart rate information.  THRZ (Target Heart Rate Zone) will also be KEY in seeing your fitness level improve and making your exercise time efficient. 

Time: The duration of the exercise.

Type: Walking, running, biking, resistance training, etc…..

You can apply this principle to both resistance and cardio training, but please make separate graphs for each.

Here is an example of an 8 week plan or record.

.

F.                 I.                    T.                T

F.                  I.                  T.                  T

I would like you to create 2 charts and fill in the first lines with what you are doing NOW.  How long have you been doing the same thing?  Is it still working?  If the answers are, “too long” and “ no”, then figure out which of the FITT principles you could adjust.  I would recommend adjusting 1-2, NOT all 4.

Do this for your resistance training as well to see why you might not be experiencing the same results as you may have when you started.

Just because you exercise regularly doesn’t mean you are getting the most out of it- or even doing what is best for you to make the changes you seek!

I’d love to help- so let me know if you could use some tweaking!  http://www.invisiblefitness.com