Which Change Should You Make Today?

The answer is simple-anything that’s going to get you closer to your goals.  Whether it’s related to your health, fitness, or life in general, we often forget the greater effects that come from minor tweaks in your routine.  In the following post I’m going to try to convince you to commit to one small change in your routine today that will ultimately lead to greater things. 

Performance Related Tweak

After using kettlebells for about 8 months, I attended a workshop at the legendary Training Room in Avon by the Sea, NJ.  It was presented by Mike and Jim, the owners of the Training Room, and Pam and Jason of Kettlebell Athletics in Philadelphia.  At the time, I was having trouble consistently pressing the 24kg kettlebell on my left side.  It turned out that the way the KB handle was landing in my left palm after my cleans was seriously limiting my pressing power.  Placing the kettlebell ¼ of inch closer to the sweet spot in my palm led to more consistent presses on my left side.  This eventually led to more productive training and better results.  Work on your technique to prevent injury and increase performance.

Dietary Related Tweak

I’m just going to start off by saying if soda and other high calorie drinks are your primary beverages, you need to get a grip.  I’m not going to lie and say I never touch the stuff-I happen to love Coca-Cola-but it makes its way into my belly in very limited quantities.  Let’s run some numbers.  A 12oz can of soda has around 140 calories.  140 X 365(days in a year) = 51,100 calories.  51,100 / 3500(the approximate “magic #” caloric value given to a pound of fat) = 14.6.  This means that if you’re not burning those calories, it could lead to an extra 14.6 pounds on your body.  Your harmless can of soda a day habit could potentially add up to 73 pounds in 5 years.  “But I drink diet soda,” you say.  Trust me you’d be better off replacing it with water. 

Activity Related Tweak

I’m going to let you in on a little secret-there is no such thing as useless activity.  So many people get hung up on numbers.  Whether it’s reps, pounds, or minutes, everyone is looking for the magic number or formula to get them instant results.  When it comes to fitness, people’s heads spin with the huge amount of rules that come with certain programs.  I’ve heard people say “I need to spend this many minutes to get into that zone, so I can get these results.”  The truth is when they don’t have that magical number of minutes, they do nothing at all.  That’s dumb.  I’ll take a dollar a day over nothing at all simply for the fact that I’ll have an extra $365 in my pocket at the end of the year.  Let’s run some numbers again.  If a 150lb person walks 10 minutes a day at 3mph, that person will burn approximately 49 calories.  Do this for a year and you’ll burn 17,885 calories.  That divided by the magic pound of fat number equals about 5lbs of fat lost in a year.  That’s with an easy exercise, too.  Just imagine what the results would be if you did something more intense, but just as convenient like kettlebell swings or snatches!  Do yourself a favor and add any and all of the extra activity you can into your daily routine, and call me when the pounds magically disappear. 

There you have it, three easy changes to your routine that can lead to better results.  I encourage you to make positive changes in your life that will lead you greater things.  These changes shouldn’t be limited to health or fitness related goals either.  After all, we should be complete beings, and improving one area of one’s life will surely improve another.

Joe

Prograde Nutrition