Train Smarter, Not Longer

For those of us who have a billion things to do, like me this is sweet music to your ears. My plan today was to start my training for my half marathon I'm doing the first week of Nov. I usually do one about now but I was away most of the summer and was unable to get my miles in. I thought early Nov. would be a great time to get one in.

To start my training, I always like to get a good sleep--what was I thinking:) We were driving home from a friends cottage last night and when we got home (reasonable-8pm) the kids were complaining about itchy heads. We had some dandruff a while ago so I told them to come over while I checked it out. AUGH!!!!!!!! within seconds, I saw it wasn't dandruff, it was lice!

So my early to bed was out the window, I spent the next several hours combing through my 3 girls very long hair. The point of this story is that things always happen unexpectedly, things you don't plan on, so work with it.

I was going to go for a long run but I quickly changed my schedule. I'm going to do boot camp tonight (so looking forward to having my butt kicked), and I will fit my run in tomorrow.



It's important to have a plan for your workouts, but also be flexible when little (or big) things come up. The next thing is to train smarter, not longer. You don't need to spend hours and hours working out. If you know me, or at least been reading Mondays posts and the ones on fitmommakeover.net you know that I am all about getting in the best workout in the least amount of time.

The best way to do this is to maximize on each exercise. Instead of doing exercises like a machine chest press, do push ups. Instead of doing a leg extension or hamstring curl, try squats and lunges. Some of my favourite exercises are combo's. An example of this is a squat with a row using tubing, or lunges with a tricep kickback. By doing these type of exercises, you cut down your time because you are working tons of muscles at once and you burn lots of calories.

After your great 30 min workout, you need to stretch everything and then rest. So many people don't rest long enough. You muscles do the best growth when you are actually resting, not working out. So workout, then rest.


Get Good Sleep: I know if you have babies who are not sleeping through the night, this sounds like an impossible mission. If this is you right now, do the best you can. If for the rest of you, you have better control over your sleeping habits, go to bed earlier. By 1030pm. I hear so often of late nights of midnight or later and it's just not healthy. Early to bed, early to rise. Our ancestors did it out of necessity, we need to do for better health.

So if you have been spending hours working out, give this a try. Try a quick 20-30 minute workout using exercises like push ups, squats and lunges, combine some of your movements and then give yourself a rest. Do that 3-4 times a week, add some cardio in on your off days and see how you feel. (you don't want to lose intensity though, be sure if you are doing a shorter workout, that you don't skip your intensity and make it easier).

Committed to your fitness success,
Kelly Parker
www.fitmommakeover.net