5 THINGS YOU CAN DO TODAY TO START YOUR FITNESS JOURNEY.

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1 5 THINGS YOU CAN DO TODAY TO START YOUR FITNESS JOURNEY GILSTON STREET KEPERRA QLD totemfitnessau totemfitnessau totemfitness.com.au

2 1 Clean out the cupboards 2 Assess your own suitability to train 3 Get moving straight away 4 Stretch daily 5 Establish a routine

3 CONGRATULATIONS ON MAKING THIS DECISION TO COMMENCE YOUR FITNESS JOURNEY TODAY! If you re new to fitness, or you ve been out on the sidelines for some time now, these initial steps can be quite daunting. However, it often doesn t have to be that way, because making that decision to begin is typically the hardest part. So, if you re reading this, give yourself a pat on the back, because your fitness journey has now officially begun! If you re not quite sure where to start because you re an absolute beginner, or you have only just decided to get back on the bike again read on as this is your go to guide to a sure-fire start in your Health & Fitness journey! Now that you have also made this decision, getting in shape is easy part, but to ensure that get off to the best possible start, we ve developed 5 simple steps that you can start today to really kick start your journey. CLEAN OUT THE CUPBOARDS First things first, fitness starts in the kitchen, and this makes your diet the most logical place to begin making changes that will make the biggest impact to your overall health. To keep things simple, and to introduce some minor changes that ensure sustainability, we re going to establish 3 simple rules that will get instant results. RULE NUMBER ONE: REMOVE ALL POSSIBLE ADDED SUGARS FROM YOUR DIET. This is quite possibly the hardest rule to follow, but it s also the most critical one. These days, sugar is found almost everywhere; however, the National Dietary Guidelines recommend that women limit daily sugar intake to no more than 25 grams per day, and 35 grams for men! A pretty tough task when you consider; however, to establish this rule, we re going to begin by removing all the obvious sugar sources from our sight. Better still, and if you re completely serious about initiating a healthy change, throw it in the garbage or donate it to a charity food bin. This includes things like potato chips, soft drinks and cordial, chocolate and lollies. Now we re going to move onto some less obvious choices, and this is where reading your food labels becomes vitally important. Consumable items like yogurts, fruit juices and muesli/health bars are typically loaded with sugar. All of these items are often marketed as healthy options; however, they re generally what can stand in between you and your health goals. Be diligent with your food choices and read the labels. Finally, we have some more healthier sugar sources. This can include things like fruits; however, it shouldn t include things like dried fruits where a predominant amount of the juice is removed, leaving us essentially with concentrated sugar. Avoid dried fruit, and you ll avoid a certain sugar trap! To assist with this rule, I recommend installing a food tracking app on your phone to calculate your daily intake and reduce the risk of consuming too much sugar. For this purpose, My Fitness Pal is an awesome tool to use. RULE NUMBER TWO: LIMIT PROCESSED FOODS. This is probably one of my most favoured rules, because it essentially means getting back to the ways our body was designed to eat. So much of our diet revolves around eating for convenience these days because of the hustle forth lifestyles we live. This basically means that foods are made to eat on the run, with quick preparation the focus. Nowadays, not so much focus is brought onto actual preparation and cooking of food. Everything hassubsequently become highly processed, and vital minerals such as magnesium have been removed and replaced with preservatives. Subsequently, our diets and health have suffered.

4 Obesity is at an historic high and our population is plagued by many other health disorders that could easily be prevented by a healthy diet. On that note, lets try to keep this rule quite simple, because healthy eating shouldn t be difficult, in fact, it should be fun and enjoyable. As a general rule of thumb, we want to selecting our food sources here from as close to its natural state as possible. Better still, choose from organically grown food sources from your local farmers market to save both your health, and your budget! This will ensure that we reduce all possible preservatives and added chemicals from our food to ensure that we re feeding our bodies the healthiest food sources possible. RULE NUMBER THREE: LIMIT YOUR INGREDIENTS TO THREE Rule number three goes hand-in-hand with the previous rule, in that, we eat from the most natural food sources as possible. So, if a packaged food item that you ve purchased contains more than three ingredients, it s likely that it s arrived at the store in a highly processed state. Now this isn t a hard and fast rule because some foods in this category may still be safe to eat; however, if those ingredients contain any additives, preservatives or ingredients that you struggle to pronounce, avoid it like the plague. ASSESS YOUR OWN SUITABILITY TO TRAIN If you ve never really exercised before, have suffered some form of injury, or have given birth in the last months, it s important to assess your own ability to exercise. Safe exercise requires a conscious movement in a controlled manner. This can be impacted by previous injuries/illnesses, inefficient movement patterns because of inexperience or physiological issues, or childbirth and pregnancy. GET MOVING STRAIGHT AWAY Once that you have assessed your suitability to train, it s time to get moving. And, to kickstart the process, I recommend beginning with some of the basics.because your own body can often be the best master, body weight exercises can be the perfect place to begin! Push ups, pull-ups squats and abdominal crunches can be performed just about anywhere, and a great place to learn about how your body functions through safe and sustainable exercise. The best thing about these types of exercises is that there are so many variations of each available. This means that you can essentially adjust the intensity and skill levels to suit your own abilities. For beginners, I recommend doing a small bodyweight circuit of 4-5 exercises on non-consecutive days. Perform 2-3 sets of each exercise at an intensity that will allow you to perform at least 20 repetitions. As you progress in strength, you can gradually increase the intensity and add more sets to continue your development. STRETCH DAILY This is critical to maintain your bodies freedom of range and movement. As we age, particularly if we re ageing behind a computer, our muscles shorten and tighten. This can cause severe back/shoulder pain, and can often lead to injury. Stretching daily can essentially reverse the bodies ageing process by maintaining the body s optimal Function. Additionally, consistent stretching can also increase our range of motion, therefore reducing any propensity towards injury and assisting the muscles recovery process post exercise. As a general rule of thumb, stretching should be conducted at the beginning and end of a workout. However, stretching cold muscles isn t ideal, and should generally be performed in the latter stages of a warm up that could consist of a light walk/jog.

5 ESTABLISH A ROUTINE Establishing a sustainable fitness routine requires careful consideration of other lifestyle factors; Eg, work, family and travel etc. Working with each of these parameters in mind, the creation of a fitness routine must provide a solution that is both sustainable and enjoyable. Approaching fitness haphazardly simply doesn t work, and the results can be quite negative in the longer term. If you re an extremely busy person, time and routine management is critical, and a sustainable fitness routine needs to find a prioritised and consistent space within your routine to ensure the best chance of success. IN SUMMARY Once the tough decision to venture into a lifestyle of health and fitness is out of the way the journey to your dream body officially begins. Getting started is the easy part, but developing the healthy eating and exercise habits over a sustained period of time requires a consistent level of commitment. However, when it s all added up at the end of the day, fitness doesn t have to be hard, and it s often the simple things that we do that can make the biggest difference. In addition to that, factoring fitness into your routine will also have the added benefit of developing a healthy habit, making the path to desired levels of fitness a clearer journey. If you already have an established work/family routine, assess what hours you have available, where and when each day to gain a best possible analysis of the potential spaces where physical exercise can take place. This can occur before and after work, during your lunch breaks, or ever right after school drop offs. The essential part here is consistently scheduling your exercise time, this will help to ensure the creation of a sustainable and healthy habit.

6 HEALTH GOALS While you re working through the 5 Things You Can Do Today to Start your Fitness Journey, jot down a few of your health goals so that when we meet, we can chat all about them and get started!