Its Golf Pre-Season, Right Now

Golfers, I know it seems like winter will never end and golfing is not even a thought (unless you are lucky enough to be heading to Florida), but you can begin to improve your game,, right now, without picking up a club.

Conditioning the body for improved golf performance is a major component to success on the PGA Tour. Most successful pro golfers have a physical conditioning program.

A few years back, when Vijay Singh was on the top of the leader board every week (and he usually is now as well) he was asked by a reporter to give the amateur golfer advice on how to improve their game. His response, "hire a trainer".

Whether you hire a trainer who specializes in golf conditioning or not, you will only see significant improvement in your game by becoming fit.

Is a new driver or putter going to drop your handicap by 10? Probably not. If you are a high handicap golfer, a new driver is only going to send the ball deeper into the woods. And lets be honest, it's not the club that is sending the ball into the woods, it's you. You may know what to do, but can your body do what you are asking it to do?

Start working on the most important piece of golf equipment you have - your body.

Each week, HVF will post a new exercise on this blog for improved golf performance. If you are serious about your game and want to make this season your best ever, allow HVF to design a specific program for you.

Hit 'em straight!

Keep Moving - Hudson Valley Fitness

Your Biggest Weight Loss Obstacle

Your biggest weight loss obstacle is not a lack of time, or genetics, or a lack of available healthy foods, or your family, or the economy, or not belonging to a health club.

No, your biggest weight loss obstacle is YOU!

Be honest with yourself, are you the type of person that follows through successfully with everything you do, both professionally and personally? If you answered no, it is time for you to change how you approach everything, not just your weight loss.

Simply thinking about how you are going to reach your goals will not lead to success, taking action will. Take action and write down your goals. Take action and read your goals. Take action and physically do that you say you are going to do.

Do this with everything in your life. If you strive to succeed in everything in your life, then every new task will become easier, including your weight loss goal.

Your weight loss will happen when you make yourself a take-action, successful person in every aspect of your life (not to mention you will become a much happier person).

Good Luck - Hudson Valley Fitness

Is Nutrition The Problem?

For most people looking to lose weight, nutrition is their biggest hurdle. This is not a secret, just look at all the advertising done for weight loss nutrition programs like Weight Watchers and NutriSystem.

If you are looking to lose weight without participating in weekly meetings or having your meals mailed to you, consider changing your eating habits.

Most people don't eat enough when trying to lose weight. The fact is, you must eat throughout the day, fueling your body and keeping it from storing excess fat. A simple and effective rule is from the time you wake up eat a meal every 3 hours. That means, when you wake up eat a healthy breakfast, then eat a sensible meal every 3 hours. Meals can be as simple as fruit and vegetables, or a salad, perhaps a sandwich.

Eating every 3 hours will also lower your cravings, limiting the portion sizes when you eat. In addition to watching the foods you eat, you must watch the drinks you drink. Water should be a major component to everyday, even every meal.

If preparing 6-7 meals a day is a little overwhelming, consider supplementing your daily meal plan. Great meal supplements options are shakes or meal bars. These supplements are created to deliver a high level of the essential vitamins and nutrients necessary for weight loss. But beware, many supplements that advertise as healthy meal choices are anything but healthy. Supplements are not regularly tested by anyone but the manufacturer's scientist or nutrition experts. One supplement manufacturer that does have their products tested by an independent lab is Shaklee. Shaklee products are the only supplements recommended to Hudson Valley Fitness clients because they are the best.

If you would like to add Shaklee weight loss products to your meal plan click here.

So remember, eat every 3 hours from the time you wake up, lose the sugary drinks and drink water, perform strength training 3-4 times a week, and cardio exercise 5-6 times a week. Putting all components together will deliver weight loss.

Good Luck - Hudson Valley Fitness

Cardio Tip

Most people know that they should be doing some sort of cardiovascular exercise to increase their aerobic capacity and strengthen their heart, but the confusion is usually what type and how long.

The type of cardio you should do is anything that elevates your heart rate to the appropriate levels. If you have access to a gym, you can use a treadmill, elliptical, bike, rower, stepper, stairmill, etc. If no gym access, get out and walk fast, jog, or run.

If you are a beginner, consider using the bike, or a lower level of the elliptical or treadmill. As far as what pieces produce the most cardio output, a study conducted at a midwest university confirmed that the treadmill produced the most, followed by the elliptical and bike respectively.

Also, if you have a knee or back issue, your best bet is to stick with the elliptical or bike.

Now that you know what you are going to do, how long should you do it? First, determine your cardio heart rate training zone. This is easily done with a simple equation.
220-(your age)x 0.65 = 65% of your training zone (your heart rate)
220-(your age)x 0.85 = 85% of your training zone (your heart rate)

When starting out, train for 15-20 minutes with your HR at 65%. Add 5 minutes to warm up and 5 minutes to cool down.

As you progress into your routine (a few weeks), work harder and longer. Train at 75% to 85% for 30-45 minutes, adding 5 minutes for warmup and cool down.

Always listen to your body. If you don't feel well, STOP, see a doctor. HVF is not responsible for your injury or death as a result of applying this information.

Good Luck - Hudson Valley Fitness

Are You Supplementing?

Supplementation is something that confuses just about everyone. So what is it? Supplements are used to fill the voids in our daily nutrition to ensure we are consuming the essential vitamins and minerals.

Without those essential vitamins and minerals in your daily diet, you will not feel or look as good as you should. Also, your gains produced by your exercise routine will be less than they should be.

Your daily supplements should include at least a multi-vitamin and a post workout recovery maximizer. A multi-vitamin can provide protection for immunity, stress management, antioxidant and DNA protection, heart and brain health, bone and joint
health, digestive health, and prostate health.

Most people are aware that using a protein based workout supplement is an important step in repairing muscles. But, the question has always been confusing about when to take the protein supplement - before, during, immediately after, or shortly after a workout. After many studies the answer is immediately after. Results have been shown to be dramatically higher when taking a protein supplement immediately after a workout as opposed to any other time. If you are not taking a protein supplement at all, you are truly doing your workouts a disservice.

Make your results easier, and click here to get the best supplements available.

Good Luck - Hudson Valley Fitness

Change is the Theme

Change has been the theme for the past year or so. And we need change as a country.

So much has gone wrong for way too long, we need change. But don't worry, change will come, it's just going to take some hard work. It will happen because it must, we can't live in a society this "ill".

Well, if we are willing to work hard to change or correct our financial sickness, shouldn't you be willing to work on changing your physical well-being? If you are not well, you must change, you have no choice.

If we can overcome the problems we face as a nation, you can certainly reach your health goals in a timely fashion.

Find your goal, create a plan, and get to work.

Change is good!

Good Luck, Hudson Valley Fitness

Track Everything

Are you struggling with your weight loss or other fitness goal? The problem may be your organization. Your fitness goal should be organized like a business. Create a plan, implement all components, and track everything!

Start with your goals. Write them down. Keep them in front of you everyday (on your fridge, on your desk, etc). Set goals every week. Small goals and not a weight loss goals, but goals of execution. "I'm going to strength train 3 times this week and run 4 times". Everyday write down what you did. If you did nothing, write it down! At the end of the week review your tracking. If you did not reach your goal of strength training 3 times and running 4 times, understand why not. If you discovered that your goals were easily reached, make harder goals for the next week. Perhaps certain days were more difficult than others. Whatever it is, you can only discover what is going right and wrong by writing it down.

Does a business accountant or manager keep the details of their business in their head? Of course not. If they did, their business will fail - quick! Well the same can be said about your fitness goals. If you do not track everything, strength training, cardio, eating habits, etc...you will fail.

Go out and buy a spiral notebook. On the first page, write down your goal(s). On the next page outline how your are going to reach that goal. If it is a weight loss goal, your going to set a goal of 1 pound a week (if you do more, great, but the goal is 1 pound). If you need to lose 20 pounds, create an outline for the next 20 weeks. 3 days of strength training, 4-5 days of cardio, proper eating habits everyday, activity as much as possible.

Now create a page for everyday. Every page you will record strength training exercises (if the appropriate day - but write something down), cardio (how long - avg heart rate), and you'll record meals from that day (3 meals, 3 healthy snacks, beverage consumption, etc.). Use a book or online resource to find nutrition and calorie counts to make sure you are eating properly.

If you stick to recording fitness and nutrition (and activity) everyday, you will succeed. Just make sure the plan is correct. If you need assistance, contact a professional.

Good Luck - Hudson Valley Fitness