Workout and Diet Advice for Women over 45

More on how to change your attitude! A University of Chicago Booth School of Business research study had one group of participants visualizing eating an unpleasant food and the other group visualizing avoiding the unpleasant food. You guessed it – the first group formed a more favorable opinion of the food, the second group, nothing. Seems we are hardwired to equate avoidance with discomfort so the more you skip those hard-to-love-squats, the more you come to dislike them. By physically doing what you may dislike, you begin to change your attitude, because the brain equates taking action with a positive outcome. So either think about how much you love squats; or don’t think about them just do them!!

In Parts 1 and 2, I covered  the leg workout and the chest and front delts workout that I do in 15-20 minutes.  I add in 15 minutes to warm up and stretch, so in 30 minutes I can get a good workout when I am pressed for time.

This is part 3 of the four-part series.  And to reiterate  –  the split I use may seem  a little unusual, though by now some of you are really warming to it.  I split the upper body into back, chest and arms and I split the shoulders over three days as well, so that I do some shoulders on each of the upper body days.  I admit that I did not develop this routine; I was lucky enough to have a trainer share it with me.  I look forward to your feedback on this routine.

Fifteen minute workouts!?
We are all pressed for time, and rather than skip a workout due to lack of time, it is great to have some exercises that we can simply do in less time and still feel that we got a good workout . I have taken the challenge to suggest such workouts, and will be blogging these suggestions for the time challenged over the next couple of weeks. The objective is to make the workouts shorter in duration and still be effective.

In my previous blog post I discussed getting the most from your trainer; how to do it and what your responsibilities are as a client. So why are we talking about whether to end the relationship with the trainer? Fact is, like any relationship, things can feel ‘old and stale’, or we reach the point where we are no longer ‘feeling the love’. Though these generally apply to a male-female romantic relationship, the metaphor applies equally to the trainer-client relationship.
As women we are pretty sensitive and intuitive and can sense when things are ‘just not working’. If you are unsure of your instincts, then ask yourself the following questions:

I have had personal trainers for short periods occasionally over the years, and I have been a personal trainer.  I have seen what works and what doesn’t work from both sides.  I am also a keen observer of current personal trainers when they are training others.

Last week, my guest spot topic on Carl Lenore’s Super Human Radio Show was about Women and Personal trainers.  (The link to the show is posted at the end of this blog post.)  The topic is so broad and deep, and on the show we covered a small part, so I have this pent up need to share more.   And specifically, cover some things that women have spoken to me about or asked me about.

Figured I would break it into three parts:

1. Choosing a Personal Trainer
2. Getting the Most out of your Personal Trainer

Just had the opportunity to be a guest on Internet Radio – “Superhuman Radio Show” with host Carl Lanore http://bit.ly/73Ew2s . The Topic was a Feminine Perspective of Bodybuilding, which turned out to be a broad subject and was an enjoyable hour’s discussion.

The title of this post comes from a sentence in an article on abs from a guy with really great abs.  Yeh, I know there are a lot of hot guys with great abs – see the plethora of calendars, online and offline, making the rounds now that 2010 is in sight.  You haven’t seen them? Maybe I can find some links to help you out.  In the interim – our focus is on our own sixpacks!  Or on our journey there.  The “hot guy” contends we all have Sixpacks!

I don’t know about you – but I have been working out with weights for a lo-o-o-o-ng time.   I really notice it when the workout routine comes around to the start of the cycle and I think “man I just did legs….  or so it seems”.   Does no-one else get that feeling?  Is it just mydays and weeks that fly by, along with the workout cycle?

I like the quote from jacket:

”The Slow philosophy is about giving each task the time and focus that it deserves so that you do it better and enjoy it more.”

It got me thinking about the power of slow in relation to training/working out.   And as in previous blog entries, I aim my comments (sage advice?) at  my primary audience – the female boomer weight trainer/bodybuilder.  We really need to train smarter and I believe we can see better results if we give each set, and each repetition “the time and focus it deserves”.  I offer this perspective:  get more from your workout (efficiency, effectiveness and enjoyment) through the power of slow.  I think your joints may thank you as well.