A Healthier You in 2012

Some age-old New Year's Resolutions include getting in shape, losing weight or eating better, yet few of us manage to keep those resolutions much past January. If the simple approach is more likely to bring you success, Chance Pearson, fitness director at Mountainside Fitness, has these small tips that can make a big difference.

If 2012 is finally going to be "the year" you get healthy, get thinner or get stronger, get acquainted with the simple idea of watching what you eat and exercising in the year ahead. Here's some advice to make it do-able:

• Avoid starchy carbohydrate filled foods after 4 p.m. These foods include potatoes, rice, bread, tortillas, cereals and all sweets. This will cut down on your caloric intake and allow your body to utilize more fat for fuel.
• Avoid getting into a predictable exercise routine. Your body becomes more efficient at the exercises you repeatedly do, which in turn leads to a less efficient workout.
• Get off the machine and pick up some free weights. Try to replace machines with more free weights which will exponentially increase your exercise efficiency.
• Try interval training as a great way to mix up your cardio with huge metabolism boosting benefits. Interval training consists of short sprints followed by a rest or low intensity period.
• Break your resistance training into three movements: pushes, pulls and squats. This is a great way to simplify strength training while keeping all of your movements compound which will give you more bang for your buck opposed to isolating one muscle at a time.

Getting started in a fitness routine is the hardest part. Hopefully keeping it simple will help you keep your New Year's resolution for many years to come.

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Mountainside Fitness
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This article, written by Chance Pearson, is part of the Chamber's monthly Valley Young Professionals email newsletter. To sign up for any or all of the Chamber's newsletters, click here.