How is your week? Mine is busy, but productive. Thank you for all the messages you’ve sent me this week. I am sorry that I can’t get to answer all of them, but I am trying to read everything and then make sure you get your answers through my blog posts.
here are the questions I chose this week.
Ines, what is your opinion about protein shakes and supplements as a whole?
A while ago I answered a similar question, so check out HERE.
Ines, when could a person feel “ready” to start training in the gym?
A person is ready to go to the gym, when he truly decides, that he wants to make a change in his lifestyle. Sometimes I find it weird, when somebody tells me, how he is gonna start training with me, when he becomes fitter. After all exactly workouts are your tool to a fitter you; they are the once that will make you stronger and more athletic.
People’s habit to postpone a particular action for the future, while waiting for the right moment is the best recipe for failure.
There isn’t such a thing as the right moment. Now is the moment to start everything you want. Yes, if you come to the gym and you’ve never worked out before, do not expect to train with the same intensity, as somebody who has been training for 3 years.
Everybody starts from his own level. Everybody trains according to his own abilities. The thing is that if you always postpone, you will be forever stuck in the same place. Actually with every postponed day, you are taking one step back and it becomes harder to achieve.
If you dare to start today, you have a pretty good chance to be advanced, after 6 months and you will probably do things you didn’t suspect you were capable of. But if you keep on hiding behind the monitor and keep admiring those who progress, I bet that you will never reach the right moment and you will just waste the opportunity to reach your full potential and discover your new passion- working out, as well as experience the pleasure of being proud of your fit, athletic body, which allows you to do a bunch of stuff with ease.
Ines, I have a problem. I’ve been training for a long time and I think that I know what is the proper technique of lunges. But the thing is that my balance is really bad. I always lose balance when I do them. Why does it happen like that?
I don’t remember who said it, I think it was my guru Mike Robertson, but he claims that „If you have a crappy core, your lunges will be crappy as well.” I.e. if your core is too weak, there is a big chance that you will have a bad technique on the lunges.
From my own experience, I will say that I completely agree. If your technique is truly good, but you lack balance, there is a big chance that your core is too weak. In order to change this, you should strengthen the muscles on your torso.
This will help you not just for performing lunges with proper technique, but it will contribute for a better posture and for lowering the chance of lower back pain.
If you wonder which exercises you are supposed to do, I suggest you start from HERE.
Meanwhile, every time you do lunges ( or actually every time you perform an exercise), think about keeping your abs tight. Imagine that there is somebody standing against you, who is about to hit you in the stomach. You know how instinctively, you will tighten your abs, in order to stay safe from the hit, right? Well, do this every time when you are in the gym and when you perform a particular exercise.
Ines, is age a problem, when it comes to becoming fitter?
I answered this before, but I will do it again, because it is one of the most frequently asked questions. Your age is the best “excuse” to actually start working out. The older you get, the more you should take care of your body, and not allow yourself to just float with the years, saying how your time has passed. The stronger your body is, the more getting older, will be a pleasure, because you will be fit enough, to do adequate physical activity and move properly.
What kills your body is the lack of movement, too much sitting and crappy food.
There are a bunch of examples of older people, who are fitter than 20 year old youngsters. Check out the video below and make your own conclusions.
The only thing you should be careful about is to advance according to your own abilities. I.e. be careful, not to overestimate your own abilities, in your enthusiasm to progress and do not rush with complicated progressions and heavy weights. First master bodyweight movements and then move on to adding additional weight.
Check out more on the topic, if it is appropriate to train after 40 years HERE.
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And one picture from yesterday 🙂
