Anchor Strength Training

Can exercise reverse muscle aging? Yes, and this is how Research looking at muscle fibers from mice and humans reveals the mechanism through which exercise can help rejuvenate aging muscles.

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So many people have gotten in the habit of trying to earn their Thanksgiving dinner. They come to me asking for an extra tough workout, one that will burn calories in excess of those they plan to eat. They tell me their secret to eating extra mashed potatoes is to go for a walk Thanksgiving morning while everyone is asleep. There’s no shortage of magazine articles or Instagram posts that support the idea of sacrifice and calorie counting. How many articles do you see that break down the number of calories in a slice of pie and exactly how much exercise it takes to work it off?
As a fitness coach, I’m sure that the response that everyone expects from me is a tougher HIIT workout and a plan of attack for the holiday table. Stick to protein. Avoid sugars and carbs. Sorry to disappoint, my approach is WAY different. I tell my clients to eat whatever they feel like eating. Want a second helping of cheesecake? Go for it! Drinking that extra glass of wine? So what? At the end of the day, what is more important? That you spent time enjoying a meal with family and friends? Or that you stuck to some rigid idea of “clean” food, left starving, and in fact binged on some pumpkin bars on the way home?
I ALWAYS tell my clients to enjoy these special days free of guilt and self deprivation. To truly be present, to enjoy their loved ones, to eat good food, to have seconds and thirds if they want them. As for exercise, if they feel like taking a walk with the family because it feels good to get out in the fresh air, by all means do it. But exercise should never be used as a means to burn off pie or earn more stuffing.
When my clients return to me next week, I can’t wait to hear about their family traditions and all the yummy foods they ate. As for their workouts? They will look just as they did before the holiday. Sensible, fun, challenging and empowering. No extra cardio or burpees for punishment. What I want for my clients is to enjoy the holiday with family and friends: to eat, drink, and be merry. Life is too short to do anything else.

Hard work pays off.

I have spent most of my life blindly accepting and even perpetuating that statement. From clients, to myself. From my friends, to my children. I have repeated that belief over and over again without thinking. It’s meant as encouragement, as a way to keep going even when it seems like hope is lost. Just keep at it! Hard work pays off!

Except for when it doesn’t. I’ve come to realize lately how disheartening that can be when you are the teenager busting your butt to get a better grade in a class, but despite all the studying, all the late nights, you still end up right where you started. Or what about the aspiring athlete who spends every moment practicing, trying to perfect their craft, only to find out they didn’t make the team? It’s in those situations that I’ve begun to ask myself, “Didn’t that kid work hard?” And almost without fail, I can answer that yes they had. They had given it their all, and still did not reach their ultimate goal. And what about the flip side of that? What about the kid who really didn’t have to work at all? Can we conversely say, “No work also pays off?” Some people never have to work at something, and yet, they reap the rewards they’re seeking with ease.

I think we can also apply this in the context of diet, exercise and eating disorder recovery, too. Hard work pays off. How often have your heard that in the context of working out? It is assumed that the harder you work in the gym, the better your results. The more you work on your diet, the smaller you will become. While often we accept that as gospel, science tells us that the complete opposite can be true. That when you have someone working at maximum capacity in the gym, all while “rocking” their meal plan, they may not lose weight at all. Do we tell this person, working out 2 hours per day while eating a measly 1200 calories that they’re not working hard enough? Is the message still to just keep working harder? Work out harder? Eat even less? It’s a dangerous message and one that is not based on facts. Often exercise is best prescribed as the least effective dose. Do as much as you need to to achieve your goals, and no more. *Continued in comments.

https://www.anchorstrengthtraining.com/post/hard-work-pays-off

As a weight neutral personal trainer, I am often asked, “If you don’t track weight loss, how do you measure progress?” Having worked in the fitness industry, I know that weight has often been used as the gold standard for assessing a client’s overall success in any program designed by a trainer. However, having seen firsthand the damage that can cause to clients who cannot meet a random weight loss goal, I have learned that the greatest measure of success comes from setting goals that are important to each client. Those goals may be different for every individual. As trainers, we can sometimes become immune to the small accomplishments of the people we train, chasing the big ones as a way to boost our own worth. The small goals are often not considered social media worthy.

Recently, one of my clients made a list of all of the improvements to her life from adding intentional movement. Sometimes this movement included strength training. Sometimes restorative yoga. Sometimes cardio. All of it included movement that felt good to her, was challenging,enjoyable, and fit her body. Her list is insightful, and speaks more to what she values than weight loss ever will. With her permission, I am sharing her list, in her own words:

My blood pressure is lower.
My resting heart rate is lower.
My heart no longer skips beats.
My mood is better and I function better when dealing with difficult emotions.
I sleep better at night.
My back feels great when doing housework and activities of daily living.
Yoga poses are easier for me now.
I can sit on the floor without my back hurting.
I haven’t had a cold or the flu since I’ve started moving—over a year. I used to live a month or two a year being sick.
I’m awake more during the day and nap less.
I found out that I’m strong and I have gotten stronger.
I was so happy with how well I did physically when traveling—and I’m doing even better than that now.
My balance and flexibility are better.
I’m feeling much more confident.

None of these accomplishments required weight loss. In fact, this client has not weighed and we don’t know if her weight has gone up or down. (Continued in comments)

From CCA to GHS. Great to see them playing alongside each other again!