April 22, 2018 – 

Now that the Easter bunny is coming off of the shelves, and the eggs are white and brown again … lets recover.   July 4^th is only weeks away and your swimsuit has likely been sitting dusty in the closet … it’s time to workout!

One of my ‘Bobisms’ that cracks my wife up this time of the year, is when I try on my swimsuit for a baseline and say out loud, ”my swimsuit shrank” and blame it on her for drying everything in the dryer. When the fact is, my swimsuit has nothing to do with it … my hip area expanded over the winter.  So I take a deep breath and quickly rip that garment off almost in denial that it just can’t be true.  It is true tho!

And now, a plan for the next 3 months to get into that suit comfortably.  First I will be honest with myself, now that I just had my 39^thbirthday again … the winter weight will take some effort to offload.

Plan!  Review the components; exercise, diet, sleep.  And there you have it!

If that is all there is to it?  How hard can it be?  Add 40+ hours of work to the equation and suddenly the timeline for exercise changes.  Add meal preparation to diet and that element takes much more time as well.  Oh, then there is family and pets and housework and the list goes on and on.  SO now what?

PLAN!  You really are successful at the work part, so leave work ‘at work’ if possible. Exercise is more than a walk with the dog around the block, it requires using a lot more muscles than walking offers. Adding push-ups and sit-ups make a great addition to the walking.  Lastly, sleep is largely one of your bodies “re-boot” necessities.  If you are not giving your body a chance to completely recover with sleep, you are running on fumes.  Look foreword to a good nights sleep and let those hours work for you.

Go try on your swimsuit, get an idea to how close you are to the last time you had that swimsuit on comfortably … and let’s get busy.  Either take a photograph of you in that swimsuit today or get an idea of how comfortable you are wearing it right now.  If it is not comfortable, you have 10 weeks.  Time to plan!

1. Are your BIG muscles FIT? Glutes (rear-end), Quads (thighs and hammys)

2. Is your CORE activated? Tummy, low-back, and love handles firm or toned?

3. Will your arms be covered up with long sleeves this summer?

Four letter word time, DIET!  Problem with diet is that there are SO many diets, and  we are SO confused with who or what to trust.  Well, stop eating cake and drinking alcohol and you will reduce a lot of calories … a great place to start.  Me too, I know.

Over the next few weeks I will dive into what I feel are the right tools for making the best changes safely for the upcoming summer.  For now, sit up straight and start drinking water.  Today is a great day to commit to hydration and keep it up.  Check Out Your Daily Water Requirement

In good health,

Bob

To exercise or not to exercise?  What a dumb question.  – Author unknown