Body Shape Blog Archives • Body2Shape

Wellness Habits That Make A Difference

As much as we would all love for the magic wellness fairy to come and wave her magic wand we all know that wellness habits don’t happen like that. Forming habits are just as hard as learning how to break old bad habits. It becomes increasingly harder when you are working on not just you but your whole families wellness and health habits. Below is a list of different good habits that will help you promote wellness for you and your family.

Move around: make every opportunity an opportunity to move around. You do not have to go to the gym or use exercise equipment to move around, however it is highly recommended that you do join the gym. Get outside and enjoy the sunshine on a walk through the park. Go grocery shopping and park further away from the entrance. Make many smaller trips back and forth when bringing the groceries in. Even if you are at work sitting at a desk every once in a while stretch, tap your toes, rotate your shoulders. There is no excuse not to be moving around even if it is only a little bit because every little bit counts. Even if you have to take breaks every once in a while it is always better to move around throughout your day.Moving around is one thing but having a plan to eat a healthy diet and keep fit every day is even more important check out my free diet plans here
Throw all that junk out: this step is a bit hard for some people because this is where we get rid of the junk. All those yummy cookies and cakes need to vacate you household. All junk foods or unhealthy foods are a temptation. Temptations lead to weakness and weakness leads to you having a setback on your journey to wellness. So you need to get into the kitchen and see what junk needs to be vacated.This is things such as cookies, cakes, ice cream, that secret stash of candy you think no one knows about and basically anything that could be termed junk food. This doesn’t mean that every once in a while you can’t treat yourself to a lovely slice of cake it just means that it shouldn’t be found in your house. Pack all of it up and give it to some family that has children or needs something. Donate the extra food to your local food pantry just get it out of your house.
Now the habit to form is when you go to the grocery store not picking up junk food. This is harder than you think. You have to go up and down the aisles and think to yourself, “Do I really need this?” Most of the time the answer is no and you will then have to force yourself to move on. With time this habit becomes easier and easier to implement.

Check out my diet plan that will help you with the process here
Kick stress out the door: stress is a large part of why wellness is so difficult to achieve. Stress attributes to so many different illnesses as well as weight gain. The best way to form wellness habits is eliminating stress. There are millions of things that can stress you out and sometimes we can’t just get rid of them. We have to learn how to cope with stress and how to turn it all into positive energy. There are many different exercises such as yoga, tai chi, or going for a good run that will help alleviate stress. There are also different forms of meditation and deep breathing rituals that will also help with dealing with the symptoms of stress.
Eat right as a family: wellness isn’t just about throwing some junk food out and working out occasionally it is a commitment. Eating right is one of the most important parts of that commitment. Having family meal times is also an important part to wellness. Family meals are the perfect time to sit together as a family and discuss what it means to be healthy and to make healthy choices. It is the prime opportunity to try out a new healthy recipe that you found in your cookbook or start my free diet plan here. This is where habits are going to form and stick and if your children see that you are setting a good example then they will be more inclined to follow your example.
Get some sleep: this is a super important step to wellness because when we sleep our bodies are allowed to recharge and heal itself. One of the biggest problems for wellness aside from stress is that people do not get enough sleep at night. Our bodies need sleep to help our cells heal and well as allows us to recharge. Sleep is also good for stress levels as well as helps lower the risk of many different illnesses and diseases. The average adult should strive to obtain at least six hours of sleep a night.

Wellness doesn’t have to be a chore. Forming healthy habits is the first major milestone on the way to wellness.

The Importance of Squatting for Women

Squatting and lifting are often considered a male only option, the amount of times one of my students has said to me “weight lifting is only for men” or “I don’t wan’t to be muscular” always astounds me. I do understand but building muscle is so underrated, let me explain something that will help you understand a key component to the perfect body.
Every body you admire e.g. actress, celebrity or singer who has the body of a goddess will on a regular basis weight train. Training with weights is so effective every personal trainer includes it into their routines because you simple can’t make any progress without weights.

I wrote the importance of squatting for women so you can get started quickly. For video guides and a complete daily workout check out my 12 week exercise plan and app.

What’s the powerlifting squat? How is it different from the bodybuilding squat? Why would you choose one over the other, what’s good about the powerlifting squat, and how to do it correctly? This article will attempt to answer all of those questions, and then some.

So, let’s start.

Why Squat?

First, the question of motivation. Why should you squat? Why is the squat good for you? Many coaches and instructors say that squatting is great because it evokes the biggest muscular growth. Do you need to have huge legs though? That’s probably not the thing you are thinking about the most when you’re picturing your goal body. You also don’t regularly pick up weights of over 100kg off the floor.

Why squat, then?

Because squat is the lift that will make your whole body stronger. Not just your legs. And squat has immense therapeutic potential. It’s the panacea lift. With squat, your spine and legs will get healthier. Your posture will improve. Your bones will become denser. If you regularly squat decent weights, you will walk away with a bruise from a situation where another man will get a broken bone. And bad knees from squatting? Myth. Squats will damage you if you do them wrong (which, by the way, includes not going to the parallel or lower). I started squatting with scoliosis and wrecked kneecaps. After a few months of powerlifting, my knees stopped being an issue, and my posture improved immensely. And diseases associated with old age, such as osteoporosis or lower back pain? You can forget about them if you squat.

Squats also make you stronger in all movements. Squats make your whole body work, not just your legs. Your back, particularly the lower back, your abs, your hips, everything will get stronger with squats. Why? Because keeping yourself from falling over while a barbell that weights more than you stays on top of your spine makes all your muscles work. They have to stabilize all that weight. Your nervous system has to make sure that you do not end up with your face on the floor with a heavy barbell on top while sending frantic “PUSH! PUSH!” signals to your legs. And, of course, the legs themselves work like crazy.

The Difference Between Squats

Speaking of how much your legs work. The powerlifting squat differs from the bodybuilding squat is that the movement is not optimized to isolate your quads and make them grow. No, the goal of the powerlifting squat is to take as much weight as possible and, well, squat it to parallel and back up. It does not matter how good of the workout your legs receive; what matters is how much weight you can lift. Do not expect the powerlifting squat to make your legs as defined as a bodybuilding squat will.

Personal best 125 let’s see if I can beat it next week #workout #fitness #squat

A video posted by KASPfitness (@kaspfitness) on Dec 9, 2016 at 8:33am PST

The powerlifting squat is also known as the low-bar squat. It is called that way since the bar rests not on the top of your spine, but a bit lower. This results in a shorter lever (lever in this case being the distance between the barbell and your hip area), and lets your legs move a bigger weight. The added weight means more work for your core muscles, which are used in all everyday life movements, and most sport-specific movements, instead of using specifically your quads, as a bodybuilding squat does. The powerlifting squat works your back, abs, and hips more. If that is what you want, read on to learn how to perform the powerlifting squat correctly.

How to perform the low-bar squat

The squat should be done either in a power rack or in a squat stand. When using the power rack for squatting close to your one-rep max be sure to squat INSIDE the rack, not outside of it. You also want to use the safety bars in the rack. Don’t be lazy and set them to the adequate height. This is important not only for the obvious reason of being able to dump the weight on them if it’s too much, but also for being calmer and more focused during your squat. Squat requires a right mindset. You are going to have double or triple your weight on the barbell after half a year of training. This weight will seem like a lot. Safety bars and the protection the rack provides just let you squat without thinking about “what will happen if I fail the rep”. So use those safety bars, and don’t forget to set the pins to an adequate height. If the racked bar is on the level of your mid-sternum, you are doing it right.

Grasp the barbell with an overhand grip. Typically you will want to grab the barbell as close to shoulder width as possible, since that will make your upper back muscles tighter, and you’ll have better support for the barbell. If you can’t have such a close grip, a wider one is okay. You will gradually adjust to a closer grip.

Then, go into a semi-squat under the barbell. Dip your head below the barbell, and move under it so you feel it with the spine of the scapula and with your feet shoulder-width apart at about 30^o degree angle from, uh, your nose. The picture should clarify the feet position. Once you are in position, create a “shelf” under the traps and on top of posterior deltoids for the bar to rest on by lifting your chest and elbows at the same time. It is very important to make sure your arms are not carrying the weight of the barbell, but are just stabilizing it. Raise up keeping your upper body tight, and make a step back.

Now what you have to do is imagine that you are sitting down on a low stool that is between your legs. This is very important – you sit down between your legs. Even more important, you sit down at least until your thighs are parallel to the floor. Contrary to popular belief, squatting higher than parallel is what damages the knees. Squatting at, or below, parallel, is in fact beneficial.

During the squat your knees should move until they are a bit farther out than your feet, and the knees to be in line with toes at all times. Letting the knees move towards each other is what damages them very quickly. Once you hit parallel, your back angle should be about 45^o degrees. From this position, move your hips straight up, or imagine tearing the floor apart to the sides with your feet. Once your knees and hips are fully extended, re-rack the barbell, or do more reps.

First day back after flue only short on weight by 5 pounds not bad #fitness #workout

A video posted by KASPfitness (@kaspfitness) on Dec 1, 2016 at 8:41am PST

Hopefully this guide will serve as a good starting point for anyone looking to better themselves through lifting weights. There’s no doubt that squats are one of the best exercises any athlete can do, but it’s important to remember that good form is paramount, especially if bigger weights are used. Once you are lifting more than 50 lbs it is time to consider protection for your body.

First I would suggest a pair of 7mm knee sleeves – knee sleeves protect your knees from injury, the more weight you add the more pressure you are adding to your joints.
Wrist wrap gloves – essential for lifting any weight and not just a barbell, keep you palms protected and the additional support for your wrists prevents injury.
If you are intending on lifting heavy weights it is essential you purchase a good quality belt made from leather. Trust me the last injury you ever want is a back injury.
The are more for a regular lifter but weight lifting shoes make a big difference and can cost a small fortune.

Wrong execution of squats is exactly what gave this movement its bad rap, and forsaking proper form means failing to reach your strength potential and getting injuries.

10 Ways To Control Overeating

Overeating, binge eating and snacking are a huge problem. These three issues make up the main reasons why you will fail with your diet, so how do you control the problem?
There really is no one solution that fits all because we are all very different people, you could be effected by a stressful event that urges you to hit the fast food drive though or an overload of work limits your time one week knocking you out of a regular routine. My though process is “if you have a plan, you have a chance” so lets put together some actionable steps that prepare us for a future bad day or two!

Here are my 10 ways to control overeating.

Start Your Day Right

If you follow my diet plan as most of you do then you will know that breakfast is a very important time of the day. Never skip breakfast even if you don’t feel like eating! if you are finding yourself short on time every morning then you need to go to bed a little earlier so you can wake up a little earlier. I know it is tempting to watch another episode of your favorite tv show but this extra time in the morning makes a huge difference.

The perfect start to the day is fruit, eggs, oatmeal and vegetables this combination gives your body everything it needs for a solid start.

Eat Slower

Eating slowly is one of the most effective ways to control overeating. It takes about 15 to 20 minutes for your brain to pick up satiety signals. Not only you will enjoy what you are eating, but you will also give your body the time it needs to send the message to your brain when you are full. Synchronizing your body and brain has been proven to make you 20% more productive, your brain understands your body is full letting you focus on other more important tasks.

In my diet plan I split breakfast into two sessions, I understand a lot of people don’t have time for two breakfasts but following this process is beneficial.
My suggestion is, as soon as you wake up eat a piece of fruit and the oatmeal, then get ready for work/kids to school or whatever you do and once your morning tasks are complete eat the eggs and vegetables.

If you find you still don’t have time then it is time to go to bed and wake up earlier!

Eat/Drink Soup!

Soup isn’t included in my diet plan however you could easily make a few alterations to fit it in during the colder months. Liquid foods digest slower so oatmeal, soup or even a curry (low cal please) are a fantastic way to prevent hunger.

A lot of people struggle with hunger pangs in the evening, this is the prime time for overeating so liquid food for your dinner can be a solution.
I suggest meat or fish plus salad for dinner, however as an alternative you could put the meat or fish into a crock pot along with vegetables and a low fat stock to create a soup/stew that will take longer to digest.

Use Smaller Plates

Smaller plates will amount to less real estate for your food to sit on. Arrange your food on a smaller plate and establish limits for each serving through portion control. You should also pay attention to how you present your meal. If you arrange your meal, you will enjoy it more and eat less.

A lot of us tend to over fill our plates when we go out to a restaurant, avoid this at all costs remember your portion size at home and try to keep it the same. If the meal comes already plated and it looks on the large size try to eat a regular portion and ask for a take out box.

Sometimes it comes down to self-control think about the amount of time you have spent at the gym or that dress you still can’t fit into, learning to control your eating sounds painful but remember your still going to eat just a controlled amount.

Plan Your Meals

Planning your meals help you eat healthy, balanced meals on a regular basis. When you have not planned, then you are more likely to find yourself in the middle of million things with a hunger-on so strong that even the most health conscious individual will choose convenience or give in to cravings. Planning helps you decide the number of calories, variety of food choices and of course, the new recipes, thus creating a healthy meal.

Planning meals can be frustrating to get started but once in place it saves you a lot of time. I use a service called plantoeat you can quickly enter my diet plan or your own recipes into a weekly online planner that automatically creates shopping lists! for me it is a huge time saver watch the demo video to learn more.

Go to the plantoeat website to get started.

Always Opt For Fiber

Fiber is the key to weight loss. It can help you feel full faster and for longer. As our body takes time to digest fiber rich meal, it may help you stay satisfied long after eating. Moreover, fiber rich foods are high in volume, which means they can fill you up so you eat fewer calories. Hence, substitute white bread, pasta and other refined floor products with complex grain products.

Stop Eating In Front of the Television

Eating while watching TV can be disastrous. You tend to overeat while working on laptop, or watching TV or reading a newspaper. When you are distracted, you don’t realize how much you are eating and you tend to overeat.

This really is a change of mindset, make a habit of eating at a table, this is another way of synchronizing your mind and body. If you eat or snack when you are watching tv, using a computer or any other place other than a table you mind associates food with these places (not good). Only eat at a table or when you are watching tv or using the pc hunger will get the better of you.

Take a Seat Before you Start to Eat!

Still on the subject of eating at the table a recent study has shown that eating at the table prevents binge eating. Eating on the go gives the signal that you haven’t taken a proper meal and you keep on munching throughout the day.

This is my biggest problem, I am always so busy trying to fit everything into my day that I often will eat food while preparing dinner or the kids meals. This is a habit I managed to break only a few weeks ago, I have noticed that when I sit down to eat my meal I really enjoy everything on my plate and it is rare that I will leave anything.

Out of Sign, Out of Mind – Just Don’t Buy It!

Keep candies, cupcakes, muffins away from your desk. Rid your fridge and cupboards of unhealthy snacks. You are more likely to overeat when your kitchen is full of tempting foods. While grocery shopping, make it a point that you avoid these unhealthy snacks and substitute them with whole grain biscuits, unsalted peanuts, unsweetened yogurt etc.

I know this is a subject of contention if you have kids and if you are like me you will have to compromise. I now don’t buy anything sweet (for me) for the kids I buy things they like and I don’t this helps but be warned if it’s in your house and you have a sugar craving you could be tempted even if you don’t like the item!

Understand Why You Are Overeating.

As we all know, overeating can be induced by several factors such as boredom, anxiety, sadness, stress etc, it is important to understand the reason behind your overeating. Distract yourself if you are bored. Whenever you feel the urge to binge on something, call a friend or listen to your favorite music. This will distract your mind.

You need to find your happy place, what is it that you love to do? Me personally I love a number of things including baking, dance music and just a few cuddles with the kids. these things make me feel good and more importantly very happy.

These have been my 10 ways to control overeating – let me know if you have any further suggestions and I will consider adding them to the list.

Mobility Exercises Before You Workout

A lot of people overlook the need to warm up your body, muscles and mind before you jump right in to your workout. I can appreciate that some days all you want to do is get the workout completed as you have a huge list of things that also need to be done, grocery shopping, work, take kids to school…this list is never ending, It’s tiring just thinking about our schedules never mind doing it!

Even thought I live a crazy busy lifestyle (just like you) I still complete a warm up before I workout out, trust me if you think your schedule is hard now try doing it with an injury (not fun). This is why I always stress the importance of warming up and mobility exercises. To do a basic warm up takes around five minutes and you can get away with a basic warm up every other day but my recommendation is to spend ten minutes warming up, the bonus is your ability to perform will be taken to a new level and the possibility of an injury is heavily reduced.

Below are my personal favorite mobility exercises. If there is a exercise you are currently focused on improving the simply search youtube.com or google.com for that exercise + mobility exercise example – squat mobility exercise.

Squat to Stand or sumo squat to stand

It looks rather simple and ineffective but once you hit eight reps you start to feel the full effect

Cross Body Knee Hug

I personally like to stand still and just complete the knee movement but you can do the walking aspect if you fell it is beneficial to you.

Cat Camel Mobility Exercises

It isn’t the most attractive pose but flexing your spine in a slow motion is a fantastic way to warm up this important body part.

Knee-Hug w/ Diagonal Lunge & Reachback

Combining movements is a good way to limber up. Keep the movements slow and steady balance is key to perfecting this combination.

Mini Band Side Step

If you don’t have a band you can still complete this movement it just won’t be as effective. Do this exercise back and forth then squat lower to increase difficulty.

Okay we are half way through this mobility warm up, at this stage you should feel warm. You should be about five minutes into it now we want to do a short burst of high knees just to raise the heart rate….high knees for 30 seconds GO

Round two

Alternating Sumo Squats

Squatting is the most effective exercise you can do, if you are also doing weighted squats from a rack this warm up is perfect.

Scorpions

Probably the most tricky to get correct but give it time and you can master this movement. Top tip – it is all about control forget about the speed of movement just nice and slow.

Spiderman

Time to become a superhero, the real spiderman climbs up buildings with this move so completing it on the floor should be easy!

Heel to Pelvis

Another exercise that can be modified, I like to stand still during this mobility exercise but the choice is yours. Either way take your time it is very easy to twist your ankle doing the exercise.

747’s

Another exercise that makes you look a little silly however it is worth the wired looks especially if you like to lift.

This is the end of my suggested mobility warm up exercises. All ten exercises should take around ten minutes to complete, the benefits are worth the additional time spent in the gym give them a go for seven days and you will notice a big difference in your entire workout.

How to Measure your Body & Body Fat Correctly

Learning how to measure your body parts isn’t all that complicated, and having the ability to track your progress closer, can help you to stay on track. In this guide I am going to show you how to measure all the important parts of your body. You can then add the measurements into my app every month enabling you to monitor your progress accurately.

If you are not following my diet and exercise plan simply (click here) choose your body shape, download the diet plan and exercise app (both are FREE).

If you are already using my app… lets get started.

The app lets you track the following body parts

Measurements

Neck
Chest
Arm
Waist
Hips
Thigh
Calf

Body fat measurements

Chest
Tricep
Bicep
Subscapular
Midaxillary
Abdominal
Suprailiac
Thigh

I would highly recommend tracking every body part as this will help you notice problem areas. Once you know the body areas that are not changing, we can start targeting those areas with target exercises.

What You Need To Measure Body Fat

Body fat measuring calipers – ($7.49 on Amazon)
A soft tape measure – ($4.99 on Amazon)
or purchase a complete kit that includes caliper, tape measure & calculator ($13.48 on Amazon)
A pen or simply add measurements to the app
A friendly helper – some areas can be tricky to reach

You can purchase expensive measuring tools, most of them are digital and cost five times the price. From my experience inexpensive plastic options are equally as accurate.

There are different methods you can follow to conduct the test process, today I am going to be showing you the “pinch and pull” method used by the majority of trainers.

The Measuring Process

We are going to record two sets of measurements, with in the app there are two places to record measurements.

Open the app
Click the blue circle with the black + in the bottom right
select update measurements

You will now see a screen like this

Scroll down and you can enter “measurements” directly into the app
Here is how to take the measurements

How to measure the neck

To measure your neck you will need a soft tape measure.
Place the tape measure around the neck, ensure it is not twisted and record the measurement.

How to measure the chest

To measure your chest you will need a soft tape measure.
Lift your arms to the side, wrap the tape measure around the largest area of your chest and record the measurement.

How to measure the arm

To measure your arms you will need a soft tape measure.
Stretch your arm to the side then flex your bicep with your hand pointing to the sky.
Measure your bicep at the largest point and record the measurement.
Repete for other arm.

How to measure the waist

To measure your waist you will need a soft tape measure.
Stand straight with your arm out to the side, measure around the waist across the belly button.
Record the measurement.

How to measure the hips

To measure your hips you will need a soft tape measure.
Stand straight with your arms to the side, measure around the hips and the largest section of your butt.
Record the measurement.

How to measure the thigh

To measure your thigh you will need a soft tape measure.
Stand with your legs apart, first measure from your inseam down to your knee to determine the middle.
Measure around the leg and record the measurement.
Repeat for the other leg.

How to measure the calf

To measure your calf you will need a soft tape measure.
Keep the same stance as the thigh and measure at the largest peak.
Record the measurement and repeat for the other leg.

Now you have added your measurements we now need to add “body fat measurements”

Scroll to the top of the page and select “body fat”

You should have a screen that looks like this

For me to try and explain this process with text was going to be tricky, luckily Tracy has put together an awesome video guide showing you exactly what to do. Check it out

At this point you should have all your measurements, you can now input then into my app and you will be give a body fat %
Click on the Info button in the bottom right corner to see the body fat categories and compare your own %