The fitness resolution

This year, I will get in shape.

We’ve all made this resolution at least once–the silent vow to ourselves each New Year’s Eve in the hopes of this year sticking to our fitness goals.

“After New Year’s, people are really motivated and they go to the gym day in and day out for a month,” says Caine Gilholm, an endurance consultant. “They go from zero to 100 and eventually, they realize that if they keep going like that, they will end up burnt out or injured.”

As a former professional athlete in his native Australia, Gilholm has trained with some of the world’s top coaches. He has completed 36 marathons, eight Ironman events and countless triathlons. Gilholm has been training clients of all fitness levels for over 16 years and has heard every excuse under the sun as to why clients don’t want to work out.

“There’s a certain intimidation factor at the gym, which people use as an excuse not to go.”

Along with the intimidation, most Winnipeggers will go to great lengths to avoid going outdoors during our chilly winter months.

“We want to eat carbohydrate-rich foods and dense starch foods to prepare ourselves for hibernation,” says Gilholm. “It slows us down.”

The solution? Creating a workout area in your home. For less than $500 (the cost of an average yearly gym membership), you can buy everything you need in order to have a dynamic workout in your own home. The following exercises only require four relatively inexpensive pieces of equipment.

“If we turn a small part of our house into a gym facility, we don’t need to go outside. We can get the family involved. There’s no excuse if you have the facility in your home.”

With daily exercise for 30 minutes up to an hour, clients can begin to see results quite rapidly. The majority of Gilholm’s exercises are focused on strengthening the core muscles of the body.

“People always want to work on their mirror muscles, the muscles that others can see, but it’s important to work on posterior muscles too.”

Throughout the day, we’re always sitting upright whether we’re driving, typing at the keyboard or even walking. These actions require core strength in order to ensure that you’re able to hold yourself up and to prevent compaction of spinal disks. Wearing highheeled shoes on a regular basis can also be damaging to your spine. Core exercises can help to prevent some of that damage, while helping to slim down key female problem areas–the stomach and the hips.

The primary focus of any fitness plan is to be in tune with yourself and your body. When Gilholm is training clients, regardless of their fitness level, he does not plan a specific amount of repetitions. “I always ask how you’re feeling on a scale of one to ten. It’s mind before muscle. If you see a list full of repetitions when you’re tired, you automatically become more exhausted before you even begin. Your body is more likely to cooperate if it isn’t instantly tired just looking at the workout.”

The key to sticking to this year’s resolution to stay fit is to keep your workouts interesting and to not mindlessly lift weights at the gym.

“Workouts should be fun and dynamic–as we age, we forget to play!”

THE WORKOUT