Staying motivated for love and life!

Getting fitting fit for your wedding!

Steve Toganivalu and Francine Kamea share their top tips in how to improve your fitness levels, look fabulous and how do it all for love and for the love of life!

The most important thing in a successful fitness regime is to STAY MOTIVATED! It’s easy if you are determined and ruthless in striving to achieve your goals. But remember, your goals shouldn’t be to simply lose weight – because while you are exercising you are also building muscle (and that will affect the figure on your scales), your goals need to include ‘quality of life’ and be more about your fitness levels than a 5,10 or 15kg weight loss. Everything that you do now (or don’t do) will impact on your future… A healthy exercise and eating program now will make for a better life for you and your life partner tomorrow!
To help you in your aim for a better lifestyle (and to perhaps look better in your dream wedding dress), we have put together our top 10 training tips and just a handful of our favourite exercises…

Training Tips
1. Stay motivated with positive thinking.
2. Don’t set your goals too high – make them achievable!
3. Keep a record of your training and eating schedule – this is your training diary.
4. Start eating a healthy diet – cut out your fast food options and take the time to make nutritious meals.
5. Measure your results every month or two.
6. Drink plenty of water and rest well!
7. Substitute munchies with fruit, nuts, muesli or natural yoghurt.
8. Give yourself a rest day. Making your rest day a weekday keeps you on track better than a weekend (because we all know how hard it is to lose focus and binge too much on a weekend).
9. If you have a moment of weakness in your eating – make sure that your next meal is a healthy one.
10. Change your daily training programs frequently, keeping in mind that you’re not sitting on the plateau bench… You want to keep pushing yourself further!

Lunges
Lunges are a fantastic exercise that focuses in on that area so many of us dislike about our bodies… Our butt! There are many varieties of lunges and everybody seems to have different techniques when it comes to them… Here are our tips when attempting the bottom-friendly lunge…

1. Stand in a split stance, with feet about 90cm (almost a meter) apart. You want both knees to be at about 90-degree angles at the bottom of the movement, so adjust accordingly.
2. Bend the knees and lower the back knee toward the floor, keeping the front heel down and the knee directly over the centre of the foot. Your knee should not extend over your toes.
3. Keep the torso straight and abs in as you push through the front heel and back to starting position. Don’t lock the knees at the top of the movement.
4. Once you have got the hang of it… try holding weights in each hand, this will add to the intensity of the exercise.

Squats
Squats are multi-joint exercise that targets all the muscles of the hips, glutes and thighs.

1. Stand with your feet about shoulder-width apart.
2. Contract the abs and keep them tight as you bend your knees and slowly squat towards the ground.
3. Keep the knees behind your toes as you move into a sitting position – your bottom should be pushed out.
4. Contract your bottom and hamstrings to lift up out of the sitting position and begin to extend your legs. Fully extend your legs until you’re back to standing position.
5. Remember to keep your back straight.

Crossover Crunches
The crossover crunch exercise targets the entire abdominal section… Giving you a nice firm tummy.

1. Lie on your back with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor.
2. Cross your right leg over your left leg so your right ankle is resting on your left knee.
3. Place your fingertips to the side of your head just behind your ears.
4. Contract your abdominal muscles as though you are doing a crunch.
5. Slowly twist your torso and touch your left elbow to your right knee, don’t forget to exhale as you lift up.
6. Slowly lower to the starting position (inhale as you lower).
7. For beginners, repeat for 8-10 repetitions and switch legs and do the same number of reps on the other side. As your fitness increases, also increase the number of repetitions. There are also other variations of the crossover crunch to try once you have mastered this one.

Push Ups
Push ups are an incredible all-over-upper-body exercise that strengthens your core. In this work out you will use muscles in your chest, shoulders, triceps, back and abs.

1. Start on the floor and place your hands a little wider than your shoulders.
2. Lift up onto your toes so you are balanced on your hands and toes.
3. Maintain your body in a straight line from head to toe without drooping in the middle or arching your back (your feet can be close together or a bit wider whichever feels best for you.)
4. Prior to any movement, contract your abs and tense your core by pulling your belly button toward your spine. Keep a tight core throughout the entire push up.
5. Inhale as you slowly bend your elbows and lower yourself until your elbows are at a 90 degree angle. Exhale as you begin pushing back up to the start position
6. Don’t lock out the elbows; keep them slightly bent.
7. Repeat for 8-10 repetitions, increasing the repetitions as your strength increases.

Abdominal Crunches
A basic crunch workout will target your rectus abdominis muscle.

1. Lie on your back, bend your knees, and position your hands on the sides of your head.
2. Tense your abs and compress your lower back to the floor.
3. Slowly pick up your shoulder blades one or two inches off the floor. Exhale as you lift, keep your neck straight and chin up.
4. Hold for a few seconds (don’t hold your breath).
5. Slowly lower while keeping your abs contracted.
6. You should repeat for 8-10 reps to start with (again, increasing your reps as your strength increases).

All of these exercises can be done anywhere! You don’t need to join a gym, you don’t need to invest in any fancy equipment, all you need to do is dedicate some time to yourself! They can be done at home, during your lunch break (before you eat), at the local park, with friends (or your fiancé), or on your own. Just WANT to be fitter, WANT to be trimmer and WANT a better life for yourself and your new life partner. And remember, CONSISTANCY IS KEY!!!