13- Listener Question: How to Track Fitness Progress

How to Track Fitness Progress

Episode Overview: In this episode, we address a common struggle busy moms face when balancing fitness with their daily lives. Our listener is tired of feeling like a beginner and struggles to gauge her progress. She wants to get back into running and incorporate strength training, especially being over 40. We'll provide a roadmap to help her (and you) find joy in fitness again.

Key Points:

• Listener's Struggle: Balancing fitness with a busy life and gauging progress.
• Running and Strength Training: Tips for incorporating both into a routine.
• Building a Solid Plan: A structured training plan is important.

Actionable Tips:

1. Have a Solid Plan:
   • Avoid random workouts.
   • Focus on progressive strength training.
   • Establish consistency in your routine.
2. Incorporate Aerobic Training:
   • Start with brisk walking, light jogging, or cycling.
   • Gradually build a running routine with intervals.
3. Full-Body Strength Training:
   • Include squats, deadlift variations, overhead presses, chest presses, rows, and core exercises.
   • Aim for two full-body sessions per week.
4. Understand Periodization:
   • Assess your current fitness level.
   • Build a foundation before increasing intensity.
5. Balance and Adapt:
   • Embrace life’s unpredictability.
   • Adjust your routine without guilt.

KatFit Strength Programs:

• KatFit Strength Premier:
  • Personalized workout programs.
  • Live video coaching sessions.
  • Customized nutrition coaching (no meal plans).
  • One-on-one support and feedback.
• KatFit Strength Essentials:
  • Personalized programming with less hands-on support.
  • App feedback and form correction.
  • Community forum for additional support.

Takeaways:

• Ensure at least 150 minutes of aerobic and strength training weekly.
• Aim for quality sleep and regular, nutrient-dense meals.
• Start with small, manageable changes and build consistency.

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Transcript

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Today we're going to dive into a listener question. The question is, I always feel like a beginner with my fitness and I'm finding it hard to gauge how much and what I need to do for workouts. I would like to get back into running, but it feels miserable and I also want strength training to be a part of my routine because I'm over 40 and I don't want to lose strength. I want to be more active, but I'm absolutely lost. Welcome to miles from her view. The podcast where we dive deep into the unfiltered reality of fitness, strength training, and nutrition within womanhood and motherhood. I am your host, Kat, founder of Kat Fit Strength. I'm a career strength and conditioning coach, entrepreneur, lifelong athlete, and a mom of two active boys. In each episode, we explore the unique challenges and triumphs faced by women navigating the complexities of life. From juggling family and career to prioritizing self care, we dive. habits that shape our health and wellness. Join us for real stories, authentic advice, and genuine conversations as we empower each other to embrace our journeys and find strength and vulnerability. Welcome to miles from review. I'm Kat, your host. And today, we are going to be going over a common struggle that I see with busy moms who are trying to balance everything. So to recap, the listener asked, she's tired of feeling like a beginner with her fitness and she's finding it hard to gauge how much and what she needs to do for her workouts. She would also like to get back into running, but every time she tries to run, it feels absolutely miserable and really would like strength training to be a part of her routine because she is over 40 and just truly would love to be active again. This is, like I said, it's very common, and I'm going to try and provide a bit of a roadmap. You and the listener who wrote in how to get back on track and find joy with your fitness routine first It is crucial to have a solid plan when you feel like you're a beginner and you feel like you aren't making progress I don't know the full context of the listener. So I'm going to add a little context. So it may not be listener who wrote in, it may not be exactly what you're going through. When clients come to me, oftentimes they have done what's called just the random YouTube workout or popping into classes, trying a certain classes or routine for a little bit and not fully progressing with that. So they're bouncing all around. Having a solid training plan looks like is taking into account your goals and really working on that progressive strength. I did an episode about progressive strength training. I'll attach it in a show notes, but what I focus on when I work with clients is bringing them in and getting them started or Adding that consistency in a solid plan to their strength training while incorporating other facets. So this listener would like to get back to running. It is something that she has enjoyed in the past and it doesn't feel comfortable now. So what we do is we work on building that base. So working with a coach can help you meet Your needs where you're at and elevate you the plan takes that guesswork out of what you need to do The coach if you're working with me, it's going to help you understand your progress Establish reasonable goals with regular check in. So when clients come in for me, I want to get them to a point where they are doing a hundred and fifty minutes of Movement strength training per week. So I want clients to get in with 150 minutes of movement and that is going to build their base. The aerobic training with that is going to look like brisk walking, like jogging, cycling. Then from there we're going to incorporate two full body strength training sessions per week. We're going to focus on fundamentals movements like squats. Deadlift variation, overhead presses, chest presses, rows, and core exercises. Why we do full body workouts for this primary reason, one, the clients who I see are not training to be bodybuilders. So we are not going to have a chest and back day. We are not going to have a leg day. We are going to work full body. The other reasoning is you are a busy individual. Chances are. And myself included is in this that you are going to miss a strength training routine at least one or two weeks out of a four week cycle. So when we lift full body, we are hitting every single muscle group. If we were to break it down into body parts, In a looking at a four week cycle because that's how I train clients is keeping them on a four week cycle and going from there. If they miss every Tuesday and every Tuesday is upper body or back and chest day. They are not going to be training those muscle groups. So with full body, not only are you training your entire body, but you are not going to miss certain parts of your body if you were doing body specific training. Now, if your goal is a, to be a bodybuilder or a fitness figure, Brilliant. That is what your plan is going to be set up for. But the people who I train are not training for that and you will see results and you will see body composition change and definition start to happen by training a full body strength training routine. Another aspect of having a solid plan is there's going to be a periodization to your training. So when clients come in, I understand where they're at. Do they have lifting experience? Have they been lifting somewhat regularly on their own? But now they're like, I really want to get into a formalized plan. Maybe they've never strength trained on their own and they want to do it. So I bring them in and I really start with establishing that base. Even if clients have an experience with strength training, I want to see what their base is at. I can't sit here and be like, Oh, Assume that you're at a certain base and throw a workout at you. I need to assess that base established to make sure your body can handle the added stress. If your body can't handle that added stress, you're going to start to see things like disrupted sleep, increased sore muscles. It's like. pretty increased sore muscles to the point where you're going to have life disruptions. The other things that you're going to see is you're going to see increased hunger and dysregulated hunger, and you're going to be all over the place or brain fog because your body isn't ready to handle that stress. We need to make sure all kind of systems are working together so that that stress is there. We're going to combine muscle and strength training with easy aerobic cardio. So again, easy aerobic cardio is we're going to really work on focusing on getting that walk, getting light jogging, cycling, whatever the client is. Okay, she wants to start running again. All right, so if her running is has been sporadic I'm just kind of drawing and reading between the lines So I'm sorry if this is not the true case But if running has been sporadic like you go out and you run a mile and it doesn't feel good You have a four or five day break. Maybe you run three miles and it feels awful. You have a two week break So that's what I mean by sporadic where it hasn't been consistent like trying to run ten minutes per day I'm gonna have a client come in and we're gonna start with running walking. Then we're going to incorporate maybe a one minute run with walking in between. So we're going to really establish that base to allow the body to warm up to that with having complementary strength training exercises so that the body can handle that load. I want to really just put something in. I am a big runner. If you have been following me, if you follow me on Instagram, I Now with that running is a complex movement. I really do feel that it gets glossed over that it's, Oh, everyone should just go out and run. It is a highly core coordinated, plyometric movement and puts a lot of force and impact on the body. Does that mean that Everybody's incapable of running. What it means is I feel that it is made out to be something that everyone can just pick up and just start running. You need to have the strength. Your body needs to be prepared to handle that impact over time and build into it. You don't go from the couch to running a marathon in a week or two. And it is really hard to go from no Mileage base to a marathon in 12 weeks. Now you can people do it. I'm not going to negate that. Does it feel completely comfortable? Well, somebody types can all be it naturally. Just do it for the majority. It does not feel comfortable. We'll go into running in another podcast episode. But focusing on this is we're going to build it up slowly. We're not going to focus on mileage. We're not going to focus on trying to shoot for a certain distance. We're going to focus on time base. We're going to see where the body's at and build. that stress capacity on the body so that it feels good. Okay. That's why it's like, okay, we'll walk. Then we'll do a 30 second right now. It's not a sprint. It's just increasing the cadence of the walking to more of a jogging to a running. Okay. So that is one area where when people run, they're like, I can't Maybe have a fixed mile time that they used to run out and they try and hit that after years of gap or so it's going to slowly be introduced so that there is a positive, hopefully a positive feeling with the body and mentally. So that's how aerobic cardio and. Specifically towards running will be introduced that outside of that and depending where the client is if they're like, well, I don't want to run I walking is really tough. I just really enjoy the strength training. We're gonna do one to two sessions of Generically use this term so hit or variable intensity we're going to work on either body weight strength training, some light plyometric to get that heart rate up. So we're boosting what's called VO two max. We want to be able to have that challenge with the body where the intensity is kicked up a bit more than what you would get with a strength training, a progressive strength training routine. So we're getting that metabolic stimulus. We're getting that cardio. This is a balanced approach that will prevent overloading your body too quickly, which can lead to increased fatigue, muscle soreness, and other issues that I've mentioned before. I want to dive into one of the programs that I do offer with Catfish Strength called Really Getting Started. I am not really big into naming conventions. I keep it simple. Um, but it's just getting you started. The program specifically is designed for individuals who feel overwhelmed by the idea of. getting in quote unquote shape. It provides a balanced and sustainable path to fitness, helping you build a solid foundation of strength and overall health. The program includes moderate to heavy resistance training, cardio at varying intensities based on your ability level and schedule and goals, restorative activities that supplement recovery, mobility, nutrient dense diets based on whole foods that support your specific goals and then adequate restorative. Sleep sleep is huge. Everyone here has heard the saying, you know, abs are made in the kitchen. Well, that's cool. But you know what muscles in your health and your hormones are maintained when you are sleeping and restorative sleep is huge for moms in particular, when our kids get out of that newborn, that tolerant phase, when they are getting older, we need to get our sleep back. In at a consistent time. And I do understand the struggles. Trust me. I am in the thick of it with my kids staying up late, our sports things. So restorative sleep is. So incredible. If you do one thing, and this is a little bit of a sidetrack here. If you do one thing and you're struggling with seeing improvements, check your sleep because chances are your sleep patterns are all over. All right, going into a little bit more of the program, effective stress management and self care techniques are huge. It is hard to prioritize yourself, but. I go into ways that we can work on mitigating that stress and giving back to ourselves. So in the Getting Started program, you'll learn how much of each type of exercise you should do in the Strategies for Improving Nutrition, Sleep Stress Management. All these elements contribute to achieving a healthy, healthy lifestyle. Balance of looking and feeling good while being healthy and strong. You'll learn basic nutritions on how to change your eating habits in ways to improve sleep management, management of stress, and practice self care. Additionally, you learn how to track your progress. Healthily and motivating. There's two ways that I really run this program and how I help. And this is the way I run all my programs. Again, I'm trying to keep it as simple as possible is if you want more hands on support, that's where CatFit Strength Premier is going to help you. It provides the personalized workout programs and live video, like we're zooming, um, coach coaching sessions and one on one attention and feedback, customized nutrition, coaching, what that means. And I want to be very clear. I do not give out meal plans. I need to understand how you eat, how your family eats, I don't need to know what your kids eat, but chances are most of the women I work with, they are the ones doing the meal, planning the shopping, and their partner does help co share in some of that, but they are kind of spearheading those operations, if you will. So I really learned how you eat and how we can make small tweaks to help You set yourself up for success. So you're not feeling energy depleted throughout the day and then support to meet specific fitness goals. Now, if you're like, Hey, you know what? I don't need all that hands on. Cool. That's awesome. That's where catfish strength essentials. really excels is for the individual who is like, you know what? I just need excellent personalized programming and I would love to have some coaching feedback just to help myself when I'm feeling doubtful or unsure how to change a programming. And I don't want to be concerned with trying to pop on YouTube or wherever to find a program and just hoping that it works for me. So there's an app feedback. you know, where I will go back and forth. You can video yourself doing an exercise. I give form feedback and we can troubleshoot the things there. Now for both, inside the Cafit app, it's, everything's housed in there. There's a community forum where you can interact. I provide an extra layer of support, education, and it acts just like a Facebook group. However, it is in the fitness app, so you don't have all the extra noise outside of it. Both programs are tailored to meet you where you are and work closely with you to balance your training with your busy life. They're designed to help you gain strength. Look good in your body and clothes and most importantly feel confident and energized So I am currently taking on new clients right now So if this is something where you're like, hey, you know what this speaks to me. This is something that I need I am so tired and frustrated. I just want to make headway with my fitness and my goals Hey, click the link in the show notes Get on my calendar. We'll check. If you're like, you know what? Forget it. I don't want to take the time to chat. Just go on, sign up and we'll get you started. Takeaways here. If you are someone who is, and I would love to coach, really look at your overall consistency. Are you meeting at least 150 minutes of aerobic? and strength training. So that's included in there. Are you doing two full body strength training sessions per week where you are lifting full body, doing movements like squat, deadlift variations, overhead presses, chest presses, rows, and core exercises, aerobic activity. Are you doing brisk walks, cycling, um, light jogging, those things incorporating through there? Are you getting quality sleep and are you eating regularly? These are things that are going to help establish that base and start to get you to see that progress. It'll, you know, it takes time. Focus on those. See where you're at. Peel back the layers. Start by one area. Whatever is the easiest and most tangible for you start there. If you've enjoyed this podcast, don't forget to follow the podcast for more tips and advice on fitness, wellness, and balancing life as a busy mom. Leave a comment or review it to let us know what you think and share this episode with a friend who might benefit from the information. Your support helps us reach more listeners and build a stronger community. Thanks for tuning in. And until next time, keep prioritizing yourself and your health. Transcribed Stay strong and keep it simple. Thank you for joining me on another episode of miles from her view. Your support means the world to me, and I truly appreciate you being a part of our community. If you found today's episode helpful and want to stay informed about all things, catfish strength, make sure to subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You'll receive. Exclusive insights, tips, and updates straight to your inbox to sign up. Simply visit the show notes for the subscription link to discover more about catfit strength programs and how you can ignite your fitness journey. Head over to our website at www. cat. fit. There, you'll find everything you need to invigorate your path. To strength and once again, thank you for tuning in and I can't wait to connect with you in our upcoming episodes. Take care and remember act to take the next step.