A personal trainer’s things to consider making New Year’s resolutions (Part 2)

A personal trainer in Toronto has a head full of dreams

How are your pre-holiday days going? Truly well I hope. I am back, as promised to drop a few more ideas as to how you can make next year extraordinary. The last post had some of the more obvious ideas I think. This one should break from the pack a little bit more. Let’s see…

A personal trainer in Toronto takes a quick look back

Let’s do a quick recap: last post we covered resolving to move well, meaning upping our movement acumen in either movements that we were already familiar with or new fresh movements. We talked about resolving to move more functionally in the gym, meaning movements geared towards real results and a better standard of movement living. We talked about moving more often, Even if it’s just a little. And we discussed a morning practice (even just two minutes) and an evening practice (ditto).

Now that that is out of the way, let’s get to this weeks suggestions for ways to live your best life!

A personal trainer in Toronto says get outta the house (first thing in the morning)

This is new to me this year but apparently there is solid research to suggest that getting in some morning light first thing when you wake up (and yes that is ideally going right outside) has knock on effects right up until you are sleeping that evening. One of the big takeaways from the research is that it can positively impact your ability to sleep soundly that night, as well as positve impacts on your mood. Give it a try.

I only do this some of the time because we have a pup and honestly I can’t say I notice a difference but Dr Andrew Huberman swears by it and he’d know. A neuroscience researcher out of Stanford, he’s a real smart dude and he’s psyched about this so it’s worth some consideration.

A personal trainer in Toronto really and truly wants you to drop the trans fats

Trans fats are one of the worst things you can put into your body. Period. They wreak havoc on a celluar level and they are not to be fucked with. Pretty much any issue that you may have would benefit from a reduction in or elimination of trans fats. What’s a trans fat? Generally speaking it is any vegetable fat. They are cheap to produce and are thus in everything. There is too much to go into here (it could be many many blog posts) but do a bit of research - trans fats are awful.

I discovered the trans fat conspiracy (lol but also seriously it’s a conspiracy) about six months ago. We didn’t eat a ton of them in the house anyway because most everything we eat is homemade but I cut them out almost completely and yes I would argue that I function better and that I can feel a pretty big difference. Particularly with infammation (both in joints and in my gut): both are way way down.

A personal trainer really wants you eating real food

Although trans fats tend to be everywhere, they are in processed foods the most. Eating whole real food makes a hella difference in your well-being, full stop. Not only do you avoid a lot of damaging shit that’s in processed food: trans fats, sugar, an overabundance of salt and soy products… but you get all of the good stuff too! Real nutrients and vitamins and things that your body needs to function well. It’s time consuming and challenging in a variety of ways to cook consistently I know I know. But if you were to do two things this coming year to radically alter the way you felt both physically and psychologically, I would say move more and eat real food.

This is one that for me didn’t really hit home until the pandemic. I was very busy in the before times and 90% of the time I would have something (more often than not a shawarma) most nights. Followed by a donut. And chips. It was glorious. But once the pandemic hit and I had the time I was cooking consistently and I really felt the difference. Meeting my partner and being the cook in the house also really inspired me to continue feeding us well. It’s been a huge game changer for both of us.

That’s it for this time! I’ll be back next week for more suggestions for an incredible 2023! Until then, be well!