PUSHING
Progression, Unfamiliarity, Structure, Honesty, Intensity, Nutrition, Goal setting
PUSHING is an acronym developed by Beantown Bootcamp, which we believe, encompasses all of the elements necessary to succeed in achieving your fitness goals.
If any one of the essentials is missing it makes it difficult for anyone to achieve their fitness objectives.

 

Progression: Knowing when to progress with exercise is difficult. Individuals that do not safely increase exercise intensity levels will hit major fitness plateaus, decreasing the possibility of seeing results, often causing them to become discouraged and quit.

 

Unfamiliarity: Variation of exercise is a very important aspect of any routine. Muscles have what is called “muscle memory”. When performing a prior exercise, the activity becomes easier over time because the body has developed improved neuromuscular pathways. The challenge becomes mastered by the body when your balance, coordination etc, improves. Once the challenge is mastered it becomes less of a stress to the body and will decrease muscle transformation. Adding in new stressors (exercises) causes the body to make positive changes.

 

Structure: Refers to proper form during exercise. Without maintaining proper form, especially with free weight exercises, people often injure themselves. This is a major set back and can cause inconsistency or worse permanent injury.

 

Honesty: Being accountable to yourself regarding how consistent you have been with your exercise and nutrition plan is by far one of the most important aspects to success. Without consistency and dependability there is no progress - no changes. This is the hit or misses for many individuals. Especially folks that have started exercise programs in the past and have not remained committed, much of it relates to lack of consistency. No results = discouragement, resulting in quitting.

 

Intensity: Refers back to the acronym PUSHING. During exercise if you don’t push yourself, the muscular, skeletal and neurological system will not transform. The body only adapts when it does not feel comfortable or is stressed. Exercise is actually a stress to the body, but good stress, causing the body to become stronger, faster, defined and lean. Exercise should not cause excessive discomfort, but it should not be entirely comfortable either. Again it is a stress and it is needs to tax the muscular and cardiovascular systems to get results.

 

Nutrition: The most important key to success, right up there with honesty about being consistent with exercise, is eating a balanced diet and maintaining moderate portion sizes. This is more than 50%, even 60% of the battle. It all comes down to preparation time spent in the kitchen. If you don’t spend time preparing nutritious options it becomes difficult to stay committed. In fact I am more concerned with a client spending hours in the kitchen preparing nutritious meals than the hours they spend training each week. I have seen many individuals eat lousy and often they will say “Well I will just work harder in the gym this week to make up for eating horribly”. This is a common mistake many folks make. Not adequately feeding muscles causes them to become less efficient. Also energy levels will be up and down like a roller coaster, making it difficult to sustain energy throughout a complete workout.
It’s like putting low grade or worse no gasoline into a Ferrari. Eventually even the best of cars would stop running without adequate fuel.

 

Goal setting: Avoid choosing a goal that you’ve been unsuccessful at achieving year after year. This will only set you up for failure, frustration and disappointment. If you are still tempted to make a promise that you’ve made before, then try altering it. For example, instead of stating that you are going to lose 30 pounds, try promising to eat healthier and increase your weekly