6 Movement patterns to include in any fitness plan.

In this video, I go over 6 key movement patterns that should be included in any fitness program to help you get sustainable results while helping to prevent injuries.

Whether you are just starting out on your fitness journey or have been working toward your goals for years, having a balanced fitness plan can help you get to your goal quicker while helping to prevent injuries and improving your long-term health.

When starting to build a fitness plan for a client, I always like to focus on movements over exercises.

By focusing on specific movement patterns, you can be sure that your fitness program is balanced which helps to prevent any muscular imbalances or asymmetries which may lead to injury down the road.

The movement patterns that I focus on in all of my programs include:

1) Hip Hinge variations

2) Squat/Lunge variations

3) Pushing movements in various planes

4) Pulling movements in various planes

5) Core stabilization and core rotation movements 

There are an endless number of exercises that fit within each of these categories and many of them will cross over into each other so you can begin to program your workouts using this thought process without having to stress about it being perfect!

 Using these movement patterns, you can create full-body workouts, push/pull splits or upper/lower splits ranging from 3-5 days a week and can tailor the workouts based on your goals ie. strength, hypertrophy, athletic performance.

 The key to all of this is to ensure that your program is balanced and addresses all of the major movement patterns week after week!

 What are some things that you keep in mind when beginning to design your fitness program?

How to use structure to create long-term nutrition and fitness results.

 Have you ever decided to work toward nutrition and fitness goals in the past and went all-in right from the start?

Maybe you hadn’t started exercising yet and you weren’t doing too much in the way of making intentional food decisions each day.

You decide that it’s time for you to make some changes and so you start by overhauling everything all at once.

You start working out 4-5 times per week and plan out each and every meal.

This works for the first month or two and you get some quick results, only to be completely burnt out at the end of that second month. 

Because this feels impossible to sustain, you slowly start to go back to doing what you were doing before starting this new plan, and before too long, you decide that you need to start all over again.

This cycle can be so frustrating and exhausting and it doesn’t have to be this way!

In this video, I explain how you can remove all of that stress from your nutrition and fitness plan and what you can do to create sustainable, life-long changes to your health while enjoying every step of the process!

5 mindful eating strategies that you can use for any health and wellness goal

In this video I outline 5 of my favorite mindful eating strategies that you can begin to incorporate into your day!

Mindful eating is essentially the process of slowing down and becoming more in-tune with your internal cues when it comes to eating.

If you can begin to slow down while eating and check-in with your hunger cues, you can begin to improve your relationship with food, enjoy each and every bite you take and truly love the process of working on improving your health, all while continuing to make strides toward your goals!

The 5 mindful eating strategies I outline in this video are:

1. Checking in with yourself before sitting down to eat

2. Using the hunger scale

3. Eating without distractions

4. The fork method

5. Taking the time to notice the taste and texture of the food you are enjoying.

If you have any questions about these strategies or how you can start to incorporate them into your health plan, please let me know below!

How to build a performance plate

In this video, I cover some of the essentials for building a performance plate, and how you can adjust it to meet your specific needs and goals!

This plate method can be a great framework to use no matter what your goals are and can help take some of the guesswork out of creating your meals.

Whether you are trying to improve your health, feel better every day or are an athlete trying to fuel for your sport, this structure can help you ensure that you are meeting all of your nutrition needs.

If you have any questions at all, comment below!

An introduction to my blog!

Hi, my name is Chris Shaw and I am so excited for you to get inspired along with me! I will be posting blogs weekly about some of the most talked about topics in nutrition and fitness along with educational posts full of tips to help you become your healthiest self yet! I will also be posting weekly recipe ideas including some nutritious twists to some of your favorites, quick and easy breakfast and snack ideas to make sure you are never left guessing about what to eat and so much more. I would love to hear from you about what topics you would like to learn more about so please leave a comment below and I can’t wait to connect with you!