Clients of personal trainer Spencer Williams appreciate his tough love approach to fitness. “I’m assertive when I need to be, and I can be very laid back and loving when I have to be,” says Williams. At his Stuart gym, Mindset, Health & Muscle, Williams takes a mind-and-body approach, regularly offering clients these and other hacks on how to build a good fitness routine, what to know about weight training, and where cardio fits into your workouts.
Health Hack #1: Shift Your Mindset
Williams says getting fit starts with your mental attitude. “If you don’t shift your mindset, your health and your well-being are not going to move with you.” Once that shift happens, learning to move correctly is next. “We start with stretching and teaching you how to move correctly,” says Williams. “It’s amazing how when people move correctly, it doesn’t hurt.” Building a routine and sticking with it is vital to success. “I always preach consistency,” says Williams. “Find a way to come in two to three times a week. When you show up here even when you don’t want to, everybody feels better and is so glad they came.” Williams also encourages working out in a community. “When people sweat together, they draw these connections. Everyone brings motivation to each other,” says Williams. “If you can keep an open mind, you might meet some really good people.”
Health Hack #2: Add Strength Training
“There has been a big shift lately towards strength training,” says Williams. “All the data shows the shearing force of lifting heavier weights is better for you than just cardio.” Weight training often begins with stability and core work. “If you don’t have good balance, it will be hard for you to get stronger,” says Williams. “In the beginning, strength training may just use body weight.” Exercises like squats and lunges use body weight to start to build strength before progressing to resistance bands, total resistance exercises (TRX), and then weights. One of the biggest mistakes Williams sees in strength training is people using weights incorrectly. “If you’ve never touched a weight before, you want to start with body weight,” says Williams. “If your joints have never felt a loaded squat before, you don’t want to go too heavy because you’ll hurt yourself.” The goal is to increase strength over time. “If you start with 5 pounds for presses, then next week we want to be as close to 8 pounds as possible,” says Williams. “We call it ‘progressive overload.’ Each week you need to go up in weight.”
Health Hack #3: Mix Up Your Cardio
Low-intensity cardio workouts bring your heart rate up between 40 and 60 percent of maximum, while high-intensity cardio workouts ramp it up to 70 to 80 percent. “You want both ends. You want the low-intensity stuff like power walking outside, and you want the ability to get your heart rate up as high as you can get it,” says Williams. “The definition of being in shape is for you to be able to spike your heart rate to 85 percent, then bring it back down in 20 to 30 seconds and spiking it up and down.” Williams says to start with three half-hour cardio workouts per week and build from there. “It should be dedicated walking, so no dog on this walk. I want 30 minutes of walk time for exercise.” As time progresses, 30 minutes can build to 45 minutes or more. “Short bouts of high intensity are great mixed in with long bouts of lower intensity. That is how you maximize fat burning and cardio health.”
For more tips on rewiring your routine, keeping reading:
Hack Your Health: In Your Head
Hack Your Health: On Your Plate
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