WELCOME to your 12-week fitness program. As with all fitness regimes, please consult a medical professional to get the OK and clearance before undertaking this program. This program is designed so you can monitor your progression from week to week. I suggest you keep a journal to track your progress each workout. Write down what

‘‘NO pain, no gain’’ is a common mantra when it comes to training — and with good reason. Feeling sore after a workout is a common response to physical exertion. This type of muscle soreness is called delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) and is often experienced a day or two after intense activity, before slowly

A GOOD daily eating plan should be simple. Eating the right food and at the right time is beneficial for your workout and will result in gaining lean muscle and losing fat. Whether you want to put on more muscle or get leaner by losing fat it is a good idea to think of food

WITH the right attitude, workouts can be fun and invigorating. The key is to finish your workouts on a high, knowing you gave it your best with no regrets. When you make the commitment to exercise, make every session count. Go with determination, focus and some grunt. Having a fitness trainer or training with friends

INCORPORATING weight training into your routine will give you better results than cardiovascular exercise alone. There are many health benefits of weight training for women, which I have pointed out in my program below. It is the key to losing fat, increasing strength and defining body shape. But many women shy away from weights. Let’s

IT’S a good time to test your fitness this week and see how you are going in reaching your goals. Look at your training journal and note how many repetitions you did in a set time, how you felt during and after the exercise and how well you recovered in your first session. This is

JUST as exercise is important, so is getting enough rest for your body to recover and repair. A good night’s sleep is vital for peak performance for any activity in the day and plays a major role in your fitness results. Busy women and mothers may have experienced less than adequate sleep and even sleep

I WAS inspired to write this column about training partners from seeing what each person can achieve when they are training with someone who can keep them going — especially when it gets tough. I saw this in last Saturday’s training session with my group of ladies who are committed individually to their own fitness

HAVE you noticed just how good you feel after exercise? You are full of energy, you can keep up with your kids and the stairs become your friend. Life just seems to be getting better and you feel like you are years younger. And to top it off you get positive comments about how good

IT’S always disappointing and frustrating when you get an injury that prevents you from continuing your training. Today I offer some tips to help you prevent and overcome injuries. Strong muscles. It is necessary to strengthen your body for the activity that you do. If you are a runner, strengthen your glutes, quads, hamstrings and