HomeFeaturesHealth › How to Keep Your Fitness Resolution
 
 
 

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The month of January has come and gone; however, you can still work on your New Year’s resolution goals all year long. To help live a healthier lifestyle, Drew Sanez, a fitness expert at the Superstition Mountain Golf and Private Country Club gave some helpful advice on how to exercise and how one can physically improve their athletic ability and drive. Below are highlights and tips on how to begin and maintain your healthy work-out routine.

AFM: Is there an activity someone might want to consider to get them working out?

DS: I think general fitness is the best. For example, cardiovascular fitness and strength training because with those two components you are going to not only improve your heart health but also increase your lean muscle and that will help you burn fat over time.

AFM: On the Superstition Mountain Web site it is explained how stretching is essential to performance as an athlete in any sport and there is even a sports-stretch class, are there any specific stretches which you recommend?

DS: Yes, absolutely. At Superstition Mountain Fitness we really focus on not only fitness but athletic performance. A lot of our members are golfers and avid athletes so we focus on rotational exercises which help not only increase your range of motion but also improve your strength when you are playing tennis, or racquetball or whatever you like to do for fun.

AFM: Should one stretch before or after they exercise?

DS: At Superstition Mountain we have a class called Golf Performance and it’s a warm-up on the golf range. We have a fitness trainer that’s present at the driving range before a golf tournament or before a shotgun match, and they warm up the members before they play. I think it is crucial to do an active stretch before you exercise and then do a cool down stretch after you exercise or after you play a sport.

 

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AFM: What types of goals should one set when it comes to exercising?

DS: I believe people just need to pick two things that need to be non-negotiables when they are first starting on their fitness journey and that the first non-negotiable needs to be planned exercise at least three to four days per week so you have that in your schedule. The second non-negotiable is you have to at least drink half of your body weight in ounces of water per day. If you can at least hit those two everything else will fall into line.

AFM: How do you encourage people to stay motivated and continue exercising?

DS: At Superstition we like to track strength. For example, when you start a fitness journey you are not going to see the weight come off right away but what you will see right away is a strength increase. When you see people on either a machine or a body weight exercise that fits their needs then it will show them their results quickly. Within two to four exercise sessions they will see a dramatic improvement from when they first started.

AFM: What are some ideas you have for someone who wants to change their workout routine?

DS: To change your workout routine, I would definitely say to see a trainer that does group classes. At Superstition Mountain we have classes that are all general fitness based with that cardiovascular and strength component, and we always change it up so even if you are going to the same class maybe Monday, Wednesday and Friday, Monday is going to be completely different than Wednesday, same with Friday. It is important that you use the resources you have available to you so that you can change it up without having to reinvent the wheel on your own.

AFM: There are several Valley walks and Valley runs coming up including The Color Run in March and Pat’s Run in April. How do you recommend people should train for these?

DS: First, I would recommend using proper equipment. For example, at Superstition we always encourage our members that are going to exercise to have the proper tennis shoes. Second, I would say schedule at least two to three days per week where you are going to run at least half of the distance of your scheduled run and increase over time.