IT'S TIME TO INVEST IN YOU!
Think about that for a second. Think about all the other things in life you spend money on - your car, your home, your wardrobe, etc. When making these purchases you can certainly say 'I'm spending money on myself.' But, are you investing in yourself? Cars wear out, people move, your clothes wear out, go out of style or no longer fit. The one thing you keep with you on your entire earthly journey is your body. I shouldn't have to tell you that it's worth every penny you invest into it! It's time to get selfish and lavish yourself with the accoutrements that will help you make the most of the physical and dietary investments on your way to a 'better than average you'!
Body Fat Calipers
Don't even bother starting without these. Believe me, I know how frightening this little tool can be. The first time you take a pinch (or more!) of fat and take a measurement, you know the truth is only moments away! The scale is misleading and the mirror is subjective, but the calipers don't lie. Accuracy is largely dependent on the user, but you'll become a pro in no time. Make it easy on yourself and get these digital calipers. They're cheap, easy to use and effective. You only need to take three measurements to get an accurate reading and it stores your progress for you. We'll cover how to use these consistently to insure accuracy in a future post. For now, click below and buy these right away so you can get a baseline reading as soon as possible.
Shaker Bottle
You may already have a water bottle that you use or perhaps you just pick up the plastic water bottles from the store, use once and throw out. Either way, they're not quite going to offer you the same benefits a quality shaker bottle will. You will want to have at least three of these on hand so you always have a clean one at the ready. These are perfect for keeping hydrated with water, mixing up protein drinks and energy drinks and convenient enough for carrying around wherever you go. These bottles really do the trick - I haven't had to fire up a blender in years! Order a couple today and get your arsenal started!
Workout Log
You need to know what you've done to know what you need to do. Please don't skip on this simple item. If nothing else, keep a pad of paper handy where you can cosistently write down what you're doing during your workouts. Keep in mind, this is specifically for exercises only - no nutritional tracking here. I'm a firm believer that diet and exercise are two distinct subjects and should be tracked seperately. Think about it - you're not going to track exercises in the kitchen any more than you're going to track meals in the gym! This particular log is a high quality, detailed tracker with a rugged cover that can stand up to the abuse it should see. Get one today and familiarize yourself with the pages. We'll discuss later what to track, how to track it and when to track it.
Quality Pens
I know this sounds stupid, and I'm sure you've got dozens of pens kicking around your home, but please hear me out on this one. You don't really think about having a good quality pen in hand to track your progress while exercising. Once you start getting further along in your program and are getting serious with your workouts, you'll soon discover that writing while breathing heavy, sweating, shaking and moving from one exercise to the next can be a challenge. The last thing you want to be distracted with is a lousy pencil (PLEASE don't use a pencil!) or pen that's not functioning properly. It's important that you can, 1) refer back to legible notes, and 2) get that info into your log in a timely manner. Do yourself a favor and pick these up.
MP3 Player
I've only done a handful of workouts without one in the past few years and hated every second of cardio I've ever done without one. If you don't have an MP3 player you'll need one! I've tried many, from the top of the line to the bottom and found one to be a very affordable, lightweight, easy to use and quality product. The 4GB Sansa Clip by Sandisk is fantastic! It's got the clip built right into it so you can clip it on basically any part of your clothing. No need for a cumbersome and annoying armband. It's so lightweight that you often forget it's even on you. It holds a ton of songs and is as easy to use as pretty much all the other players out there. I highly recommend loading this thing up with a couple of playlists packed full of an hour or so worth of your favorite 2 - 5 minute songs. It will do wonders to make your workouts fly by! I also recommend upgrading the headphones to a high quality in-ear unit, but that's not essential so I'll cover it elsewhere. If you're currently using a popular MP3 player that may be a bit bulky and/or require an arm band, do yourself a big favor and pick up a Clip. They're cheap enough so you won't feel guilty about having more than one player!
Quality Multi Vitamin
So many people miss this easy and essential element. Sure, a lot of folks will run out and pick up any old store brand multi vitamin that costs a couple bucks for several months supply, but in this case, you truly do get what you pay for. Don't cut corners in this area. There are several important reasons why: 1) many peoples standard diets nowadays consist of highly refined foods which are very much devoid of essential vitamins and minerals, 2) as you become more active and ask more of you body (i.e.: cleanse, heal and repair) you must insure that you are supplying yourself with adequate vitamins and minerals, and, 3) as we progress further along and really tighten up the diet, you are very likely to get inadequate amounts of vitamins and minerals due the restrictive nature of our eating plan. A high quality multi vitamin will provide you with all that you need without having to eat a massive variety of foods and thousands of calories. I am a HUGE proponent of GNC vitamins. I have tried many different brands and found GNC's natural, plant based vitamins to be the easiest on the stomach and the only one that actually allows me to feel that it's doing something for me. I personally take the Ultra Mega Gold but have also included the Mega Men and Ultra Mega Women varieties if you feel your individual circumstances would benefit from the additional nutrients provided by those.
Comfortable Apparel
Things have come a long way since the days when an old T-shirt and pair of shorts was standard workout attire! They're definitely still in the mix of what to wear, but do yourself a favor and pick up some comfortable, high quality pieces. I reommend pants, a top and shoes (the T-shirt and shorts can hide under these for the time being!). Under Armour has a truly fantastic line of extremely lightweight and comfortable fleece products. Not only is the fit excellent, but they help moderate your temperature for all but the warmest days. This time of year (and into the winter) is when you need these most. I personally wear the fleece pants and then the fleece top over a T-shirt (usually no shorts this time of year but that's weather dependent). They keep your warm while you're warming up and allow you to stay comfortable until you're really pushing yourself - a truly high performance piece of clothing. They're so lightweight that when it's time for them to come off, you can easily just carry it around with you or tie it to your waist. You WILL NOT be disappointed with these. Plus, they're stylish enough where you'll start finding yourself wearing them around the house as well as out and about when you need to run some errands! Here are the men's and women's versions of the fleece tops and bottoms:
Comfortable Shoes
Quality, comfortable shoes are so important in all aspects of our lives. An uncomfortable pair of shoes can ruin a day of work, a day of fun or any activity you're trying to do for a period of time. I will often wear different pairs of shoes for the specific workout I'm doing. For example, I like very flat soled shoes if I'm doing squats or more supportive, basketball-type shoes if I'm doing more explosive movements. There's one shoe I will often wear for either type of workout and those are my Asics running shoes. I've never been a runner or had a specific need for this type of shoe, but after doing some research years ago and finding a good deal online, I decided to buy them. I was amazed at how well they fit (order your normal size as these run true), how light they were and how comfortable they are. These are by far the most comfortable shoes I own! They're the standard shoe for my cardio workouts, perfect for my standard weight workouts and sufficient for doing heavy squats (again, my preference is for a very flat soled shoe when doing this movement). I specifically recommend these shoes due to the fact that they're so versatile, comfortable, sized perfectly so they can easily be ordered online and durable. I've had mine for at least 5 or 6 years now. These shoes both rank within the top 50 of all shoes sold through Amazon.com. Mens and womens varieties included below:
You obviously don't have to use any of these items to start your personal transformation however, they will certainly make the whole process that much more easier and comfortable. I would absolutely caution you to not pass up on the very first item - Body Fat Calipers. These are utterly essential to insure you're on track and making progress. Don't let the scale, mirror or your mind fool you into thinking that everything's on track when it isn't!
All of these items are permanently tagged to the right side of this site. The 'Diet For A Dollar Recommends' Store will be continually updated throughout our transformation to help guide you to products that work and help make the journey easier. Any purchases made through the 'Diet For A Dollar Recommends' Store help support the site and our transformation project.
Next up: Easing into it all. Time to take some baby steps and make some changes.
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