If you’re one of the millions of humans who resolved to get fit in 2016, you should know that Rome wasn’t built in a day—and fitness progress won’t come in a day either. You can go as hard as you want during the first week of the year, but that’s not going to set you up for success for the other 51 weeks. What will is sticking to realistic goals and fit plans. But that too is easier said than done. That’s why we caught up with fitness trainer and best-selling author Jorge Cruise—to get his tips and advice for keeping up with our fitness goals year-round.
Want more? Catch Jorge—along with Jay Blahnik, Apple’s director of Fitness for Health Technologies and Jeanette Jenkins, celebrity trainer and creator of thehollywoodtrainer.com, at the Soho Apple Store in New York City on Thursday, January 7th at 6:30pm. If you’re in the area, RSVP here.
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MEN'S FITNESS: What are the best ways you can use technology—in general—to stick to your health and fitness resolutions?
Jorge Cruise: Track what you eat so you know how many calories you’ve eaten each day. Tracking your calorie burn. There’s a pattern here…TRACKING! Technology is so great for tracking and tracking is a huge key to being successful. If you don’t know what or how much you’re putting in your body or don’t know how many calories you’ve burned, you’re at a big disadvantage. Technology also helps deliver information so much quicker and more efficiently—and in whatever form you want it. You can look at a recipe in a book, or you can look at it online, in an app, in a video, etc. It’s all available to you in so many ways.
MF: What about the Apple watch specifically—what are the best apps or tricks to help you stay with those resolutions?
JC: The Apple Watch is great for tracking! With the Activity App, you are reminded to sit less, move more, and get in your daily exercise. It’s a great tracking tool. Combined with food tracking apps like My Fitness Pal, the Apple Watch makes it so easy to stick to your resolutions.
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MF: What are some old school, non-techy ways to stay fit and healthy—that still work and will continue to work for years to come?
JC: 1.Watch what you eat—when they say you are what you eat, they’re not wrong!
2. Get in exercise daily, preferably 20 minutes of some sort of cardio like walking, jogging, biking, dancing, etc.
3. Have accountability partners, a coach…anyone to help motivate you and keep you focused and accountable. Going at it alone is one of the top reasons we fail. We have to have people on our side to continue towards our goals of saying fit and healthy.
MF: Your new book is all about nutrition. What are your top three food-related tips for our readers looking to lose weight in 2016?
JC: 1. All calories count! Cutting calories equal losing weight. It’s a simple as that. Make sure not to exceed your daily calorie allotment.
2. Focus on high volume, low calorie foods to fill you up! That way, you can still lose weight without feeling hungry. Plant-based foods like fruits and veggies are the perfect go-to.
3. Only be a vegan until lunch! This is the best way to reset your body, fill up on low calorie, high volume foods, and make sure you have a balanced diet that includes all the vitamins and nutrients that come from also incorporating animal-based foods after lunch.
MF: What about when it comes to gaining muscle/mass and getting strong in the new year—what would you recommend diet- and exercise-wise for that guy?
JC: 1. Protein—drink it and a lot of it. Protein is great for building muscle and will also keep you full and satisfied. I like pea protein best because it’s plant-based and has a high bioavailability.
2. Lift heavy things. Do a short amount of reps with a big amount of weight.
