5 TIPS TO LIVING A HAPPY, HEALTHY LIFESTYLE FOR YEARS

With nearly 30 years of training experience, and a kinesiology degree to boot, Tish Duffy knows what she’s talking about.  AND, now 46 herself, she knows what it takes to live your best life.  Sure, in your 20s and 30s it all seems easy – eat what you want, party all weekend, skip the gym, etc. and you’ll be able to get up and try again later, right?!?  According to Tish, its important to lay the foundation while you’re young – looking and actually being healthy are different, with the latter being the most important – especially as you age.  “I owe the fact that I can still ski, mountain bike, lift weights, exercise and all the other physical activities I love at a very high to the fact that I’ve been consistent with my training and diet my whole life”, says Tish.

Her approach is one based on balance.  Tish has trained everyone from beginners to pro athletes, first-timers to experienced lifters – and while these programs are all unique, one thing remains the same.  Her core value, her golden rule, is that balance is key – without it, you simply won’t be able to keep the consistency required to succeed.  And to live a longer, healthier life into your later years, some consistency throughout will be key.  

Tish’s 5 tips to living a happy, healthy lifestyle:

1. Lift weights over cardio

While cardio does provide health benefits – mostly in the form of burning calories, releasing endorphins and ‘getting a good sweat’, the benefits aren’t long lasting.  However, research has shown time and time again, that building lean muscle mass provides longer-term benefits including stronger bones and muscles and increased metabolic rates (better fat burning mechanisms).  “And ladies”, says Tish, “you won’t look bulky from lifting weights…that’s from bad eating.  Period!”.

    2. Stay active throughout the day

Now, although Tish advocates for lifting over cardio, she recommends all of her clients get AT LEAST 10,000 steps per day.  Staying active burns calories, and Tish finds that spreading this activity throughout the day is very important to contributing to calorie consumption – walk your dog, take the stairs, go check out your neighborhood…just get on your feet!

   3. Eat only when you’re hungry

According to Tish, this is a huge one.  “Too many people are programmed to eat three meals a day, probably have some snacks, spread out their calorie consumption – don’t eat it all at once.” The biggest issue though, according to Tish, is that too many people aren’t honest about the calories they’re consuming.  “It’s a simple formula, calories in vs. calories out, and if you aren’t seeing the results you want its because something in the formula isn’t working.”  

   4. Sleep, sleep, sleep

Likely underestimated in the grand scheme of things is the importance of sleep.  It is the only time that your body truly recovers from its activities.  Plus, in addition to some obvious concepts like better concentration and productivity, good sleep has also been linked to things like lower body weight and consumption of fewer calories.

   5. Love being active!

Again, back to the concept of consistency, you have to love what you are doing in order to stick with it.  Forcing yourself to go to the gym has a short lifespan, so you will have to either learn to love it (ie. Improve your programming), work out at home (likely with a good program) or get into other ways to stay active.  As Tish says, what you do is somewhat less important than the fact that you do it, and do it regularly!
There you have it, easy right?  All we can say is that Tish lives her words, and at 46 she says she’s in the best condition of her life.  For more information, check out her website www.trainwithtish.com for details on her Strong Bodies by Tish program, private online training and occasional lifestyle challenges!