Spring is here, and our goals for getting fit for summer’s styles can seem like New Year’s resolutions, which we all know how most of them end up.
While setting a fitness resolution is easy enough, sticking to it can be tricky. So, what could be the key to success? According to one of the most promising fitness instructors in the country and marathon runner, Thato Kontle, the most important aspect of fitness is to keep it fun and economical.
When she is not running another marathon, she is up and about helping her clientele get on the green track of healthy living. The twenty -three -year old Kontle has achieved success of epic proportions in her short career as a fitness instructor. She is the head fitness trainer from The Fitness People as well as a personal trainer with qualifications from the accredited American Council on Exercise (ACE) and training in Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR), both from the FIT Malaysia (FITMy) training standards institute. The FITMy fraternity also holds ties with the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM), National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) and the International Society of Sport Nutrition.
Her training qualifications include addressing clients with disorders such as cardiovascular disorders, hypertension, post-stroke clients, peripheral vascular disease, dyslipidemia, diabetes, asthma, cancer, osteoporosis, lower back pain, arthritis, overweight adults, chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia syndrome; working with pregnant women, elder adults and even children.
Some of her achievements include being the first female finisher for NEON marathon in Botswana and the first female finisher for Run for Gold marathon in Malaysia.
Having put herself through fitness training school while completing her degree in Financial Risk Management, Kontle managed to carve herself a niche market after graduation. “My clientele is composed of women in their late 20s, the stay-at-home moms and the corporate. The key need that is noticeable in the local market include people seeking to lose weight and or just with the desire to become healthy”, she told Time Out
Like most freshmen, Kontle says she put on some weight when she moved to Malaysia for university. “I gained a whopping 16kgs when I first got to university! I spent a lot of time sitting down and stopped being as active as I used to be. This was because of the time I spent inactive while studying, watching movies at home and the junk food diet that went with it. I tried basically every crash-diet I heard of and nothing worked for me. My breakthrough came when I learnt about shedding weight the healthy way: I could eat everything that I wanted but had to watch my portions. And then I thought I want to help people with my story. So I got back into school sports, and from there that is how I got to train with professionals and get my own personal trainer certificate from FitMy. I have not looked back ever since.”
One of the economical ways of training her clients is by teaching them how to turn their every day furniture into their own personal gym. “It is a lot of fun and very economical for the everyday woman. I even have a routine I use to involve my clients’ kids in the training so that they can keep an eye on them and still get in shape. I also do group classes and have packages for corporate clientele too. I avail myself to help them get fit so I do the one-on-one sessions, and the group classes to encourage friends and colleagues to work out in between their work schedules. It is all about a little at a time, and it actually does make a difference if we stick it out together.
Here are some of Kontle’s tips on how to jumpstart your work out goals:
The Number 1 thing is to Keep Hydrated: Water actually speeds up the metabolism. A faster metabolism means you are burning fat faster.
Do some Cardio exercises 5 times a week, for at least 30 minutes each session, at a moderate intensity. There is no need to overdo it. You do not need to run a marathon to lose weight. I even do Start Jumps and Jumping Jacks with my clients to get things moving. It is about consistency.
A Little of Resistance Training Goes a Long Way. Use small weights in your training. Women, who are not about bulking up, do not have to worry. Women do not produce as much testosterone as men, so we do not bulk up easily unless when taking supplements especially for that. So a bag of sugar (1kg) is just as good for doing shoulder presses to build shoulder strength in your weight loss routine.
Eat 5 small meals a day. Eating more often actually speeds up the body’s metabolism. Skipping meals actually causes the body to freak out and go into a sort of starvation mode, and hold onto fat in the body. It is like a survival strategy. Just eat small meal portions. Research shows that the size of person’s fist is their stomach size. So that is an easier way to measure how small enough is ‘small’, so you do not end up eating too much for your weight loss diet.