Achieving Your 2020 Fitness Goals

Happy New year my loves!! As we enter into a new year and a new decade, we want to set higher standards and higher goals for ourselves, be it personally or in our careers. Raise your hand if each year you always seem to make a few New Year resolutions that only lasted until late January?

…OR, maybe you go through this process every day? You promise yourself that you’ll improve your lifestyle almost every morning, but find yourself caving into a sweet treat by noon!

If you feel like you can relate to either of these situations, you’re not alone! Everyone hits those same plateaus where they have to overcome obstacles. You might feel as if you'll never surpass some of those challenges—but you can. Stick with it, stay consistent, and keep pushing forward.

Here are my top three tips to help you stay focused: 

Set Long- & Short-Term Goals. 

Think about the future and what you want to achieve. Maybe you want to lose 50 pounds over the next 12 months. Write it down. 

Hold yourself responsible and accountable for reaching that goal. Putting it down on paper is like creating a covenant you have to stick to. Put it up on a wall or the fridge so it serves as a reminder each day. 

While writing a long-term goal is a great start, achieving them requires detailing a number of steps to help get you there. After all, losing 50 pounds doesn't just happen because you write it down. 

Using that example, create monthly goals, or even weekly goals. For instance, you can reasonably lose 1-2 pounds per week in a healthy way. So? Write it down, too. This way, you can create a monthly weight-loss goal of 4-8 pounds.

Make Your Goals Attainable.

The problem a lot of people have is setting unrealistic goals in short amounts of time. 

“I want to lose all my fat, build a bigger butt and have abs by my birthday in March!” When you’re literally only two months away?

Unrealistic goals set you up for failure. How? Because when you don’t see the results you want fast enough, you’ll get frustrated, and ultimately derail from your long-term goal. Setting an aggressive long-term goal can be counterproductive; you'll have a better chance of success of actually reaching your target goal if you give yourself the time you need. 

Results don’t come overnight, no matter how badly you want something. It takes patience and persistence, and that has to be your approach.

Actually Follow Through With Specific Plans.

Lastly, you need to create an action plan for your short-term goals. My online programs are designed to help you structure out your workouts and my nutrition plans are realistic and affordable!

Having a plan structured and in place allows you to lose 1-2 pounds per week. The plan should fit your schedule and allow you to work out a certain amount of days a week for a given period of time. Be specific about your training plans, detailing how many days and how much time you can commit to.

Did my tips help you? Leave me a comment and let me know! Until next time; talk to you soon! 

Xoxo,

Sandra 

SOfit HOME WORKOUT ESSENTIALS

Hey Squad!

If you prefer training in the comfort of your own home where you can blast the music as loud as you want or are participating in any of my 21 Day Online challenges, I’m going to run you through all of the essential items you’re going to need to get in an amazing workout without leaving your house!

Water bottle

Even though you’re at home and your kitchen is probably a walk away its still important you have a bottle of water right next to you. Taking 5 minutes to go to the kitchen to rehydrate will probably reduce your flow, and will allow your body to cool and your heart rate to drop, and this can set you back on your workout.

Sweat Towel

Always make sure you have your sweat towel handy because you are going to get sweaty! Especially if you’re doing one of my programs.

Yoga or Exercise Mat

You want to make sure you’re steady on your feet, and sometimes working out on tiled flooring can be slippery. Also you may need a little extra cushioning for any floor-based activities so an exercise or yoga mat is essential.

Bands

Bands are my faves! Anyone that has seen my videos know that I love booty bands and have countless exercises to do with them.

 

In as much as my bands are called booty bands you can use them for more than just your glutes, you can get a whole body workout with them. They come in different lengths, thicknesses and materials and I have 3 versions available for all. Firstly, there is the Fabric/Cotton heavy duty band which does not roll or fold. This is great for activating and working your glutes. Then I have the pull up resistance bands which can be used for all kinds of exercises from hip thrusts to assisted pull ups! Finally I have my classic Latex Booty band which is so versatile - you can use it for training your whole body as well as for stretching and flexibility training. If you are training at home you absolutely NEED to get yourself a set of bands!

Jump rope

Yes to cardio anyone? I’ve really started loving doing a few sets of skips before i start my workouts lately. This helps me warm up before I lift. Jumping rope is a great way to warm up before your exercise.

Music

I can not train without good music. It really sets the mood of my sessions. There is nothing like the right kind of beats to get you pushing yourself further than you realised you could. Ask around and search your fitness inspo’s page to see what gets them feeling motivated and create a playlist on your music platform of choice. Nothing gets me excited to have an awesome session like listening to my favorite songs!

Here are my 5 favorites to sweat to:

1. Wizikd: Ghetto Love

2. Migos & Travis Scott: Kelly Price

3. Beyoncé: Get me Bodied (I dance to the extended version)

4. Cardi B: Press

5. Drake: Money in the Grave

Equipment Essentials

Once you have the basics, you can start to build a serious equipment collection. You don’t need to spend lots or buy big, bulky gym gear to create a home gym that will help you kick goals, you just need to be smart about your choices.

When you’re ready to really start investing in equipment here’s where you should start:

• Bench or step (in the meantime you can use the couch or a chair).

• Basic weights set - you can get really neat little weights sets that don’t take up too much space and are perfect for home workouts. They don’t have to be really heavy. 3-10kg is perfect.

• Foam roller - these aren’t just for self massage, you can also use these to add intensity to your workouts too!

So whether you’re new to working out or you already have a gym membership, but just want to create a fitness haven in your own home, make sure you’re setting yourself up for success by getting the right equipment! You can get all of my workout essentials in a convenient kit bundle by sending me a message on Instagram @sofit_ng. My kits are just N13,000!

Don’t forget, the best workouts are the ones that are structured! You will also need a PLAN! There are endless possibilities working out at home, but it is essential that you follow a plan in order to be efficient and productive with your time, to get you closer to your goals. If you feel you need a helping hand, my home based programs provide you with all the guidance you need to get you started.

Don’t forget to share your home sessions with me! I want to see my Squad using their SOfit gear to help them achieve their dream bodies! Tag me in your posts and follow my fitness journey too @sofit_ng.

Strong is Sexy!

Love Sandra

xx

How to Stay Motivated on Your Fitness Journey

Hey Babes!

Everyone needs a little motivation here and there to achieve their goals and as we all know, social media is full of pictures, quotes and posts about motivation but this only goes so far if  we can’t motivate ourselves.  I want to empower you with some practical tools to finding your own powerful source of motivation for your fitness journey so that you don’t feel like you’re wasting your time. 

Making the decision to start working out is a major life event! It’s the start of your journey to feeling confident, getting stronger and looking better than ever!

Initially, the novelty factor will carry through your first few weeks and even months of training. But, as those weeks and months add up, the shine may start to come off your new workout resolution. You might even find that your enthusiasm dwindles, and the occasional missed workout starts to become a more regular occurrence.

It takes a lot of successive and consistent workouts to improve your fitness, but unfortunately only a few missed workouts to cause a decline. For that reason, consistency is key, girls!

If you find your enthusiasm and consistency starting to slip, these are my top tips and tricks to put at work!

put these tips and tricks into practice. Remember, you cannot store fitness, so if you want to stay fit, you need to make working out a habit that sticks.

1) Get a workout partner or a personal trainer.

A workout partner can help make sure you show up at the gym to train and, once you are there, you give it your all. Knowing that you are meeting someone at the gym means you are less likely to skip out on your workout. That other person increases your accountability; you’ll have to explain to them why you missed your training session.

They’ll also encourage you to work hard during your workout and provide motivation when things start to get tough.

This is not a one-way street however. You need to provide your training partner with the same support they give you! Hence why workout partners are a great idea.

If you can afford a personal trainer, it’s a great idea as well! 

A personal trainer is someone as equally or even more motivated to workout and has enough knowledge about health and fitness to  help motivate you into doing what you need to do. This should be someone that is patient, understanding, reliable and supportive.  Having a workout partner or a trainer  makes your training more fun! 

2. Train for something

Regardless of what you see on social media, no one has the perfect body. Truth is, everyone has one or two insecurities still lurking within themselves. Instead of wallowing in your insecurities, embrace them and do something about it. Train for something. Set a goal.  For example, if you don’t like your flabby arms say to yourself: “I want more defined arms in the next three months,” and go for it. Make all the sacrifices needed to achieve that goal. 

I wanted bigger thighs and a more hour-glass figure. I knew what I had to do- build muscle on my legs while maintaining a fairly good diet to keep my waist tiny. It took a lot of hard work and months in the gym but I got there and so can YOU! Don’t ever focus on how long it’ll take, instead focus on how much effort you need to make. Remember, nothing free is worth doing. 

Knowing you are training to achieve a goal will make you more appreciative when that goal is reached! 

3.  Just show up!

As you get SO fit, your workouts will invariably get harder. This can mean that, some days, you just don’t feel like hitting the gym and hammering yourself yet again.

When you feel like this, instead of skipping your workout, go to the gym anyway, but give yourself permission to take things easy. Use less weight, do less reps, and fewer sets.

In many instances, knowing you can do less if you want to is enough to get you to the gym, whereupon you find that, after your warm-up, you actually feel fine and end up having a great workout anyway. So always just show up. 

4.  Get back on track ASAP

If you do skip a workout, don’t let that derail your entire training week by missing all your other workouts too. Instead, just get back on track, doing your next scheduled workout as normal. One missed workout will not have much if any impact on your fitness, but a whole week of missed training, plus the inevitable overeating that will accompany it, will.

‘Am I wasting my time?’

Fitness is not a fad, and you need more than the occasional workout to get in shape. No one said it was going to be easy but have something that drives you. The more consistent you are with your workouts, the more results you will see. Results take time! If you feel like you’re wasting your time because you’re not seeing any results then it’s obvious you’re doing something completely wrong and that could be from: 

1. Your diet 

2. Your exercise routine 

1. Your diet: I can’t stress enough how important your nutrition is to your fitness journey. It’s like the foundation of a home. Your body needs the right nutrients not only to function properly but to look as well. Nutrition has the largest impact on our fitness. If you’re not seeing any results from hours of training, stop and focus focus on healthy food intake as your primary fitness goal. 

When healthy eating habits become a lifestyle, we are healthier and happier. Eating right allows us to reduce body fat, lose a few pounds, feel more confident and reduce our risk of illness.  The healthier your diet, the better your body will be- on the inside and most importantly on the outside. To get started on healthy eating, you can purchase my 31 day nutrition plan. This plan includes a suggested weekly food shopping list, meal time table and health tips. 

2. Your workout program: A bad workout program which involves you a)  the same exercises every day b) doing random exercises from the top of your head or c) not completing sets and reps- is a complete waste of your time. Without a proper workout plan you can not get good results. If you spend 1-2 hours in the gym 3-4 times a week and you’re not seeing results over a period of time then you need to change your exercise regimen. Always always have a plan for your daily workout sessions. 

You should be hitting two different muscle groups a day and doing at least 4-5 different exercises for each muscle groups at a minimum of 2-3 sets and 5-8 reps each. A proper workout program keeps you focused during your workouts and will give you great results. To get started on your fitness journey eating, you can purchase my 31 day full body workout plan for beginners. This is a gym and home based guide which includes picture descriptions to help guide you. 

When you begin to enjoy your workouts and see results at the same time, you will know that you are not wasting your time. Stay tuned in the coming weeks girls, as I have plenty more tips for achieving your goals. In the meantime make sure you share this with a bff you know needs a helping hand with motivation!

Ok girls, let’s get SO fit!

Love

Sandra

xoxo💋

The Nigerian's Guide to a Healthy Traditional Meal

 Hello babes!

Now y’all know I love me my native food, and we all know there are huge misconceptions out there about Nigerian food and how it’s mostly unhealthy because of the heavy amount of carbohydrates and starch found in some of them.

Yes, there are lots of ‘bad food’ out there but Nigerian food is actually one of the most healthiest. Why? Because a majority of our foods are organic and unprocessed. We cultivate most of our food (for example our yams, cassava), we pluck our own fruits and vegetables from the trees in our backyards, our meat isn’t processed, so why do people believe they can’t eat Nigerian food and be healthy?

The key to a healthy diet is simple:

1. Portion control
2. Eating a balanced meal

The number one reason people struggle with belly fat and weight loss in general is that their meals are not balanced. You’re not giving your body what it needs. A balanced meal contains 60% vegetables, 20% protein and 20% GOOD carbohydrate.

Four things consist of a fat-burning meal:

1. The Foundation

• Protein: protein provides satiety , building blocks for your muscles and has the highest thermic effect of food. (Tuna, sardines, salmon, eggs, chicken). When choosing protein go for lean choices. Lean protein is protein that has little or no fat. For example chicken breast. The breast of the chicken is the leanest part of the chicken. 

• Vegetables: veggies provide satiating fiber and are naturally low in calories. (Tomatoes, carrots, cucumbers, spinach, celery, etc). High protein veggies include green peas, asparagus,  spinach, kale, broccoli, mushrooms etc. Nutrient deficiencies are associated with obesity, diabetes and other abnormalities so be sure to eat 1 serving of veggies with every meal. 

• Fats: Healthy fats from sources like Avocados, olive oil, whole eggs support hormone production and aid the body in using its own fat for fuel when eaten in the right proportion to other macronutrients. 

• Carbohydrates: Carbs are energy sources like fats and like fats your needs will vary. Sweet potatoes, yams, beans, lentils and rice are good carb sources. 

Now remember it’s not just WHAT you eat that makes your meals healthy but HOW you eat them. A lot of you will read this and go ‘but I eat a lot of chicken’. How do you eat your chicken? Instead of frying your foods, boil, grill or bake them. The more fried foods you eat the less nutrients you get out of them.

When eating, practice the SOFit® 2/3 plate method (This is explained in more detail in my 8 week Weight Loss program ebook).

A visual that may help you is this: divide your (main) meal plate into “thirds,” cover one-third of your plate with a lean protein (as listed above) then the other two-third of the plate with veggies and your choice complex carb (complex carbs are good carbs: whole fruit, legumes, potatoes and whole grains. These foods are generally healthy). 

Visual below:

On this plate you have your vegetable source, a good portion of carbohydrates and then your protein.

Here is a sample meal plan for a day taken from my 31 day nutrition plan:


BREAKFAST (9- 10.00am)

One egg omelette or scrambled egg, one medium banana (sliced) topped with blueberries, and a side of sliced avocados-  210 calories

LUNCH 1-3.00pm

Noodles mixed with sliced grilled chicken and a side of veggies (you can use whatever vegetables you wantPictured  below are broccolis) A glass of water- 229 calories

DINNER 4-6.00pm

Palm sized chicken breast (grilled, baked or boiled), veggies (broccoli, diced tomatoes, cucumbers), 1/2 cup of rice (jollof, fried, or white rice) 1 bottle/ glass of water - 449 calories

c

• Chicken breasts are a nutritional powerhouse. Rich in high quality protein. 

SNACK 7-8.00pm

One diced apple (green or red apple) with one table spoon peanut butter - 200-250 calories

•Peanut butter is a mono saturated fat which is a good kind of fat (the type of fat found in olive oil and Avocados) this type of fat can help people lose weight and prevent heart disease.

Total Calorie intake for the day: 1,138 calories

The key to a healthy Nigerian meal is moderation. Your body stores excess calories as fat for energy . The more you eat (the wrong foods) your body is storing the excess fat in places like your belly mostly. The average female needs no more than 2,000 calories a day, for a man it’s 2,500 calories a day to function properly and anything more than this (if you’re not regularly active) will be stored as fat.

Other healthy food tips are:
1. One slice of fried plantain is 68 calories. Now imagine if you’re having ten slices with your rice. That’s a whole lot of calories!

If you absolutely love plantain and must have it avoid frying it too much. Grill it instead. Same goes with your protein: chicken, fish, etc. Fried foods tend to be high in calories and trans fat, so eating a lot of them can have negative effects on your health like heart disease.

2. Stay away from Added sugars found in beverages and foods: Sugar-sweetened drinks like sodas, juices and sweet teas are loaded with fructose, a type of simple sugar.

Consuming fructose increases your hunger and desire for food more than glucose, the main type of sugar found in starchy foods. If weight loss is your goal you should cut all fizzy drinks and alcoholic beverages out of your diet completely.

3. Drink ENOUGH water.

4. Eat more protein: When it comes to fat loss and a better looking body, protein is the king of nutrients. You don't need to restrict anything to benefit from a higher protein intake.

Protein can reduce hunger and boost metabolism, but you won't lose weight if you don't eat fewer calories than you burn.

Stay SOFit! 💕

All You Need To Know About Resting Periods During Workouts

Hey hey! Your girl's back again!

This time I’m answering the question ‘Does the rest time in between sets during your workout play a huge role?

How often do you workout?

If often then you know that you can’t design a strength-training (or weight-training) program without knowing the meaning of these two terms: rep and set.

A Rep (repetition) is one complete motion of an exercise. A set is a group of consecutive repetitions.

For example, you can say, “I did two sets of ten reps of squats.” This means that you did ten consecutive squats, rested, and then did another ten squats.

Got it? Awesome!

Now that you know what those terms mean, you’ll soon come to know how important the rest time between your sets are.

Im in the gym a lot so believe me when I say 90% of people underestimate the amount of time their rest periods play in their overall workout. There are a lot of factors that go into muscle growth, and rest periods are one of them.

Rest periods can be broken down into three categories:

Short rest periods – about 30 seconds

Long rest periods – 2 minutes to 5 minutes

Moderate rest periods – about 60-90 seconds

The amount of rest time you take between sets should depend on what you’re aiming for as regards to your body. Let me break it down for you some more.

• Short Rest Periods

The key to getting your muscles bigger by weight training is tiring them out. Yes. By limiting your rest periods to about 30 seconds between sets of strength training exercises, you’ll do just that. But the disadvantage of very short rest periods sometimes is that you won’t be resting long enough to maintain sufficient strength. If strength can’t be maintained, then the weights that you’ll be able to lift with shorter rest won’t be heavy enough to help your muscles grow.

• Long Rest Periods

The primary advantage with long rest periods is that, because they’re long enough to almost fully restore your strength, you can use near maximum weights that result in some monster gains in strength over time. The drawback to long rest periods, however, is that you often don’t tire your muscles enough, which is a draw back if you’re looking to pack on size.
However, by increasing strength, you’ll be able to use a much heavier weight, and you’ll be able to access more muscle fibers every time you lift.  Your next option? Somewhere between short and long periods and that brings us to

• Moderate Rest Periods

When it comes to moderate resting time you actually don’t want to fully recover between sets, because building muscle requires tiring them out, but you also want to rest long enough that you can repeatedly use a weight heavy enough to stimulate muscle growth. That’s why moderate rest periods hit the sweet spot of building muscle mass: the weights lifted are still heavy enough to target the muscle fibers with the greatest potential for growth.

So my advice would be to keep your rest time on a moderate level. This plays a huge role in your workout. In order to see adequate muscle growth, you want to keep your rest periods relatively moderate so anything between 1 minute and 2 minutes is enough.


Here are a few more tips using this information to take your muscle mass up a notch:

• If you’ve been training consistently for 3 to 6 months:

Assuming you’ve developed good exercise technique with your big exercises (bench press, chinups, shoulder press, squat, deadlift, etc.), focus on getting stronger in the next few months.  Your goal is to activate as much muscle as possible at any one time.

Perform 3-5 sets of 3-5 reps of big exercises with longer rest periods.

• If you’ve been training consistently for 6 months to a year:

At this stage in training, your goal to increase your volume of exercise which will help build your muscles.
Perform 2-4 sets of 3-5 reps with longer rest periods. Follow this with 2-4 sets of 6-12 reps with moderate rest periods for the same muscle groups

• If you’ve been training consistently for 12 to 18 months:

You’re at the point where you’ll need a stronger stimulus to get big, so you’ll need to focus on either strength or muscle size development.
You should alternate training programs, going from focusing on strength for 4-6 weeks, then on size development for another 4-6 weeks. Perform 3 sets of big exercises, on your strength weeks using big weight you can only lift 1-5 times, and on your size weeks, using weight you can lift 6-12 times

Don’t let all this information scare you. It’s very simple! And don’t let the idea of ‘muscle mass’ scare you away from lifting weights ladies. To get that toned body look you have to add weights to your workout. To get the best results, keep your rest time on the moderate side.

Hope this helps 💕