More Information Than Ever yet Less Results?

All it takes is one trip to the book store or even to the grocery store checkout line to see that there is more than enough information regarding fat loss. The issue, the majority of it is junk! We know more about the human body, biochemistry, and physics than ever before yet we are getting larger, less healthy, and lethargic...

If personal trainers, PhDs of Nutrition, and dietitians can get caught up in this nearly useless information, what is someone who has never studied and trusts the magazines and the "low carb guru" suppose to do? Granted, the personal trainers, PhDs, and dietitians can sort through the information and come back to the basics that matter, but most people will be swept away in Acai Berries, or no carb junk, or what have you. 

This is a call to STOP looking at magazines. If you enjoy learning new tricks and you have the basics down then fine, but if you are struggling with losing any weight please do NOT read the magazines and fad books. Learn the basics. People learn so much they get "analysis paralysis." You're better off focusing on veggies, lean protein, and some fruit along with a few other basic habits then you are trying to stay up to date. The human body has not changed. Physiology has not changed. Our "food," habits, and mind sets have changed. 

Most people know what it takes. Eat less, move more, get your veggies. If you aren't losing weight, you're eating too many calories and/or not moving enough. It's that simple. Stop studying, start DOING! And get an accountability partner or two. You'll be glad you did. Not to mention your stress levels will drop because you aren't being confused by "gurus" and "experts."

You're better off doing something mediocre that is based on solid common sense than you are not doing the most advanced, science-based program.




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Calorie Control the Simple Way

Seriously, calorie counting works wonders, but isn't there a simpler way? The way I see it there are two options, eat whatever TYPE of food you want and just count every last calorie because the food you love is so calorie dense, or eat REAL food and just control portions with a few easy habits and methods. By the way, chances are the food you love that is energy dense is NOT nutrient dense so you'll only be able to eat tiny amounts and you won't even come close to the nutrition your body needs to have the energy you want and that tight, fit feeling. Personally, I'll take the real food and keep the other food as treats. That's right, you don't have to give up your favorite dishes! Just keep them under control. Check it out: Calorie Control Guide for Men and Women

Change for a Better Life

When I was training at an awesome bootcamp, someone told me that, after a year of hard work, for the first time they were playing with their kids and their kids were tired before she was! To see that she could actually catch them while playing tag and she could out-endure them was an eye opener to her and to me! She added a TON of value to her life through habit change! To see the emotion and how much that meant to her was AWESOME!
 
Recently I have been looking into becoming a Wellness/Life Coach. Throughout the years I've noticed that those who get and KEEP the results most people are searching for focus on lifestyle change. They gradually change their habits. They realize that they have been stagnant and they aren't where they want to be. They see a potential future of not having energy, having diabetes, obesity, not being able to enjoy playing with their kids and grandchildren, and so on if they don't do something about it now. They also see the life they could have. High energy, lean (doesn't have to mean six-pack), healthy, vibrant, playing with their kids and grandchildren, going on adventures... fulfilling whatever their life goals are! 

I've also noticed that many personal training clients come and go. They come in, a personal trainer gives them into a routine but they never really see change. Those who are truly motivated get fantastic results whether they came in with that fire in their heart or the personal trainer is a great coach and helped them reach that level of motivation. This bugs me. There must be a better way of helping people change their own lives! Not just set a New Years Resolution and spend hundreds of dollars to end up right back where they started.

Then I see Wellness Coaching on the rise. People who help guide others through life. They help get rid of the clutter in your mind and help you focus your efforts on your true goals. I see these coaches helping others get phenomenal results and those results generally stay for a lifetime! Having a strong love for restoration and improvement, I want to help others get better together! I don't want them to just come in, do their workout and walk out frustrated. If they are happy with what they are doing, that's great, but I'm talking about those who are struggling and feel "stuck."

So what's the point of this article? To open your eyes to possibility and a new part of the health and fitness industry that is on the rise and has a GREAT potential for helping change people's lives. You can reach your goals! These Wellness Coaches can help! 

Check out more in this article.




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Interval Training Explained - Part 2

In the last installment of "Interval Training Explained" we went over the "what" and "why" of interval training. This installment will focus on the "how?"

So what do you do?

First, interval training is stressful for the body (again, a GOOD thing in the right amount) so it should only be done 1 to 3 times per week for most people. The rest of your cardio, if you so choose to do it, should be steady pace also known as "steady state." This would be the jogging, any cardio exercise at a steady pace.

Mode

Before getting into too much, you need to choose an exercise "mode." A mode is simply that actual exercise movement you perform. Some examples are running, biking, push ups, planks, swimming, you name it. 

The first consideration in selecting your mode is simplicity. You don't want to have to think too much about what you are doing. You'll have plenty to focus on with the intensity of interval training. Good examples are sprinting (NOT on a treadmill - DANGEROUS!!!!), swimming, biking, and various bodyweight exercises. A caution when swimming, do intervals in shallow water because you will get very tired and you don't want to have to tread water.

Sled pushing, don't be intimidated

The next consideration is self-limitation. You want exercises that don't involve too much form break down. When you do interval training, your muscles get tired, when your muscles get tired your form can easily breakdown increasing the risk of injury. So you wouldn't select an olympic snatch, one of the most technical lifts in weightlifting. A better example would be up hill walking or running/sprinting, sled pushing, battling ropes, any "self-limiting" exercise. 

The Olympic Weightlifting Snatch

Work-to-Rest Ratio

Now that you have your mode selected it's time to plan the rest of the workout. With interval training there is a work-to-rest ratio. The work interval could be anywhere from 10 seconds to 3 or 4 minutes. Just keep in mind the shorter the burst, the harder the effort must be. After the burst you ease back to a steady pace until you catch your breath and are ready for another burst.

There are different levels of interval training. If you are just starting out, you can use a work:rest ratio of about 1:3 or 1:4. This means if your burst is 1 minute then you go back to a steady pace for 3 or 4 minutes. By the end of the burst you should be winded to the point that you can only speak a few words  before you have to breath again. By the end of the rest period you should feel very recovered and ready for another burst.

For the more advanced, the work:rest ratio can be more around 1:2, 1:1, or even Tabata 20 seconds on and 10 seconds off for the very advanced.

Helpful Tools

Interval timers are a great tool to help. You can set the work interval time and the rest interval time. Many interval timers also allow you to set the number of rounds you want to perform. Once you get everything set, hit start and start working, when it beeps, rest, when it beeps again, start going again. Easy peasy.

Summary

As you can see interval training is a kick in the butt! However, it's great when you're short on time or want a little bit faster results. Just select your mode, choose your time intervals, set an interval timer and go! 

*Make sure you warm up properly and listen to your body! If it says "stop" then "stop!"

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Interval Training Explained - Part 1

Wouldn't it be nice if there were a way of exercising that took less time while getting you the results you want? Well, that's interval training! 

Picture a southwestern guy about 6 foot 1 inch, with an average build. Now picture him with black slacks, a big belt buckle, and bolo tie around the neck of a very colorful striped button up dress shirt. You are now picturing Dr. Len Kravitz, a famed researcher and professor. This guy knows his stuff and is VERY enthusiastic about it. 

I went to an IDEA Fit seminar in Alexandria, Virginia where I had the privilege of seeing Dr. Kravitz pace up and down the isles, through the audience as he began oozing excitement about their findings in a new study. What did they study? Interval training!

What's the "Gist"?

So what's the "gist" of interval training? Basically, instead of working up to a level you can maintain for a long period of time, say 20 minutes to 1 hour or more, you perform bursts of more intense activity mixed with less active rest periods. A common comparison is a marathon runner verses a sprinter. A marathon runner gets in a zone and just keeps running at a steady pace. A sprinter will... sprint a set distance then slow down and rest. Now both marathon runners and sprinters have very low body fat percentages but one takes a lot more time. 

Benefits

More calories burned in less time

With interval training you do bursts of high activity ("high" is relative to YOUR ability). In these bursts you burn more energy than if you were going at a steady pace. As these bursts add up over the course of a workout, you end up burning more calories in the same amount of time as a steady pace workout. Another way of looking at it is that you can burn the same amount of calories in less time. Isn't that GREAT news? You don't have to be in the gym for hours on end!

After burn

But there's more! After a workout you continue to burn calories due to what is called "EPOC" or excessive post-exercise oxygen consumption. During a workout your cells are being challenged. They are being thrown out of there "happy" state of homeostasis. Don't worry this is a GOOD thing because it triggers adaptation - the cells get better at recovering and maintaining homeostasis. Now in order to return to a state of homeostasis, work must be done. Anytime work is done, calories are burned! EPOC = more calories burn when you are done working out and going on with your day!

So how does this relate to interval training? Well, study after study after study show that EPOC is higher after interval training than it is after a steady pace workout. It makes sense. More energy is required from the cells for interval training, which means the cells' homeostasis is further disrupted, which leads to more work needing to be done to recover. Did you catch that? Go ahead, re-read it and think it over if you need. 

The y-axis is the EPOC, the x-axis is hours

As you can see in the chart from intervaltraining.net, you only burn extra energy for about 2 - 3 hours post-exercise with steady pace cardio where as with interval training, also known as high intensity interval training (HIIT), you can keep burning calories up to 38 hours post-exercise!

Cardiovascular 

All "cardiovascular" training has heart, lung, blood vessel, and really full body benefits. When doing a cardiovascular workout, there is a higher demand for oxygen in the cells as well as a higher demand to get rid of toxins and gases such as carbon-dioxide. Blood is the highway for these gases to be exchanged, the lungs are the off ramps and on ramps, and the heart (along with skeletal muscle - that's another article) is the engine that keeps it all moving. So with a higher demands for gas exchange comes a higher demand for blood flow which means the heart pumps harder and faster. When this happens the chambers in the heart fill with more blood which stretches the heart more than usual. This triggers adaptations in the heart. After weeks and months of training, your heart can now hold more blood, and it can contract harder which means it moves more blood further with every pump. Blah, blah, blah... zzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

Basically, cardio triggers adaptations that allow your heart to work more efficiently. Your resting heart rate drops and you can handle much more activity with greater ease.

Now some studies show that interval training gets these same, and even superior, results in less time! That's AWESOME!

ENERGY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

When we do cardiovascular exercise, we tell our bodies, "Hey you! We're going to be doing this every week so you better get use to it!" To which our bodies reply, "if I have to...." So it does. It multiplies the number of mitochondria we have in our cells. Mitochondria are the "power houses" or "power plants" of the cells. The more you have and the more efficient they are, the more ENERGY you have! Now, both steady pace workouts and interval workouts trigger this to happen but interval training gets the job done in less time! Are you starting to see a theme here?

But doesn't steady state cardio burn a higher percentage of body fat?

Yes. Steady state or steady pace cardio has been shown to use more fat for energy verses using carbs for energy. However, in weight loss, the calorie deficit is king, right? We learned that in "What's the Key to Losing Weight?" So if the calorie deficit is king and interval training burns more calories than wouldn't we want to do interval training? In a crazy busy world, wouldn't we do more interval training because it takes less time which means more time with family and friends and getting work done? 

Steady cardio does have its place as we will learn more in "Interval Training Explained - Part 2." So if you are a bodybuilder looking to save as much muscle as possible while burning fat, yes do more steady cardio and have 1 interval workout per week. If you are overweight or obese, focus on interval training with some steady cardio on the side. 

Interval training has many more benefits that you can learn about here.

How to Peel an Egg the EASY Way!

This is kind of fun! So one night my friends and I were hanging out when we saw a video of Tim Ferris peeling an egg. Now I've already read "The 4-Hour Body", by Tim Ferris, so I know that this guy loves efficiency and productivity. So we watch it. In this video I test it and it works like a charm... with funny noises...

*I apologize for the monotone voice and the video being sideways. I'm searching for some good video editing software (suggestions?). As for the voice, it will improve in time. 

"The 4-Hour Body" - an entertaining read for those who enjoy experiments. There are some take-away lessons but I wouldn't say it's a good book to model your program on. But it is entertaining and makes you think.

Tim is also the author of "The 4-Hour Work Week." I haven't read this one yet, but I know it will be stimulatingly entertaining! 




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Ninja Calories!

Some calories have no class. The burger calorie, the fried calorie, all those calories that are out in the open and will obviously gang up and make your clothes tighter!

But there's a sneaky calorie that finds it's way into your body without you even realizing it. It doesn't fill you up very much and the little satiety you get from it leaves very quickly. To find where these "ninja calories" are hiding, check out this article.