Archive for April, 2009
Get out the grill and pour a cold one for fat loss!
Posted by: | CommentsSpring and summer weather is here and I can’t tell you how happy I am that it finally arrived! I am ready for the 80 degree sunny days and everything that comes with them.
With the great weather and summer activities also comes a lot of obstacles to your fat loss. You have cookouts, beer on the boat, not getting in your workouts, etc. There are a lot of things that can get in your way but today I am going to try to help you out a bit and give you a few pointers on how to overcome these things.
The great American cookout. It is great! Food, beverages, games, being outside with friends and family. The problem is th food is usually not the healthiest thing you can put in your body, the beverages are of the adult nature and have a ton of calories and being outside usually won’t give you enough activity to burn up those excess calories.
If you know you are going to a cook out that isn’t going to be diet friendly make sure that you bring something that will fit into your plan. Take a healthy spinach salad with some walnuts and raspberry vinaigrette. Sprinkle some blue cheese crumbles on it and you have a great healthy salad! If they have chicken or burgers skip the buns. If they have hot dogs and brats, well you might just have to make due and fill up on fruit or veggies. A fruit salad is always a great healthier choice that potato salad!
Make sure to keep the adult or calorie containing beverages to a minimum. If you want to have one or two
understand that you will have to account for the those calories and time lost burning up fat. Stick to light beer or hard liquor that doesn’t have a sugary mixer in it. A Jack and diet coke is better for you that a big, sugary fruity drink!
Make sure to participate in the fun and games! Go out and be active. It might not be enough to burn up the excess calories but it sure won’t hurt you. Play some hoops, run around and throw the foot ball, go out for a round of golf. Anything you do will be better than sitting on your duff and being lazy.
Hopefully you can prepare yourself to handle these awesome summer activities. Just because you are on a fat loss program or watching your waistline doesn’t mean that you can’t have any fun. One of the biggest keys for success is being prepared to overcome obstacles and knowing what they are before they arrive.
What are your biggest summer obstacles to fat loss? Let us know in the comment section and we will try to address each specific problem!
Summer Slim Down
Posted by: | CommentsWe are almost 1 month away from the official start of summer! I love the summer. I grew up going to the lake every weekend and playing in the water all day. Warm, sunny days, pools, the lake, boating, the outdoors, bar-b-ques, fun with friends. These are just a few of the things that make summer great.
If you haven’t been preparing for swim suit season and still have your “winter coat” of fat on summer can be a bit embarrassing and unpleasant. It isn’t too late. You can still look great in your swim suit! It will take a bit of hard work but it can happen.
A few pointers for last minute prep:
You can look like this....
or this!
1) You better start an effective fat loss program like our Be Force Fit! Boot Camp or one of our super fast fat loss programs! You don’t have to be doing one of ours but it would sure make things a lot easier.
2) Schedule time out for your workouts. To get in great shape you will need to make some small changes. You will have to be consistent with your workouts and nutrition. You need to set aside scheduled time to get in the gym or outdoors and get in a great butt kicking workout.
3) Use strength training and interval training to get the best results, FAST! You need to use a strength program focused on fat loss that uses large muscle groups, compound movements and super sets or tri-sets with minimal rest for best results. Do 3 of these a week paired up with 2-3 interval training sessions and you will be well on your way. The great part about this time of year is you can do the intervals outside at the park with bodyweight exercises, plyometric drills, sprinting, or playing hoops. The more activity you get in at this point the better.
4) Plan your nutrition. You have to eat less calories than you burn to shed that spare tire and trim up those jiggly thighs. If you are winging your nutrition you are bound to fail. Plan out your week, use our Force Fat Blasting Program available to those in our 6 week Fat Blaster program and by all of our clients. Write down everything that goes into your mouth and drink lots and lots of water.
5) Set a goal. Put that bikini or swim suit out in front of you and picture what you want to look like as you are walking around on the boat or out at the pool. Will you be getting cat calls or boos? Put up a picture of your ideal physique and look at it every day. Write your goals in your planner, nutrition journal, workout log, and anywhere else you will see them on a regular basis. This will help to keep you accountable.
Hopefully you are not too far off from looking great for the summer months. If you need some serious help, give us a call and we will get you on a program that will have you looking and feeling great in no time!
We will be re-opening our Fat Blast program that gives you all the tools and support you could ever need to drop some serious fat very soon. Keep a look out and if you need some motivation we can give it to you!
Uncovering Recovery
Posted by: | CommentsRecovery is probably the least talked about component of training, especially for fat loss. I think the reason that recovery is rarely mentioned is that most people don’t get in enough activity in the first place. The magic number to shoot for is 4-5 hours. If you get 5 hours of activity a week you should get great results. It can be done in less than this but it is a lot tougher and your intensity has to be through the roof.
I will outline how to get to those 4-5 hours a week for the best results in the next post. I want to focus on recovery for now. What does recovery work include? Is it simply resting?
If you are simply using rest or sitting on the couch as recovery you are missing out on a lot of great things that can speed up your results and help you feel better. Here are a few of the top recovery methods we recommend.
1) Foam Rolling/Self Massage- This is one of the greatest forms of recovery work you can invest your time in! 10-15 minutes every day on the foam roller will make a world of difference in the health of your shoulder, low back, hips and knees. There is a reason that everyone that steps foot in our facility begins their program with a series of movements on the foam roller. We place significant emphasis on the upper back, hips, inner thighs and outer thighs. If you are runner this becomes extremely important and you should focus on the calves and front of the shin as well.
The foam roller is used to improve the quality of muscle tissue and can be used prior to stretching to improve the length of the muscle as well. This tool breaks up knots in the muscles targeted to help the muscle function properly. Think of a rubber band with a bunch of knots in it. If you stretch it far enough it will break at the knots and the knots continue to get tighter, this is essentially what happens with you stretch without foam rolling or properly warming the muscles up.
A good foam roller costs about $20 and can make a world of difference in the quality of your workouts. Check out Perform Better for the best deals on great rollers.
2) Pre and Post Workout Nutrition- This has been the focus of numerous studies recently and is shown to be one of the biggest factors in success on any program. If you are working hard you need to fuel your body with the proper nutrients so that you can continue to work at a high intensity. We recommend Prograde Workout or Surge for our clients. This perfectly mixed blend of carbohydrates and proteins replenish your muscles with the nutrients it needs to recover from a tough workout. 
The science behind workout nutrition is very simple. Right before, during or immediately after a hard training session your body is primed for building lean muscle mass. Your muscles are fatigued and are ready to be fed so that they can repair themselves. When you ingest a 2 or 3 to 1 ratio of carbohydrates to proteins your body will use the carbs and protein to repair the muscle damage. The fast digesting carbs will increase your insulin levels and push the carbs and protein into the muscle cells.
You might be asking what this has to do with fat loss? It is rather simple. If you repair your muscles you will be able to increase the frequency and intensity of your workouts. You will also build lean muscle mass which will inturn speed up your metabolism and burn more calories. We have used this recovery tool with numerous fat loss clients and it has had no negative effects on fat loss. We have to remember that it isn’t about the amount of weight you lose it is about the amount of fat you lose.
3) Active stretching- I hate flexibility training. It is my least favorite of all activities besides boring cardio. However, it is essential to the health of your joints and muscles. Including 5 minutes or so of active stretching or mobility work after you foam roll or after a training session will drastically improve your overall health and mobility. The most problematic areas for most people are the hips and thoracic spine. The hips should be stretched on the posterior (back) and anterior (front) sides. We use the 90/90 stretch and the kneeling hip flexor stretch in most of our programs. The thoracic spine is the section of spine above your lower back and below your neck. If you sit at a computer for long hours or in a car for long periods of time you most likely have poor thoracic mobility. Exercises or stretches for this include wall slides, lat stretches, pec stretches and thoracic mobility tennis balls or a foam roller. If you perform these movements and stretches your posture will improve, your shoulders health will improve and lower back pain will lessen.
This is just a brief overview of recovery work. Getting enough rest and proper nutrition are also very important. Try to get 7-8 hours of quality sleep each night. Sleep in a dark room with minimal electronics. I know since I have removed the TV from my bed room the quality of my sleep has improved drastically. Get in enough quality calories, plenty of fruits and veggies and drink lots of water to give your body what it needs to function on a daily basis and you will be light years ahead of most people.
Your safety net carbs
Posted by: | CommentsI had a question come up today from one of our 6 week Fat Blast members and wanted to address this question in a public forum and also want to know your thoughts on the entire debate, so feel free to leave me a comment.
The question was about using net carbs to calculate her carbohydrate intake for her nutrition plan. Should we be allowed to subtract fiber and other possibly “non-digested” carbs from our carb intake?
My quick answer was NO! And I will tell you why…
I wouldn’t start to subtract fiber and other supposedly non-digestible carbs from your intake because it becomes rather confusing. A lot of foods that are highly processed are allowed to place a net carb icon on their boxes and lead you believe they are a healthier choice than some of thier more natural counterparts. What do we do with our total calories then? The non-digested carbs are still calculated in the total calorie count for the food item. Will you be able to subtract those as well?
I am the first to say that all carbohydrates are not created equally. The most obvious of these is fiber. It is true that fiber is not digested and broken down in the small intestine to produce glucose. What we have to watch out for is the processed and chemically, synthetically produced fibers that we still aren’t sure about. Sugar alcohols are also not digested (most of these will end with -tol: sorbitol, malitol, etc.) and are placed in many processed low carb foods. They can lead to more digestive problems than you would like to deal with, believe me, I know from experience.
I think the real key here is that we are trying to create habits and not ways to fool the body into thinking that it is getting something it really isn’t getting. Eating whole, natural foods will beat processed low carb foods any day of the week. If you want some healthy carbs then factor them into your plan and make adjustments for the rest of the day. You can also use them for your 10% meals and have a healthy “refeed” where we don’t worry as much about the carbohydrate content of the meal.
For our 6 week Fat Blast members we gave them a calculator to help them plan their meals and track calories. It is easy enough to spice up your diet and account for a meal that has a few more carbs by reducing the number of carbs in later or earlier meals. You make a lot of things fit into your nutrition plan you just have to be aware of how that meal effects the rest of your food choices for the day. I have eaten and have had others eat oatmeal and whole wheat pancakes on a low carb plan and simply adjusted the number of starchy carbs later in the day.
We have to remember that progress comes from consistency on the plan and developing overall healthy eating habits. I would be that by trying calculate net carbs or impact carbs only leaves you open to the dangers of eating highly processed garbage or justifying the consumption of junk carbs.
That is my two cents on net carbs, what do you think? Leave me a comment.
P.S. If you have an athlete in the family don’t forget to check out our Performance Enhancement Nutrition Seminar on May 2nd.
Push Up and Push Away
Posted by: | CommentsIt took me a bit longer than I would have liked to get the push up video up and I still need to get a video of all the different push up variations. I hope you learn a few things form the video and it helps you out with one of the greatest movements that you can perform in training for fat loss or performance.
Check out the video at the bottom of the post.
Something came up today during a nutritional consult with myself and a highly successful client. We were talking about eating out and picking the right items from the menu and we decided to check out the nutrition facts for a salad that we both enjoy from O’Charley’s. We were curious to see how many caloires it contained…. I wish I wouldn’t have looked. The cajun chicken salad has almost 1000, yes that is three zeros, calories and over 70 grams of fat!!!!! Can you beleive that? The chicken isn’t breaded and fried, there isn’t anything obviously unhealthy about it, but can you imagine how that effects your daily intake!
I will post more about this later and elaborate on how salads are often not as healthy as they seem. Just wanted to make you aware that not everything is healthy just because it is in a salad.
Check out the push up video, are you doing them right?
Push your way to a better you
Posted by: | CommentsI love the push up! It is one of the oldest and most effective exercises that we have in our arsenal, but that doesn’t mean that people like them or are good at them. In fact, most people don’t know the first thing about all the great benefits of doing push ups or how to do a proper push up.
Here are the top 3 benefits of doing push ups: (look back later this week for tips on how to get better at them)
#1- Core Stability and Strength- To perform a proper push up you have to be able to maintain a neutral spine and brace your core through out the entire movement. This is challenging for most people. We see a lot of drooping backs and hips when people first start doing push ups at Force Fitness. You have to actively engage you transverse abdominis, obliques and rectus abdominis to maintain a straight body that we need to have during a push up.
#2- Healthy Shoulders- After having shoulder surgery one of the only movements that I can do without much pain or damage to my shoulders is the push up. This has caused me to be very creative when figuring out how to best train strength in my upper body and forced me to look at ways to get and stay strong while doing mostly push ups. The push up is a closed chain movement and one of the only movements that involves pressing that allows for the shoulders and scapular stabilizers to work the way they meant to work. If you have shoulder pain start replacing your bench presses and shoulder presses with push ups and you will do your self a favor.
#3- It is a total body lift!- Not only do you work your chest, shoulders and triceps but you should be engaging your core and squeezing your gluteal muscles to perform a proper push up. This engaging of all the muscles involved including the upper back to literally pull yourself to the ground and stabilizers for the shoulder blades in the upper back all for more calories to be burned and thus a great overall total body exercise. I am all for big bang for you buck exercises!
Look back soon to see how to perform a proper push up and different push up variations!
Pizza!
Posted by: | CommentsI was seriously craving some crappy food tonight after a long week and long day at the gym. This has been a crazy last few weeks and sometimes even the most strong, nutritionally stable crave food that isn’t great for fat loss. I had an insatiable urge to order pizza! I had a ton to do still and didn’t have a lot food in the house. I decided against ordering pizza, but not against having it….
As I type this there is a pizza in the oven, but not your typical frozen pizza. I thought I might try something a bit different and make a pizza (not incredibly innovative under normal circumstances, but just wait).
I went to the grocery and was on a mission to find the best possible ingredients for a lower carb, healthy pizza.
Here is what was in the bag at the end of the trip:
1 package of Smart and Delicious Whole Wheat Low Carb Wraps
1 package of organic mozzarella cheese (the real stuff packed in water)
1 package of fresh sliced parmesan cheese
1 can of organic pizza sauce
1 package of chicken breast
1 package of baby spinach
So far I have taken two of the large wraps and set them on a pizza pan and am heating the oven up to 375 degrees.
I spread 1/4 cup of pizza sauce on each wrap, placed 1 handful of spinach on the wrap over the sauce, cover this in 3 1/2 medallions of mozzarella cheese, placed 1/2 chicken breast (sliced) on each wrap, and sprinkled a bit of parmesan cheese on top of it all.
It is in the oven as I am writing this… it smells great!
I will let you know how this fat blasting, waist shrinking pizza taste.
Everyone faces obstacles in their fat loss battles, but the ones that succeed find ways to jump right over or through those obstacles.
The first people that will get to hear how good (or bad) this pizza tastes are the lucky 13 people that are coming to the nutrition seminar tomorrow afternoon. I am super excited to give them the inside info on fat loss and weight loss success!
Any good recipes? Leave ‘em in the comments section!
Influenced
Posted by: | CommentsI am reading a really cool book right now about influencing people and changing their lives. You might ask why I, a simple trainer, might be reading a book like this? Well, if you have to ask that question you probably don’t know the full extent of what we try to accomplish at Force Fitness.
I hope that we can help change each and every client and reader’s life for the better. This is not always as easy task and this book brings up some interesting points on how to do this effectively. The very start of this change begins with isolating a few very basic behaviors that need to be isolated and changed for maximum results. I know that I have a few behaviors that I have to work on to meet my goals in both business and fitness. I want to focus on a few that might help you.
For fat loss or fitness a few behaviors that need to be changed are eating breakfast and becoming more active throughout the day. The best way to start a weight loss program is to look at nutrition and exercise. Starting with exercise one of the biggest changes that will make the most difference is to eat a healthy breakfast.
Now how do we make sure that this happens? We need to first make sure that we have the food in the house or on head to eat breakfast. When you go to the store to buy your food you need to make sure that you are buying simple, easy to make foods that you know you will eat for breakfast. Do you like fruit? Make sure to get some fruit to have for breakfast. All you have to do with this is put it in a bowl or grab a piece and eat it! We also want to include some protein to your breakfast. If you can make eggs that is an awesome way to start. Get some omega-3 enriched eggs and have plenty on hand. If you can’t make them before work or your workout then hard boil several and have them ready to go in the morning. If eggs are out of the question have a protein shake handy or a meal replacement such as Prograde Lean and drink that as well. These are easy solutions to eating a healthy breakfast.
I am often up at 4:30 and at the gym by 5:15, yes that is AM! On most days I will eat at the gym before the first sessions start or before boot camp. I make sure that I have some Greek yogurt, oatmeal, fruit, and protein powder at the gym so that I can make a good breakfast to get me through the morning.
The second behavior is becoming more active through out the day. How do you do that? The first step is scheduling in workout times. This doesn’t have to be at the gym, you can set aside a few minute to do a quick body weight circuit at home or make time for a walk in the evening with your significant other. Time is precious and we all only have 24 hours in a day to get everything done that we need to get done. If you plan your day out and make sure to schedule some time for a workout or activity it is much less difficult to be lazy and skip them. If you set aside time four days out of the week to be more active either at the gym or at home you will start to see better results and the weight will start to fall off.
I have given you two behaviors to change and laid out a plan for you to change them, but it all really comes down to you making the choice to change. If you don’t truly want to change it will never happen.
I am going to leave you with two things.
1) I read a quote yesterday that applies to so many people, “Fat loss becomes easy once you realize how hard it is going to be.” I don’t think I have read a statement that is so true in a long time!
2) Are you going to make the choices needed to change? Such as attending our Fat Blasting Nutritoin Seminar this Saturday. Click here to see the details: www.forcefatloss.com/seminar
The price goes up tomorrow (Tuesday) morning! I have extended the deadline for early registration so that more people can take advantage of this opportunity! Don’t miss out!
