I thought I would try to get back in the blogging game, it's been a while. I figure I'll start with just some random thoughts I've been having about health, exercise, and weight loss.
*You have to have a goal. Without some sort of goal you will tread water. It can be something small, or something large, but there must be a goal.
*Don't expect results unless you have a goal.
*Be specific about your goal. If you are training for a 5k don't expect to lose weight just because you are running more. More exercise does not necessarily mean more weight loss. I am currently training for the Tough Mudder. I am up to long runs of 10 miles. I probably burn around 800 calories during those runs. I have not lost a pound since I started running more. My goal is not to lose weight. My goal is to run farther and faster.
*I have a client that I have been concerned about for some time. He is 30-40 pounds over weight, is stressed out a lot, eats like crap, and is not consistent with his exercise. I have told him that he is an accident waiting to happen. On Saturday he checked himself in to the E.R. with heart pain. The Dr. said he was not having a heart attack, that he should lose 30 pounds, and his blood pressure was way to high. He is now on blood pressure meds. Please take care of yourselves. Do not wait till something bad happens. Start making healthy decisions today.
*Find exercise you enjoy.
*Figure out what motivates you. For me exercise is my out. My mainstay. My release. My feel good medicine. My challenge.
That's all my random thought right now. Back again soon.
Sunday, April 29, 2012
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Success Boot Camp
In case you missed it, Success Boot Camp opens this Saturday, December 11th. Check out www.success-personaltraining.com for all the details.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
The choices we make
So in my last blog I asked the question as to why we seem to struggle the most with our eating habits at night and on the weekends. Some of the responses included- boredom, habit, the thought that we deserve something, and being surrounded by people with bad eating habits.
I think the first thing that jumps out at me is something that Kate mentioned- when did food become the answer for so many issues? Why do we as a society tend to turn to food and drink when we are bored, out of habit, because we deserve it, or when we are in some social settings. Are there not other options? I think there are.
I think the first thing to do is to ask yourself how improtant your health is to you? How do you want to look and feel? Then ask yourself what changes, if any, you need to make to reach the look and feel you want. Next ask yourself what obstacles stand in the way of you reaching your goals. Do you eat when your bored? If so, what can you do instead? Do you eat ice cream at night because you deserve it? Maybe there is something healthier you can eat, or something else you can do other than eating that will take the place of the ice cream? Do you fall off the wagon when you are surrounded by bad influences? Maybe you can turn it around and become a good influence.
Food and drink should be something that we enjoy. The healthiest people I know enjoy ice cream, burgers, and beer. The healthiest people I know are also very conscious about when, how much, and in what settings they will enjoy these things. They make decisions about what they are going to put in their mouths. Most of the time, the healthiest people I know are thoughtful about what they eat and what they drink.
Be thoughtful about the choices you make. Try not to make food choices because of boredom, habit, the fact that you deserve it, or because everyone else is doing it. If you are going to make a food choice do it because you like it, and because it tastes good.
I think the first thing that jumps out at me is something that Kate mentioned- when did food become the answer for so many issues? Why do we as a society tend to turn to food and drink when we are bored, out of habit, because we deserve it, or when we are in some social settings. Are there not other options? I think there are.
I think the first thing to do is to ask yourself how improtant your health is to you? How do you want to look and feel? Then ask yourself what changes, if any, you need to make to reach the look and feel you want. Next ask yourself what obstacles stand in the way of you reaching your goals. Do you eat when your bored? If so, what can you do instead? Do you eat ice cream at night because you deserve it? Maybe there is something healthier you can eat, or something else you can do other than eating that will take the place of the ice cream? Do you fall off the wagon when you are surrounded by bad influences? Maybe you can turn it around and become a good influence.
Food and drink should be something that we enjoy. The healthiest people I know enjoy ice cream, burgers, and beer. The healthiest people I know are also very conscious about when, how much, and in what settings they will enjoy these things. They make decisions about what they are going to put in their mouths. Most of the time, the healthiest people I know are thoughtful about what they eat and what they drink.
Be thoughtful about the choices you make. Try not to make food choices because of boredom, habit, the fact that you deserve it, or because everyone else is doing it. If you are going to make a food choice do it because you like it, and because it tastes good.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Wondering.....
So I was just wondering why we tend to break away more frequetly from our good diet habits in the evenings and/or during the weekends. I have noticed that I never eat ice cream in the morning! I have some ideas about why this is, but what are your thoughts? Let's hear it.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Periodization Made Easy
I recently thought of a good, and easy, way to incorporate periodization (planned variety) into an exercise program. So here goes-
Use a 1-1, 2-1, 1-2 method. Hun? What did he say? It's simple.
-For the first month do an equal amount of cardio and weight training (1-1). So if you weight train for 30 minutes 4 times per week, do cardio for 30 minutes 4 times per week.
-For the second month do twice as much weight training as you do cardio (2-1). So if you weight train for 40 minutes 4 times per week, do cardio for 20 minutes 4 times per week.
-For the third month do half as much weight training as you do cardio (1-2). So if you weight train for 20 minutes 4 times per week, do cardio for 40 minutes 4 times per week.
After 3 months, start the program over again.
And there it is, it's that simple.
This program will allow you to maintain your normal routine if need be. By that I mean if you go to the gym 4 times a week, you can still do that and yet incorporate variety. You don't have to make any huge changes in the time you spend exercising (unless your currently doing nothing), you simply need to change the structure of your workouts.
I am once again, as most of you have heard me say before, stressing the importance of weight training. I think most people lean toward the 1-2 program (half as much weight training as cardio). Most of you make sure to get your cardio done and then if you have time left over you may do your weight training. You really need to flip that around. Remember that weight lifting burns calories, makes you stronger, increases metabolism, and makes your heart stronger. Weight lifting does everything that cardiovascular exercise does and so much more!
Use a 1-1, 2-1, 1-2 method. Hun? What did he say? It's simple.
-For the first month do an equal amount of cardio and weight training (1-1). So if you weight train for 30 minutes 4 times per week, do cardio for 30 minutes 4 times per week.
-For the second month do twice as much weight training as you do cardio (2-1). So if you weight train for 40 minutes 4 times per week, do cardio for 20 minutes 4 times per week.
-For the third month do half as much weight training as you do cardio (1-2). So if you weight train for 20 minutes 4 times per week, do cardio for 40 minutes 4 times per week.
After 3 months, start the program over again.
And there it is, it's that simple.
This program will allow you to maintain your normal routine if need be. By that I mean if you go to the gym 4 times a week, you can still do that and yet incorporate variety. You don't have to make any huge changes in the time you spend exercising (unless your currently doing nothing), you simply need to change the structure of your workouts.
I am once again, as most of you have heard me say before, stressing the importance of weight training. I think most people lean toward the 1-2 program (half as much weight training as cardio). Most of you make sure to get your cardio done and then if you have time left over you may do your weight training. You really need to flip that around. Remember that weight lifting burns calories, makes you stronger, increases metabolism, and makes your heart stronger. Weight lifting does everything that cardiovascular exercise does and so much more!
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
The Most Effective Way To Do Cardio, Take Two
I just read an article regarding the best method for doing cardiovascular training ( I sent it via email to many people, if I missed you let me know and I will send it to you). The article basically confirmed that the most effective way to do cardiovascular exercise is by using interval training. Please see my previous post for more on interval training.
I want to again recomend that your aerobic exercise incorporates interval training, and I want to go a step further by recomending that you train aerobically at high intesities. If you have a heart rate monitor stop using it to stay in your "target zone". Use your monitor, or if you don't have a monitor use your breathing, to make sure you are doing intense cardio. Breath hard and sweat!
By using intervals and higher intensity you will burn more calories during exercise, burn more calories following exercise, strengthen your heart more, and burn more calories the next time you exercise (since you have made your heart stronger you can work harder and burn more calories). Basiclly you will become a calorie burning machine!
I want to again recomend that your aerobic exercise incorporates interval training, and I want to go a step further by recomending that you train aerobically at high intesities. If you have a heart rate monitor stop using it to stay in your "target zone". Use your monitor, or if you don't have a monitor use your breathing, to make sure you are doing intense cardio. Breath hard and sweat!
By using intervals and higher intensity you will burn more calories during exercise, burn more calories following exercise, strengthen your heart more, and burn more calories the next time you exercise (since you have made your heart stronger you can work harder and burn more calories). Basiclly you will become a calorie burning machine!
Thursday, September 10, 2009
The Most Effective Way To Do Cardio
People often ask me how they can be most effective with their cardiovascular training. Should they do intervals, steady state, treadmill, bike, 30 minutes, or 45 minutes, etc.. Well if you know me just a little bit you'll probably know my answer. It depends. It depends on your goals, your current condition, your favorite type of exercise, and how much time you have. That being said, the following may help you to get started, or it may help to provide some variety to your current routine.
The best place to start whenever your designing a cardiovascular routine is by using the F.I.T.T. principle.
F- Frequency (how often you're going to do cardio, i.e. 4 times per week)
I- Intensity (the intensity with which you'll do your cardio, i.e. level 6 on the bike or by using heart rate)
T- Time (the length of time you'll spend doing cardio, i.e. 20 minutes)
T- Type (what type of cardio you're going to do, i.e. running)
The goal for most of my clients when doing their cardio is to burn fat and strengthen their heart. To keep it as simple as possible, if you are trying to burn fat you want to get in a "fat burning" state and burn as much fat as you can. And if you are trying to increase the strength of your heart you want to push the heart above it's usual limits. So if your trying to do both, burn fat, and strengthen your heart, interval training is the way to go.
With interval training you can reach a "fat burning" state (generally about 75% of your maximum heart rate), and then for short "intervals" go into a heart strengthening phase (generally about 90% of your maximum heart rate). By spending most of your workout at 75% and for short periods going to 90% you will receive the benefits of burning fat and strengthening the heart. A good place to start would be to do 4 minutes at 75% max heart rate followed by 30 seconds at 90% max heart rate. Repeat that interval for 25 minutes.
I am a huge believer in varitety. Use the F.I.T.T. principles to create variety. Change the Frequency of your workouts. Change the Intensity of your workouts. Change how much Time you spend. Change the Type of exercise you are doing. You can make changes every workout, weekly, monthly, whenever. Variety is key.
Remember there are a lot of factors that determine the "best" way to do cardio. Interval training is fantastic, but it may, or may not be the best way for you.
The best place to start whenever your designing a cardiovascular routine is by using the F.I.T.T. principle.
F- Frequency (how often you're going to do cardio, i.e. 4 times per week)
I- Intensity (the intensity with which you'll do your cardio, i.e. level 6 on the bike or by using heart rate)
T- Time (the length of time you'll spend doing cardio, i.e. 20 minutes)
T- Type (what type of cardio you're going to do, i.e. running)
The goal for most of my clients when doing their cardio is to burn fat and strengthen their heart. To keep it as simple as possible, if you are trying to burn fat you want to get in a "fat burning" state and burn as much fat as you can. And if you are trying to increase the strength of your heart you want to push the heart above it's usual limits. So if your trying to do both, burn fat, and strengthen your heart, interval training is the way to go.
With interval training you can reach a "fat burning" state (generally about 75% of your maximum heart rate), and then for short "intervals" go into a heart strengthening phase (generally about 90% of your maximum heart rate). By spending most of your workout at 75% and for short periods going to 90% you will receive the benefits of burning fat and strengthening the heart. A good place to start would be to do 4 minutes at 75% max heart rate followed by 30 seconds at 90% max heart rate. Repeat that interval for 25 minutes.
I am a huge believer in varitety. Use the F.I.T.T. principles to create variety. Change the Frequency of your workouts. Change the Intensity of your workouts. Change how much Time you spend. Change the Type of exercise you are doing. You can make changes every workout, weekly, monthly, whenever. Variety is key.
Remember there are a lot of factors that determine the "best" way to do cardio. Interval training is fantastic, but it may, or may not be the best way for you.
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