Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Ellipticals, Treadmills and Bears.... Oh My!

Ever belong to a gym for a few years and notice that the people on the treadmills and ellipticals basically look exactly the same month after month and year after year? I've been there. Hell, I was one of them! When P90X arrived in the mail, my view on cardio changed forever and I've never looked back.

Plyometrics is the second DVD in P90X and certainly the disc that changed everything for me. No more would I ever go for 45 minutes of steady pace on that elliptical or treadmill and have ankle/knee pain due to the repetitive motion of the machine. Never again!

Plyo is 30 seconds of a cardio move, then a new move. 30 seconds, then a new one. Think you get bored of cardio? Think again, when the moves change every 30 seconds. What I love most about Plyo is the scalability of it though. After more than 2 years of doing this workout, I could be right beside someone who hasn't worked out in 2 years and get an equal workout.

How? I can jump higher, while they step instead of jump. I can go double speed and get my knees up to my waist, while their feet barely leave the ground. It is the PERFECT WORKOUT! (Take THAT silly Perfect Push-Up toy)

However, sometimes life throws a big ass elliptical in your path. For me, it's if I'm on tour and one of the guys just wants to do the elliptical in the hotel gym instead of a Beachbody dvd (I ALWAYS have my laptop and dvd's on tour!) So, look, I'm no party-pooper - I'll go along with it, but I won't go quietly into this night.

There is no rule on the treadmill that says you have to just shuffle along at 5.5 mph for 45 minutes and quit. Instead change it up. Variety is the Spice of Fitness! Try this routine next time you're on the treadmill.

5 min warm-up - nice and easy
Stretch!
1 min run
1 min run high knees
1 min sideways run
1 min other side
30 sec all out max speed
90 sec walk backwards
1 min highest incline hands straight up in the air
1 min arms out to side
30 sec all out max speed
90 sec walk backwards
1 min high knees
1 min walk highest incline
1 min sideways
1 min other side
1 min max speed run
- cooldown

That's a 20 min workout that will bust your ass harder than just going the normal relaxed pace for the same time. Repeat it if you want, but I would then switch to another machine and do a similar thing. Elliptical/Stairmaster/Swimming/Bike - whatever, just keep changing it up every minute. That is the absolute key to keeping cardio working not only physically, but also mentally. If you get bored, you will eventually quit. Change things before you hit that point, it's crucial.

The workout we did at fit club tonight has 20 different moves, 30 seconds each, then repeated. I defy you to get bored on this workout! By the time your brain starts thinking about anything other than the new move you're doing, the next move already started.

The thing I love about it is every single move targets your core. We did Ab Ripper X from P90X after the workout and it was BRUTAL because we already just worked our abs DURING CARDIO!!!! How freaking sweet is that!?!?!?

The DVD we did tonight is called Tony Horton One on One Core Cardio Intervals from Season 2 of the One on One series and it is available by clicking the banner below.

Monday, July 26, 2010

Weekly Check-In 2010-07-26

Happy Monday folks!

It's that time again already - a week has gone by and some really exciting stuff has happened. First, I want to welcome all the new folks to the team - for those of you who have been here for a while, I wanted to mention the redesign of the website. I'm trying to make it a bit more friendly for everyone to check in, bounce ideas around and in general stay motivated!

Last week was a dreaded recovery week for me and I can't even explain how happy I am that it's over! I like the yoga and easier cardio, but I LOVE to lift hard and get my extreme cardio sweat going more! I'm sitting here at my desk enjoying some Shakeology and 12 ounces of lean steak for my 4th meal of the day (I've given up on the terms breakfast, lunch and dinner, since I typically eat 5-8 meals a day now!) and thinking about what to talk about.

This week, I've gotten more questions about nutrition than I have in a really long time, so it's time to really dive into the nuts and bolts. As a bunch of you know, I've been eating in a Primal Blueprint lifestyle for the past 3 months, but as that's still fairly new to me, I'm going to really talk about the Beachbody P90X nutrition plan.

I've never been a huge fan of the nutrition book. I know many of my clients who totally love it, and it works for them. I think all the food in there is great, but the reality is of my life, I live alone and cook some really basic stuff. I don't mind an ingredient list that is often only 2 items long. A very typical day for me on the P90X plan would be something like this.... (I'm copying this from my account from a random day in MyFitnessPal.com)

9am: Egg White Omelet with 1 slice of cheese + fruit cup

11am: Protein Bar

2pm: McDonald's Grilled Chicken Patty (3)

5pm: 2 Grilled Chicken Breast, Broccoli and 2 Slices of Cheese (BBQ sauce)

8pm: Protein Shake

10pm: Apple (2), Chicken Soup

My total calories were 1954, 247g Protein / 144g Carbs / 32g Fat

Honestly, I eat so much better now - that was about a year ago, just for an example. I have all my clients use MyFitnessPal.com to log in every bite of food they put in their bodies. If not forever, at least for a while to get used to it. It is crucial to know what food “costs” before you eat it.

It seems the emphasis today is almost all on calories in vs. calories out. I've read a hundred times, that if the calories in are less than the calories out, you will lose weight. Well. Sort of. Losing weight just isn't enough for most of us. We want to fundamentally change our body composition. That is the key - and that's why P90X and Beachbody work, where every other DVD workout system fails. The nutritional support behind this comes from calories yes, but even more from the actual macro-nutrient break down of your food.

Let me explain. The macro-nutrients are Protein, Carbs, and Fat. These are the things that we hear about so often, but many people don't really know what is what. Here's a simple break down.

Protein:
Beef, Egg Whites, Chicken, Turkey, Whey Protein Shakes, Cheese

Carbs:
Veggies, Fruit, Bread, Pasta, Processed Crap

Fat:
Oils, Nuts, Sweets, Processed Crap

The P90X guide (which works for all the programs - but it's the one I use with my clients) calls for a 3 phase nutrition plan, to go along with the 3 phase workout calendar.

Phase One:
50% Protein / 30% Carbs / 20% Fat

Phase Two:
40% Protein / 40% Carbs / 20% Fat

Phase Three
20% Protein / 60% Carbs / 20% Fat

Personally, I did Phase 1 for a month, then was so happy with my results, I moved to phase two and just stayed there for about a year. The reality is, in western culture we don't eat enough protein. If you haven't tried it yet, getting 50% of your diet from protein is very difficult at first, it takes serious practice!

No one ever has issues getting enough carbs and fat, as they are so easy to add to any meal, but the protein.... well, here's a list of stuff I eat.

Pork Chops
Steak
Egg Whites (often with 1 or 2 whole eggs)
Turkey Breast
Chicken Breast (by the dozen. Seriously)
Lunch Meat (just watch sodium)
Whey Protein Shakes - this is key at first, while you learn real food to eat!
Fish
Turkey Sausage/Bacon - both lower in fat than beef
Cottage Cheese
Tofu
Tuna
Shakeology (even protein to carb ratio)

Should be enough to keep you busy for a while. In MyFitnessPal.com you can easily change the settings to your desired macro-nutrient levels. My Home → Goals → Change Goals → Custom → 40% Protein 40% Carbs 20% Fat for example.

For help on your desired number of calories, the easiest thing is to just email me with your stats:

Age/Sex/Height/Weight/Activity Level - not including exercise

I'll plug those numbers in to Team Beachbody and get right back to you. For Club Team Beachbody members, you can do this yourself in the Nutrition tab and it will give you meal selections for 5 meals a day (including 2 snacks) and recipes for all of them. Also, you can set up all your meals for the week, then simply click the new Grocery List tab and it will generate all the groceries you'll need for the week's meals.

Remember, the paid Team Beachbody Members get a 10% discount on all Beachbody products as well.

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Changing the Plan

One of my coachies just sent me a text asking, "Is it OK to do swimming laps instead of Kenpo X for cardio today?"

YES!

Fitness is such a life-long pursuit, we can not possibly stick to the exact schedule of P90X for the rest of our lives.  It's good and very important to have a plan!  You have to have both short term goals and long term goals for your own fitness, but at the same time, be able to modify to keep things fun and alive. 

Today, for example, my workout scheduled is Insanity: Cardio Recovery.  It's a great, low impact workout to round out my recovery week.  However, life popped up!  I learned of a fit club happening close to me that is doing P90X Interval X today.  It's a chance to go workout with a bunch of new Pittsburgh based coaches and meet and learn from them.  Of course, Insanity will have to wait - I'm going to fit club!

Now, I'm going to be straight with you.  If this is your first round of P90X or Chalean Extreme for example, please stick to the schedule as best you can.  They have done a ton of research to find out the best way to put the 60 or 90 day program together.  But after your first 90 days, you have to mix it up.  Tony Horton has said more times than I can count, "Variety is the spice of Fitness."  I can't agree more, of course it is!  Mix it up and find new and challenging ways to work your body.

If you do the same exact things every single day, you will plateau.  It's just a fact.  That's the way muscle memory works.

I do try to stick to the lifting weights every other day idea, and the yoga once a week idea, but if a friend calls and wants to workout, I will change things around to have someone with me. 

Invite your friends and family to workout with you.  They'll most likely say no at first, that's fine - expect it, then invite them AGAIN!  It's like a castle wall that you have to beat down - not just for them, but also for you.  Just this week alone, I only worked out once by myself.  A year ago, I did 7 solo workouts a week.  (Maybe more in fact if I was doing double workouts!)  Times have changed! 

How did this happen?  It wasn't over night - that's for sure!  I started putting myself out there.  Many of us don't like to tell people when we first start working out or "dieting" (I truly hate that word - more on this another day).  Why is this?  Why would we keep something so healthy and good for us a closely guarded secret?

Because we are PREDICTING FAILURE.

Think about that for just a second.  When we first start a new healthy lifestyle, we are assuming it will fail, and that the old us will come back.  I know this first hand.  When I first started P90X, I only told about 2 people, and even went further to tell them not to mention it to anyone.  This way, when I eventually failed, only a few people would be there to rub it in my face.

This isn't even rational.  Who would rub failure in your face?  Not a friend, certainly - yet - the fear of this, kept me huddled down in my dark basement (which has since turned into a really nice home gym!) for months.  Only when people started noticing serious results (around day 60) did I start telling people what I did.

Life would have been so much easier had I burst out of the box telling everyone I know that I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired and I was putting my foot down!  Who wants to join me?  A few years after that point, I continue to use Beachbody products to get in better and better shape, and now, I'm not secretly knocking out my workouts at midnight, I proudly dragging my friends and family along.

WHO WANTS TO JOIN ME???

Thursday, July 22, 2010

6 Essentials for Your Home Gym REWRITE!

When I came across this article, I thought - FINALLY, someone else gets it!  You don't have to leave your house to get in shape!  They had me at the intro.... but then I read more.  OUCH.

No.  No.  No.  - You do not need most of this stuff.  It's simple - it's just not necessary at all.  I'll show you what I mean.

6 Essentials for Your Home Gym

Resistance Bands

Joining a gym is a great way to get in shape, but it's not the only way. You can get an effective workout without ever leaving the house. Here's what you need and how to set up a gym at home.

Bands or "tubes" are great because they are compact, portable, and allow for a wide range of motion. Resistance bands come in 3-5 different levels of resistance and usually run around $15 for a set.

OK, I'm fine here, I love using resistance band.  Seriously - I really love them, I love free weights more, but sometimes even in serious lifting sessions with Tony Horton, I end up using the bands just to change it up.  There is a set of bands that I just fell in love with made my Gold's Gym - it has 3 bands on one handle, so you can only step on 1, 2 or all 3 of them to get the right resistance.  Nice work so far.

Dumbbells (Free weights)

A good set of dumbbells will help you start a strength training routine. Expect to pay $10-$20 for a pair of 5-pound weights. Prices will increase as the weight goes up.

I do love the dumbbells, but the price amount of weight is sort of wishful thinking here.  Yes a set of 5 pounders should cost you about $10, but that's just simply not going to be enough for a lot of exercises for even the most newbie female worker-outer :)  For many exercises, you could easily expect to need 10, 15, 20 or even 25's just when starting out.  This is why I love the resistance bands so much - they work when you just need more weight.

Stability Ball

An exercise ball goes by many names (stability, Swiss, physio, etc.) and is extremely versatile. You can use them in place of an exercise bench for many exercises, improving your balance and coordination. The balls come in different sizes (based on your height and weight), and a rainbow of colors, and cost around $25 apiece.

Well... ok, yeah, I do love my stability ball.  If you don't have an exercise bench, you can use it, and it's great for many different kinds of plank type moves.  Certainly not needed, but they're usually pretty affordable.  Mine has a very small leak or something - because I have to blow it up every single time I use it.  hmmm.... time to shop at my beachbody store.

Exercise Mat

Place a good exercise mat on the floor to stretch comfortably and cushion your body during floor exercises—a must if you do a lot of Pilates or yoga. For about $20 you can get a sticky mat (for Pilates and yoga), which is thin—but better than a hard floor. The price goes up for larger and thicker mats.

OK, again - I agree :)  Pretty good article here so far right?  Mostly cheap and affordable stuff that is used in a lot of different ways.  I have a love/hate relationship with yoga, it's so so so good for me, but sometimes I'd just rather be lifting some iron.  Still, Yoga is the Fountain of Youth (thanks Tony Horton!) and you gotta do it.  Every Thursday of my life, I'm on the yoga mat..

Jump Rope

Use a $15 jump rope for a quick and effective cardio workout. Slowly jumping rope burns 120 calories every 10 minutes; jump faster and burn 140 calories in 10 minutes. Opt for a thick cloth rope or a plastic beaded rope; thinner plastic ropes tend to twist easier.

Jumping rope seems like a great idea right?  Two things that haven't occured to you since you were 8 years old.  Jumping rope is AMAZINGLY HARD!  I whip the hell out of my back every single time I try to get my rope jumping skills together.  I'm not saying I won't eventually get it together - but, it's going to take a while.  Also, jumping rope takes a good deal of space, and high ceilings too.  I actually can't jump rope in my basement gym because the ceilings are too low.... and I'm horrible at it.

Cardio Machines

Once you have the basics, consider investing in a piece of cardio equipment. Make sure your machine has different resistance levels to allow for workout variety and challenge as you progress. Costs vary, from $400 for a basic stationary bike to over $600 for a good treadmill.

Here's where they lost me.  I can't even express how much you don't need a huge machine taking up room, unless of course you need something to hang your clothes on.

Our bodies weigh enough for amazing cardio with just a little bit of open floor space.  Honestly, I never use machines for cardio.  Just simple cardio moves found in Insanity, P90X or One on One with Tony Horton.  It's just simply a waste of money.  If you want to run - just go outside and RUN!  The ground is like one huge ass treadmill.  And best of all, you don't have to look at a wall the whole time.

Shakeology: Nutrition Simplified

Monday, July 19, 2010

Tony Speaks the Truth!

Weight Loss Mistakes Article Review and Comments

This is going to be day one of my fitness article review and comments.  I read so many different articles on the net about differing views on health/fitness/nutrition/lifestyle etc.  Again - my qualifications to comment on this are my personal training certification, my experiences as a Beachbody coach, but more than anything, my experiences as a former fat guy, turned fit machine.  I'm not a doctor.

This article can be found at http://www.allfitnews.com/diet-tips/avoid-these-five-common-weight-loss-mistakes/?utm_source=FitnessTips&utm_medium=twitter

Avoid these five common weight loss mistakes

Mistake #1: Not changing your calorie plan as you lose weight. The fallacy of the “1200 calorie diet” plans and the like.

Most people fix their calorie intake to a given number and expect to lose weight at the same constant rate over a period of weeks. hence, dieters look for 1000 calorie or 1800 calorie diet plans on the internet. The fixed calorie diet plans don’t work. if you burn 3000 calories a day at the start of a diet, after a week or two of losing some weight, you are no longer burning 3000 calories. Now you might be burning 2800 calories. if you fix your calorie intake in the face of a decreasing calorie expenditure, your weight loss will slow down more and more as you lose weight.  If you want to lose weight at a constant rate, you must repeatedly:
decrease your calorie intake to accommodate the calorie expenditure dropincrease your calorie output by exercising more do both.

I would like to note that you must set realistic slow weight loss goals. if you go for fast weight loss you would not be able to sustain it for a long period unless you go extreme in the calorie reduction and exercise a lot. For people who have to lose more than 20 pounds (10kgs), the goal should be a loss of no more than 2 pounds or 1 kg per week. People who need to lose just a bit of weight should go for weight loss of 1 pound or half a kilogram per week.

Why does my calorie expenditure drop as I lose weight? The most important factors are:you weight less. A smaller body burns less calories both at rest and while activeYou may involuntarily burn fewer calories. Dieters often lack energy and move lessCalorie restriction suppresses the metabolic rateYou have less body fat, which may further suppress your metabolic rate

These major factors contribute to an ever-decreasing energy expenditure as one loses weight. The more a dieter cuts calories, the bigger the calorie expenditure drop. The leaner the dieter, the greater the calorie expenditure drop.

Now you must understand that if you want to succeed in losing weight, you have to make changes in your nutrition plan. I recommend burning more calories, because being more active facilitates smaller calorie restriction and milder calorie expenditure drop.

It is very difficult to estimate the rate of the metabolic drop. Here is the general rule: the bigger you are, the smaller the rate of the metabolic drop. The more weight you lose, the more you have to cut calories or increase exercise. if you are overweight you might need to cut just 10 more calories for every lost pound, while if you are lean you might have to cut 60 calories for every pound lost. I picked these numbers just as an example. 

 While this is certainly sound and good advice, it could easily be taken to a terrible extreme.  Far too many "dieters" (love that term) don't count anything but calories.  It sedems that the vast majority of diets are extremely carb heavy and result in dropping muscle as well as fat.


If you're working out, lifting weights, not just chronic cardio, then you will be adding muscle, which consumes more energy daily than fat does, thus the numbers can skew a bit off to one side.  While of course, maintaing the same flat calories doesn't work while shedding 100 pounds of excess fat, the ratio changes.


Log your food people!

Mistake #2: Overreporting the “extra” calorie expenditure of exercise
Most people count the calories they spend exercising as “extra” calories. There is a difference between calories burned while exercising and “extra” calories burned exercising. Here is an example: you burn 300 calories on the treadmill instead of your usual activity (watching TV at home); in reality, you have to subtract the calories you would have spent watching TV from these 300 calories to calculate how many additional calories you burned. Let’s say that watching TV, you would have burned 80 calories. In this specific case, you have expended 300 calories while exercising, and 220 “extra” calories.
Calorie counters mindlessly add the calories burned exercising as “extra” and in some cases, this practice can significantly influence the calorie calculations. hence, calorie software counts the part of your usual activities that overlaps with the extra activities twice.

Love this part!  I am always telling my clients, coaches, customers and friends about this one.  Most calorie counters are so far off it's ridicules. They add in the calories that you would be burning sitting on the couch and people thus over eat to compensate. GRRRRR!!!! If you're in a weight loss mode - always err on the side of underestimating your calories burned.  Never trust the numbers on an elliptical machine - it has no idea what kind of cardiovascular shape you're in, what your perceived level of exertion is, and honestly, they rarely have a good idea of what your heart rate is.

How to estimate the “extra” calories burned exercising?
In order to make the calculations more accurate, I shall first introduce the concept of MET values. MET values are a convenient way to calculate the calorie cost of activities. MET values are multiples of the resting energy expenditure per time. In plain English, a MET = 3 means burning 3 times more calories than resting. A MET = 1 signifies how many calories you burn at rest (your Resting Metabolic Rate or Basal Metabolic Rate). whatever you do, you burn calories at a rate of at least MET = 1 with the only exception being sleeping which has MET = 0.9. During the day, most activities include sitting and walking which have MET values between 1.2 and 3. Your total daily energy expenditure is calculated by multiplying your Resting Metabolic Rate by the average MET of all your activities. is your head spinning?

This is complicated but hang in there...

Let’s use a real world example. Consider a female person with a Resting Metabolic Rate of 1200 calories a day. one day has 1440 minutes. our example lady is burning 1200/1440 = 0.84 calories per minute at rest, which signifies a MET = 1. Let’s say our example woman just returned from an aerobics class, where she exercised for 30 minutes. General aerobic class training has a MET = 6. our example lady has just burned 30 (minutes) x 6 (MET) * 0.84 (calories per minute) = 151 calories while exercising. Suppose our lady would have chatted on the internet instead of exercising (MET = 1.5). In this example, the woman substituted chatting on the internet with aerobic exercising. Remember, that every time you do something you substitute one activity for another. In order to get the extra calories, we have to subtract 1.5 (chatting) from 6 (exercising). Now let’s calculate the extra calories: 30 (minutes) * (6 – 1.5) (MET value) * 0.84 = 113 calories.

Let’s consider what a standard calorie counter would have done. First, it will assume an average calorie burn rate of 1 calorie per minute. then the counter will find that exercising for 30 minutes will yield 30 (minutes) * 6 (MET) * 1 (calories per minute) = 180 calories. The calorie counter will add these 180 calories to your daily expenditure without considering that a part of these 180 calories is already accounted by your usual activities.
Do you now see the difference between 113 calories and 180 calories? if that woman spends 5 hours a week in that aerobics class, the standard calorie counters will overreport her calorie output by: (180-113) * 10 = 670 calories a week. The woman will be fooled that her metabolic rate has dropped while she just overestimated her calorie expenditure. Enter weight loss plateau, wasted time and efforts. do you have the time for trial and error calorie estimations?

Remember these two rules:
Report only extra activities to your calorie counter. if your walk to your office every day, do not log “walking to office for 30 minutes” as an extra activity. Consider only unusual activities that contribute to extra expended calories! Always subtract the calories you would have burned instead of exercising. A general rule is to subtract from 1.2 to 1.5 from the MET values. In some cases, you need to subtract a greater MET. if you substitute 30 minutes of bodybuilding (MET = 6) for 30 minutes of slow jump rope (MET = then the additional MET would be 8 – 6 = 2.
How to find the MET values of activities based on standard tables?
In order to make the above calculations, you need to know the MET values of activities. Standard tables give: name of activity, duration and calories. Standard tables assume an average calorie expenditure of one calorie per minute. To find the MET you just need to divide the calories by the duration.
Example: “Bicycling, stationary, general”, “20 minutes”, “140 calories”MET of “Bicycling, stationary, general” = 140 / 20 = 7
I know these calculations are somewhat tedious and in many cases the standard calorie calculations are close to correct. However, in some cases they can significantly over or under-calculate the calorie expenditure of activities and compromise your weight loss plan with daily miscalculations.

SHHEEEEEEEEEEESH!!!  I know! I know! That's a mouthful.  But seriously - so many people over estimate exercise calories burned it's amazing.  My simple rule of thumb for exercising is 2/3 of the number that a machine tells me I burned.  It's not super accurate, but I would always rather underestimate than over.  If I'm working really hard, I think about 100 calories per 10 minutes of work.  We're not talking jogging here, we're talking HIIT Intervals or Insanity workouts.

Mistake #3: Training with light weights and lots of reps
I have seen countless number of ladies come to the gym, get the lightest possible dumbbells, crank out some hundreds of reps and go home. Most often, these women do not get the results they want. The problem with this type of training is that it does not burn many “extra” calories unless you spend a considerable amount of time in the gym. Hefting Ken and Barbie weights in the gym has a MET value of 3, which means that it burns 3 times more calories than resting in bed. Almost anything you do during the day has a MET value of 1.2 to 2. Browsing the internet on your computer has a MET value of 1.5. Realize that almost anything you do during the day (average MET = 1.5) has about 50% overlap in calorie expenditure with training with very light weights (MET = 3). if you pump super light dumbbells in the gym, only about half of the calories burned are “additional”.

 WOW!  YES!  (I'm starting to really love this guy!) Women lift too light.  Yes, ladies, not all women, I know - but after working with many female clients, I see over and over them pick up an 8 pound dumbbell for bicep curls and do 30-40 reps, then stop basically when bored, not because they're wasted.


Ladies!  Listen!  It takes a long long long long long time of perfect diet and lifting heavy to "bulk up!"  Put down the 8 pound dumbbell and pick something heavier up.  It won't kill you - you won't turn in to Arnold - you won't start bench press your weakling husband.


While I was just typing this, a tweet came up with a link to "bulking up your penis, gentlemen...." sigh...


Tony Horton says, "Too many people stop long before they should."  All of my clients have done this.  My proof?


Each time I have a client do max reps push-ups - I tell them, "I want you to go to failure, go until you can not get back up."  More often than not, the client will drop and do a set of 8-10 push-ups then get up, saying that's all the can do.  EVERY SINGLE TIME, I have them get back down and do 5 more.


You know what?  EVERY SINGLE TIME, they can.  Pick up the heavy weights, do a few more reps, don't stop until you can't go any more!  (for real)

Of course, you can burn a considerable amount of extra calories training with light weights but you have to really extend the duration of this type of training. Curling 5 pound dumbbells for 4 sets of 20 reps and chit-chatting for 20 minutes in the gym is not going to burn many extra calories.
Remember the rule: the less intensive the activity (smaller MET), the greater the calorie expenditure overlap with casual activities; the less intensive the activity, the more time you have to spend doing it to expend a good deal of extra calories. Always subtract a MET of 1 to 1.5 to arrive at the additional expended calories.

Mistake #4: using “average person” calorie estimations
You can find all kinds of tables showing the calorie cost of different physical activities on the internet. These tables don’t show your calorie expenditure. they actually tell you the calorie expenditure of an “average person”. These tables assume you are an average person that burns one calorie per minute at rest. Yes, we covered this in the first part of the article and it needs repeating. Most men burn more than one calorie per minute and most smaller women burn less than one calorie per minute at rest. In reality, these standard tables overestimate the calorie expenditure of smaller people and underestimate the calorie expenditure of bigger than average people. Combine this with the common mistake of counting all burned calories as “additional calories” and you have a wide range of possible miscalculations.

Very short here...  UNDERESTIMATE - don't overestimate peeps.  You'll be a lot happier.

Mistake #5: Going on very low calorie diets (VLCD)
Research has shown little to no difference in the weight loss rate of 1200 calorie diets and 800 calorie diets. The 1200 calorie threshold is the point where further calorie restriction does not yield faster results. Diets in the range of 800 to 1200 calories a day suppress the resting metabolic rate from the very first day and after some weeks on these diets, the metabolic rate has dropped by up to 20%. this metabolic drop is just a consequence of the calorie restriction factor; other factors such as the level of leanness may further depress the calorie expenditure.
A big percentage of the quick initial weight loss on a VLCD is water. VLCDs create an illusion of fast fat loss, while in reality most of the weight loss is water. it is hard to continue a very low calorie diet for a prolonged time because the harsh calorie restriction makes you hungrier than ever. People on VLCDs often lack energy and move very little. When you stop the diet, you are prone to instant overeating. Eating a very low calorie diet is the ticket to yo-yo dieting.
Instead of using very low calorie diets, I recommend diets with a mild calorie restriction and an emphasis on exercise. Overweight people who know what they are doing can employ VLCDs for a limited time. it is important to get enough vitamins and minerals from supplements, because such low calorie diets are woefully inadequate in nutrients. Water intake should be high.
Bodybuilders, powerlifters and athletes must stay away from very low calorie diets because the large calorie restriction causes a greater proportion of the weight loss to be muscle loss.

Without getting deeply into it, this is what the folks at Beachbody call starvation mode.  There is a lot out there, and so many people (women in particular) seem to eat under 1k calories far too often as a short cut to losing weight.  It doesn't work, it hurts you in the long run.  Yo-Yo dieting is built on this idea.  Eat your food - keep it clean and track your nutrition.  This article talks so much about just calories without getting into the more important macro-nutrients, however, big picture, I love it.

The biggest problem I see in overweight people is the last mistake, too low calories.  It leads to binges and muscle loss - which in turn leads to lower metabolism so when you binge, the weight comes on even faster.  I'm a notorious binger and will post a lot more about that in the future.

If you want to automate these complicated calorie calculations, try our training and nutrition software Fitness Assistant FREE for 30 days. Get your trial copy at Fitness Assistant – nutrition and weight loss software
Hristo Hristov is the owner of X3MSoftware, a company specializing in developing training and nutrition software. Hristo has a degree in Computer Science and passion for powerlifting. In his spare time, Hristo gives training and nutrition consultations.

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Primal Explaination :)

Too Funny!

Big Ass Primal Salad

As promised, I wanted to give a virtual tour through my 9 minute prep time for my huge primal fresh salad.  Here we go.

One small cherry tomato and a slice of onion.

7oz of Pork Chops - cut the fat off.


 
1 green bell pepper


1 small green apple - awesome taste surprise!


Cut the pork chops up and season to taste.


Sliced Almonds, get some healthy fat in there!


1/4 cup, 120 calories should be great


1/4 cup cheese over the whole thing, melting goodness.


Some Cucumbers - last to stay crunchy!


Avacado Oil - my secret fatty treat as the dressing.


Get some baby spinach ready for the hot stuff.


Little bit more seasoning over the veggies.


BOOM!  DONE!

Ready to eat - total prep time, 9 minutes.

772 calories
53 Protein
37 Carbs
50 Fat
10 Fiber

100% awesome

Life on the Road

My work leads to some pretty crazy hours. Sometimes I have to be up at 6am for a morning church gig, then sometimes my night club gig doesn't even start until 10pm. Sometimes I have a training session at 5:30am (leave my house by 4:30am) then train all day, and head to a gig that lasts until 1am. This is the life I choose and I'm happy with it.

However, that being said - it makes nutrition on the go, sometimes difficult. So many people complain that life is just too busy to eat right. I will prove otherwise if you give me a couple minutes of your time.

Excuse 1) My friends eat poorly.

Fine, let them. Just because they are ordering the 2 doughnut special with a side of fries doesn't mean you can't find something that you want that will make you feel better long past the initial satisfaction when it hits your tongue. You will feel so good about yourself when your friend finishes the doughnuts and adds 100g of pure fat to their waistline while you eat your healthy option.

Excuse 2) I have to keep bad food in the house for my wife/husband/kids/friends/whatever.

Really? You've chosen to make eating and living a healthy, happy lifestyle a part of your life, yet you're fine with feeding Doritos to your kids or mate? No way! Throw it out. They shouldn't eat it anymore than you should. They'll be pissed, but probably live longer for it.

Excuse 3) I'm too busy!

This drives me insane!  Eating healthy does NOT take more time than eating crappy!  In fact, most of my meals are cooked in less than 15 minutes.  INCLUDING clean up time!  I'll work on posting some super fast, nutritious ideas for people on the go in the future.

Road food tips!

1) McDonalds Grilled Chicken Patty.  Look - I'm not saying this is the best health food out there.  Sometimes, you are just forced to fast food.  The chicken patty (no bun - just chicken) comes out to 22g Protein/2g Carbs/2g Fat - 120 calories.  No, it's not pure chicken - there is a list of ingredients that I don't love, but I'll take it over a Big Mac and fries any day!

2) Sliced Ham (or other lunch meat) - it's easy to grab while running out the door and eat it when you need a snack.

3) Olive Oil - I keep a jar of Olive Oil in my car all the time.  If you're out and grab a salad (available almost anywhere) instead of use the horrible dressing that comes in packets, use a tablespoon of oil for some healthy fats.

4) Fruit.  An apple and banana will keep all day in the car.  Just keep a couple in the fridge for when you know you'll be busy all day for a quick healthy pick-me-up!

Look - it comes down to preparedness.  If you plan ahead, you won't get stuck out there with nothing to eat.  Next time you're in subway - go with a salad with double ham or turkey and your trusty olive oil dressing instead of a giant insulin producing bun with that $5 footlong.  You'll be happier and healthier and you can still sing the song!

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Training Schedule

After several rounds of p90x, Insanity, One on One, Men's Health Lifting and more, I decided that it was time for a change. I had been doing the traditional, 3 weeks of the same workouts, recovery week, then a new set of workouts for 3 weeks, but after 15 month long phases in a row - I needed a different schedule. That's when I came up with this.

No repeating workouts.

This is new for me, but every day for the next 12 weeks, I will do a different workout. Different muscles, different routines, different soreness! Yoga day will remain Thursday and my rest day will stay on Sunday - I've really come to enjoy my Sunday's off and want to keep that day open.

This uses mostly Beachbody products - anything from any of the amazing programs they have out.

Week 1
1 O:30-15+Abs
2 I:Steve's Choice
3 O:Mammoth U.M.L.
4 O:Patience Yoga
5 P:On One Leg for Legs+Abs
6 I:Core Cardio and Balance
Week 2
1 Core Ball Sandwich+Abs
2 I:Plyo Cardio Circuit
3 O:Just Arms+Abs
4 O:FoY
5 I:Max Interval Circuit
6 O:Core Cardio Intervals
Week 3
1 O:Road Warrior+Abs
2 I:Cardio Power and Resistance
3 I:Iso-Abs+Arms
4 O:Recovery 4 Results+Abs
5 I:Max Cardio Conditioning
6 O:Bun Shaper
Week 4
1 O:FoY
2 P:Core Synergistics
3 O:Patience Yoga
4 O:Medicine Ball Core Cardio
5 O:Recovery 4 Results
6 I:Cardio Recovery
Week 4=5
1 O:Plyo/Legs+Abs
2 I:Plyo Cardio Circuit
3 O:Diamond Delts+Abs
4 O:Patience Yoga
5 I:Max Cardio Conditioning
6 Upper Body Weights
Week 6
1 O:Upper Body Balance
2 I:Pure Cardio+Abs
3 O:Cardio 5-6 Plus
4 O:FoY+Abs
5 P:Shoulders and Arms
6 O:Bun Shaper
Week 7
1 P:Chest/Back+Abs
2 O:Mason's Choice
3 O:Just Arms+Abs
4 P:Yoga X
5 Upper Body Weights
6 I:Max Recovery
Week 8
1 O:FoY
2 P:Core Synergistics
3 O:Patience Yoga
4 O:Medicine Ball Core Cardio
5 O:Recovery 4 Results
6 I:Cardio Recovery
Week 9
1 P:Shoulders and Arms+Abs
2 I:Max Interval Plyo
3 O:Butt and Belly
4 I:Max Recovery
5 O:Just Arms+Abs
6 P:Plyo
Week 10
1 P:Upper Body Plus+Abs
2 I:Max Interval Circuit
3 O:Back and Belly+Abs
4 Rodney Yee: Yoga
5 O:Plyo/Legs
6 P:Interval Plus+Abs
Week 11
1 P:Back and Biceps+Abs
2 P:Kenpo Plus
3 P:Total Body Plus+Abs
4 P:Yoga X
5 O:On One Leg (Shoulders/Arms)
6 O:10 min Crusher Pack
Week 12
1 O:100/30/20
2 I:Max Cardio Conditioning
3 O:Upper Body Balance
4 O:FoY
5 O:On One Leg for Legs
6 P:Kenpo

Now - the only thing is, I've made a commitment to workout with a friend as often as I can. Thus, there will be times that I have to change a workout on the fly, due to maybe not having the equipment where I am, or if they worked a certain muscle on the day before. I've already made some changes, but as of today - 3 weeks done and no missed workouts.

I'll edit the changes as they come.

Work hard everyone!

S

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Dedication

Main Entry: ded·i·ca·tion
Pronunciation: \ˌde-di-ˈkā-shən\
Function: noun
Date: 14th century

1 : an act or rite of dedicating to a divine being or to a sacred use
2 : a devoting or setting aside for a particular purpose
3 : a name and often a message prefixed to a literary, musical, or artistic production in tribute to a person or cause
4 : self-sacrificing devotion
5 : a ceremony to mark the official completion or opening of something (as a building)


WOW.

I'm an avid Colin Cowherd (ESPN Radio) listener and he said something that literally rocked my entire view of life the other day. (for real) To paraphrase him, "Dedication is the most overlooked trait of a champion. Dedication is not sexy, it's not highlight material, it's not even talked about, but I would take Dedication over talent and effort any day of the week."

I have a big poster I bought years ago hanging in my gym. It shows a woman running down a tree-lined path in autumn. A sole runner, going at it when everyone else has fallen off. On the bottom of the poster, it says, Commitment. Makes sense right - Commitment is what it takes. Commit to being great! Commit to being excellent!

Main Entry: com·mit·ment
Pronunciation: \kə-ˈmit-mənt\
Function: noun
Date: 1603

1 a : an act of committing to a charge or trust: as (1) : a consignment to a penal or mental institution (2) : an act of referring a matter to a legislative committee b : mittimus
2 a : an agreement or pledge to do something in the future; especially : an engagement to assume a financial obligation at a future date b : something pledged c : the state or an instance of being obligated or emotionally impelled

I have "committed" so many things so many times in my life, I can't possibly count. It's so EASY to commit - you just decide that in the future (2a) you will follow through with your pledge. (2b) How many times have we committed to a New Years resolution - then sometime in February, caught ourselves chilling on the couch with a pepsi and bag of doritos (ummm.... yeah, that was me a few years back.)

Commitment doesn't mean ANYTHING without dedication.

Even Beachbody (my company who I deeply love and believe in) has the wrong idea for their slogan. "DECIDE, COMMIT, SUCCEED!" Well, sure. If you actually succeed - that's great. But, it seems to me that Deciding and Committing are often the same thing. Yes - to be sure, I understand the idea of committing is to actually follow through, but I also look around at the enormous amount of overfat people everywhere I look, and understand how well committing seems to work.

Let's look at the Webster definition of Dedication instead.

1 : an act or rite of dedicating to a divine being or to a sacred use

This is my favorite one right off the bat. Leaving out the implied God part of the definition, what could be more divine than our bodies. Our bodies are our first and possibly greatest gift, what more sacred use than working it to be the best it can. Don't fill your sacred divine being with ice cream, cookies, and soda - then let your divine belly rot on the couch! We HAVE to treat ourselves better than this!

2 : a devoting or setting aside for a particular purpose

Hell yes! What is your particular purpose? Wife? Father? Postman? Artist? Teacher? I'm a musician and trainer. If I'm not functioning well, my purpose will suffer. I used to have terrible back pain after gigs. For years, I thought it was due to being a trumpet player and how brutal the act of playing trumpet can be. Nope! It's because I was fat. I was out of shape and looking for excuses!

4 : self-sacrificing devotion

Self-Sacrificing. I thought a lot about this one. It doesn't seem to work really - I'm not self-sacrificing, I'm instead self-improving, self-empowering, self-perfecting. But then I thought about life in the past few days.

We were playing a 4th of July gig at a festival that had so much tasty food. Seriously, just the smell of it was driving me insane. A couple of the guys went and got some hotdogs and fries and I gotta be honest here, they looked amazing! However. I have decided and committed to getting my body (and mind and spirit) in the best shape I possibly can be. What stopped me from eating a funnel cake (which is what I really truly wanted anyway)? Was it my decision? NO! Was it my commitment? NO!

It was my dedication to keeping healthy that kept that off me.

I got home from my job at 10pm and hit the gym for my Thursday yoga. Was it my commitment that got me down there? NO! It was my dedication that walked down to my dark basement, instead of flipping on the tv and getting a ice tea. Tomorrow, when I get up early to workout before driving 3 hours one way, and 3 hours the other for a funeral, it will me my DEDICATION that will climb out of bed and press play, not my commitment.

Saturday, July 3, 2010

Get out of the box!

Time to move out of your comfort zone people! I had to drive up to Slippery Rock, to pick my puppy up at my folks who were so sweet to watch her while I was on tour and stopped for gas near this little state park I haven't been to in years. It was a beautiful day and I couldn't help notice the families there, just chillin, eating, drinking and having fun in the sun. On the way home, I pulled Sydney out of the air conditioned car, and we walked along the lake shore until we found a picnic table that is right on the water.

I had legs scheduled for the day and was planning on working out in my basement, like normal, but didn't want to leave the beautiful park, however, I didn't have my dvd player or worksheets.... so what to do?

Kicking off my shoes, tying the dog up under the picnic table, starting Pandora on my phone (beach boys of course!) I just started a warm-up, having no idea what moves were coming up.

1) Squat Reach Jump
2) 180 Jump Squats
3) Froggie Jumps
4) Superstar Lunges
5) One Leg Deadlifts (knee tucked)
6) Jump-Ups (on picnic table)
7) Debbie Seibers 80/20 Hops
8) Globe Jumps
9) Teeter-Toter
10) Duck and Cover
11) Alternating Side to Side Lunges
12) Bun-Shaper Lunges
13) 2 Leg Sit-Downs
14) Jump Knee Tucks
15) Pumpers
16) 1 Leg Sit-Downs
17) Sumo-Chair
18) Squat Jacks
19) Dead Lift Squats
20) Iso-Lunges

There you have it! Leg Destruction on the beach - nothing could be more fun! (I say this with amazing soreness in my legs and butt at the moment - one day later!)

The point is, we don't always have to be locked up in our living rooms/home gyms/basements - there is an amazing world out there to check out and use for our personal fitness centers. Get some sun and sweat it out.

ps. If you don't know what these moves are - check out Tony Horton's One on One series of DVD workouts - they are amazing, and most of these come from him.