Beginners Guide to the Gym- Aerobic Endurance

Having any form of aerobic endurance is a great place to start when it comes to getting fit. Being aerobically fit lets you run longer, harder, farther and gives you the oppurtunity to metabolically use fats better. You will be more likely to store them in your muscles instead of in your fat cells and it will help you have sustained energy longer. There are several ways that people increase their aerobic endurance and im going to cover them and give you tips to help you increase your aerobic endurance.

Increasing Aerobic Endurance

1. Long Slow Distance- This is exactly what it sounds like. Taking and longer amount of time to run a longer distance at a slower speed. This is a great place to start to build your aerobic endurance. Long slow distance allows you to take your time and go at an easier pace so you can go longer than you would at a higher pace. Now if you have a very low aerobic level you really need to start slow, even walking until you can build up to running would be your best bet if you need to. Use this to build a base level and even later on in training to help with recovering from high intensity training sessions.
2. Aerobic Intervals- Ive talked about intervals in previous articles but those were geared more towards anaerobic(without oxygen) intervals at a very high intensity. Aerobic intervals are the same concept except take are longer periods. You would run at a higher intensity for say 15 minutes then rest for 5 minutes. So the work to rest ratio with aerobic intervals is 3:1 whereas with anaerobic intervals its 1:3. When doing aerobic intervals you shoul shoot for around 3-4 intervals in the beginning and trying to build up from there.
3. Anaerobic Intervals- As strange as it might sound, anaerobic intervals can help increase your aerobic endurance just as good as aerobic intervals. Anaerobic intervals help increase lactate threshold which in turn allows your body to clear lactate from the muscle longer and at higher concentrations meaning you can run longer and harder than someone who has a lower threshold. Anaerobic intervals should start out easier with 15s hard work and at least 45s rest, probably longer when starting out though. Then build up to 20/40 and so on. Never let work be greater than rest though, the lowest your work to rest ratio should be is 1:1. Implement these and you'll be able to give your hardest for a longer time and give yourself a better time.
4. Fartlek- Fartlek is a swedish word that means "speed play". The concept is similar to intervals except there are no set times or distances. Simply start running and randomly begin sprinting/ running faster for a period of time and then ease up and run at a slower pace for however long you want. How far you want to go or how long is completely up to you. If your listening to music when running try jogging for a song then running at a faster pace for another song and keep switching. Youll always have different distances and times and help yourself increase your aerobic endurance.

The last few options are going to be a lot harder and more intense than simply going for a run and should be utilized once you have a solid aerobic base. Also, once you build up your base and begin to add in these other training methods you should vary them up and add resistance training into your training. Resistance training adds strength and stamina to your muscles to allow you to work harder and longer in your runs. Always allow days to rest and recover, these include complete off days, or easy paced long slow distance runs.

Summing It Up
There are many benefits to increasing your aerobic endurance. Fat loss, increased metabolic processing, and an ability to run longer and harder. There are also many ways to increase your aerobic endurance. Remember to always build a solid base of aerobic endurance before starting a high intensity aerobic endurance training program. Make sure to incorporate high intensity anaerobic work to increase lactate thershold increase lactate clearance. Dont forget the importance of rest, because if you dont take a break and let your body heal your going to hurt yourself more and gain less.

Goal Setting for Fitness

Many fitness goers out there set goals. Whether its to lose 20lbs, gain 20 lbs, lift a certain weight, or whatever the goal might be everyone has a goal they want to reach. The problem with setting one goal is that if you dont reach that goal as quickly as you want many people will quit or start to give up. Having one large goal to shoot for is great but without instant gratification or instantly achieving your goal many gym goers get frustrated and simply think that they cant do it or that its too much. There are many ways to achieve to your goal but first you need to set up a plan to help you attain what your shooting for.

Tips to help you reach your fitness goals

1. Make sure its reachable. Dont pick an arbitrary goal such as to lose 20 lbs in 4 weeks. That is outrageous and will put too much stress on your body in those 4 weeks that you could injure yourself. When setting goals give yourself enough time to reach them. When trying to lose weight you should try to not lose more than 2-3 lbs a week which is still high. So that 20 lbs should take you 10 weeks or more. Dont rush your goals because you want instant gratification, your body needs time to adapt to training and nutrition and just because you want it faster doesnt mean your body will adapt faster.
2. Set small goals to achieve every week or even every workout. Having one goal for the end of your training is great but if its a large goal it might seem impossible to overcome. If your overall training goal is to lose 20 lbs in 10 weeks, set up a weekly weight goal plan. Set up a target weight you want to be at at the end of each week and work each to drop to that weight. When you hit your smaller goals each week you will get the gratification you want and you will feel better about your working out and want to keep going. Smaller goals will help keep you motivated and help you keep plugging away at your large goal of 20lbs.
3. Don't get discouraged. If you miss a workout or skip a meal or eat something that you probably shouldnt have, dont get discouraged. Just keep going with the rest of your plan as usual. Many people these days will miss a workout and then think that they are never going to reach their goal because of one workout. So what if you miss one workout or one meal isnt that good for you. Its only one. Keep steady and just pick up and keep going with your goal as usual. One workout or meal isnt going to hurt you or ruin everything. Just keep going like normal with your next meal or your next workout.
4. Write it down and talk about it. When you write down your goals they seem more real. You can see it everyday and it can remind you of what your working towards. Writing down any goal you have can really help you keep focused and wanting to work towards it more. Also, talking about it to others. Keeping a friend or even a stranger informed about what your working towards can be a big wakeup call if your slacking behind. Plus the motivation you get from knowing someone else is interested in you achieving your goals will really help you keep going. Find a friend, a loved one, or even start writing about it online can give you the motivation you want and need to not give up and the reinforcement from others might give you just enough extra to push you past your goal and help you do better than you even imagined.

Summing It Up
Having a large goal that you are trying to reach is a great end point but it may be too far into the distance to give you the faith that you can accomplish it. Keep your goals, large or small, realistic to give you a real shot at achieving them. Set up smaller goals that will help you get to your larger goal. Everytime you achieve the smaller goals it will reinforce your want and drive to get to your larger goal and help to motivate you to get to where you wish to be. Dont give up just because you missed one meal or one workout. Keeping going with your small and large goals and understand that one meal or workout isnt the end of your fitness goals. Just keep going strong and know that its ok and you can still reach the goals you want. Talk about your goals. Whether writing them down or talking about them with a friend, being able to see it, hear it and get feedback from others about it can help you stay on task and keep working. Having someone else helping you get to where you want to be is a great motivator and will give you a better chance of getting the fitness you want.

Easy and Quick Ways to Workout at Home

For most working adults getting to the gym is hard. Between work, kids, spouse, hobbies, and everything else we jam into our days it might be hard to find time to drive to the gym, workout, and come home especially if your workouts take more than an hour. Lifes daily restrictions play a toll on our fitness goals so working out at home can become a necessity but without a home gym or basic equipment how can anyone workout at home? Or how can anyone get a good workout in at home in a timely manner? Im going to give you a few different workouts you can do from home with little to no equipment and in under 30 minutes.

Workout #1- At Home Tabata Workout- Time: 4 minutes, Equipment: Body weight or medicine ball
Tabata training is a relatively new style of training but is very similar to interval training. In this tabata workout your only going to do one exercise. The exercise is called a "thruster". To perform this you will either use your bodyweight or a medicine ball. For this examply we will use the medicine ball. Standing with your feet slightly outside hip width and toes pointed out, hold the medicine ball at your chest level. Squat down than explosively stand up while pressing the medicine ball over your head then repeat. Thats all there is to the exercise. Now your going to perform the exercise for 20 seconds then rest for 10 seconds, trying to get as many "thrusters" completed in those 20 seconds. you will repeat the 20/10 split for 8 sets or 4 total minutes(Each set is 30 seconds long). By the last few sets your going to be sore and hurting. Try to keep going but if you have to stop and rest than do so. Try to get at least 8 reps in each set.

Workout #2- Bodyweight Circuit- Time: 15 minutes, Equipment: Body weight
Circuit training has become a staple in many gyms and in many training routines. Its a great way to get your whole body worked in a short amount of time. With this workout you will perform all bodyweight exercises back to back until you have completed them all then you will get a short rest. Here is your workout:

1. Push ups
2. Burpee- From standing, bend down and put your hands on the ground, then jump and push your legs back so you are in a push up position, then jump your legs back up towards your chest than stand up again. Thats one burpee. (Variation: If this is too high impact than just squat down and touch the ground than stand back up)
3. Reverse Lunge- Like a normal lunge but instead of stepping forward, step backwards.
4. Chair dip- Using a chair, rest your palms on the edge of the chair seat with your back towards the chair, stretch your legs out away from your body. Bending at the elbows, lower your body until your upper arm is parallel to the ground or your butt hit the floor. Push your self back up. Then repeat.
5. Mountain Climber- From a push up position start with one knee bent, near the chest with the other leg still extended. Then explosively jump, switching your legs bringing the straight leg towards your chest and straightening your bent leg.
6. Plank- In a push up position lower onto your elbows and hold the position. Making sure to squeeze your abdominals together(it should feel like your trying to pull them through your belly button)
7. Side Plank(L)- Like a normal plank but rest on one elbowso one side of your body is close to the ground. Hold and squeeze like a normal plank.
8. Side Plank(R)- same as above.
9. REST!!!!

Perform each exercise for 15 seconds trying to get as many reps completed in the 15 seconds then switch to the next without rest. After all 8 exercises take a 1 minute rest. Performing 5 circuits will take 15 minutes.

Workout #3- Circuit Training- Time: 20-24 minutes, Equipment: Swiss ball, dumbells
This will be similar to the circuit training above in the methods of performing the workouts with 15 seconds on each exercise for the first 4, then resting for 1 minute, then perform the next 4 exercises in the same fashion with a minute rest after. This is one circuit, repeat for 5-6 circuits making the total time between 20 and 24 minutes. These exercises are performed with equipment that is affordable and wont take up much room in your house.

1. Swiss ball push ups- This can be done two ways with either your feet and shins resting on the ball, or your hands on the ball and your feet on the ground. Either way you choose, perform a normal push up.
2. Dumbbell Row- With weights in hand, slightly bend your knees and hips so your torso is at a 45 degree angle. Then let the weights hang in front of you, then pulling the weights to your chest making sure to squeeze your shoulder blades together, then slowly lower the weights.
3. Thruster- Standing upright with dumbbells at shoulder level, squat down, then explosively stand up pushing the dumbbells overhead.
4. DB RDL- RDL stands for Romanian Deadlift which is similar to a normal deadlift except you only lower the weight just past your knees. To perform the exercise, stand upright with the weights being held in front of you. Bend at the knees and hip and lower until the weights just get past the knees, then stand back up.
5. REST!!!!
6. Swiss ball Roll out- Kneel in front of the swiss ball with your elbows resting on it. Slowly roll the ball outward so your torso starts to lower and gets closer to the floor. Then contract your core and pull the ball back toward you. Thats one rep.
7. Swiss ball glute/ham raise- With your back on the ground, rest your legs on top of a swiss ball. Then lift your torso off the ground so you form a straight line with the back of your ankles/ calves on the ball and your shoulders still on the ground. Then try to curl the ball toward your butt. Roll the ball back out keeping your torso in the air. Thats one rep. Be careful on this and dont try to rush reps or you will fall off the ball and could hurt yourself.
8. Swiss ball DB Curl and Press- Sitting on a swiss ball with your arms at your sides and DB in your hands, curl the weights up and press them overhead. Next, slowly lower the weight to your sides and repeat.
9. Swiss ball plank- Similar to the swiss ball push up, you can rest either your legs or hands on the ball. Either way get into a push up position and hold this like a plank. Making sure to squeeze your abdominals tight.
10. REST!!! 

These are just a few of the ways to get a quick workout in at home either when you have some downtime or even in a rush. These intensity of the workouts gives you a cardio workout while the exercises you do helps develop your muscles. Either one of these workouts will help you in your fitness goals especially if you cant make it to the gym but still want a challenging workout. So turn on the tv and get in a workout!

Beginners Guide to the Gym- What to do- Part IV Strength Training

Strength training is a big goal for anyone playing sports, powerlifting, those who want better control in daily activites or just wanting to be more physically fit. However, there is a lot that goes into building strength than just lifting weights. Targeting the proper neural adaptations and proper muscle types are the keys to gaining strength. Of course to those who are new to working out building muscle and strength will be quick at first. Your first few weeks of gains will be mostly based on increases of neural connections to your muscles that allow more muscle to be recruited at once allowing you to lift heavier weights.

For those starting out using extra loads(weights other than body weight) should not be done until a solid base is built. Begin with body weight exercises such as push ups, body weight squats, lunges, assisted pull ups/ chin up, and a good core training base with planks and stability training( see How To Train Your Core). These exercises will help all your muscles begin their neural adaptations as well as strengthen your joints and stabilizer mucles so that when you begin adding external loads you will be able to handle the loads better.

Here are some tips and ways to help build strength to help you in sports, lifting, or in your general fitness needs.

Ways to Build Strength

1. Muscle strength is in direct relation with muscle size. The bigger the muscle, the stronger it can become. Always preceed your strength training routine with a muscle building routine. For 4-6 weeks do weight training with reps in the 8-12 range. This range promotes muscle growth and will allow your muscles to grow in size before your strength phase allowing you to gain more strength in the long run. For ideas about ways to build muscle read Beginners Guide to the Gym Part III Building Muscle. Ladies dont worry if you think your going to get big and bulky by building muscle and strength. You lack the testosterone production to get the type of growth that men get with weight training and in the long run you will get the healthy look you want so relax.
2. When you start your strength phase keep your weights in a 2-7 range starting at the higher end and working up to the 2 rep range. Make sure you have back off weeks to allow your body to repair it self. For example rep ranges for your weeks should look like 7,6,5,4,5,4,3,4,3,2. This makes your strength phase 10 weeks but gives you back off weeks so that you can recover and allows you to keep your gains coming instead of hitting a plateau.
3. Use multi-joint exercises. I keep saying this in every post but the use of multi-joint exercises allow you to use more muscle, release more anabolic enzymes and giving you a better chance of building more strength. Also, for athletes trying to gain strength it allows them to train their muscles to work together which is key for sports performance. Athletes using single joint exercises are limiting themselves because in an athletic event or sports activity your body needs to work together and training only one muscle at a time is counterproductive to an athlete.
4. Use the proper weight. As with all weight training, using the proper weight for gaining strength is just as important. Keeping your weights heavy enough to get all the reps your supposed to and not more is key to gaining the strength you want.

Summing it Up
Building muscle strength is great for anyone trying to get better at sports, weight lifting, having better control of everyday activities, or anyone just wanting to improve their general fitness. Women need not to worry about gaining the type of muscle that men gain and should continue weight training for whatever their fitness goal. Remember the bigger your muscle, the stronger it can become. Use multi-joint exercises to increase muscle involvement and release more anabolic(building) enzymes. Keep the weights heavier(if possible depending on fitness level and injury status) in the 2-7 rep range to get he strength your looking for. Always, remember to start out easy before getting into hard stressing workouts. 

Dont forget about the "Featured Friday Article"

Hey just a reminder to everyone email me today at mh05740@gmail.com with any questions or topics you want me to answer or cover and ill write about it on friday in the Featured Friday Article. Hurry, the topic goes to the first person to email me!

How To Train Your Core

This post was done by Troy Grube, a great friend of mine and fellow member of the Salisbury University Laboratory for Human Performance. Troy is also a lifeguard and Personal Trainer whom everyone can gain a great bit of fitnowledge from. Enjoy.

Core training (abs, hips, and lower back) is an important piece to everybody’s fitness goals. Power lifters, field athletes, and even weight loss oriented gym goers should include core work as an important aspect of their workout regiment.

If you’re thinking, “I already do 500 sit-ups a day, this advice isn’t for me.” Stay tuned; there is a lot of room for new improvements. Sit-ups, although valuable as a measure of general fitness, are not the necessarily best way to train your core. Stability training is the best route to take when looking for a strong core.

The best part of stability training is that you can do it while you work out the rest of your body. Through the use of these simple pieces of gym equipment and small weight lifting tricks:

Buso ball:

This is my favorite piece of equipment in the gym. It is a half moon shaped ball, usually blue, and has a flat plastic side. You can stand on either the blue, inflatable side or the black flat plastic side. Standing on either side can be very challenging because it is difficult to balance, use your core muscles to stabilize your body and prevent you from falling. I tell my clients all the time, “do your best L.L. Cool J impression.” Once you are comfortable standing on the ball, incorporate it into your other lifts. Anything that is done standing up can be done on a buso ball. Curls, shoulder press, tricep extensions, even squats and deadlifts can be done while standing on the ball.

Swiss ball:

This full sized inflatable ball is a little bit more difficult to manage but incredibly valuable. Although not impossible standing on this ball is far more challenging; I prefer to use it as a platform. Lying on top of this ball and using it as a bench is a great alternative to conventional bench press. Also, propping your feet up on the ball and doing push-ups is a great way to work both your chest, arms and core.

Unilateral or Suitcase Exercises:

Have you ever carried something very heavy that only fits in one hand? Like a duffle bag or a cooler? If you have, you notice that your body tends to tip to help make it easier to carry. Well using that principle in weight lifting helps us train our core muscles. Curls are always a great example of a suitcase exercise. Grab only one dumbbell to do your curl work with next time. Stand in front of the mirror and get to work. Make sure that your shoulders are level and that you are keeping your core tight (doing your L.L. Cool J impression). This same principle will work for any exercise that you are holding weight below your shoulders. Try it with heavy dumbbell deadlifts or lunges and feel the difference.

These methods of training your core not only works better than sit-ups on the floor or silly As Seen on TV products; but can show great dividends toward whatever your fitness goals may be. Many power lifters would be surprised how much of a limiting factor your core is. Working your core can improve most, if not all of your other lifts such as squats cleans and deadlifts. Field athletes need their core to be among their strongest body parts. Core muscles help speed, power and especially strength out of awkward positions, which is often in any sport. Most importantly though, those of you or are weight loss oriented and are trying to burn as many calories as possible in a short window of time can benefit immensely from stability training. By working on an unstable surface you are forcing your body to contract more muscle, and therefore burning more calories. Stability training is useful for everybody in gym.

Beginners Guide to the Gym- What to do- Part III Building Muscle

Building muscle is a great goal to have with any fitness plan. With more muscle you will be stronger and able to better handle your dailiy activities, you will have more control and balance when performing simple tasks such as walking and running and you will also burn more calories everyday. It takes more energy to keep the muscle you have because your body must provide it with nutrients to sustain it. So if you put on muscle and keep your nutritional habits the same your body will have to use more stored energy(Fat) to keep it. There are so many benefits to increasing your muscle that it is poposterous that people dont try to do it in the fight to lose weight.

Im sure that many women will see this and think that I dont want to get huge and I'm afraid of putting on too much muscle. STOP IT! Putting on muscle is going to happen no matter what type of training you do. Whether its the smaller Type 1 fibers or the larger Type 2 fibers your goign to build muscle. But you arent going to be able to build the type of muscle that men can build because of your low amounts of testosterone. So stop worrying and start building.

Ways to Build Muscle

1. Multi Joint Exercises- Ive talked about these in a previous post but these are exercises that require more than one joint to perform(i.e., bench press, squat, row, lat pull down, deadlift). These types of exercises use and incorporate more muscle than single joint exercises(i.e., bicep curls, tricep extentions) which means that you will be building more because your using more.  
2. Proper weight- The key to building muscle is using the right weight. With the information you learned from the post on weight selection you need to find a weight for each exercise that allows you to perform between 8-15 reps. This range keeps you in the hypertrophy/endurance range which gives you the ability to build muscle size or with the higher rep range build muscle without as much size. Most women will choose to stay between 12-15 reps because you will still build the muscle just without the same effort put towards the larger muscles fibers.
3. If you workout 3 days a week continue to work your whole body with weight training each day. Pick 1-2 exercises to perform for each part of your body(chest, shoulders, back, legs, arms). Try to use free weights as much as you can because they strain your body more than the machine because you have to keep the weight steady throughout unlike the machine that keeps the weight steady. If your lifting 4 days a week your going to want to back away from full body training because you wont give yourself enough rest in between. Try to break your workouts down into body motions and not body parts when going 4 days a week. Breaking down into body parts tends to lead to more single joint exercises but if your doing exercises with the same motion it leads to more multi joint. Try this:
1. Monday-Upper body pushing: Chest presses, shoulder presses, dips and all variations of these exercises
2. Tuesday- Lower body pulling: Leg Curl, Deadlifts, Glute/Ham Raise and all variations of these exercises
3. Thursday- Upper body pulling: Bent row, Lat Pulldown, Shoulder Raise, Upright Row and all variations of these exercises
4. Friday-  Lower body pushing: Leg Press, squat, lunge and all variations of these exercises
4. Proper Nutrition- Building muscle isnt about just lifting properly, nutrition is a huge part of any fitness goal and without proper nutrition you will never reach your goals of building muscle. Read my post on Pre- and Post- Workout Nutrition to learn the best way to fuel your body for workouts and the best way to start the repair process after your workouts.
5. Multiple Sets- The more you overload your muscles the better gains you get in muscle size and strength. So complete at the very least 2 but 3-4 is preferable.

Summing it Up
Building muscle is a great way to help increase weight loss, gain strength and making all of your daily activities easier. When trying to build muscle use exercises that require more muscles and joints(Multi-Joint Exercises). Make sure to pick a weight that challenges you but doesnt make you fail on the first set. Complete multiple sets to increase your gains. If your working out more than 3 days a week break your workouts down into muscle actions and not body parts. Get the proper nutrition you need to fuel your workouts and help repair them afterward. Building muscle has more benefits than it does cons so never be afraid of building muscle and women dont be afraid of getting big and bulky like man, unless your taking steroids and lifting like a body builder, your going to be fine. Now stop worrying and start building!

Beginners Guide to the Gym- What to do Part II

In this post Im going to talk about ways to increase energy expenditure(burn more calories) which leads to greater weight loss. There are a variety of different ways to achieve weight loss through exercise although the very best way is through changing your eating habits. Notice I didnt say dieting but dieting doesnt work. But if you make permanant changes to your eating then you will get better, more sustained losses and your weight wont yo-yo like it does on diets. But back to the exercise aspect. Increasing the intensity of your workouts will lead to the best weight loss for individuals. Keeping your heart rate up and working hard. You can get a great workout in in 30 minutes if you work hard enough so lets get to it.

Exercising for Weight Loss

1. I like to use a time frame and not a rep range. When you use a rep range you stop at a given point but that point might not be enough to stimulate the metabolic responses you want. Pick a time period, say 30 sec and perform as many reps as possible in the time period, then rest. This makes your body work as hard as it can and keeps heart rate and intensities up.
2. Keep your rest periods short. As important as rest is after your workouts and in between sets to let the body regenerate energy, keeping your rest intervals short increases the amount of work your doing and keeps your body moving and the more you move the more energy you expend leading to weight loss.
3. Be explosive. Although this might be hard to do consistently through your entire workout, the hard you contract your muscles the more energy your body has to expend to allow you to be explosive. Also, the use of explosive contractions triggers the body to promote the growth of Type IIa and IIx fibers which are larger, and require more energy for them to be maintained in the body. But dont worry ladies triggering these muscles wont give you a body building huge muscle look. Be careful if you plan to implement explosice contractions and lower the weight slowly. For example if your doing a chest press, lower the weight to your chest slowly(~2 sec) and under control, let it touch your chest then explode and push the weight up as hard as you can, then catch the weight at the top and repeat as many times as you can in 30 sec. This type of training takes time to work up to, but give it your best and if you have an injury stay away from lifting explosively when using that muscle or bone.
4. Break up your workouts. One big problem with traditional workouts is that they have you perform one set of an exercise then rest and it gives you too much down time. I break up my clients workouts into different periods ranging from 5-10 minutes each period and I have them do something different in each period. Say one period they do one whole body exercise for 30 seconds with 30 seconds rest for 5 minutes. Then switch to a 5 intervals on the cardio row machine with a 15s on and 45s rest. Then go back to another whole body exercise. Find different ways to keep your body moving and keep your workouts interesting. Youll be more likely to stick with your workouts if you enjoy doing them and dont find them dull and boring.
5. Use Intervals. An interval is performed by performing one exercise at a very high intensity for a short amount of time followed by a breif rest period and then repeated. For example using a treadmill you would run as fast as you can for 20 seconds and then jog or walk for 40 seconds. Thats one interval, you would perform 5-10 in any given day. To get more intervals worked into your workout, dont do them all at once, break them down. Since one interval lasts about a minute, you could perform 5 intervals totaling 5 minutes and then go do another part of your workout, then after you finish that period, go do another 5 intervals, then switch again, and then do another set of 5. Keeping them short helps you save your energy, and if you repeat the 5 minutes worth of intervals 3 times then you got 15 total intervals in instead of 5-10 and you get more work done with more calories burned.

Summing it Up
To keep your weight loss up, keep your intensity up. The more you keep working the more calories your goign to expend. Break down your workouts into smaller periods. This allows you to keep moving and making your workouts more interesting. Be explosive if you can. Remember slow when your muscle is lengthening, explosive when contracting. Use whole body exercises or perform smaller single joint exercises without rest(super setting) to get the most out of it. Keep rest periods short to allow your body to keep working and not wasting time sitting around. Using one or all of these tips will keep your body in motion and help you increase energy expenditure meaning more weight loss. Bundle these tips with proper changes to your daily diet(used in the sense that what you eat makes up your diet, not that you should be on a specific diet) and you will see marked differences in a shorter period of time.

Featured Friday Article

Hey ya'll im starting a new idea called the "Featured Friday Article". Be the first to email me at mh05740@gmail.com on monday and on friday I will post about your question or topic on friday under the Featured Friday Article. Topics can be anything fitness or health or training related. In the email put Featured Friday Article in the subject line. If I get some good ones I will post both. I want them on monday because if I dont know a great deal about a topic I want the time to research and learn more so I can give you the best answer and information available. So for this friday I will take the first email I get today and we will start the normal monday emails this monday the 18th. Hope this helps everyone including myself learn so much more.

Beginners Guide to the Gym- What to do

This is a big topic to cover so it might take a few posts to give you a good foundation as to how to start and begin your fitness endeavor. Because everyone has a different goal it is hard to say that there is one perfect way to start a training program. Some people want just a general fitness base, others want to gain muscle and strength, others want to be able to run a long distance, and others want to be better prepared for athletic events. All these have a different way to train to get the adaptations needed to achieve the goal. I will pick a different topic in each post review so that you can have a  better understanding of where to start for your specific goal. In this post I will cover general fitness.

Training for General Fitness
Even this smaller topic inside the larger area of what to do could be given multiple posts. However, im going to give you the best ways to achieve your general fitness needs. Although each person has a different level they consider general fitness there are some key tips needed to be able to achieve this fitness level.

1. Start slow- When beginning a training program the want to get the quickest results can make a person work to hard early and burn out before reaching their peak training ability. Your body needs time to adapt when you start training. Metabolic, muscular, neural, etc., all systems need time to make the needed adaptations and rushing in can get you hurt and lead to overtraining early on so dont push too fast too early. It could take between 4-12 weeks for the adaptations to be made but give yourself at least a 4 week start before you get into the intense parts of your workout.
2. Work your whole body- A basic guideline is to work your whole body each workout. Pick one exercise for each part of your body(Back, chest, arms, legs, shoulders, core) and do that for at least 3 sets with a rep range conducive to your fitness goals(see Beginners Guide to the Gym- Sets and Reps).
3. One of the easiest ways to incorporate your whole body workout and cardio at the same time is to complete circuits. A circuit is doing one set of every exercise in your workout without a rest in between exercises. Once you have done one set you get a rest. This gives you an aerobic and anaerobic workout all in one. But to take it a step further to promote a better aerobic workout and save yourself from doing long periods of cardio at the very end of your workouts (which is one thing I hate doing) is to break down your cardio into smaller session and work them into your workout. So if doing a circuit training routine you could do one circuit, take a short rest then do 5-10 minutes of cardio. This keeps your heart rate up the entire time and keeps you working hard so you can expend more energy meaning more weight loss if that is one of your goals. Plus since your cardio would be shorter periods you could go harder during them giving you a better aerobic workout.
4. Choose Multi joint Exercises- Although you might not be a fitness professional, multi-joint exercises are easy to learn and figure out. A multi-joint exercise is any exercise where you need multiple joints to complete. Examples are bench press, squat, lunge, row, shoulder press, and the lis can go on and on. Using multi-joint exercises incorporates the use of more muscles which means you will get better results in muscle strength, growth, and need to expend more energy which means more weight loss. Always try to choose multi-joint over single-joint exercises. Examples of single joints would be bicep curls, tricep pushdowns or extensions, leg extensions or curls or any exercise where only one joint is used which normally means only one muscle or one main muscle and smaller assister muscles.

Summing It Up
Remember to start out slow. Start at two days a week for a few weeks(3-5), working up to 3 and 4 days a week once your body has adapted to the rigors of increased work. Work your whole body. Try to get one to two exercises from each area of the body making sure to use multi joint exercises so you get the most work out of your body. If extended periods of cardio isnt your thing, break it down into smaller time periods and perform them throughout your workout. This will increase the work you can do during them and save you time at the end. Next time Ill post about what to do to for weight loss workouts.  

Marketing Words To Be Aware Of

The fitness industry has a lot of words out there that companies throw around because they sound good and help them sell a lot of products. Companies use them to make their products sound better, seem like its going to change everything about you and give you a feeling youve never had. However, many of these words are just marketing ploys to be able to up the price of a product or service and tricking the consumer into paying that increased price. Im going to give you the run down on some of the more popular words to watch out for.

1. Toning- This word is used by everybody. Every woman wants that "toned" look. But "toned" isnt an actual muscle condition. Your muscles dont get toned when you workout. The look that it refers to is the combined effect of fat loss and muscle hypertrophy(increase in muscle size). These two biological actions combine to give you the look that many women want. So the next time someone tells you a machine will tone your muscles, or give you a toned look, or if a trainer ever tells you they will get your muscles toned up, just walk away. Please.
2. Muscle Confusion- Muscle confusion is the TV name for one of the basic principles in the training world. Its called the General Adaptation Syndrome. The GAS has 3 stages which are Alarm, Super compensation, and Exhaustion.In the Exhaustion phase, your body starts to fatigue, become sore because it is either overworked or the workouts have become stale with no new stimulus to engage the supercompensation phase. Muscle Confusion says that it changes the program so your muscles dont get used to the training and you stop gaining or losing like you were. This is just turning the last phase of the GAS into a really cool and fancy sounding word meaning VARIATION. As long as you keep changing your workouts and switching things up then you are keeping variety in your workouts and your not paying lots extra for a fancy program with a cool name. The easiest trick to use to keep variation in your workouts without having to change your workouts every few weeks is to add one more workout then days a week you train. So if you workout 3 days a week, then have 4 workouts ready. So week one you perform workouts 1,2,3. In week 2 you would do 4,1,2. You would continue this for weeks and it would take until week 5 before you did the same 3 workouts in one week. 
3. Pump- The muscle "Pump" is considered the feeling when your muscles feel swollen and have a pumped up look and feel to them. This is what happens during an intense workout and is not given because of a supplement like many of them advertise they do. The feeling of a pump comes from increased blood flow and inflammation due to the breakdown of the muscle that was just performed. Most supplements that claim to give you this feeling do so by hopping you up on stimulants so you get a feel like you have so much energy but its just the added caffeine. Any intense workout can give you a "pump" and you dont need a supplement to do it.

Summing it Up
Be cautious when you find a new craze or fad or word out there. Most of them are just put on products and services to increase the price and entice buyers. Be careful and do your research before buying products.

Beginners Guide to the Gym- How Often

I probably should have started with this part in regards to how often one should workout, but at least ive gotten there. There are many things that go into determining how often one should workout. Things such as experience, age, fitness level, health issues, and injury status. All of these play an important part into determining the regularity of your fitness sessions.

Basic Rules
If your new to the gym a good rule of thumb is to take it easy. By easy I mean two days a week with an optimal schedule giving you two days between workouts. A sample schedule of this would be Mondays and Thursdays or Tuesdays and Saturdays or something similar. This allows you to get used to the flow of things and lets your muscles being making the adaptations it needs to prepare for the increased workload of more sessions. 

After a few weeks of two sessions a week, it is time to up the days. Three days a week will give you the increase in workload to keep your gains or losses going while still giving your body time to recover. An easy way to follow this would be Monday, Wednesday, Friday, or a similar schedule giving you at least one day between your workouts. Three days a week is a great place to be for someone older, someone with little experience or low fitness level, or someone just wanting a general fitness level.

Getting to more than 3 days should be saved for those who have been regularly going to the gym and have a moderate level of fitness. Switching to four days a week will increase your workloads and help your body keep growing or shirnking which ever you prefer, but this much exercise reduces your bodies ability to recover fully between sessions so a higher caloric intake will be needed to help feed the body so it can repair itself. Anytime beyond four days a week needs to be done so after a lengthy time of regular training and only with a proper training program made to allow for proper recovery.

Summing It Up
As a beginner start light, and dont try to push it. Your body needs more time to recover between sessions and you wont have the fitness level to keep up with more sessions. Gradually progress to more days a week while still allowing your body to adapt and make the changes it needs to handle the added stress of more training. When in doubt ask the trainer at your gym for some advice, or you can always email here.

When Hiring a Trainer

Hiring a trainer is a big step in the fight to achieve your fitness goals. There are many things you should know about your trainer before you sign on the dotted line. Some questions you should ask are obvious but others you probably didnt think about which is why I am writing about this, to give you help when you go to make that big decision.

Questions to Ask

1. What certifications do you have?
• Only ever work with a trainer that is certified. However there are some certifications that are better than others. These days many require a bachelors degree in a related field such as Exercise Science, Kineseology(the study of human movement), Health and Sport Sciences, and Allied Health are just a few. Some of the best certifications are:
• NSCA-CPT or NSCA C.S.C.S.: The National Strength and Conditioning Association is one of the best organizations in the world in terms of training research and development. The Certified Personal Trainer and Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist are the tops in the business in my opinion. The C.S.C.S. certification is geared more towards the training of athletes but a certified professional with this degree is completely capable of being a great trainer. Both require a college degree and require continuing education credits to maintain the certification.
• ACSM Certifications- the American College of Sports Medicine offers several different certifications. One of them is the Health Fitness Specialist which requires a college degree and is a good start certification for someone coming out of college. They also offer many specialized certifications such as a Certified Cancer Exercise Specialist, and certifications for training of those with disabilites and the elderly. They are a great organization and there certifications are always up to date and have some of the strictest requirements.
• There are many other certifications that could be had by a trainer, but those mentioned above are the tops in the field in my opinion. The best advice I can give you is research what they tell you. Look it up online, check the requirements, and what the had to complete to get there certification . If your not satisfied or dont think its very good, then walk away.
2. Do you have a degree?
• Although this should not always be a deal breaker, someone with a degree in a field related to training and health should have a greater deal of knowledge than one without. However there are many great trainers out there without a degree, and many very bad trainers with a degree. Always ask, and then get a feel for the person to see if your comfortable training with them.
3. What is your training philosophy?
• This might seem weird but a trainers philosophy is how they believe in training individuals and if there philosophy is not the type of training you want to do than your not going to have a good time in your workouts, and your not going to like your trainer. The best trainers out there dont have a specific training philosophy. I go into every assessment with an open mind because my workouts are going to be designed for my client. I have my ideas about what the best types of training are but the workouts I create will be for what my clients goals and needs are and not for my own. Always ask because the type of philosophy will give you an insight into what your training sessions might be like and if you dont like that than you wont like any part of your training. But if you meet with a trainer and they print out a workout while your there, just walk away. There is no way they could make a workout just for you before you've already met.

Questions you shouldnt ask

1. How much?
• By this I mean dont ask how much weight your going to lose or how much muscle your going to gain. You can discuss your goals but dont assume that because you have a trainer your going to lose all the weight you want. A trainer is there to help guide you in your weight loss, but ultimately it depends on you. Your nutrition and your effort in your workouts will determine what you get out of it so dont ask your trainer how much.
2. Do I have to?
• In your assessment metting with the trainer, they should ask you what types of activities you like doing, what you dont, what gives you pain. A good trainer who asks these questions are able to design your workouts so they are fun, and work with you. But dont ask if you have to do something. There is a reason it is part of your workout and you should have said something to your trainer in the assessment.

Summing It Up
Always ask about experience, certifications, degrees, anythign that would make you feel more confortable with the trainer and what they might be able to offer you. Never be afraid to ask any questions. I always want more questions because than I can give you more information to give you a better idea about training and myself. Do your research about the individual and the information they give you if you arent certain about them. Although having a trainer gives you an upper hand into reaching your training goals, never ask how much you might lose or gain because there is no exact answer. Its up to you through nutrition and your own effort that determines those variables. Now youve got some good information and can make a better more knowledgeable decision about a trainer.

Beginners Guide to the Gym- Pre and Post Workout Nutrition

Much can be said in regards to nutrition no matter what time of day. But much more needs to be said about the nutrition before and after you workout. Poor nutrition before workouts can take away from your energy during your workout stunting what you get done while in the gym. Poor nutrition after your workout can stunt your gains and lead to even worse workout the next time. Ill give you some key points for both types of nutrition to help you get more from your workouts.

Pre Workout Nutrition
When preparing for a long road trip in your car you always make sure to fuel up right? Well its the same with your body. If you want to get the most out of your workout, want to go harder, longer, and get more done you need to fuel up as well.

• You need to eat before your workout, but you need to give your body time to digest the food so its not sitting in your stomach when your trying to exercise. Also, you want to get as much of the glucose stored in your muscles so that when it comes time for your body to consume energy it gets it from stored glycogen which burns more energy than it would if it took the glucose from your blood stream.
• Load up on complex carbs. You want energy that is sustainable and lasts. Simple carbs and sugars wont give you the long term energy you need for a hard workout. Complax carbs can come from whole grains and pastas.
• Dont forget your healthy fats such as mono-and poly- unsaturated fats. These will help give you even more sustained energy to fuel your aerobic endurance training.

Post Workout Nutrition
There are heaps of information out there about what you need after your workouts. Most tell you that protein is the key, that you wont recover if you dont down a shake with at least 40 grams of protein and that the more protein the better. Unfortunately, mostly all of this information is wrong. Not because protein isnt important but because they tell you the worng macronutrient to load up on. What you really need are carbs.

• Replacing your glycogen stores after a workout is the very most important step. Without consuming carbohydrates within 1 hour of your workout cause many issues. First, your glycogen stores will not be replaced fast enough and they will not be able to be refilled fully before your next workout. This will cause your next workout to be severly hindered due to the lack of energy available. Also, without the carbs, your body wont be able to start the rebuilding process. This means it will take longer for your muscles to heal and make your gains take longer than you want.
• Protein is important because it helps achieve a positive nitrogen balance which allows your body to start storing and rebuilding your muscles instead of eating the muscle to get the enrgy it needs.
• When eating or supplementing after a workout you should have at least a 3:1 carbto protein ratio. So if your consuming 20 grams of protein you will need at least 60 grams of carbs, and this ratio gets much higher if your workouts are intense and/or your preparing for an athletic event. In these cases the ratio will be more 5:1.
• Most protein powders out there are a waste. They offer 50 grams of protein with 5 carbs. Well that craps on replacing your carbohydrates, and your body can only process between 20-30 grams of protein at a time which means your pooping out all the extra so you just wasted money. The best powder I have found at the moment is Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard Natural 100% Whey. It offers a great mix of Essential Amino Acids and vitamins as well as 24 grams of protein. I mix the vanilla flavor with Lemon Lime Gatorade Powder. It tastes like an orange creamcicle, and the gatorade adds the simple sugars that are quickly digested by the body. If you dont want to use a protein shake, simple chocolate milk is a great substitue.

Summing it Up
Before you workout you need to fuel up just like your car before a long trip. You need complex carbs and good fats that help give you sustained energy for your workouts. Eat at least an hour before so your body has time to digest it. After your workout you need to consume at the very least 50 grams of carbohydrates within an hour after your workout. You should consume at least a 3:1 ratio of carbs to protein to help with protein synthesis(muscle building) and glycogen replenishment. The main part is you need to eat before and after if you want the workouts that will get you the type of fitness you want.

Underutilized exercises and equipment in the gym

There are literally millions of exercises you can be doing in the gym, hundreds of pieces of equipment you can use, and some machines that help with the all important cardio training. With so much to choose from there are several machines, and exercises that just get looked over. While it might be because they seem too hard, people dont know how to use the machine or equipment, or gym members just dont know. But here are some exercises and equipment you should be using when your getting your workout in.

1. Dip- The dip is one of my favorite exercises. Its a total upper body workout that gets looked right over. When you do the dip you work your shoulders, chest, triceps, core, and the muscles of the shoulder girdle. The easiest way to start using the dip is with the bench dip. Using a bench, place the palms of your hands on the bench with your back to the bench and your legs stretched out in front of you with the back of your heels on the ground. Bend at your elbows so you start to lower your body towards the ground. Lower until your upper arms are parallel to the floor, or your butt hits the groun. Then push yourself back up. Thats one dip. Using this exercise will greatly increase the amount of upper body muscles activated.
2. Row Machine- If I told you there was one machine that gave you a complete body workout and a cardio workout at the same time what would say? Well thats exactly what the row machine does. With the push of the legs, the row of the arms and back, and the whole body aerobic workout you get with the row you think more people would be using it. But in the gym I work at no one uses our row machines, and when I give "comp" training sessions I tell the member about the row machine and they look astonished and say they never knew. Its best to start utilizing this machine with the resistance on the lowest setting and trying to go for 15 minutes to get the feel of it. Eventually build up to higher resistance and longer periods. I even have one of my clients do intervals on the row to help with weight loss.
3. Plank- The best core exercise I know of. Forget about crunches, and sit-ups. For a new challenge switch to the plank. Its as simple as getting into a push up position and then lowering onto your forearms and holding that position. While holding this position make sure your back is flat and your butt doesnt sag or stick up into the air. While keeping your back flat and holding still try to squeeze your entire core in, it should feel like your trying to suck your abs through your belly button. Hold the position as long as you can, or for beginners start with 10-15 seconds and build up. Once you can hold for a full minute, you can start adding variation to it. I like to get into a plank and lift up one of my arms and holding for 15 sec, then switching to the other for 15, then to holding each leg up for 15. All that is done without resting in between and gives you a total time of 1 minute but adds a great new challenge. Try it and I promise you wont want to go back to what you were doing.
4. Intervals- Want to spice up your cardio routine? Tired of staying on a treadmill for 30 minutes at a time? Add some spice to your cardio and start using intervals. To use an interval start with a 5 minute warmup on whatever cardio equipment your using, then increase to a speed that causes you to run either as fast as you can or allows you to run at a high pace. Stay at this pace for 15-30 seconds. Then lower the pace until you are lightly jogging or even walking and keep this pace for 30-45 seconds. Thats one interval. Continue for 5 intervals if your a beginner and increase the number of intervals to get 10-15 minutes of intervals finished, then finish with a light 5 minute cooldown. These not only add a new dimension to your cardio but gives a more intense workout that will help you burn more calories and increase your aerobic endurance faster.

Although these are just a few exercises, adding any of these to your workouts will help improve your workouts and give you a boost in energy expernditure. All of these will help you burn more calories and lose more weight.

The Problem with the "Fat Burning" Setting

Every piece of cardio equipment these days has a "Fat Burning" setting. Many gym goers these days use this setting thinking that they will burn more fat with this setting and that it is going to help them get to their fitness goals faster using the "Fat Burning" mode. However, with a little knowledge about this setting you might start picking up the pace.

The Truth
The fat burning setting uses your age and your heart rate to keep you in a steady range or what they say is the "fat burning range". This is true. In this range you will use primarily fat as your source of energy which is the enticing factor with this setting and range. However, you do less total work when you keep your heart rate low and in this range. The harder you work, the more calories you burn, the more calories you burn the more weight you lose. To make this a little easier to understand think about it like this:

Fat Burning Mode- Say you burn 200 calories in 30 minutes and you do this 5 days a week.
                              200x5=1,000 calories burned a week
Higher Intensity- Using a higher intensity you burn 400 calories in 30 minutes and you do this 5 days a week
                              400x5=2,000 calories burned a week
By increasing your intensity you doubled the number of calories you burned in a week period. Now look at it in a 3 month period if you continued to workout 5 days a week for 12 weeks

Fat Burning Mode- 1,000x12= 12,000 calories    12,000calories/3500 calories in a pound= 3.4 pounds lost
                               in 12 weeks.
Higher Intensity-  2,000x12= 24,000 calories      24,000calories/ 3500 calories in a pound= 6.8 pounds lost
                               in 12 weeks.

The Knowledge
While the "Fat Burning" setting might seem like a good idea because you might think, "Oh! Fat Burning mode. Hell Yeah. Lets lose the love handles.", you wont get the type of results you want. Although you will burn primarily fat, you wont burn as many calories. The key to weight loss is caloric deficit. So the more calories you burn, the more energy you expend, and the more energy you expend the more weight you will lose. So next time your in the gym skip the "Fat Burn" and go harder.

Beginners Guide to the Gym- Weight Selection

When first starting out I know that choosing the right weight can seem like a daunting task. Do I pick a weight and go to failure everytime? Do i pick a weight that is easy? How much weight? Your first couple of days of working out will be more or less a trial and error when it comes to weight selection. Here are a few key points to think about when looking for the right weight:

1. The proper weight should be challenging enough to make you feel like your working, but it should not take you to failure in your rep range. You may hear about picking your rep max(the max weight you can lift for the given number of reps, i.e., 12 rep max- max weight you can get for 12 reps) and using that weight, however this would mean going to failure each set and needing a longer rest between sets. Your weight should let you complete all the necessary reps in each set without you struggling to finish the first set.
2. You will know you have chosen the right weight when after your last set you had to struggle with the weight. You might not get all your reps on the last set but the weight will give you best oppurtunity to grow and get proper form in.
3. Dont pick a weight that is way too light. If you can finish all reps for all sets and you feel like you havent really tried too hard than the weight is too light. Up your weight so you get a feeling when you lift.
4. Its time to up your weight when you can complete all sets and reps of a weight. For example if your doing 3 sets of 12 reps and you complete all 12 reps in each set and you didnt have to struggle to get your last few reps in set 3, than next time you do the workout you should up the weight to get the most out of the exercise.

These are a few simple guidelines to follow when it comes to picking the right weight. Remember, when starting out you might see your weights changing because finding the right weight is trial and error until you find the weight that is perfect for you. Dont try to up your weight every single workout because your body must first adapt and rushing in could lead to imporper development, over training, and injurry. Now head to the gym and find the weights to help you achieve your goals.

Beginners Guide for the Gym- Sets and Reps

The idea between sets and reps. A repetition(REP) is every time you perform one motion of an exercise. For example, if you do a bicep curl, the complete motion of curling the weight up and lowering it down is one rep. A SET is a grouping of repetions that are done without rest. Example being doing 10 barbell curls without stopping. Now the number of sets and reps you should do all depends on your goal. If you ever ask a trainer how many sets and reps should I do, they should always ask, "what is your goal?". If they do not ask you this then what they say is skewed because what they say might not be good for your goal. For general guidelines however to gain strength reps should be kept low(2-6) with heavy weight , for muscle growth(Hypertrophy) a moderate weight should be used with reps between 7-12, and for endurance/ fat loss a lighter weight with reps in the 13+ range. I always recommend 3 sets whenever anyone asks. Doing 1 set limits the amount of stress your muscles get and your gains and losses wont be as great, and while 2 will give you a greater stress than 1, 3 sets give you the greatest amount of upside while still giving your body the ability to recover in a timely manner. Although these are only general guidelines for sets and reps and only in regards to general fitness, there is much more that can be said about how many and how much. In the next post I will talk about Weight selection. Stayed tuned and dont forget to email me with a question or suggestion for a friday topic.

An Introduction to Fitnowledge

I am starting this site for a couple of reasons. First, there is a lot crap information out there, from terrible products (i.e., supplements and fitness equipment), to bad information. My goal is to help give you factual information about exercising, fitness, and different ideas to help you get the most from your exercise routines so you can achieve your goals safely, easily, and the right way. Second, I get asked about fitness and health all the time and I feel that I can use this to help get more knowledge out there to help everyone make informed decisions about how they want to achieve their health goals.

Some of the topics that I will cover:
1. Training
2. Nutrition
3. Health
4. Kid/ Teen training for sports
5. Occasional review of a product/program/supplement

These are just a few of the topics. I would also like to open up the floor to readers and followers. Email me a topic on Monday and I will write an article about it in a Featured Friday Article.

Hopefully I can do what I am trying and help get you the knowledge you need for the fitness you want.