Peak Performance and Fitness

Modifying your metabolism...

2012-01-31T15:01:00.000-08:00

Often times I am asked if our exercise programs come with a eating plan to follow. It sounds like a logical question. As much as myself and other health professionals say that nutrition and eating are the biggest components to a fitness program, you'd think we would have a customized nutrition plan ready to go for you.

Unfortunately, even if I did give you a strict nutrition plan to eat 5 times per day, with 140g of protein, 42g of fat and 200g of carbohydrates what are the odds you'd actually follow it? I've written programs like this for myself and my compliance with it is less than 90%.

So wouldn't it be easier to give you a few general goals that give you some freedom to make some decisions so that you aren't eating the same 6 foods over and over? Some people don't mind eating the same foods everyday. I'm one of those people. But others needs a lot of variety. My wife is one of those types of people.

I recently put together a little report on how to modify your metabolism through 5 different means that are pretty quick to implement. In it I discuss the 4 components of your metabolism and which part of your metabolism the 5 strategies effect. This way you can see that by implementing all 5 you are really beginning to change your body to be a fat-burning machine!

Because you guys are on our mailing list I'll give you the quick run-down of th 5 Ways to Kick Start Your Metabolism...Today!

Eat protein with breakfast. And not just a single egg (which has only 6g of protein). I'm talking add some PROTEIN! Have a protein shake along side that bowl of oatmeal. Or have a smoothie with some protein tossed in for good mix. Smaller individuals will want aroudn 15-20g of protein in their breakfast while larger individuals will want 25-35g of protein in their breakfast.
Exercise at work. By increasing your energy expenditure multiple times over the course of the day, you're constantly giving your metabolism a kick in the pants. So go up and down the stairs twice (act like you forgot something if you need an explanation) or walk quickly out to your car and back in. Just get your heart rate up a couple times during the day for 2-3 minutes. But don't do it so much that you sweat. That might raise a few eyebrows. And careful with the yoga stuff...
Use your kids as weights. Play with your kids. Pick them up and down, raise them over your head, swing them around a little (within reason). All of these things will increase the intensity of any motion. And you'll give your kids memories (or nightmares) for a lifetime!
Walking Intervals. Some people walk for fitness while others walk to get from place to place. If you're walking for fitness or as transportation, throw some intervals in there. Walk fast until you feel you're breathing hard and your heart rate is higher and then slow down a bit. Alternate these higher and lower walking speeds to give your metabolism a quick shot in the arm.
Eat more fat. Research has shown that our bodies will shift our metabolism to use the energy we have the most of. In addition newer research is suggesting we might be able to modify our metabolism to prefer a type of energy on a daily basis! This means that you have the potential to shift your metabolism to use fat on a daily basis. So how can we increase our fat intake? Fish oil supplementation has been shown to have an array of benefits including reduced inflammation, increased fat mobilization, improved cardiovascular function, brain development and immune system function.

Head over to the website www.pairmarotta.com/fitness and enter your email address to get the report emailed to you!

Does your bootcamp do THIS???

2011-10-18T09:36:00.000-07:00

Most people never give much thought to the variables in their workouts. After all, there are tons of articles in popular fitness magazines that tell us the best new exercises, but rarely do they divulge from the standard 3 sets of 10 reps. Most people go to the gym, do their upper body workout of triceps extensions, 3 different kinds of biceps curls and maybe some shoulder stuff that the magazines tell them will "tone" their arms.

But the truth is that you can do the same workout for months on end and still get no where because the body adapts to the stress you put on it. You have to change something. And most people think it must be the exercises. When they aren't seeing change, they swear that they just aren't doing the right exercises. Or that there is some new fancy trick exercise that they haven't tried yet.

However, you can use the same exercises and just change some of the other variables and get mind boggling changes in strength, flexibility. So that is what we've done with this round of the Hi-5 FitCamp. Usually we stay somewhat based in 3-4 sets of 5-12 repetitions, with each set having the same number of repetitions. However, this time around we are doing a bit more density training, trying to add more volume of exercise within each set.

For this round of the Hi-5 FitCamp we are doing a form of cluster sets. A cluster set is basically a longer repetition set (14 reps in this case) broken into smaller sets within the set. Cluster sets have been shown to be more effective in highly trained individuals and just as effective as traditional training formats in untrained people. This makes it a great system to use for our current crop of Hi-5 FitCamp members as many of them have been regular attendees for between 1-4 years, while others are brand new or have only been here for a month or two.

MMMM...Deadlifts!

Cluster sets have been shown to increase strength in both experienced and novice weight lifters. However, cluster sets have been shown to be more effective than traditional training when performing power exercises such as medicine ball throws, squat jumps, medicine ball chest passes and split jumps. Why? Well with the rest afforded between smaller sets, the person is able to give more effort in subsequent reps. Here's an example.

Lets compare a traditional set of 12 squat jumps to a cluster set of 12 in which the set is broken into 4 clusters of 3 with :30 rest between sets. The person doing the traditional set will decrease power output with each subsequent jump because each jump uses available energy and there is no time for recovery. However, the cluster set person is able to recover a little bit after every 3rd jump. So if person A has his percentage of effort decrease by 10% every 3 jumps, then at his final jump he'll only be jumping at 66% of his max effort. But if person B decreased 10% every 3 jumps, but was able to recover 5% after each rest interval, his 12th jump would be at 82% of max effort. Basically he would be declining only 5% with each subsequent cluster set. See the difference a litte rest makes?

In summary, the benefit of doing cluster sets is increased time under tension (which results in more muscle gain) as well as increased strength. These are two of the major components to fat-loss! So why wouldn't we do this? Plus, it's a nice little change up for everybody!

Most overused term in fitness

2011-10-07T16:01:00.000-07:00

There are trends and there are those invaluable concepts that make our world a better place to live. More friends, more useful, more productive and a lot safer.

In physical therapy there are always new techniques, strategies and pieces of equipment coming out. Some of them are just fads. But some things are revolutionary and utterly change the way of thinking throughout the profession.

Core training is one of these concepts. For the longest time doctors would say that a persons back hurts because their abs are weak. So people started doing situps. But that just seemed to make things worse.

Then we started doing crunches on the stability ball thinking that it would engage more muscle and put less stress on the lower back. It helped a little bit but not too much. Then new research started to emerge that changed the way of thinking. This new way of thinking took a step back and stopped looking at training just a single abdominal muscle. But instead looked at exactly what else was around that joint and how they were used to keep the spine stable.

At that point we began to realize that core training was really about keeping the spine in a safe position while simultaneously being able to move our arms and legs. We began to incorporate exercises like Bird-dog, plank, dead-bug, and lock-out. No we have fully progressed to training the core in the same way we are supposed to use it on a daily basis: to maintain posture from a seated or standing position.

Now most of our higher level core training at P&M is done in the standing position. We train the core muscles to keep the spine in a neutral position while pushing, pulling, chopping and lifting. If we look at how the spine is stabilized, it is easily seen that a lot of different muscles must be used to A) keep the spine in a neutral alignment, and B) to keep the pelvis in a slight anterior tilt all while moving. This takes a lot of coordination and muscular endurance. As a result, can take a while to developed properly!

Although core training has become a very popular phrase these days - almost being overused - we still have so much to learn about how to train the core to not only rehabilitate spinal injuries, but also to improve fitness and athletic performance.

If you're interested in learning more about how to strengthen your core or to get a free a core evaluation with our Post-Therapy Fitness team, email aaron@pairmarotta.com or call 661-912-9991.

How to draw attention to yourself at work...

2011-10-07T15:59:00.000-07:00

Most people don't like drawing attention to themselves at work. There is just something about the majority of eyes in a room being drawn to you for doing something awkward, according to them. Most people don't like drawing attention to themselves at work. There is just something about the majority of eyes in a room being drawn to you for doing something awkward, according to them.

But stretching may just well be worth the awkward glances. Stretching helps in so many ways that foregoing stretching simply because others might think its weird is flat out foolishness!

Stretching increases blood flow to our muscles, awakens our nervous system, helps decrease stress, and helps improve circulation which can improve alertness and mental acuity. Maintaining quality range of motion in joints and elasticity in muscles helps to prevent overuse injuries as well!

And if you've been coming to the Hi-5 FitCamp for any period of time, then stretching will also help alleviate the soreness you've acquired.

So here are 3 MUST DO stretches you can do while sitting in your office chair.

Seated Hamstring/Calf stretch: Sitting on the front half of your chair with your feet flat on the ground. Extend one foot out in front so the knee is almost straight. Keeping your back flat, reach out to that toe with the opposite hand until a moderate stretch is felt in the hamstring. Keep the toe pulled back to feel the stretch in your calves. Hold for 10 seconds and repeat 3 times on each side.
Seated Glute/IT Band stretch: Sitting on the front half of your chair, place your right ankle up on your left knee. Place your left hand on your right ankle and your right hand on your right knee. With a flat back, begin to lean forward at the hips. You should feel this stretch in your right hip. Hold for 10 seconds and repeat 3 times on each side.
Upper Back/Levator Scapulae stretch: Sitting upright, bring your right hand up over your head and place it in the middle of your upper back. Keep looking straight forward with your chin pulled in. Tip your head away from the elbow that is up (tip to the left). You should feel a stretch in your upper back. Then while tipping your head to the left, turn your head to the left so your chin is near your left shoulder. You should feel this stretch in your neck. Both are areas that are chronically tight on people. Do this for 5 seconds in each position, 3 times on each side as often as you'd like.

Its pretty simple. 4 minutes of stretching that can have some of the most profound effects on your physical health!!

By the way, if you like this post, click the Facebook link at the top and become a fan of the Hi-5 FitCamp!!

I was WRONG!

2011-10-07T15:57:00.001-07:00

Hey guys,

This summer has been super busy and it got me thinking about how busy you guys must get. I realize time is at a premium for most of us. If we spend an average of 9 hours a day working, 1 hour a day commuting, 2 hours a day eating, 7 hours a day sleeping that leaves us...5 hours to do our own thing. This doesn't include the morning ritual of waking up and getting ready for work. That could be another hour!

I've spent blog upon blog telling people how important it is to record what they eat. The main idea behind this was for you to see how many calories you're eating. As well as But often this would become overwhelming. In the past our nutrition evaluations would have a printout with what percentage of your meal should be carbohydrates, protein and fat.

But we don't eat protein, carbohydrates and fat. We eat food. So I thought the evaluation needed to be redesigned.

So here I am saying I was wrong. When I designed our nutrition evaluation, I placed too much emphasis on calories, macronutrient distribution and activity level.

In reality, nobody needs a program that is exact. Why? Because nobody would follow it. If an eating plan is too strict, most people will be too busy for it.

So what should you look for instead? Look for guidelines. But here's the kicker.

If you're given rules to follow instead of a strict diet and meal plan, then you need to follow the rules!

And there are some pretty simple rules:

Eat 4-5 meals per day
Eat fruits and vegetables with every meal.
Eat a lean protein with every meal
Don't drink your calories.
Only eat grains (bread, pasta, oats, pancakes) during your first meal

And in reality, you don't even have to start all of those habits at once. Pick one that you can succeed with and then do it. When that becomes a habit, simply choose another habit and add to it.

But whatever you do, do something. Exercise is great for increasing strength, improving cardiovascular fitness, increasing flexibility and other performance measures. But it's not all it's cracked up to be when it comes to fat loss. If you want to lose fat. You MUST follow the 5 rules above.

The best way to eat your veggies...

2011-10-07T15:56:00.000-07:00

We've heard it since we were kids. You have to eat your vegetables. Why? Vegetables are loaded with nutrients and vitamins that you can't even find fruit! But often people like to broil, boil, fry, stew, steam, roast and grill vegetables. This may improve their flavor but it often decreases their vitamin and mineral content.

Vitamins are very sensitive to the stress of heat. It doesn't take much heat for the vitamin levels in, say broccoli, to drop by as much as 50% when they are steamed. Think about how crunchy most vegetables are when they are raw. Then think about how soft and squishy they are when they are cooked. Also, look at how much color may be lost when they are overcooked. Vegetables can look pale and dingy when over cooked. Not only do they look non-appetizing, but they've also had much of the vitamins cooked right out of them.

The best way to eat vegetables is to have them raw. Think about when you have a salad. Raw lettuce or spinach, some carrots, onion, tomato, broccoli, raddish, cucumber and celery. These foods are BURSTING with vitamins and minerals and wth a little consistency, will drastically improve your health in a hurry!

If you really aren't too keen on eating vegetables as a snack, you can also sneak them into a smoothie by combining them with a food that has a very strong flavor. For example, you can add kale, spinach or carrots to a smoothie that has peanut butter, banana and a little chocolate and get all of the vitamins that way. Talk about mixing business with pleasure!!

In summary, vegetables will be better than the alternative no matter which way you have them (aside from deep fried) but eating them raw is the best way to make sure you get the full benefit from eating them. Your body will thank you!

To Snack or not to Snack?

2011-10-07T15:53:00.001-07:00

There is a bit of a conundrum that is faced when trying to lose weight. Actually there are a few. But I am just going to tackle one for today: Snacking.

Some people see it as their downfall, the reason that they are overweight. "I can't stop snacking! I feel like I eat all day."

Other people swear by it for weight loss. "I eat 6 times a day and have lost 10 lbs this month!"

So which is it?

Research and "belt science" would indicate that eating too much causes us to gain weight. At the same time research shows that those who eat 4-6 meals per day actually reduce more body fat than those who eat 1-2 times per day.

The truth? Eating frequently (every 2-3 hours) helps to speed up your metabolism, BUT....

Belly fat juice.

If your snacks are Tootsie Rolls, Doritos, M&M's and Pepsi (that includes diet too!) I will personally GUARANTEE that you will GAIN weight when you snack.

But if your snacks are carrots, cottage cheese, apples, yogurt, blueberries, almonds, pistachios or iced tea, then I will personally GUARANTEE that you will LOSE weight when you snack!

Eating frequently has been shown to alter your metabolism. If you eat more, you're metabolism will rise following your snack. However, if you eat sugary stuff your metabolism will not rise as much as when you have a high protein-high fiber snack such as apples and yogurt, or carrots and cottage cheese.

Fruits and vegetables will ALWAYS be a better choice than chips, candy and soda. Chips and candy have almost ZERO nutritional value and as a result are energy sapping slugs that only send your insulin levels through the roof. And when insulin is constantly high, it stores excess energy as FAT.

Belly Fat Fighters

Protein on the other hand has a much slower digestion, requires more energy to breakdown and when it is broken down can be used for repairing muscles, organs, bone as well as providing energy. And it increases your metabolism for up to 30%. And a fast metabolism is the key to getting rid of stubborn belly fat.

So how to sum this up and make it practical?

Snacks like cottage cheese, yogurt, 1 piece of fruit, baby carrots, broccoli sprouts, or a small handful of almonds or pistachios are the BEST foods for losing belly fat. Eat snacks in between your main meals and a small one before bed and your metabolism will begin to speed up and you'll start to see that spare tire slowly begin to deflate!

Are you an Outlaw??

2011-10-07T15:52:00.000-07:00

Outlaw lifting

Their is a wave of the future and it's called "Functional Training." Functional training involves using exercises that transfer to activities of daily living and use body systems that are common to everyday activity. Some of the basic tools of "functional" training are balance devices such as foam pads and BOSU balls, resistance bands and stability balls.

But sometimes, you just need to lift heavy. But these days it seems every trainer on the block is focused more on "functional exercises" rather than simply getting stronger. I don't say getting stronger at the cost of poor form, but many people are afraid of basic lifting simply because they think it causes injury. But instead what happens is that our bodies are so de-tuned and dysfunctional that we physically CAN'T do the lifts without getting hurt. So it's not that the exercisee themselves are bad, but that we are so out of shape, that in its current state of fitness, most human bodies can't HANDLE the work.

Now because of this, many exercises have been deemed unsafe and have been thrown into the scrap yard of exercises. And these used to be THE basis of exercise!! Think about it: squats, dips, overhead presses...people SHOULD be able to do these...but they are so out of shape that they can't. So the next time an injury occurs, think about the user before we blame the exercise.

In the Hi-5 FitCamp, we blend functional exercise and "outlaw" exercises. Why just this morning we did functional exercises such as slideboard hamstring curls and cable lifts, but also did a few "outlaw" exercises such as front squats and bench press. Just wait until tomorrow when we do... (GASP) HANG CLEAN + OVERHEAD PRESS!!!

Here is a quick video that I think you guys will like about an "OUTLAW" and his exercises...

And don't forget to find us on Facebook and become a fan!!

I was wrong...

2011-07-28T15:00:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,

But we don't eat protein, carbohydrates and fat. We eat food. So I thought the evaluation needed to be redesigned.

So here I am saying I was wrong. When I designed our nutrition evaluation, I placed too much emphasis on calories, macronutrient distribution and activity level.

In reality, nobody needs a program that is exact. Why? Because nobody would follow it. If an eating plan is too strict, most people will be too busy for it.

So what should you look for instead? Look for guidelines. But here's the kicker.

If you're given rules to follow instead of a strict diet and meal plan, then you need to follow the rules!

And there are some pretty simple rules:

Eat 4-5 meals per day
Eat fruits and vegetables with every meal.
Eat a lean protein with every meal
Don't drink your calories.
Only eat grains (bread, pasta, oats, pancakes) during your first meal

And in reality, you don't even have to start all of those habits at once. Pick one that you can succeed with and then do it. When that becomes a habit, simply choose another habit and add to it.

To snack or not to snack...

2011-07-13T09:53:00.000-07:00

There is a bit of a conundrum that is faced when trying to lose weight. Actually there are a few. But I am just going to tackle one for today: Snacking.

Some people see it as their downfall, the reason that they are overweight. "I can't stop snacking! I feel like I eat all day."

Other people swear by it for weight loss. "I eat 6 times a day and have lost 10 lbs this month!"

So which is it?

The truth? Eating frequently (every 2-3 hours) helps to speed up your metabolism, BUT....

Belly fat juice.

If your snacks are Tootsie Rolls, Doritos, M&M's and Pepsi (that includes diet too!) I will personally GUARANTEE that you will GAIN weight when you snack.

But if your snacks are carrots, cottage cheese, apples, yogurt, blueberries, almonds, pistachios or iced tea, then I will personally GUARANTEE that you will LOSE weight when you snack!

Belly Fat Fighters

So how to sum this up and make it practical?

How much should I be eating?

2011-06-15T16:55:00.000-07:00

Confused about how much you should be eating?

So since i've been working out more, and doing more throughout the day, I haven't been eating as much and I can feel that it has had a pretty astounding effect on me. But not the way you would think.

Most diets tell us to eat less. But what they fail to do is to tell us HOW MUCH less. Should we go on a diet of only 1200 calories or should it be a 2000 calorie diet? Should we even be eating fewer calories at all? What if we just need to rearrange the type and time of our calorie intake as it is right now?

Let me give you a quick example. I just started working with a new athlete. She's not overweight, probably hovering around 16% body fat and being a college athlete, one would assume is in pretty good shape. So as a part of the program she is on, I told her to complete a few days of a food record so that I could see what she was eating.

What I got back was not what I had hoped, but nonetheless not shocking. She's eating good food: lots of fruit, yogurt, chicken, beans, vegetables, wild rice, etc. But she's only getting around 1300 calories. Based on her age, height, lean body mass, and workout schedule, she needs AT LEAST 2200 on non-workout days and 2700 on days she works out.

And unfortunately, this calorie deficit is not helping her workouts either. Poor performance, excessive fatigue and even stagnation of weight loss is usually a result of not eating enough. Think about what happens when a person has a calorie deficit through decreasing food intake. When they lose weight, they have to cut calories more. When they lose more weight, they have to cut calories again. The question begs to be answered: when do you stop cutting calories?

My solution is that you have to feed your muscle, feed your exercise and feed your body if you want it to burn fat and RAISE your metabolism.

You like to eat right? Who doesn't. Well if you eat the RIGHT foods at the RIGHT time WITH resistance training, you'll get there. The biggest hurdle is finding the plan. This is where support from somebody trained in designing nutrition programs comes in. If you can dial in the plan, you can dial down the fat.

Books are often quite helpful too, because diet books have a diet spreadsheet type of page in them for you to print and follow. However, the downfall is that these aren't tailored to your specific needs. So use guidelines instead of following a generic diet to the letter. Here are 3 things that will get you on the right path:

Eat breakfast. Only about 25% of your daily energy use comes from exercise. That other 75% comes from A) your resting metabolism, B) your daily chores and work C) eating. So to lose fat you gotta get these 3 calorie burners fired up. Breakfast is the first step.
Eat more often. Each time you eat, your metabolism increases because it takes energy to break down food and convert it. So the more frequently you eat, the more you hit the gas pedal on your metabolism. So put the pedal to the metal and start eating 5-6 times per day!
Eat more protein. Protein revs metabolism much higher than carbohydrates and fats combined. Plus protein can be used for energy and it leaves you feeling full longer after you eat! So have meat, dairy or eggs with each meal!

So don't wait for the perfect diet book. It's not out there. But by following steadfast rules that are shown to work, you can lose fat and maintain muscle!

The BEST diet for fat loss is....

2011-05-31T16:30:00.000-07:00

The one that works for you.

See there is research backing up the fat loss benefits of many different diets. But here are some key points that have been recommended:

Eat more protein
Eat more greens/vegetables
Eat more fruit
Take more fish oil
Eat more frequently
Drink more water
Eat more natural foods
Eat more beans and nuts

So you see, diets don't have to be about eat less, eat less, eat less. And in fact if you "eat less" in order to keep your calorie deficit going, eventually your metabolism AND fat loss will stall. So instead of focusing on eating less, follow the points above and EAT MORE.

More protein, more oils, more water, more beans and nuts, more salad. It's pretty easy. Don't over think it.

By the way, do you see the one thing that you SHOULDN'T be eating more of?

Now the biggest question of all that most people have is, how much should I eat? Well that is something very specific to you. Every body is a little different and will have different caloric needs. Basically you can simply follow this link

http://caloriecount.about.com/cc/calories-burned.php

and type in your information. Now this isn't an exact number, but a pretty accurate estimate (if that isn't an oxymoron I don't know what is) of how many calories you use on a day to day. Then divide that number by 5 or 6 meals per day and this will give you the total calories you need per day to maintain your weight.

If you really want some accuracy, you can use the weight of your lean body mass. To get this number multiply your body weight by (1-body fat %). Then plug that number in. For example. I am 203 pounds at 15% body fat. So this comes out to 203 x .85 = 172 lbs. Give it a shot and see what you get.

Again if you're at all interested in really dialing in your nutrition, contact Diane Campbell, RD at diane@therealrd.com. She'd love to hear from you!

End of the Beginning

2011-05-13T15:15:00.000-07:00

So we wrapped up our first outdoor Hi-5 FitCamp of 2011. Of course it wasn't entirely outdoors, only 2 days. But by using a big hill, a pull-up bar and a step, we got a lot of work done.

And hopefully as a part of that work we showed that outdoor training is not only good for you, but it's pretty fun! In fact yesterday I was speaking with one of our members and we discussed how when you're a kid outside running, jumping, climbing, crawling that it was fun. But somehow as we age, we forget how much fun it is. I think the transition goes something like this:

Toddler - Excited to be walking. The world is yours to claim and no one can stop you!
Elementary school - running, jumping, and climbing are necessary skills for being the ultimate hide and seek player. You dominate your neighborhood.
Junior high - you enjoy playing sports and this is basically what your activity is now limited to. Your creativity diminishes and you start playing sports with formal rules instead of games with rules made as you go.
High school - you only participate in sports and your tactical games are no more. You now only squat, run, and jump according to your prescribed sets and repetitions in weight lifting. If you're a girl, you don't really do that stuff any more.
College - your still stuck doing the high school football workout even though you don't play football anymore. As a result you get big and bulky, but without the extra cardiovascular work from playing football, you grow a belly.
30's - You're so involved in making your career that fitness has been condensed to 30 minutes on a recumbent bike while reading the newspaper.
40's - You start to feel tight, restrictive motion and you're activity now consists of physical therapy for your knee's and back. A weekend fishing trip causes a week's worth of pain and soreness. You feel you've earned the right to say "I wish I was 18 again!"
50's & 60's - You now watch grandchildren climb the tree in your back yard and remember your "Glory Days." And it hits you how much you wish you could still run, jump, climb, roll and your tactical challenge is how you're going to get up the staircase of your grown children's home without your knees screaming in opposition.

But you know what? It doesn't have to be like that. Just because the majority of America grows old like this doesn't mean you have to.

The HI-5 FitCamp is designed to keep you fit, to place challenges in your way and to make you move like when you were in elementary school. This round we jumped, ran, shuffled, and did pullups outside while inside we did bench press, cable chops, medicine ball throws, SlideBoard work and some pretty heavy squats.

If you're in the HI-5 FitCamp, tell you're friends what their missing. Have them come try for a day or two. Although tough and challenging, it's pretty fun stuff. You get to challenge yourself and each other, you feel that youthful vigor from when you were a child and you get strong, flexible and fit.

Weight loss is simple...

2011-05-06T14:25:00.000-07:00

But it's not easy.

It's simple that you need to manipulate your body to use more of its stored energy (i.e. fat). But it's not easy because doing this takes work. But here are the nuts and bolts of weight loss.

Increase fat mobilization through increasing resting metabolic rate. This is everything. Unless you don't care where the weight comes from you just want to see it drop. But most of us would rather lose fat than muscle. So how do we get your resting metabolism up?

Exercise. This is the hard part. You have to work above what you're used to. And this can get pretty uncomfortable. You have to stress your muscles to make them grow!
Eat protein. Each time we eat, our body kicks up it's resting metabolism as a response to having to break down food. It takes energy to process food. Protein has a higher resting metabolism than both carbs and fat. So you need to be sure to eat protein with each meal. What has protein in it? Here is a past blog that discusses this in detail.
Recover well. When you don't recover from exercise, your body releases stress hormones that tell the body to, among other things, "store more fat because this is a stressful time!" So when you recover well by sleeping 7-8 hours a night, getting to bed before 10pm and drinking plenty of fluids and eating to replenish energy stores and rebuild muscle, your body feels free to use fat for energy. THE WORST thing you could do is to stop eating or go on an extreme low-calorie diet. This makes recovery difficult, slows down the body's metabolism to a screeching halt and causes your body to store fat.

The Fat Burning Zone in action.

Another thing to remember, their really isn't a "fat-burning" zone. The best fat burning zone is when you're doing absolutely nothing. So how can you really kick up the fat burning zone?

Exercise hard, eat often and recover well. All of these work to increase your resting metabolic rate by up to 50%. The harder you exercise the higher your metabolism is after the workout.

So if you're sore from this weeks Hi-5 FitCamp go for a 20 minute walk, stretch or attend a yoga class. All of these are low-intensity and will help ease soreness and get blood moving through to your muscles to improve recovery!

Just a quick peek into the future...

2011-04-28T09:06:00.000-07:00

If we could look 12-weeks into the future and look at ourselves, where will we be? What will we be doing and what will we look and feel like?

12-weeks from today it will be July 22: The middle of summer. Here are a few guarantee's.

July heat is a sure thing.

It's gonna be hot. July 22nd is near the beginning of Bakersfield's hot season which usually lasts from the first week of July through mid-September.

Yep and that's about all I've got for guarantee's! Everything else is unknown.

And there is some real beauty in this because you have 12-weeks worth of decisions to make. There will be tough times and good times but you have the choice as to how you will respond to them.

When it comes to how you look and feel, 12-weeks is enough to make some pretty significant progress! But consider that weight loss and body changes take hard work during exercise and some REALLY hard work in the kitchen!

If you've been involved with the Hi-5 FitCamp, you've heard me say that you can't out-train a bad diet. There is simply no way around it. But changing your body is easier with a plan. Now although I can't give a custom nutrition plan for everybody, because everybody is a bit unique, here is what a typical day of food selection should look like. But again, quantity will be a bit different depending on each person's weight.

Breakfast

Oatmeal + protein powder + fruit
1 Multivitamin
Fish oil

Snack

Start going nuts for shakes!!

Cottage cheese + salsa + flaxseed tortilla chips
1-cup water

Lunch

Sirloin steak mixed into a large salad + pecans + vinaigrette dressing
1-cup water/tea
Fish oil

Snack: Smoothie (click here for the ultimate smoothie guide)

1 fruit + 1 veggie + handful of nuts + protein powder + liquid

Dinner* (1/2 plate should be veggies, 1/4 plate meat, 1/4 plate grains)

Meat + veggies + nuts + complex carbs (i.e. cous cous, quinoa)**
2 cups water
Fish oil

**if you don't want grains, just add more greens to your plate!

Now this may seem quite a bit different than what you're currently eating. If it feels like this, then just make a small change at a time. For example, if you usually don't eat breakfast, you could have a small bowl of oatmeal and a glass of milk. Do this for a week, then add another healthy habit!

Want more information? Shoot me an email and I can help guide you in the right direction!

Want to really work your abs? Do THIS!

2011-04-21T14:53:00.000-07:00

Bret Contreras is a pretty smart guy. He's one of those strength coaches that practices what he preaches. He's got the real world experience to go along with the Master's degree from Arizona State.

Although Bret is mostly known for being the go-to guy for women looking to add some size to their glutes, he's done a TON of EMG research.

A while ago, Bret did some work and found which exercises utilize the lower abs, obliques and lower back to the greatest extent. Here's what he found:

Just another reason to do chin-ups ladies.

For lower abs he found that chin-ups beat out every other exercise in muscle activity! Can you believe that?! But you have to do them with correct technique. Basically keep a straight line from your shoulders to your knees, keeping your lower back from hyper-extending.

He found that Turkish Get-Ups (TGU) also had the overall highest levels of combined activation for lower abs, obliques and low back extensors.

In summary here is the best Ab-blasting circuit to really give your abs a good workout. You'll see it works other muscle groups as well, showing that isolation may not be the best formula for abs.

TGU x 5 each side
Chinup x max -2 reps
Body saw (think slideboard ab slides, or stability ball roll-out) x 12
Kneeling cable lift x 8 each side

In the Hi-5 FitCamp we've done all of these exercises. But we've never done them back to back to back in a circuit. I smell a challenge!

NEVER do this!

2011-04-19T16:31:00.000-07:00

Here I am, chasing Lucy all over the playground.

So yesterday morning I took my daughter Lucy to the park to go play. She's an adventurous little girl, loves climbing, slides, being chased by her dad acting as an angry pirate, all that fun stuff.

However, while I was there I noticed what appeared to be a personal trainer working with a client at the park. Being in the same field of course I paid attention to what he was doing and what his client was doing. And it made me think of the things I SEVERELY dislike about old school fitness techniques. I'm going to give you a quick run down of this awful event.

Super slow exercises using a very light resistance band. Want to burn fat? Build muscle. Not a ton of it. But you need to add some muscle. Why? It burns more calories at rest. And 80% of calories burned at rest come from fat. Want to build muscle? Use some heavy weights.
2:00 rest periods between sets of crunches. Honestly when you're training for fat-loss, you need to chew through (pardon the pun) as many calories as possible in your workout. Why? To burn more calories you need to work harder, move faster and with shorter rest periods. And who's to say you need a dedicated "do-nothing" rest period? Use super-sets to get more from your rest periods. You only need to rest the muscle group you just worked. You don't need to rest your lungs! So do push-ups, then do squats THEN rest for :30. At that point its probably been a minute or so since you finished your push-ups.
Skip curls (and other isolation exercises). Doing slow curls while standing on a
band is another waste of valuable time. Perhaps this lady I was watching has all the time in the world (it was about 9:30am, so maybe she does?) but most people I know don't. So they've got to make their workout count. Instead of isolating muscle groups choose exercises that use multiple muscle groups together. Pull-ups, for example, use biceps, upper back, glutes and abs - talk about bang for your buck!

Betcha she's not talking!

If you can converse during the workout (aside from rest) your not working hard enough. Plus, how difficult can the exercise be if you don't even have to focus on your form or mentally focus to push through those last few repetitions? Seriously, if you can chit-chat during an exercise, it's time to up the weight or choose another exercise.

On a side note, I read the other day that you have to be state licensed to be a barber. However, anybody can be a "personal trainer." I'm so embarrassed.

Have a great Wednesday make sure you're doing everything you can to add some extra movement into your day!

Last question...

2011-04-14T06:40:00.000-07:00

The Hi-5 FitCamp is quite an eclectic group. As with any group of people there is a wide array of personality. However, perhaps one of the wittiest has to be Jim Cowles. Jim (or Cowles as he's known when Jim Francisco is around) has also gained a bit of a legend about him. if you get to the Hi-5 FitCamp early enough, you can usually hear a Mike Moore telling stories about Cowles' ability to run up mountain sides as if they were a 40-ft hill or continue climbing when everybody else has hit the wall. In other words, Cowles is in a class of his own.

Jim graciously accepted my request to have him on the Hi-5 Hot Seat. Below is the interview. If there is one thing people should get from this it's the last question. Cowles has been active most of his life and you can pretty much bet he's experienced things that are difficult and tried activities he didn't like. I think how we approach things says a lot about us.

So without further wait, here is my interview with Jim Cowles on the Hi-5 Hot Seat:

Hi-5: Describe how your physical activity has or hasn’t changed over the years. Have you always been an endurance athlete?

Cowles: My activities have changed over the years. I was never a very good athlete so my activities were tied to distance running and I developed that aspect. I also have always enjoyed basketball, though I was never very adept at it. In the last five or six years I have enjoyed bicycling and have found it to be a lot easier on my body than long runs. Then last year Mike Moore got me to join the fit class and that has added another dimension which I now really appreciate.

Hi-5: You’re in pretty good shape Jim. So what was it that brought you to the Hi-5 FitCamp?

Cowles: Mike was so enthusiastic about the fit class that many of us decided to try it.

Hi-5: What does your activity level outside of the Hi-5 FitCamp look like?

Cowles: I do Fitcamp on Tuesday and Thursday then usually go for a 30-40 mile bike ride in the morning. On Monday, Wednesday and Friday I run 4 to 6 miles from Bagels and Blenders at 5:00 AM. On Saturday I either do a long run or a long bike ride. Sundays are basketball days. I play with my son and grandson and several of our friends for two hours.

Hi-5: You hang around with a pretty active group of people. How important is the social factor in sticking to an exercise program? Do you ever exercise alone?

Cowles: I still run and bike with friends I have run with since 1974. We have raised children together and gone through all of life's challenges and joys. If not for the friendship over the years, I am sure I would not be doing this . Over the years many others have joined us. They have also become good friends and confidants. (What is said on the run stays on the run...usually)

Note: Bear (crawls) are fueled by salmon.

Hi-5: What are your 3 favorite foods?

Cowles: Pastries. Don't tell my friends but I also like veggies and salmon. But my reputation as a sugarholic is well deserved.

Hi-5: Do you have a pre-exercise eating routine that you follow at all?

JC: I almost never eat before exercise.

Hi-5: Take us through a day in the life of Jim Cowles.

Cowles: I work out in the morning (early) Biking usually ends around noon. Being retired I have a free flow routine (time for naps) most of the day. At 2:30 I go to BHS to help coach the distance runners. Evenings I watch the news, have dinner, watch some tv or sports. Then bedtime before 10:00. Real exciting stuff.

Hi-5: What has been your greatest accomplishment in life?

Cowles: My greatest accomplishment? Hmmm . I am a happy person. I have a wonderful wife, two great children, four beautiful talented grandchildren.

Hi-5: What are some of your personal goals that you have yet to achieve in life?

Cowles: My personal goals are personal. I would like to become more open to the amazing lives around me. To see the individuality in each person I meet.

Hi-5: What are your 3 keys to fitness success?

Cowles: 1) Have fun! Have fun! Have fun!

2) Attitude is everything.

3) There is great joy in accomplishing difficult challenges.

Bonus!! 4) If it is a sacrifice don't do it, or change your attitude.

Take what you can from this interview. Everybody has a unique story, personality and

Another recovery challenge

2011-04-11T14:15:00.000-07:00

Well we've wrapped up another 4-week Hi-5 FitCamp session. This one was certainly different. We really got into some heavy lifting basics: bench press, squats, pullups, lunges. In addition, the core work and glute activation really helped stifle some common overuse injuries, such as anterior knee pain, low back pain and rotator cuff strains.

Speaking of overuse injuries one thing you'll need to add to your home stretching protocol is calf stretches and heel walks. Both of these will be added to the warm-up but because we are going to be adding a lot of hill work and running to our programs we want to try our best to avoid shin splints.

Gastrocnemius and soleus of the calf muscle group.

How can you do this??

Well as I mentioned in past posts, stretching the calves involves stretching those that cross above the knee as well as those that anchor below the knee on the tibia.

To stretch the gastrocnemius, we do a straight knee calf stretch. Basically this is what most people do when stretching. In this the knee is fully extended and the gastrocnemius as well as the soleus is stretched. However, depending on how tight the soleus is, the gastroc received most of the stretch.

The straight knee calf stretch involves pushing up against a wall or something sturdy with the back knee full extended and the heel pushed to the ground. You'll feel this stretch higher in the calf.

To stretch the soleus we can take the same position, but we need to put the knee into slight flexion (bend the knee). What this does is allows the gastroc to relax so that the soleus receives all of the stretch.

The muscles on the front of the shin are easily overworked.

So the question usually comes up as to which is more of a problem for shin splints? And the answer is the Soleus. Why? Well considering that the gastroc does not even anchor to the tibia that pretty much rules it out. But research also shows that the excessive eccentric contractions (stretching contractions) induced by the plyometric effect of jogging places incredible strain on the soleus and other lower calf muscles. This will cause pulling on the tibia and cause inflammation around the lower leg.

In addition to that, each time a step is taken, the foot must be pulled upward as the leg moves through the swing phase. As a result, the muscles of the front of the tibia also have to do a considerable amount of work. If these muscles are not prepared for it, they will get very sore and overworked just like any other muscle.

To prevent this soreness you can spend about 30-seconds each day walking on your heels. This will help to strengthen the muscles as well as actively stretch the calf muscles. You'll feel like Frankenstein, but you're body will thank you come next week!

This weeks recovery circuit!!

Go around as many times as you can in 15 minutes. Attempt to do it without stopping.

1. Floor Y, T, W x 8each (lie face down on the floor and make these letters by lifting your arms off the ground for each repetition)
2. Heel Walks x 20 steps
3. Lunges x 10 each leg
4. Squats x 20
5. Pushups x 20
6. Split Jacks x 20 (perform jumping jacks but have your legs move front to back instead of inside/outside)
7. Bearcrawl x 20
8. Mt. Climbers x 20
9. Squat jumps x 20

See you for our next Hi-5 FitCamp on Monday, April 18th!!

A royal pain in the...knee?

2011-04-05T10:17:00.000-07:00

Knee pain is one of the most common overuse injuries that afflict people. Slow developing, overuse knee pain can have a slew of causes. But with just a few quick exercises to add to your day, you can prevent knee pain from slowing you down!

First off lets take a look at the anatomy of the knee.

The upper leg bone (femur) ends in the shape of two big knobs. These are called condyle's with the one to the inside of your leg being medial and the one to the outside being lateral. On top of these sit the patella (knee cap). The knee cap slides up and down the groove as we flex and extend our knee. It helps to think of the knee cap as a train and the femoral groove as the tracks.

Usually the patella runs smoothly up and down the track. However, as is usually the case with overuse injury knee pain, the patella gets pulled to one side or the other.

As you can see in the picture, there are quite a few muscles that affect the knee. If one of these muscles begins to tighten up due to overuse, or if one becomes weak, the patella will be pulled to the side of the stronger muscle. As a result it is very important to keep the muscles that directly affect the patella flexible.

There are also indirect factors that can cause knee pain. The two most common are immobile ankles (tight calves) and immobile hips (tight/weak glutes).

I'll start with tight calves first. Basically the muscles of the calf regulate the ability of the ankle to move. If the ankle cannot move into a dorsiflexion position (foot comes up towards the shin) then during squatting the knees will suffer from an increase in shearing force. Shearing force occurs when one bone (the femur) has energy moving in a sliding force across an adjacent bone (tibia). As a result the knees will suffer a lot of pain as the passive tissues attempt to prevent the shearing force from actually causing movement.

The muscles at the hips on the other hand control the rotation of the femur. If the muscles at the hips get weak they will allow the femur to rotate internally. When this happens, again the patella will not track correctly in the femoral groove. As a result the patella will get irritated as the added friction will begin to wear on the back side of the patella.

So what can we do to keep these things from happening?

Soleus Stretch

Beginning with the calves, simple calf stretching daily for a total of 60-90 seconds will help keep the calves flexible. Most important is stretching the lower calf. To do this we lean against a wall as if attempting to push it over. This will stretch the back leg. Then simply bend the back knee slightly while keeping the heel of the back foot on the ground. Hold this for :15-20 seconds and repeat 3 times on each leg.

To stretch the glutes you do a seated glute stretch by sitting in a chair and laying your ankle across the opposite knee, sit up with a tall posture and lean forward from the hip. You should feel a stretch in the hip of the leg that is off the ground.

Split Squats

For strengthening, simple hip bridges, single leg Romanian Dead Lift and split squats work well. Just be sure to push through the heel of the foot that is doing the work.

Next week we will look at common back injuries and how you can prevent them.

Do you have one of THESE in your life right now?

2011-03-31T13:54:00.000-07:00

I told my kindergarten teacher I was going to be a Navy pilot.

Who did you look up to as a kid? Who did you want to be like?

I remember when I was about 5-6 years old I had just seen Top Gun (not the best movie for a 5-year old) and wanting to be in the Navy. My dad was in the Navy, my mom had been in the Navy, my grandfather was in the Navy and now Top Gun had just elevated being a fighter pilot to superhero status.

As we grow up, our hero's change though. Many of us let go of role models and mentors as we age.

But in the Hi-5 FitCamp there has been 1 person who just about everybody has said they want to be like. This person is a great mentor for many women. She occasionally goes by the name "Sarge" and can unleash hell on the group in the kindest of voices when filling in for me. She's encouraging, but relentless; compassionate but unwavering in her expectations not only of her self, but also of the group.

But the thing that allows others to identify with her is that she's been through the misery of the Hi-5 FitCamp now for going on 5 years. She knows the how tough it can be and but also knows the results it can produce.

Kelly Bittick is who so many women and a handful of men (myself included) have aspired to be like when it comes to fitness. Kelly is strong, flexible, stable, mobile, powerful and persistent and I thought it would be nice to see a few things through her eyes.

So here is my interview with Kelly on "The Hi-5 Hot Seat: 10 Questions with Kelly Bittick."

When did you first get interested in fitness? Were you an athlete in high school?

During my high school years my sister was a manager at a couple of different gyms here in town. That’s where I started getting interested in working out. She was also into bodybuilding for a while so I was exposed to that lifestyle of intense training and diet regimens. Most of which I knew were too extreme for me. In high school, I had a very short lived diving career and was involved in dance. That’s about it . Sort of a late bloomer in the athletic sense.

Did you have any preconceived notions on what women should and shouldn’t do for exercise? Were you ever afraid of using heavier weights?

I can’t recall thinking that there should be any sort of set boundaries for womens exercise specifically. I know in a gym setting, you see women typically just using machines more than bar bells or dumbbells. I was never afraid of using weights but probably didn’t try to push it as much as I do now. 10 years ago, many women including me, weren’t really as much into the outdoor/not-afraid-to-get-dirty type of workouts that we see going on now.

Kelly doing what Kelly does: pushing us all to the next level.

You were the first woman in the Hi-5 FitCamp to do full chin-ups and in the last test you did 8 in 30 seconds. That's pretty impressive, considering many women are "afraid" of pullups. Is there any exercise you’re afraid of doing?

I can’t think of any particular exercise that I would be afraid of doing at all, I would at least attempt it. Well maybe the rock climbing wall is a bit challenging for me with my fear of heights issues ….but I will still do it!

What are your top 5 favorite exercises?

Jump squats, “speed skaters”, sprints, med ball slams, any kind of cone drill.

What are your 3 favorite foods?

Chicken stir-fry, bean/cheese/rice burritos, apples/ peanut butter.

What does your typical day of eating look like?

Let’s see…COFFEE, yogurt/fruit smoothie breakfast, mid morning oats with nuts, dried cranberries, lunch usually some sort of sandwich or salad with chicken or turkey (there’s a Sequoia Sandwich conveniently located in my building at work), afternoon snacks might be apples/peanut butter, mixed nuts, or the second half of my lunch. Dinner a piece of chicken, fish, or turkey patty, salad-veggies/rice or pasta Sometimes omelets for breakfast or dinner. Spaghetti with ground turkey occasionally. Let me just add…of course I indulge sometimes…I just try to do it in moderation.

Do you take any supplements?

Only thing I take is a protein/energy shake powder I mix into my morning smoothies. It’s loaded with a plethora of vitamins and minerals and a tri-protein blend.

Besides the 4 hours per week in the Hi-5 FitCamp, what does your activity level look like and what types of activities do you enjoy doing?

Right now, I’m trying to get a run in a couple evenings a week, a long run and or a bike ride on the weekends. Sometimes I like to do some hill work on the bluffs or run stadiums. Maybe I should say those last two are more of a “love/hate” thing??? Ha Ha.

How much sleep do you usually get?

Honestly…not enough. Most of the time. 6 to 7 hrs ? I am working on this though.

What is the one thing that people can do to stay motivated in pursuit of their fitness goals?

Don’t limit yourself or be afraid to “step outside of the box”. This applies to your exercise as well as diet. This is why I am such a huge fan of the Hi-5 fit camp, the movements and exercises that we are introduced to are always changing and evolving. These challenges are what make it fun while giving way to positive RESULTS….I know it has for me!

________________________________________________________________________________

So there you go! Between the nutrition, work ethic and mindset, Kelly has really excelled in health and fitness. She enjoys it for herself and enjoys teaching others about it! Thanks a ton Kelly for all you bring to our class. It wouldn't be what it is without you!

The 1 common thing to ALL successful fat loss plans!

2011-03-23T09:53:00.000-07:00

How many times do we have to repeatedly fail at something before we figure out that another strategy is needed?

Nobody jumps to the top of Mt. Everest.

When people attempt to lose weight, they often set overly ambitious goals and fail miserably. How long does this have to happen before they realize that maybe overly ambitious goals don't work?

Think back in your life, when have you attempted to work out everyday for 2 months to get in shape for summer? How often have you had a really good day of eating and then be overcome by horror when you say, "I only have to do this EVERY day for the rest of my life!"

How intimidating is that!

Well over the time that I have been fitness specialist I have seen hundreds of people set goals that even the most disciplined of people could not follow! And instead of backing off some of their goals and proceeding with others, they simply give up on everything.

This all or nothing mentality is not beneficial at all! The truth is that progress is most consistent when small changes are gradually introduced. The example we see most often is that of nutrition.

On Thursday everyone attending the Hi-5 FitCamp is going to receive a hand-out titled "10 Steps to Change the Way You Look and Feel." These are basically the 10 habits that we want to develop to burn fat and maintain a lean, healthy body. However, when you receive this I don't want you to look at it and attach all 10 habits.

Instead, pick 1 that you are most confident you can complete for 2 weeks. Unless you are 90% sure you can complete the task, do NOT start to build the habit. You do not have to go in order. Simply pick the one you feel is the easiest and then start working towards it. Then in 2 weeks, simply pick another. Continue until you have changed the way you eat, live, move and sleep.

Remember, an elephant can only be eaten 1 bite at a time, and a mile is only walked 1 step at a time.

Also, don't forget that this weekend, March 26th we will be hosting a nutrition workshop titled "Eating Healthy While Dining Out" presented by Diane Campbell, RD.

The workshop is from 9-11am and is open to everybody. So bring your friends, bring your family and learn how to develop healthy habits while dining out!

Does exercise even WORK for fat loss??

2011-03-17T09:36:00.000-07:00

If this is your breakfast, exercise will NOT work for fat loss

Being that I am a fitness specialist, this must sound like a ridiculous question. If exercise doesn't work for fat loss, then what the heck am I selling?

I'm selling health: increased strength, flexibility, endurance, heart function, decreased cholesterol, improved movement and overall quality of life

But does exercise work for fat loss?

In previous posts I've said yes. In another I said NO. But here is the final word (until I change my mind again!)

In the presence of a diet that EXCLUDES breakfast, and INCLUDES high refined carb intake, only 1 or 2 meals a day, minimal levels of sleep and no supplementation, EXERCISE SUCKS for fat loss.
"Well dang, Aaron. That's pretty rough." But it's true. If you do all of the above and expect 4 hours a week of exercise to undue the damage, your hoping for rain without a cloud in the sky.

If this is your breakfast, exercise works WONDERS for fat loss!

But if you:

Eat a high protein breakfast
Eat 4-6 times per day
Include protein (dairy, meat, tree nuts)
Minimize grains in your diet
Drink 1-2 liters of water per day
Get 8+ hours of sleep a night

Then exercise will certainly help with fat loss!

But as you can see, nutrition is the key to fat loss. But what should people eat for fat loss? And even now that you've read the rules on fat loss, how does the plan work? What should my day of eating look like? Well, below is a sample!

Wake-up - 1/2 cup oatmeal with protein powder mixed in, + fruit + 3 fish oil capsules
+3 hours - 1 cup yogurt, palmful of almonds, + 1/2 Liter water
+6 hours - turkey sandwich (open face), salad + vinagraitte dressing with walnuts, + 1/2 liter water
+9 hours - protein powder + spinach + strawberry smoothie
+12 hours - chicken, 2 servings of veggies, 1 cup milk + 3 fish oil capsules
+15 hours - almond milk, peanut butter smoothie, 1/2 scoop protein powder

As you can see it really isn't that difficult. But you have to plan. If you hope to do this by the seat of your pants, your looking for gold in a dry river.

So in summary, does exercise work for fat loss. Absolutely. And absolutely not. It all depends on your eating. Follow the rules above and you'll be on your way.

3 things NOT to eat when at a restaurant

2011-03-16T08:20:00.000-07:00

Everybody loves a going out for dinner. Even those who love cooking and find it therapeutic, sometimes just want to have somebody else do the food prep, cooking and clean-up.

But most people really struggle to make wise choices when dining out. How do you order something healthy, yet appetizing? After all, aren't the "healthy dishes" boring and uneventful? Not always. And instead of telling you what to do, how about we look at what NOT to do? That list is a little shorter.

So here are 3 things NOT to eat when out at a restaurant.

It's not the oil that's criminal, its the bread!

1. Bread/chips at the table. I know this is so difficult to do because they are just staring at you, begging to be eaten. Bread waiting for olive oil, chips with the sad look on their face because all they want is to be eaten with salsa. But this is one of the quickest ways to destroy a great day of eating. First off, they are ALL high glycemic carbohydrates that will quickly be digested and stored as fat.

2. 1/2 your meal. Most restaurants grossly over-portion their foods. So you've got 2 options. A) Split the meal with somebody or B) have your server bring a to-go box so you can put 1/2 of your meal away for later. What's that? You got the 1200 calorie cobb salad? Have them bring your other half in a box so you can eat it the next day. Now all of a sudden that 1200 calorie salad is only 600 calories!

3. Anything fried. Aside from a psychological reprieve, fried foods do nothing for you. In fact eating fried foods can slow your metabolism and cause your body to store fat rather than use it as fuel! Instead have foods cooked in olive oil. This unsaturated fat is great for you and can help build muscle, improve the health of your heart, fight inflammation and it tastes great!

Here's the big take away with these 3 things: It is very difficult to resist eating chips/bread, french fries/zucchini/onion rings or eating all of your meal. Not many people have the will power to stare at a bowl full of bread or chips and keep their hands out of it, or to stare at a plate full of delicious food and not continue to pick at it, me included. I'm one of the biggest culprits - If there are french fries left over and nobody is eating them, I'll start picking at them. If there's bread on the table, you bet I'll eat it!! So just remove the temptation!

Have more questions about what to eat while your dining out? Then register for our "Eating Healthy While Dining Out" workshop with Diane Campbell, RD. Diane is going to share even more tips and strategies on how to burn fat and eat healthy while still enjoying a night on the town!!

What SHOULD you eat prior to a workout??

2011-03-14T08:29:00.000-07:00

Well we've just started a new Hi-5 FitCamp. To be honest, this morning kicked butt! It was awesome to see everybody pushing hard, including the newbies!

For people who are just beginning or returning to an exercise program, its very logical to think that restricting calories will lead to a greater loss of fat. And to a certain extent, this is correct. However, there are certain times that you should NOT go without food.

These two times are

In the morning
Before exercise

Let me explain why going without food in both of these situations is NOT a good idea.

No breakfast will only make this belly bigger!

Skipping food first thing in the morning is not beneficial because in a nutshell, it causes your body to begin to breakdown muscle for fuel. Muscle has an energy cost at rest. In other words, muscle burns fat at rest, not 100% fat, but close to 70% of energy at rest comes from fat. So the more muscle you have, the more fat you burn. But if you wake up and proceed with your day without giving your body energy to fuel its movement, your basically killing your metabolism!

Now if you proceed with exercise without eating prior to it, the above will take place, only in an accelerated fashion. Not only that but hypoglycemia will cause your exercise quality to be poor, your concentration and focus to suffer and there is a good chance you'll begin to feel nauseated and dizzy. Who wants that?

In addition, you again will put your body into what is known as a catabolic state where higher levels of cortisol are released into your bloodstream. Cortisol basically converts protein to carbohydrate for energy through a process called gluconeogenesis. When this begins to happen, again your metabolism will slow down.

And here's another horrible fact for you: high levels of cortisol are correlated with STORAGE OF FAT in your belly. That's right. Not happy with the size of your belly and want it to get BIGGER? Then by all means, skip breakfast, skip your preworkout meal and then continue to not eat!

So what should you eat for breakfast? And what should you eat for a pre-workout meal?

Well breakfast should always include a lean protein. So eggs, milk, cottage cheese or yogurt are ALWAYS a good choice. Include a little bit of fat such as flax seed oil or some almonds with your protein and a small piece of fruit or a veggie with your eggs you're set! Quantities will vary depending on your body size and that is something you'll need to see a registered dietitian (RD) for.

What should you have prior to exercise? Well you don't want something too heavy as then you'll feel like your running with a brick in your belly. But still something to provide energy. Below are the things you should look for as well as some examples:

A small glass is nearly the perfect workout fuel.

Carbohydrate based (20-40g)
a little protein to help prevent catabolism (8-12g)
Try to keep it in liquid form
Minimal fat

So what fits these descriptions?

A small glass of OJ with a 1/2 serving of Protein Powder
A small glass of low fat milk 20-30 minute before workout
Apple juice with 1/2 container of yogurt
Small low-fat yogurt, + 2 tablespoons of granola

All of these should be eaten about 20-30 minutes before a workout. If you have them too much closer, you make experience some digestion issues.

In summary, you must eat or drink SOMETHING prior to a workout to

Build muscle
Burn fat
Keep effort high
Fight fat in your belly!

Upcoming Hi-5 Fitcamp...and an upcoming event.

2011-03-11T09:23:00.000-08:00

Hey gang,

The a new round of the Hi-5 FitCamp is coming on Monday morning! Keep telling your friends and family that summer is right around the corner and waiting till May to start shaping up is too late!!

Also remember that this weekend is DAYLIGHT SAVINGS and we SPRING FORWARD 1 hour. Which means it will be dark once again when we get to class in the morning.

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As for what to expect this round of the Hi-5 FitCamp, well we are going to have a couple more brute strength type of exercises that women should NOT BE AFRAID OF. Remember what was said about pullups. "They aren't LADY-LIKE" or "I don't want to get BULKY!"

Trust me, you won't get bulky. But by doing some heavy lifts you will -

Increase your resting metabolism
Burn more fat
Be more resistant to injury
Give you the "toned" look all women want
and...

Wait... Lets go back to that concept of "toning" and really slap it up side the head.

Toning is a word that gets MIS-used all the time. Every woman and most men want it, but what exactly is it?

If I ask somebody what their goals are and they say to get toned, what exactly are the asking for? Often times I get the answer of, "well a little less fat, a little more muscle. You know...toned!"

I bet she does pull-ups and squats every now and then.

So what is muscle tone? Muscle tone is simply an increase in resting tension levels within a muscle. So how do you increase muscle tone? Easy.

Add more muscle. In other words, toning IS bulking up, just in more "female-friendly" words. And to really bulk up, a person must eat. A LOT. So what happens if you start gaining TOO MUCH muscle?

First off, the odds of that happening are slim-to-none. But if it DID happen, how would we combat it?

Stop eating so much. Remember, the body can only rebuild if it has sufficient materials. Stop giving it the appropriate material and the body will stop building. But it will maintain strength.

And that is something every woman wants.

Recovery Workout For March 7th

2011-03-07T14:30:00.000-08:00

Alright guys and gals...

We've wrapped up the 2nd round of the Hi-5 FitCamp for 2011. This past round was quite brutal as was the first. I have to give credit to everybody who has been busting their butt this year because these workouts have been pushing harder than we've EVER pushed.

So during this recovery week I wanted to give you something that would help recover as well as ease some of the strain from your aching shoulders (we did A LOT of pushups this past month!)

So here is this month's Recovery Workout

Do each exercise for :20 seconds, then rest for :20. Rest for 1:00 and repeat.

SL Squats are great for the glutes!!

Lunges
Stickups
Smurf jacks
Scarecrows (hold your elbows out to the side and bent 90 degrees, then rotate your arms all the way up, then all the way down)
Single leg squats(right leg)
Stickups
Single leg squats (left leg)
Scarecrows
Split Jumps
Stickups

Enjoy it and be prepared for a new workout that's got some classic flavor as well as some new exercises that you'll love!

The fountain of YOUTH...for men??

2011-03-04T09:10:00.000-08:00

Every month or so, I get a new copy of "The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research." Each month has plenty of good information in it. But this months had an article that I knew I had to read it.

Its been a pursuit of men everywhere since who knows how long. I believe it was Ponce de Leon who was searching for the fountain of youth somewhere in Florida back in the 1600's. But he should have been looking in a weight room.

A recent study by Canadian researchers took 20 older men with an average age of 64 and compared their muscle mass, muscle thickness and bench press/leg press strength levels to groups of younger men with an average age of 24 years old.

At the beginning of the study, the older group had less muscle mass, less muscle thickness, and strength levels were nearly half that of the younger group. The older group engaged in a resistance training program consisting of bench press, leg press, pulldowns, shoulder press, leg extension, leg curls, biceps curl and triceps extension, for 22 weeks at 3 times per week.

Hey Cowles, I got your picture!!

At the end of the 22 weeks, the older group had gained over 6 lbs of muscle, with some in the group adding over 14 lbs of muscle!! Their strength levels had increased remarkably, leg press strength increasing by an average of 120 lbs and bench press strength increasing by nearly 70 lbs!

At the end of the 22 weeks, the older group was significantly improved in all measures and were nearly equivalent with the younger group in strength of both leg press and bench press, lean muscle mass and muscle thickness!

The study did not evaluate other health measurements such as cholesterol, blood pressure, resting heart rate, vascular resistance, etc. But this study certainly showed that if you are looking to turn back the clock, strength training is THE WAY to go about it!

So there it is guys, if you aren't lifting at least twice per week, you may be missing the boat!

Stay tuned later this weekend for next week's workout!

The WRONG way to lose weight...

2011-03-03T15:42:00.000-08:00

Perfect conditions for the fat burning flame?

Many people think there isn't a wrong way to lose weight. Their philosophy is if the number on the scale is dropping, the smile on their face is growing.

But what if you weren't losing fat, but were losing muscle? As we age, muscle helps to reduce injury, improve balance, maintain bone density, increase metabolism, and give your friends something to look at and be jealous of.

Now there have been some pretty strange methods of losing weight (i.e. the Hotdog diet). But there have also been some methods that had the potential for success, but from a practical standpoint, weren't great for losing fat. One of them was recently written about by a graduate classmate of mine in the Strength & Conditioning Journal.

Brad Schoenfeld wrote a review article titled "Does cardio after an overnight fast maximize fat loss?" In it, Schoenfeld describes the idea behind the technique. Basically the thought is that after an overnight fast, the body will shift from carbohydrate energy source to using fat as the primary energy source during steady state (constant speed and incline) cardio.

Schoenfeld first points out that looking only at the amount of fat burned during exercise is quite short sighted because there are still 23 hours left in the day where our body has an energy demand. In addition, he cites recent studies showing that interval training results in much greater fat loss over the course of days and weeks.

He also cites research showing that a pre-workout meal of protein + carbohydrate actually increases post-exercise energy consumption, and that energy is primarily fat. Another key point that Schoenfeld makes is the fact that in a fasted state, the body will begin to breakdown muscle tissue. The effects of this are slowing of metabolism which actually INCREASES fat storage!!

Burning nothing but time...and maybe some muscle.

In summary, this article really highlights the arguments for and against early morning cardio on fat loss. Overwhelmingly, the results are that steady state cardio without eating prior to exercise is a BAD idea. Heck, for fat loss, steady state cardio isn't very successful AT ALL!!!

So what does this mean for you?

Well if you're going to exercise you MUST eat or drink something prior to working out. Otherwise you risk burning muscle for fuel!!But you're not a morning breakfast person? Have some juice mixed with protein powder. This will absorb faster and prevent muscle breakdown as well as increase your fat burning potential AFTER your workout, where it really matters.

Have a great weekend!!

Personal goal: ACCOMPLISHED!!

2011-03-01T15:08:00.000-08:00

Chinups: Not for the weak willed.

How many times have you set a goal, only to forget it a week later?

Why do we do that? Is it because it's not important to us? I don't think that is the case, or else we would not have made it a goal in the first place.

Is it too ambitious? Sometimes. But goals are suppossed to be ambitious, right? We NEED something to strive for!

Or is it that we are too much of an "I want it NOW!" society? That is probably the most common reason why our goals are not accomplished with a high rate of success.

Well yesterday morning a member of our Hi-5 FitCamp achieved a goal that she set quite a while ago. Its a goal that, for most women, seems out of reach. One of those, I'd like to be able to do that but probably never will.

See, yesterday morning a member of our class did her first full chinup. Thats right. You read that correctly. And not only did she do A chin up, she did 3. Its one of those moments that will stick in my memory for a VERY long time. Why? Because at the moment that she finished the first one there was this yelp of "I DID IT!" I turned around in time to see her dropping down from the top. Then we got to watch her do 2 more on the next set.

It's like watching your best friend graduate from college, get married, or tell you that they are going to be a parent. Well, maybe not THAT intense, but it was pretty flippin awesome!

And for those who weren't there, don't think that this little lady is NOT a power lifter by any means. She stands 5'1" (on a good day) and weighs in at around 110 lbs. So don't go thinking that she's some genetic freak. And that goes for the other women in our Hi-5 FitCamp who can do chinups too.

There isn't anything incredibly different about them, no history of high level athletics, or elite level training. They are simply normal women who work hard, and aren't willing to let a physical feat be a "someday" goal. Because "someday" is just a synonym for never. Set goals, keep goals, accomplish goals.
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In other news, we are in week 4 of this Hi-5 FitCamp! Which means next week we are off and I will be sending out a home workout for you to stay fit, strong and injury free in a 2 quick workouts over the week.

If you're interested in joining our next round of the Hi-5 FitCamp, just reply to this email and we will make sure we get you signed up and ready to rock for our March 14th Hi-5 FitCamp!

Also please stop by our Facebook page and hit the "Like" button. We are going to start giving away free FitCamp sessions for simply responding to questions and interactive polls through out the week! Just search "Hi-5 FitCamp" and hit the "Like" button!

You can also just hit the "Like" button at the top of this blog!

My typical conversation at weddings...

2011-02-23T14:53:00.000-08:00

Start with the meats and veggies...and stay there.

Whenever I am in a very social environment, I always seem to end up talking about nutrition. I guess it just follows me around. But as soon as I start talking about nutrition I get one of two responses.

A) Most people give me an uncomfortable laugh as if to acknowledge they don't eat the way they should (as if admitting the problem excuses it)

B) They are genuinely interested in nutrition and improving the eating habits of themselves and their family.

I have to imagine that if you're reading this, you would be in the latter group. So lets pretend we're sitting at the wedding of a common friend and we are at the same table. Most often our talk begins with me complaining about the abundance of sugary sweets or me being excited by the fact that they have peanuts at the table.

Usually we'll talk about what I do and how work is going. I'll talk about how exercise is only a small part of the fat loss equation. Then the question inevitably comes, "So what should I be eating to lose fat?"

The first thing to remember is that there are a lot of factors that work together to cause gain in body fat. And to try to manage all of these at the same time usually results in a high incidence of failure and frustration. So the best bet is to take 1 step at a time. This can be difficult because so many things are dependent on each other. Keep that in mind with the following statements.

The first rule of fat loss nutrition is to gradually reduce carbohydrate intake. And the easiest way to do this is to start replacing grains with greens. A slice of bread may have 70 calories, but 4 packed cups of spinach have only 60 calories. And this is the same with most vegetables. They are all much, much lower in carbohydrates.

In addition to that vegetables all have very low glycemic index scores. This means they don't have a very strong insulin response and keep your energy levels very stable. Energy is released slowly and steadily and prevents energy build up which leads to conversion of carbohydrates into fat.

Rule 2 is to eat often. Research has shown that when you eat smaller meals over the course of the day, you lose fat. Why? Well your only giving your body the energy it needs for the short term future. You see most of the time our bodies glycogen (sugar) stores are between half-way and topped off. So you cant go off and eat a massive bowl of pasta and then expect it to sit in your gut until the time comes to use it. Nope. You're body will store it as FAT. But by eating small portions every 3-4 hours, your able to give your body just what it needs. In addition this keeps your metabolism running high because every time we eat, our body ramps up its metabolism. This is called the Thermic Effect of Food (TEF). And it can be a big factor in fat burning.

The third BIG rule is to eat protein and eat it often. Protein further increases TEF and also maintains muscle mass and has a very, very low glycemic response! So if you choose the chicken breast over the pasta, you will help keep insulin levels low, keep metabolism high and help build muscle which increases muscle even furthur!!

So start with just one of these 3 Habits for Fat Loss and watch the weight start to drop!

Are CARBS out to get you?

2011-02-16T15:36:00.000-08:00

Carbohydrates were the golden child in the 80's and 90's. Prior to that, the only people who cared about them were those exercise wacko's like Jack Lalanne. But over the past 10 years they have quickly gotten a bad rap as being a fat storing monster that only serves to add to back fat and a spare tire.

But what if our culture has now all of a sudden completely over-reacted to a few studies with headlines such as, "CARBS STORE FAT" and "CARBOHYDRATES ARE BEHIND YOUR GROWING BEHIND!"

After all, we are an overreacting type of society. Is it possible this has happened again? Probably.

The truth is carbohydrates are not out to get you. They simply provide energy for our body. That's it. It is our responsibility as to how we are going to use them.

Here we are going to discuss some of the better functions of carbohydrates and how you SHOULD use them.

Carbohydrates are only a source of energy. They fuel movement, living, breathing and rebuilding. Carbohydrates are basically the construction workers of our body. (To further the analogy, protein would be the cement/bricks/material the construction workers use).

But not all carbohydrates are the same. They are categorized as simple, semi-simple and complex carbohydrates. All carbohydrates have an insulin response. Because insulin is simply an energy transport hormone. It will put the carbohydrates to work wherever there is a need.

Extra carbs won't go home. They go to your hips instead.

Our muscles and liver store carbohydrates for use throughout the day. However, sometimes we eat more carbohydrates than we have room for. Think of its a construction job site. If there is work to be done, there you will obviously put more workers. But when the work slows down on a construction site, they usually tell some of the workers to head home. Your body can't do that with carbohydrates. If you eat too many carbohydrates, your body will simply start storing them as fat.

So like a construction site, when you get too many workers and not enough work to be done, you get workers standing around. And usually they all huddle together to chit chat. Your body does this too. Its called adipose tissue, or in other words, body fat.

So we really have to be careful that we eat enough carbohydrates to fuel exercise and repair, but not so much that we store the extra energy as fat.

What are some strategies to accomplish this?

The first step is to educate yourself about food. Most people don't know how many calories are in a slice of bread much less those mashed potatoes they are eating for dinner. So start looking at nutritional labels on the foods you buy. Also you can keep track of what you eat on websites such as www.caloriecount.com or www.fitday.com. There are also smart phone apps that can be used as well.

Next you need to know how big your fuel tank is, so to speak. How big are your carbohydrate stores and how full are they at any given moment? Well most people can store upwards of 400g of carbs between their muscle and liver stores. However, a major factor in how much you can eat is dependent on your activity level. The more active you are, the more carbs you NEED to eat to fuel the activity and replenish energy stores. Use 200g/day as a baseline load and then you can add more if you have a more active lifestyle.

Now lets put that information to use. Lets assume that when we wake up in the morning, our carbohydrate stores are about 90% depleted from the 7-8 hour fast we call sleep. This puts us at 20g of stored energy. Now this doesn't mean you get to go eat 180g of carbohydrates (remember you need energy throughout the day, not just in the morning). Instead aim to keep carbohydrates to between 20-30g per meal (a large salad or a slice of bread's worth). If we eat 5 meals per day, this gives us 100-150 g of carbohydrate intake over the course of the day. Not bad.

Next we consider our exercise intensity and quantity. Most exercise such as our Hi-5 FitCamp will pretty much deplete energy stores by the end of the workout (300-600 calories burned). So we need to not only fuel the rebuilding of muscle, but also now the energy stores need to be replenished. This means that after workouts, we can have upwards of 50-80g of carbohydrates (a whole bagel or large bowl of oatmeal).

Be responsible for your food choices.

Granted this was a long post. But you need to understand that carbohydrates are necessary. But they must be kept under control. Less is not better, more is not best. Optimal is best. And this really depends on your physical activity levels and personal decisions. At some point you have to take responsibility for what you are putting in your mouth.

To be safe, I recommend that people simply trade grain products (high in carbs) for greens/veggies and fruits (lower in carbs). This way you don't have to go counting calories. Instead can simply say no to the bread and ask for a second serving of veggies with that large steak!

Eating more to lose weight = counterintuitive

2011-02-04T15:32:00.000-08:00

Over the past 20-30 years we've been told that we need to eat less and exercise more to lose weight. In a very, VERY general sense, this was the case. But that's the same as taking an engine-less car to a mechanic and him saying you've got engine trouble. Its vaguely accurate, but doesn't come close to telling us the truth.

Here are the basics for weight loss:

An energy deficit must occur - calories in must be less than calories out

Pretty simple, huh?

But lets look at both parts of that equation. What happens when we eat?

Metabolism increases in response to feeding
Protein increases metabolism more than carbohydrate or fat
Hormones are released to transport fuel either into muscle, or to be used for repairing the body
There is an increase in vitamins, minerals, fiber and other beneficial micronutrients that help our body to run at its best

What happens when we do resistance training?

Increase in metabolism
Increase in protein sparing
Increase in fat usage during rest
Increase in muscle tissue, which in turn increases resting metabolism

So if we look at the two factors to weight loss we can deduce that eating less will

Slow our metabolism
Provide less energy to fuel and repair the body
Decrease in vitamins, minerals, fiber and other micronutrients

So now, does eating less really sound like a great plan for losing weight? Maybe not as good as it first sounded. Now stay with me...I'm going to make a point soon. I promise.

A calorie deficit is needed to lose weight. Here are two drastically different models for weight loss.

A) Eat 1200 calories a day and burn 1800 calories through exercise and resting metabolism.

B) Eat 2400 calories a day and burn 3000 calories through exercise and resting metabolism.

Well if you're like most of the country who loves to eat, you'll probably choose option B. And this would be the better choice. Go back to what happens when we eat. Our metabolism INCREASES. When we exercise our metabolism INCREASES. So what if we did both more frequently? Then our metabolism would be soaring!!

A few months ago, many of you purchased "Gourmet Nutrition." One of the authors of the book, John Berardi, has an interesting thought on this concept. He calls it energy flux, or G-Flux. The basic premise is this: the more energy we get coming in and going out of our body will increase resting metabolism, increase nutrient intake and overall be much more successful for losing fat.

Here is a quick link to an interview he did that explains it in a bit more detail. Make sure you've got about 10 minutes to read it though. But its certainly worth it.

In summary, the words of one of our more "popular" Hi5-ers are quickly becoming the truth. "I workout so I can eat," is quite accurate. But the key is you still have to maintain a calorie deficit. There is a lot more to the G-Flux concept, but once you come to understand it many of you, especially you exercise junkies are going to appreciate it.

If you're interested in finding out more about your own energy intake and output, schedule a Nutrition Assessment with me. They are completely free to Hi-5 FitCamp members and take about 30 minutes.

Have a great weekend!

2011 Hi-5: Round 1 - Status:Complete!

2011-01-28T08:58:00.000-08:00

How our Hi-5ers felt after one of our workouts!

So here we are at the end of January! We've wrapped up our first round of our Hi-5 FitCamp and I must say I'm quite proud of both myself and of this group.

I'm so proud of the people that finished up this month. Every week got tougher and tougher (by design) and they just kept coming back for more! Even had a handful of newbies that made it through! So congratulations to them!!

Now that we are approaching our off-week, I want to make sure I get an off-week workout for everybody. But here is the thing to remember: This is an ACTIVE RECOVERY week, with an emphasis on recovery. This is why the workout I provide for you isn't a 1000 calorie eating, mini-Volkslauf. I want you to stay active but allow you to recover and prevent exhaustion. The recovery workout I provide is more just a little metabolic kick-start with corrective goals. This is why I usually try to cap them at 15-20 minutes for each workout.

More than doing the workout, I want the people in the Hi-5 Fitcamp to take this week and use it to dial in their eating habits. Take some time to get acquainted with www.caloriecount.com and start to use it. Once you see how easy it is to use, you'll start to reap the benefits of KNOWING how much food you actually consumed, how much of each macronutrient you consumed and it helps you plan your meals as well.

Speaking of meal planning, since we are not having class this week, its a perfect week for you and I to talk about your nutrition and eating habits! I have recently begun offering nutritional assessments. These assessments include body composition and measurements, your personal caloric needs and setting up steps for you to develop healthy habits.

These take about 30 minutes and this week I am offering them for free to Hi-5 members current and past, for free! But there are only a limited number of appointment times. So if you'd like to take advantage of this, please let me know (aaron@pairmarotta.com) and we can set something up.

On to the workout! This week's challenge is geared toward improving core strength and glute function!! Perform the exercises as a circuit doing each exercise for 1:00. Minimal rest between sets.

Single Leg Hip Bridges (30 sec each leg)
Mt. Climbers
Side Plank
Hip Circles from hands/knees (:30 each leg)
Split Squats - Right leg
Split Squats - Left Leg
Stick Ups
Single Leg Squat - Right Leg
Single Leg Squat - Left Leg

Hip Circle 2

Hip Circle 1

Squat Jumps

That workout should take about 10-15 minutes depending on how much rest you take between exercises. If you can complete the entire thing without any rest, try to make it twice around with no rest.

Have a great RECOVERY week and I'll have nutrition information for you through out the week.

How URGENT is your health?

2011-01-25T08:20:00.000-08:00

As I sit here planning out my day, I have to distinguish between things that are important and things that are urgent.

This is a great question because many people can't separate the two! Until I thought about it, the only things that were urgent in my day were important. And things only became important when they became urgent.

I touched on this last week a little bit, but you really have to lay down your values in life. Now most people will include honesty, family, faith, integrity, etc. But often health is left out. And perhaps its because in our country people tend to think that as long as they aren't sitting in an emergency room they are healthy.

I don't think that's health food!

There was a study out recently that reported 90% of Americans think they are healthy. Now obviously we know this can' t be true because 68% of the country is overweight! So at this point the question becomes how do we define health? What is the criteria?

Getting back to stating of values, health has to be a value and a PRIORITY. Our families, friendships, jobs, and so much more rely on us being healthy.

Concern and protection of our health through proactive measures. Planning your meals and planning your exercise will make them both much easier to accomplish and be consistent with.

Now I am going to open up to you a little bit. My wife and I had a talk the other night and she really opened my eyes to something. What it boiled down to was that I can plan out my schedule at work, plan workouts, plan my eating habits, plan things to do with my daughter, plan out my schedule for grad school. But when it comes to our relationship, too frequently I just "show up." I fail to plan anything and I put all the emphasis of maintaining our relationship on her.

Is this your threshold for health?

So I started thinking back on what my values are. I can say and write down that I value family, faith, health, honesty, hard work and friends. But where have I put each of those on the priority list?

For most people, their health and fitness isn't near where it should be. If we neglect our health as a nation we are basically saying that its not important. But it will become important when our health becomes urgent. And this is NOT what you want! Because at this point, the only time you think of your health is when its rapidly deteriorating and we end up running around in "crisis" mode.

Here's the final point. Don't let your health get to the point that it becomes urgent. Urgent health means that your body is failing you.

Your health is important. But don't wait until you're in the emergency room to start thinking about changing your life to include health in your list of values.

2 things you MUST do to lose fat this year...

2011-01-18T08:06:00.000-08:00

This past weekend my family took a trip over to the central coast. We stayed at the San Luis Bay Inn and the weather was beautiful! Sunny, warm - shorts, t-shirt and sandals weather. My wife and daughter drove over on Friday afternoon and are headed back tomorrow. I on the other hand went over Saturday morning and came back on Monday morning.

I've started using my VALUABLE time more PRODUCTIVELY.

One thing I have developed a habit of on road trips I take by myself is taking my iPod along and listening to podcasts. You see as I have gotten older, I realize that time is at a premium. So, I can either use the drive time listening to songs I've heard at least 93 times before, or I can use the time to educate myself.

So this weekend on the drive back I was listening to a seminar by the creators of the Franklin-Covey planners/time-management systems. This was a basic workshop and they discussed something they have named the Productivity Pyramid.

The base of the Productivity Pyramid is "Values." Values are what we base our decisions and the rest of the pyramid is based on our values. The second level of the pyramid is "Goals." The goals you select will be reflective of your values. Now granted there are two more levels in the pyramid, I am not going to get into those just yet because I want to address the "Goals" step.

Goals can be long term or short term, but either way, a goal is something you hope to attain or achieve. But the truth is most people don't have goals. If you don't have goals then you really aren't going to have any direction in your life. Instead, you simply move from day to day just handling crisis after crisis, or maybe you're AVOIDING crisis after crisis. But either way, there is no direction.

Now the level above "goals" in the "Productivity Pyramid" is "weekly planning," and the level above that is at the top. And this is the last thing that is "built." Do you see how each level builds on the one below that? So if you don't have goals, your week isn't going to have any direction! And if you're weeks don't have any direction, how can your days have any direction?

So the first thing that we all need to do if we plan to lose weight is set a goal. Not just a "I want to lose weight" kind of goal. But instead, a more Specific goal, a Measurable goal, an Attainable goal. So instead of wanting to "lose weight" try going with "I want to lose 10 lbs by summer." Now you have an goal that you can start to plan around. Then after you've got a weekly plan, now you can planning smaller steps.

The second thing you need to do in order to lose fat this year is to MAKE A CHANGE. Just make a small change. Here are some small changes you can make that take less than 11 minutes a day.

Start taking a multivitamin in the mornings
Drink a liter of water each day
Take two 5-minute stretch breaks during the day
Walk up and down 2 flights of stairs twice
Play with your kids for an extra 10 minutes after work

You don't have to do all of these, but choose one and make it a habit, doing it every day for the next 14 days. To lose fat this year you MUST

Set a Specific, Measurable, Attainable goal
Make a SMALL change in your life that is in the direction of attaining your goal!

Have a great week!!

The BEST Ab exercises for you and yours...

2011-01-10T08:04:00.000-08:00

The single arm row is a GREAT spine stabilization exercise.

Dr. Stuart McGill is one of the top researchers in the field of spinal health and exercise. He's coauthored hundreds of research studies on how the lower back functions, how it is injured, how it is used during strength training and the effect of poor spinal control.

So along the way you can understand that he has explored what exercises work best for developing a fully functional core. Not surprisingly we do a lot of these exercises in our Hi-5 Fitcamp.

Plank
Cable Chops
Hand Walkouts (aka Inchworms)
Side planks
Single Arm Rows


*Smooth sailing requires a stable spine.*

These exercises force the transverse abdominus, external and internal oblique, quadratus lumborum and psoas major to stabilize the spine while the muscles of the shoulder and hips create movement at their respective joints.

Briefly put, the core is made up of muscles that support the spine like guy wires support the mast of a ship. If any of these wires were to lose tension, the mast would begin to tilt in the opposite direction.

From a rehabilitation/corrective view point, we see this a lot in people with back pain. These are exercises that the average person should be doing to maintain a healthy back. These are not just for athletes or for rehabilitation patients, they are for everybody.

So the next time you think of ab work, remember that the abs are not there to create motion at the spine. They are there to prevent spinal extension and flexion, rotation, and lateral flexion.

5 ways to TORCH fat in the 2011

2011-01-03T08:46:00.000-08:00

Breakfast: Your Number 1 fat fighter!

Every New Year, millions of people join a gym in hopes of changing their lives. But you wouldn't overhaul your car, your home or your stock portfolio without knowing how each of those systems work, would you?

So why are trying to alter something as complex as the interaction between your body and your psyche in hopes of losing weight by yourself? At the minimum you need guidance. At the most you need a personal trainer.

But regardless of which path you choose, here are 5 ways to absolutely incinerate fat. These are in order of Importance. If can do only 1, start with the first. If only two, do the first two. And so on.

Eat breakfast. Anybody, and I mean ANYBODY, who has lost weight and been able to keep it off while still maintaining a desirable figure eats breakfast. And it doesn't have to be extravagant. Here's a strategy. On Sunday evening, get a plastic bowl and 8 eggs. Crack all of the eggs and scramble them in the bowl. Put the bowl in the fridge and now every morning you've got a scrambled egg mix. Just put 1/2 a cup of the mix onto a frying pan and you'll have a hot breakfast in about 3-4 minutes.
Start taking a fish oil supplement. Fish oil has been shown to increase metabolism, using fat stores and keeping your arteries soft, pliable and your heart healthy. Why wouldn't you take it? It takes roughly :30 seconds to do this daily.
Stretch at work. Set a timer on your phone, your watch or your computer for 60 minutes. When the timer goes off, push away from the desk and stand up. Put your right hand behind your neck holding your elbow high and tip your head to the left. You should feel this stretch in your neck and upper back. Next do 5 body weight squats. Then sit back down, reach your arms to the ceiling and lean back. Feel the stretch in your arms, abs and lower back. Feels good, right? Now get back to work!
Buy a 1-L aluminum water bottle and use it. Your liver is what metabolizes fat. It also detoxifies your body. The more water you drink, the better your liver works. Drink at least 1-L of water a day.
Join the Hi-5 FitCamp. Honestly its the best workout you'll get for the price. The Hi-5 FitCamp uses metabolic circuits to burn fat and build muscle 4 hours each week. Which is more than most people do when they buy that rip off gym membership. All you have to do is show up and put forth some effort. You don't even have to think about what you're going to do as we have a full month of awesome workouts planned and prepped. We started today, but it's not too late to sign up.

Email aaron@pairmarotta.com to get registered for the Hi-5 FitCamp.

So that's it. 5 easy steps to incinerating fat in 2011. Here's to a healthy and productive year!

100th Post!! - 5 Habits to develop for the New Year...

2010-12-27T08:20:00.000-08:00

Well, Christmas day has come and gone. Which means that Christmas parties are gone and....New Year's parties are just days away.

But even more irrelevant, this is my 100th post on the blog!! Hopefully you're finding the information in each blog post useful, relevant and interesting! If not, just go ahead and send me an email or leave a comment with your suggestions!

Onward and upward to 2011!!

Being that between 42-45% of Americans make New Year's Resolutions but only 8% of resolutions are maintained, I wanted to give you guys 5 Healthy Habits to develop for 2011.

So here are 5 Resolutions that are easy to keep and help shred fat:

1. Eat Breakfast. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day for a variety of reasons. The first being that it stimulates your metabolism that has slowed considerably over night. Secondly it stimulates peristalsis which is a process that moves food through your digestive system, helping to maintain a healthy digestive system! A healthy breakfast is also incredibly easy to make!! Try some "Coach's Oats" with chopped apple, walnuts, a teaspoon of brown sugar and a cup of green tea!

2. Start eating 1/4 of mixed nuts per day. Although these guys are high in fat, the fats they are highest in are the good, artery cleaning unsaturated fats. Just stay away from the flavored and honey roasted nuts. Stick with raw almonds, walnuts and cashews. When nuts are roasted, the fats change chemically and many are unusable by the body when they are heated. Mixed nuts are also a high protein, low carb snack that will keep your metabolism up and your insulin levels low and stable, keeping you in the optimal belly fat burning "zone."

Seated Adduction Machine

3. Don't just buy a gym membership, sign up for class. Gym memberships are just that: a membership. It's not a workout, it's not activity. In fact, its like purchasing an anatomy book and then saying you're going to become a doctor. You have to have somebody teaching you how to USE what is available to you. Most people purchase a gym membership, walk in, hit the treadmill for 15-20 minutes and then look around for something that looks like it works their "trouble" spots, such as the seated adduction machine that wastes tons of time and only serves to make those muscles stronger, not to lose fat from that area.

A class will help you stay focused, will be progressive and will open your mind as to exercises you can do on your own when the time comes. Plus, with classes all you really have to do is show up and put forth some effort. No thinking, wandering or guessing as to what to do next. Just show up and follow the instructor. Plus there is a set schedule so if you miss it, it's like missing any other appointment. I personally recommend our Hi-5 FitCamp. But I bet you already knew that!

4. Buy a book on nutrition and start learning. It's difficult to follow rules when you don't understand why the rules are there. By purchasing a quality nutrition book, you'll begin to understand why you need to eat so frequently, why your body NEEDS fat, why Low-Fat foods can actually MAKE YOU FAT, and why protein is so important in losing weight. I recommend The Metabolism Advantage by Dr. John Berardi. Great book, quite inexpensive and an easy read.

5. Look back at last year. Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it. If you aren't satisfied with the way you looked and felt last year, then you need to know why you looked and felt that way. Look back at pictures of yourself and become determined to make a change. Take a picture on January 1st and then take one on the first day of every month and make sure that you are making progress. If you aren't changing, then something in your life isn't working. Most often its a result of inconsistent eating, poor food choices, and not enough movement. In which case you need to look at Number 4 again.

Look, 2011 doesn't have to be the year your resolutions drop flat. Set goals, write them down and achieve them. After all, we aren't getting any younger!

What cures being sick and tired...

2010-12-22T17:01:00.000-08:00

For the past 3 days i've had the flu. I don't know where I got it from, all I know is I've got it and it leaves me feeling pretty much exhausted!

This morning, my wonderful wife was perusing the internet and happen to come upon an article about cold symptom remedies. Now I am well aware that the flu is not the same as the common cold.

One thing the article did discuss however, was the effect of exercise on duration of a cold or the flu. The article stated that the inclusion of mild to moderate exercise during a cold would help to increase circulation of white blood cells to help fight off invaders.

I thought it was pretty interesting. So I came up with this little circuit for you guys to keep the flu from getting to you!

Do each exercise for :45 seconds and then rest for the other :15. Perform all 10 exercises and its a 10 minute workout!!

Hip Crossover

Plank
Single Leg Squat Right Leg
Single Leg Squat Left Leg
Hip Cross Over (Lie on back, lift knees and feet in the air, put arms out to side and drop legs from side to side)
Close Grip Pushups
Wide Grip Pushups
Forward Lunges
Smurf Jacks (jumping jacks, but stay squatted as if ducking under a rail)
Stick ups
Mountain Climbers

If you're really in the mood to do some work, go through it twice!!

Have a Merry Christmas and a safe and healthy New Year!

Why we gain weight over the holiday's...

2010-12-16T08:20:00.000-08:00

A real fat-burning Christmas Party!

With Christmas only 9 days away, many people are right in the middle of Christmas Party Madness. That time when everybody and their brother has a family, work or just for fun Christmas party.

But many people are almost afraid of this time of year. Why? Because it's that time of year when everything seems to go downhill with their nutrition program.

But why is it that we do indeed gain so much weight at this particular time of year? Is it because we eat too much?

Well, partially, yes. But that isn't the whole story.

As a country we are actually MAKING THE PROBLEM WORSE!!

How can this possibly get worse you ask?

Well how many people are chasing the "low fat" options at these holiday parties? For that matter, how many foods actually even have ANY fat on them?

When we as a country realize that too much fat in food isn't what is making us fat, but instead it is too much sugar is what is causing us to gain weight!!

Remember a few weeks ago when I talked about hormones and how they dictate how our body functions? Based on our exercise and food intake, our body responds by releasing hormones. When we eat high sugar or high carbohydrate meals our body releases INSULIN to get that sugar out of our blood stream and into our muscle cells and fat cells.

You see there is an optimal zone of functioning for our blood sugar levels. If our blood sugar is too high, then a massive insulin release occurs and we end up storing all this food as fat. If we don't have a high enough blood sugar, then our body goes into a type of "starvation mode" and our body will hold onto fat and instead use muscle and other proteins as fuel.

We want to be right in the middle. Like Goldilocks. Not too high, not too low, but juuuuust right!

So how can you find that "just right" blood sugar level at a Christmas Party??

Here are 4 simple guidelines:

MMMM...Can you taste the insulin yet?

Look for meats at the party. Meat inherently has little to no sugar. As a result, you have a minimal insulin release while still getting plenty of energy and protein that INCREASES your metabolism.
Avoid sweets. These are by definition loaded with sugar and going to send your blood sugar levels into "fat creation" mode.
ABstain from alcohol consumption. Alcohol really isn't a great idea for anybody trying to change the way they look. But also, alcohol is broken down into carbohydrates and actually is a very simple sugar that increases insulin release. So you can imagine the carnage that ensues when you put booze and cupcakes together.
Find the deviled eggs and veggie platter. For some reason everybody is afraid of deviled eggs. Perhaps its because they are creamy and taste like they are bad for you. But remember that they are almost entirely protein and good fats. So load up on those bad boys!! Also remember that veggies have a MUCH lower insulin response than grains that are found in cookies and other treats. So make it your goal to demolish the veggie platter!!

So there are 4 simple guidelines to burning fat at Christmas parties! Enjoy the season, enjoy the time with friends and family, and remember the REASON we celebrate the day that is Christmas!

Another Gourmet Nutrition Recipe

2010-12-15T08:17:00.000-08:00

Well as I continue to work my way through Gourmet Nutrition, i've found another great recipe! This time its the Fruity Cashew Quinoa (pronounced keen-wa).

Pretty good stuff and its fairly simple to make.

Add 1/2 cup of quinoa to 1 cup of boiling water or vegetable broth (although I recommend the broth for more flavor).
Lower to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes.
While that is cooking, chop 1/2 an apple, 1/4 an orange (tiny bits) and 1/4 cup of cashews.
After the quinoa has cooked for 10 minutes add the chopped fruit and cashews, turn off the heat and let sit for another 10 minutes.
Then add 1 tsp of chopped cilantro at the end.

This goes great with chicken skewers (according to the book). I didn't have it with BBQ'd skewers as my 2-1/2 year old daughter Lucy was running around with me and she doesn't do well around BBQs. So I just had the quinoa. Good stuff, it would probably go good with a pineapple burger or some other tropical protein dish.

So to everybody who purchased this awesome cookbook, what's your favorite dish out of the book so far? You can post your reply here, on our Facebook page or head over to the forum bearcave.freeforums.org.

Have a great Wednesday and enjoy the rest of this Bonus week of workouts!!

Holiday woes...

2010-12-06T08:37:00.000-08:00

This is a really quick blog post but it needs to be repeated.

Christmas and Thanksgiving are notorious for being the worst times to try and lose weight. Why? Because everything is centered around food. More specifically high carbohydrate foods loaded with sugar.

Cute little mice like this will reign havoc on your belly.

What do high carb foods do to us? Well, even if we are following a calorie restricted diet where calories consumed are fewer than calories burned during the day, high sugar/simple carbohydrate foods still have a field day with our INSULIN levels and as a result our body will STORE THE SUGAR AS FAT.

And the funny thing is that everybody wants the low fat, low calorie option that is usually LOADED with sugar or simple carbs. Did I mention what sugar/simple carbohydrates do to us?

Our bodies need protein. Protein slows the digestion process, has a MUCH more stable insulin release and increases our metabolism more than ANY carbohydrate can. Protein is a WIN-WIN-WIN situation. Yet foods that are high in protein such as turkey, chicken, steak, fish and eggs are demonized as being "high fat" foods.

Here's a quick little secret for you: IT IS NOT TOO MUCH FAT THAT IS MAKING OUR COUNTRY FAT. It is the combination of fat eaten with sugar/simple carbohydrates that is making our country fat. We need to eat more protein, more fat (in the form of unsaturated fats), and fewer simple carbohydrates. If this simple model is paired with exercise, then weight loss shouldn't be a problem.

So here are 5 rules to follow this Christmas season to get you on the fat loss wagon by eating right, rather than simply eating less.

Eat more protein. At that Christmas dinner, feel free to have some ham, turkey, chicken, fish or eggs.
Eat more fat. Almonds, cashews, walnuts, pecans, and peanuts are all good for you. Just don't get the candied variety. Focus on eating raw nuts
GET THE CANDY AWAY. After talking about the havoc that sugar can play, do you really want to "test" yourself and see how strong your will is by leaving candy around the house or office? Get it out of sight. Out of sight, out of mind. Plus if its not there you can't eat it.
Drink only non-calorie drinks. Holidays are notorious for having high calorie drinks around. Most parties will have soda, beer, eggnog, and some other sugary drink. Stick with hot/iced tea, water, or coffee. Although with coffee, you'll need to have a little protein with it. I recommend this green tea. It's tasty, not overwhelming and is free of caffeine and calories.
Eat before the party. If you know you're going to a Christmas party where there is sure to be sweets, candies and other bad foods, have a good healthy meal before the party. Don't gamble on there being healthy food there for you to stick to your eating plan. If you believe this, you're fooling yourself.
Bonus tip---Motivate yourself with Exercise. If you are going to a party in the evening, go through a quick 15-20 minute circuit at home that challenges you. By doing this you'll be motivated to maintain your eating habits because you don't want to waste the 20 minute circuit you just did. Why take a step forward only to take 3 steps back at the party?

A basic body weight circuit such as this takes only 15 minutes and can burn up to 150 calories. Just don't use the exercise to justify your bad eating habits at the party. Here is a link to a quick 15 minute circuit that sill chew through calories (pardon the pun).

Remember, you only exercise 4 hours per week. Exercise alone will not create the change you are looking for. Nutrition is a must.

Reasons for fitness

2010-12-02T08:38:00.000-08:00

When engaging in a fitness program you have to ask yourself what exactly you want to be "fit" for. Do you want to be fit for show (i.e. looking good) or fit for go (i.e. performing better)?

This past week my family and I were in Queen Creek, Arizona with my brother and his family, my dad and one of my sisters. One of the things we all look forward to during these get-togethers is playing some touch football and some random baseball games, in addition to the usual trip to the golf range.

Brothers and Baseball, not much better than that!

This weekend during the baseball activities it was only myself, my twin brother and my 10-year old nephew. So basically it was batting practice while the third person was out shagging fly balls and rounding up the ones that got by him.

It was so much fun to pretend to be a major league outfielder and go full sprint after a fly ball and make a great catch. The subsequent "OHHHHH!!" that came from the 3 of us after the catch would make anybody there smile. It was a moment of boys being boys and my brother and I being 10 years old again.

The great thing about this was the fact that none of us woke up the next day feeling like we'd been hit by a truck. Of course nobody expected my nephew to be sore, but when neither my brother nor I were sore the next day, it was a slight surprise for us. Neither of us are pro baseball players and neither of us routinely swing a 3-lb wood bat as hard as we can, or chuck a baseball 200 feet for hours on end.

But it was at this time when I realized that although I enjoy the aesthetic effects of strength training, but more importantly I value the functional benefits of the type of exercise I do. I enjoy being able to play baseball, golf, football, skateboarding, rock climbing, etc. without straining muscles, spraining joints or waking up feeling like I was mugged.

The Hi-5 FitCamp does just this for its members. Enjoy the things you like to do and enjoy them even more when you're body is capable of it.

So in this season of life as well as the year, I want you to think about the reasons you exercise. Then I want you to ask yourself if you are taking advantage of the physical abilities that your training program provides. Do you get out and use the ability you have developed?

Your enjoyment of fitness will show up in other aspects too!

Those who do pursue recreational activities outside of exercise will enjoy their fitness programs even more because they know that the things they do during their training will make their recreational activities even more enjoyable!

It doesn't have to be a sport that you play, but perhaps you enjoy cooking. The physical fitness you develop is more encouragement to put together your own healthy and tasty recipes. Perhaps you'll develop enough to write your own cookbook!

Its how you feel AFTER you eat...

2010-11-23T09:10:00.000-08:00

If there is one thing that Thanksgiving is associated with, its stuffing your face and then slipping into a food coma. That and maybe football.

But more importantly, its the food. And for some reason people tend to lose all inhibitions during Thanksgiving and go absolutely ballistic with their food intake, more specifically their carbohydrate intake.

As I've mentioned in the past, carbohydrate intake (especially refined carbohydrates) are associated with high body mass and body fat levels. Refined carbohydrates (those that appear in sugary treats and white bread, pasta, and cereals), have a strong insulin response and unless you get out and use those carbohydrates up, you'd better be prepared for a little extra padding on your hips.

Now with all that being said. If you follow a good diet:

Eating 4-6 meals a day
Eating protein and fruits/veggies with each meal
Drink lots of water
Eat grains ONLY in the morning or AFTER exercise

Then you can go ahead and have a great meal and enjoy it. Then the next day hop back on your plan.

Here is the thing I have noticed: People who have a good diet that follows the 4 rules above, will not feel guilty about indulging on Thanksgiving. In contrast it's the people who have horrific eating habits who are ALWAYS feel guilty and miserable after Thanksgiving.

You have to change your mindset with food. Those that are most successful at changing their body and improving their health repeat over and over that they changed the way they look at food. Change your mindset to that of a healthy person and success will quickly follow.

Living the "Life"

2010-11-18T14:48:00.000-08:00

You've got a lot of time away from us.

How many hours do we meet per week in the Hi-5 FitCamp?

4 hours per week.

How many hours are available in a week?

168.

How many hours are left for you to manage on your own away from the Hi-5 FitCamp?

164. That's a lot of time.

How you prioritize your time outside of exercise is going to have a much greater effect on how successful you are in changing your health. So how do you really make a significant change in your health?

You live "the Life." You live like a healthy person lives. You know those "freaks" who are all "granola" and "uber-healthy"? You need to become one of them. Your concern for your health needs to be present in every aspect of your life.

Eat, drink, sleep, think, speak, breath, move and ooze it.

You need to eat, sleep, drink, think, breath, speak, work, move and ooze health. Am I saying you need to drop everything you do and "hit the gym"? No. You and I both know that there are plenty of gym addicts out there who don't sleep enough, eat horribly, hang around with unhealthy people and make lifestyle choices that are not conducive to looking, feeling and being your best.

So how do you live "the Life"?

Its really pretty simple. You keep your health at the front of your mind. Think about what you're going to eat the next day, think about your schedule and how to make healthy choices and build your day around a healthy lifestyle.

For some of us, this may be a MASSIVE undertaking because we are so entrenched in our current routine. But as we saw at the top, exercising for 4 hours a week is not going to undue a 164 hours of poor food choices, poor sleep habits, mismanagement of food and a sedentary job.

Social support is the key to fitness success!

It can be difficult to keep that mentality as the day wears on. So what I am currently doing is setting up a forum for the Hi-5 FitCamp. The forum is there for us to offer support, encouragement, ask questions and pretty much be our "Bear (crawl) Cave."

Social support is actually the NUMBER 1 FACTOR in success of a fitness program. Our "Bear Cave" will be here to provide that support, which will be crucial during the holidays!

When it gets up and going I will be sending out an email so be on the lookout!

Also, I wanted to add that this morning's workout, as well as the week's workouts have been AWESOME! You guys have really stepped up to the challenge this time and I am looking forward to see you guys continue to change the way you look, feel, move and live!

Have a great weekend and be sure to stay active (even if it means going to Dick's Sporting Goods and burning up the Golf Simulator!).

Keep the flame burning...

2010-11-16T08:26:00.000-08:00

How do we keep the fat burning flame burning? How do we get it to "burn hotter"?

Although exercise is the tool necessary for building muscle and manipulating fat-burning hormones, we have to keep metabolism up as well as prevent muscle breakdown!

So here is a quick snack to have after your workout that offers protein and some good low glycemic carbohydrates to help push the protein into your muscles. Remember, we want to keep metabolism high with quality foods and be sure to have fruits/vegetables with each meal.

The recipe is pretty simple. First chop an apple into 1/4 inch cubes. Generally I cut the apple into 1/8 segments, then lay the apple on the side, cut that in half length wise and then chop.

Add 1 teaspoon of cinnamon to the apples, along with a 1/2 packet of Splenda. Then add 1 cup of yogurt or cottage cheese.

This comes out to

200 calories
0-g of fat
38-g of carbohydrates
11-g of protein
5-g of fiber

Now 200 calories is sufficient if you're on a 1500-1600 calorie diet. This works for most women but guys will need a bit more, especially if you lifted fairly heavy.

Guys can add a serving of vanilla protein powder. This will change the nutritional profile of the meal to the following:

322 calories
42-g of carbohydrates
34-g of protein
2.1-g of fat
6-g of fiber

Other options include any of the oatmeal recipes from Gourmet Nutrition.

Some of these recipes include Banana Cream Pie Oatmeal, Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal, Chai Blueberry Oatmeal, or the Apple Walnut Oatmeal. Each of these have between 500-600 calories for a large serving and 250-300 calories for a small serving. Also, these take about 10 minutes to make. Then once you really start to make them, you can begin to streamline the process and it will take even less time.

If you've got the book already, then you know how awesome these recipes are! If you don't, well then I would suggest ordering one ASAP!

Overall, these past 2 days in the Hi-5 FitCamp have been great. The group is really working hard and pushing each other. The newbies are pushing hard and have fit in quite well with the rest of the group.

Keep up the great work and keep pushing to be your best every day!

What do you see?

2010-11-09T13:09:00.000-08:00

When you look at this picture, what do you see?

Most people will see a great Saturday morning breakfast. And it's healthy too, right? After all it's got banana's.

Hopefully now most of you realize I am being sarcastic.

What I see is a massive load of refined carbohydrates. 3 pancakes (refined grains), syrup (pure sugar), bananas (a high sugar fruit) and pecans (a nice healthy touch, but too little, too late). That comes to 783 calories, about 93% of which are from high glycemic sugars, which results in a magnificently counterproductive insulin release, which as we discussed in a prior post is WORST thing for fat loss.

What I want you to begin to see is that food is fuel. And unless you are planning on running a marathon later in the day, there is no way you are going to use all of that energy that you have just eaten.

Don't look at a bowl of ice cream as a delicious reward for ending the day, look at it for what it is - a big bowl of fat and sugar that is to be consumed with caution and at very infrequent intervals.

Remember that food is not your "BFF" (that's Best Friend Forever in text talk), its not your therapist, its not your soul mate and its not your boss. Food is energy to get you through the day and to fuel exercise and recovery from exercise.

Grains/refined carbohydrates should be looked at as currency that can only be purchased with exercise.

Only when you exercise can you "purchase" extra grains. Other than that, you stay away from them.

Fill your fuel tank with fruits, veggies, lean meats, nuts, beans, fish, and dairy. These are foods that elevate your resting metabolism, keep your muscle building and energy storing hormones in check and keep your hunger levels stable.

Want some carbs? Payment is exercise. Keep in mind there is a direct relationship between the two. You can't run for 5 minutes and then have a stack of pancakes a mile high.

In summary, start look at food for what it is - energy. Plain and simple. When you take the emotion out of food, all of a sudden it becomes a bit easier to manage what you eat and when you eat it.

On your 6...

2010-11-05T08:37:00.000-07:00

Hundred that is.

That's right. This next round I am aiming to put together a 600 calorie burning workout for each day or our class. That comes to 2400 calories burned over the week DURING exercise alone. This doesn't include how many calories you chew up (pardon the pun) during your post-exercise calorie "afterburn," or your calorie deficit from "excess post-exercise oxygen consumption." This basically means your body is still using energy to bring it back to normal after you stop working out.

Now I know some of you are saying to yourselves, "WHAT??!! You mean we don't burn 600 calories right now??"

The answer is : No, we do not burn 600 calories per workout now. Currently we are burning up about 300 calories per workout. The truth is, many people are going to really struggle with the 600 calorie workout. Some are going to flat out hate it!!

Here is a short list of activities that burn 600 calories in 1 hour, or 100 calories every 10 minutes for a 160 pound person

downhill skiing - 610 cal
Flag football - 610
Running (12 min mile pace) - 610
Firefighter (hauling 3" hose) - 610
Circuit training (minimal rest) - 610
Swimming, moderate effort - 610

Keep in mind that these are all going for 60 minutes start to finish. Considering that we start with a warm-up and then I explain the exercises, we really get about 45 minutes to burn 600 calories.

So here is a list of activities that burn 600 calories in 45 minutes for a 160 pound person:

Spin bike vigorous effort - 600
Carrying logs - 619
Running 9 min mile - 629
Swimming fast - 629
Running 8.5 min mile - 657
Firefighter, general - 686
Handball - 686

So as you can see its not easy to burn a lot of calories. You really have to bust your tail, keep pushing through pain and discomfort, and have a TON of determination. Basically you have to "tell" the challenge, "YOU ARE NOT GOING TO BEAT ME TODAY!!"

So here is what this weeks off challenge is going to be. For 15 minutes, you are going to do a 600 calorie/hour type workout. Here are the rules:

Do not stop.

Got it?? Pretty simple, right?

Now, here's the workout with each exercise is to be done for 45 seconds, go through the circuit twice:

Squats
Jumping jacks
Pushups
Jumping jacks
Alternating Lunges
Jumping Jacks
Bear Crawl forward/backwards 10 steps each
Squat Jumps
8-count body builders
Jumping jacks

***This 15 minute circuit burns 150 calories for a 160-lb person.

Enjoy it, because it's a preview of what is to come. I'll post a video of me going through the workout later today!

Who's running this ship??

2010-11-02T14:55:00.000-07:00

As owners of Gourmet Nutrition, many of you have heard me talk about the reasoning behind lower carbohydrate meals and why nutrient timing is so important in our day to day.

We can eat carbohydrates at certain times and it will go straight to our hips. Yet, if we eat it at other times, it goes to be used as energy for our brain and our body. So whats the difference?

Well that comes down to knowing what it is that controls how our body uses energy, or metabolic management. Basically, we need to know what causes our body to use carbohydrates for energy or store it as fat.

Exercise in itself does not do much for fat loss. Eating in itself does not directly relate to fat gain. Instead it is the HORMONES that are released by exercise and eating that are ultimately in charge of what happens to our bodies.

Each of these hormones tells our body what to do with energy that we take in and then use, as well as when to release stored energy (i.e. fat) to be used for energy. Below is a quick synopsis of what each hormone does and how it is excreted. Below them, I put together how to use exercise and nutrition to lose fat and gain muscle.

growth hormone (GH) - increases energy production from stored energy (i.e. carbs & fat), stimulated by exercise and low blood sugar levels

cortisol - increases energy production from stored energy, decreases protein building, stimulated by intense prolonged exercise
insulin - increases energy (i.e. protein, fat, carb) uptake into cells, stimulated by increase in blood sugar (after eating) with greater sugar quantities giving a greater insulin response
glucagon - increases energy production from stored energy; stimulated by low blood sugar, low protein concentration and prolonged exercise
thyroid hormone T3 & T4 - increases metabolic rate, growth hormone and fat release; stimulated by low T3 concentrations
testosterone - increases protein/muscle building and sex drive; stimulated by intense exercise
estrogen - prevents glucose uptake and fat deposit

As you see the main goal in our battle on body fat is to get the proper hormones going at the right times. We need to use up our carbohydrates stores so that our body does not convert EXCESS carbs into fat. Therefore we need to make sure we are not eating more than 200 g of carbs on non-exercise days because total carbohydrate storage for the body is right around 300g of carbohydrate (200g in muscle, 100g in liver).

The goal of our eating habits should be to minimize carbohydrate intake and keep carbohydrates to vegetables and fruits. However, we do need carbohydrates to release insulin after exercise so that we can repair the muscle we have broken down during exercise. This is why after exercise is the best time to have high carbohydrate meals such as pasta and whole grain bread. Insulin is released in response to eating carbs and when eaten with protein is a potent muscle builder. But any time other than post-exercise, bread and pasta are basically off limits.

Now remember, we also have to use up our body's carbohydrate stores to guarantee that carbohydrate we eat goes for fuel rather than for fat storage. To do this, we need to really "milk" the muscles of all the stored carbohydrate during exercise by exercising as hard as we can.

Also, when we exercise hard our body releases GH and testosterone which both help to build muscle. In addition GLUCAGON is released during exercise in place of insulin. Looking above, remember that glucagon also stimulates carbohydrate and fat release during exercise to be used for energy. This is just another reason why exercise is necessary for changing the way you look - glucagon is released primarily by prolonged, intense exercise. However, exercise in itself will have a very difficult time burning fat if you don't eat well.

In summary, hormones are the ones steering the fat loss ship. To have an effective fat loss program, you need to be able to manage hormone interaction through exercise and nutrition. Here are the take away's of this blog in bullet form:

Exercise as hard as you safely can. This increase GH, testosterone, glucagon, and cortisol. The levels of these hormones released are directly related to the intensity of the exercise.
As is laid out in Gourmet Nutrition, grains and high carbohydrate meals should only be eaten following a workout or first thing in the morning. Other than those two times, carbohydrates should come from fruits, vegetables, beans, nuts.
Protein needs to be eaten with each meal to minimize insulin release and maximize insulin sensitivity.

Let me know what you think about all of this? Is it possible to reduce the complexity of the human endocrine system into a workable fat-loss plan?

Can FRUIT make you FAT?

2010-10-26T13:46:00.000-07:00

To some, this question may not even have come up. But some people who have purchased Gourmet Nutrition have noticed that so many of the "Anytime" meals in the book are pretty low in carbohydrates.

Why?

Doesn't the USDA food guide pyramid suggest that we have 8-12 servings of grains per day? We'll get to that little "back-door deal" in a bit.

But first the reasons for the low carbohydrates in Gourmet Nutrition. Here's the meat of the reasoning.

Muscle gain/loss and fat gain/loss are regulated by hormones. They are not regulated by exercise or diet. Exercise and diet are simply the way we manipulate the hormones.

The greatest energy storing/fat gaining hormone is insulin. Now I'm not trying to demonize insulin, it is needed. Just ask a diabetic. But insulin transports energy into our cells to be used. But what happens when don't use it? That energy is stored as fat.

Insulin is released in the greatest volumes when sugar is eaten. The more simple the sugar, the stronger and faster the insulin response from the pancreas. So insulin is released when you eat pancakes, donuts, whole wheat bread, apples and oranges. Any sugar will activate an insulin release.

Now one of the main things I've told people in the past is that they need to have whole grains instead of refined grains. I have slowly began to step away from that to an EVEN MORE conservative position by saying we should minimize or even ELIMINATE GRAINS from our diets. Instead the sugars we eat need to come from fruits and vegetables. Grains are a great source of carbohydrates if we need a lot of them. However, unless you are have a job that relies on a lot of heavy manual labor, you won't need that many.

But now I'll ask some of you to take it a step further: vegetables should out number fruits 2-to-1. You'll still be getting 2-3 pieces of fruit daily, But some fruits have a high sugar content. A high sugar content, no matter the source will have a strong insulin release and as a result, begin to store the energy in the form of fat if not used almost quickly.

What are some of these fruits? Any fruit that has above 10g of sugar per serving should be only eaten once or twice per day. Examples of these are apples (12 g of sugar), banana (20 g), cherries (13 g), dates (73 g), grapes (15 g), mango (15), persimmon (19 g), and pomegranate (17g).

Instead try to eat fruits and vegetables that are very low in sugars: strawberries (5 g), peaches (8 g), passion fruit (6 g), grapefruit (7 g), cranberry (4 g), carrots (2 g), avocado (7 g), watermelon (8 g) and cantaloupe (6 g). There are many, many others.

However, just about every vegetable you can think of (aside from potatoes and yams) will have a very low sugar content. Remember, we want to control insulin. And the way we do this is by minimizing sugar and increasing exercise along with protein and consumption of unsaturated fats. If you look at the Gourmet Nutrition nutrient breakdown for each meal, you'll see that the "anytime meals" have fewer than 20 g of total carbohydrates per small serving.

So give that no-grain diet a try and load your diet with meats, dairy, fish, nuts, beans, vegetables and fruits. You'll be glad you did!

Tomorrow I'll tell you why the USDA "recommends" why we should have such a high whole grain intake. It has do with money.

A supplement you can lose with...

2010-10-21T09:49:00.000-07:00

Supplement makers often pass their product off as "sports nutrition." Quite frequently supplement makers put a lot of money into marketing but very little money into research.

But there is one supplement that has an abundance of research supporting its benefits. And it's one of the easier supplements to take and in addition to that is found as a very common addition to many recipes in "Gourmet Nutrition." (A little more on that AWESOME cookbook later!)

Fish oil, or more specifically omega-3 fatty acid supplementation, has a huge amount of research on it. Much of the research outlines the benefits of fish oil as an anti-oxidant and a free-radical eater.

But research also supports fat loss as one of the benefits of omega-3 supplementation.

A 2007 article in the Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that 6 g/day of fish oil and 45 minutes of exercise combined to decrease fat mass and that even taking fish oil alone increased lean muscle mass (important for us all attempting to increase our metabolism!).

Fish oil also serves to prevent muscle breakdown following strenuous exercise. The cardiovascular and blood lipid benefits of fish oil were an increase in HDL (good) cholesterol and a decrease in triacylglycerol as well as improving arterial compliance meaning that arteries and blood vessels were more pliable and provided less resistance to increased blood flow. This equates to lower blood pressure.

The take home here? Get yourself some fish oil and begin a supplement schedule. The study used 6 grams/day for their supplementation. However, up to 12 g/day has been found to be safe. I myself take 9 g/day to preserve muscle and improve cardiovascular health and function.

Be sure that your fish oil is from wild caught, ocean salmon, anchovy or sardine that are antibiotic and hormone free. A safe alternative to fish oil is krill oil. This can be purchased at health food stores or ordered online. When keeping fish oil, i recommend keeping it in the refrigerator so that the oils stay cold and do not denature from being at room temperature.

Keep in mind that and omega-3 supplement is not the end all to your weight loss problem. Instead it is just one piece of the puzzle. Take it in addition to altering your nutrition and eating habits. An easy way to change your dietary habits is to purchase a quality cook book that is geared towards weight loss.

My recommendation for that is "Gourmet Nutrition." Gourmet Nutrition is the "Cook book for the fit food lover" and it is terrific. I have a copy and 29 other people in our Hi-5 FitCamp have purchased one, including both of our physical therapists!

Gourmet Nutrition is a cook book that gives you the tools to wage your war on fat! Why would you not want that weapon? Now the list price from Amazon for Gourmet Nutrition is $39.90. I looked into shipping and it was $7 for shipping. So if you buy it from Amazon, you're looking at spending $47 for this book.

However, we will be making another bulk order within the next week and when purchased as a part of our group, your price drops to $35 shipping included.

If you'd like to order this "secret weapon" in the fat loss battle, send me an email at aaron@pairmarotta.com. I will be placing the order next Wednesday so let me know ASAP!!

Here's to your health!

90% is still an A

2010-10-13T09:09:00.000-07:00

Changing your eating habits is crucial to fat loss. In fact, it is more important than exercise (use caution with that statement!)

But far too many people make radical dietary changes and then expect to follow them 100%. The truth is that changing 20-30 years of dietary malfunction is not going to occur over night. So you have to keep some of those special treats in your diet to keep you progressing and to keep you from thinking that you'll never taste ice cream again.

You're going to miss meals, you're going to go out for lunch and "bomb" your diet. It's okay. Get back on the horse and get back to riding.

What's that you say? You don't get equestrian analogies? Don't worry, just keep chewing on it and it will begin to make sense.

Here is the truth: If you're looking for a reason to not lose weight or change your lifestyle, you'll find one. What is needed instead is to simply find ways for yourself to succeed. And if that means having a cheat meal 3-4 times per week, then by all means have what you like. But don't dwell on it. You obviously ate it because you liked it and thought it would be satisfying. The next step is to simply return to your modified eating habits.

Having a cheat day can actually be beneficial for you if you hit a plateau! When you have a cheat meal it acts to reset your metabolism and thus can get you back into fat burning mode! So even if you need to, schedule in a cheat meal.

For example, last night my wife and I went to Tahoe Joe's for dinner. We had a calamari appetizer, house salad with Italian dressing, then a steak, mashed potatoes and green beans. Did I eat all of it? You bet! Was it outside of my normal eating habits? Absolutely. I normally would have eaten the steak, salad and green beans, but probably would have stayed away from the calamari and potatoes. But it was one of my cheat days.

But this morning I hopped back on my eating plan and had scrambled eggs, black beans and cheese. I enjoyed last nights dinner as a cheat meal and then moved on. You can't dwell on it as if your hard work and dietary changes are now undone. Simply move on!
____________

In other news...

A brand new study out showed that those people who keep track of their calorie intake using a PDA or cell phone application lost more weight than those who attempted to record meals using the paper and pencil method.

So what's the take home? Find an application for your iPhone, Droid or whatever, that allows you to input your food intake and start recording it! You can't change what you can't see!

A real challenge...

2010-10-05T09:31:00.000-07:00

Most of us know how difficult it can be to carry on with an exercise program on our own. There are so many things vying for our time that it almost takes a magical "25th Hour" to fit in exercise.

It's easy to do when the Hi-5 FitCamp is in session because all YOU have to do is show up. I mean really, what could be easier? The real trick and challenge comes when you have to motivate yourself to keep things going. This is where a home program comes in.

On a side note, one thing you NEED to do if you are exercising on your own and NOT following a pre-designed program is you need to get one. Some that I recommend are Core Performance, or Female Body Breakthrough. These are both terrific programs and you can simply make copies of the record sheets and take them with you to the gym. I have used Core Performance with great success, seeing an increase in strength and a decrease in body fat.

But now, onto the Recovery Week Challenge for all the Hi-5 FitCamp members!

Perform the following exercises as a circuit and complete as many times as possible in 15 minutes. Try to do it without stopping!

Warm-Up: Squats x 8, Pushups x 6, Jumping jacks x 20, Lunges x 8 each

Plank + Pushup x 15
Smurf Jacks x 30
Bear Crawl (Forward/Backwards) x 15
Split Jumps x 20
Side plank hip lifts x 20 each side
Squat Jumps x 20
Cross body mountain climbers x 30
Rinse and Repeat for 15 minutes.

That should be a good circuit for you to do twice this week. Then be prepared for our next round of the Hi-5 FitCamp which starts on Monday, October 11th.

We will be inside all 4 days this time around! So no more dark, cold mornings!

As for nutrition, remember to minimize grains, eat protein with every meal, add more cashews, almonds and walnuts to your diet and eat 4-6 times per day. Snacks are good!

Tricky, tricky... sweet and sticky.

2010-09-22T09:47:00.000-07:00

When you see this picture to the right, what is the first adjective that comes to mind?

Tasty? Yes.

Sweet? Yes

Refreshing? Yes.

Healthy? Not so fast.

You see many juices, although full of healthy vitamins and minerals are still high in sugar content. Even if it's 100% pure juice.

At this point many of you may be feeling as if you've been lied to.Juices are supposed to be the antithesis of soda, energy drinks and other garbage we dump into our bellies.

But take a look at the table below, and you'll see that for many people who live on juice, it may the kiss of an enemy.

*12 ounces of >>>>>>>*	Coca-Cola	Orange Juice	Apple Juice	Cherry Juice	Grape Juice
*Total carbohydrates*	40 g	39 g	42 g	49.5 g	60 g
*Carbs from sugar*	40 g	33 g	39 g	37.5 g	58.5 g
*Sugar (teaspoons)*	10 tsp	8 tsp	10 tsp	9 tsp	15 tsp
*Calories*	145	165	165	210	240

So looking at this chart, a Coke would be your best bet if you're trying to cut calories. Now I want everybody to have juice because there is no way you're going to get vitamin C, potassium, calcium, and other key vitamins and minerals from a Coke. But I don't want you to have the sugar.

Remember, excess sugar causes the pancreas to release insulin. Insulin is a major energy storing hormone that has the potential to add unwanted fat to your frame!

So here are 4 ways to get the good stuff from the juice without the devastating sugar impact.

Use a smaller glass. Back in the '50s families used to have "juice glasses" that were used specifically for juice. These cups were only 4-6 ounces and were the perfect size for a breakfast "treat."
Dilute your juice. I love cranberry juice. But it's pretty high in sugar as well. So I make my own little "cranberry splash on the rocks." Fill a regular glass with ice, then fill it 2/3 with water and then top it off with cranberry juice. You get a nice cold refreshing drink with cranberry flavor and actually is probably about 2-3 ounces of cranberry juice.
Use a juice mixture in homemade salad dressing. This is a great idea because now you're taking control of your meals and not subject to the hoard of cream based dressings. The book Gourmet Nutrition has a section towards the back that shows you how to make your own dressings. Another good reason to pick up this awesome book. For a $10 discount, send me an email and I'll tell you how!
Add juice to plain yogurt. Plain yogurt can be a bit tart. But you can make your own flavored yogurt by adding a splash of juice to plain yogurt for flavored yogurt. By doing this you will reduce the insulin response due to the protein and fat in the yogurt. Protein and fat slow digestion and as a result will decrease the rate of insulin release.
BONUS TIP - Anytime you are having a carbohydrate to eat or drink, you need to have a protein source with it. Protein slows down digestion and speeds up metabolism!

A new take on a "bad" salad.

2010-09-16T18:00:00.000-07:00

Salads have always been the "go-to" meal for anybody and everybody on a fat-loss program. And quite possibly the most deceiving salad out there has to be the Taco Salad. But most often the Taco salad is a calorie bomb that crushes fat-loss goals like car rolling over a soda can.

But let's refer to everybody's new favorite cookbook, "Gourmet Nutrition" for their version of the "Taco Salad."

Step 1 - Preparing the chicken.

Because each meal needs a protein component, we are going to add chicken to our taco salad.
So defrost the chicken, season it with 2 pinches of salt, 1 pinch of peper and 1 pinch of paprika
Saute the chicken until it is lightly browned all over and cooked completely through.

Step 2 - Making the mix

Set the chicken aside to cool and then lightly respray the pan with olive oil and add 1/4 cup of thinly sliced onion to the pan and cook until they are slightly browned
add 1/2 a cup of diced tomato and 1/4 cup of frozen or canned corn
Cook for an additional minute and then remove the heat and cool

Step 3 - Making the Salad

In a large bowl add the chicken (chop it first), the corn-onion-tomato mix
Also add 3 cups of fresh spinach leaves, 1.3-cup of crushed whole wheat tortilla chips and 1/2-cup of grated cheddar cheese.

You can also add a "Mexi-Mix" dressing by combining 1 cup of salsa, 1 cup of plain non-fat yogurt and 1/4 cup of flax seed oil.

This makes 1 large or 2 small servings.

A small serving has 263 calories, 10.5g of fat, 13 g of carbohydrates and 29.4 -g of protein. For a large serving, simply double these numbers.

This is a meal you can have anytime as it is low in carbohydrates and high in protein. There it is - a guilt free Taco Salad!!

You can purchase "Gourmet Nutrition" by clicking on the link to the left or on any of the highlighted links.

My new favorite breakfast...

2010-09-12T21:16:00.000-07:00

I just have to share with you guys the awesome recipe I found from "Gourmet Nutrition: The Cookbook for the Fit Food Lover."

First off, let me say how easy it is to use this cook book. Not that using a cookbook is all that difficult. But they do things a little differently over there. You see each meal - whether it be a breakfast, snack, dinner entree, side dish or dessert comes with an "anytime meal" label or a "post-workout meal" label. This book is designed for the "fit food lover."

In other words, "this ain't yo mamma's Betty Crocker cookbook!"

And as I've been telling you guys, you'll see that the "any time meals" are low in grains and low in sugar, while being high in protein and high in unsaturated fats. This method preserves and fuels muscle building while keeping your carbohydrate stores from getting jam packed (which is the main cause of obesity in this country!) While the PW or post-workout meals are fairly high in carbohydrates, DO include grains and are still pretty high in protein (carbs after meals help to usher protein into cells and speed up digestion, you did say you wanted MORE muscle tone, right?)

Onto the recipe!!

This morning I made the "Peaches and Cream Omelet." THIS THING WAS AWESOME!

It took me about 20 minutes to make and was phenomenal!! Here's the basics of it:

scramble 2 eggs, and 1/8 cup of egg white, add a 1/8 tspn of cinnamon and 1/4 tspn of sugar. Mix and pour into non-stick pan.
Chop 1 peach.
In a bowl combine 1/2 cup of cottage cheese, 1/4 cup of candied pecans and the peach.
Once the eggs are almost looking firm, fill the inside of the omelet with 3/4 of the cottage cheese mixture
Fold the omelet over and cook for an additional 2 minutes.
Serve with remainder of cheese/peach mixture on top.

It tasted like french toast batter with peaches. It was amazingly good!!

Tomorrow I am trying the Banana Split Oatmeal!

Like I have said in the past, if you're going to be successful at fat loss, you have to have a plan. This book is your weapon in the kitchen. Add it to your arsenal, because as the old saying goes, "Six-packs are made in the kitchen."

Back to the basics

2010-09-10T09:49:00.000-07:00

Fat loss isn't sexy. It really isn't. I can boil it down to two basic concepts for you, and if you apply them you'll lose fat.

Make healthy food choices
When you workout, work as hard as you can.

Granted these two things are INCREDIBLY understated, but they remain the two parts to fat loss.

We have lots of toys that we use for Hi-5 FitCamp. We've got ropes, we've got cable machines, we've got medicine balls, we've got resistance bands and on top of that we've got plenty of dumbbells and olympic weights in our facility.

But what about when we get outside? Do we freak out because we don't have the stuff we "need"? No. We just use our body weight.

It's fun to have all that equipment, but in reality I can kick your butt just as well with only a grass hill. To prove my point, here is a quick little 20 minute workout that you can do this weekend!

Work in super-sets, doing exercise 1A followed by 1B then rest for :60, repeat 3 times then move to 2A-2B, etc.

Mountain Climbers

1A. Cross body mountain climbers x 20
1B. Single Leg Hip Bridges x 15 each leg

2A. Jumping Jacks x 40
2B. Lunge up the hill (8 steps each leg)

3A. Push-up + 2 mountain climbers x 10
3B. Side to side Shuffle (shuffle left 3 times, then shuffle right 3 times) x 6

There you go.

Now the nutrition is where most of us really struggle. Some of us are eating too much, others aren't eating enough. So how do we determine if we are eating enough? Well you have to know first how many calories your body needs.

So your first task is to go to www.caloriecount.com and get an estimate of how many calories you need. Now this estimate just goes off of height, weight and sex. But what also needs to be included is how much of your body weight is fat. So if you are aiming to lose weight, I recommend using a number for your weight that is 10-lbs under your current weight. This will put you in a calorie deficit and get things moving in the right direction.

The next thing is to make better food choices. How are we to do this? Educate yourself about what you are eating. it seems everybody has a smart phone these days. So download an application that will tell you how many calories are in that "healthy" buffalo chicken salad.

it's not rocket science. We aren't putting a man on the moon here. Here is an example for you: my dad is 52. Last year he lost 20 lbs in a month without exercise. I said, "dad, how did you do it?" He says, "I ate half of everything put in front of me."

Make better choices, eat less. Pretty simple.

Creating a POSITIVE habit

2010-09-08T14:42:00.000-07:00

If we look at our life, we see for most of us it runs best when we have a routine. Our day is for the most part predictable, we know where we'll be at 2pm, we like to know what time we'll be leaving work, we like to know what time we can expect dinner and we like to know whats coming ahead in the next day, week and month.

But for some reason we begin to get frustrated about our lack of success when it comes to fat loss. Looking at the other things in our life we like predictability and we succeed with predictability, plans and schedules.

So why is it when somebody says, "to lose fat you have to plan your meals," that we get all bent out of shape because its TOO orderly and regimented, and only obsessive people will plan their meals and track their food intake.

The thing is, we like order. We like that when we go to Starbucks we know what we are getting when we order our venti mocha latte half cream with a shot of espresso, what ever that is. The truth is that we need to have habits to make our day productive. So that is what I want you to do this month. Start a new habit.

Here are 4 steps to starting a good habit:

Be realistic. If your habit is to eat 9 pieces of fruit a day, that's most likely not going to happen and you'll end up frustrated and unmotivated.

Make it easy. A habit of exercising everyday is not easy. And you'll quickly burnout. But a habit of taking an Omega-3 fish oil supplement is pretty easy. It takes 5 seconds and you're done with it. So make it an easy habit, but make sure it's a productive habit. A habit for the sake of a habit is a BAD habit!

Set the time. If you're going to start a habit, make sure you set the time and set a reminder for that habit. If it's fruit and yogurt in the afternoon, be as specific as possible and say fruit and yogurt at 2:53 pm.

Acknowledge your success in developing a good habit!! Tell everybody about your good habit and tell them about the effects! So you made it through your first dinner without grains?? Made it through the first week? Tell somebody about it!

It is also a good idea to write down the habits you know are destructive to your fat loss goals. Keep it with you and find ways to either eliminate those habits/excuses and be successful!

Down (with) the Grocery Aisle - Part 4: Dairy

2010-08-25T15:49:00.000-07:00

The dairy section can be tricky. There are many commercials out that push dairy as your sole source of calcium or protein. And then there are people on the other side who are needlessly afraid of dairy because there is "fat" in all dairy products. Today, we'll uncover the truth about dairy products.

Plain Yogurt + Fresh Fruit = Quality Snack

Lets start with milk. Whole milk is a very complete food. Most infants are raised on breast milk... and not the 2% kind either. Ask any doctor and 9 out of 10 will say that breast milk is the best source of vitamins, minerals, protein and fat for children.

Most of you out there don't have a problem with the vitamins, minerals or protein. It's that other thing you're afraid of. But you have to understand that fat plays a very important role in our bodies. First and foremost, vitamins A, D, E, & K are all fat soluble vitamins. This means that you're body needs fat to transport these vitamins from the intestines into the blood stream.
Another function of fat is that it helps to maintain the integrity of our nervous system.

Whole Milk Nutrition Label

But getting back to dairy, milk is as a complete food as you are going to find. My recommendation is 2% milk although full fat milk is only 3.25% fat. As you can see to the left, whole milk has 5g of saturated fat in 1 serving. 2% milk has 3g of saturated fat per serving.

So either whole or 2% milk will be of benefit but fat-free milk will not do you much good as the vitamins A and D have to be added in because in the process of removing the fat, much of the vitamin A and D were also removed, and subsequently replaced with synthetic vitamins which, as I have mentioned in past posts, do not absorb nearly as well as natural forms of the vitamins.

Milk, cheese, yogurt and cottage cheese are all great sources of protein. Why? Because they come from an animal source. Most of the foods we eat from an animal source are great sources of protein.

Most yogurts and cottage cheeses are an excellent choice. The one thing you must remember is to check for sugar when they are mixed with fruit. Many yogurt cups have the "fruit on the bottom." Often times sugar is added to yogurt to make it sweeter.

You do not want to take in any extra sugar. Unless you are about to run a marathon, participate in a pro football, hockey or basketball game you do not need extra sugar. Be sure to check the ingredients list. If "sugar" or "glucose" or any other "-ose" is in the ingredients list, you need to put it down and find another yogurt that does not add any sugar.

Cottage cheese is a great snack when paired with fruit as well. This creates a very well balanced meal with fat, fruit, protein and fiber all in one quick bite to eat. Combine with blue berries, pineapple or peaches and you have an awesome food that works very well to preserve muscle and help burn fat.

As for block cheese, keep this one thing in mind - THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS "AMERICAN CHEESE." American cheese is highly processed and you might as well just eat it straight from the can. Again, check the ingredients list. If you find anything other than milk, enzymes and perhaps salt you really need to rethink whether or not you should be eating it.

In summary, when it comes to dairy refer to the KISS principle - Keep it Super Simple. Milk products are fine the way they are. They do not require any additives to make it tasty. And anything that is added is going to be in attempt to sweeten it up.