Health & Fitness

Personal Trainer Advice: How to Prevent Training Injuries

Published by on February 4, 2019 | Leave a response

Personal Trainer Advice

You know how some exercises seem almost too intimidating to perform? Chances are, you’re right.

Many exercise programs place you — and your body — in positions that leave you vulnerable.

That’s not to say you should never squat with a barbell on your back, perform deadlifts, or do a variety of other exercises.

But, it does mean that recognizing when you are at risk — and how to avoid putting yourself in a position to get hurt — are the first steps of assessing whether a program is right for you. After all, if you can stay healthy and exercise consistently, you will see results.

Before you start another workout, let these tips be your guide to staying healthy, picking the right moves for you, and progressing to the more intimidating when they no longer feel like a challenge.

The Revolving Door of Pain

There are really only two ways you could hurt yourself in the gym. Call them “Whoops!” and “Wearing Down.”

“Whoops!” refers to times when you do something like drop a dumbbell on your foot and break your toes (not that it would ever happen to you). If you dive into the data, you’ll see these events are breathtakingly rare.

Research published in The American Journal of Sports Medicine found that just of 0.2 percent of lifters were admitted to emergency departments—over the span of 18 years. Four times more people wind up in emergency rooms due to bathroom-related injuriesevery year. Seriously.

YOU’RE FAR MORE LIKELY TO WIND UP IN AN EMERGENCY ROOM DUE TO A “BATHROOM-RELATED INJURY” THAN YOU ARE FROM LIFTING. WEIGHTLIFTING IS A TREMENDOUSLY SAFE ACTIVITY.

Bottom line: Weightlifting is surprisingly safe, so you don’t need to spend much time worrying about “whoops!” events.

The real danger — the revolving door of injury — is by “wearing down” — and it can oftentimes be prevented.

Wearing Down refers to those times when a move just feels…not quite right. Like when you perform an overhead press and your shoulder says, “stop!” Or when your elbows hurt when you bench. Or when you finish a set of squats or deadlifts and it feels like your lower back got more of a workout than your legs.

These pains can start out subtle and may seem like no big deal, but they can grow into something serious (think: strains, sprains or tendinitis) over time. So it’s important to tune in to these cues. Then you can address them before they become full-blown issues.

The vast majority of strength-training related injuries are due to overuse or poor technique, and can build up over time into more serious problems.

The good news? “Wearing Down” injuries are entirely preventable. Rather than muscling through those times when your body sends you a warning shot, you can identify what they are trying to tell you. Then you can correct the problem.

Or, in some cases, knowing that there are different variations of an exercise can help you avoid pain in the first place. You wouldn’t do algebra before you could add, so why are you doing complex lifts before you master the basics?

Here are the most common causes of weight-room pain for each of the four major movement patterns—squats (or “knee-dominant” moves), hinges (“hip dominant” moves like deadlifts), push exercises, and pull exercises—and explain what’s happening. Follow this advice and you’ll ensure that the lifts you perform do what they’re meant to do: Build you up and make you stronger.

Knee-Dominant Exercises:
Squats, Step-ups and Lunges

What you feel: Knee pain (especially around the kneecap), low back pain

What’s causing the problem: Most knee injuries for knee-dominant moves stem from improper tracking of the knee joint, Basically, your knee should go in one direction, but winds up going in another instead.

In the case of the squat, your knees collapse inward, a position called valgus. Valgus knees place damaging side-to-side stress on your joint, particularly on your patellar tendon.

Worst of all? “Going valgus” isn’t your knees’ fault. The real culprit is a set of weak glutes.

When your glutes aren’t as strong as they need to be to handle the load on your back, your knees automatically fall inward in order to help you lift the weight. This is okay if it were to happen only occasionally, like on the last rep of your last set while setting a new max. (You’ll see some powerlifters’ knees go inward onsets when they’re really going for broke.) But other than that, you don’t want this to happen.

Making matters worse, having weak glutes can cause you to lean too far forward when you squat. While a little bit of a forward lean is OK, having too much of one can put excess pressure on your lower back.

There’s one more thing that can cause you to lean forward excessively when you squat: poor ankle mobility. You’ll know this is your problem if you feel that it’s difficult to keep your heels on the floor as you lower your butt to the floor.

WANT TO AVOID KNEE PAIN? DEVELOP A STRONGER BUTT.

What you can do: Your first goal is simple: Develop a stronger butt to save your knees. Building up your glutes will help your knees track correctly (think of them angling toward the pinky toes when you squat or lunge). To strengthen them, try adding frog pumps, glute bridges and hip thrusts to your workouts.

If you have a bar on your back, focus on pulling it down into your traps. That will help stabilize the upper part of your torso and prevent it from tipping forward.

If you’re having a hard time keeping your heels on the floor, McCall recommends foam rolling, stretching, and doing mobility drills for your calves prior to squats. Try taking them through their full range of motion with toes-elevated bodyweight calf raises.

Lastly, you don’t need to squat with a barbell on your back. Goblet squats — which are typically done with a dumbbell or kettlebell — are variation that is knee and back friendly, and it makes it easier to squat without your knees collapsing or body leaning forward.

Hip-Dominant Exercises: Deadlifts,
Hip Thrusts, and Glute Bridges

What you feel: Pain in your lower back (a.k.a. the lumbar spine) or neck (cervical spine).

What’s causing the problem: An incorrect set-up. Many deadlifters set their hips too low and end up ‘squatting the deadlift—or they set their hips too high [and wind up rounding their back in order to reach the bar]. Both can place the body at a greater risk of injury. Having a rounded back or overly arched back stresses your spine in its weakest positions.

What you can do about it: Your goal here is to maintain what’s called a neutral spine, which has a natural (but not excessive) curve inward at the lower back, then slightly outward at the shoulder blades, and back inward at the neck.

Maintaining a neutral spine is what’s going to keep that back healthy and ready for the next workout.

To achieve this when you perform a hinge-style movement like the deadlift, you want to think about getting as much movement as possible from your hips with as little movement as possible from your knees. Drive each rep with your hips, pushing your butt as far backwards as you can.

A good way to learn this pattern is to set a foam roller (or anything that’s straight, like a PVC pipe) against your back so that it has three points of contact with you, touching the back of your head, your shoulders, and your tailbone.

Another way to make sure that you are running the show with your hips rather than lower back is to make sure the weight remains as close to your body as possible during deadlifts. When you lower the weight, image the bar almost scratching against your shins, which will help keep the bar closer to your body throughout the movement.

If deadlifts are difficult, there’s no need to pull the weight from the floor. You can place a barbell or dumbbell on boxes or platforms. What this does is limit the range of motion to help you be in a position of power.

That way, you can perfect the movement without getting into a position where you are overly rounded. As you can stronger and better, you can lower the boxes — or, you might find that you never need to pull the weight from the floor. Unless you’re an Olympic lifter, there’s no reason to hold to this belief unnecessarily.

Or, you can do a staggered stance deadlift. The joy of this variation is that it provides the benefits of a single-leg deadlift (where less weight is needed), without the advanced difficulty of balance. The back leg works like a kickstand to make it easier to move in a way that doesn’t make your body vulnerable to injury.

“Push” Exercises: Bench Press
Variations, Push-ups, Shoulder
Presses, Triceps Extensions

What you feel: Shoulder pain, elbow strain, wrist discomfort.

What’s causing the problem: Not keeping the wrist, elbow, and shoulder stacked during bench and shoulder presses can also introduce instability in the shoulder joint. Bending your wrists can also introduce pain.

What you can do about it:  Think tight, tight, tight—all of the way from your wrists to your core.

To get your wrists in order, you need to start by gripping the bar correctly. Here’s an instance where what “feels” natural—and what most people do—is actually wrong.

The process depends on you placing your palms on the bar first, rather than wrapping with your knuckles first. Properly placing the bar across your palms will stack the weight on the bones of your forearm, making for a more powerful (and far less injury-prone) press.

From there, you’ll want to keep your core muscles engaged, obliques braced, and rib cage down (no flaring!). “This will help prevent the spine from hyperextending. If you can’t press a weight while keeping a natural curve in your spine, you need to decrease weight. It also wouldn’t hurt to build your core strength with the help of exercises like the dead bug and Pallof press.

Still concerned about pressing? For one, barbells are not necessary. You can challenge your muscle just fine with dumbbell variations or even bands or cables. If your shoulders are vulnerable with the bench press, try a floor press, instead, which will limit the range of motion. Worried about overhead pressing? If you have a landmine (or you can just place a barbell in the corner of a room), try this press variation, which is easier on your shoulders and elbows.

“Pull” Exercises: Rows, Pull-
ups, Face-pulls, Biceps curls

What you feel: Shoulder pain, wrist discomfort, tennis elbow

What’s causing the problem: Not controlling the lowering (eccentric) part of the lift.

Many people put their body at risk by not controlling the lowering phase of the pull-up. If you are allowing your body to free-fall from the top position, that could be part of your problem. Doing so exerts additional force on the joints from your shoulder blades, shoulder, elbows, and wrists. The effect can hold true when you’re doing biceps curls, rows, and any other “pulling” exercise.

What you can do about it: Start by using lighter weights. If you can’t control a weight both up and down, you’re just asking for injury. In general, if you can’t control the weight for 2-3 seconds on the descent, the weight is probably too heavy.

Next, if you know that lowering the weight can lead to injury, it only makes sense to emphasize that type of training. Turn a weakness into a strength and you won’t get hurt. Here’s how it works: Take three to five seconds to lower your body [from the pull-up bar] or the weight. You can do this with almost any exercise. And the benefit isn’t just injury prevent; research shows that focusing on the eccentric can cause more of the good “microtears” that helps your muscles become bigger.

With each rep, pretend that you are pinching and slowly releasing an orange from between your shoulder blades. Then, keep your entire body tight and braced to keep your body in a more stable position and prevent swinging (ak.ka. don’t kip). Engaging your core properly will be especially helpful on “hanging” moves like pull-ups.

While pullups are an effective exercise, they’re not necessary. For bodyweight pulling, you can do inverted or bodyweight rows. The closer your body is to parallel to the floor, the harder the movement becomes.

Also, if you’ve experienced elbow pain (or something like tennis elbow) in the past, I recommend to try performing some or all of your pulling exercises with a palms-up (supinated) grip or with your palms facing each other (neutral grip). The rotation of your palm changes the stress you put on your shoulders, and, therefore, makes the movement more kind to your elbows.

 

Personal Trainer Advice

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Personal Trainer Advice: What Is a “High Quality” Protein?

Published by on January 28, 2019 | Leave a response

Personal Trainer Advice

You’ve probably heard that you need more protein in your diet — and for good reason.

You might think of protein as the main building block for muscle, but it’s so much more.

Protein is also essential for maintaining a strong immune system, bones, tendons, and is responsible for many metabolic reactions. There is also clear relationship between protein and weight loss.

Here’s the thing:

NOT ALL PROTEINS ARE CREATED EQUAL

Quality counts. But what’s the difference between protein and “high-quality protein?”

It can be a confusing distinction and one that doesn’t receive enough attention.

The good news: Distinguishing high-quality protein from lesser-quality protein is easier than you might think.

If you just want a list of high-quality protein sources, we have you covered. The top sources are:

YOUR HIGH QUALITY PROTEIN SOURCES

  • Dairy products; milk, whey powders, cheese and cottage cheese, yogurt
  • Eggs
  • Seafood and fish
  • Beef
  • Chicken
  • Bison
  • Pork
  • Pea Protein
  • Soybeans
  • Blended meals (beans and rice)
  • Vegan protein powders with multiple protein sources

WHAT MAKES PROTEIN “HIGH QUALITY’?

A high-quality protein really is a function of three things:

  • protein digestibility (i.e. “Can your body break it down?”)
  • amino acid content (i.e. “What’s really inside the protein?”)
  • the resulting amino acid availability to support metabolic function (i.e. “Will your body be able to use those amino acids the way you want it to?”) .

The process of digesting any food begins in your mouth when you chew. But protein is unique among the three major macronutrients in that your body’s digestion of it truly begins in the stomach and continues into the small intestine.

Within those organs, acidic digestive juices, powerful enzymes, and other components fully break down intact proteins into smaller chains of amino acids, the building blocks of protein.

Before a chain can be absorbed into the bloodstream, it must be shortened into individual amino acids. Only then, when these amino acids hit the bloodstream, can they be transported to working tissues, reassembled into larger proteins that the body needs.

They may also be held for a short time with other amino acids in what’s referred to as an amino acid pool. The body can turn to this pool and take the exact amino acids it needs to create a larger protein molecule required for one function or another, and leave behind what it doesn’t require at the moment.

MORE PROTEIN ISNT ALWAYS BETTER. QUALITY COUNTS

While the process might appear cut-and-dry, it’s not that simple. And like many processes within the body, it isn’t 100 percent perfect.  In other words, less than 100 percent of the protein you consume will be digested, absorbed, and put to use.

Scientists can measure a protein’s digestibility in the lab is by monitoring nitrogen absorption and excretion. (Protein is the only macronutrient that contains nitrogen, which is why this works.)  The outcome of this test typically produces a digestibility score.

Proteins that are highly digestible receive scores close to 100% (digestible). Lower scores are less digestible. If you were to consume a protein with a digestibility score of 90%, then for every 10g you consumed, you would absorb 9g and excrete 1g.

In general, animal proteins — such as dairy, eggs, and meat — score highly. Vegetarian proteins typically score lower.

But there’s another wrinkle in the process. Your body’s ability to absorb nutrients compared to its actual requirements don’t always line up.

AMINO ACIDS. WHATS INSIDE YOUR PROTEIN?

Every source of protein has a different amino acid profile. These amino acids — or the component parts that a protein will become when you digest it — are a big determinant of whether or not a protein is high quality.

Your body can produce many amino acids on its own. But there are some it can’t make. They are:

  • histidine
  • isoleucine
  • leucine
  • lysine
  • methionine
  • phenylalanine
  • threonine
  • tryptophan
  • valine

These are the “essential amino acids,” and you must get them through your diet.

Any food that contains all nine essential amino acids is known as a “complete protein.”

WHY ANIMAL BASED PROTEIN IS THE “EASY BUTTON”

Animal protein sources mimic the protein composition of human tissue. Which is why meat naturally offers a highly usable blend of amino acids—including all nine essential amino acids (with some exceptions, which we’ll get to in a second).

As a result, we humans can use protein from an animal source in a very efficient manner.

Animal proteins range from the obvious—beef, pork, chicken, eggs, and fish—to fluid sources such as milk. All of these are high-quality protein sources that are highly bioavailable (your body can put them to use easily).

NEARLY ALL ANIMAL PROTEINS ARE HIGHLY BIOAVAILABLE

– MEANING YOUT BODY CAN PUT THEM TO USE MORE EASILY

This includes dairy, which supplies a wealth of amino acids, including a high amount of leucine. So perhaps it’s not surprising that studies involving chronic exercisers have found that consuming milk-based protein after resistance exercise promotes muscle protein synthesis, more muscle, and less flab.

While collagen and bone broths are popular for their potential to support joint health and other tissue function within the body, collagen protein is high in only 3 amino acids (glycine, proline, and hydroxyproline) while being fairly devoid of the other essential amino acids.

Bone broths may deliver health benefits, but they alone won’t help with muscle building or fat loss (or satisfy your body’s amino acid requirements, unless you add chicken or beef to the broth, in which case, you’re all set.)

WHAT ABOUT HIGH QUALITY PLANT PROTEIN?

Conversely, most plant sources (but not all) have an amino acid profile that differs drastically from that of humans.

Many (but not all) plant proteins are low in various essential amino acids, especially leucine. This is important to note, because leucine plays a critical role in turning on muscle protein synthesis (MPS), which is key for building and repairing muscle tissue.

The big exceptions are soy and select sources of pea protein (like pea protein isolate). These vegetarian sources contain all, or nearly all, of the essential amino acids you require.

Outside of those sources, most plant-based proteins are not complete. All this means is that consuming one lone source of plant protein cannot support body growth and maintenance.

But there’s a simple fix. If you combine different plant protein sources, then you can receive adequate amounts of all nine essential amino acids.

Examples of complementary proteins include combining legumes and grains, such as red beans and rice, or vegetables and legumes, like you’d find in a 9-bean vegetable soup.

WHEN YOU EAT COMPLEMENTARY PROTEINS, THE COMBINED PROTEIN SOURCES EQAL A COMPLETE PROTEIN SOURCE

You don’t have to do this at the same meal. Your body will store the amino acids as they come in, and then resynthesize proteins as it needs by pulling from body cells and blood supplies later. So even if you had rice at breakfast and beans at dinner, you’re covered.

Often you need to eat more plant-based protein to get the equivalent amount of amino acids that you would from a smaller amount of animal protein.

So really, your main takeaways here are:

  1. The exact amount of protein you need will depend on the quality of the protein you eat.
  2. If you consume a lot of plant-based protein, or are exclusively plant-based, you may need to increase your total daily protein intake even more to compensate for the lower protein quality.
  3. If you are vegetarian or vegan, eat a diverse mix of foods, and you may want to research the amino acid profiles of the foods you eat.

P.S. If you have any questions or would like help with your fitness and nutrition needs then try a personal trainer and drop me a message. I would love to connect with you.

 

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Personal Trainer Advice: Starting A Fitness Program The Right Way

Published by on January 21, 2019 | Leave a response

Personal Trainer Advice

 

Starting a fitness program is one of the best things you can do for your health. While the benefits are too great to list with just one blog post, most people just don’t know where or how to start.

Well… im here to help 🙋‍♂️

Step 1: Start SLOW

This goes for everyone starting a new fitness program. Weather your an ex athlete, used to be an avid gym goer or never stepped foot into a gym in your life. Start sloooooow. Stick with machines at the beginning. Let your muscles get used to the weight, time under tension, contracting and relaxing and of course, dealing with new muscle soreness following the days after.

Step 2: Function Before Strength

This is the most crucial step because if not done properly (or not at all) will almost certainly lead to injury sooner or later. In fact almost all exercise injuries stem from disfunction. When starting a new program you want to make sure you have good stability through a full range of motion before progressing. Spend the first 2-4 weeks focusing on stabilization exercises to get those intricate muscles around your joints used to stabilizing those joints. The last thing you want is for your knee to become unstable while squatting 225 pounds. OUCH!

Start by adding instability to regular exercises with a much lighter weight like…

  • Squats on a BoSu ball
  • single leg overhead press
  • single leg Romanian deadlifts
  • stability ball exercises

and so on…

Step 3: Don’t jump levels, take the stairs!

Now that you’ve improved your stability your ready to transition to more complex exercises. But where most people get it wrong is they jump to the next level instead of progressing step by step. Which is the smart thing to do because remember… NEVER add strength to disfunction.

Moving forward start by adding staple exercises to your stabilization exercises in a compound set fashion like so.

  • Bench press to stability ball bench press
  • leg press to BoSu squats
  • Cable rows to single leg bent over rows
  • lateral raises to stability ball overhead press

And always start with the main exercise BEFORE the stability exercise to prevent injury.

Step 4: Repeat Step 2 every few months

Make sure you continue to incorporate stabilization exercises into your regular training program. This can be done every couple of months and can help with things like range of motion, recovery, blood circulation, and breaking through plateaus.

Step 5: Always Seek Knowledge From Experts

The fitness and nutrition industry is still in its infancy stages as far as knowledge goes. Us as a human species have been around for thousands of years but fitness and exercise nutrition didn’t become a major topic until the early 1900’s. This means new knowledge in the subject is always being discovered. In fact its at such a rapid pace that if your not constantly studying, learning and implementing these new practices then you will not continue to grow.

But if your like most people and you don’t have the time to become a fitness and nutrition expert than seek out the expertise of one. Start reading on the subject or hire a personal trainer like me to help guide you to your fitness goals in the safest and fastest way possible. If your interested just fill out the “Free Trial” box on the home page and lets see if were a good fit for each other.

Talk soon!

– Chris

 

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Personal Trainer Advice: Breathing New Life Into An Old Goal

Published by on January 14, 2019 | Leave a response

Personal Trainer Advice

Lets see if this relates to you…

 

You wake up in the morning to get started on your day. as your  brushing your teeth you glance over at the scale tucked away from reach and then you remember the 10/20/30+ pounds of body fat you have been wanting to lose since well… forever!

 

I can tell you my friends that this happens to a lot of us. And even though I am a personal trainer ,this too, has happened to me before as well. You want to lose the weight but you don’t know how or feel you just don’t have the time. Then the next thing you know another year goes by and you’ve only gained weight. Killing your motivation entirely.

 

But I’m here to tell you it doesn’t have to be like this! Let me just say this truth to you first. You are a badass! You have the ability to create anything in life that you want IF your just willing to put in the work. And that’s where most people get hung up. You see, if your willing to just take that first step, to look past all your inadequacies and failures at reaching your goals in the past and see the truth… That your amazing and you can accomplish any goal you set for yourself the path becomes simple.

Yes you will have to put in the work, yes you will have to do things you don’t want to because simple DOESNT mean easy. But well take simple. Everything in life worth having shouldn’t come easy because its the challenge that adds value to the things we do. Its through the work that we become great, not the end result…

 

So fall in love with the process and you will achieve any goal you set for yourself whether it be weight loss, in business or in life. Set small goals and find joy in the process of reaching these short term goals. Don’t look at the end result because you will get discouraged. Look at the next milestone you need to reach. And fall in love with the process because I can tell you from personal experience thats what it really takes to achieve your fitness goal. The person who is in amazing shape got there not by hating the work and only waiting for the end result. They got there because they fell in love with the process (exercising).

 

So if you want to reach your fitness goals (or any goals for that matter). Fall in love with the process of becoming great.

 

Until next time,

– Chris

 

P.S. If you want to make the process as simple and straight forward as possible with guaranteed results then seek out a coach or mentor that has the knowledge and experience to achieve the goals that you want. So if your looking for a personal trainer to help you reach your goals than submit a free trial here on my website and see if were a good fit for each other.

 

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Personal Trainer Advice: Sticking To Your Fitness Goals In the New Year (and forever)

Published by on January 7, 2019 | Leave a response

Personal Trainer Advice

Every time the calendar turns to a new year, countless Americans make a resolution, get up from their couches and start a new fitness program

That commitment to get in shape might last … for a month or two. Alas, 73 percent of people who make fitness-related New Year’s resolutions end up giving up before reaching their goals, according to a study by Harris Interactive.

Don’t let this be your fate. Following are six tricks for keeping your New Year’s resolution to get fit.

1. Keep your goals small and specific

Getting in shape can be a daunting task, which is why it’s often best to set small, specific and — above all else — realistic goals at the beginning of your journey. Too many people set overly ambitious goals that do not allow for the occasional misstep. Think of your resolution to get fit as a marathon, not a sprint. With a little time, effort and patience, you’re bound to cross the finish line.

2. Put money on it

When you commit financially to something your more likely to do it. Try using an app like Healthy Wage or paying someone to coach you and hold you accountable. Like a Personal Trainer.

There is science behind wagering on your own weight loss,

“Researchers at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, found that financial incentives prompted 62 percent of dieters to lose weight. In contrast, only 26 percent of those without cash on the line lost weight. And a study published in the medical journal JAMA tied financial incentives to ‘significant weight loss.’

3. Make fitness a priority

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, regular physical activity can help to control your weight, strengthen bones and muscles, improve mental health and mood, and reduce the risk of certain diseases. It can even help increase your lifespan.

So, why shove exercise aside for less important activities?

Instead of putting your physical and mental well-being on the back burner, make fitness a priority. Schedule it into your day as you would a doctor’s appointment, lunch date or important business meeting.

4. Don’t go it alone

You’ve probably heard the old adage “strength in numbers.” Well, working out with a friend can help strengthen your body and your relationships. Another great idea is hiring a Personal Trainer. Hiring a trainer can not only keep you accountable but give you the clearest and fastest way to reach your fitness goal.

“Exercise partners provide a powerful combination of support, accountability, motivation and, in some cases, healthy competition.” – Experience Live Magazine

5. Mix it up

Variety is the spice of life, and it also adds zest to any exercise program. Research shows that varying your workout routine can improve your odds of sticking with it:

“Exercise scientists at the University of Florida observed that individuals who modified their workouts every two weeks over an eight-week period appeared to enjoy their workouts more and were more inclined to stick with their exercise programs when compared to individuals who followed the same workout regimens week after week.”

Shaking things up can also help prevent those dreaded weight-loss plateaus. ACE says that varying your routine keeps you physically challenged, which prevents your body from adapting to your exercise routine.

6. Track your progress

Keeping track of your progress can be instrumental in helping you adhere to your fitness resolution. Research shows that charting or recording your progress boosts the likelihood that you will stick with your pledge to get fit, according to Oprah.com:

“This is due to the Hawthorne effect, which causes us to try harder when we think someone is keeping an eye on us.”

Jot down improvements in a fitness diary or use one of the many fitness apps now available, such as MyFitnessPal.

Tracking your weight can also help you reach weight-related goals. And if you feel like your goal is too big to go at it alone I highly recommend hiring a personal trainer. The best investment you can make is in yourself.

 

 

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Personal Trainer Advice: You’re Getting Out What You Put In

Published by on April 2, 2018 | Leave a response

Being a high performance personal trainer I question almost everything. Like have you ever noticed how two people can do the exact same fitness routine for a period of time and one will have breathtaking results while the other looks the same as when they started?

Why is that?

It’s frustrating when you are the person going through a fitness routine without seeing dramatic results. Might make you look for a reason outside of yourself to blame, such as genetics.

In reality, the thing holding you back is something that you have complete control over: it’s the intensity with which you exercise.

Intensity is something that’s difficult for the outside observer to measure but is felt within your body as you go through the motions of an exercise.

  • It’s how hard you push yourself to go as heavy and as quickly as possible.
  • It’s picking up a weight that feels hard to handle.
  • It’s putting a boost behind each stride as you run.
  • It’s resisting the urge to simply go through the motions.
  • It’s outdoing your efforts from last time.

Now I understand the urge to put out token effort in your workout, going through the motions while cutting corners along the way. We all have days when the weights feel extra heavy and our energy stores feel depleted, and those days will naturally be less intense.

However, when low intensity workouts are your norm, you simply won’t ever achieve the results that you’re hoping for. And this is something that you completely control.

So, as you go into your next workout, think about the intensity that you’re bringing. Are you pushing yourself with each rep? Could you go heavier? Could you be faster?

Fight the urge to be comfortable while you exercise. There’s plenty of time throughout your day to feel comfortable, just not while you’re working out.

Does this make sense?

Attack your next workout with 100% intensity and set a new standard for yourself to continuously push to become stronger, faster, leaner and more fit.

You’ve got this!

And if you’re not yet one of my awesome clients then call or email today to join the family. Together we will get you into your best shape yet!

Personal Trainer Advice

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Personal Trainer Advice: The Most Important Healthy Eating Tip

Published by on February 5, 2018 | Leave a response

Personal Trainer Advice

 

There’s a lot of talk today about the importance of eating healthy. And as a Personal Trainer I hear a lot of it!

You hear it from your doctor, on the news, in magazines and online. The consensus is clear: in order to have your best body in good health, you must eat healthy.

Unfortunately for most, healthy eating is a confusing concept.

There’s so much contradicting information out there about what is or isn’t healthy that even the most well informed dieter becomes overwhelmed.

Should you eat a grain free diet? What about dairy? Is it OK to include fruit? What about rice? How about these granola bars that are labeled as heart healthy?

It’s enough to drive you crazy!

The most common reaction to this confusion is to give up. Why continue to strive for a healthy diet when a granola bar that’s mostly made with refined sugar is marketed as healthy?

I’m going to clear up some of the confusion for you with this very simple, very effective healthy eating tip: Eat low sugar.

By eating low sugar I mean check the sugar grams on each thing that you eat throughout the day, and only eat items that contain low single digit or zero sugar grams.

This single strategy will cut out a majority of the confusion surrounding healthy eating. Since eating items that are high in sugar is the biggest downfall of most dieters, by honing in on sugar grams you can avoid many bad food choices.

Are there other aspects to eating healthy, such as including enough lean protein and fiber-filled veggies in your diet? You bet! And once you have grown accustomed to eating low sugar then you should work on increasing your fiber and protein, but for now simply work on cutting out sugar.

Remember that participating in a consistent, challenging exercise program is vital to getting into amazing shape. As the Friendswood/Pearland areas top personal trainer, I’m here to help you do just that.

Call or email me today to get started on the most effective exercise program around!

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Personal Trainer Advice: This Is Better Than Perfection

Published by on January 29, 2018 | Leave a response

Personal Trainer Advice

Do you follow fitness stars on social media? Their perfect, chiseled images popping up in your newsfeed to give you just the right amount of motivation to get you into the gym…or does it?

Striving for perfection doesn’t always work.

Quite frankly, perfection is unattainable, and will always leave you falling short and feeling bad about yourself. Instead I like to remind myself of this quote…

‘Strive for progress, not perfection.’ -Unknown

Progress isn’t as exciting as perfection, but it is attainable. And progress builds upon more progress as you climb your way towards the accomplishment of real goals.

And yet…the gap between your current body and the body you want gapes wide and deep. Any time that you want progress and improvement in your life it requires crossing over from one way of doing things to a new way.

But how do you make it across?

  • How do you go from 50 pounds overweight to a healthy BMI?
  • How do you go from a junk food lover to a health food lover?
  • How do you go from a snooze-hitter to an early riser?
  • How do you go from a couch potato to active and fit?
  • How do you go from someone who talks about their goals to someone who accomplishes their goals?

Lucky for us there’s a formula to follow that will get you from point A to point B every single time without fail. And all you have to do is stick with it.

Small Degrees of Progress + Time = A New You

Commit to making one small degree of progress each and every day, and over time you will arrive on the other side of that chasm, a brand new you.

Did you eat white rice with dinner yesterday? Today choose brown rice. Next week choose cauliflower rice.

Did you eat a donut for breakfast yesterday? Today eat half of a donut and a piece of fruit. Next week choose a protein bar.

Did you wake up at 7 a.m. today? Tomorrow wake up at 6:45. Next week wake up at 6:30.

Did you sit all day today? Tomorrow walk for 15 minutes. Next week walk for 30 minutes.

And the end result, the reward, comes after you’ve made that new way of doing things a part of who you are.

We are all capable of great progress and great improvement – just not all at once. (As a high performance personal trainer I have to remind my clients of this 🙂)

Progress takes place one degree at a time, so don’t look to perfect fitness images on social media as your measurement of success, but rather look at your personal degrees of progress in the right direction.

Refuse the urge to compare yourself to others–the only comparison that matters is between yourself yesterday and yourself today.

Progress isn’t about finishing the race it’s taking that next step in the right direction.

If you aren’t yet one of my amazing clients then consider your next step of progress to begin a challenging and fun exercise program with me. Call or email me today to get started. Hiring a personal trainer could be your turning point for success!

Now that’s some serious progress!

 

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Personal Trainer Advice: Easiest fitness hack that you’re not doing

Published by on January 22, 2018 | Leave a response

It’s the time of year for focusing on fitness, health, and self-improvement; and, as to be expected from a high performance Personal Trainer, I’m busier than ever with clients looking to shed pounds and to take the New Year by storm.

I love seeing this renewed enthusiasm for fitness and the surge of motivation in the air! I hope that you’re feeling it too.

What’s not as awesome is the struggle that I see so many of you endure when it comes to shedding pounds and transforming your body to firm and toned. Improving your fitness level should be enjoyable, and it’s my sole purpose to help you in this process of achieving your best body and best health yet.

Let’s start with the easiest fitness hack of all, something that I can almost guarantee you’re not doing. By making this small change to your daily routine you’ll quickly find those unwanted pounds coming off quickly and easily.

***Warning: This fitness hack is going to sound so easy that you may be inclined to simply dismiss it. My advice is to try it out before writing it off as too easy.***

The easiest fitness hack that you’re not doing is to drink a minimum of 64 ounces of water daily.

Now I know that sounds boring, but take a moment to reflect on your water intake over the past few days. Did you even get close to the minimum of 64 ounces? Really, for optimal fat loss, you want to be drinking closer to a gallon of water each day.

Why is water such a big deal? Here are 3 compelling reasons as to why drinking a minimum of 64 ounces of water a day will help you drop pounds and achieve a stunning transformation…

#1) Water Aids Fat Metabolism in the Liver

When it comes down to the technical process of losing fat, your liver is where the action is. The key to having a highly functional liver, one that quickly removes metabolic waste and built up toxins, is to be properly hydrated by drinking a minimum of 64 ounces of water each day.

Your liver is a filter for your body. When you aren’t drinking enough water, your liver accumulates a build up of waste product that slows the process of fat metabolism down.

#2) Water Helps Balance Hormones

Without getting too technical about the science of fat loss, it’s important that you understand that your hormones play an important role in your body’s ability to lose fat. When your body enters a state of dehydration, your organ and digestive functions are compromised, which in turn negatively impacts hormonal balance.

This stress, brought on by dehydration, impacts your adrenal glands, signaling the need for an increase in cortisol, which encourages your body to begin storing fat, rather than burning it.

#3) Water Reduces Calorie Intake

Now that you understand the science behind water and weight loss, let’s examine the positive effect that proper hydration has on your daily caloric intake.

By drinking a minimum of 64 ounces of water daily, your desire for high calorie, sugary drinks like soda and high fructose juices will diminish. This decrease in fattening calories really adds up!

In addition to weight loss, drinking water has an infinite number of benefits – including improved skin complexion, boosted immune system, cleansing toxins out of the body, etc.

While it’s important to drink plenty of water in general, be sure you’re increasing your amount before and after your workouts. The more you sweat, the more water you lose, and it’s important to replace that lost water to avoid dehydration.

Does this make sense? Remember: Drink a minimum of 64 ounces of water each day.

I hope that you find this simple fitness hack to be helpful in your quest for a new and improved you this year! Remember that participating in a challenging and consistent exercise program is absolutely vital when it comes to getting into great shape.

I’m here to help you on your fitness journey. If you need a personal trainer ,call or email me today to get started!

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Personal Training Advice: How to Combat the Snap Back Effect

Published by on January 18, 2018 | Leave a response

Personal Training advice

According to popular statistics, only 8% of New Year’s Resolutions are successfully kept. This means that 92% of us that are brave enough to set out for self-improvement will fail.

Those aren’t very good odds. And this is a big problem I see in the personal training industry

Thankfully there is science that explains this curious “Snap-Back Effect” and offers us tools to make the effect work in our favor.

Snap-Back Effect: A term coined by Dr. Maxwell Maltz, the author of Psycho-Cybernetics to describe the rampant self-sabotage of personal improvement goals. Maltz noted that you can stretch a rubber band only to a certain length and hold it only for a certain time until you get weak or get distracted and the rubber band will then snap back to its true shape.

This is essentially what happens when you attempt to achieve a new level of self-improvement. Sooner or later you sabotage yourself and get back to your normal level of achievement.

What sort of person do you believe yourself to be? This mental image of yourself is your self-image.

All of your actions, feelings, habits, and even your abilities, will always be consistent with your self-image. Always. You will “act like” the sort of person that you believe yourself to be. This means that you literally will not be able to act against your self-image for any length of time, despite making a New Year’s Resolution about it, and despite deploying grit, conscious effort and willpower.

Sooner or later you will snap-back to the sort of person that you believe yourself to be.

If you have a “fat” self-image, if you believe that you are the sort of person who “can’t resist sweets,” if you “are unable to enjoy exercise,” then you will not be able to reduce your body fat and keep it off no matter how many times you attempt to turn over a new leaf. Maltz proved that we can’t escape our self-image. You may be able to do so in the short term, but sooner than later you’ll be “snapped-back,” like a rubber band.

The answer is Self-Image Management

According to Maltz, your self-image is a “premise,” or a foundation upon which your entire personality, behavior, and even your circumstances are built. As such, your experiences will verify and strengthen your self-image, and either a destructive or beneficial cycle, is set up.

In other words, you will seek out evidence that supports your opinion about yourself, even going so far as to create the circumstances for proof to be had.

For example, as a dieter who sees herself as a “failure”-type dieter, or one who is “thick in the waist,” will invariably find that the number on her scale continues to go up. She then has “proof.”

Whatever seems just out of your reach, whatever frustrations you have in your life, are likely reinforcing something ingrained in your self-image like a groove in a record.

Maltz goes on to say, “Obviously it’s not enough to say, “it’s all in your head.” In fact, that’s insulting. It is more productive to explain that “it” is based on certain ingrained and possibly hidden patterns of thought that, if altered, will free you to tap more of your potential and experience vastly difference results.

This brings me to the most important truth about the self-image: it can be changed.”

This is something I work on with my personal training clients every. single. day. You have to believe your a bad ass and can do anything you set your mind to (because you can!)

Take time this New Year’s to revise the sort of person that you consider yourself to be. The possibilities are endless!

P.S. If you want more personal training advice, click the link

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