Are you fed up with those gym fees? Sometimes you use the facility, sometimes you don’t… Have you experienced those waits between exercise equipment? Or someone else’s sweat on the equipment?
Did you know that really, in a weight loss environment, you don’t really need to use the gym? Did you know that a full workout can happen with strength using your own body weight?
The hardest workouts I do for myself, are those when no equipment is put out. It takes a certain mindset to move the body in form without a piece of equipment to guide the move. And it’s not about the crunches!!! Have you ever tried to do a series of pushups, or lunges, or squats, … you have? Great! Have you ever tried to put them in a non stop circuit? Now there’s a challenge! You can lift your metabolism, burn fat by building lean muscle mass.. and … NO GYM FEES! NO WAITING! (more…)
Have you been loads of cardio work and have somehow plateau’d with your weight loss? It’s a frequent result…
The truth is that cardio does burn body fat, but the body gets used to the work and then, well.. it just doesn’t need to burn so many calories to get the work done. So it will slow down. As your heart gets fitter and stronger, the calorie burn lessens.
Here’s the one thing can change things up! Push Weights!!! If you want to lose body fat, it is essential to build muscle mass… Why? Because muscles burn fat on a 24 hour basis. Body fat is the number one fuel muscles need to stay healthy and strong, to work for you, to keep the metabolism heating on high, melting down that unwanted body fat!
Ever feel like starting it up again seems sowewhat.. i don’t know.. ummm… too hard? too much effort? I’m okay the way I am! Can’t make the time.. I’m there! and I don’t like it one bit!
I ended my strength training program last June after the Fearless Women photoshoot in L.A. I decided I was taking a break, a transition period or sorts. I had overtrained, over strict nutrition, sole focus was the pounds the camera adds… unhealthy to be sure, but it was a goal. And I did it..
The consequences were that it left me very tired. I was body tired, emotionally tired, mindset tired. I needed a break. The problem is that starting up again seems like a huge chore. I stayed active playing at playing, i hiked, hiked more, i enjoyed the mountains and hiked some more… at the end of the day, I used what I loved to do best as a method to resource my energy… but now, I feel I am beginning to feel lazy. Inertia has taken over…
It applies to us and will something different in every way. In the fitness world, it means building core strength, or building from the inside out. Your spine is your fragile protector. It’s job is to link the body together by protecting the central nervous system that runs from the brain to the sacrum. All our nerves diverge and energized from a specific points between in vertebrae joint.. It also links the body in movement. It’s engineering system is designed to let bend, rotate (to a certain extent). It’s a fine line between flexibility of movement and strength. But the spine in essence are still linked bones that need muscle to move it. Like any other bones in our body, the vertabraes are essentially inanimate unless we make it move and happens thru a command to the muscle,via the central nervous it protects, governed by the brain… it’s a link system… Very cool when you stop and think about it…
So let’s take a look at how we keep it strong: it’s all about the core!!!
so, lots of crunches right? NO! Core strength is not about crunches!  It’s about overall strength! Overall strength does not imply sculpting the muscle, it’s about linking the body as a whole, pulling from the mid-line.. I tell my clients that we are working core, they are surprised to see that crunches don’t come into play. In order to build the muscles, to strengthen the spine, all body moves are what is going to get you there. I use moves that will demand balance and a mind-body connection. I use moves that will engage all of our muscles at the mid line (front back and sides) I use unilateral moves for off balance work that fires up the central nervous system, I use isometric moves that test the endurance of the core. And the calorie burn is HUGE!!!!
More and more fitness pros are turning to these tactics as the first phase of their client’s progression, and if they’re not, you might want to question it. In order for my client to progress to fun combination moves, to explore exciting modalities and rev up the workout to an exciting place, they have to learn how to withstand the load, withstand the task and be prepared for the unexpected. It can’t happen if she is not strong from the inside out.
Your posture also reflects your life attitude. If you take a moment and take a look at someone who is being challenged, the spine straightens and stiffens. Look at someone who is sad, the shoulders fall forward. Look at someone who is happy, the shoulders are relaxed and the spine is ready for movement… Keeping a strong posture also means working on life attitude…
I invite you to my youtube site, MyoTubeOttawa http://bit.ly/gZNeuT to view moves that you too can progress to with the proper preparation.. it’s what we are designed to do after all.
Leave me a comment, tell me what you do to build your backbone!!!
Have you ever been in that place where it seems that no matter how hard your workout, the results just are not there? I want to share a secret with you. It’s not always about how hard you work, most often, it’s in the way you workout… Let me introduce you to Interval Training.
Interval training is the new way of training.. or is it? The truth is that athletes have been accessing interval training for performance.. only to realize that not only are the benefits adding power to their sport performance, it also increases their metabolic rate of burning fat. So how do we do this stuff anyway?
Interval training is about doing fast bursts of exercise, high intensity aerobic work, followed by strong anabolic strength work. As the body tries to keep up with the pace and the demands, it will kick into high gear burning more calories per workout. And because we are also accessing strength work, the body will keep burning fat for up to 48 hours. Sound to good be true? Not in the least!
It’s all about the mind/body connection. If I’m looking to deplete my fat percentages, I’ll have to train both in a strength environment and a cardio environment. Why? It’s simple, really. Muscles burn fat—the end! In order for the muscle to live and repair, it needs a constant energy source, and that’s fat. In order to be fit enough to lift those weights, you have to be cardio fit. Don’t be fooled by thinking you’re heart isn’t working when you push weights! If you’re pushing the right amount of weights, the heart will pump hard!
Here’s where the timing comes in. Cardio work should be done early in the morning, before your breakfast. The mind doesn’t have to work too hard to keep walking, running or rollerblading… the body is on automatic pilot, it already knows how to perform these activities, you’ve been doing it all your life. Here’s the catch: since there is very little fuel in the tank, the body will go straight for the fat as an energy source to get you there. However, beware if you’re planning a long cardio workout, you’ll need to fuel that endurance training!
Circuit training is by far the best workout to lose weight. It’s been proven time and time again, bootcamps have sprouted all over the country, athletes are doing it, and so can you.
What Is Circuit Training?
Circuit training is a combination of strength moves and cardio moves, in stations, done one after the other with very little rest in between. Some argue that there is no real targeted body work. I would tend to agree with this, but then again, if the goal is weight loss, there is no need to target specific body parts. We have no control over where our body fat will store nor do we have control over where we will lose it first! Targeting specific body parts with weight load is done for sculpting or for strength building. Circuit training is targets the body as a whole, with emphasis on keeping the heart rate pumping hard, burning more calories than a general workout. We use weights to build some muscle tone (and muscles burn fat) and at that, they are not typically pure moves, combining the whole body in the strength move.. and we use the cardio component to keep the metabolism burning high during your workout.
Functional Training is the buzz word we’ve been hearing more and more in gyms for the last few years. It’s become the trend, yet, everyone applies it to his/her own definition.
True functional training was defined in a time where we used what was available and at hand to build strength. For example, the farm hand would get strong lifting bails of hay, it was what was found in his surroundings. This same young man may have used rocks are weight resistance.. Functional Training in that environment means exactly that. Get stronger by using what your surroundings can offer.
In gyms, the definition will change somewhat. We use “toys” to simulate the demands. We design workout equipment to challenge the body to replicate life demands. For example, we use balance boards, we use agility ladders, we use dumbbells and kettle bells… And yes, I do call them toys!
I hear women speak on how they prefer to do cardio workouts instead of weight training. How they feel they get better workout, how they burn more fat… yet, they also speak of the scale not moving fast enough or not moving at all… they are frustrated with the lack of results…
the answer is the weight room!!
Here’s how it works… building muscles takes more energy than cardio work (unless you train like freak and do marathons!) – and then, a strong and lean muscle mass needs to fuel constantly. It will go directly to bodyfat for fuel as this is the fastest and easiest fuel to attain. It doesn’t stop there!  a strong muscle mass burns calories 24/7 to stay healthy, to repair and rebuild.
Are you fed up with those gym fees? Sometimes you use the facility, sometimes you don’t… Have you experienced those waits between exercise equipment? Or someone else’s sweat on the equipment?
