Sunday, March 31, 2013

What makes a good fitness plan- Part 2

  This post focuses on the muscular strength component of an ideal fitness plan.......... 

Core fitness components

1.Cardiorespiratory training
2. Muscular strength training
3. Stretching/flexibility 
4. Rest


Building muscular strength can be accomplished by performing resistance training. Common forms of resistance training include:


Consistently performing exercises that improve muscular strength will:
  • cause your muscles to adapt to the stress by becoming stronger and more resistant to fatigue
  • increase lean muscle and reduce body fat percentage
  • as well as increase metabolism (the amount of calories your body uses throughout the day)

While performing resistance exercises use the following guidelines to make sure that you train safely and effectively:
  1. Always warm up 5-10 minutes before your session begins.
  2. Always use good form.
  3.  Train each of the major muscles groups (chest, back, shoulders, legs, arms and core) consistently and evenly each week.
  4. Stretch the the muscles that you used after your session is over.
  5. Never work the same muscles everyday.
  6. Avoid exercises or movements that cause you serious pain while performing them, or that  cause you to become inconsistent with your exercise routine
  7. Perform resistance training 2-5 days per week, while sticking to the guidelines 1-6.

***Many individuals, particularly women, are under the impression that lifting weights will make the bulky or cause them to have a "man-like" build......This is far from the truth. Testosterone is the reason for a man's bigger muscles and masculine features.Women have very little testosterone in their bodies; so its very unlikely for a woman to get bulky from lifting weights. Lifting weights only causes women to strengthen and tone up their bodies......... unless they take steroids!!


To be continued..............................

Sunday, March 24, 2013

What makes a good fitness plan- Part 1

Before one can exercise smarter, its necessary to know what goes into a balanced fitness plan. Any good exercise plan should always include cardiorespiratory training, strength training, stretching/flexibility, and of course rest.
Within the next several posts I want to go into detail about the core fitness components and how each one is beneficial for helping you become as healthy as you can possibly be.

Core fitness components

1.Cardiorespiratory training
2. Muscular strength training
3. Stretching/flexibility 
4. Rest.



1. Cardiorespiratory training or "cardio" consists of any exercise that requires you to use large muscle groups and causes your heart rate to remain elevated for sustained periods of time. Common forms of cardio include: walking, jogging,, running, stair climbing, cycling, and jumping rope. **Lifting weights can also mimic a cardio exercise if you perform your lifts back to back with minimal rest in between sets.This will cause your heart rate to remain elevated as if your were power walking.

Consistently performing cardio exercises will:
  • strengthen and improve your cardio respiratory system (heart, lungs, arteries, viens, and capillaries).
  • reduce your body fat% more than any other type of training
  • and reduce your risk of cardiovascular diseases

Cardio exercises should be performed at least three times a week. Yet one could perform cardio exercises everyday as long as the exercises aren't high impact or too intense. For example, one could take a short walk everyday.
If fat loss is your goal perform your cardio sessions:
  • for longer periods (30- 45 min + ) 
  • at  a light intensity or at your target heart rate. Most cardio machines will measure your target heart. Exercising at target heart rate is usually easy enough that you should be able to talk while doing whatever exercise you're doing - not out of breath.  If you would like to discover what your target heart rate is, simply 220- age x 65% = target heart rate.
 To be continued...................................

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Are you drinking enough water?

For those that are trying to eat/exercise smarter; how much water you consume each day will make all the difference........

Water is the most necessary nutrient for survival. Water assists with all of our basic bodily functions such as digestion, perspiration, and the flushing of toxins/wastes . Not only do we need it to survive; water is also the most ideal or smartest drink for anyone striving for better health and fitness.

On average, most people consume at least 1-2 sodas per day or 1-2 sweetened drinks (juice, coffee, tea, etc) per day. This may not seem like much, but it only takes 3,500 calories to gain one pound of fat.  If one  consumes 500 liquid calories each day (without burning it off through exercise) he/she should be prepared to see an extra pound on the scale at the end of the week. Unlike sodas and other sweetened drinks; water contains:
  •  zero calories
  • zero fat
  • zero sodium
  • zero o sugars


So, do you know if you're drinking enough water? The average person should consume between 8-13 (8oz cups) or 5 (20 oz bottles) of water per day. However, if you work in extreme temperatures, exercise for prolonged periods, consume large amounts of protein, sodium, or caffeine; your body may require more water. The best indicator to see if you're drinking enough water is to monitor the color of your urine. If your urine is clear or pale yellow, chances are you are drinking enough water. If your urine is dark yellow you are not drinking enough water.

** I understand that we all like to consume other drinks besides water. Sometimes we just have a taste for a cold soda. Hey, were only human!! But if we want to eat and exercise smarter,our primary drink of choice should be water. Limit sodas and other sweetened drinks to 1 or 2 servings per day. One regular 20 oz soda is 2.5 servings!!!


Sunday, March 17, 2013

Proven Exercise Tips- Part 3

Consistency Tips 13-17

13. Stay consistent by thinking about how your health affects your children's health. About a third of the children and adolescents in the US are overweight. Overweight children have an increased risk of Type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, sleep apnea, and a host of other health problems. As parents; we are a children's role models. If we eat healthy and exercise regularly; our children are much more likely to do the same. Most of the time kids do what they see their parents do.

14. Stay consistent by thinking about how goooood you'll look and feel. Exercise not only improves physical health but it also improves ones mental well being. I personally feel better about myself when I'm exercising and eating right.

15. Stay consistent by taking days (or weeks if necessary ) from exercise. Resting from exercise is just as important as exercising. By taking 2-3 days off each week, you give your body a chance to recover and you'll avoid injuries and overtraining. Overtraining can cause the following side affects:
  • No energy, constantly sore or weaker than usual
  • Colds or infections that wont go away (weak immune system)
  • Inability to sleep
  • Increased resting heart rate (your heart is working harder than it has to while your relaxed)

16. Stay consistent by doing a little bit of exercise instead of doing nothing on days when you're feeling lazy or pressed for time. If you planned to exercise for 45 minutes, but you have to be at work early, utilize whatever time you have. Even if its only 15 minutes.  exercisinghttp://exercisesmarter.blogspot.com/2013/02/dont-feel-like-exercising.html

17. Stay consistent by educating yourself about health and fitness. Magazines, books, DVDs, or even a blog such as this are all good sources of info to help improve ones health and fitness. Proverbs 15v22 says it best, "Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many adviser's they succeed". The Bible (NIV)

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Proven Exercise Tips- Part 2

Consistency Tips (6-10)


6. Stay consistent by listening to music while exercising. A study conducted by The College of Charleston showed that exercisers could complete an additional 10 reps of an exercise while listening to their favorite music.

7. Stay consistent by praying about your health. Our bodies are so intricately designed and wonderfully made that it's impossible to deny the fact that we were created by The Creator. With that being said; be sure to ask God for the wisdom, knowledge, and understanding that you need to accomplish your fitness goals.

8.  Stay consistent by sharing your health and fitness  plans with somebody close to you. This will force you to be accountable to someone. It could be a friend , family member, or your spouse.

9. Stay consistent by working out with a partner. If it's hard for you to exercise on a regular basis; finding an exercise partner who's motivated and disciplined can be one of the best ways to stay consistent and reach your goals. *Just be sure to choose a partner that has the same "outlook" about fitness as you do. If you're exercising for general fitness, it would be pointless to choose a workout partner that's a competitive body builder!

10. Stay consistent by changing up your routines. After you've been exercising for a while things can get a little stale. Adding variety to your routines will help you avoid and overcome exercise plateaus.

Sunday, March 10, 2013

Proven Exercise Tips- Part 1

As a fitness professional; I'm constantly searching for proven training methods that produce results, and more importantly keep individuals eating healthy and exercising consistently. A lot of times during my research, I come across many fad diet/exercise schemes that  promise to "get people healthy quick". Sorry to say that 99% of the gimmicky, "get______ in ______weeks"  never work. Even if they do produce results in the short term; fad  plans aren't sustainable for the long-term.


Starting with this post, I'm compiling a list of proven eating and exercise tips (which I call consistency tips because  nothing is more important)  that myself and many others have used to help us prosper with our eating and exercise plans. Incorporate as many of these tips into your exercise routines as you can.

Consistency Tips (1-5)

1. Stay consistent by doing exercises and eating healthy foods that you enjoy. In life, if you don't enjoy something, chances are you wont do it on a regular basis. This principle is the same with healthy eating and exercise.
2. Stay consistent by setting small goals. An example of a small goal could be: not eating bread for 2 weeks. Or increasing your walk time by 10 minutes each session.
3. Stay consistent by writing your goals down. Writing about your goals forces you to be clear about what you actually want.
4.Stay consistent by rewarding yourself when you accomplish a goal. You can treat yourself to a nice massage, or a dinner at your favorite restaurant.

5. Stay consistent by exercising for shorter periods of time. According to a study by YMCA, subjects were two times more likely to stick to an exercise program when they performed shorter workouts (30 min or less) compared with longer sessions.

More tips coming soon ....................................
**If you have a proven exercise tip that has helped you stay consistent, feel free to leave a comment and I will add it to the list.
   

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

The Ripple Effect

In one of my earlier posts I talked about how important it is to exercise consistently if you want to reach your health and fitness goals. Yet I completely forgot to mention  the ripple effect that consistent exercise has on our family friends and loved ones........

Over the past few months Ive been spending a lot of time with my mom. At times she tells me I'm weird because of the way I eat (lean protein, high-fiber, healthy fats, plenty of water ) and the schedules that I keep (4-5 days resistance training/cardio; regardless of whats going on). However, I didn't quite realize the effect that my "weird" actions were having on her until she started asking questions-I mean A LOT of questions.

My mom finally got to the point where she told me that she would like to start training too. (Praise God!!!) And this past weekend (3/2/13); I had the pleasure of taking my mom to the gym with me. We both got a great workout and we were able to spend some quality time together. God is good.

To my readers, I share this with you as encouragement to continue eating  healthy and exercising  consistently. What we do has an effect on everyone around us. The healthier you are the healthier your family, friends and loved ones will be. My mom is not the "exercise" type. Yet somehow, for some strange reason, she was convinced to go to the gym.............

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnvaCkQLPhc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0MjvzEhpM0



Sunday, March 3, 2013

Why youre not losing and/or gaining weight?

Ever wonder why some people can eat whatever they want, exercise at a bare minimum (if any at all), and still look as if their in great shape??

Our predetermined genetics plays the biggest role in how our body looks and how how much fat and/or weight we can lose or gain. If you look around, you'll notice that everyone you see will fall into one (or somewhere in between)  the body types below.

  1. Ectomorph- naturally skinny/slim (hard for this person to gain weight)
  2. Mesomorph- naturally muscular/thick build (this person looks muscular without exercise)
  3. Endomorph- heavyset, thick waist, big bones. Hard for this person to lose weight             due to slower metabolism.


Anytime were trying to reach a a fitness goal,its always smarter
to eat and exercise according to the type of body that you have.                    
Below are a few tips that can help you train a little smarter:


1.Naturally slim (hard gainer) should still eat healthy. However, an increase in starchy carbs (rice and pasta) would help put a few pounds on. Exercise at least 3 days weekly Use heavier weight-less reps. Limit those long cardio sessions if weight gain is your goal.

2. Naturally muscular individuals should still eat healthy most of the time. Sometimes people tend to think that having "muscles" means good health. Stick to a lean protein/ high fiber carb/ healthy fat diet. *Exercise according to your goals at 3-5 days per week.

3. Naturally heavy individuals should stick to a lean protein/ high fiber carb/ healthy fat diet. For fat loss; exercise at least 3-5 days per week with a strict focus on circuit training with weights and long duration, low intensity cardio sessions (45-1hr.)

Good luck. And if you have any questions or need insight about this post. Feel free to post a comment or leave a message. To hear this post go to:

http://youtu.be/u-UFY1jXx_Y