Turn up the intensity!

So...  tell me the truth.  Have you been treating your body and mind right by working out?  Come on.. don't lie.. Good job!  I knew you have.  Just testing you.  I know I have been super busy lately, have you?  Today we are going to talk about using your precious time wisely and getting a little more out of your daily workout.  When you are doing your workout how long is it taking you?  Shouldn't be more than one hour max!  Are you sweating and out of breath?  Have a hard time talking to you workout buddy?  Or are you on the treadmill, watching TV or reading a book or magazine?  Yes. I am talking to you!  If low intensity is what is going on most days, take that workout schedule and throw it in the trash!  Starting now, you are going to turn up the intensity!  It will make your workouts shorter and burn more calories overall!  Ready?  Let's get going....

Three tips for getting the most out of your sweat sessions:

1.  Rest Less.  Say you are doing chest presses, do your set and rest and talk to a friend for a bit then come back for the other set.  You are WASTING time!  Keep up the intensity by only resting 30-60 seconds between your sets if you need a break.  Otherwise, rest your muscle group you just used (this case is chest) and do some jumping jacks or lunges or squats that focuses on a whole different muscle group.  This keeps your intensity and heart rate elevated which blasts more fat calories!  Plus, you will finish your workout much faster than you would with all that rest!!

2.  Ramp up your resistance and cardio intensity.  Ask yourself (and be truthful) if you're working out at a correct intensity to get the most benefit from your workout.  Not sure if you are giving it 100%?  For cardio, you can use an RPE scale.  RPE stands for Rate of Perceived Exertion and is rated 1-10 with 1 being so easy and 10 being very hard.  Here is a chart for you to look at:

When you are doing interval workouts, you should have your high intensity at a 8,9, or 10 for a short amount of time, then for the "rest" part of the interval be around a 1,2, or 3.  (more on interval training coming soon!)  If you are out for a run or walk and are doing what is known as steady state cardio, your intensity should be around a 5 or 6.  While doing resistance training your last reps should be hard!  Say you are doing 12 reps of bicep curls.  It should be getting very difficult toward the last 3 reps.  You can still do them with good form, but if you can go over the 12 reps, then you weren't lifting hard enough!  Your body tends to be lazy unless you really push it!

3.  Finally, seek help from an experienced person, like a trainer or someone who really knows their stuff in the gym.  I hate when I go to teach class and notice people sacrificing their time to be at the gym and not getting the most out of their workout or using improper form.  If you are going to "work hard", make sure you are not hardly working!!
**And a side note..  research is showing it now takes an average of 8 weeks for a new habit, such as fitness, to stick!  It the meantime, fake it till you make it!

Omega-3 Fatty Acid Benefits

Omega-3 fatty acids are considered essential fatty acids as they are necessary for human health, but our bodies can't make them.  You have to get them through foods such as fish, (primarily fatty fish like Salmon, Mackerel, Lake Trout, Herring, Sardines, and Albacore Tuna), some fruits and veggies, and nuts and nut oils like walnuts, and flax seed.  Omega-3 fatty acids play a crucial role in brain function as well as normal growth and development.  Research shows that omega-3 fatty acids are highly concentrated in the brain and appear to be important for brain memory, brain performance, and behavioral function.

The American Heart Association has research that proves getting enough omega-3 fatty acids has shown to reduce inflammation and may help lower risk of chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer, and arthritis.  One of the best ways to help prevent heart disease is to eat a diet low in saturated fat and to eat foods that are rich in monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats (including omega-3 fatty acids). Clinical evidence suggests that omega-3's help reduce risk factors for heart disease, including high cholesterol and high blood pressure. Fish oil has been shown to lower levels of triglycerides (fats in the blood), and to lower risk of death, heart attack, stroke, and abnormal heart rhythms in people who have already had a heart attack. Fish oil also appears to help prevent and treat atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries) by slowing the development of plaque and blood clots, which can clog arteries. Studies show eating at least 2 servings of fish per week can reduce the risk of stroke by as much as 50%.  (1)

Do some research on omega-3 fatty acids and look at incorporating them into your diet.  Make sure if you are getting your omega-3's in supplement form rather than food form, be sure to buy omega-3 fatty acid supplements made by established companies who certify that their products are free of heavy metals such as mercury, lead, and cadmium.

For more information check out these links at:
Web MD - http://www.webmd.com/diet/guide/good-fat-bad-fat-facts-about-omega-3
and at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omega-3_fatty_acid


1. References: http://www.umm.edu/

Good to think about...

"A man can fail many times, but he isn't a failure until he begins to blame somebody else." ~Steve Prefontaine, American middle and long-distance runner

Stave off Heart Disease

Did you know that Heart Disease is the #1 killer in men and women!  It has a higher death rate than cancer and it is, in many cases, preventable.... 

Here are 5 easy ways to help take care of your heart:

1. Know your numbers!  The American Heart Association defines optional numbers as your LDL (bad cholesterol) lower than 100 mg/dl, and a BMI of less than 25.  Another measurement that I find is a better indicator than BMI is the Waist to hip ratio (WHR).  It is when you measure your waist at the height of the belly button and dividing that by the measurement of your hips measured at the widest part of your buttocks or hip.  A WHR of 0.7 for women and 0.9 for men is considered healthy.

2.  Move!  Just 30 minutes, three times a week, cuts your risk for heart disease!  And in this case, more is better!

3.  Eat more veggies!  Research has shown that men and women who get more of their calories from vegetable sources have a 24% lower chance of developing heart disease than those who eat fewer veggies.

4.  Make more friends!  According to one study, women who said they felt moderately or frequently lonely were 76% more likely to develop heart disease than those who reported rare spells of loneliness. (Mayo Clinic Women's Heart Clinic info.)

5.  Kick Back!  Schedule down time.  Less stress lowers blood pressure and makes for a less chance of heart attack!  Don't worry so much about the 50 things that "need" to be done!

Check http://www.americanheart.org/ , http://www.goredforwomen.org/ and www.wholeliving.com/heart-health  for more information on protecting your heart and preventing the nations #1 killer!

It's all about what you eat...

Hello again!  I hope the beginning of the school year is treating you well!  Biggest Loser is off to a start!  Weigh-ins were last Tuesday, the 7th and we had a pretty good turn-out.  I think there is 12 or 13 people participating.  If you are interested, please let me know, as we are leaving weigh-ins open for this week also.  There is more information on the Biggest Loser link on the right side of the blog.  So, back to the subject for the week....  Nutrition.

"You can't out exercise a poor diet".  One of my favorite sayings because it is so true!!  Weight loss and Maintenance is: 80% nutrition, 10% genes, and 10% training.  You have to pay attention to what you eat!  Are you working hard, but not really paying attention (or knowingly ignoring) to what you are putting in your mouth? Are you thinking you are eating decent, but really, if you wrote it all down, it wouldn't be so great? This is something to think about if you really want to see the results you are working so hard to get!

**Calorie = Kcal = unit of energy (measurement)**

Calories are not our enemies! However, you have to burn more than you take in to lose weight! 3,500 calories = 1 lb. of fat. So, to lose 1 lb. you have to burn 3,500 calories. DON’T get frustrated! It can be done! Safe and long lasting weight loss is losing 1-2 lbs per week. (NOT 20 OR SO LIKE ON THE BIGGEST LOSER TV SHOW!) so if you burn or save 500 calories/day for 7 days = 1 lb. 500 Calories in not very much… It is like 1 snickers (271 calories, 13.6grams fat & 28.8grams sugar!), and one large Pepsi (280 calories, 74.0grams sugar!). Or sometimes a Grande Mocha Frap from your favorite coffee shop (over 500 calories!)  So, easy right? Just don’t eat. Or if you “only eat one or two meals a day”… then you are also making it harder to lose weight. Why? Read on:

Your body is a furnace and needs fuel to keep it going. If you don’t eat enough “fuel” then the fire (energy) will go out. Sounds Cliché but it is true. Experts agree that we should eat 5 - 6 small meals per day. Now I say MINI meals… For example, breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner and if necessary, snack. What it does is starts and keeps your metabolism running all day. When you don’t eat enough, and start to make your body hungry, your body goes into starvation mode, and hangs on to every last calorie it can! It isn’t going to starve to death!!

Now, keep in mind, when you are trying to lose weight should try to keep their calorie intake between 1200 – 1600 calories for women, more for men.  If you are very active, you can up it to 1800 – 2000 calories to keep your energy going with your major workouts. So, you have to split up 1600 calories between 5-6 meals. Make sure to keep snacks around 100 calories, and have a bit of protein, carbohydrate, and good fat in each meal and snack.

Another thing to focus on is cutting your portions in half.  This will make a dramatic difference! We as a society, eat WAY to much in our portions! Just think, by cutting your portion in half, you save so many calories and probably make it way closer to the proper serving size! Think of your plate as a pie chart, split in half.  On one half, fill it up with veggies.  Split the other half in half again and one part is complex carbohydrates, and the other part is protein.  Try it for a while.  See how it works.  Remember the cliche saying:  "you are what you eat".  Talk to you next week!

First day of school is over!

Well, the first day of school is officially over!  How did it go?  It can get stressful with all the unorganization and chaos, right!  Here are a few tips taken from, Fitness Magazine, to keep in mind...

3 actions that can drain your power:
1.  Sitting for hours slides your tush down in your chair, forming a C-curve in your back.

2.  Hunching over to text, reading the cell phone, looking at computers, and writing on paper pulls your neck out of alignment - a kink that can cause neck pain and fatigue

3.  Stress can cause you to breath shallowly, depriving you of oxygen that gives you energy!

3 actions that can act as a pick-me-up:
1.  Every hour, stand up, put your hands on the small of your back and gently arch as far as you can for one second, leading with your head.  Do this 6-8 times.

2.  Placing a thumb on your sternum, make an L by pointing your index finger up.  If your chin touches it, move you head back!

3.  When tension starts to build, spend a few minutes taking slow, deep breaths and use all your senses to visualize something soothing!