Archive for October, 2008

Proteins are the building blocks for muscles. Whether you are trying to build new muscle or maintain what you have, muscles need protein. And they must have enough. Consume at least 1 gram of protein for every two pounds of body weight, and on days when you are very active consume 1.5 grams for every 2 pounds. Make sure you are consuming protein with the 8 essential amino acids, or else your body will not be able to use the protein you eat.

These are minimum requirements. Those training extremely hard may need additional protein.

It goes without saying that most people beleive that if you eat less or less often, you will automatically lose weight. WRONG! The exact opposite is actually true and scientifically proven time and time again. This is not to say that you can eat whatever you want, as often as you want, but, you must keep your body fed often in order to keep your metabolism and energy level revved up. Otherwise, your body will learn to hold onto stored fat and your energy will decrease.

Even if hunger has not set in yet, but it has been 3 hours or more since you last ate, pick a small healthy snack to esnure your metabolism stays elevated and you do not experience the common highs and lows of too much time between meals or snacks. This is one of the best tips you will ever get, put it to use immediately.

Do you find yourself really hot after a walk, run, or other physical activity? Good! This means your metabolism, the rate at which your body burns energy, is in high gear and you can use this to your advantage to increase flexibility at this time. After your exercise, drink at least 8 ounces of water and than begin to stretch for 5-10 minutes. As you muscles are warm at this time, they will respond better to the stretching and feel better the next day because they will relax in a lengthened state instead of in a short, contracted state.

Stretching post exercise also aids in recovery. This is a must do……

If you are strength training hard at least twice per week and are not seeing results, ask yourself these 4 questions: am I using too much or too little weight, am I overtraining, am I using poor form, or am I not getting enough sleep and good nutrition? If you answer yes to any of those questions, address it and give yourself a couple of weeks to start seeing results. After that, if you are still concerned, consult a personal trainer or instructor as to how you can change your workout.

eFitness for Life will gladly assist you with your plans and programs to ensure your continued progress.

Change it up…..boredom is a key to fitness failure. Just like fresh foods are seasonal, your workouts can be too. Every month, pick a new method of working out to keep your body and mind growing in strength and knowledge. One month try Spinning, the next month take Tai Chi once a week, then kickboxing, etc..

Anything is better than nothing. There is some data however that states in order to strengthen your heart and reap the benefits, you should be active at least every other day of the week, averaging about 4 days a week. Ideally, your activity should be about 30-45 minutes in duration, and should be an intensity level of a 5 or 6. (Zero equals sleeping and ten equals maximum, all-out effort). Try to mix cardiovascular exercise and strength training.

Just get busy. That’s the bottom line. Missing a day here ir there or taking a week off is good, but your goal is to be consistent over your lifetime. This is a journey, one you must come to enjoy.

While this statement is actually partially true, the lingering calorie burn, post cardio work, is not nearly as much as you might think! Although, your metabolism will continue to burn at a slightly higher rate after you finish an aerobic workout, the amount is not statistically significant. Some studies show only about 20 extra calories for the day. Build more muscle, increase your body’s fat burning all day long, even while you sleep. This is the reason for resistance training.

When you think you want to turn to some chips, cookies, or other quick-relief, blood-sugar level elevating foods to feel good, try going on a walk and stretching instead. The endorphins will last much longer and improve your health instead of harm it.

When you want good, quick foods, try meal replacement shakes.

Let’s kill this one quickly. There is NO SUCH THING as spot reduction. Ignore the infomercials! Direct abdominal training will strengthen the muscles around your midsection and improve your posture, but being able to see your abdominal muscles has to do with your overall body fat levels. Decrease overall body fat through sound whole body training and your abs will appear!

“You can’t pick and choose areas where you’d like to burn fat,” says Phil Tyne, director of the fitness center at the Baylor Tom Landry Health & Wellness Center in Dallas. So crunches aren’t going to target weight loss in that area.

“In order to burn fat, you should create a workout that includes both cardiovascular and strength-training elements. This will decrease your overall body fat content,” including the area around your midsection, he says.

DIET plays the most vital role in overall bodyfat levels!

Ridiculous! There is no such thing as an all-or-nothing approach when it comes to training. In fact, for many, more is NOT better at all. There are tremendous benefits to doing just a little exercise daily. Studies show that a half-hour walk three or more times a week significantly reduces your risk of heart attack and stroke, lowers blood pressure, relieves stress and boosts your energy and immune system. This says nothing for the benefits associated to increasing your metabolism and reducing body fat. This daily, short sessions ramp up your system and do wonders for your physiology as well. Your mood, mind set and stress levels all benefit!

Absolutely NOT. Simple truth, the amount of muscle a man carries is directly related to the amount of male hormones produced. Women simply DO NOT have enough of it to make their muscles massive, unless they are into serious weight lifting or are chemically enhanced. It is true that with extreme dieting and the use of and steroids, a woman can build muscle beyond normal ranges, but for natural women, strength training is a wonderful way to tone up, firm up and shape up muscles in a beautiful way. Remember, the leaner an individual is, the more muscular they actually appear. In other words, it is not really the weight training that is creating that overly muscular look, but more the diet and enhancement from chemicals. Weight training is a healthy, positive endeavor for every woman.

For many reasons, there is quite a bit of misinformation in gyms and at water coolers all over about what it takes to get in shape, lose some weight or how to work out. Wives tales, century old remedies handed down, gym member to gym member, or some “experts” newest get lean quick scheme. Buy into them and I promise nothing more than confusion as they will most likely contradict one another at some point. Follow the science! Keep it simple!

Eating with the TV on is a not a good idea. And this includes snacks as well as meals. Studies have proved that we eat larger portions in front of the TV. This is probably because we are much less aware of what we are eating or for how long we actually sitting in front of the food.

Plan your grocery shopping too – make a list of what you need and stick to it. If you just grab something when you are feeling hungry, you will probably choose high calorie food. Plan your meals and snacks ahead of time. And don’t go grocery shopping when you are hungry! As silly as this may sound, you will buy things you don’t really want in your pantry simply because you are hungry at the moment you were shopping.