Andrea was a blast to work with while I was working to improve my fitness this past spring. She organized a plan for me and helped me to achieve fast results. My only request of her was that she challenge me during each and every session and she did! Andrea knows what she is talking about and is a great personal trainer that I would recommend to others!
Lynn Haims
Andrea is an excellent trainer who tailors her training programs to the specific needs of her clients. After a detailed analysis of my strengths and weaknesses, my workouts were designed to address them. I feel much stronger after a couple months of training, and have a much better understanding of what I need to work on. Thanks!
Yvette Mileff
Encouraging, creative, and professional are the words that immediately come to mind to describe Andrea. Her encouragement took on various forms, such as her always enthusiastic greetings, the genuine interest she showed in me as a person, and most importantly, the way in which she would guide me through her well-designed workouts. She seemed to intuitively know how to push me beyond what I thought I could do without going overboard or getting in my face. I highly recommend her!
Dining out = Letting it Out
As a San Diego fitness trainer that works with a lot of clients looking to lose weight, one of the very first things I tell them is to cut back on eating out. You would be surprised at all the secret loads of calories you can find in items that may not seem like they would harbor a lot of calories. However, restaurants often use loads of butter and oils to prepare dishes, tons of cheese, salt, sugar, and processed flour. These ingredients all lead to more calories, and a bigger waistline.
So, if you are one that likes to dine out, I recommend cutting it back to one to two times a week, you will save more money and be able to watch your calories better. If you have to travel a lot for work and therefore are forced to eat out more there are some precautions you can take to minimize calorie exposure.
1. Look for items that are grilled, and ask for sauces, and dressings on the side.
2. Avoid anything that is a baked good, has cream, or tons of cheese.
3. The cleaner and more natural way that you can order food the less chance you have of getting unnecessary calories.
Here are some examples of the foods you could get dining in vs. dining out for the same amounts of calories.
For even more San Diego weight loss tips check out more of my blog.
Tips to Combat Muscle Soreness
As we roll into a new year, most resolutioners are looking to be more active, lose weight, or perform well in an upcoming competition. Many of these go-getters haven’t really exercised consistently in quite some time, and even avid exercise enthusiasts often sacrifice some of their hours at the gym to go to holiday parties and visit with family. When we haven’t exercised our muscles in some time and then decide to start working out again often times we experience soreness the following day, and even up to a couple days later.Don’t let a little muscle soreness get in your way from continuing with your training and ultimately reaching your goals.
Here are some tips for combating muscle soreness after a tough workout:
1. Post workout stretching: Make sure to do static stretches after a workout, focusing on the muscles worked. Hold each stretch for a minimum of 30 seconds. This will help prevent soreness.
2. Active Recovery: The following day after a workout complete 20 to 30 minutes of low-impact exercise. This increases blood flow to muscles to reduce trauma and re-establish the body’s pH level.
3. Drink Water: Half your body weight in ounces, this will help aid in muscle recovery.
4. Take a Hot/Cold Shower: 2 minutes of hot water than 1 minute of cold water three times. This will help get the lactic acid to be flushed from the muscles quicker.
5. Massage: Sports massage is proven to decrease muscle soreness by 30%. So every once in awhile treat yourself, your body will thank you for it.
Please feel free to follow my blog as I give useful workout advice, plus tips on weight loss and nutrition.
Developing Realistic Fitness Goals
As we come close to the end of another year and start to gear up for a new year filled with goals and new year’s resolutions I want you to keep in mind how to make effective and realistic goals. In an age in which there are Biggest Loser contests in which contestants are losing up to 25 lbs a week, fat burning pills that offer fast fat loss, and get rich sales company gimmicks, it’s easy for many to lose touch with how to develop realistic goals for themselves.
Establishing goals are very important to creating a road map for your own fitness challenges and eventual accomplishments. What you want to keep in mind when developing goals is to make them small more short term goals for you to focus on one every couple months. This type of goal setting is much more effective than making lofty, long term goals because than lack of patience can hinder and often stop progression.
When developing your goals you want to keep these 5 rules in mind:
Specific– most be easily understood and unambiguous.
Measurable-must be measurable so there is no question of attainment.
Attainable-the goals must be attainable, not too easy and yet not too difficult.
Relevant-must be relevant to your particular needs and abilities.
Time bound-must have specific dates for completion.
When working with a new San Diego personal training client we always go over goals and goal setting so we are both on the same page while we are working together. Remember a realistic weight loss goal for any individual is 1-2 lbs a week. But don’t get attached to reading your scale because weight fluctuates from day to day and can be discouraging. It’s best to rely on how your clothes fit and your reflection in the mirror to mark progress.
Alcohol Is Just Empty Calories
When it comes to effective weight loss strategies there are many factors to look at. Being a San Diego fitness trainer it is my job to not only address all those factors but give you the solutions and tools to have effective weight loss results. Many of us understand that strength training, cardio, and a sound nutrition plan are crucial to weight loss but what many people fail to realize is that consuming alcohol is really counter intuitive to their fitness goals.
It has become a social norm and almost an expectation that in social situations alcohol consumption should take place. Most holidays, nights out, dinners, and parties all offer many ways to consume alcohol. It can be challenging and almost chastising to refuse drinks. There is a stipulation in society that in order to relax and socialize one must consume alcohol. However, not only is alcohol harmful to the body for many reasons in which I will not get into, it also is counter intuitive to weight loss.
Look at it this way. Alcohol is 7 calories per gram compared to protein and carbohydrates at 4, and fat at 9.In a glass of wine there are about 90 calories, beer 150 calories, and mixed drinks can be anywhere from 150-350 calories. These are empty calories; imagine if you consumed a glass of wine a day with dinner that’s 700 extra calories a week! If you just stopped drinking you could essentially loose a little over a pound a month without changing anything else.
What makes alcohol different from fat, carbs, and protein is that it cannot be utilized as fuel by the body. It has no beneficial nutrients to provide to the body. Also, alcohol can also slow the process by which your body burns fat. The alcohol calories you consume aren’t stored. Instead, they’re converted to acetate, a type of fuel that the body burns quickly. As a result, you burn off your alcohol calories before you burn the fat you are trying to eliminate by increasing your exercise and cutting back on your food intake.
Alcohol also has been proven to not only stimulate your appetite allowing you to consume larger quantities of food it also loosens your inhibitions. This change in mind set can lead to a lack of willpower and undermine adherence to your program.
In conclusion, alcohol should be one of the first items to eliminate or at least cut back if you’re looking to loose weight successfully. For more San Diego weight loss tips follow my blog.
San Diego Weight Loss Tips
Living in San Diego we are fortunate to have great weather year round. It provides us with the opportunity to participate in many physical activities in beautiful surroundings. Outdoor exercise not only gives our bodies much needed vitamin D it has also been proven to reduce stress and depression in individuals who participate in outdoor recreation regularly.
So with that in mind I have compiled a list of fun San Diego weight loss activities that anyone can participate in.
1. Buy a beach cruiser to run errands and cruise up and down the coast and around the neighborhood.
2. Go on a hike. There are hundreds of open space parks to go take a leisurely stroll, or really get your heart pumping by climbing a mountain with quick elevation gain and a great panoramic view of San Diego at the top.
3. Get a group of friends or colleagues together and sign up for group fitness training.
4. Take dance classes through a local community college, VAVI, a dance studio, even the San Diego Civic Dance Assoc.
5. Join a San Diego weight loss support group or create your own through Meetup.
6. Train for a local competitive event, you can find hundreds of San Diego events by going to active.com
7. A San Diego personal trainer is easy to find with hundreds of fitness professionals and fitness facilities around. Find a San Diego personal trainer that is close to you to help you stay active.
8. Join a local sports league through either park and recreation, VAVI Sport and Social Club, Meetup, or even find one on craigslist.
9. Take up a new hobby such as rock climbing, scuba diving, kayaking, or surfing. Most often times you can pick up cheap lessons or excursions through discount offers through companies like Spreesy, Groupon, and Living Social.
10. Go for a run on the beach, or strap on your roller blades and skate through the local park
How to Alleviate Lower Back Pain
As a San Diego personal trainer I come across many individuals that suffer from lower back pain and discomfort. Now there can be many reasons and causes of low back pain: a previous injury; misaligned spine; gastrointestinal distress; repetitive movements; weak muscles; tight muscles; and poor posture to name a few. The majority of Americans that do suffer from low back pain it is most often caused by poor posture, and minimal physical activity. There are ways to improve and even eliminate lower back pain through proper flexibility, nutrition, and strength training activities.
Stretching
Take yourself through a series of stretches to determine for yourself if you are tight in these areas:
1) Abdominal Wall: Is it difficult to lay on your stomach and push yourself up so that you have full extension in the arms while keeping your hips in contact with the floor?
2) Hamstrings- Can you lay on your back and fully straighten your leg while hip is at 90 degrees?
3) Low Back- Can you touch your toes when you bend over and legs are straight?
4) Hip Flexors- Facing the floor, can you bend your front knee to 90 degrees with foot flat on the floor, back leg straight behind, and set your hands on the ground on each side of the lead leg while hips are squared to the front?
If you can’t successfully complete these stretches as described then you are tight in that muscle group.
Strengthening– I take my clients through a serious of postural and movement assessments so I can determine by how they stand and the way their body moves what muscles are weakened. The common culprits for weakened muscles that cause lower back pain are:
1) Inner and Outer Abdominal Stabilizers
2) Gluteal Muscles
3) Erectar Spinae Muscles
Quit Smoking
Research shows that smokers have more frequent episodes of back pain than nonsmokers, and the more people smoke, the higher the risk of such episodes.
Scientists believe that the nicotine in cigarettes contributes to low back pain in two ways. First, nicotine hampers the flow of blood to the vertebrae and disks. This impairs their function and may trigger a bout of back pain. Second, smokers tend to lose bone faster than nonsmokers, putting them at greater risk for osteoporosis, another common cause of back pain.
Develop Better Nutritional Habits
Lower back pain can be caused by gastrointestinal stress. In short if you are eating foods that your stomach has a hard time digesting you most likely will feel pain in the low back because the stomach is connected to the nervous system receptors in the lower back. So the pain you are feeling in the low back could be your bodies way of saying you aren’t eating the proper foods. To learn more about what foods are right for you read about Metabolic Testing.
Practice Better Posture
Make sure that your work desk is at the appropriate level as well as your computer desk. You should be able to sit in your chair, rest your feet on the floor while still keeping your knees slightly higher than your hips. Also while sitting up tall in your chair, your hands should not be higher than your elbows when typing.
While standing, keep shoulders back and down, hips slightly pushed forward and toes straight ahead with feet hip width apart.
Lack of Sleep Can Undermine Weight Loss
Many of us struggle to get 6-8 hours of quality sleep a night. Whether it be due to stress, time, work, or children we all find it difficult to get an adequate amount of sleep every night. Well, what if I told you that sleep deprivation can actually effect weight loss and overall fitness goals? That not only is the lack of sleep affecting your energy throughout the day it is also working against you when it comes to achieving your own fitness goals.
We need sleep for a variety of reasons including recharging energy, our muscles recover and rebuild during sleep, and it allows the brain time to store experiences as memories. There are three major reasons why lack of sleep will lead to weight gain.
1. Sleep patterns affect our hormones. When we get less sleep often this results in an increase in cortisol levels. A increase in cortisol contributes to an increase in food intake and abdominal fat storage. Sleep deprivation is also associated with a decrease in Leptin from fat cells. As Leptin decreases the hypothalamus interprets this as the fat cells need more food for energy, which makes you feel hungry. When Leptin levels decrease there will be an increase in Ghrelin, which stimulates hunger. So in summary, a lack of sleep leads to an increase in appetite.
2. It disrupts glucose metabolism. Researchers are finding a high link between sleep deprivation and diabetes. It is hypothesized that less sleep will lower levels of insulin secretion and impair glucose utilization.
3. Affects energy levels and choices. When people are sleep deprived they lack energy. This results in a decreased interest in exercising and they are much more likely to choose higher calorie and caffeinated snacks and beverages to get through the day.
Here are 10 tips to help you get to sleep easier at night:
1. Cut down on caffeine consumption in the late afternoon and evenings.
2. Do not smoke or use any other products with nicotine before bed. (More importantly just quit smoking)
3. Create a noise free sleeping environment.
4. Create a sleep-friendly bedroom by using comfortable linens and pillows, put up darker shades, replace worn out mattresses, and keep the bed cool during sleep hours.
5. Drink fewer fluids after dinner.
6. Attempt to deal with stressful issues during the day and put them away at night. (seek professional consultation if necessary)
7. Set a regular time to go to bed and a consistent time to wake up. Stick to this every day.
8. Avoid bringing work projects and personal paperwork to bed.
9. Avoid bringing food to bed.
10. Limit naps to a maximum of 30 minutes and try to take the naps earlier in the day.
I hope all these tips help! For more San Diego weight loss tips or if you have any other questions feel free to contact me.
