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Training for a Race

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This weekend I am participating in Race for the Cure. A fun easy 5k through Balboa Park with tons of runners, joggers, and walkers participating. It got me thinking about the hundreds of people who decide to participate in these runs without properly training for the event. Now a 5k is just over three miles so the chances of someone who is not very conditioned getting hurt is not as likely. However, there are plenty of people who decide to participate in even further distances that can be very taxing on the body like 1/2 marathons and even full marathons.

Participation in such events has increased over the past decade as people begin to realize the benefits from physical activity and healthy competition. Some people find it a great motivation to help them lose weight. Unfortunately, many people go about training for these events, without a great understanding of how much to train, and when to begin the program in order to successfully prepare their body for the race.

Somethings to keep in mind:

1) You need more than a week to prepare, for all those procrastinators a good rule of thumb is 3 months for a 1/2 marathon and 6 months for a full marathon.

2) Over-training is a bad idea as well. Running at most four times a week, and combining that with 1 day of strength training. Giving your body two full days of rest for recovery.

3) Adequate fuel. Since you will be training harder than your body is used to you need to increase calorie intake. Make sure that you are eating whole foods, plenty of protein and fat for post-training and mainly carbs with some proten pre-training.

4) Be sure to properly warm up by starting with a light jog and incorporating post stretching afterwards giving attention to the shoulders, back, hamstrings, glutes, quads, and calves.

For more great training tips visit Runner’s World.

Boost your Metabolism All Day!!!

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I am sure you have heard the importance of metabolism and it’s impact on weight loss goals. What you may not know, is what methods are the most effective for naturally keeping your metabolic rate high throughout the day. Many people turn to unnatural and unhealthy means for increasing their heart rate like caffeine and diet pills known as thermogenics. That not only increase the heart rate but the internal body temperature as well, maybe giving you an extra burn of 100-300 calories a day.

But what if I told you the following tips and strategies could get you burning up to roughly 650 calories a day? You would be much more likely to follow those, than taking those silly fat burning pills, right?

1. Eat Breakfast. I cannot stress the importance of this enough. Your metabolism slows down as you sleep at night and needs immediate fuel upon waking to crank up the internal furnace and supply your body with the needed energy to attack your day. If you neglect to eat, your metabolism will continue to run at a very slow rate as if you were still asleep! To read more about this you can read my blog Why Breakfast is the Most Important Meal.

2. Interval Cardio Workouts. By including intensive bouts of 30-90 seconds at high intensity with a 2-3 minute moderate recovery for anywhere from 20-30 minutes you will increase the calories you burn during the workout . Plus, you increase your metabolism as your body works to recover and rebuild from an intense workout session. You can read more about the benefits of interval training in my post The Myth Behind The Fat Burning Zone.

3. Eat every 2-4 hours. Don’t let your body think food is not readily available. By eating ever few hours you keep your metabolism up, and prohibit it from going into starvation mode. To learn more about how restricting calories can slow down your metabolism read my post Fad Diets Have Short-Lived Results.

4. Weight training. Weight training not only helps you burn calories during the workout, but also will boost your metabolism for the next 72 hours. Keep in mind this is hard training where you are utilizing compound exercises that get you to fatigue by 12 repititions. Hard weight training is the MOST effective way to not only build muscle but increase your metabolic furnace for the next few days. For every pound of muscle you build you burn an extra 50 calories a day which over the span of a week is an extra 350 calories without you having to do a thing!  And that doesn’t include the calories required to rebuild after you weight training workout. You MUST include weight training in your workout program because cardio and nutrition cannot only do so much.

I hope these San Diego weight loss tips help!!

Fitness Magazines are so Misleading

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As a San Diego fitness trainer I subscribe to e-newsletters and flip through the popular fitness magazines on occasion to see what’s new and trendy and what tips, advice, and lies they are telling to the common consumer and more importantly, my clients. Woman’s Health magazine has come out with a new 21 day workout plan that they are offering to consumers free with the intention of hooking them into a six week program for $40. So every few days I get another email about how I am going to become a whole new person with their super secret plan designed to make me sexy, thin without losing my curves.

Here is the exact email:

Subject line: Triple your fat loss and keep your sexy curves!

Dear Andrea,

Order Look Better Naked today!

If you want a gorgeous, flat stomach … high, lifted breasts … tight, toned arms … a round, sexy butt … and thighs so lean and so firm that they rock a miniskirt …

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If you want to unleash the power of your sexy, feminine curves … without suffering or starving …

CLICK HERE to get your hands on this amazing new book:

It’s the NEW, rapid weight loss and speed-sculpting
plan that gives you a striptease-ready body in
6 weeks!

It changes the way your body metabolizes fat, quickly reshapes your body, and melts away excess pounds. It makes you thinner, tighter, and leaner three times faster than old-fashioned exercise plans.

This breakthrough makes it EASY to have a body that looks super-hot — with or without clothes on.

Take your stomach, for example. Chances are, you might like to flatten it. And you can. Get LOOK BETTER NAKED to see how you can:

Order Look Better Naked today!
Skeptical? Of course you are. So here’s what you need to
know about the science behind LOOK BETTER NAKED:

1. You exercise LESS for FASTER results. The exercise plan takes JUST TWO HOURS A WEEK. If you spend more time than 2 hours, you’re doing it wrong.

The secret? LOOK BETTER NAKED works fast because of a revolutionary new — and simple — strength-training method called “featherweight” training. Try it now! You’ll send your metabolism soaring … get a washboard-flat stomach … and firm up your arms, butt, and legs — the easiest, fastest way possible.

2. You eat MORE DELICIOUS FOOD to WEIGH LESS. LOOK BETTER NAKED is the diet designed for EATING PLEASURE:

Order Look Better Naked today!

How is this possible? LOOK BETTER NAKED has uncovered the secret that stymies the release of hormones that help regulate appetite.

This one little secret can reduce your chances of being overweight by 84%. You eat what you want, when you want and still stay lean for life.

LOOK BETTER NAKED opens your eyes to a whole new, fast, easy way to look better in the buff:

•     Foods PROVEN to MELT BELLY FAT.

•     STOP 99% OF CRAVINGS BEFORE they start.

•     Experts say BREASTS CAN GROW UP TO 25 PERCENT BIGGER with this sexy trick.

•     TRIPLE YOUR FAT LOSS with a cutting-edge fitness breakthrough from LOOK BETTER NAKED.

LOOK BETTER NAKED is the ultimate combination of exercise, nutrition, motivation and body secrets that will make you want to run around naked with joy!

ARE THEY SERIOUS?!?!?!

Let’s give everyone a complex about how they currently look, dupe them into paying us $40 for a generalized program that isn’t specifically designed for them, with promises of helping them blast belly flat, increase breast size, lean thighs, and become a whole new person in just 6 weeks! They are setting people up to believe that they are gonna accomplish this all in a short time, so if they don’t they are going to feel like a failure, and most likely quit working out, binge, or extremely restrict calories.

Wow, thank you so much Woman’s Health for sabotaging every woman’s self-confidence and own idea of fitness changes and adaptations. So now when I get a new client whom is a reader of your magazine she is going to have this skewed idea that we can just target areas to lose weight, which is utterly impossible, and that we can just melt fat with a snap and she will be a whole new woman in just 6 weeks. Even the BEST fitness professionals can’t offer this. So what makes Woman’s Health, a staff team made up of journalists and a few “celeb trainers” have the secret to this? Can they also fly, walk on water, and read minds? Please.

Do yourself a favor and don’t buy into these magazines. It’s only going to mislead you and get you more confused. Read articles from actual health and fitness professionals that have degrees, and years of experience and qualifications to back up what they claim. Better yet, follow my blogs.

Have You Hit A Strength Plateau?

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Are you finding that the strength gains you experienced at the beginning of your workout program are starting to become less and less? Are you frustrated and wondering how to see continuous gains in your program?

Here’s something that I swear by in applying to my own programs as well as my clients programs. It’s called periodization training. Perioda-what? It is a semi-complex training system proven in numerous case studies to promote greater gains in strength, help prevent overuse injuries, and most importantly avoid training plateaus then any other type of training regimes out there.

One case study compared high school football players using a periodized strength training to players using a non-periodized program. Both types of training were performed three times a week for six weeks. At the end of the period the periodized program resulted in greater 1 RM squats compared to the other program; as well as an increase in lean muscle mass and a decrease in percent body fat.

This type of program is a systematic approach to choreographing different variables in weight training to constantly challenge your body but allow time for your body to rest and recover based on the demands you are placing on it as well as your programs goals. As a personal trainer it is my job to not only understand this complex principle but be able to apply to your specific needs.

If you are interested in learning more about periodized training and how it can reshape your training results consider working with a certified San Diego personal trainer such as myself. In working with a fitness professional you will have a periodized program designed for you, and all you have to do is just show up, it doesn’t get much easier than that.

Reign of the Cardio Queens

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You've seen them in your gym, the girls who spend at least an hour on the stairmaster then they move to the elliptical for another 30 minutes and finally they end with 20 minutes of crunches. Almost two hours spent at the gym, but day in and day out they look exactly the same. Why? They should have dropped pounds with the amount of time they spend sweating right? Well, here's the problem. Cardio is by no means a magic wand, in fact it can be an inhibitor when it comes to weight loss. To put it in simplest terms, when you are doing any form of cardio activity your body will automatically use the stored glycogen in your muscles first as a fuel source, then go to your fat reserves. Now it could take hours before you burn through the glycogen and start actually burning fat stores. Not only that but your body is an efficient machine and as such doing the same activity at the same intensity for the same duration day after day your body will adapt to this. It will become so efficient that you will burn less and less calories. Not only that but on average a person may only burn 100 calories or less every 20 minutes, so these cardio queens are only burning a max of 320 calories. This is why these women's composition never changes!

.. ..You know if they spent half their time pumping some iron they would see a dramatic change in how they look and feel. With just two hours of weight training a week in a few weeks they can build 2 lbs. worth of muscle that burns through 100 calories a day, while they are sitting on their butt. Not to mention the calories they'll burn during their training session 150-350 calories. 45,000 calories are needed to go into protein synthesis in order to build one pound of muscle. That's 90,000 calories in one month! Eating the same, weight training and doing some cardio they are going to see a dramatic change in their body. In addition, cardio leaves you feeling hungry, and fatigued leading to over consumption when you return home from the gym. An average woman can add an additional 8 lbs. of lean muscle which would burn through 400 calories everyday without having to do a thing.

.. ..So are you ready to get past this plateau? Want to get started on an appropriate San Diego personal training program today? Contact me and I can help you learn how.

Exercising On An Empty Stomach

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As a certified San Diego personal trainer I was shocked when I overheard another trainer explaining to their client that in order for them to lose weight they would have to exercise first thing in the morning on an empty stomach. Many clients ask me about this phenomenon that has been flooding the fitness market. I am writing to clear this up once and for all.

Exercising on an empty stomach is probably the best way to have a weak, ineffective workout. Your body has gone 8+ hours without any food or water. So your blood sugar levels are extremely low and not sufficient to fuel your body through an entire workout.

The rumor is that working out on an empty stomach allows your body to only use fat stores as a source of fuel, so therefore all the calories you burn are fat because they are no immediate carbohydrate stores for your body to access. The more “fat” calories you burn the better, right?

Wrong. Eating first thing in the morning or before your workout in the afternoon actually helps rev up your body’s metabolism. Which means not only will you have more energy to push through your workout but you will also have an elevated metabolism meaning you will burn more calories overall. Your body will always use a combination of fat and carbohydrates as energy sources for the body. It will never choose one over the other no matter what time of day and when you last ate.

I suggest that you eat a small snack of carbohydrate and protein like cheese and crackers, or yogurt and granola an hour before your workout. If you are pressed for time, a glass of Gatorade or OJ will give you immediate carbohydrates to help fuel your workout.

It’s Okay To Break a Sweat

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Alright Kiddos it’s time to start taking your workout program seriously and start really pushing yourself. How are you ever gone see results if you continue to do the same old same old, lulling through your workout? No wonder you still are teetering at the same weight for the past three months. You gotta challenge yourself! Get the muscles screaming, your body sweating and your lungs burning. Now don’t get me wrong we definitely don’t want you over-exerting yourself, causing yourself unnecessary pain, or passing out from sheer exhaustion. But let’s just admit that when you leave the gym you aren’t all that wiped out, and most likely you could push yourself a lot harder.

Being an optimistic San Diego fitness trainer most of my clients fight me when it comes to what they are capable of. Let’s face it a lot of it is mind over matter. When you put your mind to it you could push out a couple more reps, run for another minute, or hold that wall sit for 30 more seconds. My clients are always amazed at what they can achieve with a little encouragement. I would never give my clients something I didn’t feel they were capable of. Pushing yourself just that much harder is going to give you the extra advantage and get you that much closer to your goals.

Here are a few tips of how to make your workout a little more challenging:

The Elliptical–
No bubble heads. For heaven’s sake put some resistance on it so you aren’t bobbing up and down. There should be enough resistance to keep a fluid motion above 5.5 mph.

Shoot for intervals. Most ellipticals have pre-programmed settings, choose hill or regular intervals.

With increased resistance incorporate your upper body focusing on pulling and pushing.

The Stair Stepper–
The handles are there for balance not for you to support your weight. Pick a speed that you can comfortably maintain, a speed you would take climbing your stairs at home or work. Keep your shoulders back and abs engaged, stand tall, you will get wiped out in half the time, I promise.

The Indoor Bike–
Don’t be afraid of cranking up the resistance. If your wheels are spinning so much that you look like the road runner than you aren’t getting much of a workout. You should be averaging 60-80 rpm(revolutions per minute) when climbing a hill, and 80-110 when you have a slight incline or flat surface.

Stay seated on the bike as long as possible when climbing a hill and you will make your legs work that much harder and incinerate calories.

Running–

Change up your routes and the speed at which you run. By changing routes you incorporate different types of terrain to challenge yourself. Also try increasing speed and going a shorter distance and the next time decreasing speed and try going for longer.

Run tall. Shoulders back, butt tucked under will help with creating longer strides allowing you to run more efficiently and for a longer time.

Weight Training–
Get red faced. Towards the end of your set (8-15 reps) you should feel spent, like you can barely lift that last rep, if you aren’t then increase that weight!

No time for chit chat. You should not rest for any longer than 1 minute between sets. I recommend doing a circuit of 2-5 exercises working different muscles so your muscles have sufficient time to rest without you stopping at any time. So the heart rate stays elevated and you burn more calories. Ex. Go from chest press to squats to pull-ups.

Use Compound Exercises. Use exercises that use a couple different muscle groups to burn more calories during a set. Ex. Deadlifts, Push-ups, Dips, Clean and Jerks etc.

Hope these tips help, now go out there and get’em tiger! If you find you are lacking the motivation and drive to push yourself through your own workouts maybe it’s time to work with a San Diego fitness trainer such as myself to get you to your fitness goals.

Best Times to Workout

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As a certified San Diego fitness trainer I am always reading books and articles about the body, exercise, nutrition and so forth. Currently, I am reading a fascinating book called The Body Clock, Guide to Better Health by Michael Smolensky PH.D and Lynne Lamberg. It discusses our body’s natural clock and how there are better times of day to complete certain tasks compared to others. One section of the book in particular discusses exercise in relation to times of day. When it your body, there are better times to compete and train for specific activities.

According to the book this is a brief outline of the best times for various activities:

6am-9am. Eat a healthy breakfast. This is most important for people trying to maintain a lean weight like boxers, gymnasts, jockeys, and those seeking to lose weight since your body is more likely to burn food immediately that is eaten in the morning and more likely to store food eaten in the evening.

11am. Ability to withstand muscle aches peak around this time. Endurance athletes will find that they perform best during this time, since your body will be able to withstand muscle fatigue easier.

2pm-3pm. Post Lunch Food Coma. People whom exercise at this time move slower and display less stamina. Early morning exercisers will feel sleepy now. Best option is a moderate short brisk walk to bring back alertness in the middle of the day.

3pm-5pm. Breathing is easiest. Airways are most open and make cardiovascular activities much easier.

5pm-9pm. Strength gains. Research shows that study participants who trained in the evening had 20% greater strength gains compared to their morning counterparts. Also hand-eye coordination is at it’s peak during this time.

6pm-8pm. Body Temperature is at it’s highest. Muscles are the most flexible and reflexes the fastest. This time is best for sports that require speed and all-out power such as sprinting, swimming, and speed skating. This is also a great time for sports that require exact timing and precise muscle control such as figure skating or gymnastics.

I always found for myself that there were better times of day that I performed some activities better than others. I’m glad to see there is research to prove that. Test it out for yourself and see if there are times in which your body does perform better than others, you might be surprised.