Category: General Fitness

Exercise of the Week (Single Leg Squat)

leg_dum-173The single leg squat is a great exercise which is effective in many ways. It’s a great exercise for the glutes as well as the quadriceps and there is a huge balance element which is great for your core as well as coordination.

The Setup

Start by Standing with the feet together. This can be done with or without weights but either way, keep your hands at your sides. Lift one leg off of the ground and kick tha leg back at the hip.

The Movement

Brace your abs and slowly sit back into a squat. Make sure to lean forward at the hip and keep your foot flat on the floor. Once you reach a comfortable depth, drive up through your heels and press back up. Try not to let the raised leg touch the ground until you finish your desired number of repetitions.

This is a great exercise and if you have trouble balancing throughout, don’t be discouraged, it takes time to build the balance.

0

Very Interesting Article

Here is a very interesting article on Science Daily.com about the futility of dieting. This is a good read in advance of a blog I will be posting on effective eating strategies. Enjoy and check back tomorrow for my new posting.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/04/070404162428.htm

1

Strategies for maintaining healthy eating habits (Part 1 of 2)

As mentioned in a previous post, the majority of diets fail. Diets fail for a wide variety of reasons but there are a few basic reasons why most diets are destined to fail right off the bat. The key to maintaining healthy eating is to change the approach one has to their “diet.”

Why do diets fail?
Of the many reasons why diets fail, I think the biggest comes from our perception of the word “diet.” When people think of that word, they associate it with something temporary, something restrictive, painful and a means to an end (losing weight). These are all negative associations and automatically make the diet likely to fail.
Another reason why diets fail is because they are generally not sustainable. Most diets are so restrictive that a person can only stick to It for a finite period of time. A person may notice significant weight loss from a new diet but once they go off of it, the weight is likely to come back on in equal or greater numbers. The final reason why diets fail is because they are often not specific to the person. Everybody has different habits, lifestyles and physical needs. A diet must take all of these individual needs into account in order to be successful.

How do I approach an effective diet?

In order to have successful diet, one must overcome the obstacles mentioned above. The first thing that we need to do is to change our mindset when it comes to the word “diet.” The word “diet” simply refers to the way we are currently eating. Whether your diet is healthy or unhealthy, the word still applies so there is no need to apply those negative connotations. For a diet to be successful, what is needed is the proper mindset. It needs to be approached as a lifestyle change and not simply a way to lose weight. While weight loss may be a goal, it is also important to maintain a healthy lifestyle and to keep the weight off long term.

A typical crash diet is designed to be used for a finite period of time and generally to lose a significant amount of weight over a short period of time. While these diets can yield good results initially, the person will almost always gain the weight back once they stop the diet. For this reason, a good diet must be sustainable. It needs to be something that the person can stick to for an indefinite period of time. If someone can sustain a healthy diet, they will lose weigh at a steady and consistent pace but more importantly, they will keep the weight off.
The reason why I use the word “strategies” in the title is because it is essential that a person have a strategic approach to their diet. Everybody is different and requires a different approach to structuring their diet. Specificity is very important and we need to take a variety of factors into account. Things like work schedule, availability of food, sleeping habits, religion etc. all may have a potential impact and should be takes into account. If a person can pit together a diet which takes into account their lifestyle, they are more likely to stick with it than if they are simply given a sheet of paper with what they should do.

Please check back next Tuesday for part 2 of this series as I will go into the 4 basic rules and you can start to build the frame of a good diet.

0

My Fitness Journal

We all go through it, even the mighty trainer. It’s that moment when you realize that you’ve let things get out of hand. For me, that moment occurred this weekend while trying to put on kachi pants that a year ago were almost too big for me. This time, I could barely get the thing on and it did not look good. Now I’m not delusional, I’m by no means in bad shape but ones body image is a very subjective thing and I have set a standard for myself which needs to be met.
It all started when I got back from my vacation in August. I gave myself two weeks of eating whatever I wanted. Somehow those two weeks turned into five months and suddenly I’m 20 pounds heavier, not consistently working out and barely fitting into my already close fitting clothes.
I’ve had a hard time getting motivated to get back into peak form. It’s very strange for me, being someone who normally coaches people to be the one needing the coaching.
I chose to chronicle my own exercise program to both serve as a form of motivation for myself and to show readers that everyone goes through this process. The psychology behind it, the ups and downs, this will serve as a insight for anyone that is interested.

I’m going to keep track over 3 months. I’m starting with my weight at 183 lbs, bodyfat of 10% and my waist is 34″. My goal at the en of 3 months is to be at 163, 4.5% bodyfat and 31″ waist. Each week, I’ll give details on my workout and how I’m doing with my program. Check back every Thirsday for a new Journal.

0

Exercise of the week

flex-021Exercise of the week is back and I will do my best to update this as
frequently as possible from here on. This week’s exercise of the week
is a flexibility exercise that can be useful to most people. This
exercise stretches the psoas or hip flexors. Most people’s daily
routine can be very taxing on the hip flexors which in turn can cause
tightness in the lower back. Stretching the hip flexors will not only
work on the hip but will also alleviate some of the tension in the
lower back. This stretch should be done in three steps.

Starting position: start by kneeling on one knee on a soft surface.

Step 1: fall forward on the hip that’s kneeling by extending the leg.
You should feel a stretch from the hip going down the leg. (Pictured)

Step 2: raise the arm on the same side as the knee on the ground. Pull
the arm directly behind you. The stretch should be more intense.

Step 3: with the same arm in the air, reach across to the opposite
side. You should feel the stretch even more intensly.

After step three, hold the stretch for about 20 seconds and do the
same on the other side.  Make sure to complete each step separately as
it’s the most effective way to get the stretch.

2

Request Songs for Drills

Hi, now that I have been teaching my new class “Drills” for some time, I would like for regulars in my classes to have the opprotunity to request songs. If you would like to request a song please comment here or send an e-mail to ryanmgeorge@gmail.com. Let me know the song title, artist as well as the gym you belong to. If I teach multiple classes at your location, make sure to include the class you normally attend. Thanks a lot.

0

In Home Personal Training Tip (Increase the heart rate)

When it comes to in home training, the lack of equipment can pose a bit of a problem when trying to get a good cardiovascular workout. Most apartments will not allow you to do any running or jumping so as a trainer, it is necessary to come up with creative ways to increase the heart rate. One way to do this is to use a form of circuit training. In this form, the trainer chooses 4 exercises, 1 upper body, 1 lower body, 1 abdominal/ core and 1 total body exercise. Have your client do each exercise back to back with little or no rest in between. Have the client do about 12-20 repititions of each exercise. When one series is completed, have the client rest for one minute and then start another series.

Feel free to mix and match exercises, reps and rest periods.

0

Ask the trainer: “I would like to tone up my arms and thighs, how do I do that?”

This question can be asked in a number of ways, substituting arms and thighs for any number of body parts. This is also a very loaded question and not an easy one to answer. The first thing is to understand what muscle tone really is. Muscle tone is simply the percentage of activity within a muscle group at rest. So when most people talk about toning up, they really mean something different from the true definition of muscle tone. What people are really looking for is better muscle definition. Better definition can be achieved by decreasing bodyfat percentage. Reducing bodyfat can be achieved by decreasing the fat content within your body, by increasing your muscle or a combination of the two.
There are several ways of decreasing the fat content within the body. Cardiovascular activity is probably the most effective if you are looking for fast results. Having a balanced diet is also a great way to drop fat from the body. Weight training also can indirectly assist with fat loss. Regular weight training boosts a person’s metabolism and over time that increase will result in fat loss.
Unfortunately, contrary to what many people think, it’s not possible to “replace fat with muscle” so while you are losing fat, you will need to do something in order to build up muscle. Muscles develop through resistance training. There are many forms including dumbbell training, machines and bands among others. If a person wants to have defined muscles then resistance training will be a key to their workout. It is important when training with weights that a person train at a moderate to high intensity in order to develop the muscles. This applies to men and women. Training with light weights and high repetitions only increases muscle endurance and does not develop the muscle in any significant manner.
Another important thing to note is the idea of spot reduction. When there is a specific bodypart that needs work, the only control you have is over developing the muscles in the area. A person cannot control where they will lose fat. Your body will decode on it’s own where and how it loses it’s fat. A good example would be a person seeking to lose belly fat. That person can do thousands of crunches a day but if they do not focus on fat loss, the person may develop muscles in the abdominal region but never see it through the fat.

0

An interesting thing on hip fat vs. belly fat

Here is an interesting article I found on the difference between hip fat and belly fat. More can be found at the following site:  http://www.newscientist.com/channel/health/mg19826553.600-why-hip-fat-

Why hip fat is good, but pot bellies are bad

  • 09 May 2008
  • NewScientist.com news service
  • Bob Holmes

Not all body fat is bad. Your body may store “good” fat and “bad” fat, similar to good and bad cholesterol. The finding could explain why liposuction has few health benefits.

Researchers know that not all body fat is equal. The worst kind is excess fat on the internal organs, which causes a pot belly and is known as visceral fat. People with this are more likely to suffer from heart disease and insulin resistance, which leads to type 2 diabetes, than those who put on fat under their skin on their hips and thighs. But it was assumed that such subcutaneous fat was merely the lesser of two evils.

Now it looks like it could be positively beneficial. C. Ronald Kahn and colleagues at the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston transplanted subcutaneous fat into the bodies of some mice and visceral fat into others. They found the mice that had received subcutaneous fat ended up with lighter, leaner bodies and less insulin resistance than the animals that got visceral fat and, crucially, those that received no fat transplant at all (Cell Metabolism, DOI: 10.1016/j.cmet.2008.04.004).

“That increased body fat has a favourable effect is something I buy into,” says John Miles of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. If subcutaneous fat also has benefits in humans, the results could explain why liposuction, which removes this fat, does not reduce diabetes or other side effects of obesity. It also suggests that liposuction may even be bad for you, although that requires further study.

How subcutaneous fat exerts its positive influence remains a mystery but Kahn suspects it secretes hormones that speed up metabolism.

0

Ask the Trainer #2 “Correct an imbalance…”

Question: “My left shoulder and chest have a muscle imbalance. I played baseball for many
years and pitched. I naturally did a lot of exercise to build my armstrength and neglected my left arm. What solution can you give me to balance my left side muscle (shoulder/chest)?”

Answer: It is inevitable that an athlete will experience some form of muscle imbalance or another. Baseball is one of the best examples of this. Many baseball related training regiments are ancient compared to the wealth of information that we have resulting in imbalances as well as shoulder injuries. In your case, a positive sign is that you don’t have any serious injuries to the right side. Rotator cuff injuries and imbalances are very common among pitchers. Assuming that there are no injuries to worry about, balancing the two sides should not be too hard. The first thing to look at is your posture. Since you are dominant on the right side, more likely than not, your right trapezius muscle will be significantly more tense than the left side. The right side of your chest will likely be more tense with your right upper back being loose.

The first thing I would work on is making sure that both sides are balances. Work on strengthening the right side of your upper back and stretching the chest. Also work on stretching the right side of the traps as well as strengthening the left side.

Secondly, I would work on stabilization exercises for both shoulders but specifically the right side. Pitching causes some extreme flexibility and stability is very important for someone who is going to weight train.

Finally, when training with weights, I would focus on dumbbell exercises as well as cable movements as long as each arm works independently. Machine exercises and bar exercises may exasperate the problem since you may be able to compensate for the imbalance by using the stronger arm.

Following these simple tips should bring the two sides closer together. Your right side will always be a little bit stronger but that is natural. Possibly a more important issue may deal with the muscle imbalance within the right shoulder. Here is a good article discussing that topic:

http://bjsm.bmj.com/cgi/content/abstract/38/6/766

0

Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.

Up ↑