TRIMMING THE FAT

Not all clients are created equally. There is so much more to a fitness program than athletic cross training, nutrition, sweat, cardiovascular and muscular fatigue.  Often a client comes in with a mind set that is not working for them. I call this "mental fat".

The fitness model is designed to bring about physical change.  But change cannot be just in the physical sense. It also needs to be in the emotional and mental sense.  As a trainer it is important  to help identify how the client got to the condition they are in, address it, and encourage growth and change.  Often this brings about anger, tears, and if all goes well, reward and freedom! I liken these to growing pains. In order to change, one needs to be real with themselves, be coachable, and believe change can happen.  Walk with hope that you can be made new.  Be set free from negative thoughts, self talk, and destructive habits, trimming the "mental fat" that weighs you down.  Replace with positive thoughts based on hope, positive self talk and new habits that will bring about the desired physical change.  Changing oneself is a journey.  Not something to be obtained overnight.  The real reward is in the journey.   With each step a more beautiful you is revealed.

Whats For Dinner

Today I had a client suggest I put up recipes.  So, I decided to put up what I made for dinner tonight for my family.
Broccoli salad and smoked maple hickory chicken.  This dinner took me literally 20 minutes to make.

I bought the frozen chicken tenderloins and defrosted in the bag with cold water sitting in the sink.

While the chicken was defrosting I steamed the broccoli I bought from the Farmers Market.  I like to buy our veggies from the Farmers Market because it is fresh.  If your going to force your children to eat veggies, you should darn well make sure they are still loaded with vitamins, right?  Never steam the broccoli all the way. You don't want to release  the vitamins up in steam.  After steaming I add Greek yogurt, crunchy salad topping that contains sunflower seeds, bacon bits, etc..., seasoning to taste, and a couple of tablespoons of lemon juice.  If you have purple onion, add it.  My family LOVES this side dish.

I put the chicken in a bowl with some olive oil and Smokehouse Maple flavor seasoning.  The brand I use is the McCormick brand.  I then put it into a casserole dish lined with olive oil, and bake at 375 degrees.

Often for dessert I will take frozen wild berries I have bought from Costco.  Toss in Greek yogurt, a couple tablespoons of lemon juice and agave.  Put into parfait bowls!  Yummy!

The Importance of Macronutrients and Weight Loss

The ratio of macronutrients that a person consumes mainly affects their blood sugar levels, which translates into energy and metabolism. 

Macronutrients are proteins, fats, and carbohydrates.  Carbohydrates provide the immediate energy we need to get our metabolism up and running.  Proteins like animal proteins are essential for our muscle healing and for cellular regeneration.  Good fats like Omega 3's are our sustainable energy.  The three together when eaten in proper ratio's keeps our blood sugars stable allowing us to keep our organs healthy, revs up our metabolism, and helps keep us in a fat burning mode.  Wouldn't it be nice to burn fat and not our beautiful muscles we work so hard to develop.

During my client initial interview time I talk about the importance of a balanced diet and how it contributes to weight loss.  I often will sketch out a hypothetical meal of the average person who believes they are eating healthy.  What always stands out is a carb heavy daily intake.  People forget that vegetables, fruits, and lactose/milk products are also consider carbs, outside the intake of simple carbs; breads, pastas, and white sugars. 

I encourage people to get their carbohydrates from complex carbs; apples, pears, veggies, etc...  These are  low glycemic fruits and veggies that contain high levels of fiber.  Stay away from simple carbs for example, white breads, white rice, crackers,  etc... These are carbs that spike the blood sugar quickly. 

I do not believe we all fit into the same macronutrient ratio box.  Runners will need a different ratio vs. weight lifters.  Middle age women will need a different ratio then younger women. 

My advice is to make sure you eat a balance of all three macronutrients.  Making your higher ratio of carbs early in the day.  For example, breakfast may contain oatmeal, blueberries and a couple of egg whites.  Morning snack may contain an apple/pear and almonds.  The later half of the day should be lean and green.  Carb source in the later half of the day should mostly come from veggie carbs. 

New Spin Bike

I am so excited to announce that En-Core got a new weapon or tool for training.  I often in the past have used spin bikes during my HIIT workouts.  High Intensity Interval Training is a wonderful style of training I use to keep my clients from plateau and for increasing lung endurance.  Spinning at a high intensity takes a client into what is called an anaerobic threshold.  This is where you are not able to adequately fill your lungs with oxygen during your workout.  You are at 90 to 100% your cardiac output, which puts you into an anaerobic threshold.  When this happens, your kidneys have no choice but to start the process of creating more red blood cells.  More blood cells makes more oxygen/VO2 max.  Giving an athlete increased endurance.  Recovery is equally important.  To gain lung endurance and better cardiovascular endurance, you must always recover the heart.  Bring your heart rate down to its target heart rate before you raise it again.  Interval training is best for this.  Your heart is a muscle too.

I use anaerobic training/HIIT to naturally blood dope my runners.  Six weeks before a race I put them into an anaerobic workout; sprint sets, spinning, swimming, hiking, and running in higher elevations.