I always try and preach to my clients to get a head start on their New Years Resolution. This is the time of year when most people are stressed at work to get everything done before the holidays and their exercise program usually suffers. This means they gain a few extra pounds. Be honest, how many people do you know that do not gain any weight over the holidays.
Why do we have to wait until January 1st to start? Will things really be that better then? You will actually be worse off. You probably will be 5-10lbs heavier and have more work to do. The bottom line is there is never a perfect time to get started on an exercise program. You will always be able to think of some reason why you should put it off. Once you realize this you can finally accept the fact that it is going to be hard but you will start immediately.
This doesn't mean you have to start everything all at once. If you feel like you will get overwhelmed just take it one thing at a time. First you can start a strength training program 2-3 days per week. Once you developed that routine you can add a cardio program a few days a week. Then finally you can start to control your eating habits. While this is very effective and will work, just remember if you are not doing all the pieces at once your results will be much slower so do not expect miracles right away. If you do start now though you will prevent yourself from added those extra holiday pounds. Think about how much better you will feel about splurging for the holidays because you exercised as much as possible before them.
If you need a little extra help you can check out this program to get you started. It is a great program that will explain how to burn fat and build muscle with proper nutrition and exercise. Just click on the link below to learn more.
Click Here!
Thanks,
Mike
http://www.sandiegopremiertraining.com/
http://www.myworkoutcreator.com/
Monday, November 9, 2009
Monday, November 2, 2009
Workout Finisher
One of my favorite ways to end my workouts each day is with a finisher. Finishers are high intense mini workouts to finish you off. There are a number of different types of finishers you can do. These can include intervals, circuits, sprints, plyometrics... They will almost feel like short cardio sessions because they will elevate your heart rate very high in a short period of time. If you are interested in a fat loss program they can be a great addition to your workout routine. I put together a short circuit as an example below. This is a 150 workout meaning you will perform 150 reps of a few different exercises as fast as you can. Try and time how long it takes to finish. Periodically do it and see how your time will improve.
Feel free to post your time in the comment section.
Good Luck,
Mike
www.sandiegopremiertraining.com
Feel free to post your time in the comment section.
Good Luck,
Mike
www.sandiegopremiertraining.com
Thursday, October 22, 2009
3 Steps To Improve Your Posture And Flexibility
Flexibility is one major component of fitness that is often overlooked. It is because of this I see so many injuries. A proper flexibility program should be the foundation of an exercise program to help improve posture and reduce injuries. When you have a posture deviation there is usually tightness in one area and weakness in another. For example we often see individuals come in with rounded shoulders. This comes from certain muscle tightness and weakness. You need to address both to see maximal improvements. Here is a 3 step process to help improve posture.
1. Myofascial Release:
The Wikipedia definition of Myofascial Release is a form of soft tissue therapy used to treat somatic dysfunction and accompanying pain and restriction of motion. This is accomplished by relaxing contracted muscles, increasing circulation, increasing venous and lymphatic drainage, and stimulating the stretch reflex of muscles and overlying fascia. What this means is when we are tight it is usually caused by injury or inactivity of a muscle. This can develop into adhesions that form in the muscle, or knots, that may limit range of motion. In order to bread up these adhesions we can use myofascial release. This involves applying pressure to adhesions to relax them and break them up.
This can be done by massage or foam rolling. There are many pieces of equipment you can use to help break of these knots. Two popular methods are foam rolling and a massage stick seen below:
Using our example again with rounded shoulders, a great place to foam roll would be the lats. These muscles are often tight with this posture distortion.
2. Static Stretching:
Once you have started to workout out any scar tissue or adhesions that have built up you can begin stretching them out with static stretching. This is your typical stretching protocol. You hold a static stretch usually for around 30 seconds. You need to hold it for at least this long so that your muscle has a chance to relax and lengthen longer than normal. It should never hurt to stretch. Only take the muscle to a point of minor distortion. If you stretch too far you are likely to injure yourself.
When you see rounded shoulders a great static stretch would be the pectoral muscles. An easy way to stretch here is standing in a door way holding on to the sides with your arms and extending your chest and shoulders through.
3. Strengthening Exercises:
Finally once we have done the necessary stretching you need to incorporate a strengthen exercise. Even if you gain flexibility in tight muscles, the weak ones may not be functioning properly. When you have a tight muscle, the antagonist or opposite muscle will most likely be weak and inhibited. This muscle needs to be strengthened to see maximal benefit for range of motion.
Going back to our example of rounded shoulders we need to strengthen the rhomboids and middle/lower trapezius. These are important posture muscles that become weakened with long periods of sitting at a desk. A great exercise here is the SB Cobra seen below.
Mike
www.sandiegopremiertraining.com
1. Myofascial Release:
The Wikipedia definition of Myofascial Release is a form of soft tissue therapy used to treat somatic dysfunction and accompanying pain and restriction of motion. This is accomplished by relaxing contracted muscles, increasing circulation, increasing venous and lymphatic drainage, and stimulating the stretch reflex of muscles and overlying fascia. What this means is when we are tight it is usually caused by injury or inactivity of a muscle. This can develop into adhesions that form in the muscle, or knots, that may limit range of motion. In order to bread up these adhesions we can use myofascial release. This involves applying pressure to adhesions to relax them and break them up.
This can be done by massage or foam rolling. There are many pieces of equipment you can use to help break of these knots. Two popular methods are foam rolling and a massage stick seen below:
Using our example again with rounded shoulders, a great place to foam roll would be the lats. These muscles are often tight with this posture distortion.
2. Static Stretching:
Once you have started to workout out any scar tissue or adhesions that have built up you can begin stretching them out with static stretching. This is your typical stretching protocol. You hold a static stretch usually for around 30 seconds. You need to hold it for at least this long so that your muscle has a chance to relax and lengthen longer than normal. It should never hurt to stretch. Only take the muscle to a point of minor distortion. If you stretch too far you are likely to injure yourself.
When you see rounded shoulders a great static stretch would be the pectoral muscles. An easy way to stretch here is standing in a door way holding on to the sides with your arms and extending your chest and shoulders through.
3. Strengthening Exercises:
Finally once we have done the necessary stretching you need to incorporate a strengthen exercise. Even if you gain flexibility in tight muscles, the weak ones may not be functioning properly. When you have a tight muscle, the antagonist or opposite muscle will most likely be weak and inhibited. This muscle needs to be strengthened to see maximal benefit for range of motion.
Going back to our example of rounded shoulders we need to strengthen the rhomboids and middle/lower trapezius. These are important posture muscles that become weakened with long periods of sitting at a desk. A great exercise here is the SB Cobra seen below.
Mike
www.sandiegopremiertraining.com
Monday, October 5, 2009
Why am I always getter hurt?
I recently received an email from someone asking why they keep getting hurt in their exercise program. Injuries can occur sometimes and there is little you can do to prevent them. There are many proactive approaches you can take, however, to significantly limit injuries during a workout. The two biggest reasons I usually see for injuries either from exercise or daily activities are poor postural alignment and/or weaker stabilizer muscles.
1. Poor Postural Alignment:
Most people suffer from some postural distortion. Common distortions include rounded shoulders and an anterior pelvic tilt. Imbalances such as these can cause serious injury if they are not corrected. When you suffer from a posture issue there are two things that are occurring. First you have one muscle that is overactive, or too tight, and is pulling a joint in one direction. On top of this you also have the opposing muscle that is too inhibited or weak and it cannot support the pull of the tight muscle.
For example if you look at someone who has and anterior pelvic tilt. This means the have a forward tilt of the hips which you can see with an increased lower back curve. One common explanation is they have hip flexor muscles that are overactive and too tight, which will pull the pelvic bone down in the front. On the opposing side the will most likely have weak abdominal muscles that cannot support the extra pull and allow the hip to be pulled forward. This posture problem can result in lower back pain because of the pressure placed on the spine. This is a classic example of how the site of the pain is usually not the site of the problem. This correct this issue you would need to incorporate an intense stretching routine for the hip flexor and a strengthening routine for the abdominal muscles.
2. Weak Stabilizers:
When most people start an exercise program they are very motivated and want to get the most out of their workouts. This means they will lift very heavy weight and push themselves as hard as they can. While it is great they are motivated this again can lead to serious injury. Most people only want to work the muscle that they can see. These are the bigger, "sexier" muscles like your pectorals, latissimus dorsi, biceps, triceps.... When you only focus on these muscles you probably will not strength the smaller muscle that support the joint.
For example if you want to get a bigger/more defined chest you will probably start performing the bench press exercise. This is a great exercise to work the pectoral muscles but this is not a great place to start. If you only train these larger muscles they will get stronger and you will need to increase weight to continue to improve strength. This type of exercise will not work your rotator cuff muscle very effectively however and these muscles help support shoulder stability. If you keep increasing weight without training these stabilizer muscles it is a matter of time before you will put too much strain on the shoulder and have an injury.
You need to start an exercise program with exercises that improve joint stability so you can eventually improve overall strength.
Here is a great exercise that will help improve shoulder stability.
Mike
San Diego Boot Camp
1. Poor Postural Alignment:
Most people suffer from some postural distortion. Common distortions include rounded shoulders and an anterior pelvic tilt. Imbalances such as these can cause serious injury if they are not corrected. When you suffer from a posture issue there are two things that are occurring. First you have one muscle that is overactive, or too tight, and is pulling a joint in one direction. On top of this you also have the opposing muscle that is too inhibited or weak and it cannot support the pull of the tight muscle.
For example if you look at someone who has and anterior pelvic tilt. This means the have a forward tilt of the hips which you can see with an increased lower back curve. One common explanation is they have hip flexor muscles that are overactive and too tight, which will pull the pelvic bone down in the front. On the opposing side the will most likely have weak abdominal muscles that cannot support the extra pull and allow the hip to be pulled forward. This posture problem can result in lower back pain because of the pressure placed on the spine. This is a classic example of how the site of the pain is usually not the site of the problem. This correct this issue you would need to incorporate an intense stretching routine for the hip flexor and a strengthening routine for the abdominal muscles.
2. Weak Stabilizers:
When most people start an exercise program they are very motivated and want to get the most out of their workouts. This means they will lift very heavy weight and push themselves as hard as they can. While it is great they are motivated this again can lead to serious injury. Most people only want to work the muscle that they can see. These are the bigger, "sexier" muscles like your pectorals, latissimus dorsi, biceps, triceps.... When you only focus on these muscles you probably will not strength the smaller muscle that support the joint.
For example if you want to get a bigger/more defined chest you will probably start performing the bench press exercise. This is a great exercise to work the pectoral muscles but this is not a great place to start. If you only train these larger muscles they will get stronger and you will need to increase weight to continue to improve strength. This type of exercise will not work your rotator cuff muscle very effectively however and these muscles help support shoulder stability. If you keep increasing weight without training these stabilizer muscles it is a matter of time before you will put too much strain on the shoulder and have an injury.
You need to start an exercise program with exercises that improve joint stability so you can eventually improve overall strength.
Here is a great exercise that will help improve shoulder stability.
Mike
San Diego Boot Camp
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Technology is Amazing
Technology may be responsible for much of the obesity problems in America but it is also helping us change this. Food logs are a great and effective tool for weight loss. The problem is we are too lazy to keep them. It takes time to find out how much you ate, how many calories it was, then write it down and add it up. There is a new iPhone App that is changing this. Check out this video:
FoodScanner Demo from Andy Smith on Vimeo.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
The Fastest Way To Lose Weight:
As a society we are getting lazier and lazier and fatter and fatter. With the amazing technological advances we are finding ways to get more done with less effort. It is no surprise then that everyone wants to find that magic pill for weight loss. You see claims everywhere no a days. Drink this juice that comes from berries in the jungle and you will lose weight or take these pills and you will drop pounds instantly.
Bottom line is all of these claims cannot be backed up. They are all marketing techniques to get you to buy there product. With all the new food products and exercise equipment you would like that we have made amazing discoveries to help with weight loss. Sorry to say but it is not true. We have figured out more efficient ways to lose weight and build muscle but the foundation has always been the same. If you seriously want to lose weight here are some crucial things you need to start doing to lose the weight fast:
1. Keep a food log
The number of calories will vary from person to person but keeping track of everything you eat will give you an understanding of what you are putting in your body. The majority of the food you write down should be nutrient dense foods. Prepare meals yourself that way you know exactly what you are eating. It is very difficult to overeat when you consistently eat nutritious foods.
2. Strength Train at least 2 days per week
Many feel that cardio is more important if you are trying to lose weight but strength training is the only exercise that will promote muscle gain or limit muscle loss. Forget about lifting light weight for more reps. The best rep range for fat loss will be from 8-12 reps with moderate to heavy loads. You should be stressing your muscles each set of every workout.
3. Cardio exercise at least 2 days per week
This is usually the part of the program everyone will remember to do. To increase fat metabolism you need to increase your intensity. You will burn more fat in less time. Interval workouts are a great way to increase your intensity for cardio workouts.
Mike
San Diego Boot Camp
Bottom line is all of these claims cannot be backed up. They are all marketing techniques to get you to buy there product. With all the new food products and exercise equipment you would like that we have made amazing discoveries to help with weight loss. Sorry to say but it is not true. We have figured out more efficient ways to lose weight and build muscle but the foundation has always been the same. If you seriously want to lose weight here are some crucial things you need to start doing to lose the weight fast:
1. Keep a food log
The number of calories will vary from person to person but keeping track of everything you eat will give you an understanding of what you are putting in your body. The majority of the food you write down should be nutrient dense foods. Prepare meals yourself that way you know exactly what you are eating. It is very difficult to overeat when you consistently eat nutritious foods.
2. Strength Train at least 2 days per week
Many feel that cardio is more important if you are trying to lose weight but strength training is the only exercise that will promote muscle gain or limit muscle loss. Forget about lifting light weight for more reps. The best rep range for fat loss will be from 8-12 reps with moderate to heavy loads. You should be stressing your muscles each set of every workout.
3. Cardio exercise at least 2 days per week
This is usually the part of the program everyone will remember to do. To increase fat metabolism you need to increase your intensity. You will burn more fat in less time. Interval workouts are a great way to increase your intensity for cardio workouts.
Mike
San Diego Boot Camp
Monday, August 24, 2009
Recent Article in Time Magazine
Many of you have probably read the article in Time Magazine, "Why Exercise Won't Make You Thin." It was tough to read this article without getting a little upset being a fitness professional. I take my job extremely seriously and pride myself in keeping up with research so that I can create a program that is going to get the best results. The author does mention many of the benefits of exercise such as reducing disease, improving mental health, and others. He claims that if you exercise you might actually gain weight because you are going to eat more calories than you burned.
First off, yes if you eat more calories than you burn than you will obviously gain weight. The fact that he says intense exercise will increase your appetite for sugary food is false. It is important to look at all the research when making claims not just one or two. Many studies have shown that high intensity training will lead to a decrease in appetite according to Neil King, and exercise scientist at the University of Leeds in England. If you don't believe me try a sprint workout and see how much you will be able to eat after that if you can even eat anything.
The author of this article does not mention what kinds of food he is eating as well. There are certain healthy foods that will be more filling than simple sugar type foods like donuts. The main problem is people sometimes don't realize how many calories exercise burns. It is usually a lot less than than you expect. This does not mean it is not necessary. Yes it is possible to lose weight without exercising. Look at people from Third World countries. If you don't eat much you cannot gain weight. Problem is that only exercise will increase muscle mass and bone mass. This means that if you try and lose weight without exercise you will lose muscle mass and bone density, both of which can lead to serious health issues.
If you have been gaining weight consistently it means you are consistently eating too much. If you start and exercise program you may just stop gaining weight and not lose weight. You need the combination of a healthy diet along with exercise for a weight loss program.
I could go on and on with problems that are stated in this article but I think you get the point. Exercise needs to be a huge component of a weight loss program. This doesn't mean you can't lose weight without exercising but it is the healthiest way to do so. That article ends with the author saying he might skip his part of his workout the next day, because for some reason he thinks that is the reason he cannot lose weight. I would love to see him complete get off is exercise program and see if he starts to lose weight. And if he does I guarantee he will not be happy with the weight loss and will feel much worse than he was while exercising.
Mike
San Diego Boot Camp
For an amazing program that will show you exactly how you need to train and lose weight Click Here! This program is exactly what I am talking about with how to exercise and eat right to lose weight.
First off, yes if you eat more calories than you burn than you will obviously gain weight. The fact that he says intense exercise will increase your appetite for sugary food is false. It is important to look at all the research when making claims not just one or two. Many studies have shown that high intensity training will lead to a decrease in appetite according to Neil King, and exercise scientist at the University of Leeds in England. If you don't believe me try a sprint workout and see how much you will be able to eat after that if you can even eat anything.
The author of this article does not mention what kinds of food he is eating as well. There are certain healthy foods that will be more filling than simple sugar type foods like donuts. The main problem is people sometimes don't realize how many calories exercise burns. It is usually a lot less than than you expect. This does not mean it is not necessary. Yes it is possible to lose weight without exercising. Look at people from Third World countries. If you don't eat much you cannot gain weight. Problem is that only exercise will increase muscle mass and bone mass. This means that if you try and lose weight without exercise you will lose muscle mass and bone density, both of which can lead to serious health issues.
If you have been gaining weight consistently it means you are consistently eating too much. If you start and exercise program you may just stop gaining weight and not lose weight. You need the combination of a healthy diet along with exercise for a weight loss program.
I could go on and on with problems that are stated in this article but I think you get the point. Exercise needs to be a huge component of a weight loss program. This doesn't mean you can't lose weight without exercising but it is the healthiest way to do so. That article ends with the author saying he might skip his part of his workout the next day, because for some reason he thinks that is the reason he cannot lose weight. I would love to see him complete get off is exercise program and see if he starts to lose weight. And if he does I guarantee he will not be happy with the weight loss and will feel much worse than he was while exercising.
Mike
San Diego Boot Camp
For an amazing program that will show you exactly how you need to train and lose weight Click Here! This program is exactly what I am talking about with how to exercise and eat right to lose weight.
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