The Best Butt Exercise

The majority of my clients are women and one of the most common requests is to have a nicer butt. Here is one of my favorite butt exercises that I would recommend to anyone who is looking for a stronger and more firm backside. Give it a try and let me know what you think. If your butt isn't screaming the next day you did something wrong!




Sincerely,

Mike Deibler
San Diego Bootcamps
San Diego Personal Training
Online Workouts
858-752-4561

Nutrient Timing Part II

Last week we spoke about how important it is to get the right food in after your workout. If you missed it here is Nutrient Timing Part I. This week we are going to look at what you should be eating before you workout (I know I am working backwards but bare with me). Without the right fuel before you workout you will see a dramatic decrease in performance.

What you eat before your workout is going to fuel your performance. If you don't get enough or too much food you will not get a great workout in. I have seen too many people try and workout on an empty stomach first thing in the morning. I know it is hard to eat breakfast, but it will be so much more beneficial. People think that if they do not eat and workout they will burn more fat. There is little evidence to support this. You will burn more calories the more intense the workout is. If you haven't eaten since dinner the night before you will be very low energy and will have bad concentration. This will not lead to a very productive workout.

How long to eat before your workout depends, person to person. My roommate in grad school could eat 60 buffalo wings and a pint of ice cream 30 minutes before a basketball game and play the best game of his life. No, this is not typical and I would not recommend trying it. Everyone will have a different digestion rate and will be able to tolerate different amounts of food. Generally speaking it is recommended to eat about 1-2 hours prior to exercise.

Depending on when you workout you might have a whole meal before you workout or just a snack. Your pre-exercise meal/snack should be composed of an equal ratio of carbohydrates and protein. Instead of high glycemic carbs though we want to switch to low glycemic. These types of carbohydrates will cause a slower raise in insulin and provide more long last energy for the workout. Try to keep meals lower in fat and fiber for easier digestion and quicker gastric emptying. Fluids will be digested more rapidly as well, so if you still feel full eating 2 hours before a workout you might want to switch to a protein shake.

Sorry I don't have any delicious recipes for you this week but here are a few examples of some great pre-workout snacks/meals.

*1 Cup Steal Cut Oatmeal and 1 Hard Boiled Egg
*1 Banana with 6oz low fat yogurt
*1 String Cheese and Whole Wheat Pita
*Smoothie with 1 cup of milk, 1/2 cup strawberries, flaxseed, protein powder, and ice.


Just remember to eat, workout, and eat.

Sincerely,

Mike Deibler MS, CSCS
San Diego Premier Training
My Workout Creator
858-752-4561

Busting Through Plateaus

This weekend I was in Seattle observing the Exercise Etc. Fitness Conference. I have had the opportunity to join their team and I am thrilled to be a part of it. One thing that always happens when I attend conferences is I seem to get super motivated again. Being surrounded by other motivated personal trainers and fitness experts always seems to rejuvenate me with fresh ideas and I am excited to workout with my clients as well as for myself.

Sometimes that is all we need to break through a plateau. If you are new to exercise and have never hit a plateau you are most likely going to hit one eventually. It is had to keep up the same progress as you become more trained. This is why that last 10lbs or so can be so difficult to get rid of. We just get stale with the same routine and less motivated to stick to our programs as well. We new to be rejuvenated so we can see better and faster results. This is true whether you are looking for fat loss or for muscle growth.

I picked up one tip for breaking through, or potential avoiding plateaus all together, in Lou Schuler's book the New Rules of Lifting. I can't remember exactly what number rule, but it is one of the first ones. Each workout you should be breaking a record. I may be para phasing a bit, but the idea is that you are trying to get better in every single workout. This doesn't have to mean you have to increase the weight every workout. You can set the goals up. You might try and get more reps, add an extra set, finish in a faster time, or try a harder progression of an exercise. There are a number of different ways to break records but you should be improving from week to week. Usually after a few weeks of training you will see your progress start to level off and we start to just go through the motions. Granted this is better than not working out at all but we are starting to cheat ourselves.

By just picking one goal each workout and accomplishing it you will see amazing progress in your performance from week to week. A lot of our training will be psychological. It is amazing how when you set deadlines for work or school everything seems to get done exactly by the deadline. Having that little extra motivation can be all you need to continue to push yourself each week.

Sincerely,


Mike Deibler M.S., C.S.C.S.
San Diego Premier Training
My Workout Creator

Nutrient Timing

Not only what you eat is important, but more recently we are discovering how important when you eat is. Timing your nutrition appropriately is an easy way to accelerate your fitness results. Our muscles need the right amount of fuel for proper function and recovery. When they receive this you will see huge progress in muscle growth and fat burning capability.

For this post we are going to focus on your post workout nutrient timing. When you exercise there are two main things that happen. First the stress hormone (yes exercise is a form of stress), cortisol is released into the blood stream. This causes a muscle breakdown and it suppresses your immune system. The other main thing to occur during exercise occurs in the muscle. You burn muscle glycogen, which is energy that is stored in the muscle, and muscle fibers are damaged causing them to be irritated and inflamed. After your workout you have two goals then. You want to limit the damaging effect of cortisol and you want to replace muscle glycogen so your muscles can rebuild as quickly as possible.

After exercise muscles become very sensitive to insulin, a hormone that will lower cortisol and drive nutrients into the muscle cells to help with protein synthesis. By consuming carbohydrates you will see an increase in insulin levels in the blood which will minimize the effects of cortisol and help inhibit muscle breakdown. Not only that, but insulin will help shuttle more amino acids to the muscles to increase protein synthesis and increase blood flow to the muscle to help remove waste products faster.

So what do you have to eat and when to see these amazing benefits? First off you have about a 30-45 minute window of time where you muscles will remain sensitive to insulin. So you should plan a post workout meal or snack within that time. You need to consume carbohydrates and proteins in the meal. Most make the mistake to only have large amounts of protein after a workout to try and build more muscle. You really want to have about a 1:3 or 1:4 ratio of protein to carbs. That's right. You want to have more carbs after your workout than protein. It is the carbs that cause the increase in insulin levels and that will help bring the amino acids to the muscles. More specifically you want high glycemic carbohydrates post workout. These are the carbs that increase insulin levels very quickly after ingestion. Try and get approximately 50g of high GI carbs with about 15g of protein. If you can whey protein or a protein blend with whey in it has been shown to be most beneficial. The easiest way to achieve this would be through a protein powder mixed with some time of carb such as milk or Gatorade.

Below is a recipe I received from Alex Cardarelli with Love Your Assets. This is a recipe for a protein bar that has just about a 1:4 ratio of protein to carbs. I can personally attest that they are delicious.


High Protein Peanut/Almond Butter Apricot Energy Bars
Ingredients:
1 cup Natural Peanut Butter (creamy or smooth) (you can also use almond butter!)
1 cup Honey
1 cup Old Fashioned Oatmeal
1 cup Diced Apricots, cut into small pieces
1 cup Sliced Almonds
3 scoops Vanilla Protein Powder (organic)
Cinnamon to taste (optional)

Directions:
1) In medium size pot, heat Honey & Peanut Butter on stove
on medium heat until texture is runny.
2) Mix in Apricots, Nuts, Oatmeal, & Protein Powder
3) Stir until all ingredients are well coated
4) Grease a 9×9 pan with fat free non-stick spray.
5) Press in ingredients evenly
6) Cool in fridge for at least 45 minutes
7) Slice & wrap individual bars in foil or plastic wrap.
8) Enjoy!

Nutritional Information:
Servings: Makes 16 bars, Calories: 275, Fat: 10g, Saturated Fat: 2g, Trans Fat: 0g, Cholesterol: 0mg, Sodium: 90mg, Carbohydrates: 39g, Fiber: 3g, Sugars: 25g, Iron: 1mg, Protein: 11.5g.
Substitutions: Try dried cranberries, chocolate chips, or your favorite dried fruit, in place of the apricots. Also try drizzling Agave or Honey on top of the bars before refrigerating.

Personal Training Studio Vs. Corporate Gyms

I was recently having an interesting conversation with a new client I just began working with. Before he walked into my studio, he never even thought of working out at a private studio. He thought about it, and never realized what private studios were all about. It is always a good idea to know all of your options before choosing your workout location. I always wonder why you would hire a personal trainer at a corporate gym. I have worked at these type of gyms such as 24hr fitness and have worked out at many others such as Pure Fitness and LA Fitness. These are all great facilities, at least the ones that I have been to in San Diego. The amenities these gyms will have are usually great and worth the gym memberships, but if you are interested in hiring a personal trainer I would highly recommend researching the alternative and trying a private studio. Here are a few benefits that a private studio, such as San Diego Premier Training can offer over personal training at gyms.


1. Quality of Trainers:

I don't mean to knock on trainers that work on gyms. I personally know some great trainers that work at gyms. But I have also seen gyms hire individuals simply because they workout a lot and look like a trainer. The level of training just usually isn't there. If you hire a trainer at a studio chances are they have been screened by the owner and are top quality. Most of the time, these trainers are pursuing a career in the fitness field and are not just training as a part time job. With the price of personal training you want to make sure you hire the absolute best for your money.

2. It's Private:

This is one of my favorite aspects of owning a studio. At most there will be 3 people working out at the same time. You never will feel intimidating from others working out. It is like you are working out in your own private gym with the same equipment you would find in a gym plus some unusually tools such as heavy ropes, tires, sand bags, and kettlebells. This also means you never have to wait for equipment and your trainer doesn't have to worry about finding a piece of equipment that is open. As a trainer at a studio you can plan your workout and not worry about having to adjust it because something is being used.

3. No additional fees:

Working out at a studio you only pay for your training sessions. There is no membership fees or activation charges when you sign up. You are only paying for your workouts. In fact at San Diego Premier Training you also get access to our cardio equipment whenever we are open free of charge. On top of this you will find that rates at studios are the same if not lower than sessions at corporate gyms.

4. It's Cleaner:

I once worked with girl in college that had to do a science experiment. I don't remember exactly what she was testing, but she got a sample from a handle on a piece of exercise equipment. I won't share all the results but the amount of bacteria that can be found on some of the equipment is scary. With so many people sharing equipment and it not being cleaned regularly you never know what you are going to get. With our studio we clean up everything that is used after every session and periodically clean the entire studio to keep it sanitary. Plus it doesn't small like a sweaty locker room all the time.

These are just a few reason why I would highly recommend checking out a studio if you are planning on hiring a trainer. I am not suggesting that you cancel your gym membership. The extra amenities you will find at a gym are usually great, such as swimming pools, saunas, basketball courts, racquetball courts... This make it well worth it to have a gym membership. But if you need extra help with your weight loss program why wouldn't you hire an expert to help you.

Mike Deibler M.S., C.S.C.S.
www.sandiegopremiertraining.com
www.myworkoutcreator.com