Exercises You NEED To Do

Hey there. I hope you are having a great week. This week is my first week on my new program. I took last week as a recovery week to prevent overtraining and to allow my muscles the rest they needed. My Workout Creator Members can check out my recovery week routine here.

Whenever I am designing a new program for myself or for any of my clients, there are certain exercises that I have to make sure I do or my clients will do. It is my goal for every program that I write to make sure there is at least one exercise that the person performing the routine HATES to do. Most people say that exercise should be fun or you won't stick with it. While this may be true there is one major flaw.

If I write a workout for someone and only give them exercises that they enjoy and that they are good at they are really selling themselves short. There is a reason you do certain exercises more often or first in your routine. You like it because you are really good at it. We don't like doing things we suck at. This is a huge mistake that most people make when creating an exercise program. For a truly successful program you need at least one exercise that you really hate doing. I know it is hard, but there is a reason you hate doing it. You are not good at it. And there is only one way that you will get better at it. That's right, you need to do it more often.

As much as I like to workout there are still many exercises I hate doing. Currently my two least favorite exercises to do that I try to incorporate into almost all of my workouts are KB Turkish Get Ups and Overhead Squats. I have a very tough time with both of these exercises. If I don't force myself to do these exercises I will not be training my weakest area, which really is the most important aspect of my program. Eventually you will get better at these exercises. Then they are no longer your least favorite exercise anymore. When this happens it is time to pick new exercises you hate. Sometimes these exercises will turn into your favorite. This happened for me with pull ups. Most people hate pull ups, including myself, because they are so difficult to do. I started doing pull ups every workout and now they are one of my favorites. I can't guarantee this will happen all the time but it is nice when it does.

Take the challenge when you write your next workout program. For the next 6-8 weeks focus on one exercise that you truly hate to do. You should know at least one. Some common exercises that people hate are push ups, lunges, plank holds, and bulgarian squats. Pick one that is good for you and stick with it. Also, perform it at the beginning of your workout so you have the most energy and concentration to get through it. And it is nice to get it over with first.

You Stay Healthy San Diego,

Mike Deibler MS, CSCS
San Diego Personal Training
My Workout Creator

Burn 5 Times More Fat

Well, it is official. The summer is finally here. Living in San Diego we get summer weather pretty much all year round, but it just seems to be better during the summer months. With summer here, the beaches are going to be filled with people enjoying the sun. If you aren't quite ready for the summer or would like to see a little less bulge coming out of the bathing suit than it is time to take some serious action.

If you have been following my posts you no that I am not a big fan of cardio. I would always recommend focusing on strength training for your workouts. I also know that not everyone enjoys strength training as much as I do. If this is the case you can still perform cardio workouts and burn a lot of calories. The trick is performing the right type of cardio exercise.

If your primary goal is to lose weight you first need to ask yourself, "what have I been doing for cardio?" If the answer is nothing, then it is easy. Do something. Start any continuous activity that you can do for at least 30 minutes. If you answer was that you perform 30-60 minutes of cardio 3-5 days per week then it is time to introduce intervals. If you are already doing intervals then you might need to look at the work to rest ratio and change it up a bit or the length of time you are working out.

If you are not doing intervals currently then you are really selling yourself short. More studies are clearly demonstrating how many more calories you will burn using high intensity intervals compared to steady state aerobics, which 95% of the people I see at the gym are doing. High intensity intervals may not be for everyone. Like I previously mentioned if you are not doing anything right now you must start with some basic conditioning. After a few weeks of that you can try implementing intervals.

To demonstrate my point just look at these numbers you could see with intervals. These are numbers are estimated using a few different studies, but they are going to be typical results. Actual calories burned will depend on the person's weight, age, sex, and lean muscle mass. Here are some estimates though:
All workouts were for 30 minutes.

-Walk at 3.5mph will burn approximate 126 calories with no significant increase in metabolism for the next 24 hours.
-Jog at 5mph will burn approx. 228 calories with no significant increase in metabolism for the next 24 hours.
-Run at 6mph will burn approx. 273 calories with an additional 160 calories burned over the next 24 hours.
-Intervals of 20 seconds at 9mph and 40 seconds at 5mph burned approx 298 with an additional 200+ in the next 24 hours.

With the amount of time working out being the same, interval training burned almost 5 times the amount of calories as walking. This means the interval people will lose 1 pound every week just from exercise (assuming their caloric intake is at the right amount) while the walking group would lose 1/4 of a pound. To me this is a no brainer. Workout harder and burn much more fat. Now something is better than nothing so if all you can do it walk then walk but if you can involve intervals than there is no reason not to. You can start to see why it baffles me that still so many people are sticking to walking or jogging for their cardio and why they are surprised when they just don't see that great of results.

So with summer time upon us you don't have much time to get into that bathing suit. If you are looking for the absolute fastest way to burn fat and lose weight, you NEED to perform interval workouts. To give it a try you can start simple. Try performing 30 minutes of intervals using a 1:1 work to rest ratio. Try going hard for 1 minute than easy for one minute and repeat for 30 minutes.

You Stay Healthy San Diego,

Mike Deibler
San Diego Personal Trainer
My Workout Creator

My NY Trip And How Fat Can Be Good

So this past weekend many of you know that I was in NY for a 3-on-3 basketball tournament. This was a fundraiser for the Lynn I. Morris Memorial Scholarship. One of my best friends from high school and college tragically lost his sister, Lynn Morris, in the 9/11 terrorist acts. The Lynn I. Morris Memorial Scholarship was created by the Morris family to award a deserving student each year that represents the amazing qualities that Lynn Morris had. Each year there is a fundraiser to help raise money for this great cause. This was the first year I was able to make it back to NY to participate and I am incredibly grateful that I was able to make it. Lynn was an amazing person and her memory will live on forever through this great scholarship program. If you would like to help contribute you can send a check to:

Lynne I. Morris Memorial Scholarship Fund
16 McGarrah Road
Monroe, NY 10950

Tax ID: 16-1527073.

The tournament was a huge success and it was great to see old friends and get to play basketball again. I will have to be honest though, I have not played in a while and I was hurting pretty much from the start. It is amazing how hard playing 10 minutes of basketball can be. Here are a few pics from the tourney:







While I was home I also got to spend some time with my parents which is always great. I even got to give my mom a workout. In return she had me try coconut milk. I have had cow milk, soy milk, almond milk, and rice milk, but never coconut milk. I have to say that I really did enjoy it. It is not very high in protein like cow milk but it is a great source of medium chained fatty acids. Fatty acids are typically broken down into long chained and medium changed. Most of the foods in a typical American Diet are composed of long chained. Coconut oil is a great source of MCT as well as palm kernel oil. Below are a few benefits of incorporating more medium chained fatty acids into your diet.

1. They have an accelerated metabolic conversion.
MTC's are more rapidly absorbed by the body and quickly metabolized as fuel. They are less likely to be stored as fat compared to long chained fatty acids.

2. They can help increase athlete performance.
Athletes will consume MCT's who are seeking an increase in energy levels. MTC's are used as a great source of energy for those that may be on a low carbohydrate and high protein diet. MCT's are metabolized very similar to carbohydrates and can be used as fuel.

3. MCT's may suppress appetite.
If you are having trouble controlling your appetite you may benefit from increasing your MCT consumption. A study showed that calorie consumption is lower in diets higher in MCT's compared to diets lower in MCT's.

While just by increasing your Medium Chain Fatty Acids doesn't mean you will magically drop weight, it may be a great way to assist you. Make sure the foundation of your program is still exercising most days of the week and eating a balanced diet. If you aren't currently consuming MCT's you might want to try adding them in with a glass of coconut milk.

You Stay Healthy San Diego,

Mike Deibler MS, CSCS
San Diego Personal Trainer
My Workout Creator