Pretty Cool Experience....

I wanted to share this pretty cool experience I had with you.  I was NOT expecting this last night in my cycle/core class.

You really have to always be on your A game.  You never know who your clients know, nor who your students in your class know.

I have a student that takes both my kickboxing classes and cycle/core class.  After my class, she always comes up and thanks me for doing such a great job and she always tells me how my class is the only one that gets her through her week and that her work week is so stressful. Of course, I'm humbled by that and thankful. 

Well tonight I now know why her job is so stressful. She came to my cycle/core class and let me know her boss was going to be joining my class. "He has a couple  security guards  that comes with him, so don't be alarmed by the big guy in the suit." She continues, " I've been telling him about you and how much you are much needed in my life and how you motivate me and push me." 

Well that person that she was talking about is her boss.  Her boss is the freekin Mayor of my city and and a former NBA basketball player! HOLY SCHMOLEY!    My heart dropped lol. WHAT! Of course I'm trying to find my best music! And OMG wow! He came and took my cycle class, and I knew I just had to treat him like an equal as I know that is what he wanted. 

He had came a little late but for what he did,  he made it through, he was sweating good and told me he is FOR SURE coming back and will be ON TIME to get the full effect of the workout and then gave me a good knuckle pound.  

Always be ready and on your toes. In this fitness profession, you never know who is going to come take your class to see what you are all about!

So hopefully I think I have a new edition to my class as he trains for his race in December! 

Thanks Mayor!

How Bad Do You Want It? Kinda?

Most people say they want to be successful, but they don't want it BAD. They just KINDA want it. They don't want it more than they want to party, or more than they want to be cool. 

To be successful you have to be willing to do whatever it takes. You have to put your heart and soul into it and be willing to make sacrifices. You have to be dedicated and push yourself past your comfort level. Only until then, until you want it more than just 'kinda' will you be amazed at what you can accomplish.

Here's a challenge rather than go out and PARTY/DRINK hang out in clubs/bars on the weekends.....TAKE THAT TIME YOU DO THOSE THINGS and put it into working out, even if you did in the morning.  Put it into keeping a fitness journal, do some yoga in the evening, go to bed early so you can get plenty of good sleep and workout in the morning....That's if you REALLY want it.  If you kinda do you will continue the old habits and you will snail like get there.  I'm not saying NEVER go out again.  But trust me when I tell you that you have to FOCUS and when you are nowhere near your final weight loss goal and you are doing this all on your own, temptation comes with all of this as well as being hungover the next day and not wanting to workout...You know what I'm talking about! We have ALL been there.

People buy houses they cannot afford, lease cars that are way out of their price range, and run up credit card bills on clothing or to be seen at chic clubs and eateries. For what? Quality of life is more closely linked to physical and mental well-being than what other people think. Consider this: if someone asked you when you were nine years old, would you rather be obese and drive a Mercedes or healthy and drive a Toyota? Would you rather have a disease like diabetes or hypertension and live in a big house or be healthy in a medium size house? Would you rather be out of shape and carry a designer handbag or in good shape and carry a non-brand leather bag? The answers are obvious at age nine because they are logical. Therefore, it would seem that spending money on a personal trainer for one’s health, fitness, improved quality of life and positive health benefits far outweighs spending that money to impress someone else or buy something not really needed.


Focus, get your mind and body to unite - key!

So Behind

Hi all!  I am so sorry that I haven't posted any new articles lately.  It has been crazy.  I've been working on bettering my pilates teaching skills as well as training clients.  This time of year, is crazy everybody wants to be in shape!

Yes, it's that time of the year.  Lots of temptations with drinks like margaritas (big calorie drinks!), beer and bbq'd food! 

I will be back.  But I want to ask you a few questions.  And be HONEST with yourself.  REALLY honest!  I want you to think about the way you have been working out. 

- Are your workouts basically the same?
- Do you know if your are hitting your target heartrate zone?
- Do you know if you are in a fat burning zone when you are working out?
- Are you strength training and working your muscle to true fatigue?
- Do you truly TRULY TRULY push yourself to workout HARD to the point that at the end you feel like laying on your back spread eagle, panting for breath and can't believe what you have just achieved?
- Are your underwear soaked after your workout? I know funny but um it's a true sign of a hard workout

If you have answered no to any or all of these, and you have a weight loss goal...You may want to pay attention, re-evaluate the workouts you are doing.

Weight loss does not have to be this long drawn out process.  It's up to you.  But for some I can answer these for you.  That's not the point. POINT IS -- If you really really really want THIS, then you MUST stop lying to yourself and get to the REAL WORK -- that kind of workout will excel you to your goals. 

I hear all the time in the 24 years of doing this, "I am serious this time." Or, "I am on a mission."  Yet these are the one's that don't even work that hard CONSISTENTLY.   If you are realllllllly serious, you would have answered yes to each of the above questions.

 It's up to you...See you at the finish line!

I'll be back with some great reads! Until them GO GET SOAKED IN YOUR WORKOUT! You will feel like a million bucks after!

To your health!

MOTIVATION

I have been absent in my blogging.  I will be back with a new article very, very soon!

Strength vs. Cardio Only

For those that have been following my blog then you read the article under the "archives" about women and strength training.  This seems to be a subject that frustrates me.  I can say this until I'm purple in the face that if you have weight to lose and all you do is cardio you are gonna be walking for a long long time LONG TIME until you get that stored fat off of your body.  Cardio alone does NOT burn stored fat. Not to mention do you even know how many calories you are burning when you do your cardio?  Here's a secret 200/400 calories you burn or maybe 500/600 in that cardio session all you have burned off is what you ate for the day.  You haven't even TOUCHED the stored fat.  There's a reason why it's called STORED, it won't LEAVE right?!

Do you know how intense your workout really should be?  When doing home workouts, it's VERY COMMON and VERY EASY to minimize your workouts.  You could be doing that and not even realize it. Do your body a favor - GET A PERSONAL TRAINER!

As we women get older our metabolism can seem like our enemy.  It slows WAY down.  Weight then seems harder to lose and the fact is, it is.   If you have never had a personal trainer or been in a setting with a fitness professional and you are doing your own thing you may not even realize that what you are doing is not very effective and is going to take you what seems like FOREVER to reach your goal.  This is why so many throw in the towel, their cheat days turn into 2 cheat days a week or 3 cheat days a week and soon they fall off to the side of the road of their journey.  I've seen it happen 100's of times.  Sadly it's a fact some just don't listen.

It doesn't have to be that way.  If you follow my simple tips and have a talk with yourself and then commit to YOU  that you MUST increase the level of intensity of your workouts, you will have some pretty amazing results and, you WILL DO IT and NOT give up.

Let me ask you this, when you watch the Biggest Loser, do you see these people doing CARDIO ONLY?  Absolutely not.  They are doing a lot of strength work. Some may think their workouts are extreme, I beg to differ.  They have FAT stored in their bodies that has been there for years, their metabolism is asleep.  Therefore by SHOCKING the body and doing what is called MUSCLE CONFUSION type workouts they are able to lose weight a faster rate. 

Summer is around the corner.  My client list is always at its peak due to everybody wanting to look good for summer and not have to cover up their bodies. However realistically if you have over 50 lbs to lose and you think it's gonna happen by summer and all you do is cardio,leisure bike rides, brisk walks, or cardio workout videos and you are over the age of 35 hang it up.  It probably won't happen.  UNLESS YOU DO THE FOLLOWING:

STRENGTH TRAIN, STRENGTH TRAIN STRENGTH TRAIN and I would do it either as often as you do cardio or do it more than you do cardio!  Your metabolism needs to speed up in order to burn fat.  You also want your metabolism to work for you - in burning fat, when you are not working out. Would you like to burn fat while you aren't even working out? I would hope so.   Yes you can be relaxing on your couch after a great strength workout and still be burning fat.  I love that part!  Why on earth would you NOT take this advise and chase your own tale.

2 of my female clients started with me first day in April.  They each (they are friends) have a goal of 25 pounds to  lose by July 31st.  So I got to work and put them on some fantastic supplements that WORK and a gave them their first week strength workout.  This is one that I have done in the past.  My body that week let me lose 6 lbs in 1 week by strength training.  Last week I lost 4 and gained lean muscle. 

Before I move on.  Have you ever had your body fat tested?  Let me tell you something...GET YOUR BODY FAT TESTED! I'm a very visual person.  I worked for a health club that does static body fat testing.  Static body fat testing is the MOST ACCURATE test.  And when you see the chart print out of how much lean muscle you have vs. stored fat and you see it on paper it's an REAL EYE OPENER and can be VERY MOTIVATING and can really help you to see you must CHANGE YOUR WORKOUT IMMEDIATELY! 

If you are in the Sacramento area it's only $40.00 to have this test conducted which takes about 5 minutes and is amazing.  Call Incentive Fitness at 916-481-5004. Ask about how you can come in for a body fat static test.  TRUST ME YOU WILL THANK ME FOR DOING THIS!

So here is just one workout I have done myself and it's very effective.  I put on my music and I get in my garage if I'm not at one of the gym I work at and I pound away! Hand weights are not expensive nor are the resistance tubes!  GET THEM if you don't have them!

I put the girls in a higher level of weights at 10 reps each.  So instead of a 10 pounder on shoulders I'll put them at either 15 or 20 (I tested their strength first to see what they could and couldn't lift). YOU MUST FATIGUE YOUR MUSCLE.. Meaning last rep is almost impossible to complete! That's what is going to give you that after burn.  Doing 3 lbs at an easy set IS NOT GOING to give you the after burn.

MONDAY, FRIDAY
LEG DAY
Leg Extensions
Squats
Leg Curls (seated and laying on stomach)
Straight Leg Deadlifts
Walking Lunges
Standing Calf Raises
 Step ups

TUESDAY/THURSDAY
Upper Body Chest/Back
Bench Press
Dumbbell Flies
Pull-ups
Seated Row
 One arm rows
Military Press
Lateral Raises
Bent over Rows

WEDNESDAY
Shoulders/Triceps
Shoulder presses
Shoulder Fly machine
Upright rows
Arm extensions (straight out in front of you lifting up to the shoulder  & down)
Tricep dips
Tricep pushups
Tricep 1 arm kick backs
Cable pulldowns

SATURDAY
Calve/Biceps/Core
Standing Calve Raises
Seated Calve Raises
One arm bicep curls
Preacher curls
Cable curls
Roman Chair knee lifts
Roman Chair straight leg lifts
Crunches

I work my larger muscle groups two times a week. I do this because working the larger muscle groups burns more calories/fat and it works for my body.  If you are starting out, you can do that once a week instead of twice and work up to twice a week like I have it listed.  (Google images is great if you type each exercise it'll show you what it is).

This is just one workout that I'll do for a couple weeks, then I completely switch it up to confuse my body. 

Supplements are important.  A multi vitamin is super important.  Protein A MUST for your muscles.  I use the following supplements that are amazing!  Lipo 6 fat burner AMAZING and works!

To your body!

CHEAT DAY... ARE THEY FOR YOU?

I was recently asked about cheat days and what I thought of them.

Well, I'm going to be pretty blunt.  If you have a large amount of weight to lose, then I don't think one should even be considering a weekly cheat day.

But then the question is, why do I have to withhold food that I love from myself?  Isn't that why you are where you are now?

We all love food.  But here is the problem, when you have one cheat day during the week, it often leads to another that same week. Then you are off track.   

If you MUST have a cheat day, have a cheat day at least once a month.   That's it.  Rewarding yourself with food while trying to lose another 50 pounds or 100 or what have you isn't really a good mindset to have at this stage.  Reward yourself with a a new outfit.  A size you couldn't get into.  While you are this road to losing weight, you also have to learn how to view food.  Sure there is nothing wrong in enjoying food.  But I'm sure at some point you would love to lose the weight and get off the road of "I've gotta lose weight." 

This is a bit of a touchy subject, that I get.  But FOOD is what you got you to be over weight,  Making poor decisions about what you put in your mouth got you to where you are.  So why would you then sabotage your great eating habits, your week of great workouts for food-the very thing that got you to where you are? 

I have observed how some workout.  Do you really know how many calories you have to BURN to LOSE one pound of fat?  IT TAKES APPROXIMATELY 3,500 CALORIES TO BURN TO LOSE ONE POUND OF FAT.  Do you know how many calories you are burning in one workout?  Just put it this way in an intense 45 minute soaking wet, sweating buckets workout you can burn up to 600 to 800 calories.  And I'm talking that is an intense workout.  In my R.I.P.P.E.D. class that I teach in 50 minutes I have gotten feedback from those that wear calorie counters that they have burned up to 750 calories.  So how are your workouts?  So think about that let's just take 750 calories in a one hour workout which again is an intense workout how many of those workout would one need to do in a week to burn 3,500 calories to burn one pound of fat?  Do you follow me yet?  Do you still want that cheat day?

Here's an example of a one that only walks as their form of exercise:  Depending on the intensity of your walking, walking can burn up to 280 to 460 per hour.  Depending on how much you weigh and how fast you walk, if you weigh about 150 lbs., and walk for one hour, for 7 straight days in the week, at approximately 4.5 miles per hour you should burn 1 pound of fat in that week.  But some weigh over 150 pounds and don't even know how fast they are walking and don't do it 7 days a week and want a cheat day?


If your workouts are not intense enough and say you've only worked out 3 times in one week, YOU SHOULD NOT BE REWARDING YOURSELF WITH A CHEAT DAY!  Losing one pound of stored fat is a battle.  So if you workouts are not intense and you have these cheat days, you are basically going to stay on that road for a much longer time.  And I know that will only continue to frustrate you.  So why do it?  Is it really worth it?\

For those that have a ways to go in weight loss, I try to help them by helping them see that on the days they want it to be a food cheat day, turn that around and use your will power.  Will power, determination, dedication and consistency is what is going to help you stay focused, on your path to getting ALL the weight off of your body.  Cheating is only going to keep you steps back away from reaching your goal.

So once a month that isn't so bad. Although I would prefer those that have a lot of weight to lose to not have them.  Think about it. Is shoving that food down your throat really all that wonderful when you look at yourself in the mirror naked and not like what you see?  Is it really worth it.  Or is rewarding yourself each month with a new outfit, you put that one size smaller on and look at yourself in the mirror and you feel so fantastic, so proud of yourself, is that worth it? Is that worth passing up a cheat day?  Give this some thought.  I think getting back on track and sticking to your workouts and making them more intense each time - challenging your body is what should be going on, not cheating. 

Do your body a favor, reward it with healthy foods, stay on your path, workout harder and increase the amount of days you workout.  Don't sabotage yourself, because that's what you could be doing!

To Your Health!

Quick Note...

I have been so busy and I'm overdue for a new article.  SOON -- I promise!

In the meantime, I want to share something with you today. 
When you get frustrated at the scale and with yourself that you only lost one pound -- Look at this, this is one pound of fat!

Remind yourself of this!

To you!

CALORIES

Check out this link to this website that will tell you how many calories are in your favorite foods!

http://www.caloriegallery.com/

Exercises To Work Your Lower Body

Everybody wants a nice butt.  Who doesn't?

If you are doing the 30 day lower body workout challenge, here are some exerices that are very effective:

Squats are great and can be done at home.  Always push your rearend back as if you have a chair behind you and you want to scoot it away from you.

In this photo you can do exactly that, get a chair and squat just letting your glutes touch the chair, come up and thene squeeze your glutes

Deadlifts are VERY effective.  As the picture shows you can do this without a weighted bar as well.  Make sure when coming down you reach just below the knee and push those glutes back, your back nice and straight, come up and squeeze hard

The Lunge.  Here you can do this is place or do a walking lunge! You will definately feel this in your legs. 

One Leg Bridge.  As shown in the picture you are going to feel these in your hamstring and glute.  You can do these with both feet on the floor and then do a full set on each leg.  These are great and you will feel the burn!

Now you can do the same thing with a ball.  If you do have a ball also try, laying both heels on top of the ball, keep your rearend off of the floor and with your heels roll the ball slowly toward your readend and then out to a full leg extension out in front of you, still keeping the rearend off of the floor.  The burn is intense and pretty awesome!

This picture speaks for itself.  When doing a laying side leg raise, make sure the foot of the lifting leg is always flexed!

Step ups are great and you can do this at home on a chair (be careful)

There are so many exerices for you rearend and running and the stair climber are two great cardio workouts for the rear!  Above, are just a few ideas to share!

TO YOUR ASSETS!

New Week - Jump Start With The Right Thought Process

It's true that we live in a world where you can have many things at a click of "enter."  Instant gratification is what kind of world we live in.

The same thing can be said about weight loss.  Many start with the best intentions and then when some do not see results within a few weeks or even just a couple of months, if the desired results aren't met, then many give up.  Of course, usually the expectations aren't realistic most of the time.

Weight loss needs to come off at a safe pace.  We all know this.  Two pounds a week is a safe and realistic goal.   One of our greatest freedoms is to discpline ourselves.

But there's something that I think many seem to forget, nor take into consideration.  The journey.  The climb to get to top of that mountain.  There's a song that comes to mind.  I would like to share some of the lyrics with you. 

So many of you doubt yourself.  You give up on yourself.  Be patient LET yourself get there.  But, most importantly BELIEVE IN YOURSELF and you WILL reach your goals.

Keep these lyrics in mind when you are working toward your weight loss goal.  Remember the climb! 

Ain't about how fast I get there

Ain't about what's waiting on the other side

It's the climb

That's right it IS about the climb.  Listen to your thoughts throughout this journey, you are going to learn so many things about yourself.  How strong are you?   Do you really want this? Do you believe you can reach your goal?

The Struggles I'm facing

The chances I'm taking

Sometimes might knock me down

But no, I'm not breaking

I may not know it

But these are the moments that

I'm gonna remember most, yeah

Just gotta keep going

And I gotta be strong

But, just keep pushing on

There are many reason why some cannot get motivated to stand up and MOVE....I challenge you to stand up and take one day at a time and each day you will move that mountain and each day it will be become easier and easier....CREATE A HABIT,  Make eating right, sleeping well and exercise a daily habit and that mountain will be no more!

Keep on moving

Keep on climbing

Keep the faith

It's all about the climb

Keep the faith, keep YOUR faith

To you!