Check out this article by FitSugar brought to you by "Shine" from Yahoo...

Good stuff to do at the gym to beat the heat. Get that cardio in on your non-boot camps days and/or over the weekend.

How to Burn More Calories on the Treadmill

Running on a treadmill is a great way to burn calories, keep your heart healthy, and tone up your lower body. If you want more from your workouts, try these tips the next time you hop on the moving belt.

• Bring Hills Indoors - Pumping up the incline will not only help prevent shin splints, but it also tones your tush, thighs, and calves while burning extra calories. After a 30-minute workout at a 10-minute-per-mile pace, you'll burn 270 calories with no incline, 363 with a five percent incline, 420 with a 10 percent incline, and 482 with a 15 percent incline.
• Slow and Steady Doesn't Always Win the Race - On long, slow runs when you need to take it easy, it's great to travel along at a consistent pace. But during your intense workouts, take advantage of intervals. By alternating between running a few minutes at a moderate pace, and throwing in sprinting bursts, you'll end upburning more calories, building your endurance, and becoming a faster, stronger runner. Not to mention, intervals have also been proven to fight belly fat.
• I Think I Can, I Think I Can - Whether you prefer chugging along at a consistent speed or doing intervals, to get the most out of your workouts, you've got to make continued progress. One way to do that is togradually increase your speed. Don't jump from 10-minute miles to eight-minute miles because you could seriously hurt yourself. Instead increase your pace just slightly so your body has time to adjust.
• Compete Against Friends (or Strangers) -If you hit the gym with a buddy, do your workouts on side-by-side treadmills. You can use one another's energy for motivation to run faster or longer than you would if you were alone. If you're at the gym solo, find a stranger on a treadmill to secretly race with.
• No Need to Hold On For Dear Life - You should be moving at a pace that's fast enough to get your heart and muscles working, but not so speedy that you have to hold on in order to prevent falling. When yourelease your grasp of the handles, it allows you to swing your arms, which will not only burn more calories, but will also tone your core and upper body. Holding on can also contribute to bad posture, which can lead to back and shoulder pain.

Rainy Day Warriors

Whoo hooo! Have ya'll dried off from our wet workouts this morning? I'm so proud of you all for coming out despite the weather and still working hard in the wet conditions. Ya'll are hardcore!

So check out the extra workouts over the next few days and try to get one or two in. Also, I challenge you to drop one of your long boring cardio days and add in an interval workout. See the pages links to the left for more info.

Have a great weekend and be thinking of us (Audra, Debbie, and myself) on Sunday as we're doing out triathalon. See ya'll next week!

Nutrition

Here is the article I was talking about in regards to calorie calculating. This is from Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS. If you would like to discuss anything further, just let me know. Not meant to be confusing.

As I’ve said many times, nutrition is more important than exercise. No matter how hard or how often you work out, you simply cannot OUT-TRAIN a bad diet. This leads to one very simple fat loss formula; calories in must be LESS than calories out.

With that being said, below you’ll find a simple set of guidelines to determine the RIGHT number of calories to help you burn fat fast along with a few suggested ways of cleaning up your diet.

Nutritional Plan:

If your current nutritional plan is preventing you from losing fat, then it’s time for you to start working on building better eating habits.

This can be as simple as committing to one small nutritional improvement per day (such as replacing your lunchtime soda with water) and one large change per week (such as setting aside time on a Sunday to shop and prepare for your weekly meals).

Once you have established good nutrition habits, you’ll find yourself making BETTER CHOICES on a daily basis. But you have to work on consistent improvement, and if you mess up, don’t worry about it, just get right back to eating right.

Even if you start making only one change per day you will start to see improvements.

Make this a GOAL that you will start today: to choose one healthier food option per day that will get you one step closer to your lean body. You need to have a plan to make this work, just like you need a plan for your workouts.

Calorie Calculator:

Let’s start your meal planning by using Coach Alan Aragon’s “Calorie Calculator” to determine how many calories you should eat each day. According to Aragon, to determine the number of calories you should eat each day, you need this equation:

Daily calories = Goal weight x (workout hours per week + 9.5)

• Protein grams = goal weight in pounds
• Fat grams = half goal weight in pounds
• Carbohydrate grams = [Daily calories – (protein calories + fat calories)]/4
NOTE:
o 1 gram of protein provides 4 calories
o 1 gram of carbohydrates provides 4 calories
o 1 gram of fat provides 9 calories
• By the way, Aragon said it doesn’t matter if you eat 6 or 3 meals per day

Female Example:

You are a 160 pound woman who wants to weigh 140 pounds, and you exercise for a total of 3 hours per week:

Daily Calories = 140 x (3+9.5)
Daily Calories = 1750
Protein = 140grams (560 calories)
Fat = 70grams (630 calories)
Carbohydrates = [1750 – (560+630)]/4
Carbohydrates = 140grams

Male Example:

You are a 220 pound man who wants to weigh 180 pounds, and you exercise for a total of 3 hours per week:

Daily Calories = 180 x (3+9.5)
Daily Calories = 2250
Protein = 180grams (720 calories)
Fat = 90grams (810 calories)
Carbohydrates = [2250 – (720+810)]/4
Carbohydrates = 180grams

If you follow these calorie guidelines, along with implementing daily healthy changes to your diet, then you will be well on your way to reaching your fat loss goals.

Top 5 Reasons to Love A.M. Exercise

1. Exercising early in the morning "jump starts" your metabolism, keeping it elevated for hours, sometimes for up to 24 hours! As a result, you'll be burning more calories all day long--just because you exercised in the morning.
   
   
2. Exercising in the morning energizes you for the day--not to mention that gratifying feeling of virtue you have knowing you've done something disciplined and good for you.
   
   
3. Studies have shown that exercise significantly increases mental acuity--a benefit that lasts four to ten hours after your workout ends. Exercising in the a.m. means you get to harness that brainpower, instead of wasting it while you're snoozing.
   
   
4. Assuming you make exercise a true priority, it shouldn't be a major problem to get up 30 to 60 minutes earlier--especially since regular exercise generally means a higher quality of sleep, which in turn means you'll probably require less sleep.
   
   
5. When you exercise at about the same time every morning--especially if you wake up regularly at about the same time--you're regulating your body's endocrine system and circadian rhythms. Your body learns that you do the same thing just about every day, and it begins to prepare for waking and exercise several hours before you actually open your eyes.

Exercise Extra: More than 90% of those who exercise consistently have a morning fitness routine. If you want to exercise on a regular basis, the odds are in your favor if you squeeze your workout into the a.m.

5 Tips to Stop Cheating on Your Diet

#1 – Script Your Day

Each night review your plans for the next day, and script out your schedule. So at seven o’clock in the morning you know what you’re doing. At nine o’clock you know what you’re doing, and so on. That’s the same mentality you have to take with your nutrition. You have to do the meal planning at the start of the week and know what you’re going to be eating. You also have to know the “bad eating” situations that you’re going to be in. If you know those, you can plan ahead with solutions to those obstacles. In fact, you should prepare two solutions for every obstacle. So, if you know that Wednesday you have meetings all afternoon Wednesday and then have to leave work right away for a family event, then you have to know that there’s obviously an obstacle there. That means you need to plan out two solutions around that obstacle, whether it’s eating before the meeting and then having something ready to go in the car or on the bus on the way to your activity.

#2 – Create the Correct Self-Image

Basically if you have the self-belief in yourself that you aren’t a cheater, then you’re not going to cheat. It’s that simple. The only catch is, you have to honestly believe in yourself. Your self-image must be of a person who does NOT cheat on their diet. It’s all about having the right mind-set.

#3 – Plan, Shop, & Prepare Your Meals in Advance

Tip #1 was all about mentally planning for obstacles, but this tip is about the actual physical preparation of your meals. You have to spend the time either on the weekend or during the week creating all the food for your fat burning goals. Most people would be best off to do this on Sunday morning rather than Sunday evening or Saturday instead of Sunday. You will also have to spend some time – but less than on the weekend – “topping up” your meal preparation. Scripting, planning, shopping, and preparing your meals is perhaps the MOST IMPORTANT component of a successful fat loss program. Oh yeah, and I can’t forget actually EATING THEM too! Remember: Once you accept how hard it is to lose fat, then you WILL succeed.

#4 – Brush Your Teeth After Every Meal

This one ain’t fancy, but it works! After you eat, brush your teeth. You’ll find you cheat less if you just brushed. This works great for those folks who are big-time snackers and gravitate towards a bag of chips or other munchies. So if you have dinner and then you know it’s lights out for food consumption for the night, brush your teeth. Same trick works at your job. If there are donuts or other goodies sitting around, brush your teeth and avoid temptation. Nothing tastes good if you have toothpaste in your mouth!

#5 – Our Old Friend, Social Support

Obviously the office is going to be an area of difficult situations, with office lunches, parties, donut days, Halloween Candy, and all the other holidays. You’re going to have some people who are going to “pressure” you into eating something you don’t want, so you have to plan ahead to deal with them. You go back to the scripting and planning AT LEAST two solutions for the peer pressure. And do your best to avoid those people and the bad situations. Spend your meal times with your nutrition buddy instead. Eating at home is another problem, especially if you have kids and treats for them at home. But you need to try and get your family behind you and supporting you. If your spouse doesn’t have a weight problem, then they might not see the big deal in eating healthy. But that’s when you need to be open in communication and negotiate a solution. To avoid night-time snacking, you need to create rituals to avoid mindless eating.

Rituals can include:

Brushing your teeth after dinner

Keeping snack foods out of reach and out of mind

Limiting yourself to a small snack-sized bowl, rather than eating out of the bag.

All of these tips will help you stay motivated and cheat less.

But REMEMBER…

A complete change in behavior will NOT happen overnight. You need to work on this everyday, and always try to be better than yesterday. It might be a two-year plan for where you go from binging twice a week to taking it down to once every three months. Don’t get frustrated by set-backs, and NEVER GIVE UP! It might take you two years to do that, but you know what? If you’re 30, 40, 50 or even 60 years old, you have another 30-60 years to live. Better to stop the habits in two years than live with them for another 5 decades. Enjoy the small victories and you can pull it off if you stay motivated & consistent.

Remember: Today’s goal is just to be better than yesterday.

First Week

Hey guys,

I'm so proud of you for completing your first week of boot camp! You're doing a great job! Be loud and proud of the healthy changes you are making in your life! I know it's hard, but nothing worth having comes easy! Remember that social support can be the #1 factor for success in fitness programs. While the support can come from your spouse, sibling, child, parent, friend, neighbor, co-worker, it's a proven fact that individuals have a greater chance of sticking to an exercise program when they have to be accountable to someone like a personal trainer (aka me!). Please contact with with any questions and/or concerns you have. If I don't know the answer to something, I will find out! Don't try to do it on your own. Social support is important in your quest for better heath, fitness, and fat loss.

Nutrition is the second most important factor for success. Make sure you are keeping a nutrition log. Most people have no idea how many calories they are eating each day. Next week we will be focusing a great deal on nutrition. I will be sharing lots of great info to help educate you on making better choices in your diet.

Have a great weekend! Don't forget to record your meals in your food journal and get up and get active! Try to do some cardio and one day of strength training on your own. More fun planned for next week! I will send out an email tomorrow with a workout suggestion.

And finally a bit of encouragement...

When the thought of quitting creeps into your mind, remember this:

"Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all." - Dale Carnegie

So never, ever, EVER give up on something that is important to you. (And you are all here because your health and wellness are important to you.) Stay strong and never give in! Did I tell you all how proud of you I am?!? Keep up the great work!

Let's Talk Healthy Eating

Another great day, guys! Whew that was a tough one this morning! And coupled with the humidity and mosquitos...

Ok, so have you started your food journal yet?!? If not, get started NOW! A recent study found that people who keep a food diary lose twice the weight compared to those who do not track their foods. (Source:American Journal of Preventative Medicine). You can get yourself a small notebook that easily fits in a purse or breifcase--we will be having a drawing for a couple of these (who doesn't like free stuff?!?), you can use an online journal (try www.fitday.com for free), or there's even apps to download to your phone. Point is, you need to start tracking your foods, exercises, weight loss, and goals. No matter how great any workout is, you absolutely, positively must be eating right or you won't lose fat. Eating whole, natural foods, high in lean protein, fiber, and healthy fats is the best diet plan for fat loss. Next week we will continue our healthy eating education, but for now check out these fat loss rules for success:
1. Eat breakfast EVERYDAY!
2. Think fiber, not carbs.
3. Eat some protein with every meal, aiming for close to 1g protein/pound of body weight.
4. Drink about 1/2 gallon of water for every 1000 calories you eat.
5. Keep fat under 30% of total calories consumed. This amount will typically come from foods you naturally eat, rather than adding fat to foods. That is unecessary and added fats are typically not healthy.
6. Drink unsweetened green tea throughout the day--aim for atleast 3 cups each day.
7. Have at least 1 fruit and/or vegetable at every single meal, with the goal of 5-13 servings total each day.
8. Get a few grams of fish oil each day, either through fish and/or supplements.
9. Do not skip a meal with the intention of saving calories.
10. Record what you eat and drink--self-monitoring is crucial to success.
11. Do not have an all or nothing attitude towards food--if you can get 90% of your intake to meet the guidlines listed above, you'll succeed.
12. Eat smaller meals throughout the day; never skip a meal to save calories, as this will likely lead to overeating.
13. Use caffeine in moderation.
14. Stay away from sugar-laden, caffeine-overdosed beverages like Red Bull (100 cal & 80 mg caffeine) and the drinks you can get at Starbucks (up to 400 calories & sometimes over 500 mg caffeine).

Whew! A lot of good stuff for you to "chew on!"

1 Day Down...

Well done, my boot campers! Nice job on your first day for many of you and first day back for my returning members. You guys are awesome!

Few things for you to do this week:

First, your homework (yes, homework!) this week is to determine your resting heart rate. For three separate days upon waking in the morning (before getting out of bed), take your heart rate for a full minute. (click on the Heart Rate Monitoring Page on the right column for more information.) Record your HR for the three days and then take an average of those three days. This is your resting heart rate. Email me it once you have it.

Second, make sure you are drinking plenty of water throughout the day.

Health benefits of water... Water is your body's principal chemical component, making up, on average, 60 percent of your body weight. Every system in your body depends on water. For example, water flushes toxins out of vital organs, carries nutrients to your cells and provides a moist environment for ear, nose and throat tissues. It aids in regulation of your body temperature. Lack of water can lead to dehydration, a condition that occurs when you don't have enough water in your body to carry out normal functions. Even mild dehydration can drain your energy and make you tired. Remember that sensation of thirst is not a good reminder for fluid replacement, but an indicator of advanced dehydration. You need to drink 1 pint of water for every pound lost during exercise and 4-8oz every 10-20 minutes during exercise to replace sweat loss. Fill up those jugs and bring 'em to boot camp! Then refill and keep by your side throughout the day. A good way to tell if you're drinking enough water is by the color of your urine. It should be pale yellow. If it's bright, then you're not getting enough water. If it's clear, then you're probably taking in too much. Water vs. Commercial Sports Drinks (aka Gatorade, Powerade, etc) Water is an efficient fluid replacement. It is the best choice for activities less than 90 minutes duration. For exercise duration longer than 90 minutes you need glycogen and fluid replacement, so a sports drink would be best. Just make sure the sugar content is less than 6 g per 100mL of water. And finally, start (or pick up where you left off) a food journal. Hold your self accountable for everything you put in your mouth. Check in with me or another member weekly to assess and determine better choices that can be made. We will be having a drawing for one of these as well as for a few Buc-ee's mugs (for holding water, not margaritas!) later in the week.

Inaugural Boot Camp comes to an End with Incredible Results

Well, our 10 week long initial boot camp class as finally ended, and boy did it end with some tremendous accomplishments! We had significant changes in body composition and gains in strength and endurance. Check out our results by clicking on the Boot Camp Successes Page on the right column.

Thank you everyone for your commitment. You are awesome, and I had such a great time working you out. I look forward to seeing most of you back for the summer sessions, and if you aren't returning I hope to see you back in the fall.

Finally, I wanted to put out an extra WOOHOO! to Donna and Adriana for having perfect attendance for the entire 10 weeks! You guys are rock stars!

See most of you next week!