Almost all of us have one side that isn't as strong as the other. Usually this is our dominant (writing) side for the upper body and, interestingly enough, the opposite side for your lower body. This is because we tend to cross-brace with our opposite leg for our working arm.
At any rate, it's not usually much of an issue until you start working out in the gym. Then, the difference can be frustrating, particularly when you look in the mirror as you progress and see more developed muscles on one side. It can also be confusing as far as how to go about dealing with this in terms of weight lifting.
I have employed a method that, while not exactly rocket science, works. And it works safely.
There are two plans of attack, here, and they depend on if you are working both limbs unilaterally (individually) or bilaterally (together).
Let's take unilaterally, or individual, moves first. This is a pretty strait-forward approach: Do whatever the intended move is with the weaker side first, then match it on your stronger side. So, for instance, if you are able to do 15 reps of bicep curls with 10 pounds, you would move that same 10 pound weight to your weaker arm (in my case, this would be the left) and do exactly 15 reps- no more, no less. Even sets where you fall short of your desired number of reps, you keep it the same. For instance, if I were targeting 15 reps in my set but only got 13 reps out with my left arm, I would move that same weight over to my right arm and do the exact same number of reps I did with my left arm. To help me remember how many I did on the first arm, I would count from 13 down to 1. (Yes, my memory can be that bad!) Eventually you will get to where the left arm is about equal with the right. Sometimes, you can even get it stronger.
In the case of bilateral moves, there are two different approaches depending on whether you are lifting two different weights with both arms at the same time (like a dumbbell press), or a single weight with both limbs (like a leg press). In the former case (the dumbbell press), you would apply the same principle you did with the unilateral move and simply work both arms until the weaker arm gets as tired as you are targeting. In the latter case (the leg press), you would do what my former trainer Ruben Sandoval of Fit To Be in Your Kitchen advised: "Pay attention to the weak side and your strong side will take care of itself". So since my right side is weaker than my left on the leg press, I'm going to put ALL of my concentration into pushing with my right leg. The left leg instinctively presses on it's own. If it's a barbell bent row, I'm going to concentrate on pulling up with my weaker left side. The right side doesn't need me to think about it, since it's been my dominant side my whole life.
Simple little strategies that can make a BIG difference in making your body symmetrical. Tell me what you think!
Saturday, December 28, 2013
Wednesday, December 25, 2013
Mental Prep for Weight Loss: Get Rid of Clothes That Don't Fit
With the New Year approaching and all of us beginning to think of our fitness goals for 2014, many are targeting weight loss. I have a simple suggestion to get your mind in the right place to finally get smaller: Get rid of your clothes that are too small you've been keeping around as "motivation".
I know this seems counter-productive. Get rid of a motivator? Ummm.......... How's it worked for you, so far? In my experience, clothes that are too small just add to my guilt. And when I feel guilty, I want to eat. And when I over eat I don't lose weight.
If you can't bring yourself to get rid of them all together, pack them in a box and put them somewhere out of sight. Like a top shelf in your closet or the attic. I did this with a few pieces that I really loved and eight years later when I finally lost the weight (yeah, it took that long!) I got them out of storage and you know what? They were embarrassingly out of style. I was shocked at how tacky what I had idolized as "cute" was in present day. I was able to shorten hemlines to make three garments more current, but everything else went into the donation box.
You might want to keep one thing, tucked away where you can't see it, for comparison to your former small size once you get to goal. But everything else? Buh-bye.
Another, closely related tip: Buy clothes that fit NOW. I mean, truly fit. Not that are just a skoesh tight because this time you are finally lose the weight. But clothes that fit you right and make you feel as good about yourself as possible toDAY. Why? Because you'll be more likely to lose weight if you feel good about yourself, and it's hard to feel good about yourself when you also feel like a sausage.
So now you are thinking "If I buy clothes that fit and lose weight, I won't fit in them very long!" I hope you are right! It's not wasted money if it gets you moving in the right direction, is it? Plus, it's exciting to see the clothes you that used to fit get big. Really.
Likewise, get rid of your clothes that are way too big as you lose weight. I've found that people who keep their fat clothes around "just in case" always, and I mean ALWAYS, gain the weight back. It's like they have given themselves mental permission to regain and it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Again, maybe keep one really ugly thing in your biggest size that you would NEVER want to wear again to compare your new, smaller frame to. But the cute stuff? Yep- donation box.
Consider it an investment. Why not give yourself every advantage to get into the best shape possible?
I know this seems counter-productive. Get rid of a motivator? Ummm.......... How's it worked for you, so far? In my experience, clothes that are too small just add to my guilt. And when I feel guilty, I want to eat. And when I over eat I don't lose weight.
If you can't bring yourself to get rid of them all together, pack them in a box and put them somewhere out of sight. Like a top shelf in your closet or the attic. I did this with a few pieces that I really loved and eight years later when I finally lost the weight (yeah, it took that long!) I got them out of storage and you know what? They were embarrassingly out of style. I was shocked at how tacky what I had idolized as "cute" was in present day. I was able to shorten hemlines to make three garments more current, but everything else went into the donation box.
You might want to keep one thing, tucked away where you can't see it, for comparison to your former small size once you get to goal. But everything else? Buh-bye.
Another, closely related tip: Buy clothes that fit NOW. I mean, truly fit. Not that are just a skoesh tight because this time you are finally lose the weight. But clothes that fit you right and make you feel as good about yourself as possible toDAY. Why? Because you'll be more likely to lose weight if you feel good about yourself, and it's hard to feel good about yourself when you also feel like a sausage.
So now you are thinking "If I buy clothes that fit and lose weight, I won't fit in them very long!" I hope you are right! It's not wasted money if it gets you moving in the right direction, is it? Plus, it's exciting to see the clothes you that used to fit get big. Really.
Likewise, get rid of your clothes that are way too big as you lose weight. I've found that people who keep their fat clothes around "just in case" always, and I mean ALWAYS, gain the weight back. It's like they have given themselves mental permission to regain and it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Again, maybe keep one really ugly thing in your biggest size that you would NEVER want to wear again to compare your new, smaller frame to. But the cute stuff? Yep- donation box.
Consider it an investment. Why not give yourself every advantage to get into the best shape possible?
Sunday, December 22, 2013
Non-Meat Eaters and Muscle Gain
This blog is simply about my personal experience and opinion. I realize there are people who aren't going to agree with me, and that's Okay.
I have been lifting weights for 28 years now and a personal trainer for 9. I've helped a LOT of people get fit. And from what I have witnessed with my own two eyes right in front of me, non-meat eaters don't gain muscle or get shapely as well or as quickly as meat eaters.
I've read the scientific explanation for this and, quite frankly, I don't remember it specifically. It has something to do with animal proteins versus non-animal proteins and the way the body utilizes them. The only thing that matters to me is the nitty gritty, and that is that my meat-eating clients see more progress, in both muscle growth and weight loss, than my non-meat eating ones.
Meat eaters see physical improvements fastest, Vegetarians who still eat animal products but not animal flesh are behind them, and Vegans come in at a distant third. Sad, but true, because from what I've seen a Vegan lifestyle is very self-disciplined.
So why do I post a blog about this? Well, it helps me to mentally accept where I am if I know why I am there. So if you are a Vegan or Vegetarian and not seeing the progress you'd like to, now you at least might have a potential reason why.
I am not trying convince anyone to eat meat. I assume that would be as intrusive and downright rude to a Vegan as it is it is to me when someone tries to convince me to STOP eating animal products. How you choose to eat and your reasons for it are your business. But on the other hand, don't expect me or any other trainer to be able to design a program that will have you making the same changes as your meat-eating peers. We can't change the way your body processes nutrients.
I have been lifting weights for 28 years now and a personal trainer for 9. I've helped a LOT of people get fit. And from what I have witnessed with my own two eyes right in front of me, non-meat eaters don't gain muscle or get shapely as well or as quickly as meat eaters.
I've read the scientific explanation for this and, quite frankly, I don't remember it specifically. It has something to do with animal proteins versus non-animal proteins and the way the body utilizes them. The only thing that matters to me is the nitty gritty, and that is that my meat-eating clients see more progress, in both muscle growth and weight loss, than my non-meat eating ones.
Meat eaters see physical improvements fastest, Vegetarians who still eat animal products but not animal flesh are behind them, and Vegans come in at a distant third. Sad, but true, because from what I've seen a Vegan lifestyle is very self-disciplined.
So why do I post a blog about this? Well, it helps me to mentally accept where I am if I know why I am there. So if you are a Vegan or Vegetarian and not seeing the progress you'd like to, now you at least might have a potential reason why.
I am not trying convince anyone to eat meat. I assume that would be as intrusive and downright rude to a Vegan as it is it is to me when someone tries to convince me to STOP eating animal products. How you choose to eat and your reasons for it are your business. But on the other hand, don't expect me or any other trainer to be able to design a program that will have you making the same changes as your meat-eating peers. We can't change the way your body processes nutrients.
Saturday, December 21, 2013
A More Practial Approach to Batch Cooking
It seems that everyone who is in really good shape recommends batch
cooking, which means cooking up a whole lot of healthy stuff at once for
meals in the upcoming week. This usually happens on Sunday.
This simply isn't practical for my life. While I do have hours available, I don't want to spend them in the kitchen. Sunday is my down day and I like to keep it that way if I can. So instead, I have an alternative method that isn't brilliant, but works for me: I cook a lot at once when I DO cook. (This is a method also known as "Leftovers"). An advantage to this method is that since I am adding new foods to my precooked supply throughout the week I have a continual, rotating supply of quick healthy food to turn into a simple and healthy meal.
I'm a cooker, anyhow. I make several dinners, at least, at home each week. And breakfast on Saturdays. And lunches for myself most days. I never have a lot of time for lunch, so having stuff to toss together in a hurry is crucial to me getting a nutritious lunch. Otherwise, I am likely to reach for something crummy to eat.
So here is what I do: If one night we have grilled or baked chicken for dinner, I grill or bake more than we need. Often three times as much. This means we can have it for leftovers another night (either as-is or in a stir-fry or some other method), and I have plenty to chop for salads or slice for sandwiches or whatever I'm fancying that day.
If I make a green salad for one meal, I make extra and put it in the fridge, ready to add some of the above chicken and cheese to for a meal, or as a side for lunch.
Same for steamed vegetables.
Steel-Cut oats take much longer to cook than regular oats. But three servings of steel-cut oats take as long to cook as one and I can put the other two in the fridge so that breakfast is ready for the next two mornings. I make mine in my rice cooker, which is quicker than the stove top method, but the cooker is kinda a pain to clean so cooking them all at once cuts down on my dish-washing.
Same goes for brown rice, but with it I make it to the capacity of my rice cooker. Brown rice keeps longer in the fridge than oats and can literally be used for all three meals (hot with cinnamon and coconut oil is delicious for breakfast!), so we go through it a lot faster.
When I brown beef for a meal, I brown more than I need. Gives me anther option for my meats for future meals on the fly.
On Saturday morning it takes as long to cook a pound of turkey bacon as it does 3 slices. I put the rest in a gallon-sized storage bag with paper towels and stick it in the fridge. Takes 5 seconds to heat 3 slices up in the microwave to go with my breakfasts and is a very nice treat during the week.
So there are some ideas. Again, this isn't rocket science- It's just making use of my resources and time to the best of my abilities.
The easier and more convenient you make it for yourself to eat healthy, the more likely you are to do so.
I would love to hear any ideas YOU might have about making eating healthy more convenient!
This simply isn't practical for my life. While I do have hours available, I don't want to spend them in the kitchen. Sunday is my down day and I like to keep it that way if I can. So instead, I have an alternative method that isn't brilliant, but works for me: I cook a lot at once when I DO cook. (This is a method also known as "Leftovers"). An advantage to this method is that since I am adding new foods to my precooked supply throughout the week I have a continual, rotating supply of quick healthy food to turn into a simple and healthy meal.
I'm a cooker, anyhow. I make several dinners, at least, at home each week. And breakfast on Saturdays. And lunches for myself most days. I never have a lot of time for lunch, so having stuff to toss together in a hurry is crucial to me getting a nutritious lunch. Otherwise, I am likely to reach for something crummy to eat.
So here is what I do: If one night we have grilled or baked chicken for dinner, I grill or bake more than we need. Often three times as much. This means we can have it for leftovers another night (either as-is or in a stir-fry or some other method), and I have plenty to chop for salads or slice for sandwiches or whatever I'm fancying that day.
If I make a green salad for one meal, I make extra and put it in the fridge, ready to add some of the above chicken and cheese to for a meal, or as a side for lunch.
Same for steamed vegetables.
Steel-Cut oats take much longer to cook than regular oats. But three servings of steel-cut oats take as long to cook as one and I can put the other two in the fridge so that breakfast is ready for the next two mornings. I make mine in my rice cooker, which is quicker than the stove top method, but the cooker is kinda a pain to clean so cooking them all at once cuts down on my dish-washing.
Same goes for brown rice, but with it I make it to the capacity of my rice cooker. Brown rice keeps longer in the fridge than oats and can literally be used for all three meals (hot with cinnamon and coconut oil is delicious for breakfast!), so we go through it a lot faster.
When I brown beef for a meal, I brown more than I need. Gives me anther option for my meats for future meals on the fly.
On Saturday morning it takes as long to cook a pound of turkey bacon as it does 3 slices. I put the rest in a gallon-sized storage bag with paper towels and stick it in the fridge. Takes 5 seconds to heat 3 slices up in the microwave to go with my breakfasts and is a very nice treat during the week.
So there are some ideas. Again, this isn't rocket science- It's just making use of my resources and time to the best of my abilities.
The easier and more convenient you make it for yourself to eat healthy, the more likely you are to do so.
I would love to hear any ideas YOU might have about making eating healthy more convenient!
Thursday, November 21, 2013
Don't Let The Holidays Rule You!
So, here we are.... A week before Thanksgiving. Do you feel your healthy eating and weight loss plans slipping from between your fingers? Are you thinking "What's the use?", ready to throw in the towel already, because you've been here before and you know that it ends with a 5-pound (or more) gain on the scale once the season is over, even though you swore you wouldn't let it happen again?
Well, guess what? You are not alone! It's a tough time of year for most of us to muddle through. No wonder that the gyms are full in January!
But there is good news- You do NOT have to exit this holiday season in worse shape than you started it in. Why? You are going to make a PLAN. I don't mean "I'm not going to eat junk until January", vague, way-too-general promise. These are rarely successful. No, I mean you are going to have a specific PLAN with realistic goals and tools for keeping your health under control.
Ready? Let's go!
Word of warning: I would suggest you NOT have some grandiose vision of losing weight or gaining mass amounts of strength in the gym during the holidays. If it happens, Okay. But, unless you have a figure or bodybuilding show coming up at the beginning of the year, going through the holidays with the idea that you are going to reach significant health goals is more than likely setting yourself up for failure. Just plan to hold steady where you are.
On the other end of the spectrum. lose the idea that it's a free-for-all food fest. PLAN to stay on track most days through the holidays. Log your food. Log your exercise. Even if you mess up, log it. That accountability will have you thinking twice before you cram five of Aunt Bee's jumbo sized iced cookies in your mouth and wash them down with a stein of spiked eggnog.
Now that you are in a more realistic mindset, figure out a calorie level that is do-able and would allow you to show a slight loss. Then write it down. For me, this will be about 1650 calories a day. At that level, I can have whatever I want for our holiday meals and still average out to the same or a little less calories than it takes for me to maintain my weight.
Next, sit down and be honest with yourself about how many days a week you need to exercise to maintain your fitness level, as well as how many days you realistically CAN exercise, given your wacky holiday schedule. Write all this down on the same sheet of paper your wrote your calories on. If it's just two days of cardio, that's Okay- But once you commit, work out those two days, no excuses. Again, you don't want to set yourself up for failure by being too zealous in your estimation. If you are able to exercise more than you planned, great! But if not, you made your goal and you can pat yourself on the back.
For me, this is a minimum of doing cardio to burn at least 900 calories a week (by the machine's estimation) and lifting weights at least 3 days a week, hitting each body part once. Many weeks I will get more than that, but if I can get at least that much done I will be satisfied.
And lastly, pick out which events you really want to have your splurge meals at. Too few, and you will get frustrated and cave to temptation. Too many, and you will undermine your goals not to backslide. Write these down, too. If there is an event that really doesn't matter much to you but you have to be there for appearance sake, have a healthy meal before you go and plan to drink sparkling water and enjoy the company of others while there. And don't worry: If you don't mention it, people probably won't even notice that you aren't eating. And if they do, a simple "Oh, I already ate" with a smile is as much explanation as anyone usually will want.
Remember: You can't ruin someone else's good time by not eating.
Those events where something is served that is really special and you only get it this one time of year should definitely go on your "splurge meals" list. Have enough to satisfy you, but not enough to make you feel over full. You want to come out of this feeling treated, not guilty. Besides, Aunt Bee's jumbo sized iced cookies won't have nearly as good a memory if you are burping them up four hours after you finished the last one.
Now, take a look at everything you wrote down, tweak it to your satisfaction, and type or write neatly all over again on another piece of paper. Put this somewhere that you will see it frequently. For me, this is in my food tracker. It will help you to keep your mind on your goals.
Like the old saying goes, if you plan to fail, you fail to plan. This year, be in charge of the holiday season instead of at it's mercy.
Well, guess what? You are not alone! It's a tough time of year for most of us to muddle through. No wonder that the gyms are full in January!
But there is good news- You do NOT have to exit this holiday season in worse shape than you started it in. Why? You are going to make a PLAN. I don't mean "I'm not going to eat junk until January", vague, way-too-general promise. These are rarely successful. No, I mean you are going to have a specific PLAN with realistic goals and tools for keeping your health under control.
Ready? Let's go!
Word of warning: I would suggest you NOT have some grandiose vision of losing weight or gaining mass amounts of strength in the gym during the holidays. If it happens, Okay. But, unless you have a figure or bodybuilding show coming up at the beginning of the year, going through the holidays with the idea that you are going to reach significant health goals is more than likely setting yourself up for failure. Just plan to hold steady where you are.
On the other end of the spectrum. lose the idea that it's a free-for-all food fest. PLAN to stay on track most days through the holidays. Log your food. Log your exercise. Even if you mess up, log it. That accountability will have you thinking twice before you cram five of Aunt Bee's jumbo sized iced cookies in your mouth and wash them down with a stein of spiked eggnog.
Now that you are in a more realistic mindset, figure out a calorie level that is do-able and would allow you to show a slight loss. Then write it down. For me, this will be about 1650 calories a day. At that level, I can have whatever I want for our holiday meals and still average out to the same or a little less calories than it takes for me to maintain my weight.
Next, sit down and be honest with yourself about how many days a week you need to exercise to maintain your fitness level, as well as how many days you realistically CAN exercise, given your wacky holiday schedule. Write all this down on the same sheet of paper your wrote your calories on. If it's just two days of cardio, that's Okay- But once you commit, work out those two days, no excuses. Again, you don't want to set yourself up for failure by being too zealous in your estimation. If you are able to exercise more than you planned, great! But if not, you made your goal and you can pat yourself on the back.
For me, this is a minimum of doing cardio to burn at least 900 calories a week (by the machine's estimation) and lifting weights at least 3 days a week, hitting each body part once. Many weeks I will get more than that, but if I can get at least that much done I will be satisfied.
And lastly, pick out which events you really want to have your splurge meals at. Too few, and you will get frustrated and cave to temptation. Too many, and you will undermine your goals not to backslide. Write these down, too. If there is an event that really doesn't matter much to you but you have to be there for appearance sake, have a healthy meal before you go and plan to drink sparkling water and enjoy the company of others while there. And don't worry: If you don't mention it, people probably won't even notice that you aren't eating. And if they do, a simple "Oh, I already ate" with a smile is as much explanation as anyone usually will want.
Remember: You can't ruin someone else's good time by not eating.
Those events where something is served that is really special and you only get it this one time of year should definitely go on your "splurge meals" list. Have enough to satisfy you, but not enough to make you feel over full. You want to come out of this feeling treated, not guilty. Besides, Aunt Bee's jumbo sized iced cookies won't have nearly as good a memory if you are burping them up four hours after you finished the last one.
Now, take a look at everything you wrote down, tweak it to your satisfaction, and type or write neatly all over again on another piece of paper. Put this somewhere that you will see it frequently. For me, this is in my food tracker. It will help you to keep your mind on your goals.
Like the old saying goes, if you plan to fail, you fail to plan. This year, be in charge of the holiday season instead of at it's mercy.
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
Ever Wonder Why Personal Trainers Charge So Much?
Been a while since I've blogged, eh? Like everyone else, life has been throwing me curves and loops lately. But I thought I'd take a few minutes and address something I have heard folks question: Why do personal trainers charge so danged much?
In a nutshell, it's because our expenses are very high. Before you roll your eyes, bear with me:
First of all, if we are working for a gym, they often get 50% of our client income. It can vary a bit, but in most gyms I've talked with about half of the trainers fee is the gym's take. Yeah, it seems like highway robbery (and honestly, it feels like it, too), but the fact is that we are paying for the convenience of using their equipment. That stuff is expensive!
If the trainer happens to own the gym, their expenses are even higher. Think the expense of a house, only filled with uber-expensive gym equipment, repairs to said equipment, water and electric bills for multiple people, cleaning services, and insurance that's out-the-roof expensive. I'm sure there's more, but I can't think of it because I have never owned a gym.
Then there is the matter of what it takes to get and stay certified. If the trainer is with a reputable certifying agency, the initial certification was somewhere in the neighborhood of $500-$600. We have to re-certify every two years, and the cost to re-certify is just under $200. In the meantime, we are scrambling to take our CEC's (continuing education credits) in time for the re-certification. Depending on what you decide to study for these, they average somewhere in the neighborhood of about a hundred bucks a year. And then there is trainer insurance, which is about $180 a year. I'm sure there's something else I'm not thinking of- This is just off the top of my head.
Then there's the little expenses, like buying ankle cuffs because the gym doesn't have them, and calipers to measure body fat (which we seem to be continually losing, or another trainer loses for us because they lost theirs and borrowed ours), and measuring tapes for the exact same reason as calipers, and a host of other small expenses that add up fast.
And socks. We go through a lot of socks.
Then there is the time we spend on being a trainer that we are NOT with clients. For instance, I don't know about other trainers, but I don't "cookie cutter" anything. I start from scratch with each clients program. This can take more than an hour to assemble for just one client. I generally create a new program for each client once a month. BUT, after the client walks out the door I almost always have to take time to make little tweaks to better suit them, as well as annotating what they did that session so that I can know where to start them the next time. Personally, I always try to put my clients an hour and 15 minutes apart, despite the fact that I spend about an hour with each client. While it helps me with my sanity, it reduces the amount of clients I can squeeze into my available training hours.
Additionally, there is the time we spend reading up on everything we can to stay abreast of current trends, throw out what we think won't work for us and our clients, and file what we think will. I don't do much "leisure" reading that isn't fitness related. Which doesn't really make it "leisure", I guess, but it helps to equip me to help others to the best of my ability.
Unless we happen to live next door to the gym, a lot of time (and gas money) is spent going back and forth between the gym and wherever else we go between client sessions. (Because rarely do we really get all of our session scheduled back to back. The client doesn't work around us- we work around the client.)
And, of course, the time we spend studying for and obtaining our CEC credits. If we don't pass, it's wasted money, so we are very motivated to apply ourselves.
So you are really paying us for much more than the 45 minutes or hour that we spend with you directly.
Can most of this be written off on our taxes? Yes. But we don't get it all back- Mostly it just reduces the amount we pay. And even if we do get some of it back, trust me: It's not cool to get paid once a year.
The fact is that if we don't have a full roster of clients, whether by choice or because of some other circumstance (this could be a whole 'nother blog), many trainers are making next to nothing for the hours they put in, despite the fact that you think you are paying them a small fortune. So why do we keep doing it? Because we really, truly want to help you.
I'm not writing this blog to complain. Obviously, we choose this profession because we love it and want to do it. We are here to help you, and most of us do it for the joy of seeing you feel better about yourself, not the money. So cut your trainers a little slack when it comes to fees. And please...... Stop asking for free services. Yes, people really do that. And no, we really can't afford it.
In a nutshell, it's because our expenses are very high. Before you roll your eyes, bear with me:
First of all, if we are working for a gym, they often get 50% of our client income. It can vary a bit, but in most gyms I've talked with about half of the trainers fee is the gym's take. Yeah, it seems like highway robbery (and honestly, it feels like it, too), but the fact is that we are paying for the convenience of using their equipment. That stuff is expensive!
If the trainer happens to own the gym, their expenses are even higher. Think the expense of a house, only filled with uber-expensive gym equipment, repairs to said equipment, water and electric bills for multiple people, cleaning services, and insurance that's out-the-roof expensive. I'm sure there's more, but I can't think of it because I have never owned a gym.
Then there is the matter of what it takes to get and stay certified. If the trainer is with a reputable certifying agency, the initial certification was somewhere in the neighborhood of $500-$600. We have to re-certify every two years, and the cost to re-certify is just under $200. In the meantime, we are scrambling to take our CEC's (continuing education credits) in time for the re-certification. Depending on what you decide to study for these, they average somewhere in the neighborhood of about a hundred bucks a year. And then there is trainer insurance, which is about $180 a year. I'm sure there's something else I'm not thinking of- This is just off the top of my head.
Then there's the little expenses, like buying ankle cuffs because the gym doesn't have them, and calipers to measure body fat (which we seem to be continually losing, or another trainer loses for us because they lost theirs and borrowed ours), and measuring tapes for the exact same reason as calipers, and a host of other small expenses that add up fast.
And socks. We go through a lot of socks.
Then there is the time we spend on being a trainer that we are NOT with clients. For instance, I don't know about other trainers, but I don't "cookie cutter" anything. I start from scratch with each clients program. This can take more than an hour to assemble for just one client. I generally create a new program for each client once a month. BUT, after the client walks out the door I almost always have to take time to make little tweaks to better suit them, as well as annotating what they did that session so that I can know where to start them the next time. Personally, I always try to put my clients an hour and 15 minutes apart, despite the fact that I spend about an hour with each client. While it helps me with my sanity, it reduces the amount of clients I can squeeze into my available training hours.
Additionally, there is the time we spend reading up on everything we can to stay abreast of current trends, throw out what we think won't work for us and our clients, and file what we think will. I don't do much "leisure" reading that isn't fitness related. Which doesn't really make it "leisure", I guess, but it helps to equip me to help others to the best of my ability.
Unless we happen to live next door to the gym, a lot of time (and gas money) is spent going back and forth between the gym and wherever else we go between client sessions. (Because rarely do we really get all of our session scheduled back to back. The client doesn't work around us- we work around the client.)
And, of course, the time we spend studying for and obtaining our CEC credits. If we don't pass, it's wasted money, so we are very motivated to apply ourselves.
So you are really paying us for much more than the 45 minutes or hour that we spend with you directly.
Can most of this be written off on our taxes? Yes. But we don't get it all back- Mostly it just reduces the amount we pay. And even if we do get some of it back, trust me: It's not cool to get paid once a year.
The fact is that if we don't have a full roster of clients, whether by choice or because of some other circumstance (this could be a whole 'nother blog), many trainers are making next to nothing for the hours they put in, despite the fact that you think you are paying them a small fortune. So why do we keep doing it? Because we really, truly want to help you.
I'm not writing this blog to complain. Obviously, we choose this profession because we love it and want to do it. We are here to help you, and most of us do it for the joy of seeing you feel better about yourself, not the money. So cut your trainers a little slack when it comes to fees. And please...... Stop asking for free services. Yes, people really do that. And no, we really can't afford it.
Monday, September 2, 2013
For Moms With Multiple Young Children (or anyone else in a perpetually time-crunched situation)
On a board helping people overcome eating disorders that I am a part of, a gal posted saying that she was on the verge of tears: She has three young children at home that she is homeschooling and simply can't find time to exercise. It sounded to me like she was suffering some guilt from this. She also stated that she is worn out all the time and concerned as to why this might be happening. This was my reply to her. I thought it might help some of my blog readers who struggle with similar issues:
I normally just lurk here and don't post much, but I am a personal trainer and feel compelled to tell you that you are officially off the hook for dedicated workouts until your kids get a little bigger. If you don't have time, you don't have time. There isn't much you can do about that. How do I know? I also used to have three little ones- Stair steps. For a while they were all in diapers. It was nutzo. You can only do what you can do, and they need a healthy mom and you need your mind WAY more than anyone needs 30 minutes of dedicated exercise a day.
Also, the exhaustion you feel? Totally normal in your situation. It's part of being a mom with three little ones, so don't sweat it. That will improve with time. It's just part of the territory right now. It'll get better as they get older. I promise.
The most important thing you can do is eat as good as possible. Diet is most of the battle, anyhow. And if you have a few minutes to get a walk or do some bicep curls with spaghetti sauce cans, it's a bit of a bonus.
Your situation is uniquely YOURS. You have to give the overall picture a good, hard look and be honest about what is best for your mental health and your families well being. I'm not saying come up with excuses to not exercise, but if you really, truly don't have time there is no point in beating yourself up about it. Just do the best you can in your individual situation with the idea in the back of your mind to get to exercise the minute life allows.
I normally just lurk here and don't post much, but I am a personal trainer and feel compelled to tell you that you are officially off the hook for dedicated workouts until your kids get a little bigger. If you don't have time, you don't have time. There isn't much you can do about that. How do I know? I also used to have three little ones- Stair steps. For a while they were all in diapers. It was nutzo. You can only do what you can do, and they need a healthy mom and you need your mind WAY more than anyone needs 30 minutes of dedicated exercise a day.
Also, the exhaustion you feel? Totally normal in your situation. It's part of being a mom with three little ones, so don't sweat it. That will improve with time. It's just part of the territory right now. It'll get better as they get older. I promise.
The most important thing you can do is eat as good as possible. Diet is most of the battle, anyhow. And if you have a few minutes to get a walk or do some bicep curls with spaghetti sauce cans, it's a bit of a bonus.
Your situation is uniquely YOURS. You have to give the overall picture a good, hard look and be honest about what is best for your mental health and your families well being. I'm not saying come up with excuses to not exercise, but if you really, truly don't have time there is no point in beating yourself up about it. Just do the best you can in your individual situation with the idea in the back of your mind to get to exercise the minute life allows.
Friday, August 30, 2013
Simple Social Solution: Pre-Eat
So, you have a big party or event coming up, and you are wondering how in the Sam Hill you are going to manage to not eat everything in sight. Especially since you know they are having it catered in by your all-time favorite barbeque and cheesecake places. Feels like a social binge just waiting to happen, doesn't it?
Trust me, you can still eat at your event and not devour everything in sight. Really. When you hear my solution, you are going to smack yourself in the head and say "Why didn't I think of that?".
I call it "Pre-eatting". And it's pretty darned simple:
About 20 minutes before you leave for your event, eat something. Make it a something healthy, low in fat, high in fiber, and high in water content. Like a small veggie salad with nonfat dressing. Or an apple. Yeah, there are a few calories in these foods, but not as many as the junk you'd be ravenously devouring if you showed up at your event starved.
Oh, and drink a glass of water, to help the fiber in what you are eating swell up and fill your tummy even more.
You'll still be able to eat the foods you truly WANT at the event (if you want anything, since you won't be hungry), but you won't feel the overwhelming need to throw yourself at the cheesecake bar.
Simple, but effective. Give it a try! And let me know what you think!
Trust me, you can still eat at your event and not devour everything in sight. Really. When you hear my solution, you are going to smack yourself in the head and say "Why didn't I think of that?".
I call it "Pre-eatting". And it's pretty darned simple:
About 20 minutes before you leave for your event, eat something. Make it a something healthy, low in fat, high in fiber, and high in water content. Like a small veggie salad with nonfat dressing. Or an apple. Yeah, there are a few calories in these foods, but not as many as the junk you'd be ravenously devouring if you showed up at your event starved.
Oh, and drink a glass of water, to help the fiber in what you are eating swell up and fill your tummy even more.
You'll still be able to eat the foods you truly WANT at the event (if you want anything, since you won't be hungry), but you won't feel the overwhelming need to throw yourself at the cheesecake bar.
Simple, but effective. Give it a try! And let me know what you think!
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
Food Snubbing: Red Meat
Wow! It's been a while since I blogged! Life has been coming at me full force, to include visiting my two beautiful new grandchildren out of state and dealing with injuries pretty much from the top (shoulder) to the bottom (sprained foot and ankle) of me. But I promised I'd finish up my "Food Snubbing" series with one on red meat, so here we are.
Before I commence, here are a couple of pics of my beautiful little grandbabies. (Yes, I am taking advantage of a captive audience for the sole purpose of bragging.):
First, Gideon James, who was born May 6th (he loves his Grandma!):
And secondly, but certainly not least, miss Melody Lynne, who was born January 16th:
I think those are two of the most fantabulous humans God ever created!
Okay, on to the subject of red meat:
First of all, if you are a vegetarian, this blog is not going to be one you will get any good out of, whatsoever. You saw the pics of my grandbabies, so leave me a comment on how sweet they are and move on to a blog that is relevant to you. :-D
For everyone else........
The main reason I hear for people avoiding red meat is the fat content. There ARE many cuts of red meat that have fat marbled throughout. These, as with all fatty foods, should be eaten sparingly. But there are many cuts of read meat that actually have a very reasonable, if not downright low, fat content. Of course, 93% and higher lean ground beef is one of them, but also top round and eye of round are leaner cuts. Sirloin isn't too bad, either, as long as you cut the fat off of the outside.
The trick with red meat is to take a look at the piece of meat itself and see how much fat is marbeled throughout. The more solid red color it is, generally the leaner. If there are little flecks of white in there, that's fat. So choose according to your diet needs.
Plus, I'm not sure fat from organic meat is all that bad for you. I have to seriously wonder if this kind of fat, like butter, will wind up being placed in the "Not-as-bad-as-we-once-thought" category, since it's a naturally occurring fat the way God made it to be. However, fat from any source (healthy or not) is still calorie-dense, so keep this in mind with respect for your total caloric need according to your goals.
Did you note I said "organic" in the above paragraph? This is important, as is grass-fed. When grazing animals are eating what grazing animals are naturally inclined to eat (mostly grass and green stuff), there are important components in their meat that are good for us and we simply can't get in non-grass-fed critters. Additionally, when animals are pumped full of antibiotics (to keep them from getting sick in their over-stuffed quarters) and growth hormones (so they can butcher them sooner), and/or when they are fed non-organic feed, these components are subsequently in their meat. When we ingest them we have them entering our own bodies and wreaking havoc in our cells.
The takeaway? Buy organic and/or grass fed meats, of all kinds, as often as possible.
I tend to have a low iron level. Not low enough to make me anemic, but low enough to make me hormonal, grumpy, and hard to live with. I take supplements, but the iron in natural sources absorbs better into my system and does me more good. Red meat is a very high source of iron. For this reason I try to eat a lean source of it at least every-other day. (And my cholesterol levels are excellent, as is my blood pressure.)
Also, red meat is high in B-vitamins, which directly contribute to energy. I once tried to go vegetarian. I called my sister, who was a vegetarian at the time, and told her about the headaches, low energy, and crankiness I was experiencing. She said "Take B Vitamins- make sure it's full spectrum...." and proceeded to list off all the supplements I should now add to my diet, in the absence of meat. I listened, then replied "Or I could just eat some meat". Guess what was in my next meal? Yep. Red meat. Problem solved.
I'm not saying everyone should eat red meat. Obviously humans can survive without it. I'm just saying don't put it on your "Bad Food" list without really knowing that it is bad for YOU, particularly if you enjoy it.
Good-quality beef doesn't scare me. Pop tarts do.
Ending note: I realize not everyone is going to agree with my viewpoint on red meat, or any other of the foods I've blogged about in my "Food Snubbing" series. That's okay- You certainly have the right to your own opinion. I've mulled these subjects over and observed "studies" and "evidence" for many years before I stuck my neck out and blogged about them. So unless I see conclusive evidence to prove otherwise, and by that I mean scientific proof from more than one source, I am more than likely not going to change my position.
And with that, my Food Snubbing blog series is concluded. If you want to read any of the others, check the last several blogs right before this one. And please leave comments- I enjoy hearing from you!
Before I commence, here are a couple of pics of my beautiful little grandbabies. (Yes, I am taking advantage of a captive audience for the sole purpose of bragging.):
First, Gideon James, who was born May 6th (he loves his Grandma!):
And secondly, but certainly not least, miss Melody Lynne, who was born January 16th:
Okay, on to the subject of red meat:
First of all, if you are a vegetarian, this blog is not going to be one you will get any good out of, whatsoever. You saw the pics of my grandbabies, so leave me a comment on how sweet they are and move on to a blog that is relevant to you. :-D
For everyone else........
The main reason I hear for people avoiding red meat is the fat content. There ARE many cuts of red meat that have fat marbled throughout. These, as with all fatty foods, should be eaten sparingly. But there are many cuts of read meat that actually have a very reasonable, if not downright low, fat content. Of course, 93% and higher lean ground beef is one of them, but also top round and eye of round are leaner cuts. Sirloin isn't too bad, either, as long as you cut the fat off of the outside.
The trick with red meat is to take a look at the piece of meat itself and see how much fat is marbeled throughout. The more solid red color it is, generally the leaner. If there are little flecks of white in there, that's fat. So choose according to your diet needs.
Plus, I'm not sure fat from organic meat is all that bad for you. I have to seriously wonder if this kind of fat, like butter, will wind up being placed in the "Not-as-bad-as-we-once-thought" category, since it's a naturally occurring fat the way God made it to be. However, fat from any source (healthy or not) is still calorie-dense, so keep this in mind with respect for your total caloric need according to your goals.
Did you note I said "organic" in the above paragraph? This is important, as is grass-fed. When grazing animals are eating what grazing animals are naturally inclined to eat (mostly grass and green stuff), there are important components in their meat that are good for us and we simply can't get in non-grass-fed critters. Additionally, when animals are pumped full of antibiotics (to keep them from getting sick in their over-stuffed quarters) and growth hormones (so they can butcher them sooner), and/or when they are fed non-organic feed, these components are subsequently in their meat. When we ingest them we have them entering our own bodies and wreaking havoc in our cells.
The takeaway? Buy organic and/or grass fed meats, of all kinds, as often as possible.
I tend to have a low iron level. Not low enough to make me anemic, but low enough to make me hormonal, grumpy, and hard to live with. I take supplements, but the iron in natural sources absorbs better into my system and does me more good. Red meat is a very high source of iron. For this reason I try to eat a lean source of it at least every-other day. (And my cholesterol levels are excellent, as is my blood pressure.)
Also, red meat is high in B-vitamins, which directly contribute to energy. I once tried to go vegetarian. I called my sister, who was a vegetarian at the time, and told her about the headaches, low energy, and crankiness I was experiencing. She said "Take B Vitamins- make sure it's full spectrum...." and proceeded to list off all the supplements I should now add to my diet, in the absence of meat. I listened, then replied "Or I could just eat some meat". Guess what was in my next meal? Yep. Red meat. Problem solved.
I'm not saying everyone should eat red meat. Obviously humans can survive without it. I'm just saying don't put it on your "Bad Food" list without really knowing that it is bad for YOU, particularly if you enjoy it.
Good-quality beef doesn't scare me. Pop tarts do.
Ending note: I realize not everyone is going to agree with my viewpoint on red meat, or any other of the foods I've blogged about in my "Food Snubbing" series. That's okay- You certainly have the right to your own opinion. I've mulled these subjects over and observed "studies" and "evidence" for many years before I stuck my neck out and blogged about them. So unless I see conclusive evidence to prove otherwise, and by that I mean scientific proof from more than one source, I am more than likely not going to change my position.
And with that, my Food Snubbing blog series is concluded. If you want to read any of the others, check the last several blogs right before this one. And please leave comments- I enjoy hearing from you!
Monday, June 17, 2013
Food Snubbing: Dairy
So far I haven't received near as much flack as I thought I would for my Food Snubbing blogs, but I have a feeling that is about to change today as I blog about my refusal to snub dairy.
I'm going to start this blog out stating that I am not a dairy expert. Far from it. The biggest reason I still eat and drink dairy is because I've never seen ANY conclusive evidence that any of the evil/scary things I've heard proclaimed about it are true. I make it policy to not blindly believe what I am told- I want to see facts to back it up.
The biggest argument against dairy that I have seen is that adults don't have the enzymes necessary to digest it. If you've been a long time without eating dairy you are right- You DON'T have the enzymes necessary to digest it. Our bodies are pretty amazing things and if we don't eat something, anything, long enough we will have trouble digesting it when it is reintroduced into our diets. If we continue to eat that food, though, our body will again start to produce the enzymes necessary to digest that particular food and we will be able to eat it again. But this principle is not isolated to dairy- It's goes pretty much across the board with any food you stop eating and then reintroduce. (Ever heard a vegetarian say "I don't eat meat because it hurts?" If they ate it a few times, it probably wouldn't hurt anymore.)
Now, there are some people who are lactose intolerant, and these folks should not eat or drink dairy. It's another one of those "duh" moments. But get diagnosed by a doctor for this. There's no point in cutting out a food if it's not necessary.
The big reason I personally keep eating dairy is that I like it. I enjoy a glass of milk with my protein pancakes on the weekends. Milk is a nice treat to mix with my protein powder on my higher calorie days, and a really good balance of carbs and protein for post-workout, as well. I enjoy Greek yogurt mixed with whey protein powder for an afternoon snack, and I like to make my protein pudding with milk for dessert. I love low-fat cheese sticks with an apple when I get the munchies. If I take dairy out of my diet, I start going for really crummy snack and dessert choices. In short, dairy helps keep me sane while I continue to strive to eliminate most processed foods from my diet.
Side note: I do buy organic for as much of my dairy, particularly milk. I won't go into the details, but after I did some reading up on how milk is processed and what happens to the poor cows to get it into the carton, I couldn't stand to buy anything but organic. AND it has more complete nutrients, particularly if the cows are grass-fed. Plus, it has a longer expiration date due to it being ultra-pasteurized, unlike regular milk. If you are someone who would like the occasional glass of milk but don't buy it because it goes bad before you can drink it up, look into organic. It's more expensive, but there is less waste.
Many coaches will remove dairy from their clients diets when said client gets close to a competition or needs to lose weight quickly. The thought is that the elimination of the natural sugar in dairy can expedite weight loss. But personally I've usually lost weight faster when I have some dairy in my diet. However, I will concede that this might not be the case for everyone.
Look, I'm not pushing you to eat dairy. It might not be a necessary food for humans. I really don't know. But I hate to see people eliminating or feeling guilty about eating an entire food group that simply has not been conclusively proven to be bad for the population in general.
I'm going to start this blog out stating that I am not a dairy expert. Far from it. The biggest reason I still eat and drink dairy is because I've never seen ANY conclusive evidence that any of the evil/scary things I've heard proclaimed about it are true. I make it policy to not blindly believe what I am told- I want to see facts to back it up.
The biggest argument against dairy that I have seen is that adults don't have the enzymes necessary to digest it. If you've been a long time without eating dairy you are right- You DON'T have the enzymes necessary to digest it. Our bodies are pretty amazing things and if we don't eat something, anything, long enough we will have trouble digesting it when it is reintroduced into our diets. If we continue to eat that food, though, our body will again start to produce the enzymes necessary to digest that particular food and we will be able to eat it again. But this principle is not isolated to dairy- It's goes pretty much across the board with any food you stop eating and then reintroduce. (Ever heard a vegetarian say "I don't eat meat because it hurts?" If they ate it a few times, it probably wouldn't hurt anymore.)
Now, there are some people who are lactose intolerant, and these folks should not eat or drink dairy. It's another one of those "duh" moments. But get diagnosed by a doctor for this. There's no point in cutting out a food if it's not necessary.
The big reason I personally keep eating dairy is that I like it. I enjoy a glass of milk with my protein pancakes on the weekends. Milk is a nice treat to mix with my protein powder on my higher calorie days, and a really good balance of carbs and protein for post-workout, as well. I enjoy Greek yogurt mixed with whey protein powder for an afternoon snack, and I like to make my protein pudding with milk for dessert. I love low-fat cheese sticks with an apple when I get the munchies. If I take dairy out of my diet, I start going for really crummy snack and dessert choices. In short, dairy helps keep me sane while I continue to strive to eliminate most processed foods from my diet.
Side note: I do buy organic for as much of my dairy, particularly milk. I won't go into the details, but after I did some reading up on how milk is processed and what happens to the poor cows to get it into the carton, I couldn't stand to buy anything but organic. AND it has more complete nutrients, particularly if the cows are grass-fed. Plus, it has a longer expiration date due to it being ultra-pasteurized, unlike regular milk. If you are someone who would like the occasional glass of milk but don't buy it because it goes bad before you can drink it up, look into organic. It's more expensive, but there is less waste.
Many coaches will remove dairy from their clients diets when said client gets close to a competition or needs to lose weight quickly. The thought is that the elimination of the natural sugar in dairy can expedite weight loss. But personally I've usually lost weight faster when I have some dairy in my diet. However, I will concede that this might not be the case for everyone.
Look, I'm not pushing you to eat dairy. It might not be a necessary food for humans. I really don't know. But I hate to see people eliminating or feeling guilty about eating an entire food group that simply has not been conclusively proven to be bad for the population in general.
Friday, June 14, 2013
Food Snubbing: Corn and Potatoes
I want to apologize for taking so long to get to the next subject in my
"Food Snubbing" blog series. Aside from my regular life of mother,
wife, grandma, personal trainer, and homemaker, we've been dealing with
the way-to-long installing of counters and back splash in a rather
gi-normous kitchen (had no sink or counters in there for a week!),
painting of said kitchen, plumbing emergencies, massive hail storm that
required lots of insurance people and repairs, and trying to find a MIA
ex-husband to get him to sign off so that my husband can adopt my
teenage daughter. (After 5 years of virtually no contact, a small miracle occurred: He was
located and signed the papers! Relieved is not an adequate enough
word.)
Here is a picture of the beautiful daughter who is in the process of getting, finally, after 10 years, adopted by her REAL Daddy, the man who has raised her since she was 6:
And here is a picture of part of our newly countered, tiled, and sinked
kitchen. I am SO enjoying it! (And yes- I am bragging a little. After
the process taking 5 weeks, I feel entitled to show it off!)
At any rate, much of the above is still in the process of being worked out, but there is at least a bit of a respite for me to handle the next Food Snubbing Topic: Corn and Potatoes.
I'm not really sure that the snubbing of corn is all that common. I just heard someone at a Weight Watchers meeting once say that the reason Americans are so overweight is because we eat corn. Huh? My thought was that it probably has more to do with super-sized portions and eating too much processed foods than the sole introduction of corn into our diets.
I've also heard that corn is for animal consumption, not people consumption. Er...... How many plants do animals and people both eat? Yeah.... That one falls apart pretty quickly for me.
Besides: Wasn't it the Indians who introduced corn to us? Didn't they eat it? Weren't they pretty darned healthy?
Now, let's move on to potatoes. Actually, it's not all potatoes that have a bad rap. Sweet potatoes are looked at as the Holy Grail in the potato world. White potatoes are generally seen as too high in starchy, quick-digesting carbs. Well, yes... but this is starch the way God intended it to be. We've found time and time again that when we eat stuff the way God grew it, not the way man modified it to be, it's good for us.
Also, you know how many famines potatoes saw people through? Talk to the Irish.
So my short answer on potatoes and corn? As long as they are minimally processed, I'm eatin' 'em.
The trouble with both, I believe, happens when we start to mess with them: Same problems I listed about white flour waaaaaaaaay back when I did the wheat blog. We smash 'em up and mix 'em with things like white flour or sugar or shortening (or all!), and then fry them (with corn, this is called a hushpuppy), which makes them fatty and super-high-glycemic, and NOW you have a problem on your hands.
Ever had fresh corn on the cob? Or a potato baked to perfection with just a little salt sprinkled on it? Yum-o! But when you add butter and sour cream and bacon bits and cheese and... well..... you get the point..... When you do all of these things.... heck!..... you can no longer taste the food you used as a base to pile all this junk on. Just put the goo in a bowl to eat it, and save the poor, unsuspecting, perfectly healthy potato or corn from being guilty by association.
One thing I do want to point out about both of these foods, though (as well as peas), is that the body treats them more as a starch than a veggie. So if you have potatoes or corn with your grilled chicken, you need to add at least one more veggie to your plate for a truly nutritionally balanced meal. And potatoes or corn AND a roll? THAT truly is high-carb. Just sayin'.
So, minimally mess with them: Bake, boil until JUST done, steam, shuck, and grill. Then count them as a starch and not a veggie, and you can enjoy without guilt.
Here is a picture of the beautiful daughter who is in the process of getting, finally, after 10 years, adopted by her REAL Daddy, the man who has raised her since she was 6:
At any rate, much of the above is still in the process of being worked out, but there is at least a bit of a respite for me to handle the next Food Snubbing Topic: Corn and Potatoes.
I'm not really sure that the snubbing of corn is all that common. I just heard someone at a Weight Watchers meeting once say that the reason Americans are so overweight is because we eat corn. Huh? My thought was that it probably has more to do with super-sized portions and eating too much processed foods than the sole introduction of corn into our diets.
I've also heard that corn is for animal consumption, not people consumption. Er...... How many plants do animals and people both eat? Yeah.... That one falls apart pretty quickly for me.
Besides: Wasn't it the Indians who introduced corn to us? Didn't they eat it? Weren't they pretty darned healthy?
Now, let's move on to potatoes. Actually, it's not all potatoes that have a bad rap. Sweet potatoes are looked at as the Holy Grail in the potato world. White potatoes are generally seen as too high in starchy, quick-digesting carbs. Well, yes... but this is starch the way God intended it to be. We've found time and time again that when we eat stuff the way God grew it, not the way man modified it to be, it's good for us.
Also, you know how many famines potatoes saw people through? Talk to the Irish.
So my short answer on potatoes and corn? As long as they are minimally processed, I'm eatin' 'em.
The trouble with both, I believe, happens when we start to mess with them: Same problems I listed about white flour waaaaaaaaay back when I did the wheat blog. We smash 'em up and mix 'em with things like white flour or sugar or shortening (or all!), and then fry them (with corn, this is called a hushpuppy), which makes them fatty and super-high-glycemic, and NOW you have a problem on your hands.
Ever had fresh corn on the cob? Or a potato baked to perfection with just a little salt sprinkled on it? Yum-o! But when you add butter and sour cream and bacon bits and cheese and... well..... you get the point..... When you do all of these things.... heck!..... you can no longer taste the food you used as a base to pile all this junk on. Just put the goo in a bowl to eat it, and save the poor, unsuspecting, perfectly healthy potato or corn from being guilty by association.
One thing I do want to point out about both of these foods, though (as well as peas), is that the body treats them more as a starch than a veggie. So if you have potatoes or corn with your grilled chicken, you need to add at least one more veggie to your plate for a truly nutritionally balanced meal. And potatoes or corn AND a roll? THAT truly is high-carb. Just sayin'.
So, minimally mess with them: Bake, boil until JUST done, steam, shuck, and grill. Then count them as a starch and not a veggie, and you can enjoy without guilt.
Saturday, May 4, 2013
Food Snubbing: Fruit
I'm a big believer that eating foods as close to the way God made them is the healthiest way to go. So when people start villainizing fruit I get a little irritated.
The biggest beef I hear people raise about fruit is that it has so many sugars. And of course it does indeed have a natural source of sugar in it, since it tastes sweet. But the key word here is natural. It's sweet in the form sweet is supposed to be: In a food un-tampered and strait from nature. There are fiber and other nutrients in fruits that, when eaten in moderation (more about that later), make their sugars a not-very-big concern. The components of fruit are compatible with each other for maximum benefit to our bodies. God's was kinda smart that way: When He made us and then made fruit as one of the foods for us to eat, He sorta knew what He was doing.
The problem comes in when you take fruit apart and mutilate it. You remove the skin. You smoosh it up and leave the pulp behind. You bathe it in sugar and white flour and shortening and put it in the oven and call it pie. "But hey!", folks reason, "It's got fruit in it! That means it's at least a little good for me, right?" Er...... not really. You just destroyed the integrity of a whole food.
I'm not saying never enjoy a piece of apple pie. Into everyone's life a little dessert must fall. What I am saying is that a piece of apple pie should be a rare treat, and a whole apple should be a regular occurrence.
No one can ever deny that the healthiest way to eat an apple is just bite into it raw- peel and all.
And fructose? Yes, it's fruit sugar, but again, it's been separated from the fruit. By the time it gets processed out it's as poor nutritionally as plain white sugar. So don't think that a food that uses fructose as opposed to sugar is any better for you. It's not.
BUT we must keep in mind that fruit does have more dietary sugars than other natural foods and can contribute to a stall in weight loss if it is over eaten. It would be hard to get extremely overweight from eating too much fruit (although not impossible). But on the other hand, it would be easy to stall your weight loss if you over-indulge. I've actually seen this happen with the Weight Watchers program, which, last I knew, let folks have unlimited fruits as long as they stop eating when they are satisfied. Hey.... If those people knew how to stop when they were satisfied, they wouldn't need Weight Watchers in the first place! Unlimited non-starchy veggies? It would be really hard to eat enough of those to stop weight loss. But unlimited fruit, which is much more calorie dense? It's very conceivable a stall would happen. (If you want to know more, I blogged about tweaking the Weight Watchers program to get around this and other issues here.)
One last word: Often when someone wants to "Cut in" or "lean out" a coach will recommend omitting fruit for the last 2 or 3 pounds. Keep in mind: This is a temporary situation. Reduction of every little bit of dietary sugars, even in the most natural forms, will indeed help you shed some water weight for something like a photo shoot or figure show. Living the rest of your life without eating fruit (or dairy- another thing that gets cut for situations like this) is unrealistic and denies your body nutrients it needs in their most readily-absorb-able and natural forms.
So limit fruit to one or two pieces a day, and enjoy every last bite without guilt. It won't hurt you, and will deliver nutrients that aren't available in many other foods.
The biggest beef I hear people raise about fruit is that it has so many sugars. And of course it does indeed have a natural source of sugar in it, since it tastes sweet. But the key word here is natural. It's sweet in the form sweet is supposed to be: In a food un-tampered and strait from nature. There are fiber and other nutrients in fruits that, when eaten in moderation (more about that later), make their sugars a not-very-big concern. The components of fruit are compatible with each other for maximum benefit to our bodies. God's was kinda smart that way: When He made us and then made fruit as one of the foods for us to eat, He sorta knew what He was doing.
The problem comes in when you take fruit apart and mutilate it. You remove the skin. You smoosh it up and leave the pulp behind. You bathe it in sugar and white flour and shortening and put it in the oven and call it pie. "But hey!", folks reason, "It's got fruit in it! That means it's at least a little good for me, right?" Er...... not really. You just destroyed the integrity of a whole food.
I'm not saying never enjoy a piece of apple pie. Into everyone's life a little dessert must fall. What I am saying is that a piece of apple pie should be a rare treat, and a whole apple should be a regular occurrence.
No one can ever deny that the healthiest way to eat an apple is just bite into it raw- peel and all.
And fructose? Yes, it's fruit sugar, but again, it's been separated from the fruit. By the time it gets processed out it's as poor nutritionally as plain white sugar. So don't think that a food that uses fructose as opposed to sugar is any better for you. It's not.
BUT we must keep in mind that fruit does have more dietary sugars than other natural foods and can contribute to a stall in weight loss if it is over eaten. It would be hard to get extremely overweight from eating too much fruit (although not impossible). But on the other hand, it would be easy to stall your weight loss if you over-indulge. I've actually seen this happen with the Weight Watchers program, which, last I knew, let folks have unlimited fruits as long as they stop eating when they are satisfied. Hey.... If those people knew how to stop when they were satisfied, they wouldn't need Weight Watchers in the first place! Unlimited non-starchy veggies? It would be really hard to eat enough of those to stop weight loss. But unlimited fruit, which is much more calorie dense? It's very conceivable a stall would happen. (If you want to know more, I blogged about tweaking the Weight Watchers program to get around this and other issues here.)
One last word: Often when someone wants to "Cut in" or "lean out" a coach will recommend omitting fruit for the last 2 or 3 pounds. Keep in mind: This is a temporary situation. Reduction of every little bit of dietary sugars, even in the most natural forms, will indeed help you shed some water weight for something like a photo shoot or figure show. Living the rest of your life without eating fruit (or dairy- another thing that gets cut for situations like this) is unrealistic and denies your body nutrients it needs in their most readily-absorb-able and natural forms.
So limit fruit to one or two pieces a day, and enjoy every last bite without guilt. It won't hurt you, and will deliver nutrients that aren't available in many other foods.
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
Food Snubbing- Wheat
Poor wheat. And fruit. And Corn. And potatoes. And dairy. And red meat. They are all getting an unnecessarily bad rap.
I don't know about you, but I have heard reports speaking against all of the above, even to the extremes of saying many of these shouldn't have been in the human diet in the first place and should be eliminated. I think this is, at least, very inconvenient (and expensive) and, at most, dangerous. My belief is that God put on these foods on earth for our consumption. Eliminating any or all of them from our diets, for reasons other than allergies or intolerance's, leaves our bodies void of many nutrients they need to run at max efficiency.
Food fads come and go. Someone will decide that a food "causes" problems. Remember when they said peanut butter caused cancer? The same thing came around about cauliflower. Now, peanuts are considered a valuable source of healthy fats (A-hem... They always were!), and cruciferous vegetables, to include cauliflower, are considered nutritious for their unique blend of nutrients and fiber.
Hey, if you overeat ANY food, even a healthy one in it's most natural form possible, there are going to be negative side effects. The key is to eat a very wide variety all the time.
So, starting with wheat, I plan to do a series of blogs on what I have heard to be the reasons to avoid the above mentioned foods, and my rebuttal to these reasons:
Wheat
Reason to avoid: It has a high glycemic index, making it mess with blood sugar.
My rebuttal: When wheat isn't stripped of it's wheat bran, bleached free of it's nutrients, smooshed to bits, and then sprayed with vitamins to "fortify it" (in other words, been turned into common white flour), the glycemic index isn't bad at all and it can actually help to stabilize blood sugar, due to the high fiber content. It's the fact that man has jacked with it so much that has screwed it up. If you want to use white flour for a special and rare dessert, be my guest! Whole wheat flour does not a light dessert make. But for your regular, day-to-day use, go with whole wheat: either white wheat (it's actually a type wheat, still in it's whole form) or regular brown whole wheat flour. King Arthur is my favorite brand of either. Try it once, and you'll see why. Totally worth the extra cost, IMHO
Reason to avoid: The glucose in it is bad for you.
My rebuttal: The glucose in your regular, cheap, processed white wheat is indeed bad for you. The glucose in whole wheat is not. (See above.)
Reason to avoid: It is a high allergen.
My rebuttal: Are you allergic to it? If so, then avoid it. If not, this is a moot point. I am allergic to tree nuts, but I'm not going to tell you to avoid tree nuts if you are not allergic to them. They are good for you, but they are bad for me. You should eat them, I should not. Duh.
Reason to avoid: It makes you bloat ("wheat belly").
My rebuttal: When some people digest wheat their midriffs do indeed temporarily swell. It's the gases produced by the bacteria in the intestinal tract that are digesting the wheat. In other words, it's air. And this is a good thing: It means the body is breaking the wheat down and sending the good stuff into your body to be used as healthy fuel, as well as separating the fiber to keep your elimination system moving regularly and in a healthy manner. It's a temporary, healthy, and necessary process that will go down as soon as the digestion is complete. Additionally, this tendency tends to be worse if you haven't had wheat for a while. As your system adjusts to it, "wheat belly" will usually go away. If it doesn't, you may be one of the rare people with either celiac disease or a gluten intolerance (keep reading).
Reason to avoid: It has little nutritional value.
My rebuttal: Hogwash! It's an excellent source of thiamin, niacin, riboflavin, folate, pantothenic acid, vitamin B6, choline, betaine, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, manganese, selenium, copper, zinc, potassium, not to mention fiber. If that's not a nutrient-rich food, I don't know what is.
Reason to avoid: Celiac Disease
My rebuttal: If you have celiac disease, wheat is going to be a problem for you. So is anything else with gluten in it. But do you know how rare celiac disease is? Last I heard, about 1/2 of a percent of all mankind actually have it, and only 15% are gluten intolerant. How many of the remaining 84 & 1/2% are avoiding gluten because they think it is bad for them? They are missing out on important nutrients all packaged into one very healthy food unnecessarily. This is ridiculous. Gluten is what gives wheat it's protein and is rich in iron, among other things. Vegetarians often use it for this reason. Don't go for gluten-free foods unless you have been medically diagnosed to have a sensitivity to gluten.
Next up: Fruit......
I don't know about you, but I have heard reports speaking against all of the above, even to the extremes of saying many of these shouldn't have been in the human diet in the first place and should be eliminated. I think this is, at least, very inconvenient (and expensive) and, at most, dangerous. My belief is that God put on these foods on earth for our consumption. Eliminating any or all of them from our diets, for reasons other than allergies or intolerance's, leaves our bodies void of many nutrients they need to run at max efficiency.
Food fads come and go. Someone will decide that a food "causes" problems. Remember when they said peanut butter caused cancer? The same thing came around about cauliflower. Now, peanuts are considered a valuable source of healthy fats (A-hem... They always were!), and cruciferous vegetables, to include cauliflower, are considered nutritious for their unique blend of nutrients and fiber.
Hey, if you overeat ANY food, even a healthy one in it's most natural form possible, there are going to be negative side effects. The key is to eat a very wide variety all the time.
So, starting with wheat, I plan to do a series of blogs on what I have heard to be the reasons to avoid the above mentioned foods, and my rebuttal to these reasons:
Wheat
Reason to avoid: It has a high glycemic index, making it mess with blood sugar.
My rebuttal: When wheat isn't stripped of it's wheat bran, bleached free of it's nutrients, smooshed to bits, and then sprayed with vitamins to "fortify it" (in other words, been turned into common white flour), the glycemic index isn't bad at all and it can actually help to stabilize blood sugar, due to the high fiber content. It's the fact that man has jacked with it so much that has screwed it up. If you want to use white flour for a special and rare dessert, be my guest! Whole wheat flour does not a light dessert make. But for your regular, day-to-day use, go with whole wheat: either white wheat (it's actually a type wheat, still in it's whole form) or regular brown whole wheat flour. King Arthur is my favorite brand of either. Try it once, and you'll see why. Totally worth the extra cost, IMHO
Reason to avoid: The glucose in it is bad for you.
My rebuttal: The glucose in your regular, cheap, processed white wheat is indeed bad for you. The glucose in whole wheat is not. (See above.)
Reason to avoid: It is a high allergen.
My rebuttal: Are you allergic to it? If so, then avoid it. If not, this is a moot point. I am allergic to tree nuts, but I'm not going to tell you to avoid tree nuts if you are not allergic to them. They are good for you, but they are bad for me. You should eat them, I should not. Duh.
Reason to avoid: It makes you bloat ("wheat belly").
My rebuttal: When some people digest wheat their midriffs do indeed temporarily swell. It's the gases produced by the bacteria in the intestinal tract that are digesting the wheat. In other words, it's air. And this is a good thing: It means the body is breaking the wheat down and sending the good stuff into your body to be used as healthy fuel, as well as separating the fiber to keep your elimination system moving regularly and in a healthy manner. It's a temporary, healthy, and necessary process that will go down as soon as the digestion is complete. Additionally, this tendency tends to be worse if you haven't had wheat for a while. As your system adjusts to it, "wheat belly" will usually go away. If it doesn't, you may be one of the rare people with either celiac disease or a gluten intolerance (keep reading).
Reason to avoid: It has little nutritional value.
My rebuttal: Hogwash! It's an excellent source of thiamin, niacin, riboflavin, folate, pantothenic acid, vitamin B6, choline, betaine, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, manganese, selenium, copper, zinc, potassium, not to mention fiber. If that's not a nutrient-rich food, I don't know what is.
Reason to avoid: Celiac Disease
My rebuttal: If you have celiac disease, wheat is going to be a problem for you. So is anything else with gluten in it. But do you know how rare celiac disease is? Last I heard, about 1/2 of a percent of all mankind actually have it, and only 15% are gluten intolerant. How many of the remaining 84 & 1/2% are avoiding gluten because they think it is bad for them? They are missing out on important nutrients all packaged into one very healthy food unnecessarily. This is ridiculous. Gluten is what gives wheat it's protein and is rich in iron, among other things. Vegetarians often use it for this reason. Don't go for gluten-free foods unless you have been medically diagnosed to have a sensitivity to gluten.
Next up: Fruit......
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
The Great Weigh-In Debate
Do you ever struggle with how often you should weigh yourself? I've seen rather heated discussions on the subject. Everyone seems to have an opinion. It can get confusing.
Personally? I don't think there is one answer for everyone. I think this has more to do with your own personality than anything else. And, to a lesser degree, your goals.
If you are someone who needs constant accountability to keep your head in the game, daily weighing is what I would suggest. Knowing that you have to face the scale every morning might help you to stay on-track during the day.
On the other hand, if you are someone who gets discouraged with the daily (normal) fluctuations in scale weight, a weekly or bi-weekly weigh-in might be better for you.
And some people do better if they just don't get on a scale at all and instead focus on the changes in how clothes fit, measurements, and how they look in the mirror. Which are actually more accurate, albeit slower, gauges, anyhow.
Then there is the factor of goals. Weight loss is a completely different mindset than maintenance. You might decide you need to weigh more or less often, depending on where your head is in your current journey. Personally, I do best during maintenance when I weigh daily. But that's me. Some people are better at letting it go entirely or just jumping on a scale every once in a while to make sure they are still on target.
And then there is the goal of muscle gain. When I start with a new client, I ask them to step away from the scale, if at all possible. This is because, for reasons unknown to me, often the scale weight will change very little while the body shape changes fairly rapidly once intense resistance training is introduced. If someone is focusing on the scale it makes it very hard for them to acknowledge the physical changes taking place in their body.
Likewise, if you are working with a trainer who wants you to weigh in at certain intervals, that is what you need to do. Don't jack with their program! (I did a blog by [almost] that title here.)
There is so much more to your fitness than a number on the scale!
And lastly, however often you decide to weigh, strive to do it at the same time of day, in the same amount of dress, having eaten (or not eaten) the same number of meals before hand. The most accurate time to weigh is first thing in the morning, after you have used the restroom and buck naked. But even then, there are fluctuations, so don't let a gain of a pound or two ruin your day. Just make note of it, keep doing the right thing, and weigh at the next scheduled weigh date. The most important thing is that the overall trend is downward.
Don't allow someone else's opinion of how often you should weigh guilt you or have you second-guessing what is right for you. We are all individuals. Do what works for you, and respect what others say works for them. It's a big fitness world and there is room for all of our differences.
Personally? I don't think there is one answer for everyone. I think this has more to do with your own personality than anything else. And, to a lesser degree, your goals.
If you are someone who needs constant accountability to keep your head in the game, daily weighing is what I would suggest. Knowing that you have to face the scale every morning might help you to stay on-track during the day.
On the other hand, if you are someone who gets discouraged with the daily (normal) fluctuations in scale weight, a weekly or bi-weekly weigh-in might be better for you.
And some people do better if they just don't get on a scale at all and instead focus on the changes in how clothes fit, measurements, and how they look in the mirror. Which are actually more accurate, albeit slower, gauges, anyhow.
Then there is the factor of goals. Weight loss is a completely different mindset than maintenance. You might decide you need to weigh more or less often, depending on where your head is in your current journey. Personally, I do best during maintenance when I weigh daily. But that's me. Some people are better at letting it go entirely or just jumping on a scale every once in a while to make sure they are still on target.
And then there is the goal of muscle gain. When I start with a new client, I ask them to step away from the scale, if at all possible. This is because, for reasons unknown to me, often the scale weight will change very little while the body shape changes fairly rapidly once intense resistance training is introduced. If someone is focusing on the scale it makes it very hard for them to acknowledge the physical changes taking place in their body.
Likewise, if you are working with a trainer who wants you to weigh in at certain intervals, that is what you need to do. Don't jack with their program! (I did a blog by [almost] that title here.)
There is so much more to your fitness than a number on the scale!
And lastly, however often you decide to weigh, strive to do it at the same time of day, in the same amount of dress, having eaten (or not eaten) the same number of meals before hand. The most accurate time to weigh is first thing in the morning, after you have used the restroom and buck naked. But even then, there are fluctuations, so don't let a gain of a pound or two ruin your day. Just make note of it, keep doing the right thing, and weigh at the next scheduled weigh date. The most important thing is that the overall trend is downward.
Don't allow someone else's opinion of how often you should weigh guilt you or have you second-guessing what is right for you. We are all individuals. Do what works for you, and respect what others say works for them. It's a big fitness world and there is room for all of our differences.
Monday, March 11, 2013
Gym Judgements
I've heard so many people who are not where they want to be in their fitness journey worry about what others in the gym will think about them. I get this- I have been not fit and afraid to go to the gym, not fit and going to the gym, fit going to the gym, and a trainer who works IN the gym. Basically, all sides of the equation.
And so, based on not only my own personal experience but from what I have polled other people of all categories, is what people of various points in their fitness journeys are thinking when they see a very overweight and out of shape person in the gym:
- The person not fit and afraid to go to the gym sees you walking into the gym and is envious that you have the guts to go in there. As a bonus, you may have unwittingly inspired them to try it, too.
- The person not-fit and going to the gym is thinking the same thing you are, of course. Which is something along the lines of "Oh, look! Someone like me!". You help to make them feel like they belong.
- The fit person going to the gym... well.... no offense, but they aren't thinking about you much at all. They actually are so focused on and/or worn out from their own workout that they don't have the energy to think of you. Their primary thought is "Dear God, please let me survive this workout." But if they do have a fleeting thought about you it is "Good for them! They are just where they need to be!"
- And the Personal Trainers in the gym are thinking several things, depending on their situation. If they are with a client they probably aren't paying any attention to you- They are focused on their client. If they aren't with a client, they are thinking the same thing the fit person working out in the gym is thinking- That you are just where you need to be, although probably with a bit more pride in you being there, since Trainers are schooled in how hard it is for someone who is not in stellar shape to even get themselves through the door.
Another thing the trainer might be thinking is that they wish you would ask them for help if you have a quick question. The fact is that we see people execute a lot of moves incorrectly and so very want to straiten them out, but we don't. This is because we have learned that 9 times out of 10 people don't appreciate it and look at us as judgmental, even though we were truly trying to help. So we learn to bite our tongues and wish that someone would ask "If you have a minute, could you please show me how to do this?". Just don't ask us when we are with a client- They are paying for us to pay 100% attention to them.
It's your workout, it's your business. Do it because it is good for you, not because of what anyone else thinks. Odds are it's not nearly as bad as you are imagining, anyhow.
And so, based on not only my own personal experience but from what I have polled other people of all categories, is what people of various points in their fitness journeys are thinking when they see a very overweight and out of shape person in the gym:
- The person not fit and afraid to go to the gym sees you walking into the gym and is envious that you have the guts to go in there. As a bonus, you may have unwittingly inspired them to try it, too.
- The person not-fit and going to the gym is thinking the same thing you are, of course. Which is something along the lines of "Oh, look! Someone like me!". You help to make them feel like they belong.
- The fit person going to the gym... well.... no offense, but they aren't thinking about you much at all. They actually are so focused on and/or worn out from their own workout that they don't have the energy to think of you. Their primary thought is "Dear God, please let me survive this workout." But if they do have a fleeting thought about you it is "Good for them! They are just where they need to be!"
- And the Personal Trainers in the gym are thinking several things, depending on their situation. If they are with a client they probably aren't paying any attention to you- They are focused on their client. If they aren't with a client, they are thinking the same thing the fit person working out in the gym is thinking- That you are just where you need to be, although probably with a bit more pride in you being there, since Trainers are schooled in how hard it is for someone who is not in stellar shape to even get themselves through the door.
Another thing the trainer might be thinking is that they wish you would ask them for help if you have a quick question. The fact is that we see people execute a lot of moves incorrectly and so very want to straiten them out, but we don't. This is because we have learned that 9 times out of 10 people don't appreciate it and look at us as judgmental, even though we were truly trying to help. So we learn to bite our tongues and wish that someone would ask "If you have a minute, could you please show me how to do this?". Just don't ask us when we are with a client- They are paying for us to pay 100% attention to them.
It's your workout, it's your business. Do it because it is good for you, not because of what anyone else thinks. Odds are it's not nearly as bad as you are imagining, anyhow.
Saturday, February 23, 2013
Handy Dandy Gadget Blog #3- My Rice Cooker
I really suck at making brown rice on the stove. White rice? I'm a pro. But Brown rice? The long-cook kind? Just about every time it comes out crunchy.
I knew about rice cookers (Who doesn't know about rice cookers?), but I thought it would wind up being just another appliance that was more trouble than it was worth and after two frustrating attempts it'd wind up in a garage sale. That is, until I posted another whiney status update on Facebook saying that I, once again, broke the brown rice. That prompted someone (may have been Carolyn, who told me to suck it up and get a coffee grinder for my flaxseed) to tell me that rice cookers do a great job at making brown rice the way it should be (non-crunchy), and that they aren't hard to use OR hard to clean, which were my biggest concerns.
So I asked for a rice cooker for my birthday, and my husband gave me one. I told him to please not get me the kind that vacuums the carpets and does taxes. I just wanted the most basic model possible, because I never use the extra stuff on appliances. He was obedient and got me the basic model by Aroma:
I knew about rice cookers (Who doesn't know about rice cookers?), but I thought it would wind up being just another appliance that was more trouble than it was worth and after two frustrating attempts it'd wind up in a garage sale. That is, until I posted another whiney status update on Facebook saying that I, once again, broke the brown rice. That prompted someone (may have been Carolyn, who told me to suck it up and get a coffee grinder for my flaxseed) to tell me that rice cookers do a great job at making brown rice the way it should be (non-crunchy), and that they aren't hard to use OR hard to clean, which were my biggest concerns.
So I asked for a rice cooker for my birthday, and my husband gave me one. I told him to please not get me the kind that vacuums the carpets and does taxes. I just wanted the most basic model possible, because I never use the extra stuff on appliances. He was obedient and got me the basic model by Aroma:
It comes with a steamer insert thingy, so that you can cook veggies on top (It has yet to be put into action. See? I don't use extra stuff), and a measuring cup. The inside is non-stick and the inside of the top of the lid pops off for super-easy cleanup:
The process for making rice with this thing couldn't be simpler- Toss the rice and water in there, close the lid down tight, plug it in, and turn it on. It somehow senses when the rice is done and moves it to the "keep warm" setting for several hours. No watching for water to boil, cleaning up of boil-overs on my stove, or scrubbing burnt rice of of the bottom of a pan because I accidentally cooked it too long. Additionally, I can set it off to the side and all my burners are still free for anything else I might be cooking. As an added bonus, it's ready in about half the time it takes to make rice on the stove.
The ratio of water to rice are different for brown rice than white, so I still have to look it up in the manual each time I use it, but let me tell ya something; this thing couldn't be easier to use. And the rice has never once turned out anything other than wonderful! Sometimes I use chicken broth instead of water, for some extra flavor. I almost always cook up more than we need and store the leftover in the fridge to use as a healthy carb over the next few days. (Did you know that cold brown rice makes a wonderful addition to salads?)
As is always the case, though, I started thinking: I usually have oatmeal for breakfast, which I cook in my Micro Steamer (blogged about it here). But I've wanted to try steel cut oats. The thing is, they take so blessed long to cook that I only tried them once. I'm just too hungry in the mornings to wait that long to eat, plus I had to keep stirring them because they threatened to burn to the bottom of my pot. Since the cooking method for steel-cut oats is very similar to rice, I started wondering if I could cook them in the rice cooker. I did a quick Google search and, sure enough, you can. One part oats and three parts water, but don't fill the cooker more than half full, because oats like to foam up when they cook. This is REALLY cool, because I can jump out of bed, dump the oats and water in the rice cooker, then run off to the bedroom to make the bed, brush my teeth, and do my normal morning "stuff". When I get to the kitchen, the oats are pretty much done. I just give them a quick stir because there is water on top, then close the lid back down and let it absorb a bit while I get my vitamins together, feed the dog, and make my eggs or mix up a protein shake.
So there 'ya have it- My third and final gadget blog. (To link my first one, CLICK HERE. The link to the second one is above in the coffee grinder link.) Useful things I use regularly and make my life a lot easier AND healthier. Let me know what you think! (And tell me what you use YOUR rice cooker for- I'm always looking for new ideas!)
Friday, February 22, 2013
Handy Dandy Gadget Blog #2- Mini Coffee Grinder
Yep. I said coffee grinder. And it's all Carolyn's fault.
My friend Carolyn, of Fabulous Fitness fame, read me whining one day about having to buy ground flaxseeds in such large quantity that I feared they were losing their nutrients before I could use them. See, flaxseeds are wonderful little nutritional powerhouses, but you can't get absorb their nutrients in the whole form. They have to be ground. Here's where the problem comes in: They start to lose their nutrients fairly quickly (within a week or two after grinding). A bag of ground flaxseeds lasts a VERY long time when you are only using a tablespoon most days.
So I whined about it, and Carolyn told me to get one of those mini coffee grinders to grind them as I use them. She said it cost about ten dollars at WalMart. Go get one, already, and stop your whining! (Okay, she didn't say it JUST like that, but it makes for a more interesting story.)
Anyhow, I went to WalMart and got one, and Carolyn was wrong: It wasn't ten dollars- It was thirteen. (Carolyn- you own me three bucks.)
Anyway, I took it home, read the directions (yes, I am one of THOSE people), dropped some whole flaxseed into it that I purchased in the bulk section at United Market Street for about sixty-eight cents (I wasn't going to buy a whole bag just to find out it didn't work), pressed the little button and..... viola! Ground flaxseed, nutrients intact. That was pretty cool! (Can you tell I am easily amused?)
The only caveat is that once you start grinding flaxseeds with the coffee grinder, you do NOT want to grind coffee with it. Or so I've heard. The microscopic bits of flaxseed kinda cling to the inside of the grinder. It's very hard to clean completely. I'm going to make a guess that flax coffee is probably not so tasty.
So me and my little coffee grinder lived in harmony with the flaxseeds. Then one day I started hearing about oat flour. And then I found a recipe I wanted to try with oat flour in it. (Chocolate PB Protein Brownies by Julie Lohre) I didn't want to buy an entire container of oat flour for a recipe that calls for just a cup. So I started thinking.... and Googling (what DID we do before Google?)........
Upon investigation, I found out that oat flour is simply finely ground oatmeal. The recommendation was to grind it in a blender. This sounded dusty to me. I hate dust. And then my eye fell on my little coffee grinder. I thought "I wonder?", and dropped some oats in there. A whirl or two later, and I found myself staring in amazement at oat flour! And, to make matters better, when I poured the oat flour out of the grinder, the thing was clean as a whistle. Double benefit. Yay!
The brownie recipe was good, by the way, but, of course, I altered it to my own taste. Here's a link to my version.
And there you have it- More information than you ever wanted about mini coffee grinders. But if you are a flaxseed eater, I'd highly recommend one. Cheap, easy, and takes up almost no space. How much better does a gadget get?
For Gadget Blog #1, click HERE.
My friend Carolyn, of Fabulous Fitness fame, read me whining one day about having to buy ground flaxseeds in such large quantity that I feared they were losing their nutrients before I could use them. See, flaxseeds are wonderful little nutritional powerhouses, but you can't get absorb their nutrients in the whole form. They have to be ground. Here's where the problem comes in: They start to lose their nutrients fairly quickly (within a week or two after grinding). A bag of ground flaxseeds lasts a VERY long time when you are only using a tablespoon most days.
So I whined about it, and Carolyn told me to get one of those mini coffee grinders to grind them as I use them. She said it cost about ten dollars at WalMart. Go get one, already, and stop your whining! (Okay, she didn't say it JUST like that, but it makes for a more interesting story.)
Anyhow, I went to WalMart and got one, and Carolyn was wrong: It wasn't ten dollars- It was thirteen. (Carolyn- you own me three bucks.)
Anyway, I took it home, read the directions (yes, I am one of THOSE people), dropped some whole flaxseed into it that I purchased in the bulk section at United Market Street for about sixty-eight cents (I wasn't going to buy a whole bag just to find out it didn't work), pressed the little button and..... viola! Ground flaxseed, nutrients intact. That was pretty cool! (Can you tell I am easily amused?)
The only caveat is that once you start grinding flaxseeds with the coffee grinder, you do NOT want to grind coffee with it. Or so I've heard. The microscopic bits of flaxseed kinda cling to the inside of the grinder. It's very hard to clean completely. I'm going to make a guess that flax coffee is probably not so tasty.
So me and my little coffee grinder lived in harmony with the flaxseeds. Then one day I started hearing about oat flour. And then I found a recipe I wanted to try with oat flour in it. (Chocolate PB Protein Brownies by Julie Lohre) I didn't want to buy an entire container of oat flour for a recipe that calls for just a cup. So I started thinking.... and Googling (what DID we do before Google?)........
Upon investigation, I found out that oat flour is simply finely ground oatmeal. The recommendation was to grind it in a blender. This sounded dusty to me. I hate dust. And then my eye fell on my little coffee grinder. I thought "I wonder?", and dropped some oats in there. A whirl or two later, and I found myself staring in amazement at oat flour! And, to make matters better, when I poured the oat flour out of the grinder, the thing was clean as a whistle. Double benefit. Yay!
The brownie recipe was good, by the way, but, of course, I altered it to my own taste. Here's a link to my version.
And there you have it- More information than you ever wanted about mini coffee grinders. But if you are a flaxseed eater, I'd highly recommend one. Cheap, easy, and takes up almost no space. How much better does a gadget get?
For Gadget Blog #1, click HERE.
Thursday, February 21, 2013
Handy Dandy Gadget Blog #1- My Bread Machine
Do you ever look at a kitchen gadget or tool and think "I wonder if I'd use that?". Yeah.... me too.
So I thought I would do a series on three gadgets I would have normally thought were a big, fat waste of money and kitchen space, yet have wound up becoming indispensable to me in my never ending quest to eat healthier.
The first "gadget" (although it's really more of an appliance) I am going to herald the value of is my bread machine:
My first bread machine was given to me 13 years ago, I believe it was, by my then-mother-in-law. I remember opening it and thinking "Oh, yeesh! Some big thing I'll never use and have to find a place in my already-too-small kitchen for." Suffice it to say, I was less than thrilled.
But, because she had paid good money for the thing and couldn't stop talking about hers, I dutifully read the instructions and put the ingredients for a loaf of bread in it. I thought it would be inedible and I'd never use it again. Instead it kneaded, let rise, kneaded again, let rise again and then baked a loaf of bread just as delicious as any I'd made the hard way (read: tons and tons of kneading) in the past. It was shaped tall instead of long, which made a rather funny looking loaf. But to get a homemade loaf of bread for almost no effort, what did I care how it looked? We were just going to eat it, anyhow.
Here is a picture of the inside, so you can see how the pan is shaped. This should explain why the loaf is tall instead of the traditional long shape:
And that started my love of bread machines.
I finally used that old bread machine to death. Literally. It died mid-loaf one day when it just stopped kneading. I replaced it promptly with the Corney Bakery brand bread machine pictured above.
Then I started on a quest to improve my health and the bread machine turned into a towel hanger for a long period of time.
One day I found myself with an overwhelming amount of ground flaxseed. There was no way I could use it all up before it went bad. The bread machine caught my eye. I'd been developing recipes of my own and thought "I wonder.......?????". As I Googled whole wheat flax breads I started to figure out the basic principles of how to bake with flaxseed. So on a wing and a prayer I tossed what I believed to be the correct ingredients into my beloved bread machine. Sure enough, out came a delicious and chewy whole wheat bread to rival anything else I'd ever tasted.
It was official: My bread machine and I were dating again.
Since then, not only have I regularly used it for a variety of whole wheat breads (one of our favorites is an Italian Herb Bread recipe I created), but I have also used it on the "dough" setting for whole wheat biscuits AND (I saved the best for last!) a wonderful whole-wheat pizza dough that I developed a recipe for. Topped with my grandma's pizza sauce, part-skim mozzarella, fresh-grated Parmesan, lean meats, and sliced fresh veggies, it's hard to top a home-made, delicious, and healthy pizza.
And let me tell ya, the bread machine makes the whole process a LOT easier! Just toss the dough ingredients in, put it on "dough" setting, and let it do the hard part. When your machine screams at you that it's done, take the pan out, punch the risen dough down, cover it, and stick it in the fridge until ready to use. Being cold makes it a little easier to handle and gives the crust a nice texture when you bake it.
Double bonus? My teenage daughter, who would rather skip breakfast, will gladly eat leftover pizza for breakfast the next morning. It's a healthy breakfast chock-full of whole grains, good fats, proteins, and even a few veggies to fuel her pretty little head for school.
I love knowing what is in the foods that my family is eating. By using the bread machine, I am able to avoid any chemicals or "what is that?" type ingredients that I often find on packaged breads, doughs, and crusts. And, of course, fresh-baked always tastes better.
So I thought I would do a series on three gadgets I would have normally thought were a big, fat waste of money and kitchen space, yet have wound up becoming indispensable to me in my never ending quest to eat healthier.
The first "gadget" (although it's really more of an appliance) I am going to herald the value of is my bread machine:
My first bread machine was given to me 13 years ago, I believe it was, by my then-mother-in-law. I remember opening it and thinking "Oh, yeesh! Some big thing I'll never use and have to find a place in my already-too-small kitchen for." Suffice it to say, I was less than thrilled.
But, because she had paid good money for the thing and couldn't stop talking about hers, I dutifully read the instructions and put the ingredients for a loaf of bread in it. I thought it would be inedible and I'd never use it again. Instead it kneaded, let rise, kneaded again, let rise again and then baked a loaf of bread just as delicious as any I'd made the hard way (read: tons and tons of kneading) in the past. It was shaped tall instead of long, which made a rather funny looking loaf. But to get a homemade loaf of bread for almost no effort, what did I care how it looked? We were just going to eat it, anyhow.
Here is a picture of the inside, so you can see how the pan is shaped. This should explain why the loaf is tall instead of the traditional long shape:
And that started my love of bread machines.
I finally used that old bread machine to death. Literally. It died mid-loaf one day when it just stopped kneading. I replaced it promptly with the Corney Bakery brand bread machine pictured above.
Then I started on a quest to improve my health and the bread machine turned into a towel hanger for a long period of time.
One day I found myself with an overwhelming amount of ground flaxseed. There was no way I could use it all up before it went bad. The bread machine caught my eye. I'd been developing recipes of my own and thought "I wonder.......?????". As I Googled whole wheat flax breads I started to figure out the basic principles of how to bake with flaxseed. So on a wing and a prayer I tossed what I believed to be the correct ingredients into my beloved bread machine. Sure enough, out came a delicious and chewy whole wheat bread to rival anything else I'd ever tasted.
It was official: My bread machine and I were dating again.
Since then, not only have I regularly used it for a variety of whole wheat breads (one of our favorites is an Italian Herb Bread recipe I created), but I have also used it on the "dough" setting for whole wheat biscuits AND (I saved the best for last!) a wonderful whole-wheat pizza dough that I developed a recipe for. Topped with my grandma's pizza sauce, part-skim mozzarella, fresh-grated Parmesan, lean meats, and sliced fresh veggies, it's hard to top a home-made, delicious, and healthy pizza.
And let me tell ya, the bread machine makes the whole process a LOT easier! Just toss the dough ingredients in, put it on "dough" setting, and let it do the hard part. When your machine screams at you that it's done, take the pan out, punch the risen dough down, cover it, and stick it in the fridge until ready to use. Being cold makes it a little easier to handle and gives the crust a nice texture when you bake it.Double bonus? My teenage daughter, who would rather skip breakfast, will gladly eat leftover pizza for breakfast the next morning. It's a healthy breakfast chock-full of whole grains, good fats, proteins, and even a few veggies to fuel her pretty little head for school.
I love knowing what is in the foods that my family is eating. By using the bread machine, I am able to avoid any chemicals or "what is that?" type ingredients that I often find on packaged breads, doughs, and crusts. And, of course, fresh-baked always tastes better.
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Ever Wonder the Daily Habits of the Most Muscular Guy in the Gym?
Last year I did a blog titled Ever Wondered How the Most Muscular Guy in the Gym Lifts? on SparkPeople.com. I did it there and not here because my following here appears to be mostly female, and a lot of guys follow me on Spark. I've always felt a follow-up blog about some of his daily habits would perhaps help someone else looking to make the most of their physique. While the weight lifting is obviously what has put all of that muscle on Ivory, what he does day-in and day-out contributes heavily to his health and appearance, as well. It really is a whole package if you want to get results as impressive as his:
*********NOTE***** I am not implying that anyone else should adopt ALL of these habits! Even Ivory didn't take them all on at once. Like anyone else who has made lasting lifestyle changes, he implement these bit by bit over the course of years.
So here, in no particular order, are some of the things I have observed and/or wrangled out of Ivory about what it is he does on a day-to-day basis:
Dietary:
- Never drinks soda. Unsweet tea? Yes. The occasional sugar-free Rock Star before a workout? Unfortunately, yes. (This makes me batty!) But carbonated beverages? In three years I've never seen him ingest one.
- Never drinks alcohol. No kidding.
- Drinks a LOT of water, although, surprisingly, he does not keep a bottle with him when he works out. He either goes to the drinking fountain, or swipes some of mine. (He's nice, though, and refills it for me if it is low.)
- Rarely ingests sugar. I mean, hardly ever. Around the holidays he may have a piece of sweet potato pie or banana pudding, but sugar for the most part is not in his diet.
- Keeps white flour to a bare minimum. Maybe once every week or two he'll have pancakes (with sugar-free syrup) right after a workout, but almost every other starch Ivory eats is either potatoes or whole grain.
- Not afraid of carbs, but eats plenty of protein. Protein is the center of most of his meals, but he always has some kind of a starch and usually either veggies or fruit along with it.
- Loves his veggies!
- Keeps fruit consumption fairly low- perhaps a piece of fruit a day.
- Eats an extremely wide variety of foods.
- Stops eating when he is full. He'll leave half a plate of food because "I'm full"
- And, because everyone wonders this: Doesn't go anywhere near steroids or other stuff purported to help you gain muscle. Tried Creatine once, but it dehydrated him so bad that he wound up in the ER. About the only thing supplemental he takes is the occasional scoop of protein powder and a multivitamin when he remembers it. Really. (I made him pinky swear on this one.)
Exercise:
- Cardio is short (usually 20-30 minutes) but very intense. I'm tellin' ya, the guy is positively raining sweat when he gets done with a cardio session.
- Changes set/rep scheme and the exercises he does frequently.
- Hits every muscle group once a week.
- Takes more time to train shoulders than any other body part.
- Takes 1 day a week as rest day from gym. He typically lifts weights Mon-Fri and does cardio Mon, Fri, and Sat. Sometimes Tuesday.
- Gives full rest between sets. This way, he's able to put maximum effort into all of his lifting.
- Asks for a spotter when he goes super-heavy. If there is no one around to spot, he doesn't go heavy that day and does more reps.
- Does abbreviated movements on big lifts- stays in the tension.
- Always keeps good form. If he can't keep proper form, he lowers the weight.
Life in General:
- Keeps a relaxed attitude- What some would call stressful, he just accepts as life and rolls with it.
- Is hardly ever in a hurry. For as fast as this guy moves during cardio, he kinda ambles around the rest of the time.
- Prioritizes taking time to do things he enjoys (coaching football, playing softball, going to his kids sporting events, fishing)
- Invests time in friendships.
- Keeps current on fitness information and is always willing to learn and try new things.
- Makes an effort to stand up strait- excellent posture.
- Lost weight when he needed to. Ivory told me that at 6'2" he weighed 330, if I remember correctly, for quite a while. It was affecting his health. The doctor gave him what-for, Ivory listened and started eating better and adding cardio to his exercise routine (he'd been lifting all along). He lost 50 pounds and the weight has stayed off. Gotta respect that.
Lastly, I feel compelled to point out that it has taken years of doing these same things, day in and day out, to get to where he is now. Genetically Ivory is indeed gifted, but the mounds of thick and well-defined muscle would not be there if he didn't work hard and stay consistent in his habits. So if you aren't getting the results you want in a few weeks or months, remember that it takes sticking to doing the right things over and over for many years on end to be able to carry this kind of a look well into your 40's (Ivory is 45), and beyond.
*********NOTE***** I am not implying that anyone else should adopt ALL of these habits! Even Ivory didn't take them all on at once. Like anyone else who has made lasting lifestyle changes, he implement these bit by bit over the course of years.
So here, in no particular order, are some of the things I have observed and/or wrangled out of Ivory about what it is he does on a day-to-day basis:
Dietary:
- Never drinks soda. Unsweet tea? Yes. The occasional sugar-free Rock Star before a workout? Unfortunately, yes. (This makes me batty!) But carbonated beverages? In three years I've never seen him ingest one.
- Never drinks alcohol. No kidding.
- Drinks a LOT of water, although, surprisingly, he does not keep a bottle with him when he works out. He either goes to the drinking fountain, or swipes some of mine. (He's nice, though, and refills it for me if it is low.)
- Rarely ingests sugar. I mean, hardly ever. Around the holidays he may have a piece of sweet potato pie or banana pudding, but sugar for the most part is not in his diet.
- Keeps white flour to a bare minimum. Maybe once every week or two he'll have pancakes (with sugar-free syrup) right after a workout, but almost every other starch Ivory eats is either potatoes or whole grain.
- Not afraid of carbs, but eats plenty of protein. Protein is the center of most of his meals, but he always has some kind of a starch and usually either veggies or fruit along with it.
- Loves his veggies!
- Keeps fruit consumption fairly low- perhaps a piece of fruit a day.
- Eats an extremely wide variety of foods.
- Stops eating when he is full. He'll leave half a plate of food because "I'm full"
- And, because everyone wonders this: Doesn't go anywhere near steroids or other stuff purported to help you gain muscle. Tried Creatine once, but it dehydrated him so bad that he wound up in the ER. About the only thing supplemental he takes is the occasional scoop of protein powder and a multivitamin when he remembers it. Really. (I made him pinky swear on this one.)
Exercise:
- Cardio is short (usually 20-30 minutes) but very intense. I'm tellin' ya, the guy is positively raining sweat when he gets done with a cardio session.
- Changes set/rep scheme and the exercises he does frequently.
- Hits every muscle group once a week.
- Takes more time to train shoulders than any other body part.
- Takes 1 day a week as rest day from gym. He typically lifts weights Mon-Fri and does cardio Mon, Fri, and Sat. Sometimes Tuesday.
- Gives full rest between sets. This way, he's able to put maximum effort into all of his lifting.
- Asks for a spotter when he goes super-heavy. If there is no one around to spot, he doesn't go heavy that day and does more reps.
- Does abbreviated movements on big lifts- stays in the tension.
- Always keeps good form. If he can't keep proper form, he lowers the weight.
Life in General:
- Keeps a relaxed attitude- What some would call stressful, he just accepts as life and rolls with it.
- Is hardly ever in a hurry. For as fast as this guy moves during cardio, he kinda ambles around the rest of the time.
- Prioritizes taking time to do things he enjoys (coaching football, playing softball, going to his kids sporting events, fishing)
- Invests time in friendships.
- Keeps current on fitness information and is always willing to learn and try new things.
- Makes an effort to stand up strait- excellent posture.
- Lost weight when he needed to. Ivory told me that at 6'2" he weighed 330, if I remember correctly, for quite a while. It was affecting his health. The doctor gave him what-for, Ivory listened and started eating better and adding cardio to his exercise routine (he'd been lifting all along). He lost 50 pounds and the weight has stayed off. Gotta respect that.
Lastly, I feel compelled to point out that it has taken years of doing these same things, day in and day out, to get to where he is now. Genetically Ivory is indeed gifted, but the mounds of thick and well-defined muscle would not be there if he didn't work hard and stay consistent in his habits. So if you aren't getting the results you want in a few weeks or months, remember that it takes sticking to doing the right things over and over for many years on end to be able to carry this kind of a look well into your 40's (Ivory is 45), and beyond.
Thursday, January 17, 2013
HIIT Explanation and My Favorite HIIT Method.
One of the big buzzes in the fitness world today is HIIT, or High Intensity Interval Training. What this means is working at super-high intensities for a short period, then at a lower recovery intensity for a short period, over and over, again for about 20 minutes or so.
There are several advantages to this, but here are my three favorites:
1. It helps to develop your system to be able to do longer, steady-state cardio at a higher intensity, therefore increasing your heart strength. This has the domino effect of burning more of calories during ALL of your cardio sessions, even the longer, steady-state ones.
2. According to studies, it keeps you burning calories longer AFTER the workout than regular steady-state cardio does. (This "after burn", by the way, is referred to EPOC. For the life of me, I can never remember what that acronym stands for.)
3. It gets the misery over quicker.
A good way to get started with HIIT sessions is to do a 3 minute warm-up, then move on to 15 seconds of all-out effort, followed by 1 minute and 45 seconds of a recovery jog pace. Repeat this 2-minute cycle (15 seconds fast, 1:45 jog) until you get to the 20 minute mark, then do a 2-minute cool down.
Over time you can increase the work phase by 15 seconds and decrease the jog phase by 15 seconds, until you get to a minute of each. This is very effective. It also starts to get boring.
So here is a HIIT plan I adapted from something I read in one of my fitness publications. The beauty of it is that as your strength increases, your pace will, too. It grows with you. I'll post it like you are on a bike, but you can adapt this for any piece of cardio equipment:
- Start through 3:00- Warmup
- For each minute through 8:00, increase the intensity by 1-2 levels, keeping your RPM's between 60 and 70. By the time you get to minute 8:00, you should be struggling to keep your RPM's in the target range of 60-70.
- 8:00-10:00 Lower the resistance to your warm-up level and free wheel at a recovery jog pace.
- 10:00-11:00, move the level up to what your highest level was in the first round (minute 7:00-8:00) and pedal as fast as you can. (This should be REALLY hard by the end of the minute- Push through!)
- 11:00-12:00, back to recovery jog level/pace
- Repeat those two minutes (1 minute hard as possible at highest level with 1 minute recovery) four more times. This should bring you to 20:00 on your timer.
- 20:00-22:00 cool down.
At this point, you should be dripping in sweat and more than ready for the blessed cardio session to end already. If you aren't, you didn't work hard enough.
And if you were able to keep up with an episode of "I didn't know I was pregnant" while doing this routine, you weren't working hard enough, either. :-D
I'd recommend giving at least 48 hours between HIIT sessions. Especially to start. Or at least switch machines frequently. Just like any other exercise strategy, mixing it up is always the safest thing for the body. While it's a wonderful form of cardio, I've found HIIT can be pretty taxing on the system and injuries are more likely if there is not adequate rest between sessions.
Let me know what you think!
There are several advantages to this, but here are my three favorites:
1. It helps to develop your system to be able to do longer, steady-state cardio at a higher intensity, therefore increasing your heart strength. This has the domino effect of burning more of calories during ALL of your cardio sessions, even the longer, steady-state ones.
2. According to studies, it keeps you burning calories longer AFTER the workout than regular steady-state cardio does. (This "after burn", by the way, is referred to EPOC. For the life of me, I can never remember what that acronym stands for.)
3. It gets the misery over quicker.
A good way to get started with HIIT sessions is to do a 3 minute warm-up, then move on to 15 seconds of all-out effort, followed by 1 minute and 45 seconds of a recovery jog pace. Repeat this 2-minute cycle (15 seconds fast, 1:45 jog) until you get to the 20 minute mark, then do a 2-minute cool down.
Over time you can increase the work phase by 15 seconds and decrease the jog phase by 15 seconds, until you get to a minute of each. This is very effective. It also starts to get boring.
So here is a HIIT plan I adapted from something I read in one of my fitness publications. The beauty of it is that as your strength increases, your pace will, too. It grows with you. I'll post it like you are on a bike, but you can adapt this for any piece of cardio equipment:
- Start through 3:00- Warmup
- For each minute through 8:00, increase the intensity by 1-2 levels, keeping your RPM's between 60 and 70. By the time you get to minute 8:00, you should be struggling to keep your RPM's in the target range of 60-70.
- 8:00-10:00 Lower the resistance to your warm-up level and free wheel at a recovery jog pace.
- 10:00-11:00, move the level up to what your highest level was in the first round (minute 7:00-8:00) and pedal as fast as you can. (This should be REALLY hard by the end of the minute- Push through!)
- 11:00-12:00, back to recovery jog level/pace
- Repeat those two minutes (1 minute hard as possible at highest level with 1 minute recovery) four more times. This should bring you to 20:00 on your timer.
- 20:00-22:00 cool down.
At this point, you should be dripping in sweat and more than ready for the blessed cardio session to end already. If you aren't, you didn't work hard enough.
And if you were able to keep up with an episode of "I didn't know I was pregnant" while doing this routine, you weren't working hard enough, either. :-D
I'd recommend giving at least 48 hours between HIIT sessions. Especially to start. Or at least switch machines frequently. Just like any other exercise strategy, mixing it up is always the safest thing for the body. While it's a wonderful form of cardio, I've found HIIT can be pretty taxing on the system and injuries are more likely if there is not adequate rest between sessions.
Let me know what you think!
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