She gets out of bed and feels the soreness in her muscles from her workout the day before. Her workouts have been hard and she loves them and loves the momentum she is on. Her goals were to lose 15 lbs before Spring Break. She walks down stairs to fix breakfast before she starts her day. Her confidence is high, she isn’t dodging her appearance in the mirror and she feels so much more energy than the month before. Before she eats, she wants to weigh herself. She thinks to herself, “surely I have dropped 5 lbs after the past two weeks of hard workouts and stringent eating.” All of sudden you hear a loud bang, as if something was thrown up against the wall. It was the scale.
How could this happen? How can you workout so hard, eat so well and not lose enough or any weight? Let me let you in a secret. It doesn’t matter what your scale says. It will never tell you what you want it too. No matter how hard you try. It is very much the Bermuda Triangle of all things fitness. The scale does not define you. It does not state your worth. It does not state your beauty And an added caveat it does not mean your fitness program is not working and you are not putting enough effort in. It simply is a measurement of physical weight on planet Earth ( hey on the moon you way nothing). The worry and anguish that goes into worrying about what the scale says is enormous. I am begging you to stop worrying about it. Here is why:
It is out of your control…mostly
Yes, you can watch what you eat and exercise but outside of that, you cannot control what the scale says. Your body will reduce body weight when it wants too. You have zero control over when this happens. Some people lose weight quickly, for a variety of reasons, some don’t. Some lose body fat and retain or gain muscle, creating an exchange effect thus causing them to not lose any weight. It runs the gamut but you have to remember it is out of your control.
It Fluctuates
Females can fluctuate as much as 7 lbs in a week. Males can fluctuate as much as 5 lbs in a week. If you weight yourself in the morning you will weight differently at night. So why weigh yourself?
Less Weight Doesn’t Mean Less Body Fat
Or vice versa. If you chose losing weight as your goal, your behaviors will different from someone trying to lose body fat. Strength training provides increased muscle tissue and with dietary help, lowering body fat. This does not always equate to lowering physical body weight. You can actually look different but weight the same. Would it matter if you had your dream body but you weight 10 more lbs than you want? Doubtful. Look at this chart:
Doesn’t Mean You are Not Working Hard
The scale, again, is measurement of physical weight on Earth. Not a judgment of how hard you have or haven’t worked. Do not let it get you down, define you or put you down. Find other ways of measuring progress, like how your clothes feel or how much energy you have OR how you look in the mirror. For women especially, this is an important lesson to learn and hold onto.
Control what you can control. Everything else should not be worried and obsessed about. You are putting in great work and doing all you can, do not let the scale make you feel like you aren’t. Throw the scale away and be free.
A friend of mine, who is an elementary school teacher, told me that her kids are only alloted 15 minutes of recess a day. Often times the teachers are under such scrutiny to hit certain test scores that PE and recess are both put on the back burner. If the school systems would only take a look at several studies that show the more active a child (or adult for that matter) is the better their mind works to absorb vital information. So by limiting and abolishing recess and PE we are doing a disservice to our youth. We have to take matters into our own hands to keep our kids moving and active. These strategies are not revolutionary but they are helpful. Here we go!
Promote Activity
Not exercise- Huh? Yeah! Promotion of exercise and workouts are going to get your kids hyped up to go to the gym or even ride their bikes. They may not be ready for “exercise” but they will more than enjoy activity. This keeps the young mind that loses interest quickly, on task and having fun. I suggest the following:
Active Play
Ditch the video games and play catch, hide and go seek, Simon says and twister. Go old school, take it back to when you were a kid and you played hide and go seek for hours. Remember how much fun that was? I can’t tell you the last time I heard a kid talking about hide and seek, they would rather play Halo. Halo ain’t got nothing on hide and go seek (forgive me, I am from Kentucky)!
Try an Active Party
In the summer time throw a party for your kids at the batting cages or in the winter a bowling party would fit the bill. Old school mentality but activity nonetheless. This may inspire your young ones to pick a sport or find a hobby, all of which is great!
Give them a Choice
Yes, they should be consulted with these decisions. A ten year old is not going to do something they do not want to do. So back door them, get them to pretend it was their idea and watch what happens!
Limit Screen Time
A surefire way to increase your child’s activity level is to limit the number of hours he or she spends in front of a screen — including television, video games and online activities. For example, you might consider a limit of one or two hours a day and, for a better night’s sleep, no screen time in the hour before bed. To make it easier, don’t put a television in your child’s bedroom, don’t watch television while you’re eating dinner, and restrict computers and other electronic gadgets to a family area. Also consider limiting other sedentary activities, such as text messaging or chatting on the phone.
If your child plays video games, opt for those that require movement. Activity-oriented video games — such as dance video games and video games that use a player’s physical movements to control what happens on the screen — boost a child’s calorie-burning power. In a Mayo Clinic study, kids who traded sedentary screen time for active screen time more than doubled their energy expenditure.
Walk the Walk
Here is the most important one. If this is not in play, the rest do not matter. You must back up what you preach. Children with active parents are far and away to be more active. It is that simple. You can’t go tell your child to go play outside and be active, if you are sitting on your rear end doing nothing. The facts hurt but they are true. We are at fault for the lack of activity our youth gets. Not technology, not our school system (well maybe they get some blame) but us.
I do not have children so many of you can point that out and say I have no idea what I am talking about. And your argument may be valid. However I have trained children as young as 11. It was honestly one of the best experiences of my career. I sought out to spark a young mind to value activity, not just exercise. Exercise is just the tool.
Wonder how much physical activity is enough? Consider these guidelines from the Department of Health and Human Services:
Children and adolescents age 6 and older need at least an hour a day of physical activity. Most of the hour should be either moderate or vigorous aerobic activity. In addition, children should participate in muscle-strengthening and bone-strengthening activities at least three days a week. Many classic activities — such as playing on playground equipment and jumping rope — cover all the bases at once.
So there you have it, a game plan for establishing activity and play in our youth. This is important, more important than most realize. The quality of life of the next generation depends on the current generation. Let’s do our jobs and inspire, motivate and build a healthier future for our kids.
Here is a young, active kid from Lexington, KY (with hair!) Just a kid with a dream of being a personal trainer!
I have a few people request nutritional advice and/or grocery store lists. Using my Exercise Nutritionist certification from Precision Nutrition, I have compiled the best damn grocery store list I could compiled. These are only items you will see in a big box grocery store, some local farmer’s markets or Whole Foods may have a wider variety, but I wanted to keep it to things you could find where you shop now. I also didn’t want to link it to anything, so that you would have all the information in this email for you to print off and go to the grocery store.
Aspire Fitness Supermarket Survival Guide
Shopping time!
Hit the grocery store prepared with our handy Supermarket Survival Guide, which will help
you:
• navigate the supermarket like a pro;
• shop as efficiently as possible;
• reduce temptations and distractions; and
• ensure you get all kinds of healthy foods!
A few notes:
These shopping lists are to give you ideas. You don’t have to buy everything on the list! We suggest you start with a few of your favorites from each group. For example:
• 3 veggies: spinach, carrots, broccoli
• 3 fruits: blueberries, oranges, grapes
• 3 proteins: extra-lean ground beef, salmon, lentils
• 3 fats: coconut, avocado, almonds
• 2 grains: oatmeal, wild rice
If there’s something we’ve missed that fits the criteria, please feel free to try it. For instance, you might find other fresh fish than the ones we’ve mentioned, or another fruit or veggie.
Always shop with a list, whether that’s ours or your own. If it’s not on the list, you don’t buy it.
That saves you time, money, and having to throw out impulse buys.
Good luck!
Supermarket map
Most supermarkets are laid out the same way: Most of the healthy stuff is around the edges.
Most of the stuff to avoid is in the inner aisles.
Here’s a sample supermarket layout to help you plan your attack. Stick mostly to the perimeter, where you’ll find lean protein plus fruits & veggies. Areas to avoid
or visit sparingly are orange. Be especially cautious around the cash register and ends of the aisles, where there are often eye-catching displays of
Fruits & vegetables
Look for colorful fruits and veggies and much as possible. Eat the rainbow!
Look for what’s in season and/or local. It’ll be fresher, cheaper, and tastier.
Purple & blue
Eggplant
Red cabbage
Purple kale
Beets
Blueberries, blackberries, lingonberries
Purple carrots
Purple potatoes
Black cherries
Black/purple plums
Dark green
Spinach
Beet greens (the tops of beets)
Kale
Broccoli
Any other dark leafy green (e.g. turnip
greens, collard greens)
Brussels sprouts
Fresh herbs (e.g. parsley, basil)
Green beans, green peas
Avocado
Zucchini, cucumber (if you eat the peel)
Red & pink
Red peppers
Tomatoes
Strawberries
Cherries
Cranberries
Red grapefruit
Red-skinned apples
Red grapes
Red radishes
Red lettuce, radicchio
Rhubarb stems
Misc
Onions, leeks, shallots
Garlic
Mushrooms
Cauliflower
Celery
Lean protein
Meat
Lean/extra-lean cuts of beef
Lamb
Lean pork (e.g. pork tenderloin)
Wild game (e.g. venison, elk)
Poultry
Chicken
Turkey breast
Duck
Eggs & egg whites
Fish
Salmon
Tilapia
Cod
Smaller fish like herring and mackerel
Whole grains
Remember, you want whole grains. The whole thing.
Oats (steel-cut or oat groats)
Brown rice
Wild rice
Red rice
Amaranth
Quinoa
Wheat berries (whole wheat kernels)
Spelt
Kamut
Label reading checklist
LOOK FOR
Whole foods
No more than a few ingredients
Food that is close to what it used to be
Organic if possible
Local if possible
Minimal or no packaging
AVOID
Sugar (look for trick words and phrases)
Other sweeteners
Hydrogenated and fractionated oils such as
corn or palm oil
Additives, preservatives, and colouring
Any other ingredients you don’t recognize
More than a few ingredients
Trick words & phrases
“Syrup” – corn syrup, brown rice syrup,
agave syrup, etc.
Words ending in “ose” – sucrose, glucose,
fructose, etc.
Words starting with “malto” – maltodextrin,
maltitol, etc.
“Made with / contains real fruit”
“Fortified with”
Don’t be fooled!
Ignore what the front of the package says. Look at the back of the package. Remember, if a
packaged food claims to be “healthy”, it probably isn’t. “Organic sugar” is still sugar.
It is time to get to work. Most everyone has fitness on their mind when discussing their plan for 2015. Hell, even I have fitness related goals I would like to focus on for the next 360ish days. Most of my goals have a common theme and today when discussing 2015 with a client something hit me like a ton of bricks. It was an epiphany of sorts. While trying to simplify the process, I discovered the most important word for the the process, consistency. Without it, there is no workout plan, juice cleanse, yoga retreat, treadmill known to man that will create the results MOST are seeking out. Consistency is everything when discussing fitness. Those that do not have consistency have no results. Its a fact.
“So specifically what are you talkin bout JB?”
Most everyone would agree true, long lasting results take time. Even the the January resolution crowd that is showing up at your neighborhood gyms know that results take a while. So what are the keys to results? In my opinion it falls down to consistency. Those that are consistent in their workouts, eating habits, keeping stress low are more successful than those that are sporadic. Lets simplify this even more:
Here are the four areas I see where the results start to wane and frustration starts to set in because of lack of consistent habits.
Workouts
Plain and simple, if you do not work out on a regular basis you are not going to achieve the maximum amount of your goals. Start small, commit to 3 days per week to go workout (whatever combination you would like) and be consistent. You do not have to have the craziest of workouts every time you workout (leave those to me) just be consistent ( are you tired of reading that word yet?) Side note: Do not cancel on your trainer unless you absolutely have too. If you book an appointment, keep it. You will not be disappointed.
Nutrition
A huge gaping hole for most people is how they eat. Most are neither consistent nor nutritious which leads to no results. We may need to start small by simply making it a priority to prepare our lunch every day. It literally could be the same meal all week if you would like. Any thing to start a consistent behavior pattern.
Sleep
I do not sleep enough some days. It is a goal of mine to achieve at least an average of 7 hours of sleep a night. My body needs and your body needs it. There is a correlation with happiness and the amount of sleep one’s gets. Let that sink in.
People Clutter
Huh? Yes I am going there. If you have negative people in your life, get rid of them. They are detracting from what you are trying to accomplish. They are in your way, consistently. It is preventing you from reaching your full potential. Say goodbye!
Resolutions are great, declarations are better. Declare 2015 as your year and keep the theme of consistency in the forefront of your mind as we process through this new year. Victory will be yours.
2015 is here. Have you started on your resolutions? Have you already given up on your resolutions? Whichever boat you are in, I would like to share with you my mantra for 2015. With a brief description of what each eloquent line means to me.
Warning! Motivation and inspiration may ensue. Enter at your own risk.
I Choose
To live by choice, not by chance,
We all have choices in this world and by all accounts we are judged by those choices; good, bad or indifferent. Make choices that add value to your life. Be with people who make you better and rid yourself of those that bring you down. Don’t want for things to happen, make things happen.
To be motivated, not manipulated,
Ultimately you are motivated or you are not. There is no one foot in and one foot out. Either you do it or you don’t. And by such we cannot be conned or fooled into living our lives for someone else. We are unique in our decisions and should hold our ground when making them. Be you and don’t let others sway your judgment or motivation.
To be useful, not used,
We are meant to add value to other’s lives, not be used for our unique talents and genuine generosities.
To make changes, not excuses,
Change can be scary. It is a place outside our comfort zone. However, it is important to make change when change is need. It is not important to make excuses for why you can’t doing something because you are scared to change.
To excel, not compete.
Life is about wins and losses. You win some, you lose some. The only competition is the person in the mirror. Only make comparisons to the person you use to be versus the person you are.
I choose self-esteem, not self-pity,
Confidence and the self belief in one’s ability will drive you further in life than feeling sorry for yourself when life doesn’t go you way. Live to fight another day and be thankful to be able too.
I choose to listen to my inner voice, not the random opinions of others.
Your gut will never lie to you. Your heart will, your brain will and your eyes will but never you gut. It is your inner voice that knows all. Always listen to it. It will always tell you to keep pushing and make headway. That anything is possible and all the doubters are wrong.
I choose to do the things that you won’t, so I can continue to do the things you can’t.
The choice to get up early, work late, workout when everyone is asleep, eat broccoli instead of French fries is all ours. We can chose to make the sacrifices necessary to be extraordinary, it is up to us. Do what others won’t so you can continue to do what others can’t.
By Lauren Mayer, on Wed Feb 11, 2015 at 8:30 AM ET
Even though I am an unabashedly liberal political satirist, I have immense respect for any efforts at bipartisanship. (I was a competitive debater in high school and college, where we had to argue both sides of any given topic, and it was great training not just for politics but for marriage . . . . but I digress.) Which is why I’ve always been proud to contribute to this site whose whole foundation is to encourage bipartisan discourse.
However, my admiration for seeing both sides of an issue has largely been theoretical. On the issues that matter to me, from women’s reproductive choice to marriage equality to the environment to income inequality, I have had a very hard time seeing any validity to the arguments on the opposing side. And when that opposing side is based on a wholesale denial of facts, evidence, and science, it’s even harder to remain balanced.
However, an issue has recently come up where science denial originated on the left – the ant-vaccination movement. And while a few right-wingers have made idiotic, pandering remarks about parental choice, or a ‘temporal link’ between vaccines and autism, just as many diehard conservatives have come down squarely on the side of science. Who knew we’d find a subject on which Hillary Clinton and Ben Carson express the same point of view?
So for a change, the sarcasm and disdain in my political satire song is aimed equally at Democrats and Republicans who persist in willful ignorance:
As children we were always taught to eat our vegetables and our fruits, that these held a certain superior nutritional value to all other foods. And how that could be true it does not come without the phrase, “this over that.”
For our entire existence on earth, we have been eating fruit. If you recall, apples were the cause of some pretty hairy stuff in the days of Adam and Eve. However, for the 21st century health and physique conscious individuals, some fruits may be better than others. So to take a stab at this conundrum I will look at certain fruits that could be better options than other fruits. But first..
I truly believe there are no bad foods, just better options. In certain cases it may be OK to eat certain things in other cases not so much. Also, generally speaking, most whole fruit would be a better option than most any processed food you can find in the grocery store. This article is about which are better options and show you that not all fruits are created equal.
There are litany of fruits available to us in all different categories. Lets look at the most well known fruits:
Apples
Apples are a great snack and provide the phytochemicals your body needs to ward off to disease and sickness. The old adage, “an apple a day keeps the doctor away.” may be overstated but it isn’t too far from the fruit. Another component of apples that may them great choices are the fiber in the skin. Fiber helps keep the digestive system “regular” as well as blunting the effect of insulin.
Bananas
Probably the biggest associated with bananas is potassium. However, potassium can be attained from broccoli just as well as it can from bananas. If eaten too much, gastro-intestinal problems can arise. Also, very few grams of fiber in a banana.
Grapes
Grapes are one of the biggest culprits of sugar overload. That’s why they make such delicious wine. If you love grapes, try and limit yourself to ten or twelve at a time. Naturally, raisins, the dried counterparts of grapes, have even more sugar which is used in the drying and preserving process.
Avocados
Most people forget that these are a fruit. Avocados pack a ton of healthy fats so they are naturally higher in calories but the Omega 3 packed fat helps with inflammation and body fat loss. It is recommended to eat only half of one per day.
Dried Fruits
Dates and other dried fruit like figs, cherries, banana, and pineapple, contain a lot of sugar that is used to retain the flavor lost during dehydration. Dried fruit also loses a lot of its nutritional value during this transition, so whenever you can, try and find fruits in their original condition.
Some examples of fruit and their sugar content:
1 cup strawberries = 8g sugar
1 cup blueberries = 5g sugar
1 banana = 15-20g sugar
1 cup pineapple = 17g sugar
Moral to the story…chose strawberries and blueberries over bananas and pineapples.
In closing, just like in any food group, there will be better options that some. Remember not all sugar is created equal either. A pineapple is much better than a candy bar, even they may have similar sugar counts. BUT it does not mean you should eat pineapple all day every day. True enough, it would be packed with vitamins and minerals a candy bar wouldn’t, plus it would have more water content thus leading to more satiety than a candy bar. However, the amount of calories could be lessened by eating a strawberry than a pineapple.
If there are any trainers that read my rants you can sympathize with me on the following statement made by a client, “My doctor told me not to squat.”
Oh he did, did he? Well isn’t that great, what in the world am I going to do to strengthen your legs?
Hold up!
Do me a favor and get up and down from that chair. So you know what I am getting at. There are some uneducated people out there that tell patients to stay away from certain activities, not realizing that those activities could potentially help the situation.
I’ve incurred this situation several times in the 11 years I have been a trainer, nothing surprises me. The squat is the most basic, primal movement that humans do. We squat when we get in and out of a car, we squat when we get up and down from a chair and when we have to go to the bathroom (#2 for men and always for women) we squat.
So how on earth could someone tell me that I can’t squat? Most doctors are not as educated on fitness and it impacts the body, so its easy to tell people what to stay away from. If you have a bum knee its probably not wise to load a bar up with 300 lbs and go at it. But what doesn’t make sense is why you wouldn’t perform the movement at all, without weight.
Have you ever looked a baby and how they sit back on their heels and drop their butt to the floor in a full squat? The point I am trying to get at is humans were meant to squat, in some shape, form, or fashion. It’s true so you cannot argue!
So how does squatting benefit me if I have knee problems? Well let’s first look at your “knee problems.” More often than not (general statement here) the problem is not your knee. Huh? Yes, the problem often stems your ankle or your hip causing the pain to occur in and around the knee capsule. This is called “site VS source.” The site is not always the source of the problem. So if you have hip issues or ankle issues, proper squat technique can actually realign the body to its correct movement pattern. Also becoming more flexible in the hip flexor and hamstring area will help as well.
Here are the benefits of proper squatting (body weight progressing to weighted):
Neuromuscular coordination Squatting (weighted or bodyweight) will train the brain and the muscles to work in harmony. If you have trouble squatting correctly place a box or bench behind you and sit back and touch and explode up.
Lower Body Strength No exercise (no exercise!) builds strength better than squatting. Everyone needs strength, whether you are a stay at home mom or a professional athlete, our lives demand a certain amount of strength.
Injury Prevention/Rehabilitation To prevent injuries you must make sure the body can handle and create force. Squatting allows the body to build muscle and strength required of everyday life. Also, allows the body to become flexible in the lower extremities (cause of a lot of injuries).
Squatting Makes You Look Great Naked I call it like I see it. Move for move, exercise for exercise, if you had to pick one to do the squat would be it. The sheer amount of muscles that is used during the squat is enormous, thus the caloric expenditure is magnified. This burns body fat and helps build muscles. Plain and simple.
So, in conclusion if your doctor tells you not to squat or advises you against the resistance training, please take the facts and apply it to logic. Squatting is a must for anyone including those who want to be fit.
By John Y. Brown III, on Wed Jan 28, 2015 at 12:00 PM ET
This morning as I walked briskly from the parking lot to my first meeting I saw my reflection in a store window and thought to myself,
“I may be 51 but I have the gait of a 40 year old. Bam!”
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When I see a guy wearing a “slim fit” shirt I know it is because he is genuinely slim. (I also know that I probably won’t like him and definitely don’t trust him.)
But when a guy wearing a “slim fit” shirt looks at a guy wearing a “classic fit” shirt, I wonder if he knows that “classic fit” is really just a euphemism for “out-of-shape and portly?” And if so, is feeling sorry for us and knowing we are not a threat part of the reason slim-fit guys seem inclined to like and trust us?
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I have just finished going off a medication and suffering withdrawals that no woman should ever have to endure. And that many men shouldn’t ever have to endure either. And I am in that group of men.
By John Y. Brown III, on Tue Jan 27, 2015 at 12:00 PM ET
I have a feeling today is going to be a great day. But don’t know what it is that is going to be great today in my life.
But since I am in my 50s and won’t be able to remember tomorrow whatever great thing happened in my life today, I am OK with not needing to know specifics about today’s great things that I feel are going to happen.
I am content just knowing today is going to be a great day. Involving something. I just don’t know what and, even if I did, I wouldn’t remember it anyway. But because of my “can do attitude” that won’t stop me from being an optimist.
She gets out of bed and feels the soreness in her muscles from her workout the day before. Her workouts have been hard and she loves them and loves the momentum she is on. Her goals were to lose 15 lbs before Spring Break. She walks down stairs to fix breakfast before she starts her day. Her confidence is high, she isn’t dodging her appearance in the mirror and she feels so much more energy than the month before. Before she eats, she wants to weigh herself. She thinks to herself, “surely I have dropped 5 lbs after the past two weeks of hard workouts and stringent eating.” All of sudden you hear a loud bang, as if something was thrown up against the wall. It was the scale.
