Choosing a Gym

When most people begin working out they want to join a gym.  While a gym is not a mandatory part of a fitness routine it can be a great way to get access at an affordable price to equipment you would not otherwise have access to.

But all to often people let low introductory prices influence which gym they join.  Then once they join the gym, they hate it and never go.  Here are a few thing you should consider before joining.

Obviously price is a big motivator for many of us.  If you find a low price at one gym but like another tell them about the lower priced offer and see if they can match it.  Also be aware some gyms offer low prices to start but once your trial period is over, the price goes up.  Many gyms automatically deduct the money from your account and it is non refundable so make sure you read the fine print.

Stop Throwing Weights Around and Use Proper Technique

I go to the gym all the time and see guys throwing around big weights they should not be lifting.  They are using horrible technique, but they look strong as they yell and scream.  They are wasting there time and running the risk of hurting themselves.

A lot of people unknowingly do this because they see so many people doing it.  What I am talking about is swinging the weights around using momentum to help you get the weight back up.  Or bouncing a bar off your chest when bench pressing.

The Importance of Weight Training in Fitness

You typically go to the gym and you find two types of people, weight trainers and cardio trainers.  But the best athletes do a combination of the two.  Obviously everyone understands that for weight loss you have to do cardio.  But you should also weight train for fat loss.

Muscle burns calories faster than fat does.  So by adding a few pounds of lean muscle you burn more calories throughout the day.  Even while you sleep!  This will help promote fat loss much faster.

Liquid Detox Diets

Detox diets for weight loss are safe and effective

Everywhere you look, you see people using detox diets for weight loss. We hear stories of fad diets that make wild claims of weight loss. We are bombarded with news about celebrities doing weight loss detox. It seems like it is a cure-all for weight loss. In addition, they can help to make your body healthier by cleansing out toxins.  However, some weight loss detox programs do more harm than good, you need to be certain you choose the right one.

Ten Fitness Tips According to WebMD

When it comes to fitness few personal trainers can give advice like a medical doctor.  I recently came across a top ten list of fitness tips from WebMD that I really agreed with.  Here is a link to the article and here is a summary of what they rated as the ten most important things in your lifetime physical fitness goals.  WebMD 10 Secrets to Fitness

Interval Training to Stimulate Fat Loss

When you work out for any period of time, you will eventually hit a plateau.  At that point you will grow frustrated because the huge gains you were seeing in your fitness suddenly slow down and may even stop altogether.  At some point your body just adapts to the workouts.

There are many ways to get past a plateau.  Basically you need to change up your workout routine, add new exercises or different exercise to stimulate your body.  This does not mean to necessarily add more to your routine.  If you are beginning a workout plan this may be the answer.  But this blog post is more for those who are in shape and have just hit that wall.

Why Squats are Important - For Women Too!

Squats, the exercise every hates to do.  But did you know it is probably one of the most important exercises you should have in your routine.

The soreness and the challenge of doing them is overwhelming for many.  But if you're serious about fitness it is a must do exercise.

When I say squats, I mean actual squats with a bar in a rack.  Not leg presses on a machine.

There are several reasons why squats are important.  First of all, muscle burns more calories than fat does.  So by have a little more lean muscle you will burn more calories all day, even while you sleep.

Stop Wasting Money on Supplements

When it comes to the world of fitness supplements it is a billion dollar a year industry.  The problem is most of that money is wasted by consumers.

I see people all the time who start working out and run down and buy a few hundred dollars in supplements they see in magazines thinking it will help them with their fitness goals.  They begin working out and they thank the supplements for the improvement in their fitness.

What they do not realize is more than the supplements, its the fact they are actually working out and eating right that is the major reason for the change in their body composition.

Fad Workouts

If you have spent anytime on my blog you will know that I am all about having balance to anything you do.  Much like my last post about fad diets, fad workout plans although beneficial are not the only way to get in shape and look better.

What is the point of paying a lot of money for some workout plan you hate and will not stick with?

The key is to find something you enjoy doing and do it consistently.  Make a routine of it.  Do it several times a week without fail.  Once you get into a rhythm and you do not slack it will become second nature to do everyday, like brushing your teeth.

Fad Diets

When it comes to dieting, someone is always on the new next big thing.  Something that all the celebrities are doing to help you lose weight and gain muscle.

But like everything I talk about on here, its about one thing, balance.  You have to have balance and consistency in your diet to be successful.

What is the point of starting the greatest diet in the world if you absolutely hate what you eat and are constantly hungry which in turn causes you to stop the diet after a week or two?

Boxing for Fitness, don't worry you do not have to get hit

I have played virtually every sport at some point in my life.  I have done dozens of different workout routines.  One of my favorite workouts was boxing.  It was probably the hardest.  And it produced the best fitness and most weight loss as well.  I actually lost more weight than I wanted to doing this simple workout.

I began boxing at about 24 years old for a charity event called Battle of the Badges when I was a police officer.  I was in decent shape at the time.  I weight trained about an hour a day and did about 20 minutes of cardio five days a week.  I weighed about 176 at the time.  My weight really did not fluctuate much.  I was still young so I could eat what I wanted and not gain a pound.  Even when I did extra cardio my weight would not drop more than a pound or two.

But when I started boxing, I found myself getting tired by the second round.  After six weeks of training, I dropped all the way down to 162 pounds.  I still ate the same.  In fact I was forcing myself to eat more because I did not want to lose anymore weight.

Exercises for those who suffer from back pain

I have always played sports.  I ran track my whole life.  Played football in high school.  But as I grew older the back pain was to severe.

Running is horrible for those who suffer from back pain.  The pounding on the back is too much to handle.  If you insist on running, do it on a soft surface like grass.  Do not run on asphalt.  Dirt is about as hard as you want to go.

But if you are like me, running is pretty much out of the question.  Cycling is great.  Especially for my type of back pain.  The position of leaning forward really helps my pain.  But the seat rubs and for me it is boring.  Plus I enjoy working my upper body as well.

Back Pain Treatments

My first real experience came playing basketball when a power forward flew in and gave me a power knee right in my back.  My coach sent me to a chiropractor.  Something I used routinely for the next several years.  It helped, but as I grew older it simply was not enough.

I have been to a sports therapist, massage therapist and everything in between.  They all brought some temporary relief.  But after a few months to a year, the treatments seemed to not be as effective.

Aside from stretching (read my previous post) and staying active which are by far the two most important things you can do, I found two forms of treatment that have helped me for over ten years.  Neither treatment form by itself was a cure all.  I still see a chiropractor sometimes.  I still go in for an occasional massage.  Sometime my routine just does not keep the pain away.  I occasional even have to resort to prescription pain pills.

Back Pain and Fitness

For those who have back pain, working out can be tough.  Especially for those who suffer from chronic back pain.  Never getting a break from the aches, and sometimes disabling pain can be overwhelming and make those who were once fit, quickly become couch potatoes.

This is the first in a multi article series about workouts to overcome back pain as well as treatments that have worked for me.

I have had back pain since my junior year of high school.  As I got older, then pain grew worse and more frequent.

Loosing Fat and Gaining Muscle - For Women Too

As unbelievable as it may sound,
that really is my fiancee, Samantha 

The biggest mistake I see people making when it comes to fitness is trying to do too much at once. As I keep saying it's all about finding your balance. We would all like to lose all the fat and put on some muscle at the same time. What most people do not understand, this is nearly impossible to do.  Your body, no matter how hard you work is not designed to do both functions at once.

When you first start working out after a long break you may see both muscle gains as well as fat loss. But that usually very short-lived. The manner in which you lose weight is simple, you have to burn more calories than you consume. That's usually done through cardiovascular exercise and minimal weight training. The weight training is essential because muscle burns more calories than fat.  But that is another post.

In order to gain muscle you have to have optimal caloric intake as well as the optimal amount of protein to help build those muscles. If you don't have enough calories or you don't have enough protein your body can not build any new muscles because it simply does not have the building blocks it needs.. And if you get your point where your burned so much fat your body can't burn anymore, it will start using the muscle as a fuel source further slowing you muscle gains.

Bodybuilders achieve muscle gains by overloading on calories and protein. It's almost impossible to sit there and figure out exactly how many calories or how much protein you need to be at the optimal level. So the best way to ensure the nutrients your muscles need is to simply overload on them and consume more than you need.

That's why when you see bodybuilders in the off-season they look fat and bloated. It's because they're in muscle building phase. They're trying to bulk up, make everything bigger but in the process they have to consume extra calories which puts on fat. Then they will begin doing the opposite as they prepare for a competition.

So it is essential you understand the difference between the two distant phases of a workout season.  How much you gain or how much you lose is up to your individual preference.  Now I know under no circumstances does any woman want to put on fat at all, so ladies you probably will ignore much of this post.  But understanding how diet affects your overall weight goals is important.

Also it is important to know that muscle does a lot to help you keep weight off.  Muscle burns more calories than fat.  So every minute of everyday you will burn more calories if you add just a little muscle.  Doesn't that sound like a great idea?  Who doesn't want to burn extra calories while they sleep?  This will help you to keep that lean figure you have put so many miles on the treadmill for.

I have worked with a lot of women to achieve there fitness goals.  And I always got the same complaint the first two months.  They were doing the workout, but they were gaining weight.  Do not worry about the scale when you are working out, at all!  Muscle not only burns more calories than fat but it weighs more.  Muslcle is much more dense.  All of these women looked great after two months and had obviously lost a few pounds as well as gained some definition, but still they complained.

I would ask them if there pants still fit the same.  They would always so no they felt a little looser.  Then I would explain to them what I just told you thinking it would make sense.  But usually I got "but I do not want to gain weight".  After a few minutes of flattery they would finally accept I knew what I was talking about.  Women just think differently than men.

When you're trying to gain muscle you don't do a lot of cardio and when you're trying to lose fat, don't do a lot of weightlifting. And I say don't do a lot of either, but that doesn't mean don't do any. Your body does need the different types of activities to maintain strength and endurance.

You just have to take a balanced approach to whatever you are doing.

Fitness Goals

Just like everything else in life, we have to have balance in our fitness routine.  We all know people who either really need to get in shape and maybe a few who are to obsessive about it.  I spent years as one of those who was way to obsessed with it.  Now I am in the other category :/.

After years of various workouts and supplements as well as helping others get into shape I learned a few things.  Their were two things I learned that stand out above everything else.  One is you are stuck with your genetics no matter what.  Some of us just naturally have thicker bodies and some of us just have a thin body.  Nothing you can do will ever change that.  For me, despite my weight gain over the last few years I have a thin body type.  That is why I saw now I am fat and skinny at the same time.  I have a belly, but long thin arms and chicken legs.

When I was in the gym all the time I would get bigger.  But I never saw the results I wanted to.  I could eat as much as I could, lift the heaviest weights possible for me and the most I ever weighed was 205 at 5'10".  That weight gain did not happen until I was 25 years old.  Before that I was a scrawny 170.

Meanwhile I saw people who were heavier, but still looked great wanting to get into a size zero and they never could get their.

The first part of fitness is accepting the fact we are not all Jennifer Anniston or Brad Pitt and few of us can ever have bodies like them.  By accepting that fact it will help you to be happier with your fitness plan.

And being happy with your fitness plan is what will make all the difference.  That was the other thing that stands out to me after 20 years of athletics, consistency is what matters the most.

I would see people go on diets where they would starve themselves to lose weight.  But then they would binge eat.  Which ironically have a double effect of weight gain on the body.  By not eating enough calories your body thinks it is starving and slows down your metabolism to save energy.  Once it slows down the amount of calories you burn to save energy, binge eating actually doubles the weight gain since it takes time for your body to balance out.

Anything with fitness requires consistency.  If you ran one day a week for 10 miles, it will not have the same benefits of running two miles ten times a week.

A lot of people get so hyped up about a new diet or workout plan they over do it.  Its great to be excited about getting in shape.  But you have to pick a plan you know you will stick to.  Going to the gym everyday for a month will not help you once you get burned out.  But starting a routine of going 30 minutes a day after work and sticking to it will help you for a lifetime.

The trick is not getting where you want to be fitness wise, its staying where you want to be.  The only way to stay there is by being consistent.