We Love to Watch You Walk Away

No that wasn't a creepy title to today's blog.  One of our trainers, Caitlin Massey, just wants you to have the best training for your glutes!!

Everyone wants to have a nice looking backside, but we also need to have a well-functioning one to prevent knee and lower back injuries. Fortunately, with the right type of training, you can do both. 

Typical glute training consists of concentric motions in a linear pattern (meaning straight forwards and back), but this method is an incomplete method of training for how the muscle acts on the hip joint as it adapts to a variety of forces.  One key component of advanced glute training is multi-directional movement. There is an abundance of muscle tissue that run multi-directionally around your pelvis and hips to help stabilize the joint. By using multi-directional exercises, such as a staggered stance squat with a lateral reach or lateral squat on the BOSU, you can activate more muscle fibers and connective tissues, thus creating more shape and functional capacity.   

Another key to glute training is using eccentric training (lengthening the muscle). This type of training maximizes the energy potential of the muscle as it attempts to decelerate a load and stabilize the hip. An example of this would be a single-leg deadlift or single-leg squat using the TRX or other suspension apparatus. 

The last key to glute training is exercise and weight progression. Your body adapts to sustain greater stress, so the only way to get better shape in the glutes is to continually challenge the muscle tissue. You do this by enhancing the load you place on the muscle (using heavier weight). 

So, are you ready to "look good walking away"?  Try some of these exercises mentioned and start your glute training correctly.  Still need help?  Be sure to enlist the help of one our personal trainers to ensure you are performing the exercise correctly and safely.  

The 3D Booty: Training the Glutes for Form and Function. IDEA Fitness Journal. January 2014 pp 24-32

All About Fat Loss

There are so many questions about fat. What is it?  Why is it stored in different areas?  What is the most effective way to lose it?  Although most people spend a great deal of time and money trying to lose fat, it is vital to the proper function on your cells. Fat has a key role in the flexibility and structure of cell membranes, affects immune function, and is an energy reserve. Did you know that it has been estimated that a lean adult male stores 131,000 calories in fat? That is enough energy reserve to keep him alive for roughly 65 days. The majority of your fat stores are in the form of triacylglycerols in storage cells called adipocytes. Whether your body stores fat or releases it into the bloodstream is based on caloric supply and demand. When energy supply is high, insulin keeps fat inside adipocytes. During exercise or periods of fasting insulin is lowered releasing fat into the bloodstream where it is carried by proteins to cells where it can be broken down into ATP (energy for your muscles) or stored.

Now that we know what fat is and how it is stored, let’s look at what is the best way to burn already stored fat cells. As previously stated, fat storage and use is determined by an energy surplus or deficit. Meaning to lose fat, we need to create an energy deficit. Furthermore, insulin plays a major role in fat storage and release. The lower your insulin levels are (either by exercising or altering food intake) the more fat will be released and used as an energy source to meet energy demands placed on the body. This is why a lower carbohydrate diet is generally effective in weight loss (lower carbohydrates mean lower insulin levels).   

Exercise intensity also plays a role in fat loss. Research finds that we burn the most fat when exercising at low to moderate intensities. When exercising at high intensities the majority of your energy comes from the breakdown of carbohydrates instead of fat.  Now does this mean that exercising at a high intensity isn’t good for fat loss? Let’s not jump to conclusions. We also have to consider exercise recovery. After we finish exercising our bodies need to use more energy to help cells recover and replace lost glycogen. In short, our metabolisms are running at a much higher rate. And this happens at the most accelerated rate after bouts of high intensity resistance training. 

So, what is the most comprehensive attack against fat? The answer is an exercise program that alternates between high-intensity training and moderate-intensity training on different days while eating a lower carbohydrate-reduced calorie diet. This maximizes the body’s two ways of burning fat: in a single bout of exercise and in recovery. 

So there you have it..."Fat Loss" in a nutshell.  Still have questions?  Be sure to talk with one of our fitness professionals and/or nutrition specialists for more info.  Good luck!! 

Are You Sabotaging Your Weight Loss?

If you just started an exercise plan or are getting your butt in gear by working out more consistently, you may need to change how you fuel your body to get the most out of it. Common nutrition mistakes such as drinking your calories or eating too much post workout may be the reason why you can't lose weight (or inches) even though you're giving it your all. Although getting fit isn't just about the scale, it's still an important factor, so we'll break down 5 common problems—and how to fix them—to get you back on the path to results. 
 

Problem 1: You have no idea how many calories you're really eating

It's common to think more exercise = more calories. But if you're trying to lose weight, you may be adding on as many calories as you're burning—or more. "Think about the food that you're eating to fuel your workouts and ask yourself how it fits into your total calorie allotment for the day," advises Felicia Stoler, MS, RD, a nutritionist and exercise physiologist. Just because you hit the cardio hard today doesn't automatically mean you can supersize dinner. "Most people have no idea how much they're really eating." To get honest with yourself about your calorie needs, write down everything you eat for a day (yes, even that handful of nuts you're holding right now) or use a site like MyFitnessPal®. You'll probably be surprised by your final number.

Problem 2: You're hydrating with a sports drink

If you're doing a hard, prolonged workout, then hydrating with a sports drink can be a good thing, but for your standard, at-home program, you're usually better off with water. Sports drinks contain about 50 calories per 8 oz., and 14 grams of sugar (about 3.5 teaspoons). Your body will probably burn though that in an hour-long workout, but then you won't be mobilizing fat stores as much. As for the electrolytes, yes, an hour-long program depletes them, but it's nothing a good recovery drink can't fix.

Problem 3: You're addicted to that pre-workout snack

As long as they're getting enough balanced calories in their diet, the average person should have all the glycogen stores they need to get through an hour-long workout, even first thing in the morning. Eating something beforehand might give your performance a little boost, but if you skip it you're better off—teaching your body how to mobilize fat stores for energy (just like in Problem 2). The exception to this is if you "bonk" or run out of glycogen and blood sugar partway through your workout. When this happens, you don't just feel a little pooped; you feel as though you've just run into a brick wall. If this happens, 50–100 calories of simple carbs, 10 minutes before you start, should fix it. Half a banana would be ideal. If you're looking for a boost with minimal calories, Beverly International Up Lift and Fast Up  or a strong cup of coffee are three great ergogenic aids.

Problem 4: You're eliminating all carbs

So many exercisers try to eliminate starchy carbs—including whole grains and starchy vegetables like potatoes and corn—when they're trying to lose weight. But it's water weight you're losing, not fat. Not only that, the strategy can backfire. Depleting carbs from your diet means that you have to tap into your lean protein stores for energy, which ultimately can decrease your lean muscle mass. Muscle is critical for upping your metabolism—and burning more calories even while you sit around—so you may see your weight plateau. The lesson? Don't be afraid to incorporate some whole grains and starchy veggies into your daily diet.

Problem 5: You're not working out hard enough

If you notice you come home from a run only to find that you're noticeably hungrier, consider upping the intensity of that run. A recent study in the International Journal of Obesity looked at sedentary, overweight men who either worked out at a moderate pace for 30 minutes or completed a high-intensity interval workout for the same amount of time.1 Those who did the intense interval exercise ate less at a subsequent meal, as well as the next day. Not every workout should be an intense interval session, but fitting in one or two a week can help turn the dial down on your appetite.

Eliminate these problems and see if your weight loss gets back on track.  If you still need help, consider making an appointment with one of our nutrition specialists here at PROMATx Health Club.  Get your life back on track!!

How Music Can Boost Your Workout

Making music — and not just listening to it — while exercising makes the exercise easier, a remarkable new experiment finds, suggesting that the human love of music may have evolved, in part, to ease physical effort.

Researchers and exercisers have long known, of course, that listening to music alters the experience of exercising. Earlier studies have shown, for instance, that briskly paced music tends to inspire equally briskly paced workouts, and that music also can distract and calm nervous competitors before a race or other high-pressure situation, improving their subsequent performance.  

But to date, no one had thought to investigate whether creating — and not merely hearing — music might have an effect on workouts, let alone whether the impact would be qualitatively different than when exercisers passively listen to music pumped through gym speakers or their ear buds.  

So, for the new study, which was published online in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognition and Brain Sciences in Leipzig, Germany, and other institutions began by inventing an electronic kit that could be integrated into the internal workings of weight-training machines, transforming them into oversize boom boxes. Once installed, the kit would produce a range of propulsive, electronic-style music with a variety of sound levels and rhythms, depending on how the machine’s weight bar or other mechanisms were manipulated during workouts.  

The researchers installed the kits into three different workout machines, one on a stair-stepper, the other two weight machines with bars that could be raised or pulled down to stimulate various muscles.  They then recruited a group of 63 healthy men and women and divided them into groups, each of which was assigned to use one of the musically equipped machines during a strenuous though brief six-minute exercise session.  

As the volunteers strained, their machines chirped and pinged with a thumping 130 beats per minute, the sound level rising or falling with each individual’s effort and twining with the rhythms created by the other two exercisers. “Participants could express themselves on the machines by, for instance, modulating rhythms and creating melodies,” said Thomas Hans Fritz, a researcher at the Max Planck Institute who led the study.  The groups were, in effect, D.J.’ing their workouts, creating sounds that echoed their physical efforts.  

During a separate exercise session, each group used the same machines, but minus the musical add-ons, while elsewhere in the gym, other volunteers sweated at the musically equipped machines, meaning that one group was passively listening to sounds created by another.

Throughout each workout, the researchers monitored the force their volunteers generated while using the machines, as well as whether the weight lifters’ movements tended to stutter or flow and how much oxygen  the volunteers consumed, a reliable measure of physical effort. Afterward, the scientists asked the volunteers to rate the tolerability or unpleasantness of the session, on a scale from 1 to 20.  

Tabulated afterward, the results showed that most of the volunteers had generated significantly greater muscular force while working at the musically equipped machines than the unmodified ones. They also had used less oxygen to generate that force and reported that their exertions had felt less strenuous. Their movements were also more smooth in general, resulting in a steadier flow of music.  Creating their own rhythms and melodies had lowered the physiological cost of exercise and greatly increased its subjective allure compared with when the exercisers passively listened to virtually the same music, Dr. Fritz said.  

A similar dynamic may have motivated early humans to whistle or hum while they hunted or tilled and later to raise their voices in song during barn raisings and other intense physical labor, he said.  

But why orchestrating your own soundtrack should have more physical benefit than merely hearing similar music in the background is not altogether clear.  “We think that the observed effects are most probably due to a greater degree of emotional motor control,” when you actively engage in making music, Dr. Fritz said. Emotional motor control, as opposed to the more workaday “deliberate” type that normally guides our muscular movements, he said, operates almost below consciousness. Your body responds to it with little volition and you move, he said, with reduced effort and increased joy. This is “musical ecstasy,” Dr. Fritz said, and it seems to have permeated, to some degree, the gym where the exercisers composed music while sweating.  

Unfortunately, the musical kits that Dr. Fritz and his colleagues have developed are not available commercially, although they may be in the future. For now, he said, you may need to content yourself with purposely ignoring the supplied soundtrack at your local gym and instead singing to yourself. Perhaps harmonize, no matter how tunelessly, with a workout partner.  Disdain naysayers and music lovers. You will be, in the felicitous phrasing of Dr. Fritz, “jymming; that’s like jamming, but with a ‘y’ from ‘gym.’”

Are You Tough Enough???

Try this workout for a little something different and high intensity! 

Walking Lunges

Push Ups

Inverted Rows

2 Minute Sprint

Alternating Step Ups

Ball Slams

Walk Overs

2 Minute Sprint

Stiff Leg DeadLift

Renegade Row

Jump Squats

2 Minute Sprints

Make sure not to rest in between each exercise of the set.  After each set of the circuit, make sure to have 2 minutes of recovery.  After each circuit, make sure to have 2 minute rest as well.  Be sure to listen to your body...this is an advanced endurance workout, it is hard!

For each circuit, complete 2-4 rounds.  Guaranteed to give you a great workout!!!

As far as the rep range goes, there are different types you can do.  You can set a numeric goal of 15 to 30 reps or you can set a time goal (time under tension) of anywhere between 30 and 60 seconds, depending on time available and fitness level.

Make sure you have water for proper hydration during the workout and also to decrease the time needed for a water break.  You also might want to bring a towel, you will be wet by the time you leave!  Enjoy your workout and good luck!!!

 

The Perils of Not Eating Enough

Hi there, it's PROMATx Health Club trainer, April Crosby.  Here's a little personal story I'd like to share with you.  So it was Tuesday and I came into the gym with my two workout buddies and we started our workout.  Interval stations of an upper body exercise, lower body exercise, and a cardio exercise all for one minute a piece.  Not too bad, huh?  I was a little sore and tired from my workout yesterday but I pushed through the first round.  Then it set in...I was light-headed and my heart rate was very high.  Mind you, this was NOT a H.I.I.T. style workout (high intensity, interval training).  In other words, I never should have been that wiped out.  So what was the problem?  I slept well that night (a little longer than usual) and I had a small meal/snack before my workout.  I was well hydrated and I wasn't fighting any sickness at the moment.  Looking back over the past 24 hours, it finally dawned on me what caused me to feel this way.  On Monday when I left the house in the morning, I packed a protein-filled lunch, added fresh fruit to my bag, as well as a few snacks for in between my group exercise class and lunch.  I got to work and taught a tough strength training class.  After class I went to reach for a snack and BAM!  It hit me...I left my lunch bag sitting on the kitchen counter.  Darn it!

Has that ever happened to you?  I didn't have the opportunity to run out and get something to eat because I had a packed schedule in the gym.  Then I had a couple appointments after leaving the gym so again, no time.  Essentially from 8a-3:30p I had no food.  After burning a lot of calories in class, my food reserves had been drained (as well as my energy level).  I pushed through thinking it would be OK because I could eat after my last appointment.  Well 3:30p came around and, of course, I was way past hungry.  Since I still didn't have any food with me, I swung by a local Mexican restaurant to get some black beans and rice.  Add a few "unmentionables" to that dish and that was my breakfast/snack/lunch.  Probably added up to around 500-600 calories, unfortunately.  I split that meal between my lunch and dinner. 

So that's not the end of the story.  As I stated early, I did my regularly scheduled personal workout with a couple of friends on Tuesday (the next day).  It was probably one of the worst workouts I had in a long time.  Why was that?  Because I probably had about 700-800 calories of food the day prior.  Based on my activity levels and metabolism, I should be eating close to 1900 calories/day.  My body was in a temporary state of starvation and therefore I had no energy reserves to get me through my workout.  I was lethargic, my heart rate was abnormally high, and my muscles were unusually fatigued and sore.  That should have been an indication to me right then and there since I know the signs of overtraining and under eating.

The moral of the story...no matter what type of training regime you are on (i.e., fat/weight loss, muscle building, lean out, etc.), it is VITAL that you consume enough calories to meet your activity levels.  Even one day matters.  Essentially, my workout on Tuesday was a waste of time and a waste of energy (what little there was left).  Even today I am still slightly feeling the effects of under eating on Monday.  Most people think..."I eat less, I lose weight".  In theory that seems correct but there is a fine line.  It is important to talk with nutrition professionals when you are attempting to change your body composition.  They will know how to safely and accurately get you to your goal.

It just goes to show that sometimes "life happens" and things get out of whack.  Use these times as a learning experience and move on.  While forgetting my lunch doesn't happen very often, I know now to take adequate steps (like asking friends co-workers if they have food to share or if they can cover me while I go get some healthy food) to resolve the issue.  Just a little insight in the crazy life of mine!!

Getting the Most of Ground Reaction Forces

Here is the third installment of trainer, Todd Walbert's blog.  Read on to find out what he has to say about "ground reaction forces".

I changed my mind on the topic for today's blog.  I want to talk about "ground reaction forces" or GRF for short.  First, let's define GRF...it is equal in magnitude and opposite in direction to the force that the body exerts on the supporting surface through the foot.  That's a big mouthful but in layman's terms it refers to the reaction of the force the body exerts on the ground.  Now, on with my thoughts.  I see so many people running on the treadmill while at PROMATx.  Most people know walking or running outside is better for you, but why?  It's because you have to work harder when not on a moving track.

Bear with me as I talk a little about the science behind GRF...it might get a little technical but hang in there!  At the University of Kentucky, I participated in a lab that studied GRF.  We ran as natural as possible over a force plate in the ground.  This plate was an aluminum alloy plate, approximately 14-16" rectangle, that was flush with the ground.  When we took a step on the force plate, it measured the "multiplanar force" or "angular pressure" exerted on that rectangular plate.  In this lab, we chose to measure the vertical positive and negative loads acting on the plate.  All of this information was, of course, computer generated but what was taken from this lab was that when you are on the treadmill you are absent of the "propulsion phase" of running/walking.  When moving forward on the ground, you have to "propel" yourself forward to keep moving.  On the treadmill, the belt carries your foot back, then your hip flexor muscles are used to step forward.  In other words, you have to work harder to move yourself when you are running/walking outside versus traveling the same distance on a treadmill. 

How do you account for the lack of the "propulsion phase" when on the treadmill or, in other words, get a better workout?  First, no healthy person should ever be on the treadmill with 0% grade/incline.  Try it, then spread the word.  On the same note, raising the incline to a crazy high number (thereby increasing the propulsion needed to keep up with the moving track) which causes you to hold onto the heart rate handles is another gym "don't".  [Refer to my last blog on "Gym Etiquette".]  While you are holding on and walking up this "Mt. Everest" hill, take a gander down and see what your heart rate does.  Does it go up?  Most likely it drops slightly while you are holding onto the handles.  That should be a clue that holding onto the handles of the treadmill (or for that matter, any cardio equipment) lowers the efficacy of your workout.

So, it's too hot outside to run/walk or the weather is not cooperating or you just would rather be on the treadmill.  How can you take advantage of this propulsion phase?  Use at least 1% grade/incline on the treadmill to give the feeling of a climb.  When you get used to this level then try to go back to 0%, it feels as though you are going downhill.  If you insist on using that crazy high level of incline, you better keep your hands off of those handles or I'm going come by and punish you!!  Give it a try.  You can even test yourself by comparing your run/walk outside versus that on the treadmill at 0% grade/incline.  You'll see that outside is harder, regardless of environmental factors.  

PS...this blog was not intended to bash treadmills.  I can think of hundreds of ways to effectively utilize this revolving belt!  Come and see me for details.  You won't regret it!!