Doctor, Doctor, give me the news!

There is a great deal of advice, routines, diet strategies and information regarding the field in which I practice--strength training and fitness--that is just utter garbage!

Often times it’s the doctors who are perpetuating this ignorant misinformation. The medical community is famous for equating exercise with cardiovascular exercise that is measured by the time spent engaging in them.   A degree in medicine lacks teaching of the basic physiology of strength training, exercise prescription, or any training in the field of exercise and nutrition.  Sure, doctors need to understand human physiology and the effects of lifestyle on the pathological processes, to a minimal degree. This is a very important point, which is why I will repeat it: they do understand it, but to a minimal degree. 

Now, I value the knowledge of physicians when it comes to the field of sickness, not wellness.  Doctor's go through intense schooling on disease and illness, and the methods it take to treat them.  However, just as I am not in the business of disease, I am just putting out the misinformation that is out there confusing the public.  The training of doctors, physical therapists and athletic trainers requires no formal education in the use of effective strength training techniques used by serious athletes who rely on superior performance.   The medical field can diagnose your symptoms and prescribe the proper medication to cure you, but are ignorant in the field of wellness.  That is the process of preventing the problems in the first place or guiding you to a more holistic approach through diet and exercise as opposed to medications.  Lack of perspective on this issue is the medical professions’ largest obstacle-- they don’t even know the problem exists!  When seemingly sound advice or information comes from a position of authority, all too often we fail to think for ourselves and blindly follow whatever they tell us.

Physicians are more than willing to prescribe you a pill for fat loss, high blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes, insomnia, and the list goes on and on.  A pill for every ill!  Except for family history and genetics, most of these problems are lifestyle related, and can be improved or cured with diet and exercise.  Doctors give you advice because of the very same reasons anyone gives advice about nutrition or fitness. With a few exceptions, your doctor wants to help you, and will say what he or she truly believes will do so. So does your mom, your neighbor and your personal trainer. That does not mean they know what they are talking about, and YOU are the misinformed one who thinks that’s what they are supposed to know. If you’re not smart enough to know who to listen to, then you’re just as “dumb” as they are.

Strength Training is one of the most important activities, when done correct, that a person can engage in.  All too often I see the elderly man or woman that can barely lift themselves from the seated position or climb a flight of stairs.  I can't imagine the anxiety of living a life of fear never knowing if a false step or uneven ground could cause you to fall and injure yourself.   Benjamin Franklin once said that,  "Some people die at 25, but aren't buried till 75".

Strength Training is nothing new, it's been around for decades.  Jack LaLanne promoted diet and exercise in the early 1950's.  His knowledge and advice was far ahead of its time, with his teaching falling on many deaf ears.  He promoted fruit and vegetable juicing before juicing was mainstream.  LaLanne practiced what he preached and lived into his late 90's, still preaching the value of a healthy lifestyle as the key to a long life.  His advice withstood the test of time unlike many of his peers of that time, like runner Jim Fixx, who wrote The Complete Book of Running in 1977. Fixx promoting running as a form of preventing heart disease.  The book became a New York Times best seller and quickly became the Bible of running.  However, Jim Fixx died on the side of the road where he was running, with the cause of death being heart attack.  He was 52 years old.

There is a lot of misinformation in the media today.  The exercise and nutrition advice available is so overwhelming, it leads to a paralysis of analysis.  In other words, the advice is so contradicting it leads many to hover in a state of limbo, not knowing what direction to go in or what advice to listen to.  In the perfect world, doctors would stop giving advice about areas outside of their expertise (so would the general population). In the meantime, the general masses need to get their facts right about what a physician’s job is and most importantly, what it’s NOT.

Just think for yourself!  Don't let other people do your thinking for you.  Research the information, and use common sense to weed through the BS.  The right amount of diet, cardiovascular exercise and strength training is the key.  Don't follow fads.  Follow what has worked for decades.

The dangers of CrossFit

I know I'm not going to make any new fans with the CrossFit community, but I am really having a hard time understanding this concept.  For those unaware, this is one of the latest fads to emerge in the fitness world, every few years, there is always something “new and improved” to entice the uneducated public and media.  There have been numerous fitness fads through the years.  In the 70's and 80's its was Jazzercise, Jogging, and the ThighMaster, in the 90's it was Super Slow Training and Tae-Bo and, and now it's P90x, the Shake Weight, Vibration Training, and of course, CrossFit.

The Urban Dictionary defines CrossFit, as " A new and expensive way of re-branding boot camp and circuit training, a cult/organization of failed athletes who are coached by trainers that have purchased online certifications claiming to be world class Olympic lifters, facilities offering 'functional' training by incorporating epileptic pull up techniques, high intensity Olympic lifts and other circus acts posing as strength development methodologies, method of training does not make you puke while performing it will make you puke by observing".

Now having said that, that is not to say CrossFit is all bad. Probably the most important part of the CrossFit program is motivation that comes from the teamwork of working in groups. The underlying principle of high-intensity, cross training is also reasonably sound, though hardly new or innovative.

However, there is also a high risk of traumatic injury from many of the exercises, some of which are completely useless. Due to the frequent high intensity of the workouts, there is a potential for chronic fatigue, rhabdomyolysis, shoulder impingements, and neck and low-back problems for people without a good athletic base. And no generic program will ever produce the results of a well-structured training program tailored to the needs and goals of the individual.

CrossFit is ok if endurance training or conditioning is your main goal. My issue is when people say CrossFit it is great for strength and muscle growth . If you are looking for strength and size, you are looking in the wrong place.  CrossFit ignores the basic concepts of strength training, which is periodization and proper muscle recovery.  Using high repetition Olympic lifts are a great way to get injured, possibly sidelined, and can teach bad form and technique.  The emphasis is on speed and weight hoisted, not technique.  In other words, CrossFit will make you better at doing CrossFit.  Fitness programs need to be geared with the athlete or individual in mind.

Let me explain my major concerns with CrossFit.   CrossFit is highly injury prone, with exercise related injuries seen in the emergency room increasing 65% since CrossFit's inception.  CrossFit focuses on momentum, not strength.  Swinging and Flipping barbells take the focus off the targeted muscle, and holding weights in the lock out position puts incredible stress on the joints.  Lifting weights really fast may provide a sense of accomplishment to many but it's not building muscle.  CrossFit has a growing number of followers, reaching a cult-like status with the mindset of beating your muscles and body into submission.  This is dead wrong!  You should focus on working with your body and not against it.  Exercising to the point of exhaustion, performing extreme movements or even vomiting is not a good exercise program.  Exercise is equivalent to an elevator button.  Once you push the button, you wait, pushing it over and over again is not going to help.  Lastly, my biggest problem with CrossFit, not unlike P90X, is the commercialization of extreme fitness.  We are all looking for the right program that will turn our lumpy weak bodies into Olympic athletes.  However, all these extreme programs have a high failure rate, with the ones that do succeed contributing it to the program rather than superior genetics, age, or diet.

To sum it up, I'm not trying to be the best at exercising.  I, like many people, want to feel good in my skin, be fit, and do what I need to do to live a long and healthy life.  There is no doubt about it, any form of exercise is better than nothing.  And whatever keeps you showing up to workout is better than sitting your butt on the couch.  You just need to be realistic with your goals, and find a training regimen that works with your lifestyle and fitness level.  The body that you beat to hell in your 20's is the same body that's crawling out of bed in your 70's, so take care of it.

Just a little extra effort....

Is your Workout not Working?

Did you know the average health club exerciser quits after just six months for one of the following reasons:

1.Not Enough Time

2.Not Seeing Results

Everybody begins an exercise program with the intention of sticking to it faithfully. However, not seeing the desired results, clashes with work or school schedules, boredom with your workout plan,  or any number of other distractions can quickly make us forget our goal of fitness. What can you do to stay on track?  Sadly, most people become frustrated and quit exercising before they see any real results. But it's not surprising given the common mistakes many people make with their training programs. Are you making these workout mistakes?

Common Reasons Your Workouts Don't Work

•All Quantity, No Quality

Most people in the gym don't plan to fail, they fail to plan!  Take a look around the gym (if you haven't quit going yet) and see how many people are really getting a quality workout. I'm always amazed by how many people are wandering aimlessly, walking leisurely on a treadmill while reading a book, lifting weights so light that not one hair moves out of place, or simply look bored.  A lot of exercisers head to the gym out of habit, and as if on automatic pilot, put in some time and head back to work or home. If you are one of these people, ask yourself, "What do I want to get out of this?" If you want serious results, you need to do serious exercise. That doesn't mean you can't enjoy it and have fun. But it does means you need to focus on what you are doing and increase the quality of every movement. Once you start exercising with a real purpose and pushing both your aerobic capacity and your strength you will find your workouts take half the time and give better results.

•Overestimating Your Exercise

Most exercisers are far too generous with estimates of exercise intensity and time, the amount of weight lifted and the frequency of their workouts. To avoid overestimating it's helpful to keep an exercise log and track these items. Additionally, many people mistakenly believe that if they exercise at a moderate pace for 30 minutes they have burned lots and lots of calories and fat. Unfortunately, it's not that simple. While exercise does burn calories over time and consistent exercise is one of the best ways to lose weight and keep it off, it's hard to lose body fat through exercise alone. Which brings us to the next mistake. . .

•Underestimating Your Eating

Many people are in denial about the foods they eat and especially the quantity consumed. Being overweight is the fine you're going to pay for exceeding the feed limit.  If you really want to lose weight you need to be honest with yourself about what you put into your mouth and how that helps or hinders your weight loss goals. To get real with yourself, write it down. Tracking what you eat in a food diary will help you break the cycle of food denial. (The iPhone and Android based phones have some great free apps like Calorie Counter and Diet Tracker by MyFitnessPal  and online versions like calorieking.com)

•Doing the Wrong Type of Workout

Where did you learn your current exercise routine? Watching others at the gym (who are exercising incorrectly)? From your friends, coworkers, the web, TV, newspaper, the latest research findings, or perhaps your 9th grade gym teacher? What you are doing for exercise directly determines the results you will get. To learn what you should do, there is no better place to start then by writing down your goals and then working with a professional trainer to design the right workout to meet those goals. Haphazard exercise will provide haphazard results.

•Never Changing Your Workout

When you do the same thing day after day, you get very good at it. Even if you're on the right track, you're going to get run over if you just sit there.  In exercise this is called the principle of adaptation. It basically means that we become very efficient by doing the same exercise over and over. This is great for sports performance, but not that great for weight loss, strength increases or physical fitness progression. If you always do the same workout for the same amount of time you will eventually hit a plateau where you fail to see any additional change. One way of overcoming this plateau is to modify your workouts every few weeks or months. You can change the type of exercise you do, the length, the amount of weight lifted or the number or reps. This is why professional athletes change their program during the off-season.

•Using Incorrect Form or Technique

Learning the right way to exercise is essential to getting results. Form does matter, especially when doing any strength training exercise. Incorrect form or technique also sets you up for potential injuries, pain and soreness. To learn proper technique, there is no better place to start than with a personal trainer or coach.

•Setting Unrealistic Goals

So, what are your goals? Are they realistic for you? If your goal is to be the next Lance Armstrong, and you only have 30 minutes a day to train, or wanting to lose 25 pounds in a month, well, how realistic is that? Again, it comes back to being honest with yourself about your abilities, your level of commitment and your lifestyle. We need to set appropriate goals that start from where we are and progress at a reasonable rate or we are sure to get frustrated and quit.  Remember, there is no elevator to success, you have to take the stairs.

•Measuring the Wrong Results

It has been said that, "If you don't know where you are going, than any road will take you there".  Many people think their workout isn't working because they don't measure the right things. Looking for proof in a scale is often a set-up for disappointment because some new exercisers build muscle and lose fat, but the scale doesn't provide information about body composition. Better ways to measure your fitness progress include tracking your heart rate at a given pace, measuring the distance you can cover in a certain amount of time, tracking the amount of weight you can lift, or even writing down how you feel -- physically -- at the end of each day. Many of the benefits from exercise are subtle and not visible by looking into the mirror, but things such as cholesterol level, blood pressure, and the ease with which you can do daily chores are every bit as motivating -- if you monitor them.

Debunking the Myths!

It's that time again. Time to dispel some of the prevailing fitness and nutrition myths -- oh and believe me, there are many.  Whether it’s coming from the media, athletes, celebrities, or friends, there are countless exercise myths that are widely accepted as fact.

So pull up a chair, put aside your "lose 50 pounds by eating only grapefruit" article and open your mind for just a little while. You may disagree with these facts, but that's what keeps the myths alive.

And, away we go…

MYTH: Women will get big if they weight train.

A woman has approximately one-third the testosterone compared to a man, so putting on a ton of muscle is not going to happen. The women you see in the magazines who look big and manly are on steroids, growth hormones, etc. You may look bulky if you're carrying excessive body fat and building muscle. However, if you're reducing body fat, you'll eventually be able to see those lean, defined muscles.

MYTH:  Low Reps Bulk and High Reps Tone.

Another very common fitness myth is the idea that using high reps with light weights is best for building and toning long lean muscles while using low reps and/or heavy weights builds bulky muscles.

All weight training provides relatively the same stimulus to your body whether you are looking to tone your muscles or build huge bulky muscles.

Whether your muscles become toned or bulky depends primarily on the caloric balance of your diet.

Anyone can use both high reps/low weight, and low reps/heavy weight to accomplish muscle toning or muscle bulking in a training program, diet causes the body to respond to the stimulus accordingly.

I see a lot of people in the gym five to six days a week, and they'd be better off playing ping pong. Consistency and level of effort is the key. I'd rather see someone work out three days per week with enthusiasm and intensity, than five inconsistent days of lackadaisical effort. In fact, for those clients that have trouble with motivation, I recommend only two days of workouts per week, but they must do it every week.

MYTH: Spot reducing is possible.

The human body loses fat over the entire body at various rates of speed. It's impossible to spot reduce. If you're focusing on only losing fat that sits on your hips, it won't work. Generally, the first place you gain fat is the last place you lose it.

MYTH: Stretching prevents injuries.

After analyzing the results of six studies, researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention could not find any correlation between stretching and injury prevention. According to Dr. Julie Gilchrist, one of the researchers involved with the study, "Stretching increases flexibility, but most injuries occur within the normal range of motion." Dr. Gilchrist goes on to say, Stretching and warming up have just gone together for decades. It's simply what's done, and it hasn't been approached through rigorous science."

Make no mistake: A stretching program is not without benefits. Seven of nine studies suggest that a regular stretching program does help to strengthen muscles. However, it does not appear to actually prevent injuries. Warming up prior to exercise and increasing blood flow to the muscles is actually more conducive to injury prevention. I'm not suggesting that you eliminate stretching. It is valuable and flexibility is certainly important as we age. However, we may be off base assuming it's an injury-prevention technique.

MYTH: One should lose weight before they begin an exercise program.

There is no physiological reason to lose weight prior to beginning an exercise program. Exercise is the best thing for your health, and there is no time like the present to start. There are too many benefits of exercise to list here, but you're doing every system and cell in your body a world of good by exercising. Any amount -- starting with five minutes a day -- is beneficial.

Fat loss and muscle gain are only two of the many benefits that your body will experience from exercising. Each day will get a little easier as you become more fit. There is no justification for waiting to begin--unless you have orders from your doctor.

Whether you exercise with 20 percent body fat or 30 percent body fat, you'll still be providing your body with the same benefits. When you carry less weight, you can move a little more easily, and it may be less strenuous on your heart. You can be more fit at 30 percent body fat if you are exercising than if you try to achieve 20 percent body fat without exercising.

The goal is to gain or preserve muscle and lose fat -- not just lose weight (which implies both muscle and fat).

MYTH: Eating a lot less or going on a crash diet will get the results you seek.

This was a dietary strategy popularized prior to the 1980s. People would go on crash diets like the grapefruit diet and lose weight -- meaning muscle and fat. They assumed just eating less would take care of everything.

Today, we know total calories are important, but so are the amounts of protein, carbohydrates and fats in the diet.

A slight caloric deficit (less than maintenance) must be adhered to, as well as eating small meals and snacks every two to three hours. This helps to control blood sugar; and it is a fact that blood-sugar control will help you to lose fat.

MYTH: Performing countless abdominal crunches thinking it will get rid of the "pooch" area on the lower tummy/abdominal area.

I get a question related to this issue approximately 20 times per week. It is not possible to spot reduce any area of the body. The real solution is to reduce overall body fat through a slight caloric deficit, add resistance exercise (weight training) to stimulate the metabolism, and cardiovascular exercise to burn additional calories. That's the way to fat loss.

Performing crunches will never reduce the abdominal area because it only serves to strengthen muscle, not flatten a specific area. Just as 200 bicep curls will not make the arm smaller, nor will 200 abdominal crunches make the waist smaller. You cannot spot reduce any part of the body. It's just not physiologically possible.

MYTH: Performing a lot of cardio is the best way to lose fat.

Some people go up to 90 minutes or longer on a cardio machine. The problem with this strategy is it's completely ineffective. It's a poor method to lose body fat and a real time waster. You can work out for long sessions with moderate intensity or use shorter sessions with higher intensity (based on your fitness level). You can't do both!

The shorter, more-intense session will burn more overall calories and preserve muscle, which will make you look tight and lean when you get to your scale weight goal. In addition, the shorter, intense sessions will have a more profound effect on the calories you continue to burn 24 hours after completing the session.

Want to lose fat efficiently through cardio? Pick up your pace a bit and try to get a more intense and efficient 30 to 45 minutes. You don't need to be huffing and puffing for dear life, just increase the intensity a bit and keep it sustained at a higher level within your target heart-rate range.

MYTH: Calories are the only thing that counts when trying to lose fat or gain muscle.

Ratios of proteins, carbohydrates and fats are also important. The key to losing fat and gaining muscle is controlling and manipulating insulin levels. In simple terms, when we consume excessive calories or excessive amounts of high glycemic carbohydrates at one meal, the body's blood sugar rises. When this happens, the pancreas secretes insulin to lower blood sugar levels.

One of the many drawbacks of this happening excessively is, along with putting you at risk for diabetes, the body also holds onto stored fat! A balance of proteins, carbohydrates and fats works most efficiently in losing fat and gaining muscle.  Don't forget, the ultimate key to a lean and tight body is the combination of proper nutrition, exercise and consistency.  As always, check with your doctor before starting any exercise program.

Alcohol and Exercise

You may have wondered how detrimental your drinking habits really are on your muscle-building progress. Is it really that harmful to go out with the guys or gals and have a few beers after work on a Friday?  If you’re trying to get lean, does this mean you should forgo all alcohol for the next month or two?  Or, if you are really diligent with the rest of your diet, can you indulge on the weekend with a few cold ones?

Many people would rather have a few drinks on the weekend than cheat with food that’s not a part of their diet plan. While some struggle to cut out foods, for others, cutting out drinking is the real challenge.  Not only does long-term alcohol use diminish protein synthesis resulting in a decrease in muscle build-up, but even short-term alcohol use can impede muscle growth.

In order to build bigger and stronger muscles, your body needs sleep to repair itself after workouts.  Because of alcohol’s effect on sleep, however, your body is robbed of a precious chemical called “human growth hormone” or HGH.  HGH is part of the normal muscle-building and repair process and the body’s way of telling itself your muscle needs to get stronger.  Alcohol, however, can decrease the secretion of HGH by as much as 70 percent!  Also, when alcohol is in your body, the production of a substance in your liver is triggered that is directly toxic to testosterone, a hormone essential to the development and recovery of your muscles.

Speeding the recovery of sore muscles and injuries is integral to optimal performance.  Alcohol is a toxin—a toxin that travels through your bloodstream to every organ and tissue in your body, thus slowing your body’s ability to heal itself.  Additionally, once alcohol is absorbed through your stomach and small intestine and finally into your cells, it can disrupt the water balance in muscle cells, thus

altering their ability to produce adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which is your muscles’ source of energy.  ATP provides the fuel necessary for your muscles to contract.

So, next time you’re contemplating whether or not you should have that drink, keep these factors in mind.  Definitely, alcohol and muscle building are not a good pair, as stated by all these points, but if you aren't training for any major athletic event or getting ready to step on stage for a bodybuilding competition, chances are that you can afford yourself one or two drinks once in a while without having to worry too much.

Just keep moderation in mind and try your best to consume extra water with the alcohol, eat more vegetables during the rest of the day (to increase nutrient content in your diet while decreasing calories) and allow for a little extra sleep time if you can after you've had a few drinks.

Are you skinny fat?

Whether someone is socially deemed "skinny" or deemed "Fat" is completely relative. You may have an individual who has high expectations of their body type and classifies themselves as fat, while others may not. People may think someone is too skinny, where as that person may indeed fall into the desired weight range for a healthy individual of their height and age. Either way, our views on the matter are sometimes skewed and biased and sometimes our fears of falling into either category are unwarranted...

But the term "Skinny-Fat" is one that is fairly new and has started appearing on health segments on morning TV shows, creeping into diet and nutrition jargon, and even having multiple definitions under urban dictionary. But with any newly coined term comes some confusion with exactly what it means. There are conflicting meanings, depending on whether you are talking to bodybuilders or diet and nutrition experts, so I have pulled together a few of my favorites;

·         Skinny Fat is when someone falls under a healthy weight range, however their body composition is flabby rather than toned
·      Someone who appears thin and has a good BMI, but has a high percentage of body fat
·         When someone looks lean in clothes, but if flabby underneath
·         When a person is thin, but does not eat healthy and eats junk food
·         Someone who is thin, but has localized fatty areas, like a muffin top or love handles (hips) or butt and thighs.

So you can see that it is far from a medically diagnosed term, but you get the drift, and I'm sure after reading some of the definitions above, you may know of someone, maybe even yourself (as you lift your shirt and stare at yourself in the mirror) that falls into this category.

Do you know what it means to be skinny fat? Just because you are not obviously visually overweight, that does not mean that you are healthy by any means. There are many people that appear to be thin and healthy, but the truth is, unless they are eating a healthy diet and regularly exercising, there is nothing healthy about them. Some people have faster metabolisms and can eat fast food and processed junk without seeing it appear on their thighs or midsection, but does this mean they are in good shape or healthy? The truth is, you can be "skinny fat", which means that despite appearing to be healthy and in shape, you are actually in poor health and not in shape at all.

Products and advertisements that promise a loss of weight without exercise or dieting are really only telling you part of the story. Those diet pills and chemical products that do work, though most do not, really only eat away the fat without making you healthy or really doing anything natural at all. There is a big difference between fitness and weight that most people do not comprehend. To the people who design these advertisements, losing the weight is all that matters, no matter how you reach that ideal weight. The truth is, fitness and health are what really matter, and if you are not trying to obtain fitness and health, then you are doing something wrong. The truth is this: Weight does not equal fitness.

Losing weight without obtaining health and fitness is not doing it right. Just because you are thin, that simply does not mean that you are fit. The world is full of people who are "skinny fat". What really matters when it comes to getting healthy and losing weight is being fit, in shape, and taking good care of your body in the process. It is actually entirely possible for a thin person to have a high percentage of body fat, higher in some cases than people who are visually overweight.

Simply losing weight does not mean you have a healthy heart. Getting fit and eating healthfully on the other hand can guarantee an improvement in heart health. Losing weight alone does not lower your cholesterol, but regular exercise and healthy eating will. Simply losing weight is not going to lower your risk of contracting certain types of cancers, but regularly exercising and eating healthfully certainly can. Losing weight cannot prevent osteoporosis, boost your immune system, lead to healthier pregnancies and childbirth, help you keep your weight off for life, improve your physical performance or prevent the loss of muscle, but by exercising regularly and eating healthfully, you absolutely can.

So what does this mean? Losing weight is not the important part of getting healthy - The important things to consider are eating healthfully, exercising regularly and taking care of your health. Skinny Fat or Fat-Fat your number one goal should be to get fit!