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Fitness-to-Go! is up and running

Anytime you must miss a workout due to illness, scheduling conflicts or vacation, let me know and I will create a workout for you to do in-between our appointments. The workouts will be based on the equipment I know you have available to you, or possibly only body weight work if I know you are travelling, and I will only include exercises you can do well on your own. The workouts will generally be about 30-40 minutes long depending if you want a strength plus conditioning component or one or the other. I will also include 10-20 minutes worth of warm up and post workout stretching. The caveat is that I expect a report of what you did including the weights you used (for a strength component) and the time it took you to complete the workout (for a conditioning component) in the workout. Having a stopwatch, I-phone timer or Gym Boss would be helpful, but not required.

Workouts will be $15; I’ll bill you for them the next time you write me a check for your regular training sessions. You can use the workout I send you as often as you want, of course, but using it too frequently will make it less effective.

Your first Fitness-to-Go workout is FREE! Let me know when you need one! (24 hours notice, please.)

I look forward to hearing from you. This will be fun!

Outsmart your appetite

Many people want to raid the refrigerator after a workout. Science now suggests that these cravings are linked closely with the type of exercise performed. It all has to do with the hunger hormone ghrelin which lines the stomach walls and signals the brain to eat. According to a study from the Else-Kroner-Fresenius Center of Nutritional Medicine at the Technical University of Munich, people who cycled at 50 watts (light effort) for 30, 60, and 120 minutes, experienced a serious spike in ghrelin release that triggered the desire to eat. However, ghrelin secretion remained unchanged when exercisers kicked up the intensity to 100 watts (moderate effort) during a short, 30-minute workout. The authors state that “low rather than high intensity exercise stimulates ghrelin levels independent of exercise duration.” Other researchers suggest this is due to the temporary blunting of ghrelin release and increased secretion of peptitde KYY-the hormone responsible for appetite suppression. So shorten your workout, increase your intensity, and you’ll eliminate the nagging hunger pangs that can interfere with making sensible nutrition choices.

From Details Magazine, Sept., 2011.

Eight simple and effective tips that can optimize your lean muscle building and fat burning

I am continually asked how to lose fat and tone, i.e. build muscle.  I’ve tried to synthesize a lot of information down to eight tips.  How many of these have you incorporated into your lifestyle?  They WILL make the difference. Let me know if you need me to elaborate and show you what to do.

1.  Keep you workouts short, preferably less than 30 minutes. Intensity matters more than duration. Short bursts of high intensity training burns more fat & calories, improves cardio endurance, builds muscle and improves your hormone profile.

2.  Stick to doing compound movements like squats, lunges, push ups and pull ups. Add outside resistance when you’re ready.  Remember the more muscles you can stimulate at one time the more calories you’ll burn and better the results!

Muscle Building3.  That being said, if you’re still tired and dragging yourself hours after the workout, you probably overdid it.  Three to four intense workouts per week is probably enough.

4.  Eat to stoke your body’s fat burning furnace: Cut out all refined/processed foods…that includes all the so-called “healthy” bars and snacks! Eat real food and less of it.  Stick to whole foods that your body was meant to eat.

5.  Consume enough protein, about 0.7 – 1 gram of protein for each pound of lean body weight is a good estimate.  Protein helps keep you satisfied longer.

6. Keep your eye on how many carbohydrates you’re eating.  A sweet spot for many people trying to lose weight and get lean is about 100 grams of carbs a day. Watch your grain intake.  All grains, even whole grains, are high in sugar…your body stores extra sugar intake as fat. Watch fruit intake as well!  Yes…fruits are good for you, but most of them are also quite high in sugar.

7.  Don’t stay away from fats…especially good fats found in olive oil, avocados, nuts and seeds and coconut.  Eating ample amounts of good fat will help you stay healthy and actually accelerate your body’s own fat burning process!  Plus, you’ll feel satiated longer.

8.  Get enough sleep!  When you disrupt the natural rhythms of sleep, you play havoc with many important biological processes such as the replenishment of biochemicals and the release of important hormones like melatonin and human growth hormone. Even a small amount of light during sleep throws off your natural circadian rhythms, disrupting appetite and potentially leading to weight gain.  Sleep 6 – 9 hours a night, uninterrupted, in the dark.

Like barefoot, only better?

Have you been wondering about running or gym workouts (specifically weight lifting)  in flatter shoes? The cushioned heels in running shoes interfere with the natural forefoot running we were designed to do, and those same cushioned heels throw us incorrectly into our forefoot when we are weight lifting.  Five finger style shoes (or at least low profile shoes) can be beneficial in both instances, but the transition to them should be slow and careful.

Read the analysis and suggested progression here.

Retrospective of my CrossFit Games experience

I think competing in the World CrossFit Games last weekend was right up there with getting married and giving birth. Having never competed in anything in my life, I was completely surprised by my nerves, the adrenaline, my competitive spirit, and the attention bestowed upon me by TJs Gym team members, TJ Gym members, TJ himself, as well as strangers.

Some unforgettable moments during the workouts….

I struggled with the 65# thrusters in workout #3, and I wanted to kick the judge when I received two no reps because I didn’t hold the bar up overhead until she flagged me to lower it.   There is so much to learn about strategy…how to be sure you don’t lose reps, how to pace yourself so you don’t get gassed in the first few minutes, planning how to load your bar efficiently…I didn’t get it all right and that cost me points.

I’ll never forget, as I was struggling through my 40-  75# power cleans in workout #4, hearing my competitor’s coach yelling at her to  “get under the bar…look at how Deirdra is doing it…get under the bar!” And I was thinking, “please, don’t get under the bar.  Struggle to lift everyone of those damn cleans!”

I’ll also always remember how in the last five of the 60 Sumo deadlift high pulls, when my grip was so weak that I couldn’t hold the bar, that the screams of TJ’ers in the stands right in front of me literally gave me the strength to hold on for those last few and finish second.

When the emcee put his arm around me and stuck a microphone in my face to ask me about my bloody shins seconds after I completed that workout, not only did I not clearly hear his question, but I was so deranged at that moment that all I could think of saying was “I don’t know”.  I was sorry I couldn’t have been more articulate.

With tears in my eyes and crowds cheering for me, 53# kettlebells never felt so light when I realized I was the first competitor to walk across the stadium with them in workout #5 to a first place finish!

The support and admiration from the community has been beyond belief.  I’ve been on cloud nine since last Friday and don’t know when I’ll come down.  All the congratulations and high fives were so much fun. .

One more thought….one thing I didn’t like so much was wearing my athlete number all weekend on my shirt…all the masters’ numbers started with their decade number, so right away people knew I wasn’t thirty.  Damn! But I have to say, I don’t feel any differently than I have every felt…and every time you all talk about what it’s gong to be like to get older…you incredibly fit people will be just the same as you are now.

P.S. See pictures from event in my Aug. 3 post