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April 2006
3 Ways to Sculpt Smarter
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
DON’T LET MOMENTUM DO THE WORK. Lift and lower on an equal count, e.g., four counts up and four down.”Resist gravity during the eccentric, or lowering, pase of each move. I pretend I am exercising in water, which keeps the movement in both directions slow and controlled. Besides impeding results, relying on momentum can also lead to pulled muscles and strained ligaments.
IMPROVE YOUR POSTURE Keep your spine aligned and your chest open. If you stand sideways in front of a mirror, your head should be stacked on top of your spine- not jutting forward or cocked back - and your shoulders should be in line with the center of your hips. Poor posture de-emphasizes the area you’re supposed to be targeting and can put dangerous, unnecessary strain on surrounding muscles.
3.RELAX YOUR NECK AND SHOULDERS. Pull your shoulder blades down your back as you lift. Because women tend to have weak upper bodies, we recruit our neck and shoulder muscles when we work that area. This can limit your range of motion and prevent you from sculpting the muscle completely.
THREE SIGNS THAT YOU NEED TO PUMP UP YOUR WEIGHT ROUTINE
- BE THE TENTH REPETITION YOU FEEL LIKE YOU COULD DO AT LEAST 10 MORE. By the eighth rep you should have to give it just about everything you’ve got to do one or two more. If you can get to 10 without much effort, you definitely need to add resistance. Increase the weight in two to five pound increments until you find a level that’s sufficiently challenging.
YOU DON’T NEED TO REST You should be working hard enough that you need about one-minute break between sets.
YOU’VE BEEN DOING THE SAME WORKOUT FOR THE LAST FOUR TO SIX WEEKS..
Experts say that the body adapts to exercise in as little as three weeks. Varying your equipment (swapping machines for free weights) or the exercises themselves - taking a yoga or Pilates class — every few workouts will keep your muscles working hard and jump-start results.
Permalink | | Categories: Toning
The keys to successful ‘FAT’ loss
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Consider this…in order to get in shape and maintain it, you should work out at least three to five days per week, alternating between or combining strength and cardiovascular training for about an hour each session.
In order to lose ‘fat’ — say, one pound per week — you must decrease your daily caloric intake by approximately 500 calories. Reducing the number of calories eaten can do this, but it’s often best to combine diet with expending calories through exercise. (For example; you could eat 250 calories less daily and burn an additional 250 through exercise.) In order to maximize the calories burned during cardiovascular exercise you must raise your bodies core temperature slightly, which in turn works as a catalyst to burning fat. Put in simpler terms, if you’re not sweating you’re not working hard enough. What I’m striving to do here is to place an idea deep into the recess of your mind. That idea is called ‘Fat’ loss awareness and with that awareness, you learn that the true key to successful weight loss is in the amount of ‘Fat’ lost.
With strength training, the goal is to break down muscle tissue so that it can rebuild itself. You should constantly challenge the muscles by increasing the number of repetitions, weight or the order of the exercise. Note** Lifting weight that is too heavy can cause poor form and injury. More is not necessarily better. The key to successful weight training is to feel fatigued by the last repetition — to the point that it seems almost impossible to finish. This does not mean that the whole set feels uncomfortable.
Finally…a question that I’m often asked is “What happens when my progress slows or simply stops”? The best answer that I can give you is that plateaus tend to happen when your body is no longer feeling challenged. Periodically changing your workout often helps to offset this problem. Keep this in mind as you push forward. If you do not make changes…the progress you make in the beginning will eventually come to a halt. The human body is well versed in adapting to the demands placed upon it. Changing the workout routine from time to time keeps the body confused thus helping to avoid the dreaded ‘plateau’.
As with all things…I do recognize that ‘one size does not fit all’. With that said, I invite anyone out there that has information, tips, different experiences and ideas that have worked for them to respond to this blog and share their experiences.
Til next time, Better Heath to all and remember LET THE KID IN YOU PLAY
Permalink | Comments (21) | Categories: Cardio, Toning
Synergy of Fitness
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Before I begin my first official blog for the AJC, I just want to say how happy and proud I am to be working with such a wonderful publication. I look forward to giving as much good information as possible. I thought for my first blog, I would write about synergy of fitness. You see, without it, you can never completely obtain all of your health and fitness goals.
The word synergy comes from the Greek word synergos, which means “to work together.” When you explore anything occurring in life, you will see that some form of synergy takes place. An atom cannot be complete without all of the subatomic parts (i.e. protons, neutrons, and electrons). A tree cannot grow without water, nitrogen, and carbon dioxide. A cake cannot be made without the right amount of eggs, milk, and flour (I know it’s a bad example for a health and fitness article, but I’m trying to make a point here).
When creating a body that is not only going to look fit, but be fit, you have to incorporate certain components. In particular there are three that you must incorporate on a weekly basis. Together, you will achieve optimal health and fitness. One without the other is like driving a car without radiator fluid, it just won’t do as well for you as you want it to.
These three components are Supportive Nutrition, Weight Training (anaerobic resistance training), and Cardiovascular Exercise (aerobic activity)
Supportive Nutrition - Nutrition and proper eating habits can require enough input worthy of writing a book. In fact, many people have written about nutrition, however, they usually profess a diet that is unbalanced. So, what is balance you might ask? To begin, balance is not something you do in one day, one week, or just a few weeks. Balance is what happens over the course of many months and even years.
When it comes to supportive nutrition, you need to eat a Fibrous Carbohydrate (e.g. broccoli), a Starchy Carbohydrate (e.g. baked potato), and a Lean Protein (e.g. grilled chicken) with every meal. You should also be eating every 3-4 hours, which will lead to 4-6 small meals a day. By eating continuously throughout the day, you keep your thermogenic engine stoked. When you deprive yourself of calories (like most diets), you are actually training your body to hold on to body fat.
Weight Training - When you think of weight training, you most often think it is for strength. Strength is important, but as far as the benefit of weight training and health, strength has little to do with it. If you’re confused, let me inform you that the benefit of weight training for most Americans is that it boosts metabolism.
You see, obesity leads to other diseases such as Type II diabetes. By weight training, you burn more calories at rest. When you lift weights, you have more muscle. I’m not talking about turning into the Hulk or Miss Buff Chic. I’m talking about just a little added muscle. Because without weight training, you can nearly lose half of your muscle from age 20 to age 40. This explains why body fat all of sudden starts to pile on so easy.
Muscle is the only physical location that utilizes fat as energy. Nothing else in your body uses fat. So, when you begin to lose muscle, you begin to gain fat. It’s really that simple. Weight training should be performed at least 3 times per week, hitting every major muscle group in your body.
Cardiovascular Exercise - Cardiovascular exercise is usually the most sought out form of exercise to burn off excess body weight. The only problem is, most people will either use that means alone (no weight training) and/or do not increase the intensity with the activity. For example, when you tell me you walk - my question to you is- What is your heart rate? Most people can’t answer that question. Then I may ask, do you break a sweat? Other than when you are walking outside in the summer, the most common response I get is “no.”
If you do not know what your heart rate should be, you can go online and do a search on ‘calculate heart rate.’ You most likely will find an online heart rate calculator. If you are taking medication for high blood pressure, you should seek a fitness professional to give you the right answer.
Eventually, you should perform cardiovascular exercise anywhere from 3-5 times per week. You should incorporate high intensity at times, long duration and moderate intensity. The most important thing to remember about cardiovascular exercise is that it is for cardiovascular health first. The added benefit is that it helps you burn more calories. Get this though, when you build more muscle you need more energy (via fat energy) to supply the muscle the energy you need to exercise. So you see, you don’t need to avoid the weights.
If you have any questions or comments, related to this issue or any other, I am open. I look forward to hearing from you and I’m here to help. I’ll be coming out with some more wonderful stuff. So, don’t forget to permalink me!
Tina Gee
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I have been in fitness for more than 10 years. I owned a fitness club in Canada, was a Fitness Director for the YMCA for three years and currently am a Group Fitness Coordinator for Gold’s Gym. I love to teach, educate and motivate.
I also enjoy working with children to teach them about living healthy.
I know the hard work and challenge it takes to reach your personal goals. I hope through the Good Form team that I can make a difference in your lives — to motivate and encourage you to take time out for a healthier and stress-free lifestyle.
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Ladell Hill
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I have been interested in fitness and nutrition since I can remember. Growing up I spent a lot of time on my grandparents’ farm in Tennessee. When I would say I was hungry, they would give me raw vegetables like sweet potatoes, which are my favorite, and spinach. In fact, my biggest weakness is sweet potato pancakes at Highland Bakery.
I don’t usually crave or eat sweets, but when I do, it’s ice cream — Ben and Jerry’s or ice cream sandwiches.
I’m a certified personal trainer and focus on helping people build a strong nutritional program first and then work on their muscles. My philosophy is you can’t just build a shell; you have to eat things that are good for your heart, kidneys, liver and other organs, too
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Cynthia Phillips
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
During 12 years working in the information technolgy field I snacked. I sat at my desk and ate almost anything that came out of the vending machine. I sampled all the goodies my co-workers brought in, and I grew.
I started a walking program at work, joined a gym and even started saying no to the free food, but I still grew.
My problem was doughnuts — the white powdered cream-filled ones at the 24-hour doughnut shop less than 2 miles from my house.
I spent much of my life like many of you — working long hours and eating fast food meals. I didn’t think I had time to exercise.
I finally made time and liked it so much I became a personal trainer.
Believe me, I still eat doughnuts, but I mostly eat nutritiously and exercise.
It’s time to begin, so LET THE KID IN YOU PLAY.
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Kelly Huggins
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I’m known as the “Fitness Mythbuster” because I try to take the misconception out of weight loss, fitness and health.
As a father of 4-year-old twins who owns his own business I understand how busy you are, so I try to design workouts that make the most of your time.
I earned my degree in Exercise Science from Georgia State University and am certified by the American College of Sports Medicine as a health/fitness instructor. I own a Fitness Together franchise in Sandy Springs and am trained to work with Type I and Type II diabetics, people with Multiple Sclerosis, heart attack and stroke victims.
I work out a lot and try to eat right but can’t resist anything that has peanut butter and chocolate.
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