Personal Training

Metabolism

Metabolism

5 Metabolism Myths-Busted!

Sometimes, your metabolism works against you even when you think you’re doing everything right. It’s time you took a good, hard look at how your metabolism really works.

Check out the metabolism myths below and then use your new knowledge to put your metabolism to work…

Myth 1: Metabolism Works from 9 to 5
Difficult as it may be to believe, your body’s metabolism does not stop working when you do. In fact, your metabolism works all day, every day. If it didn’t, you wouldn’t even have the energy to get out of bed in order to read this article. (You are out of bed, aren’t you?) Also the time of day that you eat isn’t what makes you gain pounds. It’s what you eat. So if you think you can get away with eating that quarter-pounder with cheese, bacon, mayo, and bun; a large order of greasy fries; and a 32-ounce milkshake without any consequences—just because you ate it at lunch and not late at night—think again! Eat smart all day long, have a healthy snack at night if necessary, and then sleep well, knowing your metabolism is doing its thing even while you’re catching some Zzzzs.

Myth 2: It Can’t Be Controlled
You’ve probably met someone who seems to be able to eat anything they want without gaining weight. You may have even dreamed of having such a metabolism. Well, there’s good news. You may not have the metabolism that lets you do that just yet, but you can work toward it. Help boost your metabolism by lifting weights, getting a good night of sleep, eating enough protein to power you through the day, and drinking plenty of water. Want something more than water? Here’s another smidgen of good news: a little caffeine in your daily intake will help you get rid of calories faster than going without. Just make sure your caffeine isn’t bathed in sugar and unnecessary calories.

Myth 3: Skinny Folks Have Higher Metabolism
Yes, a high metabolism can help you burn more calories than a low metabolism. But don’t let that fool you into thinking the skinniest people around have the highest metabolism. Quite the contrary. If the thinnest individuals had the highest metabolism, they would likely be dangerously underweight. As it is, when you are very thin, your metabolism will likely be lower, as there’s not much of you to burn away safely.

However, you shouldn’t grab the ice cream carton in order to put on extra pounds to up your metabolism. Instead, focus on adding muscle pounds via the weight room.

Metabolism

Myth 4: Getting Old Makes Your Metabolism Go Bye-Bye
There is a bit of truth to this myth. As you age, your metabolism will drop a tiny bit. Not enough to make a meaningful difference, but it does drop. Much of this decrease (again—it is almost negligible) is due to the typical muscle loss that accompanies aging.

Want to curb your body’s age-related drop in metabolism? Include resistance training in your exercise routine. As you age, keep up the weight training and you’ll keep your metabolism strong and steady throughout all the stages of life. In the event it does drop a little, you’ll be in such good shape you won’t notice.

Myth 5: You Can Eat Your Way to Higher Metabolism
Occasionally, the world is taken by a weight-loss idea that is so simple you’d be a moron not to give it a try. One of these recent ideas is that you can eat or drink certain things to boost your metabolism and lose weight with greater ease.

While eating peppers on a regular basis and drinking gallons of green tea each week offers some health benefits, it won’t do more than temporarily boost your metabolism. Approximately half an hour after consuming these supposed metabolism mega-boosters, the boost is over and you’re back to your normal metabolism. A normal, well-balanced diet is a much better option.

When it comes to achieving and maintaining your most effective metabolism, a consistent and challenging exercise routine is key. Call or email today and I’ll get you started on an exercise program that will take your metabolism to the next level.

Don’t wait around for another year to pass. We are now a full month into 2015 – are you any closer to achieving your fat loss goals? When you work with me I make it my personal mission to get you the results that you deserve. Lets boost your metabolism!

Let’s do this!

www.placentiapersonaltraining.com


Gaining weight

Gaining weight

7 Sneaky Reasons You’re Gaining Weight

Are you plagued with unwanted pounds, despite your best efforts to eat healthy and get fit? You’re not alone. Millions of others across the globe, just like you, are struggling to shed weight in an uphill battle.

Here are 7 Sneaky Reasons You’re Gaining Weight…some of these might surprise you.

Sneaky Weight Gain #1: Sucking on Cigarettes. You may think it’s common knowledge that smoking helps you stay thin. However, you may be surprised that this is actually a common misperception. Recent research has shown that contrary to the long-believed lie that smoking keeps you thin, it actually leads to weight gain. This happens by interrupting your body’s metabolic function and causing it to be insulin-resistant. Interestingly, the same is true for those exposed to second-hand smoke.

Sneaky Weight Gain #2: Working Nights. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and for some, this measure is working the graveyard shift. While it may provide a boost to your pay (third-shift workers often get paid more than others), it wreaks havoc on your body. From messing up your sleep cycles to putting you in a position that requires less movement to eating more out of boredom, working through the night is full of weight-gaining risks.

Sneaky Weight Gain #3: Having Too Many Choices. If you’ve ever eaten at a buffet, you know what happens. There are so many options you don’t know what to pick. So you get a little bit of everything. Putting yourself in a position to be surrounded by food—even if there are plenty of healthy options—can be very dangerous. Even if you go with healthy options, it’s easy to eat too much of a good thing. When the options overwhelm you, stick to your guns: a small portion of lean meat and appropriate portions of a couple fruits and vegetables.

Sneaky Weight Gain #4: Overestimating Your Routine’s Intensity. Yes, you’re sweating up a storm when you make your way to the locker room for a shower. And your wobbly legs are the result of the squats and running you just combined in a single workout. But don’t use your routine as an excuse to eat everything in your path. To maintain a healthy weight or lose weight, you can’t eat more calories than you burned. Still feeling hungry after eating? You may not need to eat more. You may need to eat smarter.

Sneaky Weight Gain #5: Chilling On Your Backside. Everyone needs downtime. But if you’re not careful, you can wind up spending too much time on your rump. Between workouts, take a look at your daily routine. Do you work an office job? Does family time center around watching television shows together or playing board games? It may be time to make a change. No, don’t quit your job. But walk down the hall to talk to the person you’re about to email. And when family time comes around, use movie night to go on a scavenger hunt around the neighborhood.

Sneaky Weight Gain #6: Beefing Up Your Snacks. To stay healthy, you’ll need to eat something between meals. Otherwise, it’s very easy to overeat and put on extra pounds. However, you’ll need to watch what you eat for a snack. It’s easy to make a snack that is as large as a meal. But remember the purpose of your snack: to eat a little something before your next meal. It is not to fill yourself, but to knock the edge off your hunger. Keep your snacking light by drinking plenty of water.

Gaining weight

Sneaky Weight Gain #7: Chasing Beer with Food. You go out to eat and there are no tables ready. So you grab a beer and hang out, waiting for an opening. Unfortunately, you just made a belly-busting boo-boo. Because research has proven that drinking beer before you eat will result in you eating more than you would have otherwise. On top of eating more calories for dinner, that beer you guzzle is full of calories, which means before you even take the first bite of your food, you’ve already sucked down quite a few calories.

One of your best defenses against unwanted pounds is to participate in a consistent, challenging exercise routine. That’s what I do for my clients to keep them filled with energy and in fantastic shape. And that’s what I’d love to do for you.

Give me a call, or shoot me an email, and let’s get started on getting you into the best shape of your life.

www.placentiapersonaltraining.com




The truth about 10 min workouts


The truth about 10 min workouts


The latest trends in fitness are leaning toward the ‘shorter is better’ philosophy…but do dramatically shortened workouts really get the job done?

No one can deny that the days of spending hours running, biking or doing any other number of slow, cardio-based exercise sessions (Jazzercise anyone?) are long gone. We simply don’t have the time, and have come to realize that these long, drawn out workout sessions don’t give us the best return on our time investment.

But how much of this desire for short, efficient workouts stems from shortened attention spans or just plain laziness? Is there true science behind the claims that 10 minute workouts deliver results?

In fact, there is a slew of new research that points to the true benefits of short, intense bursts of exercise.

This is great news for all of us with hectic schedules, especially during these crazy holiday months. Short, intense workouts are manageable and even enjoyable.

Here are the top 3 reasons that 10-minute workouts are worth your time…

#1. It Burns Fat
Multiple studies have proven the effectiveness of both Tabata and HIIT exercise sessions. These techniques take short bursts of activity and create a heart-pounding workout in 10 minutes or less. The key to making these workouts as effective as possible is to crank up your intensity to the max.

#2. It Makes You Happy
We all know that exercise releases endorphins, which makes us feel oh-so-good in the aftermath of a great workout. But don’t fret if you only have 10 minutes to exercise, studies have shown that an intense 10-minute burst of exercise is enough to get those feel-good juices flowing.

#3. It Protects Your Heart
According to researchers in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, people who get just 7 minutes of intense exercise each day are 45 percent less likely to die from heart disease. It’s also worth noting that people who maintained their exercise routine for six years or longer saw the greatest benefit.

the truth about 10 min workouts

I hope that I’ve convinced you of the value of an intense, 10-minute workout. In this busy holiday season it’s so crucial to our health and physiques that we make time to exercise – even if it’s just 10 minutes.

Call or email me today to get started on a fat loss program that that will make all of your fat loss dreams come true in the New Year. Make 2015 your best year yet!

The truth about 10 min workouts

www.placentiapersonaltraining.com


Lean eating rules

9 New Rules of Lean Eating

Lean eating rules:

You’d like your eating plan to work for you – to get you the results that you want without lots of complicated steps. The good news is that lean eating does not mean complicated eating…it just means eating smart.

Read on for the NEW rules of lean eating that will make fat loss second nature. And don’t worry, lean eating can still be very delicious. In fact, you’ll find many of your new, lean meals to be better in flavor and more satisfying than your old, fattening eats.

1. Eat the RIGHT Type of Carbs
There is a hierarchy for which carbs have a place in a lean diet and which carbs will only fatten you up. The success of your eating plan rests squarely on which of these carbs you regularly include in your diet.

  1. Green Vegetables
  2. Non-Green Vegetables
  3. Fruit
  4. Whole Grains and Starches
  5. Refined Grains
  6. Foods with Added Sugar

The top 3 ranked carbs are where 90% of the carbs in your diet should be coming from…in order to get that lean physique that you want. Immediately cut out the bottom 2 (refined grains and foods with added sugar) and on occasion include a limited amount of Whole Grains and Starches.

2. Track What You Eat
The only way to improve upon your diet is to actually know what you’re currently eating. Keep a food journal, or download a free food tracker app, and input all of the calories that you consume over the course of a week. This will give you a broad look at where your low quality calories are coming from (high sugar, empty calories).

Your first step will be to eliminate these fattening calories and to start replacing empty calories with nutrient-filled whole foods.

Lean eating rules

3. Space Meals Apart
Much has been said over the past decades about the importance of eating small frequent meals throughout the day. This is old, outdated science. New research has proven that there’s more harm than good to eating more frequently than every 4 hours.

Stick with 3 meals each day, and fill in a protein-based snack if your meals are going to be more than 4 hours apart.

4. Never Restrict Calories to the Extreme
There’s a certain allure in the idea of temporarily restricting calories to the extreme. The idea that one can drop a down a size or two in just as many weeks is quite tempting. I hate to be the one to burst your overambitious bubble, but extreme calorie restriction NEVER WORKS. It’s terrible for your body and it is not something that is sustainable (namely because you’d starve to death) so the pendulum inevitably swings in the other direction, resulting in binges.

The key to being lean for life is to eat in a way that you can sustain forever. Eat whole foods. Eat a moderate amount of the RIGHT calories. Every day, ongoing, forever.

5. Eat Veggies First
This may go against all of your instincts, but hear this one out. When you sit down to a meal first eat all of the veggies and salad, before moving on to the main dish. This simple strategy helps to fill you up with lower calorie foods first, before moving on to the higher calorie items.

By making this a habit you’ll naturally and effortlessly consume fewer calories at each meal, which will add up in a big way.

6. Include Protein at Every Meal
Each of your meals should be built around a healthy serving of protein. This protein could be meat (chicken breast, fish fillet, roasted turkey, braised beef etc) eggs, or protein powder.

Having protein as the focal point of your meal is important for two reasons: 1) You’re fueling up in a way that builds muscles rather than stores fat and 2) By default, you’re avoiding high calorie main dishes, which are what really cause most weight gain.

7. Ban Liquid Calories
Liquid calories have no place in a lean eating plan. No place at all. Anytime that you are drinking calories, it’s safe to assume that you’re adding inches to your waistline. Put down the beer, just say no to the blended coffee drink, and forget about fully loaded soda pop.

Filtered water and unsweetened tea are both wonderful alternatives to calorie-laden beverages.

8. Avoid Prepackaged Foods
Prepackaged foods and snacks have no place in a lean eating plan. These processed foods contain numerous fattening ingredients such as refined sugar, sodium, grains, fillers and other artificial ingredients.

If you are currently eating packaged foods on a daily basis, then cutting these items out will quickly translate into pounds lost.

9. Swim Upstream
As a society we are overweight. We are riddled with obesity related ailments. We are uncomfortable in our own skin. We are craving weight loss.

So…it’s safe to say that whatever you see the masses around you do, when it comes to food and exercise, you should aim to do the opposite.

See a line wrapped around that fast food joint’s drive thru? Do not enter. Instead, eat a simple meal made with vegetables and lean protein.

See all 5 people ahead of you in line at the coffee shop order a sweet drink? Do not follow suit. Instead, order an unsweetened drink.

See the movie theatre parking lot packed to the brim, and the gym parking lot empty? Skip the movie and hit the gym.

Swim upstream, be different than the masses by living in a desirable, healthy, lean body.

Lean eating rules

Call or email me today to get started on a fat loss program that really works.

www.placentiapersonaltraining.com



Holiday survival guide

Holiday Survival Guide

Holiday survival guide

It’s here – whether you’re ready or not. Just look at the seasonal shelves in your favorite store. Retailers like to call it ‘holiday season’ but let’s be more accurate.

Weight Gain season begins now and runs straight through New Year’s.

The next two months will bring ample opportunity for you to expand your waistline. Of course the choice is yours.

Why discuss it now and not mid way through December? Because now is your opportunity to plan for the weeks ahead. Once the craziness begins, you’ll be too busy to put a plan into action.

So let’s take this moment of clarity, this calm before the storm, to outline a two-part plan that will save your waist from unwanted holiday inches.

Part One: Your Exercise Plan.

Exercise is the first thing people cut when they get busy, and the holiday season is notorious for empty gyms. This year do something different-obligate yourself to exercise. Promising to yourself won’t do it, you need to promise to others so that you won’t drop the ball.

  • Sign up to work with a fitness expert – This is the perfect solution for consistent, challenging and effective workouts. I’ll give you the attention and assistance that you need to power through the holidays in better shape than ever – talk about motivating!
  • Join a class – You won’t be as effective exercising on your own during the busy holiday season, so join a class for accountability. Find something challenging that gets your heart rate elevated and uses strength training.
  • Get a serious exercise buddy – Some friends can be an awesome help while others end up pulling you down. When looking for an exercise buddy consider the following questions:- Do they share your fitness goals?
    – Are they fairly encouraging?
    – Do they give up easily?
    – Are they at your fitness level?

Part Two: Your Diet Plan.

The holidays offer ample opportunities to indulge, so you need to hammer down some guidelines before hitting that buffet line. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t indulge in any seasonal treats, but use moderation. Don’t use the holidays as an excuse to eat until the point of being uncomfortable – will you really miss that bloated feeling? Decide which treats to cut out this year.

Don’t bring edible treats to the office or to parties. You know that the leftovers will come home and you’ll end up eating far more than your share. This year do everyone a favor by not gifting fattening treats.

When faced with a buffet line, load your plate first with greens, vegetables and lean meats before breads and heavier foods. Also drink water with your meal and keep alcoholic beverages to a 2-drink maximum.

Beware of holiday drinks – most are brimming with calories. Hot drinks from coffee shops, cocktails at parties and creamy eggnog are all very enjoyable and all filled with empty calories. Stick with hot tea or unsweetened coffee.

Everywhere you go during the holiday season brings you face-to-face with a plate of sweets. To avoid being a bore but without adding inches to your waist, try the one treat rule. Each time you’re in a social situation that involves sweets just eat one, and enjoy your treat slowly.

You don’t have to gain weight this holiday season. The key is your mindset.

If you approach the holidays with the mindset of, ‘I deserve to indulge and I shouldn’t have to exercise’ then you’ll enter 2015 a few pounds heavier, a little less healthy, and with lower energy than ever before.

I believe that you deserve better. I believe that you should enter 2015 in better shape than you are today, healthier than you’ve been in a long time, and with more energy than you thought possible.

I’m here to help – call or reply to this email to set up a fitness consultation with me. I’d love to show you how to transform your body over the weeks to come.

www.placentiapersonaltraining.com


Reduce your thighs

Reduce your thighs (3 steps)

Reduce your thighs:

Women everywhere complain about the size of their thighs. Fat and cellulite have a way of ending up there – especially in the upper, inner thigh area.

I’m often asked how to quickly and easily reduce fat in this unwanted thigh region, so today’s article is all about reducing your thighs.

First I need to remind you that it’s not possible to spot reduce fat from one single part of your body, so my 3 steps to reduce your thighs will work by reducing your body fat percentage as a whole. It sure would be great if we could point a magic wand and make fat shrink from one particular spot, but that’s just not how the human body it built.

The great news is that your entire body will become leaner and sexier in addition to your thighs shrinking!

Here are my 3 steps to Reduce Your Thighs…

Reduce Thighs Step #1: Ban Liquid Calories

Liquid calories are a major problem for many, resulting in countless unwanted pounds and inches around their thighs. These calories are easy to overlook, since you’re just drinking and not actually eating anything, but don’t doubt for a second that they are adding up quickly.

The best strategy to take, when your goal is to reduce your thighs, is to cut out liquid calories completely. This is an easy way to instantly cut hundreds of calories per day without feeling deprived. Simply replace those high calorie beverages with water or unsweetened coffee or tea.

I’m sure you are aware of which beverages in your diet contain calories, but I’ll remind you with this list anyways: sweetened coffee drinks, blended coffee drinks, smoothies, sodas, energy drinks, alcoholic drinks…

Stick with water and unsweetened coffee and tea and watch how quickly you drop in size.

Reduce Thighs Step #2: Focus on Protein and Fiber

Want to know what lean, fit people all have in common? They focus all of their meals and snacks around protein and fiber and avoid sugar and simple carbs. It’s really that simple.

Now when you look at your current diet, which is likely filled with high carb and high sugar items, then making the switch to a diet focused around protein and fiber may seem hard to do. The truth is that any change is difficult, but once you make it you’ll quickly adjust and will begin a whole new, leaner lifestyle.

Cut out the packaged, high carb and high sugar items from your diet. Plan each meal around vegetables and lean proteins. This simple nutritional shift will make all of the difference in quickly dropping your body fat.

Reduce Thighs Step #3: Exercise Smart

There’s exercise, and then there’s smart exercise.

Exercise is good, and will get you to burn some calories and even build some muscle. It will raise your metabolism and improve your cardiovascular health. It will even reduce your thighs. All very good things.

Smart exercise will get you more of these benefits in less time.

So what makes exercise smart?

By doing a progression of movements with increasing intensity. By changing your workout often, to keep your body guessing. By varying your speed and range of motion. By incorporating complex, full body movements. By stimulating different muscle groups in each session.

Creating smart workouts is what I do for my clients.

Since my clients are not a trained fitness professional with the knowledge and skills to create smart workouts each day, I do all of the work for them. They simply show up and reap all of the benefits possible from each workout session.

If you haven’t yet become one of my clients, today is the day! Let’s get you in here for a fat-blasting workout that will shrink your body in all the right places.

Call or email today and learn to exercise smart

www.placentiapersonaltraining.com

714-883-8940


CPR, should you do it?

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation, or also commonly known as CPR, is a very helpful lifesaving technique used in many medical emergencies. Some of the medical emergencies that may require CPR are when someone may be having a heart attack, stroke, heart beat has stopped, or their breathing has stopped.

There are some guidelines on whether you should give CPR or not, (despite official training). You are far off better doing something rather than completely doing nothing when you are within reach of a medical emergency. Before performing any kind of CPR action, just act reasonably, ask questions, get the person’s consent if they are conscious, find out what happened. If you do help, try to perform CPR, you are protected by the good Samaritan law. However, you’ll be better off learning on how to do it first so you wont kill the person!

If you are not trained and notices that someone needs CPR, perform chest compressions.   Overlap your hands at a slight angle, and interlock your fingers while leaving them laid out straight. Kneel down, place your palms against the middle part of the person’s chest (between the nipples) where you feel that rigid chest bone, or the sternum. You will try to compress for about 100 compressions a minute (which is a little less than 2 hand compressions per second), at about 2 inches deep into their chest (if they are an adult.) This is called hands only CPR, do not try do rescue breaths by breathing in their mouth (could be infected, diseased, etc.).

In any given situation prior to performing CPR, always call or tell a bystander to call 911 to notify of a medical emergency. Consider 30 chest compressions (Be sure to count in your head) as one cycle, so you can tell the arriving paramedics/EMT what you have done. Besides CPR, you may also use a AED defibrillator if there is one in reach. This machine is used to send an electrical current to the body to get the heart working normally. Follow instructions listed on the machine. Do not stop CPR until you see signs of life, an AED machine, area becomes unsafe, Emergency services arrive, when you are too exhausted and unable to perform compressions any longer. Don’t be afraid to perform CPR itself, just be confident, aware, and protective of yourself.

www.placentiapersonaltraining.com

714-883-8940, Stewart Knorr