CoachMeFit Blog

By: Amber Tebeau, NASM CPT, Manager and Trainer CoachMeFit West Bloomfield

As a fitness professional, I am frequently asked “What is the most effective type of exercise?”  Most people are looking for a simple answer such as running, weight training or aerobics.  Truly the correct answer lies within the person who has asked the question.  Every person is different, with their own needs, restrictions, likes and dislikes.   Exercise is most effective when it is tailored specifically to a person’s wants and needs. 

Whenever I am asked “What is the most effective type of exercise?” I always reply, “The type of exercise that you WILL do”.  What I am trying to say is that the best exercise is the exercise that is performed on a consistent basis at a moderate to intense level.  Running may be a great way for me to maintain my weight and fitness level.  However if someone hates to run, then running is not a good exercise for them because they are not likely to stick to the program.

Many people come to see a personal trainer because they do not think that they like any type of exercise, thus they welcome having someone force them to workout.   However, I have found that many of my clients who prescribe to this kind of thinking realize they enjoy the way exercise makes them feel, after only a few sessions.  When someone realizes that they like to exercise and the feeling that they receive, they are more apt to continue their fitness program.

I have my personal exercise favorites; however I do not try to press my clients to do these things.   I do not care what type of exercise that they do; all I ask is that they exercise at a moderate to intense pace for an hour, 6 days a week.  Again, the best type of exercise is the type of exercise that a person can commit to doing consistently to maintain their health.

By: Kelly Kalbfleisch

Ann Arbor CMF, Manager

Flying through your routine, overworking your middle and improper breathing are all big no-nos when it comes to training your abs.  Here’s how to maximize each and every workout;

1.  Your abs are like any other muscle and need rest. Give them at least 48 hours between sessions for maximum recovery.

2.  Don’t forget to breathe when doing abdominal moves. Remember: Exhale on the exertion and inhale on the return to avoid lactic acid buildup.

3.  For maximum results, do each rep deliberately and avoid all use of momentum.  If you’re doing it right, you should fatigue and even fail by the end of 15 reps.

4.  Use a mix of different abs moves each time you train to give your body new challenges while keeping your brain from getting bored.

5.  You can crunch ’til the cows come home, but if you’re not eating right, you’ll never see the results of your hard work. 

I’ve added different variations of the plank to my workouts instead of doing a form of crunch every abs day.  I’ve noticed a huge difference in the strength and firmness of my core.  

I like tip number 5 from above.  Clients ask me all the time if they should do more crunches or when they will start to see their ab muscles and lose the fat.  I hate to tell them, but it’s the truth..the muscles are there, but you won’t see them until you change your diet and keep consistant with cardio.  It’s a fact! 

-article from Oxygen Magazine

Brandy Golden, ACSM Health Fitness Specialist

CoachMeFit, East Grand Rapids

I often wonder how  I can inspire  clients to maintain a healthy lifestyle when I am not around. It is easy for them to work hard in the gym with a personal trainer watching their every move. However, when the cookies are calling their name at home or when the couch screams louder than the cardio, the discipline is no where to be found. Everyone is constantly in a battle between what they want to do and what they should do. How can I push each and every client pass the point of giving into their immediate feelings rather than perservering to their goal.?

I believe that every single person I train is capable of achieving their fitness goals. Unfortunately my faith in you will only take you to a certain point. Ultimately, you have to believe in yourself to reach your goals. This is the reason so many people gain weight once they cease going to personal training sessions. During the session, we trainers are affirming you and pushing you beyond the limits that you have set for yourself. But what happens when we aren’t there. Do you believe the lie, that you are just an emotional eater- always was and always will be. Or maybe you think you have reached a plateau and you can never see yourself smaller, or a healthy weight. These are all lies!

Stop limiting yourself. If we as trainers can see your potential, you must see it as well. We may think that you can achieve you ideal body weight, but if you don’t believe it, you will never achieve it. So you must change your thinking. You must change the way you see yourself!

Brandy Golden- ACSM Health Fitness Specialist

CoachMeFit, East Grand Rapids

  What would happen to a 2010 bentley if it were never driven until 2020. Would the paint look better in 2020 than 2010 after sitting through  a decade of snow, rain, and sunshine. Would the engine run smoother after being stagnant for ten years? The obvious answer is no. Like a car, our bodies function better when we use them and take care of them. Was the last time you ran a mile in high school? Do you ever tell your kids, ” when I was younger, my figure was nice like yours?” Well unfortunately, like the bentley, after a decade of being sedentary, your “engine” or internal organs work less efficiently and your “exterior” figure may take a hit as well. Like a car, our bodies are made to drive us safely through life. However, if we do not tend to our bodies properly, they will not function properly. We must use it, or we will lose it!

  Obviously exercise will improve one’s physical appearance. It sheds pounds, shapes buns and defines abs. However, the most important part of a nice body is healthy organs. Like a car, a body can look good on the outside, but run like “Old Bessy” if the unseen parts are out of shape. Therefore you must first take care of your heart and other organs that are responsible for every breath that you take. Regular physical activity and a consistent exercise regime strengthens the cardiovascular system, decreases the stress on the liver, and much more. Please don’t wait until tomorrow to begin caring for your body’s engine, get moving today!

   Brandy Golden, ACSM Health Fitness Specialist

    CoachMeFit, East Grand Rapids

   Karma -what goes around comes  around- you reap what you sew; no matter what you call it we all know the priniple of “you get what you give” is a fundamental law of nature. We often embrace the idea of Karma coming around to grace others. For instance, the a woman betrayed by a loved one awaits for karma’s revenge. Likewise, the child who is teased by the class bully longs for the day the bully  recieves a taste of his his own medicine. But despite popular belief, Karma is not always negative. This simple law of nature can also work for one’s good. There are countless examplesof people who reap the benefits of hard work. For instance, Michael Jordan, the best basketball player of all time, spent countless hours practicing while his peers were partying. Or how about Bill Gates, the unpopular “nerd” as a child, is now reaping the benefits of his diligence and hard work. If these men can use Karma to their advantage then so can we.

Here are some ways to make Karma work for you.

1. If you want more energy- expend more energy. A regular exercise routine will increase the amount of energy you have during the day.So contrary to the belief that cutting out an hour of your day for exercise, is a waste of time,it will actually help you make use of your time more efficiently.

2. If you want to lose pounds, you must  “lose” (reduce)  your calories.  It’s simple math. Losing pounds requires losing calories. It is silly to expect extreme weight loss without having a caloric deficit.

3. If you want to gain strength, you must use your strength. Resistance training is a great way to do this!

4. To increase your metabolism, you must increase your metaboizer (lean body mass).

Although these are examples of karma enhancing physical health, please know that karma applies to every area of your life. So from this day forward, Embrace Karma!

Brandy  Golden

Like so many people out there, I have done my fair share of diets preaching to get me to my “best body yet”. Yet none of them ever did. Why? At the core, they were all fundamentally the same. I was either depriving myself of delicious and often perfectly healthy food  and/or counting calories. Seeing that I am good at neither and actually despise both of those things, I gave up dieting for good and opted for literature that outlined healthy eating habits instead.

If ever I’ve had a brilliant idea in my life, it was that one! My research eventually led me to a book I adore called “French Women Don’t Get Fat” by Mireille Giuliano. Initially, I was engaged by the bold title. “I want to be a chick, skinny, French girl too!” I thought to myself. But, the book struck a deeper chord with me. It wasn’t just another diet book; it was the author’s memoir on her relationship with food, which made it both an easy read and a stimulating one. Through her memoir, Giuliano teaches you to be conscious of the food you put in your body in a way that both satisfies your senses and keeps your heart healthy (no food deprivation or calorie counting!). 

An abundance of great tips on portion control and delicious recipes can be found throughout the book, but it also brings to light the ingenuity of keeping a food journal: the perfect solution for non calorie-counting, food conscious people. If you’re not familiar with a food journal, it’s just a small notebook that is used to track everything you eat throughout the day (breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks…etc). The book instructs you to use a food journal for three consecutive weeks in order to find patterns in your eating habits i.e. you drink soda every day at lunch or you drink a beer every night with dinner. Unlike many diets that instruct you to cut out all forms of carbohydrates and sugars from your daily meals (so hard!!!), the food journal is used to eliminate bad habits one week at a time (after the initial three week observation period) i.e. the first week you might stop drinking soda everyday at lunch, the second week you add on and stop drinking a beer with every dinner and so on and so forth. The results take time, but they are long term. Teaching yourself to cut out bad eating habits and incorporate healthy, nutritious foods into your diet avoids the stresses of yo-yo dieting and allows you to easily maintain not only a stable weight, but a stable lifestyle. 

According to Giuliano, the goal of the food journal is to get you to be food conscious without having to use a journal. And, that’s awesome, if that’s also your personal goal. However, I think food journaling is actually a tool that can be used continually (Oprah.com says Carry Underwood’s been using a food journal to keep her health in check forever!). So, grab a pen and paper or your Iphone and start journaling!

Written By: Delfina Bonilla-Cassel (Ann Arbor CMF Intern)

Are you bored doing the same lifting routine of 12-15 repititions per exercise?  Mix it up!  There are numerous ways of doing this and you may just be surprised at the results.

There are so many ways to train with weights you should never get bored in the gym. Trying out something new won’t only help keep your workouts interesting but it’s actually crucial if you want to continue seeing and feeling gains whether you’re toning or building muscle. Here are a few techniques to try:

Super setting: (A superset is when two exercises are performed in a row without stopping) Super sets are very popular and an effective way to squeeze a lot into a short period of time. Try super setting at the end or in the middle of your workout but avoid it for your first set as you may want to pump out as much weight as possible for your first exercise. You can super set the same muscle or group or super set opposing muscle groups.

Tri setting: Tri sets are a useful way to overload the muscle in a similar way to super setting but instead of rotating between two exercises you incorporate three in a row. I recommend this if you’re extremely tight on time constraints or if you really want to tear up your muscles. Try this technique first on small muscle groups like biceps and triceps.

Drop sets: Drop sets shouldn’t be done everyday for every exercise but they’re great for the last set of your workout just to shock your body into producing new results every now and again. How it works is you hit a heavy set on any chosen exercise then immediately strip off some of the weight and pump out some more reps. Then, if you are really feeling it, you drop the weight again and bust out some more reps to failure.

For example: Side Lateral Delt Raises.  Try starting out with 8-10 reps with 15-pound dumbbells and when you can no longer lift them, drop down to 10-pound dumbbells and repeat until failure. Finally, if you can, pick up the 5-pound dumbbells and go until you can no longer lift them to shoulder level. This creates a wonderful burn in the muscles and fantastic results.

Pyramiding: This is probably the most popular weight training method of all. After a short warm up, begin with a weight that will allow you to pump out 12-15 reps and then proceed to the next set and increase the weight so that you fail at about 8-10 reps then on the last set pick a weight that will allow you to do about 6 reps. This overloads the muscle gradually and works very well. This technique is perfect for beginners because it’s easy yet effective.  However, if you’ve been lifting for years it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t incorporate pyramid training in your routine. It works wonders for everyone, just be sure you’re lifting to your maximum potential.

Reverse Pyramid Training: This is exactly the opposite of pyramid training. Instead of starting with the lightest weight and doing 12-15 repetitions for the first set, you’ll reverse the order and begin your first set with the heaviest weight you can handle for roughly 6 reps. This style is best for those looking to build muscle and increase strength. For each set you will decrease the weight (pyramid down in weight, hence, the name “reverse” pyramid) and increase the reps. This technique is extremely energy efficient and will help you increase muscle mass if that’s your goal.

HIIT: High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) is a style that incorporates alternating low to moderate intensity intervals with high intensity intervals. HIIT is often used by runners or with exercises such as squats. HIIT is considered to be much more effective than normal cardio because the intensity is so high and you are able to increase both your aerobic and anaerobic endurance while burning more fat. Research has proven it to be up to 50 percent more effective when it comes to fat burning. It has also been shown to speed up your metabolism, which helps you burn more calories throughout the day.

German Volume Training (GVT): The goal of the GVT method is to complete ten sets of ten reps with the same weight for each exercise. One way to gauge the proper weight is to begin with a weight you could lift for 20 reps to failure if you had to. For most people, that would be 60 percent of their 1 Rep Max (RM) load.

For example, if you can squat 120 pounds for 1 rep, you would use 72 pounds for this exercise. The result? The body adapts to the unusual stress by hypertrophying the muscles involved. This is a wonderful way to add muscle fast but is not to be used year round. Cycle it in and out of your regular program every couple of months.

A few other techniques with a Google search are: giant sets, pre-exhaustion, Isotension, partial reps, negative resistance training, staggered sets, Weider’s Perfect 10, fast and slow reps and partner assisted stressed reps.

Article written by, Alicia Rewega- Oxygen Magazine

If you’ve never tried one of these routines, you should!  I would love to hear feedback! 

-Kelly Kalbfleisch

Ann Arbor CMF, Manager

Brandy Golden, ACSM Health Fitness Specialist

So you have worked hard all week and stuck to your diet flawlessly. Its Firday morning and you’ve stepped on the scale in your bathroom and you are two pounds down. Yes! Tonight you are going to go out and you will be able to slip on  your favorite jeans that you’ve been waiting to wear again. You go out with the best intentions of sticking to your diet for the most part, but of course you will allow yourself a few drinks and some pizza. You deserve it right?

  Wrong! The mentality of a night of splurging to reward yourself for a week of discipline is flawed. Yes, its good to treat yourself occasionaly, perhaps one treat a week. But, when you splurge for an entire night on pizza and beer for example, one week of hard work is easily lost. One pound consist of 3500 calories and 3500 calories can be consumed easily at a pizza buffet. So, instead of splurging for an entire night, allow yourself one treat a week. Whether it be a drink, a dessert, or a slice of pizza, enjoy it. But, for the rest of weekend, practice the same discipline that caused you to lose weight during the week.

I sometimes struggle, like a lot of people, with making the right choices in the grocery store.  There are a lot of different foods out there and sometimes they all look the same!  I found this article to be very informative.  I hope you find yourself choosing more of the better and best options as you progress in reaching your healthy living goals.

One of the best things about supermarkets can also be the most confusing: all the choices! When walking from aisle to aisle, it can be overwhelming to look at all the products in each section. Just think of all the choices when you’re looking at the entire wall of cereal or a large cooler packed with tiny yogurt cups! Trying to find the best item-especially when you’re trying to eat healthier or watch your intake of calories, fat or sodium-is not always a walk in the park.

Within each section of the grocery store, you’ll find plenty of healthful foods that can help you reach your goals. But sometimes you have to make a food choice based on budget constraints, availability or taste preferences that isn’t ideal. Not to worry. This “Good, Better, Best” guide will help you make the best possible choices on your next trip to the store. If you’re new to eating healthy, start at the bottom and work your way up to the top of the lists over time. Even if all you can afford is in the “good” category, you’re still doing pretty well. If you prefer the taste and texture of the “better” item to the “best” choice, that’s OK, too. Or maybe you’re facing a hotel breakfast buffet or trying to find something healthy to eat at a party and all you’ll find is the “good” choice. No matter what your situation, you’ll still be able to make the best possible choices by using this simple guide.

MILK

YOGURT

BREAD

CEREAL

PASTA

DELI MEAT

With all the options in the grocery store, it’s easy to find items to feel good about buying. But remember: Healthy eating isn’t about perfection. All foods do have some merits and even if you can’t eat ideally all the time, that’s OK. By striving to make the best choices from what is available to you, you’ll make a real difference in your health!

This article has been reviewed and approved by SparkPeople resident expert Becky Hand, Licensed and Registered Dietitian.

<!– Article created on:  2/23/2010 –>

Two situations within the past couple of weeks have compelled me to do a bit of research on soda.  How bad is it, really?  I can honestly say that I never took the time to actually look into the effects that soda has on one’s body, until now. 

I have a new client who is trying to lose quite a bit of weight.  One issue he had when he started with me is that he drank about 5 cans of diet coke a day!  Even though I didn’t have a lot of knowledge on this bubbly substance, I knew that drinking 5 cans a day cannot be healthy.  If he is drinking that much soda, water is probably a very limited part of his daily liquid intake.  I had him start by replacing one can of diet coke with one glass of water a day.  He is down to 2-3 cans and drinking far more water than he used too.  We are progressively working to get him off of soda completely. 

Another client of mine told me that her husband, who does not work out and does not pay close attention to what he eats, cut soda from his diet.  Just in doing this, he has lost 12 lbs in 5 weeks.  I was shocked and furthermore took some time to look into soda and what it really can do to one’s body.  Here is what I found;

June 13, 2005 — People who drink diet soft drinks don’t lose weight. In fact, they gain weight, a new study shows.

The findings come from eight years of data collected by Sharon P. Fowler, MPH, and colleagues at the University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio. Fowler reported the data at the annual meeting of the American Diabetes Association in San Diego.

“What didn’t surprise us was that total soft drink use was linked to overweight and obesity,” Fowler tells WebMD. “What was surprising was when we looked at people only drinking diet soft drinks, their risk of obesity was even higher.”

In fact, when the researchers took a closer look at their data, they found that nearly all the obesity risk from soft drinks came from diet sodas.

“There was a 41% increase in risk of being overweight for every can or bottle of diet soft drink a person consumes each day,” Fowler says.

More Diet Drinks, More Weight Gain

Fowler’s team looked at seven to eight years of data on 1,550 Mexican-American and non-Hispanic white Americans aged 25 to 64. Of the 622 study participants who were of normal weight at the beginning of the study, about a third became overweight or obese.

For regular soft-drink drinkers, the risk of becoming overweight or obese was:

• 26% for up to 1/2 can each day
• 30.4% for 1/2 to one can each day
• 32.8% for 1 to 2 cans each day
• 47.2% for more than 2 cans each day.

For diet soft-drink drinkers, the risk of becoming overweight or obese was:

• 36.5% for up to 1/2 can each day
• 37.5% for 1/2 to one can each day
• 54.5% for 1 to 2 cans each day
• 57.1% for more than 2 cans each day.

For each can of diet soft drink consumed each day, a person’s risk of obesity went up 41%.

Diet Soda No Smoking Gun

Fowler is quick to note that a study of this kind does not prove that diet soda causes obesity. More likely, she says, it shows that something linked to diet soda drinking is also linked to obesity.

“One possible part of the explanation is that people who see they are beginning to gain weight may be more likely to switch from regular to diet soda,” Fowler suggests. “But despite their switching, their weight may continue to grow for other reasons. So diet soft-drink use is a marker for overweight and obesity.”

Why? Nutrition expert Leslie Bonci, MPH, RD, puts it in a nutshell.

“You have to look at what’s on your plate, not just what’s in your glass,” Bonci tells WebMD.

People often mistake diet drinks for diets, says Bonci, director of sports nutrition at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and nutrition consultant to college and professional sports teams and to the Pittsburgh Ballet.

“A lot of people say, ‘I am drinking a diet soft drink because that is better for me. But soft drinks by themselves are not the root of America’s obesity problem,” she says. “You can’t go into a fast-food restaurant and say, ‘Oh, it’s OK because I had diet soda.’ If you don’t do anything else but switch to a diet soft drink, you are not going to lose weight.”

If you are a consistent soda drinker, I hope you realize how much damage it can do to your body.  Along with gaining weight, you may gain a lot of other health problems.  Start by replacing a can of soda with a glass of water. 

Water is your body’s principal chemical component, making up, on average, 60 percent of your body weight. Every system in your body depends on WATER, not soda.