Food #1: Berries

Berries are packed with nutrients like fiber, antioxidants, and essential fat burning vitamins. This fruit makes a great substitute as a healthy snack.  I’d recommend having berries with a lean protein source, such as skim milk, to keep your muscles in a metabolic state (fat burning).

Food #2: Almonds

Raw almonds are one of the best natural sources for magnesium, another essential nutrient our body uses to regulate energy and activate fat burning hormones.  A small handful of almonds makes a great satisfying snack in between meals. They are also a great source of healthy fat, if you did not already know, our bodies must consume healthy fats in order to decrease overall body fat.

Food #3: Egg Whites

Eggs are nature’s most absorbable form of protein that contains vitamin B12, known for its energy producing qualities. B12 also contributes to an immediate increase in the body’s thermo genic activity. The protein in egg whites is second to none when it comes to one of the best protein sources which is critical to maintaining optimal muscle health.

Food #4: Greens

Greens such as spinach, broccoli, celery, lettuce, kale are all solid choices as they are negative calorie foods. Negative calorie means that your body will actually expend more energy digesting these foods than are actually contained within them. The value of eating foods like greens is the increased metabolism to compensate for the extra calories you consumed eating the food. Not to mention, veggies are packed with tons of essential vitamins.

Food #5 Grapefruit

Researchers have confirmed that by just adding either grapefruit or grapefruit juice to your diet, will result in weight loss. The amazing grapefruit has a high fiber content and a very low glycemic load, which both help to contribute to its amazing appetite curbing abilities.  Researchers are also suggesting that there is a positive physiological link in grapefruit and insulin, in relation to weight management.

There you go, five healthy foods that are great for helping you to shed the dreaded love handles! Next time you go food shopping, remember to pick up a few of the above foods to help you to burn your unwanted body fat!

Tips for Achieving Your Fitness Goals

Use your mp3 player to design a motivational workout soundtrack. It has been proven that the sounds of music extend your workouts because you aren’t thinking about how tired your body is. Make playlists that pump you up and keep you going. Your body will be naturally inclined to move to the sound of the music. This is a wonderful way to keep a steady pace throughout your workout.

Having a few of your friends to workout with you can help you stay in shape. When you exercise with a buddy, encourage each other often, but be careful not to indulge in excessive idle chatter. You will be absolutely amazed at how much easier and interesting working out is when you do it with friends.

If you are looking for a workout on days you can’t make it to your favorite gym, you should try a workout video game. They are great for the family to use and provide many benefits. If you are enjoying yourself, you won’t remember that you are exercising. Focusing on the game distracts you from the workout, so you may do even more exercise than you realize!

Go shopping for exercise clothes. Find outfits that flatter your current body type. Stay away from buying things you wish to fit in someday or that are uncomfortable. When selecting your outfit, be imaginative. There are a lot of different styles of workout clothing, so you can get something that reflects who you are. If you are happy with what you are wearing, you will have a greater sense of confidence about your exercise regimen.

Variety is the key to keeping you interested and motivated when it comes to exercise programs. This is the reason why it’s imperative that you switch up the work outs you do. Instead of only walking on the treadmill, try using an incline or jogging instead. Keeping your regimen varied helps you maintain a high level of enthusiasm and commitment.

Reward Yourself for Achieving  Your Fitness Goals

Give yourself something you truly love once you achieve a fitness milestone. This will keep your motivation high. Choosing something special like a new top will be a great way to reward yourself for sticking to your fitness plan. Make the things you earn easy to get and something that makes you happy. By giving yourself small rewards along the way, you will help yourself remain motivated in your quest for optimum fitness.

If you make your workouts fun, you are more likely to stick to them. There are actually many things a gym member can do make their workout fun instead of dreading it. This article contains the advice you need to develop a fun exercise routine and enable you to achieve your fitness goals!

1. Destroy the Temptation
If you find yourself coming home from the store with that box of cookies you knew you should have left on the grocery shelf, but just could not resist, you can still win. Take the box of cookies, crush them up, and throw them straight in the trash! If you can do this without eating the cookies, you are proving to yourself that mentally you can crush that temptation to binge on those foods that you know you should not be eating. Not only that, but if you take this step, you won’t be eating any of those darn cookies. By the way, try to do a kitchen cupboard makeover-toss out all your pre-packaged foods, anything with a shelf life usually qualifies.

2. Indulge Intelligently
No one is perfect, and we should not have to completely cut out the foods that we really enjoy. So it is OK to let yourself cheat every once in a while, using moderation. The best way to do this is to pick your favorite cheat meals once or twice a week. If you’re a big chocolate lover, try half of that candy bar you love for desert with your lunch instead of eating the whole bar like you usually would several times a week. Cutting down on foods you know are not good for you will tremendously decrease your calorie intake on a weekly basis, allowing you to lose those extra pounds much faster.

3. Magic of Protein and Fiber
Foods rich in fiber absorb much more water and are able to expand in the stomach giving you a much fuller feeling, while foods high in protein take much longer to digest. This combination will leave you feeling much fuller for a longer period of time without having to eat too much or anything unhealthy. It is best to make sure you are eating lean protein sources such as, chicken breast, salmon, egg whites, etc.

4. Eat Five Smaller Meals a Day
Try eating five smaller meals daily or about every three hours. Eating more frequently is reported to increase the production of body heat required to digest food intake which increases your metabolism. Also, more frequent meals prevent hunger pains between meals and avoid sudden increases in blood sugar. Of course more meals daily does not mean increasing your normal daily caloric intake! You will need to simply divide your current total caloric allowance by five, consuming smaller meals throughout the day, and you should see that your weight declining!

We suggest that you try the above proven four tips to see if they help you control your appetite so you can achieve your weight management goal.

In the late 1990′s, the first fitness boot camp was conceived in California where outdoor boot camps could be held virtually year round. Until recently, boot camps were primarily a west coast phenomena. Only several years ago, enterprising fitness centers started the first indoor boot camps. Bringing boot camp indoors overcame the major objection of attending outdoor boot camps in inclement weather, and the modern day indoor boot camp was born!

The modern day fitness boot camp will also enable participants to achieve excellent results fast, but without the threatening commands of a drill sergeant. Instead, talented fitness center boot camp trainers use a combination of patience, instruction, motivation and encouragement to get Campers to perform at an incredibly high level!

However, not all fitness boot camps are equal, and may not provide the same benefits of a properly run boot camp. Some boot camps are little more than a schoolyard group calisthenics class. Also, if the boot camps are only outdoors, which cannot be held year round due to weather conditions, and consist mainly of running and only body weight exercises, then an alternative boot camp should be considered.

To maintain or maximize health and fitness benefits, boot camps must be a year round training modality. Ideally, the fitness center should offer both outdoor and indoor camps; set to heart pumping high energy music; if indoors, held on a soft step suspended floor; and utilize a combination of bodyweight, and easy to use weight bearing equipment to stimulate muscle growth. Outdoor boot camps cannot be held in inclement weather and lugging equipment to a park is often not practical.
Program design for boot camp workouts is another critical factor of a great boot camp. Each boot camp should have a tri-phase program design:

• Warm up phase to ready the body for more strenuous activities
• Strength and cardio phase to tone, build muscle and bone mass, burn body fat, and improve cardiovascular health
• Cool down and stretching phase to avoid injury and reduce soreness

A well constructed boot camp and the camper’s active participation will burn more than twice the calories as the typical fitness center’s strength and cardio workout. However, the favorable benefits of a boot camp would be completely negated, if the fitness center does not offer its boot campers sound nutritional guidance and support. With regular attendance of an effective boot camp, and attaining and adhering to effective nutritional guidance and support, the boot camper will start to attain result in weeks that would ordinarily take months working out on their own.

A quality fitness center will also provide its boot campers before starting their first boot camp with a complete health and fitness assessment, including review of the boot camper’s health and fitness history, physical limitations, key body measurements, and a comprehensive body composition analysis. Thereafter, monthly fitness assessments must be completed to track progress and to determine if changes to the boot camper’s training and/or nutrition are required.

The modern day effective fitness center that offers both indoor and outdoor boot camps on a year round basis; using a variety of fun easy to use specialized strength equipment in addition to body weight exercises; a proper tri-phase program design; and offers comprehensive health and fitness assessments both before and on an ongoing basis will enable the boot camper to achieve “Twice the Results, Half the Time!”

Members that finally decide to join a fitness center are excited for the best of reasons to improve their health, fitness and to shed excess fat. Members are often stressed and lack energy to accomplish even daily activities which exercising will certainly remedy. Upon joining, members are hopeful and eagerly anticipate reaching their goals.

However, unless the member is knowledgeable and sufficiently motivated to consistently work out on his/her own, even in the best member service centric fitness centers that offer multiple consultations with a Personal Trainer as part of the basic membership; isn’t sufficient to get members the results they want to achieve. Typically, after about eight weeks, if the member doesn’t attain the results desired, the disappointed member stops working out. Solution–consider Personal Training!

Achieve Your Fitness Goal in the Fastest Time Possible!

A properly designed fitness program continuously adjusts your exercise routine (weight/exercise/rest period) in order to force your body to adapt to the progressively increasing stress, making you stronger, increasing your energy and improving your fitness level. Your exercise program while important is just a single element in an effective Personal Training Solution which integrates nutrition, monitoring results, behavior modification, and goal setting, along with physical training to design a balanced total fitness solution that will get you results in the fastest time possible.

Learn Proper Technique and Form so You Train Effectively & Safely!

Working with a Personal Trainer is an absolute must, if you haven’t ever step foot in a fitness center before. Even if you are experienced, a good Personal Trainer will ensure that you are performing your workout safely and correctly. Many members that “learn” on their own usually develop bad habits, poor form or, worse, injuring themselves. Even Tiger Woods has a coach!

Motivates & Energizes You to Exert Your Best Effort!

Proper motivation is often the most important element leading to successfully achieving your fitness objectives. If you are not accountable to someone, it’s difficult to achieve your goals. You may find yourself missing workouts and not eating properly. A good Personal Trainer makes you accountable for your actions and your results. Your Personal Trainer can also provide needed support when unsuspecting events occur that may derail your progress. During your training session, a good Personal Trainer will encourage and motivate you to do better than your previous workout.

Creates A Specific Training Routine Based on Your Current Fitness Goal!

Every Member is unique and has his/her own fitness goals. You should always receive a specialized exercise program that is designed for you. Your workout experience, fitness level, physical limitations, and objectives should be all considered and your training regimen is based on this assessment. As you progress in your body transformation, so should your exercise program be continually revised.

Optimizes Your Time and Energy Invested in Training—Eliminates Wasted Efforts!

Personal training provides you with more results with less energy expended and less time invested. Many members work out for years, using the same outdated workout routine, selecting ineffective exercise for their objectives, and often with improper form. Other members think that all they need to stay fit is cardio; other members believe it’s strength training. No wonder why so many members look exactly the same or worse than when they first joined their fitness center! Working with a capable Personal Trainer can correct all of the above!

Your Personal Training Sessions Are Monitored, Recorded and Evaluated to Assure Progress or if Change Is Required!

For every training session, each exercise, resistance used, and reps performed should be recorded, monitored and assessed on a regular basis. Your training program should be compared to your monthly fitness assessments to determine the results achieved. If results are not evident, then your Personal Trainer will need to either change your strength and/or cardio program and determine if your nutrition has to be revised.

So, Are You Ready to Consider A Personal Trainer!

Members often say great, Personal Training seems like it will really benefit me, but how long will it take before I get back in the shape that I desire? Actually, the answer to that question is with another question–how long did it take to get in your present shape? It probably took years. Although Personal training is the fastest fitness solution, it’s not a quick fix. If it took you years to get out of shape, you can’t expect to get back in shape in just two months.

Remember, safe permanent weight loss is only 1-2 pounds weekly. Anything more will require caloric restriction, whereby you will lose muscle mass and also slow your metabolism. You will experience almost immediate gradual improvement with a good Personal Trainer, and you will start to look good and feel great. Isn’t that what you want– consistent noticeable gradual, but a permanent body transformation, rather than your weight on a constant roller coaster?

Since the introduction of small Group Personal Training, cost is no longer a entry barrier to using a Personal Trainer, as a Group Personal Training session is about 33% less than a one on one session. Two or three weekly training sessions are recommended, but if you are on a tight budget, even once a week will get you far better results than if you were working out on your own.

If you are among the many that haven’t yet achieved your fitness goals, isn’t it time YOU considered working with a Personal Trainer?

Difference between Cardio and Strength Training for Weight Loss

At The Gym, we don’t want the above to be you! So let’s discuss the difference between cardiovascular and strength training for weight loss. To be perfectly clear, our Members should be including both cardio and strength training in their training regimen.  Strength training can be intimidating for New Members, but without weight bearing exercise, you’re severely limiting your weight loss potential. Unless your cardio consists of a High Intensity Interval Training program, your caloric burn essentially comes to a screeching halt after you complete your cardio workout. However, weight training is easily the fastest metabolism booster since your body continues to burn additional calories for up to 48 hours, even after completing your strength workout!

Hopefully, you have taken the hint on the importance of including strength training in your workout program. Strength training is effective because you are actually breaking down muscle tissue during your workout which must be rebuilt during recovery to strengthen your muscles. This breaking down/rebuilding process provides a favorable effect on metabolism, as your body requires additional calories during the recovery period. Since your body is entering a muscle repairing process known as the metabolic phase, it also means you are in a fat metabolizing phase.

During your initial period at The Gym, you were given an appropriate strength and cardio training program to get you off to a great start! We recommend that our Members continue to perform cardio exercise, as well as strength training at least 2-3 times a week to improve their overall strength, bone mass, and enable burning more calories over a longer period of time.

Designing a Strength Training Program to Optimize Weight Loss

To design an appropriate strength training program there are many different training methods. However, one of the best training protocol for many Members is to dedicate 3 alternate days weekly to strength training. To keep it simple, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday often works best for most Members. On these days, a full body strength training workout should be completed using primarily compound movements. A compound movement is a multi-joint movement that recruits more muscle fibers than a traditional isolation exercise. Compound joint movement exercises include the bench press, squat, shoulder press and leg press. An example of an isolation exercise would be the bicep curl.

Cardiovascular training is important, not only for weight loss, but also improves your heart and circulatory  health as well. For optimal results it is recommended to perform cardiovascular exercise for 3 times a week for 20-40 minutes a day at a moderate to high intensity depending on your fitness level. The higher the intensity, the more favorable benefits accrue and the shorter the time you will be in The Gym.

Both strength and cardiovascular training are absolute requirements for weight loss and optimal health & fitness. However as with most things in life, there needs to be a balance–you need both!

If you have any questions regarding this post, please ask one of our Personal Trainers who would be glad to help. If you require more assistance in designing a complete supervised strength and cardio training program that will enable you to attain the fastest results possible and achieve your weight loss objective, we invite you to meet with one of our Personal Trainers.

We will be writing about a variety of informative topics to help you achieve your health, weight management, and fitness goals. Be sure to check back often and let us know if there’s a specific topic you’d like for us to include. To get you started, we have made three posts that we believe you will find interesting:

• Expert Advice–”Best for Weight Loss–Cardio or Strength Training?”
• Health & Fitness–”Why Do I Need A Personal Trainer?”
• Workouts & more–”The Evolution of the Modern Day Fitness Boot Camp”

Enjoy!

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