exercise-blog

Stop Dieting:Start Living

Thu, 20 Feb 2014 19:37:42 +0100

Today I have decided to write about nutrition, the number one topic among my clients. Most of us are not only highly confused about nutrition, but are completely fed up with the inability to get concrete answers. This is why I wanted to cover this topic in as much detail as possible. Let us talk for a minute about the difference between “dieting” and “eating clean” and why most of us need to watch our sugar intake.

Let’s start by looking at what “dieting” really means to most people and why when you start “dieting” you never stop. Most of my clients have said to me that they look in the mirror and get extremely upset and decide it’s time to go on a diet. How many times have you or someone you know said “I really need to go on a diet.” Probably more then you or I would like to admit. The reason I dislike the word “diet” is because when you say “diet” you actually mean “I’m going to eat right for about a month and then when I lose some weight I’m going to just eat normal again.” It is a finite word that implies an end. I know because I used to be guilty of this type of yoyo dieting myself. Guilt however, is a strong word when in fact full blame cannot be placed on the individual alone. Everywhere we turn we see the latest diet scheme that will make you drop ten pounds instantly (insert skinny Photo shopped image here). Ignore these falsities; because believe it or not the first step to clean eating takes place in your mind not your kitchen. For instance, what I attempt to do with all of my clientele is first change their perspectives by helping them realize their true motivations. We eat healthy because we actually want to be healthy, as opposed to meeting some limited standard of beauty. Think of the imagery the word diet produces. Rows upon rows of magazine covers in the grocery store checkout line with DIET boldly displayed across the nameless chiseled physiques that smile at us and judge every item we place on the conveyer belt. It is unrealistic and thus designed to fail.

Now that we realized “diet” is a bad word in my house, let’s discuss clean eating. Weight loss is just a side effect of eating clean and cutting out all the processed foods that are currently making people sick. These foods include all processed foods, genetically modified foods, and beverages laced with sugar (in all its sneaky forms). Now pay attention to this next line because it is important- IF THE LABEL SAYS HEALTHY IT DOES NOT MAKE IT HEALTHY.

To find out if food is healthy, as in nutritionally dense, void of processed GMO’s, only contains ingredients your grandparents are familiar with, simply look to the ingredients. We tend to look at the nutrition label and see how many calories or grams of fat we are about to consume. This can be important information, but it is all ancillary if the ingredients are all synthesized. When you look at the ingredients label it really should just say water and whatever whole ingredient it may contain, such as dates or chicken. Not maltodextrin and about 30 other words that have 8 syllables and a page of descriptions. The main rule of thumb is, if you cannot grow it in your backyard or raise it in a barn, do not eat it.

I show a lot of my clients how to survive in the average shopping centers and local farmers markets and the answers are quite simple. Make all of your own food from scratch. It is cheaper and vastly more nutritionally sound to make your own food, from energy bars to condiments. Everything you buy packaged is extremely easy to make yourself. This way you can ensure your food in not being produced on an assembly line and you know precisely what you’re putting in it, down to the exact amount. Yes, this does take more time and more effort to eat this way but in 20 years from now when you’re not in a hospital with diabetes or heart disease you will be glad you took that extra hour a week to make everything from scratch. Maybe take one day out of the week or a half of a day to prepare your meals. At my house, Sunday is cook day. You can even get the kids involved. We’re living in the age where you can easily look up recipes with the press of your mouse. Stop dieting and make clean eating a part of your daily regimen and you will be able to start living the life you have always wanted to live.

By: Joe Dymnioski Edited By: Jessica Cortese

Cardiovascular Training: The Best Way to Lose Muscle

Thu, 13 Feb 2014 22:25:32 +0100

Cardiovascular Training: The Best Way to Lose Muscle

Currently, there are many claims of weight loss with false promises and brand new products on the market right now. Not only are these messages confusing, sometimes offering contradictory or abstract information, but they are outright overwhelming. The reason there is such an abundant amount of information available, is because getting healthy has become a fad. Like wild fire, business and supermarkets quickly jumped on the healthy bandwagon, making “health food” claims on anything from chicken nuggets to brownies. These sneaky marketing tactics make it difficult for people to decipher healthy from pseudo healthy. That is why I am here, the whole reason I got into the fitness business in the first place is because I want to help people make the healthiest decisions possible. Many people who are looking to get into shape consult the great and powerful GOOGLE machine; some of the top searches being: “best foods to gain muscle” or to “eat.” Seriously, go look. The main problem, of course, is everyone wants to claim new and improved methods and most are misleading. Obviously not everyone in the fitness world is this way, but most of the advertising and claims you see are not from people in the fitness world. That’s why I want to help you weed through all the nonsense. For today’s article I will focus on the myth that the best way to lose weight is cardiovascular training, such as the treadmill and elliptical.

Even though people do see some weight loss on these machine it does not even come close to the best ways to burn fat. Now people need to keep in mind everyone has different goals and different reason for exercising. With that in mind if you are not moving correctly because of tight muscles or painful joints these machines are not right for you. Think of it this way if your car has problems with its tires or more importantly the engine, are you going to get the same gas mileage out of it? If you guessed no you’re correct, you will not because the car is not running efficiently. Same goes for your body if your joints and muscles are tight and you’re not burning calories properly then you will end up working a lot harder to reach the same goal as someone who is efficiently moving and burning calories. To burn calories efficiently you not only need to be exercising correctly but eating clean as well, I will go into more depth on this topic in an upcoming article.

With all this in mind there have been a lot of studies showing the adverse effects of over training on cardiovascular equipment without following any kind of strength training regimen. Put simply if you’re constantly running on a treadmill or even outside, especially for extended periods of time. You’re body will run out of the fuel it is using and start to use muscle, and proteins for fuel. At the same time since you are not following any type of strength training the muscles will become weak and tight. Tight and weak muscles will eventually lead to incorrect movement patterns and painful joints. A quick way to picture this is to look up pictures of marathon runners. Now keep in mind if he or she is a marathon runner that’s great if that is the goal and the body has been trained to run marathons. The body adapts to how one trains, but with that said if you are not strength training you will not be running many marathons. Some marathon runners that are not following a strength training regimen are extremely skinny with very little muscle mass. This is what happens when you do a lot of cardiovascular endurance training without any type of strength training.

What is the best type of training to lose the most amount of fat and not lose all your muscle? The answer is a combination of short intense metabolic training such as sprinting, and interval training. As well as strength training such as kettle bell training, barbell training, or just lifting up heavy things properly and putting them down properly. Even types of body weight training are extremely efficient. I will explain this in a different article as well. Before when I asked you to look up a picture of a marathon runner, ok now take that picture and compare it to a picture of a sprinter. Notice the sprinter has a very different build. They have bigger legs and calves, most have a six pack and on top of that they are extremely fit. The main reason being the sprinter is not only training his cardiovascular system but also his musculature system. These intense burst of energy not only help you lose weight but build muscle as well, hence the difference of appearance in the sprinter compared to the marathon runner. This is very relateable inside the gym as well. Someone that is only always training one system such as musculature endurance will not be as well rounded as someone training in endurance, strength, flexibility, and power.

I’m sure you have heard that the more muscle you put on your body the more calories your body burns on its own. Now this does not necessarily mean you’re going to get huge muscles if you strength train and use interval training. Gaining big bulky muscles are a preference, and take an extremely vigorous nutritional program. So for most people this is just going to give you more dense lean muscles and a reduced amount of body fat. The point being if you train to gain dense lean muscle you will not only burn fat when you sprint, but also when your body sleeps and recovers. If you are just running you will only burn calories when you run, and for the most part you will lose muscle and burn less calories throughout the day. If you are interested in a more in depth look at why this is please email me or message me and id be more than happy to go into that with you.

Example Routine

Warm up

Jog in place High Knees for one minute

Metabolic Training

Interval 30 seconds work 15 seconds rest

Mountain Climbers

Inch worm + Pushups

Goblet Squats

Lateral Hurdle Jumps

Joe Dymnioski Edited by Jessica Cortese

Kettlebells Give Amazing Results

Tue, 07 Aug 2012 14:25:58 +0100

Kettlebells have become somewhat of a buzzword in the fitness industry these days and are even carried by such retailers as Dicks Sporting Goods and Target -- but rest assured they’re not some fly-by-night fitness trend or gimmicky gadget that will come and go like the vibrating belt which claimed to "shake the fat off of you". No Comrades, the Russian kettlebell has been around for hundreds of years and is here to stay…and for good reason.

The kettlebell, which may seem intimidating or somewhat crude in appearance, is as effective as any piece of strength equipment at developing a lean body, incinerating unwanted body fat, and boosting your cardiovascular conditioning to unprecedented levels. A handheld gym that requires very little space, yet produces far greater results than the monotonous routines of a big box, commercial gym filled with glitzy machines and fern plants. No more wasted hours trudging away on the treadmill. No more wasted time bouncing around the gym from machine to machine wondering what’s actually working. No more wasted money paying some personal trainer to count your reps on the latest piece of high-tech equipment. With this one small piece of equipment and just a few square feet of space, you can develop a level of conditioning that is far superior to that achieved through the use of treadmills and space age-looking exercise machines.

So why should you consider using kettlebells?

I'd love to give you the simple answer "because they work" since I've seen the results first-hand, but I'll give you my top 5 list and then you can decide for yourself.

1. Fat Loss

Kettlebells are extremely effective for shedding body fat for a couple of reasons. Kettlebell training, coupled with proper nutrition, increases your lean muscle mass which, in turn, boosts your metabolism so that you burn calories even while resting. Lean muscle tissue is like your body's furnace that burns calories and bodyfat, and by adding more of it you'll be reshaping your body rather than just "losing weight,” which is a deceiving goal in the first place.

In addition to building lean muscle mass, which leads to increased fat loss, the demanding nature of kettlebells also stimulate a metabolic condition known as EPOC (excessive post-exercise oxygen consumption). EPOC is sometimes referred to in strength and conditioning circles as the "afterburn" effect, a term coined by performance enhancement coach Alwyn Cosgrove. Following a kettlebell workout, your body is working hard to restore itself to your pre-exercise state, which includes replenishing energy stores, re-oxygenating your blood, restoring circulatory hormones, returning your body to its normal core temperature, and removing lactic acid. This metabolic activity causes a spike in oxygen consumption as well as elevated energy expenditure. Simply put, EPOC boosts your metabolism and you continue to burn calories long after your workout is complete. You do not stimulate this metabolic activity with low intensity weight training or aerobic activity such as walking on a treadmill.

2. Combine Strength Training with Cardio

One of the huge bonuses of kettlebell training is the fact that you can kill two birds with one stone. Kettlebells give you the ability to combine strength training with cardio, and not the type of cardio that is performed while watching CNN or texting on your cell phone. By using kettlebells to perform complexes, circuits, interval training, tabata protocols, etc. you are training the body as a unit rather than a collection of body parts. This type of training has a huge metabolic cost due to the demanding nature of compound, multi-joint movements.

3. Time Efficient

Everybody is on the go these days with the world moving at break-neck speed…or at least it seems that way at times. Time is a valuable commodity and I don't believe in wasting one minute of it with useless training. Like many of you, I've got a full-time job, work as a kettlebell instructor by night and some mornings, and have a turbo-charged, two year old son so I understand all about a busy schedule. As I stated in reason# 2, kettlebells allow you to combine strength training and cardio into the same workout which gives you more bang for your buck. No more separating cardio days from strength training days. Kettlebells are excellent for giving you a ferociously intense workout in as little as 20 minutes.
By structuring workouts to include total body movements, you can work every major muscle group in half the time you would spend waiting for equipment or being distracted by the social crowd that frequents today’s fitness centers. I've seen numerous people change their physique and body composition in as little as three training sessions per week using only kettlebells—as little as three hours.

4. Portable and Easy to Store

Another major benefit is the fact that kettlebells are extremely portable and easy to store. You can take them anywhere you go and they require very little space. You can literally get a complete workout with a little as one kettlebell. When I know I'm limited on time, I toss one or two kettlebells in my truck and get a quick workout during my lunch break in an unused parking lot nearby. Travel for your job? Going on vacation and still want to workout? Problem solved! Just throw in a kettlebell and workout anytime, anywhere….a parking lot or the beach for that matter. And don’t worry about people looking at you oddly for working out with round hunk of iron…they’ll wish they were as well-conditioned as you!!

5. The Kettlebell Does Not Discriminate

It doesn't matter whether you’re male or female, the kettlebell does not discriminate. It dishes out punishment equally and delivers results. Period. The kettlebell forges a lean, muscular physique in both men and women while boosting your strength and supercharging your cardiovascular conditioning. I haven't personally seen one case, male or female, where kettlebell training hasn't helped trainees shed bodyfat and get in top shape, all without spending hours at the gym on those boring, time-wasting treadmills. Kettlebells trim the waistline, build well-defined shoulders, chisel lean arms, develop muscular legs, and forge abs strong enough to stop a bullet…if safety, consistency, and intensity form the foundation of your workouts.

Don't waste anymore time wondering if they're for you or only elite athletes, law enforcement officers, military personnel, etc. I'm here to tell you that kettlebell training is for anybody, male or female, that wants to transform their physique and improve their fitness level without endless hours spent at a gym. Don’t waste anymore time on those wonder gadgets and high-tech equipment. Act now and get in the best shape of your life…in half the time!

Exercise Blog

Sat, 21 Jul 2012 21:09:47 +0100