The end of January will soon be upon us and you need to ask yourself one simple question - are you on track to reach your health and fitness goals for this new year? If not, don't worry (be happy) you can start right now! Here's how. This is the year that your in control. You may not be able to control some things (i.e. economy) but you can control how you look and feel. Follow my 5 simple rules and you will start to see a change in the way you look and feel.
1. SUFFICIENT SLEEP: work on getting 7-8 hours of sleep a night. Notice the word work.
2. DRINK MORE WATER: drink 2 large glasses of water when you wake up. This will help jump start your metabolism.
3. EAT BREAKFAST: never - I mean never - skip breakfast. No excuses! Think of breakfast as "food for fuel" to get you started for the day.
4. ELMO (Eat Little Meals Often): eat 4-6 smaller meals throughout the day. This will help to maintain optimal energy levels during the day and avoid low blood sugar mid-afternoon.
5. INCREASE EXERCISE: a minimum of 30-minutes most days of the week, especially strength training! The intensity level should be moderate to high intensity - enough to really make you sweat! "If your not sweating your not working hard enough."
Here is additional information on my 5 rules.
1. Sleep - it all starts here. If your not getting sufficient amounts of sleep you will not have the energy to workout. Think about all the late nights you've had and the extra calories that come with those late nights. YOUR ACTION PLAN: Avoiding late nights (this week) will decrease your overall caloric intake for the week. Also, here is a book you should read, The Promise of Sleep by William Dement, MD.
2. Water - your muscles are made up of approximately 72% water -you need it - drink it - if your exercising for 60 min. or less no need for sports drinks - water will do (avoid the extra calories). If your exercise is more intense, and your working out for 60, 90, 120 minutes - a sports drink may be necessary. One study that I looked at showed that drinking 16 oz. of water - first thing in the morning - increased metabolism by 29% for the three hours. Remember this about metabolism - Your metabolism is determined by gender, age, amount of muscle you have compared to body fat and the amount of exercise you do on a regular basis. Male's rates are higher than females because of testosterone levels (source: Ask the Dietitian). YOUR ACTION PLAN: Drink 2 glasses of water tomorow morning before you eat or drink anything!
3-4. Food -when I think of the meals that I will have on a particular day, I think largest to smallest. My largest meal of the day will be breakfast and the meals (in terms of total calories) will become smaller throughout the day. Your smallest meal should be dinner. Your lunch should contain about 25% of your total calories for that day. The problem with most people is that they skip breakfast and have a big dinner. YOUR ACTION PLAN: I want you to try to eat every three hours and see how you feel. For example, breakfast (7 AM), snack (10 AM), lunch (1 PM), snack (3:30 PM), dinner (6:30). After dinner try flossing and then brushing your teeth and call it quits on calories for the rest of the evening.
5. Exercise - the #1 reason why most people do not exercise is lack of time. So if you need to take a 15-minute walk or run at lunch, do a 30-minute Koko strength workout after lunch or a 20-minute body weight circuit before dinner - do so. You can break it up throughout the day - whatever it takes do it! Just be consistent. What I'm doing for the month of Jan. is a minimum of 30 min./day (see previous blog posts for ideas). YOUR ACTION PLAN: Exercise every other day this week.
If these 5 tips become "in-grained in your brain" for the next 4-weeks I guarantee that you will look and feel better! Remember, the key with exercise and following these "action plans" is to make it part of your day.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Koko FitClub Story in Patriot Ledger
The Patriot Ledger ran a nice story today on Mike Lannon (photo) and Mary Obana on how they developed the Koko FitClub franchise system. To read the full story click Patriot Ledger.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Week 2
Monday - today starts the second (full) week of training. The goal is simple: try to do some type of activity that gets you moving, raises your heart rate and burns calories each day of the week for the month of Jan. For this first month, it can be exercising, shoveling snow, walking the dog or going for a run - it doesn't matter at this point. Our goal is to simply get you moving on a consistent basis and to make exercise a HABIT. Today's workout consisted of some biking and rowing followed by a 30:00 strength workout on the Smartrainer.
Tuesday - My goal today was to do three different cardio workouts lasting 10:00 each. My goal was to go at a good clip on each. I started off on the bike followed by the rower and then went to my basement on my treadmill. Of the three 10:00 splits - the rower was the best overall workout. In 10:00 I rowed 2377 meters and averaged between 28-32 spm and finished with a heart rate of 150 bpm. Wednesday - Tonight was a 5:00 warm-up on the bike to literally get "warm" - it was only 26-degrees in the garage at 6:30 PM - my strength workout consisted of a session on the Smartrainer that lasted 28:32 - and I finally got back on track scoring a 1000 points for the workout. This is accomplished by getting 100% pace scores on each set that you (among other things). Need to focus more on the nutritional side of things for the rest of the month. One thing that I will start to do for the rest of the month is limit my intake in the evening, especially after 8 PM when I know my metabolism begins to slow down. Since I'm trying to drop a few pounds I simply need to take in less calories and expend more calories on a daily basis (more to come on this topic).
Thursday - was a busy day (Julia had a hoop game and we ate out) and as a result I ended up doing a late workout (9:15 PM) in my basement on the treadmill, it was just too cold to workout in the garage. Ended up doing a 30:00 hill protocol. My weight has dropped a few pounds and the key for me is eliminating any extra calories post dinner. Friday through Sunday - Due to schedule and weather I ended up working out three nights in a row on the treadmill. Also had a couple of good body-weight circuit sessions in the garage. All treadmill workouts (including one that was started at 11:10 PM) involved a hill protocol that increased 1% per minute up to 15% incline and then back down following a similiar format. At my body weight (242 lbs) this resulted in about 375 calories expended for a 30 minute protocol. Starting to see a shift in body composition, body wt. has decreased five pounds.
Tuesday - My goal today was to do three different cardio workouts lasting 10:00 each. My goal was to go at a good clip on each. I started off on the bike followed by the rower and then went to my basement on my treadmill. Of the three 10:00 splits - the rower was the best overall workout. In 10:00 I rowed 2377 meters and averaged between 28-32 spm and finished with a heart rate of 150 bpm. Wednesday - Tonight was a 5:00 warm-up on the bike to literally get "warm" - it was only 26-degrees in the garage at 6:30 PM - my strength workout consisted of a session on the Smartrainer that lasted 28:32 - and I finally got back on track scoring a 1000 points for the workout. This is accomplished by getting 100% pace scores on each set that you (among other things). Need to focus more on the nutritional side of things for the rest of the month. One thing that I will start to do for the rest of the month is limit my intake in the evening, especially after 8 PM when I know my metabolism begins to slow down. Since I'm trying to drop a few pounds I simply need to take in less calories and expend more calories on a daily basis (more to come on this topic).
Thursday - was a busy day (Julia had a hoop game and we ate out) and as a result I ended up doing a late workout (9:15 PM) in my basement on the treadmill, it was just too cold to workout in the garage. Ended up doing a 30:00 hill protocol. My weight has dropped a few pounds and the key for me is eliminating any extra calories post dinner. Friday through Sunday - Due to schedule and weather I ended up working out three nights in a row on the treadmill. Also had a couple of good body-weight circuit sessions in the garage. All treadmill workouts (including one that was started at 11:10 PM) involved a hill protocol that increased 1% per minute up to 15% incline and then back down following a similiar format. At my body weight (242 lbs) this resulted in about 375 calories expended for a 30 minute protocol. Starting to see a shift in body composition, body wt. has decreased five pounds.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Recent Workouts
Sunday - an easy hour of exercise (outdoors)
Monday - warm-up/performed a strength test on the Smartrainer (see below). I am starting a new 8-week Functional Fitness program that I developed. Session 1, 12 and 24 are strength test in the 32 exercise programs we've developed for the Smartrainer.
Tuesday - easy warm-up on rower and bike in addition to a 5:00 dynamic warm-up. This was followed with a routine on the Rower and Bike that looked like this:
Bike
4:00 @ 100W
3:00 @ 150W
2:00 @ 200W
1:00 @ 300+
Rower
4:00 @ damping 4
3:00 @ D5
2:00 @ D6
1:00 @ D7
each stage consisted of 4:00 on bike immediately followed by 4:00 on rower, a recovery period and then repeated for 3, 2 and 1:00 stages. On the rower I stayed between 28-30 spm for each stage.
You could use a specific heart rate for each stage if you like - keep in mind these programs are used as your template only - you know your body best - work as hard as your fitness level allows you too - it depends on your goals. Our goal for this month is to make exercise a habit. We are going a minimum of 30:00 each day. If your new to working out then you should try to get about 3-4 sessions in a week.
Monday - warm-up/performed a strength test on the Smartrainer (see below). I am starting a new 8-week Functional Fitness program that I developed. Session 1, 12 and 24 are strength test in the 32 exercise programs we've developed for the Smartrainer.
Tuesday - easy warm-up on rower and bike in addition to a 5:00 dynamic warm-up. This was followed with a routine on the Rower and Bike that looked like this:
Bike
4:00 @ 100W
3:00 @ 150W
2:00 @ 200W
1:00 @ 300+
Rower
4:00 @ damping 4
3:00 @ D5
2:00 @ D6
1:00 @ D7
each stage consisted of 4:00 on bike immediately followed by 4:00 on rower, a recovery period and then repeated for 3, 2 and 1:00 stages. On the rower I stayed between 28-30 spm for each stage.
You could use a specific heart rate for each stage if you like - keep in mind these programs are used as your template only - you know your body best - work as hard as your fitness level allows you too - it depends on your goals. Our goal for this month is to make exercise a habit. We are going a minimum of 30:00 each day. If your new to working out then you should try to get about 3-4 sessions in a week.
Wednesday - I did a 30:00 strength program on the Koko Smartrainer (session 2/24). Thursday - After a warm-up I did a circuit using body weight and dumbbells - similar to the workout seen above. Friday - My workout this morning included a 30:00 Hill protocol on the treadmill (level 9) followed by some stretching. My goal is to drop 10 pounds - so I need to focus more on caloric intake and limit my calories after dinner - because it's just not happening - as I tell me clients - focus 60% on nutrition and 40% on exercise - need to listen to my own advice - it works! Saturday - An easy 6:00 warm-up and then two rounds of body weight circuit. Sunday - My workout on Sun. morning consisted of shoveling snow - total time 52:00.
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Day 2 and 3
(Fri. afternoon) Today's workout was focused more on keeping my heart rate elevated via the cardio equipment that I have compared to what was posted for "Day 1." The workout started with 10:00 on the bike followed by 5:00 of dynamic warm-up. By this point I'm starting to actually get my body warm (it's 32 degrees in the garage today...I know, better than yesterday). I'm now ready for a little rowing on my Concept II erg. and did an easy 5:00 at D6 for 1180 meters. This was followed by some interval work on the bike. I did an an 8:00 piece on the bike that used a 1:1 work to rest ratio meaning I worked hard (high heart rate) for a certain amount of time, in this case it was for 1:00 followed by 1:00 of easy riding (recovery). This was performed - you guessed it 4x - my 1:00 of work reached to 300+ watts on the bike - you could also use heart rate if you like or a specific watt or rpm range. Think less about target heart rate zone training (steady state) and more about interval training because we are working out for only 30:00. The amount of time, as well as the (work/rest) ratio, can obviously change depending on your goal.
I finished the workout with 3x10 (3 sets of 10 reps) of chest press and biceps curl on the Koko Smartrainer. Each subsequent set was roughly 40 lbs heavier. Total time: 35:00 (work + recovery).
Please read this NY Times story to get a better understanding on how to become more effecient with your time when working out.
(Sat. morning) Have you ever had a workout where you experienced that "exercise high" often refereed to a "runner's high"? Well, I had one this morning. Great session. Could of been because what I had on my iPod = new Cold Play album - FREE download. Anyway, started off with pushing an inch or so of light snow off the driveway and back patio (15:00+) followed by 7:00 on the bike. Today's Circuit looked like this:
(1st Circuit - all circuits perform with no rest between exercises)
1. DB Step-up (use one 30 lb. DB x 6 reps.)
2. Pull-ups x 6 (using a TRX device)
3. Push-ups x 6
4. Bird Dog x 6
5. Ab Slide x 6 (using an Ab Slide - see photo below)
6. DB Push Press x 30 x 6
7. DB Biceps Curl x 6
8. Triceps Pushdown x 6
(2nd Circuit)
1. DB Step-up (use two 30 lbs DB x 8)
2. Pull-ups x 8
3. Push-ups x 8
4. Bird Dog x 8
5. Ab Slide x 8
6. DB Squat to Press 30 x 6 (note: exercise progression)
7. DB Curl 30 x 8
8. Triceps Pushdown x 8
(3rd circuit)
1. DB Step-up
2. Pull-ups x 10
3. Push-ups x 10
4. Bird Dog x 10
5. Ab Slide x 10
6. DB Squat to Press 30 x 10
7. DB Curl x 10
8. Triceps Pushdown x 10
(time: 31:00)
note: I increased weight whenever possible. If your a beginner this could be a body weight circuit. A beginner would also use recovery time between each exc. more advanced = no rest between exc. If your more advanced, increase load, wear a weight-vest, perform 30-60-90 sec. of aerobic exc between exc. - you get the picture).
I finished the workout with 3x10 (3 sets of 10 reps) of chest press and biceps curl on the Koko Smartrainer. Each subsequent set was roughly 40 lbs heavier. Total time: 35:00 (work + recovery).
Please read this NY Times story to get a better understanding on how to become more effecient with your time when working out.
(Sat. morning) Have you ever had a workout where you experienced that "exercise high" often refereed to a "runner's high"? Well, I had one this morning. Great session. Could of been because what I had on my iPod = new Cold Play album - FREE download. Anyway, started off with pushing an inch or so of light snow off the driveway and back patio (15:00+) followed by 7:00 on the bike. Today's Circuit looked like this:
(1st Circuit - all circuits perform with no rest between exercises)
1. DB Step-up (use one 30 lb. DB x 6 reps.)
2. Pull-ups x 6 (using a TRX device)
3. Push-ups x 6
4. Bird Dog x 6
5. Ab Slide x 6 (using an Ab Slide - see photo below)
6. DB Push Press x 30 x 6
7. DB Biceps Curl x 6
8. Triceps Pushdown x 6
(2nd Circuit)
1. DB Step-up (use two 30 lbs DB x 8)
2. Pull-ups x 8
3. Push-ups x 8
4. Bird Dog x 8
5. Ab Slide x 8
6. DB Squat to Press 30 x 6 (note: exercise progression)
7. DB Curl 30 x 8
8. Triceps Pushdown x 8
(3rd circuit)
1. DB Step-up
2. Pull-ups x 10
3. Push-ups x 10
4. Bird Dog x 10
5. Ab Slide x 10
6. DB Squat to Press 30 x 10
7. DB Curl x 10
8. Triceps Pushdown x 10
(time: 31:00)
note: I increased weight whenever possible. If your a beginner this could be a body weight circuit. A beginner would also use recovery time between each exc. more advanced = no rest between exc. If your more advanced, increase load, wear a weight-vest, perform 30-60-90 sec. of aerobic exc between exc. - you get the picture).
Thursday, January 1, 2009
It All Begins With Day 1
Today's goal: for you to find the time to "fit in fitness." All you need is 30 minutes today. I have received a lot of emails from people asking if they can break up the 30 minutes into two-fifteen or three-ten minute workouts over the course of their day and the answer is YES. There is research out there that shows 3 ten-minute bouts of exercise can be as effective as one thirty minute ssession. My first session of the new year consisted of 20-minutes of shoveling snow (warm-up) followed by a 35-minute session in my garage (yes, it was a bit cold today 26-degrees inside where it's typically 40-degrees). Anyway, after an easy warm-up of 5 min. on the bike and 5 min. on the rowing machines (1100 meters, damping set at 6) and an abbreviated dynamic warm-up, I was ready to go. I ended up doing just two rounds of a circuit program using mainly body weight and some light dumbbells (this circuit was similar to a previous post - see below). I had half a GO Drink post workout followed by 15-min. in the hot tub, yes that was the best part of the workout! I'm hoping this picture of of Mr. Jack LaLanne, who is now 94 years old, will inspire you to find the time to workout today.
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