The answer might shock you! In this weeks video blog Trainer Pete talks about when you should stretch.
Should you stretch before your workout? Should you stretch after your workout?
Does it matter if you are an athlete or if you are just trying to lose some weight or body fat?
Trainer Pete’s goal is to help you get in the best shape of your life! Whether you want to lose weight, lose body fat, feel better, or just get a quick workout in. Please leave comments/questions/suggestions and I will be happy to talk about them in my next blog
Hi Everyone! I’m back this week to show you the right way to do a Exercise Ball Crunch. Seeing as there are so many people out there that want to lose stomach fat, this exercise is very popular. Let me show you the right way to do it! Remember this is a great exercise to strengthen your abs, but you can’t spot reduce body fat with stomach exercises! Cardio, Strength, and Nutrition must be done
-Make sure your low back is in contact with the ball.
-The closer your hips are to the ground = easier. Further back = harder.
-Make sure your stomach is already flat and contracted to start then lift up a couple inches for the squeeze!
Trainer Pete is back this week to dispell another health and fitness myth:
Are fresh fruits and vegetables better for you than frozen?
Frozen fruits and vegetables tend to have more nutrient density in them. When you buy fresh fruits and vegtables from the grocery store, between storage and shipping, a lot of the time they could have been sitting around for a week or two losing a lot of their nutrient density.
Frozen fruits and vegtables are usually frozen withing 48 hours of being picked and this helps lock in all the good stuff!
Just make sure to watch the ingredients list and make sure that nothing else is added in besides the fruits and vegetables.
Can you spot reduce body fat? Will doing a ton of crunches get rid of stomach fat?
The Myth of Spot reduction is when someone thinks they can do a ton of ab exercises to get rid of body fat on their stomach, a bunch of leg exercises to get rid of body fat on their thighs, or butt exercises to get rid of fat on their butt….you get the idea.
It’s a Multimillion dollar industy for ab, butt, and thigh gadgets cause that’s where most people want to lose the body fat.
Don’t get me wrong exercises for all muscle groups are important it goes back to having more muscle tone will help your body burn more calories, but the plain scientific truth is Muscle cells are muscle cells and fat cells are fat cells and you cant change one to the other.
So when you want to get rid of body fat on one particular area you can’t just exercise that area. You have to burn the body fat off for the muscle to show. You burn the body fat off by doing high intenstity cardio intervals, you change your body to burn more calores thorugh strength training, and you create a calorie deficit by burning more calories throughout the day than you taking in.
Or are you better off working out in the afternoon or evening?
Every once in a while I see a small study done that claims there is a best time of day to workout. Some say the morning is, some say working out in the afternoon is, and some even have said working out at night is best.
In my experiences I find that the bottom line for most people with busy lifestyles is just to fit the workout into your day!
Some people like to workout in the morning to get that boose of energy and to wake them up. Others like to split up their day by working out on their lunch break. Some people love to let the fustrations of their day out with an evening workout.
I have seen people get awesome results working out at all different times of the day. You have to just find out what works best for you.
If you are in a workout rut a tip I like to give is to try different times of the day. If you have been working out in the afternoon for a while try the morning or evening to switch things up a bit. Just switching the time of day could be enough to give you that little change you need to keep pushing through and seeing results!
Learn why strength training is a must for anyone looking to lose weight, lose body fat, and/or get and stay in better shape.
Trainer Pete talks debunks one of the biggest myths in fitness.
Lifting weights and the fear of bulking up.
When it comes to increasing muscle size, testosterone is key.
Men have 20 to 30 times the more testosterone than women, which is why they can bulk up so noticeably.
But for you to look like a bodybuilder, it would require you to doa lot more strength training than the average woman does. You would also have to have some sort of hormone imbalance , either genetic or synthetically induced, as with steroids.
In fact strength training will help you lose weight faster and keep it off in the long run!
The more muscle you have the more calories your body burns. Studies have shown that 1 pound of muscle can burn 40-70 calories at rest while one pound of body fat only burns 3 calories a day.
Thats huge! So the more muscle you have, the more calories your body will burn just a rest without doing anything else!
It is real important to get cardio in and create a calorie deficit to burn the bodyfat over the muscles otherwise you could experience a “bigger” fealing because you have not lost bodyfat and the new muscle you have is pushing out the body fat.
But the main point is that high intensity strength training is key to keeping body fat off in the long run. You can lose a lot of weight with just cardio and diet, but to keep it off you must strength train to turn your body into a calorie burning machiine. And this takes time and effort It’s not going to happen in a week or two so stay focused and consitent!
Well the summer is winding down again, it has been a beautiful one. The weather in new england has been sunny and hot and that means backyard bbq’s and the occasional summer cocktail for me.
Even trainer Pete has to be conscious of calorie intake in the summer. It’s hard to avoid the juicy burgers, steaks and the refreshment of an ice cold beer, but that means we have to put in some extra work, especially since my 30th birthday is right around the corner, yikes!!
Now that the summer is nearing an end it’s time to start blasting away those extra pounds…to help you along I am offering an end of the summer blowout sale. You can now receive 20% off of any of our programs from now until the end of August. Just use the discout code: summer
