Collected Fitness Wisdom #48

Just because your new workout program didn't give you the body of a champion during the first three weeks, doesn't mean it's not working. Health and fitness are lifelong endeavors there are no quick fixes here, so be patient and give your new program the time it requires to get you some appreciable results.

~ Sean Keats



I Don’t Have Time

Ah, one of the most popular excuses. Do you have time for you significant other? Do you have time to watch TV? If so, then you have time to do whatever you want. You only don’t have the time if it is something you don’t want to do. If you want to do it, you will always find the time.

~ Erik Rokeach



I'm always getting asked how to lose weight from a certain problem area, but no matter where you want to target, the answer is the same: Spot reduction doesn't work. If the Booty Blaster on TV promises that you'll lose inches off your rear, it's lying! There is no way to slim down, lose water weight or trim inches from a specific area of the body just by working that body part. If you have body fat that is hiding your muscles, only a calorie-controlled diet combined with a sound exercise program (that also burns calories via cardio) will solve the problem.

~ Jennipher Walters




I want to throw myself out the window when I see the things they do on The Biggest Loser. I’m worried about doing a proper squat and they have these people running sprints and doing box jumps.

~ Mike Boyle

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Happy Mother's Day!

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Dump The Crunch

Did you know that according to Men's Health magazine, it takes more than 22,000 crunches to burn a single pound of belly fat?

Regardless of what celebrity does 500 crunches a day, it will not get you a flat stomach or a six pack. Plus, crunches can be bad for your neck and back.

So, dump the crunch.

What should you do instead?

Try this scientifically-formulated metabolic resistance abs program from Men's Health fitness expert, Craig Ballantyne. You can save money and get abs at home or at the gym using his Turbulence Training Abs Program

Until tomorrow (Thursday, May 10th), you can get Craig's complete 12-week abs blueprint for just $7. It even includes his legendary "Abs 300" workout challenge.

Check it out at ==> Turbulence Training Abs Program

But hurry, crazy Craig is only promising the solution until Thursday, May 10th at midnight.

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Workout for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital - Saturday, May 12th

Mark your calendar and join me for a fun and challenging group workout session.

Please spread the word among your friends, family, neighbors and co-workers.

Donation is $20 or $20 or more in sponsor donations. Sponsor sheets are available at Body & Soul Fitness Studio if you need one.

If you can't work out with us, please consider being a sponsor.

The workout will last approximately 45 minutes, including warmup and cooldown.

All fitness levels are invited. Exercises will be adapted or substituted, as necessary. Anyone 12 and older is welcome to participate.

 
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to call me.

Mickey Glick
Owner, Body & Soul Fitness Studio
618 Columbia Avenue, Lancaster
(717) 509-7777

Plenty of free parking

 
All proceeds benefit St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, where no child is ever turned away due to parental inability to pay and no family is billed for services not paid by insurance.

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Do It Now

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Muscle Does Not Weigh More Than Fat

People often say "muscle weighs more than fat". Obviously, that's not true. A pound is a pound. What they mean is that a pound of muscle is denser and takes up less space than a pound of fat. So, you could lose fat, gain muscle, and stay the same weight but get smaller because you've reduced inches.

Don't get hung up on the scale. Gauge your progress by how many inches you've dropped and how your clothes fit. Here's some visuals...

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Water: The Magic Elixir For Health And Fat Loss

I've written about the health and fat loss benefits of proper hydration before but here's another trainer explaining the importance of water.


Water: It's Not Boring
By Jini Cicero, CSCS

I graduated from high school in 19XX.  The actual year isn’t important (I keep telling myself.)  That year, our yearbook was titled “It’s the Water.”  I remember thinking to myself at the time, “what water?”  Our school wasn’t located near a beach, lake, river or other waterway so why was water so important that it had to be our yearbook’s theme?  I never found out why it was chosen for The Quixotion that year.  It might have just been a random title for the Agoura High School yearbook but I actually wondered about that for years.

Time went on and I couldn’t read anything health related, any fitness book, magazine, or news story without hearing about the importance of water. Most articles touched on keys points such as how important staying hydrated is to your health, or the fact that our muscles are 75% water, or that a person can live theoretically, weeks without food but only days without water.  Eventually, I came to believe there was nothing more I needed to know about water thank you very much.

Then I entered the fitness industry and learned a bit more; no, a lot more about the importance of drinking water.  I jumped on the trainer bandwagon preaching to clients the importance of drinking a minimum of eight 8 ounce glasses of purified spring water every day.  I’d step off my soapbox to the groans of my clients protesting, "I hate water; it’s so…boring."  Or, "can’t I at least have diet soda?"

"At least?" I wondered?  At-least-can-I-destroy-my-bones-with-phosphoric-acid-and-leave-my-body-craving-the-sugar-it didn’t-get-when-it-tasted-"sweet"-in-that-diet-soda?" No, you can’t.  Sodas (of any kind), juices, fruit, coffee, tea, anything wet, or anything with calories, is not water.  Water stands alone.

In the same way you’ll never smoke cigarettes once you learn what it does to your body, you will want to drink water all the time, when you learn what it does for your body-inside and out.  For example, when people become more serious about getting in shape; beyond the general health benefits of exercise, it is usually because they want to achieve one or both of the following goals: lose fat and/or gain muscle. Drinking water plays a big role in achieving both-not to mention maintaining general health and proper immune-system function, water’s anti-aging potential and more.  If you think water is important to your muscles because they are 75% water, know that our brains are 80% water and each of the five components of fitness: cardiovascular endurance, muscle strength, muscle endurance, flexibility, and body composition require neurological reactions which rely on a brain that is properly hydrated, not to mention the water these five elements require for proper performance.

How does water actually get into the brain and other tissues?  Water molecules enter our cells through one of three processes: diffusion (think of what happens when a single drop of food coloring is released into a bowl of still water), movement of water molecules through special channels that bring it into the cell, and through osmosis.  You might remember the term osmosis from high school biology.  It refers to the passage of water from an area of high concentration to one with a lower concentration. 

These processes are based ideally, on pure water, as opposed to water that has had anything added to it. In their book Water: Hydrate for Health, authors William Holloway and William Sickert state “…adding any substance to water-coffee, tea, sugar, flavorings, colors, proteins-decreases the concentration of the water molecules and lessens the pressure required for osmosis to occur which, in turn, reduces absorption.  That’s why it’s important to drink pure water.”  According to Holloway and Sickert, the fewer the additives, the more pure the water and the higher the “osmotic pressure;” setting the stage for the best possible hydration. 

Staying hydrated is nothing less than a law of healthy living as dehydration forces your body to work overtime in order to survive. Consider this:

•    In 37% of Americans, the thirst mechanism is so weak that it is often mistaken for hunger.
•    A 3% loss in the volume of water in the body causes fatigue and even organ dysfunction. A 10% loss can be life threatening.
•    Even mild dehydration will slow down metabolism as much as 3%.
•    One glass of water shuts down midnight hunger pangs in almost 100% of dieters studied.
•    Lack of water is the number one trigger of daytime fatigue.
•    A 2% drop in body water can trigger fuzzy short-term memory, trouble with basic math and difficulty focusing.

Water is necessary for every biochemical reaction that occurs within every cell in the human body. Here are just a few of the things that water can do for you:

•    Water is critical to the health and youthful appearance of our skin.
•    It helps control appetite, assists with processes that metabolize fat and helps lessen fluid retention by relieving the body’s need to hold onto water.
•    Flushes out toxins that are stored in fat tissue and released into the bloodstream when fat is metabolized.
•    Improves energy metabolism.
•    Lubricates joints (research indicates that 8-10 glasses of water a day could significantly ease back and joint pain for up to 80% of sufferers.)
•    Serves as a way to bring vitamins, minerals and other nutrients into cells and assists with digestion, absorption, transportation and use of those nutrients.
•    Ensures the elimination of toxins and wastes.
•    Contributes to proper body temperature and energy production.

With benefits like these, why aren’t we all drinking more water?  Because…water is boring (say some.) 

Enter the marketers.  Always prepared to “find a need and fill it,” marketers advise manufacturers to produce “tastier” water. Rocker and “extreme” marketing genius Gene Simmons of KISS fame once told me, “The most brilliant marketing concept ever created was to put water in a bottle and sell it.” (He probably sells bottled KISS water.)

Today, supermarket shelves are packed with water-like alternatives from pH balanced water, water with added electrolytes, sugary sports drinks and their alter-ego artificially-sweetened sugary sports drinks.  These drinks (“formerly” considered water) contain fructose, corn syrup, crystalline fructose, sucralose, sugar and/or salt and will deliver about 30‐50 calories per 8 ounces serving (with typically 2 servings per container). If they aren’t loaded with sugars, then they have added artificial sweeteners, some of which have been found to be dangerous.

What about tap water?  If you’re thinking “that stuff can kill you!” you’re not alone.  Strangely enough, purified tap water can be the highest quality water you can drink-expensive yes, but worth it. There are basic water purification systems that screw into your kitchen faucet, and comprehensive systems that attach to your home’s water main, bringing cleaner, purer water to drink and bathe in than you could ever buy in the supermarket-and without the plastic bottles to add to the landfills. Consider using a stainless steel water bottle as many plastics, when warmed by the sun, are toxic.

Still think you need some type of flavoring?  Try these healthy additions:

•    Lemon or lime and mint
•    Lemon and rosemary or powdered cayenne
•    Spearmint, fennel or marjoram (crush slightly to release natural flavors)
•    Orange and ginger
•    Cucumber and mint
•    Lemon, lime, grapefruit & orange
•    Kiwi
•    White Tea (diluted 3x)
•    Tangerine and vanilla (unsweetened extract)
•    Cinnamon, nutmeg & ginger (use cinnamon sticks, ginger slices and freshly ground nutmeg, boil for 1 minute and dilute by 4x.)

How much water do you really need?  Think of your body weight in ounces, divide that number in half, and that is roughly the amount of water you should be drinking each day (although experts disagree on just how much water should be consumed on a daily basis.)  For example, if you weigh 150 pounds, you’ll need to drink 75 ounces of purified water each day. That basic amount does not include additional water consumed during exercise, particularly outside in the heat.

If water is so boring that you won’t drink it (beyond the water present in other liquids-that are basically keeping many people alive) how are you going to lubricate your joints? Expel toxins? Reproduce?  Water is the fluid of life and as the saying goes, don’t just survive; thrive!

Sources
William Holloway and William Sickert, Water: Hydrate for Health (Healthy Living Guide)
www.Tuberose.com
 
Jini Cicero, CSCS is a fitness expert and integrative performance coach in Sherman Oaks, CA.

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