Lose that Last 5 Pounds

I was speaking to a large group of people this weekend and one thing I heard from a few attendees was that they were “stuck” trying to lose that last 5 pounds.

If this sounds like you and you need a little push to get the weight loss started again I have a few suggestions for you:

1. Write down your daily meal plan. Take a look to see if you’ve been sneaking a few “extras” in there subconsciously throughout the day. They can really add up over time…

2. I would also see if you can add just 10 more minutes to your workouts. I’m not asking you to put another hour or entire day in at the gym, but rather a few more minutes of high quality work.

3. Relax. Find a way to reduce inflammation and acidity in your body by destressing. You may take a nightly walk or even a yoga class to unwind. A lot of times when you’re stuck trying to lose weight it has to do with your body refusing to lose any more weight because of what is going on internally. Learn to breathe and relax.

I hope these 3 quick tips help and definitely let me know if you have any other suggestions or successes to share!

Bridging Workout for Your Glutes

In my last post I explained how to do a static bridge to strengthen your glutes and posterior chain muscles and today I want to give you a few variations on how to do that exercise:

Static Bridging:
• Hold for 30-60 seconds
• Rest for 60 seconds and repeat 1-2 more times

Dynamic Bridging:
• Lift your hips off the floor and then lower them to 1 inch above the floor completing 10-15 “up and down” repetitions
• Rest for 60 seconds and repeat 1-2 more times

Dynamic Ball Bridging:
• You can use the same form and technique as the static or dynamic bridge except you are keeping a stability ball under your shoulders and head while completing the exercise
• Complete either variation on the ball and then rest for 60 seconds and repeat 1-2 more times
• You can keep your arms by your sides, overhead, or folded across your chest

Enjoy the bridging workouts and feel free to add them to any warm-up or use them at the end of a workout when you’re exercising your ab and core muscles!

Healthy Exercise Tips (part 3)

It's time to debunk a long held myth…

Healthy exercise tip #3:

If you follow the "no pain, no gain" formula for getting results in the gym I want you to think long and hard about what you're doing to your body. You only get one body to work with and by abusing it during your workouts isn’t going to reward you in the future.

You can get just as good of results if you follow a steady progressive exercise program without causing your joints, muscles, and tendons unneeded stress and inflammation. So the next time you go to push past the point of failure, lose form, and put your body at risk for injury ask yourself “is this going to be good for me in the long run?”

I hope you enjoyed this 3 part mini-series on healthy exercise tips and if you missed part 1 or 2 just click the links below to review them!

Part 1: Progressive Overload
Part 2: Proper Form

10-Minute Non-Traditional Arm Workout

Last week I put up two posts on how to get better results from your arm workouts and today I want to give you a quick two exercise workout that will work you arms in a non-traditional way.

I say "non-traditional" because most people think of curls and extensions as your normal arm exercises. Typically, the two exercises I'm going to give you today would be considered back and chest/shoulder movements, but what you may not know is that they are also powerful arm exercises.

In the "chin-up" you will be really focusing your pulling motion with your biceps and in the "dips" you’ll be targeting your triceps.

Here’s the non-traditional arm workout in action:

1A. Chin-ups (assisted if needed) x 10 repetitions or AMAP (as many reps as possible)
1B. Dips (assisted if needed) x 10-15 repetitions or AMAP (as many reps as possible)

After you finish both exercises you can rest for 90 seconds and repeat 2-3 more times. This whole arm workout should only take you 10-minutes to complete and you get the added benefit of working your entire upper body at the same time!

Martial Arts Training for You

One great way to beat the monotony of going to the gym every day is to spice it up with a class or two per week. I also think that if you haven’t tried a martial art before it may be just what you’re looking for to reenergize your training program.

Plus, martial arts’ training provides many benefits. Here are just a few:

• Lose and maintain your weight
• Boost immune system
• Improve mind-muscle connection
• Speed up reaction time
• Sleep better
• Build confidence and self-esteem

If you’re interested in training in a martial arts style, I would suggest doing some additional research and asking around to see what discipline may be best for you.

Lift Weights before Doing Cardio

When it comes to deciding whether or not you should lift weights before or after doing your cardio the choice should be an easy one.

By lifting weights before doing your traditional treadmill, bike, or elliptical work in the gym you will have additional energy to lift more weight. This will lead to greater strength and lean body mass gains which will help elevate your metabolism. Also, by lifting weights first you will be priming your body to better tap into burning body fat when you head over to do some cardio afterwards.

So the next time you are debating whether or not to lift or do cardio first, go for the weights!

Don't Over Analyze Your Results

You've heard me say in previous posts that I 100% believe you should be tracking your daily nutrition and exercise, but I do believe there comes a point where you can have too much information to comprehend. When you get to that point I think many people become overwhelmed and just give up… I never want you to reach that point and here’s how you can make sure that doesn’t happen.

Instead of tracking your weight, BMI, body fat, hydration levels, circumference measurements, and any other of the dozens and dozens of online tracking methods just choose 2 or 3. After you’ve chosen your 2 or 3 methods you can then simplify the process even further.

Here's how using my top 3 methods:
1. Only weigh in twice a week
2. Only check your body fat every 4 weeks
3. Only take measure measurements every 4 weeks (same day as body fat analyses)

Truthfully, there's no reason to weigh in more than 2x a week and since body fat percentages change at a slower rate it’s only necessary to test them once a month.

Who Do You Associate With?

Often times we choose to hang around with people who are a lot like us.

Typically, there's really nothing wrong or unusual about that except when we’re talking about trying to lose weight.

You see, if you’re trying to lose weight many of your friends may also be a little overweight and have''t yet decided to break the cycle. This becomes problematic when you're going out for dinner or drinks and everyone is used to you eating, drinking, and going along with the crowd.

So although I'm not telling you to dump your old friends I am recommending that you "take a break" from them for a few weeks while you're creating healthy lifestyle patterns. After a few weeks of cutting out all those cheat foods and exercising more you'll feel stronger about your decisions and will be able to better stand behind your new healthy choices when you're out.

The Death of Walking

When I saw this photo I knew instantly that I had to share it with all the ND readers… it's funny, sad, scary, and a little bizarre all at the same time.

Are we getting too caught up with the conveniences of modern day technology? At what point do we stop and say that although we have access to many scientific advances that allow us to move our bodies less and do less physical labor we don’t have to take advantage of all of them.

The “Segway Personal Transporter” is the perfect example of this. It seems that walking is now overrated when you can just hop on a motorized machine to take you from point A to B. Personally, I think the Segway is pretty cool, but I’m just not a fan of where the general direction of this type of technology is headed.

I’d just hate to imagine a future where we sit down on our commute to work, sit a desk for 9 hours, sit down on our commute home, sit down for dinner, sit in front of the TV, and then use a Segway for any other activities that would require walks over 5 minutes…

Control Your Insulin Levels by Exercise Alone (no dieting)

There is now proof showing that you can control your insulin sensitivity through exercise alone. The study goes on to show that even without dieting (or even any signs of weight loss) your insulin levels still respond positivity to moderate aerobic exercise. Surprisingly, it also seemed to work in both lean and obese participants.

The study lasted 12 weeks and each participant worked out 4 times per week for 30-minutes.

"Because weight loss can be difficult to achieve and maintain in obese sedentary children, the purpose of this study was to determine whether a controlled exercise program, without any diet intervention and with no intention of weight loss, would improve fat distribution and sensitivity to insulin,” said Agneta Sunehag, MD, PhD, of Baylor College of Medicine and senior author of the study."

Although most studies show that BOTH diet and exercise are the key to long term weight maintenance, it's nice to see there are still plenty of benefits you can enjoy from exercise alone.

Source: The Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM)