Don’t be another gym horror story…

As a college student set to graduate next month, I can tell you all about the “Freshmen 15″ (or worse) and the health horrors you encounter over the course of college. With the never-ending piles of fried food in the dining hall and steady flow of beer on the weekends, paired with a full schedule that doesn’t leave much down time- and really, who wants to spend it at the gym? – it’s easy to let a few pounds creep on.

Senior year hit and I realized it was time to shape up my life, including my body. Who wants to hit adulthood with a gut? You face the fact you’re going to go home after college and see high school friends, and you don’t want to be the one they whisper about, “Wow she really gained weight…” After a trip down memory lane and a glance through a photo album from prom, I knew it was time to hit the gym.

So, I joined a local gym, or “health club” if you want to get technical. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a total slob, I was a semi-regular at my college’s gym. The fact I’m now paying to belong to a gym is extra motivation, and knowing I can work out unbothered by frat guys and “meatheads” is worth it. I’ve always hated running, like run a quarter mile and convince myself I pulled a muscle and jump on the elliptical kind of hatred. But, I was making big changes, and decided to make running my goal.

It’s been a few months, and would you believe it I’m up to running about five miles a day. I love the new muscles in my legs, but not as much as I love knowing I could probably outrun someone if I were followed or in danger. It’s also great knowing that I’m improving my cardiovascular health, as heart disease runs in my family. This sudden empowerment motivated me to do more, and get a personal trainer.

My gym offers a free personal training session a month included in my membership fees, so I saw the front desk and set up an appointment based around my availability. They told me, “ok you have an appointment with Ted next Tuesday at 10.” I didn’t know what else to ask so just showed up for my appointment the following week. What a mistake. I didn’t know anything about the trainer, and he didn’t know anything about me. Not only that, when I went for my appointment they told me they had to switch, and I didn’t have Ted, I now had Kyle. Kyle was apparently confused, and kept calling me the wrong name. He didn’t ask me what I wanted to target, instead we rushed into an upper body work out. Maybe he had spoken to the other girl who’s name he kept calling me, because he referred to a phone call we had- only I had never spoken to him. He went on to tell me about his family, his girlfriend, his kids, asked me how old I was and commented that he was almost twice as old as I was. He told me I had a nice smile and if I were his daughter he wouldn’t let me out of the house. He briefly told me about the exercises I was doing. He DIDN’T ask me about my health history, my normal routine, or what my goals were. I felt like because one set was “easy” for me, he would quadruple the weight and my arms turned to jello. I’ve worked with a trainer before, and he always said he wanted to challenge me and not kill me, so I would feel it but still want to keep training. I didn’t get that feeling from this guy, at all. I wanted him to give me advice on what to target, show me a routine that I could do on my own, and not talk about his kids. I didn’t know what I was getting into.

If I had used Fittron, I wouldn’t have encountered any of those problems. With Fittron I could have searched for a personal trainer in my area, and saw their pictures, bio, certifications, and referrals. I could have spoken to them before the session so my goals would be clear and I would know who they were. I could have read articles they posted on Fittron’s Pro Page, and I could have been confident that they are serious professionals who know what they’re doing. I don’t have tons of money to throw around, I am a poor college student after all- so I could’ve posted on Fittron’s solicitation board stating, “Young adult seeking PT for fitness advice in Central NJ. Will pay 60 for session.” The professionals could’ve came to me. That’s a lot of “could haves,” and instead I ended up disappointed and unable to lift my arms to shampoo my hair for a week. To top it off, using Fittron is FREE. So let’s add dumb to the the list of disappointed and in pain.

Don’t end up the next the next fitness horror story like me. Take advantage of all the great features Fittron has to offer. You have nothing to lose and a great body and trainer to gain.

http://fittron.com

Simple Tips To Shed Fat

TIPS TO GETTING THE FAT OFF!

1: No fast food. To combat the urges, I eat every 2-3 hours.

2: Eat the majority of meals at home. When I stopped eating out, I started losing fat.

3: Eat more vegetables. If I get hungry between meals, I either grab a plate of raw veggies with fat-free dressing or have a protein shake if I need the protein or want a special treat.

4: Cook fat-free (cooking sprays or fat-free spray butter).

5: Reduced calorie condiments. My new favorite is I cant believe its not butter spray. It has all of the taste of butter, with only five calories per serving. Also, the new syrup made with Splenda is excellent on sweet potatoes.

6: Drink loads of water and stick to diet drinks (Diet Mountain Dew is my favorite). No fruit juices, only real fruit. The exception is protein shakes.

 

Fittron professional Danielle Hollenshade has more fitness advice to help you reach your goals. Contact her through Fittron.com and see what she can do for you.

http://fittron.com/danielle_hollenshade

Muscle Inferno: How many Calories is your Lean Mass Actually Burning?

If your answer is 30-50 extra Calories per pound of added muscle, you are … dead wrong! This muscle myth is a wide-spread and detrimental piece of misinformation; extra muscle mass will improve health, improve functional strength, and make you sizzle, but the amount of muscle gained through resistance training in the short term will not send the metabolism soaring.

A top notch article (1:Best Pract Res Clin Gastroenterol. 2004 Dec;18(6):1009-29) reviewed the impact of various kinds of exercise on weight loss and metabolism, which was compiled for the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM). To write this kind of paper, the authors searched extensively for the relevant scientific research about a topic and then combine all the results statistically to draw a conclusion.

The article states that 1 kg of muscle mass burns an additional 25-50 calories; the high estimate would tranlate to an additional 11.4 Calories per pound of lean muscle mass added. Consequently, this value is very similar to a value of 13 Calories/pound that I determined by statistically analyzing the data from my lab at Baylor University. The most conservative estimate predicts that an extra pound of muscle burns only about 7 Calories/pound.

A value of 30-50 kcal/lb of lean muscle is unrealistic and untrue, though it is published a lot in popular media. Numbers this high do not make practical sense. For instance, suppose a typical male bobybuilder has 100 lbs of muscle mass (not including the bone, organs and other components of fat-free mass), the mythical numbers would suggest that his muscle alone is burning between 3000-5000 Calories a day. On top of that, organs burn far more Calories per pound than muscle, so based on popular dogma, the man above maybe about 6000 Calories/day. I’ve measure the metabolism of countless athetic men, and roughly 3000 total Calories per day would be high for an athletic man of this size.

When high values are provided in articles, they are not supported by scientific literature; however, articles that reference research always suggest lower number, which generally range between 5-15 Calories per pound of muscle. Another good article that addresses this topic is below:

http://www.optimalhealthpartner.com/Media/Myth%20of%20muscle%20as%20calorie%20burner.htm

Jean has more knowledge to bestow upon you. Come visit her on Fittron.com and live the healthy you’ve always wanted.

http://fittron.com/jean_jitomir_ms_rd

Short on Time, Long on Results

If you’re like most New Yorkers, you’re time-starved. The CME model (Cardiovascular, Muscle, Endurance) is great when you have less than an hour to get in a total body workout that builds strength and endurance while burning body fat.

My SLCC exercise (Squat, Lunge, Curl and Crunch) does all of this in 30 to 40 minutes.

Grab a pair of dumbbells. Hold them by your side, arms nice and straight. Feet, shoulder width apart.

1. Now, do a squat. As you come up, do a bicep curl with both arms. Hold those barbells at shoulder level.

2. Lunge back with one leg while lowering only your opposite arm. Raise that same arm back up to shoulder level as you lunge back up to starting position.

3. Now lunge back with your other leg, while lowering your opposite arm.

Raise that arm back up to shoulder level as you lunge back up to starting position.

Congratulations. You’ve just done one rep. Now, do four more to complete the set.

Do a set of pushups in between each set and end your workout with an abs burnout.

That’s it. In less than an hour you’ve worked your entire body and you’ve benefited your heart and lungs with some good cardiovascualar work. And – you’ve burned body fat.

Easy Day. Sidney Wilson.

Come check me out on Fittron.com and let’s get to work.

http://fittron.com/sidney_wilson

Online Fitness Tips and Videos

The internet is saturated with information; some good, and some bad. You need to take some time sorting through different content so you can be sure what you’re reading is actually worthwhile. Finding online fitness help is no different. There are a bevy of sites that offer nutritional advice, training help, meal plans, and other tips for healthy living. But not all of them are very good.

Often times these sites are rather complicated. Sometimes you have to create a user profile and some of the posters are just that; users, and not professionals. Many sites have done their best to copy the social networking craze that is sweeping the nation, and allow everyday web visitors to join their site and produce content. While this might be beneficial for users looking to meet up with and support other individuals, it doesn’t do much for you if you’re looking for advice from a professional. You don’t get advice on your financial portfolio from a social networking site, do you? And if you do, we’re not so sure that’s the best way to go about it. You should be getting professional advice from a certified financial expert. At Fittron, we felt you should be getting the same type of advice for your health.

Fittron.com is a directory of fitness professionals. We allow our professionals to upload videos, articles, nutritional tips and more. Only registered Fittron professionals can do this. All our professionals are certified and most are leaders in their field. We challenge you to find a roster of more qualified professionals anywhere online. But don’t waste your time looking; you won’t find a site that even compares.

There are no user profiles on Fittron. We’re not a social networking site, we’re not a fitness encouragement site, we provide you access to the top professionals in the country. Recognizing the forum that they are a part of, our professionals post articles and videos that you need to be viewing. They offer everything from recipes, to instructional videos, to targeted advice for working different body parts. All posts are linked back to the profile page. No longer should you have to read articles from “jackedguy21” and wonder what credentials “jackedguy” really has. By clicking on our professional’s profile link, you will be taken to their profile where you can view their bio, certifications, specializations, and much more. Now you can see just who is behind the information that you’re reading.

Our information is easily accessible. Just click on the yellow sunburst tab on our main page and read articles and videos that we’ve featured. You won’t have to sort through endless content, and there is no username and password required. It’s just simple, transparent advice from experts.

Simplicity backed with credibility is the best formula for success. Our information is certified. Just click on the author’s profile for verification. Come to Fittron.com and get the advice and fitness help that you’ve been looking for.

http://fittron.com/pro_page