How's everyone feeling after ladders today?! GREAT workout everyone! Also, the body fat numbers are going down on everyone. I am so proud of all my bootcampers:-)

Hi everyone! I made a commercial today for our CPR business that will be aired on KAHI radio on Saturdays from 10-11am. There's a medical radio show with Dr. Vaughn that's aired at that time, if anyone's interested! I also got asked to start a fitness radio show... wow, who would have thought, me the radio host??!! Happy Labor Day!

My top 7 Super Bowl Sunday tips to help prevent a heart attack!!

Well, are you wondering how to prevent a heart attack and make Super Bowl Sunday a healthier eating day?

Then click on the link below to see my press release!

http://www.prlog.org/10172005-auburn-ca-personal-trainer-shares-top-7-super-bowl-sunday-tips-to-avoid-heart-attack.pdf

Bootcamp Break, Workouts for you to do on vacation

Well, friends, this is the last week of bootcamp until after the New Year. I will be going to San Diego for Christmas, renting a house on the beach with my kids, my mom, and my brother and his family. I told them we're having bootcamp every day on the beach, but that wasn't met with a lot of enthusiasm! Anyway, while I'm gone I wanted to leave you with a couple workouts you can incorporate into your fitness routine so you aren't too sore when we start up again:-) For both workouts, spend 5 minutes or so warming up your major muscles, i.e. arm rotations, lunges, squats, forward kicks, and jumping jacks.

Workout #1 Supersets: 15 each

1. Weighted walking lunges, 15 each side

2. Pushups

3. Situps

Repeat 3 times

Again, 15 each

1. Squat with overhead press

2. Dips on bench or tricep kickbacks

3. Bicycle abs ( opposite elbow to opposite knee)

Repeat 3 times

This is a complete whole body workout. Throw in a quick run or bicycle ride if you want more cardio. And, always stretch major muscles after your workout for at least a 30 second hold.

Workout #2: 20 each exercise

1. Pushups

2. Jump squats

3. Renegade rows ( plank position with weights on ground, feet wide apart for better stability,alternate pulling weights up toward chest) 10 each side

4.V-ups on back

5. Overhead tricep press with reverse lunge ( 10 lunges each leg)

6. Mountain climbers, 20 each leg

7. Sumo squat with upright row

8. Situps

9. Bent over flys

10.Chest flies on back with butt off ground ( bridge)

If not challenging enough, repeat 1-2 times. Remember to stretch after!

I will see all of you back in January, check http://www.fitforcebootcamp.com/ for class schedules and to reserve your spot. January will be a busy month for bootcamp!

Happy Holidays to all of you!

Goal setting, 2009

Today, I've included a motivational article from another fitness expert who's article I was forwarded. I find it very fitting for the New Year! Plus, I LOVE Jim Rohn, the motivational speaker he quotes:-)

Motivation to Lose Weight -- Using Brain Science for Attaining the Proper Mindset for Success
by Tom Venuto

Motivational speaker Jim Rohn once said, "I find it fascinating that most people plan their vacations with better care than they plan their lives. Perhaps it's because escape is easier than change."

Success psychologists say that 95% - 97% of the people in the world do NOT have written goals and fail, while 3-5% have written goals and succeed.
If these statistics are correct, then Mr Rohn's observation really IS quite fascinating isn't it?
Unfortunately for most people, the odds for success are actually even lower, because out of the few people who do set goals, most don't take goal setting seriously, they don't do it scientifically and they only do it once a year.
Goal setting is so important, that I always teach goal setting and mind dynamics first, and only THEN, do I teach nutrition and training second.
It doesnt matter how much you know about nutrition or exercise. Until specialized fitness knowledge is linked with goals and directions, the knowledge is useless and you won't accomplish very much or keep the changes long term.
In fact, I devoted the entire first chapter of my book, Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle to the subject of goals and constructive "mind programming" for successful, permanent behavior change.
I've also studied neuro linguistic programming (NLP) for many years and more recently spent many months researching the latest information about neuroscience to see just how much of the traditional self help and goal setting wisdom is actually backed by brain research.
As you start thinking about your goals for 2009 right now, I'd like to help you start the year off right by sharing two very valuable, science based tips on acheiving your goals:
TIP #1: Repetition is an effective way to "plant" a goal in the non-conscious mind
Why don't most resolutions stick? Psychology and neuroscience today are giving us the answers.
Thanks to new technologies in brain imaging, such as PET scans, SPECT scans and functional MRI's, we can now actually see your thoughts as electrochemical impulses and we can see the formation of new neural connections in real time right before our eyes.
We can also see where, geographically, in your brain, a particular type of thought is occuring.
most importantly, we can see how long it takes to form strong neural patterns and what types of stimuli cause the patterns to form more quickly
Here's what we've discovered:
Setting a goal once is a conscious activity. Willpower is also a conscious activity. But research has shown that at least 5/6 of your brain power is in the non conscious mind and that the information and instructions that reach the non conscious mind are responsible for your automatic behavior.
Some pyschologists believe that 95% of our behaviors are unconscious and automatic... more commonly known as habits.
Long term behavior changes don't take place when you set goals one time as with most new years resolutions. There's an old saying in "self help" circles that it takes at least 21-30 days to form a habit. This has now been proven to be fairly accurate on a neurological basis.
New neural patterns begin to form only after they've been repeated enough times. They continue to strengthen with further repetition. If you make resolutions on January 1st and you don't continue to repeat and reinforce your desire for those "goals," no new neural connection is formed, no new habits are formed, no new behaviors are formed...
Your resolutions wither away and die and any results obtained through willpower (trying to force the new behaviors through conscious effort), are quickly lost when you slip back to your old ways.
What you repeat over and over again is programmed into the subconscious mind and begins to take root. On a practical level, this means RE-writing your goals everyday and thinking about them in positive terms and in mental pictures, every day, repeatedly until the habit is formed and turned over to "auto-piliot."
In 1956, when Earl Nightingale wrote "The Strangest Secret is that we become what we think about most of the time," we didnt know what we know now about the brain.
Nevertheless, Earl was right.
You don't change your body by trying to change your body. You change your body by creating new habitual patterns of thinking and visualizing.
Trying to force new behaviors with willpower while continuing with your old ways of thinking will always fail because your automatic behavior is mostly under non-conscious control.
Its not the resolution you set once... its the goals (mental thoughts and images) you focus on all day long that create the long term (and automatic) behavioral change... when you change your behaviors, you change your body and your life...
*** TIP #2: Emotion is a goal-turbocharger ***
Is there any way around this tedious process of "mental programming" through repetition? Not really. The fields of NLP and hypnosis have given us some tools for creating more rapid changes, but ultimately you have to begin to "run your own brain" and change your habitual way of thinking. No one else can do it for you and there's no way around it.
There is however, a scientifically proven way to to speed up the process and that is with the use of strong emotion.
Since modern imaging technology can see activity in the brain and scientists have located the seat of emotions in the brain, we know that the strength and number of neural connections associated with a thought or behavior are increased when you're in a highly emotional state.
The neuron connections are also stronger, longer lasting and it takes longer to lose a neural connection when it was formed with great emotion.
With this knowledge, we see another reason why new years resolutions fail: They are set casually with no emotion and no strong emotional "reason why" that gives you the leverage to you need to make a change permanent.
On January 1st, you may think you're setting "real" goals, but if you're like most people, you're not only doing it a mere once a year and then losing focus, you're also likely to be making flimsy, wishy-washy, emotion-less "resolutions."
Zig Ziglar once said that, "A goal casually set and lightly taken will be freely abandoned at the first obstacle."
You might want to back up and read that quote again, maybe even write it down or print it out, because this one hits the bull's-eye!
This truly explains why New Year's resolutions almost never work, and why so few people can keep off the pounds after they get rid of them.
Goal setting should not be casual or lightly taken. Goal setting is an important and serious matter. This is not a game - this is your life, and you only have one life to live.
Goal setting is also not a one time event - it is an ongoing process of literally "re-wiring your brain." With the discovery of brain plasticity, we now know that this is science fact, not self-help fiction.
Make the time to set REAL goals, today! Take it seriously, do it scientifically, re-write your goals every day, think about them constantly, and then take massive action.
Do it and this will be the most successful goal-achieving year of your life.
Train hard and expect success.
Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS

The Future of Fitness in 2009

The Future of Fitness in 2009

By BJ Gaddour, Workout Muse

Well, it’s already December and it’s time for my annual fitness year in review. Sadly, it appears as though the fitness industry as a whole has again failed to produce any significant results on a broad scale to effectively reverse the scary obesity epidemic that is plaguing our society. More specifically, the sickening fact that American adults keep getting fatter, more lethargic, and less healthy has mirrored the unabated deterioration in the health and fitness of our youth population. However, on a positive note, I feel that 2009 will be host to several growing fitness trends that will provide the long-term answers to solve this ever-growing problem.

Fitness Trend#1- Fitness Boot Camps Will Rise, One-On-One Personal Training Will Fall

You’d have to be living in a cave to not be aware of the fact that we are in the midst of the biggest economic recession since The Great Depression. With the disappearance of the middle class and an economy that will most likely get worse before it gets better, the average American simply does not have the disposable income for typical personal training rates that run about $60 per hour. However, with every problem emerges a solution; fitness boot camps are just that. Boot camps are probably the hottest thing in the fitness game right now. The group training business model creates the ultimate win-win for trainers and clients making the one-on-one alternative obsolete. Fitness trainers get to better leverage their time and maximize profits by working with an unlimited number of clients per hour. Fitness clients are able to better access personal training services in a unique and dynamic team environment that provides better social support and accountability for only a the third of the cost of typical one-on-one training rates.Fitness boot camps are popping up all over the country, and for good reason. If you are trying to lose weight in 2009, do yourself a favor by saving your hard-earned money to get better results by joining a local fitness boot camp.FitForce Bootcamp is offering a January Special... buy one month at regular price, bring a new friend for 1/2 price!!

Fitness Trend#2- Interval Training Destroys Aerobic Training For Improved Fat Loss:

High-Intensity Interval Training is rapidly gaining popularity as the best form of improving both fitness and fat loss. Thankfully, 2009 will see more people doing sprints and less people doing marathons to lose weight. However, make no mistake about it, lots of people are still going to do hours of snail-paced cardio to burn fat. Aerobic or endurance training is essentially going at a slow, low intensity pace for a long period of time (typically at least 30-60 minutes). In other words, the focus of endurance training is on the total volume of exercise (not quality). Think about all those speed limpers you see every New Year foolishly running for hours pounding the pavement or treadmill to get rid of that winter fat. Sadly, this results in minimal fat loss and lots of overtraining injuries. With interval training, the focus is on the intensity of exercise (quality). Intervals consist of alternating between shorts bouts of all out high-intensity effort and active recovery periods for a much quicker and focused amount of time (typically 10-20 minutes of intervals works best). This approach is scientifically proven to burn nine times more fat AND lead to faster improvements in fitness than the aerobic alternative.Two landmark scientific studies come to mind here:The Tabata study compared the effects of four minutes of high-intensity interval training with 45-60 minutes of low to moderate intensity cardio. The interval training group burned just as much fat as the endurance group and also had greater improvement in both anaerobic (think sprinters) and aerobic (think distance runners) fitness… in only four minutes!The Gibala study compared the effects of 20 minutes of interval training (30 second sprint followed by four minutes of rest) with 90-120 minutes of endurance training in the “heartrate zone.” The conclusions of the study were that both methods of training lead to the same improvements in oxygen utilization (or aerobic fitness). In other words, intervals accomplished what endurance training did from a fitness standpoint in only a sixth of the time!The time is now to jump on the interval training bandwagon. Come 2009, do yourself and your body a favor and start sprinting to lose fat!

Fitness Trend#3- Lean Protein And Fiber Are The Carbohydrate Addict’s Answer For Improved Health, Performance, and Body Composition

Americans are carb addicts. We simply can’t get enough starches and sugars in our diet, and we have the bulging midsections to prove it. One of the biggest misconceptions about diet today is that eliminated starches and sugars from your diet automatically means low carb. Better said, eliminating grains (even whole grains) and refined sugars still allows for consumption of the other carbohydrates: fruits and veggies. These nutrient-dense carbs are loaded with vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and fiber and create more stable blood sugar levels to keep your body burning fat all day long. All of my clients who have lost the most fat have followed our guidelines of unlimited veggies all day long (besides corn, peas, carrots, beets, and potatoes). In other words, eat lots of veggie carbs, and very little of the other stuff if you want to see your abs!The overwhelming scientific literature proving the fat burning benefits of a diet high in lean protein and fiber is finally catching the eye of mainstream consumers. Protein is the most important component of each and every meal or snack you consume. It builds and maintains muscle, allows your body to preferentially burn fat, increases metabolism through the thermic effect of feeding, and fills you up. Fiber (ideally obtained from fruits and vegetables, specifically green vegetables) helps slow digestion for a more steady supply of nutrients and sustained energy, it prevents overeating at each meal, and it helps keep you more full between meals. Thus by combining protein and fiber every two to four hours, you provide your body with the optimal one-two belly fat burning punch for a leaner, sexier you. Without a doubt, people will be consuming more protein and fruits and veggies next year, and their bodies will reap the rewards of this.

Well, those are the top fitness trends for 2009 according to my crystal ball. I hope the information in this article gives you the push you need to be the trendsetter for your own body and the bodies of those whom you care most about in the New Year!

The path of MOST resistance

I'm sure you have heard the phrase,take the path of least resistance.Unfortunately that doesn't apply with fitness and getting results. Some may believe that the path of least resistance is the best way to reach results, but it plain isn't so. With fat loss programming, taking the path of most resistance is often the right path. Perhaps it means training muscles you haven't trained much,
maybe it's trying exercises that are completely new to you. Or its even changing your nutrition comfort zone completely. Often the path of least resistance is within our own comfort zones, and as I have mentioned before, that is no way to reach fat loss success.

Fat loss is hard, it isn't for everyone, and it makes you step way outside your comfort zone.Last week, I added some new exercises into my bootcamp classes. I was hesitant at first because some of these particular exercises were very difficult and advanced. I knew they all would be challenged by them. It proved to be quite a success as they were challenged but it wasn't impossible for them. And when I saw some of them the next day, they couldn't believe how sore they were. All the exercise they had under their belt from boot camp, and just implementing one new exercise proved to stimulate the muscles in a very different way so that it caused muscle soreness .Right now this is the path of most resistance for my clients. But over time as this stress continues to be applied, will become lesser and lesser of a resistance. Look at your program and see what you have been doing the same for a long time. Throw a completely different exercise into the mix and watch how it can rejuvenate your mind and apply a positive stress to the body.

I've said it several times before and I'll say it again: Create diversity in your workouts or plan to stay right where you are.

If you aren't coming to bootcamp, come and get challenged. Be sore for a few days, or a week! Your body will adapt until I throw something new at you!!

If you are coming to bootcamp, continue coming so you can see what new ideas I have in store for you. I have a 2 week break coming up... which means researching new exercises. You have been warned!!