Plan on staying control of your alcohol intake.

Look, a drink or two isn’t going to be the end of the world. But when two turns to three in a night…… or two every night for three nights straight….well…..it’s gonna hit you in the waistline.

I’m not getting on my soap box here. I’m just telling you something you already know:

Too much alcohol not only adds up to too many calories, it leads to bad decisions. And in this case, we’re talking about bad eating decisions.

When alcohol enters the equation even the best laid plans crumble. The extra calories from the cocktails is one thing. But really it’s the extra calories you chew that start to add up.

One piece of cake turns to two…

A handful of chips turns into a a bag…

The dip sitting in front of you mysteriously vanishes…into your belly…

You get the picture.

Over-indulging in alcohol leads to disintegration of your resolve and control.

That said………..

Have fun. Enjoy yourself. Just be conscious of what alcohol does to your decision making. Stay in control.

Yours in health,

Becky

PS – Remember, Prograde Nutrition’s HUGE Holiday Savings ends TOMORROW night. You definitely want to get over to http://lifesportfitness.getprograde.com/specials.html right NOW and place you order to save 15% on all their killer products. It’s my duty as a proud Prograde Partner to remind you .  I’m going to stock up on EFA-Icon (fish oil) myself!

A much more effective and time-efficient approach to ordering your exercises is utilizing the alternating set format. Here you’ll perform one exercise, rest for a very short period of time, then perform another non-competing exercise, rest for a short period of time, and so forth. Alternating sets allow you to work different areas of your body when you would otherwise be resting with the straight set format. Plus, by working another area of your body with a non-competing exercise you allow your body to recover from the previous exercise(s). The result is improved training economy and density: more work accomplished in less time, the cornerstone of any sound fat loss program.

There are several ways to perform alternating sets outlined below:

1.)   Supersets: Alternate between two different non-competing exercises (e.g. upper body and lower body such as push-ups and lunges). I really like this format and use it for my personal training customers in San Jose, as well as for many of my own workouts.

2.)   Trisets: Alternate between three different exercises (e.g. push, pull, and lower body such as push-ups, rows, and lunges).

3.)   Circuits: Alternate between four or more different exercises

Though supersets and trisets are excellent alternating set options, I believe circuit training is by the far the best option for time-crunched recreational exercisers who want to boost their metabolism and decrease body fat . That’s one reason why we  incorporate a strength/cardio circuit into about 90% of our monthly bootcamp workouts in San Jose and Los Gatos.  They incinerate calories, as well as develop lean muscle and cardiovascular endurance.

Here’s an example of a 6 station cardio/strength circuit:

Exercise#1- Jump rope

Exercise#2- Dips

Exercise#3- High knee jog in place

Exercise#4- Pull-ups  (if you don’t have a pull up bar, you can do an inverted row at home by putting a broomstick across two chairs)

Exercise#5- Fast lateral shuffle

Exercise#6:  Push ups

Exercise at each station for 1 minute, and take a 10-15 second recovery break between each station.  At the cardio stations (1, 3, and 5) you’ll go “all out” for one minute.  At the strength stations (2,4, and 6), perform sets of 8-12 repetitions of the exercise, and then take a brief rest.  Beginners might get in 2 sets, advanced folks might get in 4 sets during the 60 second time frame (due to less rest time).

Perform this circuit up to four times for an excellent fat burning workout.

The key to creating the optimal hormonal environment for fat loss is to perform each exercise with maximal intensity while separated by brief rest periods in order to accumulate a high volume of total body work in the shortest amount of time possible. Circuit training provides for the best of both worlds and is thus simply unmatched for simultaneously maximizing fat loss and lean muscle gain.

When you’re short on time (and who isn’t these days!), nothing beats a high intensity circuit training workout.

Committed to your success,

Becky

So many of us are crazy busy these days, yet we hold on to the concept that the only “real” workout is an hour long run, or 1 hour of weights at the gym.  I beg to differ. When time gets short, our workouts need to change. My suggestion:  Increase the intensity, and shorten the time frame.

I asked the participants at my presentation to brainstorm a list of exercises that we could do with little to no equipment. Our list included squats, lunges, jumping jacks, push ups, dips, and a number of other body weight strength or calisthenic-type exercises.  From there we randomly picked 4 exercises and a work/rest interval plan.  Viola.  We’ve got a high intensity workout!

In the video below I demonstrate each exercise we chose, and I include beginner and advanced modifications on some of the exercises.  I also include suggestions for beginner and advanced exercises with regard to how many rounds of the circuit you should do (beginners:  you’ll be done in LESS than 15 minutes!).

Once again, my workout companion, Noah the wonder dog, manages to squeeze in another cameo appearance.  At one point in the video, he does his impression of a cow grazing in a pasture for you.

Give this quick, high intensity workout a try this weekend!

Committed to your success,

Becky

I’ve uploaded a weekend workout for you.  This workout combines short bursts of high intensity cardio work with some full body strength exercises.  When you’re short on time, this is a great workout format.

After a good warm up, perform the cardio intervals for 60-120 seconds at a high intensity (how long you go depends on your fitness level).  Perform 15 repetitions of the strength moves, or as many as you can up to fifteen. Complete the circuit 3-5 times.

The video is only 2 1/2 minutes long, but in case you can’t wait for it to load, here it is in writing:

Jump Rope

“Spiderman” push ups (Beginners:  do these on your knees)

Fast lateral shuffles

Bulgarian Split Squats (15 on each side)

“Quick feet”

Inverted row** (Beginners:  bend your knees)

**If you can’t set this up at home, do triceps dips. Dips work different muscles, but it’s something you can do at  home with no equipment.

If you need some visual aides (and you want to see how “Noah the Wonder Dog” gets into nearly every dang frame of the video) here ya go………….

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruVfHcBXuoc[/youtube]

Don’t forget to cool down, stretch, and drink water after your workout.

A special challenge to anyone who is currently enrolled in an August boot camp:  The first two campers to post a comment here that they have completed the workout win a Prograde Craver! .  In your comment, tell me how  many rounds you did and how long it took you.  Cravers delivered to camp next week .

Have  great weekend!

Becky

So, the burning question is:  ”How do I get rid of my belly fat??

The answer doesn’t lie in hundreds of crunches. You can do crunches till you’re blue in the face–it won’t reduce the fat located in your belly (dang it!).  At best, you’ll get stronger abs.  Crunches aren’t my favorite exercise for strong abs–but we’ll save the “say no to the ‘all crunch’ workout” rant for another day.

The key to seeing your abs is to eat and exercise for fat loss, not necessarily for weight loss. You can severely restrict your calorie intake and you’ll lose weight–but what have you really lost???  Probably some calorie burning muscle!  Your body consists of fat mass and lean body mass (water, muscle, bone, organs, etc.). You want to minimize your fat mass and maximize your lean body mass.  This will raise your metabolic rate and help you burn more calories all day long.  So, crash dieting or eating a very low calorie diet may actually set you back in your quest for lean, flat abs.

Here are my suggestions to drop body fat in order to reveal lean, toned abs:

-Eat small meals throughout the day that consist mainly of lean protein, produce and monounsaturated fats (like olive oil, nuts, canola oil and avocado).  Monounsaturated fats have been featured in the “Flat Belly Diet” promoted by Prevention Magazine.  Eaten in moderation, they seem to help with weight loss.

-Minimize processed junk food. It’s usually high in calories and this will not lead to successful fat loss.

-Go easy on grain based foods (most of us tend to eat too many—yours truly included!).  When you do eat grain based foods, make them whole grain (oatmeal, whole wheat bread, brown or wild rice).

-Strength train hard. Put down the pink Barbie weights and lift to fatigue!  Research has shown that test subjects who did aggressive strength training lost inches from their midsection.  Your best bet is to focus on burning as many calories during your workouts as possible by engaging your whole body each and every training session. Multi-joint movements like squats, push-ups, and lunges (or better yet, total body exercises like a squat-to-press) burn a lot more calories than single joint movements. I don’t have a problem with single joint exercises (like biceps curls), but I’d like to see most of your exercises in any given workout be multi-joint exercises.   You’ll strengthen all your major muscle groups this way and you’ll burn lots of calories. When you come to boot camp, Jackie and I take care of this for you by giving you lots of multi-joint exercises to do!

-Include interval training as part of your cardio workout.  Interval training has been shown to burn WAY more calories during a workout than “steady state” exercise at a moderate exertion level.  In addition, your metabolism stays elevated for awhile after a hard workout–burning more calories for you again!

-Mix up your cardio routine. Notice how you get better at certain cardio workouts over time?  Yep.  You’re getting more efficient.  But that’s not what you want when you work out!  Mix up your routine so that your body doesn’t acclimate.  Stay inefficient!  Keep your body guessing and working hard by changing up your cardio interval routines (hey, we do this for you at boot camp, too!).

-Get enough calcium. Some research has shown the people on fat loss programs who get adequate calcium lose more fat than those who don’t consume calcium.

So, there you have it, my suggestions for whittling down your belly fat.

Questions?  Comments?  Please leave them below.

Let’s make our last week of July camp a great one!

Committed to your (fat loss) success,

Becky

P.S.  A warm welcome to a few “late entries” to our July camps:

Campbell boot camp:  Welcome, Kelsey!

Almaden boot camp:  Welcome Marnie, Maritza and Lori!

I’ve been asked by both Campbell boot camp and San Jose boot camp customers what to eat before boot camp workouts (or any workout, for that matter). Not many people ask me what they should be eating after exercise—but it’s also an important topic. So in this post, we’ll look at not only pre-workout nutrition, but also post-workout nutrition.

Pre Workout Nutrition

Some folks don’t like to eat before working out. If you absolutely can’t tolerate a small snack before working out, don’t force yourself. However, if you can handle a little food an hour before a workout, it’s a good idea to eat. Some recreational exercisers feel they will get nauseous if they eat before exercise. If food is properly selected and intake is properly timed, this shouldn’t be an issue. For those of you who do the San Jose/Almaden boot camp and exercise first thing in the morning, you haven’t had food for probably 8-10 hours. That’s almost a fast! Fasting is detrimental to performance, because our glycogen reserves aren’t at an optimal level.

Here are some reasons to consider eating a small snack before a workout:

• To provide “fuel” for the exercise and replenish glycogen stores (glycogen is the storage form of sugar in your muscles and liver)

• To prevent low blood sugar during exercise

• To settle your stomach, absorb gastric juices and prevent hunger

Most experts agree that the pre-exercise meal should consist primarily of high carbohydrate, low fat foods for easy and fast digestion.  This is especially true if the exercise is within 1 hour of eating. Avoid eating highly sugared foods however (candy bars, sugary cereals, etc.) as these may cause an insulin spike followed by a drop in blood sugar around the time you’re exercising (not to mention the fact that those foods offer you no nutrition!).

Here are some suggestions for a light, carbohydrate rich snack to eat before an exercise session:

• 1 slice whole wheat toast

• 1 small banana (or other piece of fruit)

• ½ of an energy bar (such as a Power Bar)

• ½ c. cooked oatmeal (easy on the sugar!)

Campbell boot camp participants, I realize you’re coming from work, and some of these items aren’t available to you at work.  The oatmeal and the toast ideas will work better for the Almaden boot camp participants who work out in the early morning.

Morning campers, if you’re trying to lose body fat, remember that you don’t want to eat all of your breakfast calories before your workout. Split them up. Eat 1/4 to 1/3 of your breakfast calories before your workout, and the remainder after.

Post Workout Nutrition

When and what you eat after a workout can have a serious effect on your recovery. The first 2-3 hours after exercise are critical for you; don’t wait to eat. Be selective in what you eat after exercise. Wise choices will help you recover quickly and enable your muscles to work better the next time around. Inadequate recovery can lead to chronic fatigue and a gradual decline in your performance.

Although post exercise nutrition research is aimed at competitive athletes performing exhaustive exercise, there are lessons in the research for the recreational exerciser. For the fitness enthusiast whose workouts generally last less than 90 minutes, your main concern is to re-fuel with a well-balanced meal that provides not only carbohydrates to replenish your glycogen stores, but also protein to help re-build muscle. Some protein/carb post-workout meals might be:

• Two poached eggs with whole wheat toast

• Yogurt and high fiber cereal with low or non-fat milk

• Whole wheat bagel w/peanut butter

* String cheese and whole wheat crackers

For the Campbell boot camp crew who gets home from a workout around dinner time, here are some dinner ideas:

* Steamed vegetables and lean protein (chicken, fish, pork tenderloin or lean cuts of beef)

* Dark leafy green salad with lean protein in it

* Whole wheat tortilla with rotisserie chicken pieces inside

Please make sure you get some protein after a hard workout! Time and again, studies show that a combination of protein and carbohydrate replenishes muscle glycogen more rapidly than does carbohydrate alone. If you don’t “re-fuel” your muscles, they won’t work for you well the next time you exercise.

If you need to rush to work after boot camp, consider a post-workout drink with a 2:1 carbohydrate to protein ratio. You can drink these drinks right in the car! It may not be enough calories to qualify as a “meal”, but it will start the repair/recovery process until you can get to “real” food. If you need a suggestion for a post-workout drink, I recommend “Workout” by Prograde nutrition:

ProgradeNutrition

I trust their products, and they create their product formulations based on current research in sports nutrition. One word of caution: As  many of you know, I’m not a fan of “drinking” your calories if you’re trying to lose weight.  For some folks, though, a post workout shake makes sense.  Just remember to log the calories you drink!

One final word about pre- and post-workout nutrition: Don’t forget the water! It may not be “food”, but hydration is important so we should address it. Many of us are slightly dehydrated and don’t even know it. Mild dehydration can cause headaches, fatigue, constipation, and other not-so-fun things.

Drink water before, during and after exercise. For workouts lasting less than 60 minutes, sports drinks aren’t really necessary. However, if you prefer the taste of sports drinks over water, I see no problem with using them in moderation during exercise lasting less than an hour. Just don’t forget to log the calories!

What do YOU eat for your pre or post workout meals??  Leave a comment here to give your fellow campers more ideas for good nutrition.

Committed to your success,

Becky

I hope you all have a Happy 4th of July weekend.  I also hope you got some great workouts in over the last week while we’ve been on a boot camp break!

In the event you’ve got a busy weekend planned, I decided to create a quick, high intensity workout you could squeeze into your weekend.  We’ve got lots of “newbies” signed up for July boot camps, so I decided that it would help to have a visual aide for this workout since you new folks may not be familiar with all the exercises I list below.

Below you’ll find a short video of all the exercises in the workout, complete with advanced options.  And, as in my last video, my dog managed to get in a cameo appearance again.  I put him in the house when I started the video, but he managed to sneak outside.  He probably wanted to show off his “summer cut”.

Here is your weekend “Firecracker” workout:

After a warm up of 5 or  6 minutes, perform each exercise listed for 45 seconds, followed by 15 seconds of rest.  Perform the circuit 3 times through.

Jumping jacks

Walking lunges

Squats

High Knee run

Burpees

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LAcW3i-5SY[/youtube]

There is one “typo” in the video. It suggests you do the circuit 5 times.  It should say “3 times”.  There’s nothing wrong with doing the circuit 5 times…..but I think you’ll be done in 3 rounds .

Happy 4th of July!

Leave me a comment below and let me know how the workout goes for you.

Committed to your success,

Becky

C’mon folks, lets burn some quick calories!

Becky’s 15/50 workout

After a 3-5 minute warm up activity of your choice, do the following exercises with little to no rest between exercises.

• 50 high knee runs in place
• 15 push ups (wall push ups or knee push ups are fine–do what you can do!)
• 50 jumping jacks
• 15 dips
• 50 quick feet taps (like you’re tapping a soccer ball with alternating feet really fast)
• 15 burpees (or 15 alternating lunges if you can’t do burpees)

Rest 1 minute after completing this circuit and then repeat the circuit for 15-20 minutes.  

This is a short workout, but believe me,  you’ll be done at the end of 15-20 minutes!

Leave a comment below and let me know how many rounds of this workout you’re able to do in 15 or 20 minutes!

*************

A couple of boot camp housekeeping items:

-Early bird discount for returning campers ends on Tuesday, June 23rd for Campbell and Willow Glen boot camps, and Wednesday, June 24th for Almaden boot camp.

-Also ending on June 23rd is the “Buy One, Get One FREE” special. This is a special deal that is not advertised at my website.  If you want to take advantage of it, please send an email to bootcamp@lifesportfitness.net requesting information, and I’ll tell you how to get the deal.

Times are tough, and money is tight for many folks.  With this deal, I’ve given you the ultimate economic stimulus–bring a friend and you both save BIG!!  Where else are you gonna get a full month of boot camp for about $8 a workout????

-As of this writing, the July Campbell boot camp is half full. Get your registration in soon if you want to attend this camp!

 Have a great weekend!

Becky

Almaden bootcamp:  Welcome to Kristi, Janti and William.  Even though you were sore from workouts earlier in the week, you guys did an excellent job on the obstacle course today!

Campbell boot camp:  Welcome to Lisa, Noelle and Renu.  You guys are hard workers and it’s great to see you blending right in with the “veterans”.

Willow Glen “FitCamp for Women over 40″: Welcome to Angela, Shadie and Gloria.  Woo Hoo!  You ladies rock!  I saw some serious effort during your interval training segments this week.  Well done!.

A number of you “newbies” have approached me to talk about your fat loss goals.  I can tell you’re really motivated.  I suspect that we’re going to see some serious fat loss happening this month!

Speaking of fat loss…………strength training is key to revving your metabolism and helping you burn calories all day long.  So, I’ll share with you below the workout I did the other day at my gym.  If you have dumbbells at home, you can do this workout at home.  It took me 22 minutes, and I worked all my major muscle groups.

I did three sets of each superset with no rest in between the exercises.  When I had completed three sets of a particular superset, I rested for one minute before beginning the next superset. 

I did 12 repetitions per set unless otherwise noted.  I used dumbbells that fatigued me by the last few repetitions of the set.

A1:  Push ups (15 reps)

A2:  Dumbbell squats

B1:  Assisted pull ups (if you’re at home, substitute dumbbell bent over rows)

B2:  Dips

C1:  Step ups with dumbbells

C2:  Dumbbell shoulder press 

Doing a “superset” routine is a great way to get a strength workout completed without being in the gym forever.  If you need to get another strength training session in this weekend, give this one a try!

Committed to your success,

Becky