fitness articles Archive

Your perfect metabolism in 2012 for optimized gym training

– January 1, 2012

Get your metabolism on fire from the minute you wake up, through the fitness training and all the way until you go to the bed with these fat burning foodsthat will help you burn fat.

Grapefruit morning – eat half a grapefruit for breakfast, it will help you cut insulin levels and boost your metabolism. Start your day fresh and kick your metabolism into higher speed.

Drink green tea instead of water for lunch – green tea contains antioxidant compound catechins that helps promote exercise induced fat loss for your abs. Working out and drinking green tea helps reduce your waist line. Green tea attacks fat deposits and remove it from your abs.

Join Resistance and weight training movement – The best way to lose body fat and increase rapidly your metabolic rate is working out with weights. There is nothing like good old fashioned weight training still used by olympic athletes as preferable way to build muscle and strength. More muscle you build, more fat you will be burning even when you rest.

Recharge your body with brussels sprouts for dinner – brussels sprouts will help your body burn more fat due to high levels of vitamin C according to many studies. Brussels sprouts help our bodies detox and reduce inflammation and recover faster after training in the gym. Promising research is underway by many universities to examine the benefits of Brussels sprouts in relationship to our risk of the following conditions: insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, obesity, rheumatoid arthritis and type 2 diabetes. And did we say that those small things taste so good?

Drink water during the day and before going to the bed – Did you know that drinking just 500 ml of water before going to the bed can increase your metabolic rate for 30% ?

Our bodies naturally produce hormones every day to regulate many metabolic functions. Hormones in our bodies are powerful chemicals that can affect many parts of the body, the body shape and the accumulation of fat. Doing simple changes in your nutrition and incorporating fitness training with weights can speed your metabolic rates and optimize your body to the optimum level for a natural healthy weight loss where the fat burners are no needed but simple changes in diet and training can contribute to the dramatic changes in your health, body composition and weight loss.

Tags: metabolic training

Six fat burning and 3 fat making hormones of the body

– November 1, 2010

Eating the wrong food after workout will cancel all the benefits of your hard work in the gym. All your hard work invested lifting weights in the gym will be gone if you do not know what foods to eat right after working out. Do you know how different foods trigger different hormones?

If you trying to lose weight in the gym you will have to understand your fat hormones and how they influence your body. You will notice that different people have different body shapes and the fat is distributed differently around the body. People gain weight around stomach area and you will notice four different shapes of fat around abdominal area:

- Fat sagging and hanging

- Fat looks like saddlebags

- Weight around mid section is distributed all over

- Some people have protruding potbelly (It looks like a pregnant woman)

Why do we have all different shapes of stomach fat at different people?

The answer is in metabolism and the hormones that control it.

If you want to lose weight, first you will need to determine what is your body type and fat distribution around your mid section.

Than you will need to determine what fat hormone is off and how to eat right to optimize all fat hormones and bring them in the balance.

Different body shapes and different distributions of fat around mid section are caused by specific glandular problems (thyroid, liver, ovaries and adrenals)

Did you know that you have six fat burning and three fat making hormones in your body? And each is triggered by different causes.

Our personal trainers in New York City are trained to determine your body shapes and your fat distribution around abdomen. Than we work with top nutritionists to design a nutrition program that will support your workout in the gym and fight your stubborn metabolism the right way.

Imagine having the right workout and nutrition program that will work together for you and not against you.

Tags: body type nutrition, body type workout, diet, fat hormones

Truth about big corporate gyms exposed

– April 2, 2010

Did you know that big corporate gyms pay more sales guys than trainers? When you pay for training they take about 60% of your money for their own profit and pay a trainer minimum fee. No wonder you get a bad service. When you pay for personal training, the sales person gets a bigger commission than personal trainers.

You will be shocked to know that big corporate gyms (chains) are owned mostly by real estate developers. They are not interested in fitness. They are only interested to take your hard earned money. It is all about numbers. Their passion is about numbers and not about training and fitness.

They really do not care about you and your fitness goals. Their motivation is profit and money. Many owners of big chains gyms do not even work out. All they care is about how much money they took from you. And they will do everything they can to trick you into their way of fitness. On the end of the day, they laugh at you, cause they tricked you.
Sleazy salesman will get the most of your money. Not the trainer. And if you like that go ahead and join one of the big corporate big chain gyms. They would be happy to have you.
Their personal trainers are employed as a part time. They are not full time personal trainers. Their trainers making money on the side training you after having full time job. And they market them as a master level personal trainers. What a joke.

It is not anymore fitness, it’s is a business of chasing numbers. Greed is their primarily motivation. What else? Maybe your health?

They are comparable to fast foods restaurants. All they care is about profit and serving you junk food and products.

Ask your body for advice

– December 27, 2009

Your body knows it the best. Ask your body what it needs. Be in touch with your body. And than when you are in touch you could look for advice of a personal trainer and nutritionist for the professional advice. Do not be disconnected from your own being.

“The body has its own way of knowing, a knowing that has little to do with logic, and much to do with truth, little to do with control, and much to do with acceptance, little to do with division and analysis, and much to do with union.”
– Marilyn Sewell

“Your soul lives within your body. And it is a touching point
between reality and infinity.” — Joe DiAngelo

Are you aware of your body’s wisdom? Our bodies usually know us better than our minds do. If you have a decision to make, consult your body before making a final choice.

Reflect on an option before you and then pay attention to your body. Are you breathing deeply or barely at all? Are your muscles tense or relaxed? Is your energy blocked or flowing?

Your body knows what it likes and it feels good when it’s happy. As your body is the source of your vitality, your motivation, your inspiration and enthusiasm and most importantly, your intuition, it’s best to get that part of you on-side if you are venturing into a new activity.

“When you are saying that you are happy and you are not, there will be a disturbance in your breathing. Your breathing cannot be natural. It is impossible.”
– Osho

“Our inner guidance comes to us through our feelings and body wisdom first — not through intellectual understanding. …The intellect works best in service to our intuition, our inner guidance, soul, God or higher power — whichever term we choose for the spiritual energy that animates life.”
– Christiane Northru

“You can not force your body to change. Body is not to be
forced. That’s a slavery.” — Joe DiAngelo

Metabolism myths debunked for women and men

– August 15, 2009

Today I was reading in subway a newspaper and it was article about metabolism. They gave a lot of wrong information as usual. So let me explain you couple of things. Many of my clients come to me and tell me how they have a slow metabolism. I ask them could you explain me what is a metabolism? They do not know what it is but they assume they have slow one. They probably were reading some articles and they decided to have a slow metabolism.

Many people think that because they got older, they metabolism slowed down with age.
The reason why metabolism slowed down is because of inactivity. You work 10 hours a day, you mostly sit in the office, and eat fast whatever because you have no time to go and eat something healthy.
When you are not active, you lose muscle mass. That’s why it is very important to keep muscle up and continue with your weight training. You will prevent weight gain.

Adding a pound of lean muscle mass will allow you to burn 50 additional calories a day. A pound of fat burns nothing. If you build 10 pounds of muscle you will burn 500 extra calories a day. Multiply this by 365 days in a year and divide by 3,500 (the number of calories in one pound). The result indicates that with this added muscle you will lose an extra 52 pounds in just one year.

To build 10 lbs of muscle is not a big deal. If you know how to do weight training right and eat right, you can gain 10 lbs without a big effort.

Conclusion: To increase your metabolism, you will need to add lean muscle mass. In order to add some lean muscle you will need to do weight training. Unfortunately there is no way to avoid going to the gym.

Starting in their mid 30s, women tend to lose about 1/3-1/2 pound of muscle each year while gaining 1/3 pound of fat.
With the exercise you can prevent muscle loss and all of the fat gain.

For guys unfortunately muscle tissue loss starts early, from age 25 through to 50 years stealing a 1/5 of a pound of muscle a year.
If guys start losing muscle early, the muscle loss will cause them to age early. We do not want that happen!
Lost of muscle mass is seriously linked to declines in the immune system and the onset of heart disease and diabetes.
With lost of muscle mass you will get weaker bones, stiffer joints, and slumping postures.
But there is a hope. Did you know that in as little at 12 weeks and with exercise and weight training you can recover 75% of lost muscle tissue and 40% of lost muscle strength. Now guys you know the facts. It is up to you to rebuild your muscle size. Gym is waiting for you.
Now you know the facts, nobody can trick you anymore. Nobody can sell you useless diets, fat burner pills and weight loss secrets. Now you know what to do.

Tags: metabolism myths

Too old for working out? When your body really starts going downhill

– July 20, 2008

Working as a personal trainer here in NYC I get always questions like Am I too old to start working out or when am I starting to lose muscle mass?

MUSCLES start ageing at 30.

Muscle is constantly being built up and broken down, a process which is well balanced in young adults.

However, by the time we’re 30, breakdown is greater than buildup, explains Professor Robert Moots.

Once adults reach 40, they start to lose between 0.5 and 2 per cent of their muscle each year. Regular exercise can help prevent this. That’s why it is very important to exercise on a regular basis.

French doctors have found that the quality of sperm starts to deteriorate by 35, so that by the time a man is 45 a third of pregnancies end in miscarriage. But good news is that with working out and good diet you can reverse that process.

HEART starts ageing at 40.
The heart pumps blood less effectively around the body as we get older.
This is because blood vessels become less elastic, while arteries can harden or become blocked because of fatty deposits forming on the coronary arteries – caused by eating too much saturated fat. The blood supply to the heart is then reduced, resulting in painful
angina. Men over 45 and women over 55 are at greater risk of a heart attack.

Good news here again is that you do not need to eat crap to block your arteries, so you can have a healthy heart for a long time.

BONES start ageing at 35.

‘Throughout our life, old bone is broken down by cells called osteoclasts and replaced by bone-building cells called osteoblasts – a process called bone turnover,’ explains Robert Moots, professor of rheumatology at Aintree University Hospital in Liverpool.

Children’s bone growth is rapid – the skeleton takes just two years to renew itself completely. In adults, this can take ten years.

Until our mid-20s, bone density is still increasing. But at 35 bone loss begins as part of the natural ageing process.

This becomes more rapid in post-menopausal women and can cause the bone-thinning condition osteoporosis.

The shrinking in size and density of bones can lead to loss of height. Bones in the back shrivel up or crumble between the vertebrae. We lose two inches in height by the time we’re 80.

No Matter How Old are you, you can get great benefits from weight training. Some people start weight training first in 5o’s and end up looking great.
Let’s list some of weight training benefits:

1. Weight training tones your muscles which looks great and raises your basal metabolism… which causes you to burn more calories 24 hours-a-day. You’ll even burn more calories while you’re sleeping.
2. Weight training can *reverse* the natural decline in your metabolism which begins around age 30.
3. Weight training energizes you.
4. Weight training has a positive affect on almost all of your 650+ muscles.
5. Weight training strengthens your bones reducing your risk of developing osteoporosis.
6. Weight training improves your muscular endurance.
7. Weight training will NOT develop big muscles on women….just toned muscles!
8. Weight training makes you strong. Strength gives you confidence and makes daily activities easier.
9. Weight training makes you less prone to low-back injuries.
10. Weight training decreases your resting blood pressure.
11. Weight training decreases your risk of developing adult onset diabetes.
12. Weight training decreases your gastrointestinal transit time, reducing your risk for developing colon cancer.
13. Weight training increases your blood level of HDL cholesterol (the good type).
14. Weight training improves your posture.
15. Weight training improves the functioning of your immune system.
16. Weight training lowers your resting heart rate, a sign of a more efficient heart.
17. Weight training improves your balance and coordination.
18. Weight training elevates your mood.

No Fear Naked! Why Is It So Hard To Lose Weight?

– February 22, 2008

albert b 765508 No Fear Naked! Why Is It So Hard To Lose Weight? albert after 785869 No Fear Naked! Why Is It So Hard To Lose Weight?

Albert: before and after photo

Most people gain weight when they get older. Why? Because when you get older your metabolism decrease due to a loss of muscle mass. But we continue to eat like we are 16 year old kids and we do not exercise as we used to.

When you get older you do not burn so many calories as before, so we suddenly gain weight and you will find out that you can not eat as much as we did a few years ago without gaining fat.

What we need to do to keep in shape while we age? Some people will tell you that you can not do so much. Just accept the fact that you are older and fat and live the rest of your life with the fear of being naked.

THE TRUTH IS: You can do a lot for your body and keep the fat off. I have many clients in 50′s who are only 5% body fat and they never looked better.

You can do following:

Watching what you eat and knowing what foods are making you fat. If you do not know what to eat hire a nutritionist.
Exercise and keep your muscle up. They burn fat off for you.
Change Your Lifestyle. If you want to stay sexy, you have to be willing to change how you live. Make a time for your workouts, hire a high quality personal trainer to watch over you and push you even more so you can look your best. The most successful people have always realized that professional coaching can make the big difference between achieving their goals and not. Athletes are not the only ones to realize that expert help is necessary to help them attain success.

Take control and start making those decisions. Only you are responsible for your health and your body.

Tags: lose weight new york city

Who makes you fat? You or your fat genes?

– December 25, 2007

Many people say to me: “I have a bad genetic . All my family is fat and that’s why I am fat! There is something wrong with my genes.”

But let’s be real and take a look at medical studies.

Have you ever heard about twin studies, when they take identical twins, separate them and expose them to different foods and lifestyle choices?
In those research studies it was revealed that when identical twins – those
with the exact DNA – were separated, they did not develop the same
health issues. As you can see one twin got fat and the other one did not get fat!

It’s what your genes are exposed to that determines the level of
health that one has. It’s the signals that you send to your body by
the food you eat, the thoughts you think, the way you exercise (your activity level), and the life-style choices that you make that affect the health of your genes.

Your actions, not only your genes, influence your life to a very large extent.

People who lead mentally stimulating lives, through education,
occupation, and even leisure activities, have a reduced risk of losing
their mental powers and developing Alzheimer’s.

Studies suggest that they have a 35-40 % less risk of getting the
disease. Add to that physical exercise, the right nutrition, and stress-busting techniques, such as regular meditation, and your risk of developing this most dreaded illness drops to as close to zero as is possible.

So not only that you will not develop Alzheimer’s disease if you change your lifestyle, you will also stay fit and reduce risk of obesity if you exercise, change the way you eat and lead an active lifestyle.

My question to you is: Did You Inherit “Fat Genes”? or your actions influenced your genes?

Sometimes we are very fast to blame someone for our mistakes. But it’s us who make it happen.

Tags: fat genes

How to increase your metabolism

– August 31, 2007

Raise Your Metabolism and Burn More Calories

There is so much confusion out there, everybody is trying to tell you how to speed up your metabolism and give you tips how to lose weight. Magazines, celebrities, TV stations are giving you often wrong information, because some advertiser paid them to tell you so.

I will give you simple truth and the facts you need to do to increase your metabolism.

1. Increase your lean muscle mass. More lean muscle you have, more calories you will burn and weight loss will be fast. In order to gain muscle you have to exercise with weights. Forget pilates and yoga. Remember you have to come to the gym and apply some overload on your muscles.

2. Eat breakfast. “The most important meal of the day.”

According to studies, breakfast eaters are far less likely to get
heart disease, diabetes, or obesity. Also the feared metabolic
syndrome of abdominal fat, diabetes, and high cholesterol is reduced by 50% when you eat breakfast regularly. How simle is that?

3. Exercise in the AM hours because your hormones are high in the morning. If you exercise in the morning, you will burn more calories because your hormones are higher in AM hours.

4. Sleep well. If you do not sleep enough, your metabolism will slow down and you will get hungry during the day.
60% of Americans don’t sleep well. When you don’t sleep well you mess up your fat hormones.

5. Do not eat carbs before you go to the bed. Your hormones are very low at bedtime and if you eat carbs, they are going to turn into fat.

6. Eat more protein. You need to build muscle mass, and only you will build muscle if you eat enough protein.

7. Have a right nutrition plan. Know what you eat and how your body reacts to certain foods, educate yourself. Can you be honest and tell how much money you spend on all worthless supplements and fat burning pills?
Better use that money and hire a good nutritionist to develop your nutrition plan. You are investing in your health.

8. Reduce stress in your life.
Stress kills. And according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, up to 90% of doctor visits are triggered by stress. When you are stressed out you mess uo your fat hormones and they will make you fat guaranteed!

9. Drink water all the time.
To keep your weight down you must keep drinking water. That’s why I advise my clients to actually carry a bottle of water with them at all times.

10. Environmental Pollution: The tons of synthetic chemicals in the environment disrupt the action of weight control hormones such as estrogen. And many more of these chemicals lurk in the air than ever before. It is very important to know what foods you eat and breath clean air.