Fiber isn’t only to keep you regular!

We all know that Americans don’t get enough fiber in their diets. From the recommended 20-35 grams, Americans only get about 12-15 grams daily. But why is it important to get more fiber in our lives?

Fiber is the most abundant organic molecule on earth, and is a non-starch polysaccharide ( a long chain of carbon and is a complex form of carbohydrates). You can find fiber in bran, whole wheat flour, strawberries, blackberries, broccoli, and other plants and beans.

The consumption of fiber is linked to lower occurrences of hypertension, diabetes, intestinal disorders, some cancers, and even obesity! Fiber is essential to your gastrointestinal health because it decreases the length of time cancer-causing materials stay in the intestines and inhibits the activity of harmful materials. In less developed nations, fiber consumption is between 40-100 grams each day, and there is significantly less occurrences of “Western” diseases such as obesity.

Like other nutrients, it’s best to get your fiber from REAL food. Add foods high in fiber and you will see a positive difference in the way you feel and your energy level.

Are you neglecting your core?

Jay, what’s the best exercise for your abs? I’ve done so many situps and crunches, but I can’t get my abs to look like yours! What am I doing wrong?

Ever since I started telling people that I’m a personal trainer, the first thing they ask me is if I can help them get rid of their tummy fat. Guaranteed.

Situps and crunches will only do so much for your core. True, they’re good at building strength and muscle, but they will not, I repeat, will not give you the 6-pack abs you covet. Why? Because these exercises don’t burn fat!

I am a great advocate for building strong abs, and you do that with targeted exercises such as bicycles, toe touches, and even crunches, for example. But to build truly strong and functional ab and back muscles, you must do exercises that engage the core as stabilizers.

What does that mean?

It means that you should have a steady routine that include planks, push ups, and pull ups! You must engage your core in everything that you do, from squats and lunges, to curls and presses.

To make your muscles “pop” (show off the 6-pack), you also need to have an effective cardio routine. Check out my posts on interval training here and here to get an idea of what kind of cardio I use with my clients.

We all know it’s bikini season, so get to the gym or wherever you work out and start paying proper attention to your core!

Making Fitness Efficient

Today I am meeting my first client, Josh, and as I wait to head down to DC, I thought to write about something fitness related. I enjoy helping people find ways to make their workouts more efficient, since people complain that they don’t have time to work out.

1. Double-up on your exercises. Why not do a lunge and bicep curls at the same time? Or do a squat and shoulder presses? This way, not only are you targeting more than one muscle group, you are also burning more calories in a shorter period of time. Unless you’re a body builder, doing multi-joint exercises is one of the most effective ways to cut down on the time you spend at the gym as well as a great way to reach your fitness goals.

2. Do circuit workouts. Jump from one exercise to another without rest in between. This way you’re not only strength training, but you’re also getting a cardio workout.

3. Do housework. Try vacuuming an entire house with a heavy vacuum cleaner, or sweeping at an intense rate; I guarantee that your heart rate will increase.

4. When you’re watching TV, do situps and push ups during the commercials, and avoid doing mindless snacking while you’re watching TV or reading.

The first tip is my favorite. I love coming up with new combinations of exercises in order to maximize results in the shortest amount of time. How do you make fitness efficient for you?

Converting the Non-Converted

A short discussion with DR yesterday prompted me to think about how we, as fitness enthusiasts, can influence others to adopt the healthy lifestyle. You can’t force someone to change their habits, but how can you get into their psyche enough to make them want to change?

Everyone knows that living healthy saves money in the long run (read this interesting article from MSN about what if everyone were healthy) and makes you happier (endorphins anyone?). The media has been feeding Americans the benefits of healthy living, the dangerous side of bad food choices, you name it. Obviously just knowing these facts is not enough to warrant a change in people’s lives. What makes people so resistant to adopting healthy habits? Why do people buy into the “quick fixes” instead of sticking with what is proven to work (discipline, diet, and exercise).

I’ve been an athlete my entire live, so it’s difficult for me to understand why people don’t just work hard and make the changes that they know are necessary, but I’m working hard to try to understand. I’m not a psychology major, so I’m interested in hearing why people make unhealthy decisions and don’t buy fresh fruits, vegetables, and other foods that we all know are a lot healthier than McDonald’s.

What are your thoughts about this? My guess is that the number one answer given by most of you will be laziness; but there is something deeper than just that. How can we help others make positive changes in their lives? I’m interested in hearing what others think so please leave comments.

Cheap, effective way to burn fat and improve cardio

Thinking about my mother this morning fostered me to think about how she stays in shape. She is a very busy CFO, yet manages to stay in very good health without working out at the gym very often. Besides eating well (no fried foods, no sweets, etc.) and drinking a great amount of water and juice daily (I personally think she has an addiction to water, but that’s another story), she takes the stairs to her 6th floor office every day, every time she leaves the office. She has gotten a few of her co-workers to follow suit, and I hope that more will join the healthy lifestyle crew.

Anyway, my mom does something every Friday that most people would overlook as a way to stay in shape. She is a member of a double-dutch team, and she manages to stay fit by reliving a childhood favorite of hers. Here’s a video of her that was shown last September on the local news in DC. She’s the one with the Nike shoes that looks kind of purple/blue with white stripes going across the shoe. She’s also the one who says something about friends coming together to do what friends do best.

I’m not suggesting that you go out and join a double-dutch team, but I want you to know that jumping rope is a cheap and very effective way to reach your fat loss goals and to improve your cardio. All you need is a jump rope, which you can get for as little as $4-$5 at Walmart, or about $10 at sports stores. There are leather ropes, weighted ropes, and speed ropes. I am a fan of the speed rope because I can jump faster, and I like to focus on anaerobic fitness due to my sports.

To get started, start out slow. Like any other exercise, you want to get the form correct before you perform at speed. The most simple movement is turning the rope and jumping with both feet. Once you get that right, you can add many other variations, like alternating feet, jumping in a triangle figure, double jumping, jumping from side-to-side etc.

Trust me, jumping rope burns fat at an amazing speed. It’s hard, but it doesn’t cost much, you can do it just about anywhere and anytime, and it works. Adding jump ropes to your circuit routine is also a guaranteed way to blast through any fitness plateaus you have encountered. Your body will thank you for it later! I will post video demonstrations on variations of jump rope exercises later.

As usual, leave your questions and comments for me! Give me something to do while I rest my leg.

Here’s one to add to your ab routine

I’m always looking for the next grueling, painful, soul-testing exercise to add to my routine. Variety, even the most challenging change, is good, right? Just nod your head and keep reading.

So I have recently become a fan of using the decline bench for ab exercises, such as for Roman Twists and Medicine Ball Toss. Well, why not mix those two together and see what you get?

The Decline Medicine-Ball Twist and Toss is something new that I’ve added to my routine. If you want to bust your gut, follow my example and add it!

Get on a decline bench that is set between 45-60 degrees and hold the medicine ball in your hands as you secure your feet under the pads. Lean back as far as you can hold it, and hold the medicine ball extended from your chest. Twist to one side as you keep your core tight and your arms in front of you.  Then slam the ball against the floor and then catch the ball. This may take some practice for those less athletically-inclined.

After you catch the ball, twist your body back to the starting position, holding the ball in front of you and pause for a second. Then do the same thing to the other side.

DO NOT rush through this exercise. The important thing to remember for this exercise is to have control of your motion and to keep your abs tight! I see too many people in the gym rush through their exercises, especially those for their abs. If you go slowly, you will challenge the muscle and keep your form correct!

Surprisingly, there’s no videos demonstrating this exercise on YouTube; maybe I’ll borrow my mom’s camcorder to show those of you who are visual learners this exercise. Give this one a try and let me know what you think!

What certification should I get?

If you’ve read my blog and my about me page, you know that I want to be a CSCS. But in the meantime, I want to be a certified personal trainer as well. But which certification should I get? Does it really matter? I’ve read about ACE, NASM, and NSCA certifications, but I have no idea which one should be my first one. I want to get it during the summer so I need to decide soon! I’ve already begun studying the basics of anatomy and I know a lot about form and program design due to my exposure from being an athlete all these years, so study time is not much of an issue for me.

What do you think? Which direction is the best for someone who wants to get started with helping people achieve their fitness goals?

Eating for fitness

In order to make gains in muscle growth or to help your body shed unwanted fat, you have to eat. The trick is learning how to eat well.

Eating 3 large meals a day is not conducive to reaching your fitness goals, whatever they may be. You should be eating 5-6 smaller meals throughout the day. Why? Because it constantly keeps your metabolism engaged, burning fat and calories as you digest your food! I tend to eat heavier in my second meal, lunch and dinner; the other meals usually consist of light cereal or fruit such as applesauce, apples, and kiwis.

What should you eat? I generally follow a rule of if you can’t catch it, grow it, make it, or pick it, I usually don’t eat it. I have to confess though, I am partial to fruit snacks But my substantive meals consist of a lot of rice (leaning towards brown rice now), vegetables, chicken or turkey, steak once a week, and salads. For breakfast, I eat cereal, make pancakes (not the frozen kinds, but cooked on a skillet), eggs, sausage, and fruit such as kiwi, apples, and oranges. Always, always eat something for breakfast! It kick starts the metabolism and provides you with the fuel you need to begin your day. If you don’t like traditional breakfast foods, who says that you can’t have something else that you like?

I drink 100% juice, usually cranberry and pomegranate juice for the high antioxidant content. I very rarely eat fried foods; I find little value of fried foods for my fitness goals.

Throughout the day, drink plenty of water. Not only will water keep you hydrated and facilitate the transport of nutrients between cells in your body, but it can also help keep the munchies away. If you don’t like plain water, I strongly encourage you to find a way to flavor it up, maybe by adding a little lemon or an orange slice to give it a subtle hint of flavor. Carry a refillable water bottle with you so you don’t have to constantly buy more bottles of water and contribute to waste.

How do I portion my food? I tend to keep my servings no bigger than my fist. When I am eating to retain muscle mass, such as during soccer season and right now, I eat more. I don’t count calories and I personally don’t suggest it; I favor following a natural, balanced diet. I also do not suggest eating below 1000 calories per day because that is the minimum your body needs to operate well.

I find some of my favorite recipes from Oxygen Magazine. I just cooked a roasted chicken, asparagus, and potatoes recipe and it was delicious! I find that the recipes in this magazine are clean and support my fitness goals.

What are your tips for eating well? Leave comments and I will respond!

PS. As a side note, I just maxed out at 10 strict pull ups…going for 11 today!

No Gym, No Problem

So you don’t belong to a gym or a health club, and you don’t have a home gym. That doesn’t give you an excuse to not strength train! Every time I hear “But I don’t have access to a gym, so I can’t work out” I want to flip out. But somehow I manage to keep my composure.

Seriously though, you don’t need fancy equipment and machines to improve your strength. Your own bodyweight is often enough resistance for you to make drastic improvements and helps with fat loss. If you are able to control your own bodyweight when doing movements, you are, in fact, a strong person!

If you have access to a playground, you can do pull ups on the monkey bars, and swing through the monkey bars as well. Remember playing as a kid, how much fun the playground was, how much strength it took for you to swing from bar to bar? If you start doing pull ups and variations of pull ups in a playground, you will notice your strength improving within a couple of weeks.

Speaking of playgrounds, you can create an entire circuit using things you find at a playground. For example, you can run hard for 3 minutes, stop and do 3 sets of 15 dips on a bench, run again for another 3 minutes, do 3 sets of pull ups to failure on the monkey bars, run again for another 3 minutes, do 3 sets of push ups to failure, run again for another 3 minutes, do 3 sets of planks for 1 minute each, run again for another 3 minutes, do 3 sets of 15 burpees, run again for another 3 minutes, do 3 sets of 30 mountain climbers, run again for another 3 minutes, do 50 bodyweight squats, and finally run again for another 3 minutes. That’s 24 minutes of intense running, plus the cardio you get from moving from one exercise to the next.

To make that easier for you to read:

3 mins run

3 sets of 15 dips

3 mins run

3 sets of pull ups

3 mins run

3 sets of push ups

3 mins run

3 sets of planks, 1 min each

3 mins run

3 sets of 15 burpees

3 mins run

3 sets of 30 mountain climbers

3 mins run

50 bodyweight squats

3 mins run

As soon as my hamstring heals, I’m gonna give it a shot. If you try it, let me know how long it takes you to complete and how you feel about it! Leave comments!

Check out my article

Check out my article and other fitness and health posts featured in this week’s Mind and Body Fitness Blog Carnival!

More articles to come later on this week after I finish exams, speeches, papers, and so on… Leave comments and let me know if you have any questions!