Losing weight and staying fit might seem like it is an uphill battle at times. The process does take a lot of patience and hard work, but many people get frustrated or lose sight of their goals only after a few short months. While being physically fit definitely takes effort, there are some things you should remember in order to stay successful in your fitness journey.

Keep these three simple tips in mind when you embark on the path towards a healthier you, and you should be successful in due time.

You have to change your lifestyle. Being fit does not just mean you can walk a great distance for a long period of time, or that you are not sick. True physical fitness requires an actual lifestyle change. Quitting smoking and the consumption of alcohol (except in moderation) as well as eating a healthier diet and getting proper exercise all require a change in the way you live your life. Read the rest of this entry »

Looking to make a change and lose some weight? I have reviewed the top diet on the internet and you can go and read over 200 comments people have made about why this diet has worked well for them, as well as some of the problems.

Tags: Fitness Equipment, good exercise equipment, good fitness equipment, personal trainer

A fitness trainer is an excellent way to help people who are looking to get toned, trim, and fit. Personal trainers can become a life long friend who will guide you down the right path to success in meeting your fitness goals.

No two fitness trainers are the same, however, so there are some very important things you should look for before making a final decision. Here are four very important things you should be aware of when you go on your search.

Are they certified? Be sure the fitness trainer you are interested in is certified. This can be done by any number of nationwide fitness associations, but it assures that the trainer knows what they are doing, and that they have the right background and qualifications.

It’s also a great idea to make sure they are trained in CPR and other first aid tactics in the event that you become injured or need help. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: CPR, first aid, personal trainer

If someone asks you to hire a personal trainer, do you become confused? If yes, you are not alone. Ask your peers and probably they are also in the same kind of dilemma. People, especially women, don’t really know how to get the best bang for the buck they invest in their fitness training and consequently, often end up getting disappointed.

You see, if you hire a computer technician but don’t tell him what you want him to solve, he would most probably do nothing, or at best, just perform the bare necessary activities that may or may not solve your original problem. It is no different with a fitness trainer either.

I have come across very few women who really know what they are after. If you go to a gym, you would see several women there working out with their butts off. But ask any of them what is it that they expect to gain from this rigorous workout session, and most of them won’t have any definitive answer. Some would probably throw in a few vague answers like “I want to lose weight” or “I wish to become slimmer” but seldom would you get any definitive answer from them. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: computer technician, personal trainer, Your Fitness Instructor

A while back I wrote some articles about how to decide on a fitness club. The articles were about joining a gym, gym staff, how far to the gym and how to tour a gym. I have to think that it would have been a good idea to decide what is important in picking a fitness trainer so that article is coming right away as well.

I would love to go into depth into how you can best choose a personal trainer but the busy time of year for getting a personal trainer is around New Years Day so I will put some stuff together for just before then. If you are looking now for a personal trainer though here are a few tips

Choosing a Personal Trainer

First of all make sure that your trainer has some kind of credentials. There are a couple of accreditation’s that personal trainer can get. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: ACE Personal Trainer, NCCA, personal trainer

We all love watching X-Weighted and one of the real highlights of the show is not just the transformations in just a few months but also the no nonsense way in which Paul Plakas helps, pushes and fights against what people want to do in order to make them that much better.

I just saw on a comment from Paul on my X-Weighted post that Paul has his own website now which is great!

Paul’s fans as well as many people that want to be on the X-Weighted show email me and comment quite often so now people can go straight to the source. I am not sure how much Paul has to do with getting people onto the X-Weighted show but perhaps if you visit his website you will be able to find this out.

Also, if you live in the Edmonton area Paul Plakas is a personal trainer as well as a fitness show trainer and I am sure would be a fantastic one. Visit the new site and find out more about Paul and send him an email.

Tags: edmonton, paul plakas, personal trainer

I have been working out off and on since I was 15 years old and one of the problems with the whole bodybuilding industry is that it is based on vanity a lot more then it is based on fitness.

I still remember when I was 20 and smoking and going into a bar and a fellow weightlifter told me that bodybuilders don’t smoke they just drink. Well going out boozing is not a picture of fitness to me anymore but the bodybuilding industry is built on vanity just as it has been for many many years.

I found the following interesting article at Intersportswire.

Thirty-five years ago the term “body building “ was synonymous with fitness. But in 2008 these terms are mutually exclusive. If your personal trainer is a bodybuilder, you should move on. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Arnold Schwarzenegger, bodybuilding, George Butler, mr olympia, mr universe, muscle group, Olympia, personal trainer, pumping iron, spartan life, Universe, weightlifter

Well last night was the finale of this seasons version of the Biggest Loser and it was a night of celebration and motivation not a night to watch challenges, gameplay or workouts and not very many tips either. I taped the show as always becasue two hours is too long for any TV show and they use lots and lots of commercials for filler.

The show was broken into two parts, first all of the kicked off players did a weight in to see who would win the $100,000 for the also rans and then the last four did their weight in to see who would be crowned Biggest Loser and wind $250,000.

As they introduced all of the players except the last 4 we were amazed at home at how much weight everyone seemed to lose. There were many ways that these people could have just given up and then not attended the final show but everyone was there and everyone lost a ton of weight. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: allison sweeney, Biggest Loser, bob harper, christmas, IT Project Manager, jillian michaels, kim lyons, Los Angeles, personal trainer, reality tv, six pack, tv show, USD

Everyone wants better abs and here is a bunch of great info on getting better abs now. I have just got this interview that Tom Venuto of Burn the fat feed the muscle fame, did with David Grisaffi. David Grisaffi has just created a kick ass workout system called flatten your abs that is designed to give you much better abs and I thought I would share this with you now to learn more about ab training.

The Abdominal Training Secrets Interview
With Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS
www.BurnTheFat.com
And David Grisaffi, CHEK, CFT, PN
www.FlattenYourAbs.net

TV: Hi David, thanks for taking the time for this interview because I know how busy you are and that, among other projects, you run a training studio in Tacoma, you’re a wrestling coach and you keep a full client load. I’ve known you for a couple years now through the Internet and the emails we’ve sent to each other and you’re very well known within the fitness industry – especially in the sports training field. But on the off chance that some of the people listening to this interview don’t know who you are, would you give us a quick introduction and tell us little bit about your background, how you got started in this field and how you spend your time now?

DG: Well I was always a sports enthusiast my entire life. I can remember I was the only 9-year-old watching Monday night football and taking stats. I did all the usual sports – football, soccer, wrestling, swimming, baseball and tennis. Never did much with basketball. Being a genetically “blessed” Italian, I didn’t think the height requirement was going to be on my side. I excelled at wrestling. That sport alone taught me about nutrition, supplements, work ethic etc. I really have to thank wrestling for getting me into this field. I now coach high school wrestling, baseball and youth football. I keep really busy with my 3 children, Addision (13) Garrison (10) and my little man Carson (7). I taught school for a couple of years and then decided to go into personal training.

TV: You have quite a few certifications, one of them is certified personal trainer, one is certified golf trainer  or golf biomechanic to be exact – but what is a Corrective High Performance Exercise Kinesiologist?

DG: That’s an intense certification program where you learn from one of the foremost experts in the conditioning field, Paul Chek, who personally developed and cultivated the program. The certification revolves around the dynamics of kinesiology, physiology, functional anatomy and mind  body – spirit relationships. The program has four levels and I’m currently a level II, where we learn physical assessment, posture analysis, gait analysis, primal movement patterns, length-tension testing and range of motion testing. My Golf biomechanic certification is also from the CHEK institute. This is where we learn how the relationship between muscles and muscle groups affect the golf swing and how to improve it. In the winter of 2002 I also became one of the first Nutrition and Lifestyle Coaches from the CHEK institute. This program was developed to help practitioners deal with nutritional and lifestyle needs of their clients. The certification teaches how symptoms of disease and stress can be prevented through diet, exercise and stress management. I’m currently a level II Nutrition and lifestyle coach.I can’t say enough about how Paul has helped me become a better trainer and person. There is more to this than just exercise.

TV: And I understand that there’s only a small handful of people who have those credentials, is that right?

DG: Yes, I think, at last count about 1000 have received a CHEK certification but there are only about 35 in the world with all three certifications including the level two’s. So it all costs time, energy and brain work Tom, but for someone who wants something different and out of the box thinking, it’s great. Not to take away from any other certification programs; heck, I love the ISSA, Ian King, Charles Poliquin and many others

TV: That’s impressive, congratulations. So if I understand your philosophy correctly, the big difference between you and other trainers and especially trainers who only do bodybuilding and nothing else, is that you help your clients not only look good, but also with functionality, performance and correcting existing injuries or potential problem areas or imbalances that could lead to injuries in the future. Did I miss anything or would you say that’s a pretty good description?

DG: That’s right you have to evaluate your client thoroughly for strengths and weaknesses to get the best results. Sometimes without a good evaluation you can miss something that could help prevent or fix an injury or cause someone not to excel.

TV:I think it’s really important what you’re teaching people because as a bodybuilder myself, when I first started many years ago, the ONLY thing I cared about was looking good and having muscles and abs and low body fat, but true fitness is a lot more than just looking good. For one thing it’s health above all else. In addition to that, if you don’t have strong, flexible and balanced development, then sooner or later, you’re going to get injured or you’re going to find that you can’t enjoy the sports or recreation activities you want to, and ultimately you might even find yourself restricted from normal daily activities like squatting, bending and lifting things around the house, which is exactly what happens to most people when then get older. But still, the fact is, everyone wants to look good, they want the six pack; they want muscle definition. So how do you balance the form aspect  the looking good part  with the function aspect  which is the strength, flexibility, balance and performance part?

DG: I believe we develop from the inside out. If you have good insides, you will have a good outside. What I mean is that diet, nutrition and water intake have a great deal to do with how good you look on the outside. So to look good – the form part – I start with overseeing my client’s dietary intake. I don’t go as far as telling them exactly what to eat, but I give a lot of suggestions. As for the function, I always think of the body as a whole, not as parts. Yes, if you’re a bodybuilder and that is your gig, then heck yes, think in parts. This really depends on the client and their goals, but you always need proper flexibility, strength and balance in the whole body as a unit.

TV: You train regular people and you also train professional athletes, especially boxers and golfers. Is there a big difference in how athletes and regular people should train?

DG: Each of them has distinct differences. So to plop down a canned program for everyone would lead to failure and would reflect poorly on me. I take each client one at a time. In my Flatten Your Abs e-book, I provide many different levels so each individual can pick the level that fits them best when they start out. Everyone is not equal. The boxers in general, are more athletic, so one big difference is that I change their program more often to keep them fresh. Let’s say I have 6 weeks before a tough fight, I may change the workout 3 – 4 times. Their nervous systems are highly adaptable and need the change. Someone who just wants to start a basic weight-training program could stay on the same program for the entire 6 weeks and get results. This is because their nervous systems are not as highly developed.

Read the rest of this interview on my next Ab workout interview post!

Click here to visit David Grisaffi.s Flatten Your Abs Website to see what this great program has to offer you this year.

Tags: Addision, baseball, basketball, Carson, Charles Poliquin, coach, David Grisaffi, David Grisaffi.s Flatten, e-book, energy, existing injuries, football, Golf, Ian King, King, nervous systems, Paul Chek, personal trainer, soccer, sports enthusiast, sports training field, Swimming, Tennis, tom venuto, usual sports, wrestling, wrestling coach, www.burnthefat.com, www.flattenyourabs.net

This is the start of a series of articles celebrating wroking out at home. I have over the years worked out at home as well as at a gym and have usually had much better workouts at a gym. This series will try to change that. As we all know it is cheaper and way more convenient in the long run to work out at home but there is always costs that we will have to deal with at some point.

Home exercise programs are a great way to keep fit and lose weight. Along with proper diet and nutrition, an exercise program can help speed your metabolism and burn calories faster. There are a number of home exercise videos that will give you the direction and motivation you need to burn fat and lose weight quickly. But, why are exercise videos a great option in your home exercise program?

The Convenience Factor:
Exercise at your convenience. By performing regular exercises you will place a greater demand on your body’s stores of fat and you will cause your metabolism to increase dramatically. Your body will burn fat as a source of energy at an accelerated rate and the end result will be a slimmer, more toned you. Your level of fitness will improve with each workout routine you perform. Exercise videos are a great way to learn the best exercises to burn fat and build lean muscle and you will be able to exercise in your very own home at your convenience.
Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: columnist, Denise Austin, energy, extravagant exercise equipment, personal trainer, Tina Titas Tina Titas

Health Club tours are always well scripted events that are conducted by a salesman for only one or two people. When you are gong to go to tour the health club that you are interested in remember that touring one is not enough. Decide which one you really like best just by location and reputation and then tour a couple of others.

Why would you tour other gyms?

Well every gym you tour will have a salesperson pushing the points that are strongest at that particular gym; the size, the amount of equipment, the trainers. After you have gone on a few tours than you will be saving what you think is the best for last. At this point you are going to know a lot more about what would be important to you and you will be in a better place to not be sold by the pitch and instead be a bit more detached to what is important for your own needs in a health club.

So now on with the tours!

The look of the Health Club

Firstly do your fitness club tours at a time that you would normally work out, this will give you an idea of what the conditions are going to be when you workout yourself. When you start your health club tour the salesperson will start by telling you how great the gym is and how helpful and friendly the staff and other members are. Look around the gym and see what the equipment usage is like, is there any obvious waiting for equipment? Are you going to be intimidated by huge bodybuilders making too much noise? On the other hand does it deem to country club like for your tastes without a motivational feel?

Even though you may have worn workout clothes for your health club tour try to make sure that you do not use the equipment, the act of working out may distract you from your objectivity. While you are seeing the equipment take a look at the lighting, is the workout area bright enough. How much space is there between pieces of equipment? Are you going to be crowded in or is there to much room that makes the place look too empty?

Check out the layout of the entire fitness center, are there enough water fountains? Are you going to run into people while you are getting weights for the bench press? When you get to the changing room check out the showers, stalls and lockers and make sure everything is clean. You may be uncomfortable with the idea of showering with other people but over time you will likely find it useful to be able to have a workout, shower, and then continue on with your day.

Workout Equipment

When you tour the health clubs there are three kinds of equipment to look at.

Cardio Equipment – steppers, stationary bikes, treadmills, rowing machines. How are the usage of these machines, these are always very popular and if your are at the gym at busy time your will not want to wait between uses of the machines

Weight Machines – contraptions that you put weights on including nautilus and others. How well are these maintained? The worst thing for using these is if they are jerky when you are moving through your range of motion and you will not want to be using them which means they would be wasted equipment to you.

Weights, benches, racks – There are various ways to do your exercises but you have to sit or lean on something. Are there lineups for this equipment? How close and how many weight plates are around? Again you would not want to wait to use this equipment as the time between sets is an important factor as to whether you have a good workout or not.

Miscellaneous equipment- abs equipment, lower back. This equipment is usually shoved off to one side in the health club. You will want to be able to get to it as almost every workout you will want to either work on getting a six pack set of abs or strengthening your lower back. Is this equipment well covered or is it torn? Is there enough at a busy time or do you have to wait for this? It may not be too bad to wait for these pieces of equipment occasionally so it may not be a deal breaker for you.

One thing to really take a look at in your tour of the health club is the equipment and the apparent servicing of this equipment. Gym equipment is very tough looking and it may look to you like the equipment is very sturdy and does not need any work to keep it going. This is very wrong! Any reputable gym will have someone working for them part time to maintain the equipment, keeping everything greased, recovering the benches and seats and generally making sure that all of the health club equipment is in tip top shape.

Cardio equipment must be maintained as well. The cardio equipment in a gym has to take much more abuse than nay weight equipment ever has to. Parts are worn and have to be replaced so that everything feels smooth when using stationary bikes, treadmills, stair machines and rowing machines.

Amenities

Lastly you will want to check out all of those really cool amenities�.or maybe not.

Suntan Beds – Are you going to get a great deal on the suntanning? Do you even care if you ever use a suntan bed? If not why even factor that into whether you want to join?

Squash or racquetball – if there is some kind of courts look at whether you have anyone to play with, if your are outgoing you may find plenty of people to play with but if not it may be just a waste of space to you�and your membership fees pay for that upkeep.

Proshop and snack bar – these are among the most expensive places for clothes, drinks and equipment on the planet. Always an excuse for a break from the workout but they will always lighten your wallet.

Personal trainer on staff – This could be a great one, if there is a personal trainer then you may want to pay the 40 or so dollars an hour to improve your workouts but it can add up over time. See if there is some kind of plan for 10 sessions or something. And if you set up training then remember to take lots of notes in the car in the parking lot afterwards.

Pricing the Health Club

After you have been through more than a couple gyms and fitness centers you are going to know the tour pretty well and the hard close at the end that tries to have you sign up before you leave the door. Do not sign up right away as you can always leverage how the other gyms are when you are ready to sign up in the end. Every area of the country is a bit different as far as memberships go for health clubs but almost always there is a monthly payment, some kind of signup fee and a two or three year contract. When you are ready to decide look at all of the factors that are important and discount any amenities that you will be paying for but not using. The decision is usually a tough one between a couple of places but in the end I am sure you will be happy with your decision and on your way to an exciting new lifestyle.

Tags: bodybuilders, cardio equipment, fitness center, fitness club, gym equipment, gym salesperson, health club, health club equipment, Miscellaneous equipment, nay weight equipment, personal trainer, rowing, salesman, squash, Tour Health Club, workout area, workout clothes