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julie
Robin sets a stretch goal
Robin’s health and fitness path was not a direct one. She weighed 350 pounds and had undergone several unsuccessful attempts to lose the weight. She kept all her emotions bottled up and used food to fill any voids. However, she soon found herself with some big goals.
After her mother passed away, Robin’s brother kept encouraging her to do something about her health. She went to the doctor, who told her that her life would be shortened if she didn’t take action. A month later, Robin was diagnosed with high blood pressure and needed medication. She knew it was time to act. A friend introduced her to My Fitness Pal and she began tracking the food she was eating and finding support among the online community. This, coupled with the support of her friends and family, made her thrive.
She joined a new gym in town and began working with a personal trainer. This trainer helped her see what she could handle at the beginning of her journey. Her trainer had her walking on a treadmill for a minute, then jogging for 30 seconds. Though it was tough, it made her hungry to run even more. Running was the only time that her mind could let go and she felt free and clear.
Since she had this newfound love to run, Robin made a stretch goal to run a half-marathon. Before the race began, she had her doubts. Could she really do it? Did she belong to be out there with everyone else? When the race began, she knew she was right where she belonged and she successfully finished the race.
For Robin, one key to success was having a specific goal in mind—something to work toward. She also credits the support of her friends, family, and the online community of My Fitness Pal. Having a workout buddy and doing food prep were also critical components that worked for Robin. All of these elements created the exact formula necessary for Robin to reach her goals.
Music: Ben Sound Royalty Free Music
January 27, 2016
- in fitness , guest/interview , health by julie
Primal Prescription | Dr. Doug McGuff
This is the first of a two-part interview with author, Dr. Doug McGuff. Dr. McGuff coauthored his new book, Primal Prescription, with Dr. Robert Murphy.
Dr. McGuff became interested in exercise and diet at the age of 15. He went on to graduate from medical school and trained in emergency medicine. As an accomplished physician, he served as Chief Resident and in 1997, he opened Ultimate Exercise, a personal training studio specializing in high intensity exercise.
Primal Prescription evaluates the current state of healthcare. The public is sold on the concept of failures of the free market system in healthcare. The fact is that no semblance of a free market system has existed in medicine since the Great Depression. Price nor quality is cared about. Excellent healthcare providers are all trapped within a dysfunctional system of delivery. The book speaks about all of this and provides practical tips on how to survive the system.
To manage your health in the current system, it is best to “starve the beast” or adopt dietary discipline and exercise. When you do not do this, you become complicit in your own demise, eventually needing to be saved. Of course, there are always unforeseen illness and accidents to consider.
It’s important to pursue health by eating, lifting, and moving to prevent illness. Pick what appeals to you and what works with your lifestyle. It’s important to make sure you have a personal physician and develop that relationship. You will eventually need someone to guide you through this complex system. Consider someone who practices a broad range of medicine – a family practitioner or internist.
The key to being superhuman is to realize you’re only human. You have to engage in a way that will be livable over the long-term. Have a system that you follow on a daily basis. Do what’s best for you and what will cause the least amount of stress in the process. To learn more about Dr. Doug McGuff, visit www.drmcguff.com. Primal Prescription is now available for purchase on Amazon.
Music: Ben Sound Royalty Free Music
January 26, 2016
- in personal training , solo show by julie
Progression for results
Clients John and Tammy are seeing real success in the program. They’re checking in once again and have taken another round of measurements. Both are down ½-inch across the board.
John even has shorts that don’t fit anymore. He recently got his A1C blood test done to review his blood sugar levels. In the four months since his last test, he dropped 2.1 marks. His doctor was so impressed that he feels John will be off his medication in three to six months and under 200 pounds in six months. John now has a goal to reach 180 pounds. He can see what’s possible and what he is capable of achieving. He’s setting slightly bigger goals and placing milestones along the way. He understands what is coming next in the natural progression of his health and fitness journey.
Tammy has seen a shift as well. She has noticed her mindset changing as she is building new habits around healthy eating. She is no longer looking for the quickest meal, but finding the healthier option. She knows she has a choice to make and is using her willpower to make the right choice. She can even consider planning ahead and packing a lunch. She is encouraged by the fact that her measurements went down as well. Her hip measurements went down by almost three inches!
John and Tammy are true examples of patience, perseverance, and progression. They know the weight usually comes off faster in the beginning, but are prepared to stay the course. They are truly seeing their progression and know that they can accomplish anything with the help of patience and perseverance.
Music used for the podcast Intro and Outro: http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music
4 fitness modalities that matter
When beginning a fitness journey, people often need to lose weight and may only be focused on what the scale says. In reality, different fitness modalities need to be considered to help you achieve all of your fitness goals, which should be so much more than just weight loss.
Here are four important fitness modalities to consider:
Cardiovascular
Many people assume cardio is essential to fat loss, but it’s not always one of the most important modalities in the equation. It simply needs to be sustainable and work with your diet. Some examples include running, walking, or riding a bike. Perhaps the most effective way to get to a high level of fitness through cardiovascular exercise is by cross country skiing. As long as you’re moving and getting your heart rate up, you will see the real benefits of this fitness modality.
Balance
As you get older, you lose that brain-muscle connection and run the risk of falling. Working to improve your front, back, and side to side balance will help you in the long run.
Mobility
You want to be able to move through a full range of motion so you can continue to have the ability to do things for yourself. As you improve your mobility, you will feel more flexible and capable. Just be careful not to injure yourself.
Strength
Building muscle will keep you healthy. You will be less likely to injure yourself and have the ability to move something heavy in one direction or another. Improve strength by doing resistance exercises. Add in free weights and machines if you’d like. Challenge the muscle and then rest the muscle.
Find a good cross-training program that includes all of these important fitness modalities. Then pair it with a good diet to build and fuel your body. Soon enough, you will be in much better shape.
Message me to get our guide – The 7 Health and Fitness Measures That Matter. It will give you some guidance to know that you’re focused on the right things with your health and fitness program.
Music used for the podcast Intro and Outro: http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music
Patty’s health choices
Patty was on a quest to change her health. But it wasn’t just weight she wanted to lose. Patty also needed to kick her smoking habit. In her 40s, Patty was morbidly obese, topping the scales at 350 pounds. She was on four different medications and was smoking a pack and a half of cigarettes each day. She knew she needed help.
Patty’s daughter saw the My Fitness Pal app and encouraged her to download it onto her phone. It sat untouched for two or three months. Truthfully, Patty was scared to begin. Once she did, she found exactly what she needed—information and support.
She started eating less and moving more. She began with walking and religiously tracked the food she ate and the exercise she did through the app. After a while, it even became easy. She has the tools at her fingertips.
In her first year, Patty lost 115 pounds simply by eating less and moving more. By her second year, she was off all of her medications. This was great, but she knew there was one more hurdle to overcome—quitting smoking.
She had been wanting to quit smoking for so long. When she first tried to run, she couldn’t breathe and her lungs hurt. She made the decision to quit and after two months of not smoking, she ran her first 5K and felt great doing it.
Her biggest tip is that even if you think you can’t be successful, you can be. You have to want it bad enough and have a strong reason as to why. For Patty, it was being able to be active with her grandchildren.
Though she did put on a little more weight after quitting cigarettes, she now knows how to take it back off and will do so. Now, Patty knows that adopting a health and fitness lifestyle is forever and she is committed to staying healthy for life. To get in touch with Patty directly, contact her through My Fitness Pal as Pattydi.
Music used for the podcast Intro and Outro: http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music
January 19, 2016
- in personal training , solo show by julie
Tweaking to fit
In this client episode, John and Tammy evaluate their progress thus far and consider tweaking their program just a bit. They’re making progressions and improving their form, but they realize that alcohol consumption is also part of the equation. After all, alcohol calories are sugar. In the future, they will need to look at their volume and manage it against what other sugars they are consuming. Another important factor to consider is water consumption. They will want to keep drinking water to counteract the dehydrating effect with alcohol.
When evaluating their diet, John and Tammy recognize they are eating a lot of basic carbs—essentially eating a basic American diet. This will be one of the areas to tweak. They will reduce their carb intake, and once they start lifting weights, shift more to protein consumption than the carbohydrates.
Regarding their exercise plan, John is noticing his knees are more flexible and he’s having less pain at work. He’s doing push-ups, but would like to do more upper body work. Another tweak will involve starting push-ups in the standard position, not on his knees, and then dropping to his knees when he begins to struggle with his form.
Tammy mentioned she was having a bit of trouble with squats. While she is holding onto a chair to keep her balance, she will now try using the chair as part of her squat. She will adjust her positioning so that when she squats, her bottom will touch the edge of the chair, which will help take some of the pressure off her legs.
The key is to build the basic foundation and continue tweaking along the way. In the beginning stages, it will seem like progress is limited when you can only complete a small set. However, as progression grows, John and Tammy will be able to take on more reps and see a real improvement.
January 18, 2016
- in fitness , health , solo show , weight loss by julie
Be a lab rat to find health and fitness
Want to know how you can get the best results for you? Become a lab rat to find your path to health and fitness! You can evaluate study data to see what might work best for you. Be wary of advice you see in the press or attention-grabbing headlines. Some of this is often based in fear-mongering to grab your interest. To be successful, you need to reflect about the true nature of the study. Usually, there is a test and control group to do a compare and contrast of results, from which statistically valid conclusions are drawn.
Some studies are metastudies. This is where several studies are evaluated and data is extrapolated to develop a new conclusion or bolster a prior conclusion. Look at how they were designed and pick apart why one was different than the other.
Some studies may have general assumptions. Analyze the data and think critically about the information that is presented. Some studies may include a very limited number of participants. The backbone of a good study will have a large pool of participants. Other studies may have bias or influence. In fact, some supplement companies will pay for a clinical study to be done. Be cautious of this as well.
All this being said, you have the opportunity to do experiments on yourself to be well-controlled. First, you must define your experiment. Determine how you will go about it and what your criteria will be. Do you want to lose five or 10 pounds in four weeks? Write that information down and keep track of your data. Want to try a low fat diet? Be clear on what that means to you so you can assess properly.
In the end, if you use common sense and do your research, you will be able to apply study findings to your own journey. Test something that you can sustain over time. If it works for you, systemize the program and make it a part of your daily life. Think of yourself as your own experiment—a lab rat on a journey to better health and fitness!
Music used for the podcast Intro and Outro: http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music