LA Fat Loss & Nutrition Tips
Had a great weekend in LA…worked out with John Romaniello, Joel Marion, and Vince Del Monte. Here’s a photo of Roman and I being goofballs. And Vince is funny because he’s always on his own schedule…he tries to pack 33 hours into a 24 hour day. Good times are always had with those guys.
While I was in LA, I made two small dietary mistakes, and wrote about them in this blog post about 5 foods I’ll never eat.
Click here to listen to the call…
Let’s get started with…
Monday – Jan 24th
Transformation Tip of the Week:
“Nobody gets old by surprise.” – Dave Kekich…so write down what you want to accomplish, set a DEADLINE, and make a plan to get it done.
“Get a sheet of paper and write down exactly what you want your life to look like. Be detailed. If the things you wrote down are indeed your priorities, then take action today.” – Larry Winget
Training Tips from Alwyn Cosgrove
Last week I visited one of top 10 gyms in USA as voted by Men’s Health magazine. It is owned by my friend, Alwyn Cosgrove.
Like myself, Alwyn’s fat loss workouts have evolved since he first started working out himself back in the early 90’s. We both made the mistake of doing slow cardio while training for sports, and that’s how we realized that slow cardio does not work best for fat loss.
He then switched to interval training, but his clients compliance for “on their own” interval workouts was low, so now he has moved into delivering group metabolic conditioning workouts for fat loss. His clients love the training sessions that include battling ropes, tire flips, prowler pushes, kettlebells, and more.
Tuesday
• Get 30 minutes of fun activity – now grab a Green Tea and do this week’s research review.
Reference:
“E-mail contact as an effective strategy in the maintenance of weight loss in adults”
UK researchers evaluated dietary e-mail advice to support weight loss on individuals who were successful in weight loss.
55 patients who had lost ≥5% body weight were put in one of two groups:
a) intervention group (weekly e-mail messages and monthly personal e-mail message with reporting of weight, n = 28)
b) control group (n = 27).
Results:
After 6 months, the E-mail group maintained an average weight loss of 10%, which was significantly (P = 0.05) greater than the mean percentage weight loss maintained by the control group (7.3%). The control group regained weight at a statistically significant greater velocity (P = 0.02) than the intervention group.
There were also correlations between the amount of fruits and vegetables (P = 0.07) eaten and exercise episodes (P = 0.01) against weight change in maintenance…so again, more data showing that eating fruits and vegetables helps control your weight.
Conclusions:
Email helps reduce weight gain velocity and improves weight loss maintenance and can reach many people.
Wednesday Workout Tip
Research from my alma mater:
Eur J Appl Physiol. 2011 Jan 13. Enhancement of jump performance after a 5-RM squat is associated with postactivation potentiation. Mitchell CJ, Sale DG.
First, I want to mention that one of the authors of this study was Dr. Digby Sale, who was my undergraduate mentor at McMaster University. He is a wonderful guy, with a wicked and very dry sense of humor. I really owe a lot to that guy. He taught me so much about critical thinking and physiology.
Now about the study…in the past, you might remember me mentioning that I do squats and jumps (and deadlifts and jumps) in supersets. I do this because lifting improves jump performance.
Why?
According to researchers, “Weight lifting exercise may induce postactivation potentiation (PAP), thereby enhancing performance of a subsequent biomechanically similar “explosive” movement.”
This study tested whether a five repetition maximum squat (5-RM squat) both induced PAP and increased the height of subsequently performed counter-movement jumps (CMJs).
Eleven male athletes completed four laboratory sessions on separate days.
The 5-RM squat increased both post-activation potentiation and jump height.
Since PAP was present at the time when CMJ height increased, it was concluded that PAP may have contributed to the increased CMJ height after a 5-RM squat.
Trainer Thursday
• Do 30 minutes of fun activity…
One thing that sets Alwyn’s gym apart from so many others is not the equipment, but the fact that he has Core Values that he teaches to his employees and shares with his clients. Here they are…I hope they get you thinking about the core values for your training business.
Core Values of Alwyn’s Gym
1. Bring your best
2. Be professional
3. Have integrity, be honest and transparent
4. Have only good days and great days
5. Be “we”, not “me”
6. Constantly learn, always improve
7. Have fun and a sense of humor
8. Strive for profitability
9. Exceed expectations
10. Keep leading
Facebook Friday
Today, this question actually comes from the TT Members forum:
Question: “How would you classify Bikram yoga? Would it be for easy day activity or could it be used for the interval part of the training due to it’s intense protocol?”
Answer:
Bikram yoga is not a sub for interval training, but it is also not an off day activity. You have to be careful adding that to TT. It really depends on the individual situation.
If you are serious about TT, you really can’t be serious about yoga (i.e. doing multiple sessions of hard classes) and vice-versa.
Why not?
Because you will get an overuse injury.
So bottom line:
Yoga is fine and good, but you have to decide on your training priority.
Social Support Saturday!
• 30 minutes of fun activity…
Time for more QnA…this time, about weekend eating.
Q: My eating is going to be my downfall, I think. I do really well all week and then the weekends are just awful. Anybody have any suggestions for eating better on weekends? The problem is my husband and I work opposite shifts so the weekend is when he and I can sit down together and eat (with the kids). Which usually means we go out.
Answer:
You need to plan where you are going. I go to restaurants all the time, and I haven’t found one yet anywhere where I couldn’t control my portions or come up with a decent order. Heck, even at McDonald’s you can get what they call “grilled chicken”. You are giving yourself what Dax Moy calls a “get out of jail free card”. You have to take that away.
I would do a couple of things…
a) re-read the transformation experts e-book bonus…it contains invaluable advice.
b) find out how many calories you are eating
c) take circumference measures weekly
d) adjust your calories down if you don’t improve your circumference measures (i.e. if you aren’t losing fat)
I would find a calorie goal immediately. You can’t wing it and expect results.
Sunday – Plan, Shop & Prepare
• 30 minutes activity and plan, shop, & prepare
MH Scary Nutrition Facts Feb 2011
• A study showed that one alcoholic drink leads to 15% increase in calories consumed at a meal
• Average combo fast food meal = 1200+ calories
• Most people dramatically underestimate the number of calories in food (by 21-50%)…i.e.) when people ate a “healthy” meal from Subway and an iso-caloric meal from McDonalds, they incorrectly judged the Subway meal to have 20% fewer calories.
Next week!
• Training Tips – My latest workout
• Research Review – Interval training and social support research
• Nutrition – Scary Starbucks Stats