Get Out There and Make Some Friends... It's Summer!

Caught a neat little bit in a health magazine the other day titled, "Social Interaction Prevents Obesity" the entire thing is super short here it is word for word...

"Loneliness increase the risk of obesity, cancer, and premature death. A study on mice from the Ohio State University showed that social stimulation helped the animals convert energy-storing white fat to energy-burning brown fat. Consequently, the animals lost weight. Researchers achieved greater social interaction by housing 15-20 animals together rather than in individual cages. If these results apply to humans, you should strive for more social interaction rather than communicating with people on the computer or cell phone. (ScienceDaily, September 6, 2011).
<"Social Interaction Prevents Obesity." Fitness Rx Jan. 2012: 22. Print.>

So get out there either with your friends or by yourself and make some new ones! If you live on a coast then there's no better place then the beach this time of the year!

Does Weight Lifting Cause Acne?

Here's an interesting theory, when I was younger and when I first started lifting weights at around the age of 18 I would always breakout. Now there is so much else at play here than just lifting weights alone, but I will just put that after a day of heavy training, especially legs I would always break out with at least a couple of big zits. Now that I'm older though this has since subsided for the most part, but I'm curious to see if any of you experience this at all? I used to run a blog for a website based on the issues of acne called: pimpleplanet.com, check it out... I did write about this issue back when it was a big problem for me, you can scope out the article here:

http://blog.pimpleplanet.com/2010/05/weightlifting-and-acne.html

Gamma Labs G Fuel Review... Quick and Easy Pre Workout Energy

The other day when I was at 7/11 picking up a bottle of water they had these little packets on display on the door; they were only around like 75 cents a packet so why not try it out. I didn't know anything about the brand or the company and I wasn't even 100% sure what this was exactly until I read the back. It's pretty much a light pre workout or energy drink you can take before "playing" it says on the back. There isn't a huge and crazy ingredients list, just some vitamins, and a few other interesting things; there is 150mg of caffeine which actually isn't too crazy at all for most people, and there also is a really cool antioxidant complex that they threw into the mix as well.

I used it the other afternoon before the gym, just threw it in a bottle of water and it mixed very easily. I was never one to care about the taste of supplements, whether bad or good, it was just never a big deal to me, but I do know a lot of you out there do care so I will add that it tasted pretty crappy. Like putrid lemonade that had been sitting in the sun for a few days bad; it actually had my face cringing a little bit like I was eating some sour candy.

I really wasn't expecting much, but I'm surprised to say that this stuff wasn't too bad! I felt good shortly after taking it, and had a great workout; to me personally it felt like it was effecting my mood in a positive way rather than my strength or stamina for instance which is perfectly fine for me. I just felt in the zone I guess would be the best way to put it, like I was actually bumping my head every now and then when a good song on my ipod would come on.  Just keep one thing in mind though, I don't normally take pre-workout supps at all so my tolerance to them is very low; if you do normally drink them than you might not get crap out of this stuff; some of you may not even consider this a pre-workout at all! As I said before look at the ingredient profile, it's very light.

So if you don't like taking hard core pre-workouts for whatever reason, they get you too wired, edgy, you don't feel well, then I do recommend that you try this stuff as it's not as harsh!

The Story with Eggs

Depending on the size of eggs you get an average "large" sized egg has about 70 calories, 4 grams of fat, 0 carbs, and 6 grams of protein! Eggs are also an excellent source of vitamin D, B12, E, B2, and B5. Some brands like Egg Land's Best, my favorite, even have additional omega 3's added into their eggs; Egg Land's Best eggs also have 25% less saturated fat than regular eggs.

There's a catch though the fat adds up with eggs very quickly, as little as 3 whole eggs and you're at around 12 grams of fat! That's why a lot of people just go with eating egg whites, because there is no fat only protein. There is a problem with that as well though, as the yolk is the part of the egg that contains all of the healthy nutrients and vitamins! So people today tend to think of whole eggs as fattening when in reality they really aren't as long as you're watching what you're eating them with. Out of the 4 grams of fat in an egg approximately only 1 gram of that is saturated, or considered a "bad" fat, the rest is "healthy" fat; and there are a lot of studies out there backing that you need to eat some fat in order for the body to lose fat...

So all you have to do when eating eggs, is watch out for other fatty foods you could be eating them with, such as bacon, and cheese which add a lot of unneeded fat; also the more fat you eat in a sitting you need to be weary of the amount of carbs you're taking in, as there are a lot of studies out there as well saying that when you pair high amounts of carbs with fats it equals extreme fat gain! So try to balance everything out, here's an example for someone my size trying to get leaner while maintaining my muscle mass... 2 whole eggs, 3 egg whites, a very little amount of low fat cheese, and 1 -2 low carb whole grain tortillas (each one contains 5 grams of carbs).

How Many Times Should You Be Coming to The GYM Each Week???

How Many Times Should You Be
Coming to The GYM Each Week?

This is another question I get a lot from clients, and sometimes it surprises me when they expect to see results when they only come once to twice a week to train... Basically no matter where you are, old, out of shape, over weight, obese, never exercised in your life... anything less than 2 times a week isn't really going to get you anywhere and fast! I mean it's still better than nothing, but you really want to shoot for coming to the gym or working out 3-4 times a week for most individuals.

If you're new to the gym, exercise, just starting out, or just getting back into things from taking a long break I'd say its perfectly okay to train 3 times a weeks for the first 4-6 weeks. You'll see good results at only 3 days if you fall into this category as its new to your body and it's just enough to get it to change!

Now if you're more experienced, exercise every now and then, or even exercise frequently, you consider yourself in decent shape, or at least better than average, then you really need to be shooting for at least 4 days in the gym every week. That is if you're trying to improve your shape and figure... Otherwise you can still workout 3 days a week but you're not going to see much of any type of changes it's more so just maintenance work.

If you're in super good shape then you'd want to coming to the gym 4-5 days a week, but in my opinion, no more as I am a huge believer in rest and recovery! Just remember, changes don't physically happen at the gym, they happen when you're resting!

***Remember as well, that your workouts shouldn't last more than an hour - no matter how good of shape you're in!***

Don't forget that you should also be getting 30-60 minutes of light-moderate physical activity - even on days that you're not at the gym. Some great choices: a brisk walk, light jogging, walking the dog, swimming, bike riding and so on.

The Weider Priority Principle

The Weider Priority Principle is a very old lifting principle that Joe Weider came up with; it's a very common-sense type of law but a lot of people in the gym completely pass it up. Basically it states that you train your weakest or lagging part(s) of your body first, in the beginning of the workout when you're the most focused, and have plenty of energy and strength. For example if your abs/core are weak or lagging behind from the rest of your body then you should train them first, rather then wait till the end of the workout like most do when they're already tired and wont be able to give 100% to training them. I for one hate training abs so whenever I tell myself I have to train abs for the last 10-15 min of a workout a lot of the time they don't get done or they're half-assed. So I make myself do them in the beginning, or I'll do abs on their own day even if only for 20-30 minutes.

The Weider Priority Principle doesn't just have to deal with just lifting though, anything that you are struggling with or are weak in should be moved to the front of the list, it's only common sense. So identify your weak points and begin hitting them first in your workouts and over time you'll find that what once was your weak point is now one of your stronger points!

More Low Carb Ground Turkey w/ Peppers and Jalapenos!

Hey everyone so as you can see I've been eating a ton of ground turkey lately, but one problem you might run into I when dieting or trying to eat cleaner and healthier is that certain foods get dull or boring. So because of this you always have to be switching things up even if it means just changing a couple of the ingredients; for this dish I used 99% lean ground turkey breast, favorite seasoning, assorted bell peppers, and canned jalapenos for some tangy spiciness! I love spicy foods and I love jalapenos, they add a really nice unique and interesting flavor and you can even poor some of the juice into the meat for extra deliciousness.

The peppers are good for boosting your metabolism a little bit to keep that fat burning going strong. You can add some cheese, or a healthy fat like an avocado to the side as well, as there is pretty much no fat in this dish; and remember to burn fat your body needs to consume fat as well!

So just because you might think two or thee things together would be gross you might be surprised at how new and good tasting they can be; it can definitely bring a lot of new and good flavors into your regular boring dishes!

High Protein Diet Making You Constipated? Try Aloe Vera

I hear from a lot of my clients that when they start consuming a lot more protein, especially from protein shakes and powders that they have a lot of trouble when it comes to the bathroom. One solution that you can try is Aloe Vera gels, they work great as a natural diuretic, cleanser, and metabolism booster! They're cheap and easy to find, if you're having problems I definitely recommend you try them out, but start at a low dosage and see how your body reacts.

High Protien Diet and Bad Breath - Quick Fix

My parents are both on a high protein, low carb diet right now and their breath is kickin'.  I know from working with a lot of athletes at the gym bad breath is a definite side effect of high protein diets.

Recently my mom started using these breath pop rocks called "32" by Thomas Connelly, DDS -
she purchased them on QVC. Hers is a link: http://32oc.com/en/

These effervescent breath crystals leave breath smelling minty for up to four hours. Packaged in convenient, small pouches these things are pretty effective at cleaning the mouth with pop rock like action and washing bad breath. 

I like them because they are refreshing and sugar-free!

According to the 32 OC website:
"32 utilizes our trademarked IsoVoxy Crystals in inhibiting odiferous volatile sulfur compounds (VSCs) via oxidizing thiol (a.k.a., sulfhydryl) groups. What that means in Plain English is 32 works to eliminate bad breath at its source."

Try one before getting up close and personal and feel confident your breath is not offensive.

Green-Coffee-Extract Burns Body Fat

There's a lot of craze today about green coffee bean extract and all of the benefits it has to offer you. I was reading an article in Muscle & Performance about one of the benefits of green coffee extract, and that is that it burns body fat! Green coffee extract coming from raw, unroasted, green coffee beans contains chlorogenic acid; a crucial component for fat loss that is diminished when the usual roasting process of coffee takes place.

 "This fat-loss booster (chlorogenic acid) works synergistically with caffeine to burn the body fat that has been released from storage by caffeine. Look for products that contain 200 to 400 milligrams of green-coffee extract that's been standardized to 50% chlorogenic acid, and take it 2-3 times a day between meals." <Stiefel, Steven, and Chris Logan. "Coffee Craze." Muscle & Performance 1 Apr. 2013: 13. Print.>

Also if you guys remember I did a product review for Amino Energy, guess what, it has green coffee extract in there! if you haven't seen it yet take a look, I definitely recommend you try it out!

http://blog.renovatemybody.com/2013/04/product-review-amino-energy-by-optimum.html

Be Prepared... Bag Your Nuts

Pre bag your nuts or your snacks for the long day ahead with Ziploc snack bags. These things are great for storing just the right portions to keep you satisfied without risking overeating. Make sure you get the right measurments, these are 6-1/2inch by 3-1/4inch; and I definitely recommend that you do get the Ziploc brand due to the better quality as the generic ones tend to break very easily so unless you want nuts everywhere get the Ziploc!

PB2 - Low Fat Powdered Peanut Butter

Peanuts are loaded with energy, protein, and they keep you feeling full; the only thing is they are loaded with fat! Even though its considered a healthy fat it doesn't mean you should eat mad servings of peanuts throughout the day; a lot of people have this misconception that because raw (uncooked, unsalted) peanuts are healthy, that they can just snack on them all the time throughout the day. Same goes for peanut butter; a lot of my clients when I ask what they're eating they're having peanut butter with almost every meal! Peanut butter with their toast at breakfast, peanut butter for a snack, pb&j for lunch, peanut butter in their protein shakes and so on...  That's fine, you can do that if you want more trouble getting your weight off.

So how do you get all the benefits of peanuts without all of the fat? You get PB2. PB2 is a powdered form of peanut butter with 85% less fat then regular peanut butter. So for example 2 tbsp. of the powder mixed with one tbsp. of water to make peanut butter only has 1.5 grams of fat, only 5g of carbs, 2g of fiber, and 5g of plant protein!

 I never use it to make peanut butter I just throw it in my protein shakes from time to time for some added protein and energy. If you decide to use it in your shakes make sure you either have a shaker cup, or you're using a blender as it won't break down from just stirring it in a glass alone. It tastes great and adds a nice consistency and richness to your shake! So if you use a lot of peanut butter try PB2 instead!

Beach'n It!

Even with the crazy and random weather we've been getting here on long island that past couple of weeks this weekend was bright and sunny; so a couple of other trainers and I hit up the beach. While we were there we were challenged to a game of football by some other dudes and after about an hour and a half to no surprise we emerged victorious! The reason why I bring this up though is for the past 2-3 days my entire lower body has been so sore it's pretty much crippling sometimes! Everything from my quads, hammys, glutes, hips, and calves are all fried! You have to understand though that these are all regular body parts that I train in the gym, and I train them hard for that matter and I never get this sore. The reason being why I'm so sore is due to the running and jumping around on the sand. Beach sand is a great proprioceptive (unstable yet controllable) environment, that helps engage and utilize muscles that you rarely ever use just doing regular cardio on the treadmill for instance. By running around on the sand you're working on your stability muscles, which gives you better balance, reaction time, and of course stability. You'll burn a lot more calories doing exercise on the sand because your body uses up more energy always trying to balance and stabilize itself out.

Some simple and easy exercised you can do when you go to the beach are... Sprints, jogging, jumping jacks, lunges, squats, pushups, plyometric pushups, burpees, 1-leg and 2-leg side hops, or even play a little game of volleyball, soccer, or football and work on your juking skills; you'll really feel it the next day! So get out there and enjoy mother nature, and workout those dormant muscles!