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Charlotte, sleep and lose weight!

You might think it funny, but yes, sleep is an important component in your quest to a leaner, meaner you! If you think I am kidding, think about it:

  1. When you are tired your resolve to eat healthily is going down the drain and junk food makes its way into your diet.
  2. Bad quality of sleep or the lack of sleep mess with your hormone levels and lead to you always being hungry, no matter what you are eating. The cause for that are low leptin (hormone) levels which won’t let you be satisfied after having food.
  3. At the same time lack of sleep increases the levels of another hormone (ghrelin) which then stimulates your hunger. Guess who is not going to lose weight? You!
  4. A Stanford study shows the relationship between sleep and weight loss pretty clearly. Those who slept less than 8 hours had clearly higher body fat levels and the less the subjects slept the higher the body fat percentage was.
  5. Some people have sleep apnea without knowing it. Even though they might go to bed and have 8 hours available they really don’t sleep that long. They might only get 4 hours of sleep and feel groggy and tired the next day without understanding why. Their reaction to leptin is a little bit different but once their sleep apnea is being treated, their weight is going down to0, and researchers attribute this at the moment to increased energy and activity during the day.

So, if you still think that sleep is just a nuisance and wasted time, think again. This can very well be one of the reasons that hinder you from looking your best! So get to bed and sleep your weight off. Personal Training, Boot camps and other exercise modalities cannot necessarily compete with you not sleeping. So it is your duty to get some zzzz’s.

Michael Anders

Tone your abs the right way!

During my personal training I come across many people who believe that the secret to flat abs is a gazillion crunches and ab exercises. They rather do those and never succeed than doing what it really takes to get flat abs or even a six-pack.

It is critical to understand that ab exercises have yet to lead to flat abs. No matter how many you do, you will never have flat abs if that is what you are relying on.

The reason for that is quite simple. Your abs are covered by subcutaneous fat, meaning fat sitting between your skin and your muscle. And we are talking about a ton of it. You have easily a couple of pounds of fat sitting there.

Now, one pound of fat is 3500 kcal. Have you ever thought of  how many crunches you would have to do to burn 1 pound of fat? You would have to do roughly 35 hours of crunches none-stop to burn 1 lb of fat.

Hey, if you choose to do that, then be my guest. I rather get those flat abs faster.

If you want to do the method that I use in my personal training or boot camp, then do this:

  1. Get your butt moving, I am telling you, sitting on your rear for 8 hours/day at work and then 3 hours in front of the TV at home makes your butt and your abs look quite doughy.
  2. Get your nutrition right. Okay, this is a key thing. Get vegetables, fruits, and small portions of lean meat and carbs like potatos, or rice. Speaking of carbs, make sure they are whole wheat, or as little processed as possible and make sure that you stay away of crap like donuts!
  3. Do some strength training, and I do not mean lifting 1 lb weights one hundred times but actually use a weight that fatigues your muscles within 10-20 repetitions completely or almost completely. It will help preserve and grow your muscles which will “tone” your body once you start losing the body fat. If you are a woman, don’t be afraid to lift. Unless you lift like a bodybuilder you won’t look like one. Now grab those weights and get going. By the way, the handle of your recliner does not count as a strength exercise.
  4. Cardiovascular training does have benefits besides burning calories, it helps you get more stamina, fatigue less during the day and overall feel better, and just like with strength training, the walk to the refridgerator to get the ice cream does not count as cardiovascular training. A good way of judging if your work intensity is high enough: be able to reply to a question with a short answer but not with a whole lecture.

 

Are you ready to actually achieve your goals?

Are you ready to be successful?

Call today to check out our personal training or boot camp.

Check ya later,

Michael

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