Yearly Archives: 2011

You can find us now on Thumbtack as well. It seems a great way for small business to get found by customers. Check it out.

Personal Training

My son was born last week on a Sunday (10/09/2011) , which was a great experience and quite a relevation. I had no idea what fatigue really meant before :). Now I took a week off to get to know my son and my workouts I knew would be more sporadic and not as planned as usual.

This Monday was my first day back on the regular schedule, including my workouts. Now, it is amazing how tired you can be, especially if you are stupid enough to stay up late.

Research has shown that sleep is imperative for being successful on all levels, may that be work, exercise, weight loss and so on. Personal training or boot camps can only be successful if you are willing to do your part. Especially with having a newborn child and wanting to be a good dad sleep and exercise is important.

The plan from now on is to allow myself at least an 8 hour of sleeping period, which will not necessarily happen because my son is going to wake me up, but still it will still be more sleep than I have now.

To get the most out of your training make sure you allow an 8 hour window for sleep, you have at least 3-4 meals a day and exercise 4-5 days  a week. Give yourself 2-3 days of rest.

Dedicated to your success

Michael

www.charlottepersonaltrainer.org

www.fitbodybootcampcharlotte.com

I have been working for years with clients who want to lose weight. A lot of them had great success but some have not. It is something that is not easy for a personal trainer to admit but we are not always successful. A few struggle a lot.

Over time I have seen a pattern evolve:

1. Client comes to me wanting to lose weight/body  fat
2. Clients has some initial success (10-25 pounds)
3. Client regains weight over 2-8 months
4. Client has trouble to lose weight again. They have a hard time to apply the tools they are given, may that be nutritional tools or exercise, and training plans.

In my experience and my research an eating disorder is often just a symptom for underlying emotional and psychological issues that need to get addressed. If you feel that this could apply to yourself I would suggest working with a counselor (some are even specialized in eating disorder). I know that many people feel like there is a taint attached to seeing a counselor but the success in context with it and the happiness with achieving your goals are definitely worth it.

If you feel like you repetitively hit a barrier with your goals and you see that you could improve what you are doing but cannot get yourself to do it, then this might be an option for you.

Please contact me with any questions you have,

Michael

Last year I had a pretty incapacitating overuse injury, starting around December I had metatarsalgia in my left foot. Running was not possible. For me it was horrible because  I had been on a good way towards a 7:20 min/mile Marathon. I still kept on training by using the elliptical, resistance training, martial arts, etc but the energy that I had was out. Needless to say I kept eating like I was still training for my marathon. I am an emotional stress eater and eating definitely soothed me.

I am back to running now, sometimes I feel like I am so slow that I run backwards, but hey, I am happy to run. My strength training has increased, my martial arts training is getting there and I am becoming a dad. Everything is moving along nicely.

Jonathan, one of my trainers, suggested a challenge: Each of us had to lose roughly 1% body fat by the end of the month. It was on. In case I did not make it I had to train one of his boot camps in the morning and pay him for it and he would steam clean my facility in case he would not make it.

During the next couple of days we tried to tempt each other and taunt each other with food when I realized: That is reality for most of my clients!

They make an effort lose weight and friends and family continuously offer them food and temptations, totally ignoring their friends goals. We did it intentionally, teasing each other. I claim family hopefully does not do that intentionally but it is still as damaging.

1. If you are the one wanting to lose weight. Tell your friends to get it together and not tempt you or offer anything that works against your goals
2. If you are the friend, then be a real friend! Be supportive and help them as much as you can. Do not bring cookies or anything else.

The summer vacation is up and the kids are back to school. Are you ready to get back to looking great, or did you even manage to keep your accomplishments from before the summer break?

Well it is time to get back on the wagon and I have seen a bunch of people come in again that seemed to have vanished during July and August.

Now back on track, quite literally we are going to look at your body just the way we would look at a high performance car.

1. Inspection

1. Are the curves still the way they are supposed to be? Meaning, have you put on the pounds and you are less than aerodynamic?
2. Do we have any structural damage after summer? What kind of injuries are plaguing you?
3. Check filters, etc! Well, have you had your yearly check up with the doc yet? Make sure you are well and healthy and ready to go!
4. Fuel! Are  you filling your gas tank with the cheap stuff (McDonald’s and other fast food restaurants) or are you putting the good stuff in (veggies, meat, unprocessed organic foods, low alcohol intake, lots of water)

1. Take a picture of a body that you like and that is achievable and put it on your mirror
2. Tell your friends of your goals and work towards it.
3. Talk to your trainer about your injuries and aches so that he or she can pay attention to them and help prevent more problems
4. Put a grocery list together and never go shopping while hungry, because all the bad stuff will find its way into your shopping cart.

So, I was cruising through Youtube the other day and came across this video and had to cry and laugh at the same time. The form that those people exhibit is plain horrible, most likely because they have never come across jumping jacks before. If you think that I have not seen such form in here you are sorely mistaken. Check it out!

So, obviously you can do better than that. But still, form is a major part to your success with your goals, no matter what they are. A bad form during weight lifting, boot camp, running or other physical activities can lead to injuries and you failing reaching your goals.

We at Shape Up Fitness & Wellness Consulting gladly help with your goals, may that be with one on one personal training or boot camp.

Take care

Michael

So, I was cruising through Youtube the other day and came across this video and had to cry and laugh at the same time. The form that those people exhibit is plain horrible, most likely because they have never come across jumping jacks before. If you think that I have not seen such form in here you are sorely mistaken. Check it out!

So, obviously you can do better than that. But still, form is a major part to your success with your goals, no matter what they are. A bad form during weight lifting, boot camp, running or other physical activities can lead to injuries and you failing reaching your goals.

We at Shape Up Fitness & Wellness Consulting gladly help with your goals, may that be with one on one personal training or boot camp.

Take care

Michael

Last week I talked about what made some of my clients really successful. Today I am offering you a 4 week intervention that will help you lose  at least 4-8 pounds.

Here is what you need to do!

Nutrition

1. I will offer you a 4 week pass to my nutritional website. Usually only my clients have access to my website but for the next 4 weeks you will receive it for free. Just email me at michael@charlottepersonaltrainer.org and I will send you the access code for my website: charlottepersonaltrainer.vitabot.com
2. Create your account and pick some of the nutrition plans that are available and modify them to your taste. The website is easy to follow.

Sleep

1. Make sure you plan in 8.5 hours of sleep. Why would you want to do that? It is important for your hormone levels. Without the sleep you will have a hard time to lose weight.
2. Don’t drink any alcohol at night it will reduce your sleep quality
3. Avoid eating food an hour prior to going to bed. A full stomach has the tendency to reduce your quality of sleep.

Lifestyle

1. Be as active as possible by walking at least 30 min per day.
2. Park your car as far away from wherever you go and walk more.
3. Use the stairs whenever you can. There is not really an excuse not to.
4. Be active during the weekends by hiking, etc.

Exercise

Alternate the different exercise plans. They are just an example and can be modified.

1. Cardiovascular Activities (an example)

1. Warm Up
   1. Walk for 2-3 min with increasing pace
   2. Jog for 2 min
   3. Stretch

i.    Calf

ii.    Hamstring

iii.    Quadriceps

iv.    Hipflexor

v.    Chest

vi.    Back

vii.    Triceps

1. Main Part (Repeat 2-3 x with 5 min break after each cycle)
   1. 50 m Run/Sprint
   2. 2-3 min Walk
   3. 100 m Run/Sprint
   4. 2-3 min Walk
   5. 200 m Run/Sprint
   6. 2-3 min Walk
   7. 400 m Run/Sprint
   8. 2-3 min Walk
   9. 200 m Run/Sprint
   10. 2-3 min Walk
   11. 100 m Run/Sprint
   12. 2-3 min Walk
   13. 50 m Run/Sprint
   14. 2-3 min Walk
2. Cool Down
   1. Stretch

i.    Calf

ii.    Hamstring

iii.    Quadriceps

Strength Training (2-3 x 15 Repetitions you can look up the exercises on my website or youtube)

1. Warm Up (5-10  min)
2. Push ups
3. Chin Ups with chair underneath (chin up bar around $30 at sporting goods store
4. One legged Squats on chair
5. bicycle crunches
6. straight crunch with legs in a chair position
7. alternating lunges
8. calf raises one leg
9. biceps curls with rubber bands (rubber bands around $10-20)
10. Triceps push down with rubber bands
11. lateral arm raises with rubber bands.

Hey guys,

I just made a short video about warming up. You will get some reasons why warming up is a good idea and what you need to pay attention to. I am probably going to post a little bit more indepth later on specific warm ups for different sports or training methods that I encounter in personal training or boot camps. If you really want to push your training to the next level make sure that you are warmed up and ready to go. Check out the video and leave me some feedback.

Talk to  you soon and hit me with your questions,

Michael