Rationalizing the Personal Trainer: Worth the $

There are a lot of reasons why a personal trainer is a good idea.

First and foremost, if you're new to training, you need a trainer or someone experienced to show you how to do exercise with the correct form. This ensures that you will not risk injuring yourself.

A trainer can also put together a routine that makes sense for you. Cookie-cutter programs from a magazine can't take into consideration your health, time constraints, etc. because they're meant for everyone.

You should be able to get the basics of training within a few sessions with a personal trainer. So why do so many people stick with their trainers long-term?

Simply, because they work.

A recent study by Duke University Medical Center found that people who had lost weight were better able to keep off the pounds if they had continued support from a counsellor or trainer. A trainer can motivate and educate you and he or she can also help alter your program once you've hit a plateau.

Of course trainers are costly, but as long as you do your research and get a qualified, certified trainer, you only need to see him or her once a week to keep you on track.

If you can't afford your trainer, ask your gym for a complimentary session. Most are willing to offer those, in hopes of selling you more sessions. Use that session to ask questions about your program and gather as many tips from the trainer as you can.

Having someone point you in the right direction will always get you where you need to go faster!

Finished Your Resistance Workout? Now What

Almost as important as your weight-training workout is your recovery drink or snack.

Research shows that you should be having a drink or snack within 30 minutes of finishing a workout. It should contain some carbohydrate and some protein, and you should add more carbohydrate if you've had a particularly heavy work session.

The carbs replace the spent glucose in the muscle and liver which was used up during your exercise. The protein, meanwhile, will give you an anabolic boost to enhance muscle repair and growth. You only need about 20 grams of protein to make this happen.

So if you're going to put all that effort into working out, make sure your body has the nutrients it needs to make that work out count!

Some great / easy choices for a post-workout snack:

Protein shake with banana

Peanut butter sandwich

Hummus and pita

Yogurt and fresh berries

Tuna on whole wheat

Turkey and cheese with apple slices

... or any mix of protein and healthy, complex carbs and you're good to go!

Which way to go

Weight training can often be confusing. Do you use machines or free weights? Do you stand or sit on a sit on a stability ball? Well, not surprisingly, different methods will produce different results.

One published study found that men could lift more weight while doing a traditional bench press with free weights than doing a standing chest press on a cable-based weight machine. The study concluded that free weights target the chest muscles more effectively.

Another study found that bench presses performed using stability ball engaged more muscles, especially in the core, than the traditional bench press performed from a bench.

A third study concluded that exercisers get stronger using a free-form cable machine, in this case a FreeMotion machine, than a fixed machine.

Ok, don’t get too concerned. Overall, research shows that people wanting to train a specific muscle can get relatively similar results training with free weights and fixed machines. Free weights are advantageous because they also force you to stabilize your body, so your core muscles in the abs and back also get a residual workout.

Similarly, training on unstable surfaces such as a Bosu, stability ball or wobble boards do an even better job of working the core, but because your body focuses some of its energy on the core, the muscles you are targeting do not work quite as hard.

So which way to go?

Well the right answer as with all training is mix it up. Keep your body guessing and your muscles will grow to adapt to the change. Variety will also help hit small muscles that one type of exercise might miss. One exception: IF you are a beginner, it’s recommended that you start with machines, which will teach you the proper form for each of the exercises you perform and are less likely to risk injury.

Thinking of Spot Reducing? Think Again!

As the summer gets closer and people start thinking about hitting the beach, I tend to see more and more people in the ab studio at the gym.

Everyone wants a flat stomach, if not a full blown six-pack. Come to think of it, there's a lot more guys doing biceps too, probably in anticipation of wearing all those short sleeve shirts.

Unfortunately, these people who are only targeting problem spots on their body are destined for failure, if not injury.

We all have areas on our body where we store more fat. Doing 100 crunches a day while skipping out on cardio and eating ice cream every day may give you some toned ab muscles, but no one will see them under the layers of fat.

Just as important is the fact that spot training leads to unbalanced muscle structure. Strong quads with week hamstrings or vice-versa could lead to imbalance and injury.

That's not to say you should give up on improving your problem areas. If you perform intense exercises on all your muscles, not only will you be building muscles, but you will be revving your metabolism and burning fat. The key word is "intense"! As long as your work out is intense and is focused on your entire body, you will see results. Guaranteed!

10 Years of Diets!

A recent study has revealed that the average woman will spend 10 years of her life on a diet.

According to the study conducted by LIPObind, the manufacturer of a weight-loss supplement, women generally go on two healthy eating plans every year, with each one lasting an average of five weeks.

Do the math? That's 104 diets & 10 years of watching what they eat.

LIPObind polled 4,000 women for the study.

The findings also stated that each diet saw an average of 6.3 pounds of wight lost, however a quarter of the women surveyed said they saw no weight loss at all and those who did lose the weight often regained it.

Even more disturbing, 1 in 10 women surveyed spent 25 years or more on a diet.

The survey highlights just how much women think about their weight during their lives.

Now if only a fraction of those women would instead make the life choice to eat healthy and stay fit, we could wipe out much of that dieting… but there I go preaching again.

EverythingFit Answers: Exercises That Burn!

Q: Dear Everything Fit, which exercises burn the most calories.
-- from Janice, Toronto

A: We've compiled a list of the top 10 exercises that burn the most calories. Each exercise is based on a 30 minute workout. We've included two sets of numbers - The first is for a 130 pd. person and the second is for a 150 pd person.

1. Running (9mph) - 460 cals for a 130 pd. person / 520 cals for a 150 pd. person

2. Step Aerobics - 390 cals for a 130 pd. person / 450 cals for a 150 pd. person

3. Racquetball - 340 cals for a 130 pd. person / 400 cals for a 150 pd. person

4. Rope Jumping - 310 cals for a 130 pd. person / 350 cals for a 150 pd. Person

5. Bicycling (vigorous) - 310 cals for a 130 pd. person / 350 cals for a 150 pd. person

6. Running (6mph) - 310 cals for a 130 pd. person / 350 cals for a 150 pd. person

7. Cross Country Skiing - 310 cals for a 130 pd. person / 350 cals for a 150 pd. person

8. Elliptical trainer - 240 cals for a 130 pd. person / 300 cals for a 150 pd. person

9. Circuit training - 230 cals for a 130 pd. person / 290 cals for a 150 pd. person

10. Jogging - 210 cals for a 130 pd. person / 250 cals for a 150 pd. person

Please note that these numbers are not absolute. So many factors come in to play when working out, but regardless of your intensity, body composition, etc. these are the top exercises to add to your workout if you want to burn some major calories!

Too Much of a Good Thing

It's obvious that we, at Regenesis Fitness, are pretty pumped up about exercise. But there is such a thing as "too much of a good thing", even when it comes to exercising.

The American Council on Exercise has come up with a list of signs you are overtraining.

Increased perceived effort during normal workouts. Overtraining takes a toll on the body, and workouts that were once a breeze can begin to feel like a grind.

Chronic or nagging muscle aches or joint pain. Overused muscles and joints can cause constant aches, which may go unnoticed until the body is given proper rest.
More frequent illnesses and upper-respiratory infections. Too much exercise taxes all of the body's systems and makes it more difficult to ward off infections.

Insomnia or restless sleep. During sleep the body has time to rest and repair itself. An overtrained body, however, is sometimes unable to slow down and completely relax, making it difficult to recover between workouts.

Loss of appetite. Overtraining can cause an increase in hormones such as epinephrine and norepinephrine that tend to inhibit appetite. The physical exhaustion and anxiety that often comes with overtraining can also have the same effect.

Chronically elevated heart rate at rest and during exercise. A clear sign of an overworked heart muscle is a chronically elevated heart rate. Also, people who overtrain will often find that it takes longer for their heart rate to return to normal after a workout.

Menstrual cycle disturbances in women. Exercising excessively and not consuming enough calories may disrupt a woman's menstrual cycle. While some may experience irregular periods, others will stop menstruating altogether.

If you experience any of the above symptoms, you should re-think your workouts. Decrease the intensity, length or both of your workouts. Not only will over-training hinder your workouts, it is detrimental to your health. And if you're in the gym, isn't health what it's all about?

Liquid Lunch!

A recent study has found that milkshake-like meals, bulked up with certain gasses or water actually makes people feel fuller longer and could result in weight loss.

As someone who likes to chew on food, I found this kind of odd, but it's not my place to judge, just to report on the world of health and fitness, so here it is.

A study presented at the European Congress on Obesity in Geneva compared 2 groups of people, one who at a full milkshake-like meal, and a half-sized version bulked up with a gas similar to that used in aerosol whipped cream.

According to the research, the gas-filled meal actually reduced appetite more than the standard one. Not only that, the satiety (feeling full) was maintained for 1-2 hours or even longer.

The results are expected to lead to new weight-loss products within the next few years.

EverythingFit Answers: Realistic Muscle Development

Here's another reader question we wanted to share with everyone since there is so much misconception.

Q: I've been weight training every day. How much muscle can I realistically gain.

A: We've discussed this in brief in a past post, but the general consensus is that you can gain between 1.5 to 5 pounds of additional lean muscle per month.

Of course there are many variables, including age, gender, physical condition, genetics, diet and your training program. Also, the gains you achieve in your first few months may be hard to sustain long-term.

Gaining 4-5 pounds of muscle in a month would mean 100% dedication to nutrition and training. 1.5 pounds of muscle is much more realistic for most of us, but still requires a lot of work.

Don't be fooled by products promising more muscle gains. Most of that gain will come in the form of water, which will make you look and feel bigger, but it is actually just bloating.

No one said muscle building was easy. If it was, everyone would have muscular bodies. But a strong, chiseled bodies are something work striving for and as long as you're consistent you'll reach your goals. Just be patient and keep working!

Want to fight wrinkles? Skip Botox and go to the Gym

It's no gimmick! You can look 10 years younger than your non-exercising friends.

Authors at The Archives of Internal Medicine have published a report stating that regular exercisers may be biologically 10 years younger than their non-exercising peers.

The researchers found that exercisers had longer telomeres in their white blood cells. Telomeres are repeated sequences at the end of chromosomes and progressively shorten over time, serving as a marker for biological age.

Researchers also found that a sedentary lifestyle may also accelerate the aging process.

Regular exercisers have lower rates of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, cancer, high blood pressure, obesity and osteoporosis.

The proof just keeps piling up that exercising is not only a past time or a vanity project but that it's an absolute necessity if you want to live a long, healthy life.

Get Moving, Fight Breast Cancer

A recent study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine has reporter that physically active women are 25% less likely to develop breast cancer

That's great news considering breast cancer causes over half a million women every year!

Researchers found the lowest risk group for breast cancer to be lean women who play sports and remain physically active in their spare time.

Physical activity was especially important for women who had gone through menopause. Post-menopausal women who were very active during their lives had the lowest breast cancer risk, but post-menopausal activity had a greater impact than activity performed earlier in life.

Of course other factors, including a family history of the disease, also played a role in whether women developed breast cancer, but this study is yet another definitive reason why you should start exercising now, no matter what your age.

Home Gym Basics

Who says you need to join a gym to reach your fitness goals.

Inexpensive home gyms can be equally effective and are often much more convenient.

But to get an effective workout at home, you need the right equipment. So here's a list of some of the basics that you can use at home to get you buff in no time.

1. free weights or exercise bands. Free weights are great but can be costly if you want a whole range. Scour garage sales and sites like craigslist or kijiji for used weights. Just use a good disinfectant and you're good to go. Equally effective, unless you're into very heavy lifting, are exercise bands. You can get a set of these for under $30. Make sure you pick up a door attachment so that you can attach your bands to a door and do even more exercises. If you can, also splurge for an extra band that includes ankle straps so you can do your leg exercises easier.

2. stability ball or ballast ball. This is great for doing ab exercises. You can also use it as an alternative to sitting on a bench or chair and it will work your core muscles while you are doing your seated exercises.

3. A gym or yoga mat. This is great for doing all your stretches, as well as ab work, and is essential if you're doing any jumping or plyometrics because it will absorb shock and protect your joints.

4. Mirrors. These are great because you can watch yourself performing exercises and it will allow you to keep your form correct, which is essential to getting a good workout and remaining injury-free.

5. Aerobics equipment. Once you've got the above equipment, you are good to go, but if you've got a bit more money, you should also add some aerobics equipment. Although you can use a skipping rope or just jog outside to get your cardio equipment, you might want to add a treadmill, elliptical machine or stair climber to your home gym. These come in handy in colder months and if you put one in front of a TV, you can get your workout while watching your favourite shows.

Believe it or not, that's all you'll really need. Yes, you can continue to add new gadgets and contraptions as you go along, but with the simple equipment mentioned in this post, you can throw away your gym membership for good!

Split It Up!

Not everyone has enough time every day to do a full-body workout. The solution: Split training - working on different muscles on different days.

Pretty obvious, right? Well, it's not as simple as it sounds. Because muscles need at least 48 hours of rest between workouts, you have to plan your split workouts accordingly. Add the fact that certain exercises work more than one muscle, and it becomes even more complicated.

Well, no need to fret, here are two of our favourite split routines that will make your life much easier. To choose exercises for these splits, you can check out one of our favourite websites: exrx.net.

1. Upper Body / Lower Body Split - This is the easiest split. Simply do all your upper body exercises one day and your lower body exercises the next day. You can add a rest day if you want, but it's not needed. The only drawback to this split is that it still requires quite a bit of time, especially on upper body days, when you easily have at least 5 different body parts. If you choose this split, try to find exercises that work more than one muscle - such as the bench press, which works the chest and triceps at the same time.

2. Push / Pull split - This split involves working your pushing muscles one day and your pulling muscles the next. You call also do your legs on the same day as your pull muscles or add a third day for abs and legs, which I prefer.
The split would look like this:
Day 1: Chest, shoulders, triceps
Day 2: Back and biceps
Day 3: Legs and abs - or abs can be added to day 1 and legs can be added to day 2 so that Day 3 becomes a rest day.
Again, be sure that the exercises you choose do not work muscles that you will be working out the following day.

Of course there are other splits as well but the more you isolate the muscles in your workout, the longer it takes for you to work it out again. And what you want is efficient workouts that you can do more often. If you turn to 3, 4 or 5 day splits that require rest days as well, you could end up waiting a week between workouts for each muscle, which will slow your progress.

In any case, as long as your hitting the weights and allowing proper rest between workouts, then any split that works for you is a good one. Don't be afraid to experiment and sooner or later you'll find one that's perfect for your body and your lifestyle!

Demystifying the hunger hormone

A new discovery by an American research firm could help control the hunger hormone.
The hormone, called gherlin, was discovered years ago, and since then, scientists have tried to find ways to manipulate the hormone to help people tame their hunger.

Now, researchers at Eli Lilly and Co., have found an enzyme responsible for putting a fatty acid onto the hunger hormone. Without this fatty acid, the hormone might not have the same effect on appetite. The enzyme is called GOAT (gastric O-acyl transferase).

The next step is to look for molecules that could block the enzyme, but researchers warn that this will be a painstaking process that could take months or even years.

Still, every new discovery is a step in the right direction. In the meantime, we'll have to feed our gherlins sensibly.

Confusing Your Muscles

If you're looking to build muscle, it's not enough to just add resistance training to your workout.

While this is a good start, eventually your muscles will get acclimatized to a specific workout and stop growing.

The body knows how well to adjust to the current activity being performed every day and when it adjusts, it will no longer be challenged and will stop growing. To begin with, you can change the weight, number of reps or rest period for each exercise, but after a few weeks, your muscles will become bored again.

That's where muscle confusion comes in. When you confuse your muscles, they can't adjust to the exercises and are forced to continue growing.

At the very least, you should be changing the exercises you use to train each muscle every 6 weeks. An even better method is to change up your exercises every week. Have a list of numerous exercises for each muscle group and every week choose a new exercise from that list to keep you moving forward.

And while we're on the topic of muscle confusion, the same principle applies for your cardio training. Running on the treadmill is great, but eventually your legs will get used to that challenge. Add stair-climbers, ellipticals and other machines to your workout to reap even more benefits.

Milk Does A Body Good or Does It?

Yes, dairy is good for you. No one is disputing that. The calcium in dairy is essential for good teeth and strong bones and helps in the function of everything from your nerves to your heart.

But does dairy also help you lose weight. That's what we've heard for years, but it turns out that this belief is wrong.

Researchers at the University of North Carolina, in conjunction with the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine in Washington, DC, have concluded that not only will dairy not help you lose weight, it may also help you gain weight.

The researchers assessed 49 clinical trials that followed the effects of milk on weight and found 2 of the studies included people who had gained weight and 41 studies where subjects showed no effects by adding dairy to their diets.

Last year, two National dairy organizations in the US pulled their advertisements that stated that dairy products help in weight loss, but the misconception still exists.

As with all foods you eat, be careful of the calories you are consuming. Choose less calorie-dense sources of dairy, such as low-fat milk or yogurt rather than whole milk, fatty cheeses or creams.

Being a Woman is Tough!

New research confirms what many frustrated women have always suspected: women have a harder time losing weight with exercise than their male counterparts.

An American College of Sports Medicine study concludes that men don't have to work out as long or as hard as women to get in shape. Men are also less likely to be injured when they exercise.
According to the study, men's metabolisms speed up as soon as they begin exercising, while women's bodies see exercise in the same way as starvation and so they slow down to preserve weight. This "starvation mode" lasts for two to three weeks so women need to work for at least that long before they start seeing noticeable and lasting results. Those women who work out for a couple of weeks and then stop, only to start again a few weeks later are only sabotaging their goals.

Of course we already know that women tend to have less muscle mass than men, and this also contributes to slower metabolisms, as muscle burns more calories than any other type of tissue. Women should combat this problem by incorporating weight training to their workouts.
Another conclusion from the study is that women burn more fat with longer sessions of less intense exercise. It is advised that women exercise for at least 30 - 45 minutes per session.
Unfortunately, women are also more prone to injury, especially knee problems, during these exercise sessions because of their hormone fluctuations and their anatomy. Being aware of that and using various forms of cardio, as opposed to running everyday, could alleviate some of this stress to the knees.

As disheartening as this new study may be, this is really nothing new. Men have always had an easier time losing weight, but there are plenty of healthy, strong and fit women who have defied the odds. And if they can do it … so can you!

EverythingFit Answers: Swimming Your Way Thin?

Q. I just joined a gym and they have a pool. I was quite a good swimmer when I was younger so I'm wondering if I can use swimming as my cardio workout. I am looking to get fit and lose a few pounds.

from Jane A. Toronto, ON

A. Hey Jane,

Thanks for your question. This is the first one we're answering on the site!

Although swimming is a great cardiovascular exercise that is easy on your joints, you probably won't lose much fat or weight in the water.

Swimming is so taxing on the body that many people actually eat more calories after they finish a swim session than they just used up during that swim.

The exhaustion after swimming also accounts for the fact that most swimmers are often so tired from their swims that they often do no other workout during the day.

More importantly, while you do use a lot of calories swimming, the cooling effect of the water actually stops your body from burning any extra calories once you are out of the pool. Your body is already cool so it doesn't have to work hard to cool you down. With other workouts (running, aerobics, weight training, etc.) this post-workout body cooling continues burning calories for hours.

So, swimming as a form of exercising the heart and lungs = good. Swimming as a way to lose weight = not so good.