Blog

The general consensus when people see me is that I probably do not know what a candy bar even looks like let alone tastes like but the truth of the matter is I indulge more than people know. When people spot me eating desserts or enjoying myself at an outing (which normally let's be honest, we celebrate special occasions with food - behavioral and social influence on food choice is huge) people always ask what my secrets are and how I am able to live in a state free of deprivation and enjoy desserts/special meals while still maintaining trim. My answer to them isn't what I'm doing workout wise or even what I'm eating but it's WHEN I'm eating it that matters most. Just like fueling pre-and post workout is a science so is blood sugar level maintenance. I never get to the point of hunger and typically eat an average of 5-7 times per day. Why? Once the body signals signs of hunger the metabolism has already been comprised and your risk of a making quick/poor choices (a.k.a. calorie dens...

Trusting a fitness professional is a decision that shouldn’t be taken lightly. Lots of people within the fitness world can get you excited about seeing results especially when you commit to a fitness program and start eating a more balanced diet but it’s the things you don’t see that you should focus on. Training with someone who is a licensed professional within the industry ensures that they have the education to provide a well-rounded program focused on not only cardiovascular endurance and muscle strength but also providing the appropriate amount of stability/flexibility exercises and activating the muscle groups in the appropriate sequence to keep you injury free. Balancing the kinetic chain and the agonist/antagonist muscle groups correctly is a science that takes the proper education in order to formulate the appropriate workouts and keep you from getting sidelined. It’s kind of like making an appointment with a doctor who’s never went to school to become a doctor they...

How many times has someone told you don’t forget to stretch? Well in today’s day and age what does that exactly mean? Static stretching, dynamic stretching, rolling, self-myofacial release? It’s not just what’s appropriate but it all depends on whether it’s before, during or after your exercise routine that makes a big difference. While the verdict is still out on whether or not stretching can really aid in preventing injury, there is quite a bit of evidence that’s been gathered to comfortably argue that it can be highly beneficial from flexibility to maximizing peak performance in subsequent workouts.   While I could go on and on about the benefits of each of the terms I mentioned above I’ll spare you of my lecture now LOL I’ll provide you in class handouts so you have all the tools necessary to stretch properly and help increase your chances of staying injury free and maximizing your workouts!...

I recall years ago sitting down with my personal trainer and reviewing my fitness calendar and his response was “Where is your rest day?” What rest day I thought!?! Why would I rest…I want to get stronger and faster!?! After reading numerous articles about the importance of rest days I took his advice and we built my training program with a weekly rest day. I wasn’t disappointed! Quite the contrary! I wasn’t always sore nor stiffer than a board anymore (yes he also taught me the importance of mobility/flexibility and stretching which I’ll touch base on later) I finally came to a realization that sometimes in life less is more and now that I understand the science behind it, it honestly makes total sense. Exercise causes micro-tears to your muscle fibers you’ve worked. When you allow the muscles time to repair themselves they in turn grow stronger. Simple right? Well we’ve all been there where a shoulder or a knee is giving you a little grief but you’ve so adamant abou...

If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the years is that you cannot out train a bad diet and believe me I’ve tried LOL! I hear clients mentioning that they want to start a cleanse or implementing a diet yielding some pretty severe calorie restrictions and I cringe on how to level with them! Most of these fads or quick fix diets are not only often times unsafe but they can hinder the metabolic rate and therefore slow the weight loss process dramatically! In a perfect world there would be a magic pill or solution to shedding fat and losing weight effortless but the bottom line is you have to watch what you’re eating and make sensible decisions.   I use an 80/20 approach when it comes to nutrition. Most days I focus on eating several small meals to maintain blood sugar levels. This will help you from becoming ravenous and reaching for those high carb/high sugar snacks that will inevitably make you crash! Personally I love to indulge here and there and why not!?! Life’...