News about Type 2 diabetes cure we had to share here and here. There are great benefits to diet and exercise.
Ever wonder why all of the ads say, "When used in conjunction with a balanced diet and exercise."? Skip the extra money for quick cures and try the balanced diet and exercise route alone.
29.11.11
Daily Lifestyle Fact - 29.11.11
Since your brain's only source of energy is glucose, make sure you don't cut the carbs when trying to stay fit over the holiday season. It uses over 150grams per day alone. The best way to stay in shape is by eating a balanced diet based on your metabolism and goals combined with a good plan for Peak Functional Fitness.
Oh, and if you were looking for a LabRat yesterday - the lab was delayed a week due to sick children and the holiday combination. Not to worry, our trainer is working out and will be posting week 1's retake on Monday, December 5th.
Oh, and if you were looking for a LabRat yesterday - the lab was delayed a week due to sick children and the holiday combination. Not to worry, our trainer is working out and will be posting week 1's retake on Monday, December 5th.
23.11.11
Q & A - Train or Workout?
Q: Should I be training for something or just working out?
A: Whether you are starting a new program, or already working out consistently, this question seems to enter everyone's mind at some point. Sometimes it seems like everyone around you is training for something; sometimes it seems like you are the only one you know in the gym. The easy answer for us is three part:
1. You are content with your body and your routine. Unless you feel the need to become increasingly competitive, you could probably go "run your race" any day. As long as you are content where you fall out in the mix when you complete any activity you participate in, just keep enjoying your workout time. If you feel stuck in a rut, a new Peak Functional Fitness plan can help.
2. You are competing some, but not as well as you would like. Try picking an activity 60-90 days out, and order an Athlete plan for you based on your goals and the time you are willing to dedicate. Stick with it, even if you don't like it at first. This is a change, and all changes come with ups and downs. Make sure you get to see the results. If you like the results, the plan can always be changed to make it fun and enjoyable for you. If you don't, well you are in better shape (hopefully) than when you started and can always return to working on your Peak Functional Fitness.
3. You are the couch potato or have just started your foray into the wonderful world of fitness. For many people here, the goal tends to be weight motivated. While there are numerous "Couch to..." programs out there, we have one simple question: Do you want to say you completed one event, or do you want to transition to a lifestyle of lasting fitness? A good Functional Fitness plan can get you to that same race, and keep you moving forward. Once you are fit, and ready to progress to winning your age-group, then seek out the Athlete plan that is right for you!
A: Whether you are starting a new program, or already working out consistently, this question seems to enter everyone's mind at some point. Sometimes it seems like everyone around you is training for something; sometimes it seems like you are the only one you know in the gym. The easy answer for us is three part:
1. You are content with your body and your routine. Unless you feel the need to become increasingly competitive, you could probably go "run your race" any day. As long as you are content where you fall out in the mix when you complete any activity you participate in, just keep enjoying your workout time. If you feel stuck in a rut, a new Peak Functional Fitness plan can help.
2. You are competing some, but not as well as you would like. Try picking an activity 60-90 days out, and order an Athlete plan for you based on your goals and the time you are willing to dedicate. Stick with it, even if you don't like it at first. This is a change, and all changes come with ups and downs. Make sure you get to see the results. If you like the results, the plan can always be changed to make it fun and enjoyable for you. If you don't, well you are in better shape (hopefully) than when you started and can always return to working on your Peak Functional Fitness.
3. You are the couch potato or have just started your foray into the wonderful world of fitness. For many people here, the goal tends to be weight motivated. While there are numerous "Couch to..." programs out there, we have one simple question: Do you want to say you completed one event, or do you want to transition to a lifestyle of lasting fitness? A good Functional Fitness plan can get you to that same race, and keep you moving forward. Once you are fit, and ready to progress to winning your age-group, then seek out the Athlete plan that is right for you!
Daily Lifestyle Fact - 22.11.11
Working out at 80% of your maximum yields the same physiological benefits as if you were training at 100%? Train a little less, and save that extra energy for your races!
22.11.11
Lab Rat 1.1 - Do NOT Try This at Home
Ok. So, my short version of advice: Do not plan on using either of these unmodified for strength/resistance training post-partum. The core workout from The Complete Book of Core Training (c) 2006 is an excellent core workout, but not strength. If you follow another strength program, I could recommend it for the core portion (if not provided). It starts extremely easy. This is probably another reason why I don't like it. :) TRX - Military Fitness Guide (c) 2007 is a decent attempt at getting your full body moving. The moves are too complicated or require too much starting balance for new mothers, especially those who haven't worked out much in the past. For the complexity, they don't address enough of the major muscle groups effectively. So, we will call this my experiment week. No need for you to repeat. I will add in an extra week at the end, so the nine week program will be 10 weeks of posting.
The up-side is that if you try to combine these, you will feel a lot of solid core work. They do provide balance and stability training (almost to excess); what I really wanted to ensure made it into the end workout. I like the TRX very, very much. It will continue to be the focus of the workouts because of one simple thing: body mass. The workouts themselves are getting scrapped completely, and I am writing new ones. I am trying to give you a strength workout from home. This allows anyone with a door or outside on a tree...I live on a boat...no excuses...to manipulate their body weight into dead weight (i.e. your resistance). (Picture of my setup at the end.)
Since I am changing the workout so drastically, I am going to post it at the end, vice beginning, of the week. I will let you know how the lab rat fares, and you can follow along a week behind (at your own risk, provided for informational purposes only, I am not liable for your actions...you get the picture). Please comment all you want. I will approve them all as long as you would let your child read them. :)
Lab Rat's Top 10:
1. Lots of core = sore abdominals = happy rat.
2. Difficult moves for a short door.
3. Not enough leg muscle recruitment.
4. Good arm strength requirements.
5. More strength was maintained than I expected through the past two months.
6. More stamina is gone than I had hoped.
7. My body is craving cardio (not normal for me).
8. Body feels tighter (that annoying just had a child squishy feeling is gone). (MY FAVORITE!)
9. Was excited that the 2-month old liked watching and the 2-year old tried to work out.
10. Have to watch not pushing too hard too fast. This is the big one if you were active as late as possible in pregnancy. My body now has a taste of working out and wants to "go, go, go!" in the words of my 2-year old. For me, completing a workout that I want any of you to be able to use (assuming you are in reasonable health) will keep me grounded. Find something that will do the same for you. Otherwise, I can see injury trying to crop up just when we take off.
To New Moms!
-Crystal
The up-side is that if you try to combine these, you will feel a lot of solid core work. They do provide balance and stability training (almost to excess); what I really wanted to ensure made it into the end workout. I like the TRX very, very much. It will continue to be the focus of the workouts because of one simple thing: body mass. The workouts themselves are getting scrapped completely, and I am writing new ones. I am trying to give you a strength workout from home. This allows anyone with a door or outside on a tree...I live on a boat...no excuses...to manipulate their body weight into dead weight (i.e. your resistance). (Picture of my setup at the end.)
Since I am changing the workout so drastically, I am going to post it at the end, vice beginning, of the week. I will let you know how the lab rat fares, and you can follow along a week behind (at your own risk, provided for informational purposes only, I am not liable for your actions...you get the picture). Please comment all you want. I will approve them all as long as you would let your child read them. :)
Lab Rat's Top 10:
1. Lots of core = sore abdominals = happy rat.
2. Difficult moves for a short door.
3. Not enough leg muscle recruitment.
4. Good arm strength requirements.
5. More strength was maintained than I expected through the past two months.
6. More stamina is gone than I had hoped.
7. My body is craving cardio (not normal for me).
8. Body feels tighter (that annoying just had a child squishy feeling is gone). (MY FAVORITE!)
9. Was excited that the 2-month old liked watching and the 2-year old tried to work out.
10. Have to watch not pushing too hard too fast. This is the big one if you were active as late as possible in pregnancy. My body now has a taste of working out and wants to "go, go, go!" in the words of my 2-year old. For me, completing a workout that I want any of you to be able to use (assuming you are in reasonable health) will keep me grounded. Find something that will do the same for you. Otherwise, I can see injury trying to crop up just when we take off.
To New Moms!
-Crystal
15.11.11
Lab Rat 1.0: 9 Week Post-Partum Plan
Here is the plan:
NOTE: This LabRat will be published weekly at the end of the week and labeled by week. There is not enough day to day difference to require me taking up room here.
I was 7 weeks post-partum at the beginning of week one (picture below from the past week), have hiked twice, walked a bunch and rode a bike once in the interim. I was going to do nothing, but that would have driven me totally batty. I feel the most out of shape I have in a long time. The picture may not show it, but I have lost muscle strength and cardiovascular ability. Hiking was a chore. I must assume I have traded it for fat.
So, below is my BCA. This will also show you what BCA means to our company, though yours will be prettier and have an explanation of how to apply the details. I have also included the texts I am using as a jumping off point.
1. BCA: DO NOT use my numbers. They are very different from most as I run a 5 meal/day athletic program for a ridiculously fast metabolism plus breastfeeding. All of these things get taken into account in your personalized one. You get one full page with the numbers and what they mean (even more than I put here), and a second page of what you need ot do with them to support your goals.
132.5 # (10# heavier than at conception)
11% body fat (5-6% more than at conception)
117.9# lean muscle mass
2287.5 Total Calories per day
86.4g Carb per meal
5.5g Fat per meal
15.6g Protein per meal
2: Texts: TRX - Military Fitness Guide (c) 2007 and The Complete Book of Core Training (c) 2006 First Ed. As I have said, these are my jumping off point. I will complete the first week using the texts verbatim and let you know how it goes. After that, I will borrow from them, but create my own plan that adds in cardio and focuses on items I think are important. You may be asking one of two questions now: (a) Why not just follow them? (b) Why wait for cardio?
(a) Published plans are great tools to start with. However, the same rule for why each of our plans is different for our clients applies: Each of us is different. So while the are many assets out there to aid in our planning, the plan is going to be tailored to meet my changing needs. The only reason I am not tailoring it from day one is to get an idea (in a week) of how the average person would do if they used these un-tailored for the full time. I will provide my recommendations so that, in case you don't want to pay us to train you, you have something that is more useful than the plans alone.
(b) I want to have an accurate assessment of my basic muscular strength at the beginning and end of the week to help with "(a)" above. If it weren't for this, I wouldn't skip it. This is important to me as it will help my recommendations. (And, I have done some little cardio bouts as listed, so have an idea of their general impact.)
To Fitness!
-Crystal
NOTE: This LabRat will be published weekly at the end of the week and labeled by week. There is not enough day to day difference to require me taking up room here.
I was 7 weeks post-partum at the beginning of week one (picture below from the past week), have hiked twice, walked a bunch and rode a bike once in the interim. I was going to do nothing, but that would have driven me totally batty. I feel the most out of shape I have in a long time. The picture may not show it, but I have lost muscle strength and cardiovascular ability. Hiking was a chore. I must assume I have traded it for fat.
So, below is my BCA. This will also show you what BCA means to our company, though yours will be prettier and have an explanation of how to apply the details. I have also included the texts I am using as a jumping off point.
1. BCA: DO NOT use my numbers. They are very different from most as I run a 5 meal/day athletic program for a ridiculously fast metabolism plus breastfeeding. All of these things get taken into account in your personalized one. You get one full page with the numbers and what they mean (even more than I put here), and a second page of what you need ot do with them to support your goals.
132.5 # (10# heavier than at conception)
11% body fat (5-6% more than at conception)
117.9# lean muscle mass
2287.5 Total Calories per day
86.4g Carb per meal
5.5g Fat per meal
15.6g Protein per meal
2: Texts: TRX - Military Fitness Guide (c) 2007 and The Complete Book of Core Training (c) 2006 First Ed. As I have said, these are my jumping off point. I will complete the first week using the texts verbatim and let you know how it goes. After that, I will borrow from them, but create my own plan that adds in cardio and focuses on items I think are important. You may be asking one of two questions now: (a) Why not just follow them? (b) Why wait for cardio?
(a) Published plans are great tools to start with. However, the same rule for why each of our plans is different for our clients applies: Each of us is different. So while the are many assets out there to aid in our planning, the plan is going to be tailored to meet my changing needs. The only reason I am not tailoring it from day one is to get an idea (in a week) of how the average person would do if they used these un-tailored for the full time. I will provide my recommendations so that, in case you don't want to pay us to train you, you have something that is more useful than the plans alone.
(b) I want to have an accurate assessment of my basic muscular strength at the beginning and end of the week to help with "(a)" above. If it weren't for this, I wouldn't skip it. This is important to me as it will help my recommendations. (And, I have done some little cardio bouts as listed, so have an idea of their general impact.)
To Fitness!
-Crystal
Lab Rat Info
In lieu of today's lifestyle post, we are going to share how the lab rat posts will work:
1. They will be daily throughout the training period, including Monday rest days. The week starts on Tuesday. (This is our lab rat's normal schedule, but can be adjusted for yours.)
2. The posts will be tagged with #LabRat, and with which series followed by the day. So you will see "#LabRat, #1.1" on the first day of the first experiment and "#LabRat, #3.25" on the 25th day of the third experiment. (This is to make it easy to either find or follow if you only want certain items.)
3. General information will come out either the same day or day prior to the start of the Lab, and will be labeled day 0.
4. Enjoy!
1. They will be daily throughout the training period, including Monday rest days. The week starts on Tuesday. (This is our lab rat's normal schedule, but can be adjusted for yours.)
2. The posts will be tagged with #LabRat, and with which series followed by the day. So you will see "#LabRat, #1.1" on the first day of the first experiment and "#LabRat, #3.25" on the 25th day of the third experiment. (This is to make it easy to either find or follow if you only want certain items.)
3. General information will come out either the same day or day prior to the start of the Lab, and will be labeled day 0.
4. Enjoy!
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