The Exercise Coach Blog

Workshop Time Change

2009-07-22T17:35:00.002-06:00

This Saturday's workshop times have changed due to Dr. McGuff's inability to make it. He is filming a show in Fiji with Tony Robbins and the producers of the biggest loser called Breaking through. It will air this fall.

I will be combining his workshop with mine and speaking at 11:00. This moves the 1:00 seminar up to 11:00.

Contact geri@theexercisecoach to register. Seating is limited

The workshops will be held at 197 S. Rand in Lake Zurich at The Holiday Inn Express.

To Recap....

9:00 Body By Science/The Exercise Coach Approach their impact on weight loss and osteoporosis

11:00 Bladder Bladder, What's the matter?

Body By Science - Especially For Women

2009-07-09T12:50:00.010-06:00

Saturday, July 25th, The Exercise Coach is sponsoring a day of educational workshops called Body By Science - Especially for Women. BBS - Especially for women features Doug McGuff, M.D., author of my favorite book on exercise - Body By Science. Doug will help attendees understand and apply what the most recent research says about exercise and weight loss as it relates to women. Doug will also be offering a general Body By Science workshop at 2:30. If you want to understand how you can maximize your fitness in just minutes per week, this is the workshop for you.

I'll be talking about how you can be confident about your future even if you have been diagnosed with osteopenia or osteoporosis.

And, Valerie Boeldt-Umbright of WomanCare P.C. will present valuable info for women who struggle with issues of incontinence.

Registration is required. Click on the flyer below to see for location and details.

Body By Science Seminar

2009-07-09T12:36:00.004-06:00

I am thrilled to announce that Dr. Doug McGuff is coming to visit us at The Exercise Coach.

Doug is the author of, in my opinion, the best book ever written on exercise - Body By Science.

I'll post the details on seminars that are open to the public in a bit.

For now here is recent interview with Dr. McGuff as a preview...

The Best approach for fat loss

2009-01-28T10:16:00.031-06:00

I’ve attached a case study I completed recently with a new client who committed to proper nutrition and training at The Exercise Coach®.

The client is 34 years old and began training with me on December 11, 2008. He completed eight workouts over five weeks. His average workout time was only fifteen minutes. He performed seven or eight closely supervised strength exercise to the point of momentary muscular fatigue.

On January 27th I performed a follow up body-composition using the InBody 230 (see pre and post tests above). After years of trying every body-composition device on the market we have finally found one that we like. The InBody is amzingly accurate anbd reliable.

His results were outstanding. Now, if he just looked at the scale it would have told him that his body-weight did not change. And, he would have been tempted to doubt what he was seeing in the mirror and feeling in his workouts. Thanks to the InBody though we know the whole story.

In just six weeks he built nearly ten pounds of skeletal muscle mass and lost over fourteen pounds of body fat! That's a net shift in body composition of twenty-four pounds in six weeks.

This is a testament to the synergistic effect of combining challenging strength training and good nutrition.

Some of the highlights of the strategies he used include eating adequate amounts of protein and the right kinds of carbohydrates, supplementing with the highest quality fish oil available, using a polyphenol (ie., berry/sea vegetable concentrate) supplement and training hard for just a few minutes each week. Oh ya... I should emphasize that he did no conventional cardio.

One more thing. This client has several previous injuries. He has had ACL re-constrction, has shattered the head of his humerus, and has crushed several bones in his hand and wrist. These past 6 weeks he has trained without a glitch and in fact after 6 weeks says his shoulder feels great.

Not bad, huh?

Change or Die

2009-01-18T13:51:00.005-06:00

Wow! That's an attention grabber huh? It's actually the title of a book written by Alan Deutschman. "Deutschman concludes that although we all have the ability to change our behavior, we rarely do. In fact, the odds are nine to one that, when faced with the dire need to change, we won't. From patients suffering from heart disease to repeat offenders in the criminal justice system to companies trapped in the mold of unsuccessful business practices, many of us could prevent ominous outcomes by simply changing our mindset (from the inside cover)."

Is there hope then? YES! Deutschman explain that there are three keys to succeeding at change. They are relate, repeat, and reframe.

Relate - You from a new relationship with a person or community that inspires and sustains hope. People trying to change need to connect with people that can infuse confidence into the situation. We need someone who's confidence fly's in the face of our own rational assessment of our own ability to change. You need to be "sold" on the idea that you can change.

Repeat - The new relationship needs to help you learn and master new habits and skills that you will need to succeed. You need to be "trained" in techniques and patterns of behavior until they become natural to you.

Reframe - The new relationship need to provide you with a new way of thinking about your situation. On this point Deutschman says, "Ultimately, you look at the world in a way that would have been so foreign to you that it wouldn't have made any sense before you changed."

These keys match up perfectly with what a cutting-person trainer should provide for you. It's exactly what we provide at The Exercise Coach. I can't tell you how many people I've met with that thought I was crazy when I told them they needed to cut out the conventional cardio, start lifting weights, and only workout once or twice per week for 20-minutes or less. These same people end up as Exercise Coach evangelists after they have been sufficiently "sold", "trained", and taught to "see" fitness and fat-loss through a new lens.

I hope these categories help you as you contemplate change in any area of your life. I know they help me personally.

And, for you cutting edge-personal trainers (you know who you are). My advice is this - "sell, sell,sell." Sell to prospective clients and never stop "selling" to existing clients. Realize that the more "sold" a person is on your proposed solution, the better their chance of success is. Don't worry buyers know the difference between passion and greed. You don't have to try to convince them of your motives if they are indeed noble. They will sense it. They need to literally feel passion and confidence exuding from you. They need to be led, and nobody wants to follow someone who isn't confident that they know the best path. Instill confidence in your clients.

The Slow-Motion Secret

2009-01-15T10:38:00.007-06:00

The secret to making strength training safe is slow movement. Voices from the realm of athletics will cry that you need to "train fast to be fast." This is not true. Check out my blog entry "Explosive Weight Training Exploded." The only thing lifting weights fast will do is increase your risk for injury.

So how slow is slow enough? Well, it depends on the movement and the equipment that you are using. But, in general about 8-10 seconds each direction works quite well. That's pretty slow compared to what you have probably seen or tried. So, I've uploaded a visual for you.

This is what safe, controlled speed of movement looks like on a leg press machine.

His Best Shape Ever

2008-11-17T19:47:00.002-06:00

When we shot this video Ward had gone from 28% to 14% body fat. Now he hovers right around 7%. Not bad for 53 years old and about 20-40 minutes of exercise per week!

Activity is Not the Answer!

2007-09-26T12:56:00.002-06:00

My friend Fred Hahn posted a link to this article, on his excellent blog found at seriousstrength.com

Like Fred, I have been telling people for quite some time (10 years) that weight loss is not won on the basis of your exercise mileage. The author of this article, The Scientist and the Stairmaster, makes an excellent argument in support of what we have been saying.

Here is an excerpt that I found very amusing...

"It's difficult to get health authorities to talk about the disconnect between their official recommendations and the scientific evidence that underlies it because they want to encourage us to exercise, even if their primary reason for doing so is highly debatable. Steve Blair, for instance, a University of South Carolina exercise scientist and a co-author of the AHA-ACSM guidelines, says he was "short, fat, and bald" when he started running in his thirties and he is short, fatter, and balder now, at age 68. In the intervening years, he estimates, he has run close to 80,000 miles and gained about 30 pounds.

When I asked Blair whether he thought he might be leaner had he run even more, he had to think about it. "I don’t see how I could have been more active," he said. "Thirty years ago, I was running 50 miles a week. I had no time to do more. But if I could have gone out over the last couple of decades for two to three hours a day, maybe I would not have gained this weight." And maybe he would have anyway. If we trust the AHA-ACSM report he co-authored, there is little reason to believe that the amount he runs makes any difference. Nonetheless, Blair personally believes he would be fatter still if he hadn’t been running. Why?"

THE AEROBICS MYTH

2007-08-25T08:28:00.000-06:00

Roger Schwab has been on the cutting-edge in the health club industry for many years.

Roger subscribes to the same basic exercise philosophy that we do at The Exercise Coach.....

1. Focus on total-body improvements through muscular stimulation.

2. Make your workouts as safe and challenging as possible (GO SLOW UNTIL YOU CAN'T GO).

3. Keep them brief (if they are really challenging they will be brief). Apply the minimum amount of exercise stress necessary to get maximum results.

4. Give your body REAL Recovery Time (ie., a few days between workouts, great nutrition, & quality sleep).

I recently came across Roger's article The Aerobics Myth. It's a great summary of why we don't place the emphasis on "Aerobics" that much of the fitness industry does.

Here is the link:

http://mlhf.com/art_tam.html

Top-10 Principles

2007-07-01T21:06:00.000-06:00

Science has been unable to discover one strength training method that is superior to all others for the purpose of developing strength. Research continues to show that there are a variety of strength training methods that will stimulate improvements in strength and muscle mass.
However, not all strength training regimens will stimulate total-body conditioning results. Furthermore, safety and time investment considerations make some strength training approaches much more desirable and practical.
At The Exercise Coach we are committed to delivering our clients the best strength workout possible. One that is capable of yielding a total-body benefit in a safe and time-efficient manner. This passion has helped us to identify and articulate ten principles that we believe are vital for the best possible individualized application of strength training. Here is a list of the ten principles and a once sentence guideline which summarizes each one.

1. The Challenge Principle – Train at an intensity level that will challenge your body enough to disrupt homeostasis and trigger your body’s adaptive mechanisms.
2. The Progression Principle - Make each session more challenging than the last one.
3. The Ignition Principle - Perform one set of each exercise to the point of volitional exhaustion.
4. The Time under Tension Principle - Reach concentric muscle failure within a prescribed amount of time.
5. The Form Principle - Concentrate on Proper technique each and every repetition.
6. The Perpetual-Effort Principle – Don’t unload while performing an exercise set and don’t rest between sets.
7. The Systemic Principle - Perform about 6-8 exercises per workout which address all of the major musculatures.
8. The Sequence Principle - Whenever possible exercise from the largest to smallest muscles.
9. The Recovery Principle - Strength train 1-3 times per week on non-consecutive days.
10. The Precision Principle - Keep accurate records of performance.

Explosive Weight Training Exploded

2007-05-08T21:11:00.000-06:00

Many fitness professionals attempt to incorporate, so called, explosive training into their clients programs. They claim that they are necessary to improve their real-life strength (whatever that means) and their explosive power in sports movements. These well meaning professionals tell their clients that they need to lift weights fast in order to train their fast-twitch muscle fibers.

I have been adamantly opposed to any form of exercise that involves explosive movements for over a decade now, since I personally put an end to the practice in my own training regimen.

I also disagree with the false claim that one must train fast to be fast.

So, what's the big deal?

My problem is with the danger inherent in explosive weightlifting movements. I am especially concerned since this practice has made its way into the ranks of youth exercise programs.

I was thrilled when I recently came across a critical review of explosive training in the Journal of Exercise Physiology. It is always refreshing when the academic exercise community gets it right.

You can view the analysis here www.unm.edu/~rrobergs/JEPonline/Feb07/bruce-lowe.pdf

The conclusion of the authors is that explosive weight lifting is not more effective than slow weight-lifting for the development of strength or speed.

The authors do a great job explaining that you cannot selectivelty train fast-twitch fibers by moving faster in exercise.

The authors also note that the literature indicates that the notion of carry over from sports-specific exercise to the actual sport is specious.

Due to the risks involved in explosive weight training is not recommended for any population according to the authors. I agree.

15 Reasons For Strength Training

2007-04-11T14:28:00.000-06:00

Here are some of the more tangible physiological adaptations that
result from productive strength training.

1. Age-Related Muscle Loss Stopped.
2. Metabolic Rate Reduction With Age Halted.
3. Increased Muscle Mass.
4. Increased Metabolic Rate.
5. Lower resting heart rate.
6. Increased Aerobic Capacity.
7. Increased Anaerobic Capacity.
8. Reduced Fat to Muscle ratio.
9. Increased Bone Mineral Density.
10. Improved Glucose Metabolism.
11. Decreased Gastrointestinal Transit Time.
12. Reduced Resting Blood Pressure.
13. Improved Blood Lipid Levels.
14. Reduced Low Back Pain.
15. Reduced Arthritic Pain.

No other form of activity can impact your body as powerfully as proper strength training. Strength training can help you look better, feel better, prevent disease, and perform at higher levels of effectiveness in life.

If you combine just 20-40 minutes per week of strength training (The Exercise Coach style) with a solid nutrition lifestyle for six months you will be on your way to realizing your full physical potential!

Welcome!

2007-04-03T12:36:00.001-06:00

Welcome to the new Exercise Coach blog!

We look forward to bringing you helpful information and insights on fitness, health, and wellness.

Our hope is to inspire you to safely and efficiently realize your full physical potential.

With this blog we will attempt to make confusing concepts clear, de-bunk common fitness myths, and present truths that enhance your focus and confidence.

From all of us at The Exercise Coach, welcome!