Too Scared to be Healthy?

Are you too scared to really embark on your journey to better health? Sounds silly, but some folks are so fearful of failure that they never even get started. It's not the work or the lack of information, it's fear of failure itself that can paralyze some.

One of the great mistakes in life is living in fear that you will make one.



Rick Mayo

Training in High Heels?

Some of today's fashionable training shoes look more like high heels than athletic wear. I can write ten pages on the physical problems that are caused by wearing heel elevated shoes, but for the sake of not boring you to tears I'll keep it simple.
By elevating your heels you are reducing the mobility in your ankles. Since your body operates as a whole, a break down at any joint must be accounted for in other areas of your body. This means that the hips, knees and lower back are now working over time to compensate for the rigid ankles. As you ladies know (and maybe some men-keep it to yourselves), wearing these little torture devices can be painful just standing around at a party for a few hours. Why do you think most ladies hold their shoes on the dance floor? Now imagine these disruptions in function compounded with dynamic exercises like running, jumping and lifting. Yikes!

Ideally, your athletic shoes should have a low heel and be very flexible. The closer you can get to barefoot training the better. As a matter of fact, you should train without shoes as much as possible to strengthen your feet and ankles. Try running on grass or sand. If your gym allows, kick off your shoes for weight training. Got tender feet? Try these funky "shoes" from Vibram.

I know heels are a necessary evil when sporting the little black dress or that 70's leisure suit. They just don't belong on your feet during exercise!

Rick Mayo

True function of the core

I love our industry! There is so much research being done in the exercise arena that we can learn something new nearly every month. The is some solid information that supports that the function of the core is actually to control/prevent movement as opposed to creating it (crunches, etc). Here are a few examples of active resistance where the core musculature is working to prevent movement.



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Rick Mayo

Chocolate Milk: It’s not just for kids

This is an article from our newsletter.

Though I fully appreciate the benefits of healthy eating habits, I have to admit that good food choices sometimes leave something to be desired in the way of taste. Naturally, I was very excited to learn that chocolate milk may have a place in my eating plan. What about me you ask…you’re in luck.

Other than breakfast, your post-workout snack may be the most important meal choice of the day. When you exercise your primary source of energy is glycogen. Intense exercise depletes your muscles of stored glycogen. It is important to replenish your glycogen stores within the proper window of time (30 to 60 minutes following your workout) or the resynthesis will be ineffective.

Studies support that a meal with a 4:1 ratio of carbohydrates to protein is ideal for glycogen resynthesis. The carbs will cause an insulin response which in turn will make a more efficient transport process for the protein. Also, your insulin receptors are most sensitive immediately following an exercise bout.

As it turns out, chocolate milk has the ideal ratio of carbs to protein for recovery. The simple sugars from the chocolate spike your insulin and the protein from the milk aids in muscle recovery. I guess six time Olympic gold medalist, Michael Phelps, was not crazy when he stated that he drank Carnation Instant Breakfast between races!

I should mention that drinking sugary drinks any time other than post-workout is a bad idea (especially for weight loss). The insulin spike that you are causing with the chocolate is exactly what you want to avoid when you are trying to control cholesterol, weight and blood sugar levels.

Got Milk?

I have found a brand of milk that I really like. Horizon brand reduced fat organic milk is cheaper, tastes better and has a lot less ingredients than the protein shakes commonly consumed. The best part is that you can find it on your local grocery store shelves!

Rick Mayo

Ouch!

We sometimes use the Bosu trainer for various movements but we have not done this for obvious reasons. Anyone want to give it a try and let me know how it works?



Rick Mayo

Peeling the Onion

I first saw this goal setting technique presented by Dax Moy. It is a great way to get to the heart of your goals (fitness or other) and come to terms with what it will take to reach those goals. Let's take a look at the steps:

1. Know what you want- Be specific! "I want to lose weight" is not a specific goal. How much weight? What is your time frame?

2. Know why you want it- Why do you want to lose 20 lbs in 8 weeks? Is it because I think other people believe I need to lose weight? Do I lack confidence because of my lack of fitness? Continue to ask "Why" until you can no longer answer that question. Peel the onion. This can be a tough process in that you are revealing the true reason for your desire to change. Though difficult, it is imperative to identify exactly why you want to achieve that particular goal.

3. Know the price- You want a new car? I'll bet you price is a factor when you are making a buying decision. The same applies to your goal. If you want something, there is always a price to pay. Better nutrition habits and consistent exercise effort just to name a few. You need to be aware of the price so that you can develop a specific strategy for reaching your goal.

4. Be WILLING to pay the price- So you fancy the Ferrari eh? Are you willing to pay the price? Once you have clearly defined you specific goal and determined the "price", you must be willing to commit to the work involved to reach your goal. Be honest with yourself.

5. Pay the Price- This is the most important step! It is one thing to set, understand and know the price of your goal but you must eventually take action and pay the price for your success.

Final thought- You must be willing to pay in advance. You don't look and feel great and then start working out. The work always precedes the results.

Rick Mayo

20% down........

Another reminder from Alwyn Cosgrove:

Tomorrow marks the 20% point of the year.
A fifth of 2008 has already passed.

Are you on track with those New Years Resolutions? Are you on track with your goals?

It's amazing how time passes so quickly.

Don't waste a single second.

If your goal is fat loss - start today
If your goal is muscle building - start today
If your goal is (insert anything here) - start TODAY !

20% of this year is gone forever. Will you make changes TODAY or will another 20% pass, then another 20% -- and before you know it -- it's 2009.....

Don't waste a single second. Start TODAY.

Rick Mayo

The 60 minute session

I have owned and operated North Point Personal Training since 1992. I'm not sure when or why our industry developed time dependent training protocols but it happened and unfortunately, it stuck around.

When you really think about it, it makes no sense. As a trainee implementing my own programs and philosophies, I don't design my programs based on a 30, 45 or 60 minute time frame. When I ask other trainers if they workout for a predesignated time or perform a specific program design it is always the latter. Then I ask, "If you were designing a program for a friend or family member to perform on their own, would you place time requirements on the workouts? Of course not, it makes no sense. Why limit someone to 30 minutes or create "filler" to make a 60 minutes session? Just design the program based purely on the goal and plan for 25-50 minutes depending on the day.

Let's look at a typical week for someone with general fitness goals:

Day 1: Heavier load/ less volume/ longer rest periods (35-45 minutes)

Day 2: Moderate load/ more volume/ normal rest periods (40 minutes)

Day 3: Lighter load-circuits/ high volume/ short rest periods (30-50 minutes)

This sample program could look drastically different for someone with sports specific goals, weight loss, postural issues, injury considerations and etc.
Recently, I designed a program for a client that has roughly 15 minutes of time at home in the morning M-F. No problem. I can sit down and develop a program that works for him with his schedule. What the heck would I do with him if he were to purchase a package of 30 minute sessions. Prorate? Split them by 2/3? Force him to do 30 minutes? He already stated that he doesn't have 30 minutes available. See where I am going with this? As an industry, by selling sessions based on time, we are essentially providing less personal service due to our pricing structure.

"What about competitive pricing", trainers often ask. If the guy down the street will sell a 60 minute session for $55, will my $40 1/2 hour session seem too expensive? I answer that question with a question of my own. If I could guarantee to get you in shape in 1/2 the time and save you nearly $200 a month and 6 hours of your valuable time, would you be interested? I think so.

We still continue to sell our services at NPPT based on time sessions. Normally, we can accomplish all that we need to in 30 minutes with 80% of our clients. Do I think this is the best way to price and sell personal training? No, but we are working on some new ideas that may just change the way our industry views and sells our services.

Stay tuned,

Rick Mayo

Deck of Cards

This is a workout that allows for great variety and you can implement an endless number of exercises. I have only performed it once and it was actually kinda fun. I found myself praying for low cards! Here is a description of the protocol from Ross Enamait:

Are you interested in a conditioning protocol that is guaranteed to provide variety and intensity?

Look no further than a standard deck of cards. One sample could include pushups and burpees. Perform one set of burpees for every red card (Hearts and Diamonds) and one set of pushups for every black card (Spades and Clubs).

To perform the workout, you will start with a fully shuffled deck of cards (52 cards). All face cards (Jack, Queen, and King) have a value of 10. Aces will have a value of 11. Number cards will be face value (ex. 7 of spades = 7 pushups). Jokers are optional, and can be set to any value. For example, a joker could involve 20 reps (of burpees or pushups) or perhaps 50 reps of a different exercise (ex. 50 squats).

Work through the entire deck. Each card requires a set of pushups or burpees, depending on the color. Your goal is to work through the entire deck as fast as possible. If burpees are too difficult, switch over to a squat thrust without the jump.

Each shuffle of the deck will provide a new workout. You can perform several exercises with this protocol (ex. pushups, squats, burpees, pull-ups, etc.).

Mix it up and have fun with it.

Rick Mayo

Workout ADD

We had the pleasure of presenting on sports nutrition at SECO 2008 here in Atlanta last weekend. SECO 2008 is designed for optometrists, ophthalmologists, opticians, and ophthalmic professionals at all career levels who wish to expand their skills and professional knowledge, acquire new skills or professional accreditation's, and develop networking and professional relations.

"What does this conference have to do with training?", you ask. SECO was featuring some sport related courses to enhance their 2008 Olympic theme.

After the presentation, I received some really good questions regarding training routines and how to apply them to different individuals. Reviewing all of these programs reinforced what I have stated before. There is way too much information out there regarding training and nutrition these days. Some good and some not so good. It is typically not the programs themselves that are ineffective but how they are applied.

It can be very confusing when trying to design and implement an exercise/nutrition program. Look at popular fitness magazines...one article explains the benefits of training with just body weight while the next claims that Olympic lifting is the only way to go.

From a coaches perspective, this is where the rubber meets the road. A good fitness coach can sift through all of this science and apply the right program to the right individual at the right time.

My advice: hire a qualified trainer and trust that the program design is going to work. If you switch programs every two weeks in response to the "latest information", you won't have the consistency to truly measure whether or not your program is effective. 6-8 weeks is normally enough time before you need to reevaluate.

Rick Mayo