NEVER do this!

Here I am, chasing Lucy all over the playground.

So yesterday morning I took my daughter Lucy to the park to go play. She's an adventurous little girl, loves climbing, slides, being chased by her dad acting as an angry pirate, all that fun stuff.

However, while I was there I noticed what appeared to be a personal trainer working with a client at the park. Being in the same field of course I paid attention to what he was doing and what his client was doing. And it made me think of the things I SEVERELY dislike about old school fitness techniques. I'm going to give you a quick run down of this awful event.

1. Super slow exercises using a very light resistance band. Want to burn fat? Build muscle. Not a ton of it. But you need to add some muscle. Why? It burns more calories at rest. And 80% of calories burned at rest come from fat. Want to build muscle? Use some heavy weights.
2. 2:00 rest periods between sets of crunches. Honestly when you're training for fat-loss, you need to chew through (pardon the pun) as many calories as possible in your workout. Why? To burn more calories you need to work harder, move faster and with shorter rest periods. And who's to say you need a dedicated "do-nothing" rest period? Use super-sets to get more from your rest periods. You only need to rest the muscle group you just worked. You don't need to rest your lungs! So do push-ups, then do squats THEN rest for :30. At that point its probably been a minute or so since you finished your push-ups.
3. Skip curls (and other isolation exercises). Doing slow curls while standing on a
   band is another waste of valuable time. Perhaps this lady I was watching has all the time in the world (it was about 9:30am, so maybe she does?) but most people I know don't. So they've got to make their workout count. Instead of isolating muscle groups choose exercises that use multiple muscle groups together. Pull-ups, for example, use biceps, upper back, glutes and abs - talk about bang for your buck!



Betcha she's not talking!


4. If you can converse during the workout (aside from rest) your not working hard enough. Plus, how difficult can the exercise be if you don't even have to focus on your form or mentally focus to push through those last few repetitions? Seriously, if you can chit-chat during an exercise, it's time to up the weight or choose another exercise.

On a side note, I read the other day that you have to be state licensed to be a barber. However, anybody can be a "personal trainer." I'm so embarrassed. 

Have a great Wednesday make sure you're doing everything you can to add some extra movement into your day!

Another recovery challenge

Well we've wrapped up another 4-week Hi-5 FitCamp session. This one was certainly different. We really got into some heavy lifting basics: bench press, squats, pullups, lunges. In addition, the core work and glute activation really helped stifle some common overuse injuries, such as anterior knee pain, low back pain and rotator cuff strains.

Speaking of overuse injuries one thing you'll need to add to your home stretching protocol is calf stretches and heel walks. Both of these will be added to the warm-up but because we are going to be adding a lot of hill work and running to our programs we want to try our best to avoid shin splints.

Gastrocnemius and soleus of the calf muscle group.

How can you do this??

Well as I mentioned in past posts, stretching the calves involves stretching those that cross above the knee as well as those that anchor below the knee on the tibia.

To stretch the gastrocnemius, we do a straight knee calf stretch. Basically this is what most people do when stretching. In this the knee is fully extended and the gastrocnemius as well as the soleus is stretched. However, depending on how tight the soleus is, the gastroc received most of the stretch.

The straight knee calf stretch involves pushing up against a wall or something sturdy with the back knee full extended and the heel pushed to the ground. You'll feel this stretch higher in the calf.

To stretch the soleus we can take the same position, but we need to put the knee into slight flexion (bend the knee). What this does is allows the gastroc to relax so that the soleus receives all of the stretch.

The muscles on the front of the shin are easily overworked.

So the question usually comes up as to which is more of a problem for shin splints? And the answer is the Soleus. Why? Well considering that the gastroc does not even anchor to the tibia that pretty much rules it out. But research also shows that the excessive eccentric contractions (stretching contractions) induced by the plyometric effect of jogging places incredible strain on the soleus and other lower calf muscles. This will cause pulling on the tibia and cause inflammation around the lower leg.

In addition to that, each time a step is taken, the foot must be pulled upward as the leg moves through the swing phase. As a result, the muscles of the front of the tibia also have to do a considerable amount of work. If these muscles are not prepared for it, they will get very sore and overworked just like any other muscle.

To prevent this soreness you can spend about 30-seconds each day walking on your heels. This will help to strengthen the muscles as well as actively stretch the calf muscles. You'll feel like Frankenstein, but you're body will thank you come next week!

This weeks recovery circuit!!

Go around as many times as you can in 15 minutes. Attempt to do it without stopping.

1. Floor Y, T, W x 8each (lie face down on the floor and make these letters by lifting your arms off the ground for each repetition)
2. Heel Walks x 20 steps
3. Lunges x 10 each leg
4. Squats x 20
5. Pushups x 20
6. Split Jacks x 20 (perform jumping jacks but have your legs move front to back instead of inside/outside)
7. Bearcrawl x 20
8. Mt. Climbers x 20
9. Squat jumps x 20

See you for our next Hi-5 FitCamp on Monday, April 18th!!

5 ways to TORCH fat in the 2011

Breakfast: Your Number 1 fat fighter!

Every New Year, millions of people join a gym in hopes of changing their lives. But you wouldn't overhaul your car, your home or your stock portfolio without knowing how each of those systems work, would you?

So why are trying to alter something as complex as the interaction between your body and your psyche in hopes of losing weight by yourself? At the minimum you need guidance. At the most you need a personal trainer. 

But regardless of which path you choose, here are 5 ways to absolutely incinerate fat. These are in order of Importance. If can do only 1, start with the first. If only two, do the first two. And so on.

1. Eat breakfast. Anybody, and I mean ANYBODY, who has lost weight and been able to keep it off while still maintaining a desirable figure eats breakfast. And it doesn't have to be extravagant. Here's a strategy. On Sunday evening, get a plastic bowl and 8 eggs. Crack all of the eggs and scramble them in the bowl. Put the bowl in the fridge and now every morning you've got a scrambled egg mix. Just put 1/2 a cup of the mix onto a frying pan and you'll have a hot breakfast in about 3-4 minutes.
2. Start taking a fish oil supplement. Fish oil has been shown to increase metabolism, using fat stores and keeping your arteries soft, pliable and your heart healthy. Why wouldn't you take it? It takes roughly :30 seconds to do this daily.
3. Stretch at work.  Set a timer on your phone, your watch or your computer for 60 minutes. When the timer goes off, push away from the desk and stand up. Put your right hand behind your neck holding your elbow high and tip your head to the left. You should feel this stretch  in your neck and upper back. Next do 5 body weight squats. Then sit back down, reach your arms to the ceiling and lean back. Feel the stretch in your arms, abs and lower back. Feels good, right? Now get back to work!
4. Buy a 1-L aluminum water bottle and use it. Your liver is what metabolizes fat. It also detoxifies your body. The more water you drink, the better your liver works. Drink at least 1-L of water a day.
5. Join the Hi-5 FitCamp. Honestly its the best workout you'll get for the price. The Hi-5 FitCamp uses metabolic circuits to burn fat and build muscle 4 hours each week. Which is more than most people do when they buy that rip off gym membership. All you have to do is show up and put forth some effort. You don't even have to think about what you're going to do as we have a full month of awesome workouts planned and prepped. We started today, but it's not too late to sign up. 

Email aaron@pairmarotta.com to get registered for the Hi-5 FitCamp.

So that's it. 5 easy steps to incinerating fat in 2011. Here's to a healthy and productive year!