Is food the answer?

I was on my Facebook page the other day and there was a general message left from a friend. The message said, “Really tired most of the time. What can I do to get some energy?” I stayed silent for a few days but kept looking at the people who were posting. People were telling her that if she were to eat this certain food or take this certain supplement she would get the energy she needs. Some people said apples, some said veggies, some even went as far as to say more coffee. But none of them asked the question, “What does your exercise look like?”

Believe it or not, exercise, whereas if done really hard, can tire you out, also has the effect of giving you much more energy in the long run. Here is something that many don’t realize… Science has proven that the harder your heart pumps during a workout, at rest, the slower it will become. Also, exercise gives you the ability to handle much more of a daily stress load on your body. Medical science has proven that people who tend to exercise daily have a happier physical life and don’t suffer from illnesses as often.

In defense to my friends who really mean well, food is our fuel for life. We need it to stay alive, but I believe what most people need to do is not eat more but exercise the fuel we have stored in us. Our bodies need to become more efficient in the fuel we give it. I know my Facebook friend meant well, but in the end is more food really what she needs? Or is it exercise to lose the excess weight and put her into better shape? Think about it.

Step Challenge...How are we different!

What a crazy world we live in. Could you have imagined just 20 years ago that we would have a device on us that could measure the amount of steps we take each day. Be able to tell us where we are by GPS and map our route and then measure our resting heart rate? What a world we live in.
Last year I started a Step Challenge at my gym, Parkers Place, because I really was tired of hearing people complain about gaining so much weight or not being able to lose the weight they had. I also started this challenge just to see how many steps the average person in my gym actually takes. Little did I know that after the first month, this challenge would take on its own life.

The Parker's Place Step challenge was not your usual 3 or 6 week challenge. This challenge measured how many steps you just don’t take on a day but also for the year. Actual steps were counted every day and tabulated on a white board. Now just counting steps, in it of itself is quit boring, however I asked myself a question… Where would those total steps put us if we were to really walk from our homes? Would we be still in Wisconsin? Would we make it to the west coast? Where would we be?

So, along with counting steps I also drew a map of the United States and started everyone from Oconomowoc Wisconsin and we started walking west. (Now we used 2100 steps as a mile which is just about the national average). The goal was to get to the Pacific Ocean. I also sweetened the pot a little by adding prizes at 250,000, 500,000, 1,000,000, and 2,000,000 steps. Boy, did this challenge take off. By the end of the first month I had several people who had passed the 500,000 mark and was quickly approaching the 1,000,000 mark. People were hitting the marks much quicker than I thought they would.

My hopes on putting this challenge together was to make people aware of how much we are not physically active and it worked. For those that finished the challenge, which ended at the end of November, they all told me that they were better off doing it because it got them thru the usual times when they would have experienced a low and lost focused. This challenge helped them keep focus.

Well we have started another challenge this year and this one finishes in San Francisco (market street). The prize points are higher 750k, 1.5mil, 3mil, and 5mil and we started January 1st instead of March 1st. This gives us two more months to get those goals achieved. Well, here we go. I will blog about our experiences later on in the year.

Visit us at http://www.parkersfitness.com/ for more info!

The Beginning of the year

Well, here it is January 1st and you told yourself that you wanted get in much better shape this year. You have tried many things over the years and not one of them has really stayed with you and worked. You have tried thousands of diet plans and bought hundreds of pieces of equipment that you saw on infomercials. But this year you tell yourself that “THIS YEAR WILL BE DIFFERENT!!!!” Well, let me just state outright that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. I guess that means that most of us our just plain insane.
In this blog I am going to give you some ideas on what you can do to finally turn that corner and get yourself in the shape you have always wanted. So let’s get started.
Step one:
Take a moment and think about what you really want to do. Do not go to a gym in an emotional state. That is like going to the grocery store hungry. You won’t make wise decisions. Once you have realistically thought about it then write your goals down. Most people I know don’t want to have movie star bodies, they just want to feel good in the body they have, so, be realistic.
Step two:
Once you have written your goals down. Put them to the side and wait a week and revisit them. If they still make good sense, then begin the process of pursuing them. Go to your local gym and ask questions about the place and most important the owners. Why the owners? Because you can tell a lot about a place by the who the owners are. Are they absentee owners? Do they do the personal training? What does the client base look like? Are there people there your age? Are they open 24/7? What type of neighborhood is the gym located in? Then finally look at the price. The average gym should cost you $35 per month for single membership and $70 per month for family. Remember, you get what you pay for. If you go cheap, you will get cheap. If you go expensive you should get top treatment. DO NOT LET THE 12 MONTH COMMITMENT SCARE YOU OFF. If you are serious about committing to your goals, 12 months should not be a deal breaker. Two year or three year commitments are not necessary and are just plain stupid. Don’t fall for them and don’t sign up for anything more than a 12 month commitment.
Step Three:
Once you have selected a gym, commit to three times a week to improve your health. You cannot do it once or twice a week; you are wasting your time and your money. You need a minimum of three times a week. If you need help, seek out a personal trainer that is your own age to help you. Why your own age? Because a 20 year old trainer has NO idea about the needs of a 50 year old even if you told them. They can be well educated but reality and book smarts are two different things. This is not to knock my young trainers, but the majority of them are only in it until they can find something else they can do to make MONEY. When you find a trainer who is older, the majority of them are in it for the long haul and have the knowledge to help you achieve your goals. Most important though, their staying ability is far greater than a 20 year old.
Finally, do not select a gym just because your friends are there. Socializing while working out just doesn’t work and you will not achieve much. Remember why you are seeking out a place to work out. If it is for social reasons, then don’t purchase a gym membership, take your friends out and spend that same money on having fun. (Sorry, told you I was going to get real about this). More on this in a later blog. My next blog will be on dieting after the holidays. Should we do it?

Apples and Tomatoes could be our saving grace!

Our population is getting older every day. People are living much longer than ever before. I remember in the 80’s Willard Scott would wish those who were turning 100 a happy birthday and usually that spot would last a few seconds, now there isn’t enough time to wish all who are turning 100 a happy birthday.
Seniors have started to go to gyms in droves because of the understanding that they want to slow their aging process down. Health insurance companies, such as Healthways, even pay for seniors, thru Silver Sneakers, to go and exercise and because of that 80 has become the new 60.
Now I read in a medical journal that there seems to have been a finding that could reverse the aging process in our muscles. As we get older our muscles and our strength seems to shrink. At University of Iowa scientist recently discovered a protein that is causes our muscles to get weaker as we get older. This protein is ATF4 which as we get older diminishes. In their research, using mice, they found that by adding apples and green tomatoes to their diets this ATF4 just didn’t slow the reduction process down, it reversed it. The Ursolic acid in the apples and the tomatidine found in green tomatoes regenerated the ATF4 in aged skeletal muscle. Their finding were published online Sept.3 in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.
According to this study, once these mice were given these foods in their diet, there was an increase of muscle mass by 10 percent but more importantly muscle quality or strength increased by 30 percent. I don’t believe the percentages, those could be made up, however if this study is valid, this could be an important step for the elderly and could actually lengthen the quality of many lives. Stay tune for more information on this study.

Reasons to invest in your health

Reasons to invest in your health

I was in church and the pastor was talking about why we should be investing in our spiritual life and then I began to think about how important it is for us to just not invest in our spiritual life, but our health also. So many of us invest in our families, our homes, our cars and even our vacations but we forget about the biggest (no pun intended) asset we have… our health. So over the next several blogs I will be giving you seven reasons why it is so important to invest in our health more so than anything else. So here we go…
The first reason why we should invest in our health is because we need it. What is the alternative? A life with lots of health related problems, medications and feelings of under physical under achievement. Statistics have shown that those who exercise regularly are less prone to colds, sicknesses such as high blood pressure and diabetes, and spend less time visiting physicians and hospitals. Insurance companies understand this now and give incentives for people to go to health clubs to exercise. Organizations such as Healthways have formed Silver Sneakers for senior adults and pay a percentage of their memberships every month because they understand how important an active body is.
The saying” use it or lose it” is so true when it comes to our health. The problem here is our laziness and inability to understand that once we begin a consistent regiment of activity then truly sky’s the limit on our ability to achieve things we thought were just not possible. An efficient body is one that is in constant active motion. It is a body that uses the fuel we give it daily and stores very little. An efficient body is one that, when called upon can respond to the call. An efficient body is one that can handle the stress loads we put on it daily.
We need to invest in our health and not just for the first three months of the year but every day. Now not 2 hours a day, but 30 minutes a day. It is a wonder what you can get done in 30 minutes with a good program. In my later blogs I will be giving you some ideas on what you should be doing. However I will tell you that if you are just starting off, don’t panic and don’t stress, start slow and stay consistent. To begin with just start out with doing a few push-ups and sit ups in the morning before you get into your day routine. Trust me you will feel much better for doing just this.
My next blog will be about my second reason which is “our body asks us to get active”.

Making of a Champion

“A champion is built off season”. How many of us have heard this and how many of us have lived by that saying?
What frustrates me is every year I get a few high school kids coming in 2 weeks before their season starts and they want me to get them in shape. On every occasion my response to their request is, “I’ll get you in shape for next year but this year is too late, I should have seen you last year.”


So let me just put this out there;


1) If you want to excel at sports don’t wait until the last possible moment to get yourself prepared for that sport. Your training should start a few weeks after that season is over.


2) If you really want to excel in a particular sport, only concentrate on that sport. Yes, you can be a jack of all trades, but many have not achieved greatness by doing too much.


3) Never let rejection stop you from achieving what you set out to achieve. I know of many who have been cut from teams and a few years later find themselves playing on a Division 1 team or even the pro’s.


4) Develop a hard work ethic. One that surpasses even your own ideas. Let nothing stop you from perfecting your skill.


5) Do not follow the ways of the world. The world wants us all to get along and be average. If you want to be champion, you can’t be average. Leave average to second place.


6) Never settle for where you are but always strive to do better, regardless if you win or not.


7) We all have physical setbacks. A champion doesn’t let those setbacks allow them to lose focus on their final goal… being number one.


8) Surround yourself with people (professionals) that can help you get to where you want to get to. Don’t hang out with people that aren’t focused or disciplined enough to make a difference.


9) Develop a strategy and stick to it. Let no one deter your from it including family members.


10) Make “giving up” not part of your vocabulary. But continually push through until you achieve the prize you set out for.


Well here are 10 real important things that a person must follow to achieve greatness.

Safety

I can remember the day like it was yesterday. My mom gets a phone call from her best friend and is told that her friend’s kids have the chicken pocks. All I remember next is my mom telling my sister and I to get in the car because we were going to see our friends and play with them for a while. My sister and I were excited and I remember playing with them for a few hours. The next day I remember getting up and feeling really itchy and see red marks all over my body. What the heck just happened? That’s right my sister and I got the chicken pocks.
Now why did my mother do that? Because she wanted us to develop the anti-bodies necessary to fight it off in the future. She wanted to strengthen our immune system. Well it worked very well.
Now, in this society as I know it, is we were to get that call from our friends, our first thought would be to close the shades and lock the doors and keep our kids as germ free as possible and on so many levels that hurts the kids more than helps them. The immune system of most kids today suck at best because we are too interested to protecting them than letting them grow and get strong.
I remember telling this to a new personal training client who is having problems walking. He is afraid to get on the ground because he thinks he won’t be able to get up. So what does he do? As little as possible when it comes to movement and over the last several years his health has deteriorated to a point where walking has become very difficult.
I remember when he told me that he was afraid to fall because he did not think he was going to be able to get up. I remember my next statement to him, “Then get on the ground and let’s see.” At first he looked at me with fright in his eyes but I assured him that I would be able to get him up off the ground if I had to. Then he got on the ground one knee at a time and then laid down on his stomach. Then I sat down and told him to get up. He looked at me and then looked around to see what he could grab to pull himself up and everything he touched, I pulled away from him.
“KEVIN, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING! DO YOU WANT ME TO GET UP!”
“Yes now get up. You don’t need anything to help you. Here do this.” I said getting on the ground next to him. After explaining to him the proper way he should get up I watched him as he shimmied himself up and after a few minutes got to a standing position. He had the biggest smile on his face and he looked at me and I said, “Now get back on the ground and do it 15 more times.”
Oh, yea, I know I am such a bad trainer. Putting my people thru such things like that. Why would you subject that man to something he said he couldn’t do? Because I know that he could do it and I needed to show him that he could do it. Now that man no longer has any problem with falling or getting on the ground.
We need to stop babying ourselves and let our bodies do what they were meant to do. We were never meant to be in a home with the shades down and kept from the germs of this world. By being introduced to those germs our bodies, we, will develop anti bodies to fight those unwanted enemies and we will become much stronger because of it.