Exercise of the Week

Exercise of the Week is a new installment here at http://www.myfitnesswithchris.com

For my first exercise of the week, here’s one of my favorites.

Be Your Best,

Chris

Exercise of The Week: Burpees

WARNING:

Not for the faint of heart. Enjoy!

Instructions:
1. From a standing position, jump as high as possible and land down on your feet with your hands on the ground.
2. Kick your feet back. For a moment you will be in a push up position and jump back up again as fast as possible.
3. Repeat for the required repetitions

Craigslist and Personal Training Clients

A big thank you to craigslist for offering me the opportunities to reach people. I’ve been able to reach quite a few people through craigslist that I might not have otherwise.

I am always looking for people that are serious about making a change for the better.

Here’s how one of the latest new clients that signed up with me via craigslist is doing.

3 WEEK MEASUREMENTS
[Read more]

Inspirational Quote of the Day

I love inspirational quotes. A lot of wisdom in very few words. Here’s the inspirational quote for today…

“The key is not to prioritize your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.”

–Steven Covey

Are You Ready to Donate Your Fat Pants?

I want you to reach all your goals; fitness and otherwise. This site is meant to help you do just that. I am still adding information all the time– some in the background, and some that you are reading here in the form of blog posts. Some of what you’ll read about is intended for people trying to lose body fat, some for seniors, and some for the person out there that has everything they want in life but, for whatever reason, still isn’t satisfied.

I gotta admit, I get a bit emotional when I write about appearance and body fat. I get emotional because I’ve had many of my own sets of “fat pants”.

I wasn’t always a personal trainer, you see.

I know how it feels to walk around and be self conscious about your appearance. I know what it feels like to hate what you see when you look in the mirror. I know what it feels like to shop for clothes that’ll hide the jiggly results of our frequent overindulgences. I know what it feels like to look into a mirror and keep turning your body until you find the angle you are most satisfied with before proceeding out the door. I know what it feels like to feel helpless.

I also know that it absolutely DOES NOT have to be that way.

I’m not claiming that it’s an easy fix. It’s not. It doesn’t happen in a week. It usually doesn’t happen in a month or two months (some of my amazing personal training clients have proven to me that it can).

If you haven’t figured it out yet, there aren’t any shortcuts to getting the benefits that proper exercise and nutrition will give you. None.

I see the same ridiculous infomercials on TV that you see. They all claim to be the answer. It’s disheartening to see so many people put all their faith into one of these shortcut programs when I know it’s not going to deliver the results they’re looking for.

As a fitness professional, it’s frustrating to know what the answer is and not be able to share it with all these people.

The different articles you’ll read here are meant to prepare you with the knowledge you will need in order to gain control of your appearance and your life. They’ll teach you how to work more efficiently and make better use of your time. The articles are meant to motivate you to demand more than mediocrity from yourself, and from life.

If there is anything specific you would like to read about, or any question you might have, please write me an email or call me and let me know. There’s sure to be someone else out there with the same problem/question.

chris@myfitnesswithchris.com

(808)398-4931

Be Your Best,

Chris

Check Yo’ Self

Being a subscriber to a blog or an email list is a great way to learn from other people and/or to communicate ideas with those having similar interests, or goals. Here’s part of an email I received from a fellow fitness professional, Jim Labadie.

“You’re never going to believe this.

If I didn’t know the person I would have a hard time believing this is true.

But sadly, it is.

It’s the perfect example of people buying things they want much more than things they need.

One of my clients was telling me today about a mutual friend’s hernia.

It’s going to require surgery.

Unfortunately, and for whatever reason, this self-employed business man doesn’t have health insurance.

This, and the fact that he claims he doesn’t have the money for the operation, are the reasons he uses to explain why he has not gone ahead and had the surgery.

Ok. So that’s not terribly unusual.

But here’s the catch:

This same man just went out and purchased 2 brand new motor scooters for $4,000.

I’m not a surgeon.

I’ve got no clue as to how much a hernia operation costs.

But I’ve got to imagine that $4,000 would have at least been a good start.

Amazing, isn’t it?

Amazing that someone would put aside even their health so they could buy something they want much more than spend the money on something they need.

But in reality, this happens all the time. Day in and day out.

Let’s face it, just about everyone could really use the help of a qualified fitness professional.

Yet how do you think you will convince someone of that when you know there are people in this world with hernias who are riding motor scooters?

You can’t. People buy what they want, not what they need. ”

It’s a familiar situation that we fitness professionals hear every day.

You are the only person on this planet that can set your priorities and execute of a plan of action. You just can’t help someone that doesn’t want to be helped.

“I don’t have time” is a poor excuse to me if you can rationalize spending 2-3 hours of your time each day in front of a television.

Even if you really are incredibly busy, there is no excuse. A small amount of exercise done consistently is going to pay tremendous dividends in the long run. Physical energy is the fundamental source of fuel for everything happening in your life. When you have more, you do everything better. You are better equipped to handle stressful situations and be a more productive person.

“I can’t afford it” is another poor excuse when it comes from someone that eats out more than twice a week, pays for golf lessons for an entire year, pays for premium cable, drives a $30,000 car, and gets manicures, and pedicures every other month.

Take a step back and take an honest look at how your values, and priorities compare to the ways you make use of your time and spend your money.

If you’re willing to sacrifice your appearance, your health, your well being, and your capacity to perform at your best; if getting your nails done, shopping, and eating out all the time is higher on your priority list than the aforementioned–there isn’t a fitness professional on the planet that can help you.

You’re either making excuses or you’re making it happen. If you’re one of those people making excuses, here’s a quote to help you…

“You better check yourself before you wreck yourself”.

–Ice Cube

Be Your Best,

Chris

Laughing is good for you.

And before you ask — no, that’s not me.

Inspirational Quote of the Day

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit.

-Aristotle

How Often Do You Check The Scale?

Once a year? Once a month? Once a week? Every day? More than one time every day?

I know lots of people that check the scale each and every day, and some that even check it more than once a day. There’s people at every gym I’ve ever been to that check their weight before their workout, and then again, after they complete their workout. I know some people that check it before they hit the steam room/sauna and then recheck after. For what? What do you think it’s telling you?

The Truth

I’ll be 100% honest with you, I was one of those people until I learned the truth. This truth you are about to read changed my life forever. If you are trying to improve your appearance by losing weight, you’d better listen up.

There’s approximately 3, 500 calories in one pound of body fat. This means you’ll need to create a deficit of 3,500 calories in order to lose one pound of body fat. It’s the same with gaining body fat. You’d need to have a surplus of 3,500 calories your body doesn’t need in order to create one pound of body fat. Now obviously, this doesn’t happen in an hour. It doesn’t happen in a day.

Let’s say your body takes 2,000 calories a day to maintain exactly the same weight (not counting the constantly changing level of water in your body). You consume 1,750 calories and expend 250 calories through exercise. You now have a 500 calorie deficit. If you did this every day for a week, you would lose approximately 1 lb of fat after a week’s time.

7 days X -500 calories each day = -3,500 calories

The Most Commonly Misused Measuring Device In The World

A scale is a measuring device. The number it gives you tells you the total sum of mass for everything you put on it. We often use them to measure our weight. It works well for that. However, there are many things a scale doesn’t tell you.

If you are measuring a human body, a scale DOES NOT tell you how much of the body weight you put on it is lean, fat, or water weight; it just gives you the total sum of all three. You might notice that the scale tells you different numbers depending on the time of day, your activity level, or whether you just ate or not. You might have noticed that you’re lighter in the morning than you are in the evening. This is the level of water changing in your body.

You are constantly losing water. Water is lost in small amounts through the feces and with each breath you exhale. Insensible perspiration on the skin is not visible. This invisible sweating is almost pure water and accounts for about 30% of body water loss. Most of our water loss comes from urinary output.

If you are trying to change your appearance, losing 5 lbs of water this way isn’t going to help you change your appearance permanently. You’ll put most of it right back on the very first time you eat/drink something.

A Better Way To Measure

Enter the body fat measurement. Knowing your body fat percentage will tell you your body’s total fat mass and total fat free mass; information that is much more valuable than knowing what the total of both of them together.

There’s quite a few different methods to check your body fat. Here’s a couple that most people have access to.

1. Get a qualified trainer to do a skin-fold test for you. This is the method most fitness professionals use to measure their clients. Test with the same trainer each time. Pay close attention. Make sure your trainer isn’t pinching you “nicely”. You want the truth (a skin-fold measurement), not an ego boost (a thin-fold measurement).

2. Electronic scales that check body fat and weight have become pretty popular and are available at almost any store. They aren’t the most accurate way to check, but you can probably use it to check for change. They should give you a pretty consistent reading if you use it the same time every day. If you are going to use this method, I suggest you check it first thing in the morning after you wake up, before you start moving around.

With the information I’ve just given you, you should know now that checking the scale each day is basically completely useless. Don’t feel bad about it. Make the necessary changes in your attitude towards changing your appearance and in your diet/exercise program.

If you’re starting an exercise program and making changes to your diet/eating habits, I suggest checking weight, body composition (% body fat), and circumference measurements once every 3 weeks. If you still want to look at the scale each day and you’re waiting for a permanent solution that only takes an hour, a day or a week, you’ll be looking at the scale each day and searching till the day you die.

Be Your Best,

Chris

The Biggest Lie In Fitness

Read very carefully. If you are one of the millions of people in America that believe the biggest lie in fitness, you’ll be scratching your head for a very long time, and wondering why you are not seeing any results from your exercise. Are you ready?

Imagine you’re a personal trainer. You have a sedentary female client, Mary, that is starting an exercise program with you. She stands 5′5″ tall and weighs 170 lbs. Most of her extra weight is in her hips. She also doesn’t like the extra stuff she’s got on her waist and hanging from the back of her arms. Her main goal is to lose weight and trim down, especially in her problem areas. What will you teach this client that’s going to help her achieve her goals of trimming down, toning up, losing weight?

Option #1

You put side lying leg lifts at the top of Mary’s priority list and give her a few different exercises for her triceps. As a bonus, you give her some great ab exercises she can do to target her stomach fat. These killer exercises are surely going to help Mary blast fat from her hips, arms, and midsection in a hurry. If we want to lose fat from our hips, midsection and arms, we have to do the exercises that target those areas. You’ll show Mary how to work on stuff like legs, and the muscles of the back and chest after we’ve focused on hips, arms, and abs. After all, Mary specifically said she wants to lose fat from those areas.

Option #2

Instead of spending three quarters of your time on the areas that Mary said she wants to see the fat go away, you first spend some time teaching Mary how to engage the muscles that stabilize her spine. Then, you design a program that focuses on the larger groups of muscles on her body. You show Mary a series of exercises that target her entire body and teach her how to eat right.

Which answer did you choose?

If you chose answer #2, you are CORRECT. There is no such thing as spot reduction. Spot reduction is the biggest lie in fitness. If you want to lose fat from your hips, or midsection, or from your arms, or wherever it is that you want to lose fat from, the answer is that you need to decrease your level of body fat. This is accomplished by consuming less calories each day than what your body is using up. Furthermore, you must do it without compromising your metabolism. When caloric intake is reduced too drastically, you cause a metabolic slowdown in your body and you start burning less calories.

To achieve real and permanent fat loss, reduce caloric intake gradually and aim to consume no more than 250-500 calories below maintenance. Go much lower than that and you could slow down your metabolism. Here’s some very simple math to find the approximate number of calories the average person should eat to maintain their body weight: multiply your body weight x 15.

115lbs x 15 = 1,725 calories

130lbs x 15 = 1,950 calories

150lbs x 15 = 2,250 calories

200lbs x 15 = 3,000 calories

Don’t believe the biggest lie in fitness. Start making some real progress today!

New Gym On Oahu

I just got back home from checking out the new Powerhouse Gym here in Honolulu, Hawaii and I’ve gotta say…WOW!

Powerhouse is located just steps away from downtown Honolulu at 432 Keawe Street, in the space previously occupied by the Hawaii Athletic Club. I actually went there to inquire about the owner’s policy on independent trainers. It looks like my office is staying put at Punahou Fitness & Spa, and you probably won’t find me at Powerhouse. However, Powerhouse is a beautiful gym that is offering an incredible membership rate while they get started. If you’re close by, it’s definitely worth checking out.

Powerhouse is much bigger on the inside than what you’d expect. It’s got brand new equipment featuring Cybex, Free Motion, and Precor, a great layout with plenty of room to workout, group exercise classes, and a local owner. The only real negative is that parking is fairly limited. Park on the street and take a very short walk, or jog. You’d be going there to workout anyway, and the beginning of every workout should start with a proper warm up.

Powerhouse is throwing a block party to kick things off. The official grand opening is Saturday, March 8th, 11am-10pm . They’re also offering a special grand opening rate on memberships.

$1 Down

$20 per month

If you haven’t been a member of a gym before, let me tell you; it doesn’t get any cheaper than that. $20 per month with a $1 enrollment fee is an absolute steal. If you do decide to go there and sign up, mention you heard about it on http://myfitnesswithchris.com. I’m sure they’ll appreciate that.

I don’t work for Powerhouse, nor do I get anything if you sign up there and scream at them, “Chris Ranes from http://myfitnesswithchris.com sent me here, and I bought my membership because of him!”

So why would I send you to a gym that I’m not able to train you at?

Honest information that’s going to help you achieve your goals. That’s what my promise is to you.

Who Loves Ya?

Be Strong,

Chris

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