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Are you mentally ready to exercise?

Hi,

It was just this morning and I had finished my exercise and was heading to the locker room. 

At the other end of the gym an exercise class was getting started in a few minutes (it was just before 8am).

As I was heading to the locker room some woman almost knocked me down in such a rush to get to the exercise class. 

I just had to smile.  Type A personality right there in the gym.  So, is that so bad?

Yeah, it is. 

The whole idea of exercising is to help your body (and mind and spirit) become healthier, stronger and fitter.   And you will also feel better and more relaxed. 

However, if you go to the gym and you are super hyped and stressed out because you might be a minute or so late, or because of something that happened at work then your time in the gym will not be as productive. 

Yes, working out can help relieve some of that stress.  But, not all of it.  

You will have a much more productive exercise session if you are prepared for the exercise session before you go there. 

I remember several times when I was teaching martial arts at UC
Berkeley that some of the students would come to the class and just be out of sorts. 

They couldn’t concentrate, they couldn’t pay attention and their attitude affected others around them.  I would always draw them aside and tell them that they have to leave everything outside the room. 

I even made them bow out and go outside the room, do some deep breathing exercises and then come back in when they could leave whatever was bothering them behind. 

This is what you have to do also.  Just lifting weights or doing some kind of aerobic/fitness class is more than just about the physical. 

Can you imagine if an athlete was all stressed out before a competition?  Would their performance be the best?  No way.  Sure a little stress or tension can help, but little is the key word.

If you had to do a lot of reading for a presentation the next day, do you think you would be productive if you were upset or totally hyper when you started reading?

Of course not.   You would be lucky to get through 10 words without losing your focus. 

The same is true of your exercise sessions.  You will be the most productive and get the most health benefits if you are relaxed and focused on what you are going to be doing and what you are going to get out of it. 

So the next time you go to the gym, take a couple of minutes and just relax.  Try some deep breathing exercises or spend a few minutes in the car meditating. 

This will help you get focused on your body and how you are going to improve it in your exercise session. 

Being mentally ready to exercise will improve your exercise session immensely. 

Try it.

Thanks,

Mike Val

Effective Exercise

Hi,

Would you like to make your exercise routine more effective?

If you are like most people, once you get into an exercise routine, you tend to stay with it.

But, your body is very good at adapting.  And what was once an effective exercise – because it was new to your body – has become “ho hum”. 

Actually, it is not the exercise itself.  It is the fact that your body has adapted to the exercise and the weight you are using. 

You can change this by adding more reps, changing the rep speed and adding more weight.  Doing these things will keep your body stimulated. 

Here is something else you can try. 

If you are used to doing total body workouts this will be easy for you.

If you are used to specializing on one or two body parts per workout, then you might have a bit more trouble with this from a mental point of view.  Your body will like it though.

You will be doing three exercises in a tri set and you will be exercising to momentary failure.

This is important.  Momentary failure is when you can’t do one more full rep.

Total failure is when you can’t budge your body or the weight.  You will reach momentary failure for a full rep, but you continue moving the weight for maybe a quarter rep, and eighth rep, and so on until you can’t move the rep even 1/4 of an inch. 

Your exercise routine will be to do a lower body exercise.  Then you do an upper body exercise.  Finally, you do an whole body exercise. 

Of course there will always be some overlap.  For example, squats affect your whole body even though they are considered a lower body exercise.

Here is an example:

So let’s start with squats.  If you are at a gym, use a barbell or dumbbells.  If you are at home, you can use dumbbells or just your body weight.  Do these until you can’t do a full squat any more.

Then immediately move to doing shoulder presses.  Do as many as you can.  You can use a barbell or dumbbells. 

The key is to have everything set up so you can move from exercise to exercise without any wasted time in between.

Finally, let’s do a whole body exercise.  You could do a barbell clean and jerk.   This is simply putting the barbell on the ground, squatting down to pick it up and as you are standing bring the barbell to your shoulders.  Then do a small bend at the knees and push the barbell over your head.  Then set it back down again. 

You can also do this with dumbbells.  Again do as many as you can.

If you have never done this before, then please, please start with extra light weight. 

I will be working on doing a lot more videos in the near future so that you can see the exact exercises I am talking about. 

When you are done with 1 round, then do two more rounds.  After the third round is finished, get on an exercise bike and pedal as fast as you can for 30-60 seconds. 

Then get a drink of water. 

You can then do another round with three different exercises.  Follow with the exercise bike for 30-60 seconds. 

If you are a gluten for punishment do another round with three more exercises.

Three rounds of three should only take you about 15 minutes. 

Try this and you will be burning more body fat, building endurance, and getting stronger all in one shot. 

Your exercise routine will be more effective. 

Thanks 

Is Your Butt Firm Enough? Part 2

Hi,

In the last post you learned a simple way to tweak your squat exercises to help firm up those glutes. 

Today let’s look at lunges. 

Most people emphasize only the quads on their lunge exercises.  Let’s tweak the lunge a bit to put more emphasis on the glutes.

When you step out (or backwards – it doesn’t matter) step out a little further.  Then concentrate on keeping your back leg a straight as possible ( see the picture).

If you look at most skaters, not only do they have well developed quads, but their glutes are strong, firm and well rounded. 

Keep your upper body as straight as possible while lunging and keep your knee out over your toes.   You can do this by forcing your hips forward and lower. 

Again, hold for a count of 1 or 2 seconds and then come back up. 

Another variation is to start like you are going to step forward and then pivot 180 degrees to the rear and do your lunge.  Keep your foot about knee high and slightly away from your body as you do this. 

This puts your glutes and hips under tension for a little longer. 

Return to the starting position and repeat with the other leg. 

Try these variations on the lunge and add the tweak to the squat mentioned in the last post and you will soon have a head turning butt.

Thanks

Is Your Butt Firm Enough?

Hi,

Do you have a nice firm butt? 

A firm butt is one of the things that men appreciate on a woman.

And, surprisingly enough – for me anyway – it is one of the things that women appreciate on men.

So how do you achieve these nice firm admirable cheeks?

You probably know a few exercises for the glutes such as squats and lunges.

But are you doing these exercises to emphasize the glutes or just the quadriceps?

Most people do them just for the quads and not the glutes, so let’s change them a bit.

When you do your squats try this instead. 

Go as low as you can.  Touch your butt to your shoes.  Hold that for 1 full second and then come all the way back up.

Most Westerners don’t go this low.  And I have to admit it took me quite a while to get used to going down that low.

My wife on the other hand is from the Philippines and she can squat all the way down and hold that for days at a time.  And yes, she has a nice firm butt.

Many people from Asian countries are used to squatting and holding that position for a long time. 

To add a little difficulty to that exercise, lean to one side as you are standing up.  This puts more weight on that leg, more stress and therefore it will get stronger faster.  Alternate each leg and you will have a stronger and firmer butt in no time.

Tommorrow we will get into how to use lunges for a firmer butt.

Thanks

Want to Burn More Body Fat?

Hi,

Would you like to burn more body fat without adding any time to your exercise sessions?

Here is a simple way to do that.  It is so simple that even though everyone does it, no one does it. 

Hey, I just made a Zen riddle:-).

Okay, that simple thing is breathing.  Yes, everyone breathes.  But, very few people breathe properly and even fewer breathe properly while exercising.

It is estimated that the average person only uses about 1/5 to 1/4 of their lung’s capacity. 

After all just sitting at a desk all day doesn’t require vast amounts of oxygen – or so most people think.

However, the more oxygen you take in the more efficient your whole body works. 

This is especially true with exercise.  If you are used to taking tiny puffs of air then when you really need a lot of oxygen, you won’t know how to get it in your body properly.

Most people breathe through their chest.  They never use their breathing muscle or diaphragm. 

If you watch a child breathe, you will notice that their abdomen expands and contracts naturally.  Their chest doesn’t expand and contract.

With adults it is just the opposite.  They just let the air come in and leave without thinking about breathing.   Neither their chest, nor their abdomen expands or contracts.

If adults do exercise then you will see their chests expanding.  After all the chest is worshipped by many.

Okay, so how do you burn more body fat with proper breathing?

First you learn how to breathe correctly.  You do that by letting your abdomen expand as you inhale.  Then you contract your abdomen as you exhale. 

As you practice this try to take longer inhales and exhales.  You can also add in holds.  Inhale, hold, exhale and hold. 

Start at a couple of seconds for each and work up to several seconds each.

When you are pretty comfortable with this then you can incorporate this in with your exercise sessions. 

On the positive part or concentric part of the exercise you want to exhale.  Forcibly contract your abdomen to force the diaphragm up and expel the air. 

As you do the negative part or eccentric part of the exercise, let the air come in and fill up your lungs.  This will cause the diaphragm to be drawn into the abdomen and expand it. 

This causes a much more powerful breath and will actually help with your strength.

Now, the real key to burning more body fat is to do your breathing exercises inbetween your sets. 

So you do one set, with proper breathing.  Immediately stand up and control your breathing with deep breathes. 

Inhale, hold, exhale and hold.  Do this until you feel in control of your breathing.  Then do your next set.  If you feel more comfortable, do this while walking around. 

Don’t just sit there at the exercise station and do this.  You won’t get the full benefits. 

How long will it take you to get your breathe under control? 

That will vary depending upon the type of exercise, what kind of shape you are in and how intense the session was.

If you find that you aren’t even breathing more than normal then that exercise set was not intense enough for you.  (Not talking about warmup sets here.)

Go ahead and try these breathing patterns whenever you exercise and your body will feel better and you will feel stronger and more powerful.

And you will burn more body fat.

Thanks

Customized Online Training

Hi,

Does Customized Online Training work?  This was a question that Pattie Ruszala asked in one of the comments.  Here is her full comment.

There are many online personal training websites on the net these days, all promising great results and individual attention to a client. Does it really work? Some websites are based on the idea that after filling out the form client would receive a customized training program so she/he can follow a program to reach their fitness goals.

Here is my answer.

This is a great question and it is something I have had to ask myself as I am preparing my program.

I have taught personal training (and how to be a personal trainer) at the high school, community college, university, and private levels for many years. 

It is very easy to give individual attention to my students.  It is the best way for someone to learn exactly how to do exercises. 

It is also the best way to find problem areas.  If someone has a prior injury or is very inflexible then it is easy to find this out quickly and correct for it immediately.

No online program that offers a “customized” (read generic) training program can do any of the above. 

You will find that almost all of these programs are not customized at all.  They just copy somebody else’s program and put their name on it.

Now maybe that program is a pretty good one, but it is not customized and there is no support from a trained professional (i.e. one with years of education and training).

If you look at most of those programs they will just tell you to do an exercise. 

Let’s use push ups as an example.  Now – since you are reading this I am assuming you probably already know how to do a decent pushup.

However, many people do not know how to do one and many can’t even do one.  So what do you do then?

Do these programs know how to get someone to be able to do their first pushup?  The answer is almost always no. 

If you write in for support, it usually goes to some support person that is also answering questions about how to download something.

That is why the program I am developing has a beginners exercise module.  For example I can give you 6 exercises to do to build up to doing a full pushup. 

And, don’t worry you more advanced people.  I can also show you at least 6 pushup exercises that will tax even the strongest and fittest of you. 

My concern though has always been in how to personalize this as much as possible. 

I could offer over the phone coaching, or using the internet to interact. 

Now with all of that said, do you really need a personal trainer?  For most the answer is no.

The only reason to use one is to learn how to do an exercise(s) or to practice a specific skill set such as martial arts training as an example. 

But for simple exercises you can go to any gym and just ask anyone on staff to help you with doing an exercise or using a machine. 

You can ask the trained staff and pay them for an hour of their time.   Just be aware that they will try to sell you on using a personal trainer at $50 per hour.  You don’t need that.

From what I have seen most of the online programs for exercise programs miss the point entirely.

Exercise is just one aspect of getting into the absolute best health lifestyle possible. 

These programs out there seem to think that just exercising hard enough is the “be all and end all”.  It isn’t. 

It is one piece of the puzzle.  But ignoring your over all health, your nutrition program, any physical limitations and the mental side of health and fitness is just foolish. 

So can you find a customized online training program?  It is possible, just not probable.

Thanks,

Mike Val

Hi,

I just got back from a brief trip to the Grand Canyon with my wife.  Sort of an early anniversary for us. 

So what does that have to do with hiking and fitness?  You might think that hiking is pretty easy.  After all it is just walking, right?

Yes, it is just walking.  But, it is also different.  For one thing you are also going up and down.  The down part isn’t so bad, but the coming back up is a bit tougher. 

The other main difference is that the terrain is not even.  It is not like walking on a sidewalk or a treadmill.  There are rocks, stones, branches and even animals in the way. 

The ground has bumps and grooves and ridges.  And you have to remain alert.  After all you don’t want to walk over the edge and take the express trip to the bottom a 1/2 mile down. 

The amazing thing to me – besides the magnificent views – were the different types of people walking to the first stop and back up. 

There were young people and old people.  There were, men, women and children – even babies being carried. 

There were skinny, medium and fat people. 

Some were having a really hard time – especially going back uphill.  Others seemed to have no problem at all.  And surprisingly, it wasn’t always the thinner crowd that had the least problems. 

The only person that got really sick and almost passed out was a 40+ year old women that was not overweight at all.  But, she looked weak.  I saw here going down the trail and thought she was going to have a hard time. 

No energy, no stamina and no muscle power. 

On the other hand I saw a mother with her husband and three kids.  She was about 15-20 pounds overweight, but she was jogging back up with her oldest son – about 12 years old.  they would jog for awhile and then rest and jog again. 

Her husband and other two kids – one younger and one older than 12 – had more of a struggle. 

There were several older couples that were in great shape.  No, they didn’t have a body builder’s body, but they were walking down and up the trails with little effort. 

So what are the takeaways here.  One is that – yes you can be fit even if you are somewhat overweight. 

The other is that you can maintain your fitness levels well into old age. 

And the third is that if you are now out of shape, then it is time to get in shape. 

The woman who became sick because she was so sick and weak she couldn’t handle a simple short up and down hike is not a good one.  What started out as an enjoyable hike with her husband did not end well. 

So stay healthy, stay fit and stay strong.  If you aren’t there, then get there.  That way your fitness levels will support hiking and any other physical activities you do with your family or friends. 

Thanks

woman doing biceps curls

Are you looking to add some strength and a little size to your biceps.  Then consider the 36 seconds of biceps hell routine.

Here is how it works.  Do a warm up for your biceps and triceps.  Just a couple of sets of a light weight.

Our example will use dumbbells.  Pick up a set that you can normally get 20- 25 reps with.

But, instead of counting reps you are going to time your set.  You are going to do dumbbell curls for 36 seconds. 

Don’t try to go real fast or real slow.  Just go at your normal pace.  Make sure you are controlling the weight.  Don’t jerk it up or use body english to raise the weights.

If you can’t lift the weight all the way up before the 36 seconds is up, just do half reps or quarter reps. 

After the 36 seconds is up, immediately go over and do triceps push downs.  If you are not at a gym, do pushups instead.  Just do 10 reps.

Immediately go back to the dumbbells and – if you lifted the dumbbells for the full 36 seconds – do the same thing for another 36 seconds with a slightly heavier weight. 

If you did not, reduce the weight and do the same for 36 seconds.

When you are done with this set, do ten more repetitions with your triceps exercise.

Now a little change of pace.  Add five pounds to the dumbbell weight and do 3 reps.  Immediately add five more pounds and do 3 more reps.

Keep doing this until you can’t budge the weight for your dumbbell curls.

When you are done, do your triceps exercise again. 

Finally pick up the lightest weight you used for the curls and do another 36 seconds. 

Finish with 10 more reps for your triceps exercise and that is it for your arms for the day. 

36 seconds is important because not only does it work the muscle for strength but it also hits the endurance fibers also. 

This double action will help build strength and add some size to your biceps. 

Of course you can do this for any exercise.  Just don’t go crazy with this – especially if you are a beginner. 

But, if you are looking for a change of pace then try this 36 seconds of biceps hell.

Thanks

Hi,

We continue your fitness training posts today talking about continuing your program for life.

We mentioned Tai Chi, walking, Yoga and their is biking, hiking, swimming and dancing to mention a few more.

Once you have picked a program that you feel you can stick to for life this is great.  You will find that you will make more progress and keep that progress easily throughout your life. 

You won’t have to worry about losing and gaining weight again and again.  You won’t have to worry about being fit or having to “get in shape” every again. 

What happens if your circumstances change?

This could be because you find you don’t really like what you chose originally.  It could be because you decide you want to get stronger or that you would like to have 6 pack abs. 

It could also be because of an accident or injury that forces your to stop doing some of your exercises.

This happened to me. 

I loved to do squats.   At my strongest I was able to do 365 for 3 full reps and I did 425 for 3 partials. 

But, my back didn’t like it.  Along with some of the other exercises I was doing. 

Eventually I had to have back surgery.  Did that change my workout routine.  Sure did.

When I started back in the gym again I had to use weights an 8 year old girl could lift. 

And I haven’t done any squats with weight since. 

The main point is that I did go back to the gym and I have set new personal bests in the leg press just a few weeks ago (1125 pounds) and dumbbell curls (75 pounds each). 

So what is the take away here.  Life changes and you will probably have to make adjustments in your fitness training. 

That is okay.  Just remember to keep doing something.  I have made weight lifting part of my routine for life.  And getting stronger is one of my overall goals. 

You get to decide what it is that you want to do.  Maybe getting stronger isn’t one of your goals.  Maybe flexibilty and movement are more important to you.  Then maybe Yoga is just what you need. 

What ever it is, just make sure that it is something that you want to do for the rest of your life.  And that it is something you can do for the rest of your life.

Now maybe I won’t always be able to get stronger as I get into my 90′s and 100′s.  But, that is okay.  I will still be strong and still be fit. 

Hopefully your fitness training will help your reach and keep those goals throughout life.

Thanks 

Hi,

Welcome back to your fitness training series. 

We talked about your training strategy in the first post and about what almost everyone forgets when it comes to planning a fitness training program.

We left off the last post talking about intensity of training. 

Intensity is going to be different for someone that is a highly trained athlete in their twenties and someone that is 70 years old and hasn’t worked out for 40 years. 

That much is obvious.  But, what isn’t so obvious is what about your intensity levels?

Do you really need to do a high intensity program to get in shape or lose some weight? 

Are you going to be able to do that for the rest of your life?

Here is the key to getting the most out of any exercise program you do.  Actually this is a pretty good key for getting the most out of anything you do in life.  But that is another story.

That is consistency.  And that leads us back to the question we talked about last time.  Will your training program be something that you will do for the rest of your life?

That is why Tai Chi and Yoga are such popular programs.  These are two programs that you can do for the rest of your life. 

They are based on movements that allow you build some strength and flexibility and maintain that forever.

There was a Yahoo health alert about elderly people and some of their fitness routines just a few days ago.  One of the women was 92 years old and still teaching a yoga class.

And she had a figure that most 20 year olds would be envious of. 

So what should be your next step? 

First of all if you haven’t exercised in years, get started walking.  I don’t care if you can only walk 5 steps.  Walk those five steps, turn around and walk back. 

Rest if you have to.  Then do it again.  Do it a few times a day.  Build up from there. 

Now I know most people reading this are in much better shape then that.  But, maybe your friends or parents aren’t.  Get them moving too.

If you have a bike, start using it.  If you live near a hill, jog up it and walk down. 

These are all things you can do for the rest of your life.  And they will help you lose weight and keep the weight off.  (Assuming you also do the same thing with your diet – more later.)

What if you want to get stronger or have 6 pack abs?  Then you have do do some other things.

Stay tuned.

Thanks