Twitter Q and A

This post is from my twitter daily tips of the day. Follow me on Twitter @ezhomefitness

TGIF!! OH... you know what that means! It's time for Q&A Friday! Ask me your #diet, #exercise, #nutrition, #stress, #lifestyle questions!

Q: What is better - bands or weights? A: Both are good. Weights offer more muscle building. Bands offer more convenience especially when traveling. I am an advocate of both for toning though. Bands are very good for beginners. After a certain point, I would switch to weights.

Q: Are peanuts good for you? A: All nuts, in moderation are good sources of good fat. Walnuts and almonds are much better nuts to eat.

Q: How much water should I drink? A: At least eight 8oz glasses of water a day. Hard trainers should drink more.

Q: Do you train athletes? A: Yes, I train all from beginners to seniors to athletes. I help them train to be better for their specific sport.

Q: I don't sweat much during my workout? Why not? A: I would say you're not working hard enough. Build heat with a good warm-up and work hard.

Q: What is the easiest way to cut weight fast for wrestling? A: Easiest way is by staying close to weight class limit year-round. Stay away from diuretics - may fail you if you are tested. Drink lots of water. Do intense cardio (bike). Sauna. Salt bath. Be careful.

Q: Best arm exercise? A: Basics - Biceps- alternating dumbbell curls. Triceps- lying triceps extensions (skull crushers).

Q: What are best workout & foods while pregnant? A: Nothing strenuous. Light weights & hi reps to keep tone. Diet depends on you & your baby’s needs.

#Quote of the day: The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary. - Vidal Sassoon

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Twitter Q&A

This post is my twitter daily tips / topic of the day. Follow me on Twitter @ezhomefitness

Today is Q&A Friday! So ask me your #diet & #exercise questions!

Q: Jogging hurts my knees, what other cardio can I do? A: Do low impact cardio such as stationary bicycle, swimming, elliptical, etc.

Q: How can I get rid of my post-pregnancy fat? A: The usual way - strict diet, cardio & weights. Work hard and be consistent.

Q: I get winded just going up stairs, how can I do cardio? A: By starting slow, start with 15 minutes/slow pace & slowly add time/intensity

Q: Do I need to do weights to exercise? A: If you want to firm & tone your muscles then you need to add resistance to your exercises. It doesn't have to be dumbbells & barbells. You can also use bands, ankle weights, hand weights, pilates balls, kettlebells, medicine balls.

Q: How long should I exercise each day? A: At least 30 min 4-5 days a week will give you benefits. Adjust your training to your goals.

Q: Is dancing cardio? A: If depends - if you do it for at least 30 minutes, it makes you sweat and breathe hard, then yes! ;)

Q: How much carbs should be taken on 1700cal diet if trying to lose weight? A: Depends on the diet & what stage of it you are on. For this 1700 cal example I will use a starting diet of 50%Carbs/30%protein/20%fat so carb calories would be 850 which = 212.5gms of carbs

Q: My diet worked at first but then I stopped having results, what happened? A: A diet needs constant adjustment as your weight changes.

#Quote of the day: Luck is what you have left over after you give 100 percent. - unknown

Twitter topic of the day: What is your favorite form of exercise?

This post is my twitter daily tips / topic of the day. Follow me on Twitter @ezhomefitness

My #questionoftheday is what is your favorite form of exercise to do? What is your favorite type of exercise to do? Weights? Cardio? Pilates? Spinning? Kickboxing? Yoga? Jogging? Swimming?

So many choices! The best form of exercise to do is... any exercise you choose to do that keeps you motivated to keep coming back for more! What's the worst form of exercise? Inactivity. Doing nothing is exactly that. NOTHING. No results, no progress, instead things get worse. There are so many different forms of exercise that there is NO excuse not to exercise. In all that variety there is something you must like. Some people like the treadmill, some people hate it and think it's boring so do no cardio at all. Wrong! Simple solution-find an alternative. Replace the treadmill with a bicycle, stairclimber, elliptical, aerobics... hey, dancing works too! No excuses not to do cardio! But of course, cardio is only one part of the equation. You also have to do some sort of resistance exercise, lots of variety there too! Barbells, dumbbells, machines, bands, medicine balls, kettlebells, pilates balls, stability balls, your own bodyweight -No equipment needed! What's holding you back from finding that favorite form of exercise? Y-O-U. It's certainly not the lack of variety in exercises & options! I have made workouts for people with various disabilities & limitations, with those who have zero equipment, etc. There are always options. My own favorite forms of exercise are stationary cycling, kickboxing, weights, yoga and P90X. Although I'm not the get bored type & usually stick with a routine for a while but I do mix it up every once in a while to change things up. Find what works for you and find what form of exercise appeals to you best and then go get it! Exercise will work for you in so many ways but you have to DO IT. Exercise can't help you if you don't do it. Nothing can if you opt out.

#Quote of the day: Those who do not find time for exercise will have to find time for illness. - Earl of Derby

Twitter topic of the day: Do you shy away from exercise because of the soreness?

This post is my twitter daily tips / topic of the day. Follow me on Twitter @ezhomefitness

My #questionoftheday is do you shy away from exercise because of the killer soreness you get from it?

A lot of people shy away from working out because of the pain. They feel they can't take the soreness but they don't understand what it means. The soreness comes from muscles that are being pushed. Muscles that haven't been pushed in a while or pushed beyond the normal. The burn that comes during the workout is a result of lactic acid buildup. That is different from the soreness felt the next day(s) later. The workout burn goes away within seconds after stopping an exercise. Given enough time between sets you can use it to your benefit. But that is not what I am talking about. I am talking about the soreness you feel the next day the minute you try to get out of bed. Here's what that soreness should tell you- you had a good workout!! You pushed yourself. You gave your muscles a wakeup call. As long as it's just exercise soreness that you're feeling then you should look at it as positive feedback from your body on your workout. Do you take a day off because you're sore? NO! Work through it. With a proper warmup, the soreness will go away as blood rushes into muscles. The way to get your body past the soreness phase is by powering through. Soreness can last from a day to a few days but it does go away. Do you know what you have after the soreness goes away? Besides relief, you will have stronger muscles. You have to keep at it. Your muscles rebuild and build more / tone up as you rest so the soreness tells you to rest the muscle. This is why sleep & recuperation is so important. Your body tears itself down while exercising and builds itself back up during rest. Don't shy away from the soreness. Don't shy away from the effort. Your health is at stake. Power through and just get it done. Make soreness a friend and use it to learn about your muscles and how your body reacts to exercise. No soreness? You're taking it too easy! Go get it! Challenge yourself! Push yourself and embrace the soreness as a sign of a job well done. Make sure you're smart about it. You want to push yourself but not to the point of injuring yourself. If you are sore for more than 2-3 days, then u pushed too much in your last workout for that sore bodypart. Pull back in your next workout. You can learn a lot about your body and exercise through how sore you are. Your body will let you know. ;)

#Exercise tip: Warmup & stretch before your workout. Warmup first with light cardio, then stretch the bodyparts you will be working on.

#Quote of the day: The pride you gain is worth the pain. - Dennis Ogilvie

Putting the "work" into your workout!

"If you have an hour, will you not improve that hour, instead of idling it away?"
~Lord Chesterfield

Hey everyone, sooooooooo... how are those new year's resolutions about losing weight or getting in better shape going? I hope most of you are saying in your heads that it's going great and that it is true and you're not trying to convince yourself that it is.

Are you being strict with your diet or just cruising along? Are you giving it you all every workout? Well, I'm here to give you a little reality check. You have to bust it every time in the gym or at home when you work out. No cruising allowed! There is a reason the word "work" is in workout. It's supposed to be hard!! That is if you want results. You do want results, don't you? I sure hope you're not just going through the motions and wasting your time. If you're putting in the time, then put in the work!

Put in the work means that you should be pushing yourself EVERY workout. If that means you can only manage one extra rep but you're giving it 100% then so be it but the point is to challenge yourself. If you can do two extra reps, do it. Don't go into your workout to just put in the time and say you worked out. Go in there and get something more from it. Learn your limits even as you set new ones each workout. The body is very adaptable and if you don't continuously push it, it is very content with that and the results will stop. Even though you may not see instant results from that one extra rep or that extra set or that extra MPH on the treadmill, trust that you are making progress towards a stronger, fitter you and that's what it's all for, isn't it?

Make every rep work for you, feel the muscle work as you do the exercise. Make every set work for you, feel the last 3-4 reps of every set - make sure those reps aren't easy. Make every exercise work for you, if you're not feeling it doing anything anymore or it's too easy - replace it with a harder exercise. The point is to WORK WORK WORK.

Push your body continuosly and you will see results with the body, fitness and health you always wanted. Now get to WORK! ;)

Week 1 of P90X down! 83 days to go!

So, my first week of P90X is done! Whew!! As I mentioned in my last blog post, I workout all the time with weights and cardio and I was doing P90X to challenge myself. Challenge myself I did! It was a week of some new things, some not so new and lots of soreness! It was and is a good soreness (as opposed to pain that isn't a good sign to have from a workout)! I love feeling sore from a workout, it tells me I pushed my body. I know that the result of the soreness will be a stronger body the next time I workout.

So day 1 was back & chest which I love to train. This workout consists mostly of pushups and chinups of all kinds. It's tough and tiring but fun. There are P90X workout sheets to keep track of your reps in each exercise so that gives you a good visual to try to beat each time you do the workout. I've always used a workout journal to keep track of my workouts and I highly suggest you do the same with your workouts. While a lot of you may say, pushups and chinups... Oh My! There are ways to do the exercises to make them a bit easier to do until your body gets stronger though. It's all about pushing yourself and bringing it. There's no getting around it, your body will get stronger but you will have to push it. After the workout I did the P90X version of Ab work called Ab Ripper X and whooboy, that title is accurate! 16 minutes of non-stop ab and core work! Mind you, I have strong abs but that was hard! Honestly, I was not able to do all the exercises all the way through but that's ok. I know I will get stronger and better with it in time and that's how you should approach any exercise. Give it your all and do what you can. As you stick to it, you will get better and stronger with it. Same goes for the pushups and chinups. As they say in P90X, do your best and forget the rest.

Day 2 was Plyometrics and they call this workout THE BEAST for a reason. Athletes utilize Plyo a lot to prepare for their sports. It consists of a lot of leg work and jumping exercises. Your legs and feet will take a beating and your heartrate will soar with this workout but its a great cardio workout and you'll find yourself feeling very accomplished when its done! It has a lot of variety with the exercises so you won't get bored with it. In fact I don't think you'll be bored with any the days since they are all very varied and you're too busy getting through the exercises to be bored! Lol. You have to keep track of your heart rate in this workout to make sure you stay in the zone but it will no doubt improve your cardio capacity fast.

Day 3 was Shoulder and Arms which I also love to train. I don't really have a bodypart I don't like to train though. There is more use of the resistance bands & weights in this workout and if you use a heavy enough weight, you'll definitely feel it the next day. To get the most of any exercise, you should always use enough weight to make it hard by the last 3 reps of the exercise.

Day 4 was Yoga X. This is a long 90 minute workout but once you are done you feel great! Most of the other workouts average about 55 minutes long, including warmups and cool downs. The Yoga workout is broken into 3 parts consisting of overall body exercises while your body is fresh and strong, then balance exercises and then core exercises. I like the way its setup and the whole flow of the exercises. Its definitely challenging but you will feel the difference in flexibility by the end.

Day 5 was legs & back. Lots of leg work with back exercises (mainly chinups, yes more chinups!) as breathers. A really good workout! I loved it and my legs definitely felt it the next day. They were already sore from the plyo on day 2 and this workout actually helped lessen the soreness and speed up the healing as the exercises forced blood into the muscles. That's the way to do it. If you just have normal post-workout soreness, the best way to get rid of it is to get the blood flowing in your body through more exercise. The blood helps to flush the toxins and soreness out. It helps with the recuperation process.

Day 6 was Kenpo X. As a lifelong martial artist, this was a workout I was looking forward to. I also found this workout the easiest to do but then again its something I'm used to doing (punches and kicks). This workout works out everything so its a good overall workout and great way to end the week with this last workout! Martial Arts are a great way to work out - the punches work the upper body, kicks work out the lower body and the pace of the workout works your cardio. This workout helps bring all the P90X workout days together. I had a blast!

Day 7 is either a rest day or a day to stretch. The P90X system comes with a stretching DVD and that's what I chose to do after a hard first week of working out. In fact, I plan to do the stretching instead of resting for the entire 90 day duration. Stretching helps not with your flexibilty but helps flush out some of the toxins and post-workout soreness that you may feel. Although stretching should be part of your warmups and cool downs, taking your rest day to stretch is a really good idea. As with all things P90X, the stretching program incorporates various types of stretching (ballistic, static and yoga) and spans about 55 minutes. After a hard week of working out though, its a most welcome and glorious 55 minutes of stretching! :)

I can't wait for week 2!

Cardio or Weights? That is the question...

"Every day do something that will inch you closer to a better tomorrow."
~Doug Firebaugh

To do cardio or not? To do weights or not? 2 simple questions that cause so much confusion to the new exerciser. Well, simple questions usually have simple answers. The answer to both questions is YES!!

Now to give you the longer answer. ;)

No doubt that some form of cardio is necessary. It helps your fitness levels, helps lower stress, strengthens the heart and lungs, boosts your metabolism and helps burn calories. All things that say that doing cardio is very important.

What type of cardio is best? Any that you do! Again, simple answer! ;)
Get your body moving - calisthenics, power walking, jogging, sprinting, circuit training, martial arts, stair climbing, rowing, bicycle riding, ellipticals, treadmills - all ways to work up a sweat and get you huffing and puffing in a good way. To lose weight, my suggestions would range from 3 - 5 times a week of 20 - 45 min. per day of moderate to high intensity cardio. The frequency of doing your cardio would of course be based on your individual goals, fitness level and what equipment you have or don't ahve at your disposal. As with any form of exercise, start slowly with 20 minutes of low to moderate cardio and build up slowly.

Now onto the weights. Some people love weights (like me!) and some hate it but it's a necessary part of working out. For some people who are more out of shape or are older, weight training can come after a few weeks of cardio. Using the cardio period as an adjustment period for the body to get used to exercise as weights work out the body in a totally different way. Typically though you want some sort of resistance training (weights, machines, bands, toning bars, stability balls, pilates balls) along with your cardio. Weight training has the same health benefits as cardio with the added benefits of toning muscles, strenthening bones, making you stronger, preventing or decreasing lower back pain and many more benefits to your overall health and fitness.

What type of weight training is best? Machines are easily accesible in gyms and are a good choice for that reason. Bands, stability balls, toning bars and pilates balls are all good for home use and for beginners to intermediates looking to tone. For building muscle, machines are good but nothing beats free weights. While machines follow a fixed path, they only activate certain muscles while you exercise. Free weights on the other hand activate the main muscle and many more smaller supporting muscles so they build the muscles in a more complete way.

I would recommend doing some light weight training along with your cardio at first and gradually increase the resistance/weight as you get stronger and the exercises get easier to do. For building muscle, you want heavier weights and lower reps in the 6-10 rep range. For toning, you want lighter weights and higher reps in the 12-15 (or even higher with light weights) rep range. Always exercise good form and lift correctly to avoid injury. There are many good sources to learn the proper way to do an exercise. A good personal trainer will analyze and correct your form to make sure it being done in a way that is safe but will maximize your gains from the exercise. Weight lifting puts a different stress on the body than cardio so I would start with weights every other day for a total of 3x a week (for example - Monday, Wednesday and Friday). So cardio every day Monday to Friday and weights on the days above. Weekends free. It will give you a good weekly workout and give your body some time to recover.

So, remember cardio and weights is the simple answer to what you should be doing. So, what are you waiting for? ;)