5 Factors Limiting Your Fat Loss Goals

Currently I am enrolled in Precision Nutrition's Level One course, which allows me to coach clients with nutritional advice permitted by the people at PN to help you loose weight or gain muscle.

This course is 18 weeks in length with weekly chapter readings, lectures, case studies and exams. Yes weekly exams.... Which means I won't be able to start the new season of House of Cards for a while....

All joking aside, this course is a 4 year nutrition science degree crammed into a rubix cube of fire.

But, I know down the road it will be worth it as I will be able to offer this new service to coach clients in person and online.

As I was reading through my first chapter I found something interesting, and thought I'd share with you.

Below are the 5 factors that are stopping you from achieving success in the fat loss and muscle gain department.

1. Genetics
2. Exercise
3. Physiology
4. Mindset
5. Nutrition

I will briefly go over each one below:

1. Genetics:

Many people blame their "genetics" for their lack of fat loss... Well it is true in SOME cases, but, its usually used as an excuse and not a valid reason.

If I had a client that is a recreational cyclist that wants to compete at a tour de france level, then yes this would be a case of genetics blaming.

But, if you're a office worker that sits at a desk 40-60 hours a week, coming in to the gym once a week for a training session and eats out for lunch 5 days a week, I don't think you blaming your genetics is the cause. This is a false mental safety net allowing you to think its not possible to loose weight..

2. Exercise:

If your form of exercise is sitting at a desk all day at work, then driving home sitting, then hopping onto the coach sitting and zoning out watching TV, this is probably not going to get you any where.

I always tell clients the minimum amount of exercise needed in the week is two hours. Ideally I'd want someone to be active 4 hours a week which will allow more adaptive change and fat loss.

3.  Physiology

Sometimes when I train clients and they are doing everything I tell them accordingly but are not seeing the hard work pay off, sometimes it might be something else.

Few examples are: thyroid imbalance, gastrointestinal dysfunction, sex hormone imbalance, etc. This is where I'd refer out to a dietitian or a naturopath that is open minded and not try to sell you on a "gluten free" diet....

   

4. Mindset

I personally think this one is king over all. There has been some research out there showing that when people don't have a positive outlook on themselves or their goals and dreams, their chances of success with weight loss falls apart.

Until you have a positive outlook on the importance of health in your life, you might not ever get to your goal.

5. Nutrition:

"I eat pretty well"

"I have a good diet during the week"

"I sometimes have a cheat meal"

Usually this is what clients will tell me, but obviously their methods are not working if they are not seeing the result they want.

Good nutritional choices is the key. Sometimes people just don't know how much or less they need to eat and staying consistent means when dealing with weight loss or muscle gain goals.

What do you think? Leave a comment below!

Hollywood Fitness

Do you ever catch yourself watching and following what these people say?

This is "Hollywood Fitness". 

Sadly this is what people think is the norm in my industry.

Personal trainers on the Biggest Loser yelling and spitting in your face to move, and TV doctors preaching everything you do is an early sign of cancer...

You end up thinking the gym is a place where you're supposed to feel miserable, and if your not swimming in a bath tub full of sweat, you're not working hard enough.

Every week there seems to be a new diet that eliminates anything and everything.

Then you quickly realize that fat free yogurt you started eating last week that you thought was healthy, was a lie, as you turn on your television and Dr Oz tells you its not.

You end up discouraged, confused and frustrated as you slip right back to square one.

No wonder health and fitness is so confusing..... 

I get angry when I see crap like this fed to the general population who have no idea. Especially when I find something like this:

100 Most Influential Health and Fitness People

Looking through the list I am shocked to see Gwentyh Paltrow #17 as the "Cleansing Queen" beat someone like John Berardi #33 who is the founder of Precision Nutrition, and not only that but has a Ph.D....

How does this happen?!?!

To make this into more of a rant I will take a shot at Gwentyh here and ask, how is she considered to be a health expert? Was it because of her mentor Tracey Anderson? A "trainer of the stars" who when you search her up, I don't even know what certifications she has, or really know what qualifies her as a training coach...

Sure, you can make the argument that she has a net worth of $110 million dollars, so she must be doing something right....

Yes, of course she is doing something right, just not in the training department.

When she said "no woman should lift more than 3lbs dumbbells" my jaw dropped. 3lbs?!?! women's purses weigh more than 3lbs, your children weigh more than 3lbs!

I can go on and on but I think you all get my point. There are many so called "experts" in the health and fitness world, but not all of them are real.

So the next time you're thinking of doing your Jillian Michael's workout DVD and see this 

Take a second and ask yourself, does it look right?

Thoughts?

Day in the life of your training coach...

Before I start. I want to get across that fitness is my passion. Being able to help others achieve things they never imagined is one of the best feelings in the world.

The day my gym I worked at previously closed down, I never felt so much love from my clients. The amount of texts, facebook messages, emails, and phone calls was so overwhelming to receive. A piece of me broke down knowing I couldn't continue training everyone the moment it all ended.

With all the kind words and emotional conversations, I never knew how MUCH of an impact I made on all these people's lives.

So, without going into a teary puddle like Tobey Maguire in Spiderman, let me explain what I do on a daily basis to be able to make an impact on your life.....

5:00am........ Time to wake up..... I begin having the internal struggle of staying in bed for the rest of the day....No...Too easy

Get dressed, brush teeth, pack my bags, and hope to God I don't forget something important like my cell phone, or the meat portion of my lunch, or better yet, my gym gear (this has happened numerous times)

5:30am. I am walking through the doors of the gym, lights on, music on, prep for all my clients that will be coming through the front door.

6:00am: Show time! The gym floor is my stage, and my clients are my audience. I mentally dig deep and find some sort of energy to express.

11:00am: I am finally done training for the morning. I find a space to sit down and finally unload my lunch bag and eat a feast. At the same time I am responding to emails, catching up on reading current fitness trends or trying to finish fitness related videos and articles that I've been cutting up into 3-5 10 minute parts.

12:00pm: It's my turn. I get to go to battle with my workout. This is probably the most mentally exhausting thing as a training coach. Putting in the same amount of effort as the clients I train to push themselves beyond the limits they thought they could.

This takes a lot out of you when you're alone and having no one push you.

I train by myself, and all I have is my rap music to keep me going.

1pm-ish: This is where I get to go home, shower, clean, do chores, etc. Sometimes I fall victim to lying on my bed for a second, then waking up so vigorously because my own drool woke me up.... 

This phenomena called a "nap" usually last only about 10 minutes.

2pm-4pm: Between these hours I will be creating programs, emailing, admin work, trying to clean my house, cook, and prep for the next day, etc.

5pm to 8pm: I am back at the gym and trying to find something deep down inside of me to push through the last bit of clients for the night.

8:pm to 9pm-ish: This is where I am packing my bags for the next day, reading a book, checking facebook, answering any texts or emails. Then finally calling the love of my life for about 10-15 minutes before my body crashes and wakes up at 5am to repeat the same process.

As you can tell, the whole day is packed with training clients, emailing the clients, creating programs for the clients, and learning new training techniques to apply to the clients. ( see how I emphasized clients there? haha)

In my opinion I am here to serve, I will put my 100% effort for the people I train. I'd do anything to see someone succeed.

From the schedule above you might have noticed I haven't put these things in:

• Going to seminars, conferences, reading, watching lectures, listening to podcasts, etc on training
• Keeping up with my personal life
• Keeping up with current events, including pop culture. Because many will bring up what happened last time on Ellen, Dr.Oz, or what I thought of Kim Kardasian's new hair style ( she looks like Malfoy from Harry Potter btw)
• Training for a run, cycling event, etc
• Training with a client on a weekend for their first 5km, 10km run or cycling 40-80km.
• My hobbies
• Blogging
• etc.

The point I am trying to make is being in this profession takes huge effort on the coaches part to make a difference.

I will never stop what I do, I've changed lives, and to me, that's priceless.

Benefits of Tart Cherries

I'd like to think I'm on top of my game when it comes to the fitness industry.

I love learning about new trends (good or bad) and share my thoughts and opinions so openly people get tired quickly of hearing the same rant over and over again.

Which brings me to a hot new topic in the nutrition department. Tart Cherries. Move out Acai berry, this sour cherry is about to blow up!

What are these things?

They come in dried, frozen, canned and juice form. You can find them at your local grocery store and health food store.

Compared to regular cherries they have a sour taste to them due to anthocyanins  (wow I sounded real smart there!) A fancy name for its colour properties which give these cherries their unique flavour.

So, what do these cherries have to do with health and fitness?

1. Inflammation

Having 1/2 a cup of tart cherry juice after a workout can help reduce the amount of inflammation and soreness.

New recovery shake? I think yes!

2. Improves quality of sleep

A study was done that helped patients with insomnia increase their sleep time by at least 90 minutes.

3. Heart Health  

Studies have also shown that these berries are able to help lower the risk of heart disease, by lowering cholesterol, triglycerides and improve loosing fat.

Seems to me the three health benefits mentioned above are key when it comes to living a healthier life style don't you think? 

When I train my clients, I always tell them you need to 1. Recover from workouts, 2. Better sleep, and 3. Focus on keeping your heart healthy to loose fat.

Do these cherries seem to good to be true? Maybe...But I personally drink 1/2 a cup of cherry tart juice after my workouts and I feel great after.

Maybe there is some sort of benefit, or maybe it will be a fad. Like the shake weight.....

What do you think?

References:
Efficacy of a tart cherry juice blend in preventing the symptoms of muscle damage http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2579450/
http://www.abstractsonline.com/Plan/ViewAbstract.aspx?sKey=3d1fd27c-59e8-4ec8-8434-49dd2bcc3b92&cKey=017b6e27-fe50-4d8a-b4b1-3f53b800a544&mKey=5b9d1ebb-5eef-4e8e-9ffa-641686838541
University of Michigan Health System

- http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/04/130423102129.htm