Why Strength Training is the Fountain of Youth

by Chris Bossert

Have you ever thought about what your life would be like is you did not need help to install an air conditioner in a window, carry heavy groceries up the stairs, or carry boxes of charity donations to the car? 

If you play sports, strength training will improve your game. You'll hit longer drives on the golf course and harder serves on the tennis court. You'll have more strength and stamina for yoga and Pilates. MOST important, you'll be able to do any of these recreational activities without getting injured. 

You'll live longer and healthier too. Strength training has been shown to reduce cholesterol and blood pressure and to normalize blood glucose. It boosts your mood and energy and it strengthens your bones. Studies now show that strength training beats cardio for reducing the risk of heart disease and diabetes, lowering blood pressure, normalizing blood sugar, and reducing cholesterol. A recent study by researchers in Australia found that strength training significantly reduces blood pressure and improves cardiovascular function in aging adults. This means that strength training improves your quality of life so your can enjoy the simple pleasures in life, such as walking, pain-free! 

So now that you know strength training will help you feel younger, energized, have better sleep, and handle stress better what are you waiting for. The results are dramatic and all the more satisfying because they last. 

The Secret to Weight Loss

by Chris Bossert

Strength and Conditioning Specialist 

90-Second Fitness Atlanta

The condition of being overweight has been created through our thoughts. We decide that we're overweight. This overbearing notion can drive us to unhealthy coping mechanisms such as anoxia, binge eating or drinking heavily just to name a few. The first things to know is that if we focus on losing weight, you will attract back having to lose weight, so get " having to lose weight" out of your mind. It's the very reason why diets don't work. Because we're focused on losing weight, we are paralyzing our ability to actually lose the weight. Please bear with me as I explain.

The second thing to know is that the condition of being overweight is that the individual is where they are because they are thinking "fat thoughts" whether they realize it or not. A person cannot think "fit thoughts" or "thin thoughts" and be overweight. It's completely defies logic. 

I'm serious! 

Whether people have been told they have a slow thyroid, a slow metabolism, or their body size is hereditary, these are all disguises for thinking "fat thoughts." If you accept any of those conditions as applicable to you, and you believe it, it must become your experience, and you will continue to attract "fat thoughts." 

The definition of the perfect weight is the weight that feels good for you. No one else's opinion matters. It is the weight that feels good for you.

Make it your intention to inwardly praise people who have, in your opinion, the perfect-weighted bodies. Seek them out and as you admire them and feel the feelings of that-you are summoning it to you. If you see people who are overweight, do not observe them, but immediately switch your mind to the picture of you in your perfect body and feel it. 

Next time you are in a situation to criticize your weight or someone else's, seize that time and imagine having the perfect weight  

Dieting Mistakes by Adam Bornstein

via: http://www.bornfitness.com/

Sometimes I’m frustrated when people become angry about the word “diet.” As I’ve said many times before, if you eat you have a diet. It’s that simple. But I understand that when people think about diets they imagine restrictions, hunger, and lack of results. In that scenario the word diet sucks. And yet, you still need to eat and find a way that leaves you feeling good, satisfied, energized, and healthy. Instead of suggesting another diet (whether Paleo, Atkins, South Beach, or any other well-known name), I asked Sohee Lee, author of Reverse Dieting, to tackle the mistakes that give diets a bad rep in the first place. Avoid these common dieting mistakes, and odds are you won’t have any more issues with the D-word. -AB

Dieting Mistakes

The truth is, dieting is easy – relatively speaking, anyway. At some point, if you starve yourself enough and exercise yourself into the ground, you will lose weight. That much is obvious. The problem is keeping that weight off. And not hating the process. And doing so in a healthy way.

Because if you didn't notice, the suggestion of starvation and brutal exercise is about as pleasurable as it sounds. Which is why this stat should not surprise you at all: when it comes to quick fix body transformations, up to two-thirds of the weight lost is regained within the first year, and essentially all the weight regained within five.

The typical dieting approach is all wrong. It’s not diets, per se, but how they are followed. And what’s currently believed. Not only do we misunderstand healthy weight (look no farther than the BMI to understand a metric that is wrong as often as it’s right with active people), we don’t understand the healthy process of weight loss.

In your “get into beach season shape now” mentality you completely overlook the fact that drastic measures typically don’t yield sustainable results. Yet you’ll oftentimes reason that you’ll simply “deal with it later” or better yet, convince yourself that you are the sole exception to this trend. It’s time to face reality. Because it simply doesnt work that way. Below are the most common dieting myths that may help you drop a few pounds, but ultimately be the reason why you gain them all back.

Diet Mistake #1: The harder it feels, the better it’s working. 

If you woke up one day and decided you wanted to lose your gut, what would do you do? You might start by throwing out every single remotely delicious food that you have in your kitchen. Your grocery cart all of a sudden transforms from frozen lunches, chips, and candy to chicken, egg whites, and asparagus – never mind the fact that you despise asparagus, but clearly you’re on a mission here.

You feel strong for the first few days as you ride on the wave of your surge of motivation. You’re invincible, you tell yourself. But then the hunger. And then the cravings. They hit you like a ten-ton truck.

And you sit there and you smile to yourself because you think that the struggle must mean that your fat is melting away as you writhe in pain. After all, this is what it takes to be lean, right? Isn’t this what it means to be hardcore?

The truth: Many people assume that diets must necessarily feel hard in order to be successful, but that’s not the case at all. The goal is to continue to lose fat while making this journey as easy as possible. This means eating as much food as you can (both calorically and variety-wise) and doing as little exercise in the gym as you can get away with while still seeing progress.

Don’t swear off your favorite treats for the rest of your life because I can guarantee you that it’ll come back later to bite you. And it’s not going to feel good.

Don’t slash your calories in half because there’s going to come a point when your progress is going to stall. You’ll then be forced to drop your calories further, and you’re really not going to have much wiggle room.

I understand this sounds backwards. This probably goes against everything you've been told. We exist in an incredibly black-and-white society in which we either go balls to the wall or we do absolutely nothing at all. We live sedentary lives for many years while not giving a second thought to the food we eat, and then we abruptly try to go from zero to sixty overnight – and we are somehow surprised when we eventually crash and burn.

This approach obviously hasn't been working for us – just take a look at the nation’s obesity rate. You have to wonder: if the all-or-nothing mindset really were so successful, then we wouldn't be struggling so much in our fat loss efforts, would we?

Diet Mistake #2: The faster, the better.

Along the same lines, we seem to expect quick, immediate results. I guess in a way, we can’t really help it; this is the world that we live in today. Everything is fast – with some even balking that fast food is no longer speedy enough – and overnight delivery has now become the norm (hello, Amazon Prime!).

If we want something, it’s just a click away and it’s all yours. So of course it would make sense, then, that we have the same expectations when it comes to fat loss. For many of you, no amount of progress will probably feel fast enough.

Down two pounds in a week? Bah, obviously something isn’t working.

Five pounds? That’s more like it – but still, you should have dropped more by now.

Eight? Not bad, but again, why not ten?

The truth: I’m really sorry that mainstream media has completely skewed your expectations of fat loss. I promise you that the methods individuals on weight loss shows utilize to achieve those rapid results are nothing short of harrowing.

Barring any health complications, most individuals can expect to drop at a clip of 1 to 2 pounds per week. Leaner folks should expect a slower rate of 0.5 to 1 pound per week since they have less fat to lose, while clinically obese individuals may be okay dropping weight at a slightly faster rate. This is pretty much the norm. Anything faster than that typically is indicative of a loss of muscle mass as well, which is not what we want.

Not only that, but rapid weight loss is typically indicative of extreme measures. And the more extreme the methods employed, the higher the chances of piling the weight back on.

It still has the word diet, but it’s everything you’ve ever want from an eating plan.

Diet Mistake #3: Placing your faith in diet super foods.

I hear there’s a new super food out on the market and it’s flying off the shelves. This is supposed to be the next big thing – the miracle that can burn your fat effortlessly, negate all the calories you’ve consumed, and deliver you results without an ounce of effort on your part. All you have to do is fork over your money and you’ll achieve the body of your dreams.

According to the product, you don’t have to change a thing about your current lifestyle. All you do is sprinkle this powder in your morning coffee and you’ll be good to go. No fuss, no mess. Too easy.

The truth: There is. no. super food.

There is. no. magical potion.

If that really were the case, we’d all be walking around ripped to shreds by now, don’t you think? I hate to break it to you, but you’re going to have to commit to changing your eating and exercise behaviors if you want to see the results that you’re after. No amount of wishing and hoping is going to work for you unless you get off the couch and take action.

That steady diet of junk food you’ve been subsisting on for the past few years? That needs to be replaced. And no, the 20-yard walk from the parking lot to your office building doesn’t count as your workout for the day. You want to drop some fat? Eat more protein and especially more minimally processed foods. Get in your daily veggies. Maybe stop drinking all that soda. You want to step it up a notch? Start hitting the gym for weight training sessions. Learn the heavy compound movements and hit ‘em hard. Strive to get progressively stronger and treat your workouts like a true commitment.

Listen, losing fat is a pretty simple process when you get down to it. But you have to be willing to put in the work. Don’t complain about the results you didn’t get with the work you didn’t do. And don’t expect all of the super foods in the world to be all you need to change how you look.

Remember, eating healthy is not the same as eating for fat loss. You can overdo anything, especially foods that are loaded with calories. (Even if they are “nutritious” calories.)

Diet Mistake #4: Everything you’re doing is only temporary.

Okay, so you’ve been on this dieting thing for a good three months now and you’ve dropped inches all over. You have a whole new wardrobe to accommodate your newer, leaner self and you’re feeling on top of the world.

You’ve made some pretty drastic changes to your lifestyle within that timeframe. You stopped eating out every day of the week, and you now cook most of your meals. You no longer drown everything in butter, and you’ve doubled your protein intake. In the gym, you’re now a regular. What first started out as two full-body strength training sessions has evolved into a six day body part split, plus six days of steady-state cardio. Frappuccino? No thanks. You’ve got your protein shake handy.

You finally hit your goal – you’re pleased with what you see in the mirror and you’re holding steady at the lowest body fat percentage you can recall – so now it’s time to really relax. You kick your feet up and toss your tub of whey in the trash. You cancel your gym membership and then make a beeline for Panda Express because you totally deserve it. Now that you’re lean, you can finally go back to the way you lived before.

The truth: If you want to maintain the results you’ve worked so hard for, you absolutely cannot go regress to your former lifestyle.

This is the reality that may be difficult to accept: the lifestyle changes you make have to be permanent. But permanent doesn’t mean brutal, awful, and unbearable.

It’s why the steps you take to get to the body you want should be steps you can follow to keep the body you want.

This is why it’s important to commit to just a small, bite-size behavior changes at a time. You want to be able to maintain that new habit over the long-term, and to that end, it should feel doable. Killing yourself in the gym three hours a day? That’s not doable, and it’ll lead to burnout pretty quick. Cutting out your favorite foods for good? Also not sustainable.

Every step of the way, you should be asking yourself: Can I see myself keeping this up a year from now? If the answer is yes, then you’re on the right track. If not, perhaps you should re-assess what you’re doing.

Maybe you’re feeling a lost, however, because you’re happy with the way that you look, but you’re rather fatigued from being in a caloric deficit for so long. Maybe you’re considering taking a break from the diet so you can focus on building some muscle and eat more food. Maybe you’re tired of working so hard to drop that spare tire, only to have the scale skyrocket over and over again as soon as your diet is over.

If this is the case, then I invite you to consider switching gears to reverse dieting for the time being. By slowly increasing your food intake in controlled quantities, you’ll not only minimize fat gain with the caloric surplus, but you’ll build some muscle and bring your metabolism back up to speed.

You’ll replace your dieting fatigue with high energy. Your smaller portions will be swapped for generous serving sizes. You’ll trade your ho-hum gym sessions for PR after PR.

Your weight doesn’t have to fluctuate from one extreme to the other anymore. That’s a thing of the past – because now you the mistakes and have the ultimate solution to fix your yo-yoing ways.

- See more at: http://www.bornfitness.com/dieting-mistakes/#sthash.7f2j6lz9.dpuf

Getting and Staying Motivated by Pete Cerqua

Getting and Staying Motivated

Posted on March 10, 2013 by petecerqua

Motivation plays such a crucial role when trying to accomplish a goal. The goal to be physically fit and live a healthier lifestyle should be a no-brainer. However, why is it so difficult for so many of us to accomplish such obvious goals? Shouldn’t wanting to be healthier be enough motivation to put that donut down and go to the gym? Many of us have the intention of becoming healthier and being physically fit, but we lack the drive and motivation to do so. Below are helpful tips to help keep you motivated.  

Find Good Reasons: Everything you’ve enjoyed repeatedly doing in your life is because there is good reason to. There are thousands of reasons why it’s good to be physically fit and eat healthy, but you’ll be more motivated to do so if you find reasons that are specific to you. Perhaps you want to be in better shape so you can fit in your clothes better, or you want to be able be more active with your family or children. Maybe you’re tired of feeling lethargic every day, or you want to save money on food and health bills. Whatever the reason, find one that will make you want to stick to your goal of living a healthier lifestyle and constantly remind yourself of the goal you’ve made.

Make It Fun: Attitude plays a key role in motivation. You won’t want to keep repeating something you don’t enjoy or aren’t having fun doing. One way to keep yourself motivated and continuing to get in shape is to find activities you enjoy doing that will also help you reach your goals. For many, going to the gym everyday and doing the same workout can feel very boring. It may feel very consistent but acts like a chore that you must cross off your list every day. Try changing up your workout routine constantly so it doesn’t feel like you are doing the same thing every time you go to the gym. You should also bring an mp3 player with songs that can keep you pumped and excited through your entire routine. Audio books also work great as they can make working out feel less strenuous and keep you relaxed.

As far as food goes, eating healthy doesn’t have to mean eating a plain bowl of salad or an unseasoned, boiled, skinless chicken every day. There are many people who have no problem doing this as they have trained their mind to view food as fuel and sustenance rather than something you need to enjoy. However, for the rest of us, meals play a big part of our mood every day. We constantly look forward to what we are going to eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and some of us can’t wait to try out that new restaurant down the street or try a new recipe from a cookbook. Like a workout routine, change up your diet constantly. Try healthy recipes and ingredients you’ve never heard of or make healthier versions of meals you enjoy.

Workout With Other People: Whether it’s a personal trainer, a friend, or a loved one, working out with someone else is always a great motivational tool. It makes you feel less alone on your journey because there is someone there who can sympathize with what you are going through or provide encouragement. They can encourage you to push for that extra repetition or keep you accountable and make sure you don’t go to McDonald’s or vice-versa. However, when finding a partner to work out with, make sure they are reliable and just as driven as you are. Sometimes people initially find a friend to work out with but they end up being flakes or less driven. They act like the devil on your shoulder, encouraging you to skip out on a workout or telling you it’s okay to have that milk-shake with extra toppings.

Group activities are also great ways to work out with other people. Most gyms have specialized classes such a boot camps, kickboxing, yoga, etc. You can also participate in intramural sports such as community based baseball, volleyball, and basketball. Whatever activity that keeps you happy, entertained, and healthy is always the best workout.

Reward Yourself: Positive reinforcement is always an effective way to get someone to feel good about what they are doing and encourage them to continue to repeat it. Most people tend to use food as a tool for positive reinforcement, such as “cheat meals” or “cheat snacks.” Perhaps after a long week of focus and dedication, you can treat yourself to a favorite meal or dessert. For example, actor and professional wrestler Dwayne Johnson, also known as “The Rock,” likes to eat cheese pizzas, pancakes, and brownies after “150 consecutive days of eating clean” and working hard. However, if you use food as a form of positive reinforcement, do so sparingly as sometimes it can develop into a habit. Before you know it, you’ll feel like you deserve to eat a scoop of ice cream every time you had a workout.

Alternative forms of positive reinforcement that don’t include food could be shopping or taking a vacation. It’s always a good feeling to try on clothes you would never thought you’d be able to fit into and really get a sense of the progress you are making.

Track Your Progress: As mentioned above, seeing yourself getting in better shape and progressing is a great motivational tool. It shows that all the hard work you are doing is paying off and well worth the effort to keep continuing what you are doing. The simplest way to track your progress would be go on the scale every day. However, this may not be the most effective form of measurement as weight can constantly fluctuate and scales cannot accurately show you how much weight being gained or lost is body fat. A lot of the times the fluctuation shown on the scale is due to water weight, which is easily changeable by how much you are sweating and hydrating yourself.

Effective ways of tracking progress and making sure you are going in the right direction is to take measurements and track body fat percentage. There are very simple and accurate methods of recording this data that you can do at home. However, you can always have it professionally done at most gyms or health clinics. Another method of tracking your progress is to create a photo journal and take a picture of yourself as frequently as you can. 

Living a healthy lifestyle and getting in shape seems like such an obvious choice when compared to the alternative, but it is very difficult for most people to make that jump because there are so many elements in our lives that make it difficult to do so. So many things can demotivate us from taking the better path because it may feel easier to eat whatever we want, however much we want, and exercise as little as we want. Stress and a busy schedule are also huge factors in our daily lives that makes us not want to get our work outs in or cook a healthy meal. Try using the tips mentioned above to make your goals to be healthy and fit more apparent in your every day. Don’t lose track of what you really want in life!

Everything You Need To Know About Belly Fat Reduction

by Chris Bossert

Strength and Conditioning Specialist 

90-Second Fitness Atlanta

Before we get into the "details" of all the training techniques and dietary strategies for losing belly fat and getting those six pack abs, I want to show you the #1 reason why most people fail to ever achieve this goal.

The # 1 reason for failure to achieve their fitness goal in most people is the general procrastination, laziness, and poor mental attitude about what they BELIEVE they can actually achieve.

Just to clarify, the #2 reason for failure at fat loss & achieving their dream body is ineffective training routines along with poor dietary habits. The reason I put mental attitude and beliefs in front of the actual details of training/nutrition for weight loss is because your mental status is the true starting point for success in anything. 

Sooo, belly fat reduction: What is it?

Belly fat reduction is, quite simply, the idea that belly fat loss is site-specific.

In other words, proponents of belly fat spot reduction believe you can target specific spots on your body to lose fat. More often than not, the methods include:

Take, for example, the fat on your abdomen. Advocates of spot reduction often claim ab targeting exercises/techniques (such as crunches, sit-ups, planks, fat-burner belts, etc.) burn fat specifically around the abdominals falls into the exact same category of spot reduction. 

Spot Reduction: Does It Work?

haha.

no.

negative.

Plain and simple, you can't pick and choose where you want to lose fat.

Want to lose fat in your upper arms?

Triceps extensions ain't gonna cut it/

Want your thighs to lean out?

The baby maker machine isn't gonna do very much.

Need concrete evidence? Take a look at This study from the National Center for Biotechnology Information

Still not convinced? Check this out.

Well...WHAT THE HECK!? Than how do I get more toned?

1) You can't pick & choose where you lose fat. Assuming your training and nutrition are in check, your body (ie: genetics) will decide where you lose fat and in what order.

Don't like it? Too bad...that just how we work.

2) You need to maintain a caloric deficit. If you want to lose fat you need to make sure you're eating appropriate amounts that actually facilitate fat loss.  

3) You need to strength train. You know that toned look everyone's after nowadays? Welp...if you don't do at least SOME TYPE OF STRENGTH TRAINING, odds are you aren't going to achieve it.

Contrary to popular belief...

I promise. 

4) There is No Quick-Fix. Pills, vibration belts, useless supplements simple don't work (they just waste time and money). 

THE FINAL VERDICT

Spot Reduction is complete BS AND IS. NOT. REAL.

Granted, if new and emerging research comes out saying otherwise I'll be the first to change my opinion. But based on the current body of evidence, both experimental and anecdotal, it's a marketing scam.

That's it. 

Now all you football fans travel safe and have a great Labor Day weekend!!! 

Weight Loss: Cardio vs. Strength Training

This may be one of the most common questions personal trainers get. What will help me lose weight best? Cardio or Strength Training. Well, the answer depends on what you mean by "lose weight." If you are in an epic battle with your scale, cardio is the way to go. If you want to appear steamy in those yoga pants, though, it's time to embrace strength training.

Minute per minute, cardio simply burns more calories than strength training. This explains why cardio exercisers lose more weight in less time than strength trainers, according to a recent Duke University study. 

With this said, cardio still doesn't do much for your muscles. Case in point: In one Penn State study, dieters lost 21 pounds whether they performed cardio or strength training. But for the cardio group, six of those pounds came from muscles, while the lifters lost almost pure fat-and probably fit into their skinny jeans better because of it. 

Why? Strength training is the number-one way to build more muscle. And for every three pounds of muscle you gain, you can expect to burn an extra 120 calories a day without moving a single one of those muscles. 

This doesn't mean you should skip out on cardio. Do what you love to do. This is the bottom line. If you like to walk, walk. If you enjoy swimming, swim. A fitness plan that includes both cardio and strength training is THE BEST SOLUTION!

Have a great weekend : )

Lazy People Fitness

You would be surprised to know that I never get a lazy person to train with me. Actually only intelligent motivated people with cool personalities ever look to see why I would advertise for lazy people. The ones that don't get it or who get mad I don't want to train anyways because THEY ARE NO FUN and we would never get along. What kind of training is this?

This is training for people who live CRAZY busy lives. I mean no time to take a gasp of air let alone find time to exercise during their insanely hectic day. So how do we address this issue. We go to you. We help dig people out of the rubble of the hustle and bustle and we can help them put their health back on track! Does that sound rewarding? IT IS!! You get fun workout that only lasts 15 minutes and has been proven by hundreds of medical studies to WORK. When we see our clients get results, which happens immediately, IT IS VERY EXCITING!

Don't worry if you have little exercise experience, because we train you to learn everything you need to know. You just have to be eager and teachable. Singles or Married Young or Old...doesn't matter because this workout works for EVERYBODY. My workout offers security because it is 100% guaranteed to give you results. PERIOD!

No more making excuses about gym fees because I don't come with a gym. I come to you. No more wasting time commuting to the gym because I come to you. No more worrying about people staring at you because we workout in the privacy of your home or office. If you're interested contact me today! You cannot find this service anywhere else and the schedule is filling up quickly!!!

We serve throughout the Atlanta Metropolitan area.

Contact me today:

cell phone: 901-277-1600