CORE TRAINING

This is an Awesome article from http://www.mensfitness.com/training/build-muscle/core-ultimate-workout


I agree 100% agree with this article! This is how I train myself and my clients!!! If you do not understand these concepts please seek out a trainer for help. It is worth the investment..... I wouldn't walk into a job you do everyday and even hold a 1/10 of the information you hold. A trainer can take your program tweak it and put you on the fast track to success! Anyways I hope you enjoy the read!!


Core Concepts

Though commonly used to refer to the abs and lower-back muscles collectively (considered the epicenter of the body ), the term "core" actually applies to several muscles throughout the upper and lower body. The transverse abdominis, rectus abdominis (your six-pack muscle), internal obliques, multifidus, spinal erectors, lats, glutes, and traps can be considered core muscles.

All work together, often simultaneously, to stabilize and support the spine. Since the spinal cord is the main avenue for sending messages to the muscles throughout your body, the safer your body senses that it is, the more comfortable it feels sending those messages out and the more clearly they are received.

Building a strong core is the first step toward making maximal gains in strength and power and performing any kind of skilled athletic movement. Strong supporting muscles around the spine also reduce lower-back pain, as well as the risk for lower-back injury. Finally, since the core encompasses all the abdominal muscles that make up that aesthetic six-pack look, it's the foundation of a ripped midsection (though you may need to clean up your diet to see it).

Nevertheless, a well-defined set of abs does not mean a strong core. So how can you tell if your core is in shape? One of the most basic, easy, and effective methods to test core strength is the plank. If you've ever taken a yoga class (or listened to your lady talk about one), this move should be familiar. Simply get down on your hands and knees as if you were about to perform a pushup, then bend your elbows 90 degrees so that you're resting your forearms flat on the floor.

Keep your eyes focused on the floor and your hips braced—your body should form one straight line. Hold the position for as long as you can. (As time elapses, you'll feel all the above-mentioned core muscles squeezing.) If you can hold the plank for two minutes or more without breaking form or experiencing pain, your core is reasonably strong. If you can only hold the plank for between one and two minutes, practice it whenever you get a chance and work to improve it over time. Also, limit the loads you use in your training, and concentrate more on body-weight exercises.

Start using more one-legged exercises in your workouts, and concentrate on keeping perfect form throughout. Do not attempt any heavy lifts until your plank time improves drastically.
Beware: If your core is weak, you not only severely compromise the amount of strength and muscle you can build in your workouts, but you also risk serious injury lifting heavy weights or doing any exercise that loads the lower back.Take our core training tips seriously, and you'll ensure safe and steady progress for as long as you train.

Hard Core Training

When trainers test their clients' core strength, the ones who perform best are almost always the strongest squatters and deadlifters. This is not by accident. Squats and deadlifts—but also shoulder presses, chinups, lunges, and a host of other compound, free-weight exercises (some of which are discussed later)—demand that the core muscles clamp down hard to support the spine under heavy loads. The core keeps your back upright whenever there's a bar resting on it or being pressed overhead, and it prevents your spine from rotating when you have a load pulling you to one side (as in a dumbbell lunge or one-armed press).

So, in essence, just performing these exercises alone provides a great core workout. Though neither a Swiss or Bosu ball is absolutely necessary for a fully developed core, each can be a highly useful tool that you can work in as a supplement to your main lifts. If you have a pre-existing lower-back problem, a Swiss ball might allow you to train your abs without aggravating it. The ball also allows you to move through a greater range of motion than a crunch done on the floor would. Furthermore, you can perform certain upper-body exercises on it, such as chest presses, which will fire up the core and prepare you for stronger benching when you return to the conventional bench press.

Bosu balls work in much the same way but have a fl at side that makes stabilizing yourself a bit easier. The problem and danger of training your core with either piece of equipment comes when you overdo it (and most people do). Doing crunches only on a Swiss ball overdevelops some of your core muscles while neglecting others, leading to a slew of imbalances that can cause injury and pain. Training with the compound movements described earlier eliminates this risk, as your entire core is trained evenly. (You also get the added benefit of training your other major muscle groups, making the most of your workout time.)
Certainly the most ridiculous trend in core training, and abuse of its equipment, has been the notion that you should perform all your exercises on the Bosu ball. The theory behind this is that your core will work harder as your body struggles to balance itself on top of the ball. While this kind of training does make any movement more difficult to perform, it prevents you from using anything approximating a heavy weight, so your muscles go unchallenged.

You won't build any muscle or strength this way, and your core will never be conditioned to handle the stresses of tough workouts or sports. Unless you're training to improve your performance during an earthquake, exercising on an unstable surface offers no real advantages.Ultimately, doing so will leave you weaker and more at risk for injury. To truly tax your core, keep your feet on a stable surface, and train with time-proven simple exercises such as those given here.

All The Right Moves

Situps are pretty much garbage, but these are the core exercises you really ought to be doing.
A steady regimen of multi-joint, freeweight exercises like the squat and deadlift should build your core along with the rest of your body, but these supplemental core exercises are what you need to truly pass the plank test. Learn them all and cycle them in and out of your workouts from now on.

A1, A2 PLATE RAISES
Stand with knees slightly bent and hold a weight plate in front of your hips. Keeping your arms straight, slowly raise the plate in front of you until it's at shoulder level, and then lower it back down. That's one rep. Perform 2 - 3 sets of 8 - 12 reps, resting 60 - 90 seconds between sets. Make sure you keep perfect posture—shoulders back and chest out—the entire time.

B1, B2 ONE-LEGGED DUMBBELL ROWS
Hold a dumbbell in one hand and stand on the opposite leg. Keeping your lower back in its natural arch, bend forward at the hips until your torso is about 45 degrees to the floor. Row the weight to the outside of your chest, and lower it back down. That's one rep. Perform 2 - 3 sets of 8 - 12 reps on each side, resting 60 - 90 seconds between sets.

C1, C2 SUITCASE SQUATS
Hold a dumbbell in one hand at your side and squat as low as you can, as if you were putting down a suitcase. Perform 2 - 3 sets of 8 - 12 reps on each side, resting 60 - 90 seconds between sets.

BONUS EXTRA
OVERHEAD SQUATS AND LUNGES
You can do these with either a barbell or dumbbells. Simply hold the weight at arm's length overhead and squat or lunge. Perform 2 - 3 sets of 8 - 12 reps, resting 60 - 90 seconds between sets.
ONE-LEGGED SQUATS
Raise one leg out in front of you and squat as low as you can. Perform 2 - 3 sets of 8 - 12 reps on each leg, resting 60 - 90 seconds between sets.

How To Kick Start Your Weight Loss & Be Successful

No matter how you slice it, diet is a dirty word. It smacks of deprivation and hunger pangs. To overcome the pain, you need a plan.I Found this informative article on http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/4-ways-to-get-that-diet-going. I hate how so many weight loss tips all seem to be the same.... "eat this, not that"!  Before kick starting your new lifestyle you should consider this advice. These are simple yet effective tools to plan your road to success! 

So WebMD asked the experts for advice, and put together their quick tips on how to get your weight loss going.

1. Know Your Weight Loss Goals

Consider how much you need to lose before you decide how to do it, recommends Brian C. Jacobson, MD, MPH, assistant professor of medicine and a gastroenterologist at Boston University Medical Center in Massachusetts.

Very overweight  or obese. "For someone obese, I refer them to our weight loss center," says Jacobson, who says people with a lot of weight to lose can probably benefit from a structured, supervised program.

If you're slightly or moderately overweight. "I advise controlling portion size," Jacobson says. "If you control portion size, you cut calories."

To learn correct portion sizes, consult a registered dietitian or take a look at the USDA's new MyPlate guidelines. 

Exercise also has to be part of your plan, Jacobson tells the do-it-yourselfers. But that doesn't necessarily mean joining a gym. "Buy a cheap treadmill," he says, and when you're watching TV, hop on and take a walk.

Before starting a new exercise regime o rweight loss plan , however, remember to talk with your doctor.

2. Understand Your Weight Loss Personality

Personality plays a role in our attitude towards food, says Thomas R. Przybeck, PhD, assistant professor of psychiatry at Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, who has published on the topic of diet and personality. Know your tendencies and tailor your plan to conquer the unproductive inclinations.

Impulsive. "If you have a tendency to be impulsive, you might see a pint of Ben & Jerry's in the freezer and go for it," Przybeck says. Clearly you are a dieter who needs to remove those temptations.

Oblivious. If you tend to not pay attention when you eat -- maybe you're a TV snacker? -- you need to avoid such situations if you want to control portions.

Uptight. "If you are highly anxious, you will probably have more difficulty," Przybeck says. "Those who are anxious, nervous, and depressed might eat to feel better."

Tenacious. Certain personalities don't find it that difficult losing weight. "If you are highly self-directed, cooperative, and have a lot of stick-to-it-ive-ness, you are going to have an easier time," Przybeck says.

Sociable. You tend to monitor your food intake better than others, Przybeck found.

3. Double Up: Diet & Exercise

When her heartburn  patients ask which should come first, diet or exercise, Lauren Gerson, MD, MSc, director of the Esophageal and Small Bowel Disorders Center at Stanford University School of Medicine in California, says: jump in and do both.

"It's a combination of diet and exercise [that will lead to weight loss]," she says.

4. Make a Firm Weight Loss Commitment

To be successful, it helps to understand why you want to  lose weight. So before you begin a weight loss plan, ask yourself:

-Am I ready to do this?

-Is my motivation coming from within?

-Can I deal with occasional setbacks or lack of progress?

-Can I focus on weight loss fully? (If you're in the midst of a job change or other distractions, for example, it might be better to resolve those issues, and then focus on weight loss efforts.)

Finally, be sure you're committed to losing weight for yourself -- not because someone else is pressuring you to do so.

Then, take things slowly, keep these tips in mind, and you should be on the road to weight loss in no time.

Tips For Training (Exercise, Work Out) Your Body Type Skinny, Full Figured, Lean

http://www.superskinnyme.com/body-type.html

Have you been trying to do the same type of diet and workout that your skinny friend is doing without any results? Here are some tips to speed weight loss for your body type.

Endomorph, mesomorph, ectomorph. These sound, for all the world like prehistoric creatures, so when I mention them to my clients, most of them look at me like I’m speaking caveman. But primitive or not, these terms are central to understanding your body type, which in turn can help you reach your weight-loss goals faster.

Losing weight, of course, requires creating a calorie deficit no matter what. So how can knowing whether you’re, say, an endomorph – and I’ll get to what these terms mean shortly – can help you burn calories? Because understanding the strengths and weaknesses of your body type will allow you to design a nutrition and fitness program that maximizes the key factors in weight loss for you.

I talk with people every day who spend valuable time in the gym mimicking their skinny or “in-shape” friends with the expectation that they will soon look the same way. Gwyneth Paltrow may be able to keep her body looking great with a fitness regime of Pilates and yoga, while Beyonce needs to do more cardio and resistance training as well as keep her diet in close check to look the way she does. Both of these women are in incredible physical shape, but because they have different body types, a regimen that works for one will likely not work for the other.

http://www.superskinnyme.com/body-type.html

So how can you easily determine your body type? Actually most of us have a combination of two of the three basic body types; some of us are even a blend of all of them. You need to determine which of the basic types your body most closely resembles, so you can add the right tips to your program. Here are the three basic types:

ENDOMORPHS

Endomorphs tend to be shaped like your favorite fruit (apples or pears). They gain weight easily and struggle to lose it, have slow metabolisms, and have medium to large bone frames. If you’ve struggled with your body weight for most of your life, chances are good you’re an endomorph.

Tips for the Endomorph:

Tip #1 Train your large muscle groups frequently. Doing compound exercises (i.e. exercises that use several muscle groups at once) are great for burning calories. Legs and back exercises such as squats, lunges, leg presses, dead rows, pull-ups, and seated rows will kick your metabolism up. Use moderate weight and keep the rest in between sets short.

Tip #2 Don’t skip cardio. Do cardio four to six times per week, 45 to 60 minutes per session for weight loss. Keep the intensity high and use intervals throughout the cardio session to boost your metabolism.

Tip #3 Watch the carbs and eliminate refined sugar. The majority of your diet should come from high-quality protein. Carbs should be eaten early in the day and include slow-digesting choices such as oatmeal, whole-wheat bagels, high-fiber/low-sugar cereal, and sweet potatoes; taper and eliminate these as the day progresses. Fruit should be eaten in the morning, although when you reach your ideal weight, a piece of fruit in the afternoon is fine as long as you eat it with some high-quality protein.

Tip #4 Eat five to seven meals per day. This is great news for the endomorph since this group loves to eat, but here are the key points: Each meal must contain a lean high-quality protein source, fibrous vegetables, and healthy fats, and portion control is critical (remember you need to be in a calorie deficit for weight loss to occur).

In summary: For the endomorph, there is no such thing as cutting corners. If you’re an endomorph and you want to be lean and toned, plan on making healthy nutrition and fitness a part of your daily life

MESOMORPHS

Mesomorphs tend to be muscular and lean. Many professional athletes are mesomorphs. They have small waists as well as broad shoulders and chests, they build muscle quickly, and can drop fat easily. Although most mesomorphs are fit, some take advantage of their good genetics and develop bad habits leading to weight gain.

Tips for the Mesomorph:

Tip #1 Be consistent. Consistency is key for a mesomorph. You have been given a gift in the form of good genetics and will always look good if you stick with a fitness plan and establish good eating habits. Remember how lucky you are when you see the endomorphs in the gym doing endless cardio!

Tip #2 Do high-intensity cardio. The mesomorph will drop body fat quickly. Four to five days per week of 30 to 45 minutes of cardio should let you reach your goal, and maintenance can include as little as three days per week of cardio with resistance training.

Tip #3 Maintain a healthful diet. The fact you’ve been able to eat what you want most of your life without it showing up on your body does not mean that unhealthy eating isn’t taking a toll inside your body. Make sure you’re eating healthy fats like olive oil, nuts, seeds, avocados and natural peanut butter. Eat lean sources of protein and complex carbohydrates with every meal.

ECTOMORPHS

Ectomorphs tend to be tall and skinny, have difficulty building muscle, have fast metabolisms, and seem to be able to eat as many calories as they want. Ectomorphs easily develop bad habits and although it is uncommon to see a “fat ectomorph,” there are plenty out there. It’s just harder to notice them.

Tips for the Ectomorph:

Tip #1 Pay attention to macronutrient ratios. You have a naturally fast metabolism so a good macronutrient ratio for you is 50-55 percent complex carbohydrates, 25-30 percent lean protein and 15-20 percent fat. Avoid processed foods and eat healthy fats such as nuts, seeds, natural peanut butter and olive oil.

Tip #2 Focus on weight lifting and toning exercises. Ectomorphs have difficulty building muscle so lift heavy weights and concentrate on one muscle group at a time. Keep cardio to a minimum since too much cardio will keep you from building muscle and may make you “too skinny.”

Tip #3 Don’t skip meals. This is important during your weight-loss program and during maintenance to ensure that you build and keep your muscle. Eat at least 5 meals per day and don’t be afraid to go higher – just watch the portion sizes while you’re trying to lose weight.

Make no mistake, weight loss is tough work that requires focused goals and consistency. But understanding your body type and using these tips creates a synergistic approach that will speed up your results. Happy training!

http://manassas.maxmuscle.com/news/2012/3/train-for-your-body-type.html

Top 10 Do's & Dont's of the Gym!

1-DON'T be on your phone the whole time you're working out! We get it sometimes you get an important phone call but you can make it short! There is no way you can get a good cardio/endurance workout if you are gabbing on the phone. Plus, your annoying the crap out of everyone around you!

2- DO grab some friends and try a new group fitness class! It can be fun and if your screwing up, your friends will be there to laugh with you not at you!( Unless I am your friend then I'm for sure laughing at your uncoordinated booty!)

3&4- DO workout hard! DON'T be so obnoxious with your grunts! I am not going to lie I will grunt from time to time but I am able to for the most part control them! Which means so can you, So grit your teeth and shut your mouth ! No need to be so noisy!!

5-DO wear something that makes you feel good.  That could be coordinating your outfit by wearing matching shoes and a tank top or your favorite sports team t-shirt. Its important to be comfortable in your workout attire because if your not you probably will not spend very much time at the gym.

6- DON'T claim a piece of equipment by leaving your stuff on it and be gone forEVER! So annoying, getting a drink of water is acceptable while chatting up a hottie for 30 minutes is NOT acceptable!

6-DO try yoga! Its a great workout and amazing for your mind!

7-DON'T spend forever flexing and checking yourself out in the mirror! There is a big difference in being proud of your hard work and being obsessed with your reflection!!

8-DO grab your favorite tunes to rock out to while your getting your sweat on!! Its proven that people who listen to music while exercising have longer and more productive workouts!!

9&10 DO Work-up a good sweat!! DON'T Leave a disgusting pool of sweat behind for someone else to gag over while cleaning up your mess!!