Ten Simple Tips For Staying Lean

1. Curb Calorie Density: You can save calories by making better choices, for example, marinara sauce has fewer calories than a cream sauce.

2. Shrink Your Servings: Portion size is critical for staying lean. Having an idea of how many calories are in a food will help you get there, for example, a deck of cards is a serving of meat and a tennis ball is equal to a cup of rice.

3. Limit Some Choices: Instead of a donut, have half a whole grain bagel with a teaspoon of peanut butter, this choice will save you calories and has more nutritional value.

4. Curb Liquid Calories: Alcohol is a great place to start when looking at liquid or empty calories. 2-3 drinks per day can add and extra 2-5 lbs, fruit juices are another high calories liquid choice.

5. Make Movement Part Of Your Life: Its all about energy in vs. energy out. By simply moving more throughout the day we will lose or keep extra weight off, or don’t move and gain weight guaranteed. It does not have to be in the gym, for example, take the stairs, wash your own car, or play basketball with the kids.

6. Lean Muscle Increases Your Metabolism: Fat is burned in muscle tissue. A pound of muscle burns approximately 55 – 60 calories vs. a pound of fat only burns 3-5 calories. To stay lean it is very important to maintain or increase your lean muscle tissue.

7. Break Up Your Exercise Into Shorter Time Blocks: Rather than try to work out 3 days a week for an hour and a half, try 20-30 minutes 5-6 days per week.

8. Find A Friend Or Coach: Having a friend to work out with is a great way to stay committed to your workout regime. By setting an appointment with a friend or a trainer you are less likely to skip a workout.

9. Set Realistic Goals:Without written, specific tangible goals you are just hoping for results.

10. Think Healthy, Not Just Skinny: If you are skinny but have very little muscle you can still have high levels of body-fat. Eventually this may cause health problems or lead to weight gain. Speak with a fitness coach to determine your body-fat.

Inspiration

Failure

Why Supplement with Protein?

So why use protein supplements and not food? Well, protein powder is essentially just food in powered format. A majority of people find that it's difficult to eat enough meals every 2-3 hours in order to get their allocated amount of protein. By using a protein supplement you can count this as one of your meals especially when you add some fruits and fat oil with it.

If you have the time and can eat whole food, than do so as protein powder still doesn't contain all the vitamins and minerals of protein foods such as chicken, beef and fish. However, protein powder still is a high level protein source and do a great job when you rushed and have to get that protein.

So walk into any supplement store and you will see all sorts of brands, sizes and types or protein powder. Your best choice is to choose a milk protein or casein/whey combination. Casein/Whey is a slower absorbing protein blend than regular Whey isolate protein. When looking at the ingredients, look for whey and casein or "milk protein blend" as the top ingredients.

Having milk protein has been shown to help with muscle recovery and building as well as help with fat loss which is a fantastic combination for those wanting to change how they look. Just be sure to follow the other 10 Steps to Nutrition for Fat Loss by eating healthy fats, veggies, fruits, etc.

So use the Spartan Nutrition coupon I gave and if you didn't receive it be sure to see me. Choose your protein wisely and see the results!

Upcoming Bootcamps

Two sessions are now open!!
Session A running Mon/Wed/Fri Oct. 20th-Nov. 14th.
Session B running Tues/Thurs./Sat. Oct. 21st-Nov. 15th.

Please let me know as soon as possible which session you are interested in doing as each day I am adding new people to each block of time. Again 4wks and 12 classes. A maximum of 10 people allowed in each bootcamp. Session A is almost full, Session B still has spots avaialble!

Be sure to ask about the referral program to reduce your costs substantially and get other people some great workouts and results! Refer new members to knockoutps@gmail.com for prices.

Pre Workout Nutrtion

Since a lot of you are pretty much rolling out of bed and probably get to the club within 30 to 45 min of waking up I would recommend a simple liquid shake involving a scoop of protein in water. This will give you some energy to work out and quickly get into your system. Be sure not to have to much as your body may want to bring it up from the intense workouts :)

Stay tuned to the importance of post-workout nutrition, escpecially weight training.

Enjoy your day!

Supplements

With the busy lifestyle we all lead it sometimes very difficult to reach our fitness and fat loss goals. Trying to make sure you are getting 5-6 meals a day, enough protein, feeding the kids, meeting with friends and on and on. So no wonder a lot of people just fall off the wagon and just eat whatever. One way to help meet the 10 Steps to Nutrition for Fat Loss is to use supplements.

So which ones?

Well, in the previous post I talked about Fish Oil as being a mainstay in everybody's supplement list whether you exercise or not. There are so many benefits to this wonder supplement that nobody should not be getting their fish.

Other supplements I recommend are:
1)Protein Powders
2)Greens+
3)Muscle Recovery/Workout Drinks
4) Omega 3 Fish Oil ( already mentioned)

One other supplement that could be included but has some controversy is creatine. I will leave that to another post to explain why you might want to supplement with creatine.

By supplementing with the above you will be well on your way to reaching your fat loss goals and increase your performance in the gym.

The next few posts will go into why each supplement is recommended.

Eat Fat to "Fight" Fat

Fish Oil is the front runner towards the fight on fat loss. Salmon appeared on the Top 20 Superfoods and is highly recommended by authors such as Barry Sears(PhD), Jonny Boweden(PhD), John Berardi (PhD) and the top strength coach in the world, Chales Poliquin.

Why is that?

Fish oil has gone through rigorous scientific assessment as has been found to have numerous benefits to humans. From heping people with schizophrenia, rheumatoid arthritis, asthma to heart disease. The two key ingredients is the EPA and DHA ration of fish oil. For most people, all you need to know is that EPA helps control any inflammatory condition (ie:arthritis) and DHA aids in cognition (ADD, concentration).

Fish oil can improve many health issues such as reducing heart disease, cancer risk, and diabetes risk. With all these benefits, fish oil should be an essential part of everybody's life!

How does fish oil help fat loss?

When you add these fish oils to your diet, these fats have been proven to help insulin sensitivity to muscles while decreasing it in fat cells. This leads to more nutrients going to the muscles instead of the fat that you already have. So fish oil helps with carb storage but also has been shown to improve protein storage, increase metabolism and lean mass.

Recommended fish oil supplements should have at least one of the following types of fish: salmon, sardine or anchovy. These fish are rich in EPA and DHA, which again are the fats that will give you all the great benefits that were listed above.

An Excellent Resource

I was talking to some of you today at the bootcamp and some of you had been mentioning that a big issue is knowing if you are eating to much and in what macronutrient ratios. An excellent resource that allows you to keep a Log of the foods you eat is Fit Day, www.fitday.com. This is a Free resource where you can select the foods that you have eaten during the day or create or own custom foods. It will track the amount of calorie, fat, protein and carbs that you have eaten. In addition, you are able to enter in your fitness goals, daily exercise and it displays everything in a nice visual chart to see what you have been accomplishing.

So for those of you who want to get a more exact amount of calories that you have been consuming and the amount of macro nutrients, use FitDay as resource. Getting a more specifc measurement in terms of nutrition will only help in your long term results.

Round One Bootcamp

I was really impressed with every one's hard work and dedication today. I presented a challenge today and all of you passed with flying colours!!! That is part of the program is to keep challenging yourself little by little! By doing these intense workouts you will be getting into fantastic shape. A few home training clients I have put on similar programs have seen tremendous results. One client has gone down from a size 12 dress size to a 6 size in just over 3 months of doing intense weight training circuits alone. The key to her results is that she rarely misses a workout every other day, follows the nutritional program very consistently and is highly dedicated to the program! She is 37 years of age and a mother of two young girls!

I see the same dedication in this first Round One Bootcamp group. This group has the mental toughness being able to get up at 5am each day and train as intensely as you do. With that determination over the long run you will only become a stronger person with a slimmer waist line.

Keep up the great work!!!

Round One Bootcamp Registration

I have opened up a new time slot for the Round One Bootcamp. Beginning October 20th, there will be two sessions running simultaneously. Session A will run Mon./Wed/Fri at 5:45am.
Session B will run Tues./Thurs at 5:45am and Sat. at 8am.

Please let me know which session you are interested in as the program is limited to 10 people per session. It is on a first come, first serve basis and the Bootcamps fill up quickly. Registration Deadline is Oct. 15/08 for both sessions. Please contact me through knockoutps@gmail.com to register for the upcoming Bootcamps!

London Bootcamp Frequently Asked Questions

A lot of people tend to have the same questions repeatedly. So below I have given the answers to the most commonly asked questions.

Q: What equipment do I have to bring to the boot camp classes?
A: The beauty of our program is that we provide all the equipment necessary. I do recommend you get your own boxing gloves but we do have pair available for use.

Q: How many participants are there in each class?
A: The maximum amount of people is 10 in each class. This is half the size of most other boot camps in the local area where people can get to know each other and support each other.

Q: When are the programs run?
A: 5:45am Tues/Thurs/Sat.(8am) or Mon/Wed./Fri at 5:45am

Q: What level of fitness are the workouts geared towards?
A: The workouts are suitable for most fitness levels. Everyone works out at their own pace but are given encouragement to challenge themselves each set and workout. But to be hones, if you haven't been working out at all I would recommend an easier program in the local area. Our workouts are intense and will be the hardest you have worked in a long time. But the rewards will be a leaner and healthier you!

The Superfoods!

Below is a list of excellent additions to your nutritional plan. A lot of people once they start on a new eating plan will tell other that they are "watching what they eat" . This description leads to people eliminating certain food from their nutritional plan. If you want to achieve the most optimal balance of health, body fat and performance, it is more important to focus on what you need to add to your nutritional plan and not take away. A good nutitional plan should teach you additions, not subtractions. Spend more time eating the "super foods" and then you won't have the time or room for the "bad foods"

So below is list of 20 great foods you should include in your daily meals and they fit well in the 10 Steps to Better Nutrition for Fat Loss.

1. Lean Red Meat (93% lean, top round, sirloin)
2. Salmon
3. Omega 3 Eggs
4. Lowfat, plain yogurt (lactose-free if you can find it)
5. Protein Supplement ( milk protein isolates, whey protein isolates or rice protein)
6. Spinach
7. Tomatoes
8. Crciferous Veggies (Broccoli, Cabbage, Cauliflower)
9. Mixed Berries ( a variety including strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, etc.)
10. Oranges
11. Mixed Beans ( ie: kidney, navy, white etc.)
12. Quinoa (Ancient grains)
13. Whole Oats (large flake)
14. Mixed Nuts ( a variety including pecans, walnuts, cashews, brazil nuts, etc.)
15. Avocados
16. Olive Oil (extra virgin)
17. Fish Oil (salmon, anchovy, menhaden)
18. Flax Seeds (ground)
19. Green tea
20. Exercise Drinks ( quickly digested carbohydrate and protein)


I will go into greater detail as to why and how they different foods are important to a healthy living and better body composition. Stay tuned!

Replacing Fat with Muscle

How do you know if you are replacing fat by muscle?

The best way is to monitor changes in your lean body weight. Lean body weight can be determined by subtracting your body wieght from your body fat wieght. your body fat weight is calculated by multiplying your body weight by your body fat percentage.

For example:

Body weight= 180lbs (Body Fat%)=17.5%
Body Fat weight= 180 X 17.5%= 31.5lbs

So lean body weight is: 180-31.5= 148.5

So if you followed the Round One Bootcamp for 8wks and you have the following result:

Body weight= 182lbs (BF %)= 13%

The lean body weight= 182-23.66 (182X13%)= 158.3lbs

The lean body weight difference : 158.3-148.5= 9.8lbs

So you have gained 9.8 lbs of lean weight and are therefore replacing fat with muscle!

Accumeasure Bodyfat Measurement

A few people in the current bootcamp have inquired about bodyfat testing. What I use to test people's bodyfat is a simple tool called the Accumeasure. This device is very accurate and simple to use with both a one site measurement and three site measurement tools. Below is some key highlights of the study which talks about the benefits and comparison to other bodyfat testing devices.

For anyone wanting their Bodyfat reading I will be bringing in both devices on Saturday, Sept.20th


Check out the info below:

A clinical study published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research by the National Strength & Conditioning Association.

Key findings included the following:

Self-testing of % body fat with the Accu-Measure was as accurate as results from multi-site measurements and calculations taken by an experienced clinical investigator using a Lange caliper.

% body fat calculations with the Accu-Measure were within 1.1 percentage points of underwater weighing results, the gold standard of body fat measurement.

Accu-Measure was recommended over another self-assessment device, the Futrex-1000, which significantly overestimated % body fat.

"A salient feature of the Accu-Measure is that it is an inexpensive self-assessment technique that requires little skill to administer, therefore offering an attractive alternative for individuals who wish to determine their body composition without the inconvenience, expense, and lack of privacy of conventional body fat testing at clinics or recreational facilities." -- Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, December 1998

http://www.accumeasurefitness.com/products/index.html

Steps 6 to 10 for Better Nutrition for Fat Loss

Ok, so hope you were able to read the Nutritional steps I gave you yesterday and started implementing them. This system has been proven to work for thousands of people but I know it can be difficult to change your daily eating patterns. Below are some steps that continue on from the previous and will help you achieve some of the previous steps.

6) Eliminate Calorie containing drinks except for workout nutrition

Eliminate all fruit juice, soda and other sugar containing drinks including fruit juice. Some people believe that fruit juices are a healthy alternative to soda but really they offer very little in nutritional value and should not replace fruits and vegetables. Really you should be eating most of calories from regular food and your two main drinks should be only Water and Green Tea.

How much water? At least Two Litres a day or more is a good guideline.

7) Eat whole foods instead of supplements as much as possible.

Most of the food that you eat should come from whole food that follow the 9 other habits listed here. There are times when liquid nutrition or bars are very useful( a really busy day, post workout nutrition or when travelling) , but most of your eating plan should be whole foods. Skip the multi-vitamin and eat your fruits and veggies!

8) Plan to break the rules 15% of the time.

You don't have to be perfect and it will actually help you stay on track better and keep your metabolism up. So what does 15% mean? Well if your eating 5 times per day for 7 days per week that is 35 meals that you will be having. Since 15% of 35 is about 5 meals or imperfect meals per week. So you can eat what you like during those five meals and can include "junk food" or you can count it as a missed meal! Or in other words, if you break 1 of the 10 rules that counts a s one of your 15%. So if I were you I wouldn't miss a cheat meal by missing one of the rules. I want to go out and enjoy my brownie one of my imperfect meals. Remember they are meals and not days or day. Don't just take an entire day off as that can quickly set you back on your fitness and body fat reduction goals!

9) Prepare all your meals in advance by planning ahead

Know that for most people they have heard of what a carbs is or protein or good fat/bad fat is. They know which foods are good and bad. The hardest part is time management and trying to keep to the previous 8 rules consistently. So it's not necessarily about the food but making sure you have the right foods on hand when you need them.

You need to come up with food preparation strategies in order to be sure your getting your meals in and following the steps. If that means cooking a bunch of meals on Sunday night and freezing them in Ziploc bags so you can just take them and go. Or getting up 30 min earlier to prepare all the meals for the day; or getting someone else to do it for you by paying them or being really nice to them. The key point is that you need to plan ahead so that you can achieve your fat loss goals.

10) Eat a wide variety of good food

Each one of us tend to eat the same things ie: same cereal, same drinks, same fruits etc. which tends to be boring but works. For a while you can eat the same things each day while trying to get the new habits in place but be sure to spice it up a bit and include a variety of foods. Mix up your fruits and veggies and rotate you protein sources.


Well, there you have it. Ten steps that will be sure to get you to the fitness goals that you are looking for. Be sure to take action and get going today!!! Don't procrastinate and get support from your loved ones by telling them what you want to do. Make yourself accountable by telling your friends what your doing and what your specific fat loss goals are. You are to be sure to get to where you want to go quicker with more of a sense of urgency

10 Steps to Better Nutrtion for Fat Loss

Over the course of the next few days I will reveal some very necessary nutrition habits that you should work hard at implementing. Now some of the information may be against what you have learned over the years but the steps work in getting you healthy and lean at the same time! Double bang for your buck!

So below are the first 5 habits:

1) Eat every 2-3 Hours
For most of us we learned that we were to eat three times per day and we would get everything we need. Why do we need to feed every 2-3 hours? Research has demonstrated that eating every 2-3 hours is important for stimulating your metabolism, keeping blood sugar balanced, and will improve your health, performance and how you look! So keep tabs of when your eating and even plan out your day when you will eat and aim for 5-6 small meals per day.

Now usually when I tell people to follow this guideline people have many questions. First, how many meals per day should you be eating? Well an easy way is to just take the hours that you are awake IE:15 and divide by 3=5 meals per day.

Another quest on would be do I eat before bed? Well, keeping in mind the guideline, if it falls with the every 2-3 hours then be sure to have a meal.

Finally, how big should your meals be? Well, the remainder of the nine habits will help in determining that question. Just be sure you take the opportunity to feed the body every 2-3 hours.

2) Have Lean Protein with every Meal
Eating protein stimulate you metabolic rate, improve muscle mass and recovery, and will reduce your body fat substantially. The types of protein you want to ingest will be shared later but just remember to have it at each meal every two to three hours. Not just during those three meals a day that most people follow.

3) Have Vegetables with each Meal
Eat your veggies young man! Those favourite words that every mom tells her kids. Well mom was right and now researchers have finally caught up with mama. Research has proven that vegetables give the multitude of vitamins and minerals (micro nutrients) but in addition veggies have important plant chemicals( phytochemicals) that are essential for optimal body functioning.
An important function the veggies provide (and fruits) is to help balance out the acid levels produced by ingesting protein and grains. It's important to balance these acids with alkaline rich veggies and fruits. Too much acid leads to a loss of bone strength and muscle mass.

So be sure to ingest 1-2 servings of vegetable with every meal every 2-3 hours. Aim for 10 Servings per day as a minimum!

4) Eat Veggies and Fruit at any meal but all other carbs mostly after exercise
Eat all other carbs(simple sugars, sports drinks and starchy carbs such as rice, pasta, potatoes etc.) during or right after exercise. Your body is most responsive to simple carbohydrates after a workout is primed to absorb these carbs. So if you want to eat bread, pasta, rice, sugar, etc. you can but save them only until after you workout. Doing so allows you for this plan to work better as excluding those non-veggie foods is to hard to do and in the long run lead to people cheating and gorging themselves from the deprivation of not having.

So go ahead ingest these carbs in moderation after a workout then for the rest of the day go back to ingesting fruits and vegetables as your carb source for the remainder of the day.

5) Eat Healthy Fats Daily

Ah, that dreaded word, Fat! Well, fat can and is a good thing as long as you eat the right types in the right amounts. About 30% of a person's eating plan should come from fat. However, a person should aim to balance the three types of fat through out the day where they consume 1/3 saturated, 1/3 polyunsaturated and 1/3 monounsaturated. Avoid Trans Fats! (IE:fast food) Doing this will lead to optimal health, performance and improve how you look.

So go ahead eat your fat! Don't be scared. It's fairly easy to do actually. An important recommendation is to supplement your eating plan with fish oil. Everybody should be supplementing with this as fish oil helps protect against heart disease, cancer, body fat reduction, diabetes and many issues we face as a human population.

Below is a list of the different types of fats and the food that have them.

Type of Fat Sources
Saturated Fat
Coconut Oil, Palm Oil, Animal fat, peanut oil

Monounsaturated Fat
Fish Oil, Plants and animals

Polyunsaturated Fats
Omega 3 Fats
Plant fats-flax seeds, flax oil, fish oil

Omega 6 Fats
Corn, safflower, soy, animal fat

Trans Fats
Processed vegetable fat


Stay tuned tomorrow for Steps 6-10.

The Power of Interval Boxing

The following article talks about how effective boxing and kickboxing intervals are in shedding Fat and getting you in great shape. Check it out!

http://www.rossboxing.com/thegym/thegym17.htm

Round One Bootcamp is Now Full!!!

The September bootcamp at Round One is now full and will start bright and early Tuesday September 16th. I am excited to have new participants to the bootcamp as you will see tremendous results if you push yourself and workout with intensity. Looking forward to meeting everyone and making you sweat :) Stay tuned to the beginning series on How to Eat for Fat Loss!

Five Reasons Why You Want to Do Interval Training

We've have all seen it before and been astounded at the physiques of a lot of the Olympic sprinters, gymnasts, boxers and MMA competitors. How do they do it? What's their secret? Well, one of the secrets lies in the types of training they perform on a daily basis and the types of muscle fibers they use. Below are five ways that interval training works to finally see those defined abs.

1. One reason intervals are more effective is that they target the majority of your muscle. During endurance exercise, you use a lot of slow-twitch muscle fibers and too few fast-twitch muscle fibers. It's the fast-twitch muscle fibers that give you firm muscles and fast-tracked results.

2. Interval training burns more overall calories then slow long distance cardio. If you were to perform eight thirty second sprints in your workout you would burn about 200 calories. If you were to run 45min on a treadmill at a decent pace you might burn 400 calories. On the surface most would think that the 45 min cardio session is more effective at burning fat. However, with interval training your metabolism stays elevated for a full day where you end up burning two to three times the overall calories compared to steady state cardio training.

3. If the above information wasn't enough, intervals can also help to reverse the aging process. Fast-twitch fibers are the first to go when we age, largely because neurons stop communicating with them. Research has shown that you can increase neuron firing rates after just one week of training. With more muscles firing, you have more energy for life.

4. Interval Training does not take much time and you see results quickly. With circuit weight training and interval cardio, you can quickly get a workout in under 45 minutes that keep the body burning calories all day long.

5. The fifth reason you want to do interval training is that is works! If you want to get quick results and be on your way to finally seeing those six pack abs then interval training is the way to go. The research proves it as seen below:

• December 2006, Canadian researchers reported that just two weeks of interval training boosted women's ability to burn fat during exercise by 36%.
  • In January 2007, a six-month study was published showing that adding aerobic exercise had no additional effect on body composition, over diet alone.
  • In June of 2007, a twelve-month study was published which had the subjects doing six hours of aerobic exercise per week, training six days a week, for one year. The average weight loss was only three pounds for that one-year period.
  • According to a British study, levels of Human Growth Hormone, which assists in building muscle and burning fat, skyrocketed 530% in subjects after just thirty seconds of sprinting as fast as they could on a stationary bike.
  • Australian fitness researchers had eighteen women perform twenty minutes of interval training on a stationary bike — eight-seconds of sprinting followed by twelve seconds of recovery — throughout the workout, three days a week.

The women lost an average of five-and-a-half pounds over fifteen weeks, without dieting. Similar groups performing forty minutes of moderate cycling, three days a week, actually gained a pound of fat over the same period. Two of the heavier women who did intervals dropped eighteen pounds.

• In a side-by-side comparison, researchers at McMaster University in Ontario measured fitness gains in eight interval exercisers — using twenty to thirty minute cycling workouts that included four to six thirty-second sprints — against eight volunteers who pedaled at a lower intensity for 90 to 120 minutes.

So now with all the research and some great reasons there really is no excuse to be doing cardio training anymore. Now go out and do your sprints!

Bootcamp is Coming Soon!!!

The official start of the Round One Bootcamp will begin Tuesday September 16th at 6am. For four weeks, 10 determined individuals will challenge themselves to some tough challenging workouts to get healthy and burn some Fat! The class will consist of some gruelling weight training circuits along with intense boxing intervals that will just melt the fat away! Stay tuned as members of the Bootcamp update how they are doing on the 4wk challenge.