Fit Tip

I am stating the obvious, but hey, it's that time of year, and if you're like me, you've got a lot on your plate.  Don't forget to REST!  Sleep, rest, and recovery are integral components of your fitness regime.

Until December 25th, take the time to get a 20 minute walk in daily-no phones!  This is your "rest" for the day.  If a full 20 minutes isn't possible, then 10 minutes here and there will work. 
Rest your mind for a bit, breathe in some good air, and re-fuel for the remainder of your hectic day.  You'll feel great, I promise!

Fit Tip

I hope everyone enjoyed Thanksgiving; ate, drank, and were merry but kept a close watch on their input/output. 
Keep in mind, to burn one pound of body fat, we must burn 3500 more calories than we consume.  If you're trying to loose weight, shoot for maintaining a 500 calorie per day deficit; consume 250 less calories, expend 250 calories each day.  Prioritize what you eat and how you spend your time. Stay focused!  And remember that holiday season is not weight loss season; this is maintenance time.  Helping you keep it all in check!

Fit Tip of the Week

Here I am nagging again, but sometimes it's just the only way!  Now that we've officially reached the holiday season, its more important than ever to keep that Food Diary.  Log each meal, snack, drink and keep track of yow much you're consuming daily.  While you're writing, go ahead and note exercise/activities too. 

Remember to be specific and detail your consumption with vivid descriptions: size, quantity, preparation details are important!

Fit Tip

Ever eat a big meal at a restaurant and not realize you're "too full" until you stand up to leave?  Practice slowing down your eating.  If you're dining at home, set a kitchen timer for 20 minutes and make your meal last at least that long.  Re-invent yourself as a slow eater!  It takes our bodies at least 20 minutes to fully realize what we have ingested and feel satiated.  During your next meal, practice eating more slowly, enjoying your food, the conversation, the "down time" and feel refreshed, not stuffed after the dishes are cleared.

Get Fit at Home

All I hear, day after day after day is "I'm too busy to workout."  Can you hear it? 

Remember that all it takes is an hour or less a day to get fit and stay fit.  If you feel like you can't add a trip to the gym to your daily schedule, consider working out at home.  I've teamed up with a fantastic trainer with over 20 years experience, Randy Brandt, to bring all you need to accomplish a full workout in your own home.  Randy has designed an exercise program based on minimal equipment; over 250 moves are possible to keep you from plateauing.

If you're interested in hearing more about the product and talking about my personal training services to introduce you to the system, don't hesitate to email me ann.rayburn@hotmail.com and we'll get started planning your home gym experience today.  I'll be over asap!

There are only excuses keeping you from having the body/fitness/health you deserve!

Be ready for holiday season

Can you believe it's already time for the holiday season?  This Fall has really flown by.  Take a moment now to prepare yourself for all of the parties, travel, food and goodies that will be around in the weeks ahead.

• Think about your holiday schedule.  Will you have time in the mornings/days/nights to fit in your exercise routine?  Draft a calendar now with exercise days/times scheduled.  Don't pencil them in, use ink!
• Plan on munching on your left-over (or your kids!) Halloween candy?  Select only the worthy treats (only the ones you absolutely love) and add an extra 10 or 15 minutes to your regular cardio time per session to work it off.
• If you enjoy alcoholic beverages while partying, remember to have a glass of water between each cocktail and finish the evening with water.
• Office party buffet?  Have a healthy snack prior to going.  While at the buffet, limit yourself to one plate and fill it with low-fat meats/seafoods, cheese, nuts, and fruits and veg.  Steer clear of fried foods, sausages, chips and dips.
• Traveling?  Pack a jump rope and a band and you've got your gym to go!  Mom may not have a gym, but most hotels/lodges will be able to accommodate your fitness needs so pack clothes accordingly.  BTW, "forgetting your gym shoes" is the equivalently of "my dog ate my homework."  Yup, nobody's buying it.
• Don't workout alone!  Get your kids and family involved; it will be fun.
• My dad loves to serve up all my favorites for holiday meals so that means lots of fried meats and delicious pies (thanks Liz!) and I never say no.  If you MUST have the forbidden fruits, watch portion sizes and avoid what you can resist.  Don't fill up your plate with large portions of each dish being offered.
• Don't resist enjoying the special meals and opportunities to celebrate.  You'll just regret it later.
• Schedule extra sessions with your personal trainer (ME!) or your group x instructor (ME!) now so that you'll be armed for unexpected indulgences.  

It's the holidays so be ready for ups and downs on the scale, but don't let a short period of time take over your fitness.  
If you're planning on dropping a few pounds prior to Thanksgiving, it's go time. Drop and give me 20!

Jack Knife

Add this exercise to your ab routine to spice up your core work:

 Lie faceup on the floor with your legs extended, your arms straight overhead and your feet and hands a few inches of the floor. 
 Squeeze your abs to lift both your upper and lower body off the floor in a smooth motion so your hands and feet meet directly over your navel.  Return to the start under control. 
Repeat.

Try this quick exercise out ASAP

After the age of 30, your metabolic rate slows down and you lose bone density. This exercise can help reverse the effects of aging: Lay your forearm down on a countertop or other flat surface, and bring one leg up behind you, squeezing in your abdominals. Do 30 leg lifts to the side, and then 30 to the back.

How much?

Fit Tip of the Week

Halloween Tips

Reducing sugar intake

Zero Calorie handout options:

• Plastic insects, ghosts, skeletons
• Halloween-themed pencils/pens
• Temporary tattoos or animal stickers
• Halloween bracelets or rings
• Bouncy balls, bubbles or whistles
• Plastic vampire teeth/fangs
• Sugar-free gum  

Still set on shelling out something sweet? Here's the caloric info:

• Fun/snack size Snickers - 72 calories
• Fun/snack size Baby Ruth - 85 calories
• Fun/snack size M&Ms - 90 calories
• Fun/snack size Butterfinger - 100 calories 

Eat one of each (approx. 350 calories total) and you'll need to walk briskly for over an hour and a half to burn them off!

Thanks Cooper Institute for the great ideas for Halloween!

Must-Make-More-Cut-Must-Make-More-Cut-Must-Make...

Fit Tip of the Week

You know Count Chocula isn't the Breakfast of Champions. But with so many seemingly nutritious options, how can you tell if you're picking the best cereal? Jackie Newgent, R.D., a culinary nutritionist in New York, recommends checking the label for:

• Three or more grams of total fiber per serving.
• One or more grams of soluble fiber, which may help lower cholesterol and keeps blood sugar stable. (Whole-oat cereals are especially good sources.)
• Fewer than two grams of saturated fat and no trans fats, both of which contribute to heart disease risk.
• Fewer than 10 grams of sugar, unless it has dried fruit, which contain natural sugars.

Our Picks:  General Mills Fiber One Honey Clusters, Kellogg's All Bran Bran Buds, and Cheerios.

Originally published in FITNESS magazine, September 2006.

Fit Tip of the Week

Are you having difficulty reaching your fitness goals?  Re-think how you've set your goals.  Create a list of manageable goals and set a specific date to satisfy each one.  On your "list of things to do" we talked about last week, write your specific goal: run one mile in 10 minutes.  This goal is obtainable and within a time frame that is foreseeable.  Try to avoid "increase speed of run".   Try to check off four goals a week! 

Don't forget, the holidays will be here before you know it!  Don't wait until it's too late to make changes in your physique.

Fit Tip of the Week

When you really want to push yourself past your limit, try partial reps.

Finish your normal training set (3 or 4 sets, right?!), keeping the same weight but increasing your speed and lifting only half-way.  Take bicep curls for example; you're completing your third set of 12 reps and your arm just won't lift anymore past your elbow...been there right, huh?...continue on until failure just at the half lift.  Stop if you cannot maintain good form!  Elbows pinned at your sides and not leaning back looks great.  Really knock these out and go as fast as you can.  Check out your hypertrophy in a couple of weeks!

TRX

abs!  abs!  abs!

Gotta do plank or its not officially a workout!

TRX

Ok-TRX, here I come!

Aerobifit 4507 Kelvin Dr. Houston, TX 77005

Fit Tip of the Week

Eating out?  Be polite, but firm.  Request no sauce, no sour cream and no bacon (bits).  Ask for steamed veggies, a baked or grilled entree, and no butter.  Be sure and have fresh fruit or berries for dessert.  If you must drink try to take only one glass of red wine.

Try something new!

Everyone knows how much I love my personal training gig, but now I've added a new workout to my repertoire!  I am now available to assist you with personal training, TRX training, or my new B-Fit workout.  B-Fit will be held at Aerobifit, 4507 Kelvin Dr. on Tuesday & Thursday evenings 6:30-7:30.  Check out the combo cross-fit/boot-camp style class and be ready to work!  Class sizes are limited to 3 for TRX and 4 for B-Fit so don't wait until the last minute to sign up.  Oh, yeah, bring a towel-you're gonna need that.

Time, Time, and (less/more), Time

Feel like you're just not getting it all done in a day?  Exercise!?  No time for that!!!  Nothing irritates me more as a trainer than to get a call from my client saying "they have too much to do" or " there are errands to get done" so they can't come to the session.  Really???
Since it's "back to school" and shops are advertising their school supplies, take a cue from the teacher's list and pick up your own agenda.  I know, I know, you carry a blackberry or smart phone or whatever-use it much for record keeping?
I'm a huge fan of the traditional composition notebook.  Grab one and start making a To-Do List.  Prioritize each days necessary jobs and include your training!  You'll be amazed at how well you will manage your time when its in black & white in front of you.  Don't forget to check off items as you go.
Extra pages in that big book....ahhh...an excellent place to jot down your food log :)

Just read this on Get Fit Source and LOVED it! Push-ups rule!

This NYT article by the well known health and fitness writer, Tara Parker-Pope, dissects the standard push-up.  Here are some highlights from the article. 

1. The push-up is a good barometer of overall fitness engaging muscle groups in the arms, chest, abdomen, hips and legs.
2.  The obesity epidemic has made push-ups more difficult to perform for the average American—pushing up all that extra weight is not easy.
3. The aerobics revolution has shifted emphasis away from maintaining upper body strength, which is not a good thing.
4. Lots of people can’t do push-ups, including for the reasons listed above.  Kids are failing push-up tests at an alarming frequency rate.
5. Being able to do push-ups is particularly important as we age as push-ups can provide the strength and muscle memory to reach out and break a fall, and it’s well known that falls can be debilitating for seniors.
6. People lose strength as they age but regular exercise enlarges muscle fibers and can mitigate the decline.
7.  A 40 year old man should be able to do 27 push-ups.  At age 60, the number is 17.

While the article focuses on the time honored push-up, it is really another wake up call regarding the importance of exercise in life and particularly as we age.  Let’s face, how many 60 year old men can hit the deck and crack out 17 push-ups?  Staying in shape confers huge health and lifestyle benefits as we age.  Push-ups are a good barometer of your overall fitness and should be part of any training program. 

Make sure you're getting the right combination of foods to maximize your fat burning potential: eat a diet consisting of 40-45% of daily calories from carbs, 30% from protein, and 25-30% from fat.
If you can't live without your "Three Meals a Day" and the idea of eating mini-meals puts you off-don't stress! Eat only when your body needs a boost. Eat often enough so that you don't pig out in one meal; our bodies just can't handle all those calories at once. There is nothing wrong with three meals and a snack in the mid-afternoon. Just make sure it's not a high-fat/calorie goodie (yes, that includes coffees!)

I volunteer at the SPCA one day a week for three hours. Think I can make this part of my training for a day??? Whew, it's hot outside and most of those dogs need some serious leash training! That's what I get for working with "big dogs, " huh. Hmm...could have something to do with the fact that they are starved for attention and activity! Super fun; super exhausting. Remind me to get out my pedometer to see what I'm cranking these days.

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size about 1/3-second spray (.266g)
Servings per container about 526

Calories 0 Fat Calories 0

Are you checking the labels for serving sizes?

To add calories/grams per serving you must use the exact suggesting serving size. If you eat more, then you have to tack on extra calories. Back to the Pam label, it tells us that a 1 second spray is <1 g fat and 7 calories and should cover a 10 inch skillet. Still better than butter or oil, but probably not as low fat/low in calories as you thought.

Be sure to be consistent and persistent in reading labels. I'm sure you've also guessed where this is headed-don't forget to jot down your food in a journal/log for the best results.

I attended a webinar yesterday hosted by Health Fitness Provider Network. Awesome! Dominique Adair, MS, RD was the speaker and she kept me interested for 2.5 hours. Know how hard it is to sit still for that long??? Diet Hype: Seeing Through the Haze and Navigating the Maze was the theme. Tons of info! What I really took away from it, though, was the importance of keeping a food log. She actually refuses to take on a client if they will not agree to logging their food consumption. Of course, she took it one further since her audience was primarily personal trainers and really hit home with journaling exercise as well as food. I'm getting my journal out today! I'm challenging you all to keeping a log of food and exercise this week.

Here I am! I always encourage my clients to try new things, so today I am breaking out of my usual routine and flexing some new muscle. I am certain that there will be moments when I'd like to stop; I know that at some point I will feel like I just can't complete the set-it's too heavy, too hard, too long. I also know that with perseverance, confidence, and a little help from my friends, this goal will be reached. Welcome to my new venture!