Ultimate Body Press

By Avril Young, Registered Dietitian, LDN, NASM CPT

It’s easy to come to the conclusion that you have to eat less in order to lose weight. But even though that seems to make sense, it only works to a point. If you eat less than your body’s bare minimum needs (resting metabolic rate, or RMR), your body will actually STORE MORE FAT. Think about that and try to wrap your head around it. We’ll be coming back to this topic. There is no golden rule for amount of calories since everyone’s RMRs are different, but if you follow the rules in this post and the guidelines to come in future posts, you will be getting enough calories.

By Avril Young, Registered Dietitian, LDN, NASM CPT

Many of my clients show me food records that have 60%+ of their calories coming from carbs. Now if you are an athlete of normal weight, that’s not necessarily a problem. But if you are trying to lose fat, it’s a different story. If your food intake is that high in carbs, it’s likely not high enough in protein. Adequate protein is important for 3 reasons: improved satiety, increased thermic affect of food and maintenance of lean body mass. Protein takes longer to digest than carbohydrates and fat, therefore adequate protein with each meal and snack can lead you to fell more satisfied. Additionally, the body works harder to digest protein than it does to digest carbs and fat. In fact, 3 to 4 times as many calories are burned during protein digestion. Finally, as you lose weight, you want to limit this to mostly fat. Consuming adequate protein to meet your body’s needs can help you do this by ensuring that you aren’t breaking down muscle for energy during periods of reduced calorie consumption. Aim to include protein with each meal and snack from sources such as meat, fish, eggs, milk, yogurt, cheese, beans, nuts, protein powders and vegetables.

By Avril Young, Registered Dietitian, LDN, NASM CPT

Instead, eat at regular intervals throughout the day. Past research has said that eating throughout the day ensures that your metabolism stays high all day, however new research no longer supports this. Should you still eat throughout the day? Definitely. Going long periods of time could lead to one or both of the following: 1. You get too hungry and the Oreos on the counter next to the apples seem like the best choice, or 2. You get too hungry and overeat. Both of these results negatively impact your goal of losing fat. So, how many meals should you eat? There is no magic rule – it depends on your schedule and your body. Try not to go more than 5 hours without eating and get used to listening to your body. Have pre-planned snacks available so when you start to get hungry, you have something you feel good about eating and that supports your goal of fat loss. I’ll spend more time on what to eat in future posts.

People do thousands of sit-ups without every getting the strength or definition they are looking for. You’ll never get the abs you want without learning and practicing great posture. That is because having great abs has a lot to do with the way you stand, walk and run. Real core strength comes from your lower abs and all the muscles around your hips.

The easiest way to understand what we are talking about is to study the Speed and Agility exercises practiced by professional track athletes. There you will find a huge variety of exercises that focus on all these muscles at once. You will also come to understand the specific posture these athletes practice. It is their attention to posture that activates deep core muscles and conditions the athlete to achieve greater power and speed. They also get the fringe benefit of great looking abs and less risk of injury by improving core strength.

These are some of the most rewarding exercises you have never heard of and you can learn more about them here. Posture, Speed & Agility for Great Abs

Drinking protein shakes right after a muscle building workout delivers protein to your muscles at a time when they are best prepared to absorb it.  The best thing you can do is get in the habit of drinking a shake right after your workout.  It is also beneficial to drink several smaller portions of protein shake through out the day. This gives your muscles a steady supply of fuel for even more growth.  This steady supply of protein will also boost your metabolism.

To make all this shake making easier on yourself, go ahead and prepare a bunch of servings ahead of time.  Wash out a half gallon milk jug and fill the entire container full with protein shake using any brand of powder.  You can keep it in your refrigerator for 2-3 days and the flavor only gets better as the protein powder becomes fully disolved.  The main thing that will make the protein shakes taste bad is using too much water.  A good shake should be about the consistency of store bought chocolate milk. Experiment with the water to powder ratio until you get it right.

Having a large supply of  protein drink ready made makes you much more likely to follow through on this muscle building nutritional tactic.

You can spend all day reading about different styles of running. The literature generally falls into two camps. Either you are a heel striker meaning you first land on your heel then role off the toe or you are a chi/pose runner meaning you land on your mid-foot. Many will argue the pros and cons of both. Landing on your heels creates more breaking and impact forces to be transferred up your knee and into your hips. Landing on your mid-foot with your foot more directly beneath puts more stress on the bones of the foot and ankle and creates more vertical movement in your stride.

Which is correct? Who cares? Try both. Running is more than just a journey across the pavement. We all have a lot to learn about our best running form. Running is also a journey of personal experience and growth. Get to know your own body and try both techniques. Learn what both feel like. Run a mile one way then switch to the other. If you are considering changing running styles altogether you’ll have to do this anyways, building up new strengths over time. You may find that spending a little time landing on your mid foot as opposed to rolling from heels to toe will give you insight into your dominate stride style and vice versa.

Whichever style you choose, know that both styles will benefit from effective arm action, a strong core and hip stabilization. Exercises like Standing Arm Action, Hip Abductions and Hip Extensions will promote these qualities.

Set yourself up for success. Having the right food choices on hand makes all the difference when it comes to establishing more healthy eating habits. The first thing for you to do is clear your pantry of things like chips, crackers, cookies even pretzels. While you may think some of these are healthy choices there are better options. Even whole wheat products still contain enough processed flours to send your blood sugar soaring and that means your metabolism will take a nose dive.

The absolute best snacks can be found in the produce isle. So stock up on fruits and vegetables instead because they are packed with vital nutrients and are notably short on calories. Take Asian Pears, for instance.  How can something so sweet and delicious only have 50 calories? Pair your pear with some cheese for a sweet and savory snack you can enjoy in seconds. Here we have a lovely afternoon snack. 140 calories, 6 g protein, 5 g fat, 9 g natural sugar and 4 g fiber .

Like you body, fruits and vegetables are made mostly of water along with a perfect combination of vitamins straight from the earth, natural sugars and fiber, leaving you feeling full and satisfied. Furthermore, the natural sugars breakdown more slowly in your body so you are less likely to experience a spike in your blood sugar levels. You will have more sustained energy and a higher metabolism throughout the day.

PREPARATION TIP:  Use a melon baller to quickly remove the core from fruits like pears and apples.  It’s fast and makes for a more attractive presentation of the fruit.

Many top athletes with the best footwork in the world train using a jump rope. Why is that and what sets them apart? The reason so many athletes train with the jump rope is because it physically conditions your body to be quick and explosive off the ground. Jumping rope can also train your mind to control your footwork in a very precise way that allows your body to generate extremely rapid movement. However, this mental conditioning will not happen unless you know how to practice it. The mental conditioning has to do with the specific way athletes use their jump rope.

There are three things you are probably not aware of about jumping rope that helps boxers and soccer players and other athletes achieve amazing foot speed. Those things are rhythm, counting and foot patterns. Counting out various foot patterns while jumping creates a rhythm. The foot patterns require you to move from one foot to the other at different intervals and in different directions. While practicing these patterns the sound your feet and the rope make hitting the ground takes on a syncopated quality.

A unique feature of jumping rope in this way is that it combines two of the highest forms of human performances; sports and music. In music, you practice a pattern until it goes from awkward and difficult to natural and effortless. This can also be done with a jump rope. Work on different foot patterns, left, left, right, right. Jump twice between turns or jump once. Lunge forward, lunge back, switch feet, one footed, move to the left, move to the right, heel –toe, high knees etc. See what you can come up with. You will literally stumble upon new foot pattern all the time. It is challenging and fun.

Just like practicing music, you will be working on some pattern for a while, maybe 1-2 minutes then you mess up mostly because of either mental or physical fatigue. Take a breather for a minute then start back again. Do that for 20-30 minutes every other day and you will find your footwork and speed improving rapidly. You will also experience the fringe benefit of weight loss and you might even learn a new dance step or two. Not bad for a $10 kid’s toy.

Most people are catching on to the idea that a healthier diet should include much less processed grains and starchy foods, but that presents a problem. What are we supposed to eat for dinner if we can’t have mash potatoes or a side of rice with our grilled chicken? Having a solid list of “go to” side items makes healthy meal preparation much easier. With that in mind, you must master this salad recipe.

This is the classic mixed green salad with balsamic vinaigrette and it is a very versatile salad. It’s just as good with a steak or burger as it is with a breakfast quiche. It’s the perfect quick and easy side to all meals. This salad can also be used as a base for an entrée salad, just add chopped fruits, nuts, vegetables, a little gorgonzola and dinner is served.

Ready to serve mixed baby greens are available at all grocery stores. One bag of greens easily makes 4 serving. Put a piece of paper towel in the bag before you store unused green in the fridge. This way the leaves will stay crisp for at least a week if not longer. Grab a big ol’ handful and put it in a large bowl. Drizzle with some olive oil, a couple glugs. Give it a long spin of the pepper grinder and a sprinkle of kosher salt. Mix a little then add one or two glugs of balsamic vinegar, the darker kind. It’s thicker and sweeter and looks like dark red wine in the bottle. Mix once more and that’s it. It’s a classic fresh salad to round out any meal. The peppery mixed greens and balsamic vinegar gives this salad a flavor that is refreshing and full of palate cleansing goodness.

The way you feel and how others react to you has as much to do with what you say as it does with what your body is communicating while you speak, but do not confuse body composition with body language because it’s your posture not your percentage body fat that determines what message you will send. Your body language has a profound effect on you and the people around you. This is so true that half our brains are dedicated to interpreting body language and not words. That’s why we have a left brain and a right brain because before humans used spoken word we communicated using body language.

I’m sure that you can read body language, but how good are you at speaking it? Not sure? The good news is body language can be learned just like learning a spoken language and it just as important too because before you speak a single word to someone, they have already made a judgment about you based on your body language alone. It’s just human nature.

It’s a language of movement, poise and performance. Those who are most fluent in this body language will also excel in activities like sports, combat and the arts like dance and music. You can also use it to influence others, improving your posture will even help you make friends.

Ultimate Body Press exercises help you with your body language in two ways. First, they give you strength and help you build muscle quickly, boosting your metabolism and helping you lose fat. Learning these exercises will teach you how to develop and maintain the amazing instrument that is your own human body.

Finally our exercises teach you about body language and posture. You will develop a new feeling of control over all parts of your body so that you can move with great precision and power. You will look different, feel different and move differently, changing the way you feel and how others react to you.