Fat Loss Workout Mistakes

Body Weight Exercises

Mistake #1 – Using a Traditional, Ineffective Warm-up

Unless you struggle with nagging injuries – and I realize many folks do – you shouldn’t be wasting your precious time by spending 5-10 minutes on a cardio warm-up.

It does nothing for you.

Eliminate it and use a bodyweight circuit warm-up instead, like the one you’ll find my fitness training clients doing on Tuesday and Thursday mornings at the Embassy Row ( The ER) Fitness Facility.

Mistake #2 – Using Traditional Straight Sets for Resistance Training

If you get your program out of old-school magazines, it probably recommends “straight sets” – meaning you do a set, then rest a long time, then repeat the set, etc.

But eye-opening new research shows that non-competing superset training – where you use “opposing muscle groups” in alternating exercises – BOOSTS your metabolism more than traditional straight sets. Limited breaks.

And again, my 600 calorie workout fixes this mistake – by using non-competing Tri-Sets (three exercises) to boost metabolism.

Mistake #3 – Using Traditional Slow Cardio

I won’t bore you with the research I’ve discussed time after time showing you that cardio is inefficient and ineffective for fat loss.

That “something that works better” is interval training, as well as metabolic resistance training. And I can show you a metabolic resistance training circuit that will knock your fat loss results out of the park.

I’m working on a few metabolic circuits right now.

…including the new “CT Bodyweight Cardio 100” workout and the new “CT Bodyweight 1000 Circuit” program.

Both will be implemented into Cross Training’s Tuesday and Thursday workouts in 2011.

Now go out there and burn it up with better workout strategies.

yours in better health naturally,

Dr. Carolyne Woods

CROSSTRAINING – HEALTH & FITNESS PROS

PPS – Please help out your workout buddies and family members…

…by forwarding this valuable, life-changing information about
common workout mistakes that hold them back from getting results.

And they will LOVE you for helping them out.

5 Belly Fat Burning Tips

Proven Fact #1 – Eat More Fruits & Vegetables

Subjects on a low-fat diet that ate more fruits and vegetables lost
more fat than another group on only the low-fat diet.

After 1-year, the low-fat, fruits and vegetables group (LF-FV) lost
more weight than another group of woman on the low-fat (LF) diet
only. Why?

Because the LF-FV group reported being less hungry, thanks to being
able to eat more food than the LF group.

Here’s the reference:
Amer. J. Clin. Nutr. 85: 1465-1477, 2007.

So eat nutrient-dense fruits and vegetables to fill you up. Time to
enjoy peaches, watermelon, apples, melons, and berries. Don’t let
any “guru” tell you that fruit is bad, that’s nonsense!

2) Drop the Cardio and Use My F.I.T. method of training.  What’s F.I.T.?

FAST INTERVAL TRAINING.

Our research friends in Australia have found interval training to be
the solution to stomach fat.

According to Professor Steve Boutcher, an Australian expert on
interval training, “high intensity intermittent exercise may result
in greater fat loss in the abdomen”.

That means that unlike doing hundreds of crunches, interval training
can work to burn belly fat over everything else. And that’s why the
F.I.T. [FAST INTERVAL TRAINING] for Abs workouts use intervals, not cardio.

3) Okay, There is ONE Type of Cardio That Can Help

In another study, researchers compared high-intensity cardio against
low-intensity cardio. Both groups burned the same amount of calories
in their workouts (400), but the high-intensity group exercised less.

Results?

The subjects in the Low-Intensity Exercise group did not lose fat.
So “Boooo!” to low-intensity cardio.

On the other hand, the HIC (high-intensity cardio) group lost a
significant amount of abdominal fat.

Once again, research shows that exercising harder results in more
belly fat loss in less time. And in fact, slow cardio does NOTHING
for fat loss.

Reference:
Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2008 Oct 8. Effect of Exercise Training
Intensity on Abdominal Visceral Fat and Body Composition.

So if you insist on doing cardio, I will allow you to do one extra
high-intensity cardio session per week in addition to your three
F.I.T. [FAST INTERVAL TRAINING] for Abs workouts per week.

4) Burn More Calories even AFTER Exercising with SUPERSETS.

The latest research shows that superset training – the type of
resistance training used in F.I.T. [FAST INTERVAL TRAINING] for Abs -boosts metabolism more than traditional straight set training.

Reference: J Str Cond Res 24:4 2010.

5) Stick with Lower Reps in Your Workouts for Calorie Burning

This is from one of the first studies I used to formulate F.I.T. [FAST INTERVAL TRAINING]. In the study, researchers had women do two workouts. One workout was done with light weights and high reps, and the other workout was done with heavier weights and 8 reps per set (this group was called high-intensity).

The study found that the high intensity group burned more calories
AFTER exercise and therefore the scientists recommend high intensity
resistance training rather than low-intensity high rep lifting.

Reference: A Comparison  Of Two Different Resistance Training
Intensities On Exercise Energy Expenditure And Excess Post-Exercise
Oxygen Consumption. Thornton, K, Potteiger, JA. Medicine and Science
in Sports and Exercise, Volume 33(5) Supplement 1, 2001, p S73.

So there you go…I use ALL five of these RESEARCH-PROVEN methods in
my F.I.T. for Abs workouts that I have planned for my pre-holiday workouts starting in September.

Impact Report

It is estimated that 15-40% of those who are injured in a motor vehicle collision will suffer from ongoing chronic pain.(Journal of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, 2007)

Whiplash injuries not only increase the incidence of chronic neck and shoulder pain, it also significantly increases the incidence of other systemic ill health effects. In other words, whiplash injuries cause more than neck pain and headache, it hurts the health of the entire body.(Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 2001)

That essentially 100% of those who are suffering from chronic pain caused by a whiplash injury will have an abnormal psychological profile with standard assessments, and the only way to resolve the abnormal psychological profile was to successfully treat the chronic spinal pain. Psychotherapy was not able to improve the abnormal psychological profile, nor was it able to improve the patient’s chronic pain complaint.(Pain, 1997)

In the longest study ever performed on whiplash-injured patients (a study looking at the health status 17 years after injury), 55% of the patients still suffered from pain caused by the original trauma.(Accident Analysis and Prevention, 2002)

90% of those who are initially given a cervical collar for their whiplash injuries will be suffering from chronic neck pain 6 months later.(Spine, 2000)

2% of whiplash-injured patients will have severe pain and problems that require ongoing medical investigations and drugs 7.5 years after being injured.(Injury, 2005)

1 in every 100 (1%) people on our planet suffer from chronic neck pain caused by whiplash injury.(Pain, 1994)

The Motor Vehicle Collision Injury Problem

Statistically, every American can expect to be in a motor vehicle collision once every ten years.

Motor vehicle collisions have been the number one cause of death of our children for decades.

Since 911 (September 11, 2001), about 3,000 Americans have died as a consequence of terrorism; about 360,000 Americans have died in motor vehicle crashes.

Since the start of the American Revolution in 1775, about a million Americans have died in our wars. Since Henry Ford introduced the mass-produced motorcar in 1913, more than 2.5 million Americans have met their deaths on the road.

And millions of Americans who did not die from motor vehicle collisions were injured.

The Bottom Line…

To understand whiplash injury and treatment, it is most important to know the answers to these three questions:

• What tissues are injured in a motor vehicle collision?
• What tissues are the primary sources for chronic spinal pain?
• What tissues are primarily affected by the chiropractic adjustment?

Astonishingly, the answer to all three questions is the same:

The tissues in and around the spine, including but not limited to the facet joints and the tissues of the disc joints

Consequently, it is inevitable that some whiplash-injured patients will develop chronic pain and that chiropractic is often the best management choice for these patients.

THE BASICS OF BALANCE – Part 1/3

Balance is easy to take for granted; after all, our every movement relies upon it in some fashion.  Most of the time, we only notice balance when it fails us – like when we trip for “no reason” or find ourselves leaning slightly to the left or right while standing.  Actually, without balance, we couldn’t do much at all, which is why it’s so important to build a foundation of proper balance, particularly as we age.  Let’s learn more about the fundamentals of balance.

Balance:  When you look up the word in the dictionary, there are more than two dozen ways it can be used; for the purpose of this discussion, let’s consider balance as it relates to our physical structure.  Balance is controlled by three distinct systems – 1) the VISUAL SYSTEM (EYES), 2) the VESTIBULAR SYSTEM (INNER EAR) and 3) PROPRIOCEPTION a very complex system of sensors in the skin, joints, muscles, tendons and ligaments that is responsible for you feeling VIBRATION, PRESSURE and the overall AWARENESS of the POSITION of your BODY.

If you lift your hand above your head, you are aware of the fact that it is above your head; you can sense it being there because of proprioception.  If you stand very still and pay attention to your body movements, you can sense subtle motions of leaning back and forth as your body gently sways.  Your eyes, the fluid-filled canals in your ears and the sensors in your feet are telling the brain which muscles to contract to keep you standing upright with your eyes level with the horizon.  If you close your eyes, removing one of the senses that is keeping you upright, you are likely to sway more dramatically and could even fall.  Be careful if you try this exercise.  Stand next to something you can hang on to if you need to.  Sometimes an ear infection can cause you to feel dizzy; that is because the brain is getting distorted information about balance.

 HOW WE DEVELOP BALANCE

Balance is an inborn characteristic that starts developing shortly after birth.  As eyesight improves, the muscles of the neck develop as a child explores their new world and eventually is able to lift their head, which begins the development of the forward curve in the neck.  This is followed by creeping and crawling, during which the curve in the low back is formed.  This is all necessary for the ultimate act of balance to occur:  standing.  Standing is quickly followed by falling (over and over again) as the brain is flooded with information regarding where we are in space.  All of this information ultimately is used to initiate the first steps of walking (however uncoordinated they may be).  You can see the efficiency develop and soon the walking turns into running.

 

BALANCE EXERCISES: A FOUR-STEP PROGRESSION

In addition to chiropractic adjustments and spinal pelvic stabilization with orthotic inserts, there are certain activities that promote balance and don’t require any special equipment:

1.  Begin by standing on one leg for 30 seconds and then shift to the other side.  Practice doing this until you are able to consistently stand for 30 seconds on each leg without losing your balance.

2.  Stand on one leg with your arms crossed for 30 seconds and then do the same while standing on the other leg.  Crossing the arms adds complexity to the amount of information going to the brain from the sensors in the muscles and joints.

3.  Stand on one leg with your eyes closed for 30 seconds.  Be sure you are in an area where you can support yourself if needed.  Stand next to a doorway or have a chair available to reach out to for support.  Repeat with the other side.  Closing the eyes increases the difficulty of the exercise by removing one of the systems of balance.

4.  Stand on one leg, close your eyes and cross your arms for 30 seconds.  Repeat with the other side.

The Missing Link to Optimal Health

Do you rarely get sick, have no need for prescription meds, and can’t remember the last time that you had to visit the doctor?  Yes?  Fantastic!

If you answered no to the above questions then there is a chance you could be suffering from nutritional deficiencies.

It’s hard to know exactly what to eat for optimal health, especially since everyone has a different opinion.

Even when you make every effort to eat healthy, your diet almost always lacks important nutrients.

In her book, Green For Life, Victoria Boutenko set out in search of the perfect human diet. She immersed herself in nutrition research and discovered a very interesting observation.

The Chimpanzee Connection: Chimpanzees and humans are more closely related than any other animal species. In fact, research shows that we share 99.4% of our DNA sequence with our chimpanzee friends.

Why is this significant? Chimpanzees are in far better physical shape than humans, and possess strong natural immunity to cancer and other fatal — and quite common — human illnesses.

Victoria’s research all pointed to the chimpanzee diet as the reason for their superior health. Chimps and humans have vastly different eating habits.

It’s All About The Greens: While humans enjoy pizza and hamburgers, chimps eat a diet extremely high in dark leafy greens — an item that hardly exists in the human world.

Victoria then turned her focus on dark leafy greens. What she discovered was a super-food packed with extremely high levels of nutrients. Here are 5 amazing facts about greens:

1. Greens are packed with amino acids…AKA protein.

I’ll bet you didn’t know that dark leafy greens are a legitimate source of protein. It’s true!

Protein molecules are made of a chain of amino acids. When you consume protein from chicken, you’re getting chains of amino acids that have already been assembled into a complex protein.

When you eat dark leafy greens you are getting a plethora of individual amino acids. Your body then takes these amino acids and assembles it into complex protein chains.

2. Greens give you lots of insoluble fiber…like a sponge.

You know fiber is important, but did you realize that fiber is needed to rid your body of toxins? Insoluble fiber is extra special, since it is built like tiny sponges that each absorbs several times more toxins than its own volume. Check out just a few of the many benefits of fiber:

• Fiber reduces cholesterol
• Fiber prevents and reduces the risk of cancer
• Fiber lessens risk of diabetes and improves existing diabetes
• Fiber helps shed unwanted pounds and prevents overeating

3. Greens promote bodily homeostasis…necessary for optimal health.

Homeostasis is the physiological process that regulates all substances in your body at ideal levels for optimal health. It is a very complex process, one that your body is constantly working towards.

In order for your body to achieve homeostasis it needs an abundance of vitamins, amino acids, carbohydrates, essential fatty acids and minerals. Greens are a super provider of all of the above.

4. Greens are alkaline…which promotes healthy cells.

In 1931 Dr. Otto Warburg won the Nobel Prize for discovering the cause of cancer: weakened cell respiration due to lack of oxygen on the cellular level — this causes fermentation, which results in acidity, or low pH.

There is a close connection between the foods you eat and your pH balance. For example, Parmesan cheese is highly acid forming, -34; while spinach is an amazingly alkalizing food, +14.

When you get plenty of greens on a daily basis, you’re able to better maintain a good alkaline pH balance.

5. Greens are made of chlorophyll…liquid sun energy.

As amazing as it may seem, the molecule of chlorophyll is strikingly similar to the molecule of human blood. Chlorophyll heals and cleanses your organs while destroying harmful substances.

Here are just a few of the powers of chlorophyll:

• Chlorophyll builds a high blood count
• Chlorophyll helps prevent cancer
• Chlorophyll counteracts toxins
• Chlorophyll promotes an alkaline body
• Chlorophyll helps sores heal faster
• Chlorophyll improves varicose veins
• Chlorophyll improves vision

Introducing The Green Smoothie: While the evidence for eating lots of greens continues to mount, who really wants to chomp through a pile of spinach everyday? The solution is as convenient as it is efficient: the green smoothie.

Victoria discovered that when she blended greens with fruit and water, the result was an easily absorbed, delicious smoothie. The key to reaping all the benefits from your green smoothies is to use a wide variety of greens and to drink it every day. Most enjoy it as a quick, nutrient-packed breakfast.
*See the recipe below*

Victoria did a study where people drank green smoothies everyday for a month. Most participants reported a noticeable increase in their energy levels after just the first week. This boost of energy may be just what you need to get into gear with your workouts.

Remember, regular challenging exercise is the key to achieving your Ideal Body. 

Call Dr. Carolyne at 404.915.6206 or email drcarolyne@yahoo.com today to get started on a fitness program that will get you to your best body quickly.  If you have an injury, ache or pain that is keeping you from exercising, call my wellness clinic and make an appointment to get that take care of today.  Cross Chiropractic & Massage Center in Sandy Springs at 404.303.0266.  www.crosschiropracticcenter.com  We are a complete wellness center offering chiropractic services, physical therapy, exercise, nutritional counseling, massage and manual lymphatic drainage therapy.

Green Weight Loss

Need more convincing that greens should be a regular part of your diet?

People who consume green smoothies report fewer cravings for unhealthy food and tend to snack far less than when they aren’t getting their greens.

So sip your green smoothie with a big smile, knowing that you’re turbo charging your health and expediting your weight loss.

Green Smoothie

Green smoothies consist of 3 basic ingredients: greens, fruit and water. Have fun experimenting with a wide range of varieties of both the greens and the fruit in order to reap the most benefit. You may be surprised to find that the simple combination of greens and fruit is quite delicious.
Servings: 1

Here’s what you need…

• 1 bunch (2 cups) red dandelion greens (feel free to use spinach or any other dark greens)
• 1 cup strawberries
• 1 banana
• 1-2 cups filtered water

1. In a high speed blender mix the ingredients until smooth.

Nutritional Analysis: One serving equals: 199 calories, 1g fat, 47g carbohydrate, 10g fiber, and 6g protein. 

If you want the benefits of the greens but in a more convenient way, there are several good supplements available.  We get one at our local Whole Foods store.  Email me if you are interested and I will give you the name. 

 

Forward This Newsletter – Refer a Friend

Whiplash – Getting Well Naturally

You’re driving to work and stop for a red light. You’re minding your own business and – bam! – your car rocks forward and backward, slammed in the rear by another car driven by some guy yakking on his cell phone. Or you’re a passenger in a New York City taxi. The driver’s cruising down Fifth Avenue when a teenager suddenly dashes into the intersection, running across the street against the light. The cabbie slams on the brakes and your head rocks forcefully backward and forward.

Or for reasons known only to yourself you decide it’s a good idea to go bungee jumping. You dive into space, the cord extends, and finally the cord is fully played out. Significant physical forces blast through your body as you helplessly bounce back and forth, dangling in the air like a gaffed flying fish.

The result of each of these demonstrations of Isaac Newton’s First Law of Motion? Later that day, or possibly within several days, you begin to experience neck pain. You might also have shoulder pain, headache, nausea, dizziness, and pain or numbness traveling down one or both arms. You have whiplash – a traumatic injury to the muscles, ligaments, and spinal joints of your neck and upper back.^1,2

If you’re lucky you’ll get better in a few days. If the injuries are moderate or severe the various complaints will linger and may even get worse. As with any injury or illness, if you’re not getting better right away you need to see your doctor. As you’ve suffered an injury to your head and neck, it may be a good idea to see your doctor as soon as you can, in any case, even if you think the injury is mild.

Your chiropractor is an excellent choice for examination and evaluation of injuries due to whiplash. She will be able to determine the nature and extent of the damage to muscle, ligament, and bone. Taking an x-ray series is a very important part of the evaluation of whiplash, as even seemingly modest forces can result in fracture of one or more vertebras in your neck. Evaluation of nerve function, including both spinal nerves and cranial nerves, is critically important. Pain and/or numbness radiating into one or both arms suggests injury to a cervical nerve root and needs to be thoroughly assessed.

If no fractures have been identified, chiropractic treatment can begin immediately. Over time, chiropractic treatment helps reduce inflammation of injured muscles and ligaments. Over time, chiropractic treatment helps restore normal ranges of motion to your neck and upper back. With this natural form of healing you begin to make incremental, steady progress, recovering the ability to participate in all your daily activities with reduced levels of pain and discomfort.

Chiropractic treatment provides optimal therapy for whiplash injuries, allowing your body to recover and return to normal by utilizing its own restorative powers.³

 

¹Kasch H, et al: Clinical assessment of prognostic factors for long-term pain and handicap after whiplash injury: a 1-year prospective study. Eur J Neurol 15(11):1222-1230, 2008
²Chen HB, et al: Biomechanics of whiplash injury. Chin J Traumatol 12(5):305-314, 2009
³Michaleff ZA, et al: A randomised clinical trial of a comprehensive exercise program for chronic whiplash: trial protocol. BMC Musculoskeletal Disord 10:149, 2009 (12/2/09)

Weekly Health Update

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Mental Attitude: How To Experience Positive Emotions. Just try to be happy and enthusiastic. If you enjoy reading novels, but never get around to it, commit to reading just 15 minutes or so daily. If walking or listening to music improves your mood, fit those activities in your schedule. Essentially, spending a few minutes each day truly relaxed and enjoying yourself is good for your mental health, and may improve your physical health, as well. European Heart Journal, February 17, 2010 Diet: Factors That Cause Overeating And Weight Gain:  Food Everywhere. There are constant opportunities for us to eat during the day at drive-through restaurants, vending machines, even gas stations. When food is in front of us, we tend to eat more of it. For example, when candy was accessible on workers’ desks, they ate an average of nine pieces a day. When candy was kept in their desk drawers, they ate about six pieces per day. If they had to get up from their desks to reach the candy six feet away, they only ate four pieces.  Food that’s Fast, Convenient, and Inexpensive. Fast-food restaurants on every corner offering inexpensive food also encourage us to eat more and more often. Combo meal deals sound like a bargain, but they are loaded with fat, sodium, and calories. Cornell University researcher Brian Wansink, PhD, author of Mindful Eating. Exercise: Stretching Exercises at Your Desk!  Just stand up and sit down — no hands, over and over.  Substitute exercise for sitting — while you work. Get rid of your desk chair and substitute an exercise ball.  Try to take the stairs instead of the elevator as much as you can. Chiropractic: Better Results? Use of exercise in conjunction with adjustments is likely to speed and improve results, as well as reduce the risk of recurrence. If you are unable to exercise due to an injury; sore knee, aching back, bad shoulder – check and see if your chiropractor can help.  Don’t let pain stop you from reaching your goals! Wellness/Prevention: Dying For A Good Night’s Sleep? You can survive without food but not without sleep! A person will die from total lack of sleep sooner than from starvation. Death will occur about 10 days without sleep, while starvation takes a few weeks. So get your sleep.   Guyton Physiology Quote: “A healthy body is a guest-chamber for the soul; a sick body is a prison.” ~Francis Bacon

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Egg Nutrition: Yolk vs. White

Often people come to me and ask me what they should eat to lose weight and be healthy.  When I tell them eggs usually the first thing they say is “What about the cholesterol?”  Many people think they should only eat the egg whites.  I say eat the whole egg.  Egg yolks are indeed full of cholesterol.   But our bodies are made to eliminate the cholesterol.  It’s the processed (not natural or real) foods that increase your cholesterol levels.  Eggs, like most cholesterol-rich foods, are jam-packed full of important nutrients, especially the fat-soluble vitamins and essential fatty acids.

In fact, the slew of nutrients in an egg yolk is so comprehensive that a few a day would offer better insurance than a multi-vitamin.   Most importantly, the yolk contains most of the nutrients in an egg.   Egg whites, on the other hand, contain far fewer nutrients.   The only thing that could justify their consumption is their attachment to their companion yolk.   Don’t believe it?  Read my Article of the Month on my website www.perimeterbootcamp.com to see the table that compares the nutritional value of egg whites and yolks with data provided by the USDA.  I’ve included additional analysis in the last two columns that provides the percentage of the total nutrition found in the yolk and the percentage of total nutrition found in the white.  Also, eggs have one of the highest BV’s – biological value – of proteins.  The biological value is a number that represents how well your body will process or absorb the type of protein you eat.  Eggs are right up there with whey protein.  But in my opinion, eggs are better because they are more natural. 

 

What’s Your New Year’s Resolution?