Okay, here we go! A new year full of …………….excuses?
Websters defines the word excuses as such:
a. To explain (a fault or an offense) in the hope of being forgiven or understood.

Of all the faults, weaknesses, or vices that make obtaining our fitness and wellness goals, I believe “excuses” is the biggest stumbling block. Excuses creep subtly into our lives and provide the justification for why we are overweight, not as succesful or why we don’t strive to tap into our true potential. Having played collegiate sports and professional basketball in France for almost 9 years, I was constantly surrounded by excuses! My wife will even tell you that she heard the, ” if I was two inches taller I’d be in the NBA” excuse from me all the time. Yet there are numerous players in the league that are shorter than my 6’4″ frame!
So why is it so easy to continue along in the ever deepening rut of excuses. I mean let’s face it, the goals and dreams we set for ourselves are real and truly desired, but yet it amazes me everyday that we choose to choose the depressed, frustrated, empty companionship of Monsieur Excuses!
How do we recognize where those excuses are coming from? The thing I like to do is write down all my goals, dreams and aspirations. Once those are layed out in front of you, now you can start to list the excuses or stumbling blocks to each of those goals. This can be eye opening and a little painful too, be honest and true to yourself because this exercise is about CHANGE!
The biggest excuse when talking about exercise and wellness issues is that we often think we are too far gone, helpless. Here is the trick, just like baby steps. We can have an end goal BUT we cannot, must not focus on the end result. We need to focus on a small, accomplishable, obtainable action. For example, we want to, need to lose 50 lbs. Immediately we want to start a diet and exercise everyday, the problem here is that most have NEVER ever done this before so we are just setting ourselves up for failure and MORE excuses right?
Instead of focusing on exercising everyday and the end result, because let’s face it there will be lots of days when we won’t feel up to it, something more important comes up, or whatever! We have to say to ourselves, ” the only thing I am going to do is get myself inside those gym doors.” that’s it, let your trainer take care of the rest!
” all I am going to do is get home after work without stopping at the local fast food joint”
Once we start stepping over these small but damning stumbling blocks we will start to learn how to leap over them and even SQUASH the excuses that have chained us to a lifestyle we are not happy or satisfied with!
Here at LinkFit we strive to help each of our clients meet their goals for fitness and wellness. Let us all have a greater desire and commitment in achieving Our dreams and overcoming our excuses. Heres to a New You in this New Year of 2012!
NO EXCUSES!!

After exercise, it starts. The body begins the process of recovery, adapting and preparing for the next challenge.There are two basic types of recovery. The first is the restoration of fuel supplies–the carbohydrates and fats that supply energy to the working muscle.

The second is adaptation, in which the structure and metabolic processes of the muscles are rebuilt and reinforced to be stronger and more efficient.

Different types of exercise will stimulate different types of adaptation. After a bout of endurance exercise, there is an increase in enzymes and structures for fat metabolism and better fatigue resistance.

After resistance training, there is an increase in strength and size of muscle fibers. Sprint training stimulates both. Enzymes and muscle fibers are made of protein.

Adaptation depends on an increase in protein synthesis–the making of new proteins. How much protein synthesis occurs after exercise depends on the balance between the breakdown and the building of proteins.

While hormones such as testosterone and growth hormone are released to support and enhance this process, this balance ultimately depends on nutrition.

To maximize athletic performance, the goal is to create an environment in your body between exercise sessions that minimizes the breakdown of protein and maximizes protein synthesis. This principle is also true for seniors embarking on a strength-training program.

Protein breakdown is the predominant process under stressful conditions like exercise–stress and fasting activates the release of cortisol, a catabolic hormone released to combat inflammation and break down proteins to amino acids that can be used for energy.

When cortisol is allowed to remain elevated after exercise, protein breakdown continues.

A common mistake among athletes is to refrain from eating after exercise either because they think that fat burning will continue at a higher rate or because their appetite is depressed.

It is better to eat and drink immediately after exercise, especially after prolonged or high-intensity workouts.

Sport drinks or foods that deliver high glycemic carbohydrates will stimulate an insulin response from the pancreas. Insulin counteracts cortisol and minimizes protein breakdown.

The combination of insulin and carbohydrate also increases glycogen storage in the muscle, which improves intensity and quality of subsequent training sessions. Consistent, high-quality training is how you get better.

In spite of the natural increase in testosterone and growth hormone after exercise, protein synthesis remains low. All the essential amino acids must be present in the muscle in order for proteins to be made.

After exercise, however, the limited availability of amino acids and energy will limit protein synthesis. A recent study found that addition of just 10 grams of protein to the post-exercise carbohydrate resulted in a net increase of protein uptake.

Take in about 20 grams of protein for an optimal response. You can easily accomplish this with a scoop of whey powder added to your post-exercise sports drink or smoothie.

Unfortunately, beer is not a good source of carbohydrate. Alcohol taken after exercise depresses testosterone secretion in men.

The amino acid glutamine also mitigates the catabolic effects of cortisol. In addition, glutamine is a potent stimulator of protein synthesis by increasing the pool of amino acids and encouraging hydration of the muscle cells.

High glutamine concentrations exert an osmotic effect, pulling water into the cell. Hydration is a powerful anabolic signal. Glutamine also stimulates testosterone and growth hormone secretion. Addition of 2 to 4 grams of glutamine to the post-exercise carbohydrate and protein cocktail will enhance recovery and lead to better training sessions.

Attention to nutrition must continue well past the immediate post-exercise period. Four hours after a bout of strength training, protein synthesis will be increased by 50 percent. After 24 hours, it is elevated by 109%. It doesn’t return to baseline until 36 to 48 hours later. Undernutrition will limit this process.

If the amino acids, vitamin, minerals and other building blocks aren’t there when they’re needed, the building stops. The result is sub-par adaptation to training.

Pay attention to your nutrition and hydration. Eat regularly spaced, balanced meals that deliver both high-quality protein and carbohydrate and are packed with vitamins and minerals. Maintain hydration by drinking at least 2 quarts of fluid per day.

How much daily protein a person needs depends on their training program. A weightlifter or body builder or an athlete that is still growing may need as much as 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight.

A runner, bicyclist, swimmer or soccer player would do well with 0.75 grams per pound. 

Most of the protein should be supplied by high-quality, whole food sources such as milk, beef, fish, chicken, tofu or beans. Whole foods also supply essential nutrients necessary for basic health, sports performance and optimal utilization of protein.

When you leave the gym or playing field, get off your bike, out of the pool or off your feet, you’re not done. The nutrition that happens between training sessions will determine how well you do.

So what does all this mean? If your brain hurts worse than your muscles after a workout, I apologize. Feel free to have me answer any questions you may have. Bottom line though, is to get enough good quality protein in your system following a strength training session and to stay hydrated!

We live in an information overloaded society. There has not been a moment in history when information has been this available, right at our fingertips. By typing one simple phrase, we now get hundreds, thousands, sometimes even millions of answers to our most desired questions. And now it seems, because of the abundance of information available to us, that a lot of us are confused.   

No more confusing has been our struggle with living excessively. As a result, many of us are in debt, have too much stuff and are overweight.   

There are too many questions on how to exercise, how to eat, or how to livehealthily – cardio or weights? How much protein? Does fat make me fat? Will situps give me abs? Am I going to get big, bulky muscles?   

I don’t profess to know the answer to EVERY question out there, but I do know that all things being equal, the simplest answer is most likely the right one. That holds true in life as much as it does in weight loss, exercise and general health.   

So in saying that, I have devised a list of 7 Essential Rules for Ultimate Living   

You may read these rules and be turned off that I’m insulting your intelligence. But let’s face it, now more than ever, do we need to get back to the basics in order to save our waning, unhealthy & obese society.   

We’ve veered off the path of “simple” and have really made things more complicated than they are. 

1. Eat REAL Food. For a busy population who doesn’t have time to count calories or how many grams of protein or how much sodium or saturated fat, this is your answer to health and weight loss.   

Anything that Mother Nature put on this earth in it’s simplest form is real food – unpackaged, unprocessed, unpreserved fruits, vegetables, legumes, naturally raised meat & fish. Steak from a cow that has been allowed to eat from a pasture, not an all-beef hot dog. Water, not soda. Apples, not apple fritters.   

Here’s the truth … if you eat nutritious real food then your body feels nourished and doesn’t feel the need to consume more. If you eat the common processed food products of today with empty calories and little to any nutrition value, then your body needs to 1) work harder to digest and assimilate what you’ve eaten thus using energy 2) still feel hungry because what you’ve eaten provides no nourishment and 3) throw your systems out of whack because your body has no idea what you just ate.   

Our society was the healthiest when there were no such things as treadmills, ellipticals and Pec Decks. We used the gym to support our activities (like what athletes do). We rode our bikes, skied, surfed, played pick-up basketball and walked everywhere.   

Now, we go to the gym. We run on treadmills like rats in a cage, partake in bodybuilding programs that give us bulky, unusable muscles and create imbalance & injury, and do aerobic classes that give us little to no benefit with the way we look.   

As our society transitioned from an active culture to a gym-going culture, obesity, heart disease and diabetes slowly started to increase. Coincidence? Maybe. But staying active and trying new things – playing a sport, going for a hike, being active with family, playing frisbee with the dog- never killed anyone.   

Ask yourself these questions…When was the last time you got excited to go to the gym (to actually workout)? And what about when you knew that the weekend was just around the corner and you were going to the beach to play some volleyball? Or out to the golf course with your buddies to play 18 holes?   

Live actively and use the gym to support your efforts.   

This goes hand-in-hand with the point above.   

True that some of us live in a climate that isn’t always conducive to outdoorsy things. Hogwash.   

Unless it is 110 degrees in the shade or sub-Arctic temperatures outside, there are always options for us to be active outdoors – even if it’s just for a walk after dinner. Our bodies crave the outdoors and being with nature. It’s hard-wired into our systems. Being outdoors gives us a feeling of freedom and calm that no gym, mall or office building could ever provide for us.   

If you are doing the same thing, day in and day out (lifting the same weights, running the same distance for the same time, etc) without any change or improvement, then nothing is going to happen to your body.   

Your body wants to stay the same, and it is only when you decide to venture outside of your comfort zone that you will actually see any improvement – and that rule holds true with life as much as it does with exercise. Set goals, break records and constantly strive to get better. If you ran 5km in 30-minutes yesterday, then the next time out, aim for 29-minutes. If you did 10 push-ups yesterday, then aim for 11 the next time you attempt them.   

Force yourself out of what’s comfortable and you will change – both in body and in mind.   

Often the “missing link” to everyone’s weight loss quest is their lack of quality sleep. Healthy adults require 7-9 hours of uninterrupted, good quality sleep EVERY night.   

Sleep helps regulate your hormones. It kills off bad bacteria that has accumulated in your gut throughout the day and it’s the primary time for your body to repair its tissues – especially your muscles. Don’t get enough of it and your immune response will suffer (your ability to fight off disease & sickness), you gain belly fat (because of the higher amounts of the hormone cortisol) and you’ll experience lows in energy.   

This is the Yang to intense exercise’s Ying and is probably the most overlooked rule. You were not designed to “go hard” 100% of the time.   

Regardless of what you may believe, exercise, with all it’s benefits to your body and health, is still stress. Any response that produces an adrenalin rush will also produce a stress response in your body. Because of this, we must balance our intense exercise activities with calming, stress management exercises. Traditional yoga, tai chi, qi gong or some form of deep breathing or meditation are the most common examples of ways to handle stress.   

Try to incorporate at least one of these activities into your weekly (if not daily) practice. Only a few minutes of deep breathing or mediation is all you need to regain balance move on with your day without anxiety or nervousness.   

 There are 5 natural movements – Squatting, Lunging (which includes walking & running), Pushing, Pulling & Rotation. If you want to save time, increase results and live healthy, then all your exercises should incorporate at least one, if not more, of these movements.   

Is there a need to stand in front of a mirror holding dumbbells and lifting them up to the side while standing on a ball? No. Is there a need to sit on a machine, strapped in and squeeze your thighs together or push them out? No. These movements are unnatural. They force you to break your body up into individual parts, when in truth, your body operates as a network of nerves, bones and muscles to move you and the objects you lift or carry from Point A to Point B.   

Exercise naturally, move naturally, be healthy.   

Use the above rules as a checklist and try to incorporate and adhere to one rule per week, introducing a new rule each time you have mastered one.   

Try not to get overwhelmed. This isn’t a “shotgun” approach. We’ve gotten away from the basics of health and it will take time to get back. Just keep at it and be consistent and you’ll get there.   

By just living with these 7 rules in mind, you’re sure to become  healthier, happier and live a more fulfilling life.   

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