inerTRAIN Blog
January 31, 2010
The facts about aging
 Fact: As we get older, we tend to become less and less active.
The reason this happens varies from person to person, but the effect remains the same: your muscles atrophy. Without stimulation, your muscles will not grow and utilize the food you are taking in for energy. Instead, your body will store the food as fat.
Another cruel fact about getting older is that by the age of 26 your body will start to lose muscle at a rate of about 1% per year. That may not seem like a lot, but by the time you are 50 you will have lost a quarter of your muscle. And since muscle is the foundation of fat loss, you will have lost a quarter of your ability to burn fat and calories.
To demonstrate, think of your body as a car. The tires on the car are its muscles – they help it move and function. If the car lost one of its tires (a quarter of its muscle) it could still go on for a bit more, but not very effectively. It would cause a lot of strain on the remaining 3 tires and make them wear down faster and eventually the car would become immobile. Our bodies are the exact same way. Once we start losing that muscle the rest of the body has to work harder to keep us moving and eventually, we, too, get worn down and become less and less mobile.
So, what can be done?
No matter how old you are, you need to start now. By making your muscles stronger, you can slow the aging process. The majority of people will not feel as agile and boisterous at 50 as they did at 25. It is not about getting back to that point in your life. It is about making a change for the future. Every little bit helps and you have complete control.
If you are already 50 or even 75 years old, it’s not too late. Strength training can be done at any age, but you have to consult a very knowledgeable trainer that can specify the correct methods for you. Here at inerTRAIN we will have trainers that work with every age group, so you are in luck!
Focus on keeping active and maintaining your muscle tone. The more effort you put in to it, the longer your body will be around to thank you.
In Health,
January 22, 2010
The Other Side of Fitness
Last week we addressed weight loss vs. fat loss. Indeed, the goal of shedding pounds is the most common health and fitness goal.
However, it is important to realize that everyone is different and may have a different fitness goal… that is to say, not everyone is trying to lose weight or fat. Many people do not realize that there is an entire community and industry that is built on the opposite: gaining mass and muscle… and some people (like us) actually struggle to GAIN, believe it or not.
After reading last week’s post, we got an email from one of our readers, Joe, asking for some tips on how to PUT ON a few pounds. He writes:
I go to the gym 5 days a week for about an hour and I switch up my regimen and I think I have a pretty good workout routine. But, I'm stuck at my constant weight of 150 (being 5' 9", it's not too bad) but I'd like to gain more mass. I drink protein shakes after my workout so I'm guessing that helps, and I eat pretty healthy. I'm not big on junk food. So, I guess my question is, do I just have to eat a lot more to gain some weight? Or, what would your advice be?
We laughed when we read this because we both have similar stories and decided to share them this week in order to answer Joe’s questions.
Christopher has been able to gain the weight and keep it on. Here is what he did:
Growing up, I was a twig. Looking back at pictures sometimes I wonder how my legs (as thin as my pinky) were able to hold me up. At the age of 16, I decided to change that and got in to the world of bodybuilding. I spent countless hours researching and working out to figure out what exercises and food would work for me to help me gain some muscle. By the age of 24, I had gone from a scrawny 140lbs to a defined and ripped 160lbs. From there I kept going up, all the while keeping my body fat to a minimum.
Today, at 30 years old, I am 212lbs with 8% body fat. I never thought it would be possible, but it all came from dedication, knowledge, and nutrition. Many people ask how to do it, but what I tell them is that there is no secret method. You just have to eat big to get big. To maintain my 212lbs, I take in at least 4,200 calories a day and sometimes when I was bulking, I would get as high as 6,000 calories.
It is a slow process with a lot of trial and error. You have to find out what works for you, but the overall goal is to get way more calories than you can burn when you are trying to gain, and at least 20 calories per pound of goal weight when you are trying to maintain. Keep eating at least every two hours to spread the calories throughout the day, even if you don’t feel hungry.
Jeff’s story: I have always been the skinny kid that my mom and grandma are trying to feed seconds (and thirds) to fatten me up… and I’m also the one that my friends called the “cry for hunger poster child” when they saw a picture of me at the beach when I was in high school. For a long time, no matter what I did, I was not able to gain a single pound.
My goal was NOT to become a bodybuilder, but to gain enough mass to look good in a bathing suit to keep my friends from making fun of me for being too scrawny. I have been doing the same things as Joe, and continue to exercise several days a week, drink protein shakes, and eat healthy, but, as with Christopher, the key to gaining for me has been eating a lot more… eating more, keeping up the workout routine, and getting a personal trainer.
One of the benefits of having a personal trainer is that he or she can coach you and provide you with an individualized workout plan and nutrition tips to help you achieve your goals, whether they are to lose fat, gain mass, or maintain where you already are. Later this year, your inerTRAIN trainer will be able to provide you with these benefits whenever and wherever you are.
In Health,
Jeff & Christopher
January 15, 2010
Fat vs. Weight – the Great Debate
 Last week our discussion focused on changing the way we think about eating and how these small changes can make a big difference. Now I want you to change the way you think about weight.
Actually, I want you to forget about weight loss – forever!
In the months before summer, you should only weight yourself once every four weeks. Yes, you should weigh yourself only once a month. Instead of constantly stepping on the scale, find a pair of pants that you can barely button and try them on every Monday. The pants will get looser every time you try them on if you do exactly what I am about to tell you.
A pound of fat is about 1/3 larger than a pound of muscle, yet the fat takes fewer calories to sustain. In other words, the more fat you have in proportion to muscle, the less food your body requires. Correspondingly, the more muscular you are, the more food your body requires. Toned people can sit and eat huge meals without getting fat because they have extremely hungry muscles. Every bit of food they eat is shuttled directly into their muscles and used for energy.
So the change to make this week in your thinking is to not concentrate on losing weight, but concentrate on losing fat and building muscle. You will turn your body into a fat furnace!
Fat loss is a slow and steady process. Daily fluctuations in your body fluids and digestive tract lead to arbitrary figures on your scale. This is discouraging and sometimes depressing.
So, throw that scale out! Utilize the pants test mentioned above. Set the pants aside or hang them where you can see them every day as a reminder. Do not wash them or wear them except for those few minutes of testing. Stick to a moderate strength training regime and a good diet and those pants will fit in no time.
In health,
Chief Fitness Officer
January 7, 2010
Destruction of “The Diet”
 A couple weeks ago we discussed the constant pressure to eat and how that pressure leads to an inevitable consequence: obesity and diet-related diseases. To battle this pressure, many people turn to diets, appetite suppressors, or a multitude of other methods that can be effective in the short-term… But often, over time, the progress achieved may halt or even regress after the diet or other regimen ends.
So, what is required to make permanent noticeable differences in the way you look and feel? A change in your mindset - a reinvention of the way you eat and live.
One pound of fat has 3,500 calories. If you burn 550 calories a week by doing some basic weight training and 700 calories a week through a 30-minute walk every day, that’s 5,000 calories a month. By burning 5,000 calories a month through exercise, you could potentially lose about 1.5lbs of fat a month or close to 9lbs in six months! Not a bad start.
In addition to this very simple fat-burning exercise regime, let us look at how to reinvent the way we eat through five simple points:
1. Drink more water
2. Eat smaller meals more often
3. Slow down while eating
4. Realize just how hungry you are and do not eat past your comfort level
5. Be in control of your dining out experience and do not eat just because it is there
Adopt these and you will begin to change the way you think about eating and start to see permanent results… which is more powerful than any diet out there.
If you are still yearning for what to eat here are two major things that you can do to get started:
1. Stop drinking soda – period. It’s bad for everything from your skin to your organs.
2. Always, always, ALWAYS eat breakfast. Coffee cake alone will not count as a sufficient breakfast – it must have a high amount of protein.
As you can see, the start of achieving your goal of having a healthy body comes with changing the way you think about living and eating. If you make these small changes this year, I guarantee you will see results and you will never look at another diet again.
In health,
December 31, 2009
Toasting in the New Year
Once a year, when the New Year comes upon us, we focus on thoughts of how to better our lives and make healthier decisions. While the thought of making resolutions and promises probably can be intimidating, it is more feasible to take the year day-by-day and not overwhelm yourself. That being said, the time to start is during your New Year’s Eve celebrations!
While liquor itself is a hindrance to a healthy lifestyle when used in excess, imbibing on a cocktail or two during a New Year’s Eve celebration is not the end of the world. Just remember that alcohol does contain calories, sometimes a lot of calories. It also interferes with kidney and liver function, which inhibits the efficiency of your body’s purification systems. In other words, if alcohol is in your system, your liver, which is in charge of metabolizing fat, will get rid of the alcohol first, then the fat… meaning that your body cannot burn fat if you have alcohol in your system.
Despite this, you will probably still want to toast in the New Year with a drink or two! So, what are your best drink options?
Try to stick with low-calorie beers, white liquors, and sugar-free or calorie-free mixers, if possible. The “healthiest” cocktail you can drink is vodka soda. Vodka is the lowest calorie hard liquor and club soda is calorie free.
If you are not a vodka drinker and prefer rum or another liquor, a general rule of thumb is the higher the proof, the higher the calories. This is true even of the sweeter liquors such as coconut-flavored rums. The sugars that make them sweeter do not outweigh the proof of the liquors. The cream liquors – Baileys, Kahlua, etc. – do contain small amounts of fat and you should probably just steer clear of them if you are not sure.
When it comes to beer and wine, every choice differs. Some wines are higher in calories from the sugars, some beers from the brewing process, but all differ. Use your better judgment and do some research before you go out. A little internet research on the brewery’s or winery’s website will provide you with the information you are seeking.
Always remember that dinking liquor has few, if any, benefits. If you do decide to drink on New Year’s Eve, utilize the previous information when deciding what to drink.
Finally, the best strategy is to have a big glass of ice water in between each drink to help you metabolize the alcohol and keep yourself hydrated.
Have a happy, healthy, and safe New Year!
In health,
Doug Christopher
Chief Fitness Officer Chief of Operations
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