inerTRAIN Blog
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
December 24, 2009
The Pressure to Eat
Whether we are conscious of it or not, we are constantly being pressured to eat. We have unprecedented access to a poor diet: readily available, inexpensive, heavily marketed, great tasting high calorie foods. This produces a predictable and inevitable consequence - an epidemic of diet-related diseases and soaring obesity rates.
Fast food facts:
- 7% of Americans eat at McDonalds every day. McDonald’s corporate goal is to have no American more than 4 minutes away from one of its restaurants.
- An average restaurant meal has 1000 calories without dessert or appetizer.
- One Cinnabon roll has 813 calories with 110 of those from fat.
- The average tofu & vegetable entrée at a Chinese restaurant has 900 calories with 2,200mg of sodium.
We’re biologically wired to eat when we are not hungry and to prefer food that is high in calories and fat. In ancient times, that was the way to survive the next famine. But now that we have unlimited access to food 24 hours a day, we can eat even when we don’t need to. Plus, our culture celebrates food and encourages you to eat until the food is gone. Every holiday involves eating with friends and family, eating to escape, eating to celebrate, eating to… well, you get the point.
In the future we will discuss how to survive with all of these temptations. In the meantime, just keep these facts in mind during this busy time. As you are running around, seeing family and enjoying yourself, take a moment to think about what you are putting in your body. One piece of holiday fudge or a quick bite at the food court during your shopping spree will not kill you, but remember that keeping that sort of diet will. Go for the lean meats and vegetable trays at those holiday parties or bring a PBJ sandwich and a protein bar to the mall instead of stopping at the food court.
Have a happy and healthy holiday season!
In health,
Doug
Chief Fitness Officer
Christopher
Chief of Operations
December 18, 2009
It’s all in the name (plus, a brief physics lesson)
My first post, “Getting Started”, was about the origin of the idea for inerTRAIN. Since then, several people have asked me where the name “inerTRAIN” came from and what it means… so I figured I’d write a quick post on it this week.
It took me a couple of months to come up with something that I thought was a good name to call an online personal training site… something that rolled off the tongue, something that was unique, and something that also had some (hidden) meaning… plus, I had to find a website URL that wasn’t taken yet (which may have been the harder part)…
Then one day it just came to me. I was thinking about what training was all about, and what ideas came to mind when I think of fitness, personal training, and specifically the clients that are training. One thing I kept coming back to was the idea of motion… constant motion. And then, without warning, the nerd inside of me woke up and I reverted back to my study of physics years ago, and specifically to Newton’s Laws of Motion.
Newton’s First Law of Motion (also known as “The Law of Inertia”) states that a body in motion will remain in motion. When I thought more about this, the image that came to mind for me was a person working out with his or her personal trainer, and how a good personal trainer keeps moving and motivating his or her clients… what a great analogy!
But it gets even better… the second part of the Law of Inertia says that a body at rest will remain at rest, unless acted upon by an outside force. I could see in my mind a couch potato sitting with a bowl of potato chips watching TV… and the outside force (the personal trainer) entering the scene to motivate this person to get moving and to provide guidance on leading a healthier lifestyle!
So, the entire Law of Inertia aligned perfectly with my vision of personal training!
From there, my initial thought was to call the website “Inertia Training”. But, as I kept saying it over and over again in my mind, I started abbreviating it to “inerTRAIN”, and finally that is what stuck!
There you have it... the origin of "inerTRAIN" and a mini physics lesson all in one.
In Health,
Jeff
President & Founder
December 10, 2009
Bringing cardio into your workouts… the 2 for 1 deal
What about cardio?
When am I supposed to do cardio?
Don’t I have to work my heart, too?
Almost every beginner client will ask one of those questions before starting their training… and after the 3rd workout they never wonder about it again.
Let me explain…
Think about this for a minute: your heart does not know the difference between you running down the street, doing push-ups, swimming laps in a pool, or doing 50 squats. What your heart does recognize is that you are placing demands upon it… and the more muscles that are working and the higher the intensity of the movements, the bigger this demand will be.
So, if your time is important to you, don’t break up your workouts with a weight training portion and a cardio workout. Instead, combine them!
This can be as simple as doing:
- 10 push-ups
- 10 sit-ups
- 10 squats
- 10 jumping jacks
Repeat this sequence 6 times AND do it as quickly as you can – even time yourself – then see how you feel… I bet your heart rate will go up and you might even break a sweat!
The best part about this kind of training is that it never gets boring. You can change the exercises, the number of sets or repetitions, or the order of the routine. It can be a limitless exercise program that will keep your heart pumping AND tone up your muscles!
Here are some examples that will give you a great overall workout:
- Run 1 mile, lunging 20 steps every 1 minute.
- Do 50 sit-ups, then a 400 meter run, sprint, or walk. Repeat for 3 rounds.
- Run 400 meters, then do 50 air squats. Repeat for 4 rounds.
- Do 30 push-ups, then a 45-second ab bridge. Repeat for 4 rounds.
- Do a 30-second handstand, then a 30-second static squat, rest for 30 seconds, then repeat for 8 total rounds.
Just get creative and construct simple sequences like the ones above that include exercises that you like… just don’t always skip the ones that you find difficult! Get your workouts between 15 and 45 minutes long, and do them 2 to 6 times a week. The most important thing is to just get started and build them up slowly. And once you get going, you may even want to time yourself to see if you can beat your old records!
Training like this will produce changes in your muscle tone AND cardio fitness… both benefits rolled into one program.
Plus, if weight loss is one of your fitness goals, remember that making your muscles stronger will cause your body to burn more calories, even when you are asleep! Fat STORES energy, muscles USE energy… and STRONGER muscles use far MORE energy.
And, a final note: if you’re trying to lose fat, no amount of any kind of “cardio” will do it for you if you don’t change your diet. Try eating fewer carbohydrates, more protein and fat, along with smaller portion sizes. This is the approach that will yield the best results in the long run.
In Health,
Doug
Chief Fitness Officer
December 3, 2009
Maximizing your workout during the busy season
“It’s the most wonderful time of the year” may not be the first thing to run through your mind as you look at your calendar and see that every day there is a holiday party, school event or work function scheduled. On top of it, you have to do extra things like volunteer, take care of the kids out of school for winter break, shop for presents and a plethora of other things. It may seem there is no time left for your exercise. Following are a few tips to help you stay on schedule and maintain your healthy lifestyle during this crazy time.
First of all, do not stress out! Not making it to the gym is not a big deal – just do not make it a habit. If you realize at the end of the day you were supposed to go to the gym at some point and now it is too late, do some home exercises. Here are some sample workouts:
1. 10 push-ups, 10 sit-ups and 10 bodyweight squats – repeat 10 times.
2. 20 lunges with a 1 minute ab bridge – repeat 3 times.
3. 1 mile run with 10 bodyweight squats every minute.
4. 250 jumping jacks – get your best time possible
5. Test yourself on max push-ups, sit-ups or squats.
Second, most of us will be seeing friends and family or even co-workers which makes cutting short these special times together to run to the gym or do some of the exercises mentioned above not feasible. Why not include them in the fun!? Take a brisk walk outside and spend time together or make a game up using some of the bodyweight exercises.
Finally, this time of year is about giving, and after you have given all your time and energy to that busy schedule and everyone else, think about giving some time to yourself. Take a minute to unwind. Being healthy is not just about exercising and eating well, it also includes having a healthy mind – it is a true full-body state of being.
In health,
Christopher
Chief of Operations
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