HOW TO OVERCOME WINTER WEIGHT GAIN

How to Overcome Winter Weight Gain

Today, we’re taking a hard look at winter weight gain.  It’s a common problem—people tend to pack on a few pounds during the winter months.

But we want to fight back, and we hope you will join us.  Let’s get after this now, while winter is still in full force.  We’ll have less to deal with when the warm breezes start blowing!

The good, the bad…and the solution

Although winter weight gain varies from person to person, research shows the average gain to be five to seven pounds!  Some people gain this extra weight because they have Seasonal Affective Disorder—a type of winter depression.  But most of us can’t blame winter depression for our tendency to pick up extra weight during the winter months.

So, why does winter weight gain happen?  According to Lawrence J. Cheskin, MD, founder and director of the Johns Hopkins Weight Management Center, it happens because we eat more and move less during the winter months¹.

This is bad news and good news.  It is bad news because it would be kind of nice if we could blame our cold-weather corpulence on something exotic like the jet stream cycle and waddle off for another espresso.

But it is good news because we can do something about it.  We don’t have to greet spring with softer middles and tighter clothes.  So let’s celebrate leap year by tackling winter weight gain with our weapon of choice here at Fitness Revolution:  discipline.

Hour of decision

According to Merriam-Webster, discipline is a “rule or system of rules governing conduct or activity².”  This is perfect.  In order to fight winter weight gain, we have to discipline ourselves to follow some rules. 

Here we go…

1.  Banned language: For the next several weeks, do not allow yourself to say, “Just this once.”  If you pay close attention, a ‘just this once’ situation comes up practically every day.  You go to a retirement party.  You take spouse out for a birthday dinner.  Someone brings a meal by your house because you’ve been sick.  Your co-worker brings in the leftover pizza from last night’s party.  Your child has leftover Valentine’s Day candy.  You have to say no every single time.  Otherwise, you will never get ahead.

Just grit your teeth, resist what others are having and make good food choices.  I’m not saying it is easy.  I am saying it is necessary.

2.  Plan your occasional splurge, and do not deviate from the plan. Unending deprivation is never a good idea, but you have to be intentional about the time, place and food that you let yourself splurge on. 

Love the hot wings at your favorite restaurant?  Then let’s make a deal.  Eat clean for six days.  No cheating.  And then at the end of those six days, go have the wings.  Guilt free.  Just enjoy them.  Then set the next goal.  But you are not allowed to deviate from your plan in the meantime.

If you do, you lose the wings. 

Don’t waste your fun calories on something that doesn’t compare to those wings!

3.  Keep moving.  Exercise is not an optional activity.  Now more than ever you have to get your body in motion.  Exercise is very effective at preventing weight gain—and that is what we’re after right now.  Don’t even worry so much about losing pounds; just work to keep the winter scale-creep from happening to you. Try to get some cardio in at least six days a week.

Remember:  spring is coming.  Let’s be ready for it, and leave winter weight gain behind.

Sources

¹http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/5-tips-to-avoid-winter-weight-gain

²http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/discipline

DAVID E KNAPP NCSF-MCPT,CNS

WWW.PRINCETONBOOTCAMPS.COM

WHAT MOTIVATES YOU

What Motivates You?

The statistics

Brace yourself.  According to Rod K. Dishman, Ph.D., director of the Behavioral Fitness Laboratory at the University of Georgia, nearly 50 percent of people who begin an exercise program drop out within the first 6 months.  The question is, “Why?”  What is it about sticking with a fitness routine that causes so many people abandon it?

The answer?  Motivation.  They don’t want health and fitness badly enough.  It is a simple fact of human psychology that if we want something badly enough, we’ll do everything we can to get it. 

Your challenge is to find out what motivates you to get serious about fitness and stick with it.

Unlocking your motivation

Dan Napagitano found motivation.  Told by his doctors that he was minutes away from a heart attack, Dan decided to fight back.  Even though he had not been in a gym in  years, He picked up the phone and told me he was serious and determined this time.   Dan had been a client of mine before but I had to fire him.  I did not want to take his money if he was just going through the motions.  I told him call me when your head is in the game.

You do not have to be part of that 50 percent who quit.  You can stay committed and finish strong.  It is all about finding what motivates you personally.

Here are some possible motivators for you.

1.  Do it for your health. Consistent exercise and healthy eating are the two very best things you can do for your health.  You will develop a strong, healthy heart, reduce your chances of many cancers, prevent diabetes, keep a sharp mind and resist dementia and avoid many of the common ailments that come with aging.  It is possible to age without decay, and the key to this is exercise and eating well.

2.  Do it to look better. Appearance isn’t everything, but most of us care how we look.  A strong and healthy person just looks good.  And it isn’t all physical.  Your demeanor will change as you develop the confidence that comes from the discipline of fitness.  You will appear more energetic and confident because you will be more energetic and confident!

3.  Do it to relieve stress.  Really!  It isn’t a cliché.  Exercising really does cause physical changes in your brain and nervous system that results in feelings of calmness and well-being.  In fact, you may get so hooked on the mental benefits of exercise that you will crave it!

4.  Do it to be strong.  If you have never done focused weight training, then you literally have no idea of the total transformation that you will feel after just a few weeks.  There is nothing like bending over to pick something up that normally results in discomfort, strain and even pain, only to find out that it is a piece of cake!  And by getting strong now, you reduce your risk of age-related falls and fractures because you have the core strength and balance to keep yourself stable.

It is worth taking the time to discover the powerful motivators in your life.  Don’t worry about ‘bribing’ yourself:  do what it takes to get yourself moving.  Find out what makes sweating worth it.  Find out what you want more than that brownie. Your health is at stake; in fact, your very life is at stake. It’s time to transform yourself.

DAVID E. KNAPP NCSF-MCPT-CNS

princetonbootcamps @ yahoo.com

YOU CAN OUT TRAIN A BAD DIET NOT!!!!

If there is one thing for certain when it comes to fitness, it’s “You Can’t Out Train A Bad Diet”

 

No matter how many  body weight circuits you do, how many hours you spend on the treadmill or many miles you run.

 

If your diet sucks then you are NEVER going to get the results you are looking for.

 

And that was so apparent to me when I weighed 200-lbs of Male PMS (Puffy Muscle Syndrome).  I hit the gym 6 days a week, but my ate a ton of pasta and went out drinking every weekend and no matter how hard I trained my body never changed.

 

It wasn’t until I cleaned up my eating, stopped the weekend drinks and cut out the junk that my body rapidly went to 170lbs ripped in less than 5 months.

 

And after almost 20 years it’s been that way ever since. Remember  I talked about making nutrition a lifestyle?

 

Eating healthy to burn fat, while you build muscle is definitely not the complex rocket science a lot of people make it out to be.

 

 

a)   Veggies – put your main focus on veggies primarily green with all you meals but eat others as well.

b)   Protein – have a lean source of protein with all of your meals and vary them as much as possible. 

c)   Fruit – add some fruits in the morning – berries are great

d)   Fat – make sure you get healthy fats

e)   Starchy Carbs  - you need starchy carbs to fuel and recover from your metabolic HIIT workouts – Potatoes in all varieties, rice and gluten free oats are good choices BUT if you want to lose 20 or so lbs then skip the starchy carbs for a few weeks to get going

 

 

Start your focus on veggies. Like a mentioned above, I stick primarily with green but also throw in things like tomatoes and carrots to ensure I have a wide variety. Juicing helps to ensure I get lots of veggies.

 

Then add some lean protein. Chicken, fish, pork, certain kinds of red meat and egg whites.

 

Nobody needs more than 150 grams of

protein per day. In most cases 100-120 do the job.

 

I know that's hard to believe but just try it.

 

Fruit come next, like berries which I primarily eat in the mornings in my oatmeal,cottage cheese or Greek yogurt

 

 

Also make sure you're getting some healthy fats in.

 

 

Finally, you need some starchy carbs to fuel and recover from workouts. One of the most important meals of the day, if you are using my metabolic high intensity training is post workout.

 

Your body needs to replenish the glycogen stores lost during the workout and starchy carbs in your main ingredient.

 

Potatoes of all varieties, rice, and gluten free oats are all

good choices.

 

If you have more than 20 pounds of fat to lose you are going to perhaps skip the starchy carbs for just a couple of weeks to get

rolling.

 

That’s it, simple and effective.  No crazy diet plan that has you starving yourself or yo yo up and down in weight.

Till Next Time

Stay Fit Stay Happy

David Knapp NCSF-MCPT,CNS

princetonbootcamps@yahoo.com 

FIVE RULES TO A BETTER WORKOUT

Five Rules To A Better Workout

If you want to start doing workouts that will create lasting fat burn, better muscle definition, and contribute to lifelong health, you must start applying the five workout rules below when going through your workouts.

These five rules were created after years of experience, research, and testing to figure out not only what works best when it comes to burning fat, but what workouts are best for your body.

Applying these rules to your workouts will boost fat burning, muscle definition, and overall health. If you are serious about changing the way you look, start following these rules:

1. The more intense your workouts, the better:

You have heard me say this before, and you will hear me say it again. The more intense your workouts are, the more fat you will burn. The “fat burning zone” is a way of the past. Study after study has proven high intensity workouts are superior to long slow cardio.

In a study done by Experimental Biology, researchers found that maximal fat utilization occurs at an intensity near anaerobic threshold. This essentially means, the more intense your workout is, the more fat you will burn.

2. Activate as many muscles as possible:

While doing isolated exercises may give you that burning sensation or “the pump” as bodybuilders call it, the real fat burning comes when you activate as many different muscles with each exercise you do.

For example, doing a barbell squat will burn fat more calories than doing a leg extension.

Plus, compound movements will also help you gain strength faster and build lean muscle easier.

Isolated exercises do have a time and place but when looking to burn the most fat, stick to compound movements!

3. Keep your workouts to no longer than 30-45 minutes

Back in college, my coach forced me to keep my shooting workouts to no longer than 40 minutes. The reason for this was he said our brains start to lose focus after the 40-minute mark. Later, as I did some of my own research I found it to be true. Not only that, but I also discovered that workouts lasting longer than 45 minutes can have a negative effect on fat burning!

Here is the quick breakdown of how our body responds during workouts:

• Start of the workout: Our bodies naturally start producing testosterone as we engage in intense exercise (remember, testosterone is a good thing, even for women. It keeps us strong, lean, and healthy!)
• 15 minutes into the workout: Our bodies are still producing testosterone, which allows us to burn fat and get lean.
• 30 minutes into the workout: Testosterone peaks at the 30 minute mark.
• 45 minutes into the workout: Focus decreases, and testosterone levels start dropping down to baseline.
• 60+ minutes into the workout: Our bodies start producing less testosterone and start producingmore cortisol which can lead to increased fat storage and will hurt lean muscle growth.

As you can see, testosterone levels peak at the 30 minute mark which means you will get the most out of your workouts when staying in that time frame. A few minutes here or there, won’t make a huge difference but a workout lasting upwards of 60 minutes will actually cause you to store fat because of the increase in cortisol (also known as the fat storing hormone!)

In short, keep your workouts to 30 minutes and no longer than 45 minutes.

4. Include sprints 2-3 times per week

Sprints are the most powerful physique shaping workout on the planet. As was stated earlier, the closer you work to you anaerobic threshold, the better. Sprints are the prime definition for working near or at that threshold.

Sprints will directly target eliminating stomach fat, and is a workout that makes your abs “pop”. Plus, it increases testosterone and Growth Hormone which both play a vital role in keeping us lean and healthy.

5. Walk daily

The more time you spend walking, the less time you spend sitting. Instead of spending hours at the gym working out, a far more beneficial approach would be to workout 3-5 times per week for 20-30 minutes, then walk 30-60 minutes daily out in the sunshine.

Walking will help burn fat, plus you will get your daily dose of Vitamin D which is something we all need!

If you want to start burning more fat, get leaner, and improve your overall health, start applying these five rules into your weekly workouts. Keep you workouts simple, intense, and short and watch as your results start to soar!

DAVID KNAPP-NCSF-MCPT,CNS

PRINCETONBOOTCAMPS@YAHOO.COM

 

BURN FAT WHILE YOU SLEEP

According to American fat loss researchers, you CAN burn fat while you sleep and it only takes a short NO-CARDIO workout. Today, you'll get a 12-minute, no-cardio & no-equipment workout so that you can burn fat all day long - even while you sleep. This workout is 5 times FASTER and 9 times more effective than the average cardio session and  equivalent bootcamp  circuit.. The 12-Minute "Burn Fat While You Sleep" Workout 1A) Total Body Extensions - 30 seconds (find out how to do these here) 1B) Close-Grip Pushups - 30 seconds 1C) Prisoner Squats - 30 seconds 1D) Jumping Jacks - 30 seconds or if you are advanced, use Burpees! 1E) Cross-Body Mountain Climbers (alternating sides) - 30 seconds 1F) Prisoner Lunges (alternating sides) - 30 seconds - Rest 60 seconds. - Repeat 2 more times. That gives you a total body workout in under 12 minutes and you'll be amazed at how many calories you can burn in such a short time. If you're still TOO BUSY for that you can use a NEW 6-Minute Fat Burning Solution that will save you time while you lose troubling fat from your thighs, arms and waist, and will even help you get flat, sexy abs.

Give this a shot you will love the results.

David Knapp NCSF-MCPT,CNS

princetonbootcamps@yahoo.com