That’s great!

It never ceases to amaze me how most people don’t give their bodies a second thought. They think they just go to the gym…walk on the treadmill…throw some weights around…go home and eat whatever…

Seriously, the human body is the most complicated piece of machinery on the planet. Do they really think there’s ZERO science behind exercise? Do they really think they can just eat whatever is in their fridge after working their butts off?

I dunno, maybe it’s just me, but it drives me a little crazy when people look at fitness as nothing more than guesswork. Actually, it’s a little infuriating.

Take post-workout nutrition, for example. Does it make sense that there be an OPTIMAL way to fuel your body after all the demands you make of it during your training session? Of course it does!

Bottom line: Recent studies have shown that a carbohydrate AND protein formula is more effective for rapid replenishment of muscle glycogen after exercise than a carbohydrate only supplement of equal carbohydrate or  caloric content.

In other words, just drinking a “sports drink” after your workout doesn’t cut it. The research indicates you need to fuel your body with just the right combo of carbs AND protein. And yes, this is hyper-critical to optimizing your efforts.

Here’s two more things you need to know about getting the most bang for your workout buck:

1) As a proud Prograde Partner I’m thrilled to let you know that Prograde Workout is now available.

2) On the link below you can also learn more about the research study on post-workout nutrition.

Yes, Prograde Workout recovery drink is based on this very research. It provides the right combo of protein and carbs that your body craves after a tough training session.

Just click this special link right here and find out for yourself how you can try it for FREE:

http://personalfitnesssolutions.getprograde.com/pre-and-post-workout-drink.html

Your friend and trainer,

Paul F. Sweatt

PS – If you want to optimize your efforts then you owe it to yourself to try Prograde Workout and see the results for yourself.
http://personalfitnesssolutions.getprograde.com/pre-and-post-workout-drink.html

So I figured this would be a great time to share this killer article with you. It’s from my friends and partners over at Prograde Nutrition.

Bottom line: Recent research shows any strength training workout should be followed by proper post-workout nutrition.

It’s all right here ==> http://personalfitnesssolutions.getprograde.com/recovery-research.html

Enjoy!

Your friend and trainer,

Paul F. Sweatt

PS – I’m not kidding around. Do NOT waste your workout by fueling your body with junk afterward. Find out what the RESEARCH shows: http://personalfitnesssolutions.getprograde.com/recovery-research.html

You and I are inundated everyday with advice on how to eat right and workout correctly for whatever goal you are trying to accomplish.  Don’t take this advice because it just might kill you.

Eat lots of complex carbs (ex. bread, pasta, etc.) and small amounts of protein and fat.  Yeah sure if you want to be fat, get diabetes and die young from heart disease.

Lifting big weights will make you big.  Only if you are genetically inclined to do so.  For the rest of you, lifting big weights will help you lose fat, get toned and strengthen you bones.  Who doesn’t want strong bones?  Or a toned tight body for that matter?

If you want to get healthy and lose weight do long, steady, boring cardio and lots of it.  This recommendation has been proven time and time again to be down right wrong and possibly even bad for your health.  But still this is exactly what 90% of the population believes will work.

Let me explain.

Way back in 1968 Kenneth Cooper, MD wrote a little book called Aerobics. In this book Dr. Cooper claims that the more exercise (i.e. cardio) one does the better.  This launched a fitness revolution.  All of a sudden it was the gospel of millions that hours and hours of cardio were the key to longevity, vitality and a fitter physique.

If this was correct then why were all these athletes suffering from shriveled muscle tone, strange illnesses (Lance Armstrong Syndrome)  and scrambled hormones?  And why were cardio fanatics dying in their 50’s?

After doing some more research Dr. Cooper discovered that more in not better and could be worse.  He now recommends no more than 30 minutes of cardio, 4 day a week.  And this is coming from Mr Aerobics himself.  But of course nobody knows of this.

But even the above recommendation can be too much.  There is a point of diminished returns.

Also, it has been shown that our bodies aren’t even designed for that kind of punishment. Take note that the first person ever to run a marathon dropped dead shortly afterwards.

Here are some of the reasons why you should avoid long, steady state cardio:

1.)  Cardio can damage your cells. A German study found that too much cardio can lead to DNA damage in cells.  This in turn can lead to premature aging, cancer and organ failure.

Keep it in the orange.  Avoid long steady state cardio.

2.)  Cardio can cause major havoc to normal body processes.  It has also been shown in studies that too much cardio can cause declines in testosterone (no ladies that is not a good thing), increases in cortisol (a muscle wasting hormone), hemolysis (destruction of red blood cells) and amenorrhea (failure to menstruate).

Hemolysis: don’t let it happen to you.

3.)  Cardio can lead to illness.  Too much cardio puts a strain on your immune system.  This in turn makes it harder for you to fight of viruses.  Running a marathon significantly raises your risk of coming down with pneumonia.  I have had pneumonia.  During the summer even.  No fun.

Pneumonia.  Takes your breath away.

4.) Cardio can lead to major diseases. The above mentioned and other hormonal in balances caused by too much cadrio can lead to odd diseases. Lance Armstong – Testicular Cancer.  Steve Scott – Testicular Cancer.  Scott Hamilton – Cystic Fibrosis.  John Walker – Parkinson’s.  Marty Liquori – Lymphatic Cancer.  ’Nuff Said.

If he knew, would he still think it worth it. Make a donation.

5.)  Cardio  can severely decrease muscle tone.  Too much cardio and not enough resistance training can lead to a wasting away of  muscle tone.  Muscle tone is very important to keep your body and you strong and healthy.  Less muscle = lower metabolism = more fat.  Also, I don’t believe that the emaciated runner look is in this year (and I don’t believe next year looks good either).

This is the body of a famous endurance athlete.  Is this what you are looking for?

6.) Cardio leads to overuse injuries. Whenever you do a motion repeatedly you are bound to eventually suffer an overuse injury.  And considering that long bout of cardio have you repeating the same motion thousands upon thousands of times, you do the math.

It’s called runner’s knee for a reason.

7.)  Most people do cardio wrong. Most people do their long, slow, boring cardio at a moderately hard pace. This pace is too easy to cause improvement and too hard to recover from before the next bout of cardio.  This pace has also been shown to actually decrease performance and has been dubbed “The Black Hole” by Stephen Seiler, PhD.  If it is so bad why do so many people go at that pace.  Because it is the best way to get the endorphins flowing.  Endorphins = good feelings = more moderately hard cardio = addiction = (see 1-6 above).  It’s like crack people and remember what Whitney said “Crack is Whack.”

Endorphins magnified 10,000x.  If seeing that doesn’t get you to stop, I don’t know what will.

But if cardio is bad for you how to you get to benefits without the risks.

Two words;  Interval Training.  Interval training done for 20 minutes, just 1 to 3 times a week has been shown to be better than long steady state cardio for over all healthy and fat loss.

Questions? Comments? Think I am crazy and should be thrown in a padded cell?  Let me know below.  Leave a comment.  If you don’t I will sick The Captain on you.

Your friend and trainer,

Paul

Long live the new king of fat loss.

Ever since Jim Fixx released his book “Running” everyone thinks that long, slow, boring cardio is the way to go for fat loss.  Were you bad last night at the party, go do 2 hours on the ellipitical to absolve your self of your sin.

They don’t call them cardio confessionals for nothing.

Dear lord,  Please let me burn of those calories before I lose my abs.

What if I told you that there is a better, shorter way to burn off those calories that even helps you burn calories after you stopped doing it.  And that this way has been shown to actually target the most dangerous and ugly kind of fat.

Would you  even believe me if I did?

No, it is not a pill.

No, it is not some gadget (cue Billie Mays voice) that for just 3 easy installments of 39.95 and 5 minutes a day will melt the fat off you while you sit in it.

It’s interval training!

What is interval training you ask? And how can it help you quickly and not as boringly burn off all those extra calories?

Glad you asked.

Interval training is:

1.)   Warm-up at an easy to moderate pace.

2.)  Raise the speed/level of the machine (your body) to a pace/resistance that is very hard for you to do.

3.)  Stay at this pace resistance for about 15-30 seconds depending on you fitness level.

4.)  After the 15-30 seconds you will lower the speed/level drasticly to a pace resistance that is easy to moderate.

5.)  Stay at this pace/resistance for about 45-90 seconds.

6.)  Repeat steps 2-5.

7.)  Start with 5 intervals () and work your way up to more once your fitness level improves but try to keep to total time performing the intervals to 20 minutes or less.

8.)  Cool down and stretch.  You are done.

If done  right (and if you are not a masochist) you should be all done with you “new cardio”, including warm-up and cool-down, within 30 minutes.

If 30 minutes is good.  4 hours must be great.  No!  D’oh!

Yeah I know.  Cool, right?

It gets even better.

When you start interval training today as an added bonus you get a metabolism that will stay elevated for up to 39 hours afterwards.  That’s more calories burned even while you are at rest.  You can’t get that from your old slow, boring cardio where your metabolism drops down within a half hour.

But weight there’s more.

When you start interval training you can burn more of the fat around your middle.  Yes folks, you heard that right.  Spot training a myth?  Not when you interval train.  When you interval train it effects certain processes in your body to make it want to burn more of the fat that you want to get rid of the most.  Spare tire. Gone.  Thunder thighs.  Vanish.  It’s like magic folks.

I think we need to start interval training.  This cardio thing ain’t workin’.

I know.  I know. But if you can please return to your seats until we are done here.

If you know me, you know that I am not a big fan of cardio in general (especially the long, slow kind).

I believe that if you work out hard enough in the weight room, with free weights and body weight exercises, you will get an awesome cardiovascular workout at the same time.  I sweat more during my weight workouts than some people I see on the treadmill for 2 hours.  But when I am looking to really get cut and show off my abs I will use interval training.  I can prove that it works.

I won’t lie to you.  Interval training is not easy.  But even though it is way harder than regular cardio, it is over quicker and produces much greater results. Since interval training in harder on your body than regular cardio, I recommend that you start with only 2 sessions a week  going up to 3 days once you get accustomed.  And always make sure that there is a day of rest between sessions.

For those of you that have to get your daily cardio fix (psychos) you can still do your regular slow, boring cardio on your off days.  But I recommend that you cut back on time or distance until your body adjusts to the new work load.

Disagree with me?  Do you think long slow boring cardio is better for fat loss?  Let me know.  Leave a comment below.

Your friend and trainer,

Paul

You changed your diet and started working out.

For the first week to month everything was going as you hoped it would. 

You lost weight and you clothes started getting looser in all the right places.

Then all of a sudden it all stopped.

Or possibly you started to gain some of the weight back and the clothes got tighter in all the wrong places.

So you start to eat less than you were and ramping up your cardio (which is all you do for your workout).

A little more weight comes off but the results are quick lived and stop again.

You think to yourself that you can’t possibly eat any less or do even more cardio and you figure that you have failed and contemplate giving up.

I know how you feel.  I went though the same thing in my quest to lose 70 lbs.  Thankfully, I did not give up and you shouldn’t give up either.  Granted it took a lot longer for me to lose the weight that I had to lose then it should have.  I did not know then what I know now.  Isn’t that always the case.

While going to college for my Exercise Physiology Degree and my ten years as a personal trainer I picked up (quite) a few tricks that you can apply to and around your workouts that will make the fat fall off your body. 

Without having to starve yourself. 

1.  Resistance Train.  The calories you burn while doing the cardio are it.  Once you stop your body quickly goes back to a pre-workout state.  Bye bye calorie burn.  And don’t even get me started on how in accurate the “calories burned” display is.  Where as when you do resistance training it can take you body up to 39 hours to return to a pre-workout state.  This means that you will burn more calories even while sleeping that night. Your getting you 8 hours, right? So if you resistance train every other day, your body will remain in this elevated calorie burning state.

2.  Lift Heavy Weights while resistance training.  Afraid of getting big and bulky.  Just clean up your diet a little bit and this won’t be a problem.  Unless you are genetically “gifted” if  you get bulky from lifting weights it is because you are building muscle tone without losing the fat around it.  Lose the fat and you will see the toned, sleek muscles that you are looking for.  Also, lifting heavy puts your body in an even higher state of calorie burn then those pink and fuzzy weight ever will.

  Has anyone ever seen pink and fuzzy weights.  I haven’t. 

3.  Work Your Total Body.  Your body has over 600 muscles.  Use as many as possible during your resistance training session.  The more muscle you use (especially when you lift heavy) the higher the state of calorie burn. Just using these 3 tips alone can help you take off (at least) an extra pound a week.  And while I am here, don’t waste any of your exercise time on single joint exercises like arm curls or extensions.  If you have have 50 lbs to lose focus on working the big muscles first and worry about getting arms like Michelle later.

  Remember, you won’t see the tone under the fat.

4.  Use Intervals.  Following the previous 3 tips will get you the body you want way faster than your long boring cardio sessions.  But I realize that some of you will look at me like I have three heads if I tell you that cardio, for the most part, is unnecessary.  So for those of you that still feel that they must do cardio, here is what you should do.  2-3 times a week (I suggest right after your resistance training to really get the burn up) pick a full body exercise (i.e burpees) or a piece of cardio equipment (i.e. treadmill).  After a quick warm-up (no more than 3 minutes) go as hard/fast as you can handle for 30 seconds.  Then rest or slow down to an easy pace for 90 seconds.  Repeat 4 times.  When this starts to get easy you can either add intervals or go harder/faster during the work intervals.

 She does intervals.

5.  Make Sure That You Warm up and Cool down.  Nothing can stall your fast lose progress like an injury (I can attest to this).   I suggest some foam rolling and dynamic stretching bofore and static stretching after.  Even if it is just for 5 minutes on either side of you work out.  This will be one of the most important thing that you will do to help with your fat loss.

Got to stretch.

6.  Eat Before You Workout.  I know.  I know.  It seems counterintuitive to eat around a workout that you are doing to lose fat.  But let’s get this straight; Your body needs fuel to do work.  If it does not have fuel it can’t work as hard and your workout will not be as effective.  Or worse yet, since your body tries to hold on the its stored fat as much as possible it will start to break down your calorie burning muscles for fuel.  This is bad and will result in the weight you lost coming back.  So a couple hours before you workout have a small meal.  And 15-30 minutes before you workout have a small snack, like a piece of fruit.

 Good Workout Fuel.

7.  Eat Again After You Workout.  Whoa. Wait a minute. He wants me to eat more.  Does he realize that I am try to lose weight not gain it?  Yes, I do.  There is a window around (about 2 hours before you workout to about 2 hours) after your workout that is the most important time of day for you to eat to help with your fat loss goals.  This is the time that your body is screaming for fuel to help keep you strong and active, build muscle tone and lose fat.  Miss this window and you can kiss your fat loss goals goodbye.  So make sure that you have a snack before you workout to help keep you going and after you workout to help your body recover and rebuild.  And a healthy meal within two hours of your workout.

Great recovery fuel.

Following these 7 tips will help you to quickly reach your fat loss goals.

Another inch!

But before I leave you I just want to mention a pet peeve of mine.  I see tons (pun intended) of people in the gym at Wellesley who are obviously trying to lose weight.  They come in. They workout. They leave without taking a shower.  Why? because they will take one at home. NO!  Because they didn’t sweat.  Even if you don’t follow the tips above, if you want to lose weight you going to have to work.  If you don’t want to do the work.  Give up now because you will only waste your time and get in the way of someone who is willing.  Thank you.

Your Friend and Trainer,

Paul

So last Monday I went to work out at our sister club in Franklin, MA.

After about fifteen minutes of some foam roller work, to get rid of all the knots in my muscles, I headed down to “the dungeon” (if you have ever been to the Franklin club you know what I talking about).

Due to the fact that I got up later than usual, I got to club during ladies hour and there were quite a few of them in “the dungeon”.

I think that it is great to see women in the weight room and not just doing cardio for a “work”out. But ladies if you are going to go to the weight room and hog a piece of equipment, at least make the exercises something that will actually get you to your fat loss goals.

 Part way though my workout I went back to the only place in “the dungeon” (and BSC Franklin for that matter) that you can do weighted pull-ups.

This one and only place happens to be attached to a cable-cross station.

As I stood there waiting for my turn (rather impatiently), I started watching the woman doing the kickbacks. If I’d have thought better of it, I’d have just gone on to the next exercise and gone back to the pull-ups later. But then I wouldn’t have thought of this post to help you.

And to my chagrin both towers were occupied.

One side by a rather toned women doing upright rows with a very respectable amount of weight (she obviously knew what she was doing). The other side by a larger women, probably about 50 lbs overweight, doing kickbacks with almost no weight (and not exactly optimal form).

Being a rather curious person I decided to watch to see what else this woman was going to do for her “work”out. 

During my brief rest time between sets of course.

So as I was watch the larger kick back lady continue with her “work”out, I came to a few conclusions:

1. She was most likely at the gym to lose weight.
2. She was doing exercises she believed would help her reach that goal.
3. She more than likely did  steady state cardio before hand.  She wasn’t sweating so I am not exactly sure.
4. She was lifting super light weights because she didn’t want to get big an bulky.  I found this ironic.
5. She was more than likely not going to reach her weight loss goals.  Probably due to giving up from lack of results.

I am also going to add that her diet was probably not as good as it could be and that she hadn’t eaten before going to the gym.

I appluad her for taking the first steps and actually getting into the gym.  But if she really wants to lose weight, some drastic changes need to be made  to her program.

These changes are in order of importance:

• She needs to learn proper nutrition and eating habits.  Your diet will account for at least 80% of your success.
• She needs to limit or stay away from single joint exercises.  Full body exercise burn way more calories than those that just focus on the problem areas.
• She needs to lift moderate to heavy weights (for her anyways).  Lifting heavy weights has been shown to not only burn more calories (up to 500 in 20 minutes) while you are lifting them.   But doing so also keeps your metabolism for up to 48 hours after.  No ladies you will not get big and bulky.  I and all my female clients can prove that myth false.
• If she still wants or thinks she needs to do cardio, she should stick to quick sessions to interval training after she lifts weights (or on a seperate day).  I myself thingk that cardio is overrated (and over used) but I understand that some of you are so conditioned that you must do cardio or you get the shakes and the cold sweats od a crack addict needing a fix. Interval training, short periods of near max effort followed by equal or longer periods of low effort, has  been shown to burn more calories over time than steady state cardio, staying at one pace the whole session.

Following the above advice should get you way closer to the weight loss results than the typical program I see most women doing. 

And doing so will also keep you from becoming the topic of a future post of mine. 

Unless, of course, it is a success story.

Health and Happiness,

Paul F. Sweatt

Welcome to my  blog.

Thanks for joining me in my quest to get as many people as possible, especially those in and around Wellesley, in the best shape of their lives.

I hope our journey together  is enjoyable and that you find here all the answers you need  to get you to the body you want and the health you desire.

Since I am just starting my lucrative writing career please bear with me until I find my rhythm.  Thanks.

On to the first post.

This past weekend I went to visit my mom.

The main purpose of this visit was to try to find an old picture of myself from around the time that I was heavy for my brand new website (which you are now on).

Age 12

10th Grade

Considering all the photos my mom had collected over the years I thought  this would have been an easy task.

Not so much.

I am quite certain that  I burned  most of  the “fat photos” long ago

I did find a few old class pictures but they weren’t any help.  You can see that my face is rounder and softer but not enough of me to see how big I was becoming.

Then there were a couple of pics of me with a belly, during the husky years, but nothing of me past 12.  I reached my heaviest around 16/17.

In every other photo of me that I could come up with I had already lost most of the weight that I would end up losing.

It seemed that I would be unable to find a “before” picture.

Then my mother had the brilliant idea to use a photo of my father. Because it was her comment that I was starting to look like him that got me to finally lose the 70 lbs, I decide to go with that idea.

Now if I had looked like my father did when he was my age, that would have been a compliment.  But she was referring to his later “Fat Elvis” years, when the weight piled on and his health got worse because of it.

Young Elvis	Fat Elvis

Looking at the pics of my dad was kind of a hard process for me.  I had recently found out that my father passed away in 2005 (I last saw him in ‘87), just 2 days after his 61^st birthday.

I am not exactly sure what he died from but I bet it had something to due with his weight, lack of exercise and poor nutrition habits.  He already had naturally high blood pressure which was being made worse by the extra pounds and poor health choices long before I last saw him.

My father, like many Americans,  chose  not to put the time and effort in to his health probably thinking (incorrectly) that it would take too much time.

Here are 3 tips to show you how quick and easy to improving your health and body can be:

1.)  Workout vigorously at least twice a week for 30 minutes.  Now I am not talking about a leisurely stroll here.  You need to be working out at close to your max for the 30 minutes.  Do anything thing you want for the 30 minutes, lift weights, do cardio, intervals, tabatas, all of the above, whatever.  Just make sure your heart and lungs are working like crazy and you are sweating buckets.  Hard. Fast. Done.  1 hour-a-week +

2.)  Plan ahead.   Being rushed and not having the time to prepare a healthy meal or snack typically leads to scarfing down unhealthy choices. Spending a couple of hours at the beginning of the week to plan and prepare what and where you will eat can help you make your diet way more healthy and nutritious.   You will also save time when you go shopping because you will be able to avoid the many aisles that contain nothing of nutritional value.    Save even more time and have a registered dietitian design an eating plan for you.  4 hours-a-week

3.)  Monitor how you look and feel. Take a couple of minutes every day to “check yourself over”.  Do all the things that doctors always tell you to do, like check for lumps, search for suspicious moles or bruising and anything else that might go along with your situation.   While you are taking the time to do the above mentioned things, take a look at your body in general.  Are certain parts or all of it getting bigger (fatter), smaller,  (less muscle tone), jigglier (both), flatter or flabbier?  Do something about it now while the “problem” is easier to “fix”.

Then when you are done with the self physical think about how you feel (been feeling).  Are you always tired, sore, cranky, grouchy, have headaches or lose your breathe easily?  These could be signs of a serious medical condition or could just be cause by a poor diet and lack of sufficient exercise.   1 hour-a-week

Just 6 hours out of the 168 you get  for the week can make a big difference in how your body looks and feels.  That is less than 5%  of your allotted time.  Can’t find six hours.  Turning off the TV every once in a while will probably give you all the time you need.

If my father only knew how quick and easy maintaining/improving his health could have been, being reunited with my father might still be a possibility.

Take the time now.

Follow the three tips given here.

And any future ones given on this blog.

Trust me the time you put into your health now will be given back to you many times over  later on.  Take care of  your body and health now before it is too late.  If you do not want to do it for you, do it for someone you love so they do not have to go though what I did.

Health and Happiness,

Paul