A New Healthier You
January 2, 2010
A New Healthier You
2009 was a challenge for most people I know…we were challenged incredibly with our employment, finances, family life, relationships and of course our health. It seems like our health is one of the easiest to get hit the worst in tough economic times. Many of us try and make ourselves feel better with food and this leads to excessively eating foods with little to no nutritional value like chips, popcorn, ice cream, chocolate and pastries. But now?
Now it’s the year 2010! It’s time to reflect on last year and think of ways we can make this year better. Sounds a little overwhelming though doesn’t it?
Well let’s make this as simple as possible but let’s first start by promising ourselves to make this year a healthier year. We can always get better with our health, and if you don’t think that’s possible then you aren’t opening your mind up to learning. Even though I’ve been training for over 17 years I still feel like I’m learning each and every day and having this huge audience consistently asking questions allows me to think of solutions with different angles in mind.
Let’s get started!
New Year’s Resolutions: Fat Loss Edition
December 22, 2009
New Year’s Resolutions: Fat Loss Edition
Imagine this… the year 2010 is finally here and you have won the struggle with having the health and body you have always wanted. You close your eyes and picture yourself smiling from head to toe because this summer is the summer where you are looking forward to shedding your clothes and showing off all your hard work. THIS is the greatest feeling, a sense of accomplishment, a sense of well-being, a sense of complete victory.
Now if you think you’re alone in always trying to lose fat, well let me tell you that’s complete bull! Everyone including the most elite fitness competitors are always challenged by their body’s fat percentage. Fat is the one element that covers our muscles and separates it from our skin all the while removing definition and tone.
With this said I should preface to say that fat is not all bad! Media and magazines force us to believe that if we have some fat that we are unhealthy, but through evolution there must have been a reason that we were created with the ability to store fat. The real truth is that fat is a form of fuel that keeps our muscles, brain and heart running when we are sleeping and in times when we have no food. Without it we would be completely non-functional and our organs would all crash. So where do we find balance?
Health Benefits of Yoga Part 2
December 10, 2009
Health Benefits of Yoga Part 2
My last article on Health Benefits of Yoga generated a lot of discussion especially in the Twitter world (http://twitter.com/samomidi) and since I noticed I could write pages on this practice this is the 2nd part in the series which will get you to see even more outside-the-box benefits.
In this article we look at how Yoga can benefit your weight loss efforts, sexual health as well as how it can excel athletes of all kinds of sport and exercise.
Weight Loss Health Benefits of Yoga
Last time I touched on Yoga as a way to reduce mental and muscular stress by allowing you to bring your mind to peace with the outside world as well as challenge you with deep stretching of all your muscles from head to toe. This directly also will benefit you when it comes to weight loss, and not just any weight loss but specifically fat loss. How does it do so?
Health Benefits of Yoga
December 7, 2009
Health Benefits of Yoga
As a health coach and personal trainer I feel like it’s my responsibility to always try and step outside the box and attempt different physical activities which challenge not only my body, but my mind and overall well being. Yoga is no exception and I thought I’d share my recent experiences with Yoga as well as talk about the numerous health benefits it provides.
Overview of Yoga
Originating from India several thousand years ago, Yoga is a practice which includes techniques to bring about a higher state of consciousness through meditation, physical postures, and breathing. In the Western World Hatha Yoga is the most practiced although there are several other types identified by the religions of Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism.
Weight Loss Motivation Tips: Top 5
November 30, 2009
Weight Loss Motivation Tips: Top 5
It’s too bad the months of November/December and March/April are usually the ones where most people lose motivation to get into the gym and stay proactive with their healthy lifestyle choices. That’s why I thought I’d give a quick reminder of some great tips we can all use to stay on track and prevent that muffin top from getting any worst!
The goal of this article is to allow you to focus on keeping it simple and not cluttering your head with all the thousands of different diets/workout plans that promise to give you long term weight loss success. These tips are aimed at experienced pros and beginners alike and are guaranteed to work, so give it a go…
Weight Loss Motivation Tip 1: Plan
Healthy Meal Plan: Day 1
November 19, 2009
Healthy Meal Plan: Day 1
I get asked quite a bit about healthy meal plan ideas, so you many of you will enjoy this article, and to be honest it’s quite fun for me too because it gets me to think about healthy meal plans that actually taste good and are satisfying. It’s no fun going through life eating cardboard-like food because you think it’ll make you look good, right?
Ok so, obviously it takes me a lot of time to sit down with a client and go over their needs and goals and help them develop healthy meal plans that they can stick to, but I thought I’d write articles of example days. You can try them out and see how they work for you and then hopefully mix and match from all the future articles on this topic..and by that I mean I will be writing many more healthy meal plans!
Weight Loss Tips Part II
October 15, 2009
Weight Loss Tips Part II
In my last article on Weight Loss Tips I hopefully got you to think a little bit outside the box. Many of us get a little confused on what advice to follow with all the diets screaming about low carbs, high protein, low fat, etc… Hopefully the biggest tip you got out of the article is to focus your healthy carbohydrate intake in the morning. This will supply you with the energy you need for the rest of the day.
One other tip on that note…if you’re used to skipping breakfast in the morning because you feel like you don’t have an appetite this most likely means that you ate too much and too late the night before. You should be waking up with a large appetite and feeding this craving with healthy cereal, oatmeal or even eggs/smoked salmon (here are some healthy breakfast ideas).
So now let’s take a look at exercise tips to help us eliminate the extra weight many of us are carrying around our waists!
Weight Loss Tips for Dummies
October 7, 2009
Weight Loss Tips for Dummies
Last night I was at Safeway getting groceries and right behind me in the line-up was a man in a suit and tie who was quite overweight and was huffing and puffing carrying his cart of food. It was sad to see and I had to look at the items he was putting on the conveyor belt – chips, potato salad, hot dogs, coca cola, and a bag of frozen perogies. As I was leaving the cashier asked him how he was and he said tired and couldn’t wait to get home. It was 9pm so I wasn’t surprised, and I just wanted to reach out, shake him and give him a pep talk, specifically “do you know how much better you’d feel if you had a healthy diet full of lean meats, fruits and veggies?”.
But alas, I didn’t, I just carried my bags out of the grocery store feeling like I wanted to help more people. I hope this blog is doing that, scratch that… In fact, I know it is helping people as I get a ton of positive feedback all the time and it’s what keeps me writing. Please help me and share this site with your friends and family so we can keep others motivated and on a healthy track, in the end it will benefit us all (if you don’t believe me look at the health care crisis in America).
Nevertheless, let’s roll up our sleeves and get into the meat of this article, I think you’ll get a kick out of it.
P.S. although the title of this article says it’s for dummies I know you’re not, but there are times when our stomach takes over our brain and makes us act like we are – and yes that definitely includes me!!!
Truth About Six Pack Abs Review
September 30, 2009
Truth About Six Pack Abs Review
Lately there’s a ton of super popular health books on the internet and I thought it was time to do a little investigation of my own to see how good these books really are. For the first review I thought I’d take a look at is one that many people have asked me about in the past – Truth About Six Pack Abs by Michael Geary.
It’s got a great title, and I remember hearing an interview a month ago where Michael was talking about how he came up with the best selling title. Michael actually fell into the personal training business over a decade ago and the question he got asked most about was about getting 6 pack abs. Therefore, it only made sense to include “abs” in the title of his book. I have to agree with him on this one, some of the most read and discussed articles on Weight Loss and Training are about abs.
Lose Weight on Vacation
August 26, 2009
Can You Lose Weight on Vacation?
Sounds like an oxymoron when you mix the words losing weight with vacation doesn’t it? Most of us feel like we’ve gained a lot of weight after coming back from a trip, but what if we were to turn this upside down right on it’s head? Stay with me here as this article may get you to look at things in a different perspective when your on vacation…
Firstly, you are on vacation and you are supposed to be slowing down right? That is after all why you have gone away isn’t it? Well this may not be the case if you’ve gone to New York or Las Vegas, but the principles I’m about to talk about can still hold their value if you treat them with respect. Regardless of where you are, vacations are a great time to catch up on sleep and this can help greatly in reducing your stress levels. In fact, I’ve already talked about how reducing your stress can help you lose fat (read my article on Stress Relief and Exercise if you haven’t done so already). So definitely take advantage of this time to slow down and enjoy life…the result is that your body will also shed fat if you do so.
