In an earlier post I outlined exercises that emphasize the hamstring muscles in the back of the legs. This week’s moves will target the quadriceps muscles in the front of your thighs. These muscles act to extend, or straighten, your knee joint, and assist in flexing your hip joint by bringing your knee toward your chest. To properly train all of the muscles that make up your quadriceps, it’s important to perform a variety of exercises that work the legs through a broad range of joint positions.

One note to remember about training your legs is to pay attention to the position of your pelvis and lower back during the exercises. Because a portion of the quadriceps musculature attaches to it, it’s common for the pelvis to be pulled out of safe alignment during the movements. By engaging the core stabilization muscles in your abdomen and lower back you should be able to prevent any issues and reinforce neutral pelvis and lower back alignment.

For any exercise be certain to gradually warm up your body and stretch the muscles you are about to train to prevent injury. Remember to breathe comfortably as you do the movements, and stop if you feel pain or in any way unwell.

Backwards hill running.

Any time you run uphill against gravity your leg muscles have to work harder to propel your body up the slope. In traditional running this overloads your glute and hamstring muscles as they extend your hip joint to push you forward. To target your quadriceps, try turning around and sprinting backwards up the hill. The extension required at the knee joint will recruit the lower quadriceps, which you’ll likely feel on your first trip up the hill. The number of repetitions depends on the length and grade of the hill you choose, but I’ll often recommend 100 strides, which could be 4 times up a hill that requires 25 strides to make it to the top, or 5 times up a hill that requires only 20 strides. Only count the uphill strides and be sure to pay attention for any obstacles when running backwards.

Toner hip flexions.

To strengthen the rectus femoris muscles in the upper quadriceps it’s important to perform resisted hip flexion exercises with your knee bent. Using a toner that’s anchored in a low position, with the other end wrapped around your foot or ankle, pull your knee up toward your chest against the resistance of the tubing. Attempt to keep your hips square and your spine in neutral alignment without arching or rounding your back during the movement. Holding a pole or railing for stability can be a good idea at first. Perform 2-3 sets of 15-20 repetitions per leg, gradually increasing the speed of the controlled movement.

Bench lunges.

I like lunges because they’re a very functional movement, and the endless variations can be used to emphasize different muscles in the lower body. The bench lunge is one of my favorites because of the elevated, flexed position of the rear leg, which recruits the large rectus femoris muscle. To do this exercise properly, place your rear foot on a step or bench that is below knee height. Your front foot should be far enough forward that you can keep your foot flat on the ground, with the knee at about a 90˚ angle at the bottom of the movement. Maintain a neutral spinal and body position as you lift and lower your body by bending your back knee toward the ground. Perform 3 sets of 12-15 repetitions per leg.

Body Science – Safe and effective outdoor training.

Although strength-training machines have their place in a comprehensive fitness program, I often encourage clients to train outdoors when the weather is good, using more bodyweight exercises. There are a lot of benefits to this, as well as a few things to watch for when training outside:

• Balance your program. For example, don’t ignore your back muscles.
• Watch the impact. Do as much exercise as possible on softer surfaces.
• Warm up and stretch properly. Avoid the tendency to jump right into the exercises.

Keep these tips in mind as you develop your own outdoor training program, or get an expert to help you create your own custom routine.

In Health,

Rob

The primary action of the muscle group is to extend your elbow joint, however, if you really want to maximize your workouts and get the best shape and balance to your triceps, it’s important to incorporate a few different exercises into your routine. This is because the tricep muscle is made up of 3 different parts, or heads, and each of these different heads is active to a different extent depending on the position of your arm when doing the exercise.

I always try to choose exercises that are performed with my arms in 3 different positions in relation to my body. One exercise should involve having your arms close by your side, the second with your arms in front of you, and the third with your arms overhead. It’s also a good idea to vary your grip position in the different exercises, sometimes having your palms facing you, sometimes away from you and sometimes in a neutral position where your palms face each other. This will recruit as many different muscle fibres as possible and establish balance and improved overall function.

The exercises this week can be done indoors or out, with very little equipment. For any exercise be certain to gradually warm up your body and stretch the muscles you are about to train. This will help to prevent injury. Remember to breathe comfortably as you do the movements, and stop if you feel pain or in any way unwell.

Overhead toner extension.

This is a great exercise to recruit the entire tricep muscle group as well as the shoulder and elbow joints. By keeping the arms in the overhead position, you’ll target the long head of the triceps muscles, which give your arms much of their size and shape. Start by looping your toner around a railing or sign post and grasp the handles in your hands with your back to the anchor point. Bend forward at the hips, keeping your spine and head in a neutral position, with your elbows by your temples. Keeping firm resistance in the toner, fully extend your arms as you keep your elbows close together by your head. Bend your elbows to let your hands come back behind your head, then extend your arms again. Perform 2-3 sets of 15 reps.

Narrow pushups on a ball.

The technique for this exercise is pretty simple, but the benefit and burn in the triceps is extreme. Try doing pushups with your hands on a ball, keeping your elbows close by your sides as you lower your chest toward the ball. Work hard to maintain neutral spinal and head position. This exercise can be done from you knees or your toes, and the instability of the ball provides an excellent stability stimulus for your shoulders and core.

Bench dips.

One of the most accessible tricep exercises is the bench dip, but how you perform the exercise will determine the benefits you get out of it. Start by sitting on the front edge of a firm bench or seat with your feet on the ground in front of you. Place the heels of your hands on the edge of the bench and slide your hips forward off the seat, supporting your bodyweight on your arms. Your knees should be slightly bent, with your heels on the ground. Maintain a head-up, neutral spinal position as you lower your hips toward the ground, keeping your lower back close to the front edge of the bench. Emphasize flexing and extending the elbow joint, and be careful not to go too low, as this will stress the shoulder joint. At the top of the movement, press your head upward as far as possible toward the sky. To increase the difficulty, lift one foot off the ground, or support your feet on an unstable surface like a stability ball.

Body Science – Experiment with your exercise techniques.

Don’t be afraid to play around and make up your own exercises every once in a while. Honestly, many of the best exercises I’ve used for conditioning and rehabilitation with clients have been my own special variations. The important thing is to remember a few underlying principles:

• Maintain neutral, healthy posture
• Train at safe speeds
• Control the range of motion at all joints

By remembering these three rules you should be able to experiment with almost any movement or exercise device safely. Send me an email if you invent a great exercise. Maybe I’ll feature it in an upcoming column.

In Heath,

Rob

To develop strong, shapely legs that will turn heads wherever you go, it’s necessary to intelligently train your leg muscles the same way you train your arms. In just the same way that you train your biceps and triceps with different exercises, proper leg training involves choosing movements that specifically emphasize the quadriceps, hamstrings and glutes separately, as well as including compound movements that use all of the muscles at the same time.

Because I’m always focused on developing healthy, functional bodies, I’ve tried to include exercises that have a positive carry-over into everyday activities and recreational sports. Additionally, I recommend doing a lot of exercises barefoot, or in socks, to encourage the development of strong, healthy feet that adequately support and control the movements and mass of the body. Personally I’m now doing almost all of my strength and conditioning workouts without shoes.

For any exercise be certain to gradually warm up your body and stretch the muscles you are about to train. This will help to prevent injury. Remember to breathe comfortably as you do the movements, and stop if you feel pain or in any way unwell.

Butt-kickers.

Included as a dynamic agility and warm-up exercise, butt-kickers are great for stimulating your hamstrings and heating up your entire body. To perform this exercise correctly, you’ll need to jog at a slow pace, maintaining good posture with a slight forward body lean, and staying primarily on the balls of your feet as you kick your heels high toward your backside. Your hamstrings are recruited to fully flex the knee joint to enable contact of your heel with your glute. Do 2 sets of approximately 40 repetitions, feeling free to gradually increase the speed and intensity of each set.

1-leg stiff-legged deadlift.

Your hamstring muscles are positioned in such a way that they help to control the forward flexion of your pelvis as you bend at the hips. When you flex forward while standing on two feet, you can count on the strength of both hamstrings to support the weight of your upper body. If you lift one foot off the ground, immediately the hamstring of the elevated leg is put in an open-chain environment where it’s inhibited from contributing to the control of the pelvis. This means that all of the weight of the body is now controlled by the muscles of a single leg, which doubles the amount of load or stimulus on the muscles. In the stiff-legged deadlift shown, it’s important to maintain a neutral spinal position and square, level pelvis as you flex forward from the hip joint until you feel the stretch in the back of your leg. Repeat this movement for a total of 12-15 repetitions before switching sides.

Walking lunges.

Although walking lunges recruit most of the leg muscles, the forward movement with each step emphasizes the hamstrings and gluteal muscles in their role as extensors of the hip joint. Starting from an upright position, take a full step forward with one leg and keep the front foot flat on the ground as you bend your back knee and lower it downward. Be careful to maintain a neutral, level pelvis the whole time. At the bottom of the movement both knees should be bent to approximately 90˚ and much of the weight should be on the heel of your front foot. Pull through directly into the next step and maintain a balanced, upright posture. Try carrying dumbbells or a medicine ball for more intensity. Walking with your feet in-line as if on a tightrope will challenge your balance more than having a wider base of support.

Body Science – What you should know about open and closed-chain exercise.

In case you’ve never come across this terminology, it’s used to describe a classification system for conditioning exercises. Simply stated, when dealing with the legs, a closed-chain exercise is any movement in which one or both feet are firmly in contact with a support surface. Examples include squats, lunges, leg press, etc. In contrast, open-chain exercises are those that have the feet free-floating in the air, such as the leg extension, leg curl or adductor/abductor machines.

In general, although there certainly are applications for open-chain movements, the closed-chain exercises more closely replicate natural, functional activities, which makes them preferable for general conditioning and/or rehabilitation programs. 

In Health,

Rob

As I discussed last week, this year’s exercises are all going to be performed outside, with minimal equipment. At Williams Health Group we provide resistance toners to most of our private clients and all of our bootcamp participants, because of the portability and versatility. These great training tools can be packed in your luggage when travelling or kept in your gym bag with your athletic shoes, allowing for a full-body workout anywhere you go.

One of the biggest benefits of using toners for your workouts is that most of the exercises will be performed in a standing position, which recruits additional muscle mass and challenges your balance. By simply narrowing your stance, holding a squat position, or standing on one foot while you perform the exercises, you can increase the difficulty of the movement. For this week’s shoulder exercises we’ve demonstrated the most basic version of the movement, but feel free to progress the difficulty. Make sure you constantly challenge yourself when you’re training.

For all of our exercises, be certain to gradually warm up your body and stretch the muscles you are about to train. This will help to prevent injury. Remember to breathe comfortably as you do the movements, and stop if you feel pain or in any way unwell.

Toner rear deltoid fly.

Because most exercisers tend to ignore the muscles in the back of their shoulders, I’ve included a great exercise for isolating this region. This is important because the posterior deltoid helps to visually balance the muscle mass of the shoulder complex. Neglecting this area can result in poor posture and a greater potential for shoulder injury. To do this exercise correctly, loop one end of your toner around a pole and grasp the free handle in one hand with your arm at approximately chest height. If you’re going to train your left arm first, the line of pull of the toner should be directly across your body, with the toner anchored to your right. This will allow you to pull your left arm back and across your body against the tension of the toner. Keep just a slight bend in the elbow and make sure you don’t let your arm drop below the height of your chest. Do 2 sets of approximately 12-15 repetitions on each arm.

Toner high-low.

For this exercise, loop the middle of your toner around a pole or railing and stand holding the handles with good posture and both arms outstretched in front of your chest. Keeping resistance in the tubing, with your arms straight and the head and spine in neutral alignment, raise one arm up and overhead, while you draw the other hand and arm down to the side of your hip. Do a very slight pause at this position, setting the shoulder blades back and down. Repeat this movement for a total of 20 repetitions, alternating sides.

Toner lateral raise.

Whether done with dumbbells, resistance tubing, or even soup tins, the side raise is a great shoulder exercise. To do this movement properly it’s essential to start with good neutral spinal alignment, and maintain this through the set. This includes good head and shoulder blade alignment. Holding one toner handle in each hand, let the middle of the toner drop down by your feet. Place one or both feet on the middle of the toner and perform the movement by raising your arms straight out to your sides. If your toner is too short, you might find that you’re not able to get your arms to shoulder height. In this instance you might bend your legs or arms slightly to allow more range of motion, or slide the toner to one side and just do the movement one arm at a time. Make sure you do 12-15 repetitions on each arm.

Body Science – What your hands say about your shoulders.

Over the years I’ve assessed the posture and structural alignment of thousands of people, and one of the first things I look for is the position of their hands when they’re standing relaxed. While standing comfortably with your arms hanging at your side, your hands should be positioned just beside your thighs, and your palms should face inward. If your hands hang in front of you, or your palms are turned so that they face backward, it’s a very strong indicator that you have alignment issues at your upper spine and shoulders, which could result in injuries. Check your own hand position to see how you measure up.

In Health,

Rob

Unfortunately, for many people, the summer actually brings a reduction in their regular fitness activities, as well as other complicating factors like backyard BBQ’s, patios, and less sleep at night. Any time you reduce your exercise and increase your fatty food or alcohol consumption, you’ve created perfect conditions for an increase in your bodyfat and a reduction in overall fitness levels.

Over the summer my goal is to keep you fit, strong and sexy by providing exercise and lifestyle tips that are quick, convenient and incredibly effective. The exercises are going to be simple and accessible, using minimal equipment to build your muscles, so you don’t even need to get to the gym. When you’re doing the right exercises, you need the right nutrition, so I’ll give regular tips on better eating strategies and better food choices. I’ll also include ideas for keeping your caloric output higher this summer, getting better rest, improving your posture and much, much more.

By paying close attention to these aspects of your lifestyle, you’re more likely to see progress in your fitness levels this summer. You might even enjoy the opportunity to jump into a swimsuit once in a while without anxiety. Now that’s something to look forward to.

Summer strength training.

By now you know that I strongly recommend strength training for almost everyone. The best place for this is always a well-equipped fitness center or training studio, however I understand if you’re looking to spend more time outdoors in the good weather. For this reason, my entire 2011 Summer Shapeup series will consist of exercises that can be done anywhere, with little or no equipment. To make the most of your time, I’ll focus on movements that use as much muscle mass as possible to elevate your heart rate, burn more calories and boost your overall metabolism. I also recommend super-setting (alternating) strength exercises with more dynamic activities to reduce rest and increase the intensity of each workout.

Summer sweat.

When I talk about alternating strength exercises with dynamic activities, I’m referring to things like jogging, bench step-ups or agility training. These movements are going to challenge your anaerobic energy system, which is excellent for burning calories and improving the efficiency of your heart and lungs. They also provide an important training stimulus to your balance and proprioception systems. This is what allows your body to function smoothly and effectively during sporting movements where your attention is focused on the ball, rather than on which direction your feet are moving. This summer I’ve got a lot of people enjoying these types of activities in my Better Bootcamp program, and I’ll be doing a lot of them myself to keep my bodyfat levels down and my athleticism up.

Summer eating.

Arguably the most important part of the entire health and fitness equation, good nutrition often comes down to a question of education and organization. It still surprises me how many people have no awareness of an effective eating strategy. To keep this as simple as possible, I’m going to emphasize the importance of knowing ‘how’ to eat, rather than ‘what’ to eat. This involves having 4 to 5 meals of equal size (for most people this is around 350-400 calories), evenly spaced throughout the day, with about 3.5 to 4 hours between meals. Each meal should include some good quality protein to help your body rebuild, as well as some fat and some carbohydrate. Don’t snack between meals, and drink lots of water. By following this strategy you will have a system that is well fueled at all times, and might not be as likely to give in to hot dogs, nachos, beer or ice cream.

In Health,

Rob

The biggest factor in having an enviable midriff is nutrition, and the layer of bodyfat that accumulates as a result of improper or excessive nutrient consumption. Although ‘calories in vs. calories out’ is an oversimplification, it’s certainly true that an overall reduction in caloric intake is usually required to shed enough bodyweight to reveal the stomach muscles. This is the point at which you’ll see whether or not you actually have any muscles there at all.  This is the point at which your training program or bootcamp really pays off.

If you’re going to train your core muscles properly, you have to make sure that you don’t just focus on your stomach. Balanced core training requires that you work the muscles of your stomach, lower back and sides. You also need to include a variety of movements, from pure flexion, extension and rotation, to flexion and extension WITH rotation at varying speeds, and with sustained holds. This is the only way to make sure that you develop the total package.

The following exercises are commonly used in bootcamp scenarios, and could usually be performed more safely and effectively with a little more understanding and awareness of what to look for.  As always, make sure you warm up fully before performing the movements. Pay close attention to the recommendations and stop if you feel pain.

The Plank

I don’t like to be too critical, but I’ve got to say that I rarely see a plank being done properly. A full plank involves a face-down position where the body is held off the ground in neutral, horizontal spinal alignment, supported only by the forearms and toes. This is difficult enough, but most of the time instructors are pushing clients to add more challenging variations to the movement, like lifting one foot off the ground or rocking back and forth, even before they’ve mastered the basic position. Where most people go wrong is through the upper spine and head position as they plank. Usually the spine is arched up toward the sky, while the head hangs low. Picture this same body alignment in someone standing upright. This wouldn’t be very good posture at all. When you plank, make sure to keep your spine level, with your head neutral on your body.

The Sit-up.

In a gym setting it seems that most trainers have focused on having clients do partial crunches or curl-ups where the lower back remains on the floor, but the bootcamp craze has brought a resurgence of full sit-ups. I could probably write pages and pages on what to pay attention to when doing a sit-up, and I’m sure I’d still get critical, and legitimate, emails saying I missed something. Mostly I want to make sure that the potentially harmful practices are eliminated, like pulling on the head with the arms, or letting the back arch too much. For safer, more effective sit-ups remember to activate your deep abdominal musculature, draw your bellybutton slightly inward and upward, initiate the movement from the midsection rather than the head or arms, keep your tongue pressed against the roof of your mouth and place your fingertips just behind your ears to act as a guide in keeping your head neutral on your body. Short of being next to you while you do them, these tips will go a long way to improving your sit-up technique.

Reverse Woodchop.

It’s a good thing that training tools and trainers have progressed to a stage where there are more rotational training exercises being demonstrated to clients. The only downside is the learning curve that goes along with any new movements. Because the human body tries to find the path of least resistance, it will compromise correct movement for easy movement, which isn’t always a good thing. If you’re going to perform any movement that involves extension and rotation at the same time, it’s essential that you eliminate ballistic momentum from the exercise and only perform a range of motion that is possible with constant muscular control. This doesn’t mean the movement has to be slow. Just be sure that you don’t rotate beyond a safe range of motion, while maintaining active stabilization of your lower spine and pelvis with your abdominal and lower back muscles.

There’s no doubt that you’re going to push yourself harder and dig deeper when you’ve got something to prove. Whether you know the person next to you or not, it’s hard to be the first one to tire out and quit an exercise, which is where the risk-to-benefit ratio goes the wrong direction. Because many bootcamps are over-crowded, and the instructors might not know what to look for, the participants can be at risk simply because they’re trying too hard. You should be aware that when your muscles begin to fatigue, exercise technique gets thrown out the window as your body strives to squeeze out a few more repetitions. In a poorly supervised environment, this happens without you even thinking about it, and it can put a lot of strain on your spine and other joints.

The exercises included in today’s column are the kind of strength training movements that are regularly included in modern bootcamp classes. Depending on your gender, bodyweight and level of conditioning, these exercises can range from easy to extremely difficult. If your instructor is on the ball, they should be able to find ways to challenge you without overdoing it. As always, make sure you warm up fully before performing the movements. Pay close attention to the recommendations and stop if you feel pain.

Pushups

I’m sure I’ve used at least two dozen different types of pushups with my clients, if not more. Although the basic pushup shown here is a simple movement, the way that you hold your body has a lot to do with how good the exercise is for you, and it comes down to a strategy of maintaining neutral spinal alignment and head position throughout. As you perform the pushup, your abdominals and hip flexors should stabilize your trunk and keep your pelvis from sagging toward the ground. It’s also important that your hips don’t stick up in the air behind you. The other area where most exercisers go wrong is not keeping their head back in-line with their body, and letting it hang down toward the ground; an effect that’s always magnified as the chest and arm muscles fatigue. There seems to be some sort of feedback mechanism that fools you into thinking that as long as your nose and eyes get close to the ground, you’ve done a full pushup. Not true!

Lunges.

Since lunges are so functional and require no extra equipment, they’re a natural choice as a favorite leg exercise in bootcamp classes. Lunges challenge your strength, flexibility, endurance and balance, so if you can perform this exercise properly, your lower body is likely pretty healthy. Some of the key points in performing a safe lunge include keeping your upper body in a good upright alignment, maintaining balanced weight on the ball and heel of the front foot, not letting the front knee drive forward ahead of the toes and keeping your bodyweight supported by both legs as you lower into the lunge. Although these items are important, even more essential is the maintenance of a neutral pelvic position during the movement. Be certain to engage your core musculature to stabilize your lower spine and pelvis, preventing excessive shifting, tilting or rotation as you lunge.

Suspended Pull-ups.

I’ve been teaching clients to perform horizontal pull-ups for years, often by having them hang under a park railing and pull their chest to the bar while keeping their feet on the ground. By bending or straightening the legs or lifting one foot off the ground it’s possible to really fine-tune the intensity. The development of new training tools has made these exercises more functional and accessible, however there should be close monitoring of body position. When performing any suspended pull-up, neutral structural alignment is key; don’t drive the hips or head forward at the top of the movement, or sag and round your shoulders at the bottom.

In Health,

Rob

Bootcamp programs are everywhere these days; in the parks, on the seawall, even in the children’s playgrounds before the kids are out of bed. Because of the demand for instructors to teach all of these classes, and the fact that sessions are often run during prime morning and evening timeslots, when full-time personal trainers are booked solid, the truth is that not all bootcamp instructors are the most highly qualified or experienced. There are some committed, educated professionals, but many are working day jobs in other industries, making extra cash teaching these fitness classes. Because of this, the level of knowledge and expertise about anatomy, biomechanics and athletic conditioning might not be what it should. Hopefully I can help.

With this Better Bootcamp series, I will provide useful information about a number of the common exercises incorporated in bootcamp classes. If you’re joining a group training program this summer, you’re likely to come across these exercises. Hopefully I can educate you about how to perform them safely and effectively. Some of the recommendations may seem a little picky, like when I talk about maintaining a neutral pelvis, but believe me when I tell you that this is the kind of stuff that makes the difference between a successful training session and an icepack on the low back.

Whether you’re doing these exercises on your own, or participating in a bootcamp group somewhere, make sure you warm up fully before performing the movements. Pay close attention to the recommendations and stop if you feel pain.

Lateral Shuffles

In bootcamp, lateral movement is often incorporated as part of the warm-up, which is fine. The reason I’ve singled this movement out is because it helps me to teach an overall movement strategy that can be applied to almost every exercise you do. This is the strategy of proximal to distal movement, which I’ve been fortunate enough to learn from well-known physiotherapist Rick Celebrini, and it’s an important one. I’ve touched on the concept in previous columns, and the easiest way to explain it is that all movement should be initiated from your core, and then transferred to your extremities, rather than the other way around. In lateral shuffles, this means that rather than casting your leg out to the side and then following with the rest of your body (Figure 1) you should lead with a small lateral movement at the pelvis and allow the leg come along as part of the deal. (Figure 2) If you do this properly, you stand a much greater chance of maintaining stability at all of your joints, while improving movement efficiency.

Star Jumps.

This exercise involves jumping from a position with arms and feet together, spreading out like a star while in the air, and then landing back in a closed position. There’s one technique point that can help to prevent stress through the lower back when doing star jumps. Often as bootcampers fatigue, they will begin to lose control of their movements, and what happens is that they will really start to throw their arms and legs. This exaggerated movement puts increased ballistic forces through the mid-section, where the muscles are also tired. In the star jump, this can cause hyper-extension of the lower back at the top of the movement. You can prevent this by activating your deep abdominal muscles (lightly draw your belly button inward and upward toward your spine) to stabilize your lower back and pelvis as you jump.

Burpees (aka Squat Thrusts).

Because burpees are so dynamic, involving multiple muscle groups during the squat, leg thrust and jump portions, it’s not easy to break it down to highlight one aspect. The area that I find to be most challenged in this movement is the lower back. When doing the burpee, be certain that you’ve activated those abdominal and lower back muscles to stabilize your lumbar spine and pelvis and prevent hyper-extension or excessive flextion during the movements. If your instructor is asking for burpees and you’re not feeling up to the task, skip the leg thrust portion of the exercise and just do the squat and jump. Another option is to just kick one leg back, rather than two, alternating legs on each repetition.

In Health,

Rob

Often I find that the main reason people struggle to stick to their nutrition or exercise plans is because they aren’t prepared. Going into the weekend with a fridge that’s loaded with healthy produce, lean meats and so on, means you’re much less likely to end up ordering pizza or hitting the drive-through as a last minute solution.

When the weather is nice one problem can be the beer and nacho chips on the patio, not to mention the burgers, hot dogs and BBQ ribs. If you’re planning on grilling this weekend, look for lean cuts of meat, chicken breasts or fish filets. When preparing them, try to avoid high-sugar, high-calorie sauces or additives. For snacks, prepare or purchase a big platter of cut vegetables, avoiding the unhealthy dips. If you’re going to have a drink, try a vodka-water with lemon rather than beer or sugar-filled margueritas.

On road-trips, pack a small cooler full of food, like chicken wraps, turkey sandwiches, fruit and/or vegetables. You’re more likely to resist pulling over for a burger, fries and a milkshake if you’ve been well-fueled on the road.

Three-day weekends might not be great for getting to the gym, but you can still burn calories and build muscle. Plan on hiking, biking and playing ball with friends or family. In-between, try these great exercises that can be done almost anywhere:

Jumping jacks.

Jumping jacks are an excellent full-body, warm-up activity to increase your core temperature, get your heart rate elevated and lubricate your joints. They can also be performed anywhere, and don’t require any equipment at all. Start in a standing position with your feet close together and your arms by your side. Set your core and pay attention to your posture as you do a small jump, spreading your arms and legs wide. Land softly in this wide position, then jump back again to the starting alignment. Begin by doing the jumps slowly, with low impact, then gradually increase the height and power of your jumps. 3 sets of 30 repetitions with increasing intensity will get your body ready for more activity. If you want to challenge yourself even more, land in a squat position with your legs bent each time you jump wide, then explode to an upright position with your legs together.

Walking lunges.

Always a staple exercise, walking lunges are great for developing lower body strength and endurance while challenging balance and range of motion. They can also be done anywhere, which moves them way up on my list of top exercises. Try them barefoot in the sand, up a hill, or across your deck while you’re barbecuing. Start in an upright, standing position, and maintain good upper body alignment and core stability as you step forward with your left leg. As your left foot hits the ground, bend your right knee and lower it toward the floor. This is where proper core activation is important, to maintain a neutral, level pelvis. Now pull up and through into your next step, with your right foot forward. For added difficulty, perform four forward lunges, then four backward lunges, which are much more challenging, and repeat 3 times for one full set of 24 repetitions. Try 3 sets in total.

Ups and downs.

Whether you’re at home, in a park or visiting the in-laws, it’s usually possible to find somewhere to do pushups and chin-ups. Once you’ve located a stable ledge or bar that will do the trick, make sure the ground below is clear and free of obstacles. This exercise consists of dropping to the ground for one or more pushups, then jumping up to perform a matching number of chin-ups. I’ll often have clients perform one-for-one, which burns more calories because they have to get up and down repeatedly. Depending on your strength and ability you might perform 3 pushups for every one chin-up, or do 3 of each, etc. Another option is to perform as many pushups as possible (to failure) then jump up to perform chin-ups to failure, then drop back to the ground for pushups, and so on. Keep going back and forth until you’re fully exhausted. Perform one or two leg exercises, like lunges, to allow your upper body to recover, then go back for another maximal set of ups and downs.

In Health,

Rob

I’ve taken university-level courses on nutrition, and have the support of a team of nutrition experts working with me at Williams Health Group, so in my opinion the way that a person eats is just as important as what they eat. In fact, when I first start with a lot of my clients I won’t even make changes to the kind of food they consume. Instead we just re-work their fueling strategy. This helps to minimize the anxiety and keep them from getting overwhelmed with too many changes. When they start to see results they’re more willing to make further improvements to their food choices.

Following is a summary of the key points of my nutrition plan that will allow you to completely control your body-fat levels. I want you to eliminate the opportunity and stimulus for further fat storage, and create an environment where your body is happy to eliminate excess fat that has already been stored. There will no longer be any uncertainty about what to do. The only question is whether or not you’ll do it.

1-    Eat 5 small meals per day. If you’re currently eating 2-3 meals per day and maintaining your bodyweight, you can begin losing fat by taking exactly the same foods that you’re currently eating, and dividing them into 5 smaller meals. One reason this is helpful is because your metabolism is elevated every time you eat, so you’ll burn more calories all day long.

2-    Fuel every 3-4 hours. This is about how long it takes your body to digest a meal. If you make sure that you’re prepared to fuel again when you’re body is finished with the last meal, you’ll never have to rely on body fat as a fuel source during long spans between meals. This eliminates a very powerful stimulus for your body to hold onto body-fat for survival. Thus, it will be more willing to release it as a fuel during exercise. Think “fuel – digest 3-4 hours – fuel – digest 3-4 hours… and so on”

3-    Keep meal sizes consistent. As much as possible, try to have equal-sized meals through the day (ie. 5 meals of 300 calories, 5 meals of 400 calories, etc) This will prevent you from consuming too many calories at any one time, because any extra would create a fat-storage stimulus.

4-    Don’t snack between feedings. What we want is to give your body just enough calories at each feeding to fuel it until the next feeding time. We also want efficient digestion of the foods that you eat. Snacking between meals adds unnecessary calories and compromises the digestive process.

5-    Eat breakfast. This stimulates your metabolism at the start of your day and puts an end to your overnight fast. Going more than 10-12 hours between your last meal at night and your first meal in the morning can cause your body to burn muscle tissue to fuel your brain and metabolism.

6-    Eat before bed. Yes, I mean it. Having a meal of protein and vegetables just before you sleep will ensure that your body is primed for recovery and repair. It also helps keep your overnight fast shorter.

7-    Have protein at every meal. You don’t need a lot, but making sure you get a small amount of high quality protein at every meal will optimize your body’s ability to repair itself from the stresses of working out and the natural aging process.

8-    Eat carbs, at the right times. You should limit your intake of simple carbohydrates like sugars, however complex carbs are a key part of a healthy nutrition plan. Just make sure that most of these carbs, like breads, rice, pastas, etc are consumed in your first 3 meals of the day. Focus more on clean proteins and vegetables in the 2 evening meals.

9-    Drink lots of water. Your body needs it for everything, including fat loss.

10- Choose healthy foods. The more nutritious your food choices, the more healthy, energetic and successful you’ll be on this program. A 350-calorie salad loaded with vegetables, fruits, nuts, chicken breast, etc will do a lot more for you than a 350-calorie cookie.

In Health,

Rob