I don’t usually read the papers or national magazines because frankly… the news is depressing and I like to stay upbeat. However, the annual report on obesity in the U.S. by Trust For America’s Health was released recently. Here are the results:
- Not 1 state showed a decline in obesity rate. NOT A SINGLE ONE! Are you kidding me?
- 31 states actually had an increase in obesity rate. AAAAGGGHHHHH!!
Do the facts lie? Do people throughout the United States really want to live shorter lives?
Look… your health/fitness needs and goals are a personal choice, and it is your responsibility to make them a priority. BUT, if obesity rates keep going up and waistlines keep getting wider, it’s clear that we face huge problems ahead.
Health care is going to be stretched as thin as a 32” belt on a 48” body. Our mortality rate will plummet and our nursing homes will be packed more than our already overpopulated prisons.
YIKES!
What can you do about it?
Don’t follow the crowd. Be a leader and start a trend. You control what and how you eat, how you exercise, etc. You need to lead by example. Make smart choices on take-out menus, take the stairs, start a walking club at lunch.
C’mon, its fall around the U.S. It is a great time to get outside! So grab some of your fellow state inhabitants and get moving. There is no better time than the present to get outside and get moving.
Here is my challenge:
* On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from now until Thanksgiving… pack a healthy lunch that you can eat at your desk.
* Find 3-5 people to take the challenge with you.
* Then when your lunch hour comes, put on a pair of sneakers, head down the stairs, walk for
25 -35 minutes, come back to the office and remember to take the stairs again.
* Do a 3 minute stretch at your desk while you eat your lunch.
Not so hard right?
You will be amazed at the energy you will gain, the inches you will lose, and the impact you can make on the people around you.
You don’t need to reinvent the wheel to get started.
Will this get you a six pack of abs or a lean hard body?
Probably not for a while, but it will be a start. And once you start to see changes, you will be motivated to do more.
So buck the system my fellow patriot! Tell “the Man” you’re not going to take it anymore. You’re sick and tired of your state being fat, overweight and out of shape.
Want to see the article I was talking about? Click HERE. Be afraid, very afraid.
Archive for September, 2007
Lead By Example and Fight Obesity!
Thursday, September 27th, 2007
Look Me Up When You Visit Arizona!
Thursday, September 20th, 2007First, I want to thank the huge number of people who wrote in to share their best wishes for Beau and his new roommate. He is having a ball at college doing the normal first year stuff. He has picked out a major, Computer Science, and has joined a number of clubs for his free time. He promises to study sometime in between. We will see about that.
Now, onto things here in AZ.
The temps have finally dropped below 100°F, which means we can start working out outside again. Across the country you guys are probably thinking we are nuts. But, I can promise you it is delightful here in AZ today. When the temperature drops during the day, the temperature at night drops too. Well, when it is over 100°F all day and then close to 100°F at night everything is constantly cooking. As soon as we stay under 100 degrees consistently, the world is a much better place for us.
Don’t believe me? Try me! Plan a trip to AZ and when you do, schedule an appointment with me while you are here. I can promise you that you’ll leave with new ideas and workouts that will change your life forever.
I have some promising projects that I have been working on for quite some time. However, I must keep them under wraps for a little while longer. But, I promise that you will be thrilled when they are done. Today, I am giving a special teleclass, “Success Secrets to Building Your “A” Game” for all of you who took advantage of the special sale. I’ll be sharing little known tips that will help you get the most out of your DVD training. I am really looking forward to that class!
I know many of you have seen progress with the Base Workout routine that was included in the last newsletter. I have received email after email stating how easy it is to introduce. It is time-saving and easy to follow. It makes you wonder why more people don’t get a little fitness in every day.
That leads to the next article. What the heck is coming of the population in the United States??? We are F.A.T. and we really need to do something about it. And I hope that one of my secret projects will do just that. For now… read up and get motivated because reading about how bad off the inhabitants of our 50 states are at the moment will get anyone off the couch if you ask me.
Results Only … it’s not just a name, it’s a lifestyle!
Bobby
Building A Base After You Have Taken A Little Time Off!
Thursday, September 13th, 2007I mentioned in my intro that I tend to shy away from some of the typical habits of personal trainers. For example, there are some trainers out there who tend not to teach their clients too much. The theory is that the more the client learns, the less likely the client will stay on for a long period of time. What happens then? The client leaves and the trainer loses that income.
On the other hand, another habit I follow that many of my colleagues do not agree with is I believe after a series of sessions (it could be 8 sessions it could be 24+ sessions) YOU, my client should be made to train on your own for at least 2 weeks.
Why? Because I need to know that you learned something during our training sessions. And that, heaven forbid something happens to me, you will be left in capable hands. I want to know what you have retained, where you struggle, what you may like and what you definitely won’t do unless I am breathing down your neck.
For some trainers, it is difficult to cut the cord. It’s much like a parent sending a child off to college. I am confident that if you have done your job as a parent, then the student will march off to college with ease. If you did not prepare your young adult for the rigors of the outside world and college life, it is probably torture for both parties.
Some trainers are not secure enough to make their client prove that he or she has learned something. Other times, it is simply that the trainer can’t do without the income.
FYI- FOR ALL MY READERS … If you are training with a trainer who simply cannot do without the income, then they are the Wrong Trainer for YOU. Your trainer should have a waiting list a mile long and no space to fit everyone into the schedule. If your trainer is not in demand, then you need to ask why.
Another trait that many in personal training tend to lean towards has to do with the client’s first few visits. I have heard horror story after horror story of trainers who make the client so sore after the first session that brushing teeth is a truly painful experience. I have many suspicions as to why this happens. But it really is not necessary.
Let me make something very clear however…
If I have you as a new client, and you are truly new to fitness, there is a certain amount of soreness that comes with the territory. I really do not feel like I have done my job for my clients, or even in my own workouts for that matter, if I do not feel a little tight and sore the next day. It is a necessary evil in the morning and even after months of working out, it is like a badge of honor.
So in short, feeling your muscles when you sit down to use the rest room is good. But feeling as if you need a visit to the Emergency Room is bad. Got it??
This leads to what my clients are doing now. They are doing what I call the Base Workout. This is the “getting back into the program workout” that I put all my clients through after a break. This is to ensure they are ready to get back into a program, to make sure there are no imbalances that have crept up from lack of training, stretching or an old injury. I want to know that you and all my clients are ready to get back into an interval training program that will ensure you are ready to take off pounds of fat and put on lean muscle mass.
So what is the program??
It’s simple. Follow this simple training program and you will feel a little bit sore after the first few workouts. But by the end of week two, you are no longer sore. You are ready to go for it.
This routine is also perfect if you’ve procrastinated on starting any work out program.
If that is the case, get off your tail and get moving now. Think of how great you’ll feel by Thanksgiving knowing you have shed 10-20 pounds of fat and you are going into the holidays healthy and happy instead of frumpy and miserable.
Trust me, this routine is easy. If for some reason you cannot think of moves to insert into the program, go to the newsletter archives and you will get tons of ideas.
Have fun and see you in 14 days!
Interval Days
* Warm-up by walking for 7- 10 minutes
Now do a series of intervals that follows the guidelines below.
* Do each exercise for 12 reps then move on to the next exercise in the interval without stopping. As soon as you have gone through the interval, repeat the exercises in that interval without stopping until you have done the routine 2x. It should take about 4-6 minutes.
* Then take a 2 minute rest and do the next interval. You should be done with all the intervals in
35 -45 minutes.
1. Lower body move (ex. squats, walking lunges, leg extensions, leg press)
2. Upper body move (ex. push ups, back rows, overhead press, dips, bicep curls)
3. Core move (ex. Crunches, bridge, plank, ball crunches, reverse crunch)
4. Cardio move (do this for 1 minute instead of 12 reps) (ex. jump rope, step up, jog in place, stairs, stationary bike)
Remember: Go through the interval series 2 times without stopping and do 4-5 intervals. Then stretch.
This is done 3 days a week (ex. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday)
For 2 days a week (ex. Tuesday and Thursday), go for a 30 minute walk.
* Start off with a 7 minute warm up
* Now do 6-10 intervals consisting of 90 seconds of walking and 30 seconds of jogging/running.
* Finish with a 5 minute cool down and stretch.
There it is folks, your base workout. You should be sore for the first few workouts. Then you will be feeling energized and strong after working out. Once you have done this workout six to ten times, you should resume your normal training. And you will feel like you never missed a beat!
Off To College!
Thursday, September 6th, 2007Hi there!
I apologize if this might come a little late. But I have a good reason and it is not my
Assistants’ fault.
To say that it has been a whirlwind weekend would be an understatement.
I took Beau, my oldest, to college this past weekend. The University of Denver
was the destination. And if you knew Beau, then you would know that flying was not going to cut it. We would need to drive and take all his stuff with us. He has a very vast list of hobbies. Unfortunately, most of his hobbies require computers, snowboards, and bikes. So, flying was definitively not an option. Two days of driving, one overnight stop in Santa Fe, and we arrived to our destination.
I am so excited for him and his new adventures!
I think he is excited as well. It was amazing to see a
college environment I had never really experienced before. When I enrolled in college I went to a large university, the University of Maryland, which is huge.
DU, not so much. My class was well over 12,000
students. I think Denver has 1,200 in each class.
As we pulled up, we were surrounded by ten members
of the “move-in” crew. Into the dorms we filed. 1½
trips later, he was moved in. I don’t know about you,
but when I went to college dorm life was never that
easy. You know what was cool? The move-in crew for the dorms was mostly members of the university’s sports teams. Need a workout? Carry all your fellow schoolmates’ items to their dorm room. Now that is a good idea. Great job DU coaches!
After the 8 minute move-in, (Can you say interval training? I smell a new DVD here) there was a short time of setting up the actual room. I am sure this was really for families to feel like they got everything in order. Then the students were whisked off to event after event. The next day, there was an introduction by the Chancellor of the school in the main auditorium. And Beau was off to more events and mixers.
The organization of the staff and university was amazing. And the staff’s ability to have everything accounted for was a great motivation for the students to follow in the University’s footsteps. I hope.
The whole experience leads me to pray that not only have I prepared Beau for his first year at college, but that I do the same for all of you.
So, let’s start off on the right foot starting right now.
I have written before that I have a very different view of what I think a trainer’s main job is when it comes to his/her clients. Too often, I see situations where the trainer never teaches clients anything. Or on the flip side, often the client isn’t really interested in knowing what is going on during the session.
They both show up, (hopefully on time). Then the trainer takes the client through a series of exercises and the client follows. Seems like a good plan.
But what if something happens?
What if the trainer gets sick, or the client moves out-of-state? Has the trainer really done their job? I say no. If the trainer does not teach the client why they move certain muscles, the reasons for the order of the exercises, or why they choose the repetitions and the interval times, etc, then he/she is not doing their job. AND if the client chooses not to ask questions throughout the session (hopefully during rest periods only, of course), then the client has no right to complain if they do not know anything even after months of training.
What does that mean for You and Me?
Well, I have also mentioned in past newsletters that for a period of time, usually during the summer, I make my clients train on their own. They need to train in their own environment to show me that if I were to move to the opposite end of the earth, they could still maintain their training regiment without me around.
Here in AZ, my clients are back. They are ready and itching to start working out with me again. Some have done a great job during their maintenance period over the past few weeks of summer. Some fell off the wagon. Those who strayed off from their routines have mentioned it was partly because I motivate them to do more than they do on their own. I don’t like that excuse, but I also understand that some of my clients really do not like to exercise.
So starting now, (right after Labor Day) I need to get you, my newsletter subscribers, motivated to work out. And that is exactly what I am going to do. Read on about the program I have in mind in our article and see what is in store for you.
The Building Your “A” Game DVD sale is now over! What a great month August was for emails, stories, questions and answers, as well as a fair amount of banter between the golf smarter pod cast group and Results Only. Their interest in ways to improve their fitness levels and golf games is contagious. I’m seeing a golf only fitness segment in the future.
But I want to help you NOW!!
What we are going to do is a special tele-seminar teaching the secrets of how to get the most out of the DVD’s. I am so excited to do this for all the people who purchased the program. Stay tuned, because if you made the investment I promise it was worth it.
Until next newsletter, read the article, get back on a base program and let’s Finish 2007 STRONG!
Results Only … it’s not just a name, it’s a lifestyle!
Bobby
