Northern KY

Did you know that 80% of people will experience low back pain at some point in their lives? This isn’t a fudged number and for many people this will develop into chronic low back pain. Many people do not value the injury prevention side of training until they are actually in pain, but by then it’s usually the last solution and doesn’t provide immediate results.

Here are a couple of quick tips that will help influence your back and reduce pain if you are already having it.

1. Reduce forward bending in the morning. Your back only gets so many bends and it is superhydrated in the morning. Make sure you “lift with the legs” and keep that back flat. This one is hugely underestimated, but makes a large impact.

2. Change positions every 15 minutes when you are sitting. Soft tissue “creeps” after about 20 minutes, so something as small as getting up and changing positions is useful. The best posture is the one that’s always changing.

3. Hold an isometric back extension for at least 60 seconds and side planks for 40 seconds on each side. Those who were unable to do this were shown to have higher incidence of back pain.

4. Get the glutes working. This means the silly “floor humping” hip bridge exercise is extremely valuable. While it may not seem like much, making sure the glutes are responsible for the movement will spare the low back.

5. Don’t do a SINGLE crunch ever again. Repeat flexion (i.e. bending) has been shown to be the only way to guarantee degeneration of the spine. Avoid it at all costs. Save the bends for tying your shoes and picking things up off the floor. There are much better ways to train the abdominals.

To a healthy back…
–
Ryan
www.peak-fast.com

This is something YOU can get excited about

Peak Fitness & Sports Training Bootcamps
Beginning Monday, September 13th
MWF from 5:30am to 6:30am
Gary Williams Martial Arts – 4506 Dixie Hwy

For more information visit: Our Membership Website or email us at info@peak-fast.com

We look forward to seeing you there! Your last excuse just went back to school!

Best,
Ryan

When it comes to nutrition research in the academic world there is one known fact about taking food surveys. People underestimate how many calories they consume by as much as 30%.  This can throw your perceived calorie balance off by a signficant amount, and ultimately affect how much fat you are gain lose.

Let’s take a quick example.  First, there are a couple components to determining how many calories you burn each day but the two biggest contributors are resting energy expenditure and physical activity.  In simple terms, Resting Energy Expenditure (REE) is a measure of how many calories your body burns at rest to handle essential bodily functions.  Some of the variables that affect this are age, gender, and lean body mass.  With an increase in lean body mass (muscle tissue) we see increases in REE.  This is one of several reasons adding small amounts of muscle tissue can boost your metabolism over time.  In addition, since muscle is less dense (often misspoke as “weighs more”) than fat, changing 1 lb of fat on your body for 1lb of muscle will actually result in a HIGHER METABOLISM A LEANER/SMALLER BODY.

Physical activity is the area we have the biggest control over day to day.  This can change significantly if you have a desk job versus a more active job, or exercise multiple times per week versus few, play with kids at night versus watching TV, etc…case in point, it’s more than just exercise that affects this.

Now let’s say you find that you are quite active and use 2500 calories per day, thus putting your “diet” at 2000 calories.  If you overestimate this by 30% we are talking about 600 calories.  So now we are in a surplus of 100 calories instead of the deficit of 500 you thought you were consuming.

Enter food journals.  A couple of facts: they are tedious, not especially fun, but they are imperative to success at least in the early stages of body transformation. Why?

1. It gets you thinking consciously of what you are consuming – You won’t obsess over food, but knowing you have to write down 1/2 bag of oreo’s (double stuff I hope!) is quite a reality check when you are trying to change your body.  In our evaluation everyone says they have a 10/10 motivation to change their body, but when work is stressful days are long and food isn’t prepared motivation drops to a 3/10 and the train often derails for good.

2. You become aware of where your problems are – We use a compliance grid to track how people eat throughout the week.  Our target for healthy eating is 90% (It’s an “A” in school after all).  After we map out the week and put our check marks or “X’s” in to the grid we can see what meal or what day might be the problem.  For instance, if we miss most of our 3rd meals we can look at strategies to improve lunch or afternoon snack options to make sure our clients don’t fall off the wagon.  Or if we notice the the last 3 meals on Friday are bad then we might look to cut poor food choices elsewhere to accommodate this.  Over the course of weeks and months, you can develop a successful strategy that leads to success.

Back to the not fun point.  The food journal only takes about 5-8 minutes to fill out, which seems like even less.  Knowing where you are and where you want to be, are you going to let 300 seconds per day separate you from your goals?

–

Ryan

www.peak-fast.com

We’ve just passed another holiday weekend and are faced with half the year left. This is the perfect time to renew your vows to your fitness program–the half-year resolutions?

Think summer is gone or that chance for a better summer body is better saved for 2011? I don’t think so! By this time next year you could have the body you always wanted with easy maintenance. But that depends on you taking action NOW!

As of today we have 2 months until labor day, which means at least 8-9 weekends you have the potential to spend at the pool. Come in and try us out for 30 days for $89. We know if you follow our recommendations you could lose as 10 lbs in the next four weeks…or even more.

I believe you’ll be surprised by what you can achieve in the next 4 weeks…and the fun you’ll have doing it. You’ll be using your bodyweight and functional training implements to help improve your condition. This is the time you’ve waited for and we’ve got the opportunity for you to enjoy doing it right in front of you! Give us a call at 859.620.5542 or visit www.peak-fast.com

–
Ryan

This comes a little delayed, but we want to extend congratuations to Christa Moody who competed in the NPC Max Muscle Mile High Bodybuilding and Figure Championships.  She came away with two 1st (Drug-free for like Heavyweight, Open Heavyweight) and one 2nd place (Women’s Masters).

She did this working out only 2 days per week!  If you think you don’t have enough time to commit to a program you may want to think again!  Following a custom tailored workout and diet program can get you to your goals in record time!

For more information email info@peakfast.com or call 859-620-5542.
–
Ryan

Congrats on making the decision to change your lifestyle.  Changing your exercise and eating habits is a pivotal step in your quest for a fitter and healthier body.

Every time someone starts  a diet and exercise program, they are on the “high” of making the change.  For many, this can slowly wear off.  So how do you stay focused at this point?

Planning and preparation.  Eatin’ healthy food is simple–when you plan to, and you prepare the food or lunch necessary to achieve it.

Above all else, make a commitment to preparing the food and following through will be automatic.  It’s the simplest advice, but that doesn’t make it easy advice to follow.  Make a couple of nights per week that are for your preparation and get what is necessary prepped!

Ryan

One of the great barriers of personal training, and really lifestyle change, is encouraging people to stay dedicated to the long term outcome.  But this is often so difficult because change is rather slow in a relative sense.  You don’t make it back to your skinny jeans in 90 days doing 20 minutes 3 times a week (bowflex anyone?).

Perhaps one of the most useful strategies of a great coach is finding ways to short circuit a client’s reward system.  That is, how can we keep them engaged and motivated throughout this entire process of change?  What premature indicators of progress can we use to manifest motivation or enthusiasm on the client’s behalf?

Looking at it from the other side of the spectrum might give us a little insight: the premature sensation of eating _____ is greater than the risk of the weight gain/disease/etc long term.  With fitness, we have pain (read: sacrifice) in the short term, with reward in the long term.  This gap from point A to point B is really called frustration for most people.

Many people are motivated by external forces.  Fitting into the skinny/thermometer jeans will make clients feel good about themselves and therefore reinforce behaviors.  But let’s say skinny jeans are a legitimate 3 months of concentrated effort away.  What milestones or pit-stops mid way will allow clients to exhibit a sense of renewed improvement and help snowball the commitment throughout?

Every client you meet has a point B–the point they want to get to.  Of course you are a good coach and you know with proper assessment you have the fastest route (efficiency) and most effective route (achieving the appropriate outcome) to get a client to point B.

Sometimes, motivation can be in the form of avoiding the consequences of failure.  Dan John’s dog food challenge is a perfect example of this.  If you fail to reach the said goal, you must eat a can of dog food.  The consequence of failure is real enough to them to stay on the straight and narrow path toward success.

Long term goals should be tracked and assessed over time.  In the meantime the other indicators of progress are essential to keep momentum.

Ryan

At PeakFAST, we’re big on assessment.  Everyone who walks in the door will go through rigorous analysis before they ever see the weightroom.  No, we’re not the mad scientists taking muscle samples and poking and prodding!

What is the purpose of the assessment?  It gives us an “A”.  Basically a reference starting point for how you move, what limitations you have, how previous or current injuries affect your ability to exercise, and what types of exercises will be most appropriate for YOU.

We’ll also dig a little bit and find out about your goals.  This is reference point “B”.  Many programs out there know what the “B” is, but have very little idea about where you are starting and use a cookie cutter approach.  Often this can be excessive volume–throw everything at you and see what sticks–and sometimes, it’s futile trial and error.

For customized results you need a customized program.

Knowing the information we do, we can give you the right map to the right destination–the fastest map from Chicago to L.A. is useless if you are trying to get from Chicago to New York.

Give us a call at 970.223.2077 and see what we can do for you.  Our $89 intro special will end soon, so get in quickly.

info@peak-fast.com

All the best!

Ryan

If you had to, could you pick a healthy food from an unhealthy one?  In most cases, I bet you could easily pick the best food.

OK, now for people not “in the know” let’s say we give them some simple criteria that helps them decide: less processed, leaner meat, and calorie free drinks are the best choices.  Given two foods, most people could choose the more health promoting of the two.

With this fundamental knowledge why do people consistently NOT eat healthy?  The reality is that proper nutrition is far beyond simply eating.

Truth be told, there are a number of barriers to eating healthy.  But they are certainly not insurmountable, and with the right attitude and mindset any person can overcome weight gain or obesity.

Remember, you will spend time and money on your health.  Do you choose to pay it forward and  take the time to prepare and eat delicious healthy foods or neglect it and try to evade disease later in life?

The warm-up process has evolved to a great deal.  What used to be as simple as stretch, run, stretch has expanded into a multi-component process.  Classic stretching is not a true preparation for activity.  In fact it is much the opposite.  Why would we hold various positions to prepare us to move.  It’s the right tool, just the wrong job.

Here is the process our clients go through when they warm up:

1. Tissue quality – we have all clients foam roll with special emphasis on areas that tend to be tight on them

2. Mobility – we do stretch, but everyone does their own set of dynamic mobility drills that lengthen specific muscles as they move.

3. Activation – These exercises are intended to get “sleeping” muscles prepped for use in larger strength training movements

We certainly do static stretching (think: sit and reach, though we never use that!) on occasion and most often after the workout.

Is your warm up serving you as best as it can?  You might be amazed at the performance differences when you go through a proper warm up!

Stay strong.