Our clients and our trainers are like a big family that continues to grow. Our facility is a special inviting place where clients look forward to coming. I received an email from someone requesting Amy [pictured] to be her trainer. Amy told me that person had read a review of her on our Kelly Personal Training Yelp page. I checked the page; there were 15 reviews. I reflected back 10 years to when we first opened – no reviews, no Amy, no other trainers, just two clients, and not near enough income to make the rent. It was just my dog Stella and me. It is gratifying to see how far we have come.Kelly Personal Training in Austin now has nine trainers, two dogs Stella and Bella and an expanding client base. Our other facility, New Orleans Personal Training, is thriving as well.
Safe effective neck exercise
Safe effective neck exercise will result in stronger more flexible neck muscles. You will be less likely to have neck problems, and it will help stave off osteopenia in the cervical vertebrae. Very few places have this piece of equipment. We do have this neck machine at our Austin Personal Training facility but not at our New Orleans Fitness Training facility at this time.
Peak strength and endurance at the same time, Is it doable?
An active Marine who trained a lot once told me, "Whenever I do my personal best at bench press my running is way off, and whenever I am at my best at running my bench press suffers". Alan Page was a 260 pound defensive tackle for the Minnesota Vikings. Toward end of his career he had trained for and completed a marathon – the first active NFL player to do so. He lost a significant amount of muscle; so much so that he switched position to linebacker at 225 pounds. When you run great distances carting around more muscle is demanding. You can improve strength and endurance at the same time. Strength and endurance complement each other up to a point. At some point one is going to suffer at the expense of the other. It is best to seek a balance. High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) for strength will increase both endurance and strength. At Austin Personal Trainingand New Orleans Fitness trainers the trainers can put you through a series of exercises with little rest that will have your heart racing and have your muscles exhausted. Rest, recover, improve, and come back next week stronger with more endurance.
The importance of strong flexible calves
On July 30, 1924 Calvin Coolidge’s two sons, John 18 and Calvin Jr. 16 went out to play tennis. Earlier that day the family (pictured) had posed for formal pictures, and Calvin Jr. was anxious to get out of his formal clothes and play tennis. He did not wear socks that day. He got a blister, then blood poisoning, and died July 7, 1924.
We now have antibiotics to prevent such tragedies. Even so, things can still get out of hand. Recently a friend of mine had a staph infection on his neck. He scratched it and then scratched his ankle. He developed cellulitis in his lower leg, his temperature spiked, and he ended up in the hospital taking IV antibiotics for five days. The same week, my brother had the same affliction and spent four days on an IV taking antibiotics before he got his infection under control. He had an infected blister. He has neuropathy in his feet and has less feeling to know if there is a problem. According this Medscape article those with diabetes are at increased risk for severe cellulitis, and the infection more often occurs in the leg.
This brings me to the problem that tight calves muscles present when walking. When walking the heels come off the ground early to compensate for the tight calf muscles. When the heels come off the ground early the weight of the body is not distributed over the entire foot bottom, and this stresses the foot structure causing foot problems such as neuropathy. I was told by a maker of prosthetic devices that the number one reason diabetics lose their feet is because of weak calves. Weak calves are generally tight. Stronger calves make for more flexible calves. Muscle has plasticity, tendons don’t. Also, the calves act as a secondary pump for the blood. Stronger calves pump more blood.
While it would not have changed the outcome of young Calvin Jr.'s life it is vitally important to keep the calves strong and flexible as we get older. At New Orleans Personal Training and Austin Personal Training calf exercises are a regular part of our regimen. BTW Calvin Jr.’s brother John lived a long life and died at age 93.
How to stay limber and avoid aches and pains
Injuries can happen suddenly such as a pulled muscle or can happen slowly over time such as a repetitive use injury. Years later these injuries can come back to haunt us as the aches and pains we live with. You can keep those aches at bay by remaining strong and limber. The trick is to do exercises that do not aggravate those old injuries.
At Austin Personal Training and New Orleans Personal Training we use MedX medical rehab equipment that can be precisely customized with a premium on safety for those who have those haunting injuries. Exercise safely, release those endorphins, and the pains will go away.
Heavy Weights with Minimal Force Can Be Safer than Light Resistance with a Lot of Force
Care should be taken to minimize the likelyhood of injury when exercising. At New Orleans Personal Trainers and Austin Personal Trainers we use smooth controlled movement that minimize the ballistic forces that can cause injuries. We also will use MedX medical rehab equipment that can be used by both athletes and those recovering from injury.
Losing weight and keeping it off - what you are up against
This New York Times article, The Fat Trap, explores how people lose weight, but almost without exception, gain it right back.
In one study, 50 obese men and women consumed just 500 to 550 calories a day for eight weeks and lost an average of 30 pounds. A year after the study, subjects had regained an average of 11 pounds and reported feelingfar more hungry and preoccupied with food than before they lost the weight. Yeah, I know the diet was too restrictive, but regardless, it is interesting to note what is going on hormonally. A quote from the article:
“A full year after significant weight loss, these men and women remained in what could be described as a biologically altered state. Their still-plump bodies were acting as if they were starving and were working overtime to regain the pounds they lost. For instance, a gastric hormone called ghrelin, often dubbed the “hunger hormone,” was about 20 percent higher than at the start of the study. Another hormone associated with suppressing hunger, peptide YY, was also abnormally low. Levels of leptin, a hormone that suppresses hunger and increases metabolism, also remained lower than expected. A cocktail of other hormones associated with hunger and metabolism all remained significantly changed compared to pre-dieting levels. It was almost as if weight loss had put their bodies into a unique metabolic state, a sort of post-dieting syndrome that set them apart from people who hadn’t tried to lose weight in the first place.”
And this:
“How long this state lasts isn’t known, but preliminary research at Columbia suggests that for as many as six years after weight loss, the body continues to defend the old, higher weight by burning off far fewer calories than would be expected.”
Who wants to lose significant weight only to feel pangs of hunger more often than not and have a lower metabolism? That is kind of bleak, but there is a solution. To offset that undesirable metabolic adaptation begin strength training, preferably high intensity straining training.
High intensity training (HIT) for strength will burn more calories than other forms of strength training.HIT effectively burns calories four ways. HIT produces higher sustained excessive post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC) than any other form of exercise. Muscle is metabolically expensive. HIT will make you stronger, and a stronger body will burn more calories even at rest.
At Austin Personal Training and New Orleans Fitness Training we offer high intensity training (HIT)that has been show effective for weight loss. All you have to do is stick with it and make modest changes in eating habits. You will lose fat and more likely keep it off.
High intensity interval training increases endurance
From this article, Scientists Discover Why High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) Can Match Endurance Training discussing HIIT:
“Short bursts of just a few minutes of exhausting physical activity can prepare muscles to work harder, boosting the production of new mitochondria (powerhouses of the cells, generating the energy that our cells need to do their tasks), which culminates endurance enhancement much like more time consuming endurance training. High-intensity exercise triggers the breakdown of calcium channels as a result of an increased production of free radicals.”
Calcium channel blockers preserve the cell growth capacity against free-radical damage.
Result: less free-radical damage, more mitochondria, and more muscular endurance with less time spent exercising. Additionally HIIT workouts burn more calories long after the workout is finished and the workouts will lower blood pressure and increase blood flow.
It is not necessary to spend hours in the gym to get results. At Austin Personal Training and at New Orleans Fitness Trainers we can show you how to perform HIIT workouts on our aerobic equipment or our full body strength training circuits.
More articles on HIIT here.
Three different diets, equal in calories, three vastly different results
This New York Times article, What Really Makes Us Fat, discusses the result of a study that produced surprising results.
The experiment: Three separate groups on three different diets stuck to a diet for a month. All subjects consumed the same amount of calories.
Diet 1: A high-carbohydrate low-fat diet - fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean sources of protein.
Diet 2: A low glycemic index diet - fewer carbohydrates in total - non-starchy vegetables, beans, and minimally processed sources.
Diet 3: The Atkins diet - high in fat and protein and very low in carbohydrates.
Results: The fewer carbohydrates consumed, the more energy was expended.
A quote from the article:
“On the very low-carbohydrate diet, subjects expended 300 more calories a day than they did on the low-fat diet and 150 calories more than on the low-glycemic-index diet.”
And another:
“The fewer carbohydrates consumed, the more energy these weight-reduced people expended. On the very low-carbohydrate Atkins diet, there was virtually no metabolic adaptation to the weight loss. These subjects expended, on average, only 100 fewer calories a day than they did at their full weights.“
When there a restriction of calories consumed the body makes a metabolic adaption by burning less calories, even more so when the diet is high in carbohydrates. Strength training can offset that metabolic adaptation. High intensity training (HIT) for strength will burn more calories than other forms of strength training. HIT effectively burns calories four ways. HIT produces higher sustained excessive post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC) than any other form of exercise. Muscle is metabolically expensive. HIT will make you stronger, and a stronger body will burn more calories even at rest.
At Austin Personal Training and New Orleans Fitness Training we offer high intensity training (HIT) that has been show effective for weight loss. All you have to do is stick with it and make modest changes in eating habits. You will lose fat and more likely keep it off.
Caloric restriction and longevity
A New York Times article, The Calorie-Restriction Experiment, details a study where researchers attempted to find out if eating less increased longevity. 132 men and women reduced their daily calories by 25 percent for two years to see if a Spartan diet affects the aging process and its associated diseases.
Subjects experienced “astounding drops in cardiovascular risk factors”.
BUT, another quote:
“Ninety-nine percent can’t do it,” John Holloszy, a medical doctor who is the lead investigator at Washington University, told me. “The people in the study are not going to stick with it” after they leave.
Damn. Two years to figure that out?
The study was about factors effecting longevity, but what I found interesting was that subjects lost about 15 % of their body weight and reached a plateau at a “weight stability” level. It is important to note that subjects were of normal weight to slightly-overweight to start. They did not have much to lose. I am guessing that weight loss was not all fat tissue. If you attempt to lose weight by calorie restriction your body will catabolize lean body mass to lower the body’s metabolism to compensate for the decreased caloric intake. Who wants a "weight stablity" level where you have to go through life under-muscled and hungry?
A more reasonable approach might be to cut back eating just a bit and exercise a bit more. A different study found that more muscle was positively associated with longevity. If you add proper strength training to the mix your body will make a positive adaption to withstand the stresses placed on it by the strength training. The body does so by maintaining or even adding muscle mass and thereby increasing metabolism.
At Austin Personal Training and New Orleans Fitness Training we offer high intensity training (HIT) that has been show effective for weight loss. All you have to do is stick with it and make modest changes in eating habits. You will lose fat and more likely keep it off.
Muscle mass a better predictor of longevity
From this Scientific American article, Muscle Mass Beats BMI as Longevity Predictor:
“Researchers analyzed BMI and muscle mass data from more than 3,600 seniors in a long-term study. And they tracked which seniors had died, a decade later. Turns out BMI wasn't much good at predicting chance of death.
But muscle mass was: more muscle meant better odds of survival.”
BMI is a dubious measurement to begin with. Pictured is Mike Tyson. According to BMI charts he would be classified as clinically obese. He is not fat and has substantial muscle mass.
More muscle mass leads to a host of positive benefits: more strength, increased gait speed, enhanced flexibility, increased bone density, lower likelihood of falling, increased likelihood of surviving a fall without injury, higher metabolism, lower blood sugar, less chance of developing metabolic syndrome, and better able to positively stress the cardiovascular system just to name a few benefits.
People are usually not put in nursing homes because they're out of breath; it's usually because they lack the strength to carry out daily activities on their own. With proper strength training you can increase your muscle mass – even seniors, and you’ll feel better. At New Orleans Fitness Trainers and Austin Fitness trainers our strength training program is designed to be efficient and effective in getting those benefits listed above and live longer with a higher quality of life.
Adding muscle and losing fat at age 65
Kathy is 65 years old and five feet tall. She does her strength training at our gym once a week and attends a weight loss clinic somewhere else. At the weight loss clinic they have a machine that measures body composition. Kathy said it even measures body composition in different parts of the body.
As a result of their weight loss program people generally lose weight - some of it is fat, and some of it is muscle. Kathy did lose fat, and contrary to normal expectations, they were surprised to find that she actually gained muscle.
If you attempt to lose weight by calorie restriction your body will catabolize lean body mass to lower the body’s metabolism to compensate for the decreased caloric intake. If you add proper strength training to the mix your body will make a positive adaption to withstand the stresses placed on it by strength training. The body does so by maintaining or even adding muscle mass and thereby increasing metabolism.
At Austin Personal Trainers and New Orleans Fitness Training we offer high intensity training (HIT) that has been show effective for weight loss. All you have to do is stick with it and make modest changes in eating habits. You will lose fat and more likely keep it off.
Muscles linked to increased bone density
From this study Molecule made by muscle shown for first time to build bone:
“The study suggests irisin is fundamental to muscle-bone communication, and likely translates the well-known skeletal anabolic action of exercise by directly stimulating new bone synthesis by osteoblasts.”
Stronger muscles generating more force will require stronger connective tissue and bones to handle the additional stress on the system. Strength training is not just for strength. Proper strength training results in increased strength, bone density, body leanness, flexibility, cardiovascular ability, plus added protection from injury and a stronger immune system. More than anything else you will feel so much better.
At New Orleans Personal Trainers and Austin Personal Trainers our strength training program is designed to be efficient and effective in getting those benefits listed above and to increase your quality of life.
Can endorphins really alleviate pain?
From the movie Legally Blonde: “Exercise gives you endorphins. Endorphins make you happy. Happy people just don't shoot their husbands, they just don't.”
From this article, Endorphins: Natural Pain and Stress Fighters:
“In addition to decreased feelings of pain, secretion of endorphins leads to feelings of euphoria, modulation of appetite, release of sex hormones, and enhancement of the immune response. With high endorphin levels, we feel less pain and fewer negative effects of stress.”
Euphoria, less pain and stress? Yes, especially after a HIIT workout. Withhigh intensity interval strength training working all the major muscle groups to a thorough fatigue achieves a state of deep relaxation. The pains just leaves your body, and you feel a sense of relaxation that is, well…euphoric.
If you are injured it is often best to avoid aggravating that injury by exercising. Another category is old injuries that produce minor aches and pains. Old injuries will come back to haunt you unless you do something to keep them at bay. In this instance you might find that exercise can alleviate that pain. The personal trainers at New Orleans Personal Training and Austin Personal Training can help you set up a program that will enable you to begin exercising again, avoid aggravating old injuries, andincrease your quality of life.
Lactic acid soreness – “one of the classic mistakes in the history of science"
A quote from this NYT article, Lactic Acid Is Not Muscles' Foe, It's Fuel:
“’The notion that lactic acid was bad took hold more than a century ago’ … It stuck because it seemed to make so much sense.
‘It's one of the classic mistakes in the history of science.’ ”
The article goes on to say that the idea that lactic acid causes muscle soreness never made sense, because lactic acid is gone from your muscles within an hour of exercise, The soreness stays.
With strength training certain things are observable:
- 1. Muscle soreness after strength training can last for days.
- 2. Given enough time after strength training muscles adapt by becoming stronger.
- 3. The time needed for recovery varies from person to person.
Since we don’t know the precise amount of time needed to recover from strength training why not error on the side of more rest rather than less rest? The advantages:
- 1. Less likely that exercise sessions will become drudgery.
- 2. Less chance of a repetitive-use injury.
- 3. You are more likely to stick to it.
- 4. Less likely to have a compromised immune system from overtraining.
- 5. You will be more likely to receive the full benefit of your efforts.
Regarding number five, when there is insufficient time between workouts you will ruin two workouts - you will not be fully recovered from your first workout, and you will not be up to speed for the second one. You will not improve, and you will have wasted valuable time and effort. To get thehighest marginal return on exercise it is essential to have adequaterecovery time,and lactic acid does not come into the mix. You might find thatless frequent exercise can have a profoundly positive effect.
It is often difficult to get a handle on recovery and how often to train. At Austin Personal Training and at New Orleans Fitness Trainers we can help you with that.
The effect of six seconds of exercise on the elderly
I once asked a 65-year-old friend of mine when was the last time he had gone all out. He replied, “John it's been decades”.
Our bodies respond to the stresses placed on them by making a positive adaptation to handle that stress. Our skin becomes tan, our hands become calloused, our muscles become stronger, and our body increases its capacity to burn sugar longer.
If we do not place demands on our body our body downgrades its ability to handle demanding work. Muscle is metabolically expensive to maintain. If we do not need it we lose it, and our bodies become weaker. As a consequence we burn fewer calories, we lose flexibility, our cardiovascular system becomes compromised, we are more prone to injury, our immune system becomes weaker, and our bones decalcify.
How much demanding work is enough to cause a positive change? That depends on how far out of shape you are. From this article, Six seconds 'can transform health', comes this quote:
"A group of pensioners came into the lab twice a week for six weeks and went hell for leather on an exercise bike for six seconds.
They would allow their heart rate to recover and then go for it again, eventually building up to one minute of exercise by the end of the trial.
'They were not exceptionally fast, but for someone of that age they were,' researcher Dr John Babraj said.
The results, published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, showed participants had reduced their blood pressure by 9%, increased their ability to get oxygen to their muscles and found day-to-day activities like getting out of a chair or walking the dog easier."
Is Hell for leather for 6 seconds enough? I suppose it is if you have not done anything for decades. The variables of intensity, duration, and frequency of demanding exercise required to produce a positive change will vary among individuals, but it is important to note that the right amount of proper exercise that will produce positive changes will not require long hours in the gym. Our fitness trainers at Austin TX Personal Training and at New Orleans Personal Trainers can guide you through an effective high intensity strength training program that will take less than an hour a week, and it will transform your life.
Going from five diabetes shots a day down to one
From this article, Even Short Bursts Of Exercise Can Reverse Heart Problems In People With Type 2 Diabetes, come these quotes:
“In a new study published in Diabetologia, researchers examined the effect of brief, high-intensity workouts on type 2 diabetes patients who had already experienced heart abnormalities due to the disease. They found that these short bursts of exercise had a positive impact on the patients, improving their heart structure and offering some of the best protection for diabetes control.”
"The researchers measured cardiac structure and function with MRIs, and they found that these high-intensity, intermittent workouts greatly improved heart structure and function."
At Austin Personal Training and New Orleans Personal Training for our strength training sessions we use a high intensity intermittent training (HIIT) protocol, and we do sprint training on our aerobic equipment. The best part of these workouts is that they do not take very long, but they are highly effective. One of our clients, Leif, a former heart surgery patient, went from five shots a day down to one. See his testimonial in the second part of this short video.
Chronic pain: Exercise can bring relief - part 2
A year and half ago I could not reach up and adjust my rear view mirror without shooting pain. I had trouble reaching out to close the car door. Often just laying in bed was painful. Now I do those things without a care in the world. Exercise changed things dramatically.
To avoid chronic pain such as arthritis those afflicted will avoid movements that cause them pain. Eventually that leads to a loss of strength, a decreased range of motion, and more pain – a vicious cycle. Proper exercise will eliminate the pain, increase strength and range of motion, and create a positive cycle.
The right exercise will have the following components:
The ability to limit the range of motion to a pain-free range of motion. For some that may be just a few degrees. For most people that range will gradually increase over time. At Austin Personal Training and New Orleans Personal Training we use state-of-the-art MedX medical rehab equipment that is better tolerated by those with painful joint problems. One of the features of this equipment is the ability to limit the range of motion to just a few degrees if necessary.
Eliminate harmful forces associated with rapid acceleration. Use slow controlled movements. We use a protocol of controlled movements that was written up in the magazine, Arthritis Today. This protocol is highly effective, and it minimizes stress to the joints and connective tissue.
Eliminate certain pain-causing movements entirely. If possible perform similar movements at a different angle. One client with arthritic shoulders cannot perform an over-head press without pain, but he has been doing the bench press for years now with no difficulty.
Do just enough exercise to facilitate a positive change. The body, when exposed to more that it is used to handling, will make a positive adaption as a form of self-protection. The proper amount of exercise is the amount that stimulates that positive change. Anything more that is at best a waste of time and at worst, especially for those suffering chronic pain, counter-productive bringing on more pain and repetitive-use injuries.
Following these guideline we have helped several clients make profound improvements in their lives.
Chronic pain: Exercise can bring relief
Exercise can be a great way to ease chronic pain. There are risks associated with inactivity and benefits associated with movement.
When you're in pain, exercise is probably the last thing on your mind, but regular exercise can be a versatile weapon in the fight against chronic pain.
When you're inactive, your muscles — including your heart — lose strength and work less efficiently. Your risk of high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes increases. Inactivity can increase fatigue, stress and anxiety as well.
"Years ago, people who were in pain were told to rest," says Edward Laskowski, M.D., a physical medicine and rehabilitation specialist and co-director of the Sports Medicine Center at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. "But now we know the exact opposite is true. When you rest, you become deconditioned — which may actually contribute to chronic pain."
As tough as it may be to start an exercise program, your body will thank you. Exercise can:
- Prompt your body to release endorphins. These chemicals block pain signals from reaching your brain. Endorphins also help alleviate anxiety and depression — conditions that can make chronic pain more difficult to control."Endorphins are the body's natural pain relievers," Dr. Laskowski says. "Endorphins have the potential to provide the pain-relieving power of strong pain medications, such as morphine."
- Help you build strength. The stronger your muscles, the more force and load you'll take off your bones and cartilage — and the more relief you'll feel.
- Increase your flexibility. Joints that can move through their full range of motion are less likely to be plagued with aches and pains.
- Improve your sleep quality. Regular exercise can lower your stress hormones, resulting in better sleep.
- Boost your energy level. Think huffing and puffing through a workout will leave you wiped out? Not likely. Regular exercise can actually give you more energy to cope with chronic pain.
- Help you maintain a healthy weight. Exercise burns calories, which can help you drop excess pounds. This will reduce stress on your joints — another way to improve chronic pain.
- Enhance your mood. Exercise improves blood and oxygen flow to your muscles and contributes to an overall sense of well-being. Looking and feeling better can improve your confidence and self-image as well.
- Protect your heart and blood vessels. Exercise decreases the risk of high blood pressure, diabetes, heart attack and stroke.
For those with chronic pain consult your doctor to be cleared to exercise. It's natural to be worried about hurting yourself or making your pain worse, but with your doctor's reassurance and guidance, you can safely exercise with the knowledge that your pain isn't serving a useful protective purpose. Regular exercise actually eases chronic pain for many people.
Even if you recognize the benefits of exercise, staying motivated can be a challenge. "Remember to start slowly," Dr. Laskowski says. "Don't rush into a strenuous workout regimen before your body is ready. Consistency is more important than intensity — especially if you have severe pain." It's also helpful to build your exercise program around activities you enjoy. As your energy increases and your mood improves you may actually look forward to exercising.
Also it helps to have the very best equipment. At Austin Fitness Training and New Orleans Fitness Training we use MedX medical rehab equipment that is better tolerated by those with painful joint problems.
Strength Training To Prevent Falls
When my father was getting up in age he had a couple of nasty falls, once breaking a rib and once banging his head pretty badly. My father became forgetful. An MRI revealed that there was damage to his brain. The doctors speculated that it was most likely a result of a fall.
As people age they lose strength and with that gait speed and that results in a loss of balance. With the loss of strength they lose the ability to recover from a stumble. Falls inevitably occur, and those that do fall who are frail are more likely to suffer injuries as result of that fall.
Falling is the 14th leading cause of death among the elderly.
Each year, more than one-third of Americans over 65 sustain falls, total cost of fall injuries for people 65 and older was $20.2 billion in 1994, and that is expected to reach $32.4 billion by 2020, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
As people age they lose as much as half of their fast-twitch muscle fibers. These fibers control quick movements and responsible for most of our strength. That decline can be reversed with high intensity weight training.
There is plenty of documentation out there making the case for strength training for the elderly. One study conducted with 90 year olds, High-intensity strength training in nonagenarians. Effects on skeletal muscleproduced the following result:
Strength gains averaged 174% +/- 31% (mean +/- SEM)… Mean tandem gait speed improved 48% after training. We conclude that high-resistance weight training leads to significant gains in muscle strength, size, and functional mobility among frail residents of nursing homes up to 96 years of age
Of all the people who stand to gain by strength training the elderly stand to benefit most. It is important not only for the increased quality of life strength can bring but to avoid the consequences of weakness – falls, injuries, sickness, and death. These strength increases don’t require hours in the gym; do just enough to cause a change, then come back and do it again in a week.
Is it worth your time and effort to avoid the infirmities of age? The personal trainers at Austin Fitness Training and New Orleans Fitness Training are convinced it is.