Blue Star Fitness Blog

We’ve been asked for recipe and meal ideas from our clients who have been eating supportively and losing fat since attending our Fitness Through Empowerment Seminar. We hope that this new feature to our newsletter will help to add variety to your meals and help you stay on track with the supportive eating lifestyle.

Supportive Cucumber Salad

2 c chopped cucumber

2 c chopped tomatoes or grape tomatoes

2 c grilled chicken, cut in bite size pieces

1/2 c Italian dressing

1/4 c low fat Feta cheese

1/2 c chopped red onion

1/2 c chopped orange or red pepper

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and chill overnight to let flavors mingle. Adjust this recipe to suit your own individual taste.

For those of you eating supportively, the cucumbers, onion, and peppers are fibrous carbs, the tomatoes are starchy carbs, and the chicken and feta are lean proteins. To learn how to eat supportively, please attend our next Fitness Through Empowerment seminar.

©2006 Blue Star Fitness

Last newsletter, we presented a simple way to eat right. Now we present the way to exercise properly and most effectively.

Where do I start?

The human body is a very complex machine structured as an intricate lever and pulley system fueled by what we eat. We are designed to move in various ways at various speeds with our brain, muscles, tendons, ligaments, joints and bones acting as one unit to produce any movement.

Throughout the day we lift and move objects, we sit, stand and walk up stairs sometimes carrying heavy items all requiring us to use multiple muscles in order to stabilize force, reduce force and produce force.

Whether you are training for a specific sport or just trying to get into shape you should always train for movement and function and not merely for strength and power. The use of machines often seen in fitness centers and gyms is not a recommended method of training simply because of 2 major factors.

1. Machines often place our bodies in positions that will do major damage to the connective tissue and joints over time.
2. Machines have no way to mimic real life movements. Meaning if you have to pick up your child or a bag of groceries you must first perform a squat then in order to lift weight you have to contract your core muscles and perform a curl to row movement and finally after all of that you have to do a leg press while maintaining proper spinal stability in order not to fall over. (Have you seen a machine that can do all of that?) The next time you have to pick something off the ground try paying attention to the muscles that you use to get the job done.

Because of the way we are structured we have the ability to move in many directions and at varying speeds. We should train using the basic patterns that we use everyday in our normal lives. Not only is it a fantastic way to boost any current exercise routine but will also improve function for your everyday living. We focus on the seven primary movement patterns below.

7 Primary Movement Patterns

Spinal Flexion

Spinal Extension

Spinal Rotation

Squat

Push

Pull

Lunge

What about aerobic exercise?

If your goal is to lose fat, then aerobic exercise should follow the muscle building section of your program unless it is a day in which you are only doing aerobic exercise. When the body is in an anaerobic state (meaning the body is working with very little supply of oxygen) it uses glycogen in the muscles as its source of energy. When the body is in an aerobic state (meaning working with a good supply of oxygen) the body can use fat or glycogen as its energy source. To ensure that you burn fat during your aerobic exercise, we deplete the muscles of glycogen by completing muscle building (anaerobic state) first.

It does not have to be an overwhelming all consuming effort when doing aerobic exercise. Many people think they have to spend several hours a day performing cardio exercise. The truth is that in 12-20 minutes you can receive greater benefits than from an hour or more of the same exercise.

In short, muscle building should be done using real world movements at various speeds and in different planes of motion. Aerobic exercise should be done following muscle building. Perform 12-20 minutes to produce a positive physical change.

©May 2006 Blue Star Fitness

How often have you heard the phrase “you have to eat right and exercise”? Most, if not all, medical professionals recommend this for just about every medical condition seen in their practices. If you have diabetes, the prescription is to limit sugar intake and eat right and exercise. If you are overweight or in shape, you always have to eat right and exercise. But what does that mean — eat right and exercise?

We have all heard it and some of us may have even had those words spoken to us. The thing is no one has ever shown or told us how to eat right and exercise. Many in the medical field do not know themselves how to do the very thing they are recommending.

Going into a bookstore to find help can be a very daunting adventure mainly due to the literally thousands of choices to make. Some of these books are very useful and contain the actual keys that will help you make the correct choices in your struggle to look good and feel good while others will lead you down a path doomed for failure.

The first part of the formula – eating right – is simple, but it’s not always easy. It has become virtually impossible in today’s world if we listen to marketers, advertisers, interest groups and even some fitness trainers. Misinformation has plagued the public for decades. Companies have been selling products and programs that not only do not work but in the end make you fatter then when you started. How often have you or someone you know tried the latest fad diet and ended up 20 pounds heavier at the end of the program? This is all too common in the world of eating right and exercising.

So what is eating right?
Calories, Carbs, Starches, Low-Fat, Low Protein, Sugar, Splenda, Saturated Fat, what do all of these words mean and how do they impact weight loss? All of these words and countless more have confused us so much that we have become a society that is overweight and facing an epidemic in many weight-related diseases.

Eating right means eating in a manner that boosts your metabolism and supports daily caloric output. Staying away from hydrogenated fats and limiting sugar intake are the main keys to allow your body to literally burn fat anytime day or night.

In order to do this first we must stabilize blood sugar by eating in a manner which supports our body’s ability to produce Glucagon. Glucagon is a hormone produced by the pancreas in direct relation to the production of insulin. Glucagon allows us to release fat. Fat must be released by the body before it can be burned. When we eat a diet high in sugar, we produce more insulin and less glucagon. The goal is to stabilize blood sugar by eating a supportive meal every 3 hours thereby balancing the production of insulin and glucagon maximizing the body’s ability to release fat.

What Should I eat?
Much like an automobile we need to constantly put fuel into our engines in order to keep going. By consuming a meal every 3 hours we are fueling our body’s fat burning ability. Eat meals consisting of visually equal portions of a lean protein, a starchy carbohydrate and a fibrous carbohydrate is the key to boost metabolism and reduce your waistline.

This formula works for every person regardless of your current health and fitness level. It is not important to worry about how many calories you consume because your body will tell you how much is enough. It is very likely that you are not eating enough. Listen and feel for the little signs that your body gives off when there is a loss of calories and or nutrients. Things such as headaches, shaking, lack of mental focus all are subtle signs that may be your body’s way of asking for what it needs in order to survive.

Lean Protein Examples
Egg Whites
Turkey Breast Meat
Chicken Breast Meat
Tuna
Soy
Fat-Free Dairy Products
Fish Filets

Starchy Carb Examples
Potato
Sweet Potato
Brown Rice
Oatmeal
Tomato
Peas
Corn

Fibrous Carb Examples
Carrots
Peppers
Spinach
Onions
Mushrooms
Asparagus
Broccoli
Cauliflower

In short, eating a meal that is loaded with a lean protein, a starchy carbohydrate and a fibrous carbohydrate every 3 hours will boost your metabolism and create a balance between insulin and glucagon production. This will keep blood sugar levels even and promote fat burning.

©April 2006 Blue Star Fitness

Per your requests, here is our famous trail mix

recipe that we always talk about. If you’ve been to

our Fitness Through Empowerment Seminar in the last

few months, then you’ve tried it too. Seminar

attendees also know that eating a supportive meal

consisting of visually equal portions of lean

protein, starchy carbohydrates and fibrous

carbohydrates every 3 hours will boost your

metabolism and stabilize your blood sugar to the

point were you will see body fat literally melt away

at a rate that you could not have ever imagined.

We make a batch or two of this trail mix each week

and put it right into ½ cup servings in small Ziploc

baggies. It is a great supportive snack that you can

carry with you for when you can’t get to a good

supportive meal. Laura always has a baggie in her

purse. Donald keeps some in his car and gym bag.

Blue Star Fitness Trail Mix

• 1 cup protein

  We use soy nuts, but you could mix in some nuts

  too, roasted with no salt are best

• 1 cup starchy carbohydrate

  Look for a low fat, low sugar granola, Kashi Go

  Lean Crunch, Cinnamon Life, Puffins

• 1 cup fibrous carbohydrate

  Raisins, craisins, chopped dates, or other dried

  fruit

• Optional

  Sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds

Mix it all together in a bowl and package in 1/2 cup

portions. We like to combine different ingredients

within each category to make the full cup. For

example, we mix golden raisins and craisins to make

one cup of fibrous carbohydrate.

Here are some of our favorite combinations:

soy nuts, roasted almonds, Cinnamon Life, Crunchy

Apple Sticks

soy nuts, sunflower seeds, granola, craisins and

golden raisins

Have you made a tasty trail mix combination that you’d like to share with our list? Email us.

©2006 Blue Star Fitness

We are often asked what is the best exercise for this body part. As our clients and Fitness Through Empowerment Seminar participants know, you can not spot reduce. Unfortunately, your body chooses to put fat wherever it wants. The only thing you can control is the amount of fat you have through diet and exercise. This myth that you can reduce a specific area by adding an exercise for that body part to your routine has given rise to many popular machines at the gym that you should not use. These include the weighted seated crunch machine and the hip abductor and adductor machines.

Seated Crunch Machine
The weighted seated crunch machine should not be used, especially by women who want to trim their waistline. First let’s look at the functionality of the rectus abdominus muscle or the “six pack”. The function of this muscle is to bring your body from spinal extension back to spinal neutral. If we use a baseball pitcher as an example, the rectus abdominus helps to bring the torso from the wind up through the pitch. The seated crunch machine takes you from spinal neutral to spinal flexion. This is not a movement you need to strengthen. Secondly, when you place a muscle under tension with weight you increase the size of that muscle – think of a bicep curl. This means that the seated crunch machine builds the rectus abdominus muscle OUT making you look less trim.

What’s the solution? Train the underlying transverse abdominus muscle which serves as a natural girdle and supports the spine. Train this muscle using functional movements – anything that mimics a natural body movement. We like to use the plank to train this muscle isometrically to improve posture and stability. To add work for this muscle in any of your other exercises, add an element of instability by standing on one leg or using a stability ball.

Hip Abductor and Adductor Machines
These two machines are very popular with most women we see at local gyms because they want thinner thighs. However, please keep in mind that you can not spot reduce. Let’s look at the functionality of these machines. Based on our societal norms and lifestyle, most Americans have tight adductor or inner thigh muscles. When you strengthen a muscle, you also tighten it which is not what these adductor muscles need. They need to be stretched. Moving to the abductor machine, please note that there is no abductor muscle. There are muscles that help to abduct the hip, but there is no specific abductor muscle and this is not the primary function of the muscles involved. Add to this fact that most of these machines are in a seated position and you have a completely nonfunctional movement. Does the human body ever demand that you press your knees out in a seated position? If you have any knee injuries, pain or have had knee or hip surgery, you should absolutely avoid both of these machines.

Other Machines
Blue Star Fitness believes in training the body functionally using the 7 primary movement patterns. We avoid the use of most machines in general unless in a post-rehabilitation situation. As a general rule, weight machines isolate muscles which is not the way our body works. Our body is integrated. All movements involve many muscles, tendons and ligaments so training a muscle independently is not training the way the body works. This isolation puts undue stress on the connective tissue associated with the muscle so many lifters will begin to have associated joint pain.

Before using machines again, please use this information to evaluate the machines in question based on your goals and the functionality of the muscle you are training.

Blue Star Fitness can help you develop an appropriate workout or adjust your current workout. We work with many clients on an as-needed basis, only meeting with them to update and change their workout. This works especially well for clients who are motivated and already work out on a regular basis on their own or at a local gym.

©March 2006 Blue Star Fitness

Time is the number one reason people who don’t exercise site as the problem. While that is an easy excuse you need to ask yourself: when will you have the time? Exercise will give you more energy and help you to be healthier and live longer. Isn’t that worth a little time investment each day for the benefits down the road? We’ve compiled some of our best tips to help you incorporate more exercise into your day. We’ve left out the well-known set of tips like take the stairs instead of the elevator and park your car far away from the office door so you will have to walk across the parking lot. These tips below are ones that we have used ourselves or we’ve found success with through our clients.

Break It Up Into Manageable Pieces. The first thing you need to know is that your exercise does not have to be concentrated in one 60-minute session. It can be spread out throughout the day. You’ve probably heard this theory in relation to cardiovascular activity, but it can also be applied to strength training. We have many of our clients attached a resistance tube to a door in their home or office with a door anchor (link) and whenever they pass by the door they stop for a few seconds and do one set of one exercise. This can be a very powerful way to get the resistance training you need without taking up much of your day. How many times a day do you pass a particular place in your home or office?

We also have clients that add a bit of exercise or stretching while they are on the phone. This is especially helpful on a long conference call at work.

Schedule Your Exercise Time. Another strategy is to put the exercise into your calendar. For most busy people this is the key. Think about it, if something is in your calendar it usually gets done right? Look at your schedule and find 20-35 minutes 3 times a week that you can commit to exercise.

The Snooze Button. Are you a snoozer? If so, try to move your alarm clock to the other side of the room and get up when it first goes off. If you got up the first time your alarm went off, how much extra time would you have in the morning to exercise? Even 15 minutes will give you an energy boost for the day that the 15-minute snooze will not. Doing your exercise first thing also limits the amount of time to create excuses not to do it.

Do Not Pass Go, Do Not Collect $200. Some people have to force exercise into their routines by not giving themselves an option. Think about your day. How much time do you waste in the morning getting ready or when you come home from work just unwinding? Revise your daily route to get up and go right to the gym, shower there and go off to work or go straight to the gym after work, complete your workout and get home about the time you would have finished unwinding.

Lunch Time. For many working parents, this is the only time they can get to the gym. But for those that make it a habit, the benefits seep into their work and home life.

Add Exercise to a Current Activity. Is there something you do already that can be turned into an exercise session? Do you walk the dog every morning? Add a few resistance training moves to your route – pushups at the corner for example.

TV. Exercise while you are watching TV even if it’s just at the commercials. How much exercise do you think you could add to your day with this strategy?

We believe that everyone can find time to exercise by incorporating some of these suggestions. They say it takes 21 days to form a habit, so commit the next 3 weeks to finding the time to exercise and let it become a habit.

©September 2005 Blue Star Fitness