Becoming a Corporate Athlete

A while ago, while studying for my Wellcoaching certification, I ran across an article called The Making of a Corporate Athlete. The basic premise was that sustained high achievement demands physical and emotional strength as well as a sharp intellect. To bring mind, body, and spirit to peak condition, executives need to learn what world-class athletes already know: recovering energy is as important as expending it.

Interestingly enough, the article applied the principles of High Intensity Interval Training that I use to physically train my clients to the executive work day.

It recommended that after periods of intense focus on a singular task, you take a short break, get up and walk around, hydrate, or eat something of nutritional value, fueling yourself for the next intentional focused task. The research showed that it is a simple and easy way to increase work efficiency and decrease stress levels!

I love simple!

Exercise is extremely beneficial to our productivity at work as it increases the blood and therefore oxygen flow to our brains, and releases those ‘feel good hormones,’ endorphins, keeping us in a good mood.

Here are some simple, practical ways that we can introduce more physical activity into our work life.

Choose one or two that you can incorporate seamlessly.

1. Use your legs!- walk or bike to work. Many of us actually live relatively close to our jobs. Sometimes the traffic is so bad, that it would actually be a quicker commute to use your own horse power, be it cycling or walking. Be sure to wear appropriate shoes. You can stash a spare pair at the office.

2. Stair climbing – take the stairs instead of the elevator. Stair climbing burns significantly more calories than jogging at a moderate pace for half of the time.

3. Replace your chair with a physioball – This is one of my favorite tips for my executive clients! Using a ball as your “chair” forces you to work the core, thereby improving balance, tone and burning calories!

4. Schedule a walk over lunch- Many of my most successful clients schedule a 10 minute brisk walk during a coffee or lunch break every day. (Sometimes two) Take it outside and get your 15 minutes of sun to build some Vitamin D reserves! Consider walking to the sandwich bar, but remember to pick something healthy, or if you bring lunch with you, walk to the local park and eat it there.

5. Start a lunch-time exercise group – try to get other co-workers involved, having a regular routine, and the support from your friends, will help you to stick with your exercise program. You’ll be surprised how many “takers” you’ll have in January! I have a few clients in town that work for a large corporation and they meet to “do stairs”.

6. Personal delivery service – rather than sending an email, deliver messages, or discuss issues, in person with your co-workers. The additional exercise will really add up over the course of a week.

7. Make an exercise schedule – plan for your physical activity just as you would any other appointment during the day. Don’t allow interruptions to change your plans. If you exercise after work, plan ahead the night before by packing your gym clothes. If you wait until morning, you’ll be REALLY lucky if you can find both socks and shoes, your favorite workout shorts AND your water bottle. It pays to be ready the night before. Do all you can to minimize excuses!

8. Join a Boot Camp Class (Or Lean Out Lakeland if you live in Central Florida) where you will have a group of people expecting you, holding you accountable and providing you support and planned workouts and hopefully solid nutritional guidance.

What will YOU choose to seamlessly integrate more exercise into your work day and become a more productive and healthy Corporate Athlete?

Tags: boot camp, bootcamp, Corporate Athlete, Florida, healthy eating, HIIT, Lakeland, Lean Out Lakeland, Weight Loss, Whitney Cabrera BSN
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Lose Some Serious Fat!

Are you desperate to lose fat?

Have joined the ranks of the insanely bored, yet focused cardio worshippers?

Do you feel guilty if you have not spent your hour a day rocking the elliptical machine?

Is your whole workout ruined if someone beat you to the only functioning, coveted
“revolving stair case” ? (Otherwise known as the death mill)

If so, then allow me to be sac-religious for a moment:

“Endurance Exercise is NOT a necessity for fat loss.”

Yes, I said it.

If you don’t like doing endurance work, stop doing it!

You can lose fat rapidly either WITH it or WITHOUT it!

You choose.

Exercising is about being healthy. And we all know that if we don’t like something, the chances of us continuing to do it after the novelty has worn off, is nil, and we NEED to continue doing it for our health’s sake.

Don’t you have anything you’d like to spend those extra hours doing besides ‘penance’ for eating an extra cookie at the office Christmas party? (We’ll talk about your unhealthy relationship with food at a later date.)

Now, I realize there is a place for endurance work. You may be training for a distance challenge, or possibly even really ENJOY the exercise itself. But this indeed would be a rarity. Most of us just either want to get in shape, or stay that way.

So, how can we lose fat rapidly without doing copious amounts of cardio?

Simple: Incorporate a nutritionally dense eating style and learn to implement anaerobic exercise. (The kind that leaves you gasping for breath!)

It’s not a single answer. You can’t lose your fat and keep your muscle without making changes in your diet, AND building some sweat equity working with weights.

So, here’s the bottom line:

Get a plan, a strategy together to make these two things happen in your life.

1. Eat a nutrient rich diet with 90% of your foods coming from plants. (Soups and Salads are a GREAT way to get this accomplished.)

2. Learn to perform High Intensity Interval Training.

If you are new to the concept of eating clean, and eating for nutritional excellence, I’d like to introduce you to Dr. Joel Fuhrman who is providing an important catalyst for a much needed paradigm shift in our approach to healthcare and weight loss.

Purchase any of his books, or even his audio book, Eat for Health (my personal favorite) as a gift for yourself for Christmas and spend the holidays becoming educated in what it will take to implement the most effective weight loss and disease prevention and reversal method ever.

But beware of the side effects!

Incorporating a Nutrient Dense Eating Style may cause unintentional reversal of heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes, arthritis, IBS, wrinkling skin, allergies and many other annoying and life threatening issues.

As for Learning to perform High Intensity Interval Training, let’s start very simply:

As applies to any exercise prescription, please check with your doctor to be sure this will be a safe activity for you. I know very few doctors who wouldn’t want their clients to walk…so don’t use this as an excuse to delay beginning your wellness journey.

Lace up your tennis shoes, grab a watch with a second hand and walk out your front door.

Step One: Walk for 5 minutes just to warm up your joints. Easy does it.

Step Two: Walk as fast as you can (and I do mean fast) for 1 full minute.

Step Three: Walk slowly to recover for 2 full minutes.

That’s Round One.

Repeat Step Two and Three 4 more times for a total of 15 minutes of Interval Training.

Step Four: Walk for 5 minutes to cool down.

That’s it.

Now, for those of you who are much more advanced and accomplished. Implement this same protocol, but utilize a more strenuous approach:

Jumproping (Fast Jumping 1 minute/Slow jumping 2 minutes)

Treadmill running (Sprint speed 1 minute/Jogging speed 2 minutes)

Cycling: (Fast and difficult gear for 1 minute/Slower and easier gear for 2 minutes.)

You get the idea. Anything that will bring your heart rate up will suffice.

I will post other HIIT workout ideas utilizing weights and cardio throughout the holiday season. Stay tuned.

Spend your holiday season getting prepared for a Fit and Fabulous 2010. Read, practice eating with nutrient density in mind and practice some HIIT.

If you live in Lakeland, Florida and you’re looking for some guidance in holistic dramatic fat loss utilizing the principles I mention here, you will want to check out this opportunity:

Here’s the Website with all the information you need to participate in the premiere weight loss and educational event in Lakeland, Florida.

Lean Out Lakeland

Beginning January 18th, 100 Lakeland individuals will be participating in a Team Weight Loss Contest geared to educate and empower their health and wellness. We have a few places left.

Are you ready to change? We’re here to help you make the permanent lifestyle change you know you need. Stop the endless treadmill cycle. Get it done! Lose the fat and improve your health!

It’s time for your own personal Wellness Revolution.

Tags: Florida, healthy eating, HIIT, Joel Fuhrman, Lakeland, Lakeland Boot Camp, Lakeland Personal Trainer, Lean Out Lakeland, Nutrient Dense Living, Strategic Boot Camp, Whitney Cabrera
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Shake it Up!

I assume our gyms are similar and that you’re aware of the following scenario:

There are certain focused and persistent individuals that come to the gym at the same time, every day, and use the same piece of cardio equipment all the time, for the same amount of time.

Many of these folks spend their allotted time either reading the morning paper, their current novel, or talking on the phone while strolling leisurely on the treadmill or recumbent bike.

At times you might even see them striking up a LONG conversation with a friend over by the weight machine until their ’ time’ is up.

Not to be critical, because at least they’re THERE doing it! But have you noticed that they still look the same? Their bodies haven’t changed. They’re frustrated.

Besides nutrition, which is THE most important element to create the body you’re looking for (we’ll discuss ideas on that later), the key to change is doing something DIFFERENT than you’ve always done it, and doing it with INTENSITY!

You’ve got to shake things up to create a metabolic disturbance!

Disclaimer: If you have physical limitation issues or any ongoing disease process, of course you need to speak with your doctor before beginning any exercise OR nutrition program

Now, when I speak of intensity, I mean a state of work that leaves you breathless and talking in 2 or 3 word sentences. I mean REALLY HARD WORK!

This type of exercise is called HIIT or a High Intensity Interval Session. Emphasis on the words HIGH INTENSITY.

Our Strategic Boot Camp training sessions are built on this exact foundation. Science (and our experience) has proven it to be the most efficient method of burning the fat off of your body while maintaining your lean muscle tissue, In a Boot Camp Workout, we use HIIT in a Circuit Training format. But this is not all. Three days a week my campers are required to do a 20 minute HIIT session of purely cardio. No more. No less.

Here is an example of a beginner’s high intensity cardio session. It can be performed on a treadmill, recumbent bike, an elliptical trainer, outdoor running, a rowing machine, jump roping or, in short, anything that drives your heart rate up and leaves you panting!

3-5 minute warm-up

30 seconds hard intensity interval (go all out – bring it on!)
90 seconds recovery interval (go a little slower, don’t stop)
{repeat interval pattern for 5-10 rounds)

Finish with a 3-5 minute cool down

Believe me, when you perform your cardio work like this, you’ll only need 20 minutes! It works like a charm. Looking for that magic fat loss bullet? This is it!

Please understand that these intervals should only be done 2-3 times a week as it is VERY taxing on your body. Three other days a week are reserved for weight training. And a final day (or two) is reserved purely for rest!

Ask for professional help to set up a strength training program to help you meet the goals you have. It is absolutely essential to utilize correct form and understand how much weight and reps are too much or too little. It is science. Learn how and what to do before attempting it yourself. It IS worth the extra funds to engage a professional to guide you. You will not need a trainer with you for long. A good trainer can set you up for success and send you on your way.

Get the results you want. Try some HIIT. Spend Less Time. Eat supportively.

Get your workout done in 20 minutes and walk right out the door past the chatters feeling GREAT about your accomplishment!

Shake it Up!

Enjoying the journey,

Whitney Cabrera RN, BSN

Tags: boot camp, exercise, HIIT, Rapid Fat Loss
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The Secret World of High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)

Want to be let in on a secret?

High Intensity Interval Training is my all-time favorite fitness tool to carve the fat FAST off of any client’s (or my own) body.  Once you experience the benefits of this type of training, you’ll be hooked!

As the name implies, it involves performing cycles of high intensity for a brief period of time and then recovering with a period of low intensity.  These are called intervals. Because your intensity is so high, your workouts are automatically much shorter.

Do  you believe in a “fat burning zone”?  Ever wonder where the terminology came from?  It appears to have originated with the inventors of cardio equipment and self-proclaimed gurus trying to earn some quick $$. They preached that long/slow cardio at a certain target heart rate was the only way to lose fat!  Science disagrees!

Check out the researched benefits of doing HIIT on a regular basis!

HIIT is unique in it’s ability to burn a large number of calories in a brief period of time AND to elevate your metabolism (or fat burning potential) for many more hours after you’ve finished.

HIIT trains and conditions your aerobic AND anaerobic systems. We all know about
aerobic exercise…it means with oxygen…but anaerobic…meaning without oxygen… is the energy system you utilize if you sprint, jump, climb, crawl or run half a block to catch your dog as he escaped out the front door again!  (Without oxygen…totally out of breath)

Performing H.I.I.T increases your resting metabolic rate. This gives you a better chance of
burning up calories when you are resting or going about daily activities. There are studies that say you actually burn 9x as many calories doing this type of exercise!  Even if it’s only half correct…I’ll go for 4.5 times the calories, how about  you?

HIIT is very time efficient. You can get an amazing workout in half the time!  Who has more time than they need?  Use that precious commodity wisely and get greater benefits just by utilizing a different method besides long and slow!
For those of you concerned with muscle mass (and that should be all of you over 30), H.I.I.T appears to limit muscle loss.  In fact, research is showing it to actually be muscle BUILDING in nature!

High Intensity Interval Training whether with weights or cardio, offers a proven time efficient workout.  Try it on for size if you’re stuck in a run or needing to break through a weight loss plateau!  However let me warn you…it is very difficult!

Note the “HIGH INTENSITY” in HIIT.  Your job is to perform EVERY interval with the greatest intensity you can muster!  You should feel like you couldn’t do one more second after every single one of those intervals.
You  now have learned about my GREATEST fat loss tool.  It’s no mystery.  There is no magic pill.  It’s about hard work that yields great results.

Tags: Fat Burning Zone, HIIT, Intervals Hard work, Myths, Rapid Fat Loss, Secrets of Fat Burning
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Strategic Boot Camps!

It’s Here!  Strategic Wellness and Gold’s Gym have collaborated to bring you a revolutionary approach to Wellness!  Unlike fad diets or lose-weight-quick schemes, Strategic Boot Camps prides itself on taking the entirety of your wellness into account.  It goes beyond boot-camp strenuous workouts and teaching you what to eat.  It demystifies exercise and nutritional science and teaches you WHY you should exercise an eat in specific ways.  Our desire is to consolidate all of the components that you need for health and wellness into one powerful, affordable, time-efficient “program”.  Here’s a taste of what we have planned:

1.  Cardio-vascular training:  We will teach you how to meet your goals in only 30 minutes 3 days/week.
And, as a bonus to you, if you choose to accept the challenge, we have joined forces with Fit Niche and are providing you a coach to bring you from the “Couch to a 5K” or a 1/2 marathon (walk/run method) by March.  Yes…YOU can do it!

2.  We will treat you to an intense but do-able weight training program 3 days a week utilizing the Rapid Fat Burning method of High Intensity Training that will help you build your lean muscle tissue while losing that ugly, unhealthy body fat.

3.  Ever get confused by all of the information out there regarding dieting and healthy eating?  We have taken all of the confusing and contradicting information out there and have created a plan that will change your MIND and then your actions by looking at food differently.

Become empowered by learning what, how much and when to feed your body the foods that you need to hold off age-related diseases and cancer.  Treat your body and skin to anti-aging nutrients just through your every day food choices.  We’ve done the research.  You can reap the benefits of the power of food.  Forget dieting…learn to live a lifestyle that you will continue for the rest of your life.

4.   Join us for a nutritional seminar and corresponding shopping trip to help you get started cooking and eating your new healthy way.

5.  Learn to set goals.  Begin to identify the obstacles to meeting your goals and find new ways of looking at the same old issues you have dealt with for years.

6.  Join a private forum of folks just like you that are forging a new lifestyle for themselves and their families…share experiences and recipes…obstacles and ideas.

Isn’t it time to do something about your health?

This is your year!  Let’s join forces and begin meeting those New Year’s Resoutions before January even gets here!

Here is the proposed schedule for the 2009 year.  You will notice the camps run between 3-5 weeks in length.  This is to take into account the school calendar and holidays.  We also insist on one week’s rest between camps to promote yet another facet of wellness:  Rest.

Dates:
Phase 1: January 12th – February 6th (4 weeks on / 1 week off)
Phase 2: February 16th – March 20th (5 weeks on / 2 weeks off)
Phase 3: April 6th – May 1st (4 weeks on / no break)
Phase 4: May 4th – May 22nd (3 weeks on / 2 weeks off)
Phase 5: June 8th – June 26th (3 weeks on / 1 week off)
Phase 6: July 6th – July 31st (4 weeks on / no break)
Phase 7: August 3rd – August 31st (4 week on / 2 weeks off)
Phase 8: September 14th – October 9th (4 weeks on / 1 week off)
Phase 9: October 19th – November 20th (5 weeks on / 1 week off)
Phase 10: November 30th – December 18th (3 weeks on / 3 weeks off)

Days:

• All TEAMS train on Monday, Wednesday, Friday

Times:

• Sunrise TEAM: 5:30 am-6:30 am
• Morning TEAM: 8:30 am – 9:30 am
• Evening TEAM: 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm

Call 863-838-7645 to enlist!

Tags: boot camp, boot camps, Fat Loss, FL, HIIT, Lakeland, Nutrition, Serious Results, Workouts
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