Posts tagged exercise
Where Fat Camps Fail

How to Bring a Weight-Loss Camp to You

One of the most searched google terms within the field of body change is the term "fat camp".  Thousands of obese Americans are investing thousands of dollars to attend camps to get away from their out of control lifestyle and learn how to get healthy and be fit.  There is one problem, though.

Weight-Loss Habits Tend to Stay At Camp

The best and worst thing about any camp is that it is camp: it's a remote location far removed from reality.  The gap between a weight loss/fat camp and reality can be devastating.  Imagine going through a week of nutrition and exercise bliss, only to come home to the same old pantry, the evil fridge, and the impossibly convenient calorie factory: the workplace.

The biggest problem anyone should have with a weight loss camp is that it is a destination.  The workers of the camp won't come by and blow up your fridge.  They won't raid the pantry.  And they won't check in three weeks later when it's 11pm and the cupcakes at the corner store are calling you.  The unfortuante by-product of a weight loss camp is that all the strategies, progress, and new great habits tend to weaken quickly away from camp.  How disheartening it can be to spend a week or two making great progress in a safe haven, only to have your dietary will collapse at the very sight of the items in your own pantry.

How to Cultivate Lasting Weight Loss and Body Change: Bring a Weight-Loss Boot Camp to Your Door

What if a weight loss camp came to you?  What is the boot camp to body change stopped by your door on a daily basis?  Can you imagine eating the perfect food at the perfect time and completing the perfect workout for days and days at a time...all the while still going to work and living your regular life?

That's what I do.  I bring a weight loss boot camp to your door.  We meet daily for exercise, we build your meals and snacks, go grocery shopping, and even plan out eating out.  Instead of people going away to a weight loss boot camp safe haven, I work with people to turn their life into a safe haven for body change.  How can we re-write the rules of your work environment to get turn it into a place conducive to body change?  What do we put in your pantry (and your car, and your home office) so that every time you reach for a food it is the right food? 

What if your life was rebuilt to not only be conducive to weight loss, but was rebuilt to maximize it?  What if you knew what the tastiest 200-calorie breakfast tasted like?  What if you knew what to eat every single time you ate out with clients or family? Why go to a weight-loss boot camp when you can bring one to your door? 

Creating a Lifestyle to Maintain Weight Loss

A plan for weight loss is only as good as its execution.  Imagine having a meal plan that had 30 days of flexibility.  Imagine having an exercise plan with tremendous variety, had challenging and fun exercises for each day, and was built just for you.  When you bring the program from www.keepyourbetterhalf.com to your door, you are taught how to maintain and advance the lifestyle of weight loss and body change that began during your boot camp.  Not only do we walk with you through your first week(s) of weight loss, we give you all the materials you will need to maintain the habits of exercise and nutrition that fit nicely into your body change lifestyle.

Bring a weight-loss boot camp to your door.  Send an email to adam@keepyourbetterhalf.com or visit www.keepyourbetterhalf.com to learn more about bringing body change to your door.

Adam Erwin is a personal trainer who travels the world working with people who want to experience fat loss and weight loss in record-time. He currently resides in Minneapolis, MN and loves to train with people whose health does not match their lifestyle. Adam works closely in the Eden Prairie, Wayzata, Excelsior, Minnetonka, and Edina communities.  Visit www.keepyourbetterhalf.com to learn more about his work.

Fix My Boring Workouts: It's Not a Plateau, It's Boredom!

How to Get Your Body To Burn Fat, Gain Muscle, and Lose Weight Again

I met with a new client last week who was looking to get "unstuck" in his current workout routine.  Ron (not his real name, and not that it really matters because there are lots of guys named Ron out there) is a pillar of consistency.  He goes to the gym every day and will do cardio, abs, and then another muscle group (shoulders, back, chest, etc.) for his workout.  Ron could probably do his routine in his sleep and says he is bored in the gym now.  If he is bored with his workouts, his body is bored as well.

Here are a few tricks to help fix boring workouts, get your body working harder, and pushing you into new levels of fat loss, muscle gain, adn weight loss.

Fix My Boring Workout Tip #1: Exercise in the Elements

My training clients have a love/hate relationship with my outdoor workouts.  They love to be outdoors and hate how much harder it can be to exercise in the elements.  Jogging on a treadmill in the air conditioning is nothing compared to an interval workout in a grass field.  Lifting weights in the gym is a far cry from doing a kettlebell workout on a sand volleyball court.  The outdoors can put increased workload demands on your body, which can give your workout an entirely different feel.  If you wan to fix your boring workout, take it outside.  You will put yourself in position to burn more calories and stimulate your muscles in a different way.

Fix My Boring Workout Tip #2: Hold It!

Want to kill your biceps in 60 seconds or less?  Take a full-length bar (a 45 lb. used for bench, squats, etc.), sit at a preacher curl station, and hold the bar in curl position with one hand for one minute.  The elbow of the arm at work should be positioned at a 90-degree angle.  Good luck!

Any sort of hold (bicep curl hold, push-up hold, bench press hold, leg extension hold, etc.) is a shock to the muscle group(s) at work.  The trick is to hold position with a major joint (elbow, knee, or shoulder) at a 90-degree angle to force the muscle to perform an unusual amount of work.  Doing a set of holds will recruit every type of muscle fiber in the muscle being used...a truly unique way to work a muscle group.  If you perform a hold set (or two) for your major muscle groups, you will find this to be a great fix for your boring workout.

Fix My Boring Workout Tip #3: Incorporate Uneven Loads

Have you ever been in the middle of a dumbbell exercise and realized that you had accidentally grabbed two differents (a 25 lb. and a 35 lb. instead of two 35 lbs.)?  Your muscles notice the variable load as you launch into the set.  Your body works harder to compensate for the imbalance of weight.  An uneven load feels very different.

Instead of accidentally grabbing two dumbbells of different weight, why not grab them on purpose?  Make it a 10-20 lb difference if possible.  As you perform your exercises with uneven loads, make sure to alternate the weights back and forth so each muscle group (bicep, chest, etc.) has relatively equal time with each weight.    Incorporating uneven loads will help to fix your boring workout.

To learn more about getting your body where you want it to be more quickly than you thought possible, contact Adam Erwin to talk about where you are today, where you want to be, and how he can help you.

Adam Erwin is a personal trainer who travels the world working with people who want to experience fat loss and weight loss in record-time. He currently resides in Minneapolis, MN and loves to train with people whose health does not match their lifestyle. Visit www.keepyourbetterhalf.com to learn more about his work.