13 Reasons Why You’re Not Losing Weight and What You Can Do About It

#13, Same Routine = Same Results; every 3-6 weeks you should mix it up.

#12, Not Keeping a food & cardio journal; gotta keep records to beat records

#11, Too Many Splurge Meals; 2 meals or 10% of your meals can be splurges (no sugar).

#10, Drinking too much alcohol; save it for the splurges & no more than 3 drinks per week.

#9, 1st: No sugar at all. 2nd, limit sugar free sweeteners to 1-2x/wk (save it for your splurges)

#8, too many starchy carbs, not enough vegetables and fruits Read the rest of this entry

By Benjamin Petitpas, CSCS, CPT

Having an increase in your metabolism means that there is an increase in the amount of calories that your body is burning to maintain its normal functions. If you have been having a difficult time burning fat and losing weight these 5 tips can help you get over the hump and help you maximize your metabolism and have you burning more calories all day long even while you are resting.

1. Strength Training

Strength training can help increase your metabolism in a few different ways. The first way is from the calories that you will burn during the workout itself. The second way is from the afterburn effect strength training has on your body, known as Excessive Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption (EPOC). EPOC can be described as an increase in your body’s metabolic activity following a strength training workout as your body is trying to recover and return itself to a pre-exercise state.   A third way strength training increases the metabolism, is because it builds build lean muscle mass. This is important because the more lean muscle mass that you have, the more calories it takes for your body to maintain it. So as a result it causes an increase in your metabolism, so even will you are resting, your body will be burning more calories to support your lean muscle mass.

2. Interval Training

Read the rest of this entry

Specific. Measureable. Attainable. Realistic. Timeline.

By Michael L. Alves, ATC, CSCS

O.K.  If you’re considering changing your body and getting in your best shape for 2009, then you must set S.M.A.R.T. goals.

What are S.M.A.R.T. goals?  S.M.A.R.T. is an acronym for specific, measureable, attainable, realistic and timeline and is a formula for achieving goals.  Read on to learn more.

Specific:  You must set specific goals if you want to achieve them.  General goals gets you general (read:  mediocre) results, specific goals, get you…you guessed it, specific (read:  awesome) results.

Ask yourself, “What is it I must change now?  What way am I tired of being and I must do it now or I’m only going to get older and it’s never going to change.”

Measurable:  You must be able to measure your progress in the short term (to keep excited or to make adjustments if not going as planned) and long term (how will you know you’ve achieved your goal).

What feeling/emotions and actions will you measure daily?

What objective & subjective things can you measure each week/month to give you feedback on your progress? Read the rest of this entry

It seems as though most people feel like they need to spend an hour or two at the gym 7 days a week in order to get any real results. Well this simply is not true. The real problem is that people don’t know how to use their time efficiently in the gym.

This is the biggest problem I see at the gym. People walk around aimlessly doing a one set of an exercise and then spending the next 5 minutes resting or talking with friends before they do another set. No wonder why you can see the same people at the gym every day, but you never notice any changing in their bodies.

I am going to share a few of my training secrets with you so you can use manage your time more efficiently. This way you can spend less time in the gym and more of your time doing the things that you enjoy. The best part is that you will burn more fat, lose more weight, and get some serious results in less time.

When it comes to using your time in the gym efficiently the two main factors are the intensity of your workout and having a solid workout plan.

Here are a few tips to get you started

1.    Get yourself started on a workout program. Have a plan of what you are going to do before you get to the gym. Having a plan will eliminate wasted time. If you know exactly what you’re doing for your workout, it easier to focus on what you have to do to get it done.

2.    Get away from the crowd. When I am training clients or working out myself, I always find an area away from the crowd. A place where I can bring all of the equipment that I will need for the workout. This way you don’t have to wait for other people and you can move from one exercise to the next very quickly.

3.    Work out with a purpose in mind. It is important that you keep in mind what your goals are and focus on putting all of your energy in to each and every workout. Look at every set and reps as taking another step toward getting closer to your goals. This will help motivate and inspire you to get more out of your workouts.

4.    Make sure that you are using weight that are challenging. Get rid of your little pink weights, they are not going to help you build lean muscle and burn fat. In order to get stronger you must overload the muscles and give them more work than what they are use to.

For example if you are doing an exercise were you trying to get 10 reps, you should only be able to do 10 and no more. If you can do more than 10 reps you need to increase the weight because is to light and you are not challenging the muscles enough to get any real changes.

           You have to push yourself in order to get results!

5.    Use your time efficiently by pairing your exercises together and move from one exercise to the next. There are a few different ways to do this. My two favorite ways are circuit training and pairing two or three exercises together. This way I can move from one exercise to the next with a built in rest period. I am able to get through my workouts quickly because there is very little time is wasted in between.

When circuit training I will often use choose 6 to 8 exercises. I quickly go from one exercise to the next until I complete the entire circuit. Then I take a short rest at the end before repeating.

 When pairing exercises I will pair two or three exercise together. I will often pair a pushing, pulling, and an ab exercise together. Sometimes I will pair an upper body exercise with a lower body exercise.

6.    Reduce your rest time between sets. One of the best ways to increase your intensity is to limit your rest time between sets. This is a great way to keep your heart rate elevated and it helps to crank up your metabolism. I use a stop watch to monitor my rest time. I usually only give myself one minute or less in between sets when I am training. Sometimes I will even jump rope in between set as an active rest period.

7.    Instead of wasting your time walking on the treadmill for an hour, start interval training. By using interval training you will be able to burn the same amount of calories, if not more in half of the time. Interval training is short period of a high intensity activity followed by a short active recovery period.

For example you will run a sprint at an 8 mph pace on the treadmill for 30sec. immediately after finishing the sprint you would decrease the speed to 3.5mph and walk for 30secs as an active recovery period.  After 30 sec you would increase the speed back to 8mph and repeat.

If you can’t sprint you can jog at a slow pace then walk for your recovery. Another way is to power walk on an incline then decrease the incline and walk at a slower pace as a recovery. The goal is to push yourself to get better every day.

8.    Keep a workout journal. Write down your workout. Include the sets, reps, weights, and rest time. It is also a good idea to write down how you felt during the workout.

You should already be keeping a food journal so it should not be a problem to for you to keep a workout journal as well. I often recommend keeping both the food log and workout log in the same book. This way all of your information is in the same place and it is easy to look back and assess your results.

Another reason why you should keep a journal is so that you can look back at what you did in your previous workout and know exactly what you did and how you felt. This will help you push yourself to do a little better every time you workout. The goal is to get a little better everyday.

There are my 8 tips to help you use your time in the gym more efficiently.

Now it is up to you to start putting them into effect and start getting some real results!

By Benjamin Petitpas

One of the most commonly asked question that I hear in the gym is “how do I get great abs?”

For most people having great ab muscles is their ultimate goal and a sign of accomplishment. It requires a serious commitment to exercise and eating healthy to achieve.

Everyone has abdominal muscles. The problem is that most people can’t see their ab muscles because they are hidden underneath a layer of body fat. Unfortunately, the abdominal area is one of those stubborn places were our body store most of its fat. 

Everyday at the gym, I watch people perform crunch after crunch and they wonder why they still can’t see any changes. Their ab muscles are nowhere in sight. Many people believe that the key to achieving great ab muscles is to spend most of their time focusing on doing ab exercise.

The problem with this is that unfortunately there is no such thing as spot reduction. What I mean by that is as your body starts to use fat as a source of energy, that fat comes from all over your body, not just from one place. So I can’t just tell you to go in the corner and do 1000 sit ups to get great abs. I wish it was that easy, but unfortunately it doest not work that way.

In order to get yourself a great set of ab muscles, it requires you to get your body fat percentage low enough to the point were your ab muscles will start to appear. For men this usually happens once they reduce their body fat percentage to approximately 12% body fat, and approximately 18% body fat for women.

The key to getting great abs is to reduce your body fat percentage. The best way to do this is to follow a proper diet and workout program.

The number one reason why most people have a hard time getting six pack abs has to do with their diet.

Some common mistakes that people make are:

• They eat portion sizes that are way too big
• They eat foods that are high in fat and are not very nutrient dense
• They frequently skip meals
• They consume too much sugar and high glycemic foods

A few quick tips to eating healthy are:

• Eat a well balanced diet
• Eat small frequent meals every 2 ½ to 3 hours
• Avoid foods that are high in sugar and salt
• Eat foods that are low glycemic to control your blood sugar levels
• Try to have a source of lean protein with every meal

A good workout program that combines strength training and cardio training is also crucial to lowering your body fat. The program should be designed to help you build lean muscle and burn fat at the same time. The more lean body mass that you have, the more calories that your body will need to maintain it. This causes an increase in your metabolism so all day long you will burn more calories, even at rest.

So remember, for you to get a great ab muscles you need to lower your body fat percentage. By eating properly and using the right combination of strength training, cardiovascular training, and abdominal training you too can uncover your ab muscles that have been hiding from you all these years.

By Benjamin Petitpas

 Lose 20lbs in 20 days!

Don’t believe a word of it! I wish it was that easy! Unfortunately, there is no quick fix for weight loss. Supplement companies are making a fortune making people promises of having the magic pill or weight loss drink, but the truth is that there is no magic supplement to help you lose weight overnight. Sure you can have liposuction or even bypass surgery to lose weight quickly, but what happens after the surgery, when you resort back to the same old behaviors that caused you to gain the weight in the first place. Do you think that you will still be able to keep the weight off and prevent future weight gain? I seriously doubt it.

Losing weight and living a healthy lifestyle requires a lifelong commitment. It does not just happen overnight. You must make it a priority in your life. I couldn’t tell you how many people that I have meet over the years that said, I want to lose weight, but they failed to do it. The reason was that at that point at time they were not ready to make the sacrifices that come with making a commitment. They were only able to be successful when they were truly ready to commit to living a healthy lifestyle.

Set goals for yourself.

 Find out what motivates you. Do you want to get back into your skinny jeans? Do you want to lose the last 5 lbs? Do you want to reduce your body fat? Do you want to have more energy so you can chase your kids around? Whatever it maybe, you need to find what it is that drives you and make it your goal to accomplish it.  Write your goal down and use it for motivation.

Educate yourself and create a plan.

Now that you have a goal take the time to educate yourself, learn as much as you can about what you’re trying to accomplish. If weight loss is your goal you need to learn about exercise, nutrition, life style changes, and the psychology that goes into it making the changes.

Use the information to develop a plan to achieve your goals. Write your plan down and keep records. Studies have shown that people are twice as likely to succeed if they follow a written plan and keep and keep a journal to track their diet and workouts.

Most people fail to achieve their goals because they lack the knowledge or skill that it take to achieve them.  If you don’t know how to do something, I strongly recommend that you find someone that does, like a coach or a mentor.

Find a support system

Surround yourself with people who will support you. Having a support network is important for your success. Having people there to offer positive feedback, will encourage you to stay focused and help you work harder to achieve your goals.

It can be very challenging to be do it all on your own. Sometimes friends and family can be your biggest distraction to our success. Often they can be negative influences that contribute to your negative behaviors. This is why it is important that you let your friends and families know what it is that you are trying to accomplish and how important it is to you.

Many times you can encourage them to make changes as well and you can work together. You can work out together, share recipes and eat healthier meals together, and motivate each other to do better.

Stay Focused

Understand that you are human and that you will have ups and downs. If you have a bad day diet wise or if you skipped a workout, get back on track the next day.

Remember that you made a long term commitment to your health and that the bad day was just a bump in the road. Just make sure that you keep your sights set on accomplishing your long term goal.

Make it happen

Now that you have the knowledge and a support system in place it’s time to take action and start improving the quality of your life.

Nothing is going to happen until you decide to take the next step and make the commitment to change your life.

Now go make it happen!

By Benjamin Petitpas

If you have never seen a kettlebell before, just imagine a cannon ball with a handle. They range in size from 8lbs all the way up to 105lbs. It has been my experience that a good starting weight for women would be 15lb to 26lb kettlebells and 35lb to 45lb kettlebells for men.

Kettlebells are great tool because they are small and you can train anywhere with them.  All you really need is a kettlebells and a little bit of space.  They are great for working out at home, in your garage, backyard, or even outdoors.

You can perform all of the traditional dumbbell exercises like presses, squats, or rows. However, the real difference has to do with the wider handle and the shapes of the kettlebell, which cause you to use have to use more core stability to perform the exercises.

In addition to being able to perform traditional exercises the real benefit from kettlebell training comes from the more explosive movements that require the whole body to work together as one. A few examples of these exercises are; clean and press, snatch, squat to press, and kettlebell swings. All of these movements use large muscle groups, there for require more energy to perform. This causes you to burn a ton of calories during your workout and it will also give you the “afterburn” effect following your workout, which can be described as an increase in your metabolism.

Kettlebells were first used by strongmen and athletes as a way of training for competitions.  In the last few years more and more people have begun to train with kettlebells because of the many benefits as well as their versatility.

Anyone can train with kettlebells as long as there are no medical conditions or previous injuries that would prevent them from training with them. The important thing is that you always use proper form when you exercise. If you are unsure about form proper form, you can always ask your personal trainer.

I will be posting some videos of kettlebell exercises that you can refer to as well.

Kettlebells can help you build lean muscle, improve your conditioning, and burn fat. They are versatile and can be used almost anywhere. Training with kettlebells can be fun and challenging alternative to using machines and free weight.

By Benjamin Petitpas