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9 Tips For Looking And Feeling Better Than You Have In Years

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West Boise/Meridian Location Updates:
We have just passed the two year mark for our location! A special thanks to all of you who have made it possible.

One of our trainers, Jeannie Zingg will be competing in the NGA Northwest Natural and Pro Atlas Bodybuilding and Figure Championships on April 28th as a figure competitor. Be sure to wish her luck when you come in for your workout. For those of you who wish to know more or would like to attend, visit www.ngaidaho.com for more information.

With spring time approaching, some of you may have different fitness goals in mind for the upcoming months. Please make sure to discuss with your trainer any changes in program/fitness goals to prepare you for summer events and activities (swimsuit season). We look forward to helping you acheive your current and future fitness goals.

-FT West Boise/Meridian Staff

The following tips are essential to maintaining a fast, youthful metabolism:

• Build the muscle needed to speed up your resting metabolism (the number of calories your body burns to maintain life) all day and all night long. A gain of five to 10 pounds of lean mass muscle will rev up your resting metabolism by roughly 100 calories - each and every day.
  
• Maximize something called the "afterburn." Through targeted strength training and energy system work (a specific type of interval training), you can increase the number of calories you burn during your workouts (about 300 to 600 calories per day depending on your body size and workout duration). However, assuming you integrate these high intensity efforts, you can also blow through another 100 to 200 calories per day – a post-exercise energy burst that eats up calories even when you're sitting on your butt.
  
• Increase the number of calories your body burns as it digests foods. Prioritizing metabolically costly proteins, metabolism boosting healthy fats, antioxidant rich fruits and veggies and the right carbs at the right times can boost your metabolic rate by another 100 to 200 calories per day. That's right. The very food you eat can increase fat oxidation and metabolic burn. You just have to know which foods are right for the task at hand.
  
• Encourage your body to waste calories. The right combination of food choices and supplements can turn you into a much less efficient calorie burner. Much like a car in need of a tune up, your body will consume more fuel than it needs to operate, wasting away the excess as heat. Unlike with your car, however, when it comes to your metabolism, inefficiency is a good thing. It will coax your body into burning more calories – and more fat – for fuel.
  
• Boost the number of calories your body burns through movement. Thanks to that desk job, family commitments and a great line up of must-see TV, most of us move less at ages 30, 40 and beyond than we did during our teens and 20s. By training at least five hours each week, you can increase your calorie burning by about 300 to 600 calories per day. But don't just limit your thinking to planned "gym time" physical activity. By including more physical activity of all types, you can maximize the metabolism.

All told, with the right combination of training, nutrition and supplementation, you can expect to increase your daily calorie burn by between 40 and 60 percent within just eight weeks. In other words, a guy who currently burns 2,500 calories a day would rev up his metabolism to a 3,400 to 4,000 daily calorie burn! That's enough of a boost for you to see a 10 to 15 pound drop in body fat during those eight weeks above.

And for those at a beginner/intermediate level of training, you can expect muscle gain as well. Muscle gain and fat loss simultaneously? Yep, it happens all the time in this population. If you've never seen it, you're simply not doing the right things.

Even more important, when you get these things right, you will simultaneously improve your health. In addition to speeding your metabolism, building muscle and shedding fat, you can also expect to lower your blood cholesterol, blood pressure and blood sugar. So not only can you look better, you can live longer.

So, in the end, I'm here to tell you that a large scale metabolic decline isn't inevitable as we age.

If you're young and haven't seen the affects of father time, that's excellent. But that doesn't mean you wont! Make sure you use a combination of smart eating, training and supplementation to keep that metabolism reving for life.

And if you're older and your current lifestyle has negatively impacted your body, it's not too late. Turn things around now, and you can reverse the damage that's been done. I've seen it happen time and time again.

Recipe Summary:
Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Number of Servings: 3

Cups of Fruits and Vegetables per Person: 1

Ingredients:
2 6 oz cans unsalted tuna in water, drained

1 medium apple chopped

1 celery stalk, peeled and chopped

1/4 cup low fat vanilla yogurt

1 tsp prepared mustard

1 tsp honey

6 slices whole wheat bread

lettuce leaves

6 slices tomato
Directions:
Combine and mix the tuna, apple, celery, yogurt, mustard and honey. Spread 1/2 cup of the mixture on three bread slices. Top each slice of bread with lettuce, tomato and remaining bread. Cut sandwiches in half or as desired.

Single Leg Squat w/ External Rotation

Difficulty: Intermediate

Muscle Group(s): Legs
Hips and Glutes
Total body
Modality: Stability
Balance

Benefits:

This is a must exercise to progress to for an individual who has 'seated posture'.

The first two people to email the correct answer(s) to the following quiz will recieve choice of an FT T-shirt, water bottle, or workout towel.

1. How many calories are in 1lb of body fat?
2. You can "spot reduce" fat around the abdominal area by performing additional crunches. (TRUE/FALSE)
3. Is it more beneficial to perform cardiovascular exercise prior to or after resistance training if your goal is to maximize fat loss?

Email answers to westboise@fitnesstogether.com
Answers and winners for this month's quiz will be posted in next month's newsletter.

By Rick Sikorski, CEO – Fitness Together

You may be asking yourself, "Why work with a personal trainer in the first place?" The sounds of encouragement from your personal trainer will help you overcome obstacles and road blocks along the way to the perfect you. A personal trainer (PT) is certified by a number of organizations, including NASM, AFAA, NSCA, ACE, NSPA and ACSM. They are trained in physiology, kinesiology, various health fields, athletics, CPR and more. No matter how much experience you have with exercise, the knowledge and expertise of your PT go beyond the realm of what you, the client, know.

With more than 230 joints and over 600 muscles, our bodies are very complex. Not only that, but they're each very different. A certified personal trainer knows what kind of exercise your body needs – and can recommend a variety of ways for you to reach your fitness goals.

Working with a personal trainer can be one of the most beneficial ways to improve health and fitness. Today, personal trainers are used by people of all ages, fitness levels and economic status. Hiring a personal trainer will motivate you to achieve desired results and most importantly – keep you in shape.

Further reasons why a personal trainer is effective:

Improve overall fitness. Surveys show the primary reason people hire personal fitness trainers is to get professional assistance in improving strength, flexibility, endurance, posture, balance, coordination and cardiovascular health. Personal trainers monitor progress and fine-tune programs along the way, helping clients work their way towards success.

Ensure proper form and technique. Do you really know what you're doing with those weights? A personal trainer teaches clients the correct way to use equipment and ensures that they use proper form and technique for cardiovascular and weight training exercises to avoid injury.

They're constantly learning. Personal trainers continually update their knowledgebase and areas of expertise so that they can share with you, the client, the latest techniques and methods. Additionally, your personal trainer can share with you the theories behind certain exercises so that you have a full understanding of why certain exercises are prescribed and how they will help you achieve your goals.

Reach or maintain a healthy weight. Body fat reduction, toning, weight reduction and weight management can be achieved with the aid of a qualified personal trainer. Personal trainers help clients set realistic goals and provide safe strategies and encouragement to meet those goals.

Learn to stick to it. Sticking with well-intentioned plans is one of the biggest challenges people face. A certified personal trainer provides motivation for developing a healthy lifestyle that places a high priority on health and activity and helps clients overcome obstacles to exercise.

Focus on personal unique health concerns. Surveys show that 50% of personal fitness trainers' clients have special medical needs such as arthritis, diabetes or obesity. Certified personal trainers help with these or other issues including lower back pain, rehabilitation of an injury, and pre/postnatal training. They will work with clients' physicians, physical therapists or other health providers to plan a safe, effective program to help clients reach their health goals. Women, especially, must focus on their bone density. Your PT can prescribe regular weight bearing activities and exercises that strengthen bones as well as muscle.

Stop wasting time. Get maximum results in a short time with private workouts. One-on-one workouts enable personal trainers to tailor a client-specific program for help in achieving goals efficiently and effectively.

Learn new skills. Want to improve strength and flexibility? Personal trainers can develop a sport-specific fitness program to improve overall conditioning and help increase performance.

Your personal cheerleader. Your personal trainer will help you turn exercise into a lifestyle– not a chore to be dreaded. He or she will develop new ways for you to reach your health and fitness goals while actually having fun!

The bottom line. A plan for you that includes healthy eating based on your calorie goal, strength training, and cardiovascular exercise is imperative to a successful training regimen. Your trainer will put an emphasis on proper technique, design a program specifically for you and hold you accountable to your goals. Through this approach, your personal trainer will enable you to reach those goals through constant support, encouragement and personal challenge.