6 Points to Staying fit in the Work Place

            1) Keep your spine neutral. Do not slouch at your desk.

2) Give a break to your eyes. Look away from your screen every 20-30 minutes.

3) Get a half liter bottle and fill it with water. You can easily reach the daily requirement of 3-4 liters by using a half liter bottle as compared to a one liter bottle. Drink a half liter every hour.

4)  Get up and walk around. Sitting too long cuts off circulation, wrecks posture and increases back pain.

5) When you are working on a computer make sure your arms are close by your sides and at 90 degrees. This will prevent strain on your shoulder, neck and upper back.

6) Stretch your arms, back and legs and neck often.

You can use the reminder on your calender to display these every 20-30 minutes. 

5 Lessons for Strength Training

1) Leave your ego at home - better yet get rid of it

2) Find a real gym - not a latest fad 'fitness' center. There is nothing very fit about most of them except that it's all about the money and the latest fashion fads.

3) If you are going to train - train hard, wise and smart. Do not waste time.

4) Go with a plan. Set a goal, focus, finish it.

5) Train progressively - Start light and add weight or intensity regularly. 

The Most Important Quality for Fitness, Strength and Wellness Trainers

Fitness trainers, Nutritionists, Dietitians, personal trainers, coaches, strength coaches, wellness consultants.......it seems there is an ever growing list of titles in today's fitness world. All is well and each one has their own place for which I am really thankful for and respect them.

Personally I network with some of the best in each category. I have realized what sets these people apart from others I choose to network with is this:

 'They do what they love and have a passion helping others reach their goals.'

 After all isn't this what should drive the wellness industry? Think about it.

When a client comes to anyone one of us, that client is actually saying, 'I trust you with my life. You have to get my health back on track or tell me what to do to prevent a health disaster.'

I have seen some so called trainers just spout off the general rules and 'try' to influence clients to push harder. What really is strange, is these 'trainers' have absolutely nothing to their credibility except to get picked off the  roadside and put under a glamour name of some fitness center. They had not even sat down with the client to find out what exactly is the clients goal.

I also heard about a nutritionist who took the clients list of what she was eating, put it in an excel sheet and then charged her for doing just that!! Also sometimes nutritionists just push supplements across to the client to get commissions from both sides. Just an honest observation for 'nutritionists' and 'trainers' who do that - They are people like you, not trash cans or druggies.

Now I am not saying all are that way. There are also plenty of trainers, nutritionists and strength coaches from across the globe that I admire and really like their commitment and beliefs of why they do what they do and have learnt and incorporated that into my own practice for me and then my clients. I have learnt how to advise my clients, approach them and give my clients 100% commitment and also change myself for the better.

To all trainers, nutritionists, strength coaches and anyone in the health and fitness industry reading this blog I would like all of us to remember that the people who come to us look up to us as role models and experts in our own right. Yes there is money to be made and good money but not at the cost of quality of a persons life. The wellness industry will grow in the next few years. Let's just make sure the motive behind it is right.

The Importance of a Nutritionist

Many times a health or fitness goal is simply not reached because the nutrition and diet is out of place. Now I am not talking about those people who are not committed to the goal and want instant quick fix results. I am talking about those who are actually doing whatever can be done and then reach a place where nothing is happening. In that case I would say invest some time and money in a good nutritionist. Remember this is an investment. A learning you can take with you for life and not to forget save you loads of money from hospital bills and also probably save your life.

So why do you need a nutritionist?

At some point - if you are serious about your health or fitness goals - you need a nutritionist. Here are some of the reasons.

1) You have to find out what you are eating and if you are on track. What if you were eating the wrong foods?

2) If you have a health or fitness goal you need to know if you are on the correct plan. The diet plan to lose fat is not the same as the plan to build strength or muscle.

3) Whats your job profile? An athlete's nutrition and diet plan is going to be different from a business man's plan.

4) Avoid lifestyle related diseases - Did you know most cases of deaths, hospitalizations and medical bills are based out of lifestyle related diseases which can be prevented or even reversed if found early? Take your pic.

These four pointers are enough reason to find a nutritionist. Just make sure you find a good one and get on the right track.

The Most Important Aspect of Fitness

When it comes to fitness there are various components each with their own roles. I covered these in my post 'Are you fit?'. Out of these STRENGTH is the most important. You can be flexible but it wont help too much if you are not strong. A major part of balance comes from good core strength. To enhance endurance and cardio-vascular ability you need a level of strength or you will not be able to develop. Now when I mean strength, I am talking about a real world, functional strength and not throwing weights around in the fitness center and not being able to do a thing when reality hits.

Strength has to be trained regularly. Out of all the other aspects of fitness strength does take the longest to develop but also stays the longest. It is also important to know that strength training is different from physique or figure training. Now your body can improve and look better in the process but the strength is the focus not the cosmetic build up. As a matter of fact there are a lot of people who have good physiques but their strength is quite poor. On the other hand there are people who don't have what you might call a good physique but have amazing strength.

So how do you train for strength?

1) Nutrition: You need the right fuel to build strength. Eat nutrient dense and clean 'live' food. Stop eating junk and fad diets. If you have to get a nutritionist to help you out.

2) Train Hard: You need the correct training plan to build strength. Training like a bodybuilder will definitely make you stronger but it will develop more muscle after a point and stagnate real world strength. However increasing strength can leave you looking well maintained and fit yet generate huge amounts of real world strength.Training should be done with progressive resistance regularly. I cannot stress this enough. The correct training program and right exercise selection is important.

3) Mental status: Positive mental outlook and mental toughness is essential to physical strength. Stress and pessimism causes a rage of negative chemical reactions in the body and your strength levels can drop really quick.

4) Rest and Recovery: You have to give time for your body to recover. It is in this phase that the body adapts and compensates for the shock it receives during training resulting in increased strength.

Strength is needed for everyone from the growing child to the home maker.The corporate professional to the professional athlete. Each individual has to decide what level of strength is needed and get on to training for it.

Fat Loss made Simple

Just so you know right at the start - Knowing what to do to lose fat is simple. It might not be easy but the procedure is simple and no I'm not talking about a quick fix either. So lets start at some of the most common problems and then we can look at the solution.

Problems

 'It's easy to lose fat, its keeping it off that's the problem!'

1) Confusion

Body weight is not the same as body fat. Body fat makes up a part of body weight. The more fat you have the more unhealthy it is and is an indicator for more lifestyle related disease. The weighing scale is not necessarily your best friend when you are on a diet because you would not know exactly what weight you are losing - is it lean muscle or is it fat? 2 things that I use to measure my progress is a body composition monitor and a mirror. Its amazing how truthful the mirror can be and that's why sometimes it takes guts and honesty to look into the mirror and take a long hard look at your self. So now we know when we talk of losing weight we actually mean losing fat.

2) Not knowing what to do.

People have tried diets, exercises or maybe even honestly wanted to go on a diet and exercise but just not known how to work their schedule for it to make time. If you are looking at a realistic view of how long and a program of exercise and nutrition to fit your schedule. I would say invest in a good fitness trainer (read my article 'What does a fitness trainer do?'). The reason being you might start to lose fat but you can also quickly yo-yo back to being fat and worse still come back with fat content than when you first started.

Solution

Here is the fat loss process

1) Clean up your eating - The number one step is watch what you eat and how much you eat. You are not a Garbage bin. Stop cramming yourself with so much food - especially processed foods! Not only are you adding unnecessary calories they are calories that have no nutritional value whatsoever. We call stuff like that trash. As much as possible stick to meats, eggs, vegetables, fruits, nuts - anything natural. Once the nutrient value goes up you will be eating lesser but be a lot more satisfied. You hit two birds with one stone - You are full as well as you  have good nutrients in your system. Remember GIGO (Garbage in Garbage out)

2) Exercise - The best exercise protocol that works is Weight training along with conditioning (otherwise known as 'cardio'). Weight training keeps up or puts on lean muscle mass. The more lean muscle you have the higher metabolism to burn fat off and keep it off. Conditioning helps with burning off existing fat that has already been stored in the body.

3) Rest and relaxation- You need to get proper rest. That includes a proper amount of sleep everyday and just taking a break from stressful situations. If you are over-stressed or overworked the biochemistry of the body turns negative and releases chemicals that actually assist fat gain.

4) Supplementation - Supplements are the insurance policy to cover something in your diet that could be missing for various reasons. Do not take supplements as a quick fix. It doesn't work that way. If you do take it that way you are going to have serious trouble in reaching your goals. Take the right supplements. Usually a multivitamin and fish oil work pretty well.  

There you have it. Fat Loss at its basic. Go ahead and get started........

   

What does a Fitness Trainer do?

A Fitness Trainer is a person who educates people about the importance of fitness and trains them in the performance of safe and appropriate exercises to effectively lead them to achieving optimal health. The trainer is essentially a coach and a guide in the realm of health and fitness. A fitness trainer could be self employed or work out of a gym, fitness center, health care center, hospitals, rehab centers or private studios.

A fitness trainer should know:

• Exercise Programming
• Exercise Physiology
• Anatomy and Biomechanics of the human body
• Fitness assessments and tests
• Nutrition and Weight Management
• First Aid and Basic orthopaedics
• Program Administration
• Basic Human Behaviour and Motivation
• Special Population needs (Senior citizens, children, people with lifestyle related conditions)

Fitness trainers can either train clients personally (Personal Trainers), Open their own studios, conduct group training sessions, consult on lifestyle management, coach for strength and conditioning.

Of course choosing the right trainer is also important. The most important factor is the drive to help people stay healthy and fit and not just make a quick buck. Usually a certification helps but its more about a trainer's commitment to a person and doing their best for the person to reach their goals. Also practical knowledge of basic first aid is a must. Just doing a course and getting a certification in some cases might not be enough. Anyone can sit through a certification course or workshop but the practical application of that knowledge is what is essential. After all its a persons life and health at stake.


Fitness Trainers are the first line of defense against lifestyle related diseases and staying in optimal health. They are preventive medicine advisors and are definitely an asset- It is better to prevent ending up in hospital and paying health bills when you could have just invested in preventing health issues. They can save you through wading through tons of information and losing your way to your goals. You can reach your goals effectively and in a shorter period of time. They are also the solution to avoiding high costs of fitness center fees and false promises. They are definitely an investment of lifestyle improvement to consider.

Are you fit?

Overall Fitness is not determined by the fact of you going to a gym or lift heavy weights or wear the latest fashion which attempts to show body shape. There are different parameters when we look into overall fitness. It also does take a whole lot of honesty to take a hard look at oneself and say if they are fit or not.

This doesn't mean you need to win the CrossFit challenge. However in reality for your day there are basic important fitness parameters that you can measure your self by. If an individual has a good development of all of these it shows overall fitness. The requirements can vary from person to person.  

The Basic Parameters:

1) Strength - Strength is undoubtedly the most important aspect of fitness. The others cannot be managed unless there is a basic strength level from which to be built on.

2) Endurance / Cardio Vascular performance - What good is it if you can lift or move a lot of weight but get tired walking up a flight of stairs? Endurance is important and is largely dependent on how much oxygen the lungs can pump into the muscle

3) Balance - This is the ability to hold the body's position steadily.

4) Flexibility - Ability to achieve extended Range of motion

These parameters also explain why someone can lift a 100 kg weight but not do a 12- minute run. It explains why some can bend over and touch their toes others cant.

However, all these aspects can be improved by consistent training. By consistent, I mean daily training or a structured program that fits into your daily schedule - eg, strength train 3 times a week for 20 minutes and the days in between spend 10 minutes working on Endurance, balance, flexibility. It does not have to be a fight for time.

Decide which parameters you need to work on, set a goal, get a program in place and then start working on it.

Nutrition made simple- 3

The final part of this basic nutrition series we are going to take a look at micro-nutrients and water.

Micro-nutrients:

Micro-nutrients are needed by the body in very small amounts nevertheless essential. Any lack or excess can cause an improper functioning of related systems in the body. Micro nutrients have two categories:

1) Vitamins - There are two types again here and they are water soluble and fat soluble.

2) Minerals

No, I'm not talking about unnecessary tablets and pills here. As mentioned earlier, these are necessary for the effective working of the body. They can be got from normal food sources especially fruits and veges and of course in some traces meats, dairy products and grains. They also interact with each other and help in the proper synthesis of macro-nutrients, nervous system function, hormonal functions. etc.

Water:

The human body is over 70% water which shows its vital to survival. Proper intake of water per day is necessary per day for proper functioning of the body. At least 3-4 liters should be taken in each day. Just the right balance of enough water helps in relieving a lot of problems like headaches, constipation, tiredness, cramps. 

Supplementation:

Supplementation is the insurance policy to make sure you are getting the right amounts of nutrients for the   body. This is necessary because of food quality being affected because of modern farming practices, processed foods, overcooking or sometimes the quality of the source itself is in question. You want to make sure you have all your bases covered.

Summary:

A proper mix of all these macro and micro nutrients is what adds up to a balanced diet. A word about balanced diet - what is a balanced diet for one individual might not be a balanced diet for another. Eat well, drink the necessary amount of water and supplement your diet as you need to. Remember nutrition is a vital key to having a healthy and fit lifestyle.

Nutrition made simple -2

In part 1 we took a look at the definition of nutrition and a few reasons on why the right nutrition is so important.

 In this post we are going to look at Macro-nutrients.

Macro-nutrients are the biggest contributors to the maximum energy needs and requirements of the body.

They are 1) Proteins 2) Carbohydrates and 3) Fats

1) Proteins: They are the building blocks of the body and are essential for growth, recovery energy, fat loss, muscle gain, enzymes and many other functions in the body. They also play an important part for all physiological systems of the body. Proteins are made of amino acids which are also known as building blocks of life. 13 are non-essential (which are made by the body) and 9 are essential (cant be made by the body but available only through diet). Proteins can be used as a source of energy but it is not the most efficient source.

2) Carbohydrates: These are the preferred energy source of the body. They are converted to glucose for the body to work effectively. There are three varieties of carbs:

a) Simple (glucose, fructose, galactose, sucrose, lactose, maltose)
b) complex (starch)
c) Dietary fiber (soluble, insoluble)

3) Fats: The biggest criminal of the macro-nutrient family...........or is it? Fats are the other excellent source of energy for the body and also helps to efficiently absorb fat soluble vitamins. It can be stored in the body if in excess. Fats are an energy source and gives shape and structure to the body. It is also vital for proper hormonal growth and function. There are different types of fats but the two major categories are

a) Saturated
b)Un-Saturated

There is a lot more to be said about each of these topics but its just meant to give a simple overview. In the next post we are going to take a look at Micro-nutrients and water.

Nutrition made simple - Part 1

Would you fill your car's petrol tank with water? Well, you could - though I don't recommend it- you won't be going anywhere.

That's the way it is with the food you eat and nutrition. Nutrition is one word that is quickly turning into a buzzword, however also very misunderstood with a lot of definitions and scientific jargon. 

By now you know I like to keep things simple so my definition is: 

 'Taking in the right nutrients in right quantities your entire body needs to have sufficient energy to work at its best.'

Why is the right nutrition so important?

1) Optimal Energy to Perform - The human body is the best engineered piece of machinery in the universe. Different systems have to work in sync every second to keep it running. However what happens to machinery that does not get the right fuel or energy source? It starts to break down, wear and tear comes in quicker. Give it the right fuel or energy source and you have a well equipped piece of machinery, running at its best and producing the needed results.

2) Keeps you healthy - Nutrition plays a huge role in warding off lifestyle related diseases. It keeps your systems healthy and has the immune system running at maximum.

3) Fat Loss - Fat Loss is hugely related to nutrition. Yes exercise is important but nothing spectacular is going to happen if your nutrition is not right. You cant start to lose fat unless you are eating the right stuff at the right times.

There are definitely more reasons. According to me these three are the most wanted and vital ones. In the next few posts we will be working with a further understanding of what nutrients are needed and what they do.  

Cut the wire!!

Yesterday was Sunday. My day was relatively good. Got a few ideas for a business in the morning, wonderful lunch at a relatives place, came home and slept for a while. Went on to my computer to just check a few things and before I knew it I was working and researching hard! I kept saying to myself...'I'll just finish this....' and an hour and a half had gone by. My mind was racing with thoughts and ideas, strategies and plans........and I was getting confused and tired. Finally, I had to force myself up and shut down my system and get away from it.

See, I had made a decision earlier on that unless necessary I will not work on Sunday and spend it with family. The point is I didn't have to work. There was no life threatening situation. There was a lot of good food at home. My wife was waiting for me because I told her I would be spending the evening with her. I just got DRAGGED into it. I'm sure we have all been there. Want everything done now. A little more, a little better, instantly done all now!!! This is after working the whole week. Do days feel like that sometimes? We think we can't take a break when we actually can? Its vital to our health. Just unplug. There are so many things to enjoy. You for one need to get your thoughts focused and your mind clear to work better. Its ok to switch off. The world does not revolve around me- I'm not the belly button of the earth. As a matter of fact because I am responsible for something important, I have to be at my best and rest is a factor.

Did you know on the sports field there are few seconds of rest and the athletes have to learn how to capitalise on it? A fast break, a dash of speed, a power up, a sprint and the body has to rest after that burst of power and energy. When training in the gym there are breaks of anything from 15 seconds upto 5 minutes. In the office, the coffee and lunch break are important to take your mind of work and settle down and focus again. Try it and see what it does for your productivity. Cant take a 10 minute break at that time? Dont. Get up walk around for a minute, close your eyes, take a few deep breaths and come back again.

I never put on my system after that yesterday. I sat in the cool breeze on my terrace. My head cleared out. My wife and I had a wonderful evening just talking with each other. I slept and got up early this morning.......Fully charged ready to face the day!!

Do you need to destress? Ideas to take a break in the middle of a busy day? You can contact me here.

What is Strength Training?

Looking at the heading, that should be 'DUH.......!!!! Training for strength...'

Exactly!

That includes, getting your muscles, mind and body energy systems to have more than enough to handle the pressure of their role. Also there are different types of strength that have to be trained. And for each person depending on their work and lifestyle each strength pattern required is different. Strength is a very broad topic but the end result is the same...............to get stronger and perform better in WHATEVER you have to do.

So why are most people not doing it?

1) Some people think its not important.
2) Some think its only for those who go to a gym.
3) Some think that its not for them because they havn't collapsed (yet!!) in a heap and so they are strong.
4) Some just don't know better.

The list goes on and on.

The truth is strength training is vital for everyone according to their occupation and everyday needs. There are different sorts of strength that can be trained for. The one is which is most appropriate to you. Usually over here is where a personal trainer of a fitness consultant can come in and help. Strength training for an athlete is very different to that of a Corporate employee or a home maker. However strength training is necessary for all of them. Let me explain.

A corporate employee has a day of mostly being in front of a computer, meetings to attend, handle appointments, deal with stress of clients and maybe a boss breathing their neck. The strength training they need to handle that is different as compared to a homemaker who runs around with the kids, sees to home chores and yet has enough strength to handle that. They both need strength. The training however will be different.

Are you feeling low on energy? Weak and drained out at the end of the day? Go on.....get up....... find a good and knowledgeable personal trainer or fitness consultant, get on a program and start training. Time for you to get stronger.....