Make Strength Training the Foundation of Your Fitness Program

It's the first of the year and I already see my gym flooded with people eager to get healthy and fit for the New Year.  Most of the new comers spend most of their time on the cardio equipment, then they spend a few minutes lifting weights, and then they go home.

While cardio is a very important component of your fitness program, it shouldn't be where you spend the majority of your time in the gym.  I recommend you build your fitness program around strength training, also known as weight lifting and here's why:

Strength Training builds and helps to maintain your muscle mass.  Muscle tissue is always active and thus burns calories even when you are at rest.  Thus, by building and maintaining your muscle mass you  increase your resting metabolism, which means you burn more calories even while you are sleeping.

Muscle is key to long-term weight loss and body fat reduction.  As a personal trainer I often hear statements like this "ever since I tuned 40 I can't seem to lose weight and I've developed these areas of fat that I can't get rid of either."  Muscle loss is the primary reason for this scenario.  Beginning as early as your 30s you start to naturally lose muscle mass, and this process accelerates with age if you don't do anything to stop or slow it down.  As I previously mentioned, muscle is that active part of your body that burns calories even when you are resting.  Thus, as you lose your muscle mass your metabolism decreases, and consequently your calorie burning capacity also decreases.  Additionally, body fat is the fuel of choice for your muscles while you are at rest, and also for low intensity activities such as casual walking, cleaning house, and yard work.

Strength training increases your bone strength and makes your joints stronger.  Regular strength training has been proven to decrease the risk of developing osteoporosis, and also to make the activities of daily life easier to perform.

Strength training helps reduce blood sugar, and thus, reduces the risk for developing Type 2 diabetes.  Strength training plays a particular role to in reducing blood sugar and improving insulin sensitivity because when you lift weights the main fuel used is that stored as muscle glucose. Building extra muscle also provides a larger storage area for glucose, so the combination of these two factors -- increased muscle and regular emptying of these muscle stores -- improves the body's glucose processing, a factor crucial in preventing and managing type 2 diabetes.

Hopefully you can see why I think strength training should be the foundation of your fitness program.  If you are new to weight lifting, I suggest you find a nationally certified fitness professional to help you develop a strength training program, and to teach you the proper form and lifting techniques.

If You Build Muscle, You Will Burn Fat

English: Fitness Model posing with dumbell. Photo by Glenn Francis of www.PacificProDigital.com (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Remember the line from the movie Field of Dreams, "If you build it they will come".  Well, here's a line to remember if you want to lose body fat, "If you build muscle, you will burn fat".

A significant gain in weight and body fat results from an energy imbalance over a prolonged period of time, which means that energy intake exceeds energy expenditure.  In other words, weight gain and body fat accumulation results from a prolonged period of eating more calories than you burn.  Thus, you didn't go to bed one night fit and trim and wake-up the next morning fat and over-weight.

Consequently, you can change your energy balance by either altering the amount of calories you consume or increasing your energy expenditure.  Your total daily energy expenditure is the sum total of the following: your resting energy expenditure + the thermogenic effect of the foods you consume + the energy expenditure related to your daily activity.  Consequently, if your total daily caloric intake exceeds your total daily energy expenditure, you gain weight in the form of body fat.

Under most circumstances the largest component of your total daily energy requirement is your resting energy expenditure (also referred to as REE).  Your REE is composed of the metabolic requirements of your organs, and muscle mass.  The energy requirements of your organs remain fairly constant under most circumstances therefore, the energy expenditure related to muscle metabolism is the only part of your REE that varies considerably.

Muscle is the active component of your body that burns the most calories at rest.  It is estimated that a pound of muscle burns approximately 6 calories daily at rest. So, for each pound of muscle you gain you also increase your energy expenditure by 6 calories each day.  While that may sound like a small number, it makes a big difference over time.  For example, let's say you gain 5 pounds of lean muscle in the course of a year.  That equates to an additional 30 calories in your daily energy expenditure.   Over the course of a year that equates to nearly a 11,000 calorie increase in your REE.

The synthesis and breakdown of muscle protein is principally responsible for the energy expenditures of resting muscle.  The energy to provide for this process of muscle protein turnover is derived mainly from the oxidation of fat.  Yes, body fat is the preferred fuel of resting muscle, and it is also the preferred fuel for your muscles during low to moderate intensity activities.

Now, let's look at the above example of a 5 pound muscle gain in a different light.  It takes a 3500 calorie deficient to lose 1 pound of body fat.  So, the 11,000 calorie increase in your REE due to a 5 pound gain in muscle equates to a 3 pound loss of body fat over the course of a year.  Now, do you see why it's important to build and maintain your muscle mass if you want to get lean? Thus, I remind you again, "Build the muscle and you will burn the fat".

Breakfast to Energize Your Day

 Here's another great post by Dr. Donald K. Layman

The importance of breakfast is a principle of nutrition taught to children. If you want to perform well in school you need a good breakfast, and children who skip breakfast often have low energy, poor attention, and reduced performance. The problem was low blood sugar. Nutritionists thought the solution was eating carbohydrates. This led to breakfasts that were high carbohydrate and low protein such as cereal and OJ or even donuts and pastries. Carbs became a staple for the American breakfast.

As the science of nutrition evolved we learned more about how the body uses protein, carbohydrates and fats, and our concepts about meals changed. We now know that the best way to stabilize blood sugar for children – and adults – is eating fewer carbs and more protein. Carbohydrates can give you a quick burst of energy, they but also lead to a big insulin response that causes a drop in blood sugar in about two hours. This drop in blood sugar saps your energy and leads to snacking. If you’re young, exercise daily, and have normal body weight, you may be able to tolerate a higher carbohydrate diet and snacks, but for most adults, high-carb breakfasts and snacks lead to weight gain and unwanted body fat.It’s time for a new breakfast.

When you wake up, it’s likely you have been without food for about 12 hours. Your body is burning fat – which is great – but also breaking down your lean tissues including muscle and bone. What you eat at the first meal determines how your body burns fat and protects itself for the rest of the day. Breakfast determines your metabolic pattern. If the first meal is high in carbs and low in protein, the rush of insulin shifts your body from burning fats to storing fat and even converting the carbs you eat into new fat. Lack of adequate protein at breakfast also leaves your body breaking down lean tissues. The ideal breakfast contains protein, carbohydrate, and fat with the balance of protein and carbs being the critical parts. The METABOLIQ Lifestyle is designed to create the right balance.

Let’s consider breakfast for three different adults: 1) an individual wanting to lose weight, 2) an adult maintaining weight, and 3) any adult with morning exercise.

An adult trying to lose weight must be careful with diet choices. Any mistakes at breakfast and you’re likely to be hungry, tired, and unsuccessful with weight loss. Breakfast should contain at least 30 grams of protein and less than 40 grams of carbohydrates. The METABOLIQ Shake is a complete meal replacement with an ideal balance of protein, carbohydrates and fats. The protein is an optimal blend to energize your muscles, the carbs are selected provide energy but minimize insulin, and the fats are rapidly burned for energy.

The Shake can be mixed with water or milk to allow you to get the right amount of calories for your weight loss. The Shake mixed with water provides 220 calories. Mix it with 4 oz. of water and 4 oz. of 1 % milk for 270 calories, or 8 oz. of 2% milk for 340 calories. The Shake can be mixed with soy milk if you like, but avoid almond or rice milks that add a lot of carbs with very little protein. Select the calories you need so that you’re not hungry before lunch and lose weight. If you feel hungry during morning, then you need more calories at breakfast. An adult maintaining weight has a little more flexibility with calories and can mix the Shake in 2% milk or even Kefir (read the label to avoid extra sugars).

Morning exercise means you need to adjust your meal timing. If your exercise is low intensity, like walking, then have the Shake whenever you wish before or after exercise. However, if your exercise is higher intensity running, you should save the Shake until after your work out. Contrary to advice of some trainers, there is no advantage to having protein before exercise, but there is a lot of benefit to having protein after exercise. If you need something before exercise, I recommend a light combination of carbohydrates and protein such as toast and an egg or maybe a whole grain cereal with milk. Keep the calories low and use whatever makes you feel comfortable. The purpose of food before exercise is to maintain your energy during the exercise. If your goal is to lose weight and reduce body fat, then eating nothing is best. You may feel tired for a couple of weeks while you adjust to burning just fat during your exercise but you will adapt and ultimately burn a lot more body fat. If you want the Shake before exercise, you should finish it at least 2 hours before beginning your work out. Drink the Shake during the first hour after exercise to accelerate recovery and maximize the benefits of the training.

Getting breakfast right will energize your metabolism for the day and make you feel great.

For your health,
Dr. Donald K. Layman
Qivana, CSO

 Dr. Donald K. Layman, Ph.D is Professor Emeritus of Nutrition in the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition at the University of Illinois. With more than 33 years of teaching and research experience, Dr. Layman has numerous awards and recognitions, including awards from the American Society for Nutritional Sciences, the National Institutes of Health and the Nutrition and Metabolism Society.

Find out more about the Metaboliq Lifestyle system by clicking on this link: Qivana

Lean Muscle is the Key to Looking Tight and Tone

I see it all the time, people who spend hours doing cardio and still have a high percentage of body fat.  To burn body fat and to look tight and tone you must build lean muscle.  This is especially true as you approach your 40s and beyond.

Strength training is the best way to build and maintain healthy muscle.  While cardiovascular exercise is an important part of your fitness program, maximizing lean muscle should be the the foundation of your exercise routine.  Strength training is important because around the age of 40 you start to experience muscle loss. "If you don't do anything to replace the lean muscle you lose, you'll increase the percentage of fat in your body," says Dr. Edward Laskowski, a physical medicine and rehabilitation specialist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.  Left unabated, you can lose up to 10 pounds of muscle each decade starting at age 40.

Loosing muscle is detrimental to your fitness because muscle is the component of your body that burns the majority of the calories you consume each day.  Therefore, when you lose muscle your body requires less calories to function.  Consequently, those extra calories you consume are stored as fat around your waist, hips, and other places.

Your body constantly burn calories, even when you’re doing nothing. This resting metabolic rate is much higher in people with more muscle. Every pound of muscle uses about six calories a day to sustain itself, while each pound of fat burns only two calories daily. This small difference can add up over time. In addition, after a bout of resistance training, muscles are activated all over your body, increasing your average daily metabolic rate.

Fortunately, strength training can mitigate, and even reverse the loss of muscle at any age.  Thus, increasing the amount of calories needed to function.  That’s why you hear some people say that their appetites increase after they have been strength training for awhile.  This is a sign that they are starting to build muscle.

As with any fitness program, a well balanced diet is a key component to seeing the best results.  Qivana's Metaboliq Weight Maintenance System is the best I've see in my 20 years in the health and fitness industry at teaching you balance in your diet in order for your body to burn body fat at it's maximum efficiency.  You can checkout this system by following this link: Metaboliq

The New Macro Balanced Diet - Part 1

I'm a personal trainer with nearly 20 years of experience in the health and fitness industry.  The most challenging part of my profession is educating my clients about nutrition.  A healthy diet is one of the most important parts of any fitness program.  No amount of exercise can compensate for a poor diet.

I've been searching for years for a system that I could recommend to my clients that they can understand and easily incorporate into their lives.  I recently came across such a system a few months ago developed by Dr. Donald K Layman, a professor at the University of Illinois who is a pioneer in the study of human metabolic research.  Dr. Layman is a world renown expert in diet, obesity, diabetes, and sports nutrition.  He has published over 90 peer-review articles in his field of study during the last 30 years.  Thus, Dr. Layman seems very credible to me.

Dr. Layman has developed a weight management system that vitalizes and activates healthy muscle mass to burn body fat.  His system is based on the following easy to understand principles.

1. The correct macro balance of protein, fat, and carbohydrates in your diet will vitalize your muscle causing your body to burn body fat.
2. You should have 30 grams of protein at your staple meals, which are breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
3. You should keep your carbohydrate to protein ratio 1 to 1 at your meals in order to control your blood sugar level and minimize insulin spikes and consequently food cravings.
4. Your carbohydrate to fiber ratio in your diet should be less than 6.  These are called Smart carbohydrates and they take longer for your body to convert to blood sugar, thus also controlling insulin spikes.

In my next post I'll explain the significance of each of the above principles.  Learn more about this life changing and revolutionary weight management system at :Qivana

The Eating To Maximize Fat Burning

I've been drinking protein based shakes for breakfast for many years.  I always mix some whey protein, and frozen fruit, to make a smoothie with the right combination of protein, carbohydrates and fat.  Combining the proper ratios of protein, carbohydrates, and fat to maximize fat burning is what I've done as a natural bodybuilder for over 20 years.  I know it works because at 217 lbs I keep my body fat below 12 percent year around.

Several months ago I was introduced to a natural nutritional company called Qivana, that made a meal replacement shake based on the correct ratio of nutrients to maximize fat burning in your body.  I've tried the shakes for over 4 months now and I must confess that I've gotten even leaner without eating or training any differently than normal.  Finally, there's a company manufacturing a product that actually helps your body to burn fat more efficiently.  The product is called Metaboliq.  I suggest you try it for yourself.

You can find this product and more information about this amazing company by following this link: Qivana

Keeping Your Muscle Is The Key To Fitness Over 40

Image by Rtist MrB via FlickrAs a personal trainer, I am in and out of health clubs all day. I love to observe the things people do in their efforts to "get in shape". The major thing I notice, is the over-whelming amount of cardio I see women doing while neglecting to do much strength training.

While cardio is an important part of any fitness program, it should not be the primary focus, especially if you are female and over 40 years of age. In your 20s you could knock off those extra pounds by just running on the treadmill a few extra times each week.  However, as you approach your 40s and beyond that plan isn't effective anymore and here's why.

As you enter your late 30s you start to lose muscle, and muscle is that part of your body that burns the majority of the calories that you consume each day.  A pound of muscle burns about 6 calories a day even while your are resting, and a pound of fat only burns around one calorie per day.

 If you don't do anything to combat the above scenario, you can lose as much as 10 lbs of muscle each decade beginning in your 40s.  That decreases your metabolism by about 60 calories a day every 10 years of your life.  So, that's about 21,900 calories a year that's being converted to fat, which is approximately 6 lbs of fat you gain each year.


I know, this is a very sad scenario, but there is hope.  Your savior is called strength training.  By incorporating strength training in your fitness program you can slow, and in some cases, even reverse muscle loss.  And, it's never too late to start, studies have shown the positive results of strength training in people well into their 90s.

Not Your Typical 52 Year Old's Exercise Program

Let start this post by stating that I'm 52 years old and I've been lifting weights for most of my adult life.  I'm as strong (actually stronger), and I feel as good as I did 30 years ago.  I'm 6 foot 2 inches tall, and I weigh in at 218 lbs at 10 percent body fat.  I'm not telling you this to brag on myself, but hopefully to change your concept of aging.

I'm an ACE certified personal trainer and I specialize in fitness over the age of 40.  I hear and see far too many people over 40 years of age blame their aches, pains, and poor physical condition on "getting old", when most of their physical calamities are the result of years of inactivity and bad lifestyle choices.

I believe that getting old has less to do with years and more to do with your attitude and the daily choices you make.  Imagine your body being healthy, strong, and fit as you grow older and this will lead you to make the healthy choices to manifest the the healthy, strong, and fit life you want no matter what age.

What's more compelling than an example to show you that you can be healthy, strong, and fit in your 40s, 50s, and beyond.  Here is my workout routine I did yesterday. It was a heavy lifting day for my shoulders and back, so I did the following:

• Lateral shoulder raises, 3 sets of 5 repetitions with 60 lb dumbbells.
• Overhead shoulder presses, 3 sets of 5 repetitions with 80 lb dumbbells.
• Shoulder shrugs, 3 sets of 5 repetitions with 315 lbs.
• Bent over dumbbell rows, 3 sets of 5 repetitions with a 150 lb dumbbell.
• Weighted pullups, 3 sets of 5 repetitions with 35 lbs attached to my waist.
• Lat pulls, 3 sets of 5 repetitions with 270 lbs.

This is not your typical 52 year old's workout, but it could be.

Exercise of the Week; The Dumbbell Chest Press

The dumbbell chest press is one of the best exercises for developing and strengthening the muscles of your chest and the front of your shoulders. Again, you will have to experiment to select the proper weight to use. Pickup a dumbbell in each hand and sit on the end of a bench. Place the dumbbells end -up on your knees, then lay back on the bench and position the dumbbells at your sides at chest height; this is your start position. Press the dumbbells up over your chest until your arms are fully extended being careful not to lock your elbows. Slowly return the dumbbells to the start position. Your breathing pattern is to exhale as you press up and inhale as you return to the starting position.

If you are new to strength training, do 2 sets of 10 repetitions with a weight that the last 2 repetitions are difficult to complete. If you have been strength training for a while, do 3 sets of 10 repetitions with a weight that the last 3 repetitions are difficult to complete.