Jessica’s Fitness Blog

Oct 10, 2018:
Calories Burned In A Workout

Question for ya… how come we seem to get so hung up on the calories we burned during a workout? When I bet we don’t get that hung up on the calories we ingest on a daily basis? Did you think about how many calories were in that specialty coffee, or that donut, or that bagel with a slab of cream cheese?! Nope, most of us probably didn’t even think about it. So why do we get so hung up on the calories after a workout? If we don’t even know how many calories we ingest daily or even know what we need to be in to be in a caloric deficit? Seems pretty counter intuitive does it not?

Here’s the thing, this is mostly for weight loss, the amount of calories you burned during a workout does NOT indicate whether or not it was a good workout. Actually, that can’t be further from the truth. When a workout is more focused on strength training your calories won’t be as high as a cardio driven workout. Does that mean strength workouts aren’t doing any physical change to your body? Nope. Does that mean you won’t lose weight because you aren’t burning as many calories? Nope.

Ok, so your probably asking ‘why even have the heart rate monitors if it doesn’t matter?’ Good question.. the simple answer is that it is a GREAT tool to have and it makes your workouts more personalized.. you can say your “tired” but according to your heart rate monitor your flirting in the high blue zone(fat burning zone) so you missy (or mister) better stop giving me excuses and start digging deep..it’s your mindset stopping you. The heart rate monitors are suppose to be used appropriately.. so if your in one of our HIIT classes, you know we planned it to be hard so your zone should at least be in the orange zone, even some red..if it’s not start moving! If your in a strength based class then you’ll probably stay in the blue/green zone, and thats great as it shows you are actually putting effort in. Sometimes depending on the amount of weight being loaded, you can get in the orange zone but it’s not consistant like a cardio/endurance based workout.

So if you pushed hard and didn’t half-assed your workout and your calories end up only being in the low 300’s but you feel beat, who cares?!?! Ask yourself: What type of training was it? Did I push myself to my max? Could I have lifted heavier? Did I just quit early because it was “too hard”? Did my mindset get in the way? If you answer those and you know you did your best, then who cares! On average my workouts are anywhere from 250-450 calorie, 400’s are least often and I push hard in every workout. Just sometimes my workouts are based on slow, control movements and I don’t focus on my heart rate. Yet I still lose weight and I still put on muscle…why? Because I watch the foods/drinks I ingest, I am mindful of what I am putting into my body and less worried about what I burn in a workout..

So stop complaining or being dissapointed about your burn, if you feel like you could have pushed harder than yes BE dissapointed because that’s on you. But if you did your best and that’s what you burned…great! At the end of the day it was better than just sitting around burning NO calories or even eating more calories. Get your diet in check, push hard in your workouts and you WILL get results!

FITNESS GOALS!

I touched base with goal setting when it comes to fitness, on an IG clip. Here is what I spoke about today:

Fitness Goals:
There are let’s say 3 goals that have been set by clients, out of these 3 which do you think will be most successful and why?

Goal 1: “I want to lose 10lbs in 3 months”
Goal 2: “I want to work on my overall fitness. Want to be able to chase my kids around without getting tired, feel more energized. If I lose weight along the way then thats a bonus”
Goal 3: “I want to work on my diet. So I am cutting out all carbs, increasing my protein and lower my calories from 2200 to 1200.”

Out of these, who do you think will be more successful?

Answer: Goal setter numero deux! (Goal 2 haha)

Why? Let’s break it down

Goal 1: It’s too numerical. They are basing their success on one key factor..weight loss. They are missing the bigger picture. Which is, health. So for most that set this goal, we will end up getting too hung up on the number and get discouraged… discouragement leads to quitting often times. Most of the time, when we start an exercise regime our weight will actually go up, then back down and then poof – 8lbs just disappears.. it’s not often a lot of us will lose weight right off the bat, it’s a constant battle until you build muscle to help burn the fat. So after the first month or two, if no changes happened or the weight goes up, or not down enough, we lose hope and lose motivation. It’s too numerical and that’s where this goal ends up being a bad one.

Let’s skip over to GOAL 3:
The problem with goal 3 is that it is most likely not sustainable. Can you really maintain this type of restricted diet for 6 months, 1 year or more? If not, then why start? All that it will end up doing is causing you to lose weight only to put it back on when you start eating like a normal human being again. And not only that, it can led to “relationhip” with food.. feeling guilty when eating certain things. There should absolutely be no relationship when it comes to food, food is food it shouldn’t make you feel guilty. Also, when people set these goals, they think lowering the calories is key but it’s not always the answer. Especially if you are eating like a 12 year old child. IF your active you can still eat a good amount of calories, but just be mindful of WHERE those calories are coming from. Sugar is a HUGE culprit!

Goal 2: The BEST one!
This is the golden one, because this is what REALLY matters. Yes we all want to lose weight or gain weight or look like a lean, mean muscle making machine. But the reality is, it takes TIME and A LOT of hard work to get there. So in the meantime, enjoy the ride. Enjoy becoming healthier, feeling more fit, gaining more energy. That should always be our primary goal, our health and wellness. The rest will come, and if you don’t focus on the numbers on the scale, it will come faster than you think!

Hope this helps and makes sense. Let’s make some realistic, attainable goals and let’s just become a healthier versions of ourselves in the meantime 🙂

Happy Tuesday!

August 24, 2018:
IMPORTANCE OF STRETCHING!

I made video about stretching/warming up. So here is basically what I spoke about, because I truly believe this is a very important topic and one that I, as a CPT feel needs to be discussed often.

Sooo…Let’s chat about stretching and warming up, you know those two important things that let your body know that you love and care for it… but yet, not a lot of us are doing it?!?! (WHY NOT?!?!)

So get this, we walk in the gym and we say “hey body we are going to work out. It’s going to be epic. I expect you to lift some weights, do some high impact plyometrics, run fast. Don’t let me down or I will be pissed.”

So you walk in, and you either do a really lame warm up or you skip the warm up all together. During your workout you suddenly feel fatigue setting in (an unusual fatigue..), maybe some cramps, oh and “wow, that hurts” “why does that hurt” “Ah, I hate my body! It always lets me down”

Um.. no! YOU let your body down. You expect to put it through stress and without giving it proper warning expect it to function properly… Are you serious? And you wonder why your back hurts?Why you got injured? Or you get injruies? It’s your body clearly telling you it isn’t happy with you and the way you are setting it up for this physical stress

As a trainer, I know who actually warms up properly and who actually stretches properly. And when I say stretch I don’t mean the same old boring stretches that you do after every workout, I mean stretches that you focus on to create change to the neurological pathway, creating space between those tight joints and breathing to give your body the oxygen it requires.

So unfortunately, you don’t get to bitch and moan that your always tight or in pain if you don’t do these 2 things because you didn’t provide your body with the right tools to help it grow and recover!

Also ladies, you know that cellulite we all hate and we all have (don’t lie) guess what helps reduce its appearance.. those blue foamy things that we have…lol the foam roller.

When we foam roll that added pressure on the tight muscle allows change to the neurological tone of that muscle. Essentially you are awakening the neurological pathway allowing it to function properly (or fire properly).

It will change the tone of the muscle, allow for better movement and pain free movement You can’t really cause more mobility by rolling as that will come from the way you train and stretch your muscles, not to mention your everday movement (posture, etc)

So please you guys, be kind to the ONE body you have. Treat it well and it will treat you well back. I promise. Stop living with pain and injury and start taking the proper time to help your body recover and become stronger.

Happy Friday!

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