Clarification..Serial Trainer

Some people have said that there is copycat “serial trainer” out there ..

just to clarify …I’ve looked the other one up and be still your hearts, that person is not me and they have nothing to do with this site or working out for that matter. However!…we both love martial arts! So that’s a good thing..I think.

Every serial k…er..trainer..;D must have a copy cat..but they never quite live up to the original.

Happy Training!

Trimming the Fat on my Fitness Magazine “Beef”

I stopped picking up a lot of the fitness magazines that I used to love. Let me tell you why:

My first reason is that they are cutting back on the quality of information and recycling it in future issues. I remember picking up a magazine that I won’t name (not so much into slander these days, sorry) and seeing beautiful depicted anatomy pictures. You have to know what you’re working on in order to know what you’re doing, folks. I don’t expect you to know all the “big names” of muscles but it’s nice to physically see how that anatomy works.

Is it just me or are people too trusting these days? Let me get on a little soap box about this before I continue ..

You go to a health club. You decide you need some help..you ask for a personal trainer. You walk in for your first session and your personal trainer shows up and is maybe 19. Maybe. Male or female, they have a great body. Pause.

How many 19 year olds DON’T have a great body??  Ask them what THEY ate for lunch and it’ll probably be something like “Subway 6 inch sub with chips and a diet coke” or..even worse…”Pizza”. Now ..before panties get in a bunch, this is not the BIBLE of scenarios but this is typical. I’m 37 years old. If I eat a subway sandwhich with chips and a coke everyday for lunch, I’m gaining at least 5lbs by the end of the week.

Let’s also point out that they work in a health club. They train people all day. That’s moving around, demonstrating exercises and running back and forth between protein bars. It’s the same concept as The Biggest Loser. Those people spend their day being active in a controlled environment with cooked meals. It’s an amazing transformation and they work VERY hard, but the average person doesn’t achieve those kinds of results for a reason. Note that you shouldn’t be discouraged by this NOR should you use it as an excuse. It’s just a reality check.

Now back to my beef :

I understand that in order to stay in business, there has to be advertisers. But when I’m paying $4 for a magazine, I don’t want to have more than half of it be advertising …and most of all, for things that aren’t related to health! There has to be a better idea than posting 12 full page advertising ads in between “Building better abs” and “Gorgeous Glutes”.

I don’t care what the latest sexual stimulant is. I don’t care about Bat-dung based supplements. I want to see REAL people, in real fitness gear, in real life situations coming out on top. I’m tired of seeing celebrities who have money for the luxuries of 5 day a week personal trainers, on call chefs, swimming pools in their bedrooms and liposuction on “bad months” when they couldn’t do it themselves. I want to see real struggles. Fall on your face for us, but get the hell back up and show us we can too.

And for the love of all things holy, stop putting the “Increase Breast Size Cream” ads in your magazine!!

APEX ULTRA Fat Burn

I’m about to start using this to see how it boosts my workouts/mood. Has anyone tried it? Have any comments?  I love APEX products, so I’m pretty excited about how this one will work!

EDIT: I started using this 3 days ago, I will keep you guys posted =)

Muscle Milk, mmmmm.

One of the other products I really enjoy is Cytosport’s MUSCLE MILK. I have to honestly say, that until APEX came out with their workout shakes, this was hand’s down my favorite workout drink. I stock up on both now.

Muscle Milk is great during workouts, I feel like I maintain or sometimes even go above what I normally do without it. So it’s a nice boost without feeling weighed down. I actually drink a little before I start, a little during and then finish it off when I’m done. It doesn’t have that powdery texture that other workout shakes usually do and the flavors..wow!

I usually buy the pre-made shakes but that’s not to say that the powder form is not good, as well. I can do either. I just hate to clean the cups after, haha!  I can say that when I used Muscle Milk as my meal replacement, I felt full and satisfied until my next meal and maintained a nice pepped feeling.

The best part is, it comes in LIGHT and Regular formulas. So if you’re trying to ADD calories, it’s a great source but they haven’t forgotten us calorie counters!

Benefits of using Muscle Milk Light® Ready-to-Drink

Control your cravings: Muscle Milk Light fuels your body and helps maintain healthy blood sugar levels, to stop hunger attacks in their tracks.

Good nutrition, great taste: Formulated for sustained energy and satisfaction, with a complete balance of protein and fats that promote lean muscle development.

Less is more: Muscle Milk Light builds on the proven science in original Muscle Milk, yet cuts fat and calories to promote better intelligent weight management.

3 ways to fill the gaps in your daily diet: New Muscle Milk Light RTD is available in 3 user-approved flavors, to satisfy your need for energy and your desire for great taste.

Best ways to use Muscle Milk Light® Ready-to-Drink

All-around: Integrated daily: Muscle Milk Light is a satisfying way to balance out the energy rollercoaster of your busy day at work, in the gym, or at play. Drink some mid-morning and mid-afternoon to avoid the loss of focus and fatigue that often result from low blood sugar levels.

Benefits of using Muscle Milk®

Efficient Energy Production: Lean Lipids^TM are special fats that are easily mobilized for workout energy, enhance your body’s fat metabolism and promote protein synthesis, anti-inflammatory effects and mineral retention.

Muscle Growth and Repair: EvoPro^TM is a complex ratio of proteins, peptides and amino acids designed to replicate the amazing benefits of mother’s milk for rapid tissue growth and repair.

Best ways to use Muscle Milk®

Before: Take one serving of Muscle Milk® one hour prior to training. Muscle Milk provides the caloric energy needed for intense workouts while flooding nutrients to hungry muscles.

After: Take Muscle Milk® within 30 minutes after workouts, games or events to shift the body from catabolic to anabolic. Muscle Milk provides nutrients to kick start the recovery process.

 

I challenge you to try the Muscle Milk because I think you’ll find that it’s a nice “treat” to reward your hard workouts. I even had a friend who I was helping to lose weight via internet tell me that he loved to have one at night when he came home from a long day. He works as an architecht so there were times he wouldn’t get to workout until really late and he’d drink a shake after as his “chocolate fix” for the day. It becomes something you look forward to instead of something you try to drink as fast as you can so you don’t taste it.

 

Pyruvate

“Pyruvate plays a biochemical role in the body, specifically within the Kreb’s cycle (glucose metabolism) and gluconeogenesis,” says Nelson. “Anywhere from 6 to 30 grams/day may be effective, according to limited studies.” For instance, one studied showed that pyruvate supplements of 22 to 44 grams/day enhanced weight loss and reduced body fat in overweight adults consuming a low fat diet.

Obtained from [ AOL Article, Natural Obesity Remedies ]

 

It’s always nice to see AOL catch up to what’s already been going on. I’m not one who likes to point out flaws and rip on things unless it needs to be, but this was kind of amusing. At the same time, I felt that it was at least catching up and informing people.

The APEX Fat Burn 2 that I take contains Pyruvate and I love it. It doesn’t give me a jittery feeling or make me want to hide at home in the bathroom. It’s just a subtle jump/boost to my metabolism and, as we like to say in the health club industry, an “ace in the back pocket”. (if you have no idea what I’m talking about with that term, maybe it’s just my own personal health club experience, haha!)

There were some other things listed on that list that I’d have to do some more research on but I liked that there was another source backing up the APEX products. It was a big decision for me to committ to taking pills, anyway. I don’t like taking them and sometimes it makes me ill but even though the APEX pills are a little big, they are coated so that they go down without a problem.

So there ya go! A little “sticky note” of some helpful supplements. If you’re going to spend money on something, I’d rather it be something worth the money.

Vitamin Water

I admit I fell victim, too. I love the vitamin water and sometimes it’s just the right pick me up on a hard day. I would still say that if you are feeling dehydrated or need a pep, a vitamin water is much better than an energy drink. I found this on the APEX site and thought it was a great question which they answered. What do you guys think?

Q: What do you think about vitamin water? Is the vitamin really going to be able to absorb into the body. Is this just another advertising gimmick or is there some truth to what they are promoting?

A: (excerpt, read the whole post here) Whatever VM are still in the fluid when you purchase the product will probably be absorbed, but the problem with liquid is that some VM may not remain in their natural state while in a fluid medium, and even if they do you wouldn’t want them to enter the body all at once, which of course would happen if you delivered the VM in this manner. There is a reason most VM and drugs are delivered in pill form: 1) the active ingredients remain stable, 2) they can survive the path through stomach acid, which can alter or destroy some substances, 3) the VM contained in a proper pill form can be released over time as the body needs them. Releasing them into the body all at once (as from liquid or other cheap formulas) would be more than the body can use at one time, forcing the body to discard what it can’t use, leaving you without a steady stream of nutrients throughout the day.

The thing I love most about APEX is their willing disclosure. If you call them or email them, they will tell you exactly what is in their products and answer any questions you have about it. They pride themselves on potency and purity, whatever they tell you is in the bottle, is exactly what’s in the bottle. Their products are manufactured by a Pharmaceutical Company which goes through a strict regulation of their products.

So there you have it, that’s why I hype the products so much. I want to know that there is consistency in what I’m putting in my body. If you remember the ephedra scare, people were getting high doses in one pill and low in another, you never knew if what you were taken was 5mg or 10mg and that could lead to a bunch of other (really bad) things.

EDIT: One more thing I wanted to point out that I forgot to add. APEX also goes through the Pharmaceutical company so that they deliver the products to you in the best way. You see in their answer talk about active ingredients remaining stable? The Pharmaceutical Company will do testing to find out how to best deliver the supplement to your system, whether it’s in liquid form, pill form, powder, etc.

supplements

Supplements have been a long argued debate among the health and fitness field professions. I’m going to give you my point of view on it and everyone is welcome to post their opinions on it. Hopefully, a hockey-fight won’t break out in the middle of it!

In this day and age, it is my opinion that we don’t have the nutrients in the soil that we once had. There are more pesticides, more chemicals added to our food than we know what to do with. I could scream and flail that you should be eating organic food but not even I have gone totally organic.

So what do we do? Well, the first thing I always recommend is a vitamin. Why? I recommend the vitamin because if you’re trying to lose weight, what’s the first thing you do? You cut calories. If you cut calories, how do you possibly get all your nutrients from your food everyday? It’s nearly impossible. More so if you’re in a job environment that doesn’t allow you to break every 2-3 hours to eat a small portion of food. Some of us are even shackled to our desks without being able to have water at our side.

Secondly, you’re working out (hopefully, right!?) and you’re losing nutrients through sweat, electrolytes, etc. Vitamins help to ensure that you’re OK. That’s as simple as I can put it.

Onto protein shakes, creatine, and other goodies; I’m of the opinion that these are optional. It’s not a necessity. If you’re someone that has to maintain 4k calories a day, try eating that. I think the funniest thing is talking to someone that’s sitting there at the end of the day, shoving a banana in their mouth and a peanut butter sandwich and just looking at their face.

I worked with such a person. At the end of our shift at 9pm we’d be sitting in the employee break room and he’d just stare at his lunch bag. 4k Calories folks. That’s usually twice as much as most of us eat. He was miserable. He looked at me one day with a mouth full of food and said, “I’m just so sick of eating”.

In those cases, a calorie packed protein shake can help. Of course most of us wanted to kick him because we’d really love to help eat some of his calories for the day, but do you see how having a “shake” could be beneficial? Some shakes pack on 900 calories, that would help with 3 regular meals in some situations.

Onto the other supplements. If you’re a regular Joe Shmoe and you’re just working out to look and feel better, again, it’s not a necessity to pack in all the pills. If you do however, want the boost, please for the love of all things spandex research your product.

If you call your product’s manufacturer and ask serious questions that they cannot answer. Put the product down! Ask for purity. Ask for potency. Ask if they’d let their mother take it! If they cannot answer questions to your satisfaction, get rid of it.

I hate nothing more than for a client to come in, beaming with pride telling me that they’re taking some new hot product that their neighbor is taking and they have no idea what it is. Why would you put it into your body?? Even more distressing is when women take the same supplements as their boyfriend (and same workouts!). Hello? Do you want to look like him? Are you trying to gain beefy arms? Are you trying to pack on the pecs? If not? What the hell are you doing?

I’m all about educating yourself. Get to know your product outside of the advertisements. Be able to explain, in detail, why you’re taking that supplement, how it benefits you, etc.

If you’re going to a gym and the trainers and the staff are pushing supplements on you, ask them to come over and explain each item to you. If they can’t give you a more detailed explanation other than maybe two sentences, I’d pass. At least from buying it from that individual.

I hope that this gave you some insight and answered some questions. I’ll go into more individual products and/or answer questions about supplements the best I can if you post questions.

Have a great workout!