Basic guide to getting started

Getting started is one of the most difficult things to do when it comes to Women's fitness in Western, NY. To make things easier our Women's fitness coach came up with a base plan for beginners to use, Here is a quick and easy guide to Women's fitness in Buffalo, NY! This is a basic plan for some of you struggling with getting started or staying on track with your fitness goals.

 

Meal Plan:

Basically you’re diet plan will consist of 4 main concepts:

1.   Small portions

2.   5-7 meals a day (3 major, with snacks in between)

3.   Meals between 2-3 hour intervals

4.   Never excluding any food group

a.   Protein

b.   Carbs

c.   Lipids (Fats)

You’re body needs all these nutrients to both maintain a healthy body while losing the weight effectively. One of the biggest misconceptions when it comes to exercising and dieting is, “I should only do cardio and eat clean.” WRONG!!! Although dieting is a critical part of losing weight, muscle hypertrophy training ( increasing the size of skeletal muscle by resistance/body weight training) is the possibly the most important factor to getting the body you need. First let’s start with food.

The amount of protein that will be taken in on a daily basis will be between 50-100 grams, what that means is that each meal should consist of 10-20 grams (in proportion with the smaller meal plan). 

          For example: Make a fist, that is equivalent to a 20-25 gram chicken breast (protein)

                   Sources for Protein:

-          Chicken

-          Protein Shakes ( I personally recommend with a busy life)

-          eggs

-          Fish

-          Tuna

-          Beans/ peanuts

-          Greek Yogurt

As for Carbs (sugar), clearly we need to decrease the amount considering  “carbs are the enemy.” Although carbs are the enemy, the idea to completely exclude them is very dangerous. There are many reason why, my biggest issue is this; the brain uses sugar to function, so without glucose the brain can’t function correctly. The easiest way to get carbs is to substitute them with whole grain/complex carbs. These are much healthier and are absorbed differently which don’t affect your blood glucose levels (which is a prime concern with Diabetes).

          Every meal have some type of carb comparable to the size of your meat. NOT BIGGER!

          Sources:

-          Brown rice

-          Whole grain pasta

-          Sweet potatoes

-          BEANS

-          VEGETABLES

-          Fruit

For fats, generally you don’t need to worry about this because you get enough lipids from the meats you eat and other carbs. I must say that Lipids are very essential to the body for joints, heart, immunity and much more.

One of the most essential parts about losing weight is

“STAY HYDRATED”…DRINK DRINK DRINK LOTS OF WATER

Consume 5-8, 8 oz. water bottles a day. Without getting very scientific, water is one of the key factors for weight loss. Cells need water to function and when dieting, depriving your body of certain nutrients your cells need causes them to struggle. Water reciprocates for the loss of nutrients.

MEAL PLAN: Everything in Small Portions!!!!!!!!! (This is just a guide but 5 meals is the minimum to achieve results)

          Meal 1: protein shake immediately when you wake up

Meal 2: breakfast after protein shake

          Meal 3: 11-noon.. lunch consisting of recommended protein/vegetables           SMALL PORTIONS

          Meal 4: 2-3 p.m. a snack. fruits/sandwich

          Meal 5: possible protein shake BEFORE working out, apple, banana, yogurt

          Meal 6: protein shake IMMEDIATELY AFTER workout

          Meal 7: Dinner

          Meal 8: half a protein shake, possible vegetables/fruit before you go to bed

EAT NOTHING AFTER 9-10 P.M!!!

Throughout the day you’ll be consuming water, as long as you get 5-8 8oz. of water you’ll be fine.

Off day training without The Team

Now for the days you’re not training with me. You’re meal plan will stay the exact same.

Stretching is a must.

At the gym/running outside you’ll stick to a type of training called HIGH INTENSITY INTERVAL otherwise known as

H.I.TTRAINING

This training is very simple and very efficient.

At the gym your workouts will never be longer than 20-30 minutes, so what this consists of is:

-          5 minute warm up run on the elliptical

-          The next 15 minutes will be cycled as followed

o   30 second jog

o   30 second ALL OUT SPRINT

-          This is the most efficient way to stimulate fat burning Aerobic or oxidative state exercising

-          As we progress the overall time will get longer as well as the intervals of sprint

-          Cool down with a 1-2 minute jog

-          STRETCH AFTER

Without being complex you’re body needs 10-12 minutes to use the fat stored in your body as a fuel, hence “fat burning.” Once you’ve reached OXIDATIVE STATE you’re burning the fat. It seems confusing that you would want to burn the sugar since  sugar (carbs) are the culprit, but sugar is stored in the muscles and body as glycogen. Glycogen is our emergency fuel source and our first source converted to energy for exercise, but we want to maintain its levels for various reasons. The excess sugar is turned into fat and THAT is what we want to target!

MUSCLE HYPERTROPHY

Now, back to muscle hypertrophy. One of my favorite sayings “Dieting makes you look good in clothes, Resistance training makes you look good naked!” Our program is designed to get individuals strong and tone. The general physiology of muscles from the outside in, Muscle à Muscle fascicle à Muscle Fiber à Sarcomere. The sarcomere is what “tears” during training, and that is only torn during the LENGTHENING OF THE MUSCLE. Hence why I repeatedly bark, “All the way down, I want full range of motion.” The contraction part is only responsible for bringing blood flow back to the muscle to supply it with glucose, water, oxygen etc. SO FROM NOW ON UNLESS YOU DO FULL RANGE OF MOTION THE EXERCISE IS CONSIDERED WORTHLESS. Put it this way, 5 full range of motion pushups do more than 15 slightly bent arm pushups.

Body weight training is the prime candidate to achieve this. Our bodies are meant to support our weight while putting the minimal amount of torsion and pressure on our joints. Although I have trained powerlifts and body builders, in my experience and with science to support, body weight training has the smallest amount of injuries recorded with the most overall strength gained. Put it this way, I brought my one friend in to spar with me who has national records in his age group for powerlifting, and I tossed him around the ring.

The other reason we do whole body exercises is to burn the most calories and get into that oxidative state, a.k.a burning the fat. Women in general don’t have the desire to be considered, “Jacked.” They would prefer to be tone, firm and fit. Our program does exactly that.

LETSGET ON OUR GRIND!!!!