5 Things You Should Never Say To A Female MMA Fighter

“Punch her in the titties!” 

“Pull her top off and kiss her!” 

These are actual statements heard during my friend’s debut MMA bout. Sadly it’s not an isolated incident. It takes endless amounts of physical and mental prep in order to step in the cage, but many female fighters face stigma when competing. Training for a fight involves a minimum of training twice a day six days a week, healthy meal prepping, and no alcohol consumption or smoking. 

Many fighters do this while working and dealing with family obligations. When I’m in camp I’m balancing camp with working full-time as well as attending school full-time. It requires dedication and isn’t for the faint of heart, which is why the above statements are not only disrespectful, but infuriating.

I’ve been training and competing for over ten years. The adrenaline rush of being in the ring is a unique experience that not many ever encounter. I began training in Muay Thai in high school with my younger brother. We fought terribly as kids and my dad decided to put us into martial arts so we could channel that in a more positive manner. 

Black and blues are all in a day's training. 

Aside from my brother and me now being best friends, training has enriched my life in many other aspects. It has helped me not only physically, but mentally as well. It provides an amazing outlet for stress as well as gives me the courage to pursue other dreams. After being locked in a cage where someone is trying to beat you in front of a couple hundred people, it becomes tough to feel nervous. 

I truly believe everyone could benefit from martial arts, but if we keep treating women like they're just a sexy side to the "real" show, we are doing them a great disservice. Here are some of the most common phrases female fighters hear and why they’re bogus.

1) “But you’re too cute/pretty/beautiful to be a fighter.”

Ugh. 

This common statement made to female fighters is intended as a compliment, but frankly it’s obnoxious. You don’t see people telling Roger Huerta or GSP or any other of the gorgeous men in the MMA world that they are too pretty to fight. Insinuating that we’d be better off holding round cards strutting around the cage in a bikini rather than competing in it is a slap in the face to all the hard work we do. 

As to your concern about me ruining my pretty face, well that’s why I practice learning how to block and counter.

2) “So you like to fight? You must be really flexible and into rough sex.”

Now if you’re into rough sex and have a consenting partner, enjoy yourselves -- no judgement. However, this was said to me by a very drunk male acquaintance. Inappropriate doesn’t even begin to cover it. There are many reasons woman compete in martial arts, however last time I checked it wasn’t due to their very private sexual preferences. Any chance you had of seeing how flexible I am ended the minute that came out of your mouth buddy.

3) “Oh my God, doesn’t it hurt when you get hit?”

No. When we women get hit unlike our male counterparts in this sport it does not hurt. It feels like we are being hit by pillows, limb manipulation feels like a pleasant stretch, we never bleed, we never bruise and keep in mind we always look pretty while doing it. 

Of course it hurts. 

Soreness is the norm if you train often. It’s about learning to push past the pain and to become a better athlete. It takes heart to continue to train when you’re hurting, but that is what champions are made of.

4) “I can’t stand watching women fight.”

Society wants women to be pretty, docile little homemakers; fighting flies in the face of that and it makes many people uncomfortable. Women are supposed to be motherly, nurturing. It’s hard to feel that way when you’re seeing two people punch each other in the face. I can respect the fact that my hobby makes you uncomfortable. 

It is important to remember though both fighters are consenting adults; you don’t need to watch it if you don’t like it. I’m not a child though, so don’t tell me I can’t compete just because it gives you the heebie jeebies. For what it’s worth, being a female fighter and being an excellent mother are not mutually exclusive ideas. We have several such badass mommas in the gym I attend.

5) “You must be a super angry violent person that gets into bar fights all the time.”

Listen. Just because I hit people in a ring doesn’t mean I hit them outside of it. I have self-control, which I learned through my many years of Muay Thai training. People get on my nerves because I’m human, but unless my life is in immediate danger, I’m not getting in a fight. I don’t feel like having assault linked to my name and prison orange is not a good color on me. 

Martial artists are usually chill people. There’s no need to get in fights outside the dojo when we can train and be challenged by teammates within the gym.

You may wonder why some female fighters don’t say anything when confronted by such misogyny. There are many reasons. The desire to fit in, not appear weak, not appear overly sensitive, the frustration of being talked over or downright laughed at are all reasons why women don’t always speak up. These comments are usually made in good “fun”, but they’re actually very harmful. It’s important to watch how we speak. 

The emotional wounds from hearing these kinds of comments constantly take a lot longer to heal than any bruise. We have some little girls training at our gym. I want them to be able to focus on becoming ass kicking strong women, not vapid little sex pots in gis. 

orignally posted by xojane.com

How To Lose Weight And Keep It Off

All

you have to do is wheel your grocery cart into a checkout line to see the cautionary tales screaming at you from the tabloids:

Kirstie Alley regained the 70-plus pounds she lost on Jenny Craig. Maureen "Marcia Brady" McCormick got even heavier after she was on Celebrity Fit Club. Oprah—well, we all know about her weight lossstruggles. Janet Jackson, Kelly Clarkson...the list goes on and on.

It makes you wonder: If these rich, powerful women, with their personal trainers and private chefs, can't win the weight war, what chance do I have?

It doesn't help that the statistics are grim: By some estimates, more than 80 percent of people who have lost weight regain all of it, or more, after two years. Researchers at the University of California at Los Angeles analyzed 31 long-term diet studies and found that about two-thirds of dieters regained more weight within four or five years than they initially lost.

Women who want to lose weight know these painful numbers all too well. "I've been on a roller coaster for the past two years," says Leigh Moyer, 31, of Philadelphia. In 2003, she lost 25 of her 155 pounds by diligently counting calories and logging daily sweat sessions at the gym. Four years later, busy with graduate school and her job at a software company, Leigh blew off her workouts and stopped monitoring her portions...and shot up to 175. "It was so sad, so frustrating," she says. "I let myself down."



Along with the emotional toll is a physical one: Not only is the extra weight a health risk, but recent studies have linked the gain-lose-gain cycle to such potentially life-threatening conditions as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, depression, heart disease, and cancer.

Understanding Metabolic Math
While small fluctuations on the scale are normal, the unhealthy behavior that experts refer to as "weight cycling" is not. Cycling is defined as a significant increase or decrease of body weight (generally 10 pounds or more) that occurs multiple times.

Experts believe a yo-yo pattern is often the result of a diet that's too restrictive, and a study reported in the journal Obesity backs that up: It found that people who followed a very low-calorie diet regained significantly more weight than those on a more forgiving plan. Desperate for quick results in a culture of instant gratification, "women try to lose weight on diets with too few calories," says Judith Beck, Ph.D., director of the Beck Institute of Cognitive Therapy and author of The Beck Diet Solution. "If you lose weight on 1,200 calories a day, the minute you go up to 1,300 is the minute you start gaining weight."

It happened to Tracy Srail. The 24-year-old from Atlanta has watched the scale bounce between 130 and 160 pounds for the past four years. "At one point, I was eating only one or two meals a day and chugging Rockstar energy drinks because I heard that caffeine increases your metabolism. I lost 15 pounds, but it didn't stick," she says. "I weigh about 155 now."

Even on a sensible diet, your body sheds pounds reluctantly. "One reason it's difficult to keep weight off is because there is a metabolic overcompensation for weight loss," says Gary Foster, Ph.D., director of the Center of Obesity Research and Education at Temple University in Philadelphia. "If you decrease your body mass by 10 percent, you would expect your metabolic rate to decrease by 10 percent, but it actually slows down more than that, by about 11 to 15 percent."

Why does your own metabolism thwart you? Simple, says Kelly Brownell, M.D., director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University: "The body may perceive dieting as a threat to its survival. It might not know the difference between Atkins and famine."

What's more, says Brownell, who coined the term "yo-yo dieting" in the 1980s, weight cycling can actually change your physiology. So the more diets you've been on, the harder it becomes to lose the weight. A hunger hormone called ghrelin increases, and a fullness hormone called leptin decreases, so you feel hungrier and less satiated.

Born to Rebound?
It's bad enough that your body fights you when you try to lose weight. Now there's compelling research to show that some people may be hardwired to yo-yo. 

David Kessler, M.D., former U.S. Food and Drug Administration commissioner and author of The End of Overeating, and his team of researchers at the University of California at San Francisco and Yale University, looked into the biology of weight cycling. They found that the reward circuits in the brains of people Kessler calls "conditioned hypereaters" were excessively activated simply by the smell of food and stayed that way until those people finished eating whatever was on the plate in front of them.

In other words, when you have overactive neural circuitry, resisting temptation is not a question of willpower alone. "This is a biological cause of conditioned hypereating. It's the first time we can say 'It's not your fault,' " Kessler says. He estimates that 50 percent of obese people and 30 percent of overweight people are conditioned hypereaters.

Evidence shows, however, that this reaction is partially learned, and that through conditioning, you can rewire your brain. After all, the yen to yo-yo is not just physical; emotional triggers play a huge role too. A study at Brown University found that dieters who ate in response to emotions such as stress or loneliness—as opposed to external events, like overdoing it at happy hour—were more likely to regain weight.

When Darcie Schmidt of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, was in her late twenties, she lost 75 pounds and then regained 120 over two years, largely because of emotional eating, she says. In her early thirties, she stuck to a strict diet-and-exercise regimen and shed 132 pounds. "I did not eat a single chip for 18 months," she says. But the stress of a divorce, a move, and a return to school knocked her off track, and she traded her three-mile, five-day-a-week runs for bags of those verboten chips—and regained 40 pounds.

Beck sees women like Schmidt all the time, who do well for a while, only to fall off the wagon. The problem, she believes, is that they never learned the skills needed for long-term behavior change. "They haven't been taught how to motivate themselves every day," Beck says, "or how to respond to negative thoughts and recognize a mistake as a one-time thing."

A study of 200 overweight and obese people, published in the Journal of Psychosomatic Research, supports the importance of a behavior-change approach. Along with other weight-loss techniques, one group received an additional hour of therapy, in which they learned to change their behavior; the other group did an extra hour of low-intensity exercise. After a year, those in the therapy group had maintained their weight loss, while the other group's members hadn't. 

Risky Bigness
While watching the numbers on the scale fluctuate wildly is a blues inducer and clothes-budget buster, there are far more compelling reasons to hold steady. For one, your metabolism might be affected—and not in the way you probably hoped.

"If you go on a very strict diet and gain the weight back quickly, you might lose a lot of muscle and regain a lot of fat," says Keith Ayoob, M.D., R.D., an associate professor at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. "Then your metabolism operates on a slower idle, which means it's going to be harder to lose weight as time goes on."

The more times you yo-yo, the theory goes, the more fat your body gains in each rebound. Because muscle burns 10 times more calories than fat does, your metabolism eventually will slow to a crawl.

"Losing and gaining regularly takes a huge toll on your body," Ayoob says. Beyond aesthetics, such as a loss of skin elasticity, regaining weight burdens your arteries and skeletal system, and may stress the liver, which can become covered in fat.

Yo-yoing also does a number on your ticker: A study in Clinical Cardiology found that women who weight cycle five times or more during their lifetimes may be damaging their hearts in the process.

But perhaps most startling is the dangerous and lasting effect weight cycling has on the immune system. According to the first study of the long-term impacts of yo-yo dieting, women who repeatedly lost and gained weight had lower immune function, particularly lower counts of natural killer cells. "These cells are important for fending off infections and are also vital in fighting the early stages of cancer," says Cornelia Ulrich, M.D., of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. Low killer-cell activity is associated with higher rates of cancer. In her study of more than a hundred overweight but otherwise healthy women, those who had yo-yoed most frequently—five times or more—decreased their natural killer-cell activity by a third.

With so many drawbacks, you might wonder if you'd be better off just accepting your belly rolls. But the perils of being overweight still outweigh the risks of yo-yoing. So how do you quit the cycle for good? Despite what you read in the tabloids, it is possible.

WNY MMA & Fitness: Benefits of Boxing and MMA for Women

 What are the benefits of boxing workouts or mixed martial arts training for women; Before I answer this question, I must give full disclosure: I'm a huge fan of mixed martial arts (MMA) and the techniques involved such as striking (kicks, knees, and punches) and grappling (holds, sweeps, and throws). Not only do I incorporate boxing and Jiu-Jitsu into my own weekly training plan, but I also work with MMA fighters on a regular basis at WNY MMA.

That being said, I think that every woman, regardless of age or athletic ability, can benefit tremendously from incorporating some boxing and/or martial arts into her training program. Whether you want to improve overall health and fitness, lose weight (fat), or simply boost your mood, martial arts can help you reach your goals and more. In terms of physical qualities, some of the benefits include:

1. Improved balance and coordination. You'll also be better at quickly shifting your weight and changing directions, a key to excel in sports.

2. Dynamic flexibility of joints, muscles, and ligaments. This not only promotes better posture, making you appear taller and leaner, but it will continue to improve your quality of life as you age, injury free.

3. Power. The two components of power are strength and speed so you'll improve your ability to perform explosive movements like jumping.

The benefits of MMA go beyond physical qualities. This type of training requires deep concentration and the ability to avoid distraction. Plus, it builds incredible confidence. And few (if any) people would disagree, confidence is very sexy!

Ready to Get Started?
If you're new to MMA, it's a good idea to take a few private lessons at WNY MMA & Fitness to learn the basics before joining a group class. But it's perfectly fine to jump right into a class setting if you prefer. WNY MMA offers boxing and kickboxing classes so just inquire at the front desk. Contrary to what you may think, you'll find that the athletes and instructors are extremely respectful of the women who train at their facility and will go to great lengths to make them feel comfortable.

WNY MMA VS Those Other Places

There's nothing like leaving the gym feeling like your entire body is on fire, its a good feeling. I'm not talking about scorching, I was the dummy to put on too much icy-hot and tiger balm. I mean the feeling that every muscle in your body has been thoroughly worked. It's one of the benefits of working out at Western New York MMA & Fitness. If we really took the time to compare your normal boring workout at "insert name here" fitness 180 degree twist, and that of a MMA gym; you would see that a MMA gym is the way to go for your fitness and strength goals.

1. At an mma gym, there aren't many chances to slack off. When you walk through that door, it's business. There is a goal that you want to attain and it requires balls to the wall effort, It's not pretty and there aren't any juice bars. At a fitness center with spa, it's not about the fitness. There is equipment that can be used to attain a fitter you, but with all the amenities available to you, you will forget what you are truly there for. 
2. There is someone in your face pushing you beyond the limits you set for yourself. Take the time to think about your normal fitness center with spa; when is anyone there who's soul purpose is to make you reevaluate your preconceptions of yourself, without having to wave money in his/her face for the daily service. At an mma gym, that is what you have 24/7.
3. You know how at the fitness center, you just go there to run on the treadmill for like 45 minutes; then go home when you feel you've been there long enough, not happening at an mma gym. What you put into your workout when you are at the gym, is exactly what you are getting out. So when you are there not pushing because you don't want to get sweaty or tired, you aren't getting any benefit from it. But the girl next to you who is going for one more rep, She will benefit. So don't sell yourself short. 

There are just some of the many things that you will realize, once you start coming to an mixed martial arts gym. So lets get the introductions out of the way and come on over to WNY MMA & Fitness, You'll be greeted with a smile!

Whats the difference between WNY MMA and those health clubs you like

What's the difference between WNY MMA and those health clubs you like?

The difference is that we are better. Here's the thing, you look at us and see scary looking stuff to the uninitiated; Heavy bags, cages, boxing rings, sledge hammers, kettle bells, tractor tires, etc. But here's the thing, I am going to give you things to think about when you are comparing WNY MMA and Fitness to those other places. See there, they already don't matter. 

I guarantee that more work is getting done here than at a spa!!!

• When you are at a gym, you are there to work: Look, I know the draw that these places have. There's a swimming pool, a sauna, there's a corner that does facials, oh and that juice bar is amazing. But lets stop and really think about what we are trying to get out of our gym time; when you made that new years resolution, did it include sitting around for an hour or so talking to other gym members about how you argued with your husband/boyfriend about painting the main bedroom fuchsia? No it wasn't, it was to get you butt in gear.

you thought I was joking about the conversation about fuchsia?

• Are you at the gym to run countless miles, or are you there to sweat and ache: You get up, go to the gym and run. Sound familiar? it should. That's because, countless people follow that very formula in the hopes of seeing the fabled body changes of legend. Let me guess, you also leave the gym having energy and a smile. If that's what you are looking for after working out everyday then you will be in for a very rude awakening training at WNY MMA and Fitness. Here you will be leaving sore and having aches in places you forgot even existed, and that's a good thing. 

• Working out getting boring, not here: Unless you have a private instructor to help you everyday, you will not be getting your times worth at a health club. There's a lot of stuff to get lost in, especially by yourself. Because of this, you revert back to what you know. There's just something different when someone is right next to you continuously lighting a fire under butt, you work harder than you would have otherwise. That means you will pass those plateaus that everyone else are stuck at. 

• Having other people working hard acts as motivation: Humans are competitive, that's how we survived for this long on this planet. It's hardwired in our brains, and for good reason. When you are doing something alone, you just don't push yourself as hard. Take a class here and have everyone doing the same exercise as you, now you feel like you're competing against these people; you try harder, this is very important. This is where growth comes from, not from just going through the motions. 

So let me stop being wordy here and just spell it out for you. If you really want to work, then come to WNY MMA and Fitness. Its plain and simple; if you want to chit chat and have a facial, then go to a health club. 

Easy does it

   If you are in the world on Women's fitness in Buffalo, NY you know that around this time of year you may get a little carried away with your diet. I tend to find my self saying "No big deal, the new year if coming, I will just take if off then" I am here to tell you that this is a very, very bad idea!
   A resolution is only made to use as a "show and tell" "look at me" device that is quickly broken as soon as the novelty runs out. This is an opportunity to prove to your self that you want a different life style. Fight urges to slam down a second piece of pie. Stay away from the damn cookie platter and for gods sake you do not need another drink! Take a stand and get it together Women!
   Of course a bit of this is exaggerated. Be relaxed this holiday season and DO have a piece of pie. Know your limits and play with in it (hahahaha). Know that the stress of the holiday is a larger culprit to weight gain then the actual crap you plan to ingest. Play it cool folks!
 

Seriously?

   Are you serious about your health or do you just like people to think you are? Are you waiting until the new year to start some crazy fitness plan and outrageous diet? Why not just get serious with yourself? When it comes to Women's fitness in Buffalo, NY WNY MMA & Fitness has hit the nail on the head! We focus on Women only in our Women's only fitness program. Pretty much this makes us experts in Women's fitness in Buffalo, NY.
   The first thing to do is get in here and get your self a FREE TRIAL! Get in, get started and watch the pounds fall off! Women's fitness in Buffalo, NY can be complicated without assistance. Sure a gym can offer a little more equipment then we do but what happens at week 6 when your motivation runs out. Now you are stuck with a 2 year membership and don't feel like going. That is where we pick up the slack and get you motivated with fun and high energy classes. Our classes are different and challenging.
  So, instead of pretending to your friends that you are getting in shape, just get it done and call us!

Abs are made in the kitchen?

   While walking around recently I can not help but notice all of these bumper stickers, posters and facebook posts stating "abs are made in the kitchen not the gym" or "Abs, 70% kitchen 30% gym". I hope I can get some great responses back from this blog and my view on the topic.
   "Abs" as we love calling them, are not created in the kitchen! They are simply uncovered in the kitchen. The statement is simply a marketing tool to assist with the selling of the hottest new diet plan. Does eating a healthier, cleaner diet help with losing the fat around your stomach? Sure does! How often though do you see the incredibly skinny kid with his shirt off and it looks like his stomach is just an extension of his flat chest? This is because he forgot to re up his dues at WNY MMA & Fitness! He has yet to develop muscle underneath that skin.
   When a women is going for that "6 pack" it is more difficult then it is for a male. We all know this fact yet think we can follow the same rules and achieve the same results? How is this so? A women that is going to want "6 pack abs" had better worry a little more about hitting the gym and less about how she can stay under 1200 calories for the day!
   Instead of following the hype that hitched a ride on the back of the prius in front of you, try learning about your body and what YOU require to get the results YOU want! One of the funniest things I have heard this week was a Women talking to another Women telling her about all of these rules of her diet as if it were a 30 page article. Yet, when I asked her why she couldn't have pasta or a bagel her response was "well, because it would be breaking my diet". Are you serious? Your subject your self to this constant stress of "breaking the rules" why not learn why your following a cult of crazed no result birds. Learn what is in your food, why your body needs it or does not need it.
   Everyone reading this blog knows how to make healthier choices in the kitchen. Why do you need someone to tell you again what you already know? Everyone wants a short cut, that's why. In addition one of the biggest secrets of people "on a diet" is they enjoy the comfort and attention they are receiving by telling people they are on that diet. They enjoy being a part of "the club". The next time you see a super healthy girl walking around the gym ask her "what diet are you on?" Her response will most likely be "I don't know I just make healthier choices" and on the other side of the room will be the no result flock of birds just "tagging along" all talking about how many calories they took in or what the one secret rule to abs is. I can give you the secret and set free the stress of not knowing how to get "abs"... ready... here it comes...                                                                      WORK HARD MAKE BETTER CHOICES!

Power in the proof

   If you have been searching for a place to get into Women's fitness in Buffalo and Western New York and are stumped where to go. Just go where the evidence points! At WNY MMA & Fitness we have undeniable results and testimonials.
   Here are a few of the ladies that attend Women's fitness in Buffalo and Western New York right here at WNY MMA & Fitness.



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Jessica Vasey KostenbauderWNY MMA and Fitness

Saturday at 4:34pm ·

• I don't know where Id be without WNY MMA and Fitness. Everyone there is so dedicated and motivated! Watching how hard everyone works/trains has pushed and pushed me to where I am physically. I feel so much healthier and energized since I've started Women's Fitness. I've lost 20lbs! Thanks Steve and Max for the encouragement! Thanks Dub for providing the best place to train in WNY! Let's Go!

 

 

 

Michelle Iak

March 11 via mobile

Another amazing work out, whipping my ass into shape! Thank you Steve Horton — at WNY MMA and Fitness.

These are just a few of the many, many testimonials you will find all over facebook about Women's fitness in Western New York right here in Buffalo at WNY MMA & Fitness. So get up, log off, put the remote down. What ever it is that keeping you from your goals and get here!

 

 

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!!!!