It’s Labor Day weekend and I’m feeling a little bit out of shape. I had a great summer. The weather was extra hot in New York but sunny so I spent a lot of time just being active outside with the family and with friends. I was on vacation for over four weeks this summer so it was hard to keep my diet and exercise routine exactly perfect. It was a few too many beers and barbeques for me. Sometimes I don’t follow my own advice.

I seem to always feel out of shape by the end of the summer. Most people who workout all the time and take their diet and healthy life style seriously, go into the summer looking and feeling great but by the end of the summer are a little out of shape. I find this to be the opposite for the average person. Most people who don’t workout and spend most of their time indoors in the winter, lose weight in the summer and feel fit. The good weather makes most people live a more active lifestyle and they wind up eating more fruits and local vegetables.

For the people who have lost weight over the summer and feel fit, you should learn from the experience and stay active for the rest of the year. If you can eat better and be more active in the summer you can find ways to keep it up in the fall and winter. For example, join a gym or indoor pool, or have a regular tennis or racquetball game each week. Otherwise, walk before work or after dinner daily even if it gets cold out. It can be invigorating bundling up and going for a walk on cold or snowy days. In addition, join an organic food co-op and get vegetables and fruits delivered to your home.

On the other hand, if you are like me and want to be in top shape but let yourself slip a little this summer, try this. I just turned 48 a couple of weeks ago and decided to take a quick picture of myself and post it in this article. I got a number of e-mails asking me to post a picture of myself so I figured why not take a picture now when I’m not looking my best. This will help motivate me to get back on track for the fall and winter season.

Taking a picture of yourself is a great way to motivate yourself to get your eating and exercise program under control. After you take your picture, write down some goals.

Mike Cola @ 48

For example, here are some of my goals:

• I want to see my abdominals

• I want an inch off my waist

• I want to get my body fat down to single digits again

Then take these goals and write down a plan to achieve them.

When you’re out of shape and need to get back in shape you have to:

1. Set specific goals

2. Have a plan to achieve each goal

3. Put leverage on yourself to stay motivated

I known this might seem like commonsense but most people don’t take the time to do it.

If you are out of shape and want to improve how you look and feel, send me your picture, goals and how you are going to leverage yourself. Just sending me your picture can be leverage enough for you to take action because you will have to be accountable to me. If you need more motivation, I can post your picture on this site and give you six weeks to send me an “after” picture.

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Best – Mike Cola

Fitness Contrarian

Research from the University of Exeter just reported that taking a supplement that increases the nitric oxide in your body could significantly boost your stamina during high-intensity exercise.

Exeter first started their research with beet juice and showed how the high content of nitrate in beet juice can boost your nitric oxide level and lead to an increase in performance.

The supplement used in this study is Ark 1, which is made up of L-arginine an amino acid, which enhances the production of nitric oxide in the body. The study took two groups; one was given a placebo drink and the other the Ark 1(L-arginine rich) drink.

The researches concluded that the supplement:

• Improved very high intensity exercise endurance by 20%
• Reduced systolic blood pressure
• Decreased the oxygen cost of exercise

These findings were published online by Science Daily & the Journal of Applied Physiology.

Andrew Jones, from the University’s School of Sport and Health Sciences, said: “The research found that when the dietary supplement was used there was a striking increase in performance by altering the use of oxygen during exercise.

“This is important for endurance athletes as we would expect the supplement to bring a 1-2% improvement in race times. While this may seem small, this is a very meaningful improvement — particularly at elite levels where small gains can be the difference between winning and losing.”

It looks like L-arginine and beet juice can both possibly increase your high intensity performance with the added kicker of lowering your blood pressure. I will be keeping my eyes open for more conclusive research on the benefits of drinking beet juice or taking an L-arginine supplement.

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Best – Mike Cola

Demystifying Fitness

If you have never run three miles before but have always wanted to, follow my program outlined below. The goal of this program is to get you running three miles at about a 10-minute pace after six weeks.

This is a beginner program so I’m assuming you have not been running and may be out of shape. If you are in shape you can skip the first couple of weeks and jump in at Week Three or Week Four, or wherever you feel comfortable.

Definition of  Program Terms:

-       Easy walking means: just that, walk at an easy pace for yourself

-       Brisk walking means: pushing yourself a little

-       Jogging means: running at an easy pace for yourself

-       Running means: running at about a ten minute pace or six miles per hour

Week 0ne

Day #1– Walk 10 minutes easy

Day #2- Walk 5 minutes easy then 5 minutes briskly

Day #3- Walk 10 minutes easy

Day #4- Walk 5 minutes easy then 5 minutes briskly than 5 minutes easy

Day #5- Walk 15 minutes easy

Day#6- Walk 5 minutes easy then 5 minutes briskly and then repeat it for a total of 20 minutes.

Day#7 – Rest day, no workout

Week Two

Day#1- Walk 20 minutes easy

Day#2- Walk 10 minutes easy then 10 minutes briskly

Day#3- Walk 30 minutes easy

Day#4- Walk 10 minutes easy then 10 minutes briskly than 10 minutes easy

Day# 5- Walk 30 minutes easy

Day#6- Walk 5 minutes easy then 10 minutes briskly then repeat it for a total of 30 minutes

Day#7- Rest day, no workout

Week Three

Day#1- Walk 30 minutes easy

Day#2- Walk 10 minutes easy then jog for 5 minutes then repeat it for a total of 30 minutes

Day#3- Walk for 30 minutes easy

Day#4- Walk 7.5 minutes easy then jog 7.5 minutes then repeat it for a total of 30 minutes

Day#5- Walk easy for 40 minutes

Day#6- Walk for 5 minutes easy then jog for 5 minutes repeat this twice for a total of 30 minutes.

Day#7- Rest day, no workout

Week Four

Day#1- Walk easy for 40 minutes

Day#2- Walk 5 minutes easy and jog 10 minutes then repeat this for a total of 30 minutes

Day#3- Walk easy for 40 minutes

Day#4- Walk easy for 5 minutes and jog for 15 minutes then walk easy for 10 minutes

Day#5- Walk easy for 5 minutes then jog for 20 minutes then walk easy for 5 minutes

Day#6- Walk easy for 5 minutes and jog for 25 minutes

Day#7- Rest day, no workout

Week Five

Day#1- Jog for 30 minutes

Day#2- Jog for 10 minutes then run faster for 5 minutes then repeat this for a total of 30 minutes

Day#3- Jog for 30 minutes

Day#4- Jog for 5 minutes then run for 5 minutes then repeat this twice for a total of 30 minutes

Day#5- Walk for 40 minutes

Day#6- Jog for 30 minutes

Week Six

Day#1- Jog for 15 minutes then run or 15 minutes

Day#2- Jog for 30 minutes

Day#3- Jog for 5 minutes then run for 20 minutes then jog for 5 minutes

Day#4- Walk for 40 minutes

Day#5- Jog for 5 minutes then run for 25 minutes

Day#6- Run for 30 minutes

Day#7- Celebrate

After completing this six-week running program you have built a good aerobic base; you can now run three miles in 30 minutes. Now that you can run three miles in 30 minutes, you don’t have to do it every day to maintain this level of aerobic conditioning. You can run three miles two or thee times per week and not lose any ground.  On the days when you’re not running, start a resistance-training program or just stay active.

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Best – Mike Cola

Fitness Contrarian

I just got back from a two-week vacation at the beach with my whole family. It’s always hard for me to take time off; I always feel I should be working all the time to improve my career and provide for my family. Every time I go on vacation; however, I realize how important it is to take some time off, have fun with the family and really live an active healthy lifestyle.

There were a number of things I learned on this vacation that when I’m working so hard training clients and publishing this blog, I become unaware of. These include the following:

• I was not sleeping enough. I usually wake up around 5:30 AM and start training clients. I do this roughly six days per week and don’t go to sleep until 11:30 PM. I realized that six hours of sleep is just not enough rest for me. I slept eight hours every night on vacation and felt well much more rested and energetic.

• I was bored with my workouts. I loved being at the beach and outdoors, running around with the kids, having fun in the ocean and watching my kids skim board all day. I really enjoyed a break from the gym and getting all my exercise at the beach by just being active.

• I need to start spending more time socializing with my friends and family. I realized on this trip how good it feels to just talk with family and friends and have fun. I seem to get too caught up with work and always pushing myself to get ahead. Since I been working for myself for over 20 years, I never want to let up. Because I felt so much more relaxed on vacation than at home, I realized I must be overdoing it.

• I didn’t eat breakfast every day and felt great. I wanted to experiment with my diet on this trip. I knew it would be hard to eat my normal perfect diet because my family and I were staying at a hotel without a stove and only a little refrigerator. I been hearing a lot about intermittent fasting in the last few months and wanted to try it. It really worked well for my wife and I while we were on vacation. This is what we did. We did not eat anything after 9:00 PM. Then we skipped breakfast and ate lunch around 12:00 PM, basically not eating anything for 15 hours. Then we ate the healthiest we could for the rest of the day. My wife and I came back from the trip the same weight we left two weeks ago.

• I wasn’t so afraid of the sun this trip. I use to do a lot of surfing when I was younger and would get really tan. For the last decade; however, I’ve become concerned about the damage that may have occurred from all the sun exposure I have gotten over the years. In the recent past, I would stay under an umbrella most of the time at the beach. With all the information in the last few years about the importance of vitamin D from the sun, I decided to ditch the umbrella and not worry about the sun as much. I put on some sun block and just had a blast all day. I was five times more active at the beach and enjoyed myself much more.

Now that I’m back home and working again, I’m going no try to remember everything I learned about myself on vacation and incorporate it into my everyday life. Let me know what you learned about yourself the last time you went on vacation.

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Best – Mike Cola

Fitness Contrarian

I‘m back at Sag Harbor, NY for a two-week beach vacation with the family. I love the ocean and it’s so easy staying active at the beach. I don’t have to go to the gym or have to do any type of structured workouts to stay fit. My kids and I just got into skimboarding this summer. What an incredible interval workout.

Skimboards are the size of a boogie board but thinner. They are like little surf boards that you throw on the sand when there is just a little bit of water and skim along the top of the sand or ride them into a breaking wave. If you ever tried it you know how fun it is.

One of the best parts of skimboarding is it is such a great workout. What you have to do is sprint as fast as you can, then through the board down and jump on it. It’s a perfect interval workout. I love seeing my kids being so active.  Yesterday, they must have done one hundred sprints by the end of the day. What I also like about it is I don’t have to worry about the kids in the surf. Even though I surfed for most of my life, I’m always concerned about the kids when they’re in the waves. You can’t take your eyes off of them for a second.  Skimboarding is a great alternative for the kids when the surf is too rough or when you want a break from watching them every second.

Adults can have a great time skimboarding as well but expect to fall at first. Its a little like learning to snow board but easier. Start off on flat sand and wait until you have your balance before you try to ride into a wave. Count on getting a great workout but don’t over do it.

Taking a beach vacation fits so well into the Fitness Contrarian Principle # 3: Live an Active Life Style. Staying healthy and fit is not just about going to the gym for an hour. You have to find fun physical activities that keep you active all day. Just going to the beach in general is a workout. By the time you load up the car, then unload the car and carry all the stuff to the beach and then do it in reverse you have had an active day (just don’t ruin it by drinking a lot of beer and eating junk food).

The beach has always been a happy part of my life. The next time you have an opportunity to go, don’t hesitate. Once your feet are in the water, you will be glad you’re there. Plus, make sure you rent or buy a skimboard and give it a try.  If you don’t want to try it, let the kids; I’m sure they’ll love it and have a blast.

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Best – Mike Cola

Fitness Contrarian

I’ve written a number of articles on long and hard workouts and have been telling my personal training clients for years that “when you workout hard it should be short and when you workout long it should be easy”. Yet this is a common sense concept that most fitness enthusiasts can’t accept. One of the biggest mistakes you can make with your exercise program is to have the mind set that more or harder is always better.

The whole purpose of exercise is to build a stronger healthier body. To achieve this, you want to spend your time wisely by building yourself up and not chronically breaking yourself down. You reach a point of diminishing returns very quickly with exercise and when you over do it, it can adversely affect your health. Research will back me up on this.

There are numerous studies that show the benefits of short hard interval workouts for maximally increasing your Vo2max or aerobic capacity. There’s a famous study by Dr. Izumi Tabata and his colleagues at the National Institute of Fitness and Sports in Tokyo. This study shows how 4 minutes of high intensity interval training improved aerobic capacity by 14% and anaerobic capacity by 28%, in six weeks. Research has shown that there is no need to run 60 minutes or more as hard as you can to be in the best possible aerobic condition. You can achieve it just as well with short hard workouts without overly breaking down your body. Keep in mind I’m not talking about someone who wants to run a marathon as fast as possible. That would require long hard workouts to get the body and mind ready to run such a long race. At the same time, they would be breaking their body down; however, and could not maintain that grueling routine for too long without some ill effects. In contrast to a marathon runner, someone who is aerobically training for good health can be just as aerobically fit as a marathoner by doing short hard runs without overtraining the body. Even more and more world-class athletes are working-out less and getting better results. I recommend you keep your hard interval training sessions to 20 minutes or less.

This subject comes back to my first Fitness Contrarian principal: don’t control your weight with exercise. Don’t do long hard workouts to burn calories. Eat properly to control your weight and exercise to improve your fitness level.

Research will back me up when it comes to resistance training, as well. Short hard workouts are the way to go. Most studies have shown that all you need is one hard work set of each exercise for maximum results. Doing more then one hard set does not produce any more strength gains. There is some great research from the Human Performance Laboratory of Adelphi University conducted by professors Carpinelli and Otto which compared single versus multiple set strength training. Evidence suggests that for training durations of 4 to 25 weeks there is no significant difference in the increase in strength or hypertrophy as a result of training with single versus multiple sets. They concluded that single set low volume training is the way to go. I actually took some undergraduate courses with Professor Otto and found him be a very knowledgeable guy.

Even those all natural, full body functional hard workouts should be kept short for maximum results without overtraining. Explosive movement should be kept to a minimal duration, as well. As soon as you start getting overly tired during these athletic movements is when the trouble starts and you can get hurt. I recommend you keep your full body resistance work-out under 45 minutes with warm-up and cool-down. Keep in mind, you can create a response and get a great workout in 10 minutes, if you know what you are doing.

Don’t think if you’re not killing yourself with long hard workouts you’re not getting the job done. As long as you’re eating well, getting enough sleep and fitting in a couple of short hard workouts per week along with a few hours of long easy exercise on top of an active lifestyle, you will achieve an ultimate level of fitness and appearance, without breaking your body down.

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Best – Mike Cola

Demystifying Fitness

Researchers have concluded that avoiding weight gain, not taking hormones, exercising and limiting alcohol, are the best ways to lower your risk of breast cancer. One of my favorite newsletters, Nutrition Action, had a great article about how to lower your risk of breast cancer. The article pointed to these four factors as being the most important to prevent breast cancer.

1- Avoid Weight Gain

Dr. Walter Willet from Harvard said, “ Probably the single most important thing women can do to reduce their risk of breast cancer is avoid weight gain in adult life”.

What’s confusing about weight gain is that it seems to increase your risk of breast cancer when your older (postmenopausal) but lower your risk when you’re younger (premenopausal). Regina Ziegler, a researcher from the National Cancer Institute, said “ Part of the problem is that obesity is protective at young ages”.  Rachel Ballard-Barbash, a director of a research program at the National Cancer Institute, pointed out that women who don’t take hormones increase their risk of breast cancer two to three times if they are over weight.

How over weight do you have to be to increase your risk of breast cancer?

Being 10 to 15 pounds over weight is not that significant but gaining 20 to 30 pounds as an adult can increase your risk.  Researchers feel that if your body mass index (BMI) is 27% or more, you can increase your risk. Obesity is considered 30% so you don’t have to be obese to increase your risk.

Two reasons why weight gain can cause breast cancer.

Estrogen and insulin are two main reasons why being over weight can increase your risk.  Estrogen travels through the blood stream as estradiol. Ziegler says “ ten years ago, we were thrilled to be able to demonstrate that women with higher circulating estradiol levels have a higher risk of breast cancer. This can explain why being over weight can increase your risk. Fat cells produce estrogen, so the more over weight you are the more estrogen you can produce.

Insulin is one of the other ways you can increase your risk. Studies have shown that women with high fasting insulin levels had a 2.5 times greater risk of breast cancer than someone with low insulin levels.  Insulin is a storage hormone produced by the pancreas to take the sugar out of the blood and store it in the liver and muscle in the form of glycogen.  Obesity is linked to high insulin levels and insulin resistance. Insulin resistance is when insulin does not work as well as it should to take the sugar out of the blood and store it.

2- Stay Away from Hormones

About nine years ago, the Women’s National Institute of Health said it was stopping a trial early due to the fact that women who were taking hormones had more breast cancer than a group who were not.  There was a 27% increase in breast cancer. Donald A. Berry, Ph.D., from the Anderson Cancer Center said “ prolonged hormone replacement therapy strongly elevates postmenopausal breast cancer risk”

3- Start Exercising

It seems the more active you are the less chance you have of getting breast cancer. There have been dozens of studies indicating that living an active life style can reduce your risk. Exercise seems to have some type of protective effect on the breast. A number of researchers feel that exercise reduces body fat therefore reducing estrogen. Some studies have shown that as little as 30 minutes a day can reduce your risk of breast cancer.

4- Limit Alcohol

Even one drink a day can increase your risk of breast cancer researches have found. Walter Willett from Harvard said ‘ One of the best-proven ways to lower your risk of breast cancer is to keep alcohol consumption low”.  Most cancer researchers feel that there is no proven benefit to drinking alcohol and the added risk of gaining weight from drinking can increase your risk of breast cancer.

I know women are worried about breast cancer just like men are worried about prostate cancer. I hope this information can help. There are always healthy things you can do to put the odds on your side.

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Best – Mike Cola

Demystifying Health

Here is a list of some of my favorite snack combinations. When combining and choosing different foods for healthy snacks, look for three things:  protein, healthy fat and low glycemic carbohydrates.  Low glycemic carbohydrates release sugar into the blood stream slowly over time.

Look at snacks like little meals. One of the big mistakes people make when choosing snacks is not balancing the snack with good nutrition. When your making dinner you would not just eat meat and nothing else.  For example, you would have a piece of fish for your protein and healthy fat, and hopefully a few different vegetables with olive oil for your carbohydrates and additional healthy fats. When making a snack, do the same thing. Have some protein, fat and low glycemic carbohydrates.

Top Ten List of my Favorite Snack Combinations

• Hard-Boiled Egg and Cherries
• Walnuts and Grapes
• Beef Jerky and Celery
• Dark Chocolate and Almonds
• Greek Yogurt and Sunflower Seeds
• Berries & Macadamia Nuts
• Salmon Jerky and Carrots
• Apple and Peanut Butter
• Edamame and Tomato
• Avocado and Tuna

A Few Tips About the Snacks

• Always buy organic whenever possible.
• Look for low sodium varieties when it comes to the beef jerky, salmon jerky and all nuts and seeds.
• Make sure you wash all your fruit and vegetables thoroughly.
• You can buy frozen eda-nami and quickly boil it and keep it in the refrigerator.
• Add olive oil to the edamame and tomato.
• Buy the canned tuna in olive oil.
• Don’t over do the dark chocolate. That’s the only snack on the list that is not quite like a meal but I love dark chocolate.
• You can find fresh ground peanut butter at most health food stores.
• Use the Glycemic index when making your own snack combination.

Let me know if you like my snack combinations and e-mail me a list of your favorite healthy snacks. I would be very interested to see what you are snacking on.

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Best – Mike Cola

Demystifying Nutrition