Fitness Contrarian

As a personal trainer I get calls all the time from women who say “I need to get skinny quick” or how can I “lose weight fast”. While I think it’s Ok to jump start your weight loss program and try to lose 10 pounds quickly by doing extreme things (like overly exercising) for the short term, I don’t recommend using this approach every time you need to reduce your weight. If you keep on gaining all the weight back that you just lost, you have to find a lifelong strategy to keep yourself lean and fit permanently.

Most adults know themselves and their relationship with food. Anyone who has been struggling with their weight over the years has tried a number of different approaches where some have worked but they always seem to keep gaining the weight back (…)

Resistance Band Exercises are a great way to workout at home, in the gym or when you’re on vacation. They are inexpensive, don’t take up any room in your suitcase or home and can be used in any room in your house, office or hotel. In some ways resistance bands can be more effective than free weights or machines for creating the optimal amount of resistance which is why I use them at the gym all the time instead of the more expensive popular equipment.

What makes the bands more effective then other forms of resistance to achieve a specific goal has to do with the properties of the elastic band. When the bands are stretched or elongated they produce more resistance (…)

Kids in school that consume food that was purchased from vending machines have a greater chance of having a lower quality diet. This can lead to being overweight, obese and more having health problems such as diabetes, and heart disease, according to a study from the University of Michigan Medical School.

The study also compared the USDA lunch program to school food stores (…)

It’s early Thanksgiving morning and my daughter and I started talking about how much fun we were going to have seeing the whole family this holiday. Then we started talking about what foods we will be eating today. I was very curious to find out what foods kids think are healthy. I asked my daughter what are healthy foods for children?

My daughter had a great idea. She quickly emailed a few of her friends to ask them what they thought are healthy foods for kids(…)

One of my personal training clients had to lose weight in 2 weeks. Her daughter was getting married and she was 10lbs pounds over weight and could not fit into her dress. In general, I believe in controlling your weight with diet and not exercise. But if you want to lose as much weight as possible and have only a couple of weeks to do it, I recommend as much exercise as possible with as large of a calorie deficit as you can take.

I don’t like long hard workouts on a daily basis for an extended period of time because they lead to over training, burn out, overuse injuries and a suppressed immune system (…)