I'm Back:)

I wish I had a good reason for waiting all of this time to blog again...but the fact of the matter is it is all lip service. I have been pretty busy with training, family obligations, and life, but deep down these are simply excuses. Blogging doesn't really take that long and is quite beneficial to alot of people. I apologize. In any case, as I promised...I would like to start presenting some of my favorite exercise that are a good foundation to any fat loss program. This exercise is called Dumbbell Two Arm Swing....



This exercise is perfect for the entire body!! It provides core stability, leg and hip strength, upper body strength, not to mention it does wonders for your cardio. I tend to do this exercise for time rather than reps. Two to three sets of 30 to 45 seconds with a rest time of approximately 60 seconds will get you revved up..I promise:)

This particular exercise is recommended to those who are internediate to advanced in their fitness progress. It requires alot of sound mechanics and anaerobic endurance. Please proceed with caution.

I look forward to being part of your fitness education and challenge you to reach farther, dream bigger, and believe in yourself.

Calorie/Carb Cycling?

As a fitness coach, I am constantly researching the best nutritional plans for fat/weight loss. Because nutrition is by far the most important piece of the fat/weight loss puzzle, I spend more time researching this than any other item. When I find something that I believe will help my clients acheive their goal, I actually test it on myself first. In doing so, I want to share with y'all the ultimate in a fat/weight loss nutrition plan. It is called calorie/carbohydrate cycling. The basic premise is decreasing and increasing caloric/carbohydrate intake to prevent metabolic shutdown based on the training program design. On days where the resistance training protocol is higher in intensity, calories should be higher and the intake of carbs should be higher as well. Don't be afraid of the carbs at this point. You need them after an intense training session. On days where there is little in the form of resistance training, calories should be set lower and carb levels should be set lower. The body doesn't need the influx of higher carbs. Proteins should remain fairly consistant each day and carbs and fats will fluctuate dependent on the fitness program. Let me tell you...this works!! I have tried many different nutrition programs for fat loss and this one takes the cake. I started the new year at 260 pounds (21% body fat) and to date I am 233 pounds (10% body fat). I never feel hungry as I am eating every 3 hours and feel fantastic!! My strength has actually gotten better since starting the program and my energy is through the roof. I have since had multiple clients that have started this program and had a great deal of success. I will share their stories as they progress and acheive their goal!

I look forward to being part of your fitness education and challenge you to reach farther, dream bigger, and believe in yourself.

Important?

Gotta quick question for y'all...as business professionals, doctors, lawyers, construction workers, restaurateurs, students, stay at home mom's or dad's, etc., do you keep a planner or calendar that tells you what you have to do that day? For the most part, the vast majority of my clients and associates do have some kind of system. Now here is another question...how important are those items on your calendar? I am going to guess that each of them is fairly important or else it wouldn't be written. Right. Okay...now questions number three and four...did your fitness appointments make it to the calendar? Did your meal times make it to the calendar? If you are reading this blog post (or any others that are predicated on fat/weight loss) then your health is a priority for you. Based on my experiences with my private clients, these important appointments are NOT listed on their calendar. Why not? If being healthy is important to you, set appointments with yourself and get them on your calendar! Not only do they remind you about the time, but they serve as reminders to how important it is to you. While most will start to enter their training times, most will not enter when they need to eat. Make sure these times are entered as well. If nutrition plays the largest part of results, meals HAVE TO BE ENTERED!

I look forward to being part of your fitness education and challenge you to reach farther, dream bigger, and believe in yourself.

GYM ETIQUETTE

Ahhh...gym etiquette...something that no one seems to blog about or teach you at the gym. Why not? It has seemingly lost importance in the new "techno" bombarded world of IPOD's and MP3 players and TV's. But, alas, it carries far more importance than anyone may think. Whether you are new to fitness or a seasoned veteran, this is one of the most important attributes to possess.

There is no book on each rule to follow as each gym typically has a set culture; however, there are certainly some unwritten rules that have to be followed to keep you coming back. This is only a partial list, but some of the most important.

We'll start in the resistance training area:

1. When you are finished using a dumbbell, kettle bell, tension band, or anything that wasn't yours when you entered the gym PUT IT BACK (fitness lingo..."Re rack your weights")! If you found it on the ground, ask a gym employee where it belongs.

2. If you are using a bench or anything that you lay down on or sit down on, WIPE IT DOWN AFTER YOU ARE DONE! There is nothing nastier than finding out the hard way that someone didn't clean up after themselves...trust me!

3. DO NOT WALK IN FRONT OF SOMEONE IF THEY ARE LIFTING! This drives me insane. Mirrors are not around the gym as a vanity supporter, rather a check and balance. It provides an opportunity for someone to make sure that the exercise is being performed correctly.

4. DO NOT SCREAM & YELL WHEN YOU ARE LIFTING! Granted, the gym is not a library, but there is no need to make yourself a spectacle. A grunt here and there is perfectly acceptable, but unless you are going for a one rep max with all-out effort, don't make a scene.

5. DO NOT SIT AND SOCIALIZE ON A PIECE OF EQUIPMENT! Some of the exercise selections that I will provide videos of require machines. Always be aware of people who are waiting to use it when you finish.

Once again, this is simply a partial list and there a many others. But if you follow these 5 rules, you will have a much better experience.

I look forward to being part of your fitness education and challenge you to reach farther, dream bigger, and believe in yourself.

Planning to Adjust

I absolutely love training! It gives me a rush to know that I have left everything that I had during that session. And to top it off, I get to do it again on another day! There is absolutely nothing like it. Maybe it is the athlete in me, or maybe I am just a fitness nerd:) Having said that, there are extremely frustrating moments in each training session. But, this is the time to adjust your game plan. Some of the best training sessions that I have ever had were ones that I changed on the fly. Plans change...if they didn't, everyone would be perfect. Right:) I'll give you a prime example. Today, I had a fantastic training session. I Deadlifted my personal best for 5 reps. It felt great! After that, I supersetted two upper body exercises for about 10 minutes. I felt absolutely spectacular when I finished! Here is where it gets interesting. I came home to do 1/4 mile sprints on my treadmill. I was shooting for under 60 seconds each sprint. Well...I found out that my treadmill gets up to that, but it shorts out on any speed over 9.0 MPH. So, what do I do now? Quit? No way...no how! This is where creativity takes over. How do you make a treadmill session harder? Speed and/or INCLINE. Well...treadmill speed 9.0MPH, treadmill incline 4.0. Let me tell ya'...I was beat down when I was done:) 4 was plenty! Why do I share this? Because as important as a plan is when you begin, adjustments will assuredly need to be made. If you are reading the plan as gospel, you are missing the point of fat loss/weight loss. Think about it...if one plan worked the best, everyone would use it. Do not lose sight of everything else at your disposal. In the coming weeks and months, I will be highlighting lots of exercises and their variations to get you results, 'cause face it, isn't that what we are all after...RESULTS!

I look forward to being part of your fitness education and challenge you to reach farther, dream bigger, and believe in yourself.

Getting Started

Okay...now that the foundation is set, it is time to start your journey! But how to set up a fat loss/weight loss program that will get you to your goal??? Where to start? First thing you have to do in order to get rid of fat...build your lean body mass!! The attempt in any well thought out fat loss/weight loss program is to raise the Basal Metabolic Rate or Resting Metabolic Rate (the number of calories we need to burn in order to fuel essential bodily processes and keep our organs and tissues in working order). Let's face it...unless you are a professional athlete or bodybuilder, you don't have the luxury of training for hours on end. Efficiency is the key! Muscle cells are about 8 times more metabolically demanding than fat cells. So the greater our proportion of muscle to fat, the faster our metabolic rate. In the simplest of terms, if you have more lean body weight your metabolism will be faster. Period! Having said that, resistance training becomes essential in a fat loss/weight loss program. We want the residuals from our training! Let's start thinking in terms of the hours that we are not training that are the most important. Sleeping, working, sitting, these are what we do most of our day. There are 168 hours in a week...if you see the gym every day for 1 hour..heck let's make it 2 hours (overtraining)...you are left with 154 hours. 92% of the day week is filled with everything else. This is the time that the results happen! Aside from nutrition, the hierarchy of fat loss/weight loss is the following. 1. Resistance Training (weights, body weight, tension bands, kettlebells, etc.) 2. High intensity anaerobic training (buzz word nowadays is HIIT or High Intensity Interval Training). This could include sprinting, climbing stairs, running hills, jumping, etc. 3. Moderate intensity cardiovascular. 4. Long slow steady state aerobic exercise.

I look forward to being part of your fitness education and challenge you to reach farther, dream bigger, and believe in yourself.

STOP IT!!

Alright...I am going to rant like a fitness coach (I am sure Jillian and Bob-The Biggest Loser-will get a kick out of this one)! Let me make this loud and clear...THERE IS NO CAN'T!!! How in the world has this word even made it through all of the generations? It just has such a negative vibe. It's physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual limitations spread far and wide when this word (I have a really hard time even writing this word...so I will call it the "C" word) is even on the tongue. It simply astounds me how many people use this word on a regular basis. Listen...I understand that life is not easy and there are times that we will be tested, but to use the "C" word is just an excuse! I have been fortunate enough in life to be around people that have more adversity in their lives than anyone could ever imagine. Heck...I have a four year old niece who has a rare genetic disorder and she has had to endure more than I could in 10 lifetimes. Not once...not once...has my brother and my sister-in-law ever felt sorry for themselves or said the "C" word. Give up...not a chance! They persevere under the most extreme circumstances.

The cold hard truth is that when someone uses the "C" word, they either don't want to or don't know how. (As much as I would like to take credit for this phrase, it was given to me by a friend). Moving forward, instead of saying the "C" word, use some of these...

"I am having trouble with this. Could you help me out?"
"I really don't want to"
"This is difficult, wanna help me out?"

I challenge you for one day to rid yourself of this word. You will accomplish more than you ever thought possible! I look forward to being part of your fitness education and challenge you to reach farther, dream bigger, and believe in yourself.

Successful Fat Loss, Part 3

What are you specifically trying to accomplish? How are you measuring your results? Have you announced your objective to anyone else? Are the results realistic? Is there an end date?
Pretty straightforward questions...right? Well...more times than not, when people embark on a fat loss/weight loss journey these questions are not answered. Why? Let's look at it this way...would you jump in a car and simply start driving without any destination in mind? Probably not. If you have somewhere to go, typically, you'll know specifically where you are going, approximately how long it will take, what you are headed out to do, and whether or not it can be done in the allotted time. Now let me ask a question...why on earth would someone start a fitness program without any set direction? Sounds kind of silly, huh? It happens all of the time and is one of the biggest (if not the biggest) reasons for the failure of a fitness program.

I'll make it really easy for you...SET YOUR GOALS BEFORE STARTING A FAT LOSS/WEIGHT LOSS PROGRAM!!! Research has proven that individuals that set SMART goals are more likely to get the results that they seek.

S=Specific. When setting a goal, make sure that it is quantifiable (i.e. lose 20 pounds, fit into a size 4, 32" waist, etc.). If you simply have a goal of "lose some weight", there is no purpose.

M=Measurable. Make sure you take pictures, perform circumference measurements, have someone take your body fat. Some of these can be very intimidating, but you MUST go for it!

A=Announced or Agreed-Upon. Let those who are supporting you know exactly what you are going to accomplish. Those people will keep you motivated.

R=Realistic. Make sure that your goals are realistic! DO NOT SET YOURSELF UP FOR FAILURE! Weight loss can be very volatile, be realistic. If you are unsure about what is realistic, contact me...I can help you out. If not me, talk to a competent fitness coach, they should steer you in the right direction.

T=Time-Based. Deadlines...we all have them. Whether it is a project at work, a wedding date, or a competition, deadlines are inevitable. They are a fantastic motivator!

Ultimately, it is up to you to define whether or not your goals will be met. I am simply presenting you the tools needed to succeed. You, and ONLY YOU, have to have the courage to reach into the toolbox and start building. I look forward to being part of your fitness education and challenge you to reach farther, dream bigger, and believe in yourself.

Successful Fat Loss, Part 2

People who we associate ourselves with on a regular basis inevitably define our character. If we want to be athletic, we will associate ourselves with athletes. If we wish to be entrepreneurs, we will associate ourselves with business owners. If we want success, we tend to associate ourselves with people that are successful. Now...I have a question...when we want to embark on a successful health and fitness quest, why do we associate ourselves with people who bring us down?

I have been in the fitness world for quite some time and have had my fair share of client success stories, but invariably, each one of these clients had someone who tried to sabotage (either consciously or unconsciously) their progress. Just the other day I had a client of mine, who has made tremendous progress, tell me about a friend of of hers who called her anorexic. Are you kidding me? The nerve....and to top it off, her friend could use a little exercise herself:-) This happens all the time and is totally unfair! Is it jealousy? Maybe. Whatever the case, the fact of the matter is that it can have a huge impact on someones psyche. Fortunately, she is strong enough to brush it off. But, what if she wasn't? How would it affect her then? The workplace can also be a cruel setting. One of my clients has just started his fat loss/weight loss quest and is extremely driven. Co-workers of his have ignored his request of no junk food in his office. With the amount of temptation outside of work, why on earth would his associates try and pull him down? Fat Loss/Weight Loss is hard enough, why should we make it harder. Ultimately, it is up to you to choose who you associate yourself with, make sure you choose wisely.
I look forward to being part of your fitness education and challenge you to reach farther, dream bigger, and believe in yourself.

Successful Fat Loss, Part 1

Do you want success in your Fat Loss/Weight Loss quest? Do you want real results this time? Here is a secret...there is no "next best" program and no quick fix! If that were the case, every fitness coach out there would be using the same program and getting the same results. So why are so many people failing? The reason for the failure rate is simple....there is no foundation! Just like building a house, if the foundation is not strong and stable, the structure will eventually crumble. In my next few blog posts, I will be explaining how to put together the fundamentals of a Fat Loss/Weight Loss program that WILL NOT FAIL!

"You are free to choose, but the choices you make today will determine what you will have, be, and do in the tomorrow of your life." --Zig Ziglar

Let's start with the most critical of all the components

SELF-DISCIPLINE.

Self-discipline is unequivocally about the choices you make on a daily basis. "Self-discipline refers to the training that one gives one's self to accomplish a certain task or to adopt a particular pattern of behaviour, even though one would really rather be doing something else", (wikipedia). Simply stated, you are either in or you are out. In terms of a successful Fat Loss/Weight Loss program, you have to look in the mirror and be honest with yourself. If you are going to pursue it, then jump in without any hesitiation. There cannot be any "dipping your toes in the water". Fat Loss/Weight Loss is not an easy task. It takes effort and time and the proverbial "blood, sweat, and tears". Do not let anyone sell you a quick fix...it NEVER works! When you look in the mirror and honestly commit to yourself, all of the choices, including nutrition, resistance training, cardiovascular training, rest and recovery, and preventative maintenance, become crystal clear. Stay tuned for my next blogpost in the series. I look forward to being part of your fitness education and challenge you to reach farther, dream bigger, and believe in yourself.

Let's Get Moving

Well...with no football on until August (the Pro-Bowl doesn't count), I was having a relaxing day in front of the TV (got my training out of the way this morning...whew) and a program about obesity in America came on the Discovery Health Network this afternoon. I find these shows extremely educational. In any case, there was a very interesting statistic that was presented by one of the medical professionals. American's have nominally increased their daily caloric consumption (approximately 100-200 calories) since 1960; however, our daily caloric burn rate (caused by exercise and simply moving) has gotten radically worse. Our daily caloric expenditure is now 700-800 calories less than it was in 1960. In terms of weight gain (fat gain) this is staggering. In one week an average American can gain 1/2 to 1 pound! This is unacceptable! It not only causes health related problems for the individual (Type 2 diabetes, cardiac disease, cancer, chronic joint pain, sleeping disorders, etc), but it is one of the leading causes of insurance increases. An article that I recently came across stated that obese adults incur annual medical expenditures that are $395 (36 percent) higher than those of normal weight incur (Ronald Sturm, “The Effects of Obesity, Smoking, and Drinking on Medical Problems and Costs,” Health Affairs-Mar/Apr 2002: 245–253).

As my first blog stated...as fitness professionals we have to stop passing the buck! This obestiy epidemic is our problem and is not going to just go away...and I, for one, am not going to sit on my hands and watch the crisis unfold. "If we are not part of the solution, we are part of the problem." I look forward to being part of your fitness education and challenge you to reach farther, dream bigger, and believe in yourself.

Fitness Coach vs Personal Trainer

Hi...I am Brent Parkhill and this is a no-nonsense fitness blog where people can get real information on how to lose weight and feel great! There is so much information to sift through and it can be very confusing to figure it all out. I welcome any questions and have over 20 years of fitness experience to help you create the best fitness path for you. I will be sharing my thoughts and observations about the state of our industry, best practices for fat and weight loss, and information that will help you attain your fitness goals. Hope you enjoy this blog....

Obesity has reached epic proportions and our future leaders are getting fatter. What's even more disturbing to me is that as an industry, personal training is on the rise. In some areas of the country, the number of personal trainers have tripled in since 2004. Why is it then that our society is so fat? You would think that since there are more personal trainers, nutritionists, and fitness professionals today that the obesity rate should be decreasing....right?? Obviously, that is not the case. It is time for the fitness industry to step up and start educating our clients on what works and what is a complete waste of time. It is time for our industry to stop passing the buck and take a little responsibility to educate anybody who will listen and find a way to get through to those who won't. As personal trainers, we wear many hats, but the most important one is a coach and educator. I have been blessed to have been around some of the best fitness professionals and coaches and the one common denominator is that they all educate, coach and teach. I look forward to being part of your fitness education and challenge you to reach farther, dream bigger, and believe in yourself.