Cardio on the Same Day As Strength Training?

"Personal trainers worldwide are giving terrible advice," explains Val Fiott, Client Services Director for Perfect Personal Training and Certification Committee Member for the American Council on Exercise.  "They're commonly telling clients to avoid cardiovascular conditioning on their strength training days and vice versa, and this isn't just bad advice - it's harmful to their wellness programs."

Cardiovascular conditioning, according to the American College of Sports Medicine, is recommended five days per week, for at least 20 minutes at a time at moderate to high intensities for those with minimal risk factors.  Muscular training is recommended at least twice per week, incorporating all major muscles.

"Given these guidelines, a person needs exercise at least seven times per week to be as healthy, statistically, as he or she can be.," Val elaborated. "Weight loss and body toning often require even more training days, especially if nutrition can't always be ideal. So, there is clearly a big need for many people to fit in cardiovascular work on the same days as strength training."

But is it safe?

"Absolutely.  As long as each workout begins with an appropriate, gradual warmup and ends with a proper cool-down followed by flexibility conditioning, there is absolutely nothing dangerous or counterproductive about training your cardiosystem on the same days as your muscles.  The real danger lies in failing to reach the appropriate amount of cardio and strength work each work.  In fact, you'll get your metabolic engine burning even brighter as a result of combining cardio and strength into the same days as time allows.  Just be sure to stay hydrated according to industry guidelines, consume appropriate proteins, carbs and fats about every three hours, and to be well-rested."

Not yet a PPT client?  Get the BEST decisions for your exercise programming, nutrition and lifestyle from the nation's top health science leaders.  Request your free consultation at http://perfectpersonaltraining.com/signup.php

Five Simple Tests For Long-Term Wellness

Fitness testing is the pinnacle of every Perfect Personal Training program:  It warns us of impending health problems that you might not feel or see, and lets us compare to what's normal for long-term health.

Below are just five of the many clinical fitness tests which help us to identify risks and implement the necessary changes:

Body Composition:  Gaining weight and losing weight never really tells the story of what's happening with your actual fat mass.  Body composition (or body fat testing) does! 

Decades of research tell us where your body fat percentage should be for long-term cardiorespiratory health, and this test is an excellent predictor of health outcomes.




Pushup Test:  This test is more important than it may seem, as it provides indicators of muscle imbalances, core weakness, standing balance deficits, and joint problems in the shoulders, wrists and elbows.  Those with poor scores on the pushup test are more likely to lose upper body mobility throughout the years, and are more prone to shoulder and back pain.



Apley's BackScratch Test:  This is a flexibility test administered to determine several factors associated with shoulder health and stability, as well as scapular placement and movement.  If your shoulders and scapulae aren't quite working properly, then this test will provide insight as to corrective measures so you don't lose mobiliy or comfort as you age.

Step-Tests & Walking-Tests: While there are many different versions of each Step-test and Walking-test, the goal is always the same:  Determine risk of cardiovascular disease by assessing the comparative strength of the heart and lungs.  By comparing these results to statistically-sound data, we're able to predict your liklihood for disorders relating to heart disease.

Passive Straight-Leg Raise:  Hip and knee problems can often be attributed to problematic muscles surrounding them.  This test assesses the flexibility of the hamstring muscles (back of upper thigh) and allows us to compare to healthy norms based on the muscles' performances.  Poor scores generally lead to back pain, reduced gait, balance issues and other movement disorders if left untreated by your PPT professional.


See how you score on these tests and many others!  Visit http://perfectpersonaltraining.com/signup.php to request your free consultation & health/risk assessment with a Perfect Personal Trainer.

PPT Client Sees Amazing Wellness Successes

 

Rikki Schwartz

Although Rikki Schwartz of Waterford, Michigan has created a very successful career as a chemical engineer, her health was not always as prosperous. “I was exhausted all the time; I rarely had any surplus energy, and thereby resisted most varieties of social activities,” Rikki explains. “I couldn’t climb a flight of stairs without being winded.” Rikki was growing increasingly exasperated with her inability to keep up with friends and family—even attending a simple art fair was exhausting.
With her upcoming 46th birthday, Rikki knew that she had to make lifestyle changes. “I realized that the distance to 50 was shorter than the distance from 40,” she says. “I concurrently realized that I likely would not make it past 60 if I didn’t do something as soon as possible, or if I did make it past 60, my quality of life would be dismal.” Admitting her diminished well-being was just the first step. The exercise component, which she knew had to be a part of her journey to better health, was a different obstacle entirely. Rikki not only associated exercise with discontentment, but also with fear. The thought of working out was daunting. As Rikki explains: “Exercise had always meant two things to me: pain and humiliation.” Much of her insecurity stemmed from grade school, where she had struggled to keep up with her peers. Avoiding fitness altogether just seemed easier, though it led to a multitude of issues for Rikki as she approached middle age.

Although she knew that she had to overcome her trepidation, the thought of joining a health club wasn’t even remotely appealing. Beyond the challenge of finding motivation to leave her home to exercise, Rikki just couldn’t face the deep-rooted public humiliation that she associated with gyms. Contacting Perfect Personal Training, whose wellness professionals would come right to her home for each session, seemed like a much better fit, especially with her busy career. She loved the thought of a “gym” knocking on her door and asking her for less than an hour of her time, which for Rikki was far more motivating than packing a duffle bag full of spandex and leaving her house.

Working with Perfect Personal Trainers Val Fiott and Jordan Gruppen in the comfort of her own home, Rikki never imagined that she would trade shame for a decreased body fat percentage and new-found confidence.  But, that wasn’t before Val helped Rikki to realize something even more important: she was asthmatic. “I did not even suspect the condition until Val Fiott encouraged me to seek medical attention about three months after I began working out with him, once he believed that I was experiencing what he believed to be asthmatic symptoms during my workouts,” Rikki says. The discovery explained some unanswered questions for her, including why she had avoided most physical activities for much of her life. “That may have been addressed medically when I was younger, had I known that asthma was, in fact, largely responsible for my lack of aerobic capacity,” she says.

Asthmatic or not, Rikki wasn’t about to let anything inhibit her at this point in her life. Her continued work with Perfect Personal Training produced incredible results. Rikki hadn't realized, until her initial work with Val Fiott, how truly at risk her health was. Although she had always considered herself to be of “average” weight, she learned, through Perfect Personal Training’s in-home consultation and fitness assessment, that her body fat percentage was nearly 45 percent. “I was thereby morbidly obese,” she explains. “That was obviously disturbing.” But these numbers didn’t perturb her for too long.  Rikki still holds on to an email she received from a coworker after she began working with PPT.  In the email, her coworker remarked how fabulous Rikki looked. “I do not know what you are doing but it looks good on you,” the uplifting email read. Rikki was very happy: “It was the first time I had ever felt empowered to take credit for a physical transformation of any kind because it was the first time I’d ever put any real effort into it,” she exclaims. “As such, it wasn’t just a matter of being proud of my appearance, but moreover proud of the effort that I had invested into it.”

Since beginning with Perfect Personal Training, the now 50-year-old Rikki Schwartz has decreased her body fat percentage by nearly 10 percent, has tremendously improved daily nutrition habits, and feels much more energetic and confident. “Considering I was, prior to PPT, a dyed-in-the-wool carb addict, and ate very, VERY little lean protein, the nutritional transformation has been miraculous,” she emphasizes. “Val’s encouragement of my food journaling, along with educating me regarding my recommended limits, really helped to set me on the right nutritional path.” Her dialogue with food has completely changed, particularly her former infatuation with fast food, which Rikki said she used as a “quick high” in her old life. “Now, I think of food as a tool: ‘How will this improve my life, today and in the days to come?’ [There’s] no comparison.”

Aside from her dramatically-improved physical appearance and overall health, Rikki is clearly in love with the way she now feels. “I am prouder of my appearance, my ability to keep up with my peers, and in general, my ability to honestly say that working out is a routine, prioritized, conscious, and dedicated focus of my life,” she says. “Nobody who knew me before 2008 would ever have believed that those words could/would come out of my mouth.” Rikki attributes her success to Perfect Personal Training’s accessibility and commitment to her success.  Rikki stresses that had she even considered a gym, the added commute would double her daily exercise commitment, making a steadfast fitness routine nearly impossible for her.  Convenience, attention, and encouragement were just a few of the adjectives she used to describe the reason for her nearly five-year investment with Perfect Personal Training. “My experience with PPT has been one of structure, security and safety,” she says. “I have stuck with PPT because they deliver exactly what they promise – personalized workouts that are paced for success, in the privacy of my own home.”

 

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Perfect Personal Training, LLC
(877)698-3648
http://perfectpersonaltraining.com

5 More Quick Ways To Reduce Cancer Risk

Cancer is largely predictable, the end result of a decades-long process, but just a few simple changes in your daily life can significantly reduce your risk.  To follow up last week's post, here are five MORE ways to reduce cancer risk:

• Work broccoli into your PPT meal plan, but steam it rather than microwaving it. Broccoli is a cancer-preventing superfood, one you should eat daily. But take note of this: A Spanish study found that microwaving broccoli destroys 97 percent of the vegetable’s cancer-protective flavonoids. So, we recommend that you steam it or eat it raw.  (By the way, broccoli's protein-to-carb ratio works very well into a healthy PPT meal plan.)
• Supplement with vitamin D.  More and more, vitamin D has demonstrated to have strong anti-cancer qualities.  If you're not spending at least 20 minutes per day getting sunlight, then you'll need more vitamin D supplementation than most.  Contact Perfect Personal Training to establish the right amount of supplementation for you.
• Indulge in cantaloupe.  Cantaloupe is a great source of carotenoids, which are plant chemicals shown to significantly reduce the risk of cancer.  These are carbohydrates that should replace simple sugars in your current meal plan.
• Every time you go to the bathroom, stop by the kitchen or water cooler for a glass of water. A major study published in The New England Journal of Medicine in 1996 found that men who drank six 8-ounce glasses of water daily cut risk of bladder cancer y 50%. Another study linked the amount of water women drank to their risk of colon cancer, showing heavy water drinkers reducing their risk up to 45 percent!  Why aren't you drinking more water?
•  Take a multivitamin every morning. Many studies suggest getting the ideal levels of vitamins and minerals improve the immune system and help prevent a variety of cancers.

Add these ideas to your daily regimen for reduced risk, and please feel welcome to comment or call PPT at (877)698-3648 for a more personalized anti-cancer protocol for you and your family.

5 Quick Ways To Reduce Cancer Risk



You Have More Control Than You Think

In part 1 of a new series, Perfect Personal Training's team of top physiologists and herbologists have put together our first five simple ways that you and yours can quickly boost your immune systems and reduce risk for cancer!

• Spend at least fifteen minutes on moderate-intensity cardiovascular activity, five or more days per week.  This goes a long way in reducing stress and eliminating toxins, as well as boosting mood and the immune system.  Remember - you don't need machines to get your cardiovascular training in.  Power-walking, swimming, and other aerbics do the job just as well!
• Have a daily dose of Vitamin B-17, found in apple seeds, apricot seeds, millet and other foods.  (This may also improve aerobic performance over time.)
• Clear your environment of toxic chemicals. Toxins compromise the immune system's ability to battle cancer and make it harder for your body to defend itself from free radicals and errant cells.  Aim for natural cleaners and other household or workplace items.
• Aim for eight or more hours of sleep each night, in total darkness for better quality REM sleep.  It is also very beneficial to supplement with melatonin (around 2-3mg for a 150-180 lb person) two to three hours prior to going to bed, to promote healthier, more restful sleep, reduced stress, and to keep the immune system strong.
• Supplement your diet with turmeric.  Unless you have gallstones or a form of bile obstruction, turmeric is considered to be a safe and natural anti-inflammatory that demonstrates anti-cancer properties.  There is a long history of using turmeric very successfully in Asian, Indian and Chinese medicine.  PubMed explains further potential benefits of turmeric's main compound, curcumin, and Dr Andrew Weil lists more benefits and suggestions here.  For potential added benefits against cancer, combine with cauliflower.

These five easy steps aren't expensive and won't take much of your time each day, but they all have demonstrated to be potentially helpful tools for a cancer-preventive lifestyle.  We'll have more great ways to help to prevent this horrible disease posted next week!
For more information about potential cancer prevention through healthy living and holistic decision-making, call Perfect Personal Training at 877-698-3648 or visit http://perfectpersonaltraining.com