Could Supervision Be The Missing Link To Fat Loss

According to research published in the March 2009 edition of the Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness supervised exercisers lost 362% more fat over a four month period than their unsupervised exercisers.

This study broke the participants into two groups. One group met with a trainer two times a week for four months. And one group only received advice to increase physical activity and free access to a fully equipped health club, but were not supervised.

The results showed that the supervised group lost 362% more fat than the unsupervised group. The total fat loss for the supervised group was 13.4 pounds, compared to only 3.4 pounds in the unsupervised group per individual.

Kind of interesting huh? Especially because many people think all they have to do is join a gym, go in use the machines, and they will lose fat and not have to make an investment in a fitness coach. But in the end it's the ones with the fitness coach who lose more fat.

Live Fit,

Josh

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Hours For Next Week

Next week Tammy and I will both be attending a seminar in Philadelphia. We will still be open, but our hours will be slightly different. Sorry for any inconvenience.

Wednesday 9 am - 8 pm

Thursday 9 am - 8 pm

Friday 9am - 7 pm

4 Principles for Abs - Part 4

Principle #4: Low Body Fat Percentage

This should go without saying, but in order to see a six-pack you must have a low body fat percentage. How low? It all depends, for men they will usually begin to see definition at around 15% and women typically begin to see definition around 20%. Of course, as you get below these numbers the definition becomes even more noticeable. We typically recommend that our clients try to achieve the above body fat percentages as a reference point to their goals. We have found that by getting to these percentages you will see total body definition and feel great. More importantly these numbers are achievable and sustainable for any client. Some people will get lower, but as your body fat gets lower it's harder to maintain and requires a stricter diet and workout plan that does not always fit into every clients lifestyle.

Live Fit,

Josh

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If you have not already check out our new website www.Defined-Fitness.com

4 Principles for Abs - Part 3

Principle #3: Proper Nutrition

You cannot out train a bad diet! If you eat bad/junk foods your body will reflect these foods by how it looks. If you eat healthy nutritious foods your body will reflect these foods in how it looks. It's really that simple. Yes, you need to eat the right amount of daily calories. However, if your daily caloric needs for weight loss are 1800 calories and you eat 1800 calories from lean meats, fruits, and vegetables. Or if you eat 1800 calories from potato chips, cookies, pizza, and Twinkies. Do you think you will get the same results? Of course not, a calorie, is not a calorie, is not a calorie!

Live Fit,

Josh

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NEW WEBSITE

We have just rebuilt our website. Check it out at www.Defined-Fitness.com

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Thanks to all who donated money to give the children at the Crisis Shelter a Valentine's Day chocolate heart and pizza party. If you have not donated and would like to we will be taking donations until Friday the 13th. Thanks again!

4 Principles for Abs - Part 2

Principle #2: Total Body Training

Focusing on exercises that directly target the core will result in a larger waist and in order to reduce the size of your waist you need to do something to burn the fat off that is being stored on your waist. This is where total body training comes in. Total body training consists of performing exercises that incorporate the large muscle groups of the body in each workout. Using a body-part specific routine, such as chest day, arm day, and leg day, will not result in enough of a metabolic demand on your body to burn fat. A more efficient strategy is to workout three days per week and use one exercise from each of the six major movement patterns (horizontal pushing/pulling, vertical pushing/pulling, squatting, and deadlifting). This is total body training.

Live Fit,

Josh

4 Principles for Abs - Part 1

Principle #1: Functional Abdominal Movements

Functional abdominal exercises are exercises that focus on core/spinal stabilization, flexion, extension, moving the pelvis towards the chest, rotation, and bending. Most people tend to only focus on flexion (e.g. crunches, sit-ups). Abdominal flexion has a role in adding definition to the core, but it is only a small piece of the puzzle. When core flexion is the sole focus of a core training program the client will not develop and strengthen any of the other muscles that make up the core, and they will end up increasing the size of their waist.

Core/spinal stabilization exercises should make up the majority of your core-training program. These are exercises that focus on stabilizing the core and spine. These exercises will strengthen and develop the muscles of the core more than others while at the same time strengthening the muscles that hold your spine in alignment helping to prevent lower back injuries. This type of exercise will also challenge the core more by forcing the core to hold everything stable for the duration of the exercise. Examples of these exercises are planks and their variations.

Live Fit,

Josh

Super Bowl Recovery

If you are like most of us you threw your diet to the wayside yesterday during the Super Bowl. I mean with all the hot wings, pizza, chips & dips, and beer its hard not to, especially when your favorite team is playing. 

So after a day of consuming 5,000 calories of junk what should you do?

Forget about! Pick up today where you left off before your bad day or weekend of eating. One day or two is not going to ruin your progress and all of your hard efforts. But, a couple of days per week each week will definitely ruin even your best efforts.

There will be times when you just can't stick to your diet and will have to leave it for a day. That is fine just get back on track the next day and stay consistent with your workouts. It what you do consistently that will determine your progress.

Live Fit,

Josh