All About Fitness

If you exercise regularly, how do you decide which ones to do in your workouts? If you're like most fitness enthusiasts then you are most likely following a workout program featuring exercises that focus on individual muscle groups or bodyparts. This approach to fitness comes from bodybuilders who use muscle isolation exercises like biceps curls or leg extensions in an effort to promote the highest level of growth and definition.  The ViPR was designed specifically to focus on movement-based workouts.   Hypertrophy is the technical term for muscle growth; exercise programs where the goal is improving hypertrophy should focus on muscle isolation exercises because they can be the most effective way to initiate the metabolic or mechanical stimuli necessary to promote muscle growth. However, if you only have a limited time for exercise you are better off following an exercise program that focuses on using movement patterns as opposed to exercises designed to isolate a muscle. Here's some food for thought:

We all know that nutrition plays a significant role in helping us reach or exceed our fitness goals. Between trendy diets, faddish flushes or dangerous detoxes there can be a tremendous amount of misinformation about the type of well-rounded, balanced, complete nutrition you need to be healthy. Frances Largeman-Roth is a RDN (Registered Dietitian Nutritionist) credentialed by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, author, frequent contributor to national TV talk shows and the former Director of Food and Nutrition at Health Magazine; she has a tremendous amount of experience in helping others learn how to eat right and make healthier decisions. Today on All About Fitness, Frances and I talk about fad diets and some simple strategies and steps that you can easily implement to help develop and maintain healthy nutrition habits. From understanding the role of elimination diets to strategies for getting your kids to eat their veggies you will learn a number of helpful tidbits to help you make healthier choices

No matter what your fitness goals are, nutrition is a key component of success. The sayings: "abs are made in the kitchen" and "you can't out-train a bad diet," are absolutely, one-hundred percent accurate.  Nutrition does not need to be overly complicated nor does it need to be some sort of strict diet but it is important to know a few strategies that can help you make healthier decisions. On this episode of All About Fitness Quick Fit Tips I offer a couple of simple strategies that can help you with your approach to nutrition. A meal like this can be both nutritious and delicious! First, it's important to know a little science, but keep in mind these are general terms, each individual is different, but these examples can help you to develop a slightly better understanding of how your body uses energy. If you want to know more about how your body burns fat then listen to episode 26 of All About Fitness where Professor Fabio Comana explains the physiology of fat burning. Your body uses the food you eat

Strength is the ability to generate muscular force against an external resistance. Strength training is more than just lifting heavier weights or adding more muscle; how you approach your workout program can provide a number of benefits not only for your physical health but for your overall outlook on life.  On episode 30 of All About Fitness strength coach Dan John and I discuss a number of benefits of strength training. Besides being an expert on strength training and human performance, Dan teaches religion and philosophy so our discussion delves into a number of ways that getting stronger can improve your life both in and out of the weight room. Strength training is a good metaphor for life; you have to work to overcome challenges. If you work hard enough and take the right approach you can accomplish great things. Some days you’re going to have the strength to overcome the weight, while other days the weight might get the best of you. In life it’s not what happens to us but how we react to it. That's ju

Sled pulling, or in this case, car pulling is an excellent way to develop lower body strength. When most people hear the term, 'strength training' they get an image of oversized bodybuilders lifting free weights to increase the size of their muscles. Muscular strength is the ability of muscles to generate a force against an external resistance. Did you realize that there are different types of strength training that can produce different effects on the body? On episode 29 of All About Fitness it's another Quick Fit Tip discussing the different types of strength training. The text below outlines what I explain in the podcast, providing a little more detail with links to relevant blogs and articles I've written in the past.  A motor unit is the connection between the nervous system and the muscles it controls; it is the motor neuron and the muscle fibers attached to it. When a motor unit is activated it will cause it's attached fibers to shorten and generate a force. To learn more about muscle motor units,

No matter how old you are, strength training can help you get results!   On this episode of All About Fitness I speak with Nick Tumminello about how strength training can help you reach a variety of your fitness goals. Nick is a personal trainer, strength coach and educator who was recognized as the Personal Trainer of the Year by the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA). Nick is an expert in strength training and is a frequent contributor to publications such as Men’s Health, T-Nation and Bodybuilding.com. In addition, he travels around the world to teach personal trainers how to be more successful.  Our conversation today focuses on the benefits of strength training for weight loss, the subject of one of Nick’s books, we also talk about a variety of topics related to working out in general and strength training in particular. in a field where a number of self-professed ‘experts’ claim to have the secret to success or promote workouts with little-to-no scientific validity it’s good to kno

We know that exercise is important, but the type of exercise you do can make all of the difference in getting the results you want. There are three general types of exercise: strength training, cardio training and flexibility training.  In short, cardio training is about improving the ability of your body to deliver oxygen to working muscles; flexibility training is improving the ability of your muscles and joints to move and strength training improves the ability to generate force with your muscles. Strength training is the process of using an external resistance to help the muscles become more effective at producing and using force. When a muscle shortens it generates a force to move the opposing mass. When a muscle lengthens it is slowing down, or decelerating, the movement caused by an opposing force. For example, when standing up from the bottom of a squat the thigh and glute muscles are shortening to generate the force required to move your body up against the downward pull of gravity. On the way back

How are you doing with your weight loss goals so far this year? Have you lost the weight you wanted to? Have you been able to get rid of that extra fat hanging out on your body? Do you want some advice for what you could be doing better?  Losing weight and getting rid of unwanted body fat are popular reasons for starting an exercise program. In order to reach those goals it helps to know a little of the science behind how your body stores and uses fat. For example, if you consume too many calories the excess energy that your body doesn't use could be stored as fat. There are reasons why even if you exercise everyday you could still be falling short of your weight loss goals.  In this episode of All About Fitness I sit down with Fabio Comana, a Professor of Exercise and Nutrition Science at San Diego State University, to discuss how the body gains and loses weight and, most importantly, identify the types of activity you can be doing to help you reach your weight loss goals.  Fabio and I speaking at Fitne

Here are some numbers for you: 3500 calories - the amount of energy from a pound of fat 100 calories - the amount of energy it takes to walk or run a mile 5 calories - the amount of energy the body burns to consume 1 liter of oxygen 1 calories = the amount of energy required to increase 1 liter of water 1 degree centigrade.   A calorie is a measure of unit of energy. When we eat food we are absorbing nutrients that will ultimately end up in one of three places: in muscles to burn as energy, in our waste when we eliminate or in our adipose tissue where fat is stored to be used for energy at a later date. If we eat a piece of food with 500 calories then whatever energy we do not burn or eliminate will be stored for use at a later time. In the body fat is simply stored energy; if you are looking to lose weight and burn fat then it is necessary to get up and be more active. We use oxygen, along with fats and carbohydrates, to produce energy to fuel activity in the body. Anytime we use more muscle tissue o

  Episode 24 of All About Fitness features author and founder of Nutritious Movement, Katy Bowman. This was a first for All About Fitness, the interview was scheduled through a publicist; and to be completely honest, before receiving her book, Move Your DNA, I had not heard of Katy Bowman, but the concepts discussed in her writing were familiar to me as a fitness educator who teaches that exercise is a function of movement. In a cool synchronicity, I interviewed Jen Sinkler before I interviewed Katy; when I was editing our podcast I realized that Jen had made a specific reference to Katy’s work.     Katy is a health and wellness educator who promotes the concept that rather than limiting ourselves to specific types of exercise that we should focus more on participating in all types of movement. We often think of physical activity as a construct of a specific activity like flexibility, cardio exercise or resistance training; through her blog, books and podcast - Katy Says, Katy helps people to focus on impr

On this shorter episode of All About Fitness I discuss the basic components of fitness. We have a tendency to overcomplicate things, especially when it comes to exercise and working out, it's important to note that often the best experts in any field are those who do the basics extremely well. The basic components of fitness are: strength training, energy pathway training, mobility training, fueling, rest and recovery, community and financial fitness; I describe what each component is but don't take a deep dive on how to achieve it - those will be happening on future episodes of the podcast. If you want to understand how exercise slows down the aging process, here is an article I wrote a few years ago that covers the basic physiology. When it comes to exercise I'm a BIG proponent of a three-day-a-week split: Day 1: Force production - either strength or power training, the goal is to challenge your muscles to generate a high amount of force (strength) or to produce force at the fastest velocity possible (p

Episode 22 of All About Fitness represents two firsts: it was the first time I interviewed a guest with whom I did not have an existing relationship, and it was the first time I used Skype to record a podcast. The former was extremely successful which makes up for a few tech glitches on the latter. David Dellanave is the founder and owner of the Movement Gym in Minneapolis, MN which has been recognized as one of the top gyms in the United States by Men's Health Magazine. David is recognized as a strength training expert and has developed a specific coaching model based on using biofeedback to determine the appropriate training intensity for each training day. David has written a book about deadlifting and is often cited by magazines for being an expert on using strength training to get results. On episode 20 of All About Fitness I interviewed David's wife, the awesome Jen Sinkler so I thought it was only fair to give him the mic on this edition of the podcast. Our conversation covers the best things you can

Starting this week All About Fitness is moving to a two-podcast-per-week model where one podcast will feature a full, complete interview with an expert from a various fitness-related field where the focus will be on what you can be doing to improve your fitness level during the aging process, or how you can use exercise to slow down the aging process. The second podcast will be short and sweet where I will feature a brief review of a piece of relevant research, discuss a new trend or talk about the benefits of using a specific fitness product. The interview podcast will be between 25-45 minutes long and the second podcast, a kind of verbal blog, will be less than ten minutes. Whenever I am first introduced to a new "expert" or authority in a particular field I am always interested about his or her background and why I should be investing my time listening to what he or she has to say. On this first short format of All About Fitness I provide a brief overview of my education and work experience in the fitness

Welcome to episode 20 of All About Fitness, first I’m pleased to announce a new sponsor - SKLZ, the maker of exercise products to help you reach your goals, listen to the spot for a code that can save you 30%.    On episode 20 I’m thrilled to feature a conversation with a favorite member of my extended #FitFAM Jen Sinkler. Jen is a blogger, studio owner (along with her husband, the physically cultured David Dellanave - an upcoming guest on All About Fitness himself) and fitness personality who is helping to change how people exercise - you can read her extended bio here. Some highlights of her background are being a former member of the US Women’s National Rugby team, an editor for a fitness magazine, a frequent speaker at fitness conferences and, this is my favorite, she’s one of the few women who is a regular content (meaning workout) contributor to Men’s Health.   During our conversation today we talk about living without a car (LOVE IT), the benefits of strength training and specifically how her workout p

If you're a longtime fitness enthusiast then you no doubt know that exercise is only one component of what is required to achieve the results you want. Unlike many common gym myths, the phrases, "You can't out-train a bad diet," and "Abs are made in the kitchen" are two sayings that, unfortunately, are more reality than myth. Here to help provide some no-nonsense, evidence based ideas for how you can change your diet to change your body is Sohailla Digsby, a Registered Dietician who is the author of the books: Countdown to Your Best Body Success Journal and Best Body Cookbook and Menu Plan as well as the leader of the Best Body in 52 online nutrition coaching program. On this episode of All About Fitness we discuss nutrition, the difference between a nutritionist and Registered Dietician, how you can make healthier nutrition choices and 5 simple steps that you can take to change your diet. Today.  Don't let your nutrition choices hold you back from seeing the results you really want from your fitness prog

As a fitness professional my primary focus is on enhancing physical performance through movement-based strength and conditioning programs. What that means in plain English is that I help people move better first before helping them to become stronger or more powerful. A well-known joke among fitness professionals is that the most common workout goals are to: "lose weight" and "tone up." If a personal trainer received $1 for every time he or she heard that phrase every single one of us would be a multi-millionaire. The fact is that most people start a workout program in order to look better, not move better. With that in mind I plan on regularly interviewing guests with a background in bodybuilding, whether as a competitor, researcher or coach. On episode 18 of All About Fitness I interview former professional  bodybuilder Tamer ’The Razor' El-Guindy.   Our conversation focuses on how setting exercise goals, especially the strict ones required for success as a bodybuilder, can help you prepare for success in

It's easy to stop working out if you're not having fun. If you're looking for a new way to challenge your body, or just want to make your workouts more interesting than consider training like an athlete! You don't have to be under contract to reap the benefits of training like top competitive athletes. On episode 17 of All About Fitness I speak with Michael Piercy, a former professional baseball player who uses his knowledge of what it takes to compete as a pro to help his clients experience extraordinary results.  Michael Piercy is a NASM Certified Personal Trainer and Performance Enhancement Specialist (PES) as well as a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) with the National Strength and Conditioning Association who owns the LAB Performance Training Center in West Caldwell, NJ. Michael is a Master Instructor for TRX and the developer of the RedZone Workout Program for Men's Health. During our conversation today we talk about how pro athletes train and how training like a pro can help you

On this episode of All About Fitness I sit down with Rob McCullough, former professional kick boxer, WEC Lightweight Champion, and currently the Senior Director of MMA Programming for UFC Gyms. We discuss how Rob got started in professional fighting and how his approach to fitness and exercise has changed over the years. What is fascinating is that over the past twenty years MMA has evolved from an underground sport to a multi-billion dollar industry. The computer and tech industry evolved in San Jose, CA, finance and fashion were developed in New York City and the early days of MMA took place in Orange County, CA and Rob was there at the beginning.  Rob talks about meeting and training with Tito Ortiz in high school and how his participation in the sport has grown from being a fighter to running the program for UFC Gyms, a rapidly growing chain of health clubs based out of Southern California. If you are interested in finding a UFC Gym near you please visit: https://ufcgym.com Please visit the sponsors o

Episode 15 of All About Fitness is about the role that community plays in promoting a healthy and fitness lifestyle. People who don’t workout tend to find any excuse to avoid getting sweaty. Those of us who enjoy fitness are the opposite, we look forward to the physical challenge of a tough workout and often we look forward to seeing the friends we’ll be sweating with as we push ourselves to perform better.   How many times have you thought about blowing off a workout or skipping an activity because you weren’t really in the mood? How many times did you suck it up and show up because you knew that others would be there waiting for you and, if nothing else, it was a chance to get out, see some friends and have a little fun?  One of the best things about the fitness lifestyle is being a part of a community of like-minded individuals. As someone who has taught group fitness classes for the better part of 20 years I can attest to the fact that many friendships are made among people who sweat together. One of the

 A few things to know about exercise and pregnancy Okay, first things first, I’m a guy. Let me add a little more info, I’m a father with two young kids and someone who makes a living teaching exercise science so me writing or speaking about exercising during pregnancy comes from the point of view of having watched my wife go through it two times and having done the research to teach others how pregnancy changes a woman’s response to exercise. Here’s the thing: we know that a woman’s body changes during pregnancy and that the physiology will function differently but there is a scarcity of specific research on how hard or how long to exercise during pregnancy because: 1) no researcher wants to risk injuring a pregnant woman and 2) it’s only a limited time frame to collect data. This means that we have ideas about how a woman’s body adjusts to exercise during pregnancy but no definitive standards for how hard, how long or what type of exercise. If you’re female, enjoy working out and planning on getting pregn