Success is Your Responsibility!

“And may the Lord our God show us his approval and make our efforts successful. Yes, make our efforts successful!” – Psalm 90:17

Here are this week’s reminders and updates for members of Underground Fitness Revolution.

Scheduling Reminder:
Please remember to schedule your sessions this week. This is week three of our current phase of training. This week is the hardest week during this phase. we want to go all out and use next week as your “active recovery” week to help you recover and prepare you for our next phase of training.

Fitness Quote of the Week:
“If you don’t do what’s best for your body, you’re the one who comes up on the short end.” – Julius Erving

Body Blueprint Screening:
We are going to perform our Body Blue Print Screening (the Functional Movement Screen™) during our recovery week. I have it scheduled for Monday, February 22. It will be scheduled during our normal training hours. Ideally, I want everyone to come at the same time. Please confirm what time you can attend (4pm, 5pm or 6pm).

Success is Your Responsibility:
Your success is your responsibility.

That means you must set the rules from the start. Be consistent. Make your fat loss the priority of everyone around you. Don’t let “toxic” people get in the way of your goals.

And always look to surround yourself with positive social support from people who are going to help you no matter what.

Nutrition Tip of the Week:
According to the new Rodale book, “The New American Diet” (excerpted in Feb. 2010, Men’s Health magazine), there are a “Dirty Dozen” of fruits and veggies that should be organic.

Starting with the worst offenders, the dirty dozen are:

Peaches, apples, bell peppers, celery, nectarines, strawberries, cherries, kale, lettuce, imported grapes, carrots and pears.

On the other hand, here are the clean 15 (the fruits and veggies that contain the least pesticides and probably don’t need to be purchased in “organic” form):

Onion, avocado, corn, pineapple, mango, asparagus, peas, kiwi, cabbage, eggplant, pappayas, watermelon, broccoli, tomatoes and sweet potatoes.

If you can’t afford to buy organic, then do your best to wash the “dirty dozen” foods before eating – or buy frozen versions.

Latest Research Studies:

Study Number 1:

We already know that a post-workout shake is important for recovery and muscle growth. However, new research has shown that protein taken prior to a training session may result in more muscle growth and fat loss. Here’s a recent study:

Researchers had 8 trained subjects (5 Men, 3 Women) perform a workout at 7am after consuming either 20 grams of whey protein or 20 grams of carbohydrates. The workout consisted of 9 exercises (4 sets of each at 75% of their one-repetition maximum – 1RM).

NOTE: (That’s a huge workout! 36 sets is a lot and more than I would recommend.)

Results: Both workouts boosted metabolism at 24 and 48 hours after training, however, at 24 hours, the increase in metabolism was greater in the protein-supplement experiment.

Reference: Med Science Sports Exerc. 2009 Dec 4. Timing Protein Intake Increases Energy Expenditure 24 Hours Post-Resistance Training. Hackney KJ, Bruenger AJ, Lemmer JT.

Comments: This could lead to increased muscle gain and fat loss. If you want to maximize your results, then you might want to consume protein before your workout (and a post-workout drink like chocolate milk immediately after).

Study Number 2:

Pairing exercises that work opposite muscles together is a great way to make your workout more effective and build more muscle. Canadian researchers decided to test this out, and here’s a recent study.

• 15 men performed an 8-week program.
• One group did all their pressing exercises and then all their pulling exercises. The other group alternated between presses and pulls – they called these complex sets (we usually call these supersets).
• Results: First, the complex sets resulted in cutting training time in half. Second, 1-rep max strength increased the most in the complex set group but peak power increased the most in the traditional training group.

Reference: Effects of agonist-antagonist complex resistance training on upper body strength and power development.

Bottom line: If nothing else, pairing supersets with non-competing exercises cuts your workout in half. And it might even make you stronger. Shorter and more effective workouts are one reason why our training sessions are set up the way they are.

Study Number 3:

Here’s one of my favorite interval training studies:

Reference: Journal of Strength Conds Res. Physiologic Effects of Directional Changes in Intermittent Exercise in Soccer Players. Dellal A, et al.

• Researchers from Africa, Europe and Asia teamed up on this one.
• Compared interval shuttle running against interval straight-line running in 10 elite men soccer players. Results showed that the shuttle running was more difficult.
• Researchers concluded, “The changes of direction induce an increase in the anaerobic metabolism solicitation and consequently create different responses compared with traditional interval straight-line running.”

This is not only interesting for soccer – you should have a lot of changes in direction for the best fat loss and conditioning results. Instead of straight-line sprints, you should be doing athletic movements and change of direction sprint drills. This is one reason why we use shuttle-type sprints with our training as you’ll see on Monday!

Study Number 4:

Last research study for today. This is in reference to training on your own or with supervision (i.e. fitness coach).

Reference: Supervised exercise versus non-supervised exercise for reducing weight in obese adults. Journal of Sports Med Phys. Fitness. 2009 Mar; 49(1):85-90.

• This research study looked at the effects of training with supervision/instruction (i.e. a qualified trainer) versus “advice.” There were two groups:
• Group one met a trainer twice a week for 4 months (as a group).
• Group two received basic advice to increase physical activity and access to a fully-equipped gym (any exercise they did was unsupervised).
• The group with supervision lost almost 10 pounds more over a 4-month period. (Total fat loss of 13.4lbs in the coached group – and only 3.7lbs in the advice-only group).

If you are serious about changing your body – hire a fitness coach. This is one benefit of training at Underground Fitness Revolution. You get expert fitness coaching to help you achieve your goals.

Now’s a great time to join. Our New Member Orientation and Grocery Store Tour is scheduled for Saturday, February 27. Our next phase of training begins March 1. Contact us today to get started!