What is Self-Myofascial Release? What is Trigger Point Therapy? And how can it help me?

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It’s Spring time, and THANK GOD it finally feels like it too! I think most of us can agree that we are pretty excited for summer, the warm weather, and all the activities that come with it! With the change in temperature, I’ve definitely noticed a lot more people at the gym lately. Seems like the city of Toronto is coming out of hibernation mode, and thinking about their summer bodies. As a trainer, this makes me super excited! However, I’ve also noticed that people don’t realize how immobile they really are. It seems as though that people don’t really understand how much muscle soreness, tightness, and inflexibility can really impact your performance at the gym, and therefore your results! I’m sure most people don’t have any intention of injuring themselves when they enter the gym to workout, but that’s exactly what can happen if you don’t properly rehab, and stretch the body as part of your workout routine.

Before we can get into these pain relieving techniques, we must discuss Fascia and what it is? This is the only way we can understand some of the pain we’re in, or lack of flexibility, and how to fix it. Fascia is connective tissue that is densely woven throughout the entire body like a spider web, or some sort of sweater. This connective tissue helps to provide a framework to support and protect every muscle group, and organ in the body. basically fascia connects and covers the entire body. It is a second protective layer beneath the skin, just like an orange has its orange rind or skin, and then the white layer under the rind that covers the entire fruit like a sweater. Furthermore, there are four different types of fascia tissue. The first type of fascia tissue is what I described earlier and it covers the entire body, it is the most well-known type of fascia, and that is Structural Fascia. The fibers of structural fascia have the ability to contract, relax, and stretch just like muscles do. They have the ability to pull the skeleton and surrounding structures out of alignment. Where the fibers of structural fascia cross in the body can jam and adhere joints including our vertebral column. The second type of fascia is very important to athletes, my clients, and muscle activity, it’s found in our muscles, and it is called Inter-Structural Fascia. It looks like a web of connective tissue inside of a muscle. The inter-structural fascia found in our muscles contract, relax, and stretch the muscle fibers. Inter-Structural Fascia also penetrates, and surrounds the brain, organs, cartilage, blood vessels, nerves, and literally every system in the body. Inter-Structural Fascia is very sticky. When the fascia sticks to other fascia fibers in the structure, the fibers of a single structure, as well as sticking two or more structures together, will interrupt the functions of these structures. Visceral Fascia is found in our midsection, it fills the “blank spaces” in the body and is highly protective. The fourth type of fascia is Spinal Fascia. Inter-Structural Fascia, Structural Fascia, and Visceral Fascia are all found in and around the spine. Spinal Fascia is very special because it is extremely dense and it wraps arond the spine like a thick straw. All the types of fascia link with the Spinal Fascia, and burst out from the straw encasement of the spine like sunbeams throughout the abdominal cavity. Knowing how to impact this deep fascia can dramatically aid in the treatment of back pain.

How does fascia affect me? Like I explained above, fascia covers and protects the entire body. It also has a very important role of supporting the musculoskeletal system by enabling us to perform various tasks like running, walking, and going from sitting to standing. Blood, nerves, and muscles are enveloped and penetrated by fascia, allowing your muscles and organs to glide smoothly, against one another. When you have fascial adhesions or distortions, this can cause poor blood flow, weaker nerve impulses, limited flexibility and mobility, and a host of other physical ailments. So much pain, tightness, and discomfort is unnecessarily caused by distorted fascia. Distortions in fascia can pull, torque, and compress the body. This will affect the body’s proper alignment. Fascial tension in the knee for example, can cause issues or tension in other parts of the body like the hips, or ankles. Very common conditions caused by fascial distortions are as follows: Plantar Fasciitis, IT Band Syndrome, and Frozen Shoulder. Fascia is protective by nature, and it will act like a band-aid to make up for injuries, and imbalances in the body. So if you injured yourself and it never healed properly, your fascia will adhere to itself and other structures to help protect you from further injury. However, when your fascia does this, it will significantly impact your body’s mobility, and the function of that muscle group. and/or joint. This is where muscle tightness, soreness, and pain come into play. This is why it is so, so important to rehab your body properly, to make sure that you are stretching, and massaging your body to help break up some of the fascia distortions, and adhesions to allow for properly movement bodily functions.

What is Myofascial release? It is a safe and effective hands on technique where you apply gentle sustained pressure into the myofascial connective tissue restrictions to eliminate pain and restore motion. This gentle pressure, applied slowly will allow the fascia to elongate. A lot of times when you are performing myofascial release techniques on yourself, where you find the most pain is where there is an adhesion in the fascial tissue. It will feel like a ball or knot in your muscle tissue. Unfortunately, this type of muscle pain, and tightness does not show up on standard medical texts like x-rays, CAT scans and so on. This is why hands on treatment is so important. I would strongly recommend that you ask someone who has experience in this type of therapy to help you with your pain. Normally they will give you self-myofasical techniques so that you can continue to improve your pain, and mobility issues. Myofascial release is PAINFUL!!! Keep that in mind, but it is highly effective. If you don’t push yourself through the pain, the fascial adhesions will just get worse, and so will your pain, and mobility. In addition, your posture, and overall performance will be effected as well.

When you’re performing myofascial release techniques like foam rolling, or trigger point therapy, they are normally recommended for post workout recovery or for non-training days. The foam roller is great for targeting larger muscle groups, whereas the lacrosse ball is great for smaller areas of pain of trigger points. Trigger points are also known as myofascial points. These spots are found in specific areas on a muscle and the surrounding tissue, and they are the most common sources of referred pain. This basically means that when the trigger point is activated, pain is usually felt somewhere else in the body. Generally, when you use the lacrosse ball to apply pressure to a trigger point, the pressure may be painful at first, but eventually the pain will be alleviated and the muscles relaxed. Lacrosse balls are great to use on your buttocks, shoulders, calves, feet, and hips. The small surface area of the ball allows for the user to really get deep inside the muscle tissue, and pinpoint the areas of pain. Again, I would ask someone who has experience in using a lacrosse ball to relieve pain to help show you some of these pain relieving techniques.

As for foam rolling? There are various types of foam rollers out there. I have a Grid Foam Roller, the shorter one so I can easily travel with it for my clients. I personally like the Grid Foam Roller because you can get various densities, basically you can choose how hard the foam roller is. The harder the foam roller, the deeper the massage. Depending on how tight or how much pain you’re feeling will determine how hard a foam roller your should be using. If you are quite immobile, and tight, then a softer foam roller would be a good start. Once you start to release some of the tension in your muscles, you can then graduate to harder rollers. In addition, the grid has both rigid and smooth surfaces. Again, if you are in quite a bit of pain, I would use the smoother side to massage your muscles. Once you have relieved some of the tension, you can then graduate to the ridges to get deeper into the muscle tissue. Lastly, a foam roller that has a grid on it will help to better adhere to the skin, and this will give you better results. Please, when performing self-myofascial release, you should be holding the position, and massaging the entire area for at least 2 minutes to give your body enough time to relax and relieve tension. Areas within that muscle group that are very painful should be focused on for at least 30-45 seconds to notice any significant change. However, this all depends on your level of pain. You don’t want to cause further harm, but you do want to give your body the opportunity to relieve itself of pain, and this will take some mind over matter. Myofascial release “hurts so good,” as I like to tell my clients. It is painful but at the same time it feels good. I know that sounds weird but it’s true. It’s the same when you get a deep tissue massage, it can be painful but also so relaxing. In addition, just like deep tissue massage, performing myofascial release can have you feeling sore the next day. This is normal. Take a rest day, and then try it again until you see a significant improvement in your mobility and pain.

It is extremely important to work on your mobility and pain as a supplement to your workouts in the gym. For athletes, therapy is so important to keeping them in tip-top shape. Just like athletes, we tend to do a lot of repetitive movement in our day-to-day lives. This type of trauma to our muscles and fascia system can cause permanent damage if left untreated. Sure, it’s nice to want a beach bod, but it’s not ever going to be possible if you are not able to perform proper movement patterns. If you are unable to properly perform a squat because of lack of mobility, how are you supposed to reap the benefits?! It’s just not possible! Don’t think that you can just walk into the gym and do any sort of workout if you don’t have the proper tools. What do I mean by proper tools? I mean proper movement patterns. How do you know if you move properly? Ask a professional!!!! Learn what you’re doing wrong and how to fix it! Personal trainers with knowledge and experience, physiotherapists, athletic therapists, are all good options to learn how to perform proper movement patterns, and also learn how to improve, or maintain these patterns through therapy. Trigger Point Therapy, and Myofascial Release techniques will not only relieve your body of aches and pains, it will help to give you the right tools to achieve your goals in the gym.

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Foam Roller and Lacrosse Ball, two necessary evils! 

Day 2 of the Twelve Days of Fitmas: How Proper Rest Between Sets Can Improve Your Performance In The Gym

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Merry Fitmas guys! So, I’ve been personal training for a few years now, and one thing that I’ve noticed about my clients is that they will either take full advantage of their rest times and even try to extend them by distracting me with conversation, OR after about 20 seconds of rest they think they’re ready to jump right back into the exercise as if them resting is wasting time when they could be burning more calories. With this article, I plan to explain the importance of resting properly between sets and how it can actually improve your performance in the gym!

When I train on my own, I always time my rest in between my sets. That way, I’m not wasting time, and I’m staying on pace with my workout. It also allows me to have consistent rest in between my sets, so that I can better keep track of how I’m improving. With proper rest, your body should be able to perform the exercise with the correct form to the same degree of strength or better. If not? Then you may need to increase your rest time in between sets, or start to drop down your weights. Either way, by keeping track of not only the weights you use, but the amount of time it takes you to recover in between sets, is a good way to see how much your body’s strength and endurance is improving.

Having proper rest in between sets is even more important when you’re doing a strength based workout. So when you’re doing power lifting, doing heavy olympic lifts, or doing heavy sets of 3-5 reps trying to increase your overall strength. It is important to make sure your body is getting adequate rest so that you can avoid any potential injury. When you are doing a heavy lift, it requires a ton of mental and physical strength to be able to do it, and performing the exercise itself is very taxing on the body. That is why you may often see these big guys or athletic women in the gym, loading the bar with heavy weights, performing the exercises for 3-5 reps and then resting for what seems to be a long time. Now, I’m sure some of these patrons of the gym are taking way too long of a rest time in between sets, but for some of these heavy lifts you may actually need about 2, maybe even 3 minutes of rest depending on the person. Obviously the more athletic the individual, the faster they will be able to recover from the exercise, but if it is a style of training that you have never done before, or haven’t done in a while, it may take you a little longer to regain the strength to perform the exercise again properly.

Rest is also very important when you are training as a beginner, and it’s funny, because it is the beginners that I see either resting too much and not actually training, or they are not resting enough and forcing their body to do movements they don’t quite understand how to perform properly. It is mostly men who do the latter, and women who rest too much, at least in my own personal experience. As a beginner to the gym, it is very important to take the time to learn how to perform the basic movements properly, like a plank, squat, lunge, row, push up and so on. Once you have the basics of these movements, then you can begin to add-on accessory work, and variations to these movements. However, when you are learning these movements, you want to start off with using mostly your own bodyweight, taking the time to slow the exercise down. Let your body understand how it should feel like when you do it properly (have someone help you with this who has more experience in the gym, or professional help). Then have adequate rest in between your sets so that you are not tiring yourself out too much, that you start to forget and loose the proper form you’ve been working so hard on trying to achieve. You need to give yourself enough rest so that 1) you’re not tiring yourself out, loosing form, and therefore setting yourself up for potential injury, and 2) you are giving yourself enough rest so that you are not too tired to focus on the following set, therefore giving you a greater chance of creating muscle memory and learning how to do it on your own properly.

There are styles of training out there that don’t require a lot of rest, or they have “active rest periods.” These are perfectly fine, and are mostly circuit style training, and cardio training. These types of training don’t allow you to lift weights that are super heavy because you are not giving your body enough time to recover to be able to continuously do heavy sets. Instead, these styles of training are meant to keep your heart rate up, and get you nice and sweaty. These are great for people who want to improve their cardiovascular endurance, it’s great to incorporate into a weight loss training routine, or to incorporate into the days where you are on a time crunch. Even with these types of training, you should still time your rest periods, even if they are very short. That way, you are still getting consistent rest in between your sets, and you are not allowing yourself to rest too long, therefore, bringing your heart rate down too much. Obviously, if you are feeling sick, or you can no longer perform the movements properly, you should extend your rests, or modify your exercises. But at the end of the day, you should be using whatever rest time you have effectively. Use it to take a sip of water, to towel off quickly, or even to just regulate your breathing so you don’t tire yourself out too quickly. Rest is very important and it shouldn’t be wasted on social media. Make sure you are taking proper rest between sets, time them so that you are not taking too long of a rest, and record the amount of rest it takes for you to be able to perform the same exercise again properly. Obviously you may start to fail at the exercise but if it takes you about 40 seconds to be able to do the exercise for the majority of the sets you do, even if you fail on the last few reps of the last two sets, eventually you will be able to do it without failing with the same amount of rest. If you keep the rest consistent you will eventually be able to up the weights you’re using, with the same rest times! But you will never actually know this, if you are not resting properly, or timing and recording it as well. Rest, along with tracking the weight you use is a great way to measure your improvements at the gym.

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Weight Training is essential to FAT loss! Find out why!

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Last month I was teaching one of my corporate fitness classes, and I was demonstrating a reverse lunge to the class, while holding a kettle bell. One of the participants asked me what the purpose was of me holding the kettle bell? Instead of going into a long-winded rant about the importance of weight training, I gave her a very simple answer about how holding a weight increases the difficulty level, forces your muscles to work harder, forces your balance to come into play and how it works your core (people LOVE that). A lot of people don’t really understand how important it is to regularly weight train. Most people assume that weights are only there to make you big and strong, and this scares a lot of women away, because the last thing many women want to be is BIG and Bulky. Yes weights do help to build your strength, but they do more than just that. If done properly, and with intensity, lifting weights are essential to you losing body fat. Cardio is simply not enough to lose weight, and it is not the ONLY option. Yes, cardiovascular training is important but it will not give you a nice butt! Trust me! Unless you become a sprinter… but let’s be real most of us are not going to start our weight loss journey doing the 100 meter dash!

I’ve written two other articles related to weight training and some of the myths that surround it like How I’ve enhanced my feminine shape through weight training 🙂 or Toned? or Skinny? Toned, the new word for skinny…. There are so many misconceptions when it comes to weight training, and it is very frustrating! Not only as a fitness professional, but as a female. Lifting weights will not make you big and bulky! But too much of your favorite treats will! Lifting weights will actually help you achieve better overall fat loss than just cardio alone, and it will also give your body a better overall shape and definition. But how?

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  1. First of all, weight training increases your metabolic rate for 36 hours post workout. This means that not only did you burn x amount of calories during your workout, your body will keep burning calories for the rest of the day at a higher rate. Sure, you may burn more calories minute per minute of cardio than you would weight training, but you would only burn an additional 40-80 calories post workout from cardiovascular training. This means, that even though you may burn a lot of calories during a good cardio session, you would burn more calories overall with a consistent weight training program. In order to achieve a high post calorie burn from aerobic exercise, you must being doing it for a long period of time, like a marathon runner for example. However, people who are capable of such long distance running are not typically concerned with fat loss. Sprinting, on the other hand can bring about a post workout calories burn similar to that of weight training, however, you must be sprinting pretty hard in order to see these kinds of benefits.                                                        Image result for long distance runners vs sprinters  Image result for long distance runners vs sprinters
  2. Secondly, not only will weight training boost your metabolic rate for 36 hours post workout, it will increase your long-term metabolic rate as well. It does this by increasing your overall lean muscle mass. The more lean muscle mass you have, the higher your basal metabolic rate will be. Your basal metabolic rate is a calculation of the amount of calories your body would burn just lying in bed, not moving, just breathing. The more accurate calculations would consider your lean mass as well, not just your overall weight, however, the point is, is that the more muscle you have the more calories your body will burn. This is why men, who typically have more muscle mass than women, can eat more than women and gain less weight. I need to be clear though, no one will just magically bulk up in lean muscle mass the second they pick up a weight. Naturally it takes a month to build 1-2 pounds of PURE MUSCLE for a male, and in the same amount of time a female will be able to build 1/2 to a full pound of muscle. This is does not include water and fat that come along with general weight gain. That being said, over time with consistent effort, this will make you much more resistant to weight gain as you grow older.
  3. Unlike cardio, weight training has the ability to completely reshape your body. Doing cardiovascular training does help with general weight loss, however, this weight loss will be a combination of fat, water, and muscle. Therefore, if you were just to do cardio, you will be left with just a smaller version of your current self. Also, too much cardio training can cause your body to release cortisol (stress hormone) which will cause your body to lose lean muscle mass, and to gain fat in the abdomen. Instead, if you are performing resistance training, with a proper diet, meaning you are consuming enough protein to sustain and grow your muscles, you are more likely to lose just body fat and some water. In addition to loosing your body fat, you will be enhancing the shape of your body, and the definition of your muscles. If you were to just do cardio, you will still be soft, and you won’t have the same muscle tone.
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    This was me in University in the 4th year when I used to teach a lot of cardio based fitness classes. Very long and lanky, not too much muscle tone. 

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    Through consistent weight training my body has more balance and shape. This is a photo from earlier this year (I need to be better with taking photos) my shoulders and arms have more definition and shape. 

I’m naturally more of a pear shaped female. I’ve always been leaner on top, and fuller on the bottom. It has been through weight training that I’ve been better able to balance out my body and create more of an hourglass shape. If you’re worried about becoming too masculine? Please don’t be! We females do not produce enough testosterone naturally to build that kind of size, and the average female does not consume nearly enough calories to get that big either. So, if you want to enhance your shape, lose body fat and improve your long-term health? You must weight train on a regular basis!

How often should I be working out?

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I get this question a lot, and the simple answer to this question is that you should be working out or doing some sort of activity everyday. There is no reason why you shouldn’t be doing some sort of exercise everyday. You can walk, run, bike, dance, do yoga, or any other activity everyday. When it comes to weight training? You could weight train everyday, however, I personally like to take at least one day of rest from weight training a week. So normally, I weight training six times a week, and I do some sort of cardio everyday. This does not include some of the group fitness classes that I teach where I participate with the class. Obviously, during these classes I’m not pushing myself as I would be for my own personal workouts, but it is exercise nonetheless.

Personally, I don’t know where the fear of “doing too much” comes from? Especially when most of us barely exercise at all! Over training is really difficult for the average person to achieve, in fact, the average person tends to avoid working out on a regular basis. However, if you do plan on seeing results, well you need to be hitting the gym more than twice a week. Two hours a week of exercise is simply not enough exercise to change your body in a significant way. It’s a good start, but you will need to raise the frequency of your training, whether you are training for muscle growth, or weight loss, the frequency of your workouts are very important. For example, if you want larger glutes, or bigger arms, then you should be training those areas at least twice a week. However, that does not mean you should be avoiding the rest of your body. You still need to look proportionate, and therefore, the rest of your week should be dedicated to training the rest of your body. This means that there is no way that only training twice a week will help you get a better looking butt. You need to train your butt at least twice a week, but you still need to do your cardio, and train the rest of your body too so that your butt, legs and body all look proportionate. Especially if weight loss is your goal, you need to do some sort of cardio everyday. Either fasted cardio, or post workout cardio, but you need to do your cardio! I don’t love cardio but it is necessary for weight loss and your overall health!

In conclusion, there simply is no avoiding it. If you want to make a lasting change to your body. If you want to make a significant change to how you look, and feel, then you MUST train more than twice a week! You MUST do some sort of activity everyday if you want to make a significant change in your lifestyle, and your body. Working out, two to three times a week is a good start, don’t get me wrong! But it is not enough in the long term. If you work with a trainer two to three times a week, great! But you should be doing workouts and activities on your own to speed up the change in your body, and to get you on the right path to a healthier lifestyle.

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My sister and I enjoying some coconut water at the Toronto Yoga Show! 

 

My First week of Prep, on the road to Provincials!

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I know that I’ve been a little MIA from my blog that last little bit.Things have been crazy for me lately, and I haven’t been able to bring myself to sit and pound out a new piece, so here it is! I have officially started prep this past Monday for my upcoming show on August 6th 2016. I will be doing the 2016 GNC Allmax Ontario Natural Championships, and I’m really excited about it!

I’ve done two shows in the past, my first show was a bikini show on November 8th 2014, where I placed 8th. Eleven months later, I did my second show this past October 2015, where I placed 2nd in figure. Now, I am getting ready to do my third show at the Provincial level! I’m really proud of the work that I’ve put in the past almost year and a half, and I cannot wait to show the package that I’ve built this coming summer! Right now, at the beginning of this prep, this is the best conditioning that I have ever started prepping for a show with. Now that I will be 15 weeks out on Saturday, I am sitting at the leanest that I have ever been this far away from a show. This is because I really stuck to my reverse diet, if I didn’t hold strong those 6 weeks post show, I would not be in the condition that I am today, and I probably wouldn’t have made as many lean gains. I did however, lose a bit of my discipline in the new year, but all in all, I stayed fairly lean, and I’m so happy about that!

For those of you who are just joining me on my blog, you can check out my bodybuilding journey so far by clicking the following links. These blog posts will give you a good idea about why I started bodybuilding, and my journey since  then. The first post is my why. It is a piece that explains why I bodybuild, and why I love the sport so much. Why Do you do Bodybuilding? The next piece talks about the very beginning of my bodybuilding journey leading up to the prep of my second show. My Bodybuilding Journey So Far Then, this next piece talks about my final peak week ( the final week before my last show). The Final Home Stretch! Peak Week!! Next, is a piece I wrote following my second show. It talks about how my show went, and my plans for provincials. My Bodybuilding Journey so far PART TWO! And lastly, this final piece talks about reverse dieting, and what I did to come back from my latest show without rebounding. Reverse Dieting, what does that mean? How do you come back from doing a Bodybuilding show? All of these blog posts will get you up to speed pretty much to where I am at now. Happy reading! I will keep all of you updated on how my prep for this show will be going. Even though I may be in a stronger position out of the gate, I have a bunch of social obligations this summer that I simply can’t back out of, and well frankly, I would never dream of doing so. I am my best friend’s Maid of Honor!! So I have her bachelorette, and bridal shower to plan, and obviously attend before I step on stage this August. But if you know me at all, I like to have my cake and eat it too (so to speak), and I never take no for an answer when it comes to my passions. So, here I am #15weeksout and ready to kill this show, and be the best Maid of Honor a friend can have! Let’s get it!

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The top photo is me at 15 weeks out from my first Bikini show, and the bottom photos are of me 6 weeks out from the same show. My first bikini show was back in November 2014. 

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This is from my last show prep back in June 2015 where I rebounded from my bikini show pretty badly in my opinion. The left is 16 weeks out and the right is 15 weeks out from my first Figure show, that I did this past October 2015.

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This is me from this morning, #15weeksout from provincials. There is no filter on this photo because non of them really helped! And I’m not turning my knees out properly in the first pose, but you get the picture. This is the most muscular, and the leanest that I’ve ever been at 15 weeks! Let’s get shredded and win some hardware this August!

I’m excited to share the rest of my bodybuilding journey with you all this summer. I will keep you all posted through both my blog and my Instagram account. Thank you to all who have been following me, and watching me grow. There is so much more to learn, to grow, and to come in the future! Stay tuned, because I have plenty to share 🙂

Spring is Here! Summer is around the corner! Are you beach body ready?

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Spring has officially arrived! This means that fitness competition season is in full effect, and everyone has the summer on their brains! That being said, are you beach body ready? Every time spring comes around, and the weather starts getting warmer, everybody starts to come out of hibernation mode, and they start getting excited to wear shorts! But when we start thinking of summer clothes, we know this means we will be more exposed. This is why there is a sudden influx of people in the gym. Those New Years Resolutioners that have fallen off, get a painful reminder that summer is fast approaching, and therefore, march to the gym to try and get back on track with their fitness goals. Hey! I’m not complaining! It’s great for my business! And I get excited when I see people motivated to improve their health.

Lately, I’ve noticed a lot of women on my Facebook News Feed, posting videos about beauty and body image. These videos are very female focused but I think body image, and self-esteem effect men as well, more so now than ever before. Obviously not to the same degree as women, but nonetheless the pressure to “look good” is strong for both sexes. This has got me thinking, with summer coming along, and the pressure to look good, how many people are terrified to hit the beach this summer? I’m sure that many of us feel this way, or at least you’re devising a plan to get you to a place where you feel comfortable wearing next to nothing this summer. And this is where I come in. I plan on giving you some solid advice to help you get closer to your beach body goals! However, before I do, this is a disclaimer: don’t think that loosing weight is going to help you love yourself because it won’t. In addition, don’t think that by doing a bikini show it’s going to do the same, because it won’t. First of all you need to accept yourself as you are, you need to understand that your weight has nothing to do with who you are as a person. The number on the scale only describes your relationship with gravity, not your worth. Whether you are 100 lbs or 200 lbs, your values, personality, intelligence, etc. Are much more valuable to society than the size and shape of your ass. Beauty is fleeting, and your body is a vessel to take you through life. It must be nurtured, and respected. Not tortured, and mocked. Workout, and eat well because your body deserves the best. The healthier and stronger your body is, the better your quality of life. So, if you plan on improving your fitness, it should be because you plan on improving your quality of life, not to fit a “beauty standard.”

That being said, here are my top 5 Nutritional types to help you achieve your summer fitness goals:

  1. DRINK TONS OF WATER!! HOT WATER TOO! – Staying hydrated is extremely important as the temperatures rise, however, it is also very important to help you get through your workouts safely. In addition, many times when you’re “feeling hungry” you may actually just be thirsty. This is very true when you’re watching your favorite series on Netflix after a long day of work, when we get the urge to snack, you should grab for water instead. For me? When I was preparing for both of my bodybuilding shows, herbal teas were my savior! Hot water helps you feel full. Herbal teas are not caffeinated, so they hydrate you, and I found it very relaxing. This helped me not feel so hungry before bed, and it relaxed me so that I could have a good deep sleep.
  2. MAKE SURE YOU GET PLENTY OF REST!! – When you’re trying to loose weight, you are generally restricting calories, meaning you are consuming less energy than you would normally. So, in order to conserve energy you must get plenty of rest. This will also help to minimize your stress levels, and the stress you are putting on your body. With ample rest, your body is able to recover properly so that you can workout, and complete your daily tasks.
  3. MAKE SURE THAT YOU ARE EXERCISING REGULARLY!! – It is very important that you exercise, especially WEIGHT TRAIN while trying to loose weight. Anytime, no matter how safe the diet, you will inevitably loose muscle mass along with fat and excess water. In order to minimize the amount of muscle you loose, you must weight train on a regular and consistent basis!
  4. EAT PLENTY OF PROTEIN!!! – This is very important when you’re trying to slim down! You will inevitably loose muscle mass, so you want to keep as much of it as possible, this is why you must eat a sufficient amount of protein. Also, because you will be weight training, you must eat enough protein to feed and protect your muscles. Lastly, protein is the most difficult energy source for your body to breakdown, this will help you feel fuller for longer. The amount of protein you should be eating, or the amount of calories you should be consuming to reach your fitness goals, should be determined by an experienced and trained professional.
  5. EAT PLENTY OF GREENS!!! – Sometimes, no matter how much water you drink, or herbal tea, you will still feel super hungry! Trust me, I know! I’ve been there! This is why I say to you that veggies, especially green veggies, are unlimited when dieting. They are high fiber, high water, and low carb. They will help keep you full, and they are full of essential nutrients to help keep you HEALTHY!!! That is the most important thing, you want to maintain your health over a certain “body image.” If you are using a calorie counter app, I would not include my vegetables, but I would include all of my fruits! Avocado is a fruit so please log it! So are tomatoes! Log those too! But veggies? Eat all the veggies, so to speak.

BEST OF LUCK ON YOUR WEIGHT LOSS GOALS! ALWAYS SEEK PROFESSIONAL HELP WHENEVER TRYING TO ACHIEVE YOUR FITNESS GOALS! ESPECIALLY IF YOU DON’T HAVE MUCH ATHLETIC EXPERIENCE! THIS WILL HELP TO ENSURE THAT YOU REACH YOUR GOALS IN THE SAFEST AND MOST EFFECTIVE WAY POSSIBLE.

How Exercise can help to slow down the aging process

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This past Friday was my 27th Birthday! And I had the best time this weekend celebrating it with friends and family. I love my Birthday to be honest, it’s second only to Christmas as my favorite time of year. A lot of people once they past 25 stop loving their birthdays and start to get scared of their birthdays. This is mostly because they’re scared of aging. I think we’ve all been told at some point that turning 30 is so scary! And as I creep closer and closer to the dirty thirty, I am less and less afraid of it. I’m not afraid of getting older, because to be honest I don’t feel very old at all! I feel amazing! I mean every year I get more and more athletic, and I’ve become stronger as well. I strive to improve every year, and because of this my confidence grows. I feel way better about who I am now than I did when I was 19. And fitness had a lot to do with it! So many of my clients, especially my female clients are afraid of getting older. Mostly because they are afraid of loosing their looks, their youth, and their vitality. They always ask me, “how do you look so good?” As if somehow my answer would change, and there is some sort of magical pill that will keep them young and beautiful forever. However, I always tell them that the fountain of youth lies within a balanced diet and regular exercise! This article is basically going to talk about how regular exercise can slow down the hands of time, and will help you age much more gracefully than if you didn’t exercise at all.

Me and some of my closest friends at my 27th birthday party ❤

First of all, your age is just a number. It really doesn’t mean that much, and you should never let your age define who you are. You are capable of being whoever you want, you don’t have to be a feeble, sick, weak, or fat person if you don’t want to be. And you sure as hell don’t have to feel old either! In my mind, you are only as old as you feel, and for the most part this works out pretty well for me, except for the fact that there are social expectations for you as you age… Other than that, I am convinced that I’m not a day over 21 😛 But let’s get down to brass tacks, how exactly can exercises slow down the aging process?

How aging effects your health vs. Exercise:

Heart and Circulation Effect of Aging Effect of Exercise
Resting heart rate Increase Decrease
Maximum heart rate Decrease Slows Decrease
Maximum pumping capacity Decrease Increase
Heart muscle stiffness Increase Decrease
Blood vessel stiffness Increase Decrease
Blood pressure Increase Decrease
Blood
Number of red blood cells Decrease No change
Blood viscosity (blood thickness) Increase Decrease
Lungs
Maximum oxygen uptake Decrease No change
Intestines
Speed of emptying Decrease Increase
Bones
Calcium content and strength Decrease Increase
Muscles
Muscle mass and strength Decrease Increase
Metabolism
Metabolic rate Decrease Increase
Body fat Increase Decrease
Blood sugar Increase Decrease
Insulin levels Increase Decrease
LDL (“bad”) cholesterol Increase Decrease
HDL (“good”) cholesterol Decrease Increase
Sex hormone levels Decrease Slight Decrease
Nervous System
Nerve conduction and reflexes Slower Decrease
Quality of sleep Decrease Increase
Risk of depression Increase Decrease
Memory lapses Increase Decrease

As you can see, exercise has a positive effect on your major organs and regulatory systems. Obviously the process of aging is inevitable, but exercise can either decrease or slow down a lot of the effects that aging has on our vital organs, and regulatory systems. Not only does exercise effect our physical health in a positive way, but our mental and emotional health as well. Aging can have a very negative effect on a person’s self-esteem. However, regular exercise can have a very positive effect on a person’s self-esteem. Exercise along with a balanced diet can improve your overall body composition, making you leaner, and stronger. The strength and empowerment you gain in the gym will also give you an increased sense of self-worth and confidence. Aging however, weakens your body. If you don’t exercise, as you age you will loose muscle mass and bone density. This will make you weaker, frail, and more prone to injury. You will loose your independence much more quickly as you age if you don’t exercise, than if you did. As the saying goes, “if you don’t use it, you loose it.” This is very true, as you can see in the chart above, if you don’t keep your body active, your body’s ability to perform will decrease much more quickly than it would with regular exercise.

Exercise is great for the body, mind, and spirit. Regular exercise and activity helps to keep all of these areas youthful. However, if you do decide to improve your physical fitness, and engage in an exercise program, please do so with caution! Especially if you are a beginner! There is no use in injuring yourself and setting yourself further back than when you started. Start off small, choose activities you enjoy, and ask for help! Always consult a professional when it comes to your health! Speak to a doctor, a nutritionist, and a well known coach/personal trainer to get you to a healthier, and longer lasting life! What is the point of living to 100 if you aren’t able to do anything when you get there? Eat well, workout, and you will have a more youthful and fulfilling life as you age.

My younger sister, me, and our friend Morgan celebrating my birthday this past weekend ❤

I can’t Squat Because….

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Lately while teaching some of my Bootcamp classes I’ve heard the following excuse “I can’t squat because…” Now to make this very clear, I am asking the member to do a body weight squat with their hands clasped behind their head as part of their warm up. The most common excuse as to why someone cannot perform a squat is because of their knees… This is very frustrating for me, because these members tend to be very persistent of their inability to perform the exercise, and not to mention I’m teaching a large class. I don’t have much time to explain to them that they literally perform a body weight squat everyday, and I don’t want to single them out in front of the class either. So, I decided to write this blog post to inform you guys that just because you may have knee issues of any kind, this includes arthritis, it does not mean that you can never ever perform a squat. I mean if you can figure out how to poop standing up without a diaper, please give me a call! Because literally every time you sit and stand up you are doing the same exact movement as you would when performing a squat…

Almost everyone is born with the ability to do a full squat like this child. How many children have you seen sitting like this to play?! This is a proper squat, however without proper practice we loose the ability to perform our squats like this…

A squat is a natural movement, it is a functional exercise, and it is something that you do everyday. The problem however, does not necessarily lie with the exercise itself but with your inability to perform the exercise correctly. This is why many of you may feel pain in your knees when you go to sit and stand up. It is very unfortunate the amount of fear that surrounds the squat. It is fear, reduced range of motion, and excess girth that makes the squat difficult and uncomfortable to perform. Just because something is difficult, or uncomfortable, does not mean that you should completely cut it out of your exercise routines, especially when it is something that is so essential to your everyday life! Instead of trying to avoid this exercise at all costs, ask for help! Explain your pain, and your situation to someone who is a trained professional like a physiotherapist, an athletic therapist, or a well trained personal trainer. They can assess your movement pattern, and help you to improve your form and strength when performing a squat so you can either reduce or remove any sort of pain when you squat. Like I’ve said before, you do some sort of squat everyday, so why not learn how to do it properly? Because if you are experiencing pain when you squat, then there must be something wrong, and if there’s something wrong it should be corrected! If it is left unattended your pain will only increase, and your ability to sit and stand on your own will degrade over time. Do you really want to have to hold on to something like a cane so that you can be able to sit and stand?Probably not, but if you are in pain now when you squat, and therefore you refuse to squat, or even break past 90 degrees when squatting, then this will be your foreseeable future sooner rather than later.

#gym #fithumor #squats:

The body is an amazing thing, and there have been so many accounts of people coming back from serious injuries and learning how to move again. So why is it that people think that just because they experience minor knee pain, they can no longer can bend their knees and perform a squat? To me it is illogical, and fearful. You can squat, even if it is assisted or with just body weight there is no reason why you cannot sit and stand back up. I have done a video tutorial on the squat in the past, actually it was the first video tutorial I’ve ever made. It is meant to teach you how to properly perform a squat and what a squat should look like. Watch the video, then record yourself performing a squat. Compare, and evaluate your squat. I have also provided some suggestions on how to improve your range of motion and strength so that you can further improve your form. https://alexrinaldo.wordpress.com/2015/10/15/squat-tutorial-video/  In addition, I have written another article related to the squat, it can also help to provide some insight as to why you are not performing the squat properly and therefore experiencing pain. https://alexrinaldo.wordpress.com/2015/10/02/want-to-feel-more-bootylicious-but-youre-not-seeing-the-results-here-are-some-reasons-why-you-might-not-be-getting-the-jlo-butt-youre-looking-for/

This post is not meant to be rude, judgemental or harsh. I just want to simply open your eyes to the fact that completely avoiding certain exercises like the squat will not help your situation. If anything it will only make your situation worse. As the saying goes “if you don’t use it, you loose it.” This is very true when it comes to your range of motion in the squat. If you never allow yourself to get full depth and range of motion in your squat, you will loose the ability to do so. This is why you must work on your flexibility, mobility, form and strength in your legs so that you never loose the ability to sit and stand. Even if you must start out with some sort of assist so that you can perform the exercise properly, so be it! If you continue to work on it, eventually you will be able to perform a squat completely on your own! Wouldn’t it feel so great to be able to move freely without pain? Well it takes patience and hard work, but it is possible! People do it all the time! You just have to be willing to work through the pain now, so you can be free of it later.

Invest more than $ into yourself

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I haven’t been as consistent with my blogging this month as I would like, and I have been brewing this idea in my head for a little while now, but I have only recently found the angle that I would like to approach “investing” in oneself. My coach uses the line “invest in yourself” many times on all of his social media posts, especially the progress photos of his competitors and clients. Ever since the New Year, I’ve been thinking about what it means to invest in yourself. Most of the time when we think of investments, or investing, we think about money. This is the most obvious form of investing, but my plan is to tell you that it isn’t the only form of investment, especially when it comes to your fitness and health.

First of all, I would be lying if I said that absolutely no monetary investment is required to improve your fitness, health, and lifestyle. Money has a huge impact on your ability to live a fit and healthy lifestyle. However, what I am trying to say with this article is that you cannot just keep throwing money at a problem and hope that it goes away. If you really want to make a change in your life for the better, you must invest more than just money. For example, if you bought the fanciest gym clothes, went to the most upscale gym, and bought an expensive personal trainer, that doesn’t mean that you are guaranteed to reach your goals. Your chances of reaching your goals definitely increase, because now you have a means to reach your goals, but that’s about it. There are a lot of people who think that now that they’ve paid for a gym membership they are going to loose weight, or now that they have a personal trainer, they are going to reach their goals. These things definitely help, especially having an educated trainer, but they are not a guarantee. Why? Well that’s mostly because of you. You need to be fully committed and invested in your goals. Not only financially, but mentally, emotionally, and physically. You literally need to invest your ENTIRE self into any goal that you set for yourself if you truly want to be successful. Investing in gym clothes, a gym membership, and a personal trainer, are all very superficial, and they mean absolutely nothing if you’re not fully committed to making a change in your life.

I was having lunch with a friend about two weeks ago, and we were talking about our businesses, and how most people like the idea of change, but they are not actually committed to making a change. This is why so many people make these superficial, financial investments like new gear, a fancy gym membership, and so on, but they don’t invest anything else into making a change. Just because you went to the gym, trained with your coach for an hour does not mean that you’re going to get ripped in no time, it almost means nothing at all… Now some of you may be asking yourself why that is? And well, sure you went to the gym, and sure you trained for an hour, but were you mentally present and focused for the entire hour? Did you put forth all your energy and effort? Even if you did all of that, that still doesn’t mean you’ll be getting ripped.Why? Well that’s because you only invested in just the one hour, there are 23 hours left in the day for you to mess it up! Some of you may be laughing at this point, and yes it is funny, but it is also true. If you don’t want that hour spent in the gym to be in vain, then you must invest the rest of your day towards your fitness goals. In fact, if being fit and healthy is important to you, then really you need to be centering your entire life around it. Like I’ve mentioned before, if you want to be successful at anything you must invest your entire self to it.

Now a lot of you may be thinking woah, wait… What is this girl talking about? What does she mean, center my life around being healthy? Or investing my entire self into being fit? I’m not a gym rat, I’m not that vain, I don’t need a six pack. And this is where my point is proved once again. A lot of people say, “I don’t want to diet, I want to be healthy, I want to make a lifestyle change…” However, a lot people don’t realize the amount of things they need to change and/or give up if they really do want a “healthy lifestyle.” Most people do not lead a healthy lifestyle, and most people don’t realize how unhealthy their lifestyle really is until it’s almost too late. This is why there is so much obesity, mental health issues like depression, anxiety, and disease plaguing our population! Now I don’t expect everyone to have the discipline it takes to train, and eat like a bodybuilder. Especially when it comes to getting ready for shows. I do believe in balance, and for each individual that means something different. But let me make this clear, you need to be very realistic with the goals that you set for yourself. You really can’t have your cake and eat it too, so to speak. Don’t ever expect to have abs if you don’t plan on drastically changing how you eat and how you train. If however, you would like to reduce your body fat to a healthy level, and improve your overall fitness, you won’t necessarily have to drastically change your entire life to the complete opposite of the spectrum. Meaning, you don’t have to start training twice a day, and eating 6 meals a day right away, if being completely ripped isn’t your goal.

If you do want to make a lifestyle change for the better, start off small. Be realistic!! Make your goals manageable! Do not set yourself an impossible goal of going to the gym 5 days a week if you’ve never set foot in there before. Start at maybe twice a week, and increase it from there. You will stay much more motivated, and you will be much more successful if you can set attainable goals for yourself right at the start. After you feel successful at going twice a week, then add in a third day. After you’ve been doing that consistently, you will then have the confidence to make other lifestyle changes to further help you reach your fitness goals. This takes time, an essential investment that needs to be made when you decide to commit to a fitness goal. There is no magical pill, or invention that will do the work for you. Like I’ve said before, being fit and healthy is work. It is a labor of love, a love for yourself and your well being that is. It is also an investment that requires you to be mentally, physically, emotionally, and financially locked in. You can’t eat well for five days of the week and then every weekend you get completely derailed. You will never get any further in your pursuit for fitness and health. You need to be consistent with your diet and your workouts. You can’t diet during the week, fall off on the weekend, and then punish yourself Monday by dieting really hard again. Set manageable goals for your diet just like your workouts, AND STICK TO THEM!! Change requires COMMITMENT!!! You need to be fully committed aka fully invested in all your pursuits, fitness or not because money unfortunately doesn’t solve all of life’s problems.

How I’ve enhanced my feminine shape through weight training :)

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Now, you may have read the title of this post and thought to yourself, “how is this possible? Doesn’t weight training make you manly, or bulky?” These are some of the myths that intimidate women from the weight rack, and even though many women know better, they are still worried about getting too big. So they say things like, “I just want to be toned.” However, there is no such thing as “toning” your body in the gym. There are only two things you can accomplish in the gym when it comes to your physique. You can either lean out or build size aka muscle. You cannot “tone.” I wrote a blog post not too long ago called “Toned? Or Skinny? Toned, the new word for skinny…” https://alexrinaldo.wordpress.com/2015/09/17/toned-or-skinny-toned-the-new-word-for-skinny/ Basically, in this article I talk about how when most women say they want to be toned, what they really mean is that they want to be smaller. They want to lean out, however, when you lean out and you don’t have a solid muscle base, you actually just look skinny. If you want to look defined, well you need to get lean, and build muscle, it’s as simple as that.

belly-dancer

This photo was taken back in my 4th year at laurier when I was teaching a bunch of cardio based classes, and not a lot of weight training. My arm as you can see is just very long and lanky. There is no real shape there.

So the real question here is, how did you enhance your feminine shape through weight training? Well first of all, I’ve always had a decent butt from skating, dancing, and cheerleading. However, bodybuilding, and serious weight training has only made my butt higher, bigger, and rounder. And let’s be real, who doesn’t love a great ass?! Bodybuilding has enhanced my feminine shape and curves in my lower body. Now, many of you may be thinking, well everyone knows that you can build a great ass in the gym… But what if I told you I’ve built myself more of an hour glass shape in the gym as well? Unfortunately it is not possible to grow your boobs in the gym, but you can make your waistline appear smaller in proportion to your back and shoulders. How do you do that? Well you grow your lats, and your delts, creating what bodybuilders call a V-taper. So if you have a V-taper, combined with a great butt and legs, you have now created an X shape or an hourglass shape. This can all be built in the gym, you can build your back, shoulders, legs, and butt in the gym, through some consistent, and heavy weight lifting, and the proper nutrition to sustain proper growth and muscle retention. Obviously genetics play a small role. It is much easier to create a more dramatic V-taper if God gave you a smaller waist naturally. Us women come in many shapes, however, this does not mean that you cannot make your waistline appear smaller in proportion to your shoulders, because you can! And you do that by lifting weights!

This is a progress photo of my V-taper. I will say that I was blessed with a small waist naturally, but the width of my back and the size of my shoulders I’ve built myself. On the left was December 18th 2015, and on the right was January 22nd 2016. Almost a month apart and you can see I’ve grown a tone!

Still scared of weight training? You probably are, it is intimidating I agree. I was once intimidated from weight training when I first got into fitness. Coming from a dance background, I was not familiar with weight training at all. However, now that I have educated myself and really became serious about it, I will never look back! It saddens me really that so many women are scared of getting stronger. It’s as if they’re afraid of losing their femininity, and therefore no longer being attractive to the opposite sex. But I’m more muscular now than I’ve ever been, and trust me, boys still find me attractive 😉 No worries there! And like I said, if anything I’ve only enhanced my hour glass shape, only making me look curvier and more feminine. My muscles, and my strength empowers me like you wouldn’t believe! Fitness in general empowers me! Never have I felt more confident and capable in everything that I do. I love looking in the mirror LOL as narcissistic as that may sound but I do. I worked so hard for my body, and I am so proud of what I see. I built this body, it is my temple, and every day I work on making it stronger, and better. Ladies, don’t you want that? Don’t you want to feel a great sense of pride every time you look in the mirror? Don’t you want to love what you see? So many girls say they do, but they really don’t, and most of the time it is out of fear.

If you want the real truth girls, here it is… Most of you do not train often and consistent enough for you to see any real muscle growth. So the chances of you ever getting “bulky” is slim to none. Secondly, the majority of you do not eat properly to sustain any real muscle growth either. Many of you, I believe are quite naive when it comes to weight training. A lot of you underestimate the amount of work it takes to get any real size on your body, because let me tell you, it takes a HELL OF A LOT! I literally workout everyday! I weight train 6 times a week! It is not magic that my body looks the way that it does. It has taken me over a year to have the body that I do today. So, what I’m telling you is that you will NEVER get manly or bulky from weight training. Especially if you’re not using any chemical drugs to enhance your muscle growth. Please, stop worrying, and start lifting anything heavier than your purse! Don’t even think about grabbing those two pound dumbbells! It feels good to be strong, trust me 😉 And it looks good too! But that’s just my opinion…

Me about to go to my bodybuilding team’s Christmas Party this past December… I don’t think I look manly LOL 😛