News & Events

There are some concepts when it comes to weight loss that have to be put to ease. So many people, especially women can get caught up in fitness and diet mistakes that it can potentially drive you crazy. From crazy TV weight loss plans, to eliminating certain food groups or working out for hours on end can suck you into believing that this is what needs to be done. Here are some mistakes that people make and women are at the key marketing target !

-Taking what you see on TV and the gimmicks that is proposes are widely used as marketing tricks. Due to the reason that many women want to find the best, newest and greatest way to lose weight. Programs that show people eating pizza, cookies, and sweets while losing weight, is very counter productive when it comes to adopting those strategies into real life circumstances. Many of those programs are designed for a short amount of time, you get results quick because they cut out calories, carbohydrate and food groups. And since these programs hardly advocate for weight training, once you start to eat “normal” again you might even end up gaining weight!

-Programs with point systems or premeasured foods keep women in the dark about permanent change, and by setting them up for weight fluctuations and long term failure, they increase the odds that former customers will come right back whenever they want a quick fix in weight loss. Sadly, any program that allows you to eat pre-packaged foods or use a crazy point system will create habits over time that don’t allow you to learn how to eat which then has a 97% failure rate post program. A solution to this would be to become educated on nutrition and training and utilize them for your own benefit and see lasting results that may take time !!

-Many companies are now trying to make everything “healthy”. Problem is that many foods that have the words “healthy” or “weight loss” may not be as healthy as you may think !!! When health conscious women hear that they need more protein or fiber, many will choose fortified / processed foods. More often than not, these fake health foods are appetite-inducing sugar bombs.

-What many women don’t realize is that sugar is listed under a ton of different names and they all do about the same thing in the body, even earthy sounding ones like coconut crystals and organic agave nectar syrup. Likewise, fat free, sugar free, high fiber, organic, and gluten-free foods can still make you fat.

-Some of the biggest offenders are: Ensure, Boost, Slim Fast, Carnation Instant Breakfast, Special-K protein shakes and protein cereal, Kashi cereals and cookies, Kind Bars, Fiber One “protein” bars: These are the most insidious forms of junk food because they masquerade as nutritious.And because these products appear healthy, they’re easier to rationalize eating in excess. These foods only lead to excess hunger because they are not as satisfying to your body as whole foods that are not processed !

-Women who seem to ALWAYS be on a diet usually are the ones not really seeing the results they are after. WHY is this you might ask? Most women who continually make fat loss a priority don’t realize that they’d become more efficient at burning fat if they simply had more muscle. Eating to weigh less will make women smaller, which will require them to eat less in order to stay smaller. Muscle is lost, metabolism is sluggish, calories have to be lowered again and again, and the downward spiral eventually spirals out of control.Most fat loss strategies work at first, but then the body adapts, plateaus, and regresses as muscle is catabolized. This is bad especially in the midst of lots of strenuous exercise, because a loss of muscle just leads to a skinny-fat body and a handicapped metabolism.

-Late night eating happens to all of us. If you tend to eat lighter meals all day, no wonder you are hungry at night. This is your body telling you IT NEEDS FOOD ! Those hours of lacking nutrition can lead to elevated cortisol for lengthy periods of time. This combo of high cortisol, exhaustion from an insufficiently fueled day, and any other incidental emotions become a trigger for late night food feasts.If you choose to eat substantially during earlier meals and fueled up appropriately for workouts they wouldn’t struggle so much with nighttime cravings and second helpings of dinner or dessert.

-Carbohydrates are NOT the enemey! The problem with low carb plans is that many weight-training females eventually get fatter while sticking to them. Athletic ladies who eliminate starches tend to have an insatiable appetite for fat. This happens because their need for carbs isn’t being met.Then the yearning for excessive fat-filled, calorie-dense foods comes into play. These high fat foods, healthy as they may be, aren’t as effective as carbs at doing all the things their weight-trained bodies require.The more muscle a body has, the greater its capacity for storing carbs as glycogen. And when you deplete your muscle glycogen, your just draining their muscles of usable energy and water.

Take this advice and use it to make smart decisions. Remember that what people SAY vs what people DO to lose weight or follow the “newest” trend is not always the best or right way to do it. Staying consistent over time with good solid nutrition is the way to go !

Push-ups may seem like an easy movement to do but they require a lot of upper body and core strength in order to do them.  Push-ups not only develop strength in the chest and triceps but also great for improving the stability of the rotator cuff and scapulae as well. The predominant value of performing push-ups from a total body perspective is that they force you to stabilize your entire body. Many people suffer from core weakness or instability, and push-ups definitely put those issues on display. The push-up is an excellent exercise to improve your core and upper body strength. In addition, you don’t need any equipment, so you can do push-ups literally anywhere.

When people perform push-ups there are common limitations that are seen on a regular basis.

1. Lack of  core strength
2. Lack of posterior control
3. Lack of pressing strength

How to Perform a Push-up 

Push-up Technique. Assume the Push-up starting position with your elbows locked. Lower yourself by bending your elbows until your chest almost touches the floor. Come back up by pushing through the floor.

Hand Position. Don’t take your hands out to wide. Put your hands slightly wider than shoulder-width. Hands turned out 45°. Tuck Your Elbows. Easier on your shoulders. Keep your elbows at a 45° angle to your body during Push-ups.

Hold Core TIGHT . Create a a straight line from shoulders to ankles. Push your abs out as if someone was going to punch you in the stomach.

Squeeze Your Glutes. Push your abs out while squeezing your glutes hard. Both will avoid any hyper-extension of your lower back.

Tuck Your Chin. Lead with your chest, not with your head. Your neck must stay inline with the rest of your spine. Don’t look forward.

 

Modifications to Push-Ups

If performing a regular push-up is too much to accomplish at first you have modifications to practice to get you into a doing push ups consistently.

1.) Learn how to hold an elbow plank in the hollow position. Being able to keep your core tight and engage those muscles through a plank will help build stability and strength to perform a push-up.

2.) Perform an incline push-up. This helps to decrease the resistance the athlete needs to push therefore making it easier. This is a great way to build that core and pushing strength.

3.) Push-ups from the knees helps to decrease the resistance by adding assistance from the knees. Be sure to keep the core tight the entire time and not to push through the hips.

4.) Push-up holds help build the strength and muscle used in performing push-ups. By holding the push-up position you are strengthening the core and stabilizer muscles.

Push-up Variations

 Close Grip Push-ups. Shift the emphasis to your triceps. Perform Push-up with your hands slight narrower than shoulder-width.
Isometric  Push-ups. Improve shoulder health & posture. Hold the bottom position for time. Hands elevated for a greater stretch. Example. Blast Straps/Ring Push-ups.

Ring push-ups. It creates an unstable surface that requires the muscles to work harder thus creating a situation to enhance muscle growth.

Incline Push-ups. Shifts the emphasis to your shoulders.

Decline Push-ups. Doing push-ups with your feet elevated on a surface makes it harder due to you adding the resistance of gravity to your body weight.

 

Not a master of the push up quite yet? All of these tips and tricks might be the ticket to getting through all those push-ups in the next Angie WOD you do !!!

 

 

 

 

Sources :

Improving Your Push-up

http://www.builtlean.com/2015/02/10/push-up-form-tips/

http://stronglifts.com/how-to-perform-push-ups-correctly/