Variety Truly Is The Spice of Fitness

Different types of exercise can be very humbling for people because it exposes our weaknesses - and most people don't like being/looking bad at anything. The commitment to exercise is hard enough and now I'm asking you to do two minutes of Kettblebell swings, run the bleachers, do turkish get ups and push up planks. "That's too hard!" This is why most people never leave their aerobics class, get off the treadmill or attempt something other than their 15 minute walk. As a "challenging" based program MVP Kettlebell Boot Camp is designed to emphasize your weaknesses as well as your strengths. This is the sole reason why it works. Never before did you see Cardio and strength training in the same program because even trainers gravitate toward only one or two specialties.

Boredom, plateaus and injury are the enemy and the only way to combat them is through Variety. If you're struggling it's working. Swallow some humble pie and don’t give up.

10 Reasons to Exercise

Regular exercise gives you so many amazing benefits, but let's face it, some days you may get too busy, too stressed and simply too tired to fit exercise in your day.

Here's a list of my top 10 reasons to exercise. Pull out this list and read it when you're having one of those days.

1. To Prevent Disease
Exercise has been proven to reduce the risk of just about every single health problem known to man, from Stroke to Heart Disease to Cancer and Osteoporosis. Exercise is also a great defense against Type 2 Diabetes, which is one of the most widely growing diseases in the United States today.

2. To Look Great
Exercise firms your body, improves posture and even makes your skin glow. Looking your best is a wonderful result of regular exercise.

3. To Lose Weight and Keep It Off
Exercise burns fat and prevents future fat storage. If you want to have a thinner, healthier body, exercise is the answer.

4. To Have More Energy
Anyone who exercises regularly will tell you that they are more energetic, less easily upset and are more peaceful.

5. To Sleep Better
Exercise boosts energy levels, but also wears you out. It makes you feel more alive during the day and sleep like a baby at night.

6. To Age Slower
Exercise is one of the most effective ways to fight aging. When you age your body loses muscle and bone, the loss of both is drastically reduced with regular exercise. Exercise also helps reduce inflammation.

7. To Ease Depression
Exercise has been proven to reduce depression – sometimes even as effectively as prescription drugs. Just chalk this up as yet another amazing benefit to exercise.

8. To Stay Mentally Sharp
Not only is exercise smart for your heart and weight, but it can make you smarter and better at what you do. Exercise has been shown to improve memory and other cognitive functions, and seems to have a protective effect against Dementia. John J. Ratey, MD, an associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and author of A User's Guide to the Brain says "exercise is really for the brain, not the body. It affects mood, vitality, alertness, and feelings of well-being."

9. To Reduce Sick Days
People who exercise regularly are 50% less likely to call in sick to work. A regular exercise program reduces colds and upper respiratory infections.

10. To Boost Confidence
Being fit, feeling healthy and having energy are all building blocks to having great confidence. There is no better confidence booster than sticking with a regular exercise program.

Here's an Inexpensive Way to Improve Your Speed

Every athlete wants to get quicker and faster. The difference in being faster than your opponent can make a difference in a big game.

I'm going to show you a simple and inexpensive exercise that will improve your first step and at the same time will improve your speed and quickness.

The exercise that I'm talking about that will add speed and quickness to your tools is jumping rope.

The benefits of this simple but yet complex training technique ranks as also an ideal brain exercise, bone builder, and as one of the most efficient ways of improving cardiovascular fitness in as little as ten minutes.

According to research jump rope for a minimum of five minutes a day can improve your foot speed and when you build to ten minutes of nonstop jumping at 120 RPMs it can provide the same benefits as 30 minutes of jogging!

Simple grab a jump rope and do the following:

1. Start with the jump rope in each hand.
2. Jump off the ground and start swinging the jump rope under your feet.
3.Continue jumping up and down as you bring the jump rope under your feet.
4.Continue for the prescribed number of 500 jumps or for 5 minutes.

Improve Your Speed By Running Down Hill

A great way to improve your speed on the athletic field is to run hills downhill. That's right running downhill instead of uphill. A lot of great athlete's such as Walter Payton and Jerry Rice improve their speed and leg strength by incorporate hill training in their workouts.

Running down Hills has many benefits:

Helps develop power and leg strength
Improves stride frequency and length
Develops co-ordination
Good for muscle memory by allowing your legs to move faster
Encourages the proper running form by using your arm action during the driving phase
Develops control as well as improved speed
Promotes strength endurance
Develops maximum speed and strength
Improves your time in the 60 yard dash

Here's a hill training routine:

1. Find a hill with a slope of approx 15° decline and a length of 60 yards
2. Running down the hill to build up to full speed and then maintain the speed for a further 30 yards
3. Recovery walk back up
4. Start with 2 sets of 4 repetitions ( a total of 8 times) and gradually increase over time

Do this routine twice a week and soon you will find yourself improving your speed.

MVP Client Loses 40 Pounds in 2 Months

Each and every January people make weight loss a New Year’s Resolution and most of them give up by January 15th. They continue to make excuses, stay lazy and eat more and more and gain lots of weight.

Michael Maclin is different because at the beginning of the year Maclin came to MVP Fitness wanting to make a change and with hard work and determination he has lost 40 pounds since he started MVP Kettlebell Boot Camp.

Maclin is very satisfied with his results so far but admits he "has a long way to go.”

Keys to success:

Maclin has changed his eating habits by trimming his portions and adding fat burning foods like lean protein, veggies, and fiber-rich whole grains to his meals. Maclin also joined MVP Kettlebell Boot Camp in January, one month into the program, his clothes felt looser. Kettlebell training has helped him to rev up his metabolism and is helping him to lose even more weight.

MVP Kettlebell workouts are:

Efficient - Maclin works at a job that has a jammed packed schedule each and every day so finding the time to workout and exercise is a challenge. MVP Kettlebell classes are strength, flexibility and cardio workouts in one, so he spends less time in the gym and more time living his life!

Effective - Maclin has made great strides in fat loss, strength gains and changes in his overall body composition. His Before and After pictures tell the true story.

It's not magic. Maclin WORKS VERY HARD to burn 600-900 calories in 45 minutes, And is getting quick, quantifiable results!

You can become the next success story. My next MVP Kettlebell Boot Camp starts the week of April 4th.

Here's a glance at the schedule:

UPCOMING PROGRAMS

NEW TOWN - ST. CHARLES-MON/WED EVENING (6:00-6:45pm)
AND SAT MORNING (8:30-9:15am)-Session begins Monday,
April 4, 2011 at the Amphitheatre across from Town Hall.
Class costs $75 for the 4 week(12 classes) program.
Please register by logging onto www.mvpfitness.net.

NORTH COUNTY PROGRAMS- All classes begin Tuesday, April
5, 2011 at Hazelwood Central High School, 15875
New Halls Ferry Road, Florissant. Class costs
$75 for 3 days per week (12 classes) or $55 for
2 days per week (8 classes). Please register
by logging onto www.mvpfitness.net.

There are three times to choose from:

NORTH COUNTY BREAKFAST CLUB-TUES/THURS MORNING
(6:00-6:45am) AND SAT MORNING (7:00-7:45am)

NORTH COUNTY SUPPER CLUB GROUP I (BEGINNER'S LEVEL)
-TUES/THURS EVENING (5:30-6:15pm) AND
SAT MORNING (7:00-7:45am)

NORTH COUNTY SUPPER CLUB GROUP II-TUES/THURS EVENING
(6:45-7:15pm)AND SAT MORNING (7:00-7:45 am)

For more info log onto www.mvpfitness.net

6 Ways to Defeat Childhood Obesity

Today's generation of children are the most sedentary generation in human history. Add this to the fact that 67% of the U.S. adult population is overweight, and our children are up against some daunting odds. An overweight child has a 95% chance of becoming an overweight adult without intervention. It’s up to you, as the parent, to set a healthy example for your child to follow. If your children see you making good food choices and embracing physical activity, they too will follow.

Here are a few easy ways to get you and your children started:

1. Get moving. Walk, jog or bike around the neighborhood with your children. Encourage your children to take mini physical activity breaks from watching TV or doing homework.

2. Make healthy food choices. Keep less processed food in the house, and both you and your children will benefit.

3. Organized fitness. This could be team sports, martial arts, dance classes. I-9 Sports in Florissant has a great sports program for boys and girls! Call Chip Wilson at 314-313-8036 for more info.

4. Read it, then eat it! Have your children start reading nutrition labels on food. This will empower them to make good choices. Turn it into a contest: Take them food shopping and have them look for cereals that have less than 10 grams of sugar per serving.

5. Everything in moderation. Never marginalize your child’s desires by forbidding certain foods. It will turn your children into closet eaters. Instead of your weekly McDonald’s run, make it a once-a-month occasion. An after-school snack of cookies or chips is fine, as long as it’s a once a day treat. You can also swap out any snack for a 100-calorie-pack version. This will teach your children portion-control.

6. Brown-bag it! Studies show that children who eat school lunches consume more calories than those who eat homemade lunches.

4 Foods You Should NEVER Eat

You know what foods are good for you… but do you know what
foods you should absolutely, never eat? These foods aren’t just
artery-clogging; they’re horrible for your overall health and wellbeing.
So do whatever you can to stay clear.

1. Trans Fat. This is known as a complete heart killer. It’s a
man made fat (hydrogenated oils), originally designed to
increase the shelf life of most foods (think peanut butter,
margarine, cookies, etc.) Health organizations all agree that
no more than 2 grams of trans fat should be consumed per
day. Why? It’s linked to increasing LDL or “bad”
cholesterol… it increases triglycerides… and causes
inflammation. Basically, it’s a power-packed artery blocker.
So make sure you read ALL food labels. Make sure there
are no trans fats. Also, look in the ingredients. If it says
“hydrogenated oil” then don’t buy it. Even though the label
says it is free of trans fats, it still contains them due to the
hydrogenated oils in the ingredients.

Trans fat foods include - cookies, crackers, cakes, muffins, pie crusts, pizza dough, and breads such as hamburger buns some stick margarine and vegetable shortening, pre-mixed cake mixes, pancake mixes, and chocolate drink mixes ,fried foods, including donuts, French fries, chicken nuggets, and hard taco shells, snack foods, including chips, candy, and packaged or microwave popcorn and frozen dinners

2. Margarine. Avoid this one, since it has trans fats and is not
good for you. You’re better off eating real butter. Avoid the
marketing hype that it’s good for your heart. It’s not.

3. “Chinese” Food. What we here in America call Chinese
food is absolutely horrible for you. It’s loaded with MSG (a
form of salt) and boatloads of fat. The sodium content alone
will provide you with about a week’s worth of the
recommended daily allowance. If you absolutely love it, we
recommend having it no more than once a month.

4. Diet Soda. Believe it or not, these calorie-free concoctions
can actually make you fat! A study at Purdue University
found evidence that the artificial sweeteners used may mess
with your body’s metabolism, inducing you to overeat! Either
way, you should probably just stick to water and tea. And if
you absolutely must have soda, have the sugary kind… but
sparingly!

Hut Allred