Thursday, December 16, 2010

2011 Fitness Trends Revealed

Did you happen to pick up the Wall Street Journal Yesterday and see the article about the top 10 fitness trends for 2011? If not, here is the link to the article. www.usatoday.com/yourlife/fitness/exercise/2010-10-28-fitnesstrends28_ST_N.htm. The reason we chose to write about this today is that bootcamps are number two on the list. That is great for us, right? Well, maybe not in this case. Take a look at this excerpt from the article.

Boot-camp workouts

These structured, high-intensity workouts, modeled after military-style training, include cardiovascular, strength, endurance and flexibility exercises. The classes often combine sports-type drills and calisthenics.

"These workouts are not for the faint of heart," Thompson says. "Expect the workout to be led by a drill sergeant who has little to no patience for people lagging behind."

The programs are designed for the more experienced exerciser who wants or needs some additional motivation, or to try something different to spice up the workout routine, Thompson says. Class members move from one exercise to the next with little or no rest.

"Do not attempt a boot-camp workout if you have a previously diagnosed medical condition or are easily intimidated."

Are you kidding us? The quotes above are ridiculous. Don't get us wrong, we can bet you will find bootcamps around the country and our area for certain that are ran this way. If you are in one or find, run away as fast as possible. There is no reason you should pay to be treated or work out in that manner.

When looking for a bootcamp, be sure that the exercises are modifiable. If the bootcamp instructor or format does not allow for people of ages, sizes, and conditioning levels to get a good workout, then the bootcamp sucks and you should not be a part of it. PERIOD!

Regardless if you exercise everyday or have not in two years, we want you at our camps. Hopefully this artice actually makes the general public more aware of how bootcamps are the way to get in shape. Be sure to check us out at www.physicallyfitbootcamp.com for more information on our bootcamps.

Have a great rest of the week!

Chris Arnold and Jodi Schwartz
PhysicallyFit, LLC
Shelton, CT

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Ups and Downs of Trying to Lose Weight

It has been a couple of weeks since I reported in on Suzi. Alot going on with the business and life, as you all know, it can get in the way!

I have alot to report this week with a coulple of clips to add at the bottom. So, since Suzi returned from Florida we have had a great week, a bad week and just finished another great week. Two weeks ago after we sat down and talked about mapping out her eating, doing cardio on off days, and busting her tail in the gym, Suzi lost 3 pounds. Great accomplishment, got her to 17 pounds lost to date. We did some awesome tire pushes and her first jogging outside. Major accomplishment. Want to get her off the eliptical asap, not the most productive use of her cardio time.

On to the next week, Suzi had a tough weekend at work, only did one day of cardio, and ate bad. She knew, she told me and warned me before we weighed in. Result, loss of zero pounds! Alot of hard work for nothing. Sat down and said, don't beat yourself up over it. It is just one week and work can get in the way of your progress, you have to shurg it off and move on.

Saturday, May 1st. Outdoor challenge between the four contestants. Awesome day and unbelievable job by all the biggest losers. Suzi surprised me and showed me how mentally tough she really is, and how bad she really wants to succeed at this. We had the contestants do a 5 station workout with a run in between each round. Each contestant had to do the 1/4 mile run with a backpack on their back with the weight they had lost to date. Suzi ran with 17 pounds in her pack.

So, we started with the 1/4 mile run, followed by 30 reps of each, kettle bell swings, push ups, overhead med. ball slams, plank, and squats, the run 1/4 mile followed by 25 reps of the 5. We did this for 5 rounds down to 10 reps. Suzi ended up running 1.5 miles and doing 100 reps of all 5 in just under 35 minutes, coming in second place.

I was so proud of her, she did not stop, never said she was going to quit, awesome, unbelievable job!!

We worked out hard again today, she ate great over the weekend, even went to california pizza kitchen for a cheat meal, and we lost another 3 pounds!! 3 weeks to go and hoping and are going to get 10 more pounds to bring her total to 30 for the 12 weeks!! Time to get back at it!

Until next week.

http://www.nbcconnecticut.com/station/as-seen-on/Work_And_Weight_Hartford.html

http://www.nbcconnecticut.com/station/as-seen-on/The_Struggle_to_Lose_Hartford.html

Friday, April 16, 2010

Biggest Loser Back From Vacation and Time to Get After It!

Suzi is back from Florida and more motivated than ever to make some serious headway! Overall, she did great while away from home and training at PhysicallyFit. Suzi worked out numerous times while in Florda and was very pleased with her eating. We did not have an offical weigh in for two weeks and when she stepped on the scale Tuesday she was down 4 pounds! Great job and I am very proud of her for doing so well while away. She could have easily thrown in the towel and not have exercised and put whatever she wanted to in her mouth. But, she did not! Excellent job!

Now, on to this week. We had a long talk on Tuesday after her training session about getting very serious if she wants to do this. No more easy workouts, no half way on the eating. All or nothing! You can not out train a bad diet, so don't even try it. We planned out her entire week of eating. When and what to eat for breakfast, mid-morning snack on the way to see me, what to eat on the ride home, lunch, afternoon snack and dinner. All great stuff that needs to be planned in advance if you want to succed long term.

I have never seen Suzi work so hard in the gym since we have started and we are 6 weeks in the books, half way point this week. I saw her pushing harder than ever, sweating more than ever and making faces I have not seen before. She did more cardio this week each day and did what I asked of her. Minimum of 25 minutes per session and some days were twice a day.

Major accomplishments for the week. First modified push ups on the ground. All other had been band assisted on elevated on the Smith machine. Suzi has a hard time getting up and down from the ground so floor based exercises are tough to do with her. We are getting there. Also, did our first set of real crunches. I am not a big fan of them, we usually do planks and variations of them. Wanted to show her though that she could crunch up though. Second task completed for a milestone, tire flips. She did not think she could but told her she could and she did it. Third and greatest accomplishment since we started training is jogging!! Awesome! After her stair climb in Hartford she has a lot more confidence in doing things she said she could not do. Made up some great intervals yesterday where we did tire flips, band upper body work, overhead medicine ball slams and a 2 minute jog outside.

Great week overall and no set backs to report!

Here is this last weeks NBC CT update.
http://www.nbcconnecticut.com/station/as-seen-on/Biggest_Loser_Participants_Keep_On_Losing_Hartford.html

Until next week,
Chris

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Week one vacation update for Suzi, our biggest loser contestant

It has been one week today since Suzi got to Florida for her 10 day trip. We missed our last workout before she left due to the heavy rains that occured throughout the state last Tuesday. We missed our official weigh in that day so not sure where we stand on the weight this week.

Suzi left for her trip in a very positive state of mind for continuing her exercise regimen and vowing to eat as well as possible. After the email I received today, I would say things are going pretty well.

I overnighted bands and a workout routine for Suzi to follow once in Florida. She did join a gym for the 10 days she is down there for $75. This way she has a place to do cardio in addition to her oustide activities. The workout I sent her consisted of alot of band work, which we have been progressing on, core work, squats and deadlifts and some arm work. I want her doing cardio two times a day every other day and pushing herself daily on her beach walks.

Suzi went to the vitamin shope and purchased a large container of whey protein to eat before and after her workouts and for a healthy snack. She is eating alot of veggies and friends have said that she is not eating enough, but they are Italians! She thinks she may be down a pound or two, which I think is great, considering she is on her own for the first time with endless opportunities to eat whatever she wants and not exercise. Looking forward to getting back on track next Tuesday and kicking it up a notch.

Below is the link from this weeks airing of Connecticut's Biggest Loser on NBC CT if you missed it last night.

http://www.nbcconnecticut.com/station/as-seen-on/Biggest_Loser_Participants_Cook_Up___A_Meal_Hartford.html

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

One Month mark with Biggest Loser, Suzi Waters

We are one month into our three month journey battling those unwanted pounds Suzi so desires to lose. We had a much better week, more intense workouts, better eating and cardio on non-workout days. Suzi has gone shopping at trader joe's and is in a pretty good routine now eating breakfast, snacks, lunch, and dinner. Probably seems a little boring compared to her past ways, but definitely heading in the right direction. Salad with beef, chicken or salmon seems to be her best friend along with the protein shakes pre and post workout.

Accomplishments for the week: Cardio done three days on non-training days, she and I completed the Climb for your life stairclimb in Hartford on Saturday. Suzi completed the 34 floor climb in just under 15 minutes. I think she thought she was going to die during the stair climb, but felt fine three minutes after it was over. Amazing job! The workouts are getting alot more intense, awesome squats, deadlifts, punching, rope pulls, sledge hammers. Great stuff! Suzi lost 2 pounds for the week for a total of 10 for the month. She has also lost 9.5 inches off her body and body composition is down 6.1%.

Toughest challenge: Suzi is going to Florida for 2 weeks! Watch out, going to be interesting. Am giving her bands to take on her trip, she is going to join the local gym, and has to watch the eating and stay active.

Check out last weeks clip on NBC CT if you missed it.
Will be back with vacation updates.

Chris

http://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local-beat/Ups-and-Downs-of-Being-CTs-Biggest-Loser-88938682.html

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Biggest Loser Week Three Training

This has been Suzi's hardest week in regards to training, as well as, staying focused on the task at hand. She continues to amaze me with her effort and the drive to overcome her knee pain with the lower body exercises.

She is feeling the pressure of co-workers and friends that watch the updates weekly and say to her, "I saw you on TV again last night." I told her that she needs to make sure that she takes care of herself and not to worry about the others. They are there cheering her on but ultimately is up to her to make this work.

Weigh in for the week. Zero pounds lost, but as Suzi says it is not two pounds gained. Don't know if I like that statement but we did work alot harder and accomplish more core work than I would have expected and the leg work is going great.

Suzi's biggest humps for the week: A couple of bad eating moments, again, when they are bad they are bad. For the most part, getting a better handle on the eating thing. Hard to schedule eating more often and to remember to eat more often. The other set back was only day of cardio when she was not training. She felt very tired on one of her off days leading to no exercise that day.

We will turn it up next week.

http://www.nbcconnecticut.com/station/as-seen-on/Connecticut_s_Biggest_Loser__Nutrition_And_A_Workout_Hartford.html

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Second Week in the Books with Suzi, our CT Biggest Loser contestant

Eight workouts are done. Where are we now? Suzi is down 8 pounds since her initial weigh in. Last weekend was tough for her. Her significant other is going back to Florida for a little while so they went to numerous friends' homes and had alot of food that she should be staying away from. So what happened? Tuesday, she was up 2 pounds from the weigh in the week before. So, we kicked it up a notch with our Tuesday workout, she ate awesome for two days and lost 4 pounds in two days, for a total of 2 down for the week.

Our Thursday workout was the best so far and Suzi was the most sore she has been since starting. We have gone from zero leg work to now doing almost 90 degree squats with no assistance what so ever! And she has had tremendous knee pain of late. The squats have been done with zero pain! Goes to show that once you teach some how to do a squat properly you will be surprised how much one can do.

Accomplishments for the week: modified push-ups, previous workouts, zero! Full range squats with the physioball or assistance. TRX pull-ups. Awesome week to say the least.

Need to work on for the week: Getting extra cardio in on off days and eating habits. This will be the critical and hardest piece as we go forward.

Below is the link to our first weigh in and first workout. Be sure to check it out if you missed it Tuesday night on NBC CT.

Until the next weigh in,

Chris

http://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local-beat/The-Workout-Begins-87152582.html

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Week One Weigh In with CT's Biggest Loser Client

We have 4 training sessions in the books with Suzi Waters, our CT biggest loser client. We only got 2 training sessions in last week, the week of 2/22. This, our second week, two sessions down and one more to go tomorrow.

Suzi at her initial weigh in was 254lbs. At our second weigh in she was down 6 lbs to 248. This was with only two workout sessions and she does not think she ate that great over the weekend. Also, no cardio at home over the weekend!

This week has been great. We are achieving some things I did not think would happen for a couple more weeks. Suzi has arthritis in both knees very bad!

Accomplishments for the week: Ball squats on the wall to holding onto the Smith Machine to do them today. Kettlebell swings Tuesday and today. Deadlifts today. Very excited for the swings and deadlifts. We did zero leg the first day. Cardio is up to 4 minutes straight, was 1 minute. Got on the floor today for planks! Very excited for all of this. How could I forget, we got some rope work done too! Suzi also did 15 minutes on her elliptical last night, straight.

One more hard workout tomorrow, then cardio and better eating for the weekend. Be sure to check out the link below to see Suzi's profile on NBC CT.

Until next week,

Chris

http://www.nbcconnecticut.com/station/as-seen-on/NBC-CTs-Biggest-Loser-Suzi-Waters-86213637.html

Thursday, February 25, 2010

More Intense Exercise Is Better

It's about time that this hits the newswire in the United States. We have been preaching this type of exercise since the inception of PhysicallyFit, over three years ago, and now we have a physician on the CBS early show stating the benefits of shorter, more intense exercise.



It is not a mystery why this type of exercise works, not to mention the countless hours you will save at the gym.



If you don't believe it, take a look at our bootcamp and personal training clients. This is the model we use for training and bootcamps.



Enjoy the story!



http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/02/25/earlyshow/health/main6241810.shtml?tag=cbsnewsLeadStoriesAreaMain;cbsnewsLeadStoriesPrimary