Bring It Home

Jeff Angel

exercise

How Much Exercise Is Enough?

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The American Heart Association suggests at least 150 minutes per week of moderate exercise or 75 minutes per week of vigorous exercise (or a combination of moderate and vigorous physical activity). Thirty minutes a day, five times a week is an easy goal to remember, however you will also experience benefits even if you divide your time into two or three segments of 10 -15 minutes per day.

Physical activity is anything that makes you move your body and burn calories, such as climbing stairs or playing sports. Aerobic exercises benefit your heart, such as walking, jogging, swimming or biking. Strength and stretching exercises are best for overall stamina and flexibility.

The simplest, positive change you can make to effectively improve your heart health is to start walking. It’s enjoyable, free, easy, social and great exercise. A walking program is flexible and boasts high success rates because people can stick with it. It’s easy for walking to become a regular and satisfying part of life.

The following chart represents an estimate of caloric expenditure during specific physical activity. Listed are 4 different weight categories. Caloric expenditure is influenced by intensity, mode of exercise, one’s level of conditioning, metabolism, and body weight. Try to do at least three of these activities during your training week. This might help to keep you from getting bored with your weekly schedule and will help to make you a more well-rounded fitness enthuseist. You might even find a new mode of exercise to enjoy. My top two exercises are jump rope and fast-paced calisthenics. My new favorite that’s been around for years… the rowing machine.

caloric-expenditure

How Many Calories Do I Need?

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Daily Caloric Intake and Basil Metabolic Rate

Click here to determine approximately how many calories your body needs at rest in order to sustain your current condition (i.e. weight, body fat%, fat weight). Remember, this is your body at rest. You then must add on additional calories for physical activity. Please read further to determine your approximate total caloric intake per day.

Gaining weight and losing weight is a very simple formula. When caloric intake exceeds caloric expenditure you will gain weight. When caloric expenditure is greater than caloric intake, you will lose weight. Thus, you must know how many calories (kcal) are in a gram of protein, carbohydrate, and fat. You should also know approximately how many calories you should consume and expend in a day. Food

Simply put, you must burn off more calories than what you consume in any given day in order to lose weight. Knowing how many calories you are consuming every day is going to be an important part of losing weight. Therefore, you should know how many calories are in the nutrients you consume.

  • Protein – one gram equals 4 kcal
  • Carbohydrate – one gram equals 4 kcal
  • Fat – one gram equals 9 kcal
  • Alcohol – one gram equals 7 kcal

To find out approximately how many calories you are consuming in a day is easy. There are apps available for smart phones and tablets such as lose it and fitness pal. These apps can help you to stay focused on your eating habits and keep you aware of the amount of calories you’ve been consuming. If you don’t have access to apps, then you can keep track of your caloric intake by writing down the foods you consumed in a daily food journal. Be sure to write down all foods, portion size, and liquids. You must do this for one full week. We then can compare your average daily caloric intake to your approximate Basil Metabolic Rate (BMR).

Your BMR measures the amount of energy expended at rest and usually represents about 70% of an individual’s total daily energy expenditure. Additional calories are then added on to one’s BMR based on physical activity level. Depending on whether the person is sedentary or very active, 400 to 800 kcal may be added. For example, if you have a job that requires you to sit at a desk all day and you don’t workout regularly, then you should add 400 calories on to your BMR. So, if your BMR equals 1,200 calories then add 400 calories to that number. This equals 1,600 cal/day to sustain your current weight and body fat. Remember, your BMR tells us how many calories your body needs in order to sustain your current condition (i.e. body weight, % body fat, muscle tissue) at rest. Now, if you are trying to lose weight you should try to decrease your daily caloric intake by 500 cal/day. This can be done by decreasing food intake, exercising more, or the combination of the two. Try to burn or reduce 3,500 calories in one week. That is equivalent to 500 calories a day. This will help you to lose 1 lb in one week (3,500 calories equals one pound of fat).

Basil Metabolic Rate is influenced by several factors. One’s BMR is primarily effected by body size (height and weight). If two people, one weighing 100 lbs and the other weighing 130 lbs, jog one mile together, the heavier person will expend more energy and burn more calories. Other important factors that effect one’s BMR include age and sex. BMR decreases with age and is highest in a growing child. Men have a higher BMR than women due to the fact that males are generally larger than females. Other factors related to BMR include diet, heredity, and hormones.

 

Importance of Strength Training

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Bring It Home Personal Training teaches all clients the importance of the 11 components of physical fitness. Muscular strength and muscular endurance are two health-related components of fitness that are important in everyone’s daily life.

Jeff Angel
This standard ball push-up is a great way to improve muscular strength, muscular endurance, and balance.

Muscular strength is defined as the maximum amount of force that can be exerted by a muscle. Muscular endurance is defined as the ability of a muscle to exert a force repeatedly over a period of time. Muscular strength and muscular endurance are related; an increase in one of these components of fitness usually results in some degree of improvement in the other.  Having a reasonable amount of strength and endurance can help individuals to be more efficient in performing daily tasks.

Bring It Home Personal Training believes that a strong core is most important for total body strength. Strengthening of the core (abdominal muscles, obliques, and low- back) will improve posture, help to prevent low-back pain, and make your entire body stronger. Your body’s core generally consists of the rectus abdominis (abs), internal and external obliques, transverses abdominis (deep reinforcing layer), and erector spinae (low back). The core is the center of all your strength. Having a weak core will certainly cause low back pain, poor posture, and poor balance. Strengthening and stretching this area of the body should be done with focus and consistency.

All muscle groups should be stimulated regularly through some type of resistance training. Resistance training, also known as strength training, not only makes muscles strong, firm, and shapely, but also benefits the body in other ways. Please be sure to check out our gallery for free images of exercises that help to improve muscle strength and endurance and all other components of physical fitness.

Benefits Of Strength Training:

  1. Increased muscular strength and endurance
  2. Decrease in body fat
  3. Stronger tendons and ligaments
  4. Decrease in blood pressure
  5. Improves glucose tolerance
  6. Increases HDLs (the good cholesterol)
  7. Decreases LDLs (the bad cholesterol) and triglycerides
  8. Decreases risk of osteoporosis
  9. Reduced insulin needs
  10. Improved health related quality of life
  11. Enhances feeling of well-being
  12. Enhances performance of work and recreational activities
  13. Lower mortality rates at all ages from all causes
  14. Relieves symptoms of depression and anxiety
  15. Improves self-esteem

In general, strength training should be done at least two days a week, with a minimum of two exercises per muscle group. Some people will have totally different fitness programs depending on what goals have been set. Individuals are unique with different strengths and weaknesses. Finding a weak point is something to work on, not to neglect. Having the proper mix of exercises is most important in developing a fitness program that will help you to improve upon your weaknesses and to reach your goals.

Developing the body you want and reaching optimal physical fitness levels takes time. Do not expect changes to occur over night. You must be patient and consistent with all aspects of your fitness program. Consistency is the key. If you find yourself putting your strength training days off, you will not see the changes you want to make. Also, be sure to incorporate all 11 components of phyiscal fitness into your daily exercise program. Having a well-rounded exercise program will help you to stay motivated and focused. You will see increased muscular strength and muscular endurance, toned muscles, increased energy, and better self-image.

 

Best Tip to Lose Weight

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Complex carbohydrates are the human body’s number one source of energy. Not protein, not fats. Some examples of good complex carbohydrates include multi-grain bread, whole wheat pasta, and brown rice. Some examples of BAD carbohydrates include white bread, enriched white pasta, white rice, and sweets such as candy, cake, and cookies. Too many bad carbohydrates in one’s diet can cause weight gain, obesity, low energy levels, insulin problems, and Type II diabetes.

If you are trying to lose weight and fad diets are not working for you, I highly recommend one tip to helping get unwanted pounds off. DO NOT EAT CARBS WITH DINNER.

Micronutrients
Grilled chicken and vegetable skewers make a healthy “carb-free” dinner.

It seems that most families are eating dinner later and later. It’s not uncommon for families to be sitting down to eat the last meal of the day at 7:30 at night or even later. After dinner is finished, most Americans are finished being physically active for the rest of the day. Homework needs to get done, parents want to relax after a hectic day of work and driving the kids around, your favorite television show comes on, and not many people want to exercise at night.

Those carbohydrates you are consuming with a late evening dinner are not getting burned off. Those calories consumed will sit with you and cause you to gain weight and increase your body fat.

My recommendation is to skip ALL carbs at dinner only if you are trying to lose weight! Breakfast should have the largest amounts of carbs. You will certainly burn these off throughout the day being physically active. Lunch should have a little less carbs than breakfast. Dinner should consist of a lean protein (chicken, fish) and only vegetables, no carbohydrates. Be sure to eat ALL colors of vegetables. Eat what I call the “rainbow of vegetables”. Different colors of vegetables contain different vitamins and minerals that our bodies need to function properly.

Please understand that complex carbohydrates, in moderation, are great for your body and your energy levels. I don’t recommend cutting out carbs completely from your diet. This will give you low energy levels, make you feel miserable, and prevent you from exercising. Cutting out carbs at dinner is a sensible, safe, and effective way to lose the weight you want without feeling like you’re starving yourself. With the combination of daily exercise and this smart and healthy dietary recommendation, you’ll reach your weight loss goal!

Lifestyle Changes and Weight Loss

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A healthy morning breakfast: one scrambled egg, one lean turkey sausage, and one cup of fresh fruit.

I was recently training two of my male clients at a local country club. I love these two guys, very fun, hard-working, nice, and both overweight. I put them through extremely challenging workouts consisting of high-intensity circuit training burning at least 600 calories per hour session twice a week. For the past 2 years I’ve been teaching these clients about healthy eating habits and the proper way to lose weight. Each of them needs to lose at least 25 pounds to get down to a healthy weight.

As with many people, my clients enjoy good food and great wine. What’s wrong with that, right? They over indulge, just like most people in America. I’ve been teaching them that all the exercise they do is not going to help them lose weight if they are not cutting back on their consumption of food and drink (alcohol). Of course, their weight has not changed much over these past several months because they have not been consistent with their changes in calorie consumption. It’s been disappointing for them, and for me, when stepping on the scale. When your main goal is to lose weight, you must cut back on caloric intake and change your behavior with food and alcohol.

While training my clients at their country club, an old friend of theirs was working out too. I’ll call him Jay. When my clients saw Jay they barely recognized him. In the past 6 months, this gentleman lost 77 pounds! After hugging him and congratulating their old friend, my clients asked, “How’d you do it? How’d you lose all that weight?” Jay enthusiastically said, “I stopped eating crap and cut out alcohol.” AH-HA! Thank you very much old friend! I smiled and told him that I”ve been teaching these guys this approach to weight loss for 2 years and they still haven’t embraced it! I had just met Jay a minute before and I felt so proud and happy for him. What an accomplishment!

Jeff Angel
Push-ups are a great exercise to build muscle and improve strength.

This weight loss story is a successful one due to behavior modification or changes made in Jay’s  lifestyle choices. He changed his behavior of eating food and drinking alcohol. He stopped going to restaurants to eat so he could control what goes into his meals. He also completely cut out alcohol for 6 months. This may sound terrible to some of you, but if you are serious about making a change to your body and your health, this is a very important, yet difficult, step. Jay was consistent with his exercise program and consistent with the changes in his diet until he reached his weight loss goal.

Now that his goal has been reached, he goes out to restaurants once a week. He drinks alcohol, in moderation, once a week. He exercises regularly every week. These behavior modifications helped to change and save Jay’s life. Losing weight can be a continuous lifetime battle for some of you. It’s difficult to change your lifestyle and behaviors. However, consistency, persistence, patience, and motivation must be intertwined in your life to have a successful weight loss story like Jay’s.

I asked Jay how he feels with that 77 pounds gone. He said, “I feel great! I feel like a new man!” If you’re needing to lose weight, you have to change your behaviors with food, alcohol, and exercise. Less food, less alcohol, more exercise. Behavior modification and healthy life-long choices will certainly help you reach your goals and change your life just like Jay. Nice work, Jay!

5 Tips to Improve Your Physical Fitness Level

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Sorry for not being so regular with my blogs lately. Training clients and handling family life can be overwhelming! Thanks again to everyone that voted for Bring It Home Personal Training in the clickondetroit.com “Vote 4 the Best” contest. If you haven’t heard, we did win the contest! That’s the last I’ll mention it. Let’s get back to blogging…

These 5 tips are my best tips for improving physical fitness levels:

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A standard push-up is a great example of a strength training exercise that improves muscular strength and endurance.

1. You must do strength training at least twice a week. Total body workouts are great for building muscular strength and endurance.

2. You have to do cardiovascular endurance training every day for at least 30 minutes. Your heart is the most important muscle in your body. Keep it strong!

3. Be sure to stretch all muscle groups every day! Stretching may help to prevent injuries and will certainly help you to release stress and relax.

4. Drink plenty of water throughout the day. A good rule of thumb is to drink approximately half of your body weight in ounces of water per day. For example: if you weigh 120 pounds, you should drink approximately 60 ounces of water a day.

5. Get plenty of sleep, at least 7 to 8 hours a day. Your body grows and repairs itself when sleeping. A good night sleep will help you to get through a long day of school and/or work and leave you with plenty of energy to exercise.

Obviously there are many more healthy tips out there. These are just five of my favorites to help improve physical fitness levels. Of course, be sure to eat plenty of fruits and vegetables, complex carbohydrates, and lean proteins. Improving your physical fitness level can be accomplished at any age. As you’ve heard from me in the past, consistency and motivation are keys to achieving your goals. Stay active and eat healthy!

 

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