Wendy Roche – Personal Fitness Trainer – Asheville, NC

The first monthly challenge here at O3 Health and Fitness for the new year of 2013 is a tough one.  Since we’re at the beginning of what will be an awesome year we thought we’d start things off with an awesome workout challenge.  The structure is 20 Reps of 13 Exercises done for time.  In other words, do all the exercises in order as fast as you possibly can.  Substitute as you see fit such as pulldowns for pull up or hanging leg raises for knee to elbows.  The only requirement is that you make the weights HEAVY.  I don’t want you to be breezing through this.  I did this workout without substitutions and had to stop a number of times so if you do have to switch one exercise out for another that’s fine, just make sure the weight or exercise is equally difficult.  I did this in 9 minutes and 26 seconds, a gym record so far.  Give it a try and have fun!!

Goblet Squat 

Box Jump 

Pull Up (pullddown) 

V Up Sit Up (alternating v ups) 

Walking Lunges (20 each leg) 

Power Jacks 

Knee To Elbow (hanging leg raises) 

Push Up 

Mountain Climber 

Ball Slam 

1 Arm Row 

Push Press 

Burpee 

This was my very first attempt at doing clapping pull ups, as you may be able to tell by my expression.  I tried these based on a conversation I was having with a client who said she had read an article that explained why women couldn’t do pull ups.  She and I discredited the article right away of course because we both can do pull ups.  I told that I knew women could do clapping pull ups in fact.  So, later that day I had to try it for myself to see if I could do a clapping pull up and to my great surprise I could!  That’s one thing I love about strength training, it enables you to do things you didn’t think weren’t possible.  Granted, pull ups are hard and take a lot of training to be able to do but that in no way means they’re impossible.  If you want a better, healthier life then go get it!!

Writing workouts is what a large portion of what my job consists of.  My clients appreciate it when they come in and their workout has already been thought of and written out for them ahead of time.  I wanted to go over some key elements that I think should be in your workouts to make sure you’re getting the most out of your time in the gym.

#1 Work Major Muscle Groups!

If your main goal is to lose weight and tone up then you don’t need to be spending time working on your biceps and muscles of the forearm.  It takes the body more calories to maintain muscle mass than it does fat.  In other words, the body will burn more calories the more muscle it has to maintain.  So, you want to build the big muscle groups in as little time as possible so you can achieve the weight loss and toning as fast as possible.  If you’re spending a lot of your time working biceps and triceps and not focusing on the three largest muscle groups in the body (chest, legs, and back) it will take you a lot longer to reach your goals.

#2 Minimum Rest

I saw a post on Facebook a couple of weeks ago that went something like this:

Question: ”What do you do to workout?”

Answer: “I lift weights.”

Question: “What do you do for cardio?”

Answer: “I lift weights faster.”

Simple yet there’s some true in that.  You do need bouts of cardio within your week to burn a large amount of calories at one time and to strengthen your heart.  Two very important things.  There’s yet another way to burn more calories while lifting weights and that to lift weights faster.  I don’t mean to do a bench press as fast as possible, what I mean is to move from one exercise to the next with as little rest as possible.  In order to be able to do that you need to alternate the muscle groups between upper body and lower body.  Do an upper body exercise followed by a lower body exercise without rest.  This will get your heart rate up, increase your metabolism, and burn more calories all while building muscle.  A perfect combination!

#3 Complex Movements

Similar to what I talked about in the previous paragraph, the idea here is to do something that increases the heart rate, increases the metabolism, and burns big calories.  A complex movement is when the upper and lower body are working at the same time.  This way you work a large amount of muscles at one time.  An easy example of a complex movement is a squat press.  Stand with a pair of dumbbells held at your shoulders and go down into a squat.  As you stand back up press the dumbbells over your head making sure it’s all one smooth movement.

Here’s how I put it all together:  12-15 reps each, minimal rest, 3 times through.

Squat Press (complex movement)

Wide Lat Pulldown (back-upper body major muscle group)

Deadlift (legs-lower body major muscle group)

Bench Press (chest-upper body major muscle group)

Have Fun!!  Live Life Better!!

Here’s a new recipe from Clean Eating Magazine online.  It’s Thai grilled shrimp skewers with watermelon and avocado.  Try it for yourself and share it with others.  Let them know that eating clean is delicious and easy!!

  You can also find it on my Recipes tap at the top of this page.  Enjoy!

Losing weight in Asheville is no different than in an other city.  It may be a little easier in fact.  Asheville is easy on the eyes and offers a lot of outdoor exercise opportunity.

There are three golden keys to weight loss that I share with my clients and help them incorporate into their lives everyday.

#1: A Healthy Diet, #2: Strength Training, #3: Cardio.

Revolutionary, I know.  These three things have never been combined like this before!  It’s a new era in weight loss.  Ok, slightly sarcastic.  None of this information is new but there don’t need any new information.  What we need is change.  Changing your daily habits of eating and moving is how to lose weight in Asheville and everywhere else.

Sometimes creating change is difficult without help so call a buddy, talk to your household, call me.  Whatever you decide is great.  Now do it!!  Clean your diet up, (read my last post for some ideas), incorporate walking or biking into your week and every week, and join a gym (if you’ll go) or hire a personal trainer to start strength training so you can develop more muscle mass so you can burn calories just sitting around!

Don’t let another day go by without changing something that will get you closer to your goals.  Things that don’t get you closer just move you further away and what’s the point in that!?  Be healthier, feel incredible, live life better!

Bonus Workout:

Plank 30sec

Weighted Crunches 15 reps

Body Weight Squats 20 reps

Push Ups (see Video section) 15 reps

Step Ups 15 reps each leg

Body Row 15 reps

-Repeat 3 times-

I want to give you a play-by-play of how my day is constructed where fitness and nutrition is concerned.  No, this will not be a Facebook update where I tell you when I tie my shoes or cross the street.  It will be a timeline of my average daily activities and food intake.  This way I can tell you exactly what I do, when I do it, and how much of it I do.  A healthy “Day in the Life” a looks something like this.

4:45am: breakfast; Cascadian Farms Hearty Morning and Granola cereal with almond milk (suggested serving), two shots of espresso with a splash of almond milk.

6am-12pm: work; personal training clients at O3Health and Fitness.

7:45am: snack; apple with natural peanut butter (the kind you grind up yourself).

9:45am: mid morning meal; salad with chicken

12:45pm: workout; Armless Leg Workouts (until my broken arm heals).

1:45pm: post workout; protein shake and banana

3-7:30pm: work; personal training clients at O3 Health and Fitness

2:30pm: lunch; veggies and protein. Purple potatoes, squash, onions, and fish.

4:45pm: snack; apple with natural peanut butter (the kind you grind up yourself).

8pm: dinner; veggies and protein.  Grilled veggies and chicken.

The breakdown is this; no dairy, hearty whole grain carbs only in the morning, snacks are fruit and protein, and meals are veggies and protein.  Period.  It’s that simple.  Let me know if you have any questions and Be Well!!

  I’ve got 2 more weeks before I can use my bum arm.  Believe it or not it’s been a lot of fun coming up with awesome effective workouts that don’t involve my upper extremities!  I’m still working out hard and keeping the diet in check.  Being consistent with those two things is critical to staying fit and trim.  No silly broken arm is going to stop me!  Don’t let life’s curve balls stop you either (and you know you’ll have some curve balls).

Today’s workout: sumo leg press 5×8, crossover lunge 4×20, plyometric step up 4x1minute/30sec rest, single leg deadlift 3×10, box jump 5×30, single leg squat 3×10, leg press calf raise 5×20