8 Weeks to a Better You – Tracy Line

September 5, 2011 By Leave a Comment
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8 Weeks to a Better You

Bob Fields

Bob Fields didn’t plan on entering the wellness industry; he simply found himself following a path.  Fields, a certified Personal Trainer, stumbled upon his first clients when he started going to the gym.   “I was working out and began teaching aerobics when people started asking me to teach them how to get fit” says Fields, “35 years later and I am still teaching wellness. “   Only now, he teaches in a classroom setting.

Fields is the creator of 8 Weeks to a Better You, an innovative program designed to give participants everything they need to know about living a healthier lifestyle.  “For years, I’ve trained people one on one” says Fields, “I discovered most clients have the same questions about how to improve their health.”  He realized there was a need for a class that could teach people the key components of overall wellness.

Fields knows first-hand about the struggles with and importance of a healthy lifestyle.  Both his father and sister died prematurely of heart attacks; his sister was only 23 at the time of her death.  It was then that Bob, who was overweight and out of shape at the time, made a complete life change.

Fields began exercising and made improvements to his diet.  He became certified as an aerobics instructor and began teaching classes. He also began weight training outside of class.  Soon his aerobic students began asking for help with their exercise programs.  Fields, who was a design engineer, decided to further his education so he could properly assist his students.  He became certified with ACSM, IDEA and ACE along with several others. His client list grew quickly.  Fields continued earning certifications, and in 1995 he quit his day job to pursue personal training full time.

Fields believes there are many components to wellness.  Understanding these components, and knowing how to incorporate them into your life is the key to successful change.  His program takes an in-depth look at all aspects of wellness.  Each session will offer a lecture from a local health industry expert followed by a question and answer session.  Presenters include a psychologist, medical doctor, nutritionist, cooking expert, anti aging and longevity expert and more.

While the program focuses on wellness, it is not centered on weight-loss.  “This is not Weight Watchers”, says Fields.  He contends that losing weight is only one component of health.  Fields believes proper nutrition, exercise, sleep, and stress management are just as important as counting calories.   “All of these aspects are critical to one’s overall well-being and it’s important to understand their role in health” says Fields, “Not everyone understands for example that getting too little sleep can contribute to weight gain.”  This program gives individuals the information they need and allows them the opportunity to set and work toward personal goals at a pace they are comfortable with.

Presentations and discussions will be informative and interactive.  Participants will learn about conquering sugar addictions, overcoming self-defeating behaviors and learn how hormones affect weight loss.  In addition, Fields will demonstrate the proper use of gym equipment and will review ways to exercise at home with little to no equipment.  A review of various exercise classes will be given, and a cooking expert will give participants a taste of how easy it can be to create healthy meals.

The class is meant to both motivate and educate those who are interested in improving their health.  Fields is passionate not only about teaching people how to live healthier, but also in seeing them gain a better quality of life.  “I not only want people to get their money’s worth with this class” he says, “I want to see the changes unfold in their lives.” For information on 8 Weeks to a Better You, or to sign up, visit www.8weekstoabetteryou.com or call 317-502-7570.

 

Filed Under: Exercise, Health, Weight Loss Tagged With:

Learning to Exercise – Donna Phelan

May 6, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Donna Phelan
Learning to Exercise - Donna Phelan

Donna Phelan

One of the most important elements of our weight loss program at the KnowSweat Workouts gym is the Exercise Education component.  The National Weight Control Registry – a research study gathering information from people who have successfully maintained a weight loss of 30 lbs or more for at least 1 year – reports that 90% of those successful people exercise an average of 1 hour daily to maintain their weight loss.

Unlike you would expect, however, “exercise education” does not include instruction on how to do a bicep curl or different techniques for working your abs.  Our version of exercise education is in teaching out-of-shape individuals how proper exercise feels.  Let me explain with an example.

Let’s say you are one of the 7 in 10 adult Americans who don’t exercise enough and you are determined to start running.  You set out through the neighborhood with your sweat band and iPod, wearing the new running shoes purchased to confirm your commitment to this resolution.  Two blocks down the road, your legs start to ache.  Doubt creeps in – is a mile first time out really a reasonable goal?   Another block or two and your breathing is labored.  You are gasping for air, lungs and throat burning as your body attempts to pull in enough oxygen. When you stop – give up, that is – before you’ve reached the half mile mark, everything aches, you are panting, and you feel nauseous.   Beaten, you begin the walk home, wondering if you will ever reach a point when a mile becomes possible.

What makes fit people different?  Even a marathon runner reaches a point somewhere on the 26 mile journey where her legs ache, her throat burns and she feels like vomiting, just as you did on your first run.  It takes her much longer to get to that point, but the fact is her first steps toward running a marathon started just as your first run started.   The difference is that she has come to learn that exercise is more mental than physical.  She pushes herself to the point where it becomes physically uncomfortable.  Then her mental strength kicks in to push a tiny bit further, not just the first time, not just for races, but every time she runs.  Simply put, her workout begins where your workout has ended.  She can’t help but increase her endurance and fitness level – she increases both every time she runs.

Everyone knows the value of regular exercise.  We know it’s important to your health, quality of life and emotional well-being.  But, let’s be honest – we only care that it makes us look and feel better, right?  We focus on the numerous physical benefits of regular exercise, but learning to exercise is as much about training your mind as it is about training your body.  See you in the gym!

Filed Under: Exercise, Fat Tagged With:

Food For The Mind

March 26, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Robby Slaughter
Robby Slaughter

Robby Slaughter

March is National Nutrition Month. Everyone is reminding us more than usual about the importance of what we decide to put into our bodies. It’s certainly true that food intake affects practically everything about our well-being, including our weight, our energy level and even risk factors for many diseases. We know we’re supposed to eat right. Although there are certainly disagreements, nutrition experts generally recommend a balanced diet of fruits, vegetables, grains, protein sources and dairy products. The foundation of proper eating is balance. When it comes to food, we should embrace variation and moderation.

When nutrients enter the body they power our minds and our muscles. Yet consider for a moment that what we do with that fuel varies widely. A green salad or a greasy cheeseburger might be the energy source for the life-saving work of a paramedic. A bowl of cereal or a scoop of ice cream could also be the chemical battery which enables a criminal to rob a bank! The expression claims “you are what you eat,” but in truth you are what you choose to do with the calories you consume.

Eating healthy, however, may help inspire us to become better people. A fresh, energy-packed breakfast is more likely to perk you up in a morning meeting than one layered in syrup and sweets. Likewise, the way we stimulate our minds can impact our mood, our outlook and our productivity.  In fact, what we put into our heads can help improve our understanding of the world even as our bodies begin to decline. A study published in the Journal of Gerontology notes that even “the frequency of reading the newspaper [is] positively associated with functional health literacy.” Simply put, mental challenges are a healthy food for the mind at any age.

Unfortunately, our mental habits tend to mirror our eating habits. Just as we fall victim to the allure of fast food and frozen dinners, we are quick to repeat old patterns for mental stimulation that don’t require much thinking. It’s much easier to watch the same television shows than to read a book in an unfamiliar genre. It’s much more comfortable to get a drink with old friends than to branch out and attend a lecture series or learn about a new hobby. Like the recommendations made by dieticians, it’s not that the old standbys are inherently unhealthy. Rather, we know that conscientious variation can give us more balance and energy. It’s worth mixing up what we do to balance out who we are.

No matter what your role in life—whether in school, at work, or retired—consider building a balanced regimen of intellectual pursuits. Try to read, write and learn something new each day. Vary your patterns and expand your mind. You’re likely to see the world in a new way. You’re almost certain to become more productive, more insightful and more satisfied. Feed your mind some new food!

Robby Slaughter is a Principal with Slaughter Development, an Indianapolis-based business process and workflow consulting company. His new book, Failure: The Secret to Success is available now at www.failurethebook.com.

Filed Under: Diet, Exercise, Nutrition Tagged With:

What Should I Eat – Abby Fox

March 18, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Abby Fox

 

Abby Fox

Abby Fox

Ah. The question I get asked all day, every day. And the question I must ponder myself on a daily basis. What you put into your body will reflect how you look, feel, and act. There’s a lot more truth to the saying “You are what you eat,” than you may think. If you caught my article titled “Abs are Made in the Kitchen, Not the Gym,” this will simply add on to your knowledge of food and the effects to the body.

When I start a nutrition consultation this is the question that starts off the conversation. I have to pause that question to first have a few more important questions answered.

What are your activities throughout the day? This shows how much moving around you do all day and when you need fuel. How many times a day do you normally eat? You may be starving yourself throughout the day which can easily turn into overeating when you finally do eat. We fast all night, why continue to put your body through such catabolism during the day?!! Do you feel your energy levels drop during the day? Even if you have a regular eating schedule, you may not be taking in the right foods at the right time. Nutrient timing is key, and even more so, timing of carbohydrate intake. Carbs are our fuel. If  you eat an omlet for breakfast and a chicken on spinach salad for lunch you will find yourself slummed over at your desk by 1pm. You wonder why? That sounds so clean and healthy right? Yes it sure is, BUT there are no carbs in those meals. Our brains function off carbs. Wait til dinner to eat any carbs, and you will probably be worthless at accomplishing much that day. Americans have it backwards. Traditionally dinner is our biggest (often most carb rich) meal of the day. We should flip flop this around to our breakfast being the biggest meal and tapering off carbs towards the end of the day.  Have you had success with a diet before? Many times we focus on what we cannot eat instead of the great tasty healthy foods that we are supposed to eat. If you are down about losing the results you once had with a certain diet, don’t get discouraged, be encouraged that you CAN find results.

So there ya go, a free nutritional coaching lesson, on me! If you are interested in taking your health and fitness to the next level, just let me know! I promise, it will be the best investment you could possibly make. Remember to take care of yourself and you will look, feel, and exude fabulous!

Filed Under: Carbohydrates, Diet, Exercise, Nutrition Tagged With:

You Are Not The Exception

March 7, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Learning to Exercise - Donna Phelan
Donna Phelan

Donna Phelan

One of the programs offered at my gym is a weight loss motivation and exercise education program designed to enable participants to lose 20 pounds in 10 weeks.  With each session, the results vary from wildly successful to mediocre.  But, while the results can never be predicted, I can always count on one thing:  There is at least one person who, whether she knows it or not, is really not there to lose weight.  She is there to be “excused.”

Typically, this person has tried and failed to lose weight for years.  Diets “don’t work” for her.  She is too busy.  NO ONE could possibly have more to deal with in their life than she does.  She is there because she wants to hear, “By golly, you are right! Your life is simply too busy, your responsibilities too great.  You are not to blame for your obesity.”  For every solution you offer her to overcome a challenge she faces, she has a reason for why that won’t work.  She is “the exception.”

“I can’t trust my husband to take care of the kids.”  “My friends give me grief when I don’t drink and eat.”  “My hairstyle takes an hour every night.”  (Yikes!)  Believe it or not, every one of the above excuses has been used by participants in our program. My personal favorite:  “I have a lot of plants to water.” (Are the plants in different states??!)

I recall a discussion with a client (call her H2-no) about retraining herself to drink more water – important for successful weight loss.  I built this habit for myself by taking a glass of water with me EVERY time I got in my car.  The water was right next to me, always ready to be sipped.  BUT…H2-no never drove far enough to finish off a glass of water.  I pointed out that she could accomplish the same thing by keeping a glass of water on her desk at work.  BUT…the ice in the glass would melt before H2-no could finish the water, and the water HAD to be cold.  I suggested that H2-no bring refillable containers of water to work and keep them in the office fridge.  She could then use a smaller mug, and keep the ice fresh all day with trips to the freezer, if necessary.  BUT…and I quote, “Donna, I’m not going to mess with carrying in water or walking to the refrigerator to get more ice!”

One of my favorite cartoons shows a doctor counseling a patient.  The patient is obese, in his underwear and wearing a startled expression as the doctor asks, “What fits your busy schedule better, exercising one hour a day or being dead 24 hours a day?”  In our 24/7, run and race world, finding time to make your fitness and health a priority will be one of the biggest challenges you face.  But, no one is a helpless victim of circumstance – the control is in your hands.

Yes!  It’s a choice!


Filed Under: Exercise, Weight Loss Tagged With: