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Creating a Fitness Program That Will Workout for You for the Rest of Your Life

Cliff Wiese — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 17:16:41 +0000

Would you like to find an exercise program you can use for the rest of your life? One that will reduce your weight, relieve your stress, make your days more productive, empower your life, and add healthy years to your life? I have the answer for you about how to get in shape and maintain your fitness level and it is much simpler than you think.

Everyone I know has at some point joined a gym with the best intentions of getting in shape and staying there. What happens most of the time is that we go regularly for less than a month then the visits become less frequent and eventually never.

The best money you will spend will be hiring a GREAT Personal Trainer. A great Personal Trainer will make your fitness dreams come true and much, much more. You will have self-esteem and confidence for every situation you encounter everyday. Every relationship in your life will improve because your great Personal Trainer will get the best you have to offer from you every session and leave you feeling euphoric after just about every workout. That great Personal Trainer will also help you change your way of thinking about life.

Most people see life as a series of difficult to impossible challenges to be put off or avoided as long as possible. Your Personal Trainer, if you get the right one (please see my article titled The Five Attributes of a Great Personal Trainer), will change your attitude 180 degrees. You will view difficulties in life as opportunities to succeed or at the very worst, learn how to win next time. You need a Great Personal Trainer in your life!

Would you like to live a longer and healthier life? Hire a great Personal Trainer. An ongoing study, based in Framingham, MA, has tracked the lifestyle habits of over 4,000 people for over five decades and has reached some interesting conclusions regarding exercise. People who exercise vigorously at least 3 times per week live about 1.9 years longer than average. That’s an extra 700 days! The best part is that the extra time is of very high quality. For people exercising at least 5 times per week, they live almost an extra 4 years. Can you get yourself to exercise VIGOROUSLY at least 3 times per week? If you can, are you doing it right now? Short of anything religious, fitness is the best gift we can give or receive. Hire that great Personal Trainer now. Do it today and start reaping the benefits of a better life tomorrow.

Getting the wrong Personal Trainer is something like getting in a taxi with a driver who has no idea where you want to go, even after you give the address. You will drive around the city for a while...or the gym in our case...and at best you will end up back where you started. This person should not be Personal Training because they lack the skills needed for the job. They themselves are still learning about exercise through trial and error. Do you want to pay them to be their test subject? For one reason or another, this person has decided to become a Personal Trainer without the attributes to make the positive changes in your life we talked about. They may have a great body and know a tremendous amount about exercise but not much about training anyone except themselves. There are too many bad traits of an inadequate Personal Trainer to list here but I can promise you that picking the wrong one will be a waste of two valuable resources, your time and your money.

A great Personal Trainer will inspire and motivate you but they will not be a magic pill. He or she will show you the path to making long-lasting positive changes in your lifestyle. They will give you a sense of accountability about showing up at the gym. Days when you have low energy, the Personal Trainer will provide inspiration and motivation. Most importantly, they will help you achieve goals you have established. The only difference between a dream and a goal is having a plan and sticking to it. As weeks become months and you continue to workout and see improvement, you will begin to feel a sense of self-confidence and empowerment. If you can make positive changes with your body, you can do the same with your life. Do you have any life goals that now seem impossible? Your Personal Trainer can help you gain the sense of accomplishment to achieve things you never thought possible.

Creating a Workout Program That Will Last the Rest of Your Life

Cliff Wiese — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 17:10:46 +0000

Another Article to Create Those Sexy Six-Pack Abs

Cliff Wiese — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 15:26:37 +0000

This exercise will help add to the “WOW!” factor when people see you in a swimsuit. It is a great workout not only for your abdominal complex but also for your lower back and for overall body strength in general. It is sounds extremely simple to explain. Let me assure you that the first few times you attempt it you’ll find it to be quite difficult. However, after a week or two you will have mastered the motion and be able to increase the amount of weight you are using, thus exponentially improving the exercise results. This exercise is one more “arrow in your quiver” to get the abdominal look you want.

The exercise is called the “Russian Twist.” It was taught to me by Jim Cawley, the owner of Dynamax Medicine Balls. I don’t normally mention specific products in my writing but his product is pretty much the industry standard for medicine balls and I want you to know how to get one.

Jim is a fine gentleman living in Buda, Texas, where he makes those great medicine balls. The balls are available in two-pound increments from 4 pounds to 20 pounds. I would highly recommend getting at least one as they are among the most versatile pieces of exercise equipment ever invented. To show medicine balls versatility and timelessness, I read that one of the U.S. Presidents in the early 20th century, Theodore Roosevelt I believe, would set-up a volleyball net on the White House lawn and have the staff divided into two teams. One team would throw a medicine ball over the net and if the other team was unable to catch it, a point was scored by the throwing team. The medicine balls pre-date Teddy Roosevelt, but I believe that example helps show the versatility of the ball in exercise.

To perform the Russian Twist, begin by sitting on the floor with a medicine ball in your hands. I recommend you start with a four-pound ball until you have mastered this movement. When you have mastered the exercise, you can increase the weight of the ball. With the ball in your hands, tilt your upper-body back to about a 45 degree angle. Now raise your feet about six inches off the ground while keeping them together. The only part of you body in contact with the ground is your glutes. While maintaining your balance, slowly move the medicine ball around your waist to one side and touch the floor with the ball. Immediately move the ball to the other side of your body and touch the ground with it on that side. Each time the ball touches the ground is considered one rep. Try to do 10 reps the first time. The exercise will seem awkward and unstable at first but I promise your form will improve drastically after only a week or two.

As I mentioned in a previous article about abdominal exercise, let me remind you that big determinants to how your abdominals look are your nutrition and your well-rounded exercise routine. You have to have both of those in place to get visible results from ANY ab exercise. Despite television ads to the contrary, it’s impossible to “spot reduce” fat from a particular body part. If you have a “beer belly” or this is the only exercising you do, we will make your abs stronger and more toned but a layer of body fat will cover up your six-pack treasure. If you want those abs to be visible, the bottom-line is to make sure you are doing your part with a good nutrition program and a solid exercise plan.

When I’m performing this exercise I normally use a 12-pound ball (the heaviest at my facility) and do 30 to 40 reps per set for 4 sets. It will take a little while but soon you will be doing the same number of reps and sets and maybe even surpassing my work. The Russian Twist is one more step down the road to sexy six-pack abs!

An Exercise To Create Those Sexy Six-Pack Abs!

Cliff Wiese — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 15:14:21 +0000

Would you like to have abs that make your friends jealous and are a serious attraction to the opposite sex? I have a great exercise for you. It’s called the “Cross T Ball Exchange.” The only equipment we need is an inflatable exercise ball.

First, let me remind you that big determinants to how your abdominals look are your nutrition and your well-rounded exercise routine. You have to have both of those in place to get visible results from ANY ab exercise. Despite television ads to the contrary, it’s impossible to “spot reduce” fat from a particular body part. If you have a “beer belly” or this is the only exercising you do, we will make your abs stronger and more toned but a layer of body fat will cover up your six-pack treasure. The bottom-line is to make sure you are doing your part with a good nutrition program and a solid exercise plan.

Start the “Cross T Ball Exchange” by lying on the ground face up. With your legs straight or slightly bent, bring your feet six inches off the ground. Hold the ball at arms’ length directly over your upper torso. Touch the ball to the ground to your left at about waist level, keeping your torso on the ground and your legs elevated throughout the exercise. Now touch the ball to the ground at waist level to your right. While extending your arms, touch the ball to the ground over your head. Now move your legs and arms toward each other so you can exchange the ball from your hands to your legs, placing the ball right between your ankles. The straighter your legs are during the exercise, the more difficult it will be. Lower your legs until the ball touches the ground and then bring your legs back up to your hands to take the ball and start again. That is one repetition.

This is not an exercise for anyone with lower back problems. It is for people who are already in good shape and are looking for a way to spice up their ab routine. It is a regular part of many of my clients’ routines, typically for three sets of 12 to 15 reps. The exercise uses your entire core area; making it a good ab exercise for someone wants to work the entire muscle complex but has limited time.

If the exercise seems too difficult at first try having your feet higher than six inches off the ground and/or bend your knees significantly. Don’t get discouraged if you can only do a few reps at first. Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither are great abs. Just add a repetition or two as you become accustomed to the exercise. The “Cross T Ball Exchange” will help take your abs to the next level!

A Fitness Routine for the Road Warrior: A Great Workout When You Have No Equipment

Cliff Wiese — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 17:12:45 +0000

How many times have you been traveling and checked into a hotel that advertised a “fitness room,” only to find out their idea of fitness is a low-quality treadmill and a 1970s era Universal machine…or worse? I think we’ve all had the same experience at least once over the years. I developed a workout I call my “Travel Routine” to deal specifically with that situation. The workout requires no equipment and can be modified to your particular level of fitness. Unless the hotel has a superb fitness area, I actually prefer this routine to trying to make do with inferior equipment.
The routine only has three exercises, so it is easy to learn. It can also be performed in the privacy of your hotel room without anyone else around. That being said, when I travel with other fitness colleagues we will often meet in one room the first thing in the morning to perform the routine and then return to our own rooms to shower and prepare for the day’s activities. Working out soon after waking, before food has been consumed, helps your body use fat stores as energy faster than waiting until later in the day to exercise. When you wait until later, the body first has to burn up whatever carbohydrates you have in your system before it naturally taps into your fat stores as energy.
Early morning is a good time to exercise. Another reason I like that time of day is because nothing else has entered your schedule yet, so you can’t be sidetracked away from your workout. We’ve all been to conferences or conventions where we had every intention of exercising later in the day only to have an unplanned activity derail our workout plans. This way you have already completed your workout before the “official” start of your day, giving you a sense of satisfaction and better helping your body cope with any stresses that you may encounter that day.
The three exercises are: forward plyometric lunge, pushups, and “bicycles,” an abdominal exercise. I will explain proper form for each exercise. For the lunges the starting position is standing with your feet about shoulder-width apart. With your non-dominant leg (most people are right-handed, so it’s probably your left foot), step out farther that a normal step. Keep your spine upright, perpendicular to the ground. (There is a predisposition to lean forward. Don’t do that.) Also, visualize railroad tracks running forward from your shoulder-width stance. When you step forward, keep your foot on that railroad track. It will improve your balance immensely. When I begin working with a new client, they have a tendency to move their foot inward, like they are walking on a tight-rope. Tight-roping might be good for circus performers, but it makes lunges much more difficult than they need to be.
With your non-dominant foot in front of you, slightly bend the other leg so your knee approaches the ground. This will help keep your weight evenly distributed on your front foot. Otherwise, we tend to put too much weight on the ball of the forward foot, placing excess stress on that knee. To return to the starting position, push forcefully off the forward foot while exhaling at the same time. Don’t let that foot touch the ground until it has returned to the start position.
If your foot consistently touches the ground on the way back, try slightly shortening your forward stride. In time you will be able to step out farther but for now let’s stay within your current abilities. Also, this exercise makes my knees hurt slightly for the first set or two and I have no history of knee problems. After a few sets, I’m warmed-up enough that any knee pain goes away. You may find this to be the case with you as well. If you have knee problems, shortening your stride may help significantly. Also, as with starting any exercise program, consult your physician to make sure you are healthy enough to workout.
Pushups are the second exercise. Lying face down on the ground, place your hands in a position so that an invisible line running between your thumbs would go directly across your chest, with your feet facing downward at your normal height. Most people do pushups with their hands too far forward, turning the exercise into more of a shoulder exercise than one for chest. Also, make sure your hands are spaced so your forearms are parallel to each other. With your hips slightly elevated, exhale as you push yourself off the ground. Maintain a rigid stability throughout your body. Your only bodily position change should be at the elbows. Keep your body stiff. I often see people performing pushups where their body position changes constantly throughout the movement. We want your pushups performed correctly because that’s how we get the most efficient results!
For people unable to perform full-body pushups, do them from your knees. The important part to remember is to lower your hips enough to create a straight line between your upper and lower body. Otherwise, all the other fundamentals mentioned above apply to you.
The last exercise is for abdominals. Bicycles are performed lying on your back, with your feet about six inches off the ground and your hands behind your head. Bring one knee up and move the opposite elbow toward it. Your knee and elbow don’t need to touch but get them as close together as you can using your abdominals to move your upper body. Don’t force your elbow up with your arms as this places undue stress on your neck and also reduces the workload on your abdominals. The next repetition is performed with the other knee and elbow.
If this exercise is too hard or if you have a history of low-back problems, try placing your feet on the ground with your knees bent. Otherwise the fundaments remain the same. After a few months of performing them in this manner you will probably be able to perform them as described above.
My standard routine consists of 24 lunges (12 per leg), 12 pushups, and then 24 bicycles. That constitutes one set. I rest for 30 seconds to a minute and then perform another set. The beauty of performing the sets with little rest is that you also get a cardiovascular workout during this strength training session. Ten to twelve sets is a great workout and only takes about 45 minutes.
I have a few helpful tips for you. The intensity of the workout can be increased or decreased in several ways. To increase the intensity, you can perform more repetitions per set and/or rest less between sets. To decrease the intensity, do fewer repetitions per set and/or rest longer between sets. I generally have a cup or two of coffee before I perform the workout as caffeine has thermogenic fat-burning properties and it provides extra energy. I also put coins on a table and move a coin from one pile to another after every set to keep track of the number of sets performed. Counting the sets is easy at first but it does get a little difficult when you are well into your workout, feeling low on brain oxygen, and almost continually moving from set-to-set.
The next time you find yourself needing to workout but lacking equipment, give this routine a try. You’ll be glad you did!

How Do We Solve The Fuel Crisis?

Cliff Wiese — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 17:03:09 +0000

Gasoline prices have skyrocketed over the past few months. Economically, the escalation in gasoline prices is because it takes oil to make gasoline. The cost of fueling your car has put a serious in your pocketbook. Gas prices have leaped over the $4 per gallon. Our society is dependent on our ability to fill the gas tanks on our cars.
In economic terms, gas prices are inelastic. It means normal supply and demand does not apply. One or a few entities can raise the price as high as they want because they know we have to buy it. Normally, the price of a good or service is determined by supply and demand. If there is an over supply of a good, the price goes down. If there is a shortage of something, the price goes up. When you have a normal balance between supply and demand capitalism is at work.
The point where supply and demand meet is called “price equilibrium.” There is a balance between supply and demand and the price goods and services. When someone corners the market on an item that is a staple of everyday life, like gasoline, the consumer is in trouble. The supplier has a monopoly. We are forced to pay whatever price the controlling entity sets for the good. That is where we are right now on fuel prices.
When this situation has occurred in the past, it has predominately been a domestic issue. The railroads had that situation in the late 19th century and the government stepped in to change the things in favor of the average citizen. In more recent times, the government stepped in to split the company into smaller entities, with a more regional focus.
The current fuel crisis is not going to be so easy to solve. We need cooperation from countries that hate us just because we exist. (Speaking of which, whoever heard of a religion where you have to kill anyone not of the same faith?) The war in Iraq is not making us any friends. Its end may be a good place to start working on the fuel crisis. It would certainly be a good place to start.
Another option is to develop other sources of energy, moving us away from our oil dependence. We should follow Brazil’s lead and move toward ethanol as our primary energy source. As a nation we should be ashamed that we haven’t already done so. We don’t have to re-invent the wheel. Use the same models and strategies they used when they started their program.
Lastly, and most importantly, what if you are a single parent and you have to decide between $4 gasoline to get to work or food that night for your children. How would you decide?