craigboydfitness.com

This person exercises 5 days a week and wants to lose a couple lbs of fat around the mid section. After my rant about the time magazine article http://craigboydfitness.com/?p=29 here is a clients food log for one day. Any guesses whether its the exercise or diet that needs to change.

Craig Boyd is one of Vancouver’s top personal trainers, crossfit and boot camp instructors. His company websites are http://www.precisionathletics.ca/  and http://precision-bootcampvancouver.com/

Great article at http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1914857-1,00.html that proves exercising makes you fat. Actually, the article says that you use up all your willpower forcing yourself to exercise so that you overeat afterwards. Therefore exercising makes you fat.

The article should have mentioned that 99% of the population eat too many refined carbs which spike the blood sugar and cause an insulin release. Insulin causes you to store fat and prevents you form burning fat while exercising. That is why drinking a gatorade before or after a 20 minute run is a bad isea, it’s all sugar (the research for gatorade was done on 90+ minutes of activity in Florida where its crazy hot). Unless you are doing a major endurance event you do not need the electrolytes or sugar that a sports drink contains.

How can you exercise and lose weight? Here are the top three things….

#1- Eat a balanced diet (of healthy fat , protein and carbs) devoid of sugar and grains (that is right no grain not even Ezekiel bread or sprouted ancient Kamut) at every meal. This will keep blood sugar level and avoid insulin spikes. No one has ever gotten fat eating fruits, vegetables, meat fish nuts and seeds.

#2- Do high intensity weights and cardio mixed- you need to push yourself in order to see results. Doing a 30 min run at 6 mph 4x a week will burn some calories but not make a major change in your physique (once you have adapted to the initial shock to the system). High intensity circuit  training has been proven to get the best results and the variety will keep you training longer.

#3- Alcohol- It’s not just the calories and the fact its all sugar. The alcohol get processed in your liver. Unfortunately, that is where fat gets broken down as well. Bad news is if you go out on the town then try to make up for it by training hard your body cannot burn any fat, its to busy detoxifying your blood. Cut down the total number of drinks  weekly as well as eliminate all alcohol Sun – Thurs (or another 5 consecutive days). That way your body will be able to de-toxify and be able to burn fat during/ after your exercise. 

Craig Boyd is one of Vancouver’s top personal trainers, crossfit and boot camp instructors. His company websites are http://www.precisionathletics.ca/  and http://precision-bootcampvancouver.com/

Vancouver Personal Trainer Craig Boyd and Media Challenge winner Anicka Quinn present a check to Lori Francisco of the Parkinson Society of BC

This January we had our first ever Media Charity Fitness Challenge. We asked local media, print, radio and TV to come out and get in shape in support of their favorite charity. The event was free to enter and whoever got the best results gotto name their charity and we donated $500 for them. It was a resounding success. This years winner Anicka Quin presented Lori Franco of the Parkinson Society of  BC with the check (see photo). Anicka lost 3% body fat and 32.5 cm (13 inches) total from 4 main  measurement spots (arms, stomach, hips, legs). Anicka also, decreased her resting heart rate by 6 BPM and increased her cardiovascular endurance by27% (12 minute run .90- 1.27 miles). This was all accomplished by attending my boot-camp 2 mornings a week and doing a  nutritional consultation and adopting a few new healthy eating strategies. Congratulations Anicka and thanks to the Parkinson Society of BC for sending someone to collect their donation.

Craig Boyd is one of Vancouver’s top personal trainers, crossfit and boot camp instructors. His company websites are http://www.precisionathletics.ca/  and http://precision-bootcampvancouver.com/

Want faster recovery? Try this…..Right after your workout take an alternate hot and cold shower (as hot and cold as you can stand). Ideally if you have a shower with a Handel you can focus the cold on the areas you have just trained. Alternate at least twice and always finish on cold. I did this yesterday after a 3 hour ride and 30 minute run where my quads were cramping. No soreness today and the cramping stopped during the shower. Right after your next workout and leave a post here in comments with what you think.

Craig Boyd is one of Vancouver’s top personal trainers, crossfit and boot camp instructors. His company websites are http://www.precisionathletics.ca/ and http://precision-bootcampvancouver.com/ .

I had the opportunity to attend a fantastic seminar on the weekend at the Richmond Olympic Speed Skating Oval. It is a world class facility and I would recommend stopping by and checking it out. http://richmondoval.ca/default.htm 

The seminar was put on by Mark Verstegen the founder of Athletes Performance http://www.athletesperformance.com/ , they are the premier athlete training facility in the United States. The seminar was half lecture and half practical. They covered movement prep and core activation (they call it Pillar Strength instead of core strength). They also covered weighttraining focusing on athletic power and speed development. Notably, Athletes Performance is highly focused on recovery (nutrition, ART, hydro-therapy etc.). It was very informative.

It was an amazing facility and great presenters. I came out with some great new exercises that my clients are enjoying and some new information on athletic power and speed development. Looking forward to the next continuing education moment.

Craig Boyd is one of Vancouver’s top  personal trainers, crossfit  and boot camp instructors. His company websites are http://www.precisionathletics.ca/ and http://precision-bootcampvancouver.com/ .