Fitness News & Views
A Publication of Graham Fitness
| June 15, 2010 |
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1 Corinthians 6: 19-20 |
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We′re Upping the Rewards for Referrals
Referrals are my best source of new business, and lately they have slipped to a trickle. I did not offer any referral incentives this year which may be the reason for the fall-off.
So for the remaining 6 months of 2010, I will up the ante for referrals. Starting now, I will send you a check immediately for every new client you send me, up to $250. Here is how it will work:
These referrals bonuses are for the initial purchase only. So talk it up, and make yourself some easy cash.
Registrations Now Open for Mud Run Prep Boot Camp
This year′s USMC Challenge Mud Run will be held on September 25th. It will be at a new location – bigger and better than ever. 3600 teams will be allowed to participate, and 2500 registered in the first month, so if you are planning to participate, you should go ahead and register on-line at www.usmcmudrun.org.
Once again, Graham Fitness will have a 7-week Mud Run Prep Boot Camp. This boot camp is especially designed to get you ready for the Mud Run. Last year, it was my most successful boot camp.
You don′t have to be registered for the Mud Run to participate in the boot camp, but if you are planning to compete, you should join this boot camp. It will begin on Saturday, August 7th, and run through September 18th. The cost is $110 for first time recruits and $89 for boot camp vets. Registration is open so call me at 749-3461 or email me at tim@grahamfitness.com and get your name on the list now.
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As I′ve mentioned maybe a couple dozen times in this newsletter, it is absolutely essential that you change your strength workout periodically – at least every four to six weeks. You can do this by changing the exercises you are doing or even by doing the same routine in a different order. But another way to vary your strength training program is to change up the way you do your sets. Here are several examples you can try:
• Drop sets (or breakdown sets). Start with your normal weight and work to momentary muscle failure. Then as quickly as possible reduce the weights, and do a second set to muscle failure. This is typically done for about 3 or 4 sets.
• Pyramiding. Start with a set using light weights. Then increase the weights a little and do another set. Continue to add weight until you can only do a couple of reps in a set. Then begin lowering the weights with each successive set until you are back to where you started.
• Forced reps (or assisted reps). Do a set to muscle failure and then do 2 or 3 more reps with the assistance of a spotter. Do a total of 3 sets.
• Negative reps. You need a spotter for this one too. Use a weight that is a little heavier than normal for you. The spotter should assist you in the positive or concentric phase of the lift. You do the negative, or eccentric, phase on your own.
• Super slow sets. Make each rep last about 10 seconds – five seconds for the positive phase and five for the negative. To make this variation even more difficult, make each rep last 20 seconds.
• Circuit training. Perform one set of your entire strength routine in a predetermined order with no rest breaks between sets, then repeat the entire circuit twice more for a total of 3 complete sets.
• Super sets. Perform one set of an exercise for a particular muscle or muscle group, then with no rest between sets, do a different exercise for the same or different muscle. Complete 3 sets of each exercise before moving on to the next superset.
Cold Stone, the ice cream shop, has the distinction of offering the unhealthiest drink in America. The PB & C milkshake, made with peanut butter, chocolate ice cream, and milk, has 2,010 calories, 68 grams of saturated fat, and 153 grams of sugar. That′s the liquid equivalent of eating 68 pieces of bacon or 30 full-size chocolate chip cookies.
Spark People, an excellent weight loss website (www.sparkpeople.com) recently published 30 suggestions to help you overcome eating temptations. I don’t have room for all of them, but here are a few that I believe are particularly good:
• Start with soup. Eating a broth based soup at the beginning of your meal will help prevent overeating.
• Brush your teeth. Anytime you get a food craving, brush your teeth. This works especially well in the evening after supper to prevent snacking while watching TV.
• Envision the consequences. That donut that takes less than a minute to eat will take a 45-minute walk or 20-minute run to burn off.
• Drink a glass of water and wait 15 minutes. Water has a filling effect. (Personal note: A glass of club soda works even better. The carbonation is even more filling. But watch the sodium if you have high blood pressure.)
• Be wasteful. When you′re eating out and you know you′ve eaten enough, pour a ton of salt on the remaining food, so you won′t be tempted to eat everything on your plate.
I still receive occasional emails concerning the dangers of using aspartame, the sugar substitute in Nutra Sweet and Equal. These emails have been circulating for over ten years. The truth is: Aspartame is not a health risk. Dozens of research studies over the years have shown that aspartame is perfectly safe to use and virtually impossible to over use.
Testing groups include the FDA, the American Council on Science and Health, the National Cancer Institute, and the Clinical Research Center among many others
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Please Support The Loyal Advertisers That Make This Newsletter Possible
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7948 Broad River Road
Irmo, SC 29063
Phone: 749-1633
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A frequently asked question is: ″How many times a week should I strength train.″ The answer is two to three times a week. The minimum is two, but aim for three if you can. One time a week will usually allow you to maintain your current level of strength, but will not build new muscle. After the age of 20, you will lose five pounds of muscle every decade if strength training is not part of your exercise regimen. After age 60, that number doubles, so the older you are, the more important strength training becomes.
Always rest at least 48 hours between workouts. This allows your muscles to repair themselves from small tears which occur during strength training. The reparations are what make muscles stronger.
In analyzing your overall fitness, there are five components to be considered. They are: body composition, aerobic capacity, flexibility, muscular strength, and muscular endurance.
Your body composition includes your weight, your fat mass, your lean muscle mass, and your weight distribution. Your aerobic capacity is your ability to sustain moderate intensity activity for extended periods. Your flexibility is the range of motion of your major joints. It involves the elasticity of your muscles, ligaments, and tendons. Muscle strength is the maximum amount of force you can perform with a single contraction. And muscular endurance is your ability to repeat high intensity muscular contractions.
All five are necessary for total fitness. That′s why proper nutrition and calorie consumption, cardio exercise, strength training, and stretching are all necessary components of a complete fitness program.
Remember the drink 7-Up? It′s still around, but you don′t see it much anymore. I always wondered where the name of the drink came from, so I did a little research. Seems 7-Up was created in St. Louis in 1929 by Charles Grigg. It was originally marketed as a patent medicine designed to cure hangovers and was called Bib-Label Lithiated Lemon-Lime Soda. It contained lithium citrate a mood stabilizing drug. The name was soon changed to 7-Up because the atomic mass of lithium is 7. How weird is that?
Its original advertising slogan which remained through 1952 was ″You Like It, It Likes You.″ That may seem like a strange slogan, but to this day I still remember it, which shows my age and the slogan′s effectiveness.
About 20% of Americans still smoke cigarettes. If you are one of them, you already know the health risks and you probably would like to stop. Believe me, I know how difficult it is to give up smoking. From 1965 when I was 18 through 1977 when I was 30, I smoked two to three packs of cigarettes a day, every day. Let me tell you how I stopped. It might help you.
Pick a date three or four months away as your stopping date. Tell others about it. Put some pressure on yourself. Smoke as much as you want up to that date, but begin mentally preparing yourself to stop by reminding yourself of all the negatives of cigarette smoking. Here is a short list to get you started: (1) It is the major cause of death and disease in the U.S. (2) It is expensive. (3) It stinks. It stinks up your clothes, your hair, your breath, and your house. Even your kids smell like cigarettes when you smoke. (4) Cigarette smoking causes little annoyances like ashes falling off and burning little holes in your clothes, burned fingers, burned table tops, and burned car seats. (5) Cigarette smoking causes you to get winded easily. (6) It causes you to cough in the mornings and when you laugh too hard.
And when you get right down to it, only one or two smokes a day are pleasurable. The rest are harsh and irritating.
Add your own reasons to this list. Write them down. Read them every day and think about them throughout each day leading up to your stopping day.
When stopping day comes, you′ll be mentally psyched for it, but it won′t be easy. Here are a few tips to help you stay stopped: (1) Keep in mind, the physical addiction only lasts two days. From then on, it′s a mental addiction. You can handle that. (2) Remember what someone told me and it helped me a lot. The first two days are harder than the next two. The first two weeks are harder than the next two. And the first two months are harder than the next two months. Each step is one step closer to being free of the addiction, and after the first two days, the worst is over. (3) Impulses to smoke come and go, but the strong urges usually last about ten minutes or less. When faced with a strong urge, determine to make it through the next ten minutes. (4) Keep busy and avoid as much as possible those situations which trigger the urge to smoke. (5) Join a support group if necessary. (6) Start exercising.
Remember: Thousands, even millions, of others have already stopped smoking, and you can too.
As I write this, there is a plumber/electrician at my house trying to figure out why our hot water heater keeps tripping the circuit breaker. Over the last three weeks, we′ve been through at least four house calls involving five different people. I′ve spent more than it would have taken to buy a new hot water heater and have it installed.
All of this has been a hassle, and it reminds me of what Steve Allen once said: ″Life is just one damn thing after another.″ There’s a lot of truth to that. Certainly there are times when life is near perfect with not a care in the world, but for the most part, life is a series of problems. I once read a book by Richard Carlson called Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff … And It’s All Small Stuff .
Personally, I believe Dr. Carlson is wrong. It′s not all small stuff. I believe life′s problems fall into three categories which I designate as aggravations, catastrophes, and tragedies. This plumbing problem is an aggravation. Most of our ″problems″ are mere aggravations. Catastrophes include your house burning down or possibly totaling your car. Tragedies include the death of a child or spouse, terminal or chronic debilitating illnesses, or maybe a divorce. Don′t sweat the aggravations. They are small stuff. And keep it all in perspective. One of my former clients is still in the hospital a month after a traffic accident that took the life of his wife of 40 years. Compare your problems to his. Thank God for what you are facing, and pray for those facing much worse.
Graham Fitness
Tim Graham
ACE Certified Personal Trainer
Certified Nutrition Specialist
Website: www.grahamfitness.com
Email: tim@grahamfitness.com
Phone: 803-447-8557
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Harbison Recreation Center
106 Hillpine Road
Columbia, SC 29212
Phone: 781-2281
The Harbison Rec Center offers more facilities for less money than anywhere else in town These are just some of the features: a new weight room with all new machines, free weights, treadmills, ellipticals, and stationary bikes; a 25 meter junior Olympic size indoor heated swimming pool; sauna; whirlpool; racquet ball and tennis courts; a basketball gym; and miles of traffic-free trails for walking or jogging. There are classes for seniors as well as summer camp and after school programs for kids. Also newly remodeled locker rooms and an all-purpose room for large gatherings. All for only $315 a year for singles or $600 a year for families.
Wolf′s Fitness Center
5432 August Road
Lexington, SC 29072
Phone: 356-6400
Wolf′s is a total fitness facility offering some great amenities. There′s a huge recently expanded weight room featuring free weights and machines. There is a cardio area with treadmills, ellipticals, stationary bikes, stair steppers, and the cardio theater. Other amenities include an indoor walking/running track, sauna, child care facilities with an attendant, tanning beds, showers, locker rooms, and sports supplements. Prices are very reasonable and there are no enrollment fees ever. Wolf′s also offers a full slate of fitness classes including kickboxing and pilates, as well as all new spinning classes . Check out their website, www.wolfsfitness.com.
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