Start Thinking About Packing a Six Pack Now
Now's the time to start thinking about March Break. I'm a trainer and I don't want you coming to me all fat and desperate in early February, complaining that you need to lose 25 lbs in a month. Profitable for me but painful for you.
Six Months to Success
Summer's over. You strolled the beaches with your tanned, tight bod. Let's keep it that way for the next few months. The heavy sweaters and long pants of fall and winter are not the time to hit the pizza and beer. Students - all the fun times and beer and wings with your buddies will add up to major grief for you in Florida next spring if you're not careful now. Career folks - Christmas calories count just like the rest.
The Plan
Weigh yourself today. Track your weight weekly over the next six months so that you know exactly what's going on with your body. Be very careful with your total daily caloric intake. Stay active. Walk, run, workout - whatever. Plan to get serious about training in early December. I know that's relaxed party season but trust me - it'll pay off in March.
Starting in December, we'll crank-up the training slowly so that you peak when you hit the beach in February or March. Start thinking about this now - there's only one March Break for you each year - you don't want to blow it.
More on March Break prep training in a later post.
Tom
Hate Me Now - Thank Me Later.
Kefir?
I first heard of kefir in a nutrition class promoted by the military. Neither the instructor nor any of the students had ever even seen kefir. All that was known about it was it a dairy product with vaguely middle eastern origins. Living in the remote prairies at the time, kefir was scarce. I finally found kefir in New Brunswick. It was in the "exotic/foreign" food section of the grocery store, near the goats milk and yak butter. The first product I found came in a container that was sealed with a foil lid (like the one pictured below). The foil lid was bulged out under pressure. I thought that it had gone bad but all of them were like that. Closer inspection of the label revealed that this phenomenon is called "Champansky Effect" and is normal. It is caused by fermentation gases.
The Taste
Kefir has a very unique taste. I describe it as "yogurt-flavoured beer". The plain version tastes the strongest but you can get raspberry and other flavoured kefir also.
Value
Its sold in smaller containers than cow's milk and is more expensive. Its no good for adding to coffee or tea or cereal. I use it as a beverage. Some of my kids like it and some don't. It seems to last in the fridge for a long time.
Nutrition
Kefir is high in protein and calcium. Its loaded with healthy probiotic bacteria which is good for your gastrointestinal tract.
Use
I keep kefir in the fridge and drink a small glass of it once or twice a day. Its good mixed into a smoothy or protein shake. Even a tablespoon of kefir taken occassionally can give you much of the probiotic benefits. I've never tried taking kefir in my lunch and I doubt that it would be very portable. Cooking with it will kill the healthy bacteria.
Recommendation
Get some kefir. Start with nice flavoured stuff. Try it. You'll either like it or hate it. At least when someone mentions kefir; you'll know what they're talking about.
Tom
Hate Me Now - Thank Me Later
Training Your Shoulders
The key muscle group of the shoulder is the deltoid. Deltoid has frontal, lateral and rear heads. The frontal head of the deltoid gets a lot of work during normal bench press. The lateral and rear heads of the deltoid are the ones that really require special attention.
Basic Shoulder Exercises
The musculature of the shoulder region is generally powerful but the joint itself is delicate. Shoulder work demands a methodical approach and some light-weight sets to warm-up.
Military Press
The Military Press is a superb shoulder building exercise. You can use dumbbells or a barbell. Some machines do a good job of replicating this move too. Stand with feet wide apart. Clean the bar up to your collar-bone. Press it straight up overhead. Elbows should be fully extended. Lower it back to the collar bone. Repeat. Engage your core when you do this exercise or you may feel discomfort in your lower back. This exercise mostly hits lateral delts but also uses frontal delts to a lesser extent. This should be your first deltoid exercise if doing multiple exercises, due to the remote risk of dropping the weight on your head.
Dumbbell Side Laterals
This exercise is excellent for hitting the side or lateral delts. These muscles need to be worked if you're going to add width to your shoulders. Ladies - this exercise gives your shoulders that nice definition that looks great in a sleeveless dress. Using light to medium weight dumbbells and a slight bend in the elbows, raise the dumbbells up to about ear-height. Just as the model in the photo is doing - tip the front of the dumbbells down. Just like you're pouring a bottle. This slight move really focuses the work onto the lateral delts. Lower slowly and repeat. I like to start with the weights together in front of my body. This creates a little work for some of the rotator-cuff muscles.
Bentover Dumbbell Flyes
This exercise works the often-neglected posterior or rear delts. This muscle is vital for many sports and manual labour as well as giving you a square-shouldered appearance. You can sit on the end of a bench or lie down prone on the bench to do this exercise. Some people do this in a standing position. If that's comfortable for your lower back, I'm not going to stop you (unless you're my client). Dumbbell in each hand, slight bend in elbows...raise the dumbbells up as high as you can. There's no risk of going too high! Don't raise your chest up. Keep hands well forward (you should be able to see the dumbbells in your peripheral vision). Lower. Repeat.
Basic Shoulder Routine
Try this after a decent warm-up:
Military Press: 3 sets of 8 reps
Dumbbell Side Laterals: 3 sets of 10 reps
Bentover Dumbbell Flyes: 3 sets of 10 reps
Tom
Hate Me Now - Thank Me Later
