It is amazing to me how many people want the quick fix when it comes to weight loss and fitness.
It’s also amazing to me how trainers are so willing to give quick fix answers and send people on there way. I was at the Front Street Riverview center yesterday promoting the newest location and fitness studio for my newest affiliation International Bodyworks Fitness.
The whole day I had people coming up to me and saying “oh you’re a trainer “what is the best exercise to get rid of this or that?” They would then grab under there arm and point or grab their waist and squeeze. To my dismay I actually heard another personal trainer give a lady really bad advice. The lady asked how she could get rid of fat on her back and waist. I actually heard this trainer say “you need to do lat pull downs to target under your arms or back” and crunches to target your waist”.
To me this was bad advice that this lady would get nothing from. But wait isn’t this exercise advice true? Well yes maybe, you should do lat pulldowns to hit underneath your arms or back and crunches to target your waist…..but that’s not the point…….The point is will these exercise be enough to actually get rid of these areas?
NO!
These exercises will only target the muscle underneath but they will not reduce or shrink these areas alone. So being a hard headed person and making sure this lady at the very least walked a way with sound advice I had to chime in and give my two cents. I told her if she really wanted to see results in those areas then doing two exercises alone will not be enough. I told what she needed to do is to learn the proper balance of the right nutrition, resistance training and aerobic exercise.
That is the only true way to see long term success in those areas. As a trainer it is always easy to give someone a quick easy answer and send them on their way, but will this advice really help someone? Will these quick answers empower them to change there lives? I believe the answer to be NO.
There is no quick fix or easy answer for getting into shape and getting that body you have always wanted. It will take hard work, some inspiration and motivation and the right map.
My goal is to be not just a trainer with a quick easy answer but the Fitness Coach and Fitness Professional that will give you the advice that will make the difference in your life and your goals. I can give you the motivation, inspiration, and the right map to be successful you just have listen, work hard, and follow this map.
If you do then there is nothing that can stand in your way. I will see you all back here soon….. same place….and same time…well maybe not the same time….but I will be around J
-David
Filed under Lifestyle, Training by on Jun 14th, 2008. Comment. 
Obesity is on the rise, not only is the adult population becoming more obese, but the children population as well. What is the major cause? Inactivity and diet.
With all this inactivity and obesity on the rise, many doctors and fitness experts are recommending walking for fat loss. Some will even say that walking is the best exercise for fat loss. I am strongly against this and I will explain why.
Walking is not effective for fat loss, if your main goal is fat loss, and all you are doing is walking, you could be missing the boat! Do not misunderstand me; I’m not saying walking is not beneficial. What I am saying is if your primary goal is fat loss then there are much better choices that will give you more effective workouts of burning fat and also achieving better results. The main benefits of walking, are increased blood flow, better recovery, and a strengthen immune system. There are many reasons why walking is not the best exercise for fat loss and here are a few:
1) Walking burns minimal calories
The lower the intensity of an exercise the less calories it burns it a given amount of time. For example you would burn many more calories biking at a higher intensity than you would over 45 minutes of easy strolling.
2) Walking does not do much for your metabolism
Another disadvantage to walking is when you exercise at a low intensity it only has a small effect on your metabolism, your metabolism (the rate in which your body burns through food) might stay elevated for 60-90 minutes after he walk. In turn high intensity cardio can increase your metabolism for up 4-24 hrs, if your doing cardio in morning this will stoke your metabolism for the rest of the day!
3) Walking does not deplete your muscle glycogen stores
Unfortunately walking does not deplete your bodies’ muscle glycogen stores (stored energy). When you deplete these stores you need to replace them with food and this food is used for recovery and stored in the muscles. If you do not deplete these glycogen stores, later day if you have a meal it has a very high chance as being stored as body fat.
So why is so many doctors and fitness experts recommending walking for fat loss? One big but sad reason is people do not want to hear that actually have to work hard to see results, so some activity is better than none. Which I do agree with some activity IS better than none, but if you are going to spend the time to exercise, you can use your time much more wisely and get a much better workout with and high intensity workout. The body does burn more fat for fuel when exercising at an easier pace. Most of us have seen on some of the cardio machines in our health clubs that there is a “fat burning zone” this zone is usually lets you exercise at a very easy pace. What you need to realize is the energy expended is low that even though its mostly fat it is so minimal you would have to do this exercise for hour on hours to see any fat loss, and doing this much aerobic activity can compromise muscle.
Performing high intensity cardio/aerobic activity is much more effective at burning excess stored body fat. There have been several studies that have been done to prove this to be true. One study they compared a group of people who did moderate aerobic activity for 45 minutes for a given exercise 4 times a week for 6 weeks, and second group who performed the same exercise for 15 minutes at a high intensity 4 times a week for 6 weeks. They did before and after health assessments, which included body fat analysis, and they found that the group that did high intensity lost 9 times as much body fat!
Have you ever looked at a marathon walker, and runner, a sprinter? Their body compositions are completely different. The marathon runner is almost sickly thin, carries very little muscle and more body fat, because of hours and hours of overtraining and low intensity exercise and his muscle has been used for energy. If you look at a sprinter he carries much more muscle at a lot less fat. He spends his time doing short, but high intensity runs, which keep his body fat low and maintains his muscle.
So what should you be your main goals if you want to shed those extra pounds of fat?
1) Do intense cardio aerobic 2-4 times a week
2) Maintain blood sugar levels to minimize storing of new fat
3) Maintain lean tissue through appropriate nutrition.
I know some of you are thinking, I cannot do high intense cardio/aerobics because I have a bad knee or back. Well there is no need to worry because the intensity is based on your fitness level. For example if you’re currently walking…doing a fast walk up and down hills might be high intensity for you. If your currently doing the elliptical for 45 minutes maybe its time to do it for 15 minutes but at a much harder pace. So don’t feel you have to start running, just slowly try to increase the intensity of your workouts and decreasing the time. You have the choice of either working harder or longer, long term working out harder will give you better results
Simple ways to increase the intensity of your workouts:
1) Increase your speed
2) Use incline or hills
3) Perform intervals
4) Increase resistance
Some exercises are better suited for others, but the key is to increase the intensity of the exercise you prefer this will make the exercise much more productive.
Just be careful as with any changes to your program, just because high intensity workouts burn more fat, it doesn’t me I suggest doing it everyday, this can lead to overtraining and possible injury, and worse case scenario muscle breakdown.
Filed under Uncategorized by on Jun 16th, 2008. Comment.
I am not sure if I am the only one but sometimes the right words can change my thought process for the whole week. I love reading inspiring quotes and also inspiring movies.
Today I read a quote that really inspired me to focus on my fitness and career goals even more.
”Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is true strength.”
How many of us surrender when the times get tough? Whether it be when life gets tough or even fitness and nutrition get tough? It’s easy to succumb to all the curve balls life throws at us. But I truly believe the strongest people and the people who achieve the most in life are the ones who go to bat each day and take a swing at life. They don’t sit back and expect things to fall in their lap. They put forth the effort everyday.
You will never be successful in reaching your goals if you don’t try. You will never lose weight if don’t make an effort.
- There will be times when exercise will be the last thing you want to do and going home and turning on the tv will seem very appealing.
- There will be times when you will be driving home when you didn’t plan ahead and that fast food drive thru will be calling your name.
BUT IF YOU MAKE YOUR HEALTH AND FITNESS A TOP PRIORITY IN YOUR LIFE YOU CAN RESIST ANY TEMPTATION THAT MIGHT TAKE YOU DOWN THAT WRONG PATH.
Those who love inspiring movies and haven’t seen it yet should check out the latest and 6th installment of the Rocky saga “Rocky Balboa”. Its a true movie for the family and teaches you to never give up and never stop believing in yourself and what you can accomplish. I will leave you with a quote from the movie:
Let me tell you something you already know. the world aint all sunshine and rainbows. Its a very mean and nasty place, and I dont care how tough you are it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me or nobody, is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t about how hard you hit, its about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward, how much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done.
-Rocky Balboa
Yo! That’s deep Rock! 
Your Fitness and Coach,
~David Modderman
Filed under Lifestyle by on Jun 16th, 2008. Comment.
Why do you procrastinate and put things off? Is it pure laziness? Is it you are not serious about getting things done and getting up and moving?
For some people I truly believe the reason they procrastinate is fear. You are afraid you will fail. So if you don’t try you don’t fail. But if you don’t try you also will never succeed.
My biggest pet peeve as a Fitness Professional and Health Coach is someone who says they are going to do something then they don’t do it. We are all guilty of it. Even myself. There isn’t anyone out there that doesn’t procrastinate in some form.
But procrastination will kill your chances of ever being successful with your fitness goals.
It seems like almost everyday I hear someone say ”I’m serious about this David” “I really am I need to do this”. ”I am going to exercise 3 times a week and eat better” Then one week later they have stopped exercising all together and they have hit the fast food drive thru 3 times in 3 days!
Procrastination is holding so many people back! It is holding you back!
If I was paid a $1 every time someone told me they were going to start their workout on Monday, or next week I would be a rich man. I hear this very often “I will start doing this on Monday” Will you??
If you’re saying this to yourself “I will start on Monday” or “I will start tomorrow” you will NEVER reach your goals. Your dream will always be in the future that you will never reach, because it is always tomorrow.
You know what really drives me crazy when you procrastinate? You use it as an excuse to eat bad the rest of the day and you are constantly telling yourself you will be good tomorrow. Will you?
But what happens tomorrow? You use the same excuse! You just keeping saying to yourself “I’ll start tomorrow” but you never do.
“Putting off a hard thing makes it impossible”- George Horace Lorimar”
Tomorrow is never a good time to start. When is? RIGHT NOW!!!
I don’t care if you’re eating a bowl of ice cream right now! If you start thinking you will be good tomorrow you have already abandoned the commitment of eating well today.
•Stop thinking what am I going to do tomorrow and start thinking what am I going to do RIGHT NOW!
•The workouts, exercise programs and nutrition advice I can give you is the map you need to get to your desired destination, but it you keep putting off getting the map from me you will never get there. If you never learn how to read the map you will never get to where you want to go either. If I have already given you the map you MUST follow it everyday or you will be lost.
“Don’t wait: the time will never be ‘just right.’ Start were you stand, and work with whatever tools you may have at your command, and better tools will be found as you go along”- Napoleon Hill
If you want to stop procrastinating and take control please schedule your first session now!
I’m here to help you but you have to let me and stop putting this off!
Just remember….. If I didnt care I wouldn’t bother posting this!
Talk to ya later Procrastinater! 
Filed under Lifestyle, Nutrition, weight loss by on Jun 17th, 2008. Comment.
“I can’t!”
“I know… I know……”
These are phrases I hear from people almost once a week.
Do you ever catch your self saying the following phrases?:
“I can’t lose weight!”
“I can’t stick to exercise!”
“I can’t eat right!”
When you say “I can’t ” you probably use this as an excuse for not doing something, or for not taking action. We all have done it. You probably CAN, you just choose not too, or you just haven’t found the solution to your problem yet. Saying the words “I CAN’T” means you have already abandoned the belief you ever can! There is always a way! You just have to find it and then do it!
So be careful using the words “I can’t” unless you REALLY can not do something.
I KNOW…..I KNOW…..
Most of the time when I instruct someone how to eat right and exercise for the best results, they come back and say I know I should eat this way, and I know how to eat healthy, I know I should exercise everyday. Yet they fail to do it. So maybe they don’t know?
The Phrase “I know, I know” is a mental shortcut it allows you to shut off your brain, and avoid action.
Many of you have heard the information I provide each week before, its not always ground breaking information every week. But if you just think to yourself “I know this information, and I don’t have to read it carefully or apply it.” The truth really is you do not know something until you have done it successfully, and then done it again! Honestly, some don’t really know something until they have done it, repeated it, and the taught it to someone else. Everyone has room for improvement, maybe you really don’t know, at least not yet. Because if you knew, YOU’D DO.
Knowing is really doing, and doing it successfully day after day.
So maybe you think you CAN’T, and not sure if you now KNOW.
But with the right attitude, belief, and direction, you CAN and WILL.
Seriously what’s stopping you?
-David
Modderman
Filed under Uncategorized by on Jun 19th, 2008. 1 Comment.
So many people out there want results. But they are very misinformed. Lets take a look and 5 Fitness Myths and why they are exactly that MYTHS!
Myth 1) you can tone a muscle.
I can not count how many times someone has told me they want to lose weight and get TONED.
So what is toning? The word tone simply describes the state of your muscles. When at rest, your muscles are in a constant state of partial contraction in order to be ready for action. The ‘tone’ of your muscles is involuntary, so you can’t change it by lifting weights a certain way.
Over the years, people have taken the word ‘tone’ and redefined it to mean how lean we are–how defined our muscles appear. In fact, it’s even a gender specific word sometimes–women go to the gym to ‘tone up’ while men go to the gym to lift weights. Know what? Those are the exact same things!
The truth is, you’re limited as to what you can really change about your muscles. In a nutshell, this is what your muscles can do:
1. Grow larger and/or stronger
2. Shrink smaller and/or get weaker
So you can say toned all you want when you talk to me I will just laugh on the inside.
Myth 2) Spot reduction
The idea of spot reduction has been around for decades. Many still believe we can lose fat in one specific area, by doing certain movements and exercises. I am here to tell you WE CAN NOT! We cannot choose the area on our body we want to lose fat and actually burn it off by doing one exercise. For example many try to do hundreds upon hundreds of crunches and sit ups to burn fat off their stomach. Doing twists and side bends will not reshape our oblique’s or burn away our love handles. The only way to burn fat properly is through our entire body evenly. To do this we need a combination of the right nutrition and the right exercise.
Myth 3) Aerobic Exercise is the Answer to Fat Loss
Most think to lose fat hour and hours of running, biking, walking, and taking classes is the best way to lose fat and keep it off. I love reading or hearing people say the exercise everyday but they never mention weight training. Weight training is equally if not important than aerobic exercise in the role of fat loss. Why? Weight training can help build muscle which in turn will burn more fat. In more muscle means a faster metabolism.
Myth 4) Taking Supplements will be enough to help me reach my goals.
This is one the biggest and common mistakes by the misinformed. Most fail to realize the supplement industry is a $50 billion a year industry. These supplement companies are not selling theses pill and potions to help people; they are in it to make money! I’m not saying everyone who makes a supplement is out to make money or that all supplements are worthless, there are a few ok ones out there. But I do believe their marketing is very deceiving. We first have to understand what the word supplement means “in addition to”. Most supplement companies use fitness models to sell their product, to make people think if they take this same supplement they will look just like the fitness model. Unfortunately, most fail to realize these models workout 5-6 times a week and eat healthy meals 6-8 times per day. So it takes much more hard work than just taking a supplement to look like these fitness models and bodybuilders.
Myth 5) Eat less Lose Weight
This is a very popular diet. Many people assume if they stop eating, or go on a diet they will automatically lose weight. Almost every time someone goes “on a diet” they deprive themselves of some nutritional value. If you look up the word “diet” in the dictionary one of the actually definitions is “deprivation”. When our body is deprived of some nutritional value it needs, it falls out of a healthy balance. When a person burns as many calories as they take in, they have what we call an “energy balance.” These people will not gain nor lose weight. So, because of this most assume to lose weight they must eat less than what their body burns each day. They will lose weight but usually it is water loss, and some very important tissue called muscle. Some people even try to cut out calories, fat, and the newest one carbohydrates! They do not realize these three things are so important in not only in an effective nutrition plan, but also to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
Calories are very important in order for the body to function. Calories provide energy for our body and we receive more energy by burning calories. So if calories are reduced too low, then what will we be burning to provide energy? Most of us assume we will be burning fat for energy on a low calorie diet, when in fact we are burning MUSCLE! What’s the reason for this? The reason is our body wants to keep our fat stores for emergencies, and feed on our precious muscle first before anything else. By losing muscle we can actually store more body fat! How is this? By depriving our body of nutritional value, our body stops functioning normally. So, we need to eat a nice balance of calories. This includes lean protein, fibrous carbohydrates, and healthy fats to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
-David Modderman
Filed under Lifestyle, Nutrition, Training, fitness, weight loss by on Jun 21st, 2008. 1 Comment.
Two months ago we brought a new puppy home. She is a yellow lab named Molly. I never knew how much work this puppy would be! She has now become the center of my day. Her whole life revolves around playing, eating, and sleeping (sometimes not enough sleeping for me). All she wants to do is run, play tug of war, tag, eat and rest. She is supposed to eat 3 times a day. Every other day I feed her 5 times in smaller portions to she how her energy levels respond.
After playing with her a few hours a day I have come to realize she is probably working out harder than me on a daily basis! This little 20 lb puppy is out working me! I have even come to think she is even eating better than me. To me that’s where I draw the line. Those who know me know I take pride not only in exercise but in proper nutrition. I think she has set the example for all of us as silly as it may seem.
Little Molly exercises everyday without being told, she eats balanced healthy meals 3-5 times a day and she gets plenty of water and rest everyday.
It’s all about Lifestyle and consistency everyone! It’s not about how quick you can lose weight or how you can take 3 weeks off from exercise every 2 months. It’s also not how good you eat every 3 days. No one will be perfect but you need to be consistent, and work towards being healthy everyday not for only 5 days or even 10 weeks at a time.
-David Modderman
Filed under Uncategorized by on Jun 25th, 2008. 3 Comments.
-
2 in 5 of every meal in America is a FAST FOOD meal!
Do you know how sad that is? I am willing to bet that it’s greater than 2 in 5 in Michigan. Fast food is full of transfat, high fructose corn syrup, and enriched flour. Even if you think your getting the healthiest food there you still are most likely getting a lot things you do not know you are getting.
-
In the beginning of the 20th century Americans cooked and ate most of their meals at home.
That means back in the day we planned ahead. Back then our health was more of a priority to all of us. What has happened? More junk food being produced everyday and our schedules are not getting any lighter. My advice you need to control your schedule not let your schedule control you.
-
By the year 2000 Americans eat more than half their meals outside their home or brought home processed foods they did not prepare or cook.
It’s easy to do this, so easy… but your health is going to suffer severly from it!
-
Our country is being pushed towards obesity and not towards health.
Ever turn on the tv and not see a fast food or junk food commercial every 5 minutes? Can you drive more than 5 blocks without seeing a fast food restauraunt? They are controling us everyone! They are controling our kids as well! Ever see a healthy food at the store with a cartoon character on it? No! Only junk processed food!
-
EVENTUALLY OBESITY WILL BE THE #1 CAUSE OF ALL DEATHS IN THE USA!!!
As hard is it is to say I can see this happening. Until we start taking control…. the fast food, and the unhealthy food market will thrive. Do you think the FDA cares? Take a Supermarket Tour with me and I will show you that they do not!
As bad is these facts are….there is one good thing out there than can help change it all for you. You have a choice! You have a choice to not eat this stuff and take back your life and make the right food choices.
So I challenge you to educate yourself what foods are good and what foods are bad. I also challenge you to plan ahead and make your own food or have someone prepare it for you.
If thats something you want to do and you need help. I’m always here.
Filed under Nutrition, Uncategorized by on Jun 30th, 2008. Comment.
