Aren’t all personal trainers the same? Well trainers come in all shapes and sizes. When shopping for a personal trainer most shop first by price. It doesn’t mean the best trainer for you is the most expensive. Just as the lowest priced trainer is not necessarily the worst. However, if you’re looking for a personal trainer you need to stop looking for just how much they cost but how much value they can offer you and what qualifications they have to help you reach your goals. Do yourself a favor and make sure that they have the following qualifications first:
1) 4 year Bachelor’s Degree in Exercise Science, or Kinesiology
2) Multiple NCCA Accredited/Nationally Recognized Certifications: Personal Trainers, Sports Specialist, Nutrition Coaches- Look for NASM, ACE, NSCA, ACSM, and NESTA certifications.
3) Current CPR/AED Certifications with American Heart Association
4) Numerous Client References upon request
5) Liability Insurance Holders- if someone is coming into your home make sure they have Personal Trainers insurance to protect you and them.
6) Social Proof- Look for numerous success stories and testimonials, before and after photos of previous and current clients.
7) They practice what they preach- they take care of themselves and are not just training you as a hobby.
8} Offer guaranteed results (if you follow the program), and a money back guarantee.
9) Last, but certainly not least… Great Personalities! You should always feel like you get along and feel comfortable with your personal trainer.
I recently stopped by WZZM 13 and talked about some of these very things. Please watch the Video below:
Your Fitness and Nutrition Coach,
~David Modderman
Filed under Training by on Nov 21st, 2008. Comment. 
Halloween is over! But do you still have some extra candy laying around?
Do you find it hard to go a day without some chocolate, soda pop, or ice cream?
If so you just might have a sugar addiction.
Oh no! Does this mean you need to check yourself into rehab or go to Sugar Addicts Anonymous? 
No, not necessarily but if you finding yourself not making it through the day without your late afternoon pop or candy pick me up then you might need some help jumping off the sugar high roller coaster.
When you eat simple sugar all that sugar is absorbed through your blood stream at once. So for that moment you now have high blood sugar. The problem with this is your body has a hormone called “Insulin”. Insulin is a storage hormone and it’s job is remove all that sugar from your blood and store it into your muscles and liver. The major problem with this is insulin does such a great job of removing this sugar it actually removes to much…so from this you will end up with low blood sugar!
When you have low blood sugar guess what? Your body will crave MORE SUGAR. You will choose more sugar and start the up and down roller coaster all over again.
The nice thing is you can break this cycle and kill your sugar addiction with the right plan. Once you are off the sugar addiction you can have twice as much energy and burn twice as much fat than you ever did before.
Your Fitness and Nutrition Coach,
~David Modderman
Filed under Lifestyle, Nutrition, weight loss by on Nov 15th, 2008. Comment.
Are you a victim of the all or nothing bug?
I used to be in so many parts of my life. As a perfectionist this can happen far too often with too many people.
I remember thinking to myself over and over “well if i can’t do it this way then I might as well not do it at all!”
Is this a good attitude? Looking back I say no it wasn’t.
Do you use the all or nothing approach when trying to exercise and eat healthy?
Many do….
I remember running into a former client at the gym. We had worked together for like 6 months and we had got him in tip top shape. When I saw him for the first time in like 3 months I could tell he had let himself go a little bit. I said “hey haven’t seen you in here in sometime”. He went on to tell me he was working out six days a week and then got real busy at work and got out of the routine and just stopped coming completely. Wow! 6 days a week down to nothing! What was he thinking? Don’t you think he could have managed 2-3 days a week just to maintain his routine? After I mentioned this exact thing to him he looked at me funny and said “wow…I should have done that….3 days a week would have been something.”
That is the all or nothing bug if I have ever saw it….
People on diets do it everyday..”well I just ate a large piece of cheesecake, I guess I am off my diet”
Do you really have to be? No!
How about making the next meal better or the next day better. It doesn’t have to be all or nothing..it should always be at least something…making the effort consistently but not trying to be perfect everyday.
Don’t let the all or nothing bug get you!
Your Fitness and Nutrition Coach,
~David Modderman
Filed under Lifestyle by on Oct 27th, 2008. Comment.
I have worked with a lot of clients over the years and have discussed nutrition with almost all of them. I have never ate perfect all my life infact I don’t eat perfect now and never claimed to. But I still feel its my responsibility as a Fitness and Nutrition Coach to educate people on what is a healthy food choice for them and their family and what is not.
That brings us to peanut butter. Most people love peanut butter and you grew up with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches as a kid and still love them today as an adult. But the questions I always ask my clients and others during my supermarket tours is what kind of peanut butter do you buy?
An the answer that comes back 90% of the time is JIF!
JIF peanut butter, looking back that’s what I had as a kid. I don’t think my mom new better. But I do now.
Here is the JIF peanut butter ingredients:
MADE FROM ROASTED PEANUTS AND SUGAR. CONTAINS 2 PERCENT OR LESS OF: MOLASSES, PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED VEGETABLE OIL (SOYBEAN), FULLY HYDROGENATED VEGETABLE OILS (RAPESEED AND SOYBEAN), MONO- AND DIGLYCERIDES AND SALT.
What it is partially and fully hydrogenated vegetable oils? It’s a long ingredient name for trans fat! The #1 cause for heart disease in America. It is in JIF and thousands of foods in America.
But David……”JIF it tastes so good” yeah with sugar and transfat mixed in together something tastes so good…is making your health so bad!
Do you know reduced fat JIF is worse than regular JIF? How? JIF peanut butter and most peanut butters have some healthy fats (peanut oil) mixed in with the bad fats (trans fat). Reduced fat JIF Peanut butter actually removes the good fats from the peanut butter to reduce the fat but then leaves the trans fat in. Shocking? I say so.
So what would be a better choice “Natural Peanut butter.” Here is the ingrediants of most natural peanut butters.
INGREDIANTS: Peanuts
Wow! Do you see the difference?
Your Fitness and Nutrition Coach,
~David Modderman
Filed under Lifestyle, Nutrition, weight loss by on Oct 20th, 2008. Comment.
Last night my wife and I went out to dinner. We had a nice meal at the Winter Inn in Greenville, MI. This was our first time there. It was an interesting atmosphere keeping in mind the place was built in 1902.
Not to mention in my opinion it could be haunted.
After our dinner was done we are talking and I was expecting our waitress to bring us the check. But instead our waitress comes out to greet us with not a check but a dessert plate with 4 types of desserts. She doesn’t come out and ask “are you guys interested in dessert?” Or after asking us if we wanted dessert and we said yes then she could have brought out the plate. She just comes out and shoves it in our face like “here do guys like temptation?” Was I tempted? Never… dessert has never been my thing and I had a nice sweet potato and chicken breast for dinner and was perfectly satisifed.
Did I buy my wife dessert? Thats really not important is it? What is important is that unhealthy food is being pushed on us everyday and the person doing it doesn’t think twice.
It could be a waitress who has no concern maybe someone at the table is trying to eat healthy and make better choices. She just wants a bigger tip….(she didn’t get one).
It doesnt matter if its a owner of a fast food chain who doesn’t care that he/she is tempting people through advertisment and serving unheathly food to billions of people worldwide.
Watching the Texas and Oklahoma football game and seeing that 98% of the food available to buy at the stadium is deep fried and has no nutritional value.
Yes, I agree no one is making us eat this food, junk food doesnt tempt me. But I know for billions of others it does..and ITS EVERYWHERE! Sometimes its the only choice!
I predict soon obesity will be the #1 death in the United States.
Does this bother you?
It should……..
Your Fitness and Nutrition Coach
~David Modderman
Filed under Lifestyle, Nutrition, weight loss by on Oct 14th, 2008. Comment.
I cheered him on for every one of his 8 gold medals. He will go down as the greatest Olympian of our time. Yet after the article I read about him today he honestly has let me down.
After winning 8 gold medals the millions of dollars of endorsements are rolling in. Being in such great demand Michael Phelps could choose to team up with any endorsement he wanted and get paid handsomely for it.
I read the Michael Phelps foundation and Kellogg’s are teaming up and working together to promote children being active.
This is great news right?
With the rise of obesity in our children, and our kids becoming more inactive every day I honestly believe helping and promoting kids being active is great. Children are now suffering from Type II diabetes, which used to be an adult only disease. Kids are leaving the doctors office being diagnosed with heart problems, and high cholesterol and they have not even reached puberty yet.
Why are kids suffering from all these issues?
The problem is they do not exercise, and they are not active. Their life revolves around the computer, television, and video games. They eat junk food, and fast food. All these foods contain too much sugar, and they are consuming all this sugar while they are sitting on their behinds.
I am glad that Phelps and Kellogg’s are apparently trying to get kids more active .
However, the article shows Michael Phelps on the boxes of Corn Flakes, Frosted Flakes and Rice Krispie treats.
Maybe Michael Phelps doesn’t have much say in what products his face goes on, but I hate to say it I don’t think Kelloggs is really trying to make our kids healthier. They seem just to be in it to sell more of their foods with a superstar athlete on the box. These foods he will be featured on are unhealthy and full of sugar and high fructose syrup and will do nothing to help our kids get healthier.
Michael Phelps also sold out to MacDonalds. So I now guestion if he so concerned about kids health why would he be promoting MacDonalds?
Phelps diet of 12,000 calories per day that was published in the media a few months ago was nothing but junk food! I didn’t come down on him then because being a Nutritionist I know with him being so active if was eating really nutritious food for training he have to eat 3 times the volume of food he was already eating. Since more nutritious food is lower in calories. This would be the only way to get the calories he needed to perform.
We should all know by now that Mickie D’s food and all fast food is poison to us and our kids.
Michael Phelps and Kelloggs you let me down today.
MacDonalds you let me down everyday!
I would love to get some feedback from everyone out there. Let me know what you think about this story?
Your Fitness and Nutrition Coach,
~David Modderman
Filed under Lifestyle, Nutrition, weight loss by on Sep 30th, 2008. Comment.
I see it everyday………
Are you really busy? Always on the go?
Do you seem to put others problems in front of your own?
Maybe it is time you start taking care of yourself.
It might sound selfish but you’re worth your own time!
If you haven’t given yourself some “Me time” in a while then you are not in control of your life. Your life is in control of you!
So I challenge you to set aside an hour a day for you and do something that you enjoy and that is good for you!
Things like:
-Taking a walk
-Taking a bath ( and meditating)
-Working out
-Cooking a healthy meal for you and your family
Don’t just say you are going to do it, you need to actually put it in your daily planner and literally schedule it in!
If you do not set aside time for yourself, then who will??
~David Modderman
Filed under Lifestyle by on Sep 28th, 2008. Comment.
Have you seen this new tv commercial ad?
I can’t believe that they are trying to decieve you that High Corn Syrup maybe is not bad for you?
Give me a break!
High-fructose corn syrup is a sweetener and preservative used in many processed foods. It is made by changing the sugar in cornstarch to fructose another form of sugar.
High-fructose corn syrup extends the shelf life of foods and is sweeter and cheaper than sugar. For these reasons, it has become a popular ingredient in many sodas, fruit-flavored drinks and other processed foods. Check your food labels. You may be surprised by how many foods contain high-fructose corn syrup.
Nutrition experts blame increased consumption of high-fructose corn syrup for the growing obesity problem. One theory is that fructose is more readily converted to fat by your liver than is sucrose, increasing the levels of fat in your bloodstream.
The facts about High Fructose Corn Syrup:
Main Points to consider:
Common Foods High in HFCS
- Regular soft drinks
- Fruit juice and fruit drinks that are not 100 percent juice
- Pancake syrups
- Popsicles
- Fruit-flavored yogurts
- Frozen yogurts
- Ketchup and BBQ sauces
- Jarred and canned pasta sauces
- Canned soups
- Canned fruits (if not in its own juice)
- Breakfast cereals
- Highly sweetened breakfast cereals
Problems Caused by Too Much HFCS
- It can lead to higher caloric intake
- It can lead to an increase in bodyweight
- It fools your body into thinking it’s hungry
- It increases the amount of processed foods you eat, thereby decreasing your intake of nutrient-dense foods
- It may increase insulin resistance and triglycerides
Is HFCS worse than sugar? Maybe not but since when is sugar good for for you? Atleast sugar is not man made in a lab.
Avoid it!
How? Cut back on pop, regular and diet and read your food labels it’s in everything!!
Your Fitness and Nutrition Coach
~David Modderman
Filed under Nutrition, weight loss by on Sep 24th, 2008. Comment.
Have you been doing the same workout for more than a few months?
Are you starting to get bored?
Not seeing results?
Are you following the right program for what you’re trying to achieve?
I see a lot of people and even trainers doing or giving workouts that are not effective for them or their clients goals.
My clients will never do the same workout for more than 2 weeks unless we are following a specific fat loss program then we might go 4 weeks.
But changing up your routine and having the right focus for your program is very important.
Are you looking for real serious results and a program that is changing every 2-4 weeks to shock your body into building muscle, skyrocketing your metabolism, and burning pounds and pounds of fat? Then you need to try my 17 Week Real Results Program! I guarantee you will reach all your goals in 17 Weeks!
~David Modderman
Filed under Training by on Sep 12th, 2008. Comment.
Sometimes my clients are shocked when I tell them I eat pizza once a week!
I know what your thinking ”David don’t you preach supportive eating and no fast food”?
Well yes I do…..but you must also realize I preach having a day once a week where there is no rules. I believe that if you follow a sound nutrition plan 90% of the time you SHOULD reward yourself 10% of the time for being good and working hard.
So does that mean I endorse having a Hot- N- Ready $5 pizza once a week?
Well yes I say it’s ok if you can have it the same day every week and you can eat supportively the other 90% of the week. I personally only have take out pizza once every 3-4 months. So how do I get pizza once and even sometimes twice a week and not mess up my plan?
I make homemade pizza once a week….and guess what it’s healthy!
There are so many foods out there that are not good for you when you buy them already premade, but if you make them from the right ingrediants they can be very healthy for you! If you think what is actually in pizza its really not hard to think how to make it better for you.
My pizza has no bleached or enriched white or wheat flour, no high fructose corn syrup (hidden in the sauce), and no hydrogrenated oils.
So without further ado I give you:
DMODD’S WHOLE WHEAT PIZZA CRUST.
Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 package active dry yeast/instant yeast
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup hot tap water (120 – 125°F)
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon of organic honey
| Directions: Preheat oven to 425°FTo prepare pizza dough, stir whole wheat flour; lightly spoon into a measuring cup and level flour.In large mixing bowl, combine whole wheat flour, yeast and salt. Blend in water, oil and honey or sugar. Stir by hand vigorously until all ingredients are well mixed; about 3 minutes. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise to desired size.Place dough in greased (use olive oil or canola oil cooking spray) 15 x 10 x 1-inch jelly-roll pan or 12 to 14-inch pizza pan. Press dough to cover bottom of pan and up sides to form a rim. Add pizza sauce of your choice and your favorite pizza toppings; bake in oven 15 to 20 minutes or until crust is golden brown and toppings are done. |
| Servings: Provides 8 servings |
| Calories/Serving: 146 calories/slice of crust only |
| Nutrition:One slice of crust only provides approximately: 146 calories, 5 g protein, 27 g carbohydrates, 4 g fiber, 2 g fat (0 g saturated), 0 mg cholesterol, 37 mcg folate, 2 mg iron and 219 mg sodium. I personally use all natural sauce (low sugar), fresh mushrooms, reduced fat mozzarela cheese.
For the meat lovers: use turkey pepperoni, lean ground beef, cooked diced chicken breast. Veggie lovers: peppers, onions, mushrooms, etc. I make a cheeseburger pizza do die for, just mix half reduced fat mozzarela, and half reduced fat cheddar cheese, and add in some extra lean ground beef (96/4). Did someone say PIZZA!
~David Modderman |
Filed under Lifestyle, Nutrition, weight loss by on Sep 2nd, 2008. Comment.