Stair training is actually a much different exercise than stair stepping, which requires the use of a stair-stepping machine or Reebok step.  Stair training is performed on actual stairs, such as those that may be found in your home or at a stadium. Climbing actual stairs is a fully weight-supporting exercise and is more aerobic than stair stepping or using a stair master type machine. This is a great aerobic activity; however, you may have to build up to being able to perform it continuously for a minimum of 10 minutes. Eventually, the goal is 30 to 60 minutes.  To start, simply walk up the stairs to the top, and then walk back down. Since going up is much more strenuous than going down, you should maintain the proper intensity by going down the stairs more quickly than you go up.

When I was a member of the wrestling team at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, I always dreaded our stair training days.  To me and my teammates, this was absolute torture.  We had to run stair sprints up all the stairs in the on campus arena, from the floor to the top level.  This was as intense as it got but was vital to our overall conditioning.   Now, twenty years after graduation, I use this same technique in my studio with my clients.  Some love it, others hate it.  But, as a whole, they all love the results they see in the mirror and the way they feel inside.

I always start stair training slowly with no more than ten rounds.  Then, as my client’s conditioning improves, I add more rounds.  Eventually, I’ll incorporate high intensity interval training (HIIT) on the stairs using a weighted vest or dumbbells as a thirty to sixty minute stair program.  The results can be seen within a matter of days.

When I arrive at the studio every morning at 5:15 am, I spend at least 20 minutes running the stairs at various speeds.  For the first 10 minutes, I’ll do a slow jog followed by sprints and finish with jump squats both up and down.

Then, for the final 10 minutes, I’ll either wear the 60 pound vest or carry 25 pound dumbbells while running.  By the time my first client arrives at 6am, my stair session is complete.  Now it’s time to torture someone else!  I love my job!

The holiday season is a wonderful time to celebrate with family and friends. Unfortunately, for many it also becomes a time for over-eating and gaining a lot of weight.  Statistics from the National Institutes of Health show that holiday eating can result in an extra pound or two every year. Do the math!  Over a lifetime, holiday weight gain can really add up. But, you don’t have to gain weight over the holidays. Focus on a healthy balance of food, activity, and fun. By implementing a few simple tips you can stay healthy through the holiday season.

Ten Tips for Healthy Holiday Eating

1. Be realistic. Don’t try to lose pounds during the holidays.  Instead, try to maintain your current weight.

2. Plan time for exercise. Exercise helps relieve holiday stress and prevent weight gain. A moderate and daily increase in exercise can help partially offset increased holiday eating. Try 10- or 15-minute brisk walks twice a day. 

3. Don’t skip meals. Before leaving for a party, eat a light snack like raw vegetables or a piece of fruit to curb your appetite. You will be less tempted to over-indulge. 

4. Carefully examine the party buffets before filling your plate. Choose your favorite foods and skip your least favorite. Include vegetables and fruits to keep your plate balanced. 

5. Eat until you are satisfied.  Don’t over eat. Savor your favorite holiday treats while eating small portions. Sit down, get comfortable, and enjoy. 

6. Be careful with beverages. Alcohol can lessen inhibitions and induce overeating; non-alcoholic beverages can be full of calories and sugar. 

7. If you overeat at one meal go light on the next. It takes 500 calories per day (or 3,500 calories per week) above your normal/maintenance consumption to gain one pound. It is impossible to gain weight from one piece of pie!

8. Take the focus off food. Turn candy and cookie making time into non-edible projects like making wreaths, dough art decorations or a gingerbread house. Plan group activities with family and friends that aren’t all about food. Try serving a holiday meal to the community, playing games or going on a walking tour of decorated homes.

9. Bring your own healthy dish to a holiday gathering.

10. Practice Healthy Holiday Cooking. Preparing favorite dishes lower in fat and calories will help promote healthy holiday eating. Incorporate some of these simple-cooking tips in traditional holiday recipes to make them healthier.

Choose Coffee Wisely – Psychological Caffeine Effects to Extra Calories

There is no need to explain why 80% of all Americans kick start their day with this most widely used mood-altering drug in the world. Some people are just not functional without their morning cup of coffee. And since getting enough rest has become an illusive dream, who cares about the effects of coffee on your health as long as it keeps you awake? Surprising as it may sound, the bad reputation of coffee has outlived itself. As a matter of fact, coffee might be one of the healthiest drinks out there.

Coffee Benefits!

Caffeine, the active ingredient in coffee, has numerous physiological and psychological effects stimulating the brain and nervous system. It is a well known fact that consumption of coffee contributes to the increased alertness and faster reaction time. In addition, drinking coffee with milk in the first part of the day helps to remember gained knowledge. Milk is an excellent source of calcium, and drinking it with or without coffee will counteract this potential nutrient loss.

If improved brain activity is not enough justification for you to enjoy the most delectable drink there is, coffee was found to be beneficial for type 2 diabetes. Intake of caffeine may increase production of digestive juices, relax the walls of the blood vessels and the airways in the lungs, while increasing the force of muscular contractions and increasing the heart rate.

Black coffee is a natural diet drink that may spark your metabolism in a calorie-free way. Caffeine increases heart rate and metabolism so you burn more calories at rest. As for exercise enthusiasts, caffeine has shown to enhance performance and is the most extensively researched ergogenic aid. Not only, it diminishes the feeling of fatigue and perceived exertion, caffeine spares muscle glycogen promoting greater use of body fat as energy while bodies are in motion. Besides, muscles of ‘caffeinated bodies’ can work longer before they will exhaustion. But, use caution, as the consumption of caffeine just prior to exercise can lead to rapid dehydration. To counter this, always consume large quantities of water during your exercise program.

For that matter, coffee has been used for years by endurance athletes to aid in metabolizing fatty acids. Caffeine preferentially increases the body’s use of stored fat for energy, sparing both the liver and muscle glycogen, a form of temporary stored sugar in the body. As a nervous-system stimulant, caffeine provides a mental boost that helps athletes through vigorous training sessions.

Of course, what goes up must come down. When caffeine wears off, fatigue sets in with a vengeance, diminishing returns on brain activity and other performance. Some so-called “caffeine addicts” report experiencing terrible headaches as an after-effect of being in an ‘emergency-alert state’.

Coffee Danger!

Here comes the Coffee Danger – its diet properties end as soon as you add something else to it. From milk and sugar, to syrups and cocoa, your cup of java may become a real weight-loss disaster in a matter of seconds. Double Chocolate Chip Frappuccino Blended Crème with Whip sounds awesome, but how do 740 calories and 28 grams of fat? And forget about all the health benefits your cup of Java is famous for.

If you are a healthy individual and drink coffee in moderation, at worst, it is a harmless beverage. At best, enjoy you favorite cup of Latte as a healthy boost for the day!

Top 25 Healthy Snacks

The best snacks are ones that include healthy nutrient dense foods. Unprocessed whole foods make incredible snacks to fuel your body throughout the day and provide the energy you need to perform at optimal levels. There are so many quick and healthy snacks to choose from. You just need to make the conscious decision to start making smarter  snack choices throughout the day.  At the end of the day, you will feel better and look better!

You should never need to grab another bag of potato chips, box of cookies or candy bars every again. These types of foods are all empty calories and lead to fat gain and out of control insulin levels, which make you feel tired and sluggish. Your body needs clean fuel, so give it nutrient dense foods all day long.

Make smart and healthy food choices throughout the day and your body will thank you. Below is a list of the top 25 best snacks to choose to keep the weight off and your body running optimally.

• Air Popped Popcorn
• Nonfat Cottage Cheese
• Frozen Grapes
• Protein Bars
• Hard Boiled Eggs
• Orange Slices
• Sugar Free Jello
• Broccoli Florets
• Sliced Chicken Breast
• Green Salad
• Hummus
• Cherry Tomatoes
• Nonfat Yogurt
• Peanut Butter
• Frozen Mangos
• Frozen Yogurt
• Fruit Smoothies
• Walnuts
• Sunflower Seeds
• Soy Chips
• Bean Salad
• Tuna
• Sliced Apples
• Pickles
• Olives

Through weight training, the goal is simple;  To strip the unwanted body fat away and expose the lean muscle that’s underneath.  So, how do we accomplish this goal?  The best way to do this is to incorporate proper weight training cardio and nutrition.

With weight training, we must challenge you’re muscles. Lifting light weighs that are too light is like running a race at half speed; at the end of the race, you’re probably not going to win. In fact, it will probably lead to frustration because little to no results are accomplished.

With strength training, always lift weights that are difficult but can be done with good form. When you feel as though you can do 2-3 more repetitions than you did the previous session, it’s time to add some weight. This technique will tighten muscles as well as help jump start the metabolism.  But remember, you don’t have to lift very heavy weights to achieve positive results.

There are several other ways to increase the  intensity of you’re workouts without risking injury. You can do simple things such as changing the order of your exercises, reducing the rest periods, adding more repetitions, mixing up your lifting days as well as periodically adding weight.  The goal is to constantly confuse you’re body by changing the type and difficulty of you’re workouts.  And, it’s important to avoid always lifting the same amount of weight, doing the same exercises and the same number of repetitions day after day.

Always remember that we all have body parts that tend to hold more fat than other areas. For many women, it’s the legs, hips and butt.  Why?  Because mother nature has prepared them to bear children.

But, the bottom line is that underneath our skin, we all have the same muscles.  In order to expose them, we have to reduce our overall body fat. A great way to accomplish this is by lifting weights that challenge our bodies.

Studies show that seven out of 10 American adults don’t exercise regularly despite the proven health benefits. Experts say lack of physical activity contributes to some 300,000 deaths each year in the United States caused by heart disease, stroke, diabetes and other conditions. However, lack of exercise is not just something that affects adults.  It’s now affecting the children of the United States.  One out of every three children are now considered to be overweight or obese.  It doesn’t have to be that way!

In my opinion, we parents who are in our late 30’s to early 40’s may end up out-living our children.  Why do I make this claim?  It’s due to the inactivity of many children these days.  Most children prefer to sit on the couch or lay in bed text messaging their friends, emailing or playing video games.  And, our school system doesn’t make it any easier.  Most elementary and middle schools have either eliminated or are eliminating physical education from their curriculum.

Most children these days choose inactivity over activity, because it’s easier.  They derive their social interaction through technology over physical activity.

As a child of the late 70’s and early 80’s, I was very active in team sports and other forms of exercise.  When I got home from school or from wrestling practice, I did my homework and then spent several hours outside engaged in some type of physical activity.  Nowadays, most kids prefer to remain in-doors and don’t participate in any activity that requires more strength necessary than to text message.  I see it every day.

At my studio, we train several middle school aged kids who are hard challenged to keep up with some of my geriatric clients.  It’s the responsibility of us parents to ensure that our kids get enough exercise and make it a daily occurrence.

Action is the best form of prevention.  In my house, I’ve taken away my kid’s cell phones and computers from 4pm to 7pm.  I encourage them to get outside and ride their bikes, skate board, throw the football and roller blade.  Even a simple activity such as taking our dog for a long walk around the lake has health benefits.

It’s right in front of our faces, parents.  We need to get our kids away from the technology for a few hours each day and present them with other choices to get their bodies moving.  If we consistently neglect their physical fitness, we are going to be the first generation of parents to outlive our own children.

How to reduce belly fat

Belly fat, an unpleasant and unattractive state of the body, can be very dangerous to health. Extra fat carried around your abdomen can increase your risk of heart disease and diabetes so it is very necessary to eliminate excess belly fat.

Some effective measures to reduce belly fat are given below.

Healthy Meals

* Obese: More than 33% for women and more than 26% for men.  (Body fat percentages within this range or greater pose a serious danger for developing diabetes and heart disease.  If you have a family history of either, it is urgent that you begin a strict diet and exercise program to lower your body fat percentage to a safe range as soon as possible).

* Overweight: Between 28% and 33% for women and between 21% and 26% for men.

* Acceptable: Between 17% and 28% for women and between 12% and 21% for men.

* Lean: Less than 17% for women and less than 12% for men.

* Underweight: Less than 8% for women and 5% for men.