Of course it doesn’t have to be this way. While helping people achieve their fitness goals as a Huntington Beach Personal Trainer, I have personal seen how just small change or adjustment in how someone thinks about their exercise routine can yield dramatic results. Here are a few of the most effective tips I have distributed throughout the years.

Keep Your Workouts Brief - More is not necessarily better when it comes to getting fit. Unless you are working out to train for a marathon, it’s a good idea to have your exercise last anywhere between half an hour to one hour. Any less, and you might be cheating yourself out of many of the benefits of exercise, and any more and you might run the risk of “over-training,” i.e. doing so much work that it actually stunts your fitness progress. When it comes to exercising, quality trumps quantity every time. Remember exercise should be fun, and you shouldn’t feel totally blasted and weak after every workout.

Don’t Ignore Your Post-Workout Meal - In those two hours after you have had your workout, your muscles are seriously craving some nutrition to kick-start their growth. A lot of trainers recommend taking a whey protein shake along with some high glycemic carbohydrate. But if you looking for something you probably already have in your refrigerator, try taking skim milk infused with chocolate syrup. The sugar in the chocolate syrup will quickly give your muscles the energy they need to start repairing, and the protein in the milk will give them the building blocks to grow.

Stay Smart about Workout Hydration - It’s a good idea to drink water throughout the day, but it is particularly crucial to drink before, during, and after a workout. As a rule of thumb, you should drink two to three cups of water during the two to three hours leading up to your workout. During your workout, you should drink one half cup of water for every fifteen to twenty minutes of your workout session. After your workout, be sure to rehydrate with another two cups of water or so.

Train Larger Muscles First, Then Smaller Ones - When weight training, it’s a good idea to train your larger muscles when you have the most energy, at the beginning of your workout. So you start with muscles such as your back, chest, or legs, and end with muscles such as your biceps, calves, or shoulders. This ensures that you have enough energy to effectively workout those large muscles.

Rest a Minute Between Sets - For most people, who usually perform between eight and twelve reps per set, a minute is the perfect amount time for rest in between. It allows just enough time for the lactic acid to clear from your muscles, thus allowing you to regain your strength for the next set. But it’s also brief enough to ensure there is optimal strain on your muscles, making your workouts more effective.

Of course, these tips can only help you if you already have a good diet and hit the gym on a fairly regular basis. The one truism I have learned during my long career as a Huntington Beach Personal trainer is that nothing can replace consistency, both in diet and exercise, when it comes to getting fit.

Chris McCombs is a personal trainer in Huntington Beach California. At one time Chris was 143 pounds overweight at which point he looked in the mirror and decided to do something about it. Chris lost the weight and started his own fitness business Positively Fit Inc. which services personal training in Huntington Beach, CA. You can learn more about Chris at http://www.socalworkout.com/personal_trainer_huntington_beach.html

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If a large fitness club is clean and the equipment is up to date the customers will for the most part be happy. However, a thriving personal-training business requires a more personal touch. That means knowing people by name and a little something about them. Clients are paying a lot of money for training and they want to feel appreciated in a country club kind of way. Good relationships attract new clients, keep existing ones and ultimately determine the presence and level profitability.

Hire the right personal trainers

How do you put together a winning personal training business program? It all begins with the hiring and training of your personal trainers. Hiring a certified personal trainer does not always mean you are getting an experienced and professional fitness trainer. Personal trainers should be well versed in dealing with many different types of people and possess strong people skills. Knowledge of exercise and fitness training methodologies is an important quality, but creating a connection with your clientèle is an imperative.

A fitness club should integrate personal trainers into the system-so that they know the protocols and procedures of the facility. These include: program design, specific exercise instruction, nutritional advice and other fitness-related questions. It takes more than just knowing how to use the equipment to be successful with fitness clients. Personal trainers are called personal trainers for a reason after all!

Give your personal trainers incentives to stay and thrive

The fitness club owner must put in a place a system to retain high quality and successful personal trainers. After spending time and money to train its personal trainers, the fitness club’s management needs to think about incentives to get them to be happy and stay. One incentive program that we have found to be successful is to award paid vacations based on the total hours the personal trainer bills over an year period. This is beneficial to the personal trainers and its good for the fitness facility’s bottom line. Year-end bonuses based on total volume and earnings for the previous year are also an effective way to reward good work. The percentage used to calculate the bonus may vary based on longevity and production. Both programs give trainers reasons to work harder and take those extra hours.

Client incentives also have a place since they serve to motivate the trainers. I prefer a Client of the Month program, in which a trainer will nominate a client and set specific goals for a three-month period. After documenting progress, the trainer will present their client to the rest of the staff and plead their case why that client should win. A Weight Loss Challenge is based on the same idea. Participating clients win prizes, and trainers often take pride in the results.

Design a unique fitness program for each client

Some clubs and trainers cut corners on personal training. I have seen many a health-club trainer review a client’s goals, current fitness level and nutrition, just to set up the same generic workout regimen that was given to the previous client. I know a woman in her 40’s who was doing the same weight lifting program as a 29-year-old professional cyclist trying to make the Olympic team.

And while generic training programs are a problem, the opposite can be true too. At some clubs, each trainer favors a certain program, and there is no consistency from one trainer to another. In that scenario, if a trainer leaves the job, then a lot of clients are likely to depart as well. I know a woman who had a terrific trainer with a very customized program. When the trainer left the club, she was ready to leave too until the manager convinced her to try another trainer. Unfortunately it was like Mars and Venus. The new trainer couldn’t have been more different than the first, so the frustrated client decided to make the longer drive to see the old trainer at a new facility. Eventually she let her membership at the club lapse.

Plan smart and treat your personal trainers well

Some club owners have come to accept that personal trainers come and go, that trainers occasionally leave them high and dry or try to steal their clients. This is true if the club alienates its staff or does a poor job of managing the personal-training operation. If treated fairly and managed properly, however, trainers and their clients will stick around. Club owners shouldn’t shy away from starting a personal training-operation because they fear losing staff or members. Rather, they should have an organized system, hire the right people, train them properly and set up an incentive program. In short, train the trainers.

Just remember, a costly and effective marketing campaign can bring in new members to a health club, but it’s the quality of the trainers that keeps people coming back!

Jason Baer, B.S. Exercise Science and AFAA Certified, is the founder and owner-operator of Personal Training Professionals | PTP Franchise. Mr. Baer received the 2006 National Leadership Award as the Honorary Chairman to the Business Advisory Council and is an Honored Member of the United Who’s Who among Executives and Professionals. His contribution to the fitness industry and reputation among his peers are his proudest achievements. For more information visit http://www.ptpfranchise.com, send an email or call 866.97.PTP4U.

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Studies have shown that exercising throughout your pregnancy is not only good for your body, but good for your mind as well. Exercising makes you release endorphins which in turn can make you feel happier, and more stable. With the inevitable rapid moods changes and decreased energy that pregnant women experience, prenatal exercise can be very beneficial to both husband and wife! Prenatal exercise can also have a positive impact on the length of delivery and post partum weight loss. A woman who has more muscle tone and cardiovascular endurance will fare better in a labour room than one that does not. This is a true marathon event, and you want to be ready.

If you’re the type of woman who already likes to exercise and has a program in place with a trainer, there is no need to slow down just yet. With your physician’s approval you may continue your program until your body starts to slow you down. If you are not currently exercising and want to begin, you may also do so, but you need to be careful about going into it with your eyes open. Pregnancy is not a time for weight loss goals, but instead, healthy weight gain goals with the forward focus on post natal weight loss.

During pregnancy, there are many issues to be concerned about such as gestational diabetes, pre-eclampsia, and lethargy. At the 2002 annual meeting of the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine, Dr. Tanya K. Sorensen stated that vigorous exercise during pregnancy appears to reduce the risk of pre-eclampsia. Exercise can help keep all of these conditions from occurring, and utilizing a personal trainer can help you get the most benefit from your workout. Just as you would during your regular sessions, your trainer will modify exercises for you as she sees fit, and tailor a program to meet your specific needs. You and your trainer will decide what feels best for you at each stage of your pregnancy, and you will feel at ease exercising knowing you are doing exercises that are good for both you and your expanding belly.

Most non- pregnant women who exercise solo have a program in place that they vary infrequently due to lack of fitness knowledge and uncertainty about technique. More than ever, those things are important during pregnancy. You don’t want the same routine in the first trimester as in the third, and a trainer can help with that. The type of workout that you get with a personal trainer is so customized to your specific needs throughout your pregnancy that you don’t need to worry about doing an activity that might not be in your best interest. Proper technique and choice of exercises are most important during this crucial time since you could do more than just pull a muscle; you could effectively harm your baby.

Any questions or concerns you have about your program can be brought up and discussed with your trainer to make you feel completely confident that you are executing each exercise properly.

With the guidance of a personal fitness trainer, your prenatal workout should be worry-free, full of interesting exercises, and preparing your body for the biggest workout yet.

Sources:

Birthing Naturally.Com. January, 2004. 01 May, 2005.
http://www.birthingnaturally.net/exercise/fitness.html

Discovery Health.Com. 01 May, 2005.
http://health.discovery.com/centers/pregnancy/americanbaby/exercisebenefits.html

Nicole Palacios BSc, has been an integral part of the fitness industry for the past 11 years, working as both a group fitness instructor and as a personal trainer. She is certified through ACE and the BCRPA as a personal trainer, and is also a supervisor of fitness leaders. Her latest program is called Stroller Fitt- a walking and toning program for mothers and babies in Vancouver, Canada. Her passions include fitness writing, weight training, and helping her clients pursue their fitness dreams. Check out her website at http://www.perfectfit.ws, or contact by email at Nicole@perfectfit.ws

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Obviously, this is a problem. If you go on a diet, you don’t have to stop snacking entirely, you just have to make sure you count them into your daily calorie totals if you are counting calories, and that you eat the right things. Here are some suggestions I often offer my clients at my Costa Mesa Personal Trainer Business if they want to nibble on things between meals guilt-free.

Don’t Knock Healthy Snacks Before You Try ‘Em - A lot of people dismiss healthy snacks out of hand, before they even give them a shot. Really, you will be surprised as just how much variety the world of healthy snacks has.

Learn the Labels - Just because a packaged food has the words “diet” or “low-calorie” emblazoned on the front, it doesn’t mean it’s good for you. Always check on the label, making sure that to take special note of the serving size. If the label says “two servings per package,” be sure to double all the numbers you read.

Even if a food is advertised as “zero grams trans fat,” that might not be completely accurate. Legally, a food can be called “zero grams trans fat” if there is less than .5 grams of trans fat per serving. You can tell if the advertising is true or not just be reading the ingredients list. If you see “partially hydrogenated soybean oil” anywhere, you know that it does actually contain trans fat.

Be Careful with Energy and Protein Bars - Snacks that are high in protein are usually good for a number of reasons. First, a large amount of protein in your diet is essentially to constantly build lean muscle. Second, since protein is more difficult to digest than most simple carbohydrates, it leaves you feeling fuller for longer.

Even so, most energy and protein bars aren’t very good for you, mostly because of sugar content. A bar that comes packed with twenty-four grams of protein won’t do your health much good if also comes with thirty grams of sugar. As always, check the label before you eat anything.

Ask Yourself If You Are Really Hungry- Often when people think that they are hungry, they are really just starting to feel thirty, and it takes is a glass of water to hold them to their next meal. Or they might think they are hungry, but in reality they are just bored and looking for something to do, in which case it might good to turn to a favorite activity.

Don’t Snack Just to Keep Your Mouth Busy - If you are a compulsive eater, the type who likes to pop a big bag of popcorn before settling in front of the TV, consider finding some other ways to keep your mouth busy. You might try chewing gum or sipping tea. As a Costa Mesa Personal Trainer, I have helped and shockingly large number of people start losing real weight just by telling them to find better ways to occupy their mouths than with French fries and fried tortilla chips.

Chris McCombs is a Costa Mesa personal trainer who is known for getting Costa Mesa and Orange County residents into incredible shape. Chris used to be super fat, lost all the weight and then became a personal trainer in Costa Mesa. Learn more about his amazing program at http://www.socalworkout.com/

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It’s a real shame that these people think that greasy, fat laden food is all that there is available to eat at fast food restaurants. The truth of the matter is that if you are smart enough about your selections, you can easily grab food on the run and still stick to your diet. Here are is the advice I usually give through my Tustin Personal Trainer business to my clients who want go to burger joints guilt free.

Research Beforehand - If there is a particular fast food place you usually visit, make sure you visit their website and look at the nutritional information on all their food before you order. You may be really surprised at just how many calories and how much saturated fat go into your typical fast food meal. If you are stepping into a fast food place for the first time, you can usually request a nutritional information pamphlet that you can quickly peruse before making your order.

Choose Grilled Over Deep Fried - If you see a “grilled” chicken sandwich over a “crispy” chicken sandwich, go for the grilled one every time. “Crispy” means that the sandwich is deep fried, which means that it is swimming in tons of saturated fat.

Order Double Veggies - Ordering extra tomatoes, onions, and lettuce on a burger or sandwich is usually free, plus might give you some extra fiber and some essential nutrients in your meal.

Consider Ordering Kid’s Portions - If you think all the items on the regular menu are too bad to consider eating, try taking a look at the options on the kid’s menu. A kid’s size burger is smaller than a regular burger, which means fewer calories.

Never Order French Fries - In any given fast food menu, the worst thing on it is usually French fries. Unless it is for your weekly “cheat meal,” you should never eat French fries. It is like the double whammy of foods that are bad for you. It is deep fried, which means it contains a lot of bad fats (and usually extra-bad trans fats, depending upon where you order.) And it also contains a lot of starchy carbs, which

Ask to Hold the Sauce - A lot of burgers and sandwiches at fast food places are slathered with “special sauce” and mayonnaise. This usually adds a lot more calories, sugar, and fat, so asking the cashier to take it off might help your diet significantly,

For example, if you ask to hold the sauce for the tender roast chicken sandwich at KFC, you take 80 calories and 8.5 grams of fat off of the meal. Asking to hold the mayo for the Chicken McGrill at McDonald’s makes also makes the sandwich a lot healthier.

Don’t Think All Salads Are Healthy - As a Tustin Personal Trainer, I notice many people make the mistake of thinking that salads at fast food places are always healthy. Sometimes, ordering a salad at a fast food place can just as bad for you as ordering a burger or sandwich. They often contain strips of fried chicken, fried tortilla strips, fatty croutons, and creamy salad dressings, which by themselves can have as many calories and as much saturated fat as a chocolate chip cookie. Make sure you take a look a the nutritional information of salads before you order.

Christopher William McCombs is a well knowpersonal trainer in Tustin. At one time Chris was extremely overweight, but today Chis owns his own fitness business Positively Fit Inc. which services personal training in Tustin and the rest of Orange County. Visit http://www.socalworkout.com/

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But really, most people make it out to be more difficult than it actually is. You don’t have to turn your life completely upside down in order to start eating right. You just have to make a few changes in how you think about and approach food. Here are some great tips I usually offer my clients at my Tustin Personal Trainer business who are looking loss those extra pounds.

Eat Until You Are Satisfied, Not Full - Think back to the last big Thanksgiving dinner you had. You probably ate until you couldn’t even look at a turkey leg or clump of creamed corn, then felt your stomach start ache under the weight of all that food half an hour later. That extra-extra-full feeling you got happened because it take the brain about twenty minutes to tell your body that there is no more need for food. So if you are eating quickly, by the time you feel “full,” you’ve already had too much to eat.

You should also be aware of eating just because you happen to have food in front of you. Be aware of what your body is telling you. It helps to chew slowly, so your brain has time to catch up with what is happening with your body.

Make Substitutions - You don’t necessarily have to completely revamp every thing you eat when you make the decision to eat healthy. Usually it just involved making intelligent substations to meals you already eat. For example, if you are fond of having a traditional breakfast of two eggs, a slice of toast with butter, and bacon in the morning, you might consider switching to four egg whites, a slice of wheat toast with jelly, and a slice of lean ham. If you really like to have a dinner of spaghetti and meatballs, consider switching to whole-wheat spaghetti and “meatless meatballs.” Even desserts can have substitutes. Instead of that bowl of ice cream with chocolate syrup, have some sorbet topped with low fat whipped cream. If you are creative enough, you can give your regular diet a complete healthy makeover without really feeling it.

Grill Instead of Fry - This one culinary tip might save you hundred of calories a day. A tablespoon of oil can easily contain over a hundred twenty calories, and that goes straight into your food every time you fry. So the next time you feel like fish, instead of reaching for the canola oil, just grill it.

Eliminate “Liquid Calories” - For the most part, you should cut out any calories that you can drink. This includes things like milk, cola, and lattes. Not only do these calories add up a lot faster than calories that come from solid foods, they also make your insulin levels rise faster, which encourage your body to store more fat. The next time you feel like a sip of something flavorful, try drinking carbonated water flavored with a twist of lime or lemon.

Get Smart About Dressings and Condiments - Make sure the dressings and condiments you use don’t add a lot of unwanted calories. On your sandwich, make sure you have mustard instead of mayo. On your salad, have vinaigrette dressing instead of ranch. As a Tustin personal trainer, I can’t tell you the number of diets that have been derailed because of poor choice in condiments.

Tustin personal trainer Chris McCombs was extremely overweight at which point in his his life. Chris discovered a little know secret system an now shares it with others in his Tustin and Irvine personal training business. You can learn more about Chris at http://www.socalworkout.com/

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If you are working towards getting fit, it is a certainty that you too will encounter major obstacles on your way to your goal weight. How you deal with these obstacles may very well determine whether your fitness plan is ultimately a success or a failure. Here are the common obstacles that I have helped people overcome through my Costa Mesa Personal Trainer business, and how you can overcome them yourself once you encounter them.

Boredom - Sometimes, people are just sick of eating the same foods and doing the same workout over and over again. In the realm of food, I usually recommend people add either spices or vegetables to whatever meal that they find bland. If you are sick of eating egg whites every morning, consider adding chopped onions and red bell peppers to make and omelet. If you are getting a tad tired of your typical healthy dinner of vegetable chicken stir fry, try adding some jerk seasoning for a Caribbean twist. Remember, spices usually have no calories or nearly no calories, so feel free to experiment with them to make every meal more flavorful.

As for exercise, you should change up your routine if you ever feel like it has become a bit dull. The change won’t just keep you motivated, it will also increase the effectiveness of your exercise by workout out your muscles in different ways.

Family and Friends - Just because you know the challenges of getting fit, that doesn’t mean your family and friends do. It is very common to hear of family members offering a dieter fatty lasagna, or trying to pull them away form their scheduled exercise to hang out. Usually, these actions aren’t malicious, just ignorant of the damage that they can do to your overall fitness goals. If you feel that people who are important in you life are sabotaging your fitness plan, simply inform them of how important you weight loss goals are.

Not Having the Time - “I just don’t have the time” is probably the number one excuse people have for not eating right and not exercising. Their schedule is just too jam packed to schedule time for the gym, and they can’t squeeze in a few more minutes to prepare a healthy meal, so they usually resort to eating takeout.

If you really feel that you don’t have time for exercise, try to find ways to incorporate exercise into your daily activities. For example you might purchase a treadmill and go for a jog while you watch TV in the evening. If you fear exercise will cut into your relationships, try going for a brisk walk with your significant other every day. You might try using your lunch break to go for a power walk around your office. Anything you can do to move your body more will help you make progress towards you weight loss goals.

Frustration - No one likes working out and feeling like you are making no progress. I have had new clients in my Costa Mesa Personal Trainer business tell me that they abandoned old fitness plans because they just felt like they weren’t making progress. The best way to overcome this is to keep a fitness journal, where you record your weight and exercises. This will help you see that you are in fact making real progress, even if it doesn’t feel like it all the time.

Chris McCombs is a personal trainer in Costa Mesa At one time Chris was super overweight at which point he looked in the mirror and decided that he was going to do something about it. Chris lost the all weight and started his own fitness training business called Positively Fit which services personal training in Costa Mesa You can learn more about Chris at http://www.socalworkout.com/personal_fitness_trainer_costa_mesa.html

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