Archive for training
Healthier Super Bowl Sunday Munchies
Posted by: | CommentsIt is estimated that the average American will consume over 2000 calories in 3 hours on Superbowl Sunday. Most of those calories will come from fried food, and alcohol. You can reduce the damage by subbing out some of the unhealthier stuff for lighter versions of the same items. Drink light, or reduced calorie beer, bake your chicken wings rather than frying them, and get a veggie tray rather than the big bowl of Chex mix. Here are a few lower calorie items for your game day enjoyment…
Stuffed Mushrooms:
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24 large button mushrooms, cleaned and stems removed, reserving stems
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2 tablespoons onion, finely chopped
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1/4 cup celery, finely chopped
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1/4 cup unsalted organic butter
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2 cups bread crumbs (whole wheat)
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Juice from 1/2 lemon (about 1 tablespoon)
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2 tablespoons dry sherry (or substitute apple juice)
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2 teaspoons dried parsley
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1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
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1/2 teaspoon salt
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1/2 teaspoon dried basil
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1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
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1/4 teaspoon black pepper
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3/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, divided
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Arrange mushrooms, cavity facing upwards, on a lightly greased baking sheet. Set aside. Finely chop the reserved mushroom stems. Heat a small frying pan over medium heat; melt butter and sauté the mushroom stems, onion, and celery until soft, about 3 minutes.
3. In a large mixing bowl, combine breadcrumbs, lemon juice, sherry, parsley, garlic powder, salt, basil, oregano, pepper, and 1/2 cup Parmesan. Mix well. Add sautéed vegetables and mix well to combine.
4. Using a small spoon, stuff the prepared mushrooms. Bake in the preheated oven for about 12 minutes, or until stuffing starts to brown. Remove mushrooms from the oven and sprinkle with remaining Parmesan cheese. Turn the oven to broil and return the mushrooms to the oven, until the cheese has browned nicely.
Serve warm from the oven. Makes 24.
Herbed Tomato Cheese Spread:
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1-cup low-fat cream cheese
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2 cloves garlic, minced
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1 tablespoon freshly snipped or frozen chives
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1 tablespoon snipped dill or seasoning
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4 tomatoes, peeled, seeded and diced
Directions: In a medium bowl, combine cheese, garlic, chives, and dill. Add tomatoes and mix well. Good as a spread for Triscuits or whole grain crackers.
Lemon-Garlic Marinated Shrimp:
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3 tablespoons minced garlic
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2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
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¼ cup lemon juice
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¼ cup minced fresh parsley
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½ teaspoon kosher salt
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½ teaspoon pepper
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1 ¼ pounds cooked shrimp
Directions: Place garlic and oil in a small skillet and cook over medium heat until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add lemon juice, parsley, salt, and pepper. Toss with shrimp in a large bowl. Chill until ready to serve.
Serves 12. Can be made ahead of time and refrigerated for up to 2 hours.
Have fun, be responsible, and go Giants!
Chad smith is a Hagerstown personal trainer, speaker, and Author of “Best Of Fitness Answer Man: Volume One”, a published collection of 43 of his best Herald Mail newspaper column.
Alcohol and Fat Loss (Bad Math?)
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We don't endorse this exercise...
One question that often presents itself to many dieters who are trying to shed the excess weight that has accumulated over time is whether or not alcohol can be included in their diet plan.
Alcohol is something that most adults (myself included) do like to indulge in from time to time – some more often than others, lol.
So what’s the real deal about alcohol and your progress? Is this something that you can make room for in your diet or is it something that you need to give the boot?
Alcohol And Calories
The very first thing that you need to take note of is how many calories are found in alcohol. Alcohol itself contains seven calories per gram, whereas both proteins and carbs contain just four. Fat comes in at the highest calorie value per gram at nine, which places alcohol right in the middle.
But what’s often worse is what the alcohol is mixed with. If you’re drinking your alcohol with high calorie or fat mixers such as cream, sodas, or sugary mixers you could easily end up with a drink that packs in well over 300 calories per serving.
If you take in three or four of these over the course of the night, it’s really going to add up.
Alcohol And Fat Metabolism
The second important thing that you need to note is the impact that alcohol consumption will have on your fat metabolism. The minute that you put alcohol into your body, all fat burning is going to come to a halt.
Your body views alcohol as a toxin and as such, as soon as it comes in, it’s going to do everything it can to rid itself of this alcohol. No further fat will be burned off until it’s out of your system.
Only then will you start burning up body fat again. So if you consume quite a bit of alcohol one night, you can expect to see your rate of fat loss drop off for a more significant period of time.
Alcohol And Your Recovery
Finally, the last important thing to note about alcohol consumption is the impact it will have on your recovery rates.
In addition to putting the breaks on all fat burning taking place in the body, the second thing that alcohol is going to put the breaks on is protein synthesis.
This means that no further lean muscle tissue will be built up as long as that alcohol is in the body.
Again, you can imagine what this is going to do to your workout goals.
So as you can see, if you want to be truly successful with your fat loss and workout program, it’s best if you can forgo alcohol for the time being. One drink every now and then may not hurt all that much, but if you’re taking in any more than this, it will definitely hinder the progress that you see.
Stay strong and live well,
-chad
PS – Until Christmas for every 3 month purchase of personal training or coaching, I am giving an extra month on the house, and three $100 gift certificates for friends and family 
. Call for more details! 240.217.2891
Chad Smith is a Hagerstown personal trainer, fitness columnist, radio show host, and speaker whose “Metabolic Mayhem” fitness training program was called “One of The Best in The Country” by Emmy Award winning fitness celebrity Rocco Castellano. Find him on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/hometeamfitness, or listen to him weekdays at 12pm est on his FTNS radio show “Jump Start With Chad and Kat” on http://www.ftns.co
10 Ways To Make Time For Exercise
Posted by: | Comments10 Ways to Find Time For Fitness
One of the most common excuses for not exercising is a lack of time. Oh come on! Usually “I don’t have time” really means “I am not willing to rearrange my life to get healthier”. Time is a precious commodity and with the fast-paced, urgent world we live in, most people push their needs — including exercise — to the bottom of their to do lists. But you have to, HAVE TO, create time for exercise. It CAN be done. Here are 10 ways to make it happen TODAY…
10 Tips to Make Time for Exercise:
1. Make an appointment – Schedule activity in your planner 1 month in advance and keep that commitment the same way you would any other meeting. When you go to schedule other activities, do so around your workout session. If it’s necessary to cancel a workout session, reschedule it immediately for another time during the day or for the very next day.
2. Plan Ahead - Cook on Sunday night for the week. This way, you can head to the gym after work and still come home to a healthy cooked meal. This will help you stay on track for your meal plan as well as your exercise schedule. For best results, both your meals and activities need to be planned for and should not be left to chance.
3. Workout at Lunch – A workout break will refresh you for the second half of the day and is known to boost brain power. You will be more productive after recharging your body with exercise than working through your lunch and eating at your desk. Live with no regrets!
4. Get Support – Let your significant other know your exercise schedule ahead of time, so there are no conflicts or guilt when it comes time for working out. Inform your employer of your goals and ask for some flexibility in your schedule. For example, come in later and work later, so that you can get in your morning run.
5. Stick to Your Schedule - Set you watch or palm pilot to go off when it’s time to exercise. Then stop what you are doing and take 30+ minutes to exercise. You will be more productive finishing up tasks after you worked out versus trying to work through a situation knowing you did not keep your commitment to yourself.
6. Make an Investment – Consider signing on with a personal trainer, joining a gym or purchasing home gym equipment. Making an investment is likely to help you make a time commitment. Knowing that you have a trainer waiting for you will increase your chances of showing up. Signing up for an online personal trainer and comprehensive fitness program can do the same.
7. Always be Dressed to Move – You never know when the opportunity will arise to go for a walk or hit the gym. Keep your sneakers in your car at all times, lay out your workout clothes or pack your gym bag the night before. Eliminate excuses and always be prepared for opportunities to exercise.
8. Engage in Intermittent Sessions – Take several 10-15 minute walking breaks throughout the day. By days end, you could have completed 60 minutes of cardiovascular activity, and the health benefits are the same as continuous exercise.
9. Eliminate Time Wasters - Take a look at your 24-hour schedule and see where you can eliminate some time wasters. Can you multi-task, be more efficient or watch less TV? You only need to dedicate 2 percent of your week to exercise. You are worth it!
10. Set Yourself up for Success – Get up 30 minutes earlier — then you don’t have to make excuses for the rest of the day. Morning exercisers have the highest compliance rates, as do those who exercise with a partner.
No more excuses! Get to the gym, and move that ball forward. Did I miss anything? Tell me how YOU make time for exercise!
Quick Bites From “Forks Over Knives”
Posted by: | Comments“Some people think the “plant-based, whole foods diet” is extreme. Half a million people a year will have their chests opened up and a vein taken from their leg and sewn onto their coronary artery. Some people would call that extreme.” Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, MD
We're taking forks over knives...
This is probably my favorite line from the documentary “Forks Over Knives” which focuses on the life work of the above mentioned Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, and Dr. T. Colin Campbell. These two doctors have dedicated their lives to cracking the code of modern disease by asking the question “can food REALLY be thine medicine?”. I believe the answer is a resounding YES. While I’m not sure I’m ready for a meat free diet, a mostly plant based diet is inarguably the best way to make yourself a health juggernaut, with an iron-clad, disease resistant immune system.
Checkout the trailer:
The information presented in this documentary is compelling and even alarming. More and more, experts and researchers are presenting overwhelming evidence that flies in the face of the nutritional status quo in western culture. The erroneous school of thought that eating refined grains and meat all day has to give way to modern science if we are going to stop the cycle of sickness and disease that has gripped our population.
Here are some quick bites from the film:
1. In the past 3 decades, over 40% of the United States has become obese, and about half of us are on some sort of prescription medication
2. Americans spend roughly $2.2 trillion on healthcare. That’s nearlt 5x the national defense budget!
3. Cancer and heart disease kills over one million Americans per year
4. Only about 1-2% of cancers are related to genes
5. Refined, unnaturally calorie dense foods cause rapid weight gain because they cause you to eat more just to feel satisfied
6. Sugary, fatty foods stimulate the brain’s pleasure centers much like cocaine does
7. In long term studies, people who switched to a vegan, plant based diet saw general health improvement within days, and disease reversal within weeks
I’m hoping to have a few of the figures from the film on our FTNS radio show “Jump Start With Chad and Kat”, which airs Monday – Friday at 12pm est on http://www.ftns.co. Stay tuned for updates!
Have you seen the film? What are your thoughts? Leave your comments below!
5 Quick Fat Loss Tips
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5 is the magic number...
People frequently ask me for tips how they can lose fat fast. Most of the time, there really aren’t any short cuts to a lean, toned physique. Losing fat begins with a die hard commitment to a complete, systematic lifestyle overhaul. Fat loss is a side effect of total health, so that has to be the main focus of your “campaign. However, if I were going to give a few hard and fast fat loss tips, it would probably look something like this:
1. Get rid of all the junk carbs in your diet. That includes everything from table sugar, fruit juice, all syrups, white flour products, white rice, potatoes. These types of foods get converted into glucose (blood sugar) quickly, and send insulin levels through the roof, causing a large amount of these calories to be sent to the waiting fat stores. Replace these foods with high fiber, insulin stabilizing foods like whole fruit, beans, and non-wheat based grains like Quinoa, barley, and rye.
2. Eat better food. Local grown organic foods tend to have higher nutrient value than their trucked in, big market counterparts. More nutrients from higher quality food give your body more of what it needs to maximize every body system, including fat metabolism. Shop your local farmers market, or find a delivery service like http://www.skylinefoodsource.com, who will bring locally grown food to your door every week.
3. Move more. Add more activity into your day at every opportunity, like standing 15 minute of every hour at work, using stairs rather than elevators, parking farther from your destination, and doing some bodyweight exercises during tv commercials. This accumulated activity adds up, and can help tip the balance of the energy consumption/expenditure. Working more movement into your day in conjunction with better eating can be a real game changer.
4. Have some tea time. Studies show that having a little caffeine before your workouts can actually increase fat metabolism. Caffiene is cheap too! A cup of coffee is about $1.86 at your local coffee house, or you can brew your own. Additionally green tea is a great source of high power antioxidants which will help keep your cells nice and clean. Avoid the high octane energy drinks as they may contain potentially harmful combinations of ingredients.
5. Knock yourself out. Getting 5 hours a night of sleep or less per night may promote fat gain says recent studies. Getting consistent quality sleep of 8-10 hours per night is optimal for body fat regulation, and cell regeneration. Rest is one of the most ovelooked aspect of the fitness cycle. Don’t underestimate the power of of good 20 minute nap either. I’m the King of Naps, lol. Our bodies recover, and repair only at total rest, so get some sleep!
Hey, have you heard about my coaching program? Read more ahout it here. I’ll assume control of your fitness life and let you focus on other things like updating your social media, lol.
Chad Smith is a fitness expert, columnist, radio show personality who loves praise, and attention. Read this blog often, or you will severely damage his already fragile ego. You can listen his show, “Jumpstart with Chad and Kat”, co-hosted with his wife, Kat weekdays at 12pm est on http://www.ftns.co.
