When are they supposed to improve?

So many players of all sports spend the entire year playing their sport. This is most obvious in baseball, soccer, tennis and basketball. My question to players, coaches and parents is this; When exactly are they supposed to get stronger?

Lets take baseball as a prime example. Almost half of all youth baseball players are on a travel team and the rest are on multiple clubs through out the entire year. As parents and coaches we place a lot of stress on them to constantly get better. But sometimes the stress to get better is placed upon players to the point of injury. Functional strength and power training will help prevent injury.

The video below is of Tiger's pitcher Justin Verlander doing a medicine ball throw, an exercise that we do as part of our power development cycle here at Pair & Marotta Sports Performance.



It is this type of training when done in-season that helps to keep athletes performing injury free all season long. Not to mention hitting home runs, throwing strikes and lighting up the basepaths.

To get involved with the programs at Pair & Marotta Sports Performance, give me a call at 661-912-9991 or email me aaron@pairmarotta.com

Empty - Reset - Clean

What a great weekend!! The Jaeger "Thrive on Throwing" Clinic was great!! We had an awesome turnout (45 baseball and softball players) and once we got going, it just seemed like everybody was excited to get going with the bands and start throwing!!

One thing I heard over and over from parents and coaches was that the initial talk from Alan Jaeger was worth its weight in gold. What he had to say about staying "in the present" and staying focused was indeed something that every youth player needs to hear. Not just because it will help him or her on the field, but because it will help you in life.

There is no way you can give quality effort if you are not focused on what you are doing. When you are in the batting cages you cannot be focusing on the big truck that just drove by, or the horrible a la carte pizza you had for lunch. You need to be in the present and focusing on seeing the ball.

The same goes when you strength train for baseball. You must stay focused. When you are going through the warm up, here at Pair & Marotta Sports Performance or pre-game on the field, you must focus. There is a purpose to the warm up and if you are not focusing on what your body is telling you, you will be missing out on a HUGE part of the training session. By focusing on form and technique of movement, you will teach your body to go where you want it to rather than you being dragged around by gravity and the other physics of baseball.

My final point today just repeat's what Alan talked about at Saturday's clinic: choose 3 key words to help you reset your focus. My words are

1. Empty
2. Reset
3. Clean
   

Those are the words I use to get re-focused. Whether I'm in the batting cages just having fun, or if I am lifting and trying to get stronger and build muscle. These are my words. Yours may be different. But they need to work for you.

I'll have pictures of the Jaeger Clinic up next week as I am heading out to Phoenix for the rest of the week. One quick note: Don't forget about the Player's Edge New Year's Mini-Camp. Some big names are going to be there and it's going to be a great 3 days of learning.

MisConceptions about strength training and baseball

Alright guys and girls,

You've heard so many things from your coaches; "pitchers shouldn't do upper body exercises", "you need lots of sit-ups for a faster swing", and the all-might "lifting weights makes you slow."

The truth is, many baseball coaches know so much about the sport and strategy of baseball, but know so little about movement for the sport. When addressing a swing, many coaches will say "your not turning your hips," when they are very correct. But what if the player has tight hip flexor's and literally cannot open his/her hips?

So I am going to address these things. for you briefly, but hopefully I will clear up these misconceptions.

1.Should pitchers do upper body exercises? Yes. Why should pitcher's not do pull ups and push ups and vertical pushes? These are all exercises that strengthen the shoulder, that create stability in the shoulder and over the long term can help prevent the muscular imbalances that occur with pitching 80-120 pitches per game.

2.Will sit-ups give me a faster swing or help me throw harder? No. To develop a faster swing or throw harder, you must develop the muscles that are responsible for creating a swing/pitch by strength training, and then training those muscles with a very quick tempo. When training for speed, tempo is almost more important than how much weight you use.

Note, the strength coach pictured here with Pettite, is no longer with the team. Who is? Click here.

3. Will lifting weights make me slow? This kind of builds on the question above and the short answer is no. Quite the opposite. Muscles cause contractions, if you have more muscle, more muscle will pull through a movement, creating a faster movement. Do you want to be faster? Then you need to get involved in a strength and conditioning program like our FAST Forward at Pair & Marotta.
We have a few opportunities for you coming up. The Jaeger Sports Baseball/Softball Throwing Clinic on December 13 and on January 1-3 we team up with Player's Edge Baseball Training for our New Year's Pre-Season Baseball Camp, where you'll learn about hitting, pitching, baserunning, speed development and core strength and stability. You'll also be doing exercises like this one Josh Beckett does (left).

Up and Coming Events...You're Going to Wanna Be Here

Hey all you baseball players...Pair & Marotta is teaming up with a couple of great Southern Cal baseball clubs to bring you some awesome events during the month of December!!

First...on Saturday December 13, Pair & Marotta, Bakersfield Baseball Academy and Jaeger Sports will be putting on a day clinic directed specifically at strengthening your shoulder, reducing injury and making you a better pitcher, catcher and overall baseball player. If you've never heard of Jaeger Sports, I suggest you look into them.

They have worked with hundreds of pro and college players including Dan Haren of the Arizona Diamondbacks, Barry Zito of the SF Giants and Joel Zumaya of the Detroit Tigers. If Jaeger Sports can help these guys, they can certainly help you!!



The second event we have coming up is when Pair & Marotta team with Players Edge Hitting. We will be hosting a 3-day baseball/softball intensive program directed at giving you the techniques to get faster on the base paths, get more power out of your swing, make cleaner contact and drastically increase your range in the field.




This camp will be held on January 1-3 and run from 9-1pm on each day. To sign up for either of these events, email aaron@pairmarotta.com or call 661-912-9991.

Space is very limited so be sure to sign up early and bring your friends!! You don't want them missing out on both of these exciting programs!!

What are you waiting for?

Watching the World Series has been just a blast, seeing as how the Phillies are up 3 games to 1. But one of the most interesting things has been the defense on both sides. In game 3 we saw a game to remember: a 45 year old pitcher Jamie Moyer made one heck of a play when diving to try and get Carl Crawford out and BJ Upton stole his way from first all the way to home!!

The speed at which these guys play the game is amazing. But to prepare for this type of play, players from both teams have been training in-season, post-season and they really hit it hard in the off-season. There is so much design that must go into a training program to make sure you are the best. And then after that, the best of the best.

So I ask, are you training to be the best? Or are you taking a "whatever" approach to baseball training? Right now at Pair & Marotta Sport Performance we are just finishing up our cycle where we have been training to add muscle. Our next phase is strength/speed focus. We are going to be doing a lot of speed training. Here is a quick sample of the type of stuff we have been doing.



If you aren't training like this, then you should be. It's fun, it's effective, and we guarantee you'll be faster. What are you waiting for? Stop by and sign up today!!

www.pairmarotta.com

Picking Up the Pieces and Looking to 2009

With the World Series starting tonight, the two best teams in Major League Baseball will square off over the next week. What will be left is one team riding a float down main street of their respective city, and the other picking up the pieces of a season that couldn't be finished.

And just like you need to be doing, they are soon going to start preparing for the 2009 season. They will start getting stronger, faster, quicker and more powerful. Because they want to last through the 2009 post-season.

A strength and conditioning program isn't just for the elite. It is for those who desire to be elite. It is for those who want nothing less than the most out of their body, and it is for those who don't consider the season a success unless they win their last game.

Pair & Marotta Sports Performance has the program you and your team needs. Our facility is specifically designed and set up to accommodate teams of over 25 athletes. If you want there to be no question in who the best team on the field is, you will find your self in here.

In order to be the best, you've got to train with purpose and with intensity. Or as we like to say, you need to Train Like You Mean It.

Like an Old T-Shirt

Baseball is a long season.  And like an old T-shirt you can get tired and worn. Playing more than 20 games a month is not an easy task when an athlete is involved in a strength and conditioning program. Imagine the ball player who isn't on a strength and conditioning program!!

How many pitchers this year have visited the disabled list? How many batters? How many ball players are out for the season? How many ball players have had their career's effectively ended due to injury this year? We may never know. There are a lot of injuries in baseball. Why do you think they have so many minor league teams? Because they have to constantly have a quality back-up for even the back-ups. Check out what Dustin Pedroia has to say about strength and conditioning.



But what if you were determined to not let the injury bug bite you? That would be a good thing right? Good, we are on the same page. Now where do you start? You start by getting involved in a quality strength and conditioning program at Pair and Marotta Sport Performance and Fitness.

www.pairmarotta.com

And not a strength program designed by just anybody. You need a program by somebody who has experience writing programs for baseball. Somebody who knows how the body works as a unit. Don't just trust anybody. Don't trust Joe Schmo simply because he "played at the level, and knows what it takes." Trust somebody who knows movement, can teach movement and can communicate effectively with their athletes. 

Just because somebody played a sport does not make them a good coach. There are plenty of ball players who are horrible coaches. And many of the best coaches never played the sport professionally or even at the collegiate level. But they understand the movement of the game and how to get the best out of their players.

Don't wait until college to get into a strength and conditioning program. Because odds are, everyone else on the team was on a structured program in high school. 

www.pairmarotta.com

We have a program with your name on it that will keep you healthy and playing at your best year round. Don't wait, we have already started our fall program.

Is there a Limit??

If you've watched Usain Bolt run, you know the guy is fast. At the Olympics in Beijing, he smashed records for the 100m and 200m dash. This video is of him setting his first World Record at 9.72.



Bolt is not just fast, he is a marvel and a contradiction to physics and what we thought were human biomechanics. He is 6'5". Normally that is considered too tall because longer limbs move slower. They have longer reach but require a little longer to get through a cycle.

Sure there are some fast guys who are tall, but at the olympics, at such a high level of performance all but 1 do not compare. What this demonstrates is that even when everybody says it can't be done, that you're just not cut out for it... you need to keep pushing. You might not break world records, but you'll never know if you walk away. Push and push harder. Work and work harder, it will be rewarded.

Here is a link regarding the statistics of human speed limits. The article states that based on muscle types and limb lengths Bolt is an unusual specimin. But the article also states people will run faster!! Can you believe that!!!

http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/08/bolt-is-freaky.html?npu=1&mbid=yhp

Work and work harder, push and push harder. The only thing that will come of it is you going further than you thought possible. Where is your Limit?

Always Thinking About Eating

As I was growing up, I ate a lot. Generally my brothers and I were asking about when our next meal was, even if we had just finished one. Dinner was always our favorite because it gave us something to look forward to for most of the day. Being that we were kids, we didn’t really get much say in what we ate for dinner, as our job was unpaid (going to school rarely is a paid occupation) and we got what was put in front of us.

However, at this point in our lives, we are on the other end of that equation. We are all adults and we are the ones making decisions about the food we eat. We make these decisions not only for ourselves, but often for our families as well. I was thinking about this the other day and realized how easy it is in our society to eat without thinking. Generally our meal/food choices are often based on convenience instead of content. What I am suggesting here isn’t a radical shift in philosophy, only a shift in how we approach food and eating.

Food cannot be something we do out of habit. That is what has gotten our society in the overweight mess it is in. We need to consider our meals far ahead of when we eat them. Planning meals must become something we put more emphasis on and more effort into. By planning out our meals for the week we know and are able to make healthier decisions that will aid us in shaping our bodies and constructing a healthy machine!!

Let’s say a week is way too far in advance for you to plan your meals. Start with planning out your meals for the day. Before you leave the house in the morning, you need to know what you will eat for snacks, lunch, and dinner. By preparing your day and thinking about what you will eat, it is easier to make healthier choices.

For example, if you are on your way home and already know that you and your family are having chicken and wild rice tonight, there will be no reason to stop off for the $5.99 pizza for your family. Obviously chicken and wild rice is much healthier than pizza. So, plan out your meals for the day. Take your trail mix, fruit, yogurt, string cheese, or snacks with you to work so you are not tempted to make a trip to the candy machine when you need that afternoon energy kick!! Have your bottle of water next to you so when you are thirsty, that call from the soda machine can be ignored.

By planning and preparing we are better able to make smarter choices about what we eat and drink. I always thought it was corny, but as I go through life this old adage makes more and more sense:

If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.

Changing Directions

A lot of times as an athlete we get too focused on numbers and test's and times and forget about how we actually perform. Performance on the field is often measured in quantity, but change in performance can also be measured in quality. How well does a person move, or how much better does this kid move than 3 months ago?

Changing direction is one of those things that is qualitative. It is very hard to time change of direction alone. But if you're looking for it, the change can stand out like a sunflower in the outfield.

Changing direction is all about angles. The most glaring culprit of poor performance is the inability to change directions efficiently without wasting movement. Whether it is during linear transition or lateral change in direction, many athletes are "too tall" when changing direction and have a lot of wasted movement. Athletes will lack stability through the truck and hips and lose a lot of energy transfer due to what we call upper body sway. This occurs when the lower body plants and attempts to push back the other way, but the upper body continue's moving opposite to where the lower body is now attempting to go. When you see this it looks like the lower body is dragging the upper body back the other way with it.

Upper body sway results in a lot (relatively speaking) of wasted time as the upper body must now get pulled back and dragged the other way. This is one very good reason why situps and crunches are a waste of time. They do not train the core muscles to be stable during change of direction. Planks, side planks and lateral stability exercise's are going to be the agent of change.

Changing directions will also involve maintaining a low ground position. This allows the proper angle to be taken so that force is transfered down through the leg and into the ground horizontally rather than vertically. What happens when we push our legs quickly into the ground directly below us? We jump straight into the air.

To change direction, we must produce force that transfer's down and horizontally so that we may move in the opposite direction of our force production. We are pushing ourselves away from the ground. Change the way we teach lateral change of direction and we will change the speed of our athletes.

Pool Time

Our summer Speed, Strength & Power (SSP) Camp just wrapped up its fourth week. All the kids are moving more efficiently. Which translates to faster foot speed and less fatigue. Some are learning faster than others but the interesting thing is how much faster the younger kids are learning than the older kids.

This is probably because we have unlearn all the bad habits the older kids have while with younger kids, there are not many bad habits to fix. So things are going good. But today they got great.

All 4 groups met out at the pool at CSUB. Most thought we would be swimming all day long. So they were kind of excited, but mostly they were just looking forward to getting out of the bakersfield heat.

What they got was more than they bargained for.

The beauty of perfoming speed and power drills in the water is that it slows everything down and makes it much safer to do plyometric exercises and speed exercises. The water produces the resistive forces against the jumps and movement, but also produces the force that slows the athlete down.

Some may say, well doesn't moving slow produce slower players. Well yes and no. If athletes are chronically using heavy resistance that does not allow for use of the entire muscle contraction and speed spectrum then you will start to see a decrease in movement speed and power. But when providing resistance such as water the athletes intend to contract quickly and the water simply slows them down. They are not moving at "slow" speeds. Simply slower than out of water.

Give it a shot. I'm going to have 40 high school athletes that will have an entirely new view of aquatic exercise.

Do Quick Improvements Last?

This is one of those double edged questions. If we say that athletic improvement doesn't last well then what's the point of working with kids in 6 week camps? If we say improvement does last, then why not work with them for 6 weeks and send them on their way?

The truth is it depends on the learning environment. This is where many coaches go wrong. They don't make for a very conducive learning environment. There are different types of learning styles. Some kids are audible learners, some are tactile learners, some are visual learners. Most are a good mix of the 3.

Movements can look right and feel wrong, but it is almost impossible for them to feel right and look wrong. It just doesn't happen. If muscles are activating and recruiting properly in the right sequence and timing, then the movement will look smooth and effortless.

Learning takes place over a period of time. But the principles of why we move in certain skills/patterns can be learned quickly. The key is simply implementing the principles into the movement skills. Learning movement skills should be an everyday thing. When we learn math we progress from simple things such as 2+2=4 to more complex ideas such as 12x6=72. But when we are learning multiplication, we don't forget that 2+2=4. It is our foundation.


The same route must be taken when developing athletic skill and movement. Progress but don't forget the basics. When movement is first, sports skill will come much easier.

Eating Like a Champion

Feuling a high caliber athlete isn't easy. Most high level athletes work with a nutritionist to ensure they are getting proper caloric intake and the right ratio of macronutrients.

Certain foods are much better for you than others. Fruits, vegetables, milk, lean meats, fish, nuts and water are all important in building and re-building your body. This is true for everybody. But it is especially important for athletes because athletes break down their bodies faster than non-athletes and need to rebuild it faster as well. Just as important is what you rebuild your body with. A perfect example of this can be seen in the tale of the “3 Little Pigs”.

You see each home of the pigs was built with something. The first house was weak and didn’t stand up against the rigors of the wolf. This is what happens when you work hard (like you do during our camps) and then try to rebuild your body with candy, sweets, cookies and you leave out vegetables and fruits. Your body is going to breakdown easily and not be very strong when it needs to be.

The second house was built a little bit stronger but not by much. His house was still pretty easily taken down by the wolf. This is like drinking sugary, caffeinated drinks like Starbucks and eating greasy hamburgers and hotdogs with a few veggies on the side. Your body will still not be able to stand up to the work you put it through. You will be tired, sluggish and you won’t play too well.

Now the third pig, he had one heck of a strong house. It was made of brick and strong cement. Nothing could take it down and it was always ready for the next challenge. This is what your body feels like when you eat lots of vegetables, fruits, lean meats like chicken (no chicken strips!!), fish, low fat dairy like yogurt and chocolate milk.

These are just a few, but here are good food choices:

Breakfast
Wheaties w/ milk
Whole Wheat Toast and Peanut Butter
Yogurt and granola
Strawberry Banana Smoothie
Oatmeal
Scrambled Eggs w/Salsa

Lunch
Turkey sandwich
Chicken salad
Buffalo Burger
Turkey Burger
Turkey Hotdog
Apple-Banana-PB Smoothie

Dinner
Chicken
Fish
Goat cheese Salad
Spaghetti
Chili
Soup

Snacks
Raisins
Strawberries
Pineapple
Granola
Sunflower Seeds
Yogurt

The key to making good choices is keeping added sugar out and eating foods that are minimally processed. Don’t eat food that is deep fried with batter, drenched in butter, and here is the kicker…

Ice cream only once per week and No FAST FOOD!

Breakfast: What you need to know

What is the point of breakfast? I’m not even hungry when I wake up!! I have been going without breakfast for years. I get sick if I eat breakfast. These are just a few of the excuses I hear for not eating breakfast. But there really is no good reason not to eat breakfast. Perhaps it is our idea of what breakfast is. First let’s talk about what breakfast is not.

Breakfast is not a calorie bomb, biscuits and gravy with a stack of pancakes, home-style potatoes, bagel and cream cheese, smorgasbord. Breakfast is not a sweet-n-low, half and half coffee on the way out the door. Breakfast is not that venti frap with cream on top on the way to work. There is this misconception that breakfast needs to be either a Saturday morning feast or a pick-me-up-because-I’m-drained on the way to work. Breakfast does not have to be long and drawn out and it cannot be something you pick up on the way to work.

Breakfast is a way to break your body out of that 7-8 hour starvation you have been in. Breakfast is when you give your body enough fuel to replenish what it lost over the evening and enough fuel to get you to the next feeding (3-4 hours later) with out feeling incredibly famished. Whether we are hungry or not, we need to eat breakfast within the first 30 minutes of waking up. The reason most people claim they are not hungry in the morning is because their metabolism has slowed so much that they have gotten accustomed to not eating. The metabolism is the engine of the body. If it is slow, than you will feel lethargic, slow, unmotivated and worst of all, your body will actually hold on to body fat because your body will enter “energy saver” mode. Who wants that? When we eat, our metabolism actually speeds up because it has to breakdown the food it just took in. This is known as the thermic effect of food! Eating more will help me lose weight?? Interesting concept.

Most people when they start eating breakfast as a habit will notice that their appetite will increase, and they will be hungry again soon. This is the thermic effect of food and trust that your metabolism will now rise and your body will use more energy because it has more available. The human body is a marvelous thing.

What is a “Good” Breakfast?

A good breakfast will have a little fat, a little protein and a little more carbohydrates. Here are a few examples of quality breakfast first thing in the morning, within 30 minutes of waking up:
• 1 slice of sprouted grain, flourless toast, natural peanut butter and an apple = 345 kcal
• 1 slice of sprouted grain, flourless toast, vegetable oil butter, and a small container of low fat yogurt = 330 kcal
• 1 cup of Trader Joe’s Organic Soy and Granola cereal, 1 cup of 1% organic milk and 1 medium banana = 473 kcal (for women, cutting the cereal and milk in half will give you a total of 284 kcal)
• 1 hard boiled egg, toast and 1 table spoon of butter, a medium apple = 333 kcal

These examples are all a great start to the day. Each example has carbohydrates, protein and a little bit of fat. It is beyond the scope of this article but remember your body needs some fat. To eliminate all fat would actually be a bad thing.

The calorie content of the breakfast was done by www.calorie-count.com. Feel free to register yourself and start logging your food intake. It will truly help you to see how much food you really do take in. If you have any questions, feel free to email me at aaron@pairmarotta.com

Changing the Way You Look with Food

Quite possibly the easiest way to change the way you look is to alter your diet. Tired of that lean, muscular look? Start eating twice as much (1250 calories) at each feeding and eat less often (1-2 times per day). This will slow your metabolism to a snail's pace and create a caloric surplus that nobody can over come. You're sure to pile on the pounds!!

Tired of that scrawny, wiry look? Start eating more lean meats and vegetables at each meal and eating more often (4-5 times/day) and do some heavy lifting (4-6 reps of 4 sets) and watch the muscle start coming on.

Tired of the bloated, jiggly, no-muscle-but-plenty-of-the-other-stuff look? Start eating smaller meals, 250-400 calories, every 3-4 hours and watch the jiggle wiggle off and the lean body you've always wanted will come shining through.

What, when and how often we eat has a tremendous effect on our metabolism. By eating more often your body will begin to use up the excess energy (fat) it has because it will try to use up what you give it. By giving it only how much it needs, which varies depending on your goals, your body will not have much less to store it.

By eating frequently your metabolism will increase, meaning you are using more stored fat during your day. You really can't go wrong. It is simply committing to planning your meals into your day.

Changing the way we look is actually quite simple. It is just how much effort do you want to put in to changing the way your body looks, feels and moves?

Here are a couple of sites you may want to check out to help you with this endeavour:

www.mohrresults.com
www.fityummymummy.com
www.turbulencetraining.com

The Magic Pill

One of the most difficult things to understand about the human body is how to feed it. We say we want to change but as soon as somebody offers up dessert, that will goes out the window. Then we cry and complain that we aren't loosing weight, or we aren't toned like we want to be.

So we shoot for a magic pill. But there is one magic pill. It starts with a "Self" ends in an "discipline"

To lose weight, become a great athlete and get more done, we need to eat. And we need to eat right. Here it is, plain and simple.

Prepare to eat 4-6 small meals per day. By small I mean 400-500 calories for men, and 300-400 for women. 1 PB&J sandwich (which I just ate) had 385 calories. But its sprouted grain bread, natural peanut butter and organic jelly.

It doesn't take much, just some planning. When we fail to plan our meals, we get so hungry we could eat our thumb if it had some ranch on it!! You have to eat and eat modest sized meals. Doing this gets your metabolism up so your body will use some of that fat hanging off our waists. Think about it, if you wanted a bigger fire, would you give it a small amount of wood or a nice steady supply?

That is the way our body works. Give it a shot. Plan your meals for 3 days to get 5 meals a day in. Breakfast, snack, lunch, snack & dinner. You'll feel great and your metabolism will roar.

Want some help? Check this out. I highly recommend it.

http://www.mohrresults.com/store-grocery-dvd.shtml

(May need to cut and paste into browser)

The Basics

Baseball season has arrived. Actually it arrived about 2 months ago. But now it is in full swing and... here is our hero.

Unfortunately the video is gone, but here is a link to an article about Mr. Utley.

www.athletesperformance.com/#articles

Search articles and it should be the first one up. If not, the title is "America's Fittest Men list Includes Utley"

Chase Utley is the 2nd baseman for the Philadelphia Phillies. He will probably be in the All-Star game this year. He plays excellent defense and can hit for power, for average and for sacrifice. He can run the bases with the best of them and get to just about any ball hit within 30 feet of him.

How can he do all this?

He knows how to move. And not move like he's dancing. I mean he knows how to move his body efficiently, quickly and effectively. He focuses as much on being strong, flexible, balanced and powerful as he does on hitting a slider. He knows how to lunge, how to squat, how to push, pull and rotate. He is stable yet mobile. He knows these things will help him hit that slider into the second deck.

His performance training is the same program we use at our facility with our baseball players and youth athletes during our Summer Speed, Strength, & Power Camp.

See where knowing the basics can get you?

The First Step

We hear it everywhere. From doctors to trainers to talk shows. But an ABC News poll indicates that only 53% of people ages 18-34 eat breakfast on a regular basis. That number steadily goes up through the age groups with 83% of people over the age of 65 eating breakfast regularly. But why is it so important? Why do we have such a hard time eating breakfast? What if I am just not hungry in the morning?

The importance of breakfast can be summed up rather quickly; if you don’t put gas in the tank, it won’t run. Now granted, our entire body can be used as fuel. But I would rather eat food than have muscles, bones and other organs used as a fuel source. The general tradition of dinner is that it is eaten in the evening from 5 – 8:30. Assuming we wake up around 5 am (which may be too early for most), that is still 8.5 – 12 hours without eating.

And that is during the time when our body is supposed to be repairing itself and recharging itself. The food we eat in the evening is used primarily for those purposes. However, if dinner carries us through until 5 a.m., and we don’t eat again until noon, what exactly is our body using as fuel for those 7 morning hours? Other tissues that are lower on the hierarchy of importance.

At this point, a few things happen. 1) Your metabolism will slow down in order to conserve energy. Your body may use a higher percentage of fat, but at this point your body isn’t using much energy total. So the trade off is a wash. 2) Much of the muscle tissue you have worked so hard to get is not being maintained, and is thus being lost. You lose muscle if you don’t provide energy to maintain it!!

Consider the following research:

A 2003 study in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition found that those who had a breakfast of cereal, breads or fruit had significantly lower BMI’s than those who didn’t eat or had meat/eggs for breakfast.

A 2005 study in the journal Obesity Research found that over 8 and 13 year periods, men who ate breakfast cereals were 22% and 12% less likely to gain weight. Men who ate at least one serving per day of cereal saw the highest likelihood of keeping their BMI under 25.

A 2008 study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition stated that people with lower body fat had higher percentages of fat oxidation (higher fat use as fuel) over a 12 hour period following breakfast.

Eating breakfast gives your body fuel to run on. It is best to eat a small meal containing complex carbohydrates and protein 20-30 minutes before exercise, and then eat something similar soon after strenuous exercise. An example would be whole grain toast with natural peanut butter and a small glass of low fat milk prior to exercise and yogurt with raw fruit shortly after exercise to prevent muscle breakdown. This will ensure that your body gets the energy and nutrients that it needs without sacrificing your reduced calorie goals for fat loss.

If you want a step by step how to for losing weight, breakfast is that first step you must take. A lot of times we aren't hungry. This is only because we have conditioned ourselves to start the day without breakfast. But if we start eating breakfast, our metabolism will increase, our energy levels will go up and yes, you can lose weight by eating a bit more food through out the day.

Changing the way you look is simple, but it is not easy.

A new baby and being more efficient with time.

My wife Tiffany gave birth to a beautiful baby girl last tuesday, the 29th of April. She is just the most wonderful little girl. On top of that, she is one heck of a sleeper. Now I know that she has only been in our lives for 10 days, but she doesn't cry much at all.

When she is hungry she simply puts her hands to her mouth. When she needs to be changed she will start spreading her arms and legs out. When she is tired, she simply falls asleep. Anywhere.
I have to admit, I was quite afraid of what might happen after she was born. I thought I would maybe sleep around 4 hours a night. Well it turns out, I've been getting 6-7 hours a night. Granted it is broken into 75 minute segments, but it sure makes me value the time I have to sleep. But it also has made me value the time I have with her.

Since she has been home, there is a period in the night when she is simply awake. She doesn't cry, she's just awake. She looks around, admiring the contrasting dark and light colors. And she just looks. After about 45 minutes, she goes back to sleep. Instead of whining that I have to get up with my daughter, I look at it as, "I GET to spend time with my daughter!!" She is just getting aquainted with me. But this is the most wonderful time.

I have been off of work for roughly 2 weeks and I have had to make my time count. I don't have all day to sit around and be lazy and I don't have time to spend an hour and a half working out. What I do is mini-circuits. I take 3 exercises of non-competing movement patterns and do each for :30 or 15 repetitions. After each set I rest for :30 then do it again.

This is the same workout our Hi-5 FitCamp does during the 1 week break. Its not easy, but I would rather spend 25 minutes busting hump than spend an hour and a half doing body part workouts that don't do much to use fat and build muscle.

High intensity functionally integrated variable exercise (HI-FIVE).

Why do we eat when we aren't hungry?

On Monday we started a new 4-week period of Hi-5 FitCamp at Pair & Marotta. We have quite a few newbies and I'm pretty excited about the change that is going to occur over the next 4 weeks. The biggest hurdle for this new group will be the same as it was for the returners: eating habits.

That is the one place where the hopes and dreams of every person trying to lose weight go to die. That is the one thing people have the hardest time changing because it involves more discipline than getting up at 5:15 to workout. We use food for more than it should be.

Food should be simply fuel for our bodies to run. But most people trying to lose weight have found food to be so much more. Food has become our best friend when we are lonely, our personal confidant when we are sad and our group of friends when we are celebrating. Why do these events cause us to eat?

A psychological and/or hormonal event occurs with each of the named emotions. When we are sad the food we eat causes a hormone release which can cheer us up (think ice cream). When we are angry, food has a calming effect. When we are happy, food can make us happier.

The way to change this is to change our pschology. Find other ways to cheer you up, calm you down or increase the joy. Use other activities or hobbies.

Might it be possible to watch a movie and not eat candy or popcorn? Can you really go out to celebrate without breaking the calorie bank? Hint: Salads at restaurants are calorie pits. Stick with grilled chicken and veggies. Do this and enjoy a small desert for a great week of healthy eating habits.

We must find ways to change the way we look at food. If we don't all of our hard work is for not. Its like digging a hole only to have somebody coming right behind you and filling it back in.

Long Time and Biggest Loser

I have been out for quite a while. Somehow the blog got pushed to the back of my mind. Although it probably shouldn't have. But watching the finale of the Biggest Loser, I realized how much of an impact I can have on the lives of my friends and family. Many of them are always asking me questions not only about sports, fitness, nutrition, rehabilitation, and physical therapy. But they also ask me questions about things which are way over my head.

My policy when it comes to that is simply find the answer, or direct them to somebody who has the answer. There are a few people in the sports training, fitness, youth training and rehabilitation profession who have my utmost respect. These professionals have knowledge from their time in college (most have a Master's in Exercise Science) but also from a lot of time spent with clients and patients. Some of these folks are Mike Boyle, Gray Cook, Brian Grasso, Mark Verstegen and Vern Gambetta.

But probably the one guy who I really look up to, and even base the Hi-5 FitCamp off of is Craig Ballantyne. He developed a fitness program that is based on sound research and gets amazing results. Check out his site

http://www.turbulencetraining.com/cbae/?a=53ICCIxv&p=1

Designed for everybody from beginner to advanced, he came up with the idea after doing research for his Master's degree. I myself have looked up the studies he cites, and have also found other research supporting the same idea of intense work with minimal rest to develop muscle and use more fat while you are resting.

Jillian Micheals of the Biggest Loser is a raving fan of his. She has only good things to say about Craig and his program.

http://www.turbulencetraining.com/cbae/?a=53ICCIxv&p=1

I have tried his program (check earlier blogs) and I have to say, they are a butt kicker. Give it a try with one catch; While you are doing the workout, wear a heart rate monitor. Watch it soar, and then check your heart rate throughout the day. It will still be elevated, meaning you are still recovering from the workout you did earlier in the morning. I will talk more about the benefits of a heart rate monitor later. For now, check out Craigs site. You will be amazed.


Aaron